and gives them great Defigns and Refolutions; whereas the contrary Behaviour, of Reserve and Shynefs, of ftern Looks, and harsh Rebukes, of being faid to be bufy, or deny'd to be at home, when called upon, dejects and make us fad. сс * Sic leve, fic parvum eft, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, aut reficit. Сс t In fhort, he only in this Senfe makes the Office of a Bifhop a good Work, who efpouses his Clergy, rich and poor alike, into the Intimacy "of his Bofom, his Care, his Affability, his "Provifion, his Prayers; confidering with him"felf, what a mighty Advantage he has from "the Height of his Place, to recommend and "endear his Love: For Love in an inferior "Station may poffibly look more mercenary, "and fo affect lefs; but Love, condescending "from fuch an Height of Place, wins and cap❝tivates, and makes a Man look like God "both in Temper and Beneficence." WERE I allow'd to particularize in any of the facred College of Bishops, where every one is fo eminently good, my Gratitude would remit me to our moft EXCELLENT METROPOLITAN OF YORK; who, in every Inftance of Life, has fet the World a Pattern, how far the Behaviour of a fine Gentleman may adorn the Prelacy, and comport with the Conduct of a good Chriftiant. Secure of his own Greatnefs, he fears *HOR. Epif. Lib. 2. Ep. 1. + Young's Serm. Vol. 1. p. 178. Cui nihil ad augendum faftigium fupereft, hic uno modo crefcere poteft, fi fe ipfe fubmittat, fecurus magnitudinis fuæ ; neque enim ab ullo periculo Epifcoporum fortuna longius abest, quam ab humlitate. PLIN. Pan. ad Traj. no o Diminution of it; or that the Dignity of his Station will fuffer by his Lowlinefs and frequent Condefcenfions. I have returned from his Prefence (and his Prefence is not guarded with the tedious Formalities of Admiffion) not only refreshed with the Riches of his Liberality, but reviv'd and re-invigorated with the Benignity of his Countenance; for whole Weeks afterwards liv'd as happy as a King, in my aerial Mansion, forgetful of the Cares of Life, and pregnant with my little great Defigns of remunerating his Favours to me, in the only Method that he allows, by doing my beft Service to the Church. Happy they who live under the nearer Influence of fo much Goodness and Humanity, which I can only falute at this Distance, and under a Restraint to say no more, for fear of offending that Modesty which is fo innate to his Temper, or of incurring the Imputation of Flattery, fo abhorrent to my own. If then, my Lord (and in you I fpeak to all Phil. ii. the rest of our reverend Fathers in Ġod) there be any Confolation in Chrift; if any Comfort of Love, if any Fellowship of the Spirit, if any Bowels and Mercies, receive us, and strengthen Heb. xii us, that we may perform the Work of our Minif- 17. try with Joy, and not with Grief; for that is not profitable for you. THE Burden of the Miniftry, you know, lies chiefly upon our Shoulders; our Principals are abfent; they are hunting about for more Preferments, and making what they have Livings and Emoluments in the moft carnal Senfe of the Words. Let it be allow'd us then, to have fome Part in the Honour of our Vocation, as well as the Pains of it: Let the Inequality of our Labour be thought to deserve a little better Proportion of Wages; to hold, at least, the D 2 poor poor Pittance we have at a more certain and lefs dependent Rate: Above all, let us not be fecluded from your Care, or depriv'd of the Light of your Countenance, the only thing that can alleviate all other Inconveniencies, and make Heb. xii. 1. us couragious and ftrong in the Lord. With fuch a Cloud of Witnesses infpecting and encouraging us, we can contend for Mastery, and run with Patience the Race that is fet before us. 1 Cor. ix. 25. 