Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A41541
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Of the Happiness of princes led by divine counsel a sermon occasioned by the death of that most excellent princess, our late sovereign, Queen Mary / by Thomas Goodwin.
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Goodwin, Thomas, 1650?-1716?
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1695
(1695)
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Wing G1269; ESTC R1070
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9,630
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30
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us what is fittest to be done according to the Circumstances of Case and what may be the properest and most successful Means to accomplish the intended and desired Effect Such Counsel all Kings want but few are so happy as to obtain it Thrice happy was our Queen who was not only directed by her Counsel of State but by that of Heaven too It is God the absolute Disposer of all Affairs both in Heaven and Earth as universal Monarch of both Worlds who gives out Commissions to the Kings of the Earth and when they govern according to his Orders and are led by his Counsels they are Fathers of their Country and publick Blessings It is this great and wise God who alone can make any Nation flourishing and prosperous by instructing the Prince and the Senators in Wisdom 2. If we consider the excellent Perfections of this mighty Counsellor they all are so many convincing Arguments to prevail on us to observe his Instructions while we live and to have the strongest Confidence and Hope that being pursued by us they will make us happy when we die 1st The Greatness of God gives Authority to his Counsel We redily hearken to those who are above us and every Word which they speak carries a weight in it and is forcibly impress'd on our Minds If a Friend adviseth us to what we apprehend may be an Advantage we chearfully receive and follow his Counsel But the Direction of a Superior is a Command and adds the Obligation of Duty to the Consideration of our own Benefit God then who is the greatest above all may very well guide all by his Counsel and it is not more a Duty than a Privilege to observe the Measures of his Conduct Within this Circle our Queen was secure when in the Management of all Affairs she was under the Guidance of a Power infinitely greater than her own 2dly The Wisdom of God assures us that his Counsels are not obnoxious to the least Mistakes and that by adhering to them we can never be misguided The greatest Politicians may see their truest Rules fail them and their exactest Measures broken for there are so many nice Circumstances of Affairs which indiscernably pass by and cannot be fore-seen that it is impossible for the Wisest to provide against all Events The best-laid Design may be frustrated by very slight unthought of Accidents which could not fall within the prospect of the most careful and considering Designer But the all-knowing God who sees the Issues of things before we can discern their Beginnings makes such effectual Provisions that nothing can interrupt or disappoint his Counsels 3dly The Goodness of God gives us sufficient Security that he will not advise us to any thing for our Hurt but that all his Counsels come full charged with Blessings to us It is condescending Goodness that he will instruct his Creatures whom he might have left to wander and perish in their Folly Since then to prevent their Ruin he is so gracious as to advise them we may be certain that he doth not direct them to any thing but what is mightily conducive to their Welfare and Happiness 3. Let us reflect how our weak and helpless Condition makes it necessary for us to be counsell'd and directed What is the greatest among Men without the Care and Aids of the Almighty but a poor wretched Creature abandon'd to Misery and Despair When encompass'd with amazing Difficulties all his Presence of Mind is lost if God doth not reassure him and his Thoughts are so disorder'd and perplex'd that he knows not which way to turn himself nor what Knot he should first untie to loosen his Intanglements It is only the Thought of his being under the Care and Conduct of the Wise and Good God which can restore his Spirit to him and fortify his Resolution 4. What are the signal Advantages of being protected by God's Love and Care and guided by his Counsels 1. The Assurance that we have of God's kind and careful Regard to us and that he will sutably to the Exigencies of our Case not only protect but counsel us too gives us the truest Sense of Pleasure in every State of Life There is no Condition so prosperous but the Consideration of the Vanity of its Enjoyments or the Fears of a Succession of Misery may imbitter it to us We gain therefore in the most flourishing Circumstances of our Days a double Advantage by our Interest in God's Care and wise Conduct For the Experience of it represents to us those Blessings we enjoy not only as Pleadges of his Love and Testimonies of his Favour but as Gifts which Infinite Wisdom thinks meet to bestow on us and will teach us to make a right and good Use of them and this encreaseth their Value and enhanceth the Pleasures of Enjoyment The Confidence also which we have in a Divine Providence kind and indulgent to us and carefully managing all our Concerns for the best Purposes of our Happiness doth fence us against too anxious Fears of a Change of our present easy Condition For tho we know that all things here are variable yet we are undoubtedly certain that God never alters in the greatest Revolutions which toss this lower World and wholly change the Posture of it That he continues the same Care over those whom he loves tho their Condition is varied That no Extremities of Misery nor Perplexities of Affairs can put his Wisdom to a loss but it is always able to shew us a Way to escape and that therefore tho all the Calamities should come upon us which Men have either suffered or do fear yet we shall be secured by the Benefit of Divine Counsel The Thoughts and Hopes of this therefore can only afford us a solid Comfort in the deepest plunges of Misery For what can support us in any sad Moments of our Lives wherein all things may seem to conspire our Destruction when a Storm threatens from all Sides and a wide Ruin opens to swallow us Where can we find Ground for hope to settle upon or from whence can we expect a Rescue If in so sad and desperate a Condition we look on all things about us we have nothing in prospect but Despair It is the Sense of that part which we have in the Protection and Conduct of God to whose Power all things are subject and whose Wisdom was never perplex'd by the greatest Difficulties which can here alone bear us up from sinking under our despairing Thoughts This Faith supported David Psal 62. 1 2. Truly my Soul waiteth upon God from him cometh my Salvation He only is my Rock and my Salvation he is my Defence I shall not be greatly moved And the same Faith so strongly establish'd the Heart of our Queen that no Report of Evil Tidings nor Appearances of Danger could once move it from its due Station but she firmly bore all Events with an equal Mind 2. The Apprehension of being guarded by God's careful Love
