house too bad for him 2 Kings 4.9,10 How much did the Galatians make of St. Paul that he saith They would have plucked out their own eyes if it had been possible to have done him good Gal. 4.15 How beautiful are the feet of them that Preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10.15 So it is evident and manifest that once a Minister was esteemed like a Minister And hath God bidden you despise them now which bad you honour them before 1 Tim. 5.17 Let the Elders that Rule well be accounted worthy of double honour especially they who Labour in Word and Doctrine Such as apply their spirits most to the glory of God and the Publick good especially such as are Timothies in their houses Chrysostoms in their Pulpits S. Chrysostom was such a golden mouth'd Preacher Mellitissimus Christi Concionator he was so admired for his sweet winning Eloquence as that all the people cryed out when he was like to be silenced Satius est ut sol non luceat quam ut non doceat Chrysostomus We had better want the Sun then the Preaching of St. Chrysostom And S. Austin studied to make his language sweet and harmonious and acceptable to Gods people Some degree of Eloquence seems to be meet for a Minister for Moses saith to God I am not Eloquent Exod. 2.10 3. Vse Thirdly Hence we may see who are the best Ministers not they that can plot most for Preferment or can Preach most for Applause ambitious of a little popular breath but he that setteth himself with all his might to do good He that winneth souls is wise Prov. 11.30 because of the great difficulty of this work he is wise to himself he lays up a good foundation against the time to come They are the best Ministers that carry people to heaven though I know a Converting work is not for us but for the Holy Ghost rostra habet in Coelis qui corda docet Yet sometimes the Lord is wonderful powerful and efficacious by that word which we preach piercing through the very hearts and souls of men and leaving impressions of an immortal nature upon their spirits How fain would Christ have saved the people of Jerusalem the name is doubled to express the truth and certainty of his great affection How often would I have gathered c. Matt. 23.37 God offered them mercy while they had the dispensation of the means of grace And good Ministers like a Hen which clocketh her Chickens together from the Kite so they clock you together from the Serpent They would fain do so Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 2 Cor. 5.11 the wrath of God is an unsupportable burthen Who is able to dwell with devouring fires and everlasting burnings therefore would we perswade men all men When Agrippa was almost perswaded to be a Christian saith Paul I would to God that not onely thou but also all that hear me were both almost and altogether Acts 26.28.29 A good Minister would carry all his people to heaven with him How deeply is Moses affected that the sin of Israel might be forgiven Exod. 32.32 what extraordinary zeal and love for the salvation of men and as if his joy would have been utterly drowned in the destruction of the Church or had no part in the Election of Grace Tertullian understandeth it typically and figuratively of Christ the good Shepherd who was to be exhibited and to Dye for the Sheep Certe quidem bonus Pastor animam pro pecoribus ponit ut Moses non homini adhuc Christo revelato etiam in se figurato ait si perdis hunc populum inquit me pariter cum eo disperde Tertull. de fuga in Persecutione Cap. 11. And it is true that Moses was a typical Mediator and did atone for them Exod. 32.30 With what a bleeding heart doth St. Paul speak for the salvation of the Jews Rom. 9.1,2,3 servent appearing in the degree of it with this unexpressable adjunct great heaviness Secondly Continuance of it Continual sorrow in my heart for I could wish that I my self were accursed from Christ And truely we that are the Ministers of the Church of England might speak this even with tears of blood if we were able when we consider how many people in England seem to loose the hope of a good beginning who have suck'd their first sincere milk of the word that they might grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 in waiting upon God in his publick ordinances and blessed God that they might wait seemed to be in a good forwardness in the of way of Life and Salvation confessed that they have received comfort and will still to this day acknowledge it yet by reason of some who never we have cause to fear were converted unto Christ but unto an opinion Fantastical spirits which in Corners pour out their Poison and come not at the Congregations as Luther speaks and so they fall off and turn either unto Athiesm or Quakerism c. And there is no doubt but that this hath been no little grief and trouble unto our godly and dissenting brethren themselves when they see such sad effects of that doctrine which they have preached It is one good argnment of piety to love the place where God speaks the house of his presence Psal 26.8 Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth As the Sun shines gloriously though no eye behold it and pure waters flow from the fountain though none drink of them so Ministers are the light of the world though few be enlightned by them and the salt of the earth though