Family of Aaron they had the First-Fruits of all things the Earth produced as Corn Wine and Oil and he was a Man of an evil Eye that offered under the sixtieth part They had also the First-Fruits of Cattle clean and unclean the first in kind the other to be redeemed at a Price They had the First-born of Man to be redeemed at five Shekels a piece being likewise the Shekel of the Sanctuary They had all the Vows Gifts and Offerings and all Males were to appear before God thrice every Year and none to appear empty-handed And besides all this they had thirteen Cities with their Suburbs of the same Dimensions with the former So that every Priest considering the smalness of their Number could not chuse but live if he wou'd himself in a plentiful Condition far above Want and nearer to that of great Men than the common People What Provision was made for the Chief of every Course I remember not but the High-Priest had the Tenth of the Levites Portion and a Revenue equal to many some say three or four thousand Levites suitable to that of the Princes amongst whom he was accounted the chiefest Now let any Man tell me why God shou'd thus provide for those that perform'd his Worship after such an extraordinary manner above others under the Law was it not to free 'em from Wants and consequently from Contempt And if so as none can deny if we have a Specimen of the Divine Allotment in those Days of the largest Measures why should we think that he is not of the same Mind now Or that he would have his Priests under the Gospel live upon Alms as Beggars Especially seeing there is the same reason in the thing it self and he hath declared nothing to the contrary But this will be better clear'd by taking a view of that Competency which his Providence ordered his Ministers under the Gospel §. VII The large Provision God made for the Ministry under the Gospel in the Primitive Times Tho' our Lord chose Poverty as a state of Life best suiting his Design of redeeming Mankind and his Apostles were of mean Concerns and forc'd to leave what they had as unportable Matter which they cou'd not nor indeed needed carry with them about the World whither they were sent to publish the Gospel yet no sooner was the Holy Ghost given and those their mighty Powers confirm'd to them the least of which was of more worth than a Crown and Scepter but we find that they commanded all that their Converts had And in recompence of their own Losses receiv'd their Proselytes whole Estates in Money at their Feet and Disposal The right of Tythes and Offerings which was appropriated during the Levitical Law to that Tribe and Priesthood reverted now to its old Channel And that Priesthood being at an end they return'd to God's Ministers of what Nation or Family soever they were This our Lord himself intimated in the Sentence of giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar ' s and unto God the things that are God's by which last the Primitive Fathers who must best know his Mind say he meant the restoration of God's due his Tythes and Offerings to his Servants they now properly belong'd to and thereby laying down a Maxim or Foundation for the right of the Christian Priesthood And St. Paul alludes to this or some other Ordination of our Saviour when he maintains the Priests Right under the Gospel to the Dues of the Altar upon our Lord's Order Even so as the Ministers of the Temple and the Altar were partakers of the Things of the Temple and Altar which were Tythes and Offerings hath the Lord ordained that they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 14. But those Times wou'd not bear that Truth and therefore it was not seasonable to declare it in plain Terms or press it upon the Churches lest the Jews should be scandaliz'd at it and cry out Sacrilege and the Devil should have an Objection of pretended Covetousness and Self-Interest against the Propagators of the Gospel It was therefore abundantly sufficient to assert the Ministers Rights in general Words and in such Terms that they knew the future Christians would interpret to the Churches Settlement Besides Tythes cou'd neither be demanded without Offence nor paid nor receiv'd in those Times and therefore Providence ordered Things so that they needed them not For the Believers with themselves made the Apostles a Present of all that they had and left them to be Stewards and Distributers of it as they shou'd think fit Offerings supply'd the Place of Tythes which were so considerable during those Times of Trouble and Persecution that not only the succeeding Bishops Presbyters and Deacons but the Poor also were plentifully maintain'd and that in all Places whither Christianity extended it self And this till the Times of Constantine who settled Peace and its Rights to the Church and Tythes amongst the rest which cou'd not be regularly and universally paid before tho' they might and were privately and in some Places where suffered and therefore we read of some Churches endow'd before But be that as it will After the time of this Christian Emperor Churches were built and endow'd by Pious Men who gave to them