Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	john_n	richard_n	sir_n	22,430	5	7.5071	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57195	A sermon preach'd to the Societies for Reformation of Manners in the citys of London and Westminster. February, 19. 1699. Published at their request. By Thomas Reynolds.	Reynolds, Thomas, 1667?-1727.	1700 (1700)	Wing R1322A; ESTC R222106	24,389	70

A SERMON Preach'd to the SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of MANNERS In the CITYS of London and Westminster February 19. 1699. Published at their Request By THOMAS REYNOLDS LONDON Printed for Richard Mount on Tower Hill and John Lawrence in the Poultrey 1700. To the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS ABNEY AND Sir OWEN BUCKINGHAM Knights and Aldermen of the City of LONDON Most Honoured I Esteem it a favourable Providence that my first appearing thus publickly should be in defence of so Noble a Cause as that of Reforming the Manners of Wicked Men which has overcome the reluctance I had to the publishing of this Discourse And the Post you bear in the Government of this Renowned City besides the honour of being admitted to your Acquaintance hath emboldned me to offer it to your Patronage The suppressing of Vice and Immorality which have too long been the Reproach of our Nation is such a work as requires the Assistance of all that have any regard to Religion or Virtue and it is not the least of our Publick Blessings that so many of your Rank and Quality are ready to lend their helping hand to it This is a Design that greatly becomes Persons in your Station and is truly worthy of Those that bear the highest Character Your Zeal therefore in promoting it will be your Glory while living and a considerable comfort to you in the hour of Death They who act in a lower Sphere direct their eyes to you for encouragement and they are such as You that must animate 'em and make 'em chearful in their work who otherwise will be apt to faint and be discourag'd You are better known than to need the display of Your worthy Characters And I much rather chuse to be silent than incur the least imputation of Flattery Yet I hope you 'l pardon me that I have declared You the Friends of Virtue and the Promoters of what is aimed at in the following Sermon by Dedicating it to You. I beseech you to accept it as a Testimony of my unfeigned Gratitude for the Favours I have received from you And espouse what I have end eavour'd to recommend to Persons of all Statious that You may be reckon'd among our valuable Blessings and as you outshine others in the Honours of this World you may partake of a larger share in the Glories of the other which is the Humble and Hearty Prayer of GENTLEMEN Your most Obliged and most Obedient Servant Thomas Reynolds PROV ix 7 8. He that reproveth a Scorner getteth to himself Shame And he that rebuketh a wicked Man getteth himself a Blot Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee HOW improper soever these words at their First view may seem to the present occasion of our Meeting a little Patience and Attention it 's hop'd will beget in you other conceptions about them I have not chosen them to become an Advocate for Vice or to lay Discouragements in their way who are vigorously bent to suppress it No my Brethren it is so far from my purpose to abate your Zeal that I would do my uttermost to increase and inflame it And I heartily pray that wicked men may be sooner weary of their sins than you in reproving them in all those ways and by all those Methods that are becoming proper and lawful And altho my Text may carry a face contrary to what I pretend yet I promise my self some considerable advantage in drawing an Argument from it that I presume will be allow'd to have strength in it both for the justifying your Laudable Proceedings and encouraging your Perseverance therein It is more than probable some may from hence raise an Objection against you and for this very reason it is necessary these words should be considered and understood both for your own satisfaction and the confuting of those who would be glad to lay hold on any thing whereby to disparage and give a check to that good Work you are engaged in If I shew that these words are not directed against your assisting the Civil Magistrate in punishing Profane and Vicious Men but from what they are really oppos'd unto they render it your indispensible Duty may I not hope hereby to wrest out of the hands of your Enemies one of the principal Weapns they may use against you and so do some Service to your Cause He that reproveth a Scorner getteth to himself Shame and he that rebuketh a wicked Man getteth himself a Blot Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee And is this all that 's to be gotten may the Objector say by reproving Scorners and wicked men Is this all the Recompence to be expected What wise man then would engage in so fruitless a Service and bestow his Pains where he is like to meet with so bad a Requital Were it not better to sit still at home and sleep in a whole Skin than by casting Pearls before Swine or endeavouring to pull them out of the Mire to provoke them to turn and rend us What man will parley with an Enemy when instead of bringing him to terms of Complyance he is sure before-hand to be torn and cut to pieces by him Who would venture to reprove wicked men when they instead of being softned and reclaimed thereby will but be the more enrag'd and wound our Innocency while we are striking at their Vices Common Prudence and Self-preservation would teach us to forbear in such a Case But the rather should we do it when Wisdom her self favours us with her Advice and expresly forbids us to Reprove a Scorner lest he hate us implying that he certainly will do so and this is all we are like to get from him whatever kind Intentions we bear towards him Now it is of dangerous consequence to draw upon our selves the hatred of wicked men Men who have no Fear of God before their eyes who are professed Enemies to all that is Good who have banish'd their Reason and debauch'd their Conscience who matter not what they say or do nor which way their Tongues or their Hands are employ'd so they can but discharge their Malice upon us And this being so as Wisdom her self who cannot err assures us Attempts for reforming the Manners of Scorners and Wicked men would seem a vain and hazardous undertaking A Work that a Wise man would be shy of and no man is under any Obligation to engage in nay under an express Charge to the contrary If therefore by medling in a Matter which doth not belong to them they receive to themselves no other Recompence of their Pains than Shame and a Blot that is all the Dirt and Calumny that wicked Men can rake together and throw upon them they must charge it to their own Imprudence and thank themselves for if they had taken Wisdom's Advice they would not have done it This Objection hath not as I know of been designedly taken notice of by any of my Brethren that have gone before me yet deserves to be considered as that