Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A61433
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Of humiliation, and the effects of it in relation to the present occasion
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Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing S5431; ESTC R2507
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8,143
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12
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Greediness after the things of the World. This as it deadens the Affections and averts the Soul from God so it so narrows and contracts it that it cannot freely exert its Powers for the Publick Good but is ready upon all occasions to sacrifice that to its insatiable Appetite which I mention here because I take it to be no small Impediment to the course of our affairs at this time But I shall say no more of it now I am so well known to want no Good-Will either to the State or Church of England that I think an Apology for this Plain-dealing needless The matter it self in my Apprehension carries its own Apology and Justification with it And he whose Cause and Service I have undertaken is a better Advocate than either I my self or any Man else can befor me FINIS A POSTSCRIPT To the Paper of HUMILIATION THAT Religion and Vertue do greatly conduce to the Weal and Happiness of Kingdoms States and of all Societies of Men as well as of single Persons and Irreligion Profaneness Vice and Debauchery to their Dissolution and Destruction hath been observed by Philosophers and Wise Men in all Ages And that they have both a Natural Tendancy thereunto and are moreover often directed by a special Providence of God in concurrence with other causes to those Ends I have both by domestict Examples and Reasons as far as I thought necessary in so plain a Case shewed in the Caveat before mentioned In which taking notice of the great Degeneracy and Corruption of the Manners of this Nation I also shewed that our late Extraordinary though undeserved Deliverance did in a more special manner oblige us to a speedy effectual Reformation thereof And that we could not expect but that the Neglect thereof under such special Obligations would be attended with some observable Disappointments or Obstructions in our Councils and the Course of our Affairs as we have seen it hitherto fall out To this our Solemn Thanksgiving added a further special Obligation and the not doing it thereupon doth beyond all question aggravate the Fault of our Neglect whereupon I presumed to represent the Case briefly in a particular Dedication of those Papers to the King. And when we had another Solemn day appointed for Fasting and Praying for God's Blessing upon our Forces in the Warr against the French King which certainly adds another Obligation it was but a reasonable Prosecution of the same honest Design to note briefly the Necessity of making a Publick Reformation a Concomitant of such a Publick Humiliation To all this I will now add these few Considerations They who have any real Love to their Country be their Religion what it will if they will acquit themselves but like men of sense and reason ought certainly to endeavour the promotion of such a Publick Reformation by the promoting of some good and Effectual Laws for that purpose even upon Civil Considerations as a thing tending by a natural Efficacy to make the People much better either for Peace or Warr and for the Common Benefit and Advantage of the whole Society And for an Experiment of the truth of this we need not go far from home or from our own times It will be sufficient but to reflect back and consider well the different Morals of the two Parties in our late Civil Warrs and their different Success And if they have indeed any thing of true Loyalty in them whereof many have made so high Profession this they ought to demonstrate both by abstaining themselves from contemning and affronting the Laws and Government of their Country in things so sacred with all well constituted States as the Religion Publickly professed by them and by a real and active concern as they have occasion that all others be effectually restrained If they have no just conern it is certain their Loyalty is but a Superficial thing a meer pretence for some design or advantage to themselves Nor ever did or ever will such Men prove steddy to any Government but basely betray all and sacrifice them to their own Interest and therefore are by no means to be trusted by any wise Governours notwithstanding any Parts or Abilities for which they ought the more to be suspected And for those who are Men of Religion and more particularly those of the Church of England besides the Obligations and Considerations before mentioned the Common Prayers of the Church which are daily used and in each House of Parliament as they do afford to them who are there present a daily Admonition of their Duty so are they in my apprehension a special and great obligation upon them to it For to pray that God will be pleased to direct and prosper all their Consultations to the Advancement of his Glory c. and never so much as enterinto any Consultation for the effectual restraining the Abominable Profanation of his most holy Name by all sorts of people throughout the whole Nation and most impudent and presumptuous violation of his Laws to pray that all things may be so ordered setled by their Endeavours that