Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A91527
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The Bishop of Ely's letter to his clergy
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing P821A; ESTC R42660
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5,032
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16
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Scriptures And for this self same cause how you 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 pondered 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 Iesus 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 sanctify the Lives of you and yours and to fashion them after the Rule and Doctrine of Christ that ye may be wholsom and godly examples and patterns for the People to follow And now that this present Congregation of Christ here assembled may also understand your minds and wills in these things and that this your promise may the more move you to do your duties ye shall answer plainly to these things which we in the Name of God and of his Church shall demand of you touching the same Do you think in your heart that you be truly called according to the Will of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Order of this Church of England to the Order and Ministry of Priesthood Answer I think it The Bishop Are you perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrines required of necessity to Eternal Salvation through faith in Iesus Christ and 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 Scripture Answer I am so perswaded and have so determined by Gods grace The Bishop Will you then give your faithfull diligence alwayes so to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and the Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Church and Realm hath received the same according to the Commandments of God so that you may teach the People committed to your cure and charge with all diligence to keep and observe the same Answer I will so do by the help of the Lord. The Bishop Will you be ready with all faithfull diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange Doctrines contrary to Gods Word and to use both publick and private monitions and exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within your Cures as need shall require and occasion shall be given Answer I will the Lord being my helper The Bishop Will you be diligent in Prayers and in reading of the holy Scriptures and in such studies as help to the knowledg of the same laying aside the study of the world and the flesh Answer I will endeavour my self so to do the Lord being my helper The Bishop Will you be diligent to frame and fashion your own selves and your families according to the Doctrine of Christ and to make both your selves and them as much as in you lyeth wholsom examples and patterns to the Flock of Christ Answer I will apply my self thereto the Lord being my helper The Bishop Will you maintain and set forward as much as lieth in you quietness peace and love among all Christian People and especially among them that are or shall be committed to your Charge Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper The Bishop Will you reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Ministers unto whom is committed the charge and Government over you following with a glad mind and will their godly admonitions and submitting your selves to their godly judgements Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper These are the sacred Bonds in which you tyed your selves to Christ when you entred into his Service and were made his Ministers That is had the highest Honour conferred on you but withall the greatest Trust which if it be not duly discharged will bring you under the heaviest guilt You have need therefore to quicken your selves to be faithfull in your Office by reflecting very often on these holy Resolutions or Vows rather which you made when you undertook it And pray to God also constantly to be your Heâ—â—er as the Bishop did after those Demands in these words Almighty God who hath given you this will to do all these things Grant also unto you Strength and Power to perform the same that he may accomplish his work which he hath begun in you through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen It would conduce very much to the accomplishing of his work in you if you would reflect often and seriously upon the very first step you made towards it when you declared at your admission to the Order of Deacons that you trusted you were inwardly moved by the holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration i. e. Not by mere Worldly ends and considerations that you might get a livelyhood but by Spirituall and Heavenly motives out of a desire as it follows there in that first Question to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People This Question you may observe was not renewed afterward when you came to be admitted to the Order of Priesthood because it was supposed that the same Motions continued in you which you felt at first or rather that they were grown stronger pressing you forward to desire to be made compleat Ministers of Jesus Christ for the advancement of his Kingdom in the World Now if what you affirmed at your entrance into his Service was true that you were inwardly moved to it by thâ— holy Ghost out of Love to our Lord Jesus Christ and to those Souls which cost him no less than his pretious Blood no Question that blessed Spirit of Grace which began a good work in you hath never ceased since that time unless you have quenched the Spirit which God forbid to move you to mind your duty and pursue the end of your Ministration That is to have this constantly in your thoughts to apply your selves wholly to this one thing how you may