that place yet God still was in all his thoughts without whose aid he durst not undertake any thing much less hope for success in his Affairs And shall we who have no such load of business upon us roll our â—eâ—ves up and down in ease and as that Father there speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not so much as in the beginning of the day offer up an hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving to the giver of all good things and implore his Blessing upon us A most stupid negligence and an unpardonable insensibleness of our constant and most bountiful benefactor without whom we can do nothing His Grace and Mercy we ought to seek as soon as we rise and as often as we can in the day retiring our selves on purpose into our Closets to beseech him to be with us in our Studies and in our Labours for the good of Souls For as Clemens Alexandrinus speaks Lib. VII Strom. a Priest ought to be of such an heavenly Spirit that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his whole life is Prayer and Conversation with God Which St. Basil in his Homily upon the Martyr Julitta thinks is the Apostles meaning when he bids us Pray without ceasing not by putting up Petitions to Heaven perpetually in so many words for that 's impossible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but rather by the settled Disposition of our mind and bent of our Wills towards God into which our Prayers ought to put us and preserve us therein and by a regular Life whereby we shall draw down still more of his Grace upon us For this I must observe in the Conclusion of this part of my Discourse that careless and frigid Prayers which make no alteration in our selves have no effect with God To whom we must address our selves with such fervent and earnest Desires as turn our Hearts towards him and give us such a lively sence of him as brightens and chears our minds knits our Wills and Affections to him and makes us like him Thus Daniel represents this Duty to us when he complains of the Children of Israel that They did not make their prayer to the LORD their God to turn from their iniquity and to understand the truth IX Dan. 13. Which as it denotes their dull formality in their Prayers which no doubt they continually made in their Captivity whereby they were not converted to God and reformed in their lives So it implies withal that serious and devout Prayer hath a power in it to turn about the Heart and give God the possession of it which is the best way to understand the truth Employ therefore as much time as you can in secret Prayer to God with such Affection that you may feel your selves really bettered by it Pray for your selves and pray for your Flock that God would bless your Labours among them and pour the Dew of his Heavenly Grace upon them for the whole Church of Christ yea for all Mankind For such is the Nobleness of this Duty that in the exercise of it we extend our Charity to all the World which we cannot do by any other means It enlarges our Souls into a kind of infinity and immensity in our good Desires and Wishes and in the readiness of our Mind to do good to every one were it in our power SECT III. Thus having briefly laid before you the private Duties intumbent on the Ministers of Christ I proceed to those which are of a publick Concernment And in treating of them I shall take them into consideration in that Order wherein they lie in the publick Liturgy of our Church Where the first thing that presents it self unto us is the Order for MORNING and EVENING Prayer daily throughout the year Which is to be performed by him that Ministreth in every Parish-Church or Chappel being at home and not being otherwise reasonably hindred This is the standing Law of this Realm and a most reasonable Law it is For who can imagine that God who so strictly enjoined the Jews to offer to him a Lamb every morning and every evening at the Temple to double this Sacrifice on their Sabbath doth not expect that we who are made a peculiar people to him by far greater benefits than were conferred on them should offer unto him the Sacrifice of prayer and praise and thanksgiving Morning and Evening in our Churches All Christians from the beginning ever did it At this day all the Eastern Churches both Greek and Armenian constantly do it I need say nothing of the practise of the Roman Church which in this matter is truly Catholick The Lutherans and Calvinists as they are called in Germany have their daily publick Offices and full Congregations The Socinians in Poland as Ruarus tells us Cent. 2. Epist pag. 99. had publick Prayers Morning and Evening which lasted three Quarters of an Hour Yea the Mahometans themselves have their stated times of Prayer five times in the day For Mahomet had so much sense as to call Prayer The Pillar of Religion as Dr. Pocock observes upon Abul-Pharagii p. 304. For take this away and Religion falls to the ground as this Pillar of iâ— will soon do if it be not supported by publick Assemblies How they came to be so much disused among us here in this Church except only on Sundays it is sad to consider and extreamly to be lamented We herein forsake the practise of all Churches and fall short of those who are not Christians The Constitutions indeed of our Church are conformable to all others and strictly enjoyn that which we do not now practise Which is a publick Witness against us that we are degenerated from our first Principles and by degrees grown cold and remiss in our Religion The fault perhaps may have been very much in the People but it is to be feared we have been to blame also in not admonishing them of their Duty and calling upon them to assemble themselves daily to Worship their blessed Lord and Saviour It must be allowed that in some Parishes the Houses are so scattered and lie so far distant from the Church that they cannot possibly meet together daily for the Publick Service of God But this Plea cannot with any appearance of truth be made for all Parishes especially for Market-Towns where the Houses are built closer together and not far from the place of publick Worship Many are at leisure also in such Parishes to attend daily if they had Hearts to do it upon the publick Prayers Whatsoever may be alledged in the excuse of poor labouring People Therefore use your best endeavours to bring the People to a sense of their Duty in this matter and to the performance of it where no tolerable reason can be given for the neglect of so necessary a part of our Religion and which tends so much to the honour of it and to the Glory of God To attempt such a good thing though you should not succeed in it will give you great satisfaction But
