Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	king_n	lord_n	people_n	3,378	5	4.9550	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04931	A sermon preached by Iohn Knox minister of Christ Iesus in the publique audience of the Church of Edenbrough, within the realme of Scotland, vpon Sonday, the. 19. of August. 1565 For the which the said Iohn Knoxe was inhibite preaching for a season. To this is adioyned an exhortation vnto all the faythfull within the sayde realme, for the reliefe of suche as faythfully trauayle in the preaching of Gods worde. Written by the same Iohn Knoxe, at the commaundement of the ministerie aforesayd.	Knox, John, ca. 1514-1572.	1566 (1566)	STC 15075; ESTC S108139	37,230	132

take trial of this poynt it is not hard for Moses in the election of Iudges and of a King describeth not onelye what persones shall be chosen to that honour but doth also giue to him that is elected and chosē the rule by the which he shal trie himselfe whether God raygne in him or not saying when he shal sit vpō the throne of his kingdō he shal write to himself an examplar of this lawe in a boke by the priests the Leuits it shal be with him and he shall reade therin all the dayes of his life that he may learne to feare the Lord his god and to kepe all the words of this law these statuts ▪ that he may do them that his hart be not lifted vp aboue his brethrē that he turne not from the cōmaundement to the right hand or to the left Thesame is repeated to Iosua in his inanguration to the regiment of the people by God himselfe saying let not the boke of this lawe depart fro thy mouth but meditate in it day night that thou mayst kepe and do according to al that which is written in it For then shall thy way be prosperous and thou shalt do prudently The first thing thē that god craueth of him that is called to the honor of a king is the knowlege of his wil reuealed in his word The second is an vpright and willing minde to put in execution suche things as God commaundeth in his lawe without declyning eyther to the right or left hande Kings then haue not an absolute power to do in their regimēt what pleaseth them but their power is limitted by gods word So that if they strike where god commaundeth not they are but murderers if they spare wher GOD commaundeth to strike they and their throne are criminal and giltie of the wickednesse that aboundeth vpon the face of the earth for lacke of punishment O if Kings and Princes shuld consider what accompt shall be craued of them as well of their ignoraunce and misknoweledge of Gods will as for the neglecting of their office But nowe to returne to the words of the Prophet In the person of the whole people he doth complayne vnto God that the Babilonians whō he calleth other Lordes besydes God both bycause of their ignoraunce of God and by reason of their crueltie and inhumanitie hadde long ruled ouer them in all rigor without pitie or cōcompassion had vpon the aunciente men and famous matrones For they being mortall enimies of the people of God sought by all meanes to aggrauate their yoke yea vtterlye to haue exterminate the memorie of thē and of their religion from the face of the earth After the first part of this dolorous complaynt the Prophete declareth the protestation of the people saying neuerthelesse onely in thee shall we remember thy name others reade it Put wee wyll remember thee onelye and thy name But in the Hebrew there is no Coniunction copulatiue in that sentence The minde of the Prophete is playne to wit that not withstanding the long sustayned affliction the people of God declyned not to a false and vayne religion but remembred God that sometime appeared to them in his mercifull presence which albeit then they saw not yet would they still remēber his name that is they would cal to minde the doctrine and promise which sōetimes they hard albeit in their prosperity they did not sufficiently glorifie God who so mercifully ruled in the midst of them The temptation no doubt of the whole Isralites was gret in those dayes They were caryed captiues from the land of Canaan which was to thē the gage pledge of Gods fauour towardes thē For it was the inheritaunce that God promised to Abrahā to his seede for euer The league couenant of Gods protection appeared to haue beene broken They lamentably cōplayne that they sawe not their accustomed signes of Gods merciful presēce The true prophets were fewe the abhominatiōs vsed in Babylon were exceding many And so it might haue apered to thē that in vayne it was that they were called the posteritie of Abrahā or that euer they had receyued law or form of right religion frō god