Send me and is accepted But before his setting forth He has his Mission Go and say unto the People The Reason is given by St. Paul No man â—aketh this Honor to himself but he who is called of God as was Aaron Nay saith he Christ took not to Himself this Honor to be made the High priest But He who said to Him Thou art my Son This day begat I thee Gave it to him I fear there be some Straglers in our Church who as they speak what Christ and his Apostles ne'r taught so they have done what they did not I mean Invested themselves in the Ministerial Function before Lawfully Ordained and Run on God's Errand before he sent them Of which sort were Those Obscure men Hierom speaks of Qui de cavernis cellularum damnant orbem who from their dark Corners and close Angles wherein they lurk breathe out the Sentence of Damnation against all that are not of their Opinion and Sect. VVould that unruly violence which transports them stop a little at the Book of Jeremy They should find their giddy zeal waited on by as much rebuke and danger as the false Prophets who are first Degraded and then Cursed God disclames their service I have not sent them neither did I command them neither spake unto them And after condemns them to Sword and Famin. I am sure that Prophet was so tender of himself in this particular That lest he might be suspected for an Intruder upon his Office He makes a voluntary protestation He had not thrust in himself for a Pastor So St. Paul before he delivers any Message by his Pen to the Corinthians opens his Commission Vocatus ad Apostolatum Paul called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God Nor doth he keep it back from Timothy but shews it although he required it not Whereunto I am appointed a Preacher The Minister is Sagitta electa a chosen Shaft drawn from the Quiver of God An Arrow doth not flie of it self unless sent from the Bow by that hand which fits it to the String How disordered then must their motion needâ— be who leap out of the Quiver and fly without their Mission St. Paul doth not onely ask why any should do this but how they should perform the scope of this Message Quomodo praedicabunt nisi missi How shall they preach unless they be sent The Apostles never spake with power until they had received the holy Ghost And then see how St. Peters first Sermon like a sharp Sword peirces to the quick The Hearers were pricked to the heart and said to the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do Those who preach without this Spirit may preach the dead Letter or rather not Praedicare but Sonare not Preach but make a noise VVe are perswaded that in the Lawful Ordination in our Church the Spirit of God is imparted in those words Accipite Spiritum Sanctum Receive the holy Ghost Nor must we judge them Ministers who want these Seals of Ordination to their Patent God touched the lips of Esay And Ezekiel must have remained still dumb had not the hand of God opened his mouth Christ our Blessed Saviour signed the Apostles Commission in his Gospel Go out and preach to all Nations But he sealed not that Commission until the day of Pentecost wherein He gave the Holy Ghost as the Seal of his love and favour to them Those Preachers who have this Hand to their Patent and this Seal to their Commission can onely call themselves Preachers VVhen they have this warrant it will not onely be seasonable to speak but necessary For their Commission then becomes a Charge and this Loquere speak Thou is not so much a License as a Mandat There was no Vessel of the Sanctuary but had its peculiar use There is no Priest but is or should be a Sanctuary like it holy and furnished like it I know my Heart is my Portable Oratory but if my Tongue be tied up to the Roof of my mouth I am onely a Chapell without the Service and an Altar without the Sacrifice The Praise and glory of God is a Stock entrusted to the world Every Creature hath a Talent from this Treasury and with it drives this pretious Trade Therefore David musters up the Elements as well as the Bodies formed out of them and will have every Letter in the Creature 's Alphabet as well as the VVords made out of those Letters to Praise God Shall every Creature in his way and every Beast in his Dialect Praise God And shall the world's Interpreter Man be mute If God will not dispence with this want of service in those Creatures which want Speech how can he whom alone he hath made Vocal excuse his silence Where is the Tribute of the Tongue due but from him who is endued with Organs of speech Or where is speech significant as when the Tongue is prompted by a knowing heart The Prophet says that the Lips of the Priest preserve knowledge And therefore Speech as it is most profitable so most warrantable from Him He who lets not down his Pitcher into this Well As he refused now to draw water for the Thirsty's relief so he must hereafter look to thirst for his punishment The first thing