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A63904
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Charity recommended, in a sermon preached at the assizes held at Norwich, upon Thursday the 29th of July, 1686 by John Turner ...
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Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing T3304; ESTC R5344
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20,642
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37
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persons he Chastiseth us so lightly that it is plain he desires our amendment not our destruction but when the Punishment is never so severe yet still there is a gracious meaning and intention in it for the good of the Universe which is infinitely more precious to him than the safety of any single person whatsoever that other People warned by our Example may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly So that his Anger is indeed but an effect of his Love and that which we call his Wrath and his Iudignation is in truth nothing else but a particular and distinct branch of his infinite and incomprehensible Mercy Or Secondly when such things as these are spoken of him in Scripture they are to be referred to the purity of his Nature to which all sin hath the greatest incongruity that any two things can have to one another not that there ariseth any painful or tormenting sense to trouble or disquiet his enjoyment of himself but only according to an humane way of speaking the Holy Scripture in this case ascribes those passions to God which good Men upon the like occasion experience in themselves when they see his Divinity Blasphemed his Altars Profaned his Churches Sacrilegiously rob'd and spoil'd his Priesthood persecuted or neglected his Laws disappointed and frustrated by Enthusiasm or by open Wickedness affronted his Religion and his Honor trampled under foot either by Schism and Heresie on the one hand or by Licentiousness and Lewdness on the other And to this purpose there are two things very remarkable First That though the Scripture be sometimes very fierce in the Denunciation of Gods Anger against Sin yet it frequently dilutes and blends those sharp expressions with kind and gracious assurances of his Love and tells us plainly that it is this alone which is truly agreeable and suitable to his Nature but that the other that is his Anger or that which in the administration of his providence hath the outward semblance and appearance of it is a thing which is put upon him by the necessities of Justice and that he finds no other Complacency or satisfaction in the Punishments he inflicts but what arises from the inward sense and consciousness of those gracious ends for which those unwilling severities are designed Secondly It is to be observed that God in Scripture is not always represented as Angry and incensed at sin but sometimes as laughing at it and treating it with contempt and scorn and indeed both of these are ascribed together to him in that Prophetick rapture of David in the second Psalm Why do the Heathen rage And the people imagin a vain thing the Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take council together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us he that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure not that these two passions are indeed consistent or competible together at one and the same time they being directly opposite and contrary to each other nor that God whose Nature is perfectly impassible is really capable of either of these habits or dispositions of mind But by the later of these was signified that just and condign Punishment that was in the fullness of time to overtake those Kings and Nations that were Enemies to the Gospel of Christ and opposed Christianity by bitter Persecutions notwithstanding all the innocence and the reason of its Principles and notwithstanding all that supernatural Evidence of Signs and Miracles and extraordinary Gifts by which it received its confirmation from above and by the First of them by Gods Laughing and Scorning at the vain designs of Men that reject the offers of his Grace and endeavor to no purpose to reverse his immutable Decrees is meant that his happiness cannot be injur'd or impair'd by any attempt of ours that he is not to be disappointed in his intentions or designs by any humane Policy or Strength that he despises disregards and perfectly sets at nought such vain imaginations of the Sons of Men that his Nature is impassible inaccessible irresistible that when he stretches out his mighty Arm it is not an Arm of Flesh that can oppose it and that he is no otherwise concerned at the wickedness of Men than only to punish and restrain it by his Providence and by the Eternal measures of his Power and Justice And thus I have shewn more largely than I intended what the Nature of God is that he is a Merciful and Gracious Being slow to Anger and of great Pity that he delights not in Punishment and that in the midst of Judgment he remembers Mercy that the Emanations of his Goodness are truly Natural and Congenerous to him but that his Judgments are only Secondary things things that are not inflicted for themselves but for ends of Mercy and Compassion for amendment and example for preserving the Government of the World from moldring into Anarchy and Confusion and keeping it from falling foul upon it self