Duty but this also God will exact at the hands of every man that is placed under Authority I have now told you the summe of what I had to say concerning Obedience to Laws and to your own Government and it will be to little purpose to make laws in matter of Religion or in any thing else if the end of it be that every man shall chuse whether he will obey or no and if it be questioned whether you be deceiv'd or no though the suffering such a question is a great diminution to your authority yet it is infinitely more probable that you are in the right then that the disobedient Subject is because you are conducted with a publick spirit you have a special title and peculiar portions of the promise of God's assistance you have all the helps of Counsel and the advantages of deliberation you have the Scriptures and the Laws you are as much concerned to judge according to truth as any man you have the principal of all capacities and states of men to assist your consultations you are the most concern'd for Peace and to please God also is your biggest interest and therefore it cannot be denied to be the most reasonable thing in the world which is set down in the Law Praesumptio est pro authoritate imponentis the presumption of truth ought to be on your side and since this is the most likely way for Truth and the most certain way for Peace you are to insist in this and it is not possible to find a better I have another part or sense of my Text yet to handle but because I have no more time of mine own and I will not take any of yours I shall only doe it in a short Exhortation to this most Honourable Auditory and so conclude God hath put a Royal Mantle and fastned it with a Golden Clasp upon the shoulder of the KING and he hath given you the Judges Robe the King holds the Scepter and he hath now permitted you to touch the golden Ball and to take it a while into your handling and made obedience to your Laws to be Duty and Religion but then remember that the first in every kind is to be the measure of the Subjects should obey you unless you obey God I do not speak this only in relation to your personal duty though in that also it would be consider'd that all the Bishops and Ministers of Religion are bound to teach the same Doctrines by their Lives as they do by their Sermons and what we are to doe in the matters of Doctrine you are also to doe in matter of Laws what is reasonable for the advantages of Religion is also the best Method for the advantages of Government we must preach by our good Example and you must govern by it and your good example in observing the laws of Religion will strangely endear them to the affections of the people But I shall rather speak to you as you are in a capacity of union and of Government for as now you have a new Power so there is incumbent upon you a special Duty 1. Take care that all your power and your counsels be imploy'd in doing honour and advantages to Piety and Holiness Then you obey God in your publick capacity when by holy Laws and wise administrations you take care that all the Land be an obedient and a religious People For then you are princely Rulers indeed when you take care of the Salvation of a whole Nation Nihil aliud est imperium nisi cura salutis alinae said Ammianus Government is nothing but a care that all men be saved And therefore take care that men do not destroy their Souls by the abominations of an evil life see that God be obey'd take care that the breach of the laws of God may not be unpunished The best way to make men to be good Subjects to the King is to make them good servants of God Suffer not Drunkenness to pass with impunity let Lust find a publick shame Let the sonnes of the Nobility and Gentry no more dare to dishonour God then the meanest of the people shall let baseness be basely esteemed that is put such characters of Shame upon dishonourable Crimes that it be esteem'd more against the honour of a Gentleman to be drunk then to be kicked more shame to fornicate then to be can'd and for honours sake and the reputation of Christianity take some course that the most unworthy sins of the world have not reputation added to them by being the practice of Gentlemen and persons of good birth and fortunes Let not them who should be examples of Holiness have an impunity and a licence to provoke God to anger lest it be said that in Ireland it is not lawful for any man to sin unless he be a person of quality Optimus est reipublicae status ubi nihil deest nisilicentia pereundi In a common-wealth that 's the best state of things where every thing can be had but a leave to sin a licence to be undone 2. As God is thus to be obey'd and you are to take care that he be so God also must be honnourd by paying that reverence and religious obedience which is due to those persons whom he hath been pleased to honour by admitting them to the dispensation of his blessings and the ministeries of your Religion For certain it is this is a right way of giving honour and obedience to God The Church is in some very peculiar manner the portion and the called and the care of God and it will concern you in pursuance of your obedience to God to take care that they in whose hands Religion is to be ministred and conducted be not discouraged For what your Judges are to the ministry of Laws that your Bishops are in the ministeries of Religion and it concerns you that the hands of neither of them be made weak and so long as you make Religion your care and Holiness your measure you will not think that Authority is the more to be despised because it is in the hands of the Church or that it is a sin to speak evil of dignities unless they be Ecclesiastical but that they may be reviled and that though nothing is baser then for a man to be a Thief yet Sacrilege is no dishonour and indeed to be an Oppressor is a great and crying sin yet to oppress the Church to diminish her rents to make her beggerly and contemptible that 's no offence and that though it is not lawful to despise Government yet if it be Church-government that then the case is altered Take heed of that for then God is dishonoured when any thing is the more despised by how much it relates nearer unto God No Religion ever did despise their chiefest Ministers and the Christian Religion gives them the greatest honour For honourable Priesthood is like a shower from heaven it causes blessings every where but a pitiful a
