Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	great_a	king_n	name_n	5,555	4	4.7547	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91754	Sions praises. Opened in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen and common council of London: on the day of solemn thanksgiving unto God for his long and gracious preservation of that great city, from pestilence, fire, and other dangers. By Edward Reynolds. D.D.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1657 (1657)	Wing R1289; Thomason E915_4; ESTC R207479	16,805	36

Fields abundance of Men Cattel Wealth Trade Strength and all other good things Unthankfulness for that which the Apostle calleth the riches of the world and the salvation of the Gentiles Rom. 11. 11 12. for the Oracles of God the Ark of his presence the glorious light of his Gospel and powerful means of grace and salvation in abundance of which I know not whether any Countries on the earth can outvy and surpass this of ours Unthankfulness which is worse in abusing mercies waxing fat by them and then kicking against the Author of them filling our selves in our pastures and then forgetting God making them rather the fuel of our lusts against him then the arguments of our love unto him turning peace into security and plenty into excess and grace into lasciviousness and pardoning mercy into presumption of sinning multitudes making little other use of the Gospel then that which the Gospel doth abominate to continue in sin that grace may abound to drink poison the more freely because they have an Antidote by them Nay which is yet more prodigious not using nor improving mercies when we were in danger to lose them when war and desolation should have taught us to value them to weep and bleed and languish and have grey hairs upon us to be set on fire round about and even then to lay nothing to heart nor to return to the Lord nor seek him for all that to cement our souls and our lusts together with mortar tempered with our own blood and tears to be wanton and dally with mercies when they were ready to depart from us and now when there is respite and the Lord hath given us a little reviving and put the sword into the Scabbard to become thereupon like Agag proud and delicate because the bitterness of death seemeth to be past to abuse outward and inward Liberty not only with sensual excess and luxury but with prodigies of wilde and wanton errors with a civil War of Doctrines as before of Blood this is an aggravation of unthankfulness then which I know not whether there can be an higher given The not using a mercy is to be unthankful for it how much more sad account must men give of abused mercies of requiting the goodness of the Lord with forsaking of him the culture and Husbandry the rain and dew which he hath bebestowed upon them with thorns and briars Deut. 32. 6. Luk. 13. 7 Heb. 6. 7. As the greater heat of the Sun doth more speedily ripen fruit so do great mercies hasten the maturity of sin and make them as the rod of an Almond tree which blossometh before other trees Jer. i. 11. or as a Basket of summer fruit which is quickly ripe Amos 8. 1. It is a swineish thing at the same time to feed on blessings and to trample them under foot to live upon them and yet to defile and despise them Secondly We should be exhorted unto the careful practice of this excellent Duty I shall not go out of the Text for Motives hereunto 1. He hath strengthned the Bars of our Gates we are not by the power or machinations of Enemies devoured or dissolved we have yet the face of a potent Nation notwithstanding the devices of any to dissipate our Laws or to reduce us to confusion 2. He hath blessed our Children within us though the sword have devoured thousands and might justly have swallowed the blood of many more should the Lord have dealt with us according to our provocations yet our streets our fields our Cities our Churches are still full old men with their staves little children playing in the streets with as much security as before 3. He hath given peace in our Borders When Ephraim was against Manasse and Manasse against Ephraim no man spared his brother when the Land did eat the flesh of its own arms when the strength of battel was poured out in every corner as if the Lord would have consumed us all at once then was he pleased to try us once again with the keeping of so rich a Jewel as peace And when thereafter he raised up against us new Enemies and troubles by Sea whereby trade was obstructed treasure exhausted Protestant Religion in danger to be weakned and unhappy hostilities like to have continued amongst neighbour Nations which had been before confederate and in amity this evill likewise the Lord put a stop unto and made the Sea which wrought and was tempestuous quiet and calm again and thus hath confirmed peace in our borders and abated the hopes which the enemies of the Reformed Religion had entertained upon those unhappy differences 4. He hath fed us with the fat and marrow of the wheat crowned the year with his goodness the fields and the pastures sing he hath sent a plentiful rain and refreshed the earth the fields and the clouds and the Sun have been confederate and at an agreement to empty the blessings wherewith God hath filled them into our bosoms according to those gracious promises Hos. 2. 