A SERMON PREACHED AT THE CONSECRATION OF THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, RICHARD SENHOUSE, Lord Bishop of Carlisle; In the Metropolitical Church of YORK, the six and twentith of September, 1624. By RICHARD MARSH Master of Arts, and Vicar of BIRSTALL in Yorkshire EXOD. 4.13. O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. LONDON, Printed by H. LOWNES for MATTHEW LOWNES. Anᵒ 1625. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER in God, TOBY Archbishop of York, Primate of England, and Metropolitan, my gracious good Lord. MOST Rd. THis poor thing was bred and borne in your service. It might have had the hap to have been stillborn: but now it hath cried, and was heard in as reverend, honourable, learned, wise, and in as frequent and as attentive an Auditory, as ever shall be seen in these parts. It hath cried, and I pray God some say not, It was the voice of the Crier, preaterea nihil: yet many of best judgement (in love with it, before they knew what to call the father of it) will needs say, that it may live, and do good. There are two things to help the Bookseller; your Grace's name, and the name of my Lord of Carlisle: for, not a Priest, nor a Levite, nor scarcely any other Passenger, when he observes the Preacher to be your Chaplain, and the Sermon to be preached at his consecration, but he will (though afterwards he neither wish oil to me, nor to my lamp) yet readily, like a good Samaritane, take out two pence, and give to my host. If it may thus do good in God's Church, I have my desire, and fare beyond my first thoughts. God he knows, when I first spoke or thought of sending forth servants, I little dreamt of sending forth a Sermon thus fare: but now I am glad of the occasion, that thus thrust forth into the service of the church, I may withal profess (by your good leave) my devoted service unto your Grace; and let the world know, that I am Your Grace's poorest and unworthiest Chaplain, R. MARSH. MATTH. 22.3, 4. And he sent forth his servants, to call them that were bidden to the wedding; and they would not come. Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner, etc. HAving elsewhere (not fare hence, nor long since) made entrance into this Parable, and spoken of the former Verse, the marriage of the Son of God: the solemnity of this day, and the frequency of this Assembly (unto both which it was necessary I should have respect, when I knew my service required in this place) both these (me thought) might not be ill fitted out of the words of this text, where God sends his servants to fetch in guests to the wedding, to call and to tell them that were bidden etc. For if we have any thing in this case to tell, it is best to tell it in Zion, to publish it in Jerusalem, and in the great City; and if we be sent to seek and to call in guests, no place so fit as the great Assembly, to call on the City before we go into the high ways and hedges, here launch into the deep, Luk. 14.23. let go our nets, and make a draught. And as for the great business now in hand (if you please to join the last Sunday with this) al● is but what the text here tells us, a solemn sending of servants to call them that are bidden unto the wedding: yea, whereas there is in the text mention of two messages, sending and sending again, sending servants, and sending other servants: so it falls out, as you had here the last day an ordinary sending, the Ordination of Ministers; now you attend an extraordinary sending, the Consecration of a reverend Father: a solemnity which we have not often seen in this place, an extraordinary sending of a more than ordinary (for many respects, more than ordinary) servant. He that runs therefore, may read some happy correspondence between the work of the day, and the words of the Text; that at least for the Text sake (however the Sermon prove) for the Text sake, you may say, Sicut audivimus, sic etiam vidimus; As we have heard, so have we seen: and as we have seen, so have we heard here in the City of our God. Indeed let no man doubt, but what God says, he will in due time perform, though it were a greater matter than either sending of servants, or spending of his Oxen and fatlings, though it were the giving of his only begotten Son; that all men may see on God's side, omnia parata, all things now ready. Oh that GOD might see us ready also, and that nothing were wanting, neither provision, nor messengers, nor guests to furnish that great marriage! The Text, thus suited unto the present occasion, divides itself with the Assembly, part Clergy, part Laity; Messengers and Guests. The Clergy are the servants sent to call them which were bidden, and those other servants, sent with instructions to tell them that were bidden, Behold the dinner is prepared, etc. The Laity are the Guests bidden, and called, and still called and bidden, expected and provided for, and still provided for and expected. The Clergy are sent, the Laity are sent for. The charge to the Clergy, is, Go; to the Laity, Come. It is the fault of the Clergy if either they be not sent; or sent, do not go; or going, do not discharge their message. It is the fault of the Laity, if either they do not receive us; or receiving, do not hear; or hearing, will not come to the marriage. The text speaks most of the Clergy, and if the Sermon (for once) do so too, I hope no man will complain; Complain, said I? no, you delight to have the Clergy touched, and it is for your advantage; for whether it be Paul, or Apollo's, or Cephas, 1 Cor. 3.22 all are yours, if you be Christ's, as Christ is Gods. For the Clergy then, you have here, first, their Sending: he sends, & sends again. Secondly, their Title; servants and other servants. Thirdly, their Office, and the end of their sending, to call them that were bidden. Lastly the Manner of their calling, to tell them, Sic dicit dominus, thus saith the Lord. For as they are sent to call them that were bidden, so they must in calling, tell them nothing but what they are bidden. (And sent soorth his servants). It is his goodness to send, & it is good & necessary for us, that we be sent. It is his goodness to send, specially if we consider to whom he sends; vocare vocatos, he sends to them that were bidden. It was a favour once to bid them; now to send to them, is an especial goodness: but what is it when he sends again, as it is in the next verse? therefore of this more properly in that place where it is grown more ripe and full. And now nothing fit to be observed than the necessity of our sending, that we be sent, and have a just commission to call in them that were bidden. For it were strange if we should chance to bring in some guests, & then the Master of the feast should answer them as Eli answered Samuel, 1 Sam. 3.5. I called not, lie down again: Or as he says to one here at the 14. verse. Friend, how camest thou? so he should say to another, Friend, who brought thee in hither? That were much shame to the guest (it is a shame to take a lower room, but turpius eijcitur, it is much more shame to be put out of the room), it were a shame for the guest, and a danger sure for the messenger: 1 Sam. 21.14. Quare adduxistis (says Achis) wherefore have ye brought this mad fellow to me? David, that did but counterfeit madness, escaped the danger, whilst the servants, who were so mad to bring him in, got a rebuke. They seldom speed better that are too forward; and it is likely they overshoote their mark, that outrun their commission, and are upon the way before they know whither to go. Eccles. 