Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	end_n	good_a	life_n	9,382	5	4.8333	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64242	A sermon preach'd in the parish church of Burcester in the county of Oxford, on the second day of December, 1697 being the day appointed for a thanksgiving to Almighty God, for His Majesty's safe return, and for the happy and honourable peace, of which God has made him the glorious instrument.	Taylor, Thomas, 1669 or 70-1735.	1697 (1697)	Wing T558; ESTC R23456	15,877	27

irresistable Power of God who makes the Creature his Weapon for the Revenge of his Enemies and causes a mighty Wind to stand up against them and blow them away Witness the dark designs of Hell to destroy our Laws and Law-makers our Church and State at one blow betrayed and confounded by a kind of supernatural and prophetical impression on the Spirit of our Prince Nay that which is more amazing the Blood of our Royal Martyr wherewith the Life and Soul of our Religion seem'd to expire how has it by the wonderful appointment of Heaven proved the seed of the Church The Wrath of Man in that desperate and unheard of Wickedness has turn'd to the praise of God in that the blessings which this Church and Nation at this day enjoy under the happy Protection of our present Soveraign have a visible dependance and connexion with the fatal Event Who can chuse but admire and adore the goodness of God who has not suffer'd our Wickedness to make us miserable as we have deserved but whenever his threatnings or his judgments have wrought in us a deep sense of our Sins and Sorrow for them has still manifested his mercy in our Deliverance If he has formerly suffer'd the Lustre of our Church to be eclyps'd 't is probably that it might at least shine with a brighter vigour under his gracious Patronage whom he has made the Author of our Peace and the Defender of our Faith For who can conceive but to this end God has raised him up and Cover'd his head so often in the day of Battel that to this end his Angels have taken care that whilst Thousands fell on his right hand and on his left the Arrows of Death have not come nigh him May the same good Providence persevere to Protect and Defend Him who has at the Hazard of his Life so often Defended us and may our Thankfulness to God and grateful Obedience to his Vicegerent deserve that he may long Reign over us and late exchange a Temporal for an Eternal Crown All the Application I shall make shall be taken from the words of the Psalmist upon the like occasion I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak Peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly 'T is the provoking Folly of our Sins that has induced God to Unsheath the Sword upon us as the severest of National Punishments But our Repentance or Chastisements have at last atton'd his Anger in causing him to put an end to War and speak Peace again unto his People and 't is now at our own extream Peril if we return to those Sins and Follies for which we have already suffer'd God has given us Peace and with it has put into our hands all those Blessings which are the Materials of our Temporal Happiness so that nothing seems to be required on our parts but to prepare and qualify our hearts for the Enjoyment If we shall inlarge our Souls with Joy and Gratitude in proportion to these Mercies we may reasonably expect the Continuance and Succession of them But if we prove such insensible Wretches as no bounds can satisfy If we are Impatient and Querulous and deal with God and our Prince as did the murmuring Israelites in the Desart we may justly apprehend that these our Follies will recal those Judgments which are now so happily past over us and expose our Church and Nation to a more irrevocable Sentence Now we are made whole let us go and Sin no more left a worse thing come unto us FINIS Psal. 33. 16 17. Psal. 18. 11. Job 5. 9. Amici di●m perdidi Sueton. in vit Tit. Prov. 21. 1. 2 Kings 17. 14. Wisd. 19. 20 c. Psal. 107. 23 c. Dan. 10. 20. 12. 1. Heb. 1. 14. Ps. 91. 11. Rom. 11. 33 Mat. 10. 30. Rom. 8. 28. Wisd. 5. 17 22. Psal. 85. 8.

