Plate to the Communion Bells to the Steeples costly Vestures to the Minister now it 's come to this pass some Great man will be content to set up a new Pew for his own use but stick at all other new building and sometimes at the mending and repair of what was built formerly and after a while perhaps the World will do just nothing and then it is time sure for the Gospel to seek out better people who will bring forth more fruit Two things the Bishop used greatly to bewail in his Diocess First the great loss and spoil of the Antient Demeans of the Bishoprick having had many Mannors torn from it in the time of Edw. 6. besides an antient Episcopal House in London to entertain the Bishops when they came up to Parliament pulled down with others by the Duke of Somerset to make room for the building of his new House in the Strand and his Palace at Lychfield and Castle of Eccleshal likewise were quite demolished by the late Wars so that the good Bishop was fain to lye in a Prebendal House upon which he laid out a 1000 l. to make it fitting for his Residence and thought to have procured an Act of Parliament to have annexed it to the See for ever but till he had finished Gods House he less regarded his own The antient Bishops of this See and of all others were famous for the breeding up many young Scholars and Gentlemen to piety and learning in their own Families as one that 's best able tells us that Bishops Families were Schools of gravity and wisdom to breed Divines and Gentlemen civilly before they were transfer'd to Noblemen's and King's Houses and were as requisite after Scholars came from the Vniversities to adapt them to business and publick charge as the Vniversities themselves were for the ripening of such as were raw before But our Bishop would complain though he had means enough left for himself and other ordinary uses yet the curtail'd Revenues of his Bishoprick reliquiae Danaum ac immitis Achillî were no way proportionable for this great Expence Secondly far more than this loss to his own See he would bewail the Sacrilege committed upon very many poor Vicarages under his Jurisdiction in that Diocess some great persons to whom God hath given many Lordships yet would not allow their poor Vicars a competency of Glebe and Tythes to reside upon and watch over their Tenents souls in the Country nor wherewithal to buy Books and become learned men nor indeed tolerable Preachers Till better provision was made in this kind he never hoped to see Christian Religion flourish in the remote parts of his Diocess and therefore earnestly desired that future Parliaments would take this greatest grievance into their Christian consideration and cause the joyful Jubilee to be proclaimed when these Revenues should return to their right Owners or at least in this flourishing Kingdom where all others possess great Inheritance Country Divines alone might not have a scanty Patrimony and till that were done he had just cause to fear that Sacrilege was the sin of the Reformed Churches and as the Papacy was much too blame to endure no Reformation in the Church because of their covetousness so many Protestants were more too blame who reformed not out of conscience but covetousness whereby all Church means were of more uncertain Tenure now adays than any other private Estate for whereas every Mechanick could leave an Inheritance secure to his own Children only the publick Charities bequeathed to pious uses were in danger of being taken away His Lordship would sometime pleasantly compare our times with theirs of the Old Testament when there was laid up in the Ark for greater security Aaron's Rod the Pot of Manna and the two Tables of the Law but we read that all was lost but the Tables of the Law in like Manner now Some men steal away our Discipline Aaron's Rod others steal away our golden Pot of Manna the Tythe of the Church and if they had loved the Law or Commandments they had stole them away too Sed tu quod facias hoc mihi Paete dolet But that this should be done by Protestants troubled our Bishop exceedingly who would much commend Archbishop Cranmar for opposing King Henry the 8. his Alienation of Abby Lands from uses of piety and charity and Peter Martyr much more who when he left the Monastery would not carry away the least thing from it but restored a Ring belonging to the House the Seal of the Abbot which he was wont to wear formerly and wished all Protestant Ministers oftentimes to preach upon this Theme not out of charity to themselves but the souls of their hearers not so much to prevent their own poverty and hard fortune for a little time as the others condemnation and endless sorrow for ever No Bishop ever more desired to have his Clergy pious and learned that they who were sent to reprove the faults of others might be without offence themselves but he despaired of such as long as the Vicarages of his Diocess were so exceeding low where wit and poverty often meeting together did not always make honest men yet for his own part he was very careful in all his Ordinations to allow none without sufficient testimony and to examin all himself in Latin or in English as they liked best that he might better know the State of his Clergie where he would not spare to reprove whatsoever he found amiss in any sort their very hair and habit it self which he alwayes required to be grave and modest becoming Divines the Embassadors of Christ and not like Ruffians and the Woers of Penelope To that purpose under his Signification Paper for Orders upon the Cathedral Door was sometimes also written Nemo accedat petitum sacros Ordines cum longâ Caesarie When ever he found a learned modest Scholar presented to him he would bid him very welcom yet after long wars where the Vniversities could not be attended and Church Means commonly were seized upon he would not refuse any tolerable competency of learning if he found it accompanied with discretion and gravity Sometimes he would note how he had heard in our troublesom times that the Presbyterians were so strict in their usurped Ordinations and Tryals of Ministers that he believed in his conscience he should not have been able to have passed them himself if he had been bound to appear before them but in all his Diocess he found none greater Dunces than such as had been of their stamp formerly several of whom craved to receive Orders from him and though he could not endure to have the Ark of God drawn by meagre and feeble Cattle yet in hope of future improvement and better conformity he did admit them He never cared to have any presented to him very young till the heats which boyl in the blouds of youth were well scum'd off if not quite boyl'd away affirming that
