IN the context we have S. Paul upon his Visitation at Miletus, vers. 17. And the Visitation, as this which is now holden with us, is Provincial, all the Clergy of the Province of Ephe­sus, being conven'd by this great Visitor, and appear before him, vers. 18.

The Text presents you with a part, but 'tis the principal part of the Visitation Sermon, or as I may ra­ther call it, The Visitors Charge to the Clergy of the Pro­vince. The first part of which charge is:

1. Take heed to your selves: To you my Brethren of the Clergy, is this Charge more strictly given, then to the Laity: For to the people God hath appoin­ted Pastors who are commanded in the text to take heed to the charge committed to them: But who [Page 2]shall feed and Guide the Shepherds, who shall watch over the Watchmen, or Teach the Teach­ers? Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and troden under foot of men, Mat. 5.13.

2. Take heed to your selves, is the first part of the Charge, And secondly to your Flock: The or­der observed in this Double Charge, is the next thing observable, which is the same observed by our Lord himself, in his charge to S. Peter, and in him to all Pastors of the Church, saying Luc. 22.32. When thou art converted, then afterward stringthen thy Brethren, and John 21.15. Simon son of Jonas; lovest thou me, and if so, it then follows, Feed my Sheep: Impli­citly commanding all Pastors of his Flock: First to be themselves truly converted unto God, and their souls inflamed with the sacred fire of Divine Love, and then they may hope that their pains will be suc­cesful for the feeding and strengthening the Sheep of Christ: That rule of Righteousness and Chari­ty which is the sum of the second Table of the Law, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self, commands this order to be observed, To love thy self aright in the first place, and then thy Neighbor as thy self: St. Be [...]nard thus bespeaks every Shepherd of fouls: Tu frater cui nondum est firma satis propria salus, cui Charitas adhuc nulla est, aut adeo tenera & arundinea, ut omni sta­tui [Page 3]cedat, omni credat spiritui, omni circumferatur vento do­ctrinae, quanam dementia quaeso, aliena curare, aut ambis aut acquiescis? And upon Cant. 1.6. They have made me the keeper of the Vineyards, but mine own viney ard have I not kept; he severely checks and reproves himself, that he had taken on him the Cure of other mens souls, having not sufficiently cared for and cured his own: Et miror—I do much wonder (saith he) at the Impudence of those persons, that thrust themselves to be Labourers in the Lords Vineyard, whilst their own Vineyard is overgrown with Bryars and thornes: The Leper under the Law was commanded to have a covering upon his upper lip, Lev. 13.43. ut non docere alios praesumat— saith Hesy­chius: that no man presume to open his lips in the Congregation, for the instruction of others, who is himself infected with the Leprosie, either of sin­fulness or error: for non est cadentis alium erigere: Plu­tarch: It is not for a man that lies in the dirt, to raise up another thence; not for that a man that is a sleep in his sins, to awake others from that spiritual sleep of death; That Proverb remembred by our Lord, Physician heal thy self, Luc. 4.23.18. chiefly appliable to the Physician of souls, who must begin at home, if he will work any cure upon the Souls of o­thers.

3. But this is not all, for thirdly the Cure of a Pastors soul, is a more difficult task; as being to be persected in a higher degree, then ordinarily can be [Page 4]expected from any of his Flock: For as our office of Priesthood, is more high, more eminent, more holy, so should our Conversation be, [...]— St. Chrysostom, De sacerdotio, As Angels above men, as Shepherds above their flock, as Ma­sters above their Scholars, so should a Bishop a Priest a Pa­stor excell and transcend the people in wholsome doctrine and holiness of life: so the great Gregory, Tantum debet acti­onem populi, actio transcendere praesulis, quantum distare solet a grege actio transcendere praesulis, quantum distare solet a grege vita Pastoris,— with much more to the same purpose, De cura Pastorali: A book which was once translated by the wisest and greatest of our Saxon Princes; King Alfred, and by him com­mended to the Clergy of this Nation; and a hap­py Clergy should we be, an holy Priesthood, if the Instructions in that Golden Book, were well ob­served amongst us.

