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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	church_n	see_v	1,558	5	3.3758	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81104	A sermon preached in the parish-church of St. Philip and Jacob, in the city of Bristol on Wednesday the 15th of July, 1691. Being the monthly-fast. By Thomas Cary, M.A. Vicar of the parish of St. Philip and Jacob, in the city of Bristol.	Cary, Thomas, 1648 or 9-1711.	1691 (1691)	Wing C743B; ESTC R232684	7,176	30

A SERMON Preached in the Parish-Church OF St. PHILIP and JACOB IN THE City of Bristol ON Wednesday the 15th of July 1691. BEING THE MONTHLY-FAST By THOMAS CARY M. A. Vicar of the Parish of St. Philip and Jacob in the City of Bristol London Printed by F. C. for Thomas Guy at the Oxford Arms in Lumbard-street 1691. To the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Maclesfield Viscount and Baron of Brandon Lord President and Lord Lieutenant of the Principality of Wales and Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Gloucester Hereford and Monmouth and of the City and County of Bristol and one of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council My Lord YOVR Approbation of this Sermon when it came from the Pulpit gives me Confidence to Present it to your Lordship now it comes from the Press what had the Honour of your Acceptation when it was Private humbly claims your Patronage now it is Publick I should not however Presume to Prefix your Lordships great Name to this mean Discourse did not your Goodness dispose you to accept of a mean Offering especially when it comes as the Expression of a grateful Heart although I am sensible your Lordship is so far from being taken with Flattery that you cannot bear to hear your Due yet I cannot but Congratulate your Lordships hearty Zeal and indefatigable Industry in that high Orb in which you Act for the Support of that Government which God by a Train of Remarkable Providences hath Established among us May your Lordship Live to see it fixt upon such solid Foundations that it may never so much as shake much less tumble down My Lord I have one Advantage by this Dedication which I confess I am fond of that is an Opportunity to give your Lordship a publick Acknowledgment for the great Obligations you have laid on me and to let the World know how much I value my self on the Character of My Lord Your Lordships Most humble Servant and Chaplain Thomas Cary. EZRA IX 13 14. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this Should we again break thy commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping THE words are a part of Ezra's Prayer the time when he Prayed was after the return of the Jews from the Captivity in Babylon and the free Exercise of their Religion after the second Temple was finished the deliverance here mentioned is their liberty to return and to set up God's publick Worship in Jerusalem the Sins he here mourns for and prayeth God to Pardon are the Idolatry of the Jews and their Intermarriages with the Heathens after God had given them so great a deliverance This good Man feared the Consequence of their great Ingratitude he saw God's end frustrated and therefore expected greater Judgments he observed no Reformation after such a signal Providence and therefore had just Reason to believe that God would bring them back again into that Captivity out of which they lately escaped He acknowledgeth it is but fit that God should inflict more severe Judgments when his Mercies do not draw to obedience the design of the whole is to perswade the Jews to Repentance and Reformation as a suitable return to a gracious God for their late Deliverance The words contain these five Propositions 1. That Sin is the cause of all the Miseries that do befal the Church and People of God And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass 2. That God doth not punish his Church and People according to the Merit of their Sins Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve 3. That the Deliverances of the Church and People of God come from him and hast given us such Deliverance as this 4. That great Deliverances do call for great Reformation by way of Thankfulness and Gratitude This is implyed throughout the whole 5. That Disobedience after a great Deliverance doth highly provoke God to inflict more terrible Judgments Should we again break thy Commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou had'st consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping I shall all along apply these Heads in order to perswade Men to Repentance and Reformation for the great Deliverance we of this Nation have lately received 1. That Sin is the cause of all the Miseries that do befall the Church and People of God And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass It was Sin that carried the two Tribes Captive into Babylon for seventy Years destroyed their City and Temple slew their Princes and Nobles and laid their Country desolate Zedekiah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God and humbled 2 Chron. 36. 12 13. not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel Moreover all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had allowed in Jerusalem Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or maiden old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand All these evils came upon the Church of the two Tribes for their evil deeds and for their great trespass for their Idolatry in Worshipping strange Gods for their immoral Practices in living worse then the Heathen for the corruption of their Hearts and prophaneness of their Lives And now to apply this home to our selves It was for the Sins of this Nation that we were brought so near unto Destruction God shook his Rod over us to shew us what Punishment our Sins deserved although in Mercy he did not lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree it was for contempt of God's Word and Worship for prophaning his Holy Day dishonouring his sacred Name by Customary Swearing and Cursing for Drunkenness Adultery Pride and Dissolute living that we were likely to loose our Religion our Liberties and our Properties we deserved these Judgments as much as ever the Jews did their seventy Years Captivity in Babylon the more reason then have we to praise God for our late Deliverance This brings me to the second Particular 2. That God doth not punish his Church and People according to the Merit of their Sins Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve God temper's

