us things greater than all our explicite Desires bigger than the thoughts of our heart then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle then we draw neer to God and by these we are enabled to do all that God requires and then he requires all that we can do more Love and more Obedience than he did of those who for want of these Helps and these Revelations and these Promises which we have but they had not were but imperfect persons and could do but little more than humane Services Christ hath taught us more and given us more and promised to us more than ever was in the world known or believed before him and by the strengths and confidence of these thrusts us forward in a holy and wise Oeconomy and plainly declares that we must serve him by the measures of a new Love do him Honour by wise and material Glorifications be united to God by a new Nature and made alive by a new Birth and fulfil all Righteousness to be humble and meek as Christ to be merciful as our heavenly Father is to be pure as God is pure to be partakers of the Divine Nature to be wholly renewed in the frame and temper of our mind to become people of a new heart a direct new Creation new Principles and a new being to do better than all the world before us ever did to love God more perfectly to despise the World more generously to contend for the Faith more earnestly for all this is but a proper and a just consequent of the great Promises which our Blessed Law-giver came to publish and effect for all the world of Believers and Disciples The matter which is here requir'd is certainly very great for it is to be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees more holy than the Doctors of the Law than the Leaders of the Synagogue than the wise Princes of the Sanhedrim more righteous than some that were Prophets and High Priests than some that kept the Ordinances of the Law without blame men that lay in Sackcloth and fasted much and prayed more and made Religion and the Study of the Law the work of their lives This was very much but Christians must do more Nuncte marmoreum pro tempore fecimus at tu Si foetura gregem suppleverit aureus esto They did well and we must do better their houses were Marble but our roofs must be gilded and fuller of Glory * But as the matter is very great so the necessity of it is the greatest in the world It must be so or it will be much worse unless it be thus we shall never see the glorious Face of God Here it concerns us to be wise and fearful for the matter is not a question of an Oaken Garland or a Circle of Bays and a Yellow Ribband it is not a question of Money or Land nor of the vainer rewards of popular noises and the undiscerning Suffrages of the people who are contingent Judges of good and evil but it is the great stake of Life Eternal We cannot be Christians unless we be righteous by the new measures the Righteousness of the Kingdom is now the only way to enter into it for the Sentence is fix'd and the Judgment is decretory and the Judge infallible and the Decree irreversible For I say unto you said Christ unless your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Here then we have two things to consider 1. What was the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees 2. How far that is to be exceeded by the Righteousness of Christians 1. Concerning the first I will not be so nice in the Observation of these words as to take notice that Christ does not name the Sadduces but the Scribes and Pharisees though there may be something in it the Sadduces were called Caraim from Cara to read for they thought it Religion to spend one third part of their day in reading their Scriptures whose fulness they so admired they would admit of no suppletory Traditions But the Pharisees were called Thanaim that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they added to the Word of God words of their own as the Church of Rome does at this day they and these fell into an equal fate while they taught for Doctrines the Commandments of men they prevaricated the Righteousuess of God What the Church of Rome to evil purposes hath done in this particular may be demonstrated in due time and place but what false and corrupt glosses under the specious Title of the Tradition of their Fathers the Pharisees had introduc'd our Blessed Saviour reproves and are now to be represented as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you may see that Righteousness beyond which all they must go that intend that Heaven should be their Journeys end 1. The Pharisees obeyed the Commandments in the Letter not in the Spirit They minded what God spake but not what he intended They were busie in the outward work of the hand but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Justin Martyr to Tryphon the Jew Ye understand all things carnally 3 that is they rested 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen calls it in the outward work of Piety which not only Justin Martyr but St. Paul calls Carnality not meaning a carnal Appetite but a carnal Service Their errour was plainly this they never distinguish'd Duties natural from Duties relative that is whether it were commanded for it self or in order to something that was better whether it were a principal Grace or an instrumental Action So God was served in the Letter they did not much inquire into his Purpose And therefore they were curious to wash their hands but cared not to purifie the hearts They would give Alms but hate him that received it They would go to the Temple but did not revere the Glory of God that dwelt there between the Cherubins They would fast but not mortifie their Lusts They would say good Prayers but not labour for the Grace they prayed for This was just as if a man should run on his Masters errand and do no business when he came there They might easily have thought that by the Soul only a man approaches to God and draws the Body after it but that no washing or corporal Services could unite them and the Shechina together no such thing could make them like to God who is the Prince of Spirits * They did as the Dunces in Pythagoras School who when their Master had said Fabis abstineto by which he intended they should not ambitiously seek for Magistracy they thought themselves good Pythagoreans if they did not eat Beans and they would be sure to put their Right foot first into the shooe and their Left foot into the water and supposed they had done enough though if they had not been Fools they would have understood their Masters meaning to have been
Judgment when the Angels of wrath snatch their abused People into everlasting Torments For will God bless them or pardon them by whom so many Souls perish Shall they reign with Christ who evacuate the death of Christ and make it useless to dear Souls Shall they partake of Christs Glories by whom it comes to pass that there is less joy in Heaven it self even because sinners are not converted and God is not glorified and the people is not instructed and the Kingdom of God is not filled Oh no the curses of a false Prophet will fall upon them and the reward of the evil Steward will be their portion and they who destroyed the Sheep or neglected them shall have their portion with Goats for ever and ever in everlasting burnings in which it is impossible for a man to dwell Can any thing be beyond this beyond damnation Surely a man would think not And yet I remember a severe saying of S. Gregory Scire debent Prelati quod tot mortibus digni sunt quot perditionis exempla ad subditos extenderunt One damnation is not enough for an evil Shepherd but for every Soul who dies by his evil example or pernicious carelesness he deserves a new death a new damnation Let us therefore be wise and faithful walk warily and watch carefully and rule diligently and pray assiduously for God is more propense to rewards then to punishments and the good Steward that is wise and faithful in his dispensation shall be greatly blessed But how He shall be made ruler over the houshold What is that for he is so already True but he shall be much more Ex dispensatore faciet