whosoever considers the Condition of the Cities of London and Westminster as they were formerly and as they are now will not despair of Success For before our unnatural Civil War I have been informed by a Reverend Divine there were few Churches in those Cities where daily publick Prayers were read and where they were very few People to joyn with the Minister in them But now there are very few Churches that want them or a Congregation to attend them And though such Assemblies were but thin when this first begun a little after the happy Restauration of our Monarchy and Church yet I my self can witness that their Numbers daily encreased in so much that in some places there are publick Prayers four times a day and good Congregations where in my Memory there were none at all This is a great Encouragment to try what may be done in other great Towns where People are not far distant from the Church Begin with perswasions to come at least upon Litany days And so by degrees they may be induced to wait upon God constantly at his House to make their Prayers and Acknowledgments to him Represent to them frequently how much the publick Service of God excels all that we can perform in Private Because then God appears more glorious in Praises when his People joyn together to set them forth Bid them mark how David and other inspired Persons have in the Book of Psalms stirred up the Affections of the whole Body of God's People to meet together for his Divine Service saying O praise the LORD all ye nations praise him all ye people CXVII 1. O magnify the LORD with me and let us exalt his name together XXXIV 3. Praise ye the LORD Sing unto the LORD a new song and his praise in the congregation of Saints CXLIX 1. Or as it is in the Hymn appointed every day after the second Lesson at Morning Prayer C Psal 4. O go your way into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name In short instruct them that every Hallelujah they meet withal in the Holy Scriptures or Praise ye the LORD suppose publick Assemblies to which all the foregoing Exhortation are directed where many met together for Divine Worship not contenting themselves to praise God alone by themselves but with all those who were Members of the same Body with them But if by all your endeavours you cannot bring this to pass yet there is one thing of which I must admonish you that I am sure is in your power It is this That all Priests and Deacons are bound by the Law of this Realm and of this Church to say daily Morning and Evening Prayer privately when they cannot openly Not being let by sickness or some other urgent Cause See the first Rubrick in the Common-Prayer Book after the Preface concerning the Service of the Church Do not fail therefore I beseech you to read the daily Prayers Morning and Evening privately in your own Family That the Divine Service according to Law may be performed daily in every Parish though not every Church There cannot be constantly nor commonly urgent Causes much less Sickness I hope to hinder this And when there is not look upon your selves as bound in Conscience to read the Prayers at home And when you do officiate Publickly on the Lord's Days or other times in the Church let it be in such a solemn manner that it may move the People to attend and make them in love with our Prayers There is a careless overly way of reading them so fast and with such little Devotion as hath exceedingly disgraced them and given great offence to the better sort of People among us and hardned the bad in Prophaness and Irreligion I hope none of you are guilty of this but it becomes me to admonish you of the danger of it and to beseech you constantly to compose your selves with the greatest seriousness and reverence and affection to perform Divine Service in the Church This will keep up the Majesty of our Worship and preserve it from Contempt For I can see nothing that should move those that Dissent from us to call it dead and formal but only the deadness and formality that hath appeared too often in him that Officiates Stir up your selves therefore to Officiate in every part of the Divine Service with a becoming Gravity and Deliberation and yet with such Life and Affection as may express your Concern to have your Petitions Granted and the word of God Regarded Avicenna as he is vulgarly called an Arabian Philosopher hath an excellent Discourse upon this Subject in the third part of his Metaphysicks Where having said that they who instruct the People ought to teach them Forms of Prayer wherein to address themselves to God He adds this Direction to them As a Man uses to prepare himself to come to the King in purity and cleanness with graceful Language and an humble Gravity with a comely Deportment of Body ceasing from all disorderly Motions there as well as from perturbation of mind so it is fit there should be laudable Modes and Forms of serving God at all times For these do highly conduce to imprint on the minds of the People a sense