which true wisdom consists Holiness which is the best wisdom is the surest way of understanding them And this 1. Is effected by Holiness as a proper and natural instrument for naturally every thing is best discerned by its proper light and congenial instrument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as the eye sees visible objects and the understanding perceives the Intellectual so does the Spirit the things of the Spirit The natural man saith S. Paul knows not the things of God for they are Spiritually discerned that is they are discovered by a proper light and concerning these things an unsanctified man discourses pitifully with an imperfect Idea as a blind man does of Light and Colours which he never saw A good man though unlearned in secular notices is like the windows of the Temple narrow without and broad within he sees not so much of what profits not abroad but whatsoever is within and concerns Religion and the glorifications of God that he sees with a broad inspection But all humane learning without God is but blindness and ignorant folly But when it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousness dipt in the wells of Truth it is like an eye of Gold in a rich Garment or like the light of Heaven it shews it self by its own splendor What Learning is it to discourse of the Philosophy of the Sacrament if you do not feel the vertue of it and the man that can with eloquence and subtlety discourse of the instrumental efficacy of Baptismal waters talks ignorantly in respect of him who hath the answer of a good Conscience within and is cleansed by the purifications of the Spirit If the Question concern any thing that can perfect a man and make him happy all that is the proper knowledge and notice of the good man How can a wicked man understand the purities of the heart and how can an evil and unworthy Communicant tell what it is to have received Christ by Faith to dwell with him to be united to him to receive him in his heart The good man only understands that the one sees the colour and the other feels the substance the one discourses of the Sacrament and the other receives Christ the one discourses for or against Transubstantiation but the good man feels himself to be changed and so joined to Christ that he only understands the true sense of Transubstantiation while he becomes to Christ bone of his bone flesh of his flesh and of the same Spirit with his Lord. We talk much of Reformation and blessed be God once we have felt the good of it But of late we have smarted under the name and pretension The Woman that lost her Groat everrit domum not evertit she swept the house she did not turn the house out of doors That was but an ill Reformation that untiled the Roof and broke the Walls and was digging down the Foundation Now among all the pretensions of Reformation who can tell better what is and what is not true Reformation than he that is truly Reformed himself He knows what pleases God and can best tell by what instruments he is reconciled The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom and the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable saith Solomon He cannot be cousened by names of things and feels that Reformation to be Imposture that is Sacrilegious himself is humble and obedient and therefore knows that is not Truth that perswades to Schism and Disobedience and most of the Questions of Christendom are such which either are good for nothing and therefore to be laid aside or if they be complicated with action and are ministeries of practice no man can judge them so well as the spiritual man That which best pleases God that which does good to our Neighbour that which teaches sobriety that which combines with Government that which speaks honour of God and does him honour that only is Truth Holiness therefore is a proper and natural instrument of Divine knowledge and must needs be the best way of instruction in the Questions of Christendom because in the most of them a Duty is complicated with the Proposition No man that intends to live holily can ever suffer any pretences of Religion to be made to teach him to fight against his King And when the men of Geneva turned their Bishop out of doors they might easily have considered that the same person was their Prince too and that must needs be a strange Religion that rose up against Moses and Aaron at the same time but that hath been the method ever since There was no Church till then was ever governed without an Apostle or a Bishop and since then they who go from their Bishop have said very often to their King too Nolumus hunc regnare and when we see men pretending Religion and yet refuse to own the Kings Supremacy they may upon the stock of holiness easily reprove their own folly by considering that such recusancy does introduce into our Churches the very worst the most intollerable parts of Popery For perfect submission to Kings is the glory of the Protestant Cause and really the reproveable Doctrines of the Church of Rome are by nothing so much confuted as that they destroy good life by consequent and evident deduction as by an Induction of particulars were easie to make apparent if this were the proper season for it 2. Holiness is not only an advantage to the learning all wisdom and holiness but for the discerning that which is wise and holy from what is trifling and useless and contentious and to one of these heads all Questions will return and therefore in all from Holiness we have the best Instructions And this brings me to the next Particle of the general Consideration For that which we are taught by the holy Spirit of God this new nature this vital principle within us it is that which is worth our learning not vain and empty idle and insignificant notions in which when you have laboured till your eyes are fixed in their Orbs and your flesh unfixed from its bones you are no better and no wiser If the Spirit of God be your Teacher he will teach you such truths as will make you know and love God and become like to him and enjoy him for ever by passing from similitude to union and eternal fruition But what are you the better if any man should pretend to teach you whether every Angel makes a species and what is the individuation of the Soul in the state of separation what are you the wiser if you should study and find out what place Adam should for ever have lived in if he had not fallen and what is any man the more learned if he hears the disputes whether Adam should have multiplyed Children in the state of Innocence and what would have been the event of things if one Child had been born before his Fathers sin Too many Scholars have lived upon Air and empty notions for many
