there in the World that think they have made very sure of Heaven not by the old plain way of leaving their sins and reforming their lives but by a more close and cunning way of carrying their Vices along with them into another Church and calling themselves good Catboliques and all others Heretiques And that having done this they are in a safe condition as if a mere Name would admit a man into Heaven or as if there were any Church in the World that had this phantastical Privilege belonging to it that a wicked man might be saved for no other reason but because he is of it Therefore as thou valuest thy Soul take heed of engaging in any Faction in Religion because it is an hundred to one but thy zeal will be so employed about lesser things that the main and substantial parts of Religion will be neglected Besides that a man deeply engag'd in heats and controversies of this nature shall very hardly escape being possess'd with that Spirit of uncharitableness and contention of peevishness and fierceness which reigns in all Factions but more especially in those of Rellgion V. The due care of our Souls consists in the even and constant practice of the several Graces and Vertues of a good life or as the Apostle expresseth it in exercising our selves always to have a conscience void of offence towards God and men For herein is Religion best seen in the equal and uniform practice of every part of our Duty Not onely in serving God devoutly but in demeaning our selves peaceably and justly kindly and charitably towards all men Not onely in restraining our selves from the outward act of sin but in mortifying the inward inclination to it in subduing our Lusts and governing our Passions and bridling our Tongues As he that would have a prudent care of his health and life must not onely guard himself against the chief and common diseases which are incident to men and take care to prevent them but must likewise be carefull to preserve himself from those which are esteemed less dangerous but yet sometimes do prove mortal He must not onely endeavour to secure his Head and Heart from being wounded but must have a tender care of every part there being hardly any disease or wound so slight but that some have dyed of it In like manner the care of our Souls consists in an universal regard to our Duty and that we be defective in no part of it Though we ought to have a more especial regard to those Duties which are more considerable and wherein Religion doth mainly consist as Piety towards God Temperance and Chastity in regard of our selves Charity towards the poor Truth and Justice Goodness and Kindness towards all men But then no other Grace and Vertue though of an inferiour rank ought to be neglected by us And thus I have endeavour'd as plainly and briefly as I could to declare to you in what Instances the due care of Religion and our Souls doth chiefly consist And I would not have any man think that all this is an easy business and requires but little time to do it in and that a small degree of diligence and industry will serve for this purpose To master and root out the inveterate Habits of Sin to bring our Passions under the command and government of our Reason and to attain to a good degree of every Christian Grace and Vertue That Faith and Hope and Charity Humility and Meekness and Patience may all have their perfect work and that as St. James says we may be perfect and entire wanting nothing nothing that belongs to the perfection of a good man and of a good Christian. And this whenever we come to make the trial we shall find to be a great and a long work Some indeed would make Religion to be a very short and easy business and to consist onely in believing what Christ hath done for us and relying confidently upon it Which is so far from being the true Notion of Christian Faith that if I be not much mistaken it is the very Definition of Presumption For the Bible plainly teacheth us that unless our Faith work by Charity and purify our hearts and reform our lives unless like Abraham's Faith it be perfected by works it is but a dead Faith and will in no wise avail to our Justification and Salvation And our B. Saviour the great Authour and finisher of our Faith hath no where that I know of said one word to this purpose That Faith separated from obedience and a good life will save any man But He hath said very much to the contrary and that very plainly For He promiseth Blessedness to none but those who live in the practice of those Christian Graces and Vertues which are particularly mention'd by Him in the beginning of his excellent Sermon upon the Mount of Humility and Repentance and Meekness and Righteousness and Mercifulness and Purity and Peaceableness and Patience under persecution and sufferings for Righteousness sake And afterwards in the same Sermon Not every one saith He that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in heaven And again Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a Rock And afterwards He tells us that whosoever builds his hopes of eternal happiness upon any other foundation than the Faith of the Gospel and the Practice of its Precepts doth build his house upon the Sand which when it comes to be tryed by the Rain and the Winds will fall and the fall of it will be great And elsewhere If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them And He does very severely check the vain confidence and presumption of those who will needs rely upon Him for Salvation without keeping his commandments Why call ye me says He Lord Lord and do not the things which I say Does any man think that he can be saved without loving God and Christ And this saith St. John is the love of God that we keep his commandments and again He that saith I know him and by the same reason he that saith I love him and keepeth not his commandments he is a lyar and the truth is not in him If ye love me saith our B. Lord keep my commandments And again He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Does any man think that any but the children of God shall be heirs of eternal Life Hear then what St. John saith Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous And again In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil he that doth not righteousness is not of God. In a word this is the perpetual tenour of the Bible from the beginning of
