in Mr. Durels excellent Treatise of the Conformity of other reformed Churches with the reformed Church of England that when some religious Protestants in the Churches of Bohemia were in great straits and under strange Persecutions and resolved to betake themselves unto the Woods and Mountains and Caverns of the Earth where they might serve God securely Nothing so troubled them in this their sad condition as how to supply the Defect and Mortality of their lawful Ministery For they thought they should in vain expect any Romish Bishop to come amongst them for the Gospel sake Doubts and Fears did arise in their minds Whether such an Ordination by which a Presbyter and not a Bishop should create another Presbyter would be lawfull and how they should be able to maintain such an Ordination as well against others when opposed as to their own people if by them questioned Quassabat animos met us an sat is legitima foret Ordinatio si Presbyter Presbyterum crearet non vero Episcopus Et quomodo talem Ordinationem si lis moveatur defensuri essent sive apud alios sive apud suos says Commenius in Fratr Bohem historia Sect. 59. The Result of their Doubts and Fears was this in short They sent one Michael Zambergius a Minister with two others to the confines of Moravia and Austria whither they heard some of the Waldenses were fled for Conscience sake to acquaint them with their condition and with what pass'd amongst them about the Election of their Ministers by Lot and having found Stephanus their Bishop after they had imparted to each other their sufferings and declared their Faith and Doctrine the said Michael Zambergius with his two Collegues were consecrated Bishops by Stephanus and another Bishop with some Presbyters whom they call'd and joynd with them in that work and so returned home with Episcopal power which was by them transmitted to their Successors until this day Thus Mr. Durel pag. 13. If the Authority of the Scriptures the Practice of the Primitive Church the Testimony of the Ancient Fathers the Confession of such as have been shrewdly suspected to be Adversaries and the Decrees and Canons of General Councils be of any validity herein we are well enough and might hope to give sufficient satisfaction to all that have not Abandon'd their Sense and Reason and shew them cleerly that to Bishops only belongs the Office of Ordination Nor is it strange that Christ hath left this Power with the Angels only of his Church since this laying on of hands is no Naked or Empty Solemnity but the Real conveyance of that Commission from the Holy Ghost Which brings me to The third particular to be handled which is by way of Deduction the Joynt concurrence of the Internal with the External Commission or the certain effect of this Imposition of hands The giving of the Holy Ghost Of which briefly You read before that God hath solemnly engaged himself to his Church to accompany their outward Donation with the Gift of his Holy Spirit in as much as he directed and commanded his Apostles to leave us this pattern of Ordination which is as it were an Ecclesiastical Procreation and to continue as long as God hath a Church in the world Now that God made good this promise in their own Ordinations it appears in the forecited place at the 20. of this book v. 28. Take heed unto the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers like an Unction as it were poured forth by Hands Which unless it had reached farther than the Apostles St. Paul had never commanded Titus to Ordain Elders in every City Now whatsoever belonged unto Titus why may not the whole Church lay claim unto it not doubting but that God who always was so Jealous of the least Pollution of the Priests under the darkness of the Law will not leave his Holy Mysteries to be disspensed by common hands for no more they would be if they were not sanctified by the Holy Ghost as well as by the Bishop now in the Light of his Glorious Gospel So that Mr. Calvin hath no reason while he reckons up some of Christs inimitable Actions to put together his saying to Lazarus Lazare veni foràs and his saying to his Disciples Accipite Spiritum Sanctum One of these being a Miracle necessary only at the first Publishing of the Gospel the other an Act of perpetual use in the Church to the worlds end See Calvins Instit the 4. book 19. chap. 29. Sect. Thus I have done with the Doctrine of the first part of my Text namely The Commission Internal from the Holy Ghost and External from the Church I proceed now to the 2. and the last part namely to shew you that the duty of such as are Commissioned by the Holy Ghost and the Church is Preaching and what that Preaching was is or ought to be which is the 4. particular That St. Paul and Parnabas were to Preach the word of God seeing they were Apostles is I suppose denied by none and therefore shall not trouble the Reader with any further Argumentation than two or three places of Scripture whereby to prove that this was their Business Says Jesus to the Disciples St. Matthew 28. verse 18. All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth verse 19. Goe ye therefore and teach all Nations c. And verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you St. Mark the 16. verse 15. Go ye into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every creature And in St. Luke the 24. verse 47 