and design of their persons God sent them to bring the people from sin and not to be like so many Jeroboams the Sons of Nebat to set forward the Devils Kingdom to make the people to transgress the Covenant of their God For they who live more by example than by precept will more easily follow the works of their Minister than the words of God and few men will aspire to be more righteous than their guide they think it well if they be as he is and hence it is no wonder that we see iniquity so popular Oppida tota canem venerantur nemo Dianam every man runs after his lusts and after his money because they see too many of the Clergy little looking after the ways of godliness But then consider let all such persons consider 5. That the accounts which an ungodly and an irreligious Minister of Religion shall make must needs be intolerable when besides the damnation which shall certainly be inflicted upon them for the sins of their own lives they shall also reckon for all the dishonours they do to God and to Religion and for all the sins of the people which they did not in all just ways endeavour to hinder and all the sins which their Flocks have committed by their evil example and undisciplin'd lives 6. I have but two words more to say in this affair 1. Every Minister that lives an evil life is that person whom our Blessed Saviour means under the odious appellative of a Hireling For he is not the hireling that receives wages or that lives of the Altar sine farinâ non est lex said the DD. of the Jews without bread-corn no man can preach the Law and S. Paul though he spared the Corinthians yet he took wages of other Churches of all but in the Regions of Achaia and the Law of Nature and the Law of the Gospel have taken care that he that serves at the Altar should live of the Altar and he is no hireling for all that but he is a hireling that does not do his duty he that flies when the Wolf comes says Christ he that is not present with them in dangers that helps them not to resist the Devil to master their temptations to invite them on to piety to gain souls to Christ to him it may be said as the Apostle did of the Gnosticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gain to them is godliness and Theology is but artificium venale a trade of life to fill the belly and keep the body warm An cuiquam licere putas quod cuivis non licet Is any thing lawful for thee that is not lawful for every man and if thou dost not mind in thy own case whether it be lawful or no then thou dost but sell Sermons and give Counsel at a price and like a flye in the Temple taste of every Sacrifice but do nothing but trouble the religious Rites for certain it is no man takes on him this Office but he either seeks those things which are his own or those things which are Jesus Christs and if he does this he is a Minister of Jesus Christ if he does the other he is the hireling and intends nothing but his belly and God shall destroy both it and him 7. Lastly These things I have said unto you that ye sin not but this is not the great thing here intended you may be innocent and yet not zealous of good works but if you be not this you are not Good Ministers of Jesus Christ But that this is infinitely your duty and indispensably incumbent on you all besides the express words of my Text and all the precepts of Christ and his Apostles we have the concurrent sence of the whole Church the Laws and expectations of all the world requiring of the Clergy a great and an examplar sanctity for g. it is that upon this necessity is founded the Doctrine of all Divines in their Discourses of the states and orders of Religion of which you may largely inform your selves in Gerson's Treatise De perfectione Religionis in Aquinas 22. q. 184. and in all his Scholars upon that Question the sum of which is this That all those institutions of Religions which S. Anselm calls factitias Religiones that is the Schools of Discipline in which men forsaking the world give themselves up wholly to a pious life they are indeed very excellent if rightly performed they are status perfectionis acquirendae they are excellent institutions for the acquiring perfection but the state of the superior Clergy is status perfectionis exercendae they are states which suppose perfection to be already in great measures acquired and then to be exercised not only in their own lives but in the whole Oeconomy of their Office and g. as none are to be chosen but those who have given themselves up to the strictness of a holy life so far as can be known so none do their duty so much as tolerably but those who by an exemplar sanctity become patterns to their Flocks of all good works Herod's Doves could never have invited so many strangers to their Dove-cotes if they had not been besmeared with Opobalsamum But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Didymus make your Pigeons smell sweet and they will allure whole Flocks and if your life be excellent if your virtues be like a precious oyntment you will soon invite your Charges to run in odorem unguentorum after your precious odours But you must be excellent not tanquam unus de populo but tanquam homo Dei you must be a man of God not after the common manner of men but after Gods own heart and men will strive to be like you if you be like to God but when you only stand at the door of virtue for nothing but to keep sin out you will draw into the folds of Christ none but such as fear drives in Ad majorem Dei gloriam to do what will most glorifie God that 's the line you must walk by for to do no more than all men needs must is servility not so much as the affection of Sons much less can you be Fathers to the people when you go not so far as the Sons of God for a dark Lanthorn though there be a weak brightness on one side will scarce inlighten one much less will it conduct a multitude or allure many followers by the brightness of its flame And indeed the Duty appears in this that many things are lawful for the people which are scandalous in the Clergy you are tied to more abstinences to more severities to more renunciations and self-denials you may not with that freedom receive secular contentments that others may you must spend more time in Prayers your Alms must be more bountiful your hands more open your hearts enlarged others must relieve the poor you must take care of them others must shew themselves their brethren but you must be their Fathers they must pray frequently and fervently but you
Cyril a great and pretious thing in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Isidor Pelusiot the utmost limit of what is desirable among men But the account upon which it is so desirable is the same also that makes it formidable They who have tryed it and did it conscientiously have found the burden so great as to make them stoop with care and labour and they who do it ignorantly or carelesly will find it will break their bones For the Bishops Office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of S. Cyprian He is a Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood the Ruler of the people the Shepherd of the Flock the Governour of the Church the Minister of Christ and the Priest of God These are great titles and yet less than what is said of them in Scripture which calls them Salt of the Earth Lights upon a candlestick Stars and Angels Fathers of our Faith Embassadors of God Dispensers of the Mysteries of God the Apostles of the Churches and the glory of Christ but then they are great burdens too for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intrusted with the Lords people that 's a great charge but there is a worse matter that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls they are the words of S. Paul and transcribed into the 40th Canon of the Apostles and the 24th Canon of the Councel of Antioch And now I hope the envy is taken off for the honour does not pay for the burden and we can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity as it is a Rule but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty that as the load of it is almost insufferable so the event of it is very formidable if we take not great care For this Stewardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principality and a Ministry So it was in Christ he is Lord of all and yet he was the Servant of all so it was in the Apostles it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lot was to be Apostles and yet to serve and minister and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the 70. use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosheth which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interlineary translation by Exactores Bishops are only Gods Ministers and Tribute gatherers requiring and overseeing them that they do their duty