Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	commandment_n	day_n	keep_v	14,742	5	6.0588	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75707	Good courage discovered, and encouraged: in a sermon preached before the commanders of the military forces, of the renowned citie of London. In the parish church of Great St. Helens. May the 17. 1642. By Simeon Ash, preacher in London.	Ashe, Simeon, d. 1662.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1642 (1642)	Wing A3956; Thomason E149_26; ESTC R3991	25,215	40

many foyles loose many of thy souldiers yet bee not dismayed for certainely as a Conquerour thou shalt bring the people to Canaan Thirdly Then the recompence assured upon all them who stoutly stand to the cause of God is more rich and large then I can relate To him that overcommeth will I grant to sit with mee in my Throne And from this assurance Rev. 3. 21. the Apostle Paul incourageth the Corinthians Therefore my beloved Brethren Bee yee stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord for as much as yee know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. God 1 Cor. 15 58. will requite all paines taken all sorrowes suffered and you that have lost houses or land or father or mother or wife or Ma●h 19. 29. children for Christ and his cause besides that inward peace and tranquilitie and ioy which an hundred fold exceed all sublunary contents to bee enioyed here you shall inherit hereafter everlasting life And againe feare none of those things which thou shalt suffer Behold the Devill shall cast some of you into prison c. Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crowne of life Feed on these promises for Cordials flow from them to cheere your drooping hearts and to strengthen courage Seventhly in large your loue If those hearts which now doe but drop love might flow forth streames of love upon Gods cause our Kings honour and the Kingdomes welfare how wonderfully would our courage be increased Both reason and religion wil give in manifold strong arguments to augment our love to our Prince our Parliament our peace our priviledges our posterity and doubtlesse our love and valour will grow together Love will adventure farre Women are the more feeble the more fearefull Sexe and yet love in a tender mother will produce bold adventures to save the babe of her wombe The timorous mother who is wont to tremble at the report of a Musket will almost come to a Cannons mouth to save her Child from being broken in peeces Love doth it Have you not in the countrey sometimes seene an Ewe in defence of her lambe to turne head upon a mastive dog and to stampe although at other times the barking of a little whelpe will make a whole flocke of them to runne away O love doth it And the poore Hen shee will fly at the Kite to save her brood Love doth it O that you and I had this Love Love to Zion to the Gospel of peace Love to Christ and the pure ordinances of grace Love will make brave and bold adventures And as it will adventure farre so it will endure much and long The Apostle saith Charity beareth all things endureth all things Iacob though he had tedious dayes and 1 Cor. 13. 7. weary nights a fore service under a sowre Vncle a churlish Master yet he served seven yeares for Rachell and they seemed unto him but a few dayes for the love hee had to her Gen. 29. 20. Love is strong as death many waters cannot quen●h love neither can the flouds drowne it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned Cant. 8. 6. 7. What ●f one should come to a woman and make this motion be content that your child be torne in peices and here is a thousand pounds for you Her answer would be ready Not for a thousand worlds yea shee would almost spit in his face who should presse such a proposition what rend my child in peices There is nothing can conquer love so it would be with us in reference to Gods commandements the liberty of Gospel ordinances No promises no threats no means fayre or fowle would take us off from appearing in the defence of them if our hearts were more enflamed with love Eightly Walke exactly keepe your consciences cleare Notable is that direction of the Lord Deut. 13. 8. Ye shal keep all the commandements which I command you this day that you may be strong Suppose a man who hath a wound or an impostu mated swelling on his body should goe into the Campe if any touch him hee skritcheth and he cries come not neare me you know the reason and the application is familiar and easie to the point in hand wounds in our consciences will make us timerous and cowardly but The Righteous is as bold as a lyon He that walkes uprightly Pro. 28. 1. walkes boldly Take a man who hath no brokennesse no boyles no ●lanes no bruises handle him shake him crush him crowde him thrust him cast him notwithstanding he can better beare all this rugged usage then another can a fillip with the finger I beseech you mind the application of this for the Lords sake take heed make not inroads and breaches upon your consciences goe not against your light for guilt will make you cowardly Adam as soone as hee had sinned he runs and puts his head in a bush what was the matter hee heard a whistling wind and hee runs away What hast thou sinned faith God I that is the matter For if Adam had kept his heart sound if hee had not sinned hee would with boldnesse have encountred with any approaches either of the creatures or his Creator Ninthly Improve your experiences It would bee of singular use to us to bestow many houres both together and asunder