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A32795 A memorial for magistrates a sermon preached at Christ-Church in the city of Bristoll on the twelfth day of October at the assizes or goal-delivery / by John Chetwynd. Chetwynd, John, 1623-1692. 1682 (1682) Wing C3797; ESTC R23993 23,802 38

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Saviour himself prescribed concern all Christians in all Countries And therefore the circumstances of the Christian Divine Worship could not be prescribed in general but were of necessity to be left to the appointment of the Apostles and their Successors in all ages And this is agreeable to the Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Church of England Established by Law Concerning which were men rightly Principled there would not be so much Clamour against the innocent Ceremonies Established by authority and to be observed for Conscience sake in Obedience to the Magistrate who as he is Gods hand to weild his Sword so is he his mouth in such cases of indifferent circumstances to declare his mind But what St. Austin writes concerning Faustus is true of the generality of Dissenters from the Church of England Vel non intelligendo reprehendit vel reprehendendo non intelligit Sententiam Ecclesiae non intelligit sed amat suam non quia vera est sed quia sua est That is either not understanding he reprehends or reprehending doth not understand He doth not understand what the Sentiments of the Church are but loves his own not because they are true but because his own So hard is the lot of the Church of England that by the Romish Synagogue it is condemned for having so few and by Dissenters cryed out on for having so many VVhereas in the eyes of sober men it is valued according to its excellent temper not exceeding to a burdensome oppression nor defective in due comeliness by a slovenly rudeness And no wonder since a decent and necessary subordination of inferiours to superiours as in a well Disciplined Army keeps all in a due correspondency of subjection and Government and renders Our Church Glorious as an Army with Banners Not as the Congregations of Dissenters who are like Pliny his Acephali all body and no head Or As the Popish Parasites have rendered their Synagogue like the Toadstool all head and no body VVhilst they ridiculously affirm Papa virtualiter est Tota Ecclesia VVell then It is not some but all Gods Commandements thus made known Those which are necessary and moral by the Law Engraven in the heart and written in the Scriptures Those which are circumstantial and in themselves indifferent till determined by the mouth of God's Deputies All these the fear of God will direct and encline to and enable for Psal 119.6 Then shall I be upright when I have respect to all thy Commandements Natura facit unum ad unum But Grace makes us as a Delphick Sword prepared for every good work 2 Tim. 2 21. Nature will permit the complyance with Gods will and the doing and it may be suffering many things till it crosseth our own wills and so long we may seem to yield a ready obedience as Herod did who did many things and heard John gladly while VVind and Tyde go all one way we sayl readily in our begun voyage which standing contrary we think best to take harbour or return whence we came So when Gods Love and the VVorlds Lust appear in contrary quarters we shall soon see whom we shall follow VVhat we take up as a cloak in a storm for a shelter or a disguise as a Covert to hide in time of Danger will be laid aside when the storm is past and the danger over But that respect to Gods command which flowes from a true fear of him will continue and not be as an upper and loose Garment which we put on when we go abroad in the sight and company of others but hang upon a pin when we come into our own houses But as our shifts to lye down in yea as our skin never to put off Thus must we keep Gods Commands all of them and always and as and because they are Gods Commands out of a pure Conscience and not out of self respect Jehu slew Ahab and Baals Priests not out of respect to Gods command but out of design in so doing to establish his own Throne For he still kept up the Golden Calves and their Idolatrous worship to Gods dishonour and a clear evidence of his own hypocrisie Men are very apt to have more tender resentments of things as they check and clash with their proper interest than that they are ●ontrary to Gods command As that Father gravely told that Arrian Emperour who reproved him for shewing to his Son no more Reverence That he had more respect to his Sons honour then to the honour of the Son of God whom he suffered to be dishonoured by Hereticks Thus Demetrius left all the other Idols which to him were Gods Act. 19.24 25. to shift for themselves but Diana which brought great gain merited the engagement of all their powers in defence of her Not for her self but the gain they had by her So the Pope in his Taxa Camerae Apostolicae rates the absolution for falsifying his Apostolical Letters at Nineteen groats when incest with ones own Mother is taxed but at five groats only But the true Christian acted by Gods fear keeps Gods Commandements all of them and as his commands without any sinister aims or self respect They follow not Christ for the loaves but for himself They comply with all Gods Commands not because thereby they themselves shall be benefited but God honoured And this is that which is acceptable to God and profitable to man Which Solomon presseth in this Text by three powerfull arguments and motions 1. It is the conclusion of the whole matter Summa rei omnis auditae 2. It is the whole of man Totus homo Totum hominis His duty and dignity 3. God will call all to an account For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 1. It 's the Conclusion of the whole matter We should fear God and keep his Commandements for it is the conclusion of the whole matter So our Translation La summe le fin de tout le propos La but a que tend ce que te enseigne en ce lesure So the French Translation In the Original the word rendered Conclusion End Scope Sum and But the word thus variously rendered and all agreing to the mind of the Holy Ghost I say the Hebrew word hath the first Letter in it bigger than the rest to stir up our greater attention to what follows And indeed it is worthy our chiefest regard as containing in it the sum of all Divinity as to our practise Whatsoever was written from the beginning of this book of Scripture yea of all the Holy Scriptures tends to this purpose All other books were written to mind the books of Conscience And so are as goads to stir up and nails to fasten us in the practise of this direction The sum of all Teachers the end of all Learning Solomon having through this whole book discoursed the vanity and vexation of the creatures enjoyments and from his own