THE Bishop? Yes, why not? What doth that name Import that is unlawful, or unfit?
To say the Overseer is the same
In substance, and no hurt, I hope, in it :
But sure if men did not despise the thing,
Such scorn upon the name they would not fling.
Some Priests, some Presbyters, I mean, would be Each Overseer of his several cure;
But one superior, to oversee
Them altogether, they will not endure:
This the main difference is, that I can see, Bishops they would not have, but they would be.
But who can show of old that ever any
Presbyteries without their Bishops were:
Though Bishops without Presbyteries many,
At first must needs be, almost every where?
That Presbyters from Bishops first arose,
To assist them, 's probable, not these from those.
However, a true Bishop I esteem
The highest officer the Church on earth
Can have, as proper to itself, and deem
A Church without one an imperfect birth,
If constituted so at first, and maim'd,
If whom it had, it afterwards disclaim'd.
All order first from unity ariseth,
And the essence of it is subordination:
Whoever this contemns, and that despiseth,
May talk of, but intends not, reformation.
'Tis not of God, of Nature, or of Art,
To ascribe to all what's proper to one part.
To rule and to be ruled are distinct,
And several duties, severally belong
To several persons, can no more be link'd
In altogether, than amidst the throng
Of rude unruly passions, in the heart,
Reason can see to act her sovereign part.
But a good Bishop, as a tender father,
Doth teach and rule the Church, and is obey'd;
And reverenced by it, so much the rather,
By how much he delighted more to lead
All by his own example in the way,
Than punish any, when they go astray.
Lord, thou the Bishop, and chief Shepherd, art
Of all that flock, which thou hast purchased
With thine own blood: to them thou dost impart
The benefits which thou hast merited,
Teaching, and ruling, by thy blessed Spirit,
Their souls in grace, till glory they inherit:
The stars which thou dost hold in thy right hand,
The Angels of the Churches, Lord, direct
Clearly thy holy will to understand,
And do accordingly: Let no defect
Nor fault, no not in our new politics,
Provoke thee to remove our candle-sticks;
But let thy Urim and thy Thummim be
Garments of praise to adorn thine holy ones:
Light and perfection let all men see
Brightly shine forth in those rich precious stones;
Of whom thou wilt make a foundation,
To raise thy new Hierusalem upon.
And, at the brightness of its rising, let
All nations with thy people shout for joy :
Salvation for walls and bulwarks set
About it, that nothing may it annoy.
Then the whole World thy Diocess shall be,
And Bishops all but Suffragans to Thee.
MARROW of time, Eternity in brief
Compendiums Epitomized, the chief
Contents, the Indices, the Title-pages
Of all past, present, and succeeding ages,
Sublimate graces, antidated glories,
The cream of holiness,
The inventories
Of future blessedness,
The Florilegia of celestial stories,
Spirits of joys, the relishes and closes
Of Angels' music, pearls dissolved, roses
Perfumed, sugar'd honey-combs, delights
Never too highly prized,
The marriage rites,
Which duly solemnized
Usher espoused souls to bridal nights,
Gilded sun-beams, refined Elixirs,
And quintessential extracts of stars:
Who loves not you, doth but in vain profess
That he loves God, or heaven, or happiness.
The reach of art,
To blazon fully ;
And I thy light eclipse,
Vail
Wholly
To thy praise,
For evermore
Must the rehearsal
Of all, that honour seeks,
Under theworld's Creator.
Yet must needs
Yield thee mine heart,
And that not dully:
Spirits of souls, not lips
When I most strive to raise Alone, are fit to praise
That I
Could lay by
This body so,
That my soul might be
Incorporate with thee,
And no more to six days owe.
XXVIII. THE ANNUNCIATION, OR LADY-DAY,
UNTO the music of the spheres
Let men, and Angels, join in concert theirs.
So great a messenger
From heaven to earth
Is seldom seen,
Attired in so much glory;
A message welcomer,
Fraught with more mirth,
Hath never been
Subject of any story:
This by a double right, if any, may
Be truly styled the world's birth-day.
The making of the world ne'er cost
So dear, by much, as to redeem it lost.
God said but, Let it be,
And every thing
Was made straightway,
So as he saw it good:
But ere that he could see
A course to bring
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