by a right operation and then it is so plain we wonder we did not understand it earlier Christ's way of finding out of truth is by doing the will of God We will try that by and by if possibly we may find that easie and certain in the mean time let us consider what wayes men have propounded to find out Truth and upon the foundation of that to establish Peace in Christendom 1. That there is but one true way is agreed upon and therefore almost every Church of one denomination that lives under Government propounds to you a Systeme or collective Body of Articles and tells you that 's the true Religion and they are the Church and the peculiar people of God like Brutus and Cassius of whom one sayes Ubicunque ipsi essent praetexebant esse rempublicam they suppos'd themselves were the Commonwealth and these are the Church and out of this Church they will hardly allow salvation But of this there can be no end For divide the Church into Twenty parts and in what part soever your lot falls you and your party are Damned by the other Nineteen and men on all hands almost keep their own Proselytes by affrighting them with the fearful Sermons of Damnation but in the mean time here is no security to them that are not able to judge for themselves and no Peace for them that are 2. Others cast about to cure this evil and conclude that it must be done by submission to an Infallible Guide this must do it or nothing and this is the way of the Church of Rome Follow but the Pope and his Clergie and you are safe at least as safe as their warrants can make you Indeed this were a very good way if it were a way at all but it is none for this can never end our Controversies not onely because the greatest Controversies are about this Infallible Guide but also because 1. We cannot find that there is upon Earth any such Guide at all 2. We do not find it necessary that there should 3. We find that they who pretend to be this Infallible Guide are themselves infinitely deceiv'd 4. That they do not believe themselves to be Infallible whatever they say to us because they do not put an end to all their own Questions that trouble them 5. Because they have no peace but what is constrained by force and Government 6. And lastly because if there were such a Guide we should fail of Truth by many other causes for it may be that Guide would not do his duty or we are fallible followers of this infallible Leader or we should not understand his meaning at all times or we should be perverse at some times or something as bad because we all confesse that God is an Infallible Guide and that some way or other he does teach us sufficiently and yet it does come to passe by our faults that we are as far to seek for Peace and Truth as ever 3. Some very wise men finding this to fail have undertaken to reconcile the differences of Christendom by a way of moderation Thus they have projected to reconcile the Papists and the Lutherans the Lutherans and the Calvinists the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants and project that each side should abate of their asperities and pare away something of their proportions and joyn in Common terms and phrases of Accommodation each of them sparing something and promising they shall have a great deal of peace for the exchange of a little of their opinion This was the way of Cassander Modrevius Andreas Frisius Erasmus Spalato Grotius and indeed of Charles the Fifth in part but something more heartily of Ferdinand the Second This device produced the conferences at Poissy at Montpellier at Ratisbon at the Hague at many places more and what was the event of these Their parties when their Delegates returned either disclaimed their Moderation or their respective Princes had some other ends to serve or they permitted the Meetings upon uncertain hopes and a triall if any good might come or it may be they were both in the wrong and their mutuall abatement was nothing but a mutuall quitting of what they could not get and the shaking hands of false friends or it may be it was all of it nothing but Hypocrisie and Arts of Craftiness and like Lucian's man every one could be a Man and a Pestle when he pleased And the Council of Trent though under another cover made use of the artifice but made the secret manifest and common for at this day the Jesuits in the Questions de auxiliis Divinae gratiae have prevailed with the Dominicans to use their expressions and yet they think they still keep the sentence of their own Order From hence can succeed nothing but folly and a phantastick peace This is but the skinning of an old sore it will break out upon all occasions 4. Others who understand things beyond the common rate observing that many of our Controversies and peevish wranglings are kept up by the ill stating of the Question endeavour to declare things wisely and make the matter intelligible and the words cleare hoping by this meanes to cut off all disputes Indeed this is a very good way so far as it can go and would prevaile very much if all men were wise and would consent to those stateings and would not fall out upon the main enquiry when it were well stated but we find by a sad experience that few Questions are well stated and when they are they are not consented to and when they are agreed on by both sides that they are well stated it is nothing else but a drawing up the Armies in Battalia with great skill and discipline the next thing they do is they thrust their Swords into one anothers sides 5. What remedy after all this Some other good men have propounded one way yet but that is a way of Peace rather then Truth and that is that all Opinions should be tolerated and none persecuted and then all the World will be at peace Indeed this relies upon a great reasonableness not onely because Opinions cannot be forced but because if men receive no hurt it is to be hoped they will do none But we find that this alone will not do it For besides that all men are not so just as not to do any Injury for some men begin the evil besides this I say there are very many men amongst us who are not content that you permit them for they will not permit you but rule over your faith and say that their way is not only true but necessary and therefore the Truth of God is at stake and all Indifference and moderation is carnall Wisdom and want of Zeal for God nay more then so they preach for Toleration when themselves are under the rod who when they got the rod into their own hands thought Toleration it self to be Intolerable Thus do the Papists and thus the Calvinists and for their Cruelty
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
as is possible to be endured that he hath watched alwayes and never nodded when he could avoid it that he hath loved as much as he could love that he hath waited till he can wait no longer then indeed if he sayes true we must confess that it is not to be understood But is there any man in the World that does all that he can do If there be that man is blameless if there be not then he cannot say but it is his own fault that his sin prevails against him It is true that no man is free from sin but it is as true that no man does as much as he can against it and therefore no man must go about to excuse himself by saying no man is free from his sin and therefore no man can be no not by the powers of grace for he may as well argue thus No man does do all that he can do against it and therefore it is impossible he should do what he can do The argument is apparently foolish and the excuse is weak and the deception visible and sin prevails upon our weak arguings but the consequence is plainly this When any man commits a sin he is guilty before God and he cannot say he could not help it and God is just in punishing every sin and very merciful when he forgives us any but he that sayes he cannot avoid it that he cannot overcome his lust confesses himself a servant of Sin and that he is not yet redeemed