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A26158 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. Atterbury, Lewis, 1656-1731. 1699 (1699) Wing A4157; ESTC R35290 112,085 264

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considerable Limitations which Casuists have affix'd to this Rule to which all the rest may easily be referr'd which being duly understood and considerd and will prepare my way III. To incite and encourage you to the Practice of this Rule by shewing the Excellency and Usefulness of it in all the different Emergencies of Life And 1. 'T is a Rule plain and easie to be understood A Rule which lies Level to every Capacity the most plain and ignorant Person may comprehend it and yet 't is worthy the Study and Observance of the Wise and Learned there is no need of turning over huge Volumes of Learning the Languages Customs and Manners of other Nations every one that will but look into his own Conscience will find this Rule engraven there Other Laws are perplex'd with innumerable Difficulties spun out into nice and curious Questions and depend much upon Customs and Usages in the Practice of them so that it requires much Study and Pains to attain to any competent measure of Knowledge in them but this is as soon learned as comprehended and as soon comprehended as seriously consider'd it requires nothing but an ordinary Application to understand it and an honest heart to put it in Practice 2. 'T is a most just and reasonable Rule Isocrat ad Ni●oclem Diogenes Laertius l. 5. p. 313. Dion Cassiu● l. 52 492 493. 'T was esteem'd so both by Jews and Heathens before the coming of our Saviour they collected this Rule from the Principles of Reason and laid it down for an undoubted Axiom and unquestionable Truth 'T is true that 't is not found in express Words in the Canonical Books of the Old Testament but yet it was certainly known to the Jews Levit. 19.18 Deut. 16 11 12. Psal 7.4 both because we may find there many Precepts of the same Import and in the Apocryphal Book of Tobit an Expression very near of kin to it Do that to no Man which thou hatest The Emperour Severus who had these words frequently in his Mouth and was so taken with them that he order'd them to be wrote in his Courts of Judicature is said to have had them from the Jews and Christians of whom he entertain'd a more favourable Opinion meerly on this Account But not to depend solely on Authority it 's plain that this Rule is sounded upon that first Principle of self Preservation For since every Man desires to preserve himself in being and to live as easie and comfortably as he can we cannot reasonably expect that other Men should part with those good things we stand in need of unless we give our helping hand to supply their Wants For though Men are plac'd in different Ranks and Stations in this World yet do they naturally depend one upon another and mutually contribute to the Weal of the Community the one cannot say to the other I have no need of thee but the Poor is as useful to the Rich as the Rich is beneficial to the Poor And therefore 't is highly reasonable that every Man should endeavour to be as useful and assistant to others as he expects they should be to him For what Reason have I to expect that another Man should contribute to my Happiness but upon such Grounds and Principles as make it equally as reasonable and necessary for me to contribute to his What Privilege or Prerogative can any one Man imagine himself to have above the rest of the World that all Men should agree together to make him Happy without any respect to their own Interest and Welfare Can we imagine any Man to be more concern'd for another Man's satisfaction than his own Or to be better pleas'd in making another Man happy than to be so himself Since therefore every Man doth in the first place desire and seek after the Preservation of his own Being and then endeavour to keep himself in as easie and agreeable a Condition as possibly he can and since this cannot be effected without a mutual Participation of those good things which other Men are possess'd of it evidently follows that the way to induce them to part with those good things which would be useful to us is reciprocally to contribute to the supply of their Necessities and the most just and equitable Rule of governing our Actions towards them is placing our selves in their stead and considering what we should reasonably expect from them if we were in the same Wants and under the same Circumstances 3. 'T is a Rule of universal Influence A Rule which will serve at all Times and for all sorts and degrees of Persons and may be apply'd to all Exigences and will reach all sorts of Cases depending between us and our Neighbour 'T is a Rule which will serve the Peasant Episcop Institut Theol. p. 249. as well as the Prince and obliges the Prince as well as the poorest Subject It teaches Inferiours to pay Respect and Submission to those who are in a higher Station because they do expect it from those who are below them it teaches Superiours to be kind and beneficent to their Inferiours and to afford them seasonable Help Counsel and Relief because they look for these good Turns from those who are above them and it engages every one to be kind and faithful to his Equals that hereby he may purchase their Love and Fidelity towards him it engages Magistrates to distribute Justice impartially because they would think it their due to be protected both in their Life and Estate and would be desirous to be secured from all Wrong and Violence if they were private Men. Nay this Rule will not only teach us to give every one his due because we do expect to receive our due from others which is strict Justice But hereby every Man may Erect a Court of Chancery in his own Breast and consider when and how it comes to pass that strict and rigid Justice becomes the highest Injustice when we ought to proceed according to the Letter of the Law and when and in what Cases it allows of some Mitigation and Relief In short there is hardly any Case in which we are doubtful how to behave our self towards our Neighbour in which we may not be directed by the Application of this excellent Rule 4. This is a Rule by which we shall be Judg'd both here and hereafter Matt. 7.2 For with what Judgment we judge we shall be judg'd and with what measure we mete it shall be measur'd to us again That which induc'd the Heathens to observe this Rule was an awe and dread that the future Event of their Actions should be agreeable with their present Dealings with other Men. And in truth we have many remarkable Instances both in Sacred and prophane Authors of God's dealing with Men according to their Works and inflicting such Punishments on them in this World as exactly square with their Offences and hereby as it were pointing out to others that this was the very Cause why
