THE AUTHORITY OF Church-Guides Asserted in a SERMON Preach'd before our Late GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN King CHARLES II. At Whitehall Octob. 17. 1675. By Miles Barne D. D. Fellow of St. Peters Colledge in Cambridge and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Late MAJESTY Published by His Majesty's Special Command The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Richard Green Bookseller in Cambridge 1685. The Preface to the Reader Reader THIS Sermon being the last which I had the Honor to preach before our late Gracious Sovereign of blessed and immortal Memory and having been so well approv'd of by Him that I receiv'd his Commands twice for the printing of it and his Defence of it after it was published I now again present to publick View yet not without some apprehension of danger for if notwithstanding the Royal Command and Defence of that Sagacious Prince I could not at that time escape the severe strokes of some Potent Men who from the very moment it was first preach'd by secret Arts endeavour'd my ruine and became my Enemies for no other reason but because I told them the truth I have little reason to expect better usage now being to my unspeakable grief destitute of that Royal Patronage The Design of it is to vindicate that church-Church-Authority which our Lord before he went into his far Country in a most solemn manner conferr'd upon his Apostles and which was to descend upon their Successors and to be continued in the Governors and Guides of the Church unto the end of the World to lessen if not render useless this Sacred Authority especially that part of it which consists in expounding the Scriptures in teaching and guiding the Flock some modern Divine for reasons best known to themselves have advanc'd the Perspicuity of Scripture to that degree that not only the less difficult part thereof but even the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 themselves are become easie and intelligible to every Mechanick Reader And it may seem strange that this pretended Clearness of Scripture unknown to those Illustrious Fathers who writ in the first and succeeding Ages of Christianity who with indefatigable Labour painful Watchings and incessant Recourse to the Spirit of Truth endeavoured to explain the deep Mysteries thereof should never be discovered until these last Centuries and then made use of to usher in and support those pestilent Schisms which happened in the Western Churches and is indeed set as a fatal Bar to frustrate all the Methods of Re-union and yet stranger that these Discoverers should be so wilfully blind as not to discern that nothing is more clearly reveal'd or more expresly set down in Holy Writ than the Authority here contended for if the infallible and concurrent Testimony of the Evangelists may be thought of any moment in the case God forbid the Bread of Life should be denied to the Children of the Gospel Covenant but whether the great Master of the Houshold has not appointed Spiritual Fathers to be the Stewards and Dispensers of this Heavenly Food or left the Children to be their own Carvers ought to have been more maturely consider'd for this Bread of Life which is the Word of God is by St. Paul compar'd to a two-edged Sword and if that be put into the hands of unskilful Managers it may prove both fatal to themselves and destructive to others I shall not here trouble you with a review of those Complaints occasioned by the dire Heresies which soon followed upon the first Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue since the Divine Writings cannot be translated into too many Languages and since after the Translation the Supreme Authority might have hindred the mischiefs which insued by restraining the promiscuous reading of them and indulging that Priviledge to those only who should be licens'd thereunto by the Governours of the Church But certainly those men had no very good Design nor a due Honour for the Divine Oracles who first expos'd their mysterious meaning to the Judgment of every vulgar Capacity and yet I would willingly entertain so much Charity for them as to believe the first Inventors did not foresee the dangerous Consequences of their own Principle for from hence it naturally follows in the First place That there is no necessity of Church-Guides for directing Christians in necessary Faith Secondly From hence follows a contempt of their Function at least as to this part of it for who will regard that Authority which is made useless Thirdly An Innundation of all those wild Opinions which either Malice or Ignorance can betray men into Fourthly The multiplying of Sects and Heresies without any due Means left for the suppressing them since every sincere Endeavourer may equally plead the Truth of Scripture in justification of his Opinion This one Principle has turned our Jerusalem which was once a City at Vnity within it self into a Babel not of Languages but what is worse a Confusion of the grossest Errors which ever infested the Church since the Foundation of Christianity and since Latitudinism in Principles is evermore accompanied with Libertinism in Practice