Selected quad for the lemma: country_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
country_n	city_n	great_a	king_n	7,710	5	3.5489	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93057	A receipt for the state-palsie. Or, A direction for the setling the government of the nation: delivered in a sermon upon Proverbs 25.5. By S.S.	Shaw, Samuel, 1635-1696.	1660 (1660)	Wing S3043; Thomason E1015_4; ESTC R208172	11,455	27

his counsel 2 Sam. 15. Others think that the goodness of their Titles will defend them their Crowns are made of good and lawful gold and therefore they must needs stick fast to their heads Many other props doe many Thrones in the world lean upon But Solomon whose Crown God put on and Justice kept on prescribes to all Kings and Powers whatever a better foundation than any of these and it is here in my text Be not deceived it is not the taking of wicked waies but the taking of the wicked away that will establish Thrones in righteousness 2 See here one great cause of Englands unsettlement at this day There are not more admirations at than false conjectures concerning it Some impute our changes to chances some lay the fault upon the Court some upon the Camp some upon the City some upon the Country nay some stick not to lay them at our Church doors to impute them to the Clergie saying there was never good world since there was so much praying and preaching being acted with a spirit like unto that of Ahab who said to the Prophet 1 King 18. 17. Art thou hee that troubleth Israel although that were true directly Evangelium ciet bellum Others say something but not the whole that Factions doe create our Fractions For if they were not tolerated they would not be or at least they would not be so intolerable But Solomon here prescribing the means of settlement seemes to describe to us the cause of our unsettlement the not taking away the wicked I know that oppression usurpation ambition and other sins are fore shakers of the Government of a Nation And I know we have a composition of all these ingredients and a complication of all these distempers yet if one should ask me what is the grand cause the strongest hand that thus rocks the Throne of England and so keeps them that sit in it from sleeping in it I should fetch an answer from Solomon The not taking away of the wicked hinders the Throne of England from being establisht in righteousness What peace said Jehu to Joram so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many What peace may one say to the Powers and Primates of England so long as their Sectaries Schismaticks Hereticks are so many What establishment so long as the wicked erroneous perfidious rebellious ambitious and treacherous are not taken away Except these abide in the ship said Paul speaking of the Ship-men yee cannot bee saved except these bee taken away out of the same Ship the Common-wealth wherein we all sayl as in one common bottom wee cannot be safe nor setled I doubt wee are not yet fit for settlement for a prosperous and composed State because the accursed things the wicked are not yet taken away Some of our Governours have done worthy things as some of the Kings of Israel did but yet the People sacrifice still in the high places every man is left to the free choice of his own God and his own Religion and therefore the Throne is not yet established in righteousness One may weep over Englands shakings and say to it as the Prophet sometimes to Israel O Isa 48. 18 that thou hadst hearkned to Gods Commandements Then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea i. e. for duration whereas now wee are as the waves tossed to and fro The second Use would bee to exhort and excite Rom. 13. 3 all Magistrates not to bear the sword in vain but to use it for the terror of evil doers as the Apostle phraseth it or to take away the wicked from before them as Solomons phrase is here What need I more Motives Therefore are wee emptied from vessel to vessel because the wicked sit still upon their lees Therefore does England lye bleeding because the Sword of Justice does not revenge Gods Cause upon the bloud of the wicked The third Use would comfort all those that doe earnestly and seriously endeavour the extirpation and separation of the wicked according to their power place and interest although they cannot effect it according to their endeavour To these I say concerning the separation of the wicked what God the Father said to God the Son concerning the gathering of Israel Isa 49. 5. Though the wicked bee not separated yet they shall be glorious Of such a man I will say as God saies of David Though the Crown of England be not established yet upon himself shall his crown flourish though the Scepter of England shake yet hee shall bee fastned as a nayl in a sure place But as for all erroneous idle fearful Magistrates that are not a terrour to evil-doers I doe denounce against such that God will one day make them a terrour to themselves for their evil deeds and either take them away here or cast them off hereafter for their not taking away the wicked whereby the Throne might be established FINIS

