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A30665
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The danger of delaying repentance set forth in a sermon preached to the university at St. Mary's Church in Oxford on New-Years-Day, 1691/2 / by Ar. Bury ...
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Bury, Arthur, 1624-1713.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing B6193; ESTC R4405
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13,117
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31
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The Danger of Delaying Repentance Set forth in a SERMON PREACHED TO THE UNIVERSITY AT St. Mary's Church in Oxford ON NEW-YEARS-DAY 1691 2. By Ar. Bury D. D. Rector of Exon Colledge LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. The Danger of Delaying Repentance Set forth in a SERMON Preach'd to the University of Oxford c. EXOD. iv 24 25 26. And it came to pass by the way in the Inn that the Lord met him and fought to kill him And Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her Son and cast it at his feet and said Surely a bloody husband art thou to me So he let him go Then or as the vulgar Latin better When she said a bloody husband thou art because of the Circumcision MOses was now in a Journey undertaken with great Reluctancy in absolute Obedience to God's repeated Commands He made what shifts he could from the unwelcome Employment First on the People's part he pleaded that they would not believe him then on his own part that he was not qualified and when he was answered in both he fell from pleading to downright begging Then was the Lord's anger kindled against him Now therefore without delay or dispute he obeyeth the second Command and by the way in his lodging for Inns properly so called there were none in those Days by some praeternatural Disease which spake the immediate hand of God he fell into imminent Danger of Death and by what Revelation we know not the neglect of Circumcising his new-born Son appeared to be the provocation But the Disease which punished the neglect now hinders the performance and he must have perished had not his Wife with a sharp Knife for the word in the Hebrew is the same in Joshua 2.2 where it is so translated she circumcised the Child And as the fore skin and blood fell at his feet she uttered those words which our Learned Mede probably believed to have been the ritual Form in that Ceremony For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signify a Husband but a Spouse not yet married and was often used for the nearest Allied and in this Office might be used by the Circumciser to the Child pronouncing him Circumcised and by the blood of Circumcision betrothed to the Covenant And this Opinion giveth a fair Account of the 26 verse not otherwise easily proved worth mention So the summ of the Story is this Moses had not circumcised his Son at the time prescribed by the Law which appointed the 8th day upon pain of death he was about to suffer death as a punishment of That neglect but escaped by his Wife's care in Performing what he had Neglected This neglect of Moses we may take as a Foil to illustrate that exact obedience of our Lord which we this day commemorate Moses was the Mediator of a Covenant whereof Circumcision was the Seal our Lord was Mediator of a Covenant whereby it was abolished yet did he submit to it and not only to Circumcision which was commanded but to Baptism too which without any command was practised by such as professed singular perfection For we read Matth. 3.13 Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him but John forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of Thee and comest thou to me and Jesus answering said unto him suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness then he suffered him i. e. it is not necessary indeed but it becometh me to fulfil i. e. to be perfect in All Righteousness i. e. in what-ever is excellent Thus far the Letter but the Collect for this day assureth us that we do not thus solemnly celebrate the naked History but the Mystery therein contained which we find thus displayed Col. 2.10 Ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ Godliness is so adaequately the end of all our Lord's actions that not only his Moral but even his Ritual Performances are thereto referred Yea not his Obedience only but his Sufferings and Exaltation his Death Burial and Resurrection are made Engagements Encouragements and Emblems of it For so the Apostle goeth on Buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Nor is this the only Text wherein we find the Apostle at this holy Chymistry distilling the Spirit out of the Letter This this is truly to apply Christ to our selves Thus doth our Church teach us to commemorate our Lord's Circumcision praying that God would grant us the true circumcision of the spirit Whereof to shew the Necessity and the Danger of delaying it I have thought it proper to view Moses's case and apply it to our own in his Sin and his Danger HIS SIN was his delaying the Circumcision of his Son beyond the time prescribed by the Law That this proceeded not from any compliance with his Wife or her Father as some imagin appeareth from this that Midian was one of the Sons of Abraham by Keturah and all Nations that came out of his Loins celebrated circumcision nor did Mahomet learn it of his Jew but derive it from his Ancestors Besides we hear of another Son of Moses Gersom whom we therefore must believe to have been duly circumcised because we find nothing to the contrary It was not therefore his neglect of the Law but the Time which he delayed not out of Contempt but upon plausible Reason He was in a journey upon God's Errand his Son so newly born as not to be able to undergo such an operation and then such a journey Such an excuse God himself afterward approved in the whole people who were all Uncircumcised and Blameless during a journey of 40 Years as appears Jos 2. I say not that Moses had Then God's approbation but he might Then well judge That a competent excuse which God in the like case admitted for such And that this was Moses's reason we may judge by his leaving his Wife and Child to stay till they might return to her Father of whom we read in the 18th Chapter that he brought them to Moses in the Wilderness So the proper weight of Moses's guilt seemeth to be this That he took his Wise and Child with him and thereby cast himself into such circumstances as made it necessary for him to delay his duty till the journey were ended and the Law transgressed And what is such an Errour in comparison of ours The Gospel maketh the circumcision of the Heart no less necessary than the Law made that of the Foreskin That
