IT may possibly be expected, that the very taking of my Text out of this Epistle to Titus may engage me in a Di­scourse about the Nature, Ori­ginal, and Divine Right of Episcopacy; and if it should, it were no more, then what some of the greatest, and the learned'st persons in the world (when men served Truth instead [Page 2] of Design) had done before: For, I must profess that I cannot look upon Titus as so far Vnbishopt yet, but that he still exhibits to us all the Essentials of that Jurisdiction that to this day is claimed for Episcopal. We are told in the fifth Verse of the first Chapter, That he was left in Crete to set things in order, and to ordain Elders in every City; which Text one would think were sufficiently clear and full, and too big with Evidence to be perverted; but when we have seen Rebellion commented out of the thirteenth of the Romans; and since there are few things but admit of Gloss and probability, and consequently may be ex­pounded as well as disputed on both sides; it is no such wonder, that some would bear the world in hand, that the Apostles design and meaning is for Presbytery, though his words are all the time for Episcopacy; No wonder, I say, to us at least, who have conversed with too many strange unparallel'd Actions, Occur­rences and Events, now to wonder at any thing; Wonder is from Surprize; and Surprize ceases upon Experience.

I am not so much a Friend to the stale Starched Formality of Preambles, as to detain so great an Audience with any praevious di­scourse extrinsick to the Subject matter and [Page 3] design of the Text; and therefore I shall fall directly upon the Words, which run in the form of an Exhortation, though in appearance a very strange one; for the matter of an Ex­hortation should be something naturally in the Power of him to whom the Exhortation is di­rected. For no man exhorts another to be strong, beautiful, witty, or the like; these are the felicities of some Conditions, the objects of more Wishes, but the effects of no mans Choice. Nor seems there any greater reason for the Apostles exhorting Titus, That no man should despise him; for how could another mans Action be his Duty? Was it in his power that men should not be wicked and in­jurious? and if such persons would despise him, could any thing pass an obligation upon him not to be despised? No, this cannot be the meaning; and therefore it is clear, that the Exhortation lies not against the Action it self, which is onely in the Despisers power; but a­gainst the just occasion of it, which is in the will and power of him that is Despised; it was not in Titus's power that men should not de­spise him, but it was in his power to bereave them of all just cause of doing so; it was not in his power not to be Derided, but 'twas in his power not to be Ridiculous.

[Page 4]In all this Epistle it is evident that St. Paul looks upon Titus as advanced to the dignity of a prime Ruler of the Church, and entrusted with a large Diocess, containing many particu­lar Cities under the immediate Government of their respective Elders; and those deriving Au­thority from his Ordination, as was specified in the fifth Verse of the first Chapter. And now looking upon Titus under this Qualification, he addresses a long Advice and Instruction to him, for the discharge of so important a Fun­ction, all along the first and second Chapter: but summs up all in this last Verse, which is the subject of the ensuing Discourse, and contains in it these two things.

1. An account of the Duties of his Place or Office.

2. Of the means to facilitate and make ef­fectual their Execution.

The Duties of his place were two. 1. To Teach. 2. To Rule. Both comprized in these words; These things speak and exhort, and re­buke with all Authority.

And then, the means, the onely means to make him Successful, Bright and Victorious in the performance of these great works, was to be above Contempt, to shine like the Baptist, with a clear, and a triumphant Light. In a word [Page 5] it is every Bishops duty to Teach, and to Govern; and his way to do it, is not to be despised.

We will discourse of each respectively in their Order.

1. And first, for the first branch of the great work incumbent upon a Church Ruler, which is to Teach. A work that none is too great or too high for: it is a work of Charity, and Chari­ty is the work of Heaven, which is always lay­ing it self out upon the Needy, and the Impo­tent; nay, and it is a work of the highest and the noblest Charity; for he that teacheth ano­ther, gives an Almes to his soul, he cloathes the nakedness of his Understanding, and relieves the wants of his impoverished Reason: he in­deed that governs well, leads the Blind; but he that teaches him, gives him Eyes; and it is a glo­rious thing to have been the Recoverer and Re­pairer of a decayed Intellect, and a Sub-worker to Grace, in freeing it from some of the incon­veniencies of Original sin. It is a Benefaction that gives a man a kind of Prerogative: for e­ven in the common Dialect of the world, every Teacher is called a Master: it is the property of Instruction to descend, and upon that very ac­count it supposes him, that instructs, the Supe­riour, or at least makes him so.

