Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	good_a	great_a	4,237	5	2.7854	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29266	The excellency of primitive government in a sermon preach'd at Guild-Hall Chappel at the election of this present Lord Mayor / by Henry Bagshaw ...	Bagshaw, Henry, 1632-1709.	1673 (1673)	Wing B430; ESTC R16670	12,134	40

Host of the Syrians was discomfited 2 Kings 7.6 So subject are men to the Impressions of a Deity that a Nation becomes terrible when once thought by that Deity to be loved In this case every Priest is reckon'd a Souldier and every Temple counted to be built a Citadel for War whence though real Aids and Strengths may be wanting yet they are abundantly supply'd by an Adversaries apprehension Even the Heathens rely'd upon this and those Cities of theirs that more peculiarly served their Gods fear'd not any Enemies would assault them because they knew the Reverence of opinion was a sufficient guard to defend How much more would a known Truth of Worship secure men from the hostility of others who being convinc'd of the sinfulness of the Act together with the Majesty of the Avenger must needs tremble at the Crime You see the Advantage of the Name in it self Consider II. How it excels all other Names by a comparison The great Renown most Cities have purchas'd in the world is either for Arts for Riches or the warlike Valour of the Inhabitants but all this is nothing answerable to that esteem gain'd by Religion I confess Arts have an Intrinsick worth but then they are not useful to another World and some here though they may improve the Understanding yet they do not perfect the Will therefore Fame mounts but little when born upon the Wings of them But as for riches they have no worth at all it is the Opinion of Men gives them their value and besides their Tyrannical nature is to vex and oppress their own Masters therefore Fame here creeps on the Ground not being able to get upward by reason of the Weight of its burden Lastly for warlike Valour It is indeed helpful to a State and conduces not only to the defence but to the enlargement of a Dominion yet withal it generally lyes in a Brutish force and is many times employ'd in that sad Work of ruining Kingdoms and planting a Wilderness in their Cities whence if the Fame of such acts flyes it leaves so bloody a track in the flight that it stains the Glory All these I have mentioned do not reach humane Excellency nor come up to that perfection we desire But Religion is useful to another World being the ready way to it by perfecting our Wills as well as enlarging our Understandings It has all worth in it that so excellent an object as God can bestow in regard of Mankind it is Beneficial a true servant to our Peace and Interest quenching all those Heats and Passions that disturb it To conclude it is every way lovely whether you regard its good here or its reward hereafter Therefore the Fame of such works is in its flight High and Cleet like that Heaven whither they tend VVhy should we not then stir up our Ambition to pursue it and leave our quest of any other renown that is so low and sinking VVill the Reputation of Arts Riches or Valour stick to us at the Day when a proof of their help is expected Behold they treacherously leave us in our needs whereas the Good Name of a Christian stands close by Us at the Hour of Death to sweeten the Pangs and remains after Death to embalm Us. I shall shut up all in one word of Application One great Business of this day and the design of this Assembly is the Election of your chief Magistrate a Work highly Useful to the Church as it is Serviceable to the State Therefore a good Choice may Consecrate the Day when a bad one Profanes it The Pattern of Government I have already propos'd the Vertue of it I have shown and what Honour attends a People thus Govern'd Upon You all these depend and in You rests the perfecting of Your City Then will Your Walls surely stand and in their full Beauty be preserved when You constantly Elect Men to defend and Christians to bless them Alas what does all the pomp of Power signify or the Stock of Your Riches without Rule Is not that River You trade by an emblem of their Vanity which flows in a full Tide when it conveys Your Wealth and ebbs again to mind You of the shortness of its stay But where Good Rulers are setled there Greatness is fix'd and Fame too with all the advantages that follow it This City I now speak to may deservedly be compar'd to the Greatest Cities in the World whether we regard the Nobleness of the Works or the Strength of the Inhabitants Men fit to buy Kingdoms nay which is greater to Conquer them Your Magistrates also have of late Years excell'd in the Order Wisdom and Loyalty of their Rule nothing remains but a continuance of that Exercise and a farther advancing of Gods Church by suppressing Vice in the Subject The buildings of Your Walls are quickly dispatch'd but here the Building must be always carry'd on nor can it ever be thought finishable while corruption prevails Oh let no tumults be heard in that work nor Innocent blood seen to make Your mortar ill-temper'd let the Voice of Peace be heard in Your Streets and of Justice in Your Assemblies let Gods Church and Truths be upheld and Debauchery kept from mocking Your Sabbaths in a word make good Your City-Arms in the strictness of a Christian Profession with Loyalty joyn'd Upon both accounts a Good Magistrate is necessary for maintaining Faith and Obedience in the multitude to which they are led not so much by standing Laws as by Life and Practice From such a one they easily learn whatever is praise-worthy and dutifully regard every Order he sets up as an Image of that Vertue He exercises but should his manners fail should he cast off Conscience and turn wicked all his Orders though never so good will like Bodies upon Gibbets be contemn'd Judge You what will follow that contempt Evils so sharp and pressing that the late Calamities if compar'd to them are but little Essayes of Judgment The Plague and Fire You have endur'd are nothing so destructive as a had Government for this is a Plague of a strange Taint that seizes the Soul and a Fire of an operation as strange where the gold only wasts and the dross encreases Oh! how would this City be lifted up did both Magistrate and People unite in the Building Can ever Your breaches be fill'd but by a leading hand or Your ruins heal'd without good Architects to cure them Still Right Honourable will this City lye desolate if Sin be not remov'd by the Authority of Examples By them must Your Greatness be confirm'd who can add to your Glory what will defend Your Glory The title of a Righteous and Faithful City Now to God the Father to God the Son and to God the Holy-Ghost be ascrib'd c. FINIS