The Reformed Pastor

by Richard Baxter, excerpted from The Reformed Pastor (1656)

Many a tailor can go in rags while making costly clothes for
others. Many a cook may scarcely lick his fingers when he has prepared the most
sumptuous dishes for others to eat. Believe it, brethren, that God never saved
any man for being a preacher. Nor did he reject a man because he was not an
able preacher. He saved a preacher because he was a justified and sanctified
man.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves first. See to it that you
be the worshiper which you persuade your hearers to be. Make sure
first that you believe what you persuade others daily to believe.  Make sure you have heartily entertained the
Christ and the Holy Spirit in your own soul before you offer Him to others. He
that bids you love your neighbor as yourself implied that you should love
yourself instead of hating and destroying yourself—and others, too.

O dear brothers, what men then should we be in skill, in
resolution, and in unwearied diligence, that have all this to contend with and
to do?  Did not Paul cry out, “Who is
sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). Can we then afford to be
proud and lazy, as if we were sufficient? As Peter says to every Christian when
considering the charge, there should be the reflection of our character: “What
manner of person ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” (2
Peter 3:11). So may I say to every minister, seeing how all these challenges
lie upon us, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy endeavors and
resolutions for work!