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A48519 A sermon preached before the Queen at Whitehall, on Wednesday, March 22, 1692 being the fourth Wednesday in Lent / by J. Lambe ... Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708. 1693 (1693) Wing L225; ESTC R17586 10,291 29

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there required but so many several Parts of the Image of God which we have Lost Are they not the Dispositions of His Mind the Attributes of His Will and the Methods of His Providence that by the Practice of them we may be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect St. Matth. 5. ult 4. And are not the Apostles particularly careful to instill this Principle into us not only in the Text but every where throughout their Epistles that For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 That this is the Will of God this is the great design of the Gospel even your Sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 Do they not resolve the Substance of Christianity into this That we be followers of God Eph. 5.1 That we be Holy as God is Holy 1 Pet. 1.20 That if we have heard Him and learn'd Him as the truth is in Jesus we shall put off the Old Man which is Corrupt and be renewed transformed in the Spirit of our Mind and put on the New Man which is Created after God in Righteousness and Holiness of Life Ephes 4.24 5. And are not all true Christians who have resigned themselves to the Direction of their Religion are they not said to be new Created Eph. 2.16 To be new Begotten 1 Joh. 5.18 To be Joyned to the Lord Adopted into His Family and to become his Children 1 Cor. 6.17 Joh. 17.24 Rom. 8.16 This then is the specific Difference of Christianity that it rectifies our Nature and cleanses us throughout in Body Soul and Spirit And therefore if we are not thus renewed in Every Point we may assume the Name but in truth We are not Christians For the Foundation of God says the Apostle standeth sure and has this Seal Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 He then upon whom the Gospel has not this Effect He whose Nature is not changed and whose Mind is not renewed is not upon this Foundation He is in the same Condition at the present as He would have been if our Saviour never had appeared For He is a Saviour only to those who obey Him Heb. 10. And thus it appears That the End of the Promises and of all that our Saviour did and taught is this That we may be Partakers of the Nature of God And this is the First and the Principal Assertion in the Text. I proceed to the Consideration of the Second namely this viz. II. Secondly That the only Means to attain this End or the only Way to partake of the Nature of God is to escape the Corruptions that are in the World thro Lust Having Escaped or by the means of Escaping the Corruptions of the World we may be Partakers of the Divine Nature This is the plain Construction of the Words and thus much they Import at least That the Corruptions of the World and the Nature of God are Incompatible that they cannot subsist in the same Subject that we must be free from the one before we can attain the other That unless we Escape the Corruptions of the World we cannot but if we do Escape them we shall attain by the Grace of God to a Participation of His Nature By the World we understand The Pleasures and Allurements of it or those Grateful Satisfactions that it yields to our Inferiour Sensual Desires By the Corruptions of the World we understand Those vicious and destructive Habits which we have brought upon our selves by an Over-value and an Inordinate Enjoyment of it Or those ill Effects which these Terrene and Sensual Pleasures have had upon us in that they have imposed upon our Reason Corrupted our Integrity and Depraved our Nature The Soundness of the Mind consists in this That we preserve the Authority of our Reason that we Judge and Chuse and Love and Enjoy according to the Value of the Object the Nature of the Thing and the Command of God That all our Faculties fulfill their End and perfect their Design That we gratifie all our Genuine Desires and improve in all our Interests But to exceed these Measures to neglect our greatest Good to make no use of our Noblest Powers to starve our Best Capacities on the one hand and to load and nauseate our Inferior Appetites on the other to be governed by them and resolved into them is the Depravity the Corruption of a Reasonable Creature The Humane Nature or our Powers of Judging truly of Loving wisely and of Acting freely are destroyed So that all the several Instances of sensual and worldly Pleasures that overcome our Reason and gain a Dominion over us are styled in the Text by an easie Metaphor The Corruption that is in the World through Lust or through the Power of Inordinate Desire Wherefore then to Escape the Corruptions of the World is to Rectifie our Judgment and Reform our Manners to Change our Affections and Flee from all the Baits and Opportunities of Vicious Actions To recede from all our former Notions of our Happiness and from all our Consequent Affections Desires and Course of Life and attain to another Sense of things to a Right Opinion to Suitable Desires to a Chearful Will and Vigorous Endeavours Informed and Governned by the Will of God It is to recover the True the Natural and the Perfect Temper of our Minds which is corrupted by the Pleasures of the World and to enjoy those Pleasures for the time to come in such Degrees and Measures as may consist with the Laws of Reason and the Safety of all our Interests And though it is not possible for us to preserve our selves in a Continued Course of perfect Health Though we cannot keep the Balance always and exactly even between the Soul and the Body in this Imperfect State Yet we may attain to a perfect Soundness both of Judgment and Affection We may Resolve our Happiness into our Duty we may both understand and hate the turpitude of Vice We may frame a steady Resolution to Escape it We may always stand upon our Guard And whensoever we are Polluted For in many things we all offend we may Cleanse our selves as soon as we discern it by a true Repentance This is to Escape the Corruptions of the World according to the Measure and Capacity of a Man And that thus to Escape the Corruptions of the World is the only way to become Partakers of the Nature of God is evident beyond Exception For a State of Bondage to the Corruptions of the World is the Sensual the Brutal Nature that pursues the present Appetite without Respect It is directly contrary to the Laws of Reason or the Nature of God and is therefore inconsistent with it But to Assert our Liberty to Escape from under their Dominion to throw off all those evil Habits which we have superinduced upon our selves will raise our Minds again and restore us to the same Condition we were in before A Participation of