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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39854	Two sermons the first preached in Christ-Church, Dublin, Feb. 19, 1681, at the consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God, William Lord Bishop of Kildare, William Lord Bishop of Kilmore, and Richard Lord Bishop of Kilalla : the other, preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, at the primary visitation of the most Reverend Father in God, Francis Lord Arch-bishop of Dublin, Apr. 24, 1682 / by S. Foley ...	Foley, Samuel, 1655-1695.; Moreton, William, 1641-1715.; Sheridan, William, 1636-1711.; Tenison, Richard, 1640?-1705.; Marsh, Francis, 1627-1693.	1683 (1683)	Wing F1400; ESTC R2994	25,191	58

in the Commission which Christ gave his Apostles (e) Mat. xxviii 18 20. Go and teach or make Disciples in all Nations and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World Now they themselves were not to live so long and therefore this special Presence and Assistance must be understood to have been promised to their Successors also Farther Christ sent them as his Father sent him that is with such Authority to Ordain others and to Institute Ecclesiastical Discipline and so to make Successors and to communicate to them of that Spirit which he breathed on them as Moses did to Joshua (f) Deut. xxxiv 9. the Spirit of Wisdom by laying their hands upon them And hence it was that St. Paul told the Bishops of Asia upon whom he had lay'd his hands when upon his Summons They met him at Miletus (g) Acts xx 28. That the Holy Ghost had made them Overseers or Bishops over the Church of God I may add that all Disputers in this Cause and all Pretenders to different Forms of Church-Government do Acknowledge some Form to be always necessary and consequently Authority to Rule and Govern for ever to reside in some Persons or other 4. That Bishops be the true extent of their Authority what it will are declar'd to be in Scripture and were look'd upon in the first Ages h of the Church as Successors to the Apostles and so Authoriz'd by Christ to Govern this Society Thus far we have but little Controversie with the main Opposers of Episcopacy For they cannot deny but that our Bishops are Presbyters and therefore if as they will have it Presbyters were the Antient Bishops and are Successors to the Apostles our Bishops upon that account are so If therefore we be satisfied that Our Saviour gave some Power and Authority to his Apostles with a design that They should leave it to others to be transmitted through all Ages (h) St. Cyprian Epist 75. p. 225. Edit Oxon. Potestas peccatorum remittendorum Apostolis data est Ecclesiis quas illi à Christo missi Constituerunt Episcopis qui eis Ordinatione Vicariâ successerunt successively to some fit persons for the Exigencies of the Church and that our Bishops are Successors to those Apostles which one Party of our Churches Adversaries are obliged to own by virtue of their being Presbyters and which the other have no pretence to deny here in Ireland whatever Fables (i) For Confutation of which See Mason's Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae Primate Bramhali's Works and the Second Part of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation they have invented to disparage the English Consecrations we being able to prove That our present Bishops of Ireland were Consecrated by (k) For Instance His Grace the Most-Reverend Father in God Michael Boyle the present Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland together with Dr. Margetson the Late Primate of Ireland the truly Learned and Pious Dr. John Parker late Lord Arch-Bishop of Dublin Dr. Pullen then Arch-Bishop of Tuam and the present Lord Arch-Bishop of Cashell and Seven other Bishops who died since were Consecrated Jan. 27. 1660. By Dr. John Bramhall Arch-Bishop of Armagh who was Consecrated May 26. 1634. by Primate Vsher who was Consecrated Anno 1621. by Primate Hampton who was Consecrated May 5. 1613. by Dr. Thomas Jones who was Consecrated by Adam Lostus Arch-Bishop of Dublin 12. May 1584. who was Consecrated by Hugh Curwin Anno 1562. who was Consecrated Arch-Bishop of Dublin Septemb. 8. 1555. being the Third Year of Queen Mary together with James Turberville Bishop of Exceter and William Glin Bishop of Bangor This appears out of our Records and by this may any of the present Lords Bishops of Ireland Justifie their Consecration such Bishops as receiv'd their Consecration from other Consecrated Bishops and so on to before the Reformation from Records never in the least question'd or suspected we must Acknowledge that what Authority our present Bishops have They have from Christ Jesus The way being thus far clear'd before I proceed to the main thing behind to wit To demonstrate that Bishops are a distinct Order from and above Presbyters by that Authority They have receiv'd from Christ I shall deduce some few Corollaries from what has been said such as 1. 