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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45532	A sermon preach'd before the Society for Reformation of Manners; on Easter-Tuesday, at Kingston upon Thames, 1700. By Gideon Harding, M.A. vicar of Kingston upon Thames	Hardinge, G. (Gideon), d. 1713.; Societies for the Reformation of Manners.	1700 (1700)	Wing H699B; ESTC R215876	13,066	43

I shall never have cause to repent that I have opened my Mouth so wide It is pretended we all know by Magistrates in general that they can only punish such as offend in their sight and hearing But do Adulterers and Adulteresses whose Eyes wait for the twi-light that no Eye may see them use to act their various Scenes of Lewdness before the Magistrate's Face Or do they that impudently and profanely accustom themselves to Cursing and Swearing affect to belch out their horrid Oaths and Imprecations in the presence or hearing of the Magistrate No these things they care not to do For tho' they fear not God yet they regard Man when their Interest lies at stake and either their Purses or their Bodies must satisfie the Sanction of that Law which they transgress Or lastly is it for the Honour either of our Laws or of our Law-givers that the common Swearer or the Drunkard or the incestuous Person or the Whore and her Master should be indulg'd and connived at Or that Stews and obscene Houses should be openly tolerated by the State as it is practis'd at Rome at Venice and at Amsterdam If not Why shall he be thought a busy and forward fellow and why shall he be stigmatiz'd with hard Names that will not suffer all these Sins upon his Brother Or why shall the Magistrate frown upon and not rather incourage all that in him lies the Person that informs him against all these Offenders But it may be objected that in Cities and Corporations there are many Officers whose proper business it is and whose Oaths oblige them to search after and to bring to punishment all that violate the Laws of the Land or the particular and By-laws of such respective Jurisdictions and therefore that such Societies of Men as are now on foot being for the most part Inhabitants of such Cities and Incorporated Villages are not at all necessary But what if such places abound with Officers What tho' these Officers are bound by the sacred Obligation of an Oath to look diligently after and impartially to present all Offences without favour or affection hatred or ill will All this is but a more solemn piece of pageantry when neither their Obligations to God nor to their Neighbour can prevail to make 'em do their Duty The safety and flourishing state of every Common-wealth depend almost altogether upon the virtue of its component individuals But if we may guess at the health and soundness of a Body by the ill Symptoms we see in many of its Members I am sure that we have very great reason to apprehend that our state is much shattered and near to a total dissolution So that let it but be granted and I know not how it can be denied that Vice ought to be discountenanc'd and suppress'd and let it but be own'd for I 'm sure 't is a great truth that neither of these are done as they both ought to be and might be done and then I am bold to say it I plead both for the honour of God and for the good of the Common-wealth in making the best way I can for the incouragement and protection of such a Society as have undertaken to do their utmost towards the pulling down the strong holds of Sin and Satan Hitherto I have endeavoured only to thew the usefulness of such a Society as many here present have form'd themselves into and which is therefore necessary if for no other Reason yet for that mutual Encouragement which is thereby given to Men of courage to shew themselves 'T is in this case as it is in the defence of a Town or of one's Country The hands of one Man or of but a few Men are not sufficient to guard the Breach or to repel the Enemy I need not I hope shew the justness of the Allusion for the Case is too too obvious to every one's Experience Let me now then intreat the Magistrates of this antient Corporation and all other Men of influence to look with a favourable Aspect on the Society here lately set up not to be jealous at the Undertaking as if what has been said by some unthinking Men the Game of Forty One was to be play'd over again but to believe it as really it is in it self and by the prudent management of its Members it may prove a very useful and excellent thing This Society I am glad to see it has already had a good effect in this place I do not hear frequent Swearing in the Streets as I too often have heard before the Society was form'd Let God be prais'd for these Gleanings He will in His own good time give us I doubt not a plentiful Harvest In the mean time to you that are engag'd in so good a Design I speak it from the Apostle Gal. 6.9 be ye not weary in well-doing for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not And in order to this very desirable Blessing let my Advice take place with you Labour for a Reformation of other Men's Manners by first reforming and amending your own Remember that Character of an Hypocrite which Christ himself has given St. Matth. 