〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Mark as of him that is Servant of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Iohn such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary traveller or if you please take it in the words of our Blessed Lord himself that He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire rule possibly you may have it but all that Rule under him are Servants to them that are rul'd and therefore you get nothing by it but a great labour and a buisy imployment a careful life and a necessity of making severe accounts But all this is nothing but the general measures I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom for because we must be followers of them as they were of Christ the recounting what they did worthily in their generations will not onely demonstrate how useful how profitable how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church but it will at the same time teach us our duty by what services we are to benefit the Church in what works we are to be imployed and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bps not onely because the Apostles who were Bishops were the first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches but because the Apostolical men whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion were by all Antiquity affirm'd to have been Diocesan Bishops insomuch that as St. Epiphanius witnesses there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ many Churches who had in them no other Clergy but a Bishop and his Deacons and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater But the Bishops names are known they are recorded in the book of Life and their praise is in the Gospel such were Timothy and Titus Clemens and Linus Marcus and Dyonisius Onesimus and Cains Epaphroditas and St. Iames our Lords Brother Evodius and Simeon all which if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith and any truth in their Stories and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch Livy and Tacitus think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance and that all the brave men the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches and had Dioceses for their Charges The consequent of this consideration is this If Bishops were those upon whose Ministery Christ founded and built his Church let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars The Stewards of Christs Family must be wise that Christ requires and if the order be necessary to the Church wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order For it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ shall by their unskilfulness skilfulness be but Babes themselves understanding not the secrets of Religion the mysteries of Godliness the perfections of the Evangelical Law all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual life A Bishop must be exercis'd in Godliness a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls not satisfyed with an ordinary skill in makeing homilies to the people and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases but ready to answer in all secret inquiries and able to convince the gainsayers and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect If the first Bishops laid the foundation their Successours must not onely preserve whatsoever is fundamental but build up the Church in a most holy Faith taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation and that no hay or rotten vvood be built upon it and above all things that a most Holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith So the Apostles laid the foundation and built the vvalls of the Church and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven For let us talk and dispute eternally vve shall never compose the controversies in Religion and establish truth upon unalterable foundations as long as Men handle the vvord of God deceiptfully that is vvit designes and little artifices and saecular partialities and they will for ever do so as long as they are proud or covetous It is not the difficulty of our questions or the subtilty of our adversaries that makes disputes interminable but We shall never cure the itch of disputing or establish Unity unless we apply our selves to humility and contempt of riches If we will be contending let us contend like the Olive and the Vine who shall produce best and most fruit not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noyse in a wind All other methods are a beginning at a wrong end And as for the people the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of faith and government is by reducing them to live good lives When the Children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness and filthy lusts they quickly fell into abominable idolatries and St. Paul says that men make shipwrack of their faith by putting away a good conscience for the mystery of faith is best preserv'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pure conscience saith the same Apostle secure but that and we shall quickly end our disputes and have an obedient and conformable people but else never 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches and gave them being so they preserve them in being For without Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starv'd and die and without Bishops there can be no Priests and consequently no Sacraments and that must needs be a supream order from whence ordination it self proceeds For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no record of ordination but an Apostolical hand was in it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the chief one of the superiour and Ruling Clergy and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church the Bishop always had that power it was never denyed to him and it was never imputed to Presbyters and St. Hierom himself when out of his anger against Iohn Bp. of Ierusalem endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop though in very many places he spake otherwise yet even then also and in that heat he excepted ordination acknowledging that to be the Bps peculiar And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy do as Iullan did they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock and take away their Shepheards and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the