and therefore here the case is so and the burden so great and the dignity so allayed that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load nor the proud man plainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger It is indeed a Rule but it is paternal it is a Government but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is neither a power to constrain nor a commission to get wealth for it must be without necessity and not for filthy lucre sake but it is a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Luke as of him that ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Mark as of him that is servant of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. John such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary Traveller or if you please take it in the words of our blessed Lord himself that He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire Rule possibly you may have it but all that rule under him are Servants to them that are ruled and therefore you get nothing by it but a great labour and a busie employment a careful life and a necessity of making severe accounts But all this is nothing but the general measures I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom for because we must be followers of them as they were of Christ the recounting what they did worthily in their Generations will not only demonstrate how useful how profitable how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church but it will at the same time teach us our duty by what services we are to benefit the Church in what works we are to be employed and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bishops not only because the Apostles who were Bishops were the first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches but because the Apostolical men whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion were by all Antiquity affirmed to have been Diocesan Bishops insomuch that as S. Epiphanius witnesses there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ many Churches who had in them no other Clergy but a Bishop and his Deacons and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater But the Bishops names are known they are recorded in the book of Life and their praise is in the Gospel such were Timothy and Titus Clemens and Linus Marcus and Dionysius Onesimus and Caius Epaphroditus and S. James our Lords brother Evodius and Simeon all which if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith and any truth in their stories and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch Livy and Tacitus think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance and that all the brave men the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches and had Dioceses for their Charges The consequent of this consideration is this If Bishops were those upon whose Ministry Christ founded and built his Church let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars the Stewards of Christs Family must be wise that Christ requires and if the Order be necessary to the Church wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order for it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ shall by their unskilfulness be but Babes themselves understanding not the secrets of Religion the mysteries of Godliness the perfections of the Evangelical Law all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual Life A Bishop must be exercised in Godliness a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls not satisfied with an ordinary skill in making Homilies to the people and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases but ready to answer in all secret inquiries and able to convince the gainsayers and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect If the first
Bishops laid the foundation their Successors must not only preserve whatsoever is fundamental but build up the Church in a most holy Faith taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation and that no hay or rotten wood be built upon it and above all things that a most holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith So the Apostles laid the foundation and built the walls of the Church and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven For let us talk and dispute eternally we shall never compose the controversies in Religion and establish truth upon unalterable foundations as long as men handle the word of God deceitfully that is with designs and little artifices and secular partialities and they will for ever do so as long as they are proud or covetous It is not the difficulty of our questions or the subtlety of our Adversaries that makes disputes interminable but we shall never cure the itch of disputing or establish Unity unless we apply our selves to humility and contempt of riches If we will be contending let us contend like the Olive and the Vine who shall produce best and most fruit not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noise in a wind And all other methods are a beginning at a wrong end And as for the people the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of Faith and Government is by reducing them to live good lives When the children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness and filthy lusts they quickly fell into abominable idolatries and S. Paul says that men make shipwrack of their Faith by putting away a good conscience for the mystery of Faith is best preserved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pure conscience saith the same Apostle secure but that and we shall quickly end our disputes and have an obedient and conformable people but else never 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches and gave them being so they preserve them in being For without Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starved and dye and without Bishops there can be no Priests and consequently no Sacraments and that must needs be a supreme Order from whence Ordination it self proceeds For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no Record of Ordination but an Apostolical hand was in it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the chief one of the superior and ruling Clergy and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church the Bishop always had that power it was never denyed to him and it was never imputed to Presbyters and S. Hierom himself when out of his anger against John Bishop of Jerusalem he endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop though in very many places he spake otherwise yet even then also and in that heat he excepted Ordination acknowledging that to be the Bishops peculiar And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy do as Julian did they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock and take away their Shepheards and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the channels of salvation quite another way and leave the Church to a perpetual uncertainty whether she be alive or dead and the people destitute of the life of their Souls and their daily bread and their spiritual comforts and holy blessings The consequent of this is If Sacraments depend upon Bishops then let us take care that we convey to the people holy and pure materials sanctified with a holy Ministry and ministred by holy persons For although it be true that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend wholly upon the worthiness of him that ministers yet it is as true that it does not wholly rely upon the worthiness of the Receiver but both together relying upon the goodness of God produce all those blessings which are designed The Minister hath an influence into the effect and does very much towards it