therefore if you do believe this go to your prayers and go to your guards and go to your labour and try what God will do for you For whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye shall receive them and ye shall have them Now consider Do not we every day pray in the Divine Hymn called Te Deum Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin And in the Collect at morning prayer and grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doing may be ordered by thy governance to do alwayes that which is righteous in thy sight Have you any hope or any faith when you say that Prayer And if you do your duty as you can do you think the failure will be on Gods part Fear not that if you can trust in God and do accordingly though your sins were as scarlet yet they shall be as white as snow and pure as the feet of the holy Lamb. Only let us forsake all those weak propositions which cut the nerves of Faith and make it impossible for us to actuate all our good desires or to come out from the power of sin 2. He that would be free from the slavery of sin and the necessity of sinning must alwayes watch I that 's the point but who can watch alwayes Why every good man can watch alwayes and that we may not be deceived in this let us know that the running away from a temptation is a part of our watchfulness and every good employment is another great part of it and a laying in provisions of Reason and Religion before hand is yet a third part of this watchfulness and the conversation of a Christian is a perpetual watchfulness not a continual thinking of that one or those many things which may indanger us but it is a continual doing something directly or indirectly against sin He either prayes to God for his Spirit or relies upon the Promises or receives the Sacrament or goes to his Bishop for Counsel and a Blessing or to his Priest for Religious Offices or places himself at the feet of good Men to hear their wise sayings or calls for the Churches Prayers or does the duty of his calling or actually resists Temptation or frequently renews his holy Purposes or fortifies himself by Vows or searches into his danger by a daily examination so that in the whole he is for ever upon his guards * This duty and caution of a Christian is like watching lest a man cut his finger Wise men do not often cut their fingers and yet every day they use a knife and a mans eye is a tender thing and every thing can do it wrong and every thing can put it out yet because we love our eyes so well in the midst of so many dangers by Gods providence and a prudent natural care by winking when any thing comes against them and by turning aside when a blow is offered they are preserved so certainly that not one man in ten thousand does by a stroak lose one of his eyes in all his life time If we would transplant our natural care to a spiritual caution we might by Gods grace be kept from losing our souls as we are from losing our eyes and because a perpetual watchfulness is our great defence and the perpetual presence of Gods grace is our great security and that this Grace never leaves us unless we leave it and the precept of a dayly watchfulness is a thing not only so reasonable but so many easie wayes to be performed we see upon what terms we may be quit of our sins and more than Conquerors over all the Enemies and Impediments of Salvation 3. If you would be in the state of the Liberty of the Sons of God that is that you may not be servants of sin in any instance be sure in the mortifications of sin willingly or carelesly to leave no remains of it no nest-egg no principles of it no affections to it if any thing remains it will prove to us as Manna to the sons of Israel on the second day it will breed worms and stink Therefore labour against every part of it reject every proposition that gives it countenance pray to God against it all and what then Why then Ask and you shall have said Christ. Nay say some it is true you shall be heard but in part only for God will leave some remains of sin within us lest we should become proud by being innocent So vainly do men argue against Gods goodness and their own blessings and Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil sayes they contrive witty arts to undo themselves being intangled in the periods of ignorant disputations But as to the thing it self if by the remains of sin they mean the propensities and natural inclinations to forbidden objects there is no question but they will remain in us so long as we bear our flesh about us and surely that is a great argument to make us humble But these are not the sins which God charges on his people But if by remains we mean any part of the habit of sin any affection any malice or perverseness of the Will then it is a contradiction to say that God leaves in us such remains of Sin lest by innocence we become Proud for how should Pride spring in a mans heart if there be no remains of Sin left And is it not the best the surest way to cure the Pride of our hearts by taking out every root of bitterness even the root of Pride it self Will a Physitian purposely leave the Reliques of a disease and pretend he does it to prevent a relapse And is it not more likely he will relapse if the sickness be not wholly cured * But besides this If God leaves any remains of Sin in us what remains are they and of what sins Does he leave the remains of Pride If so that were a strange cure to leave the remains of Pride in us to keep us from being proud But if not so but that all the remains of Pride be taken away by the grace of God blessing our endeavours what danger is there of being proud the remains of which Sin are by the grace of God wholly taken away But then if the Pride of the heart be cured which is the hardest to be removed and commonly is done last of all who can distrust the power of the Spirit of God or his goodness or his promises and say that God does not intend to cleanse his Sons and Servants from all unrighteousness and according to S. Pauls prayer keep their bodies and souls and spirits unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus But however let God leave what remains he please all will be well enough on that side but let us be careful as far as we can that we leave none lest it be severely imputed to us and the fire break out and consume us 4. Let
Bishops laid the foundation their Successors must not only preserve whatsoever is fundamental but build up the Church in a most holy Faith taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation and that no hay or rotten wood be built upon it and above all things that a most holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith So the Apostles laid the foundation and built the walls of the Church and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven For let us talk and dispute eternally we shall never compose the controversies in Religion and establish truth upon unalterable foundations as long as men handle the word of God deceitfully that is with designs and little artifices and secular partialities and they will for ever do so as long as they are proud or covetous It is not the difficulty of our questions or the subtlety of our Adversaries that makes disputes interminable but we shall never cure the itch of disputing or establish Unity unless we apply our selves to humility and contempt of riches If we will be contending let us contend like the Olive and the Vine who shall produce best and most fruit not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noise in a wind And all other methods are a beginning at a wrong end And as for the people the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of Faith and Government is by reducing them to live good lives When the children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness and filthy lusts they quickly fell into abominable idolatries and S. Paul says that men make shipwrack of their Faith by putting away a good conscience for the mystery of Faith is best preserved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pure conscience saith the same Apostle secure but that and we shall quickly end our disputes and have an obedient and conformable people but else never 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches and gave them being so they preserve them in being For without Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starved and dye and without Bishops there can be no Priests and consequently no Sacraments and that must needs be a supreme Order from whence Ordination it self proceeds For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no Record of Ordination but an Apostolical hand was in it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the chief one of the superior and ruling Clergy and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church the Bishop always had that power it was never denyed to him and it