Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A61181
|
A sermon preached before the King and Queen at Whitehal, on Good-Friday, 1690 by the Lord Bishop of Rochester, Dean of Westminster.
|
Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.
|
1690
(1690)
|
Wing S5061; ESTC R13441
|
13,597
|
46
|
of all by us to be faithfully transmitted down to you the Saints of all Ages to come An Example most Holy and most Worthy both of our and your Imitation in that He did no Sin So my Text proceeds to make out the Perfection of His Example But here alas we must stop when He took on Himself our other Infirmities yet Sin was excepted He was a spotless Example to us of Holiness But such as we can never be to one another 'T were Blasphemy in us to imagine that we can ever be Exempt from Sin in any Degree of Equality with him Well were it for us if we might be so in some Degree of Resemblance to Him And let us not Despair for that we may be if we shall do what we are here advis'd and what through His Grace we may do If we shall still have him in our View and Write and Speak and Live after the perfect Copy of so great a Master and stedfastly follow his Steps though it be only as his Friends and Acquaintance followed him to the Cross afar off However if we shall keep his Example unmoveably before our Eyes and perpetually strive to Walk answerably to it then whatever we shall Do or Speak or Think well though very imperfectly he will accept and where through Human Weakness we shall fail he out of the inexhaustible Riches of his own Mercy will supply all the Good that is wanting and pardon all the Ill that remains An Example seems to be some visible Image or sensible Pattern of something extraordinary in its kind so exhibited to common Observation that others may direct their practise by it and learn to excel in the same kind And great is the force of Examples Great on both Sides either in leading us to Good or seducing us to Evil. By common Experience Examples are found to have far greater Influence on the Minds and Actions of Men than the most Excellent Precepts singly deliver'd Examples have a Natural Living and vigorous Efficacy by Secret and Familiar Charms they are generally wont to insinuate much farther than the best Commands or Intreaties or Incouragements by themselves can reach Whilst the Wisest Laws can only prescribe and require Obedience by threatning Punishments or promising Rewards good Examples do more softly affect the Passions and captivate the Imagination and gently frame the Will to themselves Convincing Mens Understandings that the Good ought to be done by the bright lustre attending all Goodness when brought into Example and also proving to our very Eyes and Senses that it has been done by others and therefore may be done by us if it be not our own fault and shewing the easiest Method and most graceful Manner of doing it Since therefore in all things relating to Practise Examples have so prevalent an Authority much more than any other way of Teaching let me seriously Recommend to you all the following this most Consummate Pattern of our Lord and the being made like to him above all other Examples A Duty so Incumbent on all Christians that our very first Initiation into his Faith our Baptism obliges us to it as the distinguishing Badge and Character of our Holy Profession And let me assure you Great Happy and Illustrious would soon be the Benefits of such an imitating Christianity Such as shall Teach us in the first place most studiously to imitate Christ himself and next him his Disciples Apostles and first Companions To be followers of them according to St. Paul's Rule concerning himself as they were of Christ. This would undoubtedly make us Disciples of Christ according to his own Heart who has declared himself to be not only the Truth but the Way the Truth and the Life This would speedily take off our Minds from eager Disputes and fierce Emulations and employ them about plain and unquestionable Truths and Duties This would quickly abate much of the vehement and tumultuous Spirit of Zeal but increase the temperate Heat and useful Fire of it This would soon allay and sweeten all that Sharpness Sowerness and Peevishness of Conscience which so generally prevails and change it into a Conscience void of Offence towards God and Man This would incline Men rather to be innocent and holy themselves by constant looking towards Him who was so than to find fault curiously or to object subtily against others Rather to be industrious in doing well as He did than to be critical in blaming what others do amiss This in short is the best way to restore the Primitive Power of the Gospel by restoring the Primitive Method of its wonderful Rise Increase and Progress This in stead of making all Practise evaporate in Speculation would more profitably reduce Speculation into Practise This would bring Religion more into publick View and Notice and by consequence more into Credit and Fashion And whereas nothing can be a greater Scandal to any Church than for the Members of it to be Rigid in their Censures of others and yet loose in their own Examples This would make the Loveliness of our Examples to correspond with and even to adorn the Beauty of our Churches Doctrines and Precepts Give me leave to urge this yet farther with a special regard to You of this Place For You thus indefatigably to Copy after this Blessed Example of our Lord Christ were the certain means for You to prove the greatest Blessings to the whole Nation wherein You live that is to become Good as well as Great Examples to it You I mean many of whom GOD has placed in so high a rank of Dignity and Honour in this World that whither You will or no whatever You do Your Practise cannot but be a powerful Example to others Wherefore in the Name of GOD let us all raise up our Thoughts and make our Imitation Aspire and Ascend towards Him who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith who has Ascended on High and has led Captivity Captive and has receiv'd Gifts for Men yea for the Rebellious also That the Lord God might not only teach us by his Doctrine but dwell among us by his Example To this End we all have or may have in our Hands this Blessed Book of the New Testament of his Blood Here only is to be found St. Peter's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the uncorrupt Original and native Comliness of his Holy Life and Death Hence only let us take it as from a pure and unmixt Fountain Let us often revolve in our Minds and Imprint deeply this unerring Idea of him on our Hearts Let us incessantly Compare Measure Judge of and Correct all our Thoughts Words and Actions according to the Exactness of this Model As we should always Adore and Worship all his inimitable Praises and Perfections so let us also imitate all his imitable Graces Let us most imitate those of them that are most fitted to our peculiar Conditions So let us imitate them altogether that our Zeal for some of them may not
