to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose reveal'd to us all his Fathers Will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this Obedience therefore when Works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods Commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore it is no wonder that it is said we are to be justified by Works always meaning not the Works of the Law that is Works that are meritorious works that can challenge the reward works that need no mercy no repentance no humiliation and no appeal to grace and favour but always meaning works that are an obedience to God by the measures of good will and a sincere endeavour and the Faith of the Lord Jesus 3. But thus also it is in the word Justification For God is justified and Wisdom is justified and Man is justified and a sinner is not justified as long as he continues in sin and a sinner is justified when he repents and when he is pardoned and an innocent person is justified when he is declared to be no criminal and a righteous man is justified when he is saved and a weak Christian is justified when his imperfect Services are accepted for the present and himself thrust forward to more grace and he that is justified may be justified more and every man that is justified to one purpose is not so to all and Faith in divers sences gives Justification in as many and therefore though to every sence of Faith there is not always a degree of Justification in any yet when the Faith is such that Justification is the product and correspondent as that Faith may be imperfect so the Justification is but begun and either must proceed further or else as the Faith will dy so the Justification will come to nothing The like observation might be made concerning Imputation and all the words used in this Question but these may suffice till I pass to other particulars 4. Not only the word Faith but also Charity and Godliness and Religion signifie sometimes particular Graces and sometimes they suppose Universally and mean Conjugations and Unions of Graces as is evident to them that read the Scriptures with observation Now when Justification is attributed to Faith or Salvation to Godliness they are to be understood in the aggregate sence for that I may give but one instance of this when S. Paul speaks of Faith as it is a particular Grace and separate from the rest he also does separate it from all possibility of bringing us to Heaven Though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing When Faith includes Charity it will bring us to Heaven when it is alone when it is without Charity it will do nothing at all 5. Neither can this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be salved by saying That though Faith alone does justifie yet when she does justifie she is not alone but Good Works must follow for this is said to no purpose 1. Because if we be justified by Faith alone the work is done whether Charity does follow or no and therefore that want of Charity cannot hurt us 2. There can be no imaginable cause why Charity and Obedience should be at all necessary if the whole work can be done without it 3. If Obedience and Charity be not a condition of our Salvation then it is not necessary to follow Faith but if it be it does as much as Faith for that is but a part of the condition 4. If we can besaved without Charity and keeping the Commandments what need we trouble our selves for them if we cannot be saved without them then either Faith without them does not justifie or if it does we are never the better for we may be damned for all that Justification The Consequent of these Observations is briefly this 1. That no man should fool himself by disputing about the Philosophy of Justification and what causality Faith hath in it and whether it be the act of Faith that justifies or the habit Whether Faith as a Good Work or Faith as an Instrument Whether Faith as it is Obedience or Faith as it is an Access to Christ Whether as a Hand or as a Heart Whether by its own innate Vertue or by the efficacy of the Object Whether as a sign or as a thing signified Whether by introduction or by perfection Whether in the first beginnings or in its last and best productions Whether by inherent worthiness or adventitious imputation Vberiùs ista quaeso c. that I may use the words of Cicero haec enim spinosiora priùs ut confiteor me cogunt quam ut assentiar These things are knotty and too intricate to do any good they may amuse us but never instruct us and they have already made men careless and confident disputative and troublesome proud and uncharitable but neither wiser nor better Let us therefore leave these weak wayes of troubling our selves or others and directly look to the Theology of it the direct duty the end of Faith and the work of Faith the conditions and the instruments of our Salvation the just foundation of our hopes how our faith can destroy our sin and how it can unite us unto God how by it we can be made Partakers of Christs death and Imitators of his life For since it is evident by the premises that this article is not to be determined or relyed upon by arguing from words of many significations we must walk by a clearer light by such plain sayings and Dogmatical Propositions of Scripture which evidently teach us our duty and place our hopes upon that which cannot deceive us that is which require Obedience which call upon us to glorifie God and to do good to men and to keep all Gods Commandments with diligence and sincerity For since the end of our faith is that we may be Disciples and Servants of the Lord Jesus advancing his Kingdom here and partaking of it hereafter since we are commanded to believe what Christ taught that it may appear as reasonable as it is necessary to do what he hath commanded since Faith and works are in order one to the other it is impossible that Evangelical Faith and Evangelical works should be opposed one to the other in the effecting of our Salvation So that as it is to no purpose for Christians to dispute whether we are justified by Faith or the works of the Law that is the Covenant of works without the help of Faith and the auxiliaries and allowances of mercy on Gods part and repentance on ours because no Christian can pretend to this so it is perfectly foolish to dispute whether