A SERMON Preached at the Consecration of two Archbishops and ten Bishops in the Cathedral Church of S. Patrick in DUBLIN Ianuary 27. 1660. By Ieremie Taylor D. D. Ld. Bishop of Downe and Connor Sal liquefit ut condiat DVBLIN Printed by W. Bladen for Iohn North Bookseller in Castlestreet Anno Dom. 1661. To the Christian Reader MY Obedience to the Commands of the Right Honourable the Lords Iustices and the most Reverend and Learned Primate and to the desires of my Reverend Brethren put it past my inquiry whether I ought to Publish this following Sermon I will not therefore excuse it and say it might have advantages in the Delivery which it would want in the Reading and the eare would be kind to the Piety of it which was apparent in the design when the eye would be severe in its censure of those arguments which as they could not be longer in that measure of time so would have appeared more firm if they could have had liberty to have been pursued to their utmost issue But reason lies in a little room and Obedience in less And although what I have here said may not stop the mouths of Men resolved to keep up a faction yet I have said enough to the sober and pious to them who love Order and hearken to the voice of the Spouse of Christ to the Loving and to the Obedient And for those that are not so I have no argument fit to be used but Prayer and readiness to give them a reason when they shall modestly demand it In the mean time I shall onely desire them to make use of those truths which the more learned of their party have by the evidence of fact been forced to confess Rivet affirms that it descended ex veteris aevi reliquiis that Presbyters should be assistants or conjoyned to the Bishops who is by this confessed to be the principal in the imposition of hands for Ordination VValo Messalinus acknowledges it to be rem antiquissimam a most ancient thing that these two Orders viz of Bishops and Presbyters should be distinct even in the middle or in the beginning of the next age after Christ. Dd. Blondell places it to be 35. years after the death of S. John Now then Episcopacy is confessed to be of about 1600. years continuance and if before this they can shew any Ordination by mere Presbyters by any but an Apostle or an Apostolical man and if there were not visibly a distinction of powers and persons relatively in the Ecclesiastical Government or if they can give a rational account why they who are forced to confess the Honour and distinct Order of Episcopacy for about 16. ages should in the dark interval of 35. years in which they can pretend to no Monument or Record to the contrary yet make unlearned scruples of things they cannot colourably prove if I say they can reasonably account for these things I for my part will be ready to confess that they are not guilty of the greatest the most unreasonable and inexcusable schism in the world But else they have no colour to palliate the unlearned crime For will not all wise men in the world conclude that the Church of God which was then Holy not in title onely and designe but practically and materially and persecuted and not immerged in secular temptations could not all in one instant joyn together to alter that form of Church Government which Christ and his Apostles had so recently established and without a Divine warrant destroy a Divine institution not onely to the confusion of the Hierarchy but to the ruine of their own Souls It were strange that so great a change should be and no good man oppose it In toto orbe decretum est so St. Hierom. All the world consented in the advancement of the Episcopal Order And therefore if we had no more to say for it yet in prudence and piety we cannot say they would innovate in so great a matter But I shall enter no further upon this enquirie onely I remember that it is not very many Months since the Bigots of the Popish party cryed out against us vehemently and inquired VVhere is your Church of England since you have no Vnity for your Ecclesiastick head of Vnity your Bishops are gone And if we should be desirous to verify their argument so as indeed to destroy Episcopacy VVe should too much advantage Popery and do the most imprudent and most impious thing in the world But blessed be God who hath restored that Government for which Our late King of glorious memory gave his blood And that me thinks should very much weigh with all the Kings true hearted Subjects who should make it Religion not to rob that glorious Prince of the greatest honour of such a Martyrdom For my part I think it fit to rest in those words of another Martyr St. Cyprian Si quis cum Episcopo non sit in Ecclesia non esse He that is not with the Bishop is not in the Church that is he that goes away from him and willingly separates departs from Gods Church and whether he can then be with God is a very material consideration and fit to be thought on by all that think heaven a more eligible good then the interests of a faction and the importune desire of rule can countervail However I have in the following papers spoken a few things which I hope may be fit to perswade them that are not infinitely prejudic'd and although two or three good arguments are as good as two or three hundred yet my purpose here was to prove the dignity and necessity of the Office and Order Episcopal onely that it might be as an Oeconomy to convey notice and remembrances of the great duty incumbent upon all them that undertake this great charge The Dignity and the Duty take one another by the hand and are born together onely every Sheep of the Flock must take care to make the Bishops duty as easy as it can by humility and love by Prayer and by Obedience It is at the best very difficult but they who oppose themselves to Government make it harder and uncomfortable But take heed if thy Bishop hath cause to complain to God of thee for thy perversness and uncharitable walking thou wilt be the looser And for Vs VVe can onely say in the words of the Prophet VVe will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people But Our comfort is in God for we can do nothing without him but in him we can do all things And therefore VVe will pray Domine dabis pacem nobis omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis God hath wrought all Our works within Vs and therefore he will give Vs Peace and give Vs his Spirit Finally Brethren pray for Us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorifyed even as it is with you and that we may be
