corrupt, as not to condemn those Abuses by Canon, even when they maintain'd them in Practice. She does not only bind them to this, by the Charge the appoints to be given, but alfo by the Vows and Promifes that fhe demands of fuch as are ordained. When all this is laid together, and when there ftands Nothing on the other Side to balance it, but a Law made in a very bad Time, that took away fome Abuses, but left Pretences to cover others; Can any Man, that weighs thefe Things together, in the Sight of God, and that believes he must anfwer to him for this at the Great Day, think, that the one, how ftrong foever it may be in his Favour at an earthly Tribunal, will be of any Force in that laft and dreadful Judgment? This I leave upon all Mens Confciences; hoping that they will fo judge themselves, that they shall not be judged of the Lord.

СНАР,

CHAP. VII.

Of the due Preparation of fuch as may and ought to be put in Orders.

THE

HE greatest Good that one can hope to do in this World is upon young Perfons, who have not yet taken their Ply, and are not fpoil'd with Prejudices and wrong Notions. Thofe who have taken an ill one at firft, will neither be at the Pains to look over their Notions, nor tura to new Methods; nor will they, by any Change of Practice, feem to confefs that they were once in the Wrong: So that if Matters that are amifs can be mended or fet right, it must be by giving those that have not yet fet out, and that are not yet engaged, truer Views and jufter Ideas of Things. I will therefore here lay down the Model upon which a Clerk is to be formed, and will begin with fuch Things as ought to be previous and preparatory to his being initiated into Orders.

Thefe are of two Sorts, the one is of fuch Preparations as are neceffary to give his

Heart

Heart and Soul a right Temper, and a true Senfe of Things: The other is of fuch Studies as are neceffary to enable him to go through with the feveral Parts of his Duty, Both are neceffary, but the firft is the more indifpenfable of the two; for a Man of a good Soul may, with a moderate Proporti on of Knowledge, do great Service in the Church, especially if he is fuited with an Imployment that is not above his Talent: Whereas unfanctified Knowledge puffs up, is infolent and unquiet, it gives great Scandal, and Occafions much Diftraction in the Church. In Treating of thefe Qualifications, I will watch over my Thoughts, not to let them rife to a Pitch that is above what the common Frailties of humane Nature, or the Age we live in, can bear: And after all, if in any Thing I may feem to exceed thefe Measures, it is to be confidered that it is natural in propofing the Ideas of Things to carry them to what is wifhed for, which is but too often beyond what can be expected; confidering both the Corruption of mankind, and of these degenerated Times.

First of all then, He that intends to dedicate himself to the Church, ought, from the Time that he takes up any fuch Refolution, to enter upon a greater Decency

of

of Behaviour,that his Mind may not be vitiated by ill Habits, which may both give fuch bad Characters of him, as may ftick long on him afterwards,and makefuch ill Impreffions on himself,as may not be eafily worn out or defaced. He ought,above all Things,to poffefs himself with a high Senfe of the Chriftian Religion, of its Truth and Excellence, of the Value of Souls, of the Dignity of the Paftoral Care, of the Honour of God, of the Sacredness of Holy Functions, and of the great Trust that is committed to those who are fet apart from the World, and dedicated to God and to his Church. He who looks this Way, muft break himself to the Appetites of Pleasure or Wealth, of Ambition or Authority; he muft confider that the Religion,in which he intends to officiate, calls all Men to great Purity and Virtue, to a Probity and Innocence of Manners, to a Meekness and Gentleness, to a Humility and Self-denial, to a Contempt of the World and a Heavenly-Mindednefs, to a patient Refignation to the Will of God, and a Readiness to bear the Crofs, in the Hopes of that everlafting Reward, which is referved for Chriftians in another State all which was eminently recommended, by the unblemish'd Pattern that the Author of this Religion has fet to all that pretend to be

his Followers. Thefe being the Obligations which a Preacher of the Gofpel is to lay daily upon all his Hearers, he ought certainly to accuftom himfelf often to confider feriously of them; and to think how fhameless and impudent a Thing it will be in him, to perform Offices fuitable to all thefe, and that do fuppofe them; to be inftructing the People, and exhorting them to the Practice of them; unless he is in fome Sort all this himself which he teaches others to be

Indeed, to be tied to fuch an Employment, while one has not an inward Conformity to it, and Complacence in it, is both the most unbecoming, the moft unpleafant, and the most uncomfortable State of Life imaginable. Such a Perfon will be expofed to all Mens Cenfures and Reproaches, who when they fee Things amifs in his Conduct, do not only reproach him, +but the whole Church and Body to which he belongs; and which is more, the Religion which he feems to recommend by his Difcourfes; though his Life and Actions, which will always pafs for the most real Declaration of his inward Sentiments, are a visible and continual Oppofition to it. On all these Things, he whofe Thoughts carry him toward the Church, ought to reflect