ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightnesse of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions and to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandements and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye cannot know him And this is the particular I am now to speak to The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the wayes and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro et filiis domus ejus Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House saith the Jewish Proverb Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of all that is to be taught or learned Love is Obedience and we learn his words best when we practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle those things which they that learn ought to practise even while they practise they will best learn Quisquis non venit profectò nec didicit Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam ut quod quisque didicerit non tantum cognoscendo videat sed etiam volendo appetat agedo perficiat St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ we shall never learn for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his spirit that what any one learns he not only sees it by knowledge but desires it by choice and perfects it by practice 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience we find not only in things of practise but even in deepest mysteries not only the choicest and most eminent Saints but even every good man can best tell what is true and best reprove an error He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity and does it by words and names of mans invention or by such which signifie contingently if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers by the Cabala of Letters by the distinctions of the School and by the weak inventions of disputing people if he only talks of Essences and existencies Hypostases and personalities distinctions without difference and priority in Coequalities and unity in Pluralities and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects may amuse himself and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration he may build three Tabernacles in his head and talke something but he knows not what But the good man that feels the power of the Father and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spread to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost the Comforter this man though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy Blessed and Undivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdome of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith and the love of the spirit of God making him to become like unto God He that hath passed from his Childhood in Grace under the spirituall generation of the Father and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings and from thence is become an old Disciple and strong and grown old in Religion and the conversation of the Spirit this man best understands the secret and undiscernable Oeconomie he feels this unintelligible mysterie and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysics can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledge and Jesus Christ is best known by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Kingdom of God be in us then we know God and are known of him and when we communicate of the Spirit of God when we pray for him and have received him and entertained him and dwelt with him and warmed our selves by his holy fires then we know him too But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known but by the measures of Holinesse and the proper light of the Spirit of God But in this case Experience is the best learning and Christianity is the best institution and the Spirit of God is the best teacher and Holinesse is the greatest wisdome and he that sins most is the most Ignorant and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit and will not enter into a polluted Soul But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom said the wise Ben-Sirach And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you and so I shall dismisse you from this attention Many wayes have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet proved ineffective Let us now try Gods Method let us betake our selves to live holily and then the spirit of God will lead us into all truth And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of if he be a Villaine the opinion of his Sect as it will not save his Soul so neither will it do good to the publick But this is a sure Rule
insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a law of righteousness and it is a law of the Spirit of Life and changes nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our Souls through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love James II. 24. You see then how that by works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us that we are also justified by works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this justification is wrought by Faith without works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul that this is not wrought without works S. James is as express for his negative as S. Paul was for his affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom faith was imputed for righteousness and therefore not by works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this that S. James uses the very same argument to prove that our justification is by works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac Now which of these sayes true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on faith to the disparagement of good life and the other makes works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recals us to live the life of Jews while one sayes I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtile arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes but because the great end of Faith the design the definition the State the Oeconomy of it is that all believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing senses of the Apostles to understand the question and the duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with allegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righâ—eousness and Works be pleased to consider that the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous in so much that in the Latin Concordances of S. Hieroms Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less than twenty two several senses and acceptations of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them To which if out of my own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration that whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sense as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other senses be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in works for by works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of works it sometimes means the works of the Law sometimes the works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to recieve the favour and the grace of God Now since our good works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as to need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without works in this sense for by such works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of works But because we came into the world to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from sin and to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose revealed to us all his Fathers will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this obedience therefore when works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore
regarded the Prohibition so nakedly and divested of all Antecedents Consequents Similitudes and Proportions that if they stood clear of that hated name which was set down in Moses Tables they gave themselves liberty in many instances of the same kindred alliance If they abstained from murder they thought it very well though they made no scruple of murdering their Brothers fame they would not cut his throat but they would call him Fool or invent lyes in secret and publish his disgrace openly they would not dash out his brains but they would be extremely and unreasonably angry with him they would not steal their brothers money but they would oppress him in crafty and cruel bargains The Commandment forbade them to commit Adultery but because Fornication was not named they made no scruple of that and being commanded to Honour their Father and their Mother they would give them good words and fair observances but because it was not named that they should maintain them in their need they thought they did well enough to pretend Corban and let their Father starve 3. The Scribes and Pharisees placed their Righteousness in Negatives they would not commit what was forbidden but they cared but little for the included positive and the omissions of good Actions did not much trouble them they would not hurt their Brother in a forbidden instance but neither would they do him good according to the intention of the Commandment It was a great Innocence if they did not rob the Poor then they were righteous men but thought themselves not much concerned to acquire that god-like excellency a Philanthropy and love to all mankind Whosoever blasphem'd God was to be put to death but he that did not glorifie God as he ought they were unconcerned for him and let him alone he that spake against Moses was to dy without mercy but against the ambitious and the covetous against the proud man and the unmerciful they made no provisions Virtus est vitium fugere sapientia prima Stultitiâ caruisse They accounted themselves good not for doing good but for doing no evil that was the sum of their Theology 4. They had one thing more as bad as all this They broke Moses Tables into pieces and gathering up the fragments took to themselves what part of Duty they pleased and let the rest alone For it was a Proverb amongst the Jews Qui operam dat praecepto liber est à praecepto that is If he chuses one positive Commandment for his business he may be less careful in any of the rest Indeed they said also Qui multiplicat legem multiplicat vitam he that multiplies the Law increases Life that is if he did attend to more good things it was so much the better but the other was well enough but as for Universal Obedience that was not the measure of their Righteousness for they taught that God would put our good works and bad into the balance and according to the heavier scale give a portion in the world to come so that some evil they would allow to themselves and their Disciples alwayes provided it was less than the good they did They would devour Widows houses and make it up by long Prayers they would love their Nation and hate their Prince offer Sacrifice and curse Caesar in their heart advance Judaism and destroy Humanity Lastly St. Austin summ'd up the difference between the Pharisaical and Evangelical righteousness in two words Brevis differentia inter Legem Evangelium timor amor They serv'd the God of their Fathers in the spirit of Fear and we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus in the spirit of Love and by the spirit of Adoption and as this Slavish principle of theirs was the cause of all their former Imperfections so it finally and chiefly express'd it self in these two particulars 1. They would do all that they thought they lawfully could do 2. They would do nothing but what was expresly commanded This was the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and their Disciples the Jews which because our B. Saviour reproves not only as imperfect then but as criminal now calling us on to a new Righteousness the Righteousness of God to the Law of the Spirit of Life to the Kingdom of God and the proper Righteousness thereof it concerns us in the next place to look after the measures of this ever remembring that it is infinitely necessary that we should do so and men do not generally know or not consider what it is to be a Christian they understand not what the Christian Law forbiddeth or commandeth But as for this in my Text it is indeed our great measure but it is not a question of good and better but of Good and Evil Life and Death Salvation and Damnation for unless our Righteousness be weighed by new weights we shall be found too light when God comes to weigh the actions of all the world and unless we be more