in unoquoque genere est regula sequentium the first and best of every kind is the rule of all that follows Now the Fathers of the Church were the first and best Preachers for their Learning for their Integrity for their Freedom from secular Interests for their Wisdom and Zele in saving Souls as appears by the happy success of their labours in bringing so many Heathens to Christianity so many Christians to Mortification and contempt of the World and Martyrdom it self But to give a perfect account of their practice I confess requires a man better versed in Antiquity than my self who through want of time books and other encouragements have been kept from those flights which others have made into the lofty Regions of Antiquity where the great Lights of the Church the Stars of the first Magnitude moved and shined yet some few beams of their prudence I have observed which may serve to shew His Majesties late Directions in their genuine Colours and render them more Illustrious And one act of prudence in them observable was a careful and wise provision that Sermons should not perk up into the Tribunal with the Word and sit in the same Throne with it To preserve the Authority of the word of God entire and inviolate they distinguished betwixt the word of God and Sermons They did not call their Sermons the word of God as now but used terms of diminution to denominate them by as Homilies Allocutions Disputations mostly they were called Tractatus by the Latine Fathers Thus Possidonius in the life of St. Augustine calls all his Sermons Tractatus Treatises And thus St. Augustine calls his own Sermons upon the Gospel and Epistles of St. John Tractatus And as they called their Sermons Tractatus so they called the Preachers Tractatores insomuch that St. Jerome who Preached not officio vocis seems to reckon himself amongst the Tractators Non sum tantae faelicitatis quantae plerique hujus temporis Tractatores I am not of so much dexterity as most Tractators of these times are It is very certain that as they opposed these Tractators in respect of their Authority to the Pen-men of holy Writ so they did their Sermons and Writings to the holy Scripture which they esteemed as the infallible dictate of the holy Spirit but the Sermons of the wisest Tractators fallible and obnoxious to errour And therefore when S. Jerome was taxed for reading of Origen an Heterodox Author he excuseth himself that he read him as he did other Tractators obnoxious to errour Epistola 75. adversus Vigilant A second act of Prudence as I take it was this that they kept the Pulpit from quarrelling with the Desk Their Sermons did not interfere or clash with their Liturgy though Preaching was frequent and had its due place and esteem yet it was not so magnified as the Liturgy was laid aside or curtailed to make way for a Sermon There was no antipathy then betwixt Sermons and Common Prayers they did not then walk as Antipodes contrary one to another nor were they as contraries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destructive one to another but did afford one another their mutual help and walk in the House of God as Friends as may be demonstrated diverse wayes First by the constant imployment of other Officers in Gods publick service besides Tractators Namely Deacons Psalmists Lectors The Preacher did not begin till the Reader had done 'T is observed in Justin Martyr Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the Reader had done the Preacher made the Exhortation Secondly by the time when the Sermons came in which was post recitationem Evangelii after the rehearsal of the Gospel whence in after-times Sermons were called Postills I conjecture quasi post ille because they were after the Epistles and Gospels Thirdly by the solemn service after the Sermon every Lords-day There were ever two parts of the Liturgy the first and second service The second service consisted of the Venerable Mystery of Christs Body and Bloud and the Supplications Interpellations Thanksgivings wherewith it was Celebrated which were standing forms and some of them derived from the Apostles as sursum corda aequum bonum c. And if this Service did constantly follow the Homily then the Sermon did not shoulder out the Liturgy nor the Liturgy the Sermon Fourthly by the singular respect the most famous Pulpit-men had for Liturgy in general Not to speak of St. James an Apostolical Preacher who compiled a Liturgy as the Council of Trullo acknowledged long ago and the Greek Church to this very day It is well known that St. Basil and St. Chrysostom were two incomparable Preachers in their times and yet both lovers and compilers of Liturgies 'T is recorded by Proclus Patriark of Constantinople that St. Basil and St. Chrysostom finding men through slothfulness and profaneness begin to nauseate the length of the holy Liturgies composed by St. James and St. Clemens two Apostolical men they contracted their Liturgies and made them shorter that people might not through the subtilty of Satan apostatize from the Divine and Apostolical Tradition of Liturgy Biblioth Patr. tom 4. pag. 15 16. Now let the impartial Reader recollect all these Arguments and judge whether in the opinion and practice of the ancient Church the Sermon did quarrel with the Liturgy and cast it out of the Church And whether His Sacred Majesty had not just cause to take care in His Directions that they should fairly correspond