The Bishop of Gloucester's SERMON Preached before the SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners June 26. 1699. A SERMON Preach'd at the Church of St. MARY le Bow TO THE SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners June 26. 1699. By EDWARD Lord Bishop of Gloucester LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil 1699. Ephes. vi 7 8. With good Will doing Service as to the LORD and not unto Men Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be Bond or Free THE Design of these Quarterly Sermons being to Encourage those Worthy Persons who are Entred into Societies for Reformation of Manners to persevere and abound more and more in the Extraordinary good Work they are Engaged in as also to Excite others in their respective Stations to follow their Example And it being moreover very Seasonable to Discourse at this time of the Principle by which we ought to be acted in all our Services and especially in a Service of this high Nature I thought I could not make Choice of a more proper Subject for this Occasion than the Words now read I. We meet with in them a great Duty With good will doing Service as to the Lord and not unto Men. II. A most Perswasive Motive thereto Knowing that whatsoever good thing any Man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord c. I. As to the Duty We find an Injunction of the same Col. 3. 23. Whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto Men. With good Will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is in the foregoing words from the Soul i. e. most freely and chearfully Doing Service or any Service you do whether Sacred or Civil Whatsoever you do as 't is in the parallel Text. And these Words do immediately relate to Services of a mere Civil Nature because they are in both places directed to Servants of Men for their Instruction in reference to their mean Services particularly But if even these are to be done as to the Lord much more should far higher Services and most of all those which immediately relate to Almighty God As to the Lord and not unto Men or not as to Men. i. e. Having a greater Regard to the Lord than to Men. This is an Hebreism which expresseth what is not to be done but in a certain limited Sence as if it were not to be done at all Of which Forms of Speech there are in Scripture abundance of Instances I will name but one viz. those Words of our Saviour Labour not for the Meat which perisheth but for that Meat which endureth to Eternal Life And not unto Men i. e. for the pleasing of them and obtaining from them a Reward for your Service We will in discoursing on these Words shew I. What is Implyed in thus doing our Services II. Under what Obligations we are thus to do them I shall defer speaking to the Motive to the Application I. What is Implyed in this doing our Services as to the Lord c. These three things are herein implyed Having a respect to God's Command And to his Glory And to both Chiefly and Principally 1. Having in our Services a Respect to God's Command To His Command either particularly or in general expresly or by evident Consequence requiring them And therefore in the two Verses before the Text Servants are enjoyned to perform their Services in Singleness or Simplicity and Sincerity of Heart as unto Christ. Not with Eye service as Men Pleasers but as the Servants of Christ doing the Will of God from the Heart Which is exprest in the Verse before the other Text by fearing God in Singleness of Heart fearing or as fearing God Whatsoever Service we are employed in without any Consideration of the Divine Law we are not therein obedient to God Obedience to Him being not a mere doing what He requires but doing it because He requires it under the Notion of its being required by Him 2. Herein is implyed doing our Services with Respect also to the Glory of God To have Respect to God's Command and to His Glory are different things so different that the one may be without the other As when a Man obeys God from a slavish Dread of Him as the poor Americans worship the Devil Or when Obedience to the Divine Majesty proceeds from no higher a Motive than hopes to obtain thereby temporal Blessings or a sensual Happiness in the other World such a Sort of Heaven as is the Turkish Paradise But that our Services ought to have Regard to God's Glory as well as to His Command must necessarily be implyed in the Text in that our Apostle expresseth it in that Injunction of his Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the Glory of God Or make all your Actions subservient as far as they are capable of being so to the Honouring of God The Glory of God which we so often read of in the H. Scriptures is the displaying of some or other of His Glorious Perfections or the making Reasonable Beings to feel or observe them in their Effects And We are said to Glorifie Him when we are His Instruments herein and when his Moral Perfections do shine in our selves which are those alone wherein we are inabled to imitate Him and which are called His Image These are His Loving Kindness Righteousness and Holiness and may be all comprised in this one Word Goodness To do good consequently from the Love of Goodness is an Instance of designing God's Glory in the good we do as also to do good with a Design to be like to God and by this means to be qualified for the Enjoyment of Him God glorifieth Himself by Exerting His Goodness or His Power and Wisdom in doing good from the Delight he takes therein I am the Lord which Exerciseth Loving-kindness Judgement and Righteousness in the Earth for or because in these things I delight saith the Lord. Jer. 9. 