England's Alarum BEING An ACCOUNT of GOD'S most Considerable Dispensations of Mercy and Judgment towards these Kingdoms for Fourteen Years last past AND ALSO Of the several sorts of Sins and Sinners therein ESPECIALLY The Murmurers against the Present GOVERNMENT WITH AN Earnest CALL to speedy Humiliation Supplication and Reformation as the Chief Means of Prospering Their MAJESTIES Counsels and Preparations Dedicated to the KING and QUEEN LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheap-side near Mercers-Chappel 1693. TO THE King and Queen's MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIES IT is not many Years since England stood in need of Two Great Salvations one was from our professed Enemies in the Land and the other and far greater the open Wickedness and Ungodliness abounding therein Your Majesties have not only been the Glorious Instruments of the first but have made several Pious Attempts and Endeavours towards a Deliverance of us from the last not only by your own vertuous Examples but also by commanding the Laws against Vice and Immorality to be effectually put in Execution Whereby your Majesties have given a Publick Testimony against that which you know is so hateful to God and destructive to Government and that Achan which has so troubled our Israel and interrupted our Joshua in his laudable Enterprizes against the Canaanites and the Philistines And if inferiour Magistrates or Officers have or do neglect to prosecute your Majesties pious Orders they have a great deal to answer for to your Majesties and more to God they will bring the Guilt of others Sins upon themselves The Design of this Paper is an humble Attempt of the like tendency with your Majesties and entirely subordinate thereunto and therefore is humbly prostrated at your Royal Feet both for Acceptance and Protection by one who can in Sincerity subscribe himself Your MAIESTIES Most Obedient Subject and Daily Orator J. D. To All the People of England ESPECIALLY The Professed FRIENDS OF THE Protestant Religion AND THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT YOU are now by your Representatives consulting and endeavouring to raise Armies and Navies against the Enemies of our Government and Religion and all that is dear to us I need not tell you how great a Burthen those Taxes are which are necessary to defend the Government And I cannot but think every honest Man doth earnestly wish the present Wars may speedily issue in a happy Peace for England and for Christendom But give me leave to tell you when you have done all you can of this nature you have done but one half of your Work and not the best half neither there must be other Armies and Militia rais'd beside those of Flesh and which must animate and succeed all the rest or else I doubt we shall scarce reach our Expectations The great design of this Paper is to raise immediately the Militia or Posse of Heaven an Army of Prayers and Tears which seldom if ever fail'd of success Whereas all other sorts of Warlike Preparations without these have often done so Give me leave to tell you it is the Work of us all and a great Work too earnestly to besiege why may I not with reverence say to storm Heaven itself with our penitent Supplications before we can comfortably hope to prevail against the great Senacherib of Europe the Staff in whose hand has so long been God's Indignation If ever we would hope successfully to contend with Men we must first wrestle with God himself by Prayer as Jacob did and in the Courage of a holy Faith say with him We will not let thee go except thou bless us And then we need not fear all those Esau 's at home or abroad who either wish or contrive our Ruine tho' they come never so well armed against us God can either change their Minds or break their Arms. I would fain raise up a Spirit of Prayer and Supplication which seems in the generality to be laid asleep for many Months past and I doubt not but the serious Reader will here find sufficient Motives thereunto and all sorts of Sinners especially the Enemies to the present Government will find Arguments enough to convince them of their folly God Almighty give his Blessing and grant that Thousands yea the whole Nation may have cause shortly to bless God for these Remembrances England's Alarum OR AN ACCOUNT Of GOD's most Considerable DISPENSATIONS IN Way of Mercy and Judgment towards this Nation for Fourteen Years last past c. I Might here speak something of the Great Judgments of God upon this Land in the late Civil Wars and the Desolation thereby for many Years when Englishmen fought against English men and Protestants against Protestants to the Ruine of one another and at last of the Government itself and to the great Dishonour of God and Scandal of the very Enemies of our Religion And then I might consider what Effects it hath wrought upon the Inhabitants of this Land Also That Flood of Impiety that broke into the Land when God was pleased to restore the Government upon its old Foundation together with a general hatred and aversion to serious Godliness which I wish I could say has not continued among the generality of People ever since Also I might speak of the dreadful Pestilence and Fire in London in the Year 1665 and 1666 and the Wars at the same time and after with our Protestant Neighbours the Dutch For all which I doubt England hath not been rightly humbled to this day And when God comes to us again in way of Judgment we have reason to expect he will visit for these as well as our latter Provocations but because many of these are grown out of Memory and fresh Judgments and Mercies are most apt to affect us I shall begin with such as are of a latter Date and not above Fourteen Years old 1. That great Alarm we had in Discovery of the Popish Plot in 1678 where in manifold ways it appeared that King and People Religion and Property were by a great Confederacy of the Papists undermined and ready to be subverted 2. When many People were ready to think either there was no extraordinary Plot or none of any dangerous consequence the then King was suddenly taken away and he that we have reason to believe was the great Motive if not Promoter of that Plot came to be advanc'd to the Head of the Government I need not tell you it is fresh in the Memory and Minds of all serious and considering Persons How great were their fears and perplexities upon his advancement to the Throne And it was not long before we were all too sensible of the Reasons they had to be so 3. How were we all alarmed at the late great and wonderful Revolution Were not we afraid our Land would then have become an Aceldema a Field of Bloodâ— Instead of that how did God turn again our Captivity and we became like them that dream And how did God tye up their hands who were making all