it at all Remember that the Snail out-went the Eagle and won the goal because she set out betimes To sum up all every good man is a new Creature and Christianity is not so much a Divine institution as a Divine frame and temper of Spirit which if we heartily pray for and endeavour to obtain we shall find it as hard and as uneasie to sin against God as now we think it impossible to abstain from our most pleasing sins For as it is in the Spermatick vertue of the Heavens which diffuses it self Universally upon all sublunary bodies and subtilly insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a Law of Righteousness and it is a Law of the Spirit of Life and changes Nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our souls through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love SERM. III. JAMES II. 24. You see then how that by Works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us That we are also justified by Works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this Justification is wrought by Faith without Works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul That this is not wrought without Works S. James is as express for his Negative as S. Paul was for his Affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom Faith was imputed for Righteousness and therefore not by Works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this That S. James uses the very same Argument to prove that our Justification is by Works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his Son Isaac Now which of these says true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on Faith to the disparagement of Good Life and the other makes Works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of Faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive Institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recalls us to live the life of Jews while one says I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a Law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtle Arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes But because the great end of Faith the design the definition the state the oeconomy of it is that all Believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit Before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary Considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing sences of the Apostles to understand the Question and the Duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main Inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with alegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righteousness and Works be pleased to consider That the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous insomuch that in the Latine Concordances of S. Hierom's Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less then twenty two several senses and accceptations of of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them to which if out of my own own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration That whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sence as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other sences be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in Works for by Works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of Works it sometimes means the Works of the Law sometimes the Works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning Obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the Reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to receive the favour and the grace of God Now since our good Works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without Works in this sence for by such Works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the Works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of Works But because we came into the World to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the World to save us from sin and
and returns to it with passion and abides with pleasure This will not do it such a man cannot be justified for all his believing But therefore the Apostle shews us a more excellent way This is a true saying and I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works The Apostle puts great force on this Doctrine he arms it with a double Preface the saying is true and it is to be constantly affirmed that is it is not only true but necessary it is like Pharaoh's dream doubled because it is bound upon us by the decree of God and it is unalterably certain that every Believer must do good works or his believing will signifie little nay more than so every man must be careful to do good works and more yet he must carefully maintain them that is not do them by fits and interrupted returns but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be incumbent upon them to dwell upon them to maintain good works that is to persevere in them But I am yet but in the general be pleased to go along with me in these particular considerations 1. No mans sins are pardoned but in the same measure in which they are mortified destroyed and taken away so that if Faith does not cure our sinful Natures it never can justifie it never can procure our pardon And therefore it is that as soon as ever Faith in the Lord Jesus was Preached at the same time also they preached Repentance from dead works in so much that S. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first principles of Christianity nay the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the Faith of Christ. And I pray consider can there be any forgiveness of sins without repentance But if an Apostle should preach forgiveness to all that believe and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin the Sermons of the Apostle would make Christianity nothing else but the Sanctuary of Romulus a device to get together all the wicked people of the world and to make them happy without any change of manners Christ came to other purposes he came to sanctifie us and to cleanse us by his Word the word of Faith was not for it self but was a design of holiness and the very grace of God did appear for this end that teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live holily justly and soberly in this present world he came to gather a People together not like Davids Army when Saul pursued him but the Armies of the Lord a faithful people a chosen generation and what is that The Spirit of God adds a People zealous of good works Now as Christ proved his power to forgive sins by curing the poor mans Palsie because a man is never pardoned but when the punishment is removed so the great act of justification of a sinner the pardoning of his sins is then only effected when the spiritual evil is taken away that 's the best indication of a real and an eternal pardon when God takes away the hardness of the heart the love of sin the accursed habit the evil inclination the sin that doth so easily beset us and when that is gone what remains within us that God can hate Nothing stayes behind but Gods creation the work of his own hands the issues of his holy Spirit The Faith of a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it destroyes the whole body of sin and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner whom he doth not also purge and rescue from the dominion of sin is to affirm that he justifies the wicked that he calls good evil and evil good that he delights in a wicked person that he makes a wicked man all one with himself that he makes the members of an harlot at the same time also the members of Christ but all this is impossible and therefore ought not to be pretended to by any Christian. Severe are those words of our Blessed Saviour Every plant in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Faith ingrafts us into Christ by Faith we are inserted into the vine but the plant that is ingrafted must also be parturient and fruitful or else it shall be quite cut off from the root and thrown into the everlasting burning And this is the full and plain meaning of those words so often used in Scripture for the magnification of Faith The just shall live by Faith No man shall live by Faith but the just man he indeed is justified by Faith but no man else the unjust and the unrighteous man hath no portion in this matter That 's the first great consideration in this affair no man is justified in the least sense of justification that is when it means nothing but the pardon of sins but when his sin is mortified and destroyed 2. No man is actually justified but he that is in some measure sanctified For the understanding and clearing of which Proposition we must know that justification when it is attributed to any cause does not alwayes signifie justification actual Thus when it is said in Scripture We are justified by the death of Christ it is but the same thing as to say Christ dyed for us and he rose again for us too that we might indeed be justified in due time and by just measures and dispositions he dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification that is by his Death and Resurrection he hath obtained this power and effected this mercy that if we believe him and obey we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the Kingdom But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon of grace and of salvation appears not only by Gods requiring Obedience as a condition on our parts but by his expresly attributing this mercy to us at such times and in such circumstances in which it is certain and evident that we could not actually be justified for so saith the Scripture We when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son and while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us that is then was our Justification wrought on Gods part that is then he intended this mercy to us then he resolved to shew us favour to give us Promises and Laws and Conditions and Hopes and an infallible Oeconomy of Salvation and when Faith layes hold on this Grace and this Justification then we are to do the other part of it that is as God made it potential by the Death and Resurrection of Christ so we laying hold on these things by Faith and working the Righteousness of Faith that is performing what is required on our parts we I say make it actual and for this very reason it is that the Apostle puts more Emphasis upon the Resurrection of Christ than upon his Death Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that
dyed yea rather that is risen again And Christ was both delivered for our sins and is risen again for our justification implying to us that as it is in the principal so it is in the correspondent our sins indeed are potentially pardoned when they are marked out for death and crucifixion when by resolving and fighting against sin we dye to sin daily and are so made conformable to his Death but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual when we are dead to sin and are risen again unto righteousness then as we are partakers of his Death so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection saith S. Paul that is then we are truly effectually and indeed justified till then we are not He that loveth Gold shall not be justified saith the wise Bensirach he that is covetous let his Faith be what it will shall not be accounted righteous before God because he is not so in himself and he is not so in Christ for he is not in Christ at all he hath no righteousness in himself and he hath none in Christ for if we be in Christ or if Christ be in us the Body is dead by reason of sin and the Spirit is life because of righteousness