all those Decent and Reverend Postures and Gestures which are Commanded by Authority and so strictly required at all Times and in all Places even where External Reverence and high Solemnity are more dispensable than in the Quire of a Cathedral that whosoever shall dare to neglect them in this solemn Place I dare pronounce him a man of more than ordinary Assurance and Profaneness And this Affront done to God and his Worship is most unpardonable in those that have no Pleas against our Liturgy from an Erroneous or Scrupulous Conscience Fifthly To pay the Honour due to God's House and Service by resorting to it for all those Church Offices that are commanded to be performed publickly in the Congregation and never moving nor pressing the Priest to bring that into the Church which by the very Nature of the the Thing as well as Order of the Book is absolutely confined to the Chamber Sixthly To observe all those Holy Days Times and Seasons which are by Lawful Authority set apart and Dedicated to God's Service and Worship in such devout manner as the Church requires and good Conscience obligeth all pious Christians making it often Matter of serious Thought and Consideration so as to mannage and order the Business and Affairs of our Lives and Callings that they may not Interfere and Clash with our more Imediate Duty and Homage to God which is of greater and higher Obligation and through want of Religious Foresight to multiply necessities of our own making and then to plead them as a sufficient Exemption from doing our Duty to God and think them sufficient Motives to tempt us to rob God both of his Time and Service I mean our Holy Festivals and proper Offices on them which is a certain piece of Sacriledge and of an higher nature than what we sometimes term so not unworthy the consideration of those who pass for and pretend to be great friends to both but give small Evidence thereof by their due respect to either Seventhly Remembring that Religion and our Church enjoyns Fasting as well as Feasting and allows Days and Seasons for the Exercise of Repentance as well as Spiritual Joy it concerns us rightly to imploy and improve them for the Necessities of our own Souls as well as the Example of others sacrificing sometimes our own Reputations to revive such wise and Godly Institutions if we cannot do it at a cheaper Rate since the contempt of them especially among pretended Friends those that should have supported the Honour of them hath proved sadly to the decay of true Piety and Devotion for the restoring whereof there are no more probable means I am apt to believe than the Restauration of the Primitive use of them Lastly And which comes nearest to the Point that I have chiesly pressed in my Application duly to frequent the holy Sacrament that Celestial Feast and Banquet at the Table of the Lord where it is most Just and Congruous here in this Church that there should be higher Festivity than elsewhere since our Local Statutes oblige us to extraordinary Feasting at our own And those who regard not the frequent spiritual Calls they have from God's Church and Ministers to the one more than the Lay-Invitations they have to the other discover less Conscience than Civility It is I humbly conceive without all Objection that there is scarce a Church in England that may more justly expect than the Church of Durham a Communion Table well furnished with Guests and devout People crouding up to the Horns of the Altar in as great Numbers on our constant ordinary Communion Days which are too often Thin even to scandal as we usually have on our high and greatest Festivals which very badly deserve the Name when they have not the Celebration of the Eucharist on them and are in some sort turned into Fasting days when there is great Feasting at our own Tables and none at the Lord's A Meditation I am sure no ways improper for this Place and Country which is so great a Pretender to and which doth so much surpass other parts of the Nation in Hospitality And here having presented you with a brief Scheme of that Conformity which the Church expects from all her Children give me leave to add that a bare outward Respect and Regularity cannot denominate us true Conformists He that is not a sincere Christian is not a right Conformist and however he may chance to Evade the Penalties of the Law yet can no ways approve himself to God The wholsom Rules and Orders of our Church are wisely contrived for the Promotion of Godliness and Piety in the Souls of men And he that doth Conscientiously use and obey them will quickly find the truth of what I say by experience Every Christian that doth faithfully and devoutly labour to put his Soul into a right Frame to recite his part of the Publick Prayers in a spiritual manner and with Understanding shall never fail to profit his own Soul and please God And whosoever doth heartily strive to do this daily in a better manner and certainly it is all our Duties so to do and we cannot more profitably direct and imploy our Private Devotions than to this end and purpose shall not fail to improve himself in Virtue and Devotion and grow in Grace and Christian knowledge till from a very Babe he become a strong and perfect man in Christ Jesus especially if he keeps pace with the Church in that high respect which she pays to the holy Eucharist and blessed Memorial of Christs Death and Passion which as it is and ever hath been esteemed in the Church of God the very top of our Christian Services so it is rightly used Equivalent to them all and will prove to all humble well-meaning Souls that approach thereunto with a Habit of sincere Devotion though by unavoidable Incumbrances and Impediments deprived of much time to be spent in Actual Preparation more Efficacious than all other Performances How great stress the Church lays on the constant use of a Liturgy and the offering up to God Forms of Prayers and Praise stamp'd with Authority every Morning and Evening in Publick is sufficiently evident from her own Injunctions and how much greater stress she lays upon the offering up unto God a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving in the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud at the Altar which ought to be esteemed by us equal to a whole weeks other Services appears by her great Zeal for the Communion in the Reformation when she rejected the Superstitions crept into the Roman Missal injoyning as great Frequency as any Church in Reformed Christendom And how great sin both of our Forefathers as well as our selves may be charged on us for deserting God's Altar and how great Vengeance may hang over our Heads and the Heads of our Posterity for such Profane and Contemptuous trifling with God and our Souls as hath been and is customary in most Assemblies of our Nation and in none