was never imputed to Presbyters and S. Hierom himself when out of his anger against John Bishop of Jerusalem he endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop though in very many places he spake otherwise yet even then also and in that heat he excepted Ordination acknowledging that to be the Bishops peculiar And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy do as Julian did they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock and take away their Shepheards and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the channels of salvation quite another way and leave the Church to a perpetual uncertainty whether she be alive or dead and the people destitute of the life of their Souls and their daily bread and their spiritual comforts and holy blessings The consequent of this is If Sacraments depend upon Bishops then let us take care that we convey to the people holy and pure materials sanctified with a holy Ministry and ministred by holy persons For although it be true that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend wholly upon the worthiness of him that ministers yet it is as true that it does not wholly rely upon the worthiness of the Receiver but both together relying upon the goodness of God produce all those blessings which are designed The Minister hath an influence into the effect and does very much towards it and if there be a failure there it is a defect in one of the concurring causes and therefore an unholy Bishop is a great diminution to the peoples blessing S. Hierom presses this severely Impiè faciunt c. They do wickedly who affirm that the holy Eucharist is consecrated by the words alone and solemn prayer of the Consecrator and not also by his life and holiness And therefore S. Cyprian affirms that none but holy and upright men are to be chosen who offering their Sacrifices worthily to God may be heard in their prayers for the Lords people but for others Sacrificia eorum panis luctus saith the Prophet Hosea their Sacrifices are like the bread of sorrow whoever eats thereof shall be defiled This discourse is not mine but S. Cyprian's and although his words are not to be understood dogmatically but in the case of duty and caution yet we may lay our hands upon our hearts and consider how we shall give an account of our Stewardship if we shall offer to the people the bread of God with impure hands it is of it self a pure nourishment but if it passes through an unclean vessel it loses much of its excellency 3. The like also is to be said concerning Prayer For the Episcopal Order is appointed by God to be the great Ministers of Christs Priesthood that is to stand between Christ and the people in the entercourse of prayer and blessing We will give our selves continually to prayer said the Apostles that was the one half of their employment and indeed a Bishop should spend very much of his time in holy prayer and in diverting Gods judgments and procuring blessings to the people for in all times the chief of the Religion was ever the chief Minister of blessing Thus Abraham blessed Abimelech and Melchisedeck blessed Abraham and Aaron blessed the people and without all controversie saith the Apostle the less is blessed of the greater But then we know that God heareth not sinners and it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that shall prevail And therefore we may easily consider that a vitious Prelate is a great calamity to that Flock which he is appointed to bless and pray for How shall he reconcile the penitents who is himself at enmity with God How shall the Holy Spirit of God descend upon the Symbols at his Prayer who does perpetually grieve him and quench his holy fires and drive him quite away How shall he that hath not tasted of the Spirit by contemplation stir up others to earnest desires of Coelestial things Or what good shall the people receive when the Bishop layes upon their head a covetous or a cruel an unjust or an impure hand But therefore that I may use the words of S. Hierom Cum ab Episcopo gratia in populum transfundatur mundi totius Ecclesiae totius condimentum sit Episcopus
the meaning to be what faction does he follow what are the Articles of his Sect not what is the manner of his life and if men be zealous for their party and that interest then they are precious men though otherwise they be covetous as the Grave factious as Dathan Schismatical as Corah or proud as the falling Angels Alas these things will but deceive us the faith of a Christian cannot consist in strifes about words and perverse disputings of men These things the Apostle calls prophane and vain bablings and mark what he sayes of them these things will encrease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are in themselves ungodliness and will produce more they will encrease unto more ungodliness but the faith of a Christian had other measures that was faith then which made men faithful to their vows in Baptism The faith of a Christian was the best security in contracts and a Christians word was as good as his bond because he was faithful that promised and a Christian would rather dye than break his word and was always true to his trust he was faithful to his friend and loved as Jonathan did David This was the Christian faith then their Religion was to hurt no man and to do good to every man and so it ought to be True Religion is to visit the Fatherless and Widow and to keep our selves unspotted of the World That 's a good religion that 's pure and undefiled so S. James and S. Chrysostom defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true Religion to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pure faith and a godly life for they make up the whole mystery of godliness and no man could then pretend to faith but he that did do valiantly and suffer patiently and resist the Devil and overcome the world These things are as properly the actions of Faith as alms is of Charity and therefore they must enter into the moral definition of it And this was truly understood by Salvian that wise and godly Priest of Massilia what is faith and what is believing saith he hominem fideliter Christo credere est fidelem Deo esse h. e. fideliter Dei mandata servare That man does faithfully believe in Christ who is faithful unto God who faithfully keeps Gods commandments and therefore let us measure our faith here by our faithfulness to God and by our diligence to do our Masters Comandments for Christianorum omnis religio sine scelere maculâ vivere said Lactantius the whole religion of a Christian is to live unblameably that is in all holiness and purity of conversation 2. When our faith is spoken of as the great instrument of justification and salvation take Abraham's faith as your best pattern and that will end the dispute because that he was justified by faith when his faith was mighty in effect when he trusted in God when he believed the promises when he expected a resurrection of the dead when he was strong in Faith when he gave glory to God when against hope he believed in hope and when all this past into an act of a most glorious obedience even denying his greatest desires contradicting his most passionate affections offering to God the best thing he had and exposing to death his beloved Isaac his laughters all his joy at the command of God By this faith he was justified saith S. Paul by these works he was justified faith S. James that is by this faith working this obedience And then all the difficulty is over only remember this your faith is weak and will do but little for you if it be not stronger then all your secular desires and all your peevish angers Thus we find in the holy Gospels this conjunction declared necessary Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Here is as glorious an event promised to Faith as can be expressed Faith shall obtain any thing of God True but it is not Faith alone but faith in prayer Faith praying not Faith simply believing So S. James the prayer of Faith shall save the sick but adds it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man so that faith shall prevail but there must be prayer in faith and fervour in prayer and devotion in fervour and righteousness in devotion and then impute the effect to faith if you please provided that it be declared that effect cannot be wrought by Faith unless it be so qualified But Christ adds one thing more When ye stand praying forgive but if ye will not forgive neither will your Father forgive you So that it will be to no purpose to say a man is justified by faith unless you mingle charity with it for without the charity of forgiveness there can be no pardon and then justification is but a word when it effects nothing 3. Let every one take heed that by an importune adhering to and relying upon a mistaken Faith he do not really make a shipwrack of a right Faith Hymenaeus and Alexander lost their