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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40888	LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.; Sermons. Selections. 1672	Farindon, Anthony, 1598-1658.	1672 (1672)	Wing F429_VARIANT; ESTC R37327	1,664,550	1,226

weighs the simplicity and severity of Christian religion from whence it should come to pass that many Christians surpass even Turks and Jews in fraud deceit and cruelty And the resolution is almost as strange For by the policy of Satan our very Religion is suborn'd to destroy it self which freely offering mercy to all offenders many hence take courage to offend more and more pardon being so near at hand They dare be worse then Turks upon this bare encouragement that they are Christians So that to that of S. Paul Rom. 7. Sin took an occasion by the Law we may adde Sin takes an occasion by the Gospel and so deceiveth us It is possible for an Atheist to walk by that light which he brought with him into the world Even Diagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might have been an honest man For that Wisdom vvhich guides us in our common actions of morality is nothing else saith Tully but ratio adulta perfecta Reason improved and perfected But the Christian hath the advantage of another light another lavv a light which came down from heaven and a royal Law to vvhich if he take heed he cannot go astray Miserable errour shall I call it It is too good a name It is Folly and Madness thus to be bankrupt with our riches to be weaker for our helps to be blinded with light in montes impingere as S. Augustine speaks having so much light to run upon such visible palpable and mountanous evils to enter the gates of our enemies as friends and think our selves in Dothan when we are in the midst of Samaria Let us not deceive our selves which were bought with a price and redeemed from errour Let us not flatter our selves to destruction It is not the name of Christian that will save us no more then Epictetus his lamp could make a Philosopher Nay it is not the name of Christ that can save us if we dishonour it and make it stink amongst the Canaanites and Perizzites among Turks and Jews and Infidels Behold thou art called a Christian and restest in the Gospel and makest thy boast of Christ If thou art a Christian then know also thou art the Temple of Christ not onely in which he dwells but out of which he utters his oracles to instruct others in the wayes of truth If thou art a Christian thou art a member of Christ a member not a sword to wound thy sick brother unto death The folly of thy wayes thy confidence in errour doth make the Turk smile and the Jew pluck the veil yet closer to his face It is a sad truth but a truth it is This stamping Religion with our own mark and setting upon it what image and superscription we please hath done more hurt to Christianity then all the persecutions for Christ to this day These by diminishing the number of Christians have increased it and by the blessing of God have added to the Church from day to day such as should be saved The Sword and the Flame have devoured the Christian but this is a gulff to swallow up Christianity it self What Seneca spake of Philosophy is true of Religion Fuit aliquando simplicior inter minora peccantes When men did frame and square their lives by the simplicity and plainness of the rule it was not so hard and busie a thing and there were fewer errours when the greatest errour was Impiety But after by degrees it began to spend and wast it self in hot and endless disputations one faction prescribing to another and promulging their dictates as Laws which many times were nothing else but the trophies of a prevailing side waxing worse and worse deceiving and being deceived And now all is heat and words and our Religion for the most part if I may so speak is a negative religion hath no positive reality in it at all Not to be a Papist is to be a Christian not to love the picture is to be a Saint not to love a Bishop is to be a Royal Priesthood not to be a Brownist or Anabaptist is to be Orthodox Should a Pagan stand by and behold our conversation he might well say Where is now their God Where is their Religion Thus hath the Church of Christ suffer'd from her own children from those who suck her breasts She had stretched her curtains further to receive in those who were without had they not been frighted back by the disconsonancy and horrour of their lives whom they saw in her bosome and she had had many mo children had not they who called her Mother been so ill-shapen and full of deformity and that is verified in her which was said of Julius Caesar Plures illum amici confoderunt quàm inimici She hath received more wounds from her friends then from her enemies Last of all This Errour in life and conversation this wilfull mistake of the rule we should walk by is an errour of the foulest aspect of greater allay then any other For in some things licet nescire quae nescimus it is lawfull to erre Errour in it self having no moral culpable deformity In some things oportet nescire quae nescimus we must not be too bold to seek lest we loose our way Some things are beside us some things are above us some things are not to be known and some things are impertinent In some things we erre and sin not for errantis nulla est voluntas saith the Law He that hath no knowledge hath no will But Self deceit in the plain and easie duties of our life is so far from making up an excuse that it aggravates our sin and makes it yet more sinfull For we blind our selves that we may fall into the ditch we will erre that we may sin with the less regret we place our Reason under the inferiour part of our soul that it may not check us when we are reaching at the forbidden fruit we say unto Reason as the Legion of Devils said to our Saviour What have we to do with thee art thou come to torment us before our time Art thou come to blast our delights to take the crown of roses from off our heads to retard and shackle us when we are making forward towards the mark to remove that which our eye longeth after to forbid that which vve desire and to command us to hate that vvhich vve best love We persuade down Reason vve chide down Reason vve reason down Reason and vvill be unreasonable that vve may be vvorse then the beasts that perish First vve vvash our hands vvith Pilate and then deliver up Jesus to be crucified Therefore thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that thus deceivest thy self Yea so far is this Self-deceit from making up an excuse that it deserveth no pity For vvho vvill pity him vvho is vvilling to be deceived vvho makes haste to be deceived vvho makes it his crown and glory to be deceived Had it been an enemy that deceived me or had it been a friend

