A Visitation Speech DELIVERED AT COLCHESTER IN ESSEX. 1662.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1662.   

WHen I consider that Miracle of Mercies these three dying Kingdoms now so suddenly, so strangely, restored to health; when I look upon the late Changes in this Nation, so remarkably, so unexpected, so stupendious, from what we were of late, to what we are now: I think I may very fitly, by way of Allusion, call these times, as S. PETER calls those other times, Acts 3.21. {αβγδ}, The times of Restitution, or the times of restoring all things; For have we not seen Monarchy restored, Our gracious sovereign restored, Our Parliaments restored, the Militia restored, Our Church restored, Our Bishops restored, Our Laws and Judges restored, Our Liberty restored, Our Ecclesiastical Courts restored, and ourselves restored to ourselves again?  
With what bleeding hearts did we formerly behold these three Kingdoms, like a Body without a Head, in horrible confusion under those many monstrous sorts of Government, Democracy, Aristocracy, Stratocracy, Oligarchy, Tyranny: Nay, what a monstrous body was that( pardon the expression) when every little bone in the Rump was swelled as big as a Head: How was that Fathers Censure of this iceland then made good,( S. HIEROM) Brittannia tyrannorum provincia fertilissima? How were we rid, and whipped, and spurred by all sorts of those cruel Masters? But blessed be God that we have seen Monarchy, that best form of Government, which seemed to have been put to Death with that blessed Martyr, again revived: Our floating iceland now settled upon its Old Basis, and that from Parity and Anarchy, as weary of that Calf, we are restored to Order and Monarchy. Monarchy the best kerb to emulations and factions, the best fence against animosities and ambitions, the best support of every mans interest, the best remedy against confusion, and the best means of securing our peace and happiness: What else speaks one God in the World, one Sun in Heaven, one Soul in Man, one Heart in the Body, but one King in a Kingdom, to be the most absolute, most free, most happy form of Government? And to this happiness and freedom hath God now restored us, under the government of our Lawful Hereditary sovereign King.  
A KING whose Education abroad, hath fitted him for his Government at home, who hath no more suffered in all his tribulations, then the Sun in an Eclipse, which onely hath served to make him the more resplendent, whom though God suffered for a while to be as a wandring Star, yet now to our great joy we see him fixed in the orb of his own Dominions, and guilding this British World with his matchless Lustre, and long may his sweet Influences, be the source of all our Felicities. Nor do we see him restored onely to his Titles and revenues, but to all other his Native and Legal Rights: One of the chief of which is his power over the MILITIA, signified by the sword put into his hand at the Coronation; without which, A Monarch is a King and no King; without which, disaffected persons would look upon him as the philistines did upon samson, without his hair, in which his strength lay: but blessed be God, that that withered hand is now restored which will not bear the sword in vain.  
Nor may this time be called {αβγδ}, a time of restoring, onely in respect of his Majesty; but likewise in divers other relations, as the wiseman says of wisdom, Omnia mihi bona pariter venere cum illa, All good things came to me along with her; so many other restorings came along with the restoring of our Gracious sovereign; as, first the restoring of the Parliament.  
We have seen PARLIAMENTS restored again to their former privileges and splendour, and filled again with the three estates, Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and Commons, which like a threefold cord cannot easily be broken; to whom his Majesty ascribes so much, that he esteems them as necessary to his Greatness, as leaves about the rose to preserve its beauty: And though one of those Estates then devoured the other two, and most unnaturally some of her own Members; yet now we see the Coronets flourishing with the Crown, and Peerage acting again in its former sphere, and the two Houses replenished again with men of science and conscience, the two sources of as many signal blessings to this Church and Kingdom, as all former Chronicles since the Conquest have recorded: so that well may this time in reference to the Parliament be called a time of restoring; I, and well may this Parliament be styled the Restoring Parliament, the repairer of our breaches, and the restorer of paths to dwell in.  