Christ did when he came to Jacob's well was to ask the courtesie of the Samaritan's pitcher Give me water And Abraham's Servant concluded from the ready letting down of Rebekkah's Pitcher into the well that God was with his Errand God's Messages are like refreshâ—â—g Dews to a barren and thirsty Land There is none then that derives himself from Christ who is not as liberal of his Comforts as Christ of his Living waters when he proclames Qui sâ—it veniat Let every one that thirsts come God grant our Wells never want these Waters nor that the Wells prove so illiberal to deny them When Fountains of knowledge restrain their waters not pouring out by the Tongue which is the Conduit of speech to fill the Cisterns I mean the ears and hearts of the Congregation that dearth threatens drought to the Fountain it self The Preacher says There is a time to speak and a time to be silent But the Apostle brings not the Minister within the compass of this Interpretation No time must silence him no respite no privation of speech but he must preach in season and out of season Or if he do make any pause in this service it must be onely Caution must stop him not Silence Sit Rector discretus in silentio utilis in verbo ne aut tacenda preferat aut proferenda reticescat is Gregory's Rule There is no Law bids him repress his words But both the Law of God and the Law of Reason bids him weigh them before he speaks When David resolves upon his Dixi Custodiam St. Ambrose glosses upon it Rectè David
A SERMON Preached at Lewis in the Diocess of CHICHESTER By the Lord Bp of CHICHESTER At His VISITATION Held there Octob. 8. 1662. LONDON Printed for Henry Herringman and are to be sold at his Shop in the Lower Walk of the New-Exchange 1663. A SERMON Preached at a VISITATION c. The Text Tit. 2.1 But speak Thou the things which become Sound Doctrine THIS Text is a short View of the Priests Duty made up into a Monition or Directory In which you have 1. The Person admonished Thou 2. The Advise which contains in that one word Both his Commission and his Charge Speak â— The Matter of his Discourse Things 4. The Form of it Which become 5. The End unto which all Circumstances are intended Sound Doctrine Each Minister is an Apostle sent out to Preach the Gospel of Peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In what better Language therefore can I speak to Ministers than in the words of an Apostle Nay he is Episcopus Animarum a kind of Bishop set over the Souls committed to his Charge What fitter Compellation therefore can I find for you than that which was addressed to Titus the first Bishop of Crete If St. Paul thought it not unneedful to advertize Him who was advanced to that high place of Government in the Church ye cannot think it an Impertinent Custom which thus assembles and adviseth you for the discharge of that Duty which concerneth All who have any Share or Title to the Ministry We are slack and dull by Nature therefore need Admonition to quicken us The most active Ambassador betwixt Prince and Prince might sometimes need a Letter of Advise to refresh his Memory Much more we who are Embassadors sent to treat betwixt God and his People Some there are so well-conceited of themselves that they disdain Admonition as Upbraider of Defect in them The Bishop of Rome when he is in Cathedrâ thinks himself Inerrable and by his Place can neither need Advise nor Exhortation But St. Augustine a better Bishop than he though not of so large a Diocess writing to Auxilius a Bishop also touching a Rash Excommunication passed upon Classicianus and his Family desires him not to take ill Advise from his hand Nec arbitreris ideo non posse subrepere injustam Commotionem quia Episcopi sumus Think not that because we are Bishops we cannot do amiss or are exempted from receiving their Advise who fairly admonish us of our Duties Theophilus Alexandrinus writing to Hieron tells Him Quanquam ex superfluo faciam haec tibi scribere qui errantes potes ab errore revocare tamen nihil nocet eruditos prudentes viros pro sollicitudine fidei commonâ—ri The best men are subject to Error and Infirmity therefore want Remembrancers to put them in mind of their Defects I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance though ye be stablished in the present truth Far be it from any then who have rightly learned Christ to spurn against the Word of Exhortation when seasonably uttered or to think meanly of that Office which Christ entrusted to the holy Ghost He told his Disciples when he promised to send the Comforter that amongst many other blessings He would be their Remembrancer shewing them all these things suggerendo by quickning their Memory and bringing his Sayings back to their knowledge So that Exhortation or Admonition do not upbraâ—d the Infirmity of the Man or Slack performance of his Duty but rather animate him to go on in what he hath well undertaken As Ignatius told the