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A64376
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A sermon preached at the anniversary meeting of the clergy-mens sons in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, December 3, 1691 by Thomas Tenison.
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Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing T718; ESTC R23739
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10,892
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33
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living at such distance from the first Fountain of Evangelical Tradition and many find a way to their worldly Profit through the breaches of Unity It is in the few that Reason and Grace rule and what Equity can be expected where the Passions of Men give the Law Daily experience shews how narrow-minded how unjust how biassed Men are how they judge by their Affections and that instead of doing nothing by Partiality they scarce do any thing otherwise in such sort that where there are many Competitors for any Place every one of them finds his Friend and perhaps the most unqualifi'd Person does at length prevail 3. But Thirdly every Christian should walk by a straighter Rule considering 1 st What is the corrupt Original And 2 dly What are the sad effects of siding and partiality 1 st For the Cause of it It has its Original in the brutal Part of Man which ought not to give Law but to be mortifi'd and subdu'd St. Paul numbers fierce Zeal and Seditions amongst the works of the Flesh and expostulates with those who rais'd the foremention'd difference about the Persons and Gifts of Paul Apollos and Cephas saying Are ye not carnal and walk as Men Do ye not proceed after the common fashion of the Men of this World who have scarce a grain of the Salt of Wisdom in their Bodies whose Imaginations are false Glasses distorting the Images of Truth and Goodness whose Eyes are the Windows of Vanity and whose Ears let in delusive Report and are charm'd with Flattery whose Anger is a short madness whose Lusts are blind and impetuous whose very Stomach is such an Enemy and yet such a God to the rest of the Members and whose Heart is full of haughty Thoughts and earthly Desires Of these evils Partiality is made up but especially of the latter Pride and Covetousness Partial men resolve all into their own private Humour and Inclination They move about their own Center and wind in all they can as if they were a World by themselves so that in all they design and in all they do they have an eye to that recompence of Reward which may accrue to themselves in the gratifying of some peculiar Fancy Appetite or Passion 2. The Effects of Partiality answer the Cause of it And 1 st Hereby Men are alienated from God who governs the World by the Rules of Equity who is no respecter of Persons who accepts of no Man whose Cause is Evil who punishes and rewards every Man according to his works who gives this Command in Exod. 23. 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a Cause to decline after many to wrest Judgment or to pass Sentence merely upon a popular motive The same Just God in Psal. 50. 16 17 18. reproves those wicked and partial men who would take upon them to declare his Statutes judicially and to do it in favour of Offenders When thou sawest a Thief thou consentedst with him didst judge in favour of him and hast been partaker with Adulterers or become guilty of their Crime by not punishing of it Nor did he out of Arbitrary will accept of Abel and reject Cain but had regard to the Principles of their Hearts and according to them their Sacrifices were pleasing or displeasing to him This is the Spirit of that God that made us whom we ought to imitate but it dwells not in the heart of the selfish who are govern'd by Favour and Affection by Sides and partial Friendships and yet presume oftentimes to entitle the Righteous Lord to their own interested Declensions from the merit of Persons and Causes So the Congregation of the Children of Israel call'd those who were in a wicked Confederacy with Corah The People of the Lord. And Persons of like Temper fall into the like presumptuous Expressions and when they kill others out of Revenge they pretend they do God good service or offer a Sacrifice which needs not Frankincense to make it grateful to him Tho every offering that is good in it self is to him an Abomination when it comes from an unsound and blemished Heart And 2 dly as Partialists are not followers but dishonourers of God so are they injurious to the World 1. To the Justice And 2. To that which is the consequence of Justice the Peace and Order of it 1. They are Enemies to common Justice passing Sentence and proceeding according to the Affection that is predominant in them What Antinomians ascribe rashly to God is true of Partialists in their Actings They can see no Sin in their own People though one would think the dearer the Child were the more offensive would be the disobedience But Partiality blinds them and with such to be among them is merit From the Injustice of this Principle it was that S. Austin was so ill treated by the followers of Donatus They made the Division and then charg'd him with it and revil'd him saith Posidonius as a Wolf who ought to be kill'd in defence of the Flock In the mean time he was a holy and humble Man and stood on the just defensive part but they were fierce and factious and would not allow a Man to be a Christian if he said