when he saith to his Disciples Matth. 5. last Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Tim. But that is impossible Tit. True as to Equality but not as to Imitation St. Paul was not equal with our blessed Lord for Purity and Holiness but he was an imitator of him as himself testifies saying Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ Nor is it impossible for you to consider seriously the weight and dignity of your Caâ—ling and to take heed thereto as you are exhorted by the Bishop at your Ordination Vid. The Form of Ordering of Priests which if you do as you ought and there promised to do you shall be an able and faithful Minister of the Church of Christ The exhortation runs in these Words YOV have heard Brethren as well in your private Examination as in the Exhortation which was now made to you and in the holy Lessons taken out of the Gospel and the Writings of the Apostles of what Dignity and of how great Importance this Office is whereunto ye are called And now again we exhort you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you have in remembrance into how high a Dignity and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called That is to say to be Messengers Watchmen and Stewards of the Lord to teach and to premonish to feed and provide for the Lords Family to seek for Christs Sheep that are dispersed abroad and for his Children who are in the midst of this naughty World that they may be saved through Jesus Christ for ever Have always therefore printed in your remembrance how great a Treasure is committed to your charge For they are the Sheep of Christ which he bought with his Death and for whom he shed his Blood. The Church and Congregation whom you must serve is his Spouse and his Body And if it shall happen the same Church or any Member thereof to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence ye know the greatness of the fault and also the horrible punishment that will ensue Wherefore consider with your selves the end of your Ministry towards the Children of God towards the Spouse and Body of Christ and see that you never cease your Labour your Care and Diligence until you have done all that lieth in you according to your bounden duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your Charge unto that agreement in the Faith and Knowledge of God and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ that there be no place left among you either for Errour in Religion or for Viciousness in Life Forasmuch then as your Office is both of so great excellency and of so great difficulty ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply your selves as well that ye may shew your selves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord who hath placed you in so high a Dignity as also to beware that neither you your selves offend nor be occasion that others offend Howbeit ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of your selves for that will and ability is given of God alone Therefore ye ought and have need to pray earnestly for his holy Spirit And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a Work pertaining to the Salvation of Man but with Doctrine and Exhortation taken out of the holy Scriptures and with a Life agreeable to the same consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures and in framing the Manners both of your selves and of them that specially pertain unto you according to the Rule of the same Scriptures And for this self same cause how ye ought to forsake and set aside as much as you may all Worldly Cares and Studies We have good hope that you have well weighed and pondred these things with your selves long before this time and that you have clearly determined by Gods Grace to give your selves wholly to this Office whereunto it hath pleased God to call you So that as much as lieth in you you will apply your selves wholly to this one thing and draw all your Cares and Studies this way and that you will continually pray to God the Father by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ for the heavenly Assistance of the Holy Ghost that by daily reading and weighing of the Scriptures ye may wax riper and stronger in your Ministry and that ye may so endeavour your selves from time to time to sanctifie the Lives of you and yours and to fashion them after the Rule and Doctrine of Christ that ye may be wholesom and godly Examples and Patterns for the People to follow Tim. I confess this is very serious and weighty and do acknowledge I never perused or pondered it before Tit. Add to this that daily Prayer at the end of the Confession And grant O most merciful Father for his sake that we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of thy name Is not the Minister concerned in this as well as the People when he saith and grant that we may c Tim. Yes without dâ—ubt and by Gods help hereafter my Practice shall be more conformable to my Prayers Tit. Pray God it may for evil Ministers 't is the phrase usâ—d in this Article are most odious to God and injurious to his Church of all others One such impious Wretch by his ungodly life gives such a wound to Religion and the Cause of God as many of his Brethren though exemplary both in â—ife and Doctrine are not able to heal Besides I trâ—mble to think of thâ— Reward of such a Minister in another world and what he will be able to plead for himself to the great Bishop of Souls the Lord Jesus at his general and final Visitation Rev. 22. 12. I beseech you therefore Tim. remember the weight and excellency of your Calling and the solemn Promises in the face of the Congregation made to God then when you were admitted to it Not forgetting your Obligation by Baptism which is the subject of the following Article you are next to read Tim. I give you my hearty thanks and hope these things will make an impression upon me for good Tit. I shall rejoice to see it Go on ART 27. Tim. Baptism is not only a sign of Profession and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not Christened but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New Birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the Promises of the Forgiveness of Sin and of our Adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace increased by vertue of Prayer unto God. The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the Institution of Christ Tit. You see here what high and noble priviledges are signified and sealed to us by our Baptism Regeneration Adoption and Remission To
