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A62626 Sermons preach'd upon several occasions by his Grace John Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury ; the first volume.; Sermons. Selections Tillotson, John, 1630-1694. 1694 (1694) Wing T1260; ESTC R18444 149,531 355

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also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel c. And yet he tells us he was contented to forgoe all these advantages for Christ and the Christian Religion v. 7. But what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ And not onely these but if there were any thing else that men value in this world he was willing to hazard that also upon the same account v. 8. Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. In which words the Apostle declares the high esteem he had for the Christian Religion which he calls the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord the excellency whereof appear'd so great to him that he valued nothing in comparison of the advantages which he had by the knowledge of it My design at this time from this Text is to represent the excellency of this knowledge of the Christian Religion above that of any other Religion or Institution in the world And here I shall not consider the external evidence which we have of the truth of Christianity and of the Divinity of its doctrine in which respect it hath incomparably the advantage of any other Religion but onely the internal excellencies of the Doctrine it self abstracting from the Divine authority of it And that in these four respects First As it does more clearly reveal to us the nature of God which is the great foundation of all Religion Secondly As it give us a more certain and perfect Law for the government of our lives Thirdly As it propounds to us more powerfull Arguments to perswade men to the obedience of this Law Fourthly As it furnishes us with better motives and considerations to patience and contentedness under the evils and afflictions of this life Now these are the greatest advantages that any Religion can have To give men right apprehensions of God a perfect rule of good ●ife and efficacious arguments to perswade men to be good and patiently to bear the evils and sufferings of this life And these shall be the heads of my following discourse I. The Christian Religion doth more clearly reveal to us the nature of God than any Religion ever did And to have right apprehensions of God is the great foundation of all Religion For according as mens notions of God are such will their Religion be If men have gross and false conceptions of God their Religion will be absurd and superstitious If men fancy God to be an ill-natur'd Being arm'd with infinite power one that delights in the misery and ruine of his creatures and is ready to take all advantages against them they may fear him but they will bate him and they will be apt to be such towards one another as they fancy God to be towards them for all Religion doth naturally incline men to imitate him whom they worship Now the Christian Religion gives us a more perfect and a more lovely character of God than any Religion ever did It represents him to us as a pure spirit which the Heathens did not generally believe and that he is to be worship'd in such a manner as is most suitable to his spiritual nature which not onely the Heathens but even the Jews themselves were extremely mistaken about God is a spirit says our Saviour and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth It is true indeed God himself did command sacrifices to the Jews and all those external and troublesome observances of which their Religion did consist But then it is to be consider'd that he did not institute this way of Worship because it was most suitable to his own nature but because of the carnality of their hearts and the proneness of that people to Idolatry God did not prescribe these things because they were best but because the temper of that People would then admit of nothing better And this the Scripture gives us several intimations of Psal 51.16 Thou desirest not sacrifice thou delightest not in burnt-offerings saith David And elsewhere more expresly to this purpose I spake not unto your Fathers says God by the prophet Jeremiah nor commanded them in the day that I brought them forth out of the Land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices but this thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice A sufficient intimation that God did not primarily intend to appoint this way of worship and to impose it upon them as that which was most proper and agreeable to him but that he condescended to it as most accommodate to their present state and inclination And in this sense also some understand what God says to the same people by the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 20.25 that he gave them statutes that were not good And as the Christian Religion gives a more perfect so a more amiable and lovely character of the Divine nature No Religion that ever was in the world does so fully represent the goodness of God and his tender love to mankind which is the best and most powerfull argument to the love of God The Heathens did generally dread God and looked upon him as fierce and cruel and revengefull and therefore they endeavoured to appease him by the horrid and barbarous sacrifices of men and of their own children And all along in the Old Testament God is generally represented as very strict and severe But there are no where so plain and full declarations of his mercy and love to the sons of men as are made in the Gospel In the Old Testament God is usually styl'd the Lord of Hosts the great and the terrible God But in the New Testament he is represented to us by milder titles the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all consolations the God of all patience the God of love and peace nay he is said to be love it self and to dwell in love And this difference between the style of the Old and New Testament is so remarkable that one of the greatest Sects in the Primitive Church I mean that of the Gnosticks did upon this very ground found their heresie of two Gods the one evil and fierce and cruel whom they call'd the God of the Old Testament the other good and kind and mercifull whom they call'd the God of the New So great a difference is there between the representations which are made of God in the Books of the Jewish and the Christian Religion as to give at least some colour and pretence for an imagination of two Gods II. Christian Religion hath given us a more certain and perfect Law for the government of our lives It hath made our duty more plain and certain in many instances than either the Philosophy of the Heathen or the precepts of Moses had done It commands universal love and kindness and good
