as full of Plainess and Simplicity as the former was of Awful State and Gaudy Ceremony He ordained a new Order of Priests also who what they wanted in Outward Pomp were to make it up in the Inward Gifts of the Holy Spirit When the Church it self though it had no longer its Garments of wrought Gold yet became the more Glorious within And the Ministers of Jesus Christ instead of vieing with Earthly Princes in their Glory and Magnificence more nearly resembled their Blessed Jesus in his Exemplary Humility When Shadows shining and yet dark gave place to Substances more beautiful in their Naked Simplicity and Types and Figures though set off with all that was Gay and Glittering made room for the things themselves signified and the Ministers of the Gospel Covenant were more Divinely consecrated by that Vnction from the Holy one spoken of 1 John 2.20 than the High Priest of old upon whom and whom alone the anointing oil of the Lord was poured out Lev. 8.10 Thus they became a Kingdom of Priests as the most Antient Hebrew reads it Exod. 19 6. or Kings and Priests as St. John speaks Rev. 1.6 referring to the Targum on the forecited place or a Royal Priesthood as St. Peter conforms his words to the Septuagint Version of the same 1 Pet. 2.9 Though to do strict Justice to those Texts it must be confessed that they regard the whole Body of faithful Christians but yet they may in a more particular manner be applied to Christian Ministers without putting much force upon the words In fine God being now to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth those who attended his Publick Worship were to be Men of Spiritual Vnderstandings Col. 1.9 and to pay to God no longer a Typical Ceremonial but a Reasonable that is a Rational Service And thus we have traced the Institution and the Establishment of the Priesthood It is almost as old as the World as Universal as Mankind It has been the Honour of Princes the most Antient of whom by uniting the Sacerdotal and the Regal Power in their own Persons became truely Patriarchs and in the most flourishing Empire upon Earth the Title of Pontifex Maximus was thought an Additional Honour to that of Emperour To conclude this head and to speak it greatly it was an Office not Unworthy of Jesus our Incarnate God who to those other Offices of King and Prophet was pleased to annex this of Priest too A Priest for ever after the honour of Melchisedec Heb. 7.21 And all this leads me directly to my 2. Consideration Namely The extraordinary Honour of that Order which God imploys in so great a work as this of Salvation when God from the beginning designed the Salvation of Souls he resolved to Imploy the Priesthood in that Gracious Design and thereby he highly honoured those whom he so imployed And this Honour doth particularly appear 1. In the Subject Matter about which they are imployed And 2. In the Glorious End to which all their Work was designed 1. The great Honour of the Priestly Order appears in the Subject Matter about which they are Imployed And that is Humane Souls which certainly next to God himself are the most Noble Subjects Men can be Imployed about Thus the Ministry is said to watch for Souls Heb. 12.17 Humane Souls the breath of God himself his own Immortal Images the Seat of the Rational Life the Scene of Thought and Reflection It being highly Unphilosophical to suppose that Life and Thought could arise from meer Matter though ever so justly modified or ever so evenly put in motion Prov. 20.27 This Candle of the Lord lighted up in Man is the Exalted Subject about which the Priesthood is imployed A Subject nobler than what exerciseth the Heads and hands of all the Busie Guilty Great Ones of the World Greater than any that amuses the Cabals of Politicians or the Cabinets of Princes greater than all that ingages the Ambition of Fighting Monarchs or of Rival Kings whose most weighty Concerns are meer guilded Nothings if compared to the worth of one single Soul which we find to be set above the acquisition of the whole World Matth. 16.26 and which does indeed infinitely excell all that the World looks upon with respect or wonder For to take one of the Highest Instances what are Victorious Generals or Conquering Armies though set out in all their Martial Bravery and all the Glorious Terrours of successful War If compared to a Holy Man of God to a Guide of Souls kneeling and praying in the midst of a Devout Congregation whom he seems to have inspired with part of his own Devotion whilst performing those Holy Offices that belong to his Sacred Function he wrestles mightily with God and offers a Holy Violence to Heaven it self which suffers it self to be taken by that Zealous force This doubtless is a Spectacle incomparably more pleasing and agreeable in the Eyes of God of Angels and of good Men than all the Criminal Triumphs of Humane Conquerors though raised upon the Ruine and Devastation of Flourishing Provinces the Ashes and Rubbish of smoaking Cities and the Carcases of Thousands of Men all Sacrificed to that Devouring Moloch the Wild Ambition of one Restless Disturber of the Worlds Peace and his own Whereas these Soldiers of Jesus Christ for so his Ministers are called 2 Tim. 2 3. these Leaders of Gods People Isa 9.16 these Watchmen over his House Ezek. 33.7 Carry on the Mighty Work of Souls at no other Expence but that of Sin at the Ruine of no other strong