as to some particular sins tho' they have not made a trade of sin as impenitent Unbelievers do nay it is possible such persons may be guilty of some sins that a wicked Man cannot commit as Spiritual Pride Luke-warmness sensible Decays of Grace partial and temporary Back-slidings and the like and for want of Holy Watchfulness and Diligence in a course of Holiness one Believer may commit more sins than another and may bring many Spiritual and Temporal Judgments upon himself in this World such as Spiritual Desertions or Hidings of God's Face Terrors of Conscience outward Losses and Crosses wherewith God will humble him and bring him to Repentance Yea which is more to my purpose at this time these sins may and will help to hasten and pull down publick Judgments upon a Christian Nation such as the taking away the Gospel in it's outward Dispensation by a Publick Ministry and outward Liberties and Properties Israel of old and the Churches of France of late have been sad Instances of this Truth Nay I will add that in some sence the sins of Believers admit of greater Aggravations than the sins of Unbelievers As First They sin against more Light and Knowledge than others Secondly They sin against greater Love and Kindness than others do or can and the sensible Experience and Manifestation of that Love Thirdly Against 〈◊〉 Grace and Power to resist Sin that others are wholly destitute of Fourthly Against those solemn Engagements Promises and Resolutions against Sin whereby they had tyed and bound themselves to God Upon these Accounts the Sins of Believers are and may be more provoking to God than the Sins of others and more hasten publick Judgments And therefore this should be an Argument to such to look to themselves and to humble themselves greatly before God for these provoking Sins of theirs that do not only bring down particular Temporal Judgments upon themselves but upon the whole Nation God has a principal regard to the Demeanour and Carriage of his own Children and none have so great an Influence upon Publick Judgments or Mercies as they If they are watchful zealous devout and give themselves to Prayer and other good Duties they may and do often procure Publick Mercies and the continuance of them and keep off Publick Judgments Yea we have Instances of a very few of such as these that have done wonderful things this way Had there been but Ten such Persons in Sodom as wicked as it was it had been spared longer as for the sake of one righteous Lot it had been spared so long O the signal great Blessings that a single Moses a Joshua a Samuel have procured to a sinful People and the dreadful Judgments they have staved off by their earnest Supplications These are the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof that is their Piety and Prayers are as much or more successful against the Churches Enemies than Armies On the contrary if Professors grow loose let down their Watch and begin to conform to the World then these cease to be successful Intercessors for an ungodly Nation being under the provoking Guilt of Sin themselves And so God brings Judgments upon the Circumcised and Uncircumcised they sin together and shall suffer together How is this verefied in France at this day and it is one of the worst Prognosticks of England's further Calamities Never was there a greater Conformity to the World in Professors both Ministers and People in them and their Families than at this day Surely we have more cause than Paul had to say All seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ. Look upon those that profess Piety and Impiety and among the generality it will be a hard matter to find any difference except a bare Profession That Faith Love Charity exact Justice Sobriety Self-denyal and Temperance in Meat Drink Apparel that Heavenly-mindedness that Contempt of the World that was so eminent in the Primitive Christians yea I may say in the Primitive Protestants is scarce now to be found There is indeed abundance of Profession great Contentions for Opinions and Parties but the Power of Godliness is lost or dwindled away into an empty lifeless Form This is the great Original Cause and Ground of all God's Controversies with us and our Neighbour Churches which has not been rightly considered and laid to Heart by us or them to this day Had it been so indeed sure we should have been at least as diligent in reforming Vice as in raising Armies The long expected Work of Reformation would have gone on at another rate than it has done O that God would help us to see the things that belong to our Peace before we come to feel what it is to lose our Peace I come now under the Fourth and Last Head to speak of those Persons who not acknowledging the before-mentioned wonderful Providences of God towards this Nation especially in the late great Revolution are unthankful Murmerers against God and Enemies not only to those whom he has been pleased to make the Instruments thereof but to their own Country They dislike the Mercies of God because he has not ordered matters in their way namely to preserve Protestant Religion and Property by Popish Governours and Councils I shall in speaking to this shew what sort of People these are the pretended Reasons of their Discontents and Unreasonableness of them with the true Reasons for their Enmity to the present Government 1. What sort of People these generally are And here it may reasonably be demanded Why I rank this sort of Sinners by themselves Will they not come in under some of those Heads of Sins and Sinners I have mentioned before namely such as are openly Profane or pretendedly Religious Yes doubtless for it has and may be truly observed that the