vain oftentation of their Learning to embroil the Church and State And we have found it true by experience for as we read of a great King destroyed by the counsel of young men so we may remember a great and good King also destroyed by these young Divines and their young Divinity A third Innovation as I take it is the Preaching of Lecturers but by Lecturers I do not understand all that go under that name but such as are merely of the Peoples setting up against the mind and without the special License of the Governours of the Church These Lecturers are a new order of Ecclesiasticks that like Cartesius Philosophy are made up of rare Principles but all Novelties Their Ordination if they have any is a Novelty for 't is either by Presbyters sine Episcopo or by Bishops sine titulo If it be by Presbyters without a Bishop 't is a Novelty as being against Tradition Apostolical the Practice and Constitution of the ancient Church and of the universal Church for the space of 1500. years after Christ Ordination ever was the Bishops peculiar and all Ordinations without the Bishop were esteemed uncanonical and pronounced null and void Vide Concil Constantinop 1. can 6. If it be by Bishops without a Title 't is a Novelty too against a Canon of our own Churhc can 33. and against the Canons of the ancient Church Nullum absolutè ordinaridebere Presbyterum c. Concil Chalced. can 6. No Presbyter is absolutely to be ordained And I doubt such a Lecture of the peoples setting up will never prove a Title in Law nor in the Churches esteem and if it be not their Ordination is a Novelty and a Nullity also Their Congregation is a Novelty as being against the Doctrine Practice and Canons of the ancient Church too by which no Presbyter is suffered to hold Meetings or Conventions by himself contrary to the Bishops mind and order We find it very early in the Canons of the Apostles Si quis Presbyter contemnens Episcopum suum seorsim collegerit altare aliud erexerit nihil habens quod reprehendat Episcopum suum in causa pietat is justitiae deponatur quasi principatus amator existens est enim tyrannus caeteri clerici quicunque tali consentiunt deponantur laici verò segregentur Can. 32. If any Presbyter despising his Bishop shall hold a Meeting by himself and erect another Altar having nothing in the mean time to accuse the Bishop of in matter of piety and justice let him be deposed as one that loves Preeminence for he is a Tyrant and other Clergy-men that joyn with him are to be deposed and the Laicks excommunicate To this agrees a Canon of the Council of Carthage Si quis Presbyter ab Episcopo suo correptus tumore vel superbia inflatus putaverit separatim sacrificia Deo offerenda vel aliud erigendum altare centra eccle siasbicam fidem vel disciplinam crediderit non exeat impunitùs If any Presbyter being rebuked and censured by the Bishop shall in a separation offer sacrifice to God or erect another Altar against the Ecclesiastical Faith and Discipline let him not go unpunish'd But these Lecturers hold Conventions and Meetings in the Church without the Bishops License and against the Canons of the Church and all Ecclesiastical Discipline therefore their Congregation is a Novelty Their Election is a Novelty as being by the suffrage of the People onely though sometimes the Bishops anciently did consult the People before their Ordination ad testimonium for their testimony yet never ad electionem for their suffrage in the choice of them much less after Ordination did they leave it to the People to make choice of their own Curates but they themselves appointed and sent out fit men to their several Cures There are several Canons wherein the People are barr'd this liberty of Election in the ancient Church the 13. can of the Council of Laodicea may serve alone to give us a taste Non est populis concedendum Electionem facere corum qui altaris ministerio sunt applicandi It is not to be left to the people to make choice of those who are to serve at the altar But these Lecturers come in all by popular Election and maintain the peoples election an authentick Call and sufficient without any Mission or Commission from the Bishop and therefore their Election is a Novelty Their Maintenance is a Novelty as being Elemosinary of the peoples benevolence they live not upon any Church revenue of tithes or glebe or oblations but upon the peoples contributions Whereas the maintenance of the Clergy was ever of tithes or some Church revenue or before the settlement of tithes by secular powers certain honourable stipends distributed at the discretion of the Bishop according to the merits of the person weekly or monthly out of the Churches treasure whereupon Presbyters were call'd by St. Cyprian Sportulantes fratres Epist 66. and those stipends sportulae Epist 34. Caeterum Presbyterii honorem nos designasse illis jam sciatis â—t et sportulis eisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur But you may know we have designed the honour of the Presbyterate for them that they may be dignified with the same stipends Presbyters are As amongst the Romanes the word sportulae was used for a certain