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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	christian_a	fruitful_a	great_a	20	3	2.0850	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56749	A sermon upon the death of the Queen, preached in the parish-church of St. Mary White-Chappel by William Payne ...	Payne, William, 1650-1696.	1695 (1695)	Wing P911; ESTC R22909	18,504	38

to him and face it very boldly at the Mouth of a Canon or point of a Sword now it has found out a way to be too hard for him and to Revenge it self too cruelly upon his Fearless and Undaunted Temper It has found out his Weakness and wounded him in his softest and tenderest part it has wounded him to the very heart He was invulnerable every where else but in his Queen and there his tenderness prevailed over his Courage and the Husband over the Soldier and he has thereby shown that he had a great deal of that Goodness and Benignity of Temper which was in her and that this is not a Womanish but a truely Masculine Vertue accompanied as it was in Her with the Noblest Courage and Bravery of Mind 2. The next Divine Vertue in our Excellent Queen was her Inclination to do good to all Persons and upon all Occasions to the utmost of her Power Which though a Branch or an Effect of the Benignity of her Nature that fruitful Soil or rather Root of a great many Christian Vertues yet is it so considerable in it self and was so remarkable in her that it ought to be distinctly taken notice of as it will be by the great Judge at the last day She fed a great many hungry and cloathed a great many naked both French and Irish who had fled for their Religion and could bring nothing over with them but a good Conscience She gave very largely and bountifully to their Necessities out of Her Privy Purse and her Royal Heart was larger and more open than her Purse could alwayes be The Poor Widows and Orphans of Seamen and Soldiers tasted very largely of her Bounty and had the best Provision made for them She was able and She was Contriving and Designing Hospitals and Places of Refreshment for their Relief and Comfort and for the better Reception of the Sick and Wounded who had ventured their Lives and lost their Limbs for their Countrey I have heard of very large Sums given by her and a great many were given very Secretly and can be called to no account but that of God who has Rewarded her for them Even some of her Enemies I believe when they hungred and thirsted had according to the Apostles Rule Bread and Drink given to them Rom. 12.20 even those very Mouths that were sometimes opened against her There were many hard Cases and Instances of Pitty occasioned by the Revolution and the War not only at home but out of Ireland and Scotland whom She tenderly considered and charitably Relieved as they were offered and represented to her Pity and Compassion is a most generous Vertue and a sign of a Noble Spirit and it was so much hers that as she never did a hard thing to any so she did many kind ones where she was blamed and was merciful in the Opinion of others even to a fault though she was alwayes willing to Err on the right side if on any and could hardly be brought to do her self Justice upon her Enemies till their folly and her absolute necessity compelled her to it even against her Will But besides her Charity and her Mercy she had a great many other wayes of doing good to others especially to all her Dependants and those about her but above all by taking great care to make them Vertuous and Religious which was a kindness exceeding all others It was her hearty Endeavour and she had a great Zeal to spread and propagate Religion and she did all she could to do it both by her Example and by her Encouragement She had no By-Ends no Mean and Low Designs to serve but only the ends of Goodness and the Glory of God these were her only Scope and Aim her chief Pleasure and Delight the very Bent and Tendency of her Mind the Inclination of her Will the Complexion of her Soul was to every thing that was good Whatever things were true whatever things were honest whatever things were just whatsoever things were pure whatsoever things were lovely whatsoever things were of good report if there was any Vertue if there was any Praise She thought on minded and loved and delighted and was pleased with all those things She was a Woman indeed after God's own Heart That Character I doubt not belonged as well if not much better to Her than to King David himself She had all his Goodness and Piety without any of his faults She had as much Love to Gods House and as good Designs for it as he He was not more pleased with his Contrivances about Building a Temple than she in hers about St. Pauls and in Building up and Repairing the whole Church of England and making it like Mount Sion the joy of the whole Earth improving its Worship ordering its Discipline amending its Defects in making up its Breaches and bringing all Sober Protestants to one Communion which would have been the greatest Blow to Popery and Service to Religion in general She had a great many such Excellent Designs for the good of Religion of the Church and Nation which her own Thoughts and our late Excellent Primate had suggested to her and had she out-lived the present Troublesome and Expensive War we should have seen a great many more Instances of her doing good in all kinds than we yet know or have heard of for what Mighty things would such an Active Mind such a Power joyned with such an Inclination to do good have produced had it been set free from all hindrances and encumbrances but God thought not us of this sinful Nation worthy of such a Blessing nor the World worthy of such a Woman but rather thought her worthy of a sooner Reward for the extraordinary good Deeds she had done already according to Plutarchs Remark upon Biton and Cleobis two Graecian Youths who for an extraordinary Act of Piety done by them for which their Mother prayed they might receive the best thing could be given to Mortals were that Night found dead in Juno's Temple whither they had drawn their Mothers Chariot the Goddess as he supposes rewarding their signal Piety and good Deed with a sudden Death Plut. Cousol ad Apollon 3. I come next to consider her Universal Vertue Innocence and Purity of Life in which she was so Angelical and so confirmed as no Devil ever dared to Tempt or which is more to Slander her Her whole Life was the Brightest the most Charming the most Lovely and Complete Example of all manner of Vertue through all the parts of it it broke forth very Early and appeared in the very Morning of her Age and gave very promising hopes of what she proved afterwards a most Excellent Princess it rose Higher and shone Brighter and Brighter even to a perfect Day and as all admired its Lustre so not a few felt its Influence it scattered and dispersed Vice where-ever it came as the Sun does Mists and Vapours and made it either fly before it or hide it self