righteous than they we shall in no wise that is upon no other terms in the world enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now concerning this we shall do very much amiss if we take our measures by the manners and practises of the many who call themselves Christians for there are as Nazianzen expresses it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the old and the new Pharisees I wish it were no worse amongst us and that all Christians were indeed Righteous as they were est aliquid prodire tenus it would not be just nothing But I am sure that to bid defiance to the Laws of Christ to laugh at Religion to make a merriment at the debauchery and damnation of our Brother is a state of evil worse than that of the Scribes and Pharisees and yet even among such men how impatient would they be and how unreasonable would they think you to be if you should tell them that there is no present hopes or possibility that in this state they are in they can be saved Omnes videmur nobis esse belluli Et festivi Saperdae cum simus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the world is too full of Christians whose Righteousness is very little and their Iniquities very great and now adays a Christian is a man that comes to Church on Sundays and on the week following will do shameful things Passim corvos sequitur testâque lutoque Securus quo pes ferat at que ex tempore vivit being according to the Jewish proverbial reproof as so many Mephibosheths discipuli sapientum qui incessu pudefaciunt praeceptorem suum their Master teaches them to go uprightly but they still show their lame leg and shame their Master as if a man might be a Christian and yet be the vilest person in the world doing such things for which the Laws of men have provided smart and shame and the Laws of God have threatned the intolerable pains of an unsufferable and never ending damnation Example here cannot be our rule
I shall enter no further upon this inquiry only I remember that it is not very many Months since the Bigots of the Popish party cryed out against us vehemently and inquired Where is your Church of England since you have no Unity for your Ecclesiastick head of Unity your Bishops are gone And if we should be desirous to verify their argument so as indeed to destroy Episcopacy We should too much advantage Popery and do the most imprudent and most impious thing in the world But blessed be God who hath restored that Government for which our late King of glorious memory gave his blood And that me thinks should very much weigh with all the Kings true hearted Subjects who should make it Religion not to rob that glorious Prince of the greatest honour of such a Martyrdom For my part I think it fit to rest in those words of another Martyr S. Cyprian Si quis cum Episcopo non sit in Ecclesia non esse He that is not with the Bishop is not in the Church that is he that goes away from him and willingly separates departs from Gods Church and whether he can then be with God is a very material consideration and fit to be thought on by all that think Heaven a more eligible good then the interests of a faction and the importune desire of rule can countervail However I have in the following papers spoken a few things which I hope may be fit to perswade them that are not infinitely prejudiced and although two or three good arguments are as good as two or three hundred yet my purpose here was to prove the dignity and necessity of the Office and Order Episcopal only that it might be as an Oeconomy to convey notice and remembrances of the great duty incumbent upon all them that undertake this great charge The Dignity and the Duty take one another by the hand and are born together only every Sheep of the Flock must take care to make the Bishops duty as easy as it can by humility and love by prayer and by Obedience It is at the best very difficult but they who oppose themselves to Government make it harder and uncomfortable But take heed if thy Bishop hath cause to complain to God of thee for thy perversness and uncharitable walking thou wilt be the loser And for us we can only say in the words of the Prophet We will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people But Our comfort is in God for we can do nothing without him but in him we can do all things And therefore We will pray Domine dabis pacem nobis omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis God hath wrought all our works within us and therefore he will give us Peace and give us his Spirit Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith A Consecration Sermon Preached at DVBLIN Luke XII 42. And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THese words are not properly a question though they seem so and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interrogative but hypothetical and extends who to whosoever plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshould of him God requires a great care because he hath trusted him with a great imployment Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in my Text Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it now and in all generations of men as long as this Family shall abide on earth that is the Apostles and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship were to be furnished with the same power and to undertake the same charge and to give the same strict and severe accounts In these words here is something insinuated and much expressed 1. That which is insinuated only is who these Stewards are whom Christ had whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church they are not here named but we shall find them out by their propeâ— dirâ—ction and indigitation by and by 2. But that which is expressed is the Office it self in a double capacity 1. In the dignity of it It is a Rule and a Government whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshould 2. In the care and duty of it which determines the government to be paternal and profitable iâ— is a rule but such a rule as Shepherds have over their flocks to lead them to good pastures and to keep them within their appointed walks and within their folds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the work