the commission and would he not have taken that warning to himself that he was to carry to others Such good Resolutions then may possibly be found in Hell and if they cannot deliver out of Hell there is small hope that they can save any from it However Charity obligeth the Minister to give him some quieting drops of Spiritual Laudanum which may perhaps give him some present ease but can no more save his Soul than the best Opiate can cure a Body whose Vitals are consumed Nor can they give any other than sickly rest while the Disease disturbs it I appeal to your own hearts whether at such a time you can hope to be so confident of your own Resolutions and God's Pardon as to have no Fears of Condemnation and consequently no Wishes that there may be no God to judge you For if there be Love will be thereby destroyed since every such Wish is an Act of Hate and that a Mortal one for he that wisheth it doth his most towards taking away God's Being and were it in his power would effect it On the other side nothing is plainer either in Scripture or Reason than this that nothing less than the Love of God can make a Man capable of enjoying him It is therefore absolutely necessary that the Minister apply all his Endeavours so to display the Goodness and other Perfections of God as to enamour the guilty and now terrified Soul with such powerful Love as to make him Rejoice in him and not retain the least Wish to have him other than he is And if he can by the Assistance of God's Blessing upon his Endeavours effect this he works a great Miracle he kindles the flame of Heavenly Love from the flashes of Hell-Fire makes a Burning-Glass of Ice enamours the Malefactour of his Judge and such a miraculous Conversion may well hope for a miraculous Mercy But a wise Man will not hang his Eternal Happiness upon such Miracles he will rather walk the safe way than trust to such a jump as must bring him from the Deepest Hate to the Highest Love and take its Rise from Fear which puts at the greatest distance from Love Those that do this and fall short into the bottomless Pit may curse God without End or Measure but without Cause too since he was not wanting to them in warning wooing and waiting but They were wanting to themselves in slighting all his Invitations to Happiness What-ever hath been said is intended for a Discovery of that Ordinary Regular Course which God hath revealed to be That wherein he will deal with all Mankind in general How often or how far he will depart from it in favour of any particular Person upon particular Considerations is not for us to enquire nor to judge any Man concerning whom we can know but Little and that the Worst Our Church hath taught us to hope well of every departed Brother without excepting those who to us appear least capable of it and the Minister is to absolve de bene esse those who profess Repentance though late for Charity hopeth all things We have known some fall from great heights without hurt and when we see a Man so falling we hope he also will escape But will not upon such hopes cast our selves down a Precipice Charity hopeth all things for our Brother but it Feareth all things for our Selves And it is a monstrous kind of Self-love which by keeping us in Impenitence exposeth us to such a dreadful Gandelope of Dangers as we come now from discovering We may not die in the Bed which we appoint for the place of Repentance If we die in our Bed we may not believe it our Death-bed and even then delay in hope of Recovery If we know it to be our last Sickness we may be thereby disabled from thinking of any thing but the present Pain If it be a gentle Sickness and we do all that in such Circumstances is possible we are not sure that God will accept us All this is practical and needeth no other Application but to our Memories AND there we shall meet another suitable Memento from the Wise Man Eccles xii 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the days of thy Youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them This is another Caution God will have no Pleasure where the Votary hath none He loveth a cheerful Giver of the Heart as of the Alms. Nature hath taught all Mankind to worship him in a festival manner in so much as the chief Pontif forbad a solemn annual Sacrifice because the people was in grief for their loss at Cannae and we have less reason to hope that God who forbad his people to offer him any blemished or lean Beast should be pleased with the worst of our days because we wilfully offer the best to his Enemies Therefore remember thy Creatour in the best of thy days while thy Spirits are brisk and vigorous while the Wine may pretend to the Character which Jotham gives that it cheers God and man before it be soured to Vinegar by a sharp disease or sunk to Lees by the dulness of Age. But the days of Youth are many the Wise Man therefore calls for Now a point without latitude a short point that passeth away before you can speak the Syllable Behold Now is the time accepted Now is the day of Salvation For 1. Now is the Present time we have it in possession but of to morrow we have no certainty and in a case of the highest import the surest Course is the Best 2. Now is a Festival day one of those few Festivals which our Church hath thought worthy to be honoured with a Collect which may out-live the next Sunday 3. It is the beginning of the New Year and therefore seasonable for the beginning of a New Life On this day the Romans and for ought I know all civil Nations used to send their New Years-Gifts to all those whom they professed to Love and Honour and this so constantly that the Emperors some of them required and exacted it as a Duty Let us therefore present to God the Strena which alone is worthy or capable of his acceptance A Circumcised Heart lively representing his own Divine Nature and the performances of his only Son our Lord dead and buried to sin but risen to newness of life the old man put off with the old year and the new man put on with the new one This and only this New Years Gift will God accept and what he Accepteth will not fail to Reward He is not like the Roman Emperors now mentioned who so claimed a right to the Strenae or to reward the Payment only with a Discharge When Moses his Child was Circumcised the Lord left him saith the Text but our Lord hath declared and promised If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him What this Abode in a Holy Soul importeth we cannot reach but may conjecture from what the Prophet saith of their Meeting Isai 64.4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness This the Apostle citeth 1 Cor. 2. and in ver 14. gives the reason The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sensual Man cannot savour spiritual Joys He must first put off the old man which is a Circumcision Painful to Nature and therefore shunned by it but Necessary to be undergone and the sooner the better nor did ever any one undergo it so early as not to repent that he had not done it sooner even for this among other reasons because he has lost as many Days of supreme Pleasure as he hath spent in impenitence so that in all that I have spoken concerning Dangers I have acted as one of those Servants which were sent out to the Hedges and High-ways to compel men to go in to a Wedding-Feast whose Dainties exceed the boldest Wishes of the most Voluptuous which is Another a Better a more Genuine and Evangelical Motive against Delay not now to be insisted on nor shall I detain you longer than to call upon God as the Church has taught us in the Collect appointed for this Day Almighty God who madest thy Blessed Son to be circumcised and obedient to the Law for Man grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit that our Hearts and all our Members being mortified from all worldly and carnal Lusts we may in all things obey thy blessed Will through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord Amen FINIS Advertisement THere are newly Published Discourses or Sermons on several Scriptures 8 vo An Exposition on the Ten Commandments with other Sermons 4 to Both written by the Right Reverend Father in GOD Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry