Iesus Christ A. In generall they are nothing else but the preservation and propagation of the Kingdome of Jesus Christ The building up of the Church of Christ in verity purity and unity But more particularly the things of Christ are 1. The pure worship of Jesus Christ the Preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments in Christs way 2. The precious truths of the Gospel 3. The government of the Church according to Scripturepatterne 4. The day of Christ 5. The godly Ambassadors of Christ 6. The Reformation of the Church when corrupted in Doctrine Worship and Discipline Now then the charge is That the Christians in the Primitive times both Ministers and others did seek their own interest and not the interest of Jesus Christ to build their own houses and not the houses of God to ingrosse a Kingdome to themselves and not to propagate Christs Kingdome Q Did these Primitive Christians not at all seek the things of Christ A. This word Not is not to be taken positively but as Calvin saith comparatively Wee must not suppose that Church-officers and Church-members did absolutely throw away all care of Christ and the Churches of Christ but the meaning is that they did not seek the things of Christ cordially sincerely zealously and primarily They sought them in the least place and in the last place They pretended to seek the things of Christ but sought their own things under colour of seeking the things of Christ and therefore are said not to seek them at all The charge will be yet greater if we consider 2. The multitude of the persons offending The text saith All men Q. Was there no man in the Apostles dayes that sought the good of the Church of Christ A. The word All is not here to be taken collectively but distributively not for every one of all sorts but for all sorts not for all men properly but for many as it is taken 1 Cor. 10. 23. or for the most of men as it is 2 Tim. 4. 16. All men forsake me c. that is most men Thus Calvin Quod omnes dicit non urgenda est particula universalis no nullam exceptionem admittas erant enim alii quoque qualis Epaphroditus sed pauci Verum omnibus tribuit quod passim erat vulgare The full meaning then of the text is this That even in the Apostles dayes In aureo illo saeculo in quo omnes virtutes effloruerunt in that golden age in which all vertues did flourish there were many and very many Church members and Church-officers that professed outwardly a great deale of love to Christ his Church and yet notwithstanding sought their owne ease quiet honour and profit more than the preservation and propagation of the Kingdome of Christ their owne private gaine and interest before and more than the interest of Jesus Christ The words thus expounded are a perfect representation of the times in which we now live Methinks I can hardly see a man in place and power but I can see it written upon his forehead in great Characters this man seeks himselfe and not the things of Jesus Christ If I had a window to look into the hearts of all here present I feare me I should finde many selfe-seekers but few Christ-seekers so that this text may sitly be called Englands looking-glasse wherein we may behold 1. The great sinne of England I may truly say the sinne that is the Father and Mother of all her other sinnes the Metropolis of all sinne and that is Her seeking her owne things and not the things of Iesus Christ 2. The great and chiefe cause of all the miseries and calamities that have hapned to this nation The Source and Originall of all our unhappinesse Because all men seek themselves and no man the things of Christ 3. The onely way and remedy to be freed from all our miseries and afflictions and that is by walking quite contrary to the text By seeking the things of Iesus Christ before our owne things and more then our owne things and by seeking them heartily throughly zealously and sincerely this is the only balme to cure Englands soars the onely England-preserving mercy For these three ends and purposes I have chosen this text The Doctrine I shall insist upon is Doct. That amongst the multitude of Christians who professe love to Christ and his Church there are many selfe-seekers but few Christ-seekers Or thus That it is an antient common grievous and hidden iniquity for a Christian professing love to Christ to be a selfe-seeker and not a Christ-seeker 1. It is an old and antient sinne as old as the Primitive times A sinne of 1600. years standing 2. It is a generall and Land overspreading sinne A sin that hath seized upon men of all sorts upon Ministers Magistrates Masters and Parents An Epidemicall disease 3. It is a great and grievous sinne a Soule-destroying a Church and State-destroying sinne 4. It is a secret and hidden sinne a sinne that most are guilty of and yet few will confesse their guiltinesse There is no sin hath more Fig-leaves to hide it more excuses to extenuate it more cloaks to cover it than this sinne That I may the better uncase and uncloath this great transgression I shall briefly answer to these 4. questions Qu. 1. Whether all selfe-seeking be