much to be condemned by the Verdict of right Reason as he that gives an Affront And therefore since 't is plain by these Examples that bare Reason and Moral Gallantry of Spirit have sometimes enabled Heathens and Mahumet ans to resist those Pains and Pleasures and Interests which as all men grant are the strongest Temptations to Sin is it not shameful Nonsense and horrid Impiety for Christians whom God without a just provocation never fails to support and assist with his Grace to magnifie the weakness of Humane Nature and the strength of these and the like Temptations with a Malicious design nor only to justifie themselves and excuse others but to Debauch Mankind to the utmost of their power and render the Christian the most grievous intollerable Religion that ever was in the World From whence I proceed to prove by Reason that no Trial or Temptation can happen to Men but such as is suitable to Humane Nature aided with Grace and such as any Christian that is true to his own endeavours and faithfully uses the restraining and assisting helps of God my not easily conquer and subdue My first Reason shall be taken from the consideration of the nature of Virtue and Grace which are nothing but an habitual power and ability in the Rational Soul of Man to bear all sensible Pain and Loss and forbear all sensible Pleasure and Profit out of love to Reason and the Righteous Laws of God This excellent spiritual power and ability of the Soul as far as it is Natural or acquired by our own Acts and Endeavours is of Moral consideration but as it is supernaturally wrought in the Soul or infus'd into it by the Spirit of God so far it is of Theological consideration and belongs not to Moralists but Divines But because Grace as all Men grant is the perfection of Nature and acquired Virtue is consistent with infus'd I have put them both together in one Definition in which Divines and Philosophers both agree But were it impossible or so exceeding difficult as some Men make it to resist Temptations this definition of Grace or Virtue would be but an useless fictitious notion and Divines and Philosophers from the beginning of the World would have been either Knaves or Fools All the excellent Sermons the former have made with so much eloquence and authority concerning Mortification Self-denial and Perseverance and all the brave Discourses the latter have penn'd with such admirable Reason and Rhetorick concerning Fortitude Temperance and Patience are idle unprofitable Harangues and as insignificant to the impotent Race and Nature of Man as the practical Rules of Dancing to a Cripple or a Lecture in Geometry to a natural Fool. In particular St. Paul who Magnifies the Grace of God so much in his Epistles and protests he took pleasure in bearing Reproaches Persecutions and Distresses for Christs sake This great Doctor and Saint who declar'd upon his own experience that he was alwaies most strong when he was most weak and that he could do and suffer all things through the strength he receiv'd from Christ must pass for a Cheat or Enthusiast if Men by the promised supports and assistance of Gods Grace be not able to resist Temptations unto Sin There was never yet in the Church of God a more apt Example to confirm this Doctrin I now maintain than this Apostle was for when the Jews and Gnosticks persecuted his righteous Soul with so much rage and violence as to make him call them the Messengers of Satan and compare the sharpness of the Persecution which they rais'd against him to a thorn in the flesh like a true Souldier of Christ he still resisted and held out but yet suspecting his own perseverance and fearing lest his Faith and Patience might at last fail he Prayed God thrice to remove the sharp Trials from him But God who knew whereof he was made better than he himself still continu'd them assuring the suffering Apostle that his concurrent Grace was sufficient for him and that his strength was made perfect in his weakness This relation the Apostle makes of himself is either true or false If false then he was either an Impostor or a Mad-man If he was Mad as the Festuses of this Age represent him to be how came he to speak the words of Truth and Soberness Hw came he to write such learned and profound Epistles and make such admirable defences for himself and the Christian Religion before so many Procurators and the Emperour himself at Rome How came he to be so very Wise upon occasion as to plead the Priviledge of a Roman Citizen and divide the Sadducees against the Pharisees when they had both conspir'd to take away his Life How came he to baffle the Jews out of their own Traditions and Prophecies to convert the greatest Cities of the World to the Christian Religion and acquire such a particular Veneration and Authority not only among the common People but among the Philosophers both of Greece and Rome To conclude how came the Church Universal to Canonize his Writings and how came they particularly to be ador'd by such gallant Men as Justin Origen Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria who were all as great Wits and Philosophers as ever the World could shew An Impostor likewise he could not be for then he must have acted for Glory or Gain For Glory he did not because he hath so often acknowledg'd his own Sinfulness Unworthiness and Insufficiency representing himself as the least of the Apostles and freely confessing