expressions in the present Roman Breviary They apply themselves to S. Peter (l) Br. Rom. Jun. 29. in Hymn Peccati vincula Resolve tibi potestate tradita Qua cunctis coelum verbo claudis aperis Loose the bonds of our sins by that power which is delivered to thee whereby by thy word thou shuttest and openest heavent to all men And to all the Apostles they direct their prayers on this manner (m) Br. Rom. in Commun Apost in Festo S. Andr. Qui coelum verbo clauditis Serasque ejus solvitis nos à peccatis omnibus Solvite jussu quaesumus Quorum praecepto subditur Salus languor omnium Sanate aegros moribus nos reddentes virtutibus Ye who by your word do shut up Heaven and loose the barrs thereof we beseech you by your command loose us from all our sins ye to whose command the health and the weakness of all is subject heal those who are sick in their life and practice restoring us to vertue I am apprehensive that many may think these instances the less blameable because the expressions of them have a manifest respect to the commission and authority which Christ gave to his Apostles in the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of remitting and retaining sin and the other Apostles are here owned to have the power of the keys as well as S. Peter But that our Saviours Commission to them referred wholly to the Government of his Church upon Earth is sufficiently manifest from those words both to S. Peter and to all the Apostles whatsoever thou or ye shall bind on earth and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth And though the Apostles are eminently exalted in the glory of the other world yet to acknowledge them in Heaven to acquit or condemn all men and to receive them into Heaven or exclude them from it by their command and by that power which is committed to them must include an owning them to be the full and compleat Judges of the quick and the dead 8. And since the Romish Church asserts all their Bishops to derive and enjoy the same authority which was committed to S. Peter and if this be not only an authority upon earth but in the future state then all their deceased Popes and much to the same purpose may be urged concerning all Priests must still enjoy the same heavenly power which they ascribe to S. Peter though there is great reason to fear that divers of themselves never entred into Heaven To these other numerous instances might be added of their prayers to the Blessed Virgin and to other Saints for grace pardon protection and to be received by them at the hour of death and such instances have been largely and fully produced by some of the worthy Writers of our own Church and Chamier and other Protestant Authors and particularly by Chemnitius in his Examen Conc. Trid. 9. But when Cardinal Bellarmine discoursed of these supplications to the Saints he particularly instanced in some as that to the Virgin Mary Tu nos ab hoste protege hora mortis suscipe do thou defend us from the enemy and receive us at the hour of death but will have them all to be understood as desiring only the benefit of their prayers But because the words they use do not seem to favour this sense of his he tells us (n) Bellarm. de Sanct. Beatitud l. 1. c. 9. Notandum est nos non agere de verbis sed de sensu verborum It must be noted that we dispute not about the words themselves but about the sense and meaning of them Now I acknowledge it fit that words should be taken in their true sense being interpreted also with as much candor as the case will admit Yet I shall observe 1. That it cannot well be imagined that when they expresly declare their hopes of obtaining their petitions to the Saints by their command and by their power which is committed to them which is owned sufficient for the performing these requests as in the instances I mentioned no more should be intended than to desire the assistance of their prayers and this gives just reason to suspect that more is also meant in other expressions and prayers according to the most plain import of the words 2. That though some of the Doctors of the Roman Church would put this construction upon the words of their prayers yet it is manifest the people understand them in the most obvious sense so as to repose their main confidence upon the Saints themselves and their merits This may appear from the words I above cited n. 3. from Cassander who also tells us that (o) Cass Consu t. de Mer. Interc Sanct. homines non mali men who were none of the worser sort did chuse to themselves certain Saints for their Patrons and in eorum meritis atque intercessione plus quam in Christi merito fiduciam posuerunt they placed confidence in their merits and intercession more than in the merits of Christ 10. The invocation of Saints and Angels will appear the more unaccountable No such practice in the Old Testament by considering what is contained in the holy Scriptures and the ancient practice of the Church of God In the Old Testament there is no worshiping of Angels directed though the Law was given by their ministration and that state was more particularly subject to them than the state of the Gospel is as the Apostle declares Heb. 2.5 In the Book of Psalms which were the Praises and Hymns used in the publick Worship of the Jews there is no address made to any departed Saint or even to any Angel though the Jewish Church had no advocate with the Father in our nature which is a peculiar priviledge of the Christian Church since the Ascension of our Saviour That place in the Old Testament which may seem to look most favourably towards the invocation of an Angel Gen. 48.16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads is by many ancient Christian Writers not understood of a created Angel But however it is to be observed that these words were part of the benediction of Jacob to the Sons of Joseph Now a benediction frequently doth not exclude a prayer to the thing or person spoken of but a desire of the good expressed with an implicite application to God that he would grant it Thus in the next words Gen. 48.16 Let my name be named on them and the name of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac which contain no prayer to the names of his Fathers or to his own So Isaac blessed Jacob Gen. 27.29 using these expressions Let People serve thee and Nations bow down unto thee And this Clause of Jacob's Benediction is well paraphrased by one of the (p) Targ. Jonath in Gen. 48.16 Chaldee Paraphrasts Let it be well pleasing before him God that the Angel c. But the Holy Angels themselves declared against the giving to them any
