Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A61800
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The Bishop of Chester's charge in his primary visitation at Chester, May 5, 1691
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Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S5929; ESTC R17221
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18,998
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32
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THE BISHOP of Chester's Charge IN HIS VISITATION THE BISHOP OF Chester's Charge IN HIS Primary Visitation AT CHESTER May 5. 1691. LONDON Printed for Thomas Bennet at the Half Moon in St. Pauls Church Yard 1692. THE Bishop of Chester's Charge c. My Dear Brethren SInce nothing can more conduce to the Edification of the Church in Faith and Holiness than that its Pastors be duly qualified for their Work I think my time cannot be better employed in this my Primary Visitation than in putting you in remembrance what manner of Men the Pastors of the Church ought to be and in quickening you and my self to the faithful Discharge of those great Duties which are incumbent upon us In Order to both which Purposes you need do no more than seriously reflect upon those things which before your admission to this Sacred Office you solemnly before God and his Church profess'd to believe and promis'd to perform The first Question proposed to you as preparatory to your Ordination to Priesthood was Do you think in your heart that you be truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of this Church of England to the Order and Ministry of Priesthood To which you Answered I think it That is I think it in my heart I am verily perswaded that I am so truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of this Church of England These latter Words The Order of the Church of England are not put to denote another Rule different from the Will of Christ but are rather added by way of Explication to shew Who those are that are called according to his Will viz. Those who are so qualified as the Church of England requires The Call here meant is the inward Call from God which must go before to prepare a Person for the outward Call from the Church in setting him apart to this Office by Prayer and Imposition of hands This inward Call consists in the due qualification of the Person for this weighty Work for God never calls a Man to any Employment which he does not before in some good measure fit him for These Qualifications may be reduced to Three General Heads That the Life That the Learning That the Design of the Person be such as are agreeable to the Sacredness of the Office All which are contain'd in the Caution the Bishop gives to the Person who presents to him the Persons to be Ordain'd Take heed that the Persons whom you present to us be apt and meet for their Learning and godly Conversation to exercise their Ministry duly to the Honour of God and the edifying of his Church First That he be for Life blameless sober just holy temperate as St. Paul prescribes in his Epistle to Titus That is that he be not addicted to any of those Vices which would be a Disparagement to his Ministry and hinder the good effect of it and that he be indued with all those Vertues which may adorn it Whosoever therefore lives in the Practice of any such Vice as will lessen his Authority and expose his Ministry to Contempt he is not qualified according to the Order of the Church of England Secondly That he be for Learning so well acquainted with the Sense of the Holy Scriptures as to be able to instruct his Flock in all that is necessary for them both to know and to do in order to their Eternal Salvation and to press their Duty upon them by such Considerations as may be apt to work upon their Wills and induce them to the Practice of it Thus St. Paul advises Timothy 2 Tim. 2 2. to make choice of such for Pastors who shall be able to teach others and commands Titus to see that those he ordained were such as were able by sound Doctrine to exhort and convince Gainsayers Tit. 1. 9. Whosoever therefore is so ignorant that he is not able to instruct his People in every necessary Point both of Faith and Practice and to enforce their Duty by fit Perswasives he is not called according to the Will of Christ No man doubtless can imagine That it is the Will of Christ that the Blind should lead the Blind that they should be set to be Guides to others who know not the way themselves The Third Necessary Qualification is a due Intention That a Man be inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon him this Office and Ministry to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People as it is express'd in the Office for the ordering of Deacons Not but that a Mans intention may be approved by God that hath in it a mixture of respect to Secular Advantage but then it must be so much Inferiour in such perfect Subordination to the other as his principal end that he despise all Worldly Regards in comparison with it and resolve to persevere in his Work though he meet with all the discouragements in the world to oppose him Though blessed be God there are many of you my Brethren not only whose Life and Learning are such as your Adversaries can make no just Exception against but who also give sufficient Proof that your intention was right by your unwearied diligence in the whole and every part of your Work yet I fear there may be some who if tryed by this Rule will be forced to confess that they are not so qualified as the Laws of Christ and of this Church require Can it be thought that they have the Glory of God principally in their eyes who endeavour to get into this Holy Employment by such unworthy Means as God abhors by false Titles and forged Certificates Can they be thought to aim chiefly at the Salvation of Souls who leave the Work wholly to others and take the Wages only to themselves Who for their ease and pleasure absent themselves from their Charges and think that Curate the best qualified who may be hired at the cheapest rate And here my Brethren I shall charge your Consciences with Two Things relating to this Matter First That you never send a Person to be Ordained with a Lye in his hand that is that you never signifie to the Bishop that you will take a Person for your Curate in case he shall think fit to Ordain him whom you intend never to employ in that Service For though a Title is indeed no Qualification for the Office but a cautionary Provision only for the Maintainance of the Person yet to bring a false Title is a plain Argument that the Man is destitute of that Truth and Honesty which are necessarily requisite to so Sacred an Office as this is Secondly That you never give a Testimonial of the good Life and Conversation of any Person whose Life and Conversation you do not certainly know to be such Considering that if the Bishop gives Orders to any unworthy Man upon the Credit he gives to your Certificate you must answer
