1751 An Abufe in relation to Holy Orders. To the AUTHOR of the LONDON SIR, A S you have been fo good as to give a place in your incomparable Magazine (Oct. 1750, p. 450.) to my complaint on the fad abuse of making a compliment A of holy orders, to the imprudent outcasts of trade, and quite foreign occupations, to ferve them for a maintenance; I have ventured to offer, thro' the fame effectual conveyance, if you will indulge me once more, an address to the feveral parties, on whom it depends either to increase, or entirely put an end thereto. And I fhall begin, where the grievance B begins, by expoftulating with the perfons, who thus feck holy orders as a retreat. They confider nothing, fure, but the poffeffing themfelves of a convenient and easy income; did they at all regard how, and at what rate, or confcientiously weigh with what justice they can do it, it is impoffible but it should deter them, and put them upon C having recourfe to fome way, they are more equal to, and where they could fairly, and honeftly acquit themselves of their duty. Ordinarily, indeed, the cafe is, that they are fit for nothing, and the reason why this courfe is chofen by, and for them, is that it is apprehended here they will have a livelihood, tho' they be fo; whereas D in all other profeffions, or employments, without abilities to excel in them they must ftarve: But let them but have a friend powerful enough to get them ordained, and who will give, or procure them a living, and all is well,-they need not concern themselves about any defects then. -And need they not, indeed ?—Yesmore than in any one way in the world; for they fhould confider, that they here engage in the immediate fervice of God, and fhould they have nothing to fear from men for acquitting themselves badly therein, they have the utmoft to fear from Him; they engage in the most important of all concerns, the care of fouls, and the maintaining the purity of our faith,where any failure is the most ruinous and irreparable, and must accordingly be the moft feverely accounted for. The man who should take upon him to be a phyfician, without understanding any thing of the matter, and should trifle with peoples lives, E 405 to fill his own pockets, would be fure to have his attempt univerfally abhorred, and would justly be deemed to merit exemplary punishment: But is it a lefs crime to take upon them with as little skill to be the phyficians of fouls ?The very thought muft make a confiderate and confcientious man tremble.The great Chryfoftom, with all the qualifications that could render a perfon deferving of this holy office, was afraid to engage in it, and apprehended that for fuch a work, a man had need of very uncommon powers and abilities, and that therein the fpiritual fhepherd ought as much to exceed those he feeds, as the fhepherd does his theep, if not more, feeing his hazard is in things of much greater moment: For, as he argues, he that lofes his sheep, either by wolves feizing them, or by the irruption of thieves, or by any rot, or even any other accident befalling them, may perhaps obtain fome pardon from the mafter of the flock; but hould the punishment be ex1cted, the lofs may be made up by money: But he to whom men themfelves, the rational flock of Christ, are entrusted, such an one, if he lofes his sheep, will not fuffer the lofs of money only, but of his own foul."And again "I fear t, fays he, left I hould take upon me the province of governing the flock of Chrift, when found, and in good order, and they should by my negligence prove otherwife, and I should kindle the wrath of that God against me, who fo loved that flock, that be gave bimself for its falvation." Let these fears in a man, than whom no other was ever better qualified, awaken those to a fenfe of what they are doing, who without any proper training, and education, or any other pretenfion to orders but their wanting a mainLenance, are for crowding themselves into the ministry. If they will regard any thing, but their own view of profit, I would observe to them, that this is a matter big with damage to the church, and to religion, and it will bring both into contempt; but if they value not that, yet let me add, that these cannot incur any damage thro' them, but they muft account for it-wherefore the fin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abborred the offering of the Lord, Sam. ii. 17. From * Ο μὲν γὰρ πρόβαλα ἀπολλὺς, ή λύκων ἁρπασάνων, ἢ ληςῶν ἐπιφάνων, ἢ λοιμᾶ τινος, καὶ ἄλλα συμπλώματος ἐπιπεσόνος τυχοι μὲν ἄν τινος καὶ συγνώμης παρὰ τῇ κυρία τῆς ποίμνης Ει δὲ καὶ δίκην απαλοντο μέχρι τῶν χρημάτων ή ζημία. Ὁ δὲ ανθρώπες πιςευθεὶς τὸν λογικὸν το Χρισ5 ποίμνιον, πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ εἰς χρήματα, ἀλλ ̓ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῷ ψυχὴν τὴν ζημίαν ὑφίςαλαι, υπερ τῆς τῶν προβάτων ἀπωλείας. Chryfoft, de Sacerdotio. Ed. Front. Ducæi, Pag. 17. Lut. Parif. 