4. Take heed to your selves and to all the Flock] and both these joyntly and severally. To your selves: As to the Innocence and Holiness of your Lives, as becometh good Christians: And to your Flock, as Shep­herds & Guides of souls. Under the Law, the Priests and Prophets of the Lord are frequently called the Angels of the Lord of hosts, Jud. 2.1. Mal. 2.7. And under the Gospel, the Angels of the Church of Christ, 1 Cor. 11.10. Rev. 2.1.8.12.—And as we read of the Angels on Jacobs Ladder, ascending and descending from heaven, Gen. 28.12. so the Priests of [Page 5]the Lord should first take heed to themselves by ascen­ding with the Angels into heaven, having their hearts and affections, their meditation and Conver­sation in heaven, Phil. 3.20. And withall take heed to the stock, by descending with the Angels from heaven enriched with the word of Life, breaking unto them that bread which cometh down from heaven, and giv­eth life unto the world, John 6.33.

But this joynt charge is sadly disjoyn'd and per­verted, by such as take heed to themselves indeed, but 'tis not with the Angels to ascend, but descend, only groveling in the dust, and wallowing in the mire of Luxury, Riot, and Excess, Pride and Co­vetousness, the Pomps and vanities of the world, and the sinful lusts of the flesh, which every one, even the meanest of their Flock, hath solemnly ab­jured, when by holy Baptism admitted into the Fold of Christ. By such as take heed to themselves, but 'tis not in a spiritual but carnal sense; who will look narrowly to themselves, as to their worldly concerns, their Revenue and Income; but are too careless to the spiritual concerns both of themselves and their Flock, Who seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christs, Phil. 2.21. Caring more for their Fa­milies at home, then for the Family of Christ, more for their bodily then for their spiritual relations, pro­viding better for their natural heirs, then their spiri­tual successors in their respective places: And in a [Page 6]word, by all such as mind more the Benefice, then the office, more the Fleece then the Flock: All such do falsly wrest, and wickedly pervert, this double charge of the great Visitor in the Text: Take heed to your selves and to your Flock: To your selves, by being examples of holiness to your Flock; And to your Flock; as Shepherds, to feed and guide them, as Fathers to admonish and reprove them, and as Mothers to nourish and cherish them: For these are the four Essentials of a faithful Pastor: Holiness of life, soundness of Doctrine, Christian courage, Christian Charity.

5. To all the Flock] not to the flock at random, not to this, or that particular Sheep, that fawns upon the Shepherd, nor to this, or that Par­ty or Sect, which agrees with his Humors and Opinions; but, To all the Flock impartially, and with­out Hypocrisie, and this first affirmatively, to in­struct the Ignorant, to strengthen the weak, to confirm the wavering, to reduce the erroneous, to visit the sick, to comfort the afflicted, to binde up the broken in heart, to reprove the sinful, and to testifie against the stubborn and disobedient: Se­condly Negatively, not to break the bruised reed, and quench the smoaking flax, Mat. 12.20. not to sow pillows under all Armholes, Ezek. 13.18. Not suffer them to settle with ease, and without re­proof, upon the Lees of their sins, and the errors of their waies: Not to claw the scabbed sheep, and [Page 7]scratch the itching ears not to tickle and foment the petulant humors of the Factious, not to please those squeazy Palates, who nauseate the solid food of Gods Publick solemn standing worship, un­der the prophane and scurrilous name of Porridge, and for no other cause, but because it is like it self, ever the same, constant to it self: Like the Glori­ous Sun in the Firmament, which shines every day the same; which renders it a worship accept­able, as being herein most agreeable to the Immut­able nature of God, the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning, Jam. 1.17. But the Itch after novelties in the Flock, and the Itch of popular applause or filthy Lucre in the Pastor, whilst the one scratches the Itch of the other: Hence the putrid Scabs of Schism and Heresie in the Church, of Disobedience and Rebellion in the Kingdom, are en­gendred.

