Preach according to the Articles you have subscribed or not But by the way I observe Tim. you have a Whisking Faculty at handling to handle Three such Points in two half hours or thereabouts Tim. Nay I was not longer yet performed so well that I had as many thankful scrapes as Dr. O. himself for his long interwoven Discourse of late at Tit. 'T is like you might have as many Tongues but I doubt not so many Guineys as he Tim. Guineys what are they Tit. Now I see thou art ignorant of something besides the Articles Guineys they are the great Procurers of Advousons Presentations and Ecclesiastical Preferments their Principal Residence is about the Court and they sometimes help a Church-man at a dead lift when Merits and Friends both fail Tim. I wish I could meet with one of these Courteous Gentlemen I am sure none ever stood in more need of his Assistance Tit. One no less than some hundreds according as the Place may be Thousands will do you any kindness at all Tim. Nay then I despair for having lived Forty years and never met with one 't is more than probable I shall be dead before I procure a Thousand to stand my Friends Tit. It will do you more good to understand the Articles of the Church and practise them for that will make you happier in Forty years more than all the Guineys in England can Therefore push on to the next Article V. The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son very and eternal God Tit. Here I hope you are found too Tim. Yes truly for the Athanasian Creed teacheth me thus much touching the Holy Ghost which Creed I have often Repeated and do most stedfastly believe Tit. I wish all that have subscribed this Article could say as much But let us have the Sixth Article VI. Tim. Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church Tit. As to this I hope you are perfectly Orthodox Tim. So perfectly that I wish all but the Canonical Books of Scripture had been left out of our Calendar for since our Church here Affirms that these Contain all things necessary to Salvation and consequently are sufficient for Example of Life and instruction of Manners I think we might have made a pretty good shift with these especially on Sundays without Tobias Bell and the Dragon with the use of the Apocraphites Tit. And I Assure you if our Calendar were to suffer a new impression and I were the Corrector I should not boggle much to gratifie you in this Opinion Tim. I thank you for your good will but since it is not in my power nor yours to amend it we must be content and make as much use of the former and as little of the latter as possibly we may Tit. Very good I wish we agree in the next as well as we do in this Article VII The Old Testament is not Contrary to the New for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ who is the only Mediator between God and Man being both God and Man Wherefore they are not to be heard which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises Although the Law given from God by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Rites do not bind Christian men nor the civil Precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any Common-Wealth Yet notwithstanding no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral Tit. This Article hath a great Deal in it Tim. Where lies it I don't perceive it Tit. No Why it Requires of every Christian Man Obedience to all the Commands called Moral now how do you Comport with it in your Practice Tim. I own it Obedience is Due to all the Commands that are Moral Tit. Why is there any that is not Moral Tim. Yes I think so Tit. Which is that Tim. The Fourth Tit. Why so Don't the Article term it so Tim. I can't tell I don't believe it Tit. Nor a great many besides you who have subscribed this Article yet deny the sence of it Tim. I must be plain In troth I hold it no more moral than All Saints or the Fifth of November Tit. I thought somewhat was the matter you make so slight of it Why doth the Church require all her Members when this Command is read to say Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law c. that you can share one half of it Weekly to your own use and Service Tim. And I hope no Offence Tit. And as you give your People leave in the Afternoon so many of them take leave for the Forenoon and thus you share the whole betwixt you leaving the rest to God Almighty Yet no Offence I hope Tim. If it be Moral why is it not perpetuall without Alteration Tit. 'T is the shameful Prophanation of this Day by you and such as have Sucked in your Principles that hath Ushered in so much Irreligion amongst us and helped to pull down such severe Judgments upon us But hoping being better informed you will become reformed hear me a little as to this point Tim. When you have said all you can you can never prove it Moral and perpetual Tit. You have owned 't is so by your Subscription of this Article and will you now question it Tim. Yes I do for I knew not there was any such Article amongst them if I had known it I Tit. Nay never Repent you have done it for you have no cause if you understood as you ought Tim. Understand what Tit. That the Morality of this Fourth Command lies not in observing the Seventh day from the Creation for the Fourth Commandment doth not require to use and sanctifie the Seventh Day from the Creation not from any other period or Date of time but only the Seventh Day after Six of Labour or coming between Six of Labour in a settled Course of Numbring from any Period that God should appoint and so in the Meaning of that Commandment we do now and ever must use the Seventh Day For the Seventh is that part in order of Numbering which still comes between Six having Six before it and Six after it continually and so our Sunday our Day of rest hath and therefore we also rest the Seventh Day Tim. I deny it ours is the first not the Seventh Tit. And the Seventh as much as the first the first of our Week and Seventh after Six of Labour Indeed the Period
