Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A59562
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A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at St. Margaret's Westminster, on Wednesday the 21th of May, 1690, being the day of the monthly-fast by John Sharpe ...
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Sharp, John, 1645-1714.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S2990; ESTC R10685
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17,059
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41
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we trust God's Lenity and Forbearance and Mercy is as great to Publick Societies and Kingdoms as it is to Private Persons And that we may apply those expressions to our Nation which David uttered with reference to himself O Lord if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is Mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared When the Iniquities of a People are at the full God will not fail to punish them But whether ours be so or no He only knows We hope though they be very grievous and crying they have not yet exceeded the measure of God's Patience and that there is yet left a place for Repentance This is indeed the only Plank we have to trust to that can save us from Shipwrack and therefore we ought to lay hold upon it Let us therefore this day every one of us If we have any kindness for our Native Country If we have any respect to that dear Place where we and our Ancestors and all our Relations and Kindred for many Generations have lived so happily If we have any Zeal for or regard to that excellent Church and that Holy Religion that God did in so extraordinary a manner plant among us and for the preserving of which in our Land His Care and Providence hath so often and so wonderfully appear'd If we have any Concernment for many thousands of innocent Souls who without their own fault may deeply suffer for the Nations Sins Lastly If we have any Bowels of Compassion to those dear Children of ours that God hath given us that we may transmit to them and their Children after them that Birth-right and those Priviledges and that excellent Religion we received from our Fathers I say if we have any sense of these things let every one of us this day most sincerely apply our selves to the Service of God in all the ways of a serious Virtue and Piety Or if we have been careless of this matter heretofore or which is worse have been lewd or wicked in our lives yet let us now at last heartily repent of it And with Prayers and Tears and the most solemn Resolutions of Amendment prostrate our selves before the Throne of Grace imploring and beseeching God's Pardon and Forgiveness and if it be possible a lengthening of our Tranquillity O let us not refuse this Opportunity of doing the greatest Kindness and the best service to our Country that we possibly can And therefore let us not only heartily bewail our own Sins but the reigning Impieties and Wickedness that our Nation stands accountable for Now is the time if ever that we are all concerned to be importunate with God for our selves and our Country And a fitter Prayer for this purpose cannot be composed for us than that which Daniel put up to God for his Nation and that at such a solemn time as this when as he tells us he had set himself to seek God for his People by Prayer and Supplication with Fasting and Sackcloth and Ashes The Prayer is in the 9 th Chapter of his Prophecy and I shall conclude with it and I earnestly beg of you all to join with me in it O Lord the great and dreadful God that keepest the Covenant and shewest mercy to them that love thee and to them that keep thy Commandments We have sinned and done wickedly and have committed Iniquity and have rebelled even by departing from thy Precepts and from thy Iudgments O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the Men of Judah and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem because we have sinned against thee But unto the Lord our God belongeth Mercy and Forgiveness though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which he set before us O Lord according to all thy Righteousness we beseech thee let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from thy City Jerusalem thy holy Mountain Because for our sins and the iniquities of our Fathers Jerusalem and thy People are become a reproach to all that are about us Now therefore O God hear the Prayer of thy Servants and cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary O God incline thine ear and hear Open thine Eyes and behold the City which is called by thy Name O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do Defer not for thy own sake O our God For thy City and thy People are called by thy Name And whilst Daniel was thus praying and confessing his sins and the sins of his People unto the Lord and supplicating for his City Ierusalem Behold the Angel Gabriel was sent unto him from the Lord with the glad tidings that God had heard his Prayer for Ierusalem and that it should be built and the Lord would dwell in it O may we all thus fast and pray as Daniel did and may God Almighty give us such a return of our Prayers Amen O God for Iesus Christ his sake to whom c. FINIS Books Written by the same Authour and Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard A Discourse concerning Conscience the first Part wherein an account is given of the Nature and Rule and Obligation of it And the case of those who separate from the Communion of the Church of England as by Law established upon this pretence that it is against their Conscience to join i◠it is stated and discussed A discourse of Conscience The second Part concerning a doubting Conscience A Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons April 11. 1679. on Revel ii 5 The Duty and Happiness of doing good in two Sermons the former Preached at the Yorkshire Feast Feb. 17. 1679 on Eccl. iii. 10 the other before the Lord Mayor at the Spittle Apr. 14. 1680. on 1 Tim vi 17 18 19. A Sermon at the Election of the Lord Mayor Sept. 29. 1680. on Psal. cxli. 4 A Lent-Sermon at Whitehal March 20. 1684. 〈◊〉 Luke xvi 31 A Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall Apr. 1◠1690. on Gal. v. 13 Mat. 6.26.30 1 Cor. 9.9 Amos 3.6 Is. 28.21 Mic. 7.18 Lam. 3.33 Is. 26.9 Mat. 6.34 Prov. 19.21 2 Kings 19.34 Eccles. 9.11 Ps. 33.16 Josh. 6.20 2 Kings 7. ch