Dr. TILLOTSON's SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN AT HAMPTON-COURT A SERMON Preach'd before the KING and QUEEN AT Hampton-Court APRIL the 14th 1689. By JOHN TILLOTSON D. D. Dean of Canterbury Published by his Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill And W. Rogers at the Sun over against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street MDCLXXXIX A SERMON Preach'd before the King and Queen AT HAMPTON-COURT April the 14th 1689. LUKE X. 42. But one thing is needfull IN the accounts of Wise men one of the first Rules and Measures of human actions is this To regard every thing more or less according to the degree of its consequence and importance to our happiness That which is most necessary to that End ought in all reason to be minded by us in the first place and other things onely so far as they are consistent with that great End and subservient to it Our B. Saviour here tells us that there is one thing needfull that is one thing which ought first and principally to be regarded by us And what that is it is of great concernment to us all to know that we may mind and pursue it as it deserves And we may easily understand what it is by considering the Context and the occasion of these Words which was briefly this Our Saviour as He went about preaching the Kingdom of God came into a certain Village where He was entertain'd at the house of two devout Sisters The elder who had the care and management of the Family and the affairs of it was imployed in making entertainment for such a Guest The other sate at our Saviour's feet attending to the Doctrine of Salvation which he preach'd The elder finding her self not able to do all the business alone desires of our Saviour that he would command her Sister to come and help her Upon this our Saviour gives her this gentle reprehension Martha Martha Thou art carefull and troubled about many things but one thing is needfull And what that is he declares in the next words And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her that is she hath chosen to take care of her Salvation which is infinitely more considerable than any thing else Our Saviour doth not altogether blame Martha for her respectfull care of Him but commends her Sister for her greater care of her Soul which made her either wholly to forget or unwilling to mind other things at that time So that upon the whole matter He highly approves her wise choice in preferring an attentive regard to His Doctrine even before that which might be thought a necessary civility to His Person From the Words thus explain'd the Observation which I shall make is this That the care of Religion and of our Souls is the one thing necessary and that which every man is concern'd in the first place and above all other things to mind and regard This Observation seems to be plainly contain'd in the Text. I shall handle it as briefly as I can and then by way of Application shall endeavour to persuade You and my self to mind this one thing necessary And in speaking to this serious and weighty Argument I shall do these two things First I shall endeavour to shew wherein this care of Religion and of our Souls does consist Secondly to convince men of the necessity of taking this care I. I shall shew wherein this care of Religion and of our Souls doth consist And this I shall endeavour to do with all the plainness I can and so as every one that hears me may understand and be sufficiently directed what is necessary for him to do in order to his eternal Salvation And of this I shall give an account in the five following Particulars in which I think the main business of Religion and the due care of our Souls does consist First in the distinct knowledge and in the firm belief and persuasion of those things which are necessary to be known and believed by us in order to our eternal Salvation Secondly in the frequent Examination of our lives and actions and in a sincere Repentance for all the errours and miscarriages of them Thirdly in the constant and daily exercise of Piety and Devotion Fourthly in avoiding those things which are pernicious to our Salvation and whereby men do often hazard their Souls Fifthly in the even and constant practice of the several Graces and Vertues of a good Life I. The due care of Religion and our Souls does consist in the distinct knowledge and in the firm belief and persuasion of those things which are necessary to be known and believ'd by us in order to our eternal Salvation For this knowledge of the necessary Principles and Duties of Religion is the foundation of all good Practice wherein the life of Religion doth consist And without this no man can be truly Religious Without faith saith the Apostle to the Hebrews it is impossible to please God For he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Now these two expressions of pleasing God and seeking Him are plainly of the same importance and do both of them signifie Religion or the Worship and Service of God which doth antecedently suppose