there is no further certainty in them than what the one fancies and the other is pleas'd to allow But if the spiritual sense be prov'd evident and certain then it is of the same efficacy as the literal for it is according to that letter by which Gods Holy Spirit was pleas'd to signifie his meaning and it matters not how he is pleas'd to speak so we understand his meaning and in this sense that is true which is affirm'd by S. Gregory Allegoriam interdum aedificare fidem sometimes our faith is built up by the mystical words of the Spirit of God But because it seldom happens that they can be prov'd g. you are not to feed your flocks with such herbs whose virtue you know not of whose wholesomness or powers of nourishing you are wholly or for the most part ignorant we have seen and felt the mischief and sometimes derided the absurdity God created the Sun and the Moon said Moses that is said the extravagants of Pope Boniface the 8th the Pope and the Emperour And Behold here are two swords said S. Peter It is enough said Christ enough for S. Peter and so he got the two swords the temporal and spiritual said the gloss upon that Text. Of these things there is no beginning and no end no certain principles and no good conclusion These are the two ways of expounding all Scriptures these are as the two witnesses of God by the first of which he does most commonly and by the latter of which he does sometimes declare his meaning and in the discovery of these meanings the Measures which I have now given you are the general land-marks and are sufficient to guide us from destructive errours It follows in the next place that I give you some Rules that are more particular according to my undertaking that you in your duty and your charges in the provisions to be made for them may be more secure 1. Although you are to teach your people nothing but what is the Word of God yet by this Word I understand all that God spake expresly and all that by certain consequence can be deduced from it Thus Dionysius Alexandrinus argues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that in Scripture is called the Son and the Word of the Father I conclude he is no stranger to the essence of the Father And S. Ambrose derided them that called for express Scripture for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since the Prophets and the Gospels acknowledge the unity of substance in the Father and the Son and we easily conclude the Holy Ghost to be God because we call upon him and we call upon him because we believe in him and we believe in him because we are baptized into the faith and profession of the Holy Ghost This way of teaching our Blessed Saviour us'd when he confuted the Sadduces in the Question of the Resurrection and thus he confuted the Pharisees in the Question of his being the Son of God The use I make of it is this that right reason is so far from being an exile from the inquiries of Religion that it is the great ensurance of many propositions of faith and we have seen the faith of men strangely alter but the reason of man can never alter every rational truth supposing its principles being eternal and unchangeable All that is to be done here is to see that you argue well that your deduction be evident that your reason be right for Scripture is to our understandings as the grace of God to our wills that instructs our reason and this helps our wills and we may as well chuse the things of God without our wills and delight in them without love as understand the Scriptures or make use of them without reason Quest. But how shall our reason be guided that it may be right that it be not a blind guide but direct us to the place where the star appears and point us to the very house where the babe lieth that we may indeed do as the wise men did To this I answer 2. In the making deductions the first great measure to direct our reason and our inquiries is the analogy of faith that is let the fundamentals of faith be your Cynosura your great light to walk by and whatever you derive from thence let it be agreeable to the principles from whence they come It is the rule of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that prophesies do it according to the proportion of faith that is let him teach nothing but what is revealed or agreeable to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime credibilities of Christianity that is by the plain words of Scripture let him expound the less plain and the superstructure by the measures of the foundation and doctrines be answerable to faith and speculations relating to practice and nothing taught as simply necessary to be believed but what is evidently and plainly set down in the holy Scriptures for he that calls a proposition necessary which the Apostles did not declare to be so or which they did not teach to all Christians learned and unlearned he is gone beyond his proportions For