'T is evident from hence That when the Apostles Ordained Bishops they did it by Authority given them by our Saviour and not only in pursuance of a Jewish Custom of creating Elders which the famous Mr. Selden so much contends (l) Selden de Synedriis Lib. 1. Cap. 14. for Had they not done it upon an Account peculiar to Christianity St. Paul when a Jew and a most violent Persecutor of Christs Church had had as full Authority to make Bishops as when a Apostle and must have deriv'd it not from the Holy Ghost as he constantly Affirms but from his Master Gamaliel 2. Hence it follows That Bishops have not their Authority from the Civil Magistrate There is a great difference between the designation of a Person to an Office and the giving him Authority in it Thus a Mayor of a Corporation is Chosen by the Burgesses of it but receives his Authority from the King alone and so in many other instances And therefore this Assertion of ours cannot be suspected as any way prejudicial to our Princes Antient Right of Electing Bishops The Church is a Society and Body Politick distinct from that of the Common-wealth which appears from hence That it did subsist when separated from and persecuted by all Civil-Powers it is founded upon Principles different from the Law of Nature and common Notions of Mankind and settled by Divine Positive Laws and consequently the Government of it must be proportionable And they who resolve to hold the contrary Opinion may take its Foundation along with it and believe the Gospel it self to be no Law but as Enacted by the Civil Magistrate 3. We may hence infer that all other Bishops are not merely Substitutes of the Bishop of Rome and that he in the Right of St. Peter is not the Only Bishop who hath his Authority from Christ so that all must receive theirs from him This was with much Vehemence and equal Applause defended in the (m) Hist Council of Trent Lib. 7. pag. 574. of the last Edition Engl. Council of Trent by Father Laynez General of the Jesuits and Friar Simon a Florentine did there likewise maintain That the Institution of Bishops in the Apostles was only Personal and ended with them But this as the good Bishop of Paris then said is a Novel Doctrine first invented by Cajetane to gain a Cardinalship and as such was Censured by the Doctors of the Sorbonne and Richerius a (n) Richerius Cap. 10. Sect. 11. Sorbonne Doctor in his History of General Councills lately Printed has made it out That in Antient Times the very Italian Bishops themselves did subscribe Bishops Dei Gratia

Cyprian's Observation (c) Neque enim aliunde Haereses abortae sunt aut nata sunt Schismata quam inde quod Sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur nec unus in Ecclesiâ ad tempus Sacerdos ad tempus Judex vice Christi cogitatur 'T is the 59th Epist in the New Edition Pag. 121. in his 55th Epistle That most of the Schisms which have harass'd and disgrac'd the Church have proceeded from disobedience to the Bishop And Epist 69. (d) Inde Schismata haereses obortae sunt oriuntur dum Episcopus qui unus est Ecclesiae praeest Superbâ quorundam praesumptione contemnitur homo dignatione Dei honoratus indignus ab Hominibus judicatur He says That the Contempt of the Bishop will naturally end in Schism and Heresy And Calvin (e) Calvin Inst Cap. 8. Sect. 53. as he supposes Episcopacy to be of human institution so he says it was Established Ne ex aequalitate ut fieri solet dissidia nascerentur To prevent those Contentions which are commonly occasion'd by Equality And our late Experience tells us how the Church was divided and subdivided among us in the Late Unhappy Times when the Bishops were by the prevailing Party by force driven from their Charges the evil effects of which we are yet too sensible of In short a Bishop cannot have any design in disturbing the Peace of the Church and in occasioning Separations he can have no Advantage by it and consequently no Temptation to it which I need not say Others may have Secondly In reference to the Civil Government happiness of the State and ease of the Subject When other Forms of Church Government were in the Ascendant in England it cannot yet be forgotten what Diminution and Prejudice to the Royal Honour and Prosperity attended them I need not put your in mind how Seditious Insolent Turbulent and Ungovernable (f) See the Character the King gives of them in his Basilicon Doron King James to his great Grief found the Presbyteries in Scotland for many Years together and