our firm belief and persuasion of these two fundamental Principles of all Religion That there is a God and That He will reward those that serve Him Because unless a man do first believe these there would neither be ground nor encouragement for any such thing as Religion And this knowledge of the necessary Principles of Religion our B. Saviour calls eternal Life because it is so fundamentally necessary in order to our attaining of it This is life eternal says He to know thee the onely true God and Him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ that is to be rightly instructed in the knowledge of the onely true God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord Under which two general Heads are comprehended all the necessary Principles both of the Natural and of the Christian Religion And to the attaining of this knowledge which is absolutely necessary to Salvation no such extraordinary pains and study is requir'd but onely a teachable disposition and a due application of mind For whatever in Religion is necessary to be known by all must in all reason be plain and easie and lye level to all capacities otherwise we must say that God who would have all men to be saved hath not provided for the Salvation of all men And therefore now that the knowledge of the true God and the light of Christianity are shed abroad in the world all that enjoy the Gospel are or may be sufficiently instructed in all things necessary to their happiness unless such care be used as is in the Church of Rome to take away the key of knowledge and to lock up the Scriptures
it to the end If thou dost well saith God to Cain shalt thou not be accepted And again Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him And in the Gospel when the young man came to our Saviour to be instructed by Him what good thing he should do that he might inherit eternal life our Lord gives him this short and plain advice If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments And in the very last Chapter of the Bible we find this solemn declaration Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and enter in through the Gates into the City that is into Heaven which the Apostle to the Hebrews calls the City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. So vain and groundless is the imagination of those who trust to be saved by an idle and ineffectual Faith without holiness and obedience of life II. I proceed now in the Second place to convince us all if it may be of the necessity of minding Religion and our Souls When we call any thing necessary we mean that it is so in order to some End which cannot be attained without it We call those things the necessaries of Life without which men cannot subsist and live in a tolerable condition in this World And that is necessary to our eternal happiness without which it cannot be attain'd Now happiness being our chief End whatever is necessary to that is more necessary than any thing else and in comparison of that all other things not onely may but ought to be neglected by us Now to convince men of the necessity of Religion I shall briefly shew That it is a certain way to happiness That it is certain that there is no other way but this And that if we neglect Religion we shall certainly be extremely and for ever miserable First That Religion is a certain way to happiness And for this we have God's express Declaration and Promise the best assurance that can be He that cannot lye hath promised eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality All the happiness that we can desire and of which the nature of man is capable is promised to us upon the terms of Religion upon our denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and living soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world A mighty reward for a little service an eternity of happiness of joys unspeakable and full of glory for the diligence and industry of a few days A happiness large as our wishes and lasting as our Souls Secondly 'T is certain also that there is no other way to happiness but this He who alone can make us happy hath promised it to us upon these and no other terms He hath said That if we live after the flesh we shall die but if by the spirit we mortifie the deeds of the flesh we shall live That without holiness no man shall see the Lord And that he that lives in the habitual Practice of any Vice of Covetousness or Adultery or Malice or Revenge shall not enter into the kingdom of God And we have reason to believe Him concerning the terms of this happiness and the means of attaining it by whose favour and bounty alone we hope to be made partakers of it And if God had not said it in his Word yet the nature and reason of the thing doth plainly declare it For Religion is not only a condition of our happiness but a necessary qualification and disposition for it We must be like to God in the temper of our minds before we can find any felicity in the enjoyment of him Men must be purged from their Lusts and from those ill-natur'd and devilish Passions of Malice and Envy and Revenge before they can be fit company for their heavenly Father and meet to dwell with him who is love and dwells in love Thirdly If we neglect Religion we shall certainly be extreamly and for ever miserable The Word of Truth hath said it that indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soul of man that doth evil Nay if God should hold his hand and should inflict no positive torment upon sinners yet they could not spare themselves but would be their own Executioners and Tormentors The guilt of that wicked Life which they had led in this World and the Stings of their own Consciences must