blowing from one point but like light issuing from the body of the Sun it is light round about and in every word of God there is a treasure and something will be found somewhere to answer every doubt and to clear every obscurity and to teach every truth by which God intends to perfect our understandings But then take this rule with you Do not pass from plainess to obscurity nor from simple principles draw crafty conclusions nor from easiness pass into difficulty nor from wise notices draw intricate nothings nor from the wisdom of God lead your hearers into the follies of men your principles are easie and your way plain and the words of faith are open and what naturally flows from thence will be as open but if without violence and distortion it cannot be drawn forth the proposition is not of the family of faith Qui nimis emungit elicit sanguinem he that wrings too hard draws blood and nothing is fit to be offer'd to your charges and your flocks but what flows naturally and comes easily and descends readily and willingly from the fountains of salvation 4. Next to this analogy or proportion of faith let the consent of the Catholick Church be your measure so as by no means to prevaricate in any doctrine in which all Christians always have consented This will appear to be a necessary Rule by and by but in the mean time I shall observe to you that it will be the safer because it cannot go far it can be instanced but in three things in the Creed in Ecclesiastical Government and in external forms of worship and Liturgy The Catholick Church hath been too much and too soon divided it hath been us'd as the man upon a hill us'd his heap of heads in a Basket when he threw them down the hill every head run his own way quot capita tot sentèntiae and as soon as the Spirit of Truth was opposed by the Spirit of Error the Spirit of peace was disordered by the Spirit of division and the Spirit of God hath over-power'd us so far that we are only fallen out about that of which if we had been ignorant we had not been much the worse but in things simply necessary God hath preserved us still unbroken all Nations and all Ages recite the Creed and all pray the Lords Prayer and all pretend to walk by the Rule of the Commandments and all Churches have ever kept the day of Christs Resurrection or the Lords day holy and all Churches have been governed by Bishops and the Rites of Christianity have been for ever administred by separate Orders of men and those men have been always set apart by Prayer and the imposition of the Bishops hands and all Christians have been baptized and all baptized persons were or ought to be and were taught that they should be confirm'd by the Bishop and Presidents of Religion and for ever there were publick forms of Prayer more or less in all Churches and all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest in these things all Christians ever have consented and he that shall prophecy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of these things hath no part in that Article of his Creed he does not believe the Holy Catholick Church he hath no fellowship no communion with the Saints and Servants of God It is not here intended that the doctrine of the Church should be the Rule of Faith distinctly from much less against the Scripture for that were a contradiction to suppose the Church of God and yet speaking and acting against the will of God but it means that where the question is concerning an obscure place of Scripture the practice of the Catholick Church is the best Commentary Intellectus qui cum praxi concurrit est spiritus vivificans said Cusanus Then we speak according to the Spirit of God when we understand Scripture in that sense in which the Church of God hath always practis'd it Quod pluribus quod sapientibus quod omnibus videtur that 's Aristotles Rule and it is a Rule of Nature every thing puts on a degree of probability as it is witnessed by wise men by many wise men by all wise men and it is Vincentius Lirinensis great Rule of truth Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus and he that goes against what is said always and every where and by all Christians had need have a new revelation or an infallible spirit or he hath an intolerable pride and foolishness of presumption Out of the Communion of the Universal Church no man can be saved they are the body of Christ and the whole Church cannot perish and Christ cannot be a head without a body and he will for ever be our Redeemer and for ever intercede for his Church and be glorious in his Saints and g. he that does not sow in these furrows but leaves the way of the whole Church hath no pretence for his errour no excuse for his pride and will find no alleviation of his punishment These are the best measures which God hath given us to lead us in the way of truth and to preserve us from false doctrines and whatsoever cannot be prov'd by these measures cannot be necessary There are many truths besides these but if your people may be safely ignorant of them you may quietly let them alone and not trouble their heads with what they have so little to do things that need not to be known at all need not to be taught for if they be taught they are not certain or are not very useful and g. there may be danger in them besides the trouble and since God hath not made them necessary they may be let alone without danger and it will be madness to tell stories to your flocks of things which may hinder salvation but cannot do them profit And now it is time that I have done