Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n
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A65571
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Eight sermons preached on several occasions by Nathanael Whaley ...; Sermons. Selections
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Whaley, Nathanael, 1637?-1709.
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1675
(1675)
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Wing W1532; ESTC R8028
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120,489
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326
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be so it is plain there is no need of the Guide we are seeking for and then I doubt after all our searching we shall never be able to find him But there is one Argument above all that there is no such Guide viz. That Christ never Promised There should be one always in his Church And without a Promise from him we can never be certain that there is We know what is pretended in this matter and what Texts are produce for it but after the strictest and most deliberate Enquiry into the meaning of them we can find no evidence of any such Promise nor discern the least shadow or Footstep of a visible Infallible Guide We own indeed that God has Promised the Guidance of his Spirit to all that desire the Knowledg of his Ways but we the rather think that he has not promised any other Infallible Guide than this For what need is there of the Inward Direction of the Spirit in the Search of Truth when we have a Guide at hand that can lead us Infallibly into it and save us the labour of searching after it But did not our Saviour Promise to send his Spirit upon the Apostles and were not they Infallible Guides True but did he Promise to make their Successors in all Ages Infallible too If he did every Successor has an equal Claim And then how comes the Church of Rome to talk of but one Infallible Guidfe since the Death of the Apostles and to Appropriate that extraordinary favour to here self If he did not she must shew us a particular Charter or Promise that Infallibility should never depart from the See of Rome and when she does that we may allow her to be Infallible But supposing that Christ had promised an Infallible Guide it may be convenient to know 2. Whether or no he has given him Authourity to suspend the Judgment of all Christians in matters of Religion This we must say is a distinct Power from Infallibility unless we can imagin that our Saviour and his Apostles tho they were infallible did not know the extent of their Power For 't is plain they did not affect any such Authority or treat their Disciples in this manner but both required them to prove the Truths which they heard Act. 17.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and commended their Ingenuity in proving them by the Scriptures Besides a Guide whose Directions we must blindly follow without examinig the Grounds and Tendency of them seems to be a very improper means of bringing men to Heaven For surely God did design that in the exercise of our Religion we should act like men and not lay aside our Reasonand Judgment as things that are dangerous to our salvation 'T is true not to Judge at all is a certain way not to err but it is a very blind and unlikely way to bring men to the knowledge of the Truth without which their Obedience can never be a Reasonable Service And theresore if any Church or Person under colour of Infallibility shall assume an absolute Authority over the Consciences of men before I resign up my Judgment to them I must desire to be informed not only how they come to be infallible but what Commission they have to oblige me to believe as they please and to strangle my own Sense and Reason if they offer to oppose any Doctrine of theirs tho never so absurd or contradictory to them But suppose still there were Reasons to convince me that there is an infallible Judge and that there ought to be no Judge besides him yet because he cannot be useful to me till I know who he is there is another great Question to be resolved before I can prudently commit my self to him viz. How I may certainly know where to find him And here I meet with one vast Discouragement at the very entrance into this enquiry Namely that the same Church which alone pretends to this Infallible Guide is very uncer tain who he is Some chain Infallibility to St. Peter's Chair and place it in the Person of the Pope But this is the most Interessed Party as depending entirely upon the Pleasure of him whom they call Infallible Others send us to General Councils some of whcih have condemn'd the Pope for an Heretick and contradicted the Decrees of former Councils But then what think we of Oral Tradition Or the Doctrine of the Universal Churcvh conveighed by Father to Son from the Apostles Time down to the Present Age The General consent I confess of the Christian Church so far as it reaches is an excellent means to find out the sense of Scripture But we are not speaking now of Tradition or the Church as a Witness of Truth but of the Authority of any Church or Guide to prescribe a Rule of Faith and Practice by Vertue of an Insallible Assistance This is the thing we are enquiring after and where the Seat of this Authority is and all we can certainly learn hitherto is this That seeing there are so many controversies in the Church of Rome about it it will be a very hard thing to find it there And that in the Judgment of a considerable part of that Church a man may tire himself and be in quest of his Infallible guide all his Days and never come within sight of him at last For suppose he takes the Pope to be the infallible Oracle he is thought to be mistaken by all those that stand for a General council and if he go to a General council he is lost in the opinion of all that declare for single infallibility And the men for Oral tradition think they are all deceived that look for infallibility in any one Person or Party in the Church What must we do now that have so much choice of infallible guides and nothing to determine our choice Many we pick and choose at a venture But that cannot be safe because they have occasion sometimes to lead contrary to one another and therefore cannot be all infakubke and none of them speaks of more infallible guides than one Must we then weigh their Reasons and the Scriptures they produce for their several claims These we have often heard and considered and cannot but admire the confidence of men who pretend to sound the infallibility and other Prerogatives of the Bishop and Church of Rome upon Texts that speak not the least Syllable of them Whereas matters of this importance ought to be exprest in the easiest and plainnest Words that he that runs may read them If not only the Peace and Unity of the Church but every man's salvation depends as our Adversaries must say upon the Right understanding of there Texts we have that confidence in the Goodness of our Saviour that we certainly believe he would not expect we should find out a meaning in therm that by no good Rule of Interpretation can be collected from them And for this Reason we cannot think our selves obliged when any thing is said
