Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26158
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Ten sermons preach'd before Her Royal Highness, the Princess Ann of Denmark at the chappel at St. James by Lewis Atterbury ... LL.D. and one of the six preachers to Her Royal Highness.
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Atterbury, Lewis, 1656-1731.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing A4157; ESTC R35290
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112,085
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264
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we Reprove in another and the Consideration that his Eye is upon us will make us more wary in our Carriage towards him and more exact in the Government of our Lives and Conversations Thou that teachest another says the Apostle teachest thou not thy self Rom. 2.21 thou that preachest a Man should not steal dost thou steal thou that sayest a Man should not commit Adultery dost thou commit Adultery thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacrilege 3. We shall Entitle our selves to a blessed Reward He that saith to the Wicked Thou art Righteous shall the people Curse Prov. 24.24 25. Nations shall abhor him but to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good Blessing shall come upon him Lastly We shall hereby avoid those Mischiefs which the neglect of this Duty will certainly bring upon us For if we do not admonish our Neighbour when we see him commit any grievous and presumptuous Sin we our selves are Partakers in his Guilt and shall be accountable for it before God Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Eph. 5.11 but rather reprove them And not to Reprove them will be accounted to have fellowship with them These are such weighty Considerations and powerful Motives as one would think should encourage every one to the Practice of this Duty tho' never so Difficult But since it requires not only Courage and Ability but also a great measure of Prudence and Circumspection to perform it aright I shall in the IV. and Last place lay down some Directions for a due and prudential Execution of it 1. Propose to your self a good End in Reproving others 2. Have certain Knowledge of the Offence 3. Endeavour to avoid that Fault your self you reprove in others 4. Use the most inoffensive Words and do it after the mildest manner imaginable 5. Observe such due Circumstances of Time and Place as your Christian Prudence shall direct 1. Be sure to propose to your self a good End in reproving others Which must be the Benefit and Amendment of the Person to be reproved For if it appears that the Reason why you reprove him is to vent your own Passion or to give way to the Resentments of your own Mind the Person reprov'd will reap very little Benefit by it he will look upon it as a personal Quarrel proceeding from the Ill-will of his Adversary and rather seek a way how he may retaliate the Injury as he calls it than look into his own Breast and amend his Fault 'T is the first step to a Cure to have a good Opinion of our Physician which will incline us to follow his Advice and make a due Application of his Prescriptions For 't is not the Excellency of a Medicine without a proper and timely Application of it can make it effectual If therefore we desire our Reproof should take place we must be sure so to manage it that the Person admonished may look upon it as an Effect of our Love and Good-will our sincere Desire to promote his Interest rather than of any Advantage we may propose to our selves by it or the gratifying a peevish and querulous Humour 2. Let us be sure to have certain Knowledge of the Offence before we take upon us to Reprove any one An uncertain Rumor or common Fame which is to frequently a common Lyar is not a sufficient ground of Reproof much less a groundless Surmise or wide Conjecture But we must be morally certain of the Offence and either Witnesses of it our selves or else we must have such plain Evidence for it tho' not ocular Demonstration as no reasonable Man can call in Question before we believe an ill Report of our Neighbour To yield a ready and willing Ear to Defamation and Tale-bearing shews that either we are very Ill-natur'd our selves or else very Credulous that we want the most excellent of all Christian Vertues which is the very Life and Soul of Christianity I mean Love and Charity to our Neighbour which as the Apostle tells us Is not easily provok'd thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6. beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things i. e. believeth and hopeth the best of every thing and every Man And this is a Grace so Essential to Christianity that whosoever is destitute of it may make what Pretences he pleases to Purity Holiness and Perfection but he is in the lowest Form of Christ's School and ignorant of the first Rudiments of true Religion 3. Be sure you your self are not guilty of that Fault Psal 141.5 which you Reprove in others Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oil which shall not break my head For though 't is the Wisdom and Duty of every good Christian to suffer the Word of Exhortation and Reproof tho' from the worst Man and his most inveterate Enemy Yet for the most part it so falls out that the Reproof of those Men who are notoriously guilty of the same Crime makes very little Impression upon us we can hardly believe them in earnest who blame us for the doing those things which they recommend by their own Examples and we are very apt to conclude that the Reason why they cry down the Vice is that they may engross the Practice of it to themselves But when a Man of known Vertue and Probity takes upon him to Reprove his Admonitions earty weight and Authority along with them the Reverence which is paid to his Person sets an edge upon his Reproofs and he doth not so much request as command a Reformation 4. In Reproving we must use the most inoffensive words and do it after the mildest manner imaginable Brethren Gal. 6.1 says the Apostle if any Man be overtaken in a fault you that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of Meekness considering thy self least thou also be tempted If his Offence proceed either from weakness or inadvertency from mistake or the frailty of humane Nature the Oyl of Pity and Compassion a mild and friendly Admonition will sink deeper into his Mind and sooner heal the wound than a more rough and churlish Medicine There is indeed a time when we must use the Caustick and the Corrosive when we meet with a daring and insolent Offender At such a time as this to be cold or lukewarm is to give up the Cause of God and to encourage Men in their wicked doings We must shew our selves Zealous for the Law of our God and the Good and Welfare of our Brother But then we must take Care that this Zeal be according to knowledge Rom. 10.2 That it be moderated and temper'd with true Christian Prudence 5. And Lastly we ought to observe such due Circumstances of time and place c. as our Christian Prudence shall direct and right Reason dictate to us 'T is the Observation of Men conversant in Business that the Success of our