5.1. He who requires us to take heed unto our feet when we enter into his house, would have us also to look as well to our feet when he sends us forth, and neither to bring the sacrifice, nor carry the message of fools. A messenger may be too hasty; witness the Amalekite, who brought the news of saul's death, and died for it: 2 Sam. 1.15 which Ahimaaz (it seems) remembered, and therefore though he would fain run (when another was appointed) with news to David, 2 Sam. 18.23 yet he dares not without commission from joab. For if it be destruction, to be overjust and over-wise (Be not righteous overmuch, neither make thyself over-wise: Eccles. 7.16. why shouldst thou destroy thyself, saith the Preacher?) sure, to be foolish overmuch, to be rash, and too precipitate, must needs be the neck-break, the highway, or rather a leap, than a way, unto destruction. Non amo nimiùm diligentes, might be written over the door of God's House: and we may well be jealous of them, who are not timorous in so great a business. The greatest servants in God's House, have been slow and unready to undertake this office. Moses, when God will make him a messenger of glad tidings and deliverance unto his people, how did he seek by all means to be excused, and (if it were possible) to shift it off! First, Who am I? and then, Who art thou? and then, They will not believe; and then he wants eloquence: and when all impediments are removed, and the rough ways made even, yet would he fain put it off to another, with Mitte quem missurus es: O my Lord, send, I pray thee, Exod, 4.13 by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. Send any body, so he may escape sending. No wonder though jonah ran away, rather than he would carry a message of destruction to Niniveh, when Moses was thus loath to carry the message of deliverance unto God's own people. Would you see any others sent forth and set forward? Esay 6. jeremy 1. Look and see Esay cry out of polluted lips; jeremy, that he is a child, and cannot speak. One for all (the Apostle, who had had his part in this Ministration above all his fellows) cries, 2 Cor. 2.16 Ad haec quis? Who is sufficient for these things? Surely none, unless he be sent. But and if ye consider the weightiness of the office, sending (you will say) is too little: he must command and charge them, 2 Timothy 4 as St. Paul doth Timothy: he must encourage them, as he did Moses; enable them, as he did Esay; embolden them, as he did Ezechiel. Sending is too little: he had more need to lead them by the hand, as he doth his people; or bear them in his arms, Ose 11.8. as Ephraim. Sending is too little: and therefore it is in the Text, not a simple sending; but emittere, to send them forth; that's somewhat more: and yet there is a better word to this purpose, Mat. 9 Extrudere, to thrust out labourers into his harvest. He must do with his servants, if there be no remedy, as he doth with his guests, compel the one to come in, and the other to go out. It was too cold a temper (perhaps) for a Soldier and a General, but very fit (me thinks) for a Priest or a Preacher to say to the Spirit of God, judges 4.8. as Barak said to Deborah, If thou wilt go with me, then will I go: but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go. To be an Ambassador in the affairs of Princes, is not for every man: nor is every man fit to be Ambassador & Orator for the Almighty, and for Christ, and in Christ's stead to negotiate his marriage. Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all Teachers? 1 Cor. 12.29. Heb. 5.4. Rom. 10.15 No man (sure) may take this honour to himself, but he that is called of God: nor can any man preach, except he be sent. This is a confessed truth of all hands: but (I know not how) truths that are for proof most easily confessed, are for practice oftentimes as easily neglected. For, notwithstanding the burden of our calling, there hath been complaint made of old (I wish it do not concern us in these Times), that men would rush into this profession, as if it were into the Pool of Bethesda; where the first come was best served. They run ad Sacerdotium, ad Episcopatum, saith Policraticus, as if some Officer had made solemn Proclamation, Occupet extremum scabies, The devil take the hindmost. If this be the kingdom of heaven, it is in some danger to be taken by violence. We envy not the number: we wish you were all a Royal Priesthood. We envy not the number: we wish that all God's people could prophesy. We envy not the number: but we advise men to beware what they take in hand. Nadab & Abihu may not kindle strange fire; Levit. 10.2 Num. 16.32 nor Corah and his company suffle themselves into the Priest's office; nor Saul offer sacrifice; nor Vzziah burn incense; nor Vzzah put forth his hand to the Ark; 1 Sam. 13.13 2 Chr. 26.16 2 Sam. 6.7 nor any man run God's Errand unsent. He complains earnestly (and that oftener than once) against those Prophets which run and speak for him, and he hath not sent them. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken unto them, yet they prophesied. jer. 23.21 Ezech. 13.6. Leo apud Policrat. It was an observation, if not a law, of old; Indignus sacerdotio, nisi fuerit ordinatus invitus: He was held unworthy, if he were not found unwilling to this office. Ecclesia ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: the Church is nothing else but a company called out of the world: and as the Church is called from among other men; so from others of the Church, are there some who have a special Calling, to be Callers and Messengers betwixt God and his people. These (that you may know them, or at least they may know themselves) they receive Ability from God, Authority from men. Ability from God: I do not mean by immediate inspiration, and dabitur in illâ horâ; but by careful education in the schools of the Prophets: with Daniel, they must by books understand these things. Dan. 9.2 See Ecclus. c. 39.1, etc. For thus doth God vouchsafe some measure of those many necessary graces required in so high a calling, unto them whom he sends: and then they that have Authority in the Church, finding such Ability, do by Imposition of hands mark them for this office, and as it were digito monstrare, point them out to the Church, that thenceforth they may know them for the messengers and servants of the most high God, Acts 16.17. which show unto us the way of salvation. They