Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A59549
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Fifteen sermons preach'd on several occasions the last of which was never before printed / by ... John, Lord Arch-Bishop of York ...
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Sharp, John, 1645-1714.
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1700
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Wing S2977; ESTC R4705
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231,778
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the beginning to the end thereof So that now every one hath free Access to God and a Right to his Favour through the Blood of Jesus Christ And though we have been never so bad never so unworthy yet if we have but the Hearts to forsake our Sins and come to Jesus Christ we shall as certainly obtain the Acceptance and the Love of our Heavenly Father as if we had been Innocent and never sinned at all Nay God is not only willing to receive us but he earnestly begs and sollicits us to take his Mercy And so pleased he is at the Return of a Sinner that our Saviour has told us there is joy in Heaven over such a one Nay more joy among the Angels over a sinner that repenteth than over ninety nine just persons that need no Repentance O how welcome ought this News to be to us How transported should we be at the infinite Kindness of God manifested to us by our Saviour O! praised be God for his astonishing Love For ever adored be our Lord Jesus that has made a Propitiation for us by his Blood O let us for ever kiss and hug the pretious unvaluable Scriptures of the New Testament if there was nothing else in them but that faithful Saying that Saying worthy of all Men to be received That Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners to save you and me and all Sinners even the greatest of Sinners O! who is there that is in his Wits would chuse to be out of the Christian Dispensation or be left to the Methods of Nature and Philosophy for the attaining their Happiness as some loose People among us do sometimes talk Were the natural Talents of Mankind exalted far above what they either are or ever have been yet I would value that one Saying That Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners more than all the Notions and Speculations of Reason and Philosophy I would desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified I would with the Apostle count all things as loss nay as Dung in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Saviour and that I may be found in him not having my own Righteousness which is by Nature but that Righteousness which is by the Faith of Jesus Christ who gave himself for me And thus much of Christ's appearing to put away Sin in the first Notion of that Expression But Secondly Christ appeared to put away Sin in another sense That is to say To destroy the Power and Dominion of it from among Men to abolish it so as that it should not henceforth reign in our mortal Bodies To free us from Sin as the Apostle speaks that is to enable us to lead holy and virtuous Lives So that whereas Mankind heretofore yielded their Members Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity so they should now yield their Members Servants to righteousness unto holiness Thus to put away Sin was as principal an End of Christ's coming as the other before mentioned nay perhaps more principal For the other in true reasoning may be said to be wholly in order to this Certain it is unless this End be attained the other will signifie nothing to us For we are not capable of any Benefit from that Remission of Sin which was purchased for us by Christ until our Sins be put away by Repentance and and we become holy Persons by the change and renewal of our Natures Never therefore let us deceive our selves Though Christ hath actually put away all the Sins of the World in the former sense by his satisfaction that is to say hath procured the Pardon of them hath taken away the Sting of them so as that they shall not be deadly to any Yet all this is upon supposition that the Strength of them be taken away in us that they have no Dominion over us that we mortifie them in all our Members that we daily die to them and live a Life of Righteousness All that Christ merited or purchased for the World will not do us the least good unless we be made conformable to him in his Death and Resurrection by our dying to Sin and living to Righteousness And in truth if we will mind it the putting away Sin in this sense of it hath as great weight laid upon it in Scripture and is as often assigned for the great End and Business of Christ's appearance as the other St. John tells us plainly that for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil And St. Paul likewise tells us that he therefore gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And lastly St. Peter gives the same account of his coming Acts 3.26 where he tells us that therefore God raised up his Son Jesus that is sent him into the World for his raising up there spoken of as any one will see that looks into the Context was not his being raised from the dead but his being manifested to Mankind For here the Apostle's business is to apply that Promise or Prophesie of Moses unto our Saviour viz. That God would in due time raise up to his People a Prophet like unto him whom they should all be obliged to hearken to I say therefore God raised up his Son Jesus i. e. sent him into the World that he might bless his People in turning every one of them from their Iniquities This turning every one from their Iniquities was the great End for which our Lord Jesus Christ was manifested unto Mankind And indeed Reason will teach us all this as well as Revelation For in the nature of the thing none can be truly Happy but those that are truly Pious And in the same degree and proportion that any one is wicked or is under the power of his Lusts in the same degree he must needs be miserable So that if Christ came to be our Saviour and in that meant either to make us happy or to keep us from being miserable there was an absolute necessity that his first and principal Design must be to root out of our Nature all Sin and Wickedness and to restore the Image of God in our Minds which consists in unchangeable Purity and Holiness and Goodness Away therefore with all those Hypotheses that give such an account of Christ's coming into the World as to make the ultimate End of it to be the freeing us from Hell and Damnation and purchasing Heaven and Eternal Life for us but without any respect had to the renewing our Natures or the making us sincerely Holy and Virtuous All such accounts of Christ's Undertaking are monstrously unreasonable and absurd For not to insist upon the manifest Affront they put upon God's Justice and Holiness in making Him the great Patron of Sin whilst they assert Him to be the Justifier of wicked Men even whilst they continue wicked