by the blood of the Holy Lamb. 5. He that would be advanced beyond the power and necessity of sinning must take great caution concerning his thoughts and secret desires For lust when it is conceived bringeth forth sin but if it be suppressed in the conception it comes to nothing but we find it hard to destroy the Serpent when the egg is haâ—ched into a Cockatrice The thought is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man takes notice of it but lets it alone till the sin be too strong and then we complain we cannot help it Nolo sinas cogitationem crescere Suffer not your thoughts to grow up For they usually come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil sayes suddenly and easily and without business but take heed taht you nurse them not but if you chance to stumble mend your pace and if you nod let it awaken you for he only can be a good man that raises himself up at the first trip that strangles his sin in the birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good men rise up again even before they fall saith S. Chrysostom Now I pray consider that when sin is but in the thought it is easily suppressed and if it be stopt there it can go no further and what great mountain of labour is it then to abstain from our sin Is not the Adultery of the eye easily cured by shutting the eye-lid and cannot the thoughts of the heart be turned aside by doing business by going into company by reading or by sleeping A man may divert his thoughts by shaking of his head by thinking any thing else by thinking nothing Da mihi Christianum saith S. Austin intelligit quod dico Every man that loves God understands this and more than this to be true Now if things be thus and that we may be safe in that which is supposed to be the hardest of all we must needs condemn our selves and lay our faces in the dust when we give up our selves to any sin we cannot be justified by saying we could not help it For as it was decreed by the Fathers of the Arausican Council ad Hoc etiam secundum fidem Catholicam credimus c. This we believe according to the Catholick Faith that have received Baptismal Grace all that are baptiz'd by the aid and cooperation of Christ must and can if they will labour faithfully perform and fulfil those things which belong unto salvation 6. And lastly If sin hath gotten the power of any one of us consider in what degree the sin hath prevailed If but a little the battel will be more easy and the victory more certain but then be sure to do it throughly because there is not much to be done But if sin hath prevailed greatly than indeed you have very much to do therefore begin betimes and defer nor this â—ork till old age shall make it extremely difficult or death shall make it impossible Nam quamvis prope te quamvis temone sub uno Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum Cum rota posterior curras in axe secundo If thou beest cast behind if thou hast neglected the duties of thy vigorous age thou shalt never overtake that strength the hinder wheel though bigger than the former and measures more ground at every revolution yet shall never overtake it and all the second counsels of thy old age though undertaken with greater resolution and acted with the strengths of fear and need and pursued with more pertinacious purposes than the early repentances of young men yet shall never overtake those advantages which you lost when you gave your youth to folly and the causes of a sad repentance However if you find it so hard a thing to get from the power of one master-sin if an old Adulterer does dote if an old Drunkard be further from remedy than a young sinner if Covetousness grows with old age if ambition be still more Hydropick and grows more thirsty for every draught of honour you may easily resolve that old age or your last sickness is not so likely to be prosperous in the mortification of our long prevailing sins Do not all men desire to end their dayes in Religion to dye in the arms of the Church to expire under the conduct of a religious man when ye are sick or dying then nothing but prayers And sad complaints and the groans of a tremulous repentance and the faint labours of an almost impossible mortification then the dispised Priest is sent for then he is a good man and his words are Oracles and Religion is truth and sin is a load and the sinner is a fool then we watch for a word of comfort from his mouth as the fearful Prisoner for his fate upon the Judges answer That which is true then is true now and therefore to prevent so intolerable a danger mortifie your sins betime for elâ—e you will hardly mortifie it at all Remember that the snail outwent the Eagle and won the goal because she set out betimes To sum up all every good man is a new Creature and Christianity is not so much a Divine institution as a Divine frame and temper of Spirit which if we heartily pray for and endeavour to obtain we shall find it as hard and as uneasie to sin against God as now we think it impossible to abstain from our most pleasing sins For as it is in the Spermatick vertue of the heavens which diffuses it self Universally upon all sublunary bodies and subtilly
Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood the Ruler of the people the Shepherd of the Flock the Governour of the Church the Minister of Christ and the Priest of God These are great titles and yet less then what is said of them in Scripture which calls them Salt of the Earth Lights upon a candlestick Stars and Angels Fathers of our Faith Embassadors of God Dispensers of the Misteries of God the Apostles of the Churches and the Glory of Christ but then they are great burdens too for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intrusted with the Lords people that 's a great charge but there is a worse matter that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls they are the words of S. Paul and transcribed into the 40th Canon of the Apostles and the 24th Canon of the Councel of Antioch And now I hope the envy is taken off for the honour does not pay for the burden and we can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity as it is a Rule but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty that as the load of it is almost insufferable so the event of it is very formidable if we take not great care For this Stewardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principality and a Ministry So it was in Christ he is Lord of all and yet he was the Servant of all so it was in the Apostles it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lot was to be Apostles and yet to serve and minister and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the 70. use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosbeth which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interlineary translation by Exactores Bishops are only Gods Ministers and tribute gatherers requiring overseeing them that they do their duty and therefore here the case is so and the burden so great and the dignity so allayed that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load nor the proud man plainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger It is indeed a Rule but it is paternal it is a Government but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is neither a power to constrain nor a commission to get wealth for it must be without necessity and not for filthy lucre sake but it is a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Luke as of him that ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Mark as of him that is servant of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. John such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary traveller or if you please take it in the words of our Blessed Lord himself that He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire rule possibly you may have it but all that rule under him are Servants to them that are