veritate accipitur saith the Law If the Judge have given sentence that sentence is suppos'd a truth and Cassiodor said according to the sentence of the Law Nimis iniquum est ut ille patiatur dispendium qui imperium fecit alienum Our Obedience secures us from the imputation of evil and Error does but seldome goe in company with Obedience But however there is this advantage to be gotten by Obedience that he who prefers the sentence of the Law before his own Opinion does doe an act of great Humility and exercises the grace of Modesty and takes the best way to secure his Conscience and the publick Peace and pleases the Government which he is bound to please and pursues the excellencies of Unity and promotes Charity and Godly Love whereas on the other side he that goes by himself apart from his Superior is alwaies materially a Schismatick and is more likely to be deceiv'd by his own Singularity and Prejudice and Weakness then by following the guides God hath set over him And if he loses Truth certainly he will get nothing else for by so doing we lose our Peace too and give publick offence and arme Authority against us and are scandalous in Law and pull evil upon our heads and all this for a proud Singularity or a trifling Opinion in which we are not so likely to be deceived if we trust our selves less and the publick more In omnibus falli possum in obedientia non possum said S. Teresa I can in every thing else but in Obedience I can never be deceived And it is very remarkable in my Text that Rebellion or Disobedience is compared to the sin of witchcraft Indeed it seems strange for the meaning of it is not only that a Rebel is as much hated by God as a Witch but it means that the sinnes are alike in their very natures quasi peccatum divinationis saith the Vulgar Latine they that disobey Authority trusting in their own opinions are but like Witches or Diviners that is they are led by an evil spirit pride and a lying and deceiving spirit is their teacher and their answers are seldome true for though they pretend the Truth of God for their Disobedience yet they fall into the deception of the devil and that 's the end of their soothsaying And let me adde this that when a man distrusts his Superior and trusts himself if he misses Truth it will be greatly imputed to him he shall feel the evil of his error and the shame of his pride the reproach of his folly and the punishment of his disobedience the dishonour of singularity and the restlesness of Schisme and the scorn of the multitude but on the other side if he obey Authority and yet be deceived he is greatly excused he erred on the safer side he is defended by the hands of many vertues and gets peace and love of the Congregation You see the Blessings of Obedience even in the questions and matters of Religion but I have something more to say and it is not only of great use to appease the tumultuary disputations and arguings of Religion which have lately disturbed these Nations but is proper to be spoken to and to be reduced to practice by this Honourable and High Court of Parliament That which I am to say is this You have no other way of Peace no better way to appease and quiet the Quarrels in Religion which have been too long among us but by reducing all men to Obedience and all questions to the measures of the Laws For they on both sides pretend Scripture but one side onely can pretend to the Laws and they that do admit no authority above their own to expound Scripture cannot deny but Kings and Parliaments are the makers and proper expounders of our Laws and if ever you mean to have Truth and Peace kiss each other let no man dispute against your Laws For did not our Blessed Saviour say that an Oath is the end of all questions and after depositions are taken all Judges goe to sentence What Oaths are to private questions that Laws are to publick And if it be said that Laws may be mistaken it is true but may not an Oath also be a Perjury and yet because in humane affairs we have no greater certainty and greater then God gives we may not look for let the Laws be the last determination and in wise and religious Governments no disputation is to goe beyond them 2. But this is not onely true in religious prudence and plain necessity but this is the way that God hath appointed and that he hath blessed and that he hath intended to be the means of ending all questions This we learn from S. Paul I exhort that first of all prayers and supplications and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority For all for Parliaments and for Councils for Bishops and for Magistrates it is for all and for Kings above all Well to what purpose is all this that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Mark that Kings and all that are in Authority are by God appointed to be the means of obtaining unity and peace in Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the true and Godly worshippings of God no Unity in Religion without Kings and Bishops and those that are in Authority 3. And indeed because this is God's way of ending our Controversies the matter of Authority is highly to be regarded If you suffer the Authority of the King to be lessened to be scrupled to be denied in Ecclesiastical affairs you have no way left to silence the tongues and hands of gainsaying people But so it is the Kings Authority is appointed and enabled by God to end our questions of Religion Divinatio in labiis Regis saith Solomon in judicio non errabit os ejus Divination and a wise sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth shall not erre in judgement In all Scripture there is not so much for the Popes infallibility but by this it appears there is divinity in the Kings sentence for God gives to Kings who are his Vicegerents a peculiar spirit And when Justinian had out of the sense of Julian the Lawyer observed that there were many cases for which Law made no provision he addes If any such shall happen Augustum imploretur remedium run to the King for remedy for therefore God hath set the Imperial fortune over humane affairs ut possit omnia quae noviter contingunt emendare componere modis ac regulis competentibus tradere that the King may amend and rule and compose every new-arising question And it is not to be despised but is a great indication of this Truth that the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the world do approve them and are a
