Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A33134
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The Churches complaint against sacriledge, or, Sacriledge truely dissected and layed open wherein is briefly shewn 1. The just collation, 2. The unjust ablation of the riches and honours of the clergy.
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1643
(1643)
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Wing C4273; ESTC R35594
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15,292
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29
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If the heathen Oratour must be seen in all the arts and nooks of learning the Christian Doctor had need bee bard no field of knowledge for the soule he is to look to is thrice more worth than the goods of Fortune Our Brethren of Scotland and all it seems are out who take their Church-men along in their weightyest affaires and their Sermons here in England they say savoured of some thing more than pure preaching of the Gospell The Clergie are men men of liberall education they wade through the Arts ere they come at divinity wherby me thinks they should be capable of human affaires with other men And Divinity can bee no hinderance Perhaps they are better seene in Ecclesiasticall matters and therefore may arrogate them as their peculiar but for us to exclude them our Councells as an abject generation who have the deepest share in Gods promise of assistance and give the best Authority to resolutions comming in the Name of God cannot proceed either from good policy or Religion The Priest-hood amongst the Iewes had a hand in all Temporall affaires and in matters meerely of order and governement and no way Typicall Iewes as hath beene said may bee Presidents for Christians The Apostles perhaps at first exercised none other Authority but the Spirituall power of excommunication to withhold the Ordinances and forbid Communion which delinquents and left further censures to the Secular Magistrate But when Princes received the Gospell they requited the Ministers thereof with a share of their power and magnified their authority with the glory of these Ministers Perhaps it had been sinne in them at first not to have honoured the Gospell but for us to devest it is more out of question Their Voyces in Parliament c may seeme matters of small moment for the publike peace But besides the dishonour to Religion they are of dangerous consequence for the same reason that shall invalid them may as well overthrow the whole Fabrick of the Church And it is to be feared it is some mens aime to effect that by degrees which at once they find not feasable The Prelate spoke not by rote who said they would serve them as High-way men doe honest Travellers first gag and bind then rifle them Thirdly they pretend a convenience in pulling down Order and Government in the Church to buy in Impropriations and set up preaching Preaching in deede and labouring in the Word have high Attributes in Scripture as of introducing grace and working faith c. and the Gospell at first being committed to the bosomes of men the only way then of propagating thereof was Sermon-wise by a kinde of Preaching Christ thus taught the people and instituted his Disciples to this Annunciation But their preaching was not the same in use with us theirs had its Authoritie from the Spirit they spake by which wee borrow from their writings Any way of publishing and promoting the Gospell is preaching in the Scriptures sense as well as our exposition of Scripture the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 involves them all nor can the foresaid Attributes be appropriated to that which we call preaching Saint Paul laboured in the Gospell before there was a Gospell written hee laboured by word and writing by constituting Canons and in seeing them observ'd and now not only extemporary Expositions but all effectuall meanes for the propagation of the Tenor thereof is the Ordinance of God and no doubt his free Spirit accordingly conferreth grace and faith by them Whether they bee Doctrinall by word and writing by catechisme to young beginners by reading of the Scriptures Apochryphall Bookes divine Homilies or other profitable discourses or after institution magisteriall by enacting and establishing good lawes as Kings and Emperours we know being converted by their Edicts in an instant more advanced the Gospell than private Preachers with many Sermons in many ages though otherwise they had extraordinary assistance of the Spirit The Gospell may and must be preach'd in every Court that is Christs law must be there preserved and though that bee not the proper place for teaching there may happen to bee as effectuall Sermons for the promotion of the Gospell from the Bench as from the Pulpit where men of power meet and draw things to a point there there is preaching powerfull Thus some particular Bishops have had the oportunitie to doe more good than all the Clergie in their Diocesse againe Neither in words alone but in workes of pietie and businesse of State Christ may be advanced Lay-men may but Ministers more especially must thus Evangelize Our preaching and practising and writing and Government are all twines of that Mother preaching in Scripture Let preaching be the eldest and the fairest sister their dowties and their vertues may be alike