Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A56717
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The work of the ministry represented to the clergy of the Diocese of Ely / by Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing P867; ESTC R33031
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38,681
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134
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THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY Represented to The Clergy of the Diocese of ELY By SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's-Church-Yard 1698. ERRATA PAg. 23. lin 2. r. Temple and to p. 29. l. ult r. though not in every p. 34. l. 11. r. peculiarly p. 46. l. 16. r. mere creature p. 49. l. 24. r. teachest p. 50. l. 21. r. Historia p. 52. l. 13. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 56. l. 5. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 70. l. 17. r. celebrated The WORK OF THE MINISTRY REPRESENTED To the CLERGY OF THE Diocese of ELY Dear Brethren TO shorten my own Labour and your attendance at my approaching Visitation I send you this little Treatise beforehand which may serve in stead of the Exhortation which is wont to be made on that occasion You will read it I hope with as serious consideration as you would have heard it had it been spoken with due attention By which means you will receive a greater benefit than you could have done the other way for you may read that often and imprint it in your minds which you could have heard but once and might have slipt out of your memory You see by the Title of it that it treats of the Duties which belong to that Function in which it hath pleased the Most High to do you the honour to employ you A Function so truly noble that it is not in my power to set forth the Dignity of it For the Blessed Apostle St. Paul thought it so great an honour to be made a Christian that he thought no words too lofty to express the dignity of their state which he calls not only our High Calling III Philip. 14. but our Heavenly Calling in Christ Jesus III Heb. 1. Which I cannot think of but it makes me reflect what an honour then it is to be made a Minister of Jesus Christ whose business it is to bring others into this glorious state of Christianity and to breed them up keep them in it What preferment is there comparable to this to be constituted a Servant and a Minister of the King of Glory a Steward of the Heavenly Mysteries an Embassador for Christ a Labourer in his Vineyard or Harvest which implies indeed great pains but carries in it also the great honour of sowing the Seed of Eternal Life in Mens Souls and cultivating that is preparing and making them fit to be carried into Christ's Heavenly Kingdom I do not name all the places in the Holy Writings where you find your selves described under these Characters because you cannot but be well acquainted with them I shall only add that we do not assume too much to our selves when we call our selves the Clergy i. e. God's Portion or Inheritance being peculiarly separated to his Service as our Famous Mr. Mede hath most judiciously observed Discourse XXXVI p. 270. For the prime Ministers of our Lord Christ are called by himself The Angels of the Churches over which they presided I Revel 20. And therefore St. Chrysostome in his third Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feared not to say That the Priesthood is a Dignity raised far above all the honours of this World and approaching to the Angelical Glory Which if it be duly weighed and laid to heart we can never cease to give God thanks who hath advanced us to such a noble Station nor be unmindful of the service he expecteth from us but both study all the duties belonging it and endeavour to perform them with a Spirit suitable to our Function What those Duties are it is the principal business of this small Treatise to lay before you And with what Spirit they ought to be performed I shall in the Conclusion of it briefly admonish you These Two will comprehend all that I have to recommend to your Consideration For there is no necessity sure to prove that they whom God hath set apart to himself for a peculiar service and therefore have a special relation to him and have received a special favour from him have a singular Obligation to do all they can to express their gratitude to him by discharging faithfully that great trust which he hath commited to them PART I. NOW as to the Duties which are incumbent upon the Ministers of Christ I shall First treat of those which are to be performed in Private and then of those which are of Publick concernment SECT I. The Private Duties being to qualifie them for the right discharge of all Publick Offices are principally the Study of the Holy Scriptures and Prayer We profess at our Ordination that we are Perswaded the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity for Everlasting Salvation c. and we declare that we are determined out of the aid Scriptures to instruct the People committed to our charge c. Which supposes that above all things we ought to apply our selves to the serious study of these Holy Books that there we may learn our own duty and the duty of those whom we are to instruct in the Christian Religion And accordingly a solemn Exhortation is made to those who are to be admitted to the Order of Priesthood to consider how studious they ought to be in reading and weighing and learning the Scriptures that they may wa◠riper and stronger in their Ministry And more than this we promise before God and his Church that we will be diligent herein which no Man can think of if he have any Conscience and live in the neglect of this Sacred Study For after we have given our Faith 〈◊〉 God and to his Church to be careful in this matter we Seal it by receiving the Holy Communion of Christ's Body and Blood Which one would think should be of mighty force and will be so if duly weighed to stir us up to this part of our duty that we may not be guilty of the breach of such solemn promises as were made to God at his Altar And here it may be proper briefly to remember you that this is so conformable to the Doctrine and practise of the Ancient Church that Theophylact upon the X St. John 1 c. saith the Scriptures are the door by which the true Pastor enters and that he is a Thief who comes not in by these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for he doth not use the Scriptures as witnesses and vouchers for what he says By these saith he we are brought to God these will not permit Wolves to enter they keep out Hereticks placing us in safety and security These give us right notions of all things wherein we desire to be infomed And therefore My Brethren apply your selves devoutly to the Study of these Divine Books or rather of these Books which will make you Divine For so they were called in the Ancient Christian Language Deificos libros and Deificas Scripturas and Instrument a Deifica as Aelianus Proconsul of Africa calls them
