every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers detractors and backbiters for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity and yet so common that it is pass'd into a Proverb After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours rule L Let every Minister be careful to observe and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners of which the Laws cannot or do not take cognizance such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings gluttony riotous living expences above their ability pride bragging lying in ordinary conversation covetousness peevishness and hasty anger and such like For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls rule LI In your Sermons to the people often speak of the four last things of Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners and his Severity against the impenitent of the formidable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels Sacrilegious Oppressors of Widows and Orphans and all persons guilty of crying Sins These are useful safe and profitable but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets for there is more laid before you than you can understand and the whole duty of man is To fear God and keep his Commandments Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. rule LII Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation It is enough that you reprove an Errour but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgment thou knowest not and therefore pray for the erring person and reprove him but leave the sentence to his judge rule LIII Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings Merchants and Tradesmen that they be not unskilful nor unadmonished in their respective duties and in all things speak usefully and affectionately for by this means you will provide for all mens needs both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding and them that sin because they have evil dull or depraved affections rule LIV In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion use primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the words of common use and reform Religion by introducing a new word intend to make a change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs but store of Mushromes and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find occasion rule LV Let every Minister in his charge as much as he can endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people or others with whom they converse especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance and putting it off to their death-bed let him explicate the nature of Faith so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity let him as much as he may take from them all confidences that slacken their obedience and diligence let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdom by destroying those things in which it does consist viz. Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Mortification rule LVI Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils for these as they are measures of truth so also of necessity that is as they are safe so they are sufficient and besides what is taught by these no matter of belief is necessary to salvation rule LVII Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies though with a purpose to confute them for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer rule LVIII Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute but teach it with plainness and simplicity and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture but without objection let them be taught to believe but not to argue lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry than establish it by arguments too hard rule LIX Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light immodest or ridiculous expressions but what is wise grave useful and for edification that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity the people may attend with fear and reverence rule LX Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience or more same in Preaching than himself let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down is but a dwarf still and no man is the better for making his brother worse In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd and rejoice that he is served whoever be the Minister that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher yet you may have the reward of being a good man but it is hard to miss both rule LXI Let every Preacher in his Parish take care to explicate to the people the Mysteries of the great Festivals as of Christmas Easter Ascension-day Whitsunday Trinity Sunday the Annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Mary because these Feasts containing in them the great Fundamentals of our Faith will with most advantage convey the mysteries to the people and fix them in their memories by the solemnity and circumstances of the day rule LXII In all your Sermons and Discourses speak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious and impute not to him such things the consequents of which a wise and good man will not owne never suppose him to be author of sin or the procurer of our damnation For God cannot be tempted
Bird out of a Bush disorders us the Lion in the way troubles us not but a Frog and a Worm affrights us Remember the saying of S. Paul Christ came to redeem to himself a Church and to present it pure and spotless before the Throne of Grace and if you mean to be of this number you must endeavour to be under this qualification that is as Paul laboured to be void of offence both towards God and towards Man And so I have done with the second Proposition It is necessary that all sin great and little should be mortified and dead in us and that we no longer abide in that state of slavery as to say The good that I would I do not but the evil that I would not that I do 3. In the next place we are to inquire in what degree this is to be effected for though in negatives properly there are no degrees yet unless there be some allays in this Doctrine it will not be so well and it may be your Experiences will for ever confute my