We cover the naked with our cloth and God clotheth us with joy We convert a sinner and shine as stars We part with a few shekels of silver and the hand of Mercy worketh and turneth them into a crown We sow temporal and transitory things and the harvest is Eternity Whilest we make them ours they are weak and impotent but when we part with them they work miracles and remove mountains all that is between us and blessedness Matth. 6.27 All the riches in the world will not add one cubit to our stature but if we thus tread them under our feet they will lift us up as high as heaven Nulla sunt potiora quàm de misericordia compendia The best gains are those we purchase with our loss and the best way to find our bread is to cast it upon the waters Eccl. 11.1 Will you see the practice of the primitive Christians I do the rather mention it because methinketh I see the face of Christendome much changed and altered and Christians whose plea is Mercy whose glory is Mercy who but for Mercy were of all men most miserable who have no other business in the world then to save and help themselves and others using all means to dry up the fountain of Mercy shaping to themselves virtutem duram ferream bringing forth Mercy in a coat of a mail and like Goliath with an helmet of brass standing as Centinel as a Guard about our wealth with this loud prohibition to all that stand in need Col. 2.21 Touch not Tast not Handle not Let us therefore look back and see what they were in former times and we shall find them so unlike to those of succeeding generations that they will rather be brought under censure then set up as a pattern for imitation For we are as far removed from their Piety as we are from the times wherein they lived They I am sure thought Mercy a virtue and the chief virtue of the Gospel a virtue in which they thought it impossible to exceed They made it their daily bread to feed others Melior est racematio c. Their gleaning-grapes were much better then our Vintage Justine Martyr in his Apology for the Christians telleth us that that which they possessed they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. bring it into a common treasury Tertullian calleth it arcam communem a common chest Nor was this Benevolence exacted as a tribute from those who desired to be joyned with them in communion as the Heathen did calumniate but every man did sponte conferre saith Tertullian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Justine Martyr voluntarily and what he would And that which was gathered was committed to the hands or trust of the Bishop and after when he was taken up with other matters more proper for his calling to the Deacons which by them was laid out for the clothing of the naked the maintenance of the poor of orphans and of old men to redeem captives to succour men who had been shipwrackt by sea and those who were in prison for their profession and the Gospel of Christ Plus nostra misericordia insumit vicatim quàm vestra superstitio templatim saith Tertullian Our Mercy layeth out more in the streets on the poor then your Superstition doth on your Gods in your Temples our Religion hath a more open hand then your Idolatry And to this end they had matriculas egenorum certain Catalogues of the names of their poor brethren personarum miserabilium persons as thy termed them miserable How many of them were there who Eth. l. 10. as Aristotle speaketh did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greatly exceed in their liberality and did seem to be more merciful then the Lord requireth Orat. 10. Nazianzene telleth us of his Mother Nonna that she was possest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an immoderate and unmeasurab●e desire of bestowing her goods that she was willing not onely to sell all that she had but even her very children for the use and relief of the poor Gorgonia her daughter suckt this pious and melting disposition though not from her breasts yet from her good example Who stript her self of all committed her body to the earth and left no other legacy to her children but her great example and the imitation of her virtues which she thought was enough to enrich them though they had nothing else S. Hierome telleth us of his Paula that though she were eminent in many virtues yet her Liberality did exceed and like a swelling river could not be kept within the banks Hoc habebat voti ut mendica moreretur She wisht for that which most men do fear as much as Death it self and her great ambition it was that she might dye a begger We might instance in more And these examples have shined in the Church as stars of the fairest magnitude But after-ages have thought them but comets looked upon them and feared them And though they know not well how to condemn this exceeding piety yet they soon perswade themselves and conclude that they are not bound to follow it and so are bound up as in a frost in the coldness and hardness of their hearts because some did seem to overflow and pass their limit These indeed are strange examples but yet S. Basil delivereth a doctrine as strange Orat. in famem siccitat for he would not give it as his counsel if it had not truth to commend and confirm it If thou hast but one loaf left in thy house saith he yet if a poor man stand at thy doors and ask for bread bring it forth and give it him with thy hands lifted up to heaven whilest thou doest that which God requireth and for thy own supply reliest on the Providence of thy Father which is in heaven Do it in his name and in his name thou shalt be fed assuredly Thou hast parted with thy one loaf here but his Power to whom thou givest it can and will multiply it For they that thus give are as wells which are soon drawn dry but fill the faster and the more they are exhausted the fuller they are I know not whether it may be safe to deliver such a doctrine in these daies and therefore we will not insist upon it and these examples which I have held up to you may be transcendent that we may not bind every man to reach them These pious Women may seem perhaps to have stretcht beyond the line and exceeded the bounds of moderation but yet we cannot but think that this was truly to go out of the world whilest they were in it And we may observe that this excess is incident to great and heroick spirits who as it is said of Homer and Sophocles sometimes swelling above that proper and ruled sublimity of speach wherein they did excell do generosè labi erre and fall more nobly and with-greater commendation then others who spin an even but course thread and are so far

