Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	honourable_a	sir_n	william_n	5,877	4	9.0905	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66351	The kingdom of God in power a sermon preached before the Right Honourable Sir John Shorter, Knight, Lord Mayor of the city of London, at Grocers-Hall, November the 20th, 1687 / by Daniel Williams ...	Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.	1688 (1688)	Wing W2652; ESTC R1845	22,380	40

The Kingdom of God in Power A SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir JOHN SHORTER Knight Lord Mayor OF THE CITY of LONDON AT GROCERS-HALL November the 20th 1687. By Daniel Williams Minister of the Gospel Published by his Lordships Command LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St. Paul's Church-yard and Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultry 1688. To the Right Honourable Sir JOHN SHORTER Knight Lord Mayor OF THE CITY of LONDON My LORD WHen your Lordship desired me to Preach before you the improvement of it to the greatest usefulness was my concern To this end it was needful to fix on Subjects suitable to an Auditery so promiscuous none occurred to me so conducive to my purpose as this which led me to deal with all men in things most important to their Eternal Condition and yet to mind your Lordship and Brethren of somewhat referring to your present Office. The second Subject I Preached on was pursuant to this viz. The Dedication of our Lives to Christ and his Interests from Phil. 1. 21. After I had Preached the Second time I was surprised with a Request of your Lordships and some of the Aldermen to Publish both these Discourses but there wanted not many Reasons which prevented any design of Compliance with that desire tho enforced by your undeserved respects to one so much a Stranger But finding some few days past that after all my care to obviate any such snrmises some passages in that Second Sermon are misrepresented as irritating of the Church of England I am inclined to Publish very soon that Second Discourse if I may prevent or remove any such offences which are now at least more fatal than any Imprudent Propagators thereof do apprehend Being thus disposed to publish the last I am obedient to your Lordships repeated intreaties in sending out the First Sermon in its order Tho two days being all the time I had to prepare either of these Discourses and absence from my Library limiting me to the use of no Book besides the Bible are my just Apology for some defects in them yet I must say that I have delivered nothing but what I believe to be the Will of God and had my helps or abilities been more considerable I would not debase matters of so great concernment by vain Sallies of Wit nor deaden their common use by laborious Periods or a lighter Stile The Institutions of God have their proper decency and are best managed by a tendency to Spiritual Ends and general Edification The substance of the Account of the nature of the Kingdom of God I give in Scripture-words tho chiefly for greater Conviction yet also that none may arraign it as Cant without ridiculing the Divine Oracles which surely must command dread in all who esteem themselves by a Christian Name I believe Your Lordship in calling us Nonconformists to preach before you and we in undertaking that Labour can have no Turn to serve besides the enlargement of Christ's Kingdom and the revival of the Power of Godliness so much degenerated into Formality among all Parties We value Capacious Places no otherwise than as an opportunity for this and now we enjoy such we desire no attempts for more Splendid ones to the offence of any Perhaps Your Lordship may share in our wonder at the silly Descants of some on our Persons and Performances in this Liberty We must needs be Tradesmen because we have preached so long without Publick Sallary Our Sermons are Cant because we use Scripture-Expressions though in their proper sense They are Enthusiastick if we say any thing of Heart-work or the Spirit 's influence We do nothing but whine and make faces if we appear in the least moved by what we say and believe or seem concerned to prevail with our Hearers We do ill to preach now we do not suffer by it though they know we thought it our Duty when we paid so dear for it Or at best that Contingent Events should supersede our Labours as a prudential Act when we are under a solemn dedication to the Work of Christ as Ministers and our Labours to bring the Souls of men under the power of Truth will prove the best security to the Professors of it when great Offers and awakening Fears will trample on the clearest Notions of an Vnregenerate Heart But I enlarge too far Your Lordship 's acting the part of a Christian Magistrate is recompence for whatever Censures you undergo the World is not yet of the temper to speak well of all that do well and Christ exempts not the Vsefullest from hardships on this lower stage Peace of Conscience in having performed our Duty and the Testimony of Christ to our Faithfulness in the Great Judgment is all the Comfort a Christian can now be sure of and what he ought to be contented with There are many Prayers sent to the Throne of Grace for Your Lordship That you may want neither Wisdom nor Steddiness in a Place so Eminent and Circumstances so perplexing That Promise which hath somewhat of a Rule in it is applicable to you The Integrity of the Upright shall guide them That you may find this accomplished to Publick Conviction and a Comfortable Event of your Present Employ is the unfeigned Desire of Your Lordship's most humble Servant Daniel Williams A SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lord Mayor c. 1 COR. IV. 20. For the Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power THE Apostle in the latter part of this Chapter doth more than hint at some Attempts against the credit of his Person and Ministry the Men he points at as guilty of this design did not only wear a Christian Name but pretended to a more than common Zeal and Light while they imputed to the Apostle some contemptible plainness and remisness He not only vindicates himself but threatneth an Enquiry into these plausible pretences of theirs resolving on that Enquiry to determine whether that extraordinary Profession was expressive of the power of Godliness or only a dead Image and whether the improved Doctrines they boasted of were the great essential T●uths of the Gospel and those delivered in a manner conducive to the advancement of Gods Kingdom This is the sense of v. 19. My Text is a Reason of that designed Enquiry and the force of it as a Reason lay in these Implications All this noise may be without any Substance the Power of Religion lies in somewhat above these pretences the Kingdom of God which is the only valuable Concern consists not in Externals but in the Power of Religion and it 's most suspicious that these censorious Pretenders who obstruct my Ministry are little sharers in or Friends to the Kingdom of God after all this fair shew in the Flesh. On these accounts the Apostle's search in order to a Judgment of these mens Profession and Doctrines was justifiable and necessary And his Practice with the Reason of it calls all