Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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A67827
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A sermon preached before His Majesty at White-Hall, 29 Decemb. 1678 by Edward Young ...
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Young, Edward, 1641 or 2-1705.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing Y66; ESTC R34112
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12,763
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35
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A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE His MAIESTY AT WHITE-HALL 29 DECEMB 1678. By EDWARD YOUNG B. L. L. Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxon And Chaplain to His Excellency THOMAS Earl of OSSORY GENERAL of His MAIESTIES Subjects in the Service of the UNITED NEATHERLANDS By His Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed by Tho. Iames for William Birch at the Sign of the Black-Swan over against S. Clements-Church in the Strand M. DC LXXIX A SERMON Preached Before His Majesty c. St. IOH. XV. 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sinne but now they have no cloak for their sinne THE WORD was made Flesh says the same Evangelist and came and dwelt among us and we saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth His Conversation was endearing his Works all Mercy his Doctrine convincing and his Overtures of Reward more great and encouraging than Mankind had ever heard of before Never was such a gracious Person sent upon such an acceptable Message and yet he met with very unequal Entertainment The unprejudic'd and considering Party of those that heard him repented and they that repented received him and to as many as received him he gave power to become the sons of God But others were otherwise dispos'd they felt no burthen of sin and therefore no cause of Repentance they thought their affections happily engaged in this World and therefore cared not for removing them to another Opinion and Business and Enjoyments had taken up their Hearts and fill'd them as full as the Inne of Bethlehem was at his Nativity and these could not receive him For God in all his Methods of Salvation never puts any force upon us he always treats Man as he made him that is as a rational and free agent he proposes aptly and invites tenderly but then he leaves us to the discretion of Compliance he moves and assists us to the best but still he leaves us with power to do as we please because 't is that alone that commends our choice when we do as we ought They say of the Manna in the Wilderness that it had no actual taste of its own but received its taste from the fancy of the Eater so that an Israelite did make his Meal either nauseous or pleasant according to his own either thankful or peevish disposition And if so that Manna bare a general resemblance to all the Dispensations of Providence which are generally determin'd to good or evil as to us meerly by our own usage and reception and have all their influences governed by our deportment 'T is our different Temper that makes the same Heat both melt and harden 't is our different Disposition that makes the same act of God both Mercy and Iudgment And as of all the Mercies that God has vouchsafed to Man there is none of a Kinder Design than that which we now commemorate The Nativity of our Saviour so there is none capable of being abused into more fatal effects 'T is upon this account that the same Iesus Christ is called in Scripture The Rock of Ages which is a term of equivocal importance he is a Rock and they that will may save themselves upon him but they that will not must necessarily split against him 'T is by reason of him says the Apostle that there is now no condemnation but 't is by reason of him too says my Text that there is now no Excuse If I had not c. To take the most proper Sense of the Words I suppose in the first place that by Them if I had not come and spoken to Them is meant not simply the Iews to whom our Saviour himself had spoken but likewise all others to whom the same Gospel should at any time be preached for 't is evident that our Saviour means the same here that he does in the fore-going Verses by the World which signifies extensively all such as are disobedient to the Gospel In the second place I suppose that the Expression They had not had sin is to be taken only comparatively that is They had not had sin in such a measure For we know that both Iews and Heathens had a Law by which in proportion they are to be convicted Thirdly We must observe that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text which is rendred Cloak signifies any sort of Apology or Colour either such as may really excuse or else such as can only be pretended to excuse and then the plain sense of the Words will appear to be this That Before the Revelation of the Gospel there was such Apology for Sin in the World as did much lessen and excuse the Guilt of the Sinner but that since this Revelation the Guilt of Sin is aggravated and there remains no Excuse nor so much a◠Pretence for it To illustrate the truth of this Proposition I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall produce the Excuses And 2dly the Pretences that can ordinarily be pleaded for the Commission of Sin and shew respectively that all these are voided by the Revelation of the Gospel There are Two Things which seem reasonably to Excuse in Humane Actions The First is Want of Light whereby to know that which we are to do The Second is Want of Motives to set us about the doing of that which we know For it is not enough for me to know that this or that is fit to be done I must likewise know of what importance it will be to Me if I do it or if I let it alone How far the First of these Excuses that is Want of Light obtained in the World before the Revelation of the Gospel is a Subject too wide to engage in We know in short that there have been Ages of as much Ignorance as Sensuality still wishes for to cover her Shame We know the gross of the Gentiles sate in darkness the Cloud was so thick about them that they could not tell which way to move out of it Yet as Darkness it self is sometime called upon in Scripture to Praise the Lord so even Intellectual Darkness that is Ignorance has occasionally great reason to joyn in the Praise For supposing Men to be sinful 't is happy for them if they are ignorant the Supreme Iudge of the World having laid down this for one Rule by which he will proceed viz. The Servant that knew not his Masters will and committed things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Luk. 12.48 But we will go farther we will allow as we must that many of the Heathen had a greater share of Light for many of them arrived to a great height in the Speculation of Vertue and formed Excellent Precepts of Living and yet when all was done as if their Systems had been rather for Ostentation than for Use they did not generally oblige themselves to the Practice of their own Advices They Knew well but acted otherwise And yet even These had