Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A51228
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A sermon preached on the 28th of June, at St. Andrew's Holborn by John Moore ...
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Moore, John, 1646-1714.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing M2553; ESTC R9456
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14,371
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38
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The Bishop of NORWICH's SERMON Preach'd at St. Andrew's Holborn June 28. 1691. A SERMON Preached on the 28th of June AT St. ANDREW'S Holborn BY John Moore D. D. Bishop of NORWICH Elect When he took his Leave of That Parish Published at the REQUEST of divers of the PARISHIONERS LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1691. GALAT. VI. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap MEN that have lived a great while under the Power of their Passions find nothing harder than to subdue them and bring them under the command of their Reason and they who have given themselves up to obey the Lusts of the Flesh meet with nothing more difficult than to restore the Spirit to its just Authority and to govern their Actions by a Principle of Divine Life Hence it comes to pass that we may observe men in all times to make objections against the necessity of Godliness and Virtue and to invent other ways than those prescribed in the Gospel of going to Heaven Some impose a persuasion on themselves That they shall find God merciful when they come to die tho now they neither do what he commands nor forbear what he forbids nor use any means to please him so that if any Consideration about their Behaviour be needful or any pains are to be taken to speed well in another world they certainly will be lost Some hope to have God's Pardon of their great and many Sins by an outward shew only of Religion they at fixt times appear in his House they hear Sermons now and then receive the Sacrament exactly observe the Rites and Ceremonies ordered in the Publick Worship and repeat the Prayers with the rest of the Congregation but with these things their hearts are not at all affected as they certainly would be if it was their chief design in performing their Devotions to please him Others presume God may be reconciled by a Scheme of sound Principles which they have entertain'd in matters of Christianity and by their Orthodox Faith notwithstanding their Lives are as bad as any of those whose Principles are false and dangerous and who hold many Errors touching the Faith Again Others expect to come off well in the next Life not from any Contemplation either of the Soundness of their Faith or the Holiness of their Lives but from their being Members of such a Church or from their being incorporated into such a Sect or joined with such a Party But if we look into the Scriptures it will there be evident that men have not the least Encouragement to hope for Mercy from God upon any of these Pretences and that it is the main Scope of those Holy Writings to oblige them to lead a Godly Life and not so much as to think of Everlasting Happiness upon other terms Be not deceived God is not mocked c. Every obstinate Sinner then who presumes upon the Mercy of God for a Pardon does but delude himself with a groundless Persuasion and mocks his Maker who will judge and condemn him For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap everlasting life Since then it is manifest That mens Rewards and Punishments hereafter shall be exactly agreeable to the nature and kind of their works in this life let us enquire by what deceitful methods and arts they impose upon themselves and in a sort quiet their minds about the safety of their future condition notwithstanding they abide in their Iniquities and are lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God It will not be difficult to discover that they wrong their poor Souls with such Devices and Arrifices as these 1. If men by the disposition of their Nature or the way of their Education or the Post they hold in the World do happen to have an averseness to some crying sins which may prevail in the Places where they live they take this aversion of theirs to be a sign of their being good and it makes them overlook their heinous Crimes of another kind or to be but slightly concern'd for them The Prodigal Person believes all will go well with him so long as he is free from the great sin of Covetousness which is the root of all evil and he that greedily thirsts after and hunts for Riches hath as favourable an opinion of the condition of his own Soul since he can never be charged with the scandalous faults of Rioting and Luxury whereby men so cripple themselves as not to be able to provide for their own Families and so become worse than Infidels And after this fashion men by thinking only of the Crimes they do not commit never reflect upon those of which they are deeply guilty Thus also when men have done some few good actions such as their Religion requires and God will approve they are always taken up with meditations upon them and do pore on them so continually as hardly to think or speak of any thing else Whereby a number of great sins lye cover'd in their hearts wherefrom they receive no disturbance as not having the least remorse or sorrow for them or taking the least care to forsake them 2. When men observe there are naughtier people than themselves in the World they are apt from thence to draw a kind conclusion in behalf of their own case and that all will be right with them and that God in the other World will receive them to his Mercies insomuch as all the proof they have for their own virtue and God's favour is that they have some neighbours worse than themselves They are no drunkards they are no extortioners they are no whoremongers they do not blaspheme God and ridicule Religion as many do and therefore it is concluded clearly That they are truly righteous and honest men and by this means they spend so much time in exposing other mens vices as quite to forget their own As if it was an infallible mark of sincere Piety not to be altogether so bad as the most infamous are And yet these unhapyy men who by using a fallacious rule judge of themselves with so much advantage may live in the guilt of several great sins which are not perhaps so notorious and apparent to the eyes of men and may totally omit prayers to God in secret may seldom come to his House and rarely receive the Holy Sacrament may improve none of their Master's Talents neither feed the hungry nor clothe the naked nor Comfort the Sick nor support the feeble nor lastly have any due regard to preserve humility meekness charity patience purity in their own hearts 3. Men are accustom'd to silence their Conciences by giving wrong names to their Vices and by representing only the light and best side of their sins to the mind whereby that which being considered in all its ugly circumstances and frightful
