following him, have shut up in two homely verses, Jussio, consilium, &c. The sum is, that we do not save ourselves from evil, if either we command it; or counsel it; or consent to it; or sooth it; or further it; or share in it; or dissuade it not; or resist it not; or reveal it not. Here would be work enough, you see, to hold our preaching unto St. Paul's hour, midnight: but I spare you, and would be loth to have any Eutychus. Shortly, if we would save ourselves from the sin of the time, we may not command it, as Jezebel did to the elders of Jezreel; we may not advise it, as Jonadab did to Amnon; we may not consent to it, as Bathsheba did to David; we may not soothe it, as Zidkijah did to Ahab; we may not further it, as Joab did to David; we may not forbear to dissuade it, as Hirah the Adullamite to Judah; to resist it, as partial Magistrates; to reveal it, as treacherous Confessaries. 3. But, of all these, that we may single out our last and utmost remedy, here must be a zealous RELUCTATION to evil. All those other negative carriages, of not commanding, not counselling, not consenting, not soothing, not abetting, not sharing, are nothing without a real oppugnation of sin. Would we then thoroughly quit ourselves of our froward generation? we must set our faces against it, to discountenance it: we must set our tongues against it, to control it: we must set our hands against it, to oppose it. It goes far, that of the Apostle, Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin; Heb. xii. 4. Lo, here is a truly heroical exercise for you Great Ones: to strive against sin; not ad sudorem only, as physicians prescribe, but ad sanguinem. Ye cannot better bestow yourselves, than, in a loyal assistance of Sacred Authority, upon the debellation of the outrageous wickedness of the times. These are the dragons, and giants, and monsters, the vanquishing whereof hath moralized the Histories of your famous Progenitors. Oh, do ye consecrate your hands and your hearts to God, in beating down the headstrong powers of evil and, as by repentance and avoidance, so by Reluctation, Save your Souls from this untoward generation. III. Now, what need I waste the time in dehorting your Noble and Christian ingenuity from participation of the epidemical sins of a froward generation? It is enough motive to you, that sin is a base, sordid, dishonourable thing. But, withal, let me add only one dissuasive from the danger, implied in the very word Save: for how are we saved, but from a danger? the danger both of Corruption and Confusion. 1. CORRUPTION. Ye see before your eyes, that one yawning mouth makes many. This pitch will defile us. One rotten kernel of the pomegranate infects the fellows. St. Paul made that verse of the heathen poet canonical, Evil conversation corrupts good manners. What woeful experience have we every day of those, who, by this means, from a vigorous heat of zeal have declined to a temper of lukewarm indifferency; and then, from a careless mediocrity to all extremity of debauchedness, and, of hopeful beginners, have ended in incarnate devils! Oh, the dangerous and insensible insinuations of sin! If that crafty Tempter can hereby work us but to one drachm of less detestation to a familiarly inured evil, he promiseth himself the victory. It is well noted by St. Ambrose, of that chaste Patriarch Joseph, that, so soon as ever his wanton mistress had laid her impure hand upon his cloak, he leaves it behind him, that he might be sure to avoid the danger of her contagious touch. If the Spouse of Christ be a Lily among Thorns, by the mighty protection of her Omnipotent Husband; yet, take thou heed, how thou walkest among those thorns for that lily. Shortly, wouldst thou not be tainted with wickedness? abhor the pestilent society of lewd men; and, by a seasonable subduction, thus Save thyself from a froward generation. 2. The last and utmost of all dangers, is CONFUSION. charge of God by Moses is but just; Numb. xvi. 26: Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye perish in all their sins. Lo, the very station, the very touch is mortal. Indeed, what reason is there to hope or to plead for an immunity? If we share in the work, why should we not take part of the wages? The wages of sin is death. If the stork be taken damage faisant with the cranes, she is enwrapped in the same net, and cannot complain to be surprised. Qui cum lupis est, cum lupis ululet, as he said; "He, that is with wolves, let him howl with wolves." If we be fratres in malo, "brethren in evil," we must look to be involved in the same curse. Be not deceived, Honourable and Beloved, here is no exemption of greatness; nay, contrarily, eminence