A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable Military Company at St. Clements-Danes July 25. BY JOHN SCOTT Minister of St. Thomas Southwark LONDON Printed for Tho. Taylor at the Hand and Bible in the New Buildings on London-Bridge 1673. To the Right Worshipful Sir ROBERT PEYTON President and one of the Stewards elect Captain JOHN PERRY Lieut. GEORGE CLERK Lieut. THOMAS LOW Lieut. WILLIAM PEPPER Ensign JOHN MERYDALE Serjeant RALPH HOLLAND Stewards of the Honourable the Military Company and to the Stewards elect Sir RICHARD COMBES JAMES LONG Esq. CHARLES HUMPHREVILE Esq. CHRIST OPHER VANE Esq. JOHN AYLOFFE Esq. and to Captain JOHN HOOKER Treasurer Worthy Gentlemen EVer since I consented to your desires to Print this rude Discourse I have been hardly put to it to make an Apology for it at first I resolved to go the way of all Authors and indite my Patrons for committing a rape upon my modesty and dragging this poor offering like an unwilling Sacrifice to the Altar but upon second thoughts I could not but disapprove such a kind address as too disingenious and unmannerly for to avouch your importunities for the publication of so mean a discourse I might reasonably think would be to libel your Judgments and to make the world believe I designed Revenge rather than Obedience and therfore in conclusion I rather resolved to take all the blame upon my self hoping that in the great crowd of silly things that come abroad into the world this little trifle may pass unobserved but if it should be so unhappy as to be taken notice of I hope the world will not be so unconscionable as to deny me the priviledge of playing the fool as well as others whatsoever imperfections there may be in the Sermon the subject of it is so great and excellent that 't is no shame for any man to lie prostrate under it for intreating of such high Arguments insufficiency is both Art and Rhetorick If therefore I have not given it a Character as great as it deserves I hope this will in some measure excuse me that I am a man and not an Angel but however I fare in the esteem of others this comfort I have that the weaker the Discourse is the greater Argument it will be of the gratitude and obedience of Your humble and affectionate Servant JOHN SCOTT ERRATA PAge 1. for aley read aloy line 5. for our bodies r. as for our bodies p. 5. and us p. 8. for menaceth r. meaneth and to be left out p. 9. for infer r. infere put in can p. 10. for understa understandings p. 12. for By r. A. p. 13. add all other p. for ride r. run p. 15. for clutering r. clattering p. 17. acknowledge Epes 6. 11. Put on therefore the whole Armour of God THat which giveth us the advantage of Brutes and ranketh us in a form of Beings above them is the Rational and Immortal Spirits we carry about with us for our Bodies they are but clods of earth steeped in phlegme and kneaded into Humane shapes and do derive their Pedegree from the same Principles with flies and scare-bees and the most contemptible Animals but our Souls are of a purer alley and by their nature are allied to Angels and do border upon God himself and it is by the Title of these Rational Natures that we are now superior to Beasts and hope hereafter to be equal with Angels and yet besotted Creatures that we are how do we prefer our Bodies before our Souls imploying all our cares in providing for and pampering of our flesh as if our Reason were given us for no other end but to be Cook and Taylor to our Bodies to study Sauses and fashions for them whilst our Immortal Spirits pine and famish and like forlorn things are wholly abandoned by us to wretchedness and misery that it is so is apparent by too many woful instances the poor Labourer that sweateth and toileth all day for his Body thinketh much at night to bestow upon his Soul a Prayer of a quarter of an hour long the Tradesman that thinks no Industry too much to make a fair and ample provision for his Body grudgeth to expend a few good thoughts and endeavours in the purchase of an eternal Inheritance for his Soul the Souldier that shuts up his Body in ribs of Iron and Coats of Male to secure it from the Sword and Bullets of his Enemies exposeth his Soul unarmed to all the fiery darts of the Devil and though his understanding hath as much need of Knowledge as his Head hath of an Helmet his Will as much need of Justice as his Breast of a Bucklen his Affections as much need of Fortitude and temperance as his Legs and hands have of Greaves and Gantlets yet he ventures them all naked amongst a thousand Enemies as if his little Toe or Finger were more dear and precious to him than his Immortal Soul But if we would be good Souldiers and good men too we must arm our selves with in as well as without and as we harness our Bodies in Iron so must we put on upon our Souls the whole Armor of God and this is the councel of the Apostle in the Text which I have chosen for the subject of my ensuing Discourse Put on therefore the whole armour of God By the whole Armor of God here we are to understand