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 subtilty 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 sayes 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 withour Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starved and dy 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 alwayes 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 Shepherds and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the chanels 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 he 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. Cyprians 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 looses 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 imployment 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 controversy saith the Apostle the lâ—ss 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 Celestial 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 c. Since it is intended that from the Bishop grace should be diffused amongst all the people there is not in the world a greater indecency then a holy office ministred by an unholy person and no greater injury to the people then that of the blessings which God sends to them by the ministries Evangelical they should be cheated and defrauded by a wicked Steward And therefore it was an excellent prayer which to this very purpose was by the son of Sirach made in behalf of the High Priests the sons of Aaron God give you wisdom in your heart to
Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood the Ruler of the people the Shepherd of the Flock the Governour of the Church the Minister of Christ and the Priest of God These are great titles and yet less then what is said of them in Scripture which calls them Salt of the Earth Lights upon a candlestick Stars and Angels Fathers of our Faith Embassadors of God Dispensers of the Misteries of God the Apostles of the Churches and the Glory of Christ but then they are great burdens too for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intrusted with the Lords people that 's a great charge but there is a worse matter that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls they are the words of S. Paul and transcribed into the 40th Canon of the Apostles and the 24th Canon of the Councel of Antioch And now I hope the envy is taken off for the honour does not pay for the burden and we can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity as it is a Rule but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty that as the load of it is almost insufferable so the event of it is very formidable if we take not great care For this Stewardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principality and a Ministry So it was in Christ he is Lord of all and yet he was the Servant of all so it was in the Apostles it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lot was to be Apostles and yet to serve and minister and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the 70. use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosbeth which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interlineary translation by Exactores Bishops are only Gods Ministers and tribute gatherers requiring overseeing them that they do their duty and therefore here the case is so and the burden so great and the dignity so allayed that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load nor the proud man plainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger It is indeed a Rule but it is paternal it is a Government but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is neither a power to constrain nor a commission to get wealth for it must be without necessity and not for filthy lucre sake but it is a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Luke as of him that ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Mark as of him that is servant of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. John such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary traveller or if you please take it in the words of our Blessed Lord himself that He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire rule possibly you may have it but all that rule under him are Servants to them that are ruled and therefore you get nothing by it but a great labour and a busy imployment a careful life and a necessity or making severe accounts But all this is nothing but the general measures I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom for because we must be followers of them as they were of Christ the recounting what they did worthily in their generations will not only demonstrate how useful how profitable how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church but it will at the same time teach us our duty by what services we are to benefit the Church in what works we are to be imployed and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bishops not only because the Apostles who were Bishops were the first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches but because the Apostolical men whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion were by all Antiquity affirmed to have been Diocesan Bishops in so much that as S. Epiphanius witnesses there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ many Churchâ—s who had in them no other Clergy but a Bishop and his Deacons and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater But the Bishops names are known they are recorded in the book of Life and their praise is in the Gospel such were Timothy and Titus Clemens and Linus Marcus and Dionysius Onesimus and Caius Epaphroditus and S. James our Lords Brother Evodius and Simeon all which if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith and any truth in their stories and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch Livy and Tacitus think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance and that all the brave men the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches and had Dioceses for their Charges The consequent of this consideration is this It Bishops were those upon whose Ministry Christ founded and built his Church let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars the Stewards of Christs Family must be wise that Christ requires and if the order be necessary to the Church wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order For it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ shall by their unskilfulness be but Babes themselves understanding not the secrets of Religion the mysteries of Godliness the perfections of the Evangelical law all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual life A Bishop must be exercised in Godliness a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls not satisfied with an ordinary skill in making homilies to the people and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases but ready to answer in all secret inquiries and able to convince the gainsayers and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect If the first 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