we must not set too great a price on one to disparage the rest or because preaching was first of all reduce Christianity to its principles and hold there This were as if because Writing was before Printing and then had high elogies amongst the ancients we should renounce the benefit of Printing to hold to Writing only or prefer it before Printing This is the grand imposture and illusion of the Age. Preaching is cryed up nought but Preaching God knowes a sorry kind of Preacding when nobler helpes should share It s to bee feared they would serve the Clergie as the Fox in the fable did the Crow commend their voices till they let goe their morsells where wee heare knowledge is confined wee cannot thinke libertas Prophetandi shall have its scope As in Reason we excell beasts Elocution whereby we readilyest conveigh our conceit to others exalts us amongst men Sermons may be most apposite to the maladies of the hearers and best fit for their affections they most readily catch and transport furthest The Preacher like as skillfull Physition can varie his recipe according to the exigence of the patient hee can cast his discourse into what mould or forme he please he can insinuate and creepe upon particulars how ever prepossess'd and as occasion serves invade or surpâ—ise the Affections he can give food to healthy and physick to diseased minds And the very act of Preaching the countenance and gesture adde life to words and have a singular energie over bare reading for thus they make all they deliver new as it were and their owne when the other way it seemes but flat and borrowed they set forth Christ and his Doctrine with more pompe unto our soules and in pressing Scripture make it like bruised Spices more ravishing Yet its long of us and our corrupt affections if Sermons carry it we are more for sauce than meate more tickled with the momentany dresse and relish of the workeman than the meate which endureth As diseases are commonly alike in different men the same remedies were wee attentive might serve our severall soules as doe our bodies God no doubt was both able and willing to prescribe Catholike Remedies for all our Maladies in his Word
and Men usually more sufficiently expresse themselves by writing than by word of mouth upon deliberation than on the suddaine nay extemporary discourses like our actions are subject to extravagancy and oft times derogate from the Majestie of Scripture and the evidence of the Spirit therein So that Government and good lawes had need to order all and the Scripture is that all must bee ordered by It is bare Text alone that gives the minde repose and grounds beliefe As we confine not our selves only to set formes of doctrine to stint the Spirit It is good we should have some things set and fixt to stint humane extravagancies lest Religion become meerely matter of Phansy and the Church be converted into a Babel It were ingratitude against the Spirit to slight such grounds as he hath laid us and presumption still wholly to relye on him but the middle way to hold some thing certaine and attend his further motions is safe Preaching and practice and writing and government are all usefull in the Church towards others yet where wee have but the Gospell it selfe read none of them is absolutely necessarie to salvation But if wee must compare them though they are best together government to us now is no lesse necessary than that which we call preaching It extends it selfe to a larger forme and it is that must keepe preaching and all in order Preaching may bee more necessary for the planting of a Church but government as it is more noble is more necessary where a Church is planted The Church of Christ is never so setled but it is militant here on earth and had need of the best marshalling in ranke and fyle The enemy will finde a gap or where to make one if there bee not some Generall to overlooke some Commander to ride the round and see the watch set one that for place and power need not feare the face of man Unlesse we dislike our Religion there is no reason we should find fault with our Government If Religion have not much of the image of justice in it a sword sometimes to determine us aswell as a ballance to weigh truth her ballance will be despised As I have no faith in charmes I am not wholly for preaching that bare talking way without the Spirit is not like government to settle men in an habituate course of pietie It rather puzzels the beliefe than actuates our obedience But with degrees of promotion industry and learning and so preaching it selfe must necessarily fall And the more ordinate Church Government and the more concentrate to unitie it is it agreeth better with Monarchy and holds better harmony with its head which is Christ In the office of a Bishop an Archbishop or a Patriarch as strange as it may sound Calvin himselfe could see no hurt while they were subject unto Christ an Emperour and a generall Councell Inst 4.4 4. And how far the like were not againe to be endeavoured were a disquâ—tision becoming states truly Christian for by this means as the promise of Christ to the Clergie should have its regard states might enjoy the deliberaâ—ions of the whole Church though they retaine the liberty of admitting or rejecting their Counsels It is seene in all estates Quae communiter possidentur communiter negliguntur the very dividing is the destruction of power what