THIS Text is a short View of the Priests Duty, made up into a Monition or Dire­ctory,

In which you have

1. The Person admonished, Thou.

[Page 2]2. The Advise, which contains in that one word Both his Commission and his Charge, Speak.

[...]. The Matter of his Discourse, Things.

4. The Form of it, Which become.

5. The End unto which all Circum­stances are intended, Sound Doctrine.

1. The Per­son, Thou.Each Minister is an Apostle, sent out to Preach the Gospel of Peace, [...].

In what better Language therefore can I speak to Ministers, than in the words of an Apostle?

Nay, he is Episcopus Animarum, a kind of Bishop set over the Souls com­mitted to his Charge: What fitter Compellation therefore can I find for you, than that which was addressed to Titus, the first Bishop of Crete?

If St. Paul thought it not unneedful to advertize Him who was advanced to that high place of Government in the Church, ye cannot think it an Imper­tinent Custom, which thus assembles and adviseth you for the discharge of [Page 3] that Duty which concerneth All who have any Share or Title to the Ministry.

We are slack and dull by Nature, therefore need Admonition to quicken us.

The most active Ambassador betwixt Prince and Prince might sometimes need a Letter of Advise to refresh his Memo­ry; Much more we, who are Embassadors sent to treat betwixt God and his Peo­ple.

Some there are so well-conceited of themselves, that they disdain Admoni­tion, as Upbraider of Defect in them

The Bishop of Rome, when he is in Cathedrâ, thinks himself Inerrable, and by his Place can neither need Advise nor Exhortation. But St. Augustine, a bet­ter Bishop than he, though not of so large a Diocess, writing to Auxilius, a Bishop also, touching a Rash Excommu­nication passed upon Classicianus and his Family, desires him not to take ill Ad­vise from his hand,Aug. Epist▪ 7. Nec arbitreris ideo non posse subrepere injustam Commotionem, quia Episcopi sumus, Think not that be­cause [Page 4] we are Bishops we cannot do amiss, or are exempted from receiving their Advise, who fairly admonish us of our Duties.

Hieron. Lib. 1. Ep. 51. Theophilus Alexandrinus writing to Hieron, tells Him, Quanquam ex superfluo faciam haec tibi scribere, qui errantes potes ab errore revocare, tamen nihil nocet & eru­ditos & prudentes viros pro sollicitudine fidei common [...]ri: The best men are sub­ject to Error and Infirmity, therefore want Remembrancers to put them in mind of their Defects, I will not be negli­gent to put you always in remembrance, 2 Pet. 1.12, 13. though ye be stablished in the present truth.

Far be it from any then, who have rightly learned Christ, to spurn against the Word of Exhortation, when seasonably uttered, or to think meanly of that Of­fice which Christ entrusted to the holy Ghost.

He told his Disciples, when he pro­mised to send the Comforter, that amongst many other blessings, He would be their Remembrancer, Joh. 14.25 shewing them all [Page 5] these things, suggerendo, by quickning their Memory, and bringing his Sayings back to their knowledge.

So that Exhortation or Admonition do not upbra [...]d the Infirmity of the Man, or Slack performance of his Duty, but rather animate him to go on in what he hath well undertaken. As Ig­natius told the Trallenses, Ignat. Epist. ad Trallens. [...], I strengthen you by my Admonitions.

And St. Augustine told Eudoxius, August. Epist. 81. Non hoc vos monui, quod vos non arbitror fa­cere, I write not to Chide or Find fault, but rather to Commend, and desire you to do what you do.

Indeed, he who Exhorts and Admo­nisheth what should be done, is so far from Diminishing or Disparaging, that he rather Dignifies him whom he Admo­nisheth.

A Remembrancer is but an Index, which refers to a man's own Abilities, telling him how Able he is, and how VVilling he ought to be in discharge of the Duty required from him.

In this Sense and Style doth St. Paul excite Titus, who was a Bishop, And in this sense do I excite you: Here onely is the difference, St. Paul spake to Ti­tus as one who stood for all Crete, I, in his words, speak to all you as One.

It were ill Grammar, but worse Di­vinity, to consider Those that should be of One Spirit, knit fastest In vinculo pacis, Ephes. 4.3, In the bond of peace, whose Office is to preach a Religion consisting of Unity,5, 6. One God, One Faith, One Bap­tism, As a Multitude; Or to speak unto Them, who in the Service of God's Church should go together (as Israel to the Battel against Gibeah, Judg. 2.11. As one man) in the Plural: We are met here, in One place, And I hope [...], with one mind, Act. 2.1. as the Apostles on the day of Pen­tecost; why should not I then speak to you as One?

[Page 7]Such Meetings as these are unto the People Exemplary Sermons, and In­stances of that Brotherly Agreement and Union which we Preach.

Ill men have their Combinations, and Factious men have their Conven­ticles, but these (St. Augustine says) Vnitatem faciunt contra Unitatem, Unite and band themselves to break this Uni­on,Aug. and so become a Conspiracy rather than an Union.

