not seem to confine the Consequences here mention'd to another World altho' the full Accomplishment of them be only there to be expected but if we attend to his Scope and Design in the End of the foregoing Chapter and the Beginning of this we shall find that even in this Life the result of a carnal Mind is a sort of a Spiritual Death and of a Spiritual Mind is Life and Peace For when St. Paul in the 7â—h Chapter had represented himself as carnal and sold under Sin although there were great strugglings between the Convictions of his Conscience and the strength of carnal Inclinations yet as long as the latter prevailed so that he could not do the things that his Mind and Reason told him he ought to do but did those things which he was convinced be ought not to have done The more he reflected upon himself the more sad and miserable he found his Condition to be as appears by that Emphatical expression which follow'd upon it O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But he no sooner finds hopes of Delivery and Escape out of that Estate but he breaks forth into Transport of Joy and inward Satisfaction Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not meerly a Victory over Death but over Sin too And so he begins this Chapter after a triumphant manner There is therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Lord of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus hath made me â—â—ee from the Law of Sin and Death He that groaned under his Captivity before to the Law of Sin doth now rejoyce in his Deliverance from it by the Grace of the Gospel For what could not be done by natural Freedom by the Power of the Law and the Force of Reason is brought to pass by the Assistance of Divine Grace given to the Souls of Men by Jesus Christ. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh What was that which the Law could not do It could awaken convince terrifie and confound the Consciences of Sinners under the Sense and Apprehension of their Sins but it could neither satisfie the Justice of God nor the Minds of Men it could not remove the Guilt nor take away the Force and Power of Sin But God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. Jesus Christ becoming an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin took off the damning Power of Sin and by the prevailing Efficacy of his Grace subdued the strength and force of it to such a degree That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How could this be if St. Paul still considered himself in the same Condition he did in the foregoing Chapter For if he were still in Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members how was it possible that the Righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in him How could he walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit if the Good which he would he did not and the Evil which he would not that he did For these things are so repugnant to each other that when they are spoken of the same Person it must be under different Considerations the one of him as meerly under the Power of the Law the other as under the Grace and Influence of the Gospel The one was like rough and a churlish sort of Physick which searches into every Part and puts all the ill Humours of the Body into Motion and makes a general Disturbance and Uneasiness within but yet lets them remain where they were the other is like a gentle but more effecutal Remedy which carries off the Strength and Power of inward Corruptions and alters the Habit and Temper and puts quite another Disposition into us which produces very different Effects upon us For instead of Horrour and Despair and inward Anguish and Confusion there will follow a new Life of Joy and Peace here and Eternal Happiness hereafter And this is what the Apostle means in the Words of the Text To be carnally minded c. Wherein are two things which very much deserve our Consideration I. The different Tempers of Men's Minds some are carnally and others spiritually minded II. The different Consequences which follow them To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace I. The different Tempers of Men's Minds The different Denominations are taken from the Flesh and the Spirit which are here represented as two Principles so different from each other that the same Person cannot be supposed to be acted by both of them For as the Apostle saith in the foregoing Words They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Where the Flesh in a Moral sense takes in all our sensual Inclinations which are sinfull either in their Nature or Degree The Spirit is that Divine Principle which possesses the Mind with the Love and Esteem of Spiritual things and keeps our natural Inclinations within the Compass of God's Law To be carnally minded is to be under the Influence of carnal things so as to make the Pursuit of them our chief Design To be spiritually minded is to have so deep and just a Sense of God and his Law upon our Minds as to make it our