SERM. ing peace, the most scandalous kind of difcord that can be, LVII. to cross our fuperiors f. Vid. Cypr. It is also a practice iffuing from the worst difpofitions of foul, fuch as are most oppofite to the fpirit of our religion, and indeed very repugnant to common reafon and humanity; from a proud haughtinefs or vain wantonness of mind; from the irregularity of unmortified and unbridled paffion; from exorbitant felfifhnefs, (felfishness of every bad kind, felf-conceit, felf-will, felf-intereft;) from turbulent animofity, froward croffness of humour, rancorous spite, perverse obstinacy; from envy, ambition, avarice, and the like ill fources, the worft fruits of the flesh and corrupt nature: to fuch difpofitions the rejecting God's prophets of old, and the noncompliance with the Apostles are afcribed in Scripture; and from the fame the like neglect of God's meffengers now do proceed; as whoever will obferve, may easily discern; do but mind the difcourfes of factious people, you fhall perceive them all to breathe generally nothing but ill-nature. The fruits alfo which it produceth are extremely bad; manifold great inconveniences and mifchiefs, hugely prejudicing the interest of religion and the welfare of the Church. It is immediately and formally a violation of order que enim and peace; whence all the woful confequences of diforder aliunde,&c. and faction do adhere thereto. It breedeth great difgrace to the Church and fcandal to religion; for what can appear more ugly than to fee among the professors of religion children opposing their fathers, fcholars contefting with their mafters, inferiors flighting and croffing their fuperiors? what can more expofe the Church and religion to the contempt, to the derifion of atheists and infidels, of profane and lewd perfons, of wild heretics and fchifmatics, of all enemies unto truth and piety, than fuch foul irregularity &? f An effe fibi cum Chrifto videtur, qui adverfus facerdotes Chrifti facit? &c. Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. p. 258. Inde fchifmata, et h obortæ funt, et oriuntur, dum epifcopus, qui It corrupteth the minds and manners of men: for SER M. when that discipline is relaxed which was ordained to LVII. guard truth and promote holiness; when men are grown fo licentious and ftubborn as to contemn their fuperiors, to difregard their wholesome laws and fober advice, there can be no curb to restrain them, but down precipitantly Ecclefiæ gloria præthey run into all kind of vicious irregularities and ex- pofiti gloria ceffes; when thofe mounds are taken away, whither will eft. Cypr. Ep. 7. 55. men ramble? when those banks are broken down, what can we expect but deluges of impious doctrine and wicked practice, to overflow the ignorant and inconfiderate people? Doth not indeed this practice evidently tend to the diffolution of the Church and deftruction of Christianity? for when the Shepherds are (as to conduct and efficacy) taken away, will not the sheep be scattered, or wander Matt. xxvi. aftray, like sheep without a shepherd, being bewildered in 31. various errors, and exposed as a prey to any wild beasts; to the grievous wolves, to the ravenous lions, to the wily foxes? here a fanatical enthufiaft will fnap them, there a profane libertine will worry them, there again a desperate atheift will tear and devour them h. Confult we but obvious experience, and we shall see what fpoils and mines of faith, of good confcience, of common honesty and sobriety, this practice hath in a few years caufed; how have atheism and infidelity, how have profaneness and diffoluteness of manners, how have all kinds of dishonesty and baseness grown up fince men began to disregard the authority of their spiritual guides! what dismal tragedies have we in our age beheld acted upon this stage of our own country! what bloody wars and murders, (murders unus eft, et ecclefiæ præeft fuperba quorundam præfumptione contemnitur. Cypr. Ep. 69. Hæc funt initia hæreticorum, et ortus atque conatus fchifmaticorum male cogitantium ut fibi placeant, ut præpofitum fuperbo tumore contemnant. Sic de ecclefia ręceditur, fic altare profanum foris collocatur, fic contra pacem Chrifti, atque unitatem Dei rebellatur. Cypr. Ep. 65. * Τᾶτο πάντων τῶν κακῶν αἴτιον, ὅτι τὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἠφανίσθη, ἐδεμία αἰδὼς, oudis pobos, &c. Chryf. in 2 Tim. Or. 2. SERM. of princes, of nobles, of bifhops and priests!) what