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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59764	The excellence of the order of the Church of England, under Episcopal government set forth in a sermon at the visitation at Blandford, Anno 1640 / by William Sherley ...	Sherley, William.	1662 (1662)	Wing S3240; ESTC R21422	23,064	42

the Text it is not one I that comes and another I that puts in Order but it being the same I in both it 's the same numerical St. Paul that divides himself between both these acts And indeed many are the Orders which we finde St. Paul to have made for the Meridian of the Church of Corinth divers whereof are to be read in the preceding Verses of this present Chapter all which he enacted to make use of a distinction which he himself so much harps on in the 7th Chapter of this Epistle not by commandment and as from the Lord but by permission and as from himself giving herein his Judgement as one that had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful Wherein that I may not be thought to have delivered any private Opinion of mine own know that you have all this warranted unto you under the hands of the deservedly Honored Angel of the Church of Sarum Bishop Davenant de Jud Controv cap. 16. Apostoli saith he quatenus erant ordinarii Ecclesiae Rectores de hisce ritibus externis pro suâ sapientiâ statuebant quod ad adificationem Ecclesiae facere videbatur The Apostles as they were ordinary Governors of the Church prescribed as concerning outward Rites such things which they in their Wisdom thought to make most for Edification which Words are in that incomparable Work of his De Judice Controver siarum Cap. 16. Rat. 2a. So that my Text being thus opened affords us in this place such a parcel of Divine Truth as this namely That the Authority of making Orders whereby to govern each particular Church is a Prerogative which those that sit at the Stern thereof may rightly challenge St. Paul you see after an ordinary way did it here in the Church of Corinth and therefore those that are his Successors in the like condition may lawfully assume to themselves the like employment A Doctrine of that Evidence and Consequence both together as that this Church of ours in those few Articles of Hers which She hath published hath thought it in Her Wisdom meet See the Book of the 39 Articles to avouch it no less then twice in two several Articles Article the 20th and the 34th Nay before ever that Book of Hers saw light those great Reformers under King Edward the sixth concluded as much which too was done with that measure of zeal Fox in his Book of Acts and Mon. as that Bishop Bonner was enjoyned by the Kings Councel to Preach at Pauls-Cross this Doctrine my Authority for both these is Fox in his Acts and Monuments 2º Edvardisexti Neither hath it been given to Men of this Climat onely to be of this Opinion since those Reformed Churches that have been beyond the Seas have herein yielded unto us the right Hand of Fellowship Witness the Confession of the Reformed Church of France Ext●t haec confessio apud Calvinum lib. opuscul published in the Year 1562. Fatemur saith She tum omnes tum singulas Ecclesias hoc jus habere ut leges statuta sibi condant ad Politiam communem inter suos statuendam Witness likewise the consent of the Lutheran Divines set down in that Auspurge Confession whereof Melancton was the Contriver whose words much to the same purpose are Licet Episcopis Pastoribus Canones constituere Ausourg Coufess art ult ut singula in Ecclesia siant secundum Ordinem Nay Reverend Calvin however conceived by some to be none so the greatest Friends which the Church ever had stickles nevertheless so earnestly for this in the 4th of his Institutions and the 10th Chapter as that those who shall cast an eye one what he there hath written cannot but judge him to be very zealous for it Niether ought it to be conceived that these Sons of the Church in honour of their Mother have endeavoured herein to flatter her into a greater Priviledge then that which by right belongs to her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil lib. de Spiritu quinto cap. 27. is an ancient distinction made heretofore by St Basil Predications and matters of Faith are one thing and Placits or matters of Order another For so is the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there as I conceive to be understood the word Ceremony being not of so ancient a standing in the Church as to be found in the writings either of the Greek or of the Latine Fathers St Austin in his Retractations Austin l. 2. Ret. c. 37. makes in his owne behalf an Apologie for that it once dropp'd unawares from his Pen. And however the Church of Rome dare extend her Commission so far as in respect of the former of these to make new Creeds for so Pope Pius the fourth did and to blot out one of the Commandements of the Decalogue for that it gain-sayes those Images which they are resolved to set up and worship Nos vero talem non habemus Consuetudinem we have no such custome nor the Church of God we cannot find in our hearts for to be so cruell as for the satisfying of our owne causelesse Fancies to mangle thus the body of Religion which our Fore-fathers to the least Tittle therof have even with the losse of their owne blood preserved entire All the Power which we assume to our selves is only about the outward dress and attire of the Churh in causing that to be suitable always to her Condition This being a liberty which in all ages hath so far been Challenged as that a great part of that apparell it self wherewith the Apostles thought fit to cloath Her within a Century or two grew to be cast off and antiquated insomuch that the Holy Kisse the Feasts of Charity Abstinence from things strangled the imploying of Widdows in Ecclesiasticall Services with the like however Orders all of the Apostles owne Composing in some short time came for to be difused Wheras we read likewise of St. Ambrose Vid. Ludo. Viv. in Aug. de Civit. dei l. 6. c 26. that in his owne Church at Millaine abrogated an old Order which they had of Feasting at the Tombes of the Martyrs in regard the People in his time made it an occasion to draw on drunkennesse Nay however Trina Mersio the threefold dipping in the Sacrament of Baptisme was at the first established upon no meaner a Ground then for signification of the Three Persons in the Blessed Trinity yet by reason the Arians took the advantage thereof to countenance their Heresie Binius Con. cil Tolet. Can. 5 to the Fourth Toletan Councell blotted that Order out of the Rubrick And why may not the Church still be Mistress of so much Power as to do the like as long as those Sonnes of Heirs who are set for to rule are engaged in the Action whereas if every Private Member should be suffered to have therin a Finger how might we then in time look to have as many Editions of Service-books as there is of Almanacks

