Selected quad for the lemma: sin_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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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
the Gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day Then will I kindle a Fire in the Gates thereof and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Hear O England if you will not hallow my Sabbaths saith the Lord then I even I am against thee and will execute Judgments in the midst of thee as I have done upon my own Day by Fire and Water to shew my Controversie with you is very great and I am against you 5. Another Sin which sets God against a People or a Nation is Stupidity and incorrigibleness under present Mercies and Judgments Beloved what Nation under the Copes of Heaven have enjoyed greater Mercies than we have formerly and of late by a merciful Deliverance from Tyranny and Popery it was but the other day when we were laying our Hands upon our Loins and our Faces gather'd paleness and we perceiv'd all that is valueable to us upon the Block and the hands lifted up to give the fatal blow to all and yet then did their bloody Inventions meet with a happy Prevention through Gods raising up for us a Deliverer but ah how have we forget our Vows and the generality live as tho' they were deliver'd to commit greater Abominations than before And because Mercies have not melted us to Repentance therefore Judgments follow one upon the Neck of another and Gods immediate hand is obviously stretched out against us Consider what God said of old to Israel and is it not his Voice to us now Ezekiel 20. 7 8. Then said I unto them Cast ye away every man the Abominations of his Eyes and defile not your selves with the Idols of Egypt I am the Lord your God But they rebelled against me and would not hearken unto me they did not every Man cast away the Abominations of their Eyes neither did they forsake the Idols of Egypt then I said I will pour out my fury upon them to accomplish mine anger against them in the midst of the Land of Egypt I think that 's applicable to us also Jer. 2.30 In vain have I smitten your Children they will receive no Correction 6. The manifest grieving of Gods Holy Spirit is another great Abomination which provokes God to declare I even I am against thee The Holy Spirit of God is griev'd many ways when the loud Voice of Providences are not regarded when Ministers that speak to you with Bowels in his Name are sleighted and their Message not received when the Spirit comes with Light and you shut your Eyes and will not see when he comes with powerful Convictions and you stifle them when you are call'd to believe and repent without delay you will rather hearken to the Devils Verb mane delay than Gods Adverb mane early or comply with speed when Gods Comminations on the one hand and his woes on the other as by the Prophet have not their due effect upon us Jer. 13. last Woe unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be or after when yet as tho God had said I have staid long and sent time after time waiting and wooing I am now as it Were tired out if you will comply well if not I must tho with reluctancy fall on but O When once shall it be But as it was with them so is it not with us now Isa 63.9 10. In all their Affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the days of old But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them Beloved if we in this Nation go on thus to rebell against Gods Holy Spirit if we fight against him and he against us it 's no hard matter to tell who will have the worst for if he fights we must needs fall Who hath harden'd himself against him and prosper'd Job 9.4 Thus Beloved I have shewn what are some of those crying Sins that provoke God against a People or a Nation I might add many more as Lying Swearing Drunkenness Oppression Violence Ingratitude for National Mercies non-improvement of signal Deliverances from Tyranny and Popery to a thorough Reformation which God expected as we in Adversity promis'd the Lord these and the like Abominations have stirr'd up his Wrath against us who saith as in Hosea 5.15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my Face in their Affliction they will seek me early But I shall not enlarge 3. General What are the black Tokens and evident Signs of Gods being against a People or a Nation I even I am against thee and will execute Judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the Nations 1. When Men of Piety Prudence and Conduct are dispirited in the midst of us and have not that regular zeal for God Godliness and the Publick Interest as formerly it was a sad Omen to the Egyptians of what God was about to do with them when he took off their Chariot-Wheels that they drave them heavily Exod. 14.24 25. Men of Piety Prudence and Conduct are as the Chariot-Wheels of the Nation and if these abate their Spirit and Zeal for Godliness and the Publick good our Wheels are off and we are like to be over-flowed with destructive Judgments I remember what God complains of Ephraim Hosea 7.11 That he was as a silly Dove without a Heart and is it not applicable to us What is become of our late Zeal for Godliness amongst Men of Piety Prudence and Conduct when Popery was coming in by Policy and Power some had a Heart to venture for the publick good in the Face of threatning Dangers but now when God threatens for want of Reformation we are sitting still and grudge at the necessary Charges of defensive War and are ready to impute our present Misery to our invaluable Mercy and suffer our cruel Vipers unnaturally to eat out our own Bowels before our Faces well it s an Argument of Gods being against a People when such Men have lost their Heart Spirit and Zeal for Religion the Publick Good and Safety This speaks to us I even I am against you c. 2. Another Sign of Gods being against a People or a Nation is his permitting Men to be exalted to places of Dignity and Trust who are not rightly principl'd for Gods Glory and the publick's Interest Beloved I bless God day and night heartily for the signal favour shew'd to these Kingdoms in the happy Accession of the present King and Queen to the Throne what two Protestants at once such a Mercy as hath not been granted to England for many Years past and not only so but I bless God Publickly and Privately that by their Royal Proclamations they have signified their Pleasure to have Prophaneness and Debauchery discouraged and trampled under foot but yet where the governing Wheels move