much in adding to as in taking from what is contained and prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer for the Act establisheth that and no other the Ceremonies therein contained and no more For your fuller satisfaction read the words of the Act in this point they are these And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no form or order of Common-Prayers administration of Sacraments Rites or Ceremonies mark that shall be openly used in any Church Chappel or other publick place of or in any Colledg or Hall in either of the Vniversities c. other than what is prescribed and appointed to be used in and by the said Book note that also And lest once mentioning of this should not be sufficient you have afterwards when the said Book with the Prayers Rites and Ceremonies prescribed and appointed by it is named these words and no other again repeated What think you now Tim Tim. I think bowing towards the Altar and bowing at the name of Jesus are works of supererogation and not at all meritorious For the Act seems not only not to enjoyn them but to forbid them in as much as they are no where contained in the said Book Tit. Thus you give offence and become a scandal to weak brethren where you need not nay in things you ought not Tim. I see it and hope I shall avoid it for the future and shall endeavour my brethren of the Clergy about me may do the same Tit. I wish they may But there is that which is far worse than all this Tim. What should that be brother Titus Tit. Thank you Sir for that friendly title I wish we of the Clergy were all true brethren in heart and deed that we might all speak and do the same things as our Rule requires I am pleased I say with this expression of amity and 't will make me the more free in my talk with you as well as serious Tim. The more free the more grateful for you have gained upon me by your plain dealing and strong arguments Go on brother with what you were about to say was worse than the addition of those Ceremonies Tit. 'T is this brother That many of our publick Preachers some ignorantly some I fear designedly oppose and preach down the very Articles of our Church which they have subscribed and which we all are bound to maintain and keep close to which hath been matter of great grief to me to consider Tim. But surely there are none do this Tit. As sure as you are there too many and if I mistake not you for one and that too oft Tim. I am not conscious to my self I do or ever did Tit. I confess I have so much charity as to think so and that your sin is a sin of ignorance because you said but now you never read the Articles Though I must tell you Tim 't is vincible ignorance for that you have not read them is your own fault Tim. No I profess they are so scarce to be got that I know not where to have them and I withal so short of money that I know not how to purchase them Tit. To remove this obstacle and cure your ignorance in some measure here they are I hope you can read as well as preach Tim. Yes yes I am not so ignorant neither pray let me see them Tit. Hold not without Conditions Tim. What are they Tit. Nay reasonable enough First that you will stay so long here as to read them over deliberately and Secondly admit of a short debate as we pass along upon some of them and then tell me whether I do any wrong to you and many others in saying that your Doctrines and theirs do not admirably well agree with them For I meddle only with those that have subscribed yet do not keep to them Tim. All this is highly reasonable and I readily yeild to it Tit. Begin then and read carefully not hastily Article 1. Tim. There is but one living and true God everlasting without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodness the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in unity of this Godhead there be three persons of one substance power and eternity the Father the Son and the holy Ghost Tit. Hold now what think you of this Article Tim. Mighty well sound and good and no body surely but believe and approve it both in part and in whole Tit. I am afraid not how else come you and many others to discourse sometimes against and deride what is contained in it I don't mean the being of a God for tho' some in their works and with David's fool in their hearts say there is no God yet I know you dare not do it in words But that which is next door by they dare and do say Tim. What 's that Tit. That there is no Providence Tim. Admit it wherein doth that cross this Article that hath not a word of Providence in it I don't see but a man may think so and yet safely subscribe this Article Tit. Right 't is what I expected and doubtless there are many of your judgment but what if I prove a Divine Providence governing the world and all that there is and after that prove too that this first Article of our Church