what can we think of the breach made in the Churches of Africk by Donatus and his Followers upon so inconsiderable a Point as whether Cecilian and his Ordainers had denied the Faith in the last Persecution or not which grew to that height that almost in every Town of Africk there were divided Assemblies and separating Bishops upon that Account Nor was this Wound healed but with the utter ruine of those Churches St. Ierom though partial enough to his own side as appears by his espousing Damasus's Interests notwithstanding that vast effusion of blood that had been at his Election which was set on by him and continued for four days with so much violence that in one night and at one Church a hundred and seven and thirty were killed yet he could not hold from laying open the Corruptions of the Clergy in a very severe style He grew so weary of them and they of him that he went and spent the rest of his days at Bethlehem Those Corruptions were so much the more remarkable because the Eminent Men of those times procured a great many Canons to be made both in Provincial and General Councils for correcting Abuses as soon as they observed them creeping into the Church but it is plain from St. Chrysostom's Story that tho bad men did not oppose the making good Rules while they were so many dead Letters in their Registers yet they could not bear the rigorous Execution of them so that those good Canons do shew us indeed what were the growing Abuses of the Times in which they were made and how good men set themselves against them but are no sure indications of the Reformation that was effected by them The Tottering state of the Roman Empire which had then fallen under a vast Dissolution of Discipline and Manners and coming into feeble hands was then sinking with its own weight and was become on all sides an easy Prey to its Invaders who were either Pagans or Arians ought to have awakened the Governours of the Church to have apprehended their approaching Ruin to have prevented it by their Prayers and Endeavours and to have corrected those Abuses which had provoked God and weakned and distracted both Church and Empire But if we may believe either Gildas here in Britain or Salvian in France they rather grew worse more impenitent and more insensible when they saw the Judgments of God coming upon the Empire Province after Province rent from it and over-run by the Barbarians When that great Wound was in some sort healed and a Second Form of Christianity rose up and prevailed again in the Western Parts and the World became Christian with the allay that dark and superstitious Ages had brought into that holy Doctrine Then all the Rules of the former Ages were so totally forgotten and laid aside that the Clergy universally lost their esteem And tho' Charles the Great and his Son held a great many Councils for correcting these Abuses and published many Capitulars on the same design yet all was to no purpose There was neither Knowledge nor Vertue enough left to reform a Corruption that was become universal The Clergy by these Disorders fell under a general Contempt and out of that rose the Authority as well as the Wealth of the Monastick Orders and when Riches and Power had corrupted them the Begging Orders took away the Credit from both yet even their Reputation which the outward severity of their Rule Habit and Manner of Life did both establish and maintain long was at last so generally lost that no Part or Body of the Roman-Clergy had Credit enough to stop the Progress of the Reformation which was in a great measure occasion'd by the scorn and hatred that fell on them and which was so spread over all the parts of Europe that to it even their own Historians do impute the great Advances that Luther's Doctrine made for about Fifty Years together whole Kingdoms and Provinces embracing it as it were all of the sudden It has now for above an Hundred Years made a full stand and in most places it has rather lost ground than gained any The true account of this is not easily given the Doctrine is the same and it has been of late defended with greater Aâ—vantages with more Learning and better Reasoning than it was at first yet with much less Success The true reason of the slackning of that Work must be imputed to the Reformation made in several Points with relation to the Manners and the Labours of the Clergy by the Church of Rome and the Depravation under which most of the Reformed Churches are fallen For the Manners and the Labours of the Clergy are real Arguments which all people do both understand and feel they have a much more convincing force they are more visible and perswade more universally than Books can do which are little read and less considered And indeed the Bulk of Mankind is so made that there is no working on them but by moving their Affections and commanding their Esteem It cannot be denied but that the Council of Trent established the Errors of Popery in such a manner as to cut off all possibility of ever treating or reuniting with them since those Decisions and their Infallibility which is their Foundation are now so twisted together that they must stand and fall together Yet they established such a Reformation in Discipline as may make Churches that pretend to a more Glorious Title justly ashamed For tho there are such Reserves made for the Plenitude of the Papal Authority that in great instances and for a Favourite all may be broke through yet the most notorious Abuses are so struck at and this has been in many places so effectually observed chiefly where they knew that their Deportment was looked into and watched over by Protestants that it must be acknowledged that the cry of the Scandals of Religious Houses is much laid And tho' there is still much Ignorance â—mong their Mass-Priests yet their Parish-Priests are generally another sort of men They are well instructed in their Religion lead regular Lives and perform their Parochial Duties with a most wonderful diligence They do not only say Mass and the other publick Functions daily but they are almost perpetually imploying themseves in the several parts of their Cures Instructing the Youth hearing Confessions and visiting the Sick and besides all this they are under the constant obligation of the Breviary There is no such thing as Non-residence or Plurality to be heard of in whole Countries of that Communion and though about Cathedrals and in Greater Cities the vast number of Priests gives still great and just occasion to censure yet the Parish-Priests have almost universally recovered the Esteem â—f the People They are no more disposed to think ill of them or to hearken to any thing that may give them a just cause or at least a plausible colour for departing from them So that the Reformation that Popery hath been forced
