Levett Mayor Jovis tertio die Octobr. 1700. annoque Regni Willielmi Tertii Angl. c. duodecimo THIS Court doth desire Mr. Lardner to Print his Sermon preach'd at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Sunday the Two and twentieth Day of September last before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of this City Ashhurst Of earnestly contending for the Faith A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. PAUL BEFORE The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY of LONDON On Sunday Sept. the 22th THERE Being that Day an Ordination By the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of LONDON By JAMES LARDNER M. A LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill 1700. To the Right Honourable Sir RICHARD LEVETT Kt. LORD MAYOR TO THE COURT of ALDERMEN And the Right Worshipful Sr CHARLES DUNCOMB AND Sr JEFFREY JEFFREYS LATE SHERIFFS OF THE CITY of LONDON Right Honourable and Worshipful WHAT open Defiance hath of late been given to all the Sacred Mysteries of the Gospel what barefaced Opposition hath been made to the Christian Faith is well known and is sadly Lamented by every serious and considerate Man The labouring Press doth almost every day produce some sly Pamphlet or other the design of which is to Undermine our most Holy Religion and Ridicule and Scoff at all the Professors of it Nor do these things steal secretly into our Hands or by their Privacy betray an inward Shame in the Author but every Page doth publickly declare that the Publisher of it is a profess'd Enemy to the Faith of Christ. The Opposition is made with so much Courage and Boldness that a meer Stranger would hardly believe Christianity to be the Religion of our Country or that the Gospel had the Protection of the Law to guard it The design therefore of the following Discourse is to point out and discover some of these Adversaries and by showing how dangerous they are to raise our Spirits and call up that Courage which so well becomes those who ought to be the Assertors of it and whose Duty it is to contend earnestly for the Faith That God would please to assist and protect those who stand up vigorously in Defence of our most Holy Religion and at last bring us all to an Unity in the Faith is the hearty Prayer of Right Honourable and Worshipful Your most Obedient and Most Humble Servant James Lardner Epist of St. Jude Ver. 3. latter part And exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints THAT ye should earnestly contend for the Faith Can then that Gospel which was once deliver'd by the Prince of Peace meet with any so hardy and obstinate as to gainsay and oppose it That Gospel the very design of which is to promote an universal Love and Charity to join us all as it were into one common Houshold one Family That Gospel which teaches me to look upon every Man as my Neighbour my Friend and my Brother that obliges me to allow every Man a share in my Heart and admit him as Partner in my Love and Affections That Gospel which is so well fitted for the Advancement of every Man 's true Interest and Advantage and which gives us a blessed Assurance in consequence of our Obedience of an immortal Crown of Glory hereafter Can any one be so obstinately so wilfully blind as not to see those things which make for his eternal Peace and not upon first sight close in with and embrace ' em 'T is strange that the effect of the Son of God's coming into the World should be St. Mat. 10.34 not to send Peace but a Sword that the most tender and obliging offers that even infinite Mercy did ever make should prove the occasion of Strife and Contention and set one Man at variance against another Yet this is our case and every one who is admitted within the Pale of the Christian Church engages himself in a continual Warfare he enters and lists himself into the Service of him who is described to us under the Character of the Captain of our Salvation the Head of the Church that Army of the living God he obliges himself to wrestle not only against Flesh and Blood Eph. 6.12 but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against spiritual Wickednesses in high Places and his Adversaries have so many ways to beset him that he must be continually upon his Guard and to secure his Innocence take to him the whole Armour of God 13. that he may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand The Christian Profession is represented to us as a State of Warfare and a manly Courage Resolution and Constancy are qualifications which are necessary for every Professor to carry constantly about him we are not in the least allow'd to be Careless Negligent and Supine but are to sight the good sight to endure hardships to be strong in the Lord and earnestly to contend for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Which was once delivered to the Saints for there is no other Gospel now to be expected no other Rule by which we are to square our Actions we are not to look for any strange new