Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	earth_n	glory_n	great_a	2,131	5	2.9800	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66730	The true interest of nations impartially stated in a sermon preached at the Lent assizes at Chelmesford in Essex, March 2d. 1690/1 : proving that the promoting universal righteousness, piety, justice, and honesty, is the sure means to exalt a nation ... / by Anthony Walker ...	Walker, Anthony, d. 1692.	1691 (1691)	Wing W311; ESTC R5492	23,518	42

weary Legs and fainting Hearts renew their Strength and mount up as Eagles and Religion spreads amain like the Vine which God brought out of Egypt which when his Hand planted fill'd the Land Psal 80.9 4. When 't is scorn'd by few persecuted and suppress'd by none then as the Gospel when it hath a free Course runs and is glorified 2 Thes 3.1 when the Stream of Righteousness hath no Dams in its Chanel to obstruct its flowing it will like Jordan in the time of Harvest overflow its Banks and water the Land as Nilus doth Aegypt to make it fertile When neither the Sword of the Mouth nor the Mouth of the Sword are whet against it When no Arrows of invenom'd bitter Words dipp'd in the Poison of Asps are shot against it 'T is not stigmatized or branded with opprobious Names which blast it as the burning East-wind nips the tender Buds and when the Foot of Violence cannot approach to hurt it but those Dogs who delight to worry and to suck the Blood of the Lambs of Christ are so muzzled or chain'd up that though they may grin and show their Teeth they cannot tear and rend them But Men may be as good as they will and the Grace of God excites and enables them to be and the Voice of Providence say to them even in this Life present what Christ spoke with relation to the Life to come Fear not little Flock Luke 12.32 And what our Lord speak in a Vision to Paul Be not affraid but speak and hold not thy Peace for I am with thee and none shall set upon thee to hurt thee Acts 18.9.10 And Righteousness obtains that Privilege with which St. Luke concludes the History of the Acts in relation to St. Paul He received all that came into him preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all Confidence no Man forbidding him When the Children of God are not at the proud and cruel Mercy of the Slaves of Satan nor at the Will of them who hate them for their Father's sake When a Nation is an holy safe and quiet Habitation to righteous Men. When under Kings and those in Authority we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 as St. Paul directs us to pray and as our own Liturgy excellently teacheth us with Fervency to beg for our King and Queen That in all their Thoughts Words and Actions they may ever seek God's Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to their Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness In such a Season Piety Equity and Honesty are in a hopeful way to be exalted in a Nation and then they will exalt that Country People Government in Honour Safety Plenty which was the second Head of Discourse to shew when or in what Circumstances of Time it doth it I proceed to the third Head to be discoursed on viz. To demonstrate the Reasons why and shew the means by which Piety Equity Probity thus exalt a Nation And though they are many Time will allow me to insist upon but few of them The first and principal is because they engage God to be God of such a Nation and to own them and bless them as his People To demonstrate this might supersede the rest as needless or leave them but as Grains to be cast into the Balance which add but little to the main weight I may say of this as the great Statesman who being ask'd what was the wisest and safest way to govern a Kingdom wrote in the top the middle and foot of the Page Moderation Moderation Moderation Or as the Rhetorician who was ask'd what was the chief Excellency of an Orator reply'd Pronunciation Pronunciation Pronunciation So may we truly answer him who asks what exalts a Nation with redoubled Repetition God's Presence with them This is the First the Second and the Third this is truly all in all 'T was a bold Motto that King us'd Cui adhaereo praeest He prevails whose part I take But it is certainly so with those on whose side God vouchsafes to be Isa 43.5 Fear not for I am with thee is full Security If God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 Let who will let who dare kick against the Pricks they are like to have a hard Task and they are sure to be over-match'd The Lord is on my side I will not fear what Man can do unto me Psal 118.6 124.1 2. When David spent many Verses in recounting what makes Nations flourish in Men's Esteem and concluded Happy is the People which are in such a Case he corrects himself in the last Words yea Happy is that People whose God is the Lord Psal 144. ult They chiefly nay they only will be found so In his Hand is Power and Might so that none is able to withstand him 2 Chron. 