ruled and therefore you get nothing by it but a great labour and a busy imployment a careful life and a necessity or making severe accounts But all this is nothing but the general measures I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom for because we must be followers of them as they were of Christ the recounting what they did worthily in their generations will not only demonstrate how useful how profitable how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church but it will at the same time teach us our duty by what services we are to benefit the Church in what works we are to be imployed and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bishops not only because the Apostles who were Bishops were the first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches but because the Apostolical men whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion were by all Antiquity affirmed to have been Diocesan Bishops in so much that as S. Epiphanius witnesses there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ many Churchâ—s who had in them no other Clergy but a Bishop and his Deacons and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater But the Bishops names are known they are recorded in the book of Life and their praise is in the Gospel such were Timothy and Titus Clemens and Linus Marcus and Dionysius Onesimus and Caius Epaphroditus and S. James our Lords Brother Evodius and Simeon all which if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith and any truth in their stories and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch Livy and Tacitus think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance and that all the brave men the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches and had Dioceses for their Charges The consequent of this consideration is this It Bishops were those upon whose Ministry Christ founded and built his Church let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars the Stewards of Christs Family must be wise that Christ requires and if the order be necessary to the Church wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order For it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ shall by their unskilfulness be but Babes themselves understanding not the secrets of Religion the mysteries of Godliness the perfections of the Evangelical law all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual life A Bishop must be exercised in Godliness a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls not satisfied with an ordinary skill in making homilies to the people and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases but ready to answer in all secret inquiries and able to convince the gainsayers and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect If the first Bishops laid the foundation their Successors must not only preserve whatsoever is fundamental but build up the Church in a most holy Faith taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation and that no hay or rotten wood be built upon it and above all things that a most Holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith So the Apostles laid the foundation and built the walls of the Church and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven For let us talk and dispute eternally we shall never compose the controversies in Religion and
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
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 of rest in God after your long discourse and his great silence he cryes out What 's the matter He knows not what you meane Either you must fit his humour or change your discourse I remember that Arianus tells of a Gentleman that was banished from Rome and in his sorrow visited the Philosopher and he heard him talk wisely and believed him and promised him to leave all the thoughts of Rome and splendours of the Court and retire to the course of a severe Philosophy but before the good mans Lectures were done there came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 letters from Caesar to recall him home to give him pardon and promise him great Imployment He presently grew weary of the good mans Sermon and wished he would make an end thought his discourse was dull and flat for his head and heart were full of another storie and new principles and by these measures he could heare only and he could understand Every man understands by his Affections more then by his Reason and when the Wolfe in the Fable went to School to learn to spell whatever letters were told him he could never make any thing of them but Agnus he thought of nothing but his belly and if a man be very hungry you must give him meate before you give him counsell A mans mind must be like your proposition before it can be entertained for whatever you put into a man it will smell of the Vessell it is a mans mind that gives the emphasis and makes your argument to prevail And upon this account it is that there are so many false Doctrines in the only Article of Repentance Men know they must repent but the definition of Repentance they take from the convenience of their own affaires what they will not part with that is not necessary to be parted with and they will repent but not restore they will say nollem factum they wish they had never done it but since it is done you must give them leave to rejoyce in their purchase they will ask forgivenesse of God but they sooner forgive themselves and suppose that God is of their mind If you tye them to hard termes your Doctrine is not to be understood or it is but one Doctors opinion and therefore they will fairly take their leave and get them another Teacher What makes these evil these dangerous and desperate Doctrines not the obscurity of the thing but the cloud upon the heart for say you what you will He that hears must be the expounder and we can never suppose but a man will give sentence in behalf of what he passionately loves And so it comes to pass that as Rabbi Moses observ'd that God for the greatest Sin imposed the least Oblation as a she-Goat for the sin of Idolatry for a woman accused of Adultery a Barly-cake so do most men they think to expiate the worst of their sins with a trifling with a pretended little insignificant repentance God indeed did so that the cheapnesse of the oblation might teach them to hope for pardon not from the Ceremony but from a severe internal repentance But men take any argument to lessen their repentance that they may not lessen their pleasures or their estates and that Repentance may be nothing but a word and Mortification signifie nothing against their pleasures but be a term of Art only fitted for the Schools or for the Pulpit but nothing relative to practice or the extermination of their sin So that it is no wonder we understand so little of Religion it is because we are in love with that which destroyes it and as a man does not care to hear what does not please him so neither does he believe it he cannot he will not understand it And the same is the Case in the matter of Pride the Church hath extremely suffer'd by it in many ages Arius missed a Bishoprick and therefore turned Heretick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the story he disturb'd and shaked the Church for he did not understand this Truth That the peace of the Church was better then the satisfaction of his person or the promoting his foolish Opinion And do not we see and feel that at this very day the Pride of men makes it seem impossible for many persons to obey their Superiors and they do not see what they can read every day that it is a sin to speak evill of Dignities A man would think it a very easie thing to understand the 13. Chapter to the Romans Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and yet we know a generation of men to whom these words were so obscure that they thought it lawfull to fight against their King A man