Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	evil_a	speak_v	treasure_n	3,744	5	10.2424	5	true

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

consider not that they are not to oppress the Widow nor the Fatherless the Stranger nor the Poor Oppress not out of these Prohibitions we must look to do their contraries since the Lord of Hosts in the Text hath commanded us for to shew Compassion every Man to his Brother and that none of us should imagine Evil against his Brother in his heart In the Text you have seen there are four Precepts two Imperative and two Prohibitive The first two of Judgment and Mercy the second of Oppression and Malice The Imperative Precepts are Execute true Judgment and shew Mercy and Compassion every Man to his Brother The Prohibitive Precepts Oppress not the Widow not the Fatherless the Stranger nor the Poor and let none of you imagine evil against his Brother in your heart The Author of them both is God Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts saying I have finished all the Parts except the very last which prohibits Malice And let none of you imagine Evil against his Brother in your heart I shall for order sake now in the Conclusion speak of this branch of the Text and somewhat the more largely because it is to be presumed that Insolence and crossness of Temper brings many Persons hither and that their Prosecutions are rather the Effects of Malice than Desires of Right such Mens impertinent but evil and mischievous Imaginations give unnecessary Trouble to the Court and Country and deserve the Magistrates Reproofs and to meet with Derision and Disappointment from all men As the Heart is the beginning of Life and the Elaboratory of the vital Spirits so it is the Magazine and Store-house of Humane Cogitations whither good or bad and whereon as upon an Anvil are forged those Thoughts which the Tongue its Instrument brings to light for so our Blessed Lord informs us Matt. 12.34 That out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh A good Man out of the good Treasure of the Heart bringeth forth good things and an evil Man out of the evil Treasure bringeth forth evil things Out of the Heart saith our Lord proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemies therefore the Holy Prophet shut up his Exhortation with a Prohibition from such Offences nominating the place wherein they have residence and let none of you imagine evil against his Brother in your heart Here observe first The Offence and Imagination of Evil made apparent by Blasphemy Envy Calumny Revenge False-witness Murder Secondly The Residence of that Evil in the Heart let none of you imagine evil against his Brother in your heart 'T is a Negative Precept whereby we are here first and by St. Paul afterwards commanded to abstain from all appearances of Evil here from evil Thoughts there from evil Actions for seldom doth a perverse Imagination set a Brood but it hatcheth some dismal Exploit Thus he that gives himself to imagine Evil will at last proceed to give False-witness first privately and then publickly in Judgment and in Judicial Acts this is diversly committed First By the false and unjust Accuser and therefore the Law admonisheth Lev. 19. Thou shalt not stand against the Blood of thy Neighbour thou shalt not accuse him wrongfully and bring his Life in danger Secondly By the Magistrate who pronounceth an indirect Sentence Thirdly By corrupt Advocates that patronize false Titles as Tertullus abused his Eloquence in disgracing St. Paul Acts 24. any way to be a False Witness is a grievous thing he commits Sin in the Violation of Justice and by Lying and Perjury in every false Testimony a Man Sins against God oppresseth the Innocent and condemneth his own Soul For False-witness the Punishment by the Law of God was Retaliation If the witness be a False-witness and shall testifie falsly against his Brother then shall you do unto him as he thought to have done unto his Brother Deut. 19.18 19. So Haman was justly hanged on the same Gibbet that he had set up for Mordecai and Daniel's Accusers were cast into the Lion's Den whither he was before condemned False Witnesses were by the Edict of the ancient Romans thrown down as Malefactors from the Tarpeian-hill This Malady hath its original in the Heart of Man but the Searcher of Hearts can find all out there is no dissembling with him that knows the very Thoughts thereof Though Joshua could not yet God can immediately see through the most curious Umbrages and lying Testimonials which the most Politick Gibeonites can invent though Falsities were never so cunningly couched he will find them out though a French Tongue conspired with a Spanish Arrogance to frame a Greekish Lye Therefore God will avenge the Hurt that we do to an Innocent Neighbour if we Blaspheme him either in Name or in Person as Jezebel procured Naboth to be thought a Blasphemer of God and the King and thereupon had him-Murthered Of this sort of Calumny or Backbiting there are four kinds First Men begin with Evil Suspicions of which Eliab was guilty when he said to his Brother David I know thy Pride and the Naughtiness of thy Heart 1 Sam. 17.28 for thou art come down that thou mightest see the Battel Secondly They proceed therein having itching Ears ready and open to receive Detractions such were Saul's who leaned to those Promoters that informed against David till David demonstrated them to be false Men by his sparing of Saul's Life in the Cave at Engaddi The third procedure in this Vice is by Rashness in Judging but this our Lord forbids in these pregnant words Judge not and you shall not be judged And this Evil is finished by a continual but an unhappy Inclination or malicious Desire of Backbiting the Laws utterly forbids this Lev. 19.16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a Tail bearer amongst thy People These being the most Pestilent sort of Vagabonds should be whip'd from every House He that Back-bites his Neighbour hath Satan in his Mouth he that hears the Calumny hath him in his Ear and he that believes it hath him in his Heart having cast out Charity which is the Bond of Peace The Punishment that the Witty Comedian a lots them is That all Libellers should hang the Hearers by the Ears and the Detractors by the Tongues To credit False Reports and Seditious News is a sign of malevolent Manners or of childish Conditions And therefore the Philosopher being asked what Beast did bite the soarest answered Of wild Beasts a Detractor and of tame a Flatterer Therefore hath our Great God forbidden all evil Surmises yet having an Eye to our Frailty he would stint us betimes lest we should proceed to wicked Practices therefore he stops the next Issue of an evil Heart saying Thou shalt not bear False-witness against thy Neighbour forewarning us against all Untruths and false Evidences We must not admit of evil Thoughts for these are the first Actors of our Brothers Tragedy for out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts False-witness Murthers

