ut apud Christianos veteres apud prisca secula de eorum scriptis edoceas adhiberi nomen Pastoris ubi de Episcopo non loquuntur And if Bishops be the Prophets and Pastors and Doctors of the Church to whom should the Office of Preaching chiefly and primarily belong but them The practice of the ancient Church confirms this In Justin Martyr the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stood up and made the exhortation i. e. the Bishop In the 19. Canon of the Council of Laodicea the style of the Church shews this was the practice of the Church at that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the Homilies of the Bishops in Alexandria Soromon writes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop alone of the City does teach St. Chrysostom in 1. ad Tim. cap. 4. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the dignity of the Priesthood and teaching was great referring to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priesthood Timothy was chosen to and that was the high Priesthood of Episcopacy Thom. Aquin. supplem 3. par quaest 36. artic 2. in prim argum calls Preaching opus Episcopalissimum the most Episcopal work Estius upon the Sentences speaking of Preaching saith verùm hoc munus principaliter Episcopis incumbit qui propriè secundum Apostolum Ephes 4.11 in Ecclesia constituti sunt Pastores Doctores Secundariò autem Parochis qui Episcopis in hoc subsidiariam navant operam But this Office of Preaching is primarily incumbent upon the Bishops who properly according to the Apostle are ordained Pastors and Doctors Secondarily the Parish Priests are to be subservient to the Bishop in this the Office of Preaching primarily belongs to the Bishop a subsidiary labour as the Bishops substitute belongs to the Presbyter Estius tom 4. lib. 4. cap. 20. But here there may be a question moved how the Presbyter hath the power of Preaching derived to him whether ex vi ordinis or ex licentia Episcopi by virtue of his order or from the Bishops licence But granting that all Presbyters receive a power to preach by their Orders as in the Church of England yet it is onely in actu primo not in actu secundo though they have a power conferred upon them yet the exercise of that power is restrained by the Canons till they have a Licence from the Bishop I have not met with any thing concerning the forms of Ordination used in the ancient Church but I suppose howsoever the matter of Ordination and Imposition of hands by a Bishop be an Apostolical Tradition yet the form of words used in Ordination is not so but of Ecclesiastical institution whence it comes that most Churches vary in their forms of Ordination In the Greek Church the form is divina gratia quae semper infirma sanat quae desunt supplet creat seu promovet N. venerabilem Diaconum in Presbyterum Dei amabilissimum Presbyterum in Episcopum The divine Grace which alwayes heales our infirmities and supplies our wants doth create or promote N. the Venerable Subdeacon to be a Deacon the Venerable Deacon to be a Presbyter the Presbyter most beloved of God to be a Bishop In the Western Church they use another form and in that confer a double power upon the Presbyter potestatem conficiendi corpus Domini potestatem ligandi solvendi power of Consecrating the Elements in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and power of binding and loosing Our Britanick Church which is a part of the Western hath a form peculiar to her self yet very much like the old Greek form mentioned by S. Clem. in his Constitutions l. 8. c. 16. wherein the power of Preaching also is conferred upon the Presbyter And yet I have reason enough to believe that actual Preaching especially according to the common understanding of that word now-a-days is not so essential to the Order of a Presbyter but that he may sometimes upon good grounds be debarred from it First because if a Presbyter be suspended ab officio from his Office of Preaching he remains a Presbyter still The Character is indeleble Nay if a Presbyter be suspended not only from the Office of Preaching but of Consecrating or Baptizing or in any kind Officiating in the Church nay if he be excommunicated yet his Character is indeleble he remains a Presbyter still and whatsoever he doth by vertue of that Character is valid de facto though contra jus This St. Jerom proves at large in his Book against the Luciferians that a Presbyter cannot lose his Order And St. Augustine in his Book de bono conjugali cap. 24. saith expresly Si siat Ordinatio cleri ad plebem congregandam etiamsi plebis congregatio non subsequatur manet tamen in ordinatis ordinationis sacramentum Et si ob aliquam culpam quispiam ab officio removeatur Sacramento Domini non carebit If their be an Ordination of the Clergy for the Congregation of the people although they have not a Corgregation or a Parish to attend upon yet the Sacrament of Ordination remaines in them once ordained And if for some fault any one be removed from his Office yet he wants not the Sacrament of the Lord. Secondly because I find that the Church in prudence anciently did not suffer all Presbyters to Preach but onely such as were eminent for their Prudence Gravity Piety and Abilities Presbyters and Deacons saith Grotius in his Annot. upon S. Luke 10.1 did not all Preach but they alone quibus docendi populum potestas ab Episcopo facta est to whom the power of teaching the people was granted by the Bishop which Presbyters therefore he saith were called by Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presbyters entrusted with the explication of the word of God Thirdly because I see in the ancient Church there were Presbyteri Monachi Presbyters Monks Presbyters in Monasteries which had no cure of souls St. Hierome in his Epistle ad Dammachium tells us of five Presbyters they had in the Monastery of Bethlehem on purpose to administer the Sacrament to devout people there Such a Presbyter was Saint Hierome himself who preached not officio vocis by Sermons but by writing and did as many others quiescere in monasterio Lastly because I know the Church of England hath ordained allowed imployed many Presbyters who were no Preachers In the beginning of the Reformation 't is well known we had many Presbyters that never preach'd at all Within this 50 or 60 years amongst ten Presbyters there was not one Preacher In our Cathedralls at this day there are divers Singing-men Presbyters no Preachers And Presbyters they must be by the rules and statutes of their respective Churches wherein they serve and attend the Quire But if Preaching be not essentiall to the order of a Presbyter what office or duty is incumbent on him in case he be not qualified or licensed to preach Gulielmus Lunicensis in his book before alledged enumerates divers branches of the Presbyters office besides Preaching