plainly asserts it Tim. Then I shall say I never understood it Tit. A worthy satisfaction for your gross wilful ignorance and the great mischief you have thereby done to the Christian Religion and the Church of God established amongst us Tell me what think you of those words of our Saviour Mat. 18.29 30. Not a Sparrow falls to the ground without your father and the hairs of your head are all numbered I think this bids fair to prove a protecting preserving disposing providence and that not only as to the great changes and revolutions in Kingdoms and Nations but even as to smaller matters such as relate to you and me and every man nay to the very beasts and birds And he that shall seriously consider the workings of God now in the world and even in that spot of it which we inhabit and think how the wise and profound Polititians of Rome are baffled in their enterprises and detected in their hellish Plots and Counsels even beyond their expectation or belief must either put out the eye of his Reason or else he must needs see and adore a special hand of Providence acting for us to admiration What prevented the further designed mischief from taking place when London was put in flames if providence did not How came the late as well as former Popish Plot against King the Kingdom our Religion and Lives to light but by providence In a word Tim think then say what was the safeguard of our present gracious Sovereign in many battels when divers fell on his right hand and left in sundry pursuits and in foreign Countries and what restored him to his Rights Crowns and people without
7. The Predestinate are both justified by Faith sanctified by the Holy Ghost and shall be glorified in the life to come 8. The consideration of Predestination is to the Godly most comfortable but to curious and carnal persons very dangerous 9. The general promises of God set forth in Holy Scripture are to be embraced of us 10. In our actions the word of God which is his revealed will must be our direction These are the several Doctrines laid down and asserted in this Article Would you have any more Tim. No here is enough and as much as all that ever wrote for Predestination and Election can say and had our Church enlarged this Article to the bulk of the Common Prayer she could not have spoke more to the purpose than she hath in this one Page I wonder the Reverend Fathers of the Church will suffer her Sons to wrong her as they do dayly openly making her speak through their Mouths and often through the louder mouth of the press those Tenets which she never held nay which in the very body of her Articles she so plainly disowns and contradicts Tit. I rejoyce at your Conviction Now these being fundamental points it may not be amiss I think nor time ill spent to see a little for your fuller satisfaction and confirmation what ground and footing each point in this Article hath in holy writ the perfect Rule and Touchstone of all matters of Faith and manners Tim. No sure no loss of time but time well improved and if you will take so much pains I shall thankfully partake of it Tit. For the vindication of our Church reprehension of those men who have subscribed to her and yet oppose her and for thy establishment Tim. I will do it To begin with the first then 1. There is a Predestination of men unto life Everlasting To fit on my Right hand and on my left Math. 20.23 Math. 22.14 Math. 24.23 Joh. 6.37 is not mine to give but shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father For many are called but few chosen But for the Elects sake those dayes shall be shortned All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me To this truth also doe the Evangelists St. Luke and St. Paul give witness the former faith that of the Gentiles at Antioch so many as were Ordained unto Eternal life believed and the other saith whom he foreknew he also did Predestinate Act. 13.48 Rom. 8.29 And Paul blesseth God for this saying Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who c. hath chosen us in him before the fourdation of the world Eph. 1.3 4 5. having Predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself Are not these Texts to the purpose Tim. As clear as can be Tit. Besides the Example of the Elected Creatures Men and Angels of the two brethren Abel and Cain Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau of the two servants of King Pharaoh of the two Kingdoms of Juda and Israel the two peoples Jews and Gentiles the two Apostles Peter and Judas the two thieves upon the Cross the two men in the fields the women at the Mill are a great illustration to this truth The next is 2. Predestination hath been from Everlasting or before all times Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand come ye blessed of my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Math. 25 34. which the Apostle understands to be from Everlasting saying God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world Again God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works Eph. 1.4 but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began And as good footing on the same word hath the following point viz. 3. Not all men but certain are predestinated to be saved Luk. 10.20 Joh. 16.14 2 Tim. 2.10 Rejoyce that your names are written in heaven saith our Saviour and I know mine and am known of mine I suffer all things for the Elects sake And our Church in her order for burial of the dead prayes for the accomplishment of the number of Gods Elect. And again in the same Office come yea blessed receive the Kingdom prepared for you And in the form of Baptism we pray that the infant to be baptized may remain in the number of thine Elect Children c. not all men but a certain number are Elected or Predestinated to life 4. They which are Predestinated unto Salvation cannot perish Joh. 