Baadhi ya maandishi haya bado hayajatafsiriwa kwa Kiswahili; sehemu hizo zinaonyeshwa kwa Kiingereza.

Kusoma mitazamo tofauti ya kiteolojia. Masomo ya kihistoria yanaeleza mitazamo ya waandishi wake, ikiwemo mapokeo ya Kiarminiani na ya Kireformed au ya Kikalvini. Kujumuishwa hakufanyi msimamo wa mwandishi kuwa fundisho thabiti la CTS. Soma pamoja na Maandiko na nyenzo zilizopangwa. Jibu lenye hoja kutoka mtazamo mwingine wa kiinjili linapaswa kupimwa kwa hoja zake, si kuadhibiwa kwa sababu tu linatofautiana na mwandishi. Ikiwa alama ya kompyuta inakataa jibu kama hilo, omba CTS ilipitie.

Masomo Yaliyopangwa ya Uzamili (yote matano)

Wanafunzi wa M.Div. na Th.M. husoma masomo yote matano yaliyopangwa na kufanya mtihani wake tofauti baada ya kuanzishwa. Ukurasa wa mtihani unaeleza kanuni ya sasa; ukamilishaji halali wa awali unabaki halali.

Heshima ya Hiari (chagua matatu)

Heshima ni ya hiari kwa kila programu. Wanafunzi wa Cheti na wa Shahada ya Mshiriki wanaweza kusoma masomo matatu ya heshima bila mtihani wa masomo ya lazima. Heshima haichukui nafasi ya mtihani wowote wa Uzamili.

The Master's textbook test: read The Reformed Pastor (selections) — Richard Baxter, then take its test: twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once. Correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. It is separate from the reading test on the five digests below: passing one does not pass the other. On the M.Div. and Th.M. tracks both tests are being introduced; each test's page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take them, and a pass is kept in your record.

The Master's reading test: separate from the honors invitation below. Honors asks you to read any three of these digests; the Master's test covers all five. It has twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, four from each reading, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once; correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. You may try again after a short wait. The test is being introduced: its page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take it, and a pass is kept in your record.

Chaguo la heshima: Kamilisha masomo matatu yoyote kati ya matano yaliyo hapa chini. Masomo haya yanaongeza kozi na hayachukui nafasi ya sehemu zake wala mitihani yake.

Kwenye tovuti hii: Kila moja ya masomo matano ni muhtasari wa Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala, ulioandikwa na CTS, unaopatikana hapa kwenye tovuti — kila mmoja unafunguka moja kwa moja kutoka ukurasa huu, bila kupakua chochote. Kila kadi inataja kitabu ambacho muhtasari wake umetokana nacho.

Yaliyochaguliwa: 0 kati ya 3

Somo la 1 · Pastoral Self-Examination

Preach to Yourself First

A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Gildas Salvianus, 1656), “The Oversight of Ourselves”: what it is to take heed to ourselves; public CCEL transcription of a nineteenth-century edition

Baxter’s 1655 sermon for the Worcestershire pastors begins with the shepherd himself: be sure saving grace is at work in your own soul, keep your graces lively, do not let your life contradict your preaching, do not live in the sins you condemn, and labor to be fit for the work. God never saved anyone for being a preacher.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Muhtasari wa Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — muhtasari asilia ulioandikwa na CTS, unaopatikana kwa Kiingereza, Kihispania na Kifaransa, unaosomeka bila mtandao. Huu ni muhtasari wa CTS, si maandishi kamili ya chanzo asilia.

Jihubirie Kwanza Mwenyewe: Baxter juu ya Roho ya Mchungaji MwenyewePreach to Yourself First: Baxter on the Pastor’s Own Soul

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — mausio ya ufunguzi ya The Reformed Pastor, ambapo Baxter anawaambia wahudumu wajitunze wenyewe kabla ya kulitunza kundi.A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the opening charge of The Reformed Pastor, where Baxter tells ministers to take heed to themselves before they take heed to the flock

Muhtasari wa CTS wa sehemu ya kwanza ya Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), "Kujichunga Wenyewe," juu ya maana ya kujitunza sisi wenyewe. Asili iko katika uwanja wa umma; nukuu fupi zilizo hapa chini zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of the first part of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), “The Oversight of Ourselves,” on what it means to take heed to ourselves. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mchungaji AliyerekebishwaThe Reformed Pastor
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
1655–16561655–1656
Richard BaxterRichard Baxter

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Richard Baxter (1615–1691) alikuwa mchungaji Mpuritani wa Uingereza. Kitabu chake The Reformed Pastor ni mojawapo ya vitabu vinavyopendwa zaidi kuhusu huduma kuwahi kuandikwa kwa Kiingereza. Onyo moja kuhusu jina: "reformed" hapa halimaanishi "Kalvini." Linamaanisha kufanywa upya, kuhuishwa, kurejeshwa kwenye kazi yake ifaayo. Baxter alitaka wachungaji ambao maisha yao na kazi zao zimerekebishwa. Somo hili la kwanza linaelekeza mwanga kwa mchungaji mwenyewe. A word before you read. Richard Baxter (1615–1691) was an English Puritan pastor. His book The Reformed Pastor is one of the most loved books on ministry ever written in English. One warning about the title: “reformed” here does not mean “Calvinist.” It means renewed, revived, brought back to its proper work. Baxter wanted pastors whose own lives and labors had been reformed. This first reading turns the spotlight on the pastor himself.

1.Mahubiri Yaliyokuwa Kitabu1.A Sermon That Became a Book

Mnamo Desemba 1655 wahudumu wa Worcestershire, katika eneo la kati la Uingereza, walikubaliana kukutana Worcester kwa siku ya kufunga na kujinyenyekeza. Walikuwa wameahidiana tu kuanza mazoezi mapya yenye mahitaji makubwa: kufanya katekesi, familia moja kwa wakati mmoja, kwa kila kaya katika parokia zao iliyokuwa tayari kuja. Baxter, kiongozi mkuu wa kundi lao, aliombwa ahubiri. Andiko lake lilikuwa kuaga kwa Paulo kwa wazee wa Efeso katika Matendo 20:28: "Jitunzeni nafsi zenu, na lile kundi lote." Ugonjwa ulimzuia kuingia mimbarini siku hiyo, kwa hiyo alipanua mahubiri na kuyachapisha mwaka 1656. Aliyapa jina la Kilatini Gildas Salvianus, kwa heshima ya waandishi wawili wa kale waliowakemea makasisi wa nyakati zao. Kitabu kinahifadhi sauti ya mhubiri. Baxter anasema na "ndugu," anasihi, anaungama makosa yake mwenyewe, na kubana kila hoja dhamirini. Haandiki mwongozo wa mbinu. Anawaita wahudumu wenzake kwenye toba na kazi. Naye anaanza, kama Paulo alivyofanya, kwa maneno "jitunzeni nafsi zenu." Kabla hajasema lolote kuhusu kundi, anamchunguza mchungaji.In December 1655 the ministers of Worcestershire, in the English Midlands, agreed to meet at Worcester for a day of fasting and humiliation. They had just promised one another to begin a demanding new practice: to catechize, one family at a time, every household in their parishes that would come. Baxter, the leading figure of their circle, was asked to preach. His text was Paul’s farewell to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock.” Illness kept him from the pulpit that day, so he expanded the sermon and published it in 1656. He gave it the Latin title Gildas Salvianus, after two ancient writers who had rebuked the clergy of their own times. The book keeps the voice of a preacher. Baxter speaks to “brethren,” he pleads, he confesses his own failures, and he presses every point to the conscience. He is not writing a manual of techniques. He is calling fellow ministers to repentance and to work. And he begins, as Paul did, with the words “take heed to yourselves.” Before he says anything about the flock, he examines the shepherd.

2.Richard Baxter Alikuwa Nani?2.Who Was Richard Baxter?

Baxter alizaliwa mwaka 1615 huko Shropshire. Hakuwahi kuhudhuria chuo kikuu, na alijifundisha kwa kusoma kwa upana. Alipewa daraja katika Kanisa la Uingereza mwaka 1638, na mwaka 1641 alienda Kidderminster, mji wa soko wa wafumaji wa mikono huko Worcestershire, kama mhubiri wake. Vita vya Wenyewe kwa Wenyewe vya Uingereza upesi vilikatiza kazi yake, naye alitumikia kwa muda kama mchungaji wa jeshi la Bunge. Alirudi Kidderminster mwaka 1647 na kukaa hadi 1661. Miaka hiyo kumi na minne ilijulikana sana. Alipofika, aliandika baadaye, familia chache zilimheshimu Mungu nyumbani. Alipoondoka, kulikuwa na mitaa mizima ambapo karibu kila kaya iliomba pamoja. Wakati wote huu Baxter alikuwa mgonjwa mara kwa mara, naye alitarajia kufa mchanga. Alifanya kazi, alisema, kama "mtu anayekufa kwa watu wanaokufa." Alikuwa wa vuguvugu la Wapuritani, lililotaka Kanisa la Uingereza litakaswe kulingana na Maandiko. Katika uongozi wa kanisa alisimama kati ya Wapresbiteri na Waepiskopali wa wastani, naye alifanya kazi na yeyote aliyehubiri injili. Ndiyo maana wahudumu waliomzunguka waliweza kuunda Chama cha Worcestershire, ushirika wa hiari wa wachungaji wa maoni mbalimbali waliokutana kuomba, kukubaliana juu ya nidhamu, na kusaidiana.Baxter was born in 1615 in Shropshire. He never attended a university, and he taught himself by reading widely. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1638, and in 1641 he went to Kidderminster, a market town of hand-loom weavers in Worcestershire, as its preacher. The English Civil War soon interrupted his work, and he served for a time as a chaplain in the Parliamentary army. He returned to Kidderminster in 1647 and stayed until 1661. Those fourteen years became famous. When he arrived, he later wrote, few families honored God at home. When he left, there were whole streets where almost every household prayed together. All this time Baxter was often sick, and he expected to die young. He worked, he said, as “a dying man to dying men.” He belonged to the Puritan movement, which wanted the Church of England purified according to Scripture. In church government he stood between Presbyterians and moderate Episcopalians, and he worked with anyone who preached the gospel. That is why the ministers around him could form the Worcestershire Association, a voluntary fellowship of pastors of different views who met to pray, to agree on discipline, and to help one another.

3.Neema Kabla ya Karama3.Grace Before Gifts

Tahadhari ya kwanza ya Baxter ndiyo inayochunguza zaidi: "Hakikisheni kwamba kazi ya neema ya wokovu imetendeka kikamilifu katika nafsi zenu wenyewe." Mhubiri aweza kuwapa wengine Kristo na asimpokee kamwe. Aweza kuwaonya wengine waepuke kuzimu na bado akatembea kuelekea huko. Baxter anatumia picha za nyumbani. Fundi cherehani aweza kuvaa matambara huku akishona nguo nzuri kwa wengine. Mpishi aweza kulamba vidole vyake kwa shida baada ya kuandaa karamu. Kisha inakuja hitimisho lake butu: "Mungu hajawahi kumwokoa mtu yeyote kwa sababu ni mhubiri, wala kwa sababu alikuwa mhubiri hodari." Wokovu huwajia wale waliohesabiwa haki na kutakaswa kwa neema, na ndipo tu wanakuwa waaminifu katika kazi ya Bwana wao. Baxter alijua jinsi shughuli ya kidini inavyoweza kwa urahisi kuficha moyo mtupu. Mhudumu asiyeongoka anaijua Biblia, anazingatia wajibu mtakatifu, anaepuka kashfa ya wazi na kuhubiri utakatifu. Hakika, anadhani, mtu kama huyo lazima awe mtakatifu. Baxter anakiita hili "kupotea katikati ya wingi." Hatari kuu ya kanisa, asema, ni kuwa na "watu wengi kuwa wahubiri kabla ya kuwa Wakristo." Kwa seminari kama CTS hili ni neno la kutafakarisha. Masomo ya theolojia hayamfanyi mtu yeyote kuwa Mkristo. Mwanafunzi lazima kwanza amjue Mwokozi atakayemsifu siku moja.Baxter’s first caution is the most searching: “See that the work of saving grace be thoroughly wrought in your own souls.” A preacher may offer Christ to others and never receive him. He may warn others away from hell and still walk toward it. Baxter uses homely pictures. A tailor may go in rags while he makes fine clothes for others. A cook may scarcely lick his fingers after preparing a feast. Then comes his blunt conclusion: “God never saved any man for being a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher.” Salvation comes to those who are justified and sanctified by grace, and only then are they faithful in their Master’s work. Baxter knew how easily religious activity can disguise an empty heart. The unconverted minister knows the Bible, keeps holy duties, avoids open scandal and preaches holiness. Surely, he thinks, such a man must be holy. Baxter calls this “to perish in the midst of plenty.” The great danger of the church, he says, is to have “so many men become preachers before they are Christians.” For a seminary like CTS this is a sobering word. Theological study does not make anyone a Christian. A student must first know the Savior he will one day commend.