And a time of restoring too, we must needs call it, if we look upon the CHURCH, and state Ecclesiastical: How did we despair of ever seeing that flourish again, when it was stubb'd up root and branch? But now we have seen Aarons rod budding and blossoming again; Now we see our Our Churches restored, which formerly were dens of Thieves, and stables for Horses; and our Churchmen restored, who were formerly outed by seditious bold intruders, and instead of ringing, Curse ye Meroz in every Pulpit, we have now Aarons Bells striking on both sides, Fear God, honour the King: And instead of a dry empty Directory, which had neither the Creed, the Lords Prayer, nor Ten Commandments; in room of that Talmud sabaudicum, the Savoyan Talmud, as Ramus called the platform of Geneva Discipline; we have the ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, which Mr. Fox saith, was made by the aid of the Holy Ghost; and of which, the worst that Calvin could say, was, that there were in it Ineptiae quaedam tollerabiles; though he was pleased to call them Ineptiae, things not to fit and proper as he supposed, yet even in his esteem, they were tolerabiles. And as the fountain of all these  
We have seen to our great rejoicing, Our reverend BISHOPS restored to their former Honours and Jurisdictions; and not such Bishops as were sometime emblem'd by a smooth Ash, that does nothing but bear keys, but such as Erasmus once spoken of, Sola Anglia doctos habet Episcopos; such as Bishop James Mountagues commendation of Mr. ●erkins in his funeral ●ermon, may very well suit with, that teach England to serve God, and Ministers to preach Jesus Christ; and it is his Majesties great care, that it may never be said of any of our Prelates, as of Saul, that when he came to the High places, he made an end of prophesying.  
And a time of Restoring too we must needs acknowledge it, if we look upon our Brethren of the Gown, that noble and worthy Profession of the LAW: How sad was the face of things when we were governed by an Arbitrary Power; when most matters were determined by men of lost conscience, and reputation; Remota Justitia; What were our Kingdoms but Magna Latrocinia, great Thievedoms? That Emblem of Alciat did very well svit with those times; Piscerculos aurata rapit medio aequore Sardas. The silly Sprats being under the water are chased up and down by the great Guilt-heads, and if they spring out of the Sea for fear, they are quickly devoured of the gready Seamewes. Thus were the poorer people hunted and pursued by the great Guiltheads their rich neighbours; and if they sought to be relieved by the Law, they were sure to fall into the hands of some mercenary Demosthenes; and so were in the poor womans case in the Gospel, who after she had spent all that she had, was nothing the better, but much the worse. But now God hath restored our Judges as at first, and our counsellors as at the beginning: Now we see the seats of Justice filled with men of Integrity and Conscience, who account it their honour to be the guardians of liberty, and property, the rescuers of poor men from invasion and oppression; and to use the Psalmists words, who keep the s●mple folk by their right, and deliver their souls from oppression and wrong. And may these two Gowned Nations, the Clergy and the Lawyers, now at last learn wisdom by their sufferings; and seeing their difference have rendered them a prey to the common adversary, may they henceforth lay aside all animosities, and mutually support one another, and both together, like Aaron and Hur, support our MOSES.  
And one thing more we cannot forget, the print of our shackles puts us in mind of it, to make it a time of restoring too in regard of our liberty and freedom from our former slavery. How did we groan under the cruel usage of those tyrannical Usurpers, by whom we were not so much governed as destroyed? by whom we were not suffered so much liberty as to grieve for our slavery, but were dealt withal as thieves deal with them they rob, bound and gagg'd, that we might neither stir to help ourselves, nor cry out for the help of others. But blessed be God, who remembered us in our low estate, and by the valour and prudence of a renowned GENERAL restored us to our lost liberty; Of which, as we have a high share, so let us have a deep sense, never forgetting those blessings with which God hath crwoned his undertakings, but ever acknowledging the settlement of our state both Civil and Ecclesiastical, to be ascribed, next under God, to that unparallelled Instrument. And may it be th' vote of all true English hearts, that that noble Duke, qui nobis hac otia fecit, may for ever be the darling both of Prince and people. But as for those discontented spirits, whose fingers yet itch to be ringing the changes, may the ropes so gull them, as may make them at last beshrew their own fingers.  