to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Matthew calls it meat in the season that which is fit for them and when it is fit meat enough and meat convenient and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong wholsom dyet 3. Lastly Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation The Steward that does so and continues to do so till his Lord find him so doing this man shall be blessed in his deed Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of these in order â— Who are these Rulers of Christs Family for though Christ knew it and therefore needed not to ask yet we have disputed it so much and obeyed so little that we have changed the plain hypothesis into an intangled question The answer yet is easy as to some part of the inquiry The Apostles are the first meaning of the Text for they were our Fathers in Christ They begat Sons and Daughters unto God and were a spiritual paternity is evident we need look no further for spiritual Government because in the paternal rule all power is founded They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the Spirit and they fed this Family and ruled it by the word of their proper Ministery They had the keyes of this house the Stewards Ensign and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church then for the first planting and if it was necessary that
Apostles are dead Yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that Office Apostolical and supreme regiment of souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons the XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII And then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII And yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact S. James the Bishop of Jerusalem is by S. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and S. Paul Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so saith Primasius and what is this else but the Bishop faith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bishops were then called Apostles saith the same Father the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the Church In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make Princes in Lands that is not only the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their children and Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternitas id est Episcopi quos illa genuit patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith S. Austin the children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bishops and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not only upon the words of institution but on matter of fact passed forth into a demonstration and greatest notoreity by the Doctrine and practice of the whole Catholick Church For so S. Irenaeus who was one of the most Antient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative We can sayes he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in the Churches to be their Successors unto us leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus S. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bishop of Smyrna S. Clement Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and divers others by the Apostles faith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bishops were consecrated by S. John and to be short that Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in the Stewardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by S. Cyprian and S. Hierom S. Ambrose and S. Austin by Euthymius and Pacianus by S. Gregory and S. John Damascen by Clarius à Muscula and S. Sixtus by Anacletus and S. Isidore by the Roman Councel under S. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bishops from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these premises I give you in the words of S. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quod Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is he Bps. were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that S. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bishops over Churches Indeed the Gnosticks spake evil of this order for they are noted by three Apostles S. Paul S. Peter and S. Jude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of dignities and what government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of S. Jude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the high Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of men no man within the first 300. years after Christ opposed Episcopacy But when Constantine received the Church into his arms he found it universally governed by Bishops and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and ruled and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting succession from the Apostles of our Lord have no Ecclesiastical and Derivative communion with these fountains of our Saviour If ever Lirinensis's rule could be used in any question it is in this Quod semper quod ubique quod ab omibus That Bishops are the successors of the Apostles in this Stewardship and that they did alwayes rule the Family was taught and acknowledged alwayes and every where and by all men that were of the Church of God and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this question we shall find our faith to fail in many other articles of
false Prophet will fall upon them and the reward of the evil Steward will be their portion and they who destroyed the Sheep or neglected them shall have their portion with Goats for ever and ever in everlasting burnings in which it is impossible for a man to dwell Can any thing be beyond this beyond damnaâ—ion Surely a mâ—n would think not And yet I remember a severe saying of S. Gregory Scire debent Prelati quod tot mortibus digni sunt quot perditionis exempla ad subditos extenderunt One damnation is not enough for an evil Shepherd but for every Soul who dyes by his evil example or pâ—rnitious carelesness he deserves a new death a new damnation Let us therefore be wise and faithful walk warily and watch carefully and rule diligently and pray assiduously For God is more propense to rewards then to punishments and the good Steward that is wise and faithful in his dispensation shall be greatly blessed But how He shall be made ruler over the houshold