I am baptiz'd I embrace the Catholick Faith unless he added I am of the Party of Donatus The Partial likewise construe the Sufferings of others as perversly as they do their Lives They would perswade themselves or at least the World that Heaven it self testifies against the Persons whom they affect not by every misfortune which befalls them If Men of another way live piously and fall into some great affliction or die a sudden death they rashly call this a Judgment If some of their own way live immorally and either suffer in the World or in a moment are taken out of it they will say God by chastening them dealeth with them as the Children of his Love and his Bosom or that as Righteous they are taken away from the evil to come God hath forsaken him said the Enemies of David when he had but afflicted him for a Season The Heathens imputed all the Plagues which befel the Empire to the guilt of the Christians as Innovators not calling to mind the provocation of their own real Superstition and Idolatry And the Christians who were against Theodorit Ibas and Theodorus imputed all the Wars Famines and Pestilences in Italy to the favour shew'd to them in the Fifth Synod And the Miseries under which the Greek Church groaneth to this day are by the Friends of the Papacy ascrib'd to the distance it has kept from their Usurpation Good God! That Partial Men should pervert God's Judgments as well as their own and thereby oppose the Justice And 2. That which would otherwise have been the Fruit of it the Peace and Order of the World None are oftner complaining of the times than Partial Men and none occasion greater evil in them than they
with a Righteous indifference To render to all their Dues and not to suffer Affection to supplant Equity The Discourse which Pythagoras us'd in all Places and Companies and by which He is said to have promoted Peace in Italy and Sicily is this By all means and with all diligence Disease is to be removed from the Body Ignorance from the Mind Luxury from the Belly Sedition from a City Faction from a Family and from all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 study of Parts or Sidings This is one of the hardest of Lessons to Flesh and Blood and as it is impossible for Men to part with the individualness of their Persons so it is most difficult for them to strip themselves of all their Partialities whilst they are on Earth Nay if a Man would take his Faith from certain Romish Guides he would believe they carried some of them into Heaven it self for for Example sake the Carmelite Paul of Saint Ubald directs the Dying to crave the assistance of the Saint of their Name as if for Names-sake aid would be given them But the more difficult the Duty is the more earnest application must be used seeing it must be done in some competent degree for no Man who refuseth to deny himself can be Christ's Disciple Study therefore with all diligence to move uprightly in all your ways and particularly in the Duty in which you are now engag'd that of hearing the Word of God Have not Mens Persons in such admiration as to break the Unity of the Church for the sake of their private Gifts They are ill hearers and too much of the Corinthian humour who being curious are contentiously of them who can surprize with novelty of Conceit though they do not edifie with useful Truth Who being morose are of them who make severe Reflections upon the Times though they attempt no Reformation at home Who being warm in fancy and affecting gayness more than solidity are only of them who take more care about a fine Sentence than a good Argument Always follow the measures of the Prince of Peace who was true and taught the way of God in truth and cared not for any man nor regarded the Person of men He cared for all Men so far as to die for their Good but he cared not so for any Mans Person as to accept it against the Rule of Equity He had a particular regard to St. John his beloved Disciple but his Care was founded on some especial Reason probably a degree of Divine Charity in his Temper in which he might exceed the rest And be the rather mov'd to this impartiality by the Consideration of the Time the Time of Advent which sets before us the Judgment of the great Day on which all Men shall receive not according to what they have been in their Fortunes and what they may vainly pretend to but according to what they have done in the Flesh whether it be good or whether it be evil 2. I apply my self both to those whom God hath prosper'd and who dispense Alms with their own Hands and to those who are intrusted by others of large Hearts and Fortunes in the Administration of Charity What you do do with Integrity that the Ends of Charity may be attain'd to Be not sway'd by the mere importunity of indigent Persons or by the mere recommendation of those who for the avoiding the giving an Alms are free of their Hands and Testimonials which are of little labour or charge to them Discourage not the Living by the misapplications of the Charity of the Dead which are such and so many that every Commission for Charitable Uses is ready to put a damp upon the Benevolence of the Executors of it And after all your Care and Proceeding in Number Weight and Measure expect Approbation not from Men but from the Righteous Judge of the World For the necessitous will have their Eye evil because yours is good they will out of their own partiality raise clamour against all Dispensers of Charity as doing unequal things For they consider only their