7.3 who officiously offers to pull out the mote out of his Brother's Eye but all the while forgets that a beam is in his own Eye You know how to apply this passage and I hope you will so effectually that I need not do it Let Courage and Conduct let Zeal and Prudence go hand in hand and be never separated from any of your Undertakings But here arises a difficulty which has been propos'd to me and that is whether you ought to distinguish between an habitual customary and confirm'd Sinner and him that it may be is for the first time a transgressour For my part to speak freely I think the distinction absolutely necessary and in the highest reason warrantable For if you can reclaim the latter at a proper season by a gentle rebuke and private admonition I 'm sure that you 'l do him more good and by consequence discharge your own duty better than if you made his offence more publick by an information to the Magistrate Not that I would be thought to advise partially for surely this method may have a much softer term and be rather call'd a higher and more endearing Charity and as such only I recommend it to you Let no Man's wickedness how great soever no not his rude and ill language nor yet the worst of his defamations tempt you to hate his Person or but to wish him harm but rather shew your selves indeed good Men in the practice of those Commands which are solely Christian St. Matth. 5.44 c. by loving your enemies by blessing them that curse you by doing good to them that hate you and by praying for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Spend much of your time in Prayer to God to inspire you with a truly Christian Zeal for His Glory and your Neighbour's good And because you will find that the World will hate you and that the more good you do the more will aspersions pursue you Arm your selves with stedfast Resolution and Prayer to bear all these slight Skirmishes with fortitude and magnanimity Be not disheartned at the disappointments you may meet with either through the want of Courage and Sincerity in some of your own Members or by the little ground you can at first gain He that is desirous of being an instrument of suppressing rampant Vices must be content to weed them up one by one Be ye then strong in the Lord and in the power of his Might Ye have taken upon you to plead and defend the Cause of GOD and of Vertue which is now grown very much out of Fashion you ought therefore to learn to despise the little mean ill-will of Man when especially you cannot win his favour but by losing your God and your inward Peace And the more to strengthen your hands in this useful Undertaking call to mind your Baptismal Vow by which you stand oblig'd to Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh For my part I do not see that you have ingaged your selves any thing beyond this in becoming Members of your respective Society Reflect often on that Admonition which Christ gave to his Apostles St. Matth. 10.32 33. Whosoever shall confess Me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall deny Me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven And fear not them which kill the Body 't is Christ's own Advice in the same chapter and on much the same occasion that I am now Preaching on but are not able to kill the Soul c. nor let your Hearts fail you in this warfare for though the Opposition that you 'l meet with be strong yet for your comfort St. John has assur'd you 1 John 4.4 that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the World What remains is only that I discharge my duty to you by recommending You and your Undertaking to the Throne of Grace which I often and heartily shall and now do in St. Paul's words 1 Thes 5.23 The very God of peace Sanctifie you wholly And I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserv'd blameless unto the coming of our LORD JESVS CHRIST To whom c. be all Glory Honour and Adoration both now and ever Amen FINIS

and inoffensive than the best of Men either now are or ever were and yet nothing but calamity and affliction contempt and scorn disgrace and calumny were the Rewards of His Goodness and Charity And if He who was Lord and King of both Worlds was willing for our sakes to endure all this without one Murmuring word or Repining thought shall we that are sinful dust and ashes complain and rail and be at our wits end meerly because we suffer some petty short-liv'd evils Better will it become us all in prudence to hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and patiently and submissively to demean our selves under all the calamities of mind that shall befal us For if we do this willingly we have our reward we shall find such a calmness sedateness and composure in our Brests as Words cannot aptly describe and we shall hereafter be carried up to Heaven where we shall be fill'd with such wonder and joy as are only competible with our then enlarg'd faculties and be compleatly blessed in those Mansions of our God which Jesus Christ by His Death has purchas'd and is now going to prepare for all His faithful and obedient Servants THe Inference from what has been said in this Discourse is in general This That no person ought to forbear a vigorous prosecution of his Duty upon the score of that calumny and disgrace that malice and hatred those afflictions and persecutions that the profligate and wicked are