every thing is to be kept in that order where God hath plac'd it there is a classis of necessary Articles and that is the Apostles Creed which Tertullian calls regulam fidei the rule of faith and according to this we must teach necessities but what comes after this is not so necessary and he that puts upon his own doctrines a weight equal to this of the Apostles declaration either must have an Apostolical authority and an Apostolical infallibility or else he transgresses the proportion of faith and becomes a false Apostle 3. To this purpose it is necessary that you be very diligent in reading laborious and assiduous in the studies of Scripture not only lest ye be blind seers and blind guides but because without great skill and learning ye cannot do your duty A Minister may as well sin by his ignorance as by his negligence because when light springs from so many angles that may enlighten us unless we look round about us and be skill'd in all the angles of reflection we shall but turn our backs upon the Sun and see nothing but our own shadows Search the Scriptures said Christ Non dixit legite sed scrutamini said S. Chrysostome quia oportet profundius effodere ut quae altè delitescunt invenire possimus Christ did not say read but search the Scriptures turn over every page inquire narrowly look diligently converse with them perpetually be mighty in the Scriptures for that which is plain there is the best measures of our faith and of our doctrines The Jews have a saying Qui non advertit quod supra infra in Scriptoribus legitur is pervertit verba Dei viventis He that will understand Gods meaning must look above and below and round about for the meaning of the Spirit of God is not like the wind
blowing from one point but like light issuing from the body of the Sun it is light round about and in every word of God there is a treasure and something will be found somewhere to answer every doubt and to clear every obscurity and to teach every truth by which God intends to perfect our understandings But then take this rule with you Do not pass from plainess to obscurity nor from simple principles draw crafty conclusions nor from easiness pass into difficulty nor from wise notices draw intricate nothings nor from the wisdom of God lead your hearers into the follies of men your principles are easie and your way plain and the words of faith are open and what naturally flows from thence will be as open but if without violence and distortion it cannot be drawn forth the proposition is not of the family of faith Qui nimis emungit elicit sanguinem he that wrings too hard draws blood and nothing is fit to be offer'd to your charges and your flocks but what flows naturally and comes easily and descends readily and willingly from the fountains of salvation 4. Next to this analogy or proportion of faith let the consent of the Catholick Church be your measure so as by no means to prevaricate in any doctrine in which all Christians always have consented This will appear to be a necessary Rule by and by but in the mean time I shall observe to you that it will be the safer because it cannot go far it can be instanced but in three things in the Creed in Ecclesiastical Government and in external forms of worship and Liturgy The Catholick Church hath been too much and too soon divided it hath been us'd as the man upon a hill us'd his heap of heads in a Basket when he threw them down the hill every head run his own way quot capita tot sentèntiae and as soon as the Spirit of Truth was opposed by the Spirit of Error the Spirit of peace was disordered by the Spirit of division and the Spirit of God hath over-power'd us so far that we are only fallen out about that of which if we had been ignorant we had not been much the worse but in things simply necessary God hath preserved us still unbroken all Nations and all Ages recite the Creed and all pray the Lords Prayer and all pretend to walk by the Rule of the Commandments and all Churches have ever kept the day of Christs Resurrection or the Lords day holy and all Churches have been governed by Bishops and the Rites of Christianity have been for ever administred by separate Orders of men and those men have been always set apart by Prayer and the imposition of the Bishops hands and all Christians have been baptized and all baptized persons were or ought to be and were taught that they should be confirm'd by the Bishop and Presidents of Religion and for ever there were publick forms of Prayer more or less in all Churches and all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest in these things all Christians ever have consented and he that shall prophecy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of these things hath no part in that Article of his Creed he does not believe the Holy Catholick Church he hath no fellowship no communion with the Saints and Servants of God It is not here