| their springs, as children to their fathers, as dis- | ther, bravely defended by the sufferings, the prisons ciples to their masters." These similitudes express and flames, the life and the death of bishops, as not only the relation and dependence, but they tell the principal combatants; that the fathers of the us the reason of the duty: the head gives light and church, whose writings are held in so great venerreason to conduct the body; the roots give nourish- ation in all the christian world, were almost all of ment to the plants; and the springs, perpetual them bishops. I could add, that the reformation of emanation of waters to the channels: fathers teach religion in England was principally by the preachand feed their children; and disciples receive wise ings and the disputings, the writings and the marinstructions from their masters: and if we be all tyrdom of bishops; that bishops have ever since this to the people, they will be all that to us; and been the greatest defensatives against popery; that wisdom will compel them to submit, and our hu- England and Ireland were governed by bishops mility will teach them obedience, and our charity ever since they were christian, and under their conwill invite their compliance; our good example will duct have, for so many ages, enjoyed all the blessprovoke them to good works, and our meekness willings of the gospel. I could add also, that episcomelt them into softness and flexibility for all the Lord's people are "populus voluntarius," "a free and willing people;" and we, who cannot compel their bodies, must thus constrain their souls, by inviting their wills, by convincing their understandings, by the beauty of fair example, the efficacy and holiness, and the demonstrations of the Spirit. : This is "experimentum ejus, qui in nobis loquitur Christus," "the experiment of Christ that speaketh in us:" for to this purpose those are excellent words which St. Paul spake: “Remember them who have the rule over you: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation."t There lies the demonstration; and those prelates who teach good life, whose sermons are the measures of Christ, and whose life is a copy of their sermons, these must be followed, and surely these will; for these are burning and shining lights: but if we hold forth false fires, and by the amusement of evil examples, call the vessels that sail upon a dangerous sea, to come upon a rock or an iron shore instead of a safe harbour, we cause them to make shipwreck of their precious faith, and to perish in the deceitful and unstable waters: "Vox operum fortiùs sonat quàm verborum :" "a good life is the strongest argument that your faith is good," and a gentle voice will be sooner entertained than a voice of thunder; but the greatest eloquence in the world is a meek spirit and a liberal hand; these are the two pastoral staves the prophet speaks of, "nognam et hovelim," "beauty and bands;"" he that hath the staff of the beauty of holiness, the ornament of fair example, he hath also the staff of bands: "Atque in funiculis Adam trahet eos, in vinculis charitatis," as the prophet Hosea's expression is, "He shall draw the people after him by the cords of a man, by the bands of a holy charity." But if, against all these demonstrations, any man will be refractory, we have, instead of a staff, an apostolical rod, which is the last and latest remedy, and either brings to repentance, or consigns to ruin and reprobation. X pacy is the great stabiliment of monarchy; but of this we are convinced by a sad and too dear-bought experience; I could therefore instead of it say, that episcopacy is the great ornament of religion; that as it rescues the clergy from contempt, so it is the greatest preservative of the people's liberty from ecclesiastic tyranny on one hand, (the gentry being little better than servants, while they live under the presbytery,) and anarchy and licentiousness on the other; that it endears obedience, and is subject to the laws of princes, and is wholly ordained for the good of mankind and the benefit of souls. But I cannot stay to number all the blessings which have entered into the world at this door; I only remark these, because they describe unto us the bishop's employment, which is, to be busy in the service of souls,-to do good in all capacities,—to serve every man's need,-to promote all public benefits, to cement governments, to establish peace, -to propagate the kingdom of Christ,-to do hurt to no man,-to do good to every man; that is, so to minister, that religion and charity, public peace and private blessings, may be in their.exaltation. As long as it was thus done by the primitive bishops, the princes and the people gave them all honour; insomuch, that by a decree of Constantine the Great, the bishop had power given him to retract the sentences made by the presidents of provinces; and we find, in the acts of St. Nicholas, that he rescued some innocent persons from death, when the executioner was ready to strike the fatal blow, which thing, even when it fell into