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A65628 Select sermons of Dr. Whichcot [sic] in two parts.; Sermons. Selections Whichcote, Benjamin, 1609-1683.; Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1671-1713. 1698 (1698) Wing W1642; ESTC R12788 192,891 478

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more of the same Therefore our Business in time is to get the Victory over those unreasonable Passions which annoy us that so we may readily ascend into the State of Intelectual Beings * Our Business here is to qualifie our Souls by Holiness and Vertue for the Happiness of Heaven and to separate our Minds from the Dregs of Matter and Bodily-Sense Which will not be till the Mind get the Victory and the Soul become God-like and in some Measure partake of the Divine Nature But here I might lose my self and yet can speak but little of the Happiness of that State Let it be our Care at present to cleanse our selves from all Pollutions of Flesh and Spirit For can we be so blind as to think that a contrary Way will bring us to our intended End We do observe that Things are in Men according to their Temper What is Food tho' never so wholesome if a Person be sick Or Musick to those that are Melancholy What is Exercise or Recreation to Men that are weak and feeble What are the Things of the World to him that hath no Power to enjoy them So it is in this Case They that take no delight in the Exercise of Vertue in this State if after this Life God should remove them into Local Heaven they would take little Satisfaction in the Place because of an unsuitable Frame of Spirit For Men must be suitable to the Object in the Enjoyment of which they receive Satisfaction Therefore suppose tho' it is impossible that a Man * being unregenerate and not renew'd in his Spirit nor refined in his Temper that God by Power should remove such a Man into Heaven when he came thither he would not be satisfied either in the Persons or in the Employment of that Place Because all these would be contrary unto him Tho' when we speak of Heaven we understand rather a State than a Place A Frame and Temper Within rather than any thing Without Therefore it is absolutely necessary that we should by Goodness here qualifie and prepare our selves for Happiness hereafter For there is no Happiness in the Meeting of Things that are Unlike Thus now I have given you an Account of the State of Religion and its Operation upon the Body and the Mind in this State and the other And this is enough to recommend Religion and to make us to look upon it not as an Arbitrary Exaction but as a Thing highly pleasurable and most desirable as that which is effectual to purifie our Natures and to raise our Minds as that which is the Health and Strength and good Temper of our Minds For as a Man knows that he is in Health when the Offices of Nature are well performed and discharged * So is he sure of his Mind's Health and Strength when all the several Offices and Duties of Life are easily and well perform'd They are very little acquainted with Religion that look upon it as a Burthen as that which puts too great a Restraint upon Human Nature and upon Liberty And therefore the Poet wrote his Book to release the Minds of Men from the Obligation of Religion I confefs he might well do so * as to that which he call'd Religion For that was to release the Minds of Men from those UNNATURAL Obligations their Religion laid upon them But no such Thing can be said of that Religion which we profess For the Work of our Religion is to teach Men to avoid Evil and to do Good And this doth no more confine Mens Liberty than for Men to confine themselves within the Measures of Sobriety and Temperance and to avoid those Things which would do them Hurt and Prejudice No Man thinks he is under Restraint if he be confin'd to eat and drink only those Things that will do him Good For if this were Liberty and Perfection to do one thing as well as another Evil as well as Good without Difference or Distinction then let me ask you Where is GOD's Liberty From hence it would follow that of all the World God is most tied and bound that HE in whom there is Fulness of Liberty having all Power is most limited For God saith of himself that he cannot do Evil that he doth banish it from his Throne and that he is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity I conclude therefore 't is not Power but Weakness not Perfection but Deformity for any one to be able to do otherwise than what is right and fit to be done For this cannot be said of God himself For all the Ways of God are Ways of Goodness Righteousness and Truth Now the better to inforce what hath been said about Religion I will balance the two opposite States that which is founded in Religion and that which is founded in Evil and Sin That by comparing both together you may understand the one and the other For Contraries are t●● best Comments one upon another And to this purpose I will take into Consideration these Particulars First It doth not deserve the honourable Title of RELIGION or to be taken for the Effect of Respect to God or Conscience to Right which doth not refine Mens Spirits rectifie their Apprehensions and regulate their Actions Even Nature's Sense as depraved as it is doth startle at any vile Practice For nothing is more true than that all Evil is against the NATURE of Man till it is marr'd and spoil'd by consenting to Iniquity For witness hereof take Hazael as an Instance Who startled at the Mention of those Sins which the Prophet told him of Insomuch that he saith Is thy Servant a Dog that he should do such Things For Impudency Immodesty and Cruelty are not primarily in the Nature of Man but they are contracted by base Use Custom and Practice Of Wickedness there is no Account to be given either of its Self or of the Degree of it For it is contrary to Reason And when the Rule of Right is once broken and violated no Man knows where a Person will stay Let us consider the open Declarations that are from God agai●●● Wickedness both by Denunciation and Execution 'T is true God oftentimes hath long Patience with a wicked World But it is in order to their Repentance Tho' Men are very apt to mis-understand this Compassion of God towards Sinners For it is observed Ecclesiastes 8. 11. That because Sentence against an evil Work is not speedily executed therefore the Hearts of the Sons of Men are set to do Mischief But yet there is a present Recompence of Evil For all Inordinacy of Mind carries with it it s own Punishment All Wickedness carries with it Uneasiness of Spirit and Dissatisfaction Another Thing that I would offer to your Consideration is the malign Nature of Evil and the dismal Consequenence thereof For it is that which poysons the Nature of Man and turns Angels into Devils MAN which by Nature is a loving mild and gentle Creature it makes fierce and cruel