in recounting the many great things which the Lord hath done for us both in former times of later we have nationall deliverances Citie deliverances Family mercies personal mercies to improve providence Give me leave to cal to mind two most seasonable now to be remembred considering the end of our assembling at this time I am credibly informed that your selvs who are here to honour God for your health continued peace maintained lives lengthened had that day when you were abroad two notable experiences of Gods providence for your preservation 1. There were muskets broken in the field and yet neither the Muskettiers nor any neare them received the least harme although the throng of people was very great Might not some mens eyes limbs or lives have been lost by such accidents if the all-ordering hand of the Almighty had not prevented such like dangers The other passage of divine providence is more remarkeable 2 Gods hand turned aside graciously and strangely a kindled match which was cast towards a basket full of Gunpowder which stood in the field for that dayes service From what malicious heart and by what mischievous hand this match was cast the Lord hee knoweth whom we this day magnifie as the God of our salvations Beloved the remembrance of such like providences should incourage our adventures for the Lord whose hand hath diverted many unseen unexpected dangers But I had almost forgot to give in my proof that the improvement of experiences increaseth courage I pray you observe it in Ios 10. 25. And I shua said unto them feare not nor bee dismayed be strong and of good courage for thus shall the Lord doe to all your enemies against whom yee sight Our God hath many times disappointed the designes of our enemies many of them who hated us and endeavoured our undoing and desolation have beene discovered and brought to shame the Lord hath trampled upon them gloriously These meditations enlarged by particular pregnant instances I commend unto you as meanes to increase your courage Lastly when ever you have occasion to shew your courage goe out selfe denyingly in the strength of your God Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephes 6. 10. Through God we shall doe valiant y. Psal 60 12. David was a man as in other kinds so in this imitable when hee came against Goliah who threatned to pluck him in peices as a Faulkoner doth a bird his words are very observable 1 Sam. 17. 45. Thou commest to me with a sword and with a speare and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of host● the God of the Armies of Israel whom thou hast defied Let these be the breathing of your seules Some trust in Chariots and some in horses but wee will remember the name of the Lord our God They are brought down and fallen but neare risen an stand upright Save Lord let the King heare us when we c●ll Thus be carefull to make addition of prayer unto all the other meanes of Christian courage Pray heartily selfe-denyingly and believingly Advance God and plead his promise and expect assistance according to his promise B● of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart all yee that hope in the Lord. FINIS It is ordered by the Committee of the House of Commons in Parliament concerning printing that this Booke intituled Good Courage discovered and incourared be printed Iohn White 26. May 1642.

mocketh at feare and is not affrighted neither turneth hee back from the sword The Quiver ratleth against him the glittering speare and the sheild hee swallowes the ground with fiercenesse and rage neither beleeveth hee that it is the sound of the Trumpet And this boldnesse that is in bruits it is spoken of as a piece of this same courage that God is pleased to give to men Ezek. 3. 9. this is the Lords promise As an Adamant harder then the flint have I made thy forehead The word Harder is the same in the Hebrew that is here in my Text Fortiorem petra The Rock that is not afraid of any weather Summer or Winter Sunne and Showres Heat and Cold Frost and Snow it blusheth not shrinketh not it changeth not it's complexion it is still the same Such alike thing is courage in the common nature of it Secondly Consider the subject it is the Heart the Castle where Courage commands and exerciseth Military Discipline shall I so say it s within the bosome it is the Soule of a valiant Souldier Some conceive our English word Courage to bee derived from Cordis actio the very acting of the heart A valiant man is described 2 Sam 17. 10. for to bee a man whose heart is as the heart of a Lyon And sometime the originall translated Couragious as Amos 2. 16. may most properly bee rendred a Man of heart Beloved valour doth not consist in a piercing eye in a terrible looke in bigge words but it consists in the mettall the vigour that is within the bosome Sometimes a Coward may dwell at the signe of a roaring voyce and of a sterne countenance whereas true fortitude may bee found within his breast whose outward deportment promiseth little or nothing in that kind Thirdly Note the qualfication of this same subject I said a sanctified heart for I am not now speaking of fortitude as a morall vertue whereof Heathens that have not God are capable and for which many among them that are not Christians have beene worthily commended But I am now discoursing of Courage as a vertue Theologicall as a gracious qualification put upon the people of God by speciall covenant And there are three things that doe characterize it and which doe distinguish it from the morall vertue of fortitude The Roote whence it ariseth The Rule whereby it is directed The End to which it is referred The Roote whence it riseth is love to God All the Saints of God that love the Lord bee of good Courage The love of Christ constraineth mee to make these bold and brave adventures saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 14. The Rule whereby it is directed is the word of God what the Lord hath pleased to leave on record for a Christians guidance in holy pages 1 Chron. 