Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A45683
|
Two sermons lately preached at the Assizes in St. Maries Church in Leicester the former March 23, 1670, the latter July 27, 1671 / by Robert Harrison.
|
Harrison, Robert, fl. 1648-1672.
|
1672
(1672)
|
Wing H909; ESTC R25412
|
38,889
|
70
|
whole land of Egygt fared the better for Josephs sake for when there was a Famine over all the face of the earth there was bread enough and plenty of corn in Egypt which by Josephs wise forecast was laid up in Store-houses against that time Fourthly Victory over Enemies is another great mercy which the Lord of Hosts often giveth for his servants sake and by their means What a great conquest did the Heathen Emperour obtain through the means of the thundring Legion of Christians who by their fervent prayers prevailed with God to discomfit an huge army with thundring and lightning And Aurelius by experience found that Christians prevailed more with their prayers then others could do with their arms for the good of the Empire and therefore he desired the Senate to cease the Persecution lest the Christians should turn those spiritual weapons against the Empire So then the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battle to the Strong But thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all thy people as David acknowledgeth 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. Lastly Preservation from ruine and destruction have the Righteous obtained for a disobedient and stif-necked people A clear proof we have of this Job 22. 30. He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent or according to the margent the Innocent shall deliver the Island and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent in the Hebrew it is non innocentem he shall deliver the Island of the guilty q. d. a Righteous man that truly fears God shall be instrumental for the delivering of those at least from present ruine who are yet in their sins and have therefore no such interest with God to prevail with him to be thus gracious and merciful unto them Therefore he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath left he should destroy them Psal. 106. 23. And Isa. 65. 8. Thus saith the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all For his Elects sake the Lord in judgement thinks thoughts of mercy towards a very vile and sinful people who cease not to go on in wayes of rebellion against him and herein he deals with wicked men that do but cumber the ground as if one had resolved to pull up a barren Vineyard and quite lay it waste yet should nevertheless refrain in part because of some choice fruitful Plants that are sound in it If there had but been ten Righteous Persons in Sodom the Lord promised his servant Abraham that he would not destroy it for tens sake And it is worth our observation that the Lord never left off granting till Abraham left off asking mercy for that people This may encourage the righteous among us to continue in prayer and not to cease pleading with God for mercy to this sinful land of our nativity Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence And give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem till he make England a praise in the earth I have done with the two first Heads for confirmation In the next place If we consider those wasting judgments which after the removal of the righteous like a swift torrent have broken in upon the ungodly the truth of the Proposition will yet be more fully manifested No sooner was Noah got into the Ark but God sent such a deluge of water as swept away the wicked Inhabitants of the earth The flood-gates of heaven are set open and the fountain of the great depths broken up and unavoidable destruction rusheth in upon the sinners of the old world In the very same day that Lot set soot out of Sodom came such a storm of fire and brimstone upon those Cities that in a few hours entomb'd them in their own ashes and left them as standing monuments of the Lords wrathful indignation upon ungodly wretches to the end of the world Not long after good King Josiah was taken away the Kingdom of Judah tumbled down apace the people of the Land was carried into captivity and all went to wrack with them thus the Lord in mercy many times takes away the righteous from the evil to come he doth with them as men are wont to do with their corn in the field when it is catching weather they are careful to get it into their barns before the rain fall so God took away Josiah before the dismal destruction of that people as he had promised 2 King 22. 19 20. When the Righteous had left Jerusalem and were gone to Pella as they had been warned of God the City is presently taken and as great wrath is poured sorth upon that people as ever was upon any Nation in the world besides nay none like unto it according to the prognostick of our blessed Saviour Mat. 24. 21. So that they might justly take up the like complaint with their forefathers in their Babylonish captivity and a more bitter lamentation if they could find words to expressâ— it then that we read of Lam. 1. 12. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger Methuselah the longest-liv'd Patriarch dyed the year before the Flood St. Austin was taken away by death immediately before Hippo was sacked by the Vandals and the death of St. Ambrose was the fore-runner of the ruine of Italy I have somewhere read an observation of Luther that all the Apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem except John and Luther himself died a little before the wars began in Germany It bodes no good to a State when God picks such choice principal Plants out of it Surely this speaks the Lords intention to take away the hedge of his Vineyard and to lay it waste It was a sign that Sampson meant to pull down the house on the Philistins heads when he attempted to stir the Pillars and when God takes away the Pillars and Supporters of a Nation certainly he intends it no good 't is greatly to be feared that he is already come out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquity Thus I have given in the proof of the Proposition by some argumentative considerations which being twisted together will make a strong cord sufficient to draw any that have staggered in the belief of this particular to a firm perswasion of the great use and furtherance of Righteousness for the exaltation of a Nation But it may