24. Who is a God like unto Thee that pardonâ—th Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of His Heritage He retaineth not His Anger for ever because He Delighteth in Mercy Mic. 7. 18. Thou art good saith the Psalmist and dost good or therefore thou dost good because Thou art good and what is God's being good but His delighting in Goodness Loving-kindness Righteousness are too Excellent things to be Exercised as a mere means to a farther End for these are the very best things as Tully discourseth admirably in his Book de Naturâ Deorum and as they are in God they are the Divine Nature it self not as qualities in their Subject It may be said that the same may be affirmed of the Divine Power and Wisdom That 's certain but these Perfections do concur to the Constituting of the Divine Nature as they are necessarily determined to the Serving of the Ends of Loving kindness and Righteousness as it is easie to demonstrate And in
Great Creators Service in being serviceable to us makes them to be employed Honourably and like themselves III. Nothing but this hearty Regard to God in our Services will secure our Constancy in well-doing The discouragements we shall therein find upon the failing of our expectations will sooner or later quire dishearten us when we chiefly propose to our selves the poor low ends of Gain or Credit but especially upon our meeting with a quite contrary Reward to what we hoped for We shall be ready then to say with those profane Jews It is vain to Serve God and what profit is it that we have kept His Ordinances IV. This will be consequently a great Support to our Spirits when we find our good Services not accepted by Men or not to have their desired success When we do good Offices either to the Bodies or Souls of Men and find our selves unworthily requited it goes to our Hearts But we are soon easy again when we can thus Reflect I did these Services as to the Lord more than to Men and God is not Unrighteous to forget my Work and Labour of Love which I have shewed to His Name which is the Encouragement Given by the Apostle Heb. 6. 10. and was that which enabled him to express himself so bravely as he did 2 Cor. 12. 15. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you tho' the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved V. Nothing will secure to us the Divine Assistance in difficult Services but being governed by this Divine Principle Nor can we reasonably have the least suspicion of Gods readiness to go along with us in those Services to which we are induced by the love of Himself and a generous desire of doing good VI. This is that only which can give us a well grounded hope of Success in any good undertaking I know no Argument that Man can urge to encline God Almighty to give a Blessing to his Endeavours who is chiefly acted by little private selfish ends VII The successes those have who Chiefly design themselves or the gratifying of their Animal Appetites will prove more unhappy to them than their greatest disappointments They will help to make them so much the more miserable both here and hereafter Hereafter as they will aggravate their Punishment by aggravating their Sins and here as they will more and more Encourage them in those gratifications The Self-designer who obtaineth that Credit that Profit or Sensual Pleasure he hunteth after becomes by this means more uneasy than he was before For the more any Lust is pampered the stronger it grows and there is nothing a Man's Observation Experience and Feeling do more fully prove to him than that all Lusts are very troublesome things and therefore no wonder that Perturbationes was the common Philosophical Name for them There may also be given not a few Instances of Outward Mischiefs that attend on Mens prosperous Successes in Selfish Designs But I proceed to our last Consideration viz. VIII By principally designing the Glory of God in all our Services we infinitely best consult our own Interest This was touched upon in the Doctrinal part By our own interest we are to understand the interest of our Souls Our Souls being our selves our Bodies ours not our selves as some of the Philosophers both Greek and Latine have observed And therefore the interest of our Bodies is no otherwise Our interest than as it is subservient to that of our Souls The Glory of God and our Happiness are so inseparably conjoyned that in promoting the one we promote the other also So that he loves himself best who loves God most and he who chiefly designeth His Glory in the best and truest sence is the most Selfish Man And thus are we come to the Motive in the Text knowing that whatsoever good thing any Man doth viz. as to the Lord and not unto Men the same shall he receive of the Lord Or as we have it in the parallel place Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance And this Reward of the Inheritance we find in our Text shall be proportioned to the Services we do To our Services not to our Successes Endeavour only being our Work This the Prophet Isaiah did â—â—mfort himself withall Chap. 49. â—â— 5. Then said I I have laboured in vain I have spent my Strength for nought and in vain Yet surely my Judgment is with the Lord and my Work or Reward is with my God And now saith the Lord who formed me from the Womb to be his Servant to bring Jacob again unto Him tho' Israel be not gathered yet shall I be Glorious in the Eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my Srength Oh how Admirable how Astonishing are the Expressions by which this Reward of the Inheritance is set forth to us It is called an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled reserved in Heaven