with the first great remark of doctrine noted by the Apostle in my Text all the Guides of souls must take care that the doctrine they teach be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and incorrupt the word of God the truth of the Spirit That which remains is easier 2. In the next place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grave and reverend no vain notions no pitiful contentions and disputes about little things but becoming your great employment in the ministery of souls and in this the Rules are easie and ready 1. Do not trouble your people with controversies whatsoever does gender strife the Apostle commands us to avoid and g. much more the strife it self a controversie is a stone in the mouth of the hearer who should be fed with bread and it is a temptation to the Preacher it is a state of temptation it engages one side in lying and both in uncertainty and uncharitableness and after all it is not food for souls it is the food of contention it is
therefore if you do believe this go to your prayers and go to your guards and go to your labour and try what God will do for you For whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye shall receive them and ye shall have them Now consider Do not we every day pray in the Divine Hymn called Te Deum Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin And in the Collect at morning prayer and grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doing may be ordered by thy governance to do alwayes that which is righteous in thy sight Have you any hope or any faith when you say that Prayer And if you do your duty as you can do you think the failure will be on Gods part Fear not that if you can trust in God and do accordingly though your sins were as scarlet yet they shall be as white as snow and pure as the feet of the holy Lamb. Only let us forsake all those weak propositions which cut the nerves of Faith and make it impossible for us to actuate all our good desires or to come out from the power of sin 2. He that would be free from the slavery of sin and the necessity of sinning must alwayes watch I that 's the point but who can watch alwayes Why every good man can watch alwayes and that we may not be deceived in this let us know that the running away from a temptation is a part of our watchfulness and every good employment is another great part of it and a laying in provisions of Reason and Religion before hand is yet a third part of this watchfulness and the conversation of a Christian is a perpetual watchfulness not a continual thinking of that one or those many things which may indanger us but it is a continual doing something directly or indirectly against sin He either prayes to God for his Spirit or relies upon the Promises or receives the Sacrament or goes to his Bishop for Counsel and a Blessing or to his Priest for Religious Offices or places himself at the feet of good Men to hear their wise sayings or calls for the Churches Prayers or does the duty of his calling or actually resists Temptation or frequently renews his holy Purposes or fortifies himself by Vows or searches into his danger by a daily examination so that in the whole he is for ever upon his guards * This duty and caution of a Christian is like watching lest a man cut his finger Wise men do not often cut their fingers and yet every day they use a knife and a mans eye is a tender thing and every thing can do it wrong and every thing can put it out yet because we love our eyes so well in the midst of so many dangers by Gods providence and a prudent natural care by winking when any thing comes against them and by turning aside when a blow is offered they are preserved so certainly that not one man in ten thousand does by a stroak lose one of his eyes in all his life time If we would transplant our natural care to a spiritual caution we might by Gods grace be kept from losing our souls as we are from losing our eyes and because a perpetual watchfulness is our great defence and the perpetual presence of Gods grace is our great security and that this Grace never leaves us unless we leave it and the precept of a dayly watchfulness is a thing not only so reasonable but so many easie wayes to be performed we see upon what terms we may be quit of our sins and more than Conquerors over all the Enemies and Impediments of Salvation 3. If you would be in the state of the Liberty of the Sons of God that is that you may not be servants of sin in any instance be sure in the mortifications of sin willingly or carelesly to leave no remains of it no nest-egg no principles of it no affections to it if any thing remains it will prove to us as Manna to the sons of Israel on the second day it will breed worms and stink Therefore labour against every part of it reject every proposition that gives it countenance pray to God against it all and what then Why then Ask and you shall have said Christ. Nay say some it is true you shall be heard but in part only for God will leave some remains of sin within us lest we should become proud by being innocent So vainly do men argue against Gods goodness and their own blessings and Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil sayes they contrive witty arts to undo themselves being intangled in the periods of ignorant disputations But as to the thing it self if by the remains of sin they mean the propensities and natural inclinations to forbidden objects there is no question but they will remain in us so long as we bear our flesh about us and surely that is a