Portions of Glebe and the Bishop of the Diocess allotted and appropriated Portions of Tythes to the new-built Churches such as was sufficient to maintain the Minister of Religion plentifully and enable him to be hospitable and to give to the Poor This was the Original of Parochial Rights and by these means these Portions of Tythes by little and little were derived from the Bishop who was at first the Grand Proprietor and Receiver of them in his Diocess to the Parish-Priest to whom likewise with the Profits he derived also part of his Charge and Care the Curam animarum of those in such and such Precincts And this last is done to every new Incumbent to this Day and it is call'd the Bishops Institution to the Benefice The rest of the Tythes Offerings and Endowments were reserv'd to the Cathedral Church of the Bishops Sea and the Priests there resident who lived longer together in common till Abuses made it necessary to separate likewise their Allowances which we call at this Day Prebends This was the Work of several hundred Years more or less and sooner or later in the Nations wherein Christianity was settled during which time God stirred up the Hearts of Pious Men both Ecclesiastical and others to endow and settle the Revenues of the several Churches that the Pastors or as they are now call'd Rectors of them liv'd above Contempt kept Hospitality maintain'd the Poor for then there needed no Laws for their Sustenance by Collection as now and so waited comfortably on their Office Their Gifts were great and Offerings many No Man came to the Christian Altar empty-handed and none died but he gave something in his Will to his Parish-Church if not to
that of the Diocess besides other Legacies and Mortuaries Their Conveyances were made to God and such a Church and that by the surest ways and under the severest Curses in case of Alienations imaginable by which they thought to ensure and perpetuate their several Pieties beyond the Power of Sacrilegious Alienations They gave to God because they thought no Man durst rob him not remembring that the Israelites were Mal. 3. 6. long ago charg'd with that Crime They hedg'd about their Donations with Denunciations of Hell and Damnation to those that shou'd be so bold as to pervert them to other Uses But all in vain There is nothing durable in this World The wild Boar out of the Wood first threw down the Hedges and so the little Foxes of the Hills were let in to devour the Grapes An Atheistical Covetousness is able to overthrow all Fences and when the Fear of God is departed from a Place nothing can secure the Gifts of Piety or Property but humane Laws and they too were drawn into the Conspiracy And yet even this cou'd not be done quickly and directly nor had Iniquity the forehead to invade God's Possessions but under the disguise of Zeal and Religion which was thus effected §. VIII How the Revenues of the Church came to be alienated There hath been in the Church very anciently some severe melancholy Christians who separated themselves from the World and its Temptations and Follies to serve God in Solitude and Wildernesses and some in Times of Persecution were forc'd to it such were the Eremits and Anchorites These afterward were reduc'd to Companies and Societies under several Rules and Orders and were called Monks and Friars These in time engross'd to themselves all the Credit of Christianity and were call'd by way of Eminency the Religious Their Rules were severe their Diet very poor their Hours of Devotion long often and exact their Discipline most mortifying and their Holiness so great that their very Habit in those Times of Superstition was thought effectual to save the Sinner that was buried in it By this means the ordinary Secular Clergy as they were call'd for distinction sake were slighted and the Pastors of Parishes that had care of Souls were disrespected and a severer Religion than Christ ordain'd was prest upon Men as necessary And hence the Patrons of Livings which usually were the first Endowers of the Churches and their Heirs the Bishops of Diocesses and Popes of Rome ran altogether upon building of Monasteries and Religious Houses and endowing of them and to this purpose fell to appropriating the Tythes of most of the considerable parish-Parish-Churches and left some little Gleanings the small Tythe the halt blind and lame to the Church for the continuance of the Service of God there which was now counted but cold and dull in respect of the more ardent and lasting Devotion of the Regular and the maintenance of the Vicars By that Name was the Parish-Priest call'd who was left to perform the Service and he was to live of these and the Offerings of the People which were then considerable The rest of the Church-Revenues which consisted in the great Tythes were carried all away to these Fraternities And then for to supply the want of Hospitality some Feathers were left a Church-House some small Gift at Easter or such like were continued for ever In a word the Zeal towards this sort of life was so great from the time of the Conquest for about 150 Years that the State was in