withdrawing and separating himself from the Gentiles for fear of them which were of the circumcision Ch. 2. Ver. 12. All which and many other the like Passages do so evidently refer to that Controversie Whether the Jewish Religion was to be mixed with the Christian or no that I know not whether any one ever attempted to interpret them to any other Sense 4. And that those other Parts also of these Epistles which have by some been otherwise interpreted ought indeed to be understood wholly to relate to the same Controversie appears sufficiently from the Apostles way of arguing For according to any other Interpretation the Terms which the Apostle makes use of are improper and his reasoning is hard intricate and not concluding As is sufficiently evident from the difficulty that some Expositors have met with to vindicate St. Paul from thwarting the main Design of the Gospel from contradicting the express Words of some other of the Apostles and also from contradicting himself But if these whole Epistles be understood to refer to that Question Whether the Christian Religion be alone sufficient to Salvation or whether it be necessary to observe together with it the Ceremonies also of the Jewish Law the Terms which the Apostle uses are most apt and proper and his Reasoning is most easie strong and conclusive As will most evidently appear from a brief view of them both 5. The design then of the Apostle being on one hand to magnifie the Christian Religion by setting forth its sufficiency to Salvation and on the other hand to demonstrate the insufficiency and unnecessariness of the ceremonial observances of the Jewish Law the Terms which he all along makes use of to express the Christian and Jewish Religion by are such as may best serve to set forth the excellency of the one and diminish the opinion which Men had taken up of the necessity of the other Thus because the first and most fundamental Duty of the Christian Religion is believing in God and believing that most perfect Revelation of his Will which he has made to Mankind by our Saviour Jesus Christ whereas on the contrary the principal part of the Jewish Religion or at least of that Religion which the Judaizing Christians so earnestly contended for was an anxious observance of the burdensome Ceremonies of the Mosaick Law therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Religion Faith and the Jewish Religion the Law Thus in the Epistle to the Romans ch 3. ver 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law that is It clearly appears from what has been already said that Obedience to the Christian Religion is sufficient to justifie a Man without observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish And ver 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law that is Do we then as some Men object by our preaching up the Christian Religion make void the Law of God or that Revelation of his Will which he made to the Jews No we are so far from that that by introducing Christianity we establish confirm and perfect the moral and immutable part of the Law much more effectually than the Jewish Ceremonies were able to do Thus likewise in the Epistle to the Galatians ch 3. ver 2. This only would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Or as 't is expressed ver 5. He that ministreth to you the Spirit and worketh Miracles among you doth he it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith that is I appeal unto your selves who contend so earnestly for the necessity of keeping up the Jewish Ceremonies was it by your observing the Rites of the Jewish Religion that ye received the Gifts of the Holy Ghost or by your being converted to the Christian So also ver 24. The Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith that is The Jewish Dispensation was appointed by God in condescention to the weakness of that People to fit them by degrees for the reception of the Christian And ch 2. ver 15. The Apostle having rebuked St. Peter openly for withdrawing himself from the Gentiles at Antioch adds We who are Jews by nature and not Sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law that is If we our selves who were brought up in the Jewish Religion being convinced that that Religion was not able to justifie us in the sight of God have thought fit to forsake it and imbrace the Christian Religion in hopes to be justified thereby how much less reason have you to compel the Gentiles who were never brought up in the Jewish Religion to conform themselves to the Customs of the Jews after their Conversion to Christianity 6. Again because the Christian Religion teaches us to expect Salvation not from our own Merits but from the Grace of God that is according to the Terms of that new and gracious Covenant wherein God has promised to accept of Sincerity instead of perfect Obedience whereas on the contrary the Jews depended upon their exact performance of the Works of the Law therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Religion Grace and the Jewish Religion Works Thus in the Epistle to the Romans ch 11. ver 5. So then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of Grace that is tho' the Jewish Nation having rejected the gracious offer of the Gospel are thereupon rejected from being the People of God yet has God reserved to himself a Remnant from among them even those who have embraced the Christian Religion And if by Grace then is it no more of Works that is and if it be upon account of their having embraced the Christian Religion that they are reckoned the peculiar People of God then is not this Privilege any longer annexed to the Professors of the Jewish Religion otherwise Grace is no more Grace that is otherwise the Christian Religion is in vain and not what it pretends to be the Grace of God Thus also ch 6. ver 14. Sin shall not have the dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace that is ye are not under the Jewish Religion but under the Christian. So likewise in the Epistle to the Galatians ch 5. ver 4. Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace that is whosoever will needs retain the Jewish Religion he takes upon him to fulfil the whole Law forsaking the gracious Dispensation of the Christian Religion and therefore Christ shall be of no effect unto him 7. Again because the Duties of the Christian Religion are
Three Practical ESSAYS VIZ. On Baptism Confirmation Repentance CONTAINING Instructions for a Holy Life With Earnest Exhortations especially to young Persons drawn from the Considerarion of the Severity of the Discipline of the Primitive Church By Samuel Clark M. A. Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop of Norwich And Fellow of Cains College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for James Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1699. To the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop of Norwich My Lord AS the many undeserved Favours with which Your Lordship has already been pleased to honour me oblige me not to omit any Opportunity of testifying publickly the grateful Sense which I ought always to have of Your Lordship's Kindness so they encourage me to presume further upon Your Lordship's Candour in publishing these short Discourses under the Patronage of Your Lordship's Name The singular Zeal which Your Lordship has shown in making frequent Confirmations gives us reason to hope that if the Directions which Your Lordship has formerly given for the preparing Persons to be Confirmed be as strictly observed as the regular and pious Use of that excellent Institution seems to be a most probable means of promoting true Religion and Holiness that Part of the Church over which God has placed Your Lordship may become exemplarily eminent for the Restoring of Primitive Piety and Order To which State that it may effectually arrive and that Your Lordship may long see it continue therein and that these short Discourses may contribute their Mite towards the promoting so Noble and Excellent a Design is the Prayer of My LORD Your Lordship 's most Dutiful Chaplain and most Obedient Servant S. Clarke THE PREFACE ST Chrysostom observes concerning the ancient Hereticks that though their Opinions were never so widely different both from the truth and from each other yet every one pretended that his particular Opinion was agreeable to the Scripture and founded in it and that all different Opinions were discountenanced by it and might be confuted out of it He observes also further That the true reason of this their Confidence was because every one picked out of the Scripture all those Passages which according to the letter and sound of the Words seemed to favour his particular Opinion without at all regarding their cohaerence and connexion or the occasion and design of their being written Thus from those Passages which speak of Christ as a Man and in his state of Humiliation some were so unreasonable as to collect that he was but a meer Man and so denied his Divinity Others on the contrary from those Passages which speak of him as God and in his state of Exaltation did as weakly take occasion to deny his Humanity asserting that the humane Nature was wholly swallowed up by the Divine I wish the same Observation might not too truly be made of most of the later Disputes which have arisen among Christians in our Days For thus I believe if we search on the one hand into the ground of many of those Mens Assertions who love to aggravate the Corruption of humane Nature and the natural Misery of Mankind we shall find the true Foundation of them to be the applying those places of Scripture to the whole bulk of Mankind which are evidently and expresly spoken of some of the worst of Men On the other hand the reason why others have so magnified the natural Faculties of Men as to diminish and detract from the Grace of God is because they applied those Texts to the generality of Men which are meant only of the most perfect Christians Again the Foundation of those Mens Opinion who have extolled some one particular Virtue in opposition to or as an equivalent for all other Duties is their having interpreted those places of Scripture concerning some one particuler Virtue which are plainly meant of the whole Christian Religion and the reason why others have thought no moral Virtues at all necessary to be practised by Believers is because they have applied those Texts to the most Essential and Fundamental Duties of the Christian Religion which were