according as the time will permit 5. Then shall every man that is able give his Alms for the Poor and whilst this is doing the Prelector shall read as many of these following Sentences as he thinks convenient Let yâ—ur light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in â—eaven Mat. 5. 18. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon Earth where the rust and moth doth corrupt and where thieves break through steal but lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal Mat. 6. 19 20. While we have time let us do good unto all men and especially unto theâ—â— who are of the houshold of 〈…〉 l. 6. 10. God is not unriâ—â—â—eous that he will forget your â—orks and labour â—â—at proceedeth of love which love ye have shewed for his names 〈◊〉 who have ministred to 〈◊〉 Saints and yet do minister Heb. 6. 10. To do good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased He. 13. 16 Be merciful after thy power if thou hast much give plenteously if thou hast little do thy diligence gladly to give of that little for so gatherest thou thy self a good reward in the day of necessity Tob 4. 8 9. He that hath pitty on the poor lendeth unto the Lord and look what 〈◊〉 â—ayeth out it shall be paid 〈◊〉 again Prov. 19. 17. Blessed 〈…〉 that provideth 〈…〉 needy the Lorâ—â—hall deliver him in the time of trouble 〈◊〉 1. 1. When they have given their alms they shall 〈◊〉 while if they have time and discourse upon any pious subject that offers viz. what objects of Charity they know particularly such as have lived well hcretofore and what young men of their acquaintance may be gain'd over to a vertuous conversation and if there be any difficulty or case of Conscience necessary to be resolved or any religious affair to be settled let it be then propounded and calmly discoursed of After which let a Psalm be sung and after that let them all repeat the Apostles Creed standing and then let the Prelector conclude with these Collects every man kneeling C Assist us mercifully O Lord in these our supplications and Prayers and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help thro Jesus Christ our Lord Amen O Almighty Lord and everlasting God vouchsafe we beseech thee to direct sanctify govern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of thy laws and in the works of thy Commandments that through thy most mighty protection both here ever we may be preserved both in body and soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen Blessed Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of Charity that we may love thee above all things and sincerely love our neighbour for thy sake and endeavor the benefit of his precious soul Make us ever more fearful of his danger than of his displeasure and more desirous of his good than of his favour Give us therefore Christian courage to reprove wisdom to advise councel to direct and prudence to know how and when and what to speak as we ought to do and O let a spirit of reformation be in us to put a stop to that profaness irreligion that reigns among us and do thou magnify thy power in the weakness of the instruments thou makest use of Give us clean and pure hearts and so strengthen our good resolutions with thy holy Spirit that we may never faint nor grow weary of the work we have undertaken And that it may be successful give us the spirit of Love and Peace and Unity that no differences may ever disturb us or hinder our design of teaching Sinners thy ways and drawing others to thy love that so when thou shalt come to gather thy Saints together we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be all praise and glory now and for ever Awen O most holy and gracious Lord who in the holy Scriptures hast told us that tho we shou'd perform all that thou hast commanded we are still unprofitable Servants we prostrate our selves before thee with the lowest humility of soul and body acknowledging that we are but sinful dust and ashes and not only unprofitable but disobedient and ungrateful to thee and we beseech thee to inspire into our hearts such a sense of our own unworthiness that no success may make us high-minded no perfections of our own make us proud and conceited nor the sins of other men make us uncharitable and consorious that whilst we endeavour to bring others into the way of Piety and Religion we our selves may not be cast away O let us not boast with the Pharisee of our labours and services what-ever they shall be but rather with the Publican smite our breasts and say Lord be merciful to us sinners thro the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen O GOD our Refuge and Strength who art the Author of all Godliness hear we beseech thee the devout Prayers of thy Servants and grant that those things which we have ask'd faithfully we may obtain effectually through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Lord bless us and keep us the Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us Peace now and for evermore Amen A Prayer to be used before the last Collect by the Societies of Married men Taken out of the 91 Psalm O Almighty Lord under whose defence and shadow we and our Families do dwell in security We bless thy Name for all thy former mercies and we beseech thee to continue thy care