Concio ad Clerum A SERMON Preach'd to the CLERGY AT THE Arch-Deacon's Visitation Held at Huntington May 19. 1696. Publisht at their Request To which is added a PREFACE to the CLERGY By SAM SAYWELL B. D. and Rector of Bluntsham in Huntingtonshire and sometime Fellow of St. John's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed by Tho. Warren for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. To his Reverend Brethren of the Clergy and more especially to those who are under the Jurisdiction of the Arch-Deacon of Huntington and were Auditors of the following Discourse THE Christian Church began and was established in all its Essentials by that Authority which Christ himself gave to his Apostles his first Commission-Officers and 't was by the care and faithfulness of them and their Successors together with the special presence of Christ with them and his undoubted blessing upon their honest Endeavours that it shall last to the end of the World Though therefore we are sure the Church shall never utterly fail or be destroyed so long as the Heavens and the Earth which are now shall endure yet it may ebb and flow decay and flourish loose its strength and comeliness and recover them again and under go innumerable changes and alterations in the several parts and branches of it But I think it may truly be said that no particular Church so well constituted as ours is can turn to decay much less can it die and be extinguished where the Clergy are Learned and Prudent Sincere and Diligent Vnanimous and Zealous in the discharge of their several Offices And this Consideration gives us great reason to hope that the days of the prosperity of this Church may not be so short as too many do wish they may and many others are ready to Prophesie they certainly will be For no Church of the same extent can shew so many Learned Wise and Industrious Clergy-men as ours can do at this day Now if all these were also truly unanimous in their Counsells and firmly united and unfeignedly zealous in their Endeavours for the promoting the common Cause of Christianity amongst us they might so far influence animate and direct the whole Body of the Clergy as to make them the Instruments of Curing the most dangerous distempers of this Church and of bringing of it likewise to great beauty and perfection And that all sorts and degrees of the Clergy whether they be high or low may be truly serviceable to the Church and instrumental towards the healing her breaches and making up of her defects they should take great heed unto themselves that they may have right and clear spirits within them i. e. Neither distorted with Vice nor polluted or sowred with any kind of peccant humour They should not be envious peevish or malignant against any and much less should they be so against one another They should not be of lofty morose covetous or selfish Spirits but of minds really generous loving humble meek tractable and charitable towards all ever rejoicing in truth and in that which is good what ever condition themselves are in And in a word they should above all men look not every man on his own things but every man amongst them especially also on the things of others Phil. 2.4 and as it follows in the next Verse to let this mind be in them which was also in Christ Jesus c. and let me add That was in his most noble heroical and most faithful Servant St. Paul as 't is partly set forth in the following discourse And then they must needs be blessings to the Church let their own stations in it be what they will For if we observe matters narrowly and will judge according to righteous judgment 't will appear that 't is mens seeking their own and not the things of Jesus Christ that makes them they are not always serviceable to the affairs of the Church For if men were of right Spirits they would ever be of pure minds and also peaceable modest and humble in all their behaviour and if they could not serve the cause of true Religion in one kind they would not fail to do it in another and 't is the doing what we can in our Capacities that makes our services acceptable to God and Men. And if any see it necessary to advertise or reprove their Brethren for some dangerous slips they may have made or for some pernicious Errours they may unawares have fallen into they should undoubtedly do it in the most friendly manner and they ought not to exceed the bounds of Charity nor the Laws of the spirit of Meekness in a work of so nice and difficult a nature And if all the sacred Tribe had duly regarded the great Apostles advice Gal. 6.1 we should not have heard of such snarlings and bitings and opening of Mouths amongst them as if they would devour one another For it is not to be told in Gath nor published in the streets of Askalon what bitter Satyrs and invectives some Clergy-men have of late published against their Brethren But if they who should teach all Mankind and be Exemplary to them in every grace of the Spirit shall give themselves the liberty to chasten one another at such a rate we may easily guess what sort of Persons they will make sport for and what the consequences of such kind of doing will be And that we may not help to destroy our selves when we have so many Enemies that are seeking our ruine we should deeply consider that the Spirit which dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy and that the best and wisest of all are but Men subject to many passions failings and infirmities and we should often remember what the Scriptures of truth do witness concerning those who would be accounted the wisest when their Wit and Wisdom proceeds not from the Spirit of Wisdom or descendeth not from above 1 Cor. 3.19 20 21. and Jam. 3.13 14 15 16. And knowing the manifold distempers of the late times and under what different prejudices Persons have been bred up it is great injustice for men to be over-severe in censuring and judging one another and if we can but agree in all the parts of our present Constitution according to our Oaths and Subscriptions that should be enough to make us all Friends and should be accounted the only sure bond of Vnity that is fit and able to hold us together and if all can be brought by gentle methods to be conformable to the Rules of the Church and to submit their Doctrines to the Judgment of their Superiours as every sound Member of a true Church ought to do all Names of distinction amongst our selves should be wholly laid aside And seeing the Sentiments of Men are and ever will be various according to the several prejudices they have imbib'd in a distracted time and finding the nature of Mankind is so frail and touchy 't is greatly to be hoped that the Reverend Fathers of the Church
many that they may be saved So that if ever any one perfectly fullfilled that most heroical Exhortation which he gives to all Christians Rom. 15.2 't was he himself viz. That every one should please his Neighbour for his good to Edification And he not only continually acted and suffered himself for the honour of God and the good of his Church but he seemed likewise perfectly to sympathize with all the members of it in their joys and sufferings for he rejoiced with them that did rejoyce as may be seen in several places of his Epistles and he did as constantly suffer with those that suffered and therefore could truly say as he does 2 Cor. 11.29 who is weak and I am not weak Who is offended and I burn not I shall only add that which goes just before his daily care of all the Churches Now on these accounts I look on St. Paul to have been the most absolute pattern of all kind of spiritual Wisdom Piety and Holyness both to Pastour and People that ever lived in the World and he did as far exceed the generality of others in all heights of Christian perfection and spiritual stature as Saul did the rest of the People in the eminent stature and height of his Body And from this excessive Zeal and all kind of matchless perfection that was in St. Paul I shall only observe these two things briefly 1. The great presumption and unjudicious and injurious rashness of our Dissenters in that they are ready for every trifle to compare their Teachers with St. Paul and to think them and themselves also to be like unto and equal with him and in their blaming and censuring the Regular Clergy of the Church if they come not up in their Opinion to all his heights in every instance and by this gross mistake and their not distinguishing exactly between Persons and Persons times places and other different circumstances of men and things their Teachers constantly make great advantage to themselves amongst weak and unwary people 2. It should ever be remembred that St. Paul is set forth in God's word and especially by his own Writings as a most Compleat Exemplar under Christ himself to all orders and degrees of Christians shewing them not what they are all bound to be on peril of losing their Salvation but what they should aim to be if they would endeavour to be consummate in all manner of Holyness and Christian Perfection as he was And though it may be exceedingly advantegeous to us all on many accounts to be often looking at so Excellent a Copy as St. Paul appears to have been in every respect yet 't is much to be questioned whether ever any one since his time has been able to equal so exact an Original But 't is certain that the generality both of Pastours and People have in all times come extreamly short of doing this which brings me to the second general drawn from the Text viz. That even in the primitive times of all there was much want of true Zeal and great defects and infirmities amongst the Clergy themselves or else the Apostle could not have said as in the words before us for all seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ I know that all good men have ever been apt to think their own times the worst and that there had never been so great corruption of doctrines and manners as in their days But the wise man hath taught us long since not to say what is the cause that the former days were better than these for saith he thou dost not wifely enquire concerning this Therefore we must assure our selves that though some times have doubtless been better than others for the flourishing of true Religion and Virtue yet that all times have had their several evils and disadvantages some in one kind and some in another as might easily be shewn were we to take a particular view of every Age. But I shall confine my self chiefly to the times of the Apostles And 't is manifest enough from their own Writings that they had not only to do with Hereticks and Schismaticks who laboured