Eighteen Sermons, Sermon 16 – Title page 3
SERMON XVI. IN St. PETERS WEST MINSTER. January 6. 1660.
ACTS XIII. 2.
The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
AND as they ministred to the Lord and fasted, the holy Ghost said,—
Although that ministring to God by prayer and fasting, be the indicted and appropriate acts to preface such Solemnities as this; and that not Sermons, but Litanies and intercessions, are the peculiar adherents of Embers, and of Consecrations; and those vigorous strivings with Almighty God by Prayer are the birth-pangs in which Fathers are born unto the Church: Yet since that novv this Sacred Office is it self oppos'd, and even the Mission of Preachers preach'd against, and the Authority that sends despis'd as Antichristian, vvhilst separation and pretence unto the Holy Ghost set up themselves against the strict injunction of the Holy Ghost to separate; the Pulpit, that othervvhiles hath fought against it, must novv attone its errours, by attending on the Altar, and the bold ungrounded claimes of Inspiration, that false teachers have usurp'd, be superseded by the voice of the Holy Ghost himself, vvho in this case becomes the Preacher, and says, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
My Text is a Commission parole from Heaven, in it you have,
First, the Person that sends it out; foreign, The Holy Ghost said.
Secondly, the Persons to whom it is directed; imply'd in the verb foreign separate, more particularly exprest in the foregoing words.Verse 1. 2.
Thirdly, the thing to which they were impowr'd by the Commission, or which was requir'd of them; set down in the remaining vvords of the Text, wherein you have
1. The Act injoyn'd; foreign, separate.
2. The Object; foreign, Separate me Barnabas and Saul.
3. The End for vvhat; foreign, for a work.
4. The Determination of that work; foreign, for the work whereunto I have called them.
Of these in their Order: and first,
The Holy Ghost said.
Of those aforeign 1. foreign 2. foreign 3. foreign 4. foreign 5. The Arke of the Covenant, with the Propitiatory and Che rubins, the Vrim & Thum mim; the fire that came down from Heaven to consume the burnt offerings; the Glory of God that appear'd between the Cherubins; and the Holy Ghost that spake by the Prophets. See G…mar. c. 1. in I…ma. See also Galas. l. 4. ci…ing the same out of R. Elias, R. Soloman. R. David.five things, for vvant of vvhichwhich the second Jewish Temple sunk below the first, and its Glory seem'd faint in the comparison, the Chiefest vvas the Holy Ghost; vvho became silent, his Oracles ceast then, and he spake no more by the Prophets. A thing not only confest by the Thalmudists, (vvho say our Rabbins have deliver'd to us, that from the time of Haggai, Zechary and Malachy, foreign, The Holy Ghost was taken away from Israel) but so notorious in experience, that vvhen St. Paul meets Disciples at Ephesus, Acts 19. 1. and asks them if they have received the Holy Ghost, vvhether at their Baptisme the Spirit came down upon them as He did then on others; they answer ver. 2. VVe have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost, any extraordinary effusions of the Spirit, vvhether he do come down in Gifts and Afflations, such as vve know were usual in the first Jewish Temple, but have not been for a long time, and we have not yet heard they are restored, (for of this pouring out of the Holy Ghost they must needs mean it, not of himself, of vvhom they could not doubt, nothing was more known in the Jewish Church.)
But as our Saviour did supply the other four vvith all advantage, and so fulfilled the Prophecy, and made the aHag 2. 10.glory of that Temple greater: so for the fifth, the spirit, he was restored in kind with infinite improvement; that of bIoel. 2. 28.Ioel fulfill'd, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, for they vvere all baptized with the Holy Ghost; baptized in rivers of living waters, which did flow out of the belly of themselves, for this he spake of the Spirit, which all that believed on him should receive, Joh. 7. 39. so that Ioel did scarce feel or foresee enough to prophesie of this abundance, but the Iohn 3. 14.inundations were almost like Christ's receivings, without measure. Nor were his Inspirations as of old, dark and mysterious oracles, direction in rapture; where the Message it self was to have another revelation, and it must be prophecy to understand as vvell as utter: But in the Gospel his effusions run clear, and transparent as the VVater that expresseth them, revealing even all the unknown languages that were the conduits and conveighances; all plain express direction, such as that of the Text.
Novv amongst all the several uses of the Holy Ghost for vvhichwhich he was pour'd out in this abundance, amongst all the designes he did engage himself in, and advance, He does not seem to have a greater agency nor to interess himself more in any, than in qualifying for, and separating to Church-offices. This seems to be his great vvork: and indeed how can he choose but be particularly concern'd in those offices vvhichwhich are his own foreign, his gifts? Timothy's is expresly call'd so, in each of his Epistles, 1 Tim. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6. And vvhen our Saviour, Ephes. 4, 8. is said to give the gifts of the Holy Ghost to men, it is added how, ver. 11. He gave some Apostles, some Evangelists, some Pastors and Teathers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, namely because those gifts enabled for those offices, and all the reason in the vvorld that he should have a special hand in giving, vvhere himself is to be receiv'd. Receive the Holy Ghost, that vvas from the beginning, and is yet the installation to them: And if vve take them from their divine original, from that great Pastor and Bishop of our souls, vvho vvas the maker of them too, Thus he vvas consecrated; the spirit of 1 …. 2, 15.the Lord is upon me, therefore he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel, Luk. 4. 18. And vvhen he comes to ordain succession, he sayes, as my Father sent me, so send I you: and he breathed upon them, and said, Receive the Holy Ghost, Joh. 20. 21. And after bids them tarry at Jerusalem till they should be endued with power from above, Luk. 24. 47. That is, endued with the Holy Spirit, Act. 1. The present Barnabas and Saul were sent by his Commission in the Text; and v. 4. And Saint Paul tels the Elders of the Churches of Asia, the Holy Ghost made them overseers, foreign, Act. 20. 28. Timothy had his Office, foreign, by immediate designation of the Holy Ghost, 1 Tim. 4. 14. aEp. ad Corint: p. 54. edit. lunii.Clemens Romanus saith, the Apostles out of those they had converted, did o…dain Bishops and Deacons, foreign, having first try'd them by the Holy Ghost, and so taught by his revelation who should be the men. bapud Eusib. l. 3. c 23.And Clemens Alexandrinus says, Iohn after his return to Asia, ordain'd throughout all the regions about, foreign, such as were signified and design'd by the Holy Ghost: So that Oecumenius pronounces in the general, foreign, The Bishops that were made, they made not inconsiderately on their own heads, but such whom the Spirit did command. Chrysostome said as much before, and con 1 Tim. 4. 14.Theophylact. Nor can we doubt that he maintains his interest in this affair even at this day: But that our Veni Creator Spiritus, Come Holy Ghost eternal God, does call him to preside in these so concerning Solemnities; For Christ, when he commission'd his Apostles, assuring them, Behold I am with you Matth. 28. 20.even to the end of the world; which promise he performs only vicariâ Spiritús praesentiâ, by the presence of the Holy Ghost, who is his Vican, as Tertullian expresses; not can the Spirit be with them till then, but by making them be till then; which being done by Ordination, that Ecclesiastical procreation, (for so they derive themselves to the VVorlds end;) upon the strength of that promise we may assure our selves he does assist as truly, though not so visibly, as when he said here, Separate.