and protection of us and all our concerns Thou art our hope and our strong hold and our God in whom we will trust O defend us under thy wings and let us be safe under thy feathers and let thy faithfulness and truth be our shield and buckler Let us not be afraid of any terror by night nor of the arrow that slieth by day nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor the sickness that destroyeth at noon-day Let no evil happen unto us nor any plague come nigh our dwellings and give thy Angels charge over us and our Families to keep us in all thy ways that after thou hast blest us with a good life in this world thou mayest shew us thy salvation in the world to come For the sake and merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen Rules to be consented to and subscribed by such as desire to be Members of the Religious Societics in the Kingdom of Ireland 1. THE sole design of these Societies being to promote holiness of life 't is necessary
leave 'em next morning yet the Primitive Writers do all speak as if the day were wholly and entirely dedicated to Religious uses And this I mention because there are some that pretend to observe the Lord's Day and yet spend the greatest part of it in any indifferent employment or recreation no way serviceable to the ends of Religion Now this being one of the principal ends of your meeting together this must needs be a great encouragment to you that in this you resemble the blessed Saints of the pure and primitive Church 3dly We find in my Text that they continned stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine They were all of one Faith and one Church and had no controversies nor difference of opinion for their business was not to dispute about notions and empty speculations but those few fundamental truths which the Apostles taught 'em they all unanimously agree'd in and proceeded upon this foundation to build the superstructure of a holy and devout Life And this being one of your Laws and the chief foundation of your Societies that your members shall all be of one Church and one Religion and shall continue stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine in the Doctrine of the Apostolical Church Establish't in this Kingdom and that they shall not meddle with disputes and controversies but wholly apply themselves to works of Piety I need not insist longer upon your agreement with them in this particular but only exhort and entreat you to keep up to this principle and as you tender the preservation of your Societies never to admit of controversies in Religion nor of such men as are addicted to 'em but to exclude all that are not peaceably inclined And tho you are to love your enemies yet you must deny 'em this kindness of making 'em members of your Societies before they are members of your Church For if they tear the Church asunder when they have so many commands in the Scripture for the contrary how can you expect they shou'd preserve an inviolable union with you but if you do in a kind and amicable way refuse to joyn with 'em you will both secure your selves and in time gain Proselytes to the Church 4thly They continued also in breaking of bread that in receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper But whether this was daily or weekly it does not certainly appear in the Scriptures For by the 46th verse of this Chapter it seems to have been daily And they continued daily in the Temple and breaking of bread from house to house as if he had said that they went every day to the Temple to pray as the custom was among the devout Jews and from thence they went to their houses and broke bread or received the Communion together from the Apostles hands which at that time they were forced to do privately in their houses But in the 20th Chapter we find that the first day of the week was particularly set apart for Celebrating this Solemnity and by that time t is likely they found it inconvenient to receive every day and therefore appointed one day in the week to be for ever kept holy on this account chiefly and to serve instead of the Jewish Sabbath This practice of theirs you do in some measure imitate by your monthly Communion to which you oblige all your members unless in cases of necessity and exraordinary casualties and I don't question but in time you may come up to the perfection of Communitating weekly and by your examples incite so many others that all the Clergy may be encouraged to administer the Sacrament every week in their Churches for this was done by the whole Primitive Church for many hundred years and this our Liturgy supposes to be done by us where a Communion is implied as often as the Communion-Service is â—read and this wou'd be truly and properly observing the Lord's-Day which was first appointed for this purpose and consecrated chiefly by this Selemnity 5thly You find in my Text that they continued also in prayers and so in the 12th Chapter that they used to meet together for prayer tho the Apostles were not with 'em Not only each family had its own family devotion as we read of Cornelius in the 10th Chapt. but several people met at one house to 〈◊〉 up and increase each otheâ— Devotion For tho amongâ—◠〈◊〉 Deuotion is most cool in publick 〈…〉 Society does 〈…〉 it as