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A59559 A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in Bow-Church, on the feast of St. Michael, 1680 at the election of the Lord Mayor for the year ensuing / by John Sharpe ... Sharp, John, 1645-1714. 1680 (1680) Wing S2987; ESTC R17019 16,263 40

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of which in short is this That whoever walks Uprightly and makes a conscience of his ways such a man shall be always under the watchfull care and protection of the Divine Providence And never will God suffer him to fall into any grievous distress but he shall always have such a portion of the good things of this world afforded to him as will be sufficient not onely to make his life supportable but easy And in truth The experience of the world generally makes this good Honest and Upright men for the most part in the most publick calamities fare well at least much better than those that are not so In their greatest extremities when they have no prospect of deliverance from any humane means strange extraordinary unexpected succour and relief doth arrive to them In a word that care of the special Providence of God attends them that they are never miserable however they may be now and then cut short in their outward fortunes But it must be acknowledged that though Piety and Uprightness hath the promise of security in this Life and that promise for the most part and in general speaking is made good Yet there are a great many exempt cases God may see it fit now and then to suffer an Upright man to be opprest and to perish in a common ruin and this without any violation of his Promises of this kind which do indeed respect no more than the ordinary common events and successes of things But yet even in this case still there will To the Vpright arise Light in the Darkness that is Light in the third sence we have given of the word viz. taking Light for Peace and Joy and Comfort And this is that which the Psalmist tells us in another place Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the Vpright in heart Whatever Afflictions come upon the Upright man yet he hath this advantage of other men that he bears them infinitely more lightly than they do They are really no great disturbance to him for he injoys the same calmness and serenity of mind the same peace and quiet and contentment that ever he did His present sufferings are rather matter of rejoycing and triumph to him than of discontent and repining for he knows that they come upon him by the Counsel and Disposal of the great Governour of the World And he knows that he hath so sincerely approved himself to God and is so well beloved by him that he should not have been ordered into these circumstances had it not been really for his good And this consideration doth so effectually support him under all the difficulties that he hath to conflict with that he not onely sits down easily and quietly but is very well pleased with the dispensations of the Divine Providence towards him how ingratefull soever they may be to flesh and bloud Let what will happen to him he is full of Peace and Joy For he hath met with no disappointment of his designs His great aim was to please God and his Conscience from Gods word assures him that he has done it and he hath nothing to doe farther but to wait for the happy time when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed and every mans Counsels and Actions shall be made manifest and then he doubts not to receive approbation and praise and a great Reward in that Day of the Lord Jesus And so much the rather because this light affliction wherewith he is now exercised he is assured will work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory To conclude Whatever his sufferings be he will live and die in a profound peace perfectly satisfied with all Gods dealings towards him And his Life and Death will verify to all that know him that advice and observation of the Psalmist Mark the Perfect man and behold the Vpright for the end of that man is Peace THE END 1 Tim. 4. 8. Prov. 14. ● Matt. 23. 23. Dionys. Alex. in Euseb. Job 29. 14 c. Prov. 11. 3. cap. 4. 18. Psal. 111. 10. Prov. 10. 9. Prov. 11. 11. Psal. 37. v. 6 19 24 40 41. Cap. 15. v. 16. Psal. 97. 11. 2 Cor. 4. 17. Psal. 37. 37.