4.Theolojia kwenye Mzizi wa Elimu4.Theology at the Root of Learning

Kisha Baxter anageuka kuzungumza na shule na wakufunzi, na maneno yake bado yanawahusu kila mahali panapofundisha wahudumu. Katika vyuo vikuu vya siku zake, vijana walisoma lugha, mantiki na falsafa ya asili kwa miaka mingi kabla ya kusoma theolojia. Baxter alidhani mpangilio huu ulikuwa "kosa kubwa." Elimu yote, alisema, inapaswa kujifunzwa kwa uhusiano na Mungu. Viumbe vilivyotenganishwa na Muumba wao ni kama "silabi zilizovunjika" zisizo na maana peke yake. Sayansi si ya kupuuzwa. Kinyume chake, kuzisoma kazi za Mungu kwa heshima na upendo ni "sehemu ya juu na adhimu kabisa ya utakatifu." Lakini theolojia lazima iweke msingi na kuongoza njia. Baxter pia anaonya dhidi ya namna baridi ya kufundisha Biblia, kana kwamba elimu ya Mungu si nzito kuliko "somo la muziki, au hesabu." Anawahimiza walimu kusema na mioyo ya wanafunzi wao na si vichwa vyao tu, na kuacha "maneno fulani ya kuchoma" kuhusu Mungu na nafsi yatoke mara kwa mara midomoni mwao. Wanafunzi waliokusudiwa huduma, anawakumbusha, wanaandaliwa kumtumikia Mungu ambaye lazima wamjue kwanza.Baxter then turns aside to speak to schools and tutors, and his words still apply to every place that trains ministers. In the universities of his day, young men studied languages, logic and natural philosophy for years before they studied theology. Baxter thought this order was a “grand error.” All learning, he argued, should be learned in relation to God. Creatures separated from their Creator are like “broken syllables” that mean nothing on their own. Science is not unimportant. On the contrary, to study God’s works with reverence and love is “a most high and noble part of holiness.” But theology must lay the foundation and lead the way. Baxter also warns against a cold way of teaching the Bible, as if divinity were no more serious than “a lesson of music, or arithmetic.” He urges teachers to speak to the hearts of their students and not only to their heads, and to let “some piercing words” about God and the soul fall often from their lips. Students destined for the ministry, he reminds them, are being prepared to serve a God they must first know.

5.Endelea Kuwasha Moto5.Keep the Fire Burning

Tahadhari ya pili ya Baxter inatoka kwenye uongofu kwenda maisha ya kila siku. Haitoshi kuwa katika hali ya neema. Mchungaji lazima azidumishe neema zake "katika matumizi yenye nguvu na uhai," na ajihubirie mahubiri yake kabla ya kuwahubiria wengine. Hapa Baxter anafanya mojawapo ya maungamo yake ya kweli zaidi: "Moyo wangu ukiwa baridi, mahubiri yangu ni baridi." Alikuwa ameona kwamba alipokuwa baridi, wasikilizaji wake pia wakawa baridi, na hata maombi yao yakaanza kusikika kama mahubiri yake. Wachungaji ni "wauguzi wa watoto wadogo wa Kristo." Wakiacha kula, watoto hufa njaa. Kwa hiyo Baxter anawahimiza wahudumu walinde mioyo yao, wajihadhari na kiburi na tamaa za dunia, na zaidi ya yote wawe sana katika maombi ya siri na tafakari. Kutoka huko, asema, huja moto wa mbinguni unaopaswa kuwasha dhabihu zetu. Pia anatoa kanuni ya kivitendo. Kabla ya kwenda kwenye kusanyiko, mhudumu achukue taabu ya pekee na moyo wake mwenyewe. Aweza kusoma kitabu fulani cha kuamsha au kutafakari uzito wa mada yake na mahitaji ya watu wake, ili wale wanaokuja baridi kwenye ibada waweze kuondoka na joto fulani.Baxter’s second caution moves from conversion to daily life. It is not enough to be in a state of grace. A pastor must keep his graces “in vigorous and lively exercise,” and preach his sermons to himself before he preaches them to others. Here Baxter makes one of his most honest confessions: “When I let my heart grow cold, my preaching is cold.” He had noticed that when he grew cold, his hearers grew cold too, and even their prayers began to sound like his preaching. Pastors are “the nurses of Christ’s little ones.” If they stop eating, the children starve. So Baxter urges ministers to watch over their hearts, to guard against pride and worldly desires, and above all to be much in secret prayer and meditation. From there, he says, comes the heavenly fire that must kindle our sacrifices. He also gives a practical rule. Before going to the congregation, a minister should take special pains with his own heart. He might read some awakening book or meditate on the weight of his subject and the needs of his people, so that those who come cold to worship may leave with some warmth.

6.Maisha Yanapopinga Mahubiri6.When the Life Contradicts the Sermon

Tahadhari ya tatu na ya nne zinahusu mfano. Baxter anawaogopa wachungaji "wanaobatilisha kwa maisha yao mnayoyasema kwa ndimi zenu." Mhudumu aweza kujenga kwa saa moja Jumapili na kubomoa kwa mikono yake juma zima. "Neno moja la kiburi, la ukali, la kitawala," Baxter anaonya, laweza kubatilisha mahubiri mengi. Anawaeleza wahubiri wanaong'arisha kila fungu la maneno lakini wanafikiria kidogo jinsi wanavyoishi, naye anawajibu kwa kanuni ya usawa: "Ni lazima tusome kwa bidii jinsi ya kuishi vizuri, kama jinsi ya kuhubiri vizuri." Tiba zake ni mahususi. Dumisha kutokuwa na hatia na tembea bila kosa. Kuwa mnyenyekevu, mpole na mvumilivu, na washinde watu wenye uadui kwa wema badala ya nguvu. Kuwa wa kirafiki kwa maskini, ambao hudhani kwa urahisi umbali wa mchungaji ni dharau. Zidi katika hisani. Watembelee wenye uhitaji, tunza mwili na roho pamoja, na uwanunulie katekisimu na vitabu vingine vidogo. Kisha inakuja tahadhari ya nne: usiishi katika dhambi unazozilaumu. Baxter anarudia Paulo katika Warumi 2: "Basi wewe umfundishaye mwenzako, hujifundishi nafsi yako?" Muhtasari wake ni rahisi na wa kukumbukwa: "ni rahisi kukemea dhambi kuliko kuishinda."The third and fourth cautions concern example. Baxter fears pastors who “unsay with your lives, what you say with your tongues.” A minister may build up for an hour on Sunday and pull down with his hands all week. “One proud, surly, lordly word,” Baxter warns, can undo many sermons. He describes preachers who polish every phrase but give little thought to how they live, and he answers them with a balanced rule: “We must study as hard how to live well, as how to preach well.” His remedies are concrete. Maintain innocence and walk without offense. Be humble, meek and patient, and overcome hostile people with kindness rather than force. Be familiar with the poor, who easily take a pastor’s distance for contempt. Abound in charity. Visit the needy, care for body and soul together, and buy them a catechism and other small books. Then comes the fourth caution: do not live in the sins you condemn. Baxter echoes Paul in Romans 2: “Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” His summary is simple and memorable: “it is easier to chide at sin, than to overcome it.”

7.Kufaa kwa Kazi Kubwa Hivyo7.Fit for So Great a Work

Tahadhari ya mwisho ya Baxter inahusu ustadi ambao mchungaji anahitaji. Kazi ni kubwa mno. Zipo maswali magumu ya mafundisho, maandiko yasiyo wazi, kesi za dhamiri, majaribu ya hila na mioyo ya ukaidi. Hata kuhubiri kunahitaji ustadi mtakatifu: kuifanya kweli iwe wazi, kuiacha nuru iingie dhamirini, na kuvifaa vyote kwa uwezo wa wasikilizaji. Baxter anakataa kisingizio cha uvivu kwamba Roho hufanya kusoma kusiwe lazima. Hilo, asema, ni kumzimisha Roho kisha kumdai Roho kama sababu. Shauri lake lina maneno manne: "Soma, na omba, na shauriana, na tenda." Mausio haya yameumba wachungaji kwa zaidi ya karne tatu. Charles Spurgeon, mhubiri mkuu wa Kibaptisti wa London ya enzi za Victoria, alivutiwa na uinjilisti wa dhati wa Baxter. J. I. Packer, aliyeandika tasnifu yake ya udaktari ya Oxford juu ya Baxter, alianzisha chapa upya ya kisasa iliyosomwa sana, na kupitia chapa kama hizo kitabu kimewafikia wachungaji katika Amerika ya Kusini, Afrika na Asia. Katika makanisa ya Kirekebisho na Kipresbiteri, Baxter husomwa pamoja na viwango vya Westminster kama kielelezo cha uzito wa kichungaji. Mchungaji leo anachukua kutoka somo hili mpangilio rahisi: kwanza nafsi yako mwenyewe, kisha mfano wako, kisha ustadi wako, na yote kwa ajili ya kundi.Baxter’s final caution concerns the skills a pastor needs. The work is enormous. There are hard questions of doctrine, obscure texts, cases of conscience, subtle temptations and stubborn hearts. Even preaching requires holy skill: to make the truth plain, to let light into the conscience, and to suit everything to the capacity of the hearers. Baxter rejects the lazy excuse that the Spirit makes study unnecessary. That, he says, is to quench the Spirit and then claim the Spirit as the reason. His advice is four words long: “Study, and pray, and confer, and practice.” This charge has shaped pastors for more than three centuries. Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of Victorian London, admired Baxter’s earnest evangelism. J. I. Packer, who wrote his Oxford doctoral thesis on Baxter, introduced a widely read modern reprint, and through such reprints the book has reached pastors in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, Baxter is read alongside the Westminster standards as a model of pastoral seriousness. A pastor today takes from this reading a simple order: first your own soul, then your example, then your skill, and all for the sake of the flock.

8.Kuuweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Baxter anasema Mungu hajawahi kumwokoa mtu yeyote kwa sababu ni mhubiri. Unajuaje kwamba neema unayowapa wengine inafanya kazi ndani yako? Moyo wako unapokuwa baridi, inaonekanaje katika mafundisho yako au maombi yako? Je, yupo "neno la kiburi, la ukali, la kitawala" au tabia moja katika maisha yako inayoweza kuwa inabatilisha mahubiri yako? Na ni ipi kati ya njia nne za Baxter — kusoma, kuomba, kushauriana na wengine, kutenda — unayoipuuza zaidi? For reflection. Baxter says God never saved anyone for being a preacher. How do you know that the grace you offer others is at work in you? When your heart grows cold, how does it show in your teaching or prayers? Is there one “proud, surly, lordly word” or habit in your life that may be undoing your sermons? And which of Baxter’s four means — study, prayer, conversation with others, practice — do you most neglect?

Chagua

Somo la 2 · The Care of the Flock

The Manner and the Motives

A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Gildas Salvianus, 1656), “The Oversight of the Flock”: the manner of this oversight and the motives to it; public CCEL transcription of a nineteenth-century edition

Standing in the Puritan tradition of Perkins and Greenham, Baxter gives fifteen marks of faithful ministry: pure aims, hard study, first things first, plain speech, humility, tender love, patience, reverence, prayer and peace among pastors. Then he draws four motives from Acts 20:28, ending with the church bought by Christ’s own blood.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Namna na Sababu: Jinsi na Kwa Nini Wachungaji Wanalitunza KundiThe Manner and the Motives: How and Why Pastors Care for the Flock

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — alama kumi na tano za Baxter za huduma ya uaminifu na sababu nne anazozitoa kutoka Matendo 20:28.A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — Baxter’s fifteen marks of faithful ministry and the four motives he draws from Acts 20:28

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), "Kulichunga Kundi," sehemu za namna ya kuchunga huku na sababu zake. Asili iko katika uwanja wa umma; nukuu fupi zilizo hapa chini zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), “The Oversight of the Flock,” the sections on the manner of this oversight and the motives to it. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mchungaji AliyerekebishwaThe Reformed Pastor
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Matendo 20:28Acts 20:28
Richard BaxterRichard Baxter

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Katika somo la kwanza Baxter aliwaambia wachungaji wajichunge wenyewe. Sasa anageukia kundi. Tayari ameeleza kazi inajumuisha nini: kuwaongoa wasioongoka, kuwajenga waumini, utunzaji wa familia, kuwatembelea wagonjwa, na nidhamu ya kanisa. Katika sehemu hizi anauliza maswali mawili zaidi. Kazi hii lazima ifanywe kwa roho gani? Na kwa nini tuifanye kabisa? Majibu yake yametoka kwenye uzoefu mrefu katika parokia ya mji wenye shughuli nyingi. A word before you read. In the first reading Baxter told pastors to watch over themselves. Now he turns to the flock. He has already described what the work includes: converting the unconverted, building up believers, family care, visiting the sick, and church discipline. In these sections he asks two further questions. In what spirit must this work be done? And why should we do it at all? His answers come from long experience in a busy town parish.

1.Mapokeo ya Wachungaji Waaminifu1.A Tradition of Faithful Shepherds

Baxter hakuvumbua utunzaji wa kichungaji wa Wapuritani. Aliurithi. Kwa vizazi viwili Wapuritani wa Kiingereza walikuwa wameandika juu ya kazi ya mhudumu. William Perkins wa Cambridge, katika The Art of Prophesying (1592), aliwafundisha wahubiri kueleza andiko, kutoa fundisho lake, na kulitumia wazi kwa wasikilizaji. Richard Greenham, mchungaji wa kijiji karibu na Cambridge, alijulikana kwa ushauri wa subira kwa dhamiri zenye shida. The Faithful Shepherd ya Richard Bernard (1607) ilitoa mwongozo kamili kwa wahudumu wa parokia. Nyuma yao wote walisimama Warekebishaji. John Calvin alikuwa amepanga Geneva ili wachungaji na wazee wawatembelee washirika majumbani kabla ya Meza ya Bwana, na Martin Bucer alikuwa ameandika juu ya utunzaji wa kweli wa nafsi. Alichoongeza Baxter ni uharaka mpya na mpango unaowezekana. Katika Worcestershire, wahudumu wa imani mbalimbali walikuwa wameunda chama cha kukubaliana juu ya nidhamu na kusaidiana. Sasa, mwaka 1655, walikubaliana kufanya katekesi kwa kila familia. The Reformed Pastor iliandikwa ili kuufanya makubaliano hayo yadumu. Unaposoma alama kumi na tano zilizo hapa chini, zingatia kwamba Baxter anasema kama mchungaji mmoja kwa wengine. Anajijumuisha katika kila onyo, na anaandika kutoka ndani ya kazi, si kutoka chumba cha kusomea mbali.Baxter did not invent Puritan pastoral care. He inherited it. For two generations English Puritans had written about the work of the minister. William Perkins of Cambridge, in The Art of Prophesying (1592), taught preachers to explain a text, draw out its doctrine, and apply it plainly to the hearers. Richard Greenham, a village pastor near Cambridge, became famous for patient counsel to troubled consciences. Richard Bernard’s The Faithful Shepherd (1607) offered a full handbook for parish ministers. Behind them all stood the Reformers. John Calvin had organized Geneva so that pastors and elders visited homes before the Lord’s Supper, and Martin Bucer had written on the true care of souls. What Baxter added was a fresh urgency and a workable plan. In Worcestershire, ministers of different convictions had formed an association to agree on discipline and to support one another. Now, in 1655, they agreed to catechize every family. The Reformed Pastor was written to make that agreement stick. As you read the fifteen marks below, notice that Baxter speaks as one pastor to others. He includes himself in every warning, and he writes from inside the work, not from a study far away.

