Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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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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are those not the Wise except it be in their own Conceit but Fools for long ago by Solomon's Pen God hath proclaimed them for such when he said Fools make a mock at Sin Prov. 14.9 now in Solomon's and David's stile the Fool is the Wicked Man who at the latter end shall appear to be the greatest Fool of all No jesting with Holy Things nor with God who will not be mockt and Men who believe otherwise are much deceived and if their Conscience tells them not before shall at last find they were so Sabbath-breaking is one of the Chief and Epidemical Sins of the Nation Every one that can read Scripture may know how strict and severe God was against Sabbath-breakers by his immediate command they were (a) Numb 15.32 35. stoned to death The holy Observation of that day was what he mostly required of that People not only now and then here and there but he made it the Fourth Commandment of the first Table of the Law greatly complain'd of the breach thereof and severely punish'd it upon Persons and the whole Nation There is the same reason for the Christian Sabbath in Scripture call'd the (b) Rev. 1.10 Lord's Day and several breakers thereof God hath in the Christian Church made Examples of his Judgments A great one we had in this Nation of that Prince who at several times having with Stage-Plays polluted the Lord's-Day and by means of a Book of Sports allowed and encouraged others to do so was out of the same Place where he had seen them acted brought upon the Scaffold where he lost his Life I do not pretend to dive into the secret Causes of God's Judgments but I must take notice how the Circumstance of the Place is very remarkable and we may be allowed to say how upon that Ground as well as upon others (c) Ps 76.12 God is terrible to the Kings of the Earth This is Matter of Fact Thô in his Son's Reign Piety was little regarded yet then we saw Acts of Parliament for the better Observation of the Lord's-Day to come out but now 't is thought not to be worth looking after in (d) That of 29 Ch. II. 1677. one of those Acts the Sale of any Wares Merchandizes Fruits Herbs Goods or Chattels whatsoever upon the Lord's Day or any part thereof was forbidden upon pain that every Person so offending shall forfeit the same Goods so cryed or shewed forth or exposed to sale Sabbaths were never more prophan'd then of late and now The generality of People make Play and Sport Days of them On that day we see Markets set up in many Places Children publickly at play Taverns Alehouses Coffee and Chocolate-Houses doors open and full of People and those Beasts which in the 4th Precept God had a regard to must not rest upon that day though upon every other in the Week they labour with all imaginable hardness which is a Cruelty for (e) Prov. 12.10 a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast Yet these must be for the Service of many Sabbath-breakers When the Drunkard is so fuddled that he without Reeling and Staggering cannot go he must have a Coach to carry him home We have but one true Christian Holy-day which ought to be employ'd only for Holy uses He who makes no Conscience to break the Lord's Holiday will make no Scruple of breaking any of the Ten Commandments and he who delights to observe it will the use Authority to make others observe it too 'T is strange yet true that some who in the Church have been and still are most fond after the reading of every Commandment of the fourth as well as of every one else to say Lord have merey upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law such as Pocklington Heylin and the Highest Church-men in their Writings Sermons and Discourses declared much against the Morality of the Sabbath or Lord's-Day how then can they pray to God to incline their Heart to keep a Law which they believe and profess to be abrogated But if herein one was to consult with Man's Opinion besides the Judgment of several Divines that of the good Pious and Learned James Vsher Primate of Ireland is with me of greater weight then the Authority of all Anti-Sabbatharians and all know how much in his judgment and practice he was for the strict observation of the Lord's Day One thing more though by the by and not to my present purpose I shall observe out of the Words Incline our Hearts to keep this Law it appears how the Opinion of those who compiled the Common-Prayer-Book and appointed these words to be said after every Precept was that Men cannot incline their Hearts to keep God's Law but must pray to God to do 't and consequently that to believe and obey doth not depend upon Man's Will but upon God's working upon and inclining it There is another crying Sin in the Nation which hath several branches as Lying Swearing Cursing and Perjury We have a sort of People who in this kind offend in the least Degree yet thereby contract a Guilt upon themselves out of an ill Habit and Custom upon most or any trivial account saying O Lord O God which is to take that Holy Name in vain and a Breach of the Third Commandment But others worse impiously take the Lord by his Bloud Wounds c. and swear by the Creatures 't is abominable sometimes to hear in the Streets Children of Eight and Ten years old and upwards to Curse and Damn themselves and others which ought to be the Care of Parents to prevent a horrid Sin God hath given us a Tongue to Bless not to Curse him nor our Neighbour or our selves yet some as soon as they are able to speak rap out Oaths A Curse in God's Name never falls without an Effect either against the Curser or Cursed That abominable Sin of Perjury and Swearing falsly in God's Name is too common Forswearing Covenant-breaking and Burning are so grievous a Sin as that in every judgment we undergo we may therein see a Grain of it as the Jews did in theirs in relation to the Golden Calf The Sin of Vncleanness is Loud and Epidemical in its several branches of Fornication and Adultery and there is too much cause to name Incest and Sodomy for which the Earth affords no sufficient Punishment therefore in Fire and Brimstone God as it were rained down Hell from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah Uncleanness is among People of all Conditions Ages and Kinds now as common frequent and publick as between Dogs and Bitches without Curb and Restraint put upon 't so that Whoredom is certainly one of the Master Sins of the Nation Bawdy-Houses are tolerated and even in high Places want no Advocates to speak for them at any time specially towards the Evening one can hardly go up and down the Street but he meets with Inticements and Temptations Sometimes an honest Woman who goes about her
