Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	brother_n	great_a	king_n	4,413	5	3.5662	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27244	Two sermons preach'd at St. Maries in Bury St. Edmunds, at the assizes the first upon the seventh of April 1698, before the Honourable Sir Thomas Rokeby, Kt. ... : the second upon the 16th of August 1698, before the Right, Honourable Sir Edward Ward, Kt. ... / by William Bedford ...	Bedford, William, b. 1652 or 3.	1698 (1698)	Wing B1671; ESTC R5177	24,433	58

more exercised I will with the Prophet wish you by way of intreaty to Execute true Judgment Lex talionis the Law of like for like is of great Antiquity common as well with the Gentiles by the Law of Nature as with the Jews by the Law of God whereby we are taught not to use others as we would not be used our selves to which accords that of our Blessed Saviour Whatsoever you would that Men should do unto you even so do unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets In these Admonitions we are taught Mercy and Compassion when we have our Adversary in a straight and to forgive the Delinquences of our Neighbours as we hope to receive a Remission of our Trespasses committed against the Supreme Judge and Father of us all For after the Execution of true Judgment we are admonished for to shew Mercy Amongst the Heathens the great Alexander is reported to have taken greater delight in Pardoning than Punishing an Offender When Bias came to the Condemning of a Man he wept and Cicero professed Cum pareere vel ledere poruissem ignoscende quaereham causas non puniendi occasiones but to induce us by a greater Authority God Almighty is our President and he is stiled Merciful and Long-suffering and we by our Lord's Command should be the like Be you Merciful as your Heavenly Father is Merciful And he adds thereunto a Benediction Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Let us therefore make no Separation between Justice and Mercy but execute both truly Let us be blind to insinuating Impostors and deaf to palli●ting Flatterers it were better to want Sense tha● to judge an unrighteous Judgment either erring against Justice or Mercy God required of the Jews as a Demonstration of their Repentance Isa 58.6 7. To loose the Bands of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burdens and to let the Oppressed go free and that they should break every Yoke to deal their Bread to the Hungry and to bring the Poor that are cast out to their Houses and when they saw the Naked that they cover them and that they should not hide themselves from their own Flesh Afflict not the Poor was the Precept of an anclent Philosopher and suitably the Prophet in the Text excites Mankind by way of Prohibition not to oppress any Subject to Oppression the W●dow nor the Fatherless the Stringer nor the Poor and let none of you imagine Evil against his Brother in yo●r heart The Sin of Oppression in former times was expi●ted by Death or Banishment as may be seen by some Edicts of our ancient Kings It was condemned of old by the Prophet Amos Woe to them that make the Ephah small but the Shekel great to oppose the Oppression of the Widow let there be the Love of an Husband of an Orphan let there be the Affection of a Father of a Stranger let there be the Hospitality of Abraham of the Poor let there be the Charity of Job Job 29.12 c. He delivered the Poor that cried the Fatherless and him that had none to help him The Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him And he caused the Widows heart to sing for joy He put on Righteousness and it cloathed him and Judgment was to him as a Robe and a Diadem He was Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame He was a Father to the Poor and the cause which he knew not he searched out Then he brake the Jaws of the Wicked and plucked the Spoil out of his Teeth Then was his Glory fresh in him and his Bow was renewed in his hand He relieved the Necessities of distressed Widowhood and was a Father to the disabled Orphans As we hear the Complaints and Cries of others that are overwhelmed with Calamities so God will hear us and as we behold them so will he behold us Therefore stop not your Ears at the Cry of the Poor for whose doth he himself also shall cry aloud and not be heard The Prophet Isaiah pronounceth Woe unto them that decree unrighteous Decrees and write grievousness which they have prescribed Isa 10.1 2 3. To tarn aside the Needy from Judgment and to take away Right from the Poor of the People that Widows may be their Prey and that they may rob the Fatherless What will they do in the day of Visitation and in the Desolation that shall come from far To whom can they flee for help and where will they leave their Glory The Prophet Micah Chap. 2. Ver. 1 2 3. denounceth Woe against them that practice Mischief as often as it is in the power of their hands That covet Fields and take them by force and Houses and take them violently Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold against the Family that doth oppress a Man and his House do I devise an evil from which they shall not remove their