c. you may find somewhat to the same purpose that they were to do so and here in my text as well as in other places we find they did so from this time forward to the day of their death The Jewish High-Priest was call'd the Messenger or Angel of the Lord of Hosts namely because he executed Gods commands in giving of the Law to the People and teaching them what they should do Mal. the 2. v. the 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Diodorus Siculus hath it And thus under the New Testament too such as are to dispense the Word and Sacraments are called and therefore called Messengers of God or The Churches Angels For look what the duty of an Ambassador or Messenger upon Earth of an Earthly Potentate is the same is the Business of the Ministers of God viz. to declare his Will and to treat about matters of concernment which is done as by other ways so by this too of Preaching Which what it was then and what it is or ought to be now comes next to be discours'd of The Preaching then and indeed such it ought to be Now was the declaration of the Gospel of Christ or the glad tidings of Salvation whereby men were secured of eternal happiness upon condition of Repentance from dead works and a stedfast Faith in all Gods Attributes and wheresoever there is defect as there is
THE PATTERN OF Ecclesiastical ORDINATION OR APOSTOLICK SEPARATION Being a Discourse upon Acts the 13.4 5. At first intended for the satisfaction of some Objections raised upon the said Trinitary Text by a Private Worthy Friend and now by his desire made publick for the Satisfaction and Instruction of others whom it may concern By Edward Wakeman Rector of St. Matthews Friday-street London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Gangrens can 6. LONDON Printed by J.G. for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane 1664. IMPRIMATUR Geo. Stradling S.T.P. Rever in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiep. Cant. à Sac. Domest Ex Aed Lamb. Junii 22. 1664. To the most Reverend Father in God And the Right Honourable GILBERT Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate and Metropolitan of all England and one of the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council Most Reverend Father in God WHen I consider as I cannot but often do so for Ingratitude is an unpardonable crime the Largeness of your Former Favours amongst the rest of my Honourable Friends and that Influence I receiv'd from you when you shone so bright in a somewhat lower Orb than now you do I cannot but confess at least my debts to you far greater than ever I shall be ever able to pay Children can never make a sufficient return unto their Parents though they should honour them with all they have all that they can do or suffer since without them they could never have been in a capacity of Being much less of Well Being Immortales gratiarum horti This makes me now so bold to present this small Handful of Tender First Fruits unto your Grace which I confess were against my Will Crop'd from me by a Friendly Over-powerful hand And indeed to whom should I devote the Pattern of Ecclesiastick Ordination but to the Greatest Apostle and Arch Angel of it in this our Church next under Christ Your Self It is no ceremonious but Fundamental point the Ordination to and execution of the Ministerial Function And yet I expect hard censures from the World on all sides but Fear none that are uncharitable If any will but take the pains to teach me better I shall be thankful However your Lordship and the World may guess by this how I spend that Talent of Health and Time c. which God is pleased to Lend me I cast both it and my self at your Graces Feet and think my self to have obtain'd enough if it find acceptance with or Protection from you My Lord Whose obedient Son and Servant in the Blessed Jesus I am Edward Wakeman July 5th 1664. THE PATTERN OF Ecclesiastical Ordination Or Apostolic Separation Acts 13.4 5. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed 5. And when they were at Salamis they Preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews The whole story runs thus V. 1. Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch certain Prophets and Teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul V. 2. And as they ministred unto the Lord and Fasted the holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them V. 3. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away V. 4. So they being sent forth by the holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia and from thence they sailed to Cyprus V. 5. And when they were at Salamis they Preached the Word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews THe Text is a relation of the entrance of two that were solemnly ordained upon the sacred Ministerial Function Paul and Barnabas after some considerable time spent amongst the sage and learned Prophets at Antioch that noble nursery and such reputation gotten as that they were thought fit enough to be intrusted with a publick employment for the Church at Jerusalem nor that without desert for St. Luke tells us at the 9. and 11. chapters They were full of the Holy Ghost are now by vertue of an express from the same Holy Ghost separated or which is all one consecrated to their Apostleship by the laying on of hands I call it their Apostleship