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A59266 A sermon on the restoring of the coyn with reference to the state of the nation, and of the church therein / by a minister of the Church of England. Minister of the Church of England. 1697 (1697) Wing S2629; ESTC R21327 12,449 33

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A SERMON ON The Restoring of the COYN With reference to the State of the Nation and of the Church therein By a Minister of the Church of England Isa 1.25 I will turn my hand upon Thee and purely purge away thy Dross and take away all thy Tin LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside near Mercers Chapel 1697. To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashurst Baronet Honoured Sir IT is no small inconvenience of the late deficiency of the Coin that it hath occasion'd so much unprofitable Discourse that in all Companies almost nothing is talked of but Money There is a Divine Chymistry and Holy Art of Extracting out of any Common Subject some Heavenly and Spiritual Matter It were well if we could take occasion from the multitude of words about the late debased and now regulated Coin to affect our own and others Hearts with the depravity of our natures and the necessity of their recovery by Grace with the Corruption of the Land and what hope of Reformation whatever private Persons may do towards it at least by earnest Prayer and by beginning at home Church-Reformation is much promoted by Family-Religion and that must begin with personal Dedication It is a true saying Corruptio optimi est pessima next to the Corruption of the Ministry that of the Gentry is most to be bewail'd How sad is it when they who should help forward the Reformation do themselves most need it But as when the Coin was most corrupted there was always some good so hath the Lord yet a Remnant in this Land and the Lord add unto them how many soever they be an hundred fold When I have heard of your Zeal for God and his Interest in publick and private Stations I could not but say I have known few amongst the great Ones like minded It is upon this account that I have made bold to set your Name before this Sermon that whereas I have not the vanity to think that it should come into the hands of many if any of those Noble Patriots to whom I have addrest my self in the Body of it the substance of that part of it may be communicated to them of your acquaintance in your Familiar converse with them but in your own more efficacious words and with greater enlargements than the necessity of my keeping within the narrow bounds of a Metaphor would admit of in this Discourse And yet I have said so much to those whom I so much reverence that a modest shame obligeth me to withdraw my Name lest it should be known to come from so mean a Person and I shall seek other ways to make it known how much I am Your most Humble And most obliged Servant JEREMIAH 6.30 Reprobate Silver shall Men call them because the Lord hath Rejected them WHether this Censure of the People of Israel be a continuance of Gods words to the Prophet begun ver 27. or whether they be the Prophets Words in answer to the charge there given him I have set thee for a Tower that thou mayest know and try their way Evident it is that thereby is represented to us the great Corruption of the Church and State of Israel at that time under the similitude of Debased and Corrupted Coin Ver. 28. They are grievous Revolters they are Brass and Iron they are all Corrupters Which is further amplified 1. By the Pains that had been taken and Means used to remedy this Corruption Ver. 29. The Bellows are burnt the Lead is consumed of the Fire the Founder melts in vain for the wicked are not plucked away 2. By the Rejecting and Casting them off thereupon Reprobate Silver Refuse Coin shall Men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Doct. The State of a Church with respect to the degeneracy of the People is like that of a Land with respect to the debasing of the Coin they are like Reprobate Refuse and Rejected Money The same similitude is used by the other Prophets Isa 1.22 Thy Silver is become Dross Ezek. 22.18 The house of Israel is to me become Dross all they are Brass and Tin and Iron and Lead in the midst of the Furnace Which is not spoken as to those Metals in themselves but as used to Corrupt the Silver and Debase the Coin which Metaphor is largely persued in the following verses to note how they were like Money that was first Corrupted then Reprobated and Refus'd which the Government would Reject and forbid to be Own'd or to pass Currant any more Reprobate Silver shall Men call them c. What the Case of this Land hath been with respect to the debasing of the Coin almost every one is sensible of and hath felt more or less Had it not been timely restor'd it might have proved ruin to the Nation Now this similitude doth so suit the Condition of this poor Church and Nation with respect to our great degeneracy that unless something be done for a more effectual remedy our Case must needs be sad indeed The considering of the Parallels in the Doctrinal Part may help to prepare us for the Application 1. Heretofore there was good Coin of the right Stamp of the full Weight Currant Money of the Merchant The conveniency and usefulness of which for Trade and Commerce no one doubts of Now this doth aptly set forth the happy condition of a Nation where Religion flourisheth and Holiness and Righteousness are as it were the currant Coin of it That place in Isaiah 1.22 that speaks of the debasing the Silver hath reference to what goes before ver 21. It was a faithful City it was full of Judgment Righteousness lodged in it It was pure Coin though now Adulterated Indeed if we were to seek for a time when there was no corrupt Money in the Land we must run it up to Ages long since past So if we seek for perfect Purity we must look as far as to the state before the Fall when God made Man upright and instamped upon him his own image and there was no disagreement from the Standard and Rule of his Holy Law Yet there have been days since that when there hath been a greater comparative Purity as in the primitive times of Christianity and next to them in the year after the Reformation so that it might be said of the Churches that they were like pure Silver Coin in the same respect as it was said of Jerusalem in that forecited place in the days of Asa and Jehosaphat And though it cannot be deny'd that there may be a great fault in saying The former times were better than these Eccles 7.10 Yet that is to forbid a murmuring at the Judgments in our days and not to prevent our Humiliation for the sins of them though there hath been all along some bad Money yet we can all remember the time when it was much better than of late here were Faults and Corruptions in the days of our Fathers but it