their Devotion when they are at them I know not how any Minister can dispense with himself in this matter or what Salvo he can have for his Conscience who does otherwise But though publick Prayers be the more excellent yet 2. This cannot excuse you from being diligent in private Prayers and that both for your People and for your selves First Pray much and earnestly for your People Of this St. Paul hath set us an Example as he himself testifies in his Epistles thus he prayed for the Colossians Colos 1. 9 10 11. That they might be filled with the Knowledge of the Will of God in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work Thus he pray'd for the Ephesians Ephes 1. 15 16 17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of their understanding being enlightened that they might know what is the hope of his Calling c. Ephes 3. 16 17 18 19. That God would grant them according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthen'd with all might by his spirit in the inner Man that Christ might dwell in their hearts by Faith c. Thus he tells the Romans Rom. 1. 9. That without ceasing he made mention of them always in his Prayers In like manner he prayed for the Philipians Phil. 1. 4. Always says he and in every Prayer of mine for you all making request with joy He thought it not enough to pray once or twice but he ceased not still to pray for them It cannot be thought that any Pastor who aims as he ought at the salvation of his People can forbear to pray for them Secondly Pray constantly and earnestly for your selves For such assistances of God's holy spirit as may inable you rightly to discharge the Duties of your holy Calling 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but all our sufficiency is of God We made our Ordination Vow in expectation of and dependance upon Gods help I will do so by the help of the Lord I will the Lord being my helper And we need not doubt of God's help if we sincerely and importunately pray for it for he hath promised Luk. 11. 13. his Holy Spirit to them that ask it That is all the Gifts of his Holy Spirit we stand in need of But to proceed 2. You promised To be diligent in reading the Holy Scriptures And 3. In such studies as help to the knowledge of the same I put them both together for brevities sake St. Paul commanded Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 13. to give attendance to reading viz. of the Holy Scriptures and that not only in publick to others but also in private that he himself might be the more thoroughly instructed in them And if this was needful for Timothy who had learn'd the Holy Scriptures from a Child it will I fear be much more needful for many of us The Scriptures were inspired by God to this very end 2 Tim. 3. 17. That the man of God that is the Minister of the Gospel might be throughly furnished to all good Works That he might be instructed in every part of the Duty which belongs to his Office whether it be to teach or to reprove or to correct or to instruct in righteousness Out of this sacred repository and this only we may be supplyed with whatsoever is necessary for us and our People to know and to believe and to do I therefore earnestly press you to the study of the Holy Scriptures day and night to get such parts of them by heart as may be of most frequent and necessary use that you may have them in readiness upon all occasions And in your reading of them to observe those places which are most obscure to compare them with the Originals and with the words coherent to consult some one or more of the best Commentators upon them that you may attain to the true sense of them And for those who have leisure and ability for it to read the Fathers at least of the three first Centuries the History and Antiquities of the Church the Babylonian Persian Greek Roman and Jewish Antiquities and such other parts of Learning without which many places of Scripture cannot be well understood And that you may be thus diligent in Prayer and in reading and studying the Holy Scriptures Fourthly You promised To lay aside the study of the World and the Flesh For the more you study the World the less will you study the Holy Scriptures the more you consult the ease and pleasure of the Flesh the less will you attend to the pleasing of God and the saving of Souls In what degree soever your affections are set upon the things on the Earth in that they will necessarily be taken off from the things above O remember That every Clergy-man is a man of God dedicated to him in a more eminent service than others are and that you rob God of all that time and study which are needlesly spent upon other matters Remember that you are obliged not only by your Baptismal Vow to renounce the World and the Flesh as Lay Christians also are but more closely bound to it than they by this solemn Vow you made at your Ordination Let it appear to all Men that you pay your Vows by your living above this World and having your Conversation in Heaven In the next place you promised these two things This part of the Ordination-Vow was made the Subject of the whole Charge at another place and therefore is here the more briefly spoken to I. That You would be diligent to frame and fashion your own selves and your Families according to the Doctrine of Christ And which is somewhat more II. To make both your selves and them as much as in you lyeth wholesome Examples and Patterns to the Flock of Christ. First You promised to be diligent To frame your own selves according to the Doctrine of Christ to have your Conversation in all things suitable to the Gospel you preach He can never be seriously concerned for other mens souls who has not first a care of his own nor make it his chief study to conduct others in the narrow way that leads to Life who walks himself in the broad way that leads to destruction But suppose he could sincerely endeavour to destroy that sin in others which he cherishes in himself yet what success can he in reason expect Can it be thought that his People should pay any regard to what he says when they see that he does not regard it himself Can they think that he does in good earnest believe what he preaches when he unpreaches the same again in his life And is it then likely that they should believe it especially when it
