Wesley Corpus

But great, inexpressi bly great, as this is, it is perhaps the least part of our work. To “seek and save that which is lost; ” to bring souls from Satan to God; to instruct the ignorant; to reclaim the wicked; to convince the gainsayer; to direct their feet into the way of peace, and then keep them therein; to follow them step by step, lest they turn out of the way, and advise them in their doubts and temptations; to lift up them that fall; to refresh them that are faint; and to comfort the weak-hearted; to administer various helps, as the variety of occasions require, according to their several necessities: These are parts of our office; all this we have undertaken at the peril of our own soul. A sense of this made that holy man of old cry out, “I marvel if any ruler in the Church shall be saved; ” and a greater than him say, in the fulness of his heart, “Who is sufficient for these things?” 35. But who is not sufficient for these things, for the taking care of a parish, though it contain twenty thousand souls, if this implies no more than the taking care to preach there once or twice a week; and to procure one to read Prayers on the other days, and do what is called the parish duty ? Is any trade in the nation so easy as this? Is not any man sufficient for it, without any more talents, either of nature or grace, than a small degree of common understanding? But Q | what manner of shepherds are those who look no farther into the nature of their office, who sink no deeper into the import ance of it, than this ! Were they not such as these concerning whom “the word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel, saying, Wo be to the shepherds that feed themselves | should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool; but ye feed not the flock.