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truth_n deed_n light_n reprove_v 2,125 5 10.3012 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A62596 A sermon preached at White-hall, April the 4th, 1679 by John Tillotson ... Tillotson, John, 1630-1694. 1679 (1679) Wing T1233; ESTC R10423 16,980 46

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them that is faulty and which will not endure the light This is the account which our Saviour gives us in a like Case It was because mens deeds were evil that they loved darkness rather than light For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth the truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God 3. Since Reason and Christianity allow this liberty to private persons to judge for themselves in matters of Religion we should use this privilege with much modesty and humility with great submission and deference to our Spiritual Rulers and Guides whom God hath appointed in his Church And there is very great need of this Caution since by experience we find this liberty so much abused by many to the nourishing of Pride and self-conceit of Division and Faction and those who are least able to judge to be frequently the most forward and confident the most peremptory and perverse and instead of demeaning themselves with the submission of Learners to assume to themselves the authority of Judges even in the most doubtfull and disputable matters The Tyranny of the Roman Church over the Minds and Consciences of men is not to be justified upon any account but nothing puts so plausible a colour upon it as the ill use that is too frequently made of this natural Privilege of mens judging for themselves in a matter of so infinite concernment as that of their eternal happiness But then it is to be consider'd that the proper remedy in this Case is not to deprive men of this Privilege but to use the best means to prevent the abuse of it For though the inconveniences arising from the ill use of it may be very great yet the mischief on the other hand is intolerable Religion it self is liable to be abused to very bad purposes and frequently is so but it is not therefore best that there should be no Religion And yet this Objection if it be of any force and be pursued home is every whit as strong against Religion it self as against mens liberty of judging in matters of Religion Nay I add farther that no man can judiciously embrace the true Religion unless he be permitted to judge whether that which he embraces be the true Religion or not 4. When upon due Trial and Examination we are well-settled and established in our Religion let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and not be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine through the sleight of men and the cunning craftiness of those who lie in wait to deceive And above all let us resolve to live according to the excellent Rules and Precepts of our holy Religion let us heartily obey that Doctrine which we profess to believe We who enjoy the Protestant Religion have all the means and advantages of understanding the Will of God free liberty and full scope of enquiring into it and informing our selves concerning it We have all the opportunities we can wish of coming to the knowledge of our Duty The Oracles of God lie open to us and his Law is continually before our eyes his word is nigh unto us in our mouths and in our hearts that is we may read it and meditate upon it that we may do it The Key of Knowledg is put into our hands so that if we do not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it is we our selves that shut our selves out And where there is nothing to hinder us from the knowledg of our Duty there certainly nothing can excuse us from the practice of it For the End of all knowledg is to direct men in their duty and effectually to engage them to the performance of it The great business of Religion is to make men truly good and to teach them to live well And if Religion have not this effect it matters not of what Church any man lists and enters himself for most certainly A bad man can be saved in none Though a man know the right way to Heaven never so well and be entered into it yet if he will not walk therein he shall never come thither Nay it will be an aggravation of this man's unhappiness that he was lost in the way to Heaven and perished in the very Road to Salvation But if we will in good earnest apply our selves to the practice of Religion and the obedience of God's holy Laws his Grace will never be wanting to us to so good a purpose I have not time to recommend Religion to you at large with all its advantages I will comprise what I have to say in a few words and mind them at your peril Let that which is our great concernment be our great care To know the Truth and to do it To fear God and keep his Commandments Considering the Reasonableness and the Reward of Piety and Vertue nothing can be wiser and considering the mighty assistance of God's Grace which he is ready to afford to us and the unspeakable satisfaction and delight which is to be had in the doing of our duty nothing can be easier Nothing will give us that pleasure while we live nothing can minister that true and solid comfort to us when we come to die There is probably no such way for a man to be happy in this World to be sure there is no way but this to escape the intolerable and endless miseries of another World Now God grant that we may all know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace for his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS ADVERTISEMENT WHereas there is surreptitiously printed from very false and imperfect Notes a Sermon preached Decemb. 3 d. 1678. at the York-shire Feast to the great abuse and injury of the Author and of the Buyers of it It is thought fit to give this notice of it and that it is since publish'd by the Author Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury in Quarto The false Copy being but two sheets and printed in Octavo There is now in the Press a Learned Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy in Quarto By Dr. Isaac Barrow late Master of Trinity Colledg in Cambridg To be sold by Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil