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A19551
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A sermon of sanctification preached on the Act Sunday at Oxford, Iulie 12, 1607. By Richard Crakanthorp Doctor of Diuinity.
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Crakanthorpe, Richard, 1567-1624.
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1608
(1608)
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STC 5982; ESTC S109018
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32,903
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41
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A SERMON OF Sanctification Preached on the ACT Sunday at OXFORD Iulie 12. 1607. By RICHARD CRAKANTHORP Doctor of Diuinity LONDON Printed for Tho. Adams 1608. To the right Worshipfull his most louing Patron Sir IOHN Lâ—Vâ—SON Knight R. C. wisheth welfare and prosperity SIr I willingly acknowledge that by two assured bands of loue and duty I am obliged vnto you The former arose from that vnsained affection which I euer bare from my first acquaintance in our Colledge towards those three Gentlemen your sonnes In whom I haue alwaies both entirely loued and honoured those excellent vertues which giue an assured promise of much comfort to their Parents and fruit vnto their Countrey and of their happie succeeding in those vertuous steps of piety and true honour which both your selfe and their most renowmed Grandfather of honourable and blessed memorie Sir Walter Mildmay haue trode before them I am further engaged vnto you by that most louing respect it pleased you to haue of me when contrary to the corrupt custome of many Patrones in this age of your owne accord you called me to this place my selfe being farre absent and neither knowing nor once dreaming thereof In regard of both which if I present vnto you these small fruits of my studies in that place which by your meanes I quietly enioy I nothing doubt but you will receiue them not onely as an assured pledge of my loue vnto you but specially as a fit argument whereon to exercise your religious meditations and retired thoughts amids those manifold encombrances and troubled affaires which you now sustaine to all which wishing an happy end and issue and to your selfe encrease of all Gods graces and blessings I take my leaue From Black Notley in Essex this first of Decemb. 1607 Your Worships in all duty RICHARD CRAKANTHORP A SERMON OF Sanctification 1. THESSALON 5.23 Now the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your whole spirit and soule and body may be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. WHat blessing the Apostle praied for the Thessalonians in this his conclusion and valediction vnto them the same do I wish vnto you Reuerend and right Worshipfull beloued in our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ in this which I intend to be my last speech in this kind and my valediction to this place to which with the like euen the same Christian duty but with farre more and more effectuall bands of priuate affection I am more neerely tied and linckt than was euer S. Paul as I suppose to the Church and Saints of Thessalonica In the Apostles praier there are foure seueral points to be considered First the blessing which he praied for and that was sanctification and holinesse Sanctifie you and keepe you blamelesse Secondly the Author and worker of this sanctification and that is God who is heere described by one speciall title noting both his loue vnto vs and our loue one toward another The very God of peace sanctifie you Thirdly the maner of this sanctification which is that it must be totall and entire whereof two speciall branches are heere set downe The one internall in the spirit that is in our mind or vnderstanding and in our soule that is in our will and affections The other externall in our bodies and outward actions Sanctifie you throughout that 〈…〉 spirit and soule 〈◊〉 body may be kept 〈◊〉 The Fourth and last is the time and continuance in this sanctification and that is vnto our dying day Vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Of these points while according to the strâ—â—tnesse of this time I shall entreat I earnestly desire once againe of our God the aâ—â—â—stance of his holy spirit and of you your Christian and wonted patience and attention Sanâ—â—ifie you The first point is the blessing which the Apostle wisheth to them namely sanctificaâ—ion and holinesse A duty so often required of vs in holy scripture that I may truly say of it the whole Law the Prophets and the Apostles do all aime at this In the 19. of Exod. God seueâ—ing his people from all other nations makes sanctity and holinesse to bee the badge of them If ye will heare my voice indeed and keep my couenant then shall yee bee my chiefe treasure aboue all people ye shall be also a kingdome of Priests and an holy nation vnto me In the 4. of Esay the Prophet saith of all Gods children They shall be called holy and euery one shal be written among the liuing in Ierusalem And againe Thy peo shall be all righteous And they shall call them the holy people the redeemed of the Lord. And in another place telling euery one of Gods children ye shall bee named the Priests of the Lord and men shall say vnto you The ministers of our God from hence he exhorts and perswades them all vnto sanctitie and holinesse Be ye cleane yee that beare the vessels of the Lord. The same reason doth Saint Peter vse in his 1. epist. chap. 2. Ye are a chosen generation a totall Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew foorth the vertues of him that hath called you What a motiue and spur ought thiâ— to bee vnto vs to lead a sanctified and holy life that God himselfe doth professe of aâ—l such and of such only that they are his chosen and elected children that they are his chiefest treasure on which his heart is set as himselfe doth witnesse Eâ—ay 62. where speaking to euery one of his children hee saith Thou shalt bee called Hephzabah for the Lord delighteth in thee that they are to him for their renown as kings for sanctity as a kingdome of Priests That as the Priests in the old Law were not only to haue Vâ—im and Thummim vpon their breast plate to signifie that inward light of knowledge and perfection of piety that should bee in their hearts but to weare also a plate of pure gold vpon their foreheads whereon was engrauen as on a signet Holinesse to the Lord. So euery true Christian and childe of God being now by Christ himselfe and by his spirit appointed and anointed to be a Priest vnto God to offer vp not only those other spirituall sacrifices of praier praise and thanksgiuing which the Prophet calles the Calues of our lips but that which the Apostle reckons as the chiefe sacrifice of all other to offer vp our selues our soules and bodies as a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable vnto God they should all so shine foorth in piety and in the vertues of a godly life as if continually they did weare that Leuiticall plate or had engrauen in Capitall and faire letters vpon their foreheads that is in true and reall actions of their liues and conuersation Holinesse vnto the Lord. Let me then in a word exhort and beseech euery one of you to embrace this sanctity and holinesse of life Ye are the houses