Rebellions Julian the Apostate reading the Bible with a malicious intention to quarrel at it said that Christianity was a Doctrin of too much patience but he could never find any place in it to object that it was a Doctrin of Rebellion If the Administration of a Kingdom were out of frame our Bishop maintain'd it were better to leave the redress to God than to a seditious Multitude and that the way to continue purity of Religion was not by Rebellion but by Martyrdom To resist lawful Powers by seditious Arms and unlawful Authority was not the Primitive and Apostolical Christianity but Popish Doctrin not taught the first 300 years but much about 1000 years after our Saviour's ascension into Heaven by the Pope of Rome the very time the Spirit of God said Satan should be let loose viz. by Gregory the VII who first taught the Germans to rebel against the Emperor Henry the fourth Yet this poison was now given the English People to drink out of the Papal Cup while they pretended quite contrary But our Bishop ever asserted this was not the way to pull down Antichrist but Protestant Religion and therefore he warn'd the Non-conforming Divines with whom he lately treated to have a care how they cried up a War and became famous only in the Congregation as Erostratus by setting the Temple on fire To prevent that fatal Bill of Root and Branch the Committee condescended to print the Liturgick Psalms in King James's Translation to expunge all Apocryphal Lessons and alter some passages in the body of the Book of Common-Prayer and certain other things which divers of the Presbyterian Divines said were satisfactory save that the furious Party of them put the Commons upon the violent way in particular old Mr. John White told many of the party who still pressed at Conferences for further Abatement of Conformity and the Laws established Time would come when they would wish they had been content with what was offered While this Committee was sitting the House of Commons having now entred upon the debate of taking away the whole Government Ecclesiastical by Bishops Deans and Chapters together with all their Revenue several Members of that House being friends to the Hierarchy mov'd that no mans Freehold might be taken away in Parliament without hearing them first speak for themselves whereupon the whole Committee imposed the Task upon Dr. Hacket forthwith to depart to his own House and Study and meet them again to morrow morning prepared to speak as the Advocate of the Church of England in the behalf of Deans and Chapters The Speech it self I found among his Papers which in regard that it was never yet published at large I have thought meet to add as follows May it please you Mr. Speaker and this Honourable House OVr expectations to be heard by Council in this great Cause hath brought us unto you most unprepared to deliver that which might be utter'd upon so copious Subject Yet since we have that favour from this Honourable House that we may be heard or some one of us in our own persons somewhat shall be offered to your prudent considerations by the meanest and most unpractised in pleading and forensecal causes of all those that attend you this day The unexpectedness to be thus employed it was imposed upon me but yesterday afternoon as my Brethren know is joyned with another disadvantage that we have not heard upon what crimes or offences of the Deans and Chapters so great a Patrimony as they enjoy is called in question that we might purge our selves of such imputations but only reports that fly abroad have arrived at our ears that Cathedral and Collegiate Churches with their Chapters are accounted by some to be of no use and convenience I aim at perspicuity and therefore I will cast what I have to say into as clear a method as I am able The use and convenience of Deans and Chapters I reduce unto two heads quoad res quoad personas first in regard of some things of great moment secondly in regard of divers persons whom I know the Justice of this Honourable House will take into consideration And first since God hath called his House the House of Prayer I shall keep a right order without derogation to any thing that follows to present them unto you as very convenient for the service of Prayer which is offered up to God in them daily both in his Morning and in his Evening Sacrifice In the antient Primitive Church as many learned Gentlemen in this Honourable House do know and as my Brethren that assist me can attest unto it the Christians did every day meet at Prayers and for the most part at the Blessed Sacrament if persecution did not distract them Then it is fit in a well-govern'd Church that there should be some places in imitation of them where daily Thanksgivings and Supplications should be made unto God And whereas it cannot be supposed but that divers remiss Christians do neglect oftentimes their daily duty of Prayer and some are forced to omit that length to which they would produce their Prayer by their multitude of business it is fit that there should be a publick duty of Prayer in some principal places where many are gathered together to supply the defects that are committed by private men And though I am sure the publick Duty of Prayer shall find great acceptance and approbation before so Christian an Auditory yet I confess I have heard abroad that the Service of Cathedral Churches gives offence to divers for the superexquisiteness of the Musick especially in late years so that it is not edifying nor intelligible to the hearers For this Objection in part I will confess it is strong and forcible in part I will mollifie it It is a just complaint Mr. Speaker and we humbly desire the assistance of this Honourable House for the reformation of it that Cathedral Musick for a great part of it serves rather to tickle the ear than to affect the heart with godliness and that which should be intended for devotion vanisheth away into quavers and air we heartily wish the amendment of it and that it were reduced to the form which Athanasius commends ut legentibus sint quà m cantantibus similiores But though these fractions and affected exquisiteness be laid aside yet the solemn Praise of God in Church Musick hath ever been accounted pious and laudable yea even that which is compounded with some art and elegancy for St. Paul speaks as if he had newly come from the Quire of Asaph requiring us to praise God in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs Surely he would not have exprest himself in such variety of phrase I think if he had not approved variety of Musick in the Service of the Lord. Some will say per adventure What if this daily duty of making Prayers to God were intermitted in Cathedral Churches might it not be supplied in other Parochial Churches I have but thus much to
the bones of them that have been or shall be interred here rest in peace untill a joyful resurrection Let heavenly goodness be on all those that shall here be wedded in lawful Matrimony remembring it is the mystery of Christ and his Church made one with him O let the most Divine Sacrament of Christs Body broken and his Bloud shed for us be the savour of life unto all that receive it Sanctify to holy Calling such as shall be ordained Priests and Deacons by Imposition of hands And we heartily pray that thy Word preached within these walls may be delivered with that truth sincerity zeal and efficacy that it may reclaim the ungodly confirm the righteous and draw many to salvation through Jesus Christ c. BLessed and immortal Lord who stirrest up the hearts of thy faithful people to do unto thee true and laudable service we magnifie thy Grace and the inward working of thy holy Spirit upon the heart of our gracious Soveraign Lord King CHARLES his Highness James Duke of York and his most Religious Dutchess and all Dukes Dutchesses Nobles and Peers of this Realm with our most gracious Metropolitan and all Bishops and others of the holy Orders of the Clergy all Baronets Knights and Gentry Ladies and devout persons of that Sex and for all the Gentry and godly Commonalty for all Cities Burrows Towns and Villages who have bountifully contributed to re-edify and repair this ancient and beautiful Cathedral