Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A26158
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Ten sermons preach'd before Her Royal Highness, the Princess Ann of Denmark at the chappel at St. James by Lewis Atterbury ... LL.D. and one of the six preachers to Her Royal Highness.
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Atterbury, Lewis, 1656-1731.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing A4157; ESTC R35290
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112,085
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264
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to refrain from good Works because a Papist hopes to merit by them I 'll learn from a Turk to die for my Religion and to search the Scriptures from a Jew Our Saviour makes the unjust Steward's Wisdom a Pattern for his Disciples The Ox and the Ass are made use of to teach Men Gratitude and the Pismire Wisdom Nay we may learn Diligence and Care of our eternal Salvation from the Devil himself Who compasseth the whole Earth 1 Pet. 5.8 and walketh about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour 2. Let us bear with them in things indifferent following after those things which make for Peace and where we lawfully and with a good Conscience may becoming all things to all men Zech. 8.19 that we may save some In short we must love both Truth and Peace i. e. both of them in Conjunction one with the other We must so love Peace as not to lose Truth in matters substantial And so love Truth as not to break Peace in matters indifferent Lastly Let us turn away and avoid only that which is evil in them this is of the same Import with that Caveat which our Saviour gave to his Disciples against the Scribes and Pharisees To beware of their Leven i. e. all that is sour and infectious which will spread the Contagion and propagate the mischief Let us distinguish the good from the bad the light from the darkness Let the one be call'd day and the other night Let the one be imitated and the other avoided Eph. 5.11 Let only the unfruitful works of darkness be rejected But let us welcome the Light and embrace Love and imitate the good where-ever we meet with them And if we do so then Mercy and Truth shall meet together Righteousness and Peace shall kiss each other Truth shall flourish out of the Earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven Yea the Lord shall shew Loving-kindness for his Salvation is nigh unto them that fear him that Glory may be in our Land Amen SERMON IV. PROV XIX 25. Smite a Scorner and the Simple will beware and reprove one that hath Vnderstanding and he will understand knowledge THE Proverbs of Solomon are a Collection of wise Sentences and Apophthegms grounded upon the long Observation and ripe Experience of one of the most Potent Princes and wisest of Men And since Proverbs in general are observ'd to contain the Wisdom of all Nations therefore we may reasonably expect to find a rich Treasure of Divine Truths in those of which Solomon was the Author or else by Collection made his own All the Books of the Old Testament may well be compar'd to a fruitful Soil but this of the Proverbs abounds with a more rich Vein and is of the greater Use because it contains Precepts accommodated to all the Necessities of humane Life for the most part they have no coherence but are set down just as they came to the Mind of the inspired Author The Verse which I have read to you is of the nearest Importance and shews us the prudent use which a wise Man makes of a friendly Reproof and what great advantages he reaps by it Reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge i. e. 't is a Sign of a Wise a Good and an understanding Man to take Reproof patiently and thankfully to give an attentive Ear to it to be very quick-sighted in discovering his own Faults when they are laid open to him and very diligent and industrious in reforming himself Reprove one that hath understanding Psal 55.32 and he will understand Knowledge From which words I shall shew I. The Excellent use which a wise Man makes of a friendly Reproof II. The great Difficulty of performing this friendly Office III. I shall lay down some Motives to engages us to set about it And IV. Give some Rules and Directions for a right Management of our selves in the Execution of it And first of the excellent Use which a wise Man makes of a friendly Reproof Prov. 25.12 As an Ear-ring of Gold and an Ornament of fine Gold so is a wise Reprover upon an obedient Ear which is thus Paraphras'd by a Right Reverend Father of our Church A good Man will not think himself reproach'd but rather oblig'd by a prudent Reproof which meeting with an attentive considering and patient Mind makes a Man take it so kindly that he esteems him who bestows it as much as if he had hung a Jewel of Gold or put the richest Ornament about his Neck There is nothing harder to find than a true Friend and he is the truest and best Friend who will most impartially Reprove us for our Faults shew us the Errors of our Lives discover to us those Rocks on which we split and faithfully tell us when we do amiss and therefore this is one way of making a Friend of an inveterate Enemy by taking notice what fault or weakness he upbraids us most with and accuses us of and thus by coming to the knowledge of our Errors we take the first step towards the Amendment and Reformation of them And if Reproof is so useful from an Enemy how much more beneficial may it be made from a Friend Who will both inform us when we go astray and set us in the right Path who will conceal our Faults from other Men and yet impartially expose them to our own View who knows first how to Lance and lay open the Sore and then to apply a fit Remedy to it Certainly he who has got such a Friend is possess'd of an inestimable Treasure and there is requir'd only an understanding Mind and a sanctify'd Heart to make him capable to receive Benefit by his Advice But alas For the most part Self-conceit is so prevalent in us that we doat even upon our Blemishes and Imperfections because our own we fall in Love with our own Pictures tho' never so deform'd and ugly and there is no readier and surer way to disoblige us than by performing the most friendly Office in the World the giving us a faithful Glass to behold our selves in and setting our Actions in a true Light This seems to be such an Act of Superiority as few Men can admit of for tho' we must give the Pre-heminence to others in Riches and Power and the Gifts of Fortune yet few Men are willing to believe any one is more Wise Prudent and Discreet than themselves And therefore II. It must needs be a very difficult Task to perform this kind and friendly Office and that in Respect either 1. Of the Reprover or 2. Of the Person who is to be reproved And first I shall consider the Difficulty of it with Respect to the Reprover For 1. A Wise and good Man and such Persons are only fit to Reprove others is for the most part too modest to reprove other Men. Either he has too low and mean Opinion of himself and his performances or else he is desirous
