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A30731 A sermon preached at St. Mary-le-Bow before the Lord Mayor, Court of Aldermen, and citizens of London, on Friday the 26th of June a day appointed by proclamation for a general and publick fast / by Lilly Butler ... Butler, Lilly. 1696 (1696) Wing B6280; ESTC R20323 13,686 29

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be rich that the old and honest Ways of Traffick are too slow for the Violence of their covetous Desires and they greedily run after the new Inventions of a corrupt and fraudulent Age. Notwithstanding the publick Dangers have threatned us which are wont to unite a People amongst themselves we have retained our old and ingaged in new Quarrels and are still assaulting one another with unchristian Censures and Revilings and seem to be more heartily concerned for Victory in our little Differences at home than in our Wars abroad for our common Safety Liberties and Religion And are not all these very great Provocations Secondly These will appear still greater Provocations if we consider what Ingagements we are under to abstain from all Transgressions of the Laws of God This was a great Aggravation of the Sins of Israel that they were a People in Covenant with God The Sins of the uncircumcised Nations were nothing so great Provocations as theirs who professed themselves the People and were solemnly dedicated to the Service of God And therefore this is often charged upon them as a heavy Aggravation of their Disobedience and Rebellion against God that thereby they had dealt falsly in and broken his Covenant The same Aggravation only much heavier are our Transgressions loaded with We are as solemnly dedicated to God as they were and ingaged to him by the Rites of a better Covenant established upon better Promises and requiring a more easie and reasonable Service We have generally made Promises and Profession of renouncing the Devil and all those his Works which notwithstanding are so commonly and so impudently practised by us and are therefore false and perjured Wretches in every wilful Sin we commit How great then are our Provocations Thirdly Our Sins are very great Provocations as they have been committed against the most prevailing Attempts of the Spirit of God to restrain and reclaim us from them This is particularly mentioned as one Aggravation of the Sins of Israel Verse 20. that God had given them his Spirit to instruct them and Verse 30. that he testified against them by his Spirit in the Prophets But we that are Christians have clearer Revelations made both of our Duty and the Motives to it than the Jews had by the same Spirit And these things have been taught and urged upon us with great Plainness and Affection by those whom the Holy Ghost hath set apart for the Work of the Ministry who have not spared to tell us of our Sins to warn us of our Danger and to call us to Repentance The Author to the Hebrews mentions this as a peculiar Aggravation of despising the Law of Christ in comparing it with despising the Law of Moses to do Despite to the Spirit of Grace The Sins of Christians Heb. ●0 29. are committed against more prevailing Methods of God's Holy Spirit and these Methods have been no where used with greater Strength and Advantage than amongst us we have had more of his Light more of his Calls and Invitations more of his Warnings and Reproofs more frequent and earnest Applications than most if not than any other of the Christian Nations Our Sins therefore which notwithstanding all this we have multiplyed against God must needs be very great Provocations Fourthly Our Sins are great provocations as they have been committed against many and great Mercies The Mercies of God are particularly insisted on by the Levites in this Chapter in confessing and aggravating the Sins of Israel His choosing them for his People his delivering them out of Egypt his feeding them in the Wilderness his long forbearances and his many gracious deliverances of them And how like to these are the Mercies we have sinned against How early did God choose us to plant his Gospel amongst us and take us into Covenant with him How graciously did he deliver us from the Tyranny of Rome from a far worse Bondage than that of Egypt What a rich and plentiful Land hath he planted us in What an excellent Form of Government hath he Establish'd for us How constantly hath he been watching over us interposing for us and making bare his Arm in our defence How many signal Mercies and Deliverances have been crouded into a few years past When our hearts were ready to fail for fear and for looking for those things that were coming upon us how seasonably did God send us a Deliverer and surprise us with the safety of all that was dear to us And when our danger was greater because our fear was less by what wonderful methods of Providence were the dark bloody designs of our Enemies discovered and disappointed and their expected Triumphs turned into everlasting Infamy and Reproach If we look abroad what Nation is there that hath had God so nigh unto them for all that we call upon him for yea for what we have neither asked nor thought of And though we complain still as we have always done yet we should hardly be willing to change Conditions with any of the Nations round about us How great then are our provocations the abominable Transgressions which we have committed against our good and gracious God who hath striven by all the methods of Love by the most valuable expressions of Mercy and Goodness to ingage us to return to him Fifthly Our Sins are great provocations as they have been committed against the Discipline of God's Rod and those many Judgments he hath sent to teach us Righteousness This also is one of the aggravations of the sins of the Jews mentioned in this Chapter and they are often in other places upbraided with it for being smitten in vain and receiving no correction but still revolting more and more And how just is this Charge against us also How impregnable have our Lusts been against all the Batteries of the Divine Displeasure How many fiery Trials have we past through without leaving any thing of our Dross behind us God hath sent the Pestilence among us after the manner of Egypt He overthrew some of us as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha our young men he hath slain with the Sword He hath visited us with intestine and foreign Wars the Person of our Sovereign our greatest Security upon Earth and many Thousands of our Country-men are still exposed to all the sharp and fiery Instruments of Death yet have we not returned unto the Lord but in this our distress we rather sin yet more against him Our Lusts have increased and multiplied under the Curses of God the severest Judgments he hath punished them with Thus also have we wrought great provocations Sixthly Our Sins are yet greater provocations as they have been committed even whilst we have been making publick Professions of Repentance For this is the pretence of appointing and observing our monthly and yearly Fasts that we may confess and bewail our sins and humble our selves with purposes of Reformation and Amendment The Prophet Isaiah Chap. 58. 3. doth thus aggravate the Sin of the Jews