Arguments For Who can say that he is clean from his sin said the Wiseman and as our Blessed Saviour said He that is innocent among you all let him throw the first stone at the sinner and spare not To this I answer in the words of S. Gregory All mans righteousness will be found to be unrighteous if God should severely enter into judgment but therefore even after our innocence we must pray for pardon ut quae succumbere discussa poterat ex judicis pietate convalescat that our innocence which in strictness of Divine Judgment would be found spotted and stained by the mercy of our Saviour may be accepted S. Bernard expresses this well Nostra siqua est humilis justitia recta forsitan sed non pura Our humble righteousness is perhaps right in the eyes of God but not pure that is accepted by his Mercy but it is such as dares not contend in Judgment For as no man is so much a sinner but he sometimes speaks a good word or does some things not ill and yet that little good interrupts not that state of evil so it is amongst very good men from whom sometimes may pass something that is not commendable and yet their heart is so habitually right towards God that they will do nothing but I do not say which God in justice cannot but which in mercy he will not impute to eternal condemnation It was the case of David He was a man after Gods own heart nay it is said he was blameless save in the matter of Uriah and yet we know he numbred the people and God was angry with him and punished him for it but because he was a good man and served God heartily that other fault of his was imputed to him no further God set a fine upon his head for it but it was salvo contenemento the main stake was safe For concerning good men the question is not whether or no God could not in the rigour of justice blame their indiscretion or impute a foolish word or chide them for a hasty answer or a careless action for a less devout prayer or weak hands for a fearful heart or a trembling Faith These are not the measures by which God judges his Children for he knoweth whereof we are made and he remembers that we are but dust But the question is whether any man that is covetous or proud false to his trust or a Drunkard can at the same time be a child of God No certainly he cannot But then we know that God judges us by Jesus Christ that is with the allayes of mercy with an eye of pardon with the sentences of a Father by the measures of a man and by analogy to all our unavoidable abatements God could enter with us into a more severe judgment but he would not and no justice tied him from exercising that mercy But according to the measures of the Gospel he will judge every man according to his works Now what these measures are is now the question To which I answer first in general and then more particularly 1. In general thus A Christians innocence is alwayes to be measured by the plain lines and measures of the Commandments but are not to be taken into account by uncertain and fond opinions and the scruples of zealous and timerous persons My meaning is this Some men tell us that every natural inclination to a forbidden object is a sin which they that believe finding them to be natural do also confess that such sins are unavoidable But if these natural and first motions be sins then a man sins whether he resists them or resists them not whether he prevails or prevails not and there is no other difference but this he that fights not against but alwayes yields to his desires sins greatest and he that never yields but fights alwayes sins oftenest But then by this reckoning it will indeed be impossible to avoid millions of sins because the very doing of our duty does suppose a sin If God should impute such first desires to us as sins we were all very miserable but if he does not impute them let us trouble our selves no further about them but to take care that they never prevail upon us Thus men are taught that they never say their Prayers but they commit a sin Indeed that is true but too often but yet it is possible for us by the Grace of God to please him in saying our Prayers and to be accepted of him But indeed if God did proceed against us as we do against one another no man could abide innocent for so much as one hour But Gods judgment is otherwise He enquires if the heart be right if our labour be true if we love no sin if we use prudent and efficacious instruments to mortifie our sin if we go about our Religion as we go about the biggest concerns of our life if we be sincere and real in our actions and intentions For this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God requires of us all this is that sinless state in which if God does not find us we shall never see his glorious face and if he does find us we shall certainly be saved by the blood of Jesus For in the style of Scripture to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same thing to be sincere and to be without offence is all one Thus David spake heartily I am utterly purposed that my mouth shall not offend and thou shalt find no wickedness in me He that endeavours this and hopes this and does actions and uses means accordingly not being deceived by his own false heart nor abused by evil propositions this man will stand upright in the Congregations of the Just and though he cannot challenge Heaven by merit yet he shall receive it as a gift by promise and by grace Lex nos innocentes esse jubet non curiosos said Seneca For God takes no judgment