King and his Throne shall bee established in righteousness Explication First Let us see the meaning of the Terms of the Text. Take away The word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not an Imperative enjoining a duty but an Infinitive which ought to be translated by a Gerund in do Auferendo prescribing a means for the accomplishing of some end The word signifies to remove or separate and does not onely import death but other kinds of punishment as banishment imprisonment confiscation pecuniary mulcts and any of those waies whereby wickedness ought to bee restrained and punished according to the nature of the fault The wicked The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies an unquiet turbulent person and so a wicked person in general whether erroneous or prophane Whether you take the word in the one sense or the other in the Original or in the Derivative signification for turbulent or for wicked persons it still holds that all such must be taken away in order to an happy settlement of a Kingdom From before The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not imply that wicked men must onely bee restrained in the presence of the King But although they must be universally taken away where-ever they be yet more especially in his presence such must not be of his Councill his Family or Familiarity They must bee taken away out of the Country but especially out of the Court David resolved to destroy all the wicked of the Land hee would cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord but especially hee would rid his house of them that worked deceit Psal 101. 7 8. The King That is not onely the person of the King but by a Synecdoche speciei All Magistrates His Throne That is by a Metonymy of the Adjunct his Kingdom Power Authority Government Shall be established in righteousness The word righteousness may either bee understood of holiness and uprightness hee shall have a holy Kingdom or else righteousness is put for peace and prosperity as it is used Hos 10. 12. for a settled and composed State as it is to be understood Isa 48. 18. The words being thus explained may be thus divided 1 An end propounded viz. the settlement of a Kingdom 2 The means prescribed i. e. The taking away of the wicked Being thus divided they will afford this natural observation It conduces much to the settlement of the Government of a Nation that wicked men be punished by the Civil Magistrate Before I proceed to prosecute this Observation it will be needful to premise a few Rules that Rules premised Rule 1. so I may not bee taken off to do it in my discourse 1 That it is the duty of Civil Magistrates to bring wicked men to condign shame and punishment This is secretly couched in the words and elsewhere expresly taught as I shall shew hereafter 2 That notwithstanding wicked men are to bee differently dealt with according to the different nature and degrees of their sins This taking away here is not meant by Solomon nor expounded by the Learned of inflicting death upon all Offenders but of discouragements and punishments of a lower nature bearing proportion to the dimensions of the fault as I hinted before 3 It conduces much to the honour as well as to the settlement of a Nation to have the wicked thus taken away to have the dross purged the chaff winnowed the tares separated for by such names the Scripture gives us to understand wicked men This appears plainly by Solomons comparison here in the verse foregoing the Text. As it is for the profit and credit of the Finer to take away the dross there will come forth not onely a precious vessel but a vessel of honour for him so it is not onely for the gain but for the glory not only for the establishment but also for the Ornament of a Nation that the wicked bee taken away from before the King Wicked Jeroboam whom God raised from the Dung-hill is compared to dung defiling the Chair of State and therfore God took him away 1 Kings 14. 10. Wicked Subjects are as dung defiling the glory of a Nation and therefore let them be taken away As God took away the dung-hill King so let the King take away the dung-hill Subjects and it will conduce to the honour of his Kingdom 4 It is a duty incumbent upon Ministers also as well as upon Magistrates in their places to take away the wicked i. e. To discern discriminate separate declaratively by the preaching of the Word and executively by Church-censures See for this the Apostle treating about the incestuous Corinthian 1 Cor. 5. There are many and just complaints of the unsettledness of Church-government I wish the work bee not obstructed through the neglect of the thus taking away of the wicked by the desuetude of Church-discipline For my own part I am as sorry that the wicked are not thus separated as I am sure that there are too many wicked separations amongst us and I fear for the want of this God doth as a judgement upon the Church of England give up men to disorderly separations from us for want of our just separating them from our selves by the judgement and censure of the Church God suffers that to bee done sinfully and disorderly the orderly doing of which is neglected Whose doors this neglect may bee laid at I know not but sure I am that God sharply reproves and threatens the Angels of the Churches of Pergamos and Thyatira for such a like fault Rev. 2. 14 15 20. Nay for a less fault for whereas it is said there that God had a few things against the Church of Pergamos because shee had there them that held the Doctrine of Balaam and also them that held the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans It may be said of us that wee have them that hold the doctrine of Papists with many Alsoes Also them that hold the Doctrine of the Anabaptists also of the Brownists also of the Arminians also of the Socinians also of the Quakers and also almost every doctrine that God hates Therefore God hath many things against us and I fear that therefore the Pulpit no more than the Throne is established because the wicked are not taken away separated by Church-censure These things being premised wee will fetch strength from Scripture and Reason to confirm the position laid down that it conduces much to the Settlement of the Government of a Nation that wicked men be punished by the Civil Magistrate Confirmation from Scripture 1 From Scripture See it almost in so many words Prov. ●9 4. The King by judgement establisheth the Land As great houses are established by leaning upon their Pillars so a Nation is established and preserved by judgement As David saith that by the pure Administration of Justice hee bore up the Pillars of the earth Psal 75. 3. Upon these two Jachin and Boaz Religion on the right hand and Justice on the left doth a