done it: And if he have done it, that he do it no more. Admonish a Clergyman, it may be be bath not faid it: And if he have, that be Speak it not again. Admonish a Clergyman, for many times it is a Slander: And believe not every Tale.

3. THIS wife Son of Syrach, my Lord, has, in another Place, a Remark, which will help us to a fresh Caufe of Prejudice, and another great Hindrance to Juftice and Impartiality; and that is, the Meanness and poor Condition of the Appellant. As a wild Afs is the Lyon's Prey in the Ecclus Wilderness, fo the Rich eat up the Poor. This xiii. 19, he lays down for a general Proposition: And then, upon Complaint of Oppreffion or Wrong, 'his Obfervation is, that when a rich Man fpeak, tho' be fpeak things not to be spoken, Men justify him; nay, every one boldeth his Tongue, in deep Attention to his Plea, and Admiration of his Eloquence; and, look, what he says they extol to the Clouds. But if the poor Man Speak, they fay, What Fellow is this? Tho' be Speak wifely, he can have no Place, and if he ftumbles in the Vindication of himself, every one will help to overthrow him. Whereupon he concludes, that Riches are good unto him that has no Sin, or rather, he that has Riches, is reputed to have no Sin; and Poverty is evil, and itself alone accounted a Sin in the Mouth of the Ungodly. Quefta e ordinaria* miferia d'un infelice, il non bavere chi creda le fue fciagure, per effergli appreftate della mano d'un grand, nek quale fe ftima impoffibile l'iniquita.

BISHOPS, however, are Perfons too wife to be carried away with the vulgar Opinion, or to eftimate any Man's Probity by his Circumftances. They are Fathers alike to their whole *Farr. Pollav. la rete di Vulc. Vol. II. L 3

P. 326.

Clergy:

Clergy: And however they may be allowed to glory in the Strong and Healthy, like other good-natur'd Parents, they cannot but look upon any Maim, or Sicklinefs, or Imperfection in a Child (and fuch is Poverty to the Clergy) with a more feeling Tenderness and Commiferation. To them it may be fome Prefumption too, that the poor Man has Right on his Side, as well as Truft in their Integrity, when under such DifActe xxv. Couragements, he dares to complain: For Iftand at Cæfar's Judgment-Seat, where I ought to be judged; to the Jews have I done no Wrong, as thou very well knoweft: If I am an Offender, if I have committed any thing worthy of Death, I refufe not to die But if there be none of those things, whereof they accufe me, no Man may deliver me unto them, I appeal unto Cæfar;

10, II.

16.

་

is

a Speech of St. Paul's, that proclaims his Innocence at the first hearing, and indicates fuch a Confidence, in my Opinion, as could be guarded and fupported by nothing else but a Confcience Acts xxiv. void of Offence, towards God and towards Man. 4. Let not my Lord be angry, and I will but juft remind him of another Infelicity attending us, . which proves, on fome Occafions, an Obftruction to Juftice. The Difficulties we are under for want of Licences, the cruel Advantages taken against us on that Account, and the many Artifices employed to detain us from them, are a manifeft Proof, that a Defect of this kind is our Misfortune, not our Crime, a Matter of Neceffity upon us, not Choice, and what Incumbents are principally chargeable with,not Curates, The harder till is our Fate, when the Imputation is turned upon us, and our Appeals denied Admittance, for want of a Qualification, that we can no more obtain than we can remove Mountains.

TIS

;

'Tis fufficient for the Bishop's Information, one would think, that he knows fuch a Minifter absents from his Living, and is not refident that he knows fuch a Perfon officiates for him in the Capacity of a Curate; that he has been in that Perfon's Company, and received him as fuch in the Course of his Vifitations. The Intent of Licences is to notify to the Bishop, who is the officiating Man in every Parifh, and if he has this from any perfonal Knowledge or Acquaintance with him, 'tis the fame thing. To be told then, when a Curate in this Condition, under any inhuman Ufage, flees to his Bishop for Succour and Redress, that there he can have no Shelter; that no Appeal lies, no Relief can be expected; but that he must e'en bear his Burden as well as he can ;' must not be deem'd an Infult over Mifery (that may be too grofs) but pardon me, my Lord, if I think it an Anfwer of tranfparent Partiality, and a kind of Fineness in Management, that I know not what to call. 'Tis certainly remitting him to God with a Witness, and teaching him this confolatory Leffon to fome Tune, O put not your Trust in Pf. xlvi. 2. Princes, nor in any Child of Man, for in them is no Help.

