Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A53745
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Englands warning by late frowning providences, especially the immediate hand of God upon the straits-fleet improved in a sermon preacht April 1st, 1694 ... : from Ezekiel V, viii ... / by Jonathan Owen ...
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Owen, Jonathan.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing O826; ESTC R17899
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21,718
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36
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me in it beyond my Intention a few days past Therefore By way of Exhortation Is this so that of all Judgments for the great God to declare himself against a People or a Nation is the worst and forest that can befall us then what shall I press upon you sure I need not exhort you to Credit the Truth of this It will be easily granted by all that have their Senses exercised to discern Divine Truth therefore I address my self to exhort you to these following things 1. Place Be perswaded and conclude that the great God hath a Controversie with these sinful Kingdoms it 's not hard to prove it God doth by his Frowning Dispensations evidently declare it by what he hath formerly and of late done in the midst of us he now as in the Text loudly cries in our Ears I even I am against thee Beloved so long as we Fancy it is otherwise we shall not set our selves in good earnest to the Work of Reformation which we are obliged unto and God calls for by his Judgments and saith to us as by the Prophet Jer. 13. last O Jerusalem Jerusalem when wilt thou be made clean when shall it once be When when after all that I have done in the midst of you 2. Be exhorted to Fear and Tremble before this great God who now by his frowning Providences declares he hath a controversie with us O that all the Inhabitants of these Nations would stand in awe of him who hath made himself known to be a Just and Holy God by his Judgments executed upon us We may evidently see that our Abominations have provoked him to Wrath and if we will not after all this be prevailed upon to make him our dread what can we expect but that he should proceed to visit us with greater Calamities than have yet befallen us 3. Be exhorted to Reform what in you lies and lament before the Lord what you can't obtain from others I earnestly intreat every Soul of you in the Name of the Lord to begin with his own Heart and House and cast away the detestable things which God pleads against us for as good House-wises are most at home minding their own concerns so the best and most upright-hearted Christians are most Conversant with their own Hearts and more concern'd to east the beam out of their own Eyes than to complain of the Mote in anothers therefore set to the Work of Reformation thy self and when you have stoned the Achan in your own Camp expect to prosper and not before and then lay before the Lord the neglect of Reformation by others go to the Throne of Grace and weep over those Sins which are abounding in the midst of us and that there is so little done to reform under so great Obligations to it by what National Mercies we yet enjoy upon Trial. 4. Be exhorted to secure your Interest in Christ the anointed of God to save lost Sinners above all things look to this in times of Distress wise men endeavour to secure their best things their Jewels Gold c. Beloved in this dark and calamitous day now God is contending by his Judgments look to your Souls above all things every one get Arkt in Christ for as every Soul out of the Ark perisht in the Deluge so every Soul that dies out of Christ must perish Eternally as Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus so there is nothing but Condemnation to them that dye out of him if the avenger of Blood under the Law laid hold of the Man-slayer before he got into the City of Resuge there 's no relief for him so if you dye out of Christ you can't escape the Wrath of God O then flee to Christ cast Anchor within the Vail upon him in this stormy Season that if you are not deliverd from Temporal Calamities you may be freed Him Eternal study Christ his Name Nature and Fulness even that too much eclipsed Name of his Jer. 23.6 Toe Lord our Righteousness and submit to it that thou be not found naked of that which only can skreen the Wrath of God off you Psal 9.10 They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee O that the Tokens of Gods Wrath might in this day move all to prepare an Ark for the saving their Souls I mean to secure their Interest in Christ 1 Cor. 1.30 Who of God is made to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption In him there is enough for your supply Sinners therefore hasten by Faith grapple upon him who rejects none that come to him Joh. 6.37 therefore take him at his Word he is faithful and can't deny himself 5. Lift up a Cry and pour out your Souls to God in Prayer for these sinful and threatned Kingdoms although Wrath is gone out from the Lord who knows but he will yet be intreated for us yea if we hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it he will remember his former Loving Kindnesses for he delights not in the Destruction of his Creatures but upon honourable terms to him and easie to us if complied with he will shew Mercy therefore set your selves to seek the Lord it may be he hath not said tho' Noah Daniel and Job pray he will not be intreated for us he formerly hath shewed himself slow to anger of great kindness and tender Mercy therefore go home and plead with him that felt Judgments may be sanctified and remov'd and feard Judgments may be prevented and it may be God will yet dwell in our Land Thus I have given you my short Meditations upon what the Lord hath done upon our Fleet by his immediate hand apparently to all I pray God we may see hear learn and do no more so wickedly lest worse befall us from the Lord than yet hath happen'd FINIS Advertisement THe Reader is desired to amend the Errata's that have escaped the Press
