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A44635 The evil of our dayes with the remedy of it : a sermon preach'd at a visitation at Rothwell in Northamptonshire, Octob. 12, 1697 / by John Howard ... Howard, John, 1647-1729? 1698 (1698) Wing H2982; ESTC R8165 19,799 29

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an Humane Judgment Spiritual things are certainly further remote from our understanding than those that are Natural and yet these Men of Reason will allow no Mystery in them while they are forc'd to acknowledge very many in the other To this we may add their rational way of Interpreting Scriptures whereby they would make those Divine Oracles appear as void of good Sense and Reason as themselves But neither these nor any other efforts of their exalted Reason want any confutation from me since they have been sufficiently baffled of late as well as formerly by several worthy Authors But it become's all true Ministers of the Gospel and indeed every good Christian that acknowledge and adore the ever-blessed Trinity together with the Infinite Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God in the Incarnation of our blessed Lord and Saviour both God and Man and that great Redemption he hath wrought for us that are sensible of Original as well as Actual Sin and what need the World had of that meritorious Sacrifice offer'd by our glorious High-Priest in his own Body upon the Cross to reconcile them to God and the imputation of his Righteousness for their Justification It becomes us I say upon all fit occasions to declare our abhorrence of such Antichristian Principles as those of the Socinians are which strike at the very foundation of our Religion and were doubtless instill●d into Mens minds by our great Adversary in order to the Destruction of it But we know it is defended by a stronger than he who will one day call this Enemy and all his adherents to an account for these things And here I cannot forbear mentioning another detestable notion of these Men or their Friends lately publish'd that there is but one Article of Faith propos'd in the New Testament as necessary to be believ'd in order to Salvation namely this that Jesus Christ is the Son of God But these discoveres don 't perceive that he who made this confession Acts 8 37. believ'd all other Articles of our Faith before and that this rightly understood does include and suppose all the rest What a strange degree of Pride and confidence is this that makes Men dare to vent new notions in Religion As if all the Learned Wise and Holy Men from the Apostles time till this Age never rightly understood the conditions of Salvation And then how will this reflect upon the Wisdom or Sincerity of the sacred Writers of the New Testament yea of the Holy Ghost himself if by them he has so obscurely deliver'd truths of this moment that they could never be rightly understood for aboue sixteen hundred years together But the design of these Men is to disparage the Holy Scriptures and therefore they deal with them as with a System of Natural Philosophy that is liable to be chang'd in every Age as new truths are discover'd or pretended so in that Science It behoves us therefore with all the Zeal of Good Christians and Faithful Ministers to represent as there may be occasion the Wickedness and danger of such Innovations and prevent as much as lies in us the growth of them amongst our People And we should do the same also against all other false Notions in Religion common in these days which I have not time now to mention I shall therefore only add something in the general concerning those lesser differences in Opinion amongst Protestants which are the causes of Divisions in the Church These I think might in a great measure be reconcil'd if they were once but rightly understood and fairly argued by the Parties concern'd in them especially if that mutual condescension could be us'd on all hands which the Rules and Interest of our Religion do require And it must be always remember'd that when we have to do with Persons Erroneous in Judgment if there be any hopes of convincing them all our arguments must be us'd with great kindness and compassion towards them that if possible we may gain upon their affections and then their Judgment will much sooner surrender to us For to accuse a Man of Errors in this kind seems most directly to reflect upon his Wisdom which Men have usually a greater opinion of in themselves than any thing else and therefore it had need be done in the softest and most obliging manner Besides this way o● de●ling with Men shews we have a respect for them and gives th●m also a greater opinion of our Piety and Wisdom as well as of our good will towards them on which accounts they will be more apt to consider our arguments and yield to them 2. We must Reprove the sins of Mens lives such as I before mention'd and all others that appear to us as the Apostle exhorts vers 11. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them This is required of all Men as a necessary act of Charity to our Neighbours Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any ●ise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him But Ministers must especially do this with all Authority Tit. 2.15 and with all long-suffering 2 Tim. 4.2 Yet these Precepts do not oblige us in respect of all Men for we are Caution'd not to Reprove a Scorner Prov 9.8 That is one so harden'd in sin that he will despise the Means we use to reform him and return evil upon us for our Charity to him Such our Blessed Saviour calls Dogs and Swine and has left us this Rule concerning them Mat. 7.6 Give not that which is Holy unto the Dogs neither cast ye your Pearls before Swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rent you But I think there are few that we ought to account such till we have made some trial of them and Admonish'd them according to our Saviour's Command both Privately and before Witness and if this course proves ineffectual they are to receive the Censures of the Church But we must not always Reprove Men so soon as they have sinned or we come to the knowledge of it but when we have most reason to hope for the good effect of it and in such a manner as is most suitable to the temper and condition of those we have to deal with in order to it For next to the Glory of God the main end of Reproof is the gaining of our Brother which if it can be done by a discreet use of this means the Eternal Happiness of his Soul will be secur'd the Honour of God most promoted and our own Consciences best discharged by it 3. We must shew Kindness to all evil Men as there may be occasion for it what Enmity soever they may bear to us according to our Saviour's Precept Mat. 5.44 I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you and this he enjoyns as a matter of