danger to be swallowed up of the Church and most of the Land of England as well as the Revenues of the Church turn'd all over to the Propriety of Monasteries so that they were forc'd to make the Statute of Mortmain in the Reign of Henry the Third to prevent it §. IX The Pretences and Methods of the same The Pretences for these Alienations were plausible which were the advancing the Service of God in a more Religious sort of way and the Salvation of Souls The Tythes seem'd to be still within the Church tho' alienated from the first Place they were annext to And the Portion which was still left was thought sufficient together with the Offerings and other Obventions to maintain a single Person to officiate in the said Church for such were the Clergy of those Times And yet this was a great Evil and the cause of greater as you shall hear presently For Time that depraves all things made at last the very Monasteries and Religious Orders publick Nuisances Those holy Brothers and Sisters degenerated wholly from their Primitive strictness and became abominable for Pride Idleness and Luxury They were dissolv'd in Ease Riches and Abundance The cry of their Sins fill'd the Earth and reach'd Heaven and importun'd a final Dissolution which accordingly came upon them in the fifteenth Century and the Reign of Henry VIII their final Suppressor God nor Man cou'd endure their Wickedness no longer but a pretended Visitation prov'd their Desolution Some as asham'd of themselves were persuaded to give up their Seals and Charters others were trick'd out of them through Promises of Preferment or Fears of Punishment and those that were obstinate were dissolv'd by Act of Parliament And thus a multitude of goodly Buildings became ruinous Heaps and a Place for wild Beasts and unclean Birds A Work perhaps not altogether so bad as it is represented if they had promoted the high Pleasure of God and Works of Piety and Charity with the Riches they found there as they pretended and the Acts of Parliament for their Dissolution seem to intend If also in their Dissolution each of their Acquests had return'd to their first Principle the Lay-Gifts to them of the Laity and the Church-Possessions to the several Churches from whence they had been taken But that King and his Favourites the Instruments of his Covetousness and Oppression divided the Spoils amongst them which tho' so infinite soon wasted away and came to nothing and left the first Alienators as poor and as hungry as ever Their Families are most of them dissolv'd as the Religious Houses were and like them become a Heap and a Ruine Thus the Tythes of so many Churches became lost to all Purposes of Religion and were amongst the other Spoils carried away captive to serve Luxury and Pleasure Whence they must now never return again but like the ten Tribes be lost for evermore Behold Sir the Effects of three contrary Principles Devotion Superstition and Covetousness Devotion built us up Churches which stand still as its Monuments nor hath biting Time been able to devour them She endow'd as well as built them and settled Persons there to perform Divine Service to the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind Superstition wou'd needs be meddling too till she had found ways to transferr them from the several Houses of God to those commonly call'd Houses of Religion and this under pretence of serving God more perfectly But Covetousness discovered the Sham
Ministers For Man is a sociable Creature and must associate with some or other and if his Circumstances will not permit him to chuse that of the best he is apt to take up with the worser And by this means many an ingenious Man in his Youth loses his good Parts in his Age and out-lives all his Learning And even the most innocent and unspotted being confin'd to a rustical sort of Life and wanting the Conversation of the Learned shall contract a kind of Assimulation to his Company he shall become rude and diffident and not able to carry himself amongst his Betters and depress'd with Cares and Wants must sink down into the lower Orb of Ignorance and Stupidity § XIII 4. The increase of the Poor c. Fourthly From hence I may I hope without Vanity or Falshood assign one Cause of that Inhospitality which produc'd a necessity of making Laws for the maintenance of the Poor For the Tythes being divided from the Churches to which they did of Right belong and conferr'd on Monasteries and they dissolv'd there must necessarily follow an increase of the Poor who were wont to be reliev'd at their Gates And accordingly we find few or no Laws made for the Relief of the Poor or Repair of the Churches while they were Proprietors of that which enabled them for Hospitality St. Paul tells his 1 Tim. 3. 