to keep at home and finds that a right Management of his own Actions is a full Employ sufficient to take up all his time and thoughts he is not willing to intermeddle with other Mens Concerns or to intrude himself into Business which doth not belong to him Or he is sensible that he himself is guilty of many Miscarriages and the Reflection on his own Infirmities with-holds him from Reproving the Failures of other Men who as he is apt to think are better than himself 2. A good Man is apt to Err on the Charitable side he is with Difficulty perswaded to believe ill of his Neighbour tho' the Crime which is charg'd upon him is apparently and notoriously true Charity will find out many Excuses turn the best side of things and make the most candid Representation of his Neighbour's Actions they will bear and in this Sence at least 1 Eph. 4.8 Covers a multitude of sins 3. A good Man is apt to be too timorous A mild and humble temper of Mind makes him fearful of disobliging those with whom he maintains a fair Correspondence and to whom probably he may have been beholding for many good Offices and for these and such like Reasons he may be very averse and backward to the performance of this Duty tho' it must be confess'd he is much to blame for being so For Difficulty is so far from being a just Excuse for the non-performance of our Duty that it is the best Argument can be made use of to perswade us to set about it more manfully and courageously Thou knewest that I was an austere man said the Lord to his idle and unprofitable Servant taking up that I laid not down Luk. 19.22 and reaping that I did not sow Wherefore then gavest thou not my Money into the Bank i. e. Since nothing but a diligent and vigorous Endeavour to serve God will enable us to perform our Duty therefore we ought to employ all our Strength and Industry turn every stone use all just and likely means which will yield us any help and assistance And so much the rather because the Difficulty of performing this Duty will appear still greater by considering 2. The Person who is to be Reprov'd For we must not alway expect to meet with a kind and favourable Acceptance of what we Design for the good of our Neighbour Many Men are like those Swine mentioned in the Gospel if we throw the Pearls of good Advice before them they will be so far from thinking themselves beholding to us for this our kind and charitable Office That they will turn again and rent us Matth. 7.6 We must expect to lose their good Opinion and Friendship and that they will become our Enemies because we tell them the Truth For 1. We shall find that some Men think themselves too great to be Reprov'd They are indeed conscious of their own Failings they know that they are guilty of many scandalous Crimes and gross Immoralities but yet they Fansie that they may live without any manner of Restraint because they are above the common Rank and Level of Mankind They have Plenty of all the good things of this World sufficient to maintain them in Pomp and Grandeur without a servile Dependance on any one and therefore they look upon it as an Intrenchment on their Privilege to be call'd to an Account for their Words or Actions or to be Reprov'd for their evil Deeds tho' with never so much Prudence and Discretion Mildness and Submission What is more frequent than for Men of plentiful Fortunes to lavish out those good Gifts of God's Providence of which they are only the Stewards and Trustees in Rioting and Drunkenness Chambring and Wantonness on this false Supposition That they may do what they please with what they thro' mistake call their own How many are there that fill all places where they come with Oaths and Execrations and the blasphemous Abuse of God's most holy Name and yet would look upon it as a great piece of Rudeness Ill-breeding and an intolerable Affront should any one reprove them for so doing 2. Others there are and those of all Ranks and Degrees who think themselves too good to be Reprov'd There are too many who are so puff'd up with a Pharisaical Opinion of their own Righteousness that they make their own Words and Actions the Standard whereby they try all Religion and Vertue they first lay it down for a Rule that that Church or Party of which they are Members is the only true one upon Earth they Fansie themselves the only Elect of God and Favourites of Heaven and then make this false and dangerous Inference That they can neither think nor Act amiss for since they are the Elect and precious in whom God sees no sin therefore 't is high Injustice for any one else to take any notice of their Miscarriages To how little Purpose would it be to reprove a Man that is so full of his own Righteousness that he thinks he has attain'd unto Perfection and is so pufft up with the Contemplation of his own Performances that he aspires to Works of Supererogation for to be so humble as to disclaim any Pretence to merit and to be truly sensible of our own Wants is a Qualification absolutely necessary to render a Man capable of receiving benefit by good Advice And Lastly most Men are too Wise to be reproved Self-conceit is so natural and graceful a Vice that all Men are more or less given to it Prov. 3.5 we are all apt to lean too much to our own Vnderstandings and to esteem those Opinions false and those Practices ridiculous which do not exactly fall in with our Pre-conceptions till by use they are render'd Customary and Familiar to us we have a kindness for every thing which carries our own Badge upon it or has any Relation to us and are fond of the Off-spring either of our Minds or Bodies tho' never so much deform'd With what Extenuating Circumstances do we cloath our darling Vices so that they may appear if not like Vertues yet more venial and excusable Reprove the Covetous Man for his Avarice and he will tell you you are mistaken that he is only laying up against a rainy Day and wisely provident against future Contingences and what you call Sordidness is only Foresight and Frugality Admonish the Prodigal and tell him that he will soon squander away what his more frugal Ancestors took so much Care to rake together and he will smile upon you and make you this Answer that he hates to be sneaking and niggardly and what you term Profuseness and Luxury he mis-calls Liberality You will find it a difficult Matter to perswade the Superstitious that Religion doth not consist in splendid shews or ritual Performances Or the blind Zealot that whilst he destroys his Brother he doth not do God good Service Or the giddy Enthusiast that his tongue is not touch'd with a Coal from the Altar