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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A51227 A sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor, and the Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, on the 28th of May, 1682 by John Moore ... Moore, John, 1646-1714. 1682 (1682) Wing M2552; ESTC R20127 21,938 53

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inestimable Value it is a Kingdom but he that sets himself to rest and folds his hands shall never be the better for it for that Kingdom shall only be taken and possest by them who violently invade it Nothing can be perform'd without Gods assistance who works in men to will and to do but then it is only in those who Concur with him and do work out their own Salvation with Care and Concernment with fear and trembling Christ has purchased for us a liberty as to Places and Times as to the choice and difference of meats but not a liberty to omit our Duty or do the least sin he has freed our shoulders from the burden of Moses Law but not discharged our obligation to any one Moral Virtue or Law of nature The Faith that will carry a man to Heaven must be a Faith that Worketh by love and love is the keeping the Commandments So the holy Scripture declares so the Primitive Fathers taught St. Ignatius makes Faith and Love the whole Duty of a Christian Faith the beginning Love the end Faith the guide Love the way and he hardly ever recommends the one but in the Company of the other Faith preceeds Fear builds Love makes perfect 5 That whatsoever Doctrines are not according to Godliness are so far from being necessary that they cannot be true For if it be the Scope and End of the Gospel to advance Godliness and that it is an argument both of the Credebility and excellency of it that it does so as I have before prov'd then it plainly follows if we suppose the Doctrine of the Gospel to be a true Doctrine that all such Opinions as are either contrary to the Godliness or do disserve the interests of it can neither be necessary Doctrines nor true ones Seeing then the truth of this Proposition is evident from the foregoing discourse I shall only now make it my business briefly to reflect on some of the many ill opinions which tho they have been taught for sound and Orthodox yet upon examination will appear not to be according to Godliness 1. The first I take notice of is that of Gods being the Author of Sin which has been expresly maintained by some men Now it is not possible that Opinion should be true which is inconsistent with the Reason of mankind or manifestly repugnant to the Attributes of God for all Controversies in Religion must be decided by Reason either from the Principles of Natural Religion or Divine Revelation and from the Principles of Natural Religion it is evident that there can be nothing in a Religion which comes from God that is repugnant to his Essential Attributes that is to himself Now that God should be the Author of Sin that is the Author of what does offend and dishonour him is very absurd and unreasonable that he should be Author of that which he has so often and solemnly declared he does abhor and detest thwarts with the attribute of his truth and that he should be the efficient cause of all the wickedness which is done and he will so severely Punish is a gross repugnancy not only to his infinite goodness but his justice it self Such Opinions as these deprive God of the holiness essential to his Nature and which even by the Gentiles unassisted with the light of the Gospel in their Praiers and Devotions was constantly ascribed to him 2. The Doctrine of irrespective decrees cannot be according to Godliness because it takes away the ground of all the motives to a Godly Life For if a man be included within the decree of Election the greatest sins will not Damn him and if he be left out of it the most holy Life cannot put him in a capacity of Salvation Again if God has decreed to save or reprobate men without regard had to either their good or evil Lives then they will be saved or lost without any respect had of either for what God has decreed that certainly will come to pass but to say that Men shall have sentence pass upon them to go either to Heaven or Hell without any consideration of their Faith and Obedience on one hand or their infidelity and impenitence on the other is to make a day of Judgment unnecessary and repugnant to that justice according to which God has declared he will then proceed We must all appear before the judgment of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 3. Among these ill Opinions we may rank that of the Popish Casuists who teach that the precept of loving God is in it self only Obligatory at the very point of Death altho we be always under the protection of Gods unwearied Providence and do every moment that we breath receive good at his hand tho there is no day of our Lives but we offend and stand in fresh need of his mercy yet these Licentious Casuists to say no worse of 'em are of opinion that it is a sufficient return of Gratitude to God for the infinite and unspeakable Acts of his love to us if in the end of our Lives we express one act of Love towards him But there needs no other Confutation in this Auditory of an Opinion so impious and directly contrary to the first and greatest Commandment of the Evangelical Law than the bare rehersal of it 4. Another Doctrine to be reflected upon is that which Teaches and Directs us to the use of such Means for the promotion of Christian Religion as are destructive of the ends of it The end of Christian Religion is to make men sincere in what they profess true to their word and upright in their dealings and therefore they who by lying and perjury equivocation and reserves endeavor to propagate the Religion of our Blessed Savior do by the means they use subvert the end they pretend to serve The design of Christian Religion is to teach men Peace and Subjection to all lawful Authority therefore they who would instil Principles of Sedition and Rebellion in order to the work of Reformation do defile and corrupt that pure Religion which they make such a shew of reforming The end of Christian Religion is to render men harmless kind and Charitable one to another therefore they who Condemn mens bodies to the stake and fire in order to refine their Minds and cut their Throats to save their Souls instead of doing service to the institution of Christ they bring the utmost slander and disgrace upon it that possibly they can No we must not doe evil that good may come of it we may not make use of unlawful means to bring about an honest end God in no Case will allow it neither can true Religion ever be reduced to such extremity as to stand in need of it But the time not allowing that I should further pursue this point or take any more of the