Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	david_n	king_n	people_n	14,785	5	5.1891	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66711	Say on, or, A seasonable plea for a full hearing betwixt man and man and a serious plea for the like hearing betwixt God and man : delivered in a sermon at Chelmsford in Essex, at the general assize holden for the said county, before the Honourable Sir Timothy Littleton, one of His Majesty's