can an ordinary man do or who will care for shewing himselfe in commotions when the danger shall be his owne and many must share in the honour Let not men flatter themselves too much in their project of changing the use of riches without taking them from the Church though things perhaps may be better carried both amongst Bishops and downe to the inferiour Clergie there may be rapine in honours aswell as in riches If we take them from God and Religion though we cannot convert them to our-secular uses If there be lesse of private advantage there may be more of malicâ— in it but there may be of advantage in pulling downe others to get into their places Absalon himselfe had other pretences when in his heart he said O that I were made judge in the Land But it concernes them that but alter things consecrate to be sure it be to the better for the scandall of innovation goes further than the thing reformed Mutato Sacerdotio mutatur etiam Lex saith the Apostle and the dishonouring of the Priest hood will expose it to contempt and in the end it s to be feared prove the bane of Religion I condemne not Chuâ—che which have not or cannot arrive at our happinesse for there is great odds inter Ecclesiam constituendam constitutam Pietie is the principall and as we condemne no Church that holds but that unum necessarium of Pietie so mee thinkes none should condemne us for asserting of Pietie by so regular government But it is fitter they aspire to our state than think of reducing us to their condition with us that of Peter to Ananias must take place Act. 5.4 While it remained was it not thine owne but now thou hast deceived not men but God It is a fearefull sentence of God to Samuel upon the Israelites Sam. 8.7 Hearken unto the voice of the People for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected mee that I should reigne over them If Nemo potest mutare concessum in alterius praejudicium shall wee without licence from God take away what was truly given him This breach how small soever at a part will open a gap to all the Churches patrimony And though it bee but matter of Discipline we talke of I pray God such dishonour to the discipline entrench not soone upon the Doctrine it selfe and bring that in question Though our neighbours of Scotland and the Low Countryes though the emulation of adversaries as yet keepe upright with their forme of government When in cold bloud we shall feele the inconveniences even of the reformed discipline as they call it and consider how much we have been out I pray God we come not to begin again at Rome or Palestine or Palestine as now it is so find the way to us For who shall animate Princes for Religion when the Priest must keep at distance This question in England will be of dangerous consequence in Christendome Lastly such prophane ones as spoyle for the booty how ever they please themselves in their fury will one day finde a curse goe along with their prey which like Achans execrable thing will ruine themselves and their families They forfeit their confidence in a providence and that comfort in their brethren and their own breasts which should be their life and stay in time of trouble They usually dye forlorne of God and men miserable disconsolate and detested and yet have more to answer for in the world to come IX The Conclusion The Church of England God be thanked yet retaines the face of a Church How ever for riches and honours she comes short of her selfe in former times she comes behind few Churches in Christendome We have tythes and oblations Bishops and governours rich Colledges and Cathedrals large priviledges endowments such as might make men that like not our Doctrine fall in love with our discipline and in admiring these glories adore the Divinity that provok'd them She is like the Vine of God in the 80. Psalm O let not the wild Bore out of the Forrest breake downe her branches nor the little Foxes devoure her grapes If we have neither so much Piety nor Policy as to contribute to the propagation of our order abroad nor the promoting of Religion at home nor to make satisfaction to the Church as the Lord Bacon would have it for the wrongs of our forefathers Let us not be guilty of so much Atheism as to withdraw its maintenance Let us not let goe our anchorage and cast our selvs upon the fluctuations of people If the Clergy in its height have abused these blessings to their worldly ends as all estates on earth are subject to abuse If their happinesse have made them wanton If to the keyes and their spirituall sword they be catching at the Temporall and there be something in their honours which may occasion them to looke to Rome-ward Let the curbe of Law hold them to their way and the Trienniall Review look as austere on them as on Projectors What restivenesse soever they have contracted let provision bee made by wholsome discipline to reclaime them but withhold not their provender to abate their service Let us not pursue Vices or Persons so far as to violate offices offices which have not contracted such guilt but they may be regenerated Let us not defeate the charity of our pious Predecessors Let us not dishonour our State and the Age we live in Let us not rob Religion of its Ornaments the Priest of his Reverence and God of his Glory In a word let us not so flye from Rome as to fall into the mouth of Hell and rob God to enrich the Devill againe FINIS