linefs with Sobriety. Reflections on the Duty of praying for Princes and others: ing, if they continue in Readiness, not only to profefs, but to obey Faith and Charity, and Ho- the Gofpel; and if they continue conftant in the Exercise of Faith, and Love, and Holi- 1 ness, with that Sobriety of Temper and Conduct, which I have now been recommending, and which both Religion and Prudence concur to recommend to all, and to that Sex in particular. IMPROVEMENT.. AY every Chriftian learn by thefe Apoftolical Dictates, to MA retain Faith and a good Confcience, and be very folicitous that Chap. I. 19, no Exactness in the former be thought fufficient to compenfate for a Defect in the latter. Soon will that Faith itself suffer Shipwreck, where a good Confcience fits not at the Helm; or rather foon will it serve only as a Talent of Gold, to a Man finking in the Sea, to plunge him so much the deeper. It will be a Part of the Character of one, who defires to preserve a good Conscience, to maintain a Benevolence of Heart towards the whole human Race, and to Chap. II. 1. breathe out that Benevolence in Prayer, which at the fame Time expreffes and encreafes it. And while all Men have a Share in it, Ver. 2. Kings and Princes, in whofe Behaviour and Temper the Happiness of fo many Thousands are concerned, have a peculiar Claim to our devout Remembrance. Above all, let us pray for our own, that they may continue, as, bleffed be GOD, his prefent Majesty hath long been*, and we have Reason to hope his Succeffors will be, the Minifters of GOD for Good. May our Life, under fuch a Government, be (fee the Note there), which Sense Dr. Whitby endeavours to illuftrate at large; not indeed as an abfolute Promife, which Fact fhews it is not; but as a general Intimation, that pious Women might chearfully commit themselves to God, in the Hour of Nature's Diftrefs, if they trufted in God, maintaining Charity with all, perfevering in Chastity, and ftrictly adhering to the Laws of Temperance in every other Respect. Mr. Pyle, from 1 Tim. iv. 3. v. 10,-14. concludes, that the Apoftle refers to fome of thofe falfe Teachers, that condemned Marriage as unlawful, or at least comparitively unclean. But I can by no means acquiefce in either of these Senses; nor fuppofe, as fome others have done, that Texvoyoua fignifies the Education of Children; though I am very fenfible, a due Care in that Respect is one of the most important. Duties and Services, which can be imagined to come within the Verge of Female Life. * The Author had the Happiness to write this in the twenty-fourth Year of King George 11. that Father of his People, by whom we enjoy great Quietness, and by whofe Provi dence very worthy Deeds are done unto this Nation, which we should accept always, and in all Places, with all Thankfulness. 454 Sect. 3. Ver. 4. Ver. 5.' Ver. 6. Ver. 7. Ver. 8. Ver. 9. Ver. 15. Ver. 13. with which we should pray. And on the Temper, with which we be in one Sense as well as another, quiet and peaceable, and may it be conducted in all Godliness and Honefty. Thus fhall we do our Part to fubferve that gracious Will of GOD, to effect which he hath done all that was proper for him to do, that all Men may be faved, as our walking in the Truth may bring many to the Knowledge of it. May that Knowledge prevail more and more in the World, that the one GOD may be univerfally adored, through the one Mediator between GOD and Man, the Man Chrift Jefus, in whom Deity dwells, and whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we worship, as exalted above all Adoration and Praife. This only begotten Son of GOD became a Man, that he might give himself a Ranfom for us, a Ransom for all who fhould believe in him. Bleffed be GoD, that we have received this important Testimony, received it from Paul the Apostle, received it from that faithful Herald of fuch aftonishing Grace, who was divinely appointed to be a Teacher of the Gentiles, and who to this Day is teaching us by his Writings, and in every Section of them giving us Leffons of infinite Importance. to 1 May we learn, from what he teaches here, not only the Object whom our Prayers are to be directed, and the Perfons for whom they are to be offered, but likewife the Temper from which they are to proceed. May our Hands be boly, and our Hearts overflowing with Love, and firmly established in Faith unfeigned, refting on the Promises we plead, and rejoicing in an affured Hope, that the eternal JEHOVAH, who fo long fince ftyled himself the Hearer of Prayer, (Pfal. Ixv. 2.) will not now fay to any humble and upright Souls, feek ye me in vain. In all our Conduct, let us remember we are in his Prefence, and let a Concern to please him, and to adorn our Profeffion, run through every Action of our Lives. Let it direct our Expences and our Drefs. Let it engage us to maintain a conftant Decorum in every Circumftance, facred or civil; to be in due Subjection to our Superiors, and to continue in Faith and Love, in Holiness and Sobriety. Let the Sex, to whom the concluding Inftructions of this Section are peculiarly addreffed, while they are humbled in the Remembrance of that original Offence, in which Eve, our firft Mother fo Ver. 15. unhappily led the Way, rejoice in the great Victory of the Seed of the Woman over the Serpent. And let the other Sex, on which this was bestowed as a Gift of fo great Value, that GOD judged it neceffary to compleat the Felicity of Paradife in its untainted Bloom, never manifeft the odious Effects of the Fall, by ungenerously upbraiding the Daughters for the Mother's Fault, at the Distance of 5 A Bishop must be blameless, 455 fo many Generations; but rather rejoice, that, as by Woman came Sect. 3. Tranfgreffion, fo by her came Redemption too. And let us all join in improving fo invaluable a Favour, and endeavouring to exprefs Ver. 14. our Gratitude for it, by acting aright, according to the several Relations which we sustain in Life. SE C T. IV. The Apostle inftructs Timothy in the Qualifications