That we may the better fele it in our selues the temptatiō I say was euē such as if God shuld vtterly destroy al order policy that this day is withī his church that the true preaching of the worde should be suppressed The right vse of sacramēts abolished Idolatry papistical abhomination erected vp again And therwith that our bodies should be takē prisoners by Turks or other manifest enimies of God of al Godlynesse ▪ Such I say was their temptatiō How notable then is this their cōfessiō that in bōdage they make to wit that they wil remember God onely albeit he hath appeared to turne his face from them they will remember hys name and will cal to minde the deliuerance promised Hereof haue we to consider what is our duetie if God bring vs as for oure offences and vnthankfulnesse iustely he may to the like extremitie This confession is not the fayre flattering wordes of hypocrites lying and bathing in their pleasures but it is the mightye operation of the spirite of God who leaueth not his owne destitute of some comfort in their most desperate calamities This is then oure duety not onely to confesse our god in the time of peace and quietnes but he chiefely craueth that we auowe him in the middeste of his and our enimies And this is to doe but it behoueth that the spirite of God worke in vs aboue all power of nature And thus we ought earnestlye to meditate before the battayle rise more vehement which appeareth not to be farre of but now must we enter in somewhat more deepely to consider these iudgements of God This people entreated as we haue heard was the onely people vpon the face of the earth to whō God was rightly knowen among them onely were his lawes statuts ordinaunces and sacrifices vsed and put in practise They onely inuocated his name and to them alone had he promised his protection and assistance What then shoulde be the cause that he shoulde giue them ouer into this great reproche and bring them into suche extremitie as his owne name in them shoulde be blasphemed The Prophet Ezekiell that saw this horrible destruction forespoke by Isaiah put in iust execution giueth an aunswere in these wordes I gaue vnto them lawes that were good in the which whosoeuer shoulde walke should liue in them But they woulde not walke in my wayes but rebelled against me and therefore I haue giuen vnto them lawes that are not good and iudgements in the which they shal not liue The writer of the bookes of kings and cronicles declare this in more playne words saying the Lorde sent vnto them his prophets rising early desiring of them to retourne vnto the Lorde and to amende their wicked wayes for he would haue

spared his people and his tabernacle but they mocked his seruants and woulde not retourne vnto the Lorde their God to walke in his wayes Yea Iuda it selfe kept not the precepts of the Lord God but walked in the maners ordinances of Israell that is of suche as then had declyned to Idolatry frō the dayes of Ieroboam And therfore the Lorde God abhorred the whole seede of Israell that is the whole body of the people he promised them and gaue them into the hands of those that spoyled them and so he cast them out frō his presence Hereof it is euident that their stubborne disobedience vnto God and vnto the voyces of hys Prophetes was the cause of their destruction Nowe haue we to take heede how we should vse the good lawes of God that is his mercifull will reuealed vnto vs in his worde and that order of iustice that by him for the comforte of man is established among men It is no doubt but that obedience is the moste acceptable sacrifice vnto God and that which aboue all things he requireth that when he manifesteth himselfe by hys worde that men follow according to their vocation and commaundement Now so it is that God by that great pastor out Lorde Lesus nowe manifestly in his worde calleth vs from all impietie aswell of body as of minde to holynesse of life and to his spirituall seruice And for this purpose he hath erected the throne of his mercy among vs the true preaching of his word together with the right administration of his sacramet but what is our obedience Let euery man examine his owne conscience and consider what statuts and lawes we woulde haue to be giuen vnto vs. Wouldst thou O Scotland haue a King to raigne ouer thee in iustice equitie and mercy Subiect thou thy selfe to the Lorde thy God obey his commaundements and magnifie thou that word that calleth vnto thee This is the way walke into it and if thou wilt not flatter not thy self the same iustice remaineth this day in God to punishe thee Scotlande and thee Edenborough in especiall that before punished the lande of