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A30733
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A sermon preach'd at St. Mary-le-Bow to the Societies for Reformation of Manners, April 5, 1697 by Lilly Butler.
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Butler, Lilly.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing B6282; ESTC R27140
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16,186
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51
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Light of it shine before them in all the exercises of a sober righteous and godly life this will be such a manifest Proof of the Sincerity of its intentions to serve God and to do good as none of its adversaries will be able to gainsay or resist Then Men will be ashamed to reproach it or to impute the Endeavours of it to any corrupt Affections or to any worldly sinister Ends. Then no good man will be ashamed to appear for you to plead your Cause or to encourage your Endeavours Then you may reasonably hope that God will not throw you aside as unworthy Instruments for such noble Purposes but be ready to assist and bless and prosper your Undertakings for him Fifthly Your Zeal should be attended with great Humility with low thoughts of your selves and your best performances and a modest and humble Behaviour towards all Men for Pride and Selfe-conceit will stain the Beauty and hinder the Efficacy of the most zealous Endeavours for God and Religion These are Vices that are abominable both in the sight of God and Man and corrupt every thing that hath relation to them And these are the Sins you will be most in danger of For this is the common Stratagem whereby the Devil overcomes such as have held out against all his other Temptations He endeavours to flatter them into a great Opinion of their own Virtue and to make them proud of their Conquests over him and so secures them to himself by magnifying the Service they have done against him Let this then be your particular care to arm your selves against this Temptation and to keep your Zeal always cloathed with Humility which will be the greatest Ornament you can give it Be as thankful as you can for it but never make it your Boast that you are not as other Men are Consider then who it is that makes you to differ and of whose only gift it comes that you are able to do unto God any good and laudable Service that every good Work you do increaseth your obligation to do more for him but can be no just reason for your thinking more highly of your selves that when you have done the most and best you can for him you are far from rendring unto him according to all he hath done for you and have still reason to hold down your Heads and to smite upon your Breasts and say every one of you God be Merciful unto me a Sinner You have an excellent Example of this Zeal and Humility together in St. Paul who laboured more abundantly than they all yet he calls himself the least of the Apostles and gives all the Glory to God It was not I saith he but the Grace of God that was with me I come now Fifthly To answer some Objections against our zealous Endeavours to reform the Vices of the Age. First Some are ready to object that this is not a proper Season for such Attempts Wickedness is so impudent and daring and so much countenanced by those who are most able and obliged to suppress it that now to contest zealously against it is but labouring in vain and spending our Strength for nought and likely to make it insult and triumph the more upon baffling our Endeavours against it There is indeed but too much Truth in this Character of the Age we live in but however it ought not to quench our Zeal in labouring to make it better For. First We find the holy Servants of God were not discouraged in former times by the same Difficulties When all flesh had corrupted themselves Noah continued a zealous Preacher of Righteousness When the Cry of Sodom's sins was gone up to Heaven and they were most impudently bold in their commission of them righteous Lot did not cease to rebuke and oppose their Wickedness When the Altars of God were throwing down and the People were slaying his Prophets even then was Elijah exceeding Jealous for the Lord God of Hosts The Holy Prophets did zealously set themselves to reform the Manners of a sinful Nation a People laden with iniquity and inraged against all that opposed their growing Wickedness John the Baptist did not forbear his warnings and reproofs when he was beset with a Generation of Vipers And the Blessed Apostles with undaunted Courage persisted to defend the Cause of Christianity when it was every where spoken against Were not these Men of like Passions with our selves Is not reforming the Lives of Men as good a Work as ever Have we not the same God to assist us the same Laws to oblige us and the same Reward to encourage us that they had What Excuse can we find in the difficulty of this Work now which they might not have pleaded for laying aside that Zeal with which they endeavoured the accomplishing of it But Secondly The worse the Age is the more zealous should the Friends of Pietie and Virtue be to make it better When we see Religion almost ready to expire where is our Love to God or that if we do not hasten to its relief and apply our most earnest Endeavours for the support and recovery of it When that is lost then all our Hopes are lost then there will nothing remain for us but a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation to devour us And can any Difficulties excuse our Sloth when the Danger is so great and so apparent When Virtue is almost irrecoverably opprest and cries with dying Groans for succour shall we refuse to fly to its Defence for fear we should indanger it by our Assistance What a brave and noble thing rather would it be to encounter Wickedness in the height of all its Triumphs to go out in the Name of the Lord against it when it prides its self in its Gyant-like stature and hath all its Weapons of War about it and most insolently defies the Armies of the living God How would such Zeal and Courage become the Chidren of the Lord of Hosts their noble birth and high calling and glorious hopes and expectations Thirdly As bad as the Age is we have no reason utterly to despair of all Success in these our zealous Attempts to amend it It is the Cause of God a Cause wherein his Honour is mightily concerned a Cause he loves to see us ingaged in a Cause in which he hath oftentimes wonderfully assisted a Cause he seems not to have cast off all regard to at this time amongst us We have great reason to think it is of God that amidst so many Discouragements it hath come into the Hearts of some to unite their zealous Endeavours to repress the Insolence of insulting Wickedness and to rescue Pietie and Religion from that Contempt and Oppression it labours under Who knows but that little Cloud which appears but as a Mans Hand may by the Blessing of God so improve and spread its self as to be able at length by its refreshing Showers to renew the life and strength and beauty of withering Virtue