intended that the doctrine of the Church should be the Rule of Faith distinctly from much less against the Scripture for that were a contradiction to suppose the Church of God and yet speaking and acting against the will of God but it means that where the question is concerning an obscure place of Scripture the practice of the Catholick Church is the best Commentary Intellectus qui cum praxi concurrit est spiritus vivificans said Cusanus Then we speak according to the Spirit of God when we understand Scripture in that sense in which the Church of God hath always practis'd it Quod pluribus quod sapientibus quod omnibus videtur that 's Aristotles Rule and it is a Rule of Nature every thing puts on a degree of probability as it is witnessed by wise men by many wise men by all wise men and it is Vincentius Lirinensis great Rule of truth Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus and he that goes against what is said always and every where and by all Christians had need have a new revelation or an infallible spirit or he hath an intolerable pride and foolishness of presumption Out of the Communion of the Universal Church no man can be saved they are the body of Christ and the whole Church cannot perish and Christ cannot be a head without a body and he will for ever be our Redeemer and for ever intercede for his Church and be glorious in his Saints and g. he that does not sow in these furrows but leaves the way of the whole Church hath no pretence for his errour no excuse for his pride and will find no alleviation of his punishment These are the best measures which God hath given us to lead us in the way of truth and to preserve us from false doctrines and whatsoever cannot be prov'd by these measures cannot be necessary There are many truths besides these but if your people may be safely ignorant of them you may quietly let them alone and not trouble their heads with what they have so little to do things that need not to be known at all need not to be taught for if they be taught they are not certain or are not very useful and g. there may be danger in them besides the trouble and since God hath not made them necessary they may be let alone without danger and it will be madness to tell stories to your flocks of things which may hinder salvation but cannot do them profit And now it is time that I have done with the first great remark of doctrine noted by the Apostle in my Text all the Guides of souls must take care that the doctrine they teach be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and incorrupt the word of God the truth of the Spirit That which remains is easier 2. In the next place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grave and reverend no vain notions no pitiful contentions and disputes about little things but becoming your great employment in the ministery of souls and in this the Rules are easie and ready 1. Do not trouble your people with controversies whatsoever does gender strife the Apostle commands us to avoid and g. much more the strife it self a controversie is a stone in the mouth of the hearer who should be fed with bread and it is a temptation to the Preacher it is a state of temptation it engages one side in lying and both in uncertainty and uncharitableness and after all it is not food for souls it is the food of contention it is
baubles do by Children when they are deadly sick But that only is faith that makes us to love God to do his will to suffer his impositions to trust his promises to see through a cloud to overcome the World to resist the Devil to stand in the day of tryal and to be comforted in all our sorrows This is that precious faith so mainly necessary to be insisted on that by it we may be Sons of the free woman liberi à vitiis ac ritibus that the true Isaac may be in us which is Christ according to the Spirit the wisdom and power of God a Divine vigour and life whereby we are enabled with joy and cheerfulness to walk in the way of God By this you may try your faith if you please and make an end of this question Do you believe in the Lord Jesus yea or no God forbid else but if your faith be good it will abide the tryal There are but three things that make the integrity of Christian faith believing the words of God confidence in his goodness and keeping his Commandments For the first it is evident that every man pretends to it if he calls himself Christian he believes all that is in the Canon of the Scriptures and if he did not he were indeed no Christian. But now consider what think we of this Proposition All shall be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness Does not every man believe this Is it possible they can believe there is any such thing as unrighteousness in the World or any such thing as damnation and yet commit that which the Scriptures call unrighteousness and which all Laws and all good men say is so Consider