A SERMON Preached before THE Lord Bishop OF CHICHESTER AT LEWES At his First VISITATION there By TIMOTHY PARKER Rector of East-Hothley in Sussex IMPRIMATVR 27. April 1676. Georg. Hooper Reverend Dom. Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis LONDON Printed for John Baker at the Three Pigeons in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1676. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD RALPH BY DIVINE PERMISSION Lord Bishop OF CHICHESTER My Lord YOur Lordship 's favourable acceptance of this following Sermon and Commanding it to be Printed for such force Your desire carries with me have at length made me adventure to present it to Your Lordship's View with hope that what upon hearing had Your approbation will upon sight pass however for allowable After Your Lordship's declaring in favour of it I am little concern'd what Reception 't will find abroad believing with some reason that what such a Judgment disapproves not can not easily displease the Good and Candidly Judicious and 't is the good opinion of such only I have value for If some few of my Brethren by the Perusal of this plain Discourse may be in the least measure aided towards making themselves and others Better I have my end in it To contribute the best I was able to excite a greater sence of Religion amongst us by animating the Ministers of it to display its Beauty in their Lives as well as their Discourses was the Desâ—gn I proposed to my self And what ever the Success be I have the satisfaction that I did not take my aim amiss and how unproportionable soever the means be I used the defect was not from any want of Good will to lend the best assistance I was able Prompted thereunto by a Spark of that Zeal for the success and prevalency of true Christian Piety against the Licentiousness of this present Age that glows in the Hearts of all good men and that Your Lordship in Particular is all on fire with This my Lord it is that makes You Venerable this gains You the Hearts of all good men makes You awful to the bad This will make You a Publick Blessing whilst You live Embalm Your Memory when dead Nay make You live after Death on Earth in the Hearts and Memories of all good men that knew You in Heaven in the Joyes of our Lord. That God would long preserve Your Lordship for the Benefit of his Church and make all Your Endeavours for its Prosperity eminently successful is the Hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble And Dutiful Servant Timothy Parker MATTHEW 5.16 Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven THe greatest and most important Enquiry that ever was in the World was that of the Psalmist Who will shew us any Good Who will discover to us wherein true Blessedness lies and by what wayes and means we may be able to obtain it An Enquiry that every man is highly concerned to be satisfied in from that common Principle of Nature that inclines every thing to seek its own Preservation and Wellbeing But such Darkness had man's Apostacy brought upon his mind that he was utterly at loss how to arrive at any satisfaction in this Search as by the great variety of differing Opinions about man's chiefest good sufficiently appears Sad and deplorable was the condition of the World plung'd in misery and lost as to all Remedy within Nature's ken and reach when our blessed Saviour the true light of the World came from Heaven on purpose to discover that happiness that mankind was groping after in the dark and to this end communicated his light to those that were his first Hearers not only to guide their own feet in the paths of peace but that they by the light of their Doctrine and good example might illuminate a dark World disperse the beams of saving truth from one end of the Heavens to the other and by propagating it to their Successors make such a comfortable day to those Nations that had long sate in darkness and the shaddow of death as should know no night to the worlds end And to this purpose he enjoyns them here in the Text Let your Light so shine c. Which words whether they were spoken to the promiscuous multitude of the Disciples or appropriated to those that were to be the Stewards and Dispensers of the Gospel Mystery is disputed amongst Interpreters nor need it be determined by me 'T is sufficient for my present purpose that though the Charge here given belong not solely to the Apostles and their Successors yet it casts a peculiar aspect upon them it takes faster hold of them by an accession of peculiar ties and binds them to its obedience in a higher and more improved sence And that 's sufficient to warrant my addressing a Discourse to my Brethren of the Clergy from these words In which as they have a peculiar regard to them they contain a duty enjoyn'd with a reason enforcing it and in the duty enjoyned these three things 1. A knowledge of the Doctrine of the Gospel and that such a knowledge as may enable us to instruct others 2. A vigorous endeavour to propagate our light and to communicate