THE PATTERN OF Ecclesiastical ORDINATION, OR APOSTOLIC SEPARATION. Being a Discourse upon Acts the 13.4, 5. At first intended for the satisfaction of some Objections raised upon the said Trinitary Text by a Private, Worthy Friend, and now by his desire made public for the Satisfaction and Instruction of others whom it may concern. By Edward Wakeman, Rector of St. Matthews Friday-street: London. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Council Gangrenes. can. 6. LONDON, Printed by J.G. for Richard Royston, at the Angel in Ivy-lane. 1664. IMPRIMATUR: Geo. straddling S.T.P. River. in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiep. Cant. à Sac. Domest. Ex Aed. Lamb. Junii 22. 1664. To the most Reverend Father in God, And the Right Honourable, GILBERT, Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY, Primate and Metropolitan of all England, and one of the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council. Most Reverend Father in God, WHen I consider, as I cannot but often do so, (for Ingratitude is an unpardonable crime) the Largeness of your Former Favours, amongst the rest of my Honourable Friends; and that Influence I received from you, when you shone so bright in a somewhat lower Orb than now you do: I cannot, but confess at least, my debts to you far greater, than ever I shall be ever able to pay. Children can never make a sufficient return unto their Parents, though they should honour them with all they have, all that they can do or suffer: since without them they could never have been in a capacity of Being, much less of Well Being. Immortales gratiarum horti. This makes me now so bold to present this small Handful of Tender, First Fruits unto your Grace, which I confess were against my Will Cropped from me by a Friendly, Overpowerful hand. And indeed, to whom should I devote the Pattern of Ecclesiastic Ordination, but to the Greatest Apostle and Arch Angel of it in this our Church, next under Christ, Yourself? It is no ceremonious but Fundamental point, the Ordination to and execution of the Ministerial Function. And yet, I expect hard censures from the World on all sides: but Fear none that are uncharitable. If any will but take the pains to teach me better, I shall be thankful. However your Lordship and the World may guests by this, how I spend that Talon of Health and Time, etc. which God is pleased to Lend me. I cast both it and myself at your Grace's Feet; and think myself to have obtained enough, if it find acceptance with or Protection from, you My Lord, Whose obedient Son and Servant, in the Blessed Jesus, I am, Edward Wakeman. July 5th. 1664. THE PATTERN OF Ecclesiastical Ordination: Or Apostolic Separation. Acts 13.4, 5. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed— 5. And when they were at Salamis, they Preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews. The whole story runs thus, V 1. Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch, certain Prophets and Teachers, as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. V 2. And as they ministered unto the Lord and Fasted, the holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. V 3. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. V 4. So they being sent forth by the holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. V 5. And when they were at Salamis, they Preached the Word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews. THe Text is a relation of the entrance of two that were solemnly ordained upon the sacred Ministerial Function. Paul and Barnabas after some considerable time spent amongst the sage and learned Prophets at Antioch, that noble nursery, and such reputation gotten, as that they were thought fit enough to be entrusted with a public employment for the Church at Jerusalem (nor that without desert, for St. Luke tells us at the 9 and 11. chapters, They were full of the Holy Ghost) are now by virtue of an express from the same Holy Ghost, separated, or, (which is all one) consecrated to their Apostleship, by the laying on of hands. I call it their Apostleship, rather than Episcopacy or Priesthood (though neither interpretation want its Patrons) as finding in their execution of that Function whereunto they were now called (and we do not read of any new Ordination of them afterwards) little agreement with the Office of a Bishop, it being limited to some particular Church; and less with that of a Presbyter, which gave him neither power of Ordaining nor yet of Censures: both which St. Paul at least is recorded to have exercised, and that indifferently, in any part of the World. Besides that it seems too much below the Eminency of an Apostle (though the Schoolmen be not ashamed to fasten all their seven Orders upon our Saviour Christ himself) to be tied to those Gradations, now when the Spirit was poured out upon all Flesh, which were only necessary for the succeeding Christian Church, wherein the Gifts of the holy Ghost were in great part to be supplied by Man's endeavour. This Apostleship therefore being conferred upon them, immediately like faithful Stewards they applied themselves diligently to the Performance of their charge, And being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed— And when they were at Salamis they preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews. In the former part of which words we have laid down their commission for this great Function in these words, Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. In the latter we have expressed their Exercise of that Function, Synechdochically laid down in these words, They departed and preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews. Their Commission is twofold. First, Internal from the Holy Ghost, expressed in the text, sent forth by the Holy Ghost. Secondly, External from the Church, implied by the connexion of this with the former verse, They on whom the Prophets had laid their hands, They were sent forth by the Holy Ghost. Which Commission from the Church, if we again consider with Reflection upon this from the Holy Ghost, we may observe by way of Deduction the joint concurrence of the one with the other, or the certain effect of this Imposition of hands, the gift of the Holy Ghost. In, or from the 2. part, I shall show you that the duty of such as are thus Commissioned by the Holy Ghost and by the Church, is Preaching, and what that Preaching was, is, or aught to be. But before I enter upon the particulars named, because the text hath been otherwise by some interpreted; it will be very requisite that I give you some account of the exposition that I mean to follow. For, There are who contend that Ordination is nothing concerned in this place; that Paul and Barnabas were not by this Imposition of hands admitted to any degree Ministerial, but only received it in way of a Blessing upon the expedition they were now about to be employed in. So our Annotator upon the Rhemists interprets it, which we might suspect, done out of too much heat of contention; and that because They had expounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second verse, Saying of Mass, He would needs find fault too with their construing Imposition of hands, in the next verse, Giving of orders, but that we find the same opinion in some of the Romanists too; all of them grounding it upon St. Paul's assertion in the beginning of his Epistle to the Galatians, chap. 1. v. the 1. Paul an Apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. For answer to which, it is confessed, not only that Paul had an Immediate calling from God but also that such a Mission was altogether as essential to the Apostleship, as to the Prophets in the Old Testament. But this Calling or Sending was nothing else properly but the Designation and Appointment of fit persons; which while the Highpriest of the New-Covenant was present with them, had perhaps annexed unto it their Inauguration: Both however were received immediately from him, After his Ascension this latter must needs be left in the