miferLVII. able oppreffions, extortions, and rapines! what execrable feditions and rebellions! what barbarous animofities and feuds! what abominable treafons, facrileges, perjuries, blafphemies! what horrible violations of all juftice and honesty! And what, I pray, was the fource of these things? where did they begin? where but at murmuring against, at rejecting, at persecuting the spiritual governors, at casting down and trampling on their authority, at flighting and spurning at their advice? Surely would men have obferved the laws, or have hearkened to the counfels of thofe grave and fober perfons, whom God had appointed to direct them, they never would have run into the commiffion of fuch enormities. It is not to be omitted, that, in the prefent ftate of things, the guilt of disobedience to spiritual governors is increased and aggravated by the fupervenient guilt of another difobedience to the laws of our prince and country. Before the fecular powers (unto whom God hath committed the dispensation of justice, with the maintenance of peace and order, in reference to worldly affairs) did fubmit to our Lord, and became nurfing parents of the Church, the power of managing ecclefiaftical matters did wholly refide in spiritual guides; unto whom Chriftians, as the peculiar fubjects of God, were obliged willingly to yield obedience; and refufing it, were guilty before God of spiritual disorder, faction, or schifm: but now, after that political authority (out of pious zeal for God's fervice, out of a wife care to prevent the influences of diforder in fpiritual matters upon the temporal peace, out of grateful return for the advantages the commonwealth enjoyeth from religion and the Church) hath pleased to back and fortify the laws of fpiritual governors by civil fanctions, the knot of our obligation is tied faster, its force is redoubled, we by disobedience incur a double guilt, and offend God two ways, both as fupreme governor of the world, and as king of the Church; to our schifm against the Church we add rebellion against our prince, and fo become no lefs bad citizens than bad LVII. Chriftians. Some may perhaps imagine their difobedience SERM. hence more excufable, taking themselves now only thereby to tranfgrefs a political fanction: but (befide that even that were a great offence, the command of our temporal governors being fufficient, out of confcience to God's exprefs will, to oblige us in all things not evidently repugnant to God's law) it is a great mistake to think the civil law doth anywise derogate from the ecclefiaftical; that doth not swallow this up, but fuccoureth and corroborateth it; their concurrence yieldeth an acceffion of weight and strength to each; they do not by conspiring to prescribe the fame thing either of them cease to be governors, as to right; but in efficacy the authority of both should thence be augmented, feeing the obligation to obedience is multiplied upon their fubjects; and to disobey them is now two crimes, which otherwise should be but one. SERMON LVIII. OF OBEDIENCE TO OUR SPIRITUAL GUIDES HEB. xiii. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you. SERM. SUCH is the nature of this duty, and fuch are the rea LVIII. 25. fons enforcing the practice thereof: I fhall only farther remove two impediments of that practice, and fo leave this point. 1. One hindrance of obedience is this, that fpiritual power is not defpotical or compulsory, but parental or paftoral; that it hath no external force to abet it, or to Matt. xx. avenge difobedience to its laws: they must not xaTE OULuke xxii. σlágav, or xατaxuρieúav, (be imperious, or domineer,) they are not allowed to exercise violence, or to inflict bodily correction a; but must rule in meek and gentle ways, directly influential upon the mind and confcience, (ways of 2 Tim. ii. rational perfuafion, exhortation, admonition, reproof,) in 1Tim. iii. 3. meekness inftructing those that oppose themselves;—con 26. 1 Pet. v. 3. 25. iv. 2. vincing, rebuking, exhorting with all longfuffering and doctrine; their word is their only weapon, their force of argument all the constraint they apply: hence men commonly do not stand in awe of them, nor are fo fenfible of • Μάλισα γὰρ ἁπάντων Χρισιανοῖς οὐκ ἐφεῖται πρὸς βίαν ἐπανορθοῦν τὰ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων πταίσματα, &c. Chryf. de Sacerd. 2. ̓Ενταῦθε οὐ βιαζόμενον, ἀλλὰ πείθοντα δεῖ ποιεῖν ἀμείνω τὸν τοιοῦτον. Ibid. |