Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	abide_v	suffer_v	zion_n	23	3	8.7946	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12429	Foure sermons preached by Master Henry Smith. And published by a more perfect copie then heretofore; Sermons. Selected sermons	Smith, Henry, 1550?-1591.	1599 (1599)	STC 22748; ESTC S117441	74,212	106

stoode vpon the shore it was no time for Peter to play the Fisher-man But when Christ had left speaking and commaunded him to lanch into the deepe then it was time for Peter to let downe the net There is a time wherein we ought to labour in our vocation and a time wherein we ought to heare the word and as we may not vtterly neglect our lawfull callinges to follow Sermons so must we not bestowe the Sabboth which is consecrated to the seruice of God in following the workes of our vocation All thinges haue their appointed time saith the wise man Eccle. 3. and euerie thing is seemely in his conuenient season but when thinges are done preposterously and out of order there followeth confusion Although Martha did not heare Christ yet did she labour for Christ many in our daies will neither labour for Christ nor heare of Christ but as the Israelites were wearie of their iourney in the wildernes and lothed that heauenly Manna so these men are wearie of euerie godly exercise and are soone cloyed with the word of God The fiue foolish Virgins wasted their oyle to no purpose and while they went to buy were excluded the marriage and these foolish men spende this time of grace vaynely and wantonly as though after this life there were no time of iustice and vengeance to be feared The daye serueth for their pride or profite the night is spent in sporte and pleasure and no time is left to heare the worde When wee are praying they are playing when we are preaching they are eating and drinking like the olde worlde that ate and dranke that married wiues and gaue in marriage while Noah was preparing the Arke for the sauing of his householde And as Baals priestes wounded themselues to serue their idol so these men take dangerous courses and strangely trouble themselues to serue the diuell Now Martha findeth her selfe agrieued and begins to enuie her sisters exercise as Iosephs brethren enuied him for his dreames and the sonnes of Ishai that disdayned their brother Dauid for his forwardnesse in the combate with Goliah These two sisters that in other thinges agreed so well together in this doe differ so much that Christ must haue the hearing of the matter and decide the controuersie Martha playeth the plaintife and accuseth her sister Mary the defendant answereth by her aduocate and Christ himselfe that tooke vpon him the office of an Aduocate is become the Iudge and giueth sentence on Maries side Martha complaineth of her sisters slouthfulnesse and seemeth after a sort to blame our Sauiour for winking at it requiring him to see the matter redressed speedilie But Christ first reprooueth Marthaes curiositie and then excuseth yea and commendeth Maries care In Martha it appeareth how willing wee are to please our selues in our owne conceites and how readie to conceiue amisse of others doings yea sometimes to preferre our owne defects before the perfections of other men If Dauid chasten his soule with fasting it shall bee turned to his reproofe If he put on sackcloth to testifie his contrition they iest at him and the drunkardes make songes of him If Iohn Baptist be temperate in his apparrell and diet they will say he hath a diuell If Paule answere discretlie for himselfe he shall be charged to be madde with ouermuch learning yea if our Sauiour Christ himself frequent the cōpanie of sinners to reclaime them from sinne they will not sticke to call him a friend and companion of Publicans and sinners Amongst vs if there be any that bee more forward in religion than the rest and more diligent to heare the word as Marie was there shall not want some or other to censure them at their pleasure yea to find fault to condemne thē for so doing yet are not the godly to be discouraged herewith or to desist from their godlie exercises for as the Lorde answered for Marie when she helde her peace so the Lorde will defend their cause and take their parte against their aduersaries The Lord cannot abide to heare his seruants ill spoken of but is alwayes ready to maintayne their right and to answere for them He will not suffer Lab an to speake an ill word to his seruant Iacob And if Aaron Miriam murmure against Moses the Lord will punish it with leprosie What a comfortable thing is this to the gadly that y e king of kinges will take their partes and will not suffer them to sustaine any wrong He is a most sure and trustie friend that wil not abide his friends to be backbited or ill spoken of but either he vvil answere in their defence or he vvill finde some meanes to stop their mouthes and restraine the slanderous tongues of their enemies as somtime he stopt Balaams passage when he went to curse his people caused the dumbe beast to speake and to reproue the madnes of the Prophet rather then he vvould haue his people to be cursed The repetition of Marthaes name argueth the vehemencie and earnestnesse of this admonition The Lord is faine to be very earnest and importunate vvith vs before hee can reclaime vs. So when God spake vnto Abraham hee called him twise by name Christ called Peter thrice by name Iohn 21. to cause him make his three-folde confession to make amendes for his three-folde deniall And when the Lord spake vnto Samuell he called him 4. seuerall times by name before hee answered for such is the great mercie of God that he is content to admonish vs often of our duty such is the dulnes peruersenes of our crooked nature that we cannot be gained by the first admonition but the Lord must cal vs oftē earnestly before we wil hearkē vnto him There are two thinges in this speach of Christ to be obserued The first is his modest reprehension of Marthaes immoderate care the other is his friendly defence of Maries choise Though Martha was verie careful to entertain Christ in the best manner yet if hee perceiue any thing in her worthie of reprehension hee will not sticke to tell her of it hee will not soothe her in her saying nor smooth her in her owne conceit for al the trouble and cost that shee bestowes vppon him If we be often inuited to some mans table and kindlie entertained it would be vnkindly taken if wee should finde fault with any disorder but for as much as all Christ his actions are the instructions of Christians therefore euery Christian but especially preachers whom it more specially concerneth must learne by this example how to behaue themselues when they are inuited to great feastes namelie to speak their conscience freely when they see a fault The best requitall that wee can make for our good cheare is to giue good counsell and wholesome admonition to them that inuite vs. When Christ dined with the Pharisie Luke 11. and was misliked for not washing before dinner he tooke

