Apostolical as it was an office extraordinary circumstantionate definite and to expire all that was promised should descend upon them after Christs ascension and was verified in Pentecost for to that purpose to bring all things to their mind all of Christs Doctrine and all that was necessary of his life and miracles and a power from above to enable them to speak boldly and learnedly and with tongues all that besides the other parts of ordinary power was given them ten days after the Ascension And therefore the breathing the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in the octaves of the Resurrection and this mission with such a power was their ordinary mission a sending them as ordinary Pastors and Curates of Souls with a power to govern binding and loosing can mean no less and they were the words of the promise with a power to minister reconciliation for so Saint Paul expounds remitting and retaining which two were the great hinges of the Gospel the one to invite and collect a Church the other to govern it the one to dispense the greatest blessing in the world the other to keep them in capacities of enjoying it For since the holy Ghost was now actually given to these purposes here expressed and yet in order to all their extraordinaries and temporary needs was promised to descend after this there is no collection from hence more reasonable than to conclude all this to be part of their commission of ordinary Apostleship to which the ministers of religion were in all Ages to succeed In attestation of all which who please may see the united testimony of S. Cyril S. Chrysostome S. Ambrose S. Gregory and the Author of the questions of the old and new Testament who unless by their calling shall rather be called persons interess'd than by reason of their famous piety and integrity shall be accepted as competent are a very credible and fair representment of this truth and that it was a doctrine of Christianity that Christ gave this power to the Apostles for themselves and their successors for ever and that therefore as Christ in the first donation so also some Churches in the tradition of that power used the same form of words intending the collation of the same power and separating persons for that work of that ministery I end this with the counsel S. Augustine gives to all publick penitents Veniat ad Antistites per quos illis in Ecclesia claves ministrantur à praepositis sacrorum accipiant satisfactionis suae modum let them come to the Presidents of Religion by whom the Keys are ministred and from the Governours of holy things let them receive those injunctions which shall exercise and signifie their repentance SECT III. THe second power I instance in is preaching the Gospel for which work he not only at first designed Apostles but others also were appointed for the same work for ever to all generations of the Church This Commission was signed immediately before Christ's Ascension All power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world First Christ declared his own commission all power is given him into his hand he was now made King of all the Creatures and Prince of the Catholick Church and therefore as it concerned his care and providence to look to his cure and flock so he had power to make deputations accordingly Go ye therefore implying that the sending them to this purpose was an issue of his power either because the authorizing certain persons was an act of power or else because the making them Doctors of the Church and teachers of the Nations was a placing them in an eminency above their scholars and converts and so also was an emanation of that power which derived upon Christ from his Father from him descended upon the Apostles And the wiser persons of the world have always understood that a power of teaching was a Presidency and Authority for since all dominion is naturally founded in the understanding although civil government accidentally and by inevitable publick necessity relies upon other titles yet where the greatest understanding and power of teaching is there is a natural preheminence and superiority eatenus that is according to the proportion of the excellency and therefore in the instance of S. Paul we are taught the style of the Court and Disciples sit at the feet of their Masters as he did at the feet of his Tutor Gamaliel which implies duty submission and subordination and indeed it is the highest of any kind not only because it is founded upon nature but because it is a submission of the most imperious faculty we have even of that faculty which when we are removed from our Tutors is submitted to none but God for no man hath power over the understanding faculty and therefore so long as we are under Tutors and Instructors we give to them that duty in the succession of which claim none can succeed but God himself because none else can satisfie the understanding but he Now then because the Apostles were created Doctors of all the world hoc ipso they had power given them over the understandings of their disciples and they were therefore fitted with an infallible spirit and grew to be so authentick that their determination was the last address of all inquiries in questions of Christianity and although they were not absolute Lords of their faith and understandings as their Lord was yet they had under God a supreme care and presidency to order to guide to instruct and to satisfie their understandings and those whom they sent out upon the same errand according to the proportion and excellency of their spirit had also a degree of superiority and eminency and therefore they who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labourers in the word and doctrine were also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presbyters that were Presidents and Rulers of the Church and this eminency is for ever to be retained according as the unskilfulness of the Disciple retains him in the form of Catechumens or as the excellency of the instructor still keeps the distance or else as the office of teaching being orderly and regularly assigned makes a legal political and positive authority to which all those persons are for orders sake to submit who possibly in respect of their personal abilities might be exempt from that authority Upon this ground it is that learning amongst wise persons is esteemed a title of nobility and secular eminency Ego enim quid aliud munificentiae adhibere potui ut studia ut sic dixerim in umbra educata è quibus claritudo venit said Seneca to Nero. And Aristotle and A. Gellius affirm that not only excellency of extraction or great fortunes but learning also makes noble circum undique sedentibus multis doctrinâ aut genere
