Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_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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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
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 M. A. Minister of Richmond in Surry and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Published at the Request of his Parishioners LONDON Printed for Joseph Wild at the Elephant at Charing Cross 1699. TO MY WORTHY AND Honored Friends and Parishioners THE INHABITANTS Of the Parish of RICHMOND IN SURRY This following Discourse publish'd at their request is humbly Dedicated by Their Most obliged Servant N. Brady A FAST SERMON Preach'd At Richmond in Surry April 5th 1699. JOHN V. Ch. latter part of the 14. v. Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee THESE words were spoken by our blessed Saviour to one whom he had rescu'd from a troublesome Infirmity which otherwise than by Miracle seem'd to be incurable But as all the Actions of his Life were general Examples so all the Words of his Mouth were universal Precepts none of them being so narrowly restrain'd to that particular occasion as not to be applicable to others attended with the like Circumstances I shall not therefore fear to over-strain the Sense of my Text by making use of it upon the present occasion and addressing my self to those who now hear me as he did to the Man whom he had healed Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee And indeed if we would employ our selves according as we ought upon this Solemn Day of Fasting and Mortification if we would strictly examine our Souls and nicely pry into the secrets of our Consciences I fear there would be found but few amongst us all whose murmuring and repining under the Judgments which hung over them whose carelessness and impenitency upon their being withdrawn whose ingratitude and presumption under the blessings they have received may not justly call for the caution contained in my Text Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Since then it has pleased the Divine Goodness by the repeated Mercies which have been extended towards these Nations almost to change our Days of humiliation into solemn Festivals of Thanksgiving I shall therefore endeavour in my following Discourse to follow this Method of the Divine Providence by intermixing with our penitential Acknowledgments some Hymns of Praise and Songs of Deliverance In pursuance of which Design I shall insist upon five Particulars Whereof the two former are implied in the Text and the three latter expresly deliver'd in it 1st I shall reflect upon the dangers to which we have been expos'd the State of weakness and affliction which we formerly lay under implied in these words thou art made whole which plainly suppose an antecedent Infirmity 2dly I shall consider the Cause of those Dangers and source of that Affliction 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. 3dly I shall lay before you the wonderful Mercy of Almighty God in rescuing and releasing us from those Dangers and Afflictions Behold thou art made whole 4thly I shall examine the caution and advice here given us how we ought to comport our selves under such blessings Sin no more 5thly And lastly I shall urge the threatning or commination added to this Caution to strengthen and enforce it Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Of these briefly in their Order 1. Then we are to reflect upon the Dangers to which we have been expos'd the State of Weakness and Affliction which we formerly lay under implied in these Words Thou art made whole which plainly suppose an antecdent Imfirmity I do not love to open those wounds which are but just skinn'd over and by rubbing the Sores which are beginning to be healed to revive their smart and renew their anguish But as a skilful Chirurgeon will rather search a Wound than suffer it through carelessness to mortifie and gangreen the great advantage of such a proceeding making large amends for the painfulness of the Operation so shall I by laying open to your view the Troubles and Afflictions which lately threatned you however uneasie the remembrance of them may be endeavour to prevent your forgetfulness of His Mercy who has graciously been pleas'd to deliver you from them a greater Evil than any you have suffer'd or were in danger to have undergone And I cannot do this more fully or effectually than by giving you a short Draught of those Miseries and Afflictions which your Protestant Brethren in Ireland did actually sustain part of weich Hardships your selves have felt and the rest of which most assuredly were intended for you Unless the usualness and familiarity of lamentable Accidents as in the Great and dreadful Plague of Athens has harden'd us against the sense of them in others or the apprehension of them in relation to our selves we cannot but call to mind with a tender resentment the Miseries and Calamities which those our Brethren underwent When as in the ancient Roman Saturnalia the Servants took upon them to act the Masters and kept up that Character with all the insolence that usually attends so preposterous a Change When by new and unheard of Politicks the Conquerors were disarm'd and the Sword put into the Hands of the vanquished Nation When besides the apparent dangers which threatned their Destruction so that with David they might be said to hold their Souls continually in their Hands their lives were made so uneasie to them that Banishment was look'd upon as a favour to be begg'd as a purchase to be bought yet neither way could be obtain'd by such as wish'd for and desir'd it When the colour of Law and Authority of the Government like to the pillar of cloud and fire was to their Adversaries light and brightness to direct them in their ways of Cruelty and Oppression but unto them darkness and obscurity to cover their Enemies from their search and prosecution When the two-edg'd Sword of pretended Justice cut but one way and was blunt to those who chiefly deserv'd to have felt the edge of it When there was nothing but leading into Captivity and complaining in their Streets When they eagerly hearkn'd out for Sounds of Joy and yet every Intelligencer like Job's Messengers brought a fresh account of Miseries and Afflictions But far beyond all this when the Lord seem'd to cast off his Altar and abhor his Sanctuary when prosperous Error and Superstition prevail'd against suffering Truth and Religion when the misfortunes of the Professors were made a scandal to the Profession it self so that their Enemies did daily cast them in the Teeth Where is now your God The Scene is too dismal to dwell long upon I shall therefore shut it up with the words of the Prophet in his Lamentations Judah was gone into Captivity because of Affliction and