which was almost demolished by Sons of Belial But these thy large-hearted and bountiful servants have raised up this Holy Place to its former beauty and comliness again Lord recompence them all sevenfold into their bosom As they have bestowed their temporal things willingly and largely upon this holy place so recompence them with eternal things and with increase of earthly abundance as thou knowest to be most expedient for them Let the Generation of the faithful be blessed and let their memories be precious to all posterity O Lord this is thy Tabernacle it is thy House and not mans perfect it we beseech thee in that which is wanting to accomplish it And for all those thy choice servants whose charitable hands have given their oblation to raise up again this sacred Habitation which was pulled down by impious hands give them all thine eternal Kingdom for their Habitation Amen O Thou Holy One who dwellest in the highest Heavens and lookest down upon all thy servants and considerest the condition of all men now we have begun to speak to our Lord God who are but dust and ashes permit us to continue our prayers for the souls health and external prosperity of all those that are concerned in this place Be favourable and merciful to the most reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Archbishop of Canterbury our most munificent Benefactor under whose Government we reap much peace good order and happiness O Lord be merciful to me thy Servant the most unworthy of them that wear a linnen Ephod yet by thy providence and his Majesties favour the Bishop of this Church and of the Diocess to which it belongs Be a loving God to the Dean Archdeacons Canon Residentiaries Prebendaries Vicars Coral and to all that belong to this Christian Foundation Bless them that live and are encompassed in the Close and Ground of this Cathedral Pour down the plentiful showers of thy bounteous goodness upon this neighbour City of Litchfield the Bailiffs Sheriff Aldermen all the Magistrates and all the Inhabitants thereof Lord we extend our petitions further that thou wilt please to bless all that pertain to this large Diocess for all the Clergy of it that they may be godly examples to their Flock that they may attend to Prayer to Preaching and to administer thy holy Sacraments and diligently to do all duties to those under their charge that are in health or sickness O Lord multiply thy blessings upon all Christian people in the several Shires and Districts belonging to the Government of this Bishoprick and keep us all O Lord in faith and obedience to thee in loyalty to our Soveraign in charity one toward another in submission to the good and orderly Discipline of the Church And save us from Heresies Schisms Fanatical separations and all scandals against the Gospel And guide us all to live as becometh us in the true Communion of Saints Grant all this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake To whom with Thee and thy Holy Spirit be ascribed and given c. PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Then the Bishop pronounced a solemn Blessing upon the whole Administration performed and upon all that were present Then followed the Service of Morning Prayer for that day two especial Anthems in extraordinary being added Provision was made instantly for Alms to the Poor And in a very stately Gallery which the Bishop erected in the House where he lived his Lordship annexed to the precedent Solemnity a Feast for three days First to feast all that belonged to the Choir and the Church together with the Proctors and other Officers of the Ecclesiastical Courts On a second day to remember God's great goodness in the restauration and reconciliation of the Church He feasted the Bailiffs Sheriff and all the Aldermen of the City of Lichfield On a third day to the same purpose in the same place He feasted all the Gentry Male and Female of the Close and City He would often afterwards give God thanks who had accepted him as an unworthy Instrument to build him an House that what he could not accomplish at Holbourn in his younger years when he was more able to take pains yet He had now enabled him to do in his old age and far worse times when he found by experience the Wars had exhausted not only the Wealth but Piety of the Nation and that it was far easier under Charles the First his Reign to raise an hundred pound to Pious Vses than now ten pounds So some observe that in the Primitive Church Charity ebb'd lower and lower till the stream quite dried up the first examples thereof were most bountiful to provoke the liberality of following Ages Barnabas gave all his Possessions and so did many others Ananias divided half or thereabouts but the next Age minced it to a considerable Legacy and then it fell to Charity in small money afterwards to good words only as St. James sayes and I pray be comforted sed ecquid tinnit Dolabella seldom one cross or coyn dropt from them the like he observ'd in our own Church in the Ages past and present when Christianity was first planted among us our glorious Founders built Colledges and Cathedral Churches the next rank of Benefactors endowed Schools and Parishes after Ages gave
to hold with six places than with one some only say St. Matthew has that which others have not and he must expound them yea but one Evangelist is not false without the supplement of another and St. Mark 's Gospel was in some places where St. Matthew's was not 9. This would have given great scandal in the Heathen World who a long time used no Divorces the Romans none for 500 years Spurius Carbilius Gema was the first that broke the hedge a great shame for God's people to be more sensual than the Heathen that they should exceed them in chastity and integrity 10. We plight our faith in the face of the Church to hold till death us do part not till Adultery or any other scandalous cause which promise ought to be alter'd if we do not think meet to perform it Upon these and many like considerations which he would repeat but I cannot readily remember I know he held it more safe to bear with a private inconvenience than alter the antient strictness according to the looseness of our later times and since antient Writers tell us the Turtle is pudica univira would often wish God would please that the voice of the Turtle might be again heard in our Land Indeed he was a Prelate of venerable strictness and purity who would much bewail the unruly and horrid licentiousness of our times which he conceived grew great by the lessening of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the Sword of Excommunication was lockt up in the Sheath and the Church had not the Key of it but men of vitious and lewd lives who formerly would have been thrust out for seven years were admitted without censure to the comfort of the Sacraments and so instead of godly sorrow too many exult in their sins jest and droll upon them in all Companies chant their Crimes to Musick and sing them sometimes in the high places of the Streets Our holy Bishop had a very chaste ear and would never permit the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or tongue-fornications of any but would presently reprove them wheresoever he was and he was once at a publick Table where he could not presently allay that prophane merriment so that he put back his Chair and resolv'd like Cato to be gone till the Company became sorry and promised to preserve his Episcopal reverence