to undermine and overthrow their fundamontal Doctrines and to break that exact order and holy discipline which they established in the Church but even in those first times of all there were Carnal-minded proud and self-seeking persons admitted into the Ministry as well as into the Church For if Simon Magus could deceive St. Peter by his Hypocritical pretences to the gaining admmittance into the Church by Baptism well might others do the like even to the getting into the sacred Ministry it self and some of these proved turbulent Hereticks and Schismaticks according to St. Paul's Prediction to the Bishops met together at Miletus Act. 20.30 where he saith also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them These were such as chiefly sought their own glory and other worldly and bye-ends which they had upon the persons whom they taught and not the things of Jesus Christ Others were only luke-warm and cowardly Professors who brought little profit or credit to the cause of Christ they were so nearly concerned in for 't is very evident there were great defects and failings among those that held the Fundamentals and abode in the unity of the Church thus it appears that some of them built only wood hay and stubble upon the foundation of Christ Jesus as the Apostle intimates I Cor. 3.12 i. e. very slight phantastical and unedifying doctrines such as would not endure the fiery tryal of Gods severe judgment that shall pass on doctrines as well as manners at the last day and some there were which preached Christ of envy and strife and not with that true sincerity of heart as is required in every faithful Minister of the Gospel Phil. 1.15 16. These I believe were neither Herericks nor Schismaticks for then St. Paul could not have rejoiced in their preaching as he tells us he did v. 18. but I take it that they were Carnal and vain-glorious persons and such who envyed the gifts and same of St. Paul and thought to take advantage of his Imprisonment to make themselves the more considerable in the Church and some of the miraculously gifted teachers at Corinth seemed to aim more at their own glory than at the good of the Church and edisying of their hearers as may be conjectured from their delighting to speak in an unknown tongue 1 Cor. 14. And I am apt to think that Apollos himself though he were a good Man was almost tired out with the factious and untoward behaviour of the Corinthians for we find he was not at all willing to come at them when St. Paul greatly desired him so to do 1 Cor. 16.12 and St. Paul was so offended with John Mark for leaving of them I suppose in a time of need and danger that he did not care to make him his Companion in the work of the Ministry any
will shew themselves to be Persons of so much Wisdom and Goodness as to treat their Children of all sorts with extraordinary tenderness and discretion and that they will by the properest means endeavour to let them see they really aim to do them all good though in a divided state of things 't is impossible every body can have his own humour And they that are Superiours in the Church in any kind and in a flourishing Condition should ever have a feeling Compassion for their Brethren who are on the suffering side or in a lower station and are toiling under meaner circumstances and this would be a right means to encourage them under their difficulties to make them diligent and useful in their stations and truly observant of all their fair and Canonical Injunctions and whatsoever discontents and sufferings some of our worthy Brethren may be under at present yet 't is to be hoped they will be so just and wise as not to break out into any further divisions but that they will rather set their hands to help as fast as they can to heal those wounds and make up those breaches that have already caused so much pain and grief and that have let in so many mischiefs upon us And it is infinitely to be desired that all sorts of Persons who have any love for God and true Religion left in their hearts would lay aside all kind of bitterness animosity and factiousness of Spirit and that they would seriously and candidly apply their minds to think upon and actually to pursue such things as make for Peace and for the real edifying of the Church bettering themselves and mending of the whole World And for our Dissenters of every denomination though we extend our Charity never so much yet we can look on them as none other than the broken Remains and Off-springs of the most manifest Schism that ever happen'd in any Church and if we view them as they stand divided into their different Sects and with their oppositions one against another 't will evidently appear they are as meer a Babel as ever the Christian World beheld But nevertheless when we seriously call to our minds how and in what times they began and encreased in what manner they have been managed what Scandals have been given them and how hard a thing 't is for the best and wisest of men to put off the inveterate projudices of their Education c. We must needs grant many of them to be persons of very honest and good meaning and therefore real objects of great pity and Compassion And I am verily perswaded that were so learned formed and every way so considerable a body as the Clergy of the Church of England are but so