great testimony how the sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in matters of Religion and questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King divines And since God hath blessed us with so good so just so religious and so wise a Prince let the sentence of his Laws be our last resort and no questions be permitted after his judgment and legal determination For Wisedome saith By me Princes rule by me they decree justice and therefore the spirit of the King is a divine eminency and is as the spirit of the most High God 4. Let no man be too busy in disputing the laws of his Superiors for a man by that seldome gets good to himself but seldome misses to doe mischief unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one in Laertius Will a son contend with his father that 's not decent though the son speak that which is right he may possibly say well enough but he does doe very ill not only because he does not pay his duty and reverential fear but because it is in it self very often unreasonable to dispute concerning the command of our Superior whether it be good or no for the very commandement can make it not only good but a necessary good It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay on you no greater burden then these necessary things said the Council of Jerusalem and yet these things were not necessary but as they were commanded to abstain from a strangled hen or a bloody pudding could not of themselves be necessary but the commandement came authority did interpose and then they were made so 5. But then besides the advantages both of the spirit and the authority of Kings in matters of question the laws and decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteem'd as a final sentence in all things disputed The thing is a plain command Hebrews 13.7 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God this tels what Rulers he means Rulers Ecclesiastical and what of them whose faith follow they must praeire in articulis they are not masters of your faith but guides of it and they that sit in Moses chair must be heard and obey'd said our blessed Saviour These words were not said for nothing and they were nothing if their authority were nothing For between the laws of a Church and the opinion of a Subject the comparison is the same as between a publick spirit and a private The publick is far the better the daughter of God and the mother of a blessing and alwaies dwels in light The publick spirit hath already passed the trial it hath been subjected to the Prophets tried and searched and approved the private is yet to be examined The publick spirit is uniform and apt to be followed the private is various and multiform as chance and no man can follow him that hath it For if he follows one he is reproved by a thousand and if he changes he may get a shame but no truth and he can never rest but in the arms and conduct of his Superior When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses God told them that they were Prophets of an inferior rank then Moses was God communicated himself to them in dreams and visions but the Ruach hakkodesh the publick spirit of Moses their Prince that was higher and what then wherefore then God said were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses plainly teaching us that where there is a more excellent spirit they that have a spirit less excellent ought to be afraid to speak against it And this is the full case of the private and publick spirit that is of a Subject speaking against the spirit and the laws of the Church In heaven and in the air and in all the regions of spirits the spirit of a lower order dares not speak against the spirit of an higher and therefore for a private spirit to oppose the publick is a disorder greater then is in hell it self To conclude this point Let us consider whether it were not an intolerable mischief if the Judges should give sentence in causes of instance by the measures of their own fancy and not by the Laws who would endure them and yet why may they not doe that as well as any Ecclesiastic person preach Religion not which the Laws allow but what is taught him by his own private Opinion but he that hath the Laws on his side hath ever something of true Religion to warrant him and can never want a great measure of justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws and the customes of the country are the results of wise counsels or long experience they ever comply with Peace and publick benefit and nothing of this can be said of private Religions for they break the Peace and trouble the Conscience and undo Government and despise the Laws and offend Princes and dishonour the wisdome of Parliaments and destroy Obedience Well but in the last