I fear more than in these relating to this City on this Account I leave to God and your own Consciences to judge Beseeching him that by a seasonable shunning of the Sin you may effectually avoid the Punishment Now to God the Father c. Soli Deo Gloria ADVICE CONCERNING Strict Conformity and frequent Celebration of the Holy Communion c. Reverend Brethren SINCE the most Reverend PRIMATE of all England hath at this time judged it expedient to restore the Blessed Eucharist in his own Metropolitical Church and sundry other Cathedrals so far to its due Honour as to revive those Rubricks which necessarily suppose a weekly Celebration thereof in all Cathedral Collegiate Churches and Colleges and that there is reasonable ground to hope that other Cathedrals will speedily follow so good an Example I humbly conceive it the Duty of every Arch-Deacon and other Ordinaries that have Jurisdiction to improve this present occasion by stirring up all the Clergy committed to their charge to imitate as far as in them lies an Example so pious and worthy of their high Station by celebrating the Holy Communion more frequently than of late hath been accustomed in Parish Churches even as often as the Circumstances of their People and Cures do require and will bear it being the Duty of every Parson of a Parish to quicken his Flock to repair more frequently and with more zeal to God's Altar since God's Providence and the care and wisdom of our Governours do now at an extraordinary conjuncture of Affairs invite them thereto when not onely the Church of England but other Reformed Churches nay all the Christian Churches in the World call for solemn Devotions Prayers and Praises to God Accordingly I do very gladly embrace this happy occasion to invite you my Brethren to put your helping hand to this pious work of Reforming the unaccountable neglect of the blessed Sacrament the most necessary and assured means of Grace and Edification which has by the Indevotion of the Age too far prevailed whereof our Governours now seem very sensible not onely in Parochial Churches but even in Cathedrals themselves to the great scandal of our Religion and detriment of Mens Souls Craving therefore the liberty to remind you that as God hath put it into the Hearts of our Reverend Prelates to rectify this great abuse in sundry Cathedrals so it seems to be in a particular manner the Duty of the Clergy of our Diocese to lead on others within the Province by their good Examples in this great piece of Piety and Devotion since we did by the zeal care and vigilance of our deceased Prelate sooner than other Dioceses arrive to a high pitch of Conformity and more exact observation of the Laws and Rules of our Church established by Authority and expressed in our Common-prayer Book I may say it without Injury to others than any other part of England In this Order established among us by Bishop Cosins we have been encouraged to continue by our present Diocesan in his publick Discourses to the Clergy in his primary and later Visitations and more particularly in his last Discourse which he made to the Clergy in the Church of St. Oswalds in August 1683. when he advised all Ministers to take heed how they governed themselves by their own Fancies in the Execution of their Office rather than the Rule of their Book And I hope you will all do me that Justice as to ackowledg that I have always endeavoured ever since I did relate to the Arch-deaconry of Durham which is somewhat more than twenty years faithfully though weakly according to my bounden Duty to see the Injunctions of both these my Lords the Bishops put in Execution without allowing any Liberty to any of the Clergy to vary from the clear Rules of the Church whereto they have given their assent and consent and that among other matters I have not failed to use some honest zeal to move you to the frequent celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the main end both of our Services and Sermons desiring that it should be administred in every Church so frequently that all Persons might have an opportunity to participate so often at least as the Law requires under Penalty which is thrice in the year But sundry of the Clergy notwithstanding mine and more powerful Arguments in several Episcopal Visitations having not been prevailed on to administer the very Sacrament it self oftner than so which renders it impossible for a confiderable part of the People to comply with that important Obligation I could not satisfie my Conscience to let slip this very fit occasion of pressing them to the performance of their Duty in this particular that tho' through the profaneness of the Age the number of Guests may chance to be very few at the Lord's Table yet that there might not lie so much Guilt at the Clergies door as not to furnish the Table and give the People frequent Invitations thereto nor more Guilt at the door of the Arch deacon in ceasing to press them to a Duty of so great moment as the frequent and Reverend Administration of the Holy Sacrament I have judged meet at this time thus to apply my self unto you The serious consideration of such a Duty now incumbent upon me did first put into my Thoughts the publication of the foregoing Sermon the conclusive and Applicatory Part being an Exhortation to that Duty which not onely your unworthy Arch-deacon but our Superiours at the Helm call you unto hoping that it may by God's Blessing give you some occasion to consider the greatness of the Sin of this Age in the contempt of this most holy Institution of our blessed Lord and Saviour and the fitness of this present Conjuncture for all us of the Clergy to return to the discharge of this most essential part of our Ministerial Function which hitherto we have to our shame and sin too generally neglected It is now a matter of Prudence as well as Piety to remove so great a scandal since this Return to our Duty begins regularly and is the result of the wise and godly Counsels of our Governours The chief Metropolitical Church by its Example inviting all Cathedrals to Celebrate the Eucharist according to the Rubrick every Lord's Day at least The Example of Cathedrals begins already God be praised to encourage this good work of Piety for the encrease of Devotion wherein they seem decently to admonish the Parochial Churches to a proportionable frequency That as the Mother Churches advance on towards the Primitive practice of a daily celebration of the Sacred Memorials of Christ's Death and Passion so may they as obsequious Children advance as far as is practicable and morally possible for them towards a weekly Communion by celebrating the Holy Sacrament at least Monthly in all considerable Towns and populous Villages For even a daily celebration of the Sacrament was retained by the Apostolic zeal of our Blessed Reformers and required
THE Compleat Conformist OR SEASONABLE ADVICE CONCERNING STRICT CONFORMITY AND Frequent Celebration OF THE Holy Communion IN A SERMON Preached on the seventh of January being the first Sunday after the Epiphany in the Year 1682. at the Cathedral And in a Letter written to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Durham By Denis Grenville D.D. Archdeacon and Prebendary of Durham LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1684. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND Right Reverend Father in God NATHANIEL Lord Bishop of DURHAM AND Clerk of the Closet to His Majesty My Lord AS it hath been matter of great Joy to all Devout Christians that God hath put it into the Heart of our most Reverend Primate of All England to attempt the Revival of Primitive Piety and the long Eclipsed Honour of our Saviour by restoring a weekly Celebration of the Holy Sacrament in his Metropolitical Church so I am confident it must needs be an extraordinary satisfaction to the Regular Clergy of your own Diocess where Conformity hath fluorished in a high measure blessed be God ever since the Restauration As I acknowledge it my Duty my Lord to render my self by all means whether in season or out of season serviceable to God's Church especially to the Jurisdiction under you wherein his Providence hath placed me so the due Obedience and Reverence I justly bear you oblige me to dedicate to your Lordship the pains I have taken to promote a frequent Parochial Celebration of the Holy Communion humbly beseeching your Lordship to Countenance this seasonable performance of my Duty and honest Design to quicken my Brethren in the faithful discharge