judge the quick and dead Novv vvhatever a man cannot do in his ovvn person must be done by deputation if it be done at all And therefore Christ by his Ascension being become uncapable in his ovvn Person to take this care of the Church he deputed his Apostles thereunto appointing them in his Name and Stead to perform all those Offices vvhich vvere required to the Establishing and Advancement of the Gospel Giving them also povver to depute others to succeed them in the same Care and to deliver dovvn the same Povver successively to the end of the World And to the end that the Clergy might not be thought to expire in the Persons of the Apostles nor they to have died vvithout Successors in the Ministry Christ promised upon his Departure to be with them unto the End of the World Which vvords vve vvill take for granted to have been spoken to the Apostles as they vvere the Clergy or Ministers of the Gospel and that they vvere not limited exclusively to their Persons but in them did belong to the vvhole succession of the Clergy For hovvever the Apostles might be vvith Christ he could not be personally vvith them so much as unto their death much less unto the end of the World being so shortly upon the speech of these vvords to ascend up into Heaven vvhereof they themselves vvere Vndeniable Witnesses It is likevvise duly to be considered That Christ by his promise lo I am vvith you alvvay even unto the End of the World intended some benefits to the Church vvhich should be of no less continuance than the Church it self and that the Apostles vvere to be the first dispensers of those benefits And if it be demanded vvhat these benefits vvere it may from the Text be safely replied that they vvere the several functions of the Clergy to vvhich the Apostles vvere Commission'd viz. Preaching Baptism Administration of the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood the exercise of the Censures c. All vvhich vvere to end vvith the Apostles or they vvere not If they vvere to end vvith the Apostles then has the Church ever since the death of the Apostles been vvithout these Offices vvhich amounts to no less than that there has been no Church since their Decease Or if they vvere not to end vvith the Apostles but have alvvays been and are still to be exercised unto the end of the World then it cannot be denied but there ever have been and ever must be fit Persons vvho like the Apostles must have a just power to dispense these Benefits or exercise these Offices For no less can be conceived to have been intended by Christ in his promise of being with the Apostles alway Even unto the End of the World And we shall have no temptation to suspect this Interpretation of the Promise when we shall consider first that by the End of the World That State of affairs is to be understood which began exactly at Christs Resurrection when all power was given him in Heaven and Earth which was to continue to the end of the World or his coming to Judgment Next that the promise made unto the Apostles had respect unto this State and therefore the Benefits promised namely Preaching Baptism c. were to endure unto the full determination of the same Thirdly That seeing Christ could not possibly be with the Apostles personally nor they upon Earth Vnto the End of the World There must be some other way to verifie Christs presence with the Apostles and their being in the World unto the End thereof both which seem to be implyed in the Text. As to Christs presence with the Apostles it is unanimously concluded of the Vicaria presentia Spiritus in Tertullians phrase or of making the Holy Ghost his Vicar in sending him to be with the Apostles upon his ascension into Heaven Which mission of the Spirit cannot be meant of that that hapned at Pentecost when he sate upon them in bodily appearance and inspired them with such extraordinary gifts as were needful for those first times of the Gospel such as the gift of tongues to inable them to Preach to all Nations in their own Language and of other Miracles to confirm the truth of their Doctrin and to move men to believe it For if the promise of Christs being alway with the Apostles were to be understood of this mission of the Spirit upon them then it would follow that Christ were still to be thus present with the Church and that extraordinary gifts did still continue or that he who promised were not faithful And therefore it is necessary that we understand Christs being with the Apostles of his giving them the Holy Ghost to instate them with Powers not only in their own Persons to plant and govern the Church and to perform all the Offices of the Clergy relating thereunto but also to ordain others unto the same Functions and to give them Authority to do the like Vnto the End of the World So that by this promise made of his presence with the Apostles Christ provided for a successive Clergy in whom the Apostles were to continue or the Ordinary Ministry be preserved unto the