in their Hands Give heed to Reading Exhortation and Doctrine Think upon the things contained in this Book be diligent in them that the increase coming thereby may be manifest unto all Men. Take heed unto thy Self and to Doctrine and be diligent in doing them for by doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Be thou to the Flock of Christ a Shepherd not a Wolf feed them devour them not Hold up the weak heal the sick bind up the broken bring again the out-casts seek the lost Be so merciful that you be not too remiss So Minister Discipline that you forget not Mercy That when the chief Shepherd shall appear you may receive the never fading Crown of Glory through Iesus Christ our Lord. In these Words the great Lines of our Duty are drawn in very expressive and comprehensive Terms We have the several Branches of our Function both as to Preaching and Governing very solemnly laid upon us And both in this Office as well as in all the other Offices that I have seen it appears that the constant sence of all Churches in all Ages has been that Preaching was the Bishops great Duty and that he ought to lay himself out in it most particularly I shall only add one advice to all this before I leave this Article of the Sence of our Church in this matter both to those who intend to take Orders and to those who have already taken them As for such as do intend to dedicate themselves to the service of the Church they ought to read over these Offices frequently and to ask themselves solemnly as in the presence of God Whether they can with a good Conscience make those answers which the Book prescribes or not and not to venture on offering themselves to Oders till they know that they dare and may safely do it Every person who looks that way ought at least on every Ordination Sunday after he has once formed the resolution of dedicating himself to this work to go over the Office seriously with himself and to consider in what disposition or preparation of mind he is suitable to what he finds laid down in it But I should add to this that for a Year before he comes to be ordained he should every first Sunday of the Month read over the Office very deliberately and frame resolutions conform to the several parts of it and if he can receive the Sacrament upon it with a special set of private Devotions relating to his intentions As the time of his Ordination draws near he ought to return the oftner to those exercises It will be no hard task for him to read these over every Sunday during the last Quarter before his Ordination and to do that yet more solemnly every day of the week in which he is to be ordained and to joyn a greater earnestness of fasting and prayer with it on the Fast-days of his Ember Week Here is no hard imposition The performance is as easie in it self as it will be successful in its effects If I did not consider rather what the Age can bear than what were to be wished for I would add a great many severe Rules calculated to the Notions of the Primitive times But if this advice were put in practice it is to be hoped that it would set back many who come to be ordained without considering duly either what it is that they ask or what it is that is to be asked of them which some do with so supine a negligence that we plainly see that they have not so much as read the Office or at least that they have done it in so slight a manner that they have formed no clear Notions upon any part of it and least of all upon those parts to which they themselves are to make answers And as such a method as I have proposed would probably strike some with a due awe of Divine matters so as to keep them at a distance till they were in some sort prepared for them so it would oblige such as came to it to bring along with them a serious temper of mind and such a preparation of soul as might make that their Orders should be a blessing to them as well as they themselves should be a blessing to the Church It must be the greatest joy of a Bishops life who truly minds his duty in this weighty trust of sending out Labourers into Gods Vineyard to Ordain such persons of whom he has just grounds to hope that they shall do their duty faithfully in reaping that Harvest He reckons these as his Children indeed who are to be his strength and support his fellow Labourers and Helpers his Crown and his Glory But on the other hand how heavy a part of his Office must it be to Ordain those against whom perhaps there lies no just objection so that according to the Constitution and Rules of the Church he cannot deny them and yet he sees nothing in them that gives him courage or cheerfulness They do not seem to have that love to God that zeal for Christ that tenderness for souls that meekness and humility that mortification and deadness to the world that becomes the Character and Profession which they undertake so that his heart fails him and his hands tremble when he goes to Ordain them My next advice shall be to those who are already in Orders that they will at least four times a year on the Ordination Sundays read over the Offices of the Degrees of the Church in which they are and will particularly consider the Charge that was given and the Answers that were made by them and then ask themselves as before God who will Iudge them at the Great-day upon their Religious performance of them whether they have been true to them or not that so they may humble themselves for their Errours and Omissions and may renew their Vows for the future and so to be going on from Quarter to Quarter through the whole course of their Ministry observing still what ground they gain and what progress they make to such as have a right Sense of their Duty this will be no hard perforformance It will give a vast joy to those that can go through it with some measure of assurance and find that tho in the midest of many tentations and of much weakness they are sincerely and seriously going on in their work to the best of their skill and to the utmost of their power So that their Consciences say within them and that without the partialities of self love and flattery Well done good and faithful servant The hearing of this said within upon true grounds being the certainest Evidence possible that it shall be publickly said at the Last and Great-day This exercise will also offer checks to a man that looks for them and intends both to understand his errours and to cleanse himself from them It will upon the whole matter make Clergy Men go on with their Profession
and void of themselves And conclude that how strong soever they may be in Law yet they are nothing in Conscience And that they do not free a Man from his Obligations to Residence and Labour And they do generally conclude that he who upon a Dispensaâ—ion which has been obtained upon Carnal accounts such as Birth Rank or great Abilities and qualifications are not yet so good as these does not Reside is bound in Conscience to restore the Fruits of a Beneâ—ice which he has thus enjoyed with a bad Conscience without performing the duty belonging to it in his own Person But though it were very easie to bring out a great deal to this purpose I will go no further at present upon this Head The words of God seem to be so express and positive that such as do not yield to so undisputable an Authority will be little moved by all that can be brought out of Authors of a lower Form against whom it will be easie to muster up many exceptions if they will not be determined by so many of the Oracles of the living God CHAP. IV. Of the Sense of the Primitive Church in this Matter I will not enter here into any Historical Account of the Discipline of the Church during the first and best Ages of Christianity It is the glory of this Church that in her disputes of both hanâ—s aâ— well with those of the Church of Rome as with those that separate from her she has both the Doctrine and the Câ—nstitution of the Primitive Church of her side But this Plea would be more entire and less disputable if our Constiâ—ution were not only in its main and most essential parts formed upon that glorious Model but were also in its Rules and Administrations made more exactly conformable to those best and purest times I can never forget an advice that was given me above thirty years ago by one of the worthiest Clergy-men now alive while I was studying the Controversie relating to the Government of the Church from the Primitive Times he desires me to joyn with the more Speculative Discoveries that I should make the Sense that they had of the Obligations of the Clergy both with relation to their Lives and to their Labours And said that the Argument in favour of the Church how clearly soever made out would never have its full effect upon the World till abuses were so far corrected that we could shew a Primitive Spirit in our Administration as well as a Primitive pattern for our Constitution This made even then deep Impressions on me and I thank God the Sense of it has never left me in the whole course of my Studies I will not at present enter upon so long and so Invidious a work as the descending into all the particulars into which this matter might be branched out either from the Writings of the Fathers the Decrees of Councils the Roman Law and the Capitulars or even from the dreg of all the Canon Law it self which though a Collection made in one of the worst Ages yet carries many rules in it that would seem excessively severe even to us after all our Reformation of Doctrine and Worship This has been already done with so much exactness that it will not be necessary to set about it after the Harvest which was gathered by the learned Bishop of Spalato in the last Book of his great Work which the Pride and Inconstancy of the Author had brought under a disesteem that it no way deserves For whatever he might be that work was certainly one of the best productions of that Age. But this design has been prosecuted of late with much more exactness and learning and with great honesty and fidelity where the interest of his Church did not force him to use a little Art by F. Thomasin who has compared the modern and the ancient Discipline and has shewed very copiously by what steps the Change was made and how abuses crept into the Church It is a work of great use to such as desire to understand that matter truly I will refer the curious to these and many other lesser Treaties writ by the Iansenists in France in which abuses are very honestly complained off and proper Remedies are proposed which in many places being entertained by Bishops that had a right Sense of the Primitive Rules have given the Rise to a great Reformation of the French Clergy Instead then of any Historical deduction of these matters I shall content my self with giving the Sense of two of the Fathers of the Greek Church and one of tâ—e Latin upon this whole business of the Obligations of the Clergy The first is Gregory of Nazianze whose Father ordained him a Presbyter notwithstanding all his humâ—le Intercessions to the contrary according to the custom of the best Men of that Age who instead of pressing into Orders or aspiring to them fled from them excused themselves and judging themselves unworthy of so holy a Character and so high a Trust were not without difficulty prevailed on to submit to that which in degenerate Ages Men run to as to a subsistance or the mean of procuring it and seem to have no other Sense of that Sacred Institution then Mechanicks have of obtaining their Freedom in that Trade or Company in which they have passed their Apprenticeship It were indeed happy for the Church if those who offer themselves to Orders had but such a Sense of them as Tradesmen have of their Freedom Who do not pretend to it till they have finished the time prescribed and are in some sort qualified to set up in it Whereas alas men who neither know the Scriptures nor the body of Divinity who have made no progress in their Studies and can give no tollerable account of that holy Doctrine in which they desire to be Teachers do yet with equal degrees of confidence and importunity pretend to this Character and find the way to it too easie and the access of it too free But this Holy Father had a very different sense of this matter He had indeed submitted to his Fathers Authority he being his Bishop as well as his Father But immediately after he was ordained he gives this account of himself in his Apologetical Oration That he judging he had not that sublimity of Vertue nor that familiar acquaintance with divine matters which became Pastors and Teachers he therefore intending to purifie his own Soul to higher degrees of Vertue to an Exaltation above sensible Objects above his Body and above the World that so he might bring bis mind to a recollected and divine State and fit his Soul that as a polished mirrour it might carry on it the Impressions of divine Ideas unmixed with the allay of earthly Objects and might be still casting a brightness upon all his Thoughts did in order to the raising himself to that retire to the Wilderness He had observed that many pressed to handle the holy Mysteries with unwashed hands and defiled Souls