To say a man is advanced too high to conde­scend [Page 6] to teach the Ignorant, is as much as to say, that the Sun is in too high a place to shine upon what is below him. The Sun is said to rule the day, and the Moon to rule the night: but do they not Rule them onely by enlighting them? Doctrine is that, that must prepare men for Di­scipline; and men never go on so cheerfully, as when they see where they goe.

Nor is the dullness of the Scholar to extin­guish, but rather to enflame the charity of the Teacher: for since it is not in men as in vessels, that the smallest capacity is the soonest filled; where the labour is doubled, the value of the work is enhaunced; for it is a sowing where a man never expects to reap any thing but the Comfort and Conscience of having done ver­tuously. And yet we know moreover, that God sometimes converts even the dull and the slow, turning very Stones into Sons of Abraham; where, besides that the difficulty of the Con­quest advances the Trophee of the Conquerer; it often falls out, that the backward Learner makes amends another way, recompencing Sure for Suddain, and expiating his want of Docility with a deeper and a more rooted Sincerity. Which alone were argument sufficient to inforce the Apostles injunction of being instant in season and out of season; even upon the highest and [Page 7] most exalted Ruler in the Church. He that sits in Moses chair, sits there to Instruct as well as to Rule: and a Generals office engages him to Lead as well as to Command his Army. In the first of Ecclesiastes, Solomon represents himself both as Preacher and King of Israel: and every soul that a Bishop gains, is a new accession to the extent of his Power; he preaches his Jurisdiction wider, and enlarges his spiritual Diocess, as he enlarges mens apprehensions.

The Preaching part indeed of a Romish Bi­shop, is easie enough, whose Grand business is onely to teach men to be Ignorant, to instruct them how to know Nothing, or, which is all one, to know upon Trust, to believe implicitly, and in a word, to see with other mens eyes, till they come to be lost in their own souls. But our Re­ligion is a Religion that dares to be understood; that offers it self to the search of the Inquisitive, to the inspection of the severest and the most awakened Reason: for being secure of her sub­stantial Truth and Purity, she knows that for her to be seen and look into, is to be embraced and admired: as there needs no greater argu­ment for men to love the light then to see it: It needs no Legends, no Service in an unknown tongue, no inquisition against Scripture, no purging out of the heart and sence of Authors, [Page 8] no altering or bribing the voice of Antiquity to speak for it; it needs none of all these laborious Artifices of ignorance; none of all these cloaks and coverings. The Romish faith indeed must be covered, or it cannot be kept warm; and their Clergy deal with their Religion as with a great Crime; if it is Discovered they are undone. But there is no Bishop of the Church of England, but accounts it his Interest, as well as his Duty to comply with this Precept of the Apostle Paul to Titus, These things teach and exhort.

Now this Teaching may be effected two ways;

• 1. Immediately by himself.
• 2. Mediately by others.

And first immediately by himself. Where God gives a Talent, the Episcopal Robe can be no Napkin to hide it in. Change of Condition changes not the abilities of Nature, but makes them more illustrious in their exercise; and the Episcopal dignity added to a good Preaching faculty, is like the erecting of a stately Fountain upon a Spring, which still, for all that, remains as much a Spring as it was before, and flows as plen­tifully, onely it flows with the circumstance of greater State and Magnificence, Height of place is intended onely to stamp the endowments of a private condition with Lustre and Authority: [Page 9] And thanks be to God, neither the Churches profess'd enemies, nor her pretended friends have any cause to asperse her in this respect, as having over her such Bishops, as are able to silence the Factious, no less by their Preaching, then by their Authority.

