Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26057
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The country-parson's admonition to his parishioners
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Assheton, William, 1641-1711.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing A4025; ESTC R17344
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3,306
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16
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THE Country-Parson's ADMONITION TO HIS Parishioners Malach. II. 7. The Priest's Lips should keep Knowledge and they should seek the Law at his Mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Hebr. XIII 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls London Printed in the Year 1686. THE COUNTRY-PARSON'S ADMONITION TO HIS Parishioners YOU cannot but observe the restless importunity of the Romish Clergy to gain Proselytes to their Church And 't is probable that you your selves e're long may happen to hear from them For they have different forms of Address very plausible and insinuating fitted to the Capacities of all sorts of Persons And therefore that you may not be surprized with these Charmers nor imposed on by their methods of Deceit I do think it my Duty thus to caution you against them by desiring you to observe these two Directions 1. A Holy Life 2. A modest dependance upon your Spiritual Guide As to the first of these let me admonish you in the words of St. James Shew me thy Faith by thy Works For it signifies nothing what Mens Profession is if their Practice is not answerable And he who is in earnest to save his Soul will doubtless be as much afraid of Debauched Courses as of erroneous Opinions Since those do as much nay more than these occasion his Damnation I do therefore beg of you That as you do profess your selves Members of the Church of England so you would take great Care that your Lives and Conversation may be answerable to its Doctrine The sum of which Doctrine as it relates to Practice you do find in the Church-Catechism in answer to those two Questions What is thy Duty towards God and What is thy Duty towards thy Neighbour Which I would advise you very often to read and seriously to consider And when by the Assistance of God's Blessed Spirit you have transcribed those Answers into your Lives Let me then assure you That the Ten Commandments thus practised are the best Exposition of your Creed If any Man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God John 7. 17. For he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath Mark 4. 25. i. e. He who maketh a right use of that Grace and Knowledg which God hath given him He who values and improves it and is truly thankful for it To him shall be given more And he that hath not i. e. He who hath not made a right use and improvement of his Grace or Knowledge from him shall be taken even that which he hath But because you must not expect that God should now teach and instruct you in an extraordinary and miraculous manner as he did the Apostles but mediately and in the use of Means You are therefore to consider what those Means are which God hath appointed for your Direction and Instruction The chief of which to omit others is A modest Dependance upon the Ministerial Function I shall not now insist upon the publick Offices of the Church nor your Obligation to attend them as Prayers Sacraments Preaching c. But shall only direct you how to behave your selves when any one designs to seduce you from the Communion of the Church of England And the Expedients I would propose are these 1. Let it be your earnest and daily Prayer unto God to give you his Grace to hold fast the Profession of your Faith without Wavering that you may continue in the same unto your Lives End 2. When you read the Holy Scriptures and do find some Place which is too difficult for you do not then pretend to Interpret it your selves But beg the Direction of your Spiritual Guide and desire him to shew you how it is to be understood 3. As far as possible avoid all Disputes about Religion Be not carried about with every Wind of Doctrine Ephes 4. 14. i. e. Do not hearken to the Whispers of every bold Pretender Which to Persons of your Capacity is very seasonable Advice For To convince Gainsayers and to answer Objections is a matter of Skill and Exercise And therefore You being a working People who sweat for your daily Bread may with great modesty acknowledge to your Catholick Missionary that you have neither Leisure nor Ability for such Disputes And consequently you may desire him since he is disposed to discourse of Religion that he would rather help your Devotion than disturb your Belief You may assure him That you shall not think your Faith the less firm and orthodox because you cannot return an Extemporary answer to the premeditated Objections of a learned Adversary 'T is possible that such a subtle Disputant as he is might pretend to prove to you That Grass is not green And he might urge such Arguments as would really baffle you and to which you could not return any tolerable Answer But yet for all his Sophistry though he might silence he would not satisfy For you would still believe your Senses and could not think it of any other Colour If this will not make him to desist But that he will still be urging the great Priviledges of the Romish Church The Security of her Faith The excellency of her devotion The great Learning and Piety of her Clergy c. To this you may reply 4. That you understand very little of the Priviledges of the Church of Rome That to know the State of any Foreign Church requires more Skill and Reading than can be expected from Persons of your mean Condition That you are Members of the Church of England which is a true Catholick and Apostolick Church That into this Church you were admitted by Baptism and with this Church you have held Communion in all her Offices And consequently to separate from this Church without some urging cause is downright Schism For Schism in the proper notion of it is A causless separation from that part of the visible Church of which you are Members And therefore he who hath a mind to make you his Proselytes and will talk pertinently and to the Point before he can pretend to invite you to the Church of Rome he must first convince you That it is your Duty to separate from the Church of England In order to which he must plainly prove That the Church of England is no sound Member of the Church Catholick and consequently That Salvation cannot ordinarily be had in the Church of England at least not with such safety certainty and advantage as it may in the Church of Rome To prove this he must convince you That the Doctrine of the Church of England is either defective or false If he pretends that it is defective he must then shew that there are some Truths necessarily to be believed as Articles of Faith which the Church of England doth not receive as such And also that there are some necessary Duties or Parts of Worship which the Church of England either wholly omits or else doth not require under any such Necessity And let him here instance to you what those Articles and Parts of Worship are wherein our Church is thus defective But if he affirms Secondly That the Doctrine of the Church of England is False he must then prove That the Church of England doth require some unlawful Condition of her Communion and that either in Faith or Worship Plainly thus He must make it appear that her Faith is erroneous and contrary to the written Word of God The Faith once delivered to the Saints Or else that her Worship is unlawful Superstitious or Idolatrous And let him here likewise give you an instance and distinctly shew you what particular Article of our Faith is thus erroneous and what particular part of our Worship he thinks unlawful And when he hath made his Exceptions you may then tell him 5. That your Memory is but short and if he please therefore to give you in Writing what he hath now said together with one or two of his best Arguments upon those Points you may then consider them at your Leisure If he refuseth to give you such a Paper suspect him for a Cheat and that he comes with a design to impose upon you For Truth doth not Fear the Light but submits its Tenents to the strictest Examination But if he grants your Desire then bring that Paper to Me and give me the opportunity to tell you my Thoughts of it And I do here beg and entreat you nay as one who must answer for your Souls if they Perish through my Neglect I require and charge all you in this Parish committed to my Care that you would be so Faithful both to your selves and me as not to be too confident of your own Skill nor to think any Argument unanswerable because you your selves are not able to answer it In the affairs of this World you do judge it Prudent to consult other Men in their several Professions Physicians Lawyers c. Should some crafty Companion pretend to your Estates you would not at the entring of his Action grant him Possession but would consult the Learned in the Law how to defend your Title Pray therefore do not part with your Religion for a Trick But be as careful of your Souls as you are of your Estates Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is Faithful that Promised Heb. 10. 23. FINIS