diametrically opposite to Christ seeking Qu. 2. What is that selfe seeking which is inconsistent with Christ-seeking Qu. 3. What is the reason that amongst such a multitude of Christians there should be so many selfe-seekers and so few Christ-seekers Qu. 4 Wherein the grievousnesse and mischievousnesse of this sinne consisteth Qu. 1. Whether all selfe-seeking be contradictory to Christ-seeking Whether a man may not be a Christ-seeker and yet a selfe-seeker Ans For answer to this you must know that it is not simply and absolutely unlawfull for a man to seek himselfe no more than it is to love himselfe Religion doth not destroy naturall affections but onely regulates them and sanctifieth them Gratia non extinguit sed ordinat affectiones saith Aquinas Non tollit sed attollit naturam Grace doth not destroy but elevate nature It doth not dry up the stream of selfe-seeking but onely turnes it into the right channell Religion doth not pluck up but weed the garden of Nature As Musitians when their instruments are out of tune will not break but tune them So Religion doth not abolish but onely tune and order our selfe-seeking Therefore you shall finde in Scripture that there are many arguments drawne from selfe-love and selfe-seeking to perswade us to holinesse and disswade us from sin Deut. 28. Lev. 26. Deut. 32. 46 47. Is. 1. 19. Rom. 2. 7 8. Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 6. 8. The Scripture gives us leave to love our selves and to seek our selves so it be in a right manner Moses did not sin in having an eye to the recompence of reward Nor did the Martyrs who could not accept deliverance that they might
THE MONSTER OF SINFUL SELF-SEEKING ANATOMIZED TOGETHER WITH A description of the Heavenly and Blessed SELFE-SEEKING In a SERMON Preached at Pauls the 10. of December 1654. By EDM CALAMY B. D. and Pastor of Aldermanbury London 1 COR. 10. 24. Let no man seek his owne but every man anothers wealth 1 COR. 13. 5. Charity seeketh not her owne ROM. 15. 2 3. Let every one please his neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himselfe Qui neglectâ proximorum curâ sui tantùm amator est id assequitus ut ne seipsum quidem verè amet Quemadmodum enim in membris unius detrimentum ad alia quoque membra pervadit in aedificiis unius partis ruina ad alias extenditur sic in Ecclesiâ qui fratrem suum negligit se seque tantummodo suam procurat utilitatem sibi etiam ipsi vel invitus damno est Nam qui in rebus necessariis periclitantem vidit fratrem manumque non porrigit in gehennam mittitur majori detrimento quam erat illud quo frater afficiebatur c. Theophyl. LONDON Printed by I. G. for NATH WEBB and WILL GRANTHAM at the Bear in St. Pauls Church-yard neer the little North door 1655. PACK Mayor A speciall Court holden on Tuesday the 19. day of December 1654. ORdered that Mr. Calamy be desired from this Court to print his last Sermon at Pauls SADLER TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHRISTOPHER PACK Lord Major AND The Right VVorshipfull Aldermen of the famous City of London RIGHT HONOURABLE THis ensuing Sermon was ordered by you to be printed it hath stuck long in the birth by reason of multitude of intervening impediments Now at last it is come into the world and is here humbly presented to you as an expression of that respect and service which I acknowledge to be due and shall ever be ready to pay The subject matter of it is to discover and Anatomize that ugly and deformed Monster of sinfull selfe-seeking and â—o shew the sinfulnesse and cursednesse of it There are two Cities saith Austin The City of God and the City of the Devill The City of God is begun and built up by the love of God and increaseth even to the hatred of our selves but the City of the Devill begins from the love of our selves and increaseth even to the hatred of God by the contempt of our brethren for he that hateth and contemneth his brother will in a litle while hate and contemne God It cannot be denied no not by one made up of Charity that there are many Citizens of this City of the Devill Many who instead of loving God to the contempt of themselves love themselves to the contempt of God Many who seek their owne and not the things of Jesus Christ ' or which is as bad if not worse who seek their owne under the hpocriticall pretence of seeking the things of Christ It is reported of Cnidius a great Architectist who building a sumptuous Watch-Tower for the King of Egypt to discover the dangerous rocks by night to his Marriners caused his owne name to be engrav'd upon a stone in the wall in great letters and afterwards covered it with Lime and Morter and upon the outside wrote the name of the King of Egypt in Golden Characters as pretending that all was done for his glory and honour But herein was his cunning he knew that the water in a little time would consume the plaistering as it did and then his name and memory should abide continue to after Generations There are many such in this Nation who in their outward discourse and carriage pretend to seek onely the glory of God the good of his Church and