IMPRIMATUR. Jo. Battely RRmo Patri ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar. a Sacris Domesticis. Ex Aedibus Lamb. Junii 2. 1686. A SERMON Preached at Bury St. edmond's Before the Right Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Bishop of NORWICH At the Third Session of His LORDSHIP's Primary Visitation Holden there on Wednesday May 5 th'. 1668. By MICHAEL BAT M.A. Preacher at St. James' in St. Edmond Bury. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Ignat. ad Polycarpum. LONDON, Printed for William Oliver, Bookseller in Norwich: and to be sold by B. Aylmer in London. 1686. TO The Right Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Bishop of NORWICH. My LORD, IN Obedience to your Lordship I have here taken the Confidence to present a very mean, and imperfect Discourse to the View of a most Critical, and Discerning Age. And yet might I be allowed to plead the Hastiness of its Composure, without being thought to urge a Crime in excuse of a Crime, and to defend One fault by Another; possibly it would need no other Apology. But if that may not be insisted on, I have only this Favour to request of the World, that they would believe the Author to have as mean an Opinion of these Sudden Thoughts, as They can have, and that They would look upon them only as an instance of the incomparable Candour of Your Lordship; In pure compliance with whose Pleasure it is, that they are thus made public. And since they are so, may it please that God, who can work His ends by very small, and contemptible (for He has oft times done it without any) Means, to bless them for some Good to those who have not yet learned duly to revere their Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Superiors. And may the same God long continue your Lordship A Blessing to his Church, An Ornament to this See, and an Eminent Example of Virtue to All that know You. In which Prayer, I am persuaded, there is not a Person in Your whole Diocese, that Fears God, Honours the King, or Bears any Affection to the Established Religion, but will hearty concur with, My Lord, Your Lordship's most Dutiful Son, and most humbly devoted Servant, MICHAEL BATT. A SERMON Preached at Bury St. Edmond Before the Right Reverend Father in God WILLIAM Lord Bishop of NORWICH AT The Third Session of His Lordship's Primary Visitation holden there on Wednesday May 5 th'. 1686. 1 CORINTH. 4.21. What will ye? shall I come unto you with a Rod, or in Love, and in the Spirit of Meekness? NO sooner had St. Paul planted a Church at Corinth, (and that with a great deal of care and pains, continuing there a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them, as St. Luke gives us the Relation of it, Acts. 18.) but by the Craft and Envy, the Cunning and Malice of the Devil, there were the most notorious Disorders crept in, and the most scandalous Abuses and Corruptions introduced into it. In particular, there were a sort of false and Haeretical Teachers started up among Them, who by the Charms of Popular Eloquence, and the little Arts of Rhetoric, (for They had nothing else to trust to) making advantage of their Weakness, had so insinuated themselves into their Affections, that there was no longer place for the Apostle there; these New Instructors had got their Hearts, even to the Exclusion of their Father himself, who in Christ Jesus had begotten them through the Gospel. Ver. 15 An early Stratagem of the grand Enemy of Mankind was this, and so successful He found it for the creating Variances, and Divisions among the Professors of Christianity, that He has been encouraged to make use of the same, for the infesting, and disturbing these latter Ages of the Church too. And we for our parts have had, I'm sure, the woeful Experience of it, that whilst some have cried up this Holy Man, others magnified that Godly Teacher, in opposition to the Orthodox established Ministry; whilst People have forsaken, and exchanged the publicly allowed form of sound and wholesome words for the Religious Cant of Private Corners, the Devil's ends have been most effectually served among us; Piety has decayed and iniquity abounded, Charity has waxen cold, and strifes and emulations grown fierce and hot, to the infinite detriment, and damage of Religion, and of the best constituted Church in the Christian World. But I forbear enlarging here, and return to the Corinthians, among whom (besides divers other gross miscarriages) this that hath been mentioned having, in the Apostles absence, got in, viz. (their siding, and dividing into Parties about their Teachers, some having this Man's person in admiration, others that) St. Paul that he might obviate the further mischief, that might otherwise from hence arise, though he was detained at that time by some other necessary Service of the Church from a Personal Visitation, writes them his mind in this Epistle. In which, after having