Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A42335
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Advice to the clergy of the diocese of Lincoln by ... James Lord Bishop of that diocese, in order to his primary visitation.
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Gardiner, James, 1637-1705.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing G223A; ESTC R18382
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23,819
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40
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application of mind and I have often been much concerned and grieved that I want that assistance of which the Constitution and external Regiment and Administration of the Church has been provided I mean The Assistance of Rural Deans which Office is a part of our Constitution and is yet exercised in some Dioceses of this Kingdom but has unhappily been disused in this for how long time I know not to the great loss and hindrance of Ecclesiastical Administration By the impartial and diligent Execution of this Office the Bishop might be eased in a great part of that Duty which is too heavy a Burthen for his own Shoulders The Ignorant the Factious the Scandalous the Negligent the Dissenting might easily be detected in a small Deanary and being signified to the Bishop or rather first of all and immediately to the Arch-Deacon might be timely and duely corrected and reformed For the Arch-deacon inhabiting within his Arch-deaconry as it is most proper might easily be resorted to upon occasion and so Hear and Amend many Faults which might be brought to him by the Rural Dean without Application to the Bishop If a Bishop of this extensive Diocese was provided of active and faithful Persons in the several Deanries which retain the name yet his Business might be manageable and his Authority and Government useful whereas for want of these no Bishop here can do so much and so well as he might be willing and glad to do But in the defect of these Assistances it is in your Power My Brethren to give me ease and satisfaction in my weak Endeavours If you would do what you have declared and promised and resolved to do in the presence of God and the Congregation at your Ordination it would discharge me of a great deal of care and trouble Where there is a formed and settled Church as this of the Church of England is with known Rules and Measures by which the Clergy are bound to exercise their Ministry one would think if Men were sincere they could not fail in performing this part of their duty for they cannot or at least they need not be ignorant of the Obligations that are laid upon them by the Laws of the Kingdom and the Canons of the Church not to mention here the Obligations that they have laid upon themselves But it is too true that there is a Failure in some Persons as to the discharge of those Obligations which if it be frequent and habitual can proceed from nothing but Prejudice or Sloath or Inconsideration in all which there is a spice of Insincerity I know some will plead want of Health and others an Obligation to officiate in several places for a bare Competency But one may easily distinguish whether these be the true Reasons or whether their Omissions proceed from other causes To be sure they themselves know I wish their Pretences were always sincere However the unaccountable Negligence of some and the Immoralities of others are the subjects of the Bishop's Trouble and Inquiry If there were none such a Bishop's Visitation would be easie and comfortable It would have been well if such Persons had been stopt at the first door that of Ordination but having been let in there where the door was too wide they are the Men that make the greatest disorder and trouble within If these Men had come so disposed and qualified into the Ministry of the Church as they professed themselves to be affirming at their Ordination that they trusted they were inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them the Office and Ministration of Deacons to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People They would behave themselves after another manner whereas practising so disagreeably to that Declaration they made they give occasion to the World to believe that it was a false and groundless Presumption and a sort of Lying against the Holy Ghost Or else that if they had any such good Motion they have quenched it since by their unworthy and disagreeable Behaviour If such Men would bethink themselves and reflect upon the solemn Profession Promise and Vow which they made at their Ordination it might be a means to revive that holy Fire within them if it was ever kindled in their Hearts which they have so heedlesly extinguish'd I would for that reason advise them frequently and delibrately to read the Offices of Ordaining Deacons and Priests where they may see not only their Work laid out and set before them with the Dignity and Vsefulness of it but also the Obligation they have laid upon themselves to perform it and if there be any Ingenuity remaining in them agreeable to their Liberal and Learned Education any Sense of Goodness any Regard to the Love of Christ and his Church any Hope of reward for their due attendance to their Duty any Fear of the extreme Punishment that will certainly follow upon the neglect of it it cannot but affect them with shame and trouble which would awaken within them servent Desires and hearty Resolutions and careful Endeavours to discharge then Obligations for the future And if there be any that have entred into Orders without feeling or pretending to feel any such secret motion of the Holy Ghost but solely for secular Ends and Advantages however they have made a false step at their Entrance they may yet recover themselves if by serious and timely consideration and begging the Assistance of the Holy Spirit who presides in and takes care of the Church of Christ and is ready to Co-operate with those that serve the Lord Jesus in the Work of the Ministry they could be prevailed upon out of an hearty sense of their Duty to apply themselves faithfully and diligently to the practice of it according to their Natural Faculties and Abilities the Improvement of which would prevail with God to bestow more and greater In short the best and most proper Disposition for the work of the Ministry in the Church of Christ is Simplicity and Sincerity of Heart This Disposition our Saviour preferred in the Election of His Apostles excepting only one whom he chose for a particular reason Men thus qualified will serve their Master Faithfully in all Circumstances and be the outward condition of the Church either Afflicted or Prosperous they will be true to the Interest of it knowing how to be abased and how to abound If the Church of Christ was provided of Ministers so qualified in all places the Visitation of a Bishop would be no Burthen either to himself or them It was so provided in the first Ages after the Apostles And in the succeeding Ages during the time of the Apostacy to the time of the Reformation this Nation produced not a few Persons very illustrious and eminent in this Character I shall do no wrong to many others to instance in one particularly a * Robert Grofthead Bishop of Lincoln Bishop of this Diocese who amongst many other excellent Indowments both