inconvenience, was indeed forbidden by Arcadius and Honorius; but the confidence and honour was only changed, it was not taken away; for the condemned criminal had leave to appeal to the "Audientia Episcopalis," to "the Bishops' Court.". This was not any right which the bishops could challenge, but a reward of their piety; and so long as the holy office was holily administered, the world found so much comfort and security, so much justice and mercy, so many temporal and spiritual blessings, consequent to the ministries of that order, that, as the Galatians to St. Paul, "men have plucked out their eyes" to do them service, and to do them ho they deserved, and sought them not; then they gave them wealth, because they would dispend it wisely, frugally, and charitably; then they gave them power, because it was sure to be used for the defence of the innocent, for the relief of the oppressed, for the punishment of evil-doers, and the reward of the virtuous. Then they desired to be judged by them, because their audiences, or courts, did ἡσυχάζειν τὸ βαρβαρικόν, " they appeased all furious sentences," and taught gentle principles, and gave merciful measures, and in their courts were all equity and piety, and christian determinations. But afterwards, when they did fall eiç duvaorɛíar, "into secular methods," and made their counsels vain by pride, and dirtied their sentences with money, then they became like other men; and so it will be, unless the bishop be more holy than other men; but when our sanctity and severity shall be as eminent as the calling is, then we shall be called to councils, and sit in public meetings, and bring comfort to private families, and rule in the hearts of men by a 66 jus relationis," such as was between the Roman emperors and the senate; they courted one another into power, and, in giving honour, strove to outdo each other; for from an humble wise man no man will snatch an employment that is ho- | nourable; but from the proud and from the covetous every man endeavours to wrest it, and thinks it lawful prize. My time is now done; and, therefore, I cannot speak to the third part of my text, the reward of the good steward and of the bad; I shall only mention it to you in a short exhortation, and so conclude. In the primitive church, a bishop was never admitted to public penance; not only because in them every crime is ten, and he that could discern a public shame, could not deserve a public honour; nor yet only because every such punishment was scandalous, and did more evil by the example of the crime, than it could do good by the example of the punishment; but also because no spiritual power is higher than the episcopal, and therefore they were to be referred to the Divine judgment, which was likely to fall on them very heavily: dixoroμnσε ἄχρηστον ὁ Κύριος, "the Lord will cut the evil stewards asunder;" he will suffer schisms and divisions to enter in upon us, and that will sadly cut us asunder; but the evil also shall fall upon their persons, like the punishment of quartering traitors, ἵνα καί σε διαμελεϊστὶ ταμήσῃ, punishment with the circumstances of detestation and exemplarity. Consider, therefore, what is your great duty. Consider what is your great danger. The lines of duty I have already described; only remember how dear and precious souls are to God, since for their salvation Christ gave his blood; and therefore will not easily loose them, whom, though they had sinned against him, yet he so highly valued: remember that you are Christ's deputies in the care of souls, and that you succeed in the place of the apostles. "Non est facile stare loco Pauli, et tenere gradum Petri:" you have undertaken the work of St. Paul, and the office of St. Peter; and what, think you, upon this account, will be required of us? St. Je rome expresses it thus: "The wisdom and skill of a bishop ought to be so great, that his countenance, his gesture, his motion, every thing should be vocal, 'ut quicquid agit, quicquid loquitur, doctrina sit apostolorum:' that whatever he does or speaks, be doctrine apostolical.'" The ancient fathers had a pious opinion, that besides the angel-guardian which is appointed to the guard of every man, there is to every bishop a second angel appointed to him at the consecration; and to this Origen alludes, saying that every bishopric hath two angels, the one visible and the other invisible. This is a great matter, and shows what a precious thing that order and those persons are in the eyes of God; but then this also means, that we should live angelic lives, which the church rarely well expresses by saying, that episcopal dignity is the ecclesiastic state of perfection, and supposes the persons to be so far advanced in holiness, as to be in the state of confirmation in grace. But I shall say nothing of these things, because it may be they press too hard; but the use I shall make of it, upon occasion of the reward of the good and bad steward, is to remind you of your great danger. For if it be required of bishops to be so wise and so holy, so industrious