Internal Holiness is absolutely necessary to Salvation because without it no man shall Heb. 12. 14. see the Lord let us then live in Peace love one another and honour the Gospel with holy Lives and then we shall answer God's end in our great Deliverance when God promiseth Blessings to his People he foretels them what Returns he expects then shall ye remember your own evil ways and Ezek. 36. 31. your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations Let us consider the greatness of our Deliverance that we may understand what Obligations are laid upon us to Repentance and Reformation God hath preserved us from Captivity under a mystical Babylon from the Roman Yoke a Burthen so Intolerable that neither we or our Fathers were able to bear it we are secured from Aegyptian darkness and all those Oppressions the faithful People of God would meet with in that Land We are Delivered from a Church whose Doctrines contradict common Sense the most evident Principles of Reason the plain Rules of Morality and the known Laws of Christ a Church that Magisterially imposeth upon mens Consciences makes as many new Articles of Faith as it pleaseth and bindes all under the Penalty of Damnation to an implicite Faith and Obedience to all its Decrees and Rules A Church that pretends to an Universal Monarchy to have Power to dispose of all the Kingdoms of the World to pardon Sins by Absolution and to give leave to Sin by Dispensations A Church Idolatrous in the Worshipping of Images the Adoration of a piece of Bread the Invocation of Saints and Angels and veneration of holy Relicks and Crucifixes A Church that would Rob you of one half of the Sacrament take one of the Commandments out of the Moral Law deprive you of the holy Scriptures the Key of Knowledge impose Prayers in an Unknown Tongue and take much pains to increase Ignorance as they call it the Mother of Devotion A Church that teacheth Doctrines not known in Scripture that choke's Religion with numerous and insignificant Ceremonies and incourageth Sin by Pardons Indulgences easie Penances and Dispensations A Church whose Principles are Inconsistent with Human Society and whose Religion is as bad as none at all because it indulgeth Sin gratifies Carnality and makes Internal Holiness unnecessary A Church made up of Fraud and Cruelty whose Arguments to propagate their Faith are Prisons Fagots and Missionary Dragoons that keeps no Faith with such as they call Hereticks and think 's it a meritorious Act to destroy them A Church that allow's the most wicked Methods to carry on its own bad Cause among whom Murtherers are reputed Saints and Men of Blood have their Names in their Rubricks A Church that would in time have devoured your Estates seized your Lands corrupted your Blood and inslaved you in Soul and Body Blessed be God that he hath preserved us from such a Church he suffered Popery to come to the Doors of our Churches but would not permit it to enter in he suffered our Enemies to make a great Progress and then blasted all in a Moment he delivered us 2 Cor. 1. 10. from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us That Disobedience after a great Deliverance doth highly provoke God to inflict more terrible Judgments Should we again break thy commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations would'st thou not be angry with us till thou had'st consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping God hath indeed been very Gracious unto us he expects an impartial Reformation from all orders and degrees of Men among us his Mercies should ingage us to walk more Humbly and Religiously But if God's end is frustrated if his Mercies are abused if we still dishonour our Holy Religion by ungodly Practices then the Mercy of God will be converted into fury he will Deliver us no more but cast us off for Ever It was a lasting aggravation of the Sins of the Jews that they rebelled against that God who had brought them out of the Land of Aegypt and from the House of Bondage it was a great aggravation of Davids Sin that God had done such and such things for him and yet he offended in the matter of Vriah it was an aggravation of King Solomon's Sins that he forsook that God who had Appeared to him twice and it will be a terrible Aggravation of our Sins that such a great Mercy such a wonderful Deliverance hath not reduced us to Obedience God may justly say to us as he did to the Incorrigible Jews You only have I known of all the Families of Amos 3. 2. the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Let us not think our selves past all Danger let us not put far from us an evil Day Alas they are never safe who are secure in their Sins he who hath Miraculously Delivered us at one time can easily Destroy us at another if we Repent not O let every one take up the Resolution of Holy David I have sworn and I will Psal 119. 106. perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments let us all answer as the Children of Israel did Joshua The Lord our God Josh 24. 24. will we serve and his voice will we obey God by his Providence speaks now to us as once unto the Jews O that there Deut. 5. 29. were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever O that my people had harkened Psal 81. 13. 14. unto me and Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their Enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries I shall conclude all with the Profession and Exhortation of Samuel Moreover as 1 Sam. 12. 23 24. for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and the right way Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things he hath done for you but if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your king To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be Honour Praise Love and Adoration henceforth and for ever more FINIS