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Joh. 10.28 29. Math. 16.18 Rom. 8 30. Rom. 11.29 who is greater than all And the gates of hell shall not prevail against them Moreover whom he Predestinated them he also glorified The gifts and calling of God are without repentance They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us So the next point which these men so much stick at is as cleerly taught in Gods word as any of the former namely 5. That of the meer will and purpose of God some men in Christ Jesus are Elected and not others unto salvation a Rom. 9.11 b Eph 1.5 c 2 Tim. 1.9 d Exod. 33.19 e Rom. 9.15 f Eph. 1.4 5. g 1 Pet. 1.18 19 20. h Eph. 1.5 6. Prov. 16.4 Rom. 9.21 a That the purpose of God according to Election might stand b Having Predstinated us according to the good pleasure of his will c Not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace d I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy c. f He hath chosen us in Christ and Predestinated us through Christ g Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things c. but by the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb c. who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you Who hath Predestinated us to the praise of the glory of his grace The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of wrath Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour another unto dishonour was ever any thing more fully and plainly said in holy writ than this part of our Article Tim. I think not or can be Tit. These portions of Scripture to which more might be added were it needfull doe not barely assert a Predestination of some and not of others but assign also all the causes of such Predestination
there promised to do you shall be an able and faithful Minister of the Church of Christ The exhortation runs in these Words YOV have heard Brethren as well in your private Examination as in the Exhortation which was now made to you and in the holy Lessons taken out of the Gospel and the Writings of the Apostles of what Dignity and of how great Importance this Office is whereunto ye are called And now again we exhort you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you have in remembrance into how high a Dignity and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called That is to say to be Messengers Watchmen and Stewards of the Lord to teach and to premonish to feed and provide for the Lords Family to seek for Christs Sheep that are dispersed abroad and for his Children who are in the midst of this naughty World that they may be saved through Jesus Christ for ever Have always therefore printed in your remembrance how great a Treasure is committed to your charge For they are the Sheep of Christ which he bought with his Death and for whom he shed his Blood The Church and Congregation whom you must serve is his Spouse and his Body And if it shall happen the same Church òr any Member thereof to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence ye know the greatness of the fault and also the horrible punishment that will ensue Wherefore consider with your selves the end of your Ministry towards the Children of God towards the Spouse and Body of Christ and see that you never cease your Labour your Care and Diligence until you have done all that lieth in you according to your bounden duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your Charge unto that agreement in the Faith and Knowledge of God and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ that there be no place left among you either for Errour in Religion or for Viciousness in Life Forasmuch then as your Office is both of so great excellency and of so great difficulty ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply your selves as well that ye may shew your selves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord who hath placed you in so high a Dignity as also to beware that neither you your selves offend nor be occasion that others offend Howbeit ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of your selves for that will and ability is given of God alone Therefore ye ought and have need to pray carnestly for his holy Spirit And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a Work pertaining to the Salvation of Man but with Doctrine and Exhortation taken out of the holy Scriptures and with a Life agreeable to the same consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures and in framing the Manners both of your selves and of them that specially pertain unto you according to the Rule of the same Scriptures And for this self same cause how ye ought to forsake and set aside as much as you may all Worldly Cares and Studies We have good hope that you have well weighed and pondred these things with your selves long before this time and that you have clearly determined by Gods Grace to give your selves wholly to this Office whereunto it hath pleased God to