Consummation of all things And we have no reason to be jealous of this sense of our Saviours Words when we find it universally agreed upon that one great end of sending the Holy Ghost to the Church was the sanctifying setting apart of Persons for the Work of the Clergy and to convey a standing Authority of Ordination of meet persons to mediate between God and the people to pray for and bless them in the Name of Christ to help their Infirmities by composing for them a Liturgy according to the Pattern of the Apostles of whose Liturgy several passages do yet remain And the Holy Ghost doth still impower the Church to Ordain and Consecrate Persons for the Ministerial Office for the Edifying of the Body of Christ Who when ordain'd are bound to take heed to themselves and unto all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers to feed the Church of God CHAP. VI. Of the Spirits Agency in respect of the Clergy c. HAving endeavour'd to demonstrate that the true sense of Christs promise In being with the Apostles doth respect that Authority that the Holy Ghost gave them for appointing a settled Ministry in the Church while militant upon Earth In subserviency to our present purpose it may not be unuseful to observe That among all those Offices which the Holy Ghost performs for the Church there is none wherein he seems to be more interessed or to have a greater agency than in the qualifying and separation of Persons for the Priesthood Which work indeed is so peculiar to the Spirit and so necessary for this purpose that even the Great Pastor and Bishop of Souls became not a Preacher of his own Gospel till he was thereunto Anointed and Consecrated by the Holy Ghost Luke 4.18 And when the same Great Bishop
Clergy in all Ages have undergone Contempt The Character of their Contemners c. BEfore we enquire into the Pretences which are commonly brought for the Contempt we speak of it will be expedient to consider that the despising of the Clergy has been the unhappy carriage of other Ages as well as our own Which is a thing so deplorably manifest that we need not much insist either upon its proof or declaration For if we soberly consult the Oracles of God they will yield us undeniable attestations that to Contemn the Stewards of Mysteries is a disease so Epidemical in respect of time that it may seem to have been intailed upon the several Generations of Mankind as Gehazi's Leprosie was upon his Children For if we begin with Enoch who was but the Seventh from Adam and the first Clergy the Scripture mentions though he was one whose upright Conversation obviated all Exceptions as Walking with God and pleasing him and one who became an Example of Religiousness to all Generations Yet for all this he in his own Person met with Obloquy and hard Speeches and prophesied of men who would so treat the Clergy until the Consummation of all things Upon whom God at last shall send his Holy Myriads infinite Armies of Angels to take Vengeance Nor did it fare better herein with Noah notwithstanding that he also Walked with God and pleased him and was a pledge of the World and a preacher of Righteousness And so wanted nothing to recommend him to the respect and reverence of his Age. Yet for many years he was so far despised that none took notice of his Sermons unless to deride and pervert them For we read not of any who were reclaim'd by his preaching but that all remain'd in as much carnal Supineness obstinacy and disobedience as if Noah had never told them of their imminent danger and destruction by a deluge and by his building of an Ark given them a sensible demonstration of what he foretold For they ate and drank and followed their old trade of taking strange Women to their Wives and regarded not till the Flood came and swept them all away If I might here insert Moses among the Priests because he was sent from God to preach deliverance to Israel we shall find him every where vilified and contemn'd The first Essay of his Message was entertain'd with a petulant questioning of his Authority Who made thee a Judge over us And through the whole Sacred Legend of his Life we find him continually opposed and spoke against by Conjurers factious and gain-saying Zealots and the humorsome and uncertain multitude And as to the first High-Priest the behaviour of Corah and his adherents toward him is a sufficient testimony and illustration in this case And letting pass the Ancient Patriarchs who had no part of their life free from Contumelies and Reproaches if we look into the times of the Prophets we may learn the Lot of them all from that of Jeremy who was mock't jeer'd and droll'd upon meerly for being a Prophet of the Lord. But we need not fasten upon Particulars because we find by the general account given of the Prophets sufferings that they were no less than cruel Mockings Scourgings Bands and Imprisonments and the most exquisite kinds of Martyrdomes being destitute afflicted and tormented Nor were the Clergy