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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	aaron_n	act_n	whole_a	24	3	4.2503	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52043	Meroz cursed, or, A sermon preached to the honourable House of Commons, at their late solemn fast, Febr. 23, 1641 by Stephen Marshall ...	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1641 (1641)	Wing M762; ESTC R19516	35,043	59

MEROZ Cursed OR A SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable House OF COMMONS At their late Solemn FAST Febr. 23. 1641 By STEPHEN MARSHALL B. D. Minister of Finchingfitld in Essex Published by order of that House PSALM 122. Vers. 6 9. Pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall prosper that love thee Because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek thy good LONDON Printed by R. BADGER for Samuel Gellibrand at the Brasen Serpent in St. Pauls Church yard 1641. TO THE Honourable HOUSE of COMMONS Now ASSEMBLED in PARLIAMENT IT is fit my obedience should last as long as your commands for so I have alwayes interpreted your Requests and desires to be As I never had the confidence to present you with any thing properly mine so neither will I bee guilty of that Injustice as to deny you any thing so truly your own as is this fruit of my poore yet willing endeavours It is yours truly but most principally the Churches whose both you and I and all that you can doe or I speak are If it may be serviceable to you and you by it made more serviceable to the Church and cause of God I have my option But I am resolved not to make that use of my experience of your patience in hearing the Sermon as to try it further with the length of a Dedication Only I thinke it my dutie to second my proposition with my prayers That God would vouchsafe a blessing to your endeavours for his Church and to you for your endeavours These shall be the constant and earnest desires of Your Servant Stephen Marshall A SERMON PREACHED At the late FAST BEFORE The COMMONS HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT IUDGES V. XXIII Curse ye Meroz said the Angell of the Lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty RIght Honourable and beloved it hath been a custome almost amongst all Nations after any notable Victory to have their {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} their Triumphant Songs wherein the illustrious acts of their owne worthy Leaders and the shame and confusion of their enemies were celebrated preserved and so delivered over to posterity The Romans had their Salii Priests who after any victory went dancing through the City singing their Hymes and Paeans to Mars and the rest of the favourable Gods And the Grecians sometimes in Verses sometimes by Sculpture used to set forth their famous Battels and Victories yet alwayes attributing the highest glory of all to their Gods who● they supposed to bee present with them Protectors over them and fighters for them This course I thinke the Devill learned from the Lord Jehovah's dealing with his owne people who alwayes directeth them thus to celebrate his noble acts and their great deliverances Thus Moses and Aaron sang unto the Lord when he triumphed gloriously over Pharaoh and all his Host making them sinke like a stone to the bottome of the Red Sea Thus the women in their song and dance celebrated their victory over the Philistims And this whole Chapter is nothing but a Triumphant song setting forth in an elegant and lofty verse the great Victory which Barak and Deborah and a small army with them had gotten the Lord marching before them against King Jabin and his Generall Sisera who for twenty yeares had mightily oppressed the children of Israel In which song First all prayse and glory is given to Jehovah the Lord of hoasts the Prince who lead them by whose strength alone the victory was obtained Prayse yee the Lord for the avenging of Israel I will sing unto the Lord Lord when thou wentest out of Seir c. Then the Song descends to the due praises of their generall Barak and his assistant Deborah yea the severall Regiments and Companies both of Horse and Foot doe receive the praise and reward of their courage and valour And not only so but the Song proceeds to Stigmatize and brand with reproach and marke out for punishment all such companies as had played either the Traitours or the Cowards or were otherwise wanting to their duty in this great expedition Reuben had other Sheepe to turne hee tarried amongst his Sheepfolds to heare the bleating of his flocke Gilead durst not crosse the Water Dan cowardly withdrew into his Ships Ashur durst not come from his owne coasts God takes notice and remembers them all and lets them know he had great thoughts of heart about it and in time would reckon with them for it But above all his wrath was most incensed against Meroz a people of whom wee finde no mention in the whole Booke of God nor I thinke in any other Story but onely in this place upon this unhappy occasion you can know no more of them than what this place tels you and these few reliques of them remaine as the lake of Sodome as a monument of their sin or as a Mast of a Ship swallowed up in the quicksand to warne passengers to take heed of that dangerous place or as Lots Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt to season others This their short Chronicle I may call their Grave-stone which seemes to hold out such an inscription as they say Sennacharibs Tomb had Looke upon me and learne to be godly So theirs Looke upon mee and learne your owne duty Looke upon me and take heed of disserting the cause and Church of God when they stand in neede of you A Text and Theme exceeding seasonable Seasonable to the times wherein we live when abundance of mighty enemies rise up against the Lord and against his Church Seasonable to the temper of most people who generally minde their owne things and not the things of Christ Seasonable to the occasion of this dayes meeting which is purposely for the helpe of the Lord and his cause and people now distressed in Ireland But to me it seemes most of all seasonable for this present honourable Assembly who all should be as the Lord their Horses as his Horses their Chariots as his Chariots they being all called to bee Leaders and Captaines of the Lords Host. The Lord make it but as profitable as I am sure it is seasonable and I doubt not but we shall be exceeding gainers by it In this Text which I may call the doome of Meroz there are these two things First the Author of the doome or sentence the Angell of the Lord Curse yee Meroz said the Angell of the Lord Secondly the Sentence given against them Curse ye Meroz c. Wherein likewise consider these two things First What their fault was Secondly What their punishment was Their Fault yee have in these words They came not out to the helpe of the Lord to the helpe of the Lord against the mighty Their Punishment was a curse and a bitter one Curse ye Meroz Curse yee bitterly or as the word signifies in cursing curse the

