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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	apostle_n	holy_a	scripture_n	3,055	5	5.5132	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42092	The compleat conformist, or, Seasonable advice concerning strict conformity, and frequent celebration of the holy Communion in a sermon preached (on the seventh of January, being the first Sunday after the Epiphany, in the year 1682) at the Cathedral, and in a letter written to the clergy of the archdeaconry of Durham / by Denis Grenville.	Grenville, Denis, 1637-1703.	1684 (1684)	Wing G1938; ESTC R8783	37,668	65

assigned rather than to any Aversion to our established Order of Religion I do earnestly recommend unto all the younger Clergy such a serious and hearty Study of the Liturgy of the Church of England as my deceased Right Reverend Diocesan advised me to when he first entrusted me with an Arch deaconry and which he did not only recommend to others but had practised himself in such manner perchance that it is scarce possible among any alive to find a parallel Witness his laborious and excellent Annotations and Collections on King James's and former Liturgies which are now extant in his own publick Library which he founded here at Durham which if you have never yet perused according to some intimations given you in my Visitations I do advise you to do with much consideration You will find it a work of much Time as well as Piety and therein discover much Learning and Prudence in comparing and examining the present and former Liturgies of our own and other Churches together with the Rituals Breviaries and Missals out of which our Service like Gold from dross was taken which Method of Study and Devotion seems to have been the daily practice of this great Man and without dispute was one of the things that made him so great a Man as to be relied on so much by the Bishops and Clergy in the Convocation when they did review and examine our Liturgy after the return of the King in the year 61 and 62. This is that which gave him so clear and full a view of the Benefits as well as Beauty of that Uniformity which he before the Troubles had introduced at St. Peter's College in Cambridg and the Cathedral Church of Durham and practised all along his Troubles abroad in his Exile that he did with great Zeal and Success establish here among us the same at his happy coming to this See which all the Northern Clergy which are Right and firm to the King and the Church are convinced was no small Felicity and taste now so much sweetness therein that notwithstanding the uneasiness we have felt in being often smartly admonished thereunto we heartily bless God for such a providential Act of his Goodness towards this Country as to send after twenty years bloody Wars and Confusions the same Person who had been first Instrumental in Restoring good Order in the Cathedral before the year 1640. to compleat it afterwards in the Diocese out of Gratitude to whom for the advantages we received from his good Conduct and Government which do abundantly outweigh the Infirmities of his old Age we are bound to maintain with great zeal and no Man more than my self what he with great vigilance and pains first set on foot here among us And I know no more effectual course to prevail with you so to do than your practising that good Advice he always gave young Clergymen before their Ordination to be good Churchmen as well as good Christians which you know he often expressed in this Phrase which I have some reason to believe lie learned from Bishop Overall and Bishop Andrews Study your Common-Prayer Book And the Clergy of the Bishoprick of Durham being put in so easie a way to do the same by his good Counsel and Example which he gave us in relation thereunto while he lived and by those considerable helps that he left in the Library which he founded at his Death will be more inexcusable than all others in the Nation if they do it not For Bishop Cosins's Notes in his Manuscript which are inserted in a Folio Common-prayer Book bound up with blank-Paper betwixt the Leaves for that purpose will be very useful for the learning of the History and design of the Book as the pious and learned Pieces of our Neighbour and my ever honoured Friend Dr. Comber will be helpful in the studying of the Method and matter of the same To draw to a Conclusion God having thus blessed us with a Prelate very famous abroad as well as at home for his Zeal both against Popery and Fanaticism who gave a great Wound to the first by his printed Books and to the last by his Love to Conformity and the exercise of Discipline As also our present Diocesan who hath both publickly admonished us all and privately commanded me to act according to Law We have all Obligation in the World to signalize our selves upon this account and to give the World some demonstrations by our Practice if not by our Writing that the most ready course to make Men Pious as well as Loyal is by a hearty Zeal for the uniform practice of our incomparable Liturgy which was so admirable a fruit of good Judgment mature Deliberation and mighty Industry that the whole Authority in Church and State in Parliament doubted not to declare it done by the Aid of the Holy Ghost and without dispute