place if we cannot doe what the Laws command we will suffer what they impose and then all is well again But first who ever did so that could help it And secondly this talking of passive Obedience is but a mockery for what man did ever say the Laws were not good but he also said the Punishment was unjust And thirdly which of all the Recusants did not endeavour to get ground upon the Laws and secretly or openly asperse the Authority that put him to pain for doing that which he calls his duty and can any man boast of his passive Obedience that calls it Persecution he may think to please himself but he neither does or saies any thing that is for the reputation of the Laws Such men are like them that sail in a storm they may possibly be thrown into a harbour but they are very sick all the way But after all this I have one thing to observe to such persons That such a passive Obedience as this does not acquit a man before God and he that suffers what the Law inflicts is not discharg'd in the Court of Conscience but there he is still a sinner and a debter For the law is not made for the righteous but for sinners that is the punishment 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 tied 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
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 dye before the birth of Reason Nature hath taught us to pay a tributary tear Alas your eyes will behold the ruine of many Families wnich 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 rejoyces 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 benign 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 doe as God does who in judgement remembers mercy To conclude If every one in this Honourable Assembly would joyn together to promote Christian Religion in it's 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 indure 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 joyn 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 then the words of our Blessed Saviour but it is upon these terms Seek ye first the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Amen FINIS A CATALOGUE of some Books written by JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor and Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivy-lane London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundaies of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ the third Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 4. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12. 5. The Golden Grove or A Manual of daily Prayers fitted to the daies of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in fol. newly reprinted 7. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. new 8. A Collection of Offices or forms of Prayer fitted to the needs of all Christians taken out of the Scriptures and Ancient Liturgies of several Churches especially the Greek together with the Psalter or Psalms of David after the Kings Translation in a large octavo newly published 9. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. in two volumes 10. The doctrine and Practice of Repentance describing the necessities of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life serving as a necessary Supplement unto the Rule of Conscience 11. The Worthy Communicant in octavo sold at the Bell in S. Pauls Churchyard Via Intelligentiae A SERMOM Preached to the UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN Shewing by what means the Scholars shall become most Learned and most Usefull Published at their desire By the R. R. Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Downe c. and Vicechancellour of that UNIVERSITY Ad majorem Dei gloriam LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1662. 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 then 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 Lawes 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 externall instrument and the best in the World To which I now add that Obedience to God is the best internall 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 acquir'd This way I have here describ'd 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 University of Dublin they consented to it so perfectly and so piously entertain'd it that they were pleas'd with some earnestness to desire me to publish it to the World and to consigne 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
Duty but this also God will exact at the hands of every man that is placed under Authority I have now told you the summe 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 deceiv'd 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 then 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 God's 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 concern'd 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 doe 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 made 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 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 consider'd 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 doe in the matters of Doctrine you are also to doe in matter 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 counsels be imploy'd 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 alinae 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 obey'd 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 sonnes of the Nobility and Gentry no more dare to dishonour God then the meanest of the people shall let baseness be basely esteemed that is put such characters of Shame upon dishonourable Crimes that it be esteem'd more against the honour of a Gentleman to be drunk then to be kicked more shame to fornicate then to be can'd 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 nisilicentia 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 obey'd and you are to take care that he be so God also must be honnourd 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 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