great argument to make us humble But these are not the sins which God charges on his people But if by remains we mean any part of the habit of sin any affection any malice or perverseness of the Will then it is a contradiction to say that God leaves in us such remains of Sin lest by innocence we become Proud for how should Pride spring in a mans heart if there be no remains of Sin left And is it not the best the surest way to cure the Pride of our hearts by taking out every root of bitterness even the root of Pride it self Will a Physitian purposely leave the Reliques of a disease and pretend he does it to prevent a relapse And is it not more likely he will relapse if the sickness be not wholly cured * But besides this If God leaves any remains of Sin in us what remains are they and of what sins Does he leave the remains of Pride If so that were a strange cure to leave the remains of Pride in us to keep us from being proud But if not so but that all the remains of Pride be taken away by the grace of God blessing our endeavours what danger is there of being proud the remains of which Sin are by the grace of God wholly taken away But then if the Pride of the heart be cured which is the hardest to be removed and commonly is done last of all who can distrust the power of the Spirit of God or his goodness or his promises and say that God does not intend to cleanse his Sons and Servants from all unrighteousness and according to S. Pauls prayer keep their bodies and souls and spirits unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus But however let God leave what remains he please all will be well enough on that side but let us be careful as far as we can that we leave none lest it be severely imputed to us and the fire break out and consume us 4. Let
us without any further question put this argument to a material issue let us do all that we can do towards the destruction of the whole body of sin but let us never say we cannot be quit of our Sin till we have done all that we can do towards the mortification of it For till that be done how can any man tell where the fault lies or whether it can be done or no If any man can say that he hath done all that he could do and yet hath failed of his duty if he can say truly that he hath endured as much as is possible to be endured that he hath watched alwayes and never nodded when he could avoid it that he hath loved as much as he could love that he hath waited till he can wait no longer then indeed if he sayes true we must confess that it is not to be understood But is there any man in the World that does all that he can do If there be that man is blameless if there be not then he cannot say but it is his own fault that his sin prevails against him It is true that no man is free from sin but it is as true that no man does as much as he can against it and therefore no man must go about to excuse himself by saying no man is free from his sin and therefore no man can be no not by the powers of grace for he may as well argue thus No man does do all that he can do against it and therefore it is impossible he should do what he can do The argument is apparently foolish and the excuse is weak and the deception visible and sin prevails upon our weak arguings but the consequence is plainly this When any man commits a sin he is guilty before God and he cannot say he could not help it and God is just in punishing every sin and very merciful when he forgives us any but he that says he cannot avoid it that he cannot overcome his lust confesses himself a servant of Sin and that he is not yet redeemed by the blood of the Holy Lamb. 5. He that would be advanced beyond the power and necessity of of sinning must take great caution concerning his thoughts and secret desires For lust when it is conceived bringeth forth sin but if it be suppressed in the conception it comes to nothing but we find it hard to destroy the Serpent when the egg is hatched into a Cockatrice The thought is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man takes notice of it but lets it alone till the sin be too strong and then we complain we cannot help it Nolo sinas cogitationem orescere suffer not your thoughts to grow up for they usually come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil says suddenly and easily and without business but take heed that you nurse them not but if you chance to stumble mend your pace and if you nod let it awaken you for he only can be a good man that raises himself up at the first trip that strangles his sin in the birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good men rise up again even before they fall saith S. Chrysostom Now I pray consider that when sin is but in the thought it is easily suppressed and if it be stopt there it can go no further and what great mountain of labour is it then to abstain from our sin Is not the Adultery of the eye easily cured by shutting the eye-lid and cannot the thoughts of the heart be turned aside by doing business by going into company by reading or by sleeping A man may divert his thoughts by shaking of his head by thinking any else by thinking nothing Da mihi Christianum saith S. Austin intelligit quod dico Every man that loves God understands this and more than this to be true Now if things be thus and that we may be safe in that which is supposed to be the hardest of all we must needs condemn our selves and lay our faces in the dust when we give up our selves to any sin we cannot be justified by saying we could not help it For as it was