22. 12. 13. The Lord give thee wisedome and understanding that thou maist keepe the law If thou take heed to the statutes and judgements which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel be strong and of good courage dread not nor be dismai'd Bee a man of mettall but let thy mettall bee according to my mind according to this rule And the End to which it referres is God For every sanctified man being a selfe-denying and a God-advancing man his God is his Center wherein his actings his undertakings rest and his Soule is not yea it cannot bee satisfied but in God The fourth thing considerable in the Description is the naturall the formall the immediate operations that doe flow from this gracious audacious frame of heart they are two There is an adventuring upon difficulties And there is an undergoing of hardships First There is an adventuring upon hard services It is said 1 Sam. 31. 12. The valiant men rose and went all night and tooke the body of Saul and the bodies of his Sonnes from the wale of Bethshan and came to Gabesh and burnt them there When the Philistins had taken their bodies and were gone away Conquerours and fastened them there as Ensignes of victory brave blades well mettalled men went by night and fetched them back againe an hard and a brave service And by reason hereof there is an enduring of hardships Those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy who are said to be men valiant in fight Heb. 11. 34. This testimony is given of them that They endured torturings the tryall of mockings or cruell mockings of scourgings of bonds and imprisonment of stoning of being sawne asunder of being slaine with the sword of wandring up and downe in sheeps skins and goats skins being men destitute afflicted and tormented Fiftly in my description I cast in the cause which true courage undertakes to doe and suffer for the object it workes upon the prize it adventures for it is a good cause Matters of faith stand ye fast in the faith quit ye like men It is 1 Cor. 16. 13 a Gospel peice for which I am to jeopard a joynt to hazard alimbe to adventure life 1 Cor. 6. 13. or matters of fact I must be of good courage for my conscience that I may maintaine an evennesse of spirit in reference to my rule in relation to my God 1 Pet. 3. 14. If yee suffer for righteousnesse sake happy are yee be not afraid of their terrour neither be troubled It is a noble a Christian resolution in any man if hee thus determine rather then I will make a wound upon my conscience a breach betweene God and my soul rather then I will violate asacred vow and transgresse the command of my God I will run the greatest hazards in outward regards that can be imagined The goodnesse of the cause Divines say for which a man suffers makes the Martyr In like manner it is the warrantablenesse of the worke wherein the souldier the man of mettall appeares that gives him the credit the honour of this title to be accounted a valiant man Sixtly and lastly I added that good courage makes the Ios 1. 9. foresaid adventures upon the call of God Have not I commanded thee be strong and of a good courage If the Lord please to beat up the Drum If the Lord please to bid them arme and come abroad his call is sufficient Now God cals either by his precept or by his providence Either God cals his Champions for to undertake dangers or hee commands dangers to over-take them and hereupon being led forth by the Lord of hoasts they expresse their valour For this they know that whether it be estate or peace or life or liberty or Religion or whatsoever else they hope to defend they are all tallants that God hath entrusted them with and that therefore only upon his Commission signed and sealed by his own hand they may come forth and must come forth bravely and shew themselves couragious in reference thereto Now for a man in an impetuous giddy neady way to breake himselfe unwisely in his reputation liberty estate and himselfe knowes no other reason but because his spirit moves

heart and yours The first helpe to Christian courage which makes way for all the rest is this Labour clearly from Scripture grounds to evidence your propriety in God When David was utterly undone in outward appearance at Ziklag being stript of all outward comforts and expected that his brains should be beaten out with stones They talked of stoning him David incouraged himselfe hee confirmed 1 Sam. 30. 6. and strengthened his heart as the originall expresseth it in the Lord his God Is there not more in God My beloved I pray you put this question upon serious debate in your owne bosomes my God to hearten mee then in mine enemies my greatest my worst enemies to dismay mee Take the improvement of this point in two particulars 1 Gods omnipotency 2 Gods Omnipresence Is there not more ability in God then power in all the world if combined together Bee strong and couragious 2 Chro. 32. 