and returns to it with passion and abides with pleasure This will not do it such a man cannot be justified for all his believing But therefore the Apostle shews us a more excellent way This is a true saying and I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works The Apostle puts great force on this Doctrine he arms it with a double Preface the saying is true and it is to be constantly affirmed that is it is not only true but necessary it is like Pharaoh's dream doubled because it is bound upon us by the decree of God and it is unalterably certain that every Believer must do good works or his believing will signifie little nay more than so every man must be careful to do good works and more yet he must carefully maintain them that is not do them by fits and interrupted returns but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be incumbent upon them to dwell upon them to maintain good works that is to persevere in them But I am yet but in the general be pleased to go along with me in these particular considerations 1. No mans sins are pardoned but in the same measure in which they are mortified destroyed and taken away so that if Faith does not cure our sinful Natures it never can justifie it never can procure our pardon And therefore it is that as soon as ever Faith in the Lord Jesus was Preached at the same time also they preached Repentance from dead works in so much that S. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first principles of Christianity nay the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the Faith of Christ. And I pray consider can there be any forgiveness of sins without repentance But if an Apostle should preach forgiveness to all that believe and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin the Sermons of the Apostle would make Christianity nothing else but the Sanctuary of Romulus a device to get together all the wicked people of the world and to make them happy without any change of manners Christ came to other purposes he came to sanctifie us and to cleanse us by his Word the word of Faith was not for it self but was a design of holiness and the very grace of God did appear for this end that teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live holily justly and soberly in this present world he came to gather a People together not like Davids Army when Saul pursued him but the Armies of the Lord a faithful people a chosen generation and what is that The Spirit of God adds a People zealous of good works Now as Christ proved his power to forgive sins by curing the poor mans Palsie because a man is never pardoned but when the punishment is removed so the great act of justification of a sinner the pardoning of his sins is then only effected when the spiritual evil is taken away that 's the best indication of a real and an eternal pardon when God takes away the hardness of the heart the love of sin the accursed habit the evil inclination the sin that doth so easily beset us and when that is gone what remains within us that God can hate Nothing stayes behind but Gods creation the work of his own hands the issues of his holy Spirit The Faith of a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it destroyes the whole body of sin and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner whom he doth not also purge and rescue from the dominion of sin is to affirm that he justifies the wicked that he calls good evil and evil good that he delights in a wicked person that he makes a wicked man all one with himself that he makes the members of an harlot at the same time also the members of Christ but all this is impossible and therefore ought not to be pretended to by any Christian. Severe are those words of our Blessed Saviour Every plant in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Faith ingrafts us into Christ by Faith we are inserted into the vine but the plant that is ingrafted must also be parturient and fruitful or else it shall be quite cut off from the root and thrown into the everlasting burning And this is the full and plain meaning of those words so often used in Scripture for the magnification of Faith The just shall live by Faith No man shall live by Faith but the just man he indeed is justified by Faith but no man else the unjust and the unrighteous man hath no portion in this matter That 's the first great consideration in this affair no man is justified in the least sense of justification that is when it means nothing but the pardon of sins but when his sin is mortified and destroyed 2. No man is actually justified but he that is in some measure sanctified For the understanding and clearing of which Proposition we must know that justification when it is attributed to any cause does not alwayes signifie justification actual Thus when it is said in Scripture We are justified by the death of Christ it is but the same thing as to say Christ dyed for us and he rose again for us too that we might indeed be justified in due time and by just measures and dispositions he dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification that is by his Death and Resurrection he hath obtained this power and effected this mercy that if we believe him and obey we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the Kingdom But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon of grace and of salvation appears not only by Gods requiring Obedience as a condition on our parts but by his expresly attributing this mercy to us at such times and in such circumstances in which it is certain and evident that we could not actually be justified for so saith the Scripture We when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son and while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us that is then was our Justification wrought on Gods part that is then he intended this mercy to us then he resolved to shew us favour to give us Promises and Laws and Conditions and Hopes and an infallible Oeconomy of Salvation and when Faith layes hold on this Grace and this Justification then we are to do the other part of it that is as God made it potential by the Death and Resurrection of Christ so we laying hold on these things by Faith and working the Righteousness of Faith that is performing what is required on our parts we I say make it actual and for this very reason it is that the Apostle puts more Emphasis upon the Resurrection of Christ than upon his Death Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that