Israelites towards King Solomon recorded in 1 Kings 8.66 with with I shall conclude To Praise God and to Pray daily for the long Life and Grandeur of the King and to return to our Houses joyful and glad of Heart for all the Goodness that the most righteous God hath shewed unto his Anointed and unto us his People The Second Sermon Zechariah 7.9 10. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts saying Execute true Judgment and shew Mercy and Compassion every Man to his Brother And oppress not the Widow nor the Fatherless the Stranger nor the Poor and let none of you imagine Evil against his Brother in your Heart MY Song shall be now as David's was of Mercy and Judgment Judgment and Mercy are the proper Subjects for this time in which Righteousness and Peace will the most gracefully kiss each other The liberty of the Gospel hath no way abrogated the Morality of the Law for Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil it So that this Precept of executing true Judgment and Merty is not at all excluded from the Doctrine of the Son of God but he ratifies the Commands of his Father saying John 7.24 Judge not according to the Appearance but judge righteous Judgment The Nature of this Judgment is either Political or Moral Political as being proper to a Supreme Governour and his Subordinate Magistrates or Moral as implying an Equity between Private Men whereby every Man is bound both by the Law of God and Nature to shew Mercy and Compassion towards his dejected Brother By the Law of God because he so commands by the Laws of Men because we are all the Sons of Adam Therefore execute true Judgment and shew Mercy It will be a proper Introduction to the rest that I speak generally though briefly of Judgment in a Politick State Jethro the Father-in-Law of Moses sets forth a President of a righteous Judge according to the Qualities which he ought for to be endued with saying Thou shalt provide out of all the People Exod. 18.21 able Men such as fear God Men of Truth hating Covetousness and place such to be Rulers over them Able Men or Men of Courage and Wisdom they must be Industrious able to dispatch and expedite Causes Valentes Ingenio Men of ready Wit and Dexterity Secondly Constancy and Strength are requisite lest they quit a good Cause for fear of the Mighty those that have not an adequate Power derived upon them are dangerously Ambitious of such a Dignity Therefore said the Wise Man Seek not to be a Judge being not able to take away Iniquity lest at any time thou fear the Person of the Mighty and lay a Stumbling-block in the way of thy Vprightness Thirdly They must be Men of Estate as well as of Power of eminent Birth and Estimation therefore Moses in the Fifteenth of Deuteronomy took the chief of the Tribes Wise Men and known and made them Heads over the People Our Modern Polititians therefore affirm Futius divites quam pauperes in Magistratum elegantur And they must be Men fearing God that being the Foundation of all Virtue Besides if Men of Might fear not God when in regard of their great and publick Power they fear not Men they are apt to fall into many Outrages but it behoveth him that judgeth others to have an exact respect unto his Superor Judge to whom he must give an account of all his Acts let them look unto God in whose stead they are They must be Men of Truth both understanding the Truth that they may distinguish right from wrong And also Followers of the Truth in their Will and Practise for there is a Speculative Truth in Discerning and Judging and a Practicable Truth in following a right Judgment They must seek out the Truth by Witnesses Writings and Evidences and having found it out give Judgment accordingly And they must be Constant and not changeable in their Sentences and Decrees and they must hate Covetousness be so far from that meanness of Spirit as to have an Abhorrence of it God who commands others to do Justice is pleased for to shew the highest Example thereof in himself in him there is nothing Unjust or Evil as Coldness hath no place in Fire nor Blackness in Snow nor Obscurity in the Sun no more hath Sin any place in God nor should it have any shelter or countenance from Men. This prescribed Traytor of our Prince This Out-law'd Fugitive of our Sovereign should not be found harboured with them God hath put the Sword into the Magistrates hand to punish and he expects that he should not bear it in vain Execution is the Life of the Law the Execution is as necessary as the Promulgation He that hath Authority and punisheth not Disorders in others is consequentially guilty of them himself But they must not punish more than the Offence that is too much and to punish less makes but Offenders Insolent and Multitudinous Justice is Columna corona reipublicae it is the Cement which holds the general parts of the Body Politick together it is as the Nerves and Sinews thereof and by it the Throne is established Judges are Juris indices they are Jus dicere and Jus dare if they do not then is the Law weakened and perverted and made to patronize Evil and Wickedness is committed under Authority and the Law doth turn its edge against the Innocent and that which should be a Defence becomes a Maze of Briars and Thorns and the Rod of Justice is turned into a Serpent of Subtilty And so it is if the Jurors give not a sound Verdict but make the worst side to seem the best this were to be wise to do Evil and not verum dicere as their Office signifies In Justice we are not to respect Persons though that be commanded otherwhere yet it is forbidden here here the Causes are to be heard more than the Parties observed the Equity of Causes is to be weighed not the Quality of Persons if otherwise it makes the Law but like Spiders Webs in which the small Flies are strangled whilst the great ones escape and break through Hence haughty successful Robbers wear Chains of Gold whilst poor Pilferers are bound with Fetters of Iron The taking of Gifts is a secret Preventer of Justice it makes Men to over-see God's Laws and the King 's undermines and devours the Houses of the poor Widow and the desolate Orphan these blind the Eyes of the Wise and stop the Mouths of the Skillful To some Persons the greatest Evidence is not half so convincing as a secret Gift though where Right is there is the great Point It is no wonder that good Causes fall not out well if many Hands be open to receive Gifts It is no wonder if the Evidence of the Witnesses be strained and diverted but let such consider what measure they meet shall at the last be measured unto them again not only by God's Judgment hereafter but upon the Observance of

