THE Compleat Conformist OR SEASONABLE ADVICE CONCERNING STRICT CONFORMITY AND Frequent Celebration OF THE Holy Communion IN A SERMON Preached on the seventh of January being the first Sunday after the Epiphany in the Year 1682. at the Cathedral And in a Letter written to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Durham By Denis Grenville D.D. Archdeacon and Prebendary of Durham LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1684. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND Right Reverend Father in God NATHANIEL Lord Bishop of DURHAM AND Clerk of the Closet to His Majesty My Lord AS it hath been matter of great Joy to all Devout Christians that God hath put it into the Heart of our most Reverend Primate of All England to attempt the Revival of Primitive Piety and the long Eclipsed Honour of our Saviour by restoring a weekly Celebration of the Holy Sacrament in his Metropolitical Church so I am confident it must needs be an extraordinary satisfaction to the Regular Clergy of your own Diocess where Conformity hath fluorished in a high measure blessed be God ever since the Restauration As I acknowledge it my Duty my Lord to render my self by all means whether in season or out of season serviceable to God's Church especially to the Jurisdiction under you wherein his Providence hath placed me so the due Obedience and Reverence I justly bear you oblige me to dedicate to your Lordship the pains I have taken to promote a frequent Parochial Celebration of the Holy Communion humbly beseeching your Lordship to Countenance this seasonable performance of my Duty and honest Design to quicken my Brethren in the faithful discharge of their Office And I do assure your Lordship that I shall never Endeavour to promote my own private Phantasies either by adding to or diminishing from the Established Laws of our Church but as firmly as my weakness will permit shall strive to maintain that excellent Order and Discipline which the Publick Authority of the Church hath obliged us all unto and as both your Self and Predecessor have enjoyned me I shall as strenuously and prudently as I am capable administer the same for the promotion of the true end thereof the Glory of God and Salvation of those committed to my Care Since I know I can neither do God nor your Lordship more real and I hope more acceptable service than in so doing That my Sermon which was preached in my ordinary Course at the Cathedral was never intended for the Press will easily appear from the Examination of the Discourse it self and that it was not Vanity nor an Itch to be in Print which was the motive to this Publication will I am persuaded be readily granted by all those who consider that it carries with it no Temptation to expose it to publick View but some well meant Zeal which in a Censorious Age is more apt to procure Contempt than Commendation Had I not in the Applicatory part for the sake whereof I now set it forth pressed with some earnestness the Topick of Conformity and the chief part thereof frequent Communion which to promote is the main design of this Application to my Brethren it had never seen the Light at present But having in the Conclusion of the Sermon set a Scheme of Conformity before the eyes of the Laity as I have in my Letter to the Clergy presented them with another belonging to Ecclesiasticks I judged the Discourses not unfit to accompany since they may strengthen one the other As an honest desire to contribute to the Publick Good was my chief reason for publishing my Sentiments in these matters so is it a considerable motive for my presuming in this manner to present them to your Lordship that I may discharge my own Conscience and demonstrate how much I am My Lord Your Lordships most obedient and most humble Servant D. G. Newly Published SHort Discourses upon the whole Common-Prayer designed to inform the Judgment and excite the Devotion of such as daily use the same by Tho. Comber D. D. The Laver of Regeneration and the Cup of Salvation two plain and profitable Discourses upon the two Sacraments The one laying open the Nature of Baptism and earnestly pressing the serious consideration and religious observation of the Sacred Vow made by all Christians in their Baptism The other pressing as earnestly the frequent Renewing of our Baptismal Vow at the Lords holy Table Demonstrating the indispensible necessity of Receiving and the great sin and danger of Neglecting the Lords Supper with Answers to the chief Pretences whereby the Absenters would excuse themselves The General Catalogue of Books Printed in England since the Dreadful Fire 1666 to the end of Trinity Term 1684. To which are added a Catalogue of Latine Books Printed in Foreign parts and in England since the year 1670. Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in S. Pauls Church Yard A SERMON JOHN I. 29. Behold the Lamb of God THE very first word of my Text doth powerfully command your attention and require you to behold him to day whom the Church presented as manifested yesterday which will be no unseasonable Meditation you will find if you examine the Services of the respective Sundays after the Epiphany till the Purification It is no small matter in Scripture that hath an Ecce prefixed thereunto and nothing can better deserve it than those passages that relate to our Lord 's wonderful Incarnation namely God manifested in the Flesh to be true and very man Born of a Virgin the chief subject of Devotion on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity or the man Christ Jesus manifested to be God the subject of the Devotions on the Feast of the Epiphany three