who find in themselves no such ability, and yet would fain be messengers, should be advised to stay awhile. The church hath had as weak ones, I grant it: and I dare promise, that when she stands in as much need again, she shall send for them, dictatores ab aratro; from following the ewes great with lamb, to lead the people; from the plough, to the pulpit. In the mean time, our Saviour's advice is good; If they itch to be building, let them sit down, and cast the cost beforehand. Versate diu quid ferre recusent, quid valeant humeri: Hor. de art. take no more upon you than you are able to bear. If their hearts indite some good matter, let them choose it aequam viribus, answerable to their power, though it be but implere locum idiotae, to occupy the room of the unlearned, and to say Amen. 1 Cor. 14.16 They mistake the chapter: it was in the former chapter, not in this, Dominus opus habet; Mat. 21.2, 3. but here the case is altered, and we are bold to say, Dominus non habet opus, the Lord hath now no need to ride either upon an ass, or an asses colt into Jerusalem. It is pity the Church should give hands, where God hath given no feet: such cripples were fit to lie at the gates of them temple, to ask alms, than to go into the Courts, or climb up into the Sanctuary of the Lord. You know how wary God was in the time of the Law, and how he hath excepted against all defects or blemishes. Help then, you Reverend Fathers, and lay hands suddenly on no man, neither make yourselves partakers of other men's sins. Luke 14.21 The maimed, the halt, the blind, may make guests in the later end: but they are very unfit to make messengers. And as in the first place they should be enabled: so in the second place they must be orderly authorized, whom God sends. The old vulgar Latin speaks ill of the house of Stephanus, 1 Cor. 16.15 and (on my conscience) it doth them wrong to say, ordinaverunt seipsos. The truth is, they did addict and devote themselves unto the ministry, but not ordain themselves Ministers: that had been against all good order. Their ordination (if they had any: for some would fain deny it) they either had from the Apostle himself (which is most probable), or from Apollo's, or from some such as Saint Paul had left there with like authority as he left Titus in Crect, Titus 1.5 to set in order things which were wanting, & to ordain Elders in every City, as he had appointed. For to what end did the Apostle leave such authority with Titus; or give charge to Timothy to lay hands suddenly on no man, 1 Tim. 5.22 but to make choice of faithful men, who should be able to teach others also;. if, 2 Tim. 2.2 2 Chro. 23.9 like Ieroboam's priests, every man that would might consecrate himself, or, like the Anabaptists, still run by revelation? The Anabaptists, in not distinguishing betwixt the time of miracles, and of a settled government in the Church, dreaming that should be a permanent rule in the Church, that if any thing be revealed to another that sits by, he must have audience, 1 Cor. 14.30 and let the first hold his peace; thus running after revelations, and seeing vain visions, they have outrun their wits, Ezech. 13.7. they have outrun the Church, and further made themselves unmeet for any society of men. And though they have outrun us, yet some among us run fast after them, who, so fare as possibly they can, disobey and disdain them that have the oversight of the Church, and speak evil of all that are in any ecclesiastic authority. Turbulent, supercilious spirits; to thrust themselves into office in that house, whose Order and Government they are beforehand resolved not to approve; that come into the church as Cato into the Theatre, to go out again; or like Momus, to quarrel that they know not how to mend; or as if this marriage-feast were the Centaur's feast, unde nemo sine cicatrice; whence, in stead of favours, every one must carry wounds & scars. I know well, facit hoc illos hyacinthos, this maketh them dear unto the people, juvenal. and hence (perhaps) they suck no small advantage: but the servants whom God sends, are not so base and mercenary; nor do they think themselves sent to please the people, who are seldom heart-whole towards authority, but rather to teach and guide them by all means into the way of peace and of obedience. They therefore, who either are not duly sent, or do not dutifully demean themselves towards that authority by which they were sent, must be taught, that they who have authority to send, have authority also to call back, Tit. 1.11. to restrain, and to stop the mouths of such as teach for filthy lucre things they ought not. The Weasel, saith he, licked the File till her tongue bled: then thinking she had got blood of the File, she licked on, till she had no tongue: Let them speed so, that with bloody tongues still lick the authority of our Church. Saint Paul saith, I would they were cut off: Gal. 5.12. I wish but their tongues, or rather their talk than their tongues cut off, that do disquiet you. And sent forth his servants.] Sending is the first thing: their title, servants, is the second; and it seconds well that which is said of sending. They are servants, such as may not go unsent, no more than they may be idle when they are sent: they must give account both who sent them, and what they have done for him that sent them. But to go on: They are servants, they are no lords over God's heritage, 1. Pet. 5.3. to do what they list; nor is the inheritance their own to use at pleasure: but they are servants, such as must both take pains, and give account, and then may expect a reward. And it is well that they are servants; he might have had messengers which had scarcely been servants: but these as they are no absolute lords, so they are no utter strangers, only to tell you you must go, but cannot tell you how, or to point you the way, and not to go along with you; but servants, household servants, emissi, sent forth (in the Text), and therefore such as know the way in, and can guide you and bring you unto their Master's house, and to the place where you would be. There are four things chief required in good servants; Faithfulness, wisdom, diligence; and patience: Faithfulness, to know what to do, wisdom, to know how to do it; diligence, to keep doing, and patience is good in servants, especially in messengers, servants sent forth, that know not what afflictions abide them, or what may befall them by the way. For the two first, what is to be done, and how it is to be done, the Text tells us in Calling and Telling. The name of servants shall now only serve to stir us up to Diligence, & (if you will) to bring us down also unto Patience. As obedience is the life of service, so Diligence is the life of obedience; and as Vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, Pro. 10.26. so is the Sluggard to them that send him: Sal infatuatus, Matth. 