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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	great_a	holy_a	12,790	5	4.8317	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63706	Clerus Domini, or, A discourse of the divine institution, necessity, sacredness, and separation of the office ministerial together with the nature and manner of its power and operation : written by the special command of King Charles the First / by Jer. Taylor.	Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667.; Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667. Rules and advices to the clergy of the diocesse of Down and Connor.; Rust, George, d. 1670. Funeral sermon preached at the obsequies of the Right Reverend Father in God Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down.	1672 (1672)	Wing T299; ESTC R13445	91,915	82

the life of man And we shall then come to the innumerable company of Angels and the general Assembly of the Church of the First-born and to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant The Oracle tells Amelius enquiring what was become of Polinus's soul that he was gone to Pythagoras and Socrates and Plato and as many as had born a part in the Quire of heavenly love And I may say to every good man that he shall go to the Company of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Moses David and Samuel all the Prophets and Apostles and all the holy men of God that have been in all the Ages of the World All those brave and excellent persons that have been scattered at the greatest distance of time and place and in their several generations have been the salt of the earth to preserve mankind from utter degeneracy and corruption These shall be all gathered together and meet in one Constellation in that Firmament of Glory O Praeclarum diem cùm ad illud divinorum animorum concilium coetúmque proficiscar atque ex hac turba ac colluvione discedam O that blessed day when we shall make our escape from this medly and confused riot and shall arrive to that great Council and general Randevouz of divine and god-like Spirits But which is more than all we shall then meet our Lord Jesus Christ the Head of our Recovery whose story is now so delightful unto us as reporting nothing of him but the greatest sweetness and innocence and meekness and patience and mercy and tenderness and benignity and goodness and whatever can render any person lovely or amiable and who out of his dear love and deep compassion unto mankind gave up himself unto the death for us men and for our salvation And if Saint Augustine made it one of his Wishes to have seen Jesus Christ in the flesh how much more desirable is it to see him out of his terrestrial weeds in his robes of Glory with all his redeemed Ones about him And this I cannot but look upon as a great Advantage and priviledge of that future State for I am not apt to swallow down that Conceit of the Schools that we shall spend Eternity in gazing upon the naked Deity for certainly the happiness of man consists in having all his faculties in their due subordinations gratified with their proper objects and I cannot but believe a great part of Heaven to be the blest Society that is there Their enravishing beauty that is to say their inward life and perfection flowring forth and raying it self thorow their glorified bodies The rare discourses wherewith they entertain one another The pure and chast and spotless and yet most ardent Love wherewith they embrace each other The ecstatick Devotions wherein they joyn together and certainly every pious and devout soul will readily acknowledge with me that it must needs be matter of unspeakable pleasure to be taken into the Quire of Angels and Seraphims and the glorious Company of the Apostles and the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets and the noble Army of Martyrs and to joyn with them in singing Praises and Hallelujahs and Songs of joy and Triumph unto our great Creator and Redeemer the Father of Spirits and the Lover of Souls unto him that sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever We are sure we shall then have our capacities fill'd and all our desires answered They hunger no more neither thirst any more for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters What vast degrees of perfection and happiness the nature of man is capable of we may best understand by viewing it in the person of Christ taken into the nearest union with Divinity and made God's Vicegerent in the World and the Head and Governour of the whole Creation In this our narrow and contracted state we are apt to think too meanly of our selves and do not understand the dignity of our own Natures what we were made for and what we are capable of but as Plotinus somewhere observes We are like Children from our birth brought up in ignorance of and at a great distance from our Parents and Relations and have forgot the Nobleness of our Extraction and rank our selves and our fortunes among the lot of Beggers and mean and ordinary persons though we are the off-spring of a great Prince and were born to a Kingdom It does indeed become creatures to think modestly of themselves yet if we consider it aright it will be found very hard to set any bounds or limits to our own happiness and say Hitherto it shall arise and no further For that wherein the happiness of Man consists viz. Truth and Goodness the Communication of the Divine Nature and the Illapses of Divine Love it does not cloy or glut or satiate but every participation of them does widen and enlarge our Souls and fits us for further and further Receptions the more we have the more we are capable of the more we are fill'd the more room is made in our Spirits and thus it is still and still even till we arrive unto such degrees as we can assign no measures unto We shall then be made