Iuda and the citie of Ierusalem Euerie realme or nation sayth the Prophet Ieremy that likewise offendeth shall be likewise punished But if thou shalt see impietie placed in the seate of iustice aboue thee so that in the throne of God as Salomon doth cōplayne raigneth nothing but fraude and violēce accuse thy owne ingratitude and rebellion against God For that is the onely cause why God taketh away as the same Prophet in another place doth speake the strong man and the man of warre the Iudge and the Prophete the prudent the aged the captaine and the honorable the counceller and the cunning artificer And I wil appoint sayth the Lorde children to be their princes and babes shal rule ouer them Children are extorcyoners of my people and women haue rule ouer them If these calamities I saye apprehend vs so that we see nothing but the oppression of good men and of all godlynesse and wicked men without God to raigne aboue vs Let vs accuse and condempne our selues as the onely cause of oure owne miseries For if we had heard the voyce of the Lord our God giuen vpright obedience vnto the same God should haue blessed vs he shoulde haue multiplyed oure peace and shoulde haue rewarded our obedience before the eyes of the worlde But nowe let vs heare what the Prophet sayth further The dead shall not liue sayth be neyther shall the tiraunts or the dead arise bicause thou hast visited and scattered them and destroyed all their memorie Frō this .14 verse vnto the end of the .19 it apeareh that the Prophet obserueth no order yea that he speaketh thinges directly repugning one to another For first he sayth the dead shal not liue After he affirmeth thy dead men shall lyue Secondly he sayth thou hast visited and scattered them destroyed all their memorie Imediately thereafter he sayth thou hast increased the natiō O Lord thou haste increased the nation They haue visited thee and haue poured forth a prayer before thee Who I say woulde not thinke that these are thinges not onely spoken forth of good order and purpose but also manifestly repugning one to another For to liue and not to liue to be so destroyed that no memoriall remaineth And to be so increased that the coastes of the earth shal be replenished seme to importe playne contradiction For remouing of this doubt and for better vnderstanding of the Prophetes minde we must vnderstand that the Prophet had to doe with diuers forts of mē He had to do with the coniured manifest enimies of Gods people the Caldes or Babilonians euen suche as professe Christ Iesus haue to doe with the Turke and Sarazens He had to doe with the sede of Abraham wherof there were three sorts The tenne tribes all degenerate from the true worshipping and corrupted with Idolatry as this daye are our pestilent papistes in al realmes and nations There rested onely the tribe of Iuda and Ierusalē where the forme of true religion was obserued the lawe taught and ordinaunces of god outwardly kept but yet there were in that body I meane in the bosome of the visible Church a great number that were hipocrits as this day yet are among vs that doe professe the Lorde Iesus and haue refused papistrie not a fewe that were lycentious lyuers some that had tourned their backe to God that is had forsaken al true religion and some that liued a most abhominable life as Ezechiell sayeth in his vision And yet there were some godlye as a fewe wheat cornes oppressed and hid amōg the multitude of such chaffe Nowe according to this diuersitie the Prophete kepeth diuers purposes and yet in moste perfecte order And first after the first part of the complaint of the afflicted as we haue heard in vehemencie of spirite he bursteth forth against all the proude enimies of Gods people all such as trouble them and against all such as mocke and forsake God and sayth the dead shal not liue The proud Giants shall not arise Thou hast scattered thē and destroyed their memoriall In which wordes he fighteth against the present temptation and dolorous estate of Gods people and against the insolent pride of suche as oppressed them as the Prophet should say O ye troublers of Gods people howsoeuer it appeareth to you in this your bloudy rage that God regardeth not your crueltie not considereth not what violence ye doe to his pore afflicted yet shal ye be visited yea your carcases shal fal and lye as stinking carions vpon the face of the earth ye shal fal without hope of life or of a blessed resurrection Yea howsoeuer ye gather your substance augment families ye shal be so scattered that ye shal leaue no memoriall of you to the posterities to come but that which shal be execrable and odious Hereof haue the