Selected quad for the lemma: master_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
master_n	child_n	servant_n	wife_n	7,379	5	6.5654	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42051	Omilia eiréniké, or, A thanksgiving sermon for peace abroad with motives to unity at home, especially in matters of religion : preach'd at Hambleden in the county of Bucks on Thursday the second day of December, 1697 / by Francis Gregory ...	Gregory, Francis, 1625?-1707.	1697 (1697)	Wing G1897; ESTC R39481	9,967	28

Dr. GREGORY's THANKSGIVING SERMON PREACHED On Thursday the 2 d of December 1697. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A THANKSGIVING SERMON FOR Peace Abroad WITH Motives to Unity at Home ESPECIALLY In Matters of Religion Preach'd at Hambleden in the County of Bucks on Thursday the Second Day of December 1697. By FRANCIS GREGORY D. D. and Rector of Hambleden LONDON Printed for Richard Sare at Gray's-Inn-Gate and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1697. PSALM CXXII 7. Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces COncerning this Psalm there are Three things which may be consider'd First The Inscription or Title which it bears Secondly The Occasion upon which it was written and Thirdly The subject Matter which it contains As for the Title of his Psalm t is double for First 'T is stiled in the Hebrew Language Schir Hammaaloth in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Latin Canticum Graduum i. a Song of Degrees And besides this Psalm there are Fourteen more set down in order which bear the same Inscription And why these Fifteen Psalms are called Songs of Degrees there are several Reasons offered by several Interpreters all which are but Conjectural The Rabbins or Doctors of the Jewish Church tell us That there were Fifteen Steps or Stairs by which as by so many Degrees they went up to the Temple and that upon their Solemn Festivals the Levites were wont upon each of these Steps or Degrees to stand still and sing one of those Psalms and that from this Custom these Fifteen Psalms received this denomination There are others who think that there was in the Temple a certain place raised high above the Ground like the Galleries in our Churches to which the Levites ascended by several Steps or Degrees and there did sing these Psalms and that from thence these Psalms took this Name There is a third Opinion that these Psalms are so called because when the Levites did sing them they did by degrees raise their Notes advance their Voices and tune them in an higher Strain than ordinary But the consideration of this being a thing rather of Curiosity than of Edification I will say no more about it 2 dly The second Inscription or Title which this Psalm bears in the Hebrew Tongue is this Mizmor le Dabid a Psalm of David the Greek Translation reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Psalm to David But that 's an Hebraism where the Article le doth govern sometimes a Genitive and sometimes a Dative Case This Title sheweth us who was the undoubted Penman of this Psalm namely the Royal Prophet a King inspired of God whose Name stands prefixed before most of the Psalms to distinguish those which were written by him and those which were Penned by some other inspired Persons as Asaph Heman Aethan and Moses But to pass by this Secondly The second thing considerable in reference to this whose Psalm is the Occasion whereupon it was composed and written and that is thought to be this We read that David had been forced to fly from Jerusalem from his own House and God's by the Rebellion and Treason of his own Son Absolom who endeavour'd to dispossess him of his Kingdom and probably of his Life too but within a short space Absalom being slain and his Army dispersed and David returned in safety to Jerusalem 't is believed that he might upon that happy occasion Pen this Psalm But Thirdly the third thing here considerable is the Subject Matter which this Psalm contains in it and the most remarkable Passages therein are these two 1 st David's exceeding Joy for his Restoration to the Place of God's Publick Worship from which to his unspeakable Grief he had been so lately Banished During the whole time of David's Exile there was nothing that did so much disquiet David's Soul as the consideration of his forced Absence from the Sanctuary of God none of his Troubles none of his Misfortunes did he ever lament so long and so oft as that But when once David had recovered his former Liberty when the Doors of the Sanctuary did again stand open to him like a Man transported with Joy he abruptly broke out into this Expression I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the House of the Lord and so it is with all Religious Souls To them the House of God is a place of the greatest Joy and Pleasure 2 dly The second of those things which are most considerable in this Psalm is David's earnest Request both to God and Men for the Happiness of Jerusalem and for the continuance of those Spiritual Privileges which they did now enjoy His Address to Men was this Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and what he requested other Men to do he did himself backing his Exhortation with his own Example for upon the account of Jerusalem being then the Royal City the chief Place of God's most solemn Worship and a Type of the Universal Church David put up this Petition to Heaven Peace be within thy walls and prosperity or as our old Translation reads it Plenteousness within thy Palaces Now from the Matter and Method of this Petition which David here presented to his God there do very naturally arise these two plain Conclusions First That Peace is a Blessing that is very desirable why else did David perswade his Neighbours to beg it And why else did he himself so earnestly Petition God to grant it Secondly That Prosperity or Plenteousness is commonly the Fruit and Consequence of Peace This I observe from the Method and Order of David's Petition Peace be within thy walls that 's the first part of his Request and then the second follows Prosperity or Plenteousness be within thy Palaces And the truth is without Peace first obtained Prosperity or Plenteousness can hardly be expected First the first Conclusion which doth naturally arise from the Text is this namely That Peace is a Blessing that is very desirable indeed and so it is 1 st In the Private Families of Particular Men. 2 dly In the Publick Societies Commonwealths and Kingdoms of the World 3 dly In the Catholick Church which is God's more special Kingdom and the only Family of Christ here below I. Peace is a Blessing that is very desirable in the private Families of particular Persons There are three chief Relations which are commonly found in the Families of Men that of Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants and how pleasant how joyful a thing must it needs be for all the Relations who constitute the whole Family to live together in Peace and Unity Husbands and Wives are called One Flesh and certainly it can never do well if they be not of One Spirit too for can they who are but One Flesh be divided without sore Rents and Wounds Again Children are but the Parts of their own Parents and can any part that is quick and living be separated from the whole without sense of much pain and