decreed by the Fathers of the Aurasican Council 2d. Hoc etiam secundum fidem Catholicam credimus c. This we believe according to the Catholick Faith that have received Baptismal Grace all that are baptized by the aid and cooperation of Christ must and can if they will labour faithfully perform and fulfill those things which belong unto salvation 6. And lastly If sin hath gotten the power of any one of us consider in what degree the sin hath prevailed If but a little the battel will be more easie and the victory more certain but then be sure to do it throughly because there is not much to be done But if sin hath prevailed greatly then indeed you have very much to do therefore begin betimes and defer not this work till old age shall make it extremely difficult or death shall make it impossible Nam quamvis prope te quamvis temone sub uno Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum Cum rota posterior curras in axe secundo If thou beest cast behind if thou hast neglected the duties of thy vigorous age thou shalt never overtake that strength the hinder wheel though bigger than the former and measures more ground at every revolution yet shall never overtake it and all the second counsels of thy old age though undertaken with greater resolution and acted with the strengths of fear and need and pursued with more pertinacious purposes than the early repentances of young men yet shall never overtake those advantages which you lost when you gave your youth to folly and the causes of a sad repentance However if you find it so hard a thing to get from the power of one master-sin if an old Adulterer does dote if an old Drunkard be further from remedy than a young sinner if Covetousness grows with old age if ambition be still more Hydropick and grows more thirsty for every draught of Honour you may easily resolve that old age or your last sickness is not so likely to be prosperous in the mortification of your long prevailing sins Do not all men desire to end their dayes in Religion to dye in the arms of the Church to expire under the conduct of a religious man when ye are sick or dying then nothing but prayers and sad complaints and the groans of a tremulous repentance and the faint labours of an almost impossible mortification then the despised Priest is sent for then he is a good man and his words are Oracles and Religion is truth and sin is a load and the sinner is a fool then we watch for a word of comfort from his mouth as the fearful Prisoner for his fate upon the Judges answer That which is true then is true now and therefore to prevent so intollerable a danger mortifie your sin betime for else you will hardly mortifie
therefore tell what to advise in this particular but that every Spiritual Guide should consider who are tender Consciences and who are weak Brethren and use all the ways of Piety and Prudence to instruct and to inform them that they may increase in Knowledg and Spiritual Vnderstanding But they that will be always learning and never come to the knowledge of the Truth they that will be Children of a hundred years old and never come to years of Discretion they are very unfit to guide others and to be Curates of Souls but they are most unfit to reprove the Laws and speak against the Wisdom of a Nation when it is confessed that they are so weak that they understand not the fundamental Liberty which Christ hath purchas'd for them but are servants to a Scruple and affrighted at a Circumstance and in bondage under an Indifferent Thing and so much Idolaters of their Sect or Opinion as to prefer it before all their own nobler Interests and the Charity of their Brother and the Peace of a whole Church and Nation To You my Lords and Gentlemen I hope I may say as Marcus Curius said to a stubborn young man Non opus Vos habere cive qui parere nesciret the Kingdom hath no need of those that know not how to obey But as for them who have weak and tender Consciences they are in the state of Childhood and minority but then you know that a Child is never happy by having his own humour if you chuse for him and make him to use it he hath but one thing to do but if you put him to please himself he is troubled with every thing and satisfied with nothing We find that all Christian Churches kept this Rule They kept themselves and others close to the Rule of Faith and peaceably suffered one another to differ in Ceremonies but suffered no difference amongst their own they gave Liberty to other Churches and gave Laws and no Liberty to their own Subjects And at this day the Churches of Geneva France Switzerland Germany Low-Countries tye all their people to their own Laws but tye up no mans Conscience if he be not perswaded as they are let him charitably dissent and leave that Government and adhere to his own Communion If you be not of their mind they will be served by them that are they will not trouble your Conscience and you shall not disturb their Government But when men think they cannot enjoy their Conscience unless you give them good Livings and if you prefer them not you afflict their Consciences they do but too evidently declare that it is not their Consciences but their Profits they would have secured Now to these I have only this to say That their Conscience is to be enjoyed by the Measures of Gods Word but the Rule for their Estates is the Laws of the Kingdom and I shew you yet a more excellent way Obedience is the best security for both because this is the best conservatory of Charity and Truth and Peace Si vis brevi perfectus esse esto