that he was what he was by the Grace and designation of God And for Gain or secular Interest he could not act for in this Life he was of all Men most miserable his Apostolical Office rendring his whole Life but a continual Tragedy or Catalogue of Miseries as you may read 2 Cor. 11. from the 23. to the end of the Chapter This Story then I cited out of his Writings must be infallibly true and if it be then Virtue and Grace are real notions and by consequence no Tempation can happen to any Man but what Humane Nature is able to bear And lest you should think that God had a more particular care for this Apostle than other Christians and supply'd him with more particular aids than the rest of the Church you may find him exhorting the whole Church of Ephesus to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might you may find him charging Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ and exhorting the whole City of the Philippians to work out their Salvation with care and sollicitude because God by his preventing and assisting Grace was working in their hearts both to Will and to Do. Perseverance or the working out of Salvation consists in nothing but in constantly resisting Temptations to Sin and there can be no sense in that nor any other such like Exhortations unless God as the Psalmist speaks be a present help in time of trouble and his
of Temporal Happiness which consists in the enjoyment of it must at least to covetous or ambitious Souls be the strongest inducement that can be to Sin And yet as powerful as this motive is Moses who might have passed for the Son of Pharaohs Daughter and by consequence have been Heir presumptive to his Crown when he came to Years as the Author to the Hebrews writes rather than renounce the Covenant which his Ancestors made with God Excommunicate himself from his visible Church and forfake his Brethren though the persecuted People of God refused to be call'd that is to be the Son of that August Princess and expect the most glorious Kingdom of the World And not to ransack forreign Histories or multiply Examples in this short Discourse our late Soveraign Charles the Martyr whom God was pleased to make perfect through sufferings and reserve for these latter times as the most glorious Monument of Christian Courage that ever was in the World That incomparable Prince and Christian rather than Rob God Prostitute his Royal Honour justifie Sacrilege and Rebellion by Law and Perjure his Righteous Soul by accepting those Sinful Conditions the Rebels proposed after many other unparallell'd sufferings chose to Sacrifice his Blood to his Conscience and secure his Innocence by the loss of his Triple Crown My last Instance to prove how capable Humane Nature in a Christian is to resist Temptations shall be taken from the natural desire of Revenge which of all other sinful affections but Pride and Self-love from whence it proceeds discovers it self early in Man For with how much impatience and eagerness will even little Children strive to be revenged How quickly will they resent and how long remember injuries and how will Malice as it were possess their little Souls and Anger the actual exercise of that Malice swell their Hearts and Eyes And how natural this Sin is to the corrupt constitution of Man and how proper it is to some particular complexions and tempers the Brawls Curses Duels Factions Slanders Libels Murthers Schisms and Rebellions which happen in all Societies of Men are most sad deplorable proofs And yet if any Man deny that it is possible to mortifie this damnable passion of Revenge wherein the Image of the Devil so much consists he Libels the Christian Religion and injures the Reputation and Authority of the Gospel which teacheth Men to forgive and love their enemies to bless them that curse us and to do good to them that hate us and despite fully use us This Doctrin is proper to the Christian above all the Religions in the World God hath made it the very condition upon which he 'l accept our Oblations and grant us Pardon for our Sins and therefore if thou bring by gift before the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave thy Gift there and go thy way thou must first be reconciled to thy Brother and then return and offer thy gift And unless we can prevail with our selves to forgive men their trespasses the Oracle of our Religion hath assur'd us 't is in vain to Pray for the Pardon of our own Therefore if it be impossible to resist Temptations to this devilish Sin of Revenge or which is all one to Forgive the Enemy that strike the first stroke 't is impossible to be Saved or else all the Precepts of mutual forbearance and forgiving one another must pass for Gospel-gallantry or only for the Romantick and Ornamental part of the Christian Religion which it concerns us not at all to practice or believe But alass 't is as easie to conquer this damnable Passion of Revenge as to become Meek and Humble and Charitable for the mutual exercise of which most excellent Graces the Primitive Christians as Marcellinus hath observed were famous among the Heathens when Slanders Quarrels Bloodshed and all other Tragical effects of Revenge were scarce ever heard of in the Church of God But besides the Examples I have taken out of the Bible and other Sacred Histories to prove under these four Instances that no Temptations are too strong to be overcome let me add