how many unrighteous men there are in the world and yet how few of them think they shall be damned I know not how it comes to pass but men go upon strange principles and they have made Christianity to be a very odd Institution if it had not better measures than they are pleased to afford it There are two great roots of all evil Covetousness and Pride and they have infected the greatest parts of mankind and yet no man thinks himself to be either Covetous or Proud And therefore whatever you discourse against these sins it never hits any man but like Jonathans Arrows to David they fall short or they fly beyond Salvian complained of it in his time Hoc ad crimina nostra addimus ut cum in omnibus rei simus etiam bonos nos sanctos esse credamus This we add unto our crimes we are the vilest persons in the world and yet we think our selves to be good people and when we die make no question but we shall go to Heaven There is no cause of this but because we have not so much faith as believing comes to and yet most men will pretend not only to believe but to love Christ all this while And how do they prove this Truly they hate the memory of Judas and curse the Jews that crucified Christ and think Pilate a very miserable man and that all the Turks are damned and to be called Caiphas is a word of reproach and indeed there are many that do not much more for Christ than this comes to things to as little purpose and of as little signification But so the Jews did hate the memory of Corah as we do of Caiphas and they builded the Sepulchre of the Prophets and we also are angry at them that killed the Apostles and the Martyrs but in the mean time we neither love Christ nor his Saints for we neither obey him nor imitate them And yet we should think our selves highly injured if one should call us Infidels and haters of Christ. But I pray consider what is hating of any man but designing and doing him all the injury and spite we can Does not he hate Christ that dishonours him that makes Christs members the members of an harlot That doth not feed and clothe these members If the Jews did hate Christ when they crucified him then so does a Christian too when he crucifies him again Let us not deceive our selves a Christian may be damned as well as a Turk and Christians may with as much malice crucifie Christ as the Jews did And so does every man that sins wilfully he spills the blood of Christ making it to be spent in vain He that hateth you hateth me he that receives you receives me said Christ to his Apostles I wish the world had so much faith as to believe that and by this try whether we love Christ and believe in him or no. I shall for the tryal of our faith ask one easie question Do we believe that the story of David and Jonathan is true Have we so much faith as to think it possible that two Rivals of a Crown should love so dearly Can any man believe this and not be infinitely ashamed to see Christians almost all Christians to be irreconcileably angry and ready to pull their brothers heart out when he offers to take our Land or money from us Why do almost all men that go to Law for right hate one anothers persons Why cannot men with patience hear their titles questioned But if Christianity be so excellent a Religion why are so very many Christians so very wicked Certainly they do not so much as believe the propositions and principles of their own Religion For the body of Christians is so universally wicked that it would be a greater change to see Christians generally live according to their profession than it was at first from infidelity to see them to turn Believers The conversion from Christian to Christian from Christian in title to Christian in sincerity would be a greater miracle then it was when they were converted from Heathen and Jew to Christian. What is the matter Is not repentance from dead works reckoned by S. Paul in Heb. 6. as one of the fundamental points of Christian Religion Is it not a piece of our Catechism the first thing we are taught and is it not the last thing that we practise We had better be without Baptism than without repentance and yet both are necessary and therefore if we were not without faith we should be without neither Is not Repentance a forsaking all sin and an intire returning unto God Who can deny this And is it not plainly said in Scripture Vnless ye repent ye shall all perish But shew me the man that believes these things heartily that is shew me a true penitent he only believes the doctrines of repentance If I had time I should examine your faith by your confidence in God and by your obedience But if we fall in the meer believing it is not likely we should do better in the other But because all the promises of God are conditional and there can be no confidence in the particular without a promise or revelation it is not possible that any man that does not