business to please him and therefore to subdue all such Inclinations which are repugnant to his Will But here lies the main Difficulty how to judge concerning this matter so as to be able to determine whether we our selves be carnally or spiritually minded Which is a thing of so great Consequence for us to know that the Peace of our Minds the true Comfort of our Lives our due Preparation for Death and a happy Eternity do all depend upon And yet that this is a real Difficulty will appear from these Considerations 1. It requires a greater Knowledge of our selves as to our spiritual Condition than most Persons in the World can pretend to For it is not a slight and superficial View of our selves not a transient sudden Reflection nor a partial Inquiry into our inward Passions and the Course of our Actions which can make us capable of passing a true Judgment upon the Temper of our Minds but there must be a true Light a serious and diligent Search frequent Recollection free and deliberate Thoughts long Observation and due Comparison of our selves with our selves and with the Law of God before we can form a just Opinion as to the prevailing Temper and Disposition of our Minds It 's true this is not necessary in all Persons for some and I am afraid too many are so carnally minded that
The Right Reverend EDW. STILLINGFLEET D. D. Lord Bishop of Worcester THIRTEEN SERMONS Preached on Several Occasions Three of which never before Printed By the Right Reverend Father in God EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester The Third VOLUME LONDON Printed by J. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. THE CONTENTS SERMON I. ST Luk. XV. 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee pag. 1 SERMON II. Coloss. II. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him p. 40 SERMON III. Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear p. 91 SERMON IV. Eccles. XI 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment p. 132 SERMON V. 2 Tim. I. 7. For God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and of a sound Mind p. 169 SERMON VI. 1 Tim. I. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief p. 209 SERMON VII St. Luk. VI. 46. And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say p. 255 SERMON VIII Rom. VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace p. 294 SERMON IX St. John III. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved p. 336 SERMON X. St. Jam. IV. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin p. 375 SERMON XI St. Matth. XXVI 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation the Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weak p. 413 SERMON XII Acts XXVI 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead p. 453 SERMON XIII Eccles. VII 16. Be not Righteous overmuch neither make thy self over wise Why shouldst thou destroy thy self p. 490 ERRATA Page 107. line 5. for These read There p. 238. l. 17. dele from Yet to l. 21st p. 284. l. 21st for or r. we p. 296. l. 25. for Lord r. Law p. 298. l. 14. put out â— p. 344. l. 9. dele little p. 417. l. 7. for heatedness r. heartedness p. 418. l. 18. for Weakness r. Willingness p. 434. l. 18. For Truce r. Time p. 463. l. 1st before of put in out p. 464. l. 17. for Sea r. Sun p. 483. l. 25. for Laws r. Lives p. 485. l. 24. after now put apt p. 490. Sermon 13. In the Text for lover r. over p. 496. l. 29. before To put in 1. p. 501. l. 17. before known insert have p. 503. l. 6. blot out that p. 506. l. 22. for gain r. again p. 507. l. 1st for This r. Thus. p. 508. l. 27. for indanger r. indulge p. 509. l. 6. for Molochi r. Moloch p. 522. l. 7. for exasperate r. extenuate p. 528. l. 16. for Solitude r. Solicitude SERMON I. Preached at WHITE-HALL February the 19 th 1685 6 St. Luke XV. 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee IN the foregoing Verse we find the Prodigal Son so far awakened and come to himself as to be sensible of the miserable Condition he had brought himself into by his own folly and wickedness But before he came to this there is a remarkable Turn in the Course of his Life set down by our Saviour in the beginning of this excellent Parable For he was first very impatient of being under the wise Conduct of his Father and thought he could manage his own Affairs far more to his Contentment and Satisfaction if he were but permitted to use his Liberty and were not so strictly tyed up to the grave and formal Methods of living observed and required in his Father's House Which might pass for Wisdom in Age and be agreeable enough to such whose Life and Vigour were decayed and who were now to maintain their Authority over their Children by seeming to be so much wiser than they But it is a rare thing for Youth and Age to agree in the Opinion of Wisdom For it is not the Care the Experience the Judgment of a wise and tender Father that can allay the Heats or calm the Passions or over-rule the violent Inclinations of Youth but whatever it cost them afterwards