1614. * Καὶ γὰρ δέδοικα, μὴ τὴν ἀγέλην τῷ Χρισον σφριγωσαν και ευτραφή, παραλαβών, εἶταν αυτὴν ἐξ ἀπροσεξίας λυμηνάμενος, παροξύνω κατ' ἐμαυτᾶ τὸν ούτως αυτὴν ἀγαπήσανα θεὸν, ὡς ἑαυτὸν ἐκδεδναι διὰ τὴν ταύτης σωτηρίαν, Ejufdem, Ρag. 22ο 406 Different Callings require different Purfuits. Sept. carpenter and workmafter that laboureth night and day, and they that cut and grave feats, and are diligent to make great variety, and give themselves to counterfeit imagery, and watch to finish a work: The fmith also fitting by the anvil, and confidering the ironwork, the uapour of the fire wafter bis flesh, and be fighteth with the beat of the furnace; the noife of the bammer and the anvil are ever in bis ears, and his eyes look fill upon the pattern of the thing that be maketh; be fetteth bis mind to finifh bis work, and watcbeth te polifh is perfectly: So doth the potter fitting at bis work, and turning the qubeel about with bis feet, tubo is always carefully fet at bis work, and maketh all his work by number; From the fame confiderations I may progeed to argue with the perfons who affift the others with their interest, and who use their friendship and power, to get them ordained. And it must be fufficient to make all worthy, religious members of our church, refolve never to prostitute their power and intereft to fuch a purpose, to A reflect, that, however they may ferve their friend in this, they are doing the utmoft differvice to religion and our com. munion. It is bringing the order into con tempt, and by that means defeating the good they would do, when fuch an oc cafion is given, of fuggesting that any thing will do, to make a minister of, as that of putting the refufe of trade, the Bbe fabioneth the clay with bis arm, and bowerb down bis Arength before his feet; be applieth bimself to lead it over, and be is diligent to make clean the furnace : All these truft to their bands, and every one is wife in bis work; quitbout these cannot a city be inbabited. They are truly valuable in their own sphere, but are not to be employed out C of it, as the fon of Sirach continues, They hall not be fought for in publick council, nor fit bigh in the congregation; they shall not fit on the judges feat, nor understand the fentence of judgment; they cannot declare juftice and judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are fpoken. (pendthrift, and bankrupt, and the like, and a fufficient acquaintance with di F I would not ever the more prevent any ferve a friend in want-God forbid-No, one's being ready, in a proper way, to rather let me promote every act of benevolence; only let prudence and discretion go along with it. Let them do any kindness or fervice they can to their friend, fo as not to do differvice to others-let them be as ferviceable as they can- but it is not to be fo, to do a publick injury for a vinity, and the controverfies in that spacious E private advantage. mind to make furrows, and is mire the kine fodder : So every Let me now turn me to those who fign the teftimonials of fuch perfons. Testimonials are provided for the bishops fecurity, that. no perfon, who is any way unfit, may impofe himself upon them, being unknown; as to an unfitnefs in point of learning, I know not how they can be deceived in that, if they duly examine them; but in di vers other refpects it is neceffary, that their want of knowledge of the candidate's perfonal character, of his conversation, and course of life, of his worthiness and fitness in all refpecs, to be ordained, fhould be fupplied by a faithful and confcientious teftimonial, from fuch as have really, and bona fide, known all thefe: And I can hardly conceive a cafe, where false witness is borne with more extenfive ill confequences. Let a man reflect 'ere he takes his pen in hand to fign a recommendation of an unworthy and unfit perfon for holy orders, how many fouls this act of his may 1751 Remarkable CA SE of a younger Brother. may contribute to the lofs of, how much contempt of religion, and prejudice to the gofpel of Jefus Chrift this may occasion: Let him recollect, that he is not only attefting a lye, or at least what is to deceive, but is doing it on an occafion the most folemn of all others, and where the interests of God, 407 Magazine peculiarly devoted to interesting fubjects, and matters of the greatest utility. I am yours, EUSEBIUS, From the RAMBLER, Sept. 3. SIR, WAS the fecond fon of a gentleman, and religion, and the immortal fouls of AI whofe patrimony had been fo much men are concerned and let him not be unthinking or hardy enough, not to drop his pen ;nor let any confideration of acquaintance