Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A42335
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Advice to the clergy of the diocese of Lincoln by ... James Lord Bishop of that diocese, in order to his primary visitation.
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Gardiner, James, 1637-1705.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing G223A; ESTC R18382
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23,819
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40
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application of mind and I have often been much concerned and grieved that I want that assistance of which the Constitution and external Regiment and Administration of the Church has been provided I mean The Assistance of Rural Deans which Office is a part of our Constitution and is yet exercised in some Dioceses of this Kingdom but has unhappily been disused in this for how long time I know not to the great loss and hindrance of Ecclesiastical Administration By the impartial and diligent Execution of this Office the Bishop might be eased in a great part of that Duty which is too heavy a Burthen for his own Shoulders The Ignorant the Factious the Scandalous the Negligent the Dissenting might easily be detected in a small Deanary and being signified to the Bishop or rather first of all and immediately to the Arch-Deacon might be timely and duely corrected and reformed For the Arch-deacon inhabiting within his Arch-deaconry as it is most proper might easily be resorted to upon occasion and so Hear and Amend many Faults which might be brought to him by the Rural Dean without Application to the Bishop If a Bishop of this extensive Diocese was provided of active and faithful Persons in the several Deanries which retain the name yet his Business might be manageable and his Authority and Government useful whereas for want of these no Bishop here can do so much and so well as he might be willing and glad to do But in the defect of these Assistances it is in your Power My Brethren to give me ease and satisfaction in my weak Endeavours If you would do what you have declared and promised and resolved to do in the presence of God and the Congregation at your Ordination it would discharge me of a great deal of care and trouble Where there is a formed and settled Church as this of the Church of England is with known Rules and Measures by which the Clergy are bound to exercise their Ministry one would think if Men were sincere they could not fail in performing this part of their duty for they cannot or at least they need not be ignorant of the Obligations that are laid upon them by the Laws of the Kingdom and the Canons of the Church not to mention here the Obligations that they have laid upon themselves But it is too true that there is a Failure in some Persons as to the discharge of those Obligations which if it be frequent and habitual can proceed from nothing but Prejudice or Sloath or Inconsideration in all which there is a spice of Insincerity I know some will plead want of Health and others an Obligation to officiate in several places for a bare Competency But one may easily distinguish whether these be the true Reasons or whether their Omissions proceed from other causes To be sure they themselves know I wish their Pretences were always sincere However the unaccountable Negligence of some and the Immoralities of others are the subjects of the Bishop's Trouble and Inquiry If there were none such a Bishop's Visitation would be easie and comfortable It would have been well if such Persons had been stopt at the first door that of Ordination but having been let in there where the door was too wide they are the Men that make the greatest disorder and trouble within If these Men had come so disposed and qualified into the Ministry of the Church as they professed themselves to be affirming at their Ordination that they trusted they were inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them the Office and Ministration of Deacons to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People They would behave themselves after another manner whereas practising so disagreeably to that Declaration they made they give occasion to the World to believe that it was a false and groundless Presumption and a sort of Lying against the Holy Ghost Or else that if they had any such good Motion they have quenched it since by their unworthy and disagreeable Behaviour If such Men would bethink themselves and reflect upon the solemn Profession Promise and Vow which they made at their Ordination it might be a means to revive that holy Fire within them if it was ever kindled in their Hearts which they have so heedlesly extinguish'd I would for that reason advise them frequently and delibrately to read the Offices of Ordaining Deacons and Priests where they may see not only their Work laid out and set before them with the Dignity and Vsefulness of it but also the Obligation they have laid upon themselves to perform it and if there be any Ingenuity remaining in them agreeable to their Liberal and Learned Education any Sense of Goodness any Regard to the Love of Christ and his Church any Hope of reward for their due attendance to their Duty any Fear of the extreme Punishment that will certainly follow upon the neglect of it it cannot but affect them with shame and trouble which would awaken within them servent Desires and hearty Resolutions and careful Endeavours to discharge then Obligations for the future And if there be any that have entred into Orders without feeling or pretending to feel any such secret motion of the Holy Ghost but solely for secular Ends and Advantages however they have made a false step at their Entrance they may yet recover themselves if by serious and timely consideration and begging the Assistance of the Holy Spirit who presides in and takes care of the Church of Christ and is ready to Co-operate with those that serve the Lord Jesus in the Work of the Ministry they could be prevailed upon out of an hearty sense of their Duty to apply themselves faithfully and diligently to the practice of it according to their Natural Faculties and Abilities the Improvement of which would prevail with God to bestow more and greater In short the best and most proper Disposition for the work of the Ministry in the Church of Christ is Simplicity and Sincerity of Heart This Disposition our Saviour preferred in the Election of His Apostles excepting only one whom he chose for a particular reason Men thus qualified will serve their Master Faithfully in all Circumstances and be the outward condition of the Church either Afflicted or Prosperous they will be true to the Interest of it knowing how to be abased and how to abound If the Church of Christ was provided of Ministers so qualified in all places the Visitation of a Bishop would be no Burthen either to himself or them It was so provided in the first Ages after the Apostles And in the succeeding Ages during the time of the Apostacy to the time of the Reformation this Nation produced not a few Persons very illustrious and eminent in this Character I shall do no wrong to many others to instance in one particularly a * Robert Grofthead Bishop of Lincoln Bishop of this Diocese who amongst many other excellent Indowments both