Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A42063
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A thanksgiving sermon for the deliverance of our King from the late intended assassination of his sacred person and of the Kingdom from the French invasion preached by Francis Gregory.
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Gregory, Francis, 1625?-1707.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing G1906; ESTC R28684
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8,507
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28
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Deliverance is great in respect of that dreadful Danger which did attend us and was so near us Fourthly Our Deliverance is great in respect of its vast Extent and Latitude for it reacheth far both as to Time and Place First Our Deliverance is great in respect of our Enemies from whom we are delivered I mean the French King and his Myrmidons his Priests and Jesuits his Troopers and Dragoons those his late Reformers of Religion who have not one strong Argument against the Doctrin of our Church save only that which hangs by their Sides I mean their Swords and Pistols It is well known that the French King is a Potent Monarch his Dominion is large his Kingdom is rich his People are numerous his Army great his Fleet considerable and though he may have lost the Affections of his Subjects yet still hath he an absolute Command over their Persons and Purses But all this Greatness cannot satisfie this proud and ambitious King His Design is to make himself the sole Emperour of the West and because our present King by his extraordinary Courage and Conduct stands most in the French King's Way since his Armies had not the Luck to kill him fairly in the Field the Report is that the French King himself contrived the Way and encouraged bloody Villains to surprize our King at unawares and murder him in a Moment 'T is somewhat strange that so much as one Thought of such a vile and treacherous Act should have entred into a Crowned Head but it is much more strange that it should find such Entertainment and Welcome there 'T is for the Honour of Kings and Princes even when they deal with Enemies to be generous and noble but for a King and such an one as stiles himself the most Christian King and stands so much upon his Honour for him to sit down consult and contrive a Design and earnestly wait for its Execution a Design to murder a Neighbouring Prince sneakingly and in cool Blood it is an Act so base so ignoble that had there been nothing of Sin in it yet there is so much of Shame that I cannot call it by any Name that is bad enough And had this horrid Plot took that Effect which was designed by its Contrivers had the French Army suddenly surprized and overcome us with what Severity would the French King have treated the Protestants of England since he lately was so exceeding cruel to the Protestants of France who were his own natural and loyal Subjects In short this is the King who to enlarge his own Dominion hath unjustly invaded the Territories of other Princes surprized and burnt their Towns plundered their Villages destroyed their Country and drencht his Sword and made it drunk with the innocent Blood perhaps of Millions This is the devouring Lion from whose merciless Claws we are yet delivered an Enemy that is powerful an Enemy that is implacable an Enemy whose tender Mercies are but cruel And certainly a Deliverance from such an Enemy must needs be a great one Secondly Our Deliverance is great in respect of the Persons who are thereby delivered For these Persons are great either first in Point of Quality or secondly in Point of Number First Some Persons concerned in this Deliverance are great in Point of Quality Our Bishops and many other grave Divines are Persons somewhat considerable in the Church of England in regard of their sacred Employment our Gentlemen Knights Lords Earls Dukes are Persons very considerable in the State of England in regard of their great Estates and Titles of Honour our Judges in regard of their Office are great Men too but above all our King is very great indeed and that first in respect of his high Birth and Extraction as being born of Royal Blood and secondly in Respect of his high Station as being God's Vicegerent Now it is certain that if the late Conspiracy had succeeded all these great Men would have very sorely smarted by it but especially our King who was the first Man designed for Slaughter and consequently the first and the most concerned in this Deliverance Secondly Besides our King and the other great Men of our Nation the main Body of our common People are also concerned in this Deliverance And what they want in Weight they do certainly make up in Number And their Number is so very considerable that it doth much advance our Deliverance and make it very great indeed I remember Joseph told his Brethren thus Gen. 45. 7. God sent me before you to save your Lives by a great Deliverance If the Deliverance of one single Family deserved to be called a great Deliverance how much the Deliverance of so many thousand Families as are in England Thirdly Our Deliverance is great in respect of the Danger which did attend us and that was very dreadful and very near to us too We were in Danger of a French Invasion a French Religion and a French Government A Religion which is Idolatrous a Government which is Tyrannical by the one we must have lost our Consciences or our Lives and by the other we must have lost our Laws Estates and Liberties So that I may say we were in Danger to lose whatever is and ought to be dear to us And as this Danger was very great so was it very near us too For the French Fleet and Army were ready abroad and the Traytors at home were prepared to kill the King the Day appointed for the Murder was come the Design was every way ripe and there wanted nothing but a fit Opportunity for its Execution Now in this critical Juncture of Time there appeared for us as the Greeks speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unexpected Providence of God stept in and interposed betwixt us and Ruin discovered the Conspiracy and so prevented its Execution So that we may say as David did in a like Case Psalm 124. 