hands of the Church. Nor doth it any way blemish their Prerogative above the after-fathers' of the Church, to own Ordination By man, since their Master had vouchsafed to receive the sacrament of Baptism from one, who he himself had pronounced less than the least of these Prophetical Ordainers. So then our Apostle was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receiving his authority from Men, nor is any Presbyter: For all are sent by the Holy Ghost; neither was he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, designed or chosen by man to this Ministry, as all ordinary Pastors are; but he might nevertheless be ordained by man, and so (to omit late Interpreters,) St. Chrysostom tells us, he was (in his Homily upon my text, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,) as having no authority to exercise his Apostleship to which he was called by special Direction from the Holy Ghost, till he was ordained to it by the laying on of hands. So that there is no reason why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text urged, should be any more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 1. to Timothy, by the commandment of God, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in almost all the rest of his Epistles, by the will of God. Nor is it worth the while for them to urge the Letter of the Syriack translation, which renders it, Not of the sons of man, nor by the hand of the son of man; for it follows, but by the hand of Jesus Christ; which is enough, methinks, to make them forsake the argument, and look better into the Propriety of the Language. It seems then not improbable, that all Apostles after Christ's Ascension into Heaven, received their Apostleship by Imposition of hands from the Church. That Timothy had his office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by the designation of the Spirit is not to be denied; 1 Tim. 4.14. But yet that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with the laying on of hands, is clear from the same place, and more expressly and particularly from another, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the laying on of my hands, 2 Tim. 1.6. And do we not read that Timothy was placed at Ephesus, as Titus was left at , to ordain others after the same manner? Tit. 1.5. Even Mathias himself, of whose choice we find mention without any of his Ordination; For though our English in translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was numbered with, make the text seem to imply him sufficiently instated in his Apostolate, by having the lot fallen upon him, yet the Original will better bear Erasmus' Cooptatus est, or Beza's Communibus calculis allectus, after which, implying only a Nomination, might well follow a solemn Admission, though we have no mention of it in this sacred History. Here you see we have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from the Holy Ghost for Barnabas and Saul, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them, at the second verse. Which to say, was no more than send away Barnabas and Saul to Cyprus, betrays so much Ignorance in the use of that expression in both Testaments, that I think it cannot find much entertainment with any Person of Reason. This Separation therefore was nothing else but their Ordination, and the conferring that power upon them which the Holy Ghost now called them to by an External, Extraordinary Call, and afterwards ratified by an Internal, Ordinary Calling, at their laying on of hands upon them. And so I come to the First part of my text, which represents unto us their Commission, and that first from the Holy Ghost, expressly given us in these words, — Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost This is the first particular, namely, that the Holy Ghost is the Superintendent or the Unction, they receiving their Commission from him. That by the Holy Ghosts sending, is rather to be understood his Inward giving them that Power which their Ordination entitled them unto, than either his Extraordinary Calling of them, before mentioned in the second verse, or the Secret Instinct of the Spirit directing them whither they should go (though both expositions have their throngs of Assertors) I am for my part, induced to think, because the former Interpretation seems to impose a needless repetition upon the text: the latter, (besides that this Cyprus whither they went, was Barnabas' own Country (as appears plainly at the latter end of the 4. chap.) so that he might in all probability be carried thither by his own Affection) hath none or very few Parallels in this History or elsewhere, either Historical or Grammatical. For first, how many Journeys of S. Paul and others do we here meet withal without the least mention of the Holy Ghosts sending? it being sufficiently known and elsewhere to be collected, that they were directed by him in almost all their undertake. And then secondly, The spirit of Prophecy (except where in general those Extraordinary gifts are expressed in one, as St. John 7.39. and the like) is not usually called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but barely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not the Holy Ghost, but the Spirit, as you may see in the 11, 19, 20, and 21. chap. of this book, to name no more; whereas this power of Orders is styled the holy Ghost in that very form which the greatest part of the Western Church hath taken up from our Saviour's own mouth. And in the 20. of this book v. 28. the Presbyters which were ordained by the Apostles, are charged by S. Paul at Miletus, to take heed unto the Flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers. These had no Extraordinary Mission as our Apostle here, and yet They were sent by the Holy Ghost; and therefore, why not These in the same sense? For, In the 2. v. they were sent by him upon his Immediate choice and appointment: In the text they were sent by him upon his Bestowing that Power which the Prophets at Antioch bid them receive at their laying on of hands. So then from the Holy Ghost comes all Power to exercise any sacred Ministerial Office in the Church of God. This was the chiefest business of God the Father, and God the Sons breathing forth or sending down the Holy Ghost from Heaven, to qualify and make some fit for the performance of Church-work, with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. his gifts, according to their several stations and capacities; for when Christ gave the gifts of the Holy Ghost to men, Ephes. 4.8. He gave some Apostles, some Evangelists, some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, verse the 11 And as a learned observer says very well, All the reason in the world that he should have a special hand in giving, where himself is to be received. Receive ye the Holy Ghost, Joh. 20.22. Whosoever therefore undertakes this Warfare (for so the work of the Levites is often called in the book of Numbers) without a Commission from him, viz. the Holy Ghost, though he make pretence of never so plausible Intentions, is but a Traitor to the Holy Ghost, and can look for no better thanks than Uzzah had for his Officious Profanation. For though there be mention here of Apostles only receiving the Holy Ghost, 'tis evident they received not this Gift as Apostles, but as entering into an Ecclesiastical Ministry: else why did they impart the same afterwards to Bishops and Presbyters, which St. Paul's History and Writings do abundantly witness. The text than doth as nearly concern Us at present in the Christian Church, as if Paul and Barnabas had been now ordained Priests. So that I may without offence (I hope) to the scope of the History, take a view of it, especially as it represents us with the Priest's Ordination, the chief business of this present solemnity. And that we may be the better ascertained, that it is the Holy Ghost who gives this Power; let us inquire, so far as we may, what the Power is, and how distinguished from other Gifts of the Holy Ghost who thus commissions. Not