And we cannot for shane but take in our own COURTS here, and make it a time of Restoring for them too: O how was the poor Clergy stung by swarms of Committee-men in every Town, City, and County: Committee-men a greater pest to the Gentry and Clergy of this Land, than ever was the Inquisition to the Moores in Spain. Men that professed Divinity, but never shewed the least humanity. Men that cried down all forms, but a form of godliness, which onely they had, and denied the power thereof. Men that used the Word of God, as some say of Benedicts Rule, onely to profess, but not to perform. Men that pretended to serve God, when they intended to serve themselves of him. Men that made much ado about setting Christ upon his Throne, but it was that they might be his Deputies. Men that would have been thought Angels, though it were but for troubling the water, that they might have the better fishing. Men that tore the Churches garments, to make their own whole; and pulled down the wall of Sion, to build their Babel: and, to borrow the words of that Right Reverend and Learned Bishop in his Coronation Sermon, Men that sacrificed the public Interest to their particular concernments, and engaged the whole Nation to fight against itself, and to cut one anothers throats, to gratify their malice and ambition. Men that embroil all to enrich themselves, and set other mens houses on fire, that by the help of the light they might see the better to run away with the goods. Men that had neither conscience to awe them, nor shane to restrain them from doing any thing; Every thing that might speak shane or sorrow to the Gentry and the Clergy. These were then our Taskmasters, who had usurped upon the managing of these Courts, and to these were we to render the tale of our Brick, whose meanness and baseness, in many places was such, that it added much to the pressures of our slavery; for, Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum; and flies bread from the dunghill, they say, have the sharpest sting. O how was Aarons Rod most miserable devoured and swallowed up by these Committee-mens Ox-goads and Cartwhips! How were our Lamps snuffed, not by the golden snuffers of the Sanctuary, but by Demetrius the Silver-smith, and Alexander the Copper-smith, and men of such mettal? How was the Ark of the Church, which was wont to be carried by Levites, now carried by these beasts of the uncircumcised philistines, shaken, and tottered, and overturned? How did these Churches Vergers sweep our Church, not with the bosom of Reformation, as they pretended, but with the bosom of destruction? Such like sweepers as the Romish Vulgar makes the woman in the Gospel to be, which in stead of domum everrit, reads domum evertit; who in stead of sweeping it, turned it upside down, and cast, not only the Clergy out of the Church, but the Church out of the windows! O how were our souls filled with the scornful reproofs of the wealthy, and with the despitefulness of the proud! But blessed be God who hath taken down our harps from the willows, hath brought our Courts into their former current, restored our Jurisdiction to its pristine beauty, and turned our captivity from under Committee men, into the mild and sweet government of Episcopal jurisdiction! And let our submission to their Laws and Censures never seem irksome, or burdensome to us, seeing the want of the due execution of these was the main cause of all our miseries; for had those curs been muzzled by Ecclesiastical censures, they had never by their bawling so disturbed our peace and quiet: But Eli begot Phineas, and Phineas begot Ichabod; remissness in Governours, begot profane and seditious Priests, and these begot Ichabod, shane and ruin, and confusion to our Church and Kingdom. And thus you see that in all these respects we may very fitly call these times, as S. PETER calls those other times, Acts 3.21. {αβγδ}, the times of restitution, or the times of restoring all things.  
ANd now since God hath done so much for us, let us not be wanting to ourselves, but do what we can on our own parts, to make it a time of restoring too.  
And in the first place, Let us make it a time of restoring for the reading of the COMMON PRAYER BOOK in our Churches. S. John wept when there was not one found to open the Book: And what a lamentable thing is it, that many should be so peevish as not to open this Book; the very reading of which, caused our forefathers the Martyrs to weep for joy. But I need not press this upon you; you'l say, you do red it: I, but how readest thou? You red it as Jehoiakim did Jeremiahs roll, three or four leaves of it, and then cast it away: Nor will your pretence of infirmity of body, or shortness of breath serve for an excuse; for how then come you to be such long winded Preachers? How is it that you can bestow three or four hours in eager and violent discourse to justify your inability, when as the third part of that breath sufficiently testifies your ability: But the truth is, you want cordialness, and not cordials; and a heart to it, rather then pectorals. The Athenians banished Terpander, for adding one string to his Harp; what then do you deserve who have taken away so many, that you have quiter marred the Churches music, and have turned all into jars and discords? For by this mangling and curtailing of the Common-prayers, as yourselves please, what do you else but make yourselves Bishops in your own Parishes? You revive that Puritan Tenet, That nothing must be enjoined, but all left to your own liberty; You call in question the wisdom of the State; you flatly disobey an Act of Parliament; you bring the Common Prayer into disgrace and dislike with the people, as a frivolous, unnecessary, supper fluous piece of service, and so bid fair for the ushering in that Goddess of the Presbyterians, the Directory, and the Covenant. When the daily Sacrifice was taken away, then was set up the abomination of desolation; and when this daily Sacrifice, the Prayers and Service of our Church shall be suffered to be thus scorned, curtailed and abused; we may well fear that abomination of Desolation to be introduced and set up again amongst us: Nor would I have you scrupulous to red it, as you are enjoined, in your Surplice and Formalities; though Michol scorned the linen Ephod, yet David did not leave it off for all that. The Text says, That Michol was barren; I wonder how she comes to have so many children amongst us, that scorn the Holy habit and Exercises? but however your resolution must be that of Davids, I will still do it, It is before the Lord who hath chosen me before all thy fathers house.  