some will be still trying the Experiment whether it doth not more conduce to the happiness of Life to pursue their own Fancies and Designs than to hearken to another's Directions though a Father's whose Circumstances are so much different from their own Thus our Blessed Saviour represents in the Parable this young Prodigal as weary of being rich and easie at Home and fond of seeing the Pleasures of the World and therefore nothing would satisfie him unless he were intrusted with the Stock which was intended for him that he might shew the difference between his Father's Conduct and his own And this very soon appear'd for this hopefull Manager had not been long abroad but he wasted his substance with riotous living And to make him the more sensible of his Folly there happened a more than ordinary Scarcity which made his low and exhausted Condition more uneasie to him But the Sense of Shame was yet greater with him than that of his â—olly and whatever shifts he underwent he would by no means yet think of returning home but rather chose to submit to the meanest and basest Employment in hopes to avoid the Necessity of it But at last Reason and Consideration began to work upon him which is called his coming to himself and then he takes up a Resolution to go home to his Father and to throw himself at his Feet to confess his fault ingenuously and freely and to beg pardon for his former Folly in hopes of Forgiveness and Reconciliation I will arise and go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Under this Parable our Saviour sets forth the state of a Sinner 1. In his wilfull degeneracy from God his Father both by Creation and Providence his uneasiness under his just and holy Laws his impatience of being restrained by them his casting off the Bonds of Duty to him and running into all kind of Disorders without regard to God or his own Soul 2. In the dissatisfaction he found in his evil Courses being very much disappointed in the great Expectations he had in the Pleasures of Sin wasting his health interest reputation estate and above all the Peace and Tranquillity of his Mind which was
Foundation of that upon the first and great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength We need not to question but where-ever there is such a Love of God as is here required there will be true Godliness in all the parts of it And where this is wanting all external shews of Devotion want the true Life and Spirit of it For it is the Love of God which makes all our weak and imperfect Services to be acceptable to him and without it all our Prayers and our Fastings and all other appearances of Devotion are empty and infipid Formalities Not but that the Acts themselves are commendable but they are like a Body without a Soul dull and heavy or like the leaves of a Tree in Autumn which make a great noise in the Wind but are dry sapless and soon fall to the Ground But where the Love of God prevails it keeps up the Life and Order and Vigour of Devotion and preserves it from being tainted by hypocrisie or choaked by the love of this World or decaying from want of Constancy and Resolution Thus I have set before you some of the most remarkable Duties of Christianity not such as depend on the Opinions and Fancies of men but such as our Blessed Saviour the great Law-giver of his Church hath made the necessary Conditions of our Salvation by him And what now can we say for our selves We do call Christ Lord Lord or else we renounce our Baptismal Vow and all hopes of Salvation by him But can we say that we love God when we love what he hates viz. Sin Can we say we love him with all our Heart and Soul when our Hearts are so much divided between him and the Vanities of this World Can we say we love him with all our Might when our Love to God is apt to grow cold and remiss upon any apprehension of Difficulties Can we say that we love our Neighbour as our Selves when we despise and scorn him or over-reach and defraud him or oppress and ruin him If it go not so far are we as tender of his Reputation as of our own as unwilling to see him injured as ready to help him in his Necessities as we should desire it from others if we were in the same Circumstances If strict Sobriety and Temperance be the Duties of Christians where are those Virtues to be generally found I do not speak of particular Persons but I am afraid there is hardly such a thing left as a Sober Party among us What profane customary Swearing is every-where to be met with What Complaints are daily made of the Abounding of all sorts of Wickedness even to an open Scorn and Contempt not barely of Christianity but of any kind of Religion For many who have long denied the Power seem to be grown weary of the very Form of Godliness unless it serves some particular End and Design So that if we look abroad in the World we find little Regard shew'd to the Precepts of Christ and yet those who commit these things call Christ Lord Lord. What is the meaning of all this gross Hypocrisie Nothing