But then on the other hand, let me add also, that this is not so absolutely necessary, as to be of the vitall Constitution of this Function. He may teach his Diocess who ceases to be able to preach to it: for he may do it by appointing Teachers, and by a vigilant exacting from them the care and the instruction of their respective Flocks. He is the Spiritual father of his Dio­cess; and a Father may see his Children taught, though he himself does not turn Schoolmaster. It is not the gift of every Person, nor of every Age, to harangue the multitude, to Voice it high and loud, & Dominari in Concionibus. And since Experience fits for government, and Age usual­ly brings experience, perhaps the most Govern­ing years are the least Preaching years. In the

2. Second place therefore, there is a teaching Mediately, by the Subordinate ministration of others; in which, since the Action of the Instru­mental agent is upon all grounds of Reason to be ascribed to the Principal, He that ordains and furnishes all his Churches with able Preachers, [Page 10] is an Universal Teacher, he instructs, where he cannot be Present, he speaks in every mouth of his Diocess, and every Congregation of it every Sunday feels his Influence, though it hears not his Voice. That Master deprives not his Family of their food, who orders a faithful Steward to dispence it. Teaching is not a Flow of Words, nor the Draining of an Hour-glass, but an ef­fectual procuring, that a man comes to know something that he knew not before, or to know it better. And therefore Eloquence and Abi­lity of speech is to a Church Governour, as Tully said it was to a Philosopher, Si afferatur non repudianda, si absit non magnoperè desideranda: and to find fault with such an one for not being a Popular Speaker, is to blame a Painter for not being a good Musician.

To Teach indeed, must be confest his Duty; but then there is a Teaching by Example, by Authority, by restraining Seducers, and so re­moving the Hindrances of knowledge. And a Bishop does his Church, his Prince and Coun­trey more Service by ruling other mens Tongues, then he can by imploying his own. And thus much for the first Branch of the great Work belonging to a Pastor of the Church, which was to Teach and to Exhort.

2. The second is to Rule, Expressed in these [Page 11] words; Rebuke with all Authority. By which I doubt not, but the Apostle principally intends Church-censures, and so the Words are a Me­tonymy of the Part for the whole, giving an in­stance in Ecclesiastical Censures, instead of all other Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. A Jurisdiction, which in the Essentials of it is as old as Christi­anity, and even in those Circumstantial additi­ons of secular Encouragement, with which the Piety and Wisdom of Christian Princes alwayes thought necessary to support it, against the En­croachments of the injurious World, much Older, and more Venerable, then any Constitu­tion that has divested the Church of it.

But to speak directly to the Thing before us; We see here the great Apostle employing the utmost of his Authority in commanding Titus to use his: and what he said to Him, he says to every Christian Bishop after him, Rebuke with all Authority. This Authority, is a Spiritual Sword put into the hands of every Church Ru­ler, and God put not this Sword into his hands, with an intent that he should keep it there for no other purpose, but onely for Fashion-sake, as men use to wear one by their sides. Go­vernment is an Art above the Attainment of an ordinary Genius, and requires a wider, a larger; and a more Comprehending Soul than God has [Page 12] put into every Body. The Spirit that animates and acts the Universe, is a Spirit of Govern­ment; and that Ruler that is possessed of it, is the Substitute and Vicegerent of Providence, whether in Church or State. Every Bishop is Gods Curate. Now the Nature of Govern­ment Contains in it these three parts.

• 1. An Exaction of Duty from the Persons placed under it.
• 2. A Protection of them in the performance of their Duty.
• 3. Coercion and Animadversion upon such as neglect it.

All which are in their Proportion, ingredients of that Government that we call Ecclesiastical.

1. And first it implies Exaction of Duty from the Persons placed under it: for it is both to be confessed and lamented, that men are not so ready to Offer it, where it is not exacted: Otherwise, what means the Service of the Church so imperfectly, and by halves read over, and that by many who profess a Conformity to the Rules of the Church? What makes them mince and mangle that in their Practise, which they could swallow whole in their Subscripti­ons? Why are the Publick Prayers curtail'd and left out, Prayers composed with Sobriety, and injoyned with Authority, onely to make the [Page 13] more Room for a long, crude, impertinent, up­start Harangue before the Sermon?

Such persons seem to Conform (a Word whose signification they never make good) one­ly that they may despise the Churches Injuncti­ons, under the Churches Wing, and Contemn Authority within the Protection of the Laws. Duty is but another English Word for Debt, and God knows, that it is well if men pay their Debts when they are call'd upon. But if Go­vernors do not remind men of, and call them to Obedience, they will find that it will never come as a Free-will-offering, no, not from many who even serve at the Altar.