the Christian Religion that is the Doctrine and Duties of Christianity as you may see at large from the fourteenth to the eighteenth Verses of this Chapter where the Apostle instances in the particular parts of which this whole armour consisteth the first is the Girdle of Truth that is the Doctrine of the Gospel in opposition to all Heathen errors and heretical insinuations The second is the Breast-plate of Righteousness that is sincere and faithful obedience unto Christ the third is the preparation of the Gospel of Peace that is the practice of Christian Charity and Peaceableness the fourth is the Shield of Faith that is the belief of the Promises and threats of the Gospel the fifth is the Helmet that is the hope of Salvation the sixth is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and the last is Prayer and Watchfulfulness These are the several parts of this Divine armour in which you see are reckoned both the Doctrines and Duties of Christianity by the putting on of these therefore nothing else can be meant but only our hearty belief of the Doctrines and our sincere Practice of the Duties of Christian Religion for to this sence the Phrase is frequently used in the New Testament thus when the Apostle exhorteth us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Rom. 13. 14. it is plain he meaneth nothing else but believing in Christ and obeying him And so also when in Ephes. 4. 22 24. he exhorteth them to put off the old man and put on the new he meaneth nothing else but that they should forsake their Heathen Superstitions and Idolatrous uncleannesses and
beloved darling of his Soul and certainly he that after this assurance of Gods severity against sin can dare to be wicked is a most valiant and couragious sinner and if after he hath confronted the Tribunal of God and out-saced the the flames of Hel he can laugh at this fearful example of the Divine severity he is fit for a Reserve or a forlorn-hope and may boldly venture to be wicked through all the terrors in the world but if men should be so senselesly wicked as not to be perswaded either by hope or fear yet perhaps ingenuity may prevail which that it may Christianity presseth us with the most endearing motives in the world it sets before us the infinite obligations which God hath laid upon us in bestowing upon us our beings in surrounding us with his careful Providence but above all in giving his Son to die for us and to infer this last it representeth our most kind and merciful Redeemer groaning under the cruelty of our sins it bringeth forth his bloody garments as Anthony did those of the murdred Caesar and spreadeth them before our eyes and in the most passionate manner accuseth our sins for being his Assassines and murderers and we find in our hearts to hug his Executioners to harbour the â—â—aitors that slew our Friend our Friend that loved us a thousand times better than we love our selves Surely if we should we 〈…〉 for the most disingenious 〈…〉 in the world for 't is 〈…〉 should oblige us if we find 〈…〉 spight of all the love of 〈…〉 and blood of our Redeemer 〈…〉 powerful Arguments Christianâ—â—◠〈…〉 sin Thirdly 〈…〉 it with the most powerful Grace and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christianity is animated with a Divine Spirit tha◠〈◊〉 along enlivened actuated it rendered it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so successful and victorious 't was by virtue of this 〈◊〉 Spirit that it triumphed in its very infancie over all the power and malice of the world that like the Palm 〈◊〉 it grew by depression and conquered in the midst of flames insomuch that within less than an hundred years after the death of Christ it had made successful inroads into the remotest Kingdoms and captivated a great part of mankind into the belief and obedience of it and though it found the minds of men prepossessed with a contrary Religion conseqaently had mighty prejudices to combat before it could come to lay siege to their Reason yet it charged like a Thunderbolt through all these obstacles and with its spiritual Artillery battered down all opposition before it and wrought such strange alterations in the world that the world scarce knew her self and stood admiring at her own change She saw the thronged Temples of the Heathens unfrequented the adored Gods derided the celebrated Oracles ceased the wise Philosophers puzled the enraged Magistrates disheartened by the unsuccessfulness of their own cruelties and all this done by a few despicable and illiterate fisher men and yet all this had not been so strange had it won men only to an Opinion or a Faction for such chaff will soonest catch small birds a giddy and a hair-brain'd multitude but the wonder of it was that Christianity converted men from folly and vice to a sublime pitch of virtue and substantial goodness and of vitious deboyched and dissolute made them sober and temperate and righteous which is so clear an evidence of that extraordinary power and efficacie that accompanied it that the