thwarts their beloved Lusts But if there should be any among us whom this Consideration does not affect yet methinks it should awaken them to consider That a vicious Preacher is in a much more miserable and deplorable Condition than a vicious Hearer because his sins are much more aggravated and consequently his Punishment will be proportionably more intollerable Thou that teachest another Man should not be drunk if thou art a Drunkard Thou that preachest another should not be covetous or proud or contentious if thou art so thy self thy own Sermons will rise up in Judgment against thee out of thy own Mouth shalt thou be condemned to that utter darkness thou hast warned others to make their escape from and shalt have the darkest and most dismal Portion in it But this is not all For 2. That measure of Grace and Holiness which may suffice for a Lay-man will not be enough for those who are to be their Guides You cannot go to Heaven at so cheap a rate as your People can as your Calling is more holy and stands in a nearer Relation to God so also must your Lives be You must be Patterns of all those Graces and Vertues you recommend to them that they by looking upon you may be able to discern wherein they are defective In all things shewing thy self a Pattern of good Works says St. Paul to Titus Tit. 2. 7. which he also gives in charge to Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 12. Be thou an Example to the Believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity Which Commands though given to those who were of the higher yet are in proportion applicable to those of the lower Order of the Clergy For as Bishops ought to be Examples to the inferiour Clergy so the inferiour Clergy ought to be Examples to the Laity It is indeed the Duty of all even the most vulgar Christians if compared with the men of the World to be Patterns to them so our Saviour tells his Disciples Mat. 5. 13 14 15 16. That they were to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the World and commands them to let their light so shine before men that others seeing their good works might glorifie their Father which is in Heaven What then is required of you my Brethren who ought to be Examples to them who are to be Examples to the rest of Mankind What manner of Persons ought you to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness Nor must we only endeavour to frame our selves but our Families too according to the Doctrine of Christ and to make them Examples to other Families to make our Children and Servants as much as in us lyeth Examples to those of others in all those Graces and Duties which are proper to those Relations Which must be done by more fully instructing them in their respective Duties and by frequently pressing their Duties upon them by such Considerations as may be of power to over-awe their Consciences and oblige them to the performance thereof and by hearty Prayers to God to make our endeavours this way successful There is one thing more in your Ordination-Vow which I shall but very briefly recommend to your Consideration and Practice and that is That you will maintain and set forward as much as lieth in you quietness peace and love among all Christian-People especially among them who are or shall be committed to your Charge As to make peace not only between God and Man but also between man and man was one great thing our blessed Saviour had in his eye when he came into the World so in order thereunto he hath enjoyned the Practice of all those Vertues which tend to the begetting and promoting of Peace and hath forbidden all those ill-natur'd qualities that are Enemies to it As he hath commanded Rom. 12. 18. If it be possible as much as lieth in us to live peaceably with all men So he hath pressed us with great variety of the most powerful Arguments Eph. 4. 1 2 3. Phil. 2. 1 2 3. to be at peace among our selves So much was Peace his Design that he is stiled the PRINCE of Peace and his Gospel is called the Gospel of Peace As therefore we are the Ambassadors of this Prince of Peace and intrusted with the dispensation of his Gospel of Peace we are above all other men in the World obliged to the utmost of our power to prevent or reconcile differences and to maintain and promote Peace among our People To that end go to them that you hear are at variance endeavour â—o remove their Prejudices to correct their Mistakes to allay their Passions to perswade them to mutual Condescention and by all other fair means to make them heartily Friends Ever remembring That Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Mat. 5. 