Onely good men properly have their Vnion, Cum boni coeunt, cum Pii cum Ca­sti congregantur, non est factio dicenda, Tertull. Apologet. [...]ap. 40. sed Curia; When good men are Congre­gated and met to good ende, you cannot call that Assembly a Factious Conven­ticle, but a Council.

May we all conspire as happily in Do­ctrine, and in Endeavour to settle the Divisions in our Church, as we do in Pla [...]e, And then, as by the Act of a Sy­nod, we shall establish that Canon, which bids us be of one Mind, as our Fa­ther is one.

This Union is an happy Qualification, [Page 8] and makes us capable to discharge the Duty of Apostles. When the Spirit fell upon them in Tongues, 'twas when They were in One place, and met with One Mind. These Capacities fit us for the receiving of the Holy Ghost in Tongues, and then for the Exercise of Those Tongues, Loquere Tu, Speak Thou.

VVhich implies both a Commission and a Charge. 2. Speak.

1. Commis­sion.If it be Treason in Embassadors to forge their Message, or Treat without Letters of Credence, by what name shall I style their Insolent Usurpation, who enter upon this high Calling with­out Commission?

The Ministery was not an Office Rashly Instituted, Therefore ought not to be Unadvisedly Undertaken.

In the 6 of Esay, you find God in a Deliberation what Prophet to choose,Isa. 6.8. Whom shall I send? 'Tis true too, that Esay there obediently offers himself to the Task, Send me, and is accepted: But before his setting forth He has his Mission,ve [...]s. 9. Go and say unto the People.

[Page 9]The Reason is given by St. Paul, No man [...]aketh this Honor to himself, Heb. 5.4. but he who is called of God, as was Aaron: Nay, (saith he) Christ took not to Himself this Honor to be made the High priest, But He who said to Him,vers. 5. Thou art my Son, This day begat I thee, Gave it to him.

I fear there be some Straglers in our Church, who, as they speak, what Christ and his Apostles ne'r taught, so they have done what they did not; I mean▪ Invested themselves in the Mini­sterial Function before Lawfully Or­dained, and Run on God's Errand be­fore he sent them.

Of which sort were Those Obscure men Hierom speaks of,Hieron. Lib. 1. Ep. 55. Qui de cavernis cellularum damnant orbem, who from their dark Corners and close Angles, wherein they lurk, breathe out the Sentence of Damnation against all that are not of their Opinion and Sect.

VVould that unruly violence which transports them stop a little at the Book of Jeremy, They should find their [Page 10] giddy zeal waited on by as much re­buke and danger,Jer. 14.14, 15. as the false Prophets, who are first Degraded, and then Cursed: God disclames their service, I have not sent them, neither did I command them, nei­ther spake unto them; And after condemns them to Sword and Famin.

I am sure that Prophet was so tender of himself in this particular, That lest he might be suspected for an Intruder upon his Office, He makes a voluntary pro­testation, He had not thrust in himself for a Pastor. Jer. 17.16.

So St. Paul, before he delivers any Message by his Pen to the Corinthi­ans, opens his Commission, Vocatus ad Apostolatum, 1 Cor. 1. Paul called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

Nor doth he keep it back from Ti­mothy, but shews it, although he re­quired it not, Whereunto I am appointed a Preacher. 2 Tim. 1.11

The Minister is, Sagitta electa, a cho­sen Shaft drawn from the Quiver of God▪ Esa. 49.2. An Arrow doth not flie of it self, unless sent from the Bow by that hand which fits it to the String.

[Page 11]How disordered then must their mo­tion need [...] be, who leap out of the Qui­ver, and fly without their Mission?

St. Paul doth not onely ask why any should do this, but how they should perform the scope of this Message, Quo­modo praedicabunt nisi missi? Rom. 10.15. How shall they preach unless they be sent?

The Apostles never spake with power until they had received the holy Ghost, And then▪ see how St. Peters first Ser­mon, like a sharp Sword, peirces to the quick, The Hearers were pricked to the heart, and said to the Apostles, Act. 2.37. Men and bre­thren, what shall we do?

Those who preach without this Spi­rit, may preach the dead Letter, or ra­ther not Praedicare, but Sonare, not Preach, but make a noise.

VVe are perswaded, that in the Law­ful Ordination in our Church, the Spi­rit of God is imparted in those words, Accipite Spiritum Sanctum, Receive the ho­ly Ghost.

Nor must we judge them Ministers who want these Seals of Ordination to their Patent.

[Page 12] Esa. 6.7. Ezek. 33.22.God touched the lips of Esay; And Ezekiel must have remained still dumb, had not the hand of God opened his mouth.

Christ our Blessed Saviour signed the Apostles Commission in his Gospel, Go out and preach to all Nations;Mat. 28.19. But he sealed not that Commission until the day of Pentecost, wherein He gave the Holy Ghost, as the Seal of his love and fa­vour to them.

Those Preachers who have this Hand to their Patent, and this Seal to their Commission, can onely call themselves Preachers.