necessarily make them miserable when-ever their own Thoughts are let loose upon them as they will certainly be in the other World when they shall have nothing either of pleasure or business to divert them So that if we be concern'd either to be happy hereafter or to avoid those Miseries which are great and dreadful beyond all imagination it will be necessary for us to mind Religion without which we can neither attain that Happiness nor escape those Miseries All that now remains is to perswade you and my self seriously to mind this one thing necessary And to this end I shall apply my Discourse to two sorts of Persons those who are remiss in a matter of so great concernment and those who are grosly careless and mind it not at all First To those who are remiss in a matter of such vast concernment Who mind the business of Religion in some degree but not so heartily and vigorously as a matter of such infinite consequence doth require and deserve And here I fear the very best are greatly defective and so much the more to be blamed by how much they are more convinc'd than others of the necessity of a Religious and Holy Life and that without this no man shall ever be admitted into the Mansions of the Blessed They believe likewise that according to the degrees of every mans holiness and vertue in this Life will be the degrees of his happiness in the other that he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly and he that sows plentifully shall reap plentifully and that the measure of every man's reward shall be according to his improvement of the Talents that were committed to him But how little do men live under the power of these convictions And notwithstanding we are allur'd by the most glorious promises and hopes and aw'd by the greatest fears and urg'd by the most forcible argument in the world the evident necessity of the thing Yet how faintly do we run the Race that is set before us How frequently and how easily are we stop'd or diverted in our Christian course by very little temptations How cold and how careless and how inconstant are we in the Exercises of Piety and how defective in every part of our Duty Did we act reasonably and as Men use to do in matters of much less moment we could not be so indifferent about a
thing so necessary so slight and careless in a matter of Life and Death and upon which all Eternity does depend Let us then shake off this sloth and security and resolve to make that the great business of Time which is our great concernment to all Eternity And when we are immers'd in the cares and business of this Life and troubled about many things let this thought often come into our minds That there is one thing needful and which therefore deserves above all other things to be regarded by us Secondly There are another sort of persons who are groslly careless of this one thing necessary and do not seem to mind it at all Who go on securely in an evil course as if either they had no Souls or no concernment for them I may say to these as the Master of the Ship did to Jonah when he was fast asleep in the Storm What meanest thou O sleeper Arise and call upon thy God. When our Souls are every moment in danger of sinking it is high time for us to awake out of sleep to ply every Oar and to use all possible care and industry to save a thing so precious from a danger so threatning and so terrible We are apt enough to be sensible of the force of this Argument of necessity in other cases and very carefully to provide against the pressing necessities of this life and how to avoid those great temporal evils of poverty and disgrace of pain and suffering But the great necessity of all and that which is mainly incumbent upon us is to provide for Eternity to secure the everlasting happiness and to prevent the endless and insupportable miseries of another World. This this is the one thing necessary and to this we ought to bend and apply all our care and endeavours If we would fairly compare the necessity of things and wisely weigh the concernments of this Life and the other in a just and equal ballance we should be ashamed to misplace our diligence and industry as we do to bestow our best thoughts and time about these vain and perishing things and to take no care about that better part which cannot be taken from us Fond and vain men that we are who are so solicitous how we shall pass a few days in this world but matter not what shall become of us for ever But as careless as we are now about these things time will come when we shall sadly lay them to heart and when they will touch us to the quick When we come to lie upon a Death-bed if God shall be pleas'd to grant us then so much time and use of our Reason as to be able to recollect our selves we shall then be convinc'd how great a necessity there was of minding our Souls and of the prodigious folly of neglecting them and of our not being sensible of the value of them till we are ready to dispair of saving them But blessed be God this is not yet our case though we know not how soon it may be Let us then be wise and consider these things in time least Death and Despair should overtake and oppress us at once You that are young be pleas'd to consider that this is the best opportunity of your Lives for the minding and doing of this work You are now most capable of the best impressions before the habits of Vice have taken deep root and your hearts be harden'd through the deceitfulness of sin This is the acceptable time this is the day of salvation And there is likewise a very weighty consideration to be urg'd upon those that are old if there be any that are willing to own themselves so that this is the last opportunity of their