20.6 as Jehosophat strengthned his own Faith and the Faith of his People And David as fully as excellently Thine O Lord is the Greatness and the Power and the Glory and the Victory and the Majesty for all that is in Heaven and in Earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as Head above all Both Riches and Honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine Hand is Power and Might and in thine Hand it is to make great and to give Strength unto all 1 Chron. 29.10 11 12. Safety is of the Lord as the holy Father David Psal 3.8 and the wise Solomon Prov. 21.31 both assure us Yea how oft and fully doth Nebuchadnezar an Heathen acknowledge God's absolute Dominion as God of Gods and Lord of Kings Dan. 2.47 His Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion and his Kingdom from Generation to Generation All the Inhabitants of the Earth are as nothing He doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth None can stay his Hand or say What doest thou Dan. 4.34 35. How oft doth David call him his Strength And when 't is said of Sampson his Strength departed from him the next Verse explains it telling us God was departed from him Judg. 16.19 20. Excuse my overdoing in so plain a Case I must suppose they have no Bibles or use them not or believe them not to be God's Word that need more Now to have this All-sufficient God to be with us and to be our Sun and Shield we must walk before him and be perfect which I look upon not as spoken to Persons only but to Nations because to Abraham to whom God said upon the changing of his Name and the reason of his doing it A Father of many Nations have I made thee and I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make Nations of thee and Kings shall come out of thee Gen. 17.5 6. He was to be the Father of the Faithful and all Nations were to be blessed in him 'T is spoke to

the Nations then in his Loins The Lord will be with them that are with him Hear what Azariah said to Asa when the Spirit was upon him 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you are with him If you seek him he will be found of you if you forsake him he will forsake you Yea what God himself saith 1 Sam. 2.30 Him that honoureth me will I honour but he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed The Lord will do good to them that are good and upright in their hearts He will be with the good Magistrate as Jehoshaphat told his Judges 2 Chron. 10.11 and with a good People as all his Words assure them I will urge one Scripture more 't is Jer. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their Evil I will repent of the Evil I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the Good wherewith I said I would benefit them Let us pause here I confess my Infirmity this Scripture strikes me with horror and amazement Never did the Voice of Providence speak more audibly more distinctly more intelligibly and more encouragingly concerning a Nation to build and to plant it than in the late Revolution and Opportunity not only afford it self but even press'd upon us to make us a righteous Nation and an happy People and it may be never was a Work in it self so hard rendered so easie to have been accomplish'd had it not been our own fault and whether it be recoverable and not past remedy God only knows and the things of our Peace hidden from us because we would not know them in the day of our Visitation There are many Texts of Scripture have a Black a Melancholy Saturnine Aspect upon our Circumstances a few of which I 'll point to Ezek. 24.13 In thy filthiness is Lewdness because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy Filthiness any more till I have caused my Fury to rest upon thee When God's Call is entertained with a deaf ear and his manifested expectation frustrated and disappointed which is our Case if ever it were the Case of any Nation under Heaven then surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die saith the Lord God of Hosts Isa 22.14 Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 7.8 Ephraim is a Cake not turned England is joyned to Profaneness and Formality Dough-bak'd Crusted on the outside with the Form of Godliness but raw within and cold at heart as to the Life and Power of it O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be Jer. 13. ult Such a State of a Nation God puts himself to a loss what to do to them or with them O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I do unto thee Thy Goodness is as a Morning-Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away Hos 6.4 The good Lord avert the bad Omen given by our obstinate Unrighteousness the grey hairs of which are already upon us Hos 7.9 though most are so blind they know it not and none so blind as those who will not see that it be not to us according to the Folly of our Provocations 2. Righteousness makes Nations flourish Removendo prohibens by putting a stop to and rooting out those Vices which blast and