and gravity At a Table no man more chearful and pleasant yet ever wisely and inoffensively facete and would often call upon the company as Plato to the rough Xenocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sacrifice to the Graces to obtain hilarity But according to his own Motto Inservi Deo laetare Serve God and be chearful His Salt was ever candid and white not bitter and biting without all Sarcasms or Ironies saying mirth was too good a creature to be abused with any affrontive jeasts scurrility or bawdry He loved innocuos sine dente sales so as to make every body smile and no body blush Impudence and drolling upon Divine things he would not allow to be wit but want of wit on the other side God Almighty never forbad lawful pleasures and they are not more religious and spiritual who are more austere and morose than others Christ Jesus refused not chearful meetings but condemn'd the sad countenances and sullenness of the Pharisees and melancholy of all humours he held was fit to make a Bath for the Devil Chearfulness and innocent pleasure preserves our Mind from rust and the Body from putrifying with dulness and distempers and therefore would sometimes chearfully say he did not love to look upon a sowre man at dinner and if his Guests were pleased and merry within would bid them hang out the white Flag in their countenance In his Entertainments he was ever very Hospitable and held where Divines wanted a competency of Means besides necessary provision for a Family to be hospitable to others it was the fault of the State but where Divines had good Livings and did not keep Hospitality the Governors of the Church were in fault if they did not exact it of them Yet if he found in his Visitation an evil Churchman that spent vainly and riotously upon himself he would tell him he was guilty of Sacrilege and bound to make restitution to the Poor But in all his own Entertainments his Lordship was as free and communicative of his Discourse as of his Chear the Mind had the principal share there for he gave ever such excellent Sawce with his Meat so many witty Apophthegms and other ingenious sallies of wit as made every body eat with a better appetite He loved to be a rational Feeder not as at a Manger but a Table not much caring what his Provender was for such was all kind of food without talk Prandium Boum Asinorum and his discourse was not only chearful and pleasant but most learned and profitable full of recondite and polite learning that whoever heard presently became all ear and was not only better the next day but for ever I have heard many affirm that they never heard more learning from any man than from him sometimes at the close of a Dinner at a Table or in his Arbour afterwards and though he was very splendid in the Entertainment of his Friends yet very sparing in the entertainment of himself for himself he chose rather to have a Table replenished from an Orchard or a Dairy than from the Butchers Shambles To eat flesh he thought lawful from the beginning of the World but never used by Seth's Posterity the Line of the Church before the Floud and still recommended to all Scholars a plain Diet to which as Socrates said hunger and thirst was the best sawce and for his own part whenever he dined with any other Haugoust he lost the afternoon and therefore drank so little wine as to be almost abstemious and always of a very small sort and diluted with water for fear of fumes that hindred his Studies and Prayers saying withal that whoever eats and drinks temperately sacrifices to his own bodily health and good temper of mind but whoever eats and drinks otherwise must needs have a gross body and a foggy brain After he was made Bishop it made no change of his former sweetness and affability still he knew us and we knew him like a Star in the Firmament quo altior eo minor he rather seemed less to himself for being raised higher Who ever once discover'd insolency in him or that he bore himself with a big carriage to any man Humility with honour and urbanity with high dignity were never more really conjoyned he would still instantly condescend to speak with any Scholar though never so poor or young Once when he lay in Channel-row during his Attendance upon Parliament he rose at midnight and baptized a dying Child at a Neighbour's house when the Curate of the Parish could not be found and ever deem'd humility was the infallible cognizance or mark to distinguish
Apostolical Bishops from others according to the old Story of Austin the Monk who came into England in the time of King Ethelred 600 years after Christ and prest the West Britains of this Island to receive him as their Master and Governour because he was sent by the Bishop of Rome A learned Abbot of Bangor having no fancy to his Message consulted with an Hermit what they should think of this man and his Message from Rome hearken says the Hermit the next time you and your Brethren meet to attend this Austin in Synod observe if he shew any reverence or carry himself humbly when he comes before you but if he salute not and bear himself disdainfully receive him not for he is no Apostle of Christ At the next Synod the jolly Prelat entred among the Monks with a braving courage never stoopt nor vail'd his head but usurped the highest place in the Congregation as the Roman Legate at this the Britains disliked his Arrogancy and would not receive his Message Yet our good Bishop's humility appeared not only in his outward demeanour and verbal salutation which he knew were often forced and more then was required and that Rivers were not deepest where they overflow but in their own Channels but in paying all due respect to the deserts of others without reflecting upon his own perfections therefore it was not his fashion to undervalue other mens learning or magnify his own Upon frequent occasions he would confess his want of Eastern Languages but in such studies wherein he was conversant would by private letters give great help to many writers of books who have confessed in their returns to him that the books were not theirs but his and thereupon would have had him to have own'd them or at least to have suffered an honorable mention of himself in those books which he would in no sort permit that as Camerarius said of Melanchton he was like a Nightingale that with his singing sweetly affected all others but would not endure to hear of it himself Notwithstanding this great civility and sweetness of temper towards all people generally we must acknowledg a vanity and defect in all humane accomplishments and perfections it being not possible that almost 80 years should be spent in this Age of humane infirmity and that any mans actions should be all fine flour without mixture of coarser Meal and Bran to say so were not to commend but to flatter not truly to represent but to dawb our Bishop would often severely censure himself and said he best knew his own heart to be of sinners the chief most unthankful to God for many Divine Talents confer'd upon Him and most wanting especially in many grains of meekness and forbearance to his Neighbours Indeed he was by nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as most great wits are irritable and subject to great eruptions of anger oftentimes especially if he had met with bold and arrogant but slow parts St. Hierom acknowledges the like harsh disposition in himself and compares himself to an angry horn'd Beast and says