few be seasoned by them 4. Vse Let me then Exhort you all unto this happy Reconciliation with God Reconciliation presupposeth a breach and indeed this was the greatest that ever was made by reason of the sins of man There was a heavy war denounced in the inimicitias ponam when God raised a war between the Devil and us Gen. 3.15 Gods wrath provoked man thrown out of Paradise Cursed in his name nature body soul senses friends and whatsoever he takes in hand Adams Posterity as well as himself became bondmen to Hell the Earth made barren for his sake and all the days of his life he was to eat his bread in the sweat of his face Man an enemy to God God and man at a very great distance I mean a distance of state and condition and so unhappy man desireth to continue never to have to do with God for ever And how sad and dreadful is it to consider how averse men are unto all means that can be used to reduce them and bring them back again to God They think not of him they speak not of him desire not the knowledge of him nor any of his ways Job 21.14 And some they can never be far enough from God and therefore the Prodigal went into a far Countrey Men having lost their Communion
will make them do their duty with joy and not with grief With grief and sorrow for your disobedience when you oppose your selves and are obstinate and rebellious and ignorant and set not your hearts to Consider of what is taught Thirdly Because their Rulers discouragement occasioned by their disobedience will be unprofitable to the disobedient For that is unprofitable saith Paul you shall be infinitely loosers at last mourn and be in bitterness at the last The Ministers watch for your Souls to win and gain them if it might be The Charge of Church Rulers is the heaviest of all Charges because of Souls the most assiduous and painsul setting not of the body onely but the Spirit on work because it is a Charge of watching the most dangerous of all Charges because the account of lost Souls within the Church shall be required at their hands Acts 20.26,27 whether they have done all that which became them to do to save them or not All the People ought to watch Mark 13.37 and to be sober and vigilant 1 Pet. 5.8 But the Minister is to watch over all the Flock with a most vigilant eye The two famous Academies of Oxford and Cambridge are called the two Eyes of this Land in comparison of other places And they are in Potentia many of them to be watchmen excelling in more clear seeing reason men of Piercing understandings Pure phansies Quick inventions Conversing with God in the immediate dialects of the Holy Ghost Others see not but by their Eyes they see with their own what is written in the holy Scriptures They hear as it were with their own ears the very same word which God once spake unto his People They can perceive the peculiar and native Elegancy the sweet allusions and Cadences of Words with the rich and lofty expressions in the Original whereas others can but drink of the waters which run through the Chancls of Translation they have recourse to the Fountains themselves drink at the Springs Head where the waters must needs be both sweeter and clearer For dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquae Inspectio fontium saith St. Austin de doctrina Christiana is a special help for the understanding of the Scripture what need he wait upon a Chanel that may dwell by a whole Fountain That I may digress a little further Our Nobility themselves have delightfully devoted themselves in the morning of their time to gather their choicest flowers out of these Gardens Those that study not the holy Languages that dig not in these mines they cannot find such pretious Metal such goodly pearls such choice Jewels And such of our Nobility as come to be fervent lovers of sound Literature purity of heavenly Doctrine and godliness in sincerity of heart wherein true Nobility doth chiefly consist for indeed there is none truely Noble but the Virtuous This is the way to add to the Renown of all their famous Progenitors and propagate an everlasting augmentation and increase of all virtue and honour to all that shall succeed them Like Romanus who was Noble of Birth but more Noble in his Martyrdom Not the Blood of my Progenitors says he but Christian Profession makes me Noble I suppose it is granted by all wise men that there is some knowledge of the Tongues necessary to the understanding of the Scripture for the Scriptures are understood by the same means that other humane Writings are by the use of Logick Rhetorick Grammar and those Tongues in which they are expressed though it is most true that there is a singular light of the Spirit always to be sought for by the faithful in the Scriptures to an acquired habit though not in that peculiar and special manner when they were insused by the Spirit of God into the minds of men Though the Penmen of holy Scripture wrote not according to Art as some tell us but according to grace which is above all Art for unto them the Spirit of God did indite and dictate Yet they that have written of Art have found an Art in their Writings Non enim secundum artem scripserunt sed secundum gratiam quae super omnem artem est scripserunt enim quae Spiritus iis loqui dabat sed tamen ii qui de arte scripserunt de eorum