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A45376
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A discourse concerning zeal against immorality and prophaness deliver'd in two sermons in St. Michaels Church Dublin, October 29, and November 26. 1699.
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Hamilton, William, d. 1729.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing H488; ESTC R216947
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47,580
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69
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prevented seeing the case is so I think it plainly follows that those Men of Eminent Integrity and Virtue how low soever some of their Fortunes may be who without any prospect of Worldly Advantage nay to their manifest loss have resolv'd to encounter Difficulties and Dangers and undergo Calumnies and Slanders rather than Wickedness shall continue bare-fac'd and Vice spread every where without opposition any more Those Men I say deserve all Encouragement to themselves and their design The countenance and protection of our Governours and all who wish well to Religion 'T is true they have had no small share in Censures and Objections But what Person so innocent what Design to laudable as to escape them If Christianity the best Religion If the Blessed Jesus the Holiest Person that ever was have been and daily are Blasphem'd Revil'd and Slander'd What are you my Brethren that you shou'd hope to be Exempted from the Common Fate of the best Men in the World Has Satan entirely chang'd his Nature and laid aside his Malice Is he not only transform'd into the likeness of an Angel of Light but become really one Will he no more oppose Religion no more obstruct Reformation of Manners Or has the Old Serpent lost at once his Cunning and his Poyson Has he so often mis-represented Religion with great success and expos'd it to publick Hatred by Painting it as some frightful Monster And won't he still prosecute the same Methods which have hardly ever fail'd him and endeavour to defeat the good Designs of some Men by raising unaccountable Jealousies and Fears in others and labour to undermine by secret Calumnies and Slanders what he wants Power directly to oppose But yet if Two or Three sorts of Persons were silent very few Mouths wou'd be open'd against Societies for Reformation Those who take things upon Trust and Condemn without knowing the Merits of the Cause who have been impos'd upon for want of due enquiry by false Representations both of the Design and Persons concern'd in it Or those who being not truly Zealous themselves are angry that any shou'd go beyond them and thereby tacitly reproach their want of Zeal or they lastly who are enrag'd that their unlawful Liberties shou'd be check'd and restrain'd that any shou'd presume to Curb their Lewdness and Prophaness But the Clamours of these kinds of Men are ill grounded and unjust such as can be no surprize to any who are acquainted with the Corruptions of Humane Nature and consider the active indefatigable Malice of the Devil and therefore can never shake a prudent well establish'd Zeal And such I trust in GOD your Zeal will always be and that you will still find that Encouragement and Protection to which you are justly intitl'd by the Excellency of your Undertaking and Prudence of your Behaviour I am perswaded you did not enter into these Societies rashly and unadvisedly but weigh'd all the hardships and inconveniences you might reasonably expect on the one hand and consider'd the motives which excited your Zeal on the other and after mature deliberation chose the good part and resolv'd with great Constancy to adhere to it chearfully to bear Opposition Contempt and Reproach provided you might be able to put a stop to any one prevailing Sin But the same Christian Zeal which first mov'd you to Asscociate against Vice will oblige you to continue and persevere to become more Active and Zealous in suppressing it To this your Obligations are great as Members of the Christian Church into which when you were admitted you vow'd to continue Christs Faithful Servants and Soldiers to your Lives end But your belonging to a Society whose sole end is Reformation of Manners has much encreas'd them A Design the best and noblest in the World but which ought to be Prosecuted with a very constant prudent Zeal that the Enemies of Piety may not be able to insult may have no occasion to upbraid any of you either with Negligence or Imprudence And then will you more successfully promote your Great and Excellent End and in due time stop the Mouths of Gain-sayers These are the several orders of Men who are particularly oblig'd to be Zealously Affected in suppressing Prophaness and Vice not that any are exempted from it it is the Business and Duty and ought to be the Study and Practice of every Christian. Here all are Commanded and may without a Crime put forth their Hands to support the Ark. 