I shall enter no further upon this inquiry only I remember that it is not very many Months since the Bigots of the Popish party cryed out against us vehemently and inquired Where is your Church of England since you have no Unity for your Ecclesiastick head of Unity your Bishops are gone And if we should be desirous to verify their argument so as indeed to destroy Episcopacy We should too much advantage Popery and do the most imprudent and most impious thing in the world But blessed be God who hath restored that Government for which our late King of glorious memory gave his blood And that me thinks should very much weigh with all the Kings true hearted Subjects who should make it Religion not to rob that glorious Prince of the greatest honour of such a Martyrdom For my part I think it fit to rest in those words of another Martyr S. Cyprian Si quis cum Episcopo non sit in Ecclesia non esse He that is not with the Bishop is not in the Church that is he that goes away from him and willingly separates departs from Gods Church and whether he can then be with God is a very material consideration and fit to be thought on by all that think Heaven a more eligible good then the interests of a faction and the importune desire of rule can countervail However I have in the following papers spoken a few things which I hope may be fit to perswade them that are not infinitely prejudiced and although two or three good arguments are as good as two or three hundred yet my purpose here was to prove the dignity and necessity of the Office and Order Episcopal only that it might be as an Oeconomy to convey notice and remembrances of the great duty incumbent upon all them that undertake this great charge The Dignity and the Duty take one another by the hand and are born together only every Sheep of the Flock must take care to make the Bishops duty as easy as it can by humility and love by prayer and by Obedience It is at the best very difficult but they who oppose themselves to Government make it harder and uncomfortable But take heed if thy Bishop hath cause to complain to God of thee for thy perversness and uncharitable walking thou wilt be the loser And for us we can only say in the words of the Prophet We will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people But Our comfort is in God for we can do nothing without him but in him we can do all things And therefore We will pray Domine dabis pacem nobis omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis God hath wrought all our works within us and therefore he will give us Peace and give us his Spirit Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith A Consecration Sermon Preached at DVBLIN Luke XII 42. And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THese words are not properly a question though they seem so and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interrogative but hypothetical and extends who to whosoever plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshould of him God requires a great care because he hath trusted him with a great imployment Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in my Text Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it now and in all generations of men as long as this Family shall abide on earth that is the Apostles and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship were to be furnished with the same power and to undertake the same charge and to give the same strict and severe accounts In these words here is something insinuated and much expressed 1. That which is insinuated only is who these Stewards are whom Christ had whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church they are not here named but we shall find them out by their propeâ— dirâ—ction and indigitation by and by 2. But that which is expressed is the Office it self in a double capacity 1. In the dignity of it It is a Rule and a Government whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshould 2. In the care and duty of it which determines the government to be paternal and profitable iâ— is a rule but such a rule as Shepherds have over their flocks to lead them to good pastures and to keep them within their appointed walks and within their folds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the work to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Matthew calls it meat in the season that which is fit for them and when it is fit meat enough and meat convenient and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong wholsom dyet 3. Lastly Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation The Steward that does so and continues to do so till his Lord find him so doing this man shall be blessed in his deed Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of these in order â— Who are these Rulers of Christs Family for though Christ knew it and therefore needed not to ask yet we have disputed it so much and obeyed so little that we have changed the plain hypothesis into an intangled question The answer yet is easy as to some part of the inquiry The Apostles are the first meaning of the Text for they were our Fathers in Christ They begat Sons and Daughters unto God and were a spiritual paternity is evident we need look no further for spiritual Government because in the paternal rule all power is founded They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the Spirit and they fed this Family and ruled it by the word of their proper Ministery They had the keyes of this house the Stewards Ensign and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church then for the first planting and if it was necessary that
