Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A53335
|
England's call to thankfulness for her great deliverance from popery and arbitrary power by the glorious conduct of the Prince of Orange (now King of England) in the year 1688 in a sermon preach'd in the parish-church of Almer in Dorsetshire on February the 14th, 1688/9 / by John Olliffe ...
|
Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.
|
1689
(1689)
|
Wing O288; ESTC R17619
|
23,014
|
38
|
and Assistance and uniting all both at home and abroad to comply with the Undertaking or not to make any considerable Opposition Surely this is the Lord 's Doing and it ought to be marvellous in our Eyes Oh sing unto the Lord a new Song sing unto the Lord all the Earth Sing unto the Lord bless his Name â—and shew forth his Salvation from day to day For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised He is to be feared above all Gods Honour and Majesty are before him Strength and Beauty are in his Sanctuary Give unto the Lord O ye Kindreds of the People give unto the Lord Glory and Strength Give unto the Lord the Glory due unto his Name bring an Offering and come into his Courts Say among the Heathen that the Lord reigneth the World also shall be established that it shall not be moved he shall judg the People righteously 2. The next thing then to be considered in this Duty of Praise is that as we acknowledg it to be God's Act so that we acknowledg it also to be an Act of free Grace and mere undeserved Mercy to us so that we must every way say Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be given the Glory As our Help cometh of God for vain else would be the Help of Man so we must acknowledg that it is of God's mere Mercy that we are thus delivered and that we are not consumed It is only because his Compassions fail not This must always be remembred as Moses also tells the Jews upon their getting the Land of Canaan Deut. 9.4 Speak not thou in thy Heart after that the Lord thy God hath cast out these Nations from before thee saying For my Righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this Land But for the Wickedness of these Nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee Not for thy Righteousness or for the Vprightness of thine Heart dost thou go to possess the Land but for the Wickedness of these Nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee c. Whether it be for their Sins or no that there hath been such a strange change and Revolution among us I will not determine but I am sure it is not for our Merits For I doubt we have cause enough to lament and confess with Shame and Confusion as Ezra did the Sins of the People of the Jews Ezr. 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my Face to thee my God For our Iniquities are increased over our Heads and our Trespass is grown up unto the Heavens Since the Days of our Fathers have we been in a great Trespass unto this Day And therefore we must say as he ver 8. that it is all of Mercy that we have been delivered from any Evil that Grace hath been shewn us from the Lord our God to leave us a Remnant to escape and to give us a Nail in his Holy Place that our God may lighten our Eyes and give us a little reviving in our Bondage And God hath not forsaken us but hath extended Mercy unto us It is all Grace and Mercy and not Worthiness and Merit on our parts There have been blessed be God many pious praying Persons amongst us that have been earnest with God for Mercy and Settlement to the Land. But how many more are there that have been Cursers Swearers Atheists and prophane Wretches that have not had the Fear of God before their Eyes And we may well admire that the Oaths and Blasphemies of the many have not outcryed the Prayers of the few Swearing is a mere Defiance of Heaven without any considerable Temptation having nothing it it either of Prosit or Pleasure But yet is a Sin that hath got into all parts into Courts and Cities into Towns and Villages to the Country Man at his Plow and Cart and the Shop-keeper in his Shop to bind every little Bargain to bloat up a vain Discourse and to back every giddy Passion We have lived in an Age wherein Hell hath been as it were let loose and Rioting and Drunkenness Chambering and Wantonness Luxury and Intemperance have been very fashionable Accomplishments and Sin hath been grown downright impudent and hath outfac'd the Sun at Noon-day Whereas formerly as the Apostle tells us that they that were drunk were drunk in the Night as being the proper time to conceal such Works of Darkness Now we have had not only Night-Revellings but Day-excesses with a witness And whereas the Proverb used to be as drunk as a Beggar I am sorry to say that those of higher Quality have seemed to envy the Beggar 's good Name Sin hath taken Heart and hath dared to show it self and come abroad in Pomp having had the Examples and Encouragements of Persons of all Places and Qualities to countenance and back it so that there hath obtained almost an universal Corruption of Manners And then Uncleanness follows as the natural Consequent of all this and is always the Companion of a loose and wicked Age. As for Divine Worship and Adoration due to the great Creator of our Beings and our continual Preserver and Benefactor how little hath it been regarded by most Persons and Families and by many even on the Christian Sabbath it self That Day which hath been set apart for Divine Service and Worship for devout Meditations and pious Works hath been made with many a meer Market-day of Debauchery the best Day that the Devil hath and the worst day of all the Week or else a time of meer Visit and Idleness except what is just spent in some parts perhaps of the publick Service and which Men have been quite weary of too Yea how hath all that is Divine been exposed by Men of corrupt Minds the Holy Scripture it self burlesqued and droled at and how hath it been the Pride and Glory of wanton Wits to dare to speak against Heaven and to make a Scoff of Immortality Religion hath been decried in the Streets true Seriousness and Strictness have been esteemed a Crime Formality and a siery Zeal for particular Forms and Parties for Ceremonies and outward Garbs hath been with too too many thought a sufficient Commutation for substantial Piety and good Works to bow at the Name of Jesus and to be zealous for Church and Liturgy must atone with many for all manner of Debaucheries and Immoralities And what Bitterness and Envy have been among Neighbours How few have been clothed with Humility or have put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness But hard Censures and unjust Surmises Slanders and Backbitings Hatred and Strife have prevailed among those that should have lived together in mutual Love and Kindness Families and Neighbourhoods have been the Theater of unchristian Feuds and how have those that are joined in the same Societies rejoic'd in one anothers Falls and Miseries Yea Religion it self which should have meekned and united our Hearts hath been the very thing