VVhen they have this warrant, it will not onely be seasonable to speak but necessary: For their Commission then becomes a Charge, and this Loquere, speak Thou, is not so much a License as a Mandat▪

There was no Vessel of the Sanctuary but had its peculiar use.2. Their Cha [...]ge.

There is no Priest but is, or should be, a Sanctuary like it holy, and furnished like it.

[Page 13]I know my Heart is my Portable Oratory, but if my Tongue be tied up to the Roof of my mouth, I am onely a Chapell without the Service, and an Al­tar without the Sacrifice.

The Praise and glory of God is a Stock entrusted to the world; Every Creature hath a Talent from this Trea­sury, and with it drives this pretious Trade▪ Therefore David musters up the Elements,Psal. 148. as well as the Bodies formed out of them, and will have every Letter in the Creature's Alphabet, as well as the VVords made out of those Letters, to Praise God.

Shall every Creature in his way, and every Beast in his Dialect, Praise God, And shall the world's Interpreter, Man, be mute? If God will not dispence with this want of service in those Creatures which want Speech, how can he, whom alone he hath made Vocal, excuse his silence? Where is the Tribute of the Tongue due but from him who is en­dued with Organs of speech? Or where is speech significant, as when the Tongue [Page 14] is prompted by a knowing heart? The Prophet says, that the Lips of the Priest preserve knowledge:Mal. 2.7. And therefore Speech, as it is most profitable, so most warrantable from Him. He who lets not down his Pitcher into this Well, As he re­fused now to draw water for the Thir­sty's relief, so he must hereafter look to thirst for his punishment.

The first thing Christ did when he came to Jacob's well, was to ask the courtesie of the Samaritan's pitcher, Give me water:Joh. 4.7. And Abraham's Servant concluded from the ready letting down of Rebekkah's Pitcher into the well, that God was with his Errand.Gen. 24.21.

God's Messages are like refresh [...]g Dews to a barren and thirsty Land. There is none then that derives himself from Christ, who is not as liberal of his Comforts as Christ of his Living waters, when he proclames, Qui s [...]it veniat, Let every one that thirsts come.

Rev. 22.17God grant our Wells never want these Waters, nor that the Wells prove so illiberal to deny them.

[Page 15]When Fountains of knowledge re­strain their waters, not pouring out▪ by the Tongue, which is the Conduit of speech, to fill the Cisterns, I mean, the ears and hearts of the Congregation, that dearth threatens drought to the Fountain it self

The Preacher says, There is a time to speak, and a time to be silent. Eccles. 3.7.

But the Apostle brings not the Mi­nister within the compass of this Inter­pretation; No time must silence him, no respite, no privation of speech, but he must preach in season and out of season. 2 Tim. 4.2.

Or if he do make any pause in this ser­vice, it must be onely Caution must stop him, not Silence.Gregor. Pa­storal. [...]a [...]t. 2. cap 4. Sit Rector discretus in silentio, utilis in verbo, ne aut tacenda pre­ferat aut proferenda reticescat, is Gregory's Rule.

There is no Law bids him repress his words, But both the Law of God and the Law of Reason bids him weigh them before he speaks.

When David resolves upon his Dixi Custodiam, St. Ambrose glosses upon it,Psal. 39.1. [Page 16] Rectè David non sil [...]ntiam sibi sed Custo­diam indixit, Amb [...]os. O [...]c. 11.3. He doth not silence, but bridle his tongue from offence.

The Prophets Charge was the same, Clama nè cesses, Esa. 5.1. Cry and cease not, lift up thy voice like a Trumpet;Chrysost. Homil. ad Pop. Antioch so must a Preacher, who is [...], an Apostolical [...]rump; And he must remem­ber, that whosoever shall give an ac­count for an idle word, must render it al­so for a slothful silence. St. Ambrose tells Him, Si pro otioso verbo reddemus ratio­nem videamus ne reddamus pro otioso silen­tio. Ambros.

If Hierom in his Epistle to Damasus approves that speech of Damasus for good, Qui lectionem sine stylo somnum pu­tet, Hieron. Lib. 1. Epist. 28. That held reading without making use of it onely a studious Sleep, or rather a learned Lethargy; sure I may term a speechless Calling such a sleep, which is next of kin to Death. Silent folly is better than concealed wisdom, (saith the Son of Syrach) and safer it is never to have known any thing,Eccl [...]s. 41.15. than to lock up that gift of knowledge in the breast, [Page 17] and either wilfully lose the Key of that Cabinet, or let it, for lack of use, Rust in neglect and sloath.

Well did St. Bernard call the Mini­stery Opus Angelicis humeris formidan­dum, A fearful and weighty task,Bernard. which would make an Angel shrink under it. Indeed it is as full of danger as of bur­then. The Lips are the Soul's snare, Prov. 18.7. and oft-times words are like nets to ensnare the speaker.

So that which to other men is onely a single danger, is doubled to us:

We are in equal hazard to betray our selves by silence, as by our speech, And our not speaking contracts as certain ruine to us as our speech.

