Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A61370
|
A sermon to bring to remembrance God's wonderful mercies at the Boyn preach'd on the second day of July, 1699 at St. Nicholas within, Dublin: by John Stearne, D.D.
|
Stearne, John, 1660-1745.
|
1699
(1699)
|
Wing S5361; ESTC R221904
|
12,499
|
23
|
Brass or Marble Let not Envy or Ingratitude rob those Heroes that have slain their Thousands or put Ten Thousand to Flight of the Honour due unto Their worthy Atchievements but let not us so wholly fix Our Thoughts and Admiration upon the Happiness We enjoy or the great Instruments of GOD in effecting It as to render our selves careless in acknowledging the uncontrouled Hand of that GOD whose Battles They Fought with so much Bravery and so great Success David cou'd not believe that Joab His General and all His Host cou'd answer His Desires with Victory thus therefore dos He Question and thus Pray Who will lead Me into the Strong City Who will bring Me into Edom Wilt not Thou O GOD Give Us Help from Trouble for vain is the Help of Man Thrô GOD We shall do valiantly for it is He that shall tread down Our Enemies The Battel is not always to the Strong but GOD in His Infinite Wisdom and by His Almighty Arm putteth down One King and setteth up Another that the Living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and that he giveth It to whomsoever He will In such a surprizing wonderful manner dos GOD often deliver His People that They must be very Blind if They do not see or very ungrateful if They do not own that They are sav'd by the LORD Their GOD. Such is HIs Might that He can according to His own Will make the most inconsiderable Instrument One no bigger than Davids Pebble Powerful enough to over-match the Strength of a Weaver's Beam and to lay the most Insulting Enemy in the Dust His Command is as wide as his Creation so that He can at any time summon Heaven and Earth Angels and Men Sun Moon and Stars the Sea and all that is therein to joyn in Battel and execute His Just and Heavy Vengeance upon all such as worship Deaf and Helpless Gods and to give Salvation unto those that sincerely call upon His Name Let not us then be guilty of so much Atheism as not to acknowledge a Supream Being in all the Great Changes of the World When We behold Lightnings or Inundations a sudden Earthquake or a devouring Pestilence depopulating the most delightful spacious and frequented Cities let us employ Our selves not so much in curiously searching out Natural Causes as in eyeing the Hand of God in such general Calamities And when We see a Kingdom by the destructive Principles and prodigious Unskilfulness of One almost shaken in Pieces and at length thrô the Care of Another more wise Master-builder setling upon its Old Firm and Lasting Foundation let Us in a thankful Acknowledgement of such a Providential Work say with the Psalmist not unto Us O Lord not unto Us but unto Thy Name be all the Glory And that We may be the more dispos'd to do so We must In the Second Place carefully observe those more Material and Signal Circumstances which render any National Work of Divine Providence more considerable and obliging So curious a Thing is the Work of Providence that to a diligent Observer ev'ry Part of It will appear full of Wisdom and Beauty and the more heedfully We survey Its various Circumstances the more will It excite Our Praise and Admiration As therefore true Penitents pathetically charge and load their Confessions with all those Aggravations which may heighten their Detestation and Sorrow so the grateful Soul dos critically remark those many and great Circumstances which set off Gods Work and more advantagiously recommend It to Us. Several Acts of Providence at the first transient view may seem to offer but little Matter of Importance yet upon a repeated Observation We find them very considerable In our Present Reformation or Deliverance from Popery many Circumstances might be taken notice of to raise our Acknowledgements but several Pens having oblig'd the Nation with a full Account of the most Remarkable Ones I shall briefly observe at this time only some few Particulars that well dispos'd Our Neighbouring Kingdom for that Blessed Change and the Seasonableness of such a Revolution to the miserable Inhabitants of this All the late Fears and Jealousies in England all the solemnly made and as often solemnly broken Promises of a King all the Intrigues manag'd with an Old Prince abroad to set up a pretended Young Prince at Home all the base mercenary Compliances of many Civil and Ecclesiastical Ministers dissolving Charters and