dyed yea rather that is risen again And Christ was both delivered for our sins and is risen again for our justification implying to us that as it is in the principal so it is in the correspondent our sins indeed are potentially pardoned when they are marked out for death and crucifixion when by resolving and fighting against sin we dye to sin daily and are so made conformable to his Death but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual when we are dead to sin and are risen again unto righteousness then as we are partakers of his Death so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection saith S. Paul that is then we are truly effectually and indeed justified till then we are not He that loveth Gold shall not be justified saith the wise Bensirach he that is covetous let his Faith be what it will shall not be accounted righteous before God because he is not so in himself and he is not so in Christ for he is not in Christ at all he hath no righteousness in himself and he hath none in Christ for if we be in Christ or if Christ be in us the Body is dead by reason of sin and the Spirit is life because of righteousness For this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful thing that is the faithfulness is manifested the Emun from whence comes Emunah which is the Hebrew word for Faith from whence Amen is derived Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde hoc fidum est when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings Fac fidelis sis fideli cave fidem fluxam geras said he in the Comedy God is faithful be thou so too for if thou failest him thy faith hath failed thee Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrumque placitum says one and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said the Just shall live by Faith in both senses ex fide mea vivet ex fide sua we live by Gods Faith and by our own by his Fidelity and by ours When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours by his Grace and our Obedience So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course they may be distinguished in notion and speculation but never when they are to pass on to material events for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified They are the express words of S. Paul Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son to be like to Christ and then it follows Whom he hath predestinated so predestinated them he hath also called and whom he hath called them he hath also justified and then it follows Whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified So that no man is justified that is so as to signifie Salvation but Sanctification must be precedent to it and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which I was to prove 3. I pray consider that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel cannot pretend to Faith in Christ but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience and he that does not believe them as Christ made them believes them not at all In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator there is no committing our selves to God without well doing For God will render to every man according to his deeds to them that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them eternal life So that if Faith apprehends any other promises it is illusion and not Faith God gave us none such Christ purchased none such for us search the Bible over and you shall find none such But if Faith layes hold on these promises that are and as they are then it becomes an Article of our Faith that without obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments no man living can be justified And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us Christ freely dyed for us God pardons us freely in our first access to him we could never deserve pardon because when we need pardon we are enemies and have no good thing in us and he freely gives us of his Spirit and freely he enables us to obey him and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life here is free Grace all the way and he overvalues his pitiful services who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them and that if he does his duty tolerably eternal life is not a free gift to him but a deserved reward Conscius est animus meus experientia testis Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum Spes mea crux Christi gratia non opera It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris I know that without a good life and the fruits of repentance a sinner cannot be justified and therefore I must live well or I must dye for ever But if I do live holily I do not think that I deserve Heaven it is the Cross of Christ that procures me grace it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto glory But yet he that shall exclude the works of Faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ may as well exclude Faith it self for Faith it self is one of the works of God it is a good work so said Christ to them that asked him What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith is not only the foundation of good works but it self is a good work it is not only the cause of obedience but a part of it it is not as the Son of Sirach calls it initium adhaerendi Deo a beginning of cleaving unto God but it carries us on to the perfection of it Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and when Faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness nor snatch at a promise without performing the condition nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ and to do nothing else for that will but
said Chrysologus all the Creatures both of Heaven and earth would perish if Mercy did not relieve us all Other good things more or less every man expects according to the portion of his fortune Ex clementia omnes idem sperant * but from Mercy and Clemency all the world alike do expect advantages And which of us all stands here this day that does not need God's pardon and the Kings Surely no man is so much pleased with his own innocence as that he will be willing to quit his claim to Mercy and if we all need it let us all shew it Naturae imperio gemimus cum funus adultae Virginis occurrit vel terrâ clauditur infans Et minor igne rogi If you do but see a Maiden carried to her Grave a little before her intended marriage or an Infant die before the birth of Reason Nature hath taught us to pay a tributary tear Alas your eyes will behold the ruine of many Families which though they sadly have deserved yet Mercy is not delighted with the spectacle