Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nation_n	lord_n	people_n	word_n	4,342	5	4.1100	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43452	Great mens advantages and obligations to religion represented in a sermon preached before the King, in the chapel at St. James's, July the 17th, 1698 / by Henry Hesketh ...	Hesketh, Henry, 1637?-1710.	1699 (1699)	Wing H1611; ESTC R12140	14,268	28

Great Mens Advantages AND Obligations to RELIGION Represented in a SERMON Preached before the KING IN The Chapel at St. JAMES's JULY the 17 th 1698. By HENRY HESKETH Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Printed by the King 's Special Command LONDON Printed by J. L. for Walter Kettleby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1699. JER v. 5. I will get me to the great men and will speak unto them for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God IT was at a time of the greatest Degeneracy of the Jewish Church and Nation and a little before the Babylonish Captivity that these words were spoken by our Prophet And the Occasion was this The most merciful and good God to shew how willing and even desirous he was to spare that wretched and rebellious People condescends to such a Condition to do it upon as I am persuaded the most compassionate Man living could hardly have had the face to propose to him Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find one man if there be any that executeth judgment and seeketh the truth and I will pardon it ver 1. It was and will be for ever celebrated and adored as a mighty Instance of God's Mercy and readiness to spare Sinners that he offered to spare Sodom and Gomorrha if Ten righteous Persons could be found therein and it was as much as even Abraham when so much encouraged in his Applications for Mercy had the confidence to beg of him But surely it was much more to offer to spare a whole Nation if but One such could be found in it And it is not easie perhaps to say whether the Mercy of God in the Offer were more surprising or the Demerits of that People that could not come up to so easie a Condition the more astonishing However it were God's Mercy is highly exalted in the one and his Justice sufficiently vindicated even in his sharpest Inflictions upon the reason of the other We may reasonably suppose the good Prophet thought this a most gracious Offer in God and conceived some good Hopes upon the reason of it that his People might be saved and the impendent Judgment averted and therefore he undertakes the Inquest in hopes that he might find some One Person to stand in the gap and whose Righteousness might save his Nation from Destruction and Ruine To that end he begins his Search in the Streets and in the Broad places in the places of common concourse and in the crowds of the populace and what the success of his search was there he tells us ver 2 3. Falshood and Perjury Injustice and Fraud and an obstinate course of Wickedness without fear remorse or any hopes of amendment This no doubt was a great mortification and grief to the good Man but yet he comforts himself under it by considering that these were poor and so wholly immersed in worldly Business that they had little regard to Religion little knowledge of God and much could not be expected from them But he seems to have greater hopes of succeeding in his search among the Honourable and the Noble I will get me to the Great Men and speak unto them for surely they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God This is the Connexion of these words and this the Occasion upon which they were spoken And I have chosen to speak to them at this time not to frighten any Man by telling stories of our present Danger and parallelling our case with that of the Jews at this time nor take occasion to make any Tragical Out-cryes against the Degeneracy of all sorts of Men among us at this day much less of Those to whom I have now presumed to speak This perhaps would be deemed too rustick an Address for a Court and as it was said to Amos that which a King's Chapel would hardly bear I would much rather chuse to imitate though I can ne'er hope to equal the Rhetorick of St. Paul to King Agrippa who counted it the most becoming way to persuade him to believe the Prophets to seem confident that he did and with the Prophet in this place to presume upon the Religion of those that hear me rather than seem so much as to think there is any reason to reproach them with want of it Thus far I hope I may be allowed to go without offence and enquire what probable Reasons the Prophet had for his hope to find one good Man at least among the Jewish Nobility and what better reason I have to hope to find not only one but many even all such among those to whom I have the Honour now to speak The Probability of this I shall found upon these Two General Reasons I. The Advantages that Great Men enjoy to the Purposes of Religion II. The Obligations that they lie under to regard it above those that plod in the streets and crowd the broad places And if I may beg the Patience of this Great Audience while I instance Three Particulars of each of these I shall not presume to put it to any greater stress at this time First I begin with the First The Advantages to Religion that Great Men enjoy above others I shall only instance as I said Three of these among many others 1. That of Natural Temper and Constitution 2. That of Generous Timely Education 3. That of Time and Leisure from the necessary Incumbrances and Cares of other Men. 1. The First Advantage to Religion that I have named is that of Natural Temper and Constitution Which though it may seem a little mean thing to some yet is perhaps as worthy of consideration in this case as any other Every Man is wonderfully and curiously made as the holy Psalmist hath observed long since but perhaps Great Men may be said to be so in some respects above others their Blood being generally said to be more refined and their Bodies of a finer Mould than those of meaner Men. There is more sense in that common Adage nasci à principibus c. than is commonly taken notice of and it may be happiness of Natural Temper may be one reason upon which it hath been spoken as well as some others The Issues as well as Flights of Eagles and Jays saith the Greek Proverb are very different And we see it true all Creatures naturally instance the Seminal Vertues and Properties of their Progenitors and it is commonly seen to be so in the present case of Persons honourably extracted their very Natural Tempers and Humours are more tender soft and ductile than those of a courser grain Now sweet and good Nature is a mighty apt Disposition to Religion and in truth one is but the Perfection of the other The great purpose of Religion is to refine and sublimate Humane Nature and to reduce it to its primitive Standard in which the