authorizing Mass in Colledges advising a general Toleration and advancing an unlimited dispensing Power labouring to repeal the Penal Laws and Test setting up a New High Commission and Committing the Right Reverend Bishops to the Tower for not acting against Law and Conscience turning out good Protestants and promoting profess'd Papists to the most considerable Civil and Military Places of Profit and Honour All these Things and many more too many either to have been done by any King that wou'd not follow Dioclesian or to be repeated by me now did strongly incline the Nation to a quicker Apprehension of the growing Evils of Popery and bring them to a more easie Compliance with the Methods of God's Wonderful Work And how seasonable the happy Consequences of all such Proceedings were to Us of this Kingdom our whole Lives will be too short duly to consider If the well timing of a Mercy dos make It the more valuable surely Our Deliverance must be highly recommended to Us by the Seasonableness of It. To what shall I for This compare so great a Mercy The Coming of our King was like that of the Angel of God to Isaac when the Hand was lifted up for the Fatal Stroke Poor Ireland's Relief was like the refreshing Well of Water to the disconsolate Hagar when she had given up Her self to Sorrow and Her Son to Death in a Word the Generous Resolution of King WILLIAM to visit this distressed Nation was as Opportune as the Night-thoughts of King Ahasuerus kept awake by the special Providence of God to reward the Good recorded service of Mordecai just at a time when the Ambitious and Revengeful Haman's Plot for an utter Exterpation of the Jews was ripe for Execution And what shall we render unto the Lord for all the Benefits comprehended in so seasonable a Mercy I will magnifie thee O Lord because Thou hast set me up and not made my Foes to triumph over me O praise the Lord with me and let Us magnifie His Name together The Dead praise not Thee O Lord neither All they that go down into silence The Living the Living they shall praise Thee as We do this Day the Father to the Children shall make known thy Work Thou Lord wast ready to save therefore will We sing of Thy Praise without ceasing O my God! I will give thanks unto Thee for ever The grateful Resolution of Two Pious Princes David and Hezekiah in these Words which I have apply'd unto Our own case cannot but mind you of The Third propounded Particular viz. That We
had in Remembrance Yet so unanswerable is our Return We hourly magnifie our own Ingratitude more than his marvellous Works Our numerous Transgressions have made our Unthankfulness so prodigiously Great that in this one Respect It is like the Wonderful Work of God in the seasonable Deliverance of our Church and State ev'ry One may see It Man may behold It a far off It was thought very unreasonable by our Blessed LORD that of the Ten that were cleans'd but One return'd to give Glory unto GOD for his saving Mercy and yet our Unthankfulness is more unequal for of the many Thousands in this Populous City which was surpriz'd with a Deliverance from a consuming Fire and an undistinguishing Sword not One in an Hundred daily offers unto GOD the Publick Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving for so desireable a Mercy The Devotions of our Church are generally so neglected that many may be thought to be sorry for GOD's Goodness towards them in restoring our Temples abus'd by Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship to their Pure and Reasonable Service because this Religious Turn of Providence dos take away all Excuse for their Ingratitude in not constantly Magnifying GOD in His House of Prayer Ev'ry slighted Opportunity of Thanksgiving dos but heighten their Guilt So that it had been better for them to have suffer'd the utmost Severities of Popery than to live ungrateful for such an exceeding Blessing as the Continuation of the Protestant Religion And it wou'd be a very Just Judgment shou'd GOD in His Anger once more and for ever give our Churches into the Hands of our Enemies who wou'd make them Dens of Thieves that rob the silly People of their Money and their Souls together since We our selves too seldom make any Good or Religious use of such Holy Places One Special Reason why GOD dos often delay the granting of choicest temporal Mercies to a People is their own unpreparedness for them and when He has at length answer'd the earnest desire of Their Hearts Their not Magnifying in a becoming manner His Signal Providential Dispensations or not faithfully improving them to the Glory of His Name and the Salvation of Their