aut fortunâ nobilibus viris and therefore the Lawyers say that if a legacy be given pauperi nobili the executors if they please may give it to a Doctor I only make this use of it that they who are by publick designation appointed to teach are also appointed in some sence to govern them and if learning it self be a fair title to secular opinion and advantages of honour then they who are professors of learning and appointed to be publick teachers are also set above their disciples as far as the Chair is above the Area or floor that is in that very relation of teachers and scholars and therefore among the Heathen the Priests who were to answer de mysteriis sometimes bore a scepter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon which verse of Homer Eustathius observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The scepter was not only an ensign of a King but of a Judge and of a Prophet it signified a power of answering in judgment and wise sentences This discourse was occasioned by our blessed Saviour's illative All power is given me go ye therefore and teach and it concludes that the authority of Preaching is more than the faculty that it includes power and presidency that therefore a separation of persons is ex abundanti inferred unless order and authority be also casual and that all men also may be Governours as well as Preachers Now that here was a plain separation of some persons for this ministery I shall not need to prove by any other argument besides the words of the Commission save only that this may be added that here was more necessary than a commission great abilities special assistances extraordinary and divine knowledge and understanding the mysteries of the kingdom so that these abilities were separations enough of the persons and designation of the officers But this may possibly become the difficulty of the question For when the Apostles had filled the world with the Sermons of the Gospel and that the holy Ghost descended in a plentiful manner then was the prophesie of Ioel fulfilled old men dreamed dreams and young men saw visions and sons and daughters did prophesie Now the case was altered and the disciples themselves start up Doctors and women prayed and prophesied and Priscilla sate in the Chair with her husband Aquila and Apollos sate at their feet and now all was common again and therefore although the commission went out first to the Apostles yet when by miracle God dispensed great gifts to the Laity and to women he gave probation that he intended that all should prophesie and preach lest those gifts should be to no purpose This must be considered 1. These gifts were miraculous verifications of the great Promise of the Father of sending the holy Ghost and that all persons were capable of that blessing in their several proportions and that Christianity did descend from God were ex abundanti proved by those extraregular dispensations so that here is purpose enough signified although they be not used to infer an indistinction of Officers in this ministery 2. These gifts were given extra-regularly but yet with some difference of persons for all did not prophesie nor all interpret nor all speak with tongues they were but a few that did all this we find but the daughters of one man only and Priscilla among all the nations of the Jews that ever did prophesie of the women and of Lay-men I remember not one but Aquila and Agabus and these will be but too straight an argument to blend a whole Order of men in a popular and vulgar indiscrimination 3. These extraordinary gifts were no authority to those who had them and no other commission to speak in publick And therefore S. Paul forbids the women to speak in the Church and yet it was not denied but some of them might have the spirit of prophesie Speaking in the Church was part of an ordinary power to which not only ability but authority also and commission are required That was clearly one separation women were not capable of a clerical imployment no not so much as of this ministery of preaching And by this we may take speedier account concerning Deaconesses in the Primitive Church de Diaconissâ ego Bartholomaeus dispono O Episcope impones ei manus praesentibus Presbyteris Diaconis Diaconissis dices Respice super hanc famulam tuam so it is in the constitutions Apostolical under the name of S. Clement By which it should seem they were ordained for some Ecclesiastical ministery which is also more credible by those words of Tertullian Quantae igitur quae in Ecclesâ—is ordinari solent quae Deo nubere maluerunt And Sozomen tells of Olympias Hanc enim cum genere esset nobilissimo quamvis juvenculam ex quo vidua facta erat quia ex praescripto Ecclesiae egregiè philosophatur in Ministram Nectarius ordinat and such a one it was whom Saint Basil called impollutam sacerdotem Whatsoever these Deaconesses could be they could not speak in publick unless they did prevaricate the Apostolical rule given to the Corinthian and Ephesian Churches And therefore though Olympias was an excellent person yet she was no preacher she was a Philosopher not in her discourse but in her manner of living and believing Philosophata ex Ecclesiae praescripto and that could not be by preaching but these Deaconesses after the Apostolical age were the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good women that did domestick offices and minister to the temporal necessity of the Churches in the days of the Apostles Such a one was Phebe of Cenchrea but they were not admitted to any holy or spiritual Office So we have certain testimony from Antiquity whence the objection comes For so the Nicene Council expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deaconesses are to be reckoned in the Laity because they have no imposition of hands viz. for any spiritual office For they had imposition of hands in some places to temporal administrations about the Church and a solemn benediction but nothing of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Presbyteresses who were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Governesses of women in order to manners and religion but these though as Tertullian affirms and Zonaras and Balsamo confess they were solemnly ordained and set over the women in such offices yet pretended to nothing of the clerical power or the right of speaking in publick So Epiphanius There is an order of deaconesses in the Church but not to meddle or to attempt any of the holy Offices And in this sence it was that S. Ambrose reckons it amongst the Heresies of the Cataphrygians that they ordained their Deaconesses viz. to spiritual ministeries but those women that desire to be medling are not moved with such discourses they care for none of all these things therefore I remit them to the precept
of the Apostle But I suffer not a woman to teach but to be in silence And as for the men who had gifts extraordinary of the Spirit although they were permitted at first in the Corinthian Church before there was a Bishop or a fixed Colledge of Clergy to utter the inspired dictates of the Spirit yet whether they were Lay or Clergy is not there expressed and it is more agreeable to the usual dispensation that the prophets of ordinary ministery though now extraordinarily assisted should prophesie in publick but however when these extraordinaries did cease if they were common persons they had no pretence to invade the Chair nor that we find ever did for an ordinary ability to speak was never any warrant to disturb an order unless they can say the words of S. Paul Whereunto I am ordained a Preacher they might not invade the office To be able to perform an office though it may be a fair disposition to make the person capable to receive it orderly yet it does not actually invest him every wise man is not a Counsellor of State nor every good Lawyer a Judge And I doubt not but in the Jewish religion there were many persons as able to pray as their Priests who yet were wiser than to refuse the Priests advocation apud Deum and reciting offices in behalf of the people Orabit pro eo sacerdos was the order of Gods appointing though himself were a devout person and of an excellent spirit And it had need be something extraordinary that must warrant an ordinary person to rise higher than his own evenness and ability or skill is but a possibility and must be reduced