of the most high and to confirm them in their Devotion to the Laws and Rules of Life Which if they were not preserved by this solemn Commemoration Men would quite forget in one or two Generations Thus I find him quoted by Mr. Selden in his Comment in Eutichii Origines fol. 57. And he doth but express the sense of the Ancient Christians from whom the Mahometans derived that solemnity and seriousness which they use in their Divine Service It is no small part of the Study of Priests in the present Roman Church to learn how to compose their Looks and Gestures and Voices in the several Offices which they are to perform Which as it hath too much of the Theatre in it so that pains may all be spared by possessing our Minds with a deep sense and feeling of the Majesty of God to whom we speak and of our great need of the things which we pray him to bestow upon us This will naturally compose our Countenances and regulate the tone of our Voice and make us pronounce the Prayers as gracefully as we would a Petition to the greatest Majesty on Earth The Organs of Speech indeed in several Men are of a very different Frame and Figure so that all cannot speak no more than sing alike But some more harshly some more sweetly Yet an awful Sense of God upon our Minds and an hearty Love to him would form every Man's Voice to as good an Accent as his natural Capacity will permit SECT IV. The next Office in our Liturgy is The Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion which being the highest Duty of our Religion that which is most peculiar Christian Worship the greatest Care ought to
be taken about the due Performance of it That is 1. First of all you ought to invite your People to a frequent Participation of it We are not told in Scripture how oft we are to do this in remembrance of our Saviour But when we consider that this is the end and intention of it to Commemorate the wonderful Love of our Lord in his Death and Passion for our sakes we cannot think fit to let there be a long time between one communion and another Especially when we consider that the first Christians it is manifest met together every LORDS Day at least to magnifie the mercy of God in giving his only begotten Son to be our Redeemer and the inconceiveable love of the Son of God in making himself an Offering for our Sins This they thought their great business when they assembled together so that our Assemblies never look so like Christian Assemblies as when the Holy Communion is celebrated 2. In order to which frequently open to your People the Nature Necessity and the great Benefits of communion with Christ and one with another in this Holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood Answer their Scruples and remove their Objections but especially awaken them out of that lazy indifference wherein too many live whether they live like Christians or no. 3. When the time is appointed for its Administration warn them to prepare themselves for it and direct them how to do it and require them who intend to partake of it to signifie their Names to you at least sometime the day before So the first Rubrick before the Order for Administring the Holy Communion requires with great reason because you ought to have time to do what follows 4. If any Person in your Parish be a notorious evil liver or have done any wrong to his Neighbours either by word or deed so that the Congregation be thereby offended you ought having knowledge thereof to admonish him as the next Rubrick directs to amend his naughty Life and not presume to come to the Lord's Table till the Congregation be satisfied of his Repentance and that he hath made such a recompense to those he hath wrong'd as they accept of The like is to be done when you perceive Malice and Hatred to reign among any of your Parish endeavouring to bring them to a reconciliation before you suffer them to partake of the Holy Communion 5. And more than this the Third Rubrick requires you if these private endeavours have no effect openly to repel such Persons from the Communion if they offer themselves to receive it who will not be reconciled nor reformed giving notice of their obstinacy to the Ordinary within the time there prescribed 6. In the Administration of the Holy Communion compose your selves to the most serious and solemn deportment and perform every part of this most Christian service with the highest degree of Devotion So St. Justin Martyr tells us in his Second Apology where he gives an account of what was done in the Christian Assemblies in his time that Bread Wine and Water being set before him that presided He sendeth up Prayers and Thanksgivings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all his Power or Might Which is an expression that hath been much abused by those who separate from us to prove that no forms of Prayer were used in the Church in those days but he who officiated conceived a Prayer of his own as well as he was able So they interpret that Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is manifestly an expression of that earnestness of Devotion with which the Bishop or Priest came to Consecrate the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood It being a Phrase very much used among the Jews when they speak of their Prayers For their Ancient Doctors have this saying among them as our excellent Mr. Thorndike observes Whosoever saith Amen WITH ALL HIS MIGHT the gate of the Garden of Eden is opened to him And Maimonides describing their Morning Service useth the same form of Speech The People answer Amen be his great name Blessed for ever and ever WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT See Service of God at Religious Assemblies Chap. VII To which may be added what we read in the Apostolical Constitutions where there is a large Form of Thanksgiving at the