Faith by putting away a good conscience and what matter is it of what Religion or Faith a man be of if he be a Villain and a cheat a man of no truth and of no trust a lover of the World and not a lover of God But I pray consider can any man have Faith that denyes God That 's not possible and cannot a man as well deny God by an evil action as by an heretical Proposition Cannot a man deny God by works as much as by words Hear what the Apostle sayes They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Disobedience is a denying God Nolumus hunc regnare is as plain a renouncing of Christ as nolumus huic credere It is to no purpose to say we believe in Christ and have Faith unless Christ reign in our hearts by Faith 4. From these premises we may see but too evidently that though a great part of mankind pretend to be saved by Faith yet they know not what it is or else wilfully mistake it and place their hopes upon sand or the more unstable water Believing is the least thing in a justifying Faith for Faith is a conjugation of many Ingredients and faith is a Covenant and faith is a Law and faith is Obedience and faith is a Work and indeed it is a sincere cleaving to and closing with the terms of the Gospel in every instance in every particular Alas the niceties of a spruce understanding and the curious nothings of useless speculation and all the opinions of men that make the divisions of heart and do nothing else cannot bring us one drop of comfort in the day of tribulation and therefore are no parts of the strength of faith Nay when a man begins truly to fear God and is in the Agonies of Mortification all these new-nothings and curiosities will lye neglected by as
a vice that she might only see it and loath it but never taste of it so much as to be put to her choice whether she would be virtuous or no. God intending to secure this Soul to himself would not suffer the follies of the world to seize upon her by way of too neer a trial or busie temptation 3. She was married young and besides her businesses of Religion seemed to be ordained in the providence of God to bring to this honourable Family a part of a fair Fortune and to leave behind her a fairer Issue worth ten thousand times her Portion And as if this had been all the publick business of her life when she had so far served Gods ends God in mercy would also serve hers and take her to an early blessedness 4. In passing through which line of providence she had the art to secure her eternal Interest by turning her Condition into Duty and expressing her Duty in the greatest eminency of a virtuous prudent and rare affection that hath been known in any example I will not give her so low a testimony as to say only that she was chast She was a Person of that severity modesty and close Religion as to that particular that she was not capable of uncivil temptation and you might as well have suspected the Sun to smell of the Poppy that he looks on as that she could have been a person apt to be sullied by the breath of a soul question 5. But that which I shall note in her is that which I would have exemplar to all Ladies and to all Women She had a love so great for her Lord so intirely given up to a dear affection that she thought the same things and loved the same loves and hated according to the same enmities and breathed in his soul and lived in his presence and languished in his absence and all that she was or did was only for and to her dearest Lord Si gaudet si flet St tacet hunc loquitur Coenat propinat poscit negat innuit unus Naevius est And although this was a great enamel to the beauty of her Soul yet it might in some degrees be also a reward to the Virtue of her Lord For she would often discourse it to them that convers'd with her that he would improve that interest which he had in her affection to the advantages of God and of Religion and she would delight to say that he called her to her Devotions he encouraged her good inclinations he directed her piety he invited her with good Books and then she loved Religion which she saw was not only pleasing to God and an act or state of duty but pleasing to her Lord and an act also of affection and conjugal obedience and what at first she loved the more forwardly for his sake in the using of Religion left such relishes upon her spirit that she found in it amability enough to make her love it for its own So God usually brings us to him by instruments of nature and affections and then incorporates us into his Inheritance by the more immediate relishes of Heaven and the secret things of the Spirit He only was under God the light of her eyes and the cordial of her spirits and the guide of her actions and the measure of her affections till her affections swell'd up into a Religion and then it could go no higher but was confederate with those other duties which made her dear to God which rare combination of Duty and Religion I chuse to express in the words of Solomon She forsook not the guide of her youth nor brake the Covenant of her God 6. As she was a rare Wife so she was an excellent Mother For in so tender a constitution of spirit as hers was and in so great a kindness towards her Children there hath seldom been seen a stricter and more curious care of their persons their deportment their nature their disposition their learning and their customs And if ever kindness and care did contest and make parties in her yet her care and her severity was ever victorious and she knew not how to do an ill turn to their severer part by her more tender and forward kindness And as her custom was she turned this also into love to her Lord For she was not only diligent to have them bred nobly and religiously but also was careful and sollicitous that they should be taught to observe all the circumstances and inclinations the desires and wishes of their Father as thinking that virtue to have no good circumstances which was not dressed by his copy and ruled by his lines and his affections And her prudence in the managing her children was so singular and rare that when ever you mean to bless this family and pray a hearty and a profitable prayer for it beg of God that the children may have those excellent things which she designed to them and provided for them in her heart and wishes that they may live by her purposes and may grow thither whither she would fain have brought them All these were great parts of an excellent Religion aâ— they concerned her greatest temporal relations 7. But if we examine how she demeaned her self towards God there also you will find her not of a common but of an exemplar piety She was a great reader of Scripture confining her self to great portions every day which she read not to the purposes of vanity and impertinent curiosities not to seem knowing or to become talking not to expound and rule but to teach her all her duty to instruct her in the knowledge and love of God and of her Neighbours to make her more humble and to teach her to despise the world and all its gilded vanities and that she might entertain passions wholly in design and order to Heaven I have seen a female Religion that wholly dwelt upon the face and tongue that like a wanton and an undressed tree spends all its juice in suckers and irregular branches in leafs and gum and after all such goodly outsides you should never eat an Apple or be delighted with the beauties or the perfumes of a hopeful blossom But the Religion of this excellent Lady was of another constitution It took root downward in humility and brought forth fruit upward in the substantial graces of a Christian in Charity and Justice in Chastity and Modesty in fair Friendships and sweetness of Society She had not very much of the forms and outsides of godliness but she was hugely careful for the power of it for the moral essential and useful parts such which would make her be not seem to be religious 8. She was a very constant person at her prayers and spent all her time which Nature did permit to her choice in her devotions and reading and meditating and the necessary offices of houshold Government every one of which is an action of Religion some by nature some by adoption To these also
