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A23710
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A discourse concerning the beauty of holiness by the author of The duty of man, laid down in express words of Scripture.
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Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing A1109; ESTC R22680
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56,782
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148
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let us not even under these sad circumstances charge God foolishly or be impatient under the severity of his correction for this is no argument of the hatred of a Father Let us rather in this case view the unspeakable reward and the divine promises which are sufficient arguments to revive our fainting and most languishing hopes and able to form our souls to true patience Philosophers if ever they attained to a perfection in any vertue it was in their patience under the instability of worldly things and yet their grounds and motives to patience were sandy and ineffectual and no ways comparable to the arguments habit and custome while this is the very thing that enhances their guilt neither will it I think a whit lessen the crime that Great persons have given it such a vogue in the world The Name of God is a sacred thing which must not be appealed to but in the most weighty and serious cases Thou shalt swear says the Prophet that the Lord liveth in truth justice and judgement If we either affirm or promise any thing by oath it must be after mature deliberation after we have ascertained our selves of the truth and lawfulness of it this the very Poet could dictate Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit It were to be wished that the Hectors of this age would learn of the very Heathens more reverence and that those men that pretend to good breeding would be so civil even sometimes for the companies sake as to forbear those Oaths that tender ears cannot hear without offence In the last place the divine Love if scattered in our Hearts will excite us to worship God after the method himself hath prescribed It will direct us to the rule of Piety where we shall finde every thing that relates to our immediate intercourse with God in divine Ordinances and Worship exactly ordered I confess the Heathen-world as they were confused in their notions of a Deity and almost quite ignorant of the eternal reward so were they superstitious in their Worship and sometimes ignorantly erected Altars to an unknown God Their Worship was attended with a great deal of external pomp was very grateful to their external senses but it reached not the Heart But the Christian rule instructs us to worship God in Spirit and prescribes the best method of devotion It requires that We worship and bow before the Lord our maker with all possible humility and reverence that we possess our Hearts with the greatness and glory of that Majesty we adore that we be intent in our devotion and not suffer secular concerns to intrude and interrupt us that we act faith upon him and believe that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him and that we approach the throne of grace in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If Devotion were not a duty yet methinks the advantages thereof should invite and that which finally excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven where nothing that pollutes can enter 2 Cor. 6.9 Rev. 21.27 'T is indeed not wonder though the Religion of the Gentiles which contained a prodigious mixture of vanity and impiety gratified the inclinations of uncleanness for if we consult their writings we shall observe that the most abominable vice wanted not a Deity to patronize it amongst them which upon the matter was an establishing iniquity by Law and an argument more sufficient to encourage than to correct vice And although the Writings of some Philosophers have been more refined yet the Lives even of such were full of the foulest actions Nay the rules which the best Masters of Morality amongst them prescribed never reached to the purifying of the Heart I confess that man that shall take notice and who having eyes in his head can evite this when men proclaim their sin like Sodom of the prodigious uncleanness this prophane age has arrived at shall be strongly tempted to suspect the purity of the Christian Rule if he make no farther enquiry than to the practices of most that are called Christians We may indeed very aptly write to the professors of this age as the great Apostle did to the Church of Corinth It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named amongst the Gentiles 1 Cor. 5.1 And I am a little afraid if the Church should strictly observe that charge that the Apostle gives there and excommunicate all such wicked persons that our Church should not need to brag much of the number of Christians 'T is indeed matter of great sadness to consider how much the Christian Religion has suffered upon the account of the scandalous practices of Titular Christians and I make no doubt but this age has been at more pains than any that precedes it to increase the scandal but sure 't is but a silly artifice to challenge the exactness of the Rule and with Celsus impudently alleage that the Christian Religion encourageth men to the practice of immorality and vice since of all Religions the Christian onely can produce the strictest Laws against all filthiness of flesh and spirit 'T is a Doctrine as blessed Apostle tells us according to godliness and lays undispensible obligations