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A59549 Fifteen sermons preach'd on several occasions the last of which was never before printed / by ... John, Lord Arch-Bishop of York ... Sharp, John, 1645-1714. 1700 (1700) Wing S2977; ESTC R4705 231,778 520

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just to the same effect and with them I shall conclude The first is that of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews where having spoken most severe things and denounced no less than Hell fire against the false Brethren among them yet thus he comforts the Church to whom he writes Heb. 6.9 But beloved saith he we are persuaded better things of you and things that do accompany Salvation though we thus speak And what I pray is the reason he is thus persuaded Verily this ver 11. for God saith he is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which you have shewed to his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and yet do minister It was purely their Charity to the Brethren that made him have these good hopes of them that they were in a state of Salvation Though that Church as to other things was in a very degenerate condition yet considering they had been laborious and diligent in the exercise of Charity and still continued so to be God would not forget them nay he was not so unrighteous as to forget them And then that which follows in the next verse is very observable verse 11. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to wit in the practice of Charity to the full assurance of hope unto the end If they would have their hopes of a future life assured to them the way to do it was to persevere in their diligent attendence to works of Mercy and Kindness and Charity The second passage is that of St. John Hereby saith he perceive we the love of God towards us 1 John 3. 16. c. because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren But whoso hath this World's good and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him My little Children let us not love in word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth and hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him I pray mind that by our charitable disposition and doing good to our Brethren by this we know we are true Disciples of Jesus Christ and this is that that will assure our hearts will give us confidence to appear before God at the last day when he comes to judge the World And this is a point that the Apostle thinks so considerable that he goes over with it again in the next verse Beloved if our hearts condemn us not i. e. condemn us not as to this point of Love and Charity then have we confidence towards God and whatsoever we ask we shall receive of him because we do those things that are pleasing in his sight The last Text to this purpose that I defire may be taken notice of is that of St. Peter Above all things my Brethren 1 Pet. 4.8 have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover the multitude of sins O how comfortable are these words there is none of us even the best but hath a multitude of sins to answer for by what means now must we obtain that these sins shall be covered that is shall be forgiven Psal 33.1 for covering of sins is the forgiveness of them in the Scripture-language Why the Apostle hath directed us to the method above all things put on Charity for it is Charity that shall cover the multitude of sins Charity is of that power with God that it alone is able to overcome the malignity of many of our sins and frailties that would otherwise do us mischief If any thing can make atonement for the carelesness and the many failings of our lives and prevent the punishment that is due to them it is to be very charitable and to do much good Charity covers a multitude of sins in this life A great many temporal judgments that would otherwise have fallen upon us for our sins are hereby prevented and that not only private ones but publick too And I think it no Popery to affirm that Charity will cover a multitude of sins in the other life also That is whoever is of a truly charitable disposition and doth a great deal of good in his generation though he may have a great many infirmities and miscarriages to answer for yet if he be sincerely vertuous in the main and so capable of the rewards of the other world his other failings will be overlooked they will be buried in his good deeds and the Man shall be rewarded notwithstanding Or if he be a vitious person and so must of necessity fall short of the glory that shall be revealed yet still in proportion the good he hath done in his life will cover the multitude of sins Though it will not be available for the making him happy because he is not capable of being so yet it will be for the lessening his punishment He shall be in a much more supportable condition among the miserable than those that have been unmerciful or cruel or uncharitable in their lives O therefore what remains but that considering all these things we should be stedfast 1 Cor. 25.18 unmoveable always abounding in these works of the Lord for as much as we know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 2 Pet. 1.5 c. Giving all diligence to add to Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity verse 1● By our good works making our calling and election sure so some Copies have the 10th verse of 1 Pet. 1. that doing these things we may never fall but an entrance may be ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ SERMON V. PREACHED AT BOW-CHURCH On the 29th of September 1680. Psalm cxij. 4. To the Vpright there ariseth Light in the Darkness GOdliness saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 4.8 hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come Of this Proposition of his the Psalm we have now before us may seem to be an Explication or Paraphrase For in this Psalm Two things are designed a description of the Pious Man and a description of his Blessedness in this Life each of which is done in five instances or particulars The terms wherein the Pious Man is here discrib'd are these following First He is one that Feareth God and greatly delighteth in his Commandments v. 1. Secondly He is one that is Righteous and Vpright in his Conversation ver 4. and 6. Thirdly He is one that is Prudent and Discreet in the managing of his Affairs verse 5. He guideth his affairs with discretion Fourthly He it one whose Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord v. 7. Lastly He is one that is extreamly Charitable He is gracious and full of Compassion
