imploretur remedium run to the King for remedy for therefore God hath set the Imperial fortune over humane affairs ut possit omnia quae noviter contingunt emendare componere modis ac regulis competentibus tradere that the King may amend and rule and compose every new arising question And it is not to be despised but is a great indication of this Truth that the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the world do approve them and are a great testimony how the sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in matters of Religion and questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King divines And since God hath blessed us with so good so just so religious and so wise a Prince let the sentence of his Laws be our last resort and no questions be permitted after his judgment and legal determination For Wisdom saith By me Princes rule by me they decree justice and therefore the spirit of the King is a divine eminency and is as the spirit of the most High God 4. Let no man be too busie in disputing the laws of his Superiors for a man by that seldom gets good to himself but seldom misses to do mischief unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one in Laertius Will a Son contend with his Father that 's not decent though the son speak that which is right he may possibly say well enough but he does do very ill not only because he does not pay his duty and reverential fear but because it is in it self very often unreasonable to dispute concerning the command of our Superior whether it be good or no for the very commandment can make it not only good but a necessary good It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these necessary things said the Council of Jerusalem and yet these things were not necessary but as they were commanded to abstain from a strangled hen or a bloody pudding could not of themselves be necessary but the commandment came authority did interpose and then they were made so 5. But then besides the advantages both of the Spirit and the authority of Kings in matter of question the Laws and Decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteemed as a final sentence in all things disputed The thing is a plain command Hebrews 13. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God this tells what Rulers he means Rulers Ecclesiastical and what of them whose faith follow they must praeire in articulis they are not Masters of your Faith but Guides of it and they that sit in Moses chair must be heard and obeyed said our blessed Saviour These words were not said for nothing and they were nothing if their authority were nothing For between the laws of a Church and the opinion of a Subject the comparison is the same as between a publick spirit and a private The publick is far the better the daughter of God and the mother of a blessing and alwayes dwels in light The publick spirit hath already passed the tryal it hath been subjected to the Prophets tryed and searched and approved the private is yet to be examined The publick spirit is uniform and apt to be followed the private is various and multiform as chance and no man can follow him that hath it for if he follows one he is reproved by a thousand and if he changes he may get a shame but no truth and he can never rest but in the arms and conduct of his Superior When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses God told them they were Prophets of an inferior rank than Moses was God communicated himself to them in dreams and visions but the Ruach hakkodesh the publick spirit of Moses their Prince that was higher and what then wherefore then God said were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses plainly teaching us that where there is a more excellent spirit they that have a spirit less excellent ought to be afraid to speak against it And this is the full case of the private and publick spirit that is of a Subject speaking against the Spirit and the Laws of the Church In Heaven and in the air and in all the regions of Spirits the Spirit of a lower Order dares not speak against the Spirit of an higher and therefore for a private Spirit to oppose the publick is a disorder greater than is in Hell it self To conclude this point Let us consider whether it were not an intolerable mischief if the Judges should give sentence in causes of instance by the measures of their own fancy and not by the Laws who would endure them and yet why may they not do that as well as any Ecclesiastick person preach Religion not which the Laws allow but what is taught him by his own private Opinion but he that hath the Laws on his side hath ever something of true Religion to warrant him and can never want a great measure of justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws and the Customs of the Country are the results of wise Counsels or long experience they ever comply with Peace and publick benefit and nothing of this can be said of private Religions for they break the Peace and trouble the Conscience and undoe Government and despise the Laws and offend Princes and dishonour the wisdom of Parliaments and destroy Obedience Well but in the last place but if we cannot do what the Laws command we will suffer what they impose and then all is well again But first who ever did so that could help it And secondly this talking of passive Obedience is but a mockery for what man did ever say the Laws were not good but he also said the Punishment was unjust And thirdly which of all the Recusants did not endeavour to get ground upon the Laws and secretly or openly asperse the Authority that put him to pain for doing that which he calls his duty and can any man boast of his passive Obedience that calls it Persecution he may think to please himself but he neither does or sayes any thing that is for the reputation of the Laws Such men are like them that sail in a storm they may possibly be thrown into a Harbour but they are very sick all the way But after all this I have one thing to observe to such persons That such a passive Obedience as this does not acquit a man before God and he that suffers what the Law inflicts is not discharged in the Court of Conscience but there is still a sinner and a debter For the Law is not made for the righteous but for sinners that is the punishment