21. 22. Zach. 8 12. 5. He suffereth us yet to call him our God he is still in the midst of us we have yet the custody of his oracles and liberty of his worship he hath not yet given us a bill of Divorce nor cast us out of his sight as our sins have deserved What great reason have we to ingeminate praises when the Lord is pleased to multiply mercies Who would ever mistrust such a God who can so powerfully and so suddenly help Who would ever provoke such a God who can as easily and as speedily destroy Who would trust in bars and gates in Castles and Armies in Ships and Navies and leave him out who is the strength of them all Who would not trust in him who is a God near and a God a far off a God in the Gate in the City in the field in the border on the land on the sea whose way is in the sauctuary and his path in the great waters Who would not fear thee O King of Nations and glorifie thy name for unto thee it doth appertain who alone art glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders I shall conclude all with a few words unto you the Officers and Representatives of this great City into whose hearts the Lord hath put so wo thy and pious a resolution as to appoint this day in the which to recount his mercies and to speak good of his name And albeit your selves who are best acquainted with the state of the City and Gods dealings therewith can more abundantly present to your own thoughts variety of particulars of divine goodness then I who am but a stranger can yet give me leave to be your Remembrancer in these few 1. Be pleased to look back on those bloody Marian days when the streets of this City were defiled with the blood of Martyrs when the blessed members of Christ were drawn from Cole houses and Prisons to Stakes and flames and consider the indefatigable

Sions Praises Opened in a SERMON PREACHED Before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of LONDON On the Day of Solemn Thanksgiving UNTO GOD For his long and gracious Preservation of that great City from Pestilence Fire and other Dangers By EDWARD REYNOLDS D. D. LONDON Printed by Tho Newcomb for George Thomason and are to be sold at his Shop at the Rose and Crown in Pauls Church yard 1657. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Titchbourne Knight Lord Mayor of LONDON The Aldermen and Common-Council of that great and famous CITY Right Honourable INstead of a Dedication I must make an Apology that this short Sermon hath been so long in the second birth of it from the Press for besides my various diversions indisposedness by reason of infirmities to spend much time together in revising transcribing and maturing short notes for a publick view I had at the same time another service of the like nature upon me which having been before begun I could not till finished conveniently attend this It pleaseth the Lord still so to continue those mercies to this City for the thankful recounting whereof he put it into your hearts to appoint this service that as the Duty was very seasonable when it was performed so I hope the publication though too long after may not be altogether improper to mind us all of the Lords great goodness in continuing those comforts unto us and of our duty daily to resume and revive the memory of them If this weak endeavor of mine to quicken you and my self unto that great work of praising God be through his blessing of any use to engage your hearts thereunto and to provoke you unto any of those expedients which you were in this Sermon minded of I shall have abundant cause of glorifying God for so great a fruit of so small a service and for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ Which is the earnest desire of Your Honors Most humble Servant in the work of the Gospel ED. REYNOLDS Sions Praises PSAL. 147. 12 13 14 15. Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Zion For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates he hath blessed thy children within thee He maketh peace in thy borders and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth his word runneth very swiftly GOD is All-sufficient unto himself and standeth not in need of any of his creatures to add any excellency unto him any more then the Sun doth of the light of a candle That which is wholly of him can contribute nothing at all unto him He hath all perfection Infinitely all the perfections of the Creatures without the finite bounds and limits wherein they injoy them Eminently in himself Our goodness extendeth not unto him It he be hungry he will not tell us for the world is his and the fulness thereof can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise is profitable to himself Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced to him agaim Yet though the Lord be thus wholly self sufficient and do not receive any thing from the creatures