generality of these Murmurers are not only weak in their Intellectuals but wicked in their Morals and more than a good many of them do not so much as pretend Conscience in any other Points except that relating to the Government and a mistaken Notion of Passive Obedience Therefore as to the generality of these I think I may affirm of them without being guilty of Uncharitableness they may be found and included under the Rank of the Profane or Hypocritical for they who pretend a mighty tenderness of Conscience for a mistaken Duty towards one single Person who was and is an Enemy to their Countrey and Religion and can dispence with all other Obligations both to God Religion and their Country may very rightly be termed profane Persons and Hypocrites too The Reason therefore why I mention these Murmurers in a Head by themselves is not because they are not included already under the kinds of Sin before-mentioned but because they are double Enemies to the Government and to the Happiness of the Nation But some may object Do you not believe there are some pious conscientious Dissenters from the present Establishment who act out of pure Dictares of Conscience
would but come up to the outward Fast of the Hypocrite we might have then some Hopes that desolating Judgments and Evils may at lest be put off during our Days And would not this be wonderful mercy and not dear bought though we lay in Sackcloth and Ashes not only once a Month but once a Week for half a year together But if I should not prevail with the Generality to be serious and diligent in this Work sure I may hope to do so with all the truly Pious and Religious And I hope notwithstanding the general Corruption and Wickedness in the Land there is such a number of these that if they would but diligently and constantly in publick and private Cry mightily to God under a due Sense of their own and the publick Sins and Dangers we might yet have hopes of the lengthening out of our Tranquility and diverting feared Judgments If they will Moses like constantly hold up the hand of Prayer and furnish themselves with such Considerations and Arguments which like Aaron and Hur may help and support them in this Work we may hope that our Joshua shall yet prevail further against the Amalekites God forbid that you should to your other Sins add this Sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray or in growing but cold and formal in this Work Many good People are apt to complain when Judgments are threatned or inflicted Alas how can we expect better when there is so much Wickedness and Debauchery in the Nation Whereas they little consider that it may be as truly laid at another Door namely The neglect of that fervent Prayer in themselves which might at least have staved off Judgments longer There are two sorts of People that are more peculiarly concerned in this Work 1. All pious Ministers It is their proper professed Office to pray and to be Examples and Encouragements to others 2. All pious and devout Women both which are by the Law exempted from giving personal Assistance to the Wars and for the most part have more time and leisure for set and solemn times of Prayer both publick and private than others and herein they may do as much nay more Service in their Closets than others do in the Field I remember one of the Powder Traytors in his Letter to the Lord Mounteagle by which the Plot was defeated has this Expression They shall receive a great Blow this Parliament and not know from whom Blessed be God this Prophet was proved a Liar But I wish at the latter end of this present Year it may be said in Truth concerning our Enemies They have received a great Blow and know not who has done it namely by the Prayers of devout Christians which may rightly be termed White Gunpowder which they say kills without making a Noise or Report Therefore I conclude as ever you would groundedly hope for Mercies for your self or the Nation Ply this Oar of Prayer mightily especially at this time when the Success of all our Publick Councils and Determinations doth so much depend upon it FINIS Books lately Printed for and Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the Lower End of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel SYnodicon in Gallia Reformata Or the Acts Decisions Decrees and Canons of those Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France being a most Faithful and Impartial History of the Rise Growth Perfection Decay of the Reformation in that Kingdom with it's fatal Catastrophe upon the Revocation of the Edict at Nants in the Year 1685. also the Confession of Faith and Discipline of those Churches their Speeches Sacred Politicks Cases of Conscience and Controversies in Divinity c. their Government Laws c. Collected out of the Original-Manuscript Acts of those Renowned Synods In two Vol. Fol. By John Quick A Body of Practical Divinity consisting of above 176 Sermons on the lesser Catechism Composed by the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster with a Supplement of some Sermons on several Texts of Scripture By Thomas Watson formerly Minister of St. Stephen's Walbrook London Recommended by several Ministers to Masters of Families and others In Folio Theological Discourses and Sermons on several occasions In two Parts By John Wallis D. D. Professor of Geometry in Oxford Quarto A Brief Tract on the Fourth Commandment wherein is shown the Cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day and the means of reconciling them Recommended by the Reverend Dr. Bates and Mr. John Howe A Sermon Preached before the King and Queen at Whitehall Nov. 5. 1692. By Richard Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells Death Improved and Immoderate Sorrow for Deceased Friends and Relations Reproved By Edward Bury formerly Minister at Great Bolas in Shropshire Octavo A Discourse of Earthquakes as they are Supernatural and Premonitory Signs to a Nation with a respect to what hath occurr'd in this Year 1692. and some special Reflections thereon c. These two last by R. Fleming Minister at Rotterdam Author of The Fulfilling of Scripture Octavo A Paraphrase on the Psalms of David in Mitre By the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter