Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	work_n	world_n	wrought_v	553	4	7.4863	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94109	A sermon preached at the consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God, Gilbert Lord Bishop of London, Humphry Lord Bishop of Sarum, George Lord Bishop of Worcester, Robert Lord Bishop of Lincolne, George Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. On Sunday 28. October, 1660. at S. Peters Westminster. By John Sudbury, one of the prebendaries of that church.	Sudbury, John, 1604-1684.	1660 (1660)	Wing S6136; Thomason E1048_10; ESTC R203686	23,261	45

which might well be a question among them who thought it so great a happinesse to be at quiet without any trouble to molest and to live at ease without any burden to oppresse that there could be nothing in the greatest Office to recompense the losse of this tranquillity and liberty which men in great office cannot hope to enjoy for how can a man be at quiet that puts himself into the noyse of business or how can he live at his ease that hath the Government upon his shoulders Besides it is a very desirable thing to have the thoughts free for Contemplation wherein a man may converse with many of the wisest and best men that have ever been in the world who being dead yet speak or with Saints and Angels yea with Christ and God and any thing to which his thoughts may have recourse when they are free and if there be a life on earth that comes near to that of Saints in Heaven it may seem to be this But a great Office hath ever too much work to allow a man this freedom for his thoughts Solitude and Silence are much fitter for such a purpose then the noyse and croud which must needs be where there is so much Work Yet the Philosopher could think and say that though the Dignity and splendor of a great Office was no recompense for the losse of his quiet and his ease and the freedom of his thoughts for contemplation yet because some men must be in office it might stand with his wisdome to take it upon him rather then to suffer it to fall into the hands of a foole But still this is but to take the Office upon him not to desire it If there be any thing that can make a wise and good man desire this Office it must be the Goodnesse of the work there is nothing else that can make satisfaction for the great care and paines which lies so heavy upon the Office A Bishop in his Office is like a Candle upon a Candlestick set up to give light to them that are in the house by consuming himself It is but a small recompense for consuming himself that he is set up in a golden Candlestick but to give light to them that are in the house is so good a Work that for the doing of that a great charity might make a man desire it though it be with the disadvantage to himself of consuming himself I say a great Charity for it must be a greater Charity then hath been taugh in the School of Philosophy but not greater then may be learned in the School of Christ where we are taught to mind the good of other men as well as our own and a much greater good of other men with the losse of a lesse good of our own according to the pattern and example of our Lord and Master who emptied himself that he might fill us The good of other men which is or may be wrought by this Work is so great as may well invite a good proficient in this Schoole to part with all that is dear to him in this world for the procuring of it though they for whose good he consumes himself return him nothing but evil for good and hatred for his good will according to that which the Apostle speaks of himself 2. Cor. 12.15 I will very gladly spend and be spent for your sake though the more abundantly I love the lesse I be loved And yet I do not say that any man may desire the Office of a Bishop for the goodness of the Work For as it is a good so it is a great work and as it is desirable because it is good so it is no lesse dreadfull because it is great It is a good work to watch for the Souls of men but it is a great work Heb. 13.17 so to watch for the souls of men as they that must give an account Onus Angelicis humeris formidandum This hath made some wise and good men to call it a burthen which the Angels might be afraid to take upon their shoulders 2 Cor. 2.16 It made the Apostle to say who is sufficient for these things And if it put so great an Apostle to make that question he that would offer himself in answer had need first consider himself and in that consideration lay aside himself or else he may easily be deceiv'd in himself by thinking too well of his own Sincerity and Sufficiency because it is his own When our Saviour put that question Luke 12.42 Who is that faithfull and wise Steward whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold he is thought by some to make enquiry after one that is fitly qualified for the Office of a Bishop Certain it is that such a man ought to be a wise and a good man For if he be not a wise man he will not know how to behave himself in the house of God and if he be not a faithfull and good man he will not do that which he knows he ought to do He must be a wise man that he may understand his work and he must be a good man that he may do it But it may be a question whether it be enough that he be a wise and a good man and whether the Office of a Bishop do not require the wisest and the best of men When the Apostle saith in the following verses that he must not be a novice and that he must be apt to teach and that he must be one that knows how to Rule his own house well he doth not speak as if one that were thus qualified were wise enough but one that is not thus qualifi'd is not wise enough He must not only not be a novice but one that is able in Doctrine to shew uncorruptness Tit. 2.7 8. gravity sincerity sound speech that cannot be condemn'd that he that is of the contrary part may be asham'd Tit. 1.9 having no evill to say of him He must not only be apt to teach but likewise able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers He must not only know how to rule his own house well but likewise to take care of the Church of God The Philosopher who said that Kingdomes would then be most happy when Kings were Philosophers or Philosophers were Kings gave this reason for it That Philosophers above all other men spend their time and paines in observing and considering how God governs the world and having this pattern so much in their eye they must needs be so much the fitter to govern under him The Office of a Bishop is to govern the Church as a Vicar of Christ and to the end he may do his work well he had need be one that hath not only well studied his pattern but such a one as is very conformable thereunto He must have much of his wisdom and much of his temper so much of his Lenity who would not break a bruised

