Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	minister_n	people_n	preach_v	2,383	5	7.1947	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41549	The reformed bishop, or, XIX articles tendered by Philarchaiesa, well-wisher of the present government of the Church of Scotland, as it is settled by law, in order to the further establishment thereof.	Gordon, James, Pastor of Banchory-Devenick.	1679 (1679)	Wing G1279; ESTC R10195	112,676	318

applause which the Learned Isaac Casa●bon gave of the great care of Antiquity and Purity observed in the English Liturgy proclaimed every where in his Epistles to all his Friends That there was not any where else in the World the like to be found nor ever hoped he to see it till he came into that Kingdom But it seems Hippolitus the old Martyr prophesied of these Haters of all Liturgies under the Notion of Anti-Christian for all their Declamations against Anti-Christian Rites For in his Book De Anti-Christo he tells us That in the times of Anti-Christ Ecclesiarum Aedes Sacrae Tugurii instar erunt pre●●osum Corpus Sanguis Christi non exstabit Liturgia extinguetur Psalmodiae decan●atio cessabit Scripturarum recitatio non audietur And sure I am at the Reestablishment of this Government it might have been introduced with as little Noise and Odium as the Governours themselves were for this 〈◊〉 Policy then might have done the 〈◊〉 even to have holden away the odious Name of the Service-Book which 〈◊〉 hateful to many who have a Zeal for the Reformed Religion but not according to Knowledge they ignorantly imagining that it is stuffed with Popery and Superstition As for any Expressions therein which sound harshly in the Ears of tender Consciences the Governours of the Church might have indulged them that favour as to expunge what they could justly pretend gave the least Offence But they neglecting to take Occasion thus by the Foretop they have ever since found it bald behind Which puts me in mind of the great Soloecism committed by the great Hannibal in point of War though he was one of the slyest and wariest Captains that ever liv'd who went not immediately to Rome after the mighty Defeat given to the Romans at the Battel of Cannae for during that great Consternation he might as Rawleigh hath judiciously observed easily have plucked up the Roman Empire by the Roots but being too much taken up with the Pleasures of Capua and his Amours in Salapia he lost that Occasion which he could never find again and therefore was justly upbraided by Maharbal the Master of his Horse in these Words Vincere s●is Hannibal Victoriâ uti nescis And gave occasion unto the Romans to say Capuam Poenis alteras ●uisse Cannas But in my weak judgment the best Succedaneum to this neglected Solemn Fo●m of Divine Service and that which is also the best Expedient to pave the Way into a more perfect one is To recommend unto all the Ministers of the Gospel that every Lord's Day before Sermon they read with great Reverence a Lesson at least out of the Old Testament and a Chapter or two from the New this being much more properly The Word of God than what they preach that their People may in Process of time be as well acquainted with the Historical part of the Scripture as with the Precepts Promises and dreadful Comminations of the Gospel For they are meer Strangers to Antiquity who doe not know that preaching was scarce the third part of the Solemn Service of the Lord's Day that being but a Tractatus as Augustine testifieth on the Lesson which was last read And let them solemnly pronounce the Decalogue and Apostolick Creed all these Steps of Divine Service being variegated and intermixed with short Acts of Prayer and Praise And sure I am there is no Congregation unless the People thereof be very rough hewen but will stand up if desired by the Minister to do so when he solemnly pronounceth the Sum of the Moral Law and as the Mouth of the People makes a publick Confession of Faith whereby they shall testifie their willingness through Divine Grace to believe and obey all that God hath revealed and commanded And let not those who have the Cura Animarum forget specially to enjoyn their respective Flocks to put themselves in a reverent Posture when they accost Heaven with solemn Acts of Prayer and Praise that being indispensibly practised by all the Primitive Church whose bodily Infirmities proved not an invincible Impediment to them And seeing the seeking of a Blessing before meat and Thanksgiving after it are brief Adorations of the infinite Goodness Let all Ministers by their own Example recommend a reverent Posture to the rest of the Guests Sure it is a matter of Admiration