Josephs Party-Colored Coat, Sermon 8
FACTION CONFVTED.
1 COR. 1.12.
Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollo, and I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ.
SVch is the subtilty of Satan, and such is the frailty of the flesh, though things be ordered never so wel, they wil quickly decline. Luther was wont to say, hee never knew as good order last above fifteene yeares: This speedy decaying of goodnesse, you may see in the Church of Corinth, from which S. Paul was no sooner departed, but they departed from his Doctrine. Some more carried by fancy, then ruled by reason, or more swayed by carnall Reason, then governed by Grace, made choyse of some particular Pastor, whom they extoll'd, to the great disgrace of his fellow Ministers, and greater dishonour of God himselfe. Now Saint Paul not willing to make these Ministers, a publike Example, concealeth their persons, yet discovereth the fault, and making bold with his Brethren. Apollo, and Cephas, applyeth to them and himselfe, what the Corinthians spake of their fancied Preachers. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollo, and I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ.
Object.But the Apostle herein hath made no good choyce, to mention Cephas: For hee was onelyonly knowne to the Corinthianss, by his fame, not by his person, seeing it appeares, not either in Scripture, or Ecclesiasticall Story, that ever Cephas (that is Saint Peter) was ever at Corinth.
Answ.This hinders not the Application of the Apostle: Granting Saint Peter was never there; For many Ministers are most admired at distance, Major è longinquo reverentia: Like some kind of stuffe,Tacitus. they have the best Glosse, a good way off, more then a Prophet in his owne Countrey. Thus the good esteeme, which Forrainers have conceived of the Piety and Learning, of the Geneva Ministers, hath been the best stake in the hedge of that State.
I need not divide the words, which in themselves are nothing else but division, and containe foure sorts of people, like the foure sorts of Seed, Mat. 13. The three first bad, the last only, [I am of Christ] being good and commendable.
I am of Paul; as if they had said, there is a Preacher called Paul; his matter is so powerfull, his Methods so pleasing, his Doctrine so sound, his Life so sincere; his Preaching I affect, or his person I preferre, I am of Paul. Tush (saith another) what talke you of Paul? Indeed his Epistles are powerfull and strong, but his bodily presence is weake, and his speech of none effect; there is one Apollo, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, hee stands highest in my esteeme; I am of Apollo: Fie saith a third, why name you Apollo, one that learnt the best part of his Divinity from Aquila, and Priscilla, a Lay-man, and a weake woman: There is one Cephas, that caught three hundred soules at the preaching of one Sermon; that is the man for my money: I will say of him, as Gehazi did of Naaman; As the Lord liveth I will run after him, I am of Cephas: Well, saith a fourth, Paul I know, and Apollo I know, and Cephas I know, men endowed with great Grace, and eminent Instruments of Gods glory, I acknowledge them as the Channell, but on God alone, as the Fountaine, of Faith and Conversion, and doe attend on him alone in these his Instruments, I am of Christ.
The Staple Doctrine herein to be observed, is this:Doct. The factious affecting one Pastor above another, is very dangerous. Indeed wee may, and must give a famous part of Reverence, and a Benjamins Portion of respect, to those, who (Data paritate in ceteris) excell in age, paines, Parts and Piety. In Age, for hee is a Traytor against the Crowne of old Age, who payeth not the Allegeance of respect due thereunto: Such Reverence the hoary haires of Gousartius did deserve, when for more then fifty yeares hee had beene a Preacher in Geneva. In Paines, being such as have borne the heate of the day; so that the stresse of the Ministery hath layen heaviest on their shoulders; such an Elder is worthy of double honour. In Parts, being stars of the first Magnitude, brightly shining, with their rich endowments. In Piety, which setteth a lustre on all the former. But the factious affecting of Ministers, lavishing by whole sale, all honour on one, and scarce Retaliating out any respect to the other, raysing high Rampires to the prayse of the one, by digging deepe Ditches to discredit, and disgrace an other, is that which Saint Paul doth reprove in my Text, and wee must confute at this time.
Foure great mischiefes will arise from this practise.Misch. 1. First it will set enmity and dissention betwixt the Ministers of Gods Word.
I confesse, wee that either have, or intend to take on us the high calling, and holy Function of the Clergy, ought to endeavour by Gods Grace, so to qualifie our selves, that our affections never mistake the true object, nor exceed their due measure: But alas such is our misery (rather to bee bemoaned, then amended; the perfect removing whereof, is more to be desired, then hoped for) that as long as wee carry Corruption about us, wee are men subject to like Passion with others. Hence is it come to passe, that as the Grecians, Act. 6.1. Murmured against the Hebrewes, Because their Widdowes were neglected in the daily Ministration: So Ministers will find themselves agrieved, that people in the partiall dispencing of their respect, passe them by unregarded. Perchance the matter may fly so high, as it did betwixt Moses and Aaron, Numb. 12.2. And they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken onelyonly by Moses? Hath hee not spoken also by us? It will anger not only Saul, a meere carnall man, but even those that have degrees of Grace, Hee hath converted his thousands, but such a one his ten thousands: These discords betwixt Ministers, I could as heartily wish they were false; as I doe certainely know, they are too true.