would have been thought more Absurd or Ridiculous than for one who used no kind of Abstinence to be thought a Pythagorean or one that indulged his Passions à Stoick or one who eats Flesh and drinks Wine a Brachman or Banian It is really as much for any one to break the known and particular Precepts of Christ and yet desire to be thought a Christian. For a loose profane and debauched Christian is a Contradiction in Morality it is to be a Christian against Christ to call him Lord Lord and yet to defie his Laws and Authority A Star without Light a Guide without Eyes a Man without Reason a Sun with nothing but Spots are not more absurd Suppositions than a Christian without any Grace or Vertue But let us say what we will there are and will be such who will own Christ and call him Lord Lord and yet will not part with their sins for him There were multitudes of such formerly who would lay down their Lives for the Ground he trod on and yet would not mortifie one Sin for his sake The Reason is still the same which our Saviour mentions they hope that calling him Lord Lord will make amends for all and yet it is not possible that fairer warning should be given to any than he hath given in this Case that let them pretend what they will he will say to them at â—he great Day Depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity O dreadful Sentence Not to be mention'd without Horrour not to be thought upon without Astonishment How miserable for ever miserable must their condition be whom Christ at that day shall bid to Depart from him What is this some will be apt to say but to put all Christians into utter Despair For who is there that can say that he hath done all that Christ hath said Truly we have a sufficient Ground for deep Humility and serious Repentance and timely Reformation But there is a great difference between the Failing of our Duty and the Works of Iniquity between the Infirmities of those who sincerely endeavour to do his Will and the Presumptuous Sins of those who despise it between Sins committed and heartily repented of and Sins habitually practised and continued in without any Marks of Amendment Such must go out of this World in a State of Sin and therefore can expect nothing but that dreadfull Sentence which I tremble at the very thoughts of Repeating But there are others who in the sincerity of â—heir Hearts have endeavour'd to do his Will and whose Sincerity will be so far accepted by him that he will say to them at that Day Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us through the Mediation of Christ Jesus our Lord. SERMON VIII Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 13 th 1691 2 Romans VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace IN thâ—se Words is imply'd a Distribution of Mankind into those who are carnally and spiritually minded which Distinction is so large and comprehensive as to take in all sorts and conditions of Men and of so great Moment and Importance that their Life or Death Happiness or Misery depend upon it But considering the Mixture of Good and Evil in Mankind it is not an easie matter to set the Bounds of the carnal and spiritual Mind and considering the frequent Impunity and Security of bad Men and the Fears and Troubles which the best are not exempted from it seems next to impossible to make out at least as to this Life that to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Yet our Apostle doth
enjoying themselves and being full of Noise and Confidence and appear to be all Miâ—th and good Humour But there is another Account to be taken of these things If Men could look within and see all the secret Misgivings the inward Horrours of Conscience the Impatience and Dissatisfaction they have when they seriously reflect on their evil Courses it would quite alter their Apprehensions of these things and make them conclude with the Roman Orator That one Day spent according to the Rules of Vertue were to be preferr'd before everlasting Debaucheries And he was no Fooâ— no Pedant no mean and contemptible Person who said this but a Man of Wit and Sense of Quality and Experience who had Opportunities and Means enough to have pursued the most sensual and voluptuous Course of Liâ—e which yet we see out of Judgment and Choice he despised and preferr'd a far shorter Life according to the Rules of Vertue before a vicious Immortality And yet how short were the Incouragements to a good Life and the Dissuasives from Sin among the best of them in Comparison of what we all â—now now by the Gospel of Christ They went no farther than meer Natural Reason and the common Sense of Mankind carried them but we profess to believe the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of Men and that there will be a great and terrible Day wherein Men must receive according to their Works whether they be Good or Evil. And will not this dreadfull Consideration awaken the drowsie and secure Sinner and make him look about him betimes while there is yet any hopes of Mercy