vain oftentation of their Learning to embroil the Church and State And we have found it true by experience for as we read of a great King destroyed by the counsel of young men so we may remember a great and good King also destroyed by these young Divines and their young Divinity A third Innovation as I take it is the Preaching of Lecturers but by Lecturers I do not understand all that go under that name but such as are merely of the Peoples setting up against the mind and without the special License of the Governours of the Church These Lecturers are a new order of Ecclesiasticks that like Cartesius Philosophy are made up of rare Principles but all Novelties Their Ordination if they have any is a Novelty for 't is either by Presbyters sine Episcopo or by Bishops sine titulo If it be by Presbyters without a Bishop 't is a Novelty as being against Tradition Apostolical the Practice and Constitution of the ancient Church and of the universal Church for the space of 1500. years after Christ Ordination ever was the Bishops peculiar and all Ordinations without the Bishop were esteemed uncanonical and pronounced null and void Vide Concil Constantinop 1. can 6. If it be by Bishops without a Title 't is a Novelty too against a Canon of our own Churhc can 33. and against the Canons of the ancient Church Nullum absolutè ordinaridebere Presbyterum c. Concil Chalced. can 6. No Presbyter is absolutely to be ordained And I doubt such a Lecture of the peoples setting up will never prove a Title in Law nor in the Churches esteem and if it be not their Ordination is a Novelty and a Nullity also Their Congregation is a Novelty as being against the Doctrine Practice and Canons of the ancient Church too by which no Presbyter is suffered to hold Meetings or Conventions by himself contrary to the Bishops mind and order We find it very early in the Canons of the Apostles Si quis Presbyter contemnens Episcopum suum seorsim collegerit altare aliud erexerit nihil habens quod reprehendat Episcopum suum in causa pietat is justitiae deponatur quasi principatus amator existens est enim tyrannus caeteri clerici quicunque tali consentiunt deponantur laici verò segregentur Can. 32. If any Presbyter despising his Bishop shall hold a Meeting by himself and erect another Altar having nothing in the mean time to accuse the Bishop of in matter of piety and justice let him be deposed as one that loves Preeminence for he is a Tyrant and other Clergy-men that joyn with him are to be deposed and the Laicks excommunicate To this agrees a Canon of the Council of Carthage Si quis Presbyter ab Episcopo suo correptus tumore vel superbia inflatus putaverit separatim sacrificia Deo offerenda vel aliud erigendum altare centra eccle siasbicam fidem vel disciplinam crediderit non exeat impunitùs If any Presbyter being rebuked and censured by the Bishop shall in a separation offer sacrifice to God or erect another Altar against the Ecclesiastical Faith and Discipline let him not go unpunish'd But these Lecturers hold Conventions and Meetings in the Church without the Bishops License and against the Canons of the Church and all Ecclesiastical Discipline therefore their Congregation is a Novelty Their Election is a Novelty as being by the suffrage of the People onely though sometimes the Bishops anciently did consult the People before their Ordination ad testimonium for their testimony yet never ad electionem for their suffrage in the choice of them much less after Ordination did they leave it to the People to make choice of their own Curates but they themselves appointed and sent out fit men to their several Cures There are several Canons wherein the People are barr'd this liberty of Election in the ancient Church the 13. can of the Council of Laodicea may serve alone to give us a taste Non est populis concedendum Electionem facere corum qui altaris ministerio sunt applicandi It is not to be left to the people to make choice of those who are to serve at the altar But these Lecturers come in all by popular Election and maintain the peoples election an authentick Call and sufficient without any Mission or Commission from the Bishop and therefore their Election is a Novelty Their Maintenance is a Novelty as being Elemosinary of the peoples benevolence they live not upon any Church revenue of tithes or glebe or oblations but upon the peoples contributions Whereas the maintenance of the Clergy was ever of tithes or some Church revenue or before the settlement of tithes by secular powers certain honourable stipends distributed at the discretion of the Bishop according to the merits of the person weekly or monthly out of the Churches treasure whereupon Presbyters were call'd by St. Cyprian Sportulantes fratres Epist 66. and those stipends sportulae Epist 34. Caeterum Presbyterii honorem nos designasse illis jam sciatis â—t et sportulis eisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur But you may know we have designed the honour of the Presbyterate for them that they may be dignified with the same stipends Presbyters are As amongst the Romanes the word sportulae was used for a certain allowance of food or mony given by great men to their followers so in Saint Cyprian it signifies the allowance or stipends which the Bishop out of the Church treasure paid to the Priests that depended upon him For as the Churches treasure was solely at the Bishops disposing so the Clergy depended upon the Bishop for their maintainance out of that treasure And therefore t is provided in the 7 Can. of the Council of Gangres Siquis oblationes ecclesiae accipere vel dare voluerit praeter conscientiam Episcopi vel ejus cui hujusmodi officia commissa sunt nec cum ejus voluerit agere consilio Anathema sit That if any should presume to take or give the oblations of the Church without the knowledge or consent of the Bishop he should be Anathema whereby it appears that the Priests and other orders of the Clergy depended upon the Bishop for their maintenance But these Lecturers depend upon the people for their maintenance And therefore their maintenance is a novelty Their Doctrine is a novelty As they are the peoples creatures so they are the peoples servants and take great care to please them populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas and forasmuch as people are lovers of novelties they must be sure to bring new things to their ears daily It is not enough for them to preach novè after a new manner but they must preach nova and not bona nova but mala nova nay nova mala new Gods in Israel nova dogmata sunt novi dii saith Vineentius new opinions are new Gods And if these be not new opinions new doctrines That the government of the Church