2. Timothy That a Bishop or Presbyter for the word Ἐπίσκοπος in that place may signifie both should amongst other things be given to Hospitality And therefore he did presume that the Offerings of that Age and the Tythes Offerings and Endowments of those succeeding wou'd enable him to be so And such I believe the Clergy then were till Covetousness broke in upon them and such also I dare say the generality of those few that escap'd the fangs of Covetousness now are As for others they are forc'd to retrench House-keeping and Expences live meanly and give little because they can spare but little from their own Necessities §. XIV 5. The neglect and intermission of God's Service 5. But the greatest Evil of all is this That hence it is that the Service of God becomes neglected and the grateful Homage that we shou'd pay him daily is laid aside His Mercies are not kept in remembrance and our Obligations are forgotten because so seldom acknowledged Amongst God's own People the Jews there was the daily Administration the Morning and Evening Sacrifice and every Priest Rub. In the End of the Service of the Church and Deacon is by the Rubrick of our Church enjoyn'd to use the Publick Prayers Morning and Evening publickly or privately not being lett by Sickness or other urgent Cause And accordingly there is a Course of Service provided for every Day of the Year both for Mattins and Evening Song So it was anciently in the Church and so it shou'd continue to this Day That the Minister the Mouth of the People might supply their Defects offer up their Prayers and give a fit opportunity to those that are devout and cou'd spare time to joyn with him But this pious Custom is now quite laid aside Men post over this Duty to the next Lord's-Day or the next Holy-Day where they are kept and think it sufficient to make their Acknowledgments when they have nothing else to do God is defrauded of his daily Sacrifice of Praise and the Church stands empty and useless all the Week And indeed the Clergy for the most part cannot attend the daily Service for worldly Cares and the necessary Provision for their Families and they that can have learn'd of the necessitous to be idle They cannot vacare Deo wait upon God at his House but must divide their Service six parts to the Thoughts of this Life and the seventh only to him Such a daily Service must suppose a Man of sufficient Estate able in times of necessary Avocations to keep an Assistant free from Cares and having those about him who shall provide the daily Bread he asks at God's Hand and who is the Master of such a Family who may attend him to the House of Prayer and give others a good Example Whereas as things stand now we had need to Fast as well as Pray continually and if we go to God's House it must be by our selves without any Company For since the Wages have fallen so low a part of the Duty proportional to it hath been omitted and God is robbed of his Tythes and Offerings and of his Honour also I do not say that this deduction of Wages will justifie the neglect of Duty but something must be allowed to humane Frailty and the want of Encouragement and the necessities of Life Who goes a Warfare at his own Charges Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not the Fruit thereof Or who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the Milk of the same 'T is hard to muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the Corn or expect that a sort of Men shou'd plow and thresh without any expectation to be partakers of the Product When the Reward was duly brought to the Altar there cou'd not but be an Attendance there but when there is nothing but Hunger and Nakedness to be found there how many or rather how few will attend it The Church puts us in mind of our Duty by commanding it and yet thinks it not seasonable to make any enquiry into the performance of it lest she should find too many Omissions and too many Reasons for them But further from this disuse of Whence proceeded the Opinion of the Indifference or rather Vselessness of Divine Service the daily Service proceeds an indifference as to its Necessity the neglect and slighting of it yea and a misapprehension of the true Nature of it For heretofore the Worship of God was thought to consist in Prayers and Praises and the Liturgy was look'd upon as the Standard and Magazine of both But now this Notion of Worship is lost or chang'd into Enthusiastick Harangues made up of canting Terms and Tones to tickle the Ears and move the Passions of the Ignorant who are apt to admire what they understand not and be taken with a noisie Zeal for God Hence it is Preaching hath supplanted Prayer and taken away all its Credit and all its Necessity yea and hath fermented it self away to little else but Froth and Vapour The truth is Enthusiasm hath got into the Church and is ready to justle out sober Reason extraordinary Gifts the ordinary and the pretended Spirit-speaking in particular Men the Spirit which speaketh in the Church The ancient Methods of Religion will not now maintain its Ministers and therefore Credit and Estate must †After the Example of the Sectaries c. be gotten by pious Frauds and pretences to extraordinary Gifts and Illuminations All which and many more evil Consequences * As the increase of Fanaticism and Non-conformity that I must not now take notice of may be reduced to this Head
