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A48731
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A sermon at a solemn meeting of the natives of the city and county of Worcester, in the church of St. Mary le Bow, June 24, 1680 by Adam Littleton ...
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Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing L2567; ESTC R21369
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14,936
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41
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there shall be any danger hereafter on that side as there hath been lately on the other may God in good time discover it as he hath done the other and avert and defeat them both For as I have been speaking my utmost abhorrence of Iesuitical principles so I am very far from pleading the cause of any party of men be they of what denomination soever who act by such principles No nor would I nor can I without injury be so understood that in the scope and drift of this discourse I intended a shelter and defence for Schism as if the sober execution of penal laws upon offenders in Church as well as State were the same thing with that irregular Vnchristian Inhumane persecution I have been declaring against the case being quite different betwixt the wicked efforts of an Usurped pretended power without us and the prudential proceedings of a lawful authority over us Though truly after all it cannot be denied with grief I speak it and so far at least this Charge must be owned that since we have run our selves into these divisions wherein we now stand the pretence of Godliness has almost banished all brotherly kindness and charity from among us II. I have done with the General part I come now to treat of these vertues severally Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity Godliness in reference to God Brotherly kindness to one another and Charity to all men especially to our Poor 1. GODLINESS in the first place that our Brotherly kindness may be inoffensive and our Charity acceptable Now there are as several sorts of Godliness in vulgar acception of the word as there are of Religions in the world At this rate there are godly Pagans godly Turks godly Papists godly Hereticks and godly Schismaticks Nay upon this account perchance the Devils themselves in some sense are not to be quite exempted from some notion of godliness for they believe and tremble they have a kind of Religion amongst them too and though they do not love God they believe and fear him I make no doubt to believe what our S. Peter hath affirm'd and to say it after him that Now know I of a truth saies he that God is no respecter of persons and that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness whatever his way of worship be if he does not know or has not the means to know any better is accepted of him This is but the judgment of charity But to think or say that an Infidel as an Infidel a Mahometan as a Mahometan and so of the rest that a Papist a Heretick or a Schismatick as such is in a salvable condition is such a fondness of charity that it can be little better it self than an heretical a damnable opinion I am sure it is not the judgment of discretion as being no where warranted by the Word of God and having been anathematized by our Church in her Articles Godliness then doth not consist in a form in the mode or dress of worship That 's but external and ceremonious yet a form is necessary and it is impossible to serve God otherwise that is without some form or other However as necessary as a Form is to Godliness 't is not essential for which reason it may be supposed our Saviour himself did not think fit to appoint any form but lest it to the prudence of his Apostles in their several districts and provinces and consequently to particular Churches pro hic nunc to determine And herein as I take it lies the nature of Schism for men wilfully to depart from that publick form of worship which the authority of that Church they belong to hath prescribed and so to dismember themselves from their own body And upon this ground we of the Church of England may acquit our selves and justifie our separation from the Church of Rome as the bold British Bishops did when they gave a meeting to Austin the Popes Missionary at a place in our County thence called Austins Oke which Cambden owns but confesses he knows not where to fix where they did with equal truth and bravery disdain the Popes jurisdiction over the British Churches I say we may answer the Romanists when they charge us with Heresie and Schism in S. Paul's words as having no dependance upon the Pope unless we will foolishly inslave our selves that according to that way which they call Heresie we worship the God of our fathers 'T is true some forms are in themselves faulty but the best of forms is not of it self saving sufficient to salvation since the Apostle tells us that some having the form of godliness deny the power thereof If then Godliness doth not consist in a form much less doth it in cant and gibbrish in affected tones and uncouth phrases No Godliness lies in the heart and the life of a Christian there 's the power and the truth of it When the Heart is possest with a reverential aw of the divine power and majesty and justice and with the love of his mercy and goodness and all the affections are exercised upon his adorable perfections And yet still these possessions of heart our good intentions and pious directions of mind are not enough but must be set forth to the life in our lives if we will be truely godly For 't is a godly life that is the life of godliness The Apostle tells us of some that live without God in the world Those are in the strictest sense the ungodly ones and he warns us to deny ungodly lusts That 's right Godliness But then more particularly Godliness is made out in the publick worship of God So 't is said of Enos his time that then began men to call upon the name of the Lord that is to worship him in solemn assemblies and in publick devotions And this godliness when we can once agree in Gods publick worship will beget and confirm brotherly kindness which is the next vertue to be spoken to 2. BROTHERLY KINDNESS Brother in Scripture-use is not always taken in that narrow sense of relation kindred but many times comprehends all mankind as we are all descended of Adam Especially it denotes those of the houshold of faith this being the neerest tye and strictest obligation of brotherhood And O that we who own our selves Christians Protestants might as brethren dwell together in unity that we might go to the house of God in company take sweet counsel together But alas as we stand divided how can we call our selves brethren Such brethren we may be as Esau and Iacob Isaac and Ishmael Cain and Abel were to hate and persecute and ruine one another if occasion were offered Surely surely those who have deserted our Establishments we may and must call them English brethren but how to call them Protestant brethren I do not well know for of them I may say what S. Iohn saies of some in his time that if
