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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A91527 The Bishop of Ely's letter to his clergy Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. 1692 (1692) Wing P821A; ESTC R42660 5,032 16

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THE Bishop of ELY's LETTER TO HIS CLERGY HINC LUCEM ET POCULA SACRA CAMBRIDGE ●●●●ted by John Hayes Printer to ●he University 1692. Dear Brethren I Am so fully convinced by long experience how powerfull a frequent Reflection upon the Vows you made at your Ordination would be to awaken and excite you to a diligent and zealous performance of every part of your Ministerial duty that as I made it my earnest Request to you at my Visitation so now I renew it and again beseech you as you love your own Souls and the Souls of those committed unto your care to read over and weigh seriously every Lords day at least the Solemn Questions to which the Bishop in the Name of God and of his Church demanded your Answers before he laid his Hands on you And if you would likewise ponder that most weighty Exhortation wherewith the Bishop prepared you to attend unto those Demands when you were made Priests it would make the consideration of them more effectuall Now because I fear they may not be distinctly remembred and every One of you may not be well able to purchase one of those Common Prayer Books wherein they are Printed which commonly are only those of the Largest Volumes I have Transcribed them and herein sent them to you that you may have them continually before your Eyes And first I will lay before you what you promised when you were admitted Deacons Then the Bishop is required to examine every One of them that are to be Ordered in the presence of the People after this manner following Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People Answer I trust so The Bishop Do you think that you are truly called according to the will of our Lord Iesus Christ and the due Order of this Realm to the Ministry of the Church Answer I think so The Bishop Do you unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Answer I do believe them The Bishop Will you diligently Read the Same unto the People assembled in the Church where you shall be appointed to serve Answer I will The Bishop It appertaineth to the Office of a Deacon in the Church where he shall be appointed to serve to assist the Priest in Divine Service and specially when he ministreth the Holy Communion and to help him in the distribution thereof and to Read Holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church and to instruct the Youth in the Catechism in the absence of the Priest to Baptize Infants and to Preach if he be admitted thereto by the Bishop And furthermore it is his Office where provision is so made to search for the Sick Poor and Impotent People of the Parish to intimate their Estates Names and Places where they dwell unto the Curate that by his exhortation they may be relieved with the Alms of the Parishioners or others Will you do this gladly and willingly Answer I will so do by the help of God The Bishop Will you apply all your Diligence to frame and fashion your own Lives and the Lives of your Families according to the Doctrine of Christ and to make both your selves and them as much as in you lyeth wholsom examples of the Flock of Christ Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper The Bishop Will you Reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Ministers of the Church and them to whom the Charge and Government over you is committed following with a glad mind and will their Godly admonitions Answer I will endeavour my self the Lord being my helper Nothing can be more solemn than this Examination and the Engagements into which you entred by the Answers you publickly made to these Questions unless it be the obligations you further took upon you when you were admitted to the Order of Priesthood At which time the Bishop spake to you as here followeth which cannot be read too often over The Ordering of Priests YOV have heard Brethren as well in your private examination as in the exhortation which was now made to you in the Sermon preceding and in the Holy Lessons taken out of the Gospell and the writings of the Apostles of what dignity and of how great importance this Office is whereunto you are called And now again we exhort you in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ that you have in remembrance into how high a dignity and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called That is to say to be Messengers Watchmen and Stewards of the Lord to teach and to premonish to feed and provide for the Lords Family to seek for Christs Sheep that are dispersed abroad and for his Children who are in the midst of this naughty World that they may be saved through Christ for ever Have alwayes therefore printed in your remembrance how great a Treasure is committed to your charge For they are the Sheep of Christ which he bought with his Death and for whom he shed his Blood The Church and Congregation whom you must serve is his Spouse and his Body And if it shall happen the same Church or any member thereof to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence ye know the greatness of the fault and also the horrible punishment that will ensue Wherefore consider with your selves the end of your Ministration towards the Children of God towards the Spouse and Body of Christ and see that you never cease your Labour and Diligence untill you have done all that lyeth in you according to your bounden duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your Charge unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ that there be no place oft among you ●either for error in Religion or for vitiousness in Life Forasmuch then as your Office is both of so great excellency and of so great difficulty ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply your selves as well that you may shew your selves dutifull and thankfull unto that Lord who hath placed you in so high a dignity and also to beware that neither you your selves offend nor be occasion that others offend Howbeit ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of your selves for that will and ability is given of God alone therefore ye ought and have need to pray earnestly for his holy Spirit And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so Weighty a work pertaining to the salvation of Man but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the Holy Scriptures and with a life agreeable to the same consider how studious you ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures and in framing the manners both of your selves and of them that specially pertain unto you according to the rule of the same