The Holy Ghost's concernment being thus secured, I have this one thing only to suggest; that they who set themselves against all separation to these Offices and Orders, in and for vvhichwhich the Holy Ghost hath so appear'd, (what they be I dispute not now) they fight against the Holy Ghost, and thrust him out of that in vvhichwhich he hath almost signally interessed himself. And they that do intitle the Spirit to this opposition, do not onelyonly make Gods Kingdome divided against it self, or raise a faction in the Trinity, and stir up division betwixt those Three One Persons; Matth. 12. 26.but they set the same Person against himself and make the Holy Spirit resist the Holy Ghost. You know the inference prest upon them that did this but interpretatively in the Devils Kingdome, and did make Satan cast out Satan: and is't not here of force? And they who make the Spirit cast out the Holy Ghost, contrive as much as in them lyes Gods Kingdome shall not stand. I will not parallel the guilts. Those Pharisees b…asphemed the Holy Spirit in his Miracles, ascribing that to Beelzebub vvhichwhich vvas the immediate vvork of the Holy Ghost: (and such indeed do sin unpardonably, because they sin irrecoverably; for Miracles being the utmost and most manifest express wherein the Holy Ghost exerts himself, they who can harden their understandings against them have left themselves no means of conviction, and cannot be forgiven, because they cannot be rectified or reclaimed) These others do blaspheme the Spirit in his immediate inspirations and foreign, ascribing to the spirit of Antichrist all those Offices and Orders, which these gifts of the Holy Ghost were powr'd from Heaven immediately to qualifie for, and seperate to; things in which he hath as signally appeared as in his Miracles: and as he made these meanes to convince the world, so he made those the Officers of doing it, and set them to out-last the other. Now in the same nearness that, these two guilts come up one towards the other, just to the same degree these sin the sin against the Holy Ghost. For the Holy Ghost said, Separate.
So I pass to the second, to those whom this injunction 2.is directed to. And thence I do observe in general, that
Notwithstanding all the interest and office that the Holy Ghost assumes in these same separations, yet there is something left besides for Man to do. Although he superintend, they have a vvork in it: He is the Vnction, but it must be apply'd by laying on of hands. I have 1 Joh. 2. 20.call'd them, saith he in the Text; and yet to them that ministred, the Holy Ghost said, Do ye separate. I do not now examine vvhat degree and order of men they vvere vvhom the Holy Ghost here commissions for this Office. The Judgement of the Antient Church in this affair is enough known, by the condemnation of aEpip. haet. 75.Aerius, and by the Fate of bVide Athanas. Apol. 2. How this judgmentdid derive it self down into the Reformation, may be seen from the account of the Fratres Bchemi, who sought over the world for Episcopal Ordination, and were never quiet in their consciences till they had obtained it. Vide Johan. Am Comen… Ratio Discipline Ordinisque Ecclesiastici in unitate Fratrum Bohemorum.Ischyras and Colluthus: and for the present instance, in vvhichwhich they are call'd Doctors that are bid to do it, there hath enough been said to prove foreign a Title of a Bishop: to vvhichwhich I shall only adde, that it was a variation of Name that stuck by them untill Bede's age, in vvhichwhich, vvhat Bishop signified does come under no question; for he does say, cBed Eccl. hist. l. 2. cap. 2.that Austin call'd together to the Conference, Episcopas sive Doctores, the Bishops or the Doctors of the Province. Besides that there vvas then in Antioch a Bishop, foreign, dSuid. in voce foreign.In the time of Claudius Emperour of Rome, and of Euodius, whom the Apostle Peter had ordained at Antioch, those that before were call'd Nazarenes and Galileans, were call'd Christians: a thing vvhichwhich happen'd a little before this separation in the Text, as you finde Chap. 11. 26. But vvho they vvere that us'd to separate for every Execution of these holy Offices, vvill appear from the Instances that I shall make to prove the present Observation, that, besides that of the Holy Ghost there vvas an outward call: And whomsoever the Spirit sent, he commanded that they should have Commission from Men. And all my former Testimonies for the Holy Ghost, bear vvitness for this too. The Text is positive; here vvas a Congè d'eslire for Barnabas and Saul. Timothy had his office foreign, by designation of the Spirit, 1 Tim. 4. 14. yet foreign, with laying on of hands, ibid. yea foreign, by the laying on of my hands, 2 …im. 1. 6. And Timothy vvas plac'd at Ephesus, as Titus also left at Creet, to ordain others in the same manner; St. Paul providing for the succession of Tit. 1. 5.the Rite and Ceremony as vvell as of the Office. And in St. Clement's Testimony, foreign; the Spirit try'd, but the Apostles constituted. And down as low as Trajan's time, when St. Iohn's date was almost out, his life and his Commission expiring, and the Churches of Asia to be provided with succession, the Men were foreign, signified by the Holy Ghost: But the Chron. Alex. saith, foreign, that he went clean throughout Asia and the adjacent Regions, constituting not only Bishops, but others of inferiour Clergic: and even in the lowest thus it was; when the first Deacons were to be made, Men full of the Holy Ghost and VVisdome vvere to be look'd out, Act. 6. 3. But yet that did not autorize them, the Holy Ghost and wisdome did not make a Deacon: for besides that, the Apostles will appoint them over their business, ibid. and they are brought to them, and they do lay their hands upon them, verse 6. Thus it vvas in those times of full effusion of the Holy Ghost: Men alwaies had to do in giving that Commission: so that vvhoever pleads an Order of the Spirit for his Office, (although such a Commission of the Spirit, if he had it, vvould evidence it self, and if it vvere, it vvould appear, for 'twas the manifestation of the Spirit that was given to every man to 1 Cor. 12. 7.profit withall; yet) if vve yield him his pretensions, and let his own incitations pass for inspirements, and his strong fancie for the Holy Ghost, if the Holy Ghost did call him, vvho did separate him? vvhom the Holy Ghost calls, he sends to his officers to empower; they both vvork, He says, do ye separate.