several ways First By the Wise mens coming to worship him twelve days after his Birth Secondly By a Voice from Heaven at his Baptism thirty years after And thirdly By his first Miracle in Cana of Galilee where he turned Water into Wine Which way soever we turn our Eyes to behold either God manifested to be Man or Man manifested to be God the Spectacle will be glorious and wonderful and every way deserving of our highest Admiration and Praise which is in a particular manner proper for our consideration at this Instant when we are approaching to the Table of our Lord to feed on his blessed Body and Bloud And that that holy Duty of the Altar as well as the other of the Pulpit may succeed to the honour of God and comfort of our Souls let us beg the assistance of God's most holy Spirit c. Ye shall pray for the holy Catholick Church of Christ the Congregation of Christian People c. Behold the Lamb of God Never any Spectacle in the world so well deserved a Crier to call the People to behold it as this in the Text Nor was there any man in the world so fit to call Spectators to this Spectacle as the Baptist God is come down into the World in the Form of a
assurance of our eternal Salvation to their just honour and use by frequent celebration the want whereof hath caused them to fall under a most grievous neglect if not heinous contempt even among the generality of reformed Christians a great part of them going no farther than just to satisfie the Law not good Conscience and many who yet pretend much zeal for our Church not far enough to satisfie either To set about so excellent and Christian a Work besides the Call at this time from our Superiours we have more Arguments to encourage than discourage us For First There do appear blessed be God some better tokens both of Religion and Loyalty than for some years past among the people of the Nation Men seem better than heretofore disposed towards good order in general and begin to be awaked into some sense of their Duty to God and the King nay into some real feeling it is to be hoped that it is their Interest to stick close to the established Religion and Prerogative of their Sovereign rather than to consume all their zeal in a needless concern for the Liberty and Property of the Subject in less danger than any where in the World Most People seem now very well convinced of the necessity of the execution of the Law and in particular of the Act of Uniformity the scandalous neglect of which upon Examination may be found one special cause of the disorders both in Church and State And very considerable steps have been made in sundry places of the Nation towards a better settlement Our gracious Sovereign hath for his own part done even Wonders in new modelling the Capital City of the Nation wherein God's Providence hath evidently appeared in blessing His Majesty in the dexterous management of Affairs by reducing that ungovernable body to so considerable degree of Obedience A famous Lord Mayor and sundry Loyal and faithful Members of that Body for whom the whole Nation hath great reason to bless God have also done their parts worthily in withstanding the Rabble who it were and not the City of London that did so furiously bend themselves under a specious shew of Religion to destroy the Government And it is well known that some faithful and painful Divines have done great things beyond expectation upon this account with very considerable success even in the City of London which one would have believed in such a degree tainted that it had been scarce possible to have reduced any Congregation to half that order and decency which is by the mercy of God visible in many And we have Instances God be praised of the like nature not only in our City of London but in other parts of the Nation Devout People also in several places have made Addresses to the Clergy to enjoy more frequency of Communions What remains then but that we of the Clergy should faithfully and vigorously do our parts in our respective Stations towards the restoring decayed Piety by the diligent and reverend use of the most effectual and infallible means to produce so desirable an end which are those of Christ's own Institution namely the faithful and religious Feeding at his Table eating his Body and drinking his Bloud Thus piously commemorating the pretious Death of our dear Lord until his coming again And these things considered it is more easie for all Priests for us especially to set about the faithful discharge of their Duty than it hath been for many years past God hath defeated the Rage and Craft of the Enemies that would undermine us as well as those that would devour us We have in some manner regained God make us sensible and thankful our lost ground and are or may be if we please in circumstances to do the same things that were unhappily slip'd in practice though enjoyned at the Restoration Clergymen may now more plausibly set upon the performance of those Duties which they have long lived in the neglect of nay they can with no more safety of Reputation than of Conscience live any longer in the Omission of them For the very Laicks of our Communion do not onely invite us by their Examples to more exact conformity but very powerfully press us thereto by their Writings who with divers eminent Writers convince the Ministers as well as People of the wrong Notions they have received concerning Conformity and constancy of communicating for which honest zeal they deserve much praise In which Christian Attempt we of this Diocese have less reason than others to be remiss The Bishoprick of Durham hath been stiled long since Terra Sacerdotum and