2.Malengo Safi na Kazi Ngumu2.Pure Aims and Hard Labor

Kwanza, kazi lazima ifanywe "kwa ajili ya Mungu tu na wokovu wa nafsi." Lengo lisilo sahihi huharibu hata kazi njema. Wale wanaoingia katika huduma kwa ajili ya kupata riziki tu, asema Baxter, "wamechagua biashara mbaya, ingawa ni ajira njema." Kujikana nafsi ni lazima kwa kila Mkristo, lakini maradufu kwa mhudumu. Hata masomo magumu na kuhubiri bora, yakifanywa kwa sababu zisizo sahihi, huwa "dhambi ya unafiki yenye utukufu zaidi tu." Anamnukuu Bernard wa Clairvaux, mtawa wa zama za kati, juu ya makusudi ya kujifunza: wengine hutafuta maarifa kwa udadisi, wengine kuyauza, wengine kwa sifa, lakini wengine ili kuwajenga wengine, na hilo lasifika. Pili, kazi lazima ifanywe kwa bidii. Wachungaji wanapigana kuokoa nafsi na uharibifu na kusimamisha ufalme wa Kristo. Kazi kama hiyo haiwezi kufanywa "kwa akili isiyojali, au mkono mvivu." Shauri la Baxter kwa wanafunzi linajulikana sana: "Someni kwa bidii, kwa maana kisima ni kirefu, na akili zetu ni fupi." Hata hivyo anasisitiza zaidi juu ya kutenda tunayoyajua. Anamaliza hoja hii kwa sentensi ya imani ambayo kila mchungaji aliyechoka anaihitaji: "Hakuna mtu aliyewahi kupata hasara kwa Mungu."First, the work must be done “purely for God and the salvation of souls.” A wrong aim spoils even good work. Those who enter the ministry simply to earn a living, Baxter says, “have chosen a bad trade, though a good employment.” Self-denial is necessary for every Christian, but doubly so for a minister. Even hard study and excellent preaching, if done for the wrong reasons, become only “more glorious hypocritical sinning.” He quotes Bernard of Clairvaux, the medieval monk, on the motives of learning: some seek knowledge out of curiosity, some to sell it, some for reputation, but some to edify others, and that is praiseworthy. Second, the work must be done diligently. Pastors are fighting to save souls from ruin and to set up the kingdom of Christ. Such work cannot be done “with a careless mind, or a lazy hand.” Baxter’s advice to students is famous: “Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow.” Yet he presses harder still on the practice of what we know. He ends this point with a sentence of faith that every tired pastor needs: “No man was ever a loser by God.”

3.Mambo ya Kwanza Kwanza3.First Things First

Tatu, kazi lazima ifanywe kwa busara na utaratibu. Maziwa huja kabla ya chakula kigumu, na misingi kabla ya ghorofa za juu. Watu lazima waletwe kwenye imani kabla hatujatarajia matunda ya imani. Uongofu, toba na imani kwa Kristo lazima vifundishwe "kwanza na mara kwa mara na kikamilifu." Nne, wachungaji lazima wasisitize hasa kweli kuu na zenye uhakika zaidi. Baxter analisema kwa uzuri: "Tukiweza kuwafundisha watu wetu Kristo tu, tutakuwa tumewafundisha yote." Anakiri kwamba hitaji la lazima limeongoza masomo yake mwenyewe. Huchagua kitabu anachosoma, andiko analohubiri na jinsi anavyohubiri. Sehemu ya sababu ilikuwa ugonjwa wake wa daima na kutarajia kifo, lakini anaamini kila mchungaji mwenye afya anapaswa pia kuhakikisha mambo ya lazima kwanza, kwa sababu maisha ni mafupi kwa kila mtu. Hii inamaanisha mhubiri lazima mara nyingi arudi kwenye mada zilezile, "kwa sababu mambo ya lazima ni machache." Anapaswa kuvika kweli za zamani lugha mpya, lakini asifuate mambo mapya ili kuwapendeza wasikilizaji. Baxter anaona kwamba juzuu kubwa za mabishano kwa kawaida zina maoni zaidi kuliko kweli za lazima. Mchungaji mwenye hekima anakijua kundi lake na kuwapa kile wanachohitaji zaidi.Third, the work must be done prudently and in order. Milk comes before strong meat, and foundations before upper floors. People must be brought to faith before we can expect the fruits of faith. Conversion, repentance and faith in Christ must be taught “first and frequently and thoroughly.” Fourth, pastors must insist chiefly on the greatest and most certain truths. Baxter puts it beautifully: “If we can but teach Christ to our people, we shall teach them all.” He confesses that necessity has governed his own studies. It chooses which book he reads, which text he preaches and how he preaches it. Part of the reason was his constant illness and expectation of death, but he believes every healthy pastor should also make sure of necessary things first, because life is short for everyone. This means a preacher must often return to the same themes, “because the matters of necessity are few.” He should clothe old truths in fresh language, but he must not chase novelties to please hearers. Baxter observes that great volumes of controversy usually consist more of opinions than of necessary truths. A wise pastor knows his flock and gives them what they most need.

4.Wazi, Mnyenyekevu na kwa Bidii4.Plain, Humble and in Earnest

Tano, mafundisho lazima yawe wazi kadiri iwezekanavyo. "Kweli hupenda nuru," anaandika Baxter, "na ni nzuri zaidi inapokuwa wazi kabisa." Analinganisha mahubiri yasiyoeleweka na kioo kilichopakwa rangi dirishani, kinachozuia nuru. Kama hutaki kuwafundisha watu, uko mimbarini kwa ajili ya nini? Na kama unataka, kwa nini hausemi ili waelewe? Mtu asiyeweza kueleza jambo wazi huenda hajalimeng'enya mwenyewe. Sita, kazi lazima ifanywe kwa unyenyekevu. Mchungaji awe tayari kujifunza kutoka kwa yeyote awezaye kumfundisha. Kiburi, asema Baxter, "kinalisha dhambi zetu nyingine zote" na husababisha wivu na ugomvi miongoni mwa wahudumu. Hata cheo "mhudumu" kinamaanisha mtumishi. Saba, lazima kuwe na mchanganyiko wa busara wa ukali na upole, unaofaa kwa kila mtu na kesi. Upole wote hufanya karipio lisiwe na thamani; ukali wote humfanya mchungaji aonekane dhalimu. Nane, kazi lazima iwe ya uzito na ya bidii. Baxter anataka kuhubiri kulikowazi hata wajinga zaidi waelewe, kwa uzito hata mioyo iliyokufa ihisi, na kwa kushawishi hata wapinzani wanyamazishwe. "Kusema kwa wepesi na kwa baridi juu ya mambo ya mbinguni," anaonya, ni karibu mbaya kama kutosema chochote.Fifth, teaching must be as plain as possible. “Truth loves the light,” Baxter writes, “and is most beautiful when most naked.” He compares obscure sermons to painted glass in a window, which keeps out the light. If you do not want to teach people, why are you in the pulpit? And if you do, why not speak so they can understand? A man who cannot explain a matter plainly has probably not digested it himself. Sixth, the work must be done with humility. A pastor should be ready to learn from anyone who can teach him. Pride, Baxter says, “feedeth all the rest of our sins” and causes the envy and quarreling among ministers. Even the title “minister” means servant. Seventh, there must be a wise mixture of severity and mildness, suited to each person and case. All mildness makes rebukes worthless; all severity makes the pastor look like a tyrant. Eighth, the work must be serious and earnest. Baxter wants preaching so plain that the most ignorant may understand, so serious that the deadest hearts may feel, and so convincing that objectors are silenced. “To speak slightly and coldly of heavenly things,” he warns, is nearly as bad as saying nothing at all.

5.Upendo, Uvumilivu, Heshima na Maombi5.Love, Patience, Reverence and Prayer

Tisa, huduma yote lazima iendeshwe "kwa upendo mororo kwa watu wetu." Mchungaji anapaswa kuwahisi kama baba anavyowahisi watoto wake, na hata upendo wa mama haupaswi kumpita. Watu wanapoona kwamba mchungaji wao anawapenda kweli, "watasikia lolote na kuvumilia lolote" kutoka kwake. Hata hivyo upendo haufumbii macho dhambi. Wazazi huwarudi watoto wao, na Mungu huwatia nidhamu kila mwana anayempokea. Kumi, kazi inahitaji uvumilivu. Kama tabibu ambaye mgonjwa wake mwenye homa anamtukana, mchungaji hapaswi kuacha kupona kwake kwa sababu ya maneno magumu. Kumi na moja, kazi lazima ifanywe kwa heshima, kama mbele ya uso wa Mungu. Baxter hapendi kuhubiri kunakolenga kuwafanya watu wacheke kama michezo ya jukwaani. Kumi na mbili, lazima iwe ya kiroho, ikichota ushahidi wake kutoka Maandiko badala ya wanafalsafa. Kumi na tatu, wachungaji wanapaswa kutamani mafanikio. Tabibu haridhiki kutoa dawa huku kila mgonjwa anakufa. Mhudumu mwaminifu aweza kupata faraja pale matunda yanapokosekana, lakini kama alitamani matunda kweli tu. Kumi na nne, yote yanategemea Kristo. "Yeye hahubiri kwa moyo kwa watu wake," anaandika Baxter, "asiyewaombea kwa bidii." Tusipofaulu kwa Mungu kwa ajili yao, hatutafaulu kwao kwa ajili ya Mungu.Ninth, all ministry must be carried on “in tender love to our people.” A pastor should feel toward them as a father toward his children, and even a mother’s love must not surpass his. When people see that their pastor truly loves them, “they will hear any thing and bear any thing” from him. Yet love does not wink at sin. Parents correct their children, and God disciplines every son he receives. Tenth, the work requires patience. Like a physician whose feverish patient insults him, the pastor must not abandon the cure because of hard words. Eleventh, the work must be done reverently, as before the face of God. Baxter dislikes preaching that aims to make people laugh like a stage play. Twelfth, it must be spiritual, drawing its proofs from Scripture rather than from philosophers. Thirteenth, pastors should long for success. A physician is not content to give medicine while every patient dies. A faithful minister may find comfort when fruit is lacking, but only if he truly wanted the fruit. Fourteenth, all depends on Christ. “He preacheth not heartily to his people,” Baxter writes, “that prayeth not earnestly for them.” If we do not prevail with God for them, we will not prevail with them for God.

6.Wapatanishi Miongoni mwa Wachungaji6.Peacemakers Among the Pastors

Alama ya kumi na tano inahusu wahudumu pamoja. Lazima "wawe na bidii sana kwa umoja na ushirika" miongoni mwao wenyewe, na wafanye kazi kuponya mgawanyiko katika kanisa. Baxter aliandika baada ya miaka ya vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe na ugomvi mkali wa kidini, naye alihuzunika kwamba Walutheri, Wakalvini na vyama vya Kiingereza vilikuwa vimetendeana kama maadui. Tiba yake ni kukaa karibu na imani rahisi ya Kikristo na utoshelevu wa Maandiko. Wachungaji lazima wajifunze kutofautisha "mambo ya lazima na yasiyo ya lazima, kweli za kanisa lote na maoni ya faragha," na kuweka amani ya kanisa juu ya ya kwanza. Kwa "catholic" Baxter anamaanisha ya ulimwengu wote, imani inayoshikwa na Wakristo wote wa kweli, si Kanisa Katoliki la Roma. Anataka wahudumu wakutane mara kwa mara, kama Chama cha Worcestershire kilivyofanya, naye anaona matumizi sahihi ya sinodi kama mashauriano na msaada wa pande zote, "si kutawalana." Wapresbiteri watagundua kwamba makanisa yao wenyewe yanatoa mabaraza ya wazee na sinodi mamlaka ya kweli, na wachungaji wengi wa Kirekebisho wamedhani Baxter alikuwa legevu mno hapa. Hata hivyo, roho yake ina mengi ya kufundisha. Mchungaji anayekataa kuvunja ushirika kwa mambo madogo, huku akishikilia injili kwa uthabiti, anafuata silika bora ya Baxter. Katika eneo kama letu, ambapo makanisa mengi hufanya kazi bega kwa bega, silika hiyo inahitajika sana.The fifteenth mark concerns ministers together. They must be “very studious of union and communion” among themselves and work to heal divisions in the church. Baxter wrote after years of civil war and fierce religious quarrels, and he grieved that Lutherans, Calvinists and the English parties had treated one another as enemies. His remedy is to keep close to the simple Christian faith and to the sufficiency of Scripture. Pastors must learn to distinguish “necessaries and unnecessaries, catholic verities and private opinions,” and rest the church’s peace on the first. By “catholic” Baxter means universal, the faith held by all true Christians, not the Roman Catholic Church. He wants ministers to meet regularly, as the Worcestershire Association did, and he sees the proper use of synods as consultation and mutual help, “not to rule over one another.” Presbyterians will notice that their own churches give presbyteries and synods real authority, and many Reformed pastors have thought Baxter too loose here. Still, his spirit has much to teach. The pastor who refuses to break fellowship over lesser matters, while holding firmly to the gospel, follows Baxter’s best instinct. In a region like ours, where many churches work side by side, that instinct is badly needed.