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 Unction 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 passe 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 or Transubstantiation is the gift of Chastity the best way to reconcile Thomas and Scotus and is a temperate man alwayes a better Scholar then a Drunkard To this I answer that in all things in which true wisdom consists Holinesse which is the best wisdom is the surest way of understanding them And this 1. Is effected by Holinesse 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 naturall man saith St. 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 pittifully 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 blindnesse and ignorant folly But when it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousnesse 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 virtue of it and the man that can with eloquence and subtilty discourse of the intrumentall efficacy of Baptismal waters talkes 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 joyn'd 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 groate 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 broak 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 then he that is truly Reform'd 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 cousen'd 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 Schisme and Disobedience and most of the Questions of Christendom are such which either are good for nothing and therefore to be layd aside or if they be complicated with action and are ministeries of practice no man can judge them so well as the spirituall 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 Holinesse therefore is a proper and naturall 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 Proportion 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 holinesse easily reprove their own folly by considering that such recusancy does introduce into our Churches the very worst the most intolerable 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
Arcâ—dian home-spun that it was warmer for him in Winter and cooler in Summer And forever since the Church by God's blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes and Pious Nobility hath been endowed with fair Revenues inimicus homo the Enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away God's portion from the Church as if his Word were intended as an instrument to rob his Houses But when the Israelites were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and God was their King and Moses his Lieutenant and things were of his management he was pleas'd by making great Provisions for them that ministred in the service of the Tabernacle to consign this truth for ever That Men as they love God at the same rate are to make provisions for his Priests For when himself did it he not only gave the 48. Cities with a mile of Glebe round about their City every way and yet the whole Country was but 140. miles long or thereabouts from Dan to Beersheba but besides this they had the tithe of aâ—l increase the first fruits offerings vows redemptions and in short they had 24. sorts of Dues as Buxtorf relates and all this either brought to the Barn home to them without trouble or else as the nature of the thing required brought to the Temple the first to make it more profitable and the second to declare that they received it not from the People but from God not the Peoples kindness but the Lords inheritance insomuch that this small Tribe of Levi whicâ— was not the 40th part of the People as the Scripture computes them had a Revenue almost treble to any of the largest of the Tribes I will not insist on what Villalpandus observes it may easily be read in the 45. of Ezekiel concerning that portion which God reserves for himself and his service but whatsoever it be this I shall say that it is confessedly a Prophecy of the Gospel but this I adde that they had as little to do and much less than a Christian Priest and yet in all the 24. courses the poorest Priest amongst them might be esteemed a Rich man I speak not this to upbraid any man or any thing but Sacrilege and Murmur nor to any other end but to represent upon what great and Religious grounds the then Bishop of Derry did with so much care and assiduous labour endeavour to restore the Church of Ireland to that splendor and fulness which as it is much conducing to the honour of God and of Religion God himself being the Judge so it is much more necessary for you than it is for us and so this wise Prelate rarely well understood it and having the same advantage and blessing as we now have a Gracious King and a Lieutenant Patron of Religion and the Church he improv'd the deposita pietatis as Origen calls them the Gages of Piety which the Religion of the ancient Princes and Nobles of this Kingdom had bountifully given to such a comfortable competency that though there be place left for present and future Piety to inlarge it self yet no man hath reason to be discourag'd in his duty insomuch that as I have heard from a