to run too far backwards, but to begin with the Apostles themselves. You may observe in the Gospel that the Holy Ghost is twice promised by our Saviour to his Apostles, once under the promise of the Keys, in the 16 of St. Matthew v. the 18. about two years before his Passion: afterwards under the promise of a Comforter (or as the learned Grotius translates it, an Advocate) Luke 24.49. after his Resurrection (though ye shall find the same Promise made unto them, and often repeated the Day before his Passion, in the 14, 15, and 16. chapters of St. John, and some months before that, to all Believers, St. John 7.38. and yet sooner to his Apostles in the 10. of St. Mat. v. the 20) The Former of these was performed after his Resurrection, S. John 20.22. when he said unto them, Receive ye the holy Ghost, whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. The Latter was performed upon the day of Pentecost; as appears in the second of the Acts of the Apostles, when the holy Ghost came down from Heaven in the shape of cloven fiery Tongues, which came as it were in a windy, rushing Chariot, and sat upon each of them, yea and inspired them with the Gift of Tongues, verse 1, 2, 3, etc. Now Both these gifts had a Power annexed unto them. With the First, was a Power of the Keys; The Other was a Power from on high, a Power of conviction by Miracles, When the Comforter is come, he shall convince the world of Sin, of Righteousness, & of Judgement, St. John 16.8. A Power of Answering for themselves without taking thought before hand; When they should be brought before Governors, for the name and the cause of Christ, St. Mat. 10.18, 19, 20. And a Power of knowledge of the truth, St. John 14.26. The Comforter which is the holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. You shall find a third Power given by Christ to his Apostles, immediately upon having created them Apostles, a power of Miracles, St. Mat. 10.1. He gave them Power against unclean Spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of Sickness, and all manner of Disease. There is Lastly, another sort of Gifts of the Holy Ghost, which though they were always in the Church of God, yet Now first came under that name. And those are such as the Apostle reckons up in the 12 of his Epistle to the Rom. v. the 8. He that giveth let him do it with simplicity: He that ruleth, with diligence: He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness: Together with several other graces which he reckons up, and calls Gifts in the 6. verse, (Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us,) and Fruit of the Spirit in his 5. to the Gal. v. the 22. That these Ghostly Gifts of the fourth kind of Sanctifying Graces, are perpetually to be enjoyed by the faithful, is confessed on all hands. That the Power of Miracles which the Apostles exercised while Christ was upon the Earth, was a Gift Extraordinary, and not to outlast their own times, will be easily admitted among us: and the same of that which was given at the Feast of Pentecost: excepting that part of it mentioned in the 14. of St. John, The Gift of knowledge, which we must warily distinguish, what it was in the Apostles, and what in the succeeding Church; They had in its Fullness, they were taught all things by it, but after ages had only that Proportion which seemed good to the Author and Disposer of it. For, Should we leave this wholly among the Extraordinary Gifts of the Apostles, we had quite relinquishd our interest in the Comforter, and should have no more reason to look for him at our Veni Creator, than to expect the mighty rushing Wind or the Sound from Heaven, or the Cloven Tongues as of Fire. The controversy than lies in the Gift first named, which is the same we inquire after: some making it the same with Sanctifying Grace: some the same with Grace Enabling for the Performance, which I take to be nothing else but that Gift of Knowledge under the second kind of Graces mentioned; and of these, some there are (in our own Church I mean,) who think it nothing inferior to that which the Apostles had, A plain Infallibility: The rest confound it with that Gift of the Comforter, as it belongs to the Universal Church. They that think it the same with Sanctifying Grace, (to say no more) must needs forget that Judas Iscariot, (in whom was little or no sign rather of Sanctifying Grace, when he betrayed his Master,) was, one of the twelve, and (if we may draw any parallel from the Law) that Caiaphas the High Priest prophesied, St. John 11. v. 49, 50. and 18, 14. They would easily confess that it is too possible there may be more employed in the Building of God's Ark the Church, than shall be preserved in it. To them who imagine an Infallibility of the Spirit accompanying all true Ordination, and dare call them Laymen, which arrive not at the same perfection of knowledge which they dream themselves Masters of (when indeed to differ from them in any one fond opinion is enough to fetch us under this Censure) the woeful experience of their too fruitful Errors is a sufficient answer. And Lastly, that Holy Orders consist in being qualified in some measure with abilities fit for the Execution of them, hath not any Authority, so far as I can find, from holy Writ: For although God do require this Ability in every one, in some more, in some less, yet he hath not passed any promise to tie it to the Church's Ordination: for, the Comforter is no otherwise promised than other Graces of special Favour, upon condition of our receiving them; And we have too sad experience that we do often Grieve and Quench this Holy Spirit of God in our Understanding, as well as in our Conscience. Whatsoever therefore it is, it must needs be an Accession to the Priesthood, and we are to acknowledge God the Author of a double Blessing, when he provides Bezaliels and Aboliabs for the work of this his Spiritual Tabernacle. Whereas he hath then promised this Power of Orders to all that enter upon his more Immediate service, when he directed the Apostles to lay us down that pattern of Ordination. It being a Gift of perpetual Necessity in the Church, which if at any time it were denied, would open a gap to confusion in the Dispensation or Administration of holy things, which can in no wise proceed from the God of Order and Decorum. It remains that the Gift of the Holy Ghost in Ordination is nothing else but that Authority and Right the Ordained have in the Administration of Divine Mysteries; That Gift whereby the Priest (not to speak here of the Bishop's Power) hath a kind of property in Dispensing Gods holy written word and Sacraments, in Offering up the public prayers of the Congregation for them, and in Pronouncing God's sentence of pardon or condemnation upon them. And this is properly our Inward Calling: Those other gifts of Grace and Knowledge (such as Arts, and Languages, and Virtues) which may precede our Ordination, as they are Motives to any man so qualified to offer himself to the Church of God's service, are an Invitation, and in that sense, an Inward Calling. As they do enable any man for the performance of his Duty; they are not a warrantable Calling but a Blessing, and do not confer any Right upon him to the Priesthood, but only strengthen his hands in the Discharge of it. Were this rightly considered, the world would not be so full of mistakes concerning the Call to the Function. But do we not now rather wonder that the Holy Ghost reserves not this so great a Gift in his own hands, than that he owns the Donation of it? It is a Power over the Consciences, over the Souls of men, That by which our Saviour differences God himself from the most Potent upon earth, at the 10. of St. Mat. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. And can Man confer this Power of his own authority? No, 'Tis the Lord of the Harvest that must send these Labourers into his Vineyard: and he never sends them into it by a False Key, through a Back Dore, over the Wall, or in at a Window: But hath given Order and Power to his Church to let them in by a solemn Consecration of them to his Service; And so I am fallen upon The second particular, or second part of their Commission: Their External Commission for what they undertake, given them, by the laying on of hands, They on whom the Prophets had laid their hands, They were sent forth by the holy Ghost. In the days of old, there were three sorts of Persons that were Anointed, The King, The Priest, and the Prophet; who though they were designed and Appointed by God, had yet some External, Ceremonious actions performed towards them by Man. And thus in the New Testament, though the Holy Ghost be the Unction, yet there is no way for it to be applied but by the Laying on of hands. Which Imposition of hands is here put for all the ceremonies of Ordination, as Preaching afterwards for the Apostles Office, by a kind of Synecdoche, a part being being put for the whole, and is much used in Holy Scripture. The more essential ceremony is the form of words used with it, Receive the holy Ghost, etc. So that, that late observation of the use of Imposition of hands upon Laymen, for Election into their Office, had better have been spared than published, to be laid open, as it is, to the giddy misinterpretation of troublesome unsettled times, and quarrelsome, irreconcilable Spirits. For, What if the same were there used (which was long enough ago confessed?) Is therefore a Presbyter and an Elder of the same Sanhedrim all one? both equally consecrated and set apart from the People? These will be the collections of some readers: Whereas if the Author had but mentioned the Forms of our Ordination, as he hath done those of the Jews, it had been an easy matter for every one to see some difference between Sit tibi facultas Judicandi, and Accipe Spiritum Sanctum. And those two Ceremonies, some of the Church of Rome (cited by Franciscus de Sancta Clara, upon our 36. Article) acknowledge sufficient for Ordination, reckoning Unction to be but a mistake of the Greek Fathers expressions, by understanding Material where they meant Spiritual: All (excepting some Sycophants of the Court of Rome, that affirm the Pope can make a Priest by a Priest, nay though never so far distant, by saying only Esto sacerdos,) count them necessary chief in respect of the Apostles practise, which in things not depending upon circumstances variable, stands for a Law to their Successors; but then withal perhaps, in as much as it is scarce possible for the Church to express in fewer signs her Commission, without which we can have no assurance of the Holy Ghosts. Having in the beginning of this discourse shown that Barnabas and Saul and others were manumi'zd by the Church even in those very times wherein the Holy Ghost was shed forth in an ample measure, and that Men have always had to do in giving Commissions to all such as are to execute any office in the Church: I might from hence press the necessity of a calling from the Church, which Calvine himself urges from this place in the 4. book, the 3. ch. the 14 Section of his Institutes, in these words, Sic Paulum quoque Singulari praerogatiuâ Dominus per seipsum designavit, ut Disciplinâ Ecclesiasticae Vocation is interim uteretur. But since this is an Article not denied by any, but such who have so far renounced their Understanding, that they are resolved to hearken to none but their own Schismatical, Fanatic Teachers, I conceive it more pertinent and of greater concernment, and more advantageous to the Fathers and Sons of the Church, to clear the Text from giving Patronage to that opinion so magnified of late, that the power of Ordination belongs of right to the Presbytery, (a Position condemned by the Council of Trent, Sess. 23. can. 7.) and is but usurped by the Bishop. If I would enter upon a discourse of the Bishops Right in Ordination, I might tell them, It was a very Ancient Usurpation (if it be one) even within one year after Christ's Ascension into Heaven (as Chronologers reckon it) For we find (at the 6. of this book, which treats of things done within the 33. year of Christ) the Apostles laying on their hands upon the seven Deacons, without any challenge from the Seventy two of being excluded. But to keep to the Text: It will suffice to inquire by what Title these Prophets of Antioch exercised this Power, and so consequently whether their practice be a sufficient ground for this Opinion. That it is not the same Power to Ordain a Priest and to Ordain an Apostle, is true; But it makes the more for them, since it is far more plausible to say, that Priests have a power to ordain a Priest, than that they have so to consecrate a Bishop. Some therefore to avoid this, say, there were Bishops among these Prophets, three at least; Others say, that the Prophets themselves did not lay their hands on them, but sent them to the Apostles at Jerusalem, and that it was they that laid their hands on them. A learned Divine among us, with far greater probability, affirms, they were more than mere Presbyters, in that they were Prophets, reckoned at the 4. of S. Paul's Epistle to the Ephes. v. the 11 in the next rank to the Apostles, before Evangelists, they themselves being even Apostles Secundi Ordinis, if I mistake not his meaning. The two former Opinions have no countenance at all from the Text, and so I leave them; The Last Interpretation, though very probable, may admit of some dispute: since the Scripture seems to evidence that this Spirit of Prophecy (which is thought chief to consist in Interpreting the word of God by Immediate Inspiration) was at this first breaking forth of the Sunbeams of the Gospel, communicated to far greater numbers of men, than were likely to have any Precedence or Authority in the Church, above Presbyters. Read the 14. of the 1 Epistle to the Corinthians, and you shall find the Apostle exhorting all his Corinthians to desire especially the Gift of Prophesying: and at the 34. v. of the same chapter, he commands Women to keep silence in the Church, implying that They also sometimes had this Gift of Prophesying: as we see Acts 21.9. Phillip's Daughters were Prophetesses, agreeable to Gods promise repeated out of the Prophet Joel, at the second of the Acts, verse the 17. your Daughters shall Prophecy. The result of which will be, that these Prophets were rather Inferior to Presbyters in Authority than above them, though perhaps sometimes Fuller of the Holy Ghost, that is, better enabled by the Spirit for the performance of that part of the Presbyters charge which consisted in Preaching. And therefore, since we cannot conclude they had the Power of Ordaining Apostles, unless we acknowledge them at least equal to Apostles, which this Interpretation doth not make good: with submission to the Reverend Author, or any other who shall otherwise instruct me, I think we need not contend for their Superiority above Presbyters: but rather be contented with this, that whatever they were they did not this by any Power tranferred upon them in ordinary, no not even as they were Prophets, but by Particular, Extraordinary Appointment and Revelation from the Holy Ghost. For so much St. Luke tells us expressly in the next verse save one before my Text, As they ministered to the Lord and Fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. What then will this advantage them towards the grounding a perpetual practice on it? Durst the Jews (do you think) consecrate an Highpriest without those Ceremonies mentioned in the 8. or 9 chap. of Levit. because God himself did dispense with them in the Consecration of Eleazar upon Mount Hor, Num. 20? Or, Might the Priests presume to use any other Altar for Offerings, than that in the Tabernacle, because God for the Conviction of Baal's Prophets, approved of Elijahs Sacrifice, which he offered upon stones that we do not read where were ever Hallowed, 1 Kings 18? Why did not They who had so many Judgements denounced against them, for letting their children pass through the fire, make this reply for their Innocency, Lord, why dost thou lay thine heavy hand upon