to make his own Eyes their over-seers whil'st for that purpose he here doth promise by way of Visitation to come himself first amongst them Neither may we imagine that my Apostle came to write so well as he did without a Copy as having many good precedents which directed him to this particular course of proceeding which here he took Thus in that very first Visitation which ever was held for the setting in Order again our first Parents after that irregularity of their's which they had committed Venit Omnipotent the Almighty Himself comes in Person to view the Delinquents For they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the Garden Gen. 3.8 Nay however this All knowing Visitor by reason of his Omniscience might justly have sentenced them without a Tryal yet before he proceeds so far as the Act of Excommunication for the expelling them out of a Paradice he vouchsafes as Chrysostome very well observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 17 Hom. in Gen. To ask questions receive their answers and then again to question them farther And why all this but onely to teach such as sit at the Stern of the Church this Lesson That they draw not suddenly the Spiritual Sword upon every trifle But as often as there is just occasion given to unsheath it that they forget not the Words of the fore-cited Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost loc suprae citat to use much deliberation and have themselves an inward seeling of heart before they strike as being at such times for to consider that even in this very act they cut off a Limb from the Body of that Church whereof they themselves are Members I list not to mention the Lords ordering of Cain for the Blood of his Brother Abel the doom that he passed on Sodom the punishment wherewith he confounded Babel Though in all these God had his Venit and his Visitavit also for he went down to see whether their defaults were answerable to that Cry that came up unto Him Having onely begun with the first Visitation which the Lord ever held I shall end my Observation with that last Visitation which He intends to make that general one I mean when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so 't is stiled by St. Peter 1 Pet. c. 2. v. 12. as in the day of an Episcopal Visitation both quick and dead shall be summoned to appear before his Consistory And though I dare not with the boldness of the School-men resolve on the Ubi or the place where the Lord shall then sit and Visit and therefore cannot direct you to what particular part of the World that great Visitor of Heaven and Earth shall then bend His Progress yet that the Lord even then shall have his Venit a coming likewise you have the Authority of an Apostle for it 1 Thess c. 4. v. 16. the Lord himself saith St. Paul shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God the Saints arising out of their Grave to meet Him in the Air shall welcome Him as those Ancients did their Prelates coming into their Cities with Acclamations and Shoots of Joy an Arch-angel shall be His Voice His Cryer and Heaven it self shall sound that summoning Trump more powerfully then that Bell which ere while for this purpose you all heard rung to call you together And since that God Himself hath had His Comings His Visitations no marvel that the Church of God in imitation hereof hath had Hers whereby She endeavors to heal those Breaches which that great Compasser of Sea and Land Latimer the Devil quo non habet Anglia Episcopum diligentiorem as old Father Latimer was pleased once to express it in those his Visitations likewise inflicts upon her A practice of that Antiquity as that even in the Old Testament may you finde some plain foot-steps of it thus Eliah you read at the 2d Book of Kings and the 2d Chapter went from Bethel to Gilgal from Gilgal to Jericho and from that to Jordan visiting the Children of the Prophets in all those places which doing too immediately before his being taken up to Heaven He seems to intimate by the very time it self wherein He did it that the Act was Divine and Heavenly which He left till then to be performed Neither stood Eliah in this Point alone whil'st in this one particular undertaking of his the later Prophets succeeded him no less then they did in his office and therefore at the 3d of Zachary and the 7th are they as it is at least in the Hebrew stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Walkers Whereas in the New Testament it said of our Savior that Great Bishop of our Souls for so is he called in 1 Pet. 2.25 that he visited us from on High Luke 1.78 nay that he went about all the Villages and Cities of the Jews teaching in their Synagogues the Gospel of the Kingdom Mat. 9.35 upon which place the Note of St. Hierom is Hierom. Comment in 9. c. Mat. Quod aequaliter vicis urbibus magnis parvis praedicavit That our Saviour preach'd equally the Gospel to the villages and cities both to the great and the small alike Non considerans Nobilium Potentiam sed salutem Credentium Not considering or having respect to the Power of the Noble but to the Salvation of Believers And where the Master of the House was such it may be well imagined that his Servants the Apostles would endeavor to shew themselves like unto him who were in this Point so active as that their Life seem'd little else but a kinde of a continued Visitation and the whole World but one great Diocess which they travelled over Isidor Pel. l. 2. Ep. 251. The time would fail should I tell you with what expedition those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so are the Apostles stiled by Isidor those winged Husband-men did flie from this place to that from one Nation to another Country scattering the Seeds of Discipline in divers Regions planting some Churches confirming others reforming a third and visiting all That Book which is written of their Acts is full of no one thing more then of this Act of theirs Amongst whom nevertheless we may not but in an especial manner make a particular Remembrance of this my Apostle here in the Text St. Paul who having by his own acknowledgement in 2 Cor. 11.28 the care of all the Churches with so an indefatigable an endeavor went from each to other as that he appeared hereupon unto St. Chrysostome Chrysost 34 Hom. in Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kinde of somebody no-body a body without a body an Incorporeal Man The Sun it self seems hardly to go a larger Circuit then that which he visiting as his manner was the Brethren went over Read but this Itinerary as it is drawn out partly by St. Luke in the 20. and 21. Chapters of the Acts and partly by