Selected quad for the lemma: honour_n
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A53983
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A sermon preached before the king at St. James's. October 13. 1695 by Edward Pelling ... Published by His Majesty's special command.
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Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P1104; ESTC R33045
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10,980
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28
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into the Land of Egypt there to grow and increase into a Numerous Nation so that they might come to the Possession of the Promised Land all at once in a great Body and after a plain remarkable manner To make way for their Reception in Egypt Joseph was to be sent thither before-hand to get all the Power of the Kingdom under Pharaoh In order to this first he dreamed two Dreams importing that his Father and his Brethren should bow down themselves to him To remove him from home he was sent away into the Field to see his Brethren They consulted there how they might use that opportunity to rid themselves of the Dreamer and would have kill'd him had not Reuben prevented it He advised to cast him into a Pit and there to leave him to the mercy of some wild Beast but the Ishmaelites coming accidentally that way they sold him to those Merchants and they again made Money of him in Egypt There one of Pharaoh's Officers bought him his Mistress fell in Love with him and being disappointed in her Amours became the means of his being cast into Prison Thence at last he was advanced by interpreting some Dreams first the Butler's and then the King 's Joseph being now in Power a Famine is sent into the Land of Canaan That forced his Kindred to repair into Egypt and so his Brethren fell into Joseph's hands as he had fallen into their hands before By degrees they became known to one another and in the end their poor aged Father and all his Family were sent for and cherish'd and so they multiplied exceedingly till the time of the Promise drew near What a Train of strange Events was in all this matter Joseph observed how the Hand of God was in it all and had he not told his Brethren so they must of themselves have acknowledg'd that such a long continued succession of odd Events all of them terminating at last so wonderfully in so great a Good could never have been so order'd govern'd directed and ended but by the special Providence of a Wise Gracious and Over-ruling Being But the Jews have not been the only People for whom the Hand of God hath appear'd Other Nations and especially We of this Kingdom have with Admiration seen it act for us by a long Concatenation of Events which no Human Wisdom could forecast or think of How many Virissitudes and Changes have we seen What Difficulties and Perplexities have we been surrounded with What Labyrinths and Pits have we been in How dark and mysterious have many proceedings seem'd How dismally have they look'd and operated How deeply have we been affected with the sense of them What Groans have we sent up to the God of Comfort under our burdens not able to guess where or how they would end and yet what surprizing Joys and Triumphs have they ended in Which is enough to satisfy all considering men that throughout a long course a seemingly incoherent course of affairs an Invisible and Wise Hand dispos'd and order'd all and brought every thing to such a Prosperous Issue as cannot be justly ascribed to any thing but a Divine Power Wisdom and Goodness 4. Lastly It may reasonably be thought to be the Hand of God when Evil Designs are so strangely over-rul'd as to be made the Instruments and Means of Good In this there is a double demonstration of God's Hand and of his Divine and Glorious Perfections when wicked Contrivances are not only frustrated baffled and defeated but are moreover diverted and turned to ends quite distant from nay contrary unto the purposes of evil men This is plainly a stroke from above when their Designs recoil upon themselves so that what was formed and laid for the ruin of others at last terminates in their own It was a glorious sign of God's Special Providence which David observed in the Fall of his and the Church's Enemies That as they had made a pit and digged it so they fell into the ditch they had made that their mischief returned upon their own heads and their violent dealings came down upon their own pates that in the net which they had hid their own feet were taken and that they were snared in the works of their own hands An Observation which we our selves have to our great satisfaction seen lately verified here in this Kingdom our bitterest Enemies have ruined themselves by their own Devices and their Counsels have been so wonderfully and providentially over-rul'd and even when they thought themselves sure of Success that what was Politickly laid for the destruction of Truth Peace and good Government in the Event prov'd an effectual means to six all upon the firmer Foundation the Contrivers themselves going off with visible Marks of Divine Vengeance upon them III. And now to come to that which I propos'd in the Third Place