to be attended to, in those who were to be fet apart to the Office of a Paftor, and Deacon in the Church. I Tim. III. 1,--13. T I TIM. III. 1. HIS is a true Saying, If a Man defire the Of I TIM. III. 1. fice of a Bishop, he defireth is a faithful Saying, moft certain in Sect. 4. a good Work. itself, and worthy of being always acknowledged and attended to, that, if any 1 Tim. III. one earnestly defireth the Epifcopal or Paftoral Office, he defireth a good Work. To feed the Church of Christ, and to take the Overfight of it, is indeed a very laborious Employment, but it is also very honourable, and greatly tends to advance the Glory of GoD, and to promote the Good of Mankind, if it be difcharged in a proper Manner. A Bishop 2 therefore, or an Overfeer of the Flock of Christ, must be blameless in every Respect, with regard to his moral Character, fince any Thing which may be amifs in him will tend to bring a Reproach upon his Office, and greatly to obstruct his Usefulness. It is particularly requifite, that if he be a married Man, he should be the Husband of only one Wife (a); for if he have more than one at (a) The Hufband of one Wife.] Mr. Hallet and Mr. Whifton both infer from hence, that fecond Marriages are unlawful to the Clergy; and the Muscovites fuppofe that one Wife 456 -Sect. 4. Tim. III. 2. Watchful, prudent, given to Hofpitality, apt to teach, at a Time, or have divorced a former with- one Wife, vigilant, fober, Wife is fo neceffary, that no Man can become a Bishop till he be married, nor continue to exercife that Office longer than his Wife lives. Perry's Ruffia, pag. 230. But Circumftances may be fo adjufted, that there may be as much Reafon for a fecond Marriage as for the firft, and as little Inconvenience of any Kind may attend it. Upon the whole therefore, it feems to me moft reasonable to believe, that (as there is no exprefs Precept in the Bible, requiring a Man, who had feveral Wives at the Time of his embracing Chriflianity, to divorce or difmifs all but one) the divine Wif-dom might judge that it was a proper Medium, between encouraging Polygamy, and too great a Rigour in condemning it, to fix fuch a Brand of Infamy on this irregular Practice, by prohibiting any Man, let his Character be ever fo extraordinary, to undertake the Miniftry, while he had more than one Wife, and to difcourage it in thofe already converted, by fuch Paffages as Mat. xix. 9 and 1 Cor. vii. 2. (b) Given to Hofpitality.] Let it be obferved once for all, that as there were then in the Eaftern Countries few Houfes of publick Entertainment, Hofpitality was a Virtue more peculiarly feasonable and neceffary than among us; I mean fo far as it related to the Accommodation of intire Strangers on their Travels. (c) Apt to teach.] The Bishop of Winchefter lays fome Strefs on our not meeting with any Directions relating to Ordination in this Enumeration of the Offices of a Bishop, or Prefbyter: (for fo candid and judicious a Writer could not but acknowledge, they are here Words of the fame Signification) But it is ftrange he should not have obferved, that nothing is here faid of adminiftring the Sacraments, which concur 3 Not given to Wine, no Striker, not greedy of filthy Lucre, but patient, not a Brawler, not covet ous; 4 One that ruleth well Children in Subjection with his own House, having his all Gravity; 4 Prefiding well over his own Family, 457 prefide in other Reípects. Not one that Sect. 4. fitteth long over Wine, or any other Kind of ftrong Liquor, or that has fo little Govern- 1 Tim. III. 3. ment of himself, as to be ready to frike thofe that displease him. He must not be attached to any Method of fordid and dishonourable Gain (d), but must be moderate in all his Defires and Paffions, not given to Contention, not a Lover of Money, fo as to take a Pleasure in hoarding it up, even if it be juftly and properly his own. It is alfo evidently defirable, that he should be one, who prefides well over his own Houfe, baving his Children, if he be a Father, in Subjection with all Gravity, that their Follies may not bring a Reproach upon the Family, and by Confequence in fome Measure upon himself; For if any one cannot prefide 5 over his own Houfe, in fuch a Manner as to preferve a due Decorum in the Family, where he has fuch a natural Authority, how fhall be be able to take Care of the Church of GOD (e), where there will be fuch a Diversity of Persons and Tempers, over which it will be impoffible for him to maintain an 6 Not a Novice, left be- equal Infpection and Influence? A Bishop 6 ing alfo fhould not be one newly converted to Christianity, left, not having had a fuffici 5. (For if a Man know not how to rule his own Houfe, how fhall he take ent with many other Circumftances to fhew, how far the Apostle was, from intending a full Representation of all the Paftoral Duties. And it may be added, that the Directions he afterwards gives to Timothy, on the Head of Ordination, may fuggeft Inftruction in this Respect to all Ministers. And it must be submitted to Confideration, whether the Omiffion of any Charge to Prefbyters, enjoining them to obey their Bishop, as a Perfon of fuperior Authority, does not weigh much more one Way, than the Omiffion pleaded above, can avail the other. See Hoadly of Epifcop. pag. 390. (d) Attached to fordid Gain.] It is remarkable that this Phrafe is feldom or never ufed in the New Teftament to exprefs any Gain, but that which is made or procured by the Covetousness of Chriftian Minifters; and never furely does an Eagerness or Greedinefs in Pursuit of Money, appear more difhonourable and fordid, than in Persons of that noble, but alas! too often, prostituted Profeffion. (e) Who prefides well over his own Houfe, &c.] Exactly parallel to this, is a wife Saying of Confucius, when directing Princes to take Care of their Families, "It is im"poffible that he who knows not how to govern and reform his own Family, fhould rightly govern and reform a People." Conf. Mor. pag. 38. 4 VOL. V. |