Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A85880
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The trumpet in Sion, sounding a general alarm in the nation. By J.G.G.
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Gailhard, J. (Jean).
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1700
(1700)
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Wing G42A; ESTC R232835
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76,533
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150
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THE TRUMPET IN SION SOUNDING A General Alarm IN THE NATION By J. G. G. Blow the Trumpet in Zion and sound an Alarm in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble for the day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand Joel 2.1 LONDON Printed And are to be sold by Dan. Browne at the Black-Swan and Bible without Temple-Bar 1700. TO THE READER AMongst great many and frequent Dangers 't is a Blessing to have Warning given and to take it for by these means Evil may be prevented This World is like a Wilderness full of fiery Serpents and other hurtful things which on all Sides we are compassed about and can one go upon hot Coals and his Feet not be burnt Which should put us in mind of the Prophet's Question Who can or shall dwell with everlasting burnings Which in Hell shall be a Punishment for Sins committed here if not pardoned in the way to Salvation We have Enemies within and without Our Heart is false Corruptions strong the World wicked Temptations common and powerful the Devil is subtle and Sin deceitful which all to resist we must Repent Believe and Pray for converting confirming and restraining Grace This Reader is my advice and warning to you You shall know more after the perusal of the following Sheets Remember that without Repentance no remission of Sins and as without Faith it is impossible to please God so without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. ERRATA THey are very few whereof the First and Fourth are material which the Reader may be pleased to Correct with a Pen. In Page 5. line 8. instead of care not read take care Page 11. line 21. read plaister for plaistering Page 56. line 2. friendly for friend Page 64. last line assoon for also Page 79. line 17. for War read Warrant Page 104. line 9. for earth read land THE TRUMPET IN SION CRY aloud spare not Isai 58.1 lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their Transgressions and the house of Jacob their Sins These are the Words of Eternal and Almighty God to a great Prophet who was considerable not so much for his extraordinary Parts and Royal Extraction for he was the Son of Amos Brother to Azariah King of Judah as for the Excellency of the signal Visions and Revelations which the Lord was pleased to honour him with and he being dead yet speaketh to us Seeing all God's Actions are so wise and so just we must conceive such an express and positive Order not to be given without a weighty Cause for God never in vain employs his Servants nor indeed none of his Creatures which are all his Servants Ps 119.91 The Occasion of this Commission and Command to the Prophet was at that time a Complication of Sins among the People whereof Hypocrisy and want of Charity were some of the chief but though by their shews of Piety as seeking God daily drawing near unto him Fasting c. they imposed upon Men yet could not do so upon God who will have his Prophet with diligence and severity to reprove Sinners for their Sins though for some more sharply than for others As for me thô I be no Prophet nor Son of a Prophet yet I thank God Prophets are no strangers to me for I daily am conversant with Prophets and with Apostles too out of whose Writings after several worthy Persons whose heart God hath stirred up to appear against the great and many Sins of the Times as 't is every one's Duty in his station to do I hope I may give in my Evidence 'T is a great Work that requires many hands Multorum manibus grande levatur onus Sometimes God makes use of several instruments inconsiderable in themselves in different ways to carry on his works thô all be tending to the same end and although through the perverseness of Mens hearts the Effect doth not always answer the Design Ezek. 2.5 yet they shall know that there hath been if not a Prophet among them yet an Admonisher who hath given warning May the Lord be pleased to bless with success the weak Endeavours of all that are desirous to promote his honour and service with the good of Souls and to enlarge the Kingdom of Christ in a time when we see the Sins of all Ages of all Nations and in all kinds more and more discovered and practised among us Isai 1.6 From the sole of the Foot unto the head as the same Prophet complains of here the Disease is become Epidemical and its Fits very frequent if not continual The house of Israel wanted being told of their Sins so doth England thô told often but who can tell the number diversity and frequency of them However I by the grace of God shall endeavour to run over the most palpable and conspicuous I shall speak first of the Sins after of the Punishments according to God's threatning due and inflicted for them The Sins are of two general Kinds some in Doctrine others in Practice otherwise called Error and Vice Errors in Judgment are usually followed by those in Practise As Sin is extended over every Faculty of the Soul and Member of the Body so there are Sins seated in the Mind as well as there are in the Heart as indeed without a sound Mind the Heart can hardly be Sound When the Soul's Eye is blind how great must her darkness be The mistakes of the Understanding which commonly from the Latin word are named Error are by the Greeks called Heresie relating to Religious Matters which is a division in the Church caused by some erroneous Opinion against the Fundamentals of Religion And thô all such be bad enough yet some there are worse then others according as they more or less strike at the Root of Christian Religion Those Paul calls perverse things and Doctrines of Devils and Peter Damnable Heresies Acts 〈◊〉 30. 1 Tim. 4.1 2 Pet. 2.1 Now there is in England too many of those as strike at the very Foundation of our Holy Religion First Here are Atheists not that properly speaking any can be such for there is no Man in the World but at one time or other hath within himself convictions that there is a God for such a degree of Knowledge is naturally in Men Hence it is that there was never in the World so Barbarian and Ignorant a Nation but owned and worshipped some Divinity or other for 't is only the fool that saith in his heart there is no God Ps 14.1 yet he is not such a Fool as to publish it for he dareth not for shame but saith it in his Heart where against the Light of Nature and Testimony of Conscience he would smother the sense of a Godhead because he wishes it But the Atheists I mean are those who speak and live as if there was no God and these I may well call worse then David's Fool for they blunder out Atheistical words indirectly