The Powers of Darkness and the corrupt Nature of Man are against us but if God be for us we are certainly the stronger side And why should we not hope that God will at length arise and plead his own Cause and make his Work prosper in the Hands of those that faithfully and zealously apply themselves to the help of the Lord against the mighty For the Eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose Heart is perfect towards Him 2. Chron. 16. 9. Fourthly How unsuccesful soever our zealous Endeavours may be for the reforming the Nation yet they may be succesful for the Preservation and Benefit of it God may shew Favour to the whole Body for the sake of those few Members of it that are ingaged so heartily in promoting his Honour and Interest He may do that for us for their sakes which he did for Zoar for Lot's sake and would have done for Sodom its self had there been but Nine more such as he was to be found in it Fifthly Our zealous Endeavours for reforming others though they may not be effectual for the Preventing publick Calamities yet they may be a means to preserve us from them or to procure for us great advantages under them Thus were Noah and Lot and Jeremiah preserved at least from the extremity of those publick Judgments which by their zealous Attempts to reform the Lives of Men they endeavoured though unsuccesfully to divert But what share soever God may think fit to give us in outward Calamities we may be sure of the support and comfort of a good Conscience under them a Conscience testifying to us that they are not the effect of any Sloth or Neglect of ours that we did our best to prevent them and that tho' we fall under them yet we do not fall under that Wrath of God which accompanies them that all these things will work together for our good who have loved and served God with so much Zeal Secondly Some perhaps may object against these zealous Attempts to reform the Wickedness of the Age that they will expose them to Scorn and Derision to harsh Censures and foul Reproaches But had ever any great and good thing been done if Men had always thought this a sufficient Excuse for declining the attempting of it Have not the best Men and the best things been always subject to the Scoffs and Revilings of prophane and dissolute Men Was there every any brave heroical Attempt made on the behalf of Religion that could escape the spiteful Censures of a naughty World But can any unjust Reproaches alter the nature of a good action or make it less our Duty or less becoming of us Is not the approbation of our own minds and the esteem and love of all wise and good Men and of the infinitely wise and good God a sufficient Encouragement against all the scurrilous Language of unreasonable and wicked Men Will not a strong and mighty love to God make us to glory in the Cross of Christ and to rejoyce that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name A malicious Informer is indeed a Character to be abhorred but when Informing signifies nothing but Witnessing against the great and scandalous Sinners of the Age we live in for their and the publick good and the Glory of God then it is a generous and honourable thing then it is doing what all the Prophets and all the Apostles and our Blessed Lord himself did before us And if ye are reproached for so doing happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on you and these light Afflictions which are but for a moment will work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Why then should we not seek with all our Might to affect our Hearts with Zeal in these matters that with vehement Desires unwearied Industry and Invincible Courage we may persue the great and good design of restraining and reclaiming Sinners I proceed therefore Fifthly To direct to some proper Considerations for the inflaming our Souls with Zeal in these good things First Consider What mighty Obligations God hath laid upon you to do the utmost you can for him It is in him you live and move and have your being It is by his Providence that you are preserved and by his Bounty that you are supplied with all the good things you enjoy and by the Blood of his only begotten Son whom he freely gave for such weak and foolish and provoking Sinners that you are redeemed from Death and Hell And can you be cold and negligent in seeking to advance the Kingdom and Honour and Interest of so hearty a Friend so liberal a Benefactor so tender a Father so good and gracious a God Can you think of all the Wonders of the Divine Love with cold and unaffected Hearts Do you not blush to tkink how little you have done for him who hath done so much for you Secondly You should often set before you the Zeal of our Blessed Saviour in this matter For this purpose he came down from Heaven to seek and to save that which was lost He took upon him the form of a Servant and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself unto death even the death of the Cross that he might redeem us from iniquity and purify to himself a people zealous of good works that he might destroy the works of the Devil and rescue the souls of Men out of his hands This was the business of his Life and the design of his Death And can any thing better deserve our Zeal than that which he thought not unworthy of his Blood Can we be indifferently affected to that which our dear Redeemer valued at so dear a rate Can we be better or more honourably imployed than in uniting our Endeavours with the Son of God and working together with him for the recovery of a perishing World Are we not concerned that in any respect he should live and die in vain who lived and died for our Salvation Can we stand still and make no Attempts to stop the growth of that which renders his Passion of none effect to Men and destroys the Souls for whom he swet and bled and died Thirdly Consider the Zeal and Diligence of the Enemies of this good work of reclaiming sinful Men. How Zealous and industrious is the Prince of Darkness in corrupting the Lives and destroying the Souls of Men All his Cunning and Strength and Activity is imployed in this work He is always laying his Snares and persuing his malicious Devices running to and fro and walking about seeking whom he may devour How zealous are his Agents and Ministers in carrying on the pernicious design of their Master to advance his Kingdom to increase the number of his Captives to entice Men to run with them into the same excess of Riot and to carry them down to Hell with them And