9. To the last part of your Ordination-Vow viz. That you will reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Ministers to whom is committed the Charge and Government over you c. I shall say nothing but leave it to your own Consciences to comment upon it presuming you will be impartial therein and less favourable to your selves than I should be There is one thing still behind that I must give you in Charge and that is Can. 62. The strict observation of the Canon against clandestine Marriages I hope those who practice contrary to it are in comparison but few notwithstanding the many Complaints which have been made to me about it That they are no other than the idle loose and vagrant that is the Scum and Refuse of the Clergy who drive on this scandalous Trade For I cannot perswade my self That any Man who has not very much debauch'd his Conscience and lost all sense of Honour and Reputation can be easily prevailed with to make such Marriages considering how express and severe the Laws of our Church are against them and considering the many sins and mischiefs which are the usual Consequents of them I shall pass over those which are of a more general extent and only mention a few of those Ecclesiastical Constitutions which more particularly relate to our own Church In a Council conven'd at Westminster in the Year 1175 it was Ordain'd That if any Priest shall be found to have joyned any in Marriage clandestinely he shall be suspended from his Office for the space of Three Years In a Council held after this in the Church of St. Pauls in London in the Year 1328 it was decreed Lynw. l. 4. Tit. 3. c. 1. That all Priests who shall presume to be present at any Matrimonial Contracts before the solemn publication of Banns shall be suspended from their Office for three Years And that every Priest whether Secular or Regular who shall without the special leave of the Diocesan presume to Celebrate Marriage in any place but a Church or Chappel which hath Parochial Rights shall be suspended a whole Year
THE BISHOP of Chester's Charge IN HIS VISITATION THE BISHOP OF Chester's Charge IN HIS Primary Visitation AT CHESTER May 5. 1691. LONDON Printed for Thomas Bennet at the Half Moon in St. Pauls Church Yard 1692. THE Bishop of Chester's Charge c. My Dear Brethren SInce nothing can more conduce to the Edification of the Church in Faith and Holiness than that its Pastors be duly qualified for their Work I think my time cannot be better employed in this my Primary Visitation than in putting you in remembrance what manner of Men the Pastors of the Church ought to be and in quickening you and my self to the faithful Discharge of those great Duties which are incumbent upon us In Order to both which Purposes you need do no more than seriously reflect upon those things which before your admission to this Sacred Office you solemnly before God and his Church profess'd to believe and promis'd to perform The first Question proposed to you as preparatory to your Ordination to Priesthood was Do you think in your heart that you be truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of this Church of England to the Order and Ministry of Priesthood To which you Answered I think it That is I think it in my heart I am verily perswaded that I am so truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of this Church of England These latter Words The Order of the Church of England are not put to denote another Rule different from the Will of Christ but are rather added by way of Explication to shew Who those are that are called according to his Will viz. Those who are so qualified as the Church of England requires The Call here meant is the inward Call from God which must go before to prepare a Person for the outward Call from the Church in setting him apart to this Office by Prayer and Imposition of hands This inward Call consists in the due qualification of the Person for this weighty Work for God never calls a Man to any Employment which he does not before in some good measure fit him for These Qualifications may be reduced to Three General Heads That the Life That the Learning That the Design of the Person be such as are agreeable to the Sacredness of the Office All which are contain'd in the Caution the Bishop gives to the Person who presents to him the Persons to be Ordain'd Take heed that the Persons whom you present to us be apt and meet for their Learning and godly Conversation to exercise their Ministry duly to the Honour of God and the edifying of his Church First That he be for Life blameless sober just holy temperate as St. Paul prescribes in his Epistle to Titus That is that he be not addicted to any of those Vices which would be a Disparagement to his Ministry and hinder the good effect of it and that he be indued with all those Vertues which may adorn it Whosoever therefore lives in the Practice of any such Vice as will lessen his Authority and expose his Ministry to Contempt he is not qualified according to the Order of the Church of England Secondly That he be for Learning so well acquainted with the Sense of the Holy Scriptures as to be able to instruct his Flock in all that is necessary for them both to know and to do in order to their Eternal Salvation and to press their Duty upon them by such Considerations as may be apt to work upon their Wills and induce them to the Practice of it Thus St. Paul advises Timothy 2 Tim. 2 2. to make choice of such for Pastors who shall be able to teach others and commands Titus to see that those he ordained were such as were able by sound Doctrine to exhort and convince Gainsayers Tit. 1. 