this wholesome knowledge to others 3. A life conformable to this Doctrine Of these in their order beginning with the first 1. A knowledge of the Gospel Mysteries and that such a knowledge as may enable us to instruct others in them The great end why the Gospel Ministry was set up was to turn sinners from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God and the chains wherewith the Devil holds men in captivity are chains of darkness They are altenated from the life of God through the darkness that is in them All the affairs of this dark Kingdom are carried on by Falshood and Imposture All the Sophisticate Wares that he obtrudes upon men for which he gains their souls in exchange are put off by the advantage of darkness and obscurity hence sinners and fools are terms convertible in Scripture and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all sins in some sence are sins of Ignorance is good Divinity The Devil deals with sinners as Elisha with the Syrians first smites them with blindness and then leads them captive at his pleasure as the Philistims with Sampson first bores their eyes out and then they are fit for his drudgery T would spoil the Merchants of Hell to have their Merchandise seen by a true light And consequently he that would be instrumental to rescue sinners from under the Prince of darkness must be furnished with an excellent knowledge with a clear and bright understanding able to represent things in their true colours the beauty of holiness and the deformity of fin both stript of those disguises the Devil puts upon them to make the one lovely and the other hated A little knowledge with an honest heart may qualifie an ordinary Christian for Heaven But 't is no
engagement to service and employment If we let these Treasures lie by and rust the very rust of them will witness against us 2. 'T is the best testimony of our love the greatest proof of our fidelity to our Lord and Master That great lover of Souls hath intrusted many of them to our care and in them the worth of many Worlds is deposited in our hands Whether they shall live Eternal Ages in Joyes too big for Mortal thoughts to conceive or die the Devil's Slaves and partake his torments depends in great measure upon our care in instructing them What value our Saviour puts upon them is best understood by the price he paid for them they were redeemed with the blood of God and by his passionate recommending them to the care of those whom he appointed their Guides and Instructors Simon Son of Jonah lovest thou me Feed my Sheep And again and a third time lovest thou me Feed my Sheep feed my Lambs If we have any affection for that Saviour of ours to whom we owe our present valuable enjoyments and all our future hopes if any compassion for those souls which are the purchase of his blood if any regard of that important trust that must be accounted for with greatest severity we cannot but bend all the Forces and Powers of our Souls to the discharge of it and apply our selves to it with greatest chearfulness and alacrity in testimony of the great honour he hath put upon us For 3. It is the Noblest employment in the World A work of the greatest Charity and Charity is the work of Heaven The greatest object of compassion in the World are the souls of men blinded by Ignorance enslaved to lust in bondage to the Devil and the greatest labour of Love is that that 's undergone to rescue them out of that captivity To cloath naked backs and feed empty bowels and redeem miserable Captives from the thraldom of merciless Tyrants is a charity that God accepts and highly rewards But to cloath the nakedness of mens understandings by making them wise to salvation to feed poor hunger-starved souls with the bread of life to break off the Devil's fetters and redeem them from hellish tyranny is a charity as much more noble as Eternity exceeds Time as the Souls of men are of more worth than their Bodies 'T is a Work that rejoyces Heaven causes Joy amongst the Angels Those Blessed Spirits keep as it were a Festival upon the day of a sinner's New-birth And shall a work applauded by all the Inhabitants of Heaven be managed with coldness and indifferency with faint and languishing endeavours There 's nothing makes men more Godlike than becoming great and publick Benefactors and none are more Eminently so than they that are instrumental to turn many souls to Righteousness He that hath any sense of true Godliness in his heart cannot but think it one of the greatest blessings God can bestow upon him to make him an instrument of deriving blessings upon a Multitude Much more blessings of that importance that do men good for ever blessings that fit and prepare men for Heaven that shall be everlastingly remembred there with eternal Hallelujahs to God the Author and eternal acknowledgments to men the instruments For it is not to be supposed Ingratitude a Vice so detestible on Earth should ever find any place in Heaven 4. This will be a very great evidence of our