would think it easie to believe that those who were in the gain-saying of Corah who rose up against the high Priest were in a very sad condition and yet there are too many amongst us who are in the gain-saying of Corah and think they do very well that they are the Godly party and the good people of God Why what 's the matter In the world there can be nothing plainer then these words Let every soul the subject to the higher powers and that you need not make a scruple who are these higher powers it is as plainly said there is no power but of God all that are set over you by the Laws of your Nation these are over you in the Lord and yet men will not understand these plain things they deny to doe their notorious duty and yet believe they are in the right and if they sometimes obey for wrath they oftner disobey for Conscience sake Where is the fault The words are plain the duty is certain the Book lyes open but alas it is Sealed within that is men have eyes and will not see eares and will not heare But the wonder is the lesse for we know when God said to Jonas doest thou well to be angry he answered God to his face I do well to be angry even unto the death Let God declare his mind never so plainly if men will not lay aside the evil principle that is within their open love to their secret sin they may kill an Apostle and yet be so ignorant as to think they do God good service they may disturb Kingdomes and break the peace of a well-ordered Church and rise up against their Fathers and be cruell to their Brethren and stir up the people to Sedition and all this with a cold stomach and a hot liver with a hard heart and a tender Conscience with humble carriage and a proud spirit For thus men hate Repentance because they scorn to confesse an Errour they will not return to Peace and Truth because they feare to lose the good opinion of the people whom themselves have couzened they are afraid to be good lest they should confess they have formerly done amisse and he that observes how much evil is done and how many Heresies are risen and how much obstinacy
Ordinances and makes progressions by the measures of life his infusions are just as our acquisitions and his Graces pursue the methods of nature that which was imperfect he leads on to perfection and that which was weake he makes strong he opens the heart not to receive murmurs or to attend to secret whispers but to hear the Word of God and then he opens the heart and creates a new one and without this new creation this new principle of life we may heare the Word of God but we can never understand it we heare the sound but are never the better unlesse there be in our hearts a secret conviction by the spirit of God the Gospel it self is a dead Letter and worketh not in us the light and righteousness of God Do not we see this by a daily experience Even those things which a good man and an evil man know they do not know them both alike A wicked man does know that good is lovely and sin is of an evill and destructive nature and when he is reproved he is convinced and when he is observed he is ashamed and when he hath done he is unsatisfied and when he pursues his sin he does it in the dark Tell him he shall dye and he sighs deeply but he knows it as well as you proceed and say that after death comes Judgement and the poor man believes and trembles He knows that God is angry with him and if you tell him that for ought he knows he may be in Hell to morrow he knows that it is an intolerable truth but it it also undeniable And yet after all this he runs to commit his sin with as certain an event and resolution as if he knew no argument against it These notices of things terrible and true passe through his understanding as an Eagle through the Air as long as her flight lasted the Air was shaken but there remains no path behind her Now since at the same time we see other persons not so learned it may be not so much versed in Scriptures yet they say a thing is good and lay hold of it they believe glorious things of Heaven and they live accordingly as men that believe themselves halfe a word is enough to make them understand a nod is a sufficient reproof the Crowing of a Cock the singing of a Lark the dawning of the day and the washing their hands are to them competent memorialls of Religion and warnings of their duty What is the reason of this difference They both read the Scriptures they read and heare the same Sermons they have capable understandings they both believe what they heare and what they read and yet the event is vastly different The reason is that which I am now speaking of the one understands by one Principle the other by another the one understands by Nature and the other by Grace the one by humane Learning and the other by Divine the one reads the Scriptures without and the other within the one understands as a son of man the other as a son of God the one perceives by the proportions of the World and the other by the measures of the Spirit the one understands by Reason and the other by Love and therefore he does not only understand the Sermons of the Spirit and perceives their meaning but he pierces deeper and knows the meaning of that meaning that is the secret of the Spirit that which is spiritually discerned that which gives life to the Proposition and activity to the Soul And the reason is because he hath a Divine principle within him and a new understanding that is plainly he hath Love and that 's more then Knowledge as was rarely well observed by St. Paul Knowledge puffethup but Charity edifieth that is Charity makes the best Scholars No Sermons can edify you no Scriptures can build you up a holy building to God unlesse the love of God be in your hearts and purifie your souls from all filthinesse of the Flesh and spirit But so it is in the regions of Starrs where a vast body of fire is so divided by excentric motions that it looks as if Nature had parted them into Orbes and round shells of plain and purest materialls but where the cause is simple and the matter without variety the motions must be uniforme and in Heaven we should either espy no motion or no variety But God who designed the Heavens to be the causes of all changes and motions here below hath placed his Angels in their houses of light and given to every one of his appointed officers a portion of the fiery matter to circumagitate and roll and now the wonder ceases for if it be enquired why this part of the fire runs Eastward and the other to the South they being both indifferent to either it is because an Angel of God sits in the Centre and makes the same matter turne not by the bent of its own mobility and inclination but in order to the needs of Man and the great purposes of God and so it is in the understandings of men When they all receive the same notions and are taught by the same Master and give full consent to all the propositions and can of themselves have nothing to distinguish them in the events it is because God hath sent his Divine spirit and kindles a new fire and creates a braver capacity and applies the actives to the passives and blesses their operation For there is in the heart of man such a dead sea and an indisposition to holy flames like as in the cold Rivers in the North so as the fires will not burn them and the Sun it self will never warme them till Gods holy Spirit does from the Temple of the new Ierusalem bring a holy flame and make it shine and burn The Naturall man saith the holy Apostle cannot perceive the things of the Spirit they are foolishnesse unto him for they are spiritually discerned For he that discourses of things by the measures of sense thinks nothing good but that which is delicious to the palat or pleases the brutish part of man and therefore while he estimates the secrets of Religion by such measures they must needs seeme as insipid as Cork or the uncondited Mushrom for they have nothing at all of that in their constitution A voluptuous person is like the Dogs of Sicily so fill'd with the deliciousnesse of Plants that grow in every furrow and hedge that they can never keep the sent of their game 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said St. Chrysostome the fire and water can never mingle so neither can sensuality and the watchfulnesse and wise discerning of the spirit Pilato interroganti de veritate Christus non respondit When the wicked Governour asked of Christ concerning truth Christ gave him no answer He was not fit to heare it He therefore who so understands the Words of God that he not only believes but loves the proposition he who consents with all his heart