Crime that exceeded the Cruelty of High-way Men to receive that which belonged indeed to the Poor and to withdraw any part of it to ones private Occasions He concludes with this excuse That he had named no Person he had not writ to reproach others but to give them warning And therefore since he had treated of the Vices of the Clergy in general Terms if any was offended with him for it he thereby plainly confessed that he himself was guilty CHAP. V. An Account of some Canons in divers Ages of the Church relating to the Duties and Labours of the Clergy I Will go no further in gathering Quotations to shew the sense that the Fathers had in these matters these are both so full and so express that I can find none more plain and more forcible I shall to these add some of the Canons that have been made both in the best and in the worst Ages of the Church obliging Bishops and other Clerks to Residence and to be contented with one Cure In that at Sardica that met in the Year 347. consisting of above 350. Bishops two Canons were made the 11 th and the 12 th against Bishops who without any urgent necessity or pressing business should be absent from their Church above three weeks and thereby grieve the Flock that was committed to their care And even this provision was made because Bishops had Estates lying out of their Diocesses therefore they were allowed to go and look after them for three weeks in which time they were to perform the divine function in the Churches to which those Estates belonged Many provisions were also made against such as went to Court unless they were called by the Emperors or went by a Deputation from the Church upon a publick account There is not any one thing more frequently provided against than that any of the Clergy should leave their Church and go to any other Church or live any where else without the Bishops leave and consent nor is there any thing clearer from all the Canons of the first Ages than that they considered the Clergy of every Church as a body of men dedicated to its service that lived upon the Oblations of the Faithful and that was to labour in the several parts of the Ecclesiastical Ministry as they should be ordered by the Bishop In the 4 th General Council at Calcedon Pluralities do first appear for they are mentioned and condemned in the 10 th Canon which runs thus No Clerk shall at the same time belong to two Churches to wit to that in which he was was first ordained and that to which as being the greater he has gone out of a desire of vain glory for such as do so ought to be sent back to that Church in which they were at first ordained and to serve there only but if any has been translated from one Church to another he shall receive nothing out of his former Church nor out of any Chapel or Alms-house belonging to it and such as shall transgress this definition of this General Council are condemned by it to be degraded I go next to a worse Scene of the Church to see what provisions were made in this matter about the 8 th Century both in the East and in the West The worse that those Ages and Councils were it makes the Argument the stronger since even bad men in bad times could not justifie or suffer such an abuse In the year 787. the Second Council of Nice was held that setled the worship of Images The 15 Canon of it runs thus No Clerk shall from henceforth be reckoned in two Churches for every Church had a Catalogue of its Clergy by which the dividends were made for this is the Character of Trafficking and Covetousness and wholly estranged from the Ecclesiastical Custom We have heard from our Saviour's own words that no man can serve two Masters for he will either hate the one or love the other or cleave to the one and despise the other Let every one therefore according to the Apostles words continue in the Vocation in which he is called and serve in one Church For those things which filthy Lucre has brought into Church matters are contrary to God There is a variety of imployments for acquiring the necessary supplies of this life Let every one that pleases make use of these for furnishing himself For the Apostle saies these hands Ministred to my necessities and to those that were with me This shall be the rule in this Town which is guarded by God but in remote Villages an Indulgence may be granted by reason of the want of men It is upon this that the Canonists do found the first of the two reasons for which only they allow that a Dispensation for holding two Benefices may be lawful one is the want of fit and sufficient men for the service of the Church The foundation of the other will be found in the Canon which I shall next set down It is the 49 Canon of the sixth Council at Paris under Lewis the Good in the Year 829. this Council came after a great many that had been held by Charles the Great and his Son for purging out abuses and for restraining the Primitive Discipline These Councils sat at Frankfort Ments Aken Rheims Chalons Tours Arles and this of Paris was the last that was held upon that design In these all the Primitive Canons relating to the Lives and Labours and the government of the Clergy were renewed Among others is that of Calcedon formerly mentioned but it seems there was no occasion given to make a special one against Pluralities before this held at Paris which consisted of four Provinces of France Rheims Sens Tours and Rouen The Canon runs thus As it becomes every City to have its proper Bishop so it is also becoming and necessary that every Church dedicated to God should have its proper Priest Yet Covetousness which is Idolatry of which we are much ashamed has so got hold of some Priests and caught them captives in its Fetters that they blinded with iâ— know neither whither they go nor what they ought to be or do so that they being kindled with the fire of Covetousness and forgetful of the Priestly Dignity neglecting the care of those Churches to which they were promoted do by some presents given or promised procure other Churches not only from Clerks but from Lay-men in which they do against Law undertake to perform the Ministry of Christ. It is not known whether their Bishops are consulted in this matter or not if they are without doubt their Bishops become partakers of their sin but if they presume to do it without consulting them yet it is to be imputed to the Bishops negligence There is scarce a Priest to be found who warreth worthily and diligently in that Church in which he is dedicated to the Divine Service but how much less will he be able to do that worthily in two three or more Churches
A DISCOURSE OF THE Pastoral Care Written By the Right Reverend Father in God GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARUM LONDON Printed by R. R. for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCII OF THE PASTORAL CARE Imprimatur JO. CANT Maii 5. 1692. TO THE QUEENS Most Excellent MAJESTY May it please Your Majesty THE Title of Defender of the Faith is so inherent in the Royal Dignity and so essential a part of its security as well as of its glory that there was no need of Papal Bulls to add it to the Crown that Your MAJESTY now wears You hold it by a much better Tenure as well as by a more ancient Possession Nor can one reflect on the Pope's giving it to King Henry the VIIIth without remembring what is said of Caiaphas that being High Priest that year he Prophesied For since that time the true Faith hath been so eminently Defended by our Princes and that of both Sexes we having had our Pulcheria's as well as our Constantine's and our Theodose's that this Church has been all along the chief strength and honour of the Reformation as well as the main Object of the envy and spite of those of the Roman Communion But tho Your MAJESTY'S Royal Ancestors have done so much for us there remains yet a great deal to be done for the compleating of our Reformation especially as to the Lives and Manners of men This will most effectually be done by obliging the Clergy to be more exemplary in their Lives and more diligent and faithful in the discharge of their Pastoral Duty And this Work seems to be reserved for Your MAJESTIES and designed to be the Felicity and Glory of Your Reign To serve God by promoting this Great and Glorious Design which is so truly worthy of Your MAJESTY'S best care and endeavours I have purposely written this Treatise which I do with all humility Dedicate and present to Your Sacred MAJESTY May that God who is the King of kings and hath bless'd us with Two such Excellent Princes preserve You Both long to us and make You as happy in us as we are in You May You Reign over us till You have accomplished all those Great Designs for which God hath raised You up and with which He hath filled Your Hearts And may this Church be made by Your means the Perfection of Beauty and the Ioy of the whole Earth These are the daily and most fervent Prayers of May it please Your MAJESTY Your MAJESTY'S Most Loyal most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Chaplain GI SARUM THE CONTENTS THE Preface Page i CHAP. I. Of the Dignity of Sacred Imployments and the Names and Designations given to them in Scripture Pag. 1 CHAP. II. Of the Rules set down in Scripture for those that minister in Holy things and of the Corruptions that are set forth in them p. 15 CHAP. III. Passages out of the New Testament relating to the same matter 28 CHAP. IV. Of the Sense of the Primitive Church in this matter 53 CHAP. V. An Account of some Canons in divers Ages of the Church relating to the Duties and Labours of the Clergy 84 CHAP. VI. Of the declared Sense and Rules of the Church of England in this matter 104 CHAP. VII Of the due Preparation of such as may and ought to be put in Orders 141 CHAP. VIII Of the Functions and Labours of Clergy-men 176 CHAP. IX Concerning Preaching 214 The Conclusion 241 ERRATA PRef