well united as they might be and could be brought to act together in some measure in their several trusts according to the design of the foling Discourse not only the Papists would be greatly discouraged from making farther attempts upon us but also by this means together with such gentle and prudent Methods as our Governours should think fit to make use of the Eyes of the best and wisest of our Dissenters might be opened and many of them would be reduced to the unity of the Church I am yet more particularly to address my self to you my Reverend Neighbours before I put an end to this Preface but I shall not do it either in bestowing formal Complements upon you or in making long Apologies for my self and that for reasons which we all know But what I shall freely say to you in short is this viz. That if what I here publish to the World chiefly at your request and upon your Encouragement shall be thought a needless troubling of my Brethren with what they all knew already or if it shall happen to meet with spiteful Enemies who shall load it and the Author too with Calumnies and reproaches for his good will as 't is seldom that Discourses tending to Peace and Reformation do meet with better Fortune then you as Accessaries will in Conscience and Honour stand obliged to bear part of the blame and will be ready I hope to ward off some of the strokes that they fall not too heavily on the principal Actors head But on the contrary if it should chance that this Discourse should be read by many of my Worthy Brethren with the same Candor with which you were pleased to hear it and judge of it and so might by God's blessing prove never so little serviceable to the good ends the Author sincerely aimed at in its composure and delivery then will you have a just Claim to your share in so blessed a Work And whatsoever a divided selfish and Censorious Generation may now think yet the time is shortly coming when five words spoken in and for the Peace and Vnity of the Church and with a truly charitable Spirit for the reformation of what is amiss in all sorts of men shall stand us in more stead than ten thousand words delivered in a contentious manner and for the upholding any kind of faction looseness or disorder Finally I do beg that your Prayers may go along with what you send forth and that you would seriously say The Lord prosper it and we wish it good luck in the Name of the Lord. Wherein you will also join with Your Loving Brother and humble Servant Sam. Saywell Concio ad Clerum A SERMON Preach'd to the CLERGY c. Phil. II. 21. For all seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christs IT appears from the two Verses immediately foregoing and from that which follows just after these words that the Great Apostle utters this Complaint of some of the Clergy of his time and chiefly of those who were his own Fellow-Labourers in the work of the Gospel For 't is with the respect unto the special faithfulness and like-mindedness of Timothy with himself and by way of reproving and censuring the rest who were then about him that St. Paul delivers these words which I have chosen for my Text. But it must not be imagined that he wrote them rashly or uncharitably either not well considering what he said or with a design to vilifie or unjustly to accuse any of his Brethren and God forbid that the least uncharitable thought towards any of his Brethren should harbour in the mind of him who is now about to handle them For the right taking of the Apostle therefore in this place it must be considered that Men who are extreamly zealous themselves in a Cause of great Consequence are ready to look on others whom they observe to be less affected in the same concern to be little better than Neutralists or Luke-warm Persons And thus it appears that St. Paul was himself carried on with such a constant burning zeal for the glory of his Master Christ Jesus that he lookt on the generality of his Fellow-Labourers in the work of the Ministry to be but a Worldly and carnal sort of
want of this divine Spirit of Zeal for God's honour and the Salvation of his Peoples Souls in too many of our Profession that hath occasioned our reputation to sink and our calling to be meanly thought of especially by the viler sort of Men. For we should remember that Christ our Elder Brother dyed and is gone to Heaven and that he hath left the care of his Spouse the Church unto us his Ministers and he expects that we should be zealous in raising up Children unto him and to preserve his name and honour in the World Now if we refuse to do this any of us 't will be but just if she whom we should have espoused do spit in our face and our shooe be loosed and we be marked with disgrace as Moses hath mystically taught us in the Law Deut. 25. and you know Christ himself hath told us in the Gospel what that Salt is fit for that hath lost its savour So that our Interest our Honour and I may say all that should be most near and dear unto us and that concerns either this life or another are bound up in the sincere and consciencious discharge of the seral Offices we have taken upon us And I believe our good Examples in all kind of Christian Practice are every whit as much if not more necessary than our good instructions especially in the Age we live in wherein knowledge abounds and