which they had abused to Tyranny and Violencâ— The diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have ye sought that which was lost but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them upon which follows a terrible Expostulation and Denunciation of Judgments against them I am against the Shepherds saith the Lord I will require my Flock at their hands and cause them to cease from feeding the flock neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more And in the 44th Chap of that Prophecy one Rule is given which was set up in the Primitive Church as an unalterable Maxim That such Priests as had been guilty of Idolatry should not do the Office of a Priest any more nor come near to any of the Holy Things or enter within the Sanctuary but were still to bear their shame They might minister in some inferior Services such as keeping the Gates or slaying the Sacrifice but they were still to bear their Iniquity I have past over all that occurs in these Prophets which relates to the false Prophets because I will bring nothing into this Discourse that relates to Sins of another Order and Nature In Daniel we have a noble Expression of the value of such as turn men to Righteousness That they shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever In Hosea we find among the Sins and Calamities of that time this reckoned as a main cause of that horrid Corruption under which they had fallen there being no truth no mercy nor knowledge of God in the land which was defiled by swearing lying killing stealing and committing Adultery My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge To which is added Because thou hast rejected knowledge or the instructing the People I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no Priest to me seeing thou hast forgot the Law of thy God I will also forget thy children That corrupt Race of Priests attended still upon the Temple and offered up the Sin-Offering and feasted upon their Portion which is wrong rendred They eat up the sin of my people for sin stands there as in the Law of Moses for Sin Offering Because of the advantage this brought them they were glad at the abounding of Sin which is expressed by their setting their heart or lifting up their Soul to their iniquity The Conclusion of which is that they should be given up for a very heavy curse of Like Priests like People In Ioel we find the Duty of the Priests and Ministers of the Lord set forth in times of great and approaching Calamities thus They ought to be Intercessors for the People and to weep between the Porch and the Altar and say Spare thy People and give not thine heritage to reproach that the Heathen Strangers and Idolaters should rule over them Wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God There is in Amos a very black Character of a depraved Priesthood Their Priests teach for hire and their Prophets divine for money These were the forer unners of the destruction of that Nation But though it might be expected that the Captivity should have purged them from their dross as it did indeed free them from all inclinations to Idolatry yet other Corruptions had a deeper root We find in Zechary a Curse against the Idol Shepherd who resembled the true Shepherd as an Idol does the Original But he was without sense and life Wo be to the Idol Shepherd that leavâ—th the Flock The Curse is figuratively expressed The sword shall be upon his arm and his right eye the things that he valued most his arm shall be clean dried up and his right eye shall be utterly darkned But this is more copiously set out by Malachi in an Address made to the Priests And now O ye Priests this Commandment is for you If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give Glory unto my Name I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your Blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart Then the first Covenant with the Tribe of Levi is set forth My Covenant was with him of Life and Peace The Law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips he walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many from their iniquity For the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts All this sets forth the state of a pure and holy Priesthood But then follow terrible Words But ye are departed out of the way ye have caused many to stumble at the Law Ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts Thâ—râ—fore have I also made you contemptible and bâ—sâ— bâ—fore all the people according as ye have not kept my ways but have been partial in the Law Their ill example made many loath both their Law and their Religion They had corrupted their Institution and studied by a gross partiality to bring the people to be exact in those parts of the Law in which their Wealth or their Authority was concerned while they neglected the more essential and indispensible Duties Thus far have I gone over the most important places that have occurred to me in the Old-Testament relating to this matter upon all whcih I will only add one Remark That though some exception might be made to those â—xpressions that import the Dignity and Sanctiâ—ication of those who were then consecrated to the Holy Functions as parts of that instituted Religion which had its period by the coming of Christ yet such Passages as relate to Moral Duties and to the Obligâ—tions that arise out of Natural Religion have certainly a more binding force and ought to be understood and expâ—ained in â— mâ—â—e elevated and sublime sense under thâ— new Dispensation which is Iâ—ternâ—l and Sâ—irâ—â—uaâ— compared to which the Old is câ—lled the Letter and the Flesh Therefore the Obligations of the Priests under the Christian Religion to a holy strictness of Life and Conversation to a diligent attendance on their Flock and for instructing and watching over them must all be as much higher and more binding as this New Covenant cancels the old one CHAP. III. Passages out of the New-Testament relating to the same matter THIS General Consideration receives a vast improvement from the great Example that the Author of our Religion the great Bishop and Shepherd of our Souls has set us who went about ever doing good to whom it was as his meat and drink to do the will of his Father that sent him He was the good Shepherd that knew his Sheep and laid down his Life for them And since he set such a value on the Souls of that Flock which