For this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful thing that is the faithfulness is manifested the Emun from whence comes Emunah which is the Hebrew word for Faith from whence Amen is derived Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde hoc fidum est when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings Fac fidelis sis fideli cave fidem fluxam geras said he in the Comedy God is faithful be thou so too for if thou failest him thy faith hath failed thee Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrumque placitum says one and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said the Just shall live by Faith in both senses ex fide mea vivet ex fide sua we live by Gods Faith and by our own by his Fidelity and by ours When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours by his Grace and our Obedience So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course they may be distinguished in notion and speculation but never when they are to pass on to material events for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified They are the express words of S. Paul Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son to be like to Christ and then it follows Whom he hath predestinated so predestinated them he hath also called and whom he hath called them he hath also justified and then it follows Whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified So that no man is justified that is so as to signifie Salvation but Sanctification must be precedent to it and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which I was to prove 3. I pray consider that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel cannot pretend to Faith in Christ but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience and he that does not believe them as Christ made them believes them not at all In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator there is no committing our selves to God without well doing For God will render to every man according to his deeds to them that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them eternal life So that if Faith apprehends any other promises it is illusion and not Faith God gave us none such Christ purchased none such for us search the Bible over and you shall find none such But if Faith layes hold on these promises that are and as they are then it becomes an Article of our Faith that without obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments no man living can be justified And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us Christ freely dyed for us God pardons us freely in our first access to him we could never deserve pardon because when we need pardon we are enemies and have no good thing in us and he freely gives us of his Spirit and freely he enables us to obey him and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life here is free Grace all the way and he overvalues his pitiful services who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them and that if he does his duty tolerably eternal life is not a free gift to him but a deserved reward Conscius est animus meus experientia testis Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum Spes mea crux Christi gratia non opera It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris I know that without a good life and the fruits of repentance a sinner cannot be justified and therefore I must live well or I must dye for ever But if I do live holily I do not think that I deserve Heaven it is the Cross of Christ that procures me grace it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto glory But yet he that shall exclude the works of Faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ may as well exclude Faith it self for Faith it self is one of the works of God it is a good work so said Christ to them that asked him What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith is not only the foundation of good works but it self is a good work it is not only the cause of obedience but a part of it it is not as the Son of Sirach calls it initium adhaerendi Deo a beginning of cleaving unto God but it carries us on to the perfection of it Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and when Faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness nor snatch at a promise without performing the condition nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ and to do nothing else for that will but
when it is declared by Laws much easier may he be in an errour who goes upon his own account and declares alone and g. it is better to let things alone than to be troublesome to our Superiours by an impertinent wrangling for reformation We find that some Kings of Judah were greatly prais'd and yet they did not destroy all the Temples of the false gods which Solomon had built and if such publick persons might let some things alone that were amiss and yet be innocent trouble not your self that all the world is not amended according to your pattern see that you be perfect at home that all be rightly reform'd there as for reformation of the Church God will never call you to an account Some things cannot be reform'd and very many need not for all thy peevish dreams and after all it is twenty to one but thou art mistaken and thy Superiour is in the right and if thou wert not proud thou wouldst think so too Certain it is he that sows in the furrows of Authority his Doctrine cannot so easily be reprov'd as he that plows and sows alone When Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria fell into the hands of the Egyptian Monks who were ignorant and confident they handled him with great rudeness because he had spoken of the immateriality of the Divine Nature the good man to escape their fury was forc'd to give them crafty and soft words saying Vidi faciem vestram ut faciem Dei which because they understood in the sense of the Anthropomorphites and thought he did so too they let him