allowance of food or mony given by great men to their followers so in Saint Cyprian it signifies the allowance or stipends which the Bishop out of the Church treasure paid to the Priests that depended upon him For as the Churches treasure was solely at the Bishops disposing so the Clergy depended upon the Bishop for their maintainance out of that treasure And therefore t is provided in the 7 Can. of the Council of Gangres Siquis oblationes ecclesiae accipere vel dare voluerit praeter conscientiam Episcopi vel ejus cui hujusmodi officia commissa sunt nec cum ejus voluerit agere consilio Anathema sit That if any should presume to take or give the oblations of the Church without the knowledge or consent of the Bishop he should be Anathema whereby it appears that the Priests and other orders of the Clergy depended upon the Bishop for their maintenance But these Lecturers depend upon the people for their maintenance And therefore their maintenance is a novelty Their Doctrine is a novelty As they are the peoples creatures so they are the peoples servants and take great care to please them populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas and forasmuch as people are lovers of novelties they must be sure to bring new things to their ears daily It is not enough for them to preach novè after a new manner but they must preach nova and not bona nova but mala nova nay nova mala new Gods in Israel nova dogmata sunt novi dii saith Vineentius new opinions are new Gods And if these be not new opinions new doctrines That the government of the Church
ut apud Christianos veteres apud prisca secula de eorum scriptis edoceas adhiberi nomen Pastoris ubi de Episcopo non loquuntur And if Bishops be the Prophets and Pastors and Doctors of the Church to whom should the Office of Preaching chiefly and primarily belong but them The practice of the ancient Church confirms this In Justin Martyr the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stood up and made the exhortation i. e. the Bishop In the 19. Canon of the Council of Laodicea the style of the Church shews this was the practice of the Church at that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the Homilies of the Bishops in Alexandria Soromon writes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop alone of the City does teach St. Chrysostom in 1. ad Tim. cap. 4. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the dignity of the Priesthood and teaching was great referring to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priesthood Timothy was chosen to and that was the high Priesthood of Episcopacy Thom. Aquin. supplem 3. par quaest 36. artic 2. in prim argum calls Preaching opus Episcopalissimum the most Episcopal work Estius upon the Sentences speaking of Preaching saith verùm hoc munus principaliter Episcopis incumbit qui propriè secundum Apostolum Ephes 4.11 in Ecclesia constituti sunt Pastores Doctores Secundariò autem Parochis qui Episcopis in hoc subsidiariam navant operam But this Office of Preaching is primarily incumbent upon the Bishops who properly according to the Apostle are ordained Pastors and Doctors Secondarily the Parish Priests are to be subservient to the Bishop in this the Office of Preaching primarily belongs to the Bishop a subsidiary labour as the Bishops substitute belongs to the Presbyter Estius tom 4. lib. 4. cap. 20. But here there may be a question moved how the Presbyter hath the power of Preaching derived to him whether ex vi ordinis or ex licentia Episcopi by virtue of his order or from the Bishops licence But granting that all Presbyters receive a power to preach by their Orders as in the Church of England yet it is onely in actu primo not in actu secundo though they have a power conferred upon them yet the exercise of that power is restrained by the Canons till they have a Licence from the Bishop I have not met with any thing concerning the forms of Ordination used in the ancient Church but I suppose howsoever the matter of Ordination and Imposition of hands by a Bishop be an Apostolical Tradition yet the form of words used in Ordination is not so but of Ecclesiastical institution whence it comes that most Churches vary in their forms of Ordination In the Greek Church the form is divina gratia quae semper infirma sanat quae desunt supplet creat seu promovet N. venerabilem Diaconum in Presbyterum Dei amabilissimum Presbyterum in Episcopum The divine Grace which alwayes heales our infirmities and supplies our wants doth create or promote N. the Venerable Subdeacon to be a Deacon the Venerable Deacon to be a Presbyter the Presbyter most beloved of God to be a Bishop In the Western Church they use another form and in that confer a double power upon the Presbyter potestatem conficiendi corpus Domini potestatem ligandi solvendi power of Consecrating the Elements in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and power of binding and loosing Our Britanick Church which is a part of the Western hath a form peculiar to her self yet very much like the old Greek form mentioned by S. Clem. in his Constitutions l. 8. c. 16. wherein the