us? Didst not thou command the Father of the Faithful, thy servant Abraham, to offer up his Son, his only Son Isaac for a Sacrifice? If the Prophets at Antioch ordained some upon a special command from the Holy Ghost: Let not Presbyters challenge to themselves the same Power till they can show the same Patent for it. But, If it were absolutely necessary, nay only lawful to follow all Examples recorded in Holy Writ, and which too perhaps are not therein condemned, we should quickly dash the first against the second Table, and cast off our Service to God, our Obedience to the Church, and our Love to one another. The Consequences would be such as this; there were but twelve that Christ administered the Blessed Sacrament unto, before he departed this world, and they were all Men, and his Disciples, yea Apostles, and it was after Supper, in an upper chamber, and in Jerusalem, together with many other circumstances, the least whereof if any omitted, would look but of a bad complexion. There must be no more, nor any other now. But to the business in hand. Without all question it is not over safe for any Presbyters to venture upon the conferring of Orders upon any, where there are no Bishops. For though, Those Churches beyond Sea, (not to meddle with our Neighbours) urge the Example of the Levites, executing the Priest's Office, when the Priests were too few, at the 29 of the 2 book of Chron. yet if they did well consider that this was done but till the other Priests were Sanctified, certainly they would long before now have provided themselves of Bishops. Indeed the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas had Bishops once; and where is the advantage which any of them have received by Rejecting them? Alas they are so few, that you can scarce name any. Indeed if Toleration and promiscuous Indulgence of Heresies, which are not where so rife, as where there are no Bishops, be an advantage, than Amsterdam is as happy, yea happier now, than ever it was. or any other place can be. I find in Mr. Durels excellent Treatise of the Conformity of other reformed Churches with the reformed Church of England, that when some religious Protestants in the Churches of Bohemia were in great straits and under strange Persecutions, and resolved to betake themselves unto the Woods and Mountains and Caverns of the Earth, where they might serve God securely: Nothing so troubled them in this their sad condition as how to supply the Defect and Mortality of their lawful Ministry. For they thought they should in vain expect any Romish Bishop to come amongst them for the Gospel sake; Doubts and Fears did arise in their minds, Whether such an Ordination, by which a Presbyter and not a Bishop should create another Presbyter, would be lawful; and how they should be able to maintain such an Ordination as well against others, when opposed, as to their own people, if by them questioned. Quassabat animos met us, an sat is legitima foret Ordinatio, si Presbyter Presbyterum crearet, non vero Episcopus. Et quomodo talem Ordinationem, si lis moveatur defensuri essent, sive apud alios, sive apud suos, says Commenius in Fratr. Bohem historia Sect. 59 The Result of their Doubts and Fears was this in short: They sent one Michael Zambergius, a Minister, with two others to the confines of Moravia and Austria, whither they heard some of the Waldenses were fled for Conscience sake, to acquaint them with their condition, and with what passed amongst them about the Election of their Ministers by Lot; and having found Stephanus their Bishop, after they had imparted to each other their sufferings, and declared their Faith and Doctrine, the said Michael Zambergius with his two Colleagues, were consecrated Bishops by Stephanus and another Bishop, with some Presbyters whom they called and joined with them in that work, and so returned home with Episcopal power; which was by them transmitted to their Successors until this day. Thus Mr. Durel pag. 13. If the Authority of the Scriptures, the Practice of the Primitive Church, the Testimony of the Ancient Fathers, the Confession of such as have been shrewdly suspected to be Adversaries, and the Decrees and Canons of General Councils be of any validity herein, we are well enough, and might hope to give sufficient satisfaction to all that have not Abandoned their Sense and Reason, and show them clearly, that to Bishops only belongs the Office of Ordination. Nor is it strange that Christ hath left this Power with the Angels only of his Church: since this laying on of hands is no Naked or Empty Solemnity, but the Real conveyance of that Commission from the Holy Ghost. Which brings me to, The third particular to be handled, which is by way of Deduction, the Joint concurrence of the Internal with the External Commission, or the certain effect of this Imposition of hands, The giving of the Holy Ghost. Of which briefly. You read before, that God hath solemnly engaged himself to his Church, to accompany their outward Donation with the Gift of his Holy Spirit, in as much as he directed and commanded his Apostles to leave us this pattern of Ordination: which is as it were an Ecclesiastical Procreation, and to continue as long as God hath a Church in the world. Now that God made good this promise in their own Ordinations it appears in the forecited place at the 20. of this book, v. 28. Take heed unto the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers; like an Unction as it were, poured forth by Hands; Which unless it had reached farther than the Apostles, St. Paul had never commanded Titus to Ordain Elders in every City. Now whatsoever belonged unto Titus, why may not the whole Church lay claim unto it? not doubting but that God who always was so Jealous of the least Pollution of the Priests under the darkness of the Law, will not leave his Holy Mysteries to be disspensed by common hands (for no more they would be, if they were not sanctified by the Holy Ghost, as well as by the Bishop) now in the Light of his Glorious Gospel. So that Mr. Calvin hath no reason, while he reckons up some of Christ's inimitable Actions, to put together his saying to Lazarus, Lazare veni foràs; and his saying to his Disciples, Accipite Spiritum Sanctum. One of these being a Miracle necessary only at the first Publishing of the Gospel, the other an Act of perpetual use in the Church to the world's end. See calvin's Instit. the 4. book 19 chap. 29. Sect. Thus I have done with the Doctrine of the first part of my Text, namely, The Commission Internal from the Holy Ghost, and External from the Church. I proceed now to the 2. and the last part, namely, to show you that the duty of such as are Commissioned by the Holy Ghost and the Church is Preaching, and what that Preaching was, is, or aught to be, which is the 4. particular. That St. Paul and Parnabas were to Preach the word of God, seeing they were Apostles, is, I suppose, denied by none, and therefore shall not trouble the Reader with any further Argumentation, than two or three places of Scripture, whereby to prove that this was their Business. Says, Jesus to the Disciples St. Matthew 28. verse 18. All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth, verse 19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations, etc. And verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. St. Mark the 16. verse 15. Go ye into all the World, and Preach the Gospel to every creature. And in St. Luke the 24. verse 47, etc. you may find somewhat to the same purpose, that they were to do so: and here in my text as well as in other places we find they did so, from this time forward, to the day of their death. The Jewish Highpriest, was called the Messenger or Angel of the Lord of Hosts: namely, because he executed Gods commands in giving of the Law to the People; and teaching them what they should do, Mal. the 2. v. the 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Diodorus Siculus hath it. And thus under the New Testament too, such as are to dispense the Word and Sacraments