Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A50547
|
A sermon preached at the assises for the county of Surrey, held in the burrough of Southwark, March 23, 1681/2 by Richard Meggott ...
|
Meggott, Richard, d. 1692.
|
1682
(1682)
|
Wing M1626; ESTC R16983
|
11,501
|
40
|
A SERMON Preached at the ASSISES For the County of SURREY Held in the Burrough of SOVTHWARK March 23. 1681 2. BY RICHARD MEGGOTT D. D. Dean of Winchester and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by A. Grover for Thomas Rowe Jun. in London-Yard near the West End of St. Pauls 1682. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL And My Honoured Friend PETER DANIEL Esq High Sheriff of the County of SURREY SIR IT was not in my Thoughts that this Discourse should have gone farther than them for whom it was prepared but since it was their desire as well as yours that it should I have submitted Being preached at your Request Decency requireth it should not come abroad but with your Name Sir I have no reason to doubt but that you are perswaded of what is here delivered of the Law of God and your Actings in this trying Time have shown you have not so wild a Notion of Liberty as to trust those high Pretenders who would be making way to it by overturning the Laws of Men But there are too many who have weak and dangerous Conceptions of these things To rectifie such was the Design of this Sermon wherein I have endeavored to represent Christianity as Jotham did the Vine cheering God and Man directing and compleating our Behaviour for both Worlds If any thing in it may prove useful that they who outwardly profess the Faith may sincerely live according to the Rule of the Gospel I shall be glad that by my Compliance in publishing it I have shown my self SIR Your very Affectionate and Humble Servant R. Meggott JAMES 1.25 The perfect Law of Liberty THE Solemn business of this time is the same with what we read of Samuel's 1 Sam. 7.16 where we find that he went from year to year in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places This is a laudable imitation of that and no contemptible priviledge it is for a People to have it so to nave Justice condescend to come to their Doors and their Wrongs redressed not only uprightly but so conveniently And yet though this be so very well every one must grant it were a great deal better there were no occasion for it that all men would be so honest and orderly as to save the Magistrate such labour It is well there are Fetters and Gibbets for Robbers and Murtherers but Oh how much better would it be that such would labour with their hands the thing that is good and do violence to no man It is well there are Prisons and Remedies for Cheats and such as are unjust but Oh how much better would it be that they would be righteous in their dealings and none go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter It is well that there are Actions and Damages for Scandals and Defamations but Oh how much better would it be that all bitterness and clamour and evil speaking were put away from us and that there were no backbiting Fancifull and Eutopian as such imaginations now look to them that know the World so it would be in a Christian Kingdom were we reall in this Religion All such enormities this forbiddeth under severer penalties than human Laws are capable of inflicting for though every sin against God is not injury unto men yet every injury unto men is a sin against God And this is that my Discourse at this time shall tend to to evince that the Gospel is so far from dispensing with any of those obligations the light of nature and reason lay on us that it requireth them with more strictness it is a Law Not as Mens in any thing deficient and incomplete but wholly faultless it is a perfect Law And that this may not seem inconsistent with the Graciousness of the Dispensation I shall shew you that in all this it is so far from being any real Incroachment upon our Freedom that is that which best secureth it it is a perfect Law of Liberty These are the three particulars which the Text declareth of the Gospel of Christ First The Nature of it that it is a Law Secondly The Exactness of it that it is perfect Law Lastly the Advantage of it that it is a Law of Liberty These considered may tend something to the clearing our Apprehensions not only about the Authority the Excellency and the End of this Royal Law of Christ but also the Necessity Quality and Obligation of the sundry Laws of Men and in pursuance to that I shall speak to each of of them The first thing we have here to take notice of in this Description of the Gospel is the Nature of it that it is a Law A Law This soundeth a little unusual it it is commonly put in Opposition to it The Evangelist telleth us The Law was given by Moses John 1.17 it is Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ It is true there is much difference between this Law and that of Moses but yet this is a Law too as well as that was A Book of Statutes to explain and tell us what we should do and what we should forbear a Rule of Life to instruct and shew us the good that we should embrace and the evil that we should avoid So it is called the Law of Faith Rom 3.27 The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8.2 The Law which we are under to Christ 1 Cor. 9.21 The Holy Jesus as he came into the World revelare credenda to reveal saving Truths for our Instructions tollere peccata to make satisfactory Attonement for our Transgressions confirmare promissa to establish pretious Promises for our Encouragement so likewise promulgare praecepta to publish strict Rules for our Conversation The rest of the Creatures are all easily ordered the Heavens and the Earth hear God's Voice the Winds and the Seas obey his Call Fire and Hail Snow and Vapors fulfill his Word the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow know all the times of their coming but man man who in order to future Recompences is made a free Agent abuseth his Will most grosly hath been a cross and masterless a morose and disobedient Creature from his very first Creation Line upon Line Line upon Line Precept upon Precept Precept upon Precept hath been all too little to bind him Xenophon elegantly describing him observeth Cattle will be kept within their Hedges Horses made tractable by their Riders Wild Beasts tamed by them that look to them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon Cyropoed l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All these saith he in time are brought willingly to obey those that look to them but Men head-strong Men ever set themselves against those that rule over them and will not be kept in Compass This is so true that God who knoweth us best did never think fit to trust us in our own Hands no nor only in our Fellow Creatures neither but himself hath given Laws to us from the day that he