for us A Building of God and an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens A Crown of Life of Righteousness and of Glory A Kingdom prepared from the Beginning of the World A being with Christ and beholding the Glory which the Father hath given Him A Sitting with Him upon his Throne even as he Sits on his Father's Throne A transcendently transcendent as the Words may be rendred and everlasting weight of Glory By these and more such Amazing Words is this Reward expressed by our Blessed Saviour Himself and His holy Apostles But by our interest I understand likewise the interest of our Souls with respect to the Bodies with which they shall be Cloathed Since the happiness of the other Life is set forth by St. Paul by having our vile Body so changed by Christ as to be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body And our Saviour might have a special reference to the Glorified Bodies of the Righteous in saying that They shall Shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father And by the Exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel as St Peter calls them viz. The Promises of so unspeakable a Happiness as is therein described What may we not be Encouraged to do for the Glorifying of our most Blessed Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier And What may we not be Encouraged to Suffer too for the same end The Sufferings of this present Life being not Worthy to be Compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us as saith St. Paul And therefore my beloved Brethren to conclude with the Exhortation of that great Apostle be ye stedfast immoveable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord Our Labour will be so far from being in vain that we have now heard our Reward will infinitely exceed the greatest Services we can ever be capable of performing Through the Merits of our Dear Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Ascribed by Us and the whole World all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS Published at the Request of the Societies Which should have been plac'd in the Title ERRATA PAge 13. line 14. read sight Page 35. line 13. read gloryed Some BOOKS Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill AN Account of the Societies for Reformation of Manners in London and Westminster and other parts of the Kingdom with a Perswasive to Persons of all Ranks to be zealous and diligent in promoting the Execution of the Laws against Prophaneness and Debauchery for the effecting a National Reformation Published with the Approbation of these Lords with many more Lords Temporal Lords Spiritual Judges Pembroke P. T. Carliol Ed. Ward Lonsdale H. Bangor Ed. Nevill Leeds N. Cestriens Nic. Lechmere Bedford S. Eliens Tho. Rokeby Lindsey J. Oxon. John Turton Kent E. Gloucestr John Blencowe Bridgwater R. Bath Wells Hen Hatsell Thanet J. Bristol Guilford c. J. Cicestriens A Discourse of the Great Disingenuity and Unreasonableness of Repining at afflicting Providences and of the Influence which they ought to have upon us Job 2. 10. Published upon Occasion of the Death of our gracious Sovereign Queen Mary of Blessed Memory with a Preface containing some Observations touching her excellent Endowments and exemplary Life Certain Propositions by which the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so explain'd according to the ancient Fathers as to speak it not Contradictory to Natural Reason together with a defence of them in Answer to the Objections of a Socinian Writer in his newly printed Considerations on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity occasioned by these Propositions among other Discourses 4to A second Defence of the Propositions by which the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is so explained according to the Ancient Fathers as to speak it not Contradictory to Natural Reason in Answer to a Socinian Manuscript in a Letter to a Friend Together with a third defence of those Propositions in Answer to the newly published Reflections contained in a Pamphlet Entituled A Letter to the Reverend Clergy of Both Universities in 4to All three by the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester A Sermon Preach'd at St. Mary le Bow to the Societies for Reformation of Manners by Lilly Butler Minister of St. Mary Aldermanbury A Sermon Preach'd at St Mary le Bow to the Societies for Reformation of Manners by Samuel Bradford Rector of the said Parish A Sermon Preach'd at St. Mary le Bow to the Societies for Reformation of Manners by John Hancock D. D. and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Bedford FINIS
considering what has been said you must be the Weakest Men in the World if you do not this Service as to the Lord and not as to Men Considering likewise how not only Atheism and Deism speculative Prophaneness and Contempt of Religion but also a Gallio like indifferency in such as retain the Profession of Christianity have gotten ground amoâ—g us and how much the very form of Godliness is grown out of fashion among such as may not be accused of being irreligious in their Principles So that there can be very little Temptation now what so ever was heretofore to the vice of Hipocrisy It being become also very Modish to give jerks at all Zeal as a fanatical enthusiastical and hot-brain'd thing As indeed Zeal is when it is not according to Knowledge and the World hath had lamenrable Experience and particularly our Church and State of the horrible Mischievousness of such a Zeal But this is a Superstitious it may by no means be called a Religious Zeal But doth not St. Paul say It is good to be always zealously