Metropolis of Creet even in the Christian Accompt very early and long before the Councel of Nice whatever hath been pretended to the contrary and probably in the Epoch of the Text it self since even then it was certainly such in the Civil Style most confessedly the Ground of the Christian Establishment for sure it was not Chance or Lottery that produced a perpetual Coincidence both there and elsewhere the World over And now let me lead you up to the top of Mount Ida the proudest Height in Creet from whence Geographers tell us we may descry both Seas and see all the Cities like a Crown in Circle about it There let us make a stand a while and look about us and consider holy Titus with those numerous Plantations and Nurseries of Primitive Christianity distributed as it were Areolatim like so many distinct Beds and Knots in the Eden of God planted and watered and drest by Apostolical Hands all under his care and custody Consider him by way of Recollection under the Variety of Circumstance wherein the Text hath hitherto presented him to our Meditations Consider him a single Person no Collegues no Compeers no Co-ordinates For as our Lord promised the Keys and doubtless so gave as he had promised them not to a College but to single Persons Tibi dabo quodcunque Tu ligaveris So the Apostles at the next remove St. Paul here I am sure for One entrusts all not to Communities and Consistories but to Individuals for so runs the Style Ego Te-ut Tu sicut ego Tibi all Personal and Particular Consider him determined to a fix'd and constant Residence left and settled in Creet the Ordinary and perpetual Governour of that Church For we ought to have more regard to Reason and the true Nature of things than to pronounce him an Extraordinary Officer who for ought appears is impowered to none but Acts of Ordinary and continual Importance to the Church And more Reverence for the blessed Apostle than to think he would issue a Commission full fraught with Rules of Perpetual Use to a Temporary Delegate who was perhaps next day to be exaâ—ctorated and never to have any Exercise of them Consider him yet further invested with a Plenitude and Sufficiency of Power not only to Preach and Baptize and so to beget Sons to God and the Church which is the Presbyter's and for ought I know the whole of the Evangelist's Office but also both to Ordain Elders in all the Cities under him and so to beget spiritual Fathers too as Epiphunius distinguisheth and then as in the old Paternal Dominion they ruled whom they had begotten to govern and regulate whom he had thus ordained even all the Bishops of those numerous Cities Whence the Question of our Reverend and Learned Iewel most naturally proceedeth Having the Government of so many Bishops what may we call him but an Arch-bishop And I add of so many Cities what but a Metropolitan I say Consider all this soberly and maturely and you will not disavow me if I say That whosoever shall drive us out of this Creet thus strongly Garrisoned by S. Paul and his Disciples and flight and dismantle so many Strengths and Fortresses of the Episcopal Cause as there were Cities in that Island and extort out of our Hands this great Instance of so many Bishops ordained and governed by their own Metropolitan so high in the first Age will be a very Pyrgopolinices indeed qui legiones Spiritu difflat and deserve the Sur-name of Creticus better than Metellus the Roman that subdued the Island For our parts we are not ashamed of our Conformity to so Primitive a Pattern nay we glory in so handsom and innocent a Syncretism For we are not better then our Fathers nor wiser than the Apostles of Christ himself And had we been of their Counsel who not long since pretended to reform us according to the best Examples we might have bespoke them as once S. Paul did those over hasty and unruly Mariners who would needs put to Sea when Sailing was dangerous and thrive accordingly being quickly forced to abandon the Helm and to let the Ship drive being not able to bear up against the Wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sirs you should not have parted from Creet in the Text and so have gained harm and disgrace If really you be in quest of the best Examples of modelling a Church you may certainly find here as fair and as pure Ideas and as well worth your Imitation as the more Modern Platform can afford you which I have reason to believe the famous Author of it intended not at first a Pattern to other Churches but an Expedient to serve the present Exigent of his own in a Iuncture scarce capable of any thing better and which I am perswaded the learnedst and wisest and most Pious of his Followers would gladly relinquish for something more Perfect and Primitive would the Necessities of their present Condition which have no Law but much of Excuse for those that really lie under them permit them the Happiness of so blessed an Exchange Which God in Mercy send them And so much of the Second Act to which the Power is here designed and that is the Ordaining of Elders together with the Distribution of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every City one I have but three Words to add of the Third Part of my Text and that was the Limitation of these Acts to the Apostles Prescription All must be so done even as he had appointed So in regard of the Variety of the Offices themselves and their several Subordinations So in regard of the choice of the Persons and their requisite Qualifications and so also in regard of