exercise loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the Earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord and not in Sin which I abhor Once there were great outcry 's against the Sins of the late Reigns and there was cause for it as God's Judgments which are always just declared But are we now better in the least On the contrary we can observe those same Sins to increase and daily grow stronger and more frequent upon us Have any of the guilty and offenders against God and the Country been punished for their notorious Offences How can the Effect cease if we remove not the Cause and what signifies to find fault except we mend I look upon 't only as an aggravation We know yet act not according to knowledge neither do we improve the means and opportunities which God had put into our hands to assert his Honour and his Truth to reform Abuses redress Grievances promote the good of the Nation prevent Evil restrain Sin punish Sinners and with greparing our Hearts unto God to fit ourselves for further Mercies Rather with continuing as we do in our Sins and through our unthankfulness we provoke the Lord and are in a way to draw his vengeance upon us The most notorious Sins of the late Reigns were Whoredom and Adultery taking other Mens Wives and without Shame living with them in the sight of the Sun Also downright and open Idolatry yet such were Prayed for as our Religious Kings and Defenders of the Faith when they were about destroying it So was Hypocrisie in pretending to be Protestants tho' actually Papists yet 't was made Treason to say the King was a Papist or Popishly affected which I say to shew how any Society or Assembly of Men chiefly when guided by Interest and Passion is apt to Err and be mistaken and thereby Men were made guilty of Death for telling the Truth Well these Sins and many more in Church and State were under the late Reigns the cause of our Complaints and have been the grounds for our Deliverance But what are we the better for it Tho' God (a) Ezek. 16.50 hath taken away some of the Sinnners as he saw good if the same Sins in the same degree nay in a higher do still continue among us and are become our master Sins is not there Cause to put this Question after God hath so graciously and wonderfully wrought for us are these Distempers remedied and all the great Abuses we complained of Reform'd nay are we so much as in earnest about to do it Tho' we may say some few are in a small degree yet far from it as to others for specially those relating to God ' Honour and Service are increased and without restraint daily multiplied We have bad Examples whence we expected good ones How careful are Men to promote their worldly selfish Interest and how neglectful of God's as if it was not worth minding Hence it is that we see obscene blasphemous and impious Books publickly exposed to Sale in Shops Auctions c. without any Curb and when there hath been other Books in opposition to those how much unfaithfulness tricking and unfair dealings have been used to smother or mangle them about the time of the coming out nay after that for Love nor Money one could not get them put into the Gazzetts among the Advertisements tho' desir'd more than once So that Diana's Interest wants no Demetrius of several kinds among us Some think they may be of no Religion others of any and profess what they please some do vent and publish their Opinions whilst others cheat and revile their Neighbours and wrong them in their good Name Fortune Liberty and sometimes in their Life without little or no Curb at all which is a bringing in a-pace of Confusion and Anarchy and all this some would call the Liberty of the Subject which is with Impunity to abuse one another and to run into all manner of Licentiousness Some think themselves Priviledged to Defraud others of their own nay others go further to Strike those Persons whose Character ought to be Respected and that in such Places as require a special Punishment and upon such occasions as deserve Thanks and not Blows Thus in one kind or other (a) Judg. 17.6 Every one doth that which is Right in his own Eyes as we read it was when there was no King in Israel Thus God in his wise Providence suffereth Abuses to Creep in and sometimes to Prevail of which we may say what our Blessed Saviour speaks of Offences (a) Luke 17.4 It is impossible but that Offences will come but Wo unto him through whom they come by Right it should be so with those who commit Abuses but also he from time to time raiseth Instruments in his hand for his People's good and makes them as Paul would have us to be (b) Rom. 12.11 Acts 17.16 Fervent in Spirit Serving the Lord. As we read how his Spirit was stirred in him in Athens when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry Not Lukewarm in his Service for such (c) Rev. 3.16 He speweth out of his Mouth Nor such as (d) Jer. 48.10 Do his Work deceitfully For such are Cursed But for his Honour and the benefit of his People he makes use of such as Love Fear and Serve him with their Heart such a one was Moses to deliver Israel out of Aegypt and Joshua to bring them into the promised Land After the Babylonian Captivity God chose Zerubbabel to carry them home Ezra to reform their Manners settle Religion and build the Temple then Nehemiah to build up the Walls of Jerusalem So he never wants Instruments to do his Work and if some Men ly as Blocks in his way he knows well how to Remove them Happy those whom he is pleased to make use of for so good a Work But as Rules back'd with Examples make a greater impression so I shall mention some whom Scripture hath proposed as Patterns in matters of Religion for after Ages to follow Asa I begin with for after the falling off of the Ten Tribes he was the first Reformer of the Kings of Judah To his commendation 't is Recorded of him that (e) 1 King 15.11.14 He did that which was Right in the Eyes of the Lord as did David his Father and that his Heart was perfect with the Lord all his days Whereof Instances are given to shew how he minded the true Worship of God and removed Abuses therein Committed 'T is with every collective Body whether Ecclesiastical Civil or Politick as with the Natural in this ill humours and destructive are sometimes Bred and Formed which 't is necessary to Purge away Thus often Corruptions which cause Distempers do creep into the sore-named Bodies which to preserve the whole ought to be taken away and Remedied This good King began his Reign with minding things of Religion 't is just that God should be served first The Right way for a