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B04652
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Salvation improved: in a sermon upon the 16th of April, 1696. : Being the day of solemn thanksgiving for the preservation of His Majesty's sacred person, from barbarous assassination; and of this kingdom, from French invasion. / Preached at Oswestry, by J.O. minister of the Gospel.
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Owen, James, 1654-1706.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing O6; ESTC R181128
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15,594
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31
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many Heathens will rise up in Judgment with and Condemn a Drunken Unclean and Hypocritical Generation Who can express the Abominations of our Land What Oaths what Blasphemies what Immoralities abound among us How boldly do guilty Wretches challenge the most Righteous Judge to damn them Alas his Holy Law hath Condemned you already and art thou Impatient of a short Reprieve Some professed Protestants lead such Lives as if they were listed under the Prince of Darkness to fight against Heaven God expects that so signal a Mercy as we enjoy this day should melt our Hearts and effectually oblige us to a Reformed Course No sooner were the People come out of Egyptian Bondage Exod 15. â—â— but they were call'd to renew their Covenant with God Let us say with Ezra Seeing that thou our God hast given us such Deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments Wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst Consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping Hapy are the People whom God delivers at once from their Distresses and from their Sins the procuring Causes of them It is a poor Victory to subdue our Enemies and continue Slaves to our own Lusts A Servant of Sin is the vilest Slave in nature The rational Powers which should command are subject to Brutish Passions which entangle the Sinner in the snare of the Devil who leads him Captive at his Will Look unto your Eternal Deliverer the Lord Jesus Christ if he makes us free we are free indeed Set upon the subduing of your Sins and you have overcome your most dangerous Enemies The Lusts of the Flesh war against the Soul they are dangerous Enemies to its Purity Peace and Everlasting Happiness Jam. 4.1 Whence come VVars and Fightings among you saith the Apostle come they not hence even of your Lusts that war in your Members Mortifie these in your selves and you shall have Peace within Pray that God would mortifie them in others that the blessing of Peace may be restor'd to the oppressed Nations who are made a Sacrifice to the boundless Ambition and bloody Rage of defigning Men. Be importunate at the Throne of Grace for the Life of our Great and Good King William for a Blessing upon his Councils and for the success of his Arms against his ours and God's Enemies Let us serve the Lord with a willing Mind that we be not made to serve our Enemies against our Wills The Lord threatens Israel that they shall be Servants to the King of Egypt that they may know his Service and the Service of the Kingdoms of the Countries Such as are weary of the easie Yoke of Christ may have their Necks gall'd with the Iron Yoke of Antichrist Is it the Lord that giveth Salvation unto Kings Let 's contribute our best endeavours to support the present Government God usually saveth Kings and Kingdoms by the Agency of Second Causes It s rarely if ever he Saves a People against their Wills His Majesty never declines emergent Dangers but exposes his Sacred Person upon all occasions for our Defence and shall we decline the duty we owe him upon any Prospects of hazard Let 's chearfully pay our Taxes as heavy as they seem to be they are absolutely necessary for the carrying on a just War in defence of our Religion and Liberties which ought to be dearer to us than our Estates than our Lives Let 's unanimously join with our Reprosentatives in Parliament in defence of his Majesty's Person and Government Let 's unanimously joyn with the rest of our Fellow Subjects who give fresh assurances of their Loyalty and firm adherence to the Government in this difficult time Let 's joyn with the Great Body of true-hearted Protestants through all his Majesty's Dominions Our Union is our Strength Nothing can ruin us but our Divisions The Experience of most Ages hath evidenced the Truth of that Maxim A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand The divisions of the old Britains subjected them at first to the Roman Yoke Dum singul pugnant In Agr. co vit 12. omnes vincuntur saith Tacitus While they were quarrelling among themselves Caesar comes and decides the Controversie by a Conquest of all The Dissentions of Androgeus and Cassivellan rulned the Kingdom The discontents and Animosities of the Jews rendred them an easie Prey to Antiochus Epiphanes who miserably persecuted them caused the daily Sacrifice to cease set up the abomination of Desolation in the Holy Temple Joseph de bel Jud. lib. cap. 1. Antiq. XII 6. and ruin'd all the Country by an unparallel'd Cruelty The Sons of Tobias to be reveng'd of Onias the Priest who had banish'd them out of the City invite over Antiochus as some do now the French King who being glad of the occasion invaded the Country with a great Army destroy'd all before him interdicted the Profession of the true Religion Jos de bell Jud. VI. 11. and set up Heathenish Idolatry