5.13. he is like to Salt that hath lost his savour, or dead Wine that hath the name of Wine, but wants the spirit. He who hath such a servant, may say he hath gotten Sampsons' weapon; in stead of a sword or a staff, the jawbone of an Ass: an instrument for eating, but neither for fight nor for working. Ease and pleasure belong to Lords and Masters, Care and diligence unto servants and messengers; and therefore our Saviour makes enquiry for such a servant to set over his household, as will give them their portion of meat in due season, Luk. 12.43. and will be found so doing: to be found so doing, requires a constant diligence. And if it seem any whit easy to give them meat only in due season, hear what S. Paul says (who was himself in labours most abundant) hear him with an adjuration (for the Scripture hath none more earnest) call for in season, and out of season. They are quite out of season, 2. Tim. 4.1, 2 and over-diligent, which run unsent; but in servants that are sent, all diligence, all celerity is but seasonable, not to communicate with flesh and blood, nor tarry to salute any man by the way. Gal. 1.16. Luk. 10.4. Apelles' painted his servant with Heart's feet, and his hands full of tools, swift and ready, (Impera, & actum puta) if you say, Go, he goes; or Come, he comes; or Do this, he doth it. The name of Servants, is sufficient to enjoin us all care and diligence; but it adds unto our charge, if you ask what kind of servants? For look what servants you can imagine to have greatest charge, & to them are we resembled in the Scriptures: Is the Steward's place a place of charge and care? why let a man so esteem of us, the Ministers of Christ, 1. Cor. 4.1. as stewards of the mysteries of God (saith S. Paul). Is the Ambassadors place a place of trust and of travel, of diligence and danger? Now than we are Ambassadors for Christ (saith he). 2. Cor. 5.20. Are the Angel's ministering spirits, and such as do excel in strength to do his commandments? They change places and titles with us, when they be sent forth, to us they become ministering spirits, and we when we are sent forth, what are we then but bodily Angels? But these (the world will think) are places too eminent, overloftie comparisons; Stewards, Ambassadors, Angels! who would not be servants, so they might serve in these rooms? Look lower, and you meet with Shepherds, Watchmen, Builders, Husbandmen, Fishers, Labourers, Messengers, and the like; these also the Scripture useth, to put us in mind of diligence, and even in these I may say, Brethren, you see your calling: God not only by many precepts letting us hear our charge, but also by these frequent and obvious resemblances letting us see our calling, and what it is which he requires at our hands. They are unprofitable servants therefore (nay, the best must confess that they are unprofitable) yea ungracious and unsensible servants, who in this calling can give themselves over unto ease and pleasure, and both forget what they hear with their ears, and neglect what they see with their eyes, Oculis subiecta fidelibus, which should move more and more strongly, awake them from their Lethargy, & supine neglect of their service. These slow-bellyed Cretians, who are all bellies, and neither hands nor feet for diligence, nor eyes nor ears for instruction, have already drunk Lethé, which (they say) is the first river of Hell, and without amendment they shall proceed to the rest of those bitter waters and lakes that burn with fire and brimstone. It is just to cast such sleepers into utter darkness, there to sleep perpetually, if they can have leisure for weeping & gnashing of teeth. With our Diligence, it is necessary that we join Patience. A slothful servant, a slothful messenger will deceive him that sent him, but an impatient messenger will trouble both him that sent him, and them to whom he is sent. An unquiet, impatient messenger is like Moses rod, Exod. 4.3. a rod when he laid it down, and a serpent when he should take it up; able to make him start and fly from it. It is no good vessel for this heavenly treasure, which is of so hot a temper; nor any good clay for these vessels, which will say unto the Potter, Rom. 9.20. wherefore hast thou made me thus? We must resolve (if ever we will return with comfort) to go on in our message, thorough honour and dishonour, thorough good report and evil report. Phil. 4.11. We must learn in what estate soever we are, therewith to be content, to give back at no perils, to shrink at no weariness, nor painfulness, nor watchings, 2. Cor. 11. nor hunger, nor thirst, nor fastings, nor cold, nor nakedness: To be troubled on every side, 2. Cor. 4.8. & not distressed; perplexed, and not in despair: being reviled, 1. Cor. 412. to bless; being defamed, to entreat. They were too hot (they were too hot to make Parish-Priests) that presently called for fire from heaven: Such messengers the Pope may send (to the general and eternal shame of Christendom) into the Indies, into Hispaniola, and to the rest of those armless, harmless people, not to covert them, but to pluck up, to root out, and to destroy; not as sheep among wolves, but as wolves among poor sheep appointed to the slaughter; Esa. 8.1. not to call them to the marriage, but to make speed to the spoil, haste to the prey. Our office is to suffer with meekness them that are contrary minded, 2. Tim. 2.25. in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth; and, whilst we aim at nothing but the discharge of our calling, 2. Cor. 12.15. 2. Tim. 4. 2. Cor. 11. Act. 5.41. willingly both bestow, and be bestowed, suffer afflictions gladly, glory in our infirmities, and rejoice to be found worthy to suffer any thing for the Name of Christ. For we are not only his servants that sends us, but (though I have all this while forborn to tell you so) we are their servants also unto whom we are sent: for we preach not ourselves (saith the Apostle) but Christ jesus the Lord, 2. Cor. 4.5. and ourselves your servants for jesus sake. Our Saviour, before he sent his servants, told them what they might expect; and S. Paul, a servant of chiefest note, tells us how he sped. Matth. 10. 2. Cor. 11. Our Saviour tells of wants, and distresses, and persecutions; S. Paul makes it good, and tells what perils, what sufferings (of all sorts) he had passed. Our Saviour says, he sends us as sheep among wolfs; and S. Paul tells us what Wolves he found, what Lions mouths he escaped, what beasts he fought withal at Ephesus, 1. Cor. 15. after the manner of men. Our Saviour says, we shall be hated of all men; and S. Paul says, we are made a gazingstock to the world, to men and Angels. 