of place aggravates both the sin and the judgment. When Ezra heard that the hand of the princes and rulers had been chief in that great offence, then he rent his clothes and tore his hair: Ezra ix. 3. That Certainly, this case is dangerous and fearful, wheresoever it lights. Hardly are those sins redressed, that are taken up by the great easily are those sins diffused, that are warranted by great examples. The great lights of heaven, the most conspicuous planets, if they be eclipsed, all the almanacks of all nations. write of it; whereas, the small stars of the galaxy are not heeded. All the country runs to a beacon on fire: nobody regards to see a shrub flaming in a valley. Know then, that your sins are so much greater as yourselves are: and all the comfort that I can give you, without your true repentance, is, "that mighty men shall be mightily tormented." Of all other men, therefore, be ye most careful to keep yourselves untainted with the common sins, and to renew your covenant with God. No man cares for a spot upon a plain russet riding-suit; but we are curious of a rich robe; every mote there is an eye-sore. Oh, be ye careful to preserve your honour from all the foul blemishes of corruption; as those, that know virtue hath a greater share in nobility, than blood. Imitate in this the great frame of this creation; which still, the more it is removed from the dregs of this earth, the purer it is. Oh, save ye yourselves from this untoward generation: so shall ye help to save your nation, from the imminent judgments of our just God: so shall ye save your souls, in the day of the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ: To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, one Infinite God, be all honour and glory ascribed, now and for ever. Amen. SERMON XXVIII. THE HYPOCRITE. SET FORTH IN A SERMON AT THE COURT, FEBRUARY 28, 1630 * : BEING THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. BY JOSEPH EXON. TO MY EVER MOST WORTHILY HONOURED LORD, My Most Honoured Lord,-I might not but tell the world that this Sermon, which was mine in the Pulpit, is yours in the Press. Your Lordship's will, which shall never be other than a command to me, fetches it forth into the light before the fellows. Let me be branded with the Title of it, if I can think it worthy of the public view, in comparison of many accurate pieces of others, which I see content themselves daily to die in the ear. Howsoever, if it may do good, I shall bless your Lordship for helping to advance my gain. Your noble and sincere true-heartedness to your God, your King, your Country, your Friend, is so well known, that it can be no disparagement to your Lordship to patronize this HYPOCRITE; whose very inscription might cast a blur upon some guilty reputation. Go on still, most noble Lord, to be a great Example of Virtue and Fidelity to a hollow and untrusty age. You shall not want either the acclamations or prayers of Your Lordship's ever devoted, in all true duty and observance, 2 TIM. III. 5. Having a Form of Godliness, but denying the Power thereof. It is an unperfect clause, you see; but a perfect description of a Hypocrite: and that, a hypocrite of our own times, the last which are so much the worse, by how much they partake more of the craft and diseases of age. *The folio has 1629; but I have altered it, because the Third Sunday in Lent of the year 1629 could not fall on Feb. 28, as Ash Wednesday, that year, The Prophets were the Seers of the Old Testament: the Apostles were the Seers of the New. Those saw Christ's day, and rejoiced these foresaw the reign of Antichrist, and complained. These very times were as present to St. Paul, as to us: our sense doth not see them so clearly, as his revelation. I am with you in the spirit, saith he to his absent Colossians, rejoicing, and beholding your order. He doth as good as say to us, "I am with you in the spirit, lamenting and beholding your misdemeanours." By these divine optics, he sees our formal piety, real wickedness: both which make up the complete Hypocrisy in my Text; Having a form of Godliness, but denying the Power thereof. I doubt not, but some will be ready to set this sacred prognostication to another meridian. And, indeed, we know a generation that loves themselves too well; much more than peace and truth so covetous, that they would catch all the world in St. Peter's net proud boasters of their own merits, perfections, supererogations. It would be long, though easy, to follow all. We know where too many treasons are hatched: we know who, in the height of mind, exalts himself above all that is called God: we know where pleasure hath the most delicate and debauched clients we know where devotion is professedly formal, and lives impure and, surely, were we clearly innocent of these crimes, I should be the first that would cast this stone at Rome. But, now that we share with them in these sins, there is no reason we should be sejoined in the censure. Take it among ye, therefore, ye Hypocrites of all professions, for it is your own, Ye have a Form of Godliness, denying the Power thereof. What is a hypocrite but a player; the Zany of religion, as ye heard lately? A player acts that, he is not so do ye, act good, and are wicked. Here is a semblance of good, a Form of Godliness here is a real evil, a denial of the Power of Godliness. There is nothing so good as Godliness; yea, there is nothing good, but it. Nothing makes Godliness to be good, or to be Godliness, but the power of it: for it is not, if it work not; and it works not, if not powerfully. Now the denial of good must needs be evil; and, so much more evil, as the good which is denied is more good: and therefore the denial of the Power of was on the 18th of February; whereas, Ash Wednesday of the year 1630, falling on Feb. 10, the Third Sunday in Lent would of course fall, as above, on the 28th. It is not, however, unlikely, that the Bishop uses, on this and other occasions, the mode of computation then frequently practised; which we find thus mentioned in our older Prayer Books, at the foot of the Table of Moveable Feasts: "The supputation of the year of our Lord, in the Church of England, beginneth the five-and-twentieth day of March." In that case, by Feb. 28, 1629, he would mean what we should express by Feb. 28, 1630. Had he followed the method, usually employed, of giving those dates, which occurred between Jan. 1st, and Mar. 25th, and written Feb. 1638, it would have removed all ambiguity.- PRATT. Godliness, must needs be as ill as the Form or Show of Godliness would seem good, and as the Power of Godliness is good. This is, therefore, the perfect Hypocrisy of fashionable Christians they have the Form; they deny the Power. Here is then a direct and professed opposition, betwixt μόρφωσις and δύναμις, the form and the power and no less between the actions employed about them both; the one having, the other denying: having the form, denying the power. As all sin is originally from the Devil, so especially Hypocrisy : he is The Father of Lies: and what is Hypocrisy but a real lie? that is, his darling: and these two are well put together, év iñokpiσei Yevdodóywv, 1 Tim. iv. 2. in hypocrisy speaking lies. Now, as all things are more eminent in their causes and originals, than in the effects derived from them; so it must needs be said, that the greatest hypocrite in the world is the Devil. I know he hears what I say; but we must speak truth, and shame him. For Satan is transformed into an angel of light; saith the Apostle : not, he was; but, he is so transformed, that he never did, never will put off that counterfeit. And, as all his Imps are partakers of the Satanical nature; so, in every hypocrite, there is both the angel and the devil: the seeming angel is the Form of Godliness; the real devil is the denial of the Power of Godliness. It must be in another sense, that that Father said, Innocentia tempore posterior est quam malitia. I am sure the angel of light was before the Satan; and now, because he is Satan, he puts on the angel of light. Such shall be our method in this Hypocrite we treat of: first, we will begin with the ANGEL OF HYPOCRISY; and then, show you the DEVIL IN HIS TRUE SHAPE. I. First then, here is a Form, and but A FORM, OF GODLINESS. A form does well; but, if it be but a form, it is an immaterial shadow of piety. Such was this of these men for they were unnatural, traitors, heady, high-minded, piλndovo. Surely, if they were unnatural, they must needs be unchristian: if they were traitors to their king, they could be no subjects to God: if heady and high-minded, they had nothing to do with him whose first lesson was, Learn of me, for I am meek. Nulla creatura humilior Deo; "No creature is more humble than God;" as Laurentius well: if they had pleasure for their idol, they could not have the Lord for their God. So as, even without God, they had yet a Form of Godliness. Godliness is a thing much talked of; little understood. While the Ancient School had wont to say, That it is not practical, not speculative, but affective; their meaning was, That it is in all these, in the heart, in the brain, in the hand: but most in the heart. It is speculative, in the knowledge of God; practical, in the service to God; affective, in our fear of him, love to him, joy |