world His coming into the world who was the subject of so many Prophesies before and the expectation as both the Greek and Latin translation render it Gen. 49. 10. and the desire of all Nations Hag. 2. 7. as it was solemnly proclaimed or Preached by Angels at the first so it is still the proper subject of all Preaching and though moral discourses and exhortations be also necessary as a consequent of Christ his coming into the world yet are they not properly Preaching such as the Church may challenge as peculiar unto it self except they be grounded upon Christ whether as a Priest or a Prophet or a King in the authority of his commands the obligation of his example and sufferings and the excellency of his rewards For the truth is the consideration of Christ laid aside though good language and excellency of wit may go far with some men to perswade and with all or most to please and delight yet bare vertue of it self all things soberly considered will prove generally but a weak Plea and as Brutus at his death is said to have bemoaned himself rather words then reality We conclude therefore First That moral discourses and exhortations by set speeches and elaborate elocution are not properly Preaching but as grounded not implicitly only which may be said of the speeches of Philosophers in some sense but explicitly and expresly upon Christ and the ends of his coming unto the world Secondly That all publick performances by speech or word of mouth tending to the manifestation of Christ and his coming unto the world and the ends of his coming to which end holy dayes were instituted and are of special use may truly and properly be called Preaching I say publick because indeed the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import some kind of publickness But then we must know that a man may be said to Preach publickly as well he that goes from house to house so far as he can or is permitted as he that doth it in a publick auditory before a multitude for which we have ground in the Scripture it self Acts XX. 20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 publickly and from house to house in Socrates his expression upon the like occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregory Pope of Rome the first of that name not unworthily surnamed the Great in one of his Epistles hath these words concerning Deacons Iniquum esse ut in Diaconatus ordine constituti modulationi vocis inserviant quos ad praedicationis of ficium eleemosynarumque studium vacare congruebat Bellarmin De Cler. l. 1. c. 13. doth quote this passage to prove that Deacons were sometimes allowed to Preach But this doth not prove that they were allowed sometimes but that it was part of their duty at all times Again in the Council of Ancyra can 2. lapsed Deacons though permitted upon their repentance to continue in the place that is to retain the title and honour of it yet not permitted to discharge the duties not to minister at the holy Table by distributing the consecrated Bread and Wine nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Preach Filesacus a learned Antiquary doth quote this Canon as Bellarmin St. Gregory to prove that Deacons were allowed to Preach sometimes But by this Canon as by Gregories passage it would appear that it doth belong unto them as part of their office And which is worse because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are promiscuously used often to signifie Preaching in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Canon Filesacus either by a mistake of memory or purposely thinking to interpret the one by the other doth substitute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth much alter the case and would oblige us to believe that the Canon did intend it of Preaching indeed as Preaching is ordinarily understood as part of the Deacons duty But otherwise it is sure enough that neither the Canon by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor Pope Gregory by praedicare did intend any such thing as is now understood by Preaching In two respects Deacons were then said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or praedicare according to the propriety of the words the Greek especially First in that it was part of their office to read the Gospel at the administration of the Sacraments For though there were the Lectores besides whose peculiar office it was to read the Scripture to the people generally yet at certain times as peculiarly at the time of the administration of the Sacrament of Christs body the Deacons read the Gospels so that as the Lectores were properly said praedicare when they read in the Church audibly and distinctly both the mysteries of our Faith those especially that concern Christ revealed and the instructions and exhortations contained in the Word of God Decret 1. dist 21. c. 1. so for the same reason and respect were the Deacons too when they read the Gospels And so is the word used in the very Scriptures Acts xv 21. where Moses is said to be Preached that is read as St. Iames doth interpret himself in the Synagogues every Sabbath day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word there But Gregory doth explain himself when what he called before praedicationis officium he doth afterwards as it were expound by Evangelicae lectionis officium Again Deacons were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or