Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A64562
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The Bishop of Worcester his letter to the clergy of his diocess
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Thomas, William, 1613-1689.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing T977; ESTC R219273
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5,117
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17
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the transcripts of the Originals themselves multiplied set out in lesser Editions left otherwise they be branded in Saint Bernard's expression to be peremtores not parentes Not considering that the minority of Age the blossoms of years are not exempted from the blasts of Fate from the period of Death according to the Jewish Proverb There are Sculls of all Sizes discernable in Golgotha It was their prudential cautionary Piety that the first Characters to be imprinted in the minds of their Children should be religious Advertisements whereby Nature it self might be insensibly cultivated transplanted to Grace and pious Acts without difficulty and anxiety improved to Habits It is the sage encouragement of a Sacred Precept Prov. 22. 6. Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it The intellectual faculties are best receptive most retentive of the first Tincture of literature Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu 'T is also with Tenets as with Viands an Errour in the first degree of Concoction is not easily corrected in the second or third The Babes of the Israelites were Textuaries vers'd in the Principles of Divinity before they were instructed in the rudiments of Grammar The Church of Christ in the Primitive lustre did not degenerate from this Mosaical Pattern Saint Jerome asserts that the first word Children were prompted to assay to utter was Halleluja composed of Halelu and jah Praise the Lord. As when in a lower in a lesser Orb being for many years confined to a Parochial distinct limit I could not with tranquillity of mind with peace of Conscience indulge my self to decline the Catechistical performance so being placed however unworthily in a higher Sphere for a more diffusive inspection your selves the Shepherds in a figurative Notion being my Flock I cannot without perfidiousness to my Pastoral Charge connive at any who shall reject this Initiatory Exercise not recommended only as arbitrarily to be pursued or baulked according to your own fancies but required unavoidably to be observed as necessary necessitate praecepti though not medii In discharging this Duty you are not left at liberty for option in choice of Novelties of Catechisms to gratifie your own selfish opinionative Sentiments or the different Shibboleth of others as if our Saviours Compass for Religion had as many Points to vary as the Mariners for Navigation The Arrian Creed was tax'd by S. Hilary to be as changeable as the Moon In due submission to Authority the Catechism enjoyn'd in the Church of England ought to be expounded not exploded It is highly approv'd by forein reform'd Divines Mr. Dally a bright Luminary in his Sphere in the Gallican Protestant Church magnifies the Purity the brevity the perspicuity of it Orthodoxly reduc'd from the Oracles of Scripture I shall further implore your sedulous Care in admonishing the Parents of Children Catechiz'd not to neglect the opportunities of Episcopal Confirmation as soon as they are in a competent Age a degree of apprehension of understanding not barely capacitated by a promptness of memory of elocution for recital to be disciplin'd onely like Parrots Let not the disuse excite a disesteem of Confirmation though not to be dignified to be a Sacrament in the strictest notion yet it is to be admitted celebrated as a Sacred Ordinance extending it's beneficial influence to both the signal the formal Evangelical Sacraments like Janus it hath a double aspect it looks backward as additional auxiliary to Baptism inverting the Scene of the Votaries of Christian Piety by Proxies by Sureties to an immediate personal professional Obligation Confirmation also looks forward as a proper preliminary to the Eucharist precisely antecedently requisite for the practice at least the desire of it in the judgment of the Church of England It is generally retain'd solemnly observ'd in the Lutheran Churches in the venerable track of the purest Primitive Not to insist on the Canons the Sanctions of Councils Beza in a higher Key of Advancement exalts it to be an Apostolical Institution in the phrase of Imposition of Hands Heb. 6. 2. Calvin vindicates the antient exercise of Confirmation not tainted with the Lees of the Modern Romish Superstition as it is refin'd in the Church of England deplores the omission yerns pleads for the restitution of it amplifies the emoluments of it for preventing new-started Errours for tuning the jarring Strings of contentions to a melodious Harmony for an uniform Stability of religious Principles and judicious Methods Major esset in populo Christiano fidei consensus non tanta multorum inscitia non adeo temere quidam novis perigrinis dogmatibus abriperentur omnibus denique esset quaedam velut methodus doctrinae Christianae Mr. Baxter expresly acknowledges that the not practising of Confirmation hath brought us into confusion and that it must be the practising of it that must restore our Church to order and heal most of our divisions Dr. Jackson pathetically resented the defailance of a strict inquiry in this concern both in Episcopal and Archidiaconal Visitations Not to dilate an Epistle to a Volume I shall conclude with a paternal Monitory Advice which being tender'd with the right hand with a sincere respect let it not be receiv'd with the left with a sinister construction Toward the younger Sort Let not your grave Discourse be destitute of the Efficacy tho' it be of the Formality of a Catechism Maxima debetur pueris Reverentia Towards the Elder Sort Let your Conversation be a daily Sermon in a Pastoral precedence of Conduct after the mode of the Eastern Countries to lead your Parochial Flocks by a Constancy of Orthodox Doctrine Fidei regula being irrefragabilis immobilis saith Tertullian and by the integrity of a regular Deportment Not to be like the Roman Cassius Severus Maleficae vitae sed orandi validus in the Historian's Character of him eloquently persuasive in Language profanely execrable in Life This were to present the Devil in Samuel's Mantle to cover the blackest vilest deformity that of Wickedness with a specious white Ephod The Infirmities of others are our Crimes our Crimes Enormities Prodigies In the Mosaical Law as large a Sacrifice is requir'd for the Priest as for the whole Congregation It besteads beseems you in all the emergencies difficulties of the times to acquit your selves wise as Serpents not to be deluded harmless as Doves not to be deprav'd not envenom'd embitter'd The candor moderation of Bucer was too rigidly if not morosely charged to be his Crime even by some worthy reformed Divines his Contemporaries The most sedate tempers the most pacifique Spirits are least impure whilst most offensive It being the Observation of Livy Media via nec parit amicos nec tollit inimicos Being unleaven'd with Animosities in Controversies in Debates let your Prudence calmly guard your Innocence and your Innocence uprightly sanctifie your Prudence If the salt be unsavoury wherewith shall it be season'd Let it be an unsullied unbiast unscanted Innocence The Law of God is not disjunctive but copulative in the decision of the Schoolmen The desertion the detestation of one Vice is no warrant no privilege for the pursuits the embraces the caresses of another tho' more popular set out in a more fashionable Dress and Varnish St. Austin complain'd of some Divines whose keen reproof had but one Edge extended not to both the extreams of iniquities their Zeal being like Ephraim's Cake Dough unbaked of one side Let not your Spiritual Interests in any transactions truckle to Temporal let all recesses from the deliberate conviction of Judgment the clear dictate of Conscience tho' smoothly palliated be piously dreaded It is the disconsolate Maxim of St. Bernard Qui agit contra Conscientiam aedificat ad Gehennam Wherefore follow not Examples against the reluctancies of Conscience but listen to the Excellent Admonition of the son of Sirach Accept no Person against thine own Soul and let not the Reverence to any man cause thee to fall Ecclesiasticus 4. 22. I cordially constantly recommend you to the Divine Guidance Solace and Protection earnestly requesting your devout Offices in the behalf of Your very affectionate Brother and faithful Servant in Christ W. WORCESTER Worcester June 1. 1689. FINIS Dallaeus in l. 2. Confer Calv. l. 4. Inst. cap. 19.