and therefore God places a watry cloud in the eye that when the light of Heaven shines upon it it may produce a Rain-bow to be a Sacrament and a Memorial that God and the Sons of God do not love to see a man perish God never rejoices in the death of him that dies and we also esteem it undecent to have Musick at a Funeral And as Religion teaches us to pity a condemned Criminal so Mercy intercedes for the most benigne interpretation of the Laws You must indeed be as just as the Laws and you must be as merciful as your Religion and you have no way to tye these together but to follow the Pattern in the Mount do as God does who in judgment remembers mercy To conclude If every one in this Honourable Assembly would join together to promote Christian Religion in its true notion that is Peace and Holiness the love of God and the love of our Brother Christianity in all its proper usefulness and would not endure in the Nation any thing against the Laws of the Holy Jesus if they were all zealous for the Doctrines of Righteousness and impatient of Sin in your selves and in the people it is not to be imagined what a happy Nation we should be But if ye divide into parties and keep up useless differences of names or interests if ye do not join in the bands of Peace that is the King and the Church Religion and the good of the Nation you can never hope to see a blessing to be the end of your labours Remember the words of Solomon Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people but when Righteousness is advanced in the hearts and lives of the Nation who shall dare to reprove your Faith who can find fault with your Religion God of his mercy grant that in all your Consultations the Word of God may be your measure the Spirit of God may be your guide and the glory of God may be your end He of his mercy grant that moderation may be your limit and Peace may be within your walls as long as you are there and in all the land for ever after But remember that since the honour and service of his Majesty and the peace and prosperity of the Church the perpetuity of our fundamental Laws publick Justice and the honour of all legal Authority the advancement of Trade and the wealth of the Nation is your design remember I pray what warranty you have to expect all this no less than the words of our Blessed Saviour but it is upon these terms Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Amen FINIS Via Intelligentiae A SERMON Preached to the UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN Shewing by what means the Scholars shall become most Learned and most Useful Published at their desire By the R. R. Father in God Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down c. and Vice-Chancellour of that UNIVERSITY Ad majorem Dei gloriam LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty 1666. To the READER PEACE is so great a Blessing and Disputations and Questions in Religion are so little friends to Peace that I have thought no mans time can be better spent than in propositions and promotions of Peace and consequently in finding expedients and putting periods to all contentious Learning I have already in a discourse before the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons assembled in this Parliament prov'd that Obedience is the best medium of Peace and true Religion and Laws are the only common term and certain rule and measure of it Vocatâ ad concionem multitudine quae coalescere in populum Unius corporis nullâ re praeterquam legibus poterat said Livy Obedience to Man is the external instrument and the best in the World To which I now add that Obedience to God is the best internal instrument and I have prov'd it in this discourse Peace and Holiness are twin-Sisters after which because every man is bound to follow and he that does not shall never see God I concluded that the Office of a Bishop is in nothing so signally to be exhibited as in declaring by what means these great duties and blessings are to be acquired This way I have here described is an old way for it was Christs way and therefore it is truth and life but it hath been so little regarded and so seldom taught that when I first spake my thoughts of it in the following words before the Little but Excellent Vniversity of Dublin they consented to it so perfectly and so piously entertained it that they were pleased with some earnestness to desire me to publish it to the world and to consign it to them as a perpetual memorial of their duty and of my regards to them and care over them in my Station I was very desirous to serve and please them in all their worthy desires but had found so much reason to distrust my own abilities that I could not resolve to do what I fain would have done till by a second communication of those thoughts though in differing words I had published it also to my Clergy at the Metropolitical Visitation of the most Reverend and Learned Lord Primate of Armagh in my own Diocese But when I found that they also thought it very reasonable and pious and joined in the desire of making it publick I consented perfectly and now only pray to God it may do that Work which I intended I have often thought of those excellent words of Mr. Hooker in his very learned Discourse of Justification Such is the untoward constitution of our Nature that we do neither so perfectly understand the way and knowledge of the Lord nor so stedfastly embrace it when it is understood nor so graciously utter it when it is embraced nor so peaceably maintain it when it is