p. 8. l. 21. for tue r. the. Book p. 27. l. 8. cancells r. excells p. 32. l. 9. declareth r. delayeth p. 57. l. 13. of r. to p. 108. l. 1. as as r. as at p. 133. l. 1. after not r. p. 147. l. 12. also him r. him also p. 148. l. 8. man r. men p. 154. l. 2. all this r. all this p. 192. l. 24. strongly r. strangely THE PREFACE THIS Subject how Important soever in it self yet has been so little treated of and will seem so severe in many parts of it that if I had not judged this a necessary service to the Church which did more decently come from one who how undeserving soever he is yet is raised to a Post that may justify the writing on so tender a Head I should never have undertaken it But my Zeal for the true Interests of Religion and of this Church determined me to set about it yet since my Design is to correct things for the future rather than to reproach any for what is past I have resolved to cast it rather into Advices and Rules into plain and short Directions than into long and laboured Discourses supported by the shews of Learning and Citations from Fathers and Historical Observations this being the more profitable and the less invidious way of handling the Subject It ought to be no Imputation on a Church if too many of those that are dedicated to her Service have not all the Characters that are here set forth and that are to be desired in Clergymen Even in the Apostles days there were false Apostles and false Teachers as one of the Twelve was a Traytor and had a Devil some loved the pre-eminence others loved this present World to a scandalous degree some of those that preached Christ did it not sincerely but out of contention they vied with the Apostles and hoped to have carried away the esteem from them even while they were suffering for the Faith for envying their Credit they designed to raise their own Authority by lessening the Apostles and so hoped to have added affliction to their bonds In the first and purest Ages of the Church we find great Complaints of the Neglects and Disorders of the Clergy of all Ranks Many became the Stewards and Bailiffs of other Peoples Estates and while they looked too diligently after those Cares which did not belong to them they even in those times of trial grew very remiss in the most important of all Cares which was their proper business As soon as the Empire became Christian the Authority the Immunity and the other Advantages which by the bounty of Princes followed the Sacred Functions made them to be generally much desired and the Elections being then for most part popular though in some of the greater Cities the Magistracy took them into their hands and the Bishops of the Province were the Judges both of the fitness of the Person and of the regularity of the Election these were managed with much faction and violence which often ended in blood and that to so great an excess that if we had not Witnesses to many Instances of this among the best men in those Ages it would look like an uncharitable Imputation on those Times to think them capable of such Enormities Indeed the Disorders the Animosities the going so oft backwards and forwards in the matters of Faith as the Emperors happened to be of different Sides are but too ample a proof of the Corruptions that had then got into the Church And
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
in himself in secret He must also be imploying himself so well in his private Studies that from thence he may be furnished with such a variety of lively thoughts divine meditations and proper and noble expressions as may enable him to discharge every part of his duty in such a manner as may raise not so much his own reputation as the credit of his Function and of the great Message of Reconciliation that is committed to his charge Above all Studies he ought to apply himself to understand the Holy Scriptures aright to have his memory well furnished that way that so upon all occasions he may be able to enforce what he says out of them and so be an able Minister of the New Testament This is in short the Character of a true Clergy-man which is to be more fully opened and enlarged on in the following parts of this Book All this looks so great and so noble that it does not appear necessary to raise it or to insist on it more fully Indeed it speaks its own dignity so sensibly that none will dispute it but such as are open Enemies to all Religion in general or to the Christian Religion in particular and yet even few of these are so entirely corrupted as not to wish that External Order and Policy were kept up among men for restraining the Injustice and Violence of unruly Appetites and Passions which few even of the Tribe of the Libertines seem to desire to be let loose since the Peace and Safety of Mankind require that the World be kept in Method and under some Yoke It will be more sutable to my design to shew how well this Character agrees with that which is laid down in the Scriptures concerning these Offices I shall begin first with the Names and then go on to the Descriptions and lastly proceed to the Rules that we find in them The name of Deacon that is now appropriated to the lowest Office in the Church was in the time that the New Testament was writ used more promiscuously For the Apostles the Evangelists and those whom the Apostles sent to visit the Churches are all called by this name Generally in all those places where the word Minister is in our Translation it is Deacon in the Greek which signifies properly a Servant or one who labours for another Such Persons are dedicated to the immediate Service of God and are appropriated to the Offices and Duties of the Church so this term both expresses the dignity and the labour of the Imployment The nâ—xt â—rder carries now the name of Presbyter or Elder which tho at first it was applied not only to Bishops but to the Apâ—sâ—lâ—s themselves yet in the succeeding Ages it came to be appropriated to the Second Raâ—k of the Officers in the Church Iâ— either signifies a Seniority of Age or of 〈◊〉 in opposition to a Neophite or Novice one newly converted to the Faith but by common Pâ—actice as Senate or Senator being at first given to Councellors by reason of their Age came afterwards to be a Title appropriate to them so the Tâ—tle Presbyter altered in pronunciation to be in English Priâ—st or Elder being a Character of respect denotes the Dignity of those to whom it belongs But since St. Paul divides this Title either into two different Ranks or into two different Performances of the Duties of the same Rank those that rule well and those that labour in Word and Doctrine this is a Title that speaks both the Dignity and likewise the Duty belonging to this Function The Title which is now by the Custom of many Ages given to the highest Function in the Church of Bishop or Inspector and Overseer as it imports a Dignity in him as the chief of those who labour so it does likewise express his obligation to care and diligence both in observing and overseeing the whole Flock and more specially in inspecting the Deportment and Labours of his Fellow Workmen who are subordinate to him in the constitution of the Church yet ought to be esteemed by him in imitation of the Apostles his Brethren his Fellow-Labourers and Fellow-Servants Next to the Names of the Sacred Functions I shall consider the other Designations and Figures made use of to express them The most common is that of Pastor or Shepherd It is to be remembred that in the first simplicity of Mankind for many Ages men looked after their own Cattel or employed their Children in it and when they trusted that care to any other it was no small sign of their Confidence according to what Iacob said to Laban The care of a good Shepherd was a Figure then so well understood that the Prophet expresses God's care of his People by this of his feeding them as a Shepherd carrying his Lambs in his Bosom and gently leading them that were with young Christ also calls himself the Good Shepherd that knew his Sheep and did not as a hireling fly away when the Wolf came but laid down his life for his Sheep This then being so often made use of in both Testaments is an expression of the great Trust committed to the Clergy which likewise supposes a great a constant and a tender care in looking to in feeding or instructing in watching over and guarding the Flock against Errors and Sins and their being ready to offer themselves to the first Fury of Persecution The Title of Stewards or Dispensers which is the most honourable in a Household is also given to them These assign to every one his due share both of Labour and of Provision these watch over them and have the care and order of the other Servants assigned to them So in this great Family of which Christ is the Hâ—ad the Stewards are a Post of great Digniâ—y but also of much Labour they ought to be observing the rest of this Houshold that they may be faithful in the distribution and so encourage admonish reprove or censure as there is occasion for it They are also called Ambassadors and that upon the noblest and desirablest Message for their business is to treat of Pâ—acâ— between God and Man to them is given the Word or Doctrine of Reconciliation they are sent by Christ and do speak in God's Name as if God did beseech men by them so do they in Christ's stead who is the Mediator press men to be reconciled to God Words of a very high sound of great Trust and Dignity but which import likewise great obligations An Ambassador is very solicitous to maintain the Dignity of his Character and his Master's Honour and chiefly to carry on that which is the main business that he is sent upon which he is always contriving how to promote So if the Honour of this Title affects us as it ought to do with a just value for it we ought at the same time to consider the Obligations that accompany it of living suitable to it answering in some sort the Dignity and Majesty