And here a Consideration offers it self unto those holy Fathers, vvhom the Spirit makes his Associates in separating men to sacred offices; that vvhen they set apart even to the lowest stalls of the Church, they labour to perform it so that the Holy Ghost may be engag'd, and act along vvith them in the performance: Separate such as they may presume the Spirit hath call'd, and vvill own. He does not call the ignorant, or appoint blind eyes for the Body of Christ, or make men Seers to lead into the pit. The Holy Spirit calls not the unclean, or the intemperate; vve knovv it vvas Mat. 5. ….another sort of spirit that vvent into the s…ine: nor does he ever say, Separate me those who separate themselves, the Schismaticks: the Spirit cals not such as break the unity of the Spirit; nor sets into the rank of higher members in Christs body those who tear that body, and themselves from it: the factious, those that will not be bound neither in bonds of peace nor of obedience, but break all holy tyes, that make commotions, and rave and foame, sute 'tis the Legion that sends them, and not the Holy Ghost. He Luke ….vvhom the spirit vvill call, must not be under the reputation of a Vice, but should be of a good report, lest he fall into reproach, and so into the snare of the Devil, 1 Tim. 3. 7. i. e. lest he fall into reproach, and then his teaching do so too, and men learn to slight or not heed the doctrines of such a one as is under scandal for his life, and so the Devil get advantage over them, and do ensnare them. aTheophyl. in locum.foreign. For to be to any an occasion of falling, is to be the Devils snare. Now Christ's bMatth 4. 19.Fishers of men, those vvhom the Holy Ghost appoints to spred nets for the catching Souls to God, their lives must not lay snares for the Devil, and entangle Souls in the toyls of perdition. Those also that come to you out of Ambition or of greediness of gain, the spirit calls not neither: He calls we see foreign, to a work; so that they who feek more then they can well attend the labour of, or are qualified for the work of, they are not of his sending. But of all men the Holy Ghost will least deal with the Simoniacal, that come not to a work, but to a market, that contract with Patrons for the spirits call, or, worse than their master Simon, vvould hire the Holy Spirit himself to say, Separate me them: The Successors of the Apostles have a Canonical return to these, Your money perish with you. They vvhom the Holy Ghost does call must have his gifts and temper; St. Paul hath set all down to Timothy Act. 8. 20.and Titus, and those vvho minister in this employment, if they vvill be vvhat he hath made them, joynt Commissioners vvith him, and his Co-workers, they must order it so that he may vvork and act, which he does not but where he calls, nor does he call but those whom he hath qualified: And 'tis of those only whom he hath call'd, that he says, foreign, Scparate.
The third particular, the thing enjoyn'd; And the Holy Ghost said, scparate.
The separateness of the Functions of the Clergy, the incommunicableness of their offices to persons not separated for them, is so express a doctrinc both of the letter of the Text, and of the Holy Ghost, that sure I need not to say more, though several heads of Probation offer themselves: As first the condition of the callings, which does divide from the Community, and sets them up above it; And here I might tell you of a1 Tim. 5. 17. Heb. 13. 7.bearing rule, of bMatt. 19. 28.thrones, of cRev. 1. 20.stars and cRev. 1. 20.Angels, and other vvords of as high sense, and yet not go out of the Scripture bounds, although the dignitie did not die with the Scripture age, or expire vvith the Apostles: the age as low as Photius words it thus, dPho. cp. 34.foreign. That Apostolical and Divine Dignity, which the chief Priests are acknowledged to be possest of by right of Succession. Styles vvhichwhich I could derive yet lower, and they are of a prouder sound than those the modest humble ears of this our age are so offended vvith. But these heights it may be vvould give Ombrages; although 'tis strange that men should envy them to those, vvho are only exalted to them, that they may vvith the more advantage take them by the hands to lift them up to Heaven. Those neernesses to things above do but more qualifie them to be foreign, in Theoph. and to draw near to God on your behalf, that those your aMatth. 18. 10.Angels also may see the face of your father vvhichwhich is in heaven, and those stars are therefore set in bApoc. 1. 20.Christs right hand, that they may shed a blessing influence on you from thence.
2. The foreign and the foreign, The VVork and labour of the vvork, (the one is the Text's, and the other Saint c1 Tim. 5. 17.Paul's vvord) require a vvhole man, and therefore a man separate: and if Saint Paul, one of our separated persons here, vvho had the fulness of the Spirit, and the fulness of Learning too, that vvas brought up in the Schools, and brought up in Paradise, taught by the Doctors, and taught by the mouth of the Lord in the third heaven, snatcht from the feet of Gamaliel to the presence of God, to have a beatifical Vision of the Gospel, if after 2 Cor. 12. 1, 2, 3, 4.all this he cry out, vvho is sufficient for these things? sure they 2 Cor. 2. 16.are not sufficient, vvho in those little intervals vvhichwhich their trades and necessities afford them, fall into fits and frensies of Religion, have a sharp Paroxysme of irregular convuls'd Divinity, as if they vvere its foreign, possest vvith their Theology till their vveariness, and not knowing what to say do exorcise t…em.