Religion Piety may be Established and never use any Endeauours for the suppressing of so common and notorious Impieties in the Nation What is it but to add Impiety to Impiety to turn Religion into meer Formality and insted of procuring a Blessing to help to fill up the Measure of our Sins and pull down the Judgments we have reason to fear the sooner upon us And the like observations may be made upon the occasionall Prayers and Confessions purposely composed for the late Solemnities And for those who perhaps may think better of some separate Churches certainly they would take it amiss if we should question whether they do constantly Pray for God's Direction and Blessing upon this Parliament or less then is expressed in the Common Prayers And if they come not behind in their Prayers and yet are as backward in their Consultations and Endeavours I see not how they are one jot more excusable but must neccessarily fall into the same Condemnation if not greater for having deserted the Church and yet be no better And these few Questions I would propose to them all who pretend to be Christians Whether they can hope for any good success in this Undertaking without God's Blessing unless it be such as God sometimes gives to wicked men whom he useth for the correction of others Whether there be not such Cursed Things and National Sins which may provoke him to withdraw his Presence and withhold his Blessings from Christians as well as from others untill they be removed Whether there be not reason to believe that this Nation is Poluted and defiled and entangled in some such National Sins and Cursed Things which may obstruct the Divine Blessing whether their unaccountable flow or Retrograde Course of our Affairs no less to be admired than the precedent easy Revolution may not with reason be reduced and imputed to some such secret cause And whether a diligent search into that remoter but most prevalent Cause and speedy and effectual Reformation of what is amiss be not the most proper business to begin with if we do indeed depend more upon God's Blessing now under such inviting Circumstances than upon our own shallow and ineffectual Policies to compleat a happy Progress of our Affairs This if it was done to purpose as it easily may and ought to be would soon produce a great Alteration by the Blessing of God in the Course of our Affairs for the better Magnanimity and Courage is the part and duty of a Christian as much as of an upright Judge or a Souldier and if we will ever shew it now is the time If we basely fear the loss of a few debauched Ministers Gentlemen or Souldiers we shall really lose a far greater Number of much better men and be enslaved and betrayed as we well deserve by the Company we choose whereas by a generous doing our Duty we should better secure them better'd by reformation to our Party POssibly in the Perusal of this Paper some who are most attentive to the Importance of the Matter may over-look other things and think it very good and honest but these must be Men who have some relish of such things But others who are not much affected with that will be apt the more to regard the Form and censure it for rude and insolent and that I am well pleased they should do and as severely as they will For I know no better way to convince them of a Fault of their own than to make them judge themselves in the Person of another For If I be rude by plain-dealing with my Fellow-Creatures for their Good who are perhaps but a little above me in some petty accidental transitory Advantage what are they who are not only more rude toward the State but impious against their Creator or can behold such Rudeness and Impiety without any Censure or Endeavour to restrain it Must I be censured for breaking the Laws of Man or but of Civility and out of a good Design And it is equal then that others shall be permitted in impudent Contempt of the Religion of the State and impious violation of the Laws of Almighty God Therefore thou art inexcusable O Man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self And thinkest thou O Man that judgest and dost the same that thou shalt escape the Judgment of God Or despisest thou c. FINIS
OF HUMILIATION AND The EFFECTS of it IN RELATION TO THE PRESENT OCCASION THE Effects Success and Consequents of the most solemn Acts of Religion are somewhat like to those of the Water of Jealousie which to those that were Pure produced a Blessing Health and Conception but to those who were defiled a Curse and Corruption So these if duely used never fail of a Blessing but if profaned by Irreverence or Neglect and undue Performance have a suitable Success miss of the Blessing expected and besides it may be meet with some Temporal Judgment For this Cause saith S. Paul many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep And this he speaks of such as shall be saved hereafter as appears by what follows For if we would judg our selves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World By which it appears That those who shall not be condemned with the World are if occasion be and for that very End that they may not be condemned with the World often chastened of the Lord with the severest of Temporal Judgments even Death it self and That this may be prevented by judging our selves Among those solemn Acts of Religion by the Well or Ill management whereof we may procure to our selves a Blessing or a Curse Acts of