like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said the Areopagite Salvation can no otherwayes be accomplish'd but by becoming God-like It does not yet appear what we shall be but when he shall appear we shall be like him sayes our Evangelist for we shall see him as he is There is no seeing God as he is but by becoming like unto him nor is there any injoying of him but by being transformed into his Image and Similitude Men usually have very strange Notions concerning God and the enjoyment of him or rather these are words to which there is no correspondent conception in their minds but if we would understand God aright we must look upon him as Infinite Wisdom Righteousness Love Goodness and whatever speaks any thing of Beauty and Persection and if we pretend to worship him it must be by loving and adoring his transcendent Excellencies and if we hope to enjoy him it must be by conformity unto him and participation of his Nature The frame and constitution of things is such that it is impossible that Man should arrive to happiness any other way And if the Soveraignty of God should dispense with our obedience the Nature of the thing would not permit us to be happy without it If we live only the Animal Life we may indeed be happy as Beasts are happy but the Happiness that belongs to a Rational and Intellectual Being can never be attain'd but in a way of holiness and conformity unto the Divine Will for such a temper and disposition of mind is necessary unto Happiness not by vertue of any arbitrarious constitution of Heaven but the eternal Laws of Righteousness and immutable respects of things

precept is but twice reported of in the new Testament though the institution of the Sacrament be four times And it is done with admirable mystery to distinguish the several interests and operations which concern several sorts of Christians in their distinct capacities S. Paul thus represents it Take eat This do in remembrance of me plainly referring this precept to all that are to eat and drink the Symbols for they also do in their manner enunciate declare or represent the Lords death till he come And Saint Paul prosecutes it with instructions particular to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them that do communicate as appears in the succeeding cautions against unworthy manducation and for due preparation to its reception But S. Luke reports it plainly to another purpose and he took bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave it unto them saying This is my body which is given for you Hoc facite This do in remembrance of me This cannot but relate to accepit gratias egit fregit distribuit Hoc facite Here was no manducation expressed and therefore Hoc facite concerns the Apostles in the capacity of Ministers not as receivers but as Consecrators and givers and if the institution had been represented in one scheme without this mysterious distinction and provident separation of imployment we had been eternally in a cloud and have needed a new light to guide us but now the Spirit of God hath done it in the very first fountains of Scripture And this being the great mystery of Christianity and the only remanent Express of Christ's Sacrifice on earth it is most consonant to the Analogy of the mystery that this commemorative Sacrifice be presented by persons as separate and distinct in their ministery as the Sacrifice it self is from and above the other parts of our Religion Thus also the Church of God hath for ever understood it without any variety of sence or doubtfulness of distinguishing opinions It was the great excellency and secret mystery of the Religion to consecrate and offer the holy Symbols and Sacraments I shall transcribe a passage out of Iustin Martyr giving the account of it to Antoninus Pius in his Oration to him and it will serve in stead of many for it tells the Religion of the Christians in this mystery and gives a full account of all the Ceremony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. When the prayers are done then is brought to the President of the Brethren the Priest the Bread and the Chalice of Wine mingled with Water which being received he gives praise and glory to the Father of all things and presents them in the name of the Son and the Holy Spirit and largely gives thanks that he hath been pleased to give us these gifts and when he hath finished the prayers and thanksgiving all the people that is present with a joyful acclamation say Amen Which when it is done by the Presidents and people those which amongst us are called Deacons and Ministers distribute to every one that is present that they may partake of him in whom the thanks were presented the Eucharist Bread Wine and Water and may bear it to the absent Moreover this nourishment is by us called the Eucharist which it is lawful for none to partake but to him who believes our Doctrine true and is washed in the Laver for the remission of sins and regeneration and that lives so as Christ delivered For we do not take it as common bread and common drink but as by the Word of God Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world was made flesh and for our salvation sake had flesh and blood after the same manner also we are taught that this nourishment in which by the prayers of his word which is from him the food in which thanks are given or the consecrated food by which our flesh and blood by mutation or change are nourished is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus For the Apostles in their Commentaries which they wrote which are called the Gospels so delivered as Jesus commanded For when he had given thanks and taken Bread he said Do this in remembrance of me This is my body And likewise taking the Chalice and having given thanks he said This is my blood and that he gave it to them alone This one Testimony I reckon