always ready to load him with I have before suggested that the whole Host of Christian Martyrs might have liv'd and died in peace in the peace of this World I mean for I doubt not but that in their Lives they had daily inward Peace of Mind and in their Death Comfort if they would have been as some in those early Days and others both in Queen Mary's and in a later Reign were Proditores and have tamely delivered up their Bibles to be burn'd and cowardly forsaken the Religion of the Gospel But contrariwise they considered themselves as Souldiers and Voluntiers listed and engag'd to fight under the Banner of Christ they remembred at once His Sufferings and His Victory in the end they daily saw their Bishops and Pastors suffer Martyrdom with an inflexible Courage and Constancy and by their brave Example were animated to endure the loss of all things rather than draw back unto Perdition And Oh that we who are as Firebrands pluck'd out of the Fire and have not many Years since escap'd by a wonderful Deliverance could be influenc'd by the Carriage of such Christian Heroes to seek for true Peace with God and with our own Consciences But how shall this Peace be obtain'd Be not startled at what I say This Peace cannot humanely speaking be found but in a continual warfare with the Devil the World and the Flesh in a perpetual resistance of all Temptations and in a constant abstinence from all worldly and carnal Lusts These are those our deadly and implacable Enemies which if we use not our whole stock of Grace and Industry to destroy will never leave the Field till they have lest us none remaining and have carried away both us and our standards to Hell But if we be careful as it infinitely concerns us to be to steer our Lives by the Compass of God's Law if we couragiously set upon and go through with the works of Righteousness and true Holiness and if we will be perswaded to exercise such a Zeal for the Honour of God and for the depress'd Cause of Religion and Virtue as has Christian Prudence and Knowledge for its inseparable Associates we may reasonably expect an happy Voyage to the Haven of Rest and Peace And what if it should happen that the frowns of the Wicked that the utmost rage and fury of Men and Devils should constantly attend and pursue us in this our Conflict Shall these things move us to leave labouring in our Master's Vineyard Heaven avert such sloth and cowardice Can we forget that by the help of our God we shall be able to leap over all these Walls Or can we imagin that if we do our parts manfully the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be wanting to enable us to keep our Ground Only amidst all the trials and temptations we lie under let us often and earnestly seek in prayer for God's Assistance and Direction and frequently remember that Jesus Christ of the Seed of David was raised from the Dead and let this single Consideration inspire us with patience and fortitude in our extreamest Sufferings And then we shall not fail of that Crown of Glory which Jesus our Lord and our God has in store for all His Victorious Souldiers and Servants which He bought for us with the price of His own most precious Blood Which He has assur'd us of by His Resurrection from Death and the Grave and which He Ascended up into Heaven to put on our Heads with His own Hands If these comfortable Promises are not true and just and certainly to be relied on I do not only say that Christians are of all Men most miserable but then also I say that the Sacred Scripture is as it has been often phras'd by some inconsiderate Men among us of unfound and Heterodox Principles an insignificant and dead Letter and then by necessary consequence both our Preaching is vain and your Faith is vain Thus much I thought fit to offer in the general by way of Application to all People as being that in which every Christian living is concerned But I have other and more particular things to say of and to you for whose sakes more especially this Discourse was made not more through your earnest solicitation than a chearful compliance on my part You have declar'd your selves sensible of the dishonour done to God by the open profaneness of many dissolute and lewd Persons professing Christianity which indeed is so great that I cannot but wonder that some otherwise discerning People should not be able to see that we hasten what we can to make our selves and the Nation too ripe for destruction I wish I might say truly that these short-sighted Folks did not wink hard and affect blindness It cannot be denied that we have many good Laws now in force against Immorality and Profaneness and such as if duly and impartially executed would force all open Vice especially to pull in its horns But on the other hand it cannot and therefore ought not to be dissembled that the supineness and remissness of those Persons which should put these wholsom Statutes in execution and make 'em living Laws is shameful and abominable This is the repeated Language of our Parliament in their Addresses and of our King in his Proclamations and these were the Thoughts and in the Orders of our late most Gracious Queen of blessed Memory who first incourag'd and promis'd to protect the Societies for Reformation of Manners and with so good and honourable Company I trust