9. Whosoever therefore is so ignorant that he is not able to instruct his People in every necessary Point both of Faith and Practice and to enforce their Duty by fit Perswasives he is not called according to the Will of Christ No man doubtless can imagine That it is the Will of Christ that the Blind should lead the Blind that they should be set to be Guides to others who know not the way themselves The Third Necessary Qualification is a due Intention That a Man be inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon him this Office and Ministry to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People as it is express'd in the Office for the ordering of Deacons Not but that a Mans intention may be approved by God that hath in it a mixture of respect to Secular Advantage but then it must be so much Inferiour in such perfect Subordination to the other as his principal end that he despise all Worldly Regards in comparison with it and resolve to persevere in his Work though he meet with all the discouragements in the world to oppose him Though blessed be God there are many of you my Brethren not only whose Life and Learning are such as your Adversaries can make no just Exception against but who also give sufficient Proof that your intention was right by your unwearied diligence in the whole and every part of your Work yet I fear there may be some who if tryed by this Rule will be forced to confess that they are not so qualified as the Laws of Christ and of this Church require Can it be thought that they have the Glory of God principally in their eyes who endeavour to get into this Holy Employment by such unworthy Means as God abhors by false Titles and forged Certificates Can they be thought to aim chiefly at the Salvation of Souls who leave the Work wholly to others and take the Wages only to themselves Who for their ease and pleasure absent themselves from their Charges and think that Curate the best qualified who may be hired at the cheapest rate And here my Brethren I shall charge your Consciences with Two Things relating to this Matter First That you never send a Person to be Ordained with a Lye in his hand that is that you never signifie to the Bishop that you will take a Person for your Curate in case he shall think fit to Ordain him whom you intend never to employ in that Service For though a Title is indeed no Qualification for the Office but a cautionary Provision only for the Maintainance of the Person yet to bring a false Title is a plain Argument that the Man is destitute of that Truth and Honesty which are necessarily requisite to so Sacred an Office as this is Secondly That you never give a Testimonial of the good Life and Conversation of any Person whose Life and Conversation you do not certainly know to be such Considering that if the Bishop gives Orders to any unworthy Man upon the Credit he gives to your Certificate you must answer
to God for all the Scandal that is brought upon the Church thereby and for the Ruine of all those Souls which are misled by his bad Example In the next place these Two Questions were proposed to you before your Admission to the Office of Priesthood I. Are you perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity for eternal Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus II. Are you determined out of the said Scriptures to instruct the People committed to your Charge and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures To the First you Answered I am so perswaded To the Second I have so determin'd by Gods Grace That the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity to eternal Salvation That is That they not only contain all such necessary Doctrine but in some place or other so clearly contain it as that it may be understood by all those for whose Salvation the Scriptures were designed I take it for granted you all firmly believe It being the main Foundation of the Religion of Protestants in opposition to the Church of Rome which by asserting the deficiency of the Holy Scriptures in both these respects hath thereby open'd a door to those many Innovations She hath introduc'd into the Christian Doctrine and Worship and may if opportunity shall serve introduce as many more I shall not therefore insist upon this That which it may be more needful to speak to is Secondly What by God's Grace you determined to do viz. To instruct the People committed to your Charge out of the said Scriptures and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures One of the prime Qualifications St. Paul requires in a Pastor is 2 Tim. 2. 24. That he be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only able but apt and ready to teach and elsewhere he describes him 1 Tim. 5. 17. as one that labours in the Word and Doctrine and that This Labour in the Word and Doctrine was Necessary not only in the Apostles days when the Christian Religion was to be planted in the World but is still so is manifest from the ends for which he tells us Christ appointed Pastors and Teachers which were not only the converting of Infidels the gathering of the Sheep that were scatter'd abroad into the Fold Ephes 4. 