Light of it shine before them in all the exercises of a sober righteous and godly life this will be such a manifest Proof of the Sincerity of its intentions to serve God and to do good as none of its adversaries will be able to gainsay or resist Then Men will be ashamed to reproach it or to impute the Endeavours of it to any corrupt Affections or to any worldly sinister Ends. Then no good man will be ashamed to appear for you to plead your Cause or to encourage your Endeavours Then you may reasonably hope that God will not throw you aside as unworthy Instruments for such noble Purposes but be ready to assist and bless and prosper your Undertakings for him Fifthly Your Zeal should be attended with great Humility with low thoughts of your selves and your best performances and a modest and humble Behaviour towards all Men for Pride and Selfe-conceit will stain the Beauty and hinder the Efficacy of the most zealous Endeavours for God and Religion These are Vices that are abominable both in the sight of God and Man and corrupt every thing that hath relation to them And these are the Sins you will be most in danger of For this is the common Stratagem whereby the Devil overcomes such as have held out against all his other Temptations He endeavours to flatter them into a great Opinion of their own Virtue and to make them proud of their Conquests over him and so secures them to himself by magnifying the Service they have done against him Let this then be your particular care to arm your selves against this Temptation and to keep your Zeal always cloathed with Humility which will be the greatest Ornament you can give it Be as thankful as you can for it but never make it your Boast that you are not as other Men are Consider then who it is that makes you to differ and of whose only gift it comes that you are able to do unto God any good and laudable Service that every good Work you do increaseth your obligation to do more for him but can be no just reason for your thinking more highly of your selves that when you have done the most and best you can for him you are far from rendring unto him according to all he hath done for you and have still reason to hold down your Heads and to smite upon your Breasts and say every one of you God be Merciful unto me a Sinner You have an excellent Example of this Zeal and Humility together in St. Paul who laboured more abundantly than they all yet he calls himself the least of the Apostles and gives all the Glory to God It was not I saith he but the Grace of God that was with me I come now Fifthly To answer some Objections against our zealous Endeavours to reform the Vices of the Age. First Some are ready to object that this is not a proper Season for such Attempts Wickedness is so impudent and daring and so much countenanced by those who are most able and obliged to suppress it that now to contest zealously against it is but labouring in vain and spending our Strength for nought and likely to make it insult and triumph the more upon baffling our Endeavours against it There is indeed but too much Truth in this Character of the Age we live in but however it ought not to quench our Zeal in labouring to make it better For. First We find the holy Servants of God were not discouraged in former times by the same Difficulties When all flesh had corrupted themselves Noah continued a zealous Preacher of Righteousness When the Cry of Sodom's sins was gone up to Heaven and they were most impudently bold in their commission of them righteous Lot did not cease to rebuke and oppose their Wickedness When the Altars of God were throwing down and the People were slaying his Prophets even then was Elijah exceeding Jealous for the Lord God of Hosts The Holy Prophets did zealously set themselves to reform the Manners of a sinful Nation a People laden with iniquity and inraged against all that opposed their growing Wickedness John the Baptist did not forbear his warnings and reproofs when he was beset with a Generation of Vipers And the Blessed Apostles with undaunted Courage persisted to defend the Cause of Christianity when it was every where spoken against Were not these Men of like Passions with our selves Is not reforming the Lives of Men as good a Work as ever Have we not the same God to assist us the same Laws to oblige us and the same Reward to encourage us that they had What Excuse can we find in the difficulty of this Work now which they might not have pleaded for laying aside that Zeal with which they endeavoured the accomplishing of it But Secondly The worse the Age is the more zealous should the Friends of Pietie and Virtue be to make it better When we see Religion almost ready to expire where is our Love to God or that if we do not hasten to its relief and apply our most earnest Endeavours for the support and recovery of it When that is lost then all our Hopes are lost then there will nothing remain for us but a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation to devour us