of their Office And I do assure your Lordship that I shall never Endeavour to promote my own private Phantasies either by adding to or diminishing from the Established Laws of our Church but as firmly as my weakness will permit shall strive to maintain that excellent Order and Discipline which the Publick Authority of the Church hath obliged us all unto and as both your Self and Predecessor have enjoyned me I shall as strenuously and prudently as I am capable administer the same for the promotion of the true end thereof the Glory of God and Salvation of those committed to my Care Since I know I can neither do God nor your Lordship more real and I hope more acceptable service than in so doing That my Sermon which was preached in my ordinary Course at the Cathedral was never intended for the Press will easily appear from the Examination of the Discourse it self and that it was not Vanity nor an Itch to be in Print which was the motive to this Publication will I am persuaded be readily granted by all those who consider that it carries with it no Temptation to expose it to publick View but some well meant Zeal which in a Censorious Age is more apt to procure Contempt than Commendation Had I not in the Applicatory part for the sake whereof I now set it forth pressed with some earnestness the Topick of Conformity and the chief part thereof frequent Communion which to promote is the main design of this Application to my Brethren it had never seen the Light at present But having in the Conclusion of the Sermon set a Scheme of Conformity before the eyes of the Laity as I have in my Letter to the Clergy presented them with another belonging to Ecclesiasticks I judged the Discourses not unfit to accompany since they may strengthen one the other As an honest desire to contribute to the Publick Good was my chief reason for publishing my Sentiments in these matters so is it a considerable motive for my presuming in this manner to present them to your Lordship that I may discharge my own Conscience and demonstrate how much I am My Lord Your Lordships most obedient and most humble Servant D. G. Newly Published SHort Discourses upon the whole Common-Prayer designed to inform the Judgment and excite the Devotion of such as daily use the same by Tho. Comber D. D. The Laver of Regeneration and the Cup of Salvation two plain and profitable Discourses upon the two Sacraments The one laying open the Nature of Baptism and earnestly pressing the serious consideration and religious observation of the Sacred Vow made by all Christians in their Baptism The other pressing as earnestly the frequent Renewing of our Baptismal Vow at the Lords holy Table Demonstrating the indispensible necessity of Receiving and the great sin and danger of Neglecting the Lords Supper with Answers to the chief Pretences whereby the Absenters would excuse themselves The General Catalogue of Books Printed in England since the Dreadful Fire 1666 to the end of Trinity Term 1684. To which are added a Catalogue of Latine Books Printed in Foreign parts and in England since the year 1670. Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in S. Pauls Church Yard A SERMON JOHN I. 29. Behold the Lamb of God THE very first word of my Text doth powerfully command your attention and require you to behold him to day whom the Church presented as manifested yesterday which will be no unseasonable Meditation you will find if you examine the Services of the respective Sundays after the Epiphany till the Purification It is no small matter in Scripture that hath an Ecce prefixed thereunto and nothing can better deserve it than those passages that relate to our Lord 's wonderful Incarnation namely God manifested in the Flesh to be true and very man Born of a Virgin the chief subject of Devotion on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity or the man Christ Jesus manifested to be God the subject of the Devotions on the Feast of the Epiphany three several ways First By the Wise mens coming to worship him twelve days after his Birth Secondly By a Voice from Heaven at his Baptism thirty years after And thirdly By his first Miracle in Cana of Galilee where he turned Water into Wine Which way soever we turn our Eyes to behold either God manifested to be Man or Man manifested to be God the Spectacle will be glorious and wonderful and every way deserving of our highest Admiration and Praise which is in a particular manner proper for our consideration at this Instant when we are approaching to the Table of our Lord to feed on his blessed Body and Bloud And that that holy Duty of the Altar as well as the other of the Pulpit may succeed to the honour of God and comfort of our Souls let us beg the assistance of God's most holy Spirit c. Ye shall pray for the holy Catholick Church of Christ the Congregation of Christian People c. Behold the Lamb of God Never any Spectacle in the world so well deserved a Crier to call the People to behold it as this in the Text Nor was there any man in the world so fit to call Spectators to this Spectacle as the Baptist God is come down into the World in the Form of a
most notoriously displeased God and defiled our own Consciences The Exercise of these things in sincerity though not in Perfection are Essentially necessary to secure unto us the Pardon of our Sins and a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Which as it is the main design of all our receptions of the Lords Supper so should it be more especially our business when we perform this Duty at great and solemn Festivals and so extraordinary a Time when the very newness of the Year will powerfully invite us to newness of Life Such as are perfectly deaf to this Call and can resist all the Invitations we have from the very Time and Custom to amend our ways are not likely to make it much the business of their Thoughts for the remaining part of the Year To begin well does not absolutely necessitate a good Conclusion but certainly is a considerable step towards the same otherwise it would never have been familiarized into a Proverb What 's well begun is half ended Let us all then I beseech you in the name of God take care how we enter upon the New-year without newness of Life after having received so many Mercies and committed so many Sins the Year past Among those Gifts which Custom doth oblige us to bestow let us in the first place give our Hearts unto God Let the Glutton and Drunkard renounce his sottish Intemperance Let the common Swearer renounce his inexcusable sin of Profanation of God's Name Let the Malicious renounce his Malice and Revenge Let the Proud and Imperious renounce his Haughtiness of Mind Let the wretched Miser renounce his Avarice and oppression of his Brother Let the Furious and wrathful renounce his Anger and Impatience And lastly let the stupid Sluggard I mean chiefly in reference to Religion forsake his Sloth and carelessness of his precious and immortal Soul Let every Sinner renounce his most beloved sin and seasonably discharge himself of that Burthen which may chance as light as he makes it to press him before another Anniversary into Hell We are all yet God be praised alive and have our Day of Salvation continued to us and are capable to lay hold on Eternal Life Our merciful and gracious God hath carried us thus far through the dangers of Body and Soul wherewith we have been from our Cradles incompassed But that we should all here present every individual Person live to see another Year and to enjoy the blessed opportunity which I fear too many of us will wilfully reject of Feasting on our Saviour's Body and Bloud in this very place is hardly possible