are called, and therefore called Messengers of God, or The Church's Angels For look what the duty of an Ambassador or Messenger upon Earth, of an Earthly Potentate is, the same is the Business of the Ministers of God, viz. to declare his Will, and to treat about matters of concernment, which is done, as by other ways, so by this too of Preaching. Which what it was then, and what it is or aught to be now, comes next to be discoursed of. The Preaching then (and indeed such it ought to be Now) was the declaration of the Gospel of Christ, or the glad tidings of Salvation whereby men were secured of eternal happiness upon condition of Repentance from dead works, and a steadfast Faith in all God's Attributes: and (wheresoever there is defect, as there is indeed in the best of our performances) an Affiance in the Merits of Christ. That Gospel or Doctrine they Preached which came down from Heaven, which was inspired and sealed by the Holy Ghost, and confirmed by Miracles. And this they did by immediate Inspiration of God. We live in an age whose Religion dwells altogether in their Ears: so little are we for the Practice. They think now a days, that Preaching, as they call it, not as the Scriptures mean it, and Pulpit, Extemporary Discourses are the sum total of the Priestly duty, and the best of Christian Privileges. But this is a gross Abuse both of the thing, the Preachers, and themselves. For let it be granted, as most true it is, that Preaching is an holy, excellent Ordinance of God, appointed by him for the salvation of Souls, if warrantably undertaken, and rightly managed and performed; It may be a Comfort to the Conscience that is Comfortless, a Relevation to Souls that are Afflicted, a Deletory for Sin, an helpful means to a good life, and an excellent instrument tending to promote all the parts of God's service, and at last to bring us to Salvation. It pleaseth God, saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 1.21. by the foolishness of Preaching to save some, and, saving, true Faith comes by Hearing, and Hearing by the Word of God, and how shall they hear without a Preacher? says the same Apostle to the Romans, chap. 10. v. the 14. But then we must not mistake, but warily distinguish what is meant by the Word of God, which is, The Doctrine of the Gospel, and what by Preaching, which is, Not the manner of delivering, but the matter delivered. For notwithstanding all the wonderful and rare Effects, which may be wrought by Preaching, yet Preaching and Sermons, such as are now in use, are not the Word of God, in the properest and strictest sense; Though yet the English Puritan will not believe this, insomuch that he magnifies any Pulpit Discourse, above the written Word of God, comprehended in the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles, daily read in Churches at the set time of Divine Service, and which he makes of little or no esteem or use in the conversion of Souls unto God; Believing it to be much inferior to that of Preaching upon a Text by the sandy Clock. Certainly, That thing which sweetens others, must be far sweeter of it self; And if the waters in the channels or the veins of the Earth be so pure and pleasant, how much more excellent and wholesome must the Spring itself be, and the place from whence those Waters flow? In the one there is no fear of the Spawn of Toads, or the Viper's venom: no destructive soul-damning Tenants of Heretics to be found in the Scriptures, imposed on us; whereas by too sad experience we have known and find it, that the pestiferous breath of some Pulpit-men hath been that which hath first given life to the Factions and Heresies in this our Church, and then by their laying about with their Hands and Tongues, hath fired the Church and Kingdom, nay almost burned it to ashes, had not God in his mercy, as well as in his Justice, removed the Incendiaries; who because they cannot daringly go on and prosper, lay all the Private trains they can to disturb our Peace, the Peace of the Church and Kingdom too, and to break our Unity. I shall not inveigh here against the secular ends and Ungodly Interests which of late were introduced by this their Pharisaical kind of piety, nor tell you how they corrupted the savour of life into a savour of death. (Corruptio optimi est pessima.) You well know the Seditions and Disturbances, the Cheats and Treasons, Murders, Plunders, Sequestrations, Imprisonments, Banishments, etc. which were caused and acted by some men's public as well as private Insinuations, whose Calling gave them too great an opportunity, and all under the notion of Painful, Soulsaving, Godly Preachers, superseminare haeresin, to scatter tares in the Field of God, and sow that which Preaching aught to Root up. And as one says very well for me, Preaching and Thirsting after the Word, are so good things, that the very Names of them may misled good People if they be misapplyed: And so they are very often; For a great many there are that most vainly and impertinently apply to Sermons or popular Orations all those glorious things which are spoken of the Word of God, and of Preaching, as Faith and Salvation, Ro. 10.14. 1 Cor. 1.21. Man by the Fall got a crack in his Understanding, his Will grew Perverse, and his Affections dull and heavy: All the Faculties of his Soul are depraved, and he is ready to comply with any thing but the commands of God, and Obedience to the truth: and therefore indeed upon this consideration, it may, it must be granted, that there is more need of humane Artifice, witty Complying, sober Insinuations and Ingenious devices to recover men from the errors of their ways, and to keep them right when they are so; But this may be done by other ways (would men admit of the Trial) as well, nay better, and with more ease, than by the Pulpit. For I do believe (for I know no reason to the contrary) as many souls went to Heaven Before, as do Now, that we have so much Vulpit Preaching. And yet mistake me not: For I do not say this to decry and undervalue Preaching, that ancient Ecclesiastical Ordinance, but to magnify the Reading and Hearing of the Scriptures, which are indeed the Word of God: and to teach you that the Scriptures are the best of Sermons. That Word which came down from Heaven, and was sealed by the Spirit of God: That Word which has been spoke by the mouth of all the Holy Prophets and Apostles: That Word which has been watered with the Blood of Martyrs, confirmed by Miracles, and strangely preserved even beyond all Miracle, and Believed in all ages: And which Word, which way, or in what manner soever it be conveyed unto us, whether by Reading in Lessons, or Epistles or Gospels, is the same thing still, and aught to have the highest estimate in our Affecti-and challenges as greedy an ear as any thing can do. That the Reading of the Scriptures in the Church, is Preaching to the People, I shall give you some unquestionable Testimonies of Councils and Fathers: and if this be not sufficient, or whether it be or no, produce the Supreme Authority of the Scriptures themselves. Let the first be that of Justin Martyr in his second Apology to the Gentiles, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, On the Day called Sunday all that abide in Towns or the countries' about, meet in one place, and the Records of the Apostles, or the Writings of the Prophets are read, as far as occasion serveth. Then the Reader having done, the Precedent in a speech instructeth, and exhorteth to the imitation of such excellent things; and in another place he says, that In their Writings the Judgement to come is Preached. Take another from St. Chrysostom, who was as great and as golden a Preacher as ever spoke with Tongue: yet his Writings tell us that it grieved his very soul to see men Flock and Crowd more to hear his Pulpit Discourses, than they did to hear the Scriptures Read in time of Divine Service; a Fault too common in this our age. I shall quote you his own words, make the best you can of them, where he tells you that All things that are necessary to Salvation, are plain and obvious to the eyes, clearly laid down in the Scriptures, so that reading is sufficient to convey the knowledge of them to us: and as for other things it is sufficient that they are not Necessary: and that it is men's Curiosity or Slothfulness, I may add their Invincible Ignorance, that makes them so greedy of so much Pulpit Preaching. The good Father's words are, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If you look into the Council of Vase, you will find that the Fathers of that Council say, The Priests being absent or troubled with Infirmity, do Preach by their Deputies, who are appointed in their stead to read the Homilies. Lector personat verbà sublimia, saith St. Cyprian, Evangelium Christi legit, à fratribus conspicitur, cum gaudio fraternitatis auditur. The fourth Council of Toledo calls the usual Reading of the Gospel Preaching. And I meet with the same Opinion and expression divers times in Rupertus and Isidore in their Pooks de Officiis divinis & Ecclesiasticis. Isid. lib. 1. chap. 10. Rupert. lib. 1. ch. 12, 13. But if these authorities be not sufficient, hear what the Scriptures themselves do say, Deuteron. 