What is that for he is so already True but he shall be much more Ex dispensatore faciet procuratorem God will treat him as Joseph was treated by his Master he was first a Steward and then a Procurator one that ruled his goods without account and without restraint Our ministry shall pass into Empire our labour into rest our watchfulness into fruition and our Bishoprick to a Kingdom In the mean time our Bishopricks are a great and weighty care and in a spiritual sense our dominion is founded in grace and our rule is in the hearts of the people and our strengths are the powers of the Holy Ghost and the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and the eye of God watches over us curiously to see if we watch over our flocks by day and by night And though the Primitive Church as the Ecclesiastick Histories observe when they deposed a Bishop from his office ever concealed his crime and made no record of it yet remember this that God does and will call us to a strict and severe account Take heed that you may never hear that fearful sentence I was hungry and ye gave me no meat If you suffer Christs little ones to starve it will be required severely at your hands And know this that the time will quickly come in which God shall say unto thee in the words of the Prophet Where is the Flock that was given thee thy beautiful Flock What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee God of his mercy grant unto us all to be so faithful and so wise as to convert Souls and to be so blessed and so assisted that we may give an account of our charges with joy to the glory of God to the edification and security of our Flocks and the salvation of our own Souls in that day when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls shaâ—l come to judgment even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Love and Obedience now and for evermore Amen FINIS Thursday the 9 th of May. ORdered that the Speaker do give the Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Down the thanks of this House for his yesterdaies paines and that he desire him to print his Sermon John Keating Cler. Parl. 11. die Maii 1661. ORdered that Sir Theophilus Jones Knight Marcus Trever Esq Sir William Domville Kn t his Majesties Attorney General and Richard Kirle Esq be and are hereby appointed a Committee to return thanks unto the Lord Bishop of Down for his Sermon preached on Wednesday last unto the Lords Justices and Lords Spiritual and Temporal whereunto the House of Commons were invited and that they desire his Lordship from this House to cause the same to be forthwith printed and published Copia Vera. Ex. per Philip Ferneley Cler. Dom. Com. A SERMON PREACHED At the opening of the Parliament of IRELAND May 8. 1661. Before the right Honourable the Lords Justices and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons By JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor Salus in multitudine consulentium LONDON Printed by J. F. for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Sacred MAJESTY 1661. To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland Assembled in PARLIAMENT My Lords and Gentlemen I Ought not to dispute your commands for the printing my Sermon of Obedience lest my Sermon should be protestatio contra factum here I know my Example would be the best Use to this Doctrine and I am sure to find no inconveniency so great as that of Disobedience neither can I be confident that I am wise in any thing but when I obey for then I have the wisdome of my Superiour for my warrant or my excuse I remember the saying of Aurelius the Emperor Aequius est me tot talium amicorum consilium quam tot tales meam unius voluntatem sequi I could easily have pretended excuses but that day I had taught others the contrary and I would not shed that Chalice which my own hands had newly filled with waters issuing from the fountains of Salvation My eyes are almost grown old with seeing the horrid mischiefs which came from Rebellion and Disobedience and I would willingly now be blessed with observation of Peace and Righteousness Plenty and Religion which do already and I hope shall for ever attend upon Obedience to the best KING and the best CHURCH in the world I see no objection against my hopes but that which ought least of all in this case to be pretended Men pretend Conscience against Obedience expressly against Saint Paul's Doctrine teaching us to obey for conscience sake but to disobey for Conscience in a thing indifferent is never to be found in the books of our Religion It is very hard when the Prince is forc'd to say to his rebellious Subject as God did to his stubborn people Quid faciam tibi I have tried all the waies I can to bring thee home and what shall I now doe unto thee The Subject should rather say Quid me vis facere What wilt thou have me to doe This Question is the best end of disputations Corrumpitur atque dissolvitur Imperantis officium si quis ad id quod facere jussus est non obsequio debito sed consilio non considerato respondeat said one in A. Gellius When a Subject is commanded to obey and he disputes and saies Nay but the other is better he is like a servant that gives his Master necessary counsel when he requires of him a necessary obedience Utilius parére edicto quam efferre consilium he had better obey then give counsel by how much it is better to be profitable then to be witty to be full of goodness rather then full of talk and argument But all this is acknowledged true in strong men but not in the weak in vigorous but not in tender Consciences for Obedience is