The discords of Aristobulus and Hircanus brought Pompey to Jerusalem by whom they were made a Roman Province Palestine was lost to the Turks by the unhappy divisions of the Christians who had been possessed of it about an hundred Years after they had recover'd it at a prodigious expence of Blood and Treasure Upon the Death of Baldwin the Fifth whom his Mother poyson'd to advance Guy her second Husband to the Throne they fell at variance and were ready to turn their Swords upon each other of which Saladin the Egyptian Sultan taking the advantage won many Cities in a Bloody Battle overthrew the Christians Turk Hist cap. 2. took Prisoners the King most of his Nobles and the great Master of the Templars which broke the Strength of the Christians in Syria and after fourteen days he took Jerusalem If we look into our own Histories what woful Tragedies have our own Divisions been productive of The discords of the English brought in the Normans and subjected this Nation to the Sword of a Forreign Conqueror Upon the Death of Edward the Confessor the Nation was divided about his Successor some were for Edgar Atheling the rightful Heir others for Harold Earl Goodwin's Son others for William Duke of Normandy to whom King Edward had promised the English Crown At length Harold possessed himself of the Crown but enjoyed it not long The Norman Duke invaded England being attended with the Pope's Benediction and the good Wishes of the Clergy who then depended on him and were disaffected to King Harold for the Wrongs done unto Robert Archbishop of Canterbury by him and his Father Harold was slain in a Bloody Battle in which above sixty Thousand English fell The Conqueror advances to London was Crown'd by the Archbishop of York the Clergy and People swear to him and he to them But he was no sooner established in the Throne but he enslaved the English gave their Estates to his Normans extirpated the ancient Nobility and so grievously oppressed the Commons that many of them forsook their Houses and lived in the Woods by Theft and Robery preferring the naked name of Freedom before their Inheritances under the miserable Tyranny of their Conquerors vid. Matth. West minst ap 433 ad sin lib. 1. and init 2. lib Others truckled under their new Masters endured the heavy Yoke and durst not complain lest it should be made yet heaver He seized the chiefest Offices of Honour and Profit into his own hands and gave them to Strangers he receiving Hostages of those that were Potent and sent them to Normandy he dis-arm'd all the Natives of the Land he forbad all Night Meetings and obliged the English to cover their Fire at eight a Clock at Night at the ringing of a Bell which is yet call'd Couvre lefeu he sent the Nobility to his Wars beyond the Seas he obliged the Commonalty to turn Soldiers and by them he fought his sharpest Battles in Normandy and France he impoverish'd the Laity by oppressive Taxes and Forfeitures he robb'd the Clergy of their richest Plate and Ornaments he published his Laws in French and took advantage of Peoples Ignorance of them he amass'd into his own Exchequer the Treasures of this Realm ruin'd whole Villages and Towns several Churches and Chappels to make a Forest of seized into his Hands all the Chases and Forests of this Kingdom Thus God brought low the English Nation by their own divisions and fondness of a French Prince Can we expect better Treatment from the present French King than our Ancestors did from the Norman Bastard Will not his little Finger be heavier than the other's Loins King Lewis is a professed Enemy to our Holy Religion and glories in the unchristian and barbarous Methods by which he has perverted or ruined near two Millions of his Protestant Subjects and can English Protestants promise themselves Protection from such a Prince Will he be more favourable to Strangers and Enemies than to his Native Subjects who were his fast friends and by whose Loyal Arms he was established in his Throne Is he like to assert the liberties of Englishmen who has left none to his own Frenchmen It 's obvious to all Men of Common Sense that the late King cannot return but by a French Power which will prove destructive to our Religion Laws and Liherties none therefore but an Enemy to all these can wish his Restauration FINIS
Salvation Improved IN A SERMON Upon the 16th of April 1696. Being the Day of SOLEMN THANKSGIVING For the Preservation of His Majesty's SACRED PERSON from Barbarous Assassination and of this Kingdom from French INVASION Preached at Oswestry by J. O. Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for I. Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhil 1696. SALVATION Improved In a Sermon on the 16th of APRIL 1696. Being the Day of Solemn THANKSGIVING c. Psalm 144.10 It is He that giveth Salvation unto Kings who Delivereth David his Servant from the hurtful Sword THESE Words Recommend unto us Two Remarkable Instances of Divine Providence First Toward Kings in general It is He i. e. The Lord That giveth Salvation unto Kings Secondly Towards David in particular Who Delivereth David his Servant from the Hurtful Sword David the Man after God's own heart had many Enemies neither his Piety towards God nor his Successes against the Common Adversaries of Israel could secure him from the Plots and Conspiraces of Evil Men among whom his own Father-in-Law King Saul made the first Figure But God delivered him from the hurtful Sword of Saul and other Enemies No Weapon form'd against him Prospered He wore a Protection