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A40077
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A discourse of offences delivered in two sermons Aug. 19, and Sept. 2, 1683 in the Cathedral church of Gloucester / by Edward Fowler.
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Fowler, Edward, 1632-1714.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing F1702; ESTC R6859
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22,108
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40
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Repair the injury we have done to Religion and to the Souls of men by whatsoever Offences we have occasioned And that we may so doe it will be necessary to consider the Several Ways whereby Offence may be taken that so we may avoid it in those instances And if we are Conscious to our selves of having been guilty in any of them we may Repent and Reform for the Future Here begins the second Sermon I. One way of Offending is the Drawing of our Brethren into Erroneous Opinions I mean such as have an ill influence upon mens Lives and Natures I don't mean such as are merely not true for there being divers points relating to Religion so disputable as that no man can certainly tell whether he be not mistaken in them if I should make him guilty of this sin of Offending who happens to lead his Brother into any false Notion I should be forced to assert that a man may be guilty of giving Offence and not be able to know he is so But it is not to be imagined that a Sin which hath so great a Woe attending it as this in the Text can possibly be a Sin of Unavoidable infirmity or invincible Ignorance So that I say by Erroneous Opinions I mean such as are apt in their own nature to lead men into Sin to make men irreligious or to encourage to any particular Sin or to the neglect of any necessary Duty And all such we are certain are erroneous and contrary to the true sense and meaning of God's word because they have such a tendency I will give a few instances of such false and corrupt Principles viz. That God is the Author of Sin That he not onely foreknows all the sins of men but hath also decreed them Which in other words is the same with the former That all mens Fates are determined absolutely that is without respect to their future obedience or disobedience That 't is lawfull to doe evil that good may come That Good works are not necessary to Salvation That the Covenant of Grace is Vnconditional That Religion is a mere passive thing not our work at all but wholly God's in us That mere Attrition or Sorrow for sin for fear of Hell is able to bring a Sinner to justification if accompanied with the Sacrament of Penance Which is a Doctrine plainly delivered in the Council of Trent All these to which I might add abundance more of like nature wherewith mens minds have been corrupted do manifestly encourage to a careless loose and irreligious Life And to these I might add instances of such Principles as encourage to certain particular Sins of Commission and Omission In the number of which are all those Popish ones that lead to Idolatry of divers kinds that encourage Rebellion and Treasonable practices with which latter too many corrupt and spurious Protestants have declared themselves to be infected to the great scandal of our holy Religion as hath already been observed Who while they profess to abhorr Popery have been found to be the genuine Off-spring of the Iesuite Of this Rank are also those Doctrines both Popish and Fanatical that tend to make men Fierce and Bitter Proud and Selfish that destroy Charity and spoil mens tempers Now those that propagate any such Principles as either directly or by manifest and plain consequence tend to make the Embracers of them irreligious or that encourage to any particular sins are great Offenders of their Brethren Nor are there any greater destroyers of Souls than Corrupters and Debauchers of mens Vnderstandings nor any so great The Apostle St. Paul charged Timothy to beware of being found in the number of these 2 Ep. 2. ch 15 16 17. Study to shew thy self approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth But shun prophane and vain bablings the wretched Doctrines of Seducers for they will encrease unto more ungodliness or greatly encouage wickedness And their words will eat as doth a Canker of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus who concerning the truth have erred saying that the Resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some And whosoever they be that are guilty of this kind of Offences that are guilty of causing men to sin by corrupting their judgments may till they become true Penitents look upon themselves as greatly concerned in those words of our Saviour Matt. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so shall teach men to evacuate and destroy the force of any one Commandment of the Moral Law he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven Or as Dr. Hammond interprets it He shall be thought unworthy of having his name written in the Catalogue of Christians here or of Saints hereafter But before I conclude the Argument I am now upon I think my self obliged to add that I would not for a World have had a hand in possessing mens minds with those Principles which have administred to our Lamentable and most Unchristian Divisions and while they are entertained will make all endeavours for the Healing of them ineffectual viz. such as these That National Churches are no Churches of Christ. That the Government of the Church by Bishops is Antichristian That Liturgies or Set Forms of Prayer are a Stinting of the Spirit and therefore 't is unlawfull to join in them That nothing is to be done in the Worship of God but what is expresly commanded That indifferent things when they come once to be Commanded become sinfull and the Commanding of them is a violation of our Christian Liberty That Infant Baptism is no Baptism and consequently those that have no other are no Church Members and therefore not to be Communicated withall That it is Lawfull and a Duty to Separate from a Church upon the account of Promiscuous Congregations and Mixt Communions That there is no such tie between Ministers and their People but that the People may cast them off whensoever they think they can Edifie more by any other And are obliged to betake themselves to those by whom they think they can most Edifie That an inward Call that is a strong impulse of Phancy is a sufficient warrant to any man to be a Publique Preacher I say I would not for a World have had a hand in the Propagating of these and many the like Notions which of late years have strangely prevailed among us For as they have no warrant or Countenance from Scripture so have they been woefully mischievous to the Church of God and to this our Church They are good for nothing but to cause Schisms and Factions but to destroy all good Order and bring in Confusion as we too well know by sad Experience And by this means they have done our Common Adversary mighty Service and the Souls of men infinite prejudice And I earnestly desire that those who are or have been promoters of such Principles may be before it be too late