call you So that as much as lieth in you you will apply your selves wholly to this one thing and draw all your Cares and Studies this way and that you will continually pray to God the Father by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ for the heavenly Assistance of the Holy Ghost that by daily reading and weighing of the Scriptures ye may wax riper and stronger in your Ministry and that ye may so endeavour your selves from time to time to sanctifie the Lives of you and yours and to fashion them after the Rule and Doctrine of Christ that ye may be wholesom and godly Examples and Patterns for the People to follow Tim. I confess this is very serious and weighty and do acknowledge I never perused or pondered it before Tit. Add to this that daily Prayer at the end of the Confession And grant O most merciful Father for his sake that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of thy name Is not the Minister concerned in this as well as the People when he saith and grant that we may c Tim. Yes without doubt and by Gods help hereafter my Practice shall be more conformable to my Prayers Tit. Pray God it may for evil Ministers 't is the phrase used in this Article are most odious to God and injurious to his Church of all others One such impious Wretch by his ungodly life gives such a wound to Religion and the Cause of God as many of his Brethren though exemplary both in life and Doctrine are not able to heal Besides I tremble to think of the Reward of such a Minister in another world and what he will be able to plead for himself to the great Bishop of Souls the Lord Jesus at his general and final Visitation Rev. 22.12 I beseech you therefore Tim. remember the weight and excellency of your Calling and the solemn Promises in the face of the Congregation made to God then when you were admitted to it Not forgetting your Obligation by Baptism which is the subject of the following Article you are next to read Tim. I give you my hearty thanks and hope these things will make an impression upon me for good Tit. I shall rejoice to see it Go on ART 27. Tim. Baptism is not only a sign of Profession and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not Christened but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New Birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the Promises of the Forgiveness of Sin and of our Adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace increased by vertue of Prayer unto God The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the Institution of Christ Tit. You see here what high and noble priviledges are signified and sealed to us by our Baptism Regeneration Adoption and Remission To which our Church explaining this Article in her Catechism adds Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven What Obligations to an holy Life can there be greater or stronger than these Tim. None surely Tit. Add hereto the Covenant on our part to renounce the Devil and all his Works to believe the Articles of the Christian Faith and obediently to keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of our Lives Which Covenant unless we perform and keep we have no right to or benefit by the
and natural Inferences from your Doctrine and if you would speak out you must own it As a Divine of our Church once did when being exhorted by a Person of Quality to give God thanks for his good Providence in raising him to such a Preserment replied to this purpose Providence saith he thank my Money and my Friends for without these I had gone without it for all Providence Are not these trusty Lads to their Subscriptions of the Articles Tim. Enough of this Sir I have done Let us go on to the next Artic. 2. The Son which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and Eternal God of one substance with the Father took mans nature in the Womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance so that two whole and perfect Natures that is to say the Godhead and Manhood were joyned together in one person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man who truly suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a sacrifice not only for Original guilt but also for actual sins of men Tit. This is another Article you and I have subscribed to and profess to own and have promised to maintain Tim. And good reason for I see nothing in it but what is sound and Orthodox and he deserves not the name of a Christian that says otherwise Tit. I am of your mind yet I fear you have cracked some part of it in your elaborate discourses ex tempore To try you I will only crave your Opinion of one little branch of it What think you of Original Sin Tim. I take it to be only a privation of Original Righteousness Tit. Now I know whereabouts you are You are one of those subtil Gentlemen who subscribe the Articles of the Church of England and when you have done preach the Doctrines of the Church of Rome and Canons of the Council of Trent This is very pretty a Popish Priest may do as much Council of Trent Sess 3. Can. 6. But we will debate farther on this in its proper place under Artic. 9. which speaks as plain English in this point as ever Article did Go on therefore to the next Artic. 