New Testament where to be a Presbyter is never reckoned either as a distinct Office or a distinct order but indifferently communicated to all the Superior Clergy and all the Princes of the people II. The second thing I intended to say is this that although all the superior Clergy had not onely one but divers common appellatives all being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Apostolate it self being called a Deaconship yet it is evident that before the common appellations were fixt into names of propriety they were as evidently distinguished in their offices and powers as they are at this day in their Names and Titles To this purpose St. Paul gave to Titus the Bp. of Crete a special commission command and power to make Ordinations and in him and in the person of Timothy he did erect a Court of Judicature even over some of the Clergy who yet were called Presbyters against a Presbyter receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses there is the measure and the warranty of the Audientia Episcopalis the Bps Audience Court and when the accused were found guilty he gives in charge to proceed to censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You must rebuke them sharply and you must silence them stop their mouths that 's St. Pauls word that they may no more scatter their venom in the ears and hearts of the people These Bishops were commanded to set in order things that were wanting in the Churches the same with that power of St. Paul other things will I set in order when I come said he to the Corinthian Churches in which there were many who were called Presbyters who nevertheless for all that name had not that power To the same purpose it is plain in Scripture that some would have been Apostles that were not such were those whom the spirit of God notes in the Revelation and some did love preeminence that had it not for so did Diotrephes and some were Judges of questions and all were not for therefore they appealed to the Apostles at Jerusalem and St. Philip though he was an Evangelist yet he could not give confirmation to the Samaritans whom he had baptiz'd but the Apostles were sent for for that was part of the power reserv'd to the Episcopal or Apostolical order Now from these premises the conclusion is plain and easy 1. Christ left a Government in his Church and founded it in the persons of the Apostles 2. The Apostles received this power for the perpetual use and benefit for the comfort and edification of the Church for ever 3. The Apostles had this Government but all that were taken into the Ministery and all that were called Presbyters had it not If therefore this Government in which there is so much disparity in the very nature and exercise and first original of it must abide for ever then so must that disparity If the Apostolate in the first stabiliment was this eminency of power then it must be so that is it must be the same in the succession that it was in the foundation For after the Church is founded upon its Governours we are to expect no change of government If Christ was the Author of it then as Christ left it so it must abide for ever for ever there must be the Governing and the Governed the Superior and the Subordinate the Ordainer and the Ordained the confirmer and the confirmed Thus far the way is straight and the path is plain The Apostles were the Stewards and the ordinary Rulers of Christs Family by virtue of the order and office Apostolical and although this must be succeeded to for ever yet no man for his now or at any time being called a Presbyter or Elder can pretend to it for besides his being a Presbyter he must be an Apostle too else though he be called in partem sollicitudinis and may do the offices of assistance and understewardship yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Government and Rule of the Family belongs not to him But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are these Stewards and Rulers over the houshold now To this the answer is also certain and easy Christ hath made the same Governours to day as heretofore Apostles still For though the twelve Apostles are dead Yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that office Apostolical and supreme regiment of Souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons the XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII and then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand and more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that Spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII and yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact St. Iames the Bp. of Ierusalem is by St. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and St. Paul and Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so saith Primasius and what is this else but the Bp. saith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bps were then called Apostles saith the same Father the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the
Church In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have childen whom thou mayest make Princes in all Lands that is not onely the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their Children Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum quinascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternitas id est Episcopi quos illa genuit patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith St. Austin the Children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bps and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not onely upon the words of institution but on matter of fact pas'd forth into a demonstration and greatest notoreity by the Doctrine and Practise of the whole Catholick Church For so St Irenaeus who was one of the most Ancient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative VVe can says he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in the Churches to be their Successors unto Vs leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus St. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bp. of Smyrna St. Clement Bp. of Rome by St. Peter and divers others by the Apostles saith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bps were consectated by St. Iohn and to be short that Bps are the Successours of the Apostles in the Stevvardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by St. Cyprian and St. Hieron St. Ambrose and St. Austin by Euthymius and Pasianus by St. Gregory and St. Iohn Damascen by Clarus à Muscula and St. Sixtus by Anacletus and St. Isidore by the Roman Councel under St. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bps from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these premises I give you in the words of St. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quòd Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is the Bps were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that St. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bps over Churches Indeed the Gnostics spake evil of this order for they are noted by three Apostles St. Paul St. Peter and St. Iude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of dignities and what Government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of St. Iude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the high Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of Men no man within the first 300 years after Christ oppos'd Episcopacy But when Constantine receiv'd the Church into his armes he found it universally governed by Bps and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and rul'd and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting Succession from the Apostles of our Lord have no Ecclesiastical and Derivative communion with the fountains of our Saviour If ever Lirinensis's rule could be us'd in any question it is in this quod semper quod ubique quod ab omnibus That Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in this Stewardship and that they did always rule the Family was taught and acknowledged always and every where and by all men that were of the Church of God and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this qestion We shall find our faith to fail in many other articles of which we yet are very confident For the observation of the Lords day the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist by Priests the Baptizing Infants the communicating of Women and the very Canon of the Scripture it self rely but upon the same probation and therefore the denying of Articles thus proved is a way I do not say to bring in all Sects and Heresies that 's but little but a plain path and inlet to Atheism and Irreligion for by this means it will not onely be impossible to agree concerning the meaning of Scripture but the Scripture it self and all the Records of Religion will become useless and of no efficacy or persuasion I am entered into a Sea of matter but I will break it off abruptly and sum up this enquirie with the words of the Councel of Chalcedon which is one of the four Generals by our Laws made the measures of judging Heresies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Sacriledge to bring back a Bishop to the degree and order of a Presbyter It is indeed a rifling the order and intangling the gifts and confounding the method of the Holy Ghost it is a dishonouring them whom God would honour and a robbing them of those spiritual eminencies with which the spirit of God does anoint the consecrated heads of Bishops And I shall say one thing more which indeed is a great truth that the diminution of Episcopacy was first introduced by Popery and the Popes of Rome by communicating to Abbots and other mere Priests special graces to exercise some essential Offices of Episcopacie hath made this sacred order to be cheap and apt to be invaded But then adde this If Simon Magus was in so damnable a condition for offering to buy the guifts and powers of the Apostolical order what shall we think of them that snatch them away and pretend to wear them whether the Apostles their Successors will or no This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bely the Holy-Ghost that is the least of it it is rapine and sacriledge besides the heresie and the schism and the spiritual lie For the government Episcopal as it was exemplified in the Synagogue and practised by the same measures in the Temple so it was transcribed by the eternal son of God who translated it into a Gospel Ordinance it was sanctifyed by the Holy Spirit who named some of the persons and gave to them all power and graces from above It was subjected in the Apostles first and by them transmitted to a distinct Order of Ecclesiasticks it was received into all Churches consigned in the Records of the Holy Scriptures preached by the universal voice of all the Christian
World delivered by notorious and uninterrupted practise and deriv'd to further and unquestionable issue by perpetual succession I have done with the hardest part of the Text by finding out the persons intrusted the Stewards of Christs Family which though Christ onely intimated in this place yet he plainly enough manifested in others The Apostles and their Successors the Bishops are the men intrusted with this great charge God grant they may all discharge it well And so I pass from the Officers to a consideration of the Office it self in the next words VVhom the Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshold to give them their meat in due season 2. The Office it self is the Stewardship that is Episcopacy the Office of the Bishop The name signifies an Office of the Ruler indefinitely but the word was chosen and by the Church appropriated to those whom it now signifies both because the word it self is a monition of duty and also because the faithful were used to it in the days of Moses and the Prophets The word is in the prophecy of the Church I will give to thee Princes in peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bishops in righteousness upon which place St. Hierom says Principes Ecclesiae vocat futuros Episcopos The spirit of God calls them who were to be Christian Bps principes or chief Rulers and this was no new thing For the chief of the Priests who were set over the rest are called