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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
to make us a flourishing and a happy People Which leads me to shew Fifthly What Particulars are required of us in order to the Discharge of that general Duty of Repentance to prevent our being delivered into the Hand of our Enemies To this End First Let us humble our selves before God with Shame and Sorrow for all our great Provocations Let us search and try our Ways and set our Iniquities in order before us Let us know every Man the Plague of his own Heart and reflect upon all those prevailing Sins and Impieties which overspread the Nation let us be afflicted mourn and weep for all our Abominations and in the Anguish of our Spirits bewail the Folly and Ingratitude of them This is the proper Work of this Day Let us try then what we can do what Impression we can make upon our Hearts by reflecting upon God's Mercy and our Ingratitude Let us imploy our Minds in such Thoughts and Reasonings as these Oh! How kind how compassionate how bountiful a Father have we offended and provoked What could God have done for us that he hath not done And yet what could we have done against him that we have forborn O the Riches of that Forbearance and Long-suffering we have despised O the Height and Depth of that Love we have abused We have been obstinately sighting against God whilst he hath been caring and watching and fighting for us We have been taking part with his Enemies the Devil and Sin whilst he hath been defeating the malicious and cruel Attempts of ours Thus have we requited the Lord the Lord that made and bought us our most liberal Benefactour our most gracious Protector the God of our Salvation And can we forbear to add The Remembrance of these things is grievous unto us the Burden of them is intolerable We abhor our selves for them and bitterly bewail the Iniquity of these our Abominations If we are not thus affected with Shame and Sorrow for our personal and national Sins we have been mocking God this Day by an hypocritical Fast and have made our Provocations and our Danger still greater But neither is this all that God requires in the Fast that he hath chosen or for the procuring his Help against our Enemies a Day for a Man to afflict his Soul but to our Sorrow for what is past Secondly We must add sincere and hearty Resolutions to forsake and turn from all our Transgressions and to walk before God in Holiness and Righteousness all our Days Let us resolve then every Man of us by the Grace of God to reform our Lives in every particular wherein we have offended to sacrifice our dearest Lusts to the common Safety of our Church and Nation that there shall no longer cleave to us any of those accursed things which may trouble our Hosts or strengthen the Hands of our Enemies against us With what Face can we complain of any Miscarriages whilst we obstinately persist in those Transgressions which so justly provoke God to infatuate our Counsels and to prevent the Success of the wisest and the most sincere Endeavours for the publick Good Every impenitent Sinner amongst us is a Traytor to his Country and hath a Hand in all our Mismanagements and Misfortunes and opposeth the establishing and perfecting of that Deliverance God hath wrought for us and warreth against that Safety at home which our Fleets and Armies are sent abroad to fight for If then we have any Affection for the Country wherein we were born and have enjoyed so great a Plenty of the richest Blessings if we have any Value for those Laws by which our Liberties and Properties are maintained if we have any Love for that Church wherein we were baptized and enjoy such excellent Helps for the promoting our eternal Happiness if we have any Regard to that Purity of Doctrine and Worship which by so many Wonders of Providence God hath continued to us if we have any Concern for our Persons Estates and Families if we dread the Thoughts of having all given up to the Ravage and Fury of the most barbarous Insolence and Cruelty that many Ages have produced let us no longer delay the Time to keep the Commandments of God let us not lose the present Opportunity of securing all the dearest Interests we have Let it not be as a Price in the Hand of Fools that have not a Heart to use it Let us not refuse those Offers of Aid and Assistance which the Lord of Hosts doth this Day call upon us to dispose our selves for by a true Repentance Thirdly Let us endeavour to make this Reformation as general as we can For if it were but in any good Measure so we might then be confident of the divine Protection that God would stir up his Strength and come and help us that he would make our dwelling on high and our Place of Defence the Munition of Rocks inaccessible to all the Attempts of our strongest Enemies If then by our Example or Authority our Exhortations or Reproofs our Friendship or Advice or by any other proper Means we can diminish that Heap of Transgressions which is already grown up unto the Heavens and loudly calls for the Vengeance of God upon us let us not be wanting to do our utmost This is the most noble and blessed Design we can possibly ingage in to recover Men from those Snares of the Devil they are taken captive by to check the Insolence of triumphant Wickedness and to restore the Practice of true Christian Piety to its primitive Glory For this purpose the Son of God came down from Heaven and humbled himself unto Death even the Death of the Cross to purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works And can we be more honourably imployed than in joyning with the Saviour and Redeemer of Men in working together with him for the reclaiming a crooked and perverse Nation We can do nothing more highly conducing to the Honour of our God and Saviour to the Interest of our Church and Nation to the subduing the Enemies we are at Strise with to the Benefit of our Protestant Brethren abroad to the procuring a safe and honourable a lasting and happy Peace to our own present Comfort here and our everlasting Happiness hereafter O let us not then be backward and unwilling to that which we have all the Motives and Arguments in the World to persuade us to prosecute with all our Might We have been forward enough in making Parties for those private Causes we have espoused let us try now with the same Zeal and Industry to make a Party at least for God and the publick Good Let us unite our hearty and vigorous Endeavours to shame and discountenace Sin to retrieve the Honour of despised Religion and to increase the Number of the Friends and Votaries of abandoned Virtue Such an Association as this would indeed be the Honour and Interest of us all This would give us Ground to hope that God himself would