premised his Salutations of them, and Thanksgivings to God for them, the first thing he falls upon is the regulating that disorder. And to that end, he decries, and exposes that Carnal Wisdom they were so mightily in love with, gives the reasons of his own not affecting those lofty strains, for which others were had in such esteem by them, and vindicates his plain, and familiar manner of Preaching whilst among them; which indeed is the main drift of the four first Chapters of the Epistle. But lest this method should prove ineffectual, (as writing at a distance is not, for the most part, so moving as conferring and discoursing Face to Face) he sends Timotheus unto them, his beloved Son, and faithful in the Lord, as it is v. 17. of this Chapter, to excite and persuade them to their duty, by bringing them into remembrance of his ways which were in Christ, both what he had formerly taught whilst among them, and what he did yet continue to teach in every Church. And this indeed looked like a very hopeful expedient, and was such a course, as the Apostle might reasonably promise himself success from. Not but that He had still One Reserve more in case of a failure here too, and that was The coming among them once again in His own person, which was a Certain way if not by fair means by foul, I mean, if not by love and gentleness, by fear and severity to reform, and rectify all Abuses, not only that hitherto complained of, but likewise their toleration of Incest, their litigious Law-Suits (and that) before Infidel-Judges, their Profanation of the Sacred elements in the Lord's Supper, and the other disorders and Misdemeanours reckoned up in the Sequel of this Epistle. He resolves, I say, in case all other Expedients fail, once again to come among them in person, (declaring v. 19 that nothing but God Almighty should hinder Him) and then take a sure, and effectual Course of redressing All that was amiss. And, to speak the Truth, He had great reason to suspect beforehand that the forementioned Means would prove insufficient, that let Him write, or send what, or whom soever He pleased, the Height and Haughtiness of some was such, as would not be curbed, nor taken down thereby. Nay and which was more, (and which called upon Him to make the more haste to them) it should seem that His Absence had already caused them to entertain low, and contemptuous thoughts of Him too; For so does the Learned Hammond paraphrase the 18th. ver. Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Because I come not to you myself personally, some among you have taken occasion to despise me that am absent. And hence it is that He resolves ver. 19 I will come to you shortly if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up but the Power. That is, I'll make trial of those confident boasters, not of their plausible words, and fine talk, (at which, I know, they are excellent;) but of their solid worth, and the real good they do with all their ostentatious braggings. For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power, ver. 20. Christianity does not consist in speaking, but doing, not in vaunting, but performing great Things. And hereupon follow the words of the Text. What will ye? shall I come unto you with a Rod, or in Love, and in the Spirit of Meekness? Which the now-mentioned Hammond thus introduces, and explains. And now I talk of coming to you, I pray consider, which will you choose? As you behave yourselves, so at my coming will I exercise either my Power of inflicting punishments, or the milder way of kindness toward you; and therefore according as ye like best, so prepare yourselves for my coming. In the words of another Paraphrast, Bish. Hall. a Reverend Prelate of our Church, and sometime of this Diocese. Let it be your own choice, after what manner I shall come unto You; My carriage must be directed by your deserts and dispositions; Will you that I shall come to You with a Rod of Censure to correct your Exorbitances? or in Love, and in the Spirit of Meekness, to commend and cherish your Holy Proceed, and Christian Carriage? I shall do either of them, as I shall receive occasion from You. Thus you see the Occasion, and Connexion of the Words, in discoursing on which, I shall endeavour to do these four Things. 1. To explain the Power the Apostle intimates Himself to have in the Church, in these words, shall I come unto you with a Rod? 2. To show how far, or in what measures and degrees that Power is continued to the Bishops, and Governors of the Church now. 3. To take notice how loath and unwilling the Apostle was to exercise this Power of His but in case of absolute Necessity; And how desirous He was, (as appears from the manner of His expressions) that He might have occasion to use only the fair, and gentle Methods. 