the proportions of Holinesse and when all Books are read and all Arguments examined and all Authorities alledged nothing can be found to be true that is unholy Give your selves to reading to exhortation and to Doctrine saith St. Paul Read all good Books you can but exhortation unto good life is the best Instrument and the best teacher of true Doctrine of that which is according to Godlinesse And let me tell you this The great learning of the Fathers was more owing to their piety then to their skill more to God then to themselves and to this purpose is that excellent ejaculation of St. Chrysostome with which I will conclude O blessed and happy men whose names are in the Book of life from whom the Devils fled and Heretics did feare them who by Holinesse have stopp'd the mouthes of them that spake perverse things But I like David will cry out Where are thy loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old Where is the blessed Quire of Bishops and Doctors who shined like lights in the World and contained the Word of Life Dulce est meminisse their very memory is pleasant Where is that Evodias the sweet savour of the Church the successor and imitator of the holy Apostles where is Ignatius in whom God dwelt where is St. Dionysius the Areopagite that Bird of Paradise that celestial Eagle where is Hippolytus that good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that gentle sweet person where is great St. Basil a man almost equall to the Apostles where is Athanasius rich in vertue where is Gregory Nyssen that great Divine and Ephrem the great Syrian that stirred up the sluggish and awakened the sleepers and comforted the afflicted and brought the yong men to discipline the Looking-glasse of the religious the Captain of the Penitents the destruction of Heresies the receptacle of Graces and the habitation of the holy Ghost These were the men that prevailed against Error because they lived according to Truth and whoever shall oppose you and the truth you walk by may better be confuted by your lives then by your disputations Let your adversaries have no evil thing to say of you and then you will best silence them For all Heresies and false Doctrines are but like Myron's counterfeit Cow it deceived none but Beasts and these can cozen none but the wicked and the negligent them that love a lye and live according to it But if ye become burning and shining lights if ye do not detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse if ye walk in light and live in the Spirit your Doctrines will be true and that Truth will prevaile But if ye live wickedly and scandalously every little Schismatick shall put you to shame and draw Disciples after him and abuse your flocks and feed them with Colocynths and Hemlock and place Heresie in the Chaires appointed for your Religion I pray God give you all grace to follow this Wisdom to study this Learning to labour for the understanding of Godlinesse so your time and your studies your persons and your labours will be holy and useful sanctified and blessed beneficiall to men and pleasing unto God through him who is the wisdom of the Father who is made to all that love him Wisdom and Righteousnesse and Sanctification and Redemption To whom with the Father c. FINIS Imprimatur M. FRANCK S.T.D. R sso in X to P. ac D no. D. GILB Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Dom. Sept. 21. 1663. A SERMON Preached in Christs-Church Dublin July 16. 1663. AT THE FUNERAL Of the most Reverend Father in God JOHN Late Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland WITH A succinct Narrative of his whole Life The third Edition enlarged By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor LONDON Printed by J. G. for Richard Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1663. 1 Cor. 15.23 But every Man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterward they that are Christ's at his coming THe Condition of Man in this world is so limited and depressed so relative and imperfect that the best things he does he does weakly and the best things he hath are imperfections in their very constitution I need not tell how little it is that we know the greatest indication of this is That we can never tell how many things we know not and we may soon span our own Knowledge but our Ignorance we can never fathom Our very Will in which Mankind pretends to be most noble and imperial is a direct state of imperfection and our very liberty of Chusing good and evil is permitted to us not to make us proud but to make us humble for it supposes weakness of Reason and weakness of Love For if we understood all the degrees of Amability in the Service of God or if we had such love to God as he deserves and so perfect a conviction as were fit for his Services we could no more Deliberate For Liberty of Will is like the motion of a Magnetick Needle toward the North full of trembling and uncertainty till it were fixed in the beloved Point it wavers as long as it is free and is at rest when it can chuse no more And truly what is the hope of Man It is indeed the resurrection of the Soul in this world from sorrow and her saddest pressures and like the Twilight to the Day and the Harbinger of joy but still it is but a conjugation of Infirmities and proclaims our present calamity onely because it is uneasie here it thrusts us forwards toward the light and glories of the Resurrection For as a Worm creeping with her belly on the ground with her portion and share of Adam's curse lifts up its head to partake a little of the blessings of the air and opens the junctures of her imperfect body and curles her little rings into knots and combinations drawing up her tail to a neighbourhood of the heads pleasure and motion but still it must return to abide the fate of its own nature and dwell and sleep upon the dust So are the hopes of a mortal Man he opens his eyes and looks upon fine things at distance and shuts them again with weakness because they are too glorious to behold and the Man rejoyces because he hopes fine things are staying for him but his heart akes because he knows there are a thousand wayes to fail and miss of those glories though he hopes yet he enjoys not he longs but he possesses not and must be content with his portion of dust and being a worm and no Man must lie down in this portion before he can receive the end of his hopes the Salvation of his Soul in the resurrection of the dead For as Death is the end of our lives so is the Resurrection the end of our hopes and as we die daily so we daily hope but Death which is the end of our life is the enlargement of our Spirits from hope to
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 Wisedome 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 busy in disputing the laws of his Superiors for a man by that seldome gets good to himself but seldome misses to doe 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 doe 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 commandement 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 then 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 commandement 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 matters of question the laws and decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteem'd 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 tels 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 obey'd 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 alwaies dwels in light The publick spirit hath already passed the trial it hath been subjected to the Prophets tried 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 that they were Prophets of an inferior rank then 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 then 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 doe that as well as any Ecclesiastic 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 customes 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 undo Government and despise the Laws and offend Princes and dishonour the wisdome of Parliaments and destroy Obedience Well but in the last place if we cannot doe 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 saies 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 discharg'd in the Court of Conscience but there he is still a sinner and a debter For the law is not made for the righteous but for sinners that is the punishment appointed by the Law falls on him only that hath sinned but an offending subject cannot with the fruit of his body pay for the sin of his Soul when he does evil he must suffer evil but if he does not repent besides a worse thing will happen to him for we are not tied to obey only for wrath but also for Conscience Passive obedience is only the correspondent of wrath but it is the active obedience that is required by Conscience and whatever the Subject suffers for his own fault it matters nothing as to his