12. but the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of the Body of Christ 'T is indeed strange That any Man should think this Work unnecessary as long as there are Sinners to be converted from the Error of their ways and Saints to be edified in their Holy Faith as long as Souls are in so great danger of being eternally lost through the daily Assaults of the World the Flesh and the Devil And it would be yet more strange if any Men who own themselves Ministers of the Church of England should think they can be excused from it when in the Exhortation before their receiving of Priests Orders they were told That to teach and to premonish to seek and provide for the Lords Family was that they were called unto When upon the Bishop's demanding Whether they were determin'd to instruct the People committed to their Charge out of the Scriptures They Answered They had so determin'd by God's Grace When in the very Words of Ordination it was laid upon them as a Charge To be faithful Dispensers of the Word of God Now this Teaching is either publick or private Of the private I shall speak when I come to the next Question save one That which is publick is to be perform'd these Two ways especially by Preaching and by Catechising And First as to Preaching Consider that solemn and dreadful Charge St. Paul lays upon Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the Quick and the Dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word Consider also That our Church hath enjoyned every allow'd Preacher that is beneficed Can. 45. to have a Sermon every Lord's Day in the Year And as a farther Enforcement That His Majesty hath charged all the Bishops Letter to the Bishop of London To see that the Clergy in their respective Diocesses be duly resident upon their Livings preaching the Word of God plainly How assiduous many of the Ancients were in this part of their Office and how necessary they thought it so to be I need not tell you but methinks a serious reflection upon it should make those not only blush but tremble who live in the Neglect of it who are so far from observing the Laws of our Church while they boast of more than ordinary Conformity to it that they have not perhaps more than one Sermon in a Year for two Benefices Now that we may in this way of Teaching be successful to the Salvation of our Hearers we are here directed both as to the Matter and the Manner of it First As to the Matter of our Preaching it must be out of the Holy Scriptures But since of the things contain'd in the Holy Scriptures some are necessary some are profitable only and since of these things which are only profitable some are more others are less profitable our Pulpit-Discourses should be chiefly confined to those Truths which are necessary or highly profitable in order to eternal Salvation omitting all School-Niceties and subtle Disputes which are of no Practical Use and never let any Truth which is call'd in question by none of your Hearers be made a Matter of Controversie in the Pulpit Endeavour effectually to convince your Hearers how by our Apostasie from God we have made our selves obnoxious to His heavy Displeasure and that there is a necessity of a Mediator between God and Man Shew them who this Mediator is and how he is qualified for this great Work what the Terms are upon which God hath graciously promised to pardon our Sins and how ready he is upon these Terms of Faith Repentance and sincere future Obedience to receive us into his Favour Press those Graces and Duties most which are most comprehensive as Justice and Charity Teach them to render to all their dues as tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom c. Represent CHARITY to them in all those branches of it in which it is described by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 13. Set your selves especially against those sins which are most visible in your Auditors as St. Paul who reason'd of Righteousness and Chastity when he preached before an unjust and adulterous Felix Acts 24. 25. More particularly in pursuance of His Majesties Letter preach frequently against profane Swearing Perjury Drunkenness and Profanation of the Lords Day and when such a Sermon is to be preached read to your People such Statute-Law or Laws
as are provided against that Sin which is the Subject of the Day Which Statutes together with his Majesties Letter I have formerly sent you And let not only the more gross Sins of the Flesh but the more subtle Sins of the Spirit such as Pride Envy Malice c. be exposed to your People in their odious nature and aggravating Circumstances Acquaint them not only with those Duties to which they are all in common obliged as they are men and Christians but with those special Duties which are incumbent upon them in their different Ages States and Relations In short let that be the drift of your preaching which is the design of the whole Gospel of Christ Tit. 2. 11 12. To teach men to deny all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Secondly As to the Manner of Preaching passing over other particulars I shall mention Three only at present Two of which are here sufficiently implyed Preach the Word sincerely plainly and affectionately 1. Sincerely Which is implyed in these Words That you will teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be perswaded may be proved by the Scriptures For Sincerity consists as in teaching all that the Scripture makes necessary so in teaching nothing for necessary that is foreign to the Scripture as the Church of Rome does in her new Creed imposing many Doctrines as necessary to Salvation which are not only Strangers to the Scriptures but plainly contrary to the Doctrines which are there taught 2. Plainly and to the capacity of your Hearers which is implyed in the Word instruct For how can a man be instructed by a Discourse which he knows not the meaning of He defeats the design of his Preaching and betrays his Hypocrisie who renders that obscure which he pretends to reveal To which I add 3. Preach Affectionately with that warmth and earnestness of Spirit which becomes matters of the greatest moment It would grieve a Man to hear matters of the greatest moment so coldly and drowsily delivered as if the Preacher did not himself believe what he said and were afraid lest his Hearers should be brought