7. The Snare is broken and we are escaped God was pleased to snatch us as so many Brands designed for the Fire as it were out of the Smoke just before the Flame should have been kindled to consume us And may we not upon this Ground also very justly stile our Deliverance as the Text doth that of David a great Deliverance Fourthly Our Deliverance is great in respect of its Extent and Latitude for it reacheth very far both as to Time and Place We must not think that we of this present Age and this particular Nation are the only Persons concerned in it the Benefit of it is like to redound to other Kingdoms and other Ages First To other Kingdoms for had the French King invaded and conquered England as he designed he would easily have over-run the Territories of the Allies and Confederate Princes who are not able by their own Strength to withstand the Power of France Secondly To other Ages for had this cursed Plot took that Effect which was designed by its Contrivers we cannot doubt but our conquering Enemies had they proved such would have derived and transmitted both Popery and Slavery two detestable Names quite down to our Posterity Now then if other Ages if other Nations and Churches but especially those of the Reformed Religion be concerned as doubtless they are in this Deliverance as well as we then certainly the more extensive this Deliverance is 't is so much the greater And now what remains but that we render great Thanks for our great Deliverance to that great God who is the undoubted Author of it Since God hath done his Part in Point of Mercy let us now do ours in Point of Gratitude Nor is it enough for us to bless our God with our Tongues for one single Day but let us glorifie him in our Lives as David did even whilst we have a Being The Benefit of this Deliverance is like to redound to our Posterity and why should not our present and grateful Sense of such a Mercy be conveyed down to After Ages Certainly a Deliverance of this Nature deserves a Solemn Day of Thanksgiving Year by Year For it is said that this late Conspiracy was laid as deep and might have proved as fatal even as the very Gun-powder Treason it self And if so since we observe the Fifth of November in Memory of that why should we not as well observe the Fifteenth of February in Memorial of this But in the mean time let us take heed that we do no more provoke the God of our Deliverance by our repeated Crimes let us remember that France is like to be France and Rome is like to be Rome I mean our implacable Enemies still And if Old England will be Old England still if we still resolve to continue as profane and vicious as ever what may we expect at last but utter Ruin and Desolation To this Purpose tends that Address which Ezra made to God in a like Case and upon a like supposition Ezra 9. 13 14. since thou our God hast given us such a Deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping But that we may keep God our Friend and so need not fear the Power or the Plots of our Enemies Let us take that advice which our Lord gave to that impotent person whom he had miraculously cured John 5. 14. Behold thou art made whole What then Sin no more So say I Behold we are this Day Dlivered and that by little less than a Miracle well and what if we be Sin no more There is danger in it for as the Text intimates God hath yet in store 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some worse things which may yet befall us even a small Excision and Destruction of our Persons Church and Nation But that our selves our Families and our Kingdom may flourish let us by our religious holy and vertuous Lives engage our God to be still our great Protector and in order to our common Safety let us close our Thanksgivings with that solemn Petition which our Liturgy puts into our Mouths O Lord save the King And let every good Man who loves our Church and Nation subscribe or say Amen FINIS
A Thanksgiving SERMON For the Deliverance of Our KING From the Late Intended ASSASSINATION Preached April the 16th 1696. A Thanksgiving SERMON For the Deliverance of Our KING From the Late Intended ASSASSINATION OF His Sacred Person And of the Kingdom from the French Invasion Preached by Francis Gregory D. D. Rector of Hambleden in the County of Bucks LONDON Printed for R. Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holbourn 1696. Psal 18. 50. Great Deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth Mercy to David his anointed c. GOD Almighty having rejected Saul from being King was pleas'd to choose and name David to be his Successor And in order to it was David by God's Command privately anointed whilst King Saul was yet alive And that David might be the more firmly setled upon his Throne God gave him a very great Interest in the Hearts and Affections of all his Subjects The Text tells us 1 Sam. 18. 