Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	citizen_n	london_n	mayor_n	9,097	5	11.2140	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55641	A sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, the aldermen and citizens of London at St. Mary le Bow, on Thursday, Sept. 2. 1697 / by Samuel Prat ...	Pratt, Samuel, 1659?-1723.	1698 (1698)	Wing P3185; ESTC R33949	11,271	34

CLARKE Major Jovis xxiii die Septembris 1697. Annoque Regni Regis Willielmi Tertii Angliae c. Nono THis Court doth Desire Dr. Prat to Print his Sermon Preach'd on the 2d of September last at the Parish Church of St. Mary le Bow before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of this City Goodfellow A SERMON Preach'd before the Right Honourable the lord-Lord-Mayor THE ALDERMEN AND Citizens of LONDON At St. Mary le Bow On Thursday Sept. 2. 1697. By SAMUEL PRAT D. D. Chaplain to His Highness William Duke of Glocester and Minister of the Savoy In the SAVOY Printed by Edw. Jones for Samuel Lowndes over against Exeter-Exchange in the Strand 1698. A SERMON Preached before the lord-Lord-Mayor c. In the first Chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah the former part of the 5th Verse Why should ye be stricken any more Ye will Revolt more and more THIS Prophecy begins with the Burden of Judah and Jerusalem in the days of King Vzziah and the Condition of the People at that time was this In the Reign of Joash the last King save one the People of Judah notwithstanding the great Prosperity with which God Almighty had Blessed 'em Revolted and turn'd back from the Service of God to their Old Sins This Joash had been wonderfully preserved out of that fatal time of Destruction in which the whole Royal Family had like to have been extinguish'd the Light of Judah almost quite blown out by the tempestuous Cruelties of Athaliah And the remembrance of that Deliverance had wrought so upon the King and People that for a while they betook themselves to Acts of Piety and Devotion The House of the Lord was repaired and the Church-Service restored to Decency and Order for those Sacrilegious Times had alienated the Holy Things so you find 2 Chron. 24.7 They had broken up the House of God and also all the dedicate Things of the House of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim But after the Restoration when Peace and Prosperity had produced Luxury and Wantonness the Princes and the great Men Ver. 17. followed their own Lusts and flatter'd the King into a liking of their way of living So the King and all the People in general Revolted from God and return'd to their former Sins notwithstanding all that the Prophets and Preachers could do For when Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their Trespasses God Almighty sent Prophets to 'em to bring them again unto the Lord and they testified against them but they would not give Ear Ver. 19. Therefore God Almighty deals with 'em by Judgments to see if that will Reclaim ' em They were once Spoil'd by the Syrians and afterwards by the Israelites and humbled one would think very severely but all this would not soften 'em their Hearts were hardned and Judgments could work no more upon 'em than Mercies had done The Prophets therefore seem to be at a stand What will the Denouncing of Judgments signifie when the very Execution of 'em hath had no good Effect Thus we find the Prophet Hosea speaking as from God about this time to both the Nations of Judah and Israel chap. 6. v. 4. O Ephraim What shall I do unto thee O Judah What shall I do unto thee For your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away They had had Warnings and Threatnings enough by all the Prophets of those days thus we find the Prophet Amos in his 2d Chapter For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof but I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem But after all the Denunciations and Executions of God's Anger there was still no Amendment The Prophet Isaiah therefore here in the beginning of his Prophecy having call'd Heaven and Earth to witness concerning God Almighty's dealing with 'em Hear O Heavens and give Ear O Earth and having Exprobrated their Sins and their Backslidings instead of Denouncing any more Judgments he Expostulates the Case with 'em as if they were past all the ordinary disciplining of Providence Why should ye be stricken any more To what purpose would it be if God Almighty visit ye with any of those Dispensations of his Anger which he never makes use of but in order to Reclaim and you alas seem to be past all Reclaiming Let him do what he pleaseth and repeat never so many Judgments upon you you will still be a sinful Nation c. Ye will Revolt more and more So that the words of my Text seem to infer this Proposition That the Nation or People who when God Almighty by manifest and sufficient Signs and Tokens of his Anger hath visited 'em frequently with Calamities and Judgments will not Repent but go on still in their Wickedness are not to expect any other Overtures till an utter Ruin and final Destruction comes upon ' em And this Proposition which needs no other Illustration but the Words of my Text nor any other Proof but the Reasonableness of the Thing I shall betake my self forthwith to apply to this present Occasion We are met here together this Day to Rememorate a very remarkable instance of God's Displeasure against this sinful Nation exercised upon this most sinful City as the Head or Chief-Member of our great Body Politick And such a Rememoration is perhaps much more seasonable now at this long distance of time than it was formerly whilst the impression of it was more recent and fresh upon our Minds because through the long-suffering and forbearance of God that which was doubtless designed for a Judgment or at least warning to flee from a greater Vengeance hath now changed its Aspect and put on the appearance of Mercy whilst we behold our City to have Risen out of its Ashes in greater Beauty and Splendor than ever so that we can scarce believe that to have been a Judgment which hath conduced so much to a present show of Prosperity But as those among us who were sorrowful Spectators of that dismal Conflagration we that saw the Terrours of the Lord set in Array against us cannot but call to Mind the manifest appearance of the furiousness of God's Anger then poured out upon us So they who now seriously consider the outward Grandeur and Felicity we at present enjoy and at the same time the great unworthiness in which we enjoy it all cannot but be as much afraid of the consequents of all this long-suffering and forbearance as we have been apprehensive of former Chastisements I have not met with many Periods of time in History in which this Nation and particularly this City hath been so long free from a publick Visitation Either Plagues or Famines or Invasions or Fires or Civil Wars or Persecutions did for many Ages together Discipline at shorter distances of time this Revolting and Back-sliding People Innumerable Methods hath Divine Providence made use of to Reclaim us till at last the