right the limitation of them to such or such a Diocese which is by Ecclesiastical constitution is not a limitation of their power and authority but of the exercise of it not to lessen them but to preserve peace and unity in the Church In a word the Apostles were the chief Governours of the Church which was in their time the Bishops of the Church in their time And what need we say more for the Dignity of an Office which is so much the same with that of an Apostle But because I have said thus much of it it is the more needfull before I passe from this particular to speak something of the difference between this Power and Authority which is the highest in the Church and that which is the highest in the Kingdoms of the world Both are powers ordained of God not to oppose or confront but to assist each other The Power of the one is the power of his Sword which is a rod of iron the Power of the other is the power of his Sword which is the sword of the Spirit the Word of God The Power of the one serves to punish them that will not be subject to him with banishment imprisonment confiscation death c. The Power of the other banisheth no man out of his Country but only out of the Church it cuts off no man from the land of the living but only from the communion of Christians it deprives no man of any right that belongs to him either as a man or as a member of any Common-wealth Kingdom or other Society in them but only that which belongs to Christians In which it deprives him of nothing but that to which he hath no right And as the Powers are distinct so likewise are the Ends of them the End of the one being the civill and temporall good of them that are under it the End of the other the spirituall and eternall good But these two distinct Powers with their different Ends do not hinder but help each other For while the Bishop useth his power to make men good Christians he makes them so much the better Subjects it being a part of their Christianity to be good Subjects their Allegiance is bound up in their Religion so as they cannot depart from the one unlesse they likewise renounce the other a Christian cannot be a Rebell but he must depart from his Faith and turn infidel if not in word yet in deed So that the Spirituall Sword doth not clash with the Temporall but joyn with it in the same work and so assists and strengthens it as that it doth that work which belongs properly to the temporall Sword better than it self The King with his Sword commands all that are under him to live in obedience to him and to his Lawes for fear of incurring his displeasure and falling under his power which can but kill the Body The Bishop with his power commands subjects to be obedient to their Soveraigns and their Lawes out of Conscience towards God whose Ministers they are for fear of his displeasure and falling under his power who can cast both Soul and Body into hell And as the Spirituall Sword doth not clash with the Temporall so neither doth the Temporall Sword clash with the Spirituall as I could shew you but that I must remember that my Text speaks not of the Office of a King but of a Bishop and there be other particulars in it for which I must reserve some time and therefore I passe on to the next Particular which is the Work belonging to this Office The Office of a Bishop is an Office not of Dignity only but of Work the Dignity is annex'd to it for the Works sake partly as necessary for the better exercise and discharge of it and partly as a due for the worthiness of the Work 1 Thes 5.12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake He doth not say for their Office and Dignity but for their Works sake For the Office and Dignity were not made for the Bishop that he might have an Office but the Bishop was made for the Office and the Office for the Work This is the end of all the Offices which Christ hath set in the Church Eph. 4.11 He gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Not for the dignity of a Magistracy but for the work of the Ministry for every one of these Offices is a ministry even the highest of them all For who is Paul and who is Apollo 1 Cor. 3.5 but ministers and a ministry is a Work As therefore in the Church of the Jews God ordained Priests not that they might have the Office of Priesthood but that they might minister to the Lord in the Priests Office Levit. 7.35 So in the Christian Church he hath ordained severall Officers but all of them to this end that every one of them might minister to him in his Office When our Saviour committed this Office to St. Peter he did not say to him Be thou a Bishop or a Pastor but he said unto him Feed my sheep John 21.15 to mind him chiefly of his Work for which he put him in Office And S. Peter in like manner minds the Elders or Bishops not to stand so much upon their Dignity as to look well to their Work 1 Pet. 5.1 c. The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder Feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not as being lords over God's heritage c. For they are not the lords Luke 12.42 but the Stewards whom the Lord hath set over his houshold not to exercise dominion like the Princes of the Gentiles but to give them their portion of meat in due season It is not their flock but the flock of God over which they are set not to feed themselves with the fat and to cloth themselves with the wooll but to feed and oversee the flock of God it is not their heritage but the heritage of God which is committed to them not as a principality to have a dominion in it but as a charge to have the care and inspection over it The Work which belongs to the Office of a Bishop must needs be greater then that which belongs to the Office of a Priest or Presbyter for every Bishop is a Priest but every Priest is not a Bishop as much greater as the Office is higher and the sphere in which his work lies of a larger compasse A Priest or Presbyter is over his flock inasmuch as it is his Office to minister to them the things that are holy and to instruct and teach them the word of God but his flock is but a