BUT I've done; and have mentioned these

Lets and Impediments to Juftice, not fo much to 1 Cor. iv. Shame, as the Apoftle fpeaks, as to warn my 14. REVEREND FATHERS IN GOD; and to recommend to their Care the Reconciliation of Differences between contending Clergymen, before the Breach grows too wide, and an Inundation of Mischiefs breaks in upon it.

St. Paul, who was Mafter of every epifcopal Virtue, has fet them a Pattern of this kind worthy their Imitation. Nothing certainly can be fuller of Tenderness and kind Intreaty than

L 4

his

his Epiftle to Philemon, wherein he recommends Onefimus (who fome way or other had loft it) to his Favour and Confidence again. Obferve with what Strains of Perfuafion and endearing Phil. v. 7, Eloquence the great Apoftle writes: We have great Foy and Confolation in thy Love, because the Bowels of the Saints are refreshed by thee, Bro ther; wherefore tho' I might be much bold in Chrift, to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for Love's-fake I rather beseech thee, being Such an one as Paul the aged, and now alfo a Prifoner of Jefus Chrift. I beseech thee for my Son Onefimus, whom I have begotten in my Bonds, which in Time-paft was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me, whom I have fent again: Thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own Bowels. Receive him not as a Servant, but above a Servant, a Brother beloved efpecially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the Flefb and in the Lord? If thou count me therefore a Partner, receive him, I fay, as mySelf. If he bath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my Account. I Paul have written it with my own Hands, I will repay it: Albeit, I do not fay to thee, how thou oweft unto me even thine own felf befides.

1

THE ingenious Author of the Chriftian Hero, to fhew the great Art and Elegance of this Epiftle, has put it into a modern Dress; which I have chose to extract out of the many more Beauties that are comprized in that excellent Piece.

SIR, It is the deepest Satisfaction that I every day bear you commended for your generous Bebaviour to all of that Faith, in the Articles of which I had the Honour and Happiness to initiate you; for which, tho' I might prefume to an Authority to oblige your Compliance in a Request I am going to make to you, yet chufe I rather to apply myself to you as a Friend, than ay Apoftle; for with a Man

your great Temper, I know I need not a more powerful Pretence than that of my Age and Imprisonment: Yet is not my Petition for myself, but in behalf of the Bearer, your Servant Onefimus, who has robb'd you, and ran away from you; what he has defrauded you of, I will be answerable for, this shall be a Demand upon me; not to say that you owe me your very felf: Icall'd him your Servant, but he is now alfo to be regarded by you in a greater Relation, even that of your Fellow-Chriftian; for I efteem him a Son of mine as much as yourself; nay, methinks it is a certain peculiar Endearment of him to me, that I had the Happiness of gaining him in my Confinement: I beseech you to receive him, and think it an Act of Providence, that he went away from you for a Seafon, to return more improv'd to your Service for ever.

SUCH pacifick and commendatory Letters as thefe were very frequent in the primitive Church, and of great Ufe to the Purposes of fuppreffing Schifms and Divifions, and extinguishing the Flames of Contention amongst Brethren before they came to be any Scandal to Religion, or Reproach to the Profeffors of it. Bifhops, in thofe Days, were so far from thinking the bleffed Work of Peace-making any Diminution to their Dignity, that their Dignity in a great measure confifted in it; infomuch that ** Gregory Nazianzen, in his Commendation of Athanafius, tells us, That his Pains and Sedulity in compofing Differences, and reconciling adverfe Parties, was at more advantageous Act of Charity to the Church, than all his other daily Labours and Difcourfes; more honourable than all his Watchings and Humicubations, and not inferior to his applauded Flights and Exiles. They accounted it therefore a ridiculous Piece of State, not to vouchfafe to be Arbitrators when * Vid. Naz. Orat. 21. in Laud. Athan. Tit. 1. p. 396. † Bingham's Ant. Eccl. Vol. II. p. 359.

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