ANd secondly, Let us make it a time of restoring too for catechizing in our Churches. Julian the Apostate, that subtle enemy of the Church, that he might the more easily root out Religion, suppressed all Christian Schools and places of Catechizing as the onely way to do it; and since this exercise of catechizing hath been neglected amongst us, how hath our Kingdom been overspread with ignorance, violence, perjuries, murders, Sects, Heresies, Seditions, Rebellions, and all kinds of mischief that can bee name or thought on. In Proverbs 22.6. Solomon saith, Train up a child, Gnal pi darcho, secundum as viae, according to his capacity, according to the mouth of his way; a Metaphor taken from narrow-mouth'd vessels, which must have water often, and by little and little poured into them; so to those who have narrow and weak apprehensions, Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, as it is, Isai. 28.10.  
This the word Catechism intimates( which signifies, the repetition of the same sound) that the office of the Catechist is to go often over with the same thing; to which agrees that word which is used Deut. 6.7. Thou shalt teach these words unto thy Children; or, thou shalt whet or sharpen thy children with them. Shenanti. As the knife goes often over the whetstone before it be sharpened, so these words must be often repeated, till the people have made them their own. In Gen. 14.14. it is said of Abraham, that he armed his trained servants, Hhanican, his catechized and initiated servants, not onely trained in the discipline of War, but also catechized in the Principles of Religion. And Gen. 12.5. it is said, That Abraham took Sarah, and Lot, and all the souls which they had gotten in Haran; it is in the Hebrew, which they had made, Gnashu; and so ●ynsworth reads it; they had not onely gotten them into their possession and service, but also had won them to the faith of God; or as the chaldee paraphrase hath it, had subdued them to the Law; and the Hebrews say, that Abraham did teach the men, and Sarah the women: Abraham and Sarah made souls, made them new by instructing and catechizing them. After Abraham we have David saying, Psal. 34. Come ye children harken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord; that is, the first Principles; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and that Psalm is composed according to the order of the Hebrew Alphabet, the verses of it beginning with the letters thereof, in their vulgar and usual order, that so children and learners, together with the first elements of other learning, might have an alphabet of piety and godliness taught them; and St. Paul sets it down as a thing well known, and as one of the privileges of the Jews, Rom. 2.17. that he was, {αβγδ}, catechized out of the Law.  
In the new Testament we have our Saviour catechizing of his Disciples, Whom do you say that I am? and Simon Peter answering the question, in the name of the rest, Thou art Christ the Son of God the living; and Mat. 22.41. we have him catechizing the Pharisees, He asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ, whose son is he? they say unto him, the Son of David; then he propounds another question unto them, How can he be both the Son of David, and the Lord of David, for David calls him Lord? St. Luke writes to Theophilus a large Declaration of those things wherein he had formerly been catechized {αβγδ}, Luke 1.4. Apollos was catechized {αβγδ}, in the way of the Lord, Acts 18.25. and saith St. Paul, Gal. 6.6. Let him that is taught in the words, communicate to him that teacheth in all good things, so we render it, but in the Greek it is {αβγδ}. And in the first chapter to the Hebrews, the Apostle sets down the chief points of the Catechism then used: After the Apostles, the first we have Mark the Evangelist catechist at Alexandria, and after him Pantenus, Clemens, Origen, who( such was either the necessity of the times, or the abilities of the man) at 18 years of age, took upon him that office, and was eminent in it.  