and Influence when placed in so high an Orb above others in which they can easily turn all the Lesser Circles and Subordinate Spheres about with them but as their very Places and their Characters call for this whereby they Personate and Represent and are in the Place of God and therein do a great deal of good to the World and are Gods though not by Nature yet by Office so that to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities even the worst and bring a Railing Accusation against them Jude 8. though never so true is stigmatiz'd as a great fault by the Apostle And what Michael the Arch-Angel thought not fit against the Devil though contending with him but rather used that more Decent Language The Lord Rebuke thee Which some Christians would do well to Consider Thus I have briefly accounted for this Expression in my Text of calling Rulers and those none of the best by the Name of Gods and Angels and this by the Holy Ghost himself whom none can have the Blasphemous Impudence to charge with any Flattery in so doing I am now to Apply this Character upon more Particular and more Eminent Reasons to one of the best Princesses who ever sat upon a Throne I know not how to draw her Picture 't is so all over Beautious without any Foil any Shade any Blemish so Perfect in every Feature so Accomplish't in every Part so Adorn'd with every Perfection and every Grace having such an exact Symmetry and such Rich and Lively Colours of the most Beautiful Vertues Appearing in all her Actions and Shining through her whole Life that Her 's must be the very Picture of Vertue it self drawn to the Life not in the Dead and Cold Descriptions of it in the Books of Moralists or in the Lectures of Divines and Philosophers But in such a Living Pattern and Example of it as makes Vertue it self become Visible and Embodyed and Answers Tully's Wish and Justifyes his Saying That if it could thus be seen with Bodily Eyes it would Excite Admirable Love of it self in all that behold it 'T is a hard thing in Painting to draw a Perfect and Exact Circle it out-does that Art to draw Light or the Lustre of the Sun or with a Cold Pencil to describe Fire And it can no more equal the Natural Beauty of the Rose with its Faint Colours than the Fragrancy of it The Work and Difficulty is as great in our Present Case To Describe the Perfect Vertues of our Incomparable Queen No Art or Skill can come up to them much less Exceed them There is no room for Fancy and Imagination to add any thing Nature and Grace have out-done that and set before us such a Compleat Peice I had almost said such an Original of Humane Vertue and Perfection as the World has not had in many Ages We must draw Her as Apelles did Venus not by any Single though most Beautiful Pattern but by taking the several Excellencies and Perfections of all other Women and putting them together as God had done in Her We must Draw Her by no other we must Draw Her only by Her Self I mean by no other Humane likeness by none of the Imperfect Copies of Mortal Vertue She has left behind her No We must Draw Her truly by the likeness She had to God the Fountain and Original of all Excellencies and Perfections and by Her Similitude to the Angels those Holy and Heavenly Spirits the first Images of God and both Him and Them She Resembled as Highly as could well be done by mere Humane Vertue She was an Excellent Copy both of the Divine and Angelick Nature and Vertue as like God and as like the Blessed Spirits above those Children of the Most High as perhaps any Man or any Woman ever was within our Knowledge except Him that was a True God as well as a Man and Her that was the Mother of God I say not this to flatter Her She is above that She is got out of the reach either of Flatterers or Slanderers and She was above it here Her Vertue was alwayes too great to be flatter'd or to have more said of it than it deserv'd and it was so great likewise that neither Envy nor Malice durst ever slander it But I speak my Judgment and Opinion of Her out of Her hearing by which neither am I to get any thing nor She And I believe there are hardly any that knew Her will much differ from me or will think that too much can be said in Her Praise Her Name ought to live in the highest Monuments of Fame Adorn'd and Gilded with all the Glorious Ensigns that Art can put upon them We ought to build Her Tomb with the best Work and garnish it with the best Ornaments and hang it with the finest Garlands and strew all the Flowers upon it that the Withered and Decayed Poetry and Oratory of our Age can furnish We may do any thing we ought to do every thing but building an Altar and making an Office and saying Ave Maria to Her She was the Saint of our Church of our Age and Nation of whom we have reason to be Proud and make the Most seeing however they abounded in former Rubricks at least they are so very scarce now I am sure Her Memory ought to be very pretious to us all and Her Righteousness to be had in Everlasting Remembrance not only as a Due we ought to pay Her but as a Benefit we are still to receive from Her Her Excellent Example ought to live after her and do as much good as can be though nothing so much as She would have done had She lived and ought to be set before the World in the best Light and with the best Advantage to Teach the Present Age Piety and Religion and all manner of Vertue and be Transmitted down to Posterity with the greatest Honour Imaginable i. e. with the Greatest and Exactest Truth for it needs no more I am at present only to show how this Title and Character which is here in my Text given to Princes and Magistrates whereby they are called Gods And Angels or Children of the Most High does in a Peculiar and more Eminent manner belong to Her and that not only in respect of Her Office Her Power and Authority Her High State and Dignity whereby She was Advanced above other Mortals which was the Principal Reason why other Princes are called Gods and Children of the Most High But especially upon Account of Her Personal Qualities and Excellencies and particularly upon these Four which I shall single out of all her others for She had All wherein she was most remarkably like God and the Angels 1. The Goodness and Benignity of Her Nature 2. Her Charity and Inclination to do all good to others 3. Her Universal Vertue Innocence and Purity of Life 4. Her Extraordinary Piety and Devotion As to Her Soveraign Power and Office which Entitled her to this Character in my Text