Praeesse subesse orare offerre baptizare benedicere reconciliare communicare animas Deo commendare corpora sepelire It is his office to be subordinate to the Bishop and to obey him from the heart in all things lawful It is his office to govern his flocks to know the state of them and to direct them in their repentance It is his office to pray for the people It is his office to bless people in marriage It is his office to reconcile men in articulo mortis It is his office to communicate all the faithful It is his office to commend the Souls of the faithfull going out of their bodies to God by prayer It is his office to bury the bodies of Christian people So there are you see many offices of a Presbyter besides preaching and those not despicable but honourable and sufficient to take a great part of a mans time in greater Parishes And yet preaching is incumbent on him by the Canons of our own and the ancient Church also but still with this proviso that it be cum licentia Episcopi And by vertue of that a Deacon as in the Church of England may preach as well as a Presbyter For certain Origen did before he was a Presbyter Origenes licet nondum Presbyterii gradu positus ab Episcopis qui ibi erant non ad disputandum solum sed etiam ad Scripturas explicandas magnopere in ecclesiastico consessu rogatus est Euseb lib. 6. cap. 13. Origen though he had not yet attained the degree of a Presbyter yet he was earnestly intreated by the Bishops who were there present not onely to dispute but to explain the Scriptures in a Church-assembly Well then having advanced so far though with much weaknesse yet I hope with some evidence of truth That primarily Preaching belongs to a Bishop and but secondarily to the Presbyter ex licentia Episcopi There is one difficulty behind to remove before I leave this part of my undertaking concerning the non-preaching of Bishops For if they be properly the Doctors and Pastors of the Church it seems altogether inexcusable that they preach not at all or very seldome To this I offer three things to be seriously considered First that if they be hindred by Sicknesse old age or some other natural or even accidental defects that I suppose will be easily confest a sufficient reason to excuse them from it Secondly If they shall be encumbred with multiplicity of businesse in the Government of the Church as surely since the encrease of Christians and the enlarging of Parishes and Dioceses they find daily more than enough that also cannot but be allowed to be a most just and reasonable excuse Else why doth St. Paul make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Governments an office in the Church An office which all must grant is of as great use as any in the Church of God and which the same Apostle appropriates to a Bishop 1 Tim. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how shall he take care of the Church of God To take care of the Church of God is Essential to that superiour order as the very name imports Thirdly supposing there be no such Impediment yet if they send others as their Curates to instruct Christian people in all things necessary for Salvation they Preach by their Proxies as the Apostles Preached when they came not themselves by the Evangelist Valerius Bishop of Hippo being a Greek born and not skilled in the language of the Africans could not Preach to the people himself but imployed St. Augustine being then but a Presbyter to Preach in his stead And that was then contra morem Ecclesiae for a Presbyter to Preach in the presence of a Bishop And yet Valerius was an excellent good Bishop Possidon in vit August Fourthly that if they write Confutations of Errours or Comments upon the Scripture or Directions of holy Life as Epistles to their people for the admonition of them in their duty they Preach by so doing Many of the Primitive Bishops because they could not through distance of place instruct their people viva voce did it per Epistolas Encyclicas circular or orbicular Epistles of this sort were the Epistles of Clemens Romanus St. Ignatius St. Cyprian in whom are frequent Epistles to be found to the Clergy and people of his Diocese And of this sort were the Epistles of St. Paul and the Catholick Epistles of St. Peter St. James St. John and St. Jude But if none of these be satisfactory take for a full and final answer the Apology of Gregory Nazianzen a Learned and holy Bishop who being taxed by Keleusius the Governour for his silence and retiredness In an Epistle told him this Parable The Swallows upon a time derided and scoffed at the Swans because they did flie the converse of men and betook themselves to Lakes Rivers and Desert places were such enemies to Musick that they sung but little and when they did they sung to themselves alone and no body heard them as if they were ashamed of their Melody whereas they the Swallows affected the company of men and lived about Houses and Cities and sung continually The Swans at first would not vouchsafe to answer but when they did they thus excused themselves If any come when we lift up our wings to the West and warble out our harmonious Ditties they may perceive though we do not sing much yet our Musick is artificial But you make such continual chattering that you are grievous to them that hear you you enter into mens Houses and molest them with your daily obstreperousness and this is the cause why you dislike us because your selves are over-garrulous Thou understandest what I mean as Pindarus saith thou mayest find my silence better than thy garrulity For Conclusion I le tell thee a Proverb very short but true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then the Swans shall sing when the Jack-dawes hold their peace vid. Greg. Naz. Epist prima ad Keleusium Praesidem By this time the Judicious Reader may easily perceive how many things in His Majesties Directions concerning the Person employed in Preaching are taken out of the Archives of the Church and derived from Venerable Antiquity as First that actual Preaching by forming Discourses of their own upon the Scriptures was not anciently the work of every Priest being not simply necessary to their order Secondly that Preaching was restrained to the choicest persons for Gravity Prudence and Learning Thirdly that no Priest might Preach without a Licence Fourthly that none can justly give a Licence to a Priest to qualifie him for Preaching but the Archbishop or Bishop they being the sole Pastors of the Church CHAP. III. How it was managed in the ancient Church THe third part of my undertaking is to shew the prudent managery of this Preaching in the ancient Church And this thing if it were accurately done might serve as a pattern upon the Mount for us all to conform unto 'T is a rule in Metaphysicks that primum
not only handle the Gospels read but refers to them as the subject he was obliged to treat on Audivimus Evangelium in eo c. Serm. 1. Sancti Evangelii capitulum quod modo cum legeretur audivimus valde me vexavit Serm. 4. De lectione Sancti Evangelii hortatus est nos Dominus Serm. 5. Happily the Gospels read then were not the same with ours read now in our second Service before the Communion 'T is certain that the use of Dominicâ—ls Epistles and Gospels for the day was very ancient Walafridus Strabo will have them as ancient as St. Jerom cap. 22. and not without some ground for St. Jerom himself does make mention of them in his Book against Vigilantius Per totas orientis Ecclesias quando legendum est Evangelium accenduntur luminaria jam sole rutilante non utique ad fugandas tenebras sed ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum In all the Churches of the East when the Gospel is read Candles are lighted not to drive away darkness but by this sign to testifie our joy By this 't is evident that in S. Hieroms time some Gospel was read and 't is probable some Gospel in the second Service at the Altar because there Candles were lighted and used Rabanus Maurus goes higher and saith they obtained from the beginning Sed enim initio mos iste cantandi non erat qui nunc in Ecclesia ante sacrificium celebratur sed Epistolae Pauli recitabantur sanctum Evangelium lib. 2. cap. 32. de Institut Cleric But that manner of singing which is now used before the celebration of the Eucharist was