judge his people in Righteousness that their good things be not abolished and that their glory may endure for ever 4. All the offices Ecclesiastical alwayes were and ought to be conducted by the Episcopal order as is evident in the universal doctrine and practise of the primitive Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the 40 th Canon of the Apostles Let the Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without leave of the Bishop But that case is known The consequent of this consideration is no other then the admonition in my text We are Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and dispensers of the mysteries of the Kingdom and it is required of Stewards that they be found faithful that we preach the word of God in season and out of season that we rebuke and exhort admonish and correct for these God calls Pastores secundùm cor meum Pastors according to his own heart which feed the people with knowledge and understanding but they must also comfort the afflicted and bind up the broken heart minister the Sacraments with great diligence and righteous measures and abundant charity alwayes having in mind those passionate words of Christ to S. Peter If thou lovest me feed my sheep If thou hast any love to me feed my lambs And let us remember this also that nothing can enforce the people to obey their Bishops as they ought but our doing that duty and charity to them which God requires There is reason in these words of S. Chrysostom It is necessary that the Church should adhere to their Bishop as the body to the head as plants to their roots as rivers to their springs as children to their Fathers as Disciples to their Masters These similitudes express not only the relation and dependency but they tell us the reason of the duty The head gives light and reason to conduct the body the roots give nourishment to the plants and the springs perpetual emanation of waters to the chanels Fathers teach and feed their children and Disciples receive wise instruction from their Masters and if we be all this to the people they will be all that to us and wisdom will compel them to submit and our humility will teach them obedience and our charity will invite their compliance Our good example will provoke them to good works and our meekness will melt them into softness and flexibility For all the Lords people are populus voluntarius a free and willing people and we who cannot compel their bodies must thus constrain their souls by inviting their wills by convincing their understandings by the beauty of fair example the efficacy and holiness and the demonstrations of the spirit This is experimentum ejus qui in nobis loquitur Christus The experiment of Christ that speaketh in us For to this purpose those are excellent words which S. Paul spake Remember them who have the rule over you whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation There lyes the demonstration and those prelates who teach good life whose Sermons are the measures of Christ and whose life is a copy of their Sermons these must be followed and surely these will for these are burning and shining lights but if we hold forth false fires and by the amusement of evil examples call the vessels that sail upon a dangerous sea to come upon a rock or an iron shoar instead of a safe harbour we cause them to make shipwrack of their precious Faith and to perish in the deceitful and unstable waters Vox operum fortiùs sonat quà m verborum A good life is the strongest argument that your faith is good and a gentle voice will be sooner entertained then a voice of thunder but the greatest eloquence in the world is a meek spirit and a liberal hand these are the two pastoral staves the Prophet speaks of nognam hovelim beauty and bands he that hath the staff of the beauty of holiness the ornament of fair example he hath also the staff of bands atque in funiculis Adam trahet eos in vinculis chaâ—itatis as the Prophet Hosea's expression is he shall draw the people after him by the cords of a man by the bands of a holy charity But if against all these demonstrations any man will be refractary We have instead of a staff an Apostolical rod which is the last and latest remedy and either brings to repentance or consigns to ruin and reprobation If there were any time remaining I could reckon that the Episcopal order is the principle of Unity in the Church and we see it is so by the inumerable Sects that sprang up when Episcopacy was persecuted I could adde how that Bishops were the cause that S. John wrote his Gospel that the Christian Faith was for 300. years together bravely defended by the sufferings the prisons and flames the life and the death of Bishops as the principal Combatants That the Fathers of the Church whose writings are held in so great veneration in all the Christian World were almost all of them Bishops I could adde that the Reformation of Religion in England was principally by the Preachings and the disputings the writings and the Martyrdom of Bishops That Bishops have ever since been the greatest defensatives against Popery That England and Ireland were governed by Bishops ever since they were Christian and under their conduct have for so many ages enjoyed all the blessings of the Gospel I could add also that Episcopacy is the great stabiliment of Monarchy but of this we are convinced by a sad and too dear bought experience I could therefore in stead of it say that Episcopacy is the great ornament of Religion that as it rescues the Clergy from contempt so it is the greatest preservâ—tive of the peoples liberty from Ecclesiastick Tyranny on one hand the Gentry being little better then servants while they live under the Presbytery and Anarchy and licentiousness on the other That it endears obedience and is subject to the Laws of Princes And is wholly ordained for the good of mankind and the benefit of Souls But I cannot stay to number all the blessings which have entered into the World at this door I only remark these because they describe unto us the Bishops imployment which is to be busy in the service of Souls to do good in all capacities to serve every mans need to promote all publick benefits to cement Governments to establish peace to propagate the Kingdom of Christ to do hurt to no man to do good to every man that is so to minister that Religion and Charity publick peace and private blessings may be in their exaltation As long as it was thus done by the Primitive Bishops the Princes and the people gave them all honour Insomuch that by a decree of Constantine the great the Bishop had power given him to retract the sentences made by the Presidents of Provinces and we find in the acts of S. Nicholas that he
false Prophet will fall upon them and the reward of the evil Steward will be their portion and they who destroyed the Sheep or neglected them shall have their portion with Goats for ever and ever in everlasting burnings in which it is impossible for a man to dwell Can any thing be beyond this beyond damnaâ—ion Surely a mâ—n would think not And yet I remember a severe saying of S. Gregory Scire debent Prelati quod tot mortibus digni sunt quot perditionis exempla ad subditos extenderunt One damnation is not enough for an evil Shepherd but for every Soul who dyes by his evil example or pâ—rnitious carelesness he deserves a new death a new damnation Let us therefore be wise and faithful walk warily and watch carefully and rule diligently and pray assiduously For God is more propense to rewards then to punishments and the good Steward that is wise and faithful in his dispensation shall be greatly blessed But how He shall be made ruler over the houshold What is that for he is so already True but he shall be much more Ex dispensatore faciet procuratorem God will treat him as Joseph was treated by his Master he was first a Steward and then a Procurator one that ruled his goods without account and without restraint Our ministry shall pass into Empire our labour into rest our watchfulness into fruition and our Bishoprick to a Kingdom In the mean time our Bishopricks are a great and weighty care and in a spiritual sense our dominion is founded in grace and our rule is in the hearts of the people and our strengths are the powers of the Holy Ghost and the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and the eye of God watches over us curiously to see if we watch over our flocks by day and by night And though the Primitive Church as the Ecclesiastick Histories observe when they deposed a Bishop from his office ever concealed his crime and made no record of it yet remember this that God does and will call us to a strict and severe account Take heed that you may never hear that fearful sentence I was hungry and ye gave me no meat If you suffer Christs little ones to starve it will be required severely at your hands And know this that the time will quickly come in which God shall say unto thee in the words of the Prophet Where is the Flock that was given thee thy beautiful Flock What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee God of his mercy grant unto us all to be so faithful and so wise as to convert Souls and to be so blessed and so assisted that we may give an account of our charges with joy to the glory of God to the edification and security of our Flocks and the salvation of our own Souls in that day when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls shaâ—l come to judgment even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Love and Obedience now and for evermore Amen FINIS Thursday the 9 th of May. ORdered that the Speaker do give the Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Down the thanks of this House for his yesterdaies paines and that he desire him to print his Sermon John Keating Cler. Parl. 11. die Maii 1661. ORdered that Sir Theophilus Jones Knight Marcus Trever Esq Sir William Domville Kn t his Majesties Attorney General and Richard Kirle Esq be and are hereby appointed a Committee to return thanks unto the Lord Bishop of Down for his Sermon preached on Wednesday last unto the Lords Justices and Lords Spiritual and Temporal whereunto the House of Commons were invited and that they desire his Lordship from this House to cause the same to be forthwith printed and published Copia Vera. Ex. per Philip Ferneley Cler. Dom. Com. A SERMON PREACHED At the opening of the Parliament of IRELAND May 8. 