that all the strict Discipline of Bethlehem and Watchings of Arabia could not mortifie this indecent passion in him God Almighty permitting these most holy and learned men sometimes to betray themselves in such palpable weaknesses does sufficiently convince us that humane infirmity cleaves to humane nature and absolute perfection belongs only to the Divine Yet I will add that as he was very irritable and apt to be offended so he was exceeding placable and ready to be appeased too generous he was to be vindicative and therefore though he would chide earnestly yet he ever censur'd mildly like the Apostles who had fiery tongues but gentle hands besides it was his judgment that if any man asked unreasonable things it was much better to chide him away from his house for his fault than give him good words and afterwards not do it minus negatur qui negatur celeriter and would alwayes advise other people if any thing troubled them to speak it out and never to retain a dry discontent and for the most part made his passion subservient to virtuous ends by his great natural inclination to anger becoming far more active and zealous in the carrying on his great projectments for piety and charity For any other censures of being illiberal and covetous which are so frequently and unduely cast upon Divines examin his life and few men will appear more incontaminat and free In bad times when he had lost his best Incoms and like the Widow of Sarepta had but an handful of Meal and a Cruze of Oyl left for himself and his Family yet he then thought Elias was worthy of one Cake out of it and accordingly has given a distressed friend twenty pounds at a time and would always argue that Times of persecution were the most proper seasons of charity and that charity was oftentimes the happy means to preserve us from suffering for Tyrants more commonly oppress the rich than their inopious Enemies as the Historian observed in the days of Nero Alium Thermae alium Horti trucidarunt many men might have fared better but for delicious Gardens and sweet Baths no man was safe that had a sumptuous Building or an envied Possession and therefore he believed it a prudent as well as a religious act in the Primitive Church at Jerusalem to surrender their Estates to the holy Apostles for pious uses rather than to leave them to a violent extension of prophane persons in a short time afterwards When he was made a Bishop no man was less lucripetous he desired to hold nothing in Commendam he renewed all his Leases for years and not for lives and upon very moderate Fines and spent a very considerable share thereof upon the repairs of his Cathedral often applying to the Church what the Orator said of the Common-wealth Non minori mihi est curae qualis futura sit Respublica quam qualis est hodie while he lived besides his constant charity to the poor of Lichfield City he enquired out distressed Cavaliers in his Diocess and lent them 50 or 100 l. for a year or two upon their own Bill or Bond and afterwards frequently gave it to them And thus he did sometimes to persons of a differing Religion with whom he held no Christian Communion but in this one thing of giving and never looking to receive again He reckoned that charitable Expences left to the power and managment of Executors were more theirs than the Founders and therefore was resolved to dispense his own in his life time and not be like the Whale that affords no Oyl till she die and must disgorge it To several Colledges in Cambridge he gave liberal summs of money to Clare-Hall fifty pounds to St. John's fifty pounds to Trinity Colledge he added a peculiar building call'd Bishops Hostle which cost him 1200 l. and appointed that with the yearly Rents of those Chambers Books should be
four times and no less they did most grosly abuse that Talent which the Lord had given them 1. They gave Judas thirty Pieces of Silver to betray his Master 2. They were at charges to bribe a Multitude with swords and staves to take our Saviour in the Garden 3. They set a Watch to look to the Sepulchre expence was drawn from them for that use And 4. They gave large money to have the Souldiers say as it is in my Text His Disciples came and stole him away by night Pecuniam quae in usus templi data fuerat vertunt in redemptionem mendacii says St. Hierom which I would English They took a part of Gods portion to see the Devil One says that this is a note of the Antichrist Proditur venturus armatus pecuntis a Tradition goes that he shall be full of money able to bribe abundance to take his part so that they shall maintain falshoods and errors against their own conscience Not unlikely to be true and I am sure the mystery of Antichrist began betimes even on this very day and let us all take notice of it to whom the Resurrection of our Saviour is sweet and precious what an horrid and Antichristian sin Bribery is both in the Giver and in the Taker that the Devil did fly to that sin rather than any other thereby to subvert the glory of God and the dearest consolation of all Christians the Resurrection of Jesus As Brimstone will smell in Wollen so all sorts of Bribery intended to the prejudice of truth and innocency smell of that abominable corruption which put the Chief Priests and the Souldiers into this deep confederacy that shall be succinctly handled now I have made the rest that follows more easie to be understood by opening the condition of the persons that carried the plot between them The way of the Confederacy follows by putting a forged Tale in the Souldiers mouths they must say any thing that the Priests suborn Say ye There is a threefold lie says St. Austin 1. Vain Fiction which doth neither harm nor good Quod fit merâ mentiendi libidine a mere trick of scurvy custom without any bad intention yet this is a sin 2. There is a lie which hurts one party to help another and that is a greater sin than the first 3. Tale est quod nulli prodest obest alicui there is a lie which is pernicious to some and beneficial to none that is worst of all such stuff was this that was perswaded to the Souldiers Roman Souldiers were wont to be commended for their fidelity above all Military men in the world In Rom. militibus rarò fides suit desiderata They were very trusty and true in the praise of all Histories and God gave them grace to bring truth with them as far as from the Sepulchre to the Council Chamber of the High Priests but there they lost it there they were bought out of it and to this day the Jews if they could would make us unsay all the truth that we tell them O beware of such as turn away their ears from the truth and give heed unto Fables especially note those for the enemies of Christ like these in my Text that will hire others to forge to dissemble to forswear these are they that drive the Devils Market and they must look for the reward from him he is their father the father of lies and liars But what reward shall be given thee thou false tongue Even mighty and sharpe Arrows with hot burning coals We detest Baudes and Pandars very justly the wicked dealers for other mens filthy Lusts Ought not they to be as much detested I think they ought that are other mens hirelings and Instruments to vent their falshoods and dissimulations Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia was enquired after to be put to death for being a Christian and being found had the courtesie offered him by the Serjeants that they would tell the Tyrant