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prayer_n let_v pray_v sick_a 2,056 5 9.3427 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A46626 Ad clerum a visitation sermon preached at Beckonsfield in the county of Bucks, April the 9th, 1678 / by John James ... James, John, b. 1649. 1678 (1678) Wing J427; ESTC R35427 26,308 47

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this accout those publick Offices were composed in the Primitive Church and Hours of Prayer appointed that the Priests might almost continually be praying for the People according to which practice 't is commanded by our Church that the Ministers of Religion offer up a Morning and Evening Sacrifice to the Throne of Grace in the publick Service and Liturgy of our Church which in all Cathedral Churches and Collegiate Chapels is duly observed or as Ambassadors to treat with the People in the business of Religion and reveal the Will of their Maker to them faithfully explaining the Gospel in its true and prosper sence and framing their discourses according to the qualities and capacities of their Auditors that their understandings may be well informed in the Principles of Religion and their hearts strongly confirmed in the Faith to warn sinners of the evil of their ways and to Preach up the duties of a Practical Religion to present them with the most convincing Reasons and powerfull Exhortations to a good Life if by any means the hearts of men may be inclined to the love and their lives to the practice of as universal Piety Hitherto may be referred that necessary Office of Catechizing the Christian youth by some short and familiar Questions concerning the Essential parts of Religion which if duly performed by the Ministers of Religion would in a great measure prevent that infidelity and profaneness so scandalous and offensive in the Christian Church even by those which are arrived to the use of Reason and the exercise of their understanding For this purpose that admirable Compendium of the Christian Religion the Catechism of our Church is commanded to be learned by every Baptized Person before he be confirmed by the Bishop that he may be able to give an account of his Faith before he be admitted to the Holy Communion But the duty of a Minister is still of larger extent The Apostle tells us and experience too truly manifests what busie Agents the Emissaries of Satan are to disseminate the Doctrine of Devils and to spread abroad most damnable Errors of which sort are they that creep into private Houses and lead Captive silly Women laden with divers lusts and those false Teachers who being unruly and vain Talkers and Deceivers call in Question the most undeniable Principles of Religion and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness whose folly should be made manifest to all men and their mouths stopt that they proceed no further which is certainly the duty of those men to whom the word of God is committed that they may be able by sound Doctrine to convince and reclaim the gainsayer Tit. 1.5 9. For 't is absurd to conceive that the care and vigilance of Ministers whose employment is to watch over Souls and to endeavour their Salvation may without affront to their Lord and Master be inferiour to the pains and solicitude of those Seducers whose business is to tempt and intice men to sin and thereby to ascertain their eternal Damnation So that 't is undoubtedly their Office by Private instruction and admonition as well as by Publick to contend earnestly for the Faith of Christ against the clamorous and impertinent cavils of malicious Spirits and false Apostels to study the preservation of the Truth in the hearts of those unhappy Persons that are assaulted by them that they neither embrace the Errors of those men nor fall into a state of sin and Death and to wrestle with God by their most fervent and importunate prayers till their People are delivered from the snares of the Devil and their Souls confirmed in the way of life thus St. Paul when he had called together the Elders at Miletus committed to them the Flock of God and warned them of false Teachers that they faithfully watch against their Invasions least they draw away Disciples after them Acts. 20.28 29 30 31. Add to all this the gross Ignorance of many which cryes aloud for Personal instruction the open Prophaness of others which stands in need of the most serious Admonitions and seasonable Reprehensions from their Spiritual Guides and always the Visitation of the Sick is incumbent on them who according to thier various conditions require the most affectionate Exhortations and convincing Arguments to confirm their Patience to increase their Faith to quicken thier Hope to compleat their Repentance and to perfect their Charity All which the Apostle hath Ordained as a perpetual Office in the Church James 5.14 Is any man sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him and the prayer of Faith shall save the sick All which particulars are briefly recommended to the Care and endeavour of Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna by Ignatius Bishop of Antioch and comprehended in the Epistle of Polycarp to the Presbyters of Philippi as their necessary and indispensable Offices These are the several parts of the Ministers Office and are therefore necessary to be known by the Stewards of God that by these Spiritual Ministries they may faithfully discarge their duty in the Family and Houshold of Christ And so I proceed to the Second branch of the Apostles Exhortation to the Ministers of Christ viz. A good Conscience in the discharge and performance of their Office And if the Solemnity of our Ordination or the Injunction of our Lord and Master if the manifold Advantages which our faithfulness will infallibly effect or the severe Account we must render to God concerning our Stewardship if any or all of these have any weight and importance in them they lay the strictest Obligation upon us to engage our faithfulness in the work of the Ministry For in our Ordination we received Authority to preach the Gospel and explain the Scriptures to Administer the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies belonging to the Church and when we received Institution from our Diocesan were strictly enjoyned to watch over the Flock of Christ of which we were oppointed Overseers and if the Gospel of our blessed Saviour be of Divine Authority what variety of Precepts are then delivered by God himself There being neither an Evangelist nor an Apostle but from the Spirit of the Lord prescribes our Duty and requires our Fidelity Besides the Glory of God is extremely concerned the Salvation of our People lyes at Stake and our own everlasting Doom most certainly depends upon the faithful Discharge or wretched Neglect of our Office and Employment For by the strength of this Argument St. Paul exhorts Timothy to discharge his duty with the greatest care and a good Conscience I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom that thou observe these things 1 Tim. 5.21 2 Tim. 4.1 But because he that is unjust in his own affairs will scarce be faithfull in Administring the goods of others I mean if our Consciences be loose and treacherous in ordering our own lives we shall discover