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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66338	A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, April 2, 1690 being the fifth Wednesday in Lent / by William Wake.	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1690 (1690)	Wing W264; ESTC R24588	17,349	40

A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL APRIL 2. 1690. Being the Fifth Wednesday in LENT By WILLIAM WAKE D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties And Preacher to the Honourable Society of GRAYS-INN Publish'd by Her Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard And W. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1690. 1 Tim. V. 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man neither be partaker of other mens sins SAINT Paul having planted a Christian Church at Ephesus and being called by his Apostolick Charge to Preach the Gospel to other places also settles Timothy there to supply what was yet wanting to the full Establishment of it and not long after his departure sends him this Epistle to instruct him how he should behave himself in the house of God and fulfil that great Trust which was committed to him therein In the Verses before the Text we find him directing this Holy man how he should proceed in inflicting the Censures of the Church upon Offenders viz. That he should First admonish them openly in the presence of the whole Congregation That so both they who had Sinned might be the more earnestly moved to Repent themselves of it and that others being terrified thereby might have the greater care how they fell into the like Sins least they also became exposed to the same Correction v. 20. Them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear 2dly That he should proceed in these judgments Uprightly and Sincerely without Partiality without Fear or Favour to any v. 21. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things that is that thou proceed according to these Rules in exercising the Discipline of the Church upon Offenders without preferring one before another or as our Margin reads it without prejudice doing nothing by partiality Lastly That having tied any man by the Censures of the Church he should have a care not to make too much hast to loose him again and Restore him to the Communion of it but should diligently enquire into and prove his Repentance Least by his easiness in receiving Sinners into Favour he should lessen their Fear and Apprehension of Sinning and so bring upon himself the Guilt of those Crimes which such an unwarrantable lenity would be like to encourage wicked men to commit when they should see how little it would cost them to expiate their Sins and satisfie the Church for them v. 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man neither be partaker of other mens sins It is a difficulty that has somewhat divided both the Ancient and Modern Interpreters of this passage To what it is that the laying on of hands here spoken of is to refer Whether to the Admitting of persons into Holy Orders in the Church or as I have before explain'd it to the receiving Penitents into the Communion of it For in both these Cases the Ancient Christians made use of this Ceremony of Laying on of hands If we understand the Exhortation of the Text with reference to the Former of these the meaning of it will be this That he should have a care diligently to examine the Faith and to enquire into the Lives and Manners of those whom he admitted into any Holy Office or Function in the Church and see that they were duly qualified for it according to those Rules which he had before so largely given him for that very purpose But tho I shall not presume to censure this account of these Words yet I must confess I think the Latter Interpretation of them which I before gave as it equally agrees with the expression of St. Paul and with the Primitive Custom of laying on Hands upon those whom they received again into Communion after having fulfil'd the Penance impos'd upon them for their Sins so does it seem to me somewhat better to agree with the rest of the Apostle's exhortation in that place And the Consideration which he lays before him to engage him to this Care is no other than what we find from hence transcribed sometimes into the Penitential Canons of the Ancient Church namely lest by his Remisness in this particular he should have Other mens sins imputed to his account and be responsible to God for all those Crimes which he neglected to punish with that severity he ought to have done But which soever of these two be the true meaning of St. Paul's charge in the former part of the Text Lay hands suddenly on no man The reason of it in the latter will be in both the same namely that Timothy by his negligence in either of these Cases would have render'd himself Guilty of other mens sins and therefore ought to be very careful and Circumspect that he might not do so And this is the Use which I shall now make of these Words It is a matter of sad and serious Consideration that we who labour the very best of us under so great a load of our own Sins should yet as if that were not sufficient to ruine us add every day a number of other mens to them to encrease our Account and aggravate our Condemnation There is I believe but seldom a day passes wherein we do not some of us render our selves Guilty in this particular I speak not now with reference to those who not only live in an Habitual commission of the most heinous Sins themselves but take a great deal of satisfaction and even make it their daily Employment to draw as many others as they can into the Commission of them As if they meant to Emulate the impiety of those whom St. Paul has characterized or rather branded in Holy Scripture as the most Desperate and Diabolical of any in the World Rom. i. 32. Who knowing the judgment of God that they who commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in those that do them No a man need not rise up to such a heigth of Villany to render himself Guilty in the sight of God of Other mens transgressions He may be so at a much lesser rate and that I fear upon such accounts as the best of us all shall hardly be able utterly to clear our selves of it I shall therefore make it my endeavour in a few reflections to shew I st What those Circumstances are whereby we may be most likely to render our selves partakers of other mens sins From whence it will appear II dly How careful we ought to be of our selves and our Actions that we may keep our selves from being so I st What those Circumstances are whereby we may render our selves partakers of other mens sins For the better clearing of which Point I shall in the first place lay down this as a Principle out of all doubt That no man becomes a partaker of the Sins of another but by his own Act i. e. by