Canisius the jesuit will tell us more in those times; saith he, Nos hoc munus suscipimus, we jesuits make catechizing our profession; This they glory in, that they are catechizers; and in that profession, saith he, we have S. Basil, S. Austine, St. Ambrose, St. Cyril in our society; and truly as Catechizers they have, and in the conclusion of his Epistle to his Catechism, he saith, If nothing else, yet this alone should provoke us to greater diligence in catechizing, the Improbus labour, and Indefessa cura of the Protestants in this exercise: So it was then, and upon the Protestants diligence this way, was occasioned that order of Trent, that upon sundays and Holy dayes they should preach in the forenoon, and catechize in the afternoon. And let the Improbus labour and indefessa cura, of the Jesuits provoke us now at last, to restore again that exercise. Let us bow and stoop to the meanest capacity, That the simplo one may receive wisdom, and the young man knowledge and discretion. Because we must give an account of all the souls that are under us, therefore it behoves us with St. Paul, to choose rather to speak five words with understnnding, {αβγδ}, 1 Cor. 14.19. then ten thousand otherwise. As Rabsekah said in another case to Eliakim, Hezekias Messenger, Am I sent to thy Master and thee, onely to speak these words, and not to the people also that are on the wall? So you are not sent onely to two or three Intellectualists in a Congregation, but to all the Lords people be they never so mean, never so ignorant. It is metre that they which know, should be wearied with often repetitions, then that they that are unskilful should be sent away empty for want of instruction; nay men, you know, may be nourished with milk, though infants cannot live with stronger meat; Even they who think themselves some body, may have somewhat in these Principles to chew upon. Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven; Except, ye the people, be content at first to feed on the milk of the word, and not presently fall to gnawing of bones of Controversies, and unrevealed mysteries; and except you the Ministers descend and apply yourselves to the capacity of little children, and become as they, you lose your own way, you stop theirs to the Kingdom of Heaven: Except you become as little children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jacob had a care that the tender flocks might not be over-driven, Gen. 33.13. And it is the care and the charge too( Let me acquaint you with that) of our Right Reverend, and vigilant, and tender Diocesan, that young Christians that are not able to hold place, or go along with others, be not left behind; but be lead on Jacobs place, lead on softly as they are able to endure, till you have brought them into the fold of Christ: and for this purpose you are enjoined to turn your after noon Sermons into an exposition and explanation of the Church Catechism.  
And when we have made it a time for the restoring of catechizing; then in the next Place and Order, we may make it a time for the restoring of the LORDS SUPPER: An Office so strangely vanished out of our Churches, as that we may as well be taken for Jews, or Turks, or Quakers, as for Christians, having cast off that Badge and Cognizance of our Religion. It goes against your Conscience some of you to say, Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us. I, but it goes not against your Conscience to with-hold from your people the precious body and blood of Christ, to keep them from their pardon, from hell, and their assurance of heaven, to debar them of the life of their souls, and all the sweet fruits and comforts of that Holy Sacrament: Sure if it were but for this one thing, your whole lives exercise ought to be nothing else but the repetition of these Petitions, Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us; You should put up all your suits in the Court of Requests in no other form but this of mercy; you should sand this word as a winged Messenger every moment to the Throne of Grace; mercy should be both the Introduction, the Substance, and close of all our prayers, and no words or accents should be heard from you but these Obtestations and Obsecrations, and importunate entreaties of Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, and all too little to expiate this horrid impiety. Alas, how will you answer it either to God or your own selves, to have required from your people their deuce, when you have not done your duty? with what face have you eaten the bread of their Tables, and have denied them the bread of the Lords Table? How could you drink wine in bouls upon the sweat of their labours, and yet with-hold from them the wine of the Sacrament, which cost you no labour? With what Conscience could you thus fat up your own bodies, and thus starve your peoples souls? and receive their temporals, when you have not made them partakers of your spirituals? I have compassion on the multitude, for they have now stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat, give ye them to eat, least they faint by the way. But your people have stayed with you, and hung upon you, not three days, but three years; nay, thrice three years and upward, and yet you never set before them any of this heavenly food to keep their souls from fainting. Where are your bowels? what is become of your compassions? Have you cast off all humanity? Was the fear of God, the love of your neighbours, and the care of your own souls utterly abandoned? O horrible impiety! O monstrous cruelty! Nay, worse then monstrous! for even the Sea-monsters draw out their breasts, they give suck to their young ones, but the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostrich in the Wilderness: The tongue of the child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst, the children ask bread, and no man breaks it unto them. Well fare that late bloody Tyrant in this particular, that when he was resolved to murder our late gracious sovereign, yet he had this care of his soul, not to forbid him the ghostly comfort of this blessed Sacrament.  