the Rites and Ceremonies and Manner of ordaining them still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All as I had appointed thee And now if any demand where these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Constitutions Apostolical are to be found I shall not send them to Clemens â—his Book that bears that Name but to the Universal Practice of the Antient Church in which they are still in great part Visible and thence handed over to Posterity by Tradition and conformity of Practice and by Degrees inserted into the Canons of the old Councels as occasion was offered and into the Ordinals of several Churches Or if a readier and more present Answer be required I know not where to design it you nearer hand or more full to your satisfaction than by dismissing you to attend the great Action that is to follow In which you will see All so Grave and Solemn so Pious and Devout so Primitive and Apostolical and so exactly up to the Level of the Text and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of S. Paul here that I know not where to point you out so pregnant and full a Comment upon my Text nor what better Amends to make you for my own failings upon it And yet having thus
ANIMI TENORE USUS NONDUMPAR ANIMO PERICULUM INVENIT Cvl BONAE MALAEQ FAMAE MEDIO PERGENTI NEC AB EA QUAM FIXERAT ECCLESIA VERITATIS LINIA RECEDENTI USPIAM UTPOTE NEC HUJUS CONVITIIS TERRITO NEC ILLIUS ILLECEBRIS DELINITO UBIQ SUI SIMILI UNDIQ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CESSIT TANDEM CALUMNIA NON VICTA SOLUM SED ET TRIUMPHATA ET QUANTUMUIS GARRULA OBMUTUIT HANC CONCIUNCHLAM EIVS JUSSU CONCEPTAM NATAM AVSPICIIS HORTATU ET MANDATO IN LUCEM EDITAM PERPETUAE OBSERVANTIAE PIGNUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. MQ D. D. CQ GUILHELMUS SANCROFT PRESBYTER INDIGNUS PATERNITATI EJUS A SACRIS TIT. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause left I thee in Creet that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee THis Epistle is one of the three not unfitly styled the Hierarchical Epistles de statu Ecclesiastico compositae as Tertullian speaks being so many Rescripts Apostolical to Timothy and Titus the One desired by St. Paul to stay at Ephesus Primate of Asia the Other left in Creet Metropolitan of that and the neighbour Islands directing them how they ought to behave themselves in the House of God which is the Church of the living God True and genuine Decretal Epistles not like that counterfeit Ware which Isidore Mercator under venerable Names hath had the hardiness to obtrude upon the World but of the right stamp and alloy and such as St. Augustine saith a Bishop ought always to carry in his Hand and to have before his Eyes The Verse I have read to you following immediately upon the Salutation begins the Body of the Epistle it self and like an ingenious and well-contriv'd Perspective give us from the very Front a fair Prospect into the Contents of the whole It is as it were a kind of Magical Glass in which an Eye not blind with Ignorance nor blear'd with Passion may see distinctly the Face of the Primitive Church in that Golden Age of the Apostles the Plat-form of her Government the beautiful Order of her Hierarchy the Original and Derivation of her chief Officers and their subordination both to one another and to Christ the great Bishop of our Souls in the last Resort together with the Manage and Direction of the most important Acts of the Government both in point of Ordination and Iurisdiction toó. For here we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders that is Bishops as shall be shewed in due time dispos'd of City by City in every City One these Bishops both ordained and ordered constituted and corrected created and governed by Titus alone and so He in right of the Premisses no other than Metropolitan or Arch-Bishop there the Angel or the Arch-Angel rather of the whole Church of Creet If you ask who fix'd him the Intelligence of so large an Orbe 't was St. Paul himself You have that too in the Text For this Cause left I thee in Creet If yet higher your Curiosity will needs see the Derivation of St. Paul's Power too He opens his Commission verse 1. and spreads it before You styling himself a Servant of God and an Apostle of Iesus Christ One sent abroad into the World by his Commission acted and assisted by his Spirit to plant and to govern Churches after this Scheme and Model So that my Text like Homer's Symbolical Chain consists you see of many Links but the Highest is tyed to the Foot of Iupiter's Throne or rather like Iacob's Mysterious Ladder the Foot of it stands below in Bethel the House of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Head of it is in Heaven and God himself stands at the top of it and leans upon it and keeps it firm Angels Ascending and Descending upon it in the intermedial degrees the Bishops of the Church like those blessed ministring Spirits incessantly bringing down the Commands of God to the Church in their Doctrin and carrying up the Prayers of the Church before God's Throne in their Holy Offices and Intercessions So that you see this holy Oyl which without measure was shed upon the Head of our great High Priest all Power being given to Him both in Heaven and Earth runs down in full stream upon the Beard for As my Father sent me saith he to his Disciples even so send I you and so by and through them to their Successours holy Bishops and Presbyters even down to the Skirts of his Garment For in this comly