and our fault be laid upon our Religion There is a remarkable Precept to this purpose which the Apostle gives both to Timothy and to Titus 1 Tim. IV. 12. II Tit. 15. Let no Man despise thee Which some may fancy as Theodoret observes to be a command belonging to others rather than to us who cannot hinder Mens despisals But that 's a mistake in the Apostles opinion who would have Timothy to know that he who commands and teaches others may preserve himself from contempt by this means though he was a young Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Be thou a living Law show in thy self the perfect work of the Law lead such a life as will bear witness to thy words Which life he describes in the words immediately following be thou an example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity He that thus makes himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Oecumenius expresses it as it were a living Image and Rule of a good Life will preserve himself from contempt and not lose but maintain his Authority To conclude this there is nothing the Devil more desires and endeavours than to alienate the hearts of the People from their Ministers and therefore they should take the greatest care to do nothing that may give the least occasion of it And here I cannot forbear to mind you of one thing which hath given no small Scandal which is the not keeping your Houses and that part of the House of God which belongs to the care of some Ministers in good Repair and leaving them so to their Successors This argues a very careless or covetous sordid Spirit minding nothing but a Mans self and the present World and having no consideration of the future I hope I need not exhort you to observe the LXXV Canon of our Church which requires you not to resort to any Taverns or Ale houses at any time other than for your honest necessities c. Which occasions cannot be frequent nor of any long continuance I shall only tell you that Julian the Apostate in his famous Letter to Arsacius the High Priest of the Pagan Religion in Galatia having commended the Exemplary Charity of Christians to the imitation of his Priests adds after some other good Admonitions of governing their Families well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Exhort a Priest that he neither go into the Theatre nor drink in a Tavern nor exercise any base or ignominoius art Honour those that obey these Orders and put the disobedient out of their Office Fpist XLIX This showes how sensible he was of the necessity of the Apostolical Precept that he who ministred to God should have a good report of them which are without i. e. are not of his Religion 1 Tim. III. 7. To Conclude think often what an honour it is to serve the Lord Jesus and what Care he took of his Flock How invaluable the Souls of Men are which he purchased with his Blood What an inestimable Treasure the Gospel of Christ is wherewith you are intrusted in what an high Station God hath placed you and then you will never submit to so much as any mean Action but do such things as may procure you esteem or at least prevent contempt And to keep this Good Spirit in you which I have described it would be of singular Use to read every Lord's day at least every Ordination Sunday the Vows and Promises you made when you were admitted into Holy Orders Which are so Solemn that it is impossible not to be moved by them if they be not merely read but seriously weighed and considered These Instructions I have Written in the midst of great variety of Business and with many interruptions which may make them defective in many Particulars and less accurate than they might otherwise have been But what they want in that will be made up I hope by the sincere desire I have to do good and by the Grace of God accompanying all honest endeavours Unto which Grace I most heartily commend you and rest Your Affectionate Brother Sy. Eliens March 19. 1697. Books Written by the R. R. Symon Patrick D. D. now Lord Bishop of Ely and Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Parable of the Pilgrim written to a Friend The 6 Edition 4to 1681. Mensa Mystica Or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper In which the Ends of its Institution are so manifested our Addresses to it so directed our Behaviour there and afterward so composed that we may not lose the Profits which are to be received by it With Prayers and Thanksgivings inserted To which is annexed Aqua Genitalis A Discourse concerning Baptism In which is inserted a Discourse to perswade to a confirmation of the Baptismal Vow 8vo Jewish Hypocrisie A Caveat to the present Generation Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a Nations or Persons compleat Happiness from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish State To which is added A Discourse upon Micah 6. 8. belonging to the same matter 8vo Divine Arithmatick A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Samuel Jacomb Minister of St. Mary-Woolnoth-Church in Lombard-street London With an Account of his Life 8vo A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Tho. Grigg Rector of St. Andrew-Vndersharft London 4to An Exposition of the Ten Commandments 8vo Heart's Ease Or a Remedy against all Troubles With a Consolatory Discourse particularly directed to those who have lost their Friends and Relations To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The sixth Edition corrected 12mo 1695. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by St. Paul in 1 Tim. 3. 15. 4to An Examination of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church viz. ANTIQVITY 4to An Examination of the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible to prove the Supremacy of St. Peter and of the Pope over the whole Church In Two Parts 4to An Answer to a Book spread abroad by the Romish Priests Entituled The Touchstone of the Reformed Gospel wherein the True Doctrine of the Church of England and many Texts of the Holy Scripture are faithfully explained 8vo 1692. A private Prayer to be used in difficult times A Thanksgiving for our late wonderful Deliverance A Prayer for Charity Peace and Unity chiefly to be used in Lent A Sermon Preached upon St. Peter's Day printed with Enlargements 4to A Sermon Preached in St. James's Chappel before the Prince of Orange Jan. 20. 1688. on Isaiah 11. 6. A Second Part of the Sermon before the Prince of Orange on the same Text. Preached in Covent-Garden A Sermon Preached before the Queen in March 1688 9. on Colos 3. 15. A Sermon against Murmuring Preached at Covent-Garden in Lent 1688 9. on 1 Cor. 10. 10. A Sermon against Censuring Preached at Covent-Garden in Advent 1688. on 1