better dealt with in the times of the Gospel For in the years of its greatest efficacy when the Apostles preach'd it with the purest zeal noblest industry wisest courage and in the true Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit they were traduced for the vilest Offenders and accounted no better than the off-scouring Laughing-games Catharmata ac Ludibria as a Modern Apologist of the whole World We find one of them stoned to death by those who were not able to resist the Wisedome and the Spirit by which he spake At one place a Sorcerer at another a Mechanick and at a third a sect of Restless Fanaticks revile St. Paul At Ephesus the Tradesmen impeach him in Asia a sort of vile Apostates utterly deny his power and we cannot be ignorant how Reverendly the Apostle was treated by the Virtuosi at Athens when they called him Spermologus an empty idle talkative fellow But the one example of our Saviour ought to supersede all other in this Concern who was despised and rejected of men and not esteemed of in the World whose kindred said he was beside himself and many said he had a Devil and was mad who by some was called Inchanter Sorcerer and by others Samaritan Beelzebub Glutton Drunkard And to accomplish their slander of his Credit they unjustly Scourged and most Cruelly Crucified his Person and put him to open shame And to leave them without any colour of reply they acted all this Villany against Christ when he was preaching the Glorious Gospel of Salvation and therein laying down such rules of Life as were more enlightning of the mind more advancing of humane Nature and more directly tending to the Introduction and Settlement of Piety Justice and Good-will among men than was contain'd either in the Law of Moses or the Institutions of Philosophers Now if the Prophets Apostles and Our Lord himself were vexed and interrupted with Rebukes Revilings Despites Contumelies c. whilest they pressed the World to believe and practise the Truth it is then abundantly clear that the Contempt of the Clergy is no new Invention nor to be wonder'd at as the Monster of the present Age but that it hath ever been the practice of Vnreasonable men For there is no place or time to be met with since the planting or growth of Religion wherein its Ministers have not by some been contemptuously intreated And we have no great hopes to meet herein with amendment who live in those latter dayes in which St. Peter St. Paul and St. Jude with one mouth assure us that there should not only be a departure from the Faith but also Scoffers and Cruel Mockers both of the Gospel and its Ministers and a Race of Vngodly men who would make the Gospel it self matter of Obloquy and Shame to those who preach it Of which sort were those Miscreants who put St. Paul upon the Apology I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek And therefore the present Clergy ought not to repine or murmur to see themselves so badly dealt with by the World when they shall be so far recollected as to consider that after the same manner it hath also dealt with the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself And it is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call those of his Houshold The most that a Disciple or Servant can aspire to is to come to his Masters perfection Whom if
shall give an undeniable attestation that they are not so difficult in themselves nor humane Nature so far weakned and depressed but that all the Duties of Christianity may be performed But if like Mercurial Statues you never move a foot toward the place to which you direct others this may create in the Laity a sturdy suspicion that the whole matter is but a holy Cheat. Let your own breasts then be the first Proselytes of your Doctrin and let your Ministry first manifest its power in making your selves good Non aliter viventes quà m vivendum praecipientes which was neglected by those Philosophers who saith Seneca deserved so ill of Mankind Always remembring how ill it becomes Divines to be like those Philosophers in Epictetus who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Factis procul Verbis Tenus as A. Gellius makes the remark Lib. 17. Chap. 19. Chaucer in the Prologue to his Canterbury Tales gives the Character of a Religious and Learned Priest Which being not wholly impertinent to that we speak of I have here inserted in his own Language and Metre The Parson A good manne there was of Religioun And was a poore Parsone of a Toun But rich he was of holy thought and werke He was eke a lerned manne a Clerke That Christes Gospels truly would preach His Parishens devoutly would he teach Benigne he was and wonder diligent And in adversitie full patient And soch one he was proved oft sithes Full loth were him to curse for his tithes But rather would he yeven out of doubt Vnto his poore Parishens all about Both of his offring and of his Substaunce He couhie in little thing have suffisaunce Wide was his Parish and houses fer