1661. Before the right Honourable the Lords Justices and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons By JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor Salus in multitudine consulentium LONDON Printed by J. F. for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Sacred MAJESTY 1661. To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland Assembled in PARLIAMENT My Lords and Gentlemen I Ought not to dispute your commands for the printing my Sermon of Obedience lest my Sermon should be protestatio contra factum here I know my Example would be the best Use to this Doctrine and I am sure to find no inconveniency so great as that of Disobedience neither can I be confident that I am wise in any thing but when I obey for then I have the wisdome of my Superiour for my warrant or my excuse I remember the saying of Aurelius the Emperor Aequius est me tot talium amicorum consilium quam tot tales meam unius voluntatem sequi I could easily have pretended excuses but that day I had taught others the contrary and I would not shed that Chalice which my own hands had newly filled with waters issuing from the fountains of Salvation My eyes are almost grown old with seeing the horrid mischiefs which came from Rebellion and Disobedience and I would willingly now be blessed with observation of Peace and Righteousness Plenty and Religion which do already and I hope shall for ever attend upon Obedience to the best KING and the best CHURCH in the world I see no objection against my hopes but that which ought least of all in this case to be pretended Men pretend Conscience against Obedience expressly against Saint Paul's Doctrine teaching us to obey for conscience sake but to disobey for Conscience in a thing indifferent is never to be found in the books of our Religion It is very hard when the Prince is forc'd to say to his rebellious Subject as God did to his stubborn people Quid faciam tibi I have tried all the waies I can to bring thee home and what shall I now doe unto thee The Subject should rather say Quid me vis facere What wilt thou have me to doe This Question is the best end of disputations Corrumpitur atque dissolvitur Imperantis officium si quis ad id quod facere jussus est non obsequio debito sed consilio non considerato respondeat said one in A. Gellius When a Subject is commanded to obey and he disputes and saies Nay but the other is better he is like a servant that gives his Master necessary counsel when he requires of him a necessary obedience Utilius parére edicto quam efferre consilium he had better obey then give counsel by how much it is better to be profitable then to be witty to be full of goodness rather then full of talk and argument But all this is acknowledged true in strong men but not in the weak in vigorous but not in tender Consciences for Obedience is
Duty but this also God will exact at the hands of every man that is placed under Authority I have now told you the summe of what I had to say concerning Obedience to Laws and to your own Government and it will be to little purpose to make laws in matter of Religion or in any thing else if the end of it be that every man shall chuse whether he will obey or no and if it be questioned whether you be deceiv'd or no though the suffering such a question is a great diminution to your authority yet it is infinitely more probable that you are in the right then that the disobedient Subject is because you are conducted with a publick spirit you have a special title and peculiar portions of the promise of God's assistance you have all the helps of Counsel and the advantages of deliberation you have the Scriptures and the Laws you are as much concerned to judge according to truth as any man you have the principal of all capacities and states of men to assist your consultations you are the most concern'd for Peace and to please God also is your biggest interest and therefore it cannot be denied to be the most reasonable thing in the world which is set down in the Law Praesumptio est pro authoritate imponentis the presumption of truth ought to be on your side and since this is the most likely way for Truth and the most certain way for Peace you are to insist in this and it is not possible to find a better I have another part or sense of my Text yet to handle but because I have no more time of mine own and I will not take any of yours I shall only doe it in a short Exhortation to this most Honourable Auditory and so conclude God hath put a Royal Mantle and fastned it with a Golden Clasp upon the shoulder of the KING and he hath given you the Judges Robe the King holds the Scepter and he hath now permitted you to touch the golden Ball and to take it a while into your handling and made obedience to your Laws to be Duty and Religion but then remember that the first in every kind is to be the measure of the Subjects should obey you unless you obey God I do not speak this only in relation to your personal duty though in that also it would be consider'd that all the Bishops and Ministers of Religion are bound to teach the same Doctrines by their Lives as they do by their Sermons and what we are to doe in the matters of Doctrine you are also to doe in matter of Laws what is reasonable for the advantages of Religion is also the best Method for the advantages of Government we must preach by our good Example and you must govern by it and your good example in observing the laws of Religion will strangely endear them to the affections of the people But I shall rather speak to you as you are in a capacity of union and of Government for as now you have a new Power so there is incumbent upon you a special Duty 1. Take care that all your power and your counsels be imploy'd in doing honour and advantages to Piety and Holiness Then you obey God in your publick capacity when by holy Laws and wise administrations you take care that all the Land be an obedient and a religious People For then you are princely Rulers indeed when you take care of the Salvation of a whole Nation Nihil aliud est imperium nisi cura salutis alinae said Ammianus Government is nothing but a care that all men be saved And therefore take care that men do not destroy their Souls by the abominations of an evil life see that God be obey'd take care that the breach of the laws of God may not be unpunished The best way to make men to be good Subjects to the King is to make them good servants of God Suffer not Drunkenness to pass with impunity let Lust find a publick shame Let the sonnes of the Nobility and Gentry no more dare to dishonour God then the meanest of the people shall let baseness be basely esteemed that is put such characters of Shame upon dishonourable Crimes that it be esteem'd more against the honour of a Gentleman to be drunk then to be kicked more shame to fornicate then to be can'd and for honours sake and the reputation of Christianity take some course that the most unworthy sins of the world have not reputation added to them by being the practice of Gentlemen and persons of good birth and fortunes Let not them who should be examples of Holiness have an impunity and a licence to provoke God to anger lest it be said that in Ireland it is not lawful for any man to sin unless he be a person of quality Optimus est reipublicae status ubi nihil deest nisilicentia pereundi In a common-wealth that 's the best state of things where every thing can be had but a leave to