holds but those of Satan and in short with the hazard of no other Blood but their own in times of Persecution Neither is the Work of Souls only thus comparatively great with respect to all besides that is accounted great upon Earth But it will appear still more great if we consider the Almighty Master-Workman under whom the Ministry is ingaged in it For it is Gods own Work and therefore they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fellow-Labourers with God 1 Cor. 3.9 and in sum it was the Work of Jesus Christ himself when humbled into Man who therefore owns them to be his Fellow-Work-Men all ingaged to carry on that great Design that he himself first began and Able Builders in that Fabrick of which he himself laid as well as was the Chief corner stone Thus the Work of Souls being the Work of Heaven the Work of God the Work of Christ to be admitted into ever so Inferiour a Coadjutorship of so Divine a Work must needs be one of the highest Honours of which a meer Creature can be capable But 2. This Honour of those whom God imploys in so gracious a Design will appear more conspicuous when we consider that great End to which all that Work of theirs is directed and that is to save those Souls about whom they are imployed And this gloriously differences their Work from all others though about the same Subject For though the
High Office do all shine at least with some borrowed Rayes of the Divinity And represent them as so many Gods to other Men. For whether we consider that Natural Capacity Ingenuity and Probity which ought to prepare the Soil for their Riper Vertues to grow in it being seldom seen that the best Education and greatest Erudition do ever sufficiently Correct and Cultivate those Depravations of Nature whereby some Persons have infamously distinguished themselves and after their Advancement to the Seat of Judicature have made their very Scarlet blush at the Extravagant and Outragious Deportment of those that wore it Or whether we consider the profound Knowledge and the vast Experience the Solid Judgment and the Wisdom like an Angel of God the Unwearied Industry and Uncorrupted Integrity the Generous Courage and the Invincible Patience the Heroick Justice and the Saint-like Mercy which are all required to the making up of one Accomplished Magistrate we must needs confess that there is much of God in the Great Man And if we examine wherein the Image of God in Man did at first consist we shall find that in a great part it appeared in the Moral perfections of his Nature in a near Resemblance of the Divine Wisdom Goodness Truth Purity Justice and Mercy and the like Moral Attributes which are the only imitable perfections in God he therefore that is most qualified with those Moral Excellencies has certainly most of God in him and the Divine Image is most beautifully revived in his Vertues So that Magistrates in the Just Wise Upright Discharge of their Duties are Gods best Representatives the Divine Wisddom shines through theirs and the Divine Justice Illustriously appears in all they do Thus by qualifying themselves with more Eminent Vertues than other Men they stand like so many Gods above them A Bold Hyperbole I confess was it not Licensed by the Holy Spirit it self But consideration 3 3. The Eminent Benefits that Good Magistrates Communicate to the rest of Mankind and their great usefulness in the World renders them as so many Gods in it Thus we know Idolatry arose whilst Men Deified their Publick Benefactors and those who had done any signal good to the rest of Mankind were rewarded with Temples and with Altars with Sacrifice and Adorations And thus God himself recommends himself to the Love of his Creatures by his Universal Goodness and Beneficence All his other Attributes may indeed ingage our Veneration and perhaps our Fear but it is only perfect Goodness that irresistibly Charms our Affection We may admire all that is Great but we love only what does us good The Nobler Nature may have a Right to our Wonder but it is only the more Useful that has a Right to our Kindness And therefore though the Civil Magistrates by their Mighty Power may strike an Awe into other Men though by their Excellent Accomplishments they may command their respects yet it is only their Mighty Usefulness that recommends them to their Love They are the Blessings which such Communicate to the World that make them dear as Publick Benefactors and beloved as Gods in it Thus whilst they secure every Mans Property and Protect every Mans Life whilst they are the Keepers of Gods Peace upon Earth and the Dispensers of his Common Justice amongst Men whilst they impartially determine all Disputes between Man and Man whilst they are Terrors unto evil doers and the Encouragers of those that do good And in fine whilst they are the Ministers of God for good to the World Rom. 13.4 In all this they much resemble the Divine Justice that gives to every one its due and the Divine Providence that upholds Peace and Order Right and Equity in the World And may well therefore be looked upon as so many Gods in it Since there would be no living in this World without them but it would soon turn into a meer Wilderness and Man himself run Wild and Savage in it And all the Foundations of the Earth be quickly out of course as our Authour expresses it when he charges those Mighty with their Male-Administration ver 5. But