Oaten pipe nonne id flagitium est te aliis consilium dare foris sapere tibi non posse auxiliari That 's a burning shame and an intolerable wickedness that a Minister shall be like Marcotis or the Statue of Mercury shew the way to others and himself stand still like a painted block to be wise abroad and a very fool in his own concerns and unable to do himself good Dicit Reslakis ornate ipsum posteae ornato alios first trim thy self and then adorn thy Brother said the Rabbins but certain it is he that cannot love to see others better than himself it cannot be that he should heartily endeavour it Scilicet expectes ut tradat mater honestos Atque alios mores quam quos habet utile porro Filiolam turpi vetulae producere turpem It is not to be expected that a diseased Father should beget wholsome Children like will come from like whether the principle be good or evil But secondly For this is but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is but the least evil there is yet much worse behind A wicked Minister cannot with success and benefit pray for the people of his Charges and this is a great matter for Prayer is the Key of David and God values it at so high a rate that Christ is made the Prince of all Intercession and God hath appointed Angels to convey to his Throne of Grace the Prayers of the Saints and he hath made Prophets and Priests even the whole Clergy the peculiar Ministers of Prayer Orabit pro eo Sacerdos the Priest shall pray for him the Priest shall make an attonement for his sin and it shall be forgiven him And Gods anger is no where more fiercely described than when things come to that pass that he will not hear the Priest or Prophet praying for the people g. pray not thou for this people neither lift up Prayer nor cry for them neither make intercession to me for behold mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place when the Prayers of the gracious and acceptable persons the presidents of prayer are forbidden then things are desperate it is a greater Excommunication the man sins a sin unto death and I say not that thou pray for him that sins unto death This I say is the Priests Office and if the people lose the benefit of this they are undone to Bishop Timothy S. Paul gave it in charge That Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions be made for all men and S. James advised the sick to send for the Elders of the Church the Bishops and Priests and let them pray over them and then their sins shall be forgiven them but how that is supposed the Minister prays fervently and be a righteous man for the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much it is promised on no other terms Qualis vir talis oratio is an old rule as is the man such is his Prayer The Prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord said Solomon he cannot prevail for himself much less for others I remember that Bias being once in a storm and a company of Villains in the Ship being affrighted called upon their Gods for help Cavete said he ne vos Dii interesse sentiunt take heed lest the Gods perceive you to be here lest we all perish for your sakes and upon surer grounds it was that David said If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer And what then do you think will be the event of those Assemblies where he that presents the prayers of all the people is hateful to God Will God receive the oblation that is presented to him by an impure hand The Levitical Priests were commanded to wash before they sacrificed and every man is commanded to repent before he prays My Son hast thou sinned do so no more and then ask pardon for thy former fault and can we hope that the Minister who with wrath and doubting and covetousness presents the peoples prayers that ever those intercessions shall pierce the clouds and ascend to the Mercy-Seat and descend with a blessing Believe it not a man that is ungracious in his life can never be gracious in his Office and acceptable to God we are abundantly taught this by those excellent words of God by the Prophet Micah The Heads of Sion judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us As if God had said nothing is so presumptuous and unreasonable as to lean upon God and think he will be among us when the Priests and the Prophets are covetous and wicked No he declares it expresly v. 7. Then shall the Seers be ashamed and the Divines confounded yea they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of God God will not answer For sometimes the case is so that though Noah Daniel and Job were there God would not hear that is when the people are incorrigibly wicked and the decree is irrevocably gone out for judgment But there are other times in which the prayers of innocent people being presented by an ungracious Minister and Intercessor are very much hindred in prevailing In such cases God is put to Extraordinaries and Christ and Christs Angels are then the suppletories and at the best the peoples prayers go alone they want the assistance of the Angel of the Church and they get no help or furtherance from him and probably very much hindrance according to that of S. Greg. Cum is qui displicet ad intercedendum mittitur irati animus ad deteriora provocatur Alexander hated to see Zercon and g. if he had interceded for Clytus it would but have hastened his death a mans suit thrives the worse for having a hated Intercessor If g. he that robs a Church of a Patin or a Chalice be a sacrilegious person what is he that steals from the Church of God so far as lies in him the fruit of all their holy Prayers that corrupts the Sacrifice and puts Colliquintida into the Cups of Salvation and mingles death in the pottage provided for the Children and Disciples of the Prophets I can say no more but to expostulate with them in those upbraiding words of God in the Prophet Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces Confundentur Divini operient vultus suos omnes all such Divines shall be confounded and shall cover their faces in the day of sad accounts Divini sunt non Theologi they are Diviners and not Divines Witches rather than Prophets they are the Sons of Bosor and have no Portion in the Oeconomy of God In short if so much holiness as I formerly described be required of him that is appointed to preach to others to offer spiritual sacrifices
for the People to bless the People to divert Judgments from them to deprecate the wrath of God to make an attonement for them and to reconcile them to the eternal mercy certain it is that though the Sermons of a wicked Minister may do some good not so much as they ought but some they can but the Prayer of a wicked Minister does no good at all it provokes God to anger it is an abomination in his righteous eyes Thirdly The Ecclesiastical Order is by Christ appointed to minister his holy Spirit to the People The Priests in Baptism and the holy Eucharist and Prayer and Intercession The Bishop in all these and in Ordination besides and in Confirmation and in Solemn Blessing Now then consider what will be the event of this without effect Can he minister the Spirit from whom the Spirit of God is departed And g. since all wickedness does grieve the Spirit of God and great wickedness defiles his Temples and destroys them unto the ground and extinguishes the Spirit that drives iniquity away these persons are no longer spiritual men they are carnal and sold under sin and walk not in the Spirit they are spiritual just as Simon Magus was a Christian or as Judas was an Apostle he had the name of it but what says the Scripture he fell from it by transgression only this as he that is Baptized has for ever a title to the Promises and a possibility of Repentance and a right to Restitution until he renounces all and never will or can repent so there is in all our holy Orders an indelible character and they can by a new life be restored to all their powers but in the mean time while they abide in sin and carnality the cloud is over the face of the Sun and the Spirit of God appears not in a fiery tongue that is not in material and active demonstrations and how far he will be ministred by the Offices of an unworthy man we know not only by all that is said in Scripture we are made to fear that things will not be so well with the people till the Minister be better only this we are sure of that though one man may be much the worse for another mans sin yet without his own fault no man shall perish and God will do his work alone and the Spirit of God though he be ordinarily conveyed by Ecclesiastical Ministries yet he also comes irregularly and in ways of his own and prevents the external Rites and prepossesses the hearts of his Servants and the people also have so much portion in the Evangelical Ministration that if they be holy they shall receive the holy Ghost in their hearts and will express him in their lives and themselves also become Kings and Priests unto God while they are zealous of good works And to this purpose may the proverb of the Rabbins be rightly understood Major est qui respondit Amen quam qui benedicit He that sayes Amen is greater than he that blesses or prays meaning if he heartily desires what the other perfunctorily and with his lips only utters not praying with his heart and with the acceptabilities of a good life the Amen shall be more than all the Prayer and the People shall prevail for themselves when the Priest could not according to the saying of Midrasich Tehillim Quicunque dicit Amen omnibus viribus suis ei aperiuntur portae paradisi sicut dictum est ingredietur gens justa He that says Amen with his whole power to him the