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A49584 Of earnestly contending for the faith a sermon preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city of London, on Sunday, Sept. the 22th, there being that day an ordination by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London / by James Lardner. Lardner, James, b. 1670. 1700 (1700) Wing L436; ESTC R13861 12,315 30

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Levett Mayor Jovis tertio die Octobr. 1700. annoque Regni Willielmi Tertii Angl. c. duodecimo THIS Court doth desire Mr. Lardner to Print his Sermon preach'd at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Sunday the Two and twentieth Day of September last before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of this City Ashhurst Of earnestly contending for the Faith A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. PAUL BEFORE The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY of LONDON On Sunday Sept. the 22th THERE Being that Day an Ordination By the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of LONDON By JAMES LARDNER M. A LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill 1700. To the Right Honourable Sir RICHARD LEVETT Kt. LORD MAYOR TO THE COURT of ALDERMEN And the Right Worshipful Sr CHARLES DUNCOMB AND Sr JEFFREY JEFFREYS LATE SHERIFFS OF THE CITY of LONDON Right Honourable and Worshipful WHAT open Defiance hath of late been given to all the Sacred Mysteries of the Gospel what barefaced Opposition hath been made to the Christian Faith is well known and is sadly Lamented by every serious and considerate Man The labouring Press doth almost every day produce some sly Pamphlet or other the design of which is to Undermine our most Holy Religion and Ridicule and Scoff at all the Professors of it Nor do these things steal secretly into our Hands or by their Privacy betray an inward Shame in the Author but every Page doth publickly declare that the Publisher of it is a profess'd Enemy to the Faith of Christ. The Opposition is made with so much Courage and Boldness that a meer Stranger would hardly believe Christianity to be the Religion of our Country or that the Gospel had the Protection of the Law to guard it The design therefore of the following Discourse is to point out and discover some of these Adversaries and by showing how dangerous they are to raise our Spirits and call up that Courage which so well becomes those who ought to be the Assertors of it and whose Duty it is to contend earnestly for the Faith That God would please to assist and protect those who stand up vigorously in Defence of our most Holy Religion and at last bring us all to an Unity in the Faith is the hearty Prayer of Right Honourable and Worshipful Your most Obedient and Most Humble Servant James Lardner Epist of St. Jude Ver. 3. latter part And exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints THAT ye should earnestly contend for the Faith Can then that Gospel which was once deliver'd by the Prince of Peace meet with any so hardy and obstinate as to gainsay and oppose it That Gospel the very design of which is to promote an universal Love and Charity to join us all as it were into one common Houshold one Family That Gospel which teaches me to look upon every Man as my Neighbour my Friend and my Brother that obliges me to allow every Man a share in my Heart and admit him as Partner in my Love and Affections That Gospel which is so well fitted for the Advancement of every Man 's true Interest and Advantage and which gives us a blessed Assurance in consequence of our Obedience of an immortal Crown of Glory hereafter Can any one be so obstinately so wilfully blind as not to see those things which make for his eternal Peace and not upon first sight close in with and embrace ' em 'T is strange that the effect of the Son of God's coming into the World should be St. Mat. 10.34 not to send Peace but a Sword that the most tender and obliging offers that even infinite Mercy did ever make should prove the occasion of Strife and Contention and set one Man at variance against another Yet this is our case and every one who is admitted within the Pale of the Christian Church engages himself in a continual Warfare he enters and lists himself into the Service of him who is described to us under the Character of the Captain of our Salvation the Head of the Church that Army of the living God he obliges himself to wrestle not only against Flesh and Blood Eph. 6.12 but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against spiritual Wickednesses in high Places and his Adversaries have so many ways to beset him that he must be continually upon his Guard and to secure his Innocence take to him the whole Armour of God 13. that he may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand The Christian Profession is represented to us as a State of Warfare and a manly Courage Resolution and Constancy are qualifications which are necessary for every Professor to carry constantly about him we are not in the least allow'd to be Careless Negligent and Supine but are to sight the good sight to endure hardships to be strong in the Lord and earnestly to contend for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Which was once delivered to the Saints for there is no other Gospel now to be expected no other Rule by which we are to square our Actions we are not to look for any strange new Light nor for any other Methods of Salvation 'T is true Heb. 10.1 the Law was indeed a shadow of good things to come but now since the Substance of the Faith hath been once fully revealed to us by that Gospel which hath brought Life and Immortality to light we are modestly and humbly to embrace it and take it as the only Rule both of our Faith and Practise and though we Gal. 1.8 or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed It would I presume be altogether needless to go about to prove that by that Faith in the Text which we are exhorted thus earnestly to contend for is to be understood the Christian Religion in general viz. all those Doctrines and Precepts as well as Articles of Belief contain'd in that Gospel which hath no less than the Son of God for its Author for so is the word used Acts 6.7 1 Tim. 4.1 and in several other places The Faith of a Christian is the Religion of a Christian and to believe in Jesus is to become his Disciple and a Follower of his Doctrines and I doubt not but that seeming difference between St. Paul and St. James when one speaks of Justification by Faith alone and the other asserts good Works to be necessary in order thereunto may very easily be adjusted by a serious application of Mind and by considering the drift and design of each Apostle in his several Epistle So that all those Controversies which have for a long time employ'd the Pens of several I hope well-meaning Men may be easily reconciled and made up for a truly pious