and Devotion but degenerated in latter Times into Idleness Gluttony and all manner of Sensuality and so from Houses of Prayer becoming Dens of Thieves In the desolution of these those remained untouched nay augmented and established because free from their Crimes and may they continue and flourish whilst this Machine of Heaven and Earth continues and not determine but in its Desolution How naturally and how much these tend to the Service of God is obvious to every one that considers That the End of their Erection and the daily exercise of their Members is First To smooth over the Asperities mend the Deformities and finish the Imperfections of humane Nature to introduce Civility and Urbanity Bowels of Mercies humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering Forbearance and Forgiveness and indeed an universal Charity These Graces are requir'd in Christians by the great Apostle of the Gentiles and are introduc'd by the University-Education which softens our harsh Natures and melts them down into a Temper to receive such Impressions And besides by the continual practice of Vertue and sweetness of Conversation and by the Admonitions and Examples of their Superiors the Inclinations to our native Vices are weakned and destroyed and contrary Dispositions and Habits super-induc'd necessary all the remaining parts of our lives to our Politick as well as Religious Capacities Secondly Their Exercise is the Improvement of their rational Faculties whereby we differ from the Beasts and this helps them not only for Discourse and Conversation but for the discovery of Truth and Falshood when it is drest up in its shape and likeness Thirdly Natural Philosophy and the inquisition into the state of Nature the System of the World and the Works of God and thereby they are taught to see things with other Eyes than the Vulgar and discover the Greatness and Goodness of our Creator and fear and honour him accordingly Thirdly The heavenly Doctrine of the Knowledge of our selves Autarchy or the Government of Lusts Appetites and Passions To live as rational Creatures that are not inebriated with present Enjoyments but foresee and provide for Futurity and another Life These are all excellent Preparations and Approaches to the highest of all Sciencies which is likewise taught and practised within those Walls the Knowledge of God and our Duty thereupon according to both natural and revealed Religion And therefore from these Nurseries those that are fit are transplanted into the Church as well as State as workmen that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth throughly furnished with all good Works and fitted to exhibit the Wants of their several Flocks to God as well as their own by those Prostrations of Mind and Body in the immediate Acts of his Worship commonly call'd Divine Service which I am next to speak of For there is a more immediate 2dly Immediately act of exhibiting this Worship and that is the actual homage of the agnition the agnition of God and his Attributes and our dependance on him And this is done only in Prayers and Praises And in this strict Sence neither reading hearing preaching the Word nor frequenting of Sermons is Divine Service or the immediate act of Worship And tho' they have an immediate Aspect that way and tend to it yet they are not the thing it self Wherein by the way we may note the great mistake of the Zealots of this Age who place Religion in nothing but Sermonizing and Hearing and slight all the ancient and holy Methods of approaching the Deity And instead of these gratifie their itching Ears with long canting Harangues and the Froth of Fancy which they admire because they know not what to make of it Whereas Religion consists in the Application of the Mind to the Deity with all manner of Submission and grateful Acknowledgments And these passing from a pure and sanctified Mind in Thoughts or Words proper suitable and throughly examin'd that we may offer unto God a reasonable Service or the Service becoming reasonable Creatures This is the true and essential Worship of God the highest Duty Man is capable of and the End of the Creation 'T is our great Duty upon Earth and the Imployment of Heaven which shall continue to all Eternity There the four strange but glorious living Creatures and the four and twenty Elders together with all the heavenly Host rest not Night nor Day but joyn altogether in perpetual Hymns of Praises and Thanksgivings casting down their Crowns before the Throne and saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created §. III. That Works of Piety or the Service of God ought to be promoted by our Estates proved by Five Propositions This is that which we are bound to do our selves in the several Pauses and Intervals we enjoy from the noise of this World And this we are bound to promote to the utmost of our Power and with our Lives and Fortunes And that you may know how your Estate may be serviceable and is liable to contribute to this immortal Work the continuance of Divine Service I shall make a gradual Advance in these Five Propositions following Prop. 1. God is to be worshipped Prop. 1. That God is to be worshipped and his Service promoted by Mankind And here to distinguish a little further which falls properly in the aforegoing Section but was forgot there about the mediate Acts of Divine Worship They are either inward Of inward and outward acts of Worship and that both are required or outward The inward is the act of the Mind and consists in humble and grateful Acknowledgments of his