make them wither Which it effects partly by prevailing upon Men's Consciences to see the evil of them and to hate and loath them be ashamed of them and cast them off with detestation saying to them Get you hence Which is the first Best Partly While the honest zealous Magistrate restrains by due execution of Justice such flagitious Offenders from polluting the Land and infecting others Which is the next Best That those whom the Love of God Themselves and Country will not constrain to be good the Fear of the Sword of Justice may restrain from being at least openly so bad as their unbridled Lusts would hurry them to be were that coercive Curb removed Such Sins to instance in a few which destroy Kingdoms are First Whoredom Give not thy strength unto Women nor thy Ways to that which destroys Kings Prov. 31.3 When they neigh after their Neighbours Wives like sed Horses and assemble themselves by Troops in Harlots Houses and to look beyond second Causes to that God the Rod of whose Anger they are Isa 10.5 What destroyed Sechem and his City but the Rape of Dinah Jacob's Daughter Gen. 34. What brought the Moors into Spain but the like Provocation to revenge it And what the Saxons into England 2ly Violent Oppression I joyn these Two together because I find them so as the only Sins instanced in which brought the Flood upon the Old World Gen. 6. And the chief which brought Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom Jude 7. the two standing Instances of Divine Indignation set up to terrifie all succeeding Ages from the like So Drunkenness and Riot which drown Men in Sottishness and bereave them of the Force both of Mind and Body their Reason and their Hands to preserve themselves and make them forget the Law and pervert the Judgment of the afflicted Prov. 31.5 When Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the Pavilions with the Thirty and Two Kings that helped a little handful of Israelites routed his mighty Army 1 Kings 30.16 And when Belshazzar was in the like condition the Medes took his City and slew him So Blasphemous Oaths which make a Land mourn Pride and all its Retinue the Rabble of Vices which are press'd to serve it which are not easily reckon'd up See a comprehensive Place Hos 4 1 2 7. The Lord hath a Controversie with the Land because there is no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and Bloud toucheth Bloud therefore shall the Land mourn as they increased so have they sinn'd against me therefore I will turn their Glory into Shame Sin shall bring them under Reproach but Righteousness promoted prevents and roots out at least restrains these and so exalts a Nation by removing what hinders it out of the way 3. It doth it promovendo adjuvans by promoting what greatly contributes to it All that beautiful Train of Vertues which are the Ornament and Establishment of Nations are the Issue and the Offspring of Righteousness brought forth or brought up by it To instance in a few Diligence and Industry which make Families and Kingdoms rich But who will be diligent when the more he acquires the fairer Mark and Prey he is to oppressive Violence from

which there is no Justice to secure and defend him Honesty and Fidelity the great Allurement to Trade and Commerce For who will deal with Treachery and Falshood where nothing is to be expected but Cozenage and Fraud So Courage and Valour which nothing raises like a good Conscience which is Murus aheneus or guards so well as the whole Armour of God a chief Piece of which is a Breast-plate of Righteousness Eph. 6. The Righteous are bold as a Lion but the Wicked fly when none pursue them Prov. 28.1 And at best can be but Fool-hardy for not considering their Danger Wisdom and Consideration which are drowned in Excess and Riot Vice insatuates Men and befools them Whoredom and Wine take away the Heart Hos 4.11 and make Sots Publick Spiritedness and a natural Kindness to our Native Land The Motto of which is Sustine Abstine Bear and forbear What is said of Charity It beareth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 is true of a generous Love of our Country It will make us bear the Burthens necessary for its Preservation without murmuring and repining and will forbear selfish Satisfactions which are not consistent with the Publick Good as particular Nature yields and gives place to universal Nature for its preservation So Vnity and Concord Piety and Probity are the Centre and Bands which fasten Men together See how they love one another used the very Heathens to say of the Primitive Christians There may be Conspiracy amongst Thieves and Traytors but true Concord only amongst Righteous Men. The Philosopher observed long since That Friendship is only amongst good Men. 