that sent them they could not find him they were resolved to be so kind and Anthimus had his leave to make an escape but the thing wrought in his conscience and rather than they should tell a lie for his sake he went after them and offered himself to suffer death But Sisera was not so streight-laced as we use to say he would have been content nay he desired Jael If any of the Persuers askt for such a man to say no man was there This is the case which of all others may seem most plausible whether one might be entreated to tell an untruth lawfully to save the life of another that is followed by an enemy St. Austin quickly resolves it you must not do a wicked thing to save your own life much less doth it urge you to corrupt your own soul to save another mans body So he doth extoll Firmus Bishop of Tagastum Firmus nomine firmior voluntate into whose house a fearful person fled for fear of Assassinates and being asked for him Respondit nec mentiri se posse nec hominem prodere he answered he must not lie and he would not betray a man to them that thirsted for his bloud and from this answer he would not be beaten with many wounds O take not away from me thy truth says David not Eloquence nor a shrill voice like a Symbal nor a musical warbling as sweet as a Syren none of these are the honour of a mans lips truth goes beyond them all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Synesius A word truly spoken is nobly born falshood and lies are beggarly begotten that is either out of foolish easiness or out of fear or out of base reward as when the Souldiers had the Bribe in their hand they must say any thing that was put into their mouths Say ye Say ye Why let such as they are talk their pleasure But who would believe them A lie hath a kind of croaking harshness in it at any time especially from such reporters as these I am induced to suppose that the High Priests were half jealous of them that all was not Gospel which they related about the Angels appearing and the body risen and would they have the people trust them more than they did But here was Gods judgment upon that stiff-necked Nation though these were heathen men without God in the world vile Mercenarie witnesses of no credit yet their tale was received of the Jews as if Moses had brought it and it is reported commonly to this day says St. Matthew If St. Matthew meant at that day when he wrote his Gospel that was eight years after says Theophylact. Justin Martyr says that in his days more than an hundred years after it was taken up among the Jews for a true story and that they wrote Letters to their Countrimen over all the world to assure them it was so and no otherwise But in holy Scripture that phrase to this day notes the durance and long continuance of a thing
them he gave them to speak with other Tongues with other Tongues which is simply and without any Periphrasis termed the speaking with Tongues For when Peter preached to the Gentiles of Cornelius house Acts. x. 46. the Holy Ghost fell on them and the Jews heard them speak with Tongues and magnified God In St. Mark our Saviour promised his Disciples that they should speak with new tongues Mar. xvi 17. not with tongues such as were never heard before for that were direct canting as we call it and it would turn to no profit of edification but they were such tongues as were new to them that spake them and they had the faculty to utter them in a new manner by a sudden inspiration and for a new work which was not begun before to call all the Gentiles unto the knowledge of salvation that there may be one Shepherd and one Sheepfold over all the world And then was verified that of the Prophet David There was neither speech nor language but their voices were heard among them their sound is gone out into all Lands and their words unto the ends of the world Psal xix The miracle is stupendious the end of it much more admirable than the miracle It is a glorious remonstrance of the infinite power above that from one Tongue and Dialect these holy men should be expert of a sudden to talk with all Nations whom they encountred The suddenness was wonderful to get such a volubility so as Mithridates had never the like without all study or premeditation Says Leo upon that circumstance Quà m velox est sermo sapientiae Et ubi Deus est Magister quà m cito discitur quod docetur The Word of Wisdom runs forth very swiftly and where God is the Instructer how soon doth he learn us that which he is pleased to teach us The multiplicity of that which they were able to utter was most ineffable their voice did come distinct and intelligible to all people that they might say Amen with an understanding heart when the name of Jesus is blessed in the Congregation Quot linguas quis callet totidem viris aequipollet as the old saying goes A man stands for so many men as he can speak Languages and therefore look how many Tongues one of them could speak in effect and sufficiency he was so many Apostles You see this well enough I will stand no more upon it the Miracle was one of the greatest that ever was brought to pass Even as those Jews that resisted the Holy Ghost were convinced in heart to think so their astonishment is expressed in three several terms ver 6. and 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude was confounded they were all amazed and marvelled But they did not see the end of it that it was the opening of the door to bring the Gentiles into the Church and our induction to be admitted into the number of the people of God How could our stony hearts be mollified during so many Generations during the long time of ignorance that no man preacht in our Confines to make us understand him we were Barbarians to him that spake unto us and he that should speak was a Barbarian to us The Prophets of the Old Testament that had the will of the Lord revealed to them in all kind of Mysteries were tongue-tied that they could not express themselves to the Nations that sate in darkness And as one says very elegantly Religion before was as the Musick of a Monochord now the Harp of the Apostles was not only ten stringed but even ten times ten stringed to make a chearful noise to the God of Jacob. The Tongue which was confined before to the little corner of the world in Palestina and there only to bless the Creator that made us is now set at liberty that in all Languages it may glorifie the Saviour that redeemed us And as the Fathers do all hit upon it this is a plain reversing of the curse of Babel by the blessing that came out of Sion For as God pulled down that proud Tower which those insolent builders intended by the confusion of tongues so he built up the new Jerusalem in an instant by the gift of many Tongues And as diversity of Tongues was a punishment to scatter Infidels for their pride so diversity of Tongues was made the only means to reduce Infidels that had not heard of the Word of God into the unity of the faith And they that advanced themselves against heaven says Gregory lost the communion of that one Tongue they had but they that submitted themselves to the good will and pleasure of Christ obtained the communion of all Tongues which they had not Sic humilitas unitatem meruit superbia confusionem And all this was visibly done upon this day that we may believe the Church shall never want Gods invisible grace though not in this kind yet in some other benefit For in this kind the Lord did not assist his Church any long