31. v. 13. Ye shall Read this Law before all Israel, that ye may learn to Fear the Lord. Blessed is he that Reads the Words of this Prophecy, saith St. John, and they that Hear and keep those things which are Written therein, Revel. 1. ver. 3. and Acts 15. ver. 21. Moses of old time hath them that Preach him, in that he was Read, or being Read every Sabbath day. And surely good reason there is, that the Scriptures and the Reading thereof should be preferred before that thing we call Preaching in the Pulpit. For the One is the Immediate word of God who is Infallible, the Holy Ghost did Preach it: The Other are the words of a Mortal Red Earth, who knows not the thousand part of what he is ignorant. Humanum est errare. Our Sermons are no farther pious and religious than that they are derived from the salutary Fountains of Holy Scripture. They never were confirmed by Miracles from Heaven, nor shall they be, as the Scriptures have been. And then for the Matter delivered, and the Manner of the Delivery, how Poor and Jejune and Shallow will the best shapen Words and Narratives of the best Rhetoricians, Orators, Poets, or Historians appear, when compared with the sacred Oracles of God? Would you have the Efficacy of Preaching to consist in Derivation from Antiquity, in the substance of Matter, in Appositeness of Sentences, in Elegancy of Style, Evidence of things, in validity of Proofs, in the Authority of the Author, and the Power it hath to effect that end for which it was ordained? Take up the Scriptures then, and fall to Reading, and Frequent the Temple where it will be Preached, i. e. Read unto you, and the Lord give you a good and a right understanding. By searching the Scriptures we look for life, so said our Blessed Saviour, They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. For, These things are written that ye might believe in him, i. e. Christ, and that Believing ye might have life through his name. You know who said it, Cursed is he that Adds or Diminishes. I only say, The bringing in of so many Sermons into the Church was the thrusting out of the Bible not long since. The Church both can and doth Preach without Sermons, namely, when by her careful order, the books of Holy Writ are solemnly Read. And truly, for aught I know, as the Learned Mr. Thornedike, in his Just Weights and Measures, page 101. says, and most wise men believe, they that never heard many Sermons may have heard more and better Preaching, than hundreds and thousands of Sermons, dangerous, if not destructive, to Salvation, (a thing which experience proves more than possible) can furnish them, who shall do nothing else but run from Sermon to Sermon. I grant it was a just complaint at the Reformation, that the People were not taught their duty. But I do not grant, either that they cannot be taught their Duty, without two Sermons every Lord's Day: or that they are like to be taught their Duty, by two sermons every Lord's day. It is not possible to have men for all Churches fit to preach twice a day, to the edifying of the People. It will never be possible to maintain their Preaching to be such as may be accounted an Office of God's service, Thus He, and consequently not a Discharge of the Holy Ghosts and the Church's Commission, so I. But you may read more concerning this point in the 5 book of the Judicious Mr. Hooker. Thus I have done with the Explication of the parts or Doctrines deducible from the Text. Let us now look upon them in the Use of them; and from the Four particulars named, we shall receive especially Four Cautions towards the better performance of our Duty, in order to the sacred charge undertaken. One for the Bishop, three for the Priests. First, From the Grant of our Commission from the Holy Ghost; Not to dare to enter upon this Employment except we find ourselves in some measure fit for the discharge of it. Second, From the Grant of our Commission from the Church; Not to forget what Obedience we own to our Spiritual Fathers in God. Third, From the efficacy of Imposition of Holy Hands towards the conferring of the Holy Ghost; That Bishops use all possible care, as they shall one day answer it, not only for themselves, but for all those, whom they may by their own neglect, or theirs whom they intrust for them, suffer to run upon their own Perdition, not to dispense this sacred Gift of the Holy Ghost, but to the Glory of God, and the Improvement and Benefit of the Church. And lastly, From their careful applying themselves to the Execution of their charge, in Preaching the word; That we prove diligent followers of so good an Example. Each of these are very Weighty, and might be very worthy Consideration. I shall but touch upon each of them as far as is necessary, and so conclude; For to say true, if the First and the Last only were well observed, the Rest might be Spared. Were All that come for Holy Orders fit for the Execution of their charge, they would be better acquainted with their Duty to the Church, than to smother or to spurn at her Commands, and were all both Able and Likely to be Diligent in the use of their Abilities afterwards, the Bishop's choice would be made to his Hands, it being impossible for him to grant amiss, when none ask but such to whom he ought not to deny. To begin with the First of these, That none presume to enter upon this great Employment, except they find themselves fit in some measure for the discharge of it, fit for Abilities of Knowledge in the Mysteries of God, and fit too for Piety of Life. Fit first, for Abilities of Knowledge. None ought to thrust themselves (as in a matter of course, after some years spent in a Gown) upon this service of God, with any of their Learning in their too easily procured Testimonials; These will not sufficiently qualify. For thus while they cry out against Tamar, they themselves prove Judah, nothing differing from those whom they think meanly of, but in that These profess Ignorance; They themselves only being guilty of it. These are not fit Messengers for the Holy Ghost; For he doth not expect the Deaf and the Dumb, the Blind and the Lame should offer themselves to go upon his Embassy. He calls for Witnesses (Hay-Fellow-Witnesses, for both the Apostles and the Holy Ghost too are Witnesses of these things Acts 5.32.) and we must not present him such, who are indeed too ready to be sworn, but know nothing of the cause in trial. How will these invite Christ's Guests to his Supper in the Parable, St. Luke 14.16. that know not themselves where it is kept? Whose Hearers excuse will be, Not, I have bought a Farm or Oxen, I have married a Wife; But, you tell me not where the Feast is, I am unacquainted with the way. And do ye not think those so bidden will taste as much of the Supper, as these Bidders? S. Paul counts it nothing less than a swerving from the Faith (& that's somewhat of kin to