Against all such sinful Compliance, Take heed to your selves, my Brethren take heed to your selves, and to your vows and promises, Sacerdotal and Ecclesiasti­cal, confirmed by your respective Subscriptions to the Articles and Canons of the Church, to the In­junctions of your Metropolitan and Diaecesan, to the Approbation and constant use of the Liturgy of the Church, and of that onely in publick: In which last particular, wherein the greatest part of the Ministerial Function consists, I cannot but te­stifie [Page 8]in this Assembly, so much concern'd therein: That there is utterly a fault amongst us; In that those Divine and excellent Prayers, and heavenly inspir­ed Prayers of God, and that ancient and Constant way of Gods worship in Publick, is by many too much slighted and neglected, by many irreve­rently and indevoutly celebrated, by many mang­led and maimed, curtail'd, abbreviated, and by the Additions of others implicitly vilified: And generally almost by all secretly undermin'd; ener­vated and subverted by each mans private prayer in publick: The which private prayer, whether before Sermon, or at any other time in the Con­gregation, doth not onely secretly imply a defect in the Publick Prayers of the Church, which must (forsooth) be supplyed by mens private conceived prayers: but also, 'tis a disorder and confusion in the service of God; for thus publick and private prayer are confounded, which our Lord Christ hath distinguished and commanded to be separate­ly observed, to avoid Hypocrisie and vain-glory limiting the private prayer to the private closet, Mat. 6.5, 6. and for avoiding Tautologies and impertinent bablings after the manner of the hea­then, he prescribes a set form to be us'd in publick, vers. 8, 9. We are commanded when we call upon the Lord, to pay our vows to the most High, and then he will hear, Psal. 50.14. But can any man [Page 9]think it probable, that God will hear their prayers, who sacrilegiously break their vows when they pray, by praying otherwise then they have vowed and promised? those promises also being agree­able to the Commands of Christ, and the orders of his Church?

And this undoubtedly amongst many others, is not the least cause, of so many stray and wandring Sheep in every Flock, of so many giddy headed and factious minded men in every Congregation, of so many separate Congregations or Conven­ticles in every Parish: one great cause hereof is the falshood and treachery of the Shepherds, who in compliance with the noxious humors of the disea­sed part of their Flock, take no heed to them­selves, nor to the vows and promises they have made in order to the right and regular execution of their Function, in feeding of their Flock: so for the iniquity and irregular carriage of the Priests, the sons of Eli in the sacrifices of the Temple; Men abhorred the offering of the Lord, 1 Sam. 2.17.

6. But should not the Flock take heed to the Shepherd, as well as the Shepherd to the Flock? The duty of the one to the other (undoubtedly) is reciprocal, and the mutual Relation respectively binding. Take heed to thy self (said the Lord to his people) that thou forsake not the Levite, as long as thou livest upon the earth, Deut. 12.19. and Chap. 14.27. [Page 10] Eccl. 7.30. There is nothing more plainly asser­ted and more punctually commanded in the book of God, then that the people should take heed to their Priests, the Flock to their Shepherds, espe­cially such as are orthodox and holy, that they should hear and obey their voice, and make their Application and recourse unto them, in all cases of ignorance or doubting: For the Priests lips should keep knowledge, and they (the people) should seek the Law at his mouth, for he is the messenger (or the Angel) of the Lord of Hosts, Mal. 2.7. Haec sunt initia haeretico­rum, ut sibi placeant, & praepositum superbo tumore contemnant, Cypr. lib. 3. Epist. ad Florent. Hence the Rise of Hereticks in the Church, when the people swel­ling with presumption of their own knowledge, and pleasing themselves in their fancies and opini­ons, proudly neglect and scorn to submit to their directions, whom the Lord hath appointed to be their Shepherds and Guides of their Souls: And thus even thus; the people of God fell into Idola­try, even that gross and infamous Idolatry of the Golden Calf, when slighting Moses, and over­awing Aaron the high Priest, they commanded him, who should have commanded them, say­ing, Make us Gods to go before us, for as for this man Moses, we wot not what is become of him, Numb. 22.1.

When the same people were weary of the Go­vernment of Samuel the Prophet, and desired a King, the Lord said unto Samuel, They have not des­pised thee, but they have despised me, 1 Sam. 8.7. Where­upon St. Gregory: Quam neverendi sunt Pastores opti­mi Sanctae Ecclesiae—how reverendly to be esteemed are the Pastors of holy Church, who whilst they faithfully serve the Lord in the Execution of their function, they are so closely joyn'd unto him in the bond of love, that the least slight disesteem or neglect, that is cast upon them, the Lord takes it as an injury to himself: So said the Lord to his A­postles, and in them to their Successors: He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you; des­piseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me, Luc. 10.16. And this duty, that the people should take heed to their Priests, is commanded under a severe penalty, Deut. 17.8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in Judgment, thou shalt arise and come unto the Priests, the Levites, and that man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the Priest, that standeth to Minister — even that man shall dye. And under the Gospel also the same command is given, Heb. 13.17. Obey them that have the Rule over you, and submit your selves, for they watch for your Souls.