themselves willingly among the people Hallelujah Praise the Lord They are not so much as named without an Euge. The Princes of Issachar are blessed for being with Barak Zebulun and Nepthali were a people that jeoparded their lives to the death in the high places of the field These are blessed also Blessed above women was Iael the wife of Heber the Kenite What made Jael such a blessed woman Even this she put her hand to the naile and her right hand to the workmans hammer and with the hammer she smote Sisera she smote off his head when she had pierced and smitten through his temples On the other side see the displeasure that there is against the Tribes who came not out to helpe in this expedition Ruben had businesse of his own his flocks were to be attended Gilead could plead that the River Jordan divided him from Barak and his company Asher had his own breaches to make up and the Sea coasts to looke to A man might think these were faire excuses But God had great thoughts of heart against them all And wo to him or them against whom God hath great thoughts The whole Chapter runs in this straine they are cryed up they are honoured and blessed not only the heart of Gods people but the soule of God himselfe as I may say tooke pleasure in them who appeared on the Churches side his displeasure indignation wrath and curse did rise against all who came not to the helpe This is most plaine in many other Scriptures I shall cull out but three among three hundred Jer. 48. 10. That whole Chapter containes the doome of Moab Gods curse was now to be executed upon Moab and you may read of Moab that the Lord once sent to him when his people were in distresse Let my out-casts divell with thee Moab be thou a shelter to them in the time of a storme But Moab was too proud to listen to Gods counsell Moab was alwaies an ill enemy to Israel Now God comes to reckon with him for it Now the spoyler shall come upon all his Cities And to them who were to execute this vengeance of God against them marke what a charge is given in the tenth verse Cursed is he that doth the worke of the Lord negligently or fraudulently or deceitfully as the word signifies Now what was the worke which was to be done the next words will tell you Cursed is every one that withholds his hand from shedding of bloud the strangest reason of a curse that ever was read of if ever a man might have pleaded with Peter when the voice said unto him Arise Peter kill and eate not so Lord I have not beene accustomed to this here were roome for such a plea when his worke was to go and embrew his hands in the bloud of men to spill and powre out the bloud of women and children like water in every street But he is a cursed man that withholds his hand from this or that shall do it fraudulently that is if he do it as Saul did against the Amalekites kill some and save some if he go not through with the work he is a cursed man when this is to be done upon Moab the enemy of Gods-Church So that whatsoever imployment men are put to they are cursed men that take not part with God in his worke Another place you shall find in Psal. 137. v. 8 9. The daughter of Babylon was there to be destroyed observe now the epithete which God gives to the executioners of his wrath against Babylon Blessed is the man that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us Blessed is the man that makes Babylon drinke the same cup which Babylon had made Gods people to drinke Now he that reades the booke of the Lamentations may finde how Babylon had used the Church of God they had broken their bones as a Lion breakes the bones of a Lamb brought their necks under persecution made their skin blacke like an oven hang'd up their Princes by the hand and which is most of all cruell had dashed their children against the stones Now saith the Spirit of God Blessed is the man that thus rewards Babylon yea blessed is the man that takes their little ones and dashes them against the stones What Souldiers heart would not start at this not only when he is in hot bloud to cut downe armed enemies in the field but afterward deliberately to come into a subdued City and take the little ones upon the speares point to take them by the heeles and beat out their braines against the walles what inhumanity and barbarousnesse would this be thought Yet if this worke be to revenge Gods Church against Babylon he is a blessed man that takes and dashes the little ones against the stones But there is one Text of Scripture if no other were to be found in the whole booke of God which is a sufficient proofe that all are blessed or cursed according as they doe or doe not helpe the Church of God in their need and that you shall finde Matth. 25. 33. c. The summe whereof in a few words is this At the latter end of that Chapter is a description of the day of judgement and of the manner of Christs proceeding at that day First that when Jesus Christ shall come in the glory of his Father he will divide all the godly to the right hand and all the wicked to the left hand as the Shepheard divides the Sheep from the Goates Secondly he pronounces all on his right hand blessed all upon the left hand cursed Come yee blessed goe ye cursed Here are all the blessed and there are all the cursed Marke now what is assigned as the only reason and evidence why the one sort are blessed and the other cursed It is most plaine in the Scripture that at that day the Lord will call people to an account for all they have done in their whole course whether good or evill but in this place Christ gathers all that shall be opened and come to receive blessing or cursing reward or punishment to this one head according as they did or did not helpe and succour his Church and people in their time of need To the one side Come yee blessed receive the Kingdome prepared for you for you visited my Church when it was sicke you gave meale to my Church when it was hungry you gave my people drinke when they were thirsty you tooke them in when they were strangers you cloathed them when they were naked you came to them when they were in prison Inasmuch as you have done it unto these even unto one of the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me On the other side Go ye cursed Why are they cursed I was hungry and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and you cloathed me not sick and in prison