and agree together and for that purpose to enjoyn the use of one aswell as the other A third act of Prudence in the ancient Church was the confining of themselves and the Preachers to the occasion of their meeting If it were a Festival to the commendation of that Saint in whose Memory the day was observed If it were a greater Celebrity the Nativity Epiphany Passion or Resurrection of Christ alwayes they handled something fit to explain the Mystery If it were not upon such a Festival day they kept themselves to the Lesson read for the day This Justin Martyr seems to intimate in the forementioned place When the Reader hath done saith he the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Bishop in a Speech instructs and exhorts the people to the imitation of such Excellent things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these good things signanter rehearsed in the Lessons That this was the manner of after-ages Optatus signifies in his writings against the Donatists it was the manner of the Donatists saith he and of Parmenian by name when they had begun to Preach upon the Lessons for the day to fall from a due explication of them to the railing upon the Orthodox Nullus vestrum qui non aliud initiet aliud explicet Lectiones dominicas incipitis tractatus vestros ad nostras injurias explicatis If the Authority of Optatus be not sufficient we have St. Augustines own practice recorded by himself to second it who in his Sermons de verbis Domini does
upon or that in regard of the Auditory they preach unto it may séem requisiâ—e or expedient so to do That in such cases they do it with all modesty gravity and candor asserting the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the cavils and objections of such as are Adversariâ—s to either without bitterness railing féering or other unnecessary or unséemly provocation IV. That for the more edisying of the People in Faith and Godliness the aforesaid Abuses laid aside all Ministers and Preachers in their several respect be Cures shall not onely diligently apply them elves to Catechize the younger sort according as in the Book of Common Prayer is appointed but also shall in their ordinary Sermons insist chiefly upon Catechetical Doctrines wherein are contained all the necessary and undoubted Verities of Christian Religion declaring withall unto their Congregations what influences such Doctrines ought to have into their lives and conversations and stirring them up effectually as well by their Examples as their Doctrines to the practice of such Religious and Moral Duties as are the proper results of the said Doctrines as Self-denial Contempt of the World Humility Patience Méekness Temperance Iustice Mercy Obedience and the like and to a detestation and shunning of sin especially such sins as are so rise among us and common to the Age we live in such are those usually styled the Seven Deadly ones in short all kind of Debauchery Sensuality Rebellion Profaneness Atheism and the like And because these licentious times have corrupted Religion even in the very roots and foundations That where there is an Afternoons Exercise it be especially spent either in explaining some part of the Church-catechism or in preaching upon some such Text of Scripture as will properly and naturally lead to the handling of something contained in it or may conduce to the exposition of the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church as occasion shall be offered the onely cause they grew into contempt amongst the People being this That they were not understood That also the Minister as often as conveniently he can read the Prayers himself and when he cannot do so he procure or probide some fit person in Holy Orders who may do it with that gravity distinctness devotion and reverence as becomes so holy an action And whensoever by reason of his infirmity or the concurrence of other Offices the time may séem too short or he unable to perform the office of both Prayers and Sermon at length he rather shorten his Discourse or Sermon than omit any thing of the Prayers lest he incur the penalty of the Act for Vniformity requiring them to be read according as the Book directs V. And further Our Will and Pleasure is That all Ministers within their several Cures be enjoyned publickly to read over unto the People such Canons as are or shall be in force at least once and the Thirty nine Acticles twice every year to the end they may the better understand and be more throughly acquainted with the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England and not so easily drawn away from it as formerly they have béen VI. Since Preaching was not anciently the work of every Priest but was restrained to the choicest persons for gravity prudence and learning she Archbishops and Bishops of this Kingdom are to take great care whom they License to Preach and that all Grants and Licences of this kind heretofore made by any Chancellour Official Commissary or other Secular person who are presumed not to be so competent Iudges in matters of this nature be accounted void and null unless the same shall like wise be allowed by the Archbishop or the Bishop of the Diocese and that all Licences of Preachers hereafter to be made or granted by any Archbishop or Bishop shall be only during pleasure otherwise to be void to all intents and purposes as if the same had never béen made nor granted VII Lastly