asonder But he ne left neither forraine ne thonder In sicknesse ne in mischiefe for to visite The ferdest in his Parish moch or lite Vpon his feete and in his hand a stafe This noble example to his shepe he yafe That first he wrought and afterward taught Out of the Gospel he the words caught And this figure he added eke thereto That if Gold rust what should Iron do For yef a Priest be foule on whom we trust No wonder is a leude man to rust And shame it is if a Priest take kepe To se a shitten shepherd and a cleane shepe Well ought a Priest ensample for to yeve By his cleannesse how his shepe should live He set not his Benefice to hire And let his shepe acomber in the mire And renne to London to Sainct Poules To seken him a Chauntrie for soules Or with a Brotherhede to be withold But kept at home and kept well his fold So that the wolfe made him not miscarry He was a shepherd and not a mercenary And though he holy were and vertuous He was not to sinfull men despiteous Ne of his speech daungerous ne digne But in his teaching discrete and benigne To drawne folke to heaven with fairenesse By good ensample this was his besinesse But he were any persone obstinate Whether he were of high or low estate Him would he snibbe sharply for the Novis A better Priest I know no where non is He wayted after no pompe ne reverence Ne maked him no spiced Conscience But Christes lore and his Apostles twelve He taught but first he followed it himselve And though the excellent Chaucer as appears by his writings met not with many of this Character yet the History of those Times represents the Religiousness of the Clergy especially the Regular and the peoples Reverence towards them to have been highly commendable And that the Clergy served God in continual prayer watching fasting and preaching the word of life despising the Commodities of the World as things that were none of their own being content with so much thereof as might serve their necessities living themselves according to what they taught others For which the people had them in a marvellous Reverence freely imparting to them of the chief of their Substance And in so doing conform'd to the primitive Rule and Practice of Christianity It was St. Pauls Exhortation to Timothy that he Should take heed to himself and to his Doctrin And the former advice seems to have been equally necessary and important with the latter For the loose and ill-govern'd life of a Divine doth usually more hurt than his preaching doth good there being nothing doth more effectually imprint the Lessons of Holiness and Vertue upon the people than the exemplary Conversation of their Teacher the later having ever had a greater force upon The Many than the Former And indeed it was the signal care of the Apostles To live as they preached that at first made Christian Religion so successful and prevailing in the World And none could reasonably doubt of the Truth of that Doctrin and necessity of those duties in whose conscientious belief and performance the Preachers thereof were such Fair Examples Remember what Christ said to your Holy Predecessors when he was training them up for the Ministry Ye are the Salt of the Earth but if the Salt hath lost its savour wherewith shall it be salted It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under Foot of men Mat. 5.13 The position of the Syriack Scholiast translated out of the Syriack Language by D. L. hath these words upon Levit. 4.3 If the Priest that is anointed c. In the Greek if the high Priest he who is anointed shall sin so as to make the people to sin i. e. they imitating him and offending in the same kind the whole Congregation shall offer an Oblation a young Bullock for his sin i. e. All the people when they offend offer the same Oblation only which the Priest did when he offended And therefore it is said that the transgression of him who standeth in an high place ought to be reputed as if it were the sin of all those who stand under him And if a Ruler shall sin his Oblation is less than that of the Priest or that of the Congregation all together nor was he sprinkled with blood seven times by reason of his Prerogative of Honor and though in some respects the Prince himself be less than the Priest and the people do far exceed him in Number yet he is greater than any one of the Congregation and therefore every one of them offending offereth a Female but he a Male-kid Levit. 4.22 23 24. The design of inserting this position will not need to incur the mark of Impertinency when it is considered to whom upon this occasion it is addressed And as that which I have now rudely suggested will prove one infallible method to secure your Esteem so it will likewise furnish you with courage in the discharge of your Function For nothing doth so much animate the reproof of anothers faults as a Nil conscire in the Reprover And seeing it is your unhappiness to live in an Age wherein Vice is arrived at that Assurance and Power that it may