sin a licence to be undone 2. As God is thus to be obey'd and you are to take care that he be so God also must be honnourd by paying that reverence and religious obedience which is due to those persons whom he hath been pleased to honour by admitting them to the dispensation of his blessings and the ministeries of your Religion For certain it is this is a right way of giving honour and obedience to God The Church is in some very peculiar manner the portion and the called and the care of God and it will concern you in pursuance of your obedience to God to take care that they in whose hands Religion is to be ministred and conducted be not discouraged For what your Judges are to the ministry of Laws that your Bishops are in the ministeries of Religion and it concerns you that the hands of neither of them be made weak and so long as you make Religion your care and Holiness your measure you will not think that Authority is the more to be despised because it is in the hands of the Church or that it is a sin to speak evil of dignities unless they be Ecclesiastical but that they may be reviled and that though nothing is baser then for a man to be a Thief yet Sacrilege is no dishonour and indeed to be an Oppressor is a great and crying sin yet to oppress the Church to diminish her rents to make her beggerly and contemptible that 's no offence and that though it is not lawful to despise Government yet if it be Church-government that then the case is altered Take heed of that for then God is dishonoured when any thing is the more despised by how much it relates nearer unto God No Religion ever did despise their chiefest Ministers and the Christian Religion gives them the greatest honour For honourable Priesthood is like a shower from heaven it causes blessings every where but a pitiful a
imperio gemimus cum funus adultae Virginis occurrit vel terrâ clauditur infans Et minor igne rogi If you do but see a Maiden carried to her grave a little before her intended marriage or an Infant dye before the birth of Reason Nature hath taught us to pay a tributary tear Alas your eyes will behold the ruine of many Families wnich though they sadly have deserved yet Mercy is not delighted with the spectacle and therefore God places a watry cloud in the eye that when the light of heaven shines upon it it may produce a rain-bow to be a Sacrament and a memorial that God and the sons of God do not love to see a man perish God never rejoyces in the death of him that dies and we also esteem it undecent to have Musick at a Funeral And as Religion teaches us to pity a condemned Criminal so Mercy intercedes for the most benign interpretation of the Laws You must indeed be as just as the Laws and you must be as merciful as your Religion and you have no way to tye these together but to follow the pattern in the Mount doe as God does who in judgement remembers mercy To conclude If every one in this Honourable Assembly would joyn together to promote Christian Religion in it's true notion that is Peace and Holiness the Love of God and the Love of our Brother Christianity in all its proper usefulness and would not indure in the Nation any thing against the laws of the Holy Jesus if they were all zealous for the doctrines of Righteousness and impatient of Sin in your selves and in the people it is not to be imagined what a happy Nation we should be But if ye divide into parties and keep up useless differences of names or interests if ye do not joyn in the bands of Peace that is the King and the Church Religion and the good of the Nation you can never hope to see a blessing to be the end of your labours Remember the words of Solomon Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people but when Righteousness is advanced in the hearts and lives of the Nation who shall dare to reprove your Faith who can find fault with your Religion God of his mercy grant that in all your Consultations the Word of God may be your measure the Spirit of God may be your guide and the glory of God may be your end He of his mercy grant that Moderation may be your limit and Peace may be within your walls as long as you are there and in all the Land for ever after But remember that since the honour and service of his Majesty and the peace and prosperity of the Church the perpetuity of our fundamental Laws publick Justice and the honour of all legal Authority the advancement of Trade and the wealth of the Nation is your design remember I pray what warranty you have to expect all this no less then the words of our Blessed Saviour but it is upon these terms Seek ye first the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Amen FINIS A CATALOGUE of some Books written by JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor and Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivy-lane London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundaies of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ the third Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 4. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12. 5. The Golden Grove or A Manual of daily Prayers fitted to the daies of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in fol. newly reprinted 7. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. new 8. A Collection of Offices or forms of Prayer fitted to the needs of all Christians taken out of the Scriptures and Ancient Liturgies of several Churches especially the Greek together with the Psalter or Psalms of David after the Kings Translation in a large octavo newly published 9. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. in two volumes 10. The doctrine and Practice of Repentance describing the necessities of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life serving as a necessary Supplement unto the Rule of Conscience 11. The Worthy Communicant in octavo sold at the Bell in S. Pauls Churchyard Via Intelligentiae A SERMOM Preached to the UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN Shewing by what means the Scholars shall become most Learned and most Usefull Published at their desire By the R. R. Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Downe c. and Vicechancellour of that UNIVERSITY Ad majorem Dei gloriam LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1662. TO THE READER PEACE is so great a Blessing and Disputations and Questions in Religion are so little friends to Peace that I have thought no mans time can be better spent then in propositions and promotions of Peace and consequently in finding expedients and putting periods to all contentious Learning I have already in a discourse before the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons assembled in this Parliament prov'd that Obedience is the best medium of Peace and true Religion and Lawes are the only common term and certain rule and measure of it Vocatâ ad concionem multitudine quae coalescere in populum Unius corporis nullâ re praeterquam legibus poterat said Livy Obedience to Man is the externall instrument and the best in the World To which I now add that Obedience to God is the best internall instrument and I have prov'd it in this discourse Peace and Holiness are twin-Sisters after which because every man is bound to follow and he that does not shall never see God I concluded that the office of a Bishop is in nothing so signally to be exhibited as in declaring by what means these great duties and blessings are to be acquir'd This way I have here describ'd is an old way for it was Christs way and therefore it is truth and life but it hath been so little regarded and so seldom taught that when I first spake my thoughts of it in the following words before the Little but Excellent University of Dublin they consented to it so perfectly and so piously entertain'd it that they were pleas'd with some earnestness to desire me to publish it to the World and to consigne it to them as a perpetual memorial of their duty and of my regards to them and care over them in my Station I was very desirous to serve and please them in all their worthy desires but had found so much reason to distrust my own abilities that I could not resolve to do