most worthy hand that at his going into England he gave account to the Archbishop of Canterbury of 30000 l. a year in the recovery of which he was greatly and principally instrumental But the goods of this World are called waters by Solomon Stollen waters are sweet and they are too unstable to be stopt some of these waters did run back from their proper chanel and return to another course than God and the Laws intended yet his labours and pious Counsels were not the less acceptable to God and good men and therefore by a thankful and honourable recognition the Convocation of the Church of Ireland hath transmitted in Record to posterity their deep resentment of his singular services and great abilities in this whole affair And this honour will for ever remain to that Bishop of Derry he had a Zerubbabel who repair'd the Temple and restor'd its beauty but he was the Joshuah the High-priest who under him ministred this blessing to the Congregations of the Lord. But his care was not determin'd in the exteriour part onely and Accessaries of Religion he was careful and he was prosperous in it to reduce that Divine and excellent Service of our Church to publick and constant Exercise to Unity and Devotion and to cause the Articles of the Church of England to be accepted as the Rule of publick confessions and perswasions here that they and we might be Populus unius labii of one heart and one lip building up our hopes of heaven on a most holy Faith and taking away that Shibboleth which made this Church lisp too undecently or rather in some little degree to speak the speech of Ashdod and not the language of Canaan and the excellent and wise pains he took in this particular no man can dehonestate or reproch but he that is not willing to confess that the Church of England is the best Reformed Church in the world But when the brave Roman Infantry under the Conduct of Manlius ascended up to the Capitol to defend Religion and their Altars from the fury of the Gauls they all pray'd to God Ut quemadmodum ipsi ad defendendum templum ejus concurrissent ita ille virtutem ecrum numine suo tueretur That as they came to defend his Temple by their Arms so he would defend their Persons and that Cause with his Power and Divinity And this excellent man in the Cause of Religion found the like blessing which they prayed for God by the prosperity of his labours and a blessed effect gave testimony not onely of the Piety and Wisdom of his purposes but that he loves to bless a wise Instrument when it is vigorously imployed in a wise and religious labour He overcame the difficulty in defiance of all such pretences as were made even from Religion it self to obstruct the better procedure of real and material Religion These were great things and matter of great envy and like the fiery eruptions of Vesuvius might with the very ashes of Consumption have buried another man At first indeed as his blessed Master the most holy Jesus had so he also had his Annum acceptabilem At first the product was nothing but great admiration at his stupendious parts and wonder at his mighty diligence and observation of his unusual zele in so good and great things but this quickly pass'd into the natural daughters of Envy Suspicion and Detraction the spirit of Obloquy and Slander His zele for recovery of the Church-revenues was call'd Oppression and Rapine Covetousness and Injustice his care of reducing Religion to wise and justifiable principles was called Popery and Arminianism and I know not what names which signifie what the Authors are pleased to mean and the People to conster and to hate The intermedial
agreement such a Gate might be deliver'd to him The messenger was not advis'd to be cautious not at all instructed in the art of Secrecy for it was intended that he should be search'd intercepâ—ed and hang'd for ought they car'd but the Arrow was shot against the Bishop that he might be accused for base Conspiracy and die with shame and sad dishonour But here God manifested his mighty care of his Servants he was pleas'd to send into the heart of the messenger such an affrightment that he directly ran away with the Letter and never durst come near the Town to deliver it This story was publish'd by Sir Phelim himself who added That if he could have thus ensnar'd the Bishop he had good assurance the Town should have been his own Sed bonitas Dei praevalitura est super omnem malitiam hominis The goodness of God is greater then all the malice of Men and nothing could so prove how dear that sacred Life was to God as his rescue from the dangers Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deos To have kept him in a warm house had been nothing unless the roof had fallen upon his head that rescue was a remark of Divine favour and Providence But it seems Sir Phelim's Treason against the Life of this worthy Man had a Correspondent in the Town and it broke out speedily for what they could not effect by malicious stratagem they did in part by open force they turn'd the Bishop out of the Town and upon trifling and unjust pretences search'd his Carriages and took what they pleas'd till they were asham'd to take more they did worse then divorce him from his Church for in all the Roman Divorces they said Tuas tibi res habeto Take your goods and be gone but Plunder was Religion then However though the usage was sad yet it was recompenc'd to him by his taking Sanctuary in Oxford where he was graciously receiv'd by that most incomparable and divine Prince but having served the King in Yorkshire by his Pen and by his Counsels and by his Interests