say worse Tim. You would not have me talk contrary to what I believe would you Tit. What is that Tim. I believe every man hath a power and freedom of Will to good Works as well as Evil. Tit. What Naturally and in an unregenerate Estate Tim. Yes Tit. This is contrary to the Tenth Article as Aye and No directly Opposite to Scripture Which saith the Carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be so then they that are in the Flesh cannot please God. The Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are Spiritualy discerned No man can say Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God And without me ye can do nothing saith our Saviour Repugnant is your belief also to many Prayers of our Church As the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent. The Fifth Sunday after Easter The Ninth Sunday after Trinity The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity The Nineteenth The Collect on All-Saints Day and many more Now what a rare Believer are you to believe contrary to the Word of God the Articles you have Subscribed and the Prayers you constantly Rom. 8. 7. 8. 1 Cor. 2.14 1 Cor. 12.3 2 Cor. 3. 5. John 15.5 make use of and are obliged to put up to God on those several days in the prescribed Words and no other But what 's the next part of your Belief in this matter Tim. That as I have a Power and freedom of will to Good Works so I must do them in order to my being Justified before God. Tit. This is as Corrupt and Erroneous as the Former and as opposite to the next Article read it Article XII Albeit that Good Works which are the fruits of Faith and follow after justification cannot put away our Sins and endure the severity ef Gods Judgment yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the Fruit. Tit. Here you are Taught That Good Works are pleasing and acceptable to God but so far are they from justifying without Faith that they are the fruits of Faith and follow after Justification Plainly implying That we must have true Faith and be justified before we can do any Works good pleasing or acceptable to God. So that I believe according to our Church that Faith in Christ justifies the Person and Good Works the Faith Or thus I take it that God justifies Judicially Christ Jesus Meritoriously Faith Instrumentally and Good Works Declaratively Tim. So then you will make Good Works of little worth and it matters not whether a man hath them or not Tit. No such matter I believe they are absolutely necessary to Salvation that no man can go to Heaven without them for they are as this Twelfth Article tells you the genuine and necessary fruits of a true and lively Faith and that there can be no such Faith without them And St. James saith as much in the Second Chapter of his Epistle at large I believe that Text of Holy Writ which tells me Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord with an equal Faith that Heb. 12.14 Heb. 11.6 I do that which saith Without Faith 't is impossible to please God. That is that both are necessary to make a good Christian and there is no other I am sure shall ever enter into Heaven And to close this Discourse I believe he that Teaches such Doctrine as this stands further off from Rome comes nearer to the Analogy of Faith the Tenour of the Holy Gospel and the sound Articles of our Church then those Men who Teach or Preach otherwise and I hope by this time you think so too Tim. I am inclinable to such thoughts Tit. And the more you think on 't the more inclinable you will still be if you do not wilfully shut your Eyes against the Light of Gods Word and of the following Articles grounded upon it Article XIII Works done before the grace of Christ and the Inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesu Christ neither do they make men meet to receive Grace or as the School Authors say deserve Grace of congruity yea rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the nature of Sin. Tit. What think you of this added to all the rest Tim. It still helps to Confirm what you have said and to convince me of my Errour without any farther Comment Tit. Proceed then to the next viz. Article XIV Voluntary works besides over and above Gods Commandments which they call Works of Supererogation cannot be taught without Arrogancy and Impiety For by them Men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do but that they do more for his sake then of bounden duty is required Where as Christ saith plainly When ye have done all that are Commanded to you say We are unprofitable Servants Tit. I have such Charity for thee Tim. as not to think thee so far Popefied as to oppose this Article Tim. You may for surely we who neither do nor can do all that God Commands have little ground to boast of doing more Tit. Honestly said Tim. I hope to find thee right as to the next too Article XV. Tim. Christ in the truth of our Nature was made like unto us in all things Sin only except from which he was clearly void both in his flesh and in Spirit He came to be a Lamb without spot who by sacrifice of himself once made should take away the Sins of the World and sin as St. John saith was not in him But all we the rest although Baptized and born again in Christ yet offend in many things and if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us Tit. I know nothing contained in this Article that you do Oppose or Cavil at and therefore think the best never loving to make quarrels when there is not just and apparent Cause for it Therefore let us view the following one Article XVI Not every deadly Sin willingly committed after Baptism is Sin against the Holy Ghost and unpardonable Wherefore the grant of Repentance is not to be denyed to such as fall into Sin after Baptism After we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from grace given and fall into Sin and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives And therefore they are to be Condemned which say they can no more Sin as long as they live here to deny the place of forgiveness
