Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	christian_a	good_a	great_a	1,012	4	2.0712	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94109	A sermon preached at the consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God, Gilbert Lord Bishop of London, Humphry Lord Bishop of Sarum, George Lord Bishop of Worcester, Robert Lord Bishop of Lincolne, George Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. On Sunday 28. October, 1660. at S. Peters Westminster. By John Sudbury, one of the prebendaries of that church.	Sudbury, John, 1604-1684.	1660 (1660)	Wing S6136; Thomason E1048_10; ESTC R203686	23,261	45

happinesse of each other then which they can do nothing better to advance their own This is the naturall effect of that Truth which is according to Godlinesse the receiving and observing whereof is the most excellent means to procure the favour of God then which nothing can make the happinesse of men even in this world more complete Now as all this good comes to men by Christian Religion so the Office and Work of a Bishop is of great necessity and virtue to uphold and preserve this Religion in the truth and purity of it All other Offices which God hath set in the Church have their work herein when they are well and duly performed but it is the work of a Bishop to see that they be duly perform'd There is no Office so necessary to prevent Schisms and Factions then which there is nothing more destructive of the civil Peace nothing more fruitful in all the mischiefs which make the life of men the most unhappy For what greater mischiefs among men then those which arise from hatred variance emulation wrath strife sedition heresies envyings c. and whence arise so much of these as from the rents and divisions in the Church and whence come these rents and divisions in the Church but from the contempt which is pour'd forth upon the Office of a Bishop Whence have Heresies and Schisms arisen and do still arise but from this that the Bishop who is one and is over the Church Unde schismata haereses obortae sunt oriuntur nisi dum Episcopus qui unus est Ecclesiae praeest superbâ quorundam praesumptione contemnitur Cyprian is by the Pride and presumption of some despis'd saith Cyprian This is that which hath so often chang'd the Pulpit into a Theatre from whence so many instead of preaching the Gospel of Peace have blown the Trumpet of War and perverted that which God hath ordain'd to turn swords into mattocks and speares into plowshares to serve as the greatest means of turning mattocks into swords and plowshares into speares In a word there is nothing so necessary and effectuall to the happinesse of men in this life as to live together in Unity Psal 133.1 Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell toget her in unity There is no Unity among men so strong and so good as that of which Religion is the bond nothing so necessary to preserve the unity of Religion as the Dignity and Authority of the Office of a Bishop Brethren will be apt to fall out among themselves though they be of one house they will not be of one mind But as the best means to keep or make them friends is the reverence which both of them owe to their common Father so the best means under God to keep up amity in the Church or to recover it when it is lost is to remember the reverence which all the true Sons of the Church owe to those who are their Fathers in God And so much for the third Particular in the Text which is the Goodness of the work I come now to the fourth and last which is the Desire of the Office and of the good work Here are two things to which the word desire is apply'd desire the Office 4 The Desire of the Office and desire the good Work but not in the same manner for the former is by way of Supposition only If a man desire the Office of a Bishop the later is by way of Inference or conclusion upon that Supposition he desireth a good work And though in our Translation it be one and the same word in both places desire the Office and desire the good Work yet in the originall there be two different words The former is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the later is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The difference between these two words is so nice that our language cannot well furnish us with words fit to expresse it but in that there is some difference in the Originall it may teach us that it is not alwaies one and the same desire that is set upon the Office and that which is set upon the good Work True it is that when the Apostle wrote this there was nothing in the Office for which a man would have desir'd it but the Goodnesse of the work There were no Temporalties annex'd to it no Dignity in the eye of the world but so much Work and that so full of perill as well as paines and labour that had it not been for some great Goodnesse in the Work no man would have undertaken much lesse desir'd it We read of one Marcus who cut off his thumb because he would not be made a Bishop and we read of many who had their heads cut off because they were But when it came to be an Office which might be enjoyed not only with Safety but likewise with great Honour and Dignity and Revenue sufficient to maintain and uphold that Honour we read of some who have desir'd the Office of a Bishop not for the Goodnesse of the work but for the uppermost rooms at feasts and the highest seats in the Synagogue and to be call'd of men Rabbi Then an Infidel would be a Christian if he might be a Bishop as he that said Make me Bishop of Rome Facite me Pontificem Romanum protin●s ero Christianus Praetextat and I will soon be a Christian Thus to desire the Office of a Bishop is so far from being a good Work that the better Work it is which belongs to the Office the worse it is so to desire the Office It is a greater question whether it be lawful to desire the Office for the goodness of the work for though it be a commendable thing to desire a good work yet when that good Work is so annex'd to a great Office that a man cannot do the Work unlesse he have the Office it may be suspected that he looks more upon the greatnesse of the Office then upon the goodnesse of the Work and this Office requires a man that is not onely without blame but likewise without suspicion I answer generally it is more seemly for a man to stay till he be desir'd to take the Office than to desire it before and it is not unlike but that one that doth least desire the Office will best perform the Work But yet I will not say but that a worthy and good man may have so true and so great a desire to do so good a Work as to desire the Office and the Dignity not for the Office or the Dignity but for the necessity of both to make him capable of doing so good a Work and be the worthier and better man for having that desire But admitting it to be lawfull it may be another question whether it be prudent For I find it a question among Philosophers whether it be the part of a wise man to take upon him a great Office