gates of Paradise shall be open according to that which is said And the righteous Nation shall enter in And this is excellently discoursed of by S. Austin Sacramentum gratiae dat etiam Deus per malos ipsam vero gratim non nisi per seipsum vel per sanctos suos and g. he gives remission of sins by himself or by the members of the Dove so that good Men shall be supplied by God But as this is an infinite comfort to the people so it is an intolerable shame to all wicked Ministers the benefit which God intended to minister by them the people shall have without their help and whether they will or no but because the people get nothing by their ministration or but very little the Ministers shall never have their portion where the good people shall inhabit to eternal Ages And I beseech you to consider what an infinite confusion that will be at the day of Judgment when they to whom you have preach'd Righteousness shall enter into everlasting glory and you who have preached it shall have the curse of Hanameel and the reward of Balaam the wages of unrighteousness But thus it was when the Wise men asked the Doctors where Christ should be born they told them right but the Wise men went to Christ and found him and the Doctors sate still and went not Fourthly Consider That every sin which is committed by a Minister of Religion is more than one and it is as soon espied too for more men look upon the Sun in an Eclipse than when he is in his beauty but every spot I say is greater every mote is a beam it is not only made so but it is so it hath not the excuses of the people is not pitiable by the measures of their infirmity and g. 1. It is reckoned in the accounts of malice never of ignorance for ignorance it self in them is always a double sin and g. it is very remarkable that when God gave command to the Levitical Priests to make attonement for the sins of ignorance in the people there is no mention made of the Priests sin of ignorance God supposed no such thing in them and Moses did not mention it and there was no provision made in that case as you may see at large in Levit. 4. and Numb 15. But 2. because every Priest is a man also observe how his sin is described Levit. 4. 3. If the Priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the People that is if he be so degenerate and descend from the glory where God hath placed him and do sin after the manner of the people then he is to proceed to remedy intimating that it is infinitely besides expectation it is a strange thing it is like a monstrous production it is unnatural that a Priest should sin according as the People do however if he does it is not connived at which a sentence gentle as that finds which is a sin of ignorance or the sin of the people no it is not for it is always malice it is always uncharitableness for it brings mischief to their Congregations and contracts their blessings into little circuits and turns their bread into a stone and their Wine to Vinegar And then besides this 3. It is also scandalous and then it is infinitely against Charity such Ministers make the people of God to sin and that 's against the nature of their Office
must give your selves up wholly to the Word of God and Prayer they must watch and pray that they fall not into temptation but you must watch for your selves and others too the people must mourn when they sin but you must mourn for your own infirmities and for the sins of others and indeed if the life of a Clergy-man does not exceed even the piety of the People that life is in some measure scandalous and what shame was ever greater than is described in the Parable of the Traveller going from Jerusalem to Jericho when to the eternal dishonour of the Levite and the Priest it is told that they went aside and saw him with a wry neck and a bended head but let him alone and left him to be cured by the good Samaritane The Primitive Church in her Discipline used to thrust their delinquent Clergy in laicam communionem even then when their faults were but small and of less reproach than to deserve greater censures yet they lessened them by thrusting them into the Lay Communion as most fit for such Ministers who refused to live at the height of Sacerdotal piety Remember your dignity to which Christ hath called you shall such a man as I flee said the brave Eleazar shall the Stars be darkness shall the Embassadors of Christ neglect to do their King honour shall the glory of Christ do dishonourable and inglorious actions Ye are the glory of Christ saith S. Paul remember that I can say no greater thing unless possibly this may add some moments for your care and caution that potents potenter cruciabuntur great men shall be greatly tormented if they sin and to fall from a great height is an intolerable ruine Severe were the words of our Blessed Saviour Ye are the Salt of the earth if the Salt have lost his savour it is thenceforth good for nothing neither for Land nor yet for the Dunghil a greater dishonour could not be expressed he that takes such a one up will shake his fingers I end this with the saying of S. Austin Let your religious prudence think that in the world especially at this time nothing is more laborious more difficult or more dangerous than the Office of a Bishop or a Priest or a Deacon Sed apud Deum nihil beatius si eo modo militetur quo noster Imperator jubet but nothing is more blessed if we do our duty according to the Commandment of our Lord. I have already discoursed of the integrity of life and what great necessity there is and how deep obligations lie upon you not only to be innocent and void of offence but also to be holy not only pure but shining not only to be blameless but to be didactick in your lives that as by your Sermons you preach in season so by your lives you may preach out of season that is at all seasons and to all men that they seeing your good works may glorifie God on your behalf and on their own THE Ministers Duty IN LIFE DOCTRINE SERM. X. The second Sermon on Titus 2. 7. In Doctrine shewing uncorruptness gravity sincerity c. NOW by the order of the words and my own undertaking I am to tell you what are the Rules and Measures of your Doctrine which you are to teach the people 1. Be sure that you teach nothing to the people but what is certainly to be found in Scripture Servemus eas mensuras quas nobis per Legislatorem Lex spiritualis enunciat the whole spiritual Law given us by our Law-giver that must be our measures for though by perswasion and by faith by mis-perswasion and by error by false Commentaries and mistaken glosses every man may become a Law unto himself and unhappily bind upon his Conscience burdens which Christ never imposed yet you must bind nothing upon your Charges but what God hath bound upon you you cannot become a Law unto them that 's the only priviledge of the Law-giver who because he was an interpreter of the Divine Will might become a Law unto us and because he was faithful in all the house did tell us all his Fathers Will and g. nothing can be Gods Law to us but what he hath taught us But of this I shall need to say no more but the words of Tertullian Nobis nihil licet ex nostro arbitrio indulgere sed nec eligere aliquid quod de suo arbitrio aliquis induxerit Apostolos Domini habemus Authores qui nec ipsi quicquam de suo arbitrio quod inducerent elegerunt sed acceptam à Christo disciplinam fideliter nationibus assignarunt Whatsoever is not in and taken from the Scriptures is from a private spirit and that is against Scripture certainly for no Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Peter it is not it cannot be of private interpretation that is unless it come from the Spirit of God which is that Spirit that mov'd upon the waters of the new Creation as well as of the old and was promised to all to you and to your Children and to as many as the Lord our God shall call and is bestowed on all and is the earnest of all our inheritance and is given to every man to profit withall it cannot prove God to be the Author nor be a light to us to walk by or to show others the way to Heaven This Rule were alone sufficient to guide us all in the whole Oeconomy of our Calling if we were not weak and wilful ignorant and abused but the holy Scripture hath suffered so many interpretations and various sounds and seemings and we are so prepossess'd and predetermin'd to misconstruction by false Apostles without and prevailing passions within that though it be in it self sufficient yet it is not so for us and we may say with the Eunuch How can I understand unless some man should guide me and indeed in S. Paul's Epistles there are many things hard to be understood and in many other places we find that the well is deep and unless there be some to help us to draw out the latent senses of it our souls will not be filled with the waters of Salvation Therefore that I may do you what assistances I can and if I cannot in this small portion of time instruct you yet that I may counsel you and remind you of the best assistances that are to be had if I cannot give you rules sufficient to expound all hard places yet that I may shew how you shall sufficiently teach your people by the rare rules and precepts recorded in places that are or may be made easie I shall first give you some advices in general and then descend to more particular Rules and Measures 1. Because it is not to be expected that every Minister of the Word of God should have all the gifts of the Spirit and every one to abound in Tongues and in Doctrines and in Interpretations you may therefore make great use