sadder Apprehensions than all that could be feared from that wild Beast that was then beginning to vex and persecute the Church by which probably Iulian is meant the comfortable prospect of dying for the name of Christ made that a Persecution was not so dreadful a thing in his account as the Sins the Divisions and Distractions of Christians This then was the reason that had made him fly to the Wilderness for the state of the Church had made him despond and lose all his courage He had also gone thither that he might quite break himself to all his Appetites and Passions and to all the Pleasures and Concerns of this Life that did darken the shinings of the Divine Image upon his Soul and the emanations of the Heavenly Light When he considered the Judgments of God upon bad Priests and many other strict Rules in the old Dispensation and the great Obligations that lay upon those who were the Priests of the living God and that ought before they presumed to offer up other Sacrifices to begin with the Oblation of themselves to God he was upon all these Reasons moved to prepare himself by so long a Retreat I have given this long Abstract of his Apologetical Oration not only to set before my Reader the Sense that he had of the sacred Functions but likewise to shew what were the Corruptions of that Age and with how much Freedom this Holy Father laid them open If there is any occasion for applying any part of this to the present Age or to any Persons in it I chose rather to offer it in the Words of this great Man than in any of my own I wish few were concerned in them and that such as are would make a due Application of them to themselves and save others the trouble of doing it more severely I go next to another Father of the Greek Church S. Chrysostome whose Books of the Priesthood have been ever reckoned among the best pieces of Antiquity The Occasion of writing them was this He had lived many years in great Friendship with one Basil at last they having both dedicated themselves to sacred Studies the Clergy of Antioch had resolved to lay hold on them and to use that Holy Violence which was in those times often done to the best Men and to force them to enter into Orders Which when Basil told Chrysostome he concealed his own Intentions but pressed Basil to submit to it who from that believing that his Friend was of the same Mind did not go out of the way and so he was laid hold on but Chrysostome had hid himself Basil seeing he could not be found did all that was possible to excuse himself but that not being accepted of he was ordained Next time that he met his Friend he expostulated severely with him for having forsaken him upon that Occasion This gave the Occasion to those Books which are pursued in the way of a Dialogue The first Book contains only the preparatory Discourses according to the Method of such Writings In the 2 d. he runs out to shew from our Saviour's Words to St. Peter Simon lovest thou me What tender and fervent Love both to Christ and to his Church a Priest ought to feel in himself before he enters upon the feeding those Sheep which Christ has purchased with his own Blood To lose the Souls of the Flock first and then ones own Soul for his Remissness was no light matter To have both the Powers of Darkness and the Works of the Flesh to fight against required no ordinary measure both of strength and courage He pursues the Allegories of a Shepherd and a Physician to shew by the Parallel of these laid together the labours and difficulties of the Priesthood especially when this Authority was to be maintained only by the strength of Perswasion and yet sometimes severe methods must be taken like Incisions to prevent Gangrenes or to cut off a Part already corrupted In the managing this great Art and Prudence was necessary a Bishop ought to have a great and generous a patient and undaunted Mind Therefore Chrysostome says that he found tho he truly loved his Saviour yet he was so afraid to offend him that he durst not undertake a Charge that he did not yet judge himself qualified for It was not enough that a Man was tolerably well esteemed by others He ought to examine himself for that of a Bishop's being well reported of is but one of many Characters declared necessary by S. Paul He complains much that those who raised Men to Orders had more regard to rank and wealth and to much time spent in a vain search into profane Learning tho Christ chose Fisher-men and Tent-makers than to true Worth and an earnest Zeal for the real good of the Church In the 3 d. Book he runs out with a great compass on the praises of the Priestly Function he looked upon it as a dignity raised far above all the Honours of this VVorld and approaching to the Angelical Glory A Priest ought to aspire to a Purity above that of other Mortals answering that of Angels VVhen a Priest performs the Holy Functions is sanctifying the Holy Eucharist and is offering a Crucified Christ to the People his thoughts should carry him Heavenwards and as it were translate him into those upper Regions If the Mosaical Priest was to be Holy that offered up Sacrifices of a lower Order how much Holier ought the Priests of this Religion to be to whom Christ has given the Power both of retaining and forgiving of Sins But if S. Paul after all his Visions and Labours after all his Raptures and Sufferings yet was inwardly burnt up with the concerns of the Church and laboured with much fear and trembling how much greater Apprehensions ought other Persons to have of such a Trust. If it were enough to be called to this Function and to go thrâ—ugh with the Duties incumbent on it in some tolerable manner the danger were not great but when the Duty as well as Dignity together with the Danger belonging to it are all laid together a Man is forced to have other Thoughts of the matter No Man that knows he is not capable of conducting a Ship will undertake it let him be pressed to it never so much Ambitious Men that loved to set themselves forward were of all others the most exposed to Temptations They were apt to be inflamed by the smallest Provocations to be glad at the faults of others and troubled if they saw any do well they courted Applause and aspired to Honour they fawned on great Persons and trod on those that were below them they made base Submissions undecent Addresses and often brought Presents to those in Authority they durst not in any sort reprove them for their Faults tho they reproached the poor out of measure for their failings These were not the natural Consequences of the Dignity of the Priesthood but unworthy and defiled Persons who without true
This practice brings a reproach on the Christian Religion and a confusion on the Priestly Order The Covetousness of the Clergy is censured by their people the worship of God is not performed in places consecrated to him and as was observed in the former Chapters the Souls of the people are thereby much endangered· Wherefore we do all unanimously appoint that no Bishop suffer this to be done in his Parish or Diocess these words being used promiscuously any more and we Decree that every Church that has a Congregation belonging to it and has means by which it may subsist shall have its proper Priest for if it has a Congregation but has not Means by which it may subsist that matter is left to the Bishop to consider whether it can or ought to be supported or not But it is specially recommended to their care to see that under this pretence no Priest may out of Covetousness hold two or three Churches in which he cannot serve nor perform the worship of God The last provisions in this Canon are the grounds upon which the Canonists found the second just cause of dispensing with Pluralities which is when a Church is so poor that the Profits which arise out of it cannot afford a competent maintenance to a Clark but then the question arises what is a Competent Maintenance this they do all bring very low to that which can just maintain him and they have so clogged it that no pretence should be given by so general a word to Covetousness Voluptuousness or Ambition And indeed while we have so many poor Churches among us instead of restraining such Pluralities it were rather to be wished that it were made easier than by Law it is at present either to unite them together or to make one man capable of serving two Churches when both Benefices make but a tolerable subsistance rather than to be forced to have a greater number of Clerks than can be decently maintained since it is certain that it is more for the Interest of Religion and for the good of Souls to have one worthy man serving two Churches and dividing himself between them than to have Clerks for many Benefices whose scandalous provisions make too many scandalous incumbents which is one of the greatest Diseases and Miseries of this Church But a due care in this matter has no relation to the accumulation of Livings at great distances every one of which can well support an Incumbent upon the same Person merely for the making of a Family for the supporting of Luxury or Vanity or for other base and Covetous designs But I go next to two of the worst Councils that ever carried the name of General ones the third and the fourth of the Lateran that we may see what was the sense of the Twefth and Thirteenth Century in this matter notwithstanding the Corruption of those Ages The Thirteenth Canon of the Third Lateran Council runs thus Forasmuch as some whose Covetousness has no bounds endeavour to procure to themselves divers Ecclesiastical Dignities and several Parish Churches against the Provisions of the Holy Canons by which means tho they are scarce able to perform the Office of one they do claim the Provisions due to many We do severely require that this may not be done for the future And therefore when any Church or Ecclesiastical Ministry is to be given let such a one be sought out for it as shall reside upon the place and shall be able to discharge the Care in his own Person If otherwise he who receives any such benefice contrary to the Canons shall lose it and he who gave it shall likewise lose his right of Patronage This Canon not being found effectual to cure so great an abuse The Twenty Ninth Canon of the Fourth Councel in the Lateran was penned in these Words It was with great Care forbidden in the Council of the Lateran that any one should have divers Ecclesiastical Dignities and more Parish Churches than one which is contrary to the Holy Canons Otherwise he that took them should lose them and he that gave them should lose the right of giving them But by reason of some Mens Presumption and Covetousness that Decree has had little or no effect hitherto we therefore desiring to make a more evident and express Provision against these abuses do appoint that whosoever shall receive any Benefice to which a Care of Souls is annexed shall thereupon by Law be deprived of any other such Benefice that he formerly had and if he endeavours still to hold it he shall lose the other likewise and he to whom the right of the Patronage of his first Benefice did belong is empowered to bestow it upon his accepting another and if he delays the bestowing it above Three months not only shall his right devolve to another according to the Decree of the Council in the Lateran but he shall be obliged to restore to the Church to which the Benefice belongs all that which he himself â—eceived during the vacancy This we do likewise Decree as to Personages and do further appoint that no Man shall presume to hold more Dignities or Parsonages than one in the same Church even though they have no Cure of Souls annexed to them Provided always that Dispensations may be granted by the Apostolical See to Persons of high Birth or eminently learned sublimes literatas personas or dignified in Universities for so the word literati was understood who upon occasion may be honoured with greater Benefices It was by this last Proviso that this as well as all other Canons made against these Abuses became quite ineffectual for this had no other effect but the obliging People to go to Rome for Dispensations so that this Canon instead of reforming the Abuse did really establish it for the Qualifications here mentioned were so far stretched that any Person that had obtained a Degree in any University came within the Character of lettered or learned and all those that were in any dependance upon great Men came likewise within the other Qualification of high Rank and Birth This was the Practice among us during the Reign of Henry the 8 th and he when he was beginning to threaten the See of Rome in the matter of his Divorce got that Act to be passed which has been the occasion of so much Scandal and Disorder in this Church It seems to one that considers it well that the Clauses which qualifie Pluralities were grafted upon another Bill against Spiritual Persons taking Estates to Farm with which that Act begins And that in the carrying that on such a temper shewed it self that the other was added to it It contained indeed a Limitation of the Papal Authority but so many Provisions were made that the Nobility Clergy and the more eminent of the Gentry Knights in particular were so taken Care of that it could meet with no grâ—at Oppoâ—ition in the Parliament but from the state of that Time and from several