to see the Generality of Fanaticks the Quakers only excepted making their Graces as they are usually termed commensurable with any pertinent Prayer that is void of Tautologies and yet not to accost the great Provisor of all the Families of the Earth with more Reverence than a Temporary Host. And when that short but very substantial Hymn was sung which is termed the Doxology and is a direct Adoration of the Blessed Trinity which if I were not asham'd of frequent Digressions I could easily evince by good Authorities to have been composed as a lesser Creed by the first Councel of Nice as a Testimony and Pillar of the Catholick Verity against the Arrians all they of the Primitive Church stood up and uttered the same with an audible Voice as a discriminating Character of the Orthodox from these detestable Hereticks the Cerinthians Samosatenians and Arrians the Samosatenians being called Paulianistae in the 19th Canon of the Councel of Nice from Paulus Samosatenus the Haer●siarcha and pe●verse Bishop of Antioch For though it is an unquestionable Truth That the Heart ought to be the Primum Mobile in all our Acts of Divine Worship without whose primary Influence and Concurrence it is at best but a Carkass of Devotion we offer unto Heaven yet seeing by the Law of Creation and Grace of Redemption we are bound to glori●ie God with our Souls and Bodies for both are his saith the Apostle Therefore when we make our Addresses to the Throne of Grace we are obliged to put them both in an humble Posture of Adoration the Primitive Christians being so far from practising that irreverent and lazy Posture of Sitting in the time of Prayer that Tertullian as we find in his excellent Treatise De Oratione inveighs sharply against those who did sit down instantly after Prayer and he tells them that they upbraid God to his Face that they are soon weary of the Duty And it were also very fit that all Ministers were desir'd to exhort their People to hear reverently and with discovered Heads that Weekly Proclamation from Heaven I mean the Preaching of the Gospel which was the constant Practice of Constantine the Great who was so far from covering his Head then that he could not be perswaded to forbear standing all the time of Preaching much less to sit in the time of Prayer and of the two Theodosii and Martianus the immediate Successor of Theodosius the Younger and I wish that of the Poet were fulfill'd in this particular Regis ad Exemplum totus componitur Orbis But the Deportment of the far greater number of those who are called Christians is so intolerably notorious and

World that his Heart joyns Issue with St. Augustin's Wish That when Christ comes again to Iudge the World he may find him either praying or Preaching Which last behoved to be the Practice of Bishops in some Parts of the World unless either they or the People belonging to their Cathedral were deprived of Preaching on the Lords Day For in the Churches of Africa no Presbyter was permitted to preach in Presence of the Bishop till the time of Valerius St. Augustine's immediate Predecessour in the See of Hippo Who as Possidius in the Life of Augustine reports being a Greek and by reason of his little Skill in the Latin Tongue unable to Preach to the Edification of the People Hippo being a Roman Colonie admitted S. Augustine whom he had lately ordained Presbyter to preach before him which was ill resented by some Bishops yet became a Precedent at last to other Churches But there is another Exception besides that of bodily Infirmity which may sufficiently warrant the Conscience of a Bishop to forbear Preaching pro hic nunc and that is a desire to experiment the Gift of another within his Jurisdiction whether a Candidate or one already in Orders for seeing he is Virtute Ossi●ii Pastor pastorum that Inspection must needs be a special part of the Episcopal Function Vid. Concil Aurelianens 1. Can. 13. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Quod Episcopus si infirmitate non fuerit impeditus Ecclesiae cui proximus fuerit Die Dominico deesse non debet Et Can. 2. Concil Toletan 11. Where an unpreaching Bishop is fitly termed Praeco mutus But because the Elegancy of the Style and Matter would invite any to read that Canon I shall therefore give the ingenuous Reader an account of it Quantum quis praecelsi culminis obtinet locum tantum necesse est praecedat caeteros gratiâ meritorum ut in eo qui praesidet singulis singulariter ornetur eminentiâ Sanctitatis habens semper in ore gladium veritatis in opere efficaciam luminis ut juxta Paulum polens sit exhortari in doctrina sana contradicentes revincere Nos proinde nostri Ordinis