have no hopes yet herein God hath magnified his abundant Love towards Sinners that although they have sinned to a high Degree yet if they be so far wearied with the Burthen of their Sins as to take Christ's Yoke upon them then he hath promised Ease and Rest to their Souls which is the greatest Blessing in the World especially to repenting Sinners But some may again say we have repented and sinned and sinned and repented again and can hardly yet tell which will get the better at last we cannot say that we have entirely submitted our Necks to Christ's Yoke for that requires a great deal more than we can perform how then can we be thought Righteous I answer therefore 2. Where there is a sincere and honest Endeavour to please God and keep his Commandments although Persons fail in the Manner of doing it God will accept of such as righteous But where they please themselves in their Unrighteousness and go on in it hoping that God will accept some kind of Repentance in stead of it or where there hath been long struggling and many Acts of Repentance and the Interest of Sin prevails the Case of such is very dangerous but not desperate For as long as there is hopes of a true Repentance there is of Salvation and there is still hopes of Repentance where Men's hearts are not hardned by an incorrigible Stiffness For according to the best Measures we can take by the Rules of the Gospel none are effectually excluded from the Hopes of Salvation but such as exclude themselves by their own Impenitency SERMON IV. Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL March the 23 d 1689 90. Ecclesiastes XI 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment IF Solomon had said Rejoyce not O young man in thy youth neither let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth walk not in the way of thine heart nor in the sight of thine eyes for know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment the Sense had been so easie and plain that there had been no Appearance of Difficulty in reconciling one Part with the other For the whole had been look'd upon but as a necessary and seasonable Admonition to such who by the Heats of Youth and Strength of Inclination and Allurements of the World are too apt to be transported with the Love of sensual Pleasures And this had been very becoming the wise Man towards the Conclusion of his Book wherein he had not only before set forth the several Vanities of humane Life but so soon after bids Men Remember their Creatour in the days of their Youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh of which they shall say they have no pleasure in them i. e. in the days wherein they are most apt to walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes For he knew very well that nothing is so powerfull a Check and Restraint upon Men's Inclinations to Sin as the serious Consideration of that God that gave them their Beings and will bring them to an Account for their Actions But how then comes he in this Verse to seem rather to give a Permission to young Men in the time of Youth to indulge themselves in their Mirth and Vanity Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth c. Some think that the wise Man only derides and exposes them for their Folly in so doing but that seems not agreeable with the grave and serious Advice which follows And we find nothing like Irony or Sarcasm in any Part of the foregoing Book for he begins it with a Tragical Exclamation against the Vanities of humane Life Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity And he pursues his Argument by a particular Induction of the most tempting and pleasing Vanities of Life and particularly all sorts of sensual Delights as Mirth and Jollity in the first Place then Wine and Musick fine Palaces curious Vineyards Gardens and Pools a great Retinue and which was needfull to maintain all this Abundance of Silver and Gold But what a melancholy Reflection doth he make on all these Pleasures of Life Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit What incouragement then could the wise-Man after so much Experience of the World give to young Men here in the Text to rejoyce in the days of their Youth and to walk in the way of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes i. e. to pursue Vanity and to lay the Foundation for greater Vexation of Spirit when they come to reflect on their own Follies What then is the meaning of these words For this we are to observe that the Preacher having declared his own main Scope and Design in the beginning and conclusion of his Book brings in sometimes the different Senses which Mankind are apt to have concerning the Happiness of Life And that is the Reason that we meet with such different Expressions concerning it In one Place it is said that there is no better thing under the Sun than to eat and drink and to be merry but in another he saith Sorrow is better than laughter and by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better In one Place he saith All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked But in another That it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the wicked How can such Passages as these be reconciled if we look on them as expressing the Sense of the same Person But if we allow them to be the different Notions of two sorts of Men in this World they are easie to be understood although not to be reconciled And the one sort is of those who place all Happiness in this Life without regard to Religion or Vertue or another World and the other of those who look on this Life only as a Passage to another and that all Persons ought to behave themselves here so as conduces most to their Happiness hereafter And according to these different Schemes we have in the words of the Text two very different sorts of Counsel and Advice to young Men. I. The first proceeds upon the Supposition that all the Happiness of Man lies in this Life and in the Enjoyment of the sensual Pleasures of it Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the way of thy heart and in the sight of thy eyes We have no other Rule