A SERMON AT A Solemn MEETING OF The Natives OF THE CITY and COUNTY OF Worcester IN The Church of St. Mary le Bow Iune 24. 1680. By Adam Littleton D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for William Birch and are to be sold by Iohn Crump at the three Bibles in St. Paul's Church-yard 1680. TO MY WORTHY FRIENDS AND COUNTRY-MEN Mr. Iohn Foley Capt. Tho. Hammond Mr. Richard Foley Mr. Robert Buggin Mr. Iohn Deacle Mr. Henry Vernon Mr. Thomas Hunt Mr. Sam. Lowbrige Stewards of the Worcester-shire-Feast 1680. GENTLEMEN IN Obedience to your Desires I here present you with that Discourse of Mine I lately entertain'd you with Mine I say such as it was as I then delivered it in the Pulpit but Yours now such as it is as it appears to the world from the Press I could not but look upon it as a Testimony of great Respect and I do with Thank-fulness acknowledge it that you should make choice of Me for opening the Scene of your anew-intended yearly Feast after the interruption of above twenty years Wherefore I thought fit to pitch my thoughts upon such a subject as might include most of those Ends for which such Meetings should be designed How well or ill I have handled it I must leave to the judgment of the Pious and Ingenuous Reader If others shall find any Satisfaction or Benefit in the perusal of This whatever it be they must owe it to You who Desired that is Ordered me to throw it into the Publick or if they meet with any thing that may Dissatisfie or Offend them they ought out of Charity to Excuse Me who could not but Obey Your Affectionate Country-man and Servant Adam Littleton Westminster Iuly 22. 1680. A SERMON Preached at a Solemn Meeting OF The Gentlemen and Natives OF WORCESTER-shire 1680. Right Honourable Worthy and Dearly beloved Christians and Country-men hear the Word of God as you will find it written in the II Epist. of St. Peter chap. 1. vers 7. And to Godliness add Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity THe Words I have now read unto you as they are very necessary and suitable to the general purposes of Christianity so are they no less seasonable and fit for the particular occasion and business of our present Meeting First Here is Godliness in a more especial manner to be practised by us at the Church where we are now met in our attendance upon the service of God and hearing his Word Then Brotherly Kindness to be shewn when we meet at the Table at our Entertainment by renewing our interrupted Acquaintances and expressing the mutual Offices of Love And lastly Charity at our Departure thence to be exhibited to those of our absent Brethren whether here or in the Country who may any way stand in need of our Assistance We begin this days work with Godliness we are to continue it in Brotherly Kindness and I hope to God shall make an end of it in Charity This Godliness to be exercised together with those our fellow Christians who come to joyn with us in the religious solemnity of the Day This Brotherly Kindness amongst Our selves according to the Appointment of our particular Meeting And this Charity to be handed to those of our Brethren whose wants are to be supplied that though they are not Guests yet they may be Partakers of our Love-feast that so leaving a Blessing behind us we may all of us carry away a Blessing with us to our several homes and habitations Now that this our Meeting may not be for the worse as St. Paul complains of his Corinthians but for the better let us Pray unto Almighty God that he would prevent us in all our doings with his most gracious favour and further us with his continual help that in all our works of Piety Kindness and Charity begun continued and ended in him we may glorifie his holy Name and finally by his mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose Name let us further pray for all our Brethren and Sisters throughout the world all the sons and daughters of Adam that God whose mercy is over all his works would have mercy upon all men More especially for all of the houshold of Faith for all our fellow-Citizens of the new Jerusalem for the whole Catholick Church Particularly for that part of it here planted among us that he would be favourable to our Sion that all that love her and her ways may prosper and that all counsels and all weapons formed against her may ever miscarry and come to nought as hitherto praised be his Goodness they have done that neither Popery nor Schism may ever prevail over Her And herein in a most especial manner for his most excellent Majesty CHARLES c. that he would with the choicest of his gifts and graces crown his Royal Head and Heart that he would preserve his Person establish his Government direct his Counsels and prosper his Vndertakings and that after a long long and happy Reign over us he would make his Glory great in his Salvation that he would bless him in his Royal Consort Queen KATHERINE in his Illustrious Brother JAMES D. of York c. Let us continue our prayers and enforce our requests for the whole Land and Nation to which we belong that he would pardon our Sins and heal our Breaches that neither our Vngodly provocations on the one hand nor our Vncharitable divisions on the other may ever forfeit or betray that Peace which we do at present enjoy Lastly let us beg a blessing upon our selves here assembled that he would grant us his grace so to order our lives with that Piety to God that Brotherly Kindness to one another and that Charity to the poor of our Brethren according to the ability he hath bestowed upon every one of us and that he would at this time so assist us both Me the unworthy dispenser of his Word and You his beloved People that both I may so speak c. These and all other our Desires and Acknowledgements let us again recommend unto our merciful Father in the Name and Words of his well-beloved Son saying as himself hath taught us to pray Our Father c. And to Godliness add Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity The Apostle having told his Brethren and Country-men the Convert Iews for those were they he writes to as being the Apostle of the Circumcision that through the knowledge of Christ they had all things given unto them that pertain unto life and godliness and that by those exceeding great and precious promises which were made out to them by him they might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust he puts them in mind what they are more to do in order to this end what further progress they are to make in their Christian profession that besides this they would give all