Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_n	world_n	worthy_a	116	3	5.9909	4	false

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

men to themselves in pursuance of which design they would preach down the Apostles to preach up themselves And what wonder to see a popular affection transport men to preach down Bishops when the same affection so early transported some to preach down Apostles But it is not only the Popularity and Pride of such Teachers but likewise a giddinesse in the people which makes more work yet for the Bishop The Apostle foresaw it and gave early notice of it to Timothy 2 Tim. 4.3 The time will come that they will not endure sound Doctrine but according to their own lusts they will heap up to themselves Teachers having itching ears And this must needs make more work for the Bishop for the more greedy they are in heaping up such Teachers the more vigilant and carefull must he be to pull them down In a word there is Work enough in the Church for the Bishop and for all other Officers under him wherein his care must be to mind that Work or service most by which he may most promote the Glory of God and the Good of his Church and to see that they to whom he commits the rest of the work doe their work as they ought to do it And so much for the Second Particular in these words the work which belongs to the Office of a Bishop I come now to the third Particular which is the Goodnesse of the Work It is very well rendred in our Translation a good work 3 The goodness of that work not an honest or a pious or an honourable work as it might be rendred not but that it is all these but because it is all these and all these are comprehended in this expression of a good work First it is an honourable work for it is the work in which they are call'd workers together with God And that for very good reason for that which our Saviour saith Joh. 5.17 my Father worketh hitherto and I work is as true now as it was then when he spake it and that more especially in this then in any other work For there is nothing on earth so dear to God as his Church nothing to which his Providence and Goodnesse extends more then to the good and orderly government of it It is the work for which he sent his Sonne from heaven no other name or title doth so well express the work for which he came into the world as that of the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls For which reason diverse of the ancient Fathers by the lost sheep in the Parable understand Mankind in the state of his Fall by the ninety and nine that went not astray the Angels that kept their first estate by the man that left the ninety and nine to seek the sheep that was lost the man Christ Jesus that came down from Heaven the habitation of Angels to seek and save man that was lost It is the work for which he sent abroad his Apostles John 20.21 as his Father sent him The work for which he sent down his Spirit upon them soon after his return to heaven and his exaltation at the right hand of God The work for which he hath promis'd to be with them and with their Successors unto the end of the world Mat. 28. ult And this is sufficient to shew how honourable a work it is It is likewise as pious honest and Charitable a work as it is honourable It is the most acceptable work or service that men can do to God 2 Cor. 2.15 We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ saith the Apostle speaking of this work which is the work of a Bishop as well as an Apostle to signify that as a sweet and fragrant odour is gratefull unto us so is this work noe less acceptable to God And as it is so acceptable to God so it is no lesse for the good and benefit of men The good which it works most Directly and properly is the spirituall and eternal good which is so much better then all that is but temporall that there is no comparison between them But it is not so particularly for the spirituall and eternall good but that it is likewise very much for the temporall The Histories of all Ages since the beginning of Christianity bear witnesse abundantly of the manifold and great good which hath been wrought in the world by Bishops doing that work which belongs to their Office They have been and are the chief Ministers under God of upholding Tit. 1.1 and preserving that Truth which the Apostle calls the truth according to Godliness 1 Tim. 4.8 that Godlinesse of which he saith that it is profitable for all things having the promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come And to the End we might the better consider how true this is he adds in the next verse This is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation And to say nothing of the life which is to come of which no truth ever had so clear and ample promises there is nothing more profitable for the life which now is Nothing so effectual to restrain all the iniquitie which makes one man a Devil to another or to promote all that Vertue and Goodnesse which makes one man a God to another For every iniquity is then most carefully avoyded and every very good work most sincerely and exactly perform'd when he that avoyds the one and does the other is mov'd thereunto by a principle of Religion This is the great advantage which Religion hath above all the best Lawes that the wisdome of men can make or their justice put in execution The best humane Lawes can but lop off the branches of those iniquities which Religion plucks up by the roots The power of the one is only upon the Actions of men so farr forth as they fall under the cognisance of other men the power of the other upon the Affections It is much if the one can restrain men from being very wicked the other hath a power to make them very good men And there is no Religion so effectuall to take away all manner of Iniquity and to plant and cherish all manner of Vertue as the Christian the Precepts whereof which are in their nature the most pure are likewise in the extent of them the most perfect and complete reaching to all sorts of men in all manner of conversation to Princes Subjects Parents Children Husbands Wives Masters Servants Neighbours Strangers to make them all good in their severall relations and the better they are the more happy in each other The Promises annex'd to the observation of these Precepts are the most high and heavenly the confirmation of those Promises the most divine to the end that the Promises being so confirm'd might be the more stedfastly believed and the Promises being believed the Precepts might be the better observed and the Precepts being so observ'd all men might conspire together mutually to promote the

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

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