and exquisite Order we find it in my Text For this Cause I Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ left thee Titus in Creet that thou shouldest set in order or correct the things that are wanting and ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee In which Words we have these three Parts First The Erection of a Power in the Person of Titus a Metropolitical Power over the whole Island of Creet I left thee in Creet Secondly The end of this Institution or the Use and Exercise of this Power in a double Instance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Order and to Ordain to Correct and Constitute to make Bishops and to govern them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Scholia have it For this cause that thou shouldest set in order what was wanting and ordain Elders in every City Thirdly The Limitation of All to Apostolical Prescript and Direction both Ordination and Jurisdiction too the whole Office must be managed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As I had appointed thee These are the Parts Of which that I may so speak and you so hear and all of us so remember and so practice that God's holy Name may be glorified and we all built up in the knoledge of that Truth which is according unto Godliness We beseech God the Father in the Name of his Son Iesus Christ to give us the assistance of his Holy Spirit And in these and all other our Supplications let us always remember to pray for Christ ' s Holy Catholic Church i. e. for the whole Congregation of Christian People dispersed through the whole World That it would please Almighty God to purge out of it all Schism Error and Heresie and to unite all Christians in one Holy Bond of Faith and Charity that so at length the happy Day may draw upon us in which all that do confess his Holy Name may agree in the truth of his Holy Word and live in Unity and godly Love More especially let us pray for the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland That the God of Peace who maketh Men to be of one Mind in a House would make us All of one Soul and of one Spirit that again we may meet together and praise Him with one Heart and Mouth and worship him with one Accord in the Beauty of Holiness To this end I am to require you most especially to pray for
the King ' s most Excellent Majesty our Sovereign Lord Charles by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Supream Governor in these His Realms and in all other his Dominions and Countries over all Persons in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal That God would Establish His Throne in Righteousness and His Seed to all Generations Also for our gracious Lady Mary the Queen-Mother for the most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and for the whole Royal Family That God would take them all into His Care and make them the Instruments of His Glory and the good and welfare of these Nations Further let us pray for the Ministers of God ' s Holy Word and Sacraments as well Arch-Bishops and Bishops as other Pastors and Curates for the Lords and others of his Majesties most Honourable Council and for all the Nobility and Magistrates of the Realm That All and every of these in their several Callings may serve truly and painfully to the Glory of God and the edifying and well governing of his People remembring the account that they must make Let us also pray for the Universities of this Land Cambridge and Oxford That God would water them with his Grace and still continue them the Nurseries of Religion and Learning to the whole Land Let us pray for the whole Commons of this Realm That remembring at last from whence they are faln they may repent and do the first works living henceforth in Faith and Fear of God in humble Obedience to their King and in Brotherly Charity one to another Finally let us praise God for all those that are already departed out of this Life in the Faith of Christ and pray unto God we may have Grace to direct our Lives after their good Examples that this Life ended we may be made partakers with them of the glorious Resurrection in the Life Everlasting For which and for all other needful Blessings let us say together the Prayer of our Lord who hath taught us to say Our Father c. For this Cause left I thee in Creet c. The Erecting of the Power that 's the first I left thee in Creet Where we have these Particulars The Original of this Power in Ego the subject of it in Te Ego Te the Conveyance in Ego Reliqui and the Extent in Reliqui Cretae or in Creta I. I left thee I the Apostle of Iesus Christ vers 1. left thee Mine There 's the Source and the Stream the Original and the Derivation of All 't was from our Lord by his Apostle I did it his Commissioner 1. And therefore First Not a Suffragan of St. Peter as some of the Romish Partizans would fain have it Who to serve the over-high pretences of that Court are not content to Dogmatize That St. Peter was the Prince and Sovereign of the Apostles and his very Successors superior to the Apostles that survived Him and That they being once All Dead there was never since any Power in the Church but in Succession to him and by Derivation from him dare yet higher and with strange confidence pronounce That the Apostles themselves were all ordained by St. Peter and He alone by Christ And That when the Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them they were thereupon sent up to Ierusalem to be ordained by St. Peter Affirmations so very strange that I know