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350.

SERMON

Preach'd in the Chapel of
BISHOP-THORP near YORK,

AT AN

ORDINATION

Held there, on the 25th of September, 1726.

To which is Annexed

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His Grace the Lord Archbishop of YORK's LETTER, March 9th, 1726, to the Right Reverend the Lords Bifhops of his Province with ORDERS and RESOLUTIONS agreed on between them, and to be communicated to the Clergy of their refpective Diocefes, con-cerning Ordinations, Curacies, &c.

By LEWIS STEPHENS A. M.

Archdeacon of BARNSTAPLE, and
Chaplain to the Moft Reverend Father in
God, LANCELOT Lord Archbishop
of TORK.

Blackbume

Published by His Grace's Command.

LONDON:

Printed for CHARLES KING at the Judge's Head in Wefiminster Hall. 1727.

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486 28

I TIM. iv. 16.

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Take heed unto thy felf, and unto thy doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this, thou fhalt both fave thy felf, and them that hear thee.

MONG all the excellent Writings of St. Paul, none have been of greater Ufe than these two Inftructive Epiftles which were writ to Timothy, with a defign of directing his Labours in the

Gofpel, and guiding him with Wisdom in the faithful Difcharge of his Holy Office: So that his Enemies might not be able to defpife his Youth, nor find any fault with his Manner of Life, his Purpofe, or his Faith.

For which reafon, St. Paul addreffes himself to Timothy, as to his dearly-beloved Son in the Lord; and whilst he puts on all the Tenderness and Authority of a Father, he endeavours to guard him from any Errors, by giving him a Set of excellent Precepts, and in the Itrongest manner tying him down to a strict and uniform Obfervance of them: Icharge thee, fays he, before God, and the Lord Fefus Chrift, and the elect Angels,

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that thou obferve thefe things, without preferring one before another. And in the Second Epiftle, he delivers his Inftructions with a commanding Brevity, and repeats his Charge to him again, before God, and the Lord Fefus Chrift, who fhall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing, and his Kingdom.

Thefe folemn Charges, before God, before Chrift, before the Elect Angels, to be anfwered for hereafter in the folemn and awful Day of Judgment, at the appearing of Chrift and his Kingdom, muft imply fomething very great and excellent in thefe Epiftles, fomething very useful in the Practice, and very faulty in the Omiffion of it.

And as thefe Writings were of general Benefit in the first planting of the Church, when the Sowers went forth sowing the good Seed of the Word, fo we may conclude, that the Benefit of them ftill continues, and that they are addreffed to all the future Minifters of the Gofpel, under the Perfon and Character of Timothy. For whatever was written for his Advice, was likewife written for our Inftruction. And we may be affured that St. Paul ftill speaks to us in thefe Epiftles, and ftrongly preffes the Charge upon us, and tells us plainly how we fhou'd behave, and what we should teach.

Therefore these Epiftles to Timothy cannot be too of ten read by us before our Admiffion into the Holy Office of Priesthood; nor too often, after we are engaged in the Labours of it. And if we read with due Con fideration, once at least in every Month, the Forms for Ordering of Priefts and Deacons, which are appointed in our Holy Liturgy, and which we have affented unto, and in which are prefcribed the great Duties which we folemnly and deliberately take upon us at the time of Ordination, in the Prefence of the Great Congrega tion, in the Prefence of the Elect Angels, in the PreTence of Chrift, and in the Prefence of God; it will certainly

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certainly be of great Advantage to us, in firring up the Gift of God which is in us, by the putting on of Hands: It will conftantly tell us our Vows and our Promises, and be a fort of renewing them again. It will ftrengthen all our folemn Engagements, and become a kind of tacit Reproof for any breach or omiffion of them. And if to the reading of thefe Forms we join the Exhortations given to Timothy, we fhall presently appropriate every part of St. Paul's Advice to our own Labours; and we too, as well as Timothy, fhall learn from thence to take heed unto our felves, and unto our doctrine; and to continue in them: that by doing this, we may fave our felves, and them that hear us. In difcourfing on which Words I fhall fhew,

I. That we ought to take heed unto our felves.

II. That we ought to take heed unto our Doctrine. III. That we ought to continue in them.

IV. and laftly, I fhall fet forth the great Advantage of it, which is, that by doing this, we fhall fave our felves, and them that hear us.

I. I fhall fhew that we ought to take heed unto our felves.

Authority lodg'd in the Hands of the Bishops, Ecclefiaftical Laws, Civil Punishments, the Prejudice done to our own Fortunes, the certain Shame of Sins committed, and the Natural Abhorence of that which is Evil, feem to be a fufficient Guard and Cauti on to us, against committing any great and enormous Crime. The Dangers which attend fuch a Sin, conftantly keep our Fears awake, and in fome manner oblige us to be always attentive to our felves.

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