not from the beginning yet the Epistles of S. Paul and the Gospel were read The use of those Dominicals was very ancient no question and so was the Preaching upon them and it were a happy thing if Preachers as anciently were still confined unto them First to hold correspondency with the ancient Catholik Church whose example layes a moral obligation upon us of imitation in things lawful and laudable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. To hold Conformity with some eminent reformed Churches The Lutherans retain the custom of Preaching upon the Dominicals 3. To prevent wild Vagaries and Excursions when men are left to themselves 4. To acquaint the people with those parts of Scripture and the meaning of them which most concern their salvation For such singular wisdom is used in the Epistles and Gospels for the day that as the Gospel lays before them the mysteries of our Redemption so the Epistles all the Rules of holy life The Gospel is a Record of the Life and Death of our blessed Saviour the Epistles are Instructions for the edification of the Church in pious and Christian Conversation The Gospel represents unto us the prime Principles and Foundations of Christianity the Epistles contain Superstructures upon the Foundation And if those were duly and faithfully explained to the People the knowledge of them were sufficient to guide them in the way to Life Eternal and would prevent an horrible abuse of the Scriptures by peoples petulancy in meddling with Obscure Prophetical Apocalyptical parts of Scripture which they understand not and for want of understanding wrest to their own destruction A fourth Act of Prudence it was in the ancient Church That in order to the preservation of Peace and Piety they would not susser all men that were licensed to preach out of their own stock and abilities but required them to preach ex thesauro Ecclesiae out of the treasures of the Church All men that did preach did not undertake it of their own store of their own judgment and invention making and composing Sermons as they pleased but they borrowed out of the treasures of the Church and read the Homilies of the Fathers Thus it was ordered in the Council of Vase can 4. Power being granted to the Presbyters to preach in every City in case they were hindered by any infirmity the Deacons were enjoyned to read the Homilies of the Fathers Sanctorum Patrum Homiliae recitentur And the reason follows Si enim digni sunt Diaconi quae Christus in Evangelio locutus est legere quare indigni judicentur sanctorum Patrum expositiones publicè recitare If the Deacons be worthy to read the Gospel of Christ why should they be thought unworthy to rehearse publickly the Expositions of the Fathers And this gives us some ground of conjecture that the Presbyters read Homilies of the Fathers too for certainly not onely Deacons and Presbyters but even Bishops themselves did so Gennadius in his book de illustribus Ecclesiae scriptoribus testifieth that Cyril Bishop of Alexandria had written Homilies which many Fishops of Greece used afterwards Cyrillus saith he Alexandrinae Ecclesiae Episcopus Homilias composuit plurimas quae ad declamandum à Graecis Episcopis memoriae commendantur cap. 57. Sixtus Senens lib. 4. pag. 222. Cyril Bishop of Alexandria composed many Homilies which the Greek Bishops getting by heart preached unto the People This may haply seem a dishonourable thing to some men to be thus limited but if it may tend to the peace of the Church it ought not to be grievous How requisite some such Order is in this Church where so many are imployed in Preaching who through faction do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make merchandise of the Word of God or through want of Learning turn Plagiaries and do vivere ex rapto preach Sermons in Print and oftentimes according to their prepossessions take the worst and leave the best is easie to discern For had they not better be appointed where they should borrow stuff for their weekly tasks be limited and confined to the Homilies of the Church and the Fathers of the Church than be suffered to rake into the kennels of Faction and Schism out of which they first suck poison themselves and then propine it to their hearers A fifth Act of Prudence in the ancient Church was A wise Accommodation of themselves to the capacity of their hearers avoiding in their Sermons the discussion of sublime and subtil Questions which conduced not to the Edification of their Auditory They generally distinguished betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things to be published and things to be kept secret they did not think it meet to publish all the mysteries of Christianity to them who were not Initiati Initiate in the school of Christ as Heathens c. Neither did they judge it expedient to handle high and difficult Questions before the unskilful Multitude though Initiati Initiate in the school of Christ but condescended in their Sermons to the understanding of the Vulgar From hence it was that they called their Sermons Homilies An Homily is a familiar Sermon or Speech accommodated to the sense and understanding of the Vulgar It is a memorable and grave sentence of the Emperour Constantine recorded by Eusebius lib. 2. de vita Constant cap. 67. Such Questions as no Canon or Law
REX THEOLOGVS THE PREACHERS Guard and Guide In his double Duty of PRAYER and PREACHING Deduced from Scripture Reason and the best Examples In III. Parts 1. A Vindication of the Kings Letter to the late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the Regulation of Preachers 2. A Demonstration that Forms of Prayer do best suit with Publick Worship 3. An Antidote to the virulent Clamours of the Non-conformists LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1664. To the Right Worshipful Sir RALPH HARE Knight and Baronet and Sir EDWARD WALPOOLE Knight of the Bath Two worthy Members of the Honourable House of Commons Honoured Gentlemen AS you were in your Capacities highly instrumental to the Restauration of His Sacred Majesty to His Crown so I know there is nothing you desire more than the happy settlement of His Majesty with the Church and State under His Dominion upon the foundations of Peace and Piety Amongst other things that hinders such a desired Establishment one is the Exorbitancy of the Pulpit though you have done great things already in the Parliament which we acknowledge to your everlasting Honour in order to the correcting of those Irregularities yet something you left undone as a work proper for an Intelligence of an higher Orb wherefore His Sacred Majesty hath made a further progress in His late DIRECTIONS recommended to the Reverend Fathers of the Church wherein at once He hath approved Himself Episcopum extra Ecclesiam a Bishop without the Church and Theologum intra Ecclesiam a Divine within the Church But forasmuch as His Majesty's DIRECTIONS meet not with that general Reception and Approbation they deserve but are traduced by some as contrary to the Doctrine of the Church my design is in this ensuing Treatise to defend Theologiam Regis the Kings Divinity shining in them I am conscious of my own Defects and therefore implore your Patronage I fear I have presumed too far in sheltering my self under your Names