DIRECTIONS

GIVEN TO

THE CLERGY

OF

THE DIOCESE OF LONDON,

IN THE YEAR MDCCXXIV.

BY THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD

EDMUND Srie

LORD BISHOP OF LONDON.

To which is added,

His CHARGE to the Clergy, in his last Visitation, begun in the Year 1741, and finished in the Year 1742.

AR

DIRECTIONS

GIVEN TO

THE CLERGY

OF THE DIOCESE OF LONDON,

IN THE YEAR MDCCXXIV.

Reverend brethren,

WHEN it pleased his majesty to translate me to the see of London, upon the death of a pious predecessor now with God, I was very sensible of the great weight and difficulty of the charge, as requiring almost perpetual attendances of one kind or another, and entangled with a greater variety of emergencies, and more exposed to the observation and censure of the world, than the administration of any other diocese. But as I was called to this charge without any application or endeavour on my own part, I considered it as a providential appointment, and firmly trusted that the same God, whose providence had called me to it, would graciously direct and support me in the discharge of it, to his glory, and the good of his church.

And next to the divine goodness, upon which I humbly rely for such a measure of wisdom and understanding, and such strength of body and resolution of mind, as a station of so much labour and difficulty requires, I must depend upon the kind and unanimous assistance of you, my reverend brethren; and I doubt not but you will be ready on all occasions to join with me in preserving and establishing order and discipline within this diocese; which, as it is adorned with the capital city of the kingdom, from whence, as from a fountain, good and evil are derived to all parts of the kingdom; and as it may well be presumed to abound with persons of greater learning, knowledge, and experience, than any other diocese; ought upon both these accounts to be a pattern of order and discipline to the whole nation. And more particularly ought it to be the pattern

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of a regular behaviour in the clergy, and of an exact performance of the public offices of the church; upon which two, it may most truly be said, that national piety and religion do mainly depend; nothing being more clear in experience, than that the spirit of piety and religion decays or increases in particular parishes, according as the incumbent sets a good or bad example, and the public offices in the church are reverently or negligently performed.

For the promoting these good ends, I choose, at my first coming to you, to put into your hands some rules and observations, which more particularly relate to those two important points. For though I doubt not but as many of the clergy of this diocese as have been a long time incumbents in it, and have reaped the full advantage of books and conversation, which is its peculiar blessing, are abundantly instructed in the several branches of the pastoral office; yet it must be remembered, that there are many others, whose age, observation, and experience are much less; and to them therefore I would be understood more especially to apply myself, in suggesting such rules as are of most constant use, and seem to me to be most needful, for discharging the ministerial function, with honour to the church, and edification to the people: resolving also to put them into the hands of those who will have yet greater need of them, I mean, all such as I shall hereafter appoint to parochial cures, whether by institution or license. *And if the rules which I have laid down shall be thought plain and obvious, it is a sufficient answer, that they are useful: since it may be truly said of all rules for the conduct of human life in any branch whatsoever, that the more plain the rule is, the more important the duty.

And because I shall begin with the decent and regular performance of the public offices of the church; that which I must mention in the first place, as a general preparation for the rest, is,

I. The decency of the place in which those offices are to be performed, in point of repairs, cleanliness, and all accommodations of books, vessels, vestments, and other things, which the rubrics and canons of the church suppose and require. For nothing is more certain, than that the solemn appearance of the place is the means of begetting a reverence in the minds of the persons, and a suitable honour for the public worship of God; and, on the other hand, all mean and unseemly appearances in the house of God, and all neglects of the decent and necessary preparations for his public worship, beget an indolence and in