rather than Episcopacy or Priesthood though neither interpretation want its Patrons as finding in their execution of that Function whereunto they were now call'd and we do not read of any new Ordination of them afterwards little agreement with the Office of a Bishop it being limited to some particular Church and less with that of a Presbyter which gave him neither power of Ordaining nor yet of Censures both which St. Paul at least is recorded to have exercised and that indifferently in any part of the World Besides that it seems too much below the Eminency of an Apostle though the Schoolmen be not ashamed to fasten all their seven Orders upon our Saviour Christ himself to be tyed to those Gradations now when the Spirit was poured out upon all Flesh which were only necessary for the succeeding Christian Church wherein the Gifts of the holy Ghost were in great part to be supplied by Mans endeavour This Apostleship therefore being conferr'd upon them immediately like faithful Stewards they applied themselves diligently to the Performance of their charge And being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed And when they were at Salamis they preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews In the former part of which words we have laid down their commission for this great Function in these words Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost In the latter we have expressed their Exercise of that Function Synechdochically layed down in these words They departed and preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews Their Commission is twofold First Internal from the Holy Ghost expressed in the text sent forth by the Holy Ghost Secondly External from the Church implied by the connexion of this with the former verse They on whom the Prophets had layed their hands They were sent forth by the Holy Ghost Which Commission from the Church if we again consider with Reflection upon this from the Holy Ghost we may observe by way of Deduction the joynt concurrence of the one with the other or the certain effect of this Imposition of hands the gift of the Holy Ghost In or from the 2. part I shall shew you that the duty of such as are thus Commissioned by the Holy Ghost and by the Church is Preaching and what that Preaching was is or ought to be But before I enter upon the particulars named because the text hath been otherwise by some interpreted it will be very requisite that I give you some account of the exposition that I mean to follow For There are who contend that Ordination is nothing concerned in this place that Paul and Barnabas were not by this Imposition of hands admitted to any degree Ministerial but only received it in way of
indeed in the best of our performances an Affiance in the Merits of Christ That Gospel or Doctrine they Preach'd which came down from Heaven which was inspired and sealed by the Holy Ghost and confirmed by Miracles And this they did by immediate Inspiration of God We live in an age whose Religion dwells altogether in their Ears so little are we for the Practice They think now a days that Preaching as they call it not as the Scriptures mean it and Pulpit Extemporary Discourses are the sum total of the Priestly duty and the best of Christian Privileges But this is a gross Abuse both of the thing the Preachers and themselves For let it be granted as most true it is that Preaching is an holy excellent Ordinance of God appointed by him for the salvation of Souls if warrantably undertaken and rightly managed and performed It may be a Comfort to the Conscience that is Comfortlesse a Relevation to Souls that are Afflicted a Deletory for Sin an helpful means to a good life and an excellent instrument tending to promote all the parts of Gods service and at last to bring us to Salvation It pleaseth God saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 1.21 by the foolishness of Preaching to save some and saving true Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God and how shall they hear without a Preacher says the same Apostle to the Romanes chap. 10. v. the 14. But then we must not mistake but warily distinguish what is meant by the Word of God which is The Doctrine of the Gospel and what by Preaching which is Not the manner of delivering but the matter delivered For notwithstanding all the wonderfull and rare Effects which may be wrought by Preaching yet Preaching and Sermons such as are now in use are not the Word of God in the properest and strictest sense Though yet the English Puritan will not believe this insomuch that he magnifies any Pulpit Discourse above the written Word of God comprehended in the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles daily read in Churches at the set time of Divine Service and which he makes of little or no esteem or use in the conversion of Soules unto God Beleeving it to be much inferiour to that of Preaching upon a Text by the sandy Clock Certainly That thing which sweetens others must be far sweeter of it self And if the waters in the channels or the veyns of the Earth be so pure and pleasant how much more excellent and wholesome must the Spring it self be and the place from whence those Waters flow In the one there is no fear of the Spawn of Toads or the Vipers venome no destructive soul-damning Tenents of Hereticks to be found in