Schism in the Church begets Sedition in the Monarchy and an Erastian in the one proves a Republican in the other To this one Principle may be chiefly ascrib'd all the Fatal mischiefs of the late unnatural Wars and the dreadful Confusions intended by the last Fanatick Conspiracy which we so narrowly escap'd that we can scarce yet think our selves secure from the danger of it for since the Translation of the Bible into our Language and the promiscuous Reading of it what Schismatick ever wanted a Text of his own interpreting to countenance his Schism or Rebel to authorize his Rebellion The Peace and Vnity of the Catholick Church ought to be dearer to every good Christian than the greatest temporal Blessings or even Life it self How far this has been obstructed by the envenom'd Writings and Erastian Principles of some modern Controvertists I wish we had not too just cause to lament and that in their Transports of indiscreet Zeal and even inhuman◠Passions they had not wounded the Catholick through the sides of the Roman Church for not contented t◠throw off an Vniversal Supremacy unduly challenged by St. Peter's Successors as the Prerogative of the first Apostolical See they have denied that Primacy of Order that Exordium Unitatis which is both consistent with St. Cyprian's Hoc erant utique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis c. allow'd by the most genuine Sons of the Church of England and which is necessary for the supporting the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and without which that Vnity of the Church which the Holy Father so earnestly contends for cannot so well be preserv'd not contented with this Degradation of his Holiness they have proceeded further and made him the Antichrist the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition notwithstanding all the Phaenomena of the Apocalyptical false Prophet do so exactly agree to Mahomet as the ingenious
that we have to deal with men of such a sceptical Genius as that they do not only inquire into the Grounds and Reasons of our Faith but moreover deny our very Creed with whom a Treatise of Humane Reason is of more Force than the Revelation of St. John the Divine To the Consideration of these Men I offer Two Things which I judge most proper I. First The Answer which Origen made to Celsus when 't was objected by that Calumniator against the Christians that their Religion was built on a very sandy Foundation which durst not undergo the Test of Reason but commanded its Converts not to Examine but Believe and their Faith should Save them In part he owns the Objection but wisely retorts it upon his Adversary by telling him that the Philosophers were the greatest Dictators in the World Witness the Ipse dixit of Pythagoras that their Systems contain'd some such secret Dogmata which their Disciples swallowed solely upon the Credit of their Masters And if the Masters of the Wisdom of this World which is either Foolishness or at best but Science falsly so called required so great submission from their Scholars how much greater is to be given to those Doctrines which are contain'd in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles who were Taught of God and spake as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost II. Secondly I urge the Authority of my Lord Bacon whose if any methinks should be admitted by these Virtuosi in Religion The Divine Prerogative saith he extends it self to the whole Man and requires not only Obedience from our Wills but Submission from our Understandings And therefore as we are bound to obey the Divine Law though our Wills reluct never so much against it so are we obliged to believe whatsoever God hath reveal'd though never so improbable to our Understandings For if we believe no more than what we can demonstrate to be true we do not believe the Truth deliver'd for the Authors sake but the Author for the Truths sake and so we pay no more Respect to the Oracles of God than we do to the Writings of Men though never so much suspected by us The Faith which justified Abraham was conversant in a matter incredible to Reason And therefore the higher the Mysteries of Religion are above our Reason the greater is the exercise and triumph of our Faith and the Honour done unto God in Believing To conclude this Point Great is the use of Reason in Religion both as to the manner of interpreting the Scriptures and the deducing true Consequences and wholesom Conclusions from thence and if it be wholly suppress'd our Religion will degenerate into Superstition we shall be so far from paying God a Reasonable Service that we shall offer Him the Sacrifice of Fools But then it must be kept to a due temper for if it be not managed by prudent Guides 't is apt to grow wild and extravagant to hurry us on to a Belief of the Foulest Impostures to a Practice of the Grossest Impieties which either the prevalency of the World the domineering Enmity of the Flesh or the implacable Malice of Satan can propound to be believed or practis'd II. The second Reason of private Mens falling into Error is their Instability in not adhering to their Guides but forsaking them to go astray