Eucharist for all Gods Blessings Especially in our Lord Christ from his Incarnation to his Sufferings Death and Resurrection And then it follows Therefore being mindful of these things which he suffered for us We give Thee thanks O Almighty God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not so much as we ought but as much as we are able Which exactly answers to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ALL THE MIGHT in Justim Martyr and explains the meaning of it But there have been so many excellent Books written about the Holy Communion that I will enlarge no further upon this Subject SECT V. In that Office there is a Rubrick directing where the Sermon is to come in and therefore I shall in the next place say something to you concerning Preaching Which is a Duty to be performed by every Priest according to the Authority given to him at his Ordination in those words Take thou Authority to Preach the Word of God and to Minister the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto And the Prayer made after the Ordaining of Priests That God's Word spoken by their mouths may have such success that it may never be spoken in vain Now to make it thus successful a great many directions might be usefully given concerning both the Matter of Sermons and their Form their Stile also and manner of Delivery with distinct Pronunciation and such like into which if I should launch out they alone would be sufficient to fill a little Book I shall therefore only briefly desire you to consider the state and condition of your Auditory and to suit your Discourses thereunto Country People are not to be troubled with Controversies and Disputes but to be plainly taught what to believe and practice 1. Therefore endeavour to instruct and settle their minds in the Principles of Religion And for this end study well the Works of Two Late Bishops of Chester One of which Dr. Wilkins hath wrote a Treatise of Natural Religion and the other Dr. Pierson hath given a full account of the Christian in his admirable Book upon the Apostles Creed 2. Especially instruct them in the great Fundamental Article of our Religion the Divinity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour and of the Holy Ghost showing them how all our comfort is built upon this And truly I look upon it as a singular Providence of God that he did not 〈…〉 Hereticks who now boldly strike at this great Article of our Faith to start up in an ignorant Age but in a time when there are so many able Men in the Church to beat them down God hath furnished us with a great number of such excellent Persons as have throughly studied
be excellent But then he tells him there is a far more ancient prophetical saying which preceded this many Ages teaching Men briefly and at once not only to desire nothing but to be made good men but also how they may be made truly good viz. Love the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy mind and thy Neighbour as thy self To him who can be perswaded to do this Non ei reliquam facilem sed eam totam esse doctrinam duntaxat utilem salubrem I do not say as Socrates did that all the rest will be easy but that this is the whole only profitable and wholesome Doctrine and there needs no more Epist XX. Keep this therefore perpetually in your Heart which contains in it all things else Love the Lord your God and love your Neighbour and you have done all you need to do for all is included in this You will not be wanting in your Duty to either of them if you heartily Love them SECT III. My next Advice shall be in the words of the blessed Apostle St. Paul who hath left us a wonderful Example of most tender affection to mens Souls read 1 Thes 2 7 8 11. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks unto God and the Father by him III Coloss 17. That is when you are going to perform any part of your Office pray him to be present with you and assist you So St. Chrysostom and out of him Theophylact Expounds these words in the Name of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling upon him to be thy Helper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First making thy prayer to him and so go about thy business When you put on your Surplice for instance think with your selves that you are going to offer up the Prayers of the People to God in the Name of Jesus Christ And then with what Solemnity with what Reverence will you perform that Sacred Office Especially when you have besought him to be with you and believe that he is nigh to all them that call upon him in Truth In like manner when you go up into the Pulpit consider with your selves that you are going to speak in the Name of Christ unto his People beseeching him to assist you and to carry home the Truths you shall deliver to their Hearts and Consciences For dexteriùs loquentur cùm hominibus qui prius tota mente cum Deo fuerunt collocuti as Erasmus excellently speaks they will speak with Men more dextrously who have first of all with their whole Soul spoken with God The like I might say of other parts of your Duty which will then be most successfully discharged when you have engaged our Lord by solemn Prayer to him to go along with you and accompany you Theodoret hath another interpretation or rather a further improvement of the sense of these words which is this adorn all your words and actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the remembrance of the Lord Christ That is haveing invoked his blessed presence to be with you think what he would do how he would behave himself and with what Spirit he would perform such things as you are going about For example when you are going to compose a Sermon it would be of great use and efficacy if you would think with your selves what Christ would say to your People if he were to speak to them what he would