procuratorem God will treat him as Joseph was treated by his Master he was first a Steward and then a Procurator one that ruled his Goods without account and without restraint Our Ministry shall pass into Empire our Labour into Rest our Watchfulness into Fruition and our Bishoprick to a Kingdom In the mean time our Bishopricks are a great and weighty Care and in a spiritual sence our Dominion is founded in Grace and our Rule is in the hearts of the people and our Strengths are the Powers of the Holy Ghost and the Weapons of our warfare are Spiritual and the Eye of God watches over us curiously to see if we watch over our Flocks by day and by night And though the Primitive Church as the the Ecclesiastick Histories observe when they deposed a Bishop from his Office ever concealed his Crime and made no Record of it yet remember this that God does and will call us to a strict and severe account Take heed that you may never hear that fearful Sentence I was hungry and ye gave me no meat If you suffer Christs little ones to starve it will be required severely at your hands And know this that the time will quickly come in which God shall say unto thee in the words of the Prophet Where is the Flock that was given thee thy beautiful Flock What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee God of his mercy grant unto us all to be so faithful and so wise as to convert Souls and to be so blessed and so assisted that we may give an account of our Charges with joy to the glory of God to the edification and security of our Flocks and the salvation of our own Souls in that day when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls shall come to Judgment even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Love and Obedience now and for evermore Amen FINIS Thursday May 9. ORdered That the Speaker do give the Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Down the Thanks of this House for his yesterdays pains and that he desire him to Print his Sermon John Keating Cler. Parl. 11 die Maii 1661. ORdered That Sir Theophilus Jones Knight Marcus Trever Esq Sir William Domvile Knight His Majesties Attorney General and Richard Kirle Esq be and are hereby appointed a Committee to return Thanks unto the Lord Bishop of Down for his Sermon Preached on Wednesday last unto the Lords Justices and Lords Spiritual and Temporal whereunto the House of Commons were invited and that they desire his Lordship from this House to cause the same to be forthwith printed and published Copia Vera. Ex. per Philip Ferneley Cler. Dom. Com. A SERMON Preached at the Opening of the PARLIAMENT OF IRELAND May 8. 1661. Before the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons BY Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down and Connor Salus in multitudine consulentium LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1666. To the Right Honourable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland Assembled in PARLIAMENT My Lords and Gentlemen I Ought not to dispute Your Commands for the printing my Sermon of Obedience left my Sermon should be protestatio contra factum here I Know my Example would be the best Vse to this Doctrine and I am sure to find no inconveniency so great as that of Disobedience neither can I be confident that I am wise in any thing but when I obey for then I have the Wisdom of my Superior for my warrant or my excuse I remember the saying of Aurelius the Emperor Aequius est me tot talium amicorum consilium quam tot tales meam unius voluntatem sequi I could easily have pretended excuses but that day I had taught others the contrary and I would not shed that Chalice which my own hands had newly filled with Waters issuing from the Fountains of Salvation My eyes are almost grown old with seeing the horrid mischiefs which came from Rebellion and Disobedience and I would willingly now be blessed with observation of Peace and Righteousness Plenty and Religion which do already and I hope shall for ever attend upon Obedience to the best KING and the best CHVRCH in the World I see no objection against my hopes but that which ought least of all in this case to be pretended Men pretend Conscience against Obedience expresly against S. Paul's Doctrine teaching us to obey for conscience sake but to disobey for Conscience in a thing indifferent is never to be found in the Books of our Religion It is very hard when the Prince is forc'd to say to his rebellious Subject as God did to his stubborn People Quid faciam tibi I have tried all the ways I can to bring thee home and what shall I now do unto thee The Subject should rather say Quid me vis facere What will thou have me to do This Question is the best end of Disputations Corrumpitur atque dissolvitur Imperantis officium si quis ad id quod facere jussus est non obsequio debito sed consilio non considerato respondeat said one in A. Gellius When a Subject is commanded to obey and he
great and crying sin yet to oppress the Church to diminish her rents to make her beggerly and contemptible that 's no offence and that though it is not lawful to despise Government yet if it be Church-government that then the case is altered Take heed of that for then God is dishonoured when any thing is the more despised by how much it relates nearer unto God No Religion ever did despise their chiefest Ministers and the Christian Religion gives them the greatest honour For honourable Priesthood is like a shower from heaven it causes blessings every where but a pitiful a disheartned a discouraged Clergy waters the ground with a water-pot here and there a little good and for a little while but every evil man can destroy all that work whenever he pleases Take heed in the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man then to be an enemy to God's Church All Histories of Christendome and the whole Book of God have sad records and sad threatnings and sad stories of Corah and Doeg and Balaam and Jeroboam and Vzzah and Ananias and Sapphira and Julian and of Hereticks and Schismaticks and sacrilegious and after all these men could not prevail finally but paid for the mischief they did and ended their daies in dishonour and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin and the record of their curse 3. In the same proportion you are to take care of all inferiour Relatives of God and of Religion Find out methods to relieve the Poor to accommodate and well dispose of the cures of Souls let not the Churches lye wast and in ruinous heaps to the diminution of Religion and the reproach of the Nation lest the nations abroad say that the Britans are a kind of Christians that have no Churches for Churches and Courts of Judicature and the publick defences of an Imperial City are res sacrae they are venerable in Law and honourable in Religion But that which concerns us most is that we all keep close to our Religion Ad magnas reipublicae utilitates retinetur Religio in civitatibus said Cicero by Religion and the strict preserving of it ye shall best preserve the Interests of the Nation and according to the precept of the Apostle Mark them which cause divisions amongst us contrary to the doctrine that ye have receiv'd and avoid them For I beseech you to consider all you that are true Protestants do you not think that your Religion is holy and Apostolical and taught by Christ and pleasing unto God If you do not think so why do you not leave it but if you do think so why are ye not zealous for it Is not the Government a part of it it is that which immures and adorns and conducts all the rest and is establisht in the 36. Article of the Church in the publick Service-book and in the book of Consecration it is therefore a part of our Religion and is not all of it worth preserving If it be then they which make Schisms against this Doctrine by the rule of the Apostle are to be avoided Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum Blessed is he that preaches a word that was never heard before so said the Spanish Jesuite but Christ said otherwise No man having drunk old wine straight desires new for he saith the old is better And so