That for the better observing of the Lords-day too much neglected of late they shall as by often and serious admonitions and sharp reproofs endeavour to draw off people from such idle debauched and profane courses as dishonour God bring a scandal on Religion and contempt on the Laws and Authority Ecclestastical and Civil to shall they very earnestly persuade them to frequent Divine Service on the Lords-day and other Festivals appointed by the Church to be kept solemn And in case any person shall resort unto 〈◊〉 â—â—â—cern Ale-houses or use any unlawful Sports and Exercites on such days the Minister shall exhort those which are in Authority in their several Parishes and Congregations carefully to look after all such Offenders in any kind whatsoever together with all those that abet receive or entertain them that they may he procéeded against according to the Laws and quality of their Offences that all such Disorders may for the time to come be prevented Given at Our Court at Whitehall October the 14. in the 14. year of Our Reign 1662. By His Majesties Command ED. NICHOLAS ERRATA PAge 7. line 16. read great p. 10. l. penult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 10. l. 26 27. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 12. l. 7. r. The Verb. p. 15. l. 16. r. jussi sunt p. 16. l. 11. r. fallible p. 21. l. 12. r. Sozomen and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 14. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 24. l. 4. r. Pammachium p. 30. l. 35. r. post illa p. 39. l. ult for question r. Answers p. 40. l. 7. r. maintaining it p. 43. l. 20. r. cannot p. 56. l. 6. r. honore Presbyteri THE INTRODUCTION AMongst the infinite methods and arts of Satan wherewith in all Ages he hath infested and troubled God's Church none hath proved more mischievous and destructive then the perversion and depravation of things good and holy whereby the old Serpent playing an After-game hath been so lucky and prosperous that even those things that in their original were designed as means for the planting and building up of Gods Church hath by this new artifice of the Divell proved powerfull weapons to supplant and pull it down That what Saint Paul saith of sin it took occasion by the commandment and slew him so the Devil hath taken occasion by things in their first appointment good to deceive and ruine men as desperately as he did by heathenisme it self It is an observation of St. Cyprian in his book de unitate ecelesiae That when the Devil saw his trade of Idolatry faile at the comming of Christ and the Seats and Temples of I dols were overthrown Excogitavit novam fraudem ut sub ipso Christiani nominis titulo fallat incautos haereses invenit schismata He devised a new trade of heresie and schisme that under the colour of Christianity he might deceive unwary souls and thereby subvert the truth and corrupt the faith This new imposture of the Divels hath been so operative and effectuall
daily experience teacheth That Christianity it self the onely true and excellent religion is against her nature made a mother of a spurious off-spring contention war rebellion The Scripture that admirable Systeme of divine revelations is polluted by the prophane usage of every bold Dogmatizer Every institution of Christ is adulterated and turned to his dishonour The Publick service of God which if rightly performed would come before him as incense and as the Morning Sacrifice by vain repetitions extemporary boldnesse and tumultuary effusions of late became the Sacrifice of Fools the sacred Eucharist that is ordained as a bond or ligament to knit us together in unity is by Satans malice the golden apple of contention an occasion of wofull distraction amongst Christians and the fuell of endlesse and irreconcileable controversie The Love-feasts used in the Apostles times for the procreation and conservation of charity did soon degenerate into nurseries of riot and dissention The Publick Vigills upon the Evens of Festivals Tertul. lib. 2 ad ux Aug. ep 64. at first so advantagious to Christian piety and observed with so much zeal and devotion in time were changed into publike disorders It were endlesse to reckon up all the sacred rites of Christianity the Devil hath made use of to promote his own Kingdome and weaken Christs But amongst all those there is none more visibly and dangerously abused then the Ordinance as they call it of Preaching which at first was the organ in the hand of Christ and his Apostles for the conversion of the world but now by Satans malice and subtilty is become a great instrument for the disturbance of Christian Churches and Nations That it may be a question whether the excesse of Preaching in later times hath not done more hurt then the want of it heretofore T is certain in Morality that the vice in Excesse is sometimes as opposite to the middle virtue as the vice in Defect We have lived to see by sad experience that vitious and excessive Preaching hath been both opposite and fatall to the most excellent Church in Christendome and that diverse and sundry wayes First by abetting of Heresie Schisme Sacrilege Rebellion Rapine and all manner of villany Howsoever this bullion was digg'd out of a lower region yet it was minted stamped made authentical in the Pulpit Though those impes of the Devil had their conception elsewhere yet here they had their Birth Legitimation and Christendome From this