yet he is pleased graciously to communicate himself unto them in several prints and degrees of goodness as the Sun sheddeth light upon those bodies from whence it receiveth no retribution at all But of all Creatures he hath chosen his Church to be nearest unto him and to participate most of him that is a society of men which he hath formed for himself to be a-chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People As the Sun manifesteth its light unto us in the Moon more then in any other of the Stars so the Lord his Goodness and Wisdom in the Church more then in any other Creatures And now as the Moon receiving light from the Sun doth not swallow it up and bury it but reflecteth it and as it were reporteth and publisheth it abroad unto the world So the Lord having shewed mercies unto the Church requireth that they be not buried in oblivion but that the glory and praise of them be acknowledged unto him Great Luminaries have certain Beams as pipes and channels through which their light is derived and diffused upon others Thanksgiving is the Beam of an illightned soul whereby it maketh report of those mercies which from the Father of light hath been shed abroad upon it Every thing naturally returns to its original All Rivers run into the Sea unto the place from whence they come thither they return to go Eccles. 1. 7. A straight line drawn into length the further it goes is still the weaker but in a circle returning to its first point and original it recovers strength so the Creature the further it goes from God is still the weaker till it return back unto him again And the best way of returning unto him is by praising of him for praises are the language of Heaven where it is that men are pefectly taken home to God Yet as we said nothing is hereby added unto him but onely his own glory acknowledged and adored by the Church as when the Sun shines on a Diamond the lustre thereof is not encreased but reported And as we esteem those stones most precious which do most exquisitely admit and reflect the splendor of that light which shines upon them so they are the Lords bests Jewels as he calleth them Mal. 3 17. which can most notably set forth the glory of his name as he who can with greatest eloquence commend the vertues of an excellent person is the best Orator though his Oration doth not put excellency into the person but onely represent and set it forth unto others Not therefore for any advantage or accession unto himself who cannot be a gainer by his creatures but onely for our benefit and comfort is the Lord pleased to require praises of his people as the window admitteth the light of the Sun not for the benefit of the Sun but of the house into which it shineth And as God requires this duty at all times of his people so most then when he doth greatest things for them and this was the condition of the Church at this time which Interpreters refer to the State thereof after its return out of Babylon and therefore in the Syriack and Greek versions we finde the names of the Prophets Haggai and Zacharie prefixed as leading to the times whereunto the mercies here mentioned did relate The whole Psalm is an invitation unto praising of God Arguments thereunto are drawn First From Gods general goodness to the world vers. 4 8 9 16 17 8. Secondly From his special Mercy to his Church 1. In restoring it out of a sad and broken condition ver. 2 3. 2. In confirming it in an happy and prosperous estate both temporal in regard of strength peace and plenty vers. 12 13 14. and spiritual in regard of his Word Statutes and

and crafty endeavors which have been from time to time by that party used and no doubt they are as unwearied now as ever though haply they are under new shapes and disguises to reduce us back again And consider the purity of Evangelical Doctrine and Worship and the great liberty you now enjoy therein The Lord pardon pitty and rebuke those who either through ignorance o prophaness do pray the wantons with such a benefit and abuse it to the rending and causing of breaches in the Church of Christ 2. Look on the sore plagues which have heretofore reigned in this place emptying the City of all that could fly and sending Armies of those that remained weekly to the grave The City is probably now much more populous many thousands of houses being since that time newly erected and few either of the old or new without Inhabitants yet for these many years this raging disease hath been banished from this place when probably it might have been a double Judgment unto you and you have that blessing which the Lord promised Jerusalem Zach. 8. 