of the Labours of those worthy persons whom God hath made to be lights in the several Generations of the world that a hand may help a hand and a Father may teach a Brother and we all be taught of God for there are many who have by great skill and great experience taught us many good rules for the interpretation of Scripture amongst which those that I shall principally recommend to you are the Books of S. Austin De utilitate credendi and his 3. lib. De Doctrina Christiana the Synopsis of Athanasius the prooemes of Isidore the Prologues of S. Hierom I might well adde the Scholia of Oecumenius the Catenae of the Greek Fathers and of later times the Ordinary and Interlineary glosses the excellent Book of Hugo de S. Victore de eruditione didascaticâ Ars interpretandi Scripturas by Sixtus Senensis Serarius his Prolegomena Tena his Introduction to the Scriptures together with Laurentius è Villa-Vincentio Andreas Hyperius de ratione studii Philosophici and the Hypotiposes of Martinus Cantapratensis Arias Montanus his Joseph or de Arcano Sermone is of another nature and more fit for Preachers and so is Sanctes Paguine his Isagoge but Ambrosius Catharinus his Book duarum clavium ad sacram scripturam is useful to many good purposes But more particularly and I think more usefully are those seven Rules of interpreting Scriptures written by Tichonius and first made famous by S. Austin's commendation of them and inserted into the 5th tome of the Biblioth ss pp. Sebastian Perez wrote 35 Rules for the interpretation of Scripture Franciscus Ruiz drew from the ancient Fathers 234 Rules besides those many learned Persons who have writ Vocabularies Tropologies and Expositions of Words and Phrases such as are Flacius Illyricus Junius Hierome Lauretus and many others not infrequent in all publick Libraries But I remember that he that gives advice to a sick man in Ireland to cure his sickness must tell him of medicaments that are facilè parabilia easie to be had and cheap to be bought or else his counsel will not profit him and even of these God hath made good provision for us for although many precious things are reserv'd for them that dig deep and search wisely yet there are medicinal Plants and Corn and Grass things fit for Food and Physick to be had in every field And so it is in the Interpretation of Scripture there are ways of doing it well and wisely without the too laborious methods of weary Learning that even the meanest Labourers in Gods Vineyard may have that which is fit to minister to him that needs g. 2. In all the Interpretations of Scripture the literal sense is to be presum'd and chosen unless there be evident cause to the contrary The reasons are plain because the literal sense is natural and it is first and it is most agreeable to some things in their whole kind not indeed to Prophesies nor to the Teachings of the Learned nor those Cryptick ways of institution by which the Ancients did hide a light and keep it in a dark lanthorn from the temeration of ruder handlings and popular Preachers but the literal sense is agreeable to Laws to the publication of Commands to the revelation of the Divine Will to the Concerns of the Vulgar to the foundations of Faith and to all the notice of things in which the Idiot is as much concern'd as the greatest Clerks From which Proposition these three Corollaries will properly follow 1. That God hath plainly and literally describ'd all his Will both in belief and practice in which our essential duty the duty of all men is concern'd 2. That in plain expressions we are to look for our duty and not in the more secret places and darker corners of the Scripture 3. That you may regularly certainly and easily do your duty to the people if you read and literally expound the plain sayings and easily expressed Commandments and Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel and the Psalms and the Prophets 3. But then remember this also That not only the Grammatical or prime signification of the word is the literal sense but whatsoever is the prime intention of the speaker that is the literal sense though the word be to be taken metaphorically or by translation signifie more things than one The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous this is literally true and yet it is as true that God hath no eyes properly but by eyes are meant Gods providence and though this be not the first literal sense of the word eyes it is not that which was at first impos'd and contingently but it is that signification which was secondarily impos'd and by reason and proportion Thus when we say God cares for the righteous it will not suppose that God can have any anxiety or afflictive thoughts but he cares does as truly and properly signifie provision as caution beneficence as fear and g. the literal sense of it is that God provides good things for the righteous For in this case the rule of Abulensis is very true Sensus literalis