this most unexceptionable Composure justly deserves that notable Encomium that Arch-Bishop Cranmer who sealed it with his Blood gives it in his Works in these or the like words namely That he did believe that there had not been a more useful and godly Book than the English Liturgy composed since the time of the Apostles Since long Experience shews us that it hath under God been the most effectual means to establish the Reformation amongst us and the most impregnable Bulwark that ever was raised against Popery Which some Foreiners have been so sensible of that they have not doubted to declare the Common-prayer Book of the Church of England of all Liturgies extant in the World best deserving to be the universal Liturgy for being so excellent a Repository of the Holy Doctrine contained in the Scriptures the most conformable to Antiquity and for keeping the most desirable Mean betwixt two Extreams Thus My Reverend Brethren I have in the fear of God and with much Integrity of Heart laid before your Eyes your Obligations to the Faithful and Exemplary Discharge of your Function I will not despair but that I may in due time by the blessing of Almighty God see some considerable fruit of these my honest though weak Endeavours if not I shall have this comfort to my own Conscience that I have faithfully delivered my Soul together with this Additionary satisfaction that I have proclaimed to the World that I have done so to which Refuge I should not have betaken my self had not the Non-compliance of sundry of my Brethren for many years together in the observation of some clear and easily practicable Laws of the Church constrained me thereunto You know that I have often declared unto you that the publick and private Applications to as well as Censures of the Clergy in order to the bringing them to the exact observation of their Rule of Conformity has been part of the peculiar Province that I have reserved to my self and I hope none of you can accuse me of any scandalous negligence in the discharge thereof How far my Officers especially during my absence from England have performed the Duties incumbent upon them and which I have all along left to their sole management is better known possibly to your selves than me I hope they have not been the most negligent of all in England but if they have been culpable it is fit they should bear their own Guilt as I am willing to bear mine And let none of us for the Love of God make their failings whether real or pretended a Cloak for our Omissions We must do our own Duties before we are qualified to complain of them Every Arch-deacon can do considerable things in regulating the Clergy of his Jurisdiction in relation to their Duty without the assistance of his Register or Official and so may every one of you without the assistance of them or your Archdeacon or your Church-Wardens do much in the ordering God's Worship and your People Let every one of us do what lies in our own power to do without the help of others and then and not till then shall we demonstrate that our Complaints of one another are sincere Commending you and all your sincere Designs and endeavours to God begging the continuance of your Prayers and assuring you always of mine I subscribe my self From Windsor during my Residence at Court Ascension day 1684. Your Affectionate Brother and Servant in Christ D. G. Postscript FOR the better Encouragement of Country Parishes to observe Monthly Communions it will not be amiss to mind you that so frequent Celebration of the Sacrament as I have brought to your view to inflame your Zeal is not onely now observed by many Cathedrals as it hath been by some all along from the Regulation of the Liturgy but in other places namely St. John's College in Cambridge St. James's Chappel Ely Chappel in Holbourn when the Bishop is present and Dr. Beveridge's Congregation at St. Peters Cornhill in London which places Celebrate the holy Communion Weekly with a competent Number and much to Edification and the fruit of which constant Attendance on that holy Ordinance is very visible in the Lives and Conversations of a great number of devout People which frequent this holy Duty in the forementioned places and very particularly among the younger sort who give abundant hopes to Ministers if they do not slacken in their Zeal that they may train up a very orderly Generation for the time to come And if this be possible to be done in the City of London I recommend it to your Consideration Whether it be not much more easie for us to do here in our exemplar● Diocese FINIS * Thorndike Vide Liturgies of Edward VI. * Visit of sick * Rubr. for daily Communion 1 B. of Edw. Vi. * And in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Colleges where there are many Priests and Deacons they shall all receive the Communion with the Priest every Sunday at the least except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary Rubr. 4. after the Communion Office Canterbury Oxford Ely Worcester Exeter Chichester Gloucester c. * Of 26 Aldermen there were 18 who continued firm to the King's Interest * Mr. Seamour Mr. Lamb. Mr. Allen. Vide A small Treatise called The old Puritan detected and defeated written by Dr. Stuart * Concil Carthag Can. 106. Concil Milevit Can. 12. Arch-Bishop Laud.

