Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
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A75684
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God's king the people's blessing. A sermon preached on the day of thanksgiving for peace, at St. Ann's Church in Dungannon, in the diocese of Armagh. / By Edm. Arwaker, rector of Drumglass, and chaplain to his grace the Duke of Ormond.
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Arwaker, Edmund
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1698
(1698)
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Wing A3909; ESTC R170385
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12,645
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21
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because the Lord had given him rest 2 Chron. 20. 30. So certain it is that when a Mans Ways please the Lord he maketh even his Enemies to be at Peace with him Prov. 16. 7. For this are Good Kings called The Breath of their Peoples Nostrils Lam. 4. 20. who live Safe under their Shadow and enjoy Peace and Prosperity by their means And since it is by God that Kings Reign Prov. 8. 15. it must needs be an Evidence of his signal Favour to that People over whom he places a Good King whose Excellent Qualifications establish their Felicity and whose Great Example teaches them the Practice of that Righteousness which exalts a Nation Prov. 14. 34. Since then Solomon had not only brought Plenty to his People in making Silver as common at Jerusalem as the Stones 1 King 10. 27. but Peace and Splendor too the Queen of Sheba might very reasonable conclude that Because God loved Israel to Establish them for ever therefore he made him King over them And as his love to Israel made him bless them with so Good a King so his taking a delight in Solomon induced him to make Choice of him to set him upon his Throne to be King for the Lord his God since he found in him those Excellencies and Perfections which endear a King to God and render him a Blessing to his People For the Vertues of Justice Prudence Temperance Fortitude and Piety the want of which in a King I have already shewn to be of pernicious consequence to his Subjects were so signally Eminent in Solomon that his People could not desire a more Accomplish'd Soveraign to compleat their Happiness Justice which is a constant and perpetual Will to render every Man his Right or rather a habit of so doing upon all occasions was the Rule of all Solomon's Administrations This was Judah's and Israel's Security in the Possession of their Rights and Properties and gave every Man a safe Enjoyment of his own Vine and his own Figtree all the Days of that Righteous King And this could not but be well-pleasing to God as giving Man a near Resemblance of himself who is Righteous in all his Ways Psal 145. 17. And being advantagious to his People in keeping them from Injuries and Oppression and securing them in the Possession of those Acquists to which they had just Right and Title Thus A Divine Sentence is in the Lips of the King when his Mouth transgresseth not in Judgment Prov. 16. 10. and by it he establisheth the Land Prov. 29. 4. But to do Impartial Justice requires a Solid Prudence which being a True Habit of Acting with Reason in respect of those things that concern the well or ill being of Men must therefore be a Requisite Qualification for Kings on whose Management the Happiness or Misery of their Realms must necessarily depend The Consideration of this prevailed with Solomon when God left it to his Option to ask what he should give him to desire an Understanding Heart to judge his People that he might discern between Good and Bad 1 King 3. 9. Which Choice was an Argument that he was in great measure endued already with what he so judiciously desired And God was so well pleased with his Petition that he not only gave him what he asked but an Overplus of Riches and Honour Vers 13. Now how signal his Prudence was and how great the Benefits thereof appears from his Celebrated Decision between the Harlots who contended for the living Child ver 27. Which proves it as much the Happiness of a People as the Honour of a King that he shou'd be able to search out a matter by so nice a Scrutiny Pro. 25. 2. And since the Wisdom of God was in him to do Judgment 1. King 3. 28. it must needs please him to see the Stream retain the Pureness of its Fountain and he wou'd Love him for this as much as all Israel Feared him Nor did Solomon permit his Justice to be perverted or his Prudence baffled by any manner of Intemperance but as those Virtues were his Peoples Safeguard against Injuries and Outrages from one another so his Temperance was their Defence against all Oppressions and Severity from himself But when magnified in the noblest part and demonstration of it Clemency it free'd them from the Just Punishments they had deserved and provoked him to inflict on them by their Crimes This was evident in his dealing with Adonijah whom tho' he had set up a Title to the Crown he pardon'd and assured that if he wou'd shew himself a worthy man there shou'd not an hair of his Head fall to the earth 1 King 1. 52. Nor was it less visible in his proceedings with Abiathar who promoted the Usurpation for tho' the King declared him worthy of Death yet he contented himself with deposing him from the Priesthood and confining him to his House at Anathoth 1 King 2. 26. Thus by his slowness to Anger did he render himself better than by all his Might and greater in Ruling his Spirit than in the Government of Judah and Israel Pro. 16. 32. and as it was his Glory so it prov'd his Peoples Safety and God who his is slow to Anger and of great Goodness cou'd not but be delighted with Qualities so resembling his own and chuse him for the Representative of his Power as fittest to Rule Others who had so great a Government over Himself But if Judah and Israel were thus obliged to their King for their Domestick Ease and Enjoyments they were no less indebted to him for their Protection from Foreign Ravages and Incursions Fortitude which is a Mediocrity between Fear and Confidence was so eminent in Solomon that it left him no Famous Opportunities of exerting it more than in the Methods which took the occasion from him It led him to strengthen himself with all the necessary Provisions of War at Land with a powerful Army 2 Chron. 1. 14. By Sea with a sufficient Fleet 1 King 9. 26. Which supplied him with Gold from Ophir to support the charge of both ver 28. So that he kept his People in Peace Fourty Years a Blessing which needs no other recommendation than the Terrors and Calamities of War Their young men were not slain with the Sword nor their Cities wasted there was no desolation in their Fields nor complaining in their Streets but Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the Sea in multitude eating and drinking and making merry 2. King 4. 20. There was no one durst attempt to disturb or trouble them but their Tranquillity was firm and unshaken as the Resolution of their King who cou'd not have manifested his Fortitude so much in subduing Enemies as he did in preventing his having Enemies to subdue and keeping his People in so perfect a Peace that it was preferable to the greatest Victories And as God who was always loving to Israel and desirous of their Establishment had reason to be delighted with that