to the good order and more easie government of humane Society because they have a good influence both upon Magistrates and Subjects 1. Upon Magistrates Religion teacheth them to rule over men in the fear of God because though they be Gods on earth yet they are subjects of Heaven and accountable to Him who is higher than the highest in this world Religion in a Magistrate strengthens his authority because it procures veneration and gains a reputation to it And in all the affairs of this world so much reputation is really so much power We see that piety and Vertue where they are found among men of lower degree will command some reverence and respect But in persons of eminent place and dignity they are seated to a great advantage so as to cast a lustre upon their very Place and by a strong reflexion to double the beams of Majesty Whereas impiety and vice do strangely lessen greatness and do secretly and unavoidably derive some weakness upon authority it self Of this the Scripture gives us a remarkable instance in David For among other things which made the Sons of Zurviah too hard for him this probably was none of the least that they were particularly conscious to his crimes 2. Religion hath a good influence upon the People to make them obedient to Government and peaceable one towards another 1. To make them obedient to Government and conformable to Laws and that not onely for wrath and out of fear of the Magistrates power which is but a weak and loofe principle of obedience and will cease when ever men can rebel with safety and to advantage but out of Conscience which is a firm and constant and lasting principle and will hold a man fast when all other obligations will break He that hath entertain'd the true principles of Christianity is not to be tempted from his obedience and subjection by any worldly considerations because he believes that whatsoever resisteth authority resisteth the ordinance of God and that they who resist shall receive to themselves damnation 2. Religion tends to make men peaceable one towards another For it endeavours to plant all those qualities and dispositions in men which tend to peace and unity and to fill men with a spirit of universal love and good will It endeavours likewise to secure every man's interest by commanding the observation of that great rule of equity Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them by enjoyning that truth and fidelity be inviolably observed in all our words promises and contracts And in order hereunto it requires the extirpation of all those passions and vices which render men unsociable and troublesome to one another as pride covetousness and injustice hatred and revenge and cruelty and those likewise which are not so commonly reputed vices as self-conceit and peremptoriness in a man 's own opinion and all peevishness and incompliance of humour in things lawful and indifferent And that these are the proper effects of true piety the doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles every where teacheth us Now if this be the design of Religion to bring us to this temper thus to heal the natures of men and to sweeten their spirits to correct their passions and to mortifie all those lusts which are the causes of enmity and division then it is evident that in its own nature it tends to the peace and happiness of humane society and that if men would but live as Religion requires they should do the world would be a quiet habitation a most lovely and desirable place in comparison of what now it is And indeed the true reason why the societies of men are so full of tumult and disorder so troublesome and tempestuous is because there is so little of true Religion among men so that were it not for some small remainders of piety and vertue which are yet left scatter'd among mankind humane society would in a short space disband and run into confusion the earth would grow wild and become a great forest and mankind would become beasts of prey one towards another And if this discourse hold true surely then one would think that vertue should find it self a seat where-ever humane societies are and that Religion should be owned and encouraged in the world until men cease to be governed by reason II. I come to vindicate this truth from the insinuations and pretences of atheistical persons I shall mention two 1. That Government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God and a state of rewards and punishments after this life 2. That as for vertue and vice they are arbitrary things 1. That Government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God or a state of rewards and punishments after this life And this the Atheist does and must assert otherwise he is by his own confession a declared enemy to Government and unfit to live in humane society For answer to this I will not deny but that though the generality of men did not believe any superior Being nor any rewards and punishments after this life yet notwithstanding this there might be some kind of Government kept up in the world For supposing men to have reason the necessities of humane nature and the mischiefs of confusion would probably compel them into some kind of order But then I say withall that if these principles were banished out of the world Government would be far more difficult than now it is because it would want its firmest Basis and foundation there would be infinitely more disorders in the world if men were restrained from injustice and violence onely by humane laws and not by principles of conscience and the dread of another world Therefore Magistrates have always thought themselves concerned to cherish Religion and to maintain in the minds of men the belief of a God and another life Nay that common suggestion of atheistical persons that Religion was at first a politick device and is still kept up in the world as a State-engine to awe men into obedience is a clear acknowledgment of the usefulness of it to the ends of Government and does as fully contradict that pretence of theirs which I am now confuting as any thing that can be said 2. That vertue and vice are arbitrary things founded onely in the imaginations of men and in the constitutions and customs of the world but not in the nature of the things themselves and that that is vertue or vice good or evil which the Supream Authority of a Nation declares to be so And this is frequently and confidently asserted by the ingenious Author of a very bad Book I mean the Leviathan Now the proper way of answering any thing that is confidently asserted is to shew the contrary namely That there are some things that have a natural evil and deformity in them as perjury perfidiousness unrighteousness and ingratitude which are things not onely condemned by the positive laws and constitutions of