Miserable streight wherein our Cal­ling is concluded, we can neither speak safely, nor yet with safety hold our peace.

VVhen we speak, every hearer is a Judge, to arraign, or censure, or tra­duce our meaning; And when we speak not, God threatens to condemn us. Yet we must on, Resolving with our selves, [Page 18] that though it be sometimes Offensive to speak, it is ever Dangerous to hold our peace, for, There is a necessity laid on me, Wo to me if I preach not. 1 Cor. 9.16, 17.

Where speaking is so needful, there can be no greater sin than silence, nor Solecism than to speak vainly.

To prevent which, the next Circum­stances direct both What and How to speak, Speak Thou the Things.

3. Things.When the Voice bade the Prophet Cry, It there directs him what he should Cry:Esa. 40.6. 'Twas the same Spirit which commanded the Prophet there to write, and the Apo­stle here to speak ▪ And he who gave Au­thority to his Calling, teacheth him to give weight to his words.

As Judgment is the Ballast of Wit, so Matter of Words. A Vessel at Sea, which bears more Sail than Ballast, is ever apt to over-set: so they whose Phantasie is stronger than their Reli­gion, whose words more full of sound than devout sense, for want of just poise lose their own Adventure, and endanger others.

[Page 19]There is a great deal of difference between [...] and [...], to Speak and to Prate, The one hath Reason on its side, The other onely Noise.

The first part of the Preachers care must therefore be to avoid that Scoff, which Lactantius gives those idle Philo­sophers, Multa loquantur nihil dicunt, who though they spake much,Lactant. yet they said nothing, because nothing to pur­pose.

Words are excellent tinctures, so that like Metalls in the Alembeck they have their just fixation▪ else, like un­closed Distillations, They breathe out in Fume.

In our Alchimy, wherein we labour to make Gold out of Clay, and by perswasions to prepare that Earth which we bear about us for final glory, The subject we undertake must fix our words, else we do but beat the air ▪ forming those empty shadows which va­nish as they appear▪ and expire with the voice which delivered them.

This were to assail the Auditory [Page 20] Verbis ti [...]nulis & emendicatis, Hier. Lib. 1. Ep. 55. with tink­ling words.

Those who affect them are ill hus­bands for the Church, instead of Corn onely sowing Chaff, and instead of De­votion, Words, truly Semini-verbii (as Gregory calls them) Sowers of words,Gregor. Pa­stor. part. 2. cap. 4. whose fruit, like that in the Pa­rable, perisheth for want of Root▪

It teacheth not farther than the Ear, but as it springeth up in the present de­light of the hearers, so it vanisheth with their Applause, [...],Isidor. Pe­leus. Lib. 1 Epist. 62. as Isidor Peleusiot.

Such as these may be good Gramma­rians, not good Preachers, good Criticks, not good Apostles.

Christ told Peter, when admitted his Disciple, [...] ▪ That He should from thenceforth catch men. Luc. 5.10.

But the Commendation of Those I speak of, as that they are at best [...] ▪ Hunters of words.

Isidor. Pe­leus. Lib. 2. Ep. 101.To say no more, As our Religion con­sists not in Saying, but Doing, so the [Page 21] subject of those who are Agents for the Establishment of Religion, must not be words but matter.

Though Philosophy might allow the divided Sects of Nominals and Reals, Divinity owns none but Reals; Men so sincere, and real, and material in their Discourses, That speak Things; yet Bo­dies are allowed their Shadows, nor doth Divinity disprove a Dress of De­cent Circumstance. Therefore it fol­lows, Loquere quae decent, Speak things which become.

To apparel our Discourses in more Ceremony than becomes the subject,4. Which become. or to use none at all, are Extremes alike culpable.

To put upon a small body more clothes than it can bear, is to smoother our Conceptions, and stifle the Argu­ment we preach with multiplicity of words; yet to put on None at all, were to establish the Heresie of the Adamites in the Pulpit, and to dogmatize Naked­ness; Good matter clad in very thin or ill words, is one of the strangest most [Page 22] mishapen things that may be.

Adam knew not He was naked until he had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, and then his Knowledge made him ashamed of his Nakedness.

Ignorance may without blushing walk naked; for darkness needs no Man­tle, and night is Covering to it self.

But knowing Arguments sent abroad without a decent apparel, like Tapers set up in sluttish Candlesticks, bear Light about them onely to shame the Author.

Words are the Interpreters, nay, the Robes of Knowledge, without which it will not appear unto the world, and being best clad is most amiable.

Knowledge in its own disposition is very coy and reserved, like the nice Ve­netian, who never shews Himself un­dress'd.

If it be presented naked, not cloathed in fit words, It is so bashful, or so dis­dainful, that it hides it self from every Apprehension.

For mine own part, I never liked him, [Page 23] who serv'd up more Sauce than Meat, more Words than Matter, or Wit than Religion. But yet I have ever thought Choise Matter ill dress'd, like good Meat ill Cook'd, which neither credits the Bidder, nor pleases the Guest.