Heathens attributed its successes to the power of Magick as St. Austin hath observed concluding that 't was impossible for it to conquer through so many difficulties without the assistance of some mighty and powerful Spirit and though it doth not now convert men so miraculously as it did at first but proceedeth in more rational and humane methods by joyning in with our understandand leading us forward by reason and sobriety by instructing our faculties in the right perception of things and by discovering a fuller evidence and stronger connexion of Truths so that whatsoever assistance it now affordeth us it worketh in the same way and after the same manner as if they were all performed by the strength of our own Reason yet still there are mighty assistances accompanying all its ministrations and it is enlivened with a Divine Power and efficacie for still those Promises are in force to him that hath shall be given and he will give his Spirit unto every one that asketh so that Gods Grace is wanting to none but to those that are wanting to themselves for if we will be so ingenious as to do what we can God will be so gracious as to help us to do what we cannot if therefore we do not do all it is our own fault since we may do all through Christ who will strengthen us if we do what we can What therefore may we not do who are thus armed with Divine assistance What sins are there so strong that we may not mortifie What Passions so violent that we may not tame What habits so inveterate that we may not vanquish who are thus backed and aided with auxiliaries from above And thus you see what impenitrable armour the Christian Religion is against all the darts and weapons of sin and how able it is to render us shot-proof and invulnerable against all its temptations I come now to the second thing proposed which is to shew you that Christianity is armor of proof against the evil of misery that is against all those cares and fears those griefs and sorrows vexations and anxieties wherewith we are here incompassed on every side and indeed there is nothing in the world can give so much ease unto the minds of men and fortifie them so impregnably against the miseries of the world as true Religion Hence is that of our Saviour Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Matth. 11. 28. that is all you that are tired out with the crosses and troubles of this miserable world do but become by Disciples believe my Doctrine and obey my Commands and I will give ease and refreshment to your minds And in the following verse he telleth us that by taking his yoke that is his Religion upon us we shall find rest for our Souls and of necessity his yoke must mightily contribute to the arming of Souls against the troubles of the world upon these following accounts 1. First in that it naturally inspireth us with true courage and magnanimity there is nothing in the world so valiant and heroick as a true Christian spirit for its courage is composed of the best Metal in the World of Patience and Temperance of Constancie and Resignation to the Will of God all which mingled together do beget in the Soul an invincible firmness and staiedness of mind against all dangerous and dolorous accidents whatsoever for what accident can daunt a Soul that is weaned by temperance from the pleasures of the body and hardened by patience
against the pain and displeasures of it that hath so subdued her passions as to be alwayes present to her self and constant to her own Reason and having resigned up all to the Conduct of Divine Providence receiveth every accident as a token of love and giveth a hearty welcome to whatsoever befalleth her Such a Soul as this standeth firm as a Rock out-braving all the storms of Fortune making its envious waves retire in empty foam and insignificant Passion but wheresoever these brave Qualities are wanting it is impossible a man should be truly couragious for intemperance impatience and diffidence will let in every trouble that assaults us to spoil and ravage us at pleasuâ—e and expose all the peace and tranquillitity of our minds to the mercy of every trifle so that we shall not be able to abide the shock of any cross accident that encountereth us but like cowardly Poultrons shall lie down vanquished at the feet of every trouble that befalleth us and there is no greater signe of cowardize and weakness of spirit than an aptness to be discomposed with trifles for as sick persons are offended at the light of the Sun and the freshness of the air which administer pleasure and recreation to those that are in health even so persons of weak and pusillanimous spirits are easily offended their minds are so tender and effeminate that they cannot bear the least air of trouble without disturbance and what would be a diversion to a courageous Soul grieveth and incommodateth them But when we are once arrived to a due pitch of patience temperance and confidence in God all the troubles of the world will be but like flea-bites to a sleeping Lyon we shall no more be