disheartned a discouraged Clergy waters the ground with a water-pot here and there a little good and for a little while but every evil man can destroy all that work whenever he pleases Take heed in the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man then to be an enemy to God's Church All Histories of Christendome and the whole Book of God have sad records and sad threatnings and sad stories of Corah and Doeg and Balaam and Jeroboam and Uzzah and Ananias and Sapphira and Julian and of Hereticks and Schismaticks and sacrilegious and after all these men could not prevail finally but pai'd for the mischief they did and ended their daies in dishonour and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin and the record of their curse 3. In the same proportion you are to take care of all inferiour Relatives of God and of Religion Find out methods to relieve the Poor to accommodate and well dispose of the cures of Souls let not the Churches lye wast and in ruinous heaps to the diminution of Religion and the reproach of the Nation lest the nations abroad say that the Britans are a kind of Christians that have no Churches for Churches and Courts of Judicature and the publick defences of an Imperial City are res sacrae they are venerable in Law and honourable in Religion But that which concerns us most is that we all keep close to our Religion Ad magnas reipublicae utilitates retinetur Religio in civitatibus said Cicero by Religion and the strict preserving of it ye shall best preserve the Interests of the Nation and according to the precept of the Apostle Mark them which cause divisions amongst us contrary to the doctrine that ye have receiv'd and avoid them For I beseech you to consider all you that are true Protestants do you not think that your Religion is holy and Apostolical and taught by Christ and pleasing unto God If you do not think so why do you not leave it but if you do think so why are ye not zealous for it Is not the Government a part of it is that which immures and adorns and conducts all the rest and is establisht in the 36. Article of the Church in the publick Service-book and in the book of consecration it is therefore a part of our Religion and is not all of it worth preserving If it be then they which make Schisms against this Doctrine by the rule of the Apostle are to be avoided Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum Blessed is he that preaches a word that was never heard before so said the Spanish Jesuite but Christ said otherwise No man having drunk old wine straight desires new for he saith the old is better And so it is in Religion Quod primum verum Truth is alwaies first and since Episcopacy hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing since it hath ever combin'd with Government and hath been taught by that spirit that hath so long dwelt in God's Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that saies the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church been restored amongst us by a heap of miracles and as it went away so it return'd again in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws suffer no evil tongue to speak against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from Experience and from the wisdome of so many Ages of all your Ancestours and all your Laws lest ye be found to speak against God and neglect the things that belong unto your Peace and get nothing by it but news and danger and what other effects ye know not But Leontimus Bishop of Antioch stroak'd his old white beard and said When this snow is dissolved a great deal of dirty weather will follow meaning that when the old Religion should be questioned and discountenanced the new Religion would bring nothing but trouble and unquietness and we have found it so by a sad-experience 4. Ye cannot obey God unless ye doe Justice for this also is better then sacrifice said Solomon Prov. 21.3 For Christ who is the Sun of righteousness is a Sun and a Shield to them that doe righteously The Indian was not immured sufficiently by the Atlantick sea nor the Bosphoran by the walls of Ice nor the Arabian by his meridian Sun the Christian Justice of the Romane Princes brake through all inclosures and by Justice set up Christs standard and gave to all the world a testimony how much could be done by Prudence and Valour when they were conducted by the hands of Justice And now you will have a great trial of this part of your Obedience to God For you are to give sentence in the causes of half a Nation and he had need be a wise and a good man that divides the inheritance amongst Brethren that he may not be abused by contrary pretences nor biassed by the Interest of friends nor transported with the unjust thoughts even of a just Revenge nor allured by the opportunities of Spoile nor turn'd aside by Partiality in his own concerns nor blinded by Gold which puts out the eyes of wise men nor couzened by pretended Zeal nor wearied with the difficulty of questions nor directed by a general measure in cases not measurable by it nor born down by Prejudice nor abused by resolutions taken before the cause be heard nor over-ruled by National Interests For Justice ought to be the simplest thing in the world and is to be measured by nothing but by Truth and by Laws and by the decrees of Princes But whatever you doe let not the pretence of a different Religion make you think it lawful to oppress any man in his just rights For Opinions are not but Laws only and doing as we would be done to are the measures of Justice and though Justice does alike to all men Jew and Christian Lutheran and Calvinist yet to doe right to them that are of another Opinion is the way to win them but if you for Conscience sake doe them wrong they will hate you and your Religion Lastly as obedience is better then sacrifice so God also said I will have mercy and not sacrifice meaning that Mercy is the best Obedience Perierat totum quod Deus fecerat nisi misericordia subvenisset said Chrysologus all the creatures both of heaven and earth would perish if Mercy did not relieve us all Other good things more or less every man expects according to the portion of his fortune Ex clementia omnes idem sperant but from Mercy and Clemency all the world alike do expect advantages And which of us all stands here this day that does not need God's pardon and the King's Surely no man is so much pleased with his own innocence as that he will be willing to quit his claim to Mercy and if we all need it let us all shew it Naturae
