Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A44417
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A sermon preach'd before the King and Queen at White-Hall, January XIV. 1693/4 by Geo. Hooper.
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Hooper, George, 1640-1727.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing H2708; ESTC R26068
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13,466
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36
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whose Company less offends or which we better affect While we keep off at a distance from the Exercises of Religion its Enemies and ours have a fair Opportunity to mis-represent and to raise up such Imaginations in us as shall agree with their Interest but if we would but approach and make tryal we should discover the Calumny it would then appear that there was no Lyon in the way or at the end and that the false Spies we had sent forth to discover the Holy Land had made to us a most unfaithful Description And may I not say that is with Religion it self as with those few edifying Orders in Use with us about it It is a burdensome Yoak an intolerable Imposition unnecessary foolish any thing that Detraction shall think fit to say to those who are ignorant of it and not well acquainted with it whereas if we came a little nearer and experienc'd it our selves we should then begin to wonder at the unjust Surmises we were brought to entertain before and take nothing to be more unreasonable and more vain than such Representations as those For to give the Case of all Christian Duties in the Instance of one the Holy Communion how many are they who are well enough inform'd that it is a necessary part of Divine Worship a Sacrament to which we are as much obliged as we were to the other And yet how are Men generally kept off from it by strange Conceits such as can have no place but in idle Minds It is a Mystery from which the profane and ungodly should absent but to many who are to be incouraged to come it is the more a Mystery because they come not at all There is something in it they know not what they are afraid of and the Action instead of being Reverend is Frightful to them Upon the thought of it there is a Damp and Melancholy on their Minds though the Subject of it be Thanks and Praise and the Invitation be to a Feast Though there be no more serious Confession of their Sins than what they should make every day no other Renunciation of them than what their Baptism presumes already yet they imagine some new terrible Work is to be undertaken and that they shall come under danger of Condemnation if they go thither from which too they shall escape if they stay away Upon the first Apprehensions of a God no wonder if some natural fearfulness seizes us and when the spiritual World is mentioned Spectres may arise in weaker Minds and seem to stand in their way but if they will but go on these empty Shadows will immediately disappear and if we draw near to the Divine Majesty we shall not be amaz'd and dis-heartened but assured and encouraged by that Gracious Presence Many vain Fears there are in the Christian Warfare before which often the Raw and Unexperienc'd shamefully fly without a stroke struck to be cured as we see by Use and Action and some groundless Aversion there may be to our Duty which the Practice of it will reconcile but there is besides much real Danger and direct actual Opposition to be considered in the second place 2. For to confess the Truth we are not only as Strangers to the Will of God but there is something within us which is an Enemy to it and wars against it Rebellious Lusts that would be willing to make a Resistance and watch all Opportunities to withdraw the Obedience of the Will and to corrupt the Integrity of the Judgment The Evidence of the Truth may have brought us to some Knowledge and our Carnal Affections were forc'd at present to suffer the Conviction of the Mind And had the well-inform'd Soul been active and diligent setting the Will on work and employing it upon its acknowledged Duty subduing and suppressing the contrary Inclinations it might then have gained an intire Consent and established for ever its just Dominion But if on the other side it be idle and sees not to the Execution of its own and the Divine Pleasure this is both a sure Indication that our sensual part remains too powerful and a sad Prognostick that it will quickly recover its ground and finally prevail When the Convictions begin to cool and the Impressions on our Mind grow fainter then it will regain its force undermine and at last ruine the Knowledge that had been rais'd It will again captivate the Vnderstanding and like a barbarous Conquerour put out its Eyes The very Omission of our Duty impairs its Knowledge It is as a Sleep of the Soul and under its Truce our Carnal Desires refresh and gather strength there is too a cessation of Sense as well as of Motion a present Forgetfulness of God and temporary Ignorance of his Will But if we are thence ingag'd into Actual Transgression we then avowedly contradict his Precepts and make open War against his Sacred Truths destroying as far as we can all the Records of them and breaking not only the Commandments but the Tables themselves The Knowledge of them is troublesome and opposing and must be suppress'd By Doing of any Wickedness a Blot is contracted which not only blemishes the Soul but blackens and darkens it And a contrary Course of Repentance afterwards is not more necessary to atone for the Guilt than it is to change the Depravation of the Mind and to recover and re-establish its former Sentiments For as there are some Vices which naturally affect the Head rendring it unfit to think and recollect and disabling it for any Science so have All of them something of that stupifying Nature particularly indisposing for Divine Knowledge sending up such Fumes as by a peculiar Malignancy assault and poison all Notions of Goodness and Vertue and mortifie the Spiritual Vnderstanding The Knowledge of our Duty is as a Light set up within us to be maintain'd by constant Supplies and in perpetual Motion It may be obscur'd by the shining in of the World through our Senses and Imagination it may be suffocated if only by the Damp arising from an earthy and yet not well purg'd Breast grow pale and dim and then go out but by the active Contrariety of wicked and ungodly Practices it is certainly extinguish'd drown'd as by many Waters So necessary is the Exercise of our Knowledge to its Preservation But then further 3. By Doing of the Will of God at length we attain to the Habit of Doing it willingly and begin to have new Pleasure in the Discharge of our Duty According as our Carnal Affections are suppressed our Spiritual Desires arise and upon the Mortification of the Old Man the New Man grows up and improves the Consent of the Sanctified Will being at last utterly and absolutely given to the Assent of the Vnderstanding and we not only allowing the Doctrine of God to be true and reasonable in the speculation but imbracing it with our whole heart and intirely affectionate to it proceeding so to the Knowledge of one farther Truth deliver'd