quarter blew the wind that raised the rageing of the Sea and the madnesse of the people It was a saying of old that Athenas oratorum eloquentia perdidit I will not say that the eloquence of our Preachers destroyed us but their bawling their clamorous obstreperousnesse did For while these Demagogues had the peoples ears tyed to their tongues they conveyed all manner of poyson into their hearts They who remember the glory of the first Temple know how first it came to be Eclipsed and afterwards invelop'd in universall darknesse And they who live to see the building of the second Temple know what mighty opposition it finds from the fierce and warlike nation of the Pulpiteers Secondly by deletion and extinction of all the parts of Gods worship whereas Gods worship is the end of preaching and preaching is but medium cultus And the means is no further such then it serves unto the end The matter was so handled that preaching had engrossed and monopolized all the parts of Gods worship and was become the sole worship of God Cartwright and his disciplinarians were modest in respect of these Empiricks They allowed of no Sacraments without Sermons These made Sermons alone all-sufficient without Sacraments They held that the administration of the Sacraments without Sermons was damnable Sacrilege These by a more damnable Sacrilege destroyed the Sacraments themselves so that all the worship of God was turned to Preaching much the most part whereof hath been little better then vain babling Thirdly by eclypsing and disparaging of Gods word contained in the holy Scripture for not only Gods Worship was laid aside but the Bible it self was turned out of doors The reading of the Scripture which obtained in the Jewish and Christian Churches in all ages and was generally found to be of singular use and benefit was abandon'd and esteemed of no efficacy without some of their new descants upon it That as the Superstitious Rabbins proverbially said Plus est in verbis scribarum quam in verbis legis so they thought there was more efficacy in the words of men then in the words of God And thereupon imparted the peculiar glory of his word unto that which is not his word For Sermons are not the word of God but equivocally because the word of God is the subject and should be the rule whereby they are framed But forasmuch as in Sermons there is a mixture of Mans wit and invention sometimes a tincture of Errour and Malice For men to lay aside the immemorial and profitable custom of reading the holy Scripture and obtrude upon the people in the place of it their Sermons as the pure word of God is a sacrilegious diminution of its Authority If the Romanist be obnoxious to so much censure for ranking the Traditions of the Church in equipage with the word of God written what insolence is it in men to prefer their fancies and inventions not only before the Traditions of the Church but also the undoubted word of God it self Fourthly by the bringing in a new kind of Idolatry we are told of diverse kinds of Idolatry in the Roman Church worshipping of Images worshipping of Saints and Angels worshipping of the Host But now there is a new kind of Idolatry brought into the Reformed Church worshipping of Sermons No ignorant Papists idolize any Image or Saint departed more then some people do these Sermons They adore them they attribute an omnipotency to them in saving Souls ex opere operato they place their affiance in them They go on pilgrimage with as much devotion to worship this imagination as the Papists do to the Image of the Lady of Loretto They spare no cost nor charges in their oblations to these Idol shepheards though like the Idols of the Heathen they have eyes and see not As the people of Israel made a Calf in Horeb and then fell down and worshipped it so these misguided zelots set up Calves for their Teachers and then fall down and worship them Fifthly by the destruction of the Priesthood it self when once by this new and monstrous Divinity they had made us believe that Preaching was the sole and onely office of a Minister and observed that insolent Laicks pretending to inspiration could perform that well enough to peoples satisfaction They saw there was no need of Priests nor any provision for their maintenance and therefore laid about them to rid themselves of that chargeable order of Ecclesiasticks for which purpose first they attempted to cut off their persons by various injuries
obligation upon the Apostles of preaching under the pain of incurring Gods heavy displeasure as Act. 4.19 20. 1 Cor. 9.16 are of Personal concernment to the Apostles and to be understood of the prime promulgation of the Gospel to unbelievers and concern not us Presbyters unless we think our selves obliged by the Commission Christ gave his Apostles to go preach to the Americans and Indians The words Bishop and Presbyter are words of relation relating to the several Provinces and Flocks under their charge Though they have a duty incumbent on them of instructing them in Christianity yet not of preaching the Gospel to every creature as the Apostles had they have not those extraordinary enablements of Tongues and Miracles and immediate Inspiration simply necessary unto that work and whereby their Doctrine became Authentick and Divine as that the Faith of the Hearers was without further inquiry to be resolved into it as into a divine Revelation In which sense alone St. Pauls words are verifiable Rom. 10.14 17. Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word How shall they hear without a Preacher c. I desire to know what man dares the Pope excepted to whom some of his vain Flatterers presume to attribute Infallibility assume to preach in such a notion as to make his Doctrine that whereinto Auditorum sides ultimo resolvitur which if not then there is not par ratio nor par obligatio nor par potestas between us and the Apostles as to the strict notion and office of a Preacher in Scripture language But whatsoever the importance of the word is in the Gospel notion yet now the word Preaching is become a word of Art and is used to signifie that act of the Ministerial Function which consists of instructing Christians in their duty and in that sense from henceforward I shall take it and for the more distinct understanding of the thing make some little enquiry into the kindes of Preaching mentioned in the Gospel And first there we find a Preaching by Inspiration and a Preaching by Pains and Industry A preaching by Inspiration such as I now intimated Of this sort was the preaching of Christ and his Apostles and those who were endued with extraordinary gifts of Prophecying in the Apostles times They all spake with Tongues as the spirit gave them utterance they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God It is not you that speake but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you And the Spirit speaking in them after their inauguration to their Apostleship and Ministry on the day of Pentecost gave St. Paul reason to call that their Ministry the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. Then there is a Scripture-preaching by Pains and Industry at least not without it altogether After this manner it seems Timothy preached and therefore is exhorted to give attendance to reading and to study to shew himself a workman c. Again there is a Preaching by Writing and a Preaching by Sermons one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Clem. Alexan. in lib. 1. stro The Apostles themselves did not Preach altogether by Sermons By writing of the Gospel they were Evangelists and did preach the Gospel to unbielevers by writing of their Epistles they did teach the Church and therefore Saint Paul doth call his Epistle to the Romanes his Gospel Rom. 2.16 Solomon was a famous Preacher yet we are not certain that he Preached otherwise then by writing The Prophets were Preachers too but they did not preach altogether by Sermons The Prophet Jeremy is commanded to write his Visions and Revelations imparted to him Chap. 30.2 Mr. Calvin saith in his Preface to Isaiah Prophet is mos fuit postquam justi sunt aliquid populo nunciare paucis summam rerum complecti valvis templi praefigere It was the manner of the Prophets when they were commanded to deelare any thing to the people to contract the summe of the matter in writing and fix it upon the doors of the Temple Lastly there is a Preaching in ones own person and a Preaching by Proxy A Preaching in ones own person Thus Christ himself Preached while he dwelt amongst us and thus the Apostles Preach'd where they came themselves Then there is a preaching by Proxy And thus Christ himself preach'd after his Ascension into Heaven Ephes 2.17 He came and preached peace unto you i. e. by his Apostles And thus the Apostles preached where they came not themselves by the Evangelists there substitutes From these kinds of preaching I shall deduce two or three Corollaries more and so conclude this part of my undertaking First That that frequency of preaching cannot be expected from us that was used by the Prophets and Apostles because they preach'd by inspiration we by pains and industry only Secondly That men may preach in a Gospel-notion and yet never make a Sermon in a vulgar Notion They may Preach by Writing and Preach by Proxy Preach by their Hand as well as by their Tongue See Dr. Holdsworth in praelect prima non procul ab Initio Thirdly That seeing our Preaching is not by immediate inspiration of the Spirit 't is infallible and subject to errour and therefore is ordinable by our Superiours and reducible to such directions and rules as most conduce to the promotion of Peace and Piety CHAP. II. To whom this Office of Preaching primarily belongs THe second thing I stand charged withal See Dr. Casaubon in his treatise of preaching pag. 1◠17. is to enquire and resolve to whom this office of preaching primarily belongs Forasmuch as 't is Gods will that nothing should be done in his service either rashly or disorderly Ubi etiam à quibus peragi vult ipse excelsissima sua voluntate definivit Clem. Rom. pag. 52. He hath defined by his most Heavenly will both in what place and by what persons he will have divine offices performed It stands us in hand then to know to whom this office belongs And the examination and resolution of this will open a fair way to the justification of many things in his Sacred Majesties late Directions But for the Indagation of this I must premise certain Principles and Maximes The first is that the foundation of all Authority is in Christ All Ecclesiasticall Authority or Authority to any Ecclesiasticall Office is in Christ originally in others but Derivately For as it was foretold That the Government should be upon his shoulders Isa 9.6 So that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and anointed him to preach glad tidings Isa 62.1 And this trust which his Father committed to him he discharged in his own person while he was upon the Earth He Preached the Gospel converted Sinners made Disciples Hence he is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Shepheard and Bishop of our souls