2. Government imports a Protection, and Encouragement of the Persons under it, in the Discharge of their Duty. It is not for a Ma­gistrate to frown upon, and brow-beat those who are hearty and exact in the management of their Ministry; and with a Grave insignifi­cant Nodd, to call a well Regulated, and Re­solved Zeal, Want of Prudence and Modera­tion. Such Discouraging of men in the ways of an Active Conformity to the Churches Rules, is that, that will crack the Sinews of Govern­ment, for it weakens the Hands, and Damps the Spirits of the Obedient. And if onely Scorn and Rebuke shall attend men for assert­ing [Page 14] the Churches Dignity, and taxing the murder of Kings, and the like: Many will choose rather to neglect their Duty safely and creditably, then to get a Broken Pate in the Churches Service, onely to be rewarded with that, that shall Break their Hearts too.

3. The third thing implyed in Government, is Coercion and Animadversion upon such as neglect their Duty. Without which Coercive Power, all government is but Toothless and Precarious, and does not so much command, as beg obedience. Nothing, I confess is more be­coming a Christian, of what Degree soever, then Meekness, Candor and Condescension; but they are Vertues that have their proper Sphere and Season to act and shew themselves in, and con­sequently not to interfere with others, Different indeed in their Nature, but altogether as Ne­cessary in their Use. And when an insolent de­spiser of Discipline, nurtur'd into Impudence and Contempt of all Order, by a long Risk of Licence and Rebellion, shall appear before a Church governour, Severity and Resolution are that Governours Vertues, and Justice it self is his Mercy; for by making such an one an ex­ample, (as much as in him lies) he will either Cure him, or at least Preserve others.

Were indeed the Consciences of men, as they [Page 15] should be, the Censures of the Church, might be a sufficient Coercion upon them; but being, as most of them now a days are, Hell and Damnation-proof, her bare Anathema's fall but like so many Bruta fulmina upon the Ob­stinate and Schismatical: who are like to think themselves shrewdly hurt, by being cut off from that Body, which they choose not to be of; and so being punished into a Quiet enjoyment of their beloved Separation. Some will by no means allow the Church any further power then onely to Exhort and to Advise, and this but with a Proviso too, that it extends not to such as think themselves too Wise, and too Great to be Advised: according to the Hypothesis of which persons, the Authority of the Church, and the obliging force of all Church Sanctions, can bespeak men onely thus; These and these things it is your Duty to do, and if you will not do them, you may as well let them alone. A strict and efficacious Constitution indeed, which in­vests the Church with no power at all, but where men will be so Civil as to obey it, and so at the same Time pay it a Duty, and do it a Courtesie too.

But when in the Judgement of some men, the Spiritual Function as Such, must render a Churchman, though otherwise never so Dis­creet [Page 16] and qualified; yet meerly because he is a Church-man, unfit to be intrusted by his Prince with a share of that Power and Jurisdiction, which in many Circumstances his Prince has judged but too necessary, to secure the Affairs and Dignity of the Church; and which, every thriving Grasier can think himself but ill dealt with, if within his own Countrey he is not mounted to: It is a sign, that such discontent­ed Persons intend not that Religion shall advise them upon any other Terms, then that they may Ride and Govern their Religion.

But surely all our Kings, and our Parliaments, understood well enough what they did, when they thought fit to prop and fortifie the Spiritual Order with some Power that was Temporal; and such is the present state of the World, in the judgment of any observing Eye; that, if the Bishop has no other defensives but Excommu­nication, no other power but that of the Keys, he may, for any notable effect that he is like to do upon the factious and contumacious, sur­render up his Pastoral Staff, shut up the Church, and put those Keys under the Door.

And thus I have endeavored to show the Three things included in the general Nature of Government; but, to prescribe the manner of it in Particular, is neither in my Power nor In­clination; [Page 17] onely, I suppose, the Common Theory and Speculation of things, is free and open to any one whom God has sent into the world with an ability to contemplate, and by continuing him in the World, gives him also opportunity. In all that has been said, I do not in the least pretend to Advise, or Chalk out Rules to my Superiors; for some men cannot be Fools with so good acceptance as others. But whosoever is call'd to speak upon a certain oc­casion, may, I conceive, without offence take any Text sutable to that occasion; and having taken it, may, or at least ought to speak sutably to that Text.