the happinesse of the State But if we had a window to look into their hearts we should finde nothing there written but selfe-love and selfe-seeking My care hath been in the following discourse to set out the greatnesse and grievousnesse of this sinne and how destructive it is both to Church and Common-wealth Besides what is there said give me leave to adde 1. That it is one of the greatest curses under Heaven for God to give a man over to his owne hearts lust to doe whatsoever seems good in his owne eyes to make himselfe the principle rule and end of all his actions Better be given over to the Devill then to our selves I read of one given over to Satan for his Salvation but never of any given over to himselfe but for his ruine and destruction 2. That this sinfull selfe-seeking is not onely a sinne that makes the times perillous but our condition damnable It shuts the man who is guilty of it unavoidably out of Heaven When he dyes his Motto may be Here lies a Man-pleaser and a selfe-pleaser but not a God-pleaser who sought himselfe while he lived and lost himselfe when he died Who loved himselfe for a minute and hated himselfe to all eternity Or thus Here lies a man who lived in ease while he lived and now lives in easelesse torments Who by over-pampering his body destroyed his Soule Who lived undesired and dyed unlamented who lived to himselfe and thereby undid himselfe The Lord preserve you from this sinne and make you true Common-wealth not private-wealth men It becomes him saith a wise Heathen who would be a great man to love neither himselfe nor any thing that is his but just things whether done by himselfe or by another I have made bold to adde a few lines to that discourse which I had before you concerning the blessed and heavenly self-seeking wherein I shew That a selfe-denying selfe-examining selfe-judging Christian is the truest selfe-seeker That he that preferres the keeping of a good Conscience before the keeping of his Estate or Life the good of Church and State before his own good is a blessed selfe seeker He that loves himselfe and not God loves not himselfe and he that loves God and not himselfe loves himselfe according to that excellent saying of Aâ—st Nescio quo inexplicabili modâ— c. I know not by what unexpressable way but sure I am of this truth That he that loves himselfe and not God loves not himselfe and he that loves God and not himselfe he loves himselfe For he that cannot live of himselfe dies presently by loving himselfe but when he is loved from whom and by whom we live in not loving himselfe he loves himselfe the more because therefore he loves not himselfe that he might love him by whom he lives The Lord make you such selfe-seekers Such a one was Nehemâ—ah of whom it is said that he sought not his owne but the welfare of the people of God Such another was David who preferred Jerusalem before his chiefe joy Such were Old Ely Ezra Jeremiah Daniel c. Such ought you to be It is not long since you kept a Fast to humble your selves before the Lord in reference to the many
of his body and neglects the welfare of his soule destroyes as I have said both body and soul This is just as if a Husbandman in time of Harvest should gather in his stubble leave his corne to be devoured by hoggs Just like a Father who takes care to feed cloath his children but not to instruct and teach them In a word he that seeks his owne ease and safety his owne gaine and credit his owne pleasure and satisfaction and neglecteth and slighteth the things of Christ this Man is the greatest selfe-hater and selfe-destroyer For he that sesks not the interest of Christ shall never have any interest in Christ 2. To beseech you to labour for the divine heavenly and blessed self-seeking mentioned in the beginning of the Sermon Physitians when they see men bleed immoderately at the nose will let them bloud in another veine that so they may make a diversion and thereby stop the bleeding Oh that God would use me this day as his instrument to make a most glorious and most happy diversion and to turn you all from self-seekers into Christ-seekers Oh that I could prevaile with you to seek the things of Jesus Christ before and more then your own things Oh how happy would London be if it could be said of it All thy Magistrates Ministers and private people seek the things of Christ more vigorously and cordially then they doe their own things To move you to this consider 1. What these your own things are which you so immoderately and inordinately seek after 1. They are not your owne in a proper sence as you have heard 2. They are not Worth owning they are vain and empty empty of reality and Soul-satisfaction they are vanishing perishing like houses made of Snow or waxe and not only so but they are also vexing and tormenting according to what is said by one that had full and ample experience of them Eccles. 2. 2 17 26. 