scriptis artem invenerunt Ambr. Periculose docent qui prius non didicerunt They are dangerous Teachers and unfit for Watchmen that never were learners While they will not become Schollars of Truth they become Masters of Errour Saith Christ I will make you fishers of men yet they went not presently out of the Boat into the Pulpit he was three year instructing them Christ commanded them to stay at Jerusalem till the Holy Ghost descended on them Acts 2. they must not simul recipere effundere Receive in and Pour out at once Heri catecumenus hodie Episcopus But first be well principled and full fraught with sound knowledge and good learning As all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his Share and his Coulter and his Ax and his Mattock 1 Sam. 13.20 so in the Schools of the Prophets studious young men do exceedingly sharpen their understandings grow and improve themselves insensibly The Levites under the Law were first Probationers before they were allowed to be Practitioners This is the way to be men of gravity and experience to Thunder in Doctrine and Lighten in Conversation having an inward Principle of the light of holiness in them from Christ that they may shine out holily unto others not onely in the Pulpit and Prayer but in the whole Course of their lives also That they may be able to say as the Christians did of old Nos non eloquimur magna sed vivimus We do not speak great things but we live them they cannot look to be satisfied by the fruit of their mouths qui operibus destruunt quod recte docent who say one thing and do another Secondly Ministers are called Prophets such as by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost did foretel the ruine of sin and the reward of virtue and were interpreters between God and Man Prophets and Seers such as were immediately stirred up by God and extraordinarily assisted by his Spirit in such weighty matters as could not otherwise be effected Now Prophets are of such account with God that it is said God will do nothing but he would reveal it unto his Servants the Prophets Amos 3.7 Kings Priests and Prophets were figures of Christ all these were anointed with Oyl to shew that they had greater grace then the rest But especially the Prophets are called Men of God to shew that all that are of God will make much of Prophets for Gods sake And Job speaks of such as one of a thousand an Interpreter that sheweth unto man his righteousness and Gods righteousness Job 33.23 Thirdly All the people of God must work in Gods Vineyard 1 Cor. 3.9 but the Ministers are co-workers with God When
A SERMON Preached at the Visitation held at High Wickham in the County of Bucks May 16. 1671. WHEREIN The Ministers Duty is Remembred Their Dignity Asserted Man's Reconciliation with God urged By Samuel Gardner M. A. and Chaplain to His Majesty â—…ch the Word be instant in Season out of Season Reprove 〈◊〉 Rebuke Exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.2 â—…ed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find 〈◊〉 so doing Matth. 24.46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…d who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor. 2.16 LONDON â—…ted by T. Ratcliff and N. Thompson for Nath. Ranew at the Kings Arms in S. Pauls Church-yard 1672. To The Right Reverend Father in God WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Bishop of LINCOLNE All Felicity and Coelestial Happiness My Lord YOV may most justly Wonder at this attempt why I the meanest of so many should expose my self unto Publick view and the manifold Censures which will inevitably follow hereupon Secondly In this my bold address unto Your Lordship in the Dedication with so poor and barren a Sermon upon so rich and fruitful a Text wherein so many glorious things should be insisted on But my fear is most the Censure of God and that I may be afraid to Censure others I confess it 's better to be haled in by force of others unto great Duties then over hastily to rush upon them Your Lordship knows right well That Forwardness argues Insufficiency They are modest beginnings which give hopeful Proceedings and happy Endings Yet when I considered that Servant was Condemned of Evil that gave God no more then his own which he had received Matth. 25.27 Though but one Talent yet ought to have improved it Then with neglect of Censure contented to learn to be Contemned I adventured to send forth this Plain Sermon into the World seconded with many desires that the Blessing of Heaven may go along with it under Your Lordships Patronage I Design nothing of Controversie I inveigh not against any one I would give no offence neither to the Jevv nor to the Gentile but especially to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 Nor yet to gratifie such as are accustomed to humane flourishes oftentimes contracting Itching Ears do begin to loath the simplicity of the Gospel and vvill not indure sound Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.3 The efficacy of the Holy Spirit doth more appear in a naked simplicity of words then in too much Elegancy and Neatness Hence Saint Paul saith that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rude in Speech yet not in Knovvledge 2 Cor. 11.6 Your Lordship is not ignorant that the two great Pillars upon which