affected in a good thing And it is the Best of things in the Opinion of all but the worst of Men in which these Societies are zealously affected To be inspired with a Zeal in things of this weighty Importance which is well Principled and well Governed is the most Blessed Thing we can pray for The more we have of it the more shall we be filled with all the Fruits of Righteousness unto the Praise and Glory of God The more like shall we be to our Blessed Saviour whose Zeal for His Father's Glory and the Salvation of Men and their bodily Welfare too did put Him upon always going up and down doing good And I need not stand to shew that the greatest Blessings that ever have accrued to the Church of God by the Ministry of Men have been the Effects of a warm Zeal Nor was ever GOD much glorified nor the publick well served without it let our Fleerers at Zeal think what they please And therefore to be called Zealots in such a Cause as you my Brethren have espoused is so far from a Disparagement that it is a Name to be glorified in So that I once more say Your doing this Service as to the Lord and not as to Men may not be in the least doubted of and the less may it for what was now sadly observed viz. That the prevailing Humour of the present Age is such as gives as little Temptation as can be to affect Popularity by Undertakings of this Nature And having reflected upon the deplorable Degeneracy of the Age I can not forbear professing to you That the greatest Hope I have that God hath still Mercy in store for us notwithstanding the intolerable Returns we have made to as mighty Obligations as he hath ever laid upon any People is from the excellent Spirit with which He hath of late indued so great a number of good Christians among us for the running down of Wickedness by the most justifiable Means in their respective Stations And from His Majesty's having given them so great Encouragement by his late Proclamation For the more effectual Suppressing of Immorality and Prophaneness and his recommending this great Work again and again to the special Care of the Houses of Parliament And I pray God they may comply with the King's Desire the next Session by preparing for the Royal Assent as effectual a Bill or Bills against the other Reigning Vices of the Age as is the late Act against Prophane Swearing and Cursing And who were the Contrivers and chief Promoters of this Act some Gentlemen of the chief of these Societies do best know But I must not forget to take notice of Another most Pious and Charitable Design which hath for some time been carrying on with very great Industry by these Societies viz. The Setting up of Free Schools in the great Parishes within and without this City for the Teaching of poor Children to Read and Write and cast Account to enable them for honest Callings and especially for the imprinting in them the Principles of Christianity and the forming of them to true Piety and Goodness There are several of these Schools already set up by them particularly in the Parishes of Aldgate and Wapping and St. Margarets Westminster And an Account will be shortly published of the Progress of their Endeavours and their Methods and Orders for the Securing and rightly applying what is and shall be given for the promoting of so excellent a Design And surely 't is impossible that any good Christian should not freely contribute according to his Ability to such a Work as this Nay all such certainly must needs be very glad of the opportunity now given them of being engaged in the best of all Charities and of having such faithful and skilful Hands at their Service for the imploying and Management of this their Charity Now for your Encouragement my worthy Brethren to persevere in doing these incomparable publick Services as to the Lord and the more powerfully to excite us all thus to do all our Services of what Nature soever I shall lay before you a few Considerations upon which I want time to enlarge as I would do I. This doing our Services as to the Lord will make those very pleasant and delightful which would otherwise be as grievous and burthensome You have heard that thus to do is to Act from a principle of Love to GOD and Goodness And who knows not that Love is an Affection most highly Pleasing And therefore how much there is of it in any performance so much of delight there must needs be Now if Love whatsoever is its Object carrys pleasure with it what Pleasure must necessarily arise from that Love which is placed upon the Infinitely most Lovely Object GOD and that which is the next Lovely Goodness or rather which is scarcely to be distinguished from Him and no otherwise at most than as Rayes from the Sun or streams from their Fountain II. This will greatly Dignifie our Services and therefore our selves 'T will make all Acts of Justice and Charity Acts of Piety ' i will hallow all our Civil Employments and make them Sacred it will make even drugery Divine saith our devout Poet Mr. Herbert The meanest Servant of Men by having respect to God in his Services becomes HIS Servant and a Fellow-Minister with the Glorious Angels For the doing God's will on Earth as it is done in Heaven for which our Blessed Saviour hath taught us to Pray consisteth in doing it from This Principle many of the Services of Angels being for the Matter of them such as We are utterly uncapable of performing in This state at least The Angels considering the Dignity of their Nature may be said to be more meanly employed than the meanest of Men as being Attendants on us poor Worms who are mueh more their Inferiors than the poorest Peasant is the greatest Peers But they designing their