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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65808	A sermon preach'd to the natives of the county of Warwick and city of Coventry in the church of St. Mary le Bow, London, November 14th, 1695 by Tho. White, preacher at Stratford Le Bow in Middlesex and Prebendary of Litchfield.	White, Thomas, 1593-1676.	1695 (1695)	Wing W1851; ESTC R30194	9,129	31

their Nativity The antient Jews ever preserv'd a great Esteem of the Towns and Countries Houses and Dwelling● of their Patriarchs and Prophets Chaldea was celebrated for the Country of Abraham and Zoar tho' a little one for the City of Lot's deliverance Whenever they recited the Deeds of their Ancestors 't was commonly after this Manner Let his Name be blessed and his Memory abide to the Life of the World to come From the Jews it's probable was this deriv'd to the Gentiles who instituted Feasts to the Honour of their Gods and held the Places in Reverence that gave them Life Whenever they talk of their Founders of Cities their Restorers of Liberties their Generals and Leaders of Armies their inspir'd Poets and Oratours they are sure to mention the Nation and Country whence they came as if they lov'd the very Ground they trod and fansied a peculiar Generousness in that Air where those Heroes breath'd Secondly If we consider the Natural Tendency of Vertue it is to eternize the Names and Countries of Men. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance and the glory of his house shall not be forgot Indeed Men may set up their Names by Villanous Actions they may be talk'd of when they are dead for Fools and Knaves Tyrants Oppressors Murderers and Destroyers of Mankind and of such it 's said oftimes in Contempt Loe there was his Dwelling the Possession of Fraud and Violence Loe there his Folly and the Place of his Birth but to be buried in everlasting Obscurity is better by far yea what our Saviour said to Judas may be applied to such it had been better for them if they had never been born Whereas in the Works of Righteousness and Goodness there are the Seeds of Immortality which though depress'd will spring again with a fresh Verdure and out live all the Pleasures of Sin which last but a Moment in a Word as Vertue and Righteousness will embalm the Names of the Just and make them fragrant to Posterity so will they preserve the obscurest Parts of the Earth from Oblivion and Contempt True Worth and Religion will hallow a Cell and ennoble a Cottage when Wickedness and Wrong will make the Rafters of the most stately Structure crack force the very stone out of the wall to speak and the beam out of the timber to answer it Woe to him that builds a town with blood and stablisheth a City by iniquity Yea it will it cause to be written upon its very Portico's and Gates The Glory of this House is departed and like Filth and Ordure will stick upon the Walls though cieled with Cedar and painted with Vermillion So then as long as there 's any Sence of true Honour and Greatness any Difference preserv'd betwixt Good and Evil good Men and the Place of their Birth will live in Credit and Reputation For of Zion it will be said as long as the World stands This and that man was born in her and the most high shall establish her The Consideration of what hath been said shou'd provoke us to a grateful Sense of the Mercies of God who hath cast our Lot in a good Land in a civiliz'd Nation by the planting of the Christian Faith We were not born of Cannibals and Savages as many in the barbarous parts of the Earth but of Christian Parents who dedicated us to God betimes and we have been ever since instructed in the Ways of the Lord and taught the Judgments of our God Take away Religion Laws Institution of Behaviour what a dismal Prospect wou'd be the Land of our Nativity In a very little time it is to be fear'd we shou'd return to our primitive Barbarity be as Rude in our Manners as Idolatrous and Apish in our Worship as our Saxon Progenitors were before us But bless'd be God we have had both Place and Conversation to form our Manners aright and conduct our Lives Now if the Jews gloried in their great Towns and Cities because they had Synagogues and Places of Sacrifice there we have this ground of boasting all the Nation over Every Parish amongst us in this Sense may be call'd a Bethshemesh the City of a Priest and every Country Village hath its Synagogue the House of Prayer and Sacrifice so that if we wou'd attend the Offices of Devotion with a Zeal answerable to the wise Provision the Church hath made for us our Prayers might come before God early in the Morning when we look up and the lifting up of our Hands wou'd be as surely accepted as the Evening Sacrifice if we are not wanting to our selves we may know something of Religion and be every one taught of God from the least to the greatest But if we will not take the Advantages God affords us for the improving and bettering our selves we can reasonably judge no otherwise but that as our Sins are aggravated so our Stripes will