praedicare when by loud voice or proclamation they did warn the people in several parts of the Service what was done or to be done that accordingly they might prepare and order themselves both in their hearts and with their bodies agreeably to that which was done or performed by the Ministers of God that all things might be performed with good order and due reverence So they were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praedicare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like Among other cryes belonging to every part of the Liturgy in the Greek Church one was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in giving warning to the people which was the innocency of those holy times which had some ground also upon the custom of the times when they should salute one another with a holy kiss which continued till Cyrill of Ierusalem as doth appear by his Catecheses which Catecheses I have compared with an ancient Manuscript with many additions and alterations But this is according to the Printed Copy which must be corrected according to the translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth very well fit the coherence The Heathens also in their Sacra had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the same purpose to regulate the carriage of the people and to prevent confusion mentioned by Athenaeus in his fourth Book and by others But this by the way only After so much of Preaching in general and different notions of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and praedicare which are the most ordinary words by which Preaching in ancient
whatever the argument be if it be fitted to the ears of the auditors to be winning and be witching not only to delight but even to ravish to cause admiration and astonishment in brief to have the same effects as musick even the best musick and melody can have upon the minds of men It is a secret of nature which every body doth not understand but I have argued it elsewhere at large and clearly by evidence of reason evinced it that there is musick in words in the composition of words in the ordering in the pronounciation in the tone and action of the speaker briefly in all that belongs unto Oratory And such hath been the power of speech and Oratory in former ages among Heathens that whole towns and villages have been forsaken for a time of inhabitants whilest men both rich and poor did run after some Sophist or Philosopher who would entertain them it may be with some moral discourse it may be with somewhat else that had no reference at all to life and manners much less to godliness and piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed amazement and astonishment was the very thing that Sophists did affect and propose to themselves and he that could not attain unto it great indeed was the labour they did undergo to bring this to pass was accounted to have miscarried in his profession What operation the moral discourses of ancient Philosophers have had upon some men as not only to produce plentiful tears at present but also a sudden change of life yea sometimes an absolute forsaking of the world and the pleasures of this life hath been touched before But it is as certain and examples of it have been produced elsewhere that many notoriously wicked and impious yet were very studious to hear such discourses as pleasant and delightful for the excellency of speech To which may be added that anciently many profest Heathens enemies to the Christian Religion did studiously repair to the Sermons and Homilies of some learned and eloquent Bishops not to edifie by their doctrine but to partake to the pleasure of good language Some perchance for what I have said for I cannot expect it should please all men will be ready to suspect or to traduce me for one that is no friend to Sermons Truly I should be sorry to give just cause I wish where there is one there might be two so the Ministers be Orthodox and that it be not to the prejudice of Gods holy Word I think the better of them because I doubt much when they come to be disused or less used learning in general for the extempory pratlings of illiterate Phanaticks and Enthusiasts I do not call Sermons will suffer as at this day in Moscovia and divers other places But I must suspect his sincerity to Religion that is not sensible of the wrong done unto Gods holy Word by those who seem but for their own ends I doubt to be most zealous for Sermons St. Chrysostome what he was for a Preacher his very name or surname rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is some argument but his works yet extant a stronger evidence Somewhat was said of him before It grieved his pious soul when he observed that there was no such crowding when the Word of God was read in time of Divine Service as when he preached In one place he doth expostulate the matter with his auditors and among other things sticks not to tell them that Preaching Pulpit Preaching was not absolutely necessary but only for the daintiness of men the bare Word of God that was read in the Church being sufficient to salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so printed I think it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is It is our daintiness or sloathfulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a great word in S. Chrysostome very comprehensive