1. Cor. 4. Our Saviour says, we must look for no better entertainment than he had, the servant as the Master; S. Paul says, we are made the filth of the world, 1 Cor. 4.13. the off scouring of all things. Enough of this: but to qualify it, take his conclusion in the next verse, Non confundere, sed monere, it is not to shame us, but to warn us. We have need of these warnings. A religious and an indulgent Prince blesses us with many Halcyonean days: but if ever those punishments fall, which both our enemies and our own sins and security strive to pull upon us, we shall then want comfort. Howsoever, we have need of patience, & little hope or time is there for pleasure, seeing we are sent to call them, who so long as there are Farms, or Oxen, Luk. 14.18, 19, 20. or Women in the world to detain them, will not come. We are sent to call, that's the end of our sending: but before we come so fare, I must entreat you again to look upon our sending; for he sends again (says the Text) rursus misis alios servos, vers. 4. he sends again, and sends other servants. That he sends again, shows a diversity of time: that he sends other servants, makes a diversity of their persons, though there be still a community and fellowship in the service. And first for the time; there must needs be a Rursus, a sending again, a succession of Messengers whilst there is a succession of men: many Messengers, that their sound may go out unto the ends of the world; and likewise a continuance of Messengers, that may remember his name from generation to generation. Thus there were other Priests after Aaron, other Prophets after Moses. Our Saviour hath promised to be with his Messengers unto the end of the world; Mat. 28.20. which, because it cannot be true here of their persons, must be made good in their successors: and the Apostle tells of gifts given at the first sending, which must continue to the last ending, Ephes. 4.8, 13. till we all come in the unity of faith, etc. there must needs be therefore a rursus, a sending again. And yet this rursus cannot but seem strange: For, doth God value his servants, their doings, their sufferings, their disgrace, their rejection, their blood which is openly shed, at so small a rate? or shall we think him so insensible of his own dishonour, that he knows not what disgrace it is still to send, and send again, to them who were bidden once before? Ire iterum in lachrymas, iterum tentare rogando; Virg. as if he meant to speed for his importunity, & so he may speed, he will put up any indignity, any loss; he cares not what become of his servants, so he may have guests. He sends indeed again and again in the former chapter, in the Parable of the Vineyard; but that's another case: there you cannot blame him; he does as you do, sends, and sends, & sends (I would you did no worse) for rent, Matt. 21. and fruits unto his farmers. Any man would do so: but for guests, as here, who would trouble himself so much, & not rather disclaim them utterly; and if he sent again, send to forbid them for ever, and swear unto them in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest? David send once to visit Hanun, 2. Sam. 10. but his servants found such entertainment, as when he sent again, it was to spoil & to destroy, 1. Chr. 20. to cut the people with Saws, and Harrows, and Axes, to destroy those murderers (as it follows here in this Parable) and burn up their Cities. Ester 1.19. Assuerus never sent again for Vashti; but because she once refused to come, she was for ever cast off, and her estate given to another better than she. God might have done so with this stubborn and stiffnecked people: & if he could not eat his morsels alone, he might have sent at once for some others more thankful; have let out his Vineyard unto some other husbandmen, where he might have fruits in due season; and have called them to the marriage, who would be glad to be refreshed with the crumbs which fall from his table. Why should he so fare forget himself, as give them leave once again to deny him, but, having neglected their peace, and the day of their visitation, thenceforth have reigned upon them brimstone and coals of fire, and either not speak unto them, or speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure? God is not so swift to take vengeance, Lenta ira deorum, vengeance from heaven is sad and therefore slow. God is content to send, and send again, and not to forsake them who are once his people, for a rursus, or an iterum. Yea, that which is but iterum here, in the next chapter grows to a Quoties, how often would I have gathered thy children together? Matt. 23.37 And quoties is not much now, for it was at quid ultra long ago, Esa. 5.4. what could be done more for the Vineyard, that I have not done for it? Iterum misit, he sent again. He is blind, that doth not see God here make good what once he spoke of himself, (nay he proclaimed it with many words, that all the world might hear and take notice) that he is Multus benignitate, abundant in goodness. It was goodness to send, Exod. 34.6. but abundant goodness to send so often. so often, so long to stand at the door and knock, as if he would wait their leisure, and stay thy tide of their good disposition. Any man will easily confess, that this was too much for God to do unto the jews, and in the mean while considers not, that, mutato nomine, change but the name, and it is true of us. Or we need not change the name, we are the jews; We are the circumcision (saith the Apostle). True in regard of the favours of God, Phil. 3.3. transferred from them to us; and true also in respect of our disobedience, and uncircumcised hearts and cares, wherewith we fulfil the measure of their iniquity. I will not enlarge myself; only let me demand who is he amongst us, that hath not given God leave to send unto him often, and to expect long? or what message can we expect from heaven (except the message of a sudden and final destruction) which hath not been often told us by his servants? It were some ease (perhaps) unto our consciences, if we could conceive ourselves to be of that number, who never heard of his will: but this torments us before the time, that we know, and know that the servant who knows his Master's will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. Multitudo miserationum fit magnitudo, & cumulus damnationum; Many mercies will pull on many stripes, and every iterum from him is an item to us, augments the number and measure of his favours, ladeth our reckoning, & in the end will add weight unto our condemnation. And that a great deal more, if you consider whom he sends: for as it is iterum misit, so it is alios servos, another sending, and other servants; to take another repulse, and that in other servants, aggravates the offence. But why should he send other servants? were not the first good enough, or wise enough, or fit enough to carry the message? He sent other servants for his fruits in the former chapter, because the husbandmen dealt so rudely and so roundly with his messengers, as they that had gone once, were little fit to go again. That was no welcome message, and they to whom it was sent, were Farmers, rustica turba, such as would deny Latona's water, Ovid. if she traveled by them, or the Israelites passage, or David and his men relief: but here the message is full of courtesy, and the parties called to so great