as sufficient who please to see more may observe the tradition full testified and intire in Ignatius Clemens Romanus or whoever wrote the Apostolical Constitutions in his name Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Athanasius Epiphanius S. Basil S. Chrysostom almost every where S. Hierom S. Augustine and indeed we cannot look in vain into any of the old Writers The sum of whose Doctrine in this particular I shall represent in the words of the most ancient of them S. Ignatius saying that he is worse than an Infidel that offers to officiate about the holy Altar unless he be a Bishop or a Priest And certainly he could upon no pretence have challenged the Appellative of Christian who had dared either himself to invade the holy Rites within the Chancels or had denyed the power of celebrating this dreadful mystery to belong only to sacerdotal ministration For either it is said to be but common Bread and Wine and then if that were true indeed any body may minister it but then they that say so are blasphemous they count the blood of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul calls it in imitation of the words of institution the blood of the Covenant or New Testament a prophane or common thing they discern not the Lord's body they know not that the Bread that is broken is the communication of Christ's body But if it be a holy separate or divine and mysterious thing who can make it ministerially I mean and consecrate or sublime it from common and ordinary Bread but a consecrate separate and sublimed person It is to be done either by a natural power or by a supernatural A natural cannot hallow a thing in order to God and they only have a supernatural who have derived it from God in order to this ministration who can shew that they are taken up into the lot of that Deaconship which is the type and representment of that excellent ministery of the true Tabernacle where Jesus himself does the same thing in a higher and more excellent manner This is the great Secret of the Kingdom to which in the Primitive Church many who yet had given up their names to Christ by designation or solemnity were not admitted so much as to the participation as the Catechumeni the Audientes the Poenitentes Neophytes and Children and the ministery of it was not only reserved for sacred persons but also performed with so much mysterious secrecy that many were not permitted so much as to see This is that Rite in which the Priest intercedes for and blesses the

persons but enabling them with power because he never commands a work but he gives abilities to its performance and therefore still in every designation of the person by whatsoever ministery it be done either that ministery is by God constituted to be the ordinary means of conveying the abilities or else God himself ministers the grace immediately It must of necessity come from him some way or other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint Iames hath adopted it into the Family of Evangelical truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every perfect gift and therefore every perfecting gift which in the stile of the Church is the gift of Ordination is from above the gifts of perfecting the persons of the Hierarchy and ministery Evangelical which thing is further intimated by Saint Paul Now he which stablisheth us with you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in order to Christ and Christian Religion is God and that his meaning be understood concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of establishing him in the ministery he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he which anointeth us is God and hath sealed us with an earnest of his Spirit unction and consignation and establishing by the holy Spirit the very stile of the Church for Ordination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was said of Christ Him hath the Father sealed that is ordained him the Priest and Prophet of the world and this he plainly spoke as their Apostle and President in Religion Not as Lords over your faith but fellow-workers he spake of himself and Timothy concerning whose Ministery in order to them he now gives account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God anoints the Priest and God consigns him with the holy Ghost that is the principale quaesitum that is the main question And therefore the Author of the Books of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy giving the rationale of the Rites of Ordination sayes that the Priest is made so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of proclaiming and publication of the person signifying That the holy man that consecrates is but the proclaimer of the divine election but not by any humane power or proper grace does he give the perfect gift and consecrate the person And Nazianzen speaking of the rites of Ordination hath this expression with which the Divine grace is proclaimed And Billius renders it ill by superinvocatur He makes the power of consecration to be declarative which indeed is a lesser expression of a fuller power but it signifies as much as the whole comes to for it must mean God does transmit the grace at or by or in the exteriour ministery and the Minister is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a declarer not by the word of his mouth distinct from the work of his hand But by the ministery he declares the work of God then wrought in the person suscipient And thus in absolution the Priest declares the act of God pardoning not that he is a Preacher only of the pardon upon certain conditions but that he is not the principal agent but by his ministery declares and ministers the effect and work of God And this interpretation is clear in the instance of the blessed Sacrament where not only the Priest but the people