Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A61181
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A sermon preached before the King and Queen at Whitehal, on Good-Friday, 1690 by the Lord Bishop of Rochester, Dean of Westminster.
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Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S5061; ESTC R13441
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13,597
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46
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A SERMON PREACHED before the King and Queen At WHITEHAL On Good-Friday 1690. By the Lord Bishop of ROCHESTER Dean of WESTMINSTER Published by Their Majesties Command In the SAVOY Printed by Edward Jones M. DC XC 1 St. Peter Chap. 2. Part of 21st and 22d Verses Christ also suffer'd for us leaving us an Example that ye should follow his Steps Who did no Sin THE Subject of our Devout Meditations on this Blessed Day is our dear Redeemer's Passion and the last most bitter part of it his humbling himself so as to become Obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross and the Preaching of this Cross though as St. Paul tells us To them that Perish it is Foolishness yet he also assures us to as many as are Saved it is the Power of God Now that none of Us should be found in the number of those who Perish by foolishly despising the Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour but rather that we may all be wise to Salvation by meekly adoring this Power of God and the wondrous Depths of Divine Love in it and by rightly applying the unspeakable Fruits of it to our selves our Church has taken all imaginable care to represent it to us in the most serious and efficacious manner and to fix it firmly on our Minds and Consciences by frequent and affectionate Repetitions of all its Parts and Aggravations So that if we shall reflect on the whole Annual Circle of our Publick Devotions 't were easie to observe that our Saviour's Sufferings are therein oftner reiterated and more in proportion insisted on than perhaps any other Article of our pure and undefiled Religion Our Church in this as in all things else exactly following the Blessed Pattern of the first and purest Ages as they did the Gospel of Christ which seems to dispense and measure out to us the benefits of all Spiritual Truths even of his Glorious Resurrection it self only according as we shall lay hold on the Merits of and be conformable to his Death For so among many other Scriptures to the like purpose we read That if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death if so and upon no other terms then we shall be also planted in the likeness of his Resurrection Wherefore in order to this and to introduce as at this time the Passion of Christ with the greater Solemnity well did the Church Ordain That the certain Period of our Regular Abstinence and Repentance every Year should immediately go before this particular Season wisely judging the severest Mortifications of our selves to be the best Preparations for our meeting worthily our Lord dying and rising again for us and that some more than ordinary Method of Zealous Piety and Stricter Retirement from the World was necessary to fit us duly for a Time and Commemoration so Sacred Nay farther yet When the very Day of his dying did nearer approach to shew what ought to be the chief Matter of our Private Contemplations as well as Publick Worship during the whole Week preceding which has been therefore remarkably honour'd with the Venerable Name of The Holy Week has not our Excellent Liturgy Day by Day without Intermission with a Succession of Divine Offices the like not enjoin'd us in any other Week of the Year continually repeated and inculcated on our Memories this one charming Truth That our Lord our Love was Crucified So that scarce any thing else has all this while sounded in our Ears in these Holy Places but some one or other step of our Saviour's sad and dolorous passage to the Field of Blood till now at length we are brought thither and to the very Day when He cried out It is finish'd and gave up the Ghost We having been so lately conducted through this wholesome course of Severities and Contritions all teaching us to Die to Sin as our Lord Died now for our Sins I cannot but believe that what had been else the proper Business of the Preacher on this Day is already in great part here done to my Hands that You are all come hither tenderly affected with a deep Sense and melting Remorse for what Christ suffer'd as at this time in our stead And if by GOD's Grace Your Hearts are thus already touch'd from above then all that is left for me to do will be only to assist You not so much in raising as in directing to the best Uses Your Devout Affections already rais'd To consult together with You in the Fear of GOD how all this Grief and Sorrow which so deservedly possesses Your Souls may become a true Christian Grief and Godly Sorrow How by Degrees we may advance it into Spiritual Gratitude Hope Love Zeal and Full Assurance of Faith and at last into Joys unspeakable and full of Glory Which as sure as God is true will come to pass in the event if we shall make his precious Death and Passion not only the steady Object of our Belief and Admiration in those parts of it wherein we cannot imitate Him but also of our unwearied Imitation and constant Practise in those Things wherein he left behind him an Example for us to follow his Steps So you see it is that my Text instructs us in the only saving way of Contemplating our dear Lord's Sufferings that we should consider them not only in themselves and their Cruel and Lamentable Circumstances but in their Gracious Ends Influences and Powers As Christ was the Person Suffering as he suffer'd so much and as he suffer'd for us For us as an unvaluable Randsom to atone GOD's Justice that we may relie on it For us as an unblameable Original of Meekness Holiness Charity and Resignation to the Will of GOD that we may Copy after it In these few Words therefore we behold our LORD's Passion display'd to our View in its brightest Glory its condescending Humility its most obliging Endearments and its principal Uses First Its Glory in that it was Christ who suffer'd Jesus the Christ the Christ of God who is Lord of all things the Lord and Giver of Life That the same Person who was Anointed a King to Govern the whole World and Ordain'd a Prophet to Teach 〈◊〉 should be also Consecrated a Priest to â—acrifice for it Himself being the Oblation That is the Second and was the Lowâ—ness of His Humility which is here styled His Suffering Expressing in one word His patient enduring all that Misery and Torment which not only the Malice oâ— wicked Men or the Rage of Hell disappointed by Him but the Wrath of GOD provoked could inflict on Him not in the least on His own Account but only for our sakes Which next follows and is the most endearing part of all that He suffer'd for us the Creator for the Creatures the Just for the Unjust the Judge for the Criminals Yet for us loaded with all this Weight of our Guilt and with all these just Causes of His Prejudice he suffered for our Justification