I proceed now to the second thing proposed from the Words, which is the Means assigned for the Discharge of the Duties mentioned, and exhibited under this one short Prescription, Let no man despise thee: In the handling of which I shall shew,

1. The ill effects and destructive Influence that Contempt has upon Government.

2. The groundless Causes upon which Church-Rulers are frequently despised.

3. And lastly, the just Causes that would render them, or indeed any other Rulers wor­thy to be despised. All which being clearly made out, and impartially laid before our eyes, [Page 18] it will be easie and obvious for every one, by a­voiding the Evil so markt out, to answer and come up to the Apostles Exhortation.▪

And first we will discourse of Contempt, and the maligne hostile Influence it has upon Go­vernment. As for the thing it self, every mans Experience will inform him, that there is no Action in the Behaviour of one man towards another, of which humane Nature is more Im­patient than of Contempt; It being a thing made up of these two Ingredients, an under­valuing of a Man upon a belief of his utter Use­lesnesse and Inability, and a Spightful endea­vour to engage the rest of the World in the same Belief, and slight Esteem of him. So that the immediate Design of Contempt, is the shame of the Person contemned; and Shame is a Banishment of him from the good Opinion of the World, which every man most earnestly Desires, both upon a Princi­ple of Nature and of Interest. For it is Natu­ral to all men to affect a good Name; & he that despises a man, Libels him in his Thoughts, Reviles and Traduces him in his Judgement. And there is also Interest in the Case: For a De­sire to be well thought of, directly Resolves it self into that owned and mighty Principle of self-Preservation: For as much as Thoughts [Page 19] are the first wheels and motives of Action; and there is no long passage from one to the other. He that Thinks a man to the ground, will quickly endeavour to Lay him there: for while he Despises him, he Arraigns and Condemns him in his Heart; and all the af­ter Bitterness and Cruelties of his Practices, are but the Executioners of the Sentence passed before upon him by his Judgement. Contempt, like the Planet Saturn, has first an ill Aspect, and then a destroying Influ­ence.

By all which I suppose, it is sufficiently pro­ved, how Noxious it must needs be to every Governour: for, can a man respect the Person whom he Despises? and can there be Obe­dience where there is not so much as Respect? will the Knee bend, while the Heart Insults? and the Actions Submit, while the Aprehen­sions Rebel? And therefore the most expe­rienced Disturbers and Underminers of Go­vernment, have always laid their first Train in Contempt, endeavouring to blow it up in the Judgement and Esteem of the Subject. And was not this method observed in the late most flourishing and succesful Rebellion? for how studiously did they lay about them, both from the Pulpit and the Press, to cast a [Page 20] slurr upon the Kings Person, and to bring his governing Abilities under a Disrepute? and then, after they had sufficiently Blasted him in his Personal Capacity, they found it easie Work to dash and overthrow him in his Po­litical.

Reputation is Power: and consequently to Despise is to Weaken. For where there is Contempt, there can be no Awe; and where there is no Awe, there will be no Subjecti­on; and if there is no Subjection, it is impos­sible without the help of the [...]ormer Distin­ction of a Politick Capacity, to imagine how a Prince can be a Governour. He that makes his Prince despised and undervalued, blows a Trumpet against him in mens Breasts, beats him out of his Subjects hearts, and fights him out of their Affections; and after this, he may easily strip him of his other Garrisons, having already dispossest him of his strong­est, by dismantling him of his Honour, and seising his Reputation.

Nor is, what has been said of Princes, less true of all other Governours, form Highest to Lowest, from him that Heads an Army, to him that is but Master of a Family, or of one single Servant; the formal Reason of a thing equally extending it self to every par­ticular [Page 21] of the same kind. It is a Proposition of Eternal Verity, that None can Govern while he is Despised. We may as well ima­gine that there may be a King without Maje­sty, a Supreme without Soveraignty. It is a Pa­radox, and a Direct contradiction in Practise: for, where Contempt takes place, the very Causes and Capacities of Government cease.