Repentance and Humiliation are to be reckoned And since the King and Queen have appointed a General and Publick Fast and Humiliation to implore the Blessing of Almighty God upon our Forces by Sea and Land and Success in the War against the French King it behoves us to consider well what we do that we do not provoke a Curse instead of procuring a Blessing upon our selves and our Forces by it And we have the more reason to consider well what we do now if we do consider our Ways as the Prophet Haggai admonished the Isrealistes in a parallel Case since our last Solemn Day which was for Thanksgiving for a most admirable Mercy and Deliverance for it is visible to all That there is a great Alteration in the Course of our Affairs since that time All went before with a smooth and prosperous Course beyond all Expectation even to Admiration and hath ever since gone as untowardly and heavily I need not mention Particulars for it is so manifest that none can be insensible of it who are not very stupid but it does concern us to enquire at this Time when we are about to implore the Blessing of God upon our Forces whether we have not by some Miscarriage forfeited that Blessing of God which before was with us For if we have if we do not confess the same give Glory to God and-speedily reform it we may sooner provoke a Curse than obtain a Blessing by this days work This was fit and necessary to be done were our Fast upon any other occasion but being upon such an occasion as this we have besides a special Admonition to do it When the Host goeth forth against thine Enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing If there be any thing which hath provoked an alteration of the course of our Affairs for the worse already if we look not well to it our Fasting and Praying will not help us We must consider the Majesty of Almighty God before whom the greatest of Princes are but despicable Worms We must consider the greatness of that Deliverance he so lately gave us consider the special Obligations it layed upon us and then consider our ways how we have answered the same Which if we do as we ought we shall find that though we kept a Day of publick Thanksgiving yet neither Prince not Priest nor People the Parliament have hitherto done any one act of Gratitude toward Almighty God answerable to the occasion It is a very good Observation Non bene suceedunt res Humanae ubi negliguntur Divinae Here lies the very root of all our slow Proceedings And because on such occasions we are not to mince the Matter but confess and lament the Sins of our selves and our fore-fathers and of our Kings our Priests and our Prophets I will plainly relate that which all ought to take into serious Consideration The Christian Religion reformed from the Abuses of the Roman Church is not only allowed but embraced and the Profession thereof authorized by the Laws of this Nation so that any Affront Contempt or Dis-respect to it doth proportionately affect the State and in that which is most Sacred No wise man would unnecessarily do that which might be interpreted a dis-respect to the State and Government of his Country nor would any wise State though Heathen endure to be affronted much less in things so sacred as Religion Yet to that degree of folly and madness are many of the very Gentry and Nobility of this Nation degenerated that they not only patiently suffer the Religion of the State to be contemned violated and prophaned by the basest of the People but are themselves instead of being examples of Virtue the evil Examples of all Wickedness Vice and Debauchery The speedy Reformation of this was certainly the proper business and great duty of this State the neglect of it I doubt not a great cause and provocation of the judgments and unhappiness of the late King and of our slow and unprosperous Proceedings and if it be longer continued and after a solemn day of Fasting and Prayer will provoke some smarter Chastisement This was a duty to which our late Deliverance by so extraordinary a Providence did lead us and oblige us and this had been a reasonable act of Gratitude But it must be confessed that it hath not only been neglected but with some aggravating Circumstances Upon Christmass-Day was sent to the Prince a Specimen of a Declaration against Debauchery in the Armies which had been perused and approved by several Persons of good Ability both Divines Lawyers and Persons of Quality It was inclosed in a Letter to this Effect Something of this nature to be Published by your Highness is exceeding necessary would be but a reasonable act of gratitude to God who hath blessed you with so extraordinary Success would be very grateful and much endear your Person to all good People would as I guess by experience not want a good Effect and would I hope conduce to obtain yet greater Blessings from Almighty God upon your honourable undertakings And because the Prince was then full of Business about a Week after notice thereof was given to Dr. Burnet presuming he would put forward such Works and not suffer them to be neglected by multiplicity of Business or worldly Policy Some time after it was published in Print both alone and with other Papers under the Title of the true English Government and Mis-Government of the four last Kings with the ill Confequences thereof In one of which Entituled A Caveat against Flattery and Prophanation of sacred things to secular Ends were many things