What a dreadful one was this of the Gunpowder Treason in the Reign of her Successor How many Dangers have threatned us since that time from that quarter What a horrible storm but of late did we apprehend and justly enough too was impending over us And yet blessed be God who hath never sailed to raise up Deliverers to his People in the day of their Distress that storm is blown over And we are here not only in Peace and Quietness in the full possession of our Native Rights and Liberties and in the Enjoyment of the Free Exercise of our Religion which is one of the most desirable things in the World But such is the deliverance that God hath wrought for us that we also seem to have a fair prospect of the Continuance of these Blessings among us and according to Humane Estimate to be in a good measure out of the danger of our old Inveterate Enemy Popery I mean which one would think had now made its last effort among us Is not this now a great Blessing And must not all sincere Protestants of what perswasions soever they be in other respects necessarily believe so Certainly they must if they think it a Blessing to be delivered out of the hands of our Enemies and to be in a Condition to serve God without fear Let us all therefore own it as such to God Almighty let us thankfully remember all his past Deliverances from Popery and especially let us never forget those of this Day neither the former nor this late one We have reason to believe that God hath a tender Care of his Church and Religion in these Kingdoms not only because he hath so many times so signally and wonderfully appeared for the preservation it But more especially because we know and are convinced that our Religion is according to his Mind and Will being no other than that which his Son Jesus Christ taught unto the World that is to say no other than that which is in the Bible which is our only Rule of Faith It infinitely concerns us all therefore so to behave our selves as to shew that we are neither unthankful for Gods past Mercies nor unqualified for his future Protection And in order to that I know no other way but this that we all firmly adhere to to the Principles of our Religion and that in our Practices we conform our selves to those Principles That is to say In the first place That we sincerely love and fear God and have a hearty sense of his Presence and Goodness and Providence continually abiding in our Minds That we trust in him depend upon him and acknowledge him in all our ways That we be careful of his Worship and Service paying him the constant Tribute of our Prayers and Praises and Thanksgiving both in Publick and Private And then secondly that we be pure and unblameable in our Lives avoiding the Pollutions that are in the World through Lust and exercising Chastity and Modesty Meekness and Humility Temperance and Sobriety amidst the sundry Temptations we have to conflict with And thirdly that we have always a fervent Charity to one another that we Love as Brethren endeavouring to do all the good we can but doing harm to none Using Truth and Justice and a good Conscience in all our dealings with Mankind Living peaceably if it be possible with all Men. And not only so but in our several Places and Stations promoting Peace and Unity and Concord among Christians and contributing what we can to the healing the sad Breaches and Divisions of our Nation And then lastly that we pay all Submission and Duty and Obedience to the King and Queen whom God hath set over us endeavouring in all the ways that are in our Power to render their Government both as easie to themselves and as acceptable to their Subjects and as formidable to their Enemies as is possible If all of us that call our selves Protestants would charge our selves with the Practice of these things how assured might we reâ—… that God would bless us that he would continue his Protection of our Nation our Church our Religion against all Enemies whatsoever and that we might see our Jerusalem still more and more to flourish and Peace to be in all her Borders May God Almighty pour upon us all the Spirit of his Grace and work all these great things in us and for us And in order hereunto may he send down his Blessings upon the King and Queen and so influence and direct all their Councils both Publick and Private that all their Subjects may be happy in their Government and 〈◊〉 peaceably and quiet lives under them in all Godiness and and Honesty And after such a Happy and Peaceable Life here may we all at last arrive to God's Eternal Kingdom and Glory through the Merits of his dear Son To whom c. SERMON XI Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL On CHRISTMAS-DAY 1691. Heb. ix 26. Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself THis Text doth naturally suggest Five things to be insisted on most of them proper for our Meditations on this Day which therefore I shall make the Heads of my following Discourse I. In general the Appearance of our Lord. Now hath he appeared II. The Time of that Appearance In the end of the World III. The End and Design for which he appeared To put away Sin IV. The Means by which he accomplished that End By the Sacrifice of himself V. The Difference of His Sacrifice from the Jewish ones His was but once performed Theirs were every day repeated If his Sacrifice had been like theirs then as you have it in the former part of the verse must he often have suffered since the Foundation of the World But now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself This is the just Resolution of the Text into its several particulars of each of which I shall discourse as briefly and practically as I can I. I begin with the first The Appearance of our Lord in general Now hath he appeared Let us here consider first Who it was that appeared And then How he did appear The Person appearing we will consider both as to his Nature and as to his Office He that appeared as to his Nature was God and Man both these Natures were united in him and made one Person He was God with us So the Angel stiles him in the first of St. Matthew He was the Word that was with God and was God and by whom all things were made He was I say that Word made Flesh and dwelling among us So St. John stiles him in the first of his Gospel Lastly He was God manifest in the Flesh so St. Paul stiles him in the first Epistle to Timothy This was the Person that the Text saith Now appeared that is the Son of God in Humane Nature God of