the Scriptures imposed on us whereas by too sad experience we have known and find it that the pestiferous breath of some Pulpit-men hath been that which hath first given life to the Factions and Heresies in this our Church and then by their laying about with their Hands and Tongues hath fired the Church and Kingdom nay almost burn'd it to ashes had not God in his mercy as well as in his Justice removed the Incendiaries who because they cannot daringly go on and prosper lay all the Private trains they can to disturb our Peace the Peace of the Church and Kingdome too and to break our Unity I shall not inveigh here against the secular ends and Ungodly Interests which of late were introduced by this their Pharisaical kind of piety nor tell you how they corrupted the savour of life into a savour of death Corruptio optimi est pessima You well know the Seditions and Disturbances the Cheats and Treasons Murders Plunders Sequestrations Imprisonments Banishments c. which were caused and acted by some mens publick as well as private Insinuations whose Calling gave them too great an opportunity and all under the notion of Painful Soul-saving Godly Preachers superseminare haeresin to scatter tares in the Field of God and sow that which Preaching ought to Root up And as one says very well for me Preaching and Thirsting after the Word are so good things that the very Names of them may mislead good People if they be misapplyed And so they are very often For a great many there are that most vainly and impertinently apply to Sermons or popular Orations all those glorious things which are spoken of the Word of God and of Preaching as Faith and Salvation Ro. 10.14 1 Cor. 1.21 Man by the Fall got a crack in his Understanding his Wil grew Perverse and his Affections dull and heavy All the Faculties of his Soul are depraved and he is ready to comply with any thing but the commands of God and Obedience to the truth and therefore indeed upon this consideration it may it must be granted that there is more need of humane Artifice witty Complyings sober Insinuations and Ingenious devices to recover men from the errors of their ways and to keep them right when they are so But this may be done by other ways would men admit of the Tryal as well nay better and with more ease than by the Pulpit For I do beleeve for I know no reason to the contrary as many souls went to Heaven Before as do Now that we have so much Vulpit Preaching And yet mistake me not For I do not say this to decry and undervalue Preaching that ancient Ecclesiastical Ordinance but to magnifie the Reading and Hearing of the Scriptures which are indeed the Word of God and to teach you that the Scriptures are the best of Sermons That Word which came down from Heaven and was sealed by the Spirit of God That Word which has been spoke by the mouth of all the Holy Prophets and Apostles That Word which has been watered with the Blood of Martyrs confirmed by Miracles and strangely preserved even beyond all Miracle and Believed in all ages And which Word which way or in what manner soever it be conveyed unto us whether by Reading in Lessons or Epistles or Gospels is the same thing still and ought to have the highest estimate in our Affecti-and challenges as greedy an ear as any thing can doe That the Reading of the Scriptures in the Church is Preaching to the People I shall give you some unquestionable Testimonies of Councils and Fathers and if this be not sufficient or whether it be or no produce the Supreme Authority of the Scriptures themselves Let the first be that of Justin Martyr in his second Apology to the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say On the Day called Sunday all that abide in Towns or the Countreys about meet in one place and the Records of the Apostles or the Writings of the Prophets are read as far as occasion serveth Then the Reader having done the President in a speech instructeth and exhorteth to the imitation of such excellent things and in another place he says that In their Writings the Judgment to come is Preached Take another from
St. Chrysostom who was as great and as golden a Preacher as ever spake with Tongue yet his Writings tell us that it grieved his very soul to see men Flock and Crowd more to hear his Pulpit Discourses than they did to hear the Scriptures Read in time of Divine Service a Fault too common in this our age I shall quote you his own words make the best you can of them where he tells you that All things that are necessary to Salvation are plain and obvious to the eyes cleerly layed down in the Scriptures so that reading is sufficient to convey the knowledge of them to us and as for other things it is sufficient that they are not Necessary and that it is mens Curiosity or Slothfulness I may add their Invincible Ignorance that makes them so greedy of so much Pulpit Preaching The good Fathers words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you look into the Council of Vase you will find that the Fathers of that Council say The Priests being absent or troubled with Infirmity do Preach by their Deputies who are appointed in their stead to read the Homilies Lector personat verbà sublimia saith St. Cyprian Evangelium Christi legit à fratribus conspicitur cum gaudio fraternitatis auditur The fourth Council of Toledo calls the usual Reading of the