Canon for the future for I see few of my Brethren do Tit. No if all the Ministers in the Church of England were inspired with your zealous Spirit in this respect the Presentments at the Ecclesiastical Courts might for numbers vie with the late Petitioners to His Majesty and we will give you all the Addressers too into the bargain Tim. I believe you may for doubtless they are a vast number Tit. Consider but some Parishes in and about the City of London in which there are so many thousand at that age and upwards that to take a personal and particular account of them and draw up his Presentment would be work enough for the Minister from one Easter to another Tim. I think he would not have much time for his Study or Ministerial Offices Tit. And I think he would have but little thanks for his pains either from his Parishioners or Diocesan for such Proceedings would gender Confusion And I think Visiting the Sick Catechising the Youth and Informing the Ignorant would be a better improving of Time and a greater Service to our Church than drawing up and making such Presentments And when we must be doing let us present the Debauched and Prophane the Scandalous and notorious Offenders against the Moral Law of God rather than the ignorant Offenders against that Law of Man. Tim. Well now you talk of improving Time pray let us improve ours and proceed we have been long enough here already Tit. I would not weary not over-long detain you for I know you sit upon Thorns therefore go on ART 31. Tim. The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the Sins of the whole World both Original and Actual and there is none other Satisfaction for Sin but that alone Wherefore the Sacrifices of Masses in the which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have Remission of Pain or Guilt were blasphemous Fables and dangerous Deceits Tit. This Article destroys the very bulk and life of all the Romish Religion namely the Sacrifice of the Mass 'T is this that promotes the Adoring of the Creature Purgatory and Prayer for the Dead and all those Papal Stratagems whereby his Holinesses Coffers are cramm'd and the Pomp and Grandeur of his whole Body Ecclesiastick is supported and maintained Take away this and their Religion dwindles into nothing the Priests and Jesuits might cobble Shoes Vid. Saul and Samuel p. 22. in reality to get Bread as they sometimes have done here and elsewhere to cover their intended Villanies yea the Pope himself would become as poor as his pretended Predecessor St. Peter Well this gainful and admired Device doth our Church rightly explode as a blasphemous Fable and dangerous Deceit Tim. And doubtless such it is and no better Tit. Then whatever Priest shall subscribe to this Article and afterwards lift up his hands to this Romish Babel without great Repentance is a damned Hypocrite Tim. And cursed beyond the Power of the Popes Absolution or Benediction Tit. I am glad to find you so firm in this and hope you will prove so as to the next which thwarts another Doctrine of the Romanists Tim. What is that Tit. Read it and you will be satisfied ART 32. Tim. Bishops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by Gods Law either to vow the Estate of Single life or to abstain from Marriage Therefore it is lawful for them as for all other Christian Men to marry at their own discretion as they shall judge the same to serve better to Godliness Tit. Now you perceive whereto the Article tends Tim. Yes to reprehend the Doctrine of the Papists which forbids Priests to marry Tit. And I am sure our Church is in the right here having the Scripture on her side Tim. She hath so but she doth not say that Priests by the Word of God are bound to marry or bound not to marry but they may or may not as in prudence or discretion they shall think fit Tit. And as the same shall serve better to Godliness pray put that in too Tim. Admit I do yet I think 't is as great prudence in Priests and as conducive to Godliness not to say more to live unmarried as married Tit. In good time Then here you prefer the Prudence of the Church of Rome to this of our Church You would have done well to have read this Article before you had subscribed it Tim. You will give me leave to speak my thoughts Tit. Most freely good Tim. I know you are a single Person yet but have you vowed perpetual Chastity as the Papists call it Tim. To speak truth I have resolved it Tit. And if you do but believe as the Church of Rome believes in this Point too no doubt but your Resolution or Vow will marvellously promote Godliness Tim. How is that Tit. That nothing can break or violate that Vow but Marriage Tim. I don't understand your meaning Tit. The meaning is a Priest having vowed Chastity may if he will and as oft as he will frequent the publick Stews or keep Concubines or Whores yet be a very chast and honest Man. If a Priest keep an Whore at Board and at Bed and use her constantly as if she were his Wife he is not therefore Irregular but if he marry her or an honester Woman all the World cannot excuse him for though such Whoredom never disables a Priest yet chaste Marriage utterly spoils him Now doth not this tend mightily to Godliness Yea they make Whoredom so small a matter in a Religious Man that they tell us For a Monk or a Friar to lay aside his Habit is a Crime by which he incurs Excommunication but if he lay aside his Habit that he may commit Fornication the more expeditely without the Incumbrances which his Monkish Weeds would give him in the Act they declare him upon that account freed from Censure And so common is this Vice among them that Cassander a moderate Papist saith There is scarce an hundred amongst all their Priests that abstain from Women Popish Coelebacy therefore is a great promoter of Piety is it not Tim. 'T is but some few that are so wicked Tit. 'T is a Leprosie that runs from Head to Foot in the Ecclesiastical Romish Body The very Popes themselves as Holy and Infallible as they are have generally had a Finger in the Pye as it were easie to shew if time would permit but for brevity sake read but a few ancient Sentences written of some of them and then give me your thoughts As that of Pope Paul the Second Anxia testiculos Pauli ne Roma requiras Filia huic nata est haec docet esse marem Of Pope Innocent the Eighth Bis quatuor nocens genuit puellulos Totidem sed nocens genuit puellulas O Roma possis hunc meritò dicere Patrem Of Pope Alexander the Sixth Non spado Alexander fuerat Lucretia nempe