But not to speak only to the wild fancies of this Age, the Scripture says of the men of these callings, they are taken from among Men, and ordain'd for Men in things Heb. 5. 1.pertaining to God. And such discriminations are evinc'd by all the expressions of a Church in Scripture. 'Tis call'd the body of Christ: Now the parts of a body, as vvhere Col. 1. 24.they are so separate that they divide from one another, they do not make a body, but are an Execution; so vvhere they are not separate in a diversitie of Organs, for several faculties and operations, it may be a dead Element, as similar bodies are, but cannot be that body vvhichwhich Saint Paul describes, 1 Cor. 12. VVhichWhich is not one member; but many, vers. 14. And if they were all one member, where were the body? vers 19. and indeed all that Chapter is inspired for this Argument. In Christ's Church 'tis as impossible that every one can be foreign an Overseer, as that every part in the body can be an Eye: and the vvhole frame of Man may be nothing else but a Tongue, as vvell as every Christian may be a Preacher: And if it might, where indeed were the hearing? as Saint Paul does ask. The Church is also call'd a aEphes. 2. 21.building, and b1 Tim. 3. 15.Gods house: Now it is true that every Christian is by Saint Peter call'd a lively stone, and all of them built up a Spiritual house, an holy Priest-hood, 1 Pet. 2. 5. and they all are a Royal Priest-hood, an holy Nation, a peculiar, separate people, vers. 9. Yet all this is no more of priviledge than is affirmed in the very same vvords of the Iewish Nation, Exod. 19. 6. Where yet God had his separated Levites, Priests and High-priests too. But sure 'tis manifest enough that in this building, as in others, stones have their separate places and distinct; every one cannot beat up the Corner, or be a pillar and foundation-stone; much less can every one place it self in the Ephod, assume to be one of the Vrim and the Thummim-stones, and there break out in Oracles, and give responses; and every rubbish stone set it self in the Mitre, and shine in the head ornaments, as if it were one of the precious stones of Sion. In fine, (to speak now out of Metaphor,) not only the transactions of the Text, which is a precedent for men to commission such and such, but also all Scripture rules direct a Choice; and where there is Election, there is also dereliction, and both evince a separation, And if all the Nations in the World have had their distinct Officers for Religion, and, as it were, to signalize the separateness of their function, in many Nations they did live apart from Men: The Priests had their adyta as well as the Deities; dark solitary Groves were made choice of, not so much for the God, as for his Officers retirement; so that every appearance of him also was a Vision, and the Priest was reveal'd as well as the Oracle; and all this at the first to make a kind of sacred Pomp for the solemnity of awfulness, (though afterwards it often prov'd but opportunity for foul performances.) And if to this uniform practice of the World Gods attestation be set, who order'd it in his own government; not that as a Levitical or Iewish administration, but it was practised amongst his own from the beginning, and vvhen dominions vvere but greater families, there vvere still distinct persons for the imployments of Religion; that vvas the office and the priviledge of the aVid. rharg. Hierosolym Gen. …9. 3 & Jonath. ibid. & Solom. …atch. Glossam ad Exod. 19. 22. & ad cap. 24. 5.first-born: Esau vvas call'd profane for selling that bVide Ifido. Pelusio. l. 2. Epist. 47.birth-right of his: (And the vvord in the Text here, foreign separate, is the same vvhichwhich God does vvord the sanctifying the first-born for him with, Exod. 13. 2.) 'twere easy to deduce all this out of all ancient Jewish Records. And vvhen the practice ever since hath been the same in Christs Religion; after all this, sure nothing else but absolute defection of the Notions of Mankind, and blotting out all the impressions of Vniversal Nature and Vniversal Religion, or else an absolute Command from Heaven, could alter this Establishment; from vvhichwhich command vve are so far, that 'tis the Holy Ghost himself that said expresly foreign separate.
Now this foreign, this Separateness in Function, does infer upon us a separateness in Life and Conversation, and they who are thus set apart from the VVorld, must keep themselves unspotted from the VVorld. To separate and Consecrate are but two vvords for the same thing: Separate Iac. 1. 27.three Cities is the Command in Deut. 19. 2. and they sanctified three Iosh. 20. 7. Our Offices assume them both, and all are holy Orders. Now separate and pure are both so primitive, and so essential notions of holy, that truly I cannot determine vvhichwhich of them is original, and vvhichwhich secondary: Our Consecration does challenge both; and as vve vvill be separate in our calling; so vve must be separate in our lives, not aRom. 12. 2.conforming our selves to the VVorld, for I bIoh. 15. 19.have chosen you out of the VVorld, saith Christ. A torrent licence of an Age must not carry us along; an Universal Custome of the World must be no precedent, and can be no excuse for us to do vvhat is irregular. We are foreign separate; and that the world does such things is no more a plea for us to do so, than that because the world is Common ground, therefore the Church is so too, fit to be put to all the uses of the field, or of vvorse places. Were it a reasonable argument; because I see that the vvhole Countrey's till'd, vvhy should I not break up the holy places, and plow the Temple? Why, so vve are enclos'd for God, and separated for the uses of Religion, and to preserve our selves pure for them. Our Saviour says that the Community of Christians is a City upon an Hill; and then sure the consecrated Persons are the Temples of that City, the Matt. 5. 14.separate places of it; and then as they are most in fight (the Church is ordinarily the most visible building) so truly he that sees one of them, it should be as if he saw an open Church, where there is nothing else but holy duty, as if his life were Liturgy, publick Service and Worship of God. Hath your zeal never rose, at least your indignation, at the profane fury of this age, which never made a stop in violation of things sacred, when to its heap of other Sacriledges, it added most contemptuous defilements of God's Houses; making the place that a1 Cor. 11. 10.Angels met us in to vvorship, and God bExod. 15. 17.dwelt in to cExod. 20. 24bless us there, the place appointed for the Divinest Mysteries of our Redemption, for the Celebration of Christs Agonies, for the Commemoration of the blessed Sacrifice, the place for nothing but Christ's Blood, then to become the place of a most odious and insolent uncleanness? If I had worded this more aggravatingly, it had been only to infer that then to see a consecrated person to pollute himself with those black foulnesses that made Hell and made Fiends, is sure a sadder and a more unhappy spectacle. If an Apostle become wicked, he is in our Saviours Character a Devil; have I not chosen Twelve, and one of you it a Devil? Yea if the good Saint Peter do become a scandal, tempt to that John 6. 7.which is not good; Get thee behind me, Satan. Christ Mat 16. 23. Apoc. 1. 20.calls his nearest Officers Stars; Emblems of a great separateness those, that teach them how far their Conversation should be remov'd from Earth; for they are of another Orbe, Heaven is the Region of Stars: But they are Emblems of a greater purity; there's nothing in the World so clean as light, 'tis not possible so much as to sully shine; it may irradiate dung-hills, but they do not defile it; you may eclipse a Star but cannot spot it; you may put out the light, you cannot stain it. 'Tis a vvord for God's purity: only his light is glory; and as his holiness is so separate that it is incommunicable, so his Light is inaccessible; Yet sure they that are starres in Christs right 1 Tim. 6 16. Apoc. 1. 20.hand, they do come neer, and mix their light with his; and they of all men must be pure and holy, vvhom the spirit calls to that place, as he does all vvhom he calls to that separation that he did Barnabas and Saul, the Persons and the next Part; Separate me Barnabas and Saul.