be increas'd and multiply'd For he that knew his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes and to him that knows to do Good or may know if he pleases and doth it not to him it is Sin it is Sin with a Witness However as a Testimony of our Gratitude to God for the Honour of our Birth and the Advantage of Education let me recommend but these two things First To keep a warm lively Sence of God and Religion upon your Minds acknowledging him in all your Ways so shall he direct your Paths To live without God in the World is our degeneracy in the highest Measure and Proportion To alienate our selves from him by wicked Works is the worst sort of Sacrilege we can commit for our reasonable Souls are Gods Peculiar made for him and fitted to attend upon him fix therefore upon that as the greatest Credit to any Nation or Country that leads us to God and makes us most acceptable to him In the last Place as a farther Testimony of our Gratitude let 's be ready and prepar'd to every good Thing provoking one another to Love and good Works For in Truth if it were not upon the Account of Friendship and Charity this Day 's Meeting were an unlawful Assembly little better than a Rout or a Riot in the common Sense and Construction of the Law but Piety and Charity will sanctifie an Assembly and make your Meeting together for the better and not for the worse That therefore I wou'd leave with you my Friends and Country-Men is as to promote Friendship and Kindness among your selves so to let your poor Country-Men taste the Effects of your Liberality and Bounty towards them Ye of this Society and County without Ostentation be it said have made the best improvement of these Feasts of Charity of any other in the Nation besides How many poor Children have been fetch'd from the Towns and Villages where ye were born and put to honest Callings in this City so that from being reliev'd themselves in a little time have been made

A SERMON Preach'd to the NATIVES OF THE County of WARWICK AND City of COVENTRY IN THE Church of St. Mary Le Bow London November 14th 1695. By THO. WHITE Preacher at Stratford Le Bow in Middlesex and Prebendary of Litchfield LONDON Printed by Tho. Hodgkin and are to be Sold by John Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1695. TO Mr. Ralph Palmer Mr. William Edwards Mr. Thomas Burnivill Mr. William Hegg Mr. Thomas Kirkum Mr. Adam Morroll Mr. Richard Morroll Mr. Samuel Knowles Stewards of the Warwickshire Feast Gentlemen IT 's usual for the Printing of a Sermon to plead the Importunity of some or other as if that must atone for all its Weaknesses and Defects I wave this as an old fashion'd Apology and out of Date Besides I would not be so Vnkind to my Country-Men if I were guilty of a Fault to make them Accessaries and draw them into a Participation of my Guilt I am very well satisfied no Man can think Meaner of this Vndertaking than he who undertook it and if I have done neither Honour nor Service to your Native Country yet I meant so well and intended it I would certainly have done it if I could I am GENTLEMEN Your Obliged Servant and Country-Man THO. WHITE PSALM lxxxvii 5 6. And of Zion it shall be said This and that man was born in her and the most High shall establish her The Lord shall count it when he writes up the people that this man was born in her WE are here assembl'd this Day as for other good Ends and Purposes so to celebrate the Country and Place of our Birth The Historian indeed when he describes any Place or Province entertains us with the Commodiousness of the Situation the Sweetness of the Air the Temperature of the Clime the Fertility of the Soil the Variety and Abundance of all Things for the Necessities and Conveniency of Humane Life But it looks Foreign to the Office of a Preacher who considers not so much the good Qualities of a Place as the People the Piety and Prudence the Truth and Honesty the Moderation and Peaceableness the Charity and Usefulness of those that were born there The Holy Writer of this Psalm whence I have borrow'd my Text gives a high and honourable Character of Zion upon both Accounts as well for the Excellency of the Place as the Natives also First She is extoll'd for her great Force and impregnable Strength Her Foundation is in the holy Mountains Her Situation likewise was so sweet and inviting that the Almighty seems pleas'd with the Prospect for The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God She is call'd The house of the Lord the place of his rest the habitation of the Mighty God of Jacob the city of the great King and the joy of the whole Earth Glorious are these Sayings but greater if possible is that said of her in my Text That she was the Birth-place of Saints and the Children of God For of Zion it shall be said This and that man was born in her and the most High shall establish her These Words I confess properly and literally speaking describe Zion not for the Nation or City of the Natural but the Place of a Spiritual Birth where many were born to God and made his Children by