A SERMON PREACHED At the Consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God GILBERT Lord Bishop of London HUMPHRY Lord Bishop of Sarum GEORGE Lord Bishop of Worcester ROBERT Lord Bishop of Lincolne GEORGE Lord Bishop of St. Asaph On Sunday 28. October 1660. at S. Peters WESTMINSTER By JOHN SUDBURY One of the Prebendaries of that Church LONDON Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane 1660. To the Right Honourable EDVVARD Lord HYDE Baron of Henden Lord high Chancellor of England Chancellor of the University of Oxford one of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council MY LORD HAving sent this Sermon to the Press in obedience to Your Command I have taken the boldness to shelter it under the protection of Your Name in hope that when the Readers shall see it hath had Your approbation they will be the better inclined to afford it their own I wish it may have this effect upon such as have any prejudice against the Truth which I assert and maintain because it is of so much concernment to the publick good that I cannot think it would have any Adversaries but such as are the enemies of Mankind if it were not through some mis-understanding which I have endeavoured to remove I hope at least some will lay aside that envy with which they look upon the Bishops for the height and dignity of their Office and esteem them very highly in love for their Work sake 1 Thes 5.13 when they shall have seen here that it is not onely an Office of dignity but of work and that work as good as the Office is great I will say no more to them here than that the peace and safety of the Kingdome is so bound up with that of the Church that he that is a friend to the one cannot be an enemy to the other And that the Office and Dignity of a Bishop is so necessary to the peace and safety of the Church that the opposing of the one must needs beget disorder and confusion in the other But I will pray That God who hath restored us to a better Understanding of the Royall Office and Dignity will likewise give us a right Apprehension of the Episcopall Psal 77. ult And as He led his People like a Flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron so He will make us all the people of his pasture and the Sheep of his hands and lead us like a Flock in the right and good way which will make us as happy as we can be in this World and finally bring us to the perfection of our Happinesse in his Eternall Kingdome And herein I doubt not but Your Lordship is ready to joyne Your Devotions with those of Your LORDSHIPS Most humble and most faithful Servant JOHN SUDBURY 1 TIM 3.1 This is a true saying If a man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good work THere needs no other Preface or Introduction to commend this saying to our attention then this which the Apostle hath set before it This is a true saying For seeing there is not any saying in this book which is not as true as this we may be sure there is some difference between the truth of this and other sayings which made the Apostle so particularly commend it to us And though it be not easie to determine positively what it is it is not hard to say what it might be For first it is easie to perceive what great need there was to arm and fence it well against the contradiction of such as would oppose and gainsay it For there is not any saying in this book which hath met with more and greater opposition and contradiction The Office of a Bishop hath been the mark at which not onely the profess'd Enemies of the Church have bent their bows and shot their arrows but likewise they who have the greatest contention with each other which of them should be the better if not the only Christian Church they on the one side contending for one Bishop over the whole Church and making all the rest but his Ministers the other would have as many Bishops as there are Ministers which is in effect to have none But secondly the truth of this saying is likewise a matter of great importance worthy of more then ordinary regard which might move the Apostle to commend it to a more then ordinary attention For there is not a word in it which will not require and deserve a distinct and particular consideration First here is the Office of a Bishop secondly the Work belonging to that Office thirdly the Goodness of that Work fourthly the Desire of the Office and of the good Work the one set down by way of supposition If a man desire the Office of a Bishop the other by way of inference or conclusion thereupon he desireth a good work These are the particulars in the Text of which I shall speak in the same order that I have proposed them beginning first with the Office of a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated the Office of a Bishop signifies not the bare Office or Function of a Bishop as it is an Office of work but the Office together with the Dignity and preeminence the Power and Authority which is so essential to it and so necessary for the due exercise and discharge of that Office that it cannot be without it As likewise the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not the bare Office but the Office together with the Dignity of an Apostle Which Dignity the Apostle St. Paul was carefull to assert and maintain as well as to discharge the Office And it is the more remarkable in him because he was a man so far from all manner of arrogance and vain-glory that no man could have more humble thoughts of himself Insomuch that when he speaks of himself 1 Cor. 15.9 he calls himself the least of the Apostles though he knew he was not inferiour to the chiefest Apostles and not only the least of Apostles but lesse then the least of all Saints Eph. 3.8 but when he speaks of his Office he saith In as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles Rom. 11.13 I magnifie mine Office And truly we likewise have great reason to magnifie the Office of a Bishop so great that St. Hierom who was not partial to the Dignity of that Order confesseth that the safety of the Church depends upon it Ecclesiae salus pendet in dignitate summi Sacerdotis cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus emine is detu potestas tot in ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes Hieron ad Lucif The safety of the Church saith he depends upon the dignity of the high Priest to whom unlesse there be given an extraordinary and eminent power there will be as many Schisms in the Church as there be Priests And we have seen the truth hereof by so sad experience of late years that it will be

