Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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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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as are provided against that Sin which is the Subject of the Day Which Statutes together with his Majesties Letter I have formerly sent you And let not only the more gross Sins of the Flesh but the more subtle Sins of the Spirit such as Pride Envy Malice c. be exposed to your People in their odious nature and aggravating Circumstances Acquaint them not only with those Duties to which they are all in common obliged as they are men and Christians but with those special Duties which are incumbent upon them in their different Ages States and Relations In short let that be the drift of your preaching which is the design of the whole Gospel of Christ Tit. 2. 11 12. To teach men to deny all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Secondly As to the Manner of Preaching passing over other particulars I shall mention Three only at present Two of which are here sufficiently implyed Preach the Word sincerely plainly and affectionately 1. Sincerely Which is implyed in these Words That you will teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be perswaded may be proved by the Scriptures For Sincerity consists as in teaching all that the Scripture makes necessary so in teaching nothing for necessary that is foreign to the Scripture as the Church of Rome does in her new Creed imposing many Doctrines as necessary to Salvation which are not only Strangers to the Scriptures but plainly contrary to the Doctrines which are there taught 2. Plainly and to the capacity of your Hearers which is implyed in the Word instruct For how can a man be instructed by a Discourse which he knows not the meaning of He defeats the design of his Preaching and betrays his Hypocrisie who renders that obscure which he pretends to reveal To which I add 3. Preach Affectionately with that warmth and earnestness of Spirit which becomes matters of the greatest moment It would grieve a Man to hear matters of the greatest moment so coldly and drowsily delivered as if the Preacher did not himself believe what he said and were afraid lest his Hearers should be brought to believe it O my Brethren let us but seriously consider the inestimable worth of souls the unvaluable price that was paid for them what danger they are in of being eternally lost how dreadful our accounts will shortly be if they be lost through our slightness and laziness Let us but consider what Heaven and Hell mean what it is to be everlastingly saved or damned and we shall then think our greatest zeal and fervency will be little enough for such a Work as this I shall say no more concerning Preaching but proceed to the next way of publick teaching which is Secondly By Catechising or instructing persons in the Principles of Religion Which is indeed but a more familiar way of Preaching This is a Duty laid upon you by the Canon and Statute-Law both The Fifty Ninth Canon under a severe Penalty requires every Rector Vicar and Curate upon every Lord's Day in the Afternoon to examine and instruct the Youth and the more ignorant People of his Parish in the Catechism The same is made your Duty by Act of Parliament in the first Rubrick after the Catechism and because some who are apt enough to censure their Brethren for breaking other Laws can too easily dispense with themselves in this His Majesty hath charged the Bishops to see Let. to the Bish of Lond. That all the Clergy in their respective Diocesses do Catechise the Youth To which if we add the Practice of the Apostles the great Master-Builders of the Church who first taught Men the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ And lastly the voluntary Engagement you lye under to it methinks nothing can be thought wanting to oblige you effectually to this Duty But now should we set aside all these Considerations and consider only how advantagious this Work is to the Welfare of the Souls committed to our care the great Benefits they would reap by it the great Mischiefs they fall into by the Neglect of it one would think we should need no other Motive to put us upon the diligent practice of it What is the Reason that our Sermons are generally of so little effect That our People hear us year after year and many of them are never the wiser are ever learning and never come to the Knowledge of the Truth One main Reason doubtless is because they were never prepared to understand our Sermons and to profit by them by being first more familiarly instructed in the Principles of Religion What 's the Reason That many are so easily seduced to Error and Vice but because they were never well rooted and grounded in the Faith Prov. 22. 6. Train up a Child in the way that he should go and he will not depart from it when he is old As therefore my Brethren you tender the Salvation of your People set your selves without delay to this so advantagious and necessary a Work And that you may do it the more effectually I give it you in Charge to preach constantly in the Afternoon upon some part of the Church Catechism and to Examine some of the Young People of your Parish quite thorow it as oft as you preach upon it And that Parents and Masters may take the greater care to send their Children and Servants to be instructed by you do not only frequently and earnestly exhort them to it but thorowly acquaint them with the great Benefits that will accrue not only to their Children and Servants but likewise to themselves thereby as their Children will by this means be render'd more dutiful and obedient and their Servants more faithful and diligent Having solemnly declared That You are perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity to eternal Salvation and that you were determin'd out of the said Scriptures to instruct the People committed to your Charge In the next place you promised To give your faithful diligence always so to minister the Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Church and Realm hath received the same according to the commandment of God that is as God hath prescribed in the Holy Scriptures Of Ministring the Doctrine of Christ I have already spoken in what I have said about Preaching and Catechising As to the Sacrament of Baptism I shall at present only put you in mind of some few things which are either expresly or implicitly required by the Rubricks First Let your People know That Baptism being the solemn Admission of a Person into the publick Society of Christians it is very unbecoming its Nature and Design to have it administer'd in private Rubrick before private Baptism Admonish them therefore to bring their Children to be baptiz'd in the publick Congregation lest by their refusing so to do Christ should reckon them