'T is true they cannot they must not all attempt to do it the same way what is the Indispensible Duty of one may be a Great Sin in another to pretend to And tho all ought to shew their Zeal for Religion and Reformation yet they must take different ways of shewing it which leads me to the Third Particular I propos'd to speak to which was to point out those ways wherein we may best employ and shew our Zeal so as to attain the Excellent Ends it aims at Something of this I have hinted at already for by mentioning those several sorts of Men who are oblig'd to higher degrees of Zeal against Vice than others I did in effect shew how their Zeal is to express it self Thus for Example Are we Zealous Ministers of Religion Then must our Zeal appear both to GOD and Man in our Publick Preaching and Exemplary Life and in our Private Labours and Endeavours to infuse Piety and Zeal into others We must shew our Zeal by leading the way to others in the best manner Prudence directs and so far as our Duty requires And lastly our Zeal must express it self in Constant and Fervent Prayers to GOD for his Blessing and Assistance Again are we Zealously Magistrates Then are we to employ our Zeal in Vigorously Executing the Laws against Immorality and Prophaness We are to Countenance and Encourage all who are engag'd in the Service of Religion and Reformation and secure them from the rude insults of those who have made themselves their Enemies And to influence others to Honour Religion by the Brightness of our own Examples As for those of Inferiour Degree whose Station is Private and whose Condition is Obscure even they may many ways testifie the sincerity of their Zeal and make it very serviceable to Piety and Virtue The meanest Man among us has a Family to take care of and that he may preserve from the Infection of Reigning Sins He can Admonish can Reprove and Correct his Child or his Servant with Authority and good Effect He may also Exhort and Advise his Neighbour of his own Rank nay he may Reprove him too upon a Just Occasion and in a Prudent Manner and thereby contribute much to reclaim him Such a Man may especially be very useful to Religion by bringing the open Enemies of it to deserved Punishment He will unavoidably be often a Witness of Publick Sins He will frequently see the Lords-Day Prophan'd and hear GOD's Holy Name Dishonour'd and Blasphemed and that by those who are too Great
a rational Nature and a Soul that is Immortal that yet does neither A Wicked Man he pities most and with great reason esteems him the most Unhappy of Mankind not an unfortunate Wretch broken upon the Wheel is so miserable since the most exquisite Temporal Torments bear no proportion to Everlasting Burnings Christianity is a Generous Institution and inspires us with a Charitable Concern for the Happiness of others as the great end of it is to qualifie us for the Society of Angels hereafter so where it is allow'd to exert its Power it gives us somewhat of their Divine Temper here makes us endeavour after the Conversion of Sinners and raises strong and lasting Joy in our Souls whenever it is effected And can that Man be esteem'd a sincere Christian who has no regard for his Brothers Eternal Happiness Who will not labour to stop the progress of a Contagious Vice and thereby prevent the Ruin of many Souls Let him pretend what he will to prove that he Loves GOD it is all Hypocrisie and Disguise for it is a Truth Written in Heaven as well as Recorded in Scripture That he who Loâ—es not his Brother whom he has seen can never Love GOD whom he has not seen And what a Melancholly Surprize will it be to many when at the Last Day the Great Judge of the World shall bid them depart from him notwithstanding all their Pompous Devotions and Gawdy appearances of Religion And that because they were not Zealously Affected against Vice and did not Industriously promote Reformation of Manners Because they labour'd not to retrieve the decay'd Spirit of Christianity and were Negligent and Indifferent when the Cause of Religion was at Stake And what various Passions of Indignation of Grief and Shame must distract such unhappy Souls when the Son of GOD shall thus Expostulate with them Can ye hope to dwell with me for whom you never had any true Honour whose Cause you did not Plead whose Interest you did not Espouse Can you say you sincerely Lov'd me when you declin'd my most Necessary Service the Punishment of Vice and Advancement of Piety What tho you did not