gradum vel suscepti Regiminis modum magnopere cogitare debemus ut qui officium Praedicationis suscepimus nullis curis à divina Lectione privemur Nam quorundam mentes Pontificum ita corporis otio à Lectionis gratia secluduntur ut quid doctrinae gregibus subditis exhibeat non inveniat Praeco mutus Insistendum ergo semper erit Majoribus ut quos sub Regiminis cura tuentur fame Verbi Dei perire non sinant The Ninteenth Canon of the sixth General Councel speaking almost to the same Purpose and adds something more That in the Exposition of Scripture they ought to follow the Interpretation of the Primitive Fathers and Doctors of the Church and not presume to deliver to their Auditors Quicquid in buccam venerit And for that end recommends unto them the accurate Study of these Ancient Luminaries of the Church Which useful Speculation is too much neglected in this Age To which that of the Egyptian Priest to the Grecian Philosopher may be applied Ye have neither knowledge of Antiquity nor Antiquity of Knowledge Vid. Augustin contra Faustum Manish Lib. 32. cap. 10. At vero qui Electus ab Ecclesia ministerium Evangelizandi renuerit ab Ecclesia ipsa meritò contemnitur Qui enim sibi prodest Ecclesiae bene intelligitur utroque pede calceatus Vid. etiam Lib. 19. De Civit. Dei cap. 19. Chrysostom Lib. 2. De Sacerdot Hieronym ad Nepotian Greg. 1. Part. 1. De Cura Pastor Article VII Prov. 27. 23. Act. 15. 36 41. 20. 28. Act. 8. 14 15 17. Heb. 6. 2. NExt Let this Shepherd of Pastors be careful to visit his Diocess once every year in Conformity to the Antient Canons unless it be of a very great Dimension and the Churches therein so numerous that the Difficulty is insuperable But what is wanting the one year should be supplied in the beginning of the next that by such accurate Visitations he may find opportunity to Water what God hath Planted and to thrust those out of the Vineyard whom the Great Master never sent to work there they being hurried thereinto by their own insufficient forwardness Simoniacal Pactions and other unconscionable Principles and whose after-Practices are found too sutable thereunto And let him exactly take notice when he comes upon the place if the Minister and People perform reciprocal Duties and afford mutual Encouragements one to another But seeing all these Particulars are fully expressed in the Books for Visitations I shall add no more but this General That he is bound to take inspection If the Incumbent use a conscionable Endeavour to perform all Personal Relational and Functional Duties Which if he be found to do let him have his due Encouragement For Virtus laudata crescit c. laudando praecipimus But if any be deprehended to be very defective in their Intellectuals or Morals or in any of the elicit or imperat Acts of those Faculties so that Charity it self cannot be so blind but may perceive that they throw down more with the one hand than they build with the other Let these be Censured according to their Demerits For as a Skilful Physician our Prelate is obliged to purge the Mystical Body of its most noxious Humours by applying seasonable Catharticks and a Dose too that is proportionable to the Distemper and as a good Surgeon speedily to cut off these Organical Members which are already sphacelated lest that Gangrene invade the whole Body Ense recidendum ne pars sincera trahatur saith the Poet. Which if he do not he must resolve to be accountable to the most impartial Tribunal imaginable which is infinitely above the pretended Justice of Aeacus Minos and Radamanthus for those destructive Neglects which carry the apparent Ruin of many Souls in the front of them Likewise at these Visitations they may find an excellent opportunity of retriving jure-postliminii that Antient Ceremony of Confirmation excluding in the mean time all Superstition therefrom though some are apt to believe that it is not the fear of giving Offence which is the Remora of this useful Practice but rather the Laziness of some Church-Governours that Ceremony being one of the honourable Prerogatives of Episcopacy and as some thought incommunicable to Presbyters there being very few Instances of any of them who in the Primitive Church were delegated to perform the same And sure the seasonable noticing if Ministers and Parents have exercised their respective Duties in order to the Education of Young Ones is so far from giving just matter of Offence to any that if rightly considered it would be found in it self a Work highly commendable and very profitable for the Church if Conscionably practis'd For what harm can the Imposition of a Bishop's hands do to any unless they have the Polonian Plica or