Commandments Then saith Ezra Wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no Remnant nor escaping Ezr. 9.13 14. We must not think that we are therefore delivered to work Wickedness or that we may sin with the greater Boldness God hath a Divine and Holy end in this and all his Dispensations towards us as Luke 1.69 He hath raised up an Horn of Salvation for us that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without Fear in Righteousness and Holiness before him all the Days of our Lives We must not think that we are delivered from Popery to serve our own Lusts which is every whit as dangerous an Idolatry as to bow to dumb Images and to serve Stocks and Stones We must not think that we are saved from Errours in our Faith and Doctrine that we may have worse in our Lives For there is no such Errour and Heresy in the World as a bad Life and a wicked Heart And we must not think that our Liberties and Properties are preserved that we may revel more with them in Wantonness and Excess If our Laws and Government are preserved yet that will little avail us if we do not govern our selves well and our own Affections and Passions It is not the saving of our Laws will save us if we are lawless in our own Spirits If we are secured from outward Tyranny what will that signify if our Sins and Corruptions within do still tyrannize over us the World or Sin in our Hearts will be a worse Tyrant to us than ever any Prince that could sit upon the Throne The Pope or French King could never hurt us as our own evil Affections can It had been better a thousand times that our Bodies had been hack'd and massacred at the command of furious Jesuits or that we had been Slaves for ever to the most cruel Lords if thereby our Virtue and Innocency might have been preserved than that we should be the Devils Martyrs or be living Slaves to the World and Flesh It is a Reformation that God intends in what he hath done for us and that is it therefore which we should also intend Let not our Deliverance lull us asleep in Security For if we do not make that Divine and Holy use of it as we ought God can quickly turn his Hand upon us in Fury And though one Instrument be gone he can quickly sind out another to punish us or he can easily make us a Punishment to our selves if he should but suffer an evil Spirit of Division and Discord to seize upon us God hath Axes and Hammers enough at command that he can make use of to chastise us if yet all he hath done doth us no good As we sind in the History of the Judges that when the People corrupted themselves after their Deliverance God soon raised up other Enemies that a long time kept them in hard Bondage till they repented themselves of their Sins and then the Lord heard their Groanings and saved them Jer. 7. 8. Ye trust in lying Words that cannot profit if ye think you may sin securely and because of presâ—nt Mercies that yet shall be henceforth out of Danger Will ye steal murder and commit Adultery and swear falsly c. And come and stand before me in this House which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to do all these Aborninations No. But go ye unto my place which is at Shiloh where I set my Name at the first and see what I did to it for the Wickedness of my People Israel So what Calamities and Miseries have befallen other Churches and Countries and how can you but expect the like if you do not take warning by their Falls Thus saith the Lord of Hists The God of Israel amend your Ways and your Doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place We are told by the Psalmist Psal 33.12 That blessed is the Nation whâ— hath the Lord for their God and blessed is the People whom he hath chosen for his Inheritance For if God be for us who can be against us If the Eternal God will be our Refuge and will but put under the everlasting Arms who is he that can hurt us So that the greatest thing we can do towards our own Happiness is to engage the mighty God to be on our side and to secure his gracious and blessed Presence that it may be ever with us But then for this we must see that we depart from all Iniquity for he is not a God that hath Pleasure in Wickedness neither can Evil dwell with him We must see that we walk before him and be perfect For his Eyes run to and fro to show himself strong in the Behalf of them that walk uprightly then he will be with us and save us and he will never leave us nor forsake us if we keep his Covenant and his Testimonies We have plainly seen that the Lord's hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither is his Ear heavy that it cannot hear and he is the same God yesterday to day and for ever But let us see that we do not at last provoke him to leave us by our Sins let us see that our Iniquities do not separate between us and our God. He seemed for our Sins to threaten us sore and to write bitter things against us but he hath not yet done his Work his strange Work he hath not brought to pass his Act his strange Act. As the Work of Judgment is called because he is slow to anger Isa 28.21 Let us see that we do not provoke him by our Sins to return upon us in Fury It seems as if our gracious God had had a Dispute with himself not to do with us as once he had about the People of Israel Hos 11.8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim My Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together I will not execute the Fierceness of mine Anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim For I am God and not Man the Holy one in the midst of thee So that at length Mercy hath prevailed over Judgment and we are saved as it is this Day And now shall not the Goodness of God lead us to Repentance shall we no better improve but basely despise the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering should we still continue to walk after our Hardness and impenitent Heart What would this be but to treasure up to our selves Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God which yet we may expect if we should continue to do wickedly It is prophesied of Mount Sion Obad. 17. That upon Sion shall be Deliverance and there shall be Holiness and then the House of Jacob shall possess their Possessions Why should it not be