it is in Religion Quod primum verum Truth is alwaies first and since Episcopacy hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing since it hath ever combin'd with Government and hath been taught by that Spirit that hath so long dwelt in God's Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that sayes the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church been restored amongst us by a heap of miracles and as it went away so it return'd again in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws suffer no evil tongue to speak against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from Experience and from the wisdom of so many Ages of all your Ancestors and all your Laws lest ye be found to speak against God and neglect the things that belong unto your Peace and get nothing by it but news and danger and what other effects ye know not But Leontinus Bishop of Antioch stroak'd his old white beard and said When this snow is dissolved a great deal of dirty weather will follow meaning that when the old Religion should be questioned and discountenanced the new Religion would bring nothing but trouble and unquietness and we have found it so by a sad experience 4. Ye cannot obey God unless ye do Justice for this also is better then sacrifice said Solomon Prov. 21. 3. For Christ who is the Sun of righteousness is a Sun and a Shield to them that do righteously The Indian was not immured sufficiently by the Atlantick sea nor the Bosphoran by the walls of Ice nor the Arabian by his meridian Sun the Christian Justice of the Roman Princes brake through all inclosures and by Justice set up Christs standard and gave to all the world a testimony how much could be done by Prudence and Valour when they were conducted by the hands of Justice And now you will have a great trial of this part of your Obedience to God For you are to give sentence in the causes of half a Nation and he had need be a wise and a good man that divides the inheritance amongst Brethren that he may not be abused by contrary pretences nor biassed by the Interest of friends nor transported with the unjust thoughts even of a just Revenge nor allured by the opportunities of Spoil nor turn'd aside by Partiality in his own concerns nor blinded by Gold which puts out the eyes of wise men nor couzened by pretended zeal nor wearied with the difficulty of questions nor directed by a general measure in cases not measurable by it nor born down by Prejudice nor abused by resolutions taken before the cause be heard nor over-ruled by National Interests For Justice ought to be the simplest thing in the world and is to be measured by nothing but by Truth and by Laws and by the Decrees of Princes But whatever you do let not the pretence of a different Religion make you think it lawful to oppress any man in his just rights For Opinions are not but Laws only and doing as we would be done to are the measures of Justice and though Justice does alike to all men Jew and Christian Lutheran and Calvinist yet to do right to them that are of another Opinion is the way to win them but if you for Conscience sake do them wrong they will hate you and your Religion Lastly as Obedience is better than Sacrtfice so God also said I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice meaning that Mercy is the best Obedience Perierat totum quod Deus fecerat nisi misericordia subvenisset
brisker Immortality that Saints and Angels eat not and that the Spirit of a man lives for ever upon wisdom and holiness and contemplation The fat Glutton would have stared a while upon the Preacher and then have fallen asleep But if you had discoursed well and knowingly of a Lamprey a large Mullet or a Boar animal propter Convivia natum and have sent him a Cook from Asia to make new Sawces he would have attended carefully and taken in your discourses greedily And so it is in the Questions and secrets of Christianity which made S. Paul when he intended to convert Foelix discourse first with him about Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come He began in the right point he knew it was to no purpose to preach Jesus Christ crucified to an intemperate person to an Usurper of other mens rights to one whose soul dwelt in the World and cared not for the sentence of the last day The Philosophers began their Wisdom with the meditation of death and S. Paul his with the discourse of the day of Judgment to take the heart off from this world and the amabilities of it which dishonour and baffle the understanding and made Solomon himself become a child and fool'd into Idolatry by the prettiness of a talking woman Men now-a-dayes love not a Religion that will cost them dear If your Doctrine calls upon Men to part with any considerable part of their estates you must pardon them if they cannot believe you they understand it not I shall give you one great instance of it When we consider the infinite unreasonableness that is in the Popish Religion how against common sense their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is how against the common Experience of humane nature is the Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility how against Scripture is the Doctrine of Indulgences and Purgatory we may well think it a wonder that no more men are perswaded to leave such unlearned follies But then on the other side the wonder will cease if we mark how many temporal ends are served by these Doctrines If you destroy the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences you take away the Priests Income and make the the See Apostolick to be poor if you deny the Popes Infallibility you will despise his Authority and examine his Propositions and discover his Failings and put him to answer hard Arguments and lessen his Power and indeed when we run through all the Propositions of difference between them and us and see that in every one of them they serve an end of money or of power it will be very visible that the way to confute them is not by learned disputations for we see they have been too long without effect and without prosperity the men must be cured of their affections to the World ut nudi nudum sequantur crucifixum that with naked and devested affections they might follow the naked Crucified Jesus and then they would soon learn the truths of God which till then will be impossible to be apprehended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men as St. Basil says when they expound Scripture always bring in something of themselves but till there be as one said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rising out from their own seats until they go out from their dark dungeons they can never see the light of Heaven And how many men are there amongst us who are therefore enemies to the Religion because it seems to be against their profit The argument of Demetrius is unanswerable by this Craft they get their livings leave them in their Livings and they will let your Religion alone if not they think they have reason to speak against it When mens souls are possessed with the World their souls cannot be invested with holy Truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Isidor said the Soul must be informed insoul'd or animated with the propositions that you put in or you shall never do any good or get Disciples to Christ. Now because a man cannot serve two Masters because he cannot vigorously attend two objects because there can be but one soul in any living Creature if the World have got possession talk no more of your Questions shut your Bibles and read no more of the Words of God to them for they cannot tell of the Doctrine whether it be of God or of the World That is the second particular Worldly affections hinder true understandings in Religion 3. No man how learned soever can understand the Word of God or be at peace in the Questions of Religion unless he be a Master over his Passions Tu quoque si vis Lumine claro Cernere verum Gaudia pelle Pelle Timorem Nubila mens est Vinctáque fraenis Haec ubi regnant said the wise Boethius A man must first learn himself before he can learn God Tua te