4. To exhort Christians to be more obedient to their Spiritual Pastors and Fathers, by an orderly and regular Conversation, than to force Them to the Use of that Severity, which They are otherwise averse from. In speaking to which Particulars, I hope, I shall do (in some measure) Right to the Text, and no improper or unsuitable Service to this Solemnity. 1. First, for the Power the Apostle intimates Himself to have in the Church, in these words, shall I come unto you with a Rod? Our Blessed Saviour after he had published His most excellent, and Heavenly Doctrine to the World, and lived here a considerable time an Example of the Practicableness of it, and had by divers unquestionable miracles, and at last by His Death, and Resurrection abundantly confirmed the Truth of it; in sine, after having finished the Work that was here given Him to do, being to return again to the Bosom of His Father, He could not any longer manage in His own Person the Interests and Concerns of His Church. But still being touched with an infinite Pity, and Compassion for it, and well knowing to what hazards its infancy, and tenderness would expose it, left it not, till He had constituted, and appointed divers Orders and Officers in it, to whom He committed the Care, and whom He invested with Power sufficient to administer, from time to time, to all the Exigencies, and Necessities of it. The precepts of His Religion were not like the later Impostures of Mahomet calculated on purpose for the gratification of men's lusts, and for humouring the looseness and wantonness of the World. No, they were quite of another nature, and as opposite to those, as Light to Darkness; requiring mortification, and self-denial, and enjoining Men to Crucify their carnal Appetites, and Affections. And was it likely that such an Institution as this should readily gain footing and Countenance in the World? or rather, was it not sure to meet with the utmost hatred, and opposition imaginable? Most certainly our Saviour plainly foresaw it was, and therefore took Care before His departure to settle certain Persons, viz. His eleven Apostles, (whom He had before selected for that Purpose) as His immediate Deputies, and Vicegerents, giving them in charge to feed His flock, to watch over, and provide for His Church at present themselves; and empowering them, as Occasion should require, to depute, and Ordain others for the same service afterwards; giving them, in short, the same commission to execute that He received of His Father, at His coming into the World, according as we read, Joh. 20.21. As my Father sent me, even so send I you. Now as for our Saviour's Mission; it will be sufficient for my present purpose, if I give you only St. Peter's account of it, Acts. 10.38. where in His Sermon to Cornelius, and his Company, He tells them, That God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with Power. And accordingly were His Apostles breathed on by Him, in order to their instalment to a Succession in His Office, and had the same Spirit, and Power assured to Them; Which, not many days after His Ascent, they likewise received, and were thereby enabled both to gather, and govern the Church; effectually to establish Christianity; and to propagate the Doctrine of the Gospel both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth, as it is, Acts. 1.8. Though they were destitute of all Secular Helps, and had no worldly Advantages to assist or further them, and yet were to encounter with men's riveted opinions, ancient customs, and inveterate habits; to beat them off from those Practices, and Courses they had been used to ever since they were born; and to impose upon them a new, and quite contrary way of life; reducing them from the smooth, and delightful paths of Sin into the more rugged, and tiresome tracks of Virtue, yet, so effectually were they endued with power from on high, as St. Luke expresses it, Ch. 24.49. that by their means, the Christian Faith was in a short time wonderfully disseminated, and diffused. Like lightning, to borrow our Saviour's allusion in another case, it came from the East, Matt. 24.27. Acts. 19.20. and shone even to the West, and the word of God grew mightily, and prevailed, the Lord working with them that published it, and confirming it with signs following; Mar. 16.20. Heb. 2.4. God also bearing them witness, as it is in another place, both with signs, and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost. And by this means it was that though They had no silver and gold, Acts. 3.6. they became capable of exercising the most useful, and beneficial Charity; though they were not in a condition to relieve the poor Cripple with the small Alms he begged, yet They helped him to what was much better, the use of his limbs, which till that time he had never enjoyed, having been lame from his Mother's Womb. v. 2. By which single Good Act, and notable Miracle alone, as it is styled, Acts. 4.16. They greatly ingratiated both themselves and their