infinite Goodness c. The outward act is the external Expression of this inward Acknowledgment And this Expression is made by sensible Signs such are First The articulate Words of Prayers and Praises And then Secondly The inarticulate Signs made by the Genuflexions and Prostrations of the Body By these outward acts we make our Bodies Parties in the Worship and give sensible Indications to others what we are doing thereby instructing and encouraging them to do the like And therefore this is proper for the publick Service of God because 't is the only visible and sensible act of which our Fellow-Creatures Men and Angels can take cognizance And from these outward Signs of inward Humility have the Greeks taken occasion to call Divine Service or Adoration in their Language Ï€ÏοσκÏνησις a bowing down or Prostration of the Body according to the devout Psalmist O come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker I will not make comparison betwixt these two acts the inward and the outward each have their several use and excellency because they must not be separated especially in publick Prayer For as the Body and Soul make the Man so the external and internal Service of God do make Divine Service To come to the Proposition then The Proposition
next to be discours'd of And therefore §. V. The Ends for which God gives Men Estates and what he expects from them These Ends must be Good and are threefold Secondly As to the Intents of God in bestowing Estates you are to consider If God gives to some what he denies to others or continues to them and their Heirs what they call their own it must be for some End and that End must be the performance of some Good For God doth nothing in vain or for no End and he proposes no End but what is Good Now all Good is such in respect of three Objects our Selves our Neighbour and God the chief Lord of all There is no question but God intends the Good of that particular Person whom he makes Overseer of his Talent And thence arises self-preservation And because he cannot manage it himself without assistance from Self-preservation arises also that of our Family and Dependants But then God being an universal Father and taking Care for all Mankind which are his Family equally tho he has not endow'd all equally thence arises a second Good to our Neighbour and especially to those that want any thing that he hath denied him and given us That we may thereby exercise our Love and Charity those God-like Vertues which are in him originally and which he hath deriv'd to us and expects we shou'd use towards one another But then Thirdly Tho' he is in himself so perfectly Happy as to be incapable to receive any repletion from the Works of his Hands yet to try our Gratitude and renew in us a remembrance of his Benefits he has reserv'd to himself a certain kind of Quit-Rent and that is that we should not only acknowledge his Bounty to us publickly and privately but also contribute out of our Estates what is necessary that others should do so likewise That his Supremacy and Goodness might be daily acknowledged by all as it is daily received by all From all which it follows That no Man is a sole absolute and free Proprietor of his Estate but that he is bound to Conditions of doing Good to himself and his Neighbour and the making of due returns of Gratitude to his God That these are the Conditions of his Tenure which as it is at the Will of the Lord as to time and may be ejected when he pleases so he ought during the space of his possession to perform the Conditions thereof viz. pay his Quit-Rents and do his Homage upon the Penalties that will ensue thereon on the day of Enquiry and taking Accounts when every Man shall receive according to his Works Thus much of the Ends in general but I must consider these three Uses more particularly and separately §. VI. Of Selfpreservation which is the first End 1. And first of Self-preservation the first End That our Duty is to preserve our Selves our second Selves our Offspring which are our selves propagated and continued and our Servants which are kept for our Selves sake will not require many Words for Nature hath imprinted it upon our Minds in Characters that be indelible And this Principle is so fix'd and operative that the only fear is lest it should grow too fast to the stifling of the other Experience teaches us that Self-preservation is like Moses's Rod-Serpent ready to swallow up the other two Selfishness hath engross'd all and Men look so much on themselves and their own Profits and Pleasures that they mind not their Neighbour nor what is more their God And therefore on this Head I must hold back the Hand by considering what is due to our Selves and what not lest we shou'd cheat God and our Neighbour of theirs There is no question but there is due to our selves Necessaries but what that is is not defin'd but allows of a Latitude according to our several Circumstances in the World First There be Necessaries in respect of Life such as Food and Raiment This is certainly allow'd us and our Dependents 'T is all the reason in the World that in the sweat of our Brows we shou'd eat our Bread and wear those Cloths that should defend us in our Labour Secondly There be things necessary ad bene esse to our well-being as times and ways of Joy and Pleasure And therefore 't is all the reason in the World that God's Tenent reap the Comforts as well as the Troubles that he lays upon him under the Sun That he eats his Bread with Joy and drinks his Wine with a merry Heart then when he hath Testimonies