Trallenses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I strengthen you by my Admonitions And St. Augustine told Eudoxius Non hoc vos monui quod vos non arbitror facere I write not to Chide or Find fault but rather to Commend and desire you to do what you do Indeed he who Exhorts and Admonisheth what should be done is so far from Diminishing or Disparaging that he rather Dignifies him whom he Admonisheth A Remembrancer is but an Index which refers to a man 's own Abilities telling him how Able he is and how VVilling he ought to be in discharge of the Duty required from him Qui monet ut faciaâ—quae jam facis ipse monendo Laudat hortatu comprobat acta suo In this Sense and Style doth St. Paul excite Titus who was a Bishop And in this sense do I excite you Here onely is the difference St. Paul spake to Titus as one who stood for all Crete I in his words speak to all you as One. It were ill Grammar but worse Divinity to consider Those that should be of One Spirit knit fastest In vinculo pacis In the bond of peace whose Office is to preach a Religion consisting of Unity One God One Faith One Baptism As a Multitude Or to speak unto Them who in the Service of God's Church should go together as Israel to the Battel against Gibeah As one man in the Plural We are met here in One place And I hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one mind as the Apostles on the day of Pentecost why should not I then speak to you as One Such Meetings as these are unto the People Exemplary Sermons and Instances of that Brotherly Agreement and Union which we Preach Ill men have their Combinations and Factious men have their Conventicles but these St. Augustine says Vnitatem faciunt contra Unitatem Unite and band themselves to break this Union and so become a Conspiracy rather than an Union Onely good men properly have their Vnion Cum boni coeunt cum Pii cum Casti congregantur non est factio dicenda sed Curia When good men are Congregated and met to good ende you cannot call that Assembly a Factious Conventicle but a Council May we all conspire as happily in Doctrine and in Endeavour to settle the Divisions in our Church as we do in Plaâ—e And then as by the Act of a Synod we shall establish that Canon which bids us be of one Mind as our Father is one This Union is an happy Qualification and makes us capable to discharge the Duty of Apostles When the Spirit fell upon them in Tongues 't was when They were in One place and met with One Mind These Capacities fit us for the receiving of the Holy Ghost in Tongues and then for the Exercise of Those Tongues Loquere Tu Speak Thou VVhich implies both a Commission and a Charge If it be Treason in Embassadors to forge their Message or Treat without Letters of Credence by what name shall I style their Insolent Usurpation who enter upon this high Calling without Commission The Ministery was not an Office Rashly Instituted Therefore ought not to be Unadvisedly Undertaken In the 6 of Esay you find God in a Deliberation what Prophet to choose Whom shall I send 'T is true too that Esay there obediently offers himself to the Task
in every dress An Egyptian Mantle or a Babylonish Garment were sin to an Israelite As every Light Tune would not go well with the Grave Dorick Harp so every Dialect would not fit the Church That Language which commends the Stage would misbecome the Pulpit Light conceits or flashes of unseason'd wit prophane that holy ground And again that bitter Style which in a Declamation were an ingenious Satyre translated into a Sermon might prove a Libel That Rule which St Paul gave the Church must be as well observed in the Pulpit Let all things be done decently and in order If you ask by what Rule we must measure this Decency Surely not by Theirs who condemn or laugh at all the world who are not in their fashion Decency was never measured by Singularity or Affectation Many have been more factiously proud and phantastical and therefore more ridiculous in an affected Plainness than others in their studied Curiosity Hierom says Superba Rusticitas was the garb of some in his time who had nothing but a rude Insolence to bear out their want of Knowledge for Ignorance and Boldness commonly go together The most unexcepted and safe Rule of Decency is Religious discretion When God's Messages want neâ—ther fit Ornament to set them forth nor Integrity to apply them I have it from the Prophet David This is that Beauty He loves and Holiness that He commends when he tells you both these conjoyning become the House of the Lord. For those therefore who quarrel with Learned Elaborate Sermons And are so Umbragious to boggle at any thing which is not presented to them in their Mother-Tongue Who give Sentence against a Preacher for a Latine Sentence or Authority out of a Father alleged in a Sermon I shall truly pity them for that they disallow what St Paul in his practice justifi'd Though that Spiritus