who appointed not this kind of Covenanting established the Christian Church in that way of Unity that it was one Church but these have ordered this method for the dividing it 20. Secondly This casts a disparagement on Christs Institution of Baptism as if this Ordinance of his was not sufficient and effectual for the purposes to which he appointed it whereof one was the receiving Members into his Church and the Communion thereof The Scriptures declare Christians to be Baptized into one Body 1 Cor. 12.12 and that they who are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 and therefore by this Sacramental Ordinance members are received into fellowship with Christ and communion with his Church But these expressions in the Assembly-confession of (i) Conf. c. 27. n. 1. Sacraments being Instituted to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church and the rest of the World And of Baptism being ordained by Christ for the solemn admission of the party Baptized into the visible Church are rejected and left out in the declaration of Faith by them of the Congregational way And we are told by the New England Independents that (k) Answ to 32. Qu. to qu. 4. they do not believe that Baptism doth make men members of the Church and they there say strangely enough that Christ Baptized but made no new Church Wherefore when Christ appointed Baptism to receive members of his Church this Covenant which he never appointed is by them set up thus far in the place and room of it 21. Thirdly By making this Covenant the only right ground of Church-fellowship they cast a high reflexion on the Apostolical and Primitive Churches who neither practised nor delivered any such thing as if the Apostolical Model must give place to theirs and those first Churches must not be esteemed regularly established But this Covenant managed in the dividing way is somewhat like the practice of Novatus who hath been ever reputed guilty of great Schism who ingaged his followers by the most solemn Vow that they should never forsake him nor return to Cornelius their true Bishop only his Covenant had not a peculiar respect to a particular Congregation But this bond of their own promise and vow was intended to keep them in that separation which the more solemn Vow of Baptism and undertaking Christianity ingaged them to reject And it is a great mistake to imagine that the former ought to take place against the latter or that men may bind themselves to act against the will of God and that thenceforth they ought not to observe it 22. Fourthly The confinement of Church-membership to a single Congregation entred under such a particular Covenant is contrary to several plain duties of Christianity For according to this notion the peculiar offices of Brotherly Love as being members one of another and that Christian care that follows thereupon it limited to a narrow compass together with the exercise of the Pastoral care also which ought to be inlarged to all those professed Christians with whom we do converse And it is of dangerous and pernicious consequence that the duties of love and being helpful to one another and provoking to love and good works upon account of our membership with the Church visible though these things be in practice too much neglected should be straitned by false and hurtful notions and opinions It was none of the least miscarriages of the Jews that when God gave them that great Commandment to love their Neighbour as themselves they should satisfie themselves in the performing this duty with a much more restrained sense of the word Neighbour than the Divine Law intended And it must not be conceived that false imaginations concerning the bounds of the Church and fellowship therein will be esteemed in the sight of God a sufficient discharge from the duties he requires men to perform to others nor will this be a better excuse under Christianity than the like mistake was under Judaism 23. Thirdly I shall consider their placing the chief Ecclesiastical power and authority in the Body of the people or the members of the Church To this purpose by some of them we are told that (m) Answ to 32. Qu. to Q. 14. in Peter and the rest the Keys are committed to all Believers who shall join together in the same confession according to the Ordinance of Christ and they give the people the power of (n) Answ to Qu. 15. censuring offenders even Ministers themselves if they be such And on this account at least in part I suppose the Congregational Churches in their Declaration of Faith omitted the whole Chapter of (o) Ch. 30. Church censures contained in the Assembly's Confession in which they had declared the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to be committed to the Church Officers Now besides that the way of Government and Censure by the major Vote of the people hath been the occasion of much confusion in some of their Congregations that which I shall particularly insist on is the great sin of intruding upon any part of the Ministerial Authority or neglecting due regard or reverence thereto How plain is it in the Scripture that the Apostles governed and ordered the state of the Christian Church and that Timothy and Titus and the Angels of the Churches did and were to do the like It was to the Apostles as chief Officers of the Christian Church that Christ declared Joh. 20.23 whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained and Matt. 18.18 whatsoever yet shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose in Earth shall be loosed in Heaven And by these and such like words the power of inflicting Censures and receiving to and conferring of the priviledges of the Church as well as of dispensing all those Ordinances whereby the grace of God and remission of sins are particularly tendered are appropriated to the Officers of the Church as part of their Office 24. In this plain sense were these Christian Laws generally understood by the Primitive Church which practised accordingly which they who read the ancient Canons must necessarily confess And the same is manifest from the particular Writers of the first Ages For instance even (p) Cyp. Ep. 27. S. Cyprian from what our Lord spake to S. Peter of the power of the Keys and of binding and loosing infers the Episcopal honour and that every act of the Church must be governed by those Prefects or Superiors And from those words and what our Saviour spake to his Apostles Jo. 20. about remitting sins he concludes that only the Governours in the Church (q) Ep. 73. can give remission of sins And when Rogatianus a Bishop complained to Cyprian concerning a Deacon who behaved himself contumeliously towards him S. Cyprian commends his humility in addressing himself to him (r) Ep. 65. when he had himself power by virtue of his Episcopacy and the
somewhat which may manifest the great evil of this uncharitable behaviour especially towards our Superiours and may be sufficient to warn men against it Such an undertaking as this is very agreeable to that particular Apostolical direction and precept of S. Paul who charged Titus in the work of his Ministry Tit. 3.1 2. to put men in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates to be ready to every good work To speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing all meekness to all men Whatsoever esteem some persons will have of such instructions and truths as these are the Apostle with respect hereto commands Titus v. 8. these things I will that thou affirm constantly and further declares in the end of that verse these things are good and profitable unto men And it must needs be a fit season and very requisite to declare against any sin when it is grown to that height that men will openly avow it and become bold and confident in the practice of it without shame or regret And that what I shall speak of this Subject may be the more carefully regarded Some preparatory considerations proposed I shall in my entrance upon it take some notice which I shall afterward further pursue of the great hurt and danger of this sin and its being inconsistent with piety and true holiness and Religion The tongue S. James saith is an unruly evil full of deadly poyson Jam. 3.8 and therefore it is no little mischief which proceeds from the ill government thereof 4. Uncharitable reproaches are First 1. Reproaching is contrary to the highest and best examples set before us in the Scripture Unsuitable to the best and highest examples which the Scripture proposeth for our imitation and contrary and hateful to the wisest and most excellent persons But it is most reasonable for us to follow such examples