season for it 2. Holinesse is not only an advantage to the learning all wisdom and holinesse but for the discerning that which is wise and holy from what is trifling and uselesse and contentious and to one of these heads all Questions will return and therefore in all from Holinesse we have the best Instructions And this brings me to the next Particle of the generall Consideration For that which we are taught by the holy Spirit of God this new nature this vital principle within us it is that which is worth our learning not vaine and empty idle and insignificant notions in which when you have laboured till your eyes are fixed in their Orbes and your flesh unfixed from its bones you are no better and no wiser If the Spirit of God be your Teacher he will teach you such truths as will make you know and love God and become like to him and enjoy him for ever by passing from similitude to union and eternal fruition But what are you the better if any man should pretend to teach you whether every Angel makes a species and what is the individuation of the Soul in the state of separation what are you the wiser if you should study and find out what place Adam should for ever have lived in if he had not fallen and what is any man the more learned if he heares the disputes whether Adam should have multiplied Children in the state of Innocence and what would have been the event of things if one Child had been born before his Fathers sin Too many Scholars have lived upon Air and empty notions for many ages past and troubled themselves with tying and untying Knots like Hypochondriacs in a fit of Melancholy thinking of nothing and troubling themselves with nothing and falling out about nothings and being very wise and very learned in things that are not and work not and were never planted in Paradise by the finger of God Mens notions are too often like the Mules begotten by aequivocall and unnaturall Generations but they make no species they are begotten but they can beget nothing they are the effects of long study but they can do no good when they are produced they are not that which Solomon calls viam intelligentiae the way of understanding If the Spirit of God be our Teacher we shall learn to avoid evil and to do good to be wise and to be holy to be profitable and carefull and they that walk in this way shall find more peace in their Consciences more skill in the Scriptures more satisfaction in their doubts then can be obtain'd by all the polemical and impertinent disputations of the world And if the holy spirit can teach us how vain a thing it is to do foolish things he also will teach us how vain a thing it is to trouble the world with foolish Questions to disturb the Church for interest or pride to resist Government in things indifferent to spend the peoples zeale in things unprofitable to make Religion to consist in outsides and opposition to circumstances and trifling regards No no the Man that is wise he that is conducted by the Spirit of God knows better in what Christs Kingdom does consist then to throw away his time and interest and peace and safety for what for Religion no for the body of Religion not so much for the garment of the body of Religion no not for so much but for the Fringes of the garment of the Body of Religion for such and no better are the disputes that trouble our discontented Brethren they are things or rather Circumstances and manners of things which the Soul and spirit is not at all concerned 3. Holinesse of life is the best way of finding out truth and understanding not only as a Naturall medium nor only as a prudent medium but as a means by way of Divine blessing He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Here we have a promise for it and upon that we may rely The old man that confuted the Arian Priest by a plain recitall of his Creed found a mighty power of God effecting his own Work by a strange manner and by a very plain instrument it wrought a divine blessing just as Sacraments use to doe and this Lightning sometimes comes in a strange manner as a peculiar blessing to good men For God kept the secrets of his Kingdom from the wise Heathens and the learned Jewes revealing them to Babes not because they had less learning but because they had more love they were children and Babes in Malice they loved Christ and so he became to them a light and a glory St. Paul had more learning then they all and Moses was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians yet because he was the meekest man upon Earth he was also the wisest and to his humane Learning in which he was excellent he had a divine light and excellent wisdome superadded to him by way of spiritual blessings And St. Paul though he went very far to the knowledge of many great and excellent truths by the force of humane learning yet he was far short of perfective truth and true wisdom till he learned a new lesson in a new School at the feet of one greater then his Gamaliel his learning grew much greater his notions brighter his skill deeper by the love of Christ and his desires his passionate desires after Jesus The force and use of humane learning and of this Divine learning I am now speaking of are both well expressed by the Prophet Isaiah 29.11 12. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is seal'd And the Book is delivered to him that is not learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I am not learned He that is no learned man who is not bred up in the Schools of the Prophets cannot read Gods Book for want of learning For humane Learning is the gate and first entrance of Divine vision not the only one indeed but the common gate But beyond this there must be another learning for he that is learned bring the Book to him and you are not much the better as to the secret part of it if the Book be sealed if his eyes be closed if his heart be not opened if God does not speak to him in the secret way of discipline Humane learning is an excellent Foundation but the top-stone is laid by Love and Conformity to the will of God For we may further observe that blindnesse errour and Ignorance are the punishments which God sends upon wicked and ungodly men Etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vitae demeritum veritas nondum se apertissime
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
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
