To the Inhabitants in the Parish of Christ-Church, London
THE Souls of men may as certainly be destroyed by poysoning, as starving. If Satan cannot hinder from some kind of tasting and receiving the grace of the Gospel, he often perverts it poysonfully, by making men to turn it into lasciviousnesse, and even by freedome from sin, to allow themselves in sinning freely. The Seducers crept into the Church in Jude’s time, under pretence of Christian Liberty, introduced unchristian Libertinism: No cheaper stuffe then Grace would serve their turns, wherewith to cloath lasciviousnesse; and no other Patron then the Lord Christ himselfe to protect their impieties: Whether they were the Disciples of Simon Magus or Nicolaitans, or Gnosticks, (as Epiphanius thinks) I much enquire not; sure I am, they were of the Synagogue of Satan; he was both their Father and Master, whom they resembled, and whose works they did. In this Epistle the Apostle Jude, not only with Holy zeal opposeth them himself, but sounds a Trumpet, for the rousing up the Christians, (upon whose Quarters these Seducers had fallen, to surprise their Treasure, the Doctrine of Faith,) earnestly to contend for the preservation of so precious a Depositum, once, and once for all delivered to their keeping. The Arguments used by the Apostle are Cogent, his Directions Prudent, and probable it is, that his Pains were in some degree Successfull. I know no Spiritually skilfull Observer, but apprehends too great a Resemblance, between the faces of those, and our times. Sins in our dayes are not only committed under the enjoyment, but (in pretence) by the encouragement of grace; men who now dare not sin, are by some derided as ignorant of their Christian liberty; and evident it is, that many live, as if being delivered from the fear of their enemies, they were delivered from the fear and service of their Deliverer; and as if the Blood of the Passeover were not intended by God to be sprinkled upon the door posts to save them; but upon the threshould of the door; for them to trample upon. Beloved friends, if God hath appointed that you should resemble these Christians, to whom Jude wrote, in the danger of your times, its your duty to imbrace the directions delivered to these Christians, for your defence from those dangers. A gracious heart considers not how bitter, but how true; not how smart, but how seasonable any truth is. My aime in the publishing these Lectures, is to advance holinesse, and (so far as I could do it, with following the mind of the Apostle) to oppose those sins, which if people hate not most, are like to hurt them most; and to advance those duties with which, if people be not most in love, yet in which they are most defective, and thereby most indangered. And now again, I beseech you (that I may testifie my unfayned affection, as well by my Epipistle as my Book) labour to keep close to God in a loose age; spend not your time in complaining of the licentiousnesse of the times, in the mean while setting up a toleration in your own Hearts and Lives. That private Christian, who doth not labour to oppose prophancnesse with a river of tears, would never (if he could) bear it down with a stream of power. Lay the foundation of Mortification deep. Reserve no lust from the stroke of Jesus Christ. Take heed of pleasing your selves in a bare formall profession; Labour to be rooted in Christ: He who is but a visible Christian, may in a short time cease to be so much as visible: He who speaks of Christ but notionally, may in time be won to speak against him: Love not the world. Beware of scandals; take them not where they are; make them not where they are not (the common sin of our times, to black Religion, and then to fear and hate it.) Despise not the providences of God in the world; they are signs of Gods mind, though not of his love: Delight in the publick Ordinances, and highly esteem of faithfull Ministers; they and Religion are commonly blasted together. Shun Seducers; sit down under a Minister, as well as under a Preacher; He who will hear everyone, may at length be brought to hear none; and he who will hear him preach who ought not, may soon be left to learn that which he ought not. Preserve a tender conscience; Every step you take, fear a snare: Read your own hearts in the wickednesse of others. Be not slight in Closet-services; and oft think of God in your shops, for there you think you have least leasure, but sure you have most need to do so. Let your speech be alway with grace, and a word or two of Christ in every company, if it may be; and yet not out of form, but feeling.
These Lectures here presented might sooner have seen the light, had I not lately met with such hinderances (sufficiently known) as I once expected should have stopp’d them altogether. The main of this imployment hath lien upon me since that time, which, considering my many other Imployments (you know) hath not been long, though otherwise long enough to have performed this work much more exactly. I here present you, though not with half of the Epistle, yet with more then the one half of that which upon the whole I preach’d. I have not knowingly left out any passages delivered in the Pulpit. The other part I promise in the same Volume with this (so soon as God gives strength & more leisure) if this find acceptance with the Church of God. And now (Brethren) I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified; Resting
Your Servant in the Work of Christ, WIL. JENKYN.
