Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n
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A59570
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A sermon preach'd before the King & Queen, at White-hall the 12th of November, 1693 : being the day appointed for a publick thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the gracious preservation of His Majesty, and his safe return / by John, Lord Archbishop of York.
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Sharp, John, 1645-1714.
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1693
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Wing S2998; ESTC R10320
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14,115
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37
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armies nor any mighty man delivered by his own strength but salvation is from the Lord. And so are Disappointments also There we are assured that He from his habitation looketh down upon all that dwell on the earth He fashioneth the hearts of them he understandeth all their ways And though many are the devices that are in their hearts yet it is his counsel only that shall stand In a word it is God as the Apostle tells us that worketh all things and he worketh them all according to the counsel of his own will So that nothing comes by chance nothing is done in vain but all Events are in pursuance of a Design Nay not so much as the Event of casting a Lot which seems the most fortuitous contingent thing in the whole World is left at random For even in that Case the disposal of the Lot as Solomon tells us Prov. 16. 33. is from the Lord. All this is not only the Doctrine but in a great measure the very Language and Expression of those Holy Books And what can we desire more Or what words can we invent that shall declare more fully the thing we are speaking of None can that I know of except perhaps those of our Saviour with which I shall shut up this point Fear not saith he to his Disciples Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing yet not one of them falls to the ground without the will of your Father Nay I say unto you the very hairs of your head are all numbered O wonderful this what God Almighty number the very Hairs of our Heads Lord what is man that thou shouldst have such respect unto him and do that for him which even the nicest and most delicate of Men never yet did for themselves But thus art thou pleased to express thy particular regard to the Sons of Men. Thus art thou pleased to let us see that none of us are so inconsiderable but that we are within the Verge of thy Providence and Objects of thy Care And therefore much more are Cities and States and Kingdoms so wherein the Fortunes of so many Individuals are wrapt up O blessed be God for his Love to Mankind O for ever adored be his Name for thus humbling himself to take notice of us and our Affairs and likewise for giving us such abundant Assurance that He doth so Since therefore we have such mighty Evidence of all sorts that the Lord is King let the earth be glad yea let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof And we shall still see greater reason thus to be glad if we consider a little more particularly the Rules and Measures by which God administers the Affairs of his Kingdom Which are not as too often happens in Human Governments Arbitrary Will or Humour but perfect Wisdom and Iustice and Goodness Tho' it be true what the Psalmist saith That Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that doth he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and all deep places Yet it is as true that the Lord will never be pleased to do any thing either in Heaven or in Earth but what is suggested by Infinite Goodness and in such ways as are the Result of Infinite Wisdom For as the same Psalmist tells us He loveth righteousness and judgment the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. He is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his doings and his tender mercies are over all his works To say That God deals arbitrarily with any of his Creatures or that He dispenseth Good or Evil to them meerly because He will without any other Reason is in truth to disparage His Nature and gives us such a notion of Him as we have perhaps of some of the Great Monarchs of the World but whom we are far from esteeming the Best Men. No certainly if we Mankind find in our selves that the wiser and better we grow the less are we led by Humour and Will and the more do we shake off our Indifferency to Good and Evil and the more steadily do we cleave to the eternal Laws of Reason and Righteousness in all our Actions We may be sure that God who is Wisdom and Iustice and Goodness it self can never in any of his Actions or Dealings with his Creatures depart from these Principles The true Scheme of God Almighty's Government is plainly this His Infinite Mind clearly understood all the Possibilities of things long before they were in actual being He knew what things were possible to be and how they would act if they were put into being and what the Events of all their Actings would be His Infinite Goodness moved him to put into actual being every thing that he saw was Good to Be and to give them all those powers of Action that they have and withal to look after them so as that both they and all their Motions and Actions should at last be to the Praise and Glory of the same Goodness that first enclined him to create them His Infinite Wisdom contrived the Methods in which all this should be brought to pass and so laid the Scheme and Platform of things that nothing could happen in the whole Creation from the beginning of the World to the end thereof tho' it was in it self never so bad never so mischievous but what both might and should be so ordered as to be subservient to that end And lastly The Scheme of Things being thus laid His Infinite Power first produced All things and still upholds All things and from time to time in their several seasons actually brings to pass every thing according to the Determinations of his eternal Wisdom And tho' it doth it in ways secret to us yet it doth it certainly and surely and withal most easily and gently with the least violence to the establish'd Laws of Nature and without any force at all upon the Free Wills of Intelligent Beings This I say is the Account that both Reason and Scripture give us of God's Making and Governing the World Infinite Knowledge is the Foundation of All. Infinite Goodness is the Author and Mover of All. Infinite Wisdom is the Contriver and Director of All. And Infinite Power executes All. Admit now these Principles and see what will follow from them It will follow from hence in the first place that every Event that happens in the World is beautiful in its season as Solomon expresses it That is to say How unaccountable soever it may appear to us yet there is a good Reason to be given both why it happens at all and likewise why it happens at that time and with those circumstances that it doth It helps to adorn the Great Drama and Contrivance of God's Providence and ministers to excellent Ends tho' we poor Creatures do little apprehend how it makes for them As indeed it is impossible we should unless we had the whole Comprehension of Things in our Minds and saw the entire Scheme of God's
