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A70775 A sermon preacht at St. George's Church at Windsor Septemb. 27. 1685. By Edward Pelling, chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Somerset. Printed by order. Pelling, Edward, d. 1718. 1685 (1685) Wing P1099A; ESTC R23220 13,734 30

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A SERMON Preacht at St. GEORGE'S Church AT WINDSOR Septemb. 27. 1685. By EDWARD PELLING Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Somerset Printed by Order LONDON Printed for Sam. Keble at the Turks Head in Fleet-street and Walter Davis in Amen Corner 1685. A SERMON Preached at St. GEORGE'S Church AT WINDSOR Septemb. 27. 1685. 1 PET. 3. 13. And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good IT may seem very strange that words to this purpose should drop from St. Peters mouth if we understand them so as if good Men could not be intreated after an evil manner For the whole History of those times wherein the Apostles lived contradicteth this Assertion if we take it Universally and at large Stephen had been already stoned and at the same time a great persecution was raised against the Church at Jerusalem Act. 8. James the Brother of John was killed and St. Peter himself had been committed to Prison Act 12. And how many sorts of ill usage did Paul and Silas and the rest receive at the hands of Infidels in those times Nay our Apostle himself supposeth that good men might suffer for their righteousness at the Verse immediately following my Text But and if ye suffer for Righteousness sake happy are ye and so on Either then we must deny plain matters of Fact or else we must suppose the Christians of those times not to have been followers of that which is good or else we must conclude that St. Peter had in this Place a further meaning besides that which lyeth open to our first view Therefore in discoursing upon this portion of Scripture I shall 1. Shew what is the full and genuine sense of the words 2. Demonstrate the Truth of that which St. Peter doth here intend 3. And so in the third place bring down the whole to our own Practice with respect to those Circumstances which we our selves are in at this present juncture As to the First the Apostles meaning must needs be this that none will hurt us if they have a true respect for Vertue and Goodness as long as they see us follow that which is plainly and manifestly good as long as they are satisfied and convinced of our Integrity as long as we discharge our Reputation as well as our Consciences as long as our Light so shineth before men that they see our good works and cannot but confess that of a Truth our Conversation is honest and upright and Si semper ea quae Planè bona sunt imitemini Grot. in Loc. in every respect such as doth become the profession of Christs Religion Sometimes it is not enough for us to be innocent unless our Innocence doth appear so that we may be able to stop the mouths and put to silence the ignorance of foolish men if their foreheads be but tollerably tender It was the very case of Christians in the Apostolical Age Though Piety and Vertue was the great care and imployment of their Lives though they valued a good Conscience above the whole World yet strangers to the Faith were every where mistaken in them and 't was a long time before they could conquer those strong prejudices they had entertained against them The Jews on the one hand lookt upon them as Innovators and Hereticks Though their Religion was not any new thing but a Reformation of those abuses which had crept into the Church Vide Euseb Hist Eccles lib 1. c. 4. by degrees yet their new Name gave offence for they were first called Christians at Antioch and their Enemies believed that their Faith was New also Where was your Religion before Christ As those superstitious people were ready to object They were angry at the supposed Novelty of the Christian Religion though if that was a Reproach to the Reformation then that it was of so late a date the quarrel seem'd to be with God himself because he sent not his Son sooner into the World On the other hand the Pagans lookt upon the followers of Jesus as a seditious sort of men that carried on an interest in opposition to the Interest of the Roman Empire Christ himself was reviled as Caesars Enemy and his Disciples had the Character of people that turned the World upside down that did all things contrary to the decrees of Caesar Act 17. Many violent prejudices were against them and the generality of people ran away with abundance of gross mistakes concerning them and their Religion which nothing but time and Patience could possibly Remove And therefore St. Peters business in the Text was to perswade them not only to be followers of that which was Good for so they were already but moreover to give all possible Demonstrations of their integrity And that this was the Apostles sense appears clearly from those words but three Verses after my Text that whereas men speak Evil of you as of Evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your Good Conversation in Christ Nothing could make their Enemies ashamed but Notoriety of fact the way to make them blush was to let them see what horrible mistakes they were under then they would be ashamed when 't was made clear and apparent how Hoc ipsum eis pudori erit ubi apparuerit ex factis vestris quàm recta et pura sit Christiana Religio Grot. in 1 Pet. 3. 16. Right and pure the Christian Religion was as the learned Grotius hath noted upon that place So that the full meaning of the Apostle here is this that when once we give plain and unquestionable Proofs that we are really followers of that which is Good when once we make it clear and evident to the World so that all Men of sense and common honesty must needs grant that we are so we have reason enough to believe then that all things will go very well with us especially when such as are a terrour to evil doers domot●act upon any mean any dishonourable any base designs but profess a due regard and love for goodness and therefore cannot be rationally supposed to be willing at any time to afflict it unless it be unfortunately upon misinformation and mistakes which was indeed the case of the Primitive Christians but cannot be ours now unless the fault be our own first 2. The sense of the Text being thus clear'd I proceed in the second place to Demonstrate the Truth of the thing And for the clearing of that too many arguments might be offered to your consideration 1. As First concerning the good Providence of God which never faileth such good men as conscientiously and honestly act in subserviency to the Honour and Interest of true Religion And when all is done that lyeth in the power of Second and subordinate Causes The Providence of God is the onely certain and infallible security we may depend upon with confidence Every thing in the World but Providence is uncertain and contingent 'T is this that is the great security