Resurrection that is from sin to grace from the death of vitious habits to the vigour life and efficacy of an habitual righteousness For as it hapned to those persons in the New Testament now mentioned to them I say in the literal sense Blessed are they that have part in the first Resurrection upon them the second death shall have no power meaning that they who by the power of Christ and his holy Spirit were raised to life again were holy and blessed souls and such who were written in the book of God and that this grace hapned to no wicked and vitious person so it is most true in the spiritual and intended sense You only that serve God in a holy life you who are not dead in trespasses and sins you who serve God with an early diligence and an unwearied industry and a holy Religion you and you only shall come to life eternal you only shall be called from death to life the rest of mankind shall never live again but pass from death to death from one â—eath to another to a worse from the death of the body to the eterâ—al death of body and soul and therefore in the Apostles Creed there â—s no mention made of the Resurrection of wicked persons but of the Resurrection of the body to everlasting life The wicked indeed shall be haâ—eâ— forth from their graves from their everlasting prisons where in chains â—f â—arkness they are kept unto the judgment of the great day but this â—â—â—â—efore cannot be called in sensu favoris a Resurrection but the soâ—â—â—â—ities of the eternal death It is nothing but a new capacity of dying again such a dying as cannot signifie rest but where death means nothing but an intollerable and never ceasing calamity and therefore these words of my Text are otherwise to be understood of the wicked otherwise of the godly The wicked are spilt like water and shall never be gathered up again no not in the gatherings of eternity They shall be put into Vessels of wrath and set upon the flames of hell but that is not a gathering but a scattering from the face and presence of God But the godly also come under the sense of these words They descend into their Graves and shall no more be reckoned among the living they have no concernment in all that is done under the Sun Agamemnon hath no more to do with the Turks Armies invading and possessing that part of Greece where he reigned than had the Hippocentaur who never had a being and Cicero hath no more interest in the present evils of Christendom than we have to do with his boasted discovery of Catilines Conspiracy What is it to me that Rome was taken by the Gauls and what is it now to Camillus if different religions be tolerated amongst us These things that now happen concern the living and they are made the scenes of our duty or danger respectively and when our Wives are dead and sleep in charnel houses they are not troubled when we laugh loudly at the songs sung at the next marriage feast nor do they envy when another snatches away the gleanings of their husbands passion It is true they envy not and they lie in a bosom where there can be no murmur and they that are consigned to Kingdoms and to the feast of the marriage-supper of the Lamb the glorious and eternal Bridegroom of holy Souls they cannot think our Marriages here our lighter laughings and vain rejoicings considerable as to them And yet there is a relation continued still Aristotle said that to affirm the dead take no thought for the good of the living is a disparagement to the laws of that friendship which in their state of separation they cannot be tempted to rescind And the Church hath taught in general that they pray for us they recommend to God the state of all their Relatives in the union of the intercession that our blessed Lord makes for them and us and S. Ambrose gave some things in charge to his dying brother Satyrus that he should do for him in the other world he gave it him I say when he was dying not when he was dead And certain it is that though our dead friends affection to us is not to be estimated according to our low conceptions yet it is not less but much more than ever it was it is greater in degree and of another kind But then we should do well also to remember that in this world we are something besides flesh and bloud that we may not without violent necessities run into new relations but preserve the affections we bore to our dead when they were alive We must not so live as if they were perished but so as pressing forward to the most intimate participation of the communion of Saints And we also have some ways to express this relation and to bear a part in this communion by actions of intercourse with them aud yet proper to our state such as are strictly performing the will of the dead providing for and tenderly and wisely educating their children paying their debts imitating their good example preserving their memories privately and publickly keeping their memorials and desiring of God with hearty and constant prayer that God would give them a joyful Resurrection and a merciful Judgment for so S. Paul prayed in behalf of Onesiphorus that God would shew them mercy in that day that fearful and yet much to be desired day in which the most righteous person hath need of much mercy and pity and shall find it Now these instances of duty shew that the relation remains still and though the Relict of a man or woman hath liberty to contract new relations yet I do not find they have liberty to cast off the old as if there were no such thing as immortality of souls Remember that we shall converse together again let us therefore never do any thing of reference to them which we shall be ashamed of in the day when all secrets shall be discovered and that we shall meet again in the presence of God In the mean time God watcheth concerning all their interest and he will in his time both discover and recompense For though as to us they are like water spilt yet to God they are as water fallen in the Sea safe and united in his comprehension and inclosures But we are not yet passed the consideration of the sentence This descending to the grave is the lot of all men neither doth God respect the person of any man The rich is not protected for favour nor the poor for pity the old man is not reverenced for his age nor the Infant regarded for his tenderness youth and beauty learning and prudence wit and strength lie down equally in the dishonours of the Grave All men and all natures and all persons resist the addresses and solennities of death and strive to preserve a miserable and unpleasant life and yet they all sink down and die For so have