require of them with what Motives he would excite them and what Compassion he would express to their Souls It would be inpossible then for any Man if he had Christ in his mind to say any thing but what he hath well considered and will tend to make Men good He will not Preach for his own glory but for the glory of Christ pursuing things profitable rather than plausible not affecting in his discourse lenocinia sed remedia such things as may tickle the ears of idle People but such as will cure their Diseases and Distempers They are the Words of Salvian in his Preface to his Book de Gubernatione Dei Which are agreeable to the old Rule which Rittershusius there mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give me not Spruce things but such as the City needs They that interpret the words to this sense be so mindful of Christ that you do nothing indecorous nothing unbeseeming the relation you have to him nothing that may dishonour him differ not much from the former And therefore I conclude this Advice as the Apostle doth his Admonition As we ought to begin every thing with a devout remembrance of Christ whose blessing upon us we ought to implore so we ought to end all by giving thanks to God through him That 's as acceptable to him as our Prayers nay is a powerful Prayer for more of his Grace For none are so likely to receive more as those who thankfully acknowledge what they have received already And therefore let all your doings be thus begun and ended in the Name of Christ Whereby you will be preserved in his Love and Favour and partake still more of his grace SECT IV. Especially if you do all this in Sincerity of heart Which is that good Soil wherein if the Seed of the Word be not sown and received it brings forth no Fruit to Perfection and which our Saviour more particularly required in his Apostles who were to sow that good Seed in Mens hearts Such Persons it is manifest he sought for as were plain simple and honest hearted having no worldly end to serve but wholly bent to know the way to Eternal Salvation Andrew and Peter who were first called to follow him it is evident were of this Spirit for they left all they had to attend him and next to them Philip who finding Nathaniel and telling him they had found the MESSIAH Jesus of Nazareth to whom he pray'd him to go along with him as soon as our Saviour saw him he said to shew what kind of Men he delighted in Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile I John 47. which was a surprising Character of him after Nathaniel had made this objection against our Saviour can any good thing come out of Nazareth But as Theophylact well observes those were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of unbelief but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a mind that accurately weighed things and was well studied in the Law which taught him that Christ was to come out of Bethleem in Judaea not out of Nazareth in Galilee By this our Saviour judged of his Sincerity which appeared also in that notwithstanding this seeming prejudice he went along with Philip to be better informed of our Saviour This is one great part of that Sincerity which I am now recommending to you to have your minds free from the power of Prejudice and partial Affections being desirous only to know the truth and understand what the will of the Lord is So St.
and our fault be laid upon our Religion There is a remarkable Precept to this purpose which the Apostle gives both to Timothy and to Titus 1 Tim. IV. 12. II Tit. 15. Let no Man despise thee Which some may fancy as Theodoret observes to be a command belonging to others rather than to us who cannot hinder Mens despisals But that 's a mistake in the Apostles opinion who would have Timothy to know that he who commands and teaches others may preserve himself from contempt by this means though he was a young Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Be thou a living Law show in thy self the perfect work of the Law lead such a life as will bear witness to thy words Which life he describes in the words immediately following be thou an example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity He that thus makes himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Oecumenius expresses it as it were a living Image and Rule of a good Life will preserve himself from contempt and not lose but maintain his Authority To conclude this there is nothing the Devil more desires and endeavours than to alienate the hearts of the People from their Ministers and therefore they should take the greatest care to do nothing that may give the least occasion of it And here I cannot forbear to mind you of one thing which hath given no small Scandal which is the not keeping your Houses and that part of the House of God which belongs to the care of some Ministers in good Repair and leaving them so to their Successors This argues a very careless or covetous sordid Spirit minding nothing but a Mans self and the present World and having no consideration of the future I hope I need not exhort you to observe the LXXV Canon of our Church which requires you not to resort to any Taverns or Ale houses at any time other than for your honest necessities c. Which occasions cannot be frequent nor of any long continuance I shall only tell you that Julian the Apostate in his famous Letter to Arsacius the High Priest of the Pagan Religion in Galatia having commended the Exemplary Charity of Christians to the imitation of his Priests adds after some other good Admonitions of governing their Families well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Exhort a Priest that he neither go into the Theatre nor drink in a Tavern nor exercise any base or ignominoius art Honour those that obey these Orders and put the disobedient out of their Office