Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	good_a	let_v	10,395	5	4.3193	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47257	The righteous taken away from the evil to come applied to the death of the late excellent Queen, in a sermon preach'd at St. Martin's Church, on Sunday, January the twentieth, 1694/5, before the mayor, baliffs, and commonalty of the city of Oxford / by White Kennett ...	Kennett, White, 1660-1728.	1695 (1695)	Wing K303; ESTC R17585	13,215	33

Ruder Age. One would I mean imagine that the Blessing of a Good QUEEN should make a deeper Impress upon English Hearts and the being depriv'd of that Blessing should raise warmer Resentments of Grief than the like Providence did in the remote Reign of Hen. I. when the Normans were transported with Conquest and the Saxons were dis-spirited with Oppression when the Insolence of one Party and the Indignation of the other were enough to take away all the better Affections of Humane Nature It is impossible that Nature Education and Religion when they are All reform'd should be All less effectual to strike and wound the Hearts of a Nation when they have lost a QUEEN equal to the greatest Example of past Ages When without suspicion of Flattery Her Character shall be drawn for the Use of Posterity Posterity will not believe That a great part of Her People were Indifferent and Unaffected with Her Death and only put on their Mourning as the Pharisees did their Sackcloth to appear unto Men. At least Posterity will not believe That some were so Insolent as to Ridicule the Divine Judgment and make a Mock at GOD'S Anger and their own Sin A barbarous Indignity that could have been only tolerable in that Emperour who amidst the Conflagration of his City was setting Musick to the Flames Or in that Other who wisht a signal Calamity might happen in his Reign to distinguish it from ordinary and unobservable Times The Thoughts of such inhumane Practice will naturally lead us to the more melancholly Reflection For we are lastly to reflect on the fatal Reason of GOD'S Providence in so severe a Dispensation The Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come History tells us The First Christians were retreated to Pella before the Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem Or else perhaps their Prayers might have turn'd back the Armies of the Aliens and stopt the Bloud that was imprecated on the Jews and on their Children Indeed GOD cannot execute a dreadful Judgment while the Righteous remain to intercede and turn aside his stretched out Arm. Had but Ten Righteous Persons been found upon their Knees in Sodom they had quencht the Fire and Brimstone before it fell on the polluted City Yes Righteous and Merciful Men they are the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel They are the Guardian Angels and defend the Province over which they do preside The Messenger of GOD told Lot that Nothing could be done against the City while he was within the Walls of it Hast thee escape thither for I cannot do any thing till Thou be come thither When the LORD was wroth with his Inheritance of Israel and resolv'd their Iniquity should be upon their own Heads yet the Intercession of Moses stopt his drawn Sword nor could he strike till Moses should let him alone I have seen this People said the LORD and behold it is a stiff-necked People Now therefore let me alone that my Wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them So much Violence does GOD himself seem to suffer from the Prayers of Holy Men And in the most Sinful Land it is rather a Threat than a Decree That Noah Daniel and Job shall deliver Nothing but their own Souls Oh! That a People were Wise and would Consider this Who cannot but Consider That when the Walls of a City are broken down how easy is it for the Enemies to enter and destroy When the Pillars of a Temple are took away how soon must the unsupported Fabrick fall When the Banks are laid low how naturally will the Waters overwhelm the defenceless Ground Even so when the Righteous are taken away how without Resistance must descend the Evil to come It is true While we reflect on former Mercies and contemplate our present Affairs we grow Sanguine and presume that All will be Safe and Happy But while we take the other Prospect of Divine Justice and our own Provocations of it Then the Light Side of the Pillar is turn'd round to Cloud and Darkness and fearful Expectations may remain What Judgment may we expect What may we not expect Shall we choose any One of the Three Evils which Gad