own sin cericy 'T is the nature the true Indoles of true Piety where-ever it is to spread and dilate it self All good is communicative and the better any thing is the more diffusive Piety enlarges the hearts of men to espouse the Interest of all mankind 't is a dayly prompter to good and worthy actions whereby others may be advantaged an active restless Principle that can no more cease from benefitting all that come within its reach than fire can cease from burning or a spring from streaming forth The love of God and man are the Elements of its Nature Above all it makes men painful and industrious in their Callings faithful in their own places and stations Since then God hath made it our business and employment in the World to communicate the knowledge of himself and his Christ to men to direct them in the Paths that lead to eternal happiness We cannot have a better evidence that we are partakers of the Divine Nature than by imitating the Divine Goodness in employing those Talents he hath bestowed upon us to the use for which he designed them Our own Sonship will be best made out by our resemblance to our Heavenly Father and Almighty goodness is that Character that most readily offers it self to the minds of men when they would srame an Idea of God within themselves 5. The faithful performance of this duty is recompensed with an ample Superlative reward Every Soul that we are instrumental to bring to Heaven will add a new lustre to our Crown Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Start for ever and ever or if that place be capable of another meaning that of our Saviour will put it out of doubt He that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's neward Where if a Prophet's reward did not in port something extraordinary and transcendent there would be nothing of encouragement and enforcement to the duty And if we had not this assurance of a Divine Promise it might be strongly argued from that natural influence the happiness we are instrumental to procure for other will have upon our own To be instrumental to bring Souls to Heaven to add new Members to the Church Triumphant is to provide so many everlasting Monuments of our pious care and pains whose Joys will all unite and center upon us we looking upon them but as our selves divided Children begotten by us to God with whom we travel'd in pain till Christ was formed in them Besides God who in justice punishes the Accessory as well as the Principal in evil deeds will be more inclinable to reward in us that good that others do by our counsel perswasion and direction by how much he is more prone to shew mercy in which he delights than to afflict the children of men which he does unwillingly And what an encouragement is this to labour in the Lord's Harvest to spend our selves for the good of our Flocks when every soul that we are instrumental to save from death will bring such an accumulation to our Joyes and add a new Coronet to our Crown 3. A third thing in this Charge is a Life conformable to the Doctrine of the Gospel Not to mention the obligations common to us with the rest of Christians there are several considerations peculiar to us as Ministers of the Gospel that enforce the strictest conformity to the Laws thereof 1. Whereas other men by the urgency and exigence of their
the greatest symptoms of decaying piety were legible in the vitious lives of a depraved Clergy And thâ— best Prognosticks of the future growth of Religion is when it not only tipps the Tongues but lives in the Hearts adorns the Conversations and regulates all the Actions of its Ministers So that Cato's definition of an Orator Vir bonus dicendi peritus is a more necessary ingredient into a Preacher's For with what decency congruity can he be severe in reproving the faults of others who is indulgent and favourable to his owâ— Quid enim turpius quam ab aliis vitae rationem reposcere quam tuae non potes reddere All severity of this nature must begin at home In all probability he will wink at those vices in others which he allows in himself spare to strike at the root of those sins where every blow he gives lights upon himself For with what face can he control the vices of others whose reproofs rebound upon himself and flie in his own Face With what likelihood of success can he attempt to shame men out of their sins who by his own example brings sin into credit Will those Remedies he tenders to others be accepted and esteemed by them when 't is apparent he either never used them or if he did found them ineffectual Physician cure thy self will be retorted to his shame For a Demas to declaim against Covetousness a Diotrephes against Pride and Contention a Judas against Treachery a Hophni and Phineas against lust and intemperance a conceited Pharisee against Hypocrisie is but to do publick Penance every time he gets into the Pulpit to light up a torch to expose his own shame by to proclaim himself a wilful hardned self-condemned sinner to render himself a miserable