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A61620
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A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, February 22d, 1688/9 by Edward Stillingfleet ...
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Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing S5660; ESTC R14193
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17,444
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42
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well doing as unto a faithfull Creatour And if they did think it hard for them to suffer these things they ought to consider there was a Wise Directour of them above who had beforehand appointed such a Series of Events that although their Enemies rejoyced to see them suffer in the first Place yet their Turn would come not long after and then these Enemies of the Gospel would feel the Severity of God's Wrath and Displeasure against them Which is the meaning of the foregoing Verse For the time is come that Iudgment must begin at the House of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God i. e. Christ hath foretold Desolation and Ruine to come upon the Jewish Nation for rejecting him when he came to save them but he withall saith that before these things they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the Synagogues and into Prisons being brought before Kings and rulers for my name's sake Which implies a severe persecution of the Christian Church begun by the Iews but carried on by the Governours of Kingdoms and Provinces And therefore saith the Apostle although the time be now come that Iudgment begins at the House of God yet it will not end there but that which is onely a Cup of Trembling and Astonishment to them shall be a Cup of Fury and Destruction to the Obstinate and Impenitent Iews The case was hard to the poor Christians but it would be much more severe towards their cruel Persecutours for if the righteous whom God loves meet with such sharp usage by his Permission for a time the day will come when God will avenge the Cause of his suffering People and make their ungodly and perfidious Enemies feel the smart of his displeasure in such manner that they shall not know where to hide themselves Where shall the sinner and ungodly appear But that which I observe from hence is that there are some Accidental Circumstances which depend on Divine Providence which may make the condition of some Men as to Salvation much more difficult than that of others For it is no such easie matter to go through many Tribulations into the Kingdom of God i. e. to be content to be contemned and reproached as the worst of Men to be torn from Friends and Relations and all the Comforts of Life to be cast into loathsome Prisons and more loathsome Company in them to be in continual expectation of such cruel Usage and Torments as make Death be look'd on as their best Friend and most seasonable Deliverer If Sufferings do not rise so high yet when men cannot keep Faith and a good Conscience without hazarding the loss of what mankind are apt to set too great a value upon their Ease and Riches and Expectations in this World even these make it harder for such Persons to get to Heaven because Sincerity and Constancy are the necessary Conditions of it which may be tryed much more in some than it is in others We must all have the same Journey's-end if we hope to get to Heaven but some may meet with a freer Road and a calmer Season and better Company in their Journey than others However it happens we must go through all and not be discourag'd at any appearance of Difficulties upon our way But herein Mankind are apt to be deceived as though all the Difficulties lay in a suffering Condition whereas a soft and careless and voluptuous Life is rather more dangerous to their Souls because persons are less apt to suspect their danger He that is set upon by force and violence endeavours to defend himself as well as he can but he that is betrayed under a pretence of Kindness is drawn into his Ruine before he is aware and goes on chearfully to his own Destruction Prosperity hath the true nature of an Opiate for it stupifies and pleases at the same time The Temptations of the suffering Side are apt to allarm awake and rouse up the sleepy Powers of the Soul whereas the gentle and easie Condition of Life either lays them asleep by a kind of Intoxication or so diverts them from all serious things as puts them out of the very way to Heaven For the first thing in it is a steady and serious Resolution of Mind to doe what lies in them to go thither which can never be done without a true Consideration of the vanities of this world how pleasing soever and a fixed and settled Judgment preferring the Happiness of Heaven before all the most alluring Pleasures of this Life So that the different Circumstances of Life do make the way of Salvation more difficult to some than to others But this is not all for there are many things which make it more difficult to some than to others which are of another Nature Some Tempers are more flexible and pliable than others more capable of hearkning to Reason and more apt to reflect on their own Actions whereas others are naturally Stiff and Obstinate who stick as fast to an Opinion or Prejudice which they have once taken up as if they were fatally determined to it and such as these can hardly ever be convinced they are in an Errour unless by a Power superiour to Nature Some again are very easily convinced of a Fault but very hardly reclaimed for that facility of Temper which makes them easie to be convinced lays them open to the next Temptation which they are not able to withstand These are always repenting and amending and beginning to reform but without the Grace of God not able to go through with it Some are modest and bashfull Sinners whom Fear and Shame may restrain others are so hardned and impudent in their Wickedness that they deny even the very first Principles of Morality as well as Religion and not onely refuse to hearken to Reproof but reject it with Scorn and Indignation And it cannot be supposed that the Grace of God working on mens Minds in a way suitable to them should have as easie an Admittance into one as into the other for the one are like a House with doors shut but easily opened the other like a House not onely shut but bolted and barracadoed Again some have had the Advantage of a Pious and Religious Education by which the Principles of Piety and Vertue have made an early Impression on their minds and have been a continual Check upon evil Inclinations and if they have been too weak to subdue them yet they have been strong enough to prevent their Extravagancies or to bring them to a speedy Repentance and to take up firmer Resolutions and such are more easily brought to themselves and settled in a vertuous course of Life But the generality of Mankind through a wretched Carelesness mind not the early Improvement of their Children in what is good and what education they give them tends to any thing more than the Planting the