8 saith Hezekiah Be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be more with us then with him with him is an arme of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to helpe us and to fight our battailes And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah King of Iudah At this time Senacherib had raysed a very great Army as holy History reports And rayling Rabshekah was confident that Israels God could not deliver yet you see that this thought The Lord our God to helpe us did steele and strengthen their hearts The knowledge of Dietie and Proprietie will increase magnanimity in a fearefull heart what are huge armies strong fortifications weapons of war the strength stoutnesse skill or experience of common souldiers or warlike Commanders against the Lord Almighty look back to the history last mentioned where we read that one angel in one night killed five thousand men in the host of the King of Assyri● By this example guesse at the ability of your Isa 37. 36. God having made sure your interest in him and from thence gather courage 2 As the ability so the presence of God by the efficacy Iosh 1. 9. of his all-ordering providence may hearten all them whose God hee is by speciall Covenant Have not I commanded thee be strong and of a good courage be not afrayd neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whither soever thou goest The Lord is with us by the presence of his speciall favour in all our good undertakings whethersoever wee goe The Christian carries his commander his refuge his Castle his God along with him whether hee keepe in the Citie or goe forth into the countrey whether hee serve by land or by sea his God is still at hand Assurance therefore that the al-sufficient al-prepresent God is ours will lay a good foundation for good courage Those who adventure upon any service without God going along with them may expect defeats notwithstanding all meanes of defence and therefore no m●rvell if they tremble But God taking part with his people they may confidently from his presence expect deliverance If it had not been the Lord who was on our side they had swallowed us up quicke c. but blessed be the Lord Psal 1. 6. who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth God and his people make one side and because their helpe standeth in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth therefore they have aboundant cause to be o● good courage Secondly make sure that the cause you appeare in is the cause of God If a man marching to looke his enemies in the face and being about to begin the battail● should feele the earth to shake under him and the ground to sink every foot hee set forward O how would this daunt him and how would his heart recoyle and give in within him O beloved I beseech you be you well confirmed in your owne hearts that you doe serve for God It is that which was added to give Courage to them in Iehosaphats time when they were surrounded with Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir as if wee should say with Denmarke and France and Papists at home Well saith the man of God Hearken yee all Iudah and yee Inhabitants of 2 Chron. 20. 15. c. Ierusalem and thou King Iehosaphat Thus saith the Lord unto you Bee not afraid nor d●sma●d by re●son of the great multitude for the battaile is not yours but Gods Beloved hee that hath a ●ad conscience and a bad cause ever fights as a Coward and is ready at every stroke to lay downe his weapons and runne away A true man will stand to it come who may come for his cause is justifiable and hee may with boldnesse owne it but theives if they heare any noise any whispering they cry one to another let us hast and bee gone for they know their adventure 's unwarrantable When a man thus thinkes with himselfe being beset with dangers and difficulties what if I should dye in this businesse could I with confidence owne it at the Barre of IESUS CHRIST The incouragement of his owne conscience will much embolden him But if a mans owne heart tell him that adventuring and dying in a such cause e shall sinck into Hell because he opposeth the Commands and Government of IESUS CHRIST the liberties the comforts the prayers of Gods people how is it possible that hee should play the man and bee truly couragious Thirdly Consider seriously the many weighty consequences of the good cause which from good grounds you undertake to maintaine Sit downe and sadly thinke what will the issue bee if you desert your Protestation whereby you bound your selves to stand for the true Protestant Religion the honour of our King the Priviledges of Parliament the Lawes of the Land and welfare of the Kingdome Here it is notable how the Philistines heartened one another in the day of their deepe danger 1 Sam. 4. 9. Be strong quit your selves like men ô Philistins that you bee not Servants to the Hebrewes Quit your selves like men and sight Either pluck up your hearts and fight now or bee slaves for ever that is the argument And I pray you observe how Ioab pleads When hee saw the battell before and behind 2 Sam. 10. 12. Be of good Courage and let us play the men for our people and for the Cities of our God And that passage Nehem. 4. 14. It is considerable as either of the former Bee not afraid remember the Lord which is great and terrible and fight for your Breth●●n for your Sons for your Daughters for your Wives and for your Houses Marke it my beloved and make application what if the Papists should get the upper hand What if the Parliament should bee dissolved What if the malignant party should effect their mischievous desires Oh how darke and dolefull how black and bloudy would our times prove we are all many wayes obliged to stand for