ever since the happy Return of our Sovereign it hath been more famous than other parts for Conformity and very justly for though there happen to be some Omissions even to scandal which an honest Visitor can no way approve of and which I never did nor ever shall yet in respect of most Dioceses of England we have long led the Van and outstrip'd them in good order and regularity of publick Worship to wit in a more exact observation of our Rubrick in daily Prayers and constant Catechising nay in some Country Parish Churches have enjoyed monthly Communions celebrated by fuller numbers than perhaps in some great Cities I might add and speak what I know than in some Cathedrals It is manifest therefore that the time requires an exact Conformity to the Rule of God's publick Worship being thus quickened by the Government and chief Governours of Church and State by the pious Laity as well as Clergy by both our Friends and Enemies These and other Encouragements which we have God be thanked to provoke us to attempt a higher pitch of good Order and Conformity than has ever yet obtained since the Restoration ought to ballance all the discouragements we can possibly have to the contrary and should create in us rather a hearty concern for our own excellent Religion established than an excessive aversion to other Mens We have talked Preached and written sufficiently sometimes more than enough against Fanaticism and yet all the while have lived in so constant a Breach and contempt of clear Laws of great importance and easily practicable that the Nonconformity of the Clergy hath a second time been like to prove our ruin And so on the other side while many have been enflamed with a mighty preposterous zeal against Popery they have not been concerned for the most truly and best Reformed Religion in the World yea among our selves for the last is the sin of our Adversaries for these hundred years past we have shewn much more Indignation against the corruptions of the Mass than hearty love to the Communion the contempt of which holy Institution of Christ seems to be the most visible Flaw of Professors in Reformed Christendom which is the most unaccountable part of the practice of the Church of England Men and the weakest place that we have to defend if we are attacked against our Adversaries If we therefore would ever do
may be available for the Remission of your sins He was baptized in his Natural Body that you might be Baptized Spiritually in his Mystical Body He came not to cleanse himself by the Water of Baptism for he was without sin but to sanctifie the Water of Baptism for your Purification To cleanse the Font and not himself To elevate the Water of Baptism above its natural Condition To be the Instrument of the Holy Ghost for the spiritual washing of our Souls to make it indeed such a Fountain of Water as was promised to be opened to the House of Jacob for Sin and for Uncleanness Zach. 13. 1. Behold then in the first place an Innocent Lamb. 2. As Christ is a Lamb for Innocency so likewise for Patience and Meekness St John Baptist might have called him as in the Revelation The Lion of the Tribe of Judah but then they might have feared him for what more terrible than a Lion But that he might not hinder their Baptizing whose Baptism he came to sanctifie St. John calls him a Lamb which as every one knows is sincerum simplex sine fraude Pecus the meekest sincerest and most simple Creature Every other Creature hath some Frowardness in it Even the Fly hath its spleen and the Worm that is trod on turns again but the Lamb is led to the slaughter without striving and is dumb before the Shearer not opening his mouth Esay 53. A most notable Instance whereof was seen in our Lord Jesus's sufferings for was not Christ just such a Lamb shorn if I may so say and shaven by the cruel Censure of an unjust Judge at Gabbatha John 19. 13. and slaughtered by his bloudy Crucifiers at Golgotha ver 51. and yet all this while never moved to any Impatience They Fleece him of his Coat fley him of his Skin if not wholly yet in part by their Whipping and Scourging and Goaring of him more Pitiful to his Coat than to his Skin and Body and yet he is still as meek as a Lamb. He endures all their Butcherly handling of him with silent Patience without Clamour and without Complaint who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not 1 Pet. 2. 23. There was a Sword drawn by one in our Saviours defence and a wound given by it but it was much against his Will who to shew his dislike Cured the Wound and check'd his Disciple for giving it Mat. 26. 52. John 18. 11. and therefore this Act of the Disciple can be no prejudice to his Master's Patience who was so harmless that he never did hurt to other and so wonderfully meek that he never resisted those that injured him Though the Wrongs he suffered were extreme the Indignity he bare to Flesh and Bloud intolerable yet in this Extremity he commits his Cause to him that judgeth righteously and for all the Cruelty and Indignity which he underwent he never opened his mouth in anger not one ill word against his Persecutors but many good ones for them All the Revenge that he desires is that no Vengeance be taken on them Father forgive them for they know not what they do Moses the meekest man upon the Earth had his Patience moved at Meribah Numbers 20. 