now in the midst of our Disorders the Presence of an Upright Magistrate is as the Appearance of a God his Awful Brow strikes the Guilty dumb his Well-known Justice raises up the Head of Oppressed Innocence and his Solemn Sentence like the Almighty Fiat turns Confusion into Peace and Harmony Thus whilst they become the Publick Ben factors of Mankind the Noble Pillars upon which all Humane Societies do rest the Glorious as well as Useful Preservers of Peace and Justice in the World they are indeed the fairest Images of God in it And so they may be called consideration 4 4. By reason of the Eminent Honours due to the Just Discharge of their High Office Render says that Apostle Honour to whom Honour is due Rom. 13.7 And it is of the Civil Magistrate that he is there speaking for to those he thought the greatest Honours due and therefore to those he commands them most especially to be rendered And there is all the Justice in the World in it that they who are clothed with so much of God's own Power should shine also with some part of his Glory that they who do so much of God's own Work should be dignified with some small Share of his Honour too Thus when Kings communicate part of their Sovereign Power to their Vice-Roys they communicate part of their Royal State to them also And therefore much of that outward Pomp and Ceremony which has been thought necessary to support the Majesty of Crowned Heads hath been proportionably allowed to Judges and Inferiour Magistrates Thence come their Maces their Sword-Bearers and their Robes of State the Bench and Bar set forth with so much Venerable Solemnity All to Command a Reverence to the Magistrates Persons and to render the great work of Justice as Glorious as it is useful And yet all this is but mean Pageantry if compared to the inward Veneration that every Wise and Good Man payes to those Living Images of the Divine Justice to those great Representatives of God governing the World for with what profound respect do we behold such a Person for whom a whole Nation fares the better And how do our very hearts bow before that Superiour Vertue to whose well imployed Authority we owe the quiet of our Possessions and the security of our Lives And whose Names do more Illustriously fill up the Records of History than those of Just and Good Princes of those Patres Patria who have made their Peoples happiness the Business and Glory of their Reigns and than those of Uncorrupt and Upright Judges Their Persons are at present regarded with the highest Honour and when they die their Memories shall be Embalmed in the precious Oyntment of that good Name which they secured by repeated Acts of Vertue in their Lives And for all these Reasons the Scripture does justly dignifie them with this Sacred Title in
the humblest of your Attendants give me leave to follow this dayes Solemnity with these honest Wishes That you Mighty and Princes that you who like Gods determine of other Mens Lives and Fortunes would consult both your Dignity and your Duty and consider that you are Gods Ministers as well as the Kings that you act by a Divine Commission as well as a Civil and that you are as much accountable to Heaven as to the State My Wishes therefore are that you may be as Zealous for Gods Interest as for their Majesties and do our Holy Religion as much Service as you do the Nation That Atheisme Debauchery and Prophaneness may be as severely animadverted upon by you as Dishonesty Injustice or Oppression And in sum that you would at least use an equal care to see the Laws of God executed against all Irreligion Vice and Immorality which are the Scandal and Bane of pure and undefiled Religion as to see the Laws of the Land executed against those other sins that are destructive of Humane Society That so we may be a Nation throughly reformed in our Lives and Manners as well as in our Faith and Publick Worship and that we may be delivered not only from other Mens Violence but from our own Reigning Vices the Blacker Slavery of the two And as I wish you thus concerned for the Practical part of our Religion so for the Political part also that the Established Church of England may be happy in your Incouragement and Protection Consider O ye Mighty that you are not only Christians at large but also Baptized into the particular Communion of the Church of England shew therefore your Affection to that Venerable Mother which so early received you into her bosome and take some care I beseech you that the more she indulges the worse she be not used and that the Charitable Liberty she has yielded to others may not embolden them to appear the more Virulent Enemies against her Lastly Let me beg that our Neighbours of the Countrey Magistracy would admit my good Wishes also Gentlemen though yours is not the Highest Station yet perhaps it is that upon which the motion of the greater Wheels does more depend than is usually considered For Kings and Parliaments may make as good Laws as they can and Judges may give as Severe Charges as they please yet if you are either remiss or partial in the discharge of your Trusts the course of Justice must needs be extreamly obstructed You are placed like the Dii Minores like Lesser Gods in your Countrey by your Diligence Justice and good Examples to carry on the orderly Work of Providence here below But if you cool in your Offices and for any private Respects of your