fallit Imago nothing deceives a man so soon as a mans self when a man is that I may use Plato's expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mingled with his nature and his Congenial infirmities of anger and desire he can never have any thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a knowledge partly moral and partly natural his whole life is but Imagination his knowledge is Inclination and Opinion he judges of Heavenly things by the measures of his fears and his desires and his Reason is half of it sense and determinable by the principles of sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a man learns well when he is a Philosopher in his Passions Passionate men are to be taught the first elements of Religion and let men pretend to as much learning as they please they must begin again at Christs Cross they must learn true mortification and crucifixion of their anger and desires before they can be good Scholars in Christs School or be admitted into the more secret enquiries of Religion or profit in spiritual understanding It was an excellent Proverb of the Jews In passionibus Spiritus Sanctus non habitat the Holy Ghost never dwells in the house of Passion Truth enters into the heart of man when it is empty and clean and still but when the mind is shaken with Passion as with a storm you can never hear the voyce of the Charmer though he charm very wisely and you will very hardly sheath a sword when it is held by a loose and a paralytick Arm. He that means to learn the secrets of Gods wisdom must be as Plato says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul must be Consubstantiated with Reason not invested with Passion to him that is otherwise things are but in the dark his notion is obscure and his sight troubled and therefore though we often meet with passionate Fools yet we seldom or never hear of a very passionate wise man I have now done with the first part of my undertaking and proved to you that our evil life is the cause of our Controversies and Ignorances in Religion and of the things of God You see what hinders us from becoming
which true wisdom consists Holiness which is the best wisdom is the surest way of understanding them And this 1. Is effected by Holiness as a proper and natural instrument for naturally every thing is best discerned by its proper light and congenial instrument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as the eye sees visible objects and the understanding perceives the Intellectual so does the Spirit the things of the Spirit The natural man saith S. Paul knows not the things of God for they are Spiritually discerned that is they are discovered by a proper light and concerning these things an unsanctified man discourses pitifully with an imperfect Idea as a blind man does of Light and Colours which he never saw A good man though unlearned in secular notices is like the windows of the Temple narrow without and broad within he sees not so much of what profits not abroad but whatsoever is within and concerns Religion and the glorifications of God that he sees with a broad inspection But all humane learning without God is but blindness and ignorant folly But when it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousness dipt in the wells of Truth it is like an eye of Gold in a rich Garment or like the light of Heaven it shews it self by its own splendor What Learning is it to discourse of the Philosophy of the Sacrament if you do not feel the vertue of it and the man that can with eloquence and subtlety discourse of the instrumental efficacy of Baptismal waters talks ignorantly in respect of him who hath the answer of a good Conscience within and is cleansed by the purifications of the Spirit If the Question concern any thing that can perfect a man and make him happy all that is the proper knowledge and notice of the good man How can a wicked man understand the purities of the heart and how can an evil and unworthy Communicant tell what it is to have received Christ by Faith to dwell with him to be united to him to receive him in his heart The good man only understands that the one sees the colour and the other feels the substance the one discourses of the Sacrament and the other receives Christ the one discourses for or against Transubstantiation but the good man feels himself to be changed and so joined to Christ that he only understands the true sense of Transubstantiation while he becomes to Christ bone of his bone flesh of his flesh and of the same Spirit with his Lord. We talk much of Reformation and blessed be God once we have felt the good of it But of late we have smarted under the name and pretension The Woman that lost her Groat everrit domum not evertit she swept the house she did not turn the house out of doors That was but an ill Reformation that untiled the Roof and broke the Walls and was digging down the Foundation Now among all the pretensions of Reformation who can tell better what is and what is not true Reformation than he that is truly Reformed himself He knows what pleases God and can best tell by what instruments he is reconciled The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom and the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable saith Solomon He cannot be cousened by names of things and feels that Reformation to be Imposture that is Sacrilegious himself is humble and obedient and therefore knows that is not Truth that perswades to Schism and Disobedience and most of the Questions of Christendom are such which either are good for nothing and therefore to be laid aside or if they be complicated with action and are ministeries of practice no man can judge them so well as the spiritual man That which best pleases God that which does good to our Neighbour that which teaches sobriety that which combines with Government that which speaks honour of God and does him honour that only is Truth Holiness therefore is a proper and natural instrument of Divine knowledge and must needs be the best way of instruction in the Questions of Christendom because in the most of them a Duty is complicated with the Proposition No man that intends to live holily can ever suffer any pretences of Religion to be made to teach him to fight against his King And when the men of Geneva turned their Bishop out of doors they might easily have considered that the same person was their Prince too and that must needs be a strange Religion that rose up against Moses and Aaron at the same time but that hath been the method ever since There was no Church till then was ever governed without an Apostle or a Bishop and since then they who go from their Bishop have said very often to their King too Nolumus hunc regnare and when we see men pretending Religion and yet refuse to own the Kings Supremacy they may upon the stock of holiness easily reprove their own folly by considering that such recusancy does introduce into our Churches the very worst the most intollerable parts of Popery For perfect submission to Kings is the glory of the Protestant Cause and really the reproveable Doctrines of the Church of Rome are by nothing so much confuted as that they destroy good life by consequent and evident deduction as by an Induction of particulars were easie to make apparent if this were the proper season for it 2. Holiness is not only an advantage to the learning all wisdom and holiness but for the discerning that which is wise and holy from what is trifling and useless and contentious and to one of these heads all Questions will return and therefore in all from Holiness we have the best Instructions And this brings me to the next Particle of the general Consideration For that which we are taught by the holy Spirit of God this new nature this vital principle within us it is that which is worth our learning not vain and empty idle and insignificant notions in which when you have laboured till your eyes are fixed in their Orbs and your flesh unfixed from its bones you are no better and no wiser If the Spirit of God be your Teacher he will teach you such truths as will make you know and love God and become like to him and enjoy him for ever by passing from similitude to union and eternal fruition But what are you the better if any man should pretend to teach you whether every Angel makes a species and what is the individuation of the Soul in the state of separation what are you the wiser if you should study and find out what place Adam should for ever have lived in if he had not fallen and what is any man the more learned if he hears the disputes whether Adam should have multiplyed Children in the state of Innocence and what would have been the event of things if one Child had been born before his Fathers sin Too many Scholars have lived upon Air and empty notions for many