semper est verus the literal sense is always true that is all that is true which the Spirit of God intended to signifie by the words whether he intended the first or second signification whether that of voluntary and contingent or that of analogical and rational institution Other Sheep have I said Christ which are not of this fold that he did not mean this of the pecus lanigerum is notorious but of the Gentiles to be gathered into the priviledges and fold of Israel For in many cases the first literal sense is the hardest and sometimes impossible and sometimes inconvenient and when it is any of these although we are not to recede from the literal sense yet we are to take the second signification the tropological or figurative If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out said Christ and yet no man digs his eyes out because the very letter or intention of this Command bids us only to throw away that which if we keep we cannot avoid sin for sometimes the letter tells the intention and sometimes the intention declares the letter and that is properly the literal sense which is the first meaning of the Command in the whole complexion and in this common sense and a vulgar reason will be a sufficient guide because there is always some other thing spoken by God or some principle naturally implanted in us by which we are secur'd in the understanding of the Divine Command He that does not hate Father and Mother for my sake is not worthy of me the literal sense of hating us'd in Scripture is not always malice but sometimes a less loving and so Christ also hath expounded it He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me But I shall not insist longer on this he that understands nothing but his Grammar and hath not convers'd with men and books and can see no farther
and be very zealous for nothing but for Gods glory and the salvation of the World and particularly of your Charges Ever remembring that you are by God appointed as the Ministers of Prayer and the Ministers of good things to pray for all the World and to heal all the World as far as you are able rule XVI Every Minister must learn and practise Patience that by bearing all adversity meekly and humbly and cheerfully and by doing all his Duty with unwearied industry with great courage constancy and Christian magnanimity he may the better assist his people in the bearing of their crosses and overcoming their difficulties rule XVII He that is holy let him be holy still and still more holy and never think he hath done his work till all be finished by perseverance and the measures of perfection in a holy Life and a holy Death but at no hand must he magnifie himself by vain separations from others or despising them that are not so holy II. Of Prudence required in Ministers rule XVIII REmember that Discretion is the Mistress of all Graces and Humility is the greatest of all Miracles and without this all Graces perish to a mans self and without that all Gracâ—â— are useless unto others rule XIX Let no Minister be governed by the opinion of his People and destroy his Duty by unreasonable compliance with their humours lest as the Bishop of Granata told the Governours of Leria and Patti like silly Animals they take burdens upon their backs at the pleasure of the multitude which they neither can retain with Prudence nor shake off with Safety rule XX Let not the Reverence of any man cause you to sin against God but in the matter of Souls being well advis'd be bold and confident but abate nothing of the honour of God or the just measures of your Duty to satisfie the importunity of any man whatsoever and God will bear you out rule XXI When you teach your people any part of their duty as in paying their debts their tithes and offerings in giving due reverence and religious regards diminish nothing of admonition in these particulars and the like though they object That you speak for your selves and in your own cases For counsel is not the worse but the better if it be profitable both to him that gives and to him that takes it Only do it in simplicity and principally intend the good of their souls rule XXII In taking accounts of the good Lives of your selves or others take your measures by the express words of Scripture and next to them estimate them by their proportion and compliance with the publick measures with the Laws of the Nation Ecclesiastical and Civil and by the Rules of Fame of publick Honesty and good Report and last of all by their observation of the Ordinances and exteriour parts of Religion rule XXIII Be not satisfied when you have done a good work unless you have also done it well and when you have then be careful that vain-glory partiality self-conceit or any other folly or indiscretion snatch it not out of your hand and cheat you of the reward rule XXIV Be careful so to order your self that you fall not into temptation and folly in the presence