vain oftentation of their Learning to embroil the Church and State And we have found it true by experience for as we read of a great King destroyed by the counsel of young men so we may remember a great and good King also destroyed by these young Divines and their young Divinity A third Innovation as I take it is the Preaching of Lecturers but by Lecturers I do not understand all that go under that name but such as are merely of the Peoples setting up against the mind and without the special License of the Governours of the Church These Lecturers are a new order of Ecclesiasticks that like Cartesius Philosophy are made up of rare Principles but all Novelties Their Ordination if they have any is a Novelty for 't is either by Presbyters sine Episcopo or by Bishops sine titulo If it be by Presbyters without a Bishop 't is a Novelty as being against Tradition Apostolical the Practice and Constitution of the ancient Church and of the universal Church for the space of 1500. years after Christ Ordination ever was the Bishops peculiar and all Ordinations without the Bishop were esteemed uncanonical and pronounced null and void Vide Concil Constantinop 1. can 6. If it be by Bishops without a Title 't is a Novelty too against a Canon of our own Churhc can 33. and against the Canons of the ancient Church Nullum absolutè ordinaridebere Presbyterum c. Concil Chalced. can 6. No Presbyter is absolutely to be ordained And I doubt such a Lecture of the peoples setting up will never prove a Title in Law nor in the Churches esteem and if it be not their Ordination is a Novelty and a Nullity also Their Congregation is a Novelty as being against the Doctrine Practice and Canons of the ancient Church too by which no Presbyter is suffered to hold Meetings or Conventions by himself contrary to the Bishops mind and order We find it very early in the Canons of the Apostles Si quis Presbyter contemnens Episcopum suum seorsim collegerit altare aliud erexerit nihil habens quod reprehendat Episcopum suum in causa pietat is justitiae deponatur quasi principatus amator existens est enim tyrannus caeteri clerici quicunque tali consentiunt deponantur laici verò segregentur Can. 32. If any Presbyter despising his Bishop shall hold a Meeting by himself and erect another Altar having nothing in the mean time to accuse the Bishop of in matter of piety and justice let him be deposed as one that loves Preeminence for he is a Tyrant and other Clergy-men that joyn with him are to be deposed and the Laicks excommunicate To this agrees a Canon of the Council of Carthage Si quis Presbyter ab Episcopo suo correptus tumore vel superbia inflatus putaverit separatim sacrificia Deo offerenda vel aliud erigendum altare centra eccle siasbicam fidem vel disciplinam crediderit non exeat impunitùs If any Presbyter being rebuked and censured by the Bishop shall in a separation offer sacrifice to God or erect another Altar against the Ecclesiastical Faith and Discipline let him not go unpunish'd But these Lecturers hold Conventions and Meetings in the Church without the Bishops License and against the Canons of the Church and all Ecclesiastical Discipline therefore their Congregation is a Novelty Their Election is a Novelty as being by the suffrage of the People onely though sometimes the Bishops anciently did consult the People before their Ordination ad testimonium for their testimony yet never ad electionem for their suffrage in the choice of them much less after Ordination did they leave it to the People to make choice of their own Curates but they themselves appointed and sent out fit men to their several Cures There are several Canons wherein the People are barr'd this liberty of Election in the ancient Church the 13. can of the Council of Laodicea may serve alone to give us a taste Non est populis concedendum Electionem facere corum qui altaris ministerio sunt applicandi It is not to be left to the people to make choice of those who are to serve at the altar But these Lecturers come in all by popular Election and maintain the peoples election an authentick Call and sufficient without any Mission or Commission from the Bishop and therefore their Election is a Novelty Their Maintenance is a Novelty as being Elemosinary of the peoples benevolence they live not upon any Church revenue of tithes or glebe or oblations but upon the peoples contributions Whereas the maintenance of the Clergy was ever of tithes or some Church revenue or before the settlement of tithes by secular powers certain honourable stipends distributed at the discretion of the Bishop according to the merits of the person weekly or monthly out of the Churches treasure whereupon Presbyters were call'd by St. Cyprian Sportulantes fratres Epist 66. and those stipends sportulae Epist 34. Caeterum Presbyterii honorem nos designasse illis jam sciatis â—t et sportulis eisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur But you may know we have designed the honour of the Presbyterate for them that they may be dignified with the same stipends Presbyters are As amongst the Romanes the word sportulae was used for