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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	day_n	great_a	sabbath_n	5,063	5	9.5741	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29362	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London, at the Church of S. Mary le Bow, the fifth of November, 1684 by Francis Bridge ...	Bridge, Francis, d. 1688.	1685 (1685)	Wing B4444; ESTC R3795	12,825	36

Truth hath said it and God who is Power is able to perform it Though hand joyn in hand the Wicked shall not go unpunished Prov. 11.21 And who knoweth what their punishment shall be inscrutable as to the beginning it shall come suddenly without observation in the manner we know not what it will be and in the end who knoweth how long it shall last it may reach as far as Hell it self and from thence I am sure there is no redemption Now what is our duty but to rejoyce in this Vengeance which was so great and so remarkable we may as it were wash our Feet in the bloud of those that would have destroyed us 2. We shall acknowledge the Providence of God and the Rewards he affords unto the Righteous 1. It is a pleasant and easie Task required of us to Rejoyce our Duty and Priviledge are so closely joyned together that we cannot perform the one without being made partakers of the other I shall not think it worth my time at present to set forth the lawfulness of appointing set Solemn days of Rejoycing as this is especially when the days of Purim and the Feast of the Dedication which our Saviour honoured with his presence were not of God's immediate appointment And that which may sway most with us all and convince us it is not Conscience but Obstinacy and endeavour to lessen the Magistrates Power that the Dissenters thus Argue when they themselves besides if not contrary to Establishment appoint set times of Humiliation and Thanksgiving as if it were better and more Orthodox from a Disobedient Schismatick than from the hands of a lawful Magistrate whom God hath set over us Taking it therefore for granted that such appointment of Festivals is lawful let us see what we ought to do in them to Commemorate and Rejoyce in God's Works The Sabbath and the Passover were commemorations of those great Works God had done for his People and this Day the Destroyer past over our Dwellings this is a Day of God's own making All days indeed are alike Created by the Lord whether Fair or Dark all alike made by Diespiter the Father of Days though times of anguish and perplexity are looked upon as if they were not Job 3.6 Nights rather than Days as Job said in his hasty fit Yet when the Sun shines clearly and we are under the bright influence of his comfortable Beams this is a Day indeed a Day of Gladness and Rejoycing and such is our Day a Day of God's making to which he hath a peculiar Title We may well say as they in the Gospel Luke 5.26 We have seen strange things this Day Nay Ask of the Days that are past and enquire from one side of the Heaven to the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it Deut. 4.32 Psal 126.1 When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Zion then were we like to them that dream we were in a maze knew not well what to think of it it was none of Man's foresight or contrivance and at such times every Righteous person ought to Rejoyce God by black Days calls us to mourning and lamentation and it would be a Sin as ridiculous as odious in his sight in times of War Famine Pestilence c. to appear with a merry countenance in Feasting and Revelling and all the outward indications of Gladness and Security So here God by these Deliverances calls us to Rejoycing no heavy burthen The word in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall Rejoyce saith Vatablus may well be turned into an Optative let him Rejoyce which is much at one for here is either the Practice of good Men or the Duty couched in the Exhortation If the Prophet had bid us do some great thing should we not have done it how much rather when he calls us to Triumph and Exult in his Mercies Nehem. 8.9 10. We have a pattern for such exercises This Day is holy unto the Lord your God mourn not nor weep Go your way eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared for this Day is holy unto the Lord neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord your strength Our Joy must not only be inward but outward too we must show it in our countenances and in our behaviour we must publish it unto the whole World that we Rejoyce in the rock of our Salvation and that 1. By acknowledging and owning of it publickly in the great Congregation constitute a solemn Day in condensis that we may stand so thick in the Church as may fill it from the entry of the Door to the very edge of the Altar for so the Vulgar and S. Hierom's Translation of Psal 118.27 seem to intimate Constituite diem solennem in condensis usque ad cornu Altaris Open therefore to me the gates of Righteousness I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. It is not every Rejoycing will serve the turn it must be a Spiritual Rejoycing we come unto the Sanctuary that is the first place we ought to appear in and give publick testimonies of our Joy 2. We are appointed not only a place where to meet in but a Practice what we are to do when we are there that is Trust in the Lord that judgeth in the Earth and be assured there is a Reward for the Righteous if we do well it shall be well with us he that hath done such marvellous things for us already will doubtless compleat his Mercy in our future preservation We may be well assured the Daughters of the Uncircumcised would have made this a Day of Triumph and we are delivered not only to stand and cry out of the foulness of the Plot or those Devillish Monsters Actors in it or bless our selves for so fair an escape No we ought to serve God in sincerity and persevere in our Duty When we are under the apprehension of danger we are all Godly on a sudden but our Goodness is as the morning cloud as the early dew it goeth away Hos 6.4 is quickly scattered and gone before the Sun be many hours high but by our Obedience alone we shall preserve our selves To day indeed is a joyful day but who knows what the next day may bring forth the implacable Enemies of our Peace are still working the same Designs carrying on our Sins are as many and daring as ever let us therefore pray to God that he may be to us as Jesus is a Saviour yesterday and to day and the same for ever If we can but truly pray as the Church doth O God we have heard with our Ears and our Fathers have declared unto us the noble works thou didst in their days and in the old time before them it may very reasonably follow O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thine honour Let us plead God's former Deliverances and by them have