with the Judaizing Christians he design'd only to condescend to their weakness and not to give any the least cause of Offence to the Others The Case was in short this There were in those first times many among the Jews who tho' they readily embraced the Gospel of Christ yet could not presently perswade themselves that they ought to abandon all the Rites and Ceremonies of their own Law With these therefore the Apostles thought fit to bear for a while and to permit them to observe their former Customs as far as was consistent with the Nature of Christianity so to do But for the Gentile Converts those who had never been at all subject to the Law to them they preach'd a Gospel liberty and exhorted them not to submit themselves to any such burden St. Peter being at Antioch in a Church which St. Paul had establish'd of this latter sort freely for a time communicated with them not making any distinction of Meats or Drinks nor at all observing the Law of Moses in any of those things But it happen'd whilst he was there that certain Brethren came down from the Church of Jerusalem to him who were still zealous for the Law and in compliance with these He began whilst they were with Him to alter his manner of living and no longer to use his former liberty but to live again after the manner of the Jews He withdrew says St. Paul and seperated himself fearing them of the circumcision This example of his led many of the Jewish Converts who before had lived in all freedom with the Gentiles into the like Abstinence insomuch that Barnabas himself was carried away with the dissimulation And so began to raise some doubts and disturbances in that Church But St. Paul reproved him openly before them all He charged him that he did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel He withstood him to the face and tells us plainly He was to be blamed And that for Compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews i. e. for encouraging them to it and perswading them falsly by his example that it was necessary for them so to do It is in the Case of Sin now as it was in that of an involuntary injury under the Law If a Man open'd or digged a pit and neglected to cover it and another man's Oxe or Ass fall therein tho' he made it only for his own use and had not the least design of doing thereby any prejudice to his Neighbour yet because he did not take due care to fence it and prevent all occasion of harm from happening by it he was to repair his Neighbours dammage and give Money to him for the Oxe or Ass and the dead beast was to be his And so here If a Man do's any thing that may be apt to lead another into Sin and takes not that due care he ought to prevent his being deceived by it and another be thereby encouraged to do Evil he shall answer for his neglect And if his Action was not only scandalous but sinful too Evil in its self as well as apt to draw others into Sin he shall be called to an account before God not only for his own but also for his Neighbours Soul and his Sin shall be required yet one fold more of him for the occasion it gave to his Brother to do wickedly There is yet one way more whereby a Man may give occasion to and so partake of other Mens Sins and which comes yet nearer to the Case of Timothy in the Text than any I have hitherto named and that is Fourthly By advancing Evil Men to Places of Trust and Power and thereby giving them opportunity to do much more Mischief than they could have done in a private Capacity I need not say how great a part of the Calamities under which the World now labours might be prevented were none but Men of great Integrity and Abilities suitable to the Station to which they are called ever permitted to have any Rule or Authority either in Civil or Religious concerns Such as these would not only not do any Hurt themselves but would in a little time either by their Influence and Example or else by a due severity against Offenders restrain others from doing it But when the Blind lead the Blind When they who should teach and make others Good are not Good themselves what wonder if we see so little sense of Piety among the People when there is so little of it among those that should set them an Example It is therefore certainly a Great Care that those ought to have whose concern it is to provide that none but Honest and Worthy Men be admitted into such Stations where if they are inclined to be Evil they may do a great deal of mischief to those below them And if instead of having such a Care as far as is possible not to suffer any wicked and profligate Persons to receive any Favour or Countenance from them they shall either take no Care at all or it may be which has sometimes happen'd be well-enough contented that the vilest Wretches should be the most honour'd and promoted by them what less can they expect than to answer for those Sins which such Men by their means have had the Opportunity to Commit When Jeroboam whom we before mention'd had set up his two Calves in Dan and Bethel and exhorted the People no more to go up to Jerusalem but to worship the Gods which he had made for them we read 1 Kings xiii 33. that for the better carrying on his design he provided Priests for them of the lowest of the people such as he thought fit for his purpose that would be ready for any thing he should command them to do whosoever would he consecrated Him and he became one of the Priests of the High-places And how heinously God resented this we may see in the very next Verse And this thing became sin unto the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the Earth But because the Great Aggravation of Jeroboam's Sin was that he admitted such Fellows into the Priest hood on purpose to debase Religion and confirm the People in the Idolatry which he design'd to establish among them We will look farther to the Instance of the Text where neither of these things can be supposed Here the only fault we can imagine Timothy was capable of being Guilty of must have been the not being so careful and circumspect as he ought in trying and examining such Persons as he admitted into any Holy Office in the Church And yet St. Paul having exhorted him to this Care in the former part of the Text if we take his words in that sense in which they are more generally understood Lay hands suddenly on no man makes use of this consideration to enforce it upon Him in the latter that otherwise he should be responsible to