once a Year on the first day of Lent though the Prayers then appointed are to be used at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint This if done solemnly though it seem a thing of no great labour yet might have a great effect For every one knows or ought to know that the Lent Fast was Instituted to be a time of Repentance and to bring Men to it what can be more effectual than this Denunciation of Gods Anger and Judgments against Sinners with most comfortable assurances of Grace and Mercy to the Penitent I know it is hard as the World goes to get a Congregation together upon that day when this is required to be read in the Church You may therefore read it on the First Sunday in Lent and then put the Sense of it into your Sermon where it may be proper to press them to weigh every part of it distinctly And in order to it remove that foolish Objection which I have heard some have in their Mouths that they cannot endure to Curse their Neighbours by showing them plainly that they are not the Curses of the People but of God himself which he hath denounced against Sinners To which when the People are ordered to say AMEN they only consent to the truth of that which God saith The very Office teaches this when it declares the end of reading those Curses gathered out of the XXVII of Deuteronomy and other places of Scripture and the Peoples saying Amen to them that they may flee from such vices for which they affirm with their own mouth the Curse of God to be due And represent to them also that whether they will affirm these Curses to be due or no they will fall upon them if they be such Sinners as are there named and the sooner because they refuse to say Amen to the Words of God that is affirm what he affirms who is the Faithful and the True This Cavil being taken away it will be easie to make them sensible how useful it is for them to joyn with you in this Commination which may awaken drousy Souls to consider and amend their evil doings that they may escape those Judgments that are threatned to them which are unavoidable if they go on still in their Sins There was something like this among the ancient Jews who at certain stated times were wont to denounce a general Anathema against all the Israelites who knowingly and willingly violated such and such Laws A Form of which Mr. Selden hath given us out of their Ritual called Colho Lib. IV. De Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 7. This it is likely the Christian Church thought fit to imitate not by denouncing a formal Anathema but only by a solemn recital of the Threatnings in God's Laws against impenitent Sinners And their affirming the truth and certainty of them Which in the Romish Church came at last to such an Anathema as I now mentioned in the Jewish Ritual call'd The greater Excommunication which here in England was denounced by every Bishop twice a year and by every Parish-Priest four times a year against certain Persons A Form of which great Curse the same most Learned Person hath given us out of the Ritual according to the use of the Church of Sarum in his first Book De Synedriis Cap. X. where he observes that in the room of this our first Reformers only ordered this Maledictory Commination as he well stiles it to be used once a Year In the beginning of which Commination there is mention made of a godly Discipline in the Primitive Church whereby such Persons as stood Convicted of notorious sins were in the beginning of Lent put to open Pennance This Discipline we there wish might be restored again but seem to suppose that for the present we can only instead of it denounce God's anger and judgments against sinners and make them say Amen thereunto whereby they may stand Convicted in their own Consciences that they are under the Curse of God and so be brought to Repentance Had we not need then do this very seriously if it be all that we can do of this kind Yet let it be considered whether we may not be able to do something more if we will attempt it For may not scandalous Persons be more frequently presented than they are May not private Admonitions if not publick be more used Let us not then think fit to do nothing because we cannot do all that we would The right way to enlarge our Authority of the want of which we complain is to use that which we have uprightly and faithfully That is if we presented none in the Ecclesiastical Court till private Applications had been made to them with seriousness and earnestness unsuccessfully and if it were done without respect to Persons Parties or Interests we might bring our Courts into that just esteem and credit which they ought to have And having mentioned private Admonition let me in a few words remember you that at your Ordination you promised to use both publick and private monitions and exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within your Cures as need shall require and occasion shall be given And perhaps more good might be done this way than any other if it were done at fitting times with as much secrecy as may be and with apparent affection to them In some Cases perhaps it may be done most effectually by Letter which may be sent when you cannot have opportunity to speak to them And here it may be proper to admonish you that Dissenters from our Church are thus to be dealt withal by some way of private Conference with them not by Preaching against them for they are not there to hear it Our own People indeed are by publick Discourses as well as otherways to be confirmed and established in our Communion But there is no way to reduce them but by private arguing with them Which is not to be omitted because the present act of Indulgence doth not justify them in their separation but only suspends the Punishments to which they were before liable Still they are in a state of Schism out of which you should endeavour to recover them by kind Perswasions and Arguments which may work more upon them than all the Penalties formerly inflicted which made them Angry but did not Convert them For the Conclusion of this part of my Treatise I should upon the mention of LENT have said something concerning that Fast and other days of Fasting or Abstinence appointed by the Church which if Men could be perswaded to observe as times of Recollection and Examination of themselves and Prayer they would find great benefit thereby to the encrease of Christian Piety I wrote a little Book about it in the beginning of the late Reign which had the Approbation of my Superiours But I have not room to say more of it here Nor of the Festivals which are ordered to be kept in Commemoration of great Blessings God hath bestowed