and friendship, or folicitation, or threat, or promife, or any thing whatever prevail with him to take it up again, on fo bad an occafion--Refolve to be guiltlefs, and have no share in the facrilege but above all, let no clergyman act to B unnatural a part, as to fet his hand and, give his fiat, to the church's difgrace, and religion's detriment. D And now there are no others, whom I hall prefume to advife; let St. Paul speak to thofe whofe office it is to ordain; and he does it, 1 Tim, v. 22, in terms the most affecting, faying, Lay bands fuddenly on C no man, neither be partaker of other mens fins. Mr. Leigh's annotation on which, I cannot help adjoining, for its fullness to our pur pofe. "This, fays he, is diverfly interpreted-1. As if this were the meaning; there are many will ordain rafhly, do not thou fall into fuch mens fins, fo as to be like them. 2. There are many that will importunately defire fuch to be ordained who may pleafe their humours, but do not thou yield to fuch importunity, left thou partake of their fins. But, 3. It may have reference to the perfons ordained, that if Timothy were not diligent to examine. them, both for their doctrine, and converfation, all the wickedness these minifters fhould afterwards commit in the difcharge E of their duty, would be accounted as bis, and be should answer for them. After this nothing can be added: For if it be poffible for any one to flight this consideration, there can be none ftrong enough to prevail with him. But I would hope, that this will feldom or never be the cafe ; and that our bithops, regarding the facredness of the act, and their obligations to acquit themfelves therein with the utmost confcientiousness, circumfpection, and care, will lay hands fuddenly on no man, but faithfully and wifely make choice of fit perfons to serve in the facred miniftry of the church. I hope the importance of the cafe will be my excufe for being fo large upon it, and will plead for fo much room as this will require, in a wafted by a long fucceffion of fquanderers, that he was unable to fupport any of his children, except his heir, in the hereditary dignity of idleness. I was therefore fent to school, and obliged to employ that part of life in study, which most of my progenitors had devoted to the hawk and the hound, and in my 18th year was dispatched with loud praifes from my master to the univerfity, without any rural honours or accomplishments. I had never killed a fingle woodcock, nor partaken one triumph over a conquered fox. At the university I continued to enlarge my acquifitions with very little envy of the noify happiness which my elder brother had the fortune to enjoy, and having obtained my degree at the usual time, retired into the country to deliberate at leisure to what profeffion I fhould now confine that application, which had hitherto been difsipated in general knowledge, or diverted by curiofity or accident from one science to another. To deliberate upon a choice, which custom and honour forbid to be retracted, is certainly reasonable; yet, to let loofe the attention equally to the advantages and inconveniences of every employment, is often dangerous; new motives are every moment operating on every fide, and mechanicks have long ago difcovered, that contrariety of equal attractions is equivalent to reft. While I was thus trifling in uncertainty, the younger brother of my father arrived from the Indies with a large fortune, which he had fo much harraffed himself in obtaining, that fickness and infirmity left him no other defire than to die in his native country. Being incapable of any other Famulement than that of conversation, he neceffarily became familiarized to me, whom he found ftudious and domeftick. Pleafed with an opportunity of imparting my knowledge, and eager for any intelli gence that might encrease it, I delighted his curiofity with hiftorical narratives, fyftems of policy, and explanations of nature, and perhaps gratified his vanity by frequent enquiries after the products of G diftant Alii veterum de abfolutione intelligunt; alii de ordinatione: Utrumque enim per manuum impofitionem peragebatur. Probem ego de ordinatione accipi; nam eft & in Thalmude par fenten-Eftius rightly obferves, Pænitentium abfolutio nufpiam in Scriptura tia, &c. Grotius. vocatur manuum impofitio. 