good Books are every where to be met with but truly good and pious Examples are very rare We are bound by our places Men think to speak and teach the best things and if we do not put in practice whatsoever we teach and press upon others all are lookt upon but as words of course And indeed if they come but from the tip of our own Tongues we must never expect they should sink deep down into other Mens Hearts and with what face can we press every Christian duty upon other men and endavour to plant in them every spiritual grace if these are not first exemplified in our own lives and deeply rooted in the bottom of our own Hearts And how can we intercede with God for others if we are not well reconciled to him and do not constantly live in some good Friendship with him our selves And in a word we can perform no office with full acceptance to God true comfort to our selves or any great benefit to the Church if we are not heartily Zealous for our Lord's honour and service And now though I owe much Apology for what I have said already yet I can scarce forbear saying many things more on this Subject but I must remember my time who I am and to whom I speak I shall therefore proceed to say but a very few words more touching the Prudence which is likewise highly requisite in Persons of our Profession I shall thankfully release you and perfectly relieve your injured Patience We are all sensible that Zeal without Knowledge is blind and dangerous that 't is like Fire out of its place and we have seen enough of the mischiefs of it of late years and what havock it has made in the World and Zeal even in the best cause if it be not mixed with Prudence and Discretion is of little or no use neither and it may be questioned whether it doth not do more harm than good And because misinformed Zeal hath done so much harm and indiscreet Zeal doth so little good it hath come to pass that all kind of Zeal though never so wise and Christian is counted by too many as a ridiculous thing and is almost every where quite laughed out of Coun tenance and not only a Zealot in any cause but almost any one that is Zealous in Religious matters signifies now a days little better than either a dangerous or a foolish Person But it should be marked that this hath happen'd to the exceeding great dammage of true Religion and to the no less encouragement of all kind of Schism and Profaneness and by this means the Devil hath gotten an incredible advantage over the Souls of Men. But this distemper which endangers the very life of Christianity amongst us can no otherwise be cured than by a more unanimous truly Christian and prudent Zeal of the Clergy For Prudence is that universal and supereminent Virtue that makes all other Virtues and Graces effectual for the obtaining their ends and it gives reputation and honour to whatsoever is truly good and commendable in our whole behaviour 't is this Cardinal Virtue of Prudence that enable us to judge of things according to their own natures and tendences whether they be like to be good or evil hurtful or prositable to the common cause of true Religion and of their several degrees and measures either way it teacheth us to judge of Persons according to their various prejudices tempers distempers inclinations interests and abilities that we may make the best and wisest use of them we can to the profiting themselves and to the doing the Church of God the greatest service For all men have their several gifts and abilities and there are searce any now a-days without their prejudices defects and failings in one kind or other which must be considered and also be allowed for by every prudent person that knows how to treat with and use all men to the best advantage Prudence likewise teacheth us to guess aright at the most likely events and consequences of things whereby we may avoid many evils and inconveniencies which foolish conceited heedless and obstinate Persons commonly fall into Lastly Prudence teacheth us to discern the fittest and properest times and seasons for the doing of the best things For that which may be easily accomplished at one time cannot be brought to pass without the greatest difficulties and hazards imaginable at another However your over-wary and prudential Men too often omit all opportunities of mending any thing under the notion or pretence rather of its being a very improper time to do it now but this is only when their spiritual Zeal is not equally matched with their Worldly wisdom Hence it is very manifest that both these I mean Zeal and Prudence must meet together where any notable and greatly profitable good works can be expected And as Prudence is to direct in all practical matters whatsoever to the making of them successful so more particularly it should teach us to understand the feveral genius's and prejudices of all the Adverfaries of our Church that we may be sure to give them as little offence as possible may be and that we may be better able to stop their mouths abate their Calumnies and wear off their false Notions of us and to win them over by degrees if it may be to the Peace and Unity of the Church and if that cannot be done however our behaviour should be such that whosoever is of the contrary part may have no evil thing to say of us And to this purpose we should remember the blind