I intend not to make particular reflections upon these persons, although the Character of Barnabas be registred the 11. Chap. ver. 24. He was a good man, full of Faith, and of the Holy Ghost, and the good influence that that had upon the people follows; and much people was added to the Church. And as for Saul; though he began the Christian persecution, and vvas baptiz'd in the first Martyr-blood, and breath'd out threatnings, so that nothing but thunder could out-voice him, and at last was born as an foreign Acts 9 1.as an untimely birth, aborting through those vvounds vvhichwhich his own hands had made in the Church, and making himself 1 Cor. 15. 8.a birth vvith ripping up her bowels; yet this Abortive prov'd the strongest birth, and 'twas a Miscarriage into the chiefest Apostle. As he began the after-sufferings of Christ in Stephen; so he fulfilled the foreign, and made up all that was behind, in himself, being in deaths more than Col. 1. 24.those he inflicted. The sound of his preaching was loudee than that at his Conversion, out-voic'd the thunder; for this vvent out into all lands, as if himself alone meant to execute the vvhole Commission, preach the Gospel to every Mar. 16. 15.creature: vvhichwhich he did almost, not only preaching to those places where Christ was not named, with… the other Rom. 15. 20. … Cor. 10. 16.Apostles line; but even where the rest imploy'd themselves, he vvrought as much as they, in Asia as Saint Iohn, at Antioch as Peter; yea and at Rome too, having as much to doe in their foundation: If I had said more, I could have brought the Popes own Seal for evidence; where not onelyonly both are, but Saint Paul hath the right hand: And truly if they had had the luck to think at first of founding all their pretensions on Saint Paul, his cars of all the Churches 2 Cor. 11. 28. Iohn. 21. 15.would have born them out, as well as feed my Lambs does now. But these considerations I pass; though they would give a Man that hath done mischief in the Church a pattern for the measures of his future Service to the Church. The thing I shall concern my self in, is the solemne separation here of those who were before separated to the work of the Gospel; Barn…bas sent by the Church of Jerusalem to Antioch, Act. 11. 22. and Paul not onelyonly separated from his Mothers womb, Gal. 1. 1…. but chosen by express Revelation, and by the laying on of Anan…at hands aActs 9. 17. putting on his hands he said, thé Lord hath sent me, that thou mightest be filled with the Holy Ghost.that so he might receive the Holy Ghost, qualified to bAct. 9. 15. & 22. 14.preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and to Kings. In vvhichwhich vvork both of them had for some years exercised themselves. Yet here is a new cons…cration, and they are taken up to a condition more separate, and distinct from vvhat they were before. And all those vast advantages in vvhichwhich these persons did excell; the one of faith and fulness of the Holy Ghost, the other, besides those, of express and immediate mission from Heaven; and the most strange success their labours had been blest with, all these I say, did not qualifie them to assume these powers which the Holy Ghost commands another Separation to enstall them in: and 'twas this Call that call'd Paul to be an aforeign. Separate for the work, that is, for the Apostleship. Occumenius upon this text. And so Theoph. foreign. Theoph. in Act. Apostol. p. 2. & in locum p. 118.Apostle, Rom. 1. 1. (as from this time he is alwayes call'd Paul, not sooner.) Nor do vve find any least footsteps of their being Apostles before, though Barnabas vvere sent to Antioch, yet he does not undertake vvhat Peter and John did at Samaria in the very same case; for they confirm and give the Holy Ghost, Act. 8. 15. 17. but Barnabas does nothing but Exhort, Act. 11. 23. and he and Paul together preacht the VVord abroad, but vve find nothing else they enterpriz'd: but from this time they exercise Jurisdiction, settle Churches, and ordain them Elders in the Churches, Ch. 14. 22, 23. and (as it does appear) singly deriv'd these povvers to others, to be exercised by them singly. To Vid. Theoph. in locum p. 119.Titus most expresly, Tit. 1. 5. the like also to Timothy, vvith all the other acts of Iurisdiction, (of vvhichwhich their Epistles are the Records) particularly that of Censures, vvhichwhich Paul himself had inflicted on offenders in the Churches he had planted. Powers these, vvhichwhich by such steps and by degrees of separation an Apostle himself receives, and does not execute till he ascend the highest, that vvhichwhich they have a new solemnity ordain'd from Heaven to enstare them in, by a new laying on of hands, and the Holy Ghost himself commanding; Separate.
The separateness of this highest order in the Church is a doctrine handed down to us both by the writings of all ages and the practices; (two things, vvhichwhich as they scarcely do concurre in such a visible degree in any other things in our Religion, so also when they do concurre, they make and secure tradition beyond all contradiction, give it sufficient infallibility: and truly he that does refuse the evidence vvhichwhich such tradition gives to all the motives of believing Christianity, if he be not a Socinian, he must be an Enthusiast, and can receive his Religion only from Revelation.) Now the matter of fact of this tradition is a subject for Volumes, not for a discourse, and it hath filled so many, that there is nothing left unsaid, or to be said against, as to the main: And they that pick some little sayings seeming against this order out of those Ancients which were themselves of it, and wrote much expresly for it, and think by those means to confute it, do the same thing with that Romanist, who tore some little shreds, Bre…ely.that look as if they favoured some opinions of the Romanists, out of the books of Protestants, most of which were directly writ against the Church of Rome; and putting those together went about by them to convince the world there never were any such things as Protestants, but they that did profess to be so were all Papists.
But I will say no more then my Text hath done, which evidences it not a separation only of degree, but Order, by a new Ceremony, and commissionating to new powers. If I vvould stay on words, 'tis expressed here by one that speaks very great distances, foreign, separate, which does in Scripture vvord the distances that the censures of the Church do make; Luke 6. 22. and still in the Greek Liturgies, vvhen absolution is given, 'tis said to be aforeign. Goari. p. 684.foreign, to free them from all curse and separation; as if to pass into the bounds of this uncall'd, vvere such a thing as to leap over the Censures of the Church, over the Line of Excommunication; and to break through this wall of separation, vvere to break through Anathema's and Curses: Yea, 'tis used to express the distance betwixt the Lord's two hands, his right hand and his left, at the day of Doom, Mat. 25. 32. betwixt vvhichwhich hands there is a foreign, a most insuperable gulfe.
But these I shall not urge. Indeed the Fathers of the Church have been in these last dayes counted foreign separate in the severest sense, cast out as the dung of the Earth; and the calling it self was under reprobation, as if it separated only to the left hand of God: but so it was vvith their Predecessours in the Text, Saint Paul sayes of himself and the rest of his Order, that they vvere counted foreign and foreign, as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things, 1 Cor. 4. 13. and as if they vvere called only to ruine, and consecrated for a sacrifice, he says, the Lord hath set us forth as men appointed to death, vers. 9. Indeed since God hath pleased to own you as his Churches, Angels, vve are not troubled if some have counted you as the off-scouring of the Earth, while we know Angels do relate to Heaven: and let them consider how they vvill reprobate those to the left hand of God, whom Christ calls stars in his right hand, and he is at the right hand of his Father; and vvhile you were accounted so you did but follow them that vvent before in sufferings as vvell as office; and to do so vvas part of the foreign, the work that they vvere separated to; vvhichwhich is the next part, For the work.