offered up all to Works of Piety and Charity as at Jerusalem Acts 4. 35. Their Charity was so great that they seem'd to give away even their own selves to the Lord and his Apostles as the Church of Macedonia 2 Cor. 8. 5. And indeed in all Places in those times of Zeal and Devotion they were so abundantly Pious in respect of God and so Charitable to the Poor and took such effectual Care for the Worship of God and his Worshippers that there needed no Decrees of Councils or Laws of the Church or State to force Men to build Churches or endow them Lib. de dispensatione contrà sacrilegos p. 176. Nulla enim compulit necessitas fervente ubique religiosâ Devotione amore illustrandi Ecclesias ultrò aestuante saith Agobardus while the Flame of religious Devotion lasted and the earnest Desire of building and endowing of Churches burned of its own accord There needed no Laws or Canons to enjoyn Men to pay their Tythes and Offerings and to give to God's Treasury They did it of their own accord as far and beyond what they were able All the stately and magnificent Structures throughout the Christian World that have escaped the Ruines of Time and Sacrilege and their ample Revenues The decent Parish-Churches and the Portions of Glebe and Tythe allotted to them by pious Benefactors whose Names are recorded in Heaven tho' lost some of them on Earth are sufficient Evidences of this Truth Thirdly From the Equity of the 3. From the Equity of the Thing and natural Reason and from Men of all Religions Thing and a Parity of natural Reason It cannot be imagin'd but that God shou'd take Care of his Honour and we are told in several places that he is jealous of it and that he will not give it to another Nor can it be thought but he hath the same Design in preserving the World and every Man's Estate and Properties that he had in making it at first which was for nothing but for the manifesting his Glory and Goodness to created Beings so that it must be concluded that he is well pleased that Men shou'd praise him for his Goodness and declare the Wonders that he doth for the Children of Men. And consequently that there shou'd be an Order of Men for that purpose and Places where they might officiate and declare his Praises Besides it is no reason we shou'd hold Estates of God and yet not acknowledge the same by Word and Deed. Homage and Fealty are but rational Returns amongst our selves the Foundation of our Titles and Right and the Conditions upon which we possess what we have and 't is no less than Injustice and Ingratitude to deny them And can we expect to possess his Gold and his Silver and all the precious Products of his Earth and yet allow him no Acknowledgments Or shall we imagine that he was careful of his Honour heretofore under the Jewish Law and yet has wholly forgot it amongst us No certainly the contrary seems to be written in every Man's Heart and to be part of the Law of Nature Hence it is that even the Heathens as well as the Jews and Christians had ever and have still their Temples Oratories Oracles Priests and the Places and Ministers of Religion and these endowed plentifully and in some Places magnificently provided for And tho' they mistook the Object the true God yet they agreed with all others that he was to be worshipped The Christians in all Ages since our Lord's Ascention had their Oratories Places of Divine Service and as soon as they cou'd for Persecution their Churches and Houses of Prayer yea and those beautified inrich'd and endow'd with plentiful Revenues Thus they continued for many Centuries till the Devil found out the way to impoverish them under pretence of Religion And what ought to be taken likewise into Consideration and shame the luke-warm and covetous Members of the Church of England who are content to serve God with a cheap Religion and that which cost them nothing the Dissenters themselves of whatsoever Denomination they are or by what Sect or Name distinguished think themselves oblig'd to build Meeting-Houses seeing they must not nor can take possession of our Churches nor can I blame them it being the natural Consequence of their Principles which cannot it seems joyn with ours in our worship of God And without doubt if Times and Circumstances wou'd allow they wou'd do what was necessary to the maintaining and settling their Service in the said Places And in the mean time they raise voluntary Contributions for the Support of their Teachers in proportions as 't is said superior to what we of the Church of England enjoy by Law of the Estates that are still left us And while those of our Communion leave the Ministers to make shift with the present Settlements tho' never so small which are the Remains of our Ancestors Piety and no thank to us for it has been demonstrated that we pay nothing of our own to the Parish-Priest but our Offerings c. whilst they I say seldom will be persuaded to add any thing to their small Stipends unless they increase their Duties with an additional Sermon or the like the Dissenters all but the Quakers pay Scot and Lot and their Tythes and yet can find Money to pay their Teachers and discharge the particular super-numerary Expences of their Communion And this I note to the shame of those