that God hath accepted his Labours that then his Garments be white and his Head lack no ointment My meaning is That at times of Feasting he relax his Cares and use such Superfluities that are agreeable to his Condition and the general Rules of Sobriety and Charity Thirdly There be Necessaries ratione personae conditionis unius cujusque things that are necessary to great Persons and not to all 'T is all the reason in the World that great Officers shou'd have great Attendants and that high Stewards shou'd have a State answerable to their Places and Cares The distinction betwixt Men cannot be well manifested but by great Buildings plentiful Tables many Servants and a Grandure becoming the Nobility and Gentry Fourthly There is a necessity ratione posterum a necessity of Education and a moderate Provision for their Children and Relations The first sort of Necessity is absolute and must be allow'd the three other are capable of degrees and must be us'd so far as agrees with Prudence and Sobriety and the other two Ends that I am yet to speak of God nor Man will deny but the Estate shall bear them all if it can without Prejudice to God our chief Lord or our Neighbour But he that spends all on himself and Family so that he can allow God and Charity nothing is like nay is a Tenant that wastes all on his Luxury and so can pay no Rent If Estates will not maintain us as we wou'd they must as they can and we must cut off some of our vain Expences to secure the main Point We make it a Rule that when Taxes run high and our Crop is but small Expences are to be retrench'd that we may pay our Rents And why in a greater Concern should we not abate something from our extraordinaries for God and Charity 's sake Necessaries we all must have but they are but a few but the Appendages of Honour and Greatness may be encreased or diminished according to the Circumstances of Time and Place without sinning against either This will not seem hard to him that considers how much may be par'd off from Vanity without diminution of Honour and that if our unnecessary not to say sinful Expences were sav'd and put into the Box of Charity it wou'd be fill'd and run over For I have observ'd amongst all sorts of Men high or low rich or poor they will spend liberally upon the score of Friendship and Company at home
Reward apportion'd there even to Interest upon Interest and all the possible Degrees of Improvement which the Divine Prescience can easily foresee and will adjust according to the Measures of his Mercies And this Reward is as far above the inherent Worth of the Work as Heaven is above the Earth or the Regions of Bliss above this Vale of Tears Whatsoever we do for our selves or our Relations we leave behind us as Duties we owe to Nature for which she pays us here But what we do for God and his Servants for his sake follow us into the state of the dead and into the Tribunal of our Judge and plead for us where they cannot but have a benign Audience from him who is the Father of the Fatherless and who pleads the Cause of Orphans and Widows even God in his Holy Habitation And with this I will conclude the second Head of this Discourse and prepare to speak of the Third in that which follows AN ESSAY TO Revive the Necessity OF Ancient Piety Honoured SIR §. I. Why the Author treats of Works of Piety in the last place THE Subject of this Second Address is the Third End for which it pleases the Divine Bounty to entrust us with an Earthly Portion and that is the Promotion of the Honour of God and the making his Perfections and particularly his Goodness known to Mankind that they may with us be induc'd to render him the Honour due to his Name and the Tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving And this by the order of Nature and Reason ought to have claimed the first Place in these Discourses as his Dues were to be first offered up and separated amongst his own People before they were to make use of the remainder Besides this is the End of the Enjoyment of our own Part and the End of our Distribution to others of Self-preservation and Charity both ought to aim at his Glory and therefore it ought first to be treated of But in this ungrateful Age in which we take like the Beast of the Field what is bestowed upon us without ever looking up to Heaven and acknowledging the Hand that distributes it in this prophane Age in which our Pleasures and Profits are only considered and God's Honour not at all or not often in this bigotted and yet irreligious Age in which 't is thought Superstition and Priest-Craft to plead for any thing towards the continuance of God's Service because they are to be his Receivers wherein such Doctrines as these are quite out-dated and strange to our Ears and Men think their Estates not concern'd at all to maintain the Worship of God In an Age wherein 't is thought that Church-men have too much still and a covetous Eye is cast upon the large Revenues of Bishops Deans and Chapters wherein all chargeable Worship is thought needless and so many inspir'd Ignorants set up for Ministers and tender a cheap Worship or such as will cost nothing I say in such an Age as this is I must be content that God's Cause shou'd come on last and that he have the least share in our Estates rather than none at all And yet tho' it comes last yet it shall not be least treated of but be the Subject of the following Papers in which I shall endeavour to maintain this Assertion §. II. That every Man is bound to the utmost of his Power to promote the Honour of his Master and maintain