Fpist XLIX This showes how sensible he was of the necessity of the Apostolical Precept that he who ministred to God should have a good report of them which are without i. e. are not of his Religion 1 Tim. III. 7. To Conclude think often what an honour it is to serve the Lord Jesus and what Care he took of his Flock How invaluable the Souls of Men are which he purchased with his Blood What an inestimable Treasure the Gospel of Christ is wherewith you are intrusted in what an high Station God hath placed you and then you will never submit to so much as any mean Action but do such things as may procure you esteem or at least prevent contempt And to keep this Good Spirit in you which I have described it would be of singular Use to read every Lord's day at least every Ordination Sunday the Vows and Promises you made when you were admitted into Holy Orders Which are so Solemn that it is impossible not to be moved by them if they be not merely read but seriously weighed and considered These Instructions I have Written in the midst of great variety of Business and with many interruptions which may make them defective in many Particulars and less accurate than they might otherwise have been But what they want in that will be made up I hope by the sincere desire I have to do good and by the Grace of God accompanying all honest endeavours Unto which Grace I most heartily commend you and rest Your Affectionate Brother Sy. Eliens March 19. 1697. Books Written by the R. R. Symon Patrick D. D. now Lord Bishop of Ely and Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Parable of the Pilgrim written to a Friend The 6 Edition 4to 1681. Mensa Mystica Or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper In which the Ends of its Institution are so manifested our Addresses to it so directed our Behaviour there and afterward so composed that we may not lose the Profits which are to be received by it With Prayers and Thanksgivings inserted To which is annexed Aqua Genitalis A Discourse concerning Baptism In which is inserted a Discourse to perswade to a confirmation of the Baptismal Vow 8vo Jewish Hypocrisie A Caveat to the present Generation Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a Nations or Persons compleat Happiness from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish State To which is added A Discourse upon Micah 6. 8. belonging to the same matter 8vo Divine Arithmatick A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Samuel Jacomb Minister of St. Mary-Woolnoth-Church in Lombard-street London With an Account of his Life 8vo A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Tho. Grigg Rector of St. Andrew-Vndersharft London 4to An Exposition of the Ten Commandments 8vo Heart's Ease Or a Remedy against all Troubles With a Consolatory Discourse particularly directed to those who have lost their Friends and Relations To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The sixth Edition corrected 12mo 1695. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by St. Paul in 1 Tim. 3. 15. 4to An Examination of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church viz. ANTIQVITY 4to An Examination of the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible to prove the Supremacy of St. Peter and of the Pope over the whole Church In Two Parts 4to An Answer to a Book spread abroad by the Romish Priests Entituled The Touchstone of the Reformed Gospel wherein the True Doctrine of the Church of England and many Texts of the Holy Scripture are faithfully explained 8vo 1692. A private Prayer to be used in difficult times A Thanksgiving for our late wonderful Deliverance A Prayer for Charity Peace and Unity chiefly to be used in Lent A Sermon Preached upon St. Peter's Day printed with Enlargements 4to A Sermon Preached in St. James's Chappel before the Prince of Orange Jan. 20. 1688. on Isaiah 11. 6. A Second Part of the Sermon before the Prince of Orange on the same Text. Preached in Covent-Garden A Sermon Preached before the Queen in March 1688 9. on Colos 3. 15. A Sermon against Murmuring Preached at Covent-Garden in Lent 1688 9. on 1 Cor. 10. 10. A Sermon against Censuring Preached at Covent-Garden in Advent 1688. on 1
directed then a Man remembers that there are Gods that you know is the Pagan Language and that he himself is but a Man Then he envies no Man admires no Man despises no Man Riches signifie nothing to him nor Honours Lust is extinguished c. all that he desires is that he may recover his Health purposing then to lead an innocent and happy Life So that whatsoever Philosophers indeavour to teach in many words and many Volumes that I may teach the e and my self in this short Precept Ut tales esse sani perseveremur quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi that we continue such when we are well as we promise to be when we are sick So he concludes that Epistle By which you cannot but see what an opportunity the Sickness of any of your Parishoners assords you to help forward the Salvation of their Souls by your Prayers Instructions and Exhortations when they are most disposed to receive them and to be tenderly affected with them Do not stay therefore till notice be sent you by those about them of any ones Sickness for they are too apt to defer it till there be no hope of life left but when you hear of it repair to such Persons and apply your selves to them in such discourses as are proper to their condition Examine them as the Office directs about their belief in God and in Jesus Christ and all the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith If they have led a bad Life contrary to their belief represent to them how highly it concerns them to repent and resolve to become new Men. Bid them consider how much they have neglected God and his Divine Service which is a