own Cases and cry out That there was never Poverty never Grief like theirs that they are the greatest Objects of pity and that others whose Needs and Merits are not so great are preferr'd before them though in truth they are much greater But it should not move us to any degree of Resentment to be cited before Mans Judgment to our great Master we shall stand or fall 3. Last of all For you my Brethren of this Society whilst I am exhorting you to Impartiality in Acting I have reason to praise you for being influenc'd already by so excellent a Principle Go on in the Name of the Righteous God in the straight way in which you have made so many laudable Steps Go on and Prosper Observe particularly the Words of the Apostle in the 3 d 5 th and 10 th Verses of this Chapter 3. Honour Widows that are Widows indeed 5. Such as being desolate or alone and unencumbred trust in God and continue in Supplications and Prayers night and Day 10. Such as are well reported for good Works such as have brought up Children and lodged Strangers and reliev'd the Afflicted when they had ability and diligently followed every good Work If we walk after such Rules that Seed of Charity which was but so lately sown in this Constitution and has already attain'd to some considerable growth will shoot up further till it become a Tree under the Shadow of which the Poor and Miserable may sit down with great refreshment If Equity and Charity meet together Peace will come down from Heaven as the present Reward of Righteousness And in the End when we shall appear before God the Father and our impartial Mediator Jesus Christ and the innumerable Company of Elect Angels we shall receive that Blessing which the Son of Man shall then pronounce to all the Just and Charitable saying Come ye blessed of my Father I was naked and ye cloathed me hungry and ye fed me thirsty and ye gave me drink a stranger and ye took me in Well done good and faithful Servants enter ye into the joy of your Lord. To that Supreme Lord and Benefactor of Mankind who came not to destroy but to save Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed Glory and Dominion and Praise this day and for Ever Amen FINIS Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell DR TENISON now Lord Bishop of Lincoln His Sermon of Doing good to Posterity His Sermon concerning Discretion in giving Alms. His Sermon against Self-Love before the House of Commons June 5. 1689. His Conference about Religion with Pulton the Jesuite His Sermon before the Queen concerning the Wandring of the Mind in God's Service Feb. 15. 1690. His Sermon before the Queen of the Folly of Atheism February 22. 1690. Dr. FOWLER now Lord Bishop of Gloucester his Sermon before the Queen March 22. 1690. The Bishop of Sarum's Sermon at the Funeral of the Lady Brook Feb. 19. 1690. His Fast Sermon before the King and Queen April 29. 1691. Dr. FREEMAN now Dean of Peterborough his Sermon at the Assizes at Northampton before the Lord Chief Justice Pollexfen Aug. 26. 1690. His Thanksgiving Sermon before the House of Commons November 5. 1690. Some Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of PIEDMONT By PETER ALLIX D. D. A vindication of their Majesties Authority to fill the Sees of the deprived Bishops in a Letter out of the Country occasioned by Dr. B 's Refusal of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4 to V. CL. GULIELMI CAMDENI Illustrium Virorum ad G. Camdenum EPISTOLAE Cum Appendice varii Argumenti Accesserunt Annalium Regni Regis Jacobi I. Apparatus Commentarius de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescalli Angli◠Praemittitur G. Camdeni vita Scriptore Thoma Smitho ' S. T. D. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4 to MEMOIRS of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679. 80. Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the ALBIGENSES By PETER ALLIX D. D. Treasurer of the Church of Sarum 4 to will be shortly published A Sermon Preached at White-Hall on the 26 th of November 1691. being the Thanksgiving-Day for the Preservation of the King and the Reduction of Ireland By GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARUM 4 to A Thanksgiving Sermon before the Lords on the 26 th of November 1690. for the Preservation of their Majesties the Reducing of Ireland and the King 's safe return By SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY ADVERTISEMENT PROPOSALS will be shortly published by Richard Chiswell for Subscription to a Book now finished Intituled ANGLIAE SACRAE PARS SECVNDA five Collectio Historiarum antiquitus Scriptarum de Archiepisco is Episcopis Angliae à prima Fidei Christianae Susceptione ad annum MDXL. Plures antiquas de Vitis Rebus gestis Praesulum Anglicorum Historias sine certo ordine congestas complexa Vers. 1 2. Vers. 17. Vers. 3 c. Vers. 22. Clem. Ep 1. ad Cor. Ed. Colom p. 56 110. * Id ibid. p. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Clem. Epist. 1. ad Cor. p. 110. 1 Cor. 1 12. c. 3. 4. C. 3. 3 * Gal. 5. 19 20. LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See v. 6. and v. 20. Thou satest c. Comp. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Numb 16. 41. Posid de vitâ S. Aug. c. 9. p. 830. * See Baron Annal. Tom. 7. An. 566. N. 21. * Pignor. Tab. Isiac p. 36. Demersum serio ipsi ridendi lugebant S. Jam. 2. 1 2 3 4 9. * Clem. Ep. 1. ad Cor. p. 56. Jambl. de vitâ Pythag. c. 7. p. 47. * P. of S. Vbald's Souls delight part 1. p. 112. S. Matt. 22. 16. S. Mark 12. 14. St. Matt. 20. 15.