Men are so farr form being Governed by a despised Person, that they will not so much as be taught by Him. Truth it self shall lose its Credit, if Delivered by a Person that has none. As on the Contrary, be but a Person in Vogue and Credit with the Multitude, he shall be able to commend and set off whatso­ever he says, to authorize any Nonsence, and to make Popular rambling incoherent Stuff, seasoned with Twang and Tautology, pass for high Rhetorick and moving Preaching; such indeed, as a Zealous Tradesman would even Live and Dye under. And now I sup­pose it is no ill Topick of Argumentation, to shew the Prevalence of Contempt, by the con­trary Influences of Respect; which, thus (as it were) Dubbs, every little, pettit Admired person, Lord and Commander of all his Ad­mirers. And certain it is, that the Ecclesiasti­cal, as well as the Civil Governour, has cause to [Page 22] pursue the same Methods of Securing and Confirming himself; the grounds and means of Government being founded upon the same bottom of Nature in both, though the Cir­cumstances, and Relative Considerations of the Persons may differ. And I have nothing to say more upon this Head, but that, if Church­men are called upon to Discharge the parts of Governours, they may with the highest Reason expect those Supports and Helps that are indispensably Requisite thereunto: and that those men are but Trapann'd, who are called to Govern, being invested with Authority, but bereaved of Power; which according to a true and plain Estimate of things, is nothing else but to mock and betray them into a Splendid and Magisterial way of being Ridiculous. And thus much for the ill Effects and de­structive Influence that Contempt has upon Government: I pass now to the

2 ^d. Thing, which is to shew the Groundless Causes, upon which Church-Rulers are fre­quently Despised.

Concerning which, I shall premise this; That nothing can be a reasonable Ground of Despising a man, but some Fault or other chargeable upon him; and nothing can be a Fault that is not Naturally in a mans power [Page 23] to prevent; Otherwise, it is a mans Unhappi­ness, his Mischance or Calamity, but not his Fault. Nothing can justly be Despised, that cannot justly be Blamed; and it is a most cer­tain Rule in Reason and moral Philosophy, That where there is no Choice, there can be no Blame.

This premised, we may take notice of two usual grounds of the Contempt men cast upon the Clergy, and yet for which no man ought to think himself at all the more wor­thy to be Contemned.

1. The first is their very Profession it self; Concerning which, it is a sad, but an experi­mented Truth, that the Names derived from it, in the refined Language of the present Age, are made but the Appellatives of Scorn. This is not charged Universally upon all, but expe­rience will Affirm, or rather proclaim it of much the greater part of the World; and men must perswade us that we have lost our Hearing, and our common Sence, before we can believe the Contrary. But surely the Bot­tom and Foundation of this Behaviour to­wards Persons set apart for the Service of God, that this very Relation should entitle them to such a peculiar Scorn, can be nothing else but Atheisme; the growing▪ rampant Sin of the Times.

[Page 24]For call a man Oppressor, griping, Cove­tous, or over-reaching person, and the Word indeed being ill befriended by Custom, per­haps sounds not well; but generally, in the ap­prehension of the Hearer, it signifies no more, then, that such an one is a Wise, and a Thri­ving, or in the common Phrase, a Notable man; which will certainly procure him a Re­spect: And say of another, that he is an Epi­cure, a Loose or a Vicious man; and it leaves in men no other Opinion of him, then that he is a Merry, a Pleasant, and a Gentile Per­son: and that, he that taxes him, is but a Pe­dant, an Vnexperienced, and a Morose fel­low; one that does not know men, nor un­derstand what it is to Eat and Drink well▪ But call a man Priest or Parson, and you set him, in some mens Esteem, ten degrees be­low his own Servant.

But let us not be Discouraged, or Dis­pleased, either with our Selves, or our Pro­fession upon this account. Let the Vertuo­so's Mock, Insult, and Despise on: yet after all, they shall never be able to Droll away the Nature of things; to trample a Pearl in­to a Pebble, nor to make Sacred things Con­temptible, any more, then themselves, by such speeches Honourable.