concernâ—d with these little crosses and mischances than the Moon is with the yelping of those whiffling Curs that bark at her from below For true Christian Courage is the most heroick of all other for Courage is meerly brutal consisting in heats and serments of the blood and spirits in which Game-cocks and Mastives out-vy the greatest Heroes in the world but the Courage of a Christian is truly Rational and manly founded in Religion and true Principles of Reason and so as a thousand times more manageable and useful than that which ariseth only out of temper and complexion for this sort of Courage is headstrong and unruly and like an hot metall'd Horse doth oftentimes ride away with the Rider and instead of securing us from carries us headlong into mischief but true Christian courage is gentle and obsequious to the Commands of Reason and upon that account is far more useful in our extremities and is more applicable to our necessities Since therefore Christianity inspireth us with such an excellent Courage as this is it cannot but render us invincible and effectually shield us against all the blows of Fortune Secondly It armeth ns against the miseries of the World by reconciling us unto God 't is impossible a man should be free from trouble and anxiety of mind whilst he is in a state of emnity with God for there is grafted within our very natures such a natural awe and dread of a Divine Power as doth necessarily alarum all that sear and horror that is within us whensoever we knowingly provoke that Power we so much dread and tremble at and our Consciences being thus in a tumult and uproar will give a sting to all our miseries and render all our dangers more terrible and amazing 't will represent every cross accident to us as a Messenger of God's vengeance and every little danger as an approaching storm from Heaven and then how must every danger affright and every misery oppress us that comes with a Commission from that Almighty Vengeance which we so naturally dread and tremble at How can we but sink even under our crosses when we think what a load of wrath there is in them How can we but quake at our dangers when we look upon them as so many thunderbolts which Omnipotent fury is hurling at our head the thought of this will imbitter all our miseries and make the most trifling dangers to look stern and terrible hence it is that of the Wiseman The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lyon For though no man pursueth them yet their own Consciences like restless furies haunt them whether ever they go and this makes them flee before a shadow and when none pursueth them they run away from themselves Thus whilst we are in hostility against God we lie open to all weathers and our own Consciences do betray us to the sury of all those troubles and dangers that surround us But the great end of Christian Religion is to reconcile us unto God in order to which it both proposeth a peace to us and the terms and Articles upon which it is to be obtained which terms when we have performed the Quarrel presently endeth in a mutual Confederacie and of enemies we become the friends and favourites of God upon which there followeth a Jubilee of joy and peace within the Conscience smileth and groweth calm as the Ocean when the wind is laid and now if troubles besal us if dangers encounter us 't is all but like the ratling of Hail upon the tiles of a Musick-house which with all their cluttering and noise will not be able to disturb the Harmony within For a quiet Conscience will be a Paradise in a wilderness a Haven in the midst of storms it will make a man fearless in danger joyful in tribulation and inable him to sing with a thorn at his breast and when troubles and crosses surround him on every side that will be a Sanctuary to him whereunto he may retire and be merry in spite of Fortune Thus by reconciling us unto God the Christian Religion armeth us against all the miseries in the world Thirdly It doth it also by assuring us of that special care and regard which the Divine Providence hath of us and our affairs Christianity assureth us that all things shall work together for the good of them that love God and keep his Commandments that even their afflictions shall prosper them and all the cross-winds conspire to blow them to the right Port and what greater security can a man desire then to have all his affairs managed by a Providence that is infiniteâ—y wise and knoweth what is best for us infinitely kâ—nd and willeth what he knoweth best and infinitely powerful and doth what it willeth this is the utmost that any modest or reasonable man can desire for his security and he that firmly believeth this most necessarily be happy whatsoever betalleth him for whatsoever happeneth he taketh as a favour because it cometh from the hand of that wise and merciful Providence which he is well assured doth both know and do that which is best for him and is it not a thousand times better that our affairs should be managed as God thinketh fit who is â—o much