not what can be more unless this be that they should think them passable with us upon the Authority of Petrus Comestor the Scholastic Historian and those suspected Decretals of the false Merchant I mention'd at the beginning Whereas for the Imposition of Hands upon Barnabas and Saul were it a Blessing or were it an Ordination 't is plainly inferred verse 3. to have been perform'd upon the Place by the Persons mention'd verse 1. And St. Paul for his particular in the Front of every Epistle enters his Protestation against all this as if he had foreseen it still qualifying himself an Apostle of Iesus Christ by the will of God an Apostle not of Men nor by Man but by the Commandment of God our Saviour and accordingly you may see him contesting it to the height both against Peter and the rest Gal. 1. and 2. Chapters throughout That the Gospel he Preached was not of Man the Apostleship he exercis'd was not from Man but the one by immediate Revelation the other by Assignation from Heaven it self So that having receiv'd his Mission thence and his Instructions too he thought it unnecessary to confer with Flesh and Blood to apply himself to any Mortal Man for the enhancing of either He went up indeed to Ierusalem to visit Peter three Years after his Conversion and yet once again fourteen Years after he returned thither and had Conference with Iames and Cephas and Iohn but these Pillars added nothing to him neither established his Aâ—thority nor advanced his Knowledge And Titus himself was present at the enterview and so an Eye-witness that in nothing he came behind the very chiefest Apostles for they all gave him the right-hand of Fellowship far from exacting the right-hand of Preheminence And so Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ not a Deputy of the Apostolical College much less a Suffragan of St. Peter or his Legate a latere as was pretended But 2. Not a Disciple of Gamaliel For there is a Disputer of this World who having laid it down for a Principle with himself indeed his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That all pretence of Ecclesiastical Power as from Christ is but an Imposture is thereupon obliged to give such an accompt of the Appearances of it in the New Testament as may suit with this Postulatum And accordingly for the particular of Imposition of Hands for Ordination of Elders will have it only the pursuance of a Iewish Custom which St. Paul learned at the Feet of his Master Gamaliel under whom he Commenc'd Elder before he was Christian and thereupon after thought good to create his own Disciples to the same Dignity according to the Law of those Schools and Titus amongst the rest whom he left in Creet to do the like and to Constitute his Scholars Elders too in all the Cities where he should Preach A Discourse so loose and incoherent that 't is not worth your while to stand by and see it fall in pieces which it would quickly do were it not already done to our hands upon a gentle Examination I shall only remind you of what was said before upon the former Particular and so leave it in Compromise to any Indifferent Whether St. Paul the Apostle of Iesus Christ who so stoutly refuseth to Releve of St. Peter himself or the rest of the Apostles as owing his whole Commission to Heaven alone would yet acknowledge to hold it of
shewing thy Self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pattern of good Works For as S. Ambrose excellently In Episcopo vita formatur omnium the Life of the Prelate is as it were a Form or Mold in which the Conversation of others is Shap'd and Modell'd Or as Isidore Pelusiot conceits it like a Seal well cut which stamps the common Christians under his Care as Wax with the like Impressions And therefore S. Paul who well understood this twice within two Verses of my Text requires it a Qualification in a Bishop that he be blameless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One that cannot be accused which yet Innocence it self you know may be nay but a Bishop must be void of Suspicion too as well as Crime Ay that 's the way to set all right indeed For so fair a Copy plac'd in so good a Light teacheth it self and every one that runs by will read it and strive to write after it 2 But Secondly Doctrina by speaking the things that become sound Doctrine For a Bishop must be able both to exhort and to convince the Gainsayers In Doctrine shewing Uncorruptness Gravity Sincerity sound Speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed c. 3 Censura That must not be forgotten as being chief in the Eyes of the Text. No the Garden of God must be weeded sometimes or like the Sluggard's Vineyard 't will soon be overgrown with Nettles and Thorns Even Christ's Vine must be pruned too or 't will run out and spend it self in fruitless Luxury The Lamps of the Temple will burn faint and dim if they be not trimmed and drest and snuffed now and then And therefore though the Tables of the Law and the Pot of Manna be in the Ark yet 't is not a perfect Embleme of the Church unless the Rod of Aaron be there too and without Iurisdiction and Discipline we shall quickly find the Word and Sacraments will not have so powerful an Influence upon a loose and a debauched World Epiphanius observes That Moses was sent into Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some while after he instituted the Passover and received the Law and consecrated Aaron and his Sons to the Priest-hood but he carried the Rod of God with him in his Hand No bringing up