and if there be a failure there it is a defect in one of the concurring causes and therefore an unholy Bishop is a great diminution to the peoples blessing S. Hierom presses this severely Impiè faciunt c. They do wickedly who affirm that the holy Eucharist is consecrated by the words alone and solemn prayer of the Consecrator and not also by his life and holiness And therefore S. Cyprian affirms that none but holy and upright men are to be chosen who offering their Sacrifices worthily to God may be heard in their prayers for the Lords people but for others Sacrificia eorum panis luctus saith the Prophet Hosea their Sacrifices are like the bread of sorrow whoever eats thereof shall be defiled This discourse is not mine but S. Cyprian's and although his words are not to be understood dogmatically but in the case of duty and caution yet we may lay our hands upon our hearts and consider how we shall give an account of our Stewardship if we shall offer to the people the bread of God with impure hands it is of it self a pure nourishment but if it passes through an unclean vessel it loses much of its excellency 3. The like also is to be said concerning Prayer For the Episcopal Order is appointed by God to be the great Ministers of Christs Priesthood that is to stand between Christ and the people in the entercourse of prayer and blessing We will give our selves continually to prayer said the Apostles that was the one half of their employment and indeed a Bishop should spend very much of his time in holy prayer and in diverting Gods judgments and procuring blessings to the people for in all times the chief of the Religion was ever the chief Minister of blessing Thus Abraham blessed Abimelech and Melchisedeck blessed Abraham and Aaron blessed the people and without all controversie saith the Apostle the less is blessed of the greater But then we know that God heareth not sinners and it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that shall prevail And therefore we may easily consider that a vitious Prelate is a great calamity to that Flock which he is appointed to bless and pray for How shall he reconcile the penitents who is himself at enmity with God How shall the Holy Spirit of God descend upon the Symbols at his Prayer who does perpetually grieve him and quench his holy fires and drive him quite away How shall he that hath not tasted of the Spirit by contemplation stir up others to earnest desires of Coelestial things Or what good shall the people receive when the Bishop layes upon their head a covetous or a cruel an unjust or an impure hand But therefore that I may use the words of S. Hierom Cum ab Episcopo gratia in populum transfundatur mundi totius Ecclesiae totius condimentum sit Episcopus
great and crying sin yet to oppress the Church to diminish her rents to make her beggerly and contemptible that 's no offence and that though it is not lawful to despise Government yet if it be Church-government that then the case is altered Take heed of that for then God is dishonoured when any thing is the more despised by how much it relates nearer unto God No Religion ever did despise their chiefest Ministers and the Christian Religion gives them the greatest honour For honourable Priesthood is like a shower from heaven it causes blessings every where but a pitiful a disheartned a discouraged Clergy waters the ground with a water-pot here and there a little good and for a little while but every evil man can destroy all that work whenever he pleases Take heed in the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man then to be an enemy to God's Church All Histories of Christendome and the whole Book of God have sad records and sad threatnings and sad stories of Corah and Doeg and Balaam and Jeroboam and Vzzah and Ananias and Sapphira and Julian and of Hereticks and Schismaticks and sacrilegious and after all these men could not prevail finally but paid for the mischief they did and ended their daies in dishonour and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin and the record of their curse 3. In the same proportion you are to take care of all inferiour Relatives of God and of Religion Find out methods to relieve the Poor to accommodate and well dispose of the cures of Souls let not the Churches lye wast and in ruinous heaps to the diminution of Religion and the reproach of the Nation lest the nations abroad say that the Britans are a kind of Christians that have no Churches for Churches and Courts of Judicature and the publick defences of an Imperial City are res sacrae they are venerable in Law and honourable in Religion But that which concerns us most is that we all keep close to our Religion Ad magnas reipublicae utilitates retinetur Religio in civitatibus said Cicero by Religion and the strict preserving of it ye shall best preserve the Interests of the Nation and according to the precept of the Apostle Mark them which cause divisions amongst us contrary to the doctrine that ye have receiv'd and avoid them For I beseech you to consider all you that are true Protestants do you not think that your Religion is holy and Apostolical and taught by Christ and pleasing unto God If you do not think so why do you not leave it but if you do think so why are ye not zealous for it Is not the Government a part of it it is that which immures and adorns and conducts all the rest and is establisht in the 36. Article of the Church in the publick Service-book and in the book of Consecration it is therefore a part of our Religion and is not all of it worth preserving If it be then they which make Schisms against this Doctrine by the rule of the Apostle are to be avoided Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum Blessed is he that preaches a word that was never heard before so said the Spanish Jesuite but Christ said otherwise No man having drunk old wine straight desires new for he saith the old is better And so it is in Religion Quod primum verum Truth is alwaies first and since Episcopacy hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing since it hath ever combin'd with Government and hath been taught by that Spirit that hath so long dwelt in God's Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that sayes the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church been restored amongst us by a heap of miracles and as it went away so it return'd again in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws suffer no evil tongue to speak against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from Experience and from the wisdom of so many Ages of all your Ancestors and all your Laws lest ye be found to speak against God and neglect the things that belong unto your Peace and get nothing by it but news and danger and what other effects ye know not But Leontinus Bishop of Antioch stroak'd his old white beard and said When this snow is dissolved a great deal of dirty weather will follow meaning that when the old Religion should be questioned and discountenanced the new Religion would bring nothing but trouble and unquietness and we have found it so by a sad experience 4. Ye cannot obey God unless ye do Justice for this also is better then sacrifice said Solomon Prov. 21. 