Doctrine too, thereby proselyting a vast multitude of their Auditors to the Christian Religion, even to the number of five thousand Men, v. 4. Again, though They could not pleasure 〈◊〉 with money wherewith to repair to a P●●●ician; yet, which was much more acceptable, as well as surprising, at a word of their mouth, or a touch of their hand, was Health many times restored. Nay at their very Shadow were Distempers, and unclean Spirits scared, and put to flight, and the poor Patients were no longer vexed, and tormented with them. Even the most obstinate diseases, and stubborn maladies that had long time been Medicorum ludibrium, the Scorn and Reproach of the Men of Skill, and had baffled all the Rules of their Art, immediately gave place, and vanished at their command; So large was their Commission, and in such general terms did it run, as to empower them to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease. Matt. 10.1. I shall not instance to you, as I might easily do, in any of the other unwonted gifts, and extraordinary abilities, which the Apostles were vested with, (as Prophesying, Speaking with tongues, Discerning of Spirits, and Interpretation of Tongues) for the better fitting, and qualifying them for that eminent work, and employ to which they were delegated; and which rendered them so wonderfully helpful, and beneficial to the world. But, in reference to what I have already said, 'twas impossible but their doing so much good, in that particular respect now-mentioned, should create in the minds of Men a very high veneration both for themselves, and the doctrine which they taught. Whereas otherwise, we may conclude, there would have been but little regard paid either to the One, or the Other; but their Persons would have been scorned and contemned, as being so very mean, and despicable; and the Gospel they preached been disowned, and rejected, as being so opposite to the lose and irreligious tempers of their Hearers. How infinitely wise therefore, as well as kind and careful did it speak the Author of our Religion, to send forth the first Planters, and Spreaders of it, so throughly, and completely furnished for their Work? Though they wanted the benefit of letters, Inspiration enabled them to put to silence their most learned Gainsayers; Though their speech (if we take the measures of it from Man's Wisdom) was but rude and unpolished, 1 Cor. 2 4 yet was it in Demonstration of the Spirit, and of Power; though they were poor, 2 Cor. 6 10. as the Apostle speaks, yet were they in condition of making many rich, and that with the most true and valuable riches; Lastly, Though in appearance they had nothing, yet really they possessed All Things; All that I have hitherto mentioned being but Part of that Power, that was given them of God, for the greater Benefit, and Edification of His Church. In particular, and to come home to the Text; for the enabling them the better to discharge the Office that was laid upon them, there was committed to them the Power of the Rod, or of inflicting the severest of corporal punishments on gross, and notorious Offenders; of their doing which we want not instances in that account St. Luke gives us of the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 13.11. ch. 5.5.10. where we read of Elymas the Sorcerer smitten with Blindness by St. Paul; and of Ananias and Sapphira struck with Death itself by St. Peter; Either of them an Instance terrible enough of that Power and Authority which Christ, the Head of His Church, had given to the (then) Rulers and Governors of it, of punishing and chastising Her undutiful and incorrigible Children, and of revenging upon them all their disobedience, as the Apostle speaks to these his Corinthians, 2. Cor. 10.6. Besides both which we have an Example of the Use of the Virga Apostolica in another no less dreadful manner, 1 Tim. 1.20. where Hymenaeus and Alexander having first put away a good Conscience, and at last made Shipwreck of their Faith too, (as nothing is more ordinary or natural than for such as are lose and careless in their Practice to fall into Errors in Judgement, and to be given up to believe lies) are by the Apostle delivered unto Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme. And this, I say, is another most terrible manner, wherein the Apostles might, and upon occasion did punish Stubborn and refractory Sinners; to see whether the Devil could not torment them into better Manners; and to force them, if possible, to Repentance and Reformation of life. For that That was the End of delivering over Persons to Satan, viz. the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, we read ch. 5. of this Epistle v. 5. And it being usual with God Almighty, in the earlier days of the Gospel, to give Satan leave to seize the bodies of such as were for their obstinate perseverance in Sin cut off from the Communion of the Church, (Who, (glad