10 11 12 13. The Patience of Job is famous even to a Proverb and yet he often complained Beyond these and all other Examples Christ suffered more than all with the incomparable meekness of a Patient Lamb. When I think of this I cannot but wonder at the Nature and Disposition of them that call themselves Christians and yet herein are quite opposite to the nature of Christ And that such a glorious Example of Virtue should be no more prevalent with us and have no power on us He indured for our sakes all things that were most painful to Humane Nature without the least kind of murmuring or complaint He suffered Reproaches Revilings Scoffings Scorning Buffeting Whipping Death it self nay a most painful and shameful one without the least desire of Revenge When we alas poor despicable Worms cannot for any sake God's sake or Christ Jesus sake suffer the least contradiction either to our Nature or our Humour A little loss of Reputation or Goods which are less valuable a Blow or but a Word sometimes are thought things intolerable All our power and might on such trifling accounts as if Vengeance were ours and not God's is presently raised to revenge our Quarrel In this our Nature crosseth our Title for if we be Christians we must be Anointed with some Drops of that Oyl with some degrees of those Virtues that so much abounded in him So saith St. Peter in the present Case He gave himself an Example that we should follow his steps Christs sheep hear his Voice and follow him Joh. 10. 27. His Disciples all that belong to him are Sheep not Goats not Wolves but Lambs Innocent and meek Lambs 3. As Christ is Innocent and meek so like a Lamb he is profitable also As a Lamb to the Owner affords both his Fleece and his substance one to Cloath him the other to Feed him so is Christ to us both our Garment to cover our Sin and our Food to nourish our Souls How Christ is our Garment to cover our sin hath been the subject of a former Sermon and the design of this Discourse and Duties of the Day will not give leave to repeat how he becomes our Food I hope you will find soon after by experience in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper on which I shall reflect in the Application but before that we have two particulars to be yet briefly handled It is remarkable the Baptist calls him not simply a Lamb but The Lamb and not barely so but The Lamb of God II. Behold The Lamb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lamb which the Prophet Esay foreshewed to be the Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of his People Esay 53. 7. The Lamb prefigured by Moses in the Passover Exod. 12. As the Bloud of the Lamb sprinkled upon the Posts of the Door saved the Israelites from the Plague of the Destroyer so the Bloud of this Lamb sprinkled by Faith on our Hearts shall preserve us from Sin and all the Powers of Darkness In a word The Lamb that was Prefigured in all the other Lambs under the Law That in the Daily Offering That in the Trespass Offering and That in the Peace Offering all of them and all other Legal Sacrifices the Truth the Substance of them all is in this Lamb. Which Lamb is our Passover 1 Cor. 5. 7. We have no other Way or Means to make the Lord pass over the houses of our Souls in the Day of his Wrath but by the observing of this Passover He only is our Propitiation 1 Joh. 2. 1. We have no other Sacrifice for Sin no other Peace-Offering our Reconciliation our Atonement is only in his Bloud who alone was perfectly Innocent fit to Redeem Sinners essentially Meek and Patient fit to
most notoriously displeased God and defiled our own Consciences The Exercise of these things in sincerity though not in Perfection are Essentially necessary to secure unto us the Pardon of our Sins and a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Which as it is the main design of all our receptions of the Lords Supper so should it be more especially our business when we perform this Duty at great and solemn Festivals and so extraordinary a Time when the very newness of the Year will powerfully invite us to newness of Life Such as are perfectly deaf to this Call and can resist all the Invitations we have from the very Time and Custom to amend our ways are not likely to make it much the business of their Thoughts for the remaining part of the Year To begin well does not absolutely necessitate a good Conclusion but certainly is a considerable step towards the same otherwise it would never have been familiarized into a Proverb What 's well begun is half ended Let us all then I beseech you in the name of God take care how we enter upon the New-year without newness of Life after having received so many Mercies and committed so many Sins the Year past Among those Gifts which Custom doth oblige us to bestow let us in the first place give our Hearts unto God Let the Glutton and Drunkard renounce his sottish Intemperance Let the common Swearer renounce his inexcusable sin of Profanation of God's Name Let the Malicious renounce his Malice and Revenge Let the Proud and Imperious renounce his Haughtiness of Mind Let the wretched Miser renounce his Avarice and oppression of his Brother Let the Furious and wrathful renounce his Anger and Impatience And lastly let the stupid Sluggard I mean chiefly in reference to Religion forsake his Sloth and carelessness of his precious and immortal Soul Let every Sinner renounce his most beloved sin and seasonably discharge himself of that Burthen which may chance as light as he makes it to press him before another Anniversary into Hell We are all yet God be praised alive and have our Day of Salvation continued to us and are capable to lay hold on Eternal Life Our merciful and gracious God hath carried us thus far through the dangers of Body and Soul wherewith we have been from our Cradles incompassed But that we should all here present every individual Person live to see another Year and to enjoy the