in the intricate paths of Error and Deceit Heresie being nothing else but an Excision from and Disobedience to the Church in points of Faith And therefore the Apostle pronounceth an Heretick Self-condemned one who hath want only chosen to himself those Opinions for an obstinate Defence whereof after full and plain means of Conviction he justly falls under the Censures of the Church is Excommunicated the Assembly of the Saints and so without Repentance and Reconciliation continues in a very dangerous estate if that of Heathens and Publicans be acknowledg'd such Not in vain then are those frequent Cautions against Falling away those repeated Admonitions to Perseverance those earnest Exhortations to hold fast the Profession and contend for the Faith which was once deliver'd those so much inculcated Commands of obeying those who are set Over us in the Lord Heb. 13.7 Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow Ver. 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls For in vain may those men commit themselves to the immediate Assistance of God who neglect to hear his Guides and violate His Commandments in hopes to procure His help and favour For from that very moment of time they cease to be Members of the Holy Catholick Church they are become Out-lawries in a Gospel-sense they have lost the Protection of the Heavenly King and they lay under the Deprivation of the Benefits belonging to the Subjects of that Jerusalem which is above And what wonder if being in this forlorn condition the Tempter take his advantage lead them into the Wilderness and there present to their disturb'd Fancies false Schemes of Religion suggest unworthy apprehensions of God and whatsoever is by him thus suggested is by them mistaken for new Light and holy Inspirations And because this Spirit of Delusion dares put forth among Christians no Doctrines but such as pretend to be founded on the Scriptures to this purpose they are wrested and tortur'd their Scope is mistaken their Sense abused their Periods miserably mangled their whole Design perverted to countenance every Wild Opinion which either a capricious Fancy can imagine or a malicious Wit invent And from hence it comes to pass that we have as many several sorts of Christians as there are different Humors or Interests of men and the Gospel with St. Paul though in a quite contrary sense is become all things unto all men And having made thus bold with the Scriptures it cannot be expected that they should deal more modestly with any Authority inferiour to that the most ancient Traditions must now give place to new Discoveries The Consent of the Catholick Apostolick Church be born down by the Dictates of a private I might say familiar Spirit Whereas there is all the reason in the World to believe that the Apostles best knew the mind of their Master that they faithfully and fully communicated their knowledge to their Successors and so by certain steps and degrees we may arrive at this fundamental Truth That as the Church is the most faithful Keeper so the most authentick Expositor of Scripture Which fairly ushers in my third and last Consideration That for the preventing Mistakes from rising and suppressing Errors when risen 'T is the duty of Private Men to submit their Judgments in matters of Religion to the Determinations of those whom God hath Constituted to be their Spiritual Guides and Governours unless it manifestly appear That such Determinations are contrary to Gods Word And this I shall assert very briefly both from the Qualifications of the Persons who
is so far from lessening the Authority that it rather conciliates reverence to the Judge The Profession of Physick doth not therefore become useless because the Aphorisms of Hippocrates contain the necessary Rules for Health and may be understood by those who are capacitated and will take the pains to do it The Scriptures they do clearly contain the Doctrines of Salvation And one way whereby Christ prov'd himself the true Messias was by answering that Character the Prophets had given of Him that the Poor should have the Gospel Preached unto them i. e. Men as of small Capacities and less Estates so of humble and teachable Dispositions men who are Poor in Spirit as well as in Fortune And the perfection of the Christian Law consists in this that therein God hath prescribed a reasonable service The Rules of Life which are therein laid down are not so much the product of absolute Power and Soveraignty as the Result of infinite Mercy and Goodness And these His Attributes led Him to consult the wants and commiserate the Necessities of the meanest of Mankind And therefore as when He took upon Him to deliver Man He did not abhor the Virgins Womb and that He might become a Sacrifice for Sin was content to be disarray'd of His own Eternal Glory to take upon Him the Form of a Servant and to humble Himself to the Death the shameful Death of the Cross so likewise when He took upon Him the Office of a Teacher by a wonderful Condescent He accommodated His Doctrines to the Reason and humane Affections of His Auditors His Laws obtain'd as much by their suitableness to our Natures as the