of any of your Charges and especially that you fall not into chidings and intemperate talkings and sudden and violent expressions Never be a party in clamours and scoldings lest your Calling become useless and your Person contemptible Ever remembring that if you cheaply and lightly be engag'd in such low usages with any Person that Person is likely to be lost from all possibility of receiving much good from your Ministry III. The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers in their respective Cures rule XXV USe no violence to any man to bring him to your opinion but by the word of your proper Ministry by Demonstrations of the Spirit by rational Discourses by excellent Examples constrain them to come in and for other things they are to be permitted to their own liberty to the measures of the Laws and the conduct of their Governours rule XXVI Suffer no quarrel in your Parish and speedily suppress it when it is begun and though all wise men will abstain from interposing in other mens affairs and especially in matters of Interest which men love too well yet it is your Duty here to interpose by perswading them to friendships reconcilements moderate prosecutions of their pretences and by all means you prudently can to bring them to peace and brotherly kindness rule XXVII Suffer no houses of Debauchery of Drunkenness or Lust in your Parishes but implore the assistance of Authority for the suppressing of all such meeting-places and nurseries of Impiety and as for places of publick Entertainment take care that they observe the Rules of Christian Piety and the allowed measures of Laws rule XXVIII If there be any Papists or Sectaries in your Parishes neglect not frequently to confer with them in the spirit of meekness and by the importunity of wise Discourses seeking to gain them But stir up no violences against them but leave them if they be incurable to the wise and merciful disposition of the Laws rule XXIX Receive not the people to doubtful Disputations and let no names of Sects or differing Religions be kept up amongst you to the disturbance of the publick Peace and private Charity and teach not the people to estimate their Piety by their distance from any Opinion but by their Faith in Christ their Obedience to God and the Laws and their Love to all Christian people even though they be deceived rule XXX Think no man considerable upon the point or pretence of a tender Conscience unless he live a good life and in all things endeavour to approve himself void of offence both toward God and Man but if he be an humble Person modest and inquiring apt to learn and desirous of information if he seeks for it in all ways reasonable and pious and is obedient to Laws then take care of him use him tenderly perswade him meekly reprove him gently and deal mercifully with him till God shall reveal that also unto him in which his unavoidable trouble and his temptation lies rule XXXI Mark them that cause Divisions among you and avoid them for such Persons are by the Scripture called Scandals in the abstract they are Offenders and Offences too But if any man have an Opinion let him have it to himself till he can be cur'd of his disease by time and counsel and gentle usages But if he separates from the Church or gathers a Congregation he is proud and is fallen from the Communion of Saints and the Unity of the Catholick Church rule XXXII He that observes any of his people to be zealous let him be careful to conduct that zeal into such channels where there is least danger of inconveniency let him employ it in something that is good let it be press'd to fight
and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam rule LXXIX Let every Minister exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical Communion at the least three times in the year at the great Festivals but the devouter sort and they who have leisure are to be invited to a frequent Communion and let it be given and received with great reverence rule LXXX Every Minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his Office in the Rubricks the Canons the Articles and the Homilies of the Church that he may do his duty readily discreetly gravely and by the publick measures of the Laws To which also it is very useful that it be added that every Minister study the ancient Canons of the Church especially the Penitentials of the Eastern and Western Churches let him read good Books such as are approved by publick authority such which are useful wise and holy not the scriblings of unlearned parties but of men learned pious obedient and disinterested and amongst these such especially which describe duty and good life which minister to Faith and Charity to Piety and Devotion Cases of Conscience and solid expositions of Scripture Concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted rule LXXXI Let not a Curate of Souls trouble himself with any studies