Dr. CONANT's SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions IMPRIMATUR Geo. Royse R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domest Mart. 14. 1692 3. SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions By JOHN CONANT D. D. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard and at the Three Leggs in the Poultrey over-against Stocks-Market MDCXCIII TO THE INHABITANTS OF NORTHAMPTON AND More especially to those of the Parish of All-Saints there Christian Friends and Neighbours THough my great Age and the Infirmities attending it have lately constrained me to quit my relation to you yet I still account my self obliged to endeavour to promote your spiritual welfare what I may In order whereunto I here lay before you some few of those plain and practical Sermons which I formerly preached unto you hoping that they may take better effect than when you heard them from the Pulpit which that they may so do is the unfeigned desire and earnest Prayer of Your truly loving Friend and Servant JOHN CONANT THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER IT may be expected by those that knew the Reverend Author of these Sermons and the publick Station he was in for several years in the University of Oxford as Divinity Professor there that he should have gratified the World with another sort of Work I mean his Lectures which he there read and were composed with great Learning Accuracy and Judgment But that it seems is not so agreeable to his native modesty who chuses rather to live and die in a kind of obscurity than be set as a city upon an hill and values himself more upon the relation he had to a Parochial Cure and the Capacity he was in of doing good to the Souls of men than of being in one of the most publick Stations in the Church And in which since by the privation of his Sight and other Infirmities of Age he has been no longer able to serve he thought by publishing some Practical Discourses preach'd in that Auditory he might though he be in a sense dead yet speak and be useful among them The Discourses are such as he usually composed plain and practical and suited to the meanest Capacity And if there be any thing that is not of that nature as there is very little and which the Author had he had the last perusal would have revised the Error is to be imputed to the Publisher to whose care and choice they were committed The Discourses sometimes are large and comprehend several Sermons though under the title of one but it was not well to be prevented and which the Reader however may well dispence with The Two last Sermons are Occasional but the occasion such as will render them profitable to all John Williams THE CONTENTS SERMON I. JOHN III. 19 20. AND this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Pag. 1. PART II. Verse 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the light pag. 25. SERMON II. JER XIII 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil pag. 59. SERMON III. EPHES. V. 15 16. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil pag. 89. SERMON IV. 3 Ep. JOH Ver. 3. Beloved thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers pag. 183. SERMON V. PROV XXII 2. The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all pag. 219. SERMON VI. 2 CHRON. XXXIII 10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humhled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers And prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God pag. 257. SERMON VII 2 CHRON. XXXIII 10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and his people but they would not hearken c. pag. 337. SERMON VIII LAM III. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. pag. 403. SERMON IX LAM III. 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. pag. 463. SERMON X. EZRA IX 13 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such a deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping SERMON XI HAG. II. 6 7 8 9. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts The First Sermon JOHN III. 19 20. And this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved I May take it for granted That by light here we are to understand the light of the Gospel And yet hereby Christ is not excluded who is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light in the seventh and eighth Verses of the first Chapter of this Evangelist and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true light v. 9. Both these lights may well go together Christ the Sun of ousness and the Gospel the Rayes which he sends forth to enlighten the dark World Besides as Christ conveyeth to us the Gospel so the Gospel conveyeth Christ unto us and offers him unto the World in both which respects it's called the Gospel of Christ Gal. 1.7 Gal. 1.7 he being as the Author so the principal subject of it Now both these Lights are come into the World Christ by his Incarnation and together with
him the Gospel i. e. a more full and clear discovery of the way of Salvation by Christ than before That the light in both senses is come into the World and finds no better reception This is The condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgment according to the proper acception of the word but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgment for Condemnation by an usual Synechdoche and so our Translators have rendered it looking rather at the sense than at the immediate propriety of the word Again This is The condemnation that is by a Metonymy the cause of condemnation that which deserves meritoriously procures and brings on condemnation Lastly This is The condemnation not solely and exclusively as to all other things but in the sense that shall be afterwards mentioned when I come to speak to that particular The words of my Text not to spend time in any unnecessary Preface to what I have to say we may conveniently resolve into these four Propositions 1. That light is come into the world 2. That men love darkness rather than light 3. That the reason why