to conceive It is highly probable that sundry of our Friends and Acquaintance who did with as much confidence as we do at present promise themselves long life a year ago are now mouldred into Durst and gone before us into the Land of Darkness where they inherit as the Wise man speaks as to the state of the Body nothing but Worms and creeping things And that we should think our selves more immortal than those that have gone before us is contrary to all Reason as well as daily Experience Certain it is that it would become us the best of us if we consider our selves but as men indued with Common Sense to take a little more care of our future state and how we do launch forth unprepared into the Ocean of Eternity and descend into the Grave out of which there is no Redemption Upon these and the like Considerations methinks we should without any more ado all resolve for the remainder of our days to be as constant Guests at our Lord's Table as he requires and our Duty obligeth us to and in particular none should dare let slip the present Call we have from the very Season to a Heavenly Banquet where we may have Communion with the God of Heaven Converse with the Holy Angels and Feast on the Son of God and thereby be made partakers of those inestimable benefits Christ purchased for us by his bitter and bloudy Death and Passion namely pardon of Sins sanctifying Grace and a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Here here is the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and truest Trial not only of our growth in Grace but of our sincerity in Religion I mean how we stand affected to the holy Sacrament of Christs pretious Body and Bloud If we make that which if rightly performed is the most Essential part of God's Service a Ceremony to be done when we have little or nothing else to do and can contentedly without just or lawful Impediment absent our selves from God's House even at the most solemn times of Celebration or can boldly without scruple turn our backs on the Lord's Table a higher Act of profane Contempt than the former when we see it ready furnished and hear our Dear Lord and Saviour summoning us by his Ministers and inviting us to Sup with him in order to our being Everlastingly happy we are either grosly ignorant stupendiously negligent or egregiously profane To produce in our Souls an earnest longing to be united to our Dear Lord and Saviour by Faith Hope and Charity and to receive these Pledges of his Love in these holy Mysteries is the main End both of our Prayers and Sermons And therefore to dote so much on a Sermon as to justle out the Sacrament the highest Office of Christian Religion is a most Preposterous way of Devotion and a Piece of Anti-Christianism rather than Christianity for the chief design of Sermons is to fit and prepare for this Sacrament without doing whereof no Sermon can be prevalent and effectual to a holy life which made a great and holy Writer of our own Country declare in his Works That he knew not what those Sermons did signifie that did no ways dispose towards the Reception of the blessed Eucharist which cannot be denied to be the most undoubted Instrument and best means to convey Grace to and promote Vertue in a Christian Soul This caused the Church of England too we may conceive to keep her ground in the Reformation in retaining part of her Communion Service on all Sundays and Holy-days even when there is no Celebration Proclaiming that she is always ready to give it as a worthy Church-man notes whensoever any People shall be so Religiously disposed as to desire it nay absolutely enjoyning it in all those solemn places whether Collegiate Churches or Colledges where she was assured of an Assembly of Priests and Deacons from whom she might justly expect more constant attendance and higher Devotion taking care that when she rejected the Corruptions Superstitions and Idolatries of the Mass she might pay as much respect as a degenerate and indevout Age would bear unto the Communion no where condemning the Daily Celebration heretofore practised or yet retained in any Christian Church but the solitary Communion of the Popish Priests and their way of Offering up Christ daily as a Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead neither of which can be
termed a Communion For a private Mass when no one Communicates with the Priest or when there doth if the People are deprived of the Cup can neither in Logick or Grammar deserve the name The Church of England would by no means descend so low as the Church of Rome doth in her expectation from the Laity that Church requiring Lay-men to receive absolutely but once in the Year under Penalty but imposeth on every one of the People in the most busie Circumstances and in the most inconsiderable Parish or Chaplery where there be fewest Communions an Obligation to receive at least three times in the Year looking on it as certainly it is an intolerable Relaxation to let People go lower Which yet it is to be feared is as high or higher than many of us go who live nigh a Cathedral where there are Celebrations Monthly and cannot be denied Weekly if any reasonable Number of devout People did heartily desire that great Priviledge that the Church allows them Which rightly considered is the greatest Benefit and Happiness of a Son of the Church of England as it is one of the greatest Honours and Ornaments of our Common-Prayer-Book that there is a Rubrick or Rule which supposeth a Priest weekly Officiating at the Altar There is not among us a more undeniable Relique or Remainder of Popery which may be truly so termed than the notorious and scandalous contempt of the Communion This was I well remember declared in one of our first Synods of the Clergy by our Diocesan after the Restoration No Church in the Christian world pretends more and shews less respect to the Communion than the Church of Rome most of their Tokens of Respect being the highest Dishonour and disgrace that was ever cast upon the Son of God and his holy Sacrament of his precious Body and Bloud This sad Contempt of the chiefest means that ever Christ instituted for the support of Religion which loss of ground in the Church of God gave the greatest Wound that ever was given unto Piety hath been fairly or rather foully Copied by the Separatists from the Church of England insomuch that we may term seldom Communicating to be a piece of Fanaticism as well as Popery the holy Eucharist being never so disgracefully Rejected and vilely Trampled on as in the Times of Schism and Rebellion when those who shewed great Zeal for Sermons in many places daily were contented without a Sacrament Yearly nay those that would have three or four Sermons on a Sunday did not once in some places Celebrate the Lord's Supper in three or four Years no I dare affirm and I know what I say in thirteen or fourteen years together A blessed Reformation So egregious and lamentable a Contempt of Christ's Death and the last Commands of a dying Saviour Do this in Remembrance of me as we see our Adversaries on both hands do concur in should create a holy Indignation in us who in some things are forward enough to have a kind of Antipathy against them and oblige us to distinguish our selves by a contrary Practice as much as possible from such false and pretended Catholicks and Protestants who by their Pretences thereto God knows have almost brought both Catholick and Protestant Religion into Contempt And here a kind of Spirit of Opposition or Contradiction whereby too many do only measure their Religion would be very laudable and the most effectual means under God to preserve us from the Machinations or Malice of