do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declare the Lords death not by a Homily but by vertue of the mystery which they participate And in the instance of this present question the consecrator does declare power to descend from God upon the person to be ordained But thus the whole action being but a ministery is a declaration of the effect and grace of Gods vouch safing and because God does it not immediately and also because such effects are invisible and secret operations God appointing an external rite and ministery does it that the private working of the Spirit may become as perceived as it can be that is that it may by such rites be declared to all the world what God is doing and that man cannot do it of himself and besides the reasonableness of the thing the very words in the present allegation do to this very sence expound themselves for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same thing and expressive of each other the consecrator declares that is he doth not do it by collation of his own grace or power but the grace of God and power from above And this Doctrine we read also in S. Cyprian towards the end of his Epistle to Cornelius ut Dominus qui Sacerdotes sibi in Ecclesia sua eligere constituere dignatur electos quoque constitutos sua voluntate atque opitulatione tueatur It is a good prayer of Ordination that the Lord who vouchsafes to chuse and consecrate Priests in his Church would also be pleased by his aid and grace to defend them whom he hath so chosen and appointed Homo manum imponit Deus largitur gratiam Sacerdos imponit supplicem dextram Deus benedicit potenti dextra saith Saint Ambrose Man imposes his hand but God give the grace the Bishop lays on his hand of prayer and God blesses with his hand of power The effect of this discourse is plain the grace and power that enables men to minister in the mysteries of the Gospel is so wholly from God that whosoever assumes it without Gods warrant and besides his way ministers with a vain sacrilegious and ineffective hand save only that he disturbs the appointed order and does himself a mischief SECT VII BY this ordination the persons ordained are made Ministers of the Gospel Stewards of all its mysteries the Light the Salt of the earth the Shepherd of the flock Curates of souls these are their offices or their appellatives which you please for the Clerical ordination is no other but a sanctification of the person in both sences that is 1. A separation of him to do certain mysterious actions of religion which is that sanctification by which Ieremy and S. Iohn the Baptist were sanctified from their mothers wombs 2. It is also a sanctification of the person by the increasing or giving respectively to the capacity of the suscipient such graces as make the person meet to speak to God to pray for the people to handle the mysteries and to have influence upon the cure The first sanctification of a designation of the person which must of necessity be some way or other by God because it is a nearer approach to him a ministery of his graces which without his appointment a man must not cannot any more do than a messenger can carry pardon to a condemned person which his Prince never sent But this separation of the person is not only a naming of the man for so far the separation of the person may be previous to the ordination for so it was in the ordinations of Matthias and the seven Deacons The Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they appointed two before God

confer the first grace which in the Schools is understood only to be expiatorious but the increment of grace and sanctification and that also is remissive of sins which are taken off by parts as the habit decreases and we grow in God's favour as our graces multiply or grow Now that these graces being given in Ordination are immediate emanations of the holy Spirit and therefore not to be usurped or pretended to by any man upon whom the Holy Ghost in Ordination hath not descended I shall less need to prove because it is certain upon the former grounds and will be finished in the following discourses and it is in the Greek Ordination given as a Reason of the former prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For not in the imposition of my hands but in the overseeing providence of thy rich mercies grace is given to them that are worthy So that we see more goes to the fitting of a person for Ecclesiastical Ministeries than is usually supposed together with the power a grace is specially collated and that is not to be taken up and laid down and pretended to by every bolder person The thing is sacred separate solemn deliberate derivative from God and not of humane provision or authority or pretence or disposition SECT VIII THe Holy Ghost was the first Consecrator that is made evident and the persons first consecrated were the Apostles who received the several parts of the Priestly order at several times the power of consecration of the Eucharist at the institution of it the power of remitting and retaining sins in the Octaves of Easter the power of baptizing and preaching together with universal jurisdiction immediately before the Ascension when they were commanded to go into all the world preaching and baptizing This is the whole office of the Priesthood and nothing of this was given in Pentecost when the holy Spirit descended and rested upon all of them the Apostles the brethren the women for then they received those great assistances which enabled them who had been designed for Embassadors to the world to do their great work and others of a lower capacity had their proportion as the effect of the promise of the Father and a mighty verification of the truth of Christianity Now all these powers which Christ hath given to his Apostles were by some means or other to be transmitted to succeeding persons because the