intended only of the Ceremonial Performances of the Jewish Law And thus to come to the subject of our present Discourses in the great Business of Repentance and Conversion the reason why some Men have attributed the whole of Mans Conversion to such an extraordinary and uncertain Grace of God as has given Men occasion to sit still in their Sins in expectation of the time when this extraordinary Grace should be poured down upon them is because they have fixed that Assistance of God's Grace to an uncertain Period which God himself has constantly annexed to his Ordinances and which he certainly bestows upon Men at their Baptism or at their solemn taking upon themselves the Profession of Religion And the reason why others have made Repentance so short and so easie a business is because they have too largely applied those great Promises in the Gospel to the circular and repeated Repentences of Christians which are at least in some measure confined to the great Repentance or Conversion of Unbelievers My design in the following Essays is to endeavour briefly to set this great and most important Matter in its true Light from the Analogy of Scripture and from the Sense of the purest Ages of the Primitive Church To show that at Baptism God always bestows that Grace which is necessary to enable Men to perform their Duty and that to those who are Baptized in their Infancy this Grace is sealed and assured at Confirmation That from henceforward Men are bound with that Assistance to live in the constant practise of their known Duty and are not to expect except in extraordinary Cases any extraordinary much less irresistible Grace to preserve them in their Duty or to convert them from Sin That if after this they fall into any great Wickedness they are bound to a proportionably great and Particular Repentance And that as the Gospel hath given sufficient assurance of such Repentance being accepted to comfort and encourage all true Penitents so it has sufficiently shown the difficulty of it at all times and the extreme danger of it when late to deter Men from delaying it when they are convinced of its Necessity and from adding to their Sins when they hope to have them forgiven There is nothing with which the Devil more effectually imposes upon Men in these latter Ages of the World than with false notions of Repentance And if it must be confessed that many in the Primitive times were too severe in their apprehensions concerning it 't is certain there are many more in our Days not severe enough At least I am sure there is no Man who has a true Sense of Religion and a just apprehension of the vast concern of eternal Happiness or Misery but will be much more desirous to know the utmost strictness of the Conditions upon which so mighty a Stake depends
Man's Condition in Opposition to that of the rich Man without taking any notice at all of their Behaviour one to another Though therefore it may justly be supposed that our Saviour designed to hint to us that the poor Man did not meet with that Comfort and Relief which might reasonably be expected in a Place where there was such plenty and abundance of all things and that this did mightily increase the rich Man's Condemnation yet this is not the thing that is now laid to his Charge and therefore is not the main Design of the Parable Parables are certain familiar ways of representing things to the Capacity of the Vulgar by easie and continued Similitudes and the close of the Similitude always shows the principal Scope of the Parable as is evident in most of our Saviour's Discourses to the Jews Had our Saviour therefore in this Parable chiefly designed to shew the evil of Uncharitableness and the Condemnation that attends uncharitable Men he would when he had represented the rich Man crying out to Abraham to have Mercy upon him and begging that he would send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his Finger in Water and cool his Tongue he would here I say have introduced the Patriarch charging him with his Uncharitableness as the cause of his being cast into that place of torment It would have been told him that since when he lived in Ease and Plenty and in the abundant enjoyment of all the good things of this Life he had had no regard to the then miserable Estate of this poor Man he had no reason to expect now that the Scale was turned and himself fallen into a state of Misery that the poor Man should leave that place of Happiness which is figured to us by Abraham's Bosom to come and quench the violence of the Flame that tormented him He would have been told that 't was but just that since he had shewed no Mercy none should be shewn to him and that he should receive no Relief from the poor Man after Death to whom he had given none when he was alive But instead of all this we find only that short Reply Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things therefore now thou art tormented 12. It remains therefore that the reason for which this rich Man is represented as condemned to that place of torment is because he had in his life time received his Portion of good things that is not because he had received the Blessings of this World but because he had received and used them as his Portion and his Happiness