Truth is the Pulpit's object, Decency the Attire of Truth: yet as I would not speak all truths, so neither apparel the truth I speak in every dress.

An Egyptian Mantle, or a Babylonish Garment were sin to an Israelite.

As every Light Tune would not go well with the Grave Dorick Harp, so every Dialect would not fit the Church.

That Language which commends the Stage would misbecome the Pulpit: Light conceits or flashes of unseason'd wit prophane that holy ground.

And again, that bitter Style which in a Declamation were an ingenious Sa­tyre, translated into a Sermon might prove a Libel.

That Rule which St Paul gave the Church, must be as well observed in the Pulpit,1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

[Page 24]If you ask, by what Rule we must measure this Decency; Surely not by Theirs, who condemn or laugh at all the world who are not in their fashion. Decency was never measured by Singu­larity or Affectation.

Many have been more factiously proud and phantastical, and therefore more ridiculous in an affected Plain­ness, than others in their studied Curio­sity.

Hierom says, Superba Rusticitas was the garb of some in his time, who had nothing but a rude Insolence to bear out their want of Knowledge, for Ig­norance and Boldness commonly go to­gether. [...]. Greg. Nazi­anz. Orat. 26.

The most unexcepted and safe Rule of Decency is Religious discretion; When God's Messages want ne [...]ther fit Orna­ment to set them forth, nor Integrity to apply them: I have it from the Prophet David, This is that Beauty He loves, and Holiness that He commends,Psal. when he tells you, both these conjoyning become the House of the Lord.

[Page 25]For those therefore who quarrel with Learned Elaborate Sermons, And are so Umbragious to boggle at any thing which is not presented to them in their Mother-Tongue, Who give Sentence against a Preacher for a Latine Sen­tence, or Authority out of a Father al­leged in a Sermon, I shall truly pity them, for that they disallow what St▪ Paul in his practice justifi'd.

Though that Spiritus Anabaptisticus, Anabaptistical spirit that reigns amongst many in these latter days, dares affirm, Qui in Scholis & Academiis Theologiam discunt, Hinckel man: Err [...]: Anabaptism. cap. 2 Error. 1, & 2. tantum tenent Literam mortuam non etiam Spiritum vivificantem. Quare nec possunt esse Ministri Novi Testamenti, quos Paulus dixit esse Ministros non Literae sed Spiritus, Those who in our Univer­sities and Schools study Divinity grasp o [...]ely the Dead Letter, attain not the Quickning Spirit, and therefore cannot be Ministers of the New Testament, who are styled by St. Paul, Ministers, not of the Letter, but the Spirit: Yet they may see, that St. Paul Himself (whom [Page 26] they dare not deny to be a Minister of the New Testament) makes use of Human Learning, and cites some Verses out of Epimenides, Ara [...]us, and Menander; which shewed, that He had studied the Greek Poets, as Moses the Learning of the Egyptians, and Daniel the Wisdom of the Caldeans; (Moses disciplinas Egyptiorum; Daniel sapientiam Chaldaeo­rum, Beatus Paulus Epimenidis; Arati & Menandri carmina didicerunt, ut his veram Religionem locupletiorem redderent) supposing Religion to receive much ad­vantage by the study of Human Learn­ing.

For which cause Petrus Cunaeus writes,Petrus Cu­naeus de Re­pub. Hebr. lib. 2. cap. 9. that the Old Levites challenged as their right an universal knowledge of all Laws, and all Sciences, Humane or Divine. Legum omnium & [...]erum Hu­manarum Divinarumque summam scientiam sub quodam sibi jure Levitae vendicabant.

Indeed St. Augustine invites us to the reading of Ethnick Authors, upon this motive, That they were Usurpers and unjust Possessors of Knowledge, where­of [Page 27] Christians onely could make the best use.

This apprehension caused Porphyrius (as Eusebius tells) to complain of Ori­gen, Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 6. cap. 13. That he had robb'd the Greek Phi­losophers of their Treasure to enrich his own Religion. Therefore Julian the Apostate, observing the great advan­tage Christians made by reading the Works of those Learned Heathens, who in many things were by Them confounded and wounded by their own Pens,Socrat. Hist. Ecclos. lib. 3. cap. 10. peremptorily forbad all Christians the use or study of Human Authors.

How well doth this suit the humor of our late Levites (quite differing from those Elder by me alleged) who ac­count Ignorance a mark of the Spirit, and none so fit for the Ministery as those who never took Degree in the Schools?

I shall not trouble my self or you with more words in this Argument, but onely say, If there be any who so much dote upon their lack of Learning, ac­counting it an Holy Ignorance to know nothing which belongs to worldly [Page 28] Science; If there be any so wedded to their sudden Conceptions, or praecipi­tate Barbarism, that they cry down all Learning or Elegance in Pulpits; Or imagine, that the spirit of Elocution speaks best from the worst Interpreters, As if Gods Messages could be delivered in too good Language, God forgive them.

I have heard a woe denounced against Those that do the work of the Lord negli­gently, Jer. 48.10 but never against any who per­form it with too much care.