a certain allowance of food or mony given by great men to their followers so in Saint Cyprian it signifies the allowance or stipends which the Bishop out of the Church treasure paid to the Priests that depended upon him For as the Churches treasure was solely at the Bishops disposing so the Clergy depended upon the Bishop for their maintainance out of that treasure And therefore t is provided in the 7 Can. of the Council of Gangres Siquis oblationes ecclesiae accipere vel dare voluerit praeter conscientiam Episcopi vel ejus cui hujusmodi officia commissa sunt nec cum ejus voluerit agere consilio Anathema sit That if any should presume to take or give the oblations of the Church without the knowledge or consent of the Bishop he should be Anathema whereby it appears that the Priests and other orders of the Clergy depended upon the Bishop for their maintenance But these Lecturers depend upon the people for their maintenance And therefore their maintenance is a novelty Their Doctrine is a novelty As they are the peoples creatures so they are the peoples servants and take great care to please them populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas and forasmuch as people are lovers of novelties they must be sure to bring new things to their ears daily It is not enough for them to preach novè after a new manner but they must preach nova and not bona nova but mala nova nay nova mala new Gods in Israel nova dogmata sunt novi dii saith Vineentius new opinions are new Gods And if these be not new opinions new doctrines That the government of the Church
by Bishops is Antichristian That murdering of Kings is lawful That Rebellion and Schism are no sins That Christs Gospel as Mahumetanism is to be propagated by the Sword That the greatest disturbers and violaters of the publick peace are the onely Saints and most godly Men Let them that know any thing of antiquity judge And yet this is the Systeme of their Divinity Lastly they themselves are the greatest Novelty of all I find no order of Clergy-men in former times that resembles them but the Mendicant Fryars in the Romane Church an order set up by St. Dominick and St. Francis about the time of Innocent the third and Innocent the fourth Bishops of Rome and with them they hold correspondency in two things As the Mendicant Friars being exempted from the jurisdiction of Bishops brought the Bishops into contempt with the people so these Lecturers exempting themselves from the jurisdiction of Bishops do all they can to the diminution of their Order and honour that they may become the scorn of the vulgar As the Mendicant Fryers having Charters from the Pope to preach in every Parish without the license of the proper Curate to take confessions to visit the sick and bury the dead rendred the secular Clergy contemptible and by that means brought all the Grist to their own Mills so these Lecturers by their industrious preaching of novelties bring the regular Clergy who live in subordination to the King and the Bishops into contempt with the people But as omne simile est etiam dissimile though these Mendicant Fryers were in some things exorbitant yet in the main they were true and faithful to the interest of the Church But these Lecturers are ever false and perfidious to the Church that gave them Christendom ever bandying publickly against her Doctrine and Discipline or undermining privately her walls and bulwarks An army of Turks could not have made a greater devastation in the Church and Nation than they did of late by their seditious Doctrines They poisoned all the corporations of England with their principles of Schism and Rebellion They blew the trumpets to war in the pulpit before they were sounded in the field When they could not slay their two enemies Kingship and Episcopacy gladio or is with the Sword of their mouth they did it ore gladii with the edge of the Sword They are ever at defiance with their lawfull superiours but damnable flatterers of the people and verifie that maxim of Tertullian nusquam mag is proficitur quam in castris rebellium ubi esse est promereri There is no such proficiency as in the tents of Schismaticks where the very being is meritorious If any will but follow them and hear their Lectures they canonize them for Saints before they are Christians and make them sure of salvation before they understand the first principles of the oracles of God in a word they are the false Prophets of the Nation by whom God tries us whether we will love him or obey him as we ought to do and whom he forbids us to harken unto for though they come to us in Sheeps-clothing yet inwardly they are ravening Wolves Gulielmus de Sancto Amore a Learned Theologue who lived about the first rising of these Mendicant Fryars writ a Book upon that occasion de periculis Ecclesiae and in that a Treatise de signis pseudoprophetarum If any will take the pains to read over that treatise which he may find transcribed and translated in the book of Martyrs he shall find that in most of them they agree to these Lecturers O that people would but see their sin and danger in following such false lights O that these deceivers would consider of the judgments of God threatned against them for abusing of the people renting of the Church and embroyling of the State And at last become obedient Sons of an Indulgent Mother the Church that we might all say and sing quam bonum et quam jucundum FINIS