by a right operation and then it is so plain we wonder we did not understand it earlier Christ's way of finding out of truth is by doing the will of God We will try that by and by if possibly we may find that easie and certain in the mean time let us consider what wayes men have propounded to find out Truth and upon the foundation of that to establish Peace in Christendom 1. That there is but one true way is agreed upon and therefore almost every Church of one denomination that lives under Government propounds to you a Systeme or collective Body of Articles and tells you that 's the true Religion and they are the Church and the peculiar people of God like Brutus and Cassius of whom one sayes Ubicunque ipsi essent praetexebant esse rempublicam they suppos'd themselves were the Commonwealth and these are the Church and out of this Church they will hardly allow salvation But of this there can be no end For divide the Church into Twenty parts and in what part soever your lot falls you and your party are Damned by the other Nineteen and men on all hands almost keep their own Proselytes by affrighting them with the fearful Sermons of Damnation but in the mean time here is no security to them that are not able to judge for themselves and no Peace for them that are 2. Others cast about to cure this evil and conclude that it must be done by submission to an Infallible Guide this must do it or nothing and this is the way of the Church of Rome Follow but the Pope and his Clergie and you are safe at least as safe as their warrants can make you Indeed this were a very good way if it were a way at all but it is none for this can never end our Controversies not onely because the greatest Controversies are about this Infallible Guide but also because 1. We cannot find that there is upon Earth any such Guide at all 2. We do not find it necessary that there should 3. We find that they who pretend to be this Infallible Guide are themselves infinitely deceiv'd 4. That they do not believe themselves to be Infallible whatever they say to us because they do not put an end to all their own Questions that trouble them 5. Because they have no peace but what is constrained by force and Government 6. And lastly because if there were such a Guide we should fail of Truth by many other causes for it may be that Guide would not do his duty or we are fallible followers of this infallible Leader or we should not understand his meaning at all times or we should be perverse at some times or something as bad because we all confesse that God is an Infallible Guide and that some way or other he does teach us sufficiently and yet it does come to passe by our faults that we are as far to seek for Peace and Truth as ever 3. Some very wise men finding this to fail have undertaken to reconcile the differences of Christendom by a way of moderation Thus they have projected to reconcile the Papists and the Lutherans the Lutherans and the Calvinists the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants and project that each side should abate of their asperities and pare away something of their proportions and joyn in Common terms and phrases of Accommodation each of them sparing something and promising they shall have a great deal of peace for the exchange of a little of their opinion This was the way of Cassander Modrevius Andreas Frisius Erasmus Spalato Grotius and indeed of Charles the Fifth in part but something more heartily of Ferdinand the Second This device produced the conferences at Poissy at Montpellier at Ratisbon at the Hague at many places more and what was the event of these Their parties when their Delegates returned either disclaimed their Moderation or their respective Princes had some other ends to serve or they permitted the Meetings upon uncertain hopes and a triall if any good might come or it may be they were both in the wrong and their mutuall abatement was nothing but a mutuall quitting of what they could not get and the shaking hands of false friends or it may be it was all of it nothing but Hypocrisie and Arts of Craftiness and like Lucian's man every one could be a Man and a Pestle when he pleased And the Council of Trent though under another cover made use of the artifice but made the secret manifest and common for at this day the Jesuits in the Questions de auxiliis Divinae gratiae have prevailed with the Dominicans to use their expressions and yet they think they still keep the sentence of their own Order From hence can succeed nothing but folly and a phantastick peace This is but the skinning of an old sore it will break out upon all occasions 4. Others who understand things beyond the common rate observing that many of our Controversies and peevish wranglings are kept up by the ill stating of the Question endeavour to declare things wisely and make the matter intelligible and the words cleare hoping by this meanes to cut off all disputes Indeed this is a very good way so far as it can go and would prevaile very much if all men were wise and would consent to those stateings and would not fall out upon the main enquiry when it were well stated but we find by a sad experience that few Questions are well stated and when they are they are not consented to and when they are agreed on by both sides that they are well stated it is nothing else but a drawing up the Armies in Battalia with great skill and discipline the next thing they do is they thrust their Swords into one anothers sides 5. What remedy after all this Some other good men have propounded one way yet but that is a way of Peace rather then Truth and that is that all Opinions should be tolerated and none persecuted and then all the World will be at peace Indeed this relies upon a great reasonableness not onely because Opinions cannot be forced but because if men receive no hurt it is to be hoped they will do none But we find that this alone will not do it For besides that all men are not so just as not to do any Injury for some men begin the evil besides this I say there are very many men amongst us who are not content that you permit them for they will not permit you but rule over your faith and say that their way is not only true but necessary and therefore the Truth of God is at stake and all Indifference and moderation is carnall Wisdom and want of Zeal for God nay more then so they preach for Toleration when themselves are under the rod who when they got the rod into their own hands thought Toleration it self to be Intolerable Thus do the Papists and thus the Calvinists and for their Cruelty
Arcâ—dian home-spun that it was warmer for him in Winter and cooler in Summer And forever since the Church by God's blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes and Pious Nobility hath been endowed with fair Revenues inimicus homo the Enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away God's portion from the Church as if his Word were intended as an instrument to rob his Houses But when the Israelites were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and God was their King and Moses his Lieutenant and things were of his management he was pleas'd by making great Provisions for them that ministred in the service of the Tabernacle to consign this truth for ever That Men as they love God at the same rate are to make provisions for his Priests For when himself did it he not only gave the 48. Cities with a mile of Glebe round about their City every way and yet the whole Country was but 140. miles long or thereabouts from Dan to Beersheba but besides this they had the tithe of aâ—l increase the first fruits offerings vows redemptions and in short they had 24. sorts of Dues as Buxtorf relates and all this either brought to the Barn home to them without trouble or else as the nature of the thing required brought to the Temple the first to make it more profitable and the second to declare that they received it not from the People but from God not the Peoples kindness but the Lords inheritance insomuch that this small Tribe of Levi whicâ— was not the 40th part of the People as the Scripture computes them had a Revenue almost treble to any of the largest of the Tribes I will not insist on what Villalpandus observes it may easily be read in the 45. of Ezekiel concerning that portion which God reserves for himself and his service but whatsoever it be this I shall say that it is confessedly a Prophecy of the Gospel but this I adde that they had