either True Piety as it is the best Policy will be the most sure defence against our Adversaries of every Persuasion Let us be sure to be in truth and reality what they Profess and would be thought to be sticking closely nay giving up our selves intirely to God and Goodness in a sincere spiritual and devout use of those means of Salvation which are undoubtedly of Christs own Institution not fondly pretending to be Honourers of God's Word and yet down-right Contemners of his Worship whereof this Sacrament to which we are approaching is the most excellent part nor Friends to his Sanctuary when we are none to his Sacraments nor to be zealous Assertors of the Religion of our Church and yet live contrary to the Established Rule of God's Worship i. e. our Common-Prayer-Book wherein every Member of our Church though they are not engaged thereto by so Sacred a Tye as the giving an Assent and Consent publickly in a Congregation hath a part to act and a great one too which would require much serious study and consideration and which by a few particulars I hope to demonstrate First It is without all doubt that every Lay-man of our Communion is bound to assist at as the Minister is to say Divine Service daily when God placeth him in such blessed Circumstances as you are to enjoy the same and the necessary and indispensable Affairs of his Life and Calling will permit and when they will not which is a just Impediment on days of business to send if possible some Person of his Family to be a Representative and keep up its Interest in that continual Sacrifice appointed by God and the Church to be Offered up in behalf of the whole Congregation and which extends to the Faithful that are lawfully absent as well as the present Secondly Without all dispute it is the Duty of every Person when he comes to God's House to labour as much as in him lieth to secure a whole Service and more especially the Beginning and the Conclusion I mean the Confession and Absolution together with the Final Prayers and Benediction which a multitude of People through their slothful negligence in repairing to and profane haste in departing from the Temple seldom enjoy all the Year long thereby losing the chief ends of their coming and such People too oftentimes their own Consciences can bear me Witness who are very loth to be Herded among Non-Conformists Thirdly It is of unquestionable Obligation that all Persons of every Sex should joyn not only with Heart but Voice at all the appointed parts of the Service belonging to the People and study the Order and Rules of the Book to which it is a horrid shame and sin for any to be a stranger so as to be by no means ignorant of what is Incumbent on them making it their Business or at least their Divertisement at home in their Houses especially when God hath blessed them with a Harmonious Voice to qualifie themselves for the performance of their Duties in Publick I mean chiefly the Eucharistical parts of the Office which are the special parts of God's Publick Service and which truly make it the Sacrifice of Praise the best Fruit of our Lips and part of our Christian Sacrifice which we are to offer up to God continually all the days of our Lives by and through Christ our High Priest now entred into the Heavens giving Thanks unto his Name Fourthly It is every Persons Duty that hath no Infirmity of body to observe punctually
not onely in Cathedrals but in the most considerable Parochial Churches also Therefore give me leave to recommend a monthly Celebration in populous Towns and Villages as a Duty not onely very pious and reasonable but even necessary that every one may have an opportunity to communicate so often as the Law requires that is at least three times every year whereof Easter is still to be one For it is unjustifiable in any Minister not to allow his Parishioners opportunity to avoid the sin of Breaking as well as incurring the penalty of the Law Yet this cannot easily be done in great Parishes and Towns without a monthly Communion As for Example Suppose but six hundred Communicants in a Parish and you know that we have a great many Parishes that have double that number and but one Minister upon the place to serve the Cure if we should allow fifty for each celebration a Monthly Sacrament is necessary to give all the six hundred an opportunity to receive once with any tolerable convenience and a Communion every Fortnight i.e. four and twenty Communions to give them an opportunity to receive twice and three Communions in a Month i. e. six and thirty Communions in the year to afford them an opportunity to receive thrice and four Communions in the Month that is a weekly Communion or forty eight Communions in the year at least to receive four times each and to have opportunity to receive less than four times no good Christian ought to be in any manner satisfied For even the Reformed Churches beyond Sea whose Distress we commiserate and whose Defects we pity come not lower than this though in many places they are forced to go ten a dozen and sometimes more Miles to enjoy that Benefit So that you see if we should consult the conveniences of a populous Parish whose number of Communicants exceed not six hundred a Weekly Communion is not more than necessary and granting this which is demonstrable a Monthly Communion is the least which can be dispensed withal in any Parish in the former circumstances in the respect of the People But more than that is required if we regard the Ministers due performance of his Office for where there are 600 Communicants and but a Monthly Communion to give them an opportunity to receive every one four times a year there is a necessity to distribute the same to two hundred Communicants at once each Distribution which is as much as it is possible for any one Minister to undergo and much more than any Minister can undertake unless he be of a very strong and healthy constitution Besides that where a Minister reads all the Prayers according to the Rubrick as he is obliged to do by all the Authority God hath committed to either the Church or State and by his own Solemn Protestation and preaches also so large a Communion will lengthen the time beyond measure These things considered do render it very expedient to have the Blessed Sacrament often administred on the great and solemn Festivals also as well as once a month since fewer celebrations will be an intolerable burthen to the Minister where people frequent the Holy Sacrament and yet not to afford devout People so many opportunities to receive as they may desire and are obliged to is to discharge the Duty of our Ministry neither Devoutly nor Faithfully It being then absolutely necessary to save people from the penalty of the Law and commodious for all Persons as well as for enabling every Minister duly and rightly to discharge his Office according to Law to have such frequent Celebrations as I press for I hope I shall meet with no opposition from you my Brethren in this honest and reasonable motion Since the daily Homage that is offered unto God in our Parish Churches a thing I fear more rare in other Dioceses hath preached a long time very successfully to the Nation and may have contributed in all probability to that good order which some other places are now advancing to Let us in the name of God lead on in those higher Duties of Religion and endeavour to outstrip other Jurisdictions in our Respects to God's Altar as we have hitherto in our love to God's Service and an exact conformity to the Rules of our Common-prayer Book This will be an emulation very laudable and profitable The Church of England when she abolished the Mass in the