for the People to bless the People to divert Judgments from them to deprecate the wrath of God to make an attonement for them and to reconcile them to the eternal mercy certain it is that though the Sermons of a wicked Minister may do some good not so much as they ought but some they can but the Prayer of a wicked Minister does no good at all it provokes God to anger it is an abomination in his righteous eyes Thirdly The Ecclesiastical Order is by Christ appointed to minister his holy Spirit to the People The Priests in Baptism and the holy Eucharist and Prayer and Intercession The Bishop in all these and in Ordination besides and in Confirmation and in Solemn Blessing Now then consider what will be the event of this without effect Can he minister the Spirit from whom the Spirit of God is departed And g. since all wickedness does grieve the Spirit of God and great wickedness defiles his Temples and destroys them unto the ground and extinguishes the Spirit that drives iniquity away these persons are no longer spiritual men they are carnal and sold under sin and walk not in the Spirit they are spiritual just as Simon Magus was a Christian or as Judas was an Apostle he had the name of it but what says the Scripture he fell from it by transgression only this as he that is Baptized has for ever a title to the Promises and a possibility of Repentance and a right to Restitution until he renounces all and never will or can repent so there is in all our holy Orders an indelible character and they can by a new life be restored to all their powers but in the mean time while they abide in sin and carnality the cloud is over the face of the Sun and the Spirit of God appears not in a fiery tongue that is not in material and active demonstrations and how far he will be ministred by the Offices of an unworthy man we know not only by all that is said in Scripture we are made to fear that things will not be so well with the people till the Minister be better only this we are sure of that though one man may be much the worse for another mans sin yet without his own fault no man shall perish and God will do his work alone and the Spirit of God though he be ordinarily conveyed by Ecclesiastical Ministries yet he also comes irregularly and in ways of his own and prevents the external Rites and prepossesses the hearts of his Servants and the people also have so much portion in the Evangelical Ministration that if they be holy they shall receive the holy Ghost in their hearts and will express him in their lives and themselves also become Kings and Priests unto God while they are zealous of good works And to this purpose may the proverb of the Rabbins be rightly understood Major est qui respondit Amen quam qui benedicit He that sayes Amen is greater than he that blesses or prays meaning if he heartily desires what the other perfunctorily and with his lips only utters not praying with his heart and with the acceptabilities of a good life the Amen shall be more than all the Prayer and the People shall prevail for themselves when the Priest could not according to the saying of Midrasich Tehillim Quicunque dicit Amen omnibus viribus suis ei aperiuntur portae paradisi sicut dictum est ingredietur gens justa He that says Amen with his whole power to him the gates of Paradise shall be open according to that which is said And the righteous Nation shall enter in And this is excellently discoursed of by S. Austin Sacramentum gratiae dat etiam Deus per malos ipsam vero gratim non nisi per seipsum vel per sanctos suos and g. he gives remission of sins by himself or by the members of the Dove so that good Men shall be supplied by God But as this is an infinite comfort to the people so it is an intolerable shame to all wicked Ministers the benefit which God intended to minister by them the people shall have without their help and whether they will or no but because the people get nothing by their ministration or but very little the Ministers shall never have their portion where the good people shall inhabit to eternal Ages And I beseech you to consider what an infinite confusion that will be at the day of Judgment when they to whom you have preach'd Righteousness shall enter into everlasting glory and you who have preached it shall have the curse of Hanameel and the reward of Balaam the wages of unrighteousness But thus it was when the Wise men asked the Doctors where Christ should be born they told them right but the Wise men went to Christ and found him and the Doctors sate still and went not Fourthly Consider That every sin which is committed by a Minister of Religion is more than one and it is as soon espied too for more men look upon the Sun in an Eclipse than when he is in his beauty but every spot I say is greater every mote is a beam it is not only made so but it is so it hath not the excuses of the people is not pitiable by the measures of their infirmity and g. 1. It is reckoned in the accounts of malice never of ignorance for ignorance it self in them is always a double sin and g. it is very remarkable that when God gave command to the Levitical Priests to make attonement for the sins of ignorance in the people there is no mention made of the Priests sin of ignorance God supposed no such thing in them and Moses did not mention it and there was no provision made in that case as you may see at large in Levit. 4. and Numb 15. But 2. because every Priest is a man also observe how his sin is described Levit. 4. 3. If the Priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the People that is if he be so degenerate and descend from the glory where God hath placed him and do sin after the manner of the people then he is to proceed to remedy intimating that it is infinitely besides expectation it is a strange thing it is like a monstrous production it is unnatural that a Priest should sin according as the People do however if he does it is not connived at which a sentence gentle as that finds which is a sin of ignorance or the sin of the people no it is not for it is always malice it is always uncharitableness for it brings mischief to their Congregations and contracts their blessings into little circuits and turns their bread into a stone and their Wine to Vinegar And then besides this 3. It is also scandalous and then it is infinitely against Charity such Ministers make the people of God to sin and that 's against the nature of their Office