his Service and for the sake of that and to that purpose those that are to officiate in the same and that with his Estate and Fortunes And that he that is able to do it which is the Case of most Men more or less and doth it not mis-imploys his Talent answers not the End for which it was committed to his Charge and must give an Account of that Neglect at the last Day That this Truth may appear I must first define what I mean by the Object of our Piety the Glory of God and then distinguish concerning the Ways of promoting of it The Glory and Honour of God What is meant by the Glory of God or Divine Worship or Divine Worship is the humble and reverential Agnition of his Being and of all his Glorious Attributes his Supremacy Power Goodness and other infinite Perfections And the Acknowledgment that we are his Creatures depend upon him for Life and Motion and receive all the good things necessary thereunto at his Bounty which is the subject-matter of our Prayers and Praises The act of exhibiting those Acknowledgments How this is exhibited is either mediate or immediate We glorifie God mediately 1. Mediately By mediate as that tends to his Honour when we do any thing that naturally tends to these Acknowledgments Thus the doing of every good Work is for his Glory because it may and doth naturally tend to set it forth Thus all the Works of Nature and Art the Knowledge of the great System of the World and Natural Philosophy teach his Praises Thus all Moral As Moral and Matural Philosophy Works of Vertue as Equity or Justice Comity Urbanity Liberality Fortitude Temperance and such like tend to his Glory in their exercise for the Good of Mankind and in the Subject where they are found because of his planting there Even Polity the well-institution of Kingdoms and Reciprocal Duties of Governors and Subjects leads us to the Providential Care of God for our Good and consequently to his Praises In a word whatsoever doth naturally incline us to think upon God and reflect upon his Power or Goodness is a mediate Act of glorifying him And thus the Psalmist having considered the several Acts of Providence over the several sorts of Men in the varieties of their Lives reflects very naturally upon his Goodness and thence takes occasion to exhort Men to praise him O that men Psal 107. wou'd therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men. And as natural and moral Philosophy tend in their consequences and mediately to the Divine Service which we owe our Maker so do all Foundations Societies and The Founders of Schools of Learning and the Vniversities how they tend to the advancing Divine Service c. Seminaries of Learning and Religion design'd for the same uses And here I cannot but remember and at the same time celebrate those Nurseries of every thing that is Good and Commendable The two flourishing Vniversities of our Land and that with all Thankfulness to God and Acknowledgments of the Munificence of the Founders and Benefactors of each Society that compose those August and Illustrious Bodies That God was pleased to incline the Hearts of those good Men to employ their Riches to such Advantages of Religion and preserve such Foundations to the Good of Mankind amongst the Dissolutions of so many pretended Houses of Religion in these three Kingdoms Places founded at first without all question with sincere Intentions of extraordinary Piety
prov'd from the Obligations we have to Truth Gratitude and Indempnity 'T is absolutely necessary that every Man shou'd worship his Maker with the inward and if he be not incapacitated with outward Homage And this will appear from the Obligations we have to first Truth secondly Gratitude thirdly Indempnity or Pardon of Sin 1. We are bound to acknowledge every Truth But that God is an infinite Being in himself and infinitely Good to us is a great and eternal Truth and therefore ought to be recogniz'd and acknowledged else we are injurious to Truth it self 2. We are bound to Gratitude and that obliges us to acknowledge God's Bounty And as Tenants swear Fealty and do their Homage as an acknowledgment of the Lord 's original Right upon these Terms deriv'd to them so Gratitude obliges us to a declaration of God's Right over all things and his gracious Dispensations of what is useful to us But then we have a Third Obligation which is the want we have of Indempnity For we must be sensible of the depravation of our Nature and our neglect of Duty and consequently that we are obnoxious to the Divine Justice if it be not aton'd and reconcil'd to us And the way to obtain that is by humble Confessions and Acknowledgments to which God in his Holy Word hath annext a full Remission 1 Joh. 1. 9. and hath pawn'd his Faithfulness and Justice for the same And this is a Third Obligation to Divine Worship Behold Sir the triple Foundation of all Religion and especially of Divine Worship And here I cannot but tremble to make the Application to those many to almost all in these luke-warm Times To those I mean that are become so indifferent as to God's Service that they preferr the meanest of their Pleasures as well as the greatest of their Profits to it That serve God when they have nothing else to do and go to their Prayers when they have neither Friends nor occasions to interrupt them That lay aside their Duty to God to go to a Feast or Meeting and leave the Chappel for a Hunting-match These and who are not such in this degenerate Age do in effect and for that turn at least deny God and sin against Truth Gratitude and the Pardon they stand in