Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A56654
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A discourse of profiting by sermons and of going to hear where men think they can profit most
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing P790; ESTC R11883
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20,690
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35
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regulate this liberty that it may not prove an evil Humour viz. He only makes right use of the benefit of hearing such as have more excellent Gifts than his own Pastor as learns thereby to like his own Pastor the better and to profit more by him Mark it I most earnestly intreat you together with his Illustration of it by this Example The excellent Gifts God hath bestowed on others in this case may be fitly resembled unto Physick which they use well whose appetite is thereby amended and are made able to rellish and like their ordinary food the better If after men have heard one of excellent Gifts they begin to distaste the Ministry of their ordinary Pastors and can like of none profit by none unless they have rare Gifts they become at length like to those who by accustoming themselves to drink hot and strong Waters bring their Stomacks to that pass that they can find no Relish or Vertue in any Drink or Water be it never so hot or strong Believe it they receive no true profit from the most admired Preacher who learn not by hearing him to profit by any one that delivers to them the wholesome Words of our Lord Jesus and the Doctrine that is according unto Godliness though in the plainest manner imaginable both for Method and Language This I have chosen to write in his Words because there are some I fear that would scarce indure such Doctrine from us which may at least be more reverently received and duly considered proceeding from a Person of such note heretofore among Nonconformists and beget so much Sobriety in you all as to make you think what manner of Spirit you are now of How you come to differ so much from the best of your own way in former dayes This is worth your serious study that you may not offend as many hearers do in a partial and factions estimation they have the Ministers of the Gospel in They are his Words again in another place Lecture LXVI Where he observes this partiality arises from two Grounds First the respect they have to difference of Judgement that is among us in smaller matters which makes them affect such only as are of their own Mind in every thing with the dislike of all others that are of a contrary persuasion And secondly from the respect they have to the difference of Gifts which is among Preachers of which I spake before which moves them to admire some whom they judge to be of excellent gifts though alas their judgment is very small but to despise and contemn all others And he hath there these two remarkable reflections upon this Humor which I beg of you to observe and remember First that this factions Disposition of the Hearers of Gods Word hath in all ages been the cause of much confusion in the Church of God and greatly hindred the fruit of the Gospel of Christ Note here This way which you are in is not the means of profiting in Religion but of hindring the growth and increase of it The second is that whereas they in whom this humor reigneth are wont to glory as if they had more Judgment and could discern better of Gifts than other men saying alas poor People who esteem so highly of such a mans Gifts If they had any Judgment or understanding they would count him no body The Apostle tells us it is quite contrary and that this argues rather they have very little Judgment or Grace in them yea this makes them uncapable of profiting by the Word 1 Cor. III. 1. O that there were an Heart in you to ponder such profitable Instructions as these which were said on purpose to check that evil Disposition which began then to appear among People inclinable to Non-conformity and is since grown the prevailing humour insomuch that some can settle no where but ramble from one Preacher to another as their uncertain Fancy guides them without becoming one whit the better for any Yes will some say We might be perswaded to come and hear your Preachers and hear them constantly but we ought not to be compelled to it that 's a thing you can never justifie To which so much hath been answered by others that I shall only tell you what that good Man before named saith to it in one of those Lectures which was preached in Parliament-time May 8. 1610. where he takes occasion to stir up the People to pray earnestly for the States of the Realm then assembled that their principal care might be to take order about two things first That an able and conscionable Ministry may be placed every where and secondly that ALL People may be compelled to hear For it is certain saith he upon this second head that where there is a good Ministry established the Magistrate may and ought to compell ALL Subjects to come and hear notwithstanding all pretence of their Consciences to the contrary VII To sum up all then that hath been said in this Business Be pleased to consider What makes a Sermon profitable and What must be done by the People to profit by the Sermon A Sermon is then profitable when it informs the Mind and Judgment aright in Divine Truth when it instructs you in any part of the Christian Duty when it tends to strengthen or awaken your Faith that you may more stedfastly adhere and earnestly apply your selves to what you know and believe certainly to be Gods Mind and Will when it works upon the Will and the Affections to submit intirely to Gods Will that you may bring forth the fruit of a holy Life when it corrects any of your Errors stirs up your Sloth incourages you to Diligence Chearfulness and Perseverance and such like things But the best contrived Sermon in the World for all these ends though it were indited by the Spirit of God it self would have no efficacy at all in it if they that heard it did not attend to it and attend without Prejudice without Passion without Partiality without rash and hasty Judgment without Pride and conceit of themselves and their own Knowledge and Righteousness that is unless they consider and weigh what is delivered though contrary to their present sence unless they will impartially give every thing that is offered to their mind a due regard and allot some time for its further Consideration when it is not to their liking c. For want of which multitudes did not profit by our Saviours Sermons but were rather more exasperated by them and at last finally hardned against him and against the Holy Ghost when it came down from Heaven to convince them I doubt not they were ready enough then to lay the blame upon his Sermons which pressed them to many things unto which they had no mind being against their Interest or against some Opinion or Affection to which they were deeply ingaged so that they did not profit by them But for all this you believe the fault was wholly in themselves who ought