The Right Reverend EDW. STILLINGFLEET D. D. Lord Bishop of Worcester THIRTEEN SERMONS Preached on Several Occasions Three of which never before Printed By the Right Reverend Father in God EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester The Third VOLUME LONDON Printed by J. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. THE CONTENTS SERMON I. ST Luk. XV. 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee pag. 1 SERMON II. Coloss. II. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him p. 40 SERMON III. Pet. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear p. 91 SERMON IV. Eccles. XI 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment p. 132 SERMON V. 2 Tim. I. 7. For God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and of a sound Mind p. 169 SERMON VI. 1 Tim. I. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief p. 209 SERMON VII St. Luk. VI. 46. And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say p. 255 SERMON VIII Rom. VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace p. 294 SERMON IX St. John III. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved p. 336 SERMON X. St. Jam. IV. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin p. 375 SERMON XI St. Matth. XXVI 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation the Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weak p. 413 SERMON XII Acts XXVI 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead p. 453 SERMON XIII Eccles. VII 16. Be not Righteous overmuch neither make thy self over wise Why shouldst thou destroy thy self p. 490 ERRATA Page 107. line 5. for These read There p. 238. l. 17. dele from Yet to l. 21st p. 284. l. 21st for or r. we p. 296. l. 25. for Lord r. Law p. 298. l. 14. put out â— p. 344. l. 9. dele little p. 417. l. 7. for heatedness r. heartedness p. 418. l. 18. for Weakness r. Willingness p. 434. l. 18. For Truce r. Time p. 463. l. 1st before of put in out p. 464. l. 17. for Sea r. Sun p. 483. l. 25. for Laws r. Lives p. 485. l. 24. after now put apt p. 490. Sermon 13. In the Text for lover r. over p. 496. l. 29. before To put in 1. p. 501. l. 17. before known insert have p. 503. l. 6. blot out that p. 506. l. 22. for gain r. again p. 507. l. 1st for This r. Thus. p. 508. l. 27. for indanger r. indulge p. 509. l. 6. for Molochi r. Moloch p. 522. l. 7. for exasperate r. extenuate p. 528. l. 16. for Solitude r. Solicitude SERMON I. Preached at WHITE-HALL February the 19 th 1685 6 St. Luke XV. 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee IN the foregoing Verse we find the Prodigal Son so far awakened and come to himself as to be sensible of the miserable Condition he had brought himself into by his own folly and wickedness But before he came to this there is a remarkable Turn in the Course of his Life set down by our Saviour in the beginning of this excellent Parable For he was first very impatient of being under the wise Conduct of his Father and thought he could manage his own Affairs far more to his Contentment and Satisfaction if he were but permitted to use his Liberty and were not so strictly tyed up to the grave and formal Methods of living observed and required in his Father's House Which might pass for Wisdom in Age and be agreeable enough to such whose Life and Vigour were decayed and who were now to maintain their Authority over their Children by seeming to be so much wiser than they But it is a rare thing for Youth and Age to agree in the Opinion of Wisdom For it is not the Care the Experience the Judgment of a wise and tender Father that can allay the Heats or calm the Passions or over-rule the violent Inclinations of Youth but whatever it cost them afterwards some will be still trying the Experiment whether it doth not more conduce to the happiness of Life to pursue their own Fancies and Designs than to hearken to another's Directions though a Father's whose Circumstances are so much different from their own Thus our Blessed Saviour represents in the Parable this young Prodigal as weary of being rich and easie at Home and fond of seeing the Pleasures of the World and therefore nothing would satisfie him unless he were intrusted with the Stock which was intended for him that he might shew the difference between his Father's Conduct and his own And this very soon appear'd for this hopefull Manager had not been long abroad but he wasted his substance with riotous living And to make him the more sensible of his Folly there happened a more than ordinary Scarcity which made his low and exhausted Condition more uneasie to him But the Sense of Shame was yet greater with him than that of his â—olly and whatever shifts he underwent he would by no means yet think of returning home but rather chose to submit to the meanest and basest Employment in hopes to avoid the Necessity of it But at last Reason and Consideration began to work upon him which is called his coming to himself and then he takes up a Resolution to go home to his Father and to throw himself at his Feet to confess his fault ingenuously and freely and to beg pardon for his former Folly in hopes of Forgiveness and Reconciliation I will arise and go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Under this Parable our Saviour sets forth the state of a Sinner 1. In his wilfull degeneracy from God his Father both by Creation and Providence his uneasiness under his just and holy Laws his impatience of being restrained by them his casting off the Bonds of Duty to him and running into all kind of Disorders without regard to God or his own Soul 2. In the dissatisfaction he found in his evil Courses being very much disappointed in the great Expectations he had in the Pleasures of Sin wasting his health interest reputation estate and above all the Peace and Tranquillity of his Mind which was