eminency and singularity Church-men that 's your appellative all are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritual men all have received the Spirit and all walk in the Spirit and ye are all sealed by the Spirit unto the day of Redemption and yet there is a spirituality peculiar to the Clergy If any man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness you who are spiritual by office and designation of a spiritual calling and spiritual employment you who have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus and minister the Spirit of God you are more eminently spiritual you have the Spirit in graces and in powers in sanctification and abilities in Office and in Person the Vnction from above hath descended upon your heads and upon your hearts you are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of eminency and praelation spiritual men All the people of God were holy Corah and his company were in the right so far but yet Moses and Aaron were more holy and stood neerer to God All the people are Prophets It is now more than Moses wish for the Spirit of Christ hath made them so If any man prayeth or prophesieth with his head covered or if any woman prophesieth with her head uncovered they are dishonoured but either man or woman may do that work in time and place for in the latter days I will pour out of my Spirit and your daughters shall prophesie and yet God hath appointed in his Church Prophets above these to whose Spirit all the other Prophets are subject and as God said to Aaron and Miriam concerning Moses to you I am known in a dream or a vision but to Moses I speak face to face so it is in the Church God gives of his Spirit to all men but you he hath made the Ministers of his Spirit Nay the people have their portion of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven so said S. Paul To whom ye forgive any thing to him I forgive also and to the whole Church of Corinth he gave a Commission in the Name of Christ and by his Spirit to deliver the incestuous person unto Satan and when the primitive Penitents stood in their penitential stations they did Chairs Dei adgeniculari toti populo legationem orationis suae commendare and yet the Keys were not only promised but given to the Apostles to be used then and transmitted to all Generations of the Church and we are Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the manifold Mysteries of God and to us is committed the word of reconciliation And thus in the Consecration of the mysterious Sacrament the people have their portion for the Bishop or the Priest blesses and the People by saying Amen to the mystick Prayer is partaker of the Power and the whole Church hath a share in the power of Spiritual Sacrifice Ye are a royal Priesthood Kings and Priests unto God that is so ye are Priests as ye are Kings but yet Kings and Priests have a glory conveyed to them of which the people partake but in minority and allegory and improper communication But you are and are to be respectively that considerable part of mankind by whom God intends to plant holiness in the World by you God means to reign in the hearts of men and g. you are to be the first in this kind and consequently the measure of all the rest To you g. I intend this and some following Discourses in order to this purpose I shall but now lay the first stone but it is the corner stone in this foundation But to you I say of the Clergy these things are spoken properly to you these Powers are conveyed really upon you God hath poured his Spirit plentifully you are the Choicest of his Choice the Elect of his Election a Church pick'd out of the Church Vessels of honour so your Masters use appointed to teach others authorised to bless in his Name you are the Ministers of Christ's Priesthood Under-labourers in the great Work of Mediation and Intercession Medii inter Deum Populum you are for the People towards God and convey Answers and Messages from God to the People These things I speak not only to magnifie your Office but to inforce and heighten your Duty you are holy by Office and Designation for your very Appointment is a Sanctification and a Consecration and g. whatever holiness God requires of the People who have some little portions in the Priesthood Evangelical he expects it of you and much greater to whom he hath conveyed so great Honours and admitted so neer unto himself and hath made to be the great Ministers of his Kingdom and his Spirit and now as Moses said to the Levitical Schismaticks Corah and his Company so I may say to you Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the Congregation of Israel to bring you to himself to do the Service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the Congregation to minister to them And he hath brought thee neer to him Certainly if of every one of the Christian Congregation God expects a holiness that mingles with no unclean thing if God will not suffer of them a luke-warm and an indifferent service but requires zeal of his Glory and that which St. Paul calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the labour of love if he will have them to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing if he will not endure any pollution in their Flesh or Spirit if he requires that their Bodies and Souls and Spirits be kept blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus if he accepts of none of the people unless they have within them the