as little to do and much less than a Christian Priest and yet in all the 24. courses the poorest Priest amongst them might be esteemed a Rich man I speak not this to upbraid any man or any thing but Sacrilege and Murmur nor to any other end but to represent upon what great and Religious grounds the then Bishop of Derry did with so much care and assiduous labour endeavour to restore the Church of Ireland to that splendor and fulness which as it is much conducing to the honour of God and of Religion God himself being the Judge so it is much more necessary for you than it is for us and so this wise Prelate rarely well understood it and having the same advantage and blessing as we now have a Gracious King and a Lieutenant Patron of Religion and the Church he improv'd the deposita pietatis as Origen calls them the Gages of Piety which the Religion of the ancient Princes and Nobles of this Kingdom had bountifully given to such a comfortable competency that though there be place left for present and future Piety to inlarge it self yet no man hath reason to be discourag'd in his duty insomuch that as I have heard from a most worthy hand that at his going into England he gave account to the Archbishop of Canterbury of 30000 l. a year in the recovery of which he was greatly and principally instrumental But the goods of this World are called waters by Solomon Stollen waters are sweet and they are too unstable to be stopt some of these waters did run back from their proper chanel and return to another course than God and the Laws intended yet his labours and pious Counsels were not the less acceptable to God and good men and therefore by a thankful and honourable recognition the Convocation of the Church of Ireland hath transmitted in Record to posterity their deep resentment of his singular services and great abilities in this whole affair And this honour will for ever remain to that Bishop of Derry he had a Zerubbabel who repair'd the Temple and restor'd its beauty but he was the Joshuah the High-priest who under him ministred this blessing to the Congregations of the Lord. But his care was not determin'd in the exteriour part onely and Accessaries of Religion he was careful and he was prosperous in it to reduce that Divine and excellent Service of our Church to publick and constant Exercise to Unity and Devotion and to cause the Articles of the Church of England to be accepted as the Rule of publick confessions and perswasions here that they and we might be Populus unius labii of one heart and one lip building up our hopes of heaven on a most holy Faith and taking away that Shibboleth which made this Church lisp too undecently or rather in some little degree to speak the speech of Ashdod and not the language of Canaan and the excellent and wise pains he took in this particular no man can dehonestate or reproch but he that is not willing to confess that the Church of England is the best Reformed Church in the world But when the brave Roman Infantry under the Conduct of Manlius ascended up to the Capitol to defend Religion and their Altars from the fury of the Gauls they all pray'd to God Ut quemadmodum ipsi ad defendendum templum ejus concurrissent ita ille virtutem ecrum numine suo tueretur That as they came to defend his Temple by their Arms so he would defend their Persons and that Cause with his Power and Divinity And this excellent man in the Cause of Religion found the like blessing which they prayed for God by the prosperity of his labours and a blessed effect gave testimony not onely of the Piety and Wisdom of his purposes but that he loves to bless a wise Instrument when it is vigorously imployed in a wise and religious labour He overcame the difficulty in defiance of all such pretences as were made even from Religion it self to obstruct the better procedure of real and material Religion These were great things and matter of great envy and like the fiery eruptions of Vesuvius might with the very ashes of Consumption have buried another man At first indeed as his blessed Master the most holy Jesus had so he also had his Annum acceptabilem At first the product was nothing but great admiration at his stupendious parts and wonder at his mighty diligence and observation of his unusual zele in so good and great things but this quickly pass'd into the natural daughters of Envy Suspicion and Detraction the spirit of Obloquy and Slander His zele for recovery of the Church-revenues was call'd Oppression and Rapine Covetousness and Injustice his care of reducing Religion to wise and justifiable principles was called Popery and Arminianism and I know not what names which signifie what the Authors are pleased to mean and the People to conster and to hate The intermedial
any personal or collateral Duty that he may do but no more Ever remembring the Saying of our blessed Lord In the world ye shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace and consider this also which is a great Truth That every degree of love to the world is so much taken from the Love of God Be no otherwise sollicitous of your Fame and Reputation but by doing your duty well and wisely in other things refer your selfe to God but if you meet with evil Tongues be careful that you bear reproaches sweetly and temperately Remember that no Minister can govern his people well and prosperously unless himself hath learn'd humbly and cheerfully to obey his Superiour For every Minister should be like the good Centurion in the Gospel himself is under authority and he hath people under him Be sure in all your Words and Actions to preserve Christian simplicity and ingenuity to do to others as you would be done unto your self and never to speak what you doe not think Trust to Truth rather than to your Memory for this may fail you that will never Pray much and very fervently for all your Parishioners and all men that belong to you and all that belong to God but especially for the Conversion of Souls and be very zealous for nothing but for Gods glory and the salvation of the World and particularly of your Charges Ever remembring that you are by God appointed as the Ministers of Prayer and the Ministers of good things to pray for all the World and to heale all the World as far as you are able Every Minister must learn and practise patience that by bearing all adversity meekly and humbly and cheerfully and by doing all his duty with unwearied industry with great courage constancy and Christian magnanimity he may the better assist his people in the bearing of their crosses and overcoming their difficulties He that is holy let him be holy still and still more holy and never think he hath done his work till all be finished by perseverance and the measures of perfection in a holy Life and a holy Death but at no hand must he magnifie himself by vain separations from others or despising them that are not so holy II. Of Prudence required in Ministers REmember that Discretion is the Mistress of all Graces and Humility is the greatest of all Miracles and without this all Graces perish to a mans self and without that all Graces are useless unto others Let no Minister be governed by the opinion of his People and destroy his duty by unreasonable compliance with their humours lest as the Bishop of Granata told the Governours of Leria and Patti like silly Animals they take burdens upon their backs at the pleasure of the multitude which they neither can retain with Prudence nor shake off with Safety Let not the Reverence of any man cause you to sin against God but in the matter of Souls being well advis'd be bold and confident but abate nothing of the honour of God or the just measures of your duty to satisfie the importunity of any man whatsoever and God will bear you out When you teach your people any part of their duty as in paying their debts their tithes and offerings in giving due reverence and religious regards diminish nothing of admonition in these particulars and the like though they object That you speak for your selves and in your own cases For a counsel is not the worse but the better if it be profitable both to him that gives and to him that takes it Onely do it in simplicity and principally intend the good of their souls In taking accounts of the good Lives of your selves or others take your measures by the