and this though it may be sufficient to have shewn by the plain Instances already produced yet there is a greater instance than all this yet behind and that is his sending his Son into the World to be a Propitiation and Attonement for us miserable Sinners who lay in darkness and in the shadow of death and he when he came to shew us that he was the true and genuin Offspring of so Gracious a Father the peculiar Character which is given of him in Scripture is that he went about doing Good and this was the general strain and drift of all his Miracles he did not spend his time in removing of Mountains or in calling the Sun out of its place or in any other thing that might create wonder without any real use but he healed Diseases and he cast out Devils he restored the Lame to their Feet the Blind to their Sight the Paralytick to their full Strength and Youthful Vigour his Miracles were exactly like his Doctrine useful and practical not vain puffy Ostentatious things performed to raise Wonder and Astonishment in the spectators without any real Benefit or Advantage and when he left the World he left his Spirit behind him with his Disciples which was not only a Spirit of Instruction to guide them into all necessary and saving Truth a Spirit of Courage to support them in and under Persecution a Spirit of Power to work Supernatural and extraordinary effects for the propagation and spreading of the Gospel but also a Spirit of Dilection and Love to unite them to one another and to him their Head and though this mutual Love and Helpfulness to one another in our frail condition of humanity be a thing that is tied upon us by reasons of Interest and by principles of Nature yet in a more peculiar and distinguishing manner he made
this comely Frame which if it had not been for that would still have been a disorderly and confused Chaos and without its help and assistance every moment would immediately return into it And I am very sensible there is a great deal of truth and weight in what they say but yet it is much more true of the Moral and Intellectual than of the Natural World that it is supported by Love it is supported by Divine Love from without as well as the other but even this would hardly do as powerful as it is without a Principle of Love within it self I should now as I promised under the Second general Head proceed to shew in what Instances and to what Degrees this Duty of mutual Kindness and Good-will is to exert it self but this having been already sufficiently done in my Discourse upon the former Head as opportunity presented it self I may excuse my self and you from any farther trouble upon that account and betake my self very briefly to the last thing proposed which was of the Advantages redounding from this happy Temper the bare Enumeration of which since it is so that my Time will give me leave to do no more may supply the place of an Exhortation to it And the First thing I shall mention is That it is in general the most blessed Constitution of the Soul of Man which it is capable of being endued withal For certainly the most pleasing Disposition of the Soul is Love if all the World be not very widely mistaken in their Sense and Sentiment of things and the most eligible Estate which it can wish for it self is to converse with Objects which it delights in and such this Temper this sweet and amiable Habit of the Mind makes every Object more or less to be Secondly It is not only a Temper the most blessed in it self it is not only an imitation of God who is the best Example as hath been already shewn but it also draws down the Influences of his Spirit upon us which have a natural and a vital congruity to the charitable Man It is effectually at the same time a participation of the Divine Nature and brings us into an intimate and close Communion with the Supreme Love which is glad of every suitable occasion to diffuse and enlarge it self and so St. John at large represents the matter Beloved saith he let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love No man hath seen God at any time If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit that is the Spirit of Love of Charity and Good-will of which he had been speaking before Thirdly By keeping our Minds cool and disengaged from any turbulent and uneasie Passions This Temper is perhaps the best natural Judge of Controversies in the World and if it could universally obtain by bringing all things to the arbitrage of Reason it would soon put an end to our religions Broils or at least it would hinder those particular Differences in Opinion from being dangerous to our Peace and Welfare Fourthly By preserving our Souls as it is naturally disposed to do in their true sagacity clearness and untainted strength it prevents those entanglements and perplexities of thought which are the cause of most of those Ills to which Mankind is usually exposed which run us very frequently upon desperate Courses and bring us in the end to Misery and Confusion Fifthly and Lastly It is not only the best preparation to the Joys and Glories of another World but when in the end of our Days we arrive happily at the end of our Hopes the salvation of our precious and immortal Souls it will be the greatest part of their Fruition and Enjoyment which consists mainly if not altogether in the love God and his Angels and of one another To which most happy and eternally blessed State God of his infinite Mercy bring