Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A42367
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A thanksgiving-sermon preached at St. Michaels Crooked-Lane April 16th, 1696, upon occasion of His Majestie's deliverance from the late intended assassination of his sacred person in order to a French invasion / by James Gardiner.
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Gardiner, James, 1637-1705.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing G228; ESTC R26742
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7,453
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28
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of a Sling and are perish'd in their own Corruption and have consulted Shame to their Houses The Mischief is return'd upon their own Heads and the wicked are silent in Darkness and we are sure that the Judgment of GOD is according to Truth against those which commit such Things Oh the Depth of the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledge of GOD How unsearchable are his Mercies as well as his Judgments and his Ways past finding out Of a Truth the Lord has not forsaken the Earth Hear O Atheist perceive and understand and be Converted The Lord GOD of Gods he knows his Eyes behold and his Eye-Lids consider He narrowly observed all their Thoughts and watch'd their Motions when they wafted over into France and conferr'd at Versailles and St. Germains He marked the hissing of the Bee of Assur to the Fly of Egypt all the Intelligence I mean that passed betwixt a discontented Party amongst us and an Unworthy Monarch whose Character will be infamous to the End of the World as he is now the Scandal of his Age for this last Unnatural Conspiracy notwithstanding his Manifesto's and Fulsome Gazettes and the Industry of all his Ministers abroad to perswade the World which no body will believe of His and some Bodies else pretended Innocency and that They knew nothing of the Matter and the Mischiefs which they design'd for others like over-charged Pieces hath recoyl'd upon themselves their own Counsel hath cast them down So true is the Observation of the Historian Livy Consilia callida primâ specie laeta tractatu dura eventu tristia Treacherous Counsels are kindled with many sparkling Hopes with great difficulty preserv'd and kept in and go out in as much Stench and Danger Thus has GOD made the Wrath of Man as well as do their Vertues and Graces to praise him and the remainder of Wrath he will restrain The LXX in their Translation have wittily exprest the last words the Remainder of Wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall keep Holy Day unto thee i. e. shall rest from its Labour shall be so curb'd and bound up as never more to break out but give his People opportunity to Land and Magnisy his Glorious Name Which naturally leads me to the Consideration of some few things which this Grand Deliverance of ours does more especially oblige us all unto which I shall do with that freedom and plainness that becomes the Place I now stand in And First Let not the Horror of the intended Mischiefs chill the just Triumph of the Day but let us be affected with and raise an Altar of Praise and Thanksgiving to the Known GOD for this so seasonable but unexpected Mercy What think we can be the design of it but that we should talk of his Loving-kindness in the Morning and of his Faithfulness every Night and make known to the Sons of Men his Mighty Acts and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom Awake awake Deborah and arise Barac the Son of Ahinoam Glory and Honour and Thanks to him that sits on the Throne Hallelujah For the Lord Omnipotent Reigneth Nature it self if there was no Bible reads us a Lecture and prompts us to this Duty Hear one of her High Priests Senec. de Benef lib. 3. cap. 1. Ingratus est qui Beneficium accepisse se negat quod accepit ingratus est qui dissimulat ingratus qui non reddit ingratissimus Omnium qui oblitus est That Man is ungrateful that denies a Benefit received and so is He that dissembles it nor is he any better that doth not requite it but he is most of all that hath forgot it GOD by no means will admit that his Mercies should be writ in Sand to be washt away by the next coming in of the Tide but expects they should be thankfully had in remembrance Let us not therefore look upon Publick Mercies as we do upon Publick Duties That which is Every mans work is no mans but let us rejoyce in the Good of GOD's Chosen and glory with his Inheritance And since this bitter Cup is past from us let us take the Cup of Salvation and praise the Name of the Lord. This is a Day wherein Praises should wait for him Tibi silet Laus Pagnine renders it Praise is silent to Thee O GOD in Sion such a Throng of Praises and so great that they were unutterable and therefore silent praise as we say of Cares Leres Loquuntur ingentes stupent Yet supposing they should be more than we can express we ought however to endeavour to express them to GOD as well as we can And we do it in the best manner when we walk answerably to such Loving Kindness The Riches of Gods Goodness should lead us to Repentance and a Pious Improvement of them this is the way to hallow his Name and not onely to preserve his Mercies but to Praise him into greater But Fatal it would prove if we should count that we are deliver'd to commit Abominations This will cause GOD to be weary of us and as he hath done great Things for us so to do great Things against us to let loose our Enemies upon us again and to suffer them to strike us home to execute their Malice and quench the Light of our Israel When Joshua aggravates the Sin of Achan he seems to play the Herauld Jos 7.1 for we are told that Achan was the Son of Carmi the Son of Zabdi the Son of Zerah of the Tribe of Judah Had Achan been a poor ignorant Heathen his Sin even in these lower Circumstances would have incensed the Wrath of the Almighty and have pull'd down Judgment upon him But Achan that was a Jew and that no mean Jew but of the Royal Tribe of Judah and descended from such Noble Progenitors as Carmi Zabdi and Zerah for him to commit a Trespass of this Nature his Priviledges and Advantages exceedingly aggravated his Sin and rendred him obnoxious to a double punishment which were both inflicted as you may read at your Leisure To apply this to our selves If we who call our selves Members of the best Church in the World and comparing our selves with other Nations and Churches Experience the Portion of our Mercies to be like that of the First-born double to what they have at any time enjoy'd if therefore We who have received much instead of loving much provoke him by our Iniquities what can we expect but that he will pour out upon us the abundance of his Fury You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth certainly that People must be blessed indeed that could thus call him their Lord and their GOD no very far from it therefore will I visit upon you all your Iniquities Strange Punishment says Job Chap. 31.3 is to the Workers of Iniquity i. e. extraordinary and unusual That Wee have and continue to be such is too notorious to be deny'd Yet instead of Strange Punishment inflicted We have had Strange Mercy conferr'd upon