men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil 4. That this is the condemnation that though light be come into the world yet men love darkness rather than light Passing by the three former the last of these Propositions is that which I intend at present to insist on as being the chief thing intended in this portion of holy Scripture Concerning the sense of which Proposition a few words will be necessary to be premised before I proceed to lay down the grounds thereof This is The condemnation not solely and exclusively as to all other things as if nothing else could condemn a man but signally and emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great meritorious cause of the severest punishment I say the rejection of the light of the Gospel or not giving it due entertainment is not the only thing that condemns men For 1. Those Heathens unto whom the light of the Scriptures never came shall not therefore be exempted from punishment The Apostle hath taught us That as many as have sinned without the law Rom. 2.12 shall also perish without the law Their sins against their natural light and the Law of Nature written in their hearts shall condemn them there shall be no need of calling in the assistance of the Law externally promulged and written in Tables of Stone much less of the Gospel to give evidence against them 'T is true if the Gospel were never offered them and they shut up under a moral impossibility of being acquainted with it we cannot apprehend how their not believing should be charged upon them as their sin Aquinas hath rightly stated this matter 22dae Quaest 10. Artic. 1. Si infidelitas sumatur secundum negationem puram si cut in illis qui nihil audiverunt de fide non habet rationem peccati pure negative infidelity or a meer not believing in those who never heard any thing of the Gospel hath not the nature of sin And this was likewise St. Austin's judgment as appears by the Exposition he gives of the words of our Saviour John 15.22 If I had not come unto them they had had no sin Loquitur de peccato quo non crediderunt in Christum Our Saviour speaketh saith he of the sin of not believing in Christ Though they had been guilty of many other sins yet their not believing had not been imputed to them And the reason hereof is evident because they had never a power in Adam of believing that which was never made known unto them there being a simple incompossibility and repugnancy in the nature of the thing that a man should by faith assent to and embrace that which he was never in the least acquainted with which was never as much as propounded to him to be the object of his faith How shall we believe on him of whom we have not heard Rom. 10.14 'T is a question that cannot be answered Adam himself with all that strength which he received from God could not have done it and therefore neither can that be required of his Posterity which he himself never received 2. As for such as have the Gospel published to them and finally persevere in unbelief neither is their unbelief the only sin for which they are condemn'd What sober man can think that one sin can expunge another that mens unbelief should take off and extinguish the guilt of all their other sins so as none of them should at all come under consideration when Christ pronounceth the condemnatory Sentence They who should entertain so wild a phansy must have forgotten the form of the Proceedings at the last day as Christ himself hath described it Matth. 25. where express mention is made of other sins as the ground of the Sentence to be then pronounced Yet I deny not but that in a limited sense wicked men living under the light of the Gospel may be said to be condemned only for their unbelief because if they had believed none of their other sins should have condemned them But now they not believing the guilt of all their other sins against the Law abideth on them and besides there is an addition of further guilt by their great sin against the Gospel and this their sin against the Gospel is that which presseth them most heavily and hath the sorest influence upon the final Sentence for the inflaming and heightening of it So then these things being thus premised we have the sense of the Proposition before us This is The condemnation the matter and meritorious cause of the most sore and dreadful condemnation that light being come into the world the Gospel being published and Christ in the Gospel being tendered to the Sons of men they slight and refuse this light preferring darkness before it and chusing rather to continue in their sins though it cost them dear than to embrace Christ to their everlasting bliss and happiness Now the grounds of the Proposition together with the equity of that severity which it imports will further appear unto us if we take into consideration these ensuing particulars 1. 'T is light that is refused and refused with an affront put upon it darkness being preferred before it Now in this alone there are several things which do not a little aggravate a man's sin and by consequence heighten his punishment 1. When a man goes on against light there is more of the formality of sin than where light is wanting There is a direct and plain opposition against the Rule an intentional 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or irregularity whereas in case of ignorance the Rule indeed was violated materially but not formally and wittingly as such Our Saviour lays much stress upon this for the greatning of a man's sin Joh. 9.41 If ye were blind ye should have no sin that is none in comparison of what now you have
