Selected quad for the lemma: lord_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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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-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