Clauses in the Act it self it appears it was only intended to be a Provisional Act tho it is conceived in the Style of a perpetual Law By it then and by it only for I have not been able to find that any such Act ever passed in any Kingdom or State in Christendom many having been made plainly to the contrary in France declaring the Obligation to Residence to be of Divine Right were the Abuses that had arisen out of the Canon of one of the worst Councils that ever was authorised and settled among us as far as a Law of the Land can settle them But after all it is to be considered that a Law does indeed change the Legal and Political Nature of things it gives a Title to a Free-hold and Property But no Humane Law can change the Moral or Divine Laws and cancel their Authority If a false Religion is settled by Law it becomes indeed the legal Religion but is not a whit the truer for that And therefore if the Laws of the Gospel oblige Clerks to Personal Labour as was formerly made out An Act of Parliament may indeed qualifie a Man in Law to enjoy the Benefice whether he labours in it or not but it can never disâ—olve his Obligation to Residence and Personal Labour But to bring this Chapter to an end I shall only add Three Decrees that were made by the Council of Trent in this matter that so it may appear what Provisions they made against Abuses which are still supported by Laws among us A part of the 1 st Chap. of Reformation that past in the Sixth Session runs thus This Synod admonishes all that are set over any Cathedral Churches by what Title soever that they taking heed to themselves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost has set them to Govern the Church of God which he has purchased with his own Blood do watch and labour and fullfil their Ministry as the Apostle has commanded And they must know that they cannot do this if as Hirelings they forsake the Flock committed to them and do not watch over those Sheep whose Blood will be required at their Hands in the last Day Since it is certain that no excuse will be received if the Wolfe devours the Sheep when the Shepherd does not look after them Yet since to our great Grief it is found that some at this time neglect the Salvation of their own Souls and preferring Earthy things to Heavenly are still about Courts and forsaking the Fold and the Care of the Sheep trusted to them do give themselves wholly to Earthly and Temporal Cares therefore all the Ancient Canons which by the Iniquity of Times and the Corruptions of Men were fallen into desuetude are renewed against Non-residents To which several compulsory Clauses are added which are indeed slight ones because the Execution of them was intirely put in the Pope's Power and the Punishment did only lie if a Bishop was absent Six Months in a Year This Decree did not satisfie those who moved for a Reformation so a fuller one was made in the 23 d. Session 1 st Chap. in these Words Whereas by the Law of God all those to whom the Care of Souls is committed are commanded to know their Sheep to offer Sacrifice for them to feed them by the Preaching of the Word of God the Administration of the Sacraments and by the Example of a good Life to have a tender Care of the poor and all other miserable Persons and to lay themselves out upon all the other Functions of the Pastoral Care which cannot be performed by those who do not watch over nor are present with their Flock Therefore this Synod does admonish and exhort them that they remembring the Divine Precepts and being made an Example to their Flock may feed and govern them in Righteousness and Truth Upon this they declare that all Bishops even Cardinals themselves are obliged to Personal Residence in their Church and Diocess and there to discharge their Duty Unless upon some special Provisions By which indeed a Door is opened to as many Corruptions as the Court of Rome thinks fit to dispense with Yet without this none may be absent above two or at most three Months in the whole Year and even that must be upon a just reason and without any prejudice to the Flock and they leave this upon the Consciences of such as withdraw for so long a time which they hope will be Religious and Tender in this matter since all Hearts are known to God and it is no small Sin to do his Work negligently They declare the breaking this Decree to be a Mortal Sin and that such as are guilty of it cannot with a good Conscience enjoy the mean Profits during such their Absence but are bound to lay them out on the Fabrick or give them to the Poor and all these Provisions and Punishments they do also make against the inferior Clergy that enjoyed any Benefice to which the Cure of Souls was annexed and the execution of that is put in the Bishop's Hands who is required not to dispense with their Residence unless upon a very weighty occasion above two Months and in this they give the Bishop so full an Authority that no Appeal or Prohibition was to lie against his Sentence upon non-Residents even in the Court of Rome In these Decrees tho the Papal Party hindred a formal Declaration of the Obligation to Residence by Divine Right that so room might still be left for the Dispensing Power yet they went very near it they applied Passages of Scripture to it and laid the charge of mortal Sin upon it In the last place I shall set down the Decree that was made in the 24 th Session Chap. 17. against Pluralities in these Words Whereas the Ecclesiastical Order is perverted when one Clerk has the Offices of many committed to him it was therefore well provided by the Holy Canons that no Man should be put in two Churches But many led by their depraved Covetousness deceiving themselves but not God are not ashamed to elude those good Constitutions by several Artifices and obtain more Benefices than one at the same time Therefore the Synod being desirous to restore a proper Discipline for the Government of Churches does by this Decree by which all Persons of what Rank soever even Cardinals themselves shall be bound appoint that for the future one Man shall be capable of receiving only one Ecclesiastical Benefice But if that is not sufficient for the decent maintenance of him that has it then it shall be lawful to give him another simple Benefice provided that both Benefices do not require Personal Residence This Rule must be applied not only to Cathedrals but to all other Benefices whether Secular Regular or such as are held by Commendam or of what sort or order soever they may be And as for such as do at present possess either more Parish-Churches than one or one Cathedral and
another Parish-Church they shall be forced notwithstanding of any Dispensations or Unions that may have been granted them for term of Life to resign within the space of Six Months all that they do now hold except one Cathedral or one Parochial Church otherwise all their Benefices whether Parochial or others shall be by Law esteemed void and as such they shall be disposed of to others Nor may those who â—ormerly enjoyed them receive the mean Profits after the term of Six Months with a good Conscience But the Synod wishes that some due Provisâ—on might be made such as the Pope shall think fit for the necessities of those who are hereby obliged to Resign These were the decrees that were made by that pretended general Council And wheresoever that Council is received they are so seldom dispensed with that the Scandal of Non-Residence or Plurality does no more cry in that Church In France tho that Council is not there received yet such regard is had to Primitive Rules that it is not heard of among them Such Examples are to us Reproaches indeed And that of the worst sort when the Argument from the neglect of the Pastoral Care which gave so great an Advantage at first to the Reformers and turned the Hearts of the World so much from their Careless Pastors to those who shewed more Zeal and Concern for them is now against us and lies the other way If the Nature of Man is so made that it is not possible but that Offences must come yet woe be to him by whom they come CHAP. VI. Of the declared Sense and Rules of the Church of England in this matter WHatsoever may be the practice of any among us and whatsoever may be the force of some Laws that were made in bad times and perhaps upon bad ends yet we are sure the Sense of our Church is very different She intended to raise the obligation of the Pastoral Care higher than it was before and has laid out this matter more fully and more strictly than any Church ever did in any Age as far at least as my Enquiries can carry me The truest Indication of the Sense of a Church is to be taken from her Language in her Publick Offices This is that which she speaks the most frequently and the most publickly even the Articles of Doctrine are not so much read and so often heard as her Liturgies are and as this way of Reasoning has been of late made use of with great advantage against the Church of Rome to make her accountable for all her Publick Offices in their plain and literal meaning so I will make use of it on this occasion It is the stronger in our case whose Offices being in a Tongue understood by the people the Argument from them does more evidently conclude here In general then this is to be observed that no Church before ours at the Reformation took a formal Sponsion at the Altar from such as were ordained Deacons and Priests That was indeed always demanded of Bishops but neither in the Roman nor Greek Pontifical do we find any such solemn Vows and Promises demanded or made by Priests or Deacons nor does any print of this appear in the Constitutions the pretended Areopagite or the antient Canons of the Church Bishops were asked many questions as appears by the first Canon of the fourth Council of Carthage They were required to profess their Faith and to promise to obey the Canons which is still observed in the Greek Church The questions are more express in the Roman Pontifical and the first of these demands a promise that they will instruct their people in the Christian Doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures which was the Foundation upon which our Bishops justified the Reformation Since the first and chief of all their Vowes binding them to this it was to take place of all others and if any other parts of those Sponsions contradicted this such as their Obedience and Adherence to the See of Rome they said that these were to be limited by this All the account I can give of this general practice of the Church in demanding Promises only of Bishops and not of the other Orders is this that they considered the Government of the Priests and Deacons as a thing that was so entirely in the Bishop as it was indeed by the first Constitution that it was not thought necessary to bind them to their Duty by any Publick Vowes or Promises though it is very probable that the Bishops might take private engagements of them before they ordained them it being in the Bishop's power to Restrain and Censure them in a very Absolute and Summary way But the case was quite different in Bishops who were all equal by their Rank and Order None having any Authority over them by any Divine Law or the Rules of the Gospel the power