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A61622
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A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, March the 1st, 1690/1 by the Right Reverend Father in God Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester.
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Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing S5662; ESTC R15244
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15,915
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41
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Take heed to your selves saith Christ lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness These are somewhat hard words for that which our Age hath learnt to express in much softer terms of Eating and Drinking well Luxury seems a thing quite forgotten to be a Sin among those who are most guilty of it and Intemperance thought so uncertain a thing as though it were impossible to tell when Persons are guilty of it 'T is true that Temperance may vary as to the Degrees and Limits of it and we do not pretend to define it by Grains and Scruples But still there ought to be a Governing our Appetites according to Reason and that is Temperance But what is Reason in this Case Some send us to the Brutes to find out what Reason is and they tell us it lies in a plain simple Diet such as the Beasts use without provoking or raising the Appetite But I know not where God hath forbidden the Use of Art as to our Eating and Drinking and if this were so we must practise Temperance only in the Use of Water and Acorns If meer Satisfaction of Nature were the exact Rule of Temperance then eating or drinking any thing beyond it were a Sin which would fill the Minds of those who are afraid to sin with infinite Scruples and make all Feasting unlawfull Yet our Saviour was present at one in Cana of Galilee and did a Miracle relating to it But we need not run into Niceties in this matter For Intemperance is either an over-charging of Nature so as to make it to sink or totter under the load or it is a wanton humouring and pleasing the Appetit◠not for the Service of Nature but for the Pleasure of Eating and Drinking Or it is as S. Paul calls it making a God of their belly by Sacrificing their Time their Study their Estates in order to the filling and pleasing of it Any of these ways it is no Difficulty to understand what Intemperance is I wish it were as easie to avoid it 2. As to Righteousness Our Saviour hath given one Admirable Rule which all Persons agree to be of excellent Use in all Contracts and Transactions of Men with one another v. 31. And as ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them likewise Which is an Universal Rule of Justice and Equity if it be understood of what we would have others to do to us according to Reason and not according to the Partial Affection we are apt to have to our selves For this Rule is founded upon the second great Commandment as our Saviour calls it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self 3. As to Godliness He lays the Foundation of that upon the first and great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength We need not to question but where-ever there is such a Love of God as is here required there will be true Godliness in all the parts of it And where this is wanting all external Shews of Devotion want the true Life and Spirit of it For it is the Love of God which makes all our weak and imperfect Services to be acceptable to him and without it all our Prayers and our Fastings and all other Appearances of Devotion are empty and insipid Formalities Not but that the Acts themselves are Commendable but they are like a Body without a Soul dull and heavy or like the leaves of a Tree in Autumn which make a great noise in the Wind but are dry sapless and soon fall to the Ground But where the Love of God prevails it keeps up the Life and Order and Vigour of Devotion and preserves it from being tainted by hypocrisie or choaked by the love of this World or decaying from want of Constancy and Resolution Thus I have set before you some of the most remarkable Duties of Christianity not such as depend on the Opinions and Fancies of Men but such as our Blessed Saviour the great Law-giver of his Church hath made the necessary Conditions of our Salvation by him And what now can we say for our Selves We do call Christ Lord Lord or else we renounce our Baptismal Vow and all hopes of Salvation by him But can we say that we love God when we love what he hates viz. Sin Can we say we love him with all our Heart and Soul when our Hearts are so much divided between him and the Vanities of this World Can we say we love him with all our Might when our Love to God is apt to grow cold and remiss upon any apprehension of Difficulties Can we say that we love