Erasmus well said, Eloquentiam non pugnare cum simplicitate Religionis, Elo­quence is not inconsistent with Reli­gion.

And Severus Sulpitius gratulated the accurate and elegant Style of St. Augu­stine, Aug. Epist. 37.6. as an improver of that devout Sub­ject whereon he treated, Quicquid de ejus plenitudine ad nos usque redundat ju­cundius efficitur & gratius per tuum ele­gantem famulatum.

Nay, St. Ambrose is said to have con­verted St. Augustine, then a Manichee, to [Page 29] the Christian Faith, by his great Elo­quence; which wrought so powerfully, when he onely out of curiosity went to hear Him at Millain, That taken by the bait of his Elocution, this great Cham­pion was drawn into the Net of the Church.

Nor is this strange, As St. Paul told the Corinthians, 2 Cor 12.16 That he had taken them by deceit, so oft-times it falls out, that the Preachers Eloquence by perswasion wins the Auditory to the Confession of some Truths, which plain reason or force of Argument could not before evince.

'Tis true, David says,Psal. 44.14. The King's Daughter is all glorious within, and yet in that place she is presented in Garments embroidered, and wrought with the needle.

Indeed it had been an unsuitable mismatched Beauty, had not Her out­ward Ornaments held some proportion with Her inward Perfections.

I apply it thus, Good Matter and sound Doctrine were unfashionable Vir­tues, if not set out so as Becomes Sound Doctrine.

[Page 30] 5. Sound Doctrine.This is our Issue and your Fruit, That Fruit whose Leaves under which it grows are our Words

For this cause is Paul a Planter, Apollos a Waterer, that the Congregation may gather the Blessings of this Husbandry.

And as the Tree whereon it grows hath many Branches, so the Fruit hath many Species, even so many as there be Virtues Moral or Theological.

This is the Treasure for which we dig, whose Mine is the Scripture, whose Mint the Church, whose Stamp Christ Himself, By whose Impression in our Baptism we are coined, and become Current Christians.

As every Vein of Ore hath a Test to try it, so this hath a Touch stone joyned to the Metall, which warrants both the Value and the Truth. St. James defines Pure Religion by Charity and Cleanness, Jam. 1.27. To [...]eep ones self unspotted from the world

And whatsoever conduceth to This is that sound Doctrine St. Paul here means.

This is that Christian Building, whose [Page 31] Foundation is Christ and his Apostles. Ephes. 2.20. The Religion which stands not on these Bases is weak and false▪ the Apostle te­stifying, Aliud fundamentum nemo ponit, 1 Cor. 3.11. The saving Truth never had any foun­dation but [...]his.

This is the Genealogy of Faith, whose extraction is the Sacred Scri [...] ­ture; That Volume which reveals Him▪ who came to do the will of God, Psal. 40.8. and instructs us to conform our Lives accor­ding to that Revealed Will.

This Book hath too many Leaves now to read over; but if you will have the Analysis and sum of all, the Preacher hath gathered it,Eccles. 12.13. Let us here the Conclu­sion of the whole matter, Fear God, and keep his Commandements. He who teach­eth this Lesson teacheth Sound Doctrine, And he who Learns it throughly hath all we can Teach.

To speak beyond this I cannot, I may with Jonathan shoot Wide, or Short, or Over; and by that a little better direct your aim, not inform you better. I may dissolve this Mass, or melt this Ingot [Page 32] to make it more portable; but I cannot alter the Metall, or put any better Stamp upon it than Doctrina sana, Sound Do­ctrine.

This Doctrine therefore [...] Sound, that is,1. Pure. Pure, not adulterated with Fa­bles, or mingled with Traditions, which have imbased Religion, and brought down the price of Truth in all those parts of Christendome where this false Coin is Current, this Counterfeit Stuff vendable, And their Practice allow'd, who teach for Sound Doctrine, Command­ments of Men. Matth. 15 9

The Doctrine of Christ is refined from this Dross, Hear it from the Psal­mist,Psal. 18.31. Thy words are pure, like silver seven times tried in the fire.

This is that [...], Sincere milk, which the Children of God suck from the Breast of the Church their Mother.1 Pet. 2.2.

Or Sound, that is, Wholesome, [...],2. Wholesome 2 Tim. 2 13 A word which heals the Soul, yet not so as the Prophet com­plains of those Mountebanks, who heal the hurts of the people with sweet words. Jer. 6.14.

[Page 33]Popular Flatteries d [...]stilling from Sermons, fall down upon the Congre­gation like Mill-dews, whose unwhole­some sweetness corrupts the Pasture, and Rots those who feed upon it. This Doctrine is no suppling Plaister, no Balm to break the head with smiles:Psal. 141.5. No Reteining Divinity, which takes Pen­sion to serve any ones humour, or is content to wait upon the [...]hantasie of the Patron, but free and open, whose End is not to delight the Times, or serve Turns, but to Cure the Men.

