Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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B06797
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Two sermons concerning nature and grace. Preach'd at White-hall, April, 1699. / By E. Young, Fellow of Winchester-College ...
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Young, Edward, 1641 or 2-1705.
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1700
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Wing Y71; ESTC R41169
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21,820
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61
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our Present Infirmity either through Ignorance or Surprize but it cannot get Dominion over us without our own deliberate Option For it is an express Gospel-Promise against the Power of Sin that It shall not have Dominion over us against the Power of the Devil that Greater is he that is in you than he that he that is in the World against the Power of Temptations that God is faithful who will not suffer us to be Tempted above what we are able against Discouragement from the Pretext of our Infirmities that we may do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us and in case of falling We have an Advocate with the Father and a Propitiation for our Sins by means whereof the Favour of God may be Regained and that Principle of Grace Recovered upon which as upon a new Stock we may grow good again and to an entire Acceptance And now say How could the Safety of humane Vertue be better provided for Or in case we want Vertue of whom can we complain But 2. The present state of our Nature weak and depraved as it is gives Man the Opportunity of a more commendable Vertue From the state of greater Uprightness and Order of Mind and Composure of our Affections we might expect more elevated Thoughts Conceptions more worthy of God Acts of Adoration more steady and affectionate and a Discharge of Moral Duties less obnoxious to Errour and Interruption But in the mean time the present state of our Deficiency has no Reason to complain when it is vouchsafed thus much of Indulgence that the most abrupt Groanings of an humble Soul prest with Infirmities and wrestling with Temptations and thence feelingly imploring the Assistance of God is a more acceptable Sacrifice to him than any Hymns that the most exalted Understanding can dictate or any Office that the most composed Affections can perform Now Thus it is and This is the Reason of it viz. Because all the Notion we have of humane Vertue is this That it is a Conflict maintained by Rectify'd Reason against the lower Appetites according to which Notion the Holy Scripture calls the Christian Life a State of Warfare Now as Affections and Lusts do make the Opposition and occasion the Conflict so it cannot be doubted but that they give the great Commendation if not the very Being to our Vertue To kill a Passion to subdue a rising Motion of Anger Hatred Pride or Carnality is the worthiest Oblation we can offer to God and the more of these we have to subdue the more we have to offer When I am weak then am I strong says the Apostle and thus we may interpret him The more Infirmities there are in our Nature the more eminent Opportunities we have to be Conquerours in the Christian Conflict Wish therefore we may that Vertue were more cheap or more easie to us but we ought to remember That at the same time we wish away that which gives Vertue her best Title both to present Commendation and future Reward Which is another Advantage of our present State viz. that it makes way for a more Excellent Reward To dispute whether Adam if he had not sinned should at some Period of his Earthly Life have been Translated into Heaven and there united to God in his Eternal Enjoyments were only to be wise above what is written If we will confine our Judgment to what is written Nothing appears there but that the Promise of Heaven was made in Christ alone whose Undertaking for Mankind commenced purely upon the Occasion of the Fall And if we observe the Order of that solemn Prayer which our Saviour makes for his Disciples and the succeeding Church Joh. 17. where ver 17. he prays Holy Father sanctifie them by thy Truth and after this in a distinct Request at ver 24. he says Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am We may reasonably argue from This That the utmost Sanctification humane Nature is capable of carries in it no Pretensions to Heaven but that This is a Title that rises simply from the Compact of our Lord's Mediation It is manifestly evident from frequent Passages of Holy Writ That although not simply Bliss it self yet the highest degrees of Bliss are annex'd to the Doctrine of the Cross to Afflictions Sufferings and Self-Denial none of which had had any Place or Occasion had it not been for the Depravation of our Nature For their End is perfectly Medicinal and design'd to correct that Depravation and to bring us to the Vertues of Patience and Humility Vertues which we are naturally averse from and yet they are necessary to reform and sanctifie our Nature Now if Afflictions Sufferings and Self-Denial are the things which are said to work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory and yet all these Methods of Discipline draw their Usefulness from the very State of our Corruption it cannot be denied but that this present State of ours does give occasion and make way for a more excellent Reward than Man Vndepraved could ever have hoped for What Room is there then for complaining of our Condition What for Reviling Our first Parents What for Censuring the divine Disposal of Things Our Nature is burden'd with Weakness and Disorder but it has its Remedy in a Religious Dependance which is able to turn all to Advantage And therefore to do right to this Contemplation we ought to close it with Acknowledgment and Wonder Oh the depth of the Riches of the Wisdom and Goodness of God! To whom be Glory c. FINIS SERMONS Preach'd by E. Young and Sold by Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard A Sermon Preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall on Easter-day 1693. A Sermon Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at Guild-Hall Chapel Febr. 4. 1682. A Sermon Preach'd at Salisbury on Sunday July 30. 1693. Being the Time of the Assizes A Sermon Preach'd at the Assizes held in Winchester July 11. 1695. Two Sermons Preach'd at Winchester Assizes The first on Feb. 26. 1694. The last on July 14. 1686. Two Sermons Preach'd at White-Hall The first on Sunday April 15. The second on Sunday April 22. 1694.