Authority of the Speaker When He preach'd His Divine Sermon to the Multitude He did not amuse them with Mystical Theology or torture their Understandings with profound Subtilties but as He was the Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of His Person so He declar'd the Law of God in a most Plain and Perspicuous manner Mahomet indeed that grand Impostor was well Advis'd to pen his Alcoran in swelling Words and mystical Phrases and as in some things to Restrain so in others to Indulge the sensual Appetite For by this Stratagem that sottish People with whom he had to do were content to part with their natural Right to gain an Unlawful Freedom and to Admire what they were never like to Understand But our new and perfect Law-giver Christ Jesus having no other design but the Salvation of Souls and being every way Adorn'd for so noble a Purpose though He made the Gate Narrow and the Path Strait yet He hath promised it shall be Open'd to all that Knock and none unless Wilfully need mistake the Way which leads to Eternal Life But then because He knew there was no Rule so plain but it might be Mistaken no Precept so clear but it might be Perverted no Doctrine so pure but it might be Corrupted Because He foresaw there would arise false Prophets and false Teachers whose business it would be to Seduce the Ignorant and Debauch the Credulous Because He foresaw a perpetual Succession of Gnosticks who in all Ages would set up the Dagon of their own lascivious Fancies in opposition to the Ark of His Covenant and be so audacious as even to confront Divine Revelations with carnal Reasoning therefore to obviate and prevent the mischiefs of such grievous Wolves before He took His Journey into his far Country out of a tender care of that Flock which He had purchas'd with his Blood He appointed Overseers and Pastors of his Flock committed to them and them only the care of Feeding his Flock amplified their Commission with the like Authority which he had receiv'd from his Father promis'd to be with them unto the End of the World and to assist them with that Spirit which should guide them into all Truth If then the Scriptures be so clear as to be understood even by the Multitude then much more by the Disciples in general If by the Disciples in general much more by the College of the Apostles who were His special Favourites and of his Cabinet-counsel If the Nations to whom these Ministers in Chief and Plenipotentiaries for Christ made known the Will of God were throughly instructed for the Kingdom of Heaven then much more both they and their Successors upon whom they in obedience to their Masters Command conferr'd the same Pastoral power which they had receiv'd from Him The Clearness then of Scripture cannot reasonably be urg'd in Prejudice of Christ's Ministers for whatsoever is from hence alledg'd in favour of the People the advantage will be still greater on their side Thus hath God promis'd the Assistance of his Spirit to all private men who sincerely endeavour to find out the Truth then much less will He be wanting to the Governours of his Church to whom He hath committed the care of the Souls of those private men and given power even to confer the Holy Ghost Are the Scriptures clear to them much more to those whom the Son of God hath signaliz'd and set apart for the Lights of the World Two Things are usually brought to hinder this Procedure Either that those Promises of Assistance were made only to the Apostles or else that they depend on the conditioned Righteousness of Men. Where by the way it may be Observ'd that by the First of these the Claim of the People is utterly cut off and by the Second they have as small Advantage But they who argue this might do well to consider that this Objection may strike at the very Foundation of the Faith For if those promises of Assistance which Christ made to his Church be Hypothetical if they depend on the Performance of Men then may the Foundation totter the Gates of Hell prevail Christianity decay and the Gospel it self be lost out of the World before the End thereof notwithstanding all Christ's fair promises to the contrary If they had been confin'd only to the Apostles the Christian Religion had not long surviv'd its Author every Martyrdom of an Apostle had pull'd down a Pillar of the Church and by consequence the whole Fabrick must have fallen to the ground in the very first Century of our Lord. Happy indeed had it been for Christendom that the Imperiousness of some Modern Bishops of Rome had not brought an Odium though unjustly upon Episcopacy in general that their too much Lording it over the Flock had not given Advantage to the Enemies of Church-Authority and their challenging to themselves at least an indirect Power in Temporals had not alarm'd the Kings of the Earth to stand up and take Counsel how they might destroy so dangerous an Vsurpation of the pretended Vicegerent of the Lords Anointed Happy had it been if for the Support of their Secular Greatness they had not wrested the Scriptures to countenance such Doctrines as have no clear and solid Foundation therein and that under pretence of making the Church all Glorious