He had a large and plentiful Estate and he spent it in Jollity and Splendour He was clothed in Purple and fine Linnen and he fared sumptuously every day He denied himself nothing that tended to the Ease and Pleasure of his own Life or that could make him look splendid in the Eyes of others Hereupon he accounted himself a happy Man and blessed himself in the multitude of his Riches He look'd on them not as Talents committed to him by God to be employed for the doing good in his Generation but as his own Portion that he might live in Ease and Plenty and that his Heart might chear him in the days of his Life His Treasure therefore was upon Earth and his Heart and Affections were there also He set up his Rest here and was so wholly taken up with the splendour and gaiety of this World that he had no time to think upon another till he found by woful Experience that he 〈◊〉 settled his Affections upon a wrong Object and chosen those things for his Portion and his Happiness which were not to be of equal duration with himself Thus the Design of this Parable seems plainly to be this to condemn a soft and easie a delicate and voluptuous Life And to show that for those who have a plentiful share of earthly Blessings to make it their main Design to live in Ease and Pleasure in Gaiety and Splendour with them to set their Hearts and Affections upon them to esteem them as their good things and to place their Happiness in them is inconsistent with that temper and disposition of Mind which the Christian Religion requires in those who expect their Portion in the Spiritual Happiness of the World to come And to this Sense we must understand those Sayings of our Saviour Luke 6. 25. Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And ver 24. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your Consolation that is ye have received those things which ye accounted your Portion and wherein ye placed your Happiness 13. In like manner the Parable of that other rich Man Luke 12. whose Ground brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my Fruits and he said This will I do I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods And I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine ease eat drink and be merry This Parable I say seems also plainly designed against the same softness and voluptuousness of Life Our Saviour does not describe this Man to be Covetous and that he would store up all his Goods to no use but that he would take the good of them himself he would eat drink and be merry 'T is the same word that we render elsewhere to fare sumptuously But God said unto him Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee and 〈◊〉 whose shall those things be which thou hast provided His Case seems to be the very same with that of the rich Man Luke 16. The one resolved that in his Life time he would eat drink and be merry and in the midst of his Jollity his Soul was required of him The other was clothed in Purple and fine Linnen and fared sumptuously every day and when after Death he complained that he was in a place of torment he was by Abraham reminded that he had in his life time received his good things 14. Lastly the History of the young Man Mark 10. who came running and kneeled to our Saviour and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit eternal Life is an eminent Instance of the deceitfulness of the Love of the World He had kept all the Commandments from his youth and therefore one would think was well prepared to receive our Saviour's Doctrine Yet when he bad him Go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven and come take up thy Cross and follow me 't is said he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions 'T is not said either that he was covetous on the one hand or prodigal on the
shall have of things at the conclusion of our Lives when Death and Judgment approach and let us view things now in the same Light as we know certainly we shall be forced to do then We know we shall then lament the loss of every opportunity of doing good which we have omitted and shall grutch every minute of Folly and Vanity which might have been employ'd to the increase of the Portion of our future Happiness We know we shall then look upon all the past pleasures of Life as emptiness and nothing and be convinced that there is no Pleasure but in true Virtue and no Fruit in any thing but in having done much Good And if we do indeed know this what can be more miserably and more inexcusably foolish than not to make the same Judgment of things now as we know assuredly we shall do afterwards The reason why Men die full of Fears and Uncertainties full of dark Suspitions and confused Doubts is because they are conscious to themselves that they have lived carelesly and indifferently without having taken any Pains either for the Service of God or for the Good of Men and without having used any zealous Endeavours to overcome the present World or to obtain the future But if Men would consider things in time if they would pass true Judgments of things and act accordingly with Resolution and Constancy they might then know certainly their own State and might live with Comfort and die with Assurance CHAP. XII Of our Obligation to be