express words of Scripture and next to them estimate them by their proportion and compliance with the publick measures with the Laws of the Nation Eccesiastical and Civil and by the Rules of Fame of publick honesty and good Report and last of all by their observation of the Ordinances and exteriour parts of Religion Be not satisfied when you have done a good work unless you have also done it well and when you have then be carefull that vain-glory partiality self-conceit or any other folly or indiscretion snatch it not out of your hand and cheat you of the reward Be carefull so to order your self that you fall not into temptation and folly in the presence of any of your Charges and especially that you fall not into chidings and intemperate talkings and sudden and violent expressions Never be a party in clamours and scoldings lest your Calling become uselesse and your person contemptible Ever remembring that if you cheaply and lightly be engag'd in such low usages with any person that person is likely to be lost from all possibility of receiving much good from your Ministry The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers in their respective Cures USe no violence to any man to bring him to your opinion but by the word of your proper Ministry by Demonstrations of the Spirit by rational Discourses by excellent Examples constrain them to come in and for other things they are to be permitted to their own liberty to the measures of the Laws and the conduct of their Governors Suffer no quarrel in your Parish and speedily suppress it when it is begun and though all wise men will abstain from interposing in other mens affairs and especially in matters of Interest which men love too well yet it is your duty Duty here to interpose by perswading them to friendships reconcilements moderate prosecutions of their pretences and by all means you prudently can to bring them to peace and brotherly kindness Suffer no houses of Debauchery of Drunkenness or Lust in your Parishes but implore the assistance of Authority for the suppressing of all such meeting-places and nurseries of Impiety as for places of publick Entertainment take care that they observe the Rules of Christian Piety and the allowed measures of Laws If there be any Papists or Sectaries in your Parishes neglect not frequently to confer with them in the spirit or meekness and by the importunity of wise Discourses seeking to gain them But stir up no violences against them but leave them if they be incurable to the wise and merciful disposition of the Laws Receive not the people to doubtful Disputations and let no names of Sects or differing Religions be kept up amongst you to the disturbance of the publick peace and private Charity and teach not the people to estimate their Piety by their distance from any Opinion but by their Faith in Christ their Obedience to God and the Lawes anâ— their love to all Christian people even though they be deceived Think no man considerable upon the point or pretence of a tender Conscience unless he live a good life and in all things endeavour to approve himself void of offence both towards God and man but if he be an humble person
the sinner Let the business of your Sermons be to preach holy Life Obedience Peace Love among neighbours hearty love to live as the old Christians did and the new should to do hurt to no man to do good to every man For in these things the honour of God consists and the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Press those Grâ—ces most that do most good and make the least noise such as giving privately and forgiving publickly and prescribe the grace of Charity by all the measures of it which are given by the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. For this grace is not finished by good words nor yet by good works but it is a great building and many materials go to the structure of it It is worth your study for it is the fulfilling of the Commandements Because it is impossible that Charity should live unless the lust of the tongue be mortified let every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers detractors and backbiters for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity and yet so common that it is pass'd into a Proverb After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours Let every Minister be careful to observe and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners of which the Lawes cannot or do not take cognizance such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings gluttony riotous living expences above their ability pride bragging lying in ordinary conversation covetousness peevishness and hasty anger and such like For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls In your Sermons to the people often speak of the four last things of Death and Judgement Heaven and Hell of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners and his Severity against the impenitent of the formable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels Sacrilegious oppressors of Widows and Orphanes and all persons guilty of crying Sins These are useful safe and profitable but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets for there is more laid before you than you can understand and the whole duty of man is To fear God and keep his commandements Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation It is enough that you reprove an Errour but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgement thou knowest not and therefore pray for the erring person and reprove him but leave the sentence to his Judge Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings Merchants and Tradesmen that they be not unskilful nor unadmonished in their respective duties and in all things speak usefully and affectionately for by this means you will provide for all mens needs both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding and them that sin because they have evil dull or depraved affections In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion use primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the worâ—s of common use and reform Religion by introducing a new word intend to make a change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs but store of Mushromes and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find occasion Let every Minister in his charge as much as he can endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people or others with whom they converse especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance and putting it off to their death-bed let him explicate the nature of Faith so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity let him as much as he may take from them all confidencies that slacken their obedience and diligence let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdome by destroying those things in which it does consist viz. Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Mortification Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils for these as they are measures of truth so also of necessity that is as they are safe so they are sufficient and besides what is taught by these no matter of belief is necessary to salvation Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies though with a purpose to confute them for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute but teach it with plainness and simplicity and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture but without objection let them be taught to believe but not to argue lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry than establish it by arguments too hard Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light immodest or ridiculous expressions but what is wise grave usefull and for edification that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity the people may attend with fear and reverence Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience or more fame in Preaching than himself let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down is but a dwarf still and no man is the better for making his brother worse In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd and rejoice that he is served whoever be the Minister that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher yet you may have the reward of being a good man but it