of our own Communion that are bred up under the best Church in the World and yet are most unworthy of that Privilege The Summ of all is this and The Con clusion from the Premisses from the Premisses I wou'd inferr this Conclusion Every Man ought to the utmost of his Ability contribute to the maintenance and continuance of the Worship of God which by reason of the smalness of the settled Revenue is in some Places quite intermitted and in others perform'd by halves so that the Administrator of God's Service and his Dependents might live plentifully and be able to attend the Duties of his Calling without necessitous Avocations Then God wou'd be duly serv'd his Minister be rever'd his Authority be preserv'd Hospitality and Charity maintain'd the Poor reliev'd and Publick Prayers wou'd be made daily for himself and them while the Devout wou'd have the opportunity of the Hours of Prayer Then every Bishop and Presbyter wou'd be the Husband of one Church as well as one Wife nor wou'd there be more need of Pluralities of Parsonages than of Wives And whether these are not Blessings considerable and worth the desire and striving after I leave you and all the World to judge §. XVIII And now I have done when I have answered the Pleas that Avarice and Selfishness may put in against the Duty I plead for and made some fit Applicatory Conclusion And First It will be said That this The several Pleas against Works of Piety consider'd and answer'd is a Project
returning back some of the Churches ancient Demesns or dedicating some Equivalent under such Conditions and Limitations that might oblige the Minister to frequency and fervency of Duty over and above what the Law can compel him to upon peril and loss of such Endowments and so become new Founders of Religion and Restorers of God's Glory And if this may be done then whether they are not bound in Conscience to do it These are weighty Considerations which nearly concern all Impropriators especially of what Degree soever they be and I pray God to set it home to their Hearts that they may make some sort of Satisfaction for the Sacrilege of the first Alienators and that the Curse of the wrong'd Donors may never reach them §. XXI To those that have no Children to provide for Third Let me next address my self to certain Persons of Estate and Quality in this Nation who are qualified and as it were mark'd out for such a Work Such are they to whom God never gave any Children the necessary Provision for whom we make our continual Plea for our selfishness or from whom he hath taken most or all and so consequently the Charge appropriated to them Men that have plentiful Estates but want Heirs of their Bodies and so are forc'd to seek for them amongst the other Branches of their Family or adopt some one of their Name amongst those that are no Relations and oftentimes bestow all upon one that wants it not or that shall waste all when they are dead and wish them so while living Fond Men that refuse God for their Heir and his Service to bestow their Estates upon even then when they can hold it no longer What might not such a Man do Why he might buy Heaven with Earth and a Crown of Glory with this worldly Trash He might purchase an everlasting Habitation with the Mammon of Vnrighteousness even then when he must use it no longer He might raise to himself an everlasting Monument and a Name more durable than that engraven in Brass or Marble And yet lose all those precious Advantages and throw away all he hath upon some Kinsman afar off or some Nieces Husband or some Body less deserving tho' nearer in Relation one who shall use it to the Satisfaction of his Lusts and Appetites and the dishonour of himself and his Maker Doth not such a Man seem to be design'd by Heaven to promote the Honour of his Maker his way is prepar'd all Obstacles are remov'd and himself adapted to so great and glorious a Work And shall a vain Name a pompous Retinue a great Table and a company of debauch'd Servants eat him up living And some politick Relation sweep all away when he dies and so defeat himself of the Product of all the Good that he might do or Example that he might give to others Or doth such a Man expect that God shou'd give him a plainer Indication of his Will than to take away all Objections and enable him to do some considerable Good He acts with Man by such Methods as are consistent with his freedom of Will he gives us opportunities and then leaves us to make our Election I wou'd not here nor any where else be misunderstood I think the Principles upon which these Discourses are built will make no Man unkind to his Relations or himself but this is all I say That if every Man that is Childless or otherwise enabled wou'd but leave God a Legacy worthy of him when he dies and lay up the Tenths of his increase while he liv'd for his Use it wou'd soon make every Living a Competency and every Church a House of Praise §. XXII 4. To the Bishops Dignitaries and others of the Clergy Fourthly Nor must I pass by my Lords the Bishops the Dignitaries and other the richer Part of the Clergy but humbly represent to them the