A SERMON Preach'd before the King Queen AT WHITE-HALL The 12 th of November 1693. Being the Day appointed for a Publick Thanksgiving To Almighty God for the Gracious Preservation of His Majesty And His Safe Return By IOHN Lord Archbishop of YORK Publish'd by Their Majesties special Command LONDON Printed by T. W. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. THE ARCHBISHOP of YORK's Thanksgiving-Sermon BEFORE THE King Queen At Whitehall Novemb. xii 1693. A SERMON Preached before the King Queen PSAL. xcvii 1. The Lord is King the earth may be glad thereof yea the multitude of the isles may be glad thereof THAT is to say it ought to be Matter of exceeding Joy to all the Inhabitants of the World that amidst all the Uncertainties and Hazards and Variety of Fortunes which they here find themselves exposed to there is One Above that governs All. GOD that made the World is the King of it All the Beings of the Universe Angels Men and Devils with all the other Animate or Inanimate things in Heaven and Earth as they are His Creatures so are they truly and properly His Subjects and act entirely in subordination to Him as Ministers and Instruments do under the Guidance of the Principal Agent GOD doth as truly Reign in the World as any King does in his Kingdom He doth as truly order the Affairs of it as any Master doth those of his own Family Nay a Man 's own Thoughts and Actions are not by a thousand times so much attended by himself are not so much his Care as the Affairs of the Universe are attended by and are the Care of God Almighty This is the notion of the Lord 's being King and Do you not think it ought to be matter of Rejoycing to all Reasonable Creatures O Lord what a gloomy dismal Scene of things do they present us with that give other Accounts of these matters To banish God's Providence and Government out of the World is to banish all Joy all Peace all Hope all Comfort for ever from all those that have the power of Thinking A Brute indeed is not much concern'd how Matters are order'd An Ox may grow fat in his Stall and a Colt frisk in his Pasture let the Hypothesis of the Government of the World be what it will But to one that is made with a Faculty of Reasoning that has Hopes and Fears and can reflect on what is past and hath a prospect of what is future what black and melancholy Apprehensions must it cause in such a one to suppose that no care is taken of Human Affairs but that we sail in the tempestuous Ocean of this World every minute in danger of Rocks and Quicksands without any Pilot to steer us Take what Hypothesis you will either that there is no God but that all things come to pass by Chance or inevitable Necessity Or that there is a God but that God having once put things into this Frame never meant to trouble himself more about them but left them to shift for themselves Natural Events falling out from necessary Causes and Civil Affairs being left to Mankind who are to shuffle and divide the World among themselves as well as they can I say proceed which way you will if you exclude God Almighty's Government you make this World so dark and miserable a place that no serious-câ—â—â—idering man can tolerably enjoy himself in it For here upon the former supposition you are left without Counsel or Advice You have nothing to propose nothing to design in the course of your Lives It is all one how you behave your selves whether honestly or wickedly whether you mind your Business or mind it not for the Event will be the same You are obliged to no body for any Benefits you can complain of no body for any ill usage If you be in ill circumstances you have none to apply to for Remedy and if you be in good ones you may be stript of them without Remedy the next moment for all things are carried on by a whirl of Fate And you are not much better'd by the latter Hypothesis That God hath trusted the Government of the World with Mankind who are endowed with Reason and Understanding For if we consider how Mankind do sometimes use their Reasons it is as good if not better to be exposed to the Hazards of Chance or Necessity as to be subject to their Wills The truth of it is if this Systeme of the World be well consider'd it will appear a more uncomfortable one than the other for it doth not remove from us the Iron Banâ—â— of Fate we are still under that Yoke as much as we were before Yet besides these it puts upon us another Yoke the arbitrary Pleasures of those of our own kind which if they be not governed by Reason are ten times more unsupportable than the other We are by this Hypothesis as much exposed to Natural Evils as we were before and there is no help for them but over and above we must bear the Indignities and Insolences the Ravages and Cruelty of every one that is stronger than our selves and hath the will to oppress us O hard Lot of Mankind if this was their Constitution better by far were it for them to be Brutes and think of nothing than to be Men upon such Terms as these Happy therefore are the Inhabitants of the Earth happy are the remotest Isles thereof that there is a King that reigns both over Fate and Men. Happy are we that there is a wise and intelligent Being that superintends all our Affairs and so governs both the Powers of Nature and the Powers of Mankind that nothing can be done by either of them but what is designed by and pursuant to his Counsels Upon this Supposition we may live like Men and enjoy our selves with some Comfort in this World We may propose Ends and Designs to our selves and hope that with our diligence and good management they may take effect Upon this Supposition we may and ought to look upon all our good Successes as the Blessings of God to us and particularly that which we are this day met together to thank Him for I mean the wonderful Preservation of His Majesty from all the Dangers to which he hath so often been exposed and his safe Return to us Upon this Supposition we may hope that tho' all things have not yet succeeded according to our Wishes yet in due time they may since the King of the World hath by the frequent and unexpected Deliverances he hath wrought for us and the strange unusual Providences that have attended our King given us some Encouragement to believe provided we do our parts towards it that He hath reserv'd Vs for better Times and Him for the executing those Glorious Designs which Good Men hope will at last be accomplish'd in the World Lastly Upon this Supposition every Honest Man will find reason enough both to bear contentedly