not onely in Cathedrals but in the most considerable Parochial Churches also Therefore give me leave to recommend a monthly Celebration in populous Towns and Villages as a Duty not onely very pious and reasonable but even necessary that every one may have an opportunity to communicate so often as the Law requires that is at least three times every year whereof Easter is still to be one For it is unjustifiable in any Minister not to allow his Parishioners opportunity to avoid the sin of Breaking as well as incurring the penalty of the Law Yet this cannot easily be done in great Parishes and Towns without a monthly Communion As for Example Suppose but six hundred Communicants in a Parish and you know that we have a great many Parishes that have double that number and but one Minister upon the place to serve the Cure if we should allow fifty for each celebration a Monthly Sacrament is necessary to give all the six hundred an opportunity to receive once with any tolerable convenience and a Communion every Fortnight i.e. four and twenty Communions to give them an opportunity to receive twice and three Communions in a Month i. e. six and thirty Communions in the year to afford them an opportunity to receive thrice and four Communions in the Month that is a weekly Communion or forty eight Communions in the year at least to receive four times each and to have opportunity to receive less than four times no good Christian ought to be in any manner satisfied For even the Reformed Churches beyond Sea whose Distress we commiserate and whose Defects we pity come not lower than this though in many places they are forced to go ten a dozen and sometimes more Miles to enjoy that Benefit So that you see if we should consult the conveniences of a populous Parish whose number of Communicants exceed not six hundred a Weekly Communion is not more than necessary and granting this which is demonstrable a Monthly Communion is the least which can be dispensed withal in any Parish in the former circumstances in the respect of the People But more than that is required if we regard the Ministers due performance of his Office for where there are 600 Communicants and but a Monthly Communion to give them an opportunity to receive every one four times a year there is a necessity to distribute the same to two hundred Communicants at once each Distribution which is as much as it is possible for any one Minister to undergo and much more than any Minister can undertake unless he be of a very strong and healthy constitution Besides that where a Minister reads all the Prayers according to the Rubrick as he is obliged to do by all the Authority God hath committed to either the Church or State and by his own Solemn Protestation and preaches also so large a Communion will lengthen the time beyond measure These things considered do render it very expedient to have the Blessed Sacrament often administred on the great and solemn Festivals also as well as once a month since fewer celebrations will be an intolerable burthen to the Minister where people frequent the Holy Sacrament and yet not to afford devout People so many opportunities to receive as they may desire and are obliged to is to discharge the Duty of our Ministry neither Devoutly nor Faithfully It being then absolutely necessary to save people from the penalty of the Law and commodious for all Persons as well as for enabling every Minister duly and rightly to discharge his Office according to Law to have such frequent Celebrations as I press for I hope I shall meet with no opposition from you my Brethren in this honest and reasonable motion Since the daily Homage that is offered unto God in our Parish Churches a thing I fear more rare in other Dioceses hath preached a long time very successfully to the Nation and may have contributed in all probability to that good order which some other places are now advancing to Let us in the name of God lead on in those higher Duties of Religion and endeavour to outstrip other Jurisdictions in our Respects to God's Altar as we have hitherto in our love to God's Service and an exact conformity to the Rules of our Common-prayer Book This will be an emulation very laudable and profitable The Church of England when she abolished the Mass in the Reformation neither condemned nor rejected the frequent celebration of the Holy Communion for that would have been more a Deformation than a Reformation The Rubrick of the first Book of K. Edward VI. both supposeth and ordains even a daily Communion It supposeth it in this Rubrick in the order how to read the holy Scripture Ye must note also that the Collect Epistle and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the Week after except there fall some Feast that hath his propre Again before the Exhortation to the Communion in Cathedral Churches or other places where there is a daily Communion it shall be sufficient to read this Exhortation above-written once a Month and in Parish Churches upon Week-days it may be left unsaid See before the Exhortation to the Communion c. That they ordained a daily Communion appears by this Rubrick Also That the Receiving of the Sacrament of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ may be most agreeable to the Institution thereof and to the usage of the Primitive Church in all Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches there shall always some communicate with the Priest that ministreth the sixth Rubrick at the end of the Communion And this was truly primitive indeed for St. Austin saith Per hoc sacerdos est ipse Offerens ipse Oblatio cujus rei Sacramentum Quotidianum esse voluit Ecclesiae Sacrificium quae cum ipsius Capitis corpus sit seipsam per ipsum discit offerre S. Aug. de Civitat Dei Lib. 10. c. 20. The first of these Rubricks are yet retained in our Common-prayer Book and why the rest were omitted seems to me onely for brevities sake as a thing known as the after Reformers did in many other things to avoid prolixity as near as can be judged Upon the Restoration of the King and the Church after so deplorable Disorder in Church and State when all God's publick Worship as well as his Holy Sacraments had been for many years together thrown quite out of Doors and the holy Sacrament not administred any way for fifteen years together it was a great matter to procure Guests enough at the Lord's Table to keep up a monthly Communion in Cathedrals which is the Reason I suppose why the Governours of our Church after they had in the Convocation strengthened the Rubrick concerning Weekly Communions had not put this holy practice generally into Execution But we having now gained that point blessed be God and lived to see the Monthly Sacraments not onely in many Cathedrals very well and in all Cathedrals reasonably well frequented