their Devotion when they are at them I know not how any Minister can dispense with himself in this matter or what Salvo he can have for his Conscience who does otherwise But though publick Prayers be the more excellent yet 2. This cannot excuse you from being diligent in private Prayers and that both for your People and for your selves First Pray much and earnestly for your People Of this St. Paul hath set us an Example as he himself testifies in his Epistles thus he prayed for the Colossians Colos 1. 9 10 11. That they might be filled with the Knowledge of the Will of God in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work Thus he pray'd for the Ephesians Ephes 1. 15 16 17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of their understanding being enlightened that they might know what is the hope of his Calling c. Ephes 3. 16 17 18 19. That God would grant them according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthen'd with all might by his spirit in the inner Man that Christ might dwell in their hearts by Faith c. Thus he tells the Romans Rom. 1. 9. That without ceasing he made mention of them always in his Prayers In like manner he prayed for the Philipians Phil. 1. 4. Always says he and in every Prayer of mine for you all making request with joy He thought it not enough to pray once or twice but he ceased not still to pray for them It cannot be thought that any Pastor who aims as he ought at the salvation of his People can forbear to pray for them Secondly Pray constantly and earnestly for your selves For such assistances of God's holy spirit as may inable you rightly to discharge the Duties of your holy Calling 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but all our sufficiency is of God We made our Ordination Vow in expectation of and dependance upon Gods help I will do so by the help of the Lord I will the Lord being my helper And we need not doubt of God's help if we sincerely and importunately pray for it for he hath promised Luk. 11. 13. his Holy Spirit to them that ask it That is all the Gifts of his Holy Spirit we stand in need of But to proceed 2. You promised To be diligent in reading the Holy Scriptures And 3. In such studies as help to the knowledge of the same I put them both together for brevities sake St. Paul commanded Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 13. to give attendance to reading viz. of the Holy Scriptures and that not only in publick to others but also in private that he himself might be the more thoroughly instructed in them And if this was needful for Timothy who had learn'd the Holy Scriptures from a Child it will I fear be much more needful for many of us The Scriptures were inspired by God to this very end 2 Tim. 3. 17. That the man of God that is the Minister of the Gospel might be throughly furnished to all good Works That he might be instructed in every part of the Duty which belongs to his Office whether it be to teach or to reprove or to correct or to instruct in righteousness Out of this sacred repository and this only we may be supplyed with whatsoever is necessary for us and our People to know and to believe and to do I therefore earnestly press you to the study of the Holy Scriptures day and night to get such parts of them by heart as may be of most frequent and necessary use that you may have them in readiness upon all occasions And in your reading of them to observe those places which are most obscure to compare them with the Originals and with the words coherent to consult some one or more of the best Commentators upon them that you may attain to the true sense of them And for those who have leisure and ability for it to read the Fathers at least of the three first Centuries the History and Antiquities of the Church the Babylonian Persian Greek Roman and Jewish Antiquities and such other parts of Learning without which many places of Scripture cannot be well understood And that you may be thus diligent in Prayer and in reading and studying the Holy Scriptures Fourthly You promised To lay aside the study of the World and the Flesh For the more you study the World the less will you study the Holy Scriptures the more you consult the ease and pleasure of the Flesh the less will you attend to the pleasing of God and the saving of Souls In what degree soever your affections are set upon the things on the Earth in that they will necessarily be taken off from the things above O remember That every Clergy-man is a man of God dedicated to him in a more eminent service than others are and that you rob God of all that time and study which are needlesly spent upon other matters Remember that you are obliged not only by your Baptismal Vow to renounce the World and the Flesh as Lay Christians also are but more closely bound to it than they by this solemn Vow you made at your Ordination Let it appear to all Men that you pay your Vows by your living above this World and having your Conversation in Heaven In the next place you promised these two things This part of the Ordination-Vow was made the Subject of the whole Charge at another place and therefore is here the more briefly spoken to I. That You would be diligent to frame and fashion your own selves and your Families according to the Doctrine of Christ And which is somewhat more II. To make both your selves and them as much as in you lyeth wholesome Examples and Patterns to the Flock of Christ. First You promised to be diligent To frame your own selves according to the Doctrine of Christ to have your Conversation in all things suitable to the Gospel you preach He can never be seriously concerned for other mens souls who has not first a care of his own nor make it his chief study to conduct others in the narrow way that leads to Life who walks himself in the broad way that leads to destruction But suppose he could sincerely endeavour to destroy that sin in others which he cherishes in himself yet what success can he in reason expect Can it be thought that his People should pay any regard to what he says when they see that he does not regard it himself Can they think that he does in good earnest believe what he preaches when he unpreaches the same again in his life And is it then likely that they should believe it especially when it