since such persons who are of clearest knowledge and free from all passionate and sinful inclinations can most perfectly discern good and are fitly qualified to make the best choice But this disorder is so far opposite to true goodness that though rash men may not duly observe the evil thereof yet as an evident conviction of the great sinfulness contained therein especially in reproaching Governours S. Jude tells us that Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil durst not bring against him a railing accusation Jude 9. And yet inconsiderate and passionate men dare venture on this sin without fear though a person of so great wisdom and knowledge as the Archangel durst not do it and though the Apostle and the Holy Ghost himself propose his example as a manifest condemnation of such transgressors And those pious Christians who have been best acquainted with the Spirit of Christianity have accounted as every man ought to do this instance to be of great force Hence (b) Hieron in Tit. c. 3. S. Hierome from this instance of the Archangel urgeth the necessity of a careful practice of that Christian duty to speak evil of no man And when S. Peter had observed what a daring presumption some evil men were arrived unto that they were not afraid to speak evil of Dignities he in like manner adds 2 Pet. 2.10 11. whereas Angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusations against them before the Lord and we should do the will of God on Earth as it is done by them in Heaven Agreeably to these we have the great example of our Lord and Saviour which is proposed for our imitation 1 Pet. 2.23 Who when he was reviled he reviled not again And besides these things we may discern how much the holy God disliketh and is displeased with this evil practice by his laws and precepts condemning it and by the threatnings he hath denounced and the punishments he will inflict upon those who are guilty of this sin but of these I shall discourse more hereafter 5. But this evil practice is very agreeable to the temper and disposition of the evil spirit and thereupon (c) Basil Ep. 75. Chrys Hom. de Diabol Tentat Andr. Caesar in Apoc c. 34. and is a great complyance with the Evil one ancient Writers have accounted the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a calumniator to have been very properly given to him For pride uncharitableness promoting mischief and departing from truth all which things are manifestly joyned together in this sin do make up very much of the nature of the evil one These things therefore are both pleasing to him and a considerable resemblance of him And indeed the Devil hath done a great part of his work in the world by this very practice and it becomes every Christian to detest the following his example and the carrying on his work The first transgression of mankind was occasioned by his misreporting and misrepresenting the intentions of Gods Government and his laws And one of the most effectual means whereby Satan hath hindred the greater progress of the Christian Religion especially in the Primitive times when Religion it self continued uncorrupt was by defaming both our holy Religion and them who heartily embraced it and by prevailing upon a great part of the world to believe much evil concerning it and entertain great prejudices against it To this end such calumnies were invented and spread abroad as that the assembling of Christians together to partake of the holy Eucharist were meetings to perpetrate villanies in murdering and eating of an Infant and practising uncleanness as many of the Writers of the first Ages have declared who have refuted such notorious slanders And the Christians themselves were aspersed as men of inflexible obstinacy and a perverse will and this even (d) Plin. Ep. l. 10. Ep. 97. Pliny chargeth them with who vindicates them from the forementioned crimes They were also reputed Atheists as (e) Just Apol. 2. Justin Martyr declares because they owned not the Gentile Idolatry And many other things of like nature might be added Whereas if Christianity had been generally represented and apprehended in its genuine excellencies its amiable purity and truth and its Divine Authority it would have commanded a more general submission among men But by the wiles of Satan and the malice of his instruments such calumnies were spread abroad that it was in its first manifestation every where spoken against Act. 28.22 6. Secondly 2. It is inconsistent with true Holiness The practice of this sin is inconsistent with true piety and integrity of heart For as the fruit shews the nature of the tree so an ill-governed tongue is a plain evidence of a corrupt heart and speaks passion and uncharitableness to prevail there where meekness and love should take place This our Lord testifies Mat. 12.34 35. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of
divers of the Romish Communion (g) Cassand Consult de mer. interces Sanctorum They pretend that they only desire their prayers But 1. It is unknown to us that they know our desires advocationis Christi officio obscurato Sanctos atque imprimis Virginem Mariam in illius locum substituerunt that the Office of Christs Advocateship being obscured by them they substituted the Saints and principally the Virgin Mary in his place 4. But the most considerable men who write in defence of this practice declare that they only invocate the Saints to obtain the assistance of their prayers but First If this was true and no more was either intended by the Church of Rome or practised by its members yet there is no assurance that particular Saints departed know our particular wants and supplications and desires and much more may they be unacquainted with that inward devoutness and pious temper of soul which doth qualifie men for the obtaining the favour of God and his heavenly blessings And a wise man would not think it reasonable to place any considerable dependance in a special case upon the care and assistance of such a friend who is at a distance from him and of whom he hath no sufficient ground of confidence that he knows any thing either of his need or of his special desire from him The ways assigned by the Romanists to declare how the Saints departed are acquainted with things here below especially so far as to discern the special motions of the minds of all particular persons are but expressions of great words without evidence and the speculum Trinitatis may as well serve to shew that the Angels in glory were from the beginning of their confirmation in happiness acquainted with all things future by seeing the face of our heavenly Father when yet our Lord declares they knew not the time of the day of Judgement as that the Saints in glory have such a clear understanding of things and persons in this world Now if they understand not our requests and desires supplications directed to them are not only imprudent but an abuse of Religious Worship by employing a considerable portion of it and of our devotion therein about that which at least signifies nothing but is wholly useless and to no purpose And to perform acts of Religion upon the uncertain supposition of this being true of which we can have no certain knowledge and there is much to be said against it is to shew our selves too forward to run the hazard of being guilty of this miscariage 5. And whereas God and his Gospel doth instruct men Our Religion gives no direction for such prayers in the parts and duties of Religion but hath given neither direction nor encouragement to the invocation of Angels or Saints departed or to perform any