need of They use that daily Bread which they are not at leisure to ask at God's Hand and take his Liberality and cannot stay to thank him but put him off till some other time They disown their Creator and Benefactor for that time and will make him stay till they can a while to make their Acknowledgments And how great a Crime this is do but judge Sir by the like in any of your Servants whom for less than this you wou'd discard for ever I cannot stay to prosecute this seasonable Reflection you may improve it by running up the Parallel as far as it will go and making Application to your own Conscience because I must pass on to the next Proposition which is this §. IV. Prop. 2. That God is daily to be worshipped Of publick and private Worship Prop. 2. This Divine Service must be perform'd publickly or privately solemnly or occasionally every Day The publick and solemn way of serving God is as far beyond that which is private as the Light of the Sun is beyond that of a Candle and must be so much the more acceptable as your Servants ready performance of your publick Command wou'd be beyond his denying of it before all the Company and then performing of it in secret Not to confess God when we are enjoyn'd is to deny him And our Saviour has declar'd That he that denies him before Men shall be denied by him before his Father and the Holy Angels For this and other Reasons I say 't is our Duty to worship God publickly and solemnly But because Mens Circumstances may vary publick Prayers cannot be always had and there may be emergencies which may prevent them and sometimes the necessaries to Self-preservation hinders them especially in the meaner sort who literally undergo the consequent of Adam's Sin In the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat thy bread I add therefore in defect of the publick Worship that which is private or occasional For where the publick is intermitted the private must supply that neglect and where the settled Hour of Prayer cannot be attended the occasional must atone for the omission The first and in defect of that the second must be our daily Exercise And he that cannot wait upon God in his Temple must yet meet him in his Closet and if even that cannot be which is seldom known he must yet send some short Ejaculation up wards as Envoys to excuse his necessary Neglect But however this is done for That one of these is to be offered up daily God is ready to allow us what we can reasonably demand it ought to be done daily Life is call'd our Day and each Day is a new Life Night is a true Image of the Days of Darkness which are many and Sleep of Death We cease to be our own and have no signs of Life but Respiration which is only a Pledge that we shall wake again we know no Body and are dead to the World and all its Concerns The Morning of the Day following is our daily Resurrection when we receive a new Life and rise up from our Grave-Clothes and dress us again for the Businesses of the Day Seeing then we receive every Day a new Life and begin a new Work can it be thought unreasonable that we should be bound to desire a Blessing on the same Or that being a wakned from the Regions of Darkness and Shadow of Death we shou'd make our Acknowledgments for that new Mercy We salute our Friends every Morning as restor'd to the de novo but shall we pass by God unsaluted Besides 't is the dictate of Nature to begin the Day with God a procuration of his Assistance and a Blessing upon our Undertakings The Persians us'd to adore the rising Sun the Image and Representation as they thought of the Supreme Deity And the Jews had their Morning and Evening times of Sacrifice and solemn Prayers And the Apostles thought it their duty to frequent them Act. 2. 46. c. 3. 1. The religious and devout Christians of the Primitive Times had several settled Hours of Prayer every day It wou'd be thought too much Superstition to imitate or strictness to enjoyn the like to this Licentious Age Yet our blessed Lord below whose Commands we cannot go hath ordered us all to ask day by day our daily Bread And suppose God shou'd say Amen to our silence I mean shou'd not give us what we are not at leisure to ask suppose he shou'd put us out of his Protection for but one day what would follow Why no less than a seizure of the evil Angels upon Body and Soul while ungarded Or if he shou'd withdraw his assisting Hand what wou'd be the
the neglect of the old rational way of Worship and proceed from the same Cause the depauperating of the Church by Impropriations §. XV. 6. Pluralities and their Inconveniencies Sixthly And lastly that I mention no more If all these Evils be not enough I have one more to add which makes a greater noise than all and is thought of worse Consequence and that is Pluralities which cannot be well remedied in reason without making every Place a competency But so it is at present and have been ever since the times that the Church was robb'd of her Dues that some two or three Cures of Souls cannot make one Competency for the support of the Minister So that there has been a necessity of dispensing with the ancient Canons not only to reward Merit but to provide some laborious Priest to travel from one to another and officiate in them And if these Indulgencies were not granted the Service of God must cease for altogether in those widowed Churches as it doth now for some time more or less And tho' Pluralities may not be utterly unlawful in themselves yet they are always inconvenient if they cou'd be remedied The Curates never officiating so well