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A59582
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De finibus virtutis Christianæ The ends of Christian religion : which are to avoid eternall wrath from God, [to] enjoy [eternall] happinesse [from God] / justified in several discourses by R.S.
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Sharrock, Robert, 1630-1684.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing S3009; ESTC R30561
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155,104
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232
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Gen. 20.11 The fear of God is not in this place therefore will they slay me for my wives sake Abraham knew this that where Naturall lust hath extinguished the fear of God there is no bar against Adultery Murder or any sort of Wickednesse For want of this fear proud and lustfull Men will be ready to poyson or make away the husband that they may enjoy I mean abuse the Wife Oh may it not be said of us for these or the like Reasons That the fear of the Lord is not in this place Abimelech in the day of doom shall appear to be the son of Abraham and our profession of Religion shall encrease our shame and torment if we dare those wickednesses that Abimelech durst not Beauty was Beauty then The Beauty of Sarah had took him and he had took possession of the Beauty and surely she was as neer being made a Sacrifice of another kind as her Son Isaak afterwards was when he lay bound upon the Altar But Abimelech though a Gentile when he knew she was Abrahams wife he would not rob Abraham much lesse would he slay Abraham for his wives sake If it be otherwise with us shall not his Nature judge our Religion and his Gentilisme condemn our pretences of Christianity Hominum pessimus malus Christianus He that is vicious being a Christian is even the worse for his profession Eternally true is that observation of David Psalm 19. The fear of the Lord is clean surely the want of this fear as it is a Nationall defect and cause of much Nationall sin doth call for penitentiall prayers and teares from every Soul that is a lover of his Nation Now is the time that every devout man should be as the Prophet Jeremy should wish his head Water and his Eyes fountains that he might weep day and night for the sins of the daughter of his people Surely it is time the Trumpet were now blown to some solemne pennance Let us at least that are Priests and Ministers of the Lord weep in our severall places Let us stand between the porch and the altar and say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy Heritage to reproach Joel 2.17 Let us all Men of high degree and men of low degree joyn with that Royall penitent Psal 51. and pray that God would wash us even this whole Nation throughly from our wickednesse and cleanse us from our sin Make us clean hearts O God and renew right Spirits within us Cast us not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from us And then let us adde endeavors to our prayers Let us gird up the loins of our Minds and encourage our selves against all Vice What though ill men sometimes come to be favored and preferred What though the fear of God and his judgement with some sorts of Men is now grown out of fashion The councell of King Salomon will eventually prove as good as it is now seasonable Prov. 23.17 Let not thy heart envy sinners but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long for surely there is an End and thine Expectation shall not be cut off The Contempt of Religion hath been an old distemper in the world and the prosperity of profane Men an old scandall There is nothing yet extraordinary hath hapned to us There were stout Hectors in Malachi's time that said It was in vain to serve God and that there was no profit to have kept his Ordinance That the proud were happy and that the workers of wickednesse were set up and those that even tempted God were delivered Let us consider therefore what wise and good Men anciently did in that Case the Prophet tels you Mal. 3.16 That then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it And a book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day that I make up my Jewels I will spare them as a Man spareth his Son that serveth Him Oh that the great God whose last appearance shall melt down the Flinty mountains would now melt down our flinty hearts and make them new and cleanse and polish them so that in that day he may own his own workmanship and place us even us his new Creation in some darke place at least among those Jewels To that great God who is maker of all things and Judge and Rewarder of all men and to the Lord our Righteousnesse whose merits must be our only plea in that dreadfull day of Judgement and to the Spirit of Holinesse who by appearing in us and for us can only make us accepted by giving us a Title to plead those Merits to the whole Holy and ever blessed Trinity in Unity be Glory Honor and Adoration for Evermore FINIS SECTION II. CELESTIALL HAPPINESSE OR The Rewards of Religion in the future life Explained confirmed and commended as the cheifest Good In four Sermons preached in the Cathedrall Church at Winchester By R. S. LL. D. c. He that cometh unto God must beleive that he is and that he is a Rewarder of all those who diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 IN felicitate aeternâ Civitatis Dei Sabbatoque perpetuo vacabimus videbimus videbimus amabimus Amabimus laudabimus Ecce quid erit in Fine sine fine Nam quis alius noster finis est quam pervenire ad Regnum cujus nullus est Finis Augustin in conclusione lib ult de Civitate Dei We beleive O Lord that thou shalt come to be our Judge Make us to be numbred with thy Saints in Glory everlasting SERM. I. Of Happinesse in Heaven PSAL. 16.11 In thy presence is fullnesse of Joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore IT is the commun and uniforme judgement of all mankind a truth universally received without any contradiction that to live without greif in an estate of Joy and Happinesse is the confessed Interest and to it is the innate desire of every man as Man Now which will ease us of a laborious defence of this conclusion as the mind of man can never be so much debauch't as not to propose its own Happinesse and delight for the end of all its deliberate Actions so neither can it be without the sense of this its Aim but upon examination will ever rest more undoubtedly satisfied of its own passionate affection to happinesse than of any other thing that it comes to understand by the sight of the Eye the Tast of the Palate or the perception of any other the most infallible externall sense And therefore Philosophers who have made it their buisnesse to understand human Nature have thought it enough to intimate and forbid the proof of this point because it is allready by every one confess 't No Notion more commun or more generally anticipated So that it is agreed by all Omne animal simulatque natum