upon them how great a Mercy then is it and ought it to be acknowledged if God be pleased to give any Man a soft and tender Heart an humble and teachable Spirit if there be a Willingness to attend to wholsom Counsels a Willingness to be instructed to be admonished and when need is to be reproved if God be pleased so to frame a Man's Heart and so to break and take down his Spirit as that he can take Admonitions and Reproofs in good part as that he can receive them patiently and thankfully as that he can say with David Psal 141.5 Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a Kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oil which shall not break my Head 'T is certainly matter of great Thankfulness if God be pleased to give any Man such a Frame of Heart such a Temper of Spirit If it be thus with you if Counsels Admonitions and Reproofs upon just Occasions are welcome and acceptable to you if you cannot only submit to them patiently but gladly and thankfully entertain them and bless God for them Consider God might have given you up to as great a measure of Obstinacy and Perverseness as that of the most obdurate and refractory Person in the World that scorns to be admonished that hates Instruction and is ready to fly in the Face of any Man that shall reprove him Your Spirit might have risen and tumultuated within you as impetuously your Corruption might have boiled up and run over as violently against any Man that should endeavour to make you sensible of your Sin as his that is most impatient of Reproof or of whatever else might conduce to the Good of his Soul Say therefore to your self Who maketh thee to differ from another Hast thou not the same natural Corruption that the very worst the most obstinate Sinners have And who is it that restrains that Corruption in thee and keeps it from breaking out in the most fierce and violent Opposition against Reproof and Christian Admonition but he that hath placed the Sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual Decree that it cannot pass it and though the Waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar Jer. 5.22 yet can they not pass over it as the Prophet speaks Vse 3. If wicked Men that have long gone on in a Course of Sin may come at length to that degree of Obstinacy and hardness of Heart as that no Admonitions or Reproofs no Calls or Invitations to Repentance no Warnings of approaching Judgments will work upon them then let all impenitent Sinners take heed how they still persevere in their evil Ways lest by degrees they come to this woful Estate that nothing that can be said to them will move them at all or do them any Good will rouze them up or awaken them to Repentance This is a most lamentable Condition a most fearful Estate an Estate to be trembled at And yet in this fearful Estate will your Perseverance in your evil Ways at length end Wherefore let me intreat you to endeavour to break off your Sins by Righteousness as Daniel counselled Nebuchadnezzar to do Dan. 4.27 to break off your Sins speedily while there is any sense of Sin any little Tenderness of Conscience yet remaining before your Heart be so hardned as that you be past feeling before your Conscience comes to be seared as with an hot Iron 2 Tim. 4.2 as the Apostle speaks before you be given up to a reprobate Mind Rom. 1.28 as again the same Apostle speaks Now to the end we may never be thus given up let us endeavour to be always ready and willing to hear whatsoever God shall be pleased to speak whoever be the Instruments by whom he speaks to us Let us endeavour to have both our Ears and our Hearts open to take in and receive whatsoever Counsels Admonitions Reproofs or Warnings shall be given us from him And here let us consider 1. That 't is a thing most pleasing and acceptable to God when a Man is not regardless of what he speaks but seriously minds it takes it to Heart and is affected with it To this Man will I look Isa 66.2 saith he even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and that trembleth at my Word A most remarkable Instance of the gracious Respect that God hath to this Frame of Spirit is that which is recorded in 2 Kings 22. There we find that when Shaphan the Scribe had read the Book of the Law that had been found in the House of the Lord before Josiah the King and all the Curses and Threatnings contained therein as we may suppose Josiah took it so to Heart that he rent his Clothes and sent immediately to enquire of the Lord for himself for the People and for all Judah concerning the Words of the Book For said he Ver. 11 12 13. great is the Wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our Fathers have not hearkned to the Words of this Book to do according to all that is written therein concerning us So deeply was Josiah affected with what God had threatned against that People for their Sins But now how did God take it at his Hands that he was thus affected This you may see in the Answer which Huldah the Prophetess of whom he enquired returned him at ver 18 19 20. where she having assured that People that whatsoever Evils God had threatned should certainly come upon them she adds with reference to Josiah a very gracious Answer from the Lord But to the King of Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord thus shall ye say to him saith she Thus saith the Lord God of Israel As touching the VVords which thou hast heard because thine Heart was tender and thou hast humbled thy self before the Lord when thou heardest what I spake against this Place and against the Inhabitants thereof that they should become a Desolation and a Curse and hast rent thy Clothes and wept before me I also have heard thee saith the Lord Behold therefore I will gather thee unto thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy Grave in Peace and thine Eyes shall not see all the Evil which I will bring upon this Place 2. Consider that to stop a Man's Ears and to harden a Man's Heart against such Counsels Admonitions and Warnings as God is pleased to give him is a thing highly displeasing to him as from the Scriptures afore-cited appears I now go on to the third Particular in my Text the Course which God was further pleased to take with Manasseh in order to his reclaiming when gracious Calls and Invitations to Repentance and Warnings of approaching Judgments would not prevail The Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the Thorns and bound him with Fetters and carried him to Babylon Whence we may observe