Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A49384
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The Christian race a sermon preach'd before the Queen at Kensington on Sunday the 31th of July, 1692 / by Richard Lucas ...
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Lucas, Richard, 1648-1715.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing L3394; ESTC R13000
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14,824
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32
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for their distance and futurity and Faith Supplies the place of Vision for Faith is the Substance of things hoped for the Evidence of things not seen Hebr. 11.1 So that 't is evident the Scale of Victory is not turned on the side of the Body against the Mind till false Principles have supplanted the Authority of the one and Indulgence and ill Customs increased and fortified the Propensions of the other to worldly and sensible things I have remarkt this that none of us may go about to remove the Guilt of our Ruin from our selves on our first Parents or God that none may think we have sufficiently discharged our Duty by accusing our Nature or excused our Vices by Arraigning our Frailty This calls to mind a Second Truth contained in this Rule namely That no Sin is invincible that none is so deeply rooted in us either by Nature or Custom but it may be extirpated This is an Assertion you will easily admit if you consider by what glorious Instruments the Conversion of Man is wrought the Spirit of God and the Word of God i. e. the Wisdom and the Power of God Or if you consider the Description of it in Holy Scripture it is called the Divine Nature the New Creature the Image of God the Life of Faith a being transformed from Glory to Glory the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and such like What Degrees of Perfection all this may import I enquire not 't is plain it can imply nothing less than a Purification from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and through Sanctification of Spirit Soul and Body Nor is this a matter of meer Speculation the Converts of the first Times were living Demonstrations of this Truth and their daily Actions were nothing else but the glorious Effects of an intire Victory not over the Weakest only but most Obstinate of their Sins All this inculcates this one plain Lesson That no Man must think to shelter his Negligence and Lukewarmness or any Darling Lust under the pretence of an insuperable Infirmity or that by owning himself to be but Man he is excused from being a Christian The truth is if Christianity did consist in a Quarrel only with our Sins not a Conquest of them it would be nothing else but a Circulation of Sins and Follies for Regret and Remorse which doth only disturb not reform may be reckoned amongst the Infirmities of Man and that Repentance which brings not forth Fruit is it self to be repented of amongst our other Faults For Thirdly The last Truth I 'le observe to you from this Rule is That Spiritual Liberty is the beginning of Perfection that the first step towards doing Well is ceasing to do Evil that the Christian must make the first Experiment of his Zeal upon himself that Reformation and Charity must begin at home not only that his Attempts of doing good may have in them their proper Luster and Majesty their just Authority and Influence but indeed that he may be qualified and capacitated for making any for how weak and unsuccessful must his Endeavours be whilst some wretched Lust takes up his time imployes the Vigour of his Soul and alienates his Affection from every thing that is truly Great or Good Will the Unclean deny the Importunities of his Lust to satisfie those of his Duty will the Covetous impoverish himself so he styles giving Alms to support others in Laziness and yet his Heap of Treasure like heaps of Soil and Dung is good for nothing till it is scattered abroad Will the Proud stoop to the humble Offices which our Crucified Saviour did will the Soft or the Ambitious run those Hazards or indure those Hardships which are generally unavoidable in carrying on any considerable Good or will the Factious cross the Interest of his Party to promote that of his God I mean that of Religion in General This abundantly demonstrates how inconsistent every sinful Affection is with Success in our Christian Race and consequently how necessary the Advice of my Text is That we should put it off as a burthen or weight Nor is this true only of this or that particular Sin but of all in general and therefore me must put off every weight Strive said our blessed Saviour to enter in at the streight Gate for streight is the Gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it All our vigour all our strength assisted by the Spirit of God will be little enough to open this Way and storm Heaven Ah! what can we expect from Affections divided between God and Mammon or any other Lust from Strengths scattered and disperfed in pursuit of Vice as well as Vertue and these deserted and abandoned by the Spirit of God for the Holy Spirit of Discipline will fly Deceit and will not abide when Iniquity cometh in Wisd 1. But though all Sin in general obstruct the Christian in his Race and defeat him of his Crown yet none so fatally as the beloved one And therefore 't is against this against the sin that easily besets us that the Apostle in his second Rule awakens all our Jealousie and Summons all our Courage this being the Sin in which especially lyes the strength of Satan and in the Conquest of it the first and I think I may add the greatest Difficulty of Christianity To illustrate therefore this Advice of the Apostle I 'le first shew what it is and then secondly how to cure it First What it is As in the Humours of the Body so in the Vices of the Mind there is one Predominant which is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it has an Ascendant over us and leads and governs us it is in the Body of Sin what the Heart is in the Body of our Nature it begins to live first and dies last and whilst it lives it communicates Life and Spirit to the whole Body of Sin and when it dies the Body of Sin expires with it It is the Sin to which our Constitutions leads our Circumstances betray and Custom inslaves us the Sin to which not our Vertues only but Vices too lour their Topsail and submit the Sin which when we would impose upon God and our Consciences we excuse and disguise with all imaginable Artifice and Sophistry but when we are sincere with both we oppose first and conquer last 'T is in a word the Sin which Reigns and Rules in the Vnregenerate and too often Alarums and Disturbs ah that I could say no more the Regenerate Having thus fully discovered what this Sin is without vexing and torturing the Text by Criticisins I 'le now proceed secondly to shew you how to conquer it First Indeavour to possess your Souls with a true Notion of Sin in General but especially of this beloved one in Particular Falshood and Folly Levity and Inconstancy Cowardize and Ingratitude and all that is base constitute the very Essence of Sin As to the Effects of it it dishonours and as much