Necks The Redeemer of the Poor and Afflicted is Mighty and he will plead their Cause with their Oppressors Cursed saith the great Law giver be he that perverteth the Judgment of the Stranger Fatherless and Widow and all the People shall say Amen And this is repeated upon solemnest time in the Commination by the constant Practice of our Church Oppress not a Stranger injure him not by Word or Deed neither secretly by Fraud nor openly by Violence but instead of Injury shew Kindness We may learn a President from the Israelites who were Strangers and Bond slaves in Egypt they did feel by Experience what it was for to use Strangers cruelly and learn'd by that Experience and by God's especial Command to have Compassion upon others Besides there are many Reasons why Strangers should be respected Men of every Nation Language and Country have originally one common Father and have the Stamp of the same Omnipotency upon them The next kind of Oppression is of the Widow and Fatherless as we are to shew Pitty and Compassion to Strangers that are in Misery so we are also to shew Pitty to them that are in Misery which are no Strangers as Widows and Orphans As we must not turn aside the Stranger from his Right neither must we the Widow or the Fatherless if Men regard not their Tears their God will and whom they Contemn he will Favour though none at all are to be wronged and afflicted yet these especially must not be hurt Quia defensorem non habent saith good St. Chrysostom the one wanteth a Father and the other an Husband Oppress not the Poor saith the Text in general the Poor are commonly oppressed by Extortion in Usury this is not felt much in the beginning but at the last Devorat totam hominis substantiam these Extortioners live upon the Poor and eat them up by their Severities like Savage Beasts by biting of others they feed themselves the Men I speak of are such as make an unreasonable and illegal Gain of Money catching at the present Necessity of others These Men

that is the Pole-star of all Judicial Actions Shall not he do Right who is ordained to that end to decide Controversies of Right and Wrong Shall not a Judge do Right You have heard the Perfection of a Judge in abstracto what it is there remains the Perfection of a Judge in concreto where or in whom it is 't is not every where nay 't is no where but in God Absolute Perfection is the incommunicable Property of the Deity all created Natures Tantum absunt à Perfectione quantum à Divinitate but in God there is Absolute Perfection Negative Questions in this kind in Scripture pre-suppose always Affirmative Answers Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right Yes he will do it do it others or do they not this Judge will do it So that God is here described a perfect Judge in two respects First In the Extent of his Jurisdiction and in the Exercise of it In the Extent of it He is a Judge of all the Earth In the Exercise of it He will do Right he cannot but do Right Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right The Extent of his Jurisdiction is the whole Earth 't is not a Country or two that confine his Circuit 't is not a Province or two that bound his Empire he scorneth to borrow a Title as the Old Romans did from one or two Conquered Nations Sarmaticus Geticus Numidicus he hath that which others long for and cannot have Catholicus Oecumenicus He needs no plus ultra as that Charlemayn who confuted his rich Title with his craving Motto for all the whole Universe is his There is none therefore so weak here but if he be Oppressed sees an higher Tribunal that he may fly unto There is none so strong here so armed with Authority and Favour but if he be an Oppressor he sees a Tribunal that he may fear No wonder that Felix trembled when he heard St. Paul dispute of this Judgment and of this Judge From all other Courts there lies an Appeal to him but from him there lies no Appeal to any other There is a Commission against which no Prohibition can be brought we must not come there with our Nemo bis judicabitur de eodem bis judicabimur de iisdem all Causes that have been heard in this World shall be heard again in that Prerogative-Court of Heaven and what was right adjudged here shall be ratified there and what was wrong adjudged here shall be repealed there And finally What was never heard here at all yet shall be decisively ordered there I will shut up my Discourse in a few words which it becomes me to say to demonstrate that the Supream Judge of Heaven and Earth will ever do Right according to the Conclusion of the Text doth most undeniably appear with relation to the Church of England as it is by Law established in whose Cause he hath been pleased of late to manifest his Power and Goodness most remarkably and not only in our Days but he hath done the like in former Ages for in respect of its Doctrine Discipline and External Rites he guided the solid Foundation thereof by that admirable young Prince King Edward the Sixth and supported it by the Steadiness of the Magnanimous Princess Queen Elizabeth who during all her long and glorious Reign would never admit of any Alterations no not