Bishops by all the Hellenist Jews Thus â—oel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop over the Prâ—ests and the son of Bani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop and Visitor over the Levites and we find at the purging of the Land from idolatry the High-Priest plac'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops over the House of God Nay it was the appellative of the High-Priest himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest to whom is committed the care of the Lamps and the daily Sacrifice and the holy unction Now this word the Church retain'd choosing the same Name to her superiour Ministers because of the likeness of the Ecclesiastical Government between the Old and New-Testament For Christ made no change but what was necessary Baptism was a rite among the Jews and the Lords-Supper was but the post-coenium of the Hebrews chang'd into a mystery from a type to a more real exhibition and the Lords Prayer was a collection of the most eminent devotions of the Prophets and Holy men before Christ who prayed by the same spirit and the censures Ecclesiastical were but an imitation of the proceedings of the Judaical tribunals and the whole Religion was but the Law of Moses drawn out of it's vail into clarity and manifestation and to conclude in order to the present affair the Government which Christ left was the same as he found it for what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple that Bishops Priests and Deacons are in the Church it is affirmed by St. Hierom more then once and the use he makes of it is this Esto subjectus pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe Obey your Bishop and receive him as the nursing Father of your Soul But above all this appellation is made honourable by being taken by our Blessed Lord himself For he is called in Scripture the great Shepheard and Bishop of our Souls But our inquitie is not after the Name but the Office and the dignity and duty of it Ecclesiae gubernandae sublimis ac divina potestas so St. Cyprian calls it a High and a Divine power from God of Governing the Church rem magnam preciosam in conspectu Domini so St. Cyril a great and a pretious thing in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Isidor Pelusiot the utmost limit of what is desireable amongst men But the account upon which it is so desireable is the same also that makes it formidable They who have tryed it and did it conscientiously have found the burden so great as to make them stoop with care and labour And they who do it ignorantly or carelesly will find it will break their bones For the Bishops Office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of St. Cyprian He is a Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood the Ruler of the people the Shepheard of the Flock the Governour of the Church the Minister of Christ and the Priest of God These are great titles and yet less then what is said of them in Scripture which calls them Salt of the Earth Lights upon a candlestick Stars and Angels Fathers of our Faith Embassadors of God Dispensors of the Mysteries of God the Apostles of the Churches and the Glory of Christ but then they are great burdens too for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intrusted with the Lords people that 's a great charge but there is a worse matter that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls they are the words of St. Paul and transcribed into the 40th Canon of the Apostles and the 24th Canon of the Councel of Antioch And novv I hope the envy is taken off for the honour does not pay for the burden and vve can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity as it is a Rule but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty that as the load of it is almost unsufferable so the event of it is very formidable if vve take not great care For this Stevvardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principality and a Ministery So it vvas in Christ he is Lord of all and yet he vvas the Servant of all so it vvas in the Apostles it vvas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lot vvas to be Apostles and yet to serve and minister and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the LXX use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosheth which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interlineary translation by Exactores Bishops are onely Gods Ministers and tribute gatherers requiring and over seeing them that they do their duty and therefore here the case is so and the burden so great and the dignity so allayed that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load nor the proud man vainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger It is indeed a Rule but it is paternal it is a Government but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is neither a power to constrain nor a commission to get wealth for it must be without necessity and not for filthy lucre sake but it is a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Luke as of him that ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
channels of Salvation quite another way and leave the Church to a perpetual uncertainty whether she be alive or dead and the people destitute of the life of their Souls and their daily bread and their spiritual comforts and holy blessings The consequent of this is If Sacraments depend upon Bishops then let us take care that we convey to the people holy and pure materials sanctifyed with a holy ministery and ministred by holy persons For although it be true that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend wholly upon the worthiness of him that ministers yet it is as true that it does not wholly rely upon the worthiness of the Receiver but both together relying upon the goodness of God produce all those blessings which are designed The Minister hath an influence into the effect and does very much towards it and if there be a failer there it is a defect in one of the concurring causes and therefore an unholy Bishop is a great diminution to the peoples blessing St. Hierom presses this severely Impiè faciunt c. They do wickedly who affirm that the Holy Eucharist is consecrated by the words alone and solemn prayer of the consecrator