Light nor for any other Methods of Salvation 'T is true Heb. 10.1 the Law was indeed a shadow of good things to come but now since the Substance of the Faith hath been once fully revealed to us by that Gospel which hath brought Life and Immortality to light we are modestly and humbly to embrace it and take it as the only Rule both of our Faith and Practise and though we Gal. 1.8 or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed It would I presume be altogether needless to go about to prove that by that Faith in the Text which we are exhorted thus earnestly to contend for is to be understood the Christian Religion in general viz. all those Doctrines and Precepts as well as Articles of Belief contain'd in that Gospel which hath no less than the Son of God for its Author for so is the word used Acts 6.7 1 Tim. 4.1 and in several other places The Faith of a Christian is the Religion of a Christian and to believe in Jesus is to become his Disciple and a Follower of his Doctrines and I doubt not but that seeming difference between St. Paul and St. James when one speaks of Justification by Faith alone and the other asserts good Works to be necessary in order thereunto may very easily be adjusted by a serious application of Mind and by considering the drift and design of each Apostle in his several Epistle So that all those Controversies which have for a long time employ'd the Pens of several I hope well-meaning Men may be easily reconciled and made up for a truly pious
Christian Faith will undoubtedly be productive of all those good Works to the performance of which our most holy Profession obliges us To proceed therefore further upon this Point would be altogether needless and I heartily wish it were as needless to enlarge upon those several Adversaries who set themselves in opposition to and are the profess'd Enemies of that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Ver. 4. Vngodly Men as our Apostle speaks who either turn the Grace of our God into Lasciviousness or positively deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ even who deny the Lord that bought ' em 2 Pet. 2.1 But we are obliged to observe First That when the Apostle exhorts us to contend earnestly for the Faith there are necessarily imply'd some Persons who will be constantly gainsaying and opposing it some Adversaries which we are to encounter and conflict withal Which being consider'd we shall be naturally led in the Second place to enquire how and after what manner we are to deal with these Adversaries and what peculiar Weapons we are to make use of whilst we endeavour earnestly to contend for the Faith And then lest any one should be discouraged in the discharge of his Duty by the greatness of the Work or the many Difficulties which he is to encounter it will be requisite in the Third place to shew what mighty Encouragements we have to perswade us to a constant perseverance in our Christian Warfare what blessed Assistances are offered to us and what glorious Rewards they shall be Crowned withal who sight the good Fight and do inviolably keep the Faith First We are obliged to observe that when the Apostle exhorts us to contend earnestly for the Faith there are necessarily implied some Persons who will be constantly gainsaying and opposing it some Adversaries which we are to encounter and conflict withal A Consideration as melancholy as 't is serious and every way as sad as it is true To be either Persecuted singled out for Destruction or at least slighted and laugh'd at hath in some measure been the Portion of the true Professors of the Faith in all Ages of the Church And to be mock'd at and derided seemed to make up part of the Character of a Believer in the Infancy of Christianity Nay we may go further even to the Fountain Head and we shall find that the very Author of our Faith himself the Blessed Jesus met with the same Usage No sooner had he left that humble Retirement in which he past the first Thirty Years of his Life to enter publickly upon his Prophetick Office but that Divine Charmer who so spake as never Man spake met with such as contradicted and opposed him the proud haughty Pharisee thought himself too great to listen to the Doctrines of Meekness and Humility and being big with an expectation of a glorious Messiah a Temporal Prince who should rescue their Nation from the Roman Yoak could not discern a Deliverer under the appearance of a Carpenter's Son nor imagine it possible that he should redeem Israel whose Condition was so low mean and despicable that according to his own Expression he had not where to lay his Head The proud Insulter would not see the Finger of the Almighty in those daily Miracles which he wrought nor confess him to be the Son of God with power though the Glories of his Divinity were visibly display'd in all his wondrous Works But still is the Holy Jesus scoffed at and derided and in an impudent manner taunted at Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary And when they found that many of the People convinc'd by his mighty Works began to adhere to and embrace his Doctrines lest their beloved Moses should be brought into disrepute they resolve to Persecute both him and them and Lazarus was design'd to be put to Death because that by reason of him i. e. his being miraculously raised from the dead many of the Jews went away John 12 1â— 11. and believed on Jesus Nor did their Malice admit of any Abatement 'till they had nailed him to the Cursed Tree and see him there expire and die when his Doctrines they thought would have died with him and the Faith of Jesus they hoped would have been heard of no more And since his Usage was thus very hard and severe it could not afterwards be expected that the Disciple should be above Mat. 10.24 or fare better than his Master nor the Servant above his Lord and when the Apostles were sent out upon that weighty Business viz. to publish the same Gospel which Jesus had Preach'd Mat. 1â— 22 no wonder if they should be hated of all Men for his name sake And indeed thus it prov'd for when the Christian Doctrine revived and rose again with it's Blessed Author it no sooner made its publick Appearance in the World but it was as publickly contradicted and oppos'd That Doctrine which was so repugnant to those Notions and Prejudices which had been generally entertained could not undoubtedly without a great deal of difficulty make its way into the Hearts of Men and be received as a Rule of Faith That Doctrine the embracing of which at that time tended to the lessening Mens secular Interest and Advantage would assuredly meet with a great many Enemies and 't is not much to be admired if not only the Ephesian Silversmiths should be against it Acts 19. whose Craft was in danger to be ruined and set at nought but every Man likewise elsewhere whose Interest it threatned to diminish would make a Party against it and raise a Body of Adversaries to oppose it And when the Rage of such a Man as Herod had urged him to kill James the Brother of John with the Sword Acts 12 1 2 3. it was easie to imagine that he who loved popular Applause and prided himself in the Acclamations of the Crowd should when he saw it pleased the Jews proceed further not only to take Peter also but lay violent Hands upon all the Preachers of the Gospel and vex the whole Church I need not in this place for I consider before whom I speak I need not here proceed to the next Ages consequent to that of the Apostles and lay before you a large Catalogue of that noble Army of Martyrs who suffered for the sake of Christ during those several Persecutions which successively raged and laid waste the Church of God I need not lay before you an account of those several Kings and Emperors under whom the Faithful Servants of the Blessed Jesus chose rather to suffer Afflictions with the People of God than deny their Master and desert their Saviour who were tortured not accepting deliverance who had Trials of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonment and yet amidst all their Troubles and Afflictions showed themselves more than Conquerours through him that loved them 'T would be needless to carry your Eyes backward to
day repeat We are to show the World that our Faith is a practical one continually producing the Fruits of Righteousness and discovering it self in all holy Conversation and Godliness that our chief Endeavour is to be like our great High Priest Holy Harmless Undefiled that our main design is to shine like so many Lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation and to keep our selves unspotted from the World This is an effectual convincing way of Preaching when we not only instruct others how they ought to walk but visibly set a Copy before their Eyes for them to Transcribe and who knows but many of those Men may be won over by a good Example whom a positive Precept will not work upon What a mighty Force what an almost irresistable byass doth a good Example lay upon the Minds and Actions of others This carries not only Light but Heat with it too for a truly pious Zeal for God and Religion will kindly dispense its warmth to all that come within reach of it But then Thirdly To be more particular there is another sort of Adversaries who are not content to be wicked in their Practises but are if I may so speak debauch'd in their Faith and Principles And with these Men they are particularly concerned to deal whom the Holy Ghost hath made Overseers of that Flock which the Son of God hath purchas'd with his own Blood They are timely to forewarn those who are committed to their Charge of these sorts of ungodly Men who by false Glosses and forc'd Interpretations of the Text wrest the Scriptures to their own and others Destruction For these Men are not satisfied in being deceived themselves but have the boldness to spread their Errours openly proclaim defiance to all the Mysteries of the Gospel publickly oppose that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and