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A59562 A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at St. Margaret's Westminster, on Wednesday the 21th of May, 1690, being the day of the monthly-fast by John Sharpe ... Sharp, John, 1645-1714. 1690 (1690) Wing S2990; ESTC R10685 17,059 41

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contrary But then as for the business of Iesus Christ and that which we call the Christian Religion what a very little do a great many among us make of that To talk of Christ's being sent for the Saviour of the World and that he died to procure the Pardon of our Sins and that we must believe all the Scripture-Doctrines concerning him and worship him as a God why what stuff is this to a great many of the refined Spirits of our Age It is very well if they can so far prevail with themselves as to own the Being of God and to acknowledge their obligation to the Duties of moral Honesty and Justice which natural Re●igion teacheth But as for Iesus Christ and the Trinity and the Sacraments and all revealed Religion they beg your Pardon for these things they are too nice and subtil for them to meddle with Not but that they are good Christians all the while For they can come to our Churches and to our Sacraments too if there be occasion Because indeed they will always be of the Religion of the Country where they live But at the same time they do this they do no more really believe or expect any Spiritual Benefit in our Religion nor look for any more Salvation from Christ Iesus than they would expect from Mahomet if they should live in Turky But this is not all Even among those that do believe in Jesus Christ and own his Religion yet what little regard have they generally speaking to his Worship and Service It is very well if they now and then afford their presence on Sundays at the publick Religious Assemblies I will not examine with what designs and for what ends they come thither nor how devoutly and religiously their hearts are affected during the time they are there I say it is very well that they are there at all But even of those that do come thither and do once a Week seem to have a sense of publick Religion I say how few are there of them that take any care of worshipping God either in their Families or in their Closets Why if a Man was truly Religious he could not pass a day without solemn Addresses to his Maker and to his Redeemer He would pray in his Closet constantly and if he had a Family he would pray with them constantly And if he had no Family he would constantly resort to those places where he might pay his Tribute of publick Prayer and Praises to God unless he had urgent business to hinder him But is there any thing of this to be seen among us except in some few persons here and there Are there not twenty Families for one that live without so much as the shew of any Devotion Without any sort of Prayer or Worship of God in their Houses Nay and I am afraid I may say there are twenty for one even of private Persons that live without Devotion in their Closets that never call upon God never renew their vows to their Saviour never pay him any Homage except perhaps once a Week in a formal way when the Custom of the Country obliges them to resort to the Church The truth is so little sense have most of us of Religion and Devotion so little regard of our Duty to God and our dependance upon him and expressing that dependance either in private or in our Families That were it not for that Happy Institution of the Lord's day on the which we are obliged by the Laws of God and Man to meet together for the Worship of God we should hardly see any Face of Religion among us and in a little time should scarce be distinguished from Heathens But yet this is not the worst of our Case Our gross Immoralities that Horrid Lewdness and Debauchery that is every where to be observed in our days doth still increase our Guilt and cry to Heaven for Judgment upon our Nation It would make a Man's heart ake that has any sense of God or Religion to think of the Riots the Drunkenness the continued course of spending our time and our Parts and our substance in Revelling and Gaming and all manner of such excesses that is daily practised among us And yet at the same time the Men that thus live think themselves very honest Men all the while It would really amaze a Man and put him upon admiring God's Patience that he doth not presently confound the World if he did seriously reflect on the many filthy lewd Speeches and Actions the numerous wicked intrigues of Lust the Infamous Whoredoms and Adulteries that are without any sense of shame daily carried on and acted among us and that by Person too that have the Face to shew themselves at our Holy Assemblies Especially if to these be added the infinite Lies and Cheats and Perjuries which our Land groans under The Blasphemous Oaths and Imprecations the Damn me 's and Sink me's the Horrid Prosanations of the Name of God and all things Sacred that are in every place in every street where we pass belched out in contempt of the Almighty and his Laws by all sorts of Persons of all sorts of Qualities from the Beggar in the street to the Man of Honour and that for no other reason in the World but because it is their Humour or their Custom And lastly to fill up the measure of our iniquities to our other reigning Vices we have added that of Hypocrisy too which one would think should not often be found among so much Profaneness How many of us make a mighty noise with Religion and are Zealous even to Bigottry in the defence of it and yet have not one grane of inward sense of what it obligeth them to Nay so far from that that if Religion be but in their ●ouths If they do but appear Zealous enough for the Protestant Cause If they can but cry loud enough The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord as the Jews did in the Prophet They matter not how contradictory their Actions are to the Precepts of that Religion they do profess Their Zeal for so good a Cause will sanctify all their other Actions be they never so wicked and unjust But if this be not Hypocrisy there is no such thing in the World Sure I am it was this sort of Carriage that God so often reproves the Jews for by his Prophets and upon account of which they are so often reproached as a Generation of Hypocrites and for which he threatens them with utter destruction O my Brethren what have we to say to these things If the Case be thus with us as I am afraid it is What Plea have we to put in for our selves If God should let loose our Enemies upon us the Enemies of our Nation and of our Religion and should give us over as a Prey unto them what have we to reply Truly nothing that I know of except that of the Psalmist Righteous art thou O Lord and Iust are thy Iudgments But