3. Tim. As Christ died for us and was buried so also it is to be believed that he went down into Hell Tit. Here is something in this Article will take up a little more of our time than ordinary because it is a matter of weight and what I know you and I much differ in Tim. What can that be 't is all mighty plain to me Tit. No doubt since you never read it before but when you have considered it as oft and throughly as I have done perhaps you may hesitate as well as I in what sense we are to take the latter part of it viz. So also it is to be believed that he went down into Hell Pray what is your sense of it and how do you teach people to understand it Tim. That Christ did personally and locally go down into Hell that is into the place or state of the damned to suffer there to conquer and overcome the Devils in their place of residency and to free those Souls that were detained in Hell till Christ's descension thither Tit. I know some of the Ancients and all the Papists are of this opinion yet I confess 't is not clear to me nor do I find any reason to think our Church intends this sense in her Article And if you will have patience with me I shall give you my Reasons for it Tim. I will exercise what patience I can but pray be brief Tit. As brief as the weight of the matter will give me leave To explain the Terms of the Article a little He went down or descended To descend is properly to to go down by bodily motion from an higher place to a lower But in a borrowed sense or speech it signifies a change of state from better to worse from greater to meaner as Isa 47.1 Come down or descend and sit in the dust O virgin daughter of Babylon into Hell The word here Englished Hell in the Hebrew is Sheol in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this I find is taken four ways in Scripture For the grave or place of the dead 1 King 2.6 For the power of death or state of the dead appointed to all men good and bad as Psal 89.48 For extreme humiliation or abasement or such sorrow and pains as may be compared to hellish sufferings 1 Sam. 2.6 Psal 18.5 and for the place and state of the damned Luke 16.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when he was in Hell Now in which of these senses do you take it Tim. In the last as without doubt our Church intends it Tit. That is not in any or all the three first viz. the grave the power of death or extreme abasement and hellish sufferings but in the last namely that Christ descended into the place of the damned suffered in the same flames wherein the rich man cries out he was tormented and wherein the Devils themselves and damned Spirits have suffered do and shall suffer for ever Tim. Yes I believe so and shall never believe otherwise Tit. Perhaps you may when you have heard what I have to ofter to the contrary which now follows 1. It is not clearly recorded as all other parts of our Belief are in Holy Scripture that Christ did locally and personally descend into the place and state of the damned For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken in this sense occurs but once in all the New Testament viz. Luk. 16.23 which is not spoken of Jesus but of Dives Nor doth the word there signifie the place of the damned from the force or propriety of it but from the circumstances which are there noted For Dives is not simply said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in inferno seu Gebenna but in torments and flames Moreover the Evangelists who have professedly delivered to us the whole History of our Saviour from his Incarnation to his Ascension have not made the least mention of his descention into Hell in this sense Tim. Surely you are mistaken Tit. Discover where And I cannot conceive they would have omitted it had Christ done it or had it been necessary to salvation to believe it Particularly St. Luke writes nothing of it in his Gospel in his Preface to which he tells Theophilus That he would write to him in order of all those things where of he had perfect understanding Luk. 1.3 And St. Paul rehearsing certain chief Heads which he had preached to his Corinthians mentions the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ but not his local descension to the state and place of the damned which had been a fit place and opportunity to have inserted it yet affirms he had preached what would suffice to salvation if they were not wanting to themselves 1 Cor. 15.1 to 5. Tim.
not the effects of the Sacraments Tim. Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good and sometime the evil have chief authority in the ministration of the VVord and Sacraments yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name but in Christs and do minister by his Commission and Authority we may use their Ministry both in hearing the VVord of God and in the receiving of the Sacraments Neither is the effect of Christs Ordinance taken away by their wickedness nor the grace of Gods gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Saeraments ministred unto them which be effectual because of Christs institution and promise although they be ministred by evil men Nevertheless it appertaineth to the Discipline of the Church that enquiry be made of evil Ministers and they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences and finally being found guilty by just judgement be deposed Tit. your opinion of this Tim Tim. I have a very good opinion of it as of any I have yet read Tit. But if I mistake not there is that in the close of it toucheth your copy-hold Tim. What is that Tit. 