what usage his Son since Martyr'd did many Years after receive from them It may be demonstrated that They who speak severely against the Bishops for being as they pretend Enemies to the Civil Magistrate in claiming their Authority from God do the same themselves only with far less reason and with much greater injury to their Prince Thus the Presbyterian Model and Discipline though never heard of the World till within these last Two Hundred Years is declared by them to be the very Scepter of Christ's Kingdom to which all must submit even Princes their Thrones and Scepters The Independents pretend the Holy Scripture for theirs that any Society of men Combining together by common consent in a Church-way and Membership is by Divine Right Free and Absolute within it self to Govern its self by such Rules as it shall judge agreeable to Gods Word without dependance or subjection in Spiritual Concerns to any Human Person or Society whatsoever 'T is notorious that the Presbyters do Claim to their Consistories Full and Absolute Spiritual Power and Jurisdiction over Princes themselves with Power to Excommunicate them when they see Cause And the Independents do exempt their Congregations from all Spiritual Subjection to the Civil Powers But our Bishops do neither pretend to Jurisdiction over our King nor do withdraw their due Subjection from him whom God has made Supream upon Earth over all Persons in all Causes Spiritual as well as Temporal within his Dominions And as to the good of the Subject 'T is not so long since Presbytery was Established and found Intolerable in England and we are not Ignorant how all Parties did contribute to throw it down 't was so very uneasie As for Independency few now know what it is (g) Dr. A. Stuart a Presbyterian sayd He verily believed that Independency cannot but prove the root of all Schisms and Heresies and by consequence much worse than Popery Duply to M. S. Pag. 53. See the Papers for Accommodation and fewer do desire it And as for other Sects they are not yet agreed what Government they would have nor is it likely that ever they will be Some indeed do fancy Independency to be a pretty easy sweet gentle thing But certainly for men to cry out against the Yoke of Bishops as intolerable and yet to make every Parish-Minister a Bishop an Absolute Sovereign Independent Bishop owning no Superiour under Heaven to whom Appeal may be made is as Ridiculous as 't would be to Cry out against Monarchy as unsupportable and to desire in lieu of it that every Constable be made a King To conclude this point Many and great Advantages hath the Church of God in all Ages enjoyed and we do now enjoy by this Government and of many of them like one of the greatest Blessings of this Life the Health of our Bodies whilst we are constantly well we are almost insensible But still they are not the less for it though we understand them more by their absence and can then put the truest value on them when we see others in Feavers and Frenzies and it may be for their Comfort in the hands of Empericks too And so I come to the Third Enquiry What may be reasonably expected from Persons intrusted with that Sacred Power and Authority It was not only St. Paul's Charge to Titus after he had made him a Bishop To shew himself in all things a Pattern of good works but he also makes it a necessary qualification to every Bishop that he be Blameless And with great reason For we know that for one in that Dignity to be wicked is the boldest Affront and Dishonour to God himself and one of the most fatal mischiefs to his Church imaginable so dreadful that a vicious Bishop would not be looked on so much as a Governour as a publick Judgment over our heads Besides Vice hath this property that it renders all men contemptible most of all Clergy-men because 't is their business and profession to make men good and among them They who are of the highest Rank shall be the more signally despised and thereby made clearly unserviceable It will therefore be justly expected that they do not contradict their Divine and Holy Doctrines and make useless their Authority by their loose and unsanctified Lives Farther 'T was St. Paul's Charge That they should speak the things that become sound Doctrine exhort and convince Gainsayers and rebuke with all Authority And indeed men will suppose that Power was committed to them to the intent that they should make some use of it and that we are made subject to them that they may compel us if there be occasion to do our duties And now that there is so miserable a decay of all Devotion and Piety that men are so loose in ther Principles and so corrupt in their Lives that the Church is so despised and Religion it self so commonly suppos'd a Cheat or