in the very Out-works the External Rites thereof which are Securities to the main Fortress of our Religion though she was frequently sollicited thereunto by Men of great Fame and Judgment and though in the 34th Article of our Church it is owned That the External part of its Worship may admit of Alterations by publick Authority upon Emergent Causes and for Reasons demonstrably and apparently tending to the Publick Good and when Times and Mens Manners do require it And this Church hath been since adorned by the Piety and Devout Practice of the late Virtuous and Blessed Queen Mary who by the Countenance and Consent of King Charles the Second was most happily Married to His Present Majesty notwithstanding all the Secret Opposing Intrigues of the Renegado Jesuits which Famous Princess lived and dyed in all the Observances of this Church like a Primitive Saint And it has been not only dignified by the high Respect borne toward it by these two eminent Princesses who set two such Examples as are hardly imitable by the very best and bravest of Womenkind but it was defended and cherished by the Learning and peaceful Temper of King James the First and by the Piety of Queen Anne And it hath been exceedingly honoured and embellished by the Constancy Patience and Charity of the Devout Martyr King Charles the First And thus stood it out against all Assaults during the Reign of all our Princes since the Reformation Queen Maries short Reign and part of the twenty Years of our Unhappy Civil Wars and foolish Anarchical Governments excepted after which it was re-established in course of Law upon the wonderful and peaceable Restauration of King Charles the Second who at his death left it upon its own Establishment But as to two other Princes that have possessed the Throne since the Reformation Queen Mary the First and the late King James the Second they both were pleased to give it publick high and kind Characters at their first Accessions to their Crowns and whilst the Men of our Communion were busily fixing them into their Royal Authorities and the latter of them did for some considerable number of Years outwardly comply with its Observances so long as the Polititians of the Court of Rome would suffer him but their deep Engagements and Confederacies with the Romans Party would not admit them for to countenance it further and that they openly declined Communion with it should be no Argument for any Protestant upon Earth to dislike its Constitution but the rather to embrace and support it How Queen Maries Severities increased Gentlemen your Suffolk Ancestors soon felt and if it had not been for the seasonable Rescue of King William we might long before this time have Sorrowfully felt also how King James would have increased had not King William delivered this Church out of all its Imminent and Surprizing Perils and secured it by his Valour Policy and Indefatigable Vigilance exerted both in the Fatigues of the Field and the Management of the Treaty and with the Security thereof he hath superadded the ancient Lustre to the Realm of England of becoming once more the Ballance to all the Publick Affairs of Europe And he hath pleased to espouse it for his Grand and Professed Design to endeavour to Found us such a Settlement as may secure both our Religious and Civil Rights to our Posterities And towards all these he hath made as vigorous Attempts as the Policy Resolution and Integrity of the most Heroick of our Princes or the Bravest of Men can parallel Therefore we have the highest Obligation to follow that Example of the Grateful

his righteous Vicegerents this Retribution will overtake them in this Life to their Shame and Sorrow Let not those therefore that should be the Supporters of others be their Supplanters but let Justice and Equity be so exactly observed that the Voice of Fraud may be no more heard amongst us when the Contentious Violence of Men did overflow the Banks of Right then would God have the Law take strength to it self to curb Mens fiery Passions and Attempts To this end Judges and Officers of the Law were appointed to see the Laws impartially executed without wresting or extorting This is the end of the Law the Office of the Judge and the Occasion of this time The Charge of the Judicial Office is great therefore to him that gives the Charge a Charge is given of God Thou shalt not wrest Judgment thou shalt not respect Persons nor take a Gift for the Judgment is not only before Men but before God also If they that sit in Judgment prospect him that judgeth all the Earth in the exactness of his Judgment and follow it their Integrity will grow Proverbial Like the Judgment of Bochoris or the Sentence of Bias he that thus setteth him before his Eyes shall never fear what Cambyses the Persian made Othones to do Se samnem excoriavit filium ejus Othonem corio insidere coegit For he hath here a great Terror and Restraint he knoweth that God standeth in the Congregation of the Judges But a People so wisely Zealous of their Laws and Liberties as the English will not be easily imposed upon and such Sages of the Laws as we have that administer so exactly need