wind from the Wilderness that smites the four corners of the house and makes it to tumble upon the heads of those that are within it The house of the wicked shall be overthrown but the tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish Prov. 14. 11. Again for the sake of righteous ones the Lord bestows as you have already heard those great blessings of Truth Peace Plenty Victory over enemies and preservation from ruine and destruction upon a Nation these and many more are the sweet fruits of righteousness But now all manner of destructive evils as famine of Bread and famine of the Word Wars cruel bondage Pestilence Fire dishonour and reproach are the cursed products of sin the bitter effects of those works of the flesh which the Apostle speaks of Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Thus is sin a reproach to any people Sin is that which makes Kingdoms desolate and bereaves them of all their power greatness and renown When Ephraim spake trembling he exalted himself in Israel but when he offended in Baal he died Hos. 13. 1. It is sin that hath divested and disrobed many flourishing Nations of their excellency and glory that hath made them become a curse and an astonishment an hissing and perpetual desolation sin hath unjoynted and broken asunder the confederacies and societies of all creatures It is the great make-bate in the world the cause of all that Ataxie and Disorder of that Stubborness and Rebellion of those Errors and Divisions of those Fightings Brawlings and Vexatious Law-sutes which are to be found in Church and State all these Evils and abundance more which I cannot now stand to mention are the mischievous consequences of sin I have done with the Illustration of the Text let us now see what Use is to be made of it and having endeavoured to give a light to the Text by Explication I shall now proceed to the life of a Sermon which is the Application First then Hence we may be Informed who are the best and who are the worst Members of a State who are the most profitable and who are the most injurious to the Nation in which they live Unrighteous ones cry out against the Righteous when as they themselves do the most mischief as the good Prophet justly retorted the crimination upon Ahab himself 1 Kings 18. 17 18. One Sinner saith Solomon destroyeth much good how much more then a rabble of Rebellious Sinners who are continually provoking the great God to anger with their crying sins and with their cursed abominations They and they only that fear God will honour the King in a Scripture sence The Righteous man is the best Instrument for the 〈◊〉 of a Nation however he is spoken against by the ungodly for as one saith truly of him Christianys inimicus nemini multo minus Imperatori A true Christian is an enemy to no man such less to the King He obeys for Conscience sake and from a principle of the fear of God who requires a subjection to the higher powers he is subject and obedient He submits to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men They whose hearts the Lord had touched joyned themselves with Saul when he was anointed King but the children of Belial despised him 1 Sam. 10. 26 27. It is no wonder said our late great and gracious King if men not fearing God should not honour their King they will easily contemn such shadows of God who reverence not that supreme and adorable Majesty in comparison of whom all the glory of men and Angels is but obscurity An unrighteous man can never be a good Subject and profitable member for promoting the Weal publique For 1. If he be prophane he will do the King more disservice by his lawless practices then ever he can do him service from those loyal principles which he is a great pretender to Or 2ly If he be Factious he will strike at Magistracy under the cloak of Piety and that Rebellion may not appear bare-fac'd he will mask it with Religion Or 3ly If he be covetous and in some publique imployment and Office of Trust he will be sure to drive on his own Interest without any regard to the honour of the King or profit of the Kingdom Covetousness which is the root of all evil makes the Courts of Judicature magna latrocinia places of great Robbery as St. Austin speaks The next Use is for Exhortation and here let us all be exhorted and perswaded and O! that God himself would effectually perswade us by the power of his blessed Spirit to love righteousness and to hate all manner of unrighteousness to have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness but rather to reprove them To follow that which is good and nor that which is evil He that doth good is of God but he that doth evil hath not seen God This is a duty that nearly concerns all men both high and low rich and poor There 's none so poor but he may contribute something toward the welfare and happiness of the Kingdom he is to lift and list again by his prayers and tears for the Exaltation of it and these are powerfull means which will wonderfully prevail with God for the obtaining of mercy and finding grace to help in time of need This poor sinfull Nation through the goodness of God for his Servants sake hath for many years past been miraculously preserved as the Bush in the midst of burnings After many wasting Judgments inflicted on us by Sword Pestilence and Burnings the Lord hath not blessed be his great name broken us from being a people for he yet waits to be gracious to us But when we consider the result of former deliverances is to commit greater abominations still may we not justly fear that God hath a farther controversie with this Land even such an one as shall make it to mourn once more and lay us lower then ever we have been cast down under former pressures We may be secure but we can never be safe while we go on in our sins neglecting to offer the sacrifices of righteousness and to put our trust in the Lord. What though Judgments have left us in a great measure if we have not left our sins these will cause us to pass under the rod again and will certainly make us more miserable For the hand of the Lord shall find out all his enemies his right hand shall find out those that hate him Come forth then ye righteous ones and with one shoulder endeavour the supportation of a tottering Nation Oh! labour to heal the breaches thereof for it