The Heart of Man is deceitful and desperately wicked Jer. 17.9 who can know it Which Text though primarily intended to denote the Difficulty of knowing what other Men think or what Opinion we shall have of things hereafter as appears by the coherence of the Words with those which went before yet they may well serve to intimate to us the Difficulty of giving an impartial Judgment of the present Sentiments of our Minds and what the true bent and Tendency of our Desires and Affections are for we are so fond of our Bosom sins and those darling Delights which either Custom or Inclination has endear'd to us that we think we can never sufficiently caress them and though our Affections are drawn out after the most extravagant manner after them yet we cloath them with such plausible and specious Pretences as make the most criminal Enjoyment of them appear at least to us harmless and lawful Who is there that will not readily acknowledge that we ought to Love God with the most intense and zealous Affection With all our Soul and with all our Strength and the good things of this World in a lower and subordinate Degree and yet how difficult a Task would it be to persuade the most sordid and miserable Worlding That his Affections are not plac'd on things above but on things below and though he is notoriously guilty of this Vice of Covetousness and sees the Folly of it in other Men yet is he not able to turn his Eyes inward and to discover it in himself so great Diligence and Industry doth it require to range over all the turnings and windings of our Hearts and to be acquainted with all those crooked Paths which Sin and Error have made in our Souls And if there is so much Diligence requir'd to know the thoughts of our Hearts it must needs call for our utmost Care to manage them aright and keep them in due Order And therefore there will be the more need to consider III. The Motive made use of in the Text to engage us to the Performance of this Duty For out of them are the Issues of Life i. e. our Happiness both in this Life and the next doth depend upon a diligent and conscientious Discharge of this Duty 1. Our Happiness in this World depends upon it For 1. By keeping our Hearts we shall learn to manage our Affairs with Prudence and Discretion For the greatest part of those extravagant Actions which Men commit proceed either from the want of a due Deliberation before they enter upon Action Or a discreet executing what their Reason tells them is fit and ought to be done Either they are hurried on by the Violence of their sensual Appetites and head-strong Passions or byass'd by some inordinate Lust and corrupt Affection and these betray them into indiscreet absurd and sinful Words and Actions Now he that is accustom'd to keep his Heart considers well and deliberately every Circumstance of an Action before he puts his Thoughts into Excution he weighs first his own Power and Ability and then enquires both into the Lawfulness and Expediency of the thing he undertakes by which means he avoids those Rocks upon which so many split i. e. Rashness in setting upon those things he has neither Power nor Skill to perform on the one hand and a too great Diffidency and distrust of his own Abilities on the other The first of these produces Shame and Disappointment when a Man finds himself not able to compass the End he aim'd at and falls short of his too bold and daring Designs the second deprives him of many valuable Benefits and Advantages which lie in his way and require only the Pains of seeking after them and possessing himself of them And in truth since all our Words and Actions are the Streams which flow from the Fountain of our Hearts therefore it must needs follow that he who governs his Heart wisely and prudently cannot go far astray in his Words and Actions all our vital Operations will savour of that Root and Principle from whence they proceed and a Holy Life must needs be the necessary Effect of a sanctified Heart 2. A due Government of our Hearts will produce Peace and quiet of Mind by freeing us from those raging Passions and sensual Affections from proud malicious and envious Thoughts which disturb our Peace and Quiet and render our Lives uneasie and burthensome to us For it has been an old and a very true Observation that Content and Satisfaction and by consequence Happiness in this Life doth not proceed from the abundance of the Goods of this World or the indulging our selves in sensual Pleasure but from the Temper and Constitution of our Minds in a contentedness and satisfaction with that Condition the wise Providence of God has allott'd us and a discreet Enjoyment of those good things he has made our Portion in this World A sound Mind in a sound Body was the wise Wish of a Heathen Poet for that Man whose Heart is full of Envy or Malice or sollicitous Care or Pride would be uneasie on a Throne and miserable amidst the most plentiful affluence of worldly Enjoyments but he who has obtain'd the Art of Governing his Thoughts by the Laws of Reason and Religion will enjoy the Pleasure of a quiet and compos'd Mind amidst all the noise and hurry of this World and remain contented and satisfy'd with his Condition without casting either an envious Eye on the Possessions of those who are above him or a disdainful Look on those who are in a meaner Condition than himself From hence will flow 3. Peace of Conscience 1 Joh. 3.21 for if our Hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God that Man who has been so careful as to set a strict and diligent Watch over his Thoughts will be from thence assur'd that his Heart is upright towards God and has good grounds to believe that he is in his Favour and under his Protection and this will produce the greatest Joy and Satisfaction imaginable and therefore 't was good Advice which the Oracle gave Craesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the way to be Happy is to know thy Self for a through Knowledge of our own Hearts and the Government of our Thoughts according to the Rule of God's Word is a chief Ingredient as well as the principal Cause of a happy Life in this World These are the blessed Effects of Keeping our Hearts as to the Concerns of this Life but if we consider 2. It s influence on our eternal Happiness we must needs judge it highly reasonable to use our utmost Care and Diligence in the Performance of this Duty For 1. God has made the Keeping our Hearts one part of our Duty The words of the Text are not only a prudential Councel containing Matter of Advice but a Positive Command God expects we should comply with it and yield our Obedience to it 'T is true the Jews of old did imagine that