upon its followers both to think upon and to do dearing a quality and so noble an embelishment of our nature that where this is wanting all other advantages are little regarded and not onely men but the great God also resists the proud it being a vice which besides Christianity Morality also-condemns as universally unbecoming to Humane nature and that which not onely disturbs ones self but also disquiets whole societies But God gives grace to the humble he takes such persons into favour as being more pliable to receive the impress of his love And as a humble so also a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price And can there be a more convincing motive than this to recommend meekness to Christians And indeed we cannot pretend to be the Disciples of holy Jesus if we refuse to learn that lesson he hath copied out to us Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Although a calm and quiet spirit is a reward to it self as every vertue is yet it wants not a claim to a temporal felicity also Matth. 5.5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth These be the persons to whom by right of promise this stately Fabrick of earth belongs And if we now view that unpleasant vice of Anger opposite to it this will yet adde more to its lustre and help to recommend it the more effectually Anger being such an unpleasant humour that it makes those men it possesses unfit for humane society it being not unfitly defined by the Poet to be a short madness which indeed agrees very well with the Wise mans verdict of it Eccl. Anger rests in the bosom of fools If then men would but compare the calm
after this all the loss a good man suffers is that of temporal conveniency he hath denied himself the enjoyment of sensual pleasures so far as he judgeth them sinful he is not so intemperate as other men and perhaps is exposed to some hazards for his Religion at the most all that he is to hazard is but very small But if there be a future reward in what a dismal state are the wicked who shall everlastingly be deprived of it and be irrecoverably plunged into a state of lasting and severe torments But since we are assured of a future reward and know certainly that the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father and that the wicked shall be cast into utter darkness What folly and madness is it to be careful for the Body and careless what becomes of the Soul to provide for Time and neglect Eternity Sure 't is no wonder though the Wise man does so frequently characterize the sinner a fool and represents him as one that lacketh understanding And indeed we may rationally say This their way is their folly their foolish choice proclaims that those workers of iniquity have no knowledge The Conclusion WE have now seen the Excellency and Beauty of Holiness have discovered the absolute Perfection of its Nature and the Compleatness of its Rule have taken a view of its Allurements and powerful Motives and have discovered the weakness of those Cavils that are urged against it and what remains but that we set about this work with the greatest seriousness imaginable that we give no sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eye-lids till we forsake our sins and enter upon a course of Holiness If God had imposed upon us a heavy and intolerable yoak if he had commanded us to perform some grievous and uneasie service had we not been obliged to have obeyed But since he onely commands us to wash and be clean requires onely our consent to what is so much our own interest onely exacts that we separate our selves from those lusts that pollute and defile us that vex and torments our mindes and which if continued in will certainly ruine and undo us what fools and mad men are we if we refuse to hear his voice Almighty God has been drawing us with the Cords of Love has presented to us the most charming motives to excite our love and esteem has carried us as it were to the Pinacle of the Temple and discovered to us all the glory and beauty of this world has taken us to Pisgah and given us a view of the good Land of Canaan of the City of the living God of which glorious things are spoken and promised that all these things shall be ours if we will but be holy in all manner of conversation And to excite our fear he has opened to our view the powers of the world to come has plainly told us of the pains and torments that the damned suffer day and night and that indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish remains as the due portion of those that do evil And now may he not take up that same protestation that he used to his ancient People the Jews What more can I do for you But alas we have in the most insolent manner despised all these charms of Love and like the mad man in the Gospel have broken to pieces the strongest Fetters and Chains We are God knows as deeply sunk into sensuality and bruitishness as those to whom the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath never appeared 'T is not credible I may say possible that men could have been more wicked than they now are supposing they had never heard of Heaven or Hell 'T is a wonder as any one would think that those very men who profess they believe in Christ should so grosly and openly contradict his plain Precepts that those who believe that without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness yet persist in their abominable wickedness and are neither awed with fears nor animated with hopes What is all this but for men to expose themselves to the contempt rather than pity of discerning men We have surveyed the several advantages