to make has in a great measure stopt the progress of the Reformation of the Doctrine and Worship that did so long carry every thing before it But this is the least Melancholy part of the Account that may be given of this matter The Reformers began that blessed Work with much Zeal they and their first Successors carried it on with Learning and Spirit They were active in their Endeavours and constant and patient in their Sufferings and these things turn'd the esteem of the world which was alienated from Popery by the Ignorance and Scandals of the Clergy all towards them But when they felt the warmth of the Protection and Encouragement that Princes and States gave them they insensibly slackned They fell from their First Heat and Love they began to build Houses for themselves and their Families and neglected the House of God They rested satisfied with their having reformed the Doctrine and Worship but did not study to reform the Lives and Manners of their People And while in their Offices they lamented the not having a Publick Discipline in the Church as it was in the Primitive Times They have either made no attempts at all or at least very faint ones for restoring it And thus while Popery has purified it self from many former Abuses Reformed Churches have added new ones to the old that they still retain and are fond of Zeal in Devotion and Diligence in the Pastoral Care are fallen under too visible and too scandalous a decay And whereas the understanding of the Scriptures and an Application to that Sacred Study was at first the distinguishing Character of Protestants for which they were generally nicknamed Gospellers These Holy Writings are now so little studied that such as are obliged to look narrowly into the matter find great cause of regret and lamentation from the gross Ignorance of such as either are in Orders or that pretend to be put in them But the most Capital and Comprehensive of all Abuses is That the false Opinion of the worst Ages of Popery that made the chief if not the only obligation of Priests to be the performing Offices and judged that if these were done the chief part of their Business was also done by which the Pastoral Care came to be in a great measure neglected does continue still to leaven us While men imagine that their whole work consists in Publick Functions and so reckon that if they either do these themselves or procure and hire another person in Holy Orders to do them that then they answer the Obligation that lies on them And thus the Pastoral Care the Instructing the Exhorting the Admonishing and Reproving the directing and conducting the visiting and comforting the People of the Parish is generally neglected while the Incumbent does not think fit to look after it and the Curate thinks himself bound to nothing but barely to perform Offices according to agreement It is chiefly on design to raise the sense of the Obligations of the Clergy to the Duties of the Pastoral Care that this Book is written Many things do concur in our present Circumstances to awaken us of the Clergy to mind and do our duty with more zeal and application than ever It is very visible that in this present Age the Reformation is not only at a stand but is going back and grows sensibly weaker and weaker Some Churches have been plucked up by the roots and brought under a total desolation and dispersion and others have fallen under terrible oppressions and shakings We have seen a Design formed and carried on long for the utter destruction of that Great Work The Clouds were so thick gathered over us that we saw we were marked out for destruction And when that was once compassâ—d our Eâ—emies saw well enough that the rest of their Designs would be more easily brought about It is true our Enemies intended to seâ— us one upon another by turns to make us do half their work and to have still an abused Party among us ready to carry on their 〈◊〉 for they thought it too bold an Attempt to fall upon all at once but while they were thus shifting Hands it pleased God to cut them short in their Designs and to blast that part of them in which we were concerned so entirely that now they carry them on more barefacedly and drive at Conquest which is at one stroke to destroy our Church and Religion our Laws and our Properties In this critical state of things we ought not only to look at the Instruments of the Calamities that have fallen so heavily on so many Protestant Churches and of the Dangers that hang over the rest but we ought chiefly to look up to that God who seems to be provoked at the whole Reformation because they have not walked suitably to the Light that they have so long enjoyed and the Blessings which had been so long continued to them but have corrupted their ways before him They have lost the Power of Religion while they have seemed to magnify the Form of it and have been zealous for Opinions and Customs and therefore God has in his wrath taken even that Form from them and has loathed their Solemn Assemblies and brought them under a famine of the Word of the Lord which they had so much despised While these things are so and while we find that we our selves are as a brand pluck'd out of the fire which may be thrown back into it again if we are not allarmed by the just but unsearchable Judgments of God which have wasted other Churches so terribly while they have only frighted us what is more evident than that the present state of things and the signs of the times call aloud upon the whole Nation to bring forth fruits meet for repentance since the ax is laid to the root of the tree And as this indeed concerns the body of the Nation so we who are the Priests and Ministers of the Lord are under more particular Obligations first to look into our own ways and to reform whatsoever is amiss among us and then to be Intercessors for the People committed to our Charge to be mourning for their Sins and by our secret Fastings and Prayers to be standing in those Breaches which our crying Abominations have made and so to be averting those Judgments which may be ready to break in upon us and chiefly to be lifting up our voices like Trumpets to shew our people their transgressions To be giving them faithful warning from which we may expect this blessed success that we may at least gain upon such a number that for their sakes God who will not slay the righteous with the wicked may be yet entreated for our sins and that the Judgments which hang over us being quite dissipated his Gospel together with Peace and Plenty may still dwell among us and may shine from us with happy Influences to all the ends of the Earth And even such Pastors as shall faithfully do their duty but