what I fain would have done till by a Second communication of those thoughts though in differing words I had publish'd it also to my Clergy at the Metropolitical Visitation of the most Reverend and Learned Lord Primate of Armagh in my own Diocese But when I found that they also thought it very reasonable and pious and joyn'd in the desire of making it publick I consented perfectly and now only pray to God it may do that Work which I intended I have often thought of those excellent words of Mr. Hooker in his very learned discourse of Justification Such is the untoward constitution of our Nature that we do neither so perfectly understand the way and knowledge of the Lord nor so stedfastly embrace it when it is understood nor so graciously utter it when it is embraced nor so peaceably maintain it when it is uttered but that the best of us are overtaken sometime through blindness sometime through hastiness sometime through impatience sometime through other passions of the mind whereunto God knows we are too subject That I find by true experience the best way of Learning and Peace is that which cures all these evils as far as in this World they are curable and that is the wayes of Holiness which are therefore the best and only way of Truth In Disputations there is no end and but very little advantage but the way of godliness hath in it no Error and no Doubtfulness By this therefore I hop'd best to apply the Counsel of the Wise man Stand thou fast in thy sure Understanding in the way and knowledge of the Lord and have but one manner of word and follow the word of peace and righteousness I have reason to be confident that they who desir'd me to publish this discourse will make use of it and find benefit by it and if any others do so too both they and I shall still more and more give God all thanks and praise and glory Sermons newly Printed and are sold by R. Royston A Sermon preached at the opening of the Parliament in Ireland May 8. 1661. Before the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons A Sermon preached at the Consecration of two Archbishops and ten Bishops in the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick in Dublin January 27. 1660. Both by Jeremy Taylor D. D. Lord Bishop of Downe and Connor A Sermon preached at the Consecration of Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford by Jasper Main D. D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary The grand debate resumed in the point of Prayer being an Answer to the Presbyterian papers presented to the most Reverend the Lord Bishops at the Savoy upon the subject by a Member of the Convocation 7 JOHN 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self THe Ancients in their Mythological Learning tell us that when Jupiter espyed the men of the World striving for Truth and pulling her in pieces to secure her to themselves he sent Mercury down amongst them and he with his usuall Arts dressed Error up in the Imagery of Truth and thrust her into the croud and so left them to contend still and though then by Contention men were sure to get but little Truth yet they were as earnest as ever and lost Peace too in their Importune Contentions for the very Image of Truth And this indeed is no wonder but when Truth and Peace are brought into the world together and bound up in the same bundle of life when we are taught a Religion by the Prince of Peace who is the Truth it self to see men Contending for this Truth to the breach of that Peace and when men fall out to see that they should make Christianity their theme that is one of the greatest wonders in the World For Christianity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soft and gentle Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was brought into the World to soften the asperities of humane nature and to cure the Barbarities of evil men and the Contentions of the passionate The Eagle seeing her breast wounded and espying the Arrow that hurt her to be feathered cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the feathered Nation is destroyed by their own feathers That is a Christian fighting and wrangling wiâ—h a Christian and indeed that 's very sad but wrangling about Peace too that Peace it self should be the argument of a War that 's unnaturall and if it were not that there are many who are homines multae religionis nullius penè pietatis Men of much Religion and little Godliness it would not be that there should be so many Quarrells in and concerning that Religion which is wholly made up of Truth and Peace and was sent amongst us to reconcile the hearts of men when they were tempted to uncharitablenesse by any other unhappy argument Disputation cures no vice but kindles a great many and makes Passion evaporate into sin and though men esteem it Learning yeâ— it is the most uselesse Learning in the world When Eudamidas the Son of Archidamas heard old Xenocrates disputing about Wisdom he asked very soberly If the old Man be yet disputing and enquiring concerning Wisdom what time will he have to make use of it Christianity is all for Practice and so much time as is spent in quarrells about it is a diminution to its Interest men inquire so much what it is that they have but little time left to be Christians I remember a saying of Erasmus that when he first read the New Testament with fear and a good mind with a purpose to understand it and obey it he found it very usefull and very pleasant but when afterwards he fell on reading the vast differences of Commentaries then he understood it lesse then he did before then he began not to understand it For indeed the Truths of God are best dressed in the plain Culture and simplicity of the Spirit but the Truths that men commonly teach are like the reflexions of a Multiplying-glasse for one piece of good money you shall have forty that are fantasticall and it is forty to one if your finger hit upon the right Men have wearied themselves in the dark having been amused with false fires and instead of going home have wandered all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in untroden unsafe safe uneasie wayes but have not found out what their Soul desires But therefore since we are so miserable and are in error and have wandered very far we must do as wandring Travellers use to do go back just to that place from whence they wandered and begin upon a new Account Let us go to the Truth it self to Christ and he will tell us an easie way of ending all our Quarrells For we shall find Christianity to be the easiest and the hardest thing in the World it is like a secret in Arithmetick infinitely hard till it be found out
they pretend Charity They will indeed force you to come in but it is in true Zeal for your Soul and if they do you violence it is no more then if they pull your Arme out of joynt when to save you from drowning they draw you out of a River and if you complain plain it is no more to be regarded then the out-cries of Children against their Rulers or sick men against Physicians But as to the thing it self the truth is it is better in Contemplation then in Practice for reckon all that is got by it when you come to handle it and it can never satisfie for the infinite disorders happening in the Government the scandal to Religion the secret dangers to publick Societies the growth of Heresie the nursing up of parties to a grandeur so considerable as to be able in their own time to change the Lawes and the Government So that if the Question be whether meer Opinions are to be persecuted it is certainly true they ought not But if it be considered how by Opinions men rifle the affaires of Kingdoms it is also as certain they ought not to be made publick and permitted And what is now to be done must Truth be for ever in the dark and the World for ever be divided and Societies disturbed and Governments weakned and our Spirits debauched with Error and the uncertain Opinions and the Pedantery of talking men Certainly there is a way to cure all this evil and the wise Governour of all the World hath not been wanting in so necessary a matter as to lead us into all Truth But the way hath not yet been hit upon and yet I have told you all the wayes of Man and his Imaginations in order to Truth and Peace and you see these will not do we can find no rest for the soles of our feet amidst all the waters of Contention and disputations and little artifices of divided Schools Every man is a lyar and his understanding is weak and his Propositions uncertain and his Opinions trifling and his Contrivances imperfect and neither Truth nor Peace does come from man I know I am in an Auditory of inquisitive persons whose businesse is to study for Truth that they may find it for themselves and teach it unto others I am in a School of Prophets and Prophets Sons who all ask Pilate's Question What is Truth You look for it in your Books and you tug hard for it in your Disputations and you derive it from the Cisterns of the Fathers and you enquire after the old wayes and sometimes are taken with new appearances and you rejoyce in false lights or are delighted with little umbrages and peep of Day But where is there a man or a Society of men that can be at rest in his enquiry and is sure he understands all the truths of God where is there a man but the more he studies and enquires still he discovers nothing so clearly as his own Ignorance This is a demonstration that we are not in the right way that we do not inquire wisely that our Method is not artificiall If men did fall upon the right way it were impossible so many learned men should be engaged in contrary parties and opinions We have examined all wayes but one all but God's way Let us having missed in all the other try this let us go to God for Truth for Truth comes from God only and his wayes are plain and his sayings are true and his promises Yea and Amen and if we miss the Truth it is because we will not find it for certain it is that all that Truth which God hath made necessarie he hath also made legible and plain and if we will open our eyes we shall see the Sun and if we will walk in the light we shall rejoyce in the light only let us withdraw the Curtains let us remove the impediments and the sin that doth so easily beset us that 's Gods way Every man must in his station do that portion of duty which God requires of him and then he shall be taught of God all that is fit for him to learn there is no other way for him but this The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and a good understanding have all they that do thereafter And so said David of himself I have more understanding then my Teachers because I keep thy Commandements And this is the only way which Christ hath taught us if you ask What is truth you must not doe as Pilate did ask the Question and then go away from him that only can give you an answer for as God is the author of Truth so he is the teacher of it and the way to learn it is this of my Text For so saith our blessed Lord If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or no. My Text is simple as Truth it self but greatly Comprehensive and contains a truth that alone will enable you to understand all Mysteries and to expound all Prophecies and to interpret all Scriptures and to search into all Secrets all I mean which concern our happinesse and our duty and it being an affirmative hypotheticall is plainly to be resolved into this Proposition The way to judge of Religion is by doing of our duty and Theology is rather a Divine life then a Divine knowledge In Heaven indeed we shall first see and then love but here on Earth we must first love and love will open our eyes as well as our hearts and we shall then see and perceive and understand In the handling of which Proposition I shall first represent to you that the certain causes of our Errors are nothing but direct sins nothing makes us Fools and Ignorants but living vicious lives and then I shall proceed to the direct demonstration of the Article in question that Holinesse is the only way of truth and understanding 1. No man understands the Word of God as it ought to be understood unlesse he layes aside all affections to Sin of which because we have taken very little care the product hath been that we have had very little wisdom and very little knowledge in the wayes of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle Wickedness does corrupt a mans reasoning it gives him false principles and evil measures of things the sweet Wine that Ulysses gave to the Cyclops put his eye out and a man that hath contracted evil affections and made a League with sin sees only by those measures A Covetous man understands nothing to be good that is not profitable and a Voluptuous man likes your reasoning well enough if you discourse of Bonum jucundum the pleasures of the sense the ravishments of lust the noises and inadvertencies the mirth and songs of merry Company But if you talk to him of the melancholy Lectures of the Cross the content of Resignation the peace of Meeknesse and the Joyes of the holy Ghost
and unreasonable perseverance in folly dwells in the World upon the stock of Pride may easily conclude that no learning is sufficient to make a proud man understand the truth of God unless he first learn to be humble But Obedite intelligetis saith the Prophet obey and be humble leave the foolish affections of sin and then ye shall understand That 's the First particular All remaining affections to sin hinder the learning and understanding of the things of God 2. He that means to understand the will of God and the truth of Religion must lay aside all inordinate affections to the world 2 Cor. 3.14 S. Paul complained that there was at that day a veile upon the heart of the Jews in the reading of the Old Testament they looked for a Temporall Prince to be their Messias and their affections and hopes dwelt in secular advantages and so long as that veile was there they could not see and they would not accept the poore despised JESUS For the things of the world besides that they entangle one another and make much business and spend much time they also take up the attentions of a mans mind spend his faculties and make them trifling and secular with the very handling and conversation And therefore the Pythagoreans taught their Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a separation from the things of the body if they would purely find out truth and the excellencies of wisdom Had not he lost his labour that would have discoursed wisely to Apicius and told him of the books of Fate and the secrets of the other World the abstractions of the Soul and its brisker Immortality that Saints and Angels eate not and that the Spirit of a man lives for ever upon wisdom and holinesse and contemplation The fat Glutton would have stared a while upon the Preacher and then have fallen asleep But if you had discoursed well and knowingly of a Lamprey a large Mullet or a Boare animal propter Convivia natum and have sent