anguish And as for Servants they are their Masters Trustees and if they bear a grudge to their Masters Person 't is ten to one but they will falsify their Trust too But where Husbands and Wives are of the same mind and draw the same yoke and in the same way where Parents love their Children and Children love their Parents where Masters are kind to their Servants and Servants chearfully obey their Masters where the inferior Relation doth readily do what the Superior doth prudently require In short when the Hand doth willingly execute what the Head doth wisely contrive and dictate Where the case stands thus such Families are in the ready way and take the right course to thrive But on the other hand if Strifes and Contentions arise and grow in a Family if as our Lord speaks The father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother where Relations who are so near in Blood are at such distance in point of Affection such Families can never expect God's Blessing to make them Prosper nor indeed can they heartily unite any joint Petitions to beg it Such Families are so far from having any hopes to flourish that our Lord hath plainly told us Every house every family divided against it self shall not stand No Strife and Contention are as Gregory Nazianzene well observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginnings of Dissolution That which best Cements and Supports a Family is mutual Concord and Unity and if so how desirable a Blessing is Peace even in the private Families of Men II. Peace is a Blessing very desirable in the Catholick Church which is the great and only Family which God hath in this lower World St. Paul tells his Christian Converts thus Ye are fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God not as Servants only but as Children too All the sincere Converts of the World all true Believers have the same God for their Father the same Christ for their Brother the same Church for their Mother and if so themselves must needs be Brethren And is not this Fraternity such a near Relation as should incline us to Peace and Unity See that Expression of Abraham to Lot Let there be no strife I pray thee betwixt me and thee for we are Brethren We all pretend to be Travellers towards the heavenly Canaan and if we be such indeed that Counsel which Joseph gave his Brethren doth much concern us See that ye fall not out by the way O remember that God who is the Father of us all is stiled The God of Peace our Blessed Saviour who is our Elder Brother too is stiled The Prince of Peace and he hath given us a fair Intimation that every good Man is and ought to be a Son of peace one inclinable and well disposed to mutual Concord Amity and Agreement to this end did our Lord give his Apostles this Charge Have peace one with another Nay saith St. Paul if it be possible as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men but especially with all Men of the same Religion See how very earnest St. Paul was for this I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you What to do to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace And truly where this Unity of the Spirit is not kept where this Bond of Peace in matters of Religion is once dissolved 't is a clear Evidence that Men are not such Christians as they should be St. Paul plainly told the Men of Corinth so I hear that there are divisions amongst you division about their Teachers One saith I am of Paul another saith I am of Apollo and a third saith I am of Cephas and what doth St. Paul infer from this variety of their Opinions That he tells them Whereas there is amongst you envyings strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men Not as becomes good Christians but like sinful Men. Now much like to this Case of the Church of Corinth is the present Case of the Church of England too for as they were divided about their Preachers so are we as among them one was for Paul another for Apollo and a third for Cephas so among us one is for an Episcopal Preacher another for a Presbyterian a third for an Independent One Man is for those set Forms of Prayer which our very Excellent Liturgy prescribes and I cannot blame him another Man is for extempore Effusions and sure I am that even these also are set and stinted Forms though not to the Speaker himself yet to every other Man that hears them Again one Man is for performing the Duties of our Publick Worship in a Church a place Built and Dedicated to the Service of God alone but another Man is for Worshipping the Great Majesty of Heaven in an homely Barn a place built and designed only for the Civil and Common Uses of men Once more One Man is for our Publick Assemblies which are Established by our Laws another Man is for Conventicles in Private Houses and since these Conventicles have been so very numerous and since so many sorts of Dissenters have resorted to them 't is from the Good Providence of God that these Conventicles have not yet emptied our Churches that these back Ditches have not yet drawn the main Stream quite dry But can the Wisest of men amongst us foresee what the end of our Divisions may prove Sure I am its present Effects are but sad ones for by these Divisions we do prejudice the best Religion in the World we do thereby very much discourage Jews Papists Turks Men of all other Religions from embracing ours For may they not justly say the true way of Worshipping God being but one since there is amongst us Protestants such a diversity of Opinions about it who can assure us which may be the only right one Besides this Difference in Judgment doth naturally produce Difference in Practice too and difference in Practice doth commonly create difference in Affection and when these Differences meet together they are wont to produce Schisms in the Church Seditions in the State and Confusions in both Nay when Differences in matters of Religion ferment and grow high when divided Parties are zealous every one for his own Opinion how oft do they break out into Civil Wars some of them defending their Errors by the Sword which they could never have defended by any other Arguments Now then if these be the usual Consequences of Divisions in matters of Religion how desirable a Blessing must Unity and Peace be in the Church of God III. Peace is a Blessing very desirable in the Civil Societies of Men in Towns and Cities in the Commonwealths and Kingdoms of the World at Home amongst our selves and Abroad with all other Nations too I need not tell you that in Halcyon days when things are