and sad spectacle to good men but the scorn and mirth of fools To what end serves the Ministry but to perswade people to conform their Hearts and Lives to the laws and example of the holy Jesus And what more effectual course can we take to render all our endeavours insuccesful than to shame our own profession by an unsutable Conversation to violate those Laws we should enforce obedience to to confute our holy Doctrine by a lewd practice Little credit is given to him who frequently contradicts himself and no contradiction so injurious to a holy Doctrine as an unholy life Quid verbis opus est cum facta videam is but too usual a Plea though very unwarrantable whereby men shift off the obligations prest upon them by those who break loose from all the ties of duty themselves Sin reflects contempt upon every thing it meddles with makes not only the persons of men despised but their useful Counsels their wholesom Reproofs their best and most convincing Arguments lose their value and esteem as coming from them Which the Spartan Senators well understood when a worthless person having mentioned something useful to the Publick they voted it should be anew propounded by some Person of Worth and Integrity and then put in execution 3. Conformity of life to the Laws of our Religion is the ready way to obtain that skill in the Mysteries of Christianity that will render us ablâ— Ministers of the New Testament Christianity is a Doctrine according to Godliness and the honest heart is the best qualification in the learner A mystery of Godliness and Piety is the best Key to the Mystery Such a wisdom as begins in the fear of the Lord encreases by doing good and departing from Iniquity ends in the Beatifical Vision Our understandings are enlightned in this Mystery by the same degrees that our hearts are purified till at length when all sin is purged out we shall be admitted to the sight of God who is the Author the end of our Religion whither it leads us by sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth Christianity is not Ostentatio scientiae but leâ— vitae and whosoever does not conform his life to its rules will be very short sighted in its Mysteries Errour in Judgment is the natural issue of a pollured heart 't is a people that do err in their hearts If the Judgment continue Orthodox with an unchristian practice 't is so by mere contingency He hath no security to be preserved from dangerous ertour who does not guard himself from wilful sins it being too usual to make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience both together Whereas he who uses the best means of information and does his duty to the best of his knowledge and ability hath the greatest security imaginable he shall not our dangerously The secrets of the Lord are with them that sear himâ— A good understanding have they that do thereafter The lamp of knowledge is fed with the oyl of â—iety as this increases or decreases that waxes brighter or dimmer if this be not preserved that will be in danger to be extinguished at best it will cast but a faint and languishing light like the sepulchral lamps of the Ancients that were imprisoned in a dark Vault and lent only a wan pale light to a dead Carcass 'T is only by doing good and eschewing evil that we come to have our senses exercised to discern betwixt the one and the other There is a spiritual sensation in the soul of man that sees a Beauty and relishes a sweetness in all the acts enjoyn'd by Religion that lies asleep unless by an active and vigourous prosecution of our duty it be exercised and stirred up 4. I add fourthly the consideration of the Person whom we represent the Person of the Son of God the Great High Priest of our profession who was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners A Person that never trode one step awry A Divine pattern of holiness and purity humility and charity His whole life was a paraphrase of this Sermon upon the Mount All his Actions Motions whole Behaviour were exemplary and instructing We bless the people in his Name offer up their prayers to God in his Name beseech people in his stead to be reconciled to God How necessary is it those hands should be cleansed from all pollution that are lift up to a holy God in the Name of the Holy Jesus in the behalf of a people that he purified to himself to be a peculiar people zealous of good works How incongruous and misbecoming is it that the Ambassadours of the Son of God who came into the World to destroy the works of the Devil should be addicted to any of those which their Lord and Master came to destroy that they who are Agents for the Prince of peace should be of quarrelsome and contentious spirits that they whom he hath set apart to draw others to a conformity to his Laws and great example should violate and trample upon his Laws and represent his example so ill as if he were a Patron and Advocate of Impiety I might add lastly as deserving our consideration that we cannot be wicked without being more