own suffer our Laws to lye unexecuted You fail in the Duty you owe to your God and your King to your Countrey and your Character to your Honours and your Consciences and the guilt of disappointed Justice must needs lie heavy upon your heads And you will be so far from hearing any part of that God-like resemblance in the Text that you will rather prove meer Wooden Images of the Divine Justice and all the respect that is paid you will be but so much State-Idolatry Rouse up therefore the Old English Publick Spirit And be warmed with a Generous Ambition of making good the High Character in the Text. And as you stand like so many Gods above other Men so be useful as Gods Active Upright and Impartial as Gods in your several Stations And as Our King when he rose up like Moses to be the Deliverer of God's Church and People from an Aegyptian Bondage Exod. 7.1 like Moses he became as a God both to our Pharoahs and to our Aarons Exod. 4.16 that is the Scourge of Heaven upon our Persecutors and the Relief of Heaven to our Holy Ones and as he like Moses still heads the Body of Distressed Christendom Travelling through a Wilderness to a Land of Peace Whilst he as the Soul of that vast Body Animates and gives it both Life and Motion Life by that High Courage that hath so much of the Hero in it and Motion by that deep Wisdom that hath so much of the God in it May you all be provoked by so great so glorious an Example And become as Active and as Zealous to advance Religion True Christian Vertue and Peace at Home as he is to procure and extend them abroad May you all be concerned to Conquer and Exterminate Vice Prophaneness and Debauchery in your Countrey Tyrants more dangerous and more destructive to its Success and Happiness than either France or Rome can ever prove without their fatal Assistance That as our Monarchs may in the Language of the Text be called Gods to you Ye may be also Gods to us the Nations good Genii each of you one of Gods lower Vice-Royes in your respective Posts That so the State may be faithfully served Their Majesties Loyally Obeyed Our English Laws impartially Executed Our Holy English Church Defended and Encouraged that God may be glorified in you and you in him that you your selves may share in that Honour which you procure for him and that he may graciously reflect part of the Glory back upon your own heads which he shall receive upon your Account Do thus and as the great Reformer Jehosophat said to his Ministers of State Deal Couragiously and the Lord be with the Good And now Grant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so peaceably Ordered by thy Governance that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all Godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom c. FINIS A SERMON Preached at NORTHAMPTON AT A VISITATION October the 10th 1694. By JOHN MANSELL Rector of Furthoe in the County of Northampton LONDON Printed by J. Richardson for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil MDCXCV To The Reverend THOMAS WOOLSY D.D. ARCH-DEACON OF NORTHAMPTON SIR GIVE me leave to repeat the first Answer I returned to that Obliging Complement wherewith you softned the Command laid upon me to make this Sermon Publick which was that hitherto it was mine and I alone was accountable for all its Imperfections but if it came forth under the Authority of your Name it would become yours and you would be ingaged in its Protection Be pleased therefore Sir to receive what is yours into your Patronage And I hope the World will do me the Justice to allow that howsoever I may have failed in any other part of my performance yet I have given a very bold proof of my Obedience But Sir That discreetly managed Zeal which you express for true Practical Piety together with that great Temperâ— and exceeding Sweetness of Nature which appears in the severest Exercise of your Authority as they have in general procured you the Affections of your whole Clergy so they have particularly ingaged me to pay this Testimony
Philosopher busies his Speculations about this greatest of Created Subjects yet it is only to inquire into its Nature and Operations but not to advance it to the highest possible degree of Perfection and Happyness Nay the Devil himself is busie about Souls too but it is only how he may destroy them So that it is the Honour of the Ministerial Function alone to be imloyed in the saving of Souls And therefore St. Paul speaks of his saving his Countreymen Rom. 11.14 and of his becoming all things to all men that so he might by all means save some 1 Cor. 9.22 Laâ—…n Ministeâ—…em causam Vorst Briefly these are the Instrumental the Ministerial Saviours Prophesied of Obad. 21. verse Saviours therefore they may modestly be called though of a much Inferiour Rank Proper Instruments in our only Proper Saviours hands And so great hath this Honour of saving though but of Bodies been accounted that the Emperor deserved the Sirname of Pius who said he had rather save one Citizen then destroy an hundred Enemies And the Generous Romans used to decree particular Coronets to such as had saved a Citizen And indeed of all whose Names are Inrolled in the Records of Fame we find two sorts of Men especially Celebrated One who by Conquering Nations gave beginnings unto Mighty Kingdoms extending their Dominions as wide as their Ambition And the other who by the wonders of their Vertue