upon us Of which you should endeavour to make your People sensible whereby they may be induced to observe them with Religious Joy Especially the three chief Festivals in memory of our Saviour's Nativity Resurrection and the Coming of the Holy Ghost But it is time to proceed to the other part of this Discourse which I propounded in the beginning And I must be the shorter in it because I have been longer in this than I at first intended PART II. HAving laid before you the Duties both private and publick which belong to your Holy Function I come now to treat a little of the Spirit wherewith they ought to be Performed SECT I. And above all things you must labour to possess your Hearts with a Spirit of Love to God whose Servants you are and who employs you in the most Glorious Work in the World A Spirit I say of Love to God the Father who hath sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World and to God the Son who loved the Church and gave himself for it and to God the Holy Ghost who hath by a peculiar Grace separated you from other Men to Minister unto Christ in his Church Which was a Witness of what was said to you at your Ordination Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God These were not empty words nor mere lofty Expressions without any Power in them But an effectual Prayer for the Holy Spirit of Grace which was then conferred upon you And should mightily move you to serve the Church of Christ in the love of the Spirit as St. Paul speaks XV Rom. 30. That is in the Love which the Spirit of God inspires you withal For as he saith before in that Epistle V. 5. The love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us So we pray in the Hymn which is recited at the Ordination of Priests Come Holy Ghost our Souls inspire And lighten us with Coelestial fire Thy blessed Unction from above Is comfort life and fire of Love These are not vain words if sent up with ardent Affection to God but procure for us the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and enliven and warm our Hearts with the Knowledge and Love of God our Saviour Which Love we should every day endeavour to stir up by reflecting upon the wonderful Love of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost unto us For so St. Chrysostom notes upon those words of St. Paul XV Rom. 30. He mentions the Love of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as Christ and the Father hath loved the World so hath the Spirit Upon this Love we ought to reflect every Morning and ponder it so long till we find it excite in us that Heavenly fire of Love to God which we prayed for at our Ordination For if we preserve this Flame in our Hearts it will make us cheerful as well as diligent restless and unwearied in the work of the Lord. Nothing can carry 〈◊〉 thorough it like this and render it so easy and sweet to us as to think we are serving our good God in that which he loves and delights to have done and to feel that every thing we do proceed from love to him and to his service Our Saviour teaches us that this is the Principle by which 〈◊〉 his Ministers ought to Act in that Question which he asks St. Peter and repeats it thrice after his Resurrection Simon Peter lovest thou me XX◠Joh. 15 16 17. And in the command which follows upon his profession that he sincerely loved Him Feed my Lambs and feed my Sheep take care of the Souls of Young and Old that they want not their proper Food For they are so dear to him as Theophylact there Notes that he makes our care of them to be the mark of our Affection to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is therefore a certain token of our Love to him because it flows from thence as from its Fountain and Spring If we love him we can never neglect them This will make us studious and industrious to promote the Salvation of those Souls whom Christ so dearly loved It being the truest Expression of our Love to Christ So St. Chrysostom upon this place Christ repeated this so often to show us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After what manner we ought chiefly to love him by taking care of his flock Can any Man read this then and be negligent No not if he Love the Lord Jesus in Sincerity who hath bid him demonstrate his Love by feeding his Lambs and his Sheep There are several other things saith that great Father of the Church which may give us some Confidence towards God nay make us Illustrious and Famous But that which above all things wins us the favour of Heaven is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our tender care of our Neighbours Which leads to the next thing SECT II. Which is a sincere Love and Affection to the Souls of Men which Christ hath redeemed with his precious Blood If we make an estimate of them by the price which was paid for them we cannot set too high a value upon them And if we look upon them as invaluable Beings purchased at so dear a rate we shall do all we can to save them and be exceeding fearful least any of them should be lost through our Negligence Preserve therefore and keep alive in your Hearts a Spirit of love to the Souls of Men especially to your Parishioners And there is no way to do this like to the Consideration what it cost to Redeem them no less than the Blood of the Son of God who demonstrated thereby how precious they are in themselves and how dear to him Bestow a few thoughts upon this every day and it will beget and continue in you the greatest Kindness and tenderest Compassion towards them And that will move you to lay out your selves with the utmost Diligence in all the Offices belonging to your Function And this both for his sake and for theirs that he may see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied as the Prophet speaks LIII Isa 11. and that they may obtain the Salvation which is in Christ Jesus with Eternal Glory 2 Tim. 2. 10. I shall conclude what I have said of these two things a Spirit of love to God and to the Souls of Men with a notable Discourse of St. Austin's Who in a Letter to Longinianus a Pagan Philosopher remembers him of this saying of one of the Ancients quibus satis persuasum esset ut nihil mallent mallet se esse quà m viros bonos his reliquam facilem esse doctrinam unto those who were perswaded so far as to desire no thing but to be made good Men all the rest of the Instructions that Philosophers could give them would be very easy This he saith he took to be a saying of Socrates which must be acknowledged to