blowing from one point but like light issuing from the body of the Sun it is light round about and in every word of God there is a treasure and something will be found somewhere to answer every doubt and to clear every obscurity and to teach every truth by which God intends to perfect our understandings But then take this rule with you Do not pass from plainess to obscurity nor from simple principles draw crafty conclusions nor from easiness pass into difficulty nor from wise notices draw intricate nothings nor from the wisdom of God lead your hearers into the follies of men your principles are easie and your way plain and the words of faith are open and what naturally flows from thence will be as open but if without violence and distortion it cannot be drawn forth the proposition is not of the family of faith Qui nimis emungit elicit sanguinem he that wrings too hard draws blood and nothing is fit to be offer'd to your charges and your flocks but what flows naturally and comes easily and descends readily and willingly from the fountains of salvation 4. Next to this analogy or proportion of faith let the consent of the Catholick Church be your measure so as by no means to prevaricate in any doctrine in which all Christians always have consented This will appear to be a necessary Rule by and by but in the mean time I shall observe to you that it will be the safer because it cannot go far it can be instanced but in three things in the Creed in Ecclesiastical Government and in external forms of worship and Liturgy The Catholick Church hath been too much and too soon divided it hath been us'd as the man upon a hill us'd his heap of heads in a Basket when he threw them down the hill every head run his own way quot capita tot sentèntiae and as soon as the Spirit of Truth was opposed by the Spirit of Error the Spirit of peace was disordered by the Spirit of division and the Spirit of God hath over-power'd us so far that we are only fallen out about that of which if we had been ignorant we had not been much the worse but in things simply necessary God hath preserved us still unbroken all Nations and all Ages recite the Creed and all pray the Lords Prayer and all pretend to walk by the Rule of the Commandments and all Churches have ever kept the day of Christs Resurrection or the Lords day holy and all Churches have been governed by Bishops and the Rites of Christianity have been for ever administred by separate Orders of men and those men have been always set apart by Prayer and the imposition of the Bishops hands and all Christians have been baptized and all baptized persons were or ought to be and were taught that they should be confirm'd by the Bishop and Presidents of Religion and for ever there were publick forms of Prayer more or less in all Churches and all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest in these things all Christians ever have consented and he that shall prophecy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of these things hath no part in that Article of his Creed he does not believe the Holy Catholick Church he hath no fellowship no communion with the Saints and Servants of God It is not here intended that the doctrine of the Church should be the Rule of Faith distinctly from much less against the Scripture for that were a contradiction to suppose the Church of God and yet speaking and acting against the will of God but it means that where the question is concerning an obscure place of Scripture the practice of the Catholick Church is the best Commentary Intellectus qui cum praxi concurrit est spiritus vivificans said Cusanus Then we speak according to the Spirit of God when we understand Scripture in that sense in which the Church of God hath always practis'd it Quod pluribus quod sapientibus quod omnibus videtur that 's Aristotles Rule and it is a Rule of Nature every thing puts on a degree of probability as it is witnessed by wise men by many wise men by all wise men and it is Vincentius Lirinensis great Rule of truth Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus and he that goes against what is said always and every where and by all Christians had need have a new revelation or an infallible spirit or he hath an intolerable pride and foolishness of presumption Out of the Communion of the Universal Church no man can be saved they are the body of Christ and the whole Church cannot perish and Christ cannot be a head without a body and he will for ever be our Redeemer and for ever intercede for his Church and be glorious in his Saints and g. he that does not sow in these furrows but leaves the way of the whole Church hath no pretence for his errour no excuse for his pride and will find no alleviation of his punishment These are the best measures which God hath given us to lead us in the way of truth and to preserve us from false doctrines and whatsoever cannot be prov'd by these measures cannot be necessary There are many truths besides these but if your people may be safely ignorant of them you may quietly let them alone and not trouble their heads with what they have so little to do things that need not to be known at all need not to be taught for if they be taught they are not certain or are not very useful and g. there may be danger in them besides the trouble and since God hath not made them necessary they may be let alone without danger and it will be madness to tell stories to your flocks of things which may hinder salvation but cannot do them profit And now it is time that I have done with the first great remark of doctrine noted by the Apostle in my Text all the Guides of souls must take care that the doctrine they teach be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and incorrupt the word of God the truth of the Spirit That which remains is easier 2. In the next place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grave and reverend no vain notions no pitiful contentions and disputes about little things but becoming your great employment in the ministery of souls and in this the Rules are easie and ready 1. Do not trouble your people with controversies whatsoever does gender strife the Apostle commands us to avoid and g. much more the strife it self a controversie is a stone in the mouth of the hearer who should be fed with bread and it is a temptation to the Preacher it is a state of temptation it engages one side in lying and both in uncertainty and uncharitableness and after all it is not food for souls it is the food of contention it is
neither tempteth he any man God is true and every man a lyar rule LXIII Let no Preacher compare one Ordinance with another as Prayer with Preaching to the disparagement of either but use both in their proper seasons and according to appointed Order rule LXIV Let no man preach for the praise of men but if you meet it instantly watch and stand upon your guard and pray against your own vanity and by an express act of acknowledgment and adoration return the praise to God Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel and do thou tremble fearing left the judgment of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechism rule LXV EVery Minister is bound upon every Lords day before Evening Prayer to instruct all young people in the Creed the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Doctrine of the Sacraments as they are set down and explicated in the Church Catechism rule LXVI Let a Bell be tolled when the Catechising is to begin that all who desire it may be present but let all the more ignorant and uninstructed part of the people whether they be old or young be requir'd to be present that no person in your Parishes be ignorant in the foundations or Religion Ever remembring that if in these things they be unskilful whatever is taught besides is like a house built upon the sand rule LXVII Let every Minister teach his people the use practice methods and benefits of meditation or mental prayer Let them draw out for them helps and rules for their assistance in it and furnish them with materials concerning the life and death of the ever blessed Jesus the greatness of God our own meanness the dreadful sound of the last Trumpet the infinite event of the two