Succoured the Distressed Protected oppressed Innocence Deposed Tyrants and Exterminated Monsters The business of the one was Destroying others to make themselves great the business of the other was to Expose themselves for the Benesit of others And whereas the first had the honour to be styled Monarchs and the Founders of Empires the latter were Intitled Hero's and Canonized among their Demy-Gods So well did wise Antiquity distinguish between the Destroying and the Saving Work But yet what is all the Honour of such as Save only Bodies and Succour Distressed States If compared to those Champions of Religion these Hero's of our Holy Faith who themselves make it their great business as God hath made it their Indispensable Duty to labour for the Saving of Souls Which Saving of Souls is set forth in Holy Scripture by very Lofty Expressions He that converteth a Sinner from the Errour of his ways shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins James 5.20 He that winneth Souls is wise Prov. 11.30 Those that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 So Superlatively great will be the Honour of all such as faithfully Labour in the Lords Vineyard at present they appear like so many Subordinate Saviours in this Lower World and hereafter they shall shine like so many Stars in the Everlasting Firmament My 3. Observable was The Reward which God has proposed to the faithful discharge of this Great Work When God designed to Imploy the Priesthood about the Salvation of Souls he designed that it should be as much to their own Advantage as to other Mens and therefore he pronounced that by doing this by taking heed to their great Work they should both save themselves and those that heard them Where you see the Reward is not only as great as the Work but of the same Nature too Salvation is their Work and Salvation shall be their Wages Which Salvation if it be so very considerable in the Work how much more considerable is it like to prove in the Enjoyment And this Promised Reward is two-fold in the Text. 1. They shall save themselves 2. Those that hear them 1. By doing this they shall save themselves A short Expression but full of mighty Sence Save themselves And what could more be added for their Encouragement For what above Heaven can be proposed to the most Holy Industry And this Encouragement must needs carry a much greater force with these than with other Men for their Studies and Imployments ought to make them the most proper Judges how great a Blessing Salvation is like to prove Since this hath been the business of their Lives for this they Read for this they Meditate for this they Watch and Pray and weary out themselves to make some though Imperfect Discoveries of Heaven before hand to measure as much as it is possible of that Infinity to sound as far as it is possible into that Abyss of Glory to comprehend before-hand as much as it is possible of those Joyes which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither hath it yet entred into the heart of man to conceive what they shall be only this they are assured of that whatsoever they are like to be they will be theirs in Excess For we may rationally suppose that the future happiness of good Pastors will exceed that of most other Men Not only because they have been nearer to God in their Sacred Imployments and done him more Valuable Service But also as they are fitted and prepared for the reception of greater Bliss For as God hath all along suited his Commands to the present Capacities of his Creatures so doubtlesly he will at last suit his Future Beatitudes to the Capacities of the Receivers also Those therefore who by a long course of Heavenly Exercises and by a continued Ingagement in Holy Offices have dilated and extended the Capacities of their Souls are likely at last to obtain those higher degrees of Glory that are fully suited to their enlarged Faculties for though it is certain that all the Vessels of Mercy shall be equally filled with Glory yet I look upon it as certain that all those Vessels shall not be of equal size and it is plain that a more capacious Vessel when filled will receive more than a lesser Vessel though equally full Faithful Pastors therefore as having most exercised and consequently most inlarged their Graces will be capable of greater degrees of happiness since they not only abound in all the Graces of other Christians but in the additional Graces peculiar to their own Holy Function And so come with a double capacity to receive those Rewards which God without doubt will then proportion to the Capacities of the Receivers So that if there be degrees of Glory hereafter then certainly the highest Stalls of Honour shall be secured to those who have faithfully laboured in the Word and Doctrine And so Salvation will be more to them than to other Men. When from attending upon the Altars of God they shall be advanced to those Seats that surround his Throne from putting up Prayers and Supplications the chief Work of the Ministry here they shall be there preferred to the present Work of Angels perpetual Praises and Hallelujahs there to enjoy the Eternal Sabboths of their Rest to be made Kings and Priests for ever in the New Jerusalem and to wear those Crowns upon their own glorified Heads which they have so zealously recommended to the pursuit of others But 2. As they shall thus save themselves so they