power of Preaching also is conferred upon the Presbyter And yet I have reason enough to believe that actual Preaching especially according to the common understanding of that word now-a-days is not so essential to the Order of a Presbyter but that he may sometimes upon good grounds be debarred from it First because if a Presbyter be suspended ab officio from his Office of Preaching he remains a Presbyter still The Character is indeleble Nay if a Presbyter be suspended not only from the Office of Preaching but of Consecrating or Baptizing or in any kind Officiating in the Church nay if he be excommunicated yet his Character is indeleble he remains a Presbyter still and whatsoever he doth by vertue of that Character is valid de facto though contra jus This St. Jerom proves at large in his Book against the Luciferians that a Presbyter cannot lose his Order And St. Augustine in his Book de bono conjugali cap. 24. saith expresly Si siat Ordinatio cleri ad plebem congregandam etiamsi plebis congregatio non subsequatur manet tamen in ordinatis ordinationis sacramentum Et si ob aliquam culpam quispiam ab officio removeatur Sacramento Domini non carebit If their be an Ordination of the Clergy for the Congregation of the people although they have not a Corgregation or a Parish to attend upon yet the Sacrament of Ordination remaines in them once ordained And if for some fault any one be removed from his Office yet he wants not the Sacrament of the Lord. Secondly because I find that the Church in prudence anciently did not suffer all Presbyters to Preach but onely such as were eminent for their Prudence Gravity Piety and Abilities Presbyters and Deacons saith Grotius in his Annot. upon S. Luke 10.1 did not all Preach but they alone quibus docendi populum potestas ab Episcopo facta est to whom the power of teaching the people was granted by the Bishop which Presbyters therefore he saith were called by Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presbyters entrusted with the explication of the word of God Thirdly because I see in the ancient Church there were Presbyteri Monachi Presbyters Monks Presbyters in Monasteries which had no cure of souls St. Hierome in his Epistle ad Dammachium tells us of five Presbyters they had in the Monastery of Bethlehem on purpose to administer the Sacrament to devout people there Such a Presbyter was Saint Hierome himself who preached not officio vocis by Sermons but by writing and did as many others quiescere in monasterio Lastly because I know the Church of England hath ordained allowed imployed many Presbyters who were no Preachers In the beginning of the Reformation 't is well known we had many Presbyters that never preach'd at all Within this 50 or 60 years amongst ten Presbyters there was not one Preacher In our Cathedralls at this day there are divers Singing-men Presbyters no Preachers And Presbyters they must be by the rules and statutes of their respective Churches wherein they serve and attend the Quire But if Preaching be not essentiall to the order of a Presbyter what office or duty is incumbent on him in case he be not qualified or licensed to preach Gulielmus Lunicensis in his book before alledged enumerates divers branches of the Presbyters office besides Preaching
not only handle the Gospels read but refers to them as the subject he was obliged to treat on Audivimus Evangelium in eo c. Serm. 1. Sancti Evangelii capitulum quod modo cum legeretur audivimus valde me vexavit Serm. 4. De lectione Sancti Evangelii hortatus est nos Dominus Serm. 5. Happily the Gospels read then were not the same with ours read now in our second Service before the Communion 'T is certain that the use of Dominicâ—ls Epistles and Gospels for the day was very ancient Walafridus Strabo will have them as ancient as St. Jerom cap. 22. and not without some ground for St. Jerom himself does make mention of them in his Book against Vigilantius Per totas orientis Ecclesias quando legendum est Evangelium accenduntur luminaria jam sole rutilante non utique ad fugandas tenebras sed ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum In all the Churches of the East when the Gospel is read Candles are lighted not to drive away darkness but by this sign to testifie our joy By this 't is evident that in S. Hieroms time some Gospel was read and 't is probable some Gospel in the second Service at the Altar because there Candles were lighted and used Rabanus Maurus goes higher and saith they obtained from the beginning Sed enim initio mos iste cantandi non erat qui nunc in Ecclesia ante sacrificium celebratur sed Epistolae Pauli recitabantur sanctum Evangelium lib. 2. cap. 32. de Institut Cleric But that manner of singing which is now used before the celebration of the Eucharist was not from the beginning yet the Epistles of S. Paul and the Gospel were read The use of those Dominicals was very ancient no question and so was the Preaching upon them and it were a happy thing if Preachers as anciently were still confined unto them First to hold correspondency with the ancient Catholik Church whose example layes a moral obligation upon