3. For Christ who is the Sun of righteousness is a Sun and a Shield to them that do righteously The Indian was not immured sufficiently by the Atlantick sea nor the Bosphoran by the walls of Ice nor the Arabian by his meridian Sun the Christian Justice of the Roman Princes brake through all inclosures and by Justice set up Christs standard and gave to all the world a testimony how much could be done by Prudence and Valour when they were conducted by the hands of Justice And now you will have a great trial of this part of your Obedience to God For you are to give sentence in the causes of half a Nation and he had need be a wise and a good man that divides the inheritance amongst Brethren that he may not be abused by contrary pretences nor biassed by the Interest of friends nor transported with the unjust thoughts even of a just Revenge nor allured by the opportunities of Spoil nor turn'd aside by Partiality in his own concerns nor blinded by Gold which puts out the eyes of wise men nor couzened by pretended zeal nor wearied with the difficulty of questions nor directed by a general measure in cases not measurable by it nor born down by Prejudice nor abused by resolutions taken before the cause be heard nor over-ruled by National Interests For Justice ought to be the simplest thing in the world and is to be measured by nothing but by Truth and by Laws and by the Decrees of Princes But whatever you do let not the pretence of a different Religion make you think it lawful to oppress any man in his just rights For Opinions are not but Laws only and doing as we would be done to are the measures of Justice and though Justice does alike to all men Jew and Christian Lutheran and Calvinist yet to do right to them that are of another Opinion is the way to win them but if you for Conscience sake do them wrong they will hate you and your Religion Lastly as Obedience is better than Sacrtfice so God also said I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice meaning that Mercy is the best Obedience Perierat totum quod Deus fecerat nisi misericordia subvenisset
appointed by the Law falls on him only that hath sinned but an offending subject cannot with the fruit of his body pay for the sin of his Soul when he does evil he must suffer evil but if he does not repent besides a worse thing will happen to him for we are not tyed to obey only for wrath but also for Conscience Passive Obedience is only the correspondent of wrath but it is the active Obedience that is required by Conscience and whatever the Subject suffers for his own fault it matters nothing as to his Duty but this also God will exact at the hands of every man that is placed under Authority I have now told you the sum of what I had to say concerning Obedience to Laws and to your own Government and it will be to little purpose to make Laws in matter of Religion or in any thing else if the end of it be that every man shall chuse whether he will obey or no and if it be questioned whether you be deceived or no though the suffering such a question is a great diminution to your Authority yet it is infinitely more probable that you are in the right than that the disobedient Subject is because you are conducted with a publick spirit you have a special title and peculiar portions of the promise of Gods assistance you have all the helps of Counsel and the advantages of deliberation you have the Scriptures and the Laws you are as much concerned to judge according to truth as any man you have the principal of all capacities and states of men to assist your Consultations you are the most concerned for Peace and to please God also is your biggest interest and therefore it cannot be denied to be the most reasonable thing in the world which is set down in the Law Praesumptio est pro authoritate imponentis the presumption of truth ought to be on your side and since this is the most likely way for Truth and the most certain way for Peace you are to insist in this and it is not possible to find a better I have another part or sense of my Text yet to handle but because I have no more time of mine own and I will not take any of yours I shall only do it in a short Exhortation to this most Honourable Auditory and so conclude God hath put a Royal Mantle and fastned it with a Golden Clasp upon the shoulder of the KING and he hath given you the Judges Robe the King holds the Scepter and he hath now permitted you to touch the golden Ball and to take it a while into your handling and make Obedience to your Laws to be Duty and Religion but then remember that the first in every kind is to be the measure of the rest you cannot reasonably expect that the Subjects should obey you unless you obey God I do not speak this only in relation to your personal duty though in that also it would be considered that all the Bishops and Ministers of Religion are bound to teach the same Doctrines by their Lives as they do by their Sermons and what we are to do in the matters of Doctrine you are also to do in the matters of Laws what is reasonable for the advantages of Religion is also the best Method for the advantages of Government we must preach by our good example and you must govern by it and your good example in observing the Laws of Religion will strangely endear them to the affections of the people But I shall rather speak to you as you are in a capacity of Union and of Government for as now you have a new Power so there is incumbent upon you a special Duty 1. Take care that all your Power and your Consels be employed in doing honour and advantages to Piety and Holiness Then you obey God in your publick capacity when by holy Laws and wise Administrations you take care that all the Land be an obedient and a religious people For then you are Princely Rulers indeed when you take care of the Salvation of a whole Nation Nihil aliud est imperium nisi cura salutis alienae said Ammianus Government is nothing but a care that all men be saved And therefore take care that men do not destroy their Souls by the abominations of an evil life see that God be obeyed take care that the breach of the Laws of God may not be unpunished The best way to make men to be good Subjects to the King is to make them good Servants of God Suffer not Drunkenness to pass with impunity let Lust find a publick shame let the Sons of the Nobility and Gentry no more dare to dishonour God than the meanest of the people shall let baseness be basely esteemed that is put such Characters of Shame upon dishonourable Crimes that it be esteemed more against the honour of a Gentleman to be drunk than to be kicked more shame to fornicate than to be caned and for honours sake and the reputation of Christianity take some course that the most unworthy sins of the world have not reputation added to them by being the practice of Gentlemen and persons of good birth and fortunes Let not them who should be examples of Holiness have an impunity and a licence to provoke God to anger lest it be said that in Ireland it is not lawful for any man to sin unless he be a person of quality Optimus est reipublicae status ubi nihil deest nisi licentia pereundi In a common-wealth that 's the best state of things where every thing can be had but a leave to sin a licence to be undone 2. As God is thus to be obeyed and you are to take care that he be so God also must be honoured by paying that reverence and religious obedience which is due to those persons whom he hath been pleased to honour by admitting them to the dispensation of his blessings and the ministeries of your Religion For certain it is this is a right way of giving honour and obedience to God The Church is in some very peculiar manner the portion and the called and the care of God and it will concern you in pursuance of your obedience to God to take care that they in whose hands Religion is to be ministred and conducted be not discouraged For what your Judges are to the ministry of Laws that your Bishops are in the ministeries of Religion and it concerns you that the hands of neither of them be made weak and so long as you make Religion your care and Holiness your measure you will not think that Authority is the more to be despised because it is in the hands of the Church or that it is a sin to speak evil of dignities unless they be Ecclesiastical but that they may be reviled and that though nothing is baser then for a man to be a Thief yet Sacrilege is no dishonour and indeed to be an Oppressor is a
