Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	build_v	great_a	king_n	5,770	4	3.5361	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12480	A learned and godly sermon preached at Worcester, at an assise / by the reverend and learned, Miles Smith ...	Smith, Miles, d. 1624.; Burhill, Robert, 1572-1641.	1602 (1602)	STC 22807; ESTC S1722	29,684	80

Lacedemonians in fight in one daie and that Aurelian then or shortly after Emperour of whō they made that song mille mille mille viuat qui mille mille occidit Let him liue thousandes of yeares or monethes who stewae thousands of enemies These were famous men in their generations for strength no doubt they were mervailously admired at by thē that liued in their times Yet for al that nether wereothers to haue gloried in thē nor they in thēselues Not others to glory in thē because Paule saith Let no mā reioice or glory in mē 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And againe Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. 1 Cor. 10. Not thēselus to glory in thēselus because strēgth is not to be cōpared to wisdōe therfore wisedome being debarred frō boasting as you heard already strēgth ought much more That strēgth cōmeth short of wis dome Salomon sheweth both by plaine wordes and by an example By plaine words as when hee saith Eccles. 9. 16. Thē said I better is wisdom thē strēgth By an example as in the same chapter ver 14. A little cittie and few men in it and a great king came against it and compassed it about and builded fortes against it And there was found therein a poore wise man and hee delivered the cittie by his wisedome Thus Salomon Nature also hath taught as much both in plaine words and by examples In plaine wordes as Musaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVisdom or sleight is alwaies better then strength By an example as Sertorius for example Hee caused a couple of horses to be brought before him the one fat and fleshy the other a leane carion iade also a couple of souldiers the one strong lustie the other a silly sickely fellow to the leane horse he put the strong man he going roughly to worke and thinking to do the deed with dead strength haled and pulled and tired himselfe and was a laughing stocke to the beholders but the weake fellow vsing some cunning for al his weaknes did the feat went his way with the applause Wisedome therefore is better then strength and therefore this is one strong reason why strength should not be boasted of since wisdom is denied An other reasō may be this strength or force be it equal to the strength of a Lion or Elephant yet it is but the strength of flesh never the lesse and al flesh is fraile and subiect to foile When one cānot overcome many may Whom sword cannot pearce shot wil whom shot doth not hit sicknes may arrest time surely and death wi be sure to make an ende of Nowe should a man bee prowde of grasse of vapor of smoake of a shadow of a tale that is told c. whereto the whole life of man and his glory and consequently his strength vigor are compared An horse is but a race they say and so the strongest man vpō earth is but the push of a pike or the clappe of a pistol Were not Abimelech and Pyrrhus two most valiant princes either of them killed by the hand of a woman was not Totilas that noble conquerour that had vanquished Rome which had vanquished the whole world vvas not hee I say overcome and slaine by Narses an eununch a semivir vvhat should I stand any longer vpon this God hath chosē as the foolish things of the world to cōfound the wise so the weak things of the world many times to confounde the strong And this may be a third rea son against glorying in strength because God himself doth many times set himselfe against the mighty Xenophon saw so much faith thus God as it would seeme taketh a pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to exalt the base and to pull downe the mighty And why so Truelie not of envy to their greatnesse as it is writtē of Tiberius or Caligula that hee caused a goodly tall mā called Colossus for his stature strength of meere en vy to fight after he had done his law til he was tired slaine And as it is likewise recorded of Soliman in our fathers memorie that having a great Germane brought prisoner to him of very envie to the German nation hee caused his dwarfe a very Pygmey to take this German in hand being a gyant to look to to hack him hew him being boūd to his hand to haue many courses at him as if a childe were set to thwite a tree a sunder at length with much a do to get him down so to potch him in kil him Oh no God is of no such nature as he saith himselfe in Esay Anger is not in me So it may be saide most truly of him envy is not in him No hee envieth no good quality in mā which is his own gift nether hateth he any that he hath made redeemed but loveth al wold haue vs to loue one another Nether are the great mighty ones cōfounded brought downe by reasō of their folly or for want of iudgment whereby they giue advauntage oftentimes to their enemies albeit I am not ignoraunt that Synesius that ancient and learned Bishop saith that strength and prudence seldome vvhiles concurre but he vnderstandeth I thinke enormous strength in an huge vast body otherwise his speech is not iustifiable for many strong haue been exceeding crafty with all as Aristor●…nes of old of whō I spake erewhile George Castriot of late in comparison of whō it is written that they had the strength of a Lion and wilines of a fox But here is the quarrel and this maketh God an enemy very oft to the strong mighty because by their strength power they thinke to beare out maintaine whatsoever bad person whatsoeuer bad cause and to breake downe and to crush and tread vnder foote the most righteous of the land that stād in their way This doth nettle God provoke him to displeasure Id in summa fortuna aequius quod validius Let mee haue might I haue right enough Sua retinere priuatae domus saith Tiridates in the same place of Tacitus de alienis certare regialaus You would haue me be contented with mine own why it is for base spirited men for peasantes for boores to seeke but their own gentlemen and mighty men they wil law and fight for that which is an other mans O de mens it a servus homoest saith one in ●…uvenal You would haue me vse my servant wel ah foole is my man a man is my tenant my neighbor is my neigh bor my brother Doth Naboth refuse to sel his vineyard to Achab to king Achab I will helpe thee to it for nothing saith Iezabel Doth the senate deny my Master the consulship Hic ensis dabit This sword shall helpe him to it said Cesars souldier These be the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Poët calleth thē which wil