offer'd to David Shall Seven Years of Famine come upon us in our Land Our Bodies Hungry and Thirsty and our Souls fainting in them No! Bless O LORD our Victuals with Encrease and satisfy our Poor with Bread and suffer us not to know the want of that Plenty we abuse Shall we flee Three Months before our Enemies while they pursue us Shall Invasion and Conquest and Slavery drown us in Sweat and Bloud No! Defend us Good LORD from barbarous and insulting Foes Give us the undeserved Favour of Victory Abroad and Peace at Home Well but Shall there be Three Days Pestilence in the Land Shall Carcasses fall in Heaps and the Living be buried among the Dead Yea rather Let us fall into the Hand of the Lord for his Mercies are great and let us not fall into the Hand of Man But rather O LORD turn away this Plague from us Give us Strength and Health Give us leave to wait our appointed Time till a natural and gentle Change shall come Tho' the Hand-writing seems upon the Wall and the Sentence of Death be already executed against that just Person who could alone have stopt the determin'd Woe Yet Let us turn unto the Lord with all our heart with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning Let us rend our Heart and not our Garment and looking upon the Evil to come let us try whither the Merciful and Gracious LORD will Repent him of that Evil Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a Blessing behind him Merciful GOD Let it be Judgment Enough That we have lost a Princess whom past Ages never did Exceed and future Generations shall scarce ever Equal Judgment Enough That we have lost the Benefit of so many Prayers of that Devout QUEEN who lov'd no Apartment of Her Palace so well as Her Chapel and behav'd Her-self in it with that Zeal and Affection as if She believ'd it the House of God and the Gate of Heaven which is now Open'd to Her Who made Her Closet a continued Oratory of private Devotions Who prosecuted all Business as if She had no leisure to Pray and yet Pray'd so Continually as if She had attended no other Business Judgment enough That we have lost Her who believ'd Religion and adorn'd it who understood the Constitution of our Church and therefore lov'd it Who Honour'd Divines for the Sake of their Profession and made Her Preferments the Reward of good Preaching and good Living And what is not improper to mention within these Walls Lost Her who was a Friend to Learning who knew how to chuse Books and to digest them and amidst all urgent Affairs could descend to the Cares of a Library Judgment Enough That we have lost Her who paid all the obedient Duties of a Wife so rare in Royal Consorts who in a less Coparcenry than Hers are tempted to bear no Equal at least to acknowledge no Superiour Lost Her who was a Mistriss Affable and Humble and who if She had wanted Power could have been Perswasive whom supreme Authority could not make Imperious to Her Servants Who set Her Maidens an Example of Domestick Industry and Govern'd Her Family as if that had been her Only Kingdom Lost Her Who could Rule a Nation and make Her Lord seem Absent to None but to Her-self Who could do Justice without Revenge and shew Mercy without Weakness and Reign in the Hearts of Her People In a word Judgment Enough To lose Her wherein Her Quality has lost an Ornament Her Sex a Glory Her Nation a Blessing and the World an Example Good GOD Permit no other Judgment to fall upon us Let Us the Priests and You the People Weep between the Porch and the Altar and let us say Spare thy People O Lord and give not thy Heritage to Reproach Be jealous for thy Land and pity thy People Thy Distressed People To Thee O Father of Mercies with the Son of thy Love and the Spirit of Consolation be ascrib'd the Kingdom Power and Glory for Ever and Ever Amen Mal. 4.2 Luk. 23. ver 47. ● Cor. 5. ver 21. Pro. 21. ver 21. Grot. in Loc. 2 King 22. v. 2. Psal. 12. v. 20. Eccl. 12. ver 7. Heb. 9. v. 27. Is. 53.8 Eccl. 7. ver 2. Ps. 34. ver 19 2 Pet. 2. ver 8. Ps. 119. v. 136.158 Pro. 14. ver 34. Jer. 5.9 2 Cron. 32.25 26. 2 Cron. 34.24 lb. 27 28. 2 Cron. 36.17 Sim. Dunel sub an 957. Allredus de vit Mirac Ed. confess Cron. Joh. Brompton sub Anno. M LX VI. Henr. de Knighton de Event Ang. Cap. 14. K. Edw. VI. Ecl. 12. ver 5. Deu. 34. ver 8. 1 Sam. 25.1 Jer. 22.10 Zech. 12 ver 11. Job 27. ver 15. Psal. 74. ver 66. Jer. 16. ver 5. 〈…〉 H●st W●nt A●g 〈…〉 p 2●● Sueton. in Vit. Ner. Cap. ●8 Idem in Vit. Calig Cap. 31. Gen. 18. ver 32. 2 Kin. 2. ver 12. Gen. 19. ver 22. Ex. 32. ver 9. Eze. 14. ver 14. 2 Sam. 24. Joel 2. ver 15. Gen. 28. ver 17.