Marcus the Emperour going through Palestine towards Alexandria, and observing the tumultuousness of the Jews, cried out, O Marcomanni! O Quadi! O Sarmatae! tandem vobis inquietiores inveni: And in like manner may we cry out, O ye Anabaptists, and Katabaptists! O ye Ranters and Seekers! O ye Familists and Quakers! I have found now men and that amongst the Clergy, more bloody, more inhuman, more cruel then the most barbarous wretch amongst that cursed crew of fanatics! O ye merciless hard-hearted Nurses, thus to starve sordid poor creatures committed to your charge, especially since you were so well paid for their nursing. Before the Israelites were to enter into Canaan, they were to eat the Passeover, Josh. 5.10. As ever you hope, you or your people, to enter into the heavenly Canaan, you must be receivers of the blessed Sacrament; for they who will not drink the Cup of blessing, shall drink the Cup of trembling; and they who refuse the Supper of the Lord, shall be for ever kept from the Supper of the Lamb.  
But receiving is not sufficient, if carriage be not Christian. Better be absent than rudely present; for thats but a neglect of God, this a scorn of him. I shall therefore in the next place put you in mind of making this time a time of restoring too, in respect of due reverence in GODS HOUSE and SERVICE. That the patriarches had set houses and places of Gods Worship, appears not onely by the set Altars and Groves; but by the speech of Jacob, This place is no other than the House of God, and the gate of Heaven. If there had not been set Houses, Jacob would not have compared this place to the House of God; neither would he have dedicated it by erecting a Statue and pouring oil, had there not been solemn dedications of such Houses. And what reverence was done in such holy places, appears, both by the words of Jacob, How fearful and dreadful is this place; and by the command of God to Moses and Joshua, to put off their shoes; and by Davids speech, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship towards this holy temple; and O come let us worship, &c. And all this they did without any command from God, but from the light of nature,, and by the received rule and tradition of the Church in all ages. And the same after them did the ancient Christians: Salvian relates the manner of their ingress into the Church; We rush to the House of God, we prostrate ourselves upon the ground; and he reprehends them that did enter into the House of God sine ulla penitus reverentia sacri honoris; and in the same place complains, that less honour was shewed to the House of God, than to the house of a petty judge: and Chrysostome saith, they entered the Church {αβγδ}, bowing their heads: and Isiodore Hispalensis lays down this rule, That if any came late after Prayers were begun, adoret prius postea attendat. And it was the constant practise of the Christians to bow towards the East, for which they were calunniated as Adoratores Orientis, as worshippers of the East; And such as resorted to the Church of St. Peter, and St. Paul, are said, Adorare ad limina Apostolorum. And with the same reverence did they go out of the Church, {αβγδ}, as it is in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom in the very conclusion of it; after the same manner that the Jews did at their departure out of the Temple, as appears 2 Chron. 29.28. and Ezek. 46.2. whose incurvation was the space saith Maymonides, while a man might say, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. And certainly, as it is a great condescension in God, to accept of the same expression of reverence which we give unto men, so it is a great neglect and contempt of God in us, if we will not give that unto him which we do give to our betters.  