But notwithstanding these and many more commands, in the sacred sheets of either Testa­ment, [Page 12]yet is this Christian duty slighted and generally omitted, and especially by such as pretend most to the sole Authority of the holy Scriptures, without any Relation to the doctrine and Authority of the Church in the Interpretation thereof: There being many a­mongst us in every Flock; who presume to direct their Shepherds, guide their Guides, and teach their Teachers; who if they teach not, preach not, pray not, as they would have them, and conso­nant to their humors and opinions; they will cen­sure their doctrines, contemne their directions re­vile their persons, scandalize their profession, and even snatch the holy Oracles out of their mouths, and separate themselves into Conventicles, where they may heap to themselves Teachers after their lusts, hav­ing itching ears, and they turn away their ears from the truth, and are turned unto fables; believing and delight­ing in lies, and vain empty prophesyings which profit not, as was foretold of such, 2 Tim. 4.3, 4.

And having mentioned Conventicles, I cannot but add a word or two of the danger of them, not in order to the disturbance of the peace of the Na­tion, leaving that to the Secular Magistrate, but in order to the seduction of unwary and unstable souls into falshood and errors in Religion; Verily verily I say unto you, he that entreth not in by the door into [Page 13]the sheepfold, but climeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber, Joh. 10.1. 'Tis the practice of sub­tile thieves when they seize on the honest Traveller to drag him out of the high road-way into hedges and by-places, the more securely and without in­terruption to robb and spoil him; so the spiritual thieves, false Prophets, ringleaders of faction and sedition, do more easily seduce, and robb poor silly men and women of the in estimable treasures of truth and obedience, by drawing them from the open and Publick Assemblies of Gods people in his houses of prayer, into By-places and lone houses, where they may more securely breath forth the spiritual Infections, sow the seeds of Schism and Sedition, and whisper their irreligious Trea­sons, under the mask of Religion. In such pla­ces they may to their advantage vent and put off their counterfeit ware, their false glosses, and mis­interpretations of holy Writ, and make their Apocryphal Comments upon Canonical Scrip­ture, making the holy Word of God to speak not what the Spirit of God intends therein, but what their factious spirits and wilde fancies would have it: That there should be such false Prophets in desart places and private houses, our Lord hath foretold, commanding all his disciples not to believe or fol­low them, Mat. 24.26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you behold he is in the desart, go not forth; behold he [Page 14]is in the secret chamber, believe it not. St. Augustine ob­serves of the man that fell among thieves, and was robbed and wounded, Luc. 10.30. Si non descendisset— If he had not been going down from Jerusalem, the place of Gods Temple, to Jericho a prophane and common place, he had escaped that sad disaster: To teach all people to beware how they leave the place which God hath chosen to put his name there, the Temple and house of God, to convene in any common or prophane By-places, under pretence of Re­ligion, and the performance of holy duties in such places: 'Twas otherwise with the man after Gods own heart, Psal. 5.7. As for me I will come into thine house even upon the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple. And with him resolves the whole body of Gods people, Psal. 132.7. We will go into his tabernacle, and fall low on our knees before his footstool: And not only this un­der the Law, but under the Gospel, Mark. 11.17. My house (not the houses of men) shall be called the house of prayer of all Nations: Not of the Jews as un­der the Law, but of the Gentiles also under the Gospel, and 'tis there especially in Gods own house, that he has promised to meet his people, to be in the midst of them, to hear their prayers and bless them, To teach them his waies by his faithful and true Pastors, and there (in a word) to dispence all the blessed means of grace and salvati­on [Page 15]to them, Deuteron. 12.5.6.11, 12, 13, 14. 1 Kin. 8.29, 30. Mat. 18.20. Luc. 19.46. 1 Cor. 11.20.

7. But the grand excuse of the wandring sheep, and the cry of many Orthodox also, is, The division of the Shepheards, who being divided amongst themselves, do lead their flocks into several divided wayes of divine worship: And the generality of the flock being not wise enough to know what way to take; or whom most securely to follow, they hereupon heap to themselves Teachers after their own Lusts, and with the Schismatical Corinthians 1 ep. 1 cap. 12. vers. Every one saith, I am of Paul, I am of A­pollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ, one man, or Sect of men, liking this mans way of preaching and praying, another anothers way, and others none at all, but independently rely upon the immediate teaching of Christ by his Spirit. And thus Sects and Divisions are multiplied.