the Duty of a faithful Watchman and not fearing to give them Disturbance in their sleepy secure State he lets them understand what eminent Dangers their great Abominations had brought them into for as much as now God did manifestly declare himself to be against them In the preceding Verse I find the Prophet in the Name of God charges them with their Wickedness thus because ye multiplyed more than the Nations that are round about you some by this understand the 〈…〉 manifold Blessings and signal Favours which God gave them and should have been improved to thankfulness and Obedience to God but were not but I humbly conceive it rather relates to their Sins because ye multiplied more than the Nations that are round about you in Sin thy Transgressions have been more and of a deeper Dye than theirs thou hast more grievously offended than the very Heathens that know not God and the following Words explain it And have not walked in my Statutes neither have kept my Judgments neither have done according to the Judgments of the Nations that are round about you i. e. The Heathens have been more saithful to their false Gods than you have been to Me the only True God they have by the Light of Nature been more stedfast to their cruel Injunctions than you have been to my Holy and Divine Institutions they have been stedfast to their Gods but you have been given to change and not only to comply with them but you have exceeded them in Sin and Guilt Therefore thus saith the Lord God I even I c. In the Words you have these things considerable 1. An Argumentative awful Preface Therefore thus saith the Lord God Wherefore Because ye multipti'd more than the Nations that are round about you You excell'd them in Sin and Wickedness 2. You have a necessary Duty call'd for and required from them Behold the Word imports the Clearness Certainty and Awfulness of the things he is about to Denounce and Declare as being somewhat extraordinary which duely weighed by them might make their Ears Tingle to hear it and cause their Hearts to tremble to Meditate upon it for it 's the worst and severest of Judgements Thus saith the Lord God I even I am against thee c. 3. You have the Subject matter it self which I can scarce without Horror and Trepidation mention I even I am against thee mark the Congemmination I even I not once I but twice I even I that it might make the greater Impression upon them I that formerly set my Heart upon you am now wean'd from you I that chose you before other Nations not because you were more than others but only because I had a Favour for you I even I that took you into special Covenant with my self do now declare against you I that have Graciously superintended you do now take my Heart off from you I that have wrought wonders for you in the sight of the Nations I that have preserved you alive in Famine I that deliver'd you out of the Hands of the Cruel Tyrant Pharaoh I that divided the Red-Sea that fed you in the Wilderness I that have carried you as upon Eagles Wings all your days I that have been a Father and a Friend to you I even I am against you my Heart can't be toward you nor can I bear with you any longer 4. You have the plain Evidence and full Confirmation of this his being turn'd to be their Enemy And will execute Judgments in the midst of thee I will not only shake the Rod over you but I will lay it heavy upon you and you shall smart and groan under it sensibly What I will do in my fury shall not be done in a Corner or upon a part of you but in the midst of you I will strike at the very Heart you shall feel it for I will execute Judgments one upon another in the midst of you you shall be sick of my Smiting and groan under my heavy Judgments in the midst of you my Heart shall not Pity my Hand shall not help you but I will with my immediate Hand afflict you with Judgments one on the Neck of another in the midst of you 5. You have the fore Aggravation of it and that in the sight of the Nations round about as your Sins have been so shall your Sufferings be you dishonour'd me with your Abominations before the Heathens and I will execute my Judgments before the Nations You have not ceas'd to prophane my Name before them and in their sight will I vindicate my great Name and shew that I am of Purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity they that beheld your Sins shall be Spectators of my Judgments in the midst of you Therefore thus c. From the Words I shall Collect and Depose several Doctrines but shall speak more fully to the last of them Doct. 1. That Ministers of the Gospel like faithful Watchmen must give their People warning of apprehended present and approaching Judgments So did the Prophet and so must all others if they will be faithful to Christ and the precious Souls they are to watch over We must declare what of the Night and like Paul keep back nothing that we might have their Record that we are clear from the Blood of all men Acts 20.27 Isa 58.1 There faith God to the Prophet Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my People their Transgressions and the House of Jacob their Sins Doct. 2. That whatsoever Personal Family or National Judgments befall a People it is certain that Sin is the meritorious procuring cause of them It 's Sin that is the Teeming Mother of all Mischief the procuring cause of all Calamities whatsoever Its that which lets in all Misery and causeth Destruction to come in upon a People like an armed Man or an overflowing Flood Therefore thus saith the Lord God c because ye multipli'd more than c. It was Jerusalems Abominations which inevitably brought their Desolations and it 's Englands Sins that cause God to execute Judgments in the midst of us at this day If Sin abounds without controul Judgments will follow Ezek. 14.23 for he doth nothing without a cause and it 's not difficult to relate what is the Cause of great Anger being gone out from the Lord against this Land not the late Deliverance which God graciously wrought for us as some little better than Papists dream but our not improving so unspeakable a Mercy to an obliged Reformation Doct. 3. In all the Judgments which are executed upon a People God himself hath a Hand in it and sometimes more visibly than at other times Amos 3.6 Isai â—2 24 25. Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the Robbers did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned For they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient unto his Law Therefore he hath poured upon him the Fury of his Anger and the strength of