obediens etiam in minimis was the saying of a Saint and the World uses to look for Miracles from them whom they shall esteem Saints but I had rather see a man truly humble and obedient than to see him raise a man from the dead said old Pachomius But to conclude If weak Brethren shall still plead for Toleration and Compliance I hope my Lords the Bishops will consider where it can do good and do no harm where they are permitted and where themselves are bound up by the Laws and in all things where it is safe and holy to labour to bring them ease and to give them remedy but to think of removing the Disease by feeding the Humor I confess it is a strange Cure to our present Distempers He that took clay and spittle to open the blind eyes can make any thing be collyrium but he alone can do it But whether any humane Power can bring good from so unlikely an Instrument if any man desires yet to be better informed I desire him besides the calling to mind the late sad effects of Schism to remember that no Church in Christendom ever did it It is neither the way of Peace nor Government nor yet a proper Remedy for the cure of a weak Conscience I shall therefore pray to God That these men who separate in simplicity may by Gods mercy be brought to understand their own Liberty and that they may not for ever be Babes and Neophytes and wax old in trifles and for ever stay at the entrances and outsides of Religion but that they would pass in interiora domûs and seek after Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Justice the Love of God and Evangelical Perfections and then they will understand how ill-advised they are who think Religion consists in Zeal against Ceremonies and speaking evil of the Laws My Lords and Gentlemen what I said in pursuance of publick Peace and private Duty and some little incidences to both I now humbly present to You more to shew my own Obedience than to remind you of your Duty which hitherto You have so well observed in Your amicable and sweet concord of Councels and Affections during this present Session I owe many Thanks to You who heard me patiently willingly and kindly I endeavoured to please God and I find I did not displease You but he is the best hearer of a Sermon who first loves the Doctrine and then practises it and that You have hitherto done very piously and very prosperously I pray God continue to direct Your Counsels so that You in all things may please him and in all things be blessed by him that all Generations may call You blessed Instruments of a lasting Peace the Restorers of the old Paths the Patrons of the Church Friends of Religion and Subjects fitted for Your Prince who is Just up to the greatest Example and Merciful beyond all Examples a Prince who hath been Nourished and Preserved and Restored and Blessed by Miracles a Prince whose Virtues and Fortunes are equally the greatest A SERMON Preached at the opening of the PARLIAMENT SERM. V. 1 Sam. 15. latter part of verse 22. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams First part of ver 23. For Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry IN the World nothing is more easie than to say our Prayers and to obey our Superiors and yet in the World there is nothing to which we are so unwilling as to Prayer and nothing seems so intolerable as Obedience for men esteem all Laws to be Fetters and their Superiors are their Enemies and when a command is given we turn into all shapes of excuse to escape from the imposition For either the authority is incompetent or the Law it self is Statutum non bonum or it is impossible to be kept or at least very inconvenient and we
Oaten pipe nonne id flagitium est te aliis consilium dare foris sapere tibi non posse auxiliari That 's a burning shame and an intolerable wickedness that a Minister shall be like Marcotis or the Statue of Mercury shew the way to others and himself stand still like a painted block to be wise abroad and a very fool in his own concerns and unable to do himself good Dicit Reslakis ornate ipsum posteae ornato alios first trim thy self and then adorn thy Brother said the Rabbins but certain it is he that cannot love to see others better than himself it cannot be that he should heartily endeavour it Scilicet expectes ut tradat mater honestos Atque alios mores quam quos habet utile porro Filiolam turpi vetulae producere turpem It is not to be expected that a diseased Father should beget wholsome Children like will come from like whether the principle be good or evil But secondly For this is but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is but the least evil there is yet much worse behind A wicked Minister cannot with success and benefit pray for the people of his Charges and this is a great matter for Prayer is the Key of David and God values it at so high a rate that Christ is made the Prince of all Intercession and God hath appointed Angels to convey to his Throne of Grace the Prayers of the Saints and he hath made Prophets and Priests even the whole Clergy the peculiar Ministers of Prayer Orabit pro eo Sacerdos the Priest shall pray for him the Priest shall make an attonement for his sin and it shall be forgiven him And Gods anger is no where more fiercely described than when things come to that pass that he will not hear the Priest or Prophet praying for the people g. pray not thou for this people neither lift up Prayer nor cry for them neither make intercession to me for behold mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place when the Prayers of the gracious