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A47257 The righteous taken away from the evil to come applied to the death of the late excellent Queen, in a sermon preach'd at St. Martin's Church, on Sunday, January the twentieth, 1694/5, before the mayor, baliffs, and commonalty of the city of Oxford / by White Kennett ... Kennett, White, 1660-1728. 1695 (1695) Wing K303; ESTC R17585 13,215 33

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The Righteous taken away from the Evil to come Applied to The DEATH OF THE Late Excellent QUEEN IN A SERMON PREACH'D At St. MARTIN'S CHURCH On Sunday January the Twentieth 1694 5. Before the MAYOR Bailiffs and Commonalty of the City of OXFORD By WHITE KENNETT B. D. One of the Lecturers to that Corporation OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield for George West Bookseller 1695. A Sermon c. ISAIAH Chap. LVII Ver. 1. The Righteous perisheth and no Man layeth it to Heart and merciful Men are taken away None considering that the Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come THE preceding Chapter does conclude with a grievous Complaint which the Prophet makes of a loose and careless World when all Persons were either intent upon their Profit or addicted to their Pleasure and seem'd to have little or no Concern for any publick Calamity that fell upon them Hence in the Ninth Verse All ye Beasts of the Field come to devour Yea all ye Beasts in the Forest. That is the Land of Israel which GOD once Cared for the Vineyard which he once Planted with his own Right-hand it is now so Degenerate and Barren of all that is Good that it is only Ripe for Desolation Therefore All ye Beasts of the Field and the Forest come and devour it i. e. Let this Vineyard be Entred and Trampled by some Forreign Nation Let it be Profan'd by some strange Religion Let Heathens come and take away the Place and Nation For alas All the Inhabitants are Secure and Stupid They scarce apprehend the common Danger They take no thought of appeasing the Anger of GOD or of averting those Judgments that hover o're their guilty Heads No! Even they whose Character and Office makes it their especial Duty to attend the publick Good They are all wrapt up in Vice and Ease ver 10. His Watchmen are blind they are all ignorant and so on Some have their Soul fill'd up with Thoughts and Cares how to force Trade and improve their sordid Store ver 11. They all look to their own way every one for his Gain from his Quarter And while these are drudging to encrease their Wealth there be Others equally unconcern'd for National Interest who drown the sense of common Safety in Riot and Excess ver 12. Come ye say they I will fetch Wine and we will fill our selves with strong Drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant And thus between the base Avarice of some and the rude Debauchery of others The Nation sleeps on in fatal Security and wants the feeling of her own Wounds If GOD should now threaten Invasions from abroad and Distractions at home yet few would apprehend the Storm more few provide against it If GOD should take away a righteous Prince and give the deepest cause for a universal Grief and Lamentation yet a covetous and dissolute People would scarce be affected with the infinite Loss For so it follows in the Text. The Righteous perisheth and no Man layeth it to Heart and merciful Men are taken away None considering that the Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come Let me ask leave first to explain the Words and then to reflect on the Sense and Subject of them First Here is the Character of those who are said to perish and to be taken away They are the Righteous and the Merciful The Righteous perisheth and merciful Men are taken away To be Righteous does I think imply a universal Goodness Piety Justice Integrity and most other Graces and Vertues that make the perfect and upright Soul Therefore our Blessed SAVIOUR who had no Sin nor Guile is call'd the Sun of Righteousness and scarce a higher Eulogy could be given of him than what the Centurion deliver'd at his Passion Certainly this was a Righteous Man And tho' this Title cannot be strictly conferr'd on any of us Sinners For in truth among us there is no One fully Righteous no not One. Yet in a qualify'd sence and with that allowance which Religion and Language make those Persons who are Exemplary for Goodness and Vertue they are justly call'd Righteous Partly for their own love and their own practice of all Equity and Honesty but chiefly for the Merits of the Holy JESUS by which they are justify'd or accepted as Righteous in the sight of GOD For he is said to cover us with a Robe of Righteousness Isa. 61.10 and by St. Paul to be made Sin or a Sufferer for Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him Nor are they only call'd Righteous but Merciful The Merciful men are taken away Because Mercy Pity and Compassion they ought to be alway the Temper and Practice of Righteous persons Therefore the the Wise Man joins these Two Vertues to make up the Characters of Goodness He that followeth after Righteousness and Mercy Mercy without Righteousness makes a soft and a weak Soul and Righteousness without Mercy has nothing Divine or Humane in it At least if Righteousness alone would create some Veneration yet it is Mercy can alone command the love of Mankind For scarcely for a Righteous man will one Dye yet peradventure for a Good man some would even dare to Dye This in general is the Righteous and Merciful that perisheth and is taken away But Interpreters believe the Prophet meant some one particular Person of eminent Vertue and of high Degree Perhaps the Messiah himself or perhaps some Crowned Head in Israel who reign'd a publick Blessing whose Righteousness and Mercy so long as he liv'd did serve to establish his Throne and to exalt his Nation And Grotius understands it of the great Example of Royal Vertues Josiah who did alway that which was right in the sight of the Lord and keeping the noble Mean between Superstition and Profaneness turned not aside neither to the right Hand nor to the left Alas That righteous Prince and merciful Governour perisheth and is taken away The second Phrase to be explain'd To perish cannot be here meant a total Destruction or a return to sleep in Nothing in which sence the Beasts are said to perish No one of Mankind can so perish For when our mortal Bodies drop our Souls must put on Immortality and while our Flesh falls back to Dust and Ashes our Spirit does return to God who gave it Nor can perishing here mean that eternal Perdition which remains the plague and portion of the Wicked who without doubt shall perish everlastingly For the Righteous shall be sav'd from that dreadful Doom and shall enter into a rest and peace and joy for ever and ever But by perishing is here plainly meant a temporal Death from which no more the Righteous than the Wicked can be exempted It being appointed for all however great and good for all Men once to Dye So is the sence of the same phrase Mic. 7.2 The Good man is perished out of the Earth i.