several Ministeries were to abide for ever All Nations were to be converted a Church to be gathered and continued the new Converts to be made Confessors and consigned with Baptism sins to be remitted flocks to be fed and guided and the Lords death declared represented exhibited and commemorated until his second Coming And since the powers of doing these offices are acts of free and gracious concession emanations of the holy Spirit and admissions to a vicinity with God it is not only impudence and sacriledge in the person falsly to pretend that is to bely the Holy Ghost and thrust into these Offices but there is an impossibility in the thing it is null in the very deed doing to handle these mysteries without some appointment by God unless he calls and points out the person either by an extraordinary or by an ordinary Vocation Of these I must give a particular account The extraordinary calling was first that is the immediate for the first beginning of a lasting necessity is extraordinary and made ordinary in succession and by continuation of a fixed and determined Ministery The first of every order hath another manner of constitution than all the whole succession The rising of the spring is of greater wonder and of more extraordinary and latent reason than the descent of the current and the derivation of the powers of the Holy Ghost that make the Priestly order are just like the Creation the first man was made with God's own hands and all the rest by God co-operating with a humane act and there is never the same necessity as at first for God to create man The species or kind shall never fail but be preserved in an ordinary way And so it is in the designation of the Ministers of Evangelical Priesthood God breathed into the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breath of the life-giving spirit and that breath was to be continued in a perpetual univocal production they who had received they were also to give and they only could Grace cannot be conveyed to any man but either by the fountain or by the channel by the Author or by the Minister God only is the fountain and Author and he that makes himself the Minister whom God appointed not does in effect make himself the Author for he undertakes to dispose of grace which he hath not received to give God's goods upon his own authority which he that offers at without God's warrant does it only upon his own And so either he is the Author or an Usurper either the fountain or a dry cloud which in effect calls him either blasphemous or sacrilegious But the first and immediate derivation from the fountain that only I affirm to be miraculous and extraordinary as all beginnings of essences and graces of necessity must those persons who receive the first issues they only are extraordinarily called all that succeed are called or designed by an ordinary vocation because whatsoever is in the succession is but an ordinary necessity to which God hath proportioned an ordinary Ministery and when it may be supplied by the common provisions to look for an extraordinary calling is as if a man should expect some new man to be created as Adam was it is to suppose God will multiply beings and operations without necessity God called at first and if he had not called man could not have come to him in this nearness of a holy Ministery he sent persons abroad and if he had not sent they could not have gone but after that he had appointed by his own designation persons who should be Fathers in Christ he called no more but left them to call others He first immediately gives the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace and leaves this as a Depositum to the Church faithfully to be kept till Christ's second coming and this Depositum is the doctrine and discipline of Jesus he opens the door and then left it open commanding all to come in that way into the Ministery and tuition of the flock calling all that came in by windows and posterns and oblique ways thieves and robbers And it is observable that the word vocation or calling in Scripture when it is referred to a designation of persons to the Ministery it always signifies that which we term calling extraordinary it always signifies an immediate act of God which also ceased when the great necessity expired that is when the fountain had streamed forth abundantly and made a current to descend without interruption The purpose of this discourse is that now no man should in these days of ordinary Ministery

not own never suppose him to be author of sin or the procurer of our damnation For God cannot be tempted neither tempteth he any man God is true and every man a lyar Let no Preacher compare one Ordinance with another as Prayer with Preaching to the disparagement of either but use both in their proper seasons and according to appointed Order Let no man preach for the praise of men but if you meet it instantly watch and stand upon your guard and pray against your own vanity and by an express act of acknowledgment and adoration return the praise to God Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel and do thou tremble fearing lest the judgment of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechism EVery Minister is bound upon every Lords day before Evening Prayer to instruct all young people in the Creed the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Doctrine of the Sacraments as they are set down and explicated in the Church Catechism Let a Bell be tolled when the Catechising is to begin that all who desire it may be present but let all the more ignorant and uninstructed part of the people whether they be old or young be requir'd to be present that no person in your Parishes be ignorant in the foundations of Religion Ever remembring that if in these things they be unskilful whatever is taught besides is like a house built upon the