own Souls dos frequently provoke Him to vindicate His Honour and to bring Them unto a better understanding both of Him and of Themselves by a Sensible Abatement or a Total Removal of His abused Favours To prevent such an heavy Fate let us come unto a closer and more distinct Consideration of Four weighty Duties which this compendious Term MAGNIFIE dos impart and enjoyn as the special solemn Business of ev'ry grateful Soul in reference to the Eminent Merciful Providential Works of GOD. For 1 st In order to our Magnifying such Works of GOD We must freely own His over-ruling Hand in all acknowledging Him for the Fountain from which all our Blessings like so many refreshing and wholsom Streams are deriv'd unto us 2 dly We must carefully observe those more Material and Signal Circumstances which render any national Work of Divine Providence more considerable and obliging 3 dly To the utmost of our Pow'r and with the profoundest Humility must We pay all that Honour Reverence and Adoration unto GOD for His extraordinary Works of Providence which They most justly challenge from Us. And Lastly It must be our constant Endeavour to answer by a sincere Practical Reformation the just Expectation of GOD in His merciful Works of Providence The First Duty requir'd in our Method unto a more respectful Magnifying of GOD's Eminent Works of Mercy is a free owning of His over-ruling Hand in All and acknowledging Him for the Fountain of all our Blessings ' Thô We were bless'd with a King of such Undaunted Courage such Prudent Conduct and such Constant Devotion that He seem'd at the Boyn to design at once the Conquest of Heaven and Earth or taking them Both by the united Force of Arms and Prayer thô We were favour'd with a General deservedly fam'd thrô more than the Christian World for His glorious Exploits in War and who as if with such a King He had been too great a Blessing for us like another Moses only saw that Good and Promis'd Land which He was not suffer'd to go over the River and possess ' Thô Our dreadful Host was On the First of July led forth to Battel by so Experienc'd and so Wary a Commander and ' thô such a King be yet ' thrô all the long Toils and bold hazardous Attempts of War thrô many treacherous Plots both at Home and Abroad mercifully continu'd to Us yet all the Success of Our Armies all the Glory of Our Campagnes and all Our present Blessings under His gentle and easie Scepter must be ascrib'd unto the Supream Governour of all Things whose Power no Creature is able to resist He and He only gives Salvation unto Kings He and He only at the Immortal Boyn deliver'd William His Servant from the hurtful Cannon An Horse is counted but a vain Thing to save a Man nor shall He deliver any by his great Strength It may be prepar'd for the Day of Battel but still Victory is of the LORD Cou'd a Man be sav'd by the Multitude of an Host The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Great Schomberg might have enjoy'd as well as promoted Our Deliverance But how is the Mighty Man fall'n He expir'd as He had liv'd in the Arms of Victory For ' thô He lost His Life He won The Day There may be and often is a lucky Hit of second Causes very observable in compassing the general Happiness of a Nation in delivering the Inhabitants from the complicated Designs of Romish Agents from Superstion and Idolatry from Oppression and Slavery from Fire and Sword from the most cruel Tortures Jesuitical Racks and Inquisition yet such a grateful Deliverance is the Work of that Alwise and Almighty GOD who for the Honour of His Name in the Defence of His injur'd Cause goes forth with the Armies of His Anointed He only can at His Pleasure scatter the People that delight in Blood and Strike Their Hearts with such a distracting Fear that They Flie when no Man Pursues and taking ev'ry Leaf that is mov'd with the Wind for the shaking of a Spear run with a Strong natural Biass unto Their own Boggs and Woods as to a more sure Defence against the Strange Engines of War than all the Auxiliaries of France and Rome with the long implor'd Assistance of Their Queen of Heaven I do not much wonder at the Inglorious Flight of a vast Army upon the close Advance of Our Jehoshaphat at the Brook when I remember and He must be very unworthy of a Deliverance that forgets those Instruments of GOD those Men of War whose Names might have been as dreadful to our Enemies as Epaminondas was unto the Lacedaemonians and Scanderbeg unto the Turks Hannibal unto the Romans and the Black-Prince unto the French and who shou'd therefore live among the Sons of Fame in something more lasting than