him a Cook from Asia to make new Sawces he would have attended carefully and taken in your discourses greedily And so it is in the Questions and secrets of Christianity which made St. Paul when he intended to convert Felix discourse first with him about Temperance Righteousnesse and Judgement to come He began in the right point he knew it was to no purpose to preach Jesus Christ crucified to an intemperate person to an Usurper of other mens rights to one whose soul dwelt in the World and cared not for the sentence of the last day The Philosophers began their Wisdom with the meditation of death and St. Paul his with a discourse of the day of Judgment to take the heart off from this world and the amabilities of it which dishonour and baffle the understanding and made Solomon himself become a child and fool'd into Idolatry by the prettinesse of a talking woman Men now-a-dayes love not a Religion that will cost them deare If your Doctrine calls upon men to part with any considerable part of their estates you must pardon them if they cannot believe you they understand it not I shall give you one great instance of it When we consider the infinite unreasonableness that is in the Popish Religion how against Common sense their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is how against the common Experience of humane nature is the Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility how against Scripture is the Doctrine of Indulgences and Purgatory we may well think it a wonder that no more men are perswaded to leave such unlearned follies But then on the other side the wonder will cease if we mark how many temporal ends are served by these Doctrines If you destroy the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences you take away the Priests Income and make the See Apostolic to be poor if you deny the Popes Infallibility you will despise his Authority and examine his Propositions and discover his Failings and put him to answer hard Arguments and lessen his Power and indeed when we run through all the Propositions of difference between them and us and see that in every one of them they serve an end of money or of power it will be very visible that the way to confute them is not by learned disputations for we see they have been too long without effect and without prosperity the men must be cured of their affections to the World ut nudi nudum sequantur crucifixum that with naked and devested affections they might follow the naked Crucified Jesus and then they would soone learne the truths of God which till then will be impossible to be apprehended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men as St. Basil sayes when they expound Scripture alwayes bring in something of themselves but till there be as one said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rising out from their own seats untill they go out from their dark dungeons they can never see the light of Heaven And how many men are there amongst us who are therefore enemies to the Religion because it seems to be against their profit The argument of Demetrius is unanswerable by this craft they get their livings leave them in their Livings and they will let your Religion alone if not they think they have reason to speak against it When mens souls are possessed with the World their souls cannot be invested with holy Truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Isidor said the Soul must be informed insoul'd or animated with the propositions that you put in or you shall never do any good or get Disciples to Christ. Now because a man cannot serve two Masters because he cannot vigorously attend two objects because there can be but one soul in any living Creature if the World have got possession talk no more of your Questions shut your Bibles and read no more of the words of God to them for they cannot tell of the Doctrine whether it be of God or of the World That is the Second particular Worldly affections hinder true understandings in Religion 3. No man how learned soever can understand the Word of God or be at peace in the Questions of Religion unless he be a Master over his Passions Tu quoque si vis Lumine claro Cernere verum Gaudia pelle Pelle Timorem Nubila mens est Vinctáque fraenis Haec ubi regnant said the wise Boethius A man must first learn himself before he can learn God Tua te fallit Imago nothing deceives a man so soon as a mans self when a man is that I may use Plato's expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mingled with his nature and his Congeniall infirmities of anger and desire he can never have any thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a knowledge partly moral and partly naturall his whole life is but Imagination his knowledge is Inclination and opinion he judges of Heavenly things by the measures of his feares and his desires and his Reason is half of it sense and determinable
ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightnesse of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions and to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandements and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye cannot know him And this is the particular I am now to speak to The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the wayes and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro et filiis domus ejus Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House saith the Jewish Proverb Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of all that is to be taught or learned Love is Obedience and we learn his words best when we practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle those things which they that learn ought to practise even while they practise they will best learn Quisquis non venit profectò nec didicit Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam ut quod quisque didicerit non tantum cognoscendo videat sed etiam volendo appetat agedo perficiat St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ we shall never learn for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his spirit that what any one learns he not only sees it by knowledge but desires it by choice and perfects it by practice 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience we find not only in things of practise but even in deepest mysteries not only the choicest and most eminent Saints but even every good man can best tell what is true and best reprove an error He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity and does it by words and names of mans invention or by such which signifie contingently if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers by the Cabala of Letters by the distinctions of the School and by the weak inventions of disputing people if he only talks of Essences and existencies Hypostases and personalities distinctions without difference and priority in Coequalities and unity in Pluralities and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects may amuse himself and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration he may build three Tabernacles in his head and talke something but he knows not what But the good man that feels the power of the Father and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spread to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost the Comforter this man