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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	find_v	holy_a	scripture_n	3,248	5	5.4817	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42335	Advice to the clergy of the diocese of Lincoln by ... James Lord Bishop of that diocese, in order to his primary visitation.	Gardiner, James, 1637-1705.	1697 (1697)	Wing G223A; ESTC R18382	23,819	40

xxxvii Canons The xxxvi Canon requires Subscription to the 3 Articles there mentioned before Ordination The xxxvii Canon Requires that notwithstanding the general Power given to the ordained Person at his Ordination when he comes to Reside in any Diocese he shall not be permitted there to preach c. unless he first consent and subscribe to the said 3 Articles in the Presence of the Bishop of the Diocese wherein he is to Preach c. It is said in the presence of the Bishop It is not said of the Ordinary for so the Chancellour of the Diocess may be but of the Bishop And that by the Bishop here is meant the Bishop only exclusive of any Ecclesiastical Officers is plain by the 48 Canon where it is thus ordained No Curate or Minister shall be permitted to serve in any place without Examination and Admission of the Bishop of the Diocese or Ordinary of the Place having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in writing under his Hand and Seal having respect to the greatness of the Cure and Meetness of the Person Where it is to be observed 1. That it is said no Curate or Minister which I take to include all the Licensed Clergy and may be urged further in confirmation of what I said before concerning those that have Institution as well as those that have not 2. That Admission to serve Curacies is to be in Writing under the Hand and Seal of the Bishop and if the Ecclesiastical Officers Seal may be alledged to be the Bishops Seal his Hand cannot be said to be the Bishops Hand 3. That Examination ought to precede this Admission that the Bishop may Judge of the Meetness of the Party which every Officer imployed in this matter is not qualified to perform 4. That no Man shall be permitted to serve in any place but one that is thus examined and admitted by the Bishop or Ordinary of the Place having Episcopal Jurisdiction By the Ordinary of the Place cannot be meant the Ordinary of the Diocese but such Ordinaries as have Episcopal Jurisdiction by virtue of some Ancient Grant from or Composition with the Bishop such as Deans Deans and Chapters sole Prebendaries and it may be others in the Ancient Foundations who have a Right to exercise Episcopal Jurisdiction in the Peculiars belonging to their Dignities which is very well known in the Church of Lincoln particularly These are the Ordinaries of the Place here meant And the Bishop and such Ordinaries have the sole Authority of granting Licences to Preach and serve Cures under their Hands and Scals Pursuant to this is the 8th Article in his Majesties late Injunctions where it is required That they who keep Curates have none but such as are Licensed by the Bishop of the Diocese or in exempt Jurisdictions by the Ordinary of the Place having Episcopal Jurisdiction and that no Person shall presume to serve any Cure without Licence from the Bishop or such Ordinary upon pain of suspension So that the Form of Ordination which is confirmed by the Act of Uniformity the Canons the Kings Injunctions all agree in this that no one can Licence Persons to Preach or serve Cures but the Bishop of the Diocese himself or such as have Episcopal Jurisdiction in Peculiars and exempt Places This I take notice of that the Clergy may not be imposed upon by false insufficient and uncanonical Licences as I know too many are And to shew the great Care that the Church has taken that the Bishop of every Diocese may know the Clergy of his Diocese their Character and their Abilities to preach and be satisfied of their Orders and their Conversation which he cannot be if Ecclesiastical Officers may grant Licences especially upon Sequestrations of vacant Livings and Supply of Curates and Lecturers at their pleasure How can the Bishop tell whether Men so Licensed have Subscribed to the 3 Articles mentioned in the forecited xxxvi Canon especially if the Licenser keep no Book of Subscriptions or make no Return to the Bishop of them as some do not Or indeed how can the Bishop tell whether such Licensed Men be ordained or how they have behaved themselves in the place of their last Residence Where such Power is assumed any illiterate corrupt or covetous Surrogate may grant Licences to unordained unqualified and insufficient Men and the Bishop never know it Many small Livings are held only by Sequestration and if the Serving of the Cure together with the power of Sequestring the Profits be granted at the pleasure of the Surrogate the Bishop not knowing unworthy Men may easily get into Curacys and if they can but screen themselves at the Times of Visitation they may continue undiscovered This is a Practice of very ill Consequence for Preaching the Word of God comprehending as before mentioned is not to be intrusted but to Men well qualified for their Learning and Knowledge in the Holy Scriptures And the Bishop who has the first care in this matter ought to be satisfied that they are so and particularly of Curates whether they officiate by virtue of Sequestration in vacant Livings or under Beneficed Men who by reason of their Age or Sickness or Necessary absence or being possessed of two Benefices stand in need of such Assistants And now having said thus much as to the Authority requisite for publick Preaching and the due and legal Permission of the Exercise of it by the Bishop himself in granting Licences I return to what I hinted concerning the Subject Matter to which your Preaching is restrained which is the Word of God This is that Storehouse which contains all things necessary to be believed and practised so that all the Articles of Faith and all the Rules of Life and Practice are to be drawn from hence The Fundamental Articles ought to be explained carefully and evidently from proper Texts of Scripture the Belief of them being necessary to eternal Salvation I hese may be handled conveniently upon the great Festivals and other Holy Days in which we celebrate those more illustrious parts of our Saviour's History of which we profess the Belief as Christians But at all other Seasons the practical Heads of the Christian Religion are the properest Subjects for the Pulpit and there is less danger of misurderstanding and misrepresenting these especially if one read the Scriptures with that sincere and plain intention of which I have been speaking otherwise many Expressions there used may be wrested to support erroneous Opinions and countenance evil Practises as we have seen and still see in the present Age. Men bring their Notions and Opinions with them to the reading of the Scriptures and then they will not fail to find them there and if they think they find them there they presume they may vent them openly and confidently and produce that Holy Book to vindicate them out of which it is much easier to confute them God forbid that we should take that course to Remedy this which the Church of Rome does by locking up

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