Repairing of the House of God the proping up of a declining Church and that Service that must uphold them They are fed nourished and sometimes advanc'd by the Devotion of others to God's Altar To that many owe their Living and the Riches that they have gotten and 't is all the reason in the World that their Relations shou'd not sweep away all but that something shou'd be return'd back again to increase that Treasury from whence they have received all The Policy of the Church of Rome forbids the Marriage of their Clergy and if I am not mistaken makes the Church their Heir Our Church obliges us to neither Not to the first because contrary to the Holy Scriptures and Reason not to the latter because 't is contrary to Nature for Men to pass by their own Children and leave them Beggars But tho' the Church obliges to neither yet she cannot but commend both or either to those to whom this Gift is given Happy is that Man that is therefore unmarried that he may care for the things of the Lord whilst he lives and provide for them when he dies But woe is me Can there be any such Men amongst us whose desires of Pluralities and Riches are insatiable who take no other Care but to shear their Flocks and gather the good Things of the Altar and lay them up in store as if against an approaching Famine That leave the Cares of their Flocks to their poor Curates whose Faces they grind amongst the rest and will not allow them to live tho' they bear the Burthen of the Day That leave them the Care of great Parishes to attend the daily Service and themselves live at Ease reap all the Profit and allow them not the twentieth Part I am asham'd to say that there is such a Man For next to the Sot the Sensualist the Drunkard and the Debauch'd the covetous and cruel Clergy-man is the most unseemly and unbecoming Object and the very Contradiction of his Calling And let me humbly propose one thing Would every Bishop once in his whole Life do some eminent Work of Piety it wou'd not only be Exemplary to stir up others but wou'd have been considerable by this time and if every rich Clergy-man who has either no Children or whose Charge is moderately provided for wou'd but return to the Church some Part of those Alms that he hath receiv'd at her Hands and 't is all the reason in the World it shou'd be so it wou'd be the like And as for those of this Order that are utterly uncapable to add any thing but their Prayers to so good a Work I shall entreat them that they do not hinder it I mean that by the strictness of their Lives and the conscientious Discharge of their Duty they wou'd walk worthy of such a Blessing encourage Piety and Charity and shew that that which remains still to the Church is not perverted or thrown away upon it § XXIII 5. To all in general Lastly Let me apply my self to all Men in general that they wou'd take that Account of their Stewardship that they must make
at the last Day into Consideration and weigh well the best that can commonly and generally be made even by the best of Men which The best Account that can be made generally at the last Day and its insufficiency as I noted in the beginning of the first Letter is this That they have been good Husbands and carefully advanc'd or at least preserv'd their Talent and that without Fraud or Violence That these have supported themselves and their Dependants with the Rents and Issues of the same during their Lives and when they died convey'd them carefully to their Heirs and Assigns but whether they were left to wise Men or Fools they knew not or whether they are like to be imployed to the Service of God or the Devil they have made no Provision But to what purpose they have liv'd or wherein God or Man has been benefitted by their Lives they cannot shew no more than they can one Acre or Legacy for the Uses of Piety and Charity That as they have wrong'd so they have done good to no Man They have only possessed their own and only themselves and their second selves and nearest Relations have reaped the Benefits of it c. This is the best Account that most Men can give and how few are there that can give so good and yet I leave it even to the Judgments of these Accountants themselves Whether an honest and wise Heathen may not give up a better Or whether the unprofitable Servant in the Gospel did not give up the same And yet we read its Reward was no less than utter Darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of Teeth from which good Lord deliver us But how much better and more A better way of Accounting with God and the conclusion of the whole comfortable wou'd it be when we come to die if we cou'd say to God as the religious Israelite was taught to say in the end of the third Year usually call'd the Year of Tything when he had given the Levite the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widows their Portions Deut. 26. 