Religious Worship to them it is no duty incumbent on men to make such addresses to them and in this case concerning the object of Religious worship it is not their due to receive what is not our duty to perform And we may reasonably fear lest God should account our giving such honour to those glorified creatures in Heaven as to acknowledge them to know the desires of the hearts of men and addressing our selves to them thereupon to be a misplacing that honour which is only due to himself and our blessed Saviour and this might bring us under his displeasure And when I consider how frequently the Apostle desires the prayers of the Christian Churches on earth and directs them to pray for one another and to send to the Elders of the Church to obtain their prayers I cannot but think that he would have been as forward to have directed Christians to seek for the prayers of Saints departed of which he speaks nothing if he had accounted that to be lawful and useful and from hence it may seem highly probable if not certain that the Souls departed do not understand and are not particularly affected with the requests and desires of men here below Besides this though I conceive holy Angels may be frequently present in the Assemblies of the Christian Church I cannot think it allowable though I had special assurance of their presence at any particular time to direct the acts of publick worship in that case sometimes to God and Christ and sometimes to them in the same gesture of adoration and especially in the use of such words of address to the Angels however they be understood as may fitly be applied to Christ For this would give too much of that homage to the Servant which is due unto the Lord. 6. 〈◊〉 greatly honour the Saints departed But we who do not direct our prayers and Religious supplications to Saints departed have a high honour for them endeavouring to follow their good examples praising God for them and hoping to be hereafter with them in the mansions of glory And since their goodness and love is not diminished but increased by their departure and they are still members of the same body I esteem them to have affectionate desires of the good of men upon Earth and especially of pious men who are fellow-members with them And I account it one great priviledge that I enjoy from the Communion of Saints that by reason of membership with the same body I have an interest in the Religious supplications of all the truly Catholick part of the diffusive Church Militant upon Earth and in the holy Services of the triumphant part thereof in Heaven I can also willingly admit what (h) Cyp. de Mortalitate Magnus illic nos charorum numerus expectat parentum fratrum filiorum copiosa turba adhuc de nostra salute sollicita S. Cyprian sometimes expresseth that departed friends have a particular desire of the good of their surviving relations and what in another place he recommends (i) Epist 57. ad Cornel. The Papists do directly pray for blessings to the Saints that departing Christians continue their affectionate sense of and prayers for the distressed part of the Church on Earth But upon the foregoing considerations this will not warrant Religious addresses to be directed to these Saints 7. Secondly The petitions used in the Romish Church in their supplications to the Saints do plainly express more than their desiring them to pray for them I shall not insist on the high extravagances in divers Books of Devotions and in the Offices formerly used in some particular Churches as that in the Missale sec usum Sarum to the Virgin Mary (k) In Nativit B. Matiae Potes enim cuncta ut mundi Regina jura Cum nato omnia decernis in soecla Thou canst do all things as the Queen of the World and thou with thy Son determinest all rights for ever which with many expressions of as high a nature place a further confidence in the Saints and expectation from them than meerly to be helped by their prayers But I shall instance in two or three
the Wicked and Evil-doers Even in Aaron's blessing the People God declared that he himself would bless them And the whole intention of the Gospel is a Dispensation of God's Blessing which cometh upon them who serve him The Blessed Jesus was sent to Bless in turning Men from their Iniquities to such he begins his Sermon in the Mount with Blessing Mat. 5.3.4 Luke 24.50 51 and this also was the last action he perform'd immediately upon his Ascension into Heaven Most of the Apostolical Epistles both begin and end with Benedictions which persons partake of according to their pious qualifications For when not only the Apostles but also the Seventy were commanded to pronounce Peace to the House or Place where they came Mat. 10.12 13 Luke 10.5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Peace being according to the usual Jewish Phrase a comprehension of all Blessing our Saviour tells them that if the Son of Peace be there their Peace shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to them again The ancient Church to this end used particular Benedictions in Confirmation Ordination receiving Penitents Matrimony and to dying Persons but all these the Corruption of Times hath transformed into reputed proper Sacraments And those Blessings in Confirmation and Ordination are most Solemn the former of which was granted even by S. Hierome Hier. adv Luc. according to the custom of the Church all over the World to be performed by the Bishop only And in our Administration thereof the serious renewing the Baptismal Covenant which is a necessary duty of Christian Profession is a good disposition for receiving the Blessing of God and on this account Confirmation is not to be slighted or wilfully neglected by those who have a high esteem for the Blessing of God 3. They who receive this Ministry are to guide the Church and Christian Society that its Members may please God not forfeit his Favour or provoke his Displeasure The most things contained under this head will respect those Ministers of the Church who are the chief Governours thereof and the things established by their consent and agreement The Church of God is a most excellent Society and his Ministers are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are to have the care and ordering of this Family of God Titus 1.7 and such publick Worship as is ordered according to the Will of God being acceptable to him it belongs to them to take care of the performance thereof and also of establishing Order and Decency and the framing and executing such Rules and Canons for Government and Discipline as are meet And though the external Sanction of these things is well ordered by the Secular power yet the directive part and the spiritual Authority belongs to the Guides of the Church who by the Gospel are appointed therein Rulers and Presidents Hence Inferiours are required to obey them that are over them and submit themselves and Titus was sent to Crete to order the things that were wanting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 5.