Misch. 2.It will set dissention amongst people, whilst they violently engage their affections for their Pastors: The woman that pleaded before Salomon, 1 King. 3. The living Child is mine (said shee) but this dead Child is thine: Nay (said the other) but thy sonne is dead, and my sonne is the living. Thus will they fall out about their Pastors. The living Minister is mine; he that hath life, spirit, and Activity, in the manner and matter of his Delivery; but the dead Minister is thine; Flash in his matter, confused in his Method, dreaming in his utterance; hee commeth not to the quicke, hee toucheth not the conscience; at the most with Ioash, King of Israel, 2 King. 13.18. He smites the Aramites but thrice; Leaves off reproving a vice, before people bee fully reformed. Nay (saith the other) my Minister, is the living Minister, and thine is the dead one: Thy Pastor is like the fire, 1 King. 19.12. Flashing in the flames of ill tempered, and undiscreet zeale; But the Lord was not in the fire: or like the Earthquake, shaking his Auditors, with ill applyed terrors of the Law, but the Lord was not in the Earth-quake: whilest my Minister is like to a still voyce, and the Lord was in the still Voyce, stanching the Bleeding hearted Penitent, and dropping the Oyle of the Gospel into the wounded Conscience.
It will give just occasion to wicked men,Misch. 3. to rejoyce at these dissentions, to whose eares, our discords are the sweetest Harmony. O then let not the Herdsmen of Abraham and Lot fall out: whilst the Canaanites and Peresites, are yet in the Land. Let not us dissent, whilest many Adversaries of the truth are mingled amongst us, who will make sport thereat.
Lastly,Misch. 4. it will cause great Dishonour to God himselfe, his Ordinance in the meane time being neglected. Heare is such doting on the Dish, there is no regarding the Dainties: Such looking on the Embassadour, there is no notice taken of the King, that sent him. Even Maries Complaynt is now verified: They have taken away the Lord, and placed him, I know not where. And as in times of Popery: Thomas Becket dispossessed our Saviour of his Church: in Canterbury (instead of Christ's Church, being called Saint Thomas Church): And whereas rich Oblations were made to the Shrine of that supposed Saint, Summo Altari nil: Nothing was offered to Christ at the Communion-Table: So whilest some Sacrifice the Reverence to this admired Preacher, and others almost adored this affected Pastor: God in his Ordinance is neglected, and the Word being the savour of life, is had in respect of persons.
To prevent these mischiefes, both Pastors and people must lend their helping hands. I begin with the Pastors, and first with those whose Churches are crowded with the thickest audience.
Let them not pride themselves, with the bubble of popular applause, often as causelesly gotten, as undeservedly lost. Have wee not seene those that have preferred the Onions, and Flesh-pots of Egypt, before heavenly Manna, Lungs before Braynes; and sounding of a voyce, before soundnesse of matter. Well, let Princes count the credit of their Kingdomes to consist in the multitude of their Subjects: Farre bee it from a Preacher, to glory when his Congregation swels to a Tympany, by the Consumption of the Audience of his Neighbour Minister.
Yea, when Pastors perceive people transported with an immoderate Admiration of them, let them labour to confute them in their groundlesse humours. When Saint Iohn would have worshipped the Angel, See thou dost it not (saith hee) worship God. So when people post head-long, in affecting their Pastors, they ought to wave and decline this popular honour, and to seeke to transmit and fasten it on the God of Heaven. Christ went into the Wildernesse, when the people would have made him a King: Let us shun, yea fly such dangerous Honour, and teare off our heads, such wreathes, as people would tye on them, striving rather to throw Mists, and Clouds of Privacy on our selves, then to affect a shining appearance: But know, whosoever thou art, who herein art an Epicure, and lovest to glut thy selfe with peoples applause, thou shalt surfet of it, before thy death, it shall prove at the last pricks in thy eyes, and thornes in thy side, a great affliction, if not a ruine unto thee, because sacrilegiously, thou hast robbed God of his Honour.
Let them labour also to ingratiate every Pastor, who hath tolerability of desert with his owne Congregation. It was the Boone Saul begg'd of Samuel, Honour me before my people: And surely it is but reason, wee should seeke to grace the Shepherd in the presence of his Flock, though perchance privately wee may reprove him, disgrace him not publikely before those that are under him.
I am come now to neglected Ministers, at whose Churches, Solitudo ante ostium, and within them too, whilst others (perchance lesse deserving) are more frequented.
Let not such grieve in themselves, or repine at their Brethren. When Saint Iohn Baptists Disciples told him: That all flock't to Iesus, whom hee baptized beyond Iordan: I must decrease (answered hee) and hee must increase. Never fret thy selfe, or vexe out thy soule, if others bee preferred before thee, they have their time, they are Crescents in their waxing, full Seas in their flowing: Envie not at their Prosperity. The Starres in their course did fight against Sisera; thy course of credit may chance to bee next, thy turne of Honour may chance to come after. One told a Grecian Statist, who had excellently deserved of the Citie hee lived in: That the Citie had chosen foure and twenty Officers, and yet left him out: I am glad (said hee) the Citie affords twenty foure abler than my selfe: So let Ministers triumph, and rejoyce in this, that the Church yeilds so many men, better meriting then themselves, and be farre from taking exception thereat.