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
brisker Immortality that Saints and Angels eat not and that the Spirit of a man lives for ever upon wisdom and holiness and contemplation The fat Glutton would have stared a while upon the Preacher and then have fallen asleep But if you had discoursed well and knowingly of a Lamprey a large Mullet or a Boar animal propter Convivia natum and have sent him a Cook from Asia to make new Sawces he would have attended carefully and taken in your discourses greedily And so it is in the Questions and secrets of Christianity which made S. Paul when he intended to convert Foelix discourse first with him about Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come He began in the right point he knew it was to no purpose to preach Jesus Christ crucified to an intemperate person to an Usurper of other mens rights to one whose soul dwelt in the World and cared not for the sentence of the last day The Philosophers began their Wisdom with the meditation of death and S. Paul his with the discourse of the day of Judgment to take the heart off from this world and the amabilities of it which dishonour and baffle the understanding and made Solomon himself become a child and fool'd into Idolatry by the prettiness of a talking woman Men now-a-dayes love not a Religion that will cost them dear If your Doctrine calls upon Men to part with any considerable part of their estates you must pardon them if they cannot believe you they understand it not I shall give you one great instance of it When we consider the infinite unreasonableness that is in the Popish Religion how against common sense their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is how against the common Experience of humane nature is the Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility how against Scripture is the Doctrine of Indulgences and Purgatory we may well think it a wonder that no more men are perswaded to leave such unlearned follies But then on the other side the wonder will cease if we mark how many temporal ends are served by these Doctrines If you destroy the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences you take away the Priests Income and make the the See Apostolick to be poor if you deny the Popes Infallibility you will despise his Authority and examine his Propositions and discover his Failings and put him to answer hard Arguments and lessen his Power and indeed when we run through all the Propositions of difference between them and us and see that in every one of them they serve an end of money or of power it will be very visible that the way to confute them is not by learned disputations for we see they have been too long without effect and without prosperity the men must be cured of their affections to the World ut nudi nudum sequantur crucifixum that with naked and devested affections they might follow the naked Crucified Jesus and then they would soon learn the truths of God which till then will be impossible to be apprehended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men as St. Basil says when they expound Scripture always bring in something of themselves but till there be as one said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rising out from their own seats until they go out from their dark dungeons they can never see the light of Heaven And how many men are there amongst us who are therefore enemies to the Religion because it seems to be against their profit The argument of Demetrius is unanswerable by this Craft they get their livings leave them in their Livings and they will let your Religion alone if not they think they have reason to speak against it When mens souls are possessed with the World their souls cannot be invested with holy Truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Isidor said the Soul must be informed insoul'd or animated with the propositions that you put in or you shall never do any good or get Disciples to Christ. Now because a man cannot serve two Masters because he cannot vigorously attend two objects because there can be but one soul in any living Creature if the World have got possession talk no more of your Questions shut your Bibles and read no more of the Words of God to them for they cannot tell of the Doctrine whether it be of God or of the World That is the second particular Worldly affections hinder true understandings in Religion 3. No man how learned soever can understand the Word of God or be at peace in the Questions of Religion unless he be a Master over his Passions Tu quoque si vis Lumine claro Cernere verum Gaudia pelle Pelle Timorem Nubila mens est Vinctáque fraenis Haec ubi regnant said the wise Boethius A man must first learn himself before he can learn God Tua te fallit Imago nothing deceives a man so soon as a mans self when a man is that I may use Plato's expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mingled with his nature and his Congenial infirmities of anger and desire he can never have any thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a knowledge partly moral and partly natural his whole life is but Imagination his knowledge is Inclination and Opinion he judges of Heavenly things by the measures of his fears and his desires and his Reason is half of it sense and determinable by the principles of sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a man learns well when he is a Philosopher in his Passions Passionate men are to be taught the first elements of Religion and let men pretend to as much learning as they please they must begin again at Christs Cross they must learn true mortification and crucifixion of their anger and desires before they can be good Scholars in Christs School or be admitted into the more secret enquiries of Religion or profit in spiritual understanding It was an excellent Proverb of the Jews In passionibus Spiritus Sanctus non habitat the Holy Ghost never dwells in the house of Passion Truth enters into the heart of man when it is empty and clean and still but when the mind is shaken with Passion as with a storm you can never hear the voyce of the Charmer though he charm very wisely and you will very hardly sheath a sword when it is held by a loose and a paralytick Arm. He that means to learn the secrets of Gods wisdom must be as Plato says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul must be Consubstantiated with Reason not invested with Passion to him that is otherwise things are but in the dark his notion is obscure and his sight troubled and therefore though we often meet with passionate Fools yet we seldom or never hear of a very passionate wise man I have now done with the first part of my undertaking and proved to you that our evil life is the cause of our Controversies and Ignorances in Religion and of the things of God You see what hinders us from becoming