Or Sound, that is, Entire, spun out of an even Thred,3. Entire. which hath no Cross Opinions interwoven, no Party-colour'd skeins of Faction, no coarse Woollen made out of gross Fleeces shear'd from the Flock of Rome, No Relicks, nor wonder-working Rags torn from any Shrine, and then patched to that White Robe of Truth, which was the first Gar­ment Christ gave his Spouse, and hath ever since been the Church's Livery.

Such ill-fashion'd Attire puts Her forth as for Her Penance in a dy'd Coat, [Page 34] and cloathes Her in that motly Habit which makes Her ridiculous to the Chri­stian world.

4. Plain.Or Sound, that is, Plain and Perspi­cuous, not muffled up in dark Conclu­sions. The old Proverb tells us, Via Plana est Via S [...]na, the Plain way is the Sound way, And sure the Plainest Re­ligion is the soundest, as in Heraldry, the Plainest Coat the best.

Wheresoever you find Obscure subtil­ties thrown over Truth, it is to be fear'd, that Curtain is hung before it for no good purpose; but meerly to disguise somewhat which the Inventor could wish the world might not know.

As the true Church is seated on a Mount, where it cannot be hid, so it is built, like Drusus his house, All Window, That by Her Tenets, as so many Case­ments, Each devout Eye may look clear­ly through, and freely survey the sim­plicity of the Fabrick.

Or Sound, that is, Firm, firm at the Foundation,5. Firm. and smoothly laid. The most firm Figure and Base for Build­ing [Page 35] is the Plain; A Complete Geome­trical Building admits no Stones but what are hewn from the Rock, and Squared; If the Foundation be rugged or uneven, full of pointed Scruples, and craggy Doubts, the Building must needs lean on one side; And if once it leans, it will be an hard matter by any new devised Distinction, to skrew it up, or set it right again.

When Curiosities are applyed to un­derlay a mis-treading foot, they com­monly cast it more awry.

Or Sound, that is, Solid at the heart;6. Solid. And commonly the most solid is still most plain. I know the Knotty piece of Wood is hard, but that Hardness inclines to Brittleness, which doth not prove it sound, but hard to work upon.

But the heart of Oak, as it is most sound and durable, so most smooth. This Soundness and this Plainess makes it both apt for Building, and promise Strength.

Knots tied upon a Cord were de­vis'd [Page 36] for a scourge to Torture, not for strength. Hard and Intricate Riddles in Divinity have no use but to rack the Brain, Not to Inform, but to Pose the Understanding.

To deliver my full meaning, The Plain, Positive, Catechestical Doctrine of the Church, as it is most Easie and Fa­miliar, so most Sound and Orthodox.

How many by over-bold searches after the Abstruse Mysteries of Faith, and Hid Decrees of God, have quite blinded themselves, and perplexed others?

How many in seeking to solve un­necessary scruples, have raised doubts, and tied knots in many a Conscience, which they are not able to untie again?

How many have accounted it their glory to Trade in subtil Questions, and preach Pol [...]micks to the People, when they might have Edified themselves and their Congregations better by a Cate­chism than a Controversie?

I have lived, and shall die in this [Page 37] Opinion, That there can be no greater danger to a setled Church, than Liber­ty to dispute and call in question the Points and Articles of an Established Religion.

I grant, Disputes amongst the Learn'd are sometimes useful Triturations, which by the Flail of Argument separate Truth from Error;

But the pressing of those Arguments in the Pulpit, in Popular Congregations, oft-times suspend Religion, and make weak Apprehensions stagger from their first Conclusions.

The Reason is Evident, for when Ar­guments are press'd, and Objections for the Other urged, That which is most plausible sways the Hearer, and com­monly carries the Cause.

Nothing therefore could more con­duce to the Peace of the Church, and Confirmation of Religion, than the lay­ing Controversies asleep, and silencing Disputes, which hang so many doubts upon the Cause, that like wrong Biasses, they draw men from the Mark.

[Page 38]'Tis piety to Believe what were not safe to Question; And besides, men would want cunning to suspect the Truth of their Religion, who never heard Objections fram'd against it.

Those who are put to wade unto the Articles of their Faith through Dis­putes and Logick, sometimes ingulph themselves in Depths which drown, but often strike on Rocks which break them into Irresolution. St. Paul therefore steers us from this Rocky Coast, Put away vain Questions, 2 Tim. 2.23. knowing that they engender strife.

These are [...], The fomenters of vain Curiosity, Multum in disputando habentia vanitatem, Eccles. 6.11. (so the Vulgar reads.)

Positive Divinity contains abundant­ly enough for the satisfaction of the Knowledge, and salvation of the Soul. A little Logick serves a Christian, And a man may go to Heaven without quaint Distinctions.1 Tim. 3.16. Without Controversie great is the mystery of godliness, which is God manifested in the flesh, justified in the [Page 39] spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, and ta­ken up into Glory.

This is the Scheme of Christian Re­ligion, the Scale of Faith, whose My­steries, though great, yet without Con­troversie or Dispute. The Original is [...], Confessedly.

He therefore who loves God, and Be­lieves in Him whom he hath sent Christ Jesus;Joh. 17.3.