but such which concern his own or his people duty such as may enable him to speak well and to do well but to meddle not with controversies but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life rule LXXXII Be careful in all the publick administrations of your Parish that the poor be provided for Think it no shame to beg for Christs poor members stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example Let a collection be made every Lords-day and upon all solemn meetings and at every Communion and let the Collection be wisely and piously administred ever remembring that at the day of Judgment nothing shall publickly be proclaimed but the reward of alms and mercy rule LXXXIII Let every Minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble let him study and heap together Instruments and Advices for the promoting of every virtue and remedies and arguments against every vice let him teach his people to make acts of virtue not onely by external exercise but also in the way of Prayer and internal meditation In these and all things else that concern the Ministers duty if there be difficulty you are to repair to your Bishop for further advice assistance and information FINIS Heb. 7. 19. Ga. 3. 3. Gal. 6. 12 13. Phil. 3. 34. Sed Belzebulis callida Commenta Christus destruit De legibâ—â— l scire Prov 28. 14. S. Hier. in comment Isai. 8. Isidor l. 13. Orig. cap. 13. Comman in 12. Isai l. 6. in Ezek. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legat. pro Christianis Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 5. 16. Rom. 8. 7. 1 Joh. 3. 9. Matth. 7. 18. Heb. 12. 1. 1 Joh. 3. 8. 1 Joh. 4. 4. Mark 9. 23. Ille laudatur qui utâ—coeperint statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram * Rom. 3. 28. 4. 5. 5. 1. 10. 10. Gal. 2. 16. James 2. 9. 1 Cor. 13. 2. Tuscul. 1. Iames. 2. 14. Gal. 5. 6. Gal. 6. 15. 1 Cor. 7. 19. Isai. 57. 21. Exod. 25. 7. Heb. 12. 14. Titus 3. 8. Hebr. 6. 1. 1 Joh. 3. 8. Eph. 5. 25. Tit. 2. 11. John 15. 2. Rom. 5. 8. 10. Rom. 8. 28. Rom. 4 25. Ecclus. 31 Rom. 8. 10. Plaut Captiv Rom. 8. 29. Rom. 2. 6 7 8. Joh. 6. 28. 29. 2 Pet. 1. 5. 2 Thes. 3. 2. 1 Tim. 5. 8. Heb. 11. Ecclus. 32. 24. Panar lib. 1. edit Basil. p. 8. l. 46. 2 Tim. 2. 16. Instit l. 5. c. 9. Mark 12. 24. Tit. 1. 16. 2 Thes. 2. 12. Lib. 3. EP. 69. Jerem. 9. 1. Esa. 26. 12. 2 Thes. 3 1. Cap. 24. 25. Epist. 73. ad Jubai 1 Tim. 6. 14. * Rom. 12. 6. Eph 4. 11. 1 Cor 12. 28. * Acts 1. 25. 1 Tim. 5. 19. 1 Tit. 11. 2 Titus 15. Cap. 2. v. 3. Gal. 1. 19. * 1 Cor. 8. 23. Philip. 2. 25. Psalm 45. 16. in 1 Cor. 12. in Psalm 44. Epist. 1. Simpronianum Epist. 65. ad Rogat Quast V. N. T. q. 197. Isa. 60.17 Hunc locum etiam citat S. Clemens Ep. ad Cor. Neh. 11. 10. 2 Kin 11. 18. Numb 4. 16. Epist. 2. ad Nepâ—â— Epistol ad Evagriuâ— Heb. 13 17 Acts 1. 25. Isai. 60. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1. 5. Luke 22 27. Mark 10. 43. John 13. 13. Lib. 3. Tit. 1. 1 Tim. 1. 19 2 Tim. 3. 9. In Cap. 2. Zeph. Lib. 1. Ep. 4. Dial. adv Lucifer Eccle. 45. 26. Et 24 C. Concil Antioch 1 Cor. 4. 1 2 3. Jer. 3. 15. Heb. 13. 7. Zâ—ch 11. 7. Cap. 11. Prov. 6 3 4. D. Bernard ad Henr. Episc. Senensem 2 Tim. 2. Jâ—r 13. 20 21. Nullum malum majâ—â— aut infeliciter feraciâ—â— quâ—m inobedicâ—tia Seneca 1 Tim. 2. 1. Prov. 16. 10. L. 8. cod de veteri jure enucleando Petrâ— Cellensis lib. de Conscientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 12. 6 7 8 Seneca * Rom. 16. 17. Seneca Prov. 24. 34. Ecclus. 5. 10. Vulg. Edit Lat. Psal. 111. 10. Psal. 119. Nazianz. ad Philagrium 2 Pet. 1. 1 John 2. 27. 1 Cor. 2. 14. Eph. 5. 14. Prov. 10. 31 32. John 14. 21. Rom. 1. 25 26. Eccl. 2. 26. John 14. 26 Lib. 2. Ethic. c. 1. Nullum bonum perfectè noscitur quod non perfectè amatur Aug. lib 83. qu. de gratia Christi Ecclus. 21. 11. Lib. de Con. summat seculi inter opera Ephrem Syri Synes hym 6. 1 Thes. 4 16. John 5. 28. Dracuntim de opere Dei Luke 14. 14. Rev. 20. 6. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Numb 1. 46. 3. 39. Seld. Hist. of Tythes c. 2. See Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tract 25. in S. Matthew De scriptor Eccles. Epist. 30. Synes Ep. 57. a Tim. 1. 18. Il 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide 1. Cor. 15. 18. 1. Thess. 4. â—6 Rev. 14. 13. John 5. 24. 2 Cor. 5. 8 6. 1 Thess. 5. 10. Prov. 2. 17. 2 Pet. 1. 5. 2 Pet. 1. 8. Heb. 12. 14. Gal. 6. 1. Numb 16. 9. Psal. 50. 16 17. Psal. 107. 42. Psal. 51. 13. Amos 5. 10. Mal. 2. Ciccro Act. 5. in Verrem Juvenal Numb 15. 5. Lev. 4. 35. Jer. 7. 16. 20. Exod. 30. 40. Ecclus. Micah 3. 11. Jer. 7. 19. Mich. 3. 7. Levit 4. Numb 15. Vide Origen homil 2. in Levit. Geoponic l. 14. Epist. 148. Origen Centrahaeres Verbi non sonâ— sed sensu sapiunt Hilar. Isid Orig. l. 6. c. 14. John 10. 37. Rom. 12. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Lib. 4. adv Parmen Ecclus. 6. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