win Souls to the Knowledge and Love and Obedience of our Saviour For this is your Office which you undertook by the motion of the holy Ghost and therefore this ought to be your constant design your business your study and daily care how you may bring those Souls that are committed to your charge unto their Blessed Redeemer in Heaven by instructing both Young and Old in the Truth as â—t is in Christ by pressing it upon their hearts both in Catechizing and Preaching by perswading them to the practice of every part of their Christian duty by stirring them up when they are negligent taking all opportunities not onâ—y in Publick but according to your â—romise in Private also to admonish â—nd exhort them both in Health and 〈◊〉 Sickness that they may sensibly â—erceive the great worth of their Immorâ—â—l Souls even by your unwearied Diâ—â—gence Labour Pains and Care to save â—â—em Amen July 6. 1692. Sy. Eliens
THE Bishop of ELY's LETTER TO HIS CLERGY HINC LUCEM ET POCULA SACRA CAMBRIDGE â—â—â—â—ted by John Hayes Printer to â—he University 1692. Dear Brethren I Am so fully convinced by long experience how powerfull a frequent Reflection upon the Vows you made at your Ordination would be to awaken and excite you to a diligent and zealous performance of every part of your Ministerial duty that as I made it my earnest Request to you at my Visitation so now I renew it and again beseech you as you love your own Souls and the Souls of those committed unto your care to read over and weigh seriously every Lords day at least the Solemn Questions to which the Bishop in the Name of God and of his Church demanded your Answers before he laid his Hands on you And if you would likewise ponder that most weighty Exhortation wherewith the Bishop prepared you to attend unto those Demands when you were made Priests it would make the consideration of them more effectuall Now because I fear they may not be distinctly remembred and every One of you may not be well able to purchase one of those Common Prayer Books wherein they are Printed which commonly are only those of the Largest Volumes I have Transcribed them and herein sent them to you that you may have them continually before your Eyes And first I will lay before you what you promised when you were admitted Deacons Then the Bishop is required to examine every One of them that are to be Ordered in the presence of the People after this manner following Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration to serve God for the promoting of his Glory and the edifying of his People Answer I trust so The Bishop Do you think that you are truly called according to the will of our Lord Iesus Christ and the due Order of this Realm to the Ministry of the Church Answer I think so The Bishop Do you unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Answer I do believe them The Bishop Will you diligently Read the Same unto the People assembled in the Church where you shall be appointed to serve Answer I will The Bishop It appertaineth to the Office of a Deacon in the Church where he shall be appointed to serve to assist the Priest in Divine Service and specially when he ministreth the Holy Communion and to help him in the distribution thereof and to Read Holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church and to instruct the Youth in the Catechism in the absence of the Priest to Baptize Infants and to Preach if he be admitted thereto by the Bishop And furthermore it is his Office where provision is so made to search for the Sick Poor and Impotent People of the Parish to intimate their Estates Names and Places where they dwell unto the Curate that by his exhortation they may be relieved with the Alms of the Parishioners or others Will you do this gladly and willingly Answer I will so do by the help of God The Bishop Will you apply all your Diligence to frame and fashion your own Lives and the Lives of your Families according to the Doctrine of Christ and to make both your selves and them as much as in you lyeth wholsom examples of the Flock of Christ Answer I will so do the Lord being my helper The Bishop Will you Reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Ministers of the Church and them to whom the Charge and Government over you is committed following with a glad mind and will their Godly admonitions Answer I will endeavour my self the Lord being my helper Nothing can be more solemn than this Examination and the Engagements into which you entred by the Answers you publickly made to these Questions unless it be the obligations you further took upon you when you were admitted to the Order of Priesthood At which time the Bishop spake to you as here followeth which cannot be read too often over The Ordering of Priests YOV have heard Brethren as well in your private examination as in the exhortation which was now made to you in the Sermon preceding and in the Holy Lessons taken out of the Gospell and the writings of the Apostles of what dignity and of how great importance this Office is whereunto you are called And now again we exhort you in the Name of our Lord Iesus 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 Christ for ever Have alwayes 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 Ministration towards the Children of God towards the Spouse and Body of Christ and see that you never cease your Labour and Diligence untill you have done all that lyeth 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 oft among you â—either for error in Religion or for vitiousness 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 you may shew your selves dutifull and thankfull unto that Lord who hath placed you in so high a dignity and 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 you 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