which attend Holiness have discovered how much mans temporal as well as his eternal welfare and happiness depends upon it We have explained how in her right hand is length of days and in her left hand are riches and honour that her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace And now may we not give the same testimony of it which Joshua and Caleb did of Canaan Numb 14. The land which we passed through to search it is an exceeding good land The Sons of Anak I mean the pretended difficulties are not so strong as some men represent them to be we need not be discouraged to encounter with them greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world Alas what Objection can men possibly make against a Duty that is so excellent useful and necessary that is founded upon such mighty motives as may prevail with any who is not quite petrified in desperate Impiety Good God! what stupid folly is this that men hide their hands in their bosom and will not so much as stretch them out to this tree of Life that they may eat of this fruit which is pleasant to the eye and profitable both to our present and future happiness 'T is indeed pity that men should be thus permitted to run headlong to destruction Alas is perdition so lovely and desirable that like Rachel a double servitude is thought light for it and shall wise and discerning men be Eye-witnesses of the bad bargain those men make and not warn them of their folly I know this is a duty chiefly incumbent to our spiritual Watchmen to discharge I doubt not but many of them stand upon their watch and warn men of their danger It were to be wished that all and every of them were thus faithful but sure every man is in some manner concerned to be his brothers keeper and he is highly criminal who should see a mad man running upon danger and not stop him in his course I wish some new-coined Doctrines had not an inauspicious influence upon the bad practices of many had not too much countenanced and authorized vice but my present designe is so far from controversial that I shall rather think my self concerned to inveigh against needless disputes than start any If I may speak from my own experience I ingenuously confess I finde Disputes so insipid and fruitless and in the review so unsatisfactory that I am resolved henceforth to bid an eternal adieu to them and to condemn them as the great underminers of Christian Piety And if any shall after this fair warning assault any Doctrine I have elsewhere owned I hope discerning men will neither esteem me nor the Cause the worse that I draw not my Sword in its defence And now what shall I say more but conclude with Moses's passionate Exhortation Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts to the words which I testifie to you this day for it is not a vain thing because it is your life Let us no longer delay and put off this duty while it is called to day let us not harden our hearts through the deceitfulness of sin but seriously search and try our ways and turn to the Lord this is the proper season for so necessary a work ere long there will be no time left us to consider our ways O that in this our day we did understand the things that belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes If men would but be induced to imitate the Psalmists Example Psal. 119.59 I thought on my ways I doubt not but they should also imitate the course he did take I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments But men consider not what they are doing and so no wonder though they perish no wonder that they prefer darkness to light and despise Holiness as a thing of no value Let us therefore humbly and heartily invoke the Father of Lights to open the Eyes of men whom the God of this world hath blinded that they may flee from the wrath to come by cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God FINIS BOOKS Printed for and are to be Sold by Robert Sollers at the Kings Arms in Ludgate-street SErmons preached upon several occasions before the King at Whitehal By the Right Reverend Father in God John Wilkins late Lord-bishop of Chester to which is added A discourse concerning the beauty of Providence by the same Author Rome a-la-mode or the Sentiments of the Court and Cardinals there concerning Religion and the Gospel as they are delivered by Cardinal Palavicini in his History of the Council of Trent Syncrisis or the most natural and easie method of learning Latine by comparing it with English Together with the holy History of Scripture-war Or the sacred Art Military Illustrated in fourteen Copper-plates with the rude Translation opposite for the exercise of those that begin to make Latine By E. Coles Cocker's Arithmetick the second Impression Cocker's Morals fitted for the use of all Grammar and Writing-schools For the Scholars of the first to turn into Latine and for those of the other to transcribe into all their various and curious Hands Nugae venales or the complaisant Companion being new Jests Domestick and Forrain Bulls Rhodomontado's pleasant Novels and Miscellanies Asteria and Tamberlain or the Distressed Lovers a Novel Madam Wheadle or the fashionable Miss discovered with all her modest Pretences and subtile Stratagems Scaramouch a Philosopher c. Acted at the Theatre Royal A Comedy written by Edward Ravenscroft Gent. A Treatise of the nature of a Minister in all his Offices To which is annexed an Answer to Dr. Forbes concerning the necessity of Bishops to ordain which is an Answer to a Question proposed in these late unhappy times to the Author What is a Minister By William Lucy Lord Bishop of St. Davids