depart in peace When private persons are rude against the Doctrines of Authority they are seldom in the right but g. are the more fierce as wanting the natural supports of truth which are Reason and Authority gentleness and plain conviction and g. they fall to declamation and railing zeal and cruelty trifling and arrogant confidencies They seldom go asunder It is the same word in Greek that signifies disobedience and cruelty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is both he that will endure no bridle that man hath no mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confidence is that which will endure no bridle no curb no Superiour It is worse in the Hebrew the Sons of Belial signifie people that will endure no yoke no Government no imposition and we have found them so they are Sons of Belial indeed This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that kind of boldness and refractory confidence that S. Paul forbids to be in a Minister of Religion 1 Tit. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not confident that is let him be humble and modest distrusting his own judgment believing wiser men than himself never bold against Authority never relying on his own wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle that man is bold and presumptuous who pleases himself and sings his own Songs all voluntary nothing by his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the Tragedy Every confident man is ignorant and by his ignorance troublesome to his Country but will never do it honour 4. Whatever Scriptures you pretend for your Doctrine take heed that it be not chargeable with foul consequences that it lay no burden upon God that it do not tempt to vanity that it be not manifestly serving a temporal end and nothing else that it be not vehemently to be suspected to be a design of State like the Sermon at Pauls-Cross by Dr Shaw in Richard the Third's time that it do not give countenance and confidence to a wicked life for then your Doctrine is reproveable for the appendage and the intrinsick truth or falshood will not so much be inquir'd after as the visible and external objection if men can reprove it in the outside they will inquire no further But above all things nothing so much will reproach your Doctrine as if you preach it in a railing dialect we have had too much of that within these last 30 years Optatus observes it was the trick of the Donatists Nullus vestrum est qui non convitia nostra suis tractatibus misceat There is none of you but with his own writings mingles our reproaches you begin to read Chapters and you expound them to our injuries you comment upon the Gospel and revile your brethren that are absent you imprint hatred and enmity in your peoples hearts and you teach them war when you pretend to make them Saints They do so their Doctrine is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the least which can be said If you will not have your Doctrine reprehensible do nothing with offence and above all offences avoid the doing or saying those things that give offence to the King and to the Laws to the voice of Christendom and the publick Customs of the Church of God Frame your life and preachings to the Canons of the Church to the Doctrines of Antiquity to the sense of the ancient and holy Fathers For it is otherwise in Theology then it is in other Learnings The experiments of Philosophy are rude at first and the observations weak and the principles unprov'd and he that made the first lock was not so good a work-man as we have now adays But in Christian Religion they that were first were best because God and not man was the Teacher and ever since that we have been unlearning the wise notices of pure Religion and mingling them with humane notices and humane interest Quod primum hoc verum and although concerning Antiquity I may say as he in the Tragedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would have you be wise with them and under them and follow their faith but not their errours yet this can never be of use to us till Antiquity be convicted of an errour by an authority great as her own or a reason greater and declar'd by an authoriz'd Master of Sentences But however be very tender in reproving a Doctrine for which good men and holy have suffer'd Martyrdom and of which they have made publick confession for nothing reproves a Doctrine so much as to venture it abroad with so much scandal and objection and what reason can any Schismatick have against the Common Prayer-book able to weigh against that argument of blood which for the testimony of it was shed by the Q. Mary Martyrs I instance the advice in this particular but it is true in all things else of the like nature It was no ill advice whoever gave it to the favourite of a Prince Never make your self a profess'd enemy to the Church for their interest is so complicated with the publick and their calling is so dear to God that one way or other one time or other God and man will be their defender The same I say concerning Authority and Antiquity never do any thing never say or profess any thing against it for besides that if you follow their measures you will be secur'd in your faith and in your main duty even in smaller things