and acceptable persons the presidents of prayer are forbidden then things are desperate it is a greater Excommunication the man sins a sin unto death and I say not that thou pray for him that sins unto death This I say is the Priests Office and if the people lose the benefit of this they are undone to Bishop Timothy S. Paul gave it in charge That Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions be made for all men and S. James advised the sick to send for the Elders of the Church the Bishops and Priests and let them pray over them and then their sins shall be forgiven them but how that is supposed the Minister prays fervently and be a righteous man for the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much it is promised on no other terms Qualis vir talis oratio is an old rule as is the man such is his Prayer The Prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord said Solomon he cannot prevail for himself much less for others I remember that Bias being once in a storm and a company of Villains in the Ship being affrighted called upon their Gods for help Cavete said he ne vos Dii interesse sentiunt take heed lest the Gods perceive you to be here lest we all perish for your sakes and upon surer grounds it was that David said If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer And what then do you think will be the event of those Assemblies where he that presents the prayers of all the people is hateful to God Will God receive the oblation that is presented to him by an impure hand The Levitical Priests were commanded to wash before they sacrificed and every man is commanded to repent before he prays My Son hast thou sinned do so no more and then ask pardon for thy former fault and can we hope that the Minister who with wrath and doubting and covetousness presents the peoples prayers that ever those intercessions shall pierce the clouds and ascend to the Mercy-Seat and descend with a blessing Believe it not a man that is ungracious in his life can never be gracious in his Office and acceptable to God we are abundantly taught this by those excellent words of God by the Prophet Micah The Heads of Sion judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us As if God had said nothing is so presumptuous and unreasonable as to lean upon God and think he will be among us when the Priests and the Prophets are covetous and wicked No he declares it expresly v. 7. Then shall the Seers be ashamed and the Divines confounded yea they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of God God will not answer For sometimes the case is so that though Noah Daniel and Job were there God would not hear that is when the people are incorrigibly wicked and the decree is irrevocably gone out for judgment But there are other times in which the prayers of innocent people being presented by an ungracious Minister and Intercessor are very much hindred in prevailing In such cases God is put to Extraordinaries and Christ and Christs Angels are then the suppletories and at the best the peoples prayers go alone they want the assistance of the Angel of the Church and they get no help or furtherance from him and probably very much hindrance according to that of S. Greg. Cum is qui displicet ad intercedendum mittitur irati animus ad deteriora provocatur Alexander hated to see Zercon and g. if he had interceded for Clytus it would but have hastened his death a mans suit thrives the worse for having a hated Intercessor If g. he that robs a Church of a Patin or a Chalice be a sacrilegious person what is he that steals from the Church of God so far as lies in him the fruit of all their holy Prayers that corrupts the Sacrifice and puts Colliquintida into the Cups of Salvation and mingles death in the pottage provided for the Children and Disciples of the Prophets I can say no more but to expostulate with them in those upbraiding words of God in the Prophet Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces Confundentur Divini operient vultus suos omnes all such Divines shall be confounded and shall cover their faces in the day of sad accounts Divini sunt non Theologi they are Diviners and not Divines Witches rather than Prophets they are the Sons of Bosor and have no Portion in the Oeconomy of God In short if so much holiness as I formerly described be required of him that is appointed to preach to others to offer spiritual sacrifices
neither tempteth he any man God is true and every man a lyar rule LXIII Let no Preacher compare one Ordinance with another as Prayer with Preaching to the disparagement of either but use both in their proper seasons and according to appointed Order rule LXIV Let no man preach for the praise of men but if you meet it instantly watch and stand upon your guard and pray against your own vanity and by an express act of acknowledgment and adoration return the praise to God Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel and do thou tremble fearing left the judgment of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechism rule LXV EVery Minister is bound upon every Lords day before Evening Prayer to instruct all young people in the Creed the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Doctrine of the Sacraments as they are set down and explicated in the Church Catechism rule LXVI Let a Bell be tolled when the Catechising is to begin that all who desire it may be present but let all the more ignorant and uninstructed part of the people whether they be old or young be requir'd to be present