the Israel of God out of Egypt without it And 't is that Rod therefore which S. Paul here puts into Titu's Hand when he bids him Correct what is amiss in the Text and Rebuke evil doers sharply and severely v. 11. and Stop the mouths of such as teach what they ought not v. 13. Nay and Rebuke them with all Authority not suffering his Monitions to be slighted by any Let no man contemn thee Ch. 11. v. 15. Nay if Corrigas will not serve the turn be a Word too low S. Ierome upon the place and after him Cardinal Cajetan have added a Cubit to its Stature and advanc'd it into Super-corrigas which yet perhaps arrives not the full Altitude of the Greek For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Decompound and if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to make strait or right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is throughly to do it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do it not only exactly but over and over again S. Chrysostom and S. Ierom both take notice of this Emphasis and state it thus That whereas S. Paul had corrected some Things and so far Titus should go on where he left and compleat what he had begun bringing them yet to another Test till they came forth like Gold more than once tryed in the Furnace An Hint which will perhaps be too greedily catch'd at by those to whose Advantage it was never intended A sort of Men that are all for Super-corrigas but 't is still on the wrong side and of that which is not amiss The Reformers of the World and Syndios of all Christendom Men but of yesterday yet wiser and better than all the Fathers that Over-correct and Over-reform every thing correct Magnificat it self before they be out of danger of the rest of the Proverb Correct not the Cretans and their Amisses but Titus and his Elders serving all Antiquity and Patterns of Primitive Government as Procrustes did his Guests who still reduced them to the Scantling of his Beds So these either cutting them short or forcing them out longer till they apply to the just Model they have fancied to themselves and would impose upon others Thus Titus must be screwed up into an Extraordinary and so a Temporary Officer an Evangelist or a Secondary Apostle as Walo Messalinus and others not a fix'd and Ordinary Governour of the Church of Creet lest that come cross to their Designs and on the other side the Elders of the Text must be degraded into common Presbyters lest we should have Bishops here of S. Paul's Titus's own Creation with how little reason in either we go on to consider in 11. The second Act to which this Power is here designed and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Ordain Elders in every City Concerning which Elders whether of the first or second Rank I know well what variety of Opinion hath past even amongst my own Mother's Sons Nor shall I be nice to acknowledge it as counting it our Advantage that we have more than a single Hypothesis to salve the Phoenemena and some choice of Answers each of them sufficiently securing us from the Contradiction of the Gainsayers to whose Pretensions these Elders will be for ever useless whether understood Bishops or common Presbyters always ordained and governed either by the Apostles themselves or by Bishops of their appointment as they drew off But not to leave it wholly in the Clouds I will not doubt to profess mine own sense too with due Submission That the Elders in the Text were very Bishops appointed One for every City and the Suburbicarian Region thereof For this is most agreeable not only the Exposition of the Antient Church the best Comment when all is done upon doubtful places of Scripture But to the Context also which expresly calls them Bishops in the seventh Verse Were it not for this and what follows in the next Particular we were perhaps at liberty to leave the World at large in its general acception as it takes in both Orders both useful in every City and so both to be supplied by Titus in which Oecumenius hath gone before us affirming that Titus was left in Creet to ordain Clerks in every City But we are determined For though at present I demand not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherever it occurs in the New Testament should signifie a Bishop yet that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth so I shall not doubt to affirm till I see the Text produced that attributes it to some Person otherwise evinced to have been no more then a single Presbyter And Thirdly and Lastly most agreeable also to the Text
purpose to raise up our Hopes into some Confidence that we shall owe one day to those Sacred Hands next under God the healing of the Church's and the People's Evils as well as of the King 's Blessed for ever be that God who hath restor'd us such a Gracious Sovereign to be the Repairer of the Breach and the Nursing Father of his Church and hath put it into the King's Heart to appoint Titus as this Day to Ordain Elders for every City to supply all that is wanting and to correct whatever is amiss Blessed are our Eyes for they see that which many a Righteous Man more Righteous than we desired so much to see and hath not seen It. And Blessed be this Day Let God regard it from above and a more than common Light shine upon it in which we see the Phoenix arising from her Funeral Pile and taking Wing again our Holy Mother the Church standing up from the Dust and Ruins in which she sate so long taking Beauty again for Ashes and the Garments