Ruder Age. One would I mean imagine that the Blessing of a Good QUEEN should make a deeper Impress upon English Hearts and the being depriv'd of that Blessing should raise warmer Resentments of Grief than the like Providence did in the remote Reign of Hen. I. when the Normans were transported with Conquest and the Saxons were dis-spirited with Oppression when the Insolence of one Party and the Indignation of the other were enough to take away all the better Affections of Humane Nature It is impossible that Nature Education and Religion when they are All reform'd should be All less effectual to strike and wound the Hearts of a Nation when they have lost a QUEEN equal to the greatest Example of past Ages When without suspicion of Flattery Her Character shall be drawn for the Use of Posterity Posterity will not believe That a great part of Her People were Indifferent and Unaffected with Her Death and only put on their Mourning as the Pharisees did their Sackcloth to appear unto Men. At least Posterity will not believe That some were so Insolent as to Ridicule the Divine Judgment and make a Mock at GOD'S Anger and their own Sin A barbarous Indignity that could have been only tolerable in that Emperour who amidst the Conflagration of his City was setting Musick to the Flames Or in that Other who wisht a signal Calamity might happen in his Reign to distinguish it from ordinary and unobservable Times The Thoughts of such inhumane Practice will naturally lead us to the more melancholly Reflection For we are lastly to reflect on the fatal Reason of GOD'S Providence in so severe a Dispensation The Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come History tells us The First Christians were retreated to Pella before the Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem Or else perhaps their Prayers might have turn'd back the Armies of the Aliens and stopt the Bloud that was imprecated on the Jews and on their Children Indeed GOD cannot execute a dreadful Judgment while the Righteous remain to intercede and turn aside his stretched out Arm. Had but Ten Righteous Persons been found upon their Knees in Sodom they had quencht the Fire and Brimstone before it fell on the polluted City Yes Righteous and Merciful Men they are the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel They are the Guardian Angels and defend the Province over which they do preside The Messenger of GOD told Lot that Nothing could be done against the City while he was within the Walls of it Hast thee escape thither for I cannot do any thing till Thou be come thither When the LORD was wroth with his Inheritance of Israel and resolv'd their Iniquity should be upon their own Heads yet the Intercession of Moses stopt his drawn Sword nor could he strike till Moses should let him alone I have seen this People said the LORD and behold it is a stiff-necked People Now therefore let me alone that my Wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them So much Violence does GOD himself seem to suffer from the Prayers of Holy Men And in the most Sinful Land it is rather a Threat than a Decree That Noah Daniel and Job shall deliver Nothing but their own Souls Oh! That a People were Wise and would Consider this Who cannot but Consider That when the Walls of a City are broken down how easy is it for the Enemies to enter and destroy When the Pillars of a Temple are took away how soon must the unsupported Fabrick fall When the Banks are laid low how naturally will the Waters overwhelm the defenceless Ground Even so when the Righteous are taken away how without Resistance must descend the Evil to come It is true While we reflect on former Mercies and contemplate our present Affairs we grow Sanguine and presume that All will be Safe and Happy But while we take the other Prospect of Divine Justice and our own Provocations of it Then the Light Side of the Pillar is turn'd round to Cloud and Darkness and fearful Expectations may remain What Judgment may we expect What may we not expect Shall we choose any One of the Three Evils which Gad offer'd to David Shall Seven Years of Famine come upon us in our Land Our Bodies Hungry and Thirsty and our Souls fainting in them No! Bless O LORD our Victuals with Encrease and satisfy our Poor with Bread and suffer us not to know the want of