that no person in your Parishes be ignorant in the foundations or Religion Ever remembring that if in these things they be unskilful whatever is taught besides is like a house built upon the sand rule LXVII Let every Minister teach his people the use practice methods and benefits of meditation or mental prayer Let them draw out for them helps and rules for their assistance in it and furnish them with materials concerning the life and death of the ever blessed Jesus the greatness of God our own meanness the dreadful sound of the last Trumpet the infinite event of the two last sentences at doomsday let them be taught to consider what they have been what they are and what they shall be and above all things what are the issues of eternity glories never to cease pains never to be ended rule LXVIII Let every Minister exhort his people to a frequent confession of their sins and a declaration of the state of their Souls to a conversation with their Minister in spiritual things to an enquiry concerning all the parts of their duty for by preaching and catechising and private entercourse all the needs of Souls can best be serv'd but by preaching alone they cannot rule LXIX Let the people be exhorted to keep Fasting days and the Feasts of the Church according to their respective capacities so it be done without burden to them and without becoming a snare that is that upon the account of Religion and holy desires to please God they spend some time in Religion besides the Lords-day but be very careful that the Lords-day be kept religiously according to the severest measures of the Church and the commands of Authority ever remembring that as they give but little Testimony of Repentance and Mortification who never fast so they give but small evidence of their joy in God and Religion who are unwilling solemnly to partake of the publick and Religious Joys of the Christian Church rule LXX Let every Minister be diligent in exhorting all Parents and Masters to send their Children and Servants to the Bishop at the Visitation or other solemn times of his coming to them that they may be confirm'd And let him also take care that all young persons may by understanding the Principles of Religion their vow of Baptism the excellency of Christian Religion the necessity and advantages of it and of living according to it be fitted and disposed and accordingly by them presented to the Bishop that he may pray over them and invocate the holy Spirit and minister the holy Rite of Confirmation VI. Rules and Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick rule LXXI EVery Minister ought to be careful in visiting all the Sick and Afflicted persons of his Parish ever remembring that as the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge so it is his duty to minister a word of comfort in the time of need rule LXXII A Minister must not stay till he be sent for but of his own accord and care to go to them to examine them to exhort them to perfect their repentance to strengthen their faith to encourage their patience to perswade them to resignation to the renewing of their holy vows to the love of God to be reconcil'd to their neighbours to make restitution and amends to confess their sins to settle their estate to provide for their charges to do acts of piety and charity and above all things that they take care they do not sin towards the end of their lives For if repentance on our death-bed seem so very late for the sins of our life what time shall be left to repent us of the sins we commit on our death-bed rule LXXIII When you comfort the afflicted endeavour to bring them to the true love of God for he that serves God for Gods sake it is almost impossible he should be oppressed with sorrow rule LXXIV In answering the cases of conscience of the sick or afflicted people consider not who asks but what he asks and consult in your answers more with the estate of his soul than the conveniency of his estate for no flattery is so fatal as that of the Physician or the Divine rule LXXV If the sick person enquires concerning the final estate of his soul he is to be reprov'd rather than answer'd only he is to be called upon to finish his duty to do all the good he can in that season to pray for pardon and acceptance but you have nothing to do to meddle with passing final sentences neither cast him down in despair nor raise him up to vain and unreasonable confidences But take care that he be not carelesly dismiss'd rule LXXVI In order to these and many other good purposes every Minister ought frequently to converse with his Parishioners to go to their houses but always publickly with witness and with prudence left what is charitably intended be scandalously reported and in all your conversation be sure to give good example and upon all occasions to give good counsel VII Of ministring the Sacraments publick Prayers and other duties of Ministers rule LXXVII EVery Minister is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the Common Prayers every day in the week at Morning and Evening and iâ— great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in Churches that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease rule LXXVIII The Minister is to instruct the people that the Baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next Sunday after the birth of the child left importune and unnecessary delay occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of God and the Religion of the Lord Jesus before it be born again admitted to the Promises of the Gospel