7.Kwa Nini Kujitunza? Sababu Nne kutoka kwenye Andiko7.Why Take Heed? Four Motives from the Text

Baxter anatoa sababu nne moja kwa moja kutoka Matendo 20:28. Kwanza, sisi ni waangalizi. Cheo cha askofu kinaongea zaidi juu ya kazi kuliko heshima; mchungaji ni "kiongozi wa wenye dhambi kwenda mbinguni," akiwaongoza askari wa Kristo dhidi ya adui mjanja, mwangalifu. Tulichukua dhamana hii kwa hiari, na uaminifu wa kawaida unatufunga kuitunza. Baxter anaona kwa huzuni kwamba wahudumu hugombana juu ya cheo, lakini mara chache juu ya "nani atakayeenda kwanza kwenye kibanda cha maskini" kufundisha familia yake. Pili, Roho Mtakatifu alitufanya waangalizi, kwa kutoa karama, kuwaongoza wanaoweka wakfu, na kutuweka katika dhamana mahususi. Wito kutoka mbinguni hauwezi kutotiiwa. Tatu, tunalichunga kanisa la Mungu, mwili wa Kristo, ambamo malaika hutumikia. Nne, lilinunuliwa kwa damu ya Kristo mwenyewe. Baxter ananukuu mwandishi wa kale: kama Kristo angeacha kijiko kimoja tu cha damu yake katika glasi dhaifu, tungeitunza kwa uangalifu jinsi gani. Kisha anamfikiria Kristo akisema na mchungaji asiyejali: "Je, nilikufa kwa ajili ya nafsi hizi, nawe hutazitazama?" Mchungaji leo anachukua kutoka somo hili kipimo na sababu. Kipimo ni alama kumi na tano za kazi ya uaminifu. Sababu ni damu ya Kristo.Baxter draws four motives straight from Acts 20:28. First, we are overseers. A bishop’s title speaks more of labor than of honor; a pastor is “the guide of sinners to heaven,” leading Christ’s soldiers against a subtle, watchful enemy. We took this charge freely, and common honesty binds us to keep it. Baxter notes sadly that ministers quarrel over rank, but seldom over “who shall go first to a poor man’s cottage” to teach his family. Second, the Holy Spirit made us overseers, by giving gifts, guiding those who ordain, and fixing us in a particular charge. A call from heaven must not be disobeyed. Third, we oversee the church of God, the body of Christ, among whom angels minister. Fourth, it was bought with Christ’s own blood. Baxter quotes an ancient writer: if Christ had left just one spoonful of his blood in a fragile glass, how carefully we would guard it. Then he imagines Christ speaking to the careless pastor: “Did I die for these souls, and wilt not thou look after them?” A pastor today takes from this reading both a standard and a reason. The standard is fifteen marks of faithful work. The reason is the blood of Christ.

8.Kuuweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni ipi kati ya alama kumi na tano za Baxter iliyo na nguvu zaidi katika huduma yako, na ipi dhaifu zaidi? Je, unahubiri "mambo ya lazima" mara nyingi vya kutosha, au unafuata mambo mapya? Je, watu wako wanaweza kuona kwamba unawapenda? Ni lini mara ya mwisho ulipoenda kwanza kwenye nyumba ya familia maskini kuwafundisha? Na unapotazama kusanyiko lako, je, unakumbuka kwamba Kristo aliwanunua kwa damu yake mwenyewe? For reflection. Which of Baxter’s fifteen marks is strongest in your ministry, and which is weakest? Do you preach the “matters of necessity” often enough, or do you chase novelty? Can your people see that you love them? When did you last go first to a poor family’s home to teach them? And when you look at your congregation, do you remember that Christ bought them with his own blood?

Chagua

Somo la 3 · Humility and Repentance

Lying in the Dust

A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Gildas Salvianus, 1656), application, “The Use of Humiliation” (first part, excerpt); public CCEL transcription of a nineteenth-century edition

On a day of fasting and humiliation, Baxter first thanks God for England’s new generation of faithful ministers, then confesses their sins with his own name first: pride that writes and preaches our sermons, envy of other pastors, opinions defended like little popes, drowsy preaching, neglect of needy neighbors, and the love of money.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Kulala Mavumbini: Ungamo la Baxter la Dhambi za WachungajiLying in the Dust: Baxter’s Confession of the Pastors’ Sins

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — mwanzo wa "matumizi ya kujinyenyekeza" ya Baxter, ambapo anataja kiburi, uzembe na kupenda dunia kama dhambi zinazowazonga wahudumu.A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the opening of Baxter’s “use of humiliation,” where he names pride, negligence and worldliness as the besetting sins of ministers

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), matumizi, "Matumizi ya Kujinyenyekeza" (sehemu ya kwanza ya sehemu hiyo, kama ilivyochaguliwa kwa kozi hii). Asili iko katika uwanja wa umma; nukuu fupi zilizo hapa chini zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), the application, “The Use of Humiliation” (the first part of the section, as excerpted for this course). The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mchungaji AliyerekebishwaThe Reformed Pastor
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Toba ya kichungajiPastoral repentance
Richard BaxterRichard Baxter

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Kumbuka mazingira. Kitabu cha Baxter kilitokana na mahubiri ya siku ya kufunga na kujinyenyekeza, wachungaji wa Worcestershire walipokusanyika kuungama kushindwa kwao kabla ya kuanza kazi mpya. Somo hili ni ungamo lake kwa niaba yao wote, naye anaweka jina lake mwenyewe kwanza kwenye orodha. Ni dawa kali. Lisome polepole, na uache lichunguze nafsi yako kabla ya kulitumia kwa mtu mwingine yeyote. A word before you read. Remember the setting. Baxter’s book grew out of a sermon for a day of fasting and humiliation, when the pastors of Worcestershire gathered to confess their failures before beginning a new work. This reading is his confession on behalf of them all, and he puts his own name first on the list. It is strong medicine. Read it slowly, and let it search you before you apply it to anyone else.

1.Siku ya Kujinyenyekeza1.A Day of Humiliation

Siku za kufunga na kujinyenyekeza zilikuwa sehemu ya kawaida ya maisha ya kanisa la Wapuritani. Taifa lilipokabili vita au tauni, au kusanyiko lilipoanza kazi mpya, wahudumu na watu walitenga siku ya kuungama dhambi, kuomba, na kutafuta msaada wa Mungu. Baxter anaanza kwa mtindo huo: "shughuli yetu hapa leo ni kunyenyekeza nafsi zetu mbele za Bwana." Anahoji kwamba Mungu hatatusaidia katika wajibu wa baadaye isipokuwa kwanza atunyenyekeze kwa dhambi ya zamani. Huzuni peke yake haihakikishi badiliko, lakini badiliko la kweli halikuji bila huzuni fulani. Kisha anaonyesha viwango viwili vya kawaida. Wachungaji hujitahidi kuwaleta watu wao kwenye machozi ya toba huku macho yao wenyewe yakibaki makavu. Hutenda kana kwamba sehemu yao ni kuita toba na sehemu ya wasikilizaji ni kutubu. Maandiko yanaonyesha mtindo mwingine. Ezra alilia na kuungama dhambi za makuhani pamoja na za watu, na Danieli aliungama dhambi yake mwenyewe pamoja na ya taifa. Baxter anasema mhudumu yeyote anayelinganisha maisha yake na agizo la Paulo katika Matendo 20 lazima awe na moyo mgumu kweli asipo "yeyuka chini ya utambuzi wa upuuzi wake." Wachungaji wengi huamini katika kuungama. Swali ni kama "mioyo yetu si ya kiorthodoksi kama vichwa vyetu."Days of fasting and humiliation were a regular part of Puritan church life. When a nation faced war or plague, or when a congregation began a new work, ministers and people set aside a day to confess sin, to pray, and to seek God’s help. Baxter opens on that note: “our business here this day is to humble our souls before the Lord.” He reasons that God will not help us in future duty unless he first humbles us for past sin. Sorrow alone does not guarantee change, but real change never comes without some sorrow. Then he points out a common double standard. Pastors labor to bring their people to tears of repentance while their own eyes stay dry. They behave as if their part is to call for repentance and the hearers’ part is to repent. Scripture shows another pattern. Ezra wept and confessed the sins of the priests as well as of the people, and Daniel confessed his own sin with the nation’s. Baxter says that any minister who compares his life with Paul’s charge in Acts 20 must be hard-hearted indeed if he does not “melt under a sense of his neglects.” Most pastors believe in confession. The question is whether “our hearts are not as orthodox as our heads.”

2.Shukrani Kabla ya Ungamo2.Thanksgiving Before Confession

Kabla hajaorodhesha dhambi zozote, Baxter anashukuru. Hili latuambia kitu juu ya roho yake. Uingereza katika miaka ya 1650 ilitawaliwa na Ulinzi wa Oliver Cromwell baada ya Vita vya Wenyewe kwa Wenyewe. Kamati zilikuwa zimewachunguza wahudumu wapya na kuwaondoa wengi waliokuwa wajinga au wa kashfa, na kizazi cha wahubiri wenye bidii kilikuwa kinajaza mimbari. Baxter anatangaza kwamba Uingereza haijawahi kuwa na "huduma yenye uwezo na uaminifu hivi tangu ilipokuwa taifa." Anafurahi hasa katika wachungaji wa Worcestershire, ambao ushirika wao wa kindugu anauita "rehema ya kustaajabisha." Baadhi ya wasomaji wake, waliotaka maaskofu watawale kanisa, hawakupenda wahudumu hao wapya. Baxter anajibu kwamba angefurahia kazi yao hata kama yeye mwenyewe angeshikilia mtazamo wao wa uongozi wa kanisa. Je, amwonee wivu nafsi "mkate wa uzima, kwa sababu unamegwa kwao na mkono" usio na kibali cha askofu? Hapa tunaona roho ya kanisa lote ya Chama cha Worcestershire. Wachungaji waliotofautiana juu ya utaratibu wa kanisa bado waliweza kumshukuru Mungu kwa matunda ya wenzao. Baada ya shukrani hii tu ndipo Baxter anageukia ungamo. Anafanya hivyo, asema, si kuiaibisha huduma ya uchungaji, bali kufichua dhambi za wanaoishikilia.Before he lists any sins, Baxter gives thanks. This tells us something about his spirit. England in the 1650s was governed by Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate after the Civil War. Committees had examined new ministers and removed many who were ignorant or scandalous, and a generation of earnest preachers was filling the pulpits. Baxter declares that England never had “so able and faithful a ministry since it was a nation.” He rejoices especially in the pastors of Worcestershire, whose brotherly fellowship he calls an “admirable mercy.” Some of his readers, who wanted bishops to govern the church, disliked the new ministers. Baxter answers that he would rejoice in their work even if he himself held their view of church government. Should he envy souls “the bread of life, because it is broken to them by a hand” that lacked a bishop’s approval? Here we see the catholic spirit of the Worcestershire Association. Pastors who differed on church order could still thank God for one another’s fruit. Only after this thanksgiving does Baxter turn to confession. He does so, he says, not to shame the office of minister, but to expose the sins of those who hold it.

3.Kiburi katika Chumba cha Kusomea na Mimbarini3.Pride in the Study and the Pulpit

Dhambi ya kwanza na mbaya zaidi ni kiburi. Baxter anakiita "mwenzi wa daima," "kamanda wa kidhalimu," na "adui mjanja mwenye kuingia kwa hila." Huenda na wahudumu kwa fundi cherehani na kuchagua nguo zao. Mbaya zaidi, huenda nao chumbani pa kusomea. Huchagua mada ya mahubiri na, mara nyingi zaidi, maneno yake na mapambo yake. Mungu anatuamuru tuwe wazi ili wajinga waelewe, lakini kiburi huleta "vitu vyake vya kuchezea na vya bure." Katika picha ya wazi, kiburi "hutushawishi kupaka rangi dirisha, ili lififishe nuru." Andiko linapokuwa kali na lenye kukata, kiburi hunoa ukingo wake. Mungu anapotuambia tuwasihi wenye dhambi kama kwa ajili ya uhai wao, kiburi hunong'ona, "Je, utafanya watu wadhani una kichaa?" Kisha huenda nasi mimbarini, huumba sauti yetu, na hutufanya tuepuke yanayoweza kuchukiza. Mwishowe hurudi nyumbani nasi baada ya mahubiri. Hutufanya tuwe na hamu zaidi ya kujua kama tulisifiwa kuliko kama nafsi zilisaidiwa. Hitimisho la Baxter linatisha: "kile kiburi kinachotengeneza, ibilisi anakitengeneza." Maudhui ya mahubiri yaweza kuwa kutoka kwa Mungu, lakini kama namna yake na lengo lake ni kutoka kwa kiburi, hatuna sababu nyingi ya kutarajia baraka.The first and worst sin is pride. Baxter calls it “a constant companion,” “a tyrannical commander,” and “a sly and subtle insinuating enemy.” It goes with ministers to the tailor and chooses their clothes. Worse, it goes with them into the study. It chooses the subject of the sermon and, more often, its words and ornaments. God commands us to be plain so the ignorant can understand, but pride brings out its “toys and trifles.” In a vivid image, pride “persuadeth us to paint the window, that it may dim the light.” When a passage is sharp and cutting, pride files off the edge. When God tells us to plead with sinners as for their lives, pride whispers, “Will you make people think you are mad?” Then it goes with us into the pulpit, shapes our tone, and makes us avoid what might displease. Finally it goes home with us after the sermon. It makes us more eager to know whether we were applauded than whether souls were helped. Baxter’s conclusion is frightening: “what pride makes, the devil makes.” The content of the sermon may be from God, but if its manner and aim are from pride, we have little reason to expect a blessing.