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13.7 17.24 Tit. 1.5 1 Tim. 3.5 1 Pet. 5.2 and Bishops in general stand charged by S. Paul and St. Peter to take care of the Church of God And as that is a requisite to Order and due Reverence in Religious Worship to them also belongs the setting apart and consecrating Places for the publick Service of God But because there can be no security for Order where every Officer may act independently at his own Pleasure therefore they have Authority to order Uniformity which is in it self desirable and ought to be observed not only with respect to the secular Sanction but together therewith in compliance also with the Ecclesiastical Authority invested in Synods which hath in all Ages from the Apostles been honoured in the Christian Church of which the observation of the Canons of the several Councels and Codes is an experimental Evidence And as the mutual Consent of Pastors in Synods is according to natural Prudence directly pursueth the great ends of Peace and Unity and by their agreement addeth Weight to their Authority so this Case is eminently included in that Promise of our Saviour Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.20 Act. 16.4 5. Act. 21.18 24 26. Act. 8.14 And St. Paul himself yielded manifest Obedience both to the Decrees of the Council at Jerusalem Act. 15. And to that other Council Act. 21. And so did S. Peter and S. John to another Council And since Christians being established in the Truth is of great use both to their own and the Churches Peace in order hereunto the Pastors of the Church in Councils have power to abandon Heretical and dangerous Doctrines and to require submission to the Truth they declare This was done in the Synod of the Apostles against the necessity of Circumcision and in the four first general Councils concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Person of the Mediator And such Decisions concerning matters of Doctrine when managed aright have been deservedly reverenced in the Church since one end of God's appointing these Officers is that we should be no more Children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine Eph. 4.14 And upon this account a particular Honour is due to the established Doctrine of our Church which hath a high agreement with the Rule of Scripture and the Catholick and Primitive Church Besides these things all particular Officers of the Church in their charge are to watch over those committed to them as much as in them lies with special regard to the Sick and to those also who need to be Catechised in the Principles of Religion John 21.15 it being our Saviour's first charge to S. Peter to feed his Lambs with earnest Prayer for the Grace and Blessing of God upon them all 4. The Ministry of Reconciliation includeth an Authority of rebuking and admonishng Offenders of casting them out of the Church and of restoring them again upon Repentance This hath been the ordinarily received sense of those great words of our Saviour Mat. 18.18 Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven There is indeed a late Objection made that these words speak not of binding and loosing Persons but Things and that it is usual with the Jewish Writers to express the binding and loosing of Things not of Persons meaning thereby the declaring or judging such things prohibited or allow'd But besides what may be otherwise said I think it sufficient at present to observe that the admitting this notion may well enough consist with the true sense of these words which if interpreted by it will import 1. That the power of binding and loosing hath a considerable respect to such things as the Cases Offences and Penitent Performances of persons
and sutably our Saviour after his Resurrection gave his Apostles the authority of remitting and retaining Sins which phrase also immediately respecteth not Persons but Things but yet binding in this sense must include an authoritative declaring the Practices of Men to be so far Evil as to deprive the offending Persons of their Christian Priviledges 2. These words will also imply that the Officers of the Church are intrusted to bind and continue or to loose and discharge the observation of Penitential Rules and accordingly the Apostle saith to whom you forgive any thing I forgive it also in the Person of Christ 2 Cor. 2.10 And even this severe part of Ecclesiastical Power is for Edification not Destruction both to the whole Church and to the Offender that through Repentance his Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord and so is properly included under the Ministry of Reconciliation The general result of all I have said is That the Office of the Ministry is of very high and great importance and such persons who have a low esteem thereof if they have any reverence for their Saviour let them seriously consider whether he who is Truth and Goodness can be thought to use such high expressions in this case as to declare his giving them the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and that what they bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and such like to impose upon the World which he came to guide and save and upon his Church which he so dearly loves with empty sounds of great things which signify little or nothing What a mighty sense had the Primitive Christians of this power of the Keys when the Penitent Offenders under censure undertook according to some Canons the strict observation of Penance Conc. Ancyr c. 16. Elib c. 2 7 47 63. Valent. cap. 3. sometimes for 20 or 30 years and even to the end of their Life that they might obtain Absolution and the Peace of the Church and its Communion And under this severe Discipline as Tertullian describes it by the name of their Exomologesis de Poenit. c. 9. they did ly in Sackcloth and Ashes they never used such Cloaths or Diet as might appear pleasant they frequently exercised themselves in Fasting Prayers and Tears crying to God day and night and among other things they made humble Supplication even upon their Knees unto the Members of the Church and fell down prostrate before its Officers it being their custom Presbyteris advolvi charis Dei adgeniculari And all this was done in the greatest degree while the Church was under persecution from the Civil Power But that which they apprehended and which I doubt not to be true Exam. Conc. Trid. de Poeni is that as Chemnitius expresseth it Christus est qui per ministerium absolvit peccata remittit it is Christ who gives Absolution by his Ministry viz. where they proceed according to his Will And as under the Law he who trespassed beside the amendment of his fault and restitution either in things Sacred or Civil was to have recourse to the Trespass-Offering for obtaining the Mercy of God even so under the Gospel he who performs the other conditions of Christianity ought where it may be had to apply himself also to the Ministerial power of remitting Sin and the receiving this Testimony together with that of a good Conscience upon a Christian Penitent Deportment is next to the great Absolution by Christ the greatest encouragement for Peace and Comfort Only I must here add which I desire may be particularly observed that the principal way of ministerial dispensing Remission of Sins and other Blessings of the Gospel to them who fall not under gross enormities and the censures of the Church though performed also in its degree in Doctrine and other Benedictions and Absolutions is chiefly done by Administring the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper to persons duly qualified And it is one of the miscarriages of the Roman Church that they take too little notice of this advantage in receiving the Holy Eucharist and do inordinately advance their Sacrament of Penance so far into its place as to be esteemed the only Sacrament after Baptism wherein may be obtained remission of Sins Wherefore I conceive that as that Man who being converted to Christianity doth profess the Doctrine and embrace the practice thereof in other things but wholly omitteth Christian Baptism doth thereby deprive himself of the ordinary visible Testimony of God's favour and runs himself upon the