14. THE Providence of God has placed you, as a Matt. vi. large City upon an Hill; we are the Villages, or little adjacent Cottages, below. The Indulgence of the Government has annexed Honours and other Advantages to your high Station; we are feldom, and then very fparingly, confidered by the Legislature. You therefore that are strong, ought to pity us that are weak, and make the Power of your Intereft, as well as your Mininificence and Liberality, abound to our better Establishment and Support. We have Hearts as grateful, and Heads as ftudious as any, to requite your Benevolence with fuitable Acknowledgments; but then we have a farther Qualification to glory in, that others have not, our frequent Infirmities and Neceffities. To this very Day (and in this, perhaps, we are the only 1 Cor. iv. Apoftolical Clergy in the Nation) we both bunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain Dwelling-place: And therefore we are the rather confident to implore your Intereft and Interceffion; There, my Lord, where we now come, at laft, to appeal for our Share of Refpect and Encouragement, II. 4. AND that is, at the Feet of our fecular Governours. Our fecular Governours know very well, that the beft Foundation of their Authority over Mankind is laid in Religion; that human Laws, and the Terrors of them, can can only bind the outward Man, which upon a fecure Opportunity, will be often breaking loose: But Confcience, which is the inward Man, can no otherwise be bound, than by the Ties of Religion, and the Rewards and Punishments that are fetch'd from the World to come. For this Reason fome of the wifeft Heathens have ever thought it more expedient to humour the common People in their * Miftakes about a future State (because how grofs foever they might be, they found them very serviceable to keep them in Subjection) than to endanger the Government, by invalidating their Belief. And for the fame Reafon, even † Atheistical Politicians advise their Princes, in all Ages, to take an especial Care of Religion, and fee it rooted. as firmly as poffible in the Hearts of their Subjects, how flender an Hold foever it has of their own; because it is the only Inftrument of Government, and the best Expedient to keep their Subjects under Controul. Now if Religion be fo affiftant to the great Ends of Government, it is Matter of Prudence, as well as any thing else, in the civil Magiftrate, to protect and encourage those that are the Teachers and proper Officers of it; fuch more especially as have the largest Share in its Administrations, and by that means the frequenteft Occafions of converfing with his People; of forming their Principles, of directing their Consciences, and of guiding and difpofing of their Inclinations and Affections, juft in a manner as they please. *Effe aliquos manes & fubterranea regna, Et contum, & ftygio ranas in gurgite nigras, At tu vera puta --- JUVEN. Satyr. 3. Young's Sermons. D 3 WHO WHO these are, needs no long Scrutiny to difcover: for if a conftant Habitation among Perfons inclin'd to think well of Religion and its Minifters; if a daily Attendance on their Calls, and fparing no Pains to fatisfy their Defires; if a Converfation modeft and grave, but chearful and free, devoid of all fupercilious State, and an haughtiness that must be fhocking; if a Life quiet, and eafy, and contented, without any wrangling for Tithes, or litigious Contentention for Offerings; if preaching the Word in Plainnefs and Simplicity, without any crafty intermixing of Schemes, that have no Relation to the Gospel of Chrift; in a Word, if living quietly, and minding their own Business, loving their Neighbours, and condefcending to the Meaneft, vifiting the Sick, ftrengthening the Weak, comforting the Dejected, and to all Men becoming all things, that by all Means they may gain fome; be a proper way for the Clergy of the Land to attain an Intereft in the Love and Affections of the People (and I know no other that can be juftifiable) then are those of an inferior Degree (for to them I think these Characteristicks do chiefly point) none of the moft contemptible Bodies in the Nation. They draw Shoals after them; they command at least half the Ears of the People once every Week; rule their Paffions, and temper their Refentments; and 'twill therefore be no falfe Policy in any Government whatever, to make them its * Friends, and attach them to its Intereft as firmly as may be. Ir has pleas'd Almighty God, fince his Majesty's happy Acceffion to the Throne, to diffi * Quum plurimis amicitiis fortuna principis indigeat, præcipuum eft principis opus, amicos parare. PLIN, Plan. ad Traj, patę |