the publick would have fared something the worse for it So it is certain he in his private Capacity would in the same proportion have fared the worse also But this consideration of the conduciveness of Honesty and Uprightness to the good of the Publick I direct chiefly to those that are in Office and Authority for really their carriage and conduct hath a more than ordinary stroak in the good or bad success of the common affairs And therefore it concerns them especially to look to themselves that they be Men of Integrity and keep a good Conscience in the discharge of their trust Upon their Upright walking the safety and preservation of the Publick doth more depend than upon the Endeavours of a thousand private men Though they are but particular persons yet being vested with Authority their Conduct and Management hath as great an influence upon the common good or the common ruin as if they were a Multitude and single as they are they do in a great measure carry the ballance of the publick Fortune in their hands But secondly The conduciveness of every mans Uprightness to the publick good is not the onely consideration upon which it is recommendable as a means for obtaining safety and security in evil times For let the publick go as it will In the worst of times if any man can in probability be thought able to shift for himself if any man can in reason hope to escape the Violence and Iniquity of the times the Upright man the man of Honesty and Integrity is likelyest to be the man I say in reason he is likelyest and as things commonly go For he of all others takes the surest course to preserve himself and is least obnoxious either to the malice or the envy the undermining or the rapine of open Enemies or pretended Friends All knavery and dishonest dealings set a man up for a mark to be shot at but Uprightness and Integrity is a shield and a protection The Upright man doth so order the course of his life that he usually avoids all those rocks that other men split upon and which usually prove their ruin The undoing of most men even in evil times lies commonly at their own door and they may thank themselves for it If they had been sufficiently carefull of themselves the malignity of the times would scarce have toucht them It is generally either very great carelesness and gross neglect of their own affairs or the lavishness or intemperance of their Tongues or an ill gotten Estate or private Injuries they have done and private grudges they have contracted or pragmaticalness in other mens matters or factious adherence to a party or breach of trust or treachery to the publick or the like I say it is these things that do most commonly draw mischief upon mens heads and lay the foundations of all those straits and difficulties in which they are intangled even in the worst of times But now the Upright man doth in a great measure avoid all these occasions for his principles do oblige him to walk in a way that is diametrically opposite to the things I have mentioned The Upright man treads upon such sure foundations and his ways are so universally approved by mankind that as things usually go no man will easily offer him injury but it will be to his own detriment The Rule he walks by is such as doth effectually procure him the most friends and the fewest enemies for he takes the course to oblige all sorts of men and consequently he cannot easily fail of finding those who will use their utmost endeavour to assist and rescue him when he lights into any difficult circumstances His righteous conversation is so unexceptionable and so prudent he is in the management of his affairs that those that love him not will not easily find an occasion to doe him much mischief Even those that have no acquaintance with him yet have so much concernment for Honesty and Uprightness in general that they will study to give him what assistance and defence they can out of a natural sense that it is fit a good man should be protected and that for any thing they know his case and circumstances may come to be theirs And those that have lost all sense of good and evil yet out of care to preserve their credit amongst men amongst the generality of whom to be an honest man will always signifie a great deal for when all is done it is impossible to extirpate the notions of Virtue and Honesty out of the minds of the multitude I say in point of their own credit and interest they are concern'd to be carefull how they oppress such a man But whatever become of these things how ineffectual soever all humane means may be for the securing and preserving an Upright man in evil times Yet in the second place he has another Anchor to stay himself upon which is more firm and stable and which will not fail him and that is the protection of God Allmighty The care of his particular providence to which he is intituled Men may plot and design may model and contrive may order and manage things as they please But when all is done it is God that governeth the world and either blasts their most fair and hopefull projects or if he suffers them to succeed turns them to what use and purposes he pleases Now this God that Rules and disposeth all things even the most particular For not a sparrow doth fall to the ground without his will and by him the very hairs of our head are numbred This God hath engaged himself to take care in an especial manner of those that fear him and walk Uprightly before him He hath passed his Promise over and over again that he will make their Righteousness as clear as the Light and their just dealing as the noon day They shall not be confounded in the perilous time and in the days of dearth they shall have enough Though they fall they shall not be cast down for the Lord upholdeth them with his hand In a word that he will be their strength in the time of trouble he will stand by them and save them he will deliver them from the ungodly he will save them because they put their trust in him It would be endless to quote all the passages in the book of God that speak to this purpose And therefore I shall dismiss this point with that remarkable one which we find in the Prophecy of Isaiah wherein we may see both the Upright man and his security in evil times described in very lively colours He that walketh Righteously and speaketh Vprightly He that despiseth the gain of oppressions that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes that stoppeth his ears from hearing of bloud and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of Rocks his bread shall be given him his water shall be sure The sence