the Kingdom of Satan is erected and by which it is upheld are Ignorance and Errour The first of these is so far from being the Mother of all Devotion that Saint Bernard saith it is Mater omnium Vitiorum Bern. de ordine vitae Through the Power of the Gospel and our careful Government holy Discipline we shall be much delivered from these Mischiefs Your Lordship hath now a large Opportunity for Gods glory and the Churches good to further and honour the truth of the Gospel in the Power and Purity of it while the Church of God shall be favoured with Your life and happy continuance amongst us The Lord stretch out his holy Arm together with you in that great Charge committed to you and make your Lordship as great a blessing as faithful a favourite unto Piety as great a supporter and encourager of the faithful Ministers of the Gospel and the most sincere and Godly of your Lordships Diocess as ever did Preceed you or ever shall Succeed you And then give you a full and an ample reward that your last translation may be to a never fading Crown and such choice delights as never entred into the heart of man to conceive The Lord of Heaven and Earth bless your Lordship with many and happy days and grant you true Felicity Thus craving your Lordships pardon for my presumption I subscribe my self Your Lordships Humble Servant in all duty and faithful Service Samuel Gardner Reverend and dear Sir HAving lately had a happiness to hear a Sermon read by a Reverend Friend which not long since you Preached at a Visitation concerning the Dignity and Duty of Gospel Ministers I could do no less then signifie to you how much I was affected therewith and how much I desire You would make it Publick being perswaded that through the Blessing of God much good would accrew both to Ministers and private Christians into whose hands it may come who cannot but be both delighted and edified by reading it and learn thereby the one to be more painful in Preaching and the other more careful in Hearing and both more Consciencious in living regularly Howsoever your Work and Labour of love in so Learned and Powerful dispensation shall be rewarded Nor do I fear as he who read your Sermon seemed to do That any of the dissenting Brethren that are truely pious and peacable will take the least offence at any passage therin Which is all at present from your unworthy Brother Friend and Servant John Bryan Toddington Sept. 6. 1671. Ministers Dignity and Duty A Sermon Preached at the Visitation held at High Wickham in the County of Bucks May 16. 1671. 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We Pray you in Christs stead be ye Reconciled to God THE great Ambassadours of Kings and Princes in this inferiour World Command Respect and Reverence from all beholders And what innumerable multitudes are there whose highest Ambition it is to feed their Eyes in viewing and beholding their goodly and comely Order both in their access for Audience and also in their retedure Here the Solemnity is more honoured a greater Presence promised unto the end of the World Matth. 28.20 The very Attendance more glorious in nature then our selves Heb. 1.14 The Place more beautiful and amiable the things more rich and excellent sublime and spiritual An inestimable treasure is now presented which excelleth all the Riches of the Earth the unsearchable Riches of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Riches that hath no footsteps which cannot be traced out that is the propriety of the Word Though we are men of like Passion with your selves that Preach unto you that ye should turn from Vanities unto the living God which made Heaven and Earth c. Acts 14.15 for that you are no more able of your selves to hear God speaking to you immediately in his own Wisdom then Israel in whose eyes the glory of God was like devouring Fire and they as stubble before him Exod. 20.19 Therefore let it content you that you have this Heavenly Treasure though in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor 4.7 And seeing it is the pleasure of the Almighty God to have it so for his own Glory and your eternal
's a demonsiration Feed the hungry relieve the Poor There 's another demonstration When this is done in Faith and in Obedience to the Commandements of God 't is one excellent way for rich men to lay up some of their treasures in heaven and then let their hearts follow their treasure thither This is a brave noble way of giving Earth a translation and to improve every Alms and Penny to the best laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come That they may lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.17,18,19 Secondly Unto Angels by hidden and secret signs which are sighs and groans Angelorum delitiae Poenitententium lacrymae and other signs of repentance which please and delight the Angels who are sent about Gods Messages to this Earth There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luke 15.10 And good Ministers are glad too when they can perceive it How glad was the holy Apostle when he perceived it in the Romans and asked them What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Rom. 6 21. Certainly sin is not a gainful way without doubt more men are impoverished and beggered by sinful courses then enriched sin cannot be the