us by our Saviour and experimentally discovering that His Yoke is easie and Burthen light that His Paths are Paths of Pleasure and Peace This is the Seraphick State of Holy Men who now believe not only what they have heard but perceive and know what their Eyes have seen and their Hands have handled and their Souls have enjoyed of the Word of Life Then from the Heart continuing its first Motion and actuated with Devotion and Zeal fresh supplies of Spirits are sent back again to the Head the Warmth of the Breast is inkindled into a Flame and New Light springing up from that Holy Heat the upper Sphaere of Man like Heaven is full of Brightness and Joy In this manner the Knowledge of God's Will is to be improv'd by us It comes by Hearing and may be imagined by Meditation but it really increases strengthens and is fix'd by Actions of Obedience and reducing it into Practice It is not therefore to be wonder'd That such as doe not those things which are convenient become of Reprobate Minds and that they lose the Knowledge of God who like not to retain it Neither shall we admire if there are those who are in appearance always learning but never come to the Knowledge of Christ Their Ears itch and they heap up to themselves Teachers but their Hands are idle their Feet are straying and their Souls have no Inclination to try and to obey They have heard much and some Fancy of their Duty they may have or may speak its Language they have wrote it may be and can repeat but the Repetition of all moral Discourses should be by Practice and they transcribed into our Conversation They edifie not they say by this Man's Sermon and by the Knowledge from which they think they are edified they may not be built but puffed up But how should they edifie who sit still only and hear Faith being no more to be built up and finish'd by Preaching than a House would be erected by the Discourse of the best Architect Much less should we expect a Superstructure if as in the Confusion of a Babel their Actions agreed not with the Speech and what was endeavoured to be raised at the Ear they with the foolish Woman were still pulling down with their hands But this is to be the Consolation of the illiterate if honest-hearted Christian that although there be those that appear more knowing are skill'd in the Notions and History of God's Will can give an account of all the Disputes of Christianity and can determine them yet that all this is but smattering and learned Ignorance without any true Sense and sound Judgment that those only are in the right Method of Divine Knowledge who are obeying God and observing his Will they are the Profound and the Illuminate and know the Doctrine as it ought to be known their Light now shines before men and they shall shine as Stars for ever and ever And may I further observe that the Reflection of our Saviour which gives an account of that contradiction which opposes his Doctrine gives too a reason of all the Differences and Debates that have been raised in it For these would infallibly be much less if not quite cease were those who eagerly dispute his Will as zealous and earnest to perform it were not Men more warmly concerned for the Honour and Interest of their Party or themselves than they are really desirous to understand the Mind of Christ For if any one truly gives himself up to do his Will he will not be apt to enter into needless Contests about what is not practical nor strive most to know what is not to be done And then when he comes to the Question so much of his Lord's Will he will at first observe as to be modest and meek and tractable not suffer his Passions and Animosities to join in the Enquiry he will not bring so much as a Wish on one part much less shall any humane Pre-ingagements decide the Controversie And if so one cannot but think and sure we are not in this partial our selves that the Papal Infallibility for Example and their Transubstantiation would be no longer defended nor their gross Falshoods be set up for Catholick Truths Neither on the other side would ancient Laudable Practices be any longer Idolatrous and Antichristian Were we not carnal and walked we not as Men favouring our selves and doing our own Will there might be neither Heresie nor Schism did we resign our selves up to the Truth on which side soever it should appear And certainly the Sacredness and Moment of the Cause where God's Will is in question would require such a Caution as in lesser Matters is inforc'd by an Oath that we should judge without Favour and Affection Hatred and Malice that those at least who take upon themselves to judge of his Law should judge righteous Judgment For what is fit to be said after any Accident that befals us by the Providence of God is as proper to be premis'd before a Dispute concerning his Revelation Thy will be done O Father which art in Heaven And were our part of it done on Earth as it is in Heaven it might almost be known in the same manner Happy it would be for the Arts said an Ancient if none but the Skilful and the Artists judg'd of them and no less happy would it be for Religion if only the truly religious and the sincere Christian were to determine the Points in Difference This Advantage would undoubtedly result that the Disputers would not be very many as well as that the Disputes would be no more than necessary fairly debated and soon composed Whereas now all Religious Controversies are managed like Wars for Religion rais'd and fought not always by the most Religious Men. The Question is concerning some Point of Faith or Manners and should be argued by Godly Spirits But the World and the Flesh they come in and intermeddle and they are as Auxiliaries on either side whose Interest it is the Cause should never be decided For were not Christianity divided what Enemy would it have but those its sworn Enemies against whom it had declar'd in Baptism And against these it would then join its Vnited Force in a Holy League and never cease until they were intirely subdued In these many Differences of thinking concerning our Saviour's Person and Pleasure we piously hope that he will mercifully consider the Infirmities and Errors of Men and accept the Services of the Well-meaning pardoning their Ignorance and want of Discernment if not too careless and too wilful But lest we betray our selves and others into a further Mistake we shall do well to take along with us this his Observation and remember that generally all our Ignorance is wilful for want of Will to do God's Will And when Ignorance shall come to be pleaded in the day when He shall judge the secrets of mens hearts it may then amount to no better an Excuse than if instead