and not also by his life and holiness and therefore St. Cyprian affirms that none but holy and upright men are to be chosen who offering their Sacrifices worthily to God may be heard in their prayers for the Lords people but for others Sacrificia eorum panis luctus saith the Prophet Hosea their Sacrifices are like the bread of sorrow who ever eats thereof shall be defiled This discourse is not mine but St. Cyprians and although his words are not to be understood dogmatically but in the case of duty and caution yet we may lay our hands upon our hearts and consider how we shall give an account of our Stewardship if we shall offer to the people the bread of God with impure hands it is of it self a pure nourishment but if it passes through an unclean vessel it looses much of it's excellency 3. The like also is to be said concerning prayer For the Episcopal Order is appointed by God to be the great Ministers of Christs Priesthood that is to stand between Christ and the people in the entercourse of prayer and blessing VVe will give our selves continually to prayer said the Apostles that was the one half of their imployment and indeed a Bishop should spend very much of his time in holy prayer and in diverting Gods judgments and procuring blessings to the people for in all times the chief of the Religion was ever the chief Minister of blessing Thus Abraham blessed Abimelech and Melchisedek blessed Abraham and Aaron blessed the people and without all controversy saith the Apostle the less is blessed of the Greater But then we know that God heareth not sinners and it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous Man that shall prevail And therefore we may easily consider that a vitious Prelate is a great calamity to that Flock which he is appointed to bless and pray for How shall he reconcile the penitents who is himself at enmity with God How shall the Holy Spirit of God descend upon the Symbols at his prayer who does perpetually grieve him and quench his holy fires and drive him quite away How shall he that hath not tasted of the spirit by contemplation stir up others to earnest desires of Celestial things Or what good shall the people receive when the Bp. lays upon their head a covetous or a cruel an unjust or an impure hand But therefore that I may use the words of St. Hierom. Cum ab Episcopo gratia in populum transfundatur mundi totius Ecclesiae totius condimentum sit Episcopus c. since it is intended that from the Bp. grace should be diffus'd amongst all the people there is not in the world a greater indecency then a holy office ministred by an unholy person and no greater injury to the people then that of the blessings which God sends to them by the Ministeries Evangelical they should be cheated and defrauded by a wicked Steward And therefore it was an exellent prayer which to this very purpose was by the son of Sirach made in behalf of the High Priests the sons of Aaron God give you wisdom in your heart to judge his people in righteousness that their good things be not abolished and that their glory may endure for ever 4. All the offices Ecclesiastical always were and ought to be conducted by the Episcopal order as is evident in the universal doctrine and practise of the primitive Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the 40th Canon of the Apostles Let the Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without leave of the Bishop But that case is known The consequent of this consideration is no other then the admonition in my text VVe are Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and dispensers of the mysteries of the Kingdom and it is required of Stewards that they be found faithful that we preach the word of God in season and out of season that we rebuke and exhort admonish and correct for these God calls Pastores secundùm cor meum Pastors according to his own heart which feed the people with knowledge and understanding but they must also comfort the afflicted and bind up the broken heart minister the Sacraments with great diligence and righteous measures and abundant charity alwayes having in mind those passionate words of Christ to St. Peter If thou lovest me feed my sheep If thou hast any love to me feed my lambs And let us remember this also that nothing can enforce the people to obey their Bishops as they ought but our doing that duty and charity to them which God requires There is reason in these words of St. Chrysostom It is necessary that the Church should adhere to their Bishop as the body to the head as plants to their roots as rivers to their springs as children to their Fathers as Disciples to their Masters These similitudes express not onely the relation and dependency but they tell us the reason of the duty The head gives light and reason to conduct the body the roots give nourishment to the plants and the springs perpetual emanation of waters to the channels Fathers teach and feed their children and Disciples receive wise instruction from their Masters and if we be all this to the people they will be all that to us and wisdom will compel them to submit and our humility will teach them obedience and our charity will invite their compliance Our good example will provoke them to good works and our meekness will melt them into softness and flexibility For all the Lords people are populus voluntarius a free and willing people and we who cannot compel their bodies must thus constrain their souls by inviting their wills by convincing their understandings by the beauty of fair example the efficacy
