Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A30343
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An exhortation to peace and union in a sermon preached at St. Lawrence-Jury, on Tuesday the 26th of Novemb. 1689 / by ... Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum.
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Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing B5788; ESTC R22992
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18,744
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40
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Cruel Treacherous and Ingrateful Tyrant who had both Strength enough to master them and Rage enough to destroy them It is true such has the goodness of God been to us that we are not now in Egypt but we were lately very near the being brought under that Yoke and if we do not manage the happy Opportunity that is now in our hands we have reason to apprehend that we shall quickly fall again under it The Scene that has been lately acted in France and Savoy has given us sufficient warning of what we ought to expect when we fall under such Pharaohs who will neither remember Ioseph nor the most signal Services that can be done them nor have any of the tendernesses of Humanity not to say of the Compassions of Christianity but who will by a slow oppression eat out the Estates and spoil the Houses of those they call Hereticks and give them all the vexatious disquiet that they can contrive and then when all is consumed will separate the nearest Relations and throw them into terrible and noysome Prisons without any regard to Age or Sex to Sickness or Infirmity And the very attempt of flying away from so dreadful a Misery will be made a Crime to be punished by the greatest severity to which men can be adjudged to be chain'd to a Bank and to tug at an Oar in the most uncomfortable state of life that is imaginable This is what many thousands in France have suffered and still do suffer and has driven vast multitudes out of their Countrey from their Dwellings and Families naked almost and destitute of all things you have seen so many crying Instances of this Cruelty that it is not necessary to enlarge further upon it and you have received and relieved them with such a bountiful hand and so tender a Charity that you have reason to hope that there is a Blessing reserved for you proportioned to the labour of Love you have shewed who have ministred to so many of our persecuted Brethren and still do minister We here had formerly reason to have looked for no better usage we know their Church is Uniform in her Proceedings against Hereticks the Spirit and Principles are the same every-where so we had no reason to have expected to be exempted from the fate of others if we had been delivered over to them whose tender mercies are cruel We saw that they remembred not Ioseph not only in the Age after he was dead but that immediatly after the greatest Service that could be done and the most solemn Promises that could be made all was forgotten and if there appeared at any time any relenting it was like that in Egypt for when Pharoah felt the weight of the Divine Displeasure he was so far wrought on that he was willing to let the People go but that Terrour was no sooner over than his heart was hardned so that his good Temper went off and all his Promises were forgotten Some perhaps are so foolish as to imagine that present Misfortunes may have wrought a Change somewhere and that they now see past Errors so that they would not venture to fall again into the same Follies that have proved so fatal to them But yet such Persons ought to consider that Pharaoh was Pharaoh still and would be so still after all the Changes of Fortune through which he could pass Obligations and Engagements will be but feeble things And we must expect to be the most miserable Nation under the Sun if after the Escape that we have made we should again fall back into the same Hands not only the old Crime of Heresy must be brought against us but our Presumption in daring to set our selves free and to accept of the Deliverance which God has so wonderfully wrought for us would be thought the greatest of Crimes and be aggravated by all that could be invented to make it look odious We have in such a Case the most deplorable State of Misery imaginable to look for all the Hardships of Prisons all the Cruelty of rough Treatment and after the lengthned Misery of ill Usage such a terrible Death as they may think will give us the most exquisite Misery so that all the Ease and Pleasure we might hope for should be to be speedily delivered by a quick Execution out of their Hands their Temper and Principles are of themselves cruel enough but when these are sharpned by Resentment and Revenge then new Contrivances of Cruelty are to be expected This is that Egypt out of which we are delivered I wish I could say delivered Alas Ireland is not but is still in Bondage with her Children and like to be a long Scene of Blood and Misery nor can our Deliverance be compleat till that is perfected and tho we here are not at present in their Power yet it is but too evident that many wish we were If these were the avowed Members of that Body it ought not to surprize us but that many who seem zealous against it should yet by their whole Conduct be carrying us back thither is more amazing Can any Man be so void of Understanding as to forget so soon what was so lately done or imagin that any Change in the Affairs of our Enemies can have changed either their Principles or their Hearts unless it be to the worse And yet after all this there are not a few that say plainly Would to God we were in Egypt again for it was then better with us than it is now Others are not so sincere as to speak out but their Actings speak for them Some are uneasy because they can no more persecute their Brethren Others because they can no more insult over their Neighbours Some are afraid of suffering a little of the great deal they deserve While on the other hand others are acted with another Extream of Fury and under the pretence of punishing past Errors seek only to gratify their own Revenges and so drive others to the common Folly of all that are in any present Danger to wish for any thing that may deliver them from that how fatal soever it may prove afterwards These unruly Agitations of Mens Minds on both hands are the very Plague that our Enemies ought to wish to us that while Pharaoh pursues we may stand still quarrelling with one another till he can overtake and destroy us and thus instead of securing our selves against the Common Enemy we create many new Ones among our selves and expose the Whole to the Rages of those who can have no Mercy The Second Circumstance of the Affairs of the Israelites was That they were upon the Point of being redeemed out of their Bondage and being made one of the most Glorious Nations that ever was The Prophecy relating to it was near the assigned Period and it seems it had begun already to be understood that Moses was to be the Person to be imployed in it for we find here that he imagined they had known it which shews
