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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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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