to act by something that transmits authority or does establish order or distinguish persons and separate professions And it is very remarkable that when Iudas had miscarried and lost his Apostolate it was said that it was necessary for some body to be chosen to be a witness of Christs Resurrection Two were named of ability sufficient but that was not all they must chuse one to make up the number of the twelve a distinct separate person which shews that it was not only a work for that any of them might have done but an office of ordinary ministery The ability of doing which work although all they that lived with Iesus might either have had or received at Pentecost yet the authority and grace was more the first they had upon experience but this only by divine election which is a demonstration that every person that can do offices clerical is not permitted to do them and that besides the knowledge and natural or artificial abilities a divine qualification is necessary And therefore God complains by the Prophet I have not sent them and yet they run and the Apostle leaves it as an established rule How shall they preach except they be sent Which two places I shall grant to be meant concerning a distinct and a new message Prophets must not offer any doctrine to the people or pretend a doctrine for which they had not a commission from God But which way soever they be expounded they will conclude right in this particular For if they signifie an ordinary mission then there is an ordinary mission of preachers which no man must usurp unless he can prove his title certainly and clearly derivative from God which when any man of the Laity can do we must give him the right hand of fellowship and wish him good speed But if these words signifie an extraordinary case and that no message must be pretended by Prophets but what they have commission for then must not ordinary persons pretend an extraordinary mission to an ordinary purpose for besides that God does never do things unreasonable nor will endure that order be interrupted to no purpose he will never give an extraordinary Commission unless it be to a proportionable end whosoever pretends to a licence of preaching by reason of an extraordinary calling must look that he be furnished with an extraordinary message lest his Commission be ridiculous and when he comes he must be sure to shew his authority by an argument proportionable that is by such a probation without which no wise man can reasonably believe him which cannot be less than miraculous and divine In all other cases he comes under the curse of the non missi those whom God sent not they go on their own errand and must pay themselves their wages But besides that the Apostles were therefore to have an immediate mission because they were to receive new inctructions these inctructions were such as were by an ordinary and yet by a distinct ministery to be conveyed for ever after and therefore did design an ordinary successive and lasting power and authority Nay our blessed Lord went one step further in this provision even to remark the very first successors and partakers of this power to be taken into the lot of this ministery and they were the Seventy-two whom Christ had sent as probationers of their future preaching upon a short errand into the Cities of Iudah But by this assignation of more persons than those to whom he gave immediate Commission he did declare that the office of preaching was to be dispensed by a separate and peculiar sort of men distinct from the people and yet by others than those who had the commission extraordinary that is by such who were to be called to it by an ordinary vocation As Christ constituted the office and named the persons both extraordinary and ordinary present and successive so he provided gifts for them too that the whole dispensation might be his and might be apparent And therefore Christ when he ascended up on high gave gifts to men to this very purpose and these gifts coming from the same Spirit made separation of distinct ministeries under the same Lord. So S. Paul testifies expresly Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are different administrations differences of ministeries it is the proper word for Church-offices the ministery distinguished by the gift It is not a gift of the ministery but the ministery it self is the gift and distinguished accordingly An extraordinary Ministery needs an extraordinary and a miraculous gift that is a miraculous calling and vocation and designation by the holy Ghost but an ordinary gift cannot sublime an ordinary person to a supernatural imployment and from this discourse of the differing gifts of the Spirit Saint Paul without any further artifice concludes that the Spirit intended a distinction of Church-officers for the work of the ministery for the conclusion of the discourse is that God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers and lest all God's people should usurp these offices which God by his Spirit hath made separate and distinguished he adds Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers If so then were all the body one member quite contrary to nature
chose by lot and the whole Church chose the seven Deacons before the Apostles imposed hands but the separation or this first sanctification of the person is a giving him a power to do such offices which God hath appointed to be done to him and for the people which we may clearly see and understand in the instance of Iob and his friends For when God would be intreated in behalf of Eliphaz and his companions he gave order that Iob should make the address Go to my servant he shall pray for you and him will I accept this separation of a person for the offices of advocation is the same thing which I mean by this first sanctification God did it and gave him a power and authority to go to him and put him into a place of trust and favour about him and made him a Minister of the Sacrifice which is a power and eminency above the persons for whom he was to sacrifice and a power or grace from God to be in nearness to him This I suppose to be the great argument for the necessity of separating a certain order of men for Ecclesiastical ministeries And it relies upon these propositions 1. All power of ordination descends from God and he it is who sanctifies and separates the person 2. The Priest by God is separate to be the gratious person to stand between him and the people 3. He speaks the word of God and returns the prayers and duty of the people and conveys the blessings of God by his prayer and by his ministery So that although every Christian must pray and may be heard yet there is a solemn person appointed to pray in publick and though Gods Spirit is given to all that ask it and the promises of the Gospel are verified to all that obey the Gospel of Jesus yet God hath appointed Sacraments and Solemnities by which the promises and blessings are ministred more solemnly and to greater effects All the ordinary devotions the people may do alone the solemn ritual and publick the appointed Minister only must do And if any man shall say because the Priest's ministery is by prayer every man can do it and so no need of him by the same reason he may say also that the Sacraments are unnecessary because the same effect which they produce is also in some degree the reward of a private piety and devotion But the particulars are to be further proved and explicated as they need Now what for illustration of this Article I have brought from the instance