in Mesopotamia and Judaea c. it extendeth from Sea to Sea and from the Rivers to the ends of the Earth It is sent into all the World and to be Preached to every Creature It is not Calculated for this or that Meridian but our common needs and nature and that is a second Perfection Once more Look upon this Law Comparatively with reference to any other Laws that may be set up as Rivals in competition with it and you will find that the fairest pretenders that can be put in the Scales against it must all have a Tekel written on them I will not after but the little that hath been said already spend your time so needlesly as but to point at the many things wherein it excelleth the best and wisest Laws of men there need no words to prove the Sun is brighter than a Candle it not only goeth beyond all these but also that which God himself once made that which he delivered to the World by the hand of his Servant Moses Even by that some Statutes were enjoyned which in their own nature are expresly pronounced by the Prophet Ezek. 20.25 Not good others dispensed with for the hardness of their hearts which in themselves our Saviour telleth us Mat. 19.8 were not so justifiable When the World was in its Childhood God thought it sufficient that it should Speak as a Child that it should Vnderstand as a Child that it should Think as a Child have but rude and imperfect notices of things But in fulness of time then he instructed it higher and taking it off from Childish things trained it up in all that perfection of which it was capable It is but too notorious that there are many things fathered upon this Law weak and unmanly wild and wicked in a high degree there are few things so absurd or shameful that some wretches have not been wresting Scripture for Barbarousness and inhumanity to all that are not of our our own way this is justifyed for pure Zeal Dispensing with Oaths and Deposing of Kings when they are not for our turn this is maintained for Church Authority Perfidiousness and breach of Faith with those we call Hereticks this is vindicated for Christian prudence disturbing the World and taking up Arms upon pretence of Religion this is Preached up for Gospel Reformation doing Evil and using indirect means so it be for a good end this is asserted for the Saints Priviledge being Busie-bodies and not abiding in those callings wherein they are called of God this is pretended the Motions of the Spirit But why should any such mis-shapen Brats be laid at its door the Religion hath been often canvassed and that narrowly by such as Libanius Porphyry Lucian Julian men that wanted neither Wit nor Malice who would not have failed to have charged such things home upon it had there been the least ground for it And yet not any of them but how bold soever they made with the Speculative as to the practical part of it were forced to pass the same Sentence in effect that Pilate did upon its Author we find no fault in it which cannot be said of any other Laws that have been Published to the World not the very exactest and that is another thing that speaketh its perfection Mathias a Michou saith the reason why the Tartars received Mahometism and not Christianity was because the Saracens perswaded them that that Religion was the more pleasing and indulgent It may be the high perfection of its Laws may not only offend strangers but make even some that profess it startled and ask where then is the easiness of Christs Yoke if we are under such a Law now To remove therefore all prejudices that may arise in you from corrupt and idle Fancies upon that Soore pass on to the last particular in its Character and there you will find that severe as it is so far is it from really incroaching upon our Liberty that it is that which best secureth it This perfect Law it is A Law of Liberty Liberty is a Popular word the very sound of it we find is charming and will work wonders Make people but believe it is for Liberty in Civil affairs and Incendiarys shall be magnified for deserving Patriots Do but pretend it is for Liberty in Religious matters and Atheistical men shall be celebrated for true Protestants Argue but for Liberty in filthy and abominable things and superficial youngesters shall be admired for notable head-pieces But it looketh very strange to find it coupled with Law here they who can be brought to think they shall find it in the unlikeliest places besides that can be named to them imagine it incredible that it should dwell here They may be perswaded it is in Vice in Error in Anarchy but that it should be in Law looketh meer contradiction to them The Law that tyeth up Liberty letteth loose the Law implyeth restraint Liberty is to be without controll In this sence indeed the little-thinking heap most commonly understand it but we are generally guilty of wild Misnamers and do not call things by their proper names if we did we could never imagine these two inconsistent So far it is from that they cannot well be asunder For though it may be possible for Law to be where there is no Liherty yet it is utterly impossible for Liberty to be where there is no Law Then we should be slaves to all other mens lusts as well as our own and Beasts would be less dreadful than our Neighbours Laws there must be to provide against this and then they attain their true end when they protect from all other evils and are none themselves Now of all the Laws the World was ever blessed with none for that like Christianity It is such an institution as secureth us against all manner of mischiefs and inconveniences not as sometimes it is with mens by methods almost as troublesome and vexatious but such as are sweet unexceptionable and desireable That it may appear to be indeed what it is called and that this taking title is not misapplyed to it not to mention such things as may not be so suitable to this occasion though they are to the argument I shall speak to some particulars wherein it deserveth this name and shew 1. That in the Precepts of it 2. That in the Mildness of it 3. That in the effects of it it is a Law of Liberty 1. A Law of Liberty it is in the Precepts of it the things which it doth enjoyn It is not a dispensation of carnal beggarly Elements as St. Paul a bundle of cumbersom costly Ordinances as St. Augustine calleth the Jewish Oeconomy which this Law hath set us free from No It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost to lay upon us no greater Burthen than of necessary things The Way is pleasant the Yoke is easie the Commandments are not grievous like Feathers to the Wings of a Bird not Loads but Helps to Motion We picture Liberty