Tillotson, John (1630-1694)

The Present and Future Advantage of an Holy and Virtuous Life

London

1700, 1712

"For a wicked Man is a Slave to as many Masters as he hath Passions and Vices; and they are very imperious and exacting, and the more he yields to them, the more they grow upon him, and exercise the greater Tyranny over him: and being subject to so many Masters, the poor Slave is continually divided and distracted between their contrary Commands and Impositions; one Passion hurries him one way, and another as violently drives him another; one Lust commands him upon such a Service, and another it may be at the same time calls him to another Work."

But before I come to speak to these Two particulars, I shall take notice of the description which the Apostle here makes, of the change from a state of Sin and Vice to a state of Holiness and Virtue. But now being made free from sin, and become the servants of God; intimating that the state of Sin is a state of Servitude and Slavery, from which Repentence and the change which is thereby made does set us free; But now being made free from sin. And so our Saviour tells us, that whosoever committeth sin is the Servant of sin; and this is the vilest and hardest Slavery in the World, because it is the Servitude of the Soul, the best and noblest part of our selves; 'tis the subjection of our Reason, which ought to rule and bear Sway over the inferiour Faculties, to our sensual Appetites and brutish Passions; which is as uncomely a sight, as to see Beggars ride on Horse-back, and Princes walk on foot. And as Inferiour Persons, when they are advanced to Power, are strangely Insolent and Tyrannical towards those that are subject to them; so the Lusts and Passions of men, when they once get the Command of them, are the most domineering Tyrants in the World; and there is no such Slave as a Man that is subject to his Appetite and Lust, that is under the Power of irregular Passions and vicious Inclinations, which transport and hurry him to the vilest and most unreasonable things. For a wicked Man is a Slave to as many Masters as he hath Passions and Vices; and they are very imperious and exacting, and the more he yields to them, the more they grow upon him, and exercise the greater Tyranny over him: and being subject to so many Masters, the poor Slave is continually divided and distracted between their contrary Commands and Impositions; one Passion hurries him one way, and another as violently drives him another; one Lust commands him upon such a Service, and another it may be at the same time calls him to another Work. His Pride and Ambition bids him spend and lay it out, whilst his Covetousness holds his Hand fast closed; so that he knows not many times how to dispose of himself or what to do, he must displease some of his Masters, and what Inclination soever he contradicts, he certainly displeaseth himself.
(II, pp. 52-3; cf. pp. 227-9 in 1700 ed.)

Government::Slavery Government::Tyranny Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule of Passion

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Finding in EEBO, ECCO and ESTC (1700, 1704, 1712, 1717, 1722, 1735, 1739, 1742, 1748, 1757, 1759, 1772).

Text from "Sermon CXII. The Present and Future Advantage of an Holy and Virtuous Life," The Works of the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, vol. 2 (London: William Rogers, Timothy Goodwin, Benjamin Tooke, and John Pemberton, John Nicholson and Jacob Tonson. 1712).

Found also in EEBO. See Sermon VIII in Several Discourses of Repentance by John Tillotson; Being the Eighth Volume Published from the Originals by Ralph Barker (London: Printed for Ri. Chiswell, 1700). <Link to EEBO>

10/28/2011