I shall but run this over, and reflect upon it as I pass, according as it is of present Concernment; and
First, Saint Paul's vvork vvas to preach the Gospel, and vve find him doing it from this time forward to his End. The high Priest of the Je…s vvas called the Angel of the Lord of Hoasts; of which name an Heathen does give this account, that he was call'd so, because he vvas, foreign, the Angel or the Messenger of Gods commands: so Diodorus Siculus. And Malachy gives the same reason, Mal. 2. 7, he vvas the Substitute to him upon Mount Sinai, and gave the Law also, only without the thunder. Our Governours succeed into the Name, they are the Churches Angels; and when vve hear the word from Apoc. 1. 20.them, we have it as it vvere from Heaven again, and we receive our Law too foreign, by the disposition of Angels. Indeed the Case now is not like Saint Paul's, Acts 7. 1.the Gospel then vvas to be first revealed to all the World, and by continual inculcating secur'd against the depravations vvhichwhich all the malice of the Devil and the World sought to infuse, and the unskilfulness of infant Christians did make them apt to entertain; But now vve are all confirm'd Christians: Yet truly the time is novv such as did give occasion for Saint Paul's charge to Timothy, 2 Tim. 4. 1, 2, 3. a time wherein they will not indure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers. He therefore that is in Timothy's place, must heap up Reproofs and Exhortations; or he must heap good sound dispensers of them: Such as vvill feed the Lembs vvith sincere milk, not chafd and heated vvith commotion and busie restless faction; not embitter'd vvith the overflovvings of a too-ful gall; not sour'd vvith eager sharpnesses of a malicious or a dissatisfied mind; not impoisoned vvith the foul tinctures of a scandalous life, nor the Corrosive infusions of Schismat…al and turbulent opinions. He that caters thus for his flock, and provides such as by doctrine and by practice do instruct them to live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty; He, like the Angel on Mount Sinai, gives the Law to a Nation together, preaches to his whole Diocess at once, Continually.
The second vvork vvas praying for, and blessing them: 2.This does begin, and close every Epistle; that he asserts of himself constantly, and 'tis vvell kno…vn the foreign, gifts of those times inspir'd for this VVork. Now thus our Angels also are Angels of Incense, The High Priests Office in especial: Those that did daily Minister perform'd a service of Incense too, that did accompany the prayers of the people, and sent them up in perfume; but the High Priests Incense vvas part of the aLev. 1…. 12, 13.Expiation, and vvas the cloud that cover'd the transgressions of the people vvhen he came vvith them all about him before the Mercy-seat. And they vvho snall consider that the prayer of Moses (Now Moses and Aaron vvere among the bforeign. G…g, Naz. Orat. 6 ad G…g. Nyssen.Priests, Psal. 99. 6. and He was the chief cforeign Ab…n Ext. ad Psal. 99. foreign. Greg. Naz. …bi supra foreign …hilo de vita Moses …. 1, & 3.Priest) did vvithhold the arm of God vvhen it vvas stretcht forth in fury to destroy, and did commit a violence upon the Lord, such as he could not grapple with, but seems to deprecate, and vvould fain avoid, and sayes, Let me alone, that I may destroy them, Exod. 32. 10. If thou vvilt permit me, my fury shall prevail upon them, saith the Arabick, but if thou pray it cannot; therefore let go thy prayer, saith the Chald and let me alone. And they vvho shall consider also that His prayer did maintain a breach against the Lord, when He had made one, and vvas coming to enter in a storm of indignation, then this made head against him, and repuls't him, Psal. 106. 23. dHad not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lost he should destroy them.They that consider these effects, vvill certainly desire the Prayers and Benedictions of those Gods chiefest Officers of blessing, those that are consecrated to bless in the Name of the Lord; and vvill have them in love for this works sake.
Their Third vvork is Government, vvhichwhich may be some do look upon as priviledge and not as work; the exspectation and delight of their ambitions, and not the fear and burthen of their shoulders. But ambition may as rationally fly at Miracles as Government, and as hopefully gape after diversity of Tongues, as at presiding in the Church, the power; of each did come alike from Heaven, and were the mere gifts of the Holy Ghost, eforeign, Miracles-gifts of healing, Governments, diversities of tongues.1 Cor 12. 18. It was so in the Law; when God went to divid part of Moses burthen of Government amongst the Lxx, he came down and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it to the Lxx, Num. 11. 25. A work this that may have reason to supersede much of that which I first mentioned: For notwithstanding all Saint Paul's assistances of Spirit, he does reckon that care that came upon him daily from the Churches amongst his persecutions, and it sum…es up his Catalogue of sufferings: 2 Cor. 11. Such various Necessities there are by vvhichwhich Government is distracted, and knows not how to temper it self to them. For sometimes it must condescend: Paul notwithstanding Apostotical decrees made in full Council that abrogated Circumcision, (as the Holy Ghost had declared it void before,) yet is fain to comport so far with the violent humours of a party as to Circumcise Timothy, at the very same time when he delivered those decrees to the Churches to keep, Act. 16. 3, 4. yet afterwards vvhen Circumcision vvas lookt on as Engagement to the whole a[that sense he puts upon it in the epistle to the Galathians ch. 5. ver. 3.]Law, and to grant them that one thing, vvas but to teach them to ask more, and to be able to deny them nothing; then he suffers not Titus to be circumcised, nor gave place to them by submission, no not for an hour, Gal. 2. 3, 5. Thus the Spirit of Government is sometimes a Spirit of meekness, does its vvork by soft yieldings, and breaks the Adamant vvith Cus…ions which Anvils vvould not do: I he Ocean vvith daily billows and tides, helpt on vvith storms of violence, and hurried by tempests of roaring fury, assaults a rock for many ages; and yet makes not the least impression on it, but is beat back, and made retire in empty some, in insignificant passion: vvhen a few single drops that distil gently down upon a rock though of Marble, or a small trickle of vvater that only vvets and glides over the stone, insinuate themselves into it, and soften it so as to steal themselves a passage through it. And yet Government hath a rod too, vvhichwhich like Moses's can break the rock, and fetch a stream out of the heart of quarre; and vvhichwhich must be used also: the Holy Spirit himself breathed tempest vyhen he came, blew in a mighty boisterous VVinde: nor does he alwayes vvhisper soft things, he came down first in a sound from heaven, and spoke thunder; nor did it vvant lightning, the tongue was double flame. Of some we know we must have a Compassion, but others must be saved vvith terror, Iude 22, 23. vvhichwhich drives me on to the last piece of their vvork.