conjugation of all Christian Graces if he calls on them to abound in every Grace and that in all the periods of their progression unto the ends of their lives and to the consummation and perfection of Grace if he hath made them Lights in the World and the Salt of the Earth to enlighten others by their good Example and to teach them and invite them by holy Discourses and wise Counsels and Speech seasoned with Salt what is it think ye or with what words is it possible to express what God requires of you They are to be Examples of Good life to one another but you are to be Examples even of the Examples themselves that 's your duty that 's the purpose of God and that 's the design of my Text That in all things ye shew your selves a pattern of good works in Doctrine shewing uncorruptness gravity sincerity sound speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you Here then is 1. Your Duty 2. The degrees and excellency of your Duty The Duty is double 1. Holiness of Life 2. Integrity of Doctrine Both these have their heightnings in several degrees 1. For your Life and Conversation
therefore if you do believe this go to your prayers and go to your guards and go to your labour and try what God will do for you For whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye shall receive them and ye shall have them Now consider Do not we every day pray in the Divine Hymn called Te Deum Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin And in the Collect at morning prayer and grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doing may be ordered by thy governance to do alwayes that which is righteous in thy sight Have you any hope or any faith when you say that Prayer And if you do your duty as you can do you think the failure will be on Gods part Fear not that if you can trust in God and do accordingly though your sins were as scarlet yet they shall be as white as snow and pure as the feet of the holy Lamb. Only let us forsake all those weak propositions which cut the nerves of Faith and make it impossible for us to actuate all our good desires or to come out from the power of sin 2. He that would be free from the slavery of sin and the necessity of sinning must alwayes watch I that 's the point but who can watch alwayes Why every good man can watch alwayes and that we may not be deceived in this let us know that the running away from a temptation is a part of our watchfulness and every good employment is another great part of it and a laying in provisions of Reason and Religion before hand is yet a third part of this watchfulness and the conversation of a Christian is a perpetual watchfulness not a continual thinking of that one or those many things which may indanger us but it is a continual doing something directly or indirectly against sin He either prayes to God for his Spirit or relies upon the Promises or receives the Sacrament or goes to his Bishop for Counsel and a Blessing or to his Priest for Religious Offices or places himself at the feet of good Men to hear their wise sayings or calls for the Churches Prayers or does the duty of his calling or actually resists Temptation or frequently renews his holy Purposes or fortifies himself by Vows or searches into his danger by a daily examination so that in the whole he is for ever upon his guards * This duty and caution of a Christian is like watching lest a man cut his finger Wise men do not often cut their fingers and yet every day they use a knife and a mans eye is a tender thing and every thing can do it wrong and every thing can put it out yet because we love our eyes so well in the midst of so many dangers by Gods providence and a prudent natural care by winking when any thing comes against them and by turning aside when a blow is offered they are preserved so certainly that not one man in ten thousand does by a stroak lose one of his eyes in all his life time If we would transplant our natural care to a spiritual caution we might by Gods grace be kept from losing our souls as we are from losing our eyes and because a perpetual watchfulness is our great defence and the perpetual presence of Gods grace is our great security and that this Grace never leaves us unless we leave it and the precept of a dayly watchfulness is a thing not only so reasonable but so many easie wayes to be performed we see upon what terms we may be quit of our sins and more than Conquerors over all the Enemies and Impediments of Salvation 3. If you would be in the state of the Liberty of the Sons of God that is that you may not be servants of sin in any instance be sure in the mortifications of sin willingly or carelesly to leave no remains of it no nest-egg no principles of it no affections to it if any thing remains it will prove to us as Manna to the sons of Israel on the second day it will breed worms and stink Therefore labour against every part of it reject every proposition that gives it countenance pray to God against it all and what then Why then Ask and you shall have said Christ. Nay say some it is true you shall be heard but in part only for God will leave some remains of sin within us lest we should become proud by being innocent So vainly do men argue against Gods goodness and their own blessings and Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil sayes they contrive witty arts to undo themselves being intangled in the periods of ignorant disputations But as to the thing it self if by the remains of sin they mean the propensities and natural inclinations to forbidden objects there is no question but they will remain in us so long as we bear our flesh about us and surely that is a great argument to make us humble But these are not the sins which God charges on his people But if by remains we mean any part of the habit of sin any affection any malice or perverseness of the Will then it is a contradiction to