common Sin and also what wrong they have done to any of their Neighbours that they may make them what Satisfaction they are able If they have lived in most things regularly but been negligent in some Duties comfort and support them with this perswasion that God hath sent this Sickness to perfect what was wanting in them As for such as have led truly Pious Lives void of Offence towards God and towards Man they are to be strengthened with all the Consolations that are in Christ and raised in their hope of Remission of Sin and Eternal Life which will banish all fear of Death By this means not only the sick Person may receive great Benefit but all the By-standers also who hear your Discourse Which may raise such a sense of things in you as will much improve your selves And here I shall admonish you only of one thing more leaving you to the directions in the Office for the rest That Absolution of Penitents is a thing of great moment which may alone be sufficient to convince you both of the Dignity and the Difficulty of your Holy Function For what an high Honour is it to be made a Judge of the state of Mens Immortal Souls and to pronounce a Sentence upon them according as you find them upon Examination But how industriously then ought you to labour to understand the Gospel of Christ whereby you are to Judge that you may not pass a wrong Sentance through ignorance of the Conditions of Salvation by Christ Whose promises are made plainly to an Holy Life which if it hath not been minded till a Man come to die let him not despair of God's Mercy but take heed how you absolve him in his Name For we can make no certain judgment of Men by what they resolve in their Sickness when they have no Temptation to run on in their former Wicked course of Life but must stay to see how they will keep their Resolutions which they too often break when they are well If they do not live to give a proof of their Sincerity God notwithstanding who knows the Secrets of all Hearts if he see them to be sincere and that they would be stedfast should they have recover'd their Health will undoubtedly absolve them though they depart the World without our Absolution In short this may well as the Pythagoraeans were wont to admonish their Schollars make you reverence your selves so as to live up to this Dignity and high Authority he hath committed to you and this very Power if you use it well will procure you reverence from others who understand any thing of Religion At the end of this Office is annexed the Order of Administring the Communion to the Sick which Mr. Calvin himself thinks though it was not the usage of Geneva should not be deny'd to them if they desired it and understood what they did and were disposed with solemn Resolutions to renew their Covenant with Christ But timely notice ought to be given of this desire with a signification how many there are to communicate with the Sick Person which must be three or two at the least unless it be in the time of a Plague or other Contagious Disease when the Minister may Communicate with him alone SECT XI Concerning the next thing in our Liturgy which is The Order for the Burial of the DEAD there needs not much to be said But that commonly Men and Women are apt to be very serious when they see their Friends and Neighbours laid in their Graves and therefore what you are then ordered to say either when you meet the Corps or in the Church or at the Grave should be pronounced with great Gravity Earnestness and Affection that the Hearts of those who are present may be moved with it If you are desired to come to the House of the Deceased and thence to accompany the Corps to the Grave you may have an opportunity to put those in mind who sit near to you of preparation for Death which should never be out of our thoughts but then especially be sensibly reflected on when we have a Spectacle of Mortality before our Eyes Who was as strong and healthy perhaps as any there present and yet on a sudden snatch'd away Such things piously represented are apt for the present at least to touch Mens Hearts and make deep impressions there SECT XII Of the Churching of Women after Child-birth I shall say only this that the First Rabrick directs that the Woman at the usual time after Delivery shall come into the Church decently Apparelled and there kneel down in some convenient place as hath been accustomed Now the accustomed place it appears by our Old Common-Prayer Book before the Restauration was nigh to the Communion Table To put her in mind I suppose that she should take the next opportunity to receive the Holy Communion if there be none that day when the last Rubrick declares it is convenient she should partake of it Unto this therefore you are to Exhort her that she may perfect her acknowledgments of Gods goodness by the highest Thanksgiving the Church can offer and which is proper and peculiar to Christian People SECT XIII The last Office wherein you are concerned is the Reading the Commination which is to be done but