to believe it O my Brethren let us but seriously consider the inestimable worth of souls the unvaluable price that was paid for them what danger they are in of being eternally lost how dreadful our accounts will shortly be if they be lost through our slightness and laziness Let us but consider what Heaven and Hell mean what it is to be everlastingly saved or damned and we shall then think our greatest zeal and fervency will be little enough for such a Work as this I shall say no more concerning Preaching but proceed to the next way of publick teaching which is Secondly By Catechising or instructing persons in the Principles of Religion Which is indeed but a more familiar way of Preaching This is a Duty laid upon you by the Canon and Statute-Law both The Fifty Ninth Canon under a severe Penalty requires every Rector Vicar and Curate upon every Lord's Day in the Afternoon to examine and instruct the Youth and the more ignorant People of his Parish in the Catechism The same is made your Duty by Act of Parliament in the first Rubrick after the Catechism and because some who are apt enough to censure their Brethren for breaking other Laws can too easily dispense with themselves in this His Majesty hath charged the Bishops to see Let. to the Bish of Lond. That all the Clergy in their respective Diocesses do Catechise the Youth To which if we add the Practice of the Apostles the great Master-Builders of the Church who first taught Men the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ And lastly the voluntary Engagement you lye under to it methinks nothing can be thought wanting to oblige you effectually to this Duty But now should we set aside all these Considerations and consider only how advantagious this Work is to the Welfare of the Souls committed to our care the great Benefits they would reap by it the great Mischiefs they fall into by the Neglect of it one would think we should need no other Motive to put us upon the diligent practice of it What is the Reason that our Sermons are generally of so little effect That our People hear us year after year and many of them are never the wiser are ever learning and never come to the Knowledge of the Truth One main Reason doubtless is because they were never prepared to understand our Sermons and to profit by them by being first more familiarly instructed in the Principles of Religion What 's the Reason That many are so easily seduced to Error and Vice but because they were never well rooted and grounded in the Faith Prov. 22. 6. Train up a Child in the way that he should go and he will not depart from it when he is old As therefore my Brethren you tender the Salvation of your People set your selves without delay to this so advantagious and necessary a Work And that you may do it the more effectually I give it you in Charge to preach constantly in the Afternoon upon some part of the Church Catechism and to Examine some of the Young People of your Parish quite thorow it as oft as you preach upon it And that Parents and Masters may take the greater care to send their Children and Servants to be instructed by you do not only frequently and earnestly exhort them to it but thorowly acquaint them with the great Benefits that will accrue not only to their Children and Servants but likewise to themselves thereby as their Children will by this means be render'd more dutiful and obedient and their Servants more faithful and diligent Having solemnly declared That You are perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity to eternal Salvation and that you were determin'd out of the said Scriptures to instruct the People committed to your Charge In the next place you promised To give your faithful diligence always so to minister the Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Church and Realm hath received the same according to the commandment of God that is as God hath prescribed in the Holy Scriptures Of Ministring the Doctrine of Christ I have already spoken in what I have said about Preaching and Catechising As to the Sacrament of Baptism I shall at present only put you in mind of some few things which are either expresly or implicitly required by the Rubricks First Let your People know That Baptism being the solemn Admission of a Person into the publick Society of Christians it is very unbecoming its Nature and Design to have it administer'd in private Rubrick before private Baptism Admonish them therefore to bring their Children to be baptiz'd in the publick Congregation lest by their refusing so to do Christ should reckon them
Salvation c. Secondly The next thing you promised was To use both publick and private Monitions and Exhortations as well to the Sick as to the Whole within your Cures as need shall require and occasion shall be given First To the whole To use not only publick but private Monitions and Exhortations as need shall require And truly my Brethren there is commonly but too great need of this For the Reproofs and Exhortations we use in publick being not directed to this or that Person in particular but to all in common who are guilty of the Sin reproved or of the Neglect of the Duty exhorted to They who are concerned do commonly find some way to shift them off from themselves but when you address to each Sinner in particular and plainly tell him that he is the Man who lives in the practice of this or that known Sin c. he can then find no way to make his Escape And here my Brethren I beseech you not to be strangers to your People but as you have leisure and opportunity to go to their Houses and acquaint your selves familiarly with them that you may the better know what their particular Tempers and Inclinations are what are the Prejudices they lie under what the Temptations they are most obnoxious to and may accordingly apply your selves to them By one hours familiar Discourse with them in private you may work more good upon them than by many Sermons in publick Publick Preaching has I grant this great Advantage that therein you speak to many and by consequence may do good to many at once but an Application to a Sinner in private is usually much more effectual as to him in particular To satisfie you that this is your Duty I need not tell you that St. Paul taught not only publickly Act. 20. 