lives and therefore they should lay hold of it and improve it with all their might For it will soon be past and when it is nothing call it back It is but a very little while before we shall all certainly be of this mind that the best thing we could have done in this World was to prepare for the other Could I represent to you that invisible World which I am speaking of you would all readily assent to this counsel and would be glad to follow it and put it speedily in practice Do but then open your eyes and look a little before you to the things which are not far off from any of us and to many of us may perhaps be much nearer than we are aware Let us but judge of things now as we shall all shortly judge of them And let us live now as after a few days we shall every one of us wish with all our Souls that we had liv'd and be as serious as if we were ready to step into the other World and to enter upon that change which Death will quickly make in every one of us Strange stupidity of Men That a change so near so great so certain should affect us so coldly and be so little consider'd and provided for by us That the things of Time should move us so much and the things of Eternity so little What will we do when this change comes if we have made no preparation for it If we be Christians and do verily believe the things which I am speaking of and that after a few days more are pass'd Death will come and draw aside that thick Veil of sense and security which now hides these things from us and shew us that fearful and amazing sight which we are now so loth to think upon I say if we believe this it is time for us to be wise and serious And happy that man who in the days of his health hath retir'd himself from the noise and tumult of this world and made that careful preparation for Death and a better Life as may give him that constancy and firmness of Spirit as to be able to bear the thoughts and approaches of his great Change without amazement and to have a mind almost equally poiz'd between that strong inclination of Nature which makes us desirous to live and that wiser dictate of Reason and Religion which should make us willing and contented to die whenever God thinks fit Many of us do not now so clearly discern these things because our eyes are dazzel'd with the false light and splendour of earthly felicity But this assuredly is more worth than all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them to be able to possess our Souls at such a time and to be at perfect Peace with our own minds having our hearts fixed trusting in God To have our Accounts made up and Estate of our immortal Souls as well setled and secur'd as by the assistance of God's Grace humane care and endeavour though mix'd with much humane frailty is able to do And if we be convinc'd of these things we are utterly inexcusable if we do not make this our first and great care and prefer it to all other interests whatsoever And to this end we should resolutely disentangle our selves from worldly cares and incumbrances at least so far that we may have competent liberty and leisure to attend this great concernment and to put our Souls into a fit posture and preparation for another World That when Sickness and Death shall come we may not act our last part indecently and confusedly and have a great deal of work to do when we shall want both time and all other advantages to do it in Whereby our Souls when they will stand most in need of comfort and support will unavoidably be left in a trembling and disconsolate condition and in an anxious doubtfulness of mind what will become of them for ever To conclude This care of Religion and our Souls is a thing so necessary that in comparison of it we are to neglect the very necessaries of Life So our Lord teacheth us Take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be cloathed But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness The Calls of God and Religion are so very pressing and importunate that they admit of no delay or excuse whatsoever This our Saviour signifies to us by denying the Disciple whom he had call'd to follow him leave to go and bury his Father Let the dead says he bury their dead but do thou follow me There is one thing needful and that is the business of Religion and the care of our immortal Souls which whatever else we neglect should be carefully minded and regarded by every one of us O that there were such a heart in us O that we were wise that we understood this that we would consider our latter end Which God grant we may all do in this our day for his mercies sake in Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and ever Amen FINIS Books Publish'd by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson THirty Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions In Three Volumes In Octavo The Rule of Faith Or an Answer to the Treatise of Mr. J. Sarjant By Dr. Tillotson To which is adjoyned A Reply to Mr. J. S. his Third Appendix c. By Edward Stillingfleet D. D. Dean of St. Paul's In Octavo A Discourse against Transubstantiation In Octavo Price 3 d. alone A Perswasive to Frequent Communion in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper In Octavo Price 3 d. alone A Thanksgiving Sermon Preach'd at Lincolns-Inn-Chappel on the Thirty-First of January 1688. A Sermon Preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall on Matth. 5. 44. A Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen at Hampton-Court Heb. 11. 6. Joh. 17. 3. Matth. 5. 3 4 c. Matth. 7. 21. V. 24. V. 26 27. Joh. 13. 17. Luk. 6. 46. 1 Joh. 5. 3. 1 Joh. 2. 4. Joh. 14. 15. V. 21. 1 Joh. 3. 7. V. 10. Gen. 3. 7. Isai. 3. 10 11. Matth. 19. 17. Matth. 6. 31 33.