of Iob is true in the Ministers of the Gospel with the superaddition of many degrees of eminency But still in the same kind for the power God hath given is indeed mystical but it is not like a power operating by way of natural or proper operation it is not vis but facullas not an inherent quality that issues out actions by way of direct emanation like natural or acquired habits but it is a grace or favour done to the person and a qualification of him in genere politico he receives a politick publick and solemn capacity to intervene between God and the people and although it were granted that the people could do the external work or the action of Church ministeries yet they are actions to no purpose they want the life and all the excellency unless they be done by such persons whom God hath called to it and by some means of his own hath expressed his purpose to accept them in such ministrations And this explication will easily be verified in all the particulars of the Priests Power because all the ministeries of the Gospel are in genere orationis unless we except preaching in which God speaks by his servants to the people the Minister by his office is an Intercessor with God and the word used in Scripture for the Priests officiating signifies his praying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were ministring or doing their Liturgy the work of their supplications and intercession and therefore the Apostles positively included all their whole ministery in these two but we will give our selves to the word of God and to prayer the prayer of consecration the prayer of absolution the prayer of imposition of hands they had nothing else to do but pray and preach And for this reason it was that the Apostles in a sence nearest to the letter did verifie the precept of our Blessed Saviour Pray continually that is in all the offices acts parts and ministeries of a daily Liturgy This is not to lessen the power but to understand it for the Priests ministery is certainly the instrument of conveying all the blessings of the people which are annexed to the ordinary administration of the Spirit But when all the office of Christs Priesthood in Heaven is called intercession for us and himself makes the sacrifice of the Cross effectual to the salvation and graces of his Church by his prayer since we are Ministers of the same Priesthood can there be a greater glory than to have our ministery like to that of Jesus not operating by vertue of a certain number of syllables but by a holy solemn determined and religious prayer in the several manners and instances of intercession according to the analogy of all the religions in the world whose most solemn mystery was their most solemn prayer I mean it in the matter of sacrificing which also is true in the most mysterious solemnity of Christianity in the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper which is hallowed and lifted up from the common bread and wine by mystical prayers and solemn invocations of God And therefore S. Dionysius calls the forms of Consecration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayers of Consecration and S. Cyril in his third mystagogique Catechism sayes the same The Eucharistical bread after the invocation of the holy Ghost is not any longer common bread but the body of Christ. For although it be necessary that the words which in the Latin Church have been for a long time called the words of Consecration which indeed are more properly the words of Institution should be repeated in every consecration because the whole action is not compleated according to Christs pattern nor the death of Christ so solemnly enunciated without them yet even those words also are part of a mystical prayer and therefore as they are not only intended there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of history or narration as Cabasil mistakes so also in the most ancient Liturgies they were not only read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as a meer narrative but also with the form of an address or invocation Fiat hic panis corpus Christi fiat hoc vinum sanguis Christi Let this bread be made the body of Christ c. So it is in S. Iames his Liturgy S. Clements S. Marks and the Greek Doctors And in the very recitation of the words of institution the people ever used to answer Amen which intimates it to
of our blessed Saviour Man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God that is by God's blessing to which prayer is to be joyned that we may cooperate with God in a way most likely to prevail with him and they are excellent words which Cassander hath said to the purpose Some Apostolical Churches from the beginning used such solemn prayers to the celebration of the mysteries and Christ himself beside that he recited the words of Institution he blessed the Symbols before and after sung an Ecclesiastical hymn And therefore the Greek Churches which have with more severity kept the first and most ancient forms of consecration than the Latin Church affirm that the Consecration is made by solemn invocation alone and the very recitation of the words spoken in the body of a prayer are used for argument to move God to hallow the gifts and as an expression and determination of the desire And this Gabriel of Philadelphia observes out of an Apostolical Liturgy The words of our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antecedently and by way of institution and incentive are the form together with the words which the Priest afterwards recites according as it is set down in the divine Liturgy It is supposed he means the Liturgy reported to be made by S. Iames which is of the most ancient use in the Greek Church and all Liturgies in the world in their several Canons of communion do now and did for ever mingle solemn prayers together with recitation of Christ's words The Church of England does most religiously observe it according to the custom and sence of the primitive Liturgies who always did believe the consecration not to be a natural effect and change finished in any one instant but a divine alteration consequent to the whole ministery that is the solemn prayer and invocation Now if this great ministery be by way of solemn prayer it will easier be granted that so the other are For absolution and reconciliation of penitents I need say no more but the question of S. Austin Quid est aliud Manûs Impositio quà m oratio super hominem And the Priestly absolution is called by S. Leo Sacerdotum supplicationes The prayers of Priests and in the old Ordo Romanus and in the Pontifical the forms of reconciliation were Deus te absolvat the Lord pardon thee c. But whatsoever the forms were for they may be optative or indicative or declarative the case is not altered as to this question for whatever the act of the Priest be whether it be the act of a Judge or of an Embassador or a Counsellor or a Physician or all this the blessing which he ministers is by way of a solemn prayer according to the exigence of the present Rite and the form of words doth not alter the case for Ego benedico Deus benedicat is the same and was no more when God commanded the Priest in express terms to bless the people only the Church of late chuses the indicative form to signifie that such a person is by authority and proper designation appointed the ordinary minister of benediction For in the sence of the Church and Scripture none can give blessing but a Superior and yet every person may say in charity God bless you He may not be properly