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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A26059 The danger of hypocrisie a sermon preached at Guild-Hall Chappel, August 3d, 1673 / by William Asheton ... Assheton, William, 1641-1711. 1673 (1673) Wing A4027; ESTC R1873 12,256 37

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to take good care that their hearts be right in the sight of God in this matter The Devil so he may but deceive them will easily transform himself into an Angel of Light That they are a Praying people that they are frequenters of Sermons we are so far from disliking that we tell them 't is but their Duty and commend them for it But we must withall remind them That there is something else to be done besides Preaching and Praying even the great things of the Law the Duties not only of the First but also of the Second Table which if they must neither be preached up by us nor practis'd by them lest thereby we should too much exalt a Moral state I must tell them and I do it with some dread upon my Spirits we may come to roar in Hell for not being Moral men Not every one c. For the Explication of the words I must shew First What it is to say Lord Lord. Secondly What to do the Will of his Father that is in Heaven To say Lord Lord it is to make an outward Profession by performing external acts of Worship that we are Christians that we believe in Jesus Christ that we acknowledge him for our Lord and look for Salvation by him That this may appear more plain and intelligible I must remind you that there is a twofold Worship or to speak more properly the name of Worship is consider'd two several ways 1. There is Internal Worship which denotes the exercise of those inward Graces whereby the Soul doth shew its dependence upon and Relation unto God as Faith Hope Love Patience c. 2. There is External Worship which comprehends such outward actions whereby the inward Piety and Devotion of the Soul in the exercise of the foremention'd Graces is express'd and cherish'd as Prayer hearing of Sermons Receiving the Sacraments and such outward Duties which are the Marks and Characters of a visible Church and whereby she is distinguish'd from all civil Societies So that the full meaning of this first Clause is this Not every one that saith c. Not every one that is a Member of the visible Church Not every one that is a Professor of Religion Not every one that can Preach or Pray or hear Sermons shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven No there is something more to be done and what that is the latter part of my Text informs you But he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven By the Doing of his Fathers Will is meant the Doing of those Duties of Obedience which his Father hath commanded in his Law particularly the Decalogue Which our Blessed Saviour is so far from destroying that he tells us expresly he came to fulfil it Not by the Addition of any new Precept the Socinian conceit Nor by taking off its Obligation as to the Person of a Believer the Antinomian fancy But First By fulfilling it in his own Person thus it behoveth us to fulfil all Righteousness 2. By a particular explication and wiping off the false Glosses of the Pharisees and other Jewish Doctors 3. By adding new and more spiritual Motives of Obedience to its former Obligations The words thus explain'd do afford us this Observation which I intend the subject of my present Discourse Observ An outward Profession of Religion without Obedience and amendment of Life is not sufficient to bring us to Heaven I shall give you these two Reasons for it First An outward Profession may be found R 1. in Hypocrites and Cast-aways such men as shall never come to Heaven Secondly An outward Profession of Religion R. 2. without Obedience and amendment of life is displeasing and abominable in the sight of God and therefore I argue à fortiori 't is not sufficient to bring us to Heaven The former Reason when put into Logick runs thus That which may be found in Hypocrites and Cast-aways such men as shall never come to Heaven is not sufficient to bring us to Heaven But an outward Profession of Religion without Obedience and amendment of life may be found in Hypocrites and Cast-aways such men as shall never come to Heaven Therefore 't is not sufficient to bring us to Heaven The Major Proposition stands upon this foundation That which gives us a Right and Title to Heaven must be something proper to the called and chosen of God something peculiar to his peculiar People Hence 't is that in Scripture we read of the faith of Gods Elect and amongst our Divines that we hear so often of these Distinctions Common and special Grace Gratia gratis data and gratia gratum faciens The Graces of Illumination and Sanctification The which latter being wrought by the blessed and powerful operation of the Holy Spirit of God after a most effectual but unconceivable manner regenerating and renewing seasoning and sanctifying the hearts of his Chosen though Hypocrisie may make such a semblance as that we who are oblig'd to the judgment of Charity may have probable inducements to perswade us that they are in such a man who hath nothing but their counterfeits yet the inward power and reality of them can never be found in any Hypocrite or Cast-away For such Persons being not united to Christ the Head of his Church cannot possibly have the truth of those spiritual Graces which do necessarily require such an union as the root and fountain from whence they must flow The right understanding of this is of great use in Divinity particularly for a true apprehension of our spiritual Estate and Condition and therefore before we proceed any farther I shall endeavour to make it as plain as I can Now since Spiritual Beings which are of a more abstracted nature are best known by reflecting upon things corporeal we cannot find a more easie way to understand this Spiritual union than by comparing it with the Union of the Body natural with which indeed it hath no small resemblance Every good Christian hath a twofold Life Natural and Spiritual And as his natural Life is twofold 1. Substantialis the Soul it self 2. Accidentalis the real Effects and Operations of it and in this sence it is that when we see a man stretched out in a swouning fainting fit without sense or motion we usually say The man is dead though his immediate recovery doth convince us that his Soul was still united to his Body So likewise his Spiritual life is 1. Substantialis and so the Spirit of Christ or Christ himself who is our Life Col. 3. 4. working in us by his Spirit is our vita Substantialis our essential Life the first Principle of all our Graces and Operations 2. Accidentalis and so Faith and all other Spiritual Graces are call'd our Life As therefore in Naturals unless the Soul be united to it the Body neither stirs nor moves neither sees nor hears nor walks nor performs any other Operation either of sense or motion so it is in Spirituals