The Censures of the Church, the burthen of the Keys; 4.vvhichwhich (passing by the private use of them in voluntary penitences, and discipline upon the sick) as they signifie publick exclusion out of the Church for scandalous Enormities, and re-admission into it upon repentance, have been sufficiently evinc'd to belong to the Governours of the Church. The Exercise of these is so much their work that Saint Paul calls them the VVeapons of their spiritual VVarfare, by which they do cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10 4, 5. a blessed victory even for the Conquered; and these the only VVeapons to atchieve it with. If those vvho sin scandalously, and will not heat the admonitions of the Church, were cast out of the Church; if not Religion, Reputation would restrain them somewhat: not to be thought fit company for Christians would surely make them proud against their Vices. Shame, the design'd Effect of these Censures, hath great pungencies, the fear of it does goad men into actions of the greatest hazard, and the most unacceptable; such as have nothing lovely in them, but are vvholly distastful. There is a Sin whose face is bloody dismal, and yet because tis countenanc'd by the Roysting Ruffian part of the world, men will defie Reason and Conscience, Man's and God's Law, venture the ruine of all that is belov'd and dear to them in this vvorld, and assault death, and charge and take Hell by violence; rather then be asham'd before those valiant sinners, Satans Hectors: and, they must never come into such Company if they do not go boldly on upon the sin, is of more force vvith them than all the indearments of this World, than all their fear of God, and Death, and that vvhichwhich follows. Now if Religion could but get such Countenance by the Censures of the Church; and every open sinner had this certain fear, I should be turn'd out of all Christian company, shall be avoided as unfit for Conversation; vvould it not have in some degree the like effect? and if the motive be as much exactly, vvould not men be chast or sober or obedient for that very reason for vvhichwhich they will now be kil'd and be damn'd? Without all question Saint Peter's Censure on the intemperate, 1 Cor. 5. must needs be reformation to him: 'Tis such a sentence to the drunkard, Not to company vvith him, vvhose Vice is nothing but the sauce of Company; and vvho does sin against his Body and against his faculties and against his Conscience, is sick, and is a Sott, and goes to Hell meerly for Societies sake. Now the infliction of these censures is so much the vvork to vvhichwhich Church governours are call'd by the Holy Ghost, that they are equally call'd by him to it and to Himself; both are alike bestow'd upon them: Receive the Holy Ghost, vvhose sins ye retain they are retained, John 20. 22. And in the first derivations of this office, it vvas performed vvith severities, such as this age I doubt vvill not believe; and vvhen they had no temporal sword to be auxiliary to these Spiritual vveapons.
And now to make reflections on this is not for me to undertake, in such a state of the Church as ours is; vvherein the very faults of some do give them an Indemnity, vvho having drawn themselves out of the Church, from under its authority, are also got out of the power of its Censures: So children that do run away from their Fathers house, they do escape the Rod; but they do not consider that vvithall they run away from the inheritance: and many times in those that do not do so, but stay vvithin the family; long intermission of the Rod, and indulg'd licence makes them too big and heady to be brought under discipline. And is't not so vvith us? Among many of those that stay vvithin the Church, (I know not vvhether I do vvell to say so, vvhen of these I mean there is little other Evidence of their doing so but this, that they vvill s…ear and drink of the Churches side; Blessed Sons of a demoli…ed Church, vvho think to raise their Mother a temple by throwing stones at her:) by reason of the late overthrow of government and discipline, and the consequent licenses: Vice hath been so nurst up, not only by an universal, barefac'd, uncorrected practice; but by principles of liberty, that can dispute down all Ecclesiastical restraints, and have set up the Religion of License: that now sin is grown so outragious, as to be too strong for discipline; nay rather than it should be set up, 'tis to be feared they vvould endeavour to renverse all in the Church, and enterprise as much in their vices quarrel, as others have done for mistaken Religion. And indeed to vvhat purpose vvere the Censures, vv…ose first and medicinal effect is shame, amongst men, vvhere 'tis in very many instances the only shameful thing not to be vitious; vvhere men stand candidates for the reputation of glorious sinners, take to themselves sins they have not committed, that are not theirs, and usurp Vice; sins and damnations hypocrites? What vvork is here for discipline? But this state wants not precedents; the censures of the Church vvere not only lay'd aside in the Vastations of t…e Arrian heresy and persecution; vvhen the weapons of the Churches warfare vvere too weak to make defence against all their cruelties and impieties: and before that in Diocletian's daies against the Lapsi: But vve find also that Saint Paul is forc'd to break out only in a passionate with, foreign, I would they vvere even cut off that trouble you (cut off by excommunication he means) Gal. 5. 12. When he saw the ill humours vvere too spreading, and too tough also; Sedition and Schisme wide and obstinate; so that neither his authority could reach, nor his methods cure, but were more likely to exasperate them: then he does excommunicate them only in desire. And again, 2 Cor. 10. 6. and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfil'd. It becomes therefore every one that hath good VVill for Sion, to labour to fulfill his own obedience, that so the Church may be empower'd to use Christ's Method for reforming of the rest. And they that vvill not do so, must know they shall not only answer for their sins, but for refusing to be sav'd from them, that they resist all medicine, as men resolv'd that nothing shall be done towards their Cure, as men that rather choose to perish; and prefer destruction. And for the seasons and degrees of putting this work into Execution, Wisdom must be implor'd from that Spirit of VVisdom that calls unto this work: The last Part; VVhereunto I have called them.
The Nature of the calling of the Holy Ghost is a Subject that would bear a full discourse. But waving those pretensions which Necessity, and inward incitation do make to be the Calls of the Holy Ghost; I shall positively set down that the call of God and of the Holy Ghost to any VVork or Office, (for I enquire not of his calling, to a priviledge or state of favour,) is his giving abilities and gifts qualifying for that VVork or Office: he call immediate when the gifts were so, but mediate and ordinary, when the abilities are given in his blessing on our ordinary labours. 'Tis so in every sort of things, Exod. 31. 2. See I have call'd Bezaleel, and I have fill'd him vvith the Spirit of God in VVisdome, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of VVorkmanship, to devise cunning vvorks, and to vvork in all manner of VVorkmanship; and behold I have given him Aholiab, and in the hearts of all that are vvise hearted I have put Vvisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee: And he repeats the same again, Chap. 35. 30. adding that he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both He and Aholiab; so that giving this skill to vvork and teach is nam'd Gods calling. So in another case, the Lord does say of Cyrus, I have call'd him, Esay 48. 15. vvhichwhich he explains in the 49. I have holden him by my right hand to subdue Nations before him, to loose the loyns of Kings, I have girded him. So vvhen Isaiah saith, the Lord hath call'd me from the VVomb, or rather sayes that of our Saviour, Isa. 49. 1. he tells you how, ver. 5. he form'd me and prepared me from the VVomb to be his servant, to bring Jacob to him. And throughout the New Testament, as his Call to a priviledge is foreign, his grace, in allowing such a state of favour; so his calls to a Work are his foreign, his gifts enabling for it.