say that God leaves in us such remains of Sin lest by innocence we become Proud for how should Pride spring in a mans heart if there be no remains of Sin left And is it not the best the surest way to cure the Pride of our hearts by taking out every root of bitterness even the root of Pride it self Will a Physitian purposely leave the Reliques of a disease and pretend he does it to prevent a relapse And is it not more likely he will relapse if the sickness be not wholly cured * But besides this If God leaves any remains of Sin in us what remains are they and of what sins Does he leave the remains of Pride If so that were a strange cure to leave the remains of Pride in us to keep us from being proud But if not so but that all the remains of Pride be taken away by the grace of God blessing our endeavours what danger is there of being proud the remains of which Sin are by the grace of God wholly taken away But then if the Pride of the heart be cured which is the hardest to be removed and commonly is done last of all who can distrust the power of the Spirit of God or his goodness or his promises and say that God does not intend to cleanse his Sons and Servants from all unrighteousness and according to S. Pauls prayer keep their bodies and souls and spirits unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus But however let God leave what remains he please all will be well enough on that side but let us be careful as far as we can that we leave none lest it be severely imputed to us and the fire break out and consume us 4. Let
of good and evil Qui pauca considerat de facili pronunciat it is a little learning and not enough that makes men conclude hastily and clap fast hold on the Conclusion before they have well weighed the Premises but Experience and Humility would teach us Modesty and Fear 3. In all disputes he that obeys his Superior can never be a Heretick in the estimate of Law and he can never be a Schismatick in the point of Conscience so that he certainly avoids one great death and very probably the other Res judicata pro veritate accipitur saith the Law if the Judge have given sentence that sentence is supposed a truth and Cassidor said according to the sentence of the Law Nimis iniquum est ut ille patiatur dispendium qui imperium fecit alienum Our Obedience secures us from the imputation of evil and Error does but seldom go in company with Obedience But however there is this advantage to be gotten by Obedience that he who prefers the sentence of the Law before his own Opinion does do an act of great Humility and exercises the grace of Modesty and takes the best way to secure his Conscience and the publick Peace and pleases the Government which he is bound to please and pursues the excellencies of Unity and promotes Charity and Godly Love whereas on the other side he that goes by himself apart from his Superior is alwayes materially a Schismatick and is more likely to be deceived by his own Singularity and Prejudice and Weakness than by following the Guides God hath set over him And if he loses Truth certainly he will get nothing else for by so doing we lose our Peace too and give publick offence and arm Authority against us and are scandalous in Law and pull evil upon our heads and all this for a proud Singularity or a trifling Opinion in which we are not so likely to be deceived if we trust our selves less and the publick more In omnibus falli possum in obedientia non possum said S. Teresa I can in every thing else but in Obedience I can never be deceived And it is very remarkable in my Text that Rebellion or Disobedience is compared to the sin of witchcraft Indeed it seems strange for the meaning of it is not only that a Rebel is as much hated by God as a Witch but it means that the sins are alike in their very natures quasi peccatum divinationis saith the Vulgar Latine they that disobey Authority trusting in their own Opinions are but like Witches or Diviners that is they are led by an evil spirit pride and a lying and deceiving spirit is their Teacher and their answers are seldom true for though they pretend the Truth of God for their Disobedience yet they fall into the deception of the Devil and that 's the end of their soothsaying And let me add this That when a man distrusts his Superior and trusts himself if he misses Truth it will be greatly imputed to him he shall feel the evil of his error and the shame of his pride the reproach of his folly and the punishment of his disobedience the dishonour of Singularity and the restlesness of Schism and the scorn of the multitude but on the other side if he obey Authority and yet be deceived he is greatly excused he erred on the safer side he is defended by the hands of many vertues and gets peace and love of the Congregation You see the blessings of Obedience even in the questions and matters of Religion but I have something more to say and it is not only of great use to appease the tumultuary disputations and arguings of Religion which have lately disturbed these Nations but is proper to be spoken to and to be reduced to practice by this Honourable and High Court of Parliament That which I am to say is this You have no other way of Peace no better way to appease and quiet the Quarrels in Religion which have been too long among us but by reducing all men to Obedience and all questions to the measures of the Laws For they on both sides pretend Scripture but one side only can pretend to the Laws and they that do admit no Authority above their own to expound Scripture cannot deny but Kings and Parliaments are the makers and proper expounders of our Laws and if ever you mean to have Truth and Peace kiss each other let no man dispute against your Laws For did not our blessed Saviour say that an Oath is the end of all questions and after depositions are taken all Judges go to sentence What Oaths are to private