of Primates and Metropolitans having arisen out of Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws and not being equally great in all Countries and Provinces and therefore it was more necessary to proceed with greater caution and to demand a further security fâ—â—m them But the new face of the Constitution of the Church by which Priests were not under so absolute a subjection to their Bishops as they had been at first which was occasioned partly by the Tyranny of some Bishops to which bounds were set by Laws and Canons partly by their having a special Propety and Benefice of their own and so not being maintained by a Dividend out of the common-stock of the Church as at first had so altered the state of things that indeed no part of the Episcopacy was left entrirely in the Bishop's hands but the power of Ordination This is still free and unrestrained no Writs nor Prohibitions from Civil Courts and no Appeals have clogged or fettered this as they have done all the other parts of their Authority Therefore our Reformers observing all Office of Ordination and they made both the Charge that is given and the Promises that are to be taken to be very express and solemne that so both the Ordainers and the Ordained might be rightly instructed in their Duty and struck with the awe and dread that they ought to be under in so holy and so important a performance and though all mankind does easily enough agree in this That Promises ought to be Religiously observed which men make to one another how apt soever they may be to break them yet to make the sense of these Promises go deeper they are ordered to be made at the Altar and in the nature of a Stipulation or Covenant the Church conferring Orders or indeed rather Christ by the Mininestry of the Officers that he has constituted conferring them upon those Promises that are first made The Forms of Ordination in the Greek Church which we have reason to believe are less changed and more conform to the Primitive pattenrs than those used by the Latins do plainly import that the Church only declared
the Divine Vocation The Grace of God that perfects the feeble and heals the weak promotes this man to be a Deacon a Priest or a Bishop Where nothing is expressed as conferred but only as declared so our Church by making our Saviour's words the form of Ordination must be construed to intend by that that it is Christ only that sends and that the Bishops are only his Ministers to pronounce his Mission otherwise it is not so easie to justifie the use of this Form Receive the Holy Ghost which as it was not used in the Primitive Church nor by the Roman till within these five Hundred Years so in that Church it is not the Form of Ordination but a Benediction given by the Bishop singly after the Orders are given by the Bishop and the other Priests joyning with him For this is done by him alone as the final consummation of the Action But our using this as the form of Ordination shews that we consider our selves only as the Instruments that speak in Christ's Name and Words Insinuating thereby that he only Ordains Pursuant to this in the Ordaining of Priests the questions are put in the name of God and of his Church Which makes the answers to them to be of the nature of Vows and Oaths So that if men do make conscience of any thing and if it is possible to strike terrour into them the Forms of our Ordinations are the most effectually contrived for that end that could have been framed The first question that is put in the Office of Deacons is Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his people To which he is to answer I trust so This is put only in this Office and not repeated afterwards it being justly supposed that where one has had this motion all the other Orders may be in time conferred pursuant to it but this is the first step by which a Man dedicates himself to the Service of God and therefore it ought not to be made by any that has not this Divine Vocation Certainly the Answer that is made to this ought to be well considered for if any says I trust so that yet knows nothing of any such motion and can give no account of it he lies to the Holy Ghost and makes his first approach to the Altar with a lie in his Mouth and that not to Men but to God and how can one expect to be received by God or be sent and sealed by him that dares do a thing of so crying a Nature as to pretend that he trusts he has this motion who knows that he has it not who has made no Reflections on it and when asked what he means by it can say nothing concerning it and yet he dares venture to come and say it to God and his Church If a Man pretends a Commission from a Prince or indeed from any Person and acts in his Name upon it the Law will fall on him and punish him and shall the Great God of Heaven and Earth be thus vouched and his motion he pretended to by those whom he has neither called nor sent and shall not he reckon with those who dare to run without his Mission pretending that they trust they have it when perhaps they understand not the Importance of it nay and perhaps some laugh at it as an Enthusiastical Question who yet will go through with the Office They come to Christ for the Loaves They hope to live by the Altar and the Gospel how little soever they serve at the one or Preach the other therefore they will say any thing that is necessary for qualifying them to this whether true or false It cannot be denied but that this Question carries a sound in it that seems a little too high and that may rather raise Scruples as importing somewhat that is not ordinary and that seems to savour of Enthusiasme and therefore it was put here without doubt to give great caution to such as come to the Service of the Church many may be able to answer it truly according to the Sense of the Church who may yet have great doubting in themselves concerning it but every Man that has it not must needs know that he has it not The true meaning of it must be resolved thus the Motives that ought to determine a Man to dedicate himself to the Ministring in the Church are a Zeal for promoting the Glory of God for raising the Honour of the Christian Religion for the making it to be better understood and more submitted to He that loves it and feels the excellency of it in himself that has a due Sense of God's goodness in it to Mankind and that is entirely possessed with that will feel a Zeal within himself for communicating that to others that so the only true God and Iesus Christ whom he has sent may be more universally glorified and served by his Creatures And when to this he has added a concern of the Souls for Men a Tenderness for them a Zeal to rescue them from endless Misery and a desire to put them in the way to everlasting Happiness and from these Motives feels in himself a desire to dedicate his Life and Labours to those ends and in order to them studies to understand the Scriptures and more particularly the New Testament that from thence he may form a true Notion of this Holy Religion and so be an able Minister of it this Man and only this Man so moved and so qualified can in Truth and with a good Conscience answer that he trusts he is inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost And every one that ventures on the saying it without this is a Sacrilegious profaner of the Name of God and of his Holy Spirit He breaks in upon his Church not to feed it but to rob it And it is certain that he who begins with a Lie may be sent by the Father of Lies but he cannot be thought to enter in by the Door who prevaricates in the first word that he says in order to his Admittance But if the Office of Deacons offers no other particular matter of Reflection the Office of Ordaining Priests has a great deal indeed the whole of it is calculated to the best Notions of the best Times In the Charge that is given the Figures of Watchmen Shepherds and Stewards are pursued and the places of Scripture relating to these are applied to them They are required to have always printed in their Remembrance How great a Treasure was committed to their Charge The Church and Congregation whom you must serve is his Spouse and Body Then the greatness of the fault of their Negligence and the horrible Punishment that will follow upon it is set before them in case the Church or any Member of it take any hurt or hinderance by reason of it They are charged never to cease their
aâ—â—â—e Business and Labour of their Lives Having known the very good effect that this Method has had on some I dare the more confidently recommend it to all others Before I conclude this Chapter I will shew what Rules our Reformers had prepared with Relation to Non-Residence and Pluralities which tho they never passed into Laws and so have no binding force with them yet in these we see what was the sense of those that prepared our Offices and that were the chief Instruments in that blessed Work of our Reformation The 12 th Chapter of the Title concerning those that were to be admitted to Ecclesiastical Benefices runs thus Whereas when many Benefices are conferred on one Person every one of these must be served with less order and exactness and many learned Men who are not provided are by that means shut out therefore such as examine the Persons who are proposed for Benefices are to ask every one of them whether he has at that time another Benefice or not and if he confesses that he has then they shall not consent to his obtaining that to which he is presented or the first Benefice shall be made void as in case of Death so that the Patron may present any other Person to it Chap 13. is against Dispensations in these Words No Man shall hereafter be capable of any Privilege by virtue of which he may hold more Parishes than one But such as have already obtained any such Dispensations for Pluralities shall not be deprived of the effects of them by virtue of this Law The 14 th Chapter relates to Residence in these Words If any Man by reason of Age or Sickness is disabled from discharging his Duty or if he has any just cause of absence for some time that shall be approved of by the Bishop he must take care to place a worthy Person to serve during his absence But the Bishops ought to take a special Care that upon no regard whatsoever any Person may upon feigned or pretended Reasons be suffered to be longer absent from his Parish than a real necessity shall require These are some of the Rules which were then prepared and happy had it been for our Church if that whole work of the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Law had been then setled among us Then we might justly have said that our Reformation was compleat and not have lamented as our Church still does in the Office of Commination that the godly Discipline which was in the Primitive Church is not yet restored how much and how long soever it has been wished for It is more than probable that we should neither have had Schisms nor Civil Wars if that great design had not been abortive If but the 19 th and 20 th Titles of that work which treat of the publick offices and Officers in the Church had became a part of our Law and been duly executed we should indeed have had matter of glorying in the World In the Canons of the Year 1571. tho there was not then strength enough in the Church to cure so inveterate a Disease as Non-Residence yet she expressed her detestation of it in these Words The absence of a Pastor from the Lord's Flock and that supine negligence and abandoning of the Ministry