may build as presumptuous hopes upon Privileges of another kind which may be as ineffectual to our Salvation as these were when Christ said to those very Persons Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity We all bear the Name of Christ and own his Doctrine and partake of his Sacraments and in one of them profess to eat and drink in his Presence and at his Table and renew our solemn Baptismal Vow and Covenant with him as our Lord and Saviour and so we pray to him and profess to depend upon him for our Salvation and therefore we are as deeply concerned in the Scope and Design of these Words as ever the Jews were to whom our Saviour spake them But that I may the better Apply them to the Consciences of all those who hear me this Day and to make my Discourse more usefull and Practical I shall single out some of the most Remarkable Instances of those Duties which Christ hath enjoyned to his Disciples of all Ages and Nations and then shew how just and reasonable it is that all who call Christ Lord Lord should do what he saith about them and yet that the Generality of those who do so do very little Mind or Regard them The main part of those Duties which Chriâ—t requires from all his Disciples may be reduced to these three Heads I. Such as relate to the Government of our Passions II. To the Government of our Speech III. To the Government of our Actions so as that we lead a Sober Righteous and Godly Life I. As to the Government of our Passions And that may be considered three ways 1. As to the things which are apt to Provoke us 2. As to the things which are apt to Tempt us 3. As to the things which Concern us in respect of our Condition in this World 1. As to the things which are apt to Provoke us Such is the frame of human Nature that we are very tender and sensible not only of any real Hurt or Injury which may be done to our Bodies or Estates but of any thing we apprehend may do so or that touches upon our Reputation And where the Injury is real yet that which often touches most to the quick is the Contempt which is expressed in it For if the same thing be done by one we are satisfied did it not out of any Unkindness or Ill-will the matter is easily passed over and makes no breach or difference between them But if it be intended for an Affront although it be never so little then the brisker mens Spirits are and the higher Opinion they have of themselves so much deeper Impression is presently made in the Mind and that inflames the Heart and puts the Blood and Spirits into a quicker Motion in order to the returning the Affront on him that gave it But there is a considerable difference in Mens Tempers to be observed some are very quick and hasty others are slower in the beginning but more violent afterwards the Passions of the former are like a Flash of Gun-powder which begins suddenly makes a great Noise and is soon over but the other are like a burning Fever which is lower at first but rises by degrees till the whole Body be in a Flame The one is more troublesome but the other more dangerous the Care of the one must be in the beginning of the other in the Continuance of Passion lest it turn into Hatred Malice and Revenge But what through the Natural Heat of Temper in some the Jealousie and Suspicion in others the crossing each others Designs and Inclinations the misconstruction of Words and Actions the Carelesness of some and the Frowardness and Peevishness of others Mankind are apt to lead very uneasie Lives with respect to one another and must do so unless they look after the Government of themselves as to real or imaginary Provocations There are two Things I shall therefore speak to 1. That it is Reasonable that a Restraint should be laid on Mens violent Passions 2. That Christ hath laid no unreasonable restraint upon them 1. That it is Reasonable that a Restraint should be laid on mens violent Passions And that on a twofold Account 1. With Respect to the common Tranquility of humane Life 2. To the particular Tranquility of our own Minds 1. To the common Tranquility of human Life The great Comfort and Pleasure of it depends on the mutual benefit Men have from Society with one another This cannot be enjoy'd without particular Persons abridging themselves of some natural Rights for a common Benefit If we could suppose no such thing as Government or Society among men we must suppose nothing but Disorder and Confusion every one being his own Judge and Executioner too in case of any apprehended Wrong or Injury done to him Which condition of Life having all imaginable Uneasiness attending it by perpetual Fears and Jealousies and Mistrusts of one anothers Powers there was a Necessity that they must come to some common Terms of Agreement with each other so as to fix their Rights and to establish a just Measure of Proceeding in case of Wrong For every Man's Revenging his own Injury according to his own Judgment was one of those great Inconveniencies which was to be remedied by Society Laws and Government And Mankinds entering into Society for this End doth suppose it possible for them to keep under their violent Passions and to submit their private Injuries to the equal Arbitration of Laws or else they are made to no purpose unless it be to punish men for what they cannot avoid For many of those Crimes which all the Laws of Mankind do punish as wilfull Murder may be committed through the force of a violent Passion and if that be irresistible then the Laws which punish it are not founded on Reason and Justice But if such Laws are very Just and Reasonable as no doubt they are then all Mankind are agreed that mens violent Passions may and ought to be Restrained in some Cases The only Dispute then remaining is whether it may not be as fitting to restrain our Passions in such Cases which the Law takes no notice of For there is a Superiour Law viz. that of Reason whereby we are to be Governed and the Publick Laws do not forbid or punish Offences because they are unreasonable but because they are dangerous and hurtfull to human Society And And if it be allow'd to be fitting and necessary for men to keep their Passions within the Compass of Laws why not within the Conduct of Reason Especially when a great deal of Disorder may happen and disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of human Society by the Violence of Passions which may be out of the Reach of human Laws And every man is bound by virtue of his being in Society to preserve the Tranquility of it as much as he can 2. The Tranquility of our own Minds depends upon it And certainly that is a very reasonable Motive for the