us of imitation in things lawful and laudable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. To hold Conformity with some eminent reformed Churches The Lutherans retain the custom of Preaching upon the Dominicals 3. To prevent wild Vagaries and Excursions when men are left to themselves 4. To acquaint the people with those parts of Scripture and the meaning of them which most concern their salvation For such singular wisdom is used in the Epistles and Gospels for the day that as the Gospel lays before them the mysteries of our Redemption so the Epistles all the Rules of holy life The Gospel is a Record of the Life and Death of our blessed Saviour the Epistles are Instructions for the edification of the Church in pious and Christian Conversation The Gospel represents unto us the prime Principles and Foundations of Christianity the Epistles contain Superstructures upon the Foundation And if those were duly and faithfully explained to the People the knowledge of them were sufficient to guide them in the way to Life Eternal and would prevent an horrible abuse of the Scriptures by peoples petulancy in meddling with Obscure Prophetical Apocalyptical parts of Scripture which they understand not and for want of understanding wrest to their own destruction A fourth Act of Prudence it was in the ancient Church That in order to the preservation of Peace and Piety they would not susser all men that were licensed to preach out of their own stock and abilities but required them to preach ex thesauro Ecclesiae out of the treasures of the Church All men that did preach did not undertake it of their own store of their own judgment and invention making and composing Sermons as they pleased but they borrowed out of the treasures of the Church and read the Homilies of the Fathers Thus it was ordered in the Council of Vase can 4. Power being granted to the Presbyters to preach in every City in case they were hindered by any infirmity the Deacons were enjoyned to read the Homilies of the Fathers Sanctorum Patrum Homiliae recitentur And the reason follows Si enim digni sunt Diaconi quae Christus in Evangelio locutus est legere quare indigni judicentur sanctorum Patrum expositiones publicè recitare If the Deacons be worthy to read the Gospel of Christ why should they be thought unworthy to rehearse publickly the Expositions of the Fathers And this gives us some ground of conjecture that the Presbyters read Homilies of the Fathers too for certainly not onely Deacons and Presbyters but even Bishops themselves did so Gennadius in his book de illustribus Ecclesiae scriptoribus testifieth that Cyril Bishop of Alexandria had written Homilies which many Fishops of Greece used afterwards Cyrillus saith he Alexandrinae Ecclesiae Episcopus Homilias composuit plurimas quae ad declamandum à Graecis Episcopis memoriae commendantur cap. 57. Sixtus Senens lib. 4. pag. 222. Cyril Bishop of Alexandria composed many Homilies which the Greek Bishops getting by heart preached unto the People This may haply seem a dishonourable thing to some men to be thus limited but if it may tend to the peace of the Church it ought not to be grievous How requisite some such Order is in this Church where so many are imployed in Preaching who through faction do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make merchandise of the Word of God or through want of Learning turn Plagiaries and do vivere ex rapto preach Sermons in Print and oftentimes according to their prepossessions take the worst and leave the best is easie to discern For had they not better be appointed where they should borrow stuff for their weekly tasks be limited and confined to the Homilies of the Church and the Fathers of the Church than be suffered to rake into the kennels of Faction and Schism out of which they first suck poison themselves and then propine it to their hearers A fifth Act of Prudence in the ancient Church was A wise Accommodation of themselves to the capacity of their hearers avoiding in their Sermons the discussion of sublime and subtil Questions which conduced not to the Edification of their Auditory They generally distinguished betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things to be published and things to be kept secret they did not think it meet to publish all the mysteries of Christianity to them who were not Initiati Initiate in the school of Christ as Heathens c. Neither did they judge it expedient to handle high and difficult Questions before the unskilful Multitude though Initiati Initiate in the school of Christ but condescended in their Sermons to the understanding of the Vulgar From hence it was that they called their Sermons Homilies An Homily is a familiar Sermon or Speech accommodated to the sense and understanding of the Vulgar It is a memorable and grave sentence of the Emperour Constantine recorded by Eusebius lib. 2. de vita Constant cap. 67. Such Questions as no Canon or Law
