Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	brother_n	death_n	king_n	3,344	5	3.6151	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46951	Julian the apostate being a short account of his life, the sense of the primitive Christians about his succession and their behaviour towards him : together with a comparison of popery and paganism.	Johnson, Samuel, 1649-1703.	1682 (1682)	Wing J829; ESTC R30475	76,426	144

stood and what Right and Title Julian had to succeed to the Empire And then whether the Christians would have been willing to set aside this Title and to have excluded him purely for his Religion 1. And in the first place there is nothing more plain than that the Empire was Hereditary There are not words in the World to express it more plainly then it is done in these following Testimonies Eusebius speaking of Constantine the Great hath these words Thus the Throne of the Empire descended to him from his Father and by the Law of Nature was reserved for his Sons and for their 〈◊〉 and was to descend for ever as another Paternal Inheritance does To which we shall subjoyn as plain a Testimony from an 〈◊〉 Eumenius in his Panegyrick to the same Constantine besides a great deal more to the same purpose tells him It was not the casual consent of Men it was not any sudden effect of their Favour which made you a Prince You gained the Empire by being born into the World which seems to me the first and greatest Gift of the Gods for one to come into the World Great and to have that at home ready for him which others can hardly attain with all the toyl and labour of their whole Lives Now if Constantine the Great was born to the Empire so was Julian having the same Royal Blood flowing in his Veins being the Grand-son as the other was the Son of Constantius Chlorus After such full and pregnant Proofs it would be time ill spent to heap up more such as that of Julian in his Panegyrick to the Empress Eusebia where he says That Constantius married her to have Heirs for his Great Lordship of almost all the VVorld He having none Julian himself was the sole and undoubted Heir for in him the Family was afterwards extinct Only there are some who would be glad whether they understand what it is or not to see some Divine Right mixed with a Title for that would make it sacred and strong indeed To please these Men if we can let us again consider that Clause of Eusebius in the place last mentioned where he 〈◊〉 That the Empire was entailed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Edict of Nature which I think is the most sure and divine Settlement that can be But lest we should think this Expression fell from him by chance in another place he varies the Phrase and calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of Nature Speaking of Constantius Chlorus He past over the Inheritance of the Empire by the Law of Nature to his Eldest Son and then died And in anotherplace he has these words His Son Constantine immediately receiving the Government was declared absolute Emperor and Augustus by the Army and long before that by the great King of all God himself If this will not do I know not what measure of Divine Right will serve their turn unless they would have a Crown to drop from the Clouds And Julian pretends to no less than that in his Epistle to the Jews where he makes them large Promises of Quiet and Safety under his Government That savs he enjoying this Security you may enlarge your Prayers for my Reign to God the Creator of the World who has vouchsased to crown me with his own unspotted Right-hand 2. And yet the Fathers had the Consciscience to set aside such a Title as this and would have done an hundred more such to secure their Religion They were not so happy indeed as to be before-hand with Julian and to get him excluded because as I said before there was not the least suspicion that he had changed his Religion but they shew their good-will sufficiently by what they said and did afterward If they had no occasion to make their Application to Constantius about this Business while he was here will it not do full as well if they call after him to Heaven and expostulate the matter with him there And this Gregory does in several places In the very beginning of his Invective which he made presently upon Julian's death After he has summoned all Nations to hear his Speech all that dwell in the World all People Tribes and Languages all Men that are or shall be And that his preaching might go the farther all the Powers of Heaven all the Angels whose work it was to destroy the Tyrant who had not kill'd a Sihon King of the Amorites nor an Og the King of Bashan but had kill'd the Dragon the Apostate the great Designer the common Enemy and Adversary of all c He applies himself particularly to Constantius Hear O thou Soul of Constantius the Great if you can hear at all what we say and the Souls of all Christian Kings before him but his especially for as much as having grown up with the Inheritance of Christ and enlarged it to his Power and establish'd it by a long continuace so as to be upon this account the most renowned of all the Kings that ever were O the mischief of it he committed a gross mistake very unworthy of his own Plety Not being aware of it he bred up for the Christians an Enemy of Christ. And he did amiss to be good-natured in this Instance only in saving and making him a King who was both ill-saved and made an ill King And for this reason he is likely to be most delighted as with the Destruction of Impiery and the Restoration of Christianity so likewise with this Speech Which in the next words he dedicates to God as a Thanksgiving Oration and a Sacrifice of Praise so solemn it is Now here is enough to shew that Constantius would never have made Julian Caesar nor have set up an Enemy of Christ over the Christians if he had known him to have been such But the same Father will give us better Measure in another place in these words Julian was presently Heir of his Brother's Kingdom but not of his Piety and not long after of him likewise who made him King who partly gave way to it partly was forced by Death and suffered such a defeat as was mischievous and pernicious to the whole World What have you done O divinest Emperor and greatest lover of Christ for I am fallen to reprehending you as if you were present and in hearing although I know you to be much above my reproof being placed with God and inheriting the Glory which is there and are only gone from hence to exchange your Kingdom VVhat strange kind of Counsel is this which you have taken who did far excel all other Kings in VVisdom and Understanding And after he has magnified him upon several accounts he thus proceeds You who were led by the Hand of God into every Counsel and Enterprize whose VVisdom was admired above your Power and again your Power more than your VVisdom but your Piety was valued above them both How comes it to pass therefore that in this