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
whosoever considers the Condition of the Cities of London and Westminster as they were formerly and as they are now will not despair of Success For before our unnatural Civil War I have been informed by a Reverend Divine there were few Churches in those Cities where daily publick Prayers were read and where they were very few People to joyn with the Minister in them But now there are very few Churches that want them or a Congregation to attend them And though such Assemblies were but thin when this first begun a little after the happy Restauration of our Monarchy and Church yet I my self can witness that their Numbers daily encreased in so much that in some places there are publick Prayers four times a day and good Congregations where in my Memory there were none at all This is a great Encouragment to try what may be done in other great Towns where People are not far distant from the Church Begin with perswasions to come at least upon Litany days And so by degrees they may be induced to wait upon God constantly at his House to make their Prayers and Acknowledgments to him Represent to them frequently how much the publick Service of God excels all that we can perform in Private Because then God appears more glorious in Praises when his People joyn together to set them forth Bid them mark how David and other inspired Persons have in the Book of Psalms stirred up the Affections of the whole Body of God's People to meet together for his Divine Service saying O praise the LORD all ye nations praise him all ye people CXVII 1. O magnify the LORD with me and let us exalt his name together XXXIV 3. Praise ye the LORD Sing unto the LORD a new song and his praise in the congregation of Saints CXLIX 1. Or as it is in the Hymn appointed every day after the second Lesson at Morning Prayer C Psal 4. O go your way into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name In short instruct them that every Hallelujah they meet withal in the Holy Scriptures or Praise ye the LORD suppose publick Assemblies to which all the foregoing Exhortation are directed where many met together for Divine Worship not contenting themselves to praise God alone by themselves but with all those who were Members of the same Body with them But if by all your endeavours you cannot bring this to pass yet there is one thing of which I must admonish you that I am sure is in your power It is this That all Priests and Deacons are bound by the Law of this Realm and of this Church to say daily Morning and Evening Prayer privately when they cannot openly Not being let by sickness or some other urgent Cause See the first Rubrick in the Common-Prayer Book after the Preface concerning the Service of the Church Do not fail therefore I beseech you to read the daily Prayers Morning and Evening privately in your own Family That the Divine Service according to Law may be performed daily in every Parish though not every Church There cannot be constantly nor commonly urgent Causes much less Sickness I hope to hinder this And when there is not look upon your selves as bound in Conscience to read the Prayers at home And when you do officiate Publickly on the Lord's Days or other times in the Church let it be in such a solemn manner that it may move the People to attend and make them in love with our Prayers There is a careless overly way of reading them so fast and with such little Devotion as hath exceedingly disgraced them and given great offence to the better sort of People among us and hardned the bad in Prophaness and Irreligion I hope none of you are guilty of this but it becomes me to admonish you of the danger of it and to beseech you constantly to compose your selves with the greatest seriousness and reverence and affection to perform Divine Service in the Church This will keep up the Majesty of our Worship and preserve it from Contempt For I can see nothing that should move those that Dissent from us to call it dead and formal but only the deadness and formality that hath appeared too often in him that Officiates Stir up your selves therefore to Officiate in every part of the Divine Service with a becoming Gravity and Deliberation and yet with such Life and Affection as may express your Concern to have your Petitions Granted and the word of God Regarded Avicenna as he is vulgarly called an Arabian Philosopher hath an excellent Discourse upon this Subject in the third part of his Metaphysicks Where having said that they who instruct the People ought to teach them Forms of Prayer wherein to address themselves to God He adds this Direction to them As a Man uses to prepare himself to come to the King in purity and cleanness with graceful Language and an humble Gravity with a comely Deportment of Body ceasing from all disorderly Motions there as well as from perturbation of mind so it is fit there should be laudable Modes and Forms of serving God at all times For these do highly conduce to imprint on the minds of the People a sense of the most high and to confirm them in their Devotion to the Laws and Rules of Life Which if they were not preserved by this solemn Commemoration Men would quite forget in one or two Generations Thus I find him quoted by Mr. Selden in his Comment in Eutichii Origines fol. 57. And he doth but express the sense of the Ancient Christians from whom the Mahometans derived that solemnity and seriousness which they use in their Divine Service It is no small part of the Study of Priests in the present Roman Church to learn how to compose their Looks and Gestures and Voices in the several Offices which they are to perform Which as it hath too much of the Theatre in it so that pains may all be spared by possessing our Minds with a deep sense and feeling of the Majesty of God to whom we speak and of our great need of the things which we pray him to bestow upon us This will naturally compose our Countenances and regulate the tone of our Voice and make us pronounce the Prayers as gracefully as we would a Petition to the greatest Majesty on Earth The Organs of Speech indeed in several Men are of a very different Frame and Figure so that all cannot speak no more than sing alike But some more harshly some more sweetly Yet an awful Sense of God upon our Minds and an hearty Love to him would form every Man's Voice to as good an Accent as his natural Capacity will permit SECT IV. The next Office in our Liturgy is The Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion which being the highest Duty of our Religion that which is most peculiar Christian Worship the greatest Care ought to