spending our time and our talk our heart and our spirits about the Garments and Outsides of Religion And they can ill teach others that do not know that Religion does not consist in these things but Obedience may and reductively that is Religion and he that for that which is no part of Religion destroys Religion directly by neglecting that Duty that is adopted into Religion is a man of Phancy and of the World but he gives but an ill account that he is a man of God and a Son of the Spirit Spend not your time in that which profits not for your labour and your health your time and your Studies are very valuable and it is a thousand pities to see a diligent and a hopeful person spend himself in gathering Cockle-shells and little Pebbles in telling Sands upon the shores and making Garlands of useless Daisies Study that which is profitable that which will make you useful to Churches and Commonwealths that which will make you desirable and wise Only I shall add this to you That in Learning there are variety of things as well as in Religion there is Mint and Cummin and there are the weighty things of the Law so there are Studies more and less useful and every thing that is useful will be required in its time and I may in this also use the words of our Blessed Saviour These things ought you to look after and not to leave the other unregarded But your great care is to be in the things of God and of Religion in Holiness and true Wisdom remembring the saying of Origen That the Knowledge that arises from Goodness is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something that is more certain and more divine than all demonstration than all other Learnings of the World 3. That 's no good Religion that disturbs Governments or shakes a foundation of publick Peace Kings and Bishops are the Foundations and the great Principles of Unity of Peace and Government like Rachel and Leah they build up the house of Israel and those blind Sampsons that shake these Pillars intend to pull the house down My Son fear God and the King saith Solomon and meddle not with them that are given to change That is not Truth that loves Changes and the new-nothings of Heretical and Schismatical Preachers are infinitely far from the blessings of Truth In the holy Language Truth hath a mysterious Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet it consists of three Letters the first and the last and the middlemost of the Hebrew Letters implying to us that Truth is first and will be last and it is the same all the way and combines and unites all extreams it ties all ends together Truth is lasting and ever full of blessing For the Jews observe that those Letters which signifie Truth are both in the figure and the number Quadrate firm and cubical these signifie a Foundation and an abode for ever Whereas on the other side the word which in Hebrew signifies a lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secher is made of Letters whose numbers are imperfect and their figure pointed and voluble to signifie that a Lye hath no foundation And this very Observation will give good light in our Questions and Disputes And I give my instance in Episcopal Government which hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing hath its firmament by the Principles of Christianity hath been blessed by the issues of that stabiliment it hath for sixteen hundred years combined with Monarchy and hath been taught by the Spirit which hath so long dwelt in Gods Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that says the gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church been reâ—â—ored amongst us by a heap of Miracles and as it went away so now it is returned again in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosom of our fundamental Laws Now that Doctrine must needs be suspected of Error and an intolerable Lie that speaks against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from the Wisdom and Experience of so many Ages of all our Ancestors and all our Laws When the Spirit of God wrote in Greek Christ is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he had spoken Hebrew he had been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet he is Truth the same yesterday and to day and for ever and whoever opposes this holy Sanction which Christs Spirit hath sanctified his Word hath warranted his Blessings have endeared his Promises have ratified and his Church hath always kept he fights against this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet and Secher is his portion his lot is a Lie his portion is there where Holiness can never dwell And now to conclude to you Fathers and Brethren you who are or intend to be of the Clergy you see here the best Compendium of your Studies the best abbreviature of your Labours the truest Method of Wisdom and the infallible the only way of judging concerning the Disputes and Questions in Christendom It is not by reading multitudes of Books but by studying the Truth of God It is not by laborious Commentaries of the Doctors that you can finish your work but by the Expositions of the Spirit of God It is not by the Rules of Metaphysicks but by the proportions of Holiness And when all Books are read and all Arguments examined and all Authorities alledged nothing can be found to be true that is unholy Give your selves to reading to exhortation and to Doctrine saith St. Paul Read all good Books you can but exhortation unto good life is the best Instrument and the best Teacher of true Doctrine of that which is according to Godliness And let me tell you this The great Learning of the Fathers was more owing to their Piety than to their Skill more to God than to themselves and to this purpose is that excellent Ejaculation of St. Chrysostom with which I will conclude O blessed and happy men whose Names are in the Book of Life from whom the Devils fled and Hereticks did fear them who by Holiness have stopped the mouths of them that spake perverse things But I like David will cry out Where are thy loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old Where is the blessed Quire of Bishops and Doctors who shined like Lights in the World and contained the Word of Life Dulce est meminisse their very memory is pleasant Where is that Evodias the sweet savour of the Church the Successor and Imitator of the holy Apostles Where is Ignatius in whom God dwelt Where is S. Dionysius the Areopagite that Bird of Paradise that celestial Eagle Where is Hyppolitus that good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that gentle sweet person Where is great St. Basil a man almost equal to the Apostles Where is Athanasius rich in vertue Where is Gregory Nyssen that great Divine and Ephrem