Tertullian saith, We pray manibus expansis quia innocuis, capite nudo quia non erubescemus; and S. Basil gives this Testimony of Gregory Thaumaturgus, That he never covered his head in the Church; Why so? Because he was( saith he) a true scholar of the Apostle, who tells us, that every MAN PRAYING OR PROPHESYING having his head covered, dishonoureth his head: And the man ought not to cover his head, inasmuch as he is the image and glory of God. But how different is this from our practise? How do men rush into Gods House without any reverence, and are almost at the upper end, before they think of their Hats? How do they sit like Quakers with their Hats nailed to their heads, while the Preacher is delivering to them Gods Message with his head uncovered: So that should a Turk or an Infidel come into our Churches, he would by our behaviour take this place for a theatre, where the poor person is brought in like samson, to make the Lords of the philistines with their Hats on, some sport and pastime. Sure I am, most of our people carry themselves in the Church as if it were not Gods House, or as if the Master of the House, were from home, and come with boldness sufficient to the Throne of Grace: And no marvel, if they be so rude, when as the Minister himself hath no more respect of that sacred Table, then of a Dresser-board, but lets it be exposed to the profanation of Boyes, and the pollution of Dogs: But let all such Clergy men lay to heart the saying of an Italian Bishop; God in that holy Table which he finds full of dust, doth writ down the faults of the careless Churchman. I shall conclude this with the eighteen Canon of our Church; to which I refer you, and of which I expect an account from you.  
And if Holiness become Gods House, much more doth it those living Temples, the PRIESTS themselves: Let me therefore call upon you to make it a time of restoring for that too; namely HOLINESS, and blamelesness in your lives and conversations: This should be wrirten in our foreheads, Be ye pure, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord: And why dost thou take my word into thy mouth( saith God) seeing thou hatest to be reformed. Disorderliness is a spot in any coat, but a slain in the linen Ephod; Nugae in ore sacerdotum sunt blasphemiae, Such as are but vain words in another mans mouth, are blasphemies in a Ministers: Praesulis vitium non quam optimum esse, Its 'vice enough in a Clergyman, not to excel others in virtue, let us therefore labour to be such as Gerhard the Monk, of whom S. Bernard speaks, Non in maximis tantum said in minimis maximus erat: Let us make good the proceeding of that old Argument, Sacerdos est, non fallet; and let every Minister be like Jonah the son of Amittui, the sons of truth, as some are called the Sons of thunder: And if any faults be objected against us, it will be some part of satisfaction, if in humility we can answer as S. Austin did the Donatists, Possunt haec veraciter dici& nostra& vestra, quae si utrisque nostrum disputent, neque nostra, neque vestra sunt.  
And one particular let me warn you of, not so to busy yourselves about farming and grazing, and such worldly employments; for though in the late hard and miserable times, the Clergy might be excused for making use of those thrifty sayings of the Jewish rabbis; Quis legem aut discit, aut docet, si farina desit? and bona est doctrina legis cum via terrae: yet now that the Churches maintenance is restored, let them bid adieu to their Farms and Oxen, their oves& boves, and addict themselves wholly to feed the flock of God committed to their charge; Your title in Greek implys a contradiction to earthliness; {αβγδ} in that Language is all one as unearthly. And your name of Seers, intimates, that you are not to entangle yourselves with worldly affairs and employments; for though the hands and the feet may without any great inconveniency be dealing in the dust, and paddling in the dirt, yet the eye cannot without damage or danger admit ought of either. And indeed, if you consider that great weight and charge laid upon you, you will find but little time for such Parerga and impertinencies: If God think it work enough for an Angel to keep one soul, how vigilant ought they to be, who have the charge of many. You are Intelligencers, your Parish is the orb wherein you should continually move; you are the Sentinels, your Parish is the Watch-tower, where you are constantly to stand upon your duty; you are Candles, your Parish is the Candlestick wherein you are to shine as lights in the world; You are the Shepherds, your Parish is the Flock whom you are to feed, for whom you are to provide, of whom you are to take the oversight, to whom you ought to be an example, which you cannot well be unless you visit your people, {αβγδ} from house to house, and though the Church be your Center, yet your Parish is to be your circumference.  
And now in the last place, If you would make the times of Restoring complete; add one thing more, and that is the restoring of your PROCURATIONS: Though thus long you have detained them, and none said, Restore, yet now I hope you will not stick at them any longer, considering that, Non remittitur, nisi restituatur; and that if you had sooner furnished me with those necessary supplies, I had been restored to you the sooner.  
FINIS.