in Optatus lib. 1. Which Name the very Heathen had learnt it was so common as appears by the enquiries they made after Bibles to burn them this being an usual question in the examination of the Martyrs Libros Deificos habetis Which we should look upon therefore as they did as an invaluable Treasure and let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom as the Apostle S. Paul speaks III Colossi 16. Such wisdom as will not indeed make us Philosophers or Rhetoritians c. to use the words of Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But gives such instructions that of Mortals it makes us immortal of Men it makes us God-like from the Earth it translates us above the top of Olympus Exhort 2. ad Graecos p 40. And the very same in effect the Holy Scriptures speak concerning themselves when they tell us they are able to make such a Man as Timothy was wise unto salvation being profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. III. 15 16 17. which should move us to follow his Exhortation in the foregoing Epistle 1 Tim. IV. 13 15. Give attendance to reading c. Meditate on these things give your selves wholly to them that your profiting may appear to all or in all things For this end you must joyn with this such other Studies as tend to lead you into a right understanding of the Holy Scriptures Of this you were admonished also at your Ordination when you promised to be diligent in reading the Holy Scriptures and in such studies as help to the knowledg of the same laying aside the study of the World and of the Flesh And chiefly you are to study to understand the Language in which the Holy Scriptures were Originally delivered to the Church especially the New Testament in which we ought to be as perfect as Lawyers are in Littleton's Tenures For this is our standing Rule of Faith and Manners in which if we be not well skilled our selves we shall never be able to direct others And next to this it is necessary to study diligently some approved Commentator upon the Bible especially Dr. Hammond on the New Testament which is not only to be read over but to be digested so that you may be Masters of the sense of our Saviour and his Holy Apostles I shall not lanch out into any further directions about the study of the Fathers and the Church-History which are necessary to accomplish a compleat Divine for that would swell this Book to a much greater bulk than I design it should have To conclude this Section let Ezra that Restorer of Religion among the Jews be your pattern who tells us himself that he was a ready Scribe in the Law of Moses VII Ezra 6. Such we should be well versed in the Holy Scriptures especially in the Laws of Christ so as to have them ready at hand for our purpose And in the 10th Verse he tells us how he came to deserve this Character First he had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD i. e. understand it and then Secondly it follows he prepared his heart to do it that is to act according to his knowledg and so to teach Israel statutes and judgments SECT II. Which that we may be able to do with good success we ought as the Psalmist speaks most emphatically give our selves unto prayer CXIX Psal 4. This is a duty incumbent upon all private Christians whom our Saviour and his Apostles command to pray alway and to pray without ceasing and to watch unto prayer but the Ministers of Christ ought more especially to be instant and incessant in it because they have need of a special assistance and blessing from above upon their labours to make others good Christians Which cannot be done without the blessed presence of God's Holy Spirit with us which must constantly and earnestly be implored to give us a right judgment in all things to fill us with a lively sence of Divine Matters and to enable us to convey it into the Minds and Hearts of others Of this also we are put in mind at our Ordination and therefore should never forget it For in that admirable Exhortation which goes before the Questions to which we are to make Answers the great excellence and the great difficulty of our Office is represented to us to make us sensible what need we have to pray earnestly for God's Holy Spirit without which it is impossible for us to have either a will or ability to perform it as we ought And accordingly this is one of the things which immediately after we promise to God and to his Church That we will be diligent in Prayers as well as in reading the Holy Scriptures Let us therefore as it follows in the forenamed Exhortation Pray continually to God the Father by the Mediation of our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for the heavenly Assistance of the Holy Ghost For as the Holy Scriptures are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Door whereby the good Shepherd enters to the performance of his Office as Theophylact I observed before Expounds our Saviour's words X John 1. So the Holy Spirit of God in the opinion of the same Father is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned in the third Verse of that Chapter which we translate the Porter or the Door-keeper who opens the Door for us and lets us into the sense of the holy Scriptures So his words are because by the Holy Spirit the Scriptures being opened and understood Christ is made known to us therefore it is called the Door-keeper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By whom he being the Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledg the Scriptures are opened unto us and by that means our Lord the good Shepherd enters to take us into his care and conduct To be Strangers then to this Holy Duty is to be Strangers to God and to all that is good who as He is nigh to all those that call upon him faithfully so he withdraws himself from those who neglect him Of which we cannot be guilty if we remember in what need we stand above all other Men of his blessed Presence with us to guide and strengthen and further us in the discharge of our weighty trust for his Honour and the Salvation of Men. This will stir us up not only to ask and seek but knock also as our Saviour Speaks that is pray with the greatest importunity for the Holy Spirit which our Heavenly Father is more ready to give than Parents are to give food to their hungry Children Let us be awakened by the example of King David who prevented the morning light to pray to God and to meditate in his Statutes as he tells us CXIX Psal 147 148. Though he was a man that had abundance of Cares upon him and was engaged in many Warrs as Theodoret glosses upon
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
