Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	house_n	king_n	lord_n	6,100	4	3.9503	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33247	A looking-glass for religious princes, or, The character and work of Josiah delivered in a sermon upon 2 Kings XXIII.XXV : the substance whereof was preached April 5 1691 at Pershore in Worcester-shire ... / by Richard Claridge ...	Claridge, Richard, 1649-1723.	1691 (1691)	Wing C4433; ESTC R2252	26,502	40

and Vice because as they reign by him so they should reign for him too God puts the Crown upon their Heads and Scepter into their Hands for other purposes than to suffer (i) 1 Kings 12 28. Micah 6.16 Jeroboams Calves Omri's Statutes and the Works of the House of Ahab He exalts them to Soveraign Dignity for more excellent Ends They should always have his Glory in their Eye and postpone all other Ends to that Herein we have an Example of a King the most illustrious Scripture History affords and who hath left a Copy of Extraordinary Zeal for God to all succeeding Kings to write after 't is Josiah King of Judah And like unto him was there no King before him that turn'd to the Lord with all his heart c. The Text contains the Character and Commendation of Josiah with the Work and Duty of his Day and in him presents us with a Looking-Glass for Christian Princes Or 't is a compleat Idea and exact Description of a truly Religious King He turned to the Lord with all his heart When Josiah came to the Crown he found the Kingdom universally polluted with Idolatry both Priests and People were infected and every Age and Sex a Remnant excepted had corrupted their ways His Great Grandfather Hezekiah was a very good King and had destroyed all publick Idolatry in the Land * 2 Kings 18.4 5. He removed the high places and brake the Images and cut down the Groves and brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made because it was abused to Idolatry for unto those days the Children of Israel burnt Incense to it He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him But in the Reigns of his Grandfather Manasseh and Father Amon whose History is set down 2 Kings 21. and 2 Chron. 33. Idolatry increased like Hydra's heads and the worship of Baalim or Idols of the Sun prevailed over the Worship of the True God For (i) 2 King 21.3 Manasseh built up again the High Places which his Father Hezekiah had destroyed and he reared up Altars for Baal and made a Grove as did Ahab and worshipped all the Host of Heaven and served them And if we look into the (k) Regnavit Annis 2. short Reign of his Son Amon we shall find he was no better than his Father but succeeded him in his Throne and Impieties together For (l) 2 Kings 21 20. he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord as his Father Manasseh did 'T is true Manasseh as wicked a King as he had been after his Repentance (n) 2 Chron. 33.12 16.6 v. 17. did pretty considerably toward a Reformation (o) 2 Chron. 29.3 Nevertheless the People did sacrifice still in the High Places But in Amons time the Reformation was utterly quasht till the Reign of Josiah in whose time it was carried on with wonderfull zeal and success For like unto him was there no King before him neither after him arose any like him But how can this be when the same Character is given of Hezekiah For 't is said 2 Kings 18.5 After him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him For resolution of this Question several things may be offered in Answer First It must be understood with Exception of Hezekiah because this Commendation is likewise given to him Secondly The Phrase denotes them both to have been eminently Religious Thirdly They had their particular Excellencies wherein they both outstript Hezekiah shew'd his zeal for the true Religion at his very Accession to the Throne (p) 2 Chron. 29 3. In the first year of his Reign in the first Month he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them For his Father Ahaz being distressed by Tiglath-Pileser King of Assyria sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus in expectation of help from them and shut up the doors of the Temple 2 Chron. 28.22 23 24. Josiah being a Minor of eight years old when he came to the Crown had no sooner attained to the sixteenth year of his age most commonly the time of Sport and Dalliance to many other Princes but while he was yet thus young he began to seek after the God of David his Father Fourthly The Expression is Hyperbolical and qualified thus Vix eis par c. they scarcely have been or shall be parall'd Fifthly Their Zeal was equally fervent in restoring the pure Worship of God but Josiah's Reformation was more extensive than Hezekiah's for Josiah reformed (q) Non in suo solum sed etiam in alieno regno Sanctius sup 2 Reg. 23.25 not in the Kingdom of Judah only but in Israel too When therefore we read that Hezekiah threw down the High places and the Altars not only out of all (r) 2 Chr. 31.1 Judah and Benjamin but in Ephraim also and Manasseh which two Tribes were part of the Kingdom of Israel It is to be understood with restriction to that (s) Jun. sup loc Grot. ibid. part of those Tribes which was subject to the Kings of Judah either by Conquest or a voluntary submission by reason of the present troubles of that Kingdom But Josiah's Reformation extended to the Altar at (t) 2 Reg. 23.15 Bethel and all the (u) v. 19. houses also of the high Places that were in the Cities of Samaria which the Kings of Israel made to provoke the Lord to anger Sixthly There are two things peculiar in Josiah's Case in regard of which the precedency may well be given him First He was prophesied of above (w) Post annos circiter trecentos Jun. sup 1 Reg. 13.2 three hundred years before he was born and mention'd expressly by name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josiah and which is very remarkable it was presently after Jeroboam had devised his Calf worship in Dan and Bethel for as he stood by his new Altar in Bethel to burn Incense behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the Word of the Lord and cry'd against the Altar in the Word of the Lord and said O Altar Altar thus saith the Lord Behold (x) Heb Son a Child shall be born unto the house of David Josiah by Name and upon thee shall he offer the Priests of the High Places that burn Incense upon thee and mens bones shall be burnt upon thee 1 Kings 13.1 2. Where Observe that God's jealoulousie of his own Honour and Love to his own Worship is such that he cannot endure to be rival'd by Man but immediately protests against False Worship and False Worshippers by his Servants and thô he bears with them both for a Season yet there is a Time secret to us but fixt in God's Eternal Decree wherein both shall be destroyed Thus he dealt with Jeroboam's Altar and the Priests of the High Places and the