of the opportunity) was wont to plague them with diseases, and to bring divers maladies upon them) Excommunication is therefore called a delivering unto Satan, the power of doing which you have heard, the Apostles had, yea and did not spare, when Occasion so required, to exercise and make Use of the same. And this is That which, I presume, the Apostle intends in this His threatening of these delinquent Corinthians in my Text; wherein He gives them to understand that in case He heard not of a speedy amendment, they must not expect to be dallied with, or to escape with a slight and easy Penance, but that He would soon come in Person among them, and proceed, according to the Power the Lord had given Him, to this most severe Ecclesiastical Censure upon them. And indeed had the Apostle been destitute of this Power, and could not have animadverted in this manner as has been said on the more bold and hardened transgressors, there being at that time no Christian Magistrates, and consequently the Civil Power not of His Side; so little would He have been able to have gone through the Work He had undertaken, the propagating the Religion of His Lord, that He could never have vindicated it from Contempt, much less have conciliated any tolerable respect either to Himself or It, but People would have contumaciously despised His Sentences and Determinations, and have made a mock of violating, and trampling upon the Laws of His New Religion. Whereas, when They perceived Him armed with a Power of exercising such a Discipline upon them, as was followed with such strange and frightful effects, great fear fell upon all the Church, Acts 5. ●●. as 'tis said in reference to that dreadful Case of Ananias and Sapphira, nay. as many as but heard of those things were mightily influenced thereby, they were awed into Compliance, and Obedience to Him, and durst not any longer oppose or withstand Him. And this shall suffice to have been spoken as to the Power of the Apostle, which He here terms His Rod, and to the Nature, Necessity, and Efficacy, thereof in the Infancy, and Nonage of the Church. 2. My next Enquiry must be in what Measures, and Degrees this Apostolical Power is continued to the Bishops, and Governors of the Church now. The true Ecumenical Bishop, and good Shepherd of Souls, though at first He sent forth His Apostles like Sheep among Wolves, Matt. 1●. 16. as Himself Speaks, yet he engaged they should never be utterly worried, and destroyed by them; But admit, when they had served Him in their generations, they might, (as most of them afterwards did) Suffer violent deaths in their own persons; they should still survive in their * Quia Apostoli à mundo recesse●unt, h●●●bes pro illis Episcopos filios. S. Hieronymus in Ps 45. ver. 16. Successors, and their Order should be perpetuated from age to age, according to the import of the promise of His being with them always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matt. 28. ult. (which is rightly translated even unto the End of the World, as the same phrase does likewise signify, chap. 13.39. Where our Saviour explaining to His Disciples the parable of the Sour, tells them by Harvest is to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The end of the World.) But still that the Successors of the Apostles now-adays have, in all respects, that Plenitude of Power continued to them, which the Apostles themselves at first enjoyed, or that it is at all necessary they should have, I by no means affirm. For such was the State of the Church in the Apostles time, as required an extraordinary effusion of the gifts of the Spirit, and could not be managed without such a Divine, and Supernatural Assistance as, God be thanked, there is in our time no necessity of; The righteous and merciful Lord having long since made good His gracious promises to it, that Kings should become the Nursing Fathers, Isa. 49.23. and Queens the Nursing Mothers of it. Whereas 'twas ordinary with the Apostles, where ever they came to publish the tidings of the Gospel, to meet with discouragements, and oppositions, and to be brought before Rulers for speaking in the name of Jesus; Whole Nations, and Countries have now espoused His Religion, and the Profession of it is not only tolerated and allowed, but strictly commanded, and enjoined even by the laws, and constitutions of Kingdoms. What need therefore is there now of those Supernatural and miraculous Gifts, and Powers that were conferred upon the Apostles? The difficult task of gaining admittance of Christianity into the World is long since over; The Miracles that were formerly wrought are sufficient Credentials for the Truth of that Message the present Ministers of the Gospel deliver, and the Laws of their Country protect them in the due and regular discharge of their Office; The Kings of the Earth having not only embraced, and submitted themselves to the Faith of Christ, but glorying in the Style, and Character of being the Defenders of it. As therefore the facto there is not; so neither is it needful there should be a Continuation of those ancient branches of the Apostles Power, whereby they were enabled to work Miracles, some of Kindness, and some of Severity, and by Both to confirm and establish the Favourers, and to silence, and confound the Opposers of, (their till then unheard of) Doctrine. 