last sentences at doomsday let them be taught to consider what they have been what they are and what they shall be and above all things what are the issues of eternity glories never to cease pains never to be ended rule LXVIII Let every Minister exhort his people to a frequent confession of their sins and a declaration of the state of their Souls to a conversation with their Minister in spiritual things to an enquiry concerning all the parts of their duty for by preaching and catechising and private entercourse all the needs of Souls can best be serv'd but by preaching alone they cannot rule LXIX Let the people be exhorted to keep Fasting days and the Feasts of the Church according to their respective capacities so it be done without burden to them and without becoming a snare that is that upon the account of Religion and holy desires to please God they spend some time in Religion besides the Lords-day but be very careful that the Lords-day be kept religiously according to the severest measures of the Church and the commands of Authority ever remembring that as they give but little Testimony of Repentance and Mortification who never fast so they give but small evidence of their joy in God and Religion who are unwilling solemnly to partake of the publick and Religious Joys of the Christian Church rule LXX Let every Minister be diligent in exhorting all Parents and Masters to send their Children and Servants to the Bishop at the Visitation or other solemn times of his coming to them that they may be confirm'd And let him also take care that all young persons may by understanding the Principles of Religion their vow of Baptism the excellency of Christian Religion the necessity and advantages of it and of living according to it be fitted and disposed and accordingly by them presented to the Bishop that he may pray over them and invocate the holy Spirit and minister the holy Rite of Confirmation VI. Rules and Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick rule LXXI EVery Minister ought to be careful in visiting all the Sick and Afflicted persons of his Parish ever remembring that as the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge so it is his duty to minister a word of comfort in the time of need rule LXXII A Minister must not stay till he be sent for but of his own accord and care to go to them to examine them to exhort them to perfect their repentance to strengthen their faith to encourage their patience to perswade them to resignation to the renewing of their holy vows to the love of God to be reconcil'd to their neighbours to make restitution and amends to confess their sins to settle their estate to provide for their charges to do acts of piety and charity and above all things that they take care they do not sin towards the end of their lives For if repentance on our death-bed seem so very late for the sins of our life what time shall be left to repent us of the sins we commit on our death-bed rule LXXIII When you comfort the afflicted endeavour to bring them to the true love of God for he that serves God for Gods sake it is almost impossible he should be oppressed with sorrow rule LXXIV In answering the cases of conscience of the sick or afflicted people consider not who asks but what he asks and consult in your answers more with the estate of his soul than the conveniency of his estate for no flattery is so fatal as that of the Physician or the Divine rule LXXV If the sick person enquires concerning the final estate of his soul he is to be reprov'd rather than answer'd only he is to be called upon to finish his duty to do all the good he can in that season to pray for pardon and acceptance but you have nothing to do to meddle with passing final sentences neither cast him down in despair nor raise him up to vain and unreasonable confidences But take care that he be not carelesly dismiss'd rule LXXVI In order to these and many other good purposes every Minister ought frequently to converse with his Parishioners to go to their houses but always publickly with witness and with prudence left what is charitably intended be scandalously reported and in all your conversation be sure to give good example and upon all occasions to give good counsel VII Of ministring the Sacraments publick Prayers and other duties of Ministers rule LXXVII EVery Minister is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the Common Prayers every day in the week at Morning and Evening and iâ— great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in Churches that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease rule LXXVIII The Minister is to instruct the people that the Baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next Sunday after the birth of the child left importune and unnecessary delay occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of God and the Religion of the Lord Jesus before it be born again admitted to the Promises of the Gospel
of us by any measures but of the Commandment without and the heart and the conscience within but he never intended his Laws to be a snare to us or to entrap us with consequences and dark interpretations by large deductions and witty similitudes of faults but he requires of us a sincere heart and a hearty labour in the work of his Commandments he calls upon us to avoid all that which his Law plainly forbids and which our Consciences do condemn This is the general measure The particulars are briefly these 1. Every Christian is bound to arrive at that state that he have remaining in him no habit of any sin whatsoever Our old man must be crucified the body of sin must be destroyed he must no longer serve sin sin shall not have the dominion over you All these are the Apostles words that is plainly as I have already declared you must not be at that pass that though ye would avoid sin ye cannot For he that is so is a most perfect slave and Christs freed man cannot be so Nay he that loves sin and delights in it hath no liberty indeed but he hath more shew of it than he that obeys it against his will Libertatis servaveris umbram Si quicquid jubeare velis He that loves to be in the place is a less prisoner than he that is confined against his will 2. He that commits any one sin by choice and deliberation is an enemy to God and is under the dominion of the flesh In the case of deliberate sins one act does give the denomination he is an Adulterer that so much as once foully breaks the holy Laws of Marriage He that offends in one is guilty of all saith S. James S. Peters Denial and Davids Adultery had passed on to a fatal issue if the mercy of God and a great repentance had not interceded But they did so no more and so God restored them to Grace and Pardon And in this sense are the words of S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that does a sin is of the Devil and he that is born of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he does not commit a sin he chooses none he loves none he endures none talia quae non faciet bonae fidei spei Christianus they do no great sin and love no little one A sin chosen and deliberately done is as Tertullians expression is crimen devorà torium salutis it devours salvation For as there are some sins which can be done but once as a man can kill his Father but once or himself but once so in those things which can be repeated a perfect choice is equivalent to a habit it is the same in principle that a habit is in the product In short he is not a child of God that knowingly and deliberately chooses any thing that God hates 3. Every Christian ought to attain to such a state of life as that he never sin not only by a long deliberation but also not by passion I do not say that he is not a good Christian who by passion is suddenly surpriz'd and falls into folly but this I say that no passion ought to make him choose a sin For let the sin enter by anger or by desire it is all one if the consent be gain'd It is an ill sign if a man though on the sudden consents to a base action Thus far every good man is tied not only to endeavour but to prevail against his Sin 4. There is one step more which if it be not actually effected it must at least be greatly endeavoured and the event be left to God and that is that we strive for so great a dominion over our sins and lust as that we be not surprized on a sudden This indeed is a work of time and it is well if it be ever done but it must alwayes be endeavoured But in this particular even good men are sometimes unprosperous S. Epiphanius and S. Chrysostom grew once into choler and they past too far and lost more than their argument they lost their reason and they lost their patience and Epiphanius wished that S. Chrysostom might not die a Bishop and he in a peevish exchange wished that Epiphanius might never return to his Bishoprick when they had forgotten their foolish anger God remembred it