4.Wivu na Mapapa Wadogo4.Envy and Little Popes

Kiburi pia hujionyesha katika wivu. Baxter ana aibu kusema hivyo juu ya wahudumu wacha Mungu, lakini wengine huchukia karama za ndugu zao kana kwamba kila sifa inayopewa mwingine imeibiwa kutoka kwao. Wanadokeza makosa wasiyoweza kuyathibitisha. Wengine hukataa kumruhusu mhubiri mwenye karama zaidi kuingia mimbarini mwao. Katika miji mikubwa inayohitaji wahudumu kadhaa, wachungaji wawili wa uwezo sawa mara chache hufanya kazi pamoja kwa amani. Hata hivyo kila Mkristo ni wa mwili mmoja wa Kristo, na kila kiungo hufaidika na karama za wengine, kama mguu unavyofaidika na jicho. Je, mfanyakazi atamchukia mwingine kwa kumsaidia kazi ya bwana wake? Kiburi pia huwafanya wahudumu kuchukulia maoni yao kama kweli ya Mungu. "Tunapopinga ukamilifu wa Papa," anaandika Baxter, "wengi mno wetu wangetaka kuwa mapapa wenyewe." Mtu akikanusha hoja zao, wanahisi wameshambuliwa binafsi, na jina maarufu linakuwa ngome kwa makosa ya mmiliki wake. Wanatarajia walevi na wapenda dunia wapokee karipio butu kwa shukrani, hata hivyo wao wenyewe hawawezi kupokea marekebisho laini. Baxter hawahukumu wahudumu wote. Anamshukuru Mungu kwa wale walio "mashuhuri kwa unyenyekevu na upole." Lakini anamhimiza kila mchungaji kuchunguza moyo wake mwenyewe.Pride also shows itself in envy. Baxter is ashamed to say it of godly ministers, but some resent the gifts of their brothers as if every compliment given to another were stolen from themselves. They hint at faults they cannot prove. Some refuse to let a more gifted preacher into their pulpits. In large towns that need several ministers, two pastors of equal ability can rarely work together in peace. Yet every Christian belongs to the one body of Christ, and every member benefits from the gifts of the others, as the foot benefits from the eye. Will a workman hate another for helping him with his master’s work? Pride also makes ministers treat their opinions as if they were God’s truth. “While we cry down papal infallibility,” Baxter writes, “too many of us would be popes ourselves.” When someone refutes their arguments, they feel personally attacked, and a famous name becomes a fortress for its owner’s mistakes. They expect drunkards and worldlings to receive blunt rebukes with thanks, yet they themselves can barely receive a gentle correction. Baxter does not condemn every minister. He thanks God for those who are “eminent for humility and meekness.” But he urges each pastor to search his own heart.

5.Tiba: Kujifunza kutoka kwa Kristo Mnyenyekevu5.The Cure: Learning from the Lowly Christ

Kiburi kinawezaje kushindwa? Baxter kwanza anaonyesha asili yake ya kweli. Kiburi ni dhambi ya mashetani, "mzaliwa wa kwanza wa kuzimu." Injili imeundwa kutunyenyekeza, na neema huanza na kukua katika unyenyekevu. "Unyenyekevu si pambo tu la Mkristo, bali ni sehemu muhimu ya kiumbe kipya." Kristo anawaita wanafunzi wake wajifunze kutoka kwake, kwa kuwa yeye ni mpole na mnyenyekevu. Je, tunaweza kumtazama akiwaosha wanafunzi wake miguu, na bado kuwa na kiburi? Baxter analigeuza hili kuwa swali la kivitendo: je, wachungaji hupatikana mara nyingi zaidi katika nyumba za matajiri kuliko katika vibanda vya maskini? Kisha anaondoa kila msingi wa kiburi. Miili yetu itakuwa mavumbi upesi. Kiburi katika neema zetu huziharibu, kwa kuwa neema inajumuisha sana unyenyekevu. Na kama tunajua zaidi ya wengine, tunapaswa kujua vizuri kuliko wote jinsi tunavyojua kidogo. Kwa vyovyote mashetani wanajua zaidi yetu. Kazi ya mchungaji ni kufundisha unyenyekevu, na "mhubiri mwenye kiburi wa unyenyekevu ni angalau mtu anayejihukumu." Baxter anaongeza onyo kwa nyakati za uamsho. Utauwa unapostahiliwa, kiburi chaweza kujificha kama bidii. Sifa ya mtu mcha Mungu ni mtego mkubwa kama sifa ya msomi.How can pride be overcome? Baxter first shows its true nature. Pride is the sin of devils, “the first-born of hell.” The gospel is designed to humble us, and grace begins and grows in humility. “Humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature.” Christ calls his disciples to learn from him, for he is meek and lowly. Can we watch him wash his disciples’ feet and still be proud? Baxter turns this into a practical question: are pastors found more often in the houses of the wealthy than in the cottages of the poor? Then he takes away every ground of pride. Our bodies will soon be dust. Pride in our graces destroys them, since grace consists so much in humility. And if we know more than others, we should know better than anyone how little we know. In any case the devils know more than we do. A pastor’s task is to teach humility, and “a proud preacher of humility is at least a self-condemning man.” Baxter adds a warning for times of revival. When godliness is admired, pride may disguise itself as zeal. The fame of a godly man is as great a snare as the fame of a learned one.

6.Kuhubiri kwa Baridi na Majirani Waliopuuzwa6.Cold Preaching and Neglected Neighbors

Dhambi kuu ya pili ni uzembe. Wahudumu wengine husoma kiasi cha kutosha tu kutoa mahubiri, na hata hapo hukusanya "kweli chache uchi" bila kufikiri jinsi ya kuzibana moyoni. Wengi huhubiri bila uhai. "Tunasema kwa usingizi na kwa sauti ya chini hivyo," Baxter anaomboleza, "hata wenye dhambi walio usingizini hawawezi kusikia." Hataki kupiga kelele daima, ambako huwa cha kuchekesha, bali uzito wa daima. Kabla ya kwenda mimbarini, mchungaji lazima auamshe moyo wake mwenyewe, kwa maana "mhubiri aliye usingizini hawezi kuwaamsha wenye dhambi wenye usingizi." Baxter pia anaomba sauti ya kirafiki. Mhubiri aseme na kusanyiko kama angesema na mtu mmoja, si kama mwanafunzi anayesoma somo. Katika kuhubiri, asema, kuna "ushirika wa nafsi": nuru hupita kutoka ufahamu wetu hadi wao, na joto kutoka moyo wetu hadi wao. Kisha anapanua mtazamo. Mchungaji aliyejitoa atawajali maskini, makusanyiko yaliyopuuzwa yaliyomzunguka. Atawasaidia kupata wahudumu wenye uwezo na wakati mwingine ataenda kuhubiri kwa uongofu mahali pasipo na kuhubiri kwa kawaida. Hapa wasiwasi wa Baxter wa parokia unafunguka kuelekea utume. Upendo uleule unaotafuta mlango wa jirani lazima utafute pia kijiji kinachofuata.The second great sin is negligence. Some ministers study only enough to produce sermons, and even then they gather “a few naked truths” without thinking how to press them on the heart. Many preach without life. “We speak so drowsily and so softly,” Baxter laments, “that sleepy sinners cannot hear.” He does not want constant shouting, which becomes ridiculous, but constant seriousness. Before going to the pulpit, a pastor must awaken his own heart, because “a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners.” Baxter also asks for a familiar tone. A preacher should speak to the congregation as he would talk to one person, not like a schoolboy reciting a lesson. In preaching, he says, there is “a communion of souls”: light passes from our understanding to theirs, and warmth from our heart to theirs. Then he widens the view. A devoted pastor will care for the poor, neglected congregations around him. He will help them find able ministers and will sometimes go out to preach for conversion where there is no regular preaching. Here Baxter’s parish concern opens toward mission. The same love that seeks the next door must also seek the next village.

7.Kupenda Dunia na Kipimo cha Hisani7.Worldliness and the Test of Charity

Dhambi ya tatu ni kupenda faida ya kidunia. Baxter anataja wahudumu wanaoegemea daima upande wowote unaoweza kuwalipa, naye anaona kwamba makasisi wengi katika kila nchi hufuata dini ya watawala wao. Historia ingejaribu upesi maneno yake mwenyewe. Mwaka 1662, ufalme uliporudi, Sheria ya Umoja ililazimisha wahudumu kukubali Kitabu cha Sala kilichorudishwa na maaskofu. Baxter na wengine wapatao elfu mbili walikataa na kufukuzwa makanisani mwao. Baxter pia anamshambulia mhudumu anayeepuka nidhamu ya kanisa kwa sababu inaweza kumgharimu mapato yake, na mhudumu anayefanya mema machache kwa fedha zake. Kazi za hisani, asema, "huondoa chuki kwa nguvu zaidi" na kufungua mioyo kwa injili. Anawajibu wale wanaotoa udhuru wa familia zao kwa kueleza kwamba 1 Timotheo 5:8 inasema juu ya utunzaji wa sasa, si kujilimbikizia mali kwa warithi. Watoto wanapaswa kuelimishwa ili wapate riziki ya uaminifu, si kuachwa matajiri. Hata anajiuliza kama wahudumu wengine wangeweza kutumika vizuri zaidi bila kuoa, ingawa makanisa ya Kirekebisho hayajawahi kulitaka hili na Baxter mwenyewe aliolewa baadaye. Mchungaji leo anachukua kutoka somo hili kioo. Kiburi, uvivu na kupenda fedha bado ni hatari kuu za mhudumu, na ungamo lazima uanze na sisi wenyewe.The third sin is love of worldly advantage. Baxter names ministers who always side with whatever party can reward them, and he notes how most clergy in every country follow the religion of their rulers. History would soon test his own words. In 1662, after the monarchy returned, the Act of Uniformity forced ministers to accept the restored Prayer Book and bishops. Baxter and about two thousand others refused and were ejected from their churches. Baxter also attacks the minister who avoids church discipline because it might cost him his income, and the minister who does little good with his money. Works of charity, he says, “do most powerfully remove prejudice” and open hearts to the gospel. He answers those who plead their families by explaining that 1 Timothy 5:8 speaks of present care, not of building up wealth for heirs. Children should be educated to earn an honest living, not left rich. He even wonders whether some ministers could serve better unmarried, though Reformed churches have never required this and Baxter himself later married. A pastor today takes from this reading a mirror. Pride, laziness and love of money remain the minister’s great dangers, and confession must begin with ourselves.

8.Kuuweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Kiburi hukuendea wapi: chumbani pa kusomea, mimbarini, au nyumbani baada ya mahubiri? Je, unafurahi mhubiri mwingine anapokuwa na karama zaidi au kusifiwa zaidi kuliko wewe? Je, moyo wako ni wa kiorthodoksi kama kichwa chako? Je, unapatikana mara nyingi zaidi miongoni mwa wenye raha au miongoni mwa maskini? Na ni lini mara ya mwisho ulipoungama makosa yako mwenyewe ya huduma mbele ya Mungu, kwa uzito uleule unaouomba kwa watu wako? For reflection. Where does pride go with you: into the study, into the pulpit, or home after the sermon? Are you glad when another preacher is more gifted or more praised than you? Is your heart as orthodox as your head? Are you found more often among the comfortable or among the poor? And when did you last confess your own failures in ministry before God, with the same seriousness you ask of your people?

Chagua

Somo la 4 · Personal Catechizing

House by House

A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Gildas Salvianus, 1656), motives to the duty of personal catechizing, Article 1 (its benefits) and Article 2 (its difficulties); public CCEL transcription of a nineteenth-century edition

At Kidderminster Baxter and his colleagues met some 800 families one by one, two days every week. Here he lists what he hoped this would bring: conversions, firm foundations, better-understood sermons, pastors who know their people, a recovered view of the ministry, and blessing for future generations. He is also honest about the difficulties in pastors and people.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Nyumba kwa Nyumba: Baraka na Mizigo ya Katekesi ya Mtu Mmoja MmojaHouse by House: The Blessings and Burdens of Personal Catechizing

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — hoja ya Baxter ya kufundisha kila familia moja moja, pamoja na faida alizozitumaini na ugumu alioutarajia.A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — Baxter’s case for teaching every family one by one, with the benefits he hoped for and the difficulties he expected

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), sababu za wajibu wa katekesi ya mtu mmoja mmoja: Kifungu cha 1, kilichotokana na faida zake, na Kifungu cha 2, kilichotokana na ugumu wake. Asili iko katika uwanja wa umma; nukuu fupi zilizo hapa chini zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), the motives to the duty of personal catechizing: Article 1, drawn from its benefits, and Article 2, drawn from its difficulties. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mchungaji AliyerekebishwaThe Reformed Pastor
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
KatekesiCatechizing
Richard BaxterRichard Baxter

Neno kabla ya kusoma. "Kufanya katekesi" maana yake ni kufundisha kweli za msingi za imani kwa maswali na majibu, kwa kawaida kutoka kitabu kifupi kiitwacho katekisimu. Katika siku za Baxter hili lilifanywa zaidi na watoto kanisani. Baxter na wachungaji wenzake waliahidi jambo la ujasiri zaidi: kukutana na kila familia ya parokia zao, watu wazima wakiwemo, faraghani. Somo hili linatoa sababu zake. Zingatia furaha kiasi gani, na uhalisia kiasi gani, anaoleta kwenye kazi hii. A word before you read. To “catechize” means to teach the basic truths of the faith by questions and answers, usually from a short book called a catechism. In Baxter’s day this was mostly done with children in church. Baxter and his fellow pastors promised something bolder: to meet with every family of their parishes, adults included, in private. This reading gives his reasons. Notice how much joy, and how much realism, he brings to the task.