which we observe in many is a thing vile in it self odious to the People and pernicious to the Church of God therefore we exhort all the Pastors of Churches in our Lord Iesus that they will as soon as is possible come to their Churches and diligently Preach the Gospel and according to the value of their Livings that they will keep House and hospitably relieve the Poor It is true all this is much lessened by the last Words of that Article That every Year they must reside at least Threescore daies upon their Benefices By the Canons made at that time Pluralities were also limited to 20 miles distance But this was enlarged to 30 miles by the Canons in the Year 1597. Yet by these the Pluralist was required to spend a good part of the Year in both his Benefices And upon this has the matter rested ever since but there is no express definition made how far that general word of a good part of the Year is to be understood I will not to this add a long invidious History of all the attempts that have been made for the Reforming these abuses nor the methods that have been made use of to defeat them They have been but too successful so that we still groan under our abuses and do not know when the time shall come in which we shall be freed from them The defenders of those abuses who get too much by them to be willing to part with them have made great use of this that it was the Puritan Party that during Q. Elizabeth and K. Iames the 1 sts Reign promoted these Bills to render the Church odious Whereas it seems more probable that those who set them forward what invidious Characters soever their Enemies might put them under were really the Friends of the Church and that they intended to preserve it by freeing it from so crying and so visible an abuse which gives an offence and scandal that is not found out by much learning or great observation but arises so evidently out of the nature of things that a small measure of common sense helps every one to see it and to be deeply prejudic'd against it But since our Church has fallen under the evils and mischiefs of Schism none of those who divide from us have made any more attempts this way but seem rather to be not ill pleased that such Scandals should be still among us as hoping that this is so great a load upon our Church that it both weakens our strength and lessens our Authority It is certainly the interest of an Enemy to suffer the body to which he opposes himself to lie under as many Prejudices and to be liable to as much censure as is possible whereas every good and wise Friend studies to preserve that body to which he unites himself by freeing it from every thing that may render it less acceptable and less useful Here I will leave this Argument having I think said enough to convince all that have a true Zeal to our Church and that think themselves bound in conscience to obey its Rules and that seem to have a particular jealousie of the Civil Powers breaking in too far upon the Ecclesiastical Authority that there can be nothing more plain and express than that our Church intends to bring all her Priests under the strictest obligations possible to constant and personal Labour and that in this she pursues the designs and Canons not only of the Primitive and best times but even of the worst Ages Since none were ever so corrupt as not to condemn those abuses by Canon even when they maintained them in practice She does not only bind them to this by the Charge she appoints to be given
but also by the Vows and Promises that she demands of such as are Ordained When all this is laid together and when there stands nothing on the other side to balance it but a Law made in a very bad time that took away some abuses but left pretences to cover others Can any man that weighs these things together in the sight of God and that believes he must answer to him for this at the great Day think that the one how strong soever it may be in his favour at an earthly Tribunal will be of any force in that last and dreadful Iudgment This I leave upon all Mens Consciences hoping that they will so judge themselves that they shall not be judged of the Lord. CHAP. VII Of the due preparation of such as may and ought to be put in Orders THE greatest good that one can hope to do in this World is upon young Persons who have not yet taken their ply and are not spoiled with Prejudices and wrong Notions Those who have taken an ill one at first will neither be at the pains to look over their Notions nor turn to new Methods nor will they by any change of Practice seem to confess that they were once in the wrong so that if Matters that are amiss can be mended or set right it must be by giving those that have not yet set out and that are not yet engaged truer views and juster Idea's of things I will therefore here lay down the model upon which a Clerk is to be formed and will begin with such things as ought to be previous and preparatory to his being initiated into Orders These are of two sorts the one is of such preparations as are necessary to give his Heart and Soul a right temper and a true sense of things The other is of such studies as are necessary to enable him to go through with the several parts of his Duty Both are necessary but the first is the more indispensible of the two for a Man of a good Soul may with a moderate proportion of knowledge do great Service in the Church especially if he is suited with an imployment that is not above his Talent Whereas unsanctified knowledge puffs up is insolent and unquiet it gives great scandal and occasions much distraction in the Church In treating of these qualifications I will watch over my thoughts not to let them rise to a pitch that is above what the common frailties of humane Nature or the Age we live in can bear and after all if in any thing I may seem to exceed â—hese measures it is to be considered that it is natural in proposing the Ideas of things to carry them to what is wished for which is but too often beyond what can be expected considering both the corruption of mankind and of these degenerated times First of all then he that intends to dedicate himself to the Church ought from the time that he takes up any such Resolution to enter upon a greater Decency of Behaviour that his Mind may not be vitiated by ill Habits which may both give such bad Characters of him as maystick long on him afterwards and make such ill Impressions on himself as may not be easily worn out or defaced He ought above all things to possess himself with a high Sense of the Christian Religion of its Truth and Excellence of the Value of Souls of the Dignity of the Pastoral Care of the Honour of God of the Sacredness of Holy Functions and of the Great Trust that is committed to those who are set apart from the World and dedicated to God and to his Church He who looks this way must break himself to the Appetites of Pleasure or Wealth of Ambition or Authority he must consider that the Religion in which he intends to Officiate calls all Men to great Purity and Vertue to a Probity and Innocence of Manners to a Meekness and Gentleness to a Humility and Self-denial to a Contempt of the World and a Heavenly Mindedness to a Patient Resignation to the Will of God and a readiness to bear the Cross in the hopes of that everlasting Reward which is reserved for Christians in another State All which was eminently recommended by the unblemish'd Pattern that the Author of this Religion has set to all that pretend to be his Followers These being the Obligations which a Preacher of the Gospel is to lay daily upon all his Hearers he ought certainly to accustom himself often to consider seriously of them and to think how Shameless and Impudent a thing it will be in him to perform Offices suitable to all these and that do suppose them to be Instructing the People and Exhorting them to the Practice of them unless he is in some sort all this himself which he teaches others to be Indeed to be tied to such an Employment while one has not an inward Conformity to it and Complacence in it is both the most unbecoming the most unpleasant and the most uncomfortable State of Life imaginable Such a Person will be exposed to all Mens Censures and Reproaches who when they see things amiss in his Conduct do not only Reproach him but the whole Church and Body to which he belongs and which is more the Religion which he seems to recommend by his Discourses though his Life and Actions which will always pass for the most real Declaration of his inward Sentiments are a visible and continual opposition to it On all these things he whose Thoughts carry him towards the Church ought to reflect frequently Nothing is so odious as a Man that disagrees with his Character a Soldier that is a Coward a Courtier that is Brutal an Ambassadour that is Abject are not such unseemly things as a bad or vicious a drunken or dissolute Clergy-man But though his Scandals should not rise up to so high a pitch even a Proud and Passionate a Worldly Minded and Covetous Priest gives the Lye to his Discourses so palpably that he cannot expect they should have much weight Nor is such a Man's State of Life less unpleasant to himself than it is unbecoming He is obliged to be often performing Offices and pronouncing Discourses in which if he is not a Good Man he not only has no Pleasure but must have a formed Aversion to them They must be the heaviest Burden of his Life he must often feel secret Challenges within and though he as often silences these yet such unwelcome Reflections are uncomfortable things He is forced to manage himself wiâ—h a perpetual constraint and to observe a decorum in his Deportment lest he fall under a more publick Censure Now to be bound to act a Part and live with restraint ones whole Life must be a very Melancholy thing He cannot go so quite out of sight of Religion and Convictions as other bad Men do who live in a perpetual hurry and a total forgetfulness of Divine Matters They have no Checks because they are as seldom