and of rest in God after your long discourse and his great silence he cryes out What 's the matter He knows not what you meane Either you must fit his humour or change your discourse I remember that Arianus tells of a Gentleman that was banished from Rome and in his sorrow visited the Philosopher and he heard him talk wisely and believed him and promised him to leave all the thoughts of Rome and splendours of the Court and retire to the course of a severe Philosophy but before the good mans Lectures were done there came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 letters from Caesar to recall him home to give him pardon and promise him great Imployment He presently grew weary of the good mans Sermon and wished he would make an end thought his discourse was dull and flat for his head and heart were full of another storie and new principles and by these measures he could heare only and he could understand Every man understands by his Affections more then by his Reason and when the Wolfe in the Fable went to School to learn to spell whatever letters were told him he could never make any thing of them but Agnus he thought of nothing but his belly and if a man be very hungry you must give him meate before you give him counsell A mans mind must be like your proposition before it can be entertained for whatever you put into a man it will smell of the Vessell it is a mans mind that gives the emphasis and makes your argument to prevail And upon this account it is that there are so many false Doctrines in the only Article of Repentance Men know they must repent but the definition of Repentance they take from the convenience of their own affaires what they will not part with that is not necessary to be parted with and they will repent but not restore they will say nollem factum they wish they had never done it but since it is done you must give them leave to rejoyce in their purchase they will ask forgivenesse of God but they sooner forgive themselves and suppose that God is of their mind If you tye them to hard termes your Doctrine is not to be understood or it is but one Doctors opinion and therefore they will fairly take their leave and get them another Teacher What makes these evil these dangerous and desperate Doctrines not the obscurity of the thing but the cloud upon the heart for say you what you will He that hears must be the expounder and we can never suppose but a man will give sentence in behalf of what he passionately loves And so it comes to pass that as Rabbi Moses observ'd that God for the greatest Sin imposed the least Oblation as a she-Goat for the sin of Idolatry for a woman accused of Adultery a Barly-cake so do most men they think to expiate the worst of their sins with a trifling with a pretended little insignificant repentance God indeed did so that the cheapnesse of the oblation might teach them to hope for pardon not from the Ceremony but from a severe internal repentance But men take any argument to lessen their repentance that they may not lessen their pleasures or their estates and that Repentance may be nothing but a word and Mortification signifie nothing against their pleasures but be a term of Art only fitted for the Schools or for the Pulpit but nothing relative to practice or the extermination of their sin So that it is no wonder we understand so little of Religion it is because we are in love with that which destroyes it and as a man does not care to hear what does not please him so neither does he believe it he cannot he will not understand it And the same is the Case in the matter of Pride the Church hath extremely suffer'd by it in many ages Arius missed a Bishoprick and therefore turned Heretick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the story he disturb'd and shaked the Church for he did not understand this Truth That the peace of the Church was better then the satisfaction of his person or the promoting his foolish Opinion And do not we see and feel that at this very day the Pride of men makes it seem impossible for many persons to obey their Superiors and they do not see what they can read every day that it is a sin to speak evill of Dignities A man would think it a very easie thing to understand the 13. Chapter to the Romans Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and yet we know a generation of men to whom these words were so obscure that they thought it lawfull to fight against their King A man would think it easie to believe that those who were in the gain-saying of Corah who rose up against the high Priest were in a very sad condition and yet there are too many amongst us who are in the gain-saying of Corah and think they do very well that they are the Godly party and the good people of God Why what 's the matter In the world there can be nothing plainer then these words Let every soul the subject to the higher powers and that you need not make a scruple who are these higher powers it is as plainly said there is no power but of God all that are set over you by the Laws of your Nation these are over you in the Lord and yet men will not understand these plain things they deny to doe their notorious duty and yet believe they are in the right and if they sometimes obey for wrath they oftner disobey for Conscience sake Where is the fault The words are plain the duty is certain the Book lyes open but alas it is Sealed within that is men have eyes and will not see eares and will not heare But the wonder is the lesse for we know when God said to Jonas doest thou well to be angry he answered God to his face I do well to be angry even unto the death Let God declare his mind never so plainly if men will not lay aside the evil principle that is within their open love to their secret sin they may kill an Apostle and yet be so ignorant as to think they do God good service they may disturb Kingdomes and break the peace of a well-ordered Church and rise up against their Fathers and be cruell to their Brethren and stir up the people to Sedition and all this with a cold stomach and a hot liver with a hard heart and a tender Conscience with humble carriage and a proud spirit For thus men hate Repentance because they scorn to confesse an Errour they will not return to Peace and Truth because they feare to lose the good opinion of the people whom themselves have couzened they are afraid to be good lest they should confess they have formerly done amisse and he that observes how much evil is done and how many Heresies are risen and how much obstinacy