and holiness and the demonstrations of the spirit This is experimentum ejus qui in nobis loquitur Christus The experiment of Christ that speaketh in us For to this purpose those are excellent words which St. Paul spake Remember them who have the rule over you whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation There lyes the demonstration and those Prelates who teach good life whose Sermons are the measures of Christ and whose life is a coppy of their Sermons these must be followed and surely these will for these are burning and shining lights but if we hold forth false fires and by the amusement of evil examples call the vessels that sail upon a dangerous Sea to come upon a rock or an iron shore instead of a safe harbour we cause them to make shipwrack of their precious faith and to perish in the deceiptful and unstable waters Vox operum fortiùs sonat quà m verborum A good life is the strongest argument that your faith is good and a gentle voice will be sooner entertaind then a voice of thunder but the greatest eloquence in the world is a meek Spirit and a liberal hand these are the two pastoral staves the Prophet speaks of nognam hovelim beauty and bands he that hath the staff of the beauty of holiness the ornament of fair example he hath also the staff of bands atque in funiculis Adam trahet eos in vinculis charitatis as the Prophet Hosea's expression is he shall draw the people after him by the cords of a man by the bands of a holy charity But if against all these demonstrations any man will be refractary We have in stead of a staff an Apostolical rod which is the last and latest remedy and either brings to repentance or consignes to ruin and reprobation If there were any time remaining I could reckon that the Episcopal order is the principle of Vnity in the Church and we see it is so by the innumerable Sects that sprang up when Episcopacy was persecuted I could adde how that Bishops were the cause that St. Iohn wrote his Gospel that the Christian Faith was for 300 years together bravely defended by the sufferings the prisons and the flames the life and the death of Bishops as the principal Combatants That the Fathers of the Church whose writings are held in so great veneration in all the Christian World were almost all of them Bishops I could adde that the Reformation of Religion in England was principally by the Preachings and the disputings the vvritings and the Martyrdom of Bishops That Bishops have ever since been the greatest defensatives against Popery That England and Ireland were Governed by Bishops ever since they were Christian and under their conduct have for so many ages enjoyed all the blessings of the Gospel I could adde also that Episcopacy is the great stabiliment of Monarchy but of this we are convinc'd by a sad and too dear bought experience I could therefore in stead of it say that Episcopacy is the great ornament of Religion the Gentry being little better then Servants while they live under the Presbytery That as it rescues the Clergy from contempt so it is the greatest preservative of the peoples liberty from Ecclesiastick Tyranny on one hand and Anarchy and licentiousness on the other That it endears obedience And is subject to the Laws of Princes And is wholly ordained for the good of mankind and the benefit of Souls But I cannot stay to number all the blessings which have entered into the world at this door I onely remark these because they describe unto us the Bishops imployment which is to be buisy in the service of Souls to do good in all capacities to serve every mans need to promote all publick benefits to cement Governments to establish peace to propagate the Kingdom of Christ to do hurt to no man to do good to every man that is so to minister that Religion and Charity publick peace and private blessings may be in their exaltation As long as it was thus done by the Primitive Bishops the Princes and the People gave them all honour Insomuch that by a decree of Constantine the great the Bp. had power given him to retract the sentences made by the Presidents of Provinces and we find in the acts of St. Nicholas that he rescued some innocent persons from death when the executioner was ready to strike the fatal blow which thing even vvhen it fell into inconvenience was indeed forbidden by Arcadius and Honorlus but the confidence and honour was onely chang'd it was not taken away for the condemned criminal had leave to appeal to the Audientia Episcopalis to the Bps Court. This was not any right which the Bishops could challenge but a reward of their piety and so long as the Holy Office was holily administred the World found so much comfort and security so much justice and mercy so many temporal and spiritual blessings consequent to the ministeries of that order that as the Galatians to St. Paul men have plucked out their eys to do them service and to do them honour For then Episcopacy did that good that God intended by it it was a spiritual Government by spiritual persons for spiritual ends Then the Princes and the People gave them honours because they deserv'd and sought them not then they gave them wealth because they would dispend it wisely frugally and charitably Then they gave them power because it was sure to be us'd for defence of the innocent for relief of the oppressed for the punishment of evil doers and the reward of the virtuous Then they desir'd to be judg'd by them because their audiences or Courts did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they appeas'd all furious sentences and taught gentle principles and gave merciful measures and in their Courts were all equity and piety and Christian determinations But afterwards when they did fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into saecular methods and made their Counsels vain by pride and durtyed their sentences with money then they became like other men and so it will be unless the Bps be more holy then other men but when our sanctity and severity shall be as eminent as the calling is then we shall be called to Councels and sit in publick meetings and bring comfort to private Families and rule in the hearts of men by a jus relationis such as was between the Roman Emperors and the Senate they courted one another into power and in giving honour striv'd to out do each other for from an humble wise man no man will snatch an imployment that is honourable but from the proud and from the covetuous every man endeavours to wrest it and thinks it lawful prize My time is now done and therefore I cannot speak to the third part of my text the reward of the good Steward and of the bad I shall onely mention it to you in a short exhortation and so conclude In the Primitive