but by every courtesie that he doth to another He doth good by shewing his respect and good-will to all about him by reconciling differences among neighbours and promoting peace friendship and society as much as he can by being Generous and Liberal and Hospitable according to his ability by forgiving injuries and if it be possible making friends of those that did them by being easie of access and sweet and obliging in his carriage by complying with the infirmities of those he converseth with and in a word by contributing any way to make the lives of others more easie and comfortable to them Thirdly A man also doth good when he makes use of that acquaintance or friendship or interest that he hath with others to stir them up to the doing of that good which he by the narrowness of his condition or for want of Opportunity cannot do himself This is a very considerable instance of doing good how slight soever it may seem the man that exercises himself this way is doubly a benefactor for he is not only an instrument of good to the person or persons for whom he beg'd the kindness or the charity but he does also a real kindness to the man himself whom he puts upon the benefaction for God will not less reward his Good-will for being excited by another Fourthly Another way to do good is to be careful and diligent and conscientious in the discharge of all those Publick Offices which we are called upon to excecute in the place where we live How burthensome soever these be and how much soever of our time they rob us of yet God by calling us to them hath put a prize into our hands as the Wise man speaks to do much good if we have hearts to make use thereof Fifthly We do good when being in a private Capacity we so carry our selves in all the Relations in which we stand as the nature of the Relation requireth As for instance when being Subjects we conscientiously obey the Laws of the Kingdom and submit to our Governours and promote what we can the publick Peace both of Church and State When being Masters of Families we take care of those under our Charge making sufficient provision both for their Souls and Bodies When being Husbands or Wives we discharge faithfully all the Conjugal duties When being Parents we love our Children and bring them up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. When being Children we obey our Parents in all things When being Servants we do our work in singleness of heart not as men-pleasers but as those that account they have a Master in Heaven When having contracted friendships we are secret and faithful and prudent in the maintaining and preserving of them and so proportionably in all the other relations that we stand in All these things though they appear little yet are they in their degree a real good and benefit to Mankind and so necessary that there is no living tolerably without them Sixthly We also do good by an honest and a diligent pursuit of our calling and employment There is no Art or Trade that we are bred to but if it be a lawful one it may be of great use to the publick and by well minding it and fairly managing it we may render our selves very profitable members of the Common-wealth Seventhly and Lastly We may do a great deal of good by our good Examples by being to others Patterns of Piety and Prudence of Diligence and Industry of Peaceableness and Loyalty of Humility and Meekness and Temperance In a word every man that will make himself Eminent in any Vertue will be a Light to the World his life will be a constant Sermon and he will often prove as effectual a Benefactor to those about him by his Example as others are by their Counsels and Exhortations And now all these things considered who is there among us in such deplorable Circumstances that he can reasonably pretend to want ability or opportunity to do good in his life Sure I am he must live in a desert and have no Communication with mankind that cannot some or other of these ways be useful and beneficial to them And thus much of our Second Head of Discourse I now come in the Third and Last place to make some Application of what hath been spoken And First Since every man is so highly concern'd as we have seen to do Good in his life let us all be persuaded seriously and heartily to apply our Minds hereunto Let us look upon it not as a by-work a thing to be done now and then as there is occasion after our own turns are served But let us lay out our selves upon it let us propose it to our selves as the great Business of our lives Let us take all opportunities for it let us contrive and manage all our affairs so that they may some way or other be subservient to the carrying on this great work Let this be the end of our gathering riches and the measure of our expending them To heap up riches that we may be rich or to throw them away upon our lusts are both equally intolerable it is the doing good with them that sanctifies both the getting and the spending them Let this be the compass to steer and direct us in our pursuit after knowledge in our learning Arts and Sciences in the managery of our Trades and employments in a word in the choice and in the prosecution of every design that is proposed to us In all these things the great enquiry is to be what Good will they tend to How shall we be rendred more useful to the world if our designs and endavours as to these matters do take effect Let this be the great rule by which we proceed in the Education of our Children and Relations and the provisions we make for them in the world Let it be our first care to possess them with a deep sense of the duty they owe to the Publick and to furnish them with such qualities as will render them profitable Members of it and to put them into such professions and employments as may afford them fair scope for the exercise of those qualities If we thus provide for them though we otherwise leave them never so small an Estate yet with the Blessing of God they have a good Portion Lastly let this design of doing good influence our very Offices of Religion When we make our applications to the Throne of Grace let us be sure to have the Publick always in mind and even when we pray for our selves let it be with this design and resolution that as God in mercy bestows upon us the Blessings and the Grace we pray for we will employ them for the good of others O that we would thus seriously concern our selves in doing good O that we would once lay aside all our little selfish designs and that narrowness and penuriousness of Spirit with which most of us are bound up and with