1.Mpango wa Kidderminster1.The Kidderminster Plan

Baxter anaanza kwa furaha: matarajio ya kazi hii "huruka moyo wangu kwa furaha." Anasisitiza kwamba si uvumbuzi mpya bali "urejesho wa kazi ya zamani ya huduma." Pia anaeleza jinsi ilivyofanya kazi katika parokia yake mwenyewe. Kidderminster ilikuwa na familia takriban 800. Baxter, msaidizi, na mhudumu wa tatu katika kanisa dogo la karibu walitenga siku mbili kamili kila juma, kuanzia asubuhi hadi usiku, kwa mafundisho ya faragha. Kila familia ilipokea nakala ya katekisimu fupi na kualikwa kuja wakati uliopangwa, kwa kawaida nyumbani kwa mhudumu. Huko, kwa takriban saa moja, mchungaji alisikiliza wakisoma, aliuliza walichoelewa, alieleza maana, na alisema wazi na kila mtu juu ya nafsi yake. Kwa familia zaidi ya kumi na tano kila juma, wahudumu waliweza kuona kila kaya mara moja tu kwa mwaka. Baxter anakubali gharama yake. Mahubiri yake yalipaswa kutayarishwa kwa wakati mchache, naye alihisi mzigo. Lakini hakukubali kuiacha kazi ya faragha, "ni kazi kubwa na ya lazima hivyo." Katika wasifu wake aliandika baadaye kwamba familia chache sana zilikataa kuja. Chama cha Worcestershire kilichapisha makubaliano yake ili wachungaji kote wilayani wafuate mpango uleule.Baxter opens with delight: the prospect of this work “makes my heart leap for joy.” He insists it is not a new invention but “the restoration of the ancient ministerial work.” He also describes how it worked in his own parish. Kidderminster had about 800 families. Baxter, an assistant, and a third minister at a nearby chapel set apart two whole days every week, from morning to night, for private instruction. Each family received a copy of a short catechism and was invited to come at an appointed time, usually to the minister’s house. There, for about an hour, the pastor listened as they recited, asked what they understood, explained the meaning, and spoke plainly to each person about his or her soul. With more than fifteen families a week, the ministers could see every household only once a year. Baxter admits the cost. His preaching had to be prepared in less time, and he felt the strain. But he would not give up the private work, “it is so great and necessary a work.” In his autobiography he later wrote that very few families refused to come. The Worcestershire Association published its agreement so that pastors throughout the county could follow the same plan.

2.Njia Yenye Matumaini ya Uongofu2.A Hopeful Means of Conversion

Faida ya kwanza ni uongofu. Baxter anaeleza kwamba uongofu una sehemu mbili: akili lazima ifahamishwe kweli za msingi, na mapenzi lazima yabadilishwe kwa nguvu ya kweli hizo. Katekesi ya mtu mmoja mmoja husaidia yote mawili. Katekisimu huweka muhtasari wa imani kwenye kumbukumbu. Watu wengine walidhihaki katekisimu kama taratibu tupu, lakini Baxter anajibu kwamba "maumbo haya ya maneno yenye afya" yana manufaa kwa kila mtu. Kisha mazungumzo ya binafsi yanamruhusu mchungaji kupima wanachoelewa watu na kuwaeleza. "Haya mawili yakiunganishwa," asema, umbo lililowekwa na maelezo wazi, yanatimiza zaidi kuliko kila moja peke yake. Mazungumzo ya faragha pia yanamruhusu mchungaji kusema moja kwa moja na hitaji la kila mtu. Kama nabii Nathani, aweza kumwambia mwenye dhambi, "Wewe ndiwe mtu huyo." Uzoefu wa Baxter ulikuwa kwamba watu wasioelewa chochote katika mahubiri wataelewa mazungumzo ya binafsi: "Wataelewa usemi wa kirafiki wale wasioelewa mahubiri." Mchungaji anasikia pingamizi zao, anagundua ni wapi Shetani ana mshiko mkubwa juu yao, na aweza kujibu moja kwa moja. Baxter anasema mara chache alizungumza kwa uzito na mtu yeyote faraghani bila kuona ishara fulani ya hatia. Kisha anasihi: ikiwa kuokoa nafsi kuna thamani ya kazi yenu, "inukeni na mfanye!"The first benefit is conversion. Baxter explains that conversion has two parts: the mind must be informed of the essential truths, and the will must be changed by the power of those truths. Personal catechizing helps with both. A catechism fixes the sum of the faith in the memory. Some people mocked catechisms as empty forms, but Baxter answers that these “forms of sound words” are useful to everyone. Then personal conversation lets the pastor test what people understand and explain it. “These two conjoined,” he says, a set form and a plain explanation, accomplish more than either alone. Private conference also lets the pastor speak directly to each person’s need. Like the prophet Nathan, he can say to the sinner, “Thou art the man.” Baxter’s experience was that people who understand nothing in a sermon will understand a personal talk: “They will understand a familiar speech, who understand not a sermon.” The pastor hears their objections, finds where Satan has most hold on them, and can answer directly. Baxter says he seldom spoke seriously with anyone in private without seeing some sign of conviction. Then he pleads: if saving souls is worth your labor, “up and be doing!”

3.Kujenga juu ya Msingi Imara3.Building on a Firm Foundation

Faida ya pili ni ujenzi wenye utaratibu wa waumini. "Neema hairuki," Baxter asema, kama asili isivyoruka. Kweli za baadaye zinategemea za awali, na Wakristo wengi huanguka kwa sababu hawakuimarishwa katika mambo ya msingi. Hata washirika wacha Mungu zaidi watafaidika kujifunza maneno hasa ya katekisimu. Tatu, katekesi hufanya kuhubiri hadharani kueleweke vizuri zaidi, kwa sababu sasa watu wanajua hoja kuu ambazo mhubiri hujenga juu yake. Nne, huufanya mchungaji afahamiane na watu wake. Umbali huzaa kutoelewana, wakati kufahamiana hufungua mioyo na kuwatia moyo watu walete mashaka yao. Tano, mchungaji anakuja kuijua hali ya kiroho ya kila mtu, ili aweze kuhubiri, kuonya, kufariji na kuomba kwa hekima zaidi. Kama vile mtu anayeomba kwa usahihi kwa ajili yake lazima ajue mahitaji yake mwenyewe, ndivyo mchungaji anayeomba kwa ajili ya wengine anapaswa kujua yao. Sita, inasaidia katika kukubali watu kwenye Meza ya Bwana. Katika makanisa ya Kirekebisho, wahudumu na wazee walitarajiwa kulinda Meza, wakiwachunguza wale waliokuja. Baxter anahoji kwamba mafundisho ya kawaida, ya kirafiki ya parokia nzima ni njia bora na isiyochukiza sana ya kujua utayari wa watu kuliko uchunguzi wa haraka kabla tu ya Ushirika. Hapa msomaji wa Kipresbiteri atatambua kazi ambayo wazee bado wanaifanya katika makanisa mengi.The second benefit is the orderly building up of believers. “Grace makes no leaps,” Baxter says, any more than nature. Later truths depend on earlier ones, and many Christians fall away because they were never settled in the basics. Even the godliest members will profit from learning the very words of a catechism. Third, catechizing makes public preaching better understood, because people now know the main points the preacher builds on. Fourth, it makes the pastor familiar with his people. Distance breeds misunderstanding, while familiarity opens hearts and encourages people to bring their doubts. Fifth, the pastor comes to know each person’s spiritual state, so he can preach, warn, comfort and pray more wisely. As a man who prays rightly for himself must know his own needs, so the pastor who prays for others should know theirs. Sixth, it helps with admission to the Lord’s Supper. In Reformed churches, ministers and elders were expected to guard the Table, examining those who came. Baxter argues that regular, friendly instruction of the whole parish is a better and less offensive way to know people’s readiness than a hurried examination just before Communion. Here a Presbyterian reader will recognize the work that elders still do in many churches.

4.Kurejesha Ofisi Nzima4.Recovering the Whole Office

Faida ya saba inaweza kuwa muhimu zaidi: katekesi itaonyesha mhudumu kweli ni nini. Watu wengi walidhani kazi ya mchungaji ni kuhubiri, kubatiza, kuendesha Meza ya Bwana na kuwatembelea wagonjwa tu. Wahudumu wengi walidhani vivyo hivyo. Baxter alihuzunika kwa wahubiri wenye karama waliokuwa na mamia ya watu ambao hawakuwahi kuwaambia neno la binafsi juu ya wokovu. Alitumaini kuishi kuona siku ambayo kupuuza "uangalizi wa kibinafsi wa faragha" kungehesabiwa kuwa kashfa kama kuhubiri mara moja tu Jumapili. Anatoa mifano ya kulinganisha. Mwalimu lazima ashughulike na kila mwanafunzi, na tabibu anayetoa mihadhara tu juu ya tiba hataponya mtu. Anakubali kwamba Waprotestanti walikuwa wamejibu kupita kiasi dhidi ya kuungama kwa kuhani wa Kirumi. Walikataa desturi hiyo, kwa haki kwa maoni yake, lakini kisha wakaacha utunzaji wote wa kibinafsi. Nane, kazi itawafundisha watu wajibu wao kwa wachungaji wao. Mhudumu alipowaalika wafanyiwe katekesi, wengine waliuliza kwa mamlaka gani anafanya hivyo. Baxter anajibu kwamba mamlaka ya mchungaji ni "uwezo wa kutimiza wajibu wetu" tu, na wajibu huo ni kwa wema wao. Ni kama kumwuliza mtu kwa mamlaka gani anazima moto nyumbani kwako. Kizuizi halisi, asema, ni desturi, na wachungaji ndio waliounda desturi hiyo.The seventh benefit may be the most important: catechizing will show what a minister really is. Many people thought a pastor’s job was only to preach, baptize, administer the Lord’s Supper and visit the sick. Many ministers thought the same. Baxter grieved over gifted preachers who had hundreds of people to whom they had never spoken a personal word about salvation. He hoped to live to see the day when neglecting “private personal oversight” would be thought as scandalous as preaching only once on Sunday. He offers comparisons. A schoolmaster must deal with each pupil, and a physician who only lectured on medicine would cure no one. He admits Protestants had overreacted against Roman confession to a priest. They rejected that practice, rightly in his view, but then abandoned all personal care. Eighth, the work will teach people their duty toward their pastors. When a minister invited them to be catechized, some asked by what authority he did it. Baxter answers that a pastor’s authority is only “a power to do our duty,” and that duty is for their good. It is like asking a man by what authority he puts out a fire in your house. The real obstacle, he says, is custom, and pastors created that custom.

5.Wachungaji Wachache kwa Kondoo Wengi5.Too Few Shepherds for So Many Sheep

Tisa, Baxter anatumaini kazi itawaonyesha watawala wa taifa ni wahudumu wangapi zaidi wanaohitajika. Katika miji mikubwa mtu mmoja au wawili walihudumia maelfu ya nafsi. Baxter anasema juu ya "njaa ya kiroho" mijini, hata pale watu walipodhani wamepewa vya kutosha. Wahudumu wengine walikuwa na parokia kubwa mno hata, kwa kasi yake, wangeweza kutembelea kila familia mara moja tu kwa miaka kumi. Wakati huo watu walikufa kabla ya mtu yeyote kusema nao binafsi juu ya nafsi zao. Baxter aliamini watawala wangetoa wachungaji zaidi wakiona wahudumu wakifanya kazi hii kweli na kuona ikizaa matunda. Kumi, kazi itasaidia vizazi vijavyo. Wale wanaovunja kwanza desturi mbaya lazima wabebe hasira ya watu, lakini kama kizazi hiki "kitavunja barafu," wafuasi wao watapata watu walio tayari kufundishwa. Kumi na moja, itaimarisha maisha ya familia na Siku ya Bwana. Baxter alitaka "wakuu wa familia" wawachunguze watoto na watumishi wao kila Jumapili, ili kaya ziwe shule ndogo za imani. Ulimwengu wake ulidhania kwamba baba aliongoza kaya. Leo mchungaji wa Kirekebisho atamtia moyo kila mzazi, mama na baba kwa pamoja, na kila mlezi, kufundisha imani nyumbani, na atakumbuka nyumba nyingi ambamo mzazi mmoja hubeba hili peke yake.Ninth, Baxter hopes the work will show the nation’s rulers how many more ministers are needed. In large towns one or two men served many thousands of souls. Baxter speaks of a “spiritual famine” in the cities, even where people thought themselves well supplied. Some ministers had parishes so large that, at his pace, they could visit every family only once in ten years. Meanwhile people died before anyone had spoken to them personally about their souls. Baxter believed rulers would provide more pastors if they saw ministers actually doing this work and saw it bear fruit. Tenth, the work will help future generations. Those who first break a bad custom must bear the people’s anger, but if this generation will “break the ice,” its successors will find people willing to be taught. Eleventh, it will strengthen family life and the Lord’s Day. Baxter wanted “masters of families” to examine their children and servants each Sunday, so that households would become little schools of faith. His world assumed that the father led the household. Today a Reformed pastor will encourage every parent, mother and father alike, and every guardian, to teach the faith at home, and will remember the many homes in which one parent carries this alone.

