Spiritual Wisdom Improved Against Temptation, Title page – Errata
Spiritual Wiſdom Improved againſt TEMPTATION.
IN A SERMON PREACHED At Stepney Septemb. 16. 1660. And now made publick to obviate miſrepreſentation.
By MATTHEW MEADE.
Joh. 18.23.
If I have ſpoken evil, bear witneſs of the evil; but if I have ſpoken well, why ſmiteſt thou me?
Pſal. 120.2.
Deliver my ſoul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
Conſcia mens recti famae mendacia ridet.
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Parkhurſt, at the Three Crowns in the lower end of Cheapſide over againſt the Great Conduit. 1660.
To the Congregation at Stepney, that were the Auditors of this Sermon, All Covenant-mercies be multiplied through our Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
I Shall not put my ſelf to the charge of importuning your acceptance of this Sermon, being perſwaded that you whoſe ears were tied ſo faſt to the Preachers lips when it was delivered, will not diſdain to caſt your eyes upon it when it is tranſlated from the Pulpit to the Preſs. Had not an unſavoury breath (that common telltale of a foul ſtomack) blowed upon it to infection, it had layen ſtill with its elder brethren in the dark ſepulchre of oblivion. Nor yet could that have raiſed it again, had not your affectionate deſire rowled away the ſtone from the mouth of the ſepulchre. You (it ſeems) firſt diſcovered other men digging pits in the field of my reputation, to find the unknown treaſure of their own, and therefore thought the publiſhing this Sermon the beſt way to fill them up again; which I readily aſſented to, that the world may ſee how eaſily innocence and plain dealing may be baptized into the name of Faction and Sedition; nay that I preached Rebellion and Treaſon, is charged upon this Sermon, meerly becauſe I ſpoke of ſinful compliance with the ceremonies againſt conſcience; That I mentioned not either the King or his Government, neither at that time nor any other, ſave only to pray for him, as by the command of God I am bound to do, I have thouſands of witneſſes among you.
How little my Sermons have been ſtuft with State matters you can all teſtifie; I did determine to know nothing among you, 1 Cor. 2.….ſave Jeſus Chriſt and him crucified.
That I have not in this Sermon ſpoken any thing of the nature of temptations, &c. is not only becauſe the ſubject leads not directly to it, but becauſe I have heretofore in twenty Sermons from Rev. 3.10. handled that ſubject among you.
I had thought I might have continued with you long enough to have out-lived my deſign upon this Text;Pſal. 31.15 but the wiſe God (in whoſe hand my times are) hath given me a quietus eſt, not only in reference to my place, but to my conſcience alſo.
The greateſt evil I ſhall wiſh to thoſe that ſucceed me, ſhall be, that they may be as true to the intereſt of your precious ſouls, as I did always deſire,2 Cor. 12.14. and to my power endeavour to be: God is my record, that I ſought not yours but you. My care and prayer hath always been that you might receive heavenly treaſure out of a poor earthen veſſel.
I may ſay that no part of Gods Vineyard in the whole Nation hath had more choyce and eminent labourers (my ſelf excepted) then this of Stepney for ſeveral years together;Mr. Burroughs. M. Whittaber. M. Bridge, and till now Mr. Greenbil. and in this regard I had a hard province to write after ſuch coples; but who looks for a mans head upon a childs ſhoulders? nor will God require the improvement of ten talents where he gives but one.
What good the Lord hath done by me, bleſs him for; ſet my name to no more then the weakneſſes and infirmities that were diſcovered in my performances.
I have ground to hope that through the dew of Gods grace watering the ſeed of the word, ſome were converted, ſome convinced, ſome confirmed;Rom. 10.1 and my hearts deſire and prayer to God for all, ſhall be that they may be ſaved.Heb. 13.10, …1.
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jeſus that great ſhepherd of the ſheep, through the blood of the everlaſting covenant make you perfect in every goodwork to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleaſing in his ſight, through Jeſus Chriſt, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
MATTH. MEADE.
TO THE Ingenuous Reader.
THis Sermon had never borrowed one hour of thy light, could prejudice and ill-will (which never ſpeaks well) have ſuffered it to have layn in darkneſs, it was honeſtly born, but, unknown to the parent, it was brought under a Canonical Baptiſme, where it received the ſign of the Croſs, and ſo is made Crucianus though not Chriſtianus; had it but pleaded the holineſs of veſtures, the decency of a ceremony, no doubt though its ſubiect had not been ſo good, yet its cenſure had not been ſo bad.
The Author intended no more in the delivering of it to his hearers, then a help to the delivering of them from the power of the Tempter. When ſhould the Watchmen give warning, but when the enemy is approaching? and when ſhould they call loudeſt to ſpiritual watchfulneſs, but when they are neareſt to the ſnares of ſpiritual wickedneſs? This was the practice of our Lord Chriſt;Mar. 6.41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.
What it was in the Sermon that could poſſibly offend, I cannot gueſs, unleſs the eighth head; and I wonder not much at their offence at that, ſince it appears they are weak brethren. It is ſad that men ſhould walk not as wiſe but as fools, when the drift of the diſcourſe was to teach them to walk not as fools, but as wiſe; and that a Sermon of temptation, ſhould become a temptation; thus is Chriſt himſelf a ſtone of ſtumbling, 1 Pet. 2.3.whilſt they that ſo mannerly how their bodies at the name of Jeſus, cannot bend their conſciences to the truth of Jeſus; but herein is that Scripture fulfilled;…oh. 5.9. For judgment I am come into this world, that they which ſee not might ſee, and that they which ſee might be made blind.
There is ſomewhat ſpoken about ſinful compliance with ceremonies, and not much; if it had been more, it had not been much, coming from one that was born too late to remember them practiſed, and thinks he ſhould live too long to ſee them impoſed: If to ſpeak againſt Will-worſhip and ſuperſtition, be a fault, (for that is my crime) who can love the Lord Jeſus Chriſt in ſincerity, and at this time be innocent? I had rather be charged with frowardneſs before men, then to be charged with unfaithfulneſs before God.
Expect not Iliads in a nutſhel, much in this little, it being but conceived but the day before it was born: I reſolved as not to diminiſh one ſentence from it, to make it more excuſable; ſo not to add one ſentence to it, to make it more commendable; only a little in the Introduction which I then omitted, and now, to make what follows ſenſe, have added.
It was ſeed ſown on good ground, Mat. 13.4. compared with the 9.preached to an honeſt congregation at Stepney, though ſome fell by the way ſide, and that the wicked one picked up: Thus as bold thieves will dare to pick pockets at the very bar of judgment, ſo Satan will be tempting and inſnaring, even when and where his temptations are diſcovering.
This ſermon hath a diſorderly publication, both in regard of divers Sermons that were Preached before it on the ſame text, and divers that are to follow after it, but as this finds acceptance, ſo I at preſent purpoſe to deal with the reſt, either to the cloſet, or to the houſe top.
If any thing in it prove uſeful to thy ſoul in the houn of temptation, let God have thy prayſes, who deſerves them; and let him have thy prayers who needs them, and who promiſes to be in return for them.
Thy Servant for Jeſus ſake, MAT. MEADE.
PAge 1. line 13. r. but a while. p. 10. l. 11. for ſhould r. would. p. 12. l, 5. dele though … die. p. ib. l. 8. add not. p. 15. l. 17. for our r. out.