Prophane my Name your selves yet others you cou'd hear do it with a Smile And did rather Encourage than Suppress that Sin And since through your want of Zeal many escape that Punishment which their Lewdness deserv'd is it not reasonable that you shou'd share in their Torments as you contributed towards their Guilt Therefore you must have no Honour from me whom you did never Honour And seeing you in effect Deny'd me upon Earth by neglecting my Service Justice requires that you shou'd be disown'd by me for ever And what Reply shall such unhappy Sinners be able to make to Infinite Justice when thus Arraign'd before Angels and Men Must they not be struck with silent Horrours at the Charge and Agonies of Soul too big to be utter'd But if they presume to speak at all their Language must be made up of Guilty Acknowledgements They must own the Justice even when they begin to feel the severity of their Sentence Secondly Another Motive to excite and confirm our Zeal in the good things about which it ought to be engag'd suppressing Publick Vice and promoting Reformation of Manners is the consideration of its being the most Honourable Service wherein we can be employ'd A Service of the greatest Dignity and Glory In other Cases the Worth and Greatness of the Person to whom the Service is pay'd renders it Honourable Thus to be intrusted with the most Weighty Affairs of our Prince and Country to Execute the Laws and Encounter the Enemies of both is what Ambitious Men are still aspiring after and wherein they place their Glory and their Happiness But now in this respect no Service so Honourable as Opposing and Suppressing Immorality and Prophaness It is the immediate Service of GOD himself of the Supreme King and Governour of the World before whom all Earthly Princes are as nothing Whose Transcendent Nature nothing can comprehend and who dazles all the Angels with the Brightness of his Glory Again does the Excellency of those who are employ'd in any Service render it Honourable Then none so Honourable as this It is at once the work and delight of Angels and the Heavenly Host esteem it their Priviledge and Glory For wherein consists the employment of the Ministring Spirits of Heaven But in their being the Instruments of GOD's Justice in Punishing his Enemies the Instruments of his Mercy in Rewarding his Servants In their restraining us from Sin by their powerful Influence and awakening us to Repentance by unseen ways Those happy Beings that are above whither Angels or the Spirits of Just Men made perfect are all Zealous of our Reformation They Pray for our Repentance they Rejoice at our Conversion and long for our Society And every Pious Soul that arrives safely among them encreases their Raptures and adds new strength and fervour to their Praises And is not that a Glorious Service whereby we Cooperate with the Holy Angels And must not our being thus employ'd in the Work of Angels be an excellent Preparative for their Conversation Lastly The more useful any Service is the more Honourable it shou'd be esteem'd Thus they who have been Authors of any great Good to the World have been highly Honour'd while Alive and when dead have been Ador'd But what Service so useful as this What way can we do so much good to Mankind as by bringing Obstinate Offenders to Punishment and removing Infectious Examples As by extirpating Vice and promoting Piety and Virtue As by averting the Wrath of GOD and smoothing the way to Heaven Let us not then be asham'd of our Great Masters Service but Praise him for the Honour it confers upon us and while others Glory in their Wisdom their Riches or their Might which are all Imperfect Transient and Vain if we Glory at all let it be in this that we are allow'd the priviledge and inspir'd with Grace to be employ'd in our Heavenly Fathers Business Thirdly Another Motive to excite and confirm our Zeal against Prophaness and Vice is the consideration of those many and Excellent Examples which recommend it And indeed we find none in the Holy Scriptures Eminent for their Piety and Virtue who were not equally remarkable for their Zealous Endeavours against Impiety and all sorts of Wickedness Noah was not only a Worker but Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 verse 7.8 and of Lot it is said that his Righteous Soul was vexed with the Sodomites filthy Conversation How was Moses Transported at the Israelites Idolatry Exod. 32.19 His usual Meekness seem'd to have forsaken him his Anger waxed hot and he cast the Tables out of his Hands and brake them beneath the Mount Numb 25.11 12 13. Phineas's Zeal is Recorded to his Honour it stop'd the Raging Pestilence and Calm'd the Anger of an Incensed GOD. Psal. 106.30 Holy David expressed his Zeal