Gospel Preaching And I meet with the same Opinion and expression divers times in Rupertus and Isidore in their Pooks de Officiis divinis Ecclesiasticis Isid lib. 1. chap. 10. Rupert lib. 1. ch 12 13. But if these authorities be not sufficient hear what the Scriptures themselves doe say Deuteron 31. v. 13. Ye shall Read this Law before all Israel that ye may learn to Fear the Lord. Blessed is he that Reads the Words of this Prophecy saith St. John and they that Hear and keep those things which are Written therein Revel 1. ver 3. and Acts 15. ver 21. Moses of old time hath them that Preach him in that he was Read or being Read every Sabbath day And surely good reason there is that the Scriptures and the Reading thereof should be preferr'd before that thing we call Preaching in the Pulpit For the One is the Immediate word of God who is Infallible the Holy Ghost did Preach it The Other are the words of a Mortal Red Earth who knows not the thousand part of what he is ignorant Humanum est errare Our Sermons are no farther pious and religious than that they are derived from the salutary Fountains of Holy Scripture They never were confirmed by Miracles from Heaven nor shall they be as the Scriptures have been And then for the Matter delivered and the Manner of the Delivery how Poor and Jejune and Shallow will the best shapen Words and Narratives of the best Rhetoricians Orators Poets or Historians appear when compared with the sacred Oracles of God Would you have the Efficacy of Preaching to consist in Derivation from Antiquity in the substance of Matter in Appositeness of Sentences in Elegancy of Style Evidence of things in validity of Proofs in the Authority of the Author and the Power it hath to effect that end for which it was ordain'd Take up the Scriptures then and fall to Reading and Frequent the Temple where it will be Preach'd i. e. Read unto you and the Lord give you a good and a right understanding By searching the Scriptures we look for life so said our Blessed Saviour They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them For These things are written that ye might beleeve in him i. e. Christ and that Beleeving ye might have life through his name You know who said it Cursed is he that Adds or Diminishes I only say The bringing in of so many Sermons into the Church was the thrusting out of the Bible not long since The Church both can and doth Preach without Sermons namely when by her carefull order the books of Holy Writ are solemnly Read And truly for ought I know as the Learned Mr. Thornedike in his Just Weights and Measures page 101. says and most wise men believe they that never heard many Sermons may have heard more and better Preaching than hundreds and thousands of Sermons dangerous if not destructive to Salvation a thing which experience proves more than possible can furnish them who shall do nothing else but run from Sermon to Sermon I grant it was a just complaint at the Reformation that the People were not taught their duty But I do not grant either that they cannot be taught their Duty without two Sermons every Lords Day or that they are like to be taught their Duty by two sermons every Lords day It is not possible to have men for all Churches fit to preach twice a day to the edifying of the People It will never be possible to maintain their Preaching to be such as may be accounted an Office of Gods service Thus He and consequently not a Discharge of the Holy Ghosts and the Churches Commission so I. But you may read more concerning this point in the 5 book of the Judicious Mr. Hooker Thus I have done with the Explication of the parts or Doctrines deducible from the Text. Let us now look upon them in the Use of them and from the Four particulars named we shall receive especially Four Cautions towards the better performance of our Duty in order to the sacred charge undertaken One for the Bishop three for the Priests First From the Grant of our Commission from the Holy Ghost Not to dare to enter upon this Employment except we find our selves in some measure fit for the discharge of it Second From the Grant of our Commission from the Church Not to forget what Obedience we owe to our Spiritual Fathers in God Third From the efficacy of Imposition of Holy Hands towards the conferring of the Holy Ghost That Bishops use all possible care as they shall one day answer it not only for themselves but for all those whom they may by their own neglect or theirs whom they intrust for them suffer to run upon their own Perdition not to dispense this sacred Gift of the Holy Ghost but to the Glory of God and the Improvement and Benefit of the Church And lastly From their careful applying themselves to the Execution of their charge in Preaching the word That we prove diligent followers of so good an Example Each of these are very Weighty and might be very worthy Consideration I shall but touch upon each of them as far as is necessary and so conclude For to say true if the First and the Last only were well observ'd the Rest might be Spared Were All that come for Holy Orders fit for the Execution of their charge they would be better acquainted with their Duty to the Church than to smother or to spurn at her Commands and were all both Able and Likely to be Diligent in the use of their Abilities afterwards the Bishops choice would be made to his