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A48533
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A sermon preached before the King, at St. James's-Chapel, Jan. 19th, 1695/6 by J. Lambe ...
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Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing L227; ESTC R3325
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13,919
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33
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A SERMON PREACHED before the KING AT St. JAMES's-Chapel Jan. 19th 1695 6. By J. LAMBE D. D. Dean of Ely and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Published by His Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. PROV iij. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths THough God has given the Dominion of this lower World to Man tho' He has endued him with a competent Understanding for the wise and proper Managery of this Power and Trust that every individual Person may be happy yet this Dominion is not Absolute but in Conjunction with and Subordination to the Donor He as not made us Independent but our Grant is limited and the Government of our Reason and our Intire Submission to His most perfect Counsels are reserv'd to Himself Indeed our Nature is so framed that we cannot stand alone that we cannot be Happy any other way but under the Guidance and Direction of our Maker For tho' we know a great many things and might know many more if we attended to them yet our Reason is imperfect at the best not accurate enough to compare exactly one thing with another that we may be sure to chuse what is really our Good nor piercing deep enough into the Effects of Causes that we may prevent those evil Accidents which would destroy our Happiness And therefore if we Separate our selves from our Principle and lean to our own Understanding we deflect out of the way of our Nature and soon shall find our selves in dangerous and untrodden Ways our Ends will be absurd our Measures incompetent and the Event of things will be fatal to us But if we adhere to God if we depend upon His Wisdom and trust in His Power He will not fail to prosper our Designs For so says the wisest of Men in my Text In all thy Ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy Paths This Book of Proverbs is a perfect System of Moral and Divine Philosophy and proposes so compleat so exact a Rule of Practice to us which can never fail if we carefully observe it to make us Wise and Happy This Third Chapter of which my Text is a part insists in special manner upon that principal part of Wisdom and Policy the Resignation of our selves to God or an intire Submission of our Opinions Desires and Actions to His most Wise Direction That we Judge of Good and Evil by those Accounts which He has given of it That we Believe what He Reveals That we confide intirely in His Word and Promises and Do and Suffer cheerfully whatsoever He requires My Son forget not thou my Law but let thine Heart keep My Commandments v. 1. Lean not to thine own Vnderstanding and be not wise in thine own Conceit but Fear the Lord and Trust in Him with all thine Heart at the 7th Verse Despise not His Chastnings for whom He Loves He corrects And Happy is he who finds this Wisdom at the 13th Verse Now my Text resolves these several Particulars and all other Duties of the Kind into this one standing Rule or Precept In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy Paths Which Words consist of these two General Parts I. The First is an Exhortation or a Duty enjoyn'd In all thy Ways acknowledge Him II. The Second is the Motive or Encouragement to the Practice of it And He shall direct thy Paths 1. I begin with the First of these the Duty enjoyn'd In all thy Ways acknowledge Him And 1. First I shall explain the Nature of the Duty or what it is and when a Man may be said in his Ways to Acknowledge God And 2. Secondly I shall consider the Extent and Latitude of the Duty or the manner how it is to be performed not partially not only in some Particulars but in All our Ways In all thy Ways acknowledge Him 1. I begin with the First of these and shall endeavour to explain the Nature of the Duty or what it is and when a Man may be said in His Ways to Acknowledge God It is very usual in the Holy Scriptures by the Metaphor of our Ways and our Paths to express the Designs the Aims and Intentions of our Mind together with our Actions consequent upon them or our Prosecution of them in the Course of our Lives and thus I shall understand it in my Text as well with Respect to the Inward Previous Motions of our Souls and to our Visible and External Actions For the outward Act has such an Inseparable Connection with the Principle or Cause thereof that it is impossible to give a Rule for the Regulation of the one which shall not oblige us also in Respect of the other And the Metaphor it self is as natural and easie when applied to the Motions of our Mind as when it is limited to the Scope and Tendency of our outward Actions And in Fact it is used indifferently in the Holy Scriptures with Respect to both or either of them Thy Way is in the Sea says the Psalmist speaking of God Himself Thy Paths are in the great Waters and Thy Footsteps are not known That is Thy Secret Counsels Ps 77.19 and Thine External Dispensations are both of them Inscrutable And St. Paul cries out in an Holy Rapture Thy Judgments and Thy Ways which are join'd together are past our finding out Rom. 11.33 And who has known the Mind of the Lord Thus also in Respect of the Actions and Designs of Men Thou understandest my thoughts afar off says the Psalmist Thou compassest my Path and my lying down Psal 139.2 3. and art acquainted with all my Ways that is with all the Motions both of my Soul and Body If my Steps says Holy Job have turned out of the Way or if mine Heart has walked after mine Eyes c. where the Motions of his Mind Job 31.7 as well as those of his Body are express'd by his Steps and his Walk And this is enough to show that by our Paths and our Ways in my Text we may fairly understand our whole Capacity of Judging Designing Resolving and Acting In all thy Ways that is in all the Deliberations of thy Mind in all thy Consultations Ends and Actions Acknowledge God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Recognize and Own Him Remember and reflect upon thy Relation to Him that He is thy God and thy Creator that thou art of Right and of Necessity His Subject that thou actest merely by His Commission and by that Power which He has given thee Acknowledge Him to be thy Lord thy Governour and Judge that He is always present with thee and that thou can'st hide nothing from Him Set Him thus in all thy ways before thy face as the Psalmist phrases it Ps 16.8 This is the literal Construction of the word Acknowledge Him But the Duty in the Practice of it extends a great deal farther For it is not only an