20 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from house to house That Night and Day he ceased not as he had opportunity to warn every Man not all collectively but every one apart as the Words in the original import That he exhorted and comforted amd charged every one It will be enough to tell you 1 Thes 2. 11. That to rebuke a sinning Brother and to exhort one another are the bounden Duties even of private Christians and therefore much more of those who by their Office are to watch over Souls and to give an Account to God for them But suppose this were not made your Duty antecedently by God yet you have made it so Your selves by your voluntary Promise to perform it But that this weighty Work of private Instruction Exhortation Admonition and Reproof may be the more successfully managed take the most convenient seasons for it when the Persons are the most apt to be wrought upon and do it with that meekness and demonstration of love that it may plainly appear to your People that you do it out of meer Kindness and tender Compassion to their Souls Secondly The next thing you Vowed was Faithful diligence in your Monitions and Exhortations to sick Persons Which is a Work of the greatest moment in order to the engaging them to a HOLY Life if they recover or the preparing them for a Happy Death if they be taken away by their sickness and therefore requires a proportionable care in the management of it To see a soul entring upon the other World likely within a few hours to be in an endless state of happiness or misery inexpressible should methinks make us bestir our selves to save it from Death before it be too late Do not therefore stay till you be sent for but go to them of your own accord Deal faithfully and withal prudently with them about the state of their souls If you find them grosly ignorant instruct them as you have opportunity in those Truths which are absolutely necessary to be known If they be such as have lived in any notorious sin or whom you have great Reason to fear are meer strangers to a Holy Life labour to awaken them by the most moving Considerations to a sense of their sin and danger but let them withal know that their Case is not so desperate but that there is still ground of hope concerning them Shew them the greatness of that Salvation which Christ hath purchased for them and upon what Terms it may be still obtained by them And though in their sickness they cannot give Proof of the sincerity of their Repentance by resisting and overcoming those Temptations which formerly prevailed over them yet put them upon all that which in their present circumstances they are capable of doing upon confessing their sins and imploring the mercy of God thro' Christ upon patient submission to God's good pleasure upon forgiving those from the heart who have offended them and upon making Restitution as far as they are able for any Injuries they may have done to others upon Resolutions and solemn Promises by the assistance of God's Grace of forsaking their former sins and of leading a new Life if God shall please to raise them up again And if they recover go to them again and seriously mind them of the Vows they made upon their sick beds and quicken them to the performance of them Do not fail to let them know that their condition will be much more deplorable if they shall again relapse into their old sins In the next place these Questions were propos'd to you Will you be diligent in Prayers and in reading of the Holy Scriptures and in such studies as help to the Knowledge of the same laying aside the study of the World and the Flesh To which you Answered I will endeavour my self so to do the Lord being my Helper So that you promised by God's Help these Four Things I. That you would be diligent in Prayers II. That you would be diligent in reading the Holy Scriptures III. In such studies as would help to the Knowledge of the same And therefore IV. That you would lay aside the study of the World and the Flesh First That you would be diligent in Prayers That is both in publick and private Prayers 1. In publick Prayers Which we ought more especially to attend to since GOD is much more honoured by our publick Addresses to him than he can be by those which are made to him in private and because we our selves may expect a greater Blessing from those Prayers which are put up to God by many joyntly than from those which are put up by our single selves As therefore anciently a Morning and Evening Sacrifice was every day publickly offer'd up to God in the Temple at Jerusalem so I heartily recommend it to you my Brethren That in all your Parishes where a Congregation though but a small one can be got together you would every day have Morning and Evening Prayer in your Churches And that you read the Prayers not partially but entirely and with such seriousness as becomes them as may invite all piously-disposed People to them and quicken