they will be sure to carry the cause against you and no man is able to bear the reproach of singularity It was in honour spoken of S. Malachias my Predecessor in the See of D. in his life written by S. Bernard Apostolicas sanctiones decreta SS pp. in cunctis Ecclesiis statuebat I hope to do something of this for your help and service if God gives me life and health and opportunity But for the present I have done These Rules if you observe your Doctrine will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will need no pardon and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never to be reprov'd in Judgment I conclude all with the wise saying of Bensirach Extoll not thy self in the counsel of thine own heart that thy soul be not torn in pieces as a Bull straying alone FINIS RULES AND ADVICES TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESSE OF DOWN CONNOR For their Deportment in their Personal and Publick Capacities Given by Jer. Taylor Bishop of that Diocess at the Visitation at LISNEGARVEY The third Edition LONDON Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty 1667. Rules and Advices to the Clergy I. Personal Duty II. Of Prudence required in Ministers III. The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers in their respective Cures IV. Rules and Advices concerning Preaching V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechism VI. Rules and Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick VII Of ministring the Sacraments publick Prayers and other duties of Ministers RULES AND ADVICES TO THE CLERGY I. Personal Duty rule I REmember that it is your great Duty and tied on you by many Obligations that you be exemplar in your lives and be Patterns and Presidents to your Flocks lest it be said unto you Why takest thou my Law into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed thereby He that lives an idle life may preach with Truth and Reason or as did the Pharisees but not as Christ or as one having Authority rule II Every Minister in taking accounts of his life must judge of his Duty by more strict and severer measures than he does of his People and he that ties heavy burthens upon others ought himself to carry the heaviest end and many things may be lawful in them which he must not suffer in himself rule III Let every Minister endeavour to be learned in all spiritual wisdom and skilful in the things of God for he will ill teach others the way of godliness perfectly that is himself a babe and uninstructed An Ignorant Minister is an head without an eye and an Evil Minister is salt that hath no savour rule IV Every Minister above all things must be careful that he be not a servant of Passion whether of Anger or Desire For he that is not a master of his Passions will always be useless and quickly will become contemptible and cheap in the eyes of his Parish rule V Let no Minister be litigious in any thing not greedy or covetous not insisting upon little things or quarrelling for or exacting of every minute portion of his dues but bountiful and easie remitting of his right when to do so may be useful to his people or when the contrary may do mischief and cause reproach Be not over-righteous saith Solomon that is not severe in demanding or forcing every thing though it be indeed his due rule VI Let not the name of the Church be made a pretence for personal covetousness by saying you are willing to remit many things but you must not wrong the Church for though it be true that you are not to do prejudice to succession yet many things may be forgiven upon just occasions from which the Church shall receive no incommodity but be sure that there are but few things which thou art bound to do in thy personal capacity but the sâ—me also and more thou art obliged to perform as thou art a publick person rule VII Never exact the offerings or customary wages and such as are allowed by Law in the ministration of the Sacraments nor condition for them nor secure them before-hand but first do your office and minister the Sacrameâ—â—s purely readily and for Christs sake and when that is done receive what is your due rule VIII Avoid all Pride as you would flee from the most frightful Apparition or the most cruel Enemy and remember that you can never truly teach Humility or tell what it is unless you practise it your selves rule IX Take no measures of Humility but such as are material and tangible such which consist not in humble words and lowly gestures but what is first truly radicated in your Souls in low opinion of your selves and in real preferring others before your selves and in such significations which can neither deceive your selves nor others rule X Let every Curate of Souls strive to understand himself best and then to understand others Let him spare himself least but most severely judge censure and condemn himself If he be learned let him shew it by wise teaching and humble manners If he be not learned let him be sure to get so much Knowledge as to know that and so much Humility as not to grow insolent and puffed up by his Emptiness For many will pardon a good man that is less learned but if he be proud no man will forgive him rule XI Let every Minister be careful to live a life as abstracted from the Affairs of the world as his necessity will permit him but at no hand to be immerg'd and principally imploy'd in the Affairs of the World What cannot be avoided and what is of good report and what he is oblig'd to by any personal or collateral Duty that he may do but no more Ever remembring the Saying of our Blessed Lord In the world ye shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace and consider this also which is a great Truth That every degree of love to the world is so much taken from the Love of God rule XII Be no otherwise sollicitous of your Fame and Reputation but by doing your Duty well and wisely in other things refer your self to God but if you meet with evil Tongues be careful that you bear reproaches sweetly and temperately rule XIII Remember that no Minister can govern his people well and prosperously unless himself hath learn'd humbly and cheerfully to obey his Superiour For every Minister should be like the good Centurion in the Gospel himself is under authority and he hath people under him rule XIV Be sure in all your Words and Actions to preserve Christian simplicity and ingenuity to do to others as you would be done unto your self and never to speak what you do not think Trust to Truth rather than to your Memory for this may fail you that will never rule XV Pray much and very fervently for all your Parishioners and all men that belong to you and all that belong to God but especially for the Conversion of Souls