Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	john_n	sir_n	thomas_n	12,845	5	10.3056	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57190	Vituli labiorum. Or, A thanksgiving sermon, in commemoration of our great deliverance from the horrid Powder-Plot, 1605 And also of Gods merciful discovery of a bloody conspiracy against His Majesties Person, and the Protestant religion, 1678. Both intended by the papists. Preached at St. Peter's, Exon, Nov. 5. 1678. In prosecution whereof the Churches persecutions, foreign and domestick, by the hands of popish votaries, ever since the Reformation, are briefly recapitulated. Their charge of novelty on our church and religion is retorted. The absurdity of many of their doctrines and principles, and how destructive unto civil government, is detected. By John Reynolds, M.A.	Reynolds, John, d. 1693?	1678 (1678)	Wing R1318; ESTC R219030	19,513	36

Orator at the Throne of Grace may never want the opportunity or power of approving himself to the last day of his life St. Thomas Novemb. 13. 16●8 Sir Your most faithful and affectionate Servant IOHN REYNOLDS A Thanksgiving Sermon in Commemoration of our Deliverance from the Powder-Plot and of the discovery of the late Bloody Conspiracy of the Papists Psal. CXXIX 1 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me BAronius the great Annalist for the Church of Rome hath indeed made a very proud and lofty claim on the Popes behalf viz. That Christ after his Resurrection translated upon the Popes both Priesthood and Kingdom But by what a thin and faint argument doth he grasp at so large a Jurisdiction namely That this was signified by that shadow of St. Peter whereby the sick were healed that the Popes should always have the same power which Christ himself had though never so far different from him in good life and manners because they should ever at least retain the shadow But I pray what consequence is there from the shadow of St. Peter unto the shadow and from thence unto the power of Christ and that power likewise that should not serve to heal the sick as did St. Peter's shadow but to destroy Kings and Kingdoms for what other miraculous power have they made proof of this thousand years A cruel instance thereof we had in the Conspiracy plotted against us this day Seventy-three years ago wherein the Pope and his Agents taking counsel with the Prince of Darkness were agreed and sworn together yea and approached within a few hours of accomplishing their Hellish design To blow up the King and Royal Family the Clergy Nobles Knights and Burgesses in Parliament the very confluence of all the Glory Piety Learning Prudence and Authority in the Land with one sulphureous blast But because age and length of time generally brings with it the oblivion and forgetfulness of the most notable occurrences and that we experimentally find our irreligious age to be grown so remiss and negligent in the recognition and celebration of this once renowned Deliverance God is pleased from time to time to awaken and rub us up by suffering this bloody brood of the Papacy to engage upon such like attempts afresh though to his only praise be it ascribed hitherto without accomplishing their wicked aims and purposes Such was the traiterous design wherewith we have been alarm'd this last month the consequents whereof had it taken effect I dread to think In respect of both which and manifold other repeated occasions our merciful God having so often preserved and shielded our Princes and their Kingdoms our Church and Religion from their implacable rage and fury good reason have we to make our hearts and spirits thankfully to accord with this Psalm of praise part of which you have heard read in the words of our Text. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me This is one of the fifteen Psalms that is intituled a Song of Degrees a Song of Ascensions or of Heights either to note the excellency of the Song and without doubt much more sweet and captivating would these Psalms appear unto us if the nature and reason of the Hebrew Musick and Poesie were better known unto us than it is Or a Song of degrees with respect unto the stairs or steps which by degrees went up into the House of the Lord whereon the Singers should stand or in reference to the several Stages of their coming from Babylon The design of the Psalm is to recount the Churches past troubles and deliverances occasioned by some good success of Affairs in evading the hands of their enemies then fresh in memory Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say From my youth from the time of my being in Egypt from whence I came forth when I grew up to be a Church or from my first Constitution The words do afford us three principal heads of Discourse First Here are the Persecuting attempts of the Enemies of Religion against the Israel of God or against Gods Church which we have twice delivered either by way of Poetical elegancy or out of a zealous affection to the praise and glory of God in reciting it or the better to express the malignity and spight of the Enemies themselves Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth c. Secondly Here is the frustration of those mischievous attempts against the Church Yet they have not prevailed against me Thirdly Here is the Churches bounden and thankful reflection on her afflictions and the happy issue of them suggested by the Psalmist May Israel now say which stands in the middle between the Churches Persecutions and Deliverances as respecting both the misery and the malice of the one excellently serving to enhanse the mercy and the value of the other I. In the first of these Generals we have again three Branches 1. Here is the Churches Affliction or Persecution by the hands of her Enemies They have afflicted me 2. Here is the frequency of the Enemies inflicting trouble and persecution on the Church Many a time have they afflicted me 3. Here is the earliness of the Enemies spight and malice against the Church of God attempting to blast it in the bud Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth 1. The first branch of this Division shews us the ordinary case and state of the Church of God to be a state of affliction being to grapple with enemies and that at first seeming with very great odds and disparity for thus you find the enemies of the Church to be expressed in the Plural Number they whereas the Church it self is simply spoken of in the singular Number they have afflicted ME. The Iews while they inhabited Canaan the land of Promise how vastly were they out-numbred by their enemies that surrounded and compassed them on every side On the East they had the Moabites Ammonites Assyrians and Chaldeans on the West the Philistines on the North the Syrians on the South the Arabians and Egyptians and these were all alike maliciously bent against them Compare but the Popish and the Protestant interest in the world how few are the Protestant Kingdoms and Territories in comparison of those large Dominions which do strike sail to the See of Rome and even amongst those who sculk under the name of Protestants how few are there who would adventure any thing in a critical time upon that Profession which in a calmer state of things they are ready to protest unto now from these their numerous enemies what can the Church of God expect but affliction and trouble Either 1. By open force as Cain did furiously imbrue his hands