and so careful, so busy and so good, up to the height of best examples; if they be anointed of the Lord, and are the husbands of the churches; if they be the shepherds of the flock, and stewards of the household; it is very fit they consider their danger, that they may be careful to do their duty. St. Bernard considers it well in his epistle to Henry, archbishop of Sens:—If I, lying in my cell, and smoking under a bushel, not shining, yet cannot avoid the breath of the winds, but that my light is almost blown out; what will become of my candle, if it were placed on a candlestick, and set upon a hill? I am to look to myself alone, and provide for my own salvation; and yet I offend myself, I am weary of myself, I am my own scandal and my own danger; my own eye, and my own belly, and my own appetite, find me work enough; and therefore God help them, who, besides themselves, are answerable for many others. Jacob kept the sheep of Laban, and we keep the sheep of Christ; and Jacob was to answer for every sheep that was stolen, and every lamb that was torn by the wild beast; and so shall we too, if by our fault one of Christ's sheep perish; and yet it may be, there are one hundred thousand souls committed to the care and conduct of some one shepherd, who yet will find his own soul work enough for all his care and watchfulness. If any man should desire me to carry a frigate into the Indies, in which one hundred men were embarked, I were a madman to undertake the charge without proportionable skill; and, therefore, when there is more danger, and more souls, and rougher seas, and more secret rocks, and horrible storms, and the shipwreck is an eternal loss, the matter will then require great consideration in the undertaking, and greatest care in the conduct. Upon this account we find many brave persons, in the first and in the middle ages of the church, with great resolution refusing episcopacy. I will not speak of those, who, for fear of martyrdom, de and you are the watchmen; "take care that the clined it, but those who, for fear of damnation, did | healed, and brought home. "The church is a city," refuse. St. Bernard was by three rich cities severally called to be their bishop, and by two to be their archbishop, and he refused them; St. Dominicus refused four successively; St. Thomas Aquinas refused the archbishopric of Naples; and Vincentius Ferrarius would not accept of Valentia or Ilerda; and Bernardinus Senensis refused the bishoprics of Sens, Urbin, and Ferrara. They had reason; and yet, if they had done amiss in that office which they declined, it had been something more excusable; but if they that seek it, be as careless in the office as they are greedy of the honour, that will be found intolerable. "Electus episcopus ambulat in disco, recusans volvitur in areâ," said the hermit in St. Jerome; "The bishop walks upon round and trundling stones; but he that refuses it, stands upon a floor." But I shall say no more of it; because I suppose you have read it, and considered it, in St. Chrysostom's six books, " de Sacerdotio;" in the Apologetic of St. Gregory of Nazianzus; in the pastoral of St. Gregory of Rome; in St. Dionysius's eighth epistle to Demophilus; in the letters of Epiphanius to St. Jerome; in St. Austin's epistle to Bishop Valerius; in St. Bernard's life of St. Malachy; in St. Jerome's one hundred and thirty-eighth epistle to Fabiola. These things, I am sure, you could not read without trembling; and certainly, if it can belong to any christian, then-" work out your salvation with fear and trembling"-that is the bishop's burden. For the bishop is like a man that is surety for his friend; he is bound for many, and for great sums; what is to be done in this case, Solomon's answer is the way: "Do this now, my son, deliver thyself, make sure thy friend, give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eye-lids:" that is, be sedulous to discharge thy trust, to perform thy charge; be zealous for souls, and carelesslessness of their flocks, so many souls perish, who, of money: and remember this, that even in Christ's family there was one sad example of an apostate apostle; and he fell into that fearful estate merely by the desire and greediness of money. Be warm in zeal, and indifferent in thy temporalities: for he that is zealous in temporals, and cold in the spiritual; he that doth the accessories of his calling by himself, and the principal by his deputies; he that is present at the feast of sheep-shearing, and puts others to feed the flock; hath no sign at all upon him of a good shepherd. "It is not fit for us to leave the word of God, and to serve tables," said the apostles. And if it be a less worthy office to serve the tables even of the poor, to the diminution of our care in the dispensation of God's word,-it must needs be an unworthy employment to leave the word of God, and to attend the rich and superfluous furniture of our own tables. Remember the quality of your charges: "Civitas est, vigilate ad custodiam et concordiam; sponsa est, studete amari; oves