the great end of your employment; and determine with St. Paul to know nothing, comparatively speaking, amongst your people, fave Chrift Jefus and him crucified (g). The concern of a parish minifter is, to make the lowest of his congregation apprehend the doctrine of falvation by repentance, faith and obedience; and to labour, that when they know the way of life, they may walk in it. If he doth not these things for them, he doth nothing: and it requires much confideration to find out the proper methods of doing them, and much pains and patience to try one after another. Smooth difcourfes, compofed partly in fine words which they do not underftand, partly in flowing fentences which they cannot follow to the end; containing little that awakens their drowsy attention, little that inforces on them plainly and home what they must do to be faved; leave them as ignorant and unreformed as ever, and only lull them into a fatal fecurity. Therefore bring yourselves down to their level; for what fuits the meanest Christian will fuit the higheft: examine if they take in what you fay, and change the form of it till they do. This I recommend for your first study: and be affured, you will improve yourselves by it no lefs than your hearers. But fo far as you have opportunity confiftently with this, apply to any part of Science, to every part you can, that is connected with your profeffion: only learn, by weighing carefully the judgments and reasonings of others, to think modeftly of yourselves; avoid, in the outfet of your inquiries more especially, drawing hafty conclufions: be at leaft as much on your guard against fondness of new opinions, as prepoffeffion for established doctrines: and beware of being misled, either by the pofitiveness of vehement writers, or the false colours of artful ones. You will doubtless cultivate peculiarly those branches of knowledge, which the circumftances of the times, or of your parishes, peculiarly point out to you. God hath permitted us, for our fins, to be attacked in a remarkable degree, by infidels on one hand, and by maintainers of innumerable strange notions on the other. And we have need, that every one, who is able to qualify himself well, fhould affift in defending his part of the common cause. For there are too many unanswered books abroad in the world, and more appearing daily, written against christianity and morals and the doctrines of our church. Nor have we of the Clergy, for fome time past, born fo large a fhare, comparatively with perfons of other communions, in vindicating what we teach, as might be expected from us. I hope you are not often obliged, in this Diocese, to encounter unbelievers from the pulpit: and you will certainly not chuse to alarm your people, by refuting, in form, objections to which they are ftrangers; though it may be useful to obviate them briefly, and if poffible without naming them. But, as, probably enough, fome of you will at one time or another in company meet with fuch perfons, or hear of their talk, I would give you a few directions in relation to them. If any of them are virtuous in their conduct, and backward to offend in difcourfe, they fhould not be unfeafonably provoked, but treated with refpect. If any of them build their unbelief on serious argument, which plainly very few do, they fhould be directed to the books or the learned men, that are beft fitted to answer them: and the lefs able should i (g) 1 Cor. ii. 2. prepare prepare for combat with them, but not engage too far in it prematurely. If they cannot at present be convinced of the falfehood of their tenets, they fhould be fhewn however, in a gentle manner, the pernicious effects of promulging them. But if they will obftinately perfift to facrifice every thing valuable amongst men to their own vices, or their own vanity, we muft openly withstand them, and warn others against them. Yet even this ought to be done without paffion or bitternefs, otherwife all the blame will be laid on us: efpecially without perfonal incivilities, even to the worst of them, effe they will become still worse than they were. But then we must never affift the very beft of them in gaining influence and growing dangerous; nor bring our own fincerity into queftion by intimacies with them, which they will ufually reprefent, and fometimes believe, to proceed from our inwardly thinking as they do. Much less fhould we ever condescend to the shocking meannefs of paying court for private ends, either to them, or to wicked wretches of any kind, though not infidels; but connect ourselves with worthy perfons; engage their support, and excite their endeavours to repress profaneness and immorality. It is peculiarly unhappy, that while we are employed on one fide in defending the Gospel, we are accufed on another of corrupting it. I have not now in my view either the Church of Rome, or the Proteftants who broke off from us a century ago. The methods of dealing with both have been long fince prefcribed, and I repeat them not: but intreat your attention to the movements of each, especially the former, if you have any of them in your parishes. But I mean to speak of perfons rifen up in our own times, and profeffing the ftricteft piety: who vehemently charge us with departing from the doctrines and flighting the precepts of our Religion: but have indeed themselves advanced unjustifiable notions, as necessary truths; giving good people groundless fears, and bad ones groundless hopes; difturbed the understandings of fome, impaired the circumftances of others; prejudiced multitudes against their proper minifters, and prevented their edification by them; produced first diforders in our churches, then partial or total feparations from them; and fet up unauthorized teachers in their affemblies. Where thefe irregularities will end, God only knows: but it behoves us to be very careful, that they make no progrefs through our fault.