not any such tremendous Memorials As in the Pallace of the Ottoman Emperor four of the most Honourable Bassa's sit in Judgment in the great Hall and the Grand Seignior himself through a secret Window unheard and unseen hears the Complaints of his People and the Sentences of his Judges So is our Great God conscious unto all that Men do here in their Deputations under him they must therefore remember that no Greatness can exempt them from his hi● Censure when they willingly corrupt ●●emselves The Egyptians of old would not suffer the Bodies of their Kings to have Royal Interments till their Lives were scan'd by a severe Examination of their Management of the Regal Scepter whilst they had it and as that was approved their Funeral Honours were augmented or diminished shewing that all Earthly Greatness hath an undoubted account whereunto it is liable and stoopeth after Death And Blessed is he who so judgeth here as that his Judgment may be approved by that Judge there he which putteth so all Injustice far from him and truly distinguisheth between the Righteous and the Wicked shall be absolved by that Great Lord whose Servants he himself absolveth and whose Enemies he condemneth Blessed is this Judge as to himself and Blessed are the People over whom he presideth It is the Judges Business and Profession to do Right therefore the Egyptian Hieroglyphick painted him without Hands with his Eyes almost shut and from his Neck a Saphire hanging down with this word Veritas engraven upon it He must have no Hands for Bribes no Eyes for Sinister Respects or to respect Persons To the same purpose the Image of Jupiter was made in Creta without Ears He must have no Ears to hear Importunity against Justice The Areopagites for the same cause never sate 〈◊〉 Judgment in the Day but in the Night-time alwa●s and by an obscure Light that they might not be moved by Apparel Habits Gestures or Countenances of the Persons summoned before them And surely Injustice though it be a Blemish to any Man yet it is not half so much a Blemish to another Man as to a Judge distastful it is in any but most of all in him And if Right be thus the Pole-star of all Judges in their Judicial Actions we must conceive it to be so too in all others in their Actions Subordinate to Judicial yea we must give it the due Extent of it If the Judge must Decree right the Accuser also must Object right the Witness must Testifie right the Learned Counsellor must Plead right and the Jury must Find right Vltimus finis dat mediis ordinem mensuram all these will be Planetical sometimes and have the proper Motions of their own Sphere the Plaintiff is hot and fiery like Mars the Defendant is Sullen and Froward like Saturn the Advocate is Crafty and Wily like Mercury the Witness is Variable and Changeable like Luna but the Judge like to the highest Orb of the Heavens must over-rule all these inferior Spheres of the Planets and carry them all along in his own diurnal Motion with himself But especially the Advocate must be looked into that he may not too lightly dispense with himself he thinks though others are bound to the Right yet he may Sophisticate and plead wrong but Equity and Right is the Scope that he ought to aim at if he will not give Right an helping hand he should give it none at all The general Calling of a good Christian is presupposed in all particular Callings a Souldier must live by Fighting but not in fighting a wicked Quarrel and he that Pleads should live honourably by it but not in bolstering Oppressions against the Orphan and the Widow St. Tertullian in his Book of Idolatry condemns all those Christians most deeply who being Carvers Painters or Embroiderers would do any Work whatsoever which had the least and remotest Subordination to the decking of an Heathen Idol It were a goodly matter if the Pilot should be bound to arrive at or steer to the right Haven and the Oar-men be permitted to row towards the wrong 'T were a pretty devise if the Captain were tied to lead the Army to the place of right Service and the Sentinels have license to mis inform him And what were it then if the Judge were enjoyned to award the true Sentence and the Advocate be suffered to patronize the false The famous Civilian Papinianus rather than he would defend the Emperor Caracalla's barbarous Murther of his Brother willingly admitted of death under that bloody Tyrant And which you will more wonder at the no less samous Ceselius in his Age he would never be brought by Favour or Fear so much as to draw a Conveiance of any of those Lands which Anthony and his Fellow-Triumvirs had given away in the Oppression of the Roman Liberties Famous may the Memory be of such Spirits and long may the like flourish and deterr or ashame our Advocates from supporting corrupt Causes for large Fees For their Pleadings ought not to be considered as Sophisters Acts tending to the Ostentation and Exercise of Wit but are serious and important Proceedings that ought to aim totally at Equity and Right But the Text seemeth to require me to speak something of the Moral Equity that ought to be betwixt private Persons And that this may be