natural and acquired was especially remarkt for Integrity and Probity This made him Magnanimous resolute and fervent in resisting and oppugning the corrupt Practises of the Court of Rome altho it exposed him to the neglects and censures of that Court notwithstanding he was the greatest Man of Learning and Industry in that Age. The same Spirit and Disposition began and carried on the Reformation in the Western parts of Christendom in a wonderful manner through many difficulties and hazards It was indeed an happy Direction of Providence that at the same juncture many of those upright and sincere Reformers were also Men of better Capacity and better Learning than the common Romish Clergy and where Learning is joyned with Integrity and Simplicity there can be no better accomplishment for the Work of the Ministry The present Age abounds with many Helps and Assistances of Learning and the Church of England is provided of many Clergymen eminently Learned I will not accuse any of want of Sincerity but I am apt to think that if that was generally the reigning and governing Disposition in the Clergy there would be lesser need of Inquiry and Reformation than I doubt there is This would make them careful to observe the Vows and Promises they made at their Ordination This would make Rectors and Vicars tender of those Souls who are committed to their Cure at their * Form of institution Curam â—nimarum Parochianorum tibi in Domino committimus Institution This would make Curates Sollicitous for the Flock with which they are intrusted although they have not Institution This would restrain all sorts from the immoderate pursuit of Pluralities and reconcile them to Residence making it acceptable and delightful to them This would ingage all the Ranks of the Clergy to be zealous and earnest in regaining the Seduced and reclaiming the Vicious and improving all This is that salt which not only preserves the Clergy from Corruption but also seasons all their Performances In short this makes them acceptable to God and useful to the Church This therefore is that Grace or Disposition of Mind which you should beg of God to bestow upon you and use your greatest Indeavour to acquire which if you be indowed with it will appear not only in the Holiness of your Lives as you are Christians but also in the Faithful performance of your Offices as you are Clergymen This I shall make evident by instancing in the Principal Offices which your Holy Function does oblige you to perform The first of which is Prayer by which I mean the publick Liturgy of the Church To this you have promised to conform and subscribed your Hands to that Promise as also to the 2d of the 3 Articles mentioned in the 36th Canon That the Book of Common Proyer containeth in it nothing contrary to the Word of God and that you your selves will use the Form in the said Book prescribed in publick Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and none other Does he make good these Subscriptions who reads the Common Prayer very seldom or not in order or not the whole but only some parts and peices or if he do read the whole reads it so hastily or so slightly and awkwardly as that an impartial Hearer might be apt to think that he had no good liking to it Whereas a Man that is sincere and in good earnest in this partof Religious Worship would be careful to read it leisurely * Q. Eliz. Articles 1559. plainly and * Q. Eliz. Articles 1559. distinctly well remembring that he addresses himself as the Mouth and Leader of the Congregation to that God who knows and who requires the Heart in all such Services He would also use his best Endeavour to read with such proper and becoming Tone and Accent as may best excite attention affection and fervour in himself others There is indeed a natural Indisposition in some Men to all kind of vocal Harmony even to that which consists only in the Elevation and Depression of the Voice in proper places and periods I call them proper not only with regard to the art of Music but even to the sence of the Words But I shall not urge this further than the natural capacity of men will bear There is certainly a felicity in Voice and Accent which they ought to make good use of to whom God has given it and those that want it can only use their Endeavour to attain to such a degree as to avoid at least all gross absurd and ridiculous pronunciation But such as do not think this worthy their Labouring after I am sure they cannot excuse themselves in neglecting omitting or altering any part of the publick Offices And though they read them not with that propriety of Vtterance and Accent which may promote attention and devotion they ought at least to perform the Offices as they are directed and prescribed for nothing less than this can Answer their Subscription which will remain in the Bishops Custody as a witness of their Insincerity This is to be understood not only of the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer which if they could be daily performed in all Parishes would be of great use to breed in Peoples minds a sense of their dependance upon God from day to day but also all Occasional Offices the Administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper Matrimony the Visitation of the Sick and Burial of the Dead All these ought to be performed seriously solemnly and deliberately and in the expressions and order in which they are directed which can only satisfy the Conformity which you have promised As to one of these Offices that of publick Baptism of Infants I must advise you to use your utmost Endeavour to prevail with your Parishioners to bring their Children to Church to be Baptized and not feign Pretences for having them baptized at their own Houses or if there be a real Danger and that Sickness or other need compels them so to do if the Child live you must not fail to admonish them that it is expedient as the Rubrick directs to bring the Child to Church afterwards This is a part of that conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of England to which you have subscribed I shall add one Word more upon this Subject which is the Observation of the Fasts and Feasts of the Church which are directed in the Books of Common Prayer the neglect of which has proceeded in some places as much from the Minister as from the People the Minister is to give notice of all such Days and why is that But that the People may know that such Days being appointed for the more than ordinary Worship and Service of God they ought to forbear their Labour and Work at least at the Hours of Worship and repair to Church where if there be no Minister to officiate to what purpose should they come This is an unaccountable Neglect and savours of Insincerity Now from