of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness remounting the Episcopal Throne bearing the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven with her and armed we hope with the Rod of Discipline her Hands spread abroad to Bless and to Ordain to Confirm the Weak and to Reconcile the Penitent her Breasts flowing with the sincere Milk of the Word and girt with a Golden Girdle under the Paps tying up All by a meet Limitation and Restriction to Primitive Patterns and Prescripts Apostolical A sight so Venerable and August that me thinks it should at once strike Love and Fear into every Beholder and an awful Veneration I may confidently say it 'T was never well with us since we strayed from the due Reverence we ought to Heaven and Her and 't is strange we should no sooner observe it but run a Madding after other Lovers that ruin'd us till God hedged in our way with Thorns that we could no longer find them and then we said I will go and return to my former Husband for then was it better with me then now Well Blest be the Mercies of God we are at last returned and Titâ—s is come back into Creet and there are Elders ordaining for every City But Hic Rhodus hic Saltus Reverend Father this is your Creet adorn it as you can The Province is hard and the Task weighty and formidable even to an Angel's Shoulders That we mistake not Titus was not left behind in Creet to take his Ease or to sheep out the Storm which soon after overtook St. Paul at Sea he might well expect a worse at Land Naufragium terrestre and a more tempestuous Euroclydon Believe it a Bishop's Roab is Tunica molesta as the Martyrs pitch'd Coat was call'd of Old and sits perhaps more uneasie upon the Shoulders The Miter is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to render invisible or invulnerable but rather exposeth to Enemies The Rotchet and the Surplice Emblems of Innocence indeed but Marks of Envy too and 't is in those Whites that Malice sticks all her Darts And therefore St. Paul was fain to entreat Timothy into this Dignity For this cause besought I thee to abide at Ephesus for there were Beasts to be fought with there and the Apostle had tried them both Tooth and Paw So that I cannot wonder if our Bishops say Nolo Episcopari in good Earnest and if any of our Zaras thrust forth a hasty Hand and be laid hold on and the Scarlet Thread cast about his Finger 't is not strange if he draw back his Hand and refuse the Primogeniture chusing rather to lye hid in Obscurity quà m vinctus Purpurâ progredi as the great Cardinal wittily alludes As in Creet new Founded so in England new Restored there must needs be many things wanting and much amiss not so easily to be supplied or amended When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Sion they made their thankful acknowledgments and said in the Psalm The Lord hath done great things for us already whereof we will be glad But then it follows immediately in the next Verse Turn again our Captivity O Lord as the Rivers in the South It seems their Captivity I am sure Ours is still to turn again even after 't is returned For there are Reliques of it still behind and the sad Effects remain an Age will hardly be able toâ— Efface them and which is the saddest of All we are still I fear in Captivity to the same Sins that occasioned that and they are able to bring upon us Ten Thousand Captivities worse than the former Plainly there are Riddles in our Condition and whose Heifer shall we plow with to unfold them Returned and not returned Restored and yet not so â—ully restored in fine with them in the Psalm We are like to them that dream With St. Peter the good Angel hath rouzed us indeed and our Chains are fallen off we have bound on our Sandals and begin to find our Legs again and we are past the first and the second Ward But methinks the Iron Gate that leads to the City is not over-apt to open to us of its own accord so that we wish not well if it be True and Real that is done by the Angel still apt to think we see a Vision still like to them that dream We have Ierusalem 't is true and the Hill of Sion in our Eyes Yet many look back to Babel and multitudes sit Captives still by those Waters encreasing them with their â—â—ars If any have taken down their Harps from those Willows they are not strong nor well in Fune and we scarce find how to sing the Lord's Songs even in our own Land And therefore let me advise you now in the Close of All Give not over but ply your Devotions still and whenever you sing In Convertendo Dominus in the midst of those Doxologies forget not to insert one Versicle of Petition Converte Domine Converte Turn again what remains of our Captivity and perfect our faint beginings Ay that 's the way if we would succeed Vot a dabunt quae bellae negârunt For God will hear the Prayers of his Church especially for his Church as he did those of David Psal. cxxxii Letâ— thy Priests be cloathed with Righteousness that 's the Petition And what saith the Answer of God a few Verses after I my self will cloath her Priests with Righteousness Ay and with Salvation too Let the Saints shout for joy saith the Psalmist Her Saints saith God Shall shout aloud for joy So that there 's more granted in both parts than was asked St. Paul knew well that this was the Method And therefore before he took forth his Son Titus the great Lesson of my Text he first imparts his Apostolical Benediction To Titus mine own Son Grace and Mercy and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour St. Chrysostome