particularly careful to avoid those Sins to which we are most in danger to be tempted 1. FIfthly Be particularly careful to resist and avoid those Sins to which either your Constitution Company or Employment make you most in danger to be tempted This is the great Trial of every Man's Sincerity and of his Growth in Virtue He that for the Love of God and the Hopes of Heaven can mortifie and deny his most darling Lusts can quell and keep under his most natural Passions can resist and constantly overcome those Temptations by which he is most in danger to be seduced into Sin such a one has an infallible Assurance of his own Sincerity and is very near to the Perfection of Virtue But if there be any one Instance wherein a Man habitually falls short of his Duty or indulges a Lust a Passion a sinful Desire 't is certain whatever other Virtues he may be indued with that he either acts upon wrong Principles and is not sincere or that his Resolutions are hitherto too weak and ineffectual to intitle him to the Comfort of Religion here or to the Assurance of Happiness hereafter 2. There is no Man whom either the Constitution of his Body or the Temper of his Mind the Nature of his Employment or the Humour of his Company does not make obnoxious to some particular sort of Temptations more than to any other And in this thing it is that those who have something of Sincerity and will not with others run into all excess of Riot do yet make shift to deceive and impose upon themselves They think they are indued with many good and virtuous Qualities they hate Profaneness and professed enormous Impiety they know themselves innocent of many great Sins which they see others continually commit But something to which they are particularly tempted they indulge themselves in and the fatal Mischief is that those Sins which they see others commit and to which themselves are not violently tempted seem most absurd and unreasonable and easie to be avoided but that to which they are themselves addicted they think to be either so small as not to be of any very evil Consequence or so difficult to be resisted as to be allowed for among the unavoidable Infirmities of Nature Thus to many who have little or no Dealings in the World the Sins of Fraud Injustice Deceit Over reaching and the like seem very heinous base and unreasonable while at the same time they allow themselves in habitual Intemperances and Impurities as either harmless Vices or almost insuperable Weaknesses On the other hand there is no less a Number of those who applaud themselves in their own Minds that they are not as other Men Intemperate Debauched Drunkards Revellers and the like while at the same time they look upon Fraud and Deceit Tricking and Over-reaching as the necessary Art and Mystery of Business 3. But this is a very great and a very fatal Cheat. No Man can have any true and solid Peace in himself no Man can have any just Confidence in his Addresses to God no Man can have any Title to the Promises and Comforts of Religion here much less to the Glory and Reward of it hereafter before his Obedience be if not Perfect yet at least Universal God will not share with any Impiety nor ever accept of any Man's Obedience so long as 't is mixed with the accursed thing If there be any Sin that we can hardly part with if there be any Lust that is like a right Hand or a right Eye this is the thing that God hath proposed to us to Conquer this is the good Fight which we must fight through Faith this is the Victory to which Heaven is proposed For this we must gather together all the Forces of Reason and Religion for this we must strengthen our selves by Prayer and Consideration In this Warfare we must resolve strongly persevere obstinately and though we be conquered yet resolve to overcome always remembring that this is the Stake for Life or Death Happiness or Misery Heaven or Hell 4. Here therefore let every Man consider with himself and let him well observe his own Temptations and his own Strength Let him consider not how many Sins he can easily avoid but by what Temptations he may most easily be seduced and let him make it his Business to guard himself there Let those who are young and not yet entred into the hurry and business of the World not value themselves upon their being innocent from the Sins of Fraud and Injustice of Covetousness and Extortion or the like for that perhaps they may be without any Pains and without overcoming any powerful Temptation but let them try themselves whether they be firm against the Temptations of Vanity and Lightness of Heat and Passion of Intemperance and Impurity and let them judge of themselves by their behaviour in these Instances wherein they are most obnoxious Let them consider that their peculiar Task is to overcome the wicked one 1 John 2. 13. to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit to conquer and get above those Pleasures which sensualize the Soul and inslave the Mind to the Body and thereby bring it under the Power of Death and Destruction And in fine to strive continually to cleanse themselves from all Impurity not only of Body but even of Mind and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Let them consider that they are by Baptism dedicated to the