some examples out of Heathen and Mahumetan Historians for the further confirmation of this fundamental Truth Under my first Instance I might have produc'd a thousand illustrious Examples as of Socrates Regulus Curtius all which chose to dye very cruel Deaths The first rather than deny God The second rather than perjure his Soul And the third to deliver his Country from a Plague My second Instance I might have adorn'd with the memorable examples of Scipio Numantinus and Mahumet the Great whereof the first abhor'd to look upon that charming Beauty which his Captains presented unto him as his prize And the latter after an humble remonstrance of his Lords how much it was beneath the Majesty of the Ottoman Emperour to enslave it self to the Weaker Sex immediately sacrificed his dearest Mistress Irene to his Honour with his own victorious Hands The Action was Barbarous but the Self-denial was great and may justly serve to upbraid those slothful cowardly Christians who have not only lost all sense of Honour but all sense and consideration of infinite future Rewards and so harden their hearts that they will not attend to the dictates of their own Reason and thereby dispose their Souls to hearken to the secret Directions and Inspirations of God They could be content to have him for their Champion but not for their Second for they hate to assist him or which is all one to let him assist them against the World the Flesh and the Devil but because they cannot do all therefore they will do nothing nor contribute that little they have left as men to secure themselves from Sin To conclude they will not like Cornelius prepare themselves by Morality for Grace but would have God entirely force their Nature and influence their Souls by the irresistible motions of his Spirit being unwilling to do so much in Spiritual Matters as is requisit to denominate good Actions their own Under the third Instance I might have added the great Examples of Abdolominus Dioclesian and Otho the first of which was unwilling to change a private Life for a Crown The second chang'd a Crown I cannot say but the Empire of Rome which had Crowned heads for Subjects for a private Life And the third though he was elected Emperour by his conquering Legions refus'd to ratifie the Election by his Sword but Kill'd himself on purpose to leave the Imperial Seat to his Rival and save the expence of his faithful Souldiers Blood The fourth Instance I might have confirm'd with the Testimony of the Greek and Latin Moralists all which determin with one Voice that Revenge is a Passion violent in none but weak and cowardly Souls and that Revenge an injury as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports is according to the Doctrin of Maximus Tyrius to offer one again so that he that Returns is as
A DISCOURSE TO PROVE That the strongest Temptations are Conquerable BY CHRISTIANS OR A Sober defence of NATURE and GRACE Against the Cavils and Excuses of loose incosiderate Men. IN A SERMON Preach'd before the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR of London and Court of ALDERMEN The 14th of January 1676 7. By GEORGE HICKES B. D. Chaplain to his Grace the Lord Duke of Lauderdale And Fellow of Linc. Coll. Oxon. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 Ye are of God little Childaen and have over-come them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 LONDON Printed by W. Godbid and are to be sold by Moses Pitt at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1677. DAVIES MAYOR Martis xxiij die Januarii 1676. Annoque Regni Regis CAROLI secundi Anglie c. xxviij THis Court doth desire Mr. Hicks to Print his Sermon lately Preach'd at the Guild-Hall Chappel before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of this City Wagstaffe IMPRIMATUR Guil. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris dom Feb. 16. 1676 7. To the Right Honourable Sir THOMAS DAVIES Lord Mayor of LONDON AND The Court of ALDERMEN My Lord I Have a singular veneration for your Lordship and the Court which makes me submit my Judgment to yours and publish this Discourse to comply with your joint request which I think as obliging as any Command Your Authority more than all the interest I have in it will recommend it to the World and if it be but read with as much satisfaction as your Honours heard it it will answer the ends of its Publication and prove as useful as it is suitable to the necessities of the age 'T is a sad thing to consider that there should be an occasion for such a Discourse as this and nothing reflects more dishonour upon the Gospel or more grieves and disheartens the Ministers thereof then to see themselves constrain'd by Mens extravagant Opinions to Preach up those Truths they ought to presuppose But so my Lord it is that Mens Errors and Vices give us subjects for Sermons as the sometimes give our Law-givers matter for their Laws and particularly Scepticisme which is nothing but Infidelity in several dresses and degrees so possesses the Minds of Men that instead of Preaching up Practical Divinity we are often constrain'd to insist upon Doctrinal Points Instead of perswading Men to the Love of God we are fain now and then to prove that he is instead of urging them to have a care of their Souls we are forc'd to prove that their Souls are beings worthy of their care and instead of pressing them to resist all manner of