'Tis sufficient that there is such a standing and perpetual Part of that Power transmitted, and to be transmitted to their latest Successors, as qualifies them for the exercising such a Discipline, and Government in the Church, as Her present adult and grown Estate can ordinarily require. And such we are assured, and thankful too that there is. And not only Heretics, and Schismatics, but all such Persons as are impudently dissolute, and immoral in their lives, may know, that though miraculous inflictions are ceased, there are still Penances, and Excommunications to be made use of against them. And These! how mightily were they revered, and how awfully regarded by the Primitive, and Purer Ages of Christianity? 'Twas then reputed a Sentence terrible enough to be excluded from the Public Ordinances; To be debarred the Church-Prayers, and Sacraments, and banished from the Communion of their Brethren impressd upon the minds of Men the most sad, and dismal Reflections, and even swallowed them up with Horror, and Astonishment. Such was the Anguish of Soul that seized those Criminals that lay under the Sentence and Censure of the Church, that the methods of Prayers, Sighs, and Tears were willingly undertaken by them in order to the recovery of Her Favour. And Ecclesiastical History informs us that even Theodosius the Emperor being excommunicated by St. Ambrose, testified the inward trouble and concern of His Mind, by all the outward expressions of Grief, and Sorrow; He disrobed Himself of His Imperial Purple, and put on the Garments of Mourning; yea for the Space of Eight Months together He humbled Himself in His penitential Weeds, and took shame to Himself for the foulness of His Crime, The giving way to the Shedding of a great deal of innocent Blood, and at last esteemed it an inestimable Privilege to be again admitted into the Church of Milan. Thus sacred, and that long after the Apostles time, (this passage happening towards the latter End of the fourth Century) was the Church's Authority; and so greatly reverenced was Her Discipline, by all Orders, and Degrees of Men. Nor is That which She now brandishes a Brutum Fulmen, Her hand is not now so shortened, but that She can upon just Provocation Stretch it forth still, to Strike as hard, and correct as sharply as then. When Her Head and Founder first incorporated Her into a Community, He vested Her with Power, (as all other Communities are, and must be that are designed long to subsist) and promised She should for ever retain a share of it, sufficient for the punishing such Members of Her Society, as should, at any time, presumptuously violate the Laws, and Constitutions of it. And to this Power have the Ecclesiastical Superintendents, and Governors, all along, (when need has so required) not Stuck to have recourse; Rather than not maintain the Church's Purity, and Peace, They have ever smartly chastised that Vice, and Wickedness that has eclipsed, and defaced the One, and those Divisions, and Disorders that have disturbed, and endangered the Other. And if (as it may possibly be urged that) Persons now-adays despise these Chastisements, regard not Church-Censures, and are not so afraid of them, nor awed by them as formerly; It shall suffice me to reply, That a Man's stupid insensibility (in many cases) argues his condition not to be the better, but the worse; They are but so much the more worthy of Blame, I will add, and Pity too; In a word, I look upon this Practice of theirs; as one Instance of that woeful Degeneracy of the last days, wherein the Apostle long since foretold us, that Men should not only be disobedient, 2 Tim. 3.2, 3, 4. unthankful, and unholy; But proud, fierce, and heady. And thus I dismiss the second Thing, viz. That the Bishops, and Governors of the Church now have the Power of the Rod continued to them in a measure sufficient, pro hoc statu; though not so large and full as their first Predecessors had. And yet, of the two, no doubt, They had rather, after St. Paul's example (which is my third Particular,) 3. Have occasion to use only the fair, and gentle Methods; This the Apostle's manner of Expression in my Text, What will ye? Shall I come? etc. intimates Him to have been most desirous of; The putting the question to the Corinthians, as He does, being in effect a telling them, it should be purely their own fault, if He came unto them with a Rod, and not in Love, and in the Spirit of Meekness. He