the Bible in a Language unknown to the unlearned and to prohibit the Reading of it or that we should draw so wicked an Inference from hence as to argue or but think that because so many senceless absurd and irrational as well as impious and blasphemous Errors have been pretended to be drawn out of this Fountain that therefore it cannot be the Word and Revelation of God but a corrupt mixture of humane Inventions No such men bring their Poyson with them they do not find it there If they did partake of that Spirit by which it was indited they could make no such ill use of it Now this being that Book which you My Brethren are authorized to Read and to explain publickly you should not only study it diligently and with great caution and reverence but with the like honest and sincere Intention which the holy Writers had in penning it considering the gracious End for which this Revelation was made by God namely to re-implant his Image in men consisting in Holiness and Purity which was defaced by Apostacy and rendring them capable of a better and more glorious Immortality than that they have lost For this purpose the Law of God was given and holy Prophets sent into the World and at last the Great Prophet of all the Eternal Son of God And for this purpose did he Erect his Kingdom upon Earth and appoint Stewards and Officers to Minister in it And for this purpose were you Ordained and Separated that you might carry on that great and charitable Work of Redeeming and Saving Mankind The Deliberate Consideration of this would excite in you an eager and fervent Desire to have as great a Share as you could in this most charitable and God-like Undertaking The Kingdom of Christ was erected in Opposition to the Kingdom of Sathan who is stiled in Scripture the Prince of this World Your Business is to Resist and Countermine him and all his Stratagems This you cannot do but by the faithful Discharge of that Trust which is reposed in you as the Servants of Christ in administring and promoting his Kingdom And here I must charge upon you That you deliver faithfully the whole Law of Christ by which the Church is to be Instructed Edified and Governed The Laws of Christ's Kingdom comprehend not only the eternal and immutable Laws of Holiness and Righteousness but also some positive and ritual instances which Christ himself instituted here upon Earth for the necessary conduct and management of his Kingdom These are the Two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper The first is the Rite of Initiation or Admission into the Church of Christ The second is the Rite of Communion or Fellowship with Christ in his Church whereby Baptised Persons by the Distribution and Reception of Bread and Wine consecrated in Memory of the Death of Christ are made Partakers of his Body and Blood Both these are great and valuable Privileges and peculiar Rites of the Christian Religion and you are intrusted with the Administration of them These have been most scandalously and prophanely neglected by some that pretend themselves to be the Ministers of Christ especially that of the Lord's Supper for instead of inviting and exhorting Christians to be Partakers at the Lord's Table they have made it their great Endeavour to deter them from it in which they dealt very unfaithfully with the Souls of their Hearets for they vehemently inculcated the Danger of unworthy Receiving without acquainting them with to Danger of not Receiving at all This Omission you must be careful to Supply and to set before the People committed the your charge the Danger on both hands for certainly the prophane Neglect in not Receiving is as dangerous and damning as the Receiving unworthily for as they are no Christians who are not baptised into the Name of Christ so they are no good Christians who neglect to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper These things you should Preach and Exhort and thereby shew your selves faithful to your Lord and Master who has ordained these Two Sacraments to be perpetually used and administred in the Church until his coming again For which purpose as there is in every Church a Font for Baptism so there is a part of the Church very convenient and proper and generally fitted and prepared for the Celebration of the Lord's Supper which we call the Chancel Here the Communion-Table may be placed and the Communicants Receive with greater Order Decency and Convenience for Devotion than in the Body of the Church and the Seats there I doubt not but you My Brethren are sensible of this and satisfied in it finding great inconvenience in Consecrating in so strait a place as an Ally of the Church and delivering the Bread and Wine in narrow Seats over the Heads and treading upon the Feet of those that Kneel When by removing into the Chancel at the time of that Solemnity every one may Kneel without disturbance and receive with easiness and see the whole Office performed This is so proper and so becoming that one cannot but wonder that the Parishioners in any place should be averse to receive the Sacrament in this Order and that Rectors as well Impropriate as Propriate should not take more care to fit their Chantels for this purpose but that some lie wholly disused in more nastie manner than any Cottager of the Parish would keep his own House Others are imployed for keeping School by reason of which the Seats Pavement and Windows are commonly broken and defaced not to mention other rudenesses and undecencies which are not fit to be permitted in a place set a part for God's Worship But the Reason that some give as I have been informed why they except against the use of the Chancel at the time of Celebrating the Lord's Supper is still more to be wondred at They lay it is Popery and that Ministers that use their Chancels for this office are Popishly inclined But why Popery Is it because the Romish Priests before the Reformation made use of the Chancel to say Mass So they used the Body of the Church to perform other parts of the Popish Service and for that Reason they may as well except against the use of the Church for Reading the Scriptures and Preaching as against the use of the Chancel for Administring the Communion and there want not those who carry the Argument so far as to cry down the use of Churches in general But how weak and how unreasonable is this What if the Popish Priest said Mass at the Altar in the Chancel may not the Ministers of the Church of England for that reason perform the Communion Service there without the Imputation of Popery If there be any Popery it must be in the Communion Office and if that have any thing of Popery in it why do they receive the Communion in the Church If it have not why may they not receive it in the Chancel For there