[Page 25]2. Another groundless Cause of some mens despising the Governours of our Church, is their loss of that former Grandeur, and Priviledge that they enjoyed. But it is no real Disgrace to the Church meerly to lose her Priviledges, but to forfeit them by her Fault, or Misdemea­nor, of which she is not Conscious. Whatsoever she injoyed in this kind, she readily ac­knowledges to have streamed from the Royal Munificence, and the favours of the Civil Pow­er shining upon the Spiritual; which Favours the same Power may retract and gather back in­to it self when it pleases. And we Envy not the Greatness and Lustre of the Romish Clergy, nei­ther their Scarlet Gowns, nor their Scarlet Sins. If our Church cannot be Great, which is better, she can be Humble, and content to be Reform­ed into as low a Condition, as men for their own private Advantage would have her; who wisely tell her, that it is best and safest for her to be without any Power, or Temporal advan­tage; like the good Physician, who out of ten­derness to his Patient, lest he should hurt him­self by Drinking, was so kind as to rob him of his silver Cup. The Church of England Glories in nothing more, then that she is the truest Friend to Kings, and to Kingly Government of any other Church in the World, that they were the [Page 26] same Hands and Principles that took the Crown from the Kings Head, and the Mitre from the Bishops. It is indeed the Happiness of some Pro­fessions and Callings, that they can equally square themselves to, and thrive under all Revo­lutions of Government; but the Clergy of En­gland neither know nor affect that Happiness; and are willing to be Despised for not doing so. And so farr is our Church from encroaching upon the Civil Power; as some who are Back­friends to both, would maliciously Insinuate, that were it stript of the very Remainder of its Priviledges, and made as like the Primitive Church for its Bareness, as it is already for its Purity; it could Cheerfully, and, what is more, Loyally, want all such Priviledges; and in the want of them pray heartily, that the Civil Pow­er may flourish as much, and stand as secure from the Assaults of Fanatick, Antimonarchicall Principles, grown to such a dreadful height, du­ring the Churches late Confusions, as it stood while the Church enjoyed those Priviledges. And thus much for the two groundless Causes upon which Church Rulers are frequently De­spised. I descend now to the

3 ^d and Last thing, which is to show those just Causes, that would render them, or indeed any other Rulers worthy to be Despised. Many [Page 27] might be Assigned, but I shall pitch only upon Four; in Discoursing of which, rather the Time, then the Subject will force me to be very Brief.

1. And the first is Ignorance. We know how great an Absurdity our Saviour accounted it, for the Blind to lead the Blind, and to put him that cannot so much as See, to discharge the Office of a Watch. Nothing more exposes to Contempt then Ignorance. When Sampsons eyes were out, of a publick Magistrate, he was made a publick Sport. And when Eli was blind, we know how well he Governed his Sons, and how well they Governed the Church under him. But now the Blindness of the Understanding is Greater and more Scandalous; especially, in such a seeing Age as Ours; in which the very Knowledge of former times, passes but for Ignorance in a better Dresse: an Age that flies at all Learning, and enquires into every thing, but especially, into Faults and Defects. Ignorance indeed, so farr as it may be Resolved into Natural inability, is, as to men, at least, Inculpable, and consequent­ly, not the Object of Scorn, but Pity: but in a Governour, it cannot be without the Conjun­ction of the highest Impudence; For who bid such an one Aspire to Teach, and to Govern? A blind man sitting in the Chimney-corner is pardonable enough, but sitting at the Helme he is Intolerable. If men will be Ignorant and Il­literate [Page 28] let them be so in Private and to them­selves, and not set their Defects in an high Place▪ to make them Visible and Conspicuous▪ If Owls will not be hooted at, let them keep close within the Tree, and not Perch upon the upper Bowes.

2. A Second thing that makes a Governor justly despised, is Viciousnes and ill Morals. Vertue is that, that must Tipp the Preachers Tongue, and the Rulers Scepter with Autho­rity. And therefore with what a Controlling, Overpowering force did our Savior Tax the Sins of the Jews, when he ushered in his Rebukes of them, with that high assertion of himself, Who is there amongst you that convinces me of Sin? Otherwise, we may easily guess with what impatience the world would have heard an in­cestuous Herod discoursing of Chastity, a Judas condemning Covetousness, or a Pharisee Preaching against Hypocrisy; Every word must have recoyled upon the Speaker. Guilt is that, that quells the Courage of the Bold, tyes the Tongue of the Eloquent, and makes Greatness it self sneak and lurk, and behave it self poorly. For, let a Vitious Person be in never so high Command, yet still he will be lookt upon but as one great Vice, empowred to Correct and Chastise others. A Corrupt Governor is no­thing [Page 29] else but a reigning Sin. And a Sin in Office may Command any thing but Respect. No Man can be Credited by his Place or Power; who by his Vertue does not first Credit that.