\ Now it would not only be injurious, but profane, to brand, with an opprobrious name, Chriftians remarkably ferious, merely for being fuch: and equally imprudent to disclaim them as not belonging to us, to let a fect gain the credit of them, and labour to drive them into it. Surely we should take, even were they wavering, or actually gone from us, the most respectful and perfuafive means of recalling fuch, and fixing them with us. Nay, fuppofing any perfons irrecoverably gone, we should not be hafty to condemn, even in our thoughts, either them or their party, as enthusiasts or hypocrites: whatsoever they are, it maketh no matter to us (b). And much lefs ought we to fay of either worse than we are fure they deferve. When we are undoubtedly well informed of any extravagant things, which they have afferted or done, it may be useful to fpeak strongly of them: but not with anger and exaggeration; which (b) Gal. ii. 6. will will only give them a handle to cenfure our uncharitableness, and confute us: but with deep concern, that when so few perfons express any zeal for the Gospel, fo many of thofe, who do, run into extremes, that hurt its interefts. Nor will ridicule become our character, or ferve our cause better than invective. It may please those very highly, who are in no danger of being profelyted by them. But what fhall we get by that? Perfons negligent of religion will at the fame time be confirmed in their negligence: and think, that all they need to avoid is being righteous overmuch (i). Tender minds will be grieved and wounded by fuch ill-placed levity: and crafty declaimers will rail at us with fuccefs, as fcoffers (k), denying the power of godliness (1). But if we let fall any light expreffions, that can be wrefted into a feeming disrespect to any fcripture doctrine or phrafe, we fhall give our adverfaries unfpeakable advantages: and they have fhewn, that they will use them without mercy or equity. Therefore we muft guard every word, that we utter, against mifrepresentations: be fure to express, in public and private, our firm belief of whatever evangelical truths border upon their mistakes: and certainly be as vigilant over our behaviour, as our teaching: encourage no violence, no rudeness towards them; but recommend ourselves to them by our mildness, our seriousness, our diligence: honour those, who are truly devout and virtuous amongst them, much more on that account, than we blame them for being injudicious, and hard to please; and be full as ready to acknowledge the good they have done, as to complain of the harm: yet beware, and counsel others to beware, of being drawn, by esteem of their piety, into relishing their fingularities, and patronizing their fchifm. Acting thus, we fhall not only cut off occafion from those who defire occafion (m) to fpeak evil of us, and be able to remonftrate with authority and effect against their exceffes and wildneffes; but, which is the chief point, we shall become better minifters of Chrift for their harsh treatment of us. And we should always labour, that every thing may have this inAluence upon us: think with ourselves, if others go too far, whether we do not fall short; ask our confciences, whether we really do all that is in our power to reform and improve our people; whether the small success of our endeavours be, in truth, as it ought, a heavy grief to us; whether we have carefully fearched out, and try inceffantly to overcome the difficulties that lie in our way to making them better. These things, if we are in earnest, we fhall chiefly have at heart: and if we are not in earnest, we are of all men the moft guilty, and the most miferable (n). In giving you my advice thus largely and freely on these several heads, I no more fuppofe you culpable in relation to any of them, than you do your parishioners, when you exhort them to any particular duties, or warn them against particular fins. On the contrary, to use the apoftle's words, I am perfuaded of you, brethren, that ye are full of goodness, replenished with all knowledge, able alfo to admonish one another. Neverthelefs, if I may prefume to adopt, with due abatements, the subsequent words alfo, I have spoken fomewhat boldly unto you in part, as putting you in (i) Eccl. vii. 16. (k) 2 Pet. iii. 3. (/) 2 Tim. ii. 15. (x) 1 Cor, xv. 19. mind 94. The Archbishop of Canterbury's fecond Charge to his Clergy. mind, because of the grace which is given me of God, that I fhould be the minister of Jefus Chrift to you (), as you are to your respective congregations. And let us all pray for ourselves and each other daily, that we may fo feed the flock of God which is among us, and be enfamples to it, that when the chief fhepherd fhall appear, we may receive a crown of glory, that fadeth not away (p). H CAVING diftributed amongft you, above three years ago, when fickness prevented me from vifiting you in perfon, a printed difcourfe, in which I exhorted you, as St. Paul did Timothy, to take heed unto yourselves; I proceed now to add, as he did, and to your doctrine (a) To instruct persons in religion is the leading part of a Clergyman duty. And though he will do it in a very ufetul degree by the example of a Chriftian behaviour on all occafions; yet he will do it more cipecially in the peculiar difcharge of his office. When he is only to use the forms preferibed him, he may, by ufing them with due reverence and propriety, greatly promote both knowledge and pious difpofitions in his (a) 1 Tim. iv. 16. hearers. |