to remedy such evils would argue a great want of Charity to the Souls of Men. Notwithstanding even while we have a due Sense of their danger and are zealously attempting to rescue them out of the Snare of the Devil yea if we have try'd all fit Means in vain or with but little success we must not be very much discouraged on this account For though the natural Seed usually springs up quickly and rewards the Labours of the Husbandman in a few Months yet the spiritual Seed the word of God with which we instruct and warn our People does often produce its effects many years after Therefore let us here take the advice which the Wise Man gives with respect to works of Charity Eccles 11.6 In the Morning sow thy Seed and in the Evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good But whatsoever the success of our holy endeavours may be we our selves shall not lose the reward of them For if a faithful Minister has cause to complain with the Prophet Isa 49.4 I have labour'd in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain he may add with him too yet surely my Judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God And v. 5. Though Israel be not gather'd yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength As for other Afflictions which befall us for the same cause we ought to bear them as persons that have sufficient motives to encourage and comfort us under them all If Men despise our Profession we know that God has highly honour'd it And indeed there is nothing in our holy Office below the greatest Men shall I say or rather the most glorious Angel to perform The subject of our Preaching is the Word of God wherein are all the Treasures of Wisdom and Grace the end of it is to save Men from Eternal Misery and bring them to a state of Eternal Happiness The Sacraments we Administer are Pledges of the Love of God in Christ to Penitent Sinners Engagements upon them to be Faithful to their great Lord and means to convey those Divine Virtues which will enable them to be so When we visit the Sick it is to instruct and Pray for them that they may be fitted for Glory if they dye and to serve and honour God more if they recover When we bury the Dead we do an act of Charity both to them and to the Living To us God has given Authority to bless his People in his Name yea to Remit and Retain Sins All which things are so far above the contempt of Men that the holy Angels might envy us in the doing of them if they were capable of such a Passion And it is not for any meanness in our Office but for other reasons that God has not employ'd those Glorious Creatures in it The Work does indeed highly deserve them but we could not bear their Ministrations in it and God has committed this Treasure to earthen Vessels to Persons that are mean and frail and of such narrow capacities as our selves that the glory of its Success may be wholly his own 2 Cor. 4.7 Therefore if ignorant and senseless Sinners will despise such an Office it becomes us with St. Paul to magnify it and let them consider how much the Eternal God himself is concern'd in this case For he that despiseth despiseth not Man but God 1 Thes 4.8 And our Saviour tells the seventy Disciples and in them all Ministers of the Gospel Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Having therefore such partners in this contempt it behoves us rather to glory in it than be discouraged by it Whatever other Affronts or Injuries a faithful Servant of Christ receives he may be comforted not only from the former considerations but the case of our blessed Lord himself who came into the World upon the most gracious design that was ever carried on in it who was perfectly Innocent and continually went about doing good and yet endur'd the worst Persecutions of all sorts from those very Men whose Souls he came to save Therefore a Patient enduring of Afflictions will make us in a great measure conformable to the Lord Jesus and thereby work out for us an exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory It will also at present secure our own Peace and Tranquillity in despight of any that would disturb it and so make us better Merchants of the present Season in Redeeming it from such disturbing thoughts and complaints as those injuries are apt to provoke in us Thus have I shew'd in some part how we must use our time with respect to the Evil of it and that there is most need of Redeeming the time when the days are Evil to preserve our own Innocency to reform the Age we live in to bear our Sufferings patiently and to promote the Honour of God in the World To which I might add several other Reasons as 1. It is then most Praise-worthy 2. Then it is especially necessary to prevent the Judgments of God denounc'd against Sin particularly that which at last came upon Ephesus as well as the other Churches of Asia for not making a good use of their opportunities and means of Grace namely the removal of the Gospel from them according to our Saviours threatning Rev. 2.5 Remember from whence thou art fallen and Repent and do the first Works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou Repent Which Judgment we have also too much reason to fear and therefore ought to use our best care and diligence to prevent it 3. The improveing such a Season will be more abundantly rewarded both in this and a future Life I might also draw several inferences from what has been spoken but the time will not give me leave Therefore I shall only add that seeing this is a business of the greatest importance and very difficult too seeing our time is very short and uncertain our own abilities insufficient for such a Work and we live in the midst of many and great Temptations to abate our Zeal and diligence in it we ought to look the more carefully to our selves and use the best means to fit us for it Let us therefore Redeem what precious time we can from all unnecessary avocations and employ it diligently in Reading Meditation and Prayer Let us confer often with one another for our mutual assistance and encouragement and let us endeavour always to preserve such a Temper of Mind free from Worldly Cares and other distracting Passions as will make us capable of higher improvements by these means and engaging more entirely in the work of the Lord for the greater honour of his holy Name the better success upon the Souls of our People and a more glorious Reward to our selves hereafter in the Heavens THE END ERRATA PAge 12. l. 20. r. teaches us p. 14. l. 23. r. in it p. 15. l. 5. r. Zeal and Devotion p. 18. l. 29. r. Magnifying p. 2● l. 21. r. differences THe True Interest of a Nation or the Duty of Magistrates Ministers and People in order to the further Settlement and Prosperity of these Kingdoms A Sermon Preach'd at the Assizes held at Buckingham July the 5th 1692. By the same Author Printed for J. Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry 1693.