Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	speak_v	time_n	write_v	3,365	5	5.2822	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62467	A sermon preached at the assizes held at Chelmsford in the county of Essex, September 2d, 1691 before the Honourable Sir William Dolben, Knight, one of the justices of the Court of Kings Bench by Stephen Thornton ...	Thornton, Stephen, 1657 or 8-1744.	1691 (1691)	Wing T1061; ESTC R16613	14,636	34

A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES HELD AT CHELMSFORD IN THE County of Essex September 2d 1691. Before the Honourable Sir WILLIAM DOLBEN Knight one of the JUSTICES of the Court of KINGS BENCH By STEPHEN THORNTON Rector of Ludsdown in Kent LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. To the Honourable Coll. John Cook High Sheriff for the County of Essex SIR I Could have easily sate down contented with the good Reception this Performance found upon the place nor am I ignorant how impolitick it is to push on too far upon the Flatteries of an happy beginning but as your Commands alone drew me from my private Station so they have prevaled with me to be yet more Publick If any thing prove worthy of blame in this Attempt you must be pleased to be in a great measure answerable for it with those other Gentlemen who would not be denied and indeed whose Kindnesses have merited this and a greater Obedience I confess it is something uneasie to think of being exposed to the Censures of Men which are not commonly so fair as they should be But let them be what they will I ought to gratifie you at some hazard and for once will try the Ingenuity of the World in hope that what is here said may benefit some part of it Not being conversant in Modern Writings perhaps I have said nothing here but what some others have said better before me If any know where they have my leave to repair thither and my Prayers for a Blessing upon their Applications I would not willingly be accessary to any man's loss of time and disappointment But I hope they will allow me a Province among those of lesser Reading and Attainments And I assure you Sir there are those in the World to whom the things here spoken are new and some of them such as pretend to converse and talk of Books and from whom one might expect other things Writing would be at a stand were every one bound to produce something perfectly new the Actions of the World being little else but a series of Repetitions I never had the Vanity to think of pleasing all Men on the contrary I certainly reckon upon it that I shall displease some Perhaps too the fault will be on their side which I pray God to forgive them If any shall desire to triumph in my Infirmities I shall prevent them in the honour of the Discovery being alway ready to make a large confession of them But if an honest Intention may make amends let them know that I am a great lover of Mankind and when I please them least I desire to do them good God grant this Performance may attain that end and I have mine That those who are skilled in Criticks may not think themselves neglected I will excuse one thing to them Perhaps some things may seem to be brought into this Discourse impertinently It may be necessary therefore to tell them That my Text was not only those few words of the Prophet prefixt to the Sermon but the temper of the World as it fell under my Observation And if they think I ought not to have accommodated my thoughts to it it may be sufficient to tell them that I am of another mind and if in an Error not past all hopes of being made sensible of it Sir I beg your Pardon if I have done you any dishonour in this Dedication and shall take this Occasion publickly to acknowledge my Obligation to your self and Relations to whom I owe the Opportunities which I have of serving the Church of God That you may continue immoveable in the love which I know you have to our established Church and your largeness of Soul towards all good Christians That you may still become your Honourable Station and find returns of all in this and another World is the hearty Prayer of SIR Your Most Humble and Most Obliged Servant STEPHEN THORNTON AMOS V.XV. Hate the evil and love the good and establish Judgment in the gate it may be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious unto the Remnant of Joseph BY the Complaints that make so considerable a part of this Prophecy we understand That the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes was at this time fallen into great Corruptions of Religion and Civil Justice For as if it had been but a light thing to walk in the ways of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who had taught them to sin they had multiplied their Impieties and made the Abominations of Gilgal and Beersheba as Famous as those of Dan and Bethel ver 5. The bitterness of their Judgment their Exactions upon the Poor the Affliction of the Righteous and taking Bribes make up the rest of their Character in this Chapter to such a suspension of Justice that it was become a prudent thing to keep silence ver 13. rather than to be wasted with delays to dissemble an Injury rather than suffer a greater in form of Law All then seem to be silent but their sins and the Prophet who discharges his Office at that rate that the Land was not able to bear his words Chap. 7.10 Indeed the Land was not in case to bear much searching and the poor Man found by his Reception that he had not much changed his Employment when the Lord took him from among the Herdsmen to make him a Prophet ver 14. but had now as senseless Creatures to deal with as those he had fed in the Fields of Tekoa Yet no fear of disturbing the Land which desired to be left in a quiet Apostacy nor any construction of disrespect to the King's Court and Chappel ver 13. can make him suppress a Divine Message but he fills them with Reproofs Lamentations and Warnings of approaching Judgment and sometimes clears up into a milder Exhortation with Propositions of Mercy of which latter sort is the Text now under consideration Hate the evil and love the good c. These words Hate the evil and love the good are in themselves of a large signification but compared with the 6th and 14th Verses and the occasion of the Discourse they seem capable of this limited sense viz. Be Religious To establish Judgment in the Gate is to administer Publick Justice which in those Times and Countries was done at the Gates of Cities By Joseph he understands the Ten Tribes which it seems the Syrian Wars and other Calamities had now reduced to a Remnant And the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be imports no distrust of God's Mercy for never any one so perswades Repentance but is an artificial propounding of a Difficulty to heighten and warm their Applications I shall enlarge the sense of the Prophet into this general Proposition That beside the common Obligations to Religion and Justice there is that of the greatest Interest we have in the World viz. The Establishment of a Nation in the favour of God and securing the Publick Happiness I begin with