fuel added 〈…〉 and indeed all 〈…〉 thrive and 〈…〉 example and in 〈…〉 Now the word 〈…〉 be taken in a large sense as 〈…〉 very often in the Scriptures not only for petitions and addresses immediately directed to God but for reading the Scriptures and for pious Discourses and any holy Exercise proper for such Societies And in this particular you also agree with these Primitive converts Tho as to Prayer strictly so taken you are forced to be brief in that respect at your Meetings and those few Collects you use to take 'em chiefly out of the Churches Liturgy lest you shou'd be thought to despise the Churches Service as too many do in these licentious times 6thly Another Vertue which abounded in the first Christians was that of Charity or Alms-giving For we are told in the verses following my Text that they had all things in common and sold their possessions goods and parted them to all men as every man had need And so in the 4th Chapter and 32th Verse That none of them said that ought of the things he possess'd was his own but they had all things common But this extraordinary degree or rather this way of Charity by selling and dividing their possessions was proper to that time and that particular number of Christians and not afterwards imitated even by the Primitive Church For then there was no danger nor possibility of wanting tho they sold their possessions because the Divine Providence had an extraordinary and particular care over those men as appears by that passage in the 11th Chap. of the Acts where Agabus prophesied of a Famine that was approaching and gave warning to make provision for the Saints that dwelt at Jerusalem which were the people mention'd in my Text. And besides this Society of men being a sort of Nursery to the Catholick Church of the whole World and the members of it continually chosen out to be sent abroad they had reason to fell their Lands and do many other things which are not so necessary in a settled condition of the Church The right imitation therefore of these Christians consists in this in being extraordinary charitable to the utmost of our abilities and if we have but little in giving gladly of that little and yet if we have nothing out charity may be like theirs as we find in the next Chapter where St. Peter and St. John the chief of all the Church had neither Gold nor Silver and cou'd give no Alms to the poor Beggar And thus you imitate the first Christians at your meetings by giving Alms
according to your abilities and making this one part of your employment at that time to consider what objects of charity are in greatest want of your relief and contribute your mite to 'em which our Saviour says is as great as all the treasures of rich men and surely when others that are more able to give Alms are stir'd up by your example they will be ashamed to give so sparingly as the custom is now among the wealthier sort of people Under this head of Charity I must add something concerning Justice to our Neighbour a Vertue most strictly observ'd by all the Primitive Christians in their contracts and dealings with other men For tho it is not expresly mention'd in this place yet it is plainly intimated and follows of necessity from the other Vertue For if they were so charitable as to give all their Riches and Estates to the poor they cou'd not be supposed to do any act of injustice tho they might gain the whole World by it And this I mention to you because by your professions you are always employed in those actions that are the subject of Justice and therefore as you have already gain'd a great reputation for honesty and fair dealing so I must beg and entreat you to take a particular care hereafter of all your actions in reference to this duty that you may not be like the hypocrites of these times that pretend piety design advantage but like the Christians in my Text that thought of nothing but the necessaries of Life and despised riches and all other blessings when they came in competition with the duties of Justice and Charity 7thly Another Vertue and the last I shall mention in which you agree with them is a servent zeal and concern for the conversion and salvation of other men the noblest of all the Graces and the perfection and fulness or rather the overflowing of Religion and Piety than which nothing can be more acceptable to God more serviceable to the Church and more advantagious to your own souls For they that bring many to righteousness shall shine like the stars for ever and ever and not only shall be like the Angels but like the Son of God whose only business upon earth was to reform and save Sinners from destruction Now the Christians mention'd in my Text were above all others remarkable for this Vertue they met together as an heathen Author said of 'em not to conspire against the Government but against Injustice and Adultery and other Sins and all their ambition and their whole employment was to root out Errors and Irreligion from the hearts of men And tho it was the peculiar office of the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel to Preach publickly to others yet to admonish and instruct privately they thought their duty and never rested from performing it Thus in the 18th Chap. of the Acts Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos to them and in private expounded the way of God to him more perfectly And such expressions as these are common in St. Paul's Epistles Greet Aquila and Priscilla my helpers in Christ Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa who labour in the Lord. For if the people had not been zealous in promoting the common work of Piety and true Religion by admonishing and instructing in a private way every man his own Friends Acquaintances 't is impossible that the few Apostles and Clergy of those times shou'd have gain'd the tith of those innumerable proselytes to Goodness and Christianity And the same thing may be affirm'd of this present age that if others do not help the Clergy and contribute what assistance is proper for them towards the work of Reformation we must expect that Vertue will still decay and the World grow worse and more irreligious every day I know few or none excepting your selves that are sensible of this duty but you have endeavour'd to imitate the pattern set before you in my Text and have made your selves like the first Christians a nursery and seminary of Vertue and good Morality and true Religion and God has shewed his approbation of your design as he did in the first planting of Christianity by the great success of your labours and the extraordinary encrease of your number in so short a time as it has been since you begun this work so great an increase that if it shou'd continue in the same proportion but a few years longer Vertue wou'd become the fashion and Vice grow scandalous for want of number to encourage and defend it I might here use a multitude of arguments to shew how it is your duty and your interest your eternal interest and the interest of the Church and Kingdom that you shou'd continue stedfast and immovable in this Vertue and how encrease and multiply is not only the first most necessary command of the Creation but in a spiritual sense of the Gospel also and the Christian Religion But my design was to press upon you this and the other duties only by the motive of conforming your selves to the first and best of all Christians which I thought was most likely to prevail upon all that have the right and genuine temper of Christianity And thus far I have made the comparison between you and them in 7 Particulars 1 In meeting together to carry on the publick work 2 In meeting upon the Lord's-Day to keep that holy 3 In continuing stedfastly in one Apostolical Faith 4 In breaking of bread or receiving the Communion frequently 5 In continuing also in Prayer both publick and private 6 In Charity or Alms-giving 7 In Zeal and Fervor for the Conversion and Salvation of other men Which Rules of your Society may you always observe and never sail to have the same success with which God has hitherto blest your endeavours But as you are like the first Christians in all these particulars so you must remember that there is one thing which I intimated at first in which you cannot resemble them and that is the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost which for many years upheld and encouraged their endeavours You must not expect I say that God will work such wonders as he did then for your assistance and encouragement for the time of miracles is over and therefore In the 1st place since you cannot depend upon miracles be so much the more careful and diligent in your work and make up the want of them by resolution and constancy You will meet with the same obstacles and the same dangers excepting Martyrdom but be not discouraged or frightned by it some will laugh at you and others will censure and affront you and perhaps your numbers may not encrease as you expect but let not all this dishearten you for your design is noble and heroick and your labour will be rewarded as much as if you had converted the whole world to a sense of Piety and Religion 2dly Since you have no miracles to preserve you nor any extraordinary inspiration such
A SERMON Preached before The Religious Societies In the City of Dublin On the 29th of Septemb. 1695. Together with the method to be observed by them at their Meetings and the Laws of their Society with the 39 Articles of the Church of Ireland By B. Scroggs D. D. Dublin Printed for Jacob Milner and are to be Sold at his Shop over against the End of Essex-Bridge in Essex-street 1695 To the several Religious Societies in the Kingdom of Ireland Brethren I Have Publish'd this short Discourse according to your Request and if you are profited by it and encouraged to prosecute the Good Work you are engaged in I am not much concern'd what Censure the world may pass upon it I have also added the Laws and Method to be observ'd by all your Societies thro the whole Kingdom and have made a few alterations and such additions as you desired in the devotion used at your Meetings and if in any thing else I can serve you I shall neither spare my pains nor my prayers for you nor any charges as far as my abilities extend And now I must beg leave to put you in mind of a Duty which I have so Frequently and Earnestly urged and repeated heretofore that above all things you avoid all dissentions and divisions the fatal Rock upon which the noblest designs do so often split and miscarry and which has