spoken of the third generall point namely the maner of our sanctification that it must be totall and entire Vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. The 4. general point and the last which I intend to obserue is the time or continuance which the Apostle requires in our sanctification namely that we should perseuere therein vnto the end of our liues and to our dying day for the life of a Christian is compared to a race wherein none receiue the prize but they onely that continue and run out vnto the end So runne then that yee may obtaine It is compared to a combat and the garland of immortalitie and crowne of righteousnesse for which we all doe striue hath not engrauen vpon it certanti but vincenti dabitur to him that ouercommeth and keepeth my words vnto the end will I giue to eate of the tree of life and of the hidden Manna Be thou faithfull then vnto the death and I will giue thee the crowne of life Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia sed finis saith S. Ierome ad Furiam It is not enough to begin but to end well is the honour of a Christian life The Prophet sets it downe as a propertie of the faithfull They will goe from strength to strength vntill euery one of them appeare before God in Sion Let vs not be weary saith S. Paul of weldoing for in due season we shall reape if wee faint not He that continueth saith S. Iohn in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Sonne To them that by continuance in wel-doing seeke glory and honour shall be immortalitie and eternall life Behold saith the same Apostle the bountifulnesse and seueritie of God toward them which haue fallen seueritie but toward thee bountifulnesse if thou continue in his bountifulnesse or els thou also shalt bee cut off And to such onely as perseuere is the promise of our Sauiour made Matth. 24. Hee that endureth to the end he shall be saued Beloued if any haue not already entred into the course of such a sincere and godly life as both long since they solemnly vowed and doe now outwardly professe such I cannot exhort with the Apostle to continue or goe forward but to desist from that course and without delay euen while it is called to day as the Apostle saith To turne vnto God nor euer to vse any of those sluggish and delatorie answers which S. Austen most iustly condemnes that when God cals you to arise from sinne and to bee partakers of his grace you should replie and say vnto him Modò ecce modò sine paululum sed modò modò non habebant modum Yet a little sleepe a little slumber and rest in sinne but rather follow that woorthie example of S. Austen who after a long strife and combat betwixt the flesh and the spirit at last as being impatient of longer delay he brast out into that most patheticall exclamation Quamdiu quamdiu â—raâ— â—raâ— quare non hodie quare nâ— hac hora finis turpitudinismeae How long shal I put off froÌ„ day to day why not euen this day nay why not this very houre do I make an end of all my filthines embrace the loue of God But because not onely Christian charitie but my priuate affection to this place makes me to iudge the best of you that you haue not onely begun but haue well proceeded in the course of a godlie life my onely exhortation shall bee vnto you that yee neuer turne backe from God nor from a Christian and a godly life but continue and perseuere therein as our Apostle saith euen to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ for although it be impossible which I haue heeretofore in sundry Sermons out of this place made cleere that those who are once truely sanctified by Gods spirit and seasoned with his grace should euer afterwards either totally or finally relapse or fall away from God yet that euen such by their voluntary running into some grieuous transgressions may so farre decline from God and from many degrees of his grace that they may leaue a grieuous wound vnto their conscience and a blemish to their profession and calling those knowne examples of holy Dauid S. Peter and diuers others doe more then sufficiently witnesse vnto vs which are purposely registred in the booke of God not so much to be a staffe of comfort to vphold those from despaire which by like infirmitie fall into like sinnes but specially to be a caueat and warning to all other wisely to preuent and manfully to resist all the motions of sinne and euen the first suggestions of Satan cum videant tantorum vtrâ—rum cauendat tempestates slenda nausragia as S. Austen obserues of those very examples in his 3. booke De doctr Christ. and 23. chap. that seeing Satan hath already giuen the foile to those who were so full fraught with pietie and so strong and valiant champions in this spirituall conflict that they were able to encounter yea to ouerthrow euen Goliah of the Philistims how vigilant and watchfull ought wee to be who haue neither so great strength nor skill to make resistance against so mightie so subtill and so expert an enemie Wherefore let me put you in minde of the Apostles exhortation Take heed lest at any time there bee found in any of you an euill heart and vnfaithfull to depart away from the liuing God Remember the Apostles reproofe O foolish Galathians are yee so foolish that when yee haue begun in the spirit yee will end in the flesh Better it had beene as S. Peter saith neuer to haue knowen the way of righteousnesse then after yee haue knowen it to turne from the holy commandements of God O what a griefe would it be vnto you if when yee haue formerly beene as faire lampes in Gods Church giuing much light and warmth vnto many others those graces of Gods spirit should afterward be so farre smothered and almost quencht that they could yeeld neither more heat then some small sparkes and those couered also vnder the finders of many sinnes nor giue more light then the snuffe of a candle which is both dimme and noisome Or what a griefe would it be for a Christian minde that hee should euer haue iust cause to complaine as Milo did who hauing in his yonger daies beene renowned and famous throughout all Greece for his strength afterwards comming to the Olympicke games bemoned the want and decay thereof and stretching out his armes said At hi lacerti nunc mortui sunt ah the strength and sinewes of my armes are now withered and decaied farre greater sorrow would it bring vnto a Christian heart if in his old age which should be best of all finding an impairing of his spirituall strenth and former graces of Gods spirit he should then haue cause to lament and say Time was indeed