by publishing their Notions to the World slily insinuate that they have reason on their side Thus whilst by cunning Craftiness they lie in wait to deceive they catch the ignorant and unstable who are convinc'd often by a shew of Argument and have not Genius enough to distinguish between a colour of Reason and a Demonstration These are Wolves which in considerable numbers have lately crept into the Flock and are indeed Enemies of a very dangerous kind and therefore it behoves us earnestly to contend and as publickly oppose and confute their Errours as they dare to Print 'em To discover the Trick and Sophistry which they use in the Management of their Arguments not suffer them by any false Interpolations to add to nor by any false Pretensions from the Authority of this or that ancient Copy to diminish from the Text. We are to take care that they do not impose upon the World by any false Citations out of the Primitive Fathers or by misquoting any other antient Authors and so make the World believe that the Doctrine of the Church in former times was consonant to what they teach This is our Business this ought to be the Fruit and result of that studious sedentary Life to which we are design'd By this means we shall not only be able to confute those Heresies which at present infest the Church but prudently provide against any that may be broach'd hereafter This I say is our Business thus are we to contend earnestly for the Faith and give me leave to add that we are under one of the strictest Obligations imaginable so to do no less than a solemn Vow and Promise before God in the Presence of some one or other of the Reverend Fathers of the Church at our solemn Ordination they who are admitted to the lowest Degree of the Ministry to the Office of Deacons do promise Office for the Ordaining of Deacons That they will apply all their Diligence to frame their own Lives and the Lives of their Families according to the Doctrine of Christ and make both themselves and them wholesome Examples of the Flock of Christ. And when afterwards they are advanced to the Dignity of the Priesthood they engage themselves to be ready with all faithful Diligence Ordination of Priests to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange Doctrines which are contrary to the Word of God But Thirdly How those that are Magistrates are to contend for the Faith how they to whom the Sword of Justice is entrusted are to deal with these Adversaries of God and Religion the Time will not admit me to enlarge upon but give me leave to say thus much That they are obliged to take care that they bear not the Sword in vain There are some sort of Weeds springing up even in the Garden of the Lord the Church of Christ which cannot be cut down or at least not totally rooted out without the assistance of the Civil Power and therefore it is to be hoped especially considering before whom I speak that whenever such assistance shall be desired it will be as readily granted There are a sort of bold obstinate Wretches who seem to have made a Covenant with Sin and Death who are Reprobate concerning the Faith who are positively resolved to shut their Ears against all Advice that may be offer'd who will not give themselves leisure to reflect nor are ever cool enough for a serious Morning Thought these must be given over to the Management of the Civil Power and as on the one hand in the Administration of Justice and Discipline we are not altogether to forget Mercy so on the other side when we are inclined to be favourable we must take care to be so favourable as not to be too remiss And now having already said thus much I have prevented my self from enlarging upon the Third Head viz. to show what mighty Encouragements we have to perswade us to a constant Perseverance in our Christian Warfare what blessed Assistances are offer'd to us and what glorious Rewards we shall be Crowned withal if we fight the good Fight and do inviolably keep the Faith But no one surely can doubt but that God who in the performance of all our Religious Duties hath promised us the blessed Assistances of his most Holy Spirit who hath promised that in all our Afflictions and Temptations his Grace shall be sufficient for us will likewise more particularly assist and support us whilst we are fighting the Lord's Battles and couragiously standing up for his Cause And as we are assured that none of all our Labours shall be in vain in the Lord so undoubtedly the brightest Coronets of Glory shall be reserved for them who after a mighty conflict with all their potent Adversaries come off Glorious and Triumphant To him thâ—t overcometh saith the Blessed Jesus will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne Amen Hallelujah Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to preserve you faultless before the Presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy to the only wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power both now and for ever Amen FINIS