The Gifts of these Apostles by vvhichwhich they vvere enabled for their Office, and vvhichwhich made up their call, are set down: those of Barnabas in the fore-cited 11 Act. He was a good man, full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost; and Paul's call vvas a little Extraordinary. If vve look into times, vve shall find reason to believe those revelations in 2 Cor. 12. vvere given to Paul a little before this consecration of him in the Text. That Epistle vvas vvrit, saith Baronius, in the second year of Nero, and this separation vvas in the second of Claudius, as may be gathered also in some measure from the famine mention'd in the 28. verse of the 11. chap. betwixt these two vvere fourteen years: now saith Saint Paul vvhen he vvrote that, he had his revelation somewhat above aab annis quatuordecim, saith the Arab.14. years before; a little therefore before this solemnity. Here vvas a call indeed, call'd up to the third heaven to receive instructions for his Office, and for ought he did know, call'd out of his own body too, that he might be the fitter for it; whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knows, verse 2. and that again, verse 3. They vvhom Gods Spirit qualifies for Consecration to separate to these diviner Offices may be stil'd Angels well, vvhen they are call'd from all regards or notices of any body that belongs to them; their gifts and graces set them above the consideration of flesh: In the entertainment of these qualifications the Soul is swallowed up so, that it cannot take cognizance whether it have a body of its own, and is not sensible of that deer partner of it self, it is so onelyonly sensible of this Employment. 'Tis not for an Apostle (or for his Successor) to think of things below vvith much complacency: When these have all their uses, all their glories on, they but make pomp to dress the body; vvhichwhich an Apostle does not designe for, nor knowes vvhether he be concern'd at all in. He becomes something without a body, and above the Earth, vvho for a preparative must be taken up to Paradise, and call'd from all commerce and all intelligence with his own body. Saint Paul vvas call'd from Heaven to preach the Gospel; but he vvas call'd to Heaven to qualifie him for this higher separation, to an Apostle and Church Governour.
And now you see your calling, Holy Fathers: and to pass by such obvious unconcerning observations as at first sight follow, that those vvho are not qualified are not call'd; I shall onelyonly take notice hence of the counter-part of this call, the charge God takes upon him, when he calls to this charge; and that is, he owns and will protect whom himself calls. 'Twas that he promised to the Pounder and …od of your Order; I the Lord have call'd thee, and I will hold thine hand, and I will keep thee, Isa…. 42. 6. And vvhen he said of Cyrus, I have call'd him, he said also, he shall make his way prosperous, Isai. 48. 15. And so he shall be the vvay vvhat it vvill; for thus he said to Jacob, I have called thee, when thou goest through the VVater I am with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee, Isai. 43. 1, 2. There was Experience of all this in one of the chief Princes of your Order; vvhen the Apostles vvere scarce safe within their ship, they vvere so toss'd with vvaves and fears, yet if our Lord vvill call him, Peter Matth. 14. 28.is confident he shall be safe even in the sea; Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the Water, saith he; and 29.the Lord did but call him, and he vvent down and walked on the vvater safely: as if the swelling billows did only lift themselves to meet his steps, and raise him up from sinking. And vvhen his own doubts, vvhichwhich alone could, …1.vvere neer drowning him, and he but call'd the Lord; immediately he stretched out his hand and caught him: He answers his call, if vve answer ours; if we obey vvhen he sayes come, then vvill he come and save vvhen vve call to him. And so Peter receiv'd no hurt, but a rebuke; O ibid.thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? couldst thou imagine I vvould not sustein thee in the doing vvhat I bid thee do? In answering my call: But vvhy seek we experience of so old a date? There is a more encouraging miracle in these late calls themselves. Had God sustein'd the Order in its Offices and dignities amidst those vvaves that vvrack'd the Church of late, it had been prodigy of undeserved Compassion to our Nation: but vvhenas all was sunk, to bid the sea give up what it had so allowed and consumed; this is more than to catch a sinking Peter, or to save a falling Church. The vvork of Resurrection is emphatically call'd the working of God's mighty power, and does out-sound Eph. 1. 19. 20.that of his ordinary conservation. And truly 'twas almost as easie to imagination, how the scattered Atomes of mens dust should order themselves, and reunite, and close into one flesh; as that the parcels of our Discipline and Service that were lost in such a vvild confusion, and the Offices buried in the rubbish of the demolisht Churches, should rise again in so much order and beauty. Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deum. This calling of the Spirit is like that when the Spirit moved upon the face of the abyss; and call'd all things out of their no-seeds there; or like the call of the last Trump. Thus by the miraculous mercies of these calls God hath provided for our hopes, and warranted our faith of his protections! yet he hath also sent us more security, hath given us a Constantine, if his own be not a greater Name, and more deserving of the Church; for which (it is well known to some) he did contrive and order, when he could neither plot nor hope for his own Kingdome; and did vvith passion labour a succession in your Order, vvhen he did not know how to lay designes for the succession of himself or any of his Fathers house to his own Crown and dignity. Nor is the secular arme all your security: God himself hath set yet more guards about his consecrated ones, he hath severe things for the violaters of them: Moses, the meekest man upon the Earth, that in his life Num. 12. 3, 20. 10.vvas never angry, but once at the rebellious; seems very passionate in calling. Vengeance on those that stir against these holy Offices. Smite through the loines of all that rise against them, and of them that hate them, that they rise not Deut. 33. 2….again: the loines (vve know) are the nest of posterity; so that, strike through the loines, is, stab the succession, destroy at once all the posterity of them that vvould cut off this Tribe, and hinder its succession. Nor vvas this Legal Spirit; Gospel is as severe. Those in Saint Judge that despise these Governours, that do as Corah and his Complices did, (vvho gathered themselves against Moses and Aaron, and said, You take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi, since Num. 16. 3.all the Congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them, wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord? vvords these that vve are vvell acquainted with, and vvhichwhich it seems St. Iude looks on as sins under the Gospel:) these perish in the gainsaying of Core; vvhom God vvould not prepare for punishment by death, but he and his accomplices went quick into it; Jude 11.He would not let them stay to dy, but the Lord made a new thing, to shew his detestation of this sin, and the Num. 16. 30.Earth swallow'd it in the Commission, and all that were alli'd ver. 32, 33.and appertain'd to them that had an hand in it. And truely they may well expect strange recompences, who do attempt so strange a Sacriledge, as to pull stars out of Christ's own right hand: from vvhence, vve have his vvord, that no man shall be able to pluck any; but if they shine thence, on their Orbs below, and convert many to Iohn 10. 21.righteousness, their light shall blaze out into glory, and they shall ever dwell at his right hand, To vvhichwhich right hand He that brought again from the dead the Lord Iesus, that great Heb. 13. 20.Shepheard and Bishop of the sheep, and set him there: He also bring you our Pastors, and us your flock vvith you; and set us vvith his sheep on his right hand. To vvhom, vvith the same Iesus and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all blessing, honour, Matth. 2…. 3….glory, and power, from henceforth for ever.
Amen.
FINIS.
A SERMON PREACHED AT HAMPTON-COURT On the 29th. of May 1662. Being the Anniversary of His Sacred Majesties Most happy Return.
BY RICHARD ALLESTRY D. D. and Chaplain to His MAjESTY.
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Roycroft for Iames Allestry at the Rose and Crown in Saint Paul's Church-yard. 1669.