Apostasy) to desire to be teachers of the Law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm: 1 Tim. 1.6, 7. Such indeed may escape our Saviour's Woe to the Lawyers for taking away the Key of knowledge: for that they never had it. Hence it comes to pass, that when men are forced into the Pulpit by the People's Out-cries, or through Ignorance or Indigency, they Preach neither Christ nor themselves, but their Parish: knowing no difference between the Doctrine of the Church, and the Opinions of the Vulgar; which in a little time shall make such Preachers vile enough amongst them too. And miserable men that must be frighted into their Duty, to avoid the contempt of their Hearers. Shall any man make so little account of destroying God's People, when he is sent amongst them to build them up? of polluting that Fountain of Living Waters, which he ought to give clear passage to? Nay, dare any man fasten so many errors and absurdities upon the Holy Ghost himself, whose Message he undertakes to deliver? What is this less than presumptuous sin, for which under the Law there was no Sacrifice? which whosoever is guilty of, let him know, that he grieves that Spirit, whose Gift he begs at his Ordination, and it will cost him some Groans too if ever he mean it shall be turned to a Blessing. Secondly, It is required that they be fit for Piety of Life; And this condition hath so great Affinity with the Former, that we may justly fear to be deprived of both, if we be guilty of the want of either. Thus Balaam being so far possessed of the Love of the world, and his proffered Preferment with King Balak, that he was in hopes God would change his purpose, and suffer him to go and curse Israel, had at last an answer fitting his humour, but such a one as proved a crime to hearken to. Methinks a man that knows himself enamoured with the Delights, or that is resolved upon the Trade of Sin, should be as much afraid of having any thing to do with the Holy Ghost, as the Gadarenes were of having Christ among them, which a Learned Commentator attributes to their guilty Consciences, not their loss of the Swine. For how can such presume to have more Joy in God's presence, than Abimelech and Laban had in his appearing to them, which was neither to give nor promise them any Blessing, but only to rebuke them? The Canon Law forbids the Church to receive Tithes from the Profits of sin: Not that the Thief, the Usurer or the Harlot have any Privilege or Exemption granted them, but in as much as God cannot accept such Oblations, and therefore neither must the Parson. And dare we offer our sins themselves, for the Employment of the Holy Ghost? as though he could be content with Servants that scorn to wear any but the Devil's Livery. Such who, if we were to offer (as the Priests under the Law were) the same sacrifice for our own Sins, and for the Sins of the Congregation, might be quit with God for the Number (with reverence be it spoken) as being able to vie sins with the whole Congregation? Far more excuse it would be for them to stay behind, and Bury their Dead (and free Leave they might have) than thus to follow Christ: to follow Christ into the Holy of Holies, while they are not fit so much as to come within the Camp for Uncleanness. I dare not speak this out of any Presumption of my own either Abilities or Uprightness; But do acknowledge myself to have as much need of Hezekiahs' Prayer (2 Chron. 30.18.) as any of my Brethren, The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek the Lord, though he be not prepared or cleansed according to the Purification of the Sanctuary. And may the Lord hearken to these words, and so Sanctify all those by the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, that are, or shall hereafter be Ordained to the Ministerial Function, that they may never Forget whose service they undertake, and their Canonical Obedience to the Fathers of the Church, which comes next to be looked into; as being deduced From the Grant of their Commission from the Church, which is, that they forget not to Honour and Obey all such under whose Protection and Government in the Church they are. Did men but seriously consider that Voluntary, solemn Oath which they take at their Ordination, to observe the Canons and Articles of the Church, and this in the presence of God and the Bishop, upon the pain of Destruction, we should not then have any cause to complain of Neutrality, Prevarication, and Indifferency in the Execution of their Office. They would not then Grumble and Spurn at the Church's Injunctions, and cheat the souls of such as are committed to their charge, into ruin. But thanks be to God, that this may be cured by the care and Vigilance of our good Bishops; and therefore the less may suffice to be spoken to it. Pardon, O Pardon me, my most Honourable and always to be Revered Fathers, if the Text by my poor Pen reminds you, that you are to use all possible care concerning the Persons to whom you dispense the sacred Gift of the Holy Ghost. I know you neither confide in Testimonials alone, nor Parts without Good Report of them that are without; You are to Command and Rule, We to obey. And therefore I return to such as are, or are to be Commissioned. You read in the Division of the Text, that Preaching was St. Paul's and St. Barnabas' charge, (and consequently ours,) in a Synecdoche only, and not the whole performance that lies upon us. There is likewise necessary a right and due, frequent administration of the Eucharist, and of Baptism, as oft as need requires, a Reconciling of Neighbours that are at variance, and a catechistical Instruction of all such as are of younger years, this is our duty too. But although Preaching be not the sum total of our duty that lies upon us, yet we must take heed of seeking advantage from hence, we must not leave it quite out. There are sometimes necessary diversions from it (I speak of those who have a charge of souls committed to them,) occasions of the same importance for the good of the Church with Preaching: but it will not be safe for any to snatch up these for a pretence to Idleness, and think he can answer God as easily as Man; As if God had laid aside that Attribute which Moses leaves not out, even while he implores his Mercy, Num. 14.18. By no means clearing the guilty. He that would teach the people that he ought to have liberty sometimes to forbear, should do it by his Doctrine, not by his Practice: as our Saviour dealt with the Pharisees, first vindicating the Lawfulness of doing even servile works on the Sabbath, and yet for the present forbearing himself to do them, as Grotius observes; For he heals the man without so much as a Touch, only saying to him, Stretch forth thine hands, Mat. 12.13. If all the Lords People were Prophets, there would yet be need of frequent Preaching, so much ado we have to Learn to Practise, what we know never so clearly. But then if we look upon the Late times, whose too much and dangerous Preaching, has been far worse than the Neglect of Preaching, how will it concern every one, now that God hath restored our lately miserable Church to Peace and Order, to set ourselves to weeding apace, to root up every plant our Heavenly Father hath not planted: and to be at lest nothing less sedulous in seasoning the Lump with the Leaven of the Kingdom of Heaven, than our Adversaries have been, and are, in scattering the Leaven of the Pharisees? so shall we deliver our own souls, and not cut off those committed to our charge (Num. 4.17.) from among their Brethren; so shall we give proof of those Gifts of the Holy Ghost which we receive at our Ordination: and having discharged our Consciences here, in sowing the good seed committed to us, we shall hereafter reap Life everlasting. Which God of the Riches of his Mercy grant all the Clergy and People of this Land, for the Merits and Satisfaction of his Son Jesus Christ: to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be rendered as is most due, all Honour, Power and Glory for ever and ever. Amen. FINIS.