return'd back to Ireland where under the excellent conduct of his Grace the now Lord Lieutenant he ran the risque and fortune of oppressed Vertue But God having still resolv'd to afflict us the good man was forc'd into the fortune of the Patriarchs to leave his Countrey and his Charges and seek for safety and bread in a strange Land for so the Prophets were us'd to do wandring up and down in sheeps-clothing but poor as they were the world was not worthy of them and this worthy man despising the shame took up his Cross and followed his Master Exilium causa ipsa jubet sibi dulce videri Et desiderium dulce levat patriae He was not asham'd to suffer where the Cause was honourable and glorious but so God provided for the needs of his banished and sent a man who could minister comfort to the afflicted and courage to the persecuted and resolutions to the tempted and strength to that Religion for which they all suffered And here this great man was indeed triumphant this was one of the last and best scenes of his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last dayes are the best witnesses of a man But so it was that he stood up in publick and brave defence for the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England First by his Sufferings and great Example for Verbis tantùm philosophari non est Doctoris sed Histrionis To talk well and not to do bravely is for a Comedian not a Divine But this great man did both he suffered his own Calamity with great courage and by his wise Discourses strengthened the hearts of others For there wanted not diligent Tempters in the Church of Rome who taking advantage of the Afflictions of His Sacred Majesty in which state Men commonly suspect every thing and like men in sickness are willing to change from side to side hoping for ease and finding none flew at Royal Game and hop'd to draw away the King from that Religion which His most Royal Father the best Man and the wisest Prince in the world had seal'd with the best Bloud in Christendom and which Himself suck'd in with His Education and had confirm'd by Choice and Reason and confess'd publickly and bravely and hath since restor'd prosperously Mâ—llitieâ—e was the man witty and bold enough to aâ—tempt a zelous and a foolish undertaking and address'd himself with ignoble indeed but witty arts to perswade the King to leave what was dearer to Him then His Eyes It is true it was a Wave dash'd against a Rock and an Arrow shot against the Sun it could not reach him but the Bishop of Derry turn'd it alâ—o and made it to fall upon the shooters head for he made so ingenious so learned and so accute Reply to that book he so discover'd the Errors of the Roman Church retorted the Arguments stated the Questions demonstrated the Truth and sham'd their Procedures that nothing could be a greater argument of the Bishops Learning great Parts deep Judgment Quickness of Apprehension and Sincerity in the Catholick and Apostolick Faith or of the Follies and Prevarications of the Church of Rome He wrote no Apologies for himself though it were much to be wish'd that as Junius wrote his own Life or Moses his own story so we might have understood from himself how great things God had done for him and by him but all that he permitted to God and was silent in his own Defences Gloriosius enim est injuriam tacendo fugere quà m respondendo superare But when the Honour and Conscience of his King and the Interest of a true Religion was at stake the fire burn'd within him and at last he spake with his tongue he cried out like the son of Croesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed and meddle not with the King His Person is too sacred and Religion too dear to Him to be assaulted by Vulgar hands In short he acquited himself in this affair with so much Truth and Piety Learning and Judgment that in those Papers his memory will last unto very late succeeding Generations But this most Reverend Prelate found a nobler adversary and a braver scene for his contention He found that the Roman Priests being wearied and baffled by the wise Discourses and pungent Arguments of the English Divines had studiously declined any more to dispute the particular Questions against us but fell at last upon a general Charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolv'd to out-face us in the Charge But now it was that dignum nactus argumentum having an Argument fit to imploy his great abilities Consecrat hic praesul calamum calamÃque labores Ante
their souls our Primate had so great a Veneration to his memory that he purpos'd if he had liv'd to have restor'd his Monument in Dundalke which Time or Impiety or Unthankfulness had either omitted or destroyed So great a lover he was of all true and inherent worth that he lov'd it in the very memory of the dead and to have such great Examples transmitted to the intuition and imitation of posterity At his coming to the Primacy he knew he should at first espy little besides the Ruines of Discipline a Harvest of Thorns and Heresies prevailing in the hearts of the People the Churches possess'd by Wolves and Intruders Mens hearts greatly estranged from true Religion and therefore he set himself to weed the fields of the Church he treated the Adversaries sometimes sweetly sometimes he confuted them learnedly sometimes he rebuk'd them sharply He visited his Charges diligently and in his own person not by Proxies and instrumental Deputations Quaerens non nostra sed nos quae sunt Jesu Christi he design'd nothing that we knew of but the Redintegration of Religion the Honour of God