well remembered, 'twas the Service of the Prince of Peace that he was engaged in, viz. The divulging the Gospel of Peace, (Bringing Men over, at first, to the Profession, and then preserving them in the Practice of it,) and he accordingly attempted to do it in the most meek, and peaceable manner. Had He delighted in Severity, or been fond of making Use of His Power, He would never have troubled Himself to have given the Offenders such fair warning to prevent, and escape it, by a timely Amendment, and Reformation of life. His thus premonishing them of the Tendency of their present do, whilst 'twas yet in their power to evade it, argued great tenderness, and indulgence, yea a truly Paternal kindness towards them. The affection of a Father prompting Him to menace, and threaten Punishment, to the very End, that He might not execute, and inflict it. Suitable to what He has, 2 Cor. 13.10. Therefore, I writ these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness; For this reason I give you these wholesome warnings before I come, that when I come, I may not have occasion to proceed to excision and excommunication, as against contumacious Offenders I must of necessity do. Thus truly Christian, and exactly resembling that of the meek, and lowly Jesus, was the Temper of our Apostle; He was very loath to be harsh and rigorous, if His Business might be effected without it; * Ille dolet. quoties cogitur esse ferox. and willing not only to respite, and suspend, but wholly to withhold the Punishments due to Evil-doers, in case He could by any milder way attain His Ends on them; Provided they would but be reclaimed by kindness, and won upon by candid Usage. 'Twas in his opinion a more noble and manly way of victory to conquer men's wills, and captivate their understandings, than to use force and violence upon their Persons. But still He was not so cruelly complaisant neither, as not to put a Rub in the way of Him that He saw posting to his ruin; or to suffer impenitent Sinners to damn themselves without Check. No, in that case He took His Rod in hand out of mere Pity; chastening them therewith as an Argument of His Love, & scourging them to show His Compassion * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Scriptor Responsionu●n ad Orthodoxos. . The Church is in Scripture not unfitly resembled to a Vineyard, (as Isa. 5. and elsewhere) and that upon several accounts, but none more aptly than this; That even the noble Vine (as the Prophet Jeremy's Epithet is) is wont to have its luxuriances, Jer. 2.21. and excrescencies, which till they be pruned away, and lop'd off, it either produces no fruit, or else such as never comes to Maturity, and Perfection. And accordingly in the Church, there are those that have embraced, at least that make daily profession of the Faith of Christ; those that have been baptised into the best Religion in the World, and are yet guilty of such notorious exorbitances, and irregularities in their lives, as the Masters in God's Spiritual Husbandry, the Bishops and Pastors of His Church must be forced to reclaim and rectify by the Discipline of their Censures, or there will never be any Good to be expected from them. Rather, they will turn at last, (to keep to the Prophet's Allegory) to degenerate plants of a strange Vine, and become utterly unprofitable branches, fit only to be cast forth till they whither, and then to be gathered, and cast into the fire, and burned. Joh 15.6. Thus you see the Pastors and Governors of the Church are of necessity compelled sometimes to use sharpness; And unless They could be (as their near Relation will not suffer them) wholly indifferent to the Welfare of those under their Care, They must, in some cases, do it, though with never so much reluctance. Nay, the welfare of those who are actually delinquent is not concerned alone neither, but there is infinite danger lest their Countenance and Example should inveigle others, and draw them at last into the same Misery and Perdition with themselves. And these are Consequences so sad, and mischievous, as that they must be prevented by any lawful means, though haply such as may Prove harsh and cutting; And yet Cuncta priùs tentanda be still the Church's Motto in the case; For this hinders not, but rather proves and confirms (according to what I am now asserting) the Apostolic temper naturally to incline to Christian tenderness, and pity. And so much for the third Thing, That albeit the Apostle was furnished with Power sufficient to punish all Stubborn Offenders in the Church, yet He was very loath, and unwilling to exercise and make use of it, but in case of pure necessity, being much rather desirous He might have occasion to use only the fair, and gentle means. 