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
once a Year on the first day of Lent though the Prayers then appointed are to be used at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint This if done solemnly though it seem a thing of no great labour yet might have a great effect For every one knows or ought to know that the Lent Fast was Instituted to be a time of Repentance and to bring Men to it what can be more effectual than this Denunciation of Gods Anger and Judgments against Sinners with most comfortable assurances of Grace and Mercy to the Penitent I know it is hard as the World goes to get a Congregation together upon that day when this is required to be read in the Church You may therefore read it on the First Sunday in Lent and then put the Sense of it into your Sermon where it may be proper to press them to weigh every part of it distinctly And in order to it remove that foolish Objection which I have heard some have in their Mouths that they cannot endure to Curse their Neighbours by showing them plainly that they are not the Curses of the People but of God himself which he hath denounced against Sinners To which when the People are ordered to say AMEN they only consent to the truth of that which God saith The very Office teaches this when it declares the end of reading those Curses gathered out of the XXVII of Deuteronomy and other places of Scripture and the Peoples saying Amen to them that they may flee from such vices for which they affirm with their own mouth the Curse of God to be due And represent to them also that whether they will affirm these Curses to be due or no they will fall upon them if they be such Sinners as are there named and the sooner because they refuse to say Amen to the Words of God that is affirm what he affirms who is the Faithful and the True This Cavil being taken away it will be easie to make them sensible how useful it is for them to joyn with you in this Commination which may awaken drousy Souls to consider and amend their evil doings that they may escape those Judgments that are threatned to them which are unavoidable if they go on still in their Sins There was something like this among the ancient Jews who at certain stated times were wont to denounce a general Anathema against all the Israelites who knowingly and willingly violated such and such Laws A Form of which Mr. Selden hath given us out of their Ritual called Colho Lib. IV. De Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 7. This it is likely the Christian Church thought fit to imitate not by denouncing a formal Anathema but only by a solemn recital of the Threatnings in God's Laws against impenitent Sinners And their affirming the truth and certainty of them Which in the Romish Church came at last to such an Anathema as I now mentioned in the Jewish Ritual call'd The greater Excommunication which here in England was denounced by every Bishop twice a year and by every Parish-Priest four times a year against certain Persons A Form of which great Curse the same most Learned Person hath given us out of the Ritual according to the use of the Church of Sarum in his first Book De Synedriis Cap. X. where he observes that in the room of this our first Reformers only ordered this Maledictory Commination as he well stiles it to be used once a Year In the beginning of which Commination there is mention made of a godly Discipline in the Primitive Church whereby such Persons as stood Convicted of notorious sins were in the beginning of Lent put to open Pennance This Discipline we there wish might be restored again but seem to suppose that for the present we can only instead of it denounce God's anger and judgments against sinners and make them say Amen thereunto whereby they may stand Convicted in their own Consciences that they are under the Curse of God and so be brought to Repentance Had we not need then do this very seriously if it be all that we can do of this kind Yet let it be considered whether we may not be able to do something more if we will attempt it For may not scandalous Persons be more frequently presented than they are May not private Admonitions if not publick be more used Let us not then think fit to do nothing because we cannot do all that we would The right way to enlarge our Authority of the want of which we complain is to use that which we have uprightly and faithfully That is if we presented none in the Ecclesiastical Court till private Applications had been made to them with seriousness and earnestness unsuccessfully and if it were done without respect to Persons Parties or Interests we might bring our Courts into that just esteem and credit which they ought to have And having mentioned private Admonition let me in a few words remember you that at your Ordination you promised 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 And perhaps more good might be done this way than any other if it were done at fitting times with as much secrecy as may be and with apparent affection to them In some Cases perhaps it may be done most effectually by Letter which may be sent when you cannot have opportunity to speak to them And here it may be proper to admonish you that Dissenters from our Church are thus to be dealt withal by some way of private Conference with them not by Preaching against them for they are not there to hear it Our own People indeed are by publick Discourses as well as otherways to be confirmed and established in our Communion But there is no way to reduce them but by private arguing with them Which is not to be omitted because the present act of Indulgence doth not justify them in their separation but only suspends the Punishments to which they were before liable Still they are in a state of Schism out of which you should endeavour to recover them by kind Perswasions and Arguments which may work more upon them than all the Penalties formerly inflicted which made them Angry but did not Convert them For the Conclusion of this part of my Treatise I should upon the mention of LENT have said something concerning that Fast and other days of Fasting or Abstinence appointed by the Church which if Men could be perswaded to observe as times of Recollection and Examination of themselves and Prayer they would find great benefit thereby to the encrease of Christian Piety I wrote a little Book about it in the beginning of the late Reign which had the Approbation of my Superiours But I have not room to say more of it here Nor of the Festivals which are ordered to be kept in Commemoration of great Blessings God hath bestowed