Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	king_n	prince_n	reign_n	1,910	5	7.8434	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61609	A sermon preached on the fast-day, November 13, 1678, at St. Margarets Westminster, before the Honourable House of Commons by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1678 (1678)	Wing S5649; ESTC R8213	27,301	58

Jovis 14. die Novembris 1678. Ordered THAT the Thanks of this House be returned to Dr. Stillingfleet Dean of St. Pauls for his Sermon yesterday Preached before this House at St. Margarets Westminster And that he be desired to Print his Sermon And Coll. Titus is desired to give him the Thanks of the House and to acquaint him with the desire of this House to Print his Sermon Will Goldesbrough Cler. Dom. Com. A SERMON Preached on the FAST-DAY November 13. 1678. AT S t MARGARETS WESTMINSTER Before the HONOURABLE HOUSE of COMMONS By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET D. D. Dean● St. Paul's and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by Margaret White for Henry Mortlock at the Ph●●● St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the White Hart in Westminster Hall 1678. 1 Sam 12. 24 25. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things he hath done for you But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King IT hath been well observed by some that those who look at a distance upon humane asfairs are apt to think that the good or bad success of them depends wholly upon the Wisdom and Conduct of those who manage them others who look nearer into them and discern the many intervening and unforeseen accidents which often alter and disappoint the Counsels of men are ready to attribute the events of things rather to Chance than Wisdom but those who have made the deepest search and the strictest enquiry have most firmly believed a Divine Providence which over-rules all the Counsels and Affairs of men and sometimes blasts the most probable designs sometimes prospers the most unlikely attempts to let us see that though there be many devices in mens hearts yet the Counsel of the Lord that sh●●l stand We live in an age not over prone to admire and take notice of any remarkable instances of Divine Providence either in our preservation from dangers or deliverances out of them for so great is the security of some men that they are unwilling to apprehend any danger till they fall into it and if they escape will hardly believe they were ever in it and such is the concernment of others to baffle all evidences of truth wherein their own guilt is involved that they all agree in robbing God of the honour of his Mercy and our selves of the comfort of his Protection But blessed be that God who hath hitherto defeated all the secret and subtile and cruel designs of his and our Churches enemies and hath given us the liberty and opportunity of this day to meet together to implore the continuance of his favour and mercy towards us in the preservation of His Majesties person for in praying for him we pray for our selves since our own welfare doth so much depend upon His. When we look back upon the History of this Church ever since the Reformation of it we may observe such a wonderful series of Divine Providence going along with it that we have the less reason to be discouraged with present difficulties or disheartned with the fears of future dangers What struglings did it meet with in the Birth And although it were therein like Jacob who took hold of the heel of his Brother and at last obtained the blessing yet the Romish party got the start like Esau and came forth all red and hairy full of blood and cruelty and the old Dragon cast out of his mouth a Flood of Fire to destroy our Church before it could attain to its full growth and maturity But after it not only survived these flames but enjoyed a firm establishment under the care and conduct of a wise and cautious Government what restless endeavours what secret plots what horrid conspiracies what foreign attempts what domestick treasons were carried on during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth And yet which is very considerable while she openly and heartily owned the Protestant Cause it pleased God to deliver her out of all her dangers and to give her a long and a prosperous Reign when two of her Neighbour Princes were assasinated for not being zealous enough in the Popish Cause though they professed to own and maintain it And it is but a very little time since you met together in this place to celebrate the memory of a mighty deliverance which Both King and Kingdom and together with them our Church received from that never to be forgotten conspiracy of the Gunpowder Treason in her Successors Reign May we not then take up St. Pauls argument and say Who hath delivered us from so great death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Especially if we do not fail in the performance of that duty which God expects from us in order to our own preservation which is delivered by Samuel to the people of Israel in the words of the Text Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things he hath done for you But if they would not hearken to this wise Counsel but go on in their sins he tells them what the fatal consequence would be not to themselves only but to their King too But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be destroyed both ye and your King Which advice will appear to deserve our serious consideration this day if we either regard 1. The Person who gave it 2. The Occasion of giving it 3. The matter contained in it 1. The Person who gave this Counsel to the People Samuel a Person of great Wisdom and long experience in Government and therefore very able to judge concerning the proper causes of a Nations Prosperity and Ruine The People had enjoyed a long and uninterrupted tranquillity while they followed his directions They had before been miserably harassed by the inroads of the Philistins discomfited in several battels and at last the Ark of God it self taken by their enemies and their leaders destroyed at which sad news Eli who had judged Israel forty years fell backwards and so ended his dayes while they were under the sense of their present miseries Samuel puts them into the most hopeful way for their deliverance which was by a Reformation of Religion among them by returning to the Lord with all their hearts and putting away their strange Gods and preparing their hearts unto the Lord and serving him only and then saith he he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistins The miseries they felt and the dangers they feared made them own the true Religion with more than usual courage Then the Children of Israel did put away Baalim and Astaroth and served the Lord only But besides this Samuel appoints a publick and solemn Fast of all Israel at Mizpeh And Samuel said Gather all Israel to Mizpeh and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpeh and drew water and