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

c. Here the Scene of bloody Thoughts is finished for Murther is either Internal or External the Internal likewise is Twofold either conceived as in Anger Hatred Desire of Revenge or else permitted by consenting to another Man's Death Who knowing the Judgment of God that they who do such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in or favour them that do them Rom. 1.32 The External is actually committed by hand as Wounding and so consequently Slaying by the Mouth as Reviling and giving Pernicious Counsel by Help as administring Aid and so being accessary to the Murther This External Murther is either wished in Words attempted in Gestures or perpetrated in Deed. There is an External Act of Murther likewise forbidden that is committed by hasty Rage Malice Envy c. The Law of God is Spiritual and therefore it binds not only the Hands and Tongue but the Heart and Affections also As our blessed Saviour the best Interpreter of the Law teacheth He that is angry with his Brother without a cause in respect of his own Will and Purpose hath committed Man-slaughter and therefore the Apostle saith He that hateth his Brother is a Man-slayer 1. John 3.15 A good Physician doth not only take away the Evil that is apparent but also removes the very Root of the Disease therefore our blessed Saviour not only forbids to take heed of Murther but of Anger also for Homicide and Murther are engendered by Anger and Rage You have now heard the Effects which an Evil Heart doth produce the Inconveniencies that it ensnares the Soul of Man with let none of us therefore be so defrauded and seduced but rather to Execute true Judgment and shew Mercy and Compassion every Man to his Brother and oppress not the Widow nor the Fatherless the Stranger nor the Poor and let none of you imagine evil against his Brother in your Heart That none of these Evils may be countenanced the Laws of God and of this Realm have constituted Judges and Officers to observe and to forbid and punish them And it did please Almighty God to set before us the very Model of executing Justice by sending his great Officers upon the place to make their Inquest which Method our Wise Laws have therefore espoused and my Lords the King's Judges pursue it now in their several Circuits 'T is in 1. Sam. 7.15 16 17. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his Life And he went from year to year in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places And his return was to Ramah for there was his House and there he judged Israel and there he built an Altar unto the Lord. 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