and not easie to be expressed propter fastidia plurimorum etiam ipsa sine quibus vivi non potest alimenta condienda sunt saith St. Augustin upon the like occasion that hath made this need to wit of Pulpit Preaching All things are plain and obvious to the eyes all things manifest that are necessary in the Divine Scriptures But because you must hear with pleasure that is it that makes you to require this way of Preaching also And then he meets with another objection that it is tedious and unpleasing to hear the same thing though it be the Scripture over and over often which they must needs do if they did constantly as was required attend the Service It is excellently well answered by him O that all popular Preachers I intend it not as a reproach for I look upon it as a great blessing if it be well used would imitate this pious mans zeal for God and his holy Word who are so far from it many of them that it is their endeavour and main design it is for their honour and reputation but for their profit too and to the advantage of their cause most of all to maintain the people in that conceit that Sermons are the only Word of God that there is no Preaching of the Word but that that to love Sermons and to run after Sermons is a certain sign of grace and regeneration that God loves them and they love God and in that conceit though their lives and their actions shew nothing of the power of godliness how many live and dye This was the zeal of this holy Father for Gods holy Word read in the Church publickly in time of Divine Service Who nevertheless himself was a zealous constant Preacher of the Word as any age though most Bishops great Preachers then hath known and as much followed and admired by all sorts of people Some part of the year he preached every day and yet could not preach often enough to satisfie the longings of the people a man indeed endowed with extraordinary parts for that holy function And least any man for want of piety and industry though piety indeed if true and real will make a man industrious should be ready to take the advantage of these words of St. Chrysostome that Sermons are not needful let them know that though just indignation and a holy zeal for Gods holy Word and the Church Service made him say so here yet that it was not his opinion absolutely and positively as may appear not only by his practice the best evidence but also by what he writes elsewhere as particularly upon 1 Tim. 5. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And shortly after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where be they now who say there is no need of Sermons o◠teaching whereas in very truth it is a great thing I say a great thing and of great concernment for the edification of the Church that the Governours of it Bishops properly but it may now extend to all that are called Rectores Ecclesiarum and their substitutes Curates and Vicars be Teachers or Preachers and the want of it is the occasion of much evil in the Church Certainly the Church will be happy in it if both in the one and in the other in his zeal for the true Word of God as it is read daily in the Church and in his diligence to Preach the same which in regard of the intention or institution of Preaching may be called the Word of God also he may have many followers God grant it And here I end FINIS Plat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 121. Greg. Mag. Epist lib. 4. 44. ad Rom. Fil. varia de episcoporum authorit c. 15. p. 349. Cyr. Hieros Catach myst 5. p. 534. Ignat. Epist ad Smyrn ed. 4. p. 117 Hieron cont Lucif 10. 1. p. 199. Dion Areop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambros ubis p. 355. Sen. ep 53. p. 240. Bals ad Cens 2. Syn. Const Can. 19. Syn. Trull Pag. 439. Opt. l. 3. contra Don. Fran. Bern. Fer. l. 11. c. 1 Turr. p. 40. Bovi ed. p. 44. Hieron to IV. vellX ed. Plant. p. 55. c. Cic. in Ora. Cic. ibid. Aberat tertia illa laus neque erat ulla vis atque contentio sive consilio quod eos quorum altior oratio actioque esset ardentior furere bacchari arbitraretur sive c. Purit Angl. sive praecipua c. Francof 1610. Auctore Gulielmo Amesio August de Doct. Chri. c. XII
by moral apologues and fables which made Aesop so famous in his dayes And do not we read of wonderful things atchieved this way when no other oratory would prevail Did not Menenius Agrippa when the common people of Rome provoked by the cruelty of usurers were gathered together in a seditious manner and had taken arms to the great terror of the Senate and whole City pacifie them and to the admiration of all men by that famous apologue of the members of the body St. Paul Romans the twelfth hath much of it reduce them to obedience So Arsinoe the Queen as we read in Plutarch when nothing could allay her immoderate weeping and lamentation for the death of her son one of the Philosophers of those times found a way by such an apologue of his own devising to perswade her to patience And what use did Nathan the Prophet make of such a device or made story to make David his King who perchance would not have endured it another way sensible of his great unthankfulness towards his God who had done so much for him in that in despight of Gods Commandement Thou shalt not commit adultery he had seized upon another mans wife and because his plot would not take which he had plotted to save his credit as one sin doth often beget another was provoked to plot the death of her husband If therefore the chief end of preaching be to teach or to perswade conversion or reformation how it can be said that eloquence or studied oratory is the only way I leave it to the judgement of men who are more led which few are by reason then prejudice or prejudicate opinions For my part I think catechising if rightly used hath much the advantage of it There is another way too which with men who are more for reason then words is of great force and that is by short aphorismes My opinion is that the frequent reading of Epictetus especially as fitted anciently for the use of Christians may go much further to perswade a man that is rational then many Sermons such as he may hear in many Churches And so may Ludovicus Vives his Introduction to wisdome digested and compiled by certain short rational aphorismes It is true that much good may be done by Rhetorick but as much good so much evil also for which reason it hath been forbidden formerly in some judicatories But since speech and oratory as once among the Athenians when it ruled all there and since that among the Romans is now become in so much request among both great and small that nothing almost is accounted Religion or learning but what cometh out of the Pulpit and that this is the very way which the enemyes of the Churches peace and government since the Reformation of Religon have ever gone in England to gain credit with the people this way this popular way of preaching though perchance less of it otherwise might serve in some places if all other things were duly performed ought to be in great request unto all unto whom the peace and prosperity of the Church is dear and precious so that still care be taken so far forth as by good means it may be prevented that none be allowed or licensed to preach but such as are true sons of the Church However though for divers respects we maintain the necessity of this way yet it were very requisite I think that people should be made to understand every-where how much and how dangerously they are deluded when they are made to believe that there is no other preaching effectual to the conversion of souls and that this is the Word of God that which is uttered out of Pulpits so much commended and so necessary to salvation Which conceit when men are once prepossessed with it makes them to despise the true Word of God the infallible true Word of God I mean for Sermons also if Orthodox may be called the Word of God at large when it is read in the Church out of the Old and New Testament and this contempt of it bereaves them of the benefit which they might reap by it I am perswaded that all the blasphemies which some Papists have belched out against the Scriptures being put together will scarce make one half of what the Puritans and Precisians of England have done to advance the honour of Pulpit Preaching wherein they did conceive and they were right in that their advantage to lie Let them be beaten off from that advantage which may easily be done if care be taken and God be praised care hath been taken in London of late the chiefest City might it be so too in all other places it is to be hoped that the quarrel will soon be at an end But see I pray the Reader to give me leave the impudency of some of those men far be it from me to censure all The Author of that infamous Pamphlet called Puritanismus Anglicanus a man both for this and his other writings some of which have been Printed I am loth to say where of no small account among them that are bred that way the very first mark by which he doth describe and set out an English Puritan is that verbum Dei Prophetarum Apostolorum scriptis comprehensum numeris omnibus perfectum esse arctè tenent so he speaks accurateque defendunt Whereas in very deed of all things not a few that can be laid to the Puritans charge I know not any thing either more notorious or more detestable then this very thing that they so vilifie the pure Word of God comprehended in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles dayly read in Churches at the time of Divine Service as to make it of no use at all to the Conversion of Souls appropriating as much as in them lyeth that sacred title of Gods Word to their own Pulpit Preaching Which also they will often call the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without any limitation whereby people deluded silly people are brought to believe that there is no other Gospel but what is Preached out of Pulpits and in case any of that Party though the occasion be never so just be prohibited to Preach that the Gospel doth suffer thereby and is in danger Another great and dangerous error in this business of Preaching which would be looked into is that many because they hear Sermons with joy and are eager after them through ignorance of the nature of speech in general and of former times withall without any further examination what operation it hath upon their lives they are ready to flatter themselves that this love they bear unto the Word must needs be an argument of grace and an effect of the spirit of regeneration and in this confidence they live secure and regardless of any thing else by which they might edifie and not only so but become proud insolent and censorious many of them Whereas there is nothing more certain then that it is the nature of speech