'T is this nevertheless it appertaineth to the Discipline of the Church that enquiry be made of evil Ministers and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offneces and finally being found guilty by just judgment be deposed Can you heartily consent to this Tim. Yes why not Tit. Here is no body present but our selves therefore I will be plain with you and tell you the ground of my Question Were you not long since presented and accused to your Diocesan by the Church wardens of the Parish where you officiate Tim. Yes there was a Puritanical Fanatical Church-warden did present me like a splenetick Knave as he was Tit. But pray what was your Crime Tim. A small matter onely sitting up too late and playing the Good-fellow a little too much one Saturday night being to administer the Sacrament the next morning and the Rascal told his Lordship 't was a thing frequent with me so to do Tit. And what did the Bishop say to you Tim. He gave me a grave Admonition and told me if that wrought not upon me Suspension should follow Tit. He spake like himself yet if he had done it as well as said it it might have been better for I don't hear that his Fatherly Admonition hath wrought in you the least reformation What you did before I am credibly inform'd you do still nay that you mend as sowr Ale in Summer insomuch that the far greater part of the Parish are so scandalized at you that they resolve never to receive the Sacrament at your hands more Tim. 'T is a sign they are a company of nice squeemish Ideots and know nothing else they would understand that neither my Vices nor my Vertues signifie any thing to them in my Preaching the Word or Administring the Sacrament Tit. Then whether you are holy or wicked sober or disorderly in your Life it must be the same thing to the People Tim. Yes must and is in this Case for doth not this Article say That he that ministers doth the same not in his own name but in Christs and by his Commission and Authority And that the effect of Christs Ordinance is not taken away by his viz. the Ministers wickedness nor the Grace of Gods Gifts diminished from such as by saith do rightly receive the Sacraments ministred unto them Tit. True these are the Words of the Article and they contain a great Truth Should a faithless wicked man receive the Sacrament at the hands of the holiest man living the Holiness of him that administers would nothing avail such an unworthy Receiver so the contrary But our Church never intended this as an encouragement to Profaneness in her Ministers as she plainly declares by the close of the Article and you make a very ill use of it who shall take such liberty from it Besides Tim. give me leave to tell you that though the ill living of some Ministers and their slight and irreverent Administration of the Holy Sacrament cannot obstruct the Grace of God towards a worthy Receiver yet this is a shrewd bar to keep off sober and serious Persons from that Ordinance especially in those Places where they must receive from the hands of such Ministers or not receive it at all For what Person that hath any sense of God and Religion and the weight of that sacred Ordinance upon his mind though he strives what he can to conquer all prejudices of this kind can receive the Elements at the hands of a profligate and irreverent Minister with that satisfaction that he can at the hands of one who by his heavenly Life and exemplary Devotion in the Sacrament shall excite and quicken the Zeal and Devotion of all that are to partake with him No let me discharge my Conscience this once I heartily wish and pray that those Reverend Fathers who have the Discipline of the Church would narrowly inspect the Lives and Manners of such Persons in the Church as you are who by your disorderly Conversations and slight irreverent and slovenly Administration of Holy Ordinances I must tell you without flattery are a dishonour to God a scandal to the Gospel a reproach to the Ministry the causers of Division and Faction the Promoters of Atheism and Profaneness and the bane of all true Godliness and Religion 'T is you and such as you that open the mouths of our Enemies that turn the glory of our Church into shame and trample her honour in the dust 'T is you and such as you that make many sick and dying sinners go out of the world without Ghostly Counsel and Absolution the notoriousness of your Crimes raising in them a disgust against you both living and dying and who if any of them miscarry must answer for those Souls Tim. I shall not if they send not for me Tit. But who shall answer for the cause of your not being called at such a time Tim. What you would have Ministers live like Angels Tit. Ministers are called Angels in Scripture and what if I should say they ought to live like Angels for Purity and Holiness I am sure our Saviour propounds to us an higher Pattern when he saith to his Disciples Matth. 5. last Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Tim. But that is impossible Tit. True as to Equality but not as to Imitation St. Paul was not equal with our blessed Lord for Purity and Holiness but he was an imitator of him as himself testifies saying Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ Nor is it impossible for you to consider seriously the weight and dignity of your Calling and to take heed thereto Vid. The Form of Ordering of Priests as you are exhorted by the Bishop at your Ordination which if you do as you ought and