though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy Blessed and Undivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdome of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith and the love of the spirit of God making him to become like unto God He that hath passed from his Childhood in Grace under the spirituall generation of the Father and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings and from thence is become an old Disciple and strong and grown old in Religion and the conversation of the Spirit this man best understands the secret and undiscernable Oeconomie he feels this unintelligible mysterie and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysics can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledge and Jesus Christ is best known by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Kingdom of God be in us then we know God and are known of him and when we communicate of the Spirit of God when we pray for him and have received him and entertained him and dwelt with him and warmed our selves by his holy fires then we know him too But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known but by the measures of Holinesse and the proper light of the Spirit of God But in this case Experience is the best learning and Christianity is the best institution and the Spirit of God is the best teacher and Holinesse is the greatest wisdome and he that sins most is the most Ignorant and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit and will not enter into a polluted Soul But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom said the wise Ben-Sirach And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you and so I shall dismisse you from this attention Many wayes have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet proved ineffective Let us now try Gods Method let us betake our selves to live holily and then the spirit of God will lead us into all truth And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of if he be a Villaine the opinion of his Sect as it will not save his Soul so neither will it do good to the publick But this is a sure Rule
If the holy man best understands Wisdom and Religion then by the proportions of holinesse we shall best measure the Doctrines that are obtruded to the disturbance of our peace and the dishonour of the Gospell And therefore 1. That is no good Religion whose Principles destroy any duty of Religion He that shall maintain it to be lawfull to make a War for the defence of his Opinion be it what it will his Doctrine is against Godlinesse Any thing that is proud any thing that is peevish and scornful any thing that is uncharitable is against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that forme of sound Doctrine which the Apostle speaks of And I remember that Ammianus Marcellinus telling of George a proud and factious Minister that he was an Informer against his Brethren he sayes he did it oblitus professionis suae que nil nisi justum suadet lene He forgot his profession which teaches nothing but justice and meekness kindnesses and charity And however Bellarmine and others are pleased to take but indirect and imperfect notice of it yet Goodnesse is the best note of the true Church 2. It is but an ill sign of Holinesse when a man is busie in troubling himself and his Superior in little Scruples and Phantastick Opinions about things not concerning the life of Religion or the pleasure of God or the excellencies of the Spirit A good man knows how to please God how to converse with him how to advance the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus to set forwards Holinesse and the love of God and of his Brother and he knows also that there is no Godliness in spending our time and our talk our heart and our spirits about the garments and outsides of Religion And they can ill teach others that do not know that Religion does not consist in these things but Obedience may and reductively that is Religion and he that for that which is no part of Religion destroys Religion directly by neglecting that duty that is adopted into Religion is a man of fancy and of the World but he gives but an ill account that he is a man of God and a son of the Spirit Spend not your time in that which profits not for your labour and your health your time and your studies are very valuable and it is a thousand pitties to see a diligent and a hopefull person spend himself in gathering Cockle-shells and little pebbles in telling Sands upon the shores and making Garlands of uselesse Daisies Study that which is profitable that which will make you useful to Churches and Common-wealths that which will make you desirable and wise Onely I shall add this to you That in Learning there are variety of things as well as in Religion there is Mint and Cummin and there are the weighty things of the Law so there are studies more and lesse usefull and every thing that is usefull will be required in its time and I may in this also use the words of our blessed Saviour These things ought you to look after and not to leave the other unregarded But your great care is to be in the things of God and of Religion in holiness and true wisdom remembring the saying of Origen that the knowledge that arises from goodnesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something that is more certain and more divine then all demonstration then all other Learnings of the World 3. That 's no good Religion that disturbs Governments or shakes a foundation of publick peace Kings and Bishops are the foundations and the great principles of unity of peace and Government like Rachel and Leah they build up the house of Israel and those blind Samsons that shake these Pillars intend to pull the house down My Son fear God and the King saith Solomon and meddle not with them that are given to change That is not Truth that loves changes and the new-nothings of Heretical Schismatical Preachers are infinitely far from the blessings of Truth In the holy Language Truth hath a Mysterious Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet it consists of three Letters the first and the last and the middlemost of the Hebrew Letters implying to us that Truth is first and will be last and it is the same all the way and combines and unites all extreams it tyes all ends together Truth is lasting and ever full of blessing For the Jews observe that those Letters which signifie Truth are both in the figure and the number Quadrate firme and cubical these signifie a foundation and an abode for ever Whereas on the other side the word which in Hebrew signifies a lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secher is made of Letters whose numbers are imperfect and their figure pointed and voluble to signifie that a Lye hath no foundation And this very observation will give good light in our Questions and disputes And I give my instance in Episcopal Government which hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing hath its firmament by the principles of Christianity hath been blessed by the issues of that stabiliment it hath for sixteen hundred yeares combined with Monarchy and hath been taught by the spirit which hath so long dwelt in Gods Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that sayes the gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church been restored amongst us