in the Psalme made the domb beast speaking with mās voice to rebuke the madnes of the prophet as it is in the Apostle made these mē which were but babes in Christ nay evē as beasts before him being without God in this world to set forth his honor and praise and even to rebuke the madde arrogancy of many Christians in our daies Mans wisdome therfore touching matters of learning is vnperfect you heare by the cōfessiō of the wisest and therefore not to bee boasted of So is it vncertaine concerning matters of policie therefore this a third reason why it ought not to bee gloried in Prudens futuri tempo●… exitum caligino sa nocte premit Deus saith one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saieth an other Thus it is future things they are to be they are not yet therefore wee cannot see them they may fal out another way as wel as that way which we imagine they be futura contingentia therefore we may be deceived in them The chirurgian that dealeth with an outwarde wound seeth what he doth and can tell whether hee can heale it or no and in what time but he that is to make an incision within the Body bee it for the stone or the like disease hee doth but grope in the darke as it were may as wel take hoult of that which he should not as of that which he would So the arti●…an that worketh in his shoppe hath his tooles about him can promise to make vp his daies worke to his best advantage but the merchant venturer that is to cutte the seas had need of one winde to bring him out of the havē an other to bring him about to the lāds end another peradvēture to bring him to the place of trafficke where he would be he can promise nothing neither touching his returne neither touching his making of his cōmodity but as the winde the weather the mē of warre by the way as the honesty skil of them whom he tradeth with shal giue him leaue Iust so fareth it in these matters of prudence and policy they are cōiectural they are not demō stratiue therfore there is no science of thē they haue need of the cōcurrence of many causes that are casual of many mēs mindes that are mutable therfore we cannot build vpon them Yea they are built many times vpon the errours and negligence of our enemies and they peradventure bee avvake as vvel as our selues Antigonus that wise Prince he is reckoned among thē that having but one eie were exceeding politicke and crafty thought made certaine account of it to come vpō his enemie Eumenes at vnawa●…es and to take him napping but he foūd ●…umenes as vigilant as himselfe and so was faine to retire with a slea in his eare as wise as he came This for matters of war So for matters of peace Salomon the vvisest of al thought that if he might ioin in affinity with his neighbour princes and take many of their daughters to be his wiues and womē he should not only strengthen the kingdome in his own hande but also stablish it in his house long and long also he thought peradventure that by occasion of his mariages and affinities being great many of the vplandish people would bee trained wonne to the knowledging and worshipping of the true God of Israel but how was hee deceived His wiues and women turned his heart from the Lord he could do little or no good vpon them or theirs and as for the secret vnderminers of Salomons state succession where found they entertainement but among Salomons allies Let mee instance this pointe in one or tvvo examples more Constantine the great that worthy christian and great politician thought that if hee might build a cittie in the confines of Europe and Asia that might be aemula Romae a match to Rome place one of his sōs there to keepe his court he should not only eternize his name but also fortifie the Empire no lesse then if he had invir●…ned it with a wal of brasse Also Phocas and Pipinus thought the one if he might dignifie the Bishoppe of Rome with an extravagant title to bee called vniversal bishop the other if he might lade the church of Rome with principalities even with principality vpon principality they should deserue immortally wel not only of that sea but also of the whole house of God But the way of man is not in him selfe as Ieremie saith neither is it in man to foresee what wil fal out luckely or crosse The building of nevv Rome vvas the decay of old Rome so it proved and the dividing of the Empire was the destructiō of the Empire no lesse as wise men know Also the lifting vp of the man of Rome was the hoysting vp of the man of sinne and the locking of him in the chaire even in the chaire of pestilence Thus there is no policie so provident no providence so circumspect but the same is subiect to errours and crosses and therefore no cause why it shoulde bee trusted to and therefore no cause why it should be glorified in Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome c If any wisedome might bee boasted of surely one of those kinds of wisdom that ●… earst reckoned vp vnto you to wit wisedome or skil in the artes wisedome or knowledge in divinity wisedome or policie touching matters of state but these you haue heard are not to be relied vpon because they are vncertaine because they are vnperfecte c. therfore much lesse are we to relie vpon any such as is worse or inferiour to these But yet the world is the world it hath done so doth so yea and blesseth it selfe for so doing therefore this wound had need to be searched ransacked a little deeper Homer I remember crieth out against Eris or Discorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O I would it were perished and throwne out of the company of the goddes men So Cyprian against covetousnes ô dete stabilis caecit as mentium c ô this same detestable blindnes of mēs mindes Hieronym against luxurie or lechery ô ignis inf ernalis luxuria ô Lecherie a very hellish fire Augustine against errour or mistaking ô errare ó delirare ô vvhat a vile thing it is to be blinded with errour c. thus every one cried out against the sinnes wherewith their times were most pestered and po●…soned Surely if I were appointed to touch the soare of the daughter of our people wee haue many soares from the crown of our head to the soale of our foote we are little else but soares botches biles but yet if I were to touch that which doth most of al apostemate and ranckle then I ought to crie out ô policie policie Policie I meane falsely so called but indeede cunning cudgeling This letteth that the prince the ●…ealme many times cannot bee