almost ruin'd Christianity it self against which no persecution nor malice of the Enemy cou'd ever prevail And therefore beware lest you receive any into your Societies that come for this end to disturb and distract you not out of ill-will to Religion in general but to the Establish't Church which by your examples is likely to be encreas'd as well as edified Avoid all disputes and then you cannot fall into any violence of passion and if you shou'd be angry you must stifle it in the beginning and never suffer it to proceed to a division or separation or a settled grudge or animosity between parties And to this end let every single man resolve to reconcile his Brethren when they are at difference and let all in general agree to put strictly in Execution that Law which you have for this purpose And may the Favorer and Protector of all good designs continue and encrease the success of your Endeavours and give you courage and prudence and perseverance and all the Graces that are necessary to carry on this great and blessed Undertaking This shall always be the Prayer of Your most Affectionate Brother and Humble Servant B. Scroggs Acts of the Apost 2 Chap. 42 Verse And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and in Prayers THo I mention only this Verse for my Text yet my design is to take for my Subject all the manners and customs of the first best of all Christians described in this and the following Chapters by the Evangelist St. Luke and because my discourse is intended only for those societies of young men that have lately assembled themselves with design to imitate that primitive Zeal and Piety I shall take leave to speak only what 's proper to them and that also in a more plain and familiar way than is usal in this place All good men must be Transported with joy to see any thing in this wicked age like that Fervour and Life of Religion that ran thro the whole body of the Primitive Church It shou'd be as pleasant and surprizing as to find Life returning into the eyes and limbs of a dead friend and certainly if ever Christianity be recover'd it must be by such means as are now beginning to be used it must be by religious societies and combinations against the Enemy of our souls by which we warm and excite and encourage and direct one another and to think to do this by the zeal or prudence or the labours of single men is as great a folly as to expect the conquest of our temporal enemies by sending one man at a time to wage war with their whole armies I might insist long upon this subject in shewing the use and necessity of societies for the reducing of piety to its primitive vigour but at present t will be sufficient to justifie and recommend to all good men these particular societies from the practise of those Christians mention'd in my Text for tho they cannot equal 'em in that extraordinary degree of Piety nor imitate 'em in the miraculous power of the spirit yet it is plain that they resemble 'em in most other respects as I shall now prove by several instances 1st The Christians mention'd in my Text did often meet and converse together to improve one another in Piety and onflame each others Zeal and this I take to be the meaning of the word Fellowship in my Text not only the fellowship of the Apostles tho this must also be understood but fellowship with one another in their houses and in the absence of the Apostles For the number of the new Converts being then so great that at one Sermon no fewer than threethousand were converted it was impossible that the Apostles shou'd every day be present at every Congregation or Assembly in their houses And besides we have examples of such Meetings in the Scriptures where the people in the absence of the Clergy have met together in a private way for devotion and other holy ends as we find in the 12th Chapt. of the Acts where upon the disporsion and flight of the Apostles Peter came to the house of Mary and found there many Disciples gathered together for Prayer Now tho these Assemblles of Christians were in this unlike our Societies that the people in them were of all ages and sexes and conditions but here only men under certain qualifications are admitted yet their example will warrant and justise our practise and if one be lawful the other is at least as warrantable since the design and consequence of their meeting is the same as I shall shew it to be hereafter In the mean while we shall suppose 'em thus far to be like in their meeting together in houses for private Religious exercises And 2dly They are also like in respect of the time of their meeting which was chiefly upon the Lord's-Day This day was Consecrated at first by the Apostles and Primitive Christians assembling upon it for several religious ends and tho these Assemblies met daily and kept holy every day of the week and every day of their lives yet the day they kept most holy was the Lord's-Day as we read in the 20th of the Acts and the 7th verse Upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread that is to receive the Sacrament In which place we may observe that the whole day was kept holy and spent in Religious exercises for St. Paul continued his preaching till it was midnight and tho this was more than ordinary because the Apostle was to