6.Baraka kwa Mchungaji na kwa Nchi6.Blessings for the Pastor and the Land

Baxter anaorodhesha faida zaidi. Kazi inaponya wahudumu uvivu na kupoteza wakati katika michezo na porojo. Inawasaidia kupigana na dhambi zao wenyewe, kwa kuwa ni vigumu kuweka dhambi unayotumia siku zako kuwahimiza wengine waiache. Baxter anadhani huduma hii hai inafanya zaidi kwa utakatifu kuliko mazoezi yote makali ya watawa na wafungwa wa upweke. Pia inawaondoa wachungaji na watu kutoka mabishano ya bure, kwa sababu wanashughulika na mambo ya msingi. Kisha Baxter anasema juu ya upana wa kazi. Inatolewa kwa kila mtu katika parokia, kwa sababu injili inatuamuru kumhubiri Kristo kwa kila kiumbe. Hapa anatoa maoni yake kwamba Mungu yuko tayari kuokoa wote watakaoamini, na kwamba Kristo "alionja mauti kwa ajili ya kila mtu." Wanatheolojia wengi wa Kirekebisho, John Owen miongoni mwao, walieleza kiwango cha kifo cha Kristo tofauti, na wanafunzi wanapaswa kuzingatia mjadala huo. Hata hivyo wote walikubali kwamba injili lazima itolewe bure kwa kila mtu. Mwishowe Baxter anatumaini desturi hii itaenea kote Uingereza. Anaonya kwamba wengi walioomba na kupigana kwa ajili ya marekebisho walitaka yaje kutoka kwa Mungu au kutoka Bunge, si kwa kazi yao wenyewe ya unyenyekevu. Marekebisho ya kweli, asema, lazima yatendeke "kwa bidii yao wenyewe na kazi zisizochoka."Baxter lists more benefits. The work cures ministers of idleness and of wasting time in sport and gossip. It helps them fight their own sins, since it is hard to keep a sin you spend your days urging others to leave. Baxter thinks this active service does more for holiness than all the austerities of monks and hermits. It also draws pastors and people away from vain controversies, because they are busy with the fundamentals. Then Baxter speaks of the work’s scope. It is offered to every person in the parish, because the gospel commands us to preach Christ to every creature. Here he gives his own view that God is willing to save all who will believe, and that Christ “tasted death for every man.” Many Reformed theologians, John Owen among them, explained the extent of Christ’s death differently, and students should note the debate. Yet all agreed that the gospel must be offered freely to everyone. Finally Baxter hopes the practice will spread across England. He warns that many who prayed and fought for reformation wanted it to come from God or from Parliament, not through their own humble labor. True reformation, he says, must be wrought “by their own diligence and unwearied labors.”

7.Uaminifu juu ya Ugumu7.Honest About the Difficulties

Baxter hajifanyi kwamba kazi ni rahisi. Anataja kwanza ugumu kwa wachungaji: uvivu, "tabia ya kuwapendeza watu" inayowaacha waangamie badala ya kuwakosea, "aibu ya kipumbavu" juu ya kusema wazi, wasiwasi kwa mapato, imani dhaifu, na ukosefu wa ustadi. Hata anasema kwamba mazungumzo mazuri ya binafsi na mtu asiyeongoka ni magumu kama kuhubiri mahubiri, kama si zaidi. Kisha anataja ugumu kwa watu. Wengine watajidhania wazuri mno au wazee mno kufanyiwa katekesi. Wengine ni wazito kujifunza na watakaa mbali kwa aibu. Wengine hawataelewa. Gumu kuliko yote ni kuuhamisha moyo mgumu, na hata baada ya mwanzo mzuri, watu hurudi nyuma kwa urahisi. Roho tu ndiye awezaye kufanya kazi. Lakini Roho kwa kawaida hufanya kazi kupitia vyombo vinavyomfaa, vilivyojaa nuru, uzima na utakatifu. Mpango wa Baxter umeendelea kuishi. Makanisa ya Kirekebisho na Kipresbiteri yalikuza kuwatembelea washirika kwa familia kunakofanywa na wazee, na huko Uholanzi ziara za mara kwa mara za wazee majumbani zikawa desturi ya kanisa. Wachungaji katika Amerika ya Kusini na Afrika, ambao mara nyingi huhudumia makusanyiko makubwa wakiwa na viongozi wachache waliofunzwa, wanaona hali ya Baxter iko karibu na yao. Mchungaji leo anachukua kutoka somo hili imani: kuhubiri hakutoshi. Watu lazima wajulikane, wafundishwe na kutunzwa mmoja mmoja.Baxter does not pretend the work is easy. He names difficulties in pastors first: laziness, a “man-pleasing disposition” that lets people perish rather than offend them, a “foolish bashfulness” about speaking plainly, concern for income, weak faith, and lack of skill. He even says that a good personal conversation with an unconverted person is as hard as preaching a sermon, if not harder. Then he names difficulties in people. Some will think themselves too good or too old to be catechized. Some are slow learners and will stay away out of shame. Some will not understand. Hardest of all is moving a hard heart, and even after a good beginning, people easily slide back. Only the Spirit can do the work. But the Spirit usually works through instruments suited to him, full of light, life and holiness. Baxter’s plan has lived on. Reformed and Presbyterian churches developed elders’ family visitation, and in the Netherlands regular home visits by elders became a church custom. Pastors in Latin America and Africa, often serving large congregations with few trained leaders, find Baxter’s situation close to their own. A pastor today takes from this reading a conviction: preaching is not enough. People must be known, taught and cared for one by one.

8.Kuuweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni watu wangapi katika kusanyiko lako ambao umesema nao binafsi juu ya nafsi zao katika mwaka uliopita? Ni ipi kati ya ugumu wa Baxter inayokuzuia zaidi: uvivu, kutaka kuwapendeza watu, aibu, au ukosefu wa ustadi? Wazee, mashemasi au washirika waliofunzwa wangewezaje kushiriki kazi hii nawe? Na ni katekisimu gani rahisi au muhtasari wa imani ungeweza kuuweka katika kila nyumba? For reflection. How many people in your congregation have you spoken with personally about their souls in the past year? Which of Baxter’s difficulties holds you back most: laziness, wanting to please people, bashfulness, or lack of skill? How could elders, deacons or trained members share this work with you? And what simple catechism or summary of the faith could you place in every home?

Chagua

Somo la 5 · Answering the Objections

No Excuse for the Flock

A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Gildas Salvianus, 1656), objections to personal instruction and Baxter’s answers, with the pattern of Acts 20; public CCEL transcription of a nineteenth-century edition

Baxter answers the excuses: we already preach in public, it leaves no time for study, it will ruin our health, God does not ask us to be drudges, the people will not come. His replies are sharp, and CTS adds Scripture’s counterweight on rest. He closes with Paul’s farewell in Acts 20, to be written on every study door.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Hakuna Udhuru kwa Kundi: Baxter Anajibu PingamiziNo Excuse for the Flock: Baxter Answers the Objections

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — majibu ya Baxter kwa wachungaji waliopinga mafundisho ya kibinafsi, na wito wake wa kuandika kuaga kwa Paulo katika Matendo 20 kwenye kila mlango wa chumba cha kusomea.A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — Baxter’s replies to pastors who resisted personal instruction, and his call to write Paul’s farewell in Acts 20 on every study door

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), pingamizi dhidi ya wajibu wa mafundisho ya kibinafsi na majibu ya Baxter, ukimalizika na kielelezo cha Matendo 20. Asili iko katika uwanja wa umma; nukuu fupi zilizo hapa chini zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), the objections to the duty of personal instruction and Baxter’s answers, closing with the pattern of Acts 20. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Mchungaji AliyerekebishwaThe Reformed Pastor
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Matendo 20:17–35Acts 20:17–35
Richard BaxterRichard Baxter

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Kila wajibu mpya hukutana na upinzani, naye Baxter alijua visingizio ambavyo wahudumu wenzake wangetoa. Katika somo hili anaacha pingamizi zisemwe moja moja kisha anajibu kila moja. Majibu yake mengine ni makali, na madai yake mengine yataonekana kupita kiasi kwa wasomaji wa kisasa. Yasome kama maneno ya mchungaji aliyeamini kwamba milele iko hatarini, na yapime kwa Maandiko na kwa ushauri wa hekima. A word before you read. Every new duty meets resistance, and Baxter knew the excuses his fellow ministers would offer. In this reading he lets the objections speak one by one and then answers each. Some of his answers are sharp, and some of his demands will seem extreme to modern readers. Read them as the words of a pastor who believed that eternity was at stake, and weigh them with Scripture and with wise counsel.

1."Tayari Tunawafundisha Hadharani"1.“We Already Teach Them in Public”

Pingamizi la kwanza ni rahisi: tunawahubiria watu wetu kila juma, kwa nini lazima pia tuwafundishe mmoja mmoja? Baxter anajibu kwa swali. Mnawaombea hadharani; je, hamlazimiki pia kuwaombea faraghani? Paulo alifundisha "hadharani, na nyumba kwa nyumba," usiku na mchana, kwa machozi. Kisha Baxter anarejea uzoefu, na uzoefu wake ulikuwa wa kunyenyekeza. Baada ya miaka kumi au kumi na miwili ya kuhubiri wazi, aligundua kwamba wasikilizaji wengi waaminifu hawakujua kweli za msingi. Wengine hawakujua kwamba kila Nafsi ya Utatu ni Mungu, au kwamba Kristo ni Mungu na mtu, au wanachopaswa kutegemea kwa msamaha na wokovu. Hata hivyo "katika saa moja ya mafundisho ya kirafiki" faraghani, watu walewale walielewa zaidi kuliko walivyoelewa katika maisha yao yote ya awali. Mchungaji yeyote aliyeketi na washirika wa kanisa na kuwauliza maswali rahisi juu ya injili atatambua ugunduzi huu. Kusikia mahubiri hakuhakikishi kuelewa. Pingamizi la pili linafuata: si kila mtu katika parokia ni mshiriki wa kweli wa kanisa, kwa nini mchungaji afanye kazi kwa ajili yao? Baxter anajibu kwamba kila Mkristo, na zaidi ya yote kila mhudumu, tayari amefungwa kutafuta wokovu wa wengine kadiri awezavyo.The first objection is simple: we preach to our people every week, so why must we also teach them one by one? Baxter replies with a question. You pray for them in public; must you not also pray for them in private? Paul taught “publicly, and from house to house,” night and day, with tears. Then Baxter appeals to experience, and his experience was humbling. After ten or twelve years of plain preaching, he found that many faithful hearers did not know basic truths. Some did not know that each person of the Trinity is God, or that Christ is both God and man, or what they must trust for pardon and salvation. Yet “in one hour’s familiar instruction” in private, the same people understood more than they had in their whole lives before. Any pastor who has sat down with church members and asked them simple questions about the gospel will recognize this discovery. Hearing sermons does not guarantee understanding. A second objection follows: not everyone in the parish is truly a member of the church, so why should the pastor labor for them? Baxter answers that every Christian, and above all every minister, is already bound to seek the salvation of others as far as he is able.

2."Haitaacha Wakati wa Kusoma"2.“It Will Leave No Time for Study”

Wahudumu wengi walikuwa vijana na walitaka wakati wa kukua katika elimu. Baxter anathamini elimu, lakini anathamini nafsi zaidi. Fikiria tabibu katika mji uliopigwa na tauni, asema, anayewakataa wanaokufa kwa sababu lazima asome "uchachuzi" na "mzunguko wa damu." Mtu kama huyo ni "muuaji wa aina ya kistaarabu." Vivyo hivyo, nafsi zaweza kuokolewa bila kutatua mambo madogo ya mabishano ya kielimu juu ya jinsi maazimio ya Mungu na hiari ya mwanadamu vinavyohusiana. "Fika vizuri mbinguni," Baxter anashauri, "na wasaidie watu wako kufika huko," nawe utaelewa mambo haya yote kwa dakika moja. Anaongeza kwamba kutenda huleta aina ya kina zaidi ya maarifa. Waweza kujua vitu vichache kuliko wengine, lakini utajua vitu vikuu vizuri zaidi. Baxter alitamani sana kumjua Mungu hata angebadilishana kwa furaha mantiki yake yote na metafizikia kwa "mtazamo mmoja zaidi" wa maarifa hayo. Kisha anatoa jibu la kivitendo. Usipoteze wakati, nawe utapata nafasi ya yote mawili. Siku mbili kwa juma kwa mafundisho ya kibinafsi bado zinaacha nne kwa kusoma. Na kama chaguo lingekuwa kweli moja au lingine, asema, "ningetupa maktaba zote za ulimwengu" kuliko kupoteza nafsi moja.Many of the ministers were young and wanted time to grow in learning. Baxter values learning, but he values souls more. Imagine a physician in a city struck by plague, he says, who turns away the dying because he must study “fermentation” and “the circulation of the blood.” Such a man is “a civil kind of murderer.” In the same way, souls can be saved without solving the fine points of scholastic debate about how God’s decrees and human free will relate. “Get well to heaven,” Baxter advises, “and help your people thither,” and you will understand all these things in a moment. He adds that practice brings a deeper kind of knowledge. You may know fewer things than others, but you will know the great things better. Baxter longed so much for knowledge of God that he would gladly exchange all his logic and metaphysics for “one glimpse more” of it. Then he gives a practical answer. Waste no time, and you will find room for both. Two days a week for personal instruction still leave four for study. And if ever the choice were truly one or the other, he says, “I would throw aside all the libraries in the world” rather than lose one soul.

3.Afya, Pumziko na Mshumaa Unaowaka3.Health, Rest and the Burning Candle

Pingamizi lingine: kazi hii itaharibu afya yetu na kuacha wakati wa kupumzika au marafiki. Upinde ulioshikwa kwa mvutano daima huvunjika. Jibu la Baxter lazima lisomwe kwa uangalifu. Yeye mwenyewe alikuwa mgonjwa mara nyingi, naye alikuwa amegundua mazoezi ya mwili kuwa ya lazima kwa kuendelea kuishi. Anaruhusu burudani, hasa mazoezi ya mwili, lakini kiasi tu kinachotufaa kwa kazi yetu, kama mvunaji anavyosimama kunoa mundu wake. Anacholaumu ni mchungaji anayetumia siku nzima kuwinda, kucheza mpira au kutembelea kijamii huku nafsi zikiangamia. "Mshumaa umetengenezwa kwa ajili gani, ila kuwaka?" anauliza. "Anayefanya kazi sana, anaishi sana." Maisha hupimwa kwa kazi yake, si urefu wake tu. Haya ni maneno ya kuchochea, lakini msomaji mwenye hekima ataiweka sawa na Maandiko yote. Mungu alitoa Sabato kama zawadi ya pumziko, na Yesu mwenyewe aliwaacha makutano kuomba na aliwaalika wanafunzi wake waliochoka wapumzike kidogo. Wachungaji wengi wa kisasa wameharibu afya yao, ndoa zao na huduma zao kwa kufanya kazi kupita kiasi. Anachoshambulia Baxter kwa haki ni kujifurahisha kunakopoteza wakati, si pumziko ambalo Mungu anaamuru. Mchungaji aweza kuwaka kwa utulivu kwa miaka mingi tu kama pia anapumzika katika Kristo.Another objection: this work will ruin our health and leave no time for rest or friends. A bow that is always bent will break. Baxter’s answer must be read with care. He was himself often ill, and he had found exercise necessary to his survival. He allows recreation, especially exercise for the body, but only as much as fits us for our work, the way a mower stops to sharpen his scythe. What he condemns is the pastor who spends whole days hunting, bowling or paying social visits while souls perish. “What is a candle made for, but to burn?” he asks. “He that worketh much, liveth much.” A life is measured by its work, not merely its length. These are stirring words, but a wise reader will balance them with the whole of Scripture. God gave the Sabbath as a gift of rest, and Jesus himself withdrew from the crowds to pray and invited his tired disciples to rest a while. Many modern pastors have damaged their health, their marriages and their ministries through overwork. What Baxter rightly attacks is self-indulgence that wastes time, not the rest that God commands. A pastor can burn steadily for many years only if he also rests in Christ.