blessed opportunity which I fear too many of us will wilfully reject of Feasting on our Saviour's Body and Bloud in this very place is hardly possible to conceive It is highly probable that sundry of our Friends and Acquaintance who did with as much confidence as we do at present promise themselves long life a year ago are now mouldred into Durst and gone before us into the Land of Darkness where they inherit as the Wise man speaks as to the state of the Body nothing but Worms and creeping things And that we should think our selves more immortal than those that have gone before us is contrary to all Reason as well as daily Experience Certain it is that it would become us the best of us if we consider our selves but as men indued with Common Sense to take a little more care of our future state and how we do launch forth unprepared into the Ocean of Eternity and descend into the Grave out of which there is no Redemption Upon these and the like Considerations methinks we should without any more ado all resolve for the remainder of our days to be as constant Guests at our Lord's Table as he requires and our Duty obligeth us to and in particular none should dare let slip the present Call we have from the very Season to a Heavenly Banquet where we may have Communion with the God of Heaven Converse with the Holy Angels and Feast on the Son of God and thereby be made partakers of those inestimable benefits Christ purchased for us by his bitter and bloudy Death and Passion namely pardon of Sins sanctifying Grace and a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Here here is the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and truest Trial not only of our growth in Grace but of our sincerity in Religion I mean how we stand affected to the holy Sacrament of Christs pretious Body and Bloud If we make that which if rightly performed is the most Essential part of God's Service a Ceremony to be done when we have little or nothing else to do and can contentedly without just or lawful Impediment absent our selves from God's House even at the most solemn times of Celebration or can boldly without scruple turn our backs on the Lord's Table a higher Act of profane Contempt than the former when we see it ready furnished and hear our Dear Lord and Saviour summoning us by his Ministers and inviting us to Sup with him in order to our being Everlastingly happy we are either grosly ignorant stupendiously negligent or egregiously profane To produce in our Souls an earnest longing to be united to our Dear Lord and Saviour by Faith Hope and Charity and to receive these Pledges of his Love in these holy Mysteries is the main End both of our Prayers and Sermons And therefore to dote so much on a Sermon as to justle out the Sacrament the highest Office of Christian Religion is a most Preposterous way of Devotion and a Piece of Anti-Christianism rather than Christianity for the chief design of Sermons is to fit and prepare for this Sacrament without doing whereof no Sermon can be prevalent and effectual to a holy life which made a great and holy Writer of our own Country declare in his Works That he knew not what those Sermons did signifie that did no ways dispose towards the Reception of the blessed Eucharist which cannot be denied to be the most undoubted Instrument and best means to convey Grace to and promote Vertue in a Christian Soul This caused the Church of England too we may conceive to keep her ground in the Reformation in retaining part of her Communion Service on all Sundays and Holy-days even when there is no Celebration Proclaiming that she is always ready to give it as a worthy Church-man notes whensoever any People shall be so Religiously disposed as to desire it nay absolutely enjoyning it in all those solemn places whether Collegiate Churches or Colledges where she was assured of an Assembly of Priests and Deacons from whom she might justly expect more constant attendance and higher Devotion taking care that when she rejected the Corruptions Superstitions and Idolatries of the Mass she might pay as much respect as a degenerate and indevout Age would bear unto the Communion no where condemning the Daily Celebration heretofore practised or yet retained in any Christian Church but the solitary Communion of the Popish Priests and their way of Offering up Christ daily as a Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead neither of which can be
but also in Parish Churches not only in great Cities and Towns but even in the Country whereof God be praised in this Diocese we want not some Instances we of the Clergy ought to proceed farther towards a right and due administration of the holy Sacrament using our utmost diligence in the administration thereof in our Churches and utmost zeal in quickning of people to repair to it with due Reverence and frequency not doubting but that in a short time by God's blessing we shall see the Lord's Table as well furnished once a Month in Country Parishes as it hath been of late even in some Cathedrals and Weekly Sacraments in them â—re long as well frequented as Monthly have been for the time past For these means of Grace being of Christ's own Institution must be acknowledged the most effectual to revive Devotion and encrease Religion in a profane Age. And consequently the frequent and Reverend Administration of the holy Sacrament and the peoples right use of the same being the most probable course that can be taken in order to the salvation of their Souls it becomes the duty of every faithful Priest zealously to embrace this blessed opportunity to concur with the will of their Superiours for the