4. And so I proceed to the fourth and last Thing propounded, namely, To exhort Christians to be more obedient to their Spiritual Pastors, and Fathers, by an orderly and regular conversation, than to force them to the use of that Severity, which They are of themselves averse from. And here methinks there should nothing More be needful to prevail with Men to yield a hearty, and willing Obedience to those that are over them in the Lord, than a Consideration, what Their Office and Employ is, which is in Scripture termed, a Watching for men's Souls. An Office above all others so vastly beneficial to the World, that 'twere to be expected, Mere Gratitude should put Men upon endeavouring to render it as sweet, and easy as possible to Them that Sustain it; And Kindness to themselves oblige them to be submissive and obedient to it. This the Apostle thought a good Argument for Christians to obey them that have the rule over them, even their watching for their Souls; Heb. 13.17. And such most certainly would it appear, were it but considered aright. For can Men reasonably suspect that They whose aims and designs are so infinitely kind, and charitable towards them, should require any thing of them that is really hurtful and prejudicial to them? Can they be jealous of enmity from Them, whose constant endeavour it is to befriend them, and that in the most important instance of Friendship? Lastly, Can they justly fear any Harm from Those, whose daily task, and business it is to do all the Good they can to as many as are committed to their Charge, Yea, I may add, who dare not but do it, being, as the Apostle speaks, to give account? And yet 'twould be a matter of great wonder, did not the commonness abate it, that the wholesome and profitable, the grave and wise, the kind and friendly Advices of their Ecclesiastical Superiors should be so slightly regarded, and not more readily complied with by them than they are; That there should be those among us who being told by Them of their Duty never so plainly, continue to neglect it; that being premonished never so fairly refuse to take warning, till like Children, I mean not in meekness, innocence, and simplicity, (they are far enough from that) but in crossness, and stubbornness, they are whipped into Obedience. Though their Spiritual Guides, as they are the Ambassadors of Christ, would rather beseech, entreat, 2 Cor. 5.20. and pray them, as St. Paul speaks, in Christ's stead, that they would be reconciled to God, than come as His Heralds to proclaim War, and denounce Vengeance against them; Though as Paranymphs of the Heavenly Bridegroom, they had rather court and persuade His wand'ring and inconstant Spouse to return to His Love, and re-admit His dear Embraces, (if by that means they might prevail with Her) than threaten Her with an Eternal Divorce; Yet, howsoever it comes to pass, the latter methods are they fain, for the most part, to have recourse to. So madly do Men flee their Happiness, and forsake their own Mercies. Jonah 2.8. Nay with some, Experience abundantly teaches that even These, (I mean the sharpest courses) lose their Effect; They being so far from trembling at (as was usual heretofore) that they slight, and contemn the severest Sentences, and Denunciations of the Church. But all I have, at present, to say to such, is to desire them to recollect the Proverb, and to consider well the Meaning of it, That what they spit against Heaven will fall in their face; That the time will come, when the great Bishop of Souls will interpret men's despising of those that were commissionated under Him, as a despising of Himself; Luk. 10.16. And surely they will not be so foolhardy as to disregard, and pish at the dismal consequences of that too. Surely, they will for the future, quietly, and dutifully submit themselves to their Spiritual Governors; and if not be drawn by the Cords of love alone to obey their orders, and reverence their injunctions; at least not contumaciously oppose themselves, and stand out against their Authority, lest haply, as was said in another case, Acts 5 39 they be hereafter found to have fought against God. I shall conclude all with one word to You, my Brethren in the Sacred Function, and it shall be by way of entreaty, That forasmuch as we are commanded in all things to show ourselves Patterns of good works; and Ensamples to our Flocks, We may be careful (as certainly we have as much reason (to say no more) as any Clergy in the Kingdom) to approve ourselves such in this particular respect, I mean, In humbly and cheerfully complying with, and submitting ourselves to all the Injunctions of our Reverend Diocesan. And let us earnestly implore the God of peace, Heb. 13.20, 21. that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the Sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, to make both us, and all that we have the inspection over, perfect in every good work, to do His Will, and to work in us all whatsoever is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be Glory for ever, and ever. Amen. FINIS.