Temptations and Pray for the Grace of God we sometimes find it needful first to convince then that they have power to resist them and that his Grace is a real thing This bitter root of unbelief is the Reason why the Gospel hath no better success in the World and one of the true causes why so many Men have a secret ill-will for the Ministers of it because they are an Order of Men set aside to maintain the everlasting Truths of God and oppose themselves to those impious Opinions by which they are willing to Damn their Souls But were other Men my Lord as Orthodox and understood their Religion as well as you there would be no occasions for such Discourses as this but we should wholly set our selves to press home upon Mens Consciences the practical Duties of Religion and by that means make the Preaching part of Divinity more delightful to our selves and much more profitable to the Church of God We should not then complain so much of the unsuccessfulness of our labours but see more of the travel of our Souls when the work of our Lord did prosper in our hands But whether we Preach Practically or whether we Preach about Speculative Truths we do the Work of him that sent us by the former we reform Mens Vices by the latter we confute their Errors by both we keep their Consciences awake and make it impossible for them to live without remorse or dye in their Sins without fear So that the Ministerial Function were it meerly Humane must needs be confessed to be an excellent Institution and its greatest Enemies cannot but acknowledge that the Pulpit conduces as much as the Bench to preserve Civil Order and restrain the exorbitant Passions of Men. In particular my Lord were it not for us this populous City which is now so happy in your Government would be far more Wicked than it is and both your Honour and all other Ministers of Criminal Justice would have much more Employment for their Axes and Rods. As for you my Lord your Honour by your diligent and impartial Administration of Justice hath testified to the World that you bear not the Sword in vain For ever since it was put into your hands you have severely Punished Vice and reform'd more disorders and disorderly Persons than I have opportunity here to relate The World sees and the City feels the effects of your good Government Good Men Honour you bad Men Fear you God will Bless you and Posterity will mention your Name with Praise In particular none Honours your more for your private and political Virtues than My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant GEORGE HICKES 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no Temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it ALthough the Substance of that Baptismal Oath of Allegiance which every Christian takes at his entrance into Covenant with God be to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and although this solemn obligation be laid by God and the Church upon the Conscience of every Christian to make him more vigilant and resolute in resisting the Temptations which the World without the Flesh within or the Devil both ways can present unto him Yet to the scandal both of our Nature and Religion there have often been and now are in the Church of God a sort of licentious perjur'd Christians who taking a pride to aggravate the weakness of Humane Nature and undervalue the power of Gods assisting Grace represent it as impossible for sinful Flesh and Blood to overcome the Pleasures of some and the Terrours of other Temptations and so make Religion it self which is nothing but the practice of resisting Pain and Pleasure out of love to God an idle Romantick notion and in effect renounce their Baptismal Vow But to the lewd Pretensions and authority of these most insolent Men my Text is an apparent contradiction and reproof wherein the Apostle assures the suffering Corinthians that as among all the sharp Trials and Persecutions they had undergone for Religion none had happen'd to them but such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
endure the most painful sorts of death rather than Worship a Cake of Bread Invoke their Fellow-creatures admit any Advocate in Heaven but Jesus or make the Gospel depend upon the dictates of the Pope how illiterate and wicked soever he may be But were there no other Histories extant but the Bible the number of the Saints recorded there that have embraced the most bitter Ignominious Deaths and despised the Torments and Shame thereof are more than enough to prove that there is no Temptation so dreadful but what may be born by Man and that 't is neither impossible nor so exceeding difficult for Christians to conquer the fear of Death as the profane and sensual part of the World to the dishonour of our Religion pretend it to be The second instance under which I shall bring examples to prove that no Temptation is irresistible shall be taken from the Sin of Uncleanness or fornication a Sin which the World is so apt to excuse and pretend a kind of necessity to commit because it is so natural to Flesh and Blood And yet as natural and hereditary as the Advocates of Uncleanness represent in to be 't is so far from being an irresistible Temptation that Joseph resisted the frequent importunities of his own Lady or Mistress although besides the quality of her Person and the danger of denying his own Youth and all other circumstances concurr'd to make him consent