REX THEOLOGVS THE PREACHERS Guard and Guide In his double Duty of PRAYER and PREACHING Deduced from Scripture Reason and the best Examples In III. Parts 1. A Vindication of the Kings Letter to the late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the Regulation of Preachers 2. A Demonstration that Forms of Prayer do best suit with Publick Worship 3. An Antidote to the virulent Clamours of the Non-conformists LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1664. To the Right Worshipful Sir RALPH HARE Knight and Baronet and Sir EDWARD WALPOOLE Knight of the Bath Two worthy Members of the Honourable House of Commons Honoured Gentlemen AS you were in your Capacities highly instrumental to the Restauration of His Sacred Majesty to His Crown so I know there is nothing you desire more than the happy settlement of His Majesty with the Church and State under His Dominion upon the foundations of Peace and Piety Amongst other things that hinders such a desired Establishment one is the Exorbitancy of the Pulpit though you have done great things already in the Parliament which we acknowledge to your everlasting Honour in order to the correcting of those Irregularities yet something you left undone as a work proper for an Intelligence of an higher Orb wherefore His Sacred Majesty hath made a further progress in His late DIRECTIONS recommended to the Reverend Fathers of the Church wherein at once He hath approved Himself Episcopum extra Ecclesiam a Bishop without the Church and Theologum intra Ecclesiam a Divine within the Church But forasmuch as His Majesty's DIRECTIONS meet not with that general Reception and Approbation they deserve but are traduced by some as contrary to the Doctrine of the Church my design is in this ensuing Treatise to defend Theologiam Regis the Kings Divinity shining in them I am conscious of my own Defects and therefore implore your Patronage I fear I have presumed too far in sheltering my self under your Names and therefore beg your Pardon and withall your Acceptance of this Testimony of my Observance promising what I fall short of in this Expression of my Gratitude I shall make up with my daily Prayers for you both and the Branches of your Honourable Families to whom I am A most devoted Servant in all Observance Robert Seppens DIEV ET MON DROIT To the Most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury CHARLES R. MOst Reverend Father in God We greet you well Whereas the hold abuses and extravagancies of Preachers in the Pulpit have not onely by the experience of former Ages béen found to tend to the dishonour of God the scandal of Religion and disturbance of the peace both of Church and State but have also through the licentiousness of the late times much increased to the inflaming fomenting and heightning of the sad distempers and confusions that were among us And whereas even at this present notwithstanding the merciful providence of God so signally manifested in restoring Vs to Our Crown and Our pious care and endeavours to govern Our Realms in peace and tranquillity the said Abuses do yet continue in a very high measure in sundry parts of this Realm through the busie diligence of some unquiet and factious Spirits who instead of preaching the pure Word of God and building up the People in Faith and Holiness have made it a great part of their business to beget in the minds of their Heaters an evil opinion of their Governours by insinuating fears and jealousies to dispose them to discontent and to season them with such unsound and dangerous Principles as may lead them into Disobedience Schism and Rebellion And whereas also sundry young Divines and Ministers either out of a spirit of contention and contradiction or in a vain ostentation of their Learning take upon them in their popular Sermons to handle the déep points of Gods Eternal Counsels and Decrées or to meddle with the affairs of State and Government or to wrangle about Forms and Gestures and other fruitless Disputes and Controversies serving rather to amuse than profit the Hearers which is done for the most part and with the greatest confidence by such persons as least understand them We out of Our Princely Care and Zele for the honour of God the advancement of Piety Peace and true Religion and for the preventing for the future as much as lieth in Vs the many and great Inconveniencies and Mischiefs that will unavoidably ensue if a timely stop be not given to these and the like growing Abuses Do according to the Examples of several of Our Predecessours of blessed memory by these Our special Letters straitly charge and command you to use your utmost care and diligence that these Directions which upon long and serious consideration We have thought good to give concerning Preachers and which We have caused to be Printed herewith sent unto you be from henceforth duly and strictly observed by all the Bishops within your Province And to this end Our Will and Pleasure is That you forthwith send them Copies of these Our Directions to be by them spéedily communicated to every Parson Vicar Curate Lecturer and Minister in every Cathedral Collegiate and Parish-Church within their several Dioceses And that you eaâ—nestly require them to imploy their utmost endeavour for the due observation of the â—ame whereof We shall expect a strict