Mr. GOODWIN's SERMON On the DEATH of the QUEEN Of the Happiness of PRINCES led by DIVINE Counsel A SERMON Occasioned by the Death Of that most Excellent PRINCESS Our late Sovereign Queen MARY By THOMAS GOODWIN Prov. 31. 29. Many Daughters have done vertuously but Thou excellest them all London Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. PSAL. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel and afterward receive me to Glory IF the Great and Wise God regards the meanest of his Creatures to provide for them in every Exigency of their Case to relieve their Wants and help them in all Difficulties and Distresses we may be assur'd that his kind and watchful Providence is more peculiarly imploy'd about the Persons of good and pious Princes While they live in this World he guides them by his Counsel he steers the Course of those Kingdoms over which they reign He by admirable and unaccountable Methods points to a Discovery of those dark Conspiracies which were aim'd at their Ruin He protects them and is a safer Defence than the greatest Numbers of their armed Guards He influenceth their Minds and Thoughts to observe the wisest and best Rules of Government and he so disposeth the Temper of their Hearts that Kings become nursing Fathers and Queens nursing Mothers to his People and Church when the most who have rul'd the Nations of the Earth destitute of this Divine Care and Direction have been Tyrants and Oppressors And when the Date of the Life and Reign of good Princes is ended at the appointed Period God removes them from a low Throne on Earth to an higher in Heaven and he takes off a Crown sharpned with Troubles and Cares as so many Thorns to set one of undisturbed Happiness and Glory on their Heads This is the blessed State of just and good Princes so rarely found among Men that God will not only here guide them by his Counsel but lead and securely bring them to his Eternal Glory The Psalm tho wrote by Asaph yet hath an apparent regard to David and of him as a King whom God had established on the Throne and prosper'd his Reign guiding the whole Course of it by the best and wisest Counsels the Words of my Text are meant which also express the firm Confidence which this Great King and Prophet had in God that to the latest Moments of his Life and Reign he would assist him with his successful Directions and that when his last Day was ended he would bring him to the Possession of a Glory infinitely exceeding all the Splendor and Magnificence of that Royal Majesty of which he must be disrobed It is by these Considerations he supports and solaces his Soul which upon first Thoughts was vex'd at the Prosperity of wicked Princes who grew old in Tyranny and Oppression who daily increas'd in Greatness and Power tho founded on the Blood and Ruin of many Nations who triumph'd in uninterrupted Successes when as his own just and good Reign was perpetually disturb'd by the Wickedness of his own ungrateful Subjects or the Invasions of unjust Enemies But when he consider'd that the wicked Counsels by which they acted would not always be prosperous for God would blast and confound them that all their Arts of Policy would fail for want of God's Direction and Blessing that all their Supports of Power would be suddenly broken and that the Ground on which they stood was uncertain and slippery and so they would tumble into unexpected Destruction When this good King entertain'd himself with these wise and sober Thoughts the Hurries of his Mind were presently compos'd and he no longer envied at the Prosperity of the Wicked nor complain'd that God was pleas'd to fill his own Life with Difficulties and Troubles Whatever Tumults and Combustions disquieted the Peace of his Reign yet he enjoy'd an undisturb'd Repose within his own Breast and under God's Protection and Care he was sure of being inviolably safe As long as he was led by God's Counsels which never fail of Success he knew certainly that neither his Kingdom nor his own Person could be in danger He knew that he should live gloriously and die happy that God would receive him to a greater Glory than what he left here and that he would only take off an Earthly Crown to set an Heavenly One infinitely more bright and shining on his Head Thus Good Princes are entirely bless'd while they live God is not only their Guard to defend them but their chiefest Minister of State to give them the wisest and most faithful Counsel and when they die they go off honour'd and lamented by all their People nor do they leave only a Glorious Name behind them but they go to possess a solid and eternal Glory which fadeth not away They but step out of one Throne to ascend another in Heaven which cannot be shaken nor endanger'd Observ That they are most certainly bless'd whom God loves and takes care of whom he leads by his Counsel through all the troublesome Passages of their Lives and after all Storms and Dangers lands them safely on the Shores of his Glorious Kingdom above As he always gives the best Advice so they can never miscarry who follow it but if we trust to our own Wisdom and pursue Counsels different from what he gives us we renounce his Care we refuse his Instruction we blindly rush on without him and so bewilder our selves that we are fatally lost He knows what is for our Good and kindly directs us to it He sees a-far off the threatning Danger and warns us to avoid it He discerns what may effectually promote our Happiness and Safety which is not descry'd by us short-sighted Creatures and all his Counsels have a tendency to bring us unto Blessedness and if we are led by them we shall not miss of arriving at Glory But he who forsakes this sure Guide most certainly loseth his Way and is dismally benighted and falls down a Precipice into the Place of everlasting Night and Darkness I shall consider 1. What Counsel is in general 2. Who the Person is who so graciously offers us his Help to conduct us safely by his Counsels through all the Temptations Distresses and Dangers of this Life 3. I shall shew how the Circumstances of our Case make it necessary for us to be counsell'd and directed by God and that if we do not mind what he says to us if we are obstinate and will not observe his Directions for our Happiness we must unavoidably be miserable 4. I shall display the blessed Fruits and Effects of being led by God's Counsels what Peace and Satisfaction of Mind there is in following his Guidance what Security in such a Course what inward Joys fill the Heart from these Thoughts that we shall be safe through all the Time of our Lives and shall be blessed and glorious whenever we die 1. What is Counsel It is a wise Advice to direct