The Christians Hop, License 1 – Dedication
Die Mercurij, May 28. 1645.
IT is this day ordered by the Lords in Parliament, that M. Whitaker, who preached this day before the Lords in Parliament, is hereby thanked for the great pains hee took in his Sermon, and is deſired by their Lordſhips to print and publiſh the ſame, which is not to be printed or reprinted by any, but by authority under his own hand.
John Brown, Cler. Parliamentorum.
July 15. 1645.
I appoint John Bellamy to print this Sermon.
Jeremiah Whitaker.
THE CHRISTIANS HOPE TRIVMPHING In theſe glorious Truths;
1. That Chriſt the ground of hope, is God, and not meer man, againſt the Arians, and other unbelieving Chriſtians.
2. That Chriſt is the true Meſsiah, againſt the unbelieving Jews.
3. That there is another life beſides this, againſt the groſſe Atheiſt.
4. That the ſoul of man is immortall, and doth not ſleep till the day of Reſurrection, against the errour of ſome ſeeming ſemi-Atheiſts.
5. How the hope of Heaven ſhould be attained, whilst we are on earth, against the carnall worldlings.
6. How this hope may be diſcerned where it is, and attained where it is not, for the comfort of every poor Chriſtian.
All which Truths are brieſly pointed out and cleared, In a Sermon preached before the Right Honourable Houſe of LORDS in the Abby-Church at Weſtminſter on Wedneſday, May 28. being the day appointed for ſolemn and publike Humiliation.
By Jeremiah Whitaker.
Publiſhed by Order of the Houſe of Peers,
LONDON, Printed by G. Miller for John Bellamy at the Sign of the three golden-Lions in Cornhill near the Royall-Exchange, 1645.
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE The HOUSE of PEERS.
Right Honourable,
ATheiſme is the great ſin of the world, dogmaticall among the Pagans, and practicall among thoſe Chriſtians, Tit. 1.16.who profeſse they know God, and yet in works deny him. Satan cares not much what is our profeſsion, ſo be may rule in our converſation; he knows where opinions have not ſtrength to better practice; there ill fractice, by degrees,Quid prodeſſe nebis praerog ariva Chriſtiani nominis poteſt, quod nos fideles eſſe jactamus, quod Gothos ac Uvandalos hareticos deſpicimus, cum ipſi …eretica pravitate vivamur? Salv. de Gub. l 7. will weaken the beſt opinions; and what advantage is it for us to have the face of Chriſtians, and the hearts and heads of Pagans? that our rule is ſtraight, and our lives crooked?*Lex bona, muneris eſt Chriſti: vita autem non bona, criminis noſtri. Salv l. 4. That God hath made our light clearer, tis Gods free goodneſſe: that our lives are darker, tis our own vileneſse.
It was his ſad complaint, that lived in ſuch dolefull dayes as theſe, when the Goths, Hunns and Vandalls over ran the world, and all Chriſtendome put into a burning flame, that the lives of Chriſtians fell ſhort of the Romans, and did equall the worſt of the Barbarians. It is no wonder, that when our unbeleife queſtions the deity of Christ, the verity of Scriptures, the mortality of the ſoule, and ſo ſhakes the pillars of Heaven, that the Lord hath a ſtrong controverſy with the world, and cauſeth all the foundations of the earth to ſhake, and to be out of order.
The way to cure the bleeding diſtempers of Chriſtendome, is for all men to endeavour to get inward perſwaſions anſwerable to their outward profeſſions; for as theſe main principles are more or leſſe beleeved; ſo is the heart and life of man better, or worſe ordered. When the ſoul is once fully perſwaded, that Chriſt is God, that he is the true Meſſiah, that there is another life beſides this, that the Lord Christ is ready to come to judgement, and his reward is with him; then the ſoul begins to ſeek and beg an interest in Chriſt, to flee from wrath to come, to aſſure the hopes of Heaven, whilſt we are on earth: and this hope, when once truly attained, carries the ſoul farre above the comforts of life, and beyond the fears of death, and makes men ſee no life to be ſo comfortable, as that life which is most ſerviceable.
Your birth (Right Honourable) hath made you above other men, this hope will make you above your ſelves, and this communion with the great God will make daily additions to your greatneſse. Then are men high-born indeed, when they are born again of the moſt high God: and then are the ſons of Nobles truly great, when there are added inward ſupernaturall principles of ſpirituall greatneſſe. Its the obſervation of one (*Chryſoſt. in Epiſt. ad 1. Cor. c. 1. Hom 1. foreign. &c. no mean man) That ſome naturally are of a high ſtature; others, that are low, have ſhoes and pantables, to heighten them to a ſeeming greatneſſe; which of theſe will you call truly high or great? He that is ſo by an adventitiall ſeparable addition, or he that is ſo by a growth thats naturall? It is one thing to be highly esteem'd of others, another to have a minde worthy of eſteem in it ſelf. One man thinks clay to be clay, and deſpiſeth it; another thinks clay to be gold, and admires it: which of theſe two is high? Is it not he that deſpiſeth a peece of earth? and who is vile and abject, but he that adores a peece of earth, and ſpends his ſoul to load himſelf with thick clay? Hab. 2.6.that man who in the height of outward greatneſſe accounts himſelf but duſt and aſhes; his minde is full of inward excellency: he that admires and adores himſelf, will not look upon himſelf as gilded clay, is of an abject minde, and much deluded in the midſt of all outward eminency: to have high thoughts of things moſt mean, and mean thoughts of things moſt high, infallibly argues the minde to be full of weakneſse, others ſay, to be full of baſeneſſe. *Chryſ. ibid.He ſpake like a Noble man indeed, that ſaid, Let their honour and wealth periſh, that thinke all greatneſſe in the world like one daies communion with the great God.
To clear up theſe great principles hath been the aime of theſe weak endeavours. Tis the arm of the mighty God that alone can rebuke the ſpirit of unbelief: therefore that the great God,Gen. 9.27. who perſwades Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem may imprint theſe eternall characters upon your hearts, and lift you up to ſit in heavenly places with Jeſus Chriſt, Epheſ. 1 6. Luk. 10.20.that your names may be written in heaven, 1 Sam. 2.8.and that you may for ever inherit the thrones of glory, is the earneſt prayer of
Your Lordſhips humble Servant in the Lord, Jeremiah Whitaker.