Anabaptisticus Anabaptistical spirit that reigns amongst many in these latter days dares affirm Qui in Scholis Academiis Theologiam discunt tantum tenent Literam mortuam non etiam Spiritum vivificantem Quare nec possunt esse Ministri Novi Testamenti quos Paulus dixit esse Ministros non Literae sed Spiritus Those who in our Universities and Schools study Divinity grasp oâ—ely the Dead Letter attain not the Quickning Spirit and therefore cannot be Ministers of the New Testament who are styled by St. Paul Ministers not of the Letter but the Spirit Yet they may see that St. Paul Himself whom they dare not deny to be a Minister of the New Testament makes use of Human Learning and cites some Verses out of Epimenides Araâ—us and Menander which shewed that He had studied the Greek Poets as Moses the Learning of the Egyptians and Daniel the Wisdom of the Caldeans Moses disciplinas Egyptiorum Daniel sapientiam Chaldaeorum Beatus Paulus Epimenidis Arati Menandri carmina didicerunt ut his veram Religionem locupletiorem redderent supposing Religion to receive much advantage by the study of Human Learning For which cause Petrus Cunaeus writes that the Old Levites challenged as their right an universal knowledge of all Laws and all Sciences Humane or Divine Legum omnium â—erum Humanarum Divinarumque summam scientiam sub quodam sibi jure Levitae vendicabant Indeed St. Augustine invites us to the reading of Ethnick Authors upon this motive That they were Usurpers and unjust Possessors of Knowledge whereof Christians onely could make the best use This apprehension caused Porphyrius as Eusebius tells to complain of Origen That he had robb'd the Greek Philosophers of their Treasure to enrich his own Religion Therefore Julian the Apostate observing the great advantage Christians made by reading the Works of those Learned Heathens who in many things were by Them confounded and wounded by their own Pens peremptorily forbad all Christians the use or study of Human Authors How well doth this suit the humor of our late Levites quite differing from those Elder by me alleged who account Ignorance a mark of the Spirit and none so fit for the Ministery as those who never took Degree in the Schools I shall not trouble my self or you with more words in this Argument but onely say If there be any who so much dote upon their lack of Learning accounting it an Holy Ignorance to know nothing which belongs to worldly Science If there be any so wedded to their sudden Conceptions or praecipitate Barbarism that they cry down all Learning or Elegance in Pulpits Or imagine that the spirit of Elocution speaks best from the worst Interpreters As if Gods Messages could be delivered in too good Language God forgive them I have heard a woe denounced against Those that do the work of the Lord negligently but never against any who perform it with too much care Erasmus well said Eloquentiam non pugnare cum simplicitate Religionis Eloquence is not inconsistent with Religion And Severus Sulpitius gratulated the accurate and elegant Style of St. Augustine as an improver of that devout Subject whereon he treated Quicquid de ejus plenitudine ad nos usque redundat jucundius efficitur gratius per tuum elegantem famulatum Nay St. Ambrose is said to have converted St. Augustine then a Manichee to the Christian Faith by his great Eloquence which wrought so powerfully when he onely out of curiosity went to hear Him at Millain That taken by the bait of his Elocution this great Champion was drawn into the Net of the Church Nor is this strange As St. Paul told the Corinthians That he had taken them by deceit so oft-times it falls out that the Preachers Eloquence by perswasion wins the Auditory to the Confession of some Truths which plain reason or force of Argument could not before evince 'T is true David says The King's Daughter is all glorious within and yet in that place she is presented in Garments embroidered and wrought with the needle Indeed it had been an unsuitable mismatched Beauty had not Her outward Ornaments held some proportion with Her inward Perfections I apply it thus Good Matter and sound Doctrine were unfashionable Virtues if not set out so as Becomes Sound Doctrine This is our Issue and your Fruit That Fruit whose Leaves under which it grows are our Words For this cause is Paul a Planter Apollos a Waterer that the Congregation may gather the Blessings of this Husbandry And as the Tree whereon it grows hath many Branches so the Fruit hath many Species even so many as there be Virtues Moral or Theological This is the Treasure for which we dig whose Mine is the Scripture whose Mint the Church whose Stamp Christ Himself By whose Impression in our Baptism we are coined and become Current Christians As every Vein of Ore hath a Test to try it so this hath a Touch stone joyned to the Metall which warrants both the Value and the Truth St. James defines Pure Religion by Charity