before the Descent of his fiery Indignation upon Sodom And an Ark was built for Noah before the Deluge flow'd in upon the guilty World So has it been since observ'd that the good St. Augustine departed this Life just before his City Hippo was taken and laid wast And Zealous Luther is congratulated for being took out of the World a little before the Civil Wars in Germany and the Miseries of that divided Country Thus frequently are the Righteous taken away from the Evil to come Especially if the Text referrs to righteous and merciful Princes They by the singular Care of Providence seem caught away from some publick Calamity which Themselves deserve to escape and their People deserve to suffer It was so in the Reign of Hezekiah That excellent Prince had a perverse People for whom GOD had prepared a Vial of Wrath but would not pour it down till his Anointed Head was laid safe in his Sepulchre Wrath was upon Judah and Jerusalem but Hezekiah humbled himself so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah But when He slept with his Fathers then came Invasion and Bloud and Captivity Then the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the Thorns and bound him with Fetters and carried him to Babylon This dispensation of Providence was more remarkable in the Reign of religious Josiah When the People despis'd the Example of the Best of Princes and made the City and Country a Stage of Profaneness while the Court was all Devotion Then by the mouth of Huldah the Prophetess thus said the LORD Behold I will bring Evil upon this place and upon the Inhabitants thereof even all the Curses that are written in the Book My wrath shall be poured out upon this place and shall not be quenched But the pious Prince He was snatched as a Firebrand out of the Fire As for the King of Judah thus saith the LORD Because thine Heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self and rend thy cloaths and weep before me Behold I will gather thee to thy Fathers and Thou shalt be gathered to thy Grave in peace neither shall thine Eyes see all the Evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the Inhabitants of the same And so the Reprieve was granted till his Sanctuary was the Grave But then the first Successor was depos'd and carried into Aegypt and under the next GOD brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew the young men with the Sword and had no compassion upon Young man or maiden Old man or him that stooped for Age. The Records of our own Church and Nation present us with such an Instance of Divine Mercy in the most Pious of our English Princes King Edward the Confessor whom our Oldest Historians report to have had this Vision on his dying Bed Two Men of Religious Order and Habit appear'd in his Chamber and declar'd themselves the Messengers of GOD and deliver'd this Express to him Your Nobility Clergy and People of England have fill'd up the measure of their Iniquities So that God has bent his Bow and made his Arrows ready for them Die you in Peace but within One Year and One Day after your Decease Strangers shall possess this Land and condemn it to Fire and Sword To this Message they say the Prince return'd My Soul is sore troubled to foresee the Affliction of my People but sure if they turn from their Wickedness then will God repent and leave a Blessing for them A like Sentence was denounc'd upon the Ninevites and yet suspended on their Repentance Nay the Humiliation of wicked Ahab diverted the Evil from his own days Therefore says he I will perswade my People to repent that God may have Mercy and withhold the impending Judgment No said the Two Holy Men The Heart of this People is hard'ned and their Eyes are blinded they cannot see with their Eyes and understand with their Heart and God cannot heal them Depart you in Peace and escape the Evil to come The History proceeds That the decaying Prince recover'd strength to tell This to his attending Courtiers and that Stigand among Others ridicul'd the Story and said it was all the Dotage and Delirium of a dying Man But it prov'd a Prophecy and had a fatal Completion for within the appointed time the Normans invaded and conquer'd and divided the Land Thus have I op'ned the Text and familiarly explain'd the several parts of it so that it is easy for you to apprehend this to have been the sence of the Prophet In the midst of a wicked and careless Generation some publick Calamity some universal Loss may happen and yet None be much affected with it Even the sharpest Affliction may befal a Nation their righteous Prince may perish and their merciful Governour be taken away and yet the Wound reaches to no Heart None betray the Concern and Sorrow which so sad an Accident calls for but drive on their little Humours and Designs with no regard of publick Loss or publick Good When alas They ought to consider that by such a providential Chance they may suffer more than they imagine For that Castle of Defense being now remov'd Enemies and Destruction may come upon them and sad Experience may too soon convince that the Righteous was taken away from a fatal Evil to come which had been longer suspended had the Righteous longer liv'd And now All this I will not apply so near as every Conscience may apply When righteous Princes perish their Ashes are too Sacred to be disturb'd by every Tongue And when they seem taken away from an Evil to come yet it is not fit every bold Person should portend that Evil or describe the Tokens of it It is more modest to direct you how to bestow one serious Thought or two on these Branches of the Text. First On the Righteous perishing and the Merciful being taken away Secondly On no Man laying it to Heart nor considering what may be the Consequence of it Thirdly On the fatal Reason of GOD'S Providence in it The Righteous may be taken away from some Evil to come First Let us reflect on the Righteous perishing and the Merciful being taken away Let us reflect I say that Piety and Vertue will save our Souls but not our Lives All Graces are subject to Mortality in this World and only purchase Eternity in that other World It is true the prolonging of days in the Land wherein they live is promis'd a Reward to the Obedient Keepers of Divine Laws and so it really proves by the course of Nature and by the care of Providence By the course of Nature as Sobriety Temperance and all Vertue preserve our Health and protract our Life And again By the care of Providence as GOD more especially protects his own Servants from common Dangers keeps them as the Apple of his Eye and