influenc'd altogether with the Spirit of Religion And yet no sooner did our Saviour give them one just and gentle Rebuke reproaching them for being more affected with his Loaves than with his Doctrine and instructing them that God's Truth ought not to be follow'd mercenarily But he discover'd their Feeble their Cheat till then unknown even to themselves and made them discover it to all the World for 't is said ver 66. They took offence at it and went back and walk'd no more with him And thus it always falls out when Vertue happens to be attended with Temporal Advantages as Reputation Favour Fortunes and the like we can hardly tell without farther Experiment of our selves whether we regard Vertue for it self or only for its Advantages or whether it be Piety or simple Appetite that sets us a-work 2. It is hard to discern between a Religious State and a Religious Humour a Religious State that is founded steadily upon the Grace of God and a Religious Humour of outward Accidents and is as desultory and mutable as the Cause from which it springs How often does it happen that Men upon the Success of Affairs and Ease of Circumstances find their Hearts fill'd with Expressions of Thankfulness to God and Charity to all the World and yet upon the change of Circumstances they immediately sowr both towards God and Man Now if such Men shall estimate themselves during the Religious Mood how is it possible but that they should be deceived in the Opinion of their own state There is but one way possile to prevent their being deceived and that is the bringing themselves under the Probation of the voluntary Cross to the Offices of Mortification and Self-denial But then how hard is it moreover to persuade Men that they are obliged to this officious Probation 3. It is hard to free our Judgment from those Prejudices and extreme Mutations which it is subject to receive from the different Crasis and State of our Animal Spirits Thus sometimes when the Body is vigorous and gay it shuts out that measure of Fear which is necessary to make us wise and it suffers us not to see that Sin we are guilty of and that lies at our door And on the other hand When the Spirits are dejected and low they often let in such an Excess of Fear as betrays the Succours of Reason and makes Men cruciate themselves with the Apprehensions of Sin ev'n where there is really none And hence we have sometimes seen it come to pass That a Cordial Medicine has quieted a Mind and set a grieved Conscience at rights Which Effect could not possibly proceed from That Cause but upon the present Supposition viz. That our Judgments are apt to be impos'd upon and misled by the various Influences of our Body 4. To judge of our selves without Proof and Tryal is the sure way to be deceived and yet it is hard to discern what is the right Method of Proving our selves and what is our proper Tryal What a fair Progress had that Man in the Gospel made towards the Kingdom of God who told our Saviour That he had kept all the Commandments from his Youth Nor did he tell it in Hypocrisie for it is said that our Saviour lov'd him which could not have been but for the Truth of what he told and yet this Man could not bring himself over the Difficulty of parting with his Estate and becoming a Disciple though he were promised the Recompense of Treasure in Heaven How many have born up commendably under all the Pressures of Afflictions and at last sunk in a Calm and given themselves up vanquish'd to the Enticements of Prosperity Men of Courage but not of Caution And how many on the other hand have liv'd commendably in good Fortunes and at last quitted their Vertue lest their Fortunes should be worsted Men of Caution but not of Courage Thus I say No man can make a hasty Conjecture at what is his Proper Tryal But 5. When we have prov'd our selves and so may know our selves yet still it is hard to own our selves for such as we have prov'd our selves to be For when we have prov'd our selves to the bottom as we may do by the Doctrine of the Scripture and our own Experience we shall find our selves to be mere Weakness and Emptiness and without Power in our Selves to do any thing well Now though this be a Truth than which the Word of God delivers none more plainly nor can our own Experience attest any one more convincingly yet there lurks in us a natural Pride which makes us perfectly averse from Believing it We love to imagine our selves Great insomuch that we hate to know our selves otherwise and had rather suspect and find fault with the Glass that represents us under a diminishing form And this was properly Peter's Case He had been told with the rest by his Master That without him he could do nothing But this was a Lesson he had no Stomach to retain He would not doubt but that his Will was in his own Power and that his Executing Faculties were under the Power of his Will so that what he had Courage to Resolve he had likewise Ability to Perform And this fond Opinion expos'd him to that shameful Denyal which follow'd upon it After I have asserted that it is Hard to know our selves I am far from countenancing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the belief that we cannot know our selves This is a Notion fruitful of Mischiefs It is a Notion that hinders both Proficiency and Amendment that is contrary both to Faith and Hope and Consolation without which Religion can have neither Fruit nor Root Know our selves we Must God requires it and therefore besure know our selves we May Nay the Truth is we may easily know our selves if we take the right Method to do it For the common Obstacle of Self-Knowledge is this That when we go to examine and look into our selves we look through the wrong End of the Glass We seek for Greatness and Excellencies wherewithal to please our selves and from this Prospect we are sure to reap nothing but Deceit But let us turn the Glass and look patiently upon our Litteless and Defects whereby to humble our selves and this Prospect will certainly make us wise For Humility is the True Knowledge of our selves and he that knows himself to be nothing-worth knows himself well Which brings me upon my second Proposition viz. That to know our selves Truly is to know that we are and that in our best Estate absolutely weak and insufficient towards Good Goodness is a Lesson which simple Nature gives us not Capacity to learn For since the stream of our Affections naturally runs to Ill say who it is that can Turn that Stream Quis potest facere mundum de immundo says Holy Job Who can make himself clean since he is born unclean If our Nature be sinful though it must be changed yet we cannot change our Nature He that