and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam rule LXXIX Let every Minister exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical Communion at the least three times in the year at the great Festivals but the devouter sort and they who have leisure are to be invited to a frequent Communion and let it be given and received with great reverence rule LXXX Every Minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his Office in the Rubricks the Canons the Articles and the Homilies of the Church that he may do his duty readily discreetly gravely and by the publick measures of the Laws To which also it is very useful that it be added that every Minister study the ancient Canons of the Church especially the Penitentials of the Eastern and Western Churches let him read good Books such as are approved by publick authority such which are useful wise and holy not the scriblings of unlearned parties but of men learned pious obedient and disinterested and amongst these such especially which describe duty and good life which minister to Faith and Charity to Piety and Devotion Cases of Conscience and solid expositions of Scripture Concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted rule LXXXI Let not a Curate of Souls trouble himself with any studies but such which concern his own or his people duty such as may enable him to speak well and to do well but to meddle not with controversies but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life rule LXXXII Be careful in all the publick administrations of your Parish that the poor be provided for Think it no shame to beg for Christs poor members stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example Let a collection be made every Lords-day and upon all solemn meetings and at every Communion and let the Collection be wisely and piously administred ever remembring that at the day of Judgment nothing shall publickly be proclaimed but the reward of alms and mercy rule LXXXIII Let every Minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble let him study and heap together Instruments and Advices for the promoting of every virtue and remedies and arguments against every vice let him teach his people to make acts of virtue not onely by external exercise but also in the way of Prayer and internal meditation In these and all things else that concern the Ministers duty if there be difficulty you are to repair to your Bishop for further advice assistance and information FINIS Heb. 7. 19. Ga. 3. 3. Gal. 6. 12 13. Phil. 3. 34. Sed Belzebulis callida Commenta Christus destruit De legibâ—â— l scire Prov 28. 14. S. Hier. in comment Isai. 8. Isidor l. 13. Orig. cap. 13. Comman in 12. Isai l. 6. in Ezek. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legat. pro Christianis Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 5. 16. Rom. 8. 7. 1 Joh. 3. 9. Matth. 7. 18. Heb. 12. 1. 1 Joh. 3. 8. 1 Joh. 4. 4. Mark 9. 23. Ille laudatur qui utâ—coeperint statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram * Rom. 3. 28. 4. 5. 5. 1. 10. 10. Gal. 2. 16. James 2. 9. 1 Cor. 13. 2. Tuscul. 1. Iames. 2. 14. Gal. 5. 6. Gal. 6. 15. 1 Cor. 7. 19. Isai. 57. 21. Exod. 25. 7. Heb. 12. 14. Titus 3. 8. Hebr. 6. 1. 1 Joh. 3. 8. Eph. 5. 25. Tit. 2. 11. John 15. 2. Rom. 5. 8. 10. Rom. 8. 28. Rom. 4 25. Ecclus. 31 Rom. 8. 10. Plaut Captiv Rom. 8. 29. Rom. 2. 6 7 8. Joh. 6. 28. 29. 2 Pet. 1. 5. 2 Thes. 3. 2. 1 Tim. 5. 8. Heb. 11. Ecclus. 32. 24. Panar lib. 1. edit Basil. p. 8. l. 46. 2 Tim. 2. 16. Instit l. 5. c. 9. Mark 12. 24. Tit. 1. 16. 2 Thes. 2. 12. Lib. 3. EP. 69. Jerem. 9. 1. Esa. 26. 12. 2 Thes. 3 1. Cap. 24. 25. Epist. 73. ad Jubai 1 Tim. 6. 14. * Rom. 12. 6. Eph 4. 11. 1 Cor 12. 28. * Acts 1. 25. 1 Tim. 5. 19. 1 Tit. 11. 2 Titus 15. Cap. 2. v. 3. Gal. 1. 19. * 1 Cor. 8. 23. Philip. 2. 25. Psalm 45. 16. in 1 Cor. 12. in Psalm 44. Epist. 1. Simpronianum Epist. 65. ad Rogat Quast V. N. T. q. 197. Isa. 60.17 Hunc locum etiam citat S. Clemens Ep. ad Cor. Neh. 11. 10. 2 Kin 11. 18. Numb 4. 16. Epist. 2. ad Nepâ—â— Epistol ad Evagriuâ— Heb. 13 17 Acts 1. 25. Isai. 60. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1. 5. Luke 22 27. Mark 10. 43. John 13. 13. Lib. 3. Tit. 1. 1 Tim. 1. 19 2 Tim. 3. 9. In Cap. 2. Zeph. Lib. 1. Ep. 4. Dial. adv Lucifer Eccle. 45. 26. Et 24 C. Concil Antioch 1 Cor. 4. 1 2 3. Jer. 3. 15. Heb. 13. 7. Zâ—ch 11. 7. Cap. 11. Prov. 6 3 4. D. Bernard ad Henr. Episc. Senensem 2 Tim. 2. Jâ—r 13. 20 21. Nullum malum majâ—â— aut infeliciter feraciâ—â— quâ—m inobedicâ—tia Seneca 1 Tim. 2. 1. Prov. 16. 10. L. 8. cod de veteri jure enucleando Petrâ— Cellensis lib. de Conscientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 12. 6 7 8 Seneca * Rom. 16. 17. Seneca Prov. 24. 34. Ecclus. 5. 10. Vulg. Edit Lat. Psal. 111. 10. Psal. 119. Nazianz. ad Philagrium 2 Pet. 1. 1 John 2. 27. 1 Cor. 2. 14. Eph. 5. 14. Prov. 10. 31 32. John 14. 21. Rom. 1. 25 26. Eccl. 2. 26. John 14. 26 Lib. 2. Ethic. c. 1. Nullum bonum perfectè noscitur quod non perfectè amatur Aug. lib 83. qu. de gratia Christi Ecclus. 21. 11. Lib. de Con. summat seculi inter opera Ephrem Syri Synes hym 6. 1 Thes. 4 16. John 5. 28. Dracuntim de opere Dei Luke 14. 14. Rev. 20. 6. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Numb 1. 46. 3. 39. Seld. Hist. of Tythes c. 2. See Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tract 25. in S. Matthew De scriptor Eccles. Epist. 30. Synes Ep. 57. a Tim. 1. 18. Il 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide 1. Cor. 15. 18. 1. Thess. 4. â—6 Rev. 14. 13. John 5. 24. 2 Cor. 5. 8 6. 1 Thess. 5. 10. Prov. 2. 17. 2 Pet. 1. 5. 2 Pet. 1. 8. Heb. 12. 14. Gal. 6. 1. Numb 16. 9. Psal. 50. 16 17. Psal. 107. 42. Psal. 51. 13. Amos 5. 10. Mal. 2. Ciccro Act. 5. in Verrem Juvenal Numb 15. 5. Lev. 4. 35. Jer. 7. 16. 20. Exod. 30. 40. Ecclus. Micah 3. 11. Jer. 7. 19. Mich. 3. 7. Levit 4. Numb 15. Vide Origen homil 2. in Levit. Geoponic l. 14. Epist. 148. Origen Centrahaeres Verbi non sonâ— sed sensu sapiunt Hilar. Isid Orig. l. 6. c. 14. John 10. 37. Rom. 12. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Lib. 4. adv Parmen Ecclus. 6. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