as for themselves and not having that Authority as if they were Principals But from this Cause is it that Cures are so small that they lie vacant without any Incumbent and so are sequestred to some Minister of the Vicaridge by whom the Service is perform'd by halves I mean as often as he can attend it from that of his own Church whilst some are totally delapidated and dead of the Wounds they received in the Impropriation Whereas if there was a Sufficiency in every Parish and if the great Tythes had not been separated there wou'd have been in most there wou'd be little riding from Church to Church on Sundays and very few Spiritual Polygamists The Praises of God wou'd have been not only decently but frequently and daily performed and offered up to God and every Church wou'd be a House of Prayer §. XVI The usual Pleas for Impoverishing the Clergy and Objections against Works of Piety answer'd I know very well that notwithstanding these great Evils it will be objected by the Adversaries of the Clergy That Christ and his Apostles were poor and so was the Church for the first 300 Years during which time they preserv'd Union and Communion and being at Unity with themselves kept out Heresies and Schisms from amongst them That when the Churches became endow'd and rich the Church-men became so Proud and Factious that they were soon hated That their Luxury became great and their Insolence intolerable and that the taking away these Superfluities was necessary for their Humiliation That Piety consists in Humility and that is much advanc'd by Poverty Whereas it has been observ'd even to a Proverb Make the Priest rich and you spoil him for ever To all which I answer in their order First Christ voluntarily chose Poverty as suitable to his Design of being crucified for the Sins of the World And as for the Apostles if they were Heirs of any Estates they cou'd not have enjoyed them because of their continual Travels and Preaching But then they were endow'd with that which was far better and that was the Gifts of extraordinary Holiness and extraordinary Power These supply'd all Wants and drew to them the Love Wonder and Veneration of all Mankind and made them Masters of their Affections and Estates together They were received as Angels of God and if it had been possible and necessary the Converts wou'd have plucked out their very Fyes to serve them And then for the Primitive Church of the three first Centuries they abounded in Gifts Offerings and occasional Kindness so that the Ministry liv'd as plentifully as their Circumstances requir'd Secondly 'T is granted that great Endowments make some Men Proud Insolent and Factious and so it did some of them 'T is too apparent that every Man cannot manage Riches to the right uses God intends it yet I do not find that any Man is willing to part with it on that score And yet I cou'd be willing that every proud insolent Clergy Man's Estate shou'd be confiscated to the Laity during his life upon condition that the same shou'd be observ'd on the other side And yet I deny that this Charge is universally true 't is with the Clergy and so has been as with others There have been many that have possest much and yet have been Just Liberal Humble and Merciful and who did not trust in uncertain Riches And if we may judge of the former Clergy in better Times by those we know in these worse we shall find that for the most part they were an obliging humble and hospitable sort of Men. However the abuse of Things do not take away the right use of them otherwise both Clergy and Laity should have been long ago stript of all And as for the Proverb Of spoiling a Priest c. it may or it may not be true according to the different Nature or Inclination of the Recipient Thirdly Tho' Christianity is founded upon Humility yet Humility is not always the concomitant of Poverty For I know as many Poor that are proud and insolent as Rich. And tho' the Disciples of our Lord were for several Reasons most of 'em chosen out of the ordinary sort of Men yet some were Rich and Honourable as Joseph of Arimathea Nicodemus Nathanael Zaccheus and others But this is according to the Measure of the Vertue of the Person for otherwise Poverty in it self is not desirable Give me neither Poverty nor Riches saith the wise Agur. Food convenient is best for all Men And so much I wou'd have every Parish-Church endow'd with and no more that the Servant of God that dwells there may be satisfied and not call'd out by his Wants into other Places And this may answer the Thing that I promised to inquire into viz. What Pag. 105. may by Parity of Reason be thought a Sufficiency That which enables What must be judg'd a Sufficiency for every Parish-Priest God's Minister to perform the several Parts of his Duty without worldly Avocations by which he is made capable to keep Hospitality relieve the Poor the Fatherless and Widow visit the Sick attend the publick and private Worship of God instruct the Ignorant comfort the Afflicted charge the Rich to do his Duty as well as others and rebuke with all Authority even the boldest vitious Person I say that which enables him to perform those Parts of his Duty with assurance and confidence of Mind is that Competency that I contend for That which may neither make him insult over the Poor or be afraid of the Rich and live in a word above Contempt and below Envy is a Sufficiency And so much I thought fit to say to this invidious Pretence which looks more like a Prejudice than an Objection and whose Authors wou'd fain be wiser than God and take