needless hazard of hoping to find acceptance by extraordinary Grace in the neglect of the ordinary means thereof even so is it with those adult persons who being otherwise piously disposed do ordinarily neglect the attendance upon the Lord's Supper which is particularly appointed of God to be a means of conveying and applying the benefits of Christ's Holy Sacrifice for remission of Sins and other blessings of the Covenant to them who are worthy and meet to receive the same And if this which to me seemeth a great Truth was duly heeded the frequent attendance upon the Holy Communion and other Services of God would be as it was in the Primitive Times generally looked on as a Duty of very great importance in Persons adult and resolving upon a true Christian course of life Having asserted the nature and excellency of the Ministerial Power it will be necessary also to disclaim and reject from it these two things 1. That the Ministry of Reconciliation is not appointed to offer in the Mass a Propitiatory Sacrifice to God for the Quick and the Dead and herewith must be rejected also the Power of effecting Transubstantiation St. Chrysostom truly asserteth Chrysost in 2 Cor. 2.5 That it is not the same thing which is done by Christ i. e. in reconciling us by his Sacrifice and by his Ministry But the Priestly Authority according to the Romish Ordination Pontif. Rom. is chiefly placed in this proper Power of Sacrificing their Form being Accipe potestatem offerre Sacrificium Deo c. And all the Orders of their Ministry have some proper thing appointed for them which relateth to this Sacrifice of the Mass That is properly Ordo Th. Mor. l. 5. Tr. 9. c. 1. saith F. Layman where there is gradus potestatis ad peragendum Missae Sacrificium or a degree of Power to perform something about the Sacrifice of the Mass Much to the same purpose is in many other Writers and even in the Roman Catechism ad Parcchos in which as also in the Council of Trent it self Cat. ad Par. de Ord. Sacr. Concil Trid. Sess 23. cap. 2. their Priesthood is reckoned as the highest of their seven Orders partly upon this account and partly because this Notion serveth further to advance the Dignity and Eminency of the Pope But there is no such Sacrifice of the Mass in the Religion of our Saviour Indeed here it must be granted and asserted that the
despising the Blessings which he tenders by those Institutions Wherefore since Episcopal Ordination hath been of so general Practice from the Apostles in the Church of God and is regularly established and continued in this Kingdom no Man in this Church with respect to Order Unity and Apostolical Institution can reasonably expect that God will ever own him as his Officer in the Ministry of Reconciliation unless he be admitted thereto by such Ordination And private Christians both out of Duty to God and out of respect to their own Safety may not so esteem of any who oppose themselves against this Order because of the Danger under the New Testament of perishing in the gainsaying of Core And let every Person whosoever he be be wary how upon any pretence whatsoever he undertakes to execute any proper part of the Power of the Keys unless he be set apart thereunto by regular Ordination And now I shall conclude my Discourse with three Inferences First This gives us an account whence all that Opposition and Difficulty doth arise which the Ministration of the Gospel and the faithful Servants of God therein do meet with The Devil will use his utmost Power by all his Methods to hinder so good a Work as this Ministration is intended for Hence the Holy Jesus and most of his Apostles met with opposition even unto Death And as all the Persecutions of the Christian Church had an especial eye upon the Clergy so that violent one under Dioclesian Eus Hist l. 3. c. 12. for the first Year fingled them only out to be the Subjects of his Fury These are the ordinary Mark against whom all the Churches Enemies shoot their poysoned Arrows envenomed from the Malignity of the Old Serpent And when the Evil One cannot proceed by open Violence he oft makes use of Instruments to fix slanderous Censures and Calumnies upon the Officers of Christ to render their Ministration the less prosperous and successful in the World Insomuch that their Devoutness in Religion is by some upbraided with Ceremoniousness and their consciencious Observance of due Order and Averseness to Faction is branded with the odious Term of Popery and their embracing the necessary Reformation of the Church is by others stigmatized with the infamous Names of Heresy and Schism Thus our Saviour was called Beelzebub himself accused of Blasphemy and his Doctrine of Heresy Besides these things the vicious and scandalous Practices of too many who profess the Truth the various Schisms and other manifold Corruptions in the Doctrine and Practice of Religion and I wish I might not add the undue Proceedings of some Patrons in conferring Ecclesiastical Preferments are all of them dangerous Methods made use of by the Evil One to hinder the attaining the great Ends of this Ministration Secondly I now address my self to you my Reverend Brethren It is a weighty Charge a Business of great Importance that we are called unto and as we are Stewards of the Living God it is required of us that we be found faithful And for the putting us in mind of that serious Care and Diligence which we are to use in our Ministry I know not how to speak otherwise so well as by recommending the serious and frequent considering that useful Exhortation in the Book of Ordination And let us particularly look well to our own Paths for tho the Excellency of God's Ordinances doth not depend upon the Instruments yet if a Blemish appears in any of our Lives it becomes a great Prejudice to the Designs we should carry on among Men and will open the Mouths of our Enemies and if there be a Judas among the Apostles the Devil is ready to make a special use of him to his purposes But let us observe that Rule which but a few Verses after my Text the Apostle tells us was the Practice of himself and other Officers of the Christian Church Giving no Offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed but in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God 2 Cor. 6.3 4. Thirdly Let every one in their places lay to their helping-Hand to promote the Success of this Ministry upon themselves and others Wherefore let every Man who lives under the Dispensation of the Gospel reject all Wickedness of Life and exercise himself unto Godliness and so he will certainly advantage himself and probably others by his good Example And let all those who have the management of the Authority of the Church in their hands indifferently check the Neglect and Contempt of the Publick Service of God and all other Viciousness and Evil which comes within the Limits of their Authority and countenance and encourage all real Vertue Goodness Holiness and Religion And those Parish-Officers who stand charged upon their Oaths to give an account of Offences which is noted by our 26th Canon to be the chief Means whereby publick Offences may be reformed and punished and whose Miscarriage is there severely censured let not them sinfully neglect their Oath and their Duty the right Discharge of which may tend to the Glory of God the flourishing of the Church and Religion and the bringing Men into the Ways of Happiness And because the Apostle proposeth that humbling Question concerning the Ministerial Charge Who is sufficient for these Things Let us earnestly implore the Help and Grace of God to assist us and succeed our Ministrations to the great Good of Men. And let every devout Christian join his fervent and frequent Prayer to this end and purpose That he who hath committed to us this Ministration would bring all those who partake thereof unto true Holiness of Life here and eternal Happiness hereafter through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy-Ghost be all Glory for evermore Amen A SERMON Preached at NORWICH March 2. 