And let us practise Saint Pauls Precept, by Honour and Dishonour, by good Report and Disreport: Seven yeares have I served God in good esteeme, and well respected, by the time I have served God so long in disgrace and reproach, perchance the Circulation of my credit may returne, and with patience I may regaine the esteeme I have lost; and if otherwise, let him say with David, Lord here I am, doe with thy servant as thou pleasest.
By this time mee thinkes, I heare the people saying unto mee, as the Souldiers to Iohn Baptist, Remedy 1.but what shall wee doe? Now the Counsell I commend to you, is this. First, ever preserve a reverent esteeme of the Minister, whom God hath placed over thee. For if a Sparrow lighteth not on the ground without Gods especiall Providence, surely no Minister is bestowed in any Parish, without a more immediate and peculiar disposing of God, and surely their owne Pastor is best acquainted with their diseases; and therefore best knoweth to apply spirituall Physicke thereunto. And as Gods Word hath a generall Blessing on every place, so more particularly is it sanctified and blessed there, to those Parishioners from the mouth of their lawfull Minister. Let not therefore the Sermon of a stranger, who perchance makes a Feast of set purpose, to entertaine new Guests, be preferred before the paines of thy owne Minister, who keeps a constant house, and a set Table, each Lords day, feeding his owne family. Wherefore, let all the Ephesians confine themselves to their Timothy; Cretians to their Titus; every Congregation to their proper Pastor. And I hope Pastors considering the solemne oath they tooke at their Institution, and the profit they receive from their people, and how irrationall it is to take wages, and doe no worke, and the heavie account they must make at the day of Iudgement, will provide Milke in their brests, for those who must suck of them. As for those, whose necessary occasions doe command their absence from their Flocks, let them be Curats of their Curats; over-see such, whom they appoynt to oversee their people. Columella gives this counsell to Husband-men, never keepe a horse to doe that worke, which may be done by an Asse; both because Asses are of a lower price, and cheaper kept: But God forbid Ministers should observe this Rule, and so consult with their profit, as to provide unworthy Substitutes, to save charges.
Remedy 2.Let them not make odious comparisons betwixt Ministers of eminent parts: It is said of Hezechiah, 2 King. 18.5. That after him, was none like him, of all the Kings of Iudah, neither any that were before him. It is said also of King Iosiah, 2 King. 23.25. And like unto him, there was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soule, and with all his might; neither after him rose up any like him: The Holy Spirit prefers neither for better, but concludes both for best; and so amongst Ministers, when each differs from others, all may bee excellent in their kinds. As in comparing severall handsome persons, one surpasseth for the beauty of a naturally painted face: A second for the feature of a well proportioned body: A third for a grace of Gesture, and Comelinesse of carriage: so that Iustice it selfe may bee puzled, and forced to suspend her Verdict, not knowing where to adjudge the Victory: So may it bee betwixt severall Pastors. Ones Excellency may consist, in the unsnarling of a knowne controversie; an other in plaine expounding of Scripture, to make it portable in the weakest memory. One the best Boanarges, an other the best Barnabas: Our Iudgements may bee best informed by one, our Affections moved by a second; our lives reformed by a third: I am perswaded there is no Minister in England, for his Endowments like Saul, Higher then his Brethren, from the shoulders upwards; But rathes some hundreds like the Pillars in Salomons House, all of a height: But grant some in parts farre inferiour to others: was not Abishai, a valiant, and worthy Captaine, though hee attayned not to the Honour of the first three? And may not many bee serviceable in the Church, though not to bee ranked in the first forme, for their sufficiencie?
Let them entertaine this for a certaine truth, That the Efficacy of Gods Word depends not on the parts of the Minister; but on Gods blessing, on his Ordinance: Indeed there is a Generation of Preachers, that come upon the Stage, before ever they were in the Tyring-house, whose backwardnesse in the Vniversity, makes them so forward in the Countrey; where what they lack in Learning they supply in boldnesse: I could wish, that as Gen. 21.19. When Hagars Bottle of water was spent, God opened her eyes, and shee went to the Fountaine againe; So when these Novices have emptied their store of set Sermons they brought with them, that their Parents would remit them backe to the Vniversity, the Fountaine of Learning and Religion, to furnish themselves with a better stocke of sufficiencie: Such Ministers as these, I account as none at all; but as for those that have the Minimum ut sic, the least degree of tolerability, to enable them in some measure, to discharge their Office: God may bee, and often is, as effectuall in, and by them; as by Rabbies, of farre greater parts.
To conclude, let us with one mind, and one mouth, advance the Glory of God, that thereby the Gospel may bee graced, Wicked men amazed; some of them converted; the rest of them confounded: weake Christians confirmed, to the griefe of Devils, Ioy of Angels, Honour of God himselfe: Amen.
FINIS.
Imprimatur, THOMAS WYKES, May 30. 1640.
End of the text · Thomas Fuller, Josephs Party-Colored Coat (1640)