thy death, which thou didst offer up on the cross for the sins of the whole world, and particularly for my sins, be ever fresh in my remembrance. O blessed Saviour, let that mighty salvation thy love hath wrought for us never slip out of my mind, but especially let my remembrance of thee in the holy sacrament be always most lively and affecting. O Jesu! if I love thee truly, I shall be sure to frequent thy altar, that I may often remember all the wonderful loves of my crucified Redeemer. I know, O my Lord, and my God, that a bare remembrance of thee is not enough; O do thou, therefore, fix in me such a remembrance of thee as is suitable to the infinite love I am to remember; work in me all those holy and heavenly affections, which become the remembrance of a crucified Saviour; and do thou so dispose my heart to be thy guest at thy holy table, that I may feel all the sweet influences of love crucified, the strengthening and refreshing my soul, as my body is by the bread and wine. O merciful Jesu, let that immortal food, which in the holy eucharist thou vouchsafest me, instil into my weak and languishing soul new supplies of grace, new life, new love, new vigour, and new resolution, that I may never more faint, or droop, or tire in my duty. Amen. Lord Jesus, Amen.

СНАР. Х.

EMBER-DAYS IN DECEMBER.

Q. What Fast does the church observe 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 pastors

and ministers, who are to feed and govern the flock of Christ.

Q. Since the church is a complete society wherein some govern, and others are governed; what is the duty of all Lay-Christians to their spiritual governors?

A. To honour and esteem them highly for their work's sake, 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 consists that honour and esteem that is due to our spiritual superiors for their work's sake?

A. In considering them as those that bear the great character of ambassadors from Christ; as St. Paul calls them; and as instruments of conveying to us the greatest blessings we are capable of receiving, because they relate to our eternal salvation; and consequently regarding them as commissioned by him to that holy office. So that the authority they have received to preside over Christians as governors of the church, must always be owned to come from God; and this religious regard to their divine mission must be expressed in the whole course of our conduct towards them.

Q. What is that respect and reverence we ought to shew towards them?

A. The expressing by our words and actions all that honour and esteem we have for their character in our minds; which will oblige us to treat their persons with great civility in conversation, to speak all the good we can of them in their absence, 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 persons, because it may tend to disparage and debase their office. Not to use any scurrilous words

or contemptuous behaviour towards them, because the disrespect cast upon them is an affront to their master, whose person they represent; for though they may be inferior to others in some human accomplishments, yet God hath promised particularly to assist them in the faithful discharge of their holy calling.

Q. But besides their character, have not the clergy many personal qualifications to challenge from us respect and esteem?

A As long as piety and virtue, learning and knowledge have any credit and reputation in the world, and that men are concerned that others should be formed to the same valuable principles, that their minds should be cultivated, and their manners regulated; so long the clergy will have a good title to the honour and esteem of all wise and good men. The very method of their education gives them great advantages for their improvement in all sorts of necessary and polite learning, and raises them above the level of those with whom they are equal in all other circumstances; and the subject of their constant studies being matters of piety and religion, it is reasonable to suppose, they live under more lively and stronger impressions of another world, than the rest of mankind; and experience sufficiently convinces us, how much the nobility and gentry of the kingdom are beholden to their care, for those impressions of piety and knowledge which are stamped upon their education. In the most ignorant ages what learning flourished was in their body, and by their care was conveyed down to posterity. In the most dissolute times the greatest examples of piety were in their order, and we have yet remaining eminent monuments of their magnificent as well as useful charity, both to the bodies and souls of men.

Q. But if the ministers of God do not act suitably

to the dignity of their character, may we not contemn them?

A. Their character should certainly defend them from contempt, and the relation they have to God should secure them from our ill usage. And in order to this it is necessary to consider, that as there is an inherent holiness, whereby men's actions and affections are in some measure conformable to the laws of God, in which sense good men in all ages were esteemed holy; so there is a relative holiness, which consists in some peculiar relation to God's service, of which things, times, places, and persons are capable. In this last sense the tribe of Levi was called the holy tribe, as those that are dedicated to the service of Christ under the gospel are called God's ministers; not that it was always true of them, that, they 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 stumble 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 Christ's ordinances is not taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished from such who receive the sacrament rightly and by faith, which are ef fectual by reason of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.

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Q. What is the ill consequence of despising the persons, and exposing the conduct of our pastors and ministers of Christ?

A. It diminishes that credit and effect which their spiritual administrations ought to have upon the minds of men, and makes them less capable of doing that good which their profession obliges them to attempt; for as

much as we take from the opinion of their piety and integrity, so much we lessen their power in promoting the interest of religion, whose 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 sensible of, who omit no opportunity of exposing their persons, and representing their sacred function only as a trade, whereby they procure an advantageous subsistence.

Q. But since the interest of the clergy is supported by what they plead for, doth not this make it reasonable to suspect that all revealed religion is only priestcraft?

A. It is very fit that they who quit all other methods of procuring subsistence should live of that gospel they preach; and though men may be swayed by interest, yet the truth and falsehood of things no ways depend upon it; and the measures of judging concerning them are quite of another nature. It is sufficient evidence that must convince a man that is impartial, concerning the truth of what is asserted; and it is reasonable to suppose, that they who make it their business to search into these matters, should be best acquainted with the grounds of conviction. And we find that our value for the laws of the land, and the art of physic, is no ways abated by the great advantages they make who follow either of those professions.

Q. Is it reasonable to be prejudiced against religion upon the account of the bad lives of some of the clergy?

A. As long as clergymen are clothed with flesh and blood as well as other men, we ought not to be prejudiced against religion, because some few are overcome by the follies and infirmities of mankind; the many remarkable instances of piety and devotion, of charity and sobriety among the sacred order, should rather confirm us in our holy faith, since they who have had the greatest