cannot be Popery in the Fabrick nor in the Seats or Table it must be in the Office or no where and one may safely affirm that no Man can prove it to be there But the use of the Chancel for the Communion Service is so far from being Popery that the Papists and Popish Impropriators in England permit the Chancels where they are concerned to lie the most disorderly and ruinous of any other as I my self have seen in several places they are not careful to repair or clean them nor can they be brought to contribute to the Reparation of Churches but by meer compulsion and they would be well enough satisfied to see all the Chancels and Churches in England lye in Ruin for this would be the most certain way to overthrow the Reformation and bring in Popery which being planted again by Authority would soon oblige that Party to rebuild the Churches This I thought not improper to mention concerning this matter upon this occasion But to return to Preaching under this Head I comprise Catechising which was an early Practise in the Church of Christ and of great use for the Instructing of the younger sort and prepare them thereby both for Confirmation and Receiving the Holy Communion If you consult the LIX Canon you will see that you are bound to this Duty of Catechising under the Censures of sharp Reproof first and upon willingly offending again of Suspension and upon the contemptuous continuance in the neglect of it of Excommunication So careful and so concerned has the Church been in this method of Instruction or Preaching But a sincere and well designing Man would chearfully discharge this Duty though there was no Ecclesiastical Censure to inforce it for he would consider that as the time of Youth is the most proper time to begin Instruction so Catechising is the most proper way to instruct them in Religion It is the Age in which they learn Arts and Sciences and how do they learn them but by the frequent and familiar Instructions of their Masters examining repeating inculcating and explaining as there is occasion and capacity for it After the same manner must they be taught the Principles of Religion which are contained in the Catechism It is not sufficient that they Repeat the Words by Heart but they should be taught the meaning also and this cannot be done but by explaining the several Heads more copiously and in the most easie and familiar manner And he that is sensible of this and of the Duty that he owes to the Children of his Parish as well as to the elder sort would no more fail to Catechise than he would to Preach for he knows that he ought to Feed as well with Milk as with strong Meat and as a Faithful Steward to give the Children as well as the rest of the Family their proper and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 12.42 proportionable Diet. And here I may fitly take occasion to acquaint you That I would not willingly Confirm any Children but such as have been Instructed in the fore-mentioned manner and such as you your selves believe to have a competent Knowledge of the Principles of Christianity This Knowledge must not be measured by their Age nor by their ready utterance of the Words of the Catechism but by their capacity and ability to answer such Questions and to render such an account of their Faith as you may hope proceeds from a right Apprehension and true Understanding of the Sense of the Catechism And therefore I must earnestly desire you to take more than ordinary Pains before the times of Confirmation and that not only in the Church but if need be at your own Houses also to examine and instruct the riper sort that they may know what they are to do and what they undertake at their Confirmation and to give me a Note of the Names of such as are so qualified and prepared and for the younger and more ignorant it is best to advise them to stay till another opportunity There are other ways and methods of Preaching as it may in a general Sense be called namely private Exhortation and Admonition Resolving Doubts and Cases of Conscience Comforting the afflicted Furnishing the Poor with Bibles and other good Books directing the Richer sort what Books to provide for their own use and the use of their Familyes of which God be thanked this Age has produced many Giving or Lending to all sorts of Dissenters there being no other way of preaching to them such Books as have been written on purpose to prevail with them to return to the Communion of this Church particularly the Quakers whose gross Errors and Blasphemys have been detected and confuted so plainly by a late learned * Author of the Snake in the Grass Writer that if they be so sincere as they generally pretend they will be obliged to renounce them Not that this can be expected from the Leaders of that Party they have Ends to serve in the Conduct of that deluded People that will ingage them to adhere notwithstanding Confutation and Conviction too But I hope the Simple and well-meaning may be brought to see their Errors and forsake them if the b Satan disrob'd b Institution of Water-Baptism Books of this Author were put into their hands and that they could be prevailed with to read them or to hear them read Before I leave this Head of Preaching I must remind you of a particular opportunity you have and a very advantageous one of performing some parts of this Duty which is at the Visitation of the Sick for which there is a particular Office appointed In this the Exhortation is very proper and serious and the Collects very affecting and if it be performed whilest the Sick Person is capable of hearing understanding and joyning in it may be of great use and Benefit But either the Sick Person or the Relations are generally too negligent in giving timely notice so that it has not always that good Effect which otherwise it might But when it is known that People are sick they ought diligently to be visited that when they have least ability of their own by reason of their Weakness or Pain or fear of Death or punishment after Death they may be succoured and assisted by the help of others This is the time when the Devil the malicious and watchful Enemy of our Salvation has great opportunity of tempting and deceiving Men either by Presumption or Despair this therefore is an apt time for you to resist him and to rescue the Souls committed to your Care under so great a Danger Besides this Office duly performed may be of good use not only to sick and dying Persons but also to Relations and Visitors who may happen to be present and to the Minister himself who if he have a serious Sence of things cannot but improve himself in discoursing with Persons in that condition upon all which accounts this Office ought not to be