our Neighbour as our Selves when we despise and scorn him or over-reach and defraud him or oppress and ruin him If it go not so far are we as tender of his Reputation as of our own as unwilling to see him injured as ready to help him in his Necessities as we should desire it from others if we were in the same Circumstances If strict Sobriety and Temperance be the Duties of Christians where are those Vertues to be generally found I do not speak of particular Persons but I am afraid there is hardly such a thing left as a Sober Party among us What profane customary Swearing is every-where to be met with What Complaints are daily made of the Abounding of all sorts of Wickedness even to an open Scorn and Contempt not barely of Christianity but of any kind of Religion For many who have long denied the Power seem to be grown weary of the very Form of Godliness unless it serves some particular End and Design So that if we look abroad in the World we find little Regard shew'd to the Precepts of Christ and yet those who commit these things call Christ Lord Lord. What is the meaning of all this gross Hypocrisie Nothing would have been thought more Absurd or Ridiculous than for one who used no kind of Abstinence to be thought a Pythagorean or one that indulged his Passions a Stoick or one who eats Flesh and drinks Wine a Brachman or Banian It is really as much for any one to break the known and particular Precepts of Christ and yet desire to be thought a Christian. For a loose profane and debauched Christian is a Contradiction in Morality It is to be a Christian against Christ to call him Lord Lord and yet to defie his Laws and Authority A Star without Light a Guide without Eyes a Man without Reason a Sun with nothing but Spots are not more absurd Suppositions than a Christian without any Grace or Vertue But let us say what we will there are and will be such who will own Christ and call him Lord Lord and yet will not part with their sins for him There were Multitudes of such formerly who would lay down their Lives for the Ground he trod on and yet would not mortifie one Sin for his sake The Reason is still the same which our Saviour mentions they hope that calling him Lord Lord will make amends for all and yet it is not possible that fairer warning should be given to any than he hath given in this Case that let them pretend what they will he will say to them at the great Day Depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity O dreadfull Sentence Not to be mention'd without Horrour nor to be thought upon without Astonishment How miserable for ever miserable must their condition be whom Christ at that day shall bid to Depart from him What is this some will be apt to say but to put all Christians into utter Despair For who is there that can say that he hath done all that Christ hath said Truely we have a sufficient Ground for deep Humility and serious Repentance and timely Reformation But there is a great difference between the Failing of our Duty and the Works of Iniquity between the Infirmities of those who sincerely endeavour to do his Will and the Presumptuous Sins of those who despise it between Sins committed and heartily repented of and Sins habitually practised and continued in without any Marks of Amendment Such must go out of this World in a State of Sin and therefore can expect nothing but that dreadfull Sentence which I tremble at the very thoughts of Repeating But there are others who in the sincerity of their hearts have endeavour'd to do his Will and whose Sincerity will be so far accepted by him that he will say to them at that Day Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us through the Mediation of Christ Jesus our Lord. FINIS Lately Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard A Sermon Preached before the Queen at White-Hall Febr. 22. 1688 9. upon 1 Pet. 14. verse 18. A Sermon Preached before the King and Queen at White-Hall March the 23d 1689 90. upon Ecclesistiastes 11. verse 9. Christian Magnanimity A Sermon Preached in the Cathedral Church at Worcester at the Time of the Assizes September 21. 1690. upon 2 Tim. 1. verse 7. All three by the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester's Charge to the Clergy of his Diocese in his Primary Visitation begun at Worcester Septemb. 11. 1690. Quarto Matt. 7. 21. Luk. 13. 26. v. 27. Matt. 5. 5. Jam. 3. 13. Matt. 5. 22. v. 39. v. 40. v. 41. Luk. 12. 14 De Irâ l. 3. c. 8. Tusc. 3. 9. Exod. 21. 24. Levit. 24. 20. Deut. 19. 21. Gr. de I. B. P. l. 2. 1. 10. Luk. 6. 27 35. Luk. 6. 27. 33. 35. Jam. 1. 14. Matt. 5. 28. Matt. 5. 8. Matt. 5. 29. 30. Matt. 6. 15. Luk. 12. 22. Luke 12. 24. Job 38. 41. Psal. 147. 9. 1 Tim. 5. 8. Luke 12. 18 19. v. 20. Matt. 12. 36. v. 31. Matt. 5. 34 37. Luk. 21. 24 Phil. 3. 19. Matt. 22. 39. Matt. 22. 37. Matt. 7. 25. Luk. 13. 27. Matt. 25. 34.
