Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	prince_n	queen_n	3,203	5	6.8163	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66214	Of our obligation to put our trust in God, rather than in men, and of the advantages of it in a sermon preached before the honourable society of Grayes-inn, upon the occasion of the death of our late Royal Sovereign Queen Mary / by William Wake ...	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1695 (1695)	Wing W247; ESTC R4700	18,132	41

all succeeds according to their Expectations to attribute too much to their own Power and Policy and to forget that God without whose Help all their own Endeavours would be to no purpose And therefore to prevent this God is pleased oftentimes to suffer Men to fall into great Difculties not that he designs their ruine but only to make them sensible of their Own Weakness and to draw them back to him who is their only sure Defence the Rock of their Salvation in whom they ought to trust It were an easie Matter for Me to confirm the truth of this Remark in a multitude of Instances from whence it may appear that God has in all Ages then especially exerted his Power in the delivery of his Servants when their Enemies have thought themselves the most secure of their Destruction But I shall content my self with a few Examples tho' such as I am perswaded may abundantly suffice to shew How false a Conclusion Men make when they presume to determine That because God deprives any People of the present visible Means of Deliverance therefore he designs to give them up to Destruction When Haman projected the Universal Extirpation of the whole People of the Jews and was come so near to an Accomplishment of it that the Order was signed and the Command gone forth for a General Massacre of them Who could have imagined any other but that the final ruine of that poor Nation was at hand And yet by what a strange concurrence of unexpected Events were they delivered from his danger and the Mischief turn'd upon his Head who had contrived their Destruction Nor was their Preservation afterwards less remarkable when Caligula sent Petronius into Syria to set up his Statue in the Temple at Jerusalem and the Jews resolved every Man of them to perish rather than submit to so abominable a Profanation of that Holy Place It were too long for me to relate to you how far Petronius insisted upon the putting of this Command in Execution and what he did in order thereunto It shall suffice to say that his Army was drawn together and all just ready to come to the last Extremity When the Governour considering how sad a thing it would be to root out a whole Nation for so small a Matter stopp'd his Souldiers and wrote the Emperour an Account both of what he had done and how Averse he found the Jews to his Design and therefore intreated him not to pursue his Attempt any farther But in vain was this delay nor could any of these Remonstrances alter the Emperour's Resolutions But on the contrary He renew'd his Orders yet more peremptorily of having the Jews destroy'd for opposing his Will and commanded Petronius himself to be murdeed with Them for deferring so long the Execution of his Orders And now What could be expected by that Miserable People but ruine and desolation When behold God took their Cause into his Own Hand And so disposed Matters that before this Second Command could reach Syria the News of the Emperour 's own Murder flew thither and saved both the Governour and Them from that Destruction which was just ready to break in upon Both. So able is God when things seem to be at the very worst to interpose his Hand and to save those who trust in Him not only without any Visible Means but against all Humane Appearances And for yet fresher Instances of this Let me only desire you to reflect how strangely God has preserved for several Ages together those ancient Reformed Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont notwithstanding all the Power and Malice of their Enemies to root them out It is but a very little while since we saw them reduced to so wretched an Estate that we accounted them to have been dispersed beyond all Hope of any future Restitution Their own Prince supported with the Power and led on by the Example and Encouragement of a mighty Neighbouring Monarch had resolved upon their ruine Sorrow and Distress encompass'd them on every side and from whom to expect a deliverance they could not tell And yet lo these very Churches are again already restored to their ancient Splendor And to encrease the Wonder are now Protected by that very Power that before Destroyed Them But what need I lead you into foreign Countries for Instances to shew that God is not confined in his Workings to Humane Appearances But oftentimes is then the most ready to support his Servants when all other Helps the most fail Them Our Own Country and our Own Church ever since the Reformation has been more or less a Continued Evidence of the truth of this Remark How melancholy was the Prospect which our Forefathers had at the untimely Death of that most excellent Prince King Edward the Sixth When Queen Mary being set upon the Throne nothing was to be expected by Them but an utter Extirpation of all that seemed in any wise to favour the purity of Religion among Them What she did and How far she went in a few years to blot out all the Memory of her Brother's Piety I shall not need to say The History is still fresh in all your Memories Yet in the midst of all their trouble when the Hope of their Enemies and their own Fears were at the Highest it pleased God upon a sudden to take off that Queen and put such an End to their dangers as nothing else could have done But though by this means therefore we were secured against their open Violence yet God still permitted them to endeavour by secret Treachery to carry on their Designs against us And Has by that means furnish'd us with yet more Engagements to relie upon his Protection who has so often and wonderfully delivered us from their Devices Witness the many subtle and barbarous Attempts that were made by Them upon the Life of Queen Elizabeth The Open Force and Domestick Disturbances which they raised up against Her And yet in all these they miscarry'd and in many of them so signally as plainly shew'd the Hand of God was against them When that Queen was gone and King James settled upon the Throne it was but a little while before they return'd to their Old Malice but in a New Way and that such as all the Cunning of Hell had never before contrived I mean that of the Gun-powder Conspiracy And that too was discovered after a most wonderful manner and at a most Critical juncture when all was just come to the Point of Execution I might add to these Examples the Happy Restauration of our Church and Government after the fatal Murder of King Charles the First Their frequent disappointments since but especially that of the last Reign But I think I have already given you Instances enough to Convince you that were we now left in as Bad an Estate as blessed be God! we are in a very Good One Yet still whilst we held firm to our Holy Religion and continued