Adoption and Grace This the foregoing Words fully prove where it 's said I 'll make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me Behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia This man was born there That is It shall be spoke to the Honour of these Barbarous Nations who were Aliens to the Hebrew Common-wealth without the Covenant without the Promise and without God in the World that now they are incorporated in the Church made Natives of Zion Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God It 's usual we may observe in sacred Scripture to mention with Respect the very Place and Instruments of a Man's Conversion to God from an evil Course of Life nay it is so Natural that we can't but think well of those who have been Instrumental to our Spiritual Good so kind and civil to our Souls as to reduce them from Error and Ignorance Popular Mistakes and Prejudice to the Knowledge of God and Establishment in the Truth St. Paul speaks great things of those Instruments by whose Ministry some were born into the Heavenly Life How beautiful are the Feet of those that preach the Gospel of Christ and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10.15 Nor were Persons only but Places likewise in repute upon the same Account Jericho stands upon record in the Gospel of St. Luke for the Place where Zacheus the Publican was call'd by our Saviour and of an Heir of Perdition a Child of Wrath was made a Son of Abraham Antioch once a Place of Note and Eminency tho' now decay'd yet lives in Apostolical History for the Christning of the Disciples who were call'd Christians first at Antioch after the Custom of the Greeks who call'd the Sect by the Founder's Name Thus I observe that where we first receiv'd Religion and the Faith of the Gospel in a sense is the Place of our Birth as well as that where we first drew our Breath However I shall consider these Words in the largest Sense they are capable of as they denote the Nation and Province of our Natural Birth as well as that where we were born into the Knowledge of and Acquaintance with God and then these two things they will offer to our Observation First That there is a great difference in Places as to the forming Men's Manners and a right institution of Life Second That true worth and Goodness doth an Honour to a Country and reflects a Reputation to the Place of one's Birth To each of these I shall speak briefly and then end with something proper to the Occasion of our Meeting this Day First That there is a difference in places as to the forming Men's Manners and a right Institution of Life Of Zion it shall be said this and that Man was born in her The whole World is indeed a Divinity-School where the Dominion and Government of God is learnt The invisible things of God being plainly seen by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead yet notwithstanding there are some Places and People more peculiarly interested in the Tuition of the Almighty Zion was illustrious above all the Regions of Judaea all the Towns and Cities of Gallilee for the Divine Oracles whence Men were taught to Reverence and Fear the God of Israel Rahab and Babylon Tire and Aethiopia were eminent in the Records of Time for Wealthy and Populous Countries But for all that in Jewry was God known his Name was great in Israel in Salem was his Tabernacle and his dwelling in Zion Psal. 76.1.2 In the great Towns and Cities of the

Jews were the Seats of the Prophets here dwelt Rabbi's and Expositors of the Law here were erected the Schools of Religion and learning here were their Synagogues and Houses of Prayer here their Altars and Places of Sacrifice So that the Natives had all the Advantages of inriching their Minds with Wisdom to make them useful in their Generations and to procure them Favour with God and Man Such a mighty Opinion had the Jews coneceiv'd of their great Towns and Cities that they dispis'd all inferior Places in Competition with them for Virtue and Wisdom they usually in disdain call'd such as were not of their Stamp Terrae Populum The People of the Earth or if you will take it in the Pharisees own Language John 7.49 This people who knoweth not the Law are cursed Philo Judaeus in his Book concerning special and particular Laws tells us that the Hebrews gave the Cities of the Priests who profest the Law preference to all others yea moreover that the Towns of Sacrifice were held to be more Religious than any besides And it 's easie enough to conceive that Religion and Goodness should thrive most in those Places where they have the Advantage to be recommended daily by Precept and Example Custom and general Approbation Where shall we seek Wisdom Where shall we find Understanding but in the Schools of the Prophets Where shall we find Devotion if not in Synagogues and Houses of Prayer Where shall we meet the Divine Presence but between the Cherubins the Place where his Honour dwells Thus in the Judgment of the Jews Places of Religion and beneficial Converse have a mighty Power in forming Mens Manners and governing the Actions of ther Lives yea we find that they were so prejudic'd against those little Towns and Villages where were no Synagogues and Places for Sacrifice that they would not admit any good Thing could be done in them or any good Man come from them And this was one Reason though not to be justified our Blessed Saviour himself found so little Favour from his Country-Men because of the Obscurity and Ignobleness of the Place of his Birth Hence came those reproachful Reflections of the Pharisees and their Admirers Shall Christ come out of Galilee Look and see For out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet A Country so poor and despis'd never yet sent a Man forth endued with the Spirit of Prophecy and now they believe it never would Nay honest Nathanael who for his Plainness and Simplicity was so belov'd of our Saviour that he gave him the Character of an Israelite indeed and without guile was notwithstanding so prejudic'd against the City of our Blessed Lord that when Philip invited him to see the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Joseph he forthwith makes this Reply Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth For to come from Nazareth was a Proverbial Kind of Saying for a Man that was useless and good for nothing especially amongst the Men of that Generation who ador'd only the Pomp and Splendour of Riches allowing few for Wise and Prudent besides the rich and prosperous nor any for Good but such as were very Great in the World That who sate in Moses's Chair were resolv'd to keep their Seat wherefore to secure Reverence to themselves the scatter'd amongst the People such Sayings as these That the Spirit of Wisdom rests not upon the Heads of Poor Men. That the Rich and Mighty upon Earth are the Favourites of Heaven so that according to their Scheme if a Man be shatter'd in his Fortunes or however brought into Poverty and Contempt no more adoe but write upon his Doors Forsaken of God take him and persecute him for there is none to deliver him These were the Men who stumbled at the Humility of the Messiah when he came amongst 'em for they said as it was prophesied of them He hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him The Place of his Birth and Parentage were such stumbling-Blocks in their way that they scorn'd to receive Rules of Life or be taught Civility and good Manners from the Carpenter's Son To their great Sanhedrim which consisted of Rulers Judges Priests and Chief of the People they fix'd the Shecinah the Divine Presence yea the Spirit of Judgment they so appropriated to themselves that if any would seek for Instruction it must be in their Courts and Consistories and not amongst poor Plebeians in the Sea-Port-Towns of Galilee This that I have said shews that the Instances of Piety and Wisdom were rare and unfrequent in the mean and contemptible Parts of Galilee but doth on no hand justifie the Infidelity of the Jewish Nation in rejecting the Messiah that Mighty Prophet who was born there nor should any Man of true Worth and Greatness be despis'd in the World purely for the Obscurity of his House and Family and Place of his Birth And this brings me to the second thing I propose to treat of Namely That Religion and Virtue doth Honour to a Country and reflects a Reputation to the Place of a Man's Birth The Lord shall rehearse it when he writes up the people that this man was born in her It was common to the Jews to inroll the Names and Doings of their Worthies in some publick Court of Record that they should live to Posterity and that Generations to come might call them blessed To this the Psalmist alludes when he saith The Lord shall write up the people And not unlike to this was the Usage of the Primitive Times of Christianity who inserted into the Dyptichs of the Church the Martyrs and Confessors of the Faith and then at the celebration of the Eucharist recited their Virtues with their Names and Countries I acknowledge no Place of it self is capable of Respect and Honour further than it 's related to such Men whose Merits and glorious Atcheivements have given it Credit For what Reputation can a City or Country have more than that it hath been the Birth-Place of some of the Worthies of the World or those of whom the World was not worthy All the Reputation of a City or Province is that it hath a Place in History that it lives in the Archieves and Registry of time that it shall be talk'd of with Love and Delight and mention'd with Esteem to the World's End and this is the Credit good Men do to their Country and the Place of their Birth and upon the Score of Vertue there 's a Respect due to them both if we shall appeal First To the general Sense of Mankind Or Secondly Consider the Natural tendency of Vertue it self First It hath been the general Opinion of Mankind Jews Pagans Turks and Christians and their Practice confirms it that there 's an Honour due to such who have been the Authors of any public Good to the World their Memories they have celebrated with Praise and registred the Land of