sunt, intendite pastui." "Z"The church is a spouse;" the universal church is Christ's spouse, but your own diocess is yours; "behave yourselves so that ye be beloved. Your people are as sheep," and they must be fed, and guided, and preserved, and y Prov. vi. 3, 4. if they had been carefully and tenderly, wisely and or neglected them, shall have their portion with goats for ever and ever, in everlasting burnings, in which it is impossible for a man to dwell. Can any thing be beyond this? beyond damnation? Surely a man would think not: and yet I remember a severe saying of St. Gregory, "Scire debent prælati, quod tot mortibus digni sunt, quot perditionis exempla ad subditos extenderunt:" "One damnation is not enough for an evil shepherd; but for every soul who dies by his evil example or pernicious carelessness, he deserves a new death, a new damnation."-Let us, therefore, be wise and faithful, walk warily, and watch carefully, and rule diligently, and pray assiduously; for God is more propense to rewards than to punishments; and the good steward, that is wise and faithful in his dispensation, shall be greatly blessed. But how? "He shall be made ruler over the household." What is that? for he is so already. True: but he shall be much more: "Ex dispensatore faciet procuratorem;" God will treat him as Joseph was treated by his master; "he was first a steward, and then a procurator;" one that ruled his goods without account and without restraint. Our ministry shall pass into empire, our labour into rest, our watchfulness into fruition, and our bishopric to a kingdom. In the mean time, our bishoprics are a great and weighty care, and, in a spiritual sense, our dominion is founded in grace, and our rule is in the hearts of the people, and our strengths are the powers of the Holy Ghost, and the weapons of our warfare are spiritual; and the eye of God watches over us curiously, to see if we watch over our flocks by day and by night. And though the primitive church, as the ecclesiastic histories observe, when they deposed a bishop from his office, ever concealed his crime, and made no record of it, yet remember this, that God does and will call us to a strict and severe account. Take heed that you may never hear that fearful sentence, "I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat." If you suffer Christ's little ones to starve, it will be required severely at your hands. And know this, that the time will quickly come, in which God shall say unto thee, in the words of the prophet, "Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee ?" b God, of his mercy, grant unto us all to be so faithful and so wise as to convert souls, and to be so blessed and so assisted, that we may give an account of our charges with joy, to the glory of God, to the edification and security of our flocks, and the salvation of our own souls, in that day when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls shall come to judgment, even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, love and obedience, now and for evermore. Amen. SERMON V. PREACHED AT THE OPENING OF THE PARLIAMENT OF IRELAND, May 8, 1661, BEFORE THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS JUSTICES, AND THE LORDS Salus in multitudine consulentium. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND. TEMPORAL, AND COMMONS OF IRELAND, ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I OUGHT not to dispute your commands for the printing my Sermon of Obedience, lest my sermon should be "protestatio contra factum." Here I know my example would be the best use to this doctrine; and I am sure to find no inconveniency so great, as that of disobedience; neither can I be confident that I am wise in any thing, but when I obey; for then I have the wisdom of my superior for my warrant or my excuse. I remember the saying of Aurelius the emperor, "Equius est me tot et talium amicorum b Jer. xiii. 20, 21. consilium, quam tot tales meam unius voluntatem sequi." I could easily have pretended excuses; but that day I had taught others the contrary, and I would not shed that chalice, which my own hands had newly filled with waters issuing from the fountains of salvation. My eyes are almost grown old with seeing the horrid mischiefs, which came from rebellion and disobedience; and I would willingly now be blest with observation of peace and righteousness, plenty and religion, which do already, and I hope shall for ever, attend upon obedience to the best king, and the best church, in the world. I see no objection against my hopes, but that which ought least of all, in this case, to be pretended. Men pretend conscience against obedience, expressly against St. Paul's doctrine, teaching us to "obey for conscience sake;" but to disobey for conscience in a thing indifferent, is never to be found in the books of our religion. It is very hard, when the prince is forced to say to his rebellious subject, as God did to his stubborn people," Quid faciam tibi ?" I have tried all the ways I can to bring thee home, and "what shall I now do unto