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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A53898 Promiscuous ordinations are destructive to the honour & safety of the Church of England (if they should be allowed in it). Written in a letter to a person of quality. Pearson, John, 1613-1686. 1668 (1668) Wing P1005; ESTC R33038 3,880 18

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Nay further if a person be said to have obtained Orders after the Presbyterian way in the late times when he might have received them from a Bishop since the happy restitution of publick Order in the Church when many of his Brethren have submitted still obstinately refuses to receive Ordination after the established way of the Church of England in this case if you doubt whether his Ordination be valid or conclude it null I confess I know no argument to convince you or to encline you to another Persuasion But then I cannot but lament your unquiet and sad Condition accidentally cast upon you for reasons which I take no delight to consider and through the short expression in your Letter I can easily perceive what Thoughts and Apprehensions may press and discourage you For as you render your self a Son of our Church I conceive you are one who values the Liturgy thinking it your duty to give God that Setvice and taking much comfort in the ancient regular Devotion expressed in those Publick Prayers which being a mixt Office and having been soever since the Apostolical times wherein the Priest or Presbyter and the People joyntly interchangeably concurr and the Rubrick directing what words belong to the Priest and can properly in the sense intended sometimes at least be used by no other I confess you cannot but abate of the devotion and comfort of your Prayers when you think the person appointed to read them is no Priest or Presbyter As for the Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism you cannot regularly but desire to have your Children baptized and received into the Congregation of Christ's Church in that solemn manner and by such a person as is appointed by the same Church to receive them and though in case of Necessity this Office may be dispensed with in baptizing for the benefit of the Infant yet it will be very hard to create any other Necessity than what arises on the Infants part or to make use of that irregularity when there is no Necessity which is onely indulged to Necessity But as to the other Sacrament the Supper of the Lord your case is far worse For to that you are often invited nay obliged to receive it thrice a year and I doubt not but earnestly desire frequently to participate of the body and blood of your SAVIOUR Whereas if you be resolved that your Pastor established is not a Priest or Presbyter and consequently hath no power to consecrate the Elements or render them Sacramental I cannot see how you can follow him to the Holy Table or with what Comfort or Conscience you can bring your Family or concurr with your Neighbours to receive the Elements from his Hands And yet abstaining from the Sacrament you are thereby deprived of the Spiritual strength and comfort which you desire and have cause to expect and are moreover betrayed to the Censures of the Church in compliance to whose Doctrine you are rendred disobedient to her Commands Lastly the unfeigned exercize of Religion is undoubtedly as never more Necessary so never so Comfortable as upon the Bed of our Sickness especially upon the approach of Death wherefore the Church hath taken great care that the Minister shall attend and how he shall behave himself in the Visitation of the sick for their comfort and advantage This Comfort I confess must be taken from you who are of that persuasion concerning your Pastor for if upon the apprehension of your later end you feel your Conscience troubled and being observant of the method prescribed desire to make a special Confession and receive the benefit of Absolution to which end the Priest is ordered to use these words By the authority of Christ committed to me I absolve thee of all thy sins you will never acquiesce in the Absolution where you acknowledg no Commission nor can you expect any Efficacy which dependeth upon the Authority These and the like I look upon not as formal Objections or cavils but as real and severe complaints rais'd upon Sober and Religious grounds matter for Christian Zeal rather than Moderation And therefore I cannot persuade my self that any person endued with any Kindness or Care of the Religion settled in this Nation can ever contrive or assent unto so great a discouragement to the consciencious Professors of it and confusion in the management and administration FINIS Prop. p. 82.