Reformation neither condemned nor rejected the frequent celebration of the Holy Communion for that would have been more a Deformation than a Reformation The Rubrick of the first Book of K. Edward VI. both supposeth and ordains even a daily Communion It supposeth it in this Rubrick in the order how to read the holy Scripture Ye must note also that the Collect Epistle and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the Week after except there fall some Feast that hath his propre Again before the Exhortation to the Communion in Cathedral Churches or other places where there is a daily Communion it shall be sufficient to read this Exhortation above-written once a Month and in Parish Churches upon Week-days it may be left unsaid See before the Exhortation to the Communion c. That they ordained a daily Communion appears by this Rubrick Also That the Receiving of the Sacrament of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ may be most agreeable to the Institution thereof and to the usage of the Primitive Church in all Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches there shall always some communicate with the Priest that ministreth the sixth Rubrick at the end of the Communion And this was truly primitive indeed for St. Austin saith Per hoc sacerdos est ipse Offerens ipse Oblatio cujus rei Sacramentum Quotidianum esse voluit Ecclesiae Sacrificium quae cum ipsius Capitis corpus sit seipsam per ipsum discit offerre S. Aug. de Civitat Dei Lib. 10. c. 20. The first of these Rubricks are yet retained in our Common-prayer Book and why the rest were omitted seems to me onely for brevities sake as a thing known as the after Reformers did in many other things to avoid prolixity as near as can be judged Upon the Restoration of the King and the Church after so deplorable Disorder in Church and State when all God's publick Worship as well as his Holy Sacraments had been for many years together thrown quite out of Doors and the holy Sacrament not administred any way for fifteen years together it was a great matter to procure Guests enough at the Lord's Table to keep up a monthly Communion in Cathedrals which is the Reason I suppose why the Governours of our Church after they had in the Convocation strengthened the Rubrick concerning Weekly Communions had not put this holy practice generally into Execution But we having now gained that point blessed be God and lived to see the Monthly Sacraments not onely in many Cathedrals very well and in all Cathedrals reasonably well frequented
but also in Parish Churches not only in great Cities and Towns but even in the Country whereof God be praised in this Diocese we want not some Instances we of the Clergy ought to proceed farther towards a right and due administration of the holy Sacrament using our utmost diligence in the administration thereof in our Churches and utmost zeal in quickning of people to repair to it with due Reverence and frequency not doubting but that in a short time by God's blessing we shall see the Lord's Table as well furnished once a Month in Country Parishes as it hath been of late even in some Cathedrals and Weekly Sacraments in them â—re long as well frequented as Monthly have been for the time past For these means of Grace being of Christ's own Institution must be acknowledged the most effectual to revive Devotion and encrease Religion in a profane Age. And consequently the frequent and Reverend Administration of the holy Sacrament and the peoples right use of the same being the most probable course that can be taken in order to the salvation of their Souls it becomes the duty of every faithful Priest zealously to embrace this blessed opportunity to concur with the will of their Superiours for the enjoyment of more frequent opportunities As the decay of true devotion and Divine Charity in the World did first occasion among Priests this deplorable negligence whereof there is great ground of complaint so the inexcusable neglect of Administring the holy Eucharist hath sadly encreased Indevotion and uncharitableness among Men. If we then do heartily and sincerely desire the Revival of Christian Piety and brotherly Love let us betake our selves to the right use of those admirable means that our dear Lord and Saviour instituted to the very end and purpose to beget and encrease those and all other necessary Graces in Mens Souls Whether we consider the present circumstances of our own Church and Kingdom or the publick state of Christendom we have at this time an especial Call to the Duties of the Altar We have here in this Nation of late received some never to be forgotten Mercies at the hands of our Heavenly Father nay God hath extended his Love also this year past in an extraordinary manner to all Christendom in preserving the Christian Army against the Infidels and some very remarkable returns of Gratitude to Almighty God are incumbent upon all that profess Christianity For God having removed in a good measure our Fears at home and defeated in a signal manner our common Enemy abroad gratulatory Sacrisices were never more seasonable Such stupendious Mercies as we have been partakers of deserve more than one single day of Thanksgiving and the most acceptable returns of Thanks that we can possibly make to our gracious God will be those praises that are from Reformed Lives sincere Hearts and mortified Souls devoutly offered to him at his Altar Gratitude is the most essential Grace to a good Communicant and doth denominate the Eucharist The best standing Monument then of our thanks unto God will be our vigorous endeavours to restore this blessed Sacrament to its due Reverence and esteem being to us the communication of the Body and Blood of Christ This seems to be the sence of the Fathers of our Church in chusing this critical Minute to restore the holy Eucharist to a Weekly Celebration in Cathedrals to their high honour and praise and the great comfort of truly devout Souls We have had more than sufficient experience both in Church and State of the dismal effects of Irregularity in God's publick Worship and there is little ground of hopes that we shall ever be delivered from the contagion of Conventicles as long as the example of our own People and too often God knows our own Clergy spawn new Nonconformists i. e. while they are but half Conformists themselves they give wrong measures to disaffected or indifferently affected people and insinuate into them very wrong Notions of Conformity so that much more exactness of obedience to the Laws of the Church both in Priest and People must be concluded absolutely necessary towards our settlement And therefore all Priests would do well to remember that their publick assent and consent to their Common-prayer Book the subscription of the 3d Article in the 36. Canon and the sealing with their Saviours Blood at their Ordination all their holy Vows and Resolutions to practise such diligence in their Office and holiness of Life as is incumbent upon a good Priest do render those that have not made it their serious endeavours to observe their Rule of Conformity grounded on the Law of God established by the Authority of the Church and State and confirmed by their own Acts and Deeds highly guilty both before God and Man In the next place Lay-people also would do well to consider that they have publick Obligations to observe their Common-prayer Book when they are in the publick Assembly as far as it concerns them as is shewn in the conclusion of the Sermon To which Law there must be better regard had than there hath been or we are like to continue in very tottering circumstances But all the noise that hath been