Chrysostom upon these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His judgment was uncorrupt and unbyassed and pronounced nothing either out of Favour and Affection or out of dislike and hatred Another token of which Sincerity there follows in that after this high commendation which our Lord gave him he was not at all elated by it nor ran away with these Encomiums as the same Father speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but continues enquiring and searching more exactly being desirous of this alone to be more perfectly satisfied in the Truth As he was upon his next Question and our Saviour's Answer to it By this is appears that sincerity of heart is the best Disposition to understand the mind of Christ and to be employ'd by him in the Ministry of the Gospel as the Apostles were Who had regard to Nothing in this World but only to the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men in which also they found the highest Satisfaction or rather Rejoycing and Glorying For so St. Paul saith 2 Corinth I. 12. Our rejoycing or glorying or boasting is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity c. We have our Conversation in the World He served our Lord that is with pure intention designing nothing but to win Souls to him by delivering his mind sincerely to them and seeking no greater Satisfaction than to have it believed and obeyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as St. Chrysostom glosses on those words There was nothing deceitful in him No Hypocrisy no Simulation no Flattery no Craft or Fraud or any thing of that kind but he acted with all freedom in Simplicity in Truth in 〈◊〉 pure uncorrupt Judgment and clear intention having nothing concealed and hidden undernaeth nothing rotten at the bottom Thus he explains himself in the Second Chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians v. 3 4 5. For our Exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor of guile But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing Men but God which trieth our hearts For neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness Nor of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others This admirable Spirit let us imitate endeavouring after such a degree of this Vertue as to be glad if Men could look into our Hearts and see our secret intentions and designs as we are sure God doth Who as he is witness to them as the Apostle speaks so will judge us according to our uprightness and integrity in seeking to do him honour and to promote the Salvation of Souls Thus the Fathers of the Church particularly St. Gregory Nazianzen distinguish a Political Christian from a Spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A Political Person or a Man of this Worlds business is to do and to say all things whereby he may do himself credit and be honoured by others designing no happiness beyond this present Life But a Spiritual Mans business is to take care of his Salvation and highly to esteem what contributes unto that but to look upon that which doth not as nothing worth In short To esteem those things above all others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By which he himself may be made most worth and he may draw others by himself to the best and most excellent things Orat. XIX p. 300. SECT V. There are some other qualities that make up the Character of a good Minister of Jesus Christ of which I have not room in this little Treatise particularly to discourse For he ought to serve the Lord with all humility of mind XX Acts 19. with Patience also 2 Tim. II. 24. and with Meekness 2 Tim. II. 25. All which St. Paul hath commended to us together with the foregoing qualities in that admirable description he makes of himself 2 Corinth VI. 3 4 5 6. c. which was part of the Epistle I observed for the First Sunday in Lent Where he first of all saith that they took care to give no offence in any thing that the Ministry might not be blamed Of which I shall briefly speak a little when I have first laid before you what follows But in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God Not merely shewing themselves saith Oecumenius on the place but more than that approving or commending themselves which signifies a demonstration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by real Works and Deeds to be truly Christ's Ministers Which demonstration saith he they gave first of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Patience nay he adds much Patience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generously bearing all that was said of them that is Mens Censures Reproaches and Calumnies yea and all the sufferings and miseries they pleased to heap upon them Which he expresses in the next words in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings Upon which I cannot enlarge nor upon what he saith of their Pureness and Knowledge i. e. their Divine Wisdom whereby they approved themselves God's Ministers not by Humane Philosophy as the same Oecumenius expounds it and all the rest But only take Notice of what he saith v. 7. by the armour of righteousness on the Right hand and on the Left As if he had said would ye know how we come to perform such things as the same Author expounds it give ear then to what follows it was by being armed on both sides on the right and on the left which are not so contrary but the Armour of Righteousness fitted both By the right hand saith he the Apostle understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prosperous things such as honour and esteem among Men which did not make us swell nor puff us up with Vain Glory and therefore were the Armour or Weapons of Righteousness On the left hand were the things contrary to these Temptations Persecutions Reproaches and Injuries by which we were not dejected nor cast down as by the other we were not elated As if he had said in other words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither lifted up by good things nor disheartned by evil A proof of which immediately follows by honour and by dishonour by evil report and good report In which words saith that Author he recounts the right hand and the left hand things And in this Spirit we ought to serve the Lord Christ not minding the vain praise of Men nor their dispraise but only endeavouring to approve our selves to our Blessed Lord and Master with an equal mind in all Conditions Before I end this I cannot but a little reflect upon those words wherewith the Apostle begins this discourse giving no offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed Which admonishes us cautiously to avoid every thing at which Men may take just exception for this very reason least the Gospel of Christ should be hindred