'T is a Promise of the Covenant of Grace by which is conveyed all that makes us good That God will give them one Heart and one Way Jer. 32 39 41. And then it is added I will establish them assuredly with my whole Heart and my whole Soul A Kingdom divided cannot stand the Emblem of the Sheaf of Arrows is lively every single one a Child may snap insunder but bound up together the strongest Arms cannot break them Religion hath its Name à Religando from binding us to God and one another Where the Soul and Substance of Righteousness is duly minded Men have no leisure to quarrel about its Shadow and Trimming The Time would fail me to enumerate half the Vertues which secure and beautifie or Vices which destroy and blot a Nation with Reproach I must leave them both to be suggested by your own Thoughts all which prevailing Piety and Probity plant or root out lift up the Face of one and make the others hide their Heads 4. Righteousness exalts a Nation by furnishing it with able Men fit for the Trusts and Employments in which they are engaged than which nothing can be desired or conceived more conducive to so Noble an End How can that Ship escape a Wreck at the Helm of which is an unskilful or unfaithful Hand especially in stormy Weather or amongst the Rocks Religion extends to all Relations and will make Men conscientious in discharge of their relative Duties with the utmost Care They will not dare to undertake them without at least competent Abilities nor continue in them without faithful improving those Abilities Yea when Righteousness is the Air and prevailing Element of a Nation the Youth will suck it in in the Nurseries of Learning which furnisheth it with Worthy Men in Church and State which proves an inestimable Blessing 5. By rendring the Subjects quiet and obedient and ready to support the Government for Conscience sake to God and Gratitude to Men and from a Sense of their own Happiness they enjoy under it and an awful Veneration with which that Government affects them which is managed with Piety and Equity For as an harsh and tyrannous Rigour renders it hateful and an over remiss Facility renders it despicable and an encouraging of Wickedness and Vice renders it abominable to God and to the Consciences of all Men So countenancing Religion and distributing Justice impartially and yet with Moderation fills a Nation with Admiration Veneration Love and Good-Will which under God is the best Security of Thrones and those which sit upon them and therefore Machiavel would have Rulers to be righteous or at least to seem so to charm the People to that Esteem of them which is necessary for the Safety of themselves and Countries 6. As Righteousness renders the Government easie and belov'd at home so secure from abroad which two fill both the Pages of a People's Wishes Now it secures a Nation by preventing unjust Quarrels and provoking needless Troubles from Neighbouring Nations Those Governments which have extinguished all differences of Good and Evil Right and Wrong who are under no Law of God or Nations but their own Will and Power who are always watching Advantages to prey upon their weaker or less suspicious Neighbours Such in God's just Judgment oft bring Ruine or sore Troubles upon their Countrey They that travel with Iniquity conceive Mischief and bring forth Falshood dig and make Pits for others fall into the Ditch that they made their Mischief returns upon their own Heads and their violent dealing upon their own Pate Psal 7.14 15 16. The unrighteous Aggressors meddle to their own hurt and reap nothing but the Shame of being treacherous and the Vengeance with which a just God repays it We might give abundance of instances from History and not a few of recent Date besides what roar'd so loud from Vienna and since upon the Turks in invading the Empire during the not expired Truce But the Scripture-instances of Ahab who might have liv'd quietly at home but at Ramoth Gilead where he was the Aggressor died by an Arrow of God's own guiding 1 Kings 22.34 And especially of Amasiah who had ruled well and prosperously when he fell into Idolatry 2 Chron. 25.14 and despised Admonition v. 15. God left him to himself v. 20. to pick an unjust Quarrel with his Neighbour Joash King of Israel To whose wise and friendly Counsels of Peace when he had proudly and obstinately refused to hearken he routed his Army took him himself Prisoner broke down the Walls of Jerusalem and brought his Kingdom to such distress as was scarcely ever known to overwhelm it All which had been prevented had Righteousness prevail'd to keep him quiet 7. Lastly To pass by many more Advantages it gives a Nation Reputation that all their Neighbours are affraid to molest them If thou wilt keep the Commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his Ways all People of the Earth shall see that thou art called by the Name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of thee Deut. 28.9 10. Yea make them court their Friendship and seek their Alliance When a Man's ways please the Lord he maketh his Enemies to be at Peace with him Prov. 16.7 and that sutable Passage Zech. 8.28 Ten Men a number of Perfection that is very many of all Languages of the