And can any Difficulties excuse our Sloth when the Danger is so great and so apparent When Virtue is almost irrecoverably opprest and cries with dying Groans for succour shall we refuse to fly to its Defence for fear we should indanger it by our Assistance What a brave and noble thing rather would it be to encounter Wickedness in the height of all its Triumphs to go out in the Name of the Lord against it when it prides its self in its Gyant-like stature and hath all its Weapons of War about it and most insolently defies the Armies of the living God How would such Zeal and Courage become the Chidren of the Lord of Hosts their noble birth and high calling and glorious hopes and expectations Thirdly As bad as the Age is we have no reason utterly to despair of all Success in these our zealous Attempts to amend it It is the Cause of God a Cause wherein his Honour is mightily concerned a Cause he loves to see us ingaged in a Cause in which he hath oftentimes wonderfully assisted a Cause he seems not to have cast off all regard to at this time amongst us We have great reason to think it is of God that amidst so many Discouragements it hath come into the Hearts of some to unite their zealous Endeavours to repress the Insolence of insulting Wickedness and to rescue Pietie and Religion from that Contempt and Oppression it labours under Who knows but that little Cloud which appears but as a Mans Hand may by the Blessing of God so improve and spread its self as to be able at length by its refreshing Showers to renew the life and strength and beauty of withering Virtue
A SERMON Preach'd at St. Mary-le-Bow TO THE SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners April 5. 1697. By LILLY BVTLER Minister of St. Mary Aldermanbury LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil 1697. Price 4 d. TO THE SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of MANNERS In the Cities of London Westminster I Have yielded to your Request for the Publishing of this Sermon though I cannot but expect to undergo some unfavourable Censures for it The Prophane and Professed Enemies of that Cause it pleads will undoubtedly if it come in their way be very liberal of their silly Scoffs and foul Reproaches But such Dirt is not worthy of any other regard but to be despised and trampled on I am only concerned for the Censures of some better Men who perhaps through some false Representations of you and your Proceedings may condemn that encouragement I have given to your Zeal and Vndertakings I shall therefore take this opportunity to acquaint them that after very curious inquiries into these matters and a deliberate consulting with my own Conscience I thought it highly became me to speak what I have here Published They that were Invested with the Legislative Power did judg it very necessary to make divers Laws for the exposing some Common and Scandalous Sinners to shame and punishment And our late Gracious Queen of Blessed Memory was pleased to give her particular Injunction to those whose proper Business it was to put these Laws in execution Blessed be God we have some Magistrates who are very ready to discharge their Duty in this matter But they cannot exercise that Power is given them by God and the King of making the Sword in their Hands an effectual Terror to evil doers without evidence and conviction And for the procuring of these it lies upon Private Persons to assist them If therefore any Good be to be done by the execution of Laws they are in a great Measure answerable for it if it be not effected There is need of a great deal of Zeal for God and Religion to give Men the courage to ingage heartily in a work which must Expose them to such great Expences such severe Censures such bitter Revilings and such mighty Opposition as they who have been employed in prosecuting this affair have had abundant Experience of Wherefore having undertaken to preach upon this Occasion I endeavoured to speak something in Vindication and for the further incouragement of your Zeal in so good a Thing But knowing very well that Zeal in the best Matters may easily transport men beyond what is fit and really serviceable to the End it would promote I thought it my Duty to give you some Cautions and Directions for the Management of it And I hope this part of my discourse was not the least acceptable to you Thus far also I believe I may promise for you that if any Good Men will be so kind as to add their Advice for the due and effectual ordering of your endeavours for the reforming or restraining the abominable Vices of the Age you will thankfully accept and readily follow it And I conceive it will not become any Men rashly to condemn your Proceedings in so good a design till they are well assured that your Methods are faulty and their better Counsels are rejected It is certainly a good thing you profess to be Zealously affected in and therefore so far your Zeal must be good too But your great care should be that it may be as good in all