questions that Laws are to publick And if it be said that Laws may be mistaken it is true but may not an Oath also be a Perjury and yet because in humane affairs we have no greater certainty and greater than God gives we may not look for let the Laws be the last determination and in wise and religious Governments no disputation is to go beyond them 2. But this is not only true in Religious prudence and plain necessity but this is the way that God hath appointed and that he hath blessed and that he hath intended to be the means of ending all questions This we learn from S. Paul I exhort that first of all Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men for Kings for all that are in Authority For all for Parliaments and for Councils for Bishops and for Magistrates it is for all and for Kings above all Well to what purpose is all this that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Mark that Kings and all that are in Authority are by God appointed to be the means of obtaining unity and peace in godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the true and godly worshipings of God no Unity in Religion without Kings and Bishops and those that are in Authority 3. And indeed because this is God's way of ending our Controversies the matter of Authority is highly to be regarded If you suffer the Authority of the King to be lessened to be scrupled to be denied in Ecclesiastical affairs you have no way left to silence the tongues and hands of gainsaying people But so it is the Kings Authority is appointed and enabled by God to end our questions of Religion Divinatio in labiis Regis saith Solomon in judicio non errabit os ejus Divination and a wise sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth shall not erre in judgment In all Scripture there is not so much for the Popes infallibility but by this it appears there is divinity in the Kings sentence for God gives to Kings who are his Vicegerents a peculiar spirit And when Justinian had out of the sense of Julian the Lawyer observed that there were many cases for which Law made no provision he adds If any such shall happen Augustum
of false Doctrines for above all things this is to be taken care of 1. Although every place of Scripture hath a literal sense either proper or figurative yet every one hath not a spiritual and mystical interpretation and g. Origen was blam'd by the Ancients for forming all into spirit and mystery one place was reserv'd to punish that folly Thus the followers of the Family of love and the Quakers expound all the Articles of our Faith all the hopes of a Christian all the stories of Christ into such a clancular and retir'd sense as if they had no meaning by the letter but were only an Hieroglyphick or a Phythagorean Scheme and not to be opened but by a private key which every man pretends to be borrowed from the Spirit of God though made in the forges here below To which purposes the Epistles of S. Hierom to Avitus to Pammachius and Oceanus are worth your reading In this case men do as he said of Origen Ingenii sui acumina putant esse Ecclesiae Sacramenta Every man believes God meant as he intended and so he will obtrude his own dreams instead of Sacraments g. 2. Whoever will draw spiritual senses from any History of the Old or New Testament must first allow the literal sense or else he will soon deny an Article of necessary belief A story is never the less true because it is intended to profit as well as to please and the narrative may well establish or insinuate a precept and instruct with pleasure but if because there is a Jewel in the golden Cabinet you will throw away the inclosure and deny the story that you may look out a mystical sense we shall leave it arbitrary for any man to believe or disbelieve what story he please and Eve shall not be made of the rib of Adam and the Garden of Eden shall be no more then the Hesperides and the story of Jonas a well dress'd fable and I have seen all the Revelation of S. John turn'd into a moral Commentary in which every person can signifie any proposition or any virtue according as his fancy chimes This is too much and therefore comes not from a good principle 3. In Moral Precepts in Rules of Polity and Oeconomy there is no other sense to be inquired after but what they bear upon the face for he that thinks it necessary to turn them into some further spiritual meaning supposes that it is a disparagement to the Spirit of God to take care of Governments or that the duties of Princes and Masters are no great Concerns or not operative to eternal felicity or that God does not provide for temporal advantages for if these things be worthy Concerns and if God hath taken care of all our Good and if godliness be profitable to all things and hath the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come there is no necessity to pass on to more abstruse senses when the literal and proper hath also in it instrumentality enough towards very great spiritual purposes God takes care for servants yea for Oxen and all the beasts of the field and the letter of the Command enjoyning us to use them with mercy hath in it an advantage even upon the spirit and whole frame of a mans soul and g. let no man tear those Scriptures to other meanings beyond their own intentions and provisions In these cases a spiritual sense is not to be inquired after 4. If the letter of the story inferres any undecency or contradiction then it is necessary that a spiritual or mystical sense be thought of but never else is it necessary It may in other cases be useful when it does advantage to holiness and may be safely us'd if us'd modestly but because this spiritual or mystical interpretation when it is not necessary cannot be certainly prov'd but relies upon fancy or at most some light inducement no such interpretation can be us'd as an argument to prove an Article of