should this awaken us to a General Repentance and to make our Reformation as solemn and conspicuons to the World as our days of Fasting and Humiliation have been I grant we are still a People in some respects Considerable in the World We Plough the Ocean as well and reap as much advantage perhaps as any of our Neighbours by it We send our Gallant Fleets and Armies abroad and look Big upon the Nations that are round about us And we are or might be a free People at home if it were not for Tyrannical Lusts and in respect of our Spiritual Advantages are like Capernaum Mat. 11.23 lifted up unto Heaven But let us not value our selves too much upon these things but consider that our Fall is never the farther off and will be but the more dreadful at last if we go on to provoke Heaven by our sins and ungrateful Barrenness under the kindest Influences of it However there is a certain Day of Judgment to come when God will call every man in his own Person to an account for the Talents he has receiv'd and the Improvement he ought to have made of them And since our Eternal Condition depends upon the present Neglect or Improvement of the Means of Grace 2. Let us be persuaded to avoid the Danger and prevent the Terror of the last Judgment by bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance and answerable to our enjoyment and profession of the Gospel To strengthen this Exhortation I will leave these two Considerations with you and conclude 1. That the Gospel has waited much longer upon you than it did upon the Cities of Galilee when Christ upbraided them for the refusal of it In the space of three years which our Saviour spent in Preaching the Gospel there could not be much time for his Preaching in any other Particular Place considering what his manner of Life was that he went about doing Good and was almost continually moving from one City and Village to another Now if Christ did so severely Threaten these Cities after so short a Trial what will become of those that spend their whole Lives in an obstinate refusal of Divine Grace and after the loudest warnings and summons to Repent stand out against all the force and power of the Gospel till they see Death and Eternity pressing upon them 2. Consider that our very Profession of the Gospel if we obey it not will but inflame our Guilt and aggravate our Condemnation We shall be found greater Sinners in the Day of Judgment than those Galileans that never entertained the Gospel if after all our Professions of Faith in Christ and the Sacred Vows and engagements with which we have solemnly bound our Souls to obey him we should either openly renounce him by a profane and vicious Conversation or secretly withdraw our Hearts and Affections from him This would argue such Baseness and Treachery in us such vile Hypocrisie and Ingratitude as can never be forgiven without a New Gospel and a New Sacrifice for Sin which no man was ever so wretchedly vain to hope for And what remains then but a fearful expectation of the Day of Judgment and being then found in a worse Estate than Heathens and Infidels 1 Pet. 2.21 For it had been better for us not to have known the way of Righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the Holy Commandments delivered unto us Let us therefore be so wise for our selves as to make use of the Last and Only Remedy which God has left us and not burn the Day-light of Grace which still shines so Gloriously upon us So Infinite a Mercy ought not to be plaid and trifled with Our Danger grows every day with our Delays And a long refusal of the Grace of God is next to a final and absolute rejection of it and that is the very next step to Everlasting Destruction Briefly we have all the Warnings that can be reasonably expected from a Being of Adoreable Goodness and Holiness to break off our Sites by Righteousness that Iniquity may not be our Ruine He hath solemnly declared that he Delights not in the Death of them that Perish but chooses that they should Return and Live Repent and be Happy Let us therefore now God is waiting to see what we will choose and which way we will determine our Eternal Condition Fasten our return to him with all imaginable speed and not signalize our Folly by being the Authors of our own Destruction by hardning our Hearts and delaying our Repentance till his abused Grace is for ever withdrawn and there is no possibility left us of escaping the Damnation of Hell Sermon IV. The Case of a Late or Death-Bed Repentance Matth. 20.9 And when they came that were hired about the Eleven h Hour they received every one a Penny THese Words are part of our Saviours Parable concerning an Houshoulder to whom he likens the Kingdom of Heaven in this respect that he went out at several Hours of the Day to hire Labourers into his Vineyard With some he agreed early in the Morning for a Penny a Day and immediately sent them to their Work others he hired at the Third the Sixth the Ninth Hour and some not until the Eleventh upon a General Promise of doing them all Right in their Wages Now here was a great inequality in the Time which the several Labourers wrought in the Vineyard the First beginning early in the Morning bore all the Heat and Burden of the Day the Last wrought but one Hour in the Cool of the Evening And whereas it was expected that the Lord of the Vineyard would have considered this and made every mans Wages proportionable to the time of his Service he made no distinction at all between them but the First according to their Agreement received every man a Penny And when they came that were hired about the Eleventh Hour 't is said they also received every man a Penny Now I need not tell you that there are those that would infer from hence that the Sinner that Repents at the last hour of his Life is as safe and may be as secure of Heaven as if he had been all his Life long employed in the Service of God and working out his Salvation with fear and trembling And what Sinner upon Earth that ever thinks of Repenting before he dies can desire to hear a more delicious Doctrine than this There is nothing can please a wicked man better while he retains the sence of another World than to have his liberty to enioy his Sins as long as he can and not fear being damned for them when he dies and therefore any Doctrine that puts him into a way to do this must be very welcome to him And indeed of all that have been prest for this Service there is none that promises fairer than that which has been raised out of this Parable of our Saviour concerning the Labourers and which assures every wicked man that he may