Church a Bishop was never admitted to publick penance not onely because in them every crime is ten and he that could discern a publick shame could not discern a publick honor nor yet onely because every such punishment was scandalous and did more evil by the example of the crime then it could do good by the example of the punishment but also because no spiritual power is higher then the Episcopal and therefore they were to be referred to the Divine judgment which was likely to fall on them very heavily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord will cut the evil Stewards asunder he will suffer Schisms and Divisions to enter in upon us and that will sadly cut us asunder but the evil also shall fall upon their persons like the punishment of quartering Traitors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punnishment with the circumstances of detestation and exemplarity Consider therefore what is your great duty Consider what is your great danger The lines of duty I have already describ'd onely remember how dear and pretious Souls are to God since for their salvation Christ gave his bloud and therefore will not easily loose them whom though they had sin'd against him yet he so highly valued remember that You are Christs deputies in the care of Souls and that You succeed in the place of the Apostles Non est facilè stare loco Pauli tenere gradum Petri You have undertaken the work of St. Paul and the office of St. Peter and what think you upon this account will be required of us St. Hierom expresses it thus The wisdom and skill of a Bishop ought to be so great that his countenance his gesture his motion every thing should be vocal ut quicquid agit quicquid loquitur doctrina sit Apostolorum that whatever he does or speaks be doctrine Apostolical The Ancient Fathers had a pious opinion that besides the Angel guardian which is appointed to the guard of every man there is to every Bishop a second Angel appointed to him at the Consecration and to this Origen alludes saying that every Bishoprick hath two Angels the one visible and the other invisible This is a great matter and shews what a precious thing that order and those persons are in the eyes of God but then this also means that we should live Angelick lives which the Church rarely well expresses by saying that Episcopal dignity is the Ecclesiastick state of perfection and supposes the persons to be so far advanc'd in holiness as to be in the state of confirmation in grace But I shall say nothing of these things because it may be they press too hard but the use I shall make of it upon occasion of the reward of the good and bad Steward is to remind you of your great danger For if it be required of Bishops to be so wise and so holy so industrious and so careful so buisy and so good up to the height of best examples if they be anointed of the Lord and are the Husbands of the Churches if they be the Shepheards of the flock and Stewards of the houshould it is very fit they consider their danger that they may be careful to do their duty St. Bernard considers it well in his epistle to Henry Archbishop of Sens If I lying in my Cell and smoaking under a Bushel not shining yet cannot avoid the breath of the winds but that my light is almost blown out what will becom of my Candle if it were plac'd on a candlestick and set upon a hill I am to look to my self alone and provide for my own salvation and yet I offend my self I am weary of my self I am my own scandal and my own danger my own eye and my own belly and my own appetite find me work enough and therefore God help them who besides themselves are answerable for many others Iacob kept the Sheep of Laban and We keep the Sheep of Christ and Iacob was to answer for every Sheep that was stoln and every lamb that was torn by the wild beast and so shall We too if by our fault one of Christs Sheep perish and yet it may be there are 100000. Souls committed to the care and conduct of some one Shepheard who yet will find his own Soul work enough for all his care and watchfulness If any man should desire me to carry a Frigat into the Indies in which a 100. men were imbarqued I vvere a mad man to undertake the charge vvithout proportionable skill and therefore vvhen there is more danger and more Souls and rougher Seas and more secret Rocks and horrible Storms and the Shipvvrack is an eternal loss the matter vvill then require great consideration in the undertaking and greatest care in the conduct Vpon this account vve find many brave persons in the first and in the middle ages of the Church vvith great resolution refusing Episcopacy I vvill not speak of those vvho for fear of Martyrdom declin'd it but those vvho for fear of damnation did refuse St. Bernard vvas by three rich Citties severally called to be their B p and by tvvo to be their Arch-Bp. and he refus'd them St. Dominicus refus'd four successively St. Thomas Aquinas refus'd the Archbishoprick of Naples and Vincentius Ferrerius vvould not accept of Valentia or Ilerda and Bernardinus Senensis refus'd the Bishopricks of Sens Vrbin and Ferrara They had reason and yet if they had done amiss in that office vvhich they declin'd it had been something more excusable but if they that seek it be as careless in the office as they are greedy of the honour that vvill be found intolerable Electus Episcopus ambulat in disco recusans volvitur in arcâ said the Hermit in St. Hierom. The Bp. walks upon round and trundling stones but he that refuses it stands upon a floor But I shall say no more of it because I suppose you have read it and considered it in St. Chrysostoms six books de sacerdotio in the Apologetie of St. Greg. Naz. in the pastoral of St. Greg. of Rome in St. Dionysius's 8th epistle to Demophilus in the Letters of Epiphanius to St. Hierom in St. Austins Epistle to Bp. Valerius in St. Bernards life of St. Malachy in St. Hieroms 138th Epistle to Fabiola These things I am sure you could not read without trembling and certainly if it can belong to any Christian then work out your Salvation with fear and trembling that 's the Bishops burden For the Bishop is like a man that is surety for his friend he is bound for many and for great sums what 's to be done in this case Solomons answer is the way Do this now my Son deliver thy self make sure thy friend give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eye lids that is be sedulous to discharge thy trust to perform thy charge be zealous for Souls and careless of money and remember this that even in Christs Family there was one sad example of an Apostate Apostle and he fell