once a Year on the first day of Lent though the Prayers then appointed are to be used at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint This if done solemnly though it seem a thing of no great labour yet might have a great effect For every one knows or ought to know that the Lent Fast was Instituted to be a time of Repentance and to bring Men to it what can be more effectual than this Denunciation of Gods Anger and Judgments against Sinners with most comfortable assurances of Grace and Mercy to the Penitent I know it is hard as the World goes to get a Congregation together upon that day when this is required to be read in the Church You may therefore read it on the First Sunday in Lent and then put the Sense of it into your Sermon where it may be proper to press them to weigh every part of it distinctly And in order to it remove that foolish Objection which I have heard some have in their Mouths that they cannot endure to Curse their Neighbours by showing them plainly that they are not the Curses of the People but of God himself which he hath denounced against Sinners To which when the People are ordered to say AMEN they only consent to the truth of that which God saith The very Office teaches this when it declares the end of reading those Curses gathered out of the XXVII of Deuteronomy and other places of Scripture and the Peoples saying Amen to them that they may flee from such vices for which they affirm with their own mouth the Curse of God to be due And represent to them also that whether they will affirm these Curses to be due or no they will fall upon them if they be such Sinners as are there named and the sooner because they refuse to say Amen to the Words of God that is affirm what he affirms who is the Faithful and the True This Cavil being taken away it will be easie to make them sensible how useful it is for them to joyn with you in this Commination which may awaken drousy Souls to consider and amend their evil doings that they may escape those Judgments that are threatned to them which are unavoidable if they go on still in their Sins There was something like this among the ancient Jews who at certain stated times were wont to denounce a general Anathema against all the Israelites who knowingly and willingly violated such and such Laws A Form of which Mr. Selden hath given us out of their Ritual called Colho Lib. IV. De Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 7. This it is likely the Christian Church thought fit to imitate not by denouncing a formal Anathema but only by a solemn recital of the Threatnings in God's Laws against impenitent Sinners And their affirming the truth and certainty of them Which in the Romish Church came at last to such an Anathema as I now mentioned in the Jewish Ritual call'd The greater Excommunication which here in England was denounced by every Bishop twice a year and by every Parish-Priest four times a year against certain Persons A Form of which great Curse the same most Learned Person hath given us out of the Ritual according to the use of the Church of Sarum in his first Book De Synedriis Cap. X. where he observes that in the room of this our first Reformers only ordered this Maledictory Commination as he well stiles it to be used once a Year In the beginning of which Commination there is mention made of a godly Discipline in the Primitive Church whereby such Persons as stood Convicted of notorious sins were in the beginning of Lent put to open Pennance This Discipline we there wish might be restored again but seem to suppose that for the present we can only instead of it denounce God's anger and judgments against sinners and make them say Amen thereunto whereby they may stand Convicted in their own Consciences that they are under the Curse of God and so be brought to Repentance Had we not need then do this very seriously if it be all that we can do of this kind Yet let it be considered whether we may not be able to do something more if we will attempt it For may not scandalous Persons be more frequently presented than they are May not private Admonitions if not publick be more used Let us not then think fit to do nothing because we cannot do all that we would The right way to enlarge our Authority of the want of which we complain is to use that which we have uprightly and faithfully That is if we presented none in the Ecclesiastical Court till private Applications had been made to them with seriousness and earnestness unsuccessfully and if it were done without respect to Persons Parties or Interests we might bring our Courts into that just esteem and credit which they ought to have And having mentioned private Admonition let me in a few words remember you that at your Ordination you promised to use both publick and private monitions and exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within your Cures as need shall require and occasion shall be given And perhaps more good might be done this way than any other if it were done at fitting times with as much secrecy as may be and with apparent affection to them In some Cases perhaps it may be done most effectually by Letter which may be sent when you cannot have opportunity to speak to them And here it may be proper to admonish you that Dissenters from our Church are thus to be dealt withal by some way of private Conference with them not by Preaching against them for they are not there to hear it Our own People indeed are by publick Discourses as well as otherways to be confirmed and established in our Communion But there is no way to reduce them but by private arguing with them Which is not to be omitted because the present act of Indulgence doth not justify them in their separation but only suspends the Punishments to which they were before liable Still they are in a state of Schism out of which you should endeavour to recover them by kind Perswasions and Arguments which may work more upon them than all the Penalties formerly inflicted which made them Angry but did not Convert them For the Conclusion of this part of my Treatise I should upon the mention of LENT have said something concerning that Fast and other days of Fasting or Abstinence appointed by the Church which if Men could be perswaded to observe as times of Recollection and Examination of themselves and Prayer they would find great benefit thereby to the encrease of Christian Piety I wrote a little Book about it in the beginning of the late Reign which had the Approbation of my Superiours But I have not room to say more of it here Nor of the Festivals which are ordered to be kept in Commemoration of great Blessings God hath bestowed