Faith nor relied upon in matters of necessary Concern The three measures of meal in the Gospel are but an ill argument to prove the Blessed and Eternal Trinity and it may be the three Angels that came to Abraham will signifie no more than the two that came to Lot or the single one to Manoah or S. John this Divine Mystery relies upon a more sure foundation and he makes it unsure that causes it to lean upon an unexpounded vision that was sent to other purposes Non esse contentiosis infidelibus sensibus ingerendum said S. Austin of the Book of Genesis Searching for Articles of Faith in the by-paths and corners of secret places leads not to faith but to infidelity and by making the foundations unsure causes the Articles to be questioned I remember that Agricola in his Book de animalibus subterraneis tells of a certain kind of spirits that use to converse in Mines and trouble the poor Labourers They dig mettals they cleanse they cast they melt they separate they joyn the Ore but when they are gone the men find just nothing done not one step of their work set forward So it is in the Books and Expositions of many men They study they argue they expound they confute they reprove they open secrets and make new discoveries and when you turn the bottom upwards up starts nothing no man is the wiser no man is instructed no truth discover'd no proposition clear'd nothing is alter'd but that much labour and much time is lost and this is manifest in nothing more than in Books of Contrversie and in mystical Expositions of Scripture Quaerunt quod nusquam est inveniunt tamen Like Isidore who in contemplation of a Pen observ'd that the nib of it was divided into two but yet the whole body remain'd one Credo propter mysterium he found a knack in it and thought it was a mystery Concerning which I shall need to say no more but that they are safe when they are necessary and they are useful when they teach better and they are good when they do good but this is so seldom and so by chance that oftentimes if a man be taught truth he is taught it by a lying Master it is like being cur'd by a good witch an evil spirit hath an hand in it and if there be not errour and illusion in such interpretations there is very seldom any certainty What shall I do to my vineyard said God Isai. 5. Auferam sepem ejus I will take away the hedge that is custodiam Angelorum saith the gloss the custody of their Angel guardians and Isai. 9. God says Manasseh humeros suos comedit Manasseh hath devour'd his own shoulders that is gubernatores dimovit say the Doctors hath remov'd his Governours his Princes and his Priests it is a sad complaint 't is true but what it means is the Question but although these senses are pious and may be us'd for illustration and the prettiness of discourse yet
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 heal all the World as far as you are able rule XVI 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 rule XVII 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 rule XVIII 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 Gracâ—â— are useless unto others rule XIX 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 rule XX 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 rule XXI 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 counsel is not the worse but the better if it be profitable both to him that gives and to him that takes it Only do it in simplicity and principally intend the good of their souls rule XXII 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 Ecclesiastical 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 rule XXIII Be not satisfied when you have done a good work unless you have also done it well and when you have then be careful 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 rule XXIV Be careful 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 useless 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 III. The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers in their respective Cures rule XXV 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 Governours rule XXVI 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 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 rule XXVII 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 and as for places of publick Entertainment take care that they observe the Rules of Christian Piety and the allowed measures of Laws rule XXVIII If there be any Papists or Sectaries in your Parishes neglect not frequently to confer with them in the spirit of 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 rule XXIX 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 Laws and their Love to all Christian people even though they be deceived rule XXX 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 toward God and Man but if he be an humble Person modest and inquiring apt to learn and desirous of information if he seeks for it in all ways reasonable and pious and is obedient to Laws then take care of him use him tenderly perswade him meekly reprove him gently and deal mercifully with him till God shall reveal that also unto him in which his unavoidable trouble and his temptation lies rule XXXI Mark them that cause Divisions among you and avoid them for such Persons are by the Scripture called Scandals in the abstract they are Offenders and Offences too But if any man have an Opinion let him have it to himself till he can be cur'd of his disease by time and counsel and gentle usages But if he separates from the Church or gathers a Congregation he is proud and is fallen from the Communion of Saints and the Unity of the Catholick Church rule XXXII He that observes any of his people to be zealous let him be careful to conduct that zeal into such channels where there is least danger of inconveniency let him employ it in something that is good let it be press'd to fight