cannot be Popery in the Fabrick nor in the Seats or Table it must be in the Office or no where and one may safely affirm that no Man can prove it to be there But the use of the Chancel for the Communion Service is so far from being Popery that the Papists and Popish Impropriators in England permit the Chancels where they are concerned to lie the most disorderly and ruinous of any other as I my self have seen in several places they are not careful to repair or clean them nor can they be brought to contribute to the Reparation of Churches but by meer compulsion and they would be well enough satisfied to see all the Chancels and Churches in England lye in Ruin for this would be the most certain way to overthrow the Reformation and bring in Popery which being planted again by Authority would soon oblige that Party to rebuild the Churches This I thought not improper to mention concerning this matter upon this occasion But to return to Preaching under this Head I comprise Catechising which was an early Practise in the Church of Christ and of great use for the Instructing of the younger sort and prepare them thereby both for Confirmation and Receiving the Holy Communion If you consult the LIX Canon you will see that you are bound to this Duty of Catechising under the Censures of sharp Reproof first and upon willingly offending again of Suspension and upon the contemptuous continuance in the neglect of it of Excommunication So careful and so concerned has the Church been in this method of Instruction or Preaching But a sincere and well designing Man would chearfully discharge this Duty though there was no Ecclesiastical Censure to inforce it for he would consider that as the time of Youth is the most proper time to begin Instruction so Catechising is the most proper way to instruct them in Religion It is the Age in which they learn Arts and Sciences and how do they learn them but by the frequent and familiar Instructions of their Masters examining repeating inculcating and explaining as there is occasion and capacity for it After the same manner must they be taught the Principles of Religion which are contained in the Catechism It is not sufficient that they Repeat the Words by Heart but they should be taught the meaning also and this cannot be done but by explaining the several Heads more copiously and in the most easie and familiar manner And he that is sensible of this and of the Duty that he owes to the Children of his Parish as well as to the elder sort would no more fail to Catechise than he would to Preach for he knows that he ought to Feed as well with Milk as with strong Meat and as a Faithful Steward to give the Children as well as the rest of the Family their proper and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 12.42 proportionable Diet. And here I may fitly take occasion to acquaint you That I would not willingly Confirm any Children but such as have been Instructed in the fore-mentioned manner and such as you your selves believe to have a competent Knowledge of the Principles of Christianity This Knowledge must not be measured by their Age nor by their ready utterance of the Words of the Catechism but by their capacity and ability to answer such Questions and to render such an account of their Faith as you may hope proceeds from a right Apprehension and true Understanding of the Sense of the Catechism And therefore I must earnestly desire you to take more than ordinary Pains before the times of Confirmation and that not only in the Church but if need be at your own Houses also to examine and instruct the riper sort that they may know what they are to do and what they undertake at their Confirmation and to give me a Note of the Names of such as are so qualified and prepared and for the younger and more ignorant it is best to advise them to stay till another opportunity There are other ways and methods of Preaching as it may in a general Sense be called namely private Exhortation and Admonition Resolving Doubts and Cases of Conscience Comforting the afflicted Furnishing the Poor with Bibles and other good Books directing the Richer sort what Books to provide for their own use and the use of their Familyes of which God be thanked this Age has produced many Giving or Lending to all sorts of Dissenters there being no other way of preaching to them such Books as have been written on purpose to prevail with them to return to the Communion of this Church particularly the Quakers whose gross Errors and Blasphemys have been detected and confuted so plainly by a late learned * Author of the Snake in the Grass Writer that if they be so sincere as they generally pretend they will be obliged to renounce them Not that this can be expected from the Leaders of that Party they have Ends to serve in the Conduct of that deluded People that will ingage them to adhere notwithstanding Confutation and Conviction too But I hope the Simple and well-meaning may be brought to see their Errors and forsake them if the b Satan disrob'd b Institution of Water-Baptism Books of this Author were put into their hands and that they could be prevailed with to read them or to hear them read Before I leave this Head of Preaching I must remind you of a particular opportunity you have and a very advantageous one of performing some parts of this Duty which is at the Visitation of the Sick for which there is a particular Office appointed In this the Exhortation is very proper and serious and the Collects very affecting and if it be performed whilest the Sick Person is capable of hearing understanding and joyning in it may be of great use and Benefit But either the Sick Person or the Relations are generally too negligent in giving timely notice so that it has not always that good Effect which otherwise it might But when it is known that People are sick they ought diligently to be visited that when they have least ability of their own by reason of their Weakness or Pain or fear of Death or punishment after Death they may be succoured and assisted by the help of others This is the time when the Devil the malicious and watchful Enemy of our Salvation has great opportunity of tempting and deceiving Men either by Presumption or Despair this therefore is an apt time for you to resist him and to rescue the Souls committed to your Care under so great a Danger Besides this Office duly performed may be of good use not only to sick and dying Persons but also to Relations and Visitors who may happen to be present and to the Minister himself who if he have a serious Sence of things cannot but improve himself in discoursing with Persons in that condition upon all which accounts this Office ought not to be