the more seasonable at this time and especially upon this occasion to speak something of the Dignity of this Office The word in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly an over-seeing or superintendency for a Bishop is an Overseer or Superintendent And we know that he that is set to oversee must be in a higher station then they are whom he is set to oversee There be many other names and titles by which they are describ'd in Scripture and in the best Writers of the ancient Church which are names and titles not onely of Office but likewise of Dignity and Authority Rev. 1.10 They are the Stars in the right hand of Christ Luke 12.42 the Angels of the Churches the Stewards whom the Lord hath set over his family the Pastors or Sheepherds of the flock which he hath purchased with his own blood the successors of the Apostles the Vicars of Christ the high Priests the Rulers and Princes of the Church All these are names and titles of no small Dignity and some of them likewise of Power and Authority wherein the Office of a Bishop differs from that of a Priest or Presbyter not only as Celsior gradus a higher degree the Bishop among the Priests being as it is said of the high Priest among his brethren Ecclus 50.12 like the Cedar among the Palm-trees but it is likewise potestas alterius ordinis a power of another Order a power to ordain other Officers in the Church and to oversee them that they may do their work as they should or if they will not to put them beside their Office This Power and Authority of the Bishop was so well known to St. Hierom whom I mention the rather because he himself was no Bishop and is thought by such as would have no Bishops to be a friend to them I say St. Hierom when Vigilantius broach'd his Heresie wonders that the Bishop in whose Diocese he was a Priest did not withstand his madnesse Miror sanctum Episcopum in cujus parochia esse Presbyter dicitur acquicscere furori ejus non v●rgâ Apostolicâ virgâque ferr●â confringere vas inutile tradere in int●ritum c●rnis ut sp●ritus salvus fiat S H●eron Epist ad Riparium Et tu quidem honor●fice circa nos pro solitaria hum litate fecisti ut malles de eò nobis conqueri cum pro episcopatûs vigore cathedrae au●horitate haberes pot●statem qu● posses de illo sta●…m v●●d●●art Cypr. Epist 65. ad R●gationum and break in pieces that unprofitable vessel and deliver him up to the destruction of the flesh that his spirit might be saved By virtue of the same power St. Cyprian punish'd the delinquent Clergy of his Diocese by depriving them of their monethly Dividends and writing to Rogatianus a Bishop who had made his complaint to him of a Deacon that behaved himself injuriously toward him he tells him it was a great humility in him to complain of one over whom he himself had Authority and Power to right himself by virtue of his Episcopal Office and the Authority of his Chair And herein likewise the Hierarchy of the Church differs from that of the Angels for though there be degrees among them some are of a higher Order and others of a lower yet we do not find that they of the higher Order have power to depose or degrade those of the lower there is no need of any such power where all are regular and orderly but such a power there is in the Hierarchy of the Church and must be because it cannot be supposed that men will be so orderly as Angels There is therefore a necessity of this Office with this Power and Authority to preserve Truth and Peace and Vnity and to prevent the manifold and great mischiefs which Parity the Mother of Anarchy and Confusion would soon produce which must needs be greater in the Church then in the State For there is nothing that so effectually rules the Multitude as Religion the name whereof is so venerable that they are more apt to follow their Preachers then their Princes because they look upon them as the Ministers of God whose Office it is to teach them his word and will and are afraid to think amisse of any thing which they hear from them lest in so doing they should set themselves against God whereby it comes to passe that there is scarce any Errour so grosse which some of them will not believe or any Wickedness so great which some of them will not practice and think thereby to do God service if it be preach'd to them as a matter and duty of Religion And how much this may tend to the disturbance of the publick Peace and Government is easie to be seen For remedy whereof if the sovereign Prince interpose his power only he runs the hazard of being reputed an enemy of God and of Religion then which nothing can be more prejudicial to him not only in point of reputation but of safety likewise There is no better Remedy against all this mischief then that wise and good grave and learned men such as are able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers Tit. 1.9 should be set up over the rest with Power and Authority to charge them that they teach no other Doctrine as St. Paul writes to Timothy whom he left at Ephesus to this end 1 Tim. 1.3 and to stop the mouths of such unruly and vain talkers who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not as the same Apostle writes to Titus whom he left at Creet to do this Office Tit. 1.10 11. This is too great an Office for one man to exercise over the whole Church as therefore Christ chose not one onely but twelve Apostles to whom he committed this Office and trust so his Apostles John 20 21. whom he sent as his Father sent him i.e. with a power to send others after them with the like power ordained not one B●shop onely in the City of Rome but one in every City But as it is too great a power and trust to be committed to one man over the whole Church so likewise it was not for the good of unity and order that it should be committed unto every one that was fit to bear some Office in the Church As therefore Christ who had so many Disciples John 4.1 that the Pharisees had heard that he made more Disciples than John did not make them all Apostles and though he gave diversity of Gifts and Graces to divers men yet among all these he chose but twelve Apostles so the Apostles after him ordained Elders or Bishops not in every Village but onely in every City making the Government of the Church herein conformable to that of the State where the Praefect or Governour of a Province or Country had his residence in the City but his Jurisdiction in the Country round about And