is hard to miss both Let every Preacher in his Parish take care to explicate to the people the Mysteries of the great Festivals as of Christmas Easter Ascension day Whitsunday Trinity Sunday the Annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Mary because these Feasts containing in them the great Fundamentals of our Faith will with most advantage convey the mysteries to the people and fix them in their memories by the solemnity and circumstances of the day In all your Sermons and Discourses speak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious and impute not to him such things the consequents of which a wise and good man will not own never suppose him to be author of sin or the procurer of our damnation For God cannot be tempted neither tempteth he any man God is true and every man a lyar Let no Preacher compare one Ordinance with another as Prayer with Preaching to the dispaparagement of either but use both in their proper seasons and according to appointed Order 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 acknowledgement and adoration return the praise to God Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel and do thou tremble searing lest the judgement of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechisme EVery Minister is bound upon every Lords day before Evening Prayer to instruct all young people in the Creed the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandements and the Doctrine of the Sacraments as they are set down and explicated in the Church Catechism 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 of Religion ever remembring that if in these things they be unskilful whatever is taught besides is like a house built upon the sand Let every Minister teach his people the use practise 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 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 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 burthen 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 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 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 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 â—nd 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 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 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 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 In order to these and many other good purposes every Minister ought frequently to converse with his Parishioners to go to their houses but alwayes publickly with witness and with prudence lest 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 EVery Minster is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the Common Prayers every day in the week at
Morning and Evening and in great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in Churches that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease 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 lest 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 and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam Let every Minister exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical communion at the least three times in the year at the great Festivals but the devouter sort and they who have leisure are to be invited to a frequent Communion and let it be given and received with great reverence Every Minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his Office in the Rubricks the Canons the Articles and the Homilies of the Church that he may do his duty readily discreetly gravely and by the publick measures of the Laws To which also it is very usefull that it be added that every Minister study the ancient Canons of the Church especially the Penitentials of the Eastern and Western Churches let him read good Books such as are approved by publick authority such which are useful wise and holy not the scriblings of unlearned parties but of men learned pious obedient and disinterested and amongst these such especially which describe duty and good life which minister to Faith and Charity to Piety and Devotion Cases of Conscience and solid expositions of Scripture Concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted Let not a Curate of Souls trouble himself with any studies but such which concern his own or his peoples duty such as may enable him to speak well and to do well but to meddle not with controversies but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life Be careful in all the publick adminstrations of your parish that the poor be provided for Think it no shame to beg for Christs poor members stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example Let a collection be made every Lords day and upon all solemn meetings and at every Communion and let the Collection be wisely and piously administred ever remembring that at the day of Judgement nothing shall publickly be proclaimed but the reward of alms and mercy Let every Minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble let him study and heap together Instruments and Advices for the promoting of every virtue and remedies and arguments against every vice let him teach his people to make acts of virtue not onely by external exercise but also in the way of Prayer and internal meditation In these and all things else that concern the Ministers duty if there be difficulty you are to repair to your Bishop for further advice assistance and information FINIS Heb. 7.19 Gal. 3.3 Gal. 6.12.13 Philip. 3.34 Sed Belzebulis callida Commenta Christus destruit Hos. 2.14 De legibus l. scire Prov. 28.14 S. Hier. in comment Isai. 8. Isidor l. 13. Orig. cap. 13. Commen in 12. Isai. l. 6. in Ezek. cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legat. pro Christianis Rom. 8.13 Gal. 5.16 Rom. 8.7 1 Joh. 3.9 Matth. 7.18 Heb. 12.1 1 Joh. 3.8 3 Joh. 4.4 Mark 9.23 Ille laudatur qui ut caeperint statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram * Rom. 3.28.4.5.5.1.10.10 Gal. 2.16 James 2.21 1 Cor. 13 2 Tuscul. 1. James 2.14 Gal. 5.6 Gal. 6.15 1 Cor. 7.19 Isa. 57.21 Exod. 23.7 Heb. 12.14 Titus 3.8 Heb. 6.1 1 John 3.8 Eph. 5.25 Tit. 2.11 John 15.2 Rom. 5. v. 8.10 Rom. 8.28 Rom. 4.25 Ecclus. 31. Rom. 8.10 Plaut Captiv Rom. 8.29 Rom. 2.6 7 8. John 6.28.29 2 Pet. 1.5 2 Thes. 3.2 1 Tim. 5.8 Heb. 11. Ecclus. 32.24 Panar lib. 1. edit Basil. p. 8. l. 46. 2 Tim. 2.16 Instit. l. 5. c. 9. Mark 11.24 Tit. 1.16 2 Thes. 2.12 Lib. 3. Ep. 69. Jerem. 9.1 Esa. 26.12 2 Thes. 3.1 * Cap. 24.25 Epist. 73. ad Jubaj 1 Tim. 6.14 * Rom. 12.6 Ephe. 4 11. 1 Cor. 12.28 * Acts 1.25 1 Tim. 5.19 1 Tit. 11. 2 Titus 15. Cap. 2. V. 2. Gal. 1.19 * 2 Cor. 8.23 Philip. 2.25 Psalm 45.16 in 1 Cor. 12. in Psal. 44. Epist. 1. Simpronianum Epist. 65. ad Rogat Quaest. V. N.T.q. 197. Isai. 60.17 Hunc locum etiam citat S. Clemens Ep. ad Cor. Neh. 11.10 2 Kin. 11.18 Numb 4.16 Epist. 2. ad Nepot Epistol ad Evagrium Heb. 13.17 Acts. 1.25 Isai. 60.17 1 Pet. 5.1 5. Luke 22.27 Mark 10.43 John 13.13 Lib. 3. Tit. 1. 1 Tim. 1.19 2 Tim. 3.9 in Cap. 2. Zeph. Lib. 1. Ep. 4. Dial. adv Lucifer Eccl. 45.26 24. C. Concil Antioch 1 Cor. 4.1 2 3. Jer. 3.15 Heb. 13.7 Zech. 11.7 Cap. 11. Prov. 6.3 4. D. Bernard ad Henr. Episc Senensem 2 Tim. 2. Jer. 13.20 21. Nullum malum majus aut infeliciter feracius quam inobedientia Seneca 1 Tim. 2 1◠Prov. 16.10 L. 8. cod de veteri jure enucleando Petrus Cellensis lib. de Conscientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 12. ◠7 8. Seneca * Rom. 16.17 Seneca Prov. 24.34 Ecclus. 5.10 Vulg. edit Lat. Psal. 111. ver 10. Psal. 119. Nazianz. ad Philagrium 2 Pet. 1. 1 Joh. 2.27 1 Cor. 2.14 Dan. 12.10 Eph. 5.14 Prov. 10.31 32. John 14.21 Rom. 1.25 26. Eccl. 2.26 John 14.26 Lib. 2. Ethic. c. 1. Nullum bonum perfectè noscitur quod non perfecte amatur Aug. lib. 83. qu. de gratia Christi Ecclus. 21.11 Lib. de Consummat saeculi inter opera Ephrem Syri Synes hym 6 1 Thes. 4.16 John 5.28 Dracuntius de opere Dei Luk. 14.14 * Rev. 20.6 1 Thes. 4.16 Rom. 5.10 Isa. 26.20 Numb 1.46.3.39 Seld. Hist. of Tithes c. 2. See Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tract 25. in St. Matth. Pindar De scriptor Eccles. Epist. 30. Synes ep 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Rom. 16.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