5. made good unto you The streets of the City full of Boys and Girls playing in those streets where in the days of pestilence grass grew for emptiness and desolation 3. Look on the late bloody VVars when the Lord poured out on the Nation the strength of battel and set it on fire round about Ephraim Manasse and Manasse Ephraim when the people were as the fuel if the fire you here heard not the prancing of the horses nor the rarling of the wheels you saw not the glittering of the swords nor the displaying of the Banners you were not witnesses of the confusions which other places saw and felt Your houses were not shaken with the roaring of the Canon nor your wives made Widows or your children Orphans by the edge of the sword Your City was then like the top of the hill at Rephidim where Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses no hands lifted up here to fight but onely to pray no siege here but that about the Throne of Grace ut ad Deum quasi manu factâ precationibus ambiamus orantes no waring or wrestling here but that of Jacob with the Angel This City was as it were the Chappel the Oratory of the Nation 4. Look back on the late heavy blows by fire in this City that sad and sudden blast by Gunpowder on Tower hill whereby divers persons perished those dangerous fires afterwards in other places unto which the Lord could have given a commission to have spread and diffused it self into an universal conflagration the merciful rebuke which was upon the fire then and the safety you have since enjoyed from such dangers And truly when I consider how many Trades there are in this City which deal in combustible matters Powder Flax Hemp Pitch Tar Turpentine Hops Tallow Paper Oyl and many other like the casualties and carelesness which may be in many amongst so great a multitude by knocking of Links by misplacing of Candles by falling down or sparkling of fire by blowing out of Tobacco and many other miscarriages not easily ennumerable it is an evident demonstration of Gods watching over such a City and being himself a wall of fire about it and giving his Ministers who are a flame of fire a special charge over it that other fires do not break out in it 5. Consider the goodness of God to this City in giving it zealous and faithful Magistrates who make it their business to be vigilant over the good of this place who lay next their hearts the prosperity thereof to encourage vertue to punish and suppress wickedness to preserve peace to prevent prophaness to look to the health and good order of the place 6. Consider the goodness of God unto you in a learned and a faithful Ministry what endeavors some have used to cry them down and to leave this Nation as sheep without shepheards the copious and abundant light of the Gospel which shineth on this place this City being filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea If any City in the world may at this day be called as Jerusalem once was a City of Truth a holy Mountain in regard I mean of the doctrine of truth and holiness preached therein then certainly this may Insomuch that Forraigners Hungarians Germans Batavians others learn our lan guage and come over to this City that they may hear your Preachers and read your English Divines In one word look unto the concurrence with all Countries at home all foreign Nations abroad do joyn in to send variety of blessings and comforts unto this City As the beams of the sun are united in a Burning-glass so variety of blessings meets from a wide circumference in such a center as this The Sea sends you in Fish and the Air Foul the Fields Corn and the Pastures Cattel Some Countries adorn you with Silks and Jewels some warm you with Furs and Cottens some heal you with Drugs and Balsoms others comfort and refresh you with Wines and Spices some send in Materials to build your houses others send you in furniture for your ships read Ezek. 27. and that will shew you the benefits of a Celebre Emporium And when you have viewed these mercies look on the many and prodigious sins whereby the Lord is provoked in this place to withdraw these mercies from it Sins made much the more atrocious by the mercies and light against which they are committed Joh. 15. 22. Amos. 3. 2. Now then as the Lord hath put into your hearts to consecrate this day unto his praise and to stir up one another to speak good of his name be pleased to set your selves seriously about it Consider it is not the work of the lips alone though it consist much in uttering the loving kindness and in singing aloud of the goodness of the Lord Remember what David that great Artist in Divine praises did Ps. 103. 1. He calls upon his soul and upon all that was within to bless Gods holy name Our Mindes should bless him by meditation on his goodness and admiration of his mercy our Heads should study and contrive what to do to bring honour unto the name of so great a God our Hearts Wills and Affections should resolve to take the cup of salvation to call upon his name to love the Lord because he hath heard our supplication Psal. 116. 1. to fear the Lord and his goodness Hos. 3. 5. considering how great things he hath done for us 1 Sam. 12. 24. Our Mouths should make report what he hath done for our souls for our families for our Cities for our people Our Hands should praise the Lord by rendring back out of his own blessings for of his own onely do we give him 1 Chron. 29. 14. Some homage and acknowledgment that we hold all from him We read of the Lords offering Exod. 35. 21. and of the Lords tribute Num. 31.