A Discourse OF PROFITING BY SERMONS AND Of going to HEAR where men think they can PROFIT most LONDON Printed for T. Basset at the George in Fleet-street B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-yard and F. Gardiner at the White-Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. A Discourse OF PROFITING by SERMONS AS there is nothing that all good men more desire nothing that they more heartily seek and endeavour than a happy re-union of all those with us who have rent themselves from us which we should reckon to be one of the highest blessings that God can now bestow upon us so there is little hope of seeing those desires and endeavours satisfied while the smallest Scruples seem a sufficient cause to hinder many People from joyning with us But among all the Reasons that I have heard alledged for leaving our Churches this seems to me to be the weakest and most ungrounded That our Ministers are unedifying Preachers for they cannot profit by their Sermons Which I am informed is so commonly objected and some lay such weight upon it and it carries with it such a shew of Piety it being a very commendable thing to desire to be the better for every Sermon one hears that it is thought to be worth some body's pains to try to remove this unjust Prejudice which too many have entertained against the most instructive and useful Sermons that perhaps are preached any where in the Christian World This may seem too high a commendation but it is the judgment of more indifferent persons then we are on either side of strangers I mean who have seen the World and having learnt our language and heard and read the Sermons that are commonly preached and printed in this great City affirm there are not the like to be found in any Church whatsoever God grant we be not deprived of such singular helps by our contempt of them and that our Candlestick be not removed out of its place because we withdraw our selves from the light which it holds forth to us Of which we are in very great danger if not knowing what it is truly to profit by Sermons we make no progress at all in the state of Christianity but deceive our own Souls in a vain opinion of our acquaintance with God and our blessed Saviour and the Mysteries of the Gospel which have little or no effect upon our hearts and lives I do not pronounce this to be the case of those who object to us that we have an unprofitable Ministry but I doubt not to demonstrate that the Sermons which are generally preached by the Ministry in this City to whose inhabitants I principally write are such that they may profit by them if it be not their own fault and then leave them to judge of themselves as they see cause I suppose we are all agreed or may easily agree what it is to profit by Sermons for we agree that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to our Salvation and therefore when they are rightly opened and duely applied in a Sermon so that the Hearers improve either in Christian knowledge or in Faith or in well-doing then they profit by that Sermon Now if any man do not improve in these by the help of the Sermons which he may hear in our Churches and the fault lye in the Sermon it must be either in the matter of it or in the manner for none I presume will be so bold as to affirm that Gods Spirit doth not accompany a Sermon which wants nothing belonging to either of these the Preacher also being duely qualified And thanks be to God there are none that dare now complain of an Idle Scandalous Insufficient Ministry about this City but instead of that they that were wont to have those words in their mouths have taken up the complaint of an Vnedifying Whereby we have gained this great Point That they have no colour to pretend the Person who preaches is unsanctified and therefore God doth not bless his Ministry but the fault must lye if there be any in the Sermon it self and that in the matter of which it consists or in the manner of its delivery I. And as for the former of these I can scarce think that any Dissenter when he seriously considers will except against our Sermons upon that account they being taken out of the Holy Scriptures which are the foundation of our Religion and with such care to find out their true sense and proper meaning that perhaps they were never more clearly opened and rightly applied than they are now a dayes in our Churches I am sure All that heavenly Truth which was delivered to our first Parents when they were about to be expelled out of Paradise which God repeated in his Promises to Abraham Isaac and Jacob which he shadowed and confirmed in the Law of Moses illustrated by the Oracles of the Prophets and finally fulfilled in the Incarnation Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascention of the Son of God and dissused by the Preaching of the Apostles and the Power of the Holy Ghost all over the World is there so fully and distinctly taught that we may safely say the whole Counsel of Gods Will is at one time or other faithfully declared among us And as that is declared compleatly so little else is medled withall matters of controversie being as rarely handled in our Pulpits I believe as in any place of the World unless it be those which the present State of things sometimes makes absolutely Necessary to fortifie the People against Popery and against Separation yet even these are not so often treated of as matters of general concernment to all Parties of Christians whatsoever For the great drift of our Preachers seems to be to instruct the People in the Truth and to make them good particularly to give them right notions of God which are the very bottom of all Religion knowing that Errors and Superstitions will fall of themselves without a particular confutation For they are supported by nothing but ignorance and naughty affections which will uphold them against all the Arguments whereby they can be assaulted unless mens minds be informed and possessed with such a right Sence of things as alters their Wills and Affections and turns them to an unfeigned love of God and Goodness Which seems to me to be the aim and scope of the Sermons which are generally preached by our Ministers and which is so well performed that we need not fear to affirm there is nothing necessary either to make men truly knowing in the things of God or to work belief in them or to confirm them in the Faith or to direct them in their practice of what they know and believe or to excite them to follow those directions and to live according to the Laws of the Gospel or to satisfie material Scruples to resolve doubts and cases of Conscience to comfort disconsolate penitents and awaken drowsie sinners or any thing of like Nature but may be met withall