to God for all the Scandal that is brought upon the Church thereby and for the Ruine of all those Souls which are misled by his bad Example In the next place these Two Questions were proposed to you before your Admission to the Office of Priesthood I. Are you perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity for eternal Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus II. Are you determined out of the said Scriptures to instruct the People committed to your Charge and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures To the First you Answered I am so perswaded To the Second I have so determin'd by Gods Grace That the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity to eternal Salvation That is That they not only contain all such necessary Doctrine but in some place or other so clearly contain it as that it may be understood by all those for whose Salvation the Scriptures were designed I take it for granted you all firmly believe It being the main Foundation of the Religion of Protestants in opposition to the Church of Rome which by asserting the deficiency of the Holy Scriptures in both these respects hath thereby open'd a door to those many Innovations She hath introduc'd into the Christian Doctrine and Worship and may if opportunity shall serve introduce as many more I shall not therefore insist upon this That which it may be more needful to speak to is Secondly What by God's Grace you determined to do viz. To instruct the People committed to your Charge out of the said Scriptures and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures One of the prime Qualifications St. Paul requires in a Pastor is 2 Tim. 2. 24. That he be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only able but apt and ready to teach and elsewhere he describes him 1 Tim. 5. 17. as one that labours in the Word and Doctrine and that This Labour in the Word and Doctrine was Necessary not only in the Apostles days when the Christian Religion was to be planted in the World but is still so is manifest from the ends for which he tells us Christ appointed Pastors and Teachers which were not only the converting of Infidels the gathering of the Sheep that were scatter'd abroad into the Fold Ephes 4. 12. but the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of the Body of Christ 'T is indeed strange That any Man should think this Work unnecessary as long as there are Sinners to be converted from the Error of their ways and Saints to be edified in their Holy Faith as long as Souls are in so great danger of being eternally lost through the daily Assaults of the World the Flesh and the Devil And it would be yet more strange if any Men who own themselves Ministers of the Church of England should think they can be excused from it when in the Exhortation before their receiving of Priests Orders they were told That to teach and to premonish to seek and provide for the Lords Family was that they were called unto When upon the Bishop's demanding Whether they were determin'd to instruct the People committed to their Charge out of the Scriptures They Answered They had so determin'd by God's Grace When in the very Words of Ordination it was laid upon them as a Charge To be faithful Dispensers of the Word of God Now this Teaching is either publick or private Of the private I shall speak when I come to the next Question save one That which is publick is to be perform'd these Two ways especially by Preaching and by Catechising And First as to Preaching Consider that solemn and dreadful Charge St. Paul lays upon Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the Quick and the Dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word Consider also That our Church hath enjoyned every allow'd Preacher that is beneficed Can. 45. to have a Sermon every Lord's Day in the Year And as a farther Enforcement That His Majesty hath charged all the Bishops Letter to the Bishop of London To see that the Clergy in their respective Diocesses be duly resident upon their Livings preaching the Word of God plainly How assiduous many of the Ancients were in this part of their Office and how necessary they thought it so to be I need not tell you but methinks a serious reflection upon it should make those not only blush but tremble who live in the Neglect of it who are so far from observing the Laws of our Church while they boast of more than ordinary Conformity to it that they have not perhaps more than one Sermon in a Year for two Benefices Now that we may in this way of Teaching be successful to the Salvation of our Hearers we are here directed both as to the Matter and the Manner of it First As to the Matter of our Preaching it must be out of the Holy Scriptures But since of the things contain'd in the Holy Scriptures some are necessary some are profitable only and since of these things which are only profitable some are more others are less profitable our Pulpit-Discourses should be chiefly confined to those Truths which are necessary or highly profitable in order to eternal Salvation omitting all School-Niceties and subtle Disputes which are of no Practical Use and never let any Truth which is call'd in question by none of your Hearers be made a Matter of Controversie in the Pulpit Endeavour effectually to convince your Hearers how by our Apostasie from God we have made our selves obnoxious to His heavy Displeasure and that there is a necessity of a Mediator between God and Man Shew them who this Mediator is and how he is qualified for this great Work what the Terms are upon which God hath graciously promised to pardon our Sins and how ready he is upon these Terms of Faith Repentance and sincere future Obedience to receive us into his Favour Press those Graces and Duties most which are most comprehensive as Justice and Charity Teach them to render to all their dues as tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom c. Represent CHARITY to them in all those branches of it in which it is described by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 13. Set your selves especially against those sins which are most visible in your Auditors as St. Paul who reason'd of Righteousness and Chastity when he preached before an unjust and adulterous Felix Acts 24. 25. More particularly in pursuance of His Majesties Letter preach frequently against profane Swearing Perjury Drunkenness and Profanation of the Lords Day and when such a Sermon is to be preached read to your People such statute-Statute-Law or Laws