Will he not become so wise at least as to enter into the Consideration of his Ways and to look back on the former Course of his Life to examine and compare that with the Law of God by which he must be judged And if we have but Patience to do this he will have no farther Patience with himself for being guilty of such unspeakable Folly He will abhorr himself for all his sensual and sinfull Delights which will turn into the greatest Bitterness and Anguish to his Soul He will lament his Folly and Wickedness with the deepest Sorrow and take up sincere and firm Resolutions to return no more to the Practise of them And if this be the Result as it ought to be of all the distinguishing sinfull Pleasures of a carnal Mind I leave it to the most impartial Mind to resolve whether there will be the least Advantage by pursuing them 2. But we have too great Reason to suppose that Men may harden themselves to such a Degree of Wickedness as to be insensible of the Folly of it and to mock at those who go about to reprove them for it Such as these are at ease because they have no Sense of their Condition but so are those in a Lethargy Is their Case therefore to be envied or compared with those in Health altho' more sensible of Pain and Danger Who seem to be better pleased at sometimes and transported with their own Imaginations than Men in a Frenzy And yet no Man thinks their Condition happier for it There is a sort of Moral Frenzy which possesses some part of Mankind who are not only extravagant in their Actions but assume such a Degree of Confidence in committing them as though the wise Men of all Ages had been the only remarkable Fools in it But it is no such easie Matter to run down the Principles of Vertue and Religion they have stood the Shock of all the Sarcasms and Reproaches of former Times and there is still nothing at the Bottom of all the Scorn and Contempt that is cast upon them but a carnal and profane Temper of Mind which may bear them up for a while but it will be sure to end in everlasting Confusion and then they will find what they were so unwilling to believe That to be carnally minded is Death Not a meer State of Insensibility but the worst kind of Death A Death of perpetual Horrour and Torment A Death without the Power of Dying and yet with a perpetual Desire of it A Death whose Sting can never be taken out and whose Terror is said to be as everlasting as the Joys of Heaven And shall not the Apprehension of such a Death as this so dreadfull so unavoidable so insupportable make the greatest Sinners to tremble and be confounded at the Apprehension of it And if once such Thoughts break into their Minds farewell then to all the imaginary Pleasure and Satisfaction of a carnal Mind for it must sink it into the Confusion if not the Despair of Hell 2. But I have hitherto represented the Disadvantages of one side but are there not such on the other too Some are too apt to think a spiritual Mind to be nothing but a disorder'd Fancy and melancholy Imaginations of invisible things If this were all it were so far from being Life and Peace that there could be no real Satisfaction about it But a spiritual Mind is truly the most desirable thing we aâ—e capable of in this World For it is the best Improvement of our Minds which are Spiritual It is the purging and refining them from the Dross and Corruption which debased them It is the advancing them towards the Divine Nature by a gradual Participation of it It is the raising them above the carnal Delights and the sollicitous Cares and perplexing Fears of this World and fitting them for a perpetual Conversation with Divine and Spiritual Objects And what then can be more agreeable to the best Part of our selves here than to have a Mind so disengaged from this World and so fit for a better So that we may be content to take a view of the Worst which can be supposed as to Disadvantage here which is that good Men may be under uneequal Circumstances as to their Condition in this Life that is when the regarding another World more than this may make their outward Condition moâ—e uneasie here than it might have been if they had follow'd only the Dictates of a carnal Mind There are two sorts of Troubles we are to expect in this World 1. Such as we bring upon our selves by our own Acts 2. Such as are common to all Mankind In both these the spiritual Mind hath the Advantage 1. As to such which Men bring upon themselves Let this be supposed as it ought to be when God pleases among Christians who are to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Is there any thing in this which overthrows the Advantage of a spiritual Mind above a carnal Can a carnal Mind secure Men from Pains and Diseases from Losses and Disappointments Nay doth not the Pursuit of carnal Pleasures bring more Troubles upon Men in this Life than the Case of Persecution doth upon the best Christians If the loathsome Diseases the reproachfull and untimely Deaths which of all things ought to be most avoided by such who