13. I have brought away the hallowed things viz. That which I set apart and dedicated to thy Service out of mine own house to thine and there according to my Vows I have distributed them some to the Levite for the maintenance of thy Service some to Works of Charity to the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow according to thy Commandments which thou O Lord hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandments nor forgotten them c. And I cannot but expect thy Blessing upon what I have left to descend with it down to my Heirs c. Look down therefore from thy Holy Habitation and bless thy People and the Land which thou hast given me c. When we can testifie before our Judge that we have not altogether serv'd our Pleasures nor our Appetites with that which was committed to our Charge but to the utmost of our Powers have advanced the Honour of our God and the Good of our Neighbour with it during our Lives and when we were to leave the World that we likewise secur'd something for the Service of Piety and Charity so that it shall not be in the Power of our Heirs to alienate it This and only this can Comfort and Support the timorous Soul when it is brought before its Judge and assure it of a welcome It wou'd not only ensure us of Heaven but of a proportional increase of its Joys according to the Effects of our good Works It would likewise ascertain an everlasting Name upon Earth and build us up a Monument more durable than that of the dead deceitful Brass or Marble or those living but perishing ones of Sons and Daughters whilst we receive the Applauses of future as well as present Ages and those now unborn shall hereafter rise up and call us blessed And may you Sir be partaker of this Blessedness which is the Reward of Piety and Charity both on Earth here and in Heaven hereafter And so I return to take my Leave of you and to beg your candid Interpretation of any Expression in either Letter and your Pardon for any Mistake in both seeing I intended them for your Service and they were written for your Use and at your Command For I am Honoured Sir Yours c. FINIS Books printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1. INstitutiones Grammaticae Anglo-Saxonicae Meso-Gothicae Auctore Georgio Hicksio Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4to 2. Christ Wasii Senarius sive de Legibus Licentia veterum Poetarum 4to 3. Misna Pars Ordinis primi Jeraim titul Septem Latinè vertit Commentario illustravit Gulielmus Guisinus Accedit Mosis Maimonidis Praefatio Edvardo Pocockio Interprete 4to 4. Joannis Antiocheni Cognomento Mallala Hist Chronica è M. S. Bibliothecae Bodleianae Praemittitur Dissertatio de Authore Per Humph. Hodium D. D. 8vo 5. Bishop Overal's Convocation Book 1606 concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4to 6. True Conduct of Persons of Quality Translated out of French 8vo 7. A Treatise relating to the Worship of God divided into Six Sections Concerning First The Nature of Divine Worship Secondly The peculiar Object of Worship Thirdly The true Worshippers of God Fourthly Assistance requisite to Worship Fifthly The Place of Worship Sixthly The solemn Time of Worship By John Templer D. D. 8vo 8. A Defence of revealed Religion in six Sermons upon Romans 1. 16. wherein it is clearly and plainly shewn That no Man can possibly have any real Ground or Reason to be ashamed of Christianity By Henry Halliwell M. A. and Vicar of Cowfold in Sussex 80. 9. Miscellanies in five Essays 1. Upon the Office of a Chaplain 2. Upon Pride 3. Upon Cloaths 4. Upon Dealing 5. Upon General Kindness The four last by way of Dialogue By Jeremy Collier A. M. 8vo 10. Mysteries in Religion vindicated Or the Filiation Duty and Satisfaction of our Saviour asserted against Socinians and others With occasional Reflections on several late Pamphlets By Luke Milbourn a Presbyter of the Church of England 8vo 11. A Discourse concerning the Nature of Man both in his natural and political Capacity both as he is a rational Creature and Member of a Civil Society With an Examination of some of Mr. Hobbs's Opinions relating thereunto By James Lowde Rector of Settrington in Yorkshire sometime Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge 8vo 12. Apparatus ad Theologiam in usum Academiarum 1. Generaiis 2. Specialis Auctore Stephano Penton Rectore de Glympton Oxon. 8vo 13. Guardians Instruction Or the Gentleman's Romance Written for the Diversion and Service of the Gentry 12o 14. New Instructions to the Guardian Shewing that the last Remedy to prevent the Ruine advance the Interest and recover the Honour of this Nation is 1. A more serious and strict Education of the Nobility and Gentry 2. To breed up all their younger Sons to some Calling and Employment 3. More of them to Holy Orders With a Method of Institution from three Years of Age to twenty one 12o 15. The Doctrine of the Glorious Trinity not explained but asserted by several Texts as they are expounded by the ancient Fathers and later Divines For the Satisfaction of such as doubt the Conviction of such as deny and the Confirmation of such as believe this Mysterious Article of the Christian Faith By Francis Gregory D. D. and Rector of Hambleden in the County of Bucks 8vo 16. A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Reverend Dr. John Scot. By Z. Isham Rector of St. Botolph's Bishop's-gate 4to