What better Improvement can we make of this whole Subject than seriously to reflect upon that Signal Hand which from time to time God hath shewed for this Church and Kingdom and impartially to consider what Expressions of Thankfulness are called for at Our hands who have been so long and so deeply indebted to the Hand of God Particularly how thankful to him should we be for saving us hitherto from the Hand and Power of a Foreign Prince of whose Cruelties many of his own Natural Subjects are a dismal Cloud of Witnesses Scepticks may be unwilling to see and own it but all indifferent persons who have a sense of God must look upon it as God's Hand upon all those accounts I have now spoken of For 1. Nothing but a Special Providence directing and blessing the Means of our Safety could have preserv'd to us all that is so dear and precious in our sight Those Fortunes whereby we live that Liberty which enhanceth the value of Life it self those Laws which are the peculiar Glory of this Nation and that Religion wherein is wrapt up the Eternal Interest and Happiness of our Souls How light soever some may make of this Consideration for no other reason but because we have not severely smarted under the Evils that were coming upon us yet our Dangers were apparent Dangers to which all our dearest and most valuable Concerns were expos'd and the Signal Preservation of them ought on that account to be look'd on as an argument of God's Hand to which so Great and Important a Good is to be ascribed 2. To raise the sense of it yet we should consider at what a Critical Juncture this Good was done At that nice season when an unprovided defenceless People were to wrestle with a most Potent Enemy when his Hopes were at the height when the Victory seem'd to him unquestionable and we look'd like men almost captivated at Home in our own Native Countrey In this our distress God that laughed all the Heathen to scorn did with the Turn of his Hand break and dissipate the Cloud which hung lowring over our heads and that so suddenly and beyond expectation that We and our Enemies too were like those that dream and could scarce believe our own senses 3. Thirdly if we observe how one thing followed another we may well admire the Special Providence of God through a continued Train and Course of unforeseen Events whereof tho some seemed very threatning for the time yet the most uncomfortable accidents have now turn'd to our great advantage How long still God will please to vouchsafe his hand over us is a Secret hid in the Counsel of his own Will Success for the future depends much upon the use we make of his Providence to this day If we will not be sensible of his Hand nor be thankful for it nor be led by it to Repentance we know not how soon those Judgments may be executed against us which were often denounced against the Jews for their Hardness and Ingratitude in the like cases However we may be wanting to our selves the hand of God hath not been wanting Since the time that the Day of our Salvation began to drawn tho there have been so many Difficulties before us yet by the good Hand of God the main Interest of the Kingdom hath so prosperously gone on that every day we have the stronger reasons to hope That God will not only save us from the Power of that Oppressor who hath been such a Scourge to Christendom but will moreover settle us upon such solid Foundations that neither the Policy of Rome nor the Gates of Hell shall prevail against us The present Complication of Affairs is such that the Hand of God is not hard to be seen by unprejudic'd people who believe the Being of a Deity and the Operations of a Providence 4. And what can be a fairer evidence of it to strengthen our belief still than this Fourth Consideration That the Devices of our Enemies are not only rendred ineffectual but are after a most wonderful manner turned upon themselves Those Arts which had been so long used against our Establish'd Religion did so return upon the Authors of them that perhaps the Church of Rome never suffer'd greater Disgrace and Prejudice than she did in that little time she stay'd here And when a Strong Wind carried her Politicians away to their Homes abroad they went off with such Infamy as if God intended to stigmatize and brand them that they might be disdain'd and hooted at by all the world That Good Over-ruling Hand which God was pleased to stretch out for us in and since that Remarkable Juncture he hath not yet drawn back into his Bosom Still it may be seen in the Happy Successes which God hath granted unto and in the Signal Preservations wherewith he hath bless'd our most Heroick Publick-Spirited and Indefatigably Zealous Prince whom he thought fit to make use of as the most proper Instrument in his Hand to Rescue Three Kingdoms from Vassalage and Idolatry For all which Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name let all Praise and Thanks be given through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory world without end Amen FINIS A Practical Discourse concerning Holiness Wherein is shewed the Nature the Possibility the Degrees and Necessity of Holiness together with the Means of Acquiring and Perfecting it By Edward Pelling D. D. Printed for W. Rogers