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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
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Wing S5660; ESTC R14193
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17,444
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which follows Sincere Obedience even his Yoke which keeps us most in may be said to be Easie and his Burthen which sits hardest upon us may be said to be light III. And from hence we see what Encouragement there is still for us to hope to be saved if we be righteous There is none for the Vngodly and Sinner i. e. for the profane contemner of God and Religion or for the wicked Liver For however they may flatter themselves with vain and presumptuous hopes there is no more ground to think that the righteous shall be saved than that the ungodly and sinner shall not For both are alike made known by the same Word of God. But what Comfort is it may some say to hear that the righteous are scarcely saved when we are so conscious to our selves of our own unrighteousness If we could think our selves righteous before God there were some hopes but we are Sinners and if we should deny or excuse it we should be so much more so what hope can there be then for us To this I shall answer and conclude 1. The righteous here spoken of were once great Sinners for St. Peter mentions their former lusts and working the will of the Gentiles in lasciviousness lust excess of wine revellings banquetings and abominable idolatries Yet these are said to be redeemed from their vain conversation by the precious bloud of Christ and to be begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible c. There is therefore not merely a Possibility of being saved but a just and grounded Hope if we renounce our former Sins and become righteous according to the Terms of the Gospel i. e. if we sincerely repent of our Sins and turn from them and live the rest of our time not to the Lusts of Men but to the Will of God. But if God had declared that he expected from Mankind an entire and perfect Righteousness without any Sin it were all one as to publish a general and irreversible Decree of Damnation to all for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. From whence the Apostle well argues that Men cannot save themselves But God of his infinite Pity and Mercy towards the deplorable Condition of Mankind hath found out a way to save them by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom he hath made a propitiation for their sins Although therefore as to our selves we have no hopes yet herein God hath magnified his abundant Love towards Sinners that although they have sinned to a high degree yet if they be so far wearied with the burthen of their Sins as to take Christ's Yoke upon them then he hath promised Ease and Rest to their Souls which is the greatest Blessing in the World especially to Repenting Sinners But some may again say we have repented and sinned and sinned and repented again and can hardly yet tell which will get the better at last we cannot say that we have entirely submitted our Necks to Christ's Yoke for that requires a great deal more than we can perform how then can we be thought Righteous I answer therefore 2. Where there is a sincere and honest endeavour to please God and keep his Commandments although Persons fail in the manner of doing it God will accept of such as Righteous But where they please themselves in their Unrighteousness and go on in it hoping that God will accept some kind of Repentance in stead of it or where there hath been long struggling and many Acts of Repentance and the Interest of Sin prevails the Case of such is very dangerous but not desperate For as long as there is hopes of a true Repentance there is of Salvation and there is still hopes of Repentance where Mens hearts are not hardned by an incorrigible Stiffness For according to the best Measures we can take by the Rules of the Gospel none are effectually excluded from the hopes of Salvation but such as exclude themselves by their own Impenitency THE END ERRATA Page 24. line 22. dele is 1 Pet. 1. 18 19 20. c. 2. v. 9. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Luk. 15. 7 10. Matt. 11. 28. v. 30. 1 Pet. 1. 1. Gal. 2. 8. Although Babylon were very much exhausted by the Neighbourhood of Seleucia first and afterwards of Ctesiphon yet I see no Reason to conclude that Babylon was not then capable of having a Church in it when S. Peter wrote this Epistle For Iosephus lib. 18. owns that there was in Babylon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the time when Hyrcanus was sent thither and out of such a multitude of Iews a Church might easily be gathered The Calamities which befell the Iews of those parts afterwards rather reach to the Country than the City of Babylon And when such Numbers of Iews are allowed to have been after them in Ctesiphon Nearda and Nisibis which were all Cities in those parts I see no cause to question that there were great Numbers of Iews at that time in Babylon since even in Trajan's time they are confessed to have been very numerous in Mesopotamia Strabo lib. 16. saith that a great part of Babylon was deserted in his time and so it might well be and leave room enough for a Christian Church to be there notwithstanding So that no reason appears sufficient to me to take Babylon in any other sense than for the City generally known by that name without flying to any Mystical sense or a Strong place in Egypt bearing that name there being less probability of a Church in a Garrison as Strabo describes it than in the Remainders of so great a City Pet. 4. 19. Luk. 21. 12. Act. 14. 22. 1 Pet. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nicom l. 7. c. 8. Inter cateramala hoc quoque habet stultitia proprium semper incipit vivere Sen. Ep. 13. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Eph. 5. 5 6. 1 Joh. ◠15. 1 Joh. 5. 3. 1 Pet. 1. 14 15 16. 2. 11. 4. 2. 1 Pet. 5. 7. 1 Pet. 3. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 14. 4. 3. 1. 18 19. 1. 3 4. 4. 2. Rom. 3. 23.
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