this Mystery And amongst these heaps it is not of the least consideration that there was never any good man who having been taught this Article but if he serv'd God he also relied upon this If he believ'd God he believ'd this and therefore S. Paul sayes that they who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they who had no hope meaning of the Resurrection were also Atheists and without God in the world And it is remarkable what S. Augustine observes That when the World saw the righteous Abel destroyed and that the murderer out-liv'd his crime and built up a numerous family and grew mighty upon Earth they neglected the Service of God upon that account till God in pity of their prejudice and foolish arguings took Enoch up to heaven to recover them from their impieties by shewing them that their bodies and souls should be rewarded for ever in an eternal union But Christ the first fruits is gone before and himself did promise that when himself was lifted up he would draw all men after him Every man in his own order first Christ then they that are Christ's at his coming And so I have done with the second Particular not Christ onely but we also shall rise in Gods time and our order But concerning this order I must speak a word or two not only for the fuller handling tâ—e Text but because it will be matter of application of what hath been already spoken of the Article of the Resurrection 3. First Christ and then we And we therefore because Christ is already risen But you must remember that the Resurrection and Exaltation of Christ was the reward of his perfect obedience and purest holiness and he calling us to an imitation of the same obedience and the same perfect holiness prepares a way for us to the same Resurrection If we by holiness become the Sons of God as Christ was we shall also as he was become the Sons of God in the Resurrection But upon no other terms So said our blessed Lord himself Ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon thrones judging the tribes of Israel For as it was with Christ the first fruits so it shall be with all Christians in their own order as with the Head so it shall be with the Members He was the Son of God by love and obedience and then became the Son of God by Resurrection from the dead to life Eternal and so shall we but we cannot be so in any other way To them that are Christ's and to none else shall this be given For we must know that God hath sent Christ into the World to be a great example and demonstration of the Oeconomy and Dispensation of Eternal life As God brought Christ to glory so he will bring us but by no other method He first obeyed the will of God and patiently suffered the will of God he died and rose again and entered into glory and so must we Thus Christ is made Via Veritas Vita the Way the Truth and the Life that is the true way to Eternal life He first trode this Wine-press and we must insist in the same steps or we shall never partake of this blessed Resurrection He was made the Son of God in a most glorious manner and we by him by his merit and by his grace and by his example but other then this there is no way of Salvation for us That 's the first and great effect of this glorious order 4. But there is one thing more in it yet Every Man in his own order First Christ and then Christ's But what shall become of them that are not Christ's why there is an order for them too First they that are Christ's and then they that are not his Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection There is a first and a second Resurrection even after this life The dead in Christ shall rise first Now blessed are they that have their portion here for upon these the second death shall have no power As for the recalling the wicked from their graves it is no otherwise in the sense of the Spirit to be called a Resurrection then taking a Criminal from the Prison to the Bar is a giving of liberty When poor Attilius Aviola had been seized on by an Apoplexy his friends supposing him dead carried him to his Funeral pile but when the fire began to approch and the heat to warm the body he reviv'd and seeing himself incircled with Funeral flames call'd out aloud to his friends to rescue not the dead but the living Aviola from that horrid burning But it could not be He onely was râ—stor'd from his sickness to fall into death and from his dull disease to a sharp and intolerable torment Just so shall the wicked live again they shall receive their souls that they may be a portion for Devils they shall receive their bodies that they may feel the everlasting burning they shall see Christ that they may look on him whom they have pierced and they shall hear the voice of God passing upon them the intolerable sentence they shall come from their graves that they may go into hell and live again that they may die for ever So have we seen a poor condemned Criminal the weight of whose sorrows sitting heavily upon his soul hath benummed him into a deep sleep till he hath forgotten his grones and laid aside his deep sighings but on a sudden comes the messenger of death and unbinds the Poppy garland scatters the heavy cloud that incircled his miserable head and makes him return to acts of life that he may quickly descend into death and be no more So is every sinner that lies down in shame and makes his grave with the wicked he shall indeed rise again and be called upon by the voice of the Archangel but then he shall descend into sorrows greater then the reason and the patience of a man weeping and shrieking louder then the grones of the miserable children in the Valley of Hinnon These indeed are sad stories but true as the voice of God and the Sermons of the holy Jesus They are Gods words and Gods decrees and I wish that all who profess the belief of these would consider sadly what they mean If ye believe the Article of the Resurrection then you know that in your body you shall receive what you did in the body whether it be good or bad It matters not now very much whether our bodies be beauteous or deformed for if we glorifie God in our bodies God shall make our bodies glorious It matters not much whether we live in ease and pleasure or eat nothing but bitter herbs the body that lies in dust and ashes that goes stooping and feeble that lodges at the foot of the Cross and dwells in discipline shall be feasted
agreement such a Gate might be deliver'd to him The messenger was not advis'd to be cautious not at all instructed in the art of Secrecy for it was intended that he should be search'd intercepâ—ed and hang'd for ought they car'd but the Arrow was shot against the Bishop that he might be accused for base Conspiracy and die with shame and sad dishonour But here God manifested his mighty care of his Servants he was pleas'd to send into the heart of the messenger such an affrightment that he directly ran away with the Letter and never durst come near the Town to deliver it This story was publish'd by Sir Phelim himself who added That if he could have thus ensnar'd the Bishop he had good assurance the Town should have been his own Sed bonitas Dei praevalitura est super omnem malitiam hominis The goodness of God is greater then all the malice of Men and nothing could so prove how dear that sacred Life was to God as his rescue from the dangers Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deos To have kept him in a warm house had been nothing unless the roof had fallen upon his head that rescue was a remark of Divine favour and Providence But it seems Sir Phelim's Treason against the Life of this worthy Man had a Correspondent in the Town and it broke out speedily for what they could not effect by malicious stratagem they did in part by open force they turn'd the Bishop out of the Town and upon trifling and unjust pretences search'd his Carriages and took what they pleas'd till they were asham'd to take more they did worse then divorce him from his Church for in all the Roman Divorces they said Tuas tibi res habeto Take your goods and be gone but Plunder was Religion then However though the usage was sad yet it was recompenc'd to him by his taking Sanctuary in Oxford where he was graciously receiv'd by that most incomparable and divine Prince but having served the King in Yorkshire by his Pen and by his Counsels and by his Interests return'd back to Ireland where under the excellent conduct of his Grace the now Lord Lieutenant he ran the risque and fortune of oppressed Vertue But God having still resolv'd to afflict us the good man was forc'd into the fortune of the Patriarchs to leave his Countrey and his Charges and seek for safety and bread in a strange Land for so the Prophets were us'd to do wandring up and down in sheeps-clothing but poor as they were the world was not worthy of them and this worthy man despising