and therefore beg your Pardon and withall your Acceptance of this Testimony of my Observance promising what I fall short of in this Expression of my Gratitude I shall make up with my daily Prayers for you both and the Branches of your Honourable Families to whom I am A most devoted Servant in all Observance Robert Seppens DIEV ET MON DROIT To the Most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury CHARLES R. MOst Reverend Father in God We greet you well Whereas the hold abuses and extravagancies of Preachers in the Pulpit have not onely by the experience of former Ages béen found to tend to the dishonour of God the scandal of Religion and disturbance of the peace both of Church and State but have also through the licentiousness of the late times much increased to the inflaming fomenting and heightning of the sad distempers and confusions that were among us And whereas even at this present notwithstanding the merciful providence of God so signally manifested in restoring Vs to Our Crown and Our pious care and endeavours to govern Our Realms in peace and tranquillity the said Abuses do yet continue in a very high measure in sundry parts of this Realm through the busie diligence of some unquiet and factious Spirits who instead of preaching the pure Word of God and building up the People in Faith and Holiness have made it a great part of their business to beget in the minds of their Heaters an evil opinion of their Governours by insinuating fears and jealousies to dispose them to discontent and to season them with such unsound and dangerous Principles as may lead them into Disobedience Schism and Rebellion And whereas also sundry young Divines and Ministers either out of a spirit of contention and contradiction or in a vain ostentation of their Learning take upon them in their popular Sermons to handle the déep points of Gods Eternal Counsels and Decrées or to meddle with the affairs of State and Government or to wrangle about Forms and Gestures and other fruitless Disputes and Controversies serving rather to amuse than profit the Hearers which is done for the most part and with the greatest confidence by such persons as least understand them We out of Our Princely Care and Zele for the honour of God the advancement of Piety Peace and true Religion and for the preventing for the future as much as lieth in Vs the many and great Inconveniencies and Mischiefs that will unavoidably ensue if a timely stop be not given to these and the like growing Abuses Do according to the Examples of several of Our Predecessours of blessed memory by these Our special Letters straitly charge and command you to use your utmost care and diligence that these Directions which upon long and serious consideration We have thought good to give concerning Preachers and which We have caused to be Printed herewith sent unto you be from henceforth duly and strictly observed by all the Bishops within your Province And to this end Our Will and Pleasure is That you forthwith send them Copies of these Our Directions to be by them spéedily communicated to every Parson Vicar Curate Lecturer and Minister in every Cathedral Collegiate and parish-Parish-Church within their several Dioceses And that you eaâ—nestly require them to imploy their utmost endeavour for the due observation of the â—ame whereof We shall expect a strict accompt both of you and every one of them And these Our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that behalf Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 14. day of October in the 14. year of Our Reign 1662. By His Majesties Command ED. NICHOLAS Directions concerning Preachers I. THat no Preachers in their Sermons presume to meddle with matters of State to model new Governments or take upon them to declare limit or bound out the Power and Authority of Soveraign Princes or to state and determine the differences betwéen Princes and the People but that upon all good occasions they faithfully instruct the People in their bounden duty of Subjection and Obedience to their Governours Superiour and Subordinate of all sorts and to the established Laws according to the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Church of England as it is contained in the Homilies of Obedience and the Articles of Religion set forth by publick Authority II. That they be admonished not to spend their time and study in the search of abstruse and speculative Notions especially in and about the déep points of Election and Reprobation together with the incomprehensible manner of the concurrence of Gods Frée Grace and Mans Frée Will and such other controversies as depend thereupon but howsoever that they presume not positively and doctrinally to determine any thing concerning the same III. That they forbear in their Sermons ordinarily and causlesly to enter upon the handling of any other controversies of less moment and difficulty but whensoever they are occasioned by invitation from the Text they preach
1 Pet. 2.25 The Second is that the authority and power necessary for the Government of his Church which was inherent in his own person during the oeconomie of his Humiliation he did before his Ascension delegate to his Apostles Inchoatively Iohn 20.21 22 23. fully and perfectly upon the day of Pentecost when by the descending of the holy Ghost upon them he endued them with power from above according to his promise Luke 24.49 Acts 1.8 But the particular delegation to this power of preaching we have in particular mentioned by it self Once Mat. 10.6 7. But this was limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel The generall commission was given them Mat. 28.19 20. In which our Lord and Saviour impowereth them as Planters to preach the Gospel to unbelievers as Governours and Pastors to feed his flocks the Church If it be objected here That our Lord and Saviour granted a Commission to the Seventy to preach the Gospell as well as to the Apostles Luke 10.1 I grant it but withall answer That that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temporary of short duration and to expire at their return But this is of perpetual duration And that 's the third thing I would lay as a ground that the Apostolate is of perpetual duration though the Apostles taken divisim in their persons were to die shortly after yet taken conjunctim with their Successours as Abraham with his Posterity they are to continue to the Worlds end Though the Persons of the Apostles were mortal like other men yet the Office of the Apostolate was quoad ordinariam potestatem ever to continue in the Church This is evident First by Christs promise added by way of encouragement in their Commission Mat. 28. ult I am with you to the end of the World but he could not be with them in their persons to the end of the World and therefore though they failed in their persons yet the Apostolate must continue Secondly by matter of fact for when Judas by transgression fell Matthias by the eleven was chosen to the Apostleship in his room and it was thought in St. Peters judgment a thing necessary Acts 1.20 When James was slain Saul and Barnabas were called to the Apostolate And 't is very memorable what Clemens Romanus in his Epistle to the Corinthians avoucheth to this purpose Our Apostles saith