enjoyment of more frequent opportunities As the decay of true devotion and Divine Charity in the World did first occasion among Priests this deplorable negligence whereof there is great ground of complaint so the inexcusable neglect of Administring the holy Eucharist hath sadly encreased Indevotion and uncharitableness among Men. If we then do heartily and sincerely desire the Revival of Christian Piety and brotherly Love let us betake our selves to the right use of those admirable means that our dear Lord and Saviour instituted to the very end and purpose to beget and encrease those and all other necessary Graces in Mens Souls Whether we consider the present circumstances of our own Church and Kingdom or the publick state of Christendom we have at this time an especial Call to the Duties of the Altar We have here in this Nation of late received some never to be forgotten Mercies at the hands of our Heavenly Father nay God hath extended his Love also this year past in an extraordinary manner to all Christendom in preserving the Christian Army against the Infidels and some very remarkable returns of Gratitude to Almighty God are incumbent upon all that profess Christianity For God having removed in a good measure our Fears at home and defeated in a signal manner our common Enemy abroad gratulatory Sacrisices were never more seasonable Such stupendious Mercies as we have been partakers of deserve more than one single day of Thanksgiving and the most acceptable returns of Thanks that we can possibly make to our gracious God will be those praises that are from Reformed Lives sincere Hearts and mortified Souls devoutly offered to him at his Altar Gratitude is the most essential Grace to a good Communicant and doth denominate the Eucharist The best standing Monument then of our thanks unto God will be our vigorous endeavours to restore this blessed Sacrament to its due Reverence and esteem being to us the communication of the Body and Blood of Christ This seems to be the sence of the Fathers of our Church in chusing this critical Minute to restore the holy Eucharist to a Weekly Celebration in Cathedrals to their high honour and praise and the great comfort of truly devout Souls We have had more than sufficient experience both in Church and State of the dismal effects of Irregularity in God's publick Worship and there is little ground of hopes that we shall ever be delivered from the contagion of Conventicles as long as the example of our own People and too often God knows our own Clergy spawn new Nonconformists i. e. while they are but half Conformists themselves they give wrong measures to disaffected or indifferently affected people and insinuate into them very wrong Notions of Conformity so that much more exactness of obedience to the Laws of the Church both in Priest and People must be concluded absolutely necessary towards our settlement And therefore all Priests would do well to remember that their publick assent and consent to their Common-prayer Book the subscription of the 3d Article in the 36. Canon and the sealing with their Saviours Blood at their Ordination all their holy Vows and Resolutions to practise such diligence in their Office and holiness of Life as is incumbent upon a good Priest do render those that have not made it their serious endeavours to observe their Rule of Conformity grounded on the Law of God established by the Authority of the Church and State and confirmed by their own Acts and Deeds highly guilty both before God and Man In the next place Lay-people also would do well to consider that they have publick Obligations to observe their Common-prayer Book when they are in the publick Assembly as far as it concerns them as is shewn in the conclusion of the Sermon To which Law there must be better regard had than there hath been or we are like to continue in very tottering circumstances But all the noise that hath been or can be made by Clergy or Laity about Conformity will signifie nothing but aggravate mens guilt if both are not really Conformists which no Man can be who is a contemner of the holy Sacrament of our Lord's Supper Our respect thereto is the best Argument that we can give either of our Conformity or Christianity And truly those that pay no more regard to the Sacrament than they are driven to by the very penalty of the Law give very bad proof of their sincerity in either The right and due Administration of the holy Communion of our Saviour's Body and Blood is equal to all our Services and therefore the exactest Conformity without the due reception of the blessed Sacrament makes a person but half a Conformist nay indeed but half a Christian And it is matter of greatest wonder that such multitudes who live in the constant neglect of those sacred Mysteries and pledges of Christ's Love so as not to receive once a year can imagine themselves either They are indeed so far from giving undeniable proofs that they are true Conformists that they give no demonstration that they are not Papists nay very Heathens The Nation blessed be God begins to be somewhat sensible hereof as we may judge by those advances that have been lately made towards good order and regularity even among the people of London who if they go on as they have done for these two years last past they may by their good make some amends for the evil Example that they have given to the Nation and contribute to the cure of those Wounds which so bad a President hath given to Conformity To compleat then that excellent Rule of Conformity which the Church of England aims at there is an absolute necessity to restore these sacred Pledges and highest