408 The MAN of SENSE under Difappointment. Sept. diftant countries, and the customs of their inhabitants. My brother faw how much I advanced in my uncle's favour, but neither attempt. ed to alienate me, nor to ingratiate him. felf. He was indeed very little qualified to folicit the affection of an old traveller, for the remifness of his education had left him A without any rule of action, but his preLent humour. He often forfook our uncle in the midst of an adventure, because the horn founded in the court-yard, and would have loft an opportunity, not only of knowing the hiftory, but sharing the wealth of the Mogul, for the trial of a new pointer, or the fight of a horse-race. to the enlargement of my views, and the improvement of my understanding. I mingled fometimes with parties of gaiety, and fometimes with conferences of learning, appeared in every place where inftruction was to be found, and imagined that by ranging thro' all the diverfities of life I had acquainted myself fully with hu man nature, and learned all that was to be known of the ways of men. It happened, however, that I foon difcovered how much was yet wanting of the completion of my knowledge, and found that, according to Seneca's remark, I had hitherto feen the world but on one fide. My uncle's confidence in his encrease of B strength tempted him to carelessness and irregularity, he caught a fever by riding in the rain, of which he died delirious on the third day. I buried him without any of the heir's affected grief or fecret exultation; then preparing to take a legal poffeffion of his fortune, I opened his clofet, where I found a will, made at his first arrival, by which my father was appointed the chief inheritor of his riches, and nothing was left me, but a legacy fufficient to fupport me in the profecution of my studies. It was therefore not long before my uncle declared his intention of bequeathing to me the profits of his commerce, as the only man in the family by whom he could expect them to be rationally enjoyed. This diftinction drew upon me not only the envy of my brother but my father. No man is willing to believe that he fuffers by his own fault, and they therefore imputed the C preference which I had obtained to artifice and fraud, to adulatory compliances and malignant culumnies. To no purpose did I call upon my uncle to atteft my innocence, for who will believe what he wishes to be falfe? The fame heat and ignorance. which gave me the first advantage confirmed my fuperiority; they forced my uncle,, by repeated infults, to depart from the houfe, and I was foon by the fame treatment obliged to follow him. I had not yet found fuck charms in profperity as to continue it by any acts of forgery or injuftice, and therefore made hafte to inform my father of the riches which had been given him, not by fraternal D kindness, but by the delays of indolence, and the cowardice of age. The hungry family flew like vulturs on their prey, and foon made my difappointment publick by the tumult of their claims, and the (plendor of their forrow. He chofe his refidence in the confines of London, where reft, tranquillity and medicine restored him to part of the health which he had loft. I pleafed myself with perceiving that I was not likely to obtain an immediate poffeffion of wealth, which E no labour of mine had contributed to ac. quire, and that he who had thus diftinguished me, might hope to obtain a few years of chearfulness and plenty, and end his life without a total fruftration of those bleffings, which, whatever be their real value, he had fought with fo much diligence, and purchafed with so many viciffitudes of danger and fatigue. My uncle ineded left me no reason to repine at his recovery, for he was willing to accuftom me early to the use of money, and fet apart for my annual expences fuch a revenue, as I had scarcely dared to image to myself in the warmest moments of hope and ambition. F I can yet congratulate myself, that fortune G has feen her golden cup once tasted without inebriation. Neither my modesty nor prụdence were overwhelmed by affluence, my elevation was without infolence, and my expence without profufion. I employed the influence which money always confers, It was now my part to confider how I fhould repair the disappointment which I had fuffered. I could not but triumph in my long lift of friends, which comprised almost every name that power or know ledge entitled to eminence, and in the profpect of the innumerable roads to honour and preferment, which I had laid open to myfelf by the use of temporary riches. I believed nothing neceffary, but that I fhould continue that acquaintance to which I had been fo readily admitted, and which had hitherto been cultivated on both sides with equal ardour. Full of thefe expectations, I one morning ordered a chair, with an intention to make my ufual circle of morning vifits. Where I first stopped, I saw two footmen lolling at the door, who told me, without any change of pofture or collection of countenance, that their master was at home, and fuffered me to open the inner door without affiftance. I found my friend standing, and as I was tattling with my former free. dom, was formally intreated to fit down, but |