that is made to us by Truth concerning God He is represented worthy himself and so as we may credit what is said of him III. The ingenuous Operation that Divine Truth hath upon Mens Minds IV. Its Fitness to Man's State V. The Agency of the Divine Spirit in pursuance of it As to Morals we have the full Concurrence with us of Heathen Authors all those that are any whit reform'd And for the rest we have a good Rule in Philosophy which tells us that he is incompetent to give Testimony upon account of Morality that is himself vicious For he that is vicious is himself a Moral Monster And upon a Moral Consideration every Man is vicious that either is stupidly ignorant or dissolute and profane And their Judgment in point of Truth is considerable In Morals all those of the Heathens that have attain'd to any Reformation either to the Improvement of their Intellectuals or the Refinement of their Morals they all concur with these immutable and indispensable Verities And as to those reveal'd the several Parts of History concur in all the Things that the Evangelists do declare concerning Christ. It is very true there have been in the World several Persons that have grosly neglected the Materials of Natural Knowledge so that Men have suffered their Faculties to lie asleep The Mind and Understanding have been in most Men useless and unemploy'd And there hath been invincible Ignorance as to the great Points of Reveal'd Truth in several Ages and Places of the World But this I dare assure you that there never was any considerable Opposition against the main Principles of Natural or Reveal'd Truth by those that have any knowledge of it No Man of any Competency of Knowledge or Proportion of Goodness hath risen up against any of these great Instances of Morality or the main Articles of Christian Faith But these have had as I may say Universal Acknowledgment For if any have risen up against them they have been incompetent and so of no Moral Consideration The Universal Acknowledgement of a Thing for Truth doth not lie in every individual Persons receiving it for then you have nothing that is of Universal Acknowledgement but in the due and even Proportion it bears to the Universal Reason of Mankind This Principle no Man in his Wits will deny That it is impossible that the same thing should be and not be at the same time Yet some were so perverse and cross absurd and degenerate from sober Reason that they did deny it And Plutarch saith That nothing yet was ever in the World so absurd but some have held it Therefore we may entertain that which any sober Man in the due Use of Reason hath entertain'd and proposed upon Terms of Reason for the Satisfaction of others And we may conclude that the Universal Acknowledgement of a Thing as Truth it doth not depend upon every individual Persons receiving of it but upon the even and true Proportion that things bear to the Universal Reason of Mankind This is all that can be said when Men pretend to prove any thing by Universal Reason Thus the Being of a God is proved by Universal Reason For except only Monsters those that are upon the Account of Morality very Monsters Persons that have grosly neglected their Understandings and lived like Beasts none else but have acknowledged Deity Men improved in their Intellectuals and refin'd in their Morals have received and entertain'd it on Grounds of Reason It is observable that the great Differences that have been between Men in the several Ages of the World they have not been about any necessary and indispensable Truth nor any thing that is declared plainly in any Text of Scripture But all the Differences have been either in Points of very curious and nice Speculation or in Arbitrary Modes of Worship Now notwithstanding these Differences I dare say and give assurance that God gives Men leave with a safe Conscience to live in Peace and to keep the Communion of the Church of God in the World and to submit to the Government Whosoever hath professed himself a Christian doth acknowledge Christ to be the Head The Christian World scattered into particular Ways and multiplied into Sects and Parties yet do agree in the great and bright Truths of Reason and Christianity such as are fixed and of the greatest Magnitude The Mahometans themselves did never charge Moses or Christ as being Impostors For they acknowledge Moses as we do for a true Prophet and go along with us in the History of Christ till the Fourteenth of John and Vers. 16. and there is their first Departure They acknowledge all that is related concerning Christ Only they tell us that what Christ said of sending the Spirit and another Comforter is meant of Mahomet and they tell us that our Saviour set down his Name but afterwards his Disciples put it out They acknowledge Christ to be a true Prophet and beyond Moses and out of respect to him they deny all that is said about his Death and Crucifixion Reason doth suppose two things by which we may be further confirm'd in the Truth of our Religion 1 st That if it had been a Cheat and an Imposture it would have been deprehended in length of Time being often told and in several Ages and Companies sometimes by parts sometimes together and under several Circumstances and upon several Occasions there would have been some Differences in the Relations Had there been any thing false in our Religion * or that were not solid true and substantial it having past through sixteen Ages being above Sixteen hundred Years old those Men that lived before us being inferiour to none of us for Parts they would have deprehended it as guilty and forewarn'd us of it Therefore we may take it for granted that the great Matters of Natural Knowledge and Faith that have pass'd through so many Ages and Generations are solid true and substantial and that the Book call'd the Bible which hath run done from the time of our Saviour and his Apostles to this Day may be received with double Assurance Credit and Advantage For Error and Falshood is never long-liv'd but Truth is Eternal and that which will continue for ever 2 dly I do suppose another thing with great Reason and that is considering the Goodness of God the Care he has of his Creatures his Love to Truth and the Respect that he bears to those that worship him that he would not suffer the Good Intentions of such to be abused by any Imposture nor suffer that which is false to take such place in all Times and Ages of the World without the least Check or Controul But some may object if this be so what say you to the Mahometans and the great Factions that have been in the World and prevailed Are not these Testimonies against the Truth of our Religion As for Mahomet he had only the Assistance of an Apostate Monk who taught him to compound a Religion