Acknowledgment of the Mind that is here required but also all such proper Acts as such an Acknowledgment if it be sincere will direct and prompt us to The Fifth and the Seventh Verses which with my Text make one intire and perfect Period give us a sufficient Light both into the Sense of the Terms and the Nature of the Duty Lean not to thine own Vnderstanding V. 5. and Be not Wise in thine own conceit at the 7th Verse But in all thy Ways acknowledge Him as in my Text which is the same as if He had said Follow not the Bent and Inclination of thine own corrupt and sensual Will Be not so foolish as to believe that thou canst stand alone That by the Strength of thy natural Understanding thou canst make thy self happy That thou canst form such Ends to thy self as are every way most proper for thee and chalk out the Best and aptest Means whereby thou may'st accomplish them Lean not to thine own Vnderstanding What then should I do Why in all thy Ways acknowledge God take His Advice and Direction with thee be Over-rul'd and Govern'd by Him It is not then a distinct and simple Duty by it self or that at certain times in a solemn manner we recognize the Being and the Attributes of God But in all our Thoughts Designs and Actions we are commanded to acknowledge Him It is a Duty that is to mingle it self with all the several Motions of our Soul and Body It does not terminate in our Mind or Tongue but obliges us to all such proper Acts as naturally flow from such a Recognition of Him Is God our Sovereign Lord and King Are we of right His Subjects Do we act by His Permission Is He conscious of every Motion that we make And do we acknowledge this Why then we are obliged by our own Confession as well as by the Reason of the thing to submit our selves intirely to Him to suspend our Judgment restrain our Affections and forbear the Prosecution of our Design till we are first acquainted with the Sense and Pleasure of God in the Case before us till we have prayed to Him for His Assistance and submitted the Event of all to His Wisdom and Providence This is in our Ways to acknowledge God For as all these several Acts are fairly implied in the Word it self as it has been now explain'd so there is nothing more usual in Scripture than to mention only One and that perhaps the lowest Act of a general Duty when all the rest that rationally flow from that that is express'd are implied and understood God so loved the World says our Saviour That He gave His only begotten Son into the World that whosoever Believeth in Him St. Joh. 3.16 should not perish but have Everlasting Life but it must be in Conjunction with such a suitable Conversation as such a Belief will prompt us to James 2.19 because the Devils Believe but yet they shall never be saved And can Faith save ye says St. James That is it cannot save ye if it be alone And again with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.80 says St. Paul but it implies such a suitable Life as will follow such a Confession if it be sincere For not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord says our Saviour not every one that owns me or is called by my Name shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that does the Will of my Father c. Thus here in my Text in all thy Ways acknowledge Him the Act of Confession only is mentioned when all such other Acts as such a Recognition prompt us to are implied and understood He judged the Cause of the poor and needy and then it was well with Him Jer. 22.16 was not this and nothing else without this to know me saith the Lord Wherefore then to Acknowledge God in the Sense of my Text is to Confess and Own Him according to all those several Accounts and Manifestations of Himself that he has given us that He is our Sovereign Lord and King that we are intirely subject to Him that He has given us a Law and that we ought to obey it that He knows our Thoughts that He sees our Designs and will reward and punish us according to our Works And that therefore we revere Him awefully and submit our selves and our Designs intirely to His Will that we make Him always present to us and never venture to embrace a Proposition resolve upon an End or do any considerable Action till we have first compared it with the Rule that He has given us and if we find it is against us that we then reject it with all the Chearfulness in the World though never so dear or never so advantageous to us in Appearance if we find it is with us and that we may safely prosecute our Purpose that we then proceed with Confidence imploring first His Blessing and submitting the Event of all to His good Will and Pleasure This is the Sense of the Words and the Nature of the Duty In thy Ways Acknowledge God 2. I proceed in the Second Place to consider the Extent the Scope and latitude of the Duty not only in some Particulars but in All thy Ways Acknowledge Him It is a Duty indeed that is not capable of Limitation for unless our Resignation shall be Universal it cannot be sincere An industrious Reservation of our own Self-will in any Instance destroys our Principle intirely For if we were in Earnest if we Acknowledg'd God in Truth if we believed our Relation to Him and had made His Will the Supreme and leading Principle of our Actions as the Duty requires we could not presume in any instance to proceed without Him Because the Principle where-ever it is True must needs have the same effect and force upon us in one thing as it has in another No Accidents or Occurrences no Circumstances whatsoever can either alter the case or Release us from our Obligation And therefore to pretend to Acknowledge God unless we are intirely Resign'd to His Will or so long as we have any Reserves is either Self-deceit or gross Hypocrisie The Universality of our Submission is the only Test of our Sincerity For if we pick and chuse our Duties and reject what we please we do not take our Rule from God but have framed it our selves by our own Corrupt and Private Inclinations But let us not deceive our selves there is no halting between both Ye cannot serve God and Mammon says our Saviour and St. Mat. 6.24 He that offends in one Point says St. James in the Sense before us is Guilty of all No! we cannot be said to acknowledge Him at all unless we submit to His Direction as well in those particulars wherein our Temper and our present Inclinations are more averse and contrary to His Will as in those where they are more consenting and agreeing with it The very Life and Spirit of