the Holy Scriptures and the Ancient Doctors of the Church And they who have not had opportunity to make such improvement in Divine Knowledge may furnish themselves out of their Writings which these Hereticks have occasioned Particularly out of the Bishop of Worcester's Discourse about the Blessed Trinity which is not long but very full and satisfactory 3. Yet I must admonish you when you find it necessary to discourse to your People upon this Subject that you be mindful of His Majesties late Injunctions and not presume to invent any new ways of explaining so sublime a Mystery as the Holy Trinity or use any other terms to express it but such as the Ancient Christians used and are in the Articles of our Religion the Three Creeds and our Liturgy Which teach us that our Blessed Saviour is the Son of God in the highest and most proper sense of these Words by Eternal Generation In like manner we are to believe that the Holy Ghost is God proceeding from the Father and the Son This may be evidently proved out of the Scriptures wherein God hath thus far revealed his own most Blessed Nature as well as his Mind and Will unto us But how the Son is Begotten of the Father and how the Holy Ghost proceeds from both he hath not revealed unto us because it is as incomprehensible as the Divine Essence is and therefore we must not adventure to say any thing about it For though we know that the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet there are not Three Gods but one God in Three Persons because the Holy Scriptures plainly declare the Son to be a distinct Person from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both yet what it is that makes the distinction of the Person of the Son from the Person of the Father c. that is not declared to us by God who only knows it and therefore is not to be enquired into Accordingly the Holy Fathers of the Church frequently admonish us to forbear such enquiries in that Memorable saying of theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 search not into the manner how such things can be but shun such enquiries For the manner of the Sons Generation and the Holy Ghosts Procession can be comprehended by none but themselves But such things being let alone as out of our reach let it be your business to establish the People in this great Truth that Jesus Christ is really the Eternal Son of God begotten of him before all Worlds By representing this to them as the great support of their Souls which may safely rely upon one so mighty to save For he who is perswaded that our Saviour is perfect God as well as perfect Man can no more doubt of his Power to communicate all Divine Grace to us than he can doubt of the Vertue of his Sacrifice to make satisfaction for our Sins and work our Reconciliation with God whereby whatsoever might hinder his Divine Communications to us is taken out of the way We are sure if this be true that he is an Everlasting Spring of Divine Grace to the whole World would they but believe on him Whereas it is inconceivable how any mere Creatures should be so highly exaulted as to be possessed of Omnipotence and Omniscience that is to be able to know all our needs as well as to supply them Which it is easie for our Blessed Saviour to do if he be the Eternal Son of God who hath taken out Nature into a personal Union with himself 4. Which great truth being firmly established in their belief endeavour I beseech you to improve it all you are able to the amendment of their lives Such an amazing love of God ought to have a mighty effect upon us all and will make a great change in us if it be heartily believed and pressed home by serious consideration Let that therefore be the great business of your Preaching to reduce this and all other Christian Truths to Christian Practice Make them sensible what manner of Persons they ought to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness as St. Peter speaks being so nearly related to the Son of God Whatsoever Sin you know them to be addicted unto lay the heynousness of it before them especially after God hath loved us so much as to give his only begotten Son to redeem us from all iniquity and purifie us to himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works Whatsoever duty you know them to neg lect or to be remiss in the performance of it represent to them how dangerous it is to disobey our Blessed Saviour who hath made this the test of our love to him that we keep his Commandments Remember them frequently of what he said to his Disciples in his last Discourse he had with them XV John 14. Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you 5. Endeavour to convince their judgment about these things by clear Reasons and then to awaken their Affections by your Zeal and Fervour And that will be excited in you by an inward sence and feeling in your own hearts of that which you deliver to your People It is an admirable observation of Erasmus in his Book De ratione Concionandi upon those words of our Saviour concerning John the Baptist V John 35. He was a burning and a shining Light ARDERE PRIUS EST LUCERE POSTERIUS To burn with Zeal that is for God and fervent affection to the People is the first thing and then we shall shine by Christian instructions Which will be faint and feeble if they do not proceed from an ardent Spirit 6. And there is very much in another thing of which the same great Man put me in mind in another part of his Works Lib. V. Epist 27. Where he tells Jodocus Jonas Non parum ponderis adder orationi tuae si quae doces potissimum ex arcanis voluminibus haurias si vita doctrinae responderit si docendi Officium nullâ gloriae nulla quaestus suspitione vitietur It will add no small weight to thy Sermons if thou draw those things that thou tacheth chiefly out of the Holy Scriptures if thy life be correspondent to thy Doctrine and the Office of instructing be tainted with no suspition of vain glory or worldly advantage The proof of what you say out of the Holy Scriptures rightly expounded and fitly apply'd will certainly make it very powerful For what is there that hath so much force in it as the Authority of God All Believers have a great reverence to his Word which the Ancient Christians thought the highest learning Insomuch that the Abyssines who retain much of the ancient Simplicity are never so pleased as to hear the Word of God alledged and the more Scripture any Man hath in his Sermons the more learned they esteem him So Ludolphus informs us in his late Historica Ethiopica Lib. III. Cap. V. N. 16. 7. And there is nothing in the Holy Scripture that you ought to