brance of thee is not enough; O do thou, therefore, fix in me fuch a Remembrance of thee, as is fuitable to the infinite Love I am to remember; work in me all thofe holy and heavenly Affections, which become the Remembrance of a crucified Saviour; and do thou fo difpofe my Heart to be thy Gueft at thy holy Table, that I may feel all the fweet Influences of Love crucified, the ftrengthening and refreshing my Soul, as my Body is by the Bread and Wine. O merciful Jefu, let that immortal Food which in the holy Eucharist thou vouchsafest me, inftil into my weak and languishing Soul, new Supplies of Grace, new Life, new Love, new Vigour, and new Refolution, that I may never more faint, or droop, or tire in my Duty. Amen, Lord Jefus, Amen.

СНА Р. Х.

Ember Days in December.

W

HAT Faft doth the Church obferve at this Time?

A. The fourth Season of the Ember Days, which are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the thirteenth of December. The Sunday following being one of the stated Times to supply the Church with Paftors and Minifters, who are to feed and govern the Flock of Chrift.

Q. Since the Church is a complete Society, wherein fome govern and others are governed; what

is the Duty of all Lay-Chriftians to their spiritual Governors?

A. To honour and efteem them highly for their Work's fake, to treat them with Respect and Reverence, to love them, to provide for their Maintenance, to pray for them, and to obey them.

Q. Wherein confifts that Honour and Esteem that is due to our fpiritual Superiors for their Work's fake?

A. In confidering them as those that bear the great Character of Ambassadors from Chrift, as 2 Cor. 5St. Paul calls them; and as Inftruments of con-20. veying to us the greatest Bleffings we are capable of receiving, because they relate to our eternal Salvation; and confequently regarding them as commiffioned by him to that holy Office. So that the Authority they have received to prefide over Chriftians as Governors of the Church, must always be owned to come from God; and this religious Regard to their divine Mission must be expreffed in the whole Courfe of our Conduct towards them.

Q. What is that Refpect and Reverence we ought to shew towards them.

A. The expreffing by our Words and Actions, all that Honour and Efteem we have for their Character in our Minds; which will oblige us to treat their Perfons with great Civility in Converfation, to speak all the good we can of them in their Abfence, and to throw a Veil over their real Infirmities; never to make them the Objects of our light Mirth, nor to proclaim their Failings in order to reproach their Perfons, because it may tend to disparage and debase their Office. Nor to use any

fcurrilous

feurrilous Words or contemptuous Behaviour towards them, because the Difrefpect caft upon them is an Affront to their Master, whofe Person they reprefent; for though they may be inferior to others in fome human Accomplishments, yet God hath promifed particularly to affift them in the faithful Difcharge of their holy Calling.

Q. But befides their Character, have not the Clergy many perfonal Qualifications to challenge from us Refpect and Esteem?

A. As long as Picty and Virtue, Learning and Knowledge have any Credit and Reputation in the World, and that Men are concerned that others fhould be formed to the fame valuable Principles, that their Minds fhould be cultivated and their Manners regulated; fo long the Clergy will have a good Title to the Honour and Efteem of all wife and good Men. The very Method of their Education gives them great Advantages for their Improvement in all Sorts of neceffary and polite Learning, and raises them above the Level of thofe with whom they are equal in all other Circumftances; and the Subject of their constant Studies being Matters of Piety and Religion, it is reasonable to fuppofe, they live under more lively and ftronger Impreffions of another World, than the rest of Mankind; and Experience fufficiently convinces us, how much the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom are beholden to their Care, for thofe Impreffions of Piety and Knowledge which are ftampt upon their Education. In the moft ignorant Ages, what Learning flourished was in their Body, and by their Care was conveyed down to Pofterity. In the moft diffolute Times, the great

cft

est Examples of Piety were in their Order, and we have yet remaining eminent Monuments of their magnificent as well as ufeful Charity, both to the Bodies and Souls of Men.

Q. But if the Minifters of God do not act fuitably to the Dignity of their Character, may we not contemn them?

A. Their Character fhould certainly defend them from Contempt, and the Relation they have to God fhould fecure them from our ill Ufage. And in Order to this it is neceffary to confider, that as there is an inherent Holiness, whereby Men's Actions and Affections are in fome Measure conformable to the Laws of God, in which Senfe good Men in all Ages were efteemed holy; fo there is a relative Holiness, which confifts in fome peculiar Relation to God's Service, of which Things, Times, Places, and Perfons, are capable. In this laft Senfe the Tribe of Levi was called the holy Tribe, as thofe that are dedicated to the Service of Chrift under the Gospel are called God's Minifters; not that it was always true of them, that they Mal. z. 6, walked before God in Peace and Equity, and turned many from Iniquity; for too often they were gone out of the Way, and caused many to fumble at the Law; but because they had a particular Relation to God in the Performance of that Worship which was paid to him. And though they may be bad Men, yet the Effect of Artic. 261 Chrift's Ordinances is not taken away by their Wickedness, nor the Grace of God's Gifts diminifhed from fuch who receive the Sacraments rightly and by Faith, which are effectual by reafon of Christ's Inftitution and Promife, although they be ministered by evil Men. Juft as a Pardon

Qq

paffed

8.

Edit. Par.

paffed by an immoral Lord-Keeper, or a Sentence pronounced by a wicked fudge, are looked upon as valid to all Intents and Purposes, because

their Efficacy depends not upon the QualificaS. Chryf. tions of thofe in Commiffion, but upon the SoveHom. 85. reign Authority from whence they both receive in S. Joh. their Commiffion. So that the Advantages we P. 558. receive by their Miniftrations, and the Relation they have to God, fhould ftill preserve fome Refpect for their Perfons. And it is doubtlefs a better Demonftration of Chriftian Zeal, where we have a thorough Information of their fcandalous Lives, to make Proof of it before their lawful Superiours, that being found guilty, they may by just fudgment be depofed, than either by our Words or Actions to affront or contemn them ourselves, or to provoke others to do the like.

Q. What is the ill Confequence of defpifing the Perfons, and expofing the Conduct of our Pastors, the Minifters of Chrift?

A. It diminishes that Credit and Effect which their fpiritual Administrations ought to have upon the Minds of Men, and makes them lefs capable of doing that Good which their Profeffion obliges them to attempt; for, as much as we take from the Opinion of their Piety and Integrity, fo much we leffen their Power in promoting the Intereft of Religion, whofe Fate very much depends upon the Reputation of those who feed and govern the Flock of Christ.

And

this the Enemies of Religion are very fenfible of, who omit no Opportunity of expofing their Perfons, and representing their facred Function only as a Trade, whereby they procure an advantageous Subfiftence.

Q. But