yee before the force of our aduersarie receiue now a shield against his force euen the shield of prayer Hee is not to bee resisted by ringing an hallowed bell nor by sprinkling of holy water nor by the relikes of Sayntes nor by our owne workes and merites for these are weapons of his owne making but by an earnest seeking to God which search and seeking must be made by prayer agaynst which his poysoned venome taketh no effect It is his malice that accuseth prayer pleadeththy case before God and repelleth all his accusations for all the Prophets doe witnesse that whatsoeuer wee aske in prayer if wee beleeue wee shall receiue it It is his rage and furie that should terrifie vs nay that prayer that strengthned Sampson to rent a young Lyon as one should haue rent a kid hauing nothing in his hand shall smite and shut vp the mouth of this Lyon As for his policie and walking vp and downe seeking to deuoure vs it cannot preuaile For the prayer of the faithfull shall saue them and the Lord shall raise them vp and if they haue committed sinne it shall bee forgiuen them and after this conflict ended they shall triumph for euer with Iesus Christ our Sauiour But in any case see you vnite to your prayer knowledge that you be not seduced to offer your petitions to strange gods as Saints stockes or stones Then consent that we aske onlie in y e name of Christ Iesus not for any desert of our owne for whosoeuer beleeueth in Christ shall haue remission of sinnes he shall not perish but haue life euerlasting hee shall not come into iudgement but shall passe from death to lyfe Lastly a confidence which is a certayne perswasion of Gods mercie toward vs this is that prayer of which the lambe testifieth That whatsoeuer wee aske by prayer it shall giuen vs by God the father A thing dearly beloued so precious that nothing is more accepted in heauen nothing more gratefull to God a seruice commanded of God himselfe taught by Christ our Sauiour and frequented by the Angels a thing of more force with God than any oration of the eloquent Hast thou not heard how the Sunne stood still in the firmament and was not suffered to run his course Iosua and Ezechias prayed and the Sunne stood still Hast thou not heard of the stopping of the Lyons mouthes Daniell prayed and his prayer stopped the Lyons greedie and deuouring throates Hast thou not heard of the diuiding of the red sea the Israelites prayed and the waters of Iordan were dried vp yea the Israelites prayed and the waters stoode about them like to a wall Hast thou not heard howe the fierie furnace lost his heate the three children prayed and the fire lost his heate Hast thou not heard howe the heauens were opened and shut Elias prayed and the heauens were shut vp three ye ares Elias prayed and the clouds powred downe rayne from heauen O sure fortresse more forcible than any engine and stronger than the gates of hell and to conclude the summe and substance of all in few words the onely thing whereby mortall men haue the cloudes and the stars and the Angels and all the powers of heauen at commandement For as Deborah sung in her song They fought from heauen euen the stars in their courses fought agaynst Sisera for all creatures haue bene subiect to the prayers of the faythfull to reuenge the Lordes quarrell to helpe the Lord to helpe the Lord agaynst the mighty Prayer hath euer bin the cognisance and the victorie and the triumph of the faythfull for as the soule giueth life to the bodie so prayer giueth life to the soule O that I could engraue the loue of it in your heartes as with a Diamond and so instill your mindes that my wordes might bee prickes to your consciences and thereby giue ye occasion to pray often It is a wonderfull matter to bee able to perswade men but if prayer be able to perswade the liuing God ô how great is the force thereof it goeth thorow the cloudes and ceaseth not till it come neere and will not depart till the most high haue respect thereunto O that you would therefore pray often and learne of Christ the most absolute patterne of our lyfe to pray continually He prayed in his baptisme in the wildernes in preaching in working of miracles in his passion on the mount in the garden in his last supper in commending his spirite to God at all times and in all places that he might leaue vnto vs an example of the same It followeth And pray to the Almightie to those three former reasons which I brought why wee must seeke and pray to God alone I added this as a fourth because there is none so able to helpe vs as the Lord. He that trusteth in the Lorde shall bee as mount Sion If God be on our side who can be against vs It is God that iustifieth who condemneth The Lord destroyeth the counsell of the heathen hee maketh their deuises to bee of no effect Christ is the Angell of great counsell wisedome and vnderstanding and there is no deuise against the Lorde The world notwithstanding is come to that frame that euery man hath got him a strange kinde of beliefe Some beleeue not the Lawe but the prophets some bee perswaded in the supremacie but not in the sacrament some in free will but not in merite some in inuocation on saints but not in purgatorie some in pilgramages and pardons but not in images some like the doctrine well inough but not the preachers the most beleeue little yet many beleeue somewhat few beleeue all therefore to deale plainely because plaine dealing is best you must not beleeue by the halfes I meane you must not repose some trust in God and some in Saintes but all in the Lorde The gods of the Gentiles they haue mouthes and speake not eies see not eares and heare not then what can bee looked for at their handes But the Lord is strong and mighty a mercifull God and therefore thorow the Scriptures he is called a Rocke a Fortresse a strong Tower a Shielde a horne of saluation a refuge the Lorde of hostes with other such like appellations that wee might bee assured that our helpe and deliuerance commeth from the Lord. Put test thou any trust in mā whose breath is in his nostrils Cursed is he that maketh man his strength flesh his arme Surely Pharaoh and all princes are a broken staffe on which if a man leane it will strike into his hand and pearce it laie him groueling in the dust It is better therefore to trust in the Lord thā to put any confidēce in Princes Thinkest thou that Angels or Saints or Images can helpe thee O foolish and impious pietie to at tribute more vnto the Angels than they dare arrogate vnto themselues The Angel in the reuelation forbiddeth Iohn to