The signs of the times : a sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor, and court of aldermen, at the Cathedral of St. Paul, on Friday the 8th of December, 1721 being the day appointed for a general fast for the prevention of the plague / by Edmund Massey.

Edmund Massey

Date:: 1722

Credit: The signs of the times : a sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor, and court of aldermen, at the Cathedral of St. Paul, on Friday the 8th of December, 1721 being the day appointed for a general fast for the prevention of the plague / by Edmund Massey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$the Divine Mercy, and imprecate God’s Judg¬ ments upon them and their Pofierity, we cannot but conclude, that God, who is appealed to as an Avenger, will vilit us for thefe Things ; and that, unlefs our Repentance prevent it, this Land will be like the Land of Judah, which mourneth becaufe]^.i^.xoo of Sxvearing. We may ask our felves that Queftion of Af<?/^,Deut.4.7. What TSfation is there fo great, who hath Cod fo nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all Things that we call upon him for ? He has guided our Counfels, and gone forth with our Armies \ He gave us al- Stioft uninterrupted Victory in Battle, till He had fecured to us the Bieffing of Peace \ He has pre- ferved our Religion, and not yet deprived us of our Liberties: And, What have we render1 d untopfaj. n54 the Lord for all thefe Benefits He hath done unio m f 11. We have made little or no ufe of thefe Bleffings to the Improvement either of Piety or Morality, but like Jefurun have waxed fat and kicked,, turned Deut. 32. the Gifts of our Benefactor to other Purpofes than l5* He intended. Shall I not vifit for thefe Things, faith the Lord ? Shall not my Soul be avenged on fuch a Na¬ tion as this ? 3. On the other Hand, how often has God cor¬ rected us and we have been incorrigible ? Ho# often has He made us fuffer Adverfity, and we refufed to be thereby reclaimed ? Winds and Storms^ and intemperate Seafons, have had no good EffeCt upon us$ Ruin of Credit abroad, and the Decay of Trade at home, we have not placed as a Balance to our provoking Sins, nor have we been more frugal, altho’ we have been lefl wealthy,$