as these there is no colour left for natural Right which supposes no determination by Laws I confess it requires a more than ordinary Degree of Christian Fortitude as well as Patience to be able to despise such a prevailing Custom But if Men hope to be saved by Christ they must observe his Commands and if they once declare that they are Resolved to do so in this particular if they do the same in all others it will be then thought to be Conscience and not Cowardice for them to decline a Challenge and that upon good Grounds they contemn such a Custom which no Good man could ever Approve nor any Wise man Defend 3. Love of Enemies This seems to be harder yet Is it not enough to bear them but must we love them too Yes Christ hath strictly required it But I say unto you Love your Enemies and again in this very Chapter But love your Enemies If he had bid Men love their Friends and take heed of their Enemies there are some Ages of the World wherein this had been no impertinent Advice But how can those be supposed to love their Enemies who hardly love any thing but themselves Self-Opinion Self-Will Self-Interest prevail over the far-greatest Part of Mankind I wish I could not say even among those who call Christ Lord Lord. But Self-Love as natural as it is must be artificially disguised for if it appears too openly it meets with so much Self-Love in others that it will not be easily born Therefore the most crafty Lovers of themselves if they design to have the Love of others must conceal their inward Passion For he that appears to set up himself is certain to make the rest of Mankind his Enemies for even those who would do the same will be the most displeased with those who do it Therefore the most certain way to Honour and universal Esteem is to mind the Good of others more than our own to be Just and Charitable and Kind to all and to oblige as many as we can without Partiality or Prejudice And this I say is that Love of Enemies which our Saviour requires which doth not suppose the same kind of Affection to them which we have to our Friends for that is grounded on mutual Love and Good-will to each other which if we suppose in Enemies we suppose a Contradiction for that is to suppose them not to be Enemies but Friends What then is it which our Saviour means It is certainly an Universal Charity or a Readiness of Mind to do Good to all although they have Personally provoked or Injured us And so Christ himself explains it by doing Good to our Enemies praying for them and relieving them in their Necessities and he proposes the best Example in the World for our imitation and that of God himself who maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust But none can suppose that the righteous and holy God can have the same Love or Kindness for the Evil which he hath for the Good or for the Unjust which he hath for the Just. So that this Precept which being misunderstood seems to be irreconcilable to human Nature contains in it nothing but what all Mankind approve in others as unwilling as they are to practise it themselves And now it is time to make a stand and to look about us for I have gone through our Saviour's Commands with Respect to the things which are apt to provoke us And where are those Christians to be found who do what Christ hath said herein who do yet every day call him Lord Lord If Peevishness and Frowardness perpetual Uneasiness and Discontent If Rancour and Bitterness Strife and Envying Faction and Animosity If Impatience of apprehended Injuries and the making of Enemies instead of loving them were the Marks of good Christians we should find Number enough even among those who pretend to Reformation We profess to thank God for a late great Deliverance from the hands of our Enemies I mean as to our Religion and truely there appears more and more Reason for it since it is so much more evident that the Design was no less than a total Subversion of our Religion But what a sad Requital is this for so great Mercies to break out into Factions and Parties instead of pursuing the common Interest of our Religion Instead of laying aside Differences about Religion to increase them nay to make Religion it self not only the Subject of their Quarrels but of their Scorn and Contempt What can be said or hoped for as to such a froward unthankfull Atheistical Generation of Men Thanks be to God there are not wanting some Extraordinary Examples of true Piety and Goodness among us and of Meekness Patience and Vniversal Charity and truely there needs a great deal to bear up against the daring and insolent Profaneness and Irreligion of others When I once see a true Spirit of Reformation prevail among us not meerly as to Doctrines but as to Mens Lives and Tempers when I see them more zealous for God and Religion than for the Interest of particular Parties when I see them really promoting Peace and Unity and not making a Pretence of it to serve private Ends I may then hope for a lasting Settlement of the true Religion among us But till then 2 I proceed to the second Head of our Saviour's Commands and that is as to such things which Tempt us S Iames saith Every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own Lust and inticed Lust is the ungoverned Desire of Sensual Pleasure Now as to this Christ hath laid so strict a Command as seems very hard for human Nature to observe For he not only forbids the Act of Adultery but the Tendencies to it viz. the Impurity of the inward Desires and of Looks and Glances and makes these to be Adultery in the Heart What is that For Adultery is an outward deliberate Act and hath Injustice as well as Vncleanness in it But Desires and Looks are sudden and transient things which may leave no permanent Effect behind them However our Saviour to shew how much God abhorrs Impurity who sees into the Secret Thoughts and Intentions of the Heart declares that the unmortified Desires and inward Lusts are very displeasing to God And therefore that those who hope to see God must be Pure in heart Which as it implies a sincere Endeavour to Suppress all inward Motions which are contrary to it is both a Reasonable and Necessary Duty But the hardest part of Christ's Commands in this matter is that which requires us to pluck out right eyes and to cut off right hands Must the blind and the lame only go to Heaven But he speaks of such sinfull Inclinations in us which seem as delightfull and usefull to us as to the Pleasures of Life as a right Eye or a right Hand yet we must part with them