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A32091
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A practical discourse concerning vows with a special reference to baptism and the Lord's Supper / by Edmund Calamy.
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Calamy, Edmund, 1671-1732.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing C274; ESTC R6151
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137,460
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320
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Vows upon Vows without any serious sense of their force and without any real hearty endeavours to answer and pay them MANY there are alas too too many who were Solemnly Dedicated to God by Baptism in their Infancy who own'd the Obligation of their Baptismal Vow when they came to Age and afterwards went to renew it at the Lords Table where they have again and again repeated it engaging to Live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in imitation of their Redeemers Example under his strict Discipline agreeable to his Laws and under the conduct of his Spirit and so are bound by many and strong Sacred Tyes and yet all this while they have no serious suitable sense of their Force They heap Vows upon Vows to be the Lords without ever heartily and in earnest endeavouring to answer and pay them nay the stated course and tenour of their Lives is oppoposite and contrary to them So far are they from the Psalmists temper and practice who seriously and solemnly looking up to God Heartily owns that his Vows are upon him that they wilfully break all Bonds and snap the strongest ties asunder that they may have scope for their Lusts and without controul live as they list The Unhappiness of such Persons case deserves to be consider'd THE Apostle speaks of some that are Hearers of the Word and not Doers whom he likens to Men beholding their natural face in a glass who behold themselves and go their way and straitway forget what manner of men they were They 'll give the word of God whereby both their Tempers and Lives ought to be Regulated the Hearing but never mind it afterwards I doubt such Hearers are very numerous amongst us at this day otherwise we should certainly see otherguess effects of so many Serious Awakening and Useful Sermons as are time after time deliver'd in the Publick Assemblies And I as little doubt that there are many who go Sacrament after Sacrament reaking in their Lusts to renew their Engagements to be the Lords over the Sacred Emblems of his Body and Blood and then and there make fair Promises of denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts of living as becomes the Gospel and leading mortify'd holy heavenly Lives who go their way and are no sooner come into the World again but they presently forget what they have seen and what they have done and what sort of Bonds they are under what manner of Persons they ought to be and what they have engag'd they would be I would willingly give such Persons who upon serious Reflection and searching their own Consciences find themselves herein too justly chargeable matter for their sober thoughts to work upon that so if it be possible they may be awaken'd out of their secure and dangerous Estate I know very well that there are some in the World who while their thoughts and Opinions of others run very low have so high Conceit of themselves and those of their own way as to take all for real Saints that are in Communion with them And therefore they continually speak of them and to them and in all respects deal with them as if they were wholly such and free from all mixtures on which account they cann't bear being dealt with on the Supposition which I now take for my Foundation All that I shall say is I wish their Actions would shew them to be such as they take it for granted that they are But when all 's done let Persons pretend to what Purity they will above their Neighbours and let there be never such care taken while the Church is on Earth there will be Tares among the Wheat the Gold will have a mixture of Dross there will be some of the Devil's Servants wearing Christ's Livery there will be some that make so splendid a Profession that none can justly debar them from Eating and Drinking in our Lord's Presence and at his Table whom yet He at the last Day will publickly disown and cause to depart from him as Workers of Iniquity and wilful Violaters of the Vows they came under to him as appears from Luke XIII 26 27. But tho' such Persons may and often do creep into the purest Communions without any ground at all for a Charge of Negligence on the part of those to whose Inspection God hath subjected these matters by reason 't is not in their power to know Mens Hearts and tho' they may continue Church-Members and in reputation too for Piety through their deceitful Wiles and Artifices while they keep their Viees out of the reach of Publick Observation yet so long as they live in wilful and allow'd Breaches of their Christian their Sacramental Vows and persist in violating the sacred Engagements they time after time Renew at the Lords Table their Case is inconceivably dreadful Which must needs appear if the Aggravated Guilt which they contract and the Proportionable Danger they incur be but duly Considered Both which I 'll a little open and unfold 1. LET us consider the Aggravated Guilt which those Persons contract who are under many Vows to God but mind them not who professedly give up themselves to their Saviour Month after Month at his Table and engage to live like his Disciples and Followers but falsifie their Professions and break their Engagements by the Carelesness Irregularities Wickedness and allow'd Disorders of their Lives The following Particulars will give a sufficient view of such Persons Guilt 1. THEY stand chargeable with the utmost height of Profaneness 'T is an abominable thing to see to how high a contempt of all that 's Sacred some that are the profest Enemies of Religion arrive but in reality 't is not comparable to that of those who pretend to be its Votaries and great Admirers who yet live oppositely to the Rules and Laws of it All Profaneness is very provoking to the blessed God by reason of the unworthy and dishonourable Reflections it casts upon him but none so much as that which is cover'd with glozing Hypocrisie Which being the case here carries the Profaneness of the Person concern'd to the highest pitch For 1. Heaven and Earth God Angels and Men are often call'd to witness to that Transaction which is of it self of the greatest importance but is by such Persons hartlesly manag'd and little minded They pretend frequently to come in the Fervours of Devotion to Commemorate their Dying Lord to recollect their Obligations to him and feast on the Tokens of his never-to-be-forgotten Love to own themselves Redeem'd by him from Misery and Ruine and to give up themselves to him as his purchas'd ones They pretend through him to strike Covenant with their offended God and Father that is in Heaven having the Memorials of that Sacrifice that alone hath Vertue to procure them Acceptance in their View in their Hands and in their Mouths They pretend to lay their Hands upon their Hearts and their Faces in the Dust humbling themselves for past Offences Renouncing for the future all even their most