July 3. 1696. Mr Biship 6d. Mr. GARDINER's Thanksgiving-SERMON Preached at St. Michaels-Crooked-Lane April 16th 1696. A Thanksgiving-SERMON Preached at St. Michaels Crooked-Lane April 16th 1696. Upon Occasion of His MAJESTIE' 's Deliverance From the Late Intended Assassination of His SACRED PERSON In Order to a FRENCH INVASION By JAMES GARDINER Rector of the said Parish LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill MDCXCVI A Thanksgiving-SERMON 2 TIM 3 Chap. ver 1. and beginning of the 4th 1 This know also that in the last Days perillous times shall come for men shall be 4 Traytors c. A Time Solomon says there is to be Silent and a Time to Speak such an One is this that now offers it self upon the Happy Discovery of the late Barbarous Plot design'd against His Majesties Sacred Life in Order to a French Invasion Of the Truth and Reality of which the flying of some from Justice the very extenuating and mincing of Matters by others at their Tryals and their Voluntary Confessions in their Papers deliver'd with their own Hands immediately before they were turn'd off and went to their Place are full Evidence and irrefragable Arguments and must satisfie all the World except such Miscreants that want Demonstration from the accursed Deed from which Good Lord deliver us Which hath so much of Horror and Villany in it that should we now be Dumb and not open our Mouths in an utter detestation of it the Stone out of the Wall would cry out against such an Irreligious Silence and the Beam out of the Timber would answer it It 's a Sign that the World is a dangerous place to live in and almost at an End not far from the Gates of Death when we see so many Grey Hairs the Messengers of an approaching Dissolution upon her My meaning is when Men shall be Traytors This know also that in the last days perillous Times shall come for men shall be Traytors You 'l pardon me if I be not over-methodical to Day or do not speak so closely to the Text as I ought to have done at another Time my design being only this at present viz. to draw you out a short Figure of those Miseries which would infallibly have attended this Cursed Conspiracy had it taken effect and to hint in two or three Particulars what we are all obliged to for the day is too little for the day to acquaint you with the whole of your Duty upon the Receipt of such Favours of such a Deliverance as this that can be compared to nothing but it self and may have many Deliverances in it which we know not of When Sixtus Quintus began his Encomiastical Oration of the Jacobine that kill'd the French King it was with the Words of the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 1.5 Behold a work wrought in your days you will not believe it when it shall be told you a poor Fryar hath slain the great King of France Such another piece of Work should have been done in Our Days and I make no Question but we should have had such kind of Speeches made too in Defence of it and the Divine Providence Magnify'd in it also But thanks be to GOD who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working he has done another work in which with open Face we may behold his Glory Behold what Prevention of Desolation he hath wrought in the Land for nothing Less could have been expected from such Conspirators Men that neither fear GOD nor Reverence Man Men of such debauch'd Principles to whom it 's as Natural to hate and Kill Princes as to Eat their GOD Men of such Desperate Fortunes or which is worse of the two Plentiful Ones What Flesh does not tremble to think what would have follow'd upon the Kings Death or a French Invasion Blood and Fire and Pillars of Smoak The Confused Noise of the Warriour and Garments rowled in Blood The Mother dasht in pieces upon the Children No Reverence to the Person of the Aged nor pity to the sucking Babe The whole Body of the Clergy to be sure of it either Banished or Sacrificed the Church destroy'd and her Lands Escheated to pay all the Charges of the Plot c. All Laws overlaid and stifled The Nobility and Gentry rooted out and all their Possessions given to his Own Souldiers nothing remaining to their Heirs after them but Poverty which is a sure Inheritance and can neither be plundered nor forfeited forcing them notwithstanding to hold it under them as their Salves and Vassals Hear his Language Thy Silver and Gold is mine thy Women and Fair Children And if any thing be deny'd The gods do so unto me and more also if the Dust of thy Land be sufficient for my People every man to take an handful Not a Remnant to be saved not a Berry here and there in the utmost Boughs In short the Consequence would have been a French Government and French Popery the Yoak of which is neither easie nor the Burden light which if not comply'd with would have forced us to the Galleys or to be Martyrs or Refugees These would have been the Favours and the Graces that our Three Kingdoms had been crown'd and blest withal had the designs of our Foreign Enemies and our False Brethren within our Selves Good God! that ever there should be in a certain Island of the World such Devils in Humane shape had their designs I say succeeded But to the Lord our GOD belong the Issues from Death Come and behold his Works of Mercy and Deliverance See them touch them handle them they are not Spirits Fancies Speculations they are true Bodies and have the flesh and bones of real Works Just when the Arrow was upon the String and the down-lookt Rebels men skilful to destroy had prepared the Instruments of Death and marked out the very Place where to Fire His Majesty out of his Life when the Decree was Signed by a Kings Letters and they said the days of Mourning are come come let us Kill the Spark for we will not have this Man to Rule over us and subvert his Kingdom that his Name may be had no more in Remembrance then it was that He scattered the Proud in the Imagination of their Hearts and so disappointed their Devices that their Hands could not perform their Enterprize The Wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Mark and Meditate This is the Lord 's Doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes Da Veniam Imperator Pardon me Great Sir It was not Flesh and Blood that Reveal'd this Mystery of Iniquity unto you but Your Father and Saviour which is in Heaven Happy art thou O England who is like unto Thee saved by the Lord Thine Enemies are found Lyars unto thee The Snare is broken and we are deliver'd their Machinations are unravell'd into Folly and Shame and Dishonour are their last promotion They are hurl'd out of the Land of the Living as out of the midst