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A62602
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A sermon preach'd at the Cathedral Church of Worcester upon the thanksgiving-day, April 16, 1696 by W. Talbot ...
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Talbot, William, 1658 or 9-1730.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing T124; ESTC R9963
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17,703
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30
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we are loose and lawless in our Lives the advantage of our Constitution will be so far from availing us that contrariwise it will make a considerable Article in the charge against us it will both hasten our account and make it the more heavy We have a Prince to go in and out before us to Rule us at home and Fight for us abroad who does at least come up to the Character of any that have sate upon this or any other Throne before him but if we do not approve our selves good Subjects of the King of Heaven our Princes Virtues will not secure us though our wickedness may injure him The Spirit of God has told us that for the Sins of a Nation many are the Princes thereof God may as well take away a good one as give a bad King in his wrath and we know he once threatned a People that if they did wickedly they should be destroyed both they and their King We have a pure Religion a Church reformed from the corruptions of that of Rome but if our Conversations are impure and we are unreform'd in our manners will our Church or our Faith save us God will indeed have a Church to the end of the World and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against her but sure he is not tied to this or that particular Place or Country the Gospel may be taken from one Kingdom and yet not out of the World but transplanted to another and our Saviour has plainly enough told us upon what terms he will give or take it away from a People in those words to the Jews the Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a Nation that shall bring forth the Fruits thereof Would we therefore that God should go on to preserve and secure these blessings to us and that we may raise to our selves a ground and considence in him that he will we see how we must qualify our selves for them we must not be barren and unfruitful under all the Cultivations and Husbandry all the gracious methods which he uses to improve us but must bring forth Fruits meet for repentance the blessed Fruits of the Spirit love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance Being thus disposed we may reasonably hope for God's Blessing upon our endeavours 't is true our endeavours without the divine assistance will turn to little account and 't is certain God can if he pleases save us without our contributing any thing towards it but yet though God may and does sometimes for weighty reasons act either immediately at least without the ministry of them for whose sake he acts and after a very extraordinary manner yet where there is no special promise 't is not to be expected that God should go out of his ordinary methods of his Providence which is to act by the instrumentality of second causes to cooperate with the honest endeavours of Men when there is room for them and make that successful for their support or preservation And therefore as no success is to be expected from our endeavours without the divine assistance so that assistance cannot reasonably be expected without the use of our endeavours The Husbandman would be thought very wild and extravagant in his expectation that should think to reap a plentiful Crop without manuring and tilling his ground preparing it for and committing the seed to it in due manner and season and yet 't is certain 't is God only that can give the increase The Watchman undoubtedly waketh but in vain unless the Lord keep the City but yet if a Town beleagur'd by an Enemy should neglect to Man their Forts and guard their Avenues and instead of unanimously joining together to defend themselves and oppose the Foe should quarrel among themselves and fall a tearing and devouring one another it would not be hard to guess what would be the fate of it I say our endeavours must not be wanting towards our own safety though 't is only God's Blessing upon them that can make them successful for that end That therefore we may expect and receive that blessing let us do our parts pursue those methods that tend most plainly to the securing them and trust God with the event Nothing under Heaven but Union and Resolution can secure us if we are broken into Factions and pursuing the interest of Parties or private Revenge while the Enemy is watching for the ruine of the whole We may learn from our Saviour what is like to become of us a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand If now the Adversary has shew'd himself so openly and daringly we shall be Cowardly or to put it into other words cautious and reserved we invite and encourage his attempts upon us This is no time to dissemble we must declare plainly one way or other either resolve upon a brave Defence or to yield our Necks to the Yoke My Brethren we want no Engagements or Encouragements to unite and to be bold The cause we are to unite in is the Cause of our King and Country and indeed of all Europe 't is the Cause of our Church and the whole Protestant Religion We are not left alone to grapple with our Enemies we have most of the Princes and States of Christendom join'd with us and which is most encouraging of all hitherto God has appeared for us Let us then join as one Man both Heart and Hand in defence of our selves our little ones and all our Substance as Ezra expresses it in defence of our Liberties our Laws and Religion and for the sake of these in defence of our King and Government upon whom under God all these depend We have all the strictest Obligations to him that can be laid upon us of Gratitude of Duty of Interest Shall we not unite in the defence of him that has once rescued us out of the very Jaws of Destruction and is still guarding us with the utmost hazards and fatigue in defence of that Precious Life which has been so often exposed for the security of ours Have we not sworn many of us to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him and do we not all every day beg of God in our publick Prayers to strengthen him that he may Vanquish and Overcome all his Enemies and ought we not to convince the World that we have not in our Oaths prevaricated with God as well as imposed upon Man that in our Prayers our Hearts do not give the Lye to our Tongues by our readiness to make good our Oaths upon such an occasion and to second our Prayers by our hearty endeavours Are we not Embarkt in one Cause have we not the same common concern with him both Civil and Religious So that to join in his Defence is indeed to join in our own why then should we not resolve to stand by him and one another with the same Courage with which he Fights for us all To conclude Let us first seek and engage the Divine Favour and Blessing and then add our joint Endeavours as our Places and Capacities give us opportunity for our common Security and being reconciled to God by Repentance and newness of Life and united to one another by all the Bonds which our common Relation and Interests as to Nature Country and Religion obliges us and resolve to act in good earnest for the benefit and safety of the whole we may confidently rely upon God that he will prosper and give success to our Endeavours that he will guard us at home and go forth with our Fleets and Armies and fight our Battles abroad that he will preserve the breath of our Nostrils bless him in his going out and coming in give his Angels charge over him and cover his head in the day of Battel that he will be a Sun and a Shield to enlighten and protect him to keep him from the Arrow that flyeth by day and the evil that walketh in darkness that he will bring him back with Honour and Victory and Crown at last all his Labours and our Wishes with a happy and durable Peace and that our Enemies being scatter'd who delighted in blood we being delivered from their hands may serve him without fear in holyness and righteousness before him all the days of our Life FINIS