the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand Where besides that the wise man and the wicked are opposed plainly signifying that the wicked man is a Fool and an Ignorant it is plainly said that None of the wicked shall understand the wisdom and mysteriousness of the Kingdom of the Messias 4. A good life is the best way to understand Wisdom and Religion because by the experiences and relishes of Religion there is conveyed to them such a sweetness to which all wicked men are strangers there is in the things of God to them which practise them a deliciousness that makes us love them and that love admits us into Gods Cabinet and strangely clarifies the Understanding by the purification of the Heart For when our Reason is raised up by the Spirit of Christ it is turned quickly into experience when our Faith relies upon the Principles of Christ it is changed into Vision and so long as we know God only in the ways of man by contentious Learning by Arguing and Dispute we see nothing but the shadow of him and in that shadow we meet with many dark appearances little certainty and much conjecture But when we know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the eyes of holiness and the intuition of gracious experiences with a quiet spirit and the peace of Enjoyment then we shall hear what we never heard and see what our eyes never saw then the mysteries of Godliness shall be opened unto us and clear as the windows of the morning And this is rarely well expressed by the Apostle If we stand up from the dead and awake from sleep then Christ shall give us light For although the Scriptures themselves are written by the Spirit of God yet they are written within and without and besides the light that shines upon the face of them unless there be a light shining within our hearts unfolding the leaves and interpreting the mysterious sense of the Spirit convincing our Consciences and preaching to our hearts to look for Christ in the leaves of the Gospel is to look for the living amongst the dead There is a life in them but that life is according to S. Paul's expression hid with Christ in God and unless the Spirit of God be the Promo-condus we shall never draw it forth Humane Learning brings excellent ministeries towards this it is admirably useful for the reproof of Heresies for the detection of Fallacies for the Letter of the Scripture for Collateral testimonies for exterior advantages but there is something beyond this that humane Learning without the addition of Divine can never reach Moses was learned in all the Learning of the Egyptians and the holy men of God contemplated the glories of God in the admirable order motion and influences of the Heaven but besides all this they were taught of God something far beyond these prettinesses Pythagoras read Moses's Books and so did Plato and yet they became not Proselytes of the Religion though they were learned Scholars of such a Master The reason is because that which they drew forth from thence was not the life and secret of it Tradidit arcano quodcunque Volumine Moses There is a secret in these Books which few men none but the Godly did understand and though much of this secret is made manifest in the Gospel yet even here also there is a Letter and there is a Spirit still there is a reserve for Gods secret ones even all those deep mysteries which the old Testament covered in Figures and Stories and Names and Prophesies and which Christ hath and by his Spirit will yet reveal more plainly to all that will understand them by their proper measures For although the Gospel is infinitely more legible and plain than the obscurer Leaves of the Law yet there is a Seal upon them also which Seal no man shall open but he that is worthy We may understand something of it by the three Children of the Captivity they were all skill'd in all the wisdom of the Chaldees and so was Daniel but there was something beyond that in him the wisdom of the most high God was in him and that taught him a learning beyond his learning In all Scripture there is a spiritual sense a spiritual Cabala which as it tends directly to holiness so it is best and truest understood by the Sons of the Spirit who love God and therefore know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing is best known by its own similitudes and analogies But I must take some other time to speak fully of these things I have but one thing more to say and then I shall make my Applications of this Doctrine and so conclude 5. Lastly there is a sort of Gods dear Servants who walk in perfectness who perfect holiness in the fear of God and they have a degree of Clarity and divine knowledge more than we can discourse of and more certain than the Demonstrations of Geometry brighter than the Sun and indeficient as the light of Heaven This is called by the Apostle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is this brightness of God manifested in the hearts of his dearest Servants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I shall say no more of this at this time for this is to be felt and not to be talked of and they that never touched it with their finger may secretly perhaps laugh at it in their heart and be never the wiser All that I shall now say of it is that a good man is united unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a flame touches a flame and combines into splendor and to glory so is the Spirit of a man united unto Christ by the Spirit of God These are the friends of God and they best know Gods mind and they only that are so know how much such men do know They have a special Vnction from above So that now you are come to the top of all this is the highest round of the Ladder and the Angels stand upon it they dwell in Love and Contemplation they worship and obey but dispute not and our quarrels and impertinent wranglings about Religion are nothing else but the want of the measures of this State Our light is like a Candle every wind of vain Doctrine blows it out or spends the wax and makes the light tremulous but the lights of Heaven are fixed and bright and shine for ever But that we may speak not only things mysterious but things intelligible how does it come to pass by what means and what Oeconomy is it effected that a holy life is the best determination of all Questions and the surest way of knowledge Is it to be supposed that a Godly man is better enabled to determine the Questions of Purgatory of Transubstantiation is the gift of Chastity the best way to reconcile Thomas and Scotus and is a temperate man alwaies a better Scholar than a Drunkard To this I answer that in all things in
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 ways and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro 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 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 agendo 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 practice 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 he 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 talk 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 spred 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 Vndivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdom 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 spiritual 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 oeconomy he feels this unintelligible Mystery and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysicks can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledg 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 Holiness 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 Holiness is the greatest Wisdom 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 dismiss you from this attention Many ways have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet prov'd 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 Villain 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 If the holy man best understands Wisdom and Religion then by the proportions of holiness we shall best measure the Doctrines that are obtruded to the disturbance of our Peace and the dishonour of the Gospel And therefore 1. That is no good Religion whose Principles destroy any duty of Religion He that shall maintain it to be lawful to make a War for the defence of his Opinion be it what it will his Doctrine is against Godliness Any thing that is proud any thing that is peevish and scornful any thing that is uncharitable is against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that form of sound Doctrine which the Apostle speaks of And I remember that Ammianus Marcellinus telling of George a proud and factious Minister that he was an Informer against his Brethren he says he did it oblitus professionis suae quae nil nisi justum suadet lene he forgot his Profession which teaches nothing but justice and meekness kindnesses and charity And however Bellarmine and others are pleased to take but indirect and imperfect notice of it yet Goodness is the best note of the true Church 2. It is but an ill sign of Holiness when a man is busie in troubling himself and his Superiour in little Scruples and phantastick Opinions about things not concerning the life of Religion or the pleasure of God or the excellencies of the Spirit A good man knows how to please God how to converse with him how to advance the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus to set forward Holiness and the Love of God and of his Brother and he knows also that there is no Godliness in