2. Consider the excellency of the things of Jesus Christ which you so much neglect undervalue The truths of Christ the Ordinances Day Ministry and Government of Christ the Preservaon Propagation and Reformation of Religion These are Glorious and Excellent things in their own Nature and so far exceeding your own things which you so greedily labour after that they are not worthy to be named that day in which we speak of the things of Christ I want time to set out the transcendent Glory and Excellency of Gospel concernments and the vanity emptinesse and nothingnesse of all our own Earthly enjoyments Onely let me desire you to take notice 1. That Jesus Christ sought not his owne things he left Heaven for us and shall not we neglect Earth for him 2. For what poor trifles you despise the glorious things of the Gospel 3. If you seek not after the things of Christ more then your owne you are in a cursed condition and better you had never been borne 4. The things of Jesus Christ shall prosper though you seek not the prosperity of them What Mordecai said to Ester in another case I crave leave to say to you Enlargement and deliverance shall arise to the people of God from another place but thou and thy Fathers house shall be destroyed There will a time come when the Mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the Mountaines and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow to it when the Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and his Christ when the little stone cuts out of the Mountaine without hands shall destroy all opposite Kingdomes and become a great Mountaine and fill the whole earth when every Nation and Kingdome that will not serve the Lord Jesus shall perish and be utterly wasted For neglecting to set up this Kingdome of Christ God hath destroyed many Nations and Kingdomes and so he will us if we follow their examples If we preferre the building of our owne houses before the building of Gods house God will build up his owne house by other instruments but he will destroy us and our Houses 3. Lastly Consider That man seeks himselfe most who most seeketh the things of Christ He that is the greatest Christ-seeker is the greatest selfe seeker For God hath said Seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you When Solomon begged wisdome God gave him wealth and riches as an overplus If we seek the things of Christ in the first and chiefe place God will give in our own things into the bargaine even as Paper and thred is added to a bought commodity Thus I have put an end to the Sermon of selfe-seeking Oh that I could put an end to the sinne of selfe-seeking Two things I dare affirme 1. That this sin hath been the Originall cause of all Englands miseries 2. That it will never be well with England nor shall we ever see better dayes till this sinne be mortified Let us goe to Christ and labour by Faith to fetch power from his Death to crucifie and mortifie this sinne Let it be our daily prayer that England may have more Christ-seekers and fewer selfe-seekers or which is all one That God would make us all true selfe-seekers by making us true Christ-seekers FINIS ERRATA PAge 2. line 18. Their owne what in the marg. put into the Text next after their owne p. 3. l. 28. leave out the figure 4. and joyne the line to the foregoing p. 7. l. 7. for could r. would p. 9. l. 33. for haugtinesse r. naughtinesse p. 17. l. 14. for blasphemous r. blasphemers p. 18. l. 29 for â—vies r. lives p. 19. l. 17. for vel amicitia r. non amicitiae p 19. l. 23. for abhorsed r. abhorred p. 2â— l. 3. for runam r. ruinam ibid l. 33. for thy r. the p. 24. l. 36. for would r. should p. 33. l. 25. for builing r. building Civitas Dei incipit et construitur ex amore Dei et crescit ad odium suiipfius Civitas vero Diaboli incipit ab amore sui et crescit usque ad odium Dei per contemptum proximorum Qui enim proximuÌ„ odit et contemnit mox etiam Deum odio babebit et contemnit Aug de Civ. Dei lib. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 5. â— Tim. 3. 2. Decet saâ—è cum qui magâ— vir futurus est neque seipsum neque sâ—a diligere sed juâ—a sempâ—r five ab ipso five ab also geranâ—ur Nescio quo inexplicabili modâ— quisqu◠〈◊〉 non Deum amat non se amâ—t quisquâ— Dâ—um non sâ—psum amat ipâ—e se amat Qui enim non potest vivere dâ— se moâ—itur utique amando se cum veâ—ò ille dilâ—gitur de quo vivitur â—on se diligendo magâ— diligit qui propâ—rca se non diligit ut cum diligat de quo vivit Aug de Tâ—ctat 123 in Joanneâ— Neh. 2. 10. Psal. 137. 6. Noâ— loquitur de iâ— qui planè abjeceâ—ant studium 〈◊〉 sed de iâ— ipâ—s quos pro fratribus habebat in ò quos ferebat in su◠〈◊〉 Illos tamen ita calore dicitur rebus suis curandis ut sint ad opuâ— Domini frigidiores Calv. in loc. De Christians Ministris Apostolo Serâ—o est Est. in loc. Their own 〈◊〉 Non ita accipiâ— quasi suis tantum commodis intenti nullam pâ—or us Ecclesiaecura 〈◊〉 haberunt sed quod implâ— itâ— privatis coâ—dis ad publicum Ecclesiae bonum pâ—omovendum negligentiores erant Calv. in loc. â—in Prop. 1. Prop. 2. Prop. 3. Prop. 4. Prop. 5. Prop. 6. Prop. 7. Prop. 8. Qu. 4. Applicat Titus 1. 11. Rom. 16. 18. 2 Pet. 2. 2. 1 Tim. 6. 5. Mat. 7. 15. 2. Use Exhort 1. Exhort 2. Ester 4 14. Isaiah 2 2. Rev. 11. 15. Dan. 4. 35. 41 45. Isa 6. 60. 12.