the proportions of Holinesse and when all Books are read and all Arguments examined and all Authorities alledged nothing can be found to be true that is unholy Give your selves to reading to exhortation and to Doctrine saith St. Paul Read all good Books you can but exhortation unto good life is the best Instrument and the best teacher of true Doctrine of that which is according to Godlinesse And let me tell you this The great learning of the Fathers was more owing to their piety then to their skill more to God then to themselves and to this purpose is that excellent ejaculation of St. Chrysostome with which I will conclude O blessed and happy men whose names are in the Book of life from whom the Devils fled and Heretics did feare them who by Holinesse have stopp'd the mouthes of them that spake perverse things But I like David will cry out Where are thy loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old Where is the blessed Quire of Bishops and Doctors who shined like lights in the World and contained the Word of Life Dulce est meminisse their very memory is pleasant Where is that Evodias the sweet savour of the Church the successor and imitator of the holy Apostles where is Ignatius in whom God dwelt where is St. Dionysius the Areopagite that Bird of Paradise that celestial Eagle where is Hippolytus that good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that gentle sweet person where is great St. Basil a man almost equall to the Apostles where is Athanasius rich in vertue where is Gregory Nyssen that great Divine and Ephrem the great Syrian that stirred up the sluggish and awakened the sleepers and comforted the afflicted and brought the yong men to discipline the Looking-glasse of the religious the Captain of the Penitents the destruction of Heresies the receptacle of Graces and the habitation of the holy Ghost These were the men that prevailed against Error because they lived according to Truth and whoever shall oppose you and the truth you walk by may better be confuted by your lives then by your disputations Let your adversaries have no evil thing to say of you and then you will best silence them For all Heresies and false Doctrines are but like Myron's counterfeit Cow it deceived none but Beasts and these can cozen none but the wicked and the negligent them that love a lye and live according to it But if ye become burning and shining lights if ye do not detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse if ye walk in light and live in the Spirit your Doctrines will be true and that Truth will prevaile But if ye live wickedly and scandalously every little Schismatick shall put you to shame and draw Disciples after him and abuse your flocks and feed them with Colocynths and Hemlock and place Heresie in the Chaires appointed for your Religion I pray God give you all grace to follow this Wisdom to study this Learning to labour for the understanding of Godlinesse so your time and your studies your persons and your labours will be holy and useful sanctified and blessed beneficiall to men and pleasing unto God through him who is the wisdom of the Father who is made to all that love him Wisdom and Righteousnesse and Sanctification and Redemption To whom with the Father c. FINIS Imprimatur M. FRANCK S.T.D. R sso in X to P. ac D no. D. GILB Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Dom. Sept. 21. 1663. A SERMON Preached in Christs-Church Dublin July 16. 1663. AT THE FUNERAL Of the most Reverend Father in God JOHN Late Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland WITH A succinct Narrative of his whole Life The third Edition enlarged By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor LONDON Printed by J. G. for Richard Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1663. 1 Cor. 15.23 But every Man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterward they that are Christ's at his coming THe Condition of Man in this world is so limited and depressed so relative and imperfect that the best things he does he does weakly and the best things he hath are imperfections in their very constitution I need not tell how little it is that we know the greatest indication of this is That we can never tell how many things we know not and we may soon span our own Knowledge but our Ignorance we can never fathom Our very Will in which Mankind pretends to be most noble and imperial is a direct state of imperfection and our very liberty of Chusing good and evil is permitted to us not to make us proud but to make us humble for it supposes weakness of Reason and weakness of Love For if we understood all the degrees of Amability in the Service of God or if we had such love to God as he deserves and so perfect a conviction as were fit for his Services we could no more Deliberate For Liberty of Will is like the motion of a Magnetick Needle toward the North full of trembling and uncertainty till it were fixed in the beloved Point it wavers as long as it is free and is at rest when it can chuse no more And truly what is the hope of Man It is indeed the resurrection of the Soul in this world from sorrow and her saddest pressures and like the Twilight to the Day and the Harbinger of joy but still it is but a conjugation of Infirmities and proclaims our present calamity onely because it is uneasie here it thrusts us forwards toward the light and glories of the Resurrection For as a Worm creeping with her belly on the ground with her portion and share of Adam's curse lifts up its head to partake a little of the blessings of the air and opens the junctures of her imperfect body and curles her little rings into knots and combinations drawing up her tail to a neighbourhood of the heads pleasure and motion but still it must return to abide the fate of its own nature and dwell and sleep upon the dust So are the hopes of a mortal Man he opens his eyes and looks upon fine things at distance and shuts them again with weakness because they are too glorious to behold and the Man rejoyces because he hopes fine things are staying for him but his heart akes because he knows there are a thousand wayes to fail and miss of those glories though he hopes yet he enjoys not he longs but he possesses not and must be content with his portion of dust and being a worm and no Man must lie down in this portion before he can receive the end of his hopes the Salvation of his Soul in the resurrection of the dead For as Death is the end of our lives so is the Resurrection the end of our hopes and as we die daily so we daily hope but Death which is the end of our life is the enlargement of our Spirits from hope to