and the King the Restoring of collapsed Discipline and the Renovation of Faith and the Service of God in the Churches And still he was indefatigable and even as the last scene of his life intended to undertake a a Regal Visitation Quid enim vultis me otiosum à Domino comprehendi said one he was not willing that God should take him unimployed But good man he felt his Tabernacle ready to fall in pieces and could go no further for God would have no more work done by that hand he therefore espying this put his house in order and had lately visited his Diocese and done what he then could to put his Charge in order for he had a good while since receiv'd the sentence of death within himself and knew he was shortly to render an account of his stewardship he therefore upon a brisk alarm of death which God sent him the last January made his Will in which besides the prudence and presence of spirit manifested in making just and wise settlement of his Estate and provisions for his Descendants at midnight and in the trouble of his sickness and circumstances of addressing death still kept a special sentiment and made confession of Gods admirable mercies and gave thanks that God had permitted him to live to see the blessed Restauration of His Majesty and the Church of England confess'd his Faith to be the same as ever gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this Religion and prayed to God and hop'd he should die in the Communion of this Church which he declar'd to be the most pure and Apostolical Church in the whole world He prayed to God to pardon his frailties and infirmities relied upon the mercies of God and the merits of Jesus Christ and with a singular sweetness resign'd up his soul into the hands of his Redeemer But God who is the great Choragus and Master of the Scenes of Life and Death was not pleas'd then to draw the Curtains there was an Epilogue to his Life yet to be acted and spoken He return'd to actions and life and went on in the methods of the same procedure as before was desirous still to establish the affairs of the Church complain'd of some disorders which he purpos'd to redress girt himself to the work but though his spirit was willing yet his flesh was weak and as the Apostles in the Vespers of Christs Passion so he in the Eve of his own Dissolution was heavy not to sleep but heavy unto death and look'd for the last warning which seiz'd on him in the midst of business and though it was sudden yet it could not be unexpected or unprovided by surprize and therefore could be no other then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Augustus us'd to wish unto himself a civil and well-natur'd death without the amazement of troublesom circumstances or the great cracks of a falling house or the convulsions of impatience Seneca tells that Bassus Aufidius was wont to say Sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo extremo anhelitu si tamen esset habere aliquantum in ipsa brevitate solatii He hop'd that the pains of the last Dissolution were little or none or if they were it was full of comfort that they could be but short It happened so to this excellent Man his Passive Fortitude had been abundantly tried before and therefore there was the less need of it now his active Graces had been abundantly demonstrated by the great and good things he did therefore his last scene was not so laborious but God call'd him away something after the manner of Moses which the Jews express by Osculum oris Dei The Kiss of Gods mouth that is a death indeed foresignified but gentle and serene and without temptation To summe up all He was a wise Prelate a learned Doctor a just Man a true Friend a great Benefactour to others a thankful Beneficiary where he was oblig'd himself He was a faithful Servant to his Masters a Loyal Subjest to the King a zelous Assertor of his Religion against Popery on one side and Fanaticism on the other The practice of his Religion was not so much in Forms and exteriour Ministries though he was a great observer of all the publick Rites and Ministries of the Church as it was in doing good for others He was like Myson whom the Scythian Anarchasis so greatly prais'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he govern'd his family well he gave to all their due of maintenance and duty he did great benefit to mankind he had the fate of the Apostle S. Paul he pass'd through evil report and good report as a deceiver and yet true He was a man of great business and great resort Semper aliquis in Cydonis domo as the Corinthian said There was alwayes somebody in Cydon's house He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he divided his life into labour and his book he took care of his Churches when he was alive and even after his death having left 500 l. for the Repair of his Cathedral of Armagh and S. Peters Church in Drogheda He was an excellent Scholar and rarely well accomplish'd first instructed to great excellency by natural parts and then consummated by study and experience Melanchthon was us'd to say that himself was a Logician Pomeranus a Grammarian Justus Jonas an Orator but that Luther was all these It was greatly true of him that the single perfections which make many men eminent were united in this Primate and maâ—e him illustrious At at Quintilium perpetuus sopor Urget cui pudor justitiae soror Incorrupta fides nudaque veritas Quando ullum invenient parem It will be hard to find his Equal in all things Fortasse tanquam Phoenix anno quingentesimo nascitur that I may use the words of Seneca nec est mirum ex intervallo