This complaint is too true, and such sad effects thereof too evident, and if not stopt will prove bitterness in the end.

But would you know who be these divided Pa­stors or Preachers, or Sect-masters rather, the cor­rupt springs from whom all our polluted streams of divisions flow? They are such (in a word) as first divide from the Church of Christ in general (wherein they all agree) and then divide amongst [Page 16]themselves, into particular Sects, and Factions, wherein they all differ: There is but one body and one spirit, Eph. 4.4. one mystical body of Christ, which is his Church, and one spirit of truth, quick­ning this our body, and its members, and them onely: And as it follows, One Lord, one faith, one baptisme, one God and father of all, who is above all, through all, and in you all, vers. 5, 6. In you all, that are members of this one body, and quickned with this one spirit, and endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, which is the duty enforced from the premisses, vers. 3. Contrariwise then such, that divide from this one body the Church, into several Sects and Factions, and (which necessarily fol­lows) such as are not quickned with this one spirit, but each with the foolish Prophets follow their own spi­rit, Ezek. 13.3. which they mistake and mis-term the Spirit of God; such as worship, not this one Lord, as we are all commanded, with one mouth and with one minde, Rom. 15.6. Such as hold not the Ar­ticles of this one faith, with one joynt unanimous consent of truth; Unto the unity of which faith, till we all come, we cannot be perfect men in Christ Jesue: but are like children tossed to and fro, and carryed about with every winde of doctrine, Eph. 4.13, 14. Such are all false Prophets, treacherous Shepherds, or in the Language of Saint Paul, 2 Corin. 11.13, 14. Such are all false Apostles; deceitful workers, transforming them­selves [Page 17]into the Apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light: I may call them according to the metaphor of the text, The Bellweathers of the Flock, the Ringleaders of those numerous Sects, and daily increasing divisi­ons amongst us.

And although each sect and division must ne­cessarily be false and erroneous, because there is but one Truth, and one true way of Divine wor­ship, which is ever constant to it self, yet hath each division its numerous followers of the divided Flock: as silly sheep when a gap is opened, follow one another to the breach to stray from their Pa­sture: So flock the people (if not restrained) into the ways of division and error, if any Sect-master but open a gap, and lead them the By-ways of stray­ing from the Sheepfold of Christ, which is his Church: For such alas, is the sad condition of mans corrupted and depraved minde, as naturally to be more affected with error, then with the Truth; more prone to believe lies, and more zealous in the maintenance of falshood, then to believe and main­tain the Truth: 'Twas ever so, When the Prophets prophesie falsly, the people love to have it so, Jer. 5. ult. but a sad question follows, What will ye do in the end thereof? When the Prophets prophesie Lies, or (which is the same) do make and foment divisi­ons, and the people withall are affected with their [Page 18]lying prophesies, and side with them in their re­spective divisions: 'tis easie then to prophesie and foretell the end thereof to be ruine and confusion: If a kingdom be divided against it self, that kingdom can­not stand, and if a house be divided against it self, that house cannot stand, Mar. 3.24, 25. Not the house of God, not the family of Christ, in what King­dom or Nation soever established: All the King­doms and Nations in Christendom, ancient and modern, from the first to these last and worst of times, have felt, by sad experience, the bitter ef­fects of divisions and errors in Religion; and none more then our own, so lately bleeding, even to the last gasp of death, and almost buryed in her own confusions; which took beginning from the prophesying of Lies, and overspreading of mis­takes and errors in Religion, sowing the seeds of Schism, Faction and Sedition, in separate and divided meetings, or Conventicles in private; joyned with a sacrilegious vow-breaking perform­ance of holy duties in Publick: All which are now as much, if not more practised then ever; some of whose Factors and Followers, do really intend, all do certainly tend to involve this Church and Kingdom, into the sad condition of intestine war, blood and Confusion, from whence by the great mercy of God, we so lately escaped.

And now to you, the Reverend persons, who are come to visit us in our distempers and infirmi­ties, to you it belongs, as much as in you lies, to give stop to our overflowing Divisions: To re­strain our licentious exorbitancies, both in doctrine and practice, in Praying and Preaching, and this, whether in the house of God, or in the houses of men: Et fiat Justitia, ruat coelum.