He who is able to distinguish Con­versation which may corrupt his Man­ners and Opinions, which may corrupt his Faith; He who makes Faith his Ma­jor, Greatest Proposition, and a Religi­ous fruit of that Faith exhibited in the Actions of his Life his Minor Proposition;

He who Syllogizes in this Figure, this perfect form of Living, and then Con­cludes according to these Premises, I mean, Ends according to this Beginning, hath Logick sufficient to save his Soul, and School-divinity enough to bring himself to Heaven.

I must yet add one Condition more necessarily required to sound Doctrine, 7. Sano mo­do. [Page 40] That it be delivered Sano modo, In sound terms: That there be not onely no Contradiction In Terminis, That the terms be not onely not Repugnant to the Truth of the Position, but not Am­biguous or Innovated, so as they either darken or distort the meaning of it.

For which Reason the Councell of Car­thage appointed, that at the Consecra­tion of a Bishop, one part of the Exa­mination should be, Ante omnia si fidei documenta verbis simplicibus asserat, Concil. Car­thag. 4. Can. 1. If in the first place he assert the Doctrine of Faith in plain words and simple terms. An Old truth presented in New terms, hath oft-times raised new Senses, and an­other Construction, And so by a varied delivery made it suspected. Error hath many faces, Truth possesseth no shape but one.

For a man to keep within this Cir­cle, that he speaks nothing Contrary to sound Doctrine, or nothing but what may be reduced to It, Is safe Discretion, but not sound Religion.

Pol [...]cy, or cold Neutrality, use to lie [Page 41] at this Guard: Esse Directe & esse Reductivè in Praedicamento, are Two things in Logick: That which may be Re­ducible to a Praedicament is Oblique or Collateral, not Directly in it, Nor can we call what is Reducible, Direct Truth.

Sound Doctrine conveyed in Dubious or Indirect Phrase, is not sound Doctrine, but lame and crazy.

The best that can be said of It, 'Tis Doctrina sana, non sano modo, Sound Do­ctrine delivered in unsound sick Terms, which like infected cloathes Infect the Body that wears them.

Axitheus tells Theophrastus, [...]:Aenaeas Ga [...]dus pag. 14 There is much Error in those Discourses which are delivered in doubtful, or dif­ferent, or unsound Phrase.

St. Paul requires Soundness as well in the Form as in the Matter of Doctrine, Therefore he writes to Timothy thus, Formam habe sanorum verborum, 2 Tim. 1.13. Hold the form of sound words, (so the new Tran­slation) Or as the Greek, [...] [Page 42] [...], which another ren­ders, Keep the true Pattern of the whole­some words, That is, Deliver sound Do­ctrine in sound words.

To wind up all. It is Magalian's useful Application,Conclusion. and shall be Mine. St. Hie­rom interprets this soundness of Doctrine in Truth of Learning confirm'd by In­tegrity of Life,Hierom. Tunc doctrinae sanitas, cum doctorum doctrina pariter & vita con­sentiant;

For which cause St. Paul more fully interpreting this Charge, bids Titus shew himself a Pattern of good works.

Tit. 2.7.Example is the most powerful Ser­mon, And a Blameless Life the best Comment upon the Text of Christ.

It was the advice of Nilus Martyr, [...];Nilus Pa­raen. 11. And justly, for he perswades strongest whose Life is as Eloquent as his Tongue, preaching in his Conversation no less than in his Words.

This indeed is sound Doctrine, and (as the Apostle styles it) sound speech that cannot be condemned. Tit. 2.8.

[Page 43]This is the End of our Sermons, this is the Fruit of your Patience.

For this cause we preach, and the People hear, That by the Rule of sound Doctrine they may rectifie their Crooked lives.

All sin is an Obliquity,1 Tim. 9.10. and the habit of Vice▪ Prophaneness, Adultery, Murther, Lying, &c. are contrary to sound Doctrine.

Whatsoever therefore teacheth the Unmarried Continence, the Married Chastity, Children Obedience to their Parents, Subjects Loyalty towards their Soveraign; Whatsoever teacheth the Afflicted Patience, the Happy Tempe­rance, the Faithful Perseverance, and all sorts of People Charity, is Doctrina sana, That sound Doctrine which we must preach, the Congregation learn.

When St. Paul had delivered his per­fect Charge to Timothy, He concludes with Haec doce & exhortare, 1 Tim. 6.7. These things teach and exhort.

I cannot make a better close than to exhort you to Receive what we are commanded to Teach.

[Page 44]These Lessons digested into a Reli­gious practice, will approve the Teach­ers of the Congregation True Disciples of Christ, and you not Hearers onely of the Law, Jam. 1.22. but Doers of it.

When we have taken this Degree in Faith, it will derive on Us the Reward of Labourers, on You the Reward of the Righteous. Which the Righteous Lord will in due time give us for His Dear Son's sake: To Whom with the Blessed Spirit, the Assurer of this Mercy to us, Be all Honor, and Glory, and Thanks­giving for ever: AMEN.