he knew by the Lord Jesus Christ that there would be contention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the name of Episcopacy and for this cause being endued with perfect prescience ordained the foresaid persons and afterwards made a Law or order that when they died other approved men should succeed in their Office and execute the Function Lastly by the testimony of St. Paul Ephes 4. ver 11 12 13. He gave some Apostles c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till we all meet together and that could not be within the compass of that Generation wherein the twelve primary Apostles lived and therefore there were Secondary Apostles to follow them Lyra upon the place observes that those words till we all meet c. do denote the duration of that Office till Christs coming again to judgment All the question is now concerning the Persons who succeed in the Apostolate and we might supersede that enquiry if we would hearken to the unanimous suffrage and voice of Antiquity delivered to us by St. Jerome in his Epistle to Marcella against Montanus who he saith places the Bishops in the third place but apud nos Apostolorum locum tenent Episcopi with us Bishops hold the place of the Apostles Thus much is evident out of the Scripture it self that as the Apostolate is called by St. Luke a Bishoprick Acts 1.20 so afterwards Bishops were called Apostles which argues the identity of the Apostolate and Episcopacy St. Paul was none of the twelve yet called an Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. James Bishop of Jerusalem was none of the twelve 1 Cor. 15.5 7. yet called an Apostle Gal. 1.19 Epaphroditus was none of the twelve yet called an Apostle Phil. 2.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus Timothy Titus Clemens and many others being Bishops are all called by the Ancients Apostles All which abundantly shews the identity of the ordinary power of the Apostleship and Episcopacy These things being premised it will be easie to determine to whom the Office of Preaching chiefly belongs namely to those who succeed in the Apostolate to them who are Secondary Apostles Bishops as will further appear by three things First because Bishops have the chief cure of all Souls in their Diocese all Presbyters entrusted with the cure of Souls are but their Curates and so were anciently called and so styled still in our Liturgy Send down upon our Bishops and Curates c. in the 40. Canon of the Apostles Presbyters and Deacons are forbidden to attempt any thing without the Bishop and the reason is added nam Domini populus ipsi commissus est pro animabus earum hie redditurus est rationem The Lords people is committed to him and for their Souls he must give an account This agrees with a Canon of St. Pauls Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the rule over you for they watch for you Souls as they that must give an account Who are these Rulers whom the Apostle requires us to obey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he speaks of Bishops saith Oecumenius Bishops then have the chief cure of Souls Secondly because they are concerned to see the Unity of the Church kept The chief end saith St. Jerom of Episcopacy was to obstruct the diffusion of Heresie and Schism Comment in Titum cap. 1. In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ut Schismatum semina tollerentur It was decreed in all the World that one being chosen out of the Presbyters should be set over the rest that the seeds of Schism should be taken away But how can Episcopacy be a deletory of Schism and Heresie if the Bishop have not the chief power of regulating the Pulpit and prescribing forms of wholsome Doctrine within which all shall be obliged to contain themselves without this 't is impossible to preserve either Peace or Truth in any Nation or Christianity it self which is made up of both these Thirdly by the Titles given them in the holy Scripture they are called Prophets not of prediction only but of ordinary Function Acts 13.1 they are called Doctors Ephes 4.11 they are called Pastors Pastor is the Bishops Title saith the Scholiast and therefore the Apostle does not distinguish them as he did the other He hath given some Pastors some Doctors but joyns them by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Pastors and Doctors for certain the Title of Pastor remained peculiar to Bishops for many hundred years after Christ insomuch that the most Learned Bishop of Winchester does challenge Moulin to shew him where ever it was given to a Presbyter Eò ergo te revoco
were privileged to decide matters of Controversie in the Law till they were learned in the School of a Doctor and forty years of age Our Lord and Saviour Christ and John Baptist begun not to preach till they were thirty years of age For which cause the Church afterwards in several Canons forbad that any should be made a Presbyter till he was thirty years of age The Canons are extant in Gratian. distinct 78. I shall name onely the 11. Can. of the Neocaesarian Council Presbyter ante triginta annorum aetatem non ordinetur quamvis sit probabilis vitae sed observet usque ad praefinitum tempus Dominus enim trigesimo anno babtizatus erat praedicavit Let no Presbyter though he be of a good life be ordained till he be thirty years but let him wait till the time appointed For our Lord and Saviour was baptized the Thirtieth year of his age and then began to Preach If there were no Canon upon Record to attest the sense and practise of the Church yet the very title of Presbyter which belongs to men of that order were enough to doe it For the word Presbyter is not onely Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a name of dignity but of age and infinuates that they were all men of years admitted into that order Erasmus in the life of St. Jerom testifieth that when Paulinianus Brohter to St. Hierome upon his singular merit was made Presbyter before those canonical years Hoc nomine posteà calumniam struxit Jeronimo Joannes Hierosolymitanus quod infra legitimam aetatem ad hoc honoris esset evectus olim enim ante tricesimum annum nullus erat maturus honori Presbyteri John B. of Jerusalem afterwards went about to detract from S. Hierom because his Brother was promoted to that order being under age For anciently saith he before the thirtieth year none were ripe for the honour of a Presbyter In which words Erasmus acknowledgeth both the antiquity of that custome of the Church and the great censure St. Heirom lay under for promoting or suffering his Brothers Ordination before the legitimate age And though happily our Church in the beginning of the reformation through scarcity of men to serve in those Sacred offices was forced to abate something of the rigour of those Canons and admit men into the order of Presbyterate before they were arrived to that maturity of years yet there was no necessity of suffering them to preach ex proprio out of their own stocks and abilities If in the ancient Church where none were Presbyters till they were thirty years of age all Presbyters were not suffered to preach but only such as gave good security for the prudent managery of the office it may seem an oversight to suffer young men to preach and then leave them to their liberty in