remains only to direct a Student how to form right Notions of Practical Matters and particularly of Preaching Dr. Hammond's Practical Catechism is a Book of great use but not to be begun with as too many do It does require a good deal of previous Study before the force of his Reasonings is apprehended but when one is ready for it it is a rare Book and States the Grounds of Morality and of our Duty upon true Principles To form one to understand the right Method of Preaching the Extent of it and the proper ways of Application Bishop Sanderson Mr. Faringdon and Dr. Barrow are the best and the fullest Models There is a vast variety of other Sermons which may be read with an equal measure of Advantage and Pleasure And if from the time that one resolves to direct his Studies towards the Church he would every Lords day read two Sermons of any good Preacher and turn them a little over in his Thoughts this would insensibly in two or three years time carry him very far and give him a large view of the different ways of Preaching and furnish him with Materials for handling a great many Texts of Scripture when he comes to it And thus I have carried my Student through those Studies that seem to me so necessary for qualifying him to be an able Minister of the New Testament that I cannot see how any Article of this can be well abated It may seem strange that in this whole Direction I have said nothing concerning the Study of the Fathers or Church History But I said at first that a great distinction was to be made between what was necessary to prepare a Man to be a Priest and what was necessary to make him a Compleat and Learned Divine The knowledge of these things is necessary to the latter though they do not seem so necessary for the former There are many things to be left to the Prosecution of a Divine's Study that therefore are not mentioned here not with any design to disparage that sort of Learning for I am now only upon that measure of Knowledge under which I heartily wish that no Man were put in Priests Orders and therefore I have pass'd over many other things such as the more accurate Understanding of the Controversies between us and the Church of Rome and the unhappy Disputes between us and the Dissenters of all sorts though both the one and the other have of late been opened with that perspicuity that fulness of Argument and that clearness as well as softness of Stile that a Collection of these may give a Man the fullest Instructions that is to be found in any Books I know Others and perhaps the far greater number will think that I have clogged this Matter too much But I desire these may consider how much we do justly reckon that our Profession is preferrable either to Law or Medicine Now if this is true it is not unreasonable that since those who pretend to these must be at so much Pains before they enter upon a Practice which relates only to Men's Fortunes or their Persons we whose Labours relate to their Souls and their eternal State should be at least at some considerable Pains before we enter upon them Let any young Divine go to the Chambers of a Student in the Inns of Court and see how many Books he must read and how great a Volume of a Common-Place-Book he must make he will there see through how hard a Task one must go in a course of many Years and how ready he must be in all the Parts of it before he is called to the Barr or can manage Business How exact must a Physician be in Anatomy in Simples in Pharmacy in the Theory of Diseases and in the Observations and Counsels of Doctors before he can either with Honour or a safe Conscience undertake Practice He must be ready with all this and in that infinite number of hard Words that belong to every part of it to give his Directions and write his Bills by the Patient's Bed-side who cannot stay 'till he goes to his Study and turns over his Books If then so long a course of Study and so much exactness and readiness in it is necessary to these Professions nay if every mechanical Art even the meanest requires a course of many Years before one can be a Master in it shall the noblest and the most important of all others that which comes from Heaven and leads thither again shall that which God has honoured so highly and to which Laws and Governments have added such Privileges and Encouragements that is employ'd in the sublimest Exercises which require a proportioned worth in those who handle them to maintain their Value and Dignity in the Esteem of the World shall all this I say be esteemed so low a thing in our Eyes that a much less degree of Time and Study is necessary to arrive at it than at the most sordid of all Trades whatsoever And yet after all a Man of a tolerable Capacity with a good degree of Application may go through all this well and exactly in two Years time I am very sure by many an Experiment I have made that this may be done in a much less compass But because all Men do not go alike quick have not the same force nor the same application therefore I reckon two Years for it which I do thus divide One Year before Deacons Orders and another between them and Priests Orders And can this be thought a hard Imposition Or do not those who think thus give great occasion to the Contempt of the Clergy if they give the World cause to observe that how much soever we may magnifie our Profession yet by our practice we shew that we do judge it the meanest of all others which is to be arrived at upon less previous study and preparation to it than any other whatsoever Since I have been hitherto so minute I will yet divide this matter a little lower into those parts of it without which Deacons Orders ought not to be given and those to be reserved to the second Year of study To have read the New Testament well so as to carry a great deal of it in one's Memory to have a clear notion of the several Books of it to understand well the Nature and the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace and to have read one System well so as to be Master of it to understand the whole Catechetical matter to have read Wilkins and Grotius this I say is that part of this Task which I propose before one is made Deacon The rest though much the larger will go the easier if those Foundations are once well laid in them And upon the Article of Studying the Scriptures I will add one Advice more There are two Methods in reading them the one ought to be merely Critical to find out the meaning and coherence of the several Parts of them in which one runs easily
dwelling too long on Thoughts that are too hard for them to Master The Opinion that has had the chief Influence in raising these Distempers has been that of Praying by the Spirit when a flame of Thought a melting in the Brain and the abounding in tender expressions have been thought the Effects of the Spirit moving all those Symptoms of a warm Temper Now in all People especially in Persons of a Melancholy Disposition that are much alone there will be a great diversity with relation to this at different times Sometimes these Heats will rise and flow copiously and at other times there will be a damp upon the Brain and a dead dryness in the Spirits This to men that are prepossessed with the Opinion now set forth will appear as if God did sometimes shine out and at other times hide his face and since this last will be the most frequent in men of that Temper as they will be apt to be lifted up when they think they have a fulness of the Spirit in them so they will be as much cast down when that is withdrawn they will conclude from it that God is angry with them and so reckon that they must be in a very dangerous Condition Upon this a vast variety of troublesom Scruples will arise out of every thing that they either do or have done If then a Minister has occasion to treat any in this Condition he must make them apprehend that the heat or coldness of their Brain is the effect of Temper and flows from the different State of the Animal Spirits which have their Diseases their hot and their cold Fits as well as the Blood has and therefore no measure can be taken from these either to Judge for or against themselves They are to consider what are their Principles and Resolutions and what 's the settled Course of their Life upon these they are to form sure Judgments and not upon any thing that is so fluctuating and inconstant as Fits or Humours Another part of a Priest's Duty is with relation to them that are without I mean that are not of our Body which are of the side of the Church of Rome or among the Dissenters Other Churches and Bodies are noted for their Zeal in making Proselytes for their restless Endeavours as well as their unlawful Methods in it they reckoning perhaps that all will be sanctified by the encreasing their Party which is the true name of making Converts except they become at the same time Good Men as well as Votaries to a Side or Cause We are certainly very remiss in this of both hands little pains is taken to gain either upon Papist or Nonconformist the Law has been so much trusted to that that method only was thought sure it was much valued and others at the same time as much neglected and whereas at first without force or violence in Fourty years time Popery from being the prevailing Religion was reduced to a handful we have now in above twice that number of years made very little Progress The favour shew'd them from our Court made us seem as it were unwilling to disturb them in their Religion so that we grow at last to be kind to them to look on them as harmless and inoffensive Neighbours and even to cherish and comfort them we were very near the being convinc'd of our mistake by a terrible and dear bought Experience Now they are again under Hatches certainly it becomes us both in Charity to them and in regard to our own Safety to study to gain them by the force of Reason and Persuasion by shewing all kindness to them and thereby disposing them to hearken to the Reasons that we may lay before them We ought not to give over this as desperate upon a few unsuccessful Attempts but must follow them in the meekness of Christ that so we may at last prove happy Instruments in delivering them from the Blindness and Captivity they are kept under and the Idolatry and Superstition they live in We ought to visit them often in a Spirit of Love and Charity and to offer them Conferences and upon such Endeavours we have reason to expect a Blessing at least this of having done our Duty and so delivering our own Souls Nor are we to think that the Toleration under which the Law has settled the Dissenters does either absolve them from the Obligations that they lay under before by the Laws of God and the Gospel to maintain the Vnity of the Church and not to rent it by unjust or causeless Schisms or us from using our endeavours to bring them to it by the methods of Perswasion and Kindness Nay perhaps their being now in Circumstances that they can no more be forced in these things may put some of them in a greater towardness to hear Reason a Free Nation naturally hating Constraint And certainly the less we seem to grudge or envy them their Liberty we will be thereby the nearer gaining on the generouser and better Part of them and the rest would soon lose Heart and look out of Countenance if these should hearken to us It was the Opinion many had of their strictness and of the looseness that was amongst us that gained them their Credit and made such numbers fall off from us They have in a great measure lost the Good Character that once they had if to that we should likewise lose our bad one if we were stricter in our Lives more serious and constant in our Labours and studied more effectually to Reform those of our Communion than to rail at theirs If we took occasion to let them see that we love them that we wish them no harm but good then we might hope by the Blessing of God to lay the Obligations to Love and Peace to Unity and Concord before them with such Advantages that some of them might open their Eyes and see at last upon how flight Grounds they have now so long kept up such a Wrangling and made such a Rent in the Church that both the Power of Religion in general and the strength of the Protestant Religion have suffered extreamly by them Thus far I have carried a Clerk through his Parish and all the several Branches of his Duty to his People But that all this may be well gone about and indeed as the Foundation upon which all the other Parts of the Pastoral Care may be well managed he ought frequently to visit his whole Parish from House to House that so he may know them and be known of them This I know will seem a vast Labour especially in Towns where Parishes are large but that is no excuse for those in the Country where they are generally small and if they are larger the going this Round will be the longer a doing yet an hour a day Twice or Thrice a Week is no hard Duty and this in the Compass of a Year will go a great way even in a large Parish In these Visits much Time is