us all by the Merits and Mediation of his Son our Saviour the ever blessed Jesus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Glory for ever Amen NOTES P. 2. SO Homer describes his Poetical Olympus After the same manner Lucretius also describes those blessed and peaceful Places though he reject them as fabulous at the same time and he takes the Copy of his Description manifestly from Homer Illud item non est ut possis credere sedes Esse Deûm sanctas in mundi partibus ullis Quas neque concutiunt venti neque nubila nimbis Aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina Cana cadens violat semperque innubilus aether Integit largè diffuso lumine ridet P. 18. The Publicans were indifferently chosen The Administration of the Vectigalia or Customs of the Roman State was primarily in all the Provinces in the Hands of the Romans themselves but under them certain of the Natives of the respective Provinces were employed as being best acquainted with their own Nation and so best able to manage the Collection of the Tribute in it That it was so among the Jews is evident by the Instances of Matthew Levi and Zaccheus in the Gospels the two first of which are mentioned as Sitting at the Receipt of Custom and the last is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief of the Publicans or Customers that is to say among the Jews And from this I will take occasion to correct as I conceive a very great Mistake which hath hitherto generally obtained among Learned Men as if Levi and Matthew were the same only because they are both mentioned by several Evangelists as Sitting at the Receipt of Custom and out of this number I do not except Grotius himself whereas indeed they are the Names of two several and distinct Publicans as appears by Matth. 10. 3. where there is distinct mention made of Matthew the Publican and of Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus which Lebbaeus by the change of the V Consonant into a double B the Greeks having no such Letter as the V Consonant in use among them but always expressing it either by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with Levi and Levi is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chivi is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chitti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like and when it is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Surname was Thaddaeus This Surname is to be understood of his Roman Name as the other is of his Jewish as there is mention made of John whose Surname was Mark Acts 12. 12 25. and cap. 15. 37. where John is Jochanan the Jewish Name as Mark is the Roman So that it seems it was familiar in those Times when Judea was a Roman Province for Men to have two Names the one a Jewish by which they were better known to their own Countrymen and Kinsfolks being the Name that was given them at their Circumcision and the other a Roman or rather in this Instance a Greek though at that time very familiar among the Romans who called this Lebbaeus by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a contraction of Theodosius who is by Claudian somewhere called Theudosius as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Epaphroditus and many others of the like nature and of one that was called by this Name express mention is made Acts 5. 36. which Name by the Jews was corruptly called Thaddai as Dositheus they call Dosthai Prolomaeus Talmai after a barbarous and corrupt manner and indeed all Proper Names of Foreign Nations the Jews who were a very ignorant unletter'd People were used to corrupt after a strange rate as Drusius conjectures the Jewish Terphon or Tarphon to have been the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Justin Martyr And I make no question but Baithos who was the fabulous Companion of Sadoc the Founder of the Saducean Sect or Heresie among the Jews is the same with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence is the Latin Name Boethius signifying an Helper or Assistant And they who by St. Paul are called Jannes and Jambres who are said to have withstood Moses and the Truth are by the Rabbins corruptly named sometimes Jonos and Jombros and at others Jochanna and Mamre And other Instances might be given as well in Appellative as Proper Names but these are sufficient for my purpose And I hope by this time it is sufficiently clear that Matthew and Levi are two distinct Persons notwithstanding the general cry of Expositors to the contrary who having taken a false scent from one another are never like to find out the truth V. Drus de trib Sect. lib. 2. cap. 2. lib. 3. cap. 4. Bâ—xt Lex Talmud in Talmai pag. 2598. in Jochanna pag. 945 c. P. 20. And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned These are very proper and genuine Effects of that Charity which the Apostle describes but it seems without Charity it self unless they proceed out of an inward Principle of Love to God on the one hand and our Neighbour on the other the bare Acts considered by themselves will be of no profit or avail to us P. 27. Aristophanes Hesiod Parmenides and others The particular Testimonies to this purpose you may see in Grotius in his Learned Notes upon his Book De V. R. C. and in Dr. Cudworth in his Intellectual System and those others whom I mean are Simmias the Rhodian and Orpheus the Writer of the Argonautiques whose Testimonies are likewise produced by Dr. C. FINIS