our Affairs Namely by having recourse to God Almighty who when we have done all that we can is the Governour of the World and will do what he pleaseth But yet will always do that which is best for Mankind and that too which is best for our Nation if we be capable objects of his Favour And to make our selves such if it be possible is our Business on this Day This is indeed a seasonable Business at all times but at this time it seems absolutely necessary Since we have reason to apprehend the Crisis of our Nation as to Happiness or Ruin to be upon the point of approaching The Judgments of God are now abroad in the World We have not only Rumours of Wars sounding in our Ears but all Europe is now in an actual War and a terrible one And what the Consequences will be we know not Some very great thing God certainly designs to bring to pass in these parts of the World and that very suddenly A Cup he has mingled for all the Nations to drink of Which to some undoubtedly will prove a bitter Potion a Cup of God's Wrath and Fury to others probably a Cup of Salvation But how it will prove to us is yet entirely in the Will of God However this is certain that we of this Nation shall have as much our share in it be it good or bad as any other in Christendome And now after the mention of this Can there be any need to call upon any one to weeping and fasting and mourning and crying mightily to the Lord that he would have mercy upon us and spare us and our Nation and not give his Heritage over to Confusion Why methinks the Circumstances we are in should put us upon so doing without any other Monitors Indeed we have no Humanity no Compassion for our selves or our Country if we do not We should all be of this mind if we did seriously consider how things stand with us We are not that Innocent Virtuous Pious People that may certainly reckon upon God's Favour and think our selves in all Cases sure of his Protection For if the Doctrine I have now been insisting on to you be true Doctrine then we of this Nation can but entertain very small hopes of being Happy and Prosperous Nay we cannot but apprehend Misery and Ruin and Desolation to our selves unless God be abundantly more merciful to us than we deserve And there can be no way to prevail with him to be so but an universal Humiliation and Repentance And this is the Application I desire to make of the Point I have been now treating of If the measure of God's dealing with Nations be always according to the Moral State of them If their good Fortunes be dealt out to them according to their Virtues and Iudgments be inflicted upon them according to their provoking God by their Sins as we have said Good Lord What a lamentable Prospect have we of this Kingdom of what may come upon us And what infinite reason have we thereupon immediately to try all the ways that are possible of making our Peace with God that so Iniquity may not be our ruin I beg leave to dwell a little upon this Point because it is the proper Argument of the day I do not say nor do I think that we of this Nation are worse than our Neighbours But this I say considering how long God hath spared us and how long we have enjoyed the Blessings of Peace and Plenty and all sorts of Prosperity though perhaps with many Fears and just Apprehensions of danger whilst most of our Neighbours have been harassed with Wars and exposed to all the Cruelties and Miseries of Persecutions and Devastations And considering the great Priviledges and Advantages we have for many years enjoyed of all the outward means of Grace that could be desired for the Eternal Salvation of our Souls and that above any other Nation under Heaven And withal how unprofitable we have been under these means how unthankful to God for them and what little effect they have had upon us for the bettering our Manners And lastly Considering how very wicked we generally are what a World of open gross Sins and Impieties do reign among us and what a lewd Profane Hypocritical Atheistical Spirit seems to have gone out into the Nation and to prevail upon it I say these things considered we cannot make any very comfortable Reflections on our own Condition So far from that that if as I said the measure of God's dealings with Nations be taken from their Behaviours and moral Qualities and be suited to their merits and deserts we have as little to hope for as most Nations under Heaven I take no delight in saying these things on the contrary it is very grievous But if ever one may be allowed to run out into a Declamation against the Vices of the Times it is upon such an occasion as this and before such an Audience as this that the liberty may be challenged For God's sake let us not deceive our selves nor think that we are the Favourites of Heaven meerly because we profess the Best Religion and are Members of the Best Church in the World For as good as our Church and Religion is and as zealous as we seem to be for them yet never did Vice and Iniquity of all sorts and indeed every thing that is contrary to our holy Religion more abound in this Nation than at this day Give me leave to speak out upon this occasion and to tell you of some of the Crying Sins that reign among us and that deserve Your Care to put a stop to and which if they be continued in will certainly bring down the Vengeance of God upon us Where was there ever more Atheism and Infidelity to be seen in a Country that professed the Religion of Jesus Christ than is among us at this day We do not perhaps meet with very many that do openly affirm There is no God For as bad as we are God be thanked we are not yet arrived to such Impudence That is such an affront to the Laws and to all good Manners that it is not to be born with But we may meet with several every day that do affirm the same thing by consequence asserting such Principles from whence it may be necessarily concluded For my part I account it much the same thing as to the ill effects of the Opinion to deny the Being of God as to deny the Being of Angels and Spirits and Immaterial Souls to deny the Being of particular Providence to deny the natural difference between good and evil to deny another Life after this wherein good Men shall be rewarded and wicked Men punished to deny the liberty of Humane Actions and to say that all things which we do we do by a fatal necessity and we cannot do otherwise And yet we may every day meet with Men of these Principles nay and that laugh at all those that maintain the