or can be made by Clergy or Laity about Conformity will signifie nothing but aggravate mens guilt if both are not really Conformists which no Man can be who is a contemner of the holy Sacrament of our Lord's Supper Our respect thereto is the best Argument that we can give either of our Conformity or Christianity And truly those that pay no more regard to the Sacrament than they are driven to by the very penalty of the Law give very bad proof of their sincerity in either The right and due Administration of the holy Communion of our Saviour's Body and Blood is equal to all our Services and therefore the exactest Conformity without the due reception of the blessed Sacrament makes a person but half a Conformist nay indeed but half a Christian And it is matter of greatest wonder that such multitudes who live in the constant neglect of those sacred Mysteries and pledges of Christ's Love so as not to receive once a year can imagine themselves either They are indeed so far from giving undeniable proofs that they are true Conformists that they give no demonstration that they are not Papists nay very Heathens The Nation blessed be God begins to be somewhat sensible hereof as we may judge by those advances that have been lately made towards good order and regularity even among the people of London who if they go on as they have done for these two years last past they may by their good make some amends for the evil Example that they have given to the Nation and contribute to the cure of those Wounds which so bad a President hath given to Conformity To compleat then that excellent Rule of Conformity which the Church of England aims at there is an absolute necessity to restore these sacred Pledges and highest
any extraordinary thing on this account and something more than ordinary God certainly expects from us this seems the time All things thus happily concurring to promote this excellent work of Piety it may in all probability by God's blessing more contribute to the reviving true Christian Charity and Devotion than all the endeavours from the Pulpit or Press since the Reformation The Fruits and Advantages of the good Order which we above other places enjoy appeared sufficiently to move others to desire and endeavour after the same during our late combustions For we all know that while Seditious and evil Men by tumultuous Petitions Ignoramus Juries factious Cabals and rebellious Associations were labouring to undermine both the Crown and the Mitre and had discovered their mischievous Designs by some bold offers towards the same none here in this Country dared so much as to make any offers towards any thing of either of those Natures though we cannot deny but that we have some very bad Men who want no will to do mischief were they not discouraged by more Activity in the Magistrate and zeal in the Clergy than is visible in other places These undeniable Advantages of Uniformity should not onely encourage others to begin what we have long enjoyed but spur us on faithfully to use our utmost diligence to rectifie those Irregularities which yet remain and whereof your Ordinaries have in their publick Conventions of the Clergy from time to time complained For as comparative Holiness i. e. being better than others when we come short of our Rule of Christianity will never make us Christians so neither will a comparative Conformity in being more regular than those that are deficient in their Duty denominate us true Conformists It is without all dispute that no Person ought to fansie himself a Christian that lives in the constant Omission of any one clear Law of Christ neither can any person be deservedly termed a Conformist that lives in the constant Omission of any one clear Law of the Rule of his Conformity i. e. his Common-prayer Book nay after having made a publick Declaration in the Church in the face of God and presence of a Congregation there may be some question made whether he be an honest Man There must be an honest hearty endeavour to obey Rules and duties of Obligation imposed on us by our Superiours without the liberty of our own prudence to denominate us regular and Obedient He that picks and chuses what is most suitable to his own humour and ceaseth to practice other matters of equal or higher Obligation is neither Mens governing themselves by their private Fancies rather than by the wisdom of their Superiours is always of pernicious consequence but never so intolerable as in reference to God's publick Worship which hath been the reason that there hath been so great care taken by antient Councils and Canons to restrain the liberty of Priests in their publick Ministrations And this certainly was the reason that the Church of England in the Reformation took care to tie Men up to a prescript Rule leaving no liberty for variation but in the Application to a dying Soul and in the Preface to the Office of Churching of Women which last is in our present Liturgy prefixed nay they descended so low as to put words in the Priests mouth and not give him the liberty of using his own expressions before or after a Lesson Epistle or Gospel Not but that the Church well knew that every Person who was qualified to discharge the Office of a Priest did understand well enough what to say upon the like occasions but that all Men were very apt to abuse the Liberty that was granted them the most conceited persons often fancying themselves the most prudent and taking more liberty than others and that there was no surer way to prevent Ministers from exposing themselves and prostituting God's Worship to the wills and humours of fanciful Men than setting bounds and limits which no Man should under penalty exceed Upon consideration of these and other great Inconveniences attending the Exercise of private Prudence in God's publick Service the Church of England hath all along down from the Reformation abridged Ministers also of the liberty of any Addresses to God in a precatory way in a Pulpit before Sermon and whatever liberty Clergymen have taken it is certain there was never * any given enjoyning a certain form of bidding Prayer by way of Exhortation to the People very particularly designed to assert the King's Title and by a methodical Enumeration of our greatest Obligations in relation to publick Prayer to prepare us the better to offer up to God the Lord's Prayer the best and most comprehensive of all Prayers In order to the prevention of the ill consequences of such undue Liberties whereby this Church hath sorely smarted it will be requisite to have a right Notion of Prudence and to understand fully the Power which the Church gives Ministers in their publick Ministrations Now certainly it can be no Vertue but a sin for any Man much more a Minister to live in the neglect of known Duty and that it is the Duty of every Priest of the Church of England to discharge his Office in the Congregation without the Exaltation of his own private prudence above the Churches is easie to make appear First There is a prescribed Rule of God's publick Worship according to Antient Canons c. Secondly This Rule lately reviewed and examined by a Convocation upon mature deliberation and great advice had was confirmed by Act of Parliament and which allows no Man to take on him any Cure of Souls without declaring publickly his approbation thereof and resolution to practise it Thirdly As hath been already hinted Ministers do not onely promise with their Mouths but under their Hands an exact Conformity in the subscription of the Articles contained in the 36th Canon Fourthly All Ministers are by their Promises at their Ordination bound to obey their Ordinaries and other chief Ministers godly Admonitions which renders all Irregularities in this Diocese more blameable than elsewhere since the Clergy here have been all along called upon by their Superiours to come up to such an exact Conformity as I have spoken of Fifthly The observation of the abuse of former Liberty makes it reasonable that Ministers now should be more sparing to take any even in doubtful cases without the approbation of the Bishop of the Diocese who hath Power given him by the Book to determine matters that are not clear but none at all to dispense with the Law These considerations making it plain that a strict observance of the very Letter of the Law of our Common-prayer Book is not onely a Duty incumbent on Ministers but a Duty of very high and sacred Obligation there can be no place left for private prudence unless where it is supposed and specified As for Example In the Office of Visitation of the Sick and in doubtful