the shame took up his Cross and followed his Master Exilium causa ipsa jubet sibi dulce videri Et desiderium dulce levat patriae He was not asham'd to suffer where the Cause was honourable and glorious but so God provided for the needs of his banished and sent a man who could minister comfort to the afflicted and courage to the persecuted and resolutions to the tempted and strength to that Religion for which they all suffered And here this great man was indeed triumphant this was one of the last and best scenes of his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last dayes are the best witnesses of a man But so it was that he stood up in publick and brave defence for the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England First by his Sufferings and great Example for Verbis tantùm philosophari non est Doctoris sed Histrionis To talk well and not to do bravely is for a Comedian not a Divine But this great man did both he suffered his own Calamity with great courage and by his wise Discourses strengthened the hearts of others For there wanted not diligent Tempters in the Church of Rome who taking advantage of the Afflictions of His Sacred Majesty in which state Men commonly suspect every thing and like men in sickness are willing to change from side to side hoping for ease and finding none flew at Royal Game and hop'd to draw away the King from that Religion which His most Royal Father the best Man and the wisest Prince in the world had seal'd with the best Bloud in Christendom and which Himself suck'd in with His Education and had confirm'd by Choice and Reason and confess'd publickly and bravely and hath since restor'd prosperously Mâ—llitieâ—e was the man witty and bold enough to aâ—tempt a zelous and a foolish undertaking and address'd himself with ignoble indeed but witty arts to perswade the King to leave what was dearer to Him then His Eyes It is true it was a Wave dash'd against a Rock and an Arrow shot against the Sun it could not reach him but the Bishop of Derry turn'd it alâ—o and made it to fall upon the shooters head for he made so ingenious so learned and so accute Reply to that book he so discover'd the Errors of the Roman Church retorted the Arguments stated the Questions demonstrated the Truth and sham'd their Procedures that nothing could be a greater argument of the Bishops Learning great Parts deep Judgment Quickness of Apprehension and Sincerity in the Catholick and Apostolick Faith or of the Follies and Prevarications of the Church of Rome He wrote no Apologies for himself though it were much to be wish'd that as Junius wrote his own Life or Moses his own story so we might have understood from himself how great things God had done for him and by him but all that he permitted to God and was silent in his own Defences Gloriosius enim est injuriam tacendo fugere quà m respondendo superare But when the Honour and Conscience of his King and the Interest of a true Religion was at stake the fire burn'd within him and at last he spake with his tongue he cried out like the son of Croesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed and meddle not with the King His Person is too sacred and Religion too dear to Him to be assaulted by Vulgar hands In short he acquited himself in this affair with so much Truth and Piety Learning and Judgment that in those Papers his memory will last unto very late succeeding Generations But this most Reverend Prelate found a nobler adversary and a braver scene for his contention He found that the Roman Priests being wearied and baffled by the wise Discourses and pungent Arguments of the English Divines had studiously declined any more to dispute the particular Questions against us but fell at last upon a general Charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolv'd to out-face us in the Charge But now it was that dignum nactus argumentum having an Argument fit to imploy his great abilities Consecrat hic praesul calamum calamÃque labores Ante
the sinner Let the business of your Sermons be to preach holy Life Obedience Peace Love among neighbours hearty love to live as the old Christians did and the new should to do hurt to no man to do good to every man For in these things the honour of God consists and the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Press those Grâ—ces most that do most good and make the least noise such as giving privately and forgiving publickly and prescribe the grace of Charity by all the measures of it which are given by the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. For this grace is not finished by good words nor yet by good works but it is a great building and many materials go to the structure of it It is worth your study for it is the fulfilling of the Commandements Because it is impossible that Charity should live unless the lust of the tongue be mortified let every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers detractors and backbiters for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity and yet so common that it is pass'd into a Proverb After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours Let every Minister be careful to observe and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners of which the Lawes cannot or do not take cognizance such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings gluttony riotous living expences above their ability pride bragging lying in ordinary conversation covetousness peevishness and hasty anger and such like For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls In your Sermons to the people often speak of the four last things of Death and Judgement Heaven and Hell of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners and his Severity against the impenitent of the formable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels Sacrilegious oppressors of Widows and Orphanes and all persons guilty of crying Sins These are useful safe and profitable but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets for there is more laid before you than you can understand and the whole duty of man is To fear God and keep his commandements Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation It is enough that you reprove an Errour but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgement thou knowest not and therefore pray for the erring person and reprove him but leave the sentence to his Judge Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings Merchants and Tradesmen that they be not unskilful nor unadmonished in their respective duties and in all things speak usefully and affectionately for by this means you will provide for all mens needs both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding and them that sin because they have evil dull or depraved affections In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion use primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the worâ—s of common use and reform Religion by introducing a new word intend to make a change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs but store of Mushromes and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find occasion Let every Minister in his charge as much as he can endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people or others with whom they converse especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance and putting it off to their death-bed let him explicate the nature of Faith so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity let him as much as he may take from them all confidencies that slacken their obedience and diligence let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdome by destroying those things in which it does consist viz. Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Mortification Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils for these as they are measures of truth so also of necessity that is as they are safe so they are sufficient and besides what is taught by these no matter of belief is necessary to salvation Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies though with a purpose to confute them for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute but teach it with plainness and simplicity and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture but without objection let them be taught to believe but not to argue lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry than establish it by arguments too hard Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light immodest or ridiculous expressions but what is wise grave usefull and for edification that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity the people may attend with fear and reverence Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience or more fame in Preaching than himself let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down is but a dwarf still and no man is the better for making his brother worse In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd and rejoice that he is served whoever be the Minister that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher yet you may have the reward of being a good man but it
establish truth upon unalterable foundations as long as men handle the word of God deceitfully that is with designs and little artifices and secular partialities and they will for ever do so as long as they are proud or covetous It is not the difficulty of our questions or the subtilty of our adversaries that makes disputes interminable but we shall never cure the itch of disputing or establish Unity unless we apply our selves to humility and contempt of riches If we will be contending let us contend like the Olive and the Vine who shall produce best and most fruit not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noise in a wind And all other methods are a beginning at a wrong end And as for the people the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of faith and government is by reducing them to live good lives When the children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness and filthy lusts they quickly fell into abominable idolatries and S. Paul sayes that men make shipwrack of their Faith by putting away a good conscience for the mystery of Faith is best preserved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pure conscience saith the same Apostle secure but that and we shall quickly end our disputes and have an obedient and conformable people but else never 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches and gave them being so they preserve them in being For withour Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starved and dy and without Bishops there can be no Priests and consequently no Sacraments and that must needs be a supreme order from whence ordination it self proceeds For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no record of ordination but an Apostolical hand was in it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the chief one of the superior and Ruling Clergy and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church the Bishop alwayes had that power it was never denyed to him and it was never imputed to Presbyters and S. Hierom himself when out of his anger against John Bishop of Jerusalem he endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop though in very many places he spake otherwise yet even then also and in that heat he excepted Ordination acknowledging that to be the Bishops peculiar And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy do as Julian did they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock and take away their Shepherds and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the chanels of Salvation quite another way and leave the Church to a perpetual uncertainty whether she be alive or dead and the people destitute of the life of their Souls and their daily bread and their spiritual comforts and holy blessings The consequent of this is If Sacraments depend upon Bishops then let us take care that we convey to the people holy and pure materials sanctified with a holy ministry and ministred by holy persons For although it be true that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend wholly upon he worthiness of him that ministers yet it is as true that it does not wholly rely upon the worthiness of the Receiver but both together relying upon the goodness of God produce all those blessings which are designed The Minister hath an influence into the effect and does very much towards it and if there be a failure there it is a defect in one of the concurring causes and therefore an unholy Bishop is a great diminution to the peoples blessing S. Hierom presses this severely Impiè faciunt c. They do wickedly who affirm that the holy Eucharist is consecrated by the words alone and solemn prayer of the consecrator and not also by his life and holiness and therefore S. Cyprian affirms that none but holy and upright men are to be chosen who offering their Sacrifices worthily to God may be heard in their prayers for the Lords people but for others Sacrificia eorum panis luctus saith the Prophet Hosea their Sacrifices are like the bread of sorrow whoever eats thereof shall be defiled This discourse is not mine but S. Cyprians and although his words are not to be understood dogmatically but in the case of duty and caution yet we may lay our hands upon our hearts and consider how we shall give an account of our Stewardship if we shall offer to the people the bread of God with impure hands it is of it self a pure nourishment but if it passes through an unclean vessel it looses much of its excellency 3. The like also is to be said concerning prayer For the Episcopal order is appointed by God to be the great Ministers of Christs Priesthood that is to stand between Christ and the people in the entercourse of prayer and blessing We will give our selves continually to prayer said the Apostles that was the one half of their imployment and indeed a Bishop should spend very much of his time in holy prayer and in diverting Gods judgments and procuring blessings to the people for in all times the chief of the Religion was ever the chief Minister of blessing Thus Abraham blessed Abimelech and Melchisedeck blessed Abraham and Aaron blessed the people and without all controversy saith the Apostle the lâ—ss is blessed of the Greater But then we know that God heareth not sinners and it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a Righteous man that shall prevail And therefore we may easily consider that a vitious Prelate is a great calamity to that Flock which he is appointed to bless and pray for How shall he reconcile the penitents who is himself at enmity with God How shall the Holy Spirit of God descend upon the Symbols at his prayer who does perpetually grieve him and quench his holy fires and drive him quite away How shall he that hath not tasted of the spirit by contemplation stir up others to earnest desires of Celestial things Or what good shall the people receive when the Bishop layes upon their head a covetous or a cruel an unjust or an impure hand But therefore that I may use the words of S. Hierom. Cum ab Episcopo gratia in populum transfundatur mundi totius Ecclesiae totius condimentum sit Episcopus c. Since it is intended that from the Bishop grace should be diffused amongst all the people there is not in the world a greater indecency then a holy office ministred by an unholy person and no greater injury to the people then that of the blessings which God sends to them by the ministries Evangelical they should be cheated and defrauded by a wicked Steward And therefore it was an excellent prayer which to this very purpose was by the son of Sirach made in behalf of the High Priests the sons of Aaron God give you wisdom in your heart to