Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	king_n	time_n	write_v	5,868	5	5.8753	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59814	A discourse concerning the divine providence by William Sherlock ...	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1694 (1694)	Wing S3286; ESTC R8109	271,248	406

exalted with the King's Favour and that Queen Esther had admitted none to the Banquet with the King but himself but still Mordecai who refused to bow before him was a great Grievance and by the advice of his Friends he built a Gallows Fifty Cubits high and resolved that night to beg of the King That Mordecai might be hanged on it and had he come in time his Petition had been certainly granted but it so happened that that very night the King could not sleep and he called for the Book of the Records of the Chronicles and there they found written That Mordecai had discovered the Treason of two of the King's Chamberlains against him and finding upon enquiry that he had never been rewarded for it he resolved to do him Honour and made Haman who was at the door to beg that Mordecai might be hanged his Minister in doing him Honour This prepared the King to grant Queen Esther's Request and hanged Haman upon the Gallows he had built for Mordecai and preserved the Iews from that Destruction he had designed against them And thus it is almost in all the Remarkable Passages of Providence there is so much appearance of Chance and Accident which has the greatest stroke in some wonderful Events as may satisfie considering men That the world is governed by a Divine Wisdom and Counsel and an Invisible Power and that the immediate and visible Causes have always the least hand in it For can we think otherwise when we see as many visible marks of Wisdom and Goodness and Justice in what we call Chance as in any other acts of Providence Nay when the Wisdom of Providence is principally seen in the government of Fortuitous Events When we see a World wisely made tho we did not see it made yet we conclude That it was not made by Chance but by a Wise Being and by the same reason when we see Accidental Events nay a long incoherent Series of Accidents concur to the producing the most admirable effects we ought to conclude That there is a Wise Invisible Hand which governs Chance which of it self can do nothing wisely When the Lives and Fortunes of Men the Fate of Kingdoms and Empires the Successes of War the Changes of Government are so often determined and brought about by the most visible Accidents when Chance defeats the Wisest Counsels and the Greatest Power when Good men are rewarded and the Church of God preserved by appearing Chances when Bad men are punished by Chance and the very Chance whereby they are punished carries the marks of their sins upon it for which they are punished I say can any man in such cases think that all this is mere Chance when how accidental soever the Means are or appear to be whereby such things are done there is no appearance at all of Chance in the Event but the Changes and Revolutions the Rewards and Punishments of Chance are all as wisely done as if there had been nothing of Chance and Accident in it This is the great security of our lives amidst all the uncertainties of Fortune That Chance it self can't hurt us without a Divine Commission This is a sure foundation of Faith and Hope and Trust in God how calamitous and desperate soever our external condition seems to be that God never wants means to help that he has a thousand unseen ways a whole Army of Accidents and unexpected Events at command to disappoint such designs which no visible Art or Power can disappoint and to save those whom no visible Power can save This is an undeniable Reason for a perpetual Awe and Reverence of God and an entire submission to him and a devout acknowledgment of him in all our ways That we have no Security but in his Providence and Protection for whatever provision we can make against foreseen and foreknown evils we can never provide against Chance that is wholly in God's hands and no human Wit or Strength can withstand it which may abate the Pride and self-confidence of men and teach the Rich and Great and Mighty a Religious Veneration of God who can with so much ease pull down the mighty from their seat and advance those of low degree 3dly The next thing to be explained is God's government of Moral Causes or Free Agents that is the government of men considered as the Instruments of Providence which God makes use of for the accomplishment of his own Wise Counsels Most of the good or evil which happens to us in this world is done by Men if God rewards or if he punishes us usually Men are his Ministers in both to execute his Vengeance or to dispence his Blessings and therefore God must have as Absolute a Government over Mankind of all their Thoughts and Passions and Counsels and Actions as he has of the Powers and Influences of Natural Causes or else he cannot reward and punish when and as he pleases If men could hurt those whom God would bless and reward or could do good to those whom God would punish both good and bad men might be happy or miserable in this world whether God would or not our Fortunes would depend upon the Numbers and Power of our Friends or Enemies upon the good or bad humours and inclinations of those among whom we live and Providence could not help us Now this is the great Difficulty How God can exercise such an Absolute Government over Mankind who are Free Agents without destroying the Liberty and Freedom of their Choice which would destroy the nature of Vertue and Vice of Rewards and Punishments The necessity of allowing this if we will acknowledge a Providence and the plain Testimonies and Examples of this Absolute and Uncontroulable Government which we find in Scripture have made some men deny the Liberty of Human Actions and represent Mankind to be as mere Machines as a Watch or Clock which move as they are moved And then they know not how to bring Religion and the Moral Differences of Good and Evil and the Natural Justice of Rewards and Punishments into their Scheme for nothing of all this can be reconciled with Absolute Necessity and Fate Others to avoid these Difficulties are afraid of attributing too much to Providence or have such confused and perplex'd Notions about it that there are few cases wherein they can securely depend on God But I think this Difficulty will be easily removed if we distinguish between God's government of Men as Reasonable Creatures and Free Agents and his government of them as the Instruments of Providence the first considers them in their own private and natural Capacity the second in relation to the rest of Mankind which makes a great difference in the Reason and in the Acts of Government Man considered in his own nature is a reasonable Creature and free Agent and therefore the proper government of Man consists in giving him Laws that he may know the difference between good and evil what he ought to chuse and what to refuse