of Counsel and Action they would quickly perceive that the train of consequences was laid by a Divine Artist and that it was God who by some secret Energy touch'd the Hearts of Men and thereby put all the Wheels of his Providence in Motion And here I cannot but Anticipate my Method in mentioning that Memorable act of Providence manifested but the other day in the Person of our Royal Soveraign For what less than a Divine Impulse could have forc'd him upon that seeming impracticable Attempt of rescuing the Metropolis of a Country from immediate Ruine and Desolation which obliged him to break through the impending dangers of twice as numerous an Enemy the difficulties of a precipitate March and the discouragements of his Army An attempt more glorious than the compleatest Victory as was plain by the Success which was speedily followed with an Happy Conclusion of a General Peace and the Security of Europe But this Method of God's influencing the Minds of Men in his Government of the World will be more conspicuous when illustrated with a second Consideration Secondly That He imploys the General Efficacy and Power of Natural Causes and makes them subservient to the ends and purposes of his Providence The fixt and standing Laws of Nature are nothing else but the General Will of an All-wise and Universal Being who holds the Reins of the Universe in his Hands and turns them which way he pleases There is nothing in this World except Man that he hath made the Arbiter of its own actions All other things do not so properly act as suffer his Agency upon them Bodies are continually moved by those impressions which he has given them As he spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created so the same Power which created them still governs and determines them Fire and Hail Snow and Vapour Wind and Storm fullfil his word He makes the Winds his Ministers and Flames of Fire his Messengers Life and Death Health and Sickness Riches and Poverty Plenty and Famine and the whole Retinue of Nature are all the Attendants of his Pleasure and the Instruments of his Power And if so what an infinite scope is here for the compassing his designs in the free Government of a rational World by the Ministry of natural and necessary Causes For what is there in the whole Circle of humane actions and sublunary Occurrences but falls under the influence of some of these So that it seems had it so pleas'd God he might have brought about the whole course of his greater Providential Dispensations from the beginning of the World to the end of it without making one irregular or unequal step or departing out of the common road of Nature If the Sins of a degenerate Race of Men are ripen'd into an Harvest for Divine Vengeance there is no need that the Almighty should create Thunder bolts to execute his wrath He can quickly draw an Artillery out of the Stores of Nature sufficient to overthrow a Lustful City or a Lewd and Vicious World For even that Exemplary Judgment on Mankind in an Universal Deluge which seems to abound with Miracle and which Moses describes by the rupture of the Abyss and the descending Cataracts of Heaven is lookt upon by most thinking Persons to have been effected by a Providential use of second Causes and that it will very well bear a Natural Explication And it is not improbable but that other destruction which the Earth still waits by Fire will be wrought by the concurrence of Natural Principles and Powers in subservience to the Will of God when he shall think sit to permit that raging Element to accomplish the great and fatal Revolution Nor doth this at all derogate from the Divine Wisdom but exalt and vindicate it in that it is not like a Mortal Understanding at a pause what extraordinary course to take in the exigencies of affairs but still makes its Providence keep pace with Nature and leisurely produce those signal Changes and Alterations which are subjects for Wonder and Admiration to all Ages But to place this Pourtraicture of Divine Providence in a clearer light let us only consider that these two Instruments of it Life and Death are in the hand of God and observe how the interests of the World in a great measure turn upon these two Hinges For Example how does a Nation thrive and prosper under the gentle Life and Government of a Wise a Pious and a Valiant Prince He is the Soul that animates the Body Politick that gives it Health and Vigour and succors every Member with a generous warmth and activity Under such a Reign how thankfully will the People enjoy the Blessings of Peace or strenuously Prosecute a lawful War for their mutual Defence and Vindication Their Reputation will improve their Commerce and their Industry make Plenty flow in their Streets Their Church and Religion will erect its Head and by returning the joyful Offerings of Praise and Gratitude for all the Mercies it receives engage the Favour of Heaven still on in its support and preservation And now if it please God to continue these Blessings to them he need but lengthen the days of such a Governour as he did Hezekiah's and then the designs of Providence will be answer'd by the very intention of Nature without recurrence to Miracles or bringing Prodigies on the Stage But oh then the Death of this great and good Man is as tragically lamented as his Life was admired and doated on and unless the same kind Providence has otherwise design'd it strange changes and decays must likely happen both in Church and State Just the reverse of this both as to Mercy and Judgment God intends the World in the Life and Death of a Wicked a Foolish a Tyrannical and degenerous Prince For as he cannot deserve the love of his own People he consequently will not be able to procure the fear of his Neighbours Either he will suffer himself and his Subjects to dissolve in Sloth and Luxury or he will dispirit them with Violence and Oppression or betray them by his Cowardice and Folly A People will droop as if under the Reign and Guidance of some Malignant Planet having neither Courage to oppose their Enemies nor Spirit to Enrich and Advance themselves 'T is only the Exit to such an Inglorious Life and Reign can reinstate them in the possession of their Hopes and capacitate them for the Enjoyment of those Mercies which Heaven may design them I might produce innumerable instances of this sort to confirm what I am proving viz. That God serves his Providence of the Efficacy and Powers of Natural Causes in his Presidency over the World But I hasten to another consideration viz. Thirdly That he suspends or alters the settled course of Natural Laws when they happen to obstruct or at least do not forward the purposes and ends of his Government Though nothing can be wiser or better order'd than the settled course of