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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61614	A sermon preached before the King at White-Hall, March 7, 1678/9 by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1679 (1679)	Wing S5654; ESTC R8214	30,613	56

A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL March 7. 1678 9. By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET D. D. Dean of St. Pauls and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Printed by His Majesties Command LONDON Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the White Hart in Westminster Hall 1679. MATTH X. 16. Be ye therefore wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves IN the beginning of this Chapter we read of one of the greatest and most improbable designs that ever was viz. Christ's sending out his twelve Apostles to convert and to reform the World For although the occasion of their first Mission was to prepare the Jewish Nation for entertaining the doctrine of the Messias and therefore they are commanded to go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel and as they went to preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand yet our Saviour in his following discourse mentions several things which cannot be applied to their first going abroad particularly that which relates to their hard usage and bad entertainment from the world which we do not find they met with from the Jews upon this general message but rather the contrary for which cause he bids them to provide nothing for themselves foreseeing that in all places there would be some that would be ready to receive them kindly and when the Seventy Disciples were sent upon a like errand they returned with joy which such young beginners would hardly have done if they had met with such sharp persecutions then which Christ here foretells his Apostles should suffer for preaching the Gospel Either therefore we must say that St. Matthew puts things together by way of Common Place as he seems to do the Miracles and Parables of our Saviour without pursuing the Order of time as S. Luke doth and so upon occasion of Christs sending out his Apostles sets down all that relates to their Mission although delivered at several times or else that Christ himself did now at first acquaint them with all the difficulties that should attend their imployment in preaching the Gospel to the world and consequently thought it necessary to give them at once their full instructions for their discharge of so great a trust and due behaviour under so hard a service A trust indeed so great a service so hard as to require the Wisdom of an Angel and the Innocency of Adam in Paradise so many were the difficulties so powerful were the prejudices so dangerous were the snares and temptations which in all places did hinder the success of so great a Work We are apt to admire and applaud the mighty conquests which men do make over some small parts of the world by the subtilty of their Wit or by the force of their Arms or by the vastness of their Treasure but in all these cases there is nothing wonderful for the causes being supposed there is at least a great probability the event should follow But for twelve inconsiderable persons as to all outward circumstances without craft without arms without money to undertake the conquest of the world by changing not only mens opinions as to Religion but which is far more uneasie the hearts and lives of men seems at first appearance so unlikely a thing that though none but very wise men could hope to manage it yet none who were thought so would ever undertake it Yet no less than this was the work which Christ sent abroad his twelve Apostles upon and he tells them very little to their comfort what hardship they were like to meet with to be betrayed by friends persecuted by enemies and hated of all men for his names sake yea so great would the rage and malice and cruelty of men be against them that he saith in the beginning of this verse Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves What! to be destroyed and devoured by them No but to turn those very Wolves into sheep But what powerful charms must they use to secure themselves from present danger and to work such mighty change no other than those which our Saviour recommends in the words of the Text Be ye therefore wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves Not as though we were to search all the properties of Serpents and Doves to understand the meaning of these words and to determine the truth or falshood of all the relations that are made concerning both of them but as Solomon chose the Ant for an example of diligence so our Saviour designing to joyn Wisdom and Innocency together proposes the Serpent for one and the Dove for the other to let his Disciples understand that he allows them so much Wisdom as is consistent with innocency and perswades them to no more simplicity than is consistent with Wisdom For Wisdom without Innocency turns into craft and cunning and Simplicity without Wisdom is meer folly But the great difficulty lyes in the joyning these two together For as the world goes and is like to do men will be apt to say How can those be as wise as Serpents who must be as harmless as Doves If all the world were agreed in the practice of innocency and men did not fare the worse for it it might pass for wisdom but when they have to deal with others who will use all the Wisdom of the Serpent and are so far from being harmless as Doves that they will take all the advantages that mens innocency and simplicity gives them it seems hard to reconcile these two together To what purpose may some say are mens eyes bid to be open when their hands are tyed up Had they not better be without the Serpents sagacity and quickness of sight than espy their dangers and not use the most likely means to prevent them What doth the simplicity of the Dove signifie but to make them a more easie quarry for the birds of prey Simplicity and innocency and patience which our Saviour recommends under the phrase of being harmless as Doves are good lessons for another world but what do they signifie in this which is made up of nothing but artifice and fraud and wherein the great art and business of life seems to be overreaching and deceiving one another Those only seem to have the true subtilty of the Serpent who can turn and wind themselves every way as makes most for their advantage Who by their soft and easie motions by their artificial glidings and insinuations get an interest great enough to mischief while they watch for an opportunity to do it As the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty i. e. say the Fathers by the familiarity and easiness of access which he had playing as some fancy about the Neck and Arms of Eve in the state of Innocency Those have the true subtilty of the Serpent who creep into Houses and understand the secrets of persons and families and so know how to address and how to keep in awe who seem as