and design of their persons God sent them to bring the people from sin and not to be like so many Jeroboams the Sons of Nebat to set forward the Devils Kingdom to make the people to transgress the Covenant of their God For they who live more by example than by precept will more easily follow the works of their Minister than the words of God and few men will aspire to be more righteous than their guide they think it well if they be as he is and hence it is no wonder that we see iniquity so popular Oppida tota canem venerantur nemo Dianam every man runs after his lusts and after his money because they see too many of the Clergy little looking after the ways of godliness But then consider let all such persons consider 5. That the accounts which an ungodly and an irreligious Minister of Religion shall make must needs be intolerable when besides the damnation which shall certainly be inflicted upon them for the sins of their own lives they shall also reckon for all the dishonours they do to God and to Religion and for all the sins of the people which they did not in all just ways endeavour to hinder and all the sins which their Flocks have committed by their evil example and undisciplin'd lives 6. I have but two words more to say in this affair 1. Every Minister that lives an evil life is that person whom our Blessed Saviour means under the odious appellative of a Hireling For he is not the hireling that receives wages or that lives of the Altar sine farinâ non est lex said the DD. of the Jews without bread-corn no man can preach the Law and S. Paul though he spared the Corinthians yet he took wages of other Churches of all but in the Regions of Achaia and the Law of Nature and the Law of the Gospel have taken care that he that serves at the Altar should live of the Altar and he is no hireling for all that but he is a hireling that does not do his duty he that flies when the Wolf comes says Christ he that is not present with them in dangers that helps them not to resist the Devil to master their temptations to invite them on to piety to gain souls to Christ to him it may be said as the Apostle did of the Gnosticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gain to them is godliness and Theology is but artificium venale a trade of life to fill the belly and keep the body warm An cuiquam licere putas quod cuivis non licet Is any thing lawful for thee that is not lawful for every man and if thou dost not mind in thy own case whether it be lawful or no then thou dost but sell Sermons and give Counsel at a price and like a flye in the Temple taste of every Sacrifice but do nothing but trouble the religious Rites for certain it is no man takes on him this Office but he either seeks those things which are his own or those things which are Jesus Christs and if he does this he is a Minister of Jesus Christ if he does the other he is the hireling and intends nothing but his belly and God shall destroy both it and him 7. Lastly These things I have said unto you that ye sin not but this is not the great thing here intended you may be innocent and yet not zealous of good works but if you be not this you are not Good Ministers of Jesus Christ But that this is infinitely your duty and indispensably incumbent on you all besides the express words of my Text and all the precepts of Christ and his Apostles we have the concurrent sence of the whole Church the Laws and expectations of all the world requiring of the Clergy a great and an examplar sanctity for g. it is that upon this necessity is founded the Doctrine of all Divines in their Discourses of the states and orders of Religion of which you may largely inform your selves in Gerson's Treatise De perfectione Religionis in Aquinas 22. q. 184. and in all his Scholars upon that Question the sum of which is this That all those institutions of Religions which S. Anselm calls factitias Religiones that is the Schools of Discipline in which men forsaking the world give themselves up wholly to a pious life they are indeed very excellent if rightly performed they are status perfectionis acquirendae they are excellent institutions for the acquiring perfection but the state of the superior Clergy is status perfectionis exercendae they are states which suppose perfection to be already in great measures acquired and then to be exercised not only in their own lives but in the whole Oeconomy of their Office and g. as none are to be chosen but those who have given themselves up to the strictness of a holy life so far as can be known so none do their duty so much as tolerably but those who by an exemplar sanctity become patterns to their Flocks of all good works Herod's Doves could never have invited so many strangers to their Dove-cotes if they had not been besmeared with Opobalsamum But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Didymus make your Pigeons smell sweet and they will allure whole Flocks and if your life be excellent if your virtues be like a precious oyntment you will soon invite your Charges to run in odorem unguentorum after your precious odours But you must be excellent not tanquam unus de populo but tanquam homo Dei you must be a man of God not after the common manner of men but after Gods own heart and men will strive to be like you if you be like to God but when you only stand at the door of virtue for nothing but to keep sin out you will draw into the folds of Christ none but such as fear drives in Ad majorem Dei gloriam to do what will most glorifie God that 's the line you must walk by for to do no more than all men needs must is servility not so much as the affection of Sons much less can you be Fathers to the people when you go not so far as the Sons of God for a dark Lanthorn though there be a weak brightness on one side will scarce inlighten one much less will it conduct a multitude or allure many followers by the brightness of its flame And indeed the Duty appears in this that many things are lawful for the people which are scandalous in the Clergy you are tied to more abstinences to more severities to more renunciations and self-denials you may not with that freedom receive secular contentments that others may you must spend more time in Prayers your Alms must be more bountiful your hands more open your hearts enlarged others must relieve the poor you must take care of them others must shew themselves their brethren but you must be their Fathers they must pray frequently and fervently but you
blowing from one point but like light issuing from the body of the Sun it is light round about and in every word of God there is a treasure and something will be found somewhere to answer every doubt and to clear every obscurity and to teach every truth by which God intends to perfect our understandings But then take this rule with you Do not pass from plainess to obscurity nor from simple principles draw crafty conclusions nor from easiness pass into difficulty nor from wise notices draw intricate nothings nor from the wisdom of God lead your hearers into the follies of men your principles are easie and your way plain and the words of faith are open and what naturally flows from thence will be as open but if without violence and distortion it cannot be drawn forth the proposition is not of the family of faith Qui nimis emungit elicit sanguinem he that wrings too hard draws blood and nothing is fit to be offer'd to your charges and your flocks but what flows naturally and comes easily and descends readily and willingly from the fountains of salvation 4. Next to this analogy or proportion of faith let the consent of the Catholick Church be your measure so as by no means to prevaricate in any doctrine in which all Christians always have consented This will appear to be a necessary Rule by and by but in the mean time I shall observe to you that it will be the safer because it cannot go far it can be instanced but in three things in the Creed in Ecclesiastical Government and in external forms of worship and Liturgy The Catholick Church hath been too much and too soon divided it hath been us'd as the man upon a hill us'd his heap of heads in a Basket when he threw them down the hill every head run his own way quot capita tot sentèntiae and as soon as the Spirit of Truth was opposed by the Spirit of Error the Spirit of peace was disordered by the Spirit of division and the Spirit of God hath over-power'd us so far that we are only fallen out about that of which if we had been ignorant we had not been much the worse but in things simply necessary God hath preserved us still unbroken all Nations and all Ages recite the Creed and all pray the Lords Prayer and all pretend to walk by the Rule of the Commandments and all Churches have ever kept the day of Christs Resurrection or the