thee ?" The subject should rather say, "Quid me vis facere ?" "What wilt thou have me to do ?" This question is the best end of disputations. "Corrumpitur atque dissolvitur imperantis officium, si quis ad id quod facere jussus est, non obsequio debito, sed consilio non considerato, respondeat," said one in A. Gellius: "When a subject is commanded to obey, and he disputes, and says, Nay, but the other is better;" he is like a servant that gives his master necessary counsel, when he requires of him a necessary obedience. "Utilius parere edicto quam efferre consilium;" "He had better obey than give counsel;" by how much it is better to be profitable than to be witty, to be full of goodness rather than full of talk and argument. But all this is acknowledged true in strong men, but not in the weak; in vigorous, but not in tender consciences; for obedience is strong meat, and will not down with weak stomachs; as if, in the world, any thing were easier than to obey; for we see that the food of children is milk and laws; the breastmilk of their nurses, and the commands of their parents, is all that food and government, by which they are kept from harm and hunger, and conducted to life and wisdom. And, therefore, they that are weak brethren, of all things in the world, have the least reason to pretend an excuse for disobedience; for nothing can secure them but the wisdom of the laws; for they are like children in minority—they cannot be trusted to their own conduct; and, therefore, must live at the public charge; and the wisdom of their superiors is their guide and their security. And this was wisely advised by St. Paul: "Him that is weak in the faith, receive, but not to doubtful disputations;" that is not the way for him; children must not dispute with their fathers and their masters. If old men will dispute, let them look to it; that is meat for the strong indeed, though it be not very nutritive; but the laws and the counsels, the exhortations and the doctrines of our spiritual rulers, are the measures, by which God hath appointed babes in Christ to become men, and the weak to become strong; and they that are not to be received to doubtful disputations, are to be received with the arms of love, into the embraces of a certain and regular obedience. But it would be considered, that " tenderness of conscience" is an equivocal term, and does not always signify in a good sense. For a child is of tender flesh; but he whose foot is out of joint, or hath a bile in his arm, or hath strained a sinew, is much more tender. The tenderness of age is that weakness, that is in the ignorant and the new beginners: the tenderness of a bile, that is soreness indeed, rather than tenderness,—is of the diseased, the abused, and the mispersuaded. The first, indeed, are to be tenderly dealt with, and have usages accordingly; but that is the same I have already told; you must teach them, you must command them, you must guide them, you must choose for them, you must be their guardians, and they must comport themselves accordingly. But for that tenderness of conscience, which is the disease and soreness of conscience, it must be cured by anodynes and soft usages, unless they prove ineffective, and that the lancet be necessary. But there are amongst us such tender stomachs that cannot endure milk, but can very well digest iron; consciences so tender, that a ceremony is greatly offensive, but rebellion is not; a surplice drives them away, as a bird affrighted with a man of clouts, but their consciences can suffer them to despise government, and speak evil of dignities, and curse all that are not of their opinion, and disturb the peace of kingdoms, and commit, sacrilege, and account schism the character of saints. The true tenderness of conscience is, 1. That which is impatient of a sin; 2. It will not endure any thing that looks like it; and, 3. It will not give offence. Now, since all sin is disobedience, 1. It will be rarely contingent that a man, in a christian commonwealth, shall be tied to disobey, to avoid sin; and certain it is, if such a case should happen, yet, 2. Nothing of our present question is so like a sin, as when we refuse to obey the laws. To stand in a clean vestment is not so ill a sight as to see men stand in separation; and to kneel at the communion, is not so like idolatry, as rebellion is to witchcraft. And then, 3. For the matter of "giving offences," what scandal is greater than that which scandalizes the laws? And who is so carefully to be observed, lest he be offended, as the king? And if that which offends the weak brother is to be avoided, much more that which offends the strong; for this is certainly really criminal; but for the other, it is much odds but it is mistaken. And when the case is so put, between the obedient and the disobedient, which shall be offended, and one will,-I suppose there is no question but the laws will take more care of subjects than of rebels, and not weaken them in their duty, in compliance with those that hate the laws, and will not endure the government. |