preaching The Church of England hath paid dear for her indulgence in this thing Nothing hath been more detrimental to the peace order and government of the Church than the preaching of these youngsters who not being rightly biass'd at their first setting out through the fervour of youth and some youthful lusts as pride vain glory popularity have often faln into the snare of the Devil and proved desperate Sect-Masters trumpets of Schism and Sedition If any have escaped this Charybdis yet they have dash'd their foot against another Scilla through their ungroundedness and unskilfulness in Divinity for howsoever young men may be of pregnant parts excell in subordinate Arts and Sciences yet for want of years and maturity of judgment they cannot be masters of such a sound body of Divinity as is requisite for the undertaking so weighty a province Divinity is a vast and comprehensive Science full of depths and profundities a great part of it Polemical the very Practicals incumbred with many difficulties Besides to the right interpretation of Scripture a duty incumbent on the Preacher there is required acquaintance with the Writings of the Fathers for in a Canon of our own Church the Expositions of the Fathers are to be the rule of our Expositions and how can such young men make this the Canon of their Interpretation when they scarce know their Names much less are conversant in their Writings As every Man is not fit to make a Scholar no more is every Scholar fit to make a Preacher Men should be Divines before they are Preachers and to be Divines there is time and pains and maturity of judgment required Whereupon S. Jerom adviseth his friends Nepotian and Pammachius diu discere before they did docere He tells Nepotian De vita Cleric Nolo te declamatorem esse rabulam garrulúmque sine ratione sed mysteriorum peritum I would not have you a declaimer a jangler and garrulous without reason but skilful in Divine mysteries He admonisheth Rusticus the Monk Si clericatus titillat de siderium disce quod poss is docere ne miles antequam tyro ne priùs magister sis quà m discipulus If the desire of being a Clergy-man tickled him he should learn himself what to teach others lest he should take upon him to be a souldier before he handled a weapon and a master before he was a scholar Anciently it was required men should be Divines before they were Preachers but since men have turned Preachers before they were Divines their Preaching hath been but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a backward forwarding of the matter though Preaching hath gained yet Religion hath lost and people have been led aside into Sects and Factions It was a memorable passage that Erasmus relates of S. Jerom in his Life S. Jerom once undertook to interpret allegorically the Prophecy of Obadiah when he did not himself understand the literal meaning of it this Comment of his was by many very highly extoll'd when he himself was ashamed to own it whereupon afterwards he writes thus merrily of himself Fateor miratus sum quod quantumvis aliquis malè scripserit invenit similem sui lectorem Ille praedicabat ego erubescebam ille my sticos sensus ferebat ad coelum c. I confess I wonder that though a man writes never so ill yet he finds a Reader like himself He highly commended it I blush'd at it he extoll'd the mystical sense unto the skies I hung my head and secretly condemn'd it What he ingenuously acknowledged of his juvenile Writings young Preachers may of their youthful Sermons It was the saying of a reverend Prelate of this Church Young Divines must have young Divinity And though young Divines have the luck to be Men-pleasers yea and Women-pleasers too yet young Divinity will never conduce to the peace and happiness of Gods Church no nor to the edification of men in piety and holiness It is the observation of His Sacred Majesty in his Letter to the Lords Grace of Canterbury That 't is the work of young Divines and Ministers either out of a spirit of contention and contradiction or in a
by Bishops is Antichristian That murdering of Kings is lawful That Rebellion and Schism are no sins That Christs Gospel as Mahumetanism is to be propagated by the Sword That the greatest disturbers and violaters of the publick peace are the onely Saints and most godly Men Let them that know any thing of antiquity judge And yet this is the Systeme of their Divinity Lastly they themselves are the greatest Novelty of all I find no order of Clergy-men in former times that resembles them but the Mendicant Fryars in the Romane Church an order set up by St. Dominick and St. Francis about the time of Innocent the third and Innocent the fourth Bishops of Rome and with them they hold correspondency in two things As the Mendicant Friars being exempted from the jurisdiction of Bishops brought the Bishops into contempt with the people so these Lecturers exempting themselves from the jurisdiction of Bishops do all they can to the diminution of their Order and honour that they may become the scorn of the vulgar As the Mendicant Fryers having Charters from the Pope to preach in every Parish without the license of the proper Curate to take confessions to visit the sick and bury the dead rendred the secular Clergy contemptible and by that means brought all the Grist to their own Mills so these Lecturers by their industrious preaching of novelties bring the regular Clergy who live in subordination to the King and the Bishops into contempt with the people But as omne simile est etiam dissimile though these Mendicant Fryers were in some things exorbitant yet in the main they were true and faithful to the interest of the Church But these Lecturers are ever false and perfidious to the Church that gave them Christendom ever bandying publickly against her Doctrine and Discipline or undermining privately her walls and bulwarks An army of Turks could not have made a greater devastation in the Church and Nation than they did of late by their seditious Doctrines They poisoned all the corporations of England with their principles of Schism and Rebellion They blew the trumpets to war in the pulpit before they were sounded in the field When they could not slay their two enemies Kingship and Episcopacy gladio or is with the Sword of their mouth they did it ore gladii with the edge of the Sword They are ever at defiance with their lawfull superiours but damnable flatterers of the people and verifie that maxim of Tertullian nusquam mag is proficitur quam in castris rebellium ubi esse est promereri There is no such proficiency as in the tents of Schismaticks where the very being is meritorious If any will but follow them and hear their Lectures they canonize them for Saints before they are Christians and make them sure of salvation before they understand the first principles of the oracles of God in a word they are the false Prophets of the Nation by whom God tries us whether we will love him or obey him as we ought to do and whom he forbids us to harken unto for though they come to us in Sheeps-clothing yet inwardly they are ravening Wolves Gulielmus de Sancto Amore a Learned Theologue who lived about the first rising of these Mendicant Fryars writ a Book upon that occasion de periculis Ecclesiae and in that a Treatise de signis pseudoprophetarum If any will take the pains to read over that treatise which he may find transcribed and translated in the book of Martyrs he shall find that in most of them they agree to these Lecturers O that people would but see their sin and danger in following such false lights O that these deceivers would consider of the judgments of God threatned against them for abusing of the people renting of the Church and embroyling of the State And at last become obedient Sons of an Indulgent Mother the Church that we might all say and sing quam bonum et quam jucundum FINIS