way to Glory and Honour for we dare not avow our sins but are ashamed of them when they are done fruitless unprofitable before shame and dishonour after Mens Souls are desperately sick of sin and at Deaths door must we tell them of Heaven and an immortal Crown and Kingdom before repenting of their wickednesses till they be first recovered in some measure from the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Acts 8.22 from the jaws of Hell and snare of the Devil Revive them with the Gospel before they be humbled with the Law Without any humiliation repentance sighs and grones certainly we cannot give you comfort We dare not apply the oyl of Consolation till we have scoured your festred wounds with the sharp wine of Reprehension Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6.7 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.13 When Iniquity hath played her part then shall Vengeance leap upon the Stage The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God Psal 9.17 And that with a Go ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels Mat. 25.41 Could we behold your Cheeks blubbered with Tears your Hands beating your Breasts like the poor penitent Publican Luke 18.13 your Cryes resounding at Heaven Gates for mercy or any way but perceive your Repentance and Indignation against Sin Then should we think it high time and seasonable to sing as sweetly as we can of the tender mercies of God and the Riches of his grace unto afflicted and broken spirits Thirdly We must be reconciled to God by Purity singleness and sincerity of heart wherein the perfection of the Gospel doth consist Mat. 5.8 And now Men Brethren and Fathers with what words shall I bespeak you all to live to that God from whom you shine That when the Grave shall be open for you Heaven may not be shut against you O you that are yet asleep in sin is it not high time for you to awake Rom. 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep The time of the light of the Gospel which is as it were the Dawning of that great everlasting Day the words are an Alarm or Summons unto spiritual vigilancy an appeal to Conscience for the necessity of the Duty And now knowing the time the Propinquity and nearness of salvation The night is far spent Shall the Heavens be all in flaming fire 2 Thes 1.8 and the Elements melt with servent heat before you will begin to fear God The Sun shined upon Sodom in the morning and yet the horrible wrath of God fell upon them before evening and thy Soul may be in Hell before the next morning as that rich Churls who reckoned upon many years and had not a day to live Luke 12.20 Shall the great Luminaries of Heaven the Sun and the Moon be darkened Mat. 24 29. before that soul of thine be inlightened And the Stars fall down from Heaven before thou wilt fall down in all humility before thy Maker confessing and forsaking thy sins Shall the Sea give up her Dead before thou art alive and the Harvest of the world to come before the Seeds of grace and eternal life be sown in thy heart art thou so dead and buried in sin that no Sermon shall stir nor awaken thee but the last Trumpet shall sound before thou wilt hear O wo to thee when thy days are ended Then the great Judgment and Visitation will fall most dreadfully upon thee And yet I declare unto you this truth in the name of God that there is not the worst the vilest in the Congregation that is come through the Providence of God before God this day but for ought we know it is possible for thy sins to be pardoned for God to be reconciled unto thee and thy soul to be saved though even now an enemy a rebel against God a slave of sin and Satan O therefore prize this Doctrine of Reconciliation prefer it above your appointed food as Job did the holy Scripture yea before thousands of gold and silver Job 23.12 For upon your forsaking a Course of sin God will not onely pardon you let all Suits fall cancel all Bonds quit all scores but also receive you into favour Now herein the Lord infinitely excelleth all the Princes of the Earth If a Subject offend his Prince and his offence be hainous and capital be accounteth it a singular and great favour from his Prince if he can be pardoned but he shall never be honoured more never be trusted more But now the Lord doth not onely pardon great sinners upon true repentance but he highly honours them and Crowns them with very glorious Rewards and the choicest Joys and Delights that heart can wish And this may be said with all grateful commemoration and great truth that when by Divine Providence Almighty God the Father of all Mercies returned our most dread Sovereign unto us the People of England to the execution of his Kingly Office he did not onely pardon many Offenders but hath also honoured them with titles of quality and places of trust I will Answer but one Objection and so I will draw to a Conclusion What infinite Pity is it to consider how some forsake all Religion because the Preachers do not Agree or because the Lives of Professors give some offence But certainly there is no Cause why they should mislike the Word for the Preacher or why they should despise Religion for the Professor Because the Word and Religion are not theirs which Preach it and Profess it but Gods The Seed sown in good Ground may grow