said to bless for the greater is not blessed of the lesser by Saint Paul's Rule the Priest may bless or the Father may and yet their benediction save that it signifies the authority and solemn deputation of the person to such an ordinary Ministery signifies but the same thing that is it operates by way of prayer but is therefore prevalent and more effectual because it is by persons appointed by God And so it is in Absolution for he that ministers the pardon being the person that passes the act of God to the penitent and the act of the penitent to God all that manner that the Priest interposes for the penitent to God is by way of prayer and by the mediation of intercession for there is none else in this imaginable and the other of passing God's act upon the penitent is by way of interpretation and enunciation as an Embassador and by the word of his ministery In persona Christi condonavi I pardon in the person of Christ saith S. Paul in the first he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in both a minister of divine benediction to the people the anointing from above descends upon Aaron's beard and so by degrees to the skirts of the people and yet in those things which the Priest or the Prophet does but signifie by divine appointment he is said to do the thing which he only signifies and makes publick as a Minister of God thus God sent Ieremy He set him over the Nations to root out and to pull down and to destroy to throw down and to build and to plant and yet in all this his ministery was nothing but Prophetical and he that converts a sinner is said to save him and to hide a multitude of sins that is he is instrumental to it and ministers in the imployment so that here also Verbum est oratio the word of God and prayer do transact both the parts of this office And I understand though not the degree and excellency yet the truth of this manner of operation in the instance of Isaac blessing Iacob which in the several parts was expressed in all forms indicative optative enunciative and yet there is no question but it was intended to do Iacob benefit by way of impetration so that although the Church may express the acts of her ministery in what form she please and with design to make signification of another Article yet the manner of procuring blessings and graces for the people is by a ministery of interpellation and prayer we having no other way of address or return to God but by Petition and Eucharist 17. I shall not need to instance any more S. Austin summs up all the Ecclesiastical ministeries in an expression fully to this purpose Si ergo ad hoc valet quod dictum est in Evangelio Deis peccatorem non audit aut Per peccatorem sacramenta non celebrentur Quomodo exaudit deprecantem vel super aquam baptismi vel super oleum vel super Eucharistiam vel super capita eorum super quibus manus imponitur with S. Austin praying over the Symbols of every Sacrament and Sacramental is all one with celebrating the mystery And therefore in the office of Consecration in the Greek Church this power passes upon the person ordained That he may be worthy to ask things of thee for the salvation of the people that is to celebrate the Sacraments and Rites and that thou wilt hear him which fully expresses the sence of the present discourse that the first part of that grace of the holy Spirit which consecrates the Priest
confer the first grace which in the Schools is understood only to be expiatorious but the increment of grace and sanctification and that also is remissive of sins which are taken off by parts as the habit decreases and we grow in God's favour as our graces multiply or grow Now that these graces being given in Ordination are immediate emanations of the holy Spirit and therefore not to be usurped or pretended to by any man upon whom the Holy Ghost in Ordination hath not descended I shall less need to prove because it is certain upon the former grounds and will be finished in the following discourses and it is in the Greek Ordination given as a Reason of the former prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For not in the imposition of my hands but in the overseeing providence of thy rich mercies grace is given to them that are worthy So that we see more goes to the fitting of a person for Ecclesiastical Ministeries than is usually supposed together with the power a grace is specially collated and that is not to be taken up and laid down and pretended to by every bolder person The thing is sacred separate solemn deliberate derivative from God and not of humane provision or authority or pretence or disposition SECT VIII THe Holy Ghost was the first Consecrator that is made evident and the persons first consecrated were the Apostles who received the several parts of the Priestly order at several times the power of consecration of the Eucharist at the institution of it the power of remitting and retaining sins in the Octaves of Easter the power of baptizing and preaching together with universal jurisdiction immediately before the Ascension when they were commanded to go into all the world preaching and baptizing This is the whole office of the Priesthood and nothing of this was given in Pentecost when the holy Spirit descended and rested upon all of them the Apostles the brethren the women for then they received those great assistances which enabled them who had been designed for Embassadors to the world to do their great work and others of a lower capacity had their proportion as the effect of the promise of the Father and a mighty verification of the truth of Christianity Now all these powers which Christ hath given to his Apostles were by some means or other to be transmitted to succeeding persons because the several Ministeries were to abide for ever All Nations were to be converted a Church to be gathered and continued the new Converts to be made Confessors and consigned with Baptism sins to be remitted flocks to be fed and guided and the Lords death declared represented exhibited and commemorated until his second Coming And since the powers of doing these offices are acts of free and gracious concession emanations of the holy Spirit and admissions to a vicinity with God it is not only impudence and sacriledge in the person falsly to pretend that is to bely the Holy Ghost and thrust into these Offices but there is an impossibility in the thing it is null in the very deed doing to handle these mysteries without some appointment by God unless he calls and points out the person either by an extraordinary or by an ordinary Vocation Of these I must give a particular account The extraordinary calling was first that is the immediate for the first beginning of a lasting necessity is extraordinary and made ordinary in succession and by continuation of a fixed and determined Ministery The first of every order hath another manner of constitution than all the whole succession The rising of the spring is of greater wonder and of more extraordinary and latent reason than the descent of the current and the derivation of the powers of the Holy Ghost that make the Priestly order are just like the Creation the first man was made with God's own hands and all the rest by God co-operating with a humane act and there is never the same necessity as at first for God to create man The species or kind shall never fail but be preserved in an ordinary way And so it is in the designation of the Ministers of Evangelical Priesthood God breathed into the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breath