and Yield And were the dread of the Majesty of the Pure and Holy God impress'd upon the heart of the most lustsul Satyr but half as deep as it was upon his that Grace alone would be sufficient to check his sinful propensions and make him cry out as he did in the critical moment of Tryal How shall I do this damnable act and sin against my God But lest you should object that Joseph was an extraordinary person and had more than common assistance from God let us suppose the most ordinary unexperienc'd Christian surrounded with the strongest Temptations imaginable to commit this natural and therefore concluded unconquerable Sin Let us suppose him to have the most charming Beauty to entice him together with opportunity and all other Circumstances to heighten the Temptation and make it as outrageous as it can be imagin'd to be yet for all this if this Man should say that he were not able to rosist this violent Temptation he would lye against his Conscience and contradict the universal experience of the World For if at that instant God should say unto him as unto the Rich Man in the Gospel Thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee That dreadful Summons to appear so soon in the next World would make this mighty Temptation become none at all and presently drive out that unclean Spirit of Lust which possest his Soul before But much more if at the same time should come forth the Fingers of a Mans hand and write upon the Wall Mene Mene Tekel Upharzin Do this and thou shalt be immediately damned I desire any one of you to Answer in his heart for this Man what you think he would do You cannot but confess that his Amorous intentions and Countenance would be chang'd his jovial Thoughts troubled his Joints loos'd and his Knees like King Belshazzar's knock one against another Or lastly let us suppose at the same instant that an unexpected Message should come from his Prince threatning the Gibbet or the Ax if he proceeded to gratifie his sinful Desires such a terrible Message would undoubtedly be sufficient to extinguish his present Flames and restrain him from the Sin he intended to commit Or not to take the advantage of such frightful Enemies to his Pleasure as Damnation or Death let us rather suppose That a little Child much more a Grave and Reverend Person should unexpectedly come into the Room before he proceeded to execute his filthy Lust certainly instead of finding it impossible to resist the Damnable Sin he would find it impossible for him to commit it in their prefence unless he had made an utter shipwrack both of his Conscience and Honour and were become as shameless as a Beast Or let us suppose that a mighty reward imagin a Kingdom or some vast Sum of Money were offer'd him upon condition he would resist this pretended irresistible Temptation what do you think would find Strength and Resolution enough to overcome the unconquerable Temptation upon these terms and be glad to be hired by such a Reward to abstain from his Damnable Lust And therefore if all this be true Why should not the remembrance of our own Mortality as effectually Mortifie our Lusts and keep us from daring to commit a presumptuous Sin as if God himself should tell us we should shortly dye Why should not the consideration of Eternal Torments threatned in the Gospel be as perswasive against Sin as the consideration of them written by a Spirit upon a Wall Or why should not the Message of Eternal Death which we deliver from God prevail as much upon Men as the Message of temporal Death from a King Lastly why should not the presence of the Omnipresent God over-awe Men more than the presence of a Man Or why should not the Infallible Promise of Heaven and Infinite Happiness be a more powerful motive to Self-denyal than the Promise of a Kingdom or Treasure here below The shameful inconsideration stupidity and carnality of Mens hearts is the cause why Temporal expectations and proposals have more force upon their Souls than the hopes of Eternal Glory and that present or approaching sensible Pain or Loss fills their earthy Minds with more dreadful apprehensions than the prospect of Infinite Misery to come But to conclude this Instance with a more familiar Argument If the Temptations to this Sin be so very difficult to be resisted as Debauch'd Men pretend it is how comes it to pass that careful and Religious Parents suffer their Children to Sojorn in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar I mean to go abroad and converse in this wicked World How dare they expose their Souls which they tender next to their own to such certain dangers in an Adulterous Generation if to deny ones self and resist the Temptations of the Flesh be either impossible or next to impossible as the injurious Discourses of the unclean Spirits of this licencious Age upon all occasions represent it to be My third Instance to prove how capable the nature of Man by Gods Grace is to resist or overcome the most dangerous Temptations shall be taken from a Temptation to commit some Sin upon a certain proposal of gaining or loosing a Crown Among all the Trials or Temptations the World the Devil or our own Hearts can present unto us none can be more powerful or unconquetable than this For a Crown is the highest secular Interest the possession of it is both Government and Riches and by consequence the hopes of getting or fear of loosing that supreme degree