Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A29164
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A sermon preach'd at the Parish-Church of Richmond in Surry April the 5th, 1699 being the day appointed for a publick humiliation and collection for the Vaudois / by N. Brady ...
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Brady, Nicholas, 1659-1726.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing B4182; ESTC R19532
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10,115
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28
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because of great servitude she dwelt among the Heathen she found no rest all her Persecutors overtook her between the Straits all her Gates were desolate her Priests sighed her Virgins were afflicted and she was in bitterness her Adversaries were the chief her Enemies prosper'd the reason follows immediately after for the Lord afflicted her for the multitude of her Transgressions Which leads me to the consideration of my 2. Particular namely to enquire into the Cause of these Dangers and source of those Afflictions to which we were expos'd Sin implied in these words Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee which clearly intimate that Sin was the occasion of the former Evil. It is very usual even with the most faulty to shift off the guilt from themselves and endeavour to fasten it upon others and they are apt to impute their Sufferings and Afflictions rather to the Injustice and Malice of their Enemies than to any Demerits and Transgressions of their own But this is a very fallacious way of arguing with which we too often deceive our own Souls for the Inflicters of God's vengeance may be very ill Men and yet they who bear the Infliction not a whit the more Innocent the Hangman may be a most profligate Villain and yet the Felon or the Traytor suffer justly under his Hands Never was there any Man yet in the World he only excepted who was God as well as Man that could with confidence propound this Question Which of you convinces me of Sin Every one 's own Conscience unless sear'd or stupified is a thousand Witnesses against him in this case and we cannot but joyn with the Prophet in his Confession O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of Faces because of the Trespass which we have trespassed against thee For let me I beseech you ask you a few Questions and let every one's own Soul silently give an Answer What effect had that long Peace and Plenty upon us with which it pleased God to bless these Nations when the whole Christian World besides felt the Sword and Scarcity but Chambering and Wantonness Rioting and Drunkenness Strifes and Envyings What use did we make of that abundance of good things which the giver of all good Gifts imparted to us but to make provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof How little was the Name of God thought upon amongst us unless to dishonor it with an Oath Or his House frequented by us unless to pass away that time which would otherwise have lain uneasie upon our hands How empty and superficial was our devotion grown How mere a Form of godliness without the Power of it was our Religion become How earnestly did we contend for the things of this World and how little did we seek those things that are above God therefore as well in Mercy as in Justice awaken'd us by his Judgments from this provoking Security and like a careful Physitian to a Lethargick Patient recover'd us with Causticks and with Scarifyings from a sleep which else would have been unto Death Let us not then in the Name of God look abroad for the Causes of our Sufferings let us not flatter our selves by imputing them to the Ambitious Contrivances of Foreign Princes or the inveterate Malice of our Designing Neighbours since the main Spring and Original of all every Man may find at home within his own breast Our Sins cried out to Heaven for Vengeance and God who is Infinite Justice could not but inflict it our Offences were hurrying us on to unavoidable ruine and God who is Mercy in perfection could not but use the roughest Methods to reclaim us since we would not be wrought upon by milder dispensations And yet even when we thus lay under his chastisements how little did we take the Advice of the Prophet hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it Did we not rather give occasion to God to upbraid us as he did heretofore the House of Israel and I said after I had done all these things unto her turn unto me but she returned not In those Days did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with Sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine as if we had seriously made that absurd conclusion Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die These serious Truths may perhaps be uneasie to us but I am sure they are most abundantly necessary that we may not be tempted to justifie our selves or to ascribe our deliverance to our own righteousness but only to the bowels and compassion of him whose Mercy towards us endureth for ever and whose hand is mighty to save and this leads me to the 3. Particular of my Text namely to lay before you the wonderful Mercy of Almighty God in rescuing and releasing us from those Dangers and Afflictions Behold thou art made whole This first word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is always rendered by Lo or Behold and is used either to usher in something amazing and astonishing or to prepare our attention for something eminently instructive and it always stands in the Writings of the Evangelists as a Hand in the Margent to point out somewhat more than ordinarily considerable And certainly if ever any thing deserv'd to be thus usher'd in our releasement from the Dangers to which we were expos'd may justly challenge such an Introduction Behold thou art made whole When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Jacob then were we like to them that dream The greatness and the suddenness of the Alteration made it rather seem a fancy proceeding from the fumes of a distemper'd Brain than a Truth that carried with it what was real and substantial When we were so near the brink of Ruine that there was but a bare possibility of our escaping then God who is a help in time of need snatch'd us from the precipice into which we were falling and set our feet upon a Rock and order'd our goings When we lay like Isaac a destin'd sacrifice and the Knife was just at our Throates then an Arm as it were out of the Clouds arrested the Hands of our Executioners and a Voice as if from Heaven gave command Lay not your Hands upon them neither do any thing unto them So that our Soul escaped as a Bird out of the Net of the Fowler the Net was broken and we were deliver'd I might endeavour to set off the greatness of this Blessing by comparing it with those Miseries which we lay under and with those much greater ones which threatened to overwhelm us but this was a Mercy of the first Magnitude which will sufficiently affect our Souls with gratitude if we set it in a true light and consider it by its self How by this True Religion the way which those our Enemies call Heresie but wherein we worship the God of our Fathers was again restor'd
to its Ancient Splendour Our Temples which they had destin'd to Foppery and Superstition were happily continu'd in the possession of unadulterate Worship and a reasonable Service The Laws which had been warped to serve the worst Ends were again reduc'd to their Primitive Use for the Punishment of wicked Doers and the praise of such as do well The just Prerogative of the Prince was vigorously asserted and yet the Liberty of the Subject not at all infringed The Church and State which like ill-yoak'd Oxen drew different ways now proceed lovingly in the same Track and strengthen and support each other mutually Peace and abundance begin to efface the Memory of the War and the necessities under which we lately labour'd Our Dangers and Apprehensions are vanished and removed and if any Scars remain of our former Wounds whilst they put us in mind that we have been hurt they also assure us that we are in a way to be healed Happy are the people who are in such a Case if they make a right use of the Mercies they have receiv'd yea blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God! And certainly so many visible appearances of the Divine favour have entitl'd God to the sole Honour of our Deliverance that it would be a direct robbing him of his Glory to give the praise of it to any other He having acted for us in this Case as he testifies of himself by the Prophet Isaiah and I looked and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold then my own Arm brought Salvation The Lord indeed looked down from Heaven and beheld from the Habitation of his Heliness and of his Glory his Zeal and his Strength and his Mercies and the sounding of his Bowels towards 〈◊〉 were not restrain'd He saw our Miseries and turned away his Eyes from our Transgressions or if he viewed them it was only to use other Methods to withdraw us from them and to attempt the reclaiming us by his Mercies who had formerly been incorrigible under his Judgments Thus God arose and his and our Enemies were scattered and they that hated both him and us fled before him Therefore Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give praise for thy loving Mercy and for thy Truth 's sake And now wherewithal shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the high God What retribution shall we make unto the Lord for all that the Lord has bestowed upon us according to his Mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses The Answer to this Question which every devout Soul is oblig'd to make is the subject of my 4. Particular in which I am to examine the Caution and Advice here given us how we ought to comport our selves under such blessings Sin no more The Mercies of God are design'd for our amendment and his Goodness leadeth to repentance if therefore we answer not this intention of his we go about as far as in us lies to disappoint the gracious Methods of his Providence and as it were to counterplot his Omniscence But God forbid that where his Grace has so signally abounded to us there Sin should abound so much more God forbid that we should continue obstinate and incorrigible against all that an All powerful and All-wise God can do for our amendment If Judgments could not frighten us into Obedience yet let Blessings allure us and like the Man in the Fable who held fast his Cloak against the blustering Wind but parted with it to the gentler Rays of the Sun So let us if we have kept our Sins close to us in the Storms of Adversity dismiss them when we are warmed with the Beams of Prosperity Ingratitude we know is stiled a complication of all Wickedness and no Title is so reproachful as that of an unthankful Person but how deeply shall we be liable to this imputation if we will make no return for such inestimable advantages And yet how easie is the Tribute which God expects at our hands He only requires of us that we should Sin no more That instead of provoking him to new Severities we should put our selves into a condition of recieving fresh Blessings Had something very difficult been exacted of us when we lay expos'd to the Oppression of our insulting Enemies would we have scrupled to perform it for our releasement from them And shall we now startle at that which is both easie and beneficial God's Yoke is easie and his Burthen is light his Commandments are not grievous neither does he delight to afflict the Sons of Men And yet how few are obedient to such equitable Injunctions How few submit entirely to so mild an Authority Is not the same Profaneness and Debauchery still rife amongst us which drew down those Judgments we formerly groan'd under Do we not still use the same false balances and deceitful Weights Do we not still practice the same over-reaching subtilties in our usual Dealings and mutual Commerce Is not all the Violence and Injustice for which we were wont to blame our Enemies still exercis'd amongst our selves and aggravated by the profession of a better Religion So that I may say in the words of the Prophet the Lord looked for Judgment but behold Opression for righteousness but behold a Cry Do not those that seem'd to lament and bewail the Danger of loosing the Publick Assemblies absent themselves too often from the Great Congregation and leave the House of God at the ordinary times of Divine Worship much more unfrequented than it need or ought to be Do not those who apprehended a Dearth in the Land not a Dearth of Bread but of the Word and Sacraments withdraw too frequently from the Bread of Life end Starve their own Souls in the midst of Plenty Let us judge our selves my Brethren that we be not judged of the Lord and let us consider that the caution here given Sin no more is not a bare Advice that may be taken or rejected without any considerable Consequences but that in the 5th And last Particular of my Text there is a Threatning or Commination and that a very severe One annexed to it to strengthen and enforce it Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee A Relapse into any illness is much more dangerous than the first fury of a Distemper and we read of the Man that washed and swept and garnished his House and yet admitted seven Devils afterwards that his last Estate was worse than his first For God in his Impartial Justice proportions his Judgments to our Offences now every latter Sin is greater than the former and therefore is liable to a more severe punishment For either we have repented before the Commission of it or we have not if we have our Sin besides its own guilt includes that of breaking our Resolution if we have not it is an additional Act of Obstinacy and Impenitency and either way it has a new accession