sand Let every Minister teach his people the use practice methods and benefits of meditation or mental prayer Let them draw out for them helps and rules for their assistance in it and furnish them with materials concerning the life and death of the ever blessed Jesus the greatness of God our own meanness the dreadful sound of the last Trumpet the infinite event of the two last sentences at doomsday let them be taught to consider what they have been what they are and what they shall be and above all things what are the issues of eternity glories never to cease pains never to be ended Let every Minister exhort his people to a frequent confession of their sins and a declaration of the state of their Souls to a conversation with their Minister in spiritual things to an enquiry concerning all the parts of their duty for by preaching and catechising and private entercourse all the needs of Souls can best be serv'd but by preaching alone they cannot Let the people be exhorted to keep Fasting days and the Feasts of the Church according to their respective capacities so it be done without burden to them and without becoming a snare that is that upon the account of Religion and holy desires to please God they spend some time in Religion besides the Lords-day but be very careful that the Lords-day be kept religiously according to the severest measures of the Church and the commands of Authority ever remembring that as they give but little Testimony of Repentance and Mortification who never fast so they give but small evidence of their joy in God and Religion who are unwilling solemnly to partake of the publick and Religious Joys of the Christian Church Let every Minister be diligent in exhorting all Parents and Masters to send their Children and Servants to the Bishop at the Visitation or other solemn times of his coming to them that they may be confirm'd And let him also take care that all young persons may by understanding the Principles of Religion their vow of Baptism the excellency of Christian Religion the necessity and advantages of it and of living according to it be fitted and disposed and accordingly by them presented to the Bishop that he may pray over them and invocate the holy Spirit and minister the holy Rite of Confirmation VI. Rules Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick EVery Minister ought to be careful in visiting all the Sick and Afflicted persons of his Parish ever remembring that as the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge so it is his duty to minister a word of comfort in the time of need A Minister must not stay till he be sent for but of his own accord and care to go to them to examine them to exhort them to perfect their repentance to strengthen their faith to encourage their patience to perswade them to resignation to the renewing of their holy vows to the love of God to be reconcil'd to their neighbours to make restitution and amends to confess their sins to settle their estate to provide for their charges to do acts of piety and charity and above all things that they take care they do not sin towards the end of their lives For if repentance on our death-bed seem so very late for the sins of our life what time shall be left to repent us of the sins we commit on our death-bed When you comfort the afflicted endeavour to bring them to the true love of God for he that serves God for Gods sake it is almost impossible he should be oppressed with sorrow In answering the cases of conscience of the sick or afflicted people consider not who asks but what he asks and consult in your answers more with the estate of his soul than the conveniency of his estate for no flattery is so fatal as that of the Physician or the Divine If the sick person enquires concerning the final estate of his soul he is to be reprov'd rather than answer'd only he is to be called upon to finish his duty to do all the good he can in that season to pray for pardon and acceptance but you have nothing to do to meddle with passing final sentences neither cast him down in despair nor raise him up to vain and unreasonable confidences But take care that he be not carelesly dismiss'd In order to these and many other good purposes every Minister ought frequently to converse with his Parishioners to go to their houses but always publickly with witness and with prudence lest what is charitably intended be scandalously reported and in all your conversation be sure to give good example and upon all occasions to give good counsel VII Of ministring the Sacraments publick Prayers and other duties of Ministers EVery Minister is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the Common Prayers every day in the week at Morning and Evening and in great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in Churches that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease The Minister is to instruct the people that the Baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next Sunday after the birth of the child lest importune and unnecessary delay occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of God and the Religion of the Lord Jesus before it be born again admitted to the Promises of the Gospel and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam Let every Minister