a marriage (we might hope) had some more humanity. It is possible therefore that there was some fault, or some want in the servants. Ahaziah sent once, and again, Captains with their Fifties, to Eliah, but they sped ill; they were too peremptory, and stood too much upon the King their Master: The King hath said, and, Thus hath the King said; that would not serve. The third sped by other means; 2. Reg. 1.9, 11, 13. He fell down on his knees before Eliah, and besought him, and so brought him to the King. There is some choice to be made of messengers, especially where the message is weighty; and such would be sent as can discern, quae mollissima fandi tempora, Virg. quis rebus dexter modus, how to minister (I mean) a word in due season; and not to betray the cause they have in hand, but serve the times nimbly, take hold on all advantages, & show themselves such as our Saviour requires, both wise and faithful servants. The truth is, in this case, God left nothing unattempted to win them, Luc. 12.42. or at least to leave them inexcusable: he sent unto them wise men, and Scribes, Priests and Prophets; he still sent them others, and change of servants. He sent unto them all his servants (faith jeremy) daily rising up early and sending them. jeremy mends the matter well; jer. 7.25. in stead of our iterum, he puts in quotidiè; in stead of alios, he puts in universos. Again, he sent other servants; that's nothing: now he sent quotidiè, diluculò continent èr (saith the Prophet) daily, early, continually, and all without exception. But are not the words of the Psalmist (will some man say) true in this case, Psal. 147.20 He hath not dealt so with other nations? Sure I am, we have no cause to complain; he hath sent to us again, and other servants: the Lord hath given unto us his Word, and great is the company of Preachers. We have store of other servants, not only alios numero, for multitude, but alios dotibus, alios gradibus; there is difference in their ability, and difference in their authority; in their gifts, and in their places. And first we have alios servos, i. aliter ornatos, men otherwise fitted, and furnished for the discharge of this message. That Spirit which bloweth where it listeth, and distributeth to every one freely, and as it will, bestows diversity of gifts for the gathering together of the Saints, and feasteth them that are called unto the marriage, in the very calling, with the Manna of the word diversely dressed and served-in. Feasts are often not furnished with such variety. The message is the same in the mouths of all God's servants. We have alios servos, alios nuncios, but not aliud nuncium; other messengers, but still the same message: yet is our delivering and handling of it always somewhat different. As we say of men's faces, All are alike, and all unlike; Fancies non omnibus una, Ovid. nec diversa tamen: so may you say of our Sermons, All bring the same message; but whilst every one strives, according to his own proper gift, to prevail with you, it begets an admirable and most pleasing (it should be also a most winning) variety, which makes the Word taste like whatsoever you can desire. We have them that pipe, and we have them that weep; them that will eat with publicans and sinners, and them who are more austere. We have sons of thunder, and sons of consolation; some from Mount Sinai with the terrors of the Law, and others from Mount Tabor with the joys of heaven; some bitter and sharp (like Archilochus or Hipponax with their iambics), able to make an obstinate sinner hang himself, Hor. qualis Lycambae spretus infido gener, aut acer hostis Bupalo; others, whose discourse falls like rain into a fleece of wool, or quale sopor fessis in gramine, as sleep upon a weary traveller. We have some so fluent, as if they had lately drunk new wine; others so plain and homely, as if they expected no other reward but a cup of cold water: some abundant in labours; some eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures: some, with Amos, fitted for Herdsmen; and some, with Esay, for the Court; able to bind Princes in chains, and Nobles in links of iron. Some for planting, some for watering: some skilful Master-builders, to lay a foundation; others to build up the house, or to trim up the building. Instant ardentes Tyrij, all as busy as Bees in prayer with God, in conflict with the adversary, in discourse with the people, do you not see how we sweat in the work? so as it must needs be confessed, that if our Gospel be yet hid, it is hid to them that perish; and if the guests will not come, 2. Cor. 4.3. it is because they will not, not because they have not had other servants, which have tried all ways to win them, and to bring them to the wedding. Diversity of gifts, and difference of administration, heaps of Teachers, flocks of companions; the Word preached in season, and out of season; the meat fitted for every , and made savoury, such as your souls cannot but love; milk for some, and stronger meat for others: our calling adorned in every one (if ye would but see it) either with gravity, or zeal, or society, or simplicity, or learning, or happiness of invention, or strength of judgement, or faithfulness of memory, or gracefulness of delivery; something or other, I say (if you would but see it) to commend the messenger, & to further the message; must make you all confess, that the fault is not in him that sends, nor yet so much as the world would have it imagined, in them that are sent in such abundance and variety. How chances it then that we speed no better? I will tell you: We can speak; but (alas!) to what end is it? to beat the air? We can write; but to what end should we stand writing in the dust, for the wind to scatter it, or frame our letters upon the gliding water? Our calls, our exhortations fly in the wind like Sibilla's Oracles: our Sermons are like Songs in the night, you will hear a little, but not lose your sleep. The Text says, he sends other servants: jeremy says, he sends all his servents. The world thinks he sends too many: Your table is made a snare unto you, and that which should have been for your advantage, is an occasion of your falling: you have taken a surfeit of the message, and can no longer endure wholesome doctrine: our message is the same, and your entertainment is the same; all is lost, all is spilt, because we are forced to ton up all our new wine into your old bottles. Again he sends other servants.] Other in quality; and again, alios gradibus, others also in authority. the meanness of the messenger is sometimes disadvantage to the message, and therefore in the former parable, last of all he sent his son to see if peradventure they would reverence him. And as the son differs much from the servants, so among the servants we cannot imagine but there must be an imparity, and difference of degree. God sends for his guests, Num. 22.15. as Balack did for Balam, yet again, more, and more honourable; some that are worthy of double honour, 1. Tim. 5.17. and whose office it is to rule well, as well as to labour in the Word & doctrine; and to have the rule over you, Heb. 13.7, 17. as well as to speak unto you the word of God. For sending, and sending again, & servants, & other servants, & still servants in the plural number; to let us know, that they are many whom he sends: who (unless he wipe his nose upon his sleeve) would imagine as parity, an isotimie among so many? God is the God of order, and parity is the mother of confusion; confusion, of destruction. Oh let it fall upon the enemies of God, that so their forces, distracted and disordered, may be soon defeated, whilst God's Church is always acies ordinata, Cant. 6. as an army under Banners, where order is most serverely kept, and who repose much (much of their safety) in their discipline. Thus under the Law, it is well seen how thou, my God, wentest in the Sanctuary. There were Levites under Priests, Vid. Num. 3. 