other Circumstances as it is in respect of its End and Object That it be not Biassed by any partial respects or led out of its way by any rash or indiscreet Counsels that it be always attended with a holy and irreproveable Conversation and adorned with the greatest Modesty and Humility This would be the most Effectual course to put to Silence the Ignorance of Foolish and the Malice of Wicked Men and to ingage the Affection and Assistance of all Good Men. And I hope these are not so Inconsiderable a party as to be easily overcome in their united endeavours for God and Religon whilst they have the Laws of the Land both to defend themselves and to oppose their Enemies with A Frown or a hard Word are generally the worst things we have to Fear Where then is our love to God or our Country if we have not Courage enough in a Cause wherein they are so much concerned to bear up against such weak contemptible Assaults Oh! that we might but see all sorts of good Men Magistrates Ministers and others all conspiring together to make one Bold and vigorous Effort for the suppressing those publick and scandalous Vices which cry so loud to Heaven against us We could have little cause to Despair of the Good Success of such a truly Religious Association I am glad to understand there is such a hopeful prospect of it from that great addition of new Bodies of Constables and Housekeepers and others who within a few Months past have united together for the discharge of their Oaths and Consciences in this particular and from the great Incouragement they have from the Government of this City And I hope it will please God to dispose the hearts of our Magistrates in other parts of this Kingdom so to consider the Oaths they have taken and the account they must give to God of the exercise of that Power and Authority they are invested with that they may not dare to suffer any private Considerations to hold their hands from that execution of Laws wherein the glory of God and the publick Good are so much concerned We know the Terrour of the Lord and therefore cannot but speak and with the greatest Zeal and Compassion endeavour to persuade Men to a faithful performance of those Duties which are of such mighty Importance to us all both with respect to our present and everlasting Happiness You have the Honour to lead in this Noble Design and if you resolutely and wisely Proceed in your endeavours for the accomplishing of it you may Reasonably hope to provoke others by your Zeal and Success to joyn their Heads and Hearts and Hands with you However you may be sure that God will not forget your Works of Faith and labours of Love and patience of Hope but render unto you according to the Zeal and Integrity and Constancy of your endeavours for him Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath so great a recompence of reward Deal courageously and the Lord will be with the Good If not to render your Attempts successful yet certainly to support and comfort you in them and to Bless and Reward you for them That you may happily experience the presence of God with you for all these good ends and purposes is the hearty Prayer of Your affectionate Friend and Servant LILLY BUTLER Gal. iv 18. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing THE design of our assembling together at this time and in this
so pious and noble and profitable a Work for fear of those silly and lewd and ungodly Wretches that oppose it We should go out in the name of the Lord against them and in that have strong confidence Though we knew that we must wrestle both with Flesh and Blood and with spiritual wickednesses in high Places yet for all this we should not decline the Combate but be strong in the Lord and in the power of his Might We should be ready to answer with St. Paul if we were told as he was that bonds and afflictions did abide us that none of these things move us neither count we our lives dear unto us so that Christ may be magnified in our Bodies Acts 20. 23 24. Phil. 1. 20. The opposition we meet with would rather heighten our Courage and strengthen our Resolutions and animate our Endeavours and increase our Labours in so pious and charitable a Work Fourthly He that is zealously affected in a good thing will be liberal in his Expences for the promoting of it Thus we find the Zeal of the Primitive Christians prevailed with them even to sell their possessions and to lay the price at the Apostles feet when the great Necessities of the Church required it of them Acts 4. 34 35. Thus also the Zeal of the Churches of Macedonia made the riches of their liberality to abound in their deep poverty They were ready as St. Paul tells us to their power yea and beyond their power they were willing of themselves praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the Gift 2 Cor. 8. 