accompt both of you and every one of them And these Our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that behalf Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 14. day of October in the 14. year of Our Reign 1662. By His Majesties Command ED. NICHOLAS Directions concerning Preachers I. THat no Preachers in their Sermons presume to meddle with matters of State to model new Governments or take upon them to declare limit or bound out the Power and Authority of Soveraign Princes or to state and determine the differences betwéen Princes and the People but that upon all good occasions they faithfully instruct the People in their bounden duty of Subjection and Obedience to their Governours Superiour and Subordinate of all sorts and to the established Laws according to the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Church of England as it is contained in the Homilies of Obedience and the Articles of Religion set forth by publick Authority II. That they be admonished not to spend their time and study in the search of abstruse and speculative Notions especially in and about the déep points of Election and Reprobation together with the incomprehensible manner of the concurrence of Gods Frée Grace and Mans Frée Will and such other controversies as depend thereupon but howsoever that they presume not positively and doctrinally to determine any thing concerning the same III. That they forbear in their Sermons ordinarily and causlesly to enter upon the handling of any other controversies of less moment and difficulty but whensoever they are occasioned by invitation from the Text they preach
oppressions and persecutions and then to destroy the Priesthood by seizing upon the Church-revenue Thus they served the Clergy at last for their preaching As the Fox did the Crow in the Fable commended their voices till they got away their morsels Lastly by overthrowing the study of Divinity for since preaching came to be of such high esteem with the people that they measure all mens worth by their sides and lungs many of the Clergy give over the difficulties of Theology and content themselves with such superficial knowledge therein as will qualifie them for popular Preachers and no more The Critical Polemical Scholastical Casuistical parts of Divinity crown'd with the admirable Learning of Fathers Councils Ecclesiastical History in all which or at least in some Ministers should excell or be competently versed are now laid aside as superfluous and no way requisite to the accomplishment of a Preacher Whence it comes to pass that in a Church abounding with Preachers there is a great scarcity of Divines Abundance of Preachers but few Divines These considerations with others have moved me to search into the bottom of this art of Preaching to see upon what foundation it stands how it was used in the ancient Church what boundaries should be set to it assuring my self it would be impossible ever to deliver the Church from these Confusions till Preaching the design of all former Reformations were reformed it self and reduced to the just rule purged from the dross and restored to their hands to whom of right it belongs For as in all natural and ordinate mutations there must be removens prohibens so that there should be in moral mutations Prudence dictates If there be any thing hinders the Peace and Welfare of Gods Church even that should be removed But how this can be done without the interposing of Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority without some Canons and Laws first deliberately made and then faithfully executed is not to be imagined For though prudent and considerate men cannot but see the horrible inconvenience that comes upon the Church by this liberty of prophecying yet the Silver-smiths that get their living by this Craft and have made of this preaching artem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Philosophers Stone will cry up this Diana And then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the many on the other side who were carryed meerly by opinion and what they have once imbibed hold as Pilate quod scripsi scripsi they having received an opinion that this preaching is the Alpha and Omega of all Religion It will be more then an Herculean labour to dispossesse them of their darling fancy It was an ingenious device of him that to express the love of preconceived opinions elegantly painted in the gate of humane infelicity a greater number of men in prison loaden above measure and oppressed with heavy chains and fetters who yet were so far from grieving at their misery that they strove amongst themselves every one for the Prerogative of his shackles while some licked them some gently touched them some measured them some covered them with rags from the injury of the air all gloried of their imprisonment and if any had less irons then another he envyed the others happiness The World is governed all by opinion and as every Crow thinks his own bird fairest so every man his own opinion though thereby he is miserably imprisoned and the fetters whereby he is holden be iron impolish'd burthensome grievous to be