and surprizing events but of a lasting and continued state For when God hath been highly provoked to punish several Nations for their sins he may give unexpected success to that Nation by whom he designs to punish the rest and when they have done that work they may then suffer more smartly for their own iniquities Of this we have a remarkable instance in Scripture God designed to punish the Kingdoms of the earth for their sins to this purpose he raiseth up Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon whom he therefore calls his Servant and the first example of his severity was his own People when this was done then follow the desolations of Egypt of Phoenicia Arabia and other Countries in so strange a manner that some have called it the Age of the destruction of Cities But doth the King of Babylon think to escape himself No saith the Prophet the King of Shesbach shall drink after them his turn would come at last when he had accomplished the design God sent him upon in the punishment of others Thus for a time a Nation may seem to flourish exceedingly and be victorious over others while they are as Scourges in Gods hand for the punishment of others and when that work is over may suffer most severely for their own sins 4. It is to be understood of Persons under equal circumstances when we compare the condition of People with each other not the Nobles of one Nation with the Peasants of another nor the Princes with the People but every rank and order of men with those of the same rank and condition And upon these terms we need no other proof of the truth of this assertion than the instance in the Text of the People of Israel which will best appear by comparing the state of both Kingdoms after the Body of the People was broken into the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah The Kingdom of Israel by Jeroboams Policy and for Reason of State fell off from the Worship of the true God and worshipped the Calves of Dan and Bethel But did they prosper or succeed more than the Kingdom of Judah The ten Tribes had a much larger territory yet the Kingdom of Judah was stronger and flourished more and continued longer by 135 years than the Kingdom of Israel did and when they were carried into Captivity the ten Tribes were lost as to their name and interest among the People of Assyria but the two Tribes were restored after 70 years Captivity under the Princes of the Line of David If we compare the Kings of Israel and Judah together The Posterity of David was kept up among the Kings of Judah but there were nine Families in the Kingdom of Israel and but one of them lasted to the fourth Generation and that was of Jehu who did something towards the Reformation of Religion Of the eighteen Kings of Israel but eight escaped dying by the Sword and it is easie to judge how miserable the state of that People must be under so many violent changes of Government Among the Kings of Judah those who were firmest to the true Religion prospered most and the Nation under them enjoyed the greatest peace or received the greatest deliverances as in the dayes of Asa Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah If we compare the times of the same Kings together we shall find that while they adhered firmly to God and Religion the Nation prospered exceedingly as for a long time under the Reigns of Solomon and Asa but when in their old Age they began to warp in their Religion and to decline in their Piety nothing but trouble and confusion followed So true did they find the saying of Hanani to Asa The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him But because he said he had done foolishly in not relying on the Lord but on the King of Syria therefore saith he from henceforth thou shalt have wars And from that time his Government was uneasie both to himself and his People when he had imprisoned the Prophet for reproving him III. That there are some circumstances in the sins of a Nation which do very much portend and hasten its Ruine As 1. When they are committed after more than ordinary mercies received such as in reason ought to keep men most from the commission of them as greater knowledge of the Will of God than other People enjoy more frequent warnings of their danger than others have had many and great deliverances which God hath vouchfafed when none of these things nor all of them together do move a People to repent they shew an obstinate and incorrigible temper and therefore God may sooner proceed to punish them God did not forbear to punish other Nations for their transgressions but he began with his own People For lo I begin to bring evil on the City which is called by my name and should ye be utterly unpunished The destroying Angels in Ezekiel were to begin at the Sanctuary Judgement saith St. Peter must begin at the House of God He draws the line of his Justice parallel to that of his Mercy and when every Mercy is put to the account and heightens the guilt the fumm will soon rise so high to call for execution The Prophet Amos tells Damascus and Gaza and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and Moab that none of them shall escape being punished for their transgressions they need not doubt the Rod would come time enough upon them but yet God would begin with his own Children You only have I known of all the Families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Where God hath given wonderful marks of his kindness and many deliverances time after time and yet they continue to do wickedly there is the greater reason to expect sharper and severer punishments 2. When they are committed with more than ordinary contempt of God and Religion All Ages are bad enough and every Age is apt to complain of it self as the worst of any because it knows more ill of it self than of the foregoing But yet there is a difference in the manner of sinning sometimes the stream of wickedness hides its head and runs under ground and makes little noise although it holds on the same course at other times it seems to break forth like a mighty torrent as though it would bear down all before it as though the fountains of the great Deep were broken up and Hell were let loose and the Prisoners there had shaken off their chains and come up upon the earth When Atheism Prophaneness and all manner of Wickedness grow impudent and bare-faced when men do not only neglect Religion but reproach and contemn it Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this God did forbear his People of Judah beyond what they could have expected waiting