retinue of Consequences would look vile and odious doth appear comely and desirable So a gratification of the most beastly Lusts is accounted rational and manly Pleasure Drunkenness goes for a free use of God's Creatures Whoredom is but a just satisfaction of the Appetites of Nature the squeezing a poor man when got within our clutches till we break him and his Fortunes to pieces is but to maintain our own rights and to preserve our Children and Posterity from beggary for the slightest Provocation coolly to spill the Blood of our Brother is to behave our selves like Men of Honour and to keep our Persons from falling into Contempt and being trampled upon Thus those things which are in themselves most loathsome and detestable neither consistent with true Peace of Conscience nor the Favour of God pass for Instances of the highest wisdom and honour and are reputed actions most worthy of men And a little present gain empty honour or sensual pleasure which dies as soon as it is tasted must be preferr'd before everlasting happiness and the fruition of the Almighty and Infinitely Glorious God to all Eternity O that those sordid and mean sensualities which sink us into a level with the brutes should be the things upon which we have set our hearts and unto which we make all our Courtship and Address O that we should be in love with those fetters with which we are dragged unto the gates of death and be so sottish as to admire the chains that confine us to the regions of darkness and will hold us fast till the terrible day of Judgment as the marks of our honour and as the true accomplishments of our Nature 4. Men make themselves a little easie in an ill course of life by hearing endless Rewards and Punishments often spoke of without applying them to their own condition They can hear Heaven discoursed of as a State of infinite Peace and Delight without being much moved therewith and they can hear Hell represented as a dismal place void of all ease and comfort and be but little troubled at it and the reason is because these things pass thorough their ears like Romances in which they do not imagine themselves to be concern'd For when a man shall hear a lively description of the Joys of Heaven will not his heart be transported and even lifted up within him if he have so loved and obeyed God in the several stages of his life as to hope he has sure ground to claim a right in them And when likewise the Terrors of the Lord are Preached unto the wicked and displayed in their true colours and they are plainly inform'd how insupportable and dreadful the condition of all those will be who shall be banished from the Presence of God the Fountain of Light and Good unto everlasting darkness certainly they must be filled with amazement and horror if they do but reflect that it is most likely that they shall be condemned for ever to dwell in that dark and doleful habitation Therefore when ever the consideration of our own title to that Glorious place doth enter into the meditations we have of Heaven it will warm the heart and enliven all our affections And as often as the poor Sinner does entertain thoughts of Hell with respect of the great danger of his going thither it will confound him and take down all his confidence and presumption For when a man once comes to reflect that the dreadful things he hears of Death and Judgment do closely and nearly concern his most precious Soul he will be ready to say with himself O my Soul Thou art in the Company of them that do foolishly and who forget God thy Happiness in another World does wholly depend upon thy behaviour in this Life this Life is very short the business thou hast to do therein is great and when a period shall be put to thy days is most uncertain wherefore if thou shouldest be surprised by a sudden Death before thy Sins are broken off by sincere Repentance thou wouldest be the most miserable of all creatures and must as unavoidably go down into the bottomless Pit there to dwell with enraged and merciless devils as ever any unrelenting Sinner has done before thee Such considerations as these will make bad men apprehensive of the vast hazard unto which they expose their immortal Souls and timely to remember their Creator lest he tear them in pieces and there be none to deliver Thus I have discovered by what arts men speak false peace unto their Souls and so far delude themselves as to fancy they shall find God Merciful at the last though they do not put away their Sins and notwithstanding they sow to the Flesh to presume they shall of the Spirit reap everlasting Life But being now to take my Leave of you and to return my Thanks for the Favours I have received from you which as they are so many and so great that I cannot duly here acknowledge them without making you uneasie by trespassing upon your Modesty so during my whole Life I shall never forget them But by my constant and hearty Prayers for your Present and Future Happiness and by embracing all opportunities of doing you Real Service I shall endeavour to shew That your Kindnesses were not misplaced This being I say the last time I am to appear among you in the capacity of your Minister I shall take the liberty now with more arguments to urge the necessity of holy living and more particularly to lay down such directions and advice as may be of most general and lasting benefit It is a noble argument we have before us to shew that the crop a man shall reap will answer the nature and qualities of the seed which he now doth sow Wherefore it will not be in my power to do you a greater good than to endeavour to increase and strengthen your belief of this important truth That they who live Wickedly shall reap corruption i. e. shall have all their labour perish and come to nothing and that they who give up themselves to the conduct of the Holy Spirit shall through its Assistance and Intercession attain Everlasting Life That therefore you may not be seduced by any of the deceitful artifices and Frauds now mentioned nor by any other wiles of Satan to depend upon the Favour of God before you have parted with every known Sin let me advise you to consider 1. That it is inconsistent both with God's Nature and your own for you to partake of the happiness of Heaven before you are cleansed from the filth of your Iniquities Goodness and Wisdom and Justice and Truth and Purity are the inseperable Attributes of the Divine Nature which stand in such a direct opposition to all wickedness that God cannot but abhor it Nothing being evil in its own nature but from the unagreeableness it hath to the Essence of God And for this reason he is said to be of purer eyes than to