Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	child_n	israel_n	pharaoh_n	1,683	5	10.2863	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93340	A sermon preached before the right worshipful the Deputy-Governour, and the Company of Merchants trading to the Levant-seas, at St Bartholemew-Exchange, May 1. 1689 By Edward Smyth, A.M. Fellow of Trinity-Colledge near Dublin; and preacher to the factory at Smyrna. Imprimatur, May 28. 1689. Hen. Wharton, R.R. in Christo P. ac D.D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. à sacris domest.	Smyth, Edward, 1665-1720.	1689 (1689)	Wing S4023; ESTC R230296	14,850	40

it But shall not we adore his Almighty Power and acknowledge his Judgments in inferiour Events in a Plague or Famine unless a flaming Comet sets the World on fire and amaze us into a fit of Religion must we wantonly prescribe to the Divine Wisdom deny him the Ministry of Second Causes and refuse all Nourishment unless we are fed with palpable Miracles For thô Special Providence in the severer dispensation of Judgments is sometimes clouded by the concurrence of Natural Agents yet if we attend and consider them we shall easily discover some Marks of Vengeance imprinted on them And surely 't is the practice of good men to contemplate and study Providence the Prophet ranketh him only among the wise who understandeth the Judgments of the Lord 't is a Matter for pious meditation warranted by the practice of good men to implore the manifestation of God's Power and Justice If we therefore approach with this preparation of mind ready to attend the least intimations of his displeasure and to apply them to the amendment of our Lives to learn Righteousness from them the following Marks and Characters may be of good use to us to discern and reverence the Judgments of God And these Characters I shall draw either from the Nature or some Circumstance of such Events The first Character then of a Special Providence and the visible Hand of God is the wonderful strangeness of Events as when great Effects are accomplish'd either by no apparent means or by means wholly disproportionate and often repugnant to the effect Thus have we seen the mightiest Forces discomfited the firmest Structures demolished Designs enforced with all the advantages of Strength and Cunning confounded and how unaccountable the way no visible means appear'd Nature seeming to have managed the War and the Elements to have fought against them Panick Fears or sudden Deaths having seized the principal Instruments How ready is any part of the Creation to minister to the Divine Vengeance the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera Judges 5.20 the Winds and Skys became Auxiliaries to Theodosius the Lord thundred upon the Philistines and how should they stand against the Host of Heaven the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the Camp of the Philistines 185000 Men. Thus the mighty Power of Antiochus was to be broken without hands How often has Impotency and the weak things of the Lord triumphed over Might Thus a Stripling furnished only with the Breast-plate of Faith and a Pebble shall fell down a monstrous Gyant thô armed with an Helmet of Brass a huge Target Sword and Spear How often have we seen the deepest Intrigue and Policy whose Foundation was laid in Hell either blasted of it self or bafled by simplicity the most perspicacious Counsellours blinded and infatuated the subtil treacherous designing Politician not only supplanted in his wicked enterprize but dismally chastised by it and falling into his own snare Surely then such Occurrences do more than insinuate the Divine Vengeance concerned to countermine and confound such devices 'T is he certainly that maketh the Diviners mad turneth wise Men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish Isaiah 44.25 When Plots contrived in darkness are by unaccountable accidents disclosed and brought to light a Bird of the Air telling the Matter or the Stones crying out Treason as the Prophet speaketh and shall not this argue the Finger of God to be engaged Behold that very design which contrived the destruction of David encreaseth his Honour the Stratagems to supplant Daniel make him grow in the King's favour Must not this then be the special Operation of that God whose peculiar it is to do wondrous things to be terrible in his Judgments A second Character of a Special Providence is the seasonableness and suddenness of Events When pernicious Enterprizes which aim at nothing less than the subversion of a Kingdom are grown to maturity and are just ready for execution how often beyond the Power of Humane Understanding have we seen them either surprisingly discovered or seasonably prevented And shall not this be a pregnant evidence that an ever-vigilant Eye and the all-powerful Hand are engaged Thus was Pharaoh with his Host overwhelmed when he had just overtaken the Children of Israel Thus when Sennacherib with an infinite force had invested Jerusalem when certain death seem'd to threaten the holy City God put a Hook into his Nose and turn'd him back into his own Land 2 King. 9.28 When the prophane Caligula was just ready to discharge his bloody rage on the Jews for their refusing to worship the presumptuous Wretch a domestick Sword presently gave vent to his revengeful Breath When Julian by his Authority and Policy had projected the overthrow of our Religion his Plot is bafled and he falls ingloriously by an unknown Hand Certainly then we must here acknowledge the secret efficacy of God who pours down such unexpected Vengeance on the counsels of the wicked This is the method of his peculiar Providence he could as easily prevent the very beginning of wicked Designs but he permits the Contrivers to mount to the top of Confidence and Expectation and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surprizingly unexpectedly he issues forth a Judgment and confounds the Elaborate Undertaking Be astonish'd therefore and tremble all ye workers of Iniquity and let the Lord be magnified in his Judgments Thirdly Another Character of the Divine Judgments and of a special Providence in dispensing them is from their kind and countenance which often bear a significant resemblance to those sins for which they are inflicted Punishments saith a Father are the forced Off-spring of wilful Faults and therefore carry the Complexions and Features of their Parents And thus the sin becomes often legible in the Judgment which is design'd to punish it which provoked and wrested it from Heaven How often have we seen ambitious Confidence mourning in Disgrace Avarice cursed with Decay of Estate the blasphemous Throat torn out the bloody Oppressor weltring in his own Blood who but just now glutted in his Brothers an Accident which almost continually doth happen so signal is the Revenge of Murder the Treacherous betray'd Places which prided themselves in Wealth and Greatness Power and Magnificence now buried in Ruins and more desolate than the Wilderness Surely such Occurrences do point out and judicate the Finger of God they speak plainly that they are his doings by such Actions he most evidently declares himself the Judge and Governour of Mankind Who directeth the Instruments of Divine Vengeance against Babylon to take Vengeance upon her as she hath done Jer. 51.49 Notwithstanding therefore any obscurity or intricacy that may sometimes appear in the course of Providence as whether such Events proceed from the more immediate hand of God if we consider wisely with pious Attention and a devout Heart if with Minds pure from vain Prejudices and corrupt Affections the Marks and Characters now assign'd will be of good Use and Direction to us We are too