obligation upon the Apostles of preaching under the pain of incurring Gods heavy displeasure as Act. 4.19 20. 1 Cor. 9.16 are of Personal concernment to the Apostles and to be understood of the prime promulgation of the Gospel to unbelievers and concern not us Presbyters unless we think our selves obliged by the Commission Christ gave his Apostles to go preach to the Americans and Indians The words Bishop and Presbyter are words of relation relating to the several Provinces and Flocks under their charge Though they have a duty incumbent on them of instructing them in Christianity yet not of preaching the Gospel to every creature as the Apostles had they have not those extraordinary enablements of Tongues and Miracles and immediate Inspiration simply necessary unto that work and whereby their Doctrine became Authentick and Divine as that the Faith of the Hearers was without further inquiry to be resolved into it as into a divine Revelation In which sense alone St. Pauls words are verifiable Rom. 10.14 17. Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word How shall they hear without a Preacher c. I desire to know what man dares the Pope excepted to whom some of his vain Flatterers presume to attribute Infallibility assume to preach in such a notion as to make his Doctrine that whereinto Auditorum sides ultimo resolvitur which if not then there is not par ratio nor par obligatio nor par potestas between us and the Apostles as to the strict notion and office of a Preacher in Scripture language But whatsoever the importance of the word is in the Gospel notion yet now the word Preaching is become a word of Art and is used to signifie that act of the Ministerial Function which consists of instructing Christians in their duty and in that sense from henceforward I shall take it and for the more distinct understanding of the thing make some little enquiry into the kindes of Preaching mentioned in the Gospel And first there we find a Preaching by Inspiration and a Preaching by Pains and Industry A preaching by Inspiration such as I now intimated Of this sort was the preaching of Christ and his Apostles and those who were endued with extraordinary gifts of Prophecying in the Apostles times They all spake with Tongues as the spirit gave them utterance they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God It is not you that speake but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you And the Spirit speaking in them after their inauguration to their Apostleship and Ministry on the day of Pentecost gave St. Paul reason to call that their Ministry the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. Then there is a Scripture-preaching by Pains and Industry at least not without it altogether After this manner it seems Timothy preached and therefore is exhorted to give attendance to reading and to study to shew himself a workman c. Again there is a Preaching by Writing and a Preaching by Sermons one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Clem. Alexan. in lib. 1. stro The Apostles themselves did not Preach altogether by Sermons By writing of the Gospel they were Evangelists and did preach the Gospel to unbielevers by writing of their Epistles they did teach the Church and therefore Saint Paul doth call his Epistle to the Romanes his Gospel Rom. 2.16 Solomon was a famous Preacher yet we are not certain that he Preached otherwise then by writing The Prophets were Preachers too but they did not preach altogether by Sermons The Prophet Jeremy is commanded to write his Visions and Revelations imparted to him Chap. 30.2 Mr. Calvin saith in his Preface to Isaiah Prophet is mos fuit postquam justi sunt aliquid populo nunciare paucis summam rerum complecti valvis templi praefigere It was the manner of the Prophets when they were commanded to deelare any thing to the people to contract the summe of the matter in writing and fix it upon the doors of the Temple Lastly there is a Preaching in ones own person and a Preaching by Proxy A Preaching in ones own person Thus Christ himself Preached while he dwelt amongst us and thus the Apostles Preach'd where they came themselves Then there is a preaching by Proxy And thus Christ himself preach'd after his Ascension into Heaven Ephes 2.17 He came and preached peace unto you i. e. by his Apostles And thus the Apostles preached where they came not themselves by the Evangelists there substitutes From these kinds of preaching I shall deduce two or three Corollaries more and so conclude this part of my undertaking First That that frequency of preaching cannot be expected from us that was used by the Prophets and Apostles because they preach'd by inspiration we by pains and industry only Secondly That men may preach in a Gospel-notion and yet never make a Sermon in a vulgar Notion They may Preach by Writing and Preach by Proxy Preach by their Hand as well as by their Tongue See Dr. Holdsworth in praelect prima non procul ab Initio Thirdly That seeing our Preaching is not by immediate inspiration of the Spirit 't is infallible and subject to errour and therefore is ordinable by our Superiours and reducible to such directions and rules as most conduce to the promotion of Peace and Piety CHAP. II. To whom this Office of Preaching primarily belongs THe second thing I stand charged withal See Dr. Casaubon in his treatise of preaching pag. 1◠17. is to enquire and resolve to whom this office of preaching primarily belongs Forasmuch as 't is Gods will that nothing should be done in his service either rashly or disorderly Ubi etiam à quibus peragi vult ipse excelsissima sua voluntate definivit Clem. Rom. pag. 52. He hath defined by his most Heavenly will both in what place and by what persons he will have divine offices performed It stands us in hand then to know to whom this office belongs And the examination and resolution of this will open a fair way to the justification of many things in his Sacred Majesties late Directions But for the Indagation of this I must premise certain Principles and Maximes The first is that the foundation of all Authority is in Christ All Ecclesiasticall Authority or Authority to any Ecclesiasticall Office is in Christ originally in others but Derivately For as it was foretold That the Government should be upon his shoulders Isa 9.6 So that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and anointed him to preach glad tidings Isa 62.1 And this trust which his Father committed to him he discharged in his own person while he was upon the Earth He Preached the Gospel converted Sinners made Disciples Hence he is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Shepheard and Bishop of our souls