cases where the resolution of the Bishop or Arch-Bishop cannot be procured Secondly In the manner of performance of his Duty more or less to Edification as to some circumstances whereto the Book does not extend Thirdly As to the Liberty of choice which the Book allows of in point of variety of Forms c. Fourthly In all occasional Addresses from the Desk made after the Nicene Creed the usual time of Addresses to the people either voluntary within the compass of the Rubrick or imposed on Ministers by the King or Ordinary of the place or else at any other times of the Service pro Re natâ Fifthly In the choice of Texts or Subjects of Sermons from the Pulpit as well as in composing and managing of them to Edification with discreet and pious zeal which is a Province of so large an extent that Ministers are very unreasonable that desire farther Liberty of Prudence and which hath been and is still so notoriously abused that there seems to be some manifest necessity for a restraint of the Liberty of the Pulpit as well as for the return of Ministers to an exact observation of their Rule so as to go generally one way in the practice of such Orders as are clear and express Here in these like things all Ministers have sufficient opportunity to evidence to the World their prudence but for Ministers to pretend to use prudence where it is absolutely forbidden by the Law is to expose the Law-makers and themselves and being contrary to known Duty is certainly desperate Imprudence and a manifest contempt of the wisedom of the Church which hath always judged it a dangerous thing to give Liberty to Ministers to exercise their own prudence over-much in their Ecclesiastick Ministrations and accordingly hath from time to time more closely tied up their hands And a reslection on the undue Exercise of what Men too often term Prudence caused a great Church-Man often to say that What was left to the Discretion was left to the Indiscretion of the Minister It is not of less moment for all Divines to have a very right apprehension of true Moderation than of Prudence The mistakes concerning which two excellent Vertues have been of fatal consequence to our Church and Kingdom Now this all men may be sure of that it can be no more true Christian Moderation sor Ministers to indulge the Peoples Sin than it is prudence in Ministers to allow themselves in the neglect of known Duty much less to do both namely neglect known Duty as to themselves and indulge known Sin in reference to their People And it is to be feared that all those Ministers who live in the constant neglect of the known Rules of their Common prayer Book which are very few clear and practicable are justly liable to a Censure of this nature or at least would do well to suspect themselves since they do not onely run Counter to the Judgment and practice of some very great Lights of the Church all down along from the Reformation but discern so bad a fruit and Issue of their specious Compliances that the Dow-baked Parson as well as the Par-boiled-Justice appears to be without Dispute a great Promoter if not Author of our Schism A notable Instance nay a kind of demonstration of the truth of what I say is this namely that here in the Bishoprick of Durham where the Clergy have been more than elsewhere abridged in undue Liberties and compliances hath appeared constantly a better face of uniformity and Order than any where else in the Nation And on the other side where the greatest Liberty hath been taken and most compliances used under the colour of Prudence and Moderation there Conformity hath always more visibly declined and Fanaticism encreased and grown to such an incredible height and pitch of Insolence that our danger of that hath been as great as our Fears of Popery This needs no proof but may very well deserve much serious consideration And I do in the name of God and by vertue of my Office with all Humility and Earnestness beseech all you my Brethren at present within my Jurisdiction with great seriousness and sincerity to ponder and examine what I have from time to time very earnestly by word of Mouth recommended unto you and now again seasonably in imitation of the zeal of our Superiours repeat unto you in Writing that whether my honest Desires and Injunctions are complyed withal or no I may give some Evidence to the World that I have honestly discharged my Conscience in setting before your eyes not only some past Arguments of Conformity which have been often insisted on but the fitness of this present Conjuncture for all of you respectively to enflame your Zeal and to compleat Conformity in your Parishes since it may more easily be done than many Parishes in other parts of England can be brought to that Order which the most Irregular place among us hath all along enjoyed since the Restoration But truly till we do in all Parishes come up to such a frequent Celebration of the Communion as the Law requires i. e. that the Communion may be so often Administred that every person may have opportunity to receive at least three times a year we shall have no reason to be over-proud of our Conformity for since the most considerable and substantial part of God's Worship i. e. the Sacrament of his most blessed Body and Bloud is so much neglected we are very deficient in the use of the chief means of Grace and so very far from true Conformists though we should advance on in many other points of Order which would be much now to our Reproach if we should not since we have very good Example given us lately not onely in remote parts of England but in our Neighbour Jurisdiction nay even in some Corporations where we despaired of Conformity and more particularly in the Town of Newcastle upon Tine which we cannot deny by the blessing of God a worthy Vicar and good Officers and Magistrates is now reduced to as considerable a degree of Conformity as any large Corporation being a Sea-port Town in the Nation there being now not any Conventicle on any day and very full Churches on days of publick Worship as well as some competent number of People to attend the publick Prayers of the Church every Morning and Evening on days of work and business and is every day making greater steps towards the Uniformity that is aimed at in the Church of England And here before I leave the present Topick of Diligence in the Office of a Priest in the exact observation of our Rule in opposition to the pretended moderation of the Age which we have sorely felt to be in reality great Rigour and Cruelty permit me to mind you that as I never did or do approve of the Exaltation of Mens private Prudence above the Churches in any direction that is apparent to the understanding and easie to be practised and there are