confusion of Tongues Quarrels and Division among themselves I cannot but wonder how any of our Dissenters who have endeavoured to destroy the same Establishment so lately can excuse their Ignorance or Hypocrisie in giving God publick thanks for the preservation of that which they openly brand as Popish and Antichristian 2. But then as David's numerous and potent Enemies treacherously and secretly combined for his Destruction so did the Enemies of this Day too All Treasons and Conspiracies are usually transacted in the dark they are properly the works of darkness they cannot endure the clear discoveries of light for fear they should be detected Was not this our case this Day was there much more than a moment between us and Destruction was not the Deliverance as remarkable as the Danger We thought our selves secure from any contrivance of this Nature our very Enemies seemed to behave themselves with modesty and moderation But alas they could not long hide their temper like their Father they must appear with their cloven Foot the truest Emblem of Division and Dissention They were not uppermost and therefore must put the World into a Combustion it was not enough for them to be the subjects of anothers mercy unless they themselves had Power and Authority for doing mischief This they contrived in secret places in dark corners of the Earth they properly thought to undermine us their malice was restless and active an Oath of Secrecy and the Sacrament it self were their Preludiums to our Destruction Their Design was formed under ground nearer the confines of Hell acknowledging the grand Adversary to be the Author of this device The discovery of this contrivance was highly remarkable a Letter to secure one person proved the safety of the whole Nation and that by an Interpretation of the King himself which seems little less than an Inspiration from God whose Vicegerent he was This plainly proves there are some who are God's peculiar care as Signets on his Right Hand who as publick Persons are reserved to be a publick benefit These are they who are in Scripture stiled Gods For though their mould be no more refined and their End the same with other Men yet their Character and Authority is Divine who so slights them slights God and cannot expect to descend to the Grave without a full and remarkable Vengeance 3. Once more and I have done David's Enemies though they did not indeed yet seemed to speak Righteously No question they had fair and plausible pretences in their mouths The vindication of the Truth and the Catholick Cause were the Traitors pretences this Day They come with Religion in their mouths but Rancor and Malice in their hearts Most of the Rebellions and Cruelties in the World have been transacted under the notion either of Religion or Reformation Holy Leagues Solemn Covenants Associations and the like have been the usual Prefaces to such undertakings The bloudiest of all projects have been ever coloured over with Godliness because the worse any thing is the better gloss it willingly would have Men of these Principles however they have been led themselves by the Spirit of delusion or endeavour to delude others are still very active and busie they come in Sheeps clothing pretending Peace and Friendship a concernment for our Souls and a tender regard for our Everlasting happiness but within they are ravenous Wolves would convert us as they did the Indians by Murther and Assassination What can we say of such Men who pretend this not only Interest but Conscience not only Gain but Godliness not only propagating their own Grandeur but vindicating that Religion our Saviour came to establish If an honest Heathen were to be Judge he would surely esteem Christ's Doctrine if it consisted in the Jesuits Politicks to be far more uneasie than the Light of Nature We were certainly more at quiet before when we were left to our Natural principles than by such a super-induced Revelation be bound to disturb Societies kill Kings translate Governments and engage us in all the Broils and Tumults in the World As if the Prince of Peace were a Title only to cheat Men into an opinion of his Dictates and when they were once so far Trepan'd to instruct them in all unheard of Villanies and unallowable practices abhorred by the more Religious though more ignorant Heathen and however contradictory such practices are to the peaceable rules of the Gospel yet they have still the impudence to stile themselves of the Society of Jesus Good Lord what a pass are we now come to The honest and immediate Successors of our Saviour nay and he himself too were quite mistaken they lived but in the Infancy of Religion discoursed all things with plainness and sincerity had no guile or reservation in their breasts But alas good men Prophets and other Pen-men of the holy Scriptures how wofully were they mistaken A new Sect of Christians are sprung up in the World who have received greater Light and improvement who are of more refined Principles and subtle Policies who contradict all you have been exhorting us to But I hope all such pretences to Religion will now vanish and the works of darkness be made manifest such as Envy Hatred Variance Uncharitableness Wrath Bitterness And whosoever they are that own such principles of resistance and disobedience to their lawful Superiors let them undergo the same punishment with the Rebels of this Day and be truly stiled Papists in Masquerade while they own the most mischievous of their Opinions Thus have we seen all the Arts and Malice of all the Adversaries of Truth and Religion conjoyned in the wicked purpose of this Day it was contrived with Treachery and Perfidiousness principles abhorred by all generous Spirits from the foundations of the World Nay they acted with Deliberation had Consultations and Assemblies about it it was not the product of a fresh and rash Anger which is commonly stiled a short Rage or Madness they had revolved it often in their minds their wrath was of long standing and resolution they consulted about it a considerable time many Months before they had Oaths of Secrecy and Seals of Confession nay the Blessed Sacrament it self that Cement of peace is publickly profaned to the abetting those horrid Massacres they designed But God be thanked the Vengeance is returned upon themselves their Counsels are defeated their purposes disappointed their Destruction did arise as suddenly upon them as they designed it for us and their unavoidable ruin the just reward of all Traitors did tread close upon their heels and punishment from God did seize upon them This methinks should be enough to terrifie Men from attempts of this nature if they did but consider that God Almighty will take the matter into his own hands and though the hands of Magistrates may be weakned upon Earth their Power impaired and their Authority lessened yet he himself will avenge their Quarrel No Traitor can exempt himself from Destruction one way or other God who is