and said Amen to both their cursed speakings Nay there is yet a greater example of humane frailty St. Paul and Barnabas were very holy persons but once in a heat they were both to blame they were peevish and parted company This was not very much but God was so displeased even for this little flye in their Box of Oyntment that their story sayes they never saw one anothers face again These earnest emissions and transportations of passion do sometime declare the weakness of good men but that even here we ought at least to endeavour to be more than Conquerors appears in this because God allows it not and by punishing such follies does manifest that he intends that we should get victory over our sudden passions as well as our natural lusts And so I have done with the third inquiry in what degree God expects our innocence and now I briefly come to the last particular which will make all the rest practicable I am now to tell you how all this can be effected and how we shall get free from the power and dominion of our sins 4. The first great instruments is Faith He that hath Faith like a grain of Mustard-seed can remove Mountains the Mountains of sin shall fall flat at the feet of the Faithful man and shall be removed into the sea the sea of Christs blood and penitential waters Faith overcometh the World saith S. John and walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh there are two of our Enemies gone the world and the flesh by Faith and the Spirit by the Spirit of Faith and as for the Devil put on the shield of Faith and resist the Devil and he will flee from you saith the Apostle and the powers of sin seem insuperable to none but to them that have not Faith we do not believe that God intends we should do what he seems to require of us or else we think that though Gods grace abounds yet sin must superabound expresly against the saying of S. Paul or else we think that the evil spirit is stronger than the good Spirit of God Hear what St. John saith My little children ye are of God and have overcome the evil one for the spirit that is in you is greater than that which is in the world Believest thou this If you do I shall tell you what may be the event of it When the Father of the boy possessed with the Devil told his sad story to Christ he said Master if thou canst do any thing I pray help me Christ answered him If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth N. B. And
and design of their persons God sent them to bring the people from sin and not to be like so many Jeroboams the Sons of Nebat to set forward the Devils Kingdom to make the people to transgress the Covenant of their God For they who live more by example than by precept will more easily follow the works of their Minister than the words of God and few men will aspire to be more righteous than their guide they think it well if they be as he is and hence it is no wonder that we see iniquity so popular Oppida tota canem venerantur nemo Dianam every man runs after his lusts and after his money because they see too many of the Clergy little looking after the ways of godliness But then consider let all such persons consider 5. That the accounts which an ungodly and an irreligious Minister of Religion shall make must needs be intolerable when besides the damnation which shall certainly be inflicted upon them for the sins of their own lives they shall also reckon for all the dishonours they do to God and to Religion and for all the sins of the people which they did not in all just ways endeavour to hinder and all the sins which their Flocks have committed by their evil example and undisciplin'd lives 6. I have but two words more to say in this affair 1. Every Minister that lives an evil life is that person whom our Blessed Saviour means under the odious appellative of a Hireling For he is not the hireling that receives wages or that lives of the Altar sine farinâ non est lex said the DD. of the Jews without bread-corn no man can preach the Law and S. Paul though he spared the Corinthians yet he took wages of other Churches of all but in the Regions of Achaia and the Law of Nature and the Law of the Gospel have taken care that he that serves at the Altar should live of the Altar and he is no hireling for all that but he is a hireling that does not do his duty he that flies when the Wolf comes says Christ he that is not present with them in dangers that helps them not to resist the Devil to master their temptations to invite them on to piety to gain souls to Christ to him it may be said as the Apostle did of the Gnosticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gain to them is godliness and Theology is but artificium venale a trade of life to fill the belly and keep the body warm An cuiquam licere putas quod cuivis non licet Is any thing lawful for thee that is not lawful for every man and if thou dost not mind in thy own case whether it be lawful or no then thou dost but sell Sermons and give Counsel at a price and like a flye in the Temple taste of every Sacrifice but do nothing but trouble the religious Rites for certain it is no man takes on him this Office but he either seeks those things which are his own or those things which are Jesus Christs and if he does this he is a Minister of Jesus Christ if he does the other he is the hireling and intends nothing but his belly and God shall destroy both it and him 7. Lastly These things I have said unto you that ye sin not but this is not the great thing here intended you may be innocent and yet not zealous of good works but if you be not this you are not Good Ministers of Jesus Christ But that this is infinitely your duty and indispensably incumbent on you all besides the express words of my Text and all the precepts of Christ and his Apostles we have the concurrent sence of the whole Church the Laws and expectations of all the world requiring of the Clergy a great and an examplar sanctity for g. it is that upon this necessity is founded the Doctrine of all Divines in their Discourses of the states and orders of Religion of which you may largely inform your selves in Gerson's Treatise De perfectione Religionis in Aquinas 22. q. 184. and in all his Scholars upon that Question the sum of which is this That all those institutions of Religions which S. Anselm calls factitias Religiones that is the Schools of Discipline in which men forsaking the world give themselves up wholly to a pious life they are indeed very excellent if rightly performed they are status perfectionis acquirendae they are excellent institutions for the acquiring perfection but the state of the superior Clergy is status perfectionis exercendae they are states which suppose perfection to be already in great measures acquired and then to be exercised not only in their own lives but in the whole Oeconomy of their Office and g. as none are to be chosen but those who have given themselves up to the strictness of a holy life so far as can be known so none do their duty so much as tolerably but those who by an exemplar sanctity become patterns to their Flocks of all good works Herod's Doves could never have invited so many strangers to their Dove-cotes if they had not been besmeared with Opobalsamum But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Didymus make your Pigeons smell sweet and they will allure whole Flocks and if your life be excellent if your virtues be like a precious oyntment you will soon invite your Charges to run in odorem unguentorum after your precious odours But you must be excellent not tanquam unus de populo but tanquam homo Dei you must be a man of God not after the common manner of men but after Gods own heart and men will strive to be like you if you be like to God but when you only stand at the door of virtue for nothing but to keep sin out you will draw into the folds of Christ none but such as fear drives in Ad majorem Dei gloriam to do what will most glorifie God that 's the line you must walk by for to do no more than all men needs must is servility not so much as the affection of Sons much less can you be Fathers to the people when you go not so far as the Sons of God for a dark Lanthorn though there be a weak brightness on one side will scarce inlighten one much less will it conduct a multitude or allure many followers by the brightness of its flame And indeed the Duty appears in this that many things are lawful for the people which are scandalous in the Clergy you are tied to more abstinences to more severities to more renunciations and self-denials you may not with that freedom receive secular contentments that others may you must spend more time in Prayers your Alms must be more bountiful your hands more open your hearts enlarged others must relieve the poor you must take care of them others must shew themselves their brethren but you must be their Fathers they must pray frequently and fervently but you