that Plenty we abuse Shall we flee Three Months before our Enemies while they pursue us Shall Invasion and Conquest and Slavery drown us in Sweat and Bloud No! Defend us Good LORD from barbarous and insulting Foes Give us the undeserved Favour of Victory Abroad and Peace at Home Well but Shall there be Three Days Pestilence in the Land Shall Carcasses fall in Heaps and the Living be buried among the Dead Yea rather Let us fall into the Hand of the Lord for his Mercies are great and let us not fall into the Hand of Man But rather O LORD turn away this Plague from us Give us Strength and Health Give us leave to wait our appointed Time till a natural and gentle Change shall come Tho' the Hand-writing seems upon the Wall and the Sentence of Death be already executed against that just Person who could alone have stopt the determin'd Woe Yet Let us turn unto the Lord with all our heart with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning Let us rend our Heart and not our Garment and looking upon the Evil to come let us try whither the Merciful and Gracious LORD will Repent him of that Evil Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a Blessing behind him Merciful GOD Let it be Judgment Enough That we have lost a Princess whom past Ages never did Exceed and future Generations shall scarce ever Equal Judgment Enough That we have lost the Benefit of so many Prayers of that Devout QUEEN who lov'd no Apartment of Her Palace so well as Her Chapel and behav'd Her-self in it with that Zeal and Affection as if She believ'd it the House of God and the Gate of Heaven which is now Open'd to Her Who made Her Closet a continued Oratory of private Devotions Who prosecuted all Business as if She had no leisure to Pray and yet Pray'd so Continually as if She had attended no other Business Judgment enough That we have lost Her who believ'd Religion and adorn'd it who understood the Constitution of our Church and therefore lov'd it Who Honour'd Divines for the Sake of their Profession and made Her Preferments the Reward of good Preaching and good Living And what is not improper to mention within these Walls Lost Her who was a Friend to Learning who knew how to chuse Books and to digest them and amidst all urgent Affairs could descend to the Cares of a Library Judgment Enough That we have lost Her who paid all the obedient Duties of a Wife so rare in Royal Consorts who in a less Coparcenry than Hers are tempted to bear no Equal at least to acknowledge no Superiour Lost Her who was a Mistriss Affable and Humble and who if She had wanted Power could have been Perswasive whom supreme Authority could not make Imperious to Her Servants Who set Her Maidens an Example of Domestick Industry and Govern'd Her Family as if that had been her Only Kingdom Lost Her Who could Rule a Nation and make Her Lord seem Absent to None but to Her-self Who could do Justice without Revenge and shew Mercy without Weakness and Reign in the Hearts of Her People In a word Judgment Enough To lose Her wherein Her Quality has lost an Ornament Her Sex a Glory Her Nation a Blessing and the World an Example Good GOD Permit no other Judgment to fall upon us Let Us the Priests and You the People Weep between the Porch and the Altar and let us say Spare thy People O Lord and give not thy Heritage to Reproach Be jealous for thy Land and pity thy People Thy Distressed People To Thee O Father of Mercies with the Son of thy Love and the Spirit of Consolation be ascrib'd the Kingdom Power and Glory for Ever and Ever Amen Mal. 4.2 Luk. 23. ver 47. ● Cor. 5. ver 21. Pro. 21. ver 21. Grot. in Loc. 2 King 22. v. 2. Psal. 12. v. 20. Eccl. 12. ver 7. Heb. 9. v. 27. Is. 53.8 Eccl. 7. ver 2. Ps. 34. ver 19 2 Pet. 2. ver 8. Ps. 119. v. 136.158 Pro. 14. ver 34. Jer. 5.9 2 Cron. 32.25 26. 2 Cron. 34.24 lb. 27 28. 2 Cron. 36.17 Sim. Dunel sub an 957. Allredus de vit Mirac Ed. confess Cron. Joh. Brompton sub Anno. M LX VI. Henr. de Knighton de Event Ang. Cap. 14. K. Edw. VI. Ecl. 12. ver 5. Deu. 34. ver 8. 1 Sam. 25.1 Jer. 22.10 Zech. 12 ver 11. Job 27. ver 15. Psal. 74. ver 66. Jer. 16. ver 5. 〈…〉 H●st W●nt A●g 〈…〉 p 2●● Sueton. in Vit. Ner. Cap. ●8 Idem in Vit. Calig Cap. 31. Gen. 18. ver 32. 2 Kin. 2. ver 12. Gen. 19. ver 22. Ex. 32. ver 9. Eze. 14. ver 14. 2 Sam. 24. Joel 2. ver 15. Gen. 28. ver 17.