Lords day holy and all Churches have been governed by Bishops and the Rites of Christianity have been for ever administred by separate Orders of men and those men have been always set apart by Prayer and the imposition of the Bishops hands and all Christians have been baptized and all baptized persons were or ought to be and were taught that they should be confirm'd by the Bishop and Presidents of Religion and for ever there were publick forms of Prayer more or less in all Churches and all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest in these things all Christians ever have consented and he that shall prophecy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of these things hath no part in that Article of his Creed he does not believe the Holy Catholick Church he hath no fellowship no communion with the Saints and Servants of God It is not here intended that the doctrine of the Church should be the Rule of Faith distinctly from much less against the Scripture for that were a contradiction to suppose the Church of God and yet speaking and acting against the will of God but it means that where the question is concerning an obscure place of Scripture the practice of the Catholick Church is the best Commentary Intellectus qui cum praxi concurrit est spiritus vivificans said Cusanus Then we speak according to the Spirit of God when we understand Scripture in that sense in which the Church of God hath always practis'd it Quod pluribus quod sapientibus quod omnibus videtur that 's Aristotles Rule and it is a Rule of Nature every thing puts on a degree of probability as it is witnessed by wise men by many wise men by all wise men and it is Vincentius Lirinensis great Rule of truth Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus and he that goes against what is said always and every where and by all Christians had need have a new revelation or an infallible spirit or he hath an intolerable pride and foolishness of presumption Out of the Communion of the Universal Church no man can be saved they are the body of Christ and the whole Church cannot perish and Christ cannot be a head without a body and he will for ever be our Redeemer and for ever intercede for his Church and be glorious in his Saints and g. he that does not sow in these furrows but leaves the way of the whole Church hath no pretence for his errour no excuse for his pride and will find no alleviation of his punishment These are the best measures which God hath given us to lead us in the way of truth and to preserve us from false doctrines and whatsoever cannot be prov'd by these measures cannot be necessary There are many truths besides these but if your people may be safely ignorant of them you may quietly let them alone and not trouble their heads with what they have so little to do things that need not to be known at all need not to be taught for if they be taught they are not certain or are not very useful and g. there may be danger in them besides the trouble and since God hath not made them necessary they may be let alone without danger and it will be madness to tell stories to your flocks of things which may hinder salvation but cannot do them profit And now it is time that I have done with the first great remark of doctrine noted by the Apostle in my Text all the Guides of souls must take care that the doctrine they teach be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and incorrupt the word of God the truth of the Spirit That which remains is easier 2. In the next place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grave and reverend no vain notions no pitiful contentions and disputes about little things but becoming your great employment in the ministery of souls and in this the Rules are easie and ready 1. Do not trouble your people with controversies whatsoever does gender strife the Apostle commands us to avoid and g. much more the strife it self a controversie is a stone in the mouth of the hearer who should be fed with bread and it is a temptation to the Preacher it is a state of temptation it engages one side in lying and both in uncertainty and uncharitableness and after all it is not food for souls it is the food of contention it is
when it is declared by Laws much easier may he be in an errour who goes upon his own account and declares alone and g. it is better to let things alone than to be troublesome to our Superiours by an impertinent wrangling for reformation We find that some Kings of Judah were greatly prais'd and yet they did not destroy all the Temples of the false gods which Solomon had built and if such publick persons might let some things alone that were amiss and yet be innocent trouble not your self that all the world is not amended according to your pattern see that you be perfect at home that all be rightly reform'd there as for reformation of the Church God will never call you to an account Some things cannot be reform'd and very many need not for all thy peevish dreams and after all it is twenty to one but thou art mistaken and thy Superiour is in the right and if thou wert not proud thou wouldst think so too Certain it is he that sows in the furrows of Authority his Doctrine cannot so easily be reprov'd as he that plows and sows alone When Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria fell into the hands of the Egyptian Monks who were ignorant and confident they handled him with great rudeness because he had spoken of the immateriality of the Divine Nature the good man to escape their fury was forc'd to give them crafty and soft words saying Vidi faciem vestram ut faciem Dei which because they understood in the sense of the Anthropomorphites and thought he did so too they let him depart in peace When private persons are rude against the Doctrines of Authority they are seldom in the right but g. are the more fierce as wanting the natural supports of truth which are Reason and Authority gentleness and plain conviction and g. they fall to declamation and railing zeal and cruelty trifling and arrogant confidencies They seldom go asunder It is the same word in Greek that signifies disobedience and cruelty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is both he that will endure no bridle that man hath no mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confidence is that which will endure no bridle no curb no Superiour It is worse in the Hebrew the Sons of Belial signifie people that will endure no yoke no Government no imposition and we have found them so they are Sons of Belial indeed This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that kind of boldness and refractory confidence that S. Paul forbids to be in a Minister of Religion 1 Tit. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not confident that is let him be humble and modest distrusting his own judgment believing wiser men than himself never bold against Authority never relying on his own wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle that man is bold and presumptuous who pleases himself and sings his own Songs all voluntary nothing by his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the Tragedy Every confident man is ignorant and by his ignorance troublesome to his Country but will never do it honour 4. Whatever Scriptures you pretend for your Doctrine take heed that it be not chargeable with foul consequences that it lay no burden upon God that it do not tempt to vanity that it be not manifestly serving a temporal end and nothing else that it be not vehemently to be suspected to be a design of State like the Sermon at Pauls-Cross by Dr Shaw in Richard the Third's time that it do not give countenance and confidence to a wicked life for then your Doctrine is reproveable for the appendage and the intrinsick truth or falshood will not so much be inquir'd after as the visible and external objection if men can reprove it in the outside they will inquire no further But above all things nothing so much will reproach your Doctrine as if you preach it in a railing dialect we have had too much of that within these last 30 years