4.Utumwa wa Kazi au Fursa?4.Drudgery or Privilege?

Wahudumu wengine walisema Mungu hawataki "kujifanya watumwa wa kazi." Wakihubiri, kuwatembelea wagonjwa na kufanya mema yanapowajia, hakika hiyo yatosha. Jibu la Baxter ni mojawapo ya yenye nguvu zaidi. Je, mngesimama kando huku wenye dhambi wanakufa na kusema Mungu hakutaki kuwa mtumwa wa kazi ili kuwaokoa? Kuuita utumishi wa Mungu utumwa ni kumsingizia Mungu mwenyewe. Hapa anarudia imani yake ya kina: taabu kuu ya kanisa ni kwamba "wengi hufanywa wahudumu kabla ya kuwa Wakristo." Kristo alisahau mlo wake ili aseme na mwanamke mmoja kisimani, na wengine walidhani amechanganyikiwa kwa kazi zake. Kisha Baxter anageuza pingamizi. Kazi si mzigo bali ni baraka kwa anayeifanya. "Yeye aliye sana katika wajibu, ana Mungu zaidi." Kutumia neema huifanya ikue. Je, ni utumwa kuwa sana na Mungu na kupokea zaidi kutoka kwake? Kwa wale wanaosema nyakati za Paulo zilihitaji bidii zaidi kuliko zao, Baxter anajibu kwamba lazima wawe wamefungiwa katika vyumba vyao vya kusomea. Tazameni pande zote, asema, ujinga, kiburi na taabu ya watu. Kila mchungaji mwaminifu hupata kazi ya kutosha kwa mwaka mzima.Some ministers said God does not require them to “make drudges of themselves.” If they preach, visit the sick and do good when it comes their way, surely that is enough. Baxter’s answer is among his strongest. Would you stand by while sinners are dying and say God does not require you to be a drudge to save them? To call God’s service slavery is to slander God himself. Here he repeats his deep conviction: the chief misery of the church is that “so many are made ministers before they are Christians.” Christ forgot his meal to speak with one woman at a well, and some thought him out of his mind for his labors. Baxter then reverses the objection. The work is not a burden but a blessing to the one who does it. “He who is most in duty hath most of God.” Exercising grace makes it grow. Is it slavery to be more with God and to receive more from him? To those who say Paul’s times needed more zeal than theirs, Baxter answers that they must be shut up in their studies. Look around, he says, at the ignorance, presumption and misery of the people. Every faithful pastor finds work enough for the whole year.

5."Watu Hawatakuja"5.“The People Will Not Come”

Pingamizi mbili zaidi zimebaki. Tukifanya huduma kuwa ya mahitaji makubwa hivyo, je, yupo atakayetaka kuwa mchungaji? Baxter anajibu kwamba Kristo, si Baxter, ndiye aliyeweka kipimo, na Kristo atatoa watumishi watakaohesabu kazi hii kuwa maisha ya furaha zaidi duniani. Kisha pingamizi gumu zaidi: watu wengi hawatajitiisha. Watasema wao ni wazee mno kwenda shule. Baxter anakubali kwamba wengi ni wakaidi. Lakini kadiri wanavyokuwa wabaya, ndivyo wanavyohitaji msaada zaidi. Pia anawauliza wachungaji kama baridi yao wenyewe, umbali wao au kupenda kwao dunia kumewafanya watu wasitake. Naye anaweka kanuni: "Kutoa ni sehemu yetu, na kukubali ni yao." Tukitoa na wao wakakataa, tumetimiza wajibu wetu. Wengine wakikataa, wengine watakubali. Pingamizi la mwisho linauliza kwa nini mazungumzo ya faragha yafaulu pale kuhubiri kulipokosa, kwa kuwa imani huja kwa kusikia. Baxter anajibu kwamba mazungumzo ya binafsi ni kuhubiri yenyewe: "mtu aweza kuhubiri kwa mmoja kweli kama kwa maelfu." Mahubiri mengi katika Agano Jipya yalikuwa mazungumzo na mtu mmoja au wachache, naye Kristo mwenyewe kwa kawaida alifundisha hivyo. Na mazungumzo ya faragha huboresha kuhubiri hadharani, kama tabibu anayeelewa ugonjwa anavyojua dawa ya kutoa.Two more objections remain. If we make the ministry so demanding, will anyone want to be a pastor? Baxter answers that Christ, not Baxter, set the standard, and Christ will provide servants who count this labor the happiest life in the world. Then the hardest objection: most people will not submit. They will say they are too old to go to school. Baxter grants that many are stubborn. But the worse they are, the more they need help. He also asks pastors whether their own coldness, distance or worldliness has made people unwilling. And he sets down a principle: “Offering it is our part, and accepting it is theirs.” If we offer and they refuse, we have done our duty. If some refuse, others will accept. The final objection asks why private talk should work when preaching has not, since faith comes by hearing. Baxter answers that personal conversation is itself preaching: “a man may as truly preach to one, as to a thousand.” Most of the preaching in the New Testament was conversation with one or a few, and Christ himself usually taught this way. And private talk improves public preaching, as a physician who understands the disease knows which medicine to give.

6.Yaandike kwenye Milango ya Vyumba Vyenu vya Kusomea6.Write It on Your Study Doors

Baxter anamaliza kwa kurudi kwenye andiko lake, kuaga kwa Paulo kwa wazee wa Efeso. Anawaambia wachungaji walandike kwenye milango ya vyumba vyao vya kusomea kwa herufi kubwa, na anaorodhesha mafunzo yake: kumtumikia Bwana kwa unyenyekevu na machozi; kujitunza wenyewe na kundi lote; kuhubiri toba kwa Mungu na imani kwa Kristo; kufundisha hadharani na "nyumba kwa nyumba"; kumwonya kila mtu usiku na mchana; kutoficha lolote lenye faida; kutotamani fedha wala dhahabu ya mtu yeyote; kutohesabu uhai kuwa wa thamani; kuwakabidhi watu kwa Mungu kwa maombi; na kuwa "safi na damu ya watu wote." Mistari miwili au mitatu ya hili, iliyojifunzwa vizuri, ingetufanya wahubiri bora kuliko miaka ya masomo madogo. Anakumbuka kauli mbiu aliyowahi kubeba kwenye bendera yake katika Vita vya Wenyewe kwa Wenyewe: "Yeye auokoaye uhai wake atauupoteza." Maisha yake mwenyewe upesi yalijaribu maneno yake. Mwaka 1662 alifukuzwa kutoka Kanisa la Uingereza pamoja na wengine wapatao elfu mbili waliokataa masharti ya Sheria ya Umoja. Hakuruhusiwa kamwe kurudi Kidderminster. Alihubiri alipoweza, aliandika bila kukoma, na akateseka faini na kifungo. Mwaka 1685, akiwa mzee na mgonjwa, alihukumiwa mbele ya Jaji Jeffreys mkali na kupelekwa gerezani. Alikufa London mwezi Desemba 1691.Baxter closes by returning to his text, Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders. He tells pastors to write it on their study doors in capital letters and lists its lessons: serving the Lord with humility and tears; taking heed to ourselves and to all the flock; preaching repentance toward God and faith in Christ; teaching publicly and “from house to house”; warning everyone night and day; keeping back nothing profitable; coveting no one’s silver or gold; not counting life dear; commending people to God in prayer; and being “pure from the blood of all men.” Two or three lines of this, well learned, would make us better preachers than years of lesser study. He recalls the motto he once carried on his flag in the Civil War: “He that saveth his life shall lose it.” His own life soon tested his words. In 1662 he was ejected from the Church of England with about two thousand others who refused the terms of the Act of Uniformity. He was never allowed to return to Kidderminster. He preached where he could, wrote constantly, and suffered fines and imprisonment. In 1685, already old and sick, he was tried before the harsh Judge Jeffreys and sent to prison. He died in London in December 1691.

7.Kivuli Kirefu cha Baxter7.Baxter’s Long Shadow

Ushawishi wa Baxter ulidumu zaidi ya mateso. Katika karne ya kumi na nane Philip Doddridge na wengine walisoma The Reformed Pastor kama kielelezo, na katika karne ya kumi na tisa Charles Spurgeon, mhubiri wa Kibaptisti wa London, alivutiwa na shauku ya Baxter kwa waliopotea. Katika karne ya ishirini J. I. Packer, aliyeandika tasnifu yake ya udaktari juu ya Baxter, alianzisha chapa upya ya kisasa iliyoleta kitabu kwa kizazi kipya cha wachungaji wa kiinjili na wa Kirekebisho. Wasiwasi wa Baxter ulifika pia nje ya Uingereza. Aliandikiana na John Eliot, mmishonari Mpuritani kwa watu wa Algonquian wa Massachusetts, naye Eliot alitafsiri Call to the Unconverted ya Baxter kwa lugha yao. Leo wachungaji katika Amerika ya Kusini, Afrika na Asia husoma Baxter, mara nyingi katika makusanyiko makubwa yanayokua haraka kuliko viongozi wanavyoweza kufunzwa. Kwao swali lake ni la dharura: kila mtu anawezaje kujulikana na kufundishwa? Jibu la Kirekebisho au Kipresbiteri litajumuisha wazee na washirika waliofunzwa wanaoshiriki kazi, vikundi vya nyumbani vinavyofundisha katekisimu, na wachungaji wanaoona mazungumzo kama kuhubiri. Mchungaji leo anachukua kutoka somo hili kukataa kwa Baxter kukubali visingizio. Kundi ni la Kristo, na wachungaji wake lazima wamtafute kila kondoo kwa jina.Baxter’s influence outlived the persecutions. In the eighteenth century Philip Doddridge and others read The Reformed Pastor as a model, and in the nineteenth Charles Spurgeon, the Baptist preacher of London, admired Baxter’s passion for the lost. In the twentieth century J. I. Packer, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Baxter, introduced a modern reprint that brought the book to a new generation of evangelical and Reformed pastors. Baxter’s concern also reached beyond England. He corresponded with John Eliot, the Puritan missionary to the Algonquian peoples of Massachusetts, and Eliot translated Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted into their language. Today pastors in Latin America, Africa and Asia read Baxter, often in congregations that are large and growing faster than leaders can be trained. For them his question is urgent: how can every person be known and taught? A Reformed or Presbyterian answer will include elders and trained members who share the work, home groups that teach a catechism, and pastors who see conversation as preaching. A pastor today takes from this reading Baxter’s refusal to accept excuses. The flock belongs to Christ, and his shepherds must seek each sheep by name.

8.Kuuweka Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni pingamizi lipi katika somo hili linalosikika zaidi kama visingizio vyako mwenyewe? Ukiketi na washirika wa kanisa lako na kuwauliza maswali rahisi juu ya injili, unaweza kugundua nini? Unasawazishaje "mshumaa unaowaka" wa Baxter na zawadi ya Mungu ya pumziko? Na ni mstari upi wa kuaga kwa Paulo katika Matendo 20 ungeuandika kwenye mlango wako wa chumba cha kusomea? For reflection. Which objection in this reading sounds most like your own excuses? If you sat with members of your church and asked them simple questions about the gospel, what might you discover? How do you balance Baxter’s “burning candle” with God’s gift of rest? And which line of Paul’s farewell in Acts 20 would you write on your own study door?

Chagua

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alithibitisha tarehe kuwa amesoma kikamilifu:

Chapala Theological Seminary · Reformed Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, and Missions · present or print this page as your honors reading record.

Masomo Zaidi: Vitabu Four vya Uwanja wa Umma

Vitabu hivi four ni kwa masomo zaidi, kwa mwanafunzi anayetaka kuendelea kusoma. Si sehemu ya masomo ya heshima yaliyo hapo juu: hayo yanabaki kama yalivyo — muhtasari tano za CTS, mitatu yoyote ikisomwa kikamilifu na kuandikwa kwa uaminifu wako. Vyote four viko katika uwanja wa umma; kila kiungo kinafungua kitabu mtandaoni, na vingi vinapatikana pia katika Internet Archive au Project Gutenberg. Vingi viko kwa Kiingereza: kivinjari cha Chrome kinaweza kutafsiri ukurasa (bonyeza kitufe cha kulia cha kipanya, “Translate to…”; kwenye simu, menyu ya kivinjari).

The Whole Treatise · Digital Text

1. The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter · 1656; CCEL digital edition

Read the parts of the treatise the textbook leaves out, in the digital text from which the textbook’s transcription was derived.

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A Printed Witness · Glasgow, 1835

2. The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter · 4th ed., Glasgow, 1835; Princeton Theological Commons scan

Compare a printed nineteenth-century edition with the digital text, page by page.

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As First Printed · 1656

3. Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter · 1656; facsimile

See the treatise as Baxter first printed it, under its full original title, and notice what the abridged editions, such as the textbook’s, shortened.

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Finding Your Way · Chapter Index

4. The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter · online chapter index (BibleHub)

Use the chapter index to find your way through the whole treatise and to see how its parts fit together.

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