1. Chron. 24. Nehem. 12. & Matt. 2. and Priests above Priests, and one high Priest over all that Province (I think we could be content to yield the Pope so much, but vastos non implet hiatus, a Province, or a Patriarchship will not serve him) Prince of the Princes of Levi, Num. 3.32. and above all the judges in jerusalem, whether Priests or secular, 2. Chron. 19 in all matters of the Lord. And this authority (by your leave) he had for order & government, and not as a type of Christ's regal and judiciary power, who was not a Priest after the order of Aaron, but of Melchisedech. Now as there was distinction and degrees in the levitical Clergy, where some had authority to command, others a necessity to obey, & every one kept his distance: so it cannot be otherwise among the Ministers of the new Covenant; but having gifts differing, according to the grace given, some must wait on their ministering, Rom. 12.6, 7, 8. and some rule with diligence: and as among the guests, some are advanced with Friend, sit up higher; Luc. 14.10. so among the servants which fetch in the guests, some stand higher and nearer their Master: and if any will exalt himself, he must be made, with shame, to take a lower room. This difference in authority and degree, is necessary both for the guests, and for the messengers. For the guests, it is necessary there should be some enabled to raise up seed to their dead brethren, and that the Church should have children instead of their Fathers (they were no children, but fathers, who first applied these words of the Psalm to this purpose) whom she may make Princes in all lands. Aug. Hieron. And further, that some should have the keys of discipline, to see that holy things be not cast to Dogs; to come among offenders with a rod, to cut off such as are unquiet, to deliver them that are scandalous, Gal. 5.12 1 Cor. 5.5 Gal. 5.9 to Satan, and by all means to provide that a little leaven do not sour the whole lump. And as for the guests, so for the messengers, quis custodiet ipsos custodes, is a good question in the satire: there had need be some to keep the Keepers, to oversee the Seers; as in a great Harvest there are some servants, who not only work themselves, but also oversee the rest of the labourers. Suppose the Labourers become loiterers; suppose there either want messengers, or the messengers wander from the right way; suppose pastors turned to raptores, Bernard. Psalm 144.8 servants and shepherds to thiefs and robbers; suppose their mouths talk of vanity, and their right hands become right hands of uniquity; suppose the Prophets become Foxes; suppose an accusation exhibited against a Presbyter; Ezech. 13.4 1 Tim. 5.19 1 Tim. 1.3 Tit. 1.11 suppose some do teach other doctrine; suppose some teach for filthy lucre, things they ought not; suppose there be some foolish questions, and contentions afoot; Tit. 3.9 Acts 20.30 suppose some speak perverse things, to draw disciples after them: must there not needs be a Timothy or a Titus, to give hands, to ordain Elders, to receive accusations, to avoid, to prohibit, to stop the mouths of some, Tit. 2.15 to speak, exhort, rebuke with all authority? There must needs be in the Church some who have both power of ordination and jurisdiction to send forth other servants, and to have an eye to their service; to sever some for the work, and others from the work; to appoint who shall carry the message, and to whom and by whom it shall not be carried. Both these parts of authority the Apostles did long retain in their own hands, 1 Tim. 1.20 1 Cor. 5 2 Thess. 3 until upon necessity they must have both substitutes in their absence, and successors after their death: and then they did not only make Priests, to administer the Word and Sacraments; but also Bishops, to ordain Priests, and to govern excommunications: that so jesus Christ our Master, Angelus foederis, the great Angel of the Covenant, might be with them to the end of the world, Mat. 28 1 Tim. 6.14 and Timothy might keep this commandment unto the appearing of our Lord jesus Christ; not in their personal service, but in succession, and the just deputation of new servants. These two parts of authority do sever Bishops from the other Clergy, and set them as Stewards over the whole house: and as the Deaconship is a good degree to Priesthood, 1 Tim. 3.13 so Priesthood is but a degree to the office of a Bishop. There may be sometimes a community of the names, but that makes no confusion of the offices; nor can the Presbytery brag any more of the names of Bishops, than Bishops may do of the names of Angles: for to Bishops, under the name of Angles, and to them only (as appears by many circumstances) doth our Saviour write, Apoc. 2. So if you shall hear that some good men of old have equalled the power of the Clergy, you must understand them of the Word & Sacraments, and not of government; or when you see the Presbytery lay on hands with the Bishop, you must know, it is only in attestation and approbation of his act, not any communication of his authority. And as for any allowance of names, it needs not trouble you; Custom is the mistress of speaking: neither is it the names, but the authority and superiority of Bishops, that hath been questioned, of old, by Aërius, an airy whining Heretic, who full of humane indignation to see Eustathius preferred to the Bishopric, which he, magis concupiscebat. (saith Epiphanius), Epiph. contra haer. l. 3. c. 1. haeres. 