1678. JOEL 2.12 Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart IN the foregoing part of this Prophecy there is a dismal appearance of things concerning Judah a heavy threatning of sad Calamities therein both by Famine and Sword in the first Chapter and former part of the second The dreadfulness hereof is represented according to an usual Prophetick Style as if God was making the whole Fabrick of his Creation to totter v. 10. The Earth shall quake before them and the Heavens shall tremble the Sun and Moon shall be dark and the Stars shall withdraw their shining And this great Calamity was like to be the more sad because of the terror of God's Vengeance going along with it v. 11. The Day of the Lord is great and very terrible and who can abide it In such a case as this these words which our Church directeth to be read at the beginning of Lent which is now near and which are of excellent use at all times are the beginning of the Prophetical Direction for their help and recovery from this sad Condition and such a Remedy as recovereth one gasping
but to this Man will I look that is poor and of a contrite Spirit Isa 66.1 2. Now upon this consideration of the Divine Goodness the Ninevites proceeded in their Repentance and tho that was undertaken upon uncertain hopes yet with good success But we have plain Promises and Directions to our Duty and as plain Promises annexed thereunto such as Ezek. 18.20 I will judg you O House of Israel every one according to his Ways saith the Lord God ' Repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions so Iniquity shall not be your Ruine I come now to consider some peculiar Encouragements from Christianity and shall here mention three 1. From the coming of the Son of God into the World He came to be a Mediator and a Sacrifice and to assure us that God is ready to be reconciled to all them that turn to him and entertain the Terms of his Covenant And therefore those who are truly penitent shall by virtue of the Death and Sacrifice of Christ and the Reconciliation he hath thereby made obtain the Favour of God This was so much designed by our Saviour that Repentance was one of the first things he preached Mat. 4.17 Jesus began to preach and to say Repent And among the last Things which he committed to his Apostles before his Ascension this was one That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations Luke 24.47 And is it not our great Comfort that the Encouragements to true Repentance are assured by the Doctrine of the Gospel and by the Death of Christ and that they are confirmed by both the Sacraments of the New Testament If God had not been willing to receive humble Penitents and to give them his Blessings would he have sent his Son and have given so great a Blessing to the World as to put us upon returning to him And if Christ came to call Sinners to Repentance will he not own and receive them who obey his Call It is true indeed that the Proposals of the Gospel do chiefly relate to God's bestowing spiritual and eternal Blessings and our Care should be especially about these things but even temporal Blessings are not excluded from the Promises of God 2. From the Glory of Christ's Exaltation He who upon Earth proposed the Grace and Doctrine of Repentance hath now in Heaven all Authority and Power to dispense the Blessings he promised to them who obey him And he is faithful and true to perform his Word Would you obtain Remission of Sin and the Favour of God He as our High-Priest is our Intercessor effectually to procure this Blessing from God for them who heartily turn to him And as our King he is himself empowered to dispense this Favour of God For God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Forgiveness of Sins Acts 5.31 And he who took so much pains to seek after the straying Sheep will no doubt embrace them who by his care do return If you seek for the Welfare and Preservation of the Church of God and its being defended against its Enemies as humble pious Christians are the Heirs of Promise these Blessings are the Benefits contained in the Covenant and Promise of God And withal there are special Encouragements from our Saviour's Exaltation for our expecting to receive these Mercies For our Saviour being exalted at God's right-hand is now made an Head over all things to the Church and this includes both his near Relation which he beareth to it and that also he taketh upon himself a very particular Care of it And his Exaltation is so fatal to his and his Churches Enemies that he must reign till all his Enemies be made his Footstool Hereupon he tells Saul going to Damascus that it was hard for him to kick against the Pricks His Enemies must fall before his Power but he will effect what he undertakes to uphold 3. From the more particular Consideration of the State of the Gospel-Church The Christian Church is made up of returning Penitents but these are owned of God as his Children and Heirs and they shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father And such is God's Care of this Society of his Church that if it walk in his Way it shall be supported by him tho Earth and Hell should contrive against it Yet no particular Branch or Part of the Christian Church hath any security of its standing or any assurance from God that it shall be preserved but upon the Conditions of its holding the Faith and practising Piety and Obedience or hearty Repentance And indeed it can have none because there can be no particular Promise from God against the Nature and Terms of the New Covenant which enjoins Faith and Obedience as necessary Conditions of Acceptance with God The Romish Church pretends that she can never fall but must always continue because of that Promise of our Saviour Mat. 16.18 On this Rock I will build my Church But to this all I shall say at this time is That these Words do no way particularly refer to the Roman Church as it would arrogate to it self And our Lord hath plainly declared to us that no Church or Persons whatsoever can be represented by a House built upon a Rock which will stand notwithstanding all Oppositions but those who hear and obey his Doctrine which the Church of Rome doth not But all who neglect this Faith and Practice are as those who build on the Sand their House will fall and great will be the Fall thereof Mat. 7.24 25 26 27. And that there was no particular Privilege of this Nature ever intended to be granted to the Church of Rome is further manifest from that Epistle St. Paul wrote to the Romans For with some particular respect to that Church he lets them know If God spared not the natural Branches take heed lest he also spare not thee and if thou continue not in his Goodness thou also shalt be cut off Rom. 11.21 22. But all particular Churches whatsoever who heartily obey the Doctrine of the Gospel are secured of God's especial Care and Preservation from those Words of our Saviour John 15.2 Every Branch in me that beareth Fruit my Father purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. The fruitful part of his Vineyard will not want his Care And it is our great Comfort that God's Catholick Church stands by his Foundation upon a Rock so that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it or no kind of Destruction shall be able to overcome it So that whatever Enemies it hath in the World they like the proud and mighty Waves if they dash themselves against the Rock will be broken in pieces but the Rock it self and that which is built upon it as an impregnable Fortress standeth firm For the Comfort of the Primitive Christians the Book of the Revelations gave them assurance that God would take care that his Church should not be overwhelmed