against all the Attempts of Ungodly Persons by vertue of his Relation to God to whose Service he had Devoted himself and under whose Umbrage he found Shelter He was a Servant of God which contributed more to his Safety than his being King of Israel The Sense of the words may be summed up into this Proposition There is a Particular Providence that concerns its self in the Preservation of Kings and Princes especially of such as are Good Royal Persons are Guarded and Attended by a Numerous Train of Armed Men but their Salvation consisteth not in these an Arm of Flesh is no Defence without God Strong Guards have been the Ruin as well as the Support of Princes as they are more exposed than other Men so are they framed of the same mould with others they are as susceptible of Hostile Impressions as others being Vessels of the same Clay with other Mortals and easily crush'd and broken The Almighty King will make them acknowledge sooner or later That it is he that makes their Mountain Strong Psal 30.7 and if he hide his Face they are Troubled There is a Providence to which all things owe their Conservation the same power which produced this Vast World and its Innumerable Inhabitants Neh. 9.6 Matt. 10.29 Upholds and Preserves them all A Sparrow falls not on the ground without our Heavenly Father How much more doth the Divine Providence concern it self about Man The Darling of Heaven The Chief of God's Works The Object of Redeeming Love For whose Salvation the Son of God Assumed Flesh God stiles himself Job 7.20 The Preserver of Mankind It is his Prerogative and our Priviledge He is the Saviour of all men 1 Tim. 4.10 especially of those that Believe They are his by Covenant and he hath engaged all his Glorious Attributes for their Defence and Salvation He hath Promised to be with them in all Extreamities and never to leave nor forsake them The Lord preserveth the Faithful Psal 31 23. saith the Royal Prophet and in another place Psal 97.10 He preserveth the Souls of his Saints he Delivereth them out of the hand of the Wicked The same is acknowledged by Hannah in her Eucharistick Song 1 Sam. 2.9 He will keep the Feet of his Saints that is He will order their Steps and Establish their Ways or as the Wise Man expresses it He preserveth the way of his Saints Prov. 2.8 If there be such a Watchful Providence over Good Men how much more over Good Princes They have an interest not only in that Providence which respects Good Men in Common but in a more distinguishing one which is proper to themseves It is Recorded as the peculiar favour of Heaven to King David That the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went Isa 8.6 'T is True If Princes forsake God he also will forsake them and leave them destitute of desired help when Distress and Anguish cometh upon them Thus King Saul having abandon'd himself to Vile and Unmanly Passions was first given up to himself and afterwards into the hands of his Enemies when the Spirit of God had once left him 1 Sam. 16.14 it was not long until the Divine Protection also departed from him 1 Sam. 28.15 If Princes set themselves against God he 'll set his Face against them and who can Deliver out of his hand Who cuts off the spirit of Princes and is Terrible to the Kings of the Earth Psal 76.12 But Good Princes are the Special Care of Heaven God is with them his Eyes are upon them for good his Angels Encamp round about them they are as a signet upon his Right Hand Isa 22.23 which none can pluck thence He fastens them as a nail in a sure place and makes them a Glorious Throne to their Fathers House There is a particular Providence over them First In preventing Secret Conspiraces Secondly In Covering them from Open and Publick Dangers First In Preventing Secret Conspiracies Though the Plots of Cunning Enemies be laid as deep as Hell and cover'd with Infernal Darkness yet that All-seeing Eye before which Hell is Naked and Destruction hath no Covering Penetrates into them and exposes them to publick View Little did Moses and his Israelites suspect the Secret Intreagues of Balac and the Princes of Moah who were forming a Plot against them under the conduct of Balaam a false prophet but the Vigilant Providence which ever espouses the cause of Innocency and Truth rebukes the madness of the Prophet diverts his vile Inclinations and converts his intended Imprecations into Real Blessings There was a more Dangerous Plot against our Great Deliverer and our Protestant Israel the Method was To Assassinate his Royal Person to destroy his Friends to Involve these Nations in Blood and Misery to Overturn the Foundations of our Religion Laws and Liberties and enslave us to the worst of Tyrants the French King and to a forward Instrument of his Cruelties the Abdicated King James who was ready to Invade us with a French Power and to return like the Vnclean Spirit in the Gospel with seven other Spirits more wicked than himself to repossess his deserted Throne whereby our last state would have been seven times worse than our first All this was managed with the greatest Secrecy until things were come to such a ripeness that there wanted nothing but the Execution of an infallible design as they called it but blessed be God it proved equally infallible with the Romish Church whose distinguishing Character is to extirpate the best of Christians under the odious name of Hereticks Things were arrived to this perfection and no visible hand at work to prevent the Fatal Stroke we were in a deep security as Sheep devoted to the slaughter