The Christian Race A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN AT KENSINGTON ON Sunday the 31th of July 1692. By RICHARD LVCAS D. D. Vicar of St. Stephens Coleman-street Published by Her Maiesties Special Command London Printed for Samuel Smith at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. The Christian Race Deliver'd in a SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN at Kensington c. HEBR. xii 1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the Race that is set before us TO confront Atheism with the Resurrection of Jesus and Immorality with the Lives of Saints demonstrating the Power of God in the one and of Faith in the other is a way of arguing which if it do not Reclaim the Infidel and Sinner if it do not utterly silence the Objections of the one against the Truth and of the other against the Possibility of Religion must yet needs ruffle and disturb the Conscience of both and fill it with an uneasie Shame and Fear but how much more must this way of Reasoning prevail wherever there are any Principles of Natural Religion or any Seeds of Ingenuity and Probity where-ever there is but a Form of Godliness or the least Disposition to the Power of it This is the Method the Apostle here observes he demonstrates the Force and Virtue of Faith by the insuperable Courage and Patience of such in all Ages as were acted and supported by it And then well knowing that the Belief of another Life was established upon a brighter Revelation and fuller Evidence than God had ever yet vouchsafed the World addressing himself to Christians as Men who would be ashamed to be out-done by Jew or Gentile or shrink at such Trials as they had triumphed over he concludes in the words of my Text Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses c. These words contains three Parts I. A Duty II. Directions for the successful discharge of it III. Motives and Inforcements to it The Duty is To run the Race that is set before us The Direction consists of Three Rules 1. That we must lay aside every weight but especially 2ly The sin that doth so easily beset us 3ly That we must run with patience The Motives and Inforcements are partly expressed in these words Seeing we are compassed about with such a Cloud of Witnesses partly implied and involved in the Metaphorical Description of our Duty The Race that is set before us for this intimates a Crown to be the Reward of him who so runs as to obtain First of the Duty The Race of the Primitive Christians consisted especially in the Propagating the Kingdom of Jesus and securing their own by Sufferings and Blood And that this is the Race my Text immediately relates to is plain it being nothing else but an Exhortation founded on the Trials and Tortures in the former Chapter and reinforced by the Example of Jesus in this Who for the Joy that was set before him indured the Cross and despised the Shame But if we take this Exhortation in the utmost latitude we may and suppose it address'd to all Christians in general then our Race will consist in doing the good which God hath appointed us and especially in surmounting whatever difficulty or opposition we may encounter in the pursuit of it 1. In doing Good The great design of Christianity is to multiply our Obligations and Incouragements and to raise and inlarge our Capacities of doing good The Holy Scripture was inspired and written that the Man of God might be perfect throughly furnished to every good work and the Holy Spirit is communicated to relieve the Weaknesses and Indispositions of our Natures and inable us to act the great things which that prescribes Illumination fills the Mind of Man with a just comprehension of the Dignity of his Nature and the great ends of his Creation Purification sets him at liberty to pursue them and fires the Heart with a holy Ardour and Zeal to do so and Faith strengthens and fortifies him against the contradiction of Sinners and Temptations of the Body Doing good then is undoubtedly that wherein the Christian Race consists But it must be 2ly That Good which God hath appointed us We must neither contract nor inlarge the Notion of doing good beyond those Bounds which God hath set us We must not inlarge it by placing Religion in those Works which Prejudice or Prepossession Fancy or Faction Lust or Passion not God prescribes Nor may we break in upon the Rights or invade the Offices of others out of a design of doing good Purity of Intention will hardly expiate Rashness and Presumption nor will any Good attain'd compensate the Mischiefs flowing from an Example of so much Injustice and Confusion nor is it therefore to be wondred at if such a one meet with the Punishment of Vzza not the Crown of St. Paul And as we must not inlarge so we must not contract the Notion of doing Good To which end I must remark to you That it consists not only 1. in rescuing the Wretched and Unfortunate from Temporal or 2. the Fool and Sinner from Eternal Evil i. e. in rooting out Vice and Errour and propagating Truth and Vertue concerning both which there can be no doubt but also 3ly In the due Discharge of the Duties of Secular Stations or Callings The Reason of this is plain they are all from the highest to the lowest in a true and proper sense appointed of God they do minister to excellent ends and proceed from and are conducted by excellent Principles Faith in God and Conformity to his Providence and then no wonder if Humility Faith and Purity of Intention transmute Civil into Religious Actions as the Elixir of Adepts is said to do inferiour Mettals into Gold Hence it is that the subduing Kingdoms and working Righteousness which in the Ideom of the Old Testament signifies the protecting and delivering the People of God the waxing valiant in fight and putting to flight the Armies of the Aliens are recorded by the Apostle Hebr. 11. not only as the Heroick Exploits of Gideon and Baruch Jepththa and Sampson and David but as truly and properly Acts of Faith as the Sacrifice of Abel or Abraham the Ark of Noah or the Flight of Moses And hence Eph. 6. the Industry and Faithfulness of Servants is interpreted as truly Religion towards God as Service towards Man and this upon a ground that Ministers Incouragement to Men of all Conditions and Professions knowing that whatsoever good a Man doeth the same he shall receive of God whether he be bond or free all this put together as it furnishes us with a just Notion of the Christian Race so does it with a just one of Christianity it self he derogates from it who forms any other Idea of it than this That it is a most effectual