born yet he hugs them as Ornaments not Impediments as Golden Chains and Bracelets not Iron gyves and by them lies fast bound in the Dungeon of ignorance From which if a man goes about to deliver them they complaine of signall injury done them as the Devil did of Christ Why art thou come to torment us before the time With these kind of men I can promise little successe to this paper when I behold the huge mountains of prejudice that oppose themselves to truth and reason But when I look again upon the grand Impostures and cheats practised upon poor weak souls by these new Quacks in Divinity I consider though it be not in my power to remove or cure so great an evil yet it will be some discharge of Conscience to testifie against it some step and furtherance to the cure to lay open the sore and to shew the necessity of the generous Medicaments his Sacred Majesty hath used for the healing of our breaches in the Church As certainly 't is a thing of huge concernment for the publick peace to look unto the regulation of the Pulpit from whence such innumerable evils have broke in upon us and so many inconveniencies may arise for the future if there be no stop to the insolence of some so there can be no more soveraign remedies to prevent them then the directions of our Dread Soveraign recommended to the Reverend Fathers of the Church I know Regium est bona facere mala audire The best actions of Princes are obnoxious to censure and calumnie Ignorant persons may derogate from them malicious persons may traduce them but none can propound a better Catholicon for the cure of this Epidemical Disease in this juncture of affaires then His Majesty hath done And I hope in this ensuing Treatise to make it appear to every unprejudiced Reader that His Majesties directions are highly prudential and agreeable to the Principles of sound Theology and the practice of the golden age of the Church If it be demanded why I have not confined my self to them alone in the treatise I Answer First because they being not prime verities evident of themselves it was requisite I should search out some antecedent truth from which these doe follow by good consequence Secondly because in this disquisition many Homogeneal things offer themselves which may be of some moment to the right understanding of the matter If I answer not the expectation of any in this my undertaking I shall satisfie my self with the intention of doing good and that I have according to my poor talent contributed the best I can to the justification of his Sacred Majesty and the Peace of my poor labouring Mother the Church of England to whose judgement I submit my self and this poor conception And all that I have to say I shall for orders sake reduce to these four Heads 1. Of Preaching in generall 2. To whom this Office of Preaching primarily belongs 3. How it was managed in the ancient Church 4. What Innovations have been introduced in these latter times CHAP. I. Of Preaching in general THe first thing I am to treat on is Preaching in generall And to doe that I am in Justice bound to give some account of the importance of the word Forasmuch as words are the garments of things and notionall words make us understand the natures of things As Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning of knowledge is the consideration of words Now the word to Preach is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is
1 Pet. 2.25 The Second is that the authority and power necessary for the Government of his Church which was inherent in his own person during the oeconomie of his Humiliation he did before his Ascension delegate to his Apostles Inchoatively Iohn 20.21 22 23. fully and perfectly upon the day of Pentecost when by the descending of the holy Ghost upon them he endued them with power from above according to his promise Luke 24.49 Acts 1.8 But the particular delegation to this power of preaching we have in particular mentioned by it self Once Mat. 10.6 7. But this was limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel The generall commission was given them Mat. 28.19 20. In which our Lord and Saviour impowereth them as Planters to preach the Gospel to unbelievers as Governours and Pastors to feed his flocks the Church If it be objected here That our Lord and Saviour granted a Commission to the Seventy to preach the Gospell as well as to the Apostles Luke 10.1 I grant it but withall answer That that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temporary of short duration and to expire at their return But this is of perpetual duration And that 's the third thing I would lay as a ground that the Apostolate is of perpetual duration though the Apostles taken divisim in their persons were to die shortly after yet taken conjunctim with their Successours as Abraham with his Posterity they are to continue to the Worlds end Though the Persons of the Apostles were mortal like other men yet the Office of the Apostolate was quoad ordinariam potestatem ever to continue in the Church This is evident First by Christs promise added by way of encouragement in their Commission Mat. 28. ult I am with you to