as those do who are brought near and even united to the thing that they would have 2. At this is proportioned to the Soul so it is to every soul to all sorts of men It equally concerneth all of what calling or condition soever It is a merchandise which cannot be bought by a deputy cannot be recovered by a proxy Like the Sun it looketh upon all and must be looked upon by all It is fitted to all and bindeth all And therefore the buying of it the study of it and of every branch of it concerneth you who are our hearers as much as us who teach it It is not of so large a compass but the narrowest understanding may contain it God will not shut us out of heaven because we cannot untie every knot and answer every doubt I never could think it a matter of wit and subtilty to become a Christian There is saith S. Hierome sancta rusticitas a kind of holy plainness and rusticity simplicitas idiotarum amativa as Gerson speaketh a simplicity of the unlearned which is full of love and affection which like men at distance from that which they desire look more earnestly towards it Numb 11.29 It is to be wished indeed that all the Lord's people were prophets for knowledge is a rich ornament of the soul But he that doth not attain deep knowledge with the wisest may attain true happiness with the best as a man may put into the haven in a small bark as well as in an Argosie Mark 12.42.44 He who giveth all that he hath for the Truth though it be but two mites his serious but weak endeavours shall be sure of a good penyworth He that buyeth what we can shall have enough And therefore it is fitted to all to all nations to all sexes to all ages to all tempers and constitutions to the Jew and to the Gentile to the bond and to the free to the Scribe and to the idiote to the young and to the aged None so much a Jew so much a slave so dull and slow of understanding none so much a Lazar so much a Barzillai so over run with sores or decrepit with age but he may buy the Truth Freedom and slavery circumcision and uncircumsion quickness and slowness of wit youth and age in respect of this purchase are alike 3. As it is fitted to all so it is lovely and amiable in the eyes of all even of those who will not buy it What amiable and not be desired Yes it is so in this spiritual Mart. We can conceive it good and refuse it we can behold its beauty and not woo it we can say it is a rich pearl and yet prefer a pebble on the beach before it say How amiable are the courts of Truth and yet never enter them For in this Knowledge and Desire do not alwaies meet but the Will oftentimes planet-wise slyly creepeth on her own way contrary to the strong circumvolution of the First mover the Understanding pointeth one way and the Affections sway us another The Understanding looketh upon Truth as a prize yet the Will rejecteth it as a vanity the Understanding judgeth it to be the best good yet the Will turneth from it as from the worst of evils The good that I would Rom. 7.19 that is which I approve that do I not But in our temporal affairs these faculties of the soul are seldom at variance but profit and advantage of this kind we seek with all our soul with all our heart with all our understanding But for this heavenly commodity though we have not an heart to buy yet we have an head to judge of the worth and value of it .. Even the fool in this is as wise as Solomon and can say that this Truth is more precious then rubies Prov. 3.15 But as they who knew the judgment of God Rom. 1.31 that they who commit all unrighteousness are worthy of death did not onely do the same but had pleasure in them that did so on the other side many who know this Truth to be the best merchandise do not onely not traffick for it themselves but are enemies to them that do and hinder and persecute them all they can are angry at them that do what themselves judge to be best And this is the glory and triumph of Truth Matth. 11.19 that she is justified not onely of her children but of her very enemies that she striketh a reverence in those that neglect her is magnified by those who revile her and findeth a place in their breasts who suppress her When the poor merchants of Truth are proscribed and her children appointed to die then doth Truth hold up her sceptre in the very inward parts of the raging persecutours and forceth them to condemn themselves for condemning them to honour those whom they have delivered to shame and death and in their heart to null that sentence which their fury and sensuality have put in execution And thus we retain in publico sensu in the common stock of Nature enough to discover what we should buy But to venture and traffick to spend and lay out our selves upon it is the work of that Grace which subdueth the Flesh to the Spirit and crucifieth the Affections and Lusts which have more power upon the Will then the Reason and may dim the eye of the Understanding but never quite put it out For who ever was so much a traitour as to condemn Fidelity What adulterer did ever yet write a panegyrick on Uncleanness Who was ever so evil as to commend evil Who did ever so ill govern his life as not to wish he might die the death of the righteous Num. 23.10 When evil is laid to the charge of wicked men they count it an heavy charge and therefore to shift it off are fain to run themselves within the danger of a worse and to call evil good Psal 14.1 53.1 and good evil Which yet they do but say in their heart as the Fool doth in the book of Psalms that there is no God They do not think but say it in their heart say it by rot● as that which they would have to be truth but know to be false 4. Yet to raise the price of this jewel higher know that if we buy not the Truth not onely our wealth and riches but even the goodly and gracious endowments of our souls also are nothing worth For want of this one purchase where is the rich Glutton now nay where is the scribe 1 Cor. 1.20 where is the wise where is the disputer of this world What a poor Worse then nothing is a rich Atheist or an honourable Hypocrite What speak we of Riches and Honour Virtue it self is of small use if it take not this Truth along with it We are taught by Divines that by the fall of our first parents we did utterly lose some things and though other excellent things do still remain