by a heap of Miracles and as it went away so now it is returned againe in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws Now that Doctrine must needs be suspected of Error and an intolerable Lye that speaks against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from the wisdome and experience of so many ages of all our Ancestors and all our Lawes When the Spirit of God wrote in Greek Christ is call'd Α and Ω if he had spoken Hebrew he had been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet he is Truth the same yesterday and to day and for ever and whoever opposes this holy Sanction which Christs Spirit hath sanctifyed his word hath warranted his blessings have endeared his promises have ratifyed and his Church hath alwayes kept he fights against this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet and Secher is his portion his Lot is a Lie his portion is there where holiness can never dwell And now to conclude to you Fathers and Brethren you who are or intend to be of the Clergie you see here the best Compendium of your Studies the best abbreviature of your labours the truest method of wisdom and the infallible the only way of judging concerning the Disputes and Questions in Christendom It is not by reading multitude of Books but by studying the truth of God it is not by laborious Commentaries of the Doctors that you can finish your work but by the expositions of the Spirit of God it is not by the Rules of Metaphysics but by
modest and inquiring apt to learn and desirous of information if he seeks for it in all wayes 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 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 He that observes any of his people to be zealous let him be carefull 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 against sin For Zeal is like a Cancer in the Breast feed it with good flesh or it will devour the Heart Strive to get the love of the Congregation but let it not degenerate into popularity Cause them to love you and revere you to love with Religion not for your compliance for the good you do them not for that you please them Get their love by doing your duty but not by omitting or spoiling any part of it Ever remembring the severe words of our blessed Saviour Wo be to you when all men speak well of you Suffer not the common people to prattle about Religion and questions but to speak little to be swift to hear and slow to speak that they learn to do good works for necessary uses that they work with their hands that they may have wherewithall to give to them that need that they study to quiet and learn to do their own business Let every Minister take care that he call upon his Charge that they order themselves so that they leave no void spaces of their time but that every part of it be filled with usefull or innocent imployment For where there is a space without business that space is the proper time for danger and temptation and no man is more miserable than he that knows not how to spend his time Fear no mans person in the doing of your duty wisely and according to the Laws remembring alwayes that a servant of God can no more be hurt by all the powers of wickedness than by the noise of a Flies wing or the chirping of a Sparrow Brethren do well for your selves do well for your selves as long as you have time you know not how soon death will come Entertain no persons into your Assemblies from other Parishes unless upon great occasion or in the destitution of a Minister or by contingency and seldome visits or with leave lest the labour of thy brother be discouraged and thy selfe be thought to preach Christ out of envy and not of good will Never appeal to the judgement of the people in matters of controversie teach them obedience not arrogancy teach them to be humble not crafty For without the aid of false guides you will find some of them of themselves apt enough to be troublesome and a question put into their heads and a power of judging into their hands is a putting it to their choice whether you shall be troubled by them this week or the next for much longer you cannot escape Let no Minister of a Parish introduce any Ceremony Rites or Gestures though with some seeming Piety and Devotion but what are commanded by the Church and established by Law and let these also be wisely and usefully explicated to the people that they may understand the reasons and measures of obedience but let there be no more introduc'd lest the people be burdened unnecessarily and tempted or divided IV. Rules and Advices concerning Preaching LEt every Minister be diligent in preaching the Word of God according to the ability that God gives him ever remembring that to minister Gods Word unto the People is the one half of his great Office and Employment Let ever Minister be carefull that what he delivers be indeed the Word of God that his Sermon be answerable to the Text for this is Gods Word the other ought to be according to it that although in it self it be but the word of Man yet by the purpose truth and signification of it it may in a secondary sense be the Word of God Do not spend your Sermons in generall and indefinite things as in Exhortations to the people to get Christ to be united to Christ and things of the like unlimited signification but tell them in every duty what are the measures what circumstances what instruments and what is the particular minute meaning of every general Advice For Generals not explicated do but fill the peoples heads with empty notions and their mouths with perpetual unintelligible talk but their hearts remain empty and themselves are not edified Let not the humours and inclinations of the people be the measures of your Doctrines but let your Doctrines be the measure of their perswasions Let them know from you what they ought to do but if you learn from them what you ought to teach you will give but a very ill account at the day of Judgement of the souls committed to you He that receives from the people what he shall teach them is like a Nurse that asks of her Child what Physick she shall give him Every Minister in reproofs of sin and sinners ought to concern himself in the faults of them that are present but not of the absent nor in reproofe of the times for this can serve no end but of Faction and Sedition publick Murmur and private Discontent besides this it does nothing but amuse the people in the faults of others teaching them to revile their Betters and neglect the dangers of their own souls As it looks like flattery and design to preach nothing before Magistrates but the duty of their people and their own eminency so it is the beginning of Mutiny to preach to the people the duty of their Superiours and Supreme it can neither come from a good Principle nor tend to a good End Every Minister ought to preach to his Parish and urge their duty S. John the Baptist told the Souldiers what the Souldiers should do but troubled not their heads with what was the duty of the Scribes and Pharisees In the reproof of sins be as particular as you please and spare no mans sin but meddle with no mans person neither name any man nor signifie him neither reproach him nor make him to be suspected he that doth otherwise makes his Sermon to be a Libel and the Ministry of Repentance an instrument of Revenge and so doing he shall exasperate the man but never amend