the end of the World but he could not be with them in their persons to the end of the World and therefore though they failed in their persons yet the Apostolate must continue Secondly by matter of fact for when Judas by transgression fell Matthias by the eleven was chosen to the Apostleship in his room and it was thought in St. Peters judgment a thing necessary Acts 1.20 When James was slain Saul and Barnabas were called to the Apostolate And 't is very memorable what Clemens Romanus in his Epistle to the Corinthians avoucheth to this purpose Our Apostles saith he knew by the Lord Jesus Christ that there would be contention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the name of Episcopacy and for this cause being endued with perfect prescience ordained the foresaid persons and afterwards made a Law or order that when they died other approved men should succeed in their Office and execute the Function Lastly by the testimony of St. Paul Ephes 4. ver 11 12 13. He gave some Apostles c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till we all meet together and that could not be within the compass of that Generation wherein the twelve primary Apostles lived and therefore there were Secondary Apostles to follow them Lyra upon the place observes that those words till we all meet c. do denote the duration of that Office till Christs coming again to judgment All the question is now concerning the Persons who succeed in the Apostolate and we might supersede that enquiry if we would hearken to the unanimous suffrage and voice of Antiquity delivered to us by St. Jerome in his Epistle to Marcella against Montanus who he saith places the Bishops in the third place but apud nos Apostolorum locum tenent Episcopi with us Bishops hold the place of the Apostles Thus much is evident out of the Scripture it self that as the Apostolate is called by St. Luke a Bishoprick Acts 1.20 so afterwards Bishops were called Apostles which argues the identity of the Apostolate and Episcopacy St. Paul was none of the twelve yet called an Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. James Bishop of Jerusalem was none of the twelve 1 Cor. 15.5 7. yet called an Apostle Gal. 1.19 Epaphroditus was none of the twelve yet called an Apostle Phil. 2.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus Timothy Titus Clemens and many others being Bishops are all called by the Ancients Apostles All which abundantly shews the identity of the ordinary power of the Apostleship and Episcopacy These things being premised it will be easie to determine to whom the Office of Preaching chiefly belongs namely to those who succeed in the Apostolate to them who are Secondary Apostles Bishops as will further appear by three things First because Bishops have the chief cure of all Souls in their Diocese all Presbyters entrusted with the cure of Souls are but their Curates and so were anciently called and so styled still in our Liturgy Send down upon our Bishops and Curates c. in the 40. Canon of the Apostles Presbyters and Deacons are forbidden to attempt any thing without the Bishop and the reason is added nam Domini populus ipsi commissus est pro animabus earum hie redditurus est rationem The Lords people is committed to him and for their Souls he must give an account This agrees with a Canon of St. Pauls Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the rule over you for they watch for you Souls as they that must give an account Who are these Rulers whom the Apostle requires us to obey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he speaks of Bishops saith Oecumenius Bishops then have the chief cure of Souls Secondly because they are concerned to see the Unity of the Church kept The chief end saith St. Jerom of Episcopacy was to obstruct the diffusion of Heresie and Schism Comment in Titum cap. 1. In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ut Schismatum semina tollerentur It was decreed in all the World that one being chosen out of the Presbyters should be set over the rest that the seeds of Schism should be taken away But how can Episcopacy be a deletory of Schism and Heresie if the Bishop have not the chief power of regulating the Pulpit and prescribing forms of wholsome Doctrine within which all shall be obliged to contain themselves without this 't is impossible to preserve either Peace or Truth in any Nation or Christianity it self which is made up of both these Thirdly by the Titles given them in the holy Scripture they are called Prophets not of prediction only but of ordinary Function Acts 13.1 they are called Doctors Ephes 4.11 they are called Pastors Pastor is the Bishops Title saith the Scholiast and therefore the Apostle does not distinguish them as he did the other He hath given some Pastors some Doctors but joyns them by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Pastors and Doctors for certain the Title of Pastor remained peculiar to Bishops for many hundred years after Christ insomuch that the most Learned Bishop of Winchester does challenge Moulin to shew him where ever it was given to a Presbyter Eò ergo te revoco