without Labour and yet we have this Encouragement that every day will make it more easie the greatest Hardship is in the beginning But when we have accustom'd our selves to pious and devout Meditations they will become more delightful to us than the most voluptuous and sensual Imaginations We shall take more Pleasure in meditating on God's Word and contemplating those Joys which are at God's right hand and will be the Lot and Portion of the Blessed in Glory than we could do in an earthly Paradise Certainly there can be no greater Happiness on this side Heaven than that which the pious and devout Soul enjoys when he is enflam'd with Zeal and transported with Devotion when with St. Paul he is as it were caught up into Heaven on the Wings of Contemplation and receives the earnest of the Beatifical Vision These are Joys beyond the Ken of a sensual Mind and the peculiar Rewards of those Persons who have prepar'd themselves and render'd their Hearts capable of receiving them by cleansing them of all sinful and impure Lusts and decking and adorning them with Holy Affections and Desires With these Men the Holy Spirit will take up his abode and where he dwells there must needs be Love and Peace and Joy unexpressible This is the most Blessed Condition we can attain to in this Life and the surest Mark and Token that we shall be eternally Happy hereafter SERMON X. MATTH VII 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets COMMENTATORS put their Invention upon the Rack to find out a Connection between these Words and those which went before The word therefore seems to denote that they are an Inference drawn from preceding Premises Some there are who think that they bear a Relation to those Precepts in the fifth Chapter of this Gospel and the beginning of this which treat of the Love of our Neighbour Others are of Opinion that they relate only to the seventh and following Verses of this Chapter in which our Saviour teaches us how we ought to Pray and then as they think presently adds a Rule for the Government of our Actions hereby intimating to us That our Prayers and Endeavours ought to go hand in hand and that when we pray to God for those things we want we ought to make use of the Means which God has appointed for the obtaining them This is certainly true and affords us matter of wholsome Advice but upon reading the Chapter we shall find that this Connection seems to be rather strain'd and extorted from the Text than the natural Design of the inspired Pen-man and therefore I shall rather look upon these Words as an intire Proposition containing matter of Advice how we should behave our selves towards our Neighbour And the rather because 't is observ'd that this Particle therefore is often redundant and serves only to pass from one Subject to another and in the Syriack Version 't is wholly omitted As to the Occasion of these words 't is highly probable that they were design'd to oppose the gross Mistake of the Scribes and Pharisees who doated so much on the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish Law as to prefer them before the Works of Justice and Mercy as may plainly be gathered from the thirteenth Chapter of St. Matthew the twenty third and twenty fourth Verses And therefore we find the Prophets so earnest in exhorting them to Works of Justice and Mercy proving that these are the great Lines of our Duty Isa 1.11 and that in Comparison with these the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law were of little value or worth Amos 5.22 And the same Design is carried on by our Saviour in the Text he endeavours to take them off from being too nice and superstitious in the Observance of the Ceremonial part of the Jewish Law and to engage them in the pursuit after real Holiness and the Practice of the Moral Precepts of Religion Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets In my Discourse upon these Words I shall Consider I. The Meaning and Design of this Rule II. I shall mark out its Bounds and Limitations III. I shall recommend it to your Practice by shewing its Usefulness and Excellency IV. I shall conclude with some few Reflections on what has been said in the preceeding Discourse I. As to the Meaning and Design of these words They are certainly an Appeal to that first Principle of Self-preservation which God has implanted in all animate Beings Irrational Creatures are guided to it by Instinct i. e. the unerring hand of Divine Providence but Mankind is directed by Reason which teaches them to seek after those things which support their Being and by necessary Consequence which contribute to their Well-being and Happiness in this World Now since our Well-being and Happiness in this World doth consist in the Enjoyment of those agreeable Objects which are presented to our Appetites and Desires according to the Rules of right Reason And since the same Objects produce the same Inclinations and Passions in all Men therefore from hence will result an unavoidable Obligation of dealing by all Men as we our selves would desire to be dealt withal if we were in their Condition and they in ours for since we should necessarily desire such and such things if we were in the same Circumstances our Neighbour is in therefore 't is but reasonable that we should grant him the same things when in our Power which we should expect from him if he were in our Circumstances and we in his This therefore is an universal Rule of Justice and Equity and made use of by our Saviour Christ to supply the Defects of those particular Laws which he has laid down in his Holy Gospel that when we are at a loss how to Act either because the Action is not determin'd in the Holy Writ nor have we any plain Precept for the performance of it or when we suspect that our Passions and corrupt Inclinations have clapt a byass upon our Reason or when we would discover the due measure of our Actions and with what agreeable Circumstances they ought to be perform'd then we may appeal to this dis-interess'd Judge which God has plac'd in our Bosoms and demand boldly of our selves how we should desire to be dealt with and what we might reasonably expect if we were in the same Condition our Neighbour is in For the Holy Gospel has not provided particular Laws of equal extent with all the Actions of humane Life nor given Directions how and in what manner and in what measure every Circumstance of an Action ought to be perform'd If this were attempted we might well say That the World it self could not contain the Books which should be written Joh. 21.25 And therefore the Gospel only Chalks out to us the great Lines