of prudent caution when he knew the Jews had designed to put him to death for it is said from thence forward he walked no more publickly among the Iews When the storm seemed to threaten the leaders of the Church in such a manner that by their withdrawing the People might probably enjoy more quiet and not want help enough to perform the necessary Offices even the Bishops were allowed to retire and upon this ground S. Cyprian and Athanasius justified themselves but when the case is common when the necessities of the Church require the presence of their Pastours then the good Shepherd must lay down his life for the Sheep as S. Augustin hath resolved this case in his Epistle to Honoratus So that this whole matter belongs to Christian prudence which is then most needful and fit to be used when the resolution of the case depends upon particular circumstances so as not to shun any necessary duty for fear of danger nor to run upon any unnecessary trouble to shew our courage 2. Since no wisdom is great enough to prevent all troubles of life that is the greatest which makes them most easie to be endured If the Wisdom of the Serpent could extend so far as to avoid all the calamities that mankind is subject to it would have a mighty advantage over the simplicity of the Dove but since the most subtle contrivers cannot escape the common accidents of life but do frequently meet with more vexations and crosses than innocent and undesigning men do we are then to consider since the burden must be born what will make it sit most easily upon our shoulders And that which abates of the weight or adds to our strength or supports us with the best hopes is the truest wisdom And who is he that will harm you saith S. Peter if ye be followers of that which is good i. e. innocency is the best security against trouble which one can have in this World but since the World is so bad as that the best may suffer in it and for being such yet that ought not to trouble or affright them But and if ye suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terrour neither be troubled But should it not trouble a man to suffer innocently yes with a respect to others but as to himself he may more justly be troubled if he suffered justly For nothing makes sufferings so heavy to be born as a guilty Conscience that is a burden more insupportable to an awakened mind than any outward affliction whatsoever Iudas thought himself to be wise as a Serpent not only in escaping the danger which he saw Christ and his Disciples falling into by the combination of the Priests and Scribes and Pharisees against them but in ingratiating himself with them and making a good bargain for his own advantage but the want of a Dove-like innocency marred his whole design and filled his conscience with such horrour as to make him own his guilt and put an end to his miserable life Whereas the other Apostles whose chief care was to preserve their innocency as to any wilful sins though they had too much of the fearfulness as well as the simplicity of Doves till the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them yet they held out in the midst of fears and dangers and came at last to rejoyce in their sufferings And S. Paul tells us what the cause of it was For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world See here not only what peace and serenity but what rejoycing follows an innocent mind and the Testimony of a good conscience when all the arts of fleshly Wisdom will be found vain and useless affording no satisfaction to a mans mind when he looks back upon all of them then sincerity and integrity of heart will give a man the most comfortable reflections and fill him with the most joyful expectations This enables a man to look back without horrour to look about him without shame to look within without confusion and to look forward without despondency So that as the streight line is the shortest of any so upon greatest consideration it will be found that the upright and sincere man takes the nearest way to his own happiness II. Prudent Simplicity implies the practice of Ingenuity which is such a natural freedom in our words and actions that men may thereby understand the sincerity of our mind and intention Not that men are bound to declare all they know to every impertinent enquirer which is simplicity without prudence but in all cases wherein men ought to declare their minds to do it without fraud and dissimulation and in no case to design to overreach and deceive others This is that simplicity of Conversation which our Saviour requires when he saith let your communication be yea yea nay nay i. e. you ought to converse with so much sincerity that your bare affirmation or denial may be sufficient this being the proper use of speech that men may understand each others minds by their words for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil i. e. the wickedness of mankind and that distrust and suspicion which is occasioned by it is the reason they are ever put to make use of oaths to make their Testimony appear more credible And therefore nothing but such necessity can justifie the use of them Oaths and Wars being never lawful but when they are necessary Some understand the reduplication of those words yea yea nay nay after a more emphatical manner viz. that our words must not only agree with the truth of the thing but with the conception and sense of our minds and so the greatest candour and sincerity is commanded by them Truth was described of old sitting upon an Adamant with garments white as snow and a light in her hand to intimate that clearness and simplicity and firmness that doth accompany it such as was most remarkable in the primitive Christians who abhorred any thing that looked like dissimulation and hypocrisie especially in what concerned their Religion In this they were plain and open hearty and sincere neither exasperating their enemies by needless provocations nor using any artificial ways of compliance for their own security When the casting some few grains of incense on the altar and pouring out wine before the Emperors statue might have saved their lives they chose rather to dye than to defile their consciences with that impure and Idolatrous Worship To be dismissed after summons to the tribunal without compliance was a scandal and raised suspicions of some secret assurances given to be proclaimed to have sacrificed though they had not and not to contradict it was great infamy To procure a certificate of sacrificing though they did not or to pay fees to the