Divine Vengeance What shall we say then If our Lord 's Suffering in this terrible manner was able to shake the whole Frame of the Visible World as it did if it could disorder the very Inanimate and Insensible Parts of it though they were altogether Innocent of its Guilt If it could rend the Veil of the Temple and split the Rocks and darken the Sun and overspread the Face of the Earth with thick Darkness and open the Graves and make Dead Bodies arise and walk abroad What powerful Effect then And What irresistible Influence should all this have upon us Who in as much as we are all Sinners had but too great a share in being the Causes of his thus Suffering What passionate Relentings What vehement Desires What fervent Longings should the Remembrance of all this excite in our Souls towards him What Carefulness yea What clearing of our selves yea What Indignation yea What Fear yea What Zeal yea What Revenge against Sin and Iniquity that occasioned all This What Resolutions of better Obedience What Vigilancy What Prayers What Tears What Vows for the future should it Solemnly engage us in against those our Transgressions which cost him so Dear no less than his Immaculate Blood and weigh'd down for a Time his Righteous Soul into Hell Thus Christ Suffer'd for us to pay an Inestimable Price for our Demerits and by his own Merits to make us Sinners acceptable in the Sight of God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity But may we now safely conclude from hence That the whole design of our Redemption was absolutely finish'd between God and Him and Us merely by his Suffering for us Yes entirely as to the Meritorious part of it tho' we should all beware of Negligence or Presumption on that Account For there still remains enough to be done on our part His share was in Truth All in All and All in every Part. It was completely to purchase Salvation for us But then must begin and then only can begin our share which is still To Work out that Salvation So that although all our Working can only proceed on the sure Foundation of his Purchase Yet withal it must indispensably proceed thereupon And let us not be deceiv'd if as we are told even our best Working in this Life cannot be without some Fear and Trembling What will our not Working at all be Consider I beseech you The Free Grace of our LORD 's Redeeming Mankind by his Blood The Blood of the New and Everlasting Covenant as large and diffusive as it is yet can be of no Consequence to us in Particular but to aggravate our Condemnation for neglecting it unless we not only Accept and Apprehend it by Faith but Embrace and Cherish it with a Living Faith And then Faith only lives in an Evangelical Sense not only when it Breaths and Professes but when it Moves and Works then it most Lives when it Operates Vigorously in a Conscientious Obedience to his Precepts and a Diligent and Dutiful Conformity to his Example Which is the Reason my Text assigns of our LORD 's Suffering for us that he might leave us an Example and we should follow his Steps We know there are some that call themselves Christians who rejecting the great Fundamental Doctrine of our LORD 's Suffering for us as a Propitiatory Sacrifice allow no other End of his Coming and Living and Dying in the Flesh but that he might shew us the way to Heaven by his Teaching and Example I need not in this Audience labour to confute this or to prove Christ's having been a Real Sacrifice and the only sufficient Atonement for Sin by himself once offer'd Since in the whole Tenour of the Gospel especially in St Paul's Epistles and that to the Hebrews this Truth seems to be so perspicuously confirm'd Only let me add his being offer'd to GOD as our Sacrifice was a thing so Necessary that without it in Vain had He been proposed to us as our Example Both these great Intentions of his Suffering being so inseparably Mixt and United that wherever they shall be found divided neither o◠them can be Effectual Christ could never have been to us a Pattern of Holiness such as we could have had the least hope to follow had He not also been a Propitiation for our Sins And that Propitiation will prevail with the Righteous Judge of all the World only for such as in some Degree or other sincerely Practice after his Pattern Upon no less nor any other Conditions has He undertaken to cleanse and rescue us from the Guilt and Slavery of our Sins but only as we shall strive to exercise that Capacity which He has also obtain'd for us of following the Steps of his Graces It must be Confess'd without his Righteousness imputed to us we can never be Justifi'd in the Sight of God And his Righteousness is never imputed to any but only those by whom either in Deed or in Will it is Imitated I say not only in Deed but in Will because our Gracious GOD who worketh in us both to Will and to Do of his Good Pleasure is sometimes pleas'd To accept the Will for the Deed But never so as thereby to give us any Incouragement to come short of or to omit the Deed. I say then again our Blessed LORD can never be a comfortable Example but only to those for whom He was a Sacrifice And He never suffer'd effectually for any as a Sacrifice but such as unfeignedly desire and endeavor to make Him their Example This being granted that it highly concerns every one that calls on the Name of Christ not only to trust in Him as our Redeemer but to follow His Steps as our Example It will next be very well worth our while to examine carefully where we may find an accurate Copy of that Example In what Holy ground we are to search for the Genuine Marks of those Heavenly Steps we are to tread in For that the Greek Word in my Text which is translated Example may suggest to us a certain Rule of Direction in this whole Matter The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is such a Type Prescript and Original Draught as is left us in Writing whence we may transcribe it into our Lives So that you see St. Peter was not content to leave us a mere uncertain hear-say changeable traditionary Doctrine of our Lord's Example but such a One as being at first taken as near the Life as could be was then written down once for all finished and once delivered to the Saints as indeed every part of it is demonstrably to be shewn in the Holy Word of GOD which is our fix'd Standard of all Truth and Goodness and next to Christ and His Spirit our only Infallible Guide of Faith and Manners This says our Apostle is the Example He has left us for you to follow Consign'd it first into our Trust and our Recording who were Eye-witnesses