A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL February 22d 1688 9. By EDW. STILLINGFLEET D. D. Dean of St. Paul's LONDON Printed for Henry Mortlocke at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-yard 1689. Imprimatur Hen. Wharton R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacr. Domest Ex Aed Lamb. March 1. 1688. I. PETER 4. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear THIS Epistle was written by S. Peter for the Incouragement of Christians under all their Sufferings but these Words seem to carry so much Terrour and Severity in them as though none but Martyrs and Confessours could have any Reason to hope for Salvation and all others were to be left in Despair Although Mankind be not easily satisfied concerning the Punishment denounced against the Vngodly and Sinner yet the Justice of God the Equity of his Commands the Freedom of their Choice the Contempt of Grace and their Wilfull and Obstinate Impenitency take away all just Cause of Complaint But that the Righteous should scarcely be saved seems hardly reconcilable with the Grace and Design and Promises of the Gospel For the righteous here are not vain proud self-conceited Hypocrites such who think they need no Repentance but such who by the Grace of God were brought off from their former Sins and were redeemed from their vain Conversation with the pretious bloud of Christ who had purisied their Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit Who were a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People yet of such as these it is said If the righteous scarcely be saved But how can this agree with the Infinite Goodness and Mercy of God declared in the Gospel whereby Sinners are courted and encouraged to repent with the Hopes and Promise of Salvation Did not Christ come to save Sinners and St. Paul call this a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation and yet after all shall the righteous scarcely be saved What Ioy in Heaven can there be over one Sinner that Repents if after his Repentance it be so hard to come to Heaven Doth not Christ himself invite those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him with a Promise that he will give rest to their Souls But what Rest can they have who notwithstanding their coming to him do with so much difficulty attain to Eternal Rest How can that be said to be an easie yoke and a light burthen which is of it self so hard to be born and the Reward which is to make it easie so hard to be attained If it be said that this Expression that the righteous are scarcely saved is to be understood of some Sufferings and Persecutions which the Christians were then to undergo and it was very hard for any though never so righteous to escape and that to this v. 17. refers I answer That this doth not clear the Difficulty For from whence doth this Necessity of Suffering arise Is it not enough to repent and forsake our Sins but we must undergo some Punishment for them in this Life although God remits that of the World to come But how is this consistent with the Fulness of Christ's Satisfaction and the Freeness of God's Remission of Sins And if God's Justice be satisfied and the Sins be forgiven what need can there be that Persons must here suffer for their Sins before they can come to Heaven So that for the clearing this Subject these thing must be spoken to I. In what Sense the righteous are said to be scarcely saved II. How this is consistent with the Grace of the Gospel III. What Incouragement there is for us to hope for Salvation when the righteous are said to be scarcely saved I. In what sense the righteous are said to be scarcely saved That may be understood Two ways 1. With Respect to Accidental Difficulties arising from the particular Circumstances of Times and Seasons 2. With Respect to the General Terms of Salvation which are common to all Persons and Times 1. With respect to Accidental Difficulties arising from the particular Circumstances of Times and Persons For the Difficulties of Religion are not alike in all Times nor to all Persons for they are not like a Geometrical Measure which is always exactly the same but rather like a Voyage at Sea which is to be managed by the same Compass and to the same Port but it sometimes proves Calm and Pleasant and at other times Stormy and Tempestuous Which chiefly happens when a Religion appears New or goes about to Reform the Old for then it is sure to meet with all the Opposition which the Passions and Interests and Prejudices of partial Men can raise against it It s true he that stills the raging of the Sea and the Madness of the People can when he pleases calm the most violent Passions of Mankind and make way for the Reception of Truth in their Minds but he thinks fit by such means to trie and discover what is in Men. Who never shew their Passions more violently and unreasonably than when they are mask'd under a pretence of Zeal against Heresie and Innovation For that blinds their Understandings corrupts their Wills inflames their Passions hardens their Hearts and shuts up all bowels of Pity and Compassion towards Brethren Thus it was among the Iews towards the Christians both in Iudea and in the several Places of their Dispersion For they looked on them as Apostates and Hereticks and treated them not onely with the utmost Scorn and Contempt but with all the Fury and Rage imaginable and where their own Power fell short they called in the Assistence of the Roman Governours representing the Christians to them as an Upstart and Pernicious Sect Seditious and Turbulent and therefore ought by all means to be supprest By such Insinuations the poor Christians in the Eastern Provinces of the Iewish Dispersion were miserably harassed and proceeded against as Malefactours Thus it was at that time when S. Peter wrote his Epistle to the Iewish Christians who were scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia where there were abundance of Iews and many Converts but very hardly used among them St. Peter having been imployed much among them the Apostleship of the Circumcision being committed to him and being withdrawn into the Kingdom of Parthia where he had planted a Church at Babylon not so desolate at that time as not to be sufficient for such a Number as appears by Strabo and Iosephus from thence he writes this excellent Epistle for the Advice and Comfort of the suffering Christians He adviseth them to behave themselves with great Prudence and Care of their Actions to give no Advantage against themseves by doing any ill things and then if it pleased God to call them out to suffer they ought not to murmur or complain or mistrust his Gracious Providence towards them but commit themselves to God in