3 4. They offered more unasked than they could well spare and earnestly besought them to accept their Contributions Thus liberal should we be in advancing those good works we are pleading for if we were as zealously affected as they were We should be glad to distribute and willing to communicate of our earthly Goods in so heavenly a Cause so acceptable to God so serviceable to his Honour and to the Interest of his Church and Kingdom But because as the Apostle intimates in the Verse before the Text we may be zealously affected but not well I proceed Fourthly To shew what are to be the Qualifications of our Zeal in these things or what Cautions are to be given to them whoare thus zealously affected First Our Zeal must be impartial with respect to Persons and Parties It is a general Reformation of all sorts of Men we pretend to be zealous for and therefore it must not have only a particular Regard to some particular Men. The Laws are made for the restraint and correction of all Mens enormous Vices and therefore our Endeavours in promoting the execution of them should also have equal Respect to all God and Religion are dishonoured and the Publick good is prejudiced and indangered by all sorts of wicked Men and all Mens Souls are equally hazarded by their scandalous Offences And therefore it cannot be a truly religious Zeal which is guided by any private or partial Respects It may be a Zeal of Spight and Malice of some carnal or worldly Affection but it cannot be a Zeal of Love to God and our Neighbour If it were a Zeal of Love to God it would use the same Endeavours where the Honour of God is equally concerned if it were a Zeal of Love to our Neighbour it would not be least active where we love most If we use those we call the Means of Reformation and promote the execution of Laws chiefly upon those to whose Persons or Interests or religious Communion we are disaffected our pretended Zeal for a general Reformation of Mens Lives is certainly counterfeit and hypocritical It cannot be thought we should be most concerned for their good for whom we have the least Affection And therefore the Zeal of such Endeavours will shew a great concern to see Men punished rather than reformed It will not be punishing Mens Persons that we may reform their Vices but punishing their Vices that we may hurt their Persons Secondly Our Zeal must be wise and prudent and all its Endeavours guided with Deliberation and Discretion Zeal is a sharp Instrument and therefore not to be managed with a careless or unskilful Hand If we use it rashly and without good Advice we may stab our own Designs and ruin that Cause we would defend by it We should not therefore lean too much to our own Vnderstandings in the methods of prosecuting those good Designs we are zealous in but be continually asking Counsel of God and of grave and wise and experienced Men. We should consider Seasons and Circumstances and with great Deliberation and Judgment make choice of those that are most proper to set forward the good Work we have in hand In prosecuting the noble design of Reformation wherein you are like to meet with so many Difficulties and such mighty Opposition it will behove you as wise Men are wont to do in like cases to strengthen your Hands all you can to unite your Forces and to combine together into Societies that you may mutually advise and countenance and support and encourage and vindicate and defend one another in your Attempts for the Accomplishing of it Thirdly Your Zeal must be orderly It must not transport you beyond the Bounds of your Places and Callings Private persons must not usurp the Office of the Priest or Magistrate but move exactly in their own Sphere towards that good End they have before them God hath set us in the Church as Members in the Body and all Members have not the same Office If the Feet will invade the Office of the Head what can follow but overturning and confusion The Law is good if we use it lawfully But if we desert our Station or take any illegal courses to procure the execution of it we make our selves Transgressors whilst we pretend to be Reformers We cannot expect the Countenance of sober Men or the Protection and Blessing of God You know how severely God dealt with Vzzah for his irregular Zeal in attempting to preserve the Ark of God from falling Fourthly Your Zeal in these good matters must be attended with a proportionable regard to all other parts of your Duty and of the same Piece with the rest of your Lives otherwise it will very ill become you and serve the End it is in persuit of You must be holy and harmless and without rebuke your selves whilst you are zealously endeavouring to reform the Vices of a crooked and perverse Nation You may reasonably expect that reply Physician heal thy self when you are applying Remedies to other Mens Diseases and are infected with those that are as mortal your selves You must carefully avoid giving any just occasion to any man to speak evil of you for many will seek Occasions and improve them all they can to disgrace both you and the good Design you are zealously affected in But if whilst you make Men feel the Warmth of your Zeal they also see the