time surely after the first hundred of years it was scarce conferred upon any although Prophesies and gifts of healing did continue among some eminent persons afterward for a great space Irenaeus seems to speak as if some few had the gift of Tongues in his time Lib. 5. c. 7. which was about one hundred and fifty years after Christs Ascension But after him I find no Author touch upon it and perhaps Irenaeus speaks of the time when he was very young and knew Polycarpus and the Scholars of the Apostles I make no reckoning of Antoninus the Plorentine nor of any reports which he and his Pew-fellows make concerning some of their Friers whom they say God did inspire with all sort of Languages They have whetted their tongues I am sure with sharp lies and in that respect they have one tongue more than a good Christian should have They that are the common minters of miracles dare not urge or pretend this faculty of all kind of Languages in our days because they would quickly be descried when they came to parley with learned men For though nothing be more expedient for the setling of the Gospel in an unknown world such as America was within one hundred and forty years than the gift of Tongues to be able to speak to those Savages to their own understanding yet the Jesuites do not arrogate that any of their Order who have visited those parts could speak new Languages by inspiration Only Turcellinus a man of no forehead or modesty says that the Jesuit Xaverius spake but his Mother Tongue to the Indians of Goa and that all those heathenish people did understand him as if it had been their native Dialect An impudent forgery testified unto by none but himself disavowed by Josephus Acosta of his own Order who was long in those parts and quite contrary to the nature of a Miracle that Infidels and Pagans who perhaps never believed should be inspired to understand and the Christian that converted
upon the Jews until times of reformation Heb. ix 10. Nay whereas the Jewish Sacraments were nicely tied to days as the Child must be circumcised on the Eighth day and the Paschal Lamb must be eaten on the Fourteenth day of the First Month these Ceremonies being expired and Christ giving new Sacraments in their place Baptism and the Lords Supper no days are punctually prescribed for the use of them but in all Ages it hath been left to the liberty of the Church and that liberty hath been used piously and prudently without all manner of Scandal For there are no particular Laws for Circumstantial observations of what time and place with what Garments with what Liturgie of Prayers The reason is Christ hath called us to liberty and we are not hedged in such streights as the Jews were Yet if the right of the day be founded in any Apostolical Precept it is all one as if it were the immediate voice of God for they had the Spirit of Christ and they had his Commission Mat. xxviii 20. Go and baptize all Nations teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you If they have taught us any thing this way it is commanded by Christ Now in all the Epistles Apostolical there is but one place that hath any seeming to speak Imperatively 1 Cor. xvi 1. Concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye Vpon the first day of the Week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him c. Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Constitution from St. Paul but about what Not for Church Assemblies to meet together on the first day of the week He doth not say when you are together give to the poor but let every one lay somewhat by him And that imports that they were to deduct somewhat from their gains in their private Family Apud te repone domum tuam fac Ecclesiam lay by your Alms at home and make your own house the Church says St. Chrysostome But admit that this were a solemn day as I will not stand in it but it was as well for religious Assemblies as for charitable Contributions yet St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the order he took was for Alms and not for appointment of the Lords day that must come in by way of Practice of which I shall speak by and by and not by way of Precept Shall I conclude then that no Commandment can be found in the New Testament which will reach to the imposition of this day Not so neither It is enough if we have general warranty for it though not particular The Church hath ratified it to be kept holy in all Ages And Christ hath confirmed their act to be most obligatory He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me None can appoint a day but God by way of excellency or original authority but the Fathers of the Church being appointed Rulers by Christ may do this by delegate and derivative authority and by vertue of their Commission It is as slender as a rush to object that the Lord is the immediate founder of that holy time because it is called the Lords day If it be Gods own immediate assignation point it out Neither is there any impediment but that the Church may give the name Lords day to any holy day as well as a Bishops Consecration of some fair structure may cause it to be called the Lords house or as the laying on of his hands may make one that is a Lay-man be called a Minister of our Lord Jesus Christ But you will say it were a faster tye to hold that the Injunction is immediately from God then mediately from the Church Beloved Saul was appointed a King immediately from God and Hezekiah came not so to the Crown as Saul did but by succession of bloud Yet were not the People as much subject in conscience to Hezekiah as to Saul I trow they were So Aaron was called by God to be the High Priest Zadok was put into the place by Solomon he reigning under God And was not Zadok to be obeyed in his Priesthood as well as Aaron It is a common but a dangerous error to think that pious Ordinations are but weak and impotent if they be conveyed by the mediation of the voice of the Church Whereas if they be convenient means to the better fulfilling of the Commandment of God they are subordinate to the Divine Law nay they are incorporate into it and become sacred and venerable And remember that the Composers of them are sacred Persons and authorized to that Office by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the Commission of Christ The last Member of our enquiry is what ground we have for sanctifying this day in the name of the Lord from the practice of the Apostles and from the practice of the Church in all Ages And this tenure as I conceive will prove so strong that it will make it not only a firm Ecclesiastical Sanction but also a Divine Institution There are manifest footsteps that the Apostles were occupied in Sacred Offices upon this day that is uncontroulable The first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break bread that is to celebrate the Supper of the Lord and Paul preached unto them Acts xx 7. I know that Paul taught every day of the Week sometimes Acts xix 9. But this preaching joyned with the breaking of bread and that eye which the Church in all Ages hath cast upon this place as a pattern fit to be followed it makes it eminent and remarkable Again the first day of the Week being signed out in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia for relieving the poor it may well be inferred that it was the practice of the Apostle and Apostolical men to exercise Religious duties upon that day then the day was graced with this name of dignity to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day Rev. x. 10. For though it may be put off that the recurrent day wherein Christ rose is called by St. John the Lords day yet that evasion is taken off because Apostolical men who no doubt did keep the sound form of words did use the very same word while the Apostles were living and immediatly after Ignatius whose felicity it was to be St. Johns Scholar says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let every one that loves Christ keep the Lords day holy And as he speaks so did all others that were near his age The practice of the Apostles is so pregnant for it in Scripture that all the Fathers of the nearest times unto them call it their Institution and Tradition So doth Irenaeus St. Basil and a multitude of the same rank To put this Point home because it especially concerns the Doctrine which I have in hand it may be truly opposed that the practice of the Apostles doth not always make a