3. A Third thing that makes a Governor justly despised, is fearfulness of, and Mean Com­pliances with, Bold Popular Offenders. Some indeed account it the very Spirit of Policy and Prudence, where Men refuse to come up to a Law, to make the Law come down to them. And for their so doing, have this infallible Recompence, that they are not at all the more Loved, but much the less Feared; and, which is a sure Consequent of it, accordingly Respected. But believe it, it is a Resolute tenacious Ad­herence to well Chosen Principles, than adds Glory to Greatness, and makes the face of a Governor shine in the Eyes of those that see and examine his Actions. Disobedience, if com­plyed with, is infinitely encroaching, and ha­ving gain'd one degree of Liberty upon Indul­gence, will demand another upon Claim. Every Vice Interprets a Connivence an Approbation.

Which being so, is it not an Enormous in­decency, as well as a gross impiety, that any one who owns the Name of a Divine, hearing a great Sinner brave it against Heaven, talk A­theistically, and scoff▪ Profanely at that Religi­on, [Page 30] by which he owns an Expectation to be saved, if he cares to be saved at all, should in­stead of Vindicating the Truth to the Blasphe­mers Teeth, think it Discretion and Moderation (forsooth) with a Complying Silence, and per­haps a Smile to boot, tacitly to approve, and strike in with the Scoffer, and so go Sharer both in the Mirth and Guilt of his prophane Jests?

But let such an one be assured, that even that Blasphemer himself, would inwardly Reverence him, if Rebuked by him; as on the Contrary, he in his Heart really Despises him for his Cow­ardly base Silence. If any one should reply here, that the Times and Manners of men will not bear such a Practise, I confess, that it is an An­swer from the mouth of a Profest Time-server, very Rational: But, as for that man that is not so, Let him satisfie himself of the Reason, Justice and Duty of an Action, and leave the Event of it to God, who will never fail those, who do not think themselves too wise to Trust Him. For let the worst come to the worst, a man in so doing would be ruined more Honourably, then otherwise preferred.

4. And lastly. A fourth thing that makes a Governour justly Despised, is a proness to De­spise others. There is a kind of Respect due to the Meanest Person, even from the Greatest; [Page 31] for it is the meer favour of Providence, that he who is Actually the Greatest, was not the Mean­est. A man cannot cast his Respects so low, but they will Rebound and Return upon him. What Heaven bestows upon the Earth in kind▪ Influences, and benigne Aspects, is payed it back again in Sacrifice, Incense and Adoration. And surely, a great Person gets more by Obliging his Inferior, then by Disdaining him; as a man has a greater advantage by Sowing and Dressing his Ground, then he can have by trampling upon it. It is not to Insult and Domineer, to look Dis­dainfully, and Revile Imperiously, that pro­cures an Esteem from any one: it will indeed make men keep their Distance sufficiently; but it will be Distance without Reverence.

And thus I have shewn four several Causes, that may justly render any Ruler Despised; and by the same Work, I hope, have made it Evident, how little Cause men have to Despise the Rulers of our Church.

God is the Fountain of Honour, and the Con­duit by which he Conveys it to the Sons of men are Vertuous and Generous Practices. But as for Us, who have more Immediately and Near­ly Devoted, both our Persons and Concerns to his Service; it were infinitely vain to expect it upon any other Termes. Some indeed may [Page] [...] from full Revenues, stately Palaces, Court In­terests, and great Dependances. But that which makes the Clergy glorious, to be Knowing in their Profession, Unspotted in their Lives, Active and Laborious in their Charges, Bold and Resolute in opposing Seducers, and daring to look Vice in the face, though never so Potent and Illustrious. And lastly, to be Gentle, Cour­teous, and Compassionate to all.

These are our Robes, and our Maces, our Escutenions and highest Titles of Honour, for by all these things God is honoured, who has Declared this the Eternal Rule and Standard of all Honour deriveable upon men, That those who Honour Him, shall be Honoured by Him.

To which God, fearful in Praises, and working Wonders, be rendred and ascribed as is most due, all Praise, Might, Majesty and Dominion, both now and for evermore. Amen.