Optatus observes it was the trick of the Donatists Nullus vestrum est qui non convitia nostra suis tractatibus misceat There is none of you but with his own writings mingles our reproaches you begin to read Chapters and you expound them to our injuries you comment upon the Gospel and revile your brethren that are absent you imprint hatred and enmity in your peoples hearts and you teach them war when you pretend to make them Saints They do so their Doctrine is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the least which can be said If you will not have your Doctrine reprehensible do nothing with offence and above all offences avoid the doing or saying those things that give offence to the King and to the Laws to the voice of Christendom and the publick Customs of the Church of God Frame your life and preachings to the Canons of the Church to the Doctrines of Antiquity to the sense of the ancient and holy Fathers For it is otherwise in Theology then it is in other Learnings The experiments of Philosophy are rude at first and the observations weak and the principles unprov'd and he that made the first lock was not so good a work-man as we have now adays But in Christian Religion they that were first were best because God and not man was the Teacher and ever since that we have been unlearning the wise notices of pure Religion and mingling them with humane notices and humane interest Quod primum hoc verum and although concerning Antiquity I may say as he in the Tragedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would have you be wise with them and under them and follow their faith but not their errours yet this can never be of use to us till Antiquity be convicted of an errour by an authority great as her own or a reason greater and declar'd by an authoriz'd Master of Sentences But however be very tender in reproving a Doctrine for which good men and holy have suffer'd Martyrdom and of which they have made publick confession for nothing reproves a Doctrine so much as to venture it abroad with so much scandal and objection and what reason can any Schismatick have against the Common Prayer-book able to weigh against that argument of blood which for the testimony of it was shed by the Q. Mary Martyrs I instance the advice in this particular but it is true in all things else of the like nature It was no ill advice whoever gave it to the favourite of a Prince Never make your self a profess'd enemy to the Church for their interest is so complicated with the publick and their calling is so dear to God that one way or other one time or other God and man will be their defender The same I say concerning Authority and Antiquity never do any thing never say or profess any thing against it for besides that if you follow their measures you will be secur'd in your faith and in your main duty even in smaller things
every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers detractors and backbiters for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity and yet so common that it is pass'd into a Proverb After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours rule L Let every Minister be careful to observe and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners of which the Laws cannot or do not take cognizance such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings gluttony riotous living expences above their ability pride bragging lying in ordinary conversation covetousness peevishness and hasty anger and such like For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls rule LI In your Sermons to the people often speak of the four last things of Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners and his Severity against the impenitent of the formidable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels Sacrilegious Oppressors of Widows and Orphans and all persons guilty of crying Sins These are useful safe and profitable but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets for there is more laid before you than you can understand and the whole duty of man is To fear God and keep his Commandments Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. rule LII Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation It is enough that you reprove an Errour but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgment thou knowest not and therefore pray for the erring person and reprove him but leave the sentence to his judge rule LIII Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings Merchants and Tradesmen that they be not unskilful nor unadmonished in their respective duties and in all things speak usefully and affectionately for by this means you will provide for all mens needs both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding and them that sin because they have evil dull or depraved affections rule LIV In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion use primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the words of common use and reform Religion by introducing a new word intend to make a change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs but store of Mushromes and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find occasion rule LV Let every Minister in his charge as much as he can endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people or others with whom they converse especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance and putting it off to their death-bed let him explicate the nature of Faith so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity let him as much as he may take from them all confidences that slacken their obedience and diligence let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdom by destroying those things in which it does consist viz. Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Mortification rule LVI Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils for these as they are measures of truth so also of necessity that is as they are safe so they are sufficient and besides what is taught by these no matter of belief is necessary to salvation rule LVII Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies though with a purpose to confute them for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer rule LVIII Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute but teach it with plainness and simplicity and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture but without objection let them be taught to believe but not to argue lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry than establish it by arguments too hard rule LIX Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light immodest or ridiculous expressions but what is wise grave useful and for edification that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity the people may attend with fear and reverence rule LX Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience or more same in Preaching than himself let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down is but a dwarf still and no man is the better for making his brother worse In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd and rejoice that he is served whoever be the Minister that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher yet you may have the reward of being a good man but it is hard to miss both rule LXI Let every Preacher in his Parish take care to explicate to the people the Mysteries of the great Festivals as of Christmas Easter Ascension-day Whitsunday Trinity Sunday the Annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Mary because these Feasts containing in them the great Fundamentals of our Faith will with most advantage convey the mysteries to the people and fix them in their memories by the solemnity and circumstances of the day rule LXII In all your Sermons and Discourses speak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious and impute not to him such things the consequents of which a wise and good man will not owne never suppose him to be author of sin or the procurer of our damnation For God cannot be tempted