Humane Nature of following the Dictates of Conscience in the Service of God is secured to all Men amongst us and that we are freed I hope for ever of all the Remnants of the worst part of Popery that we had too long retained I mean the Spirit of Persecution If this gives uneasiness to any it shews that their Eye is evil because the Eye of our Legislators has been good towards those who tho they may be mistaken in their Notions yet have still the Rights of Men and of Christians But after all this it is to be remembred that Men may be still Persecutors though they are not able to persecute any longer according to our Saviour's charging the Guilt of intended Sins on those who never acted them for as long as we entertain Hatred and Malice in our Hearts and wish that it were in our Power to do hurt to others so long we become guilty before God and so do wrong to our selves though we are not in condition to do them any but if we do them all the wrong we can we shew what our Tempers are and that we would do more if it were in our Power If we love to keep up old Differences or to create new Ones if we will continue to make the Terms of Communion with us as strait as possibly we can and shut out all Persons as much as in us lies from joining Labours with us because they do not in all Things think as we do If we will by turns imploy all the Interest we have in any Turn of Government that is kind to us to do wrong to others either by loading them with false Accusations by aggravating some lesser Matters or by an undue prosecution of real but repented of Faults All these are the several Instances in which an injurious Temper shews it self and while such things are among us we are under the Guilt that is charged on these Israelites in my Text who though they were Brethren yet did Wrong one to another While we are so liberal in throwing out of Lies and Slanders or at least while we do so easily believe them and so willingly report them we shew that whatsoever our want of Power to do Mischief may be yet that our Inclinations are still full of Malice and Wickedness And while we are under the power of such ill Tempers we are far enough from the Blessedness of Brethren that dwell together in Unity Indeed this Disease is gone too far to admit of any other Cure but what must come down from Above from the God of Love through the effusion of the Spirit of Love and Peace The Corruption that is rooted in our Natures is too deeply fixed there to be cured any way but by an Interposition of a Divine Power We see that neither the consideration of Reason nor of Interest neither the sense of Honour nor the apprehension of Danger are strong enough to prevail over the Prejudices of our Education or those angry Impressions which we have so long Cherished in our selves and in others that perhaps we are now scarce Masters of them and therefore since the Disease has gone so deep we must look up to him who alone can Cure it We must all consider that such an Evil Spirit prevailing among us at such a time is a plain Indication of Gods Anger that is kindled against us Therefore before this proves our Ruin let us all turn to God with our whole Hearts and Repent us of the Evil of our ways and Cry mightily to him That so he may Arise and Save and Deliver us who by our Sins and our Divisions are brought so very Low and who must yet fall into the most abject and miserable State possible if God do not bless us with a healing Temper and with healing Counsels That so we may go on to Perfection and Compleat those Great Things which God has begun to work for us and in which we our selves have fatally stopt the Course of his Mercy to us and that we may both Live as Christians and Love as Brethren That the God of Love and Peace may delight to dwell among us and Bless us That this Church may become more and more that which she truly is The Praise of all the Churches and the Ioy of the whole Earth and that every one of us in our own particular may at last come to dwell in those Regions above where all are made perfect in Love which may the God of Love grant us for the sake of him that Loved us and that gave himself for us to whom be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen FINIS Books Lately Printed for Richard Chiswel Tâ—…e Case of Allegiâ—…nce in our present circumstances considered in a Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Country A Breviate of the State of Scotland in its Government Supream Courts Officers of State Inferiour Officers Offices and Inferiour Courts Districts Jurisdictions Burroughs Royal and Free Corporations Fol Some Considerations touching Succession and Allegiance 4 to Reflexions upon the late Great Revolution Written by a Lay-Hand in the Country for the satisfaction of some Neighbours The History of the Dissertion or an Account of all the publick Affairs in England from the beginning of September 1683. to the Twelfth of February following With an Answer to a Piece call'd The Dissertion discussed in a Letter to a Country Gentleman By a Person of Quality K. William and K. Lewis wherein is set forth the inevitable necessity these Nations lie under of submitting wholly to one or other of these Kings And that the matter in Controversie is not now between K. William and K. Iames but between K. William and K. Lewis of France for the Government of these Nations A Sermon preached at Fulham in the Chappel of the Palace upon Easter day 1689. at the Consecration of the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum By Anthony Horneck D. D. The Judgments of God upon the Roman Catholick Church from its first Rigid Laws for Universal Conformity to it unto its last End. With a prospect of these near approaching Revolutions Viz. The Revival of the Protestant profession in an Eminent Kingdom where it was totally suppressed The last End of all Turkish Hostilities The general Mortification of the power of the Roman Church in all parts of its Dominions By Dâ—…ue Cressener D. D. A Discourse concerning the Worship of Images preached before the University of Oxford By G. Tully Sub-Dean of York for which he was Suspended Two Sermons one against Murmuring the other against Censuring By Symon Patrick D. D. Now Lord Bishop of â—…hichester An Account of the Reasens which induced Charles the Second King of England to declare War against the States-General of the United Provinces in 1672. And of the Private League which he entred into at the same Time with the French King to carry it on and to establish Popeâ—…y in England Scotland and Ireland as they are set