of the life-giving spirit and that breath was to be continued in a perpetual univocal production they who had received they were also to give and they only could Grace cannot be conveyed to any man but either by the fountain or by the channel by the Author or by the Minister God only is the fountain and Author and he that makes himself the Minister whom God appointed not does in effect make himself the Author for he undertakes to dispose of grace which he hath not received to give God's goods upon his own authority which he that offers at without God's warrant does it only upon his own And so either he is the Author or an Usurper either the fountain or a dry cloud which in effect calls him either blasphemous or sacrilegious But the first and immediate derivation from the fountain that only I affirm to be miraculous and extraordinary as all beginnings of essences and graces of necessity must those persons who receive the first issues they only are extraordinarily called all that succeed are called or designed by an ordinary vocation because whatsoever is in the succession is but an ordinary necessity to which God hath proportioned an ordinary Ministery and when it may be supplied by the common provisions to look for an extraordinary calling is as if a man should expect some new man to be created as Adam was it is to suppose God will multiply beings and operations without necessity God called at first and if he had not called man could not have come to him in this nearness of a holy Ministery he sent persons abroad and if he had not sent they could not have gone but after that he had appointed by his own designation persons who should be Fathers in Christ he called no more but left them to call others He first immediately gives the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace and leaves this as a Depositum to the Church faithfully to be kept till Christ's second coming and this Depositum is the doctrine and discipline of Jesus he opens the door and then left it open commanding all to come in that way into the Ministery and tuition of the flock calling all that came in by windows and posterns and oblique ways thieves and robbers And it is observable that the word vocation or calling in Scripture when it is referred to a designation of persons to the Ministery it always signifies that which we term calling extraordinary it always signifies an immediate act of God which also ceased when the great necessity expired that is when the fountain had streamed forth abundantly and made a current to descend without interruption The purpose of this discourse is that now no man should in these days of ordinary Ministery
sancto baptismate This is the summ of the preceding discourses God is the Consecrator man is the Minister the separation is mysterious and wonderful the power great and secret the office to stand between God and the people in the ministery of the Evangelical rites the calling to it ordinary and by a setled Ministery which began after the descent of the Holy Ghost in Pentecost This great change was in nothing expressed greater than that Saul upon his Ordination changed his name which Saint Chrysostome observing affirms the same of Saint Peter I conclude Differentiam inter ordinem plebem constituit Ecclesiae authoritas honor per ordinis concessunt sanctificatus à Deo saith Tertullian The authority of the whole Church of God hath made distinction between the person ordained and the people but the honour and power of it is derived from the sanctification of God It is derived from him but conveyed by an ordinary Ministery of his appointing Whosoever therefore with unsanctified that is with unconsecrated hands shall dare to officiate in the ministerial office separate by God by gifts by graces by publick order by an established rite by the institution of Jesus by the descent of the Holy Ghost by the word of God by the practice of the Apostles by the practice of sixteen Ages of the Catholick Church by the necessity of the thing by Reason by Analogy to the discourse of all the wise men that ever were in the world that man like his predecessor Corah brings an unhallowed Censer which shall never send up a right cloud of Incense to God but yet that unpermitted and disallowed smoak shall kindle a fire even the wrath of God which shall at least destroy the Sacrifice his work shall be consumed and when upon his repentance himself escapes yet it shall be so as by fire that is with danger and loss and shame and trouble For our God is a consuming fire Remember Corah and all his company 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS RULES AND ADVICES TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESSE OF DOWN and CONNOR For their Deportment in their Personal and Publick Capacities GIVEN BY IER TAYLOR Bishop of that Diocess at the Visitation at LISNEGARVEY LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1672. RULES AND ADVICES TO THE CLERGY I. Personal Duty REmember that it is your great Duty and tied on you by many Obligations that you be exemplar in your lives and be Patterns and Presidents to your Flocks lest it be said unto you Why takest thou my Law into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed thereby He that lives anidle life may preach with Truth and Reason or as did the Pharisees but not as Christ or as one having Authority Every Minister in taking accounts of his life must judge of his Duty by more strict and severer measures than he does of his People and he that ties heavy burthens upon others ought himself to carry the heaviest end and many things may be lawful in them which he must not suffer in himself Let every Minister endeavour to be learned in all spiritual wisdom and skilful in the things of God for he will ill teach others the way of godliness perfectly that is himself a babe and uninstructed An Ignorant Minister is an head without an eye and an Evil Minister is salt that hath no savour Every Minister above all things must be careful that he be not a servant of Passion whether of Anger or Desire For he that is not a master of his Passions will always be useless and quickly will become contemptible and cheap in the eyes of his Parish Let no Minister be litigious in any thing not greedy or covetous not insisting upon little things or quarrelling for or exacting of every minute portion of his dues but bountiful and easie remitting of his right when to do so may be useful to his people or when the contrary may domischief and cause reproach Be not over-righteous saith Solomon that is not severe in demanding or foroing every thing though it be indeed his due Let not the name of the Church be made a pretence for personal covetousness by saying you are willing to remit many things but you must not wrong the Church for though it be true that you are not to do prejudice to succession yet many things may be forgiven upon just occasions from which the Church shall receive no incommodity but be sure that there are but few things which thou art bound to do in thy personal capacity but the same also and more thou art obliged to perform as thou art a publick person Never exact the offerings or customary wages and such as are allowed by Law in the ministration of the Sacraments nor condition for them nor secure them before-hand but first do your office and minister the Sacraments purely readily and for Christs sake and when that is done receive what is your due Avoid all Pride as you would flee from the most frightful Apparition or the most cruel