75. more earnestly desired, he devised to level Bishops with other Priests. And of late his old exploded error hath been revived by some fiery Reformers, who, finding much fault with the Popish Clergy, dealt with this so reverend Order, as the Devil did with his dams leg, when he should have bowed it strait, he broke it quite asunder: desperate Physicians, that can find no remedy for the headache, but to cut it off, and unmerciful Reformers, that will make the son to bear the iniquity of the father, and all posterity to suffer for some faults in their predecessors. But the government of the Church by Bishops, and the different authority of the messengers in our Church, as it is well grounded in Scripture, fairly builded in Ecclesiastic history, strengthened by Canons of the best Counsels, and every where beautified with attestations, and submissive declarations of Fathers: so the strength of it is much manifested by the opposition of the adversaries. some of them men of special note, and whose reputations (no doubt) win a great deal of credit to the cause, like the Elders against Susanna. But as those Elders did bewray themselves, because they did not agree of the tree; so these Elders (they love that name) are not yet agreed what tree should shadow us, nor what they would have in the room of Bishops: some cry one thing, some another, and many of them that help to hold up the cry, know not (as it was in Demetrius tumult) wherefore they are come together. Act. 19.32. It is easy to say much in this case; if any man love these wars, musquam habitura triumphos, wars of trouble, and no triumph, it is easy now to say much, where a great deal too much is said to our hands: the shot and powder spent on both sides, might have been better bestowed upon a common adversary. but I may neither go on in this, nor go off to that which follows. Let me tell you, if God send other servants, and of higher place, he looks they should be better respected, and that you should obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, Heb. 13.17. for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you. De nobis facile est; use us at your pleasures: but them who rule both you and us, you cannot without disprofit to yourselves, disquiet to the Church, discredit to the Almighty, so easily slight and vilify. Hinc dominicae vinculum pacis rumpitur, etc. Unity, peace, Cypr. de zelo et livore, vid. & l. 3. ep. 9 charity, verity, all are lost by this means, saith Cyprian. Causa omnium malorum; this is the root of all mischiefs in the Church, says Chrysostome. the contempt of Ecclesiastic authority, and disobedience to Bishops the God sends unto us, other and greater servants, and they have all but little respect. What a degenerate slavery is it in men, to fear and honour Lords, and not to reverence their fathers? One thing more remains in these sendings of servants, and other servants; that still all are servants: what other diversities soever there be, yet in this there is a community: whether they keep the Keys, or they be but doorkeepers in the house of God, they are all tied to service. Who then is Paul? 1. Cor. 3.5. and who is Apollo? but Ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. But I must make an end: My Lord elect, may this be your memento in stead of sic transit gloria mundi, or memento quòd homo es: the one hath been used to Popes, to quench their vainglory; the other to Emperors, to put them in mind of mortality: in stead of any such, admit this from the Text, Memento quòd servus es, Remember still your service. This day you shall be sent with a new Commission, but still to do him service: you shall be made another servant, but still a servant. Your service is changed, rather than removed; increased, rather than changed: you are called from the Pulpit to the Chair, but neither freed from the Pulpit, nor much eased by the Chair. Ad Cathedram, ad curam; the Chair in the Church, Bern. and the Care of the Church, go together: Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, saith our Saviour. Matt. 20.26 More service here than sovereignty: ad Episcopatum, non ad Principatum; yours is a Pastoral, a paternal government, not a Princely regiment, or compulsive dominion. We are all here sent to call, not to compel them to come in. Non sic (saith our Saviour), not so as the Princes of the Gentiles, not so as Zebed us sons, either with tyranny to use these places, or with ambition to seek them, Worthy of double honour from men; 1 Tim. 5 joh. 5.44 but seeking only that honour that cometh from God. This is a true saying, if any desire the office of a Bishop, he desireth a good work. Work, and Service; 1 Tim. 3.1 but I crave pardon, your Lordship hath many more powerful monitors, not only within you, but also from without: the hearty welcome of your own country, the expectation of the Clergy, the promises of the University, the favours of a most gracious Prince, will dicere Archippo, Col. 4.17 still put you in mind to take heed, and to fulfil your Ministry, that he who finds you faithful in a little, may in due time give you more authority. Luke 19.17 To you, all my brethren of the Clergy, enough hath been said both of our sending and service: yet let us not forget this, that seeing God is so diligent in sending and sending again, servants and other servants; we should be as diligent in discharging the message, in going and going again, trying all means, and calling continually, become all things to all men, if by any means we may win some. Et tanta curetur solicitudinequant a petitur ambitione, Policrat. not more ambitious to be made messengers, than studious to discharge the message. Bernard saith, in a case where the Holy Ghost is very punctual to lay down every circumstance, Credo quia noluit nos negligenter audire quod ille studuit tam diligenter narrare; I do believe he is so diligent in telling, Bern. uper Missus sest. because he would not have us negligent in hearing; so say I; I am well assured he would not have us to deliver the message sparingly, or coldly, when he sends his messengers so carefully and so copiously. Lastly, unto you who will be no messengers, yet (I hope) would fain be guests; Let the multitude and variety of the messengers, the continuance of their sending, the sweetness of the message, the kindness of the Master; let some of these, let all these move you, if not to count their feet beautiful that bring unto you these glad tidings, yet not to fill their faces with reproach; if not to give them double honour, yet not to entreat them shamefully; if not to make them partakers of all your goods, yet not to muzzle their mouths. Philem. 19 We dare not say how much you own us, we dare not tell you what you should do for us; you have taught us to bear a lower sail: we only entreat you therefore to forbear, & stay your petulant & laxative tongues, your sacrilegious hands, your ravenous hearts, which long to take the houses of God in possession, & leave no entertainment for his messengers. I conclude: Then did the Church flourish, when the Clergy did only look at the charge of their office, & the Laity admire the dignity of their calling. God for his mercy's sake so fit us every one in our several callings, whether messengers or guests, for the marriage of his son, as we may be knit unto him here by faith, and enjoy him eternally hereafter in glory, when we shall no more be sent forth from him, but follow him whersoever he goeth; to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, etc. FINIS.