That the best and greatest part of the Countrey is yet undiscovered and that we cannot so much as guess at the pleasure of it till we come to enjoy it And indeed it is impossible it should be otherwise for Happiness being a matter of Sense all the words in the World cannot convey the Notion of it unto our Minds and it is only to be understood by them that feel it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But though it does not yet appear what we shall be yet so much already appears of it that it cannot but seem the most worthy Object of our Endeavours and Desires and by some few Clusters that have been shewn us of this good Land we may guess what pleasant and delightful Fruit it bears And if we have but any reverence of our selves and will but consider the dignity of our Natures and the vastness of that Happiness we are capable of me thinks we should be alwayes travelling towards that Heavenly Countrey though our way lies through a Wilderness and be striving for this great Prize and immortal Crown and be clearing our eyes and purging our sight that we may come to this Vision of God shaking off all fond passions and dirty desires and breathing forth our Souls in such Aspirations as these My Soul thirsteth for thee O Lord in a dry and barren Land where no Water is O that thou would'st stistil and drop down the Dew of thy Heavenly Grace into all its secret Chinks and Pores One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my Life and behold his Glory for a day in thy Courts is better than a thousand and I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of the Lord than dwell in the Tents of Wickedness All the Kings of the Earth they are thy Tributaries the Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles bring Presents unto thee the Kings of Sheba and Seba offer Gifts O that we could but pay thee that which is so due unto thee the tribute of our Hearts The Heathen are come into thine Inheritance thy holy Temple have they defil'd Help us O God of our Salvation and deliver us and purge away our sins from us for thy Name 's sake O that the Lord whom we seek would come to his own House and give Peace there and fill it with his Glory Come and cleanse thine own Temple for we have made it a Den of Thieves which should have been a House of Prayer O that we might never give sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eye-lids till we have prepar'd a House for the Lord and a Tabernacle for the God of Iacob The Curse of Cain it is fallen upon us and we are as Vagabonds in the Earth and wander from one Creature to another O that our Souls might come at last to dwell in God our fixed and eternal Habitation We like silly Doves fly up and down the Earth but can find no rest for the Sole of our feet O that after all our weariness and our wandrings we might return into the Ark and that God would put forth his hand and take us and pull us in unto Himself We have too long lived upon Vanity and Emptiness the wind and the whirl-wind O that we may now begin to feed upon Substance and delight our selves in Marrow and Fatness O that God would strike our rocky Hearts that there might spring up a Fountain in the Wilderness and Pools in the Desart that we might drink of that Water whereof whosoever drinks shall never thirst more that God would give us that Portion of Goods that falleth to us not to waste it with riotous living but therewith to feed our languishing Souls left they be weary and faint by the way We ask not the Childrens Bread but the Crums that fall from thy Table that our Baskets may be fill d with thy Fragments for they will be better than Wine and sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-Comb and more pleasant to us than a Feast of fat things We have wandred too long in a barren and howling Desart where wild Beasts and doleful Creatures Owls and Bats Satyrs and Dragons keep their haunts O that we might be fed in green Pastures and led by the still Waters that the Winter might be past and the Rain over and gone that the Flowers may appear on the Earth and the time of the singing of Birds may come and the Voice of the Turtle may be heard in our Land We have lived too long in Sodom which is the place that God at last will destroy O that we might arise and be gone and while we are lingring that the Angels of God would lay hold upon our hands and be merciful unto us and bring us forth and set us without the City and that we may never look back any more but may escape unto the Mountain and dwell safe in the Rock of Ages Wisdom hath killed her Beasts she hath mingled her Wine and furnished her Table O that we might eat of her Meat and drink of her Wine which she hath mingled God knocks at the doors of our Hearts O let us open unto him those everlasting Gates that he may Sup with us and we with him for he will bring his Chear along with him and will feast us with Manna and Angels food O that the Sun of Righteousness might arise and melt the Iciness of our Hearts That God would send forth his Spirit and with his warmth and heat dissolve our frozen Souls that God would breath into our minds those still and gentle Gales of Divine Inspirations that may blow up and increase in us the flames of heavenly Love That we may be a whole burnt-Offering and all the substance of our Souls be consumed by fire from Heaven and ascend up in Clouds of Incense That as so many sparks we might be alwayes mounting upward till we return again into our proper Elements That like so many particular Rivulets we may be continually making toward the Sea and never rest till we lose our selves in that Ocean of Goodness from whence we first came That we may open our Mouths wide that God may satisfie them That we may so perfectly discharge our selves of all strange Desires and Passions that our Souls may be nothing else but a deep Emptiness and vast Capacity to be fill'd with all the fulness of God! Let but these be the breathings of our Spirits and this Divine Magnetism will most certainly draw down God into our Souls and we shall have some Praelibations of that Happiness some small glimpses and little discoveries whereof is all that belongs to this state of Mortality I Have as yet done but the half of my Text and I have another Text yet to preach upon and a very large and copious one The great Person whose Obsequies we here come to celebrate His fame is so great throughout the World that he