16. All Israel and Judah loved David And the Reason why they did so is given us Vers 14. David behaved himself wisely in all his Ways and the Lord was with him God had blest him with wonderful Success in fighting their Battles he had lately crown'd him with a glorious Victory over that monstr ous Giant who had so often scorned and so proudly defied the whole Army of Israel Upon this mighty Conquest the Generality of the People were so transported with Joy that even the Women came out and met them with Instruments of Musick dancing and singing Saul hath slain his Thousands and David his ten Thousands This Acclamation ascribing a great deal more of Honour to David than to Saul himself displeased Saul to that high Degree that the Text saith Saul eyed David from that Day and forward He grew so jealous and was so very much afraid of him that lest David should dispossess him of his Royal Throne he took many Ways to destroy him But what Injury had David ever done to Saul We read that he had often and much obliged him he had successfully fought his Battles he had charmed and turned out the Devil with whom Saul was possessed he had spared Saul's Life when he was at his Mercy he only cut off the Skirt of Saul's Garment when he might as easily have cut his Throat but notwithstanding these great Obligations Saul still feared envied and pursued David but David through the kind Providence of God still escaped the Hand of Saul Now in Memory of his manifold Preservations David did pen this Psalm It s Title which runs thus tells us so To the chief Musician a Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the Words of this Song in the Day that the Lord delivered him from the Hand of all his Enemies and from the Hand of Saul In the grateful Remembrance of God's many signal Favours to him and particularly for his protecting Providences doth David like a Man in an Extasie of Joy begin the Psalm thus I will love thee O Lord c. And very good Reason had he so to do for in the next Verse his own Acknowledgment is this The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer my God my Strength in whom I will trust my Buckler and the Horn of my Salvation and my high Tower By all which metaphorical Expressions David means only this namely that it was the Hand of God which had preserved him in all his Dangers And as he begins this Psalm with these grateful Acknowledgments so doth he end it too in the Words of my Text. Great Deliverance giveth be to his King and sheweth Mercy to David his anointed Concerning this Deliverance mentioned in the Text Four things may be considered First Its Author He gives and again He sheweth Mercy He i. e. God Secondly The Person concerned in this Deliverance and that is David which is here stiled His King and again his anointed i. e. God's King and God's Anointed Thirdly The Motive which inclined God to work this Deliverance for David and that was his own free Grace and Favour For saith the Text He gives Deliverance and again He sheweth Mercy By giving Deliverance he doth so Fourthly The Nature and Quality of this Deliverance the Text stiles it Great Deliverance First The first thing considerable in the Text is the Author of this Deliverance and that is God He gives Deliverance and by so doing He sheweth Mercy and to him doth David again and again most justly ascribe it Psal 18. 48. He delivers me from mine Enemies It is not my own Policy it is not my own Courage it is not my own Conduct it is not my own Army that delivers me 't is none but God that God whose Wisdom is infinite and whose Power is irresistible who knoweth the most secret Plots who can easily confound the most cunning Devices and break in Pieces the greatest Strength of wicked Men. Now This God was David's Friend So he tells us Psal 118. 6. The Lord is on my Side and again Vers 7. The Lord taketh Part with them that help me It is true David had some Assistances from Men Jonathan discovered to him Saul's Designs to kill him his Friend Hushai was employed to countermine the dangerous Counsel of Achitophel and he did so Joab the General of David's Army was employed to fight his Battels and with Success he did it All these did contribute something towards the Deliverances of David but notwithstanding this Jonathan Hushai Joab and all David's Assistants were but so many living Tools and Instruments in the Hand of God and acted by the Influence and Guidance of his Providence And for this Reason when David reflects upon his manifold Preservations he overlooks all second Causes and Humane Helps and attributes them all to God so he doth Psalm 62. 2. God only is my Rock and my Salvation And so in my Text He giveth Deliverance to his King And again He sheweth Mercy to David his Anointed And may not our English David say as much May not our King as justly say as even David did God only is my Rock and my Salvation For when wicked Men had entred into a Combination to murder his sacred Person when the Plot was laid and ripe for Execution when the Time and Place were appointed when such and such bloody Villains had undertook this barbarous inhumane and devilish Work I mean by Pistols or Blunderbusses to shed our Sovereign's Blood and end his Life when this cursed Crew had mutually engaged themselves by Oath to keep this Hellish Design secret pray who revealed this hidden Plot and so prevented its Execution We cannot think that this Hellish Plot was discovered by any immediate Revelation from Heaven but by one of those bloody Butchers who had been privy and consenting to it But how came such a Miscreant to reveal it 'T is possible that the Fear of his own Life should the Plot be otherwise detected and so miscarry might somewhat move him or perhaps