that was snatcht away unpreparedly without all sense of death It is true she had no Will to make she had no Legacies to bequeath for all was lost She had no house to set in order with Hezekiah for her Habitation was consumed with fire and brimstone yet she had a Soul to set in order which was ten thousand times more than all beside And although I will define nothing rashly against her for this judgment sake for I have learnt that modesty to let God only judge his own servants yet this momentary destruction of Lots Wife I am sure is worth both this and many hours meditations Quod cuivis cuiquam that which hapned but once since the world began to this one person may happen in some kind every day to any man Saul was desperately driven to seek to raise Samuel from the dead and appear before him this instance in my Text is one that never went down to the grave among the dead that she might always be in the remembrance of the living how she looked back to Sodom and became a Pillar of Salt Which words I divided formerly into such terms as might both respect the Contents of the Text and be expedient places for your memory Therefore I called the two principal branches an Epitaph and a Tomb. The Epitaph thus But his Wife looked back from behind him The Tomb which this Epitaph respects in that which follows And she became a Pillar of Salt If God made Epitaphs the stones of the Church should not be guilty of such flattery as they are for none of the offences of Lots Wife are left out in these few words but she is accused and very justly of these particulars as I shewed before 1. Of disobedience that she would not observe the precise Commandment of God in every motion of her body 2. Of great folly and blindness of heart that she would reject God and the preservation of her own life upon such easie conditions as to hold still her head 3. Of a Spirit most unattentive to learn for Lot went before her constantly and stedfastly the example was in her eye every step from Sodom to Zoar yet she would go her own ways 4. Of incredulity an incredulous soul Wisd x. 7. Either she did not believe that Sodom should be consumed as God had sent word or else she thought it would not be the worse for her though she turn'd about and lookt upon it 5. She relapsed and fainted in well-doing and desired to live again among those wicked sinners from whom God had withdrawn her This was opened in the first part The second is as strange for a Tomb as this was for an Epitaph A Christian Poet wrote thus Enigmatically upon it Cadaver nec habet suum sepulchrum sepulchrum nec habet suum cadaver sepulchrum tamen cadaver intus That she was made a Carkass that had no Sepulchre nay that she was made a Sepulchre that had no Carkass or rather that she was both Carkass and Sepulchre And to conform my self to the resolution of this Riddle I will consider this punishment inflicted from God two ways in reference to her self as to the Carkass and in reference to that into which she was turned as to the Sepulchre She that was punisht 1. Was one of those very few that professed the name of God among thousands that were unrighteous 2. She was one of four that were brought out of Sodom and yet there wanted one of those four before they got into Zoar. 3. She was well nigh pass'd all danger and suffred shipwrack in the very Haven 4. She did wilfully cast her self away at the last cast therefore we read she was lost but not that she was ever bemoaned After this in reference to the Pillar of Salt 1. I consider it as a new punishment the like was never heard 2. As a sudden or momentaneous punishment 3. As a miraculous and most supernatural punishment 4. As a mortal punishment but not as a final destruction Of these in order The Lord told Abraham in the former Chap. that the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was very great and therefore He was come down to see how grievous their sin was That which called him down to execute vengeance was not the iniquity of Lots house that little Family was all the remnant He had there to call upon his name but the filthy sins of the other Canaanites that abounded with rank and unnatural pollutions And the Angel tells Lot in this Chapter they were come to spare him and his but the Lord had sent them to destroy that City because the cry of it was waxen great before the Lord. They confess their Commission was given them to punish none but those Children of perdition that were aliens from all fear of God And yet behold one that was in the Catalogue of them that professed the Worship of God she offended and the hand of Gods fury is stretched out upon her She became a pillar of Salt Says one upon it Par est ut judex priùs suam domum examinet quà m alienam A Magistrate that will reform abuses let him make his own house the first example of reformation and then his Justice may more confidently call any to account that are not so near unto him St. Paul grounding upon that equitable case deciphers a good Bishop to be one that ruleth his own house well for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God 1 Tim. iii. 5. This brings it to our apprehension directly why this person in my Text was chastised with no less than death because God would shew his justice upon his own Family where they sinned that unconverted Reprobates might expect nothing but the utmost of severity For if these things be done in a green tree what shall be done in a dry Luk. xxiii 31. There is no sort of anguish no calamity of any name or magnitude Captivities Famines Diseases that doth not shew it self as soon within the bowels of the Church as in any part of the World beside For a small trespass is taken more unkindly at their hands where grace abounds than a great profanation from the Heathen who were left as forsaken as the Mountains of Gilboa in Davids curse upon whom no dew of heaven did fall A small sin in Judah is as bad as an Idol in Samaria A lukewarmness or faintness of Religion in Laodicaea as bad as Paganism in those Regions that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death Therefore the first stroke of indignation shall light upon their sins from whom the Lord did expect the least offence and the most obedience Slay utterly both young and old both Maids and Children and begin at my Sanctuary says God Ezek. ix 6. You hear that the sword of vengeance shall be drawn forth first against the Sanctuary that is the pollutions of the Sanctuary Christ will sooner take his scourge