of God in it that all his Revelations to the Patriarchs and Prophets and especially that by the Holy Jesus to the Christian Church do greatly insist upon it When the Gentile World went greatly astray by their abominable Idolatries and their gross Impurities even in their pretendedly Religious Rites the Doctrine of the Gospel appears to turn them from the Power of Satan unto God When the Jews had been under a lower Dispensation our Lord gives his Disciples more excellent Rules and enlargeth the Precepts of the Moral Law as was truly asserted by Irenaeus Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus St. Augustine and other ancient Writers And why should it be thought strange that Lawgiver should add to the Precepts already given and extend them further who established many new Duties such as to believe the peculiar Doctrines of the Christian Faith to perform many religious Services in his Name and with an eye to him to attend on the Gospel-Sacraments to reverence the Christian Ministry and the Power of the Keys and to own and embrace Communion with the diffusive Catholick Church in all Nations He laid new Obligations upon his Disciples concerning Divorce and the changing the Zeal of Elias into Christian Meekness And it is but reasonable to expect that under the Instructions and Motives of Christianity there should be required greater Measures of the Love of God and Goodness But when the Jewish Church had in their Principles and Practices grosly degenerated from the great Design of the Law and many Corruptions were introduced our Lord protests against them and gives his Disciples this Admonition That their Righteousness must exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees The Pharisees were the strictest Sect of the Jews at that time the Scribes were their chief Teachers and Guides their Righteousness here intended was what was according to the Rules and Doctrines they delivered and received Against that Leaven of Doctrine our Lord warned his Disciples Mat. 16.12 The out-doing and exceeding this Righteousness is so necessary that it is enjoined under this severe Sanction That otherwise we can in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven is a Phrase peculiar to St. Matthew among all the Penmen of the Scripture but hath been observed not to be unusual in the Talmud Hor. Hebr. in Mat. 3.3 and other Jewish Writers It sometimes expresseth in this Evangelist the Kingdom of Christ in his Church on Earth but in this place and others the Kingdom of Glory and eternal Happiness But if any should think these Words directly to assert that none whose Righteousness exceeds not that of the Pharisees and their Teachers the Scribes can be true Members of the Christian Church and Christ's Kingdom upon Earth he must consequently acknowledg that they cannot be Heirs of Heaven Yet these Pharisees were not so wholly irreligious but that they attended the Temple and Synagogues made many Prayers seem'd to have a great Veneration for the Law and a Zeal for the Honour of the God of Israel They were not so grosly dissolute and debauched as to give themselves up to Uncleanness Intemperance and all Unmercifulness but they condemned Adultery fasted and gave Alms. Wherefore it may be needful to enquire I. What were the Miscarriages in their Righteousness and wherein must we exceed them if ever we attain to Happiness II. How stands the Case of those Societies who chiefly pretend to Christianity as to their exceeding or not exceeding the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees III. What is the Result of these Enquiries I. Touching their Miscarriages and Defects 1. They placed much Righteousness in their being a peculiar Party and maintaining a kind of Separation They were a particular Sect having and needlesly affecting singular Practices and Opinions different from the other Jews and such as were not enjoined in the Law of Moses The Name Pharisee is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to separate and divide and themselves were distinguished into seven sorts as the Jewish Writers tell us They did not indeed withdraw themselves from the Synagogue or Temple Publick-Worship since as Josephus saith Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever referred to God both Prayer and other parts of Worship were much ordered by their Model But concerning the Synagogue-Worship there is probable Evidence that the several chief Sects among the Jews and therefore the Pharisees as one of them had their distinct Assemblies And it is certain the Pharisees did reject the best of Men from their Synagogue-Communion meerly for doing their necessary Duty in professing upon the fullest Divine Testimony that Jesus was the Christ and becoming his Followers And in the Temple-Worship the Pharisees were guilty of a kind of Separation under an appearance of Communion For since the daily Sacrifice in the Temple was a Burnt-Offering and therefore appointed for Expiation and Atonement Num. 28.3 the Devotions of them who attended at the Temple at the Hours of Prayer and Sacrifice ought to be conformable thereunto but the Pharisees Prayer there as our Saviour describes it had nothing in it of humble Supplication for God's Mercy and Favour but he thanks God he was not as other Men. And this Spirit of Division was so much the worse in them because it was founded in an high Conceit and great Confidence of their own Righteousness though they had little reason for it and in a contempt of others But now such a proud Temper is inconsistent with Christianity which makes Humility a necessary Qualification for the obtaining everlasting Life And Divisions and Separations are so unaccountable for the Members of the same Body the Church to be engaged in that the Doctrine of Christ gives us frequent Precepts earnest Exhortations and pressing Arguments to Peace and Unity and plainly expresseth the great Danger of Misery in the neglect thereof When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Contests fierce Heats and Divisions are reckoned among those Works of the Flesh which exclude from the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. can any think the great Discords in the Church unconcerned herein when the Concord of Christians is here chiefly enjoined and the Neglect thereof is every way exceeding hurtful and when all these very Expressions are used by St. Paul to set forth the Divisions of the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 3.3 And therefore where-ever Rents or Schisms in the Church are Works of the Flesh as they must be when they are the Product of Pride Self-will or voluntary Disobedience to or Neglect of the Precepts of Peace and Unity they are destructive The Ancient Church charged an high Guilt upon these Practices Cypr. ep 76. ◠St. Cyprian accounts Schism greatly to deprive Men of the Hope of Christianity And St. Austin maintains against the Donatists that their Separation was as great a Sin as that of the Traditores who gave up the Scriptures into the hands of their Persecutors with which Crime the