Enemy and remember that you can never truly teach Humility or tell what it is unless you practise it your selves Take no measures of Humility but such as are material and tangible such which consist not in humble words and lowly gestures but what is first truly radicated in your Souls in low opinion of your selves and in real preferring others before your selves and in such significations which can neither deceive your selves nor others Let every Curate of Souls strive to understand himself best and then to understand others Let him spare himself least but most severely judge censure and condemn himself If he be learned let him shew it by wise teaching and humble manners If he be not learned let him be sure to get so much Knowledge as to know that and so much Humility as not to grow insolent and puffed up by his Emptiness For many will pardon a good man that is less learned but if he be proud no man will forgive him Let every Minister be careful to live a life as abstracted from the Affairs of the world as his necessity will permit him but at no hand to be immerg'd and principally imploy'd in the Affairs of the World What cannot be avoided and what is of good report and what he is oblig'd to by any personal or collateral Duty that he may do but no more Ever remembring the Saying of our Blessed Lord In the world ye shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace and consider this also which is a great Truth That every degree of love to the world is so much taken from the Love of God Be no otherwise solicitous of your Fame and Reputation but by doing your Duty well and wisely in other things refer your self to God but if you meet with evil Tongues be careful that you bear reproaches sweetly and temperately Remember that no Minister can govern his people well and prosperously unless
not own never suppose him to be author of sin or the procurer of our damnation For God cannot be tempted neither tempteth he any man God is true and every man a lyar Let no Preacher compare one Ordinance with another as Prayer with Preaching to the disparagement of either but use both in their proper seasons and according to appointed Order Let no man preach for the praise of men but if you meet it instantly watch and stand upon your guard and pray against your own vanity and by an express act of acknowledgment and adoration return the praise to God Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel and do thou tremble fearing lest the judgment of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechism EVery Minister is bound upon every Lords day before Evening Prayer to instruct all young people in the Creed the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Doctrine of the Sacraments as they are set down and explicated in the Church Catechism Let a Bell be tolled when the Catechising is to begin that all who desire it may be present but let all the more ignorant and uninstructed part of the people whether they be old or young be requir'd to be present that no person in your Parishes be ignorant in the foundations of Religion Ever remembring that if in these things they be unskilful whatever is taught besides is like a house built upon the sand Let every Minister teach his people the use practice methods and benefits of meditation or mental prayer Let them draw out for them helps and rules for their assistance in it and furnish them with materials concerning the life and death of the ever blessed Jesus the greatness of God our own meanness the dreadful sound of the last Trumpet the infinite event of the two last sentences at doomsday let them be taught to consider what they have been what they are and what they shall be and above all things what are the issues of eternity glories never to cease pains never to be ended Let every Minister exhort his people to a frequent confession of their sins and a declaration of the state of their Souls to a conversation with their Minister in spiritual things to an enquiry concerning all the parts of their duty for by preaching and catechising and private entercourse all the needs of Souls can best be serv'd but by preaching alone they cannot Let the people be exhorted to keep Fasting days and the Feasts of the Church according to their respective capacities so it be done without burden to them and without becoming a snare that is that upon the account of Religion and holy desires to please God they spend some time in Religion besides the Lords-day but be very careful that the Lords-day be kept religiously according to the severest measures of the Church and the commands of Authority ever remembring that as they give but little Testimony of Repentance and Mortification who never fast so they give but small evidence of their joy in God and Religion who are unwilling solemnly to partake of the publick and Religious Joys of the Christian Church Let every Minister be diligent in exhorting all Parents and Masters to send their Children and Servants to the Bishop at the Visitation or other solemn times of his coming to them that they may be confirm'd And let him also take care that all young persons may by understanding the Principles of Religion their vow of Baptism the excellency of Christian Religion the necessity and advantages of it and of living according to it be fitted and disposed and accordingly by them presented to the Bishop that he may pray over them and invocate the holy Spirit and minister the holy Rite of Confirmation VI. Rules Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick EVery Minister ought to be careful in visiting all the Sick and Afflicted persons of his Parish ever remembring that as the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge so it is his duty to minister a word of comfort in the time of need A Minister must not stay till he be sent for but of his own accord and care to go to them to examine them to exhort them to perfect their repentance to strengthen their faith to encourage their patience to perswade them to resignation to the renewing of their holy vows to the love of God to be reconcil'd to their neighbours to make restitution and amends to confess their sins to settle their estate to provide for their charges to do acts of piety and charity and above all things that they take care they do not sin towards the end of their lives For if repentance on our death-bed seem so very late for the sins of our life what time shall be left to repent us of the sins we commit on our death-bed When you comfort the afflicted endeavour to bring them to the true love of God for he that serves God for Gods sake it is almost impossible he should be oppressed with sorrow In answering the cases of conscience of the sick or afflicted people consider not who asks but what he asks and consult in your answers more with the estate of his soul than the conveniency of his estate for no flattery is so fatal as that of the Physician or the Divine If the sick person enquires concerning the final estate of his soul he is to be reprov'd rather than answer'd only he is to be called upon to finish his duty to do all the good he can in that season to pray for pardon and acceptance but you have nothing to do to meddle with passing final sentences neither cast him down in despair nor raise him up to vain and unreasonable confidences But take care that he be not carelesly dismiss'd In order to these and many other good purposes every Minister ought frequently to converse with his Parishioners to go to their houses but always publickly with witness and with prudence lest what is charitably intended be scandalously reported and in all your conversation be sure to give good example and upon all occasions to give good counsel VII Of ministring the Sacraments publick Prayers and other duties of Ministers EVery Minister is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the Common Prayers every day in the week at Morning and Evening and in great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in Churches that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease The Minister is to instruct the people that the Baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next Sunday after the birth of the child lest importune and unnecessary delay occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of God and the Religion of the Lord Jesus before it be born again admitted to the Promises of the Gospel and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam Let every Minister
exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical Communion at the least three times in the year at the great Festivals but the devouter sort and they who have leisure are to be invited to a frequent Communion and let it be given and received with great reverence Every Minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his Office in the Rubricks the Canons the Articles and the Homilies of the Church that he may do his duty readily discreetly gravely and by the publick measures of the Laws To which also it is very useful that it be added that every Minister study the ancient Canons of the Church especially the Penitentials of the Eastern and Western Churches let him read good Books such as are approved by publick authority such which are useful wise and holy not the scriblings of unlearned parties but of men learned pious obedient and disinterested and amongst these such especially which describe duty and good life which minister to Faith and Charity to Piety and Devotion Cases of Conscience and solid expositions of Scripture Concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted Let not a Curate of Souls trouble himself with any studies but such which concern his own or his peoples duty such as may enable him to speak well and to do well but to meddle not with controversies but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life Be careful in all the publick administrations of your Parish that the poor be provided for Think it no shame to beg for Christs poor members stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example Let a collection be made every Lords-day and upon all solemn meetings and at every Communion and let the Collection be wisely and piously administred ever remembring that at the day of Judgment nothing shall publickly be proclaimed but the reward of alms and mercy Let every Minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble let him study and heap together Instruments and Advices for the promoting of every vertue and remedies and arguments against every vice let him teach his people to make acts of vertue not only by external exercise but also in the way of Prayer and internal meditation In these and all things else that concern the Ministers duty if there be difficulty you are to repair to your Bishop for further advice assistance and information FINIS A Funeral Sermon Preached at the OBSEQUIES OF THE Right Reverend Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of DOWN Who deceased at LISBURNE August 13 th 1667. BY GEORGE RUST Lord Bishop of DROMORE LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1672. A Funeral Sermon 1 JOHN 3. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be GLorious things are spoken in Scripture concerning the future Reward of the Righteous and all the words that are wont to signifie what is of greatest Price and Value or can represent the most enravishing Objects of our desires are made use of by the Holy Ghost to recommend unto us this transcendent State of Blessedness Such are these Rivers of Pleasures A fountain of living water A treasure that can never be wasted nor never taken from us An inheritance in light An incorruptible Crown A Kingdom the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Christ The Kingdom of Glory a Crown of Glory and Life and Righteousness and Immortality The Vision of God Being fill'd with all the fulness of God An exceeding eternal weight of Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words strangely Emphatical that can't be put into English and if they could they would not be able to convey to our minds the Notion that they design for it is too big for any Expressions and after all that can be said we must resolve with our Apostle It does not yet appear what we shall be At this Distance we cannot make any likely guesses or conjectures at the glory of that future state Men make very imperfect Descriptions of Countries or Cities that never were there themselves nor saw the Places with their own eyes It is not for any mortal Creature to make a Map of that Canaan that lies above It is to all us that live here on the hither-side of Death an unknown Countrey and an undiscover'd Land It may be some Heavenly Pilgrim that with his holy thoughts and ardent desires is continually travelling thitherward arrives sometimes near the Borders of the promis'd Land and the Suburbs of the new Ierusalem and gets upon the top of Pisgah and there he has an imperfect Prospect of a brave Countrey that lies afar way off but he can't tell how to describe it and all that he hath to say to satisfie the curious Enquirer is only this If he would know the glories of it he must go and see it It was believ'd of old that those places that lie under the Line were burnt up by the continual heat of the Sun and were not habitable either by man or beast But later Discoveries tell us that there are the most pleasant Countries that the Earth can shew insomuch that some have plac'd Paradise it self in that Climate Sure I am of all the Regions of the Intellectual World and the several Lands that are peopled either with Men or Angels the most pleasant Countries they lie under the Line under the direct beams of the Sun of Righteousness where there is an eternal Day and an eternal Spring where is that Tree of Life that beareth twelve manner of Fruits and yieldeth her Fruit every Month Thus we may use Figures and Metaphors and Allegories and tell you of fruitful Meads and spacious Fields and winding Rivers and purling Brooks and chanting Birds and shady Groves and pleasant Gardens and lovely Bowers and noble Seats and stately Palaces and goodly People and excellent Laws and sweet Societies but this is but to frame little comparisons to please our childish fancies and just such discourses as a blind man would make concerning Colours so do we talk of those things we never saw and disparage the state whilst we would recommend it Indeed it requires some Saint or Angel from Heaven to discourse upon the Subject and yet that would not do neither For though they might be able to speak something of it yet we should want ears to hear it Neither can those things be declar'd but in the language of Heaven which would be little understood by us the poor inhabitants of this lower World they are indeed things too great to be brought within the compass of words Saint Paul when he had been rapt up into the third Heaven he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things unlawful or unpossible to be utter'd and Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them