end of your labours and they the end of your preachings your preaching is vain and their faith is also vain The particulars of this are not many but very useful 1. It is never out of season to preach good works but when you do be careful that you never indirectly disgrace them by telling how your adversaries spoil them I do not speak this in vain for too many of us account good works to be Popery and so not only dishonour our Religion and open wide the mouths of adversaries but disparage Christianity it self while we hear it preached in every Pulpit that they who preach good works think they merit heaven by it and so for fear of merit men let the work alone to secure a true opinion they neglect a good practice and out of hatred of Popery we lay aside Christianity it self Teach them how to do good works and yet to walk humbly with God for better it is to do well even upon a weak account than to do nothing upon the stock of a better proposition and let it never be used any more as a word of reproach unto us all that the faith of a Protestant and the works of a Papist and the words of a Phanatick make up a good Christian. Believe well and speak well and do well but in doing good works a man cannot deceive any one but himself by the apendage of a foolish opinion but in our believing only and in talking a man may deceive himself and all the world and God only can be safe from the cousenage Like to this is the case of external forms of worship which too many refuse because they pretend that many who use them rest in them and pass no further For besides that no sect of men teaches their people so to do you cannot without uncharitableness suppose it true of very many But if others do ill do not you do so too and leave not out the external forms for fear of formality but joyn the inward power of godliness and then they are reproved best and instructed wisely and you are secured But remember that prophaneness is commonly something that is external and he is a prophane person who neglects the exterior part of Religion and this is so vile a crime that hypocrisie while it is undiscovered is not so much mischievous as open prophaneness or a neglect and contempt of external Religion Do not despise external Religion because it may be sincere and do not rely upon it wholly because it may be counterfeit but do you preach both and practise both both what may glorifie God in publick and what may please him in private 2. In deciding the questions and causes of Conscience of your flocks never strive to speak what is pleasing but what is profitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as was said of Isidor the Philosopher you must not give your people words but things and substantial food Let not the people be prejudiced in the matter of their souls upon any terms whatsoever and be not ashamed to speak boldly in the cause of God for he that is angry when he is reproved is not to be considered excepting only to be reproved again if he will never mend not you but he will have the worst of it but if he ever mends he will thank you for your love and for your wisdom and for your care and no man is finally disgraced for speaking of a truth onely here pray for the grace of prudence that you may speak opportunely and wisely lest you profit not but destroy an uncapable subject Lastly The Apostle requires of every Mnister of the Gospel that his speech and doctrine should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unreprovable not such against which no man can cavil for the Pharisees found fault with the wise discourses of the eternal Son of God and Hereticks and Schismaticks prated against the Holy Apostles and their excellent Sermons but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such as deserves no blame and needs no pardon and flatters not for praise and begs no excuses and makes no Apologies a discourse that will be justified by all the sons of wisdom now that yours may be so the preceding rules are the best means that are imaginable For so long as you speak the pure truths of God the plain meaning of the Spirit the necessary things of Faith the useful things of Charity and the excellencies of Holiness who can reprove your doctrine But there is something more in this word which the Apostle means else it had been an uselesse repetition and a man may speak the truths of God and yet may be blame-worthy by an importune unseasonable and imprudent way of delivering them or for want of such conduct which will place him and his doctrine in reputation and advantages To this purpose these advices may be useful 1. Be more careful to establish a truth than to reprove an error For besides that a truth will when it is established of it self reprove the error sufficiently men will be lesse apt to reprove your truth when they are not ingaged to defend their own propositions against you Men stand upon their guard when you proclaim war against their doctrine Teach your doctrine purely and wisely and without any angry reflexions for you shall very hardly perswade him whom you go about publickly to confute 2. If any man have a revelation or a discovery of which thou knowest nothing but by his preaching be not too quick to condemn it not onely lest thou discourage his labour and stricter inquiries in the search of truth but lest thou also be a fool upon record for so is every man that hastily judges what he slowly understands Is it not a monument of a lasting reproach that one of the Popes of Rome condemned the Bishop of Sulzback for saying that there were Antipodes and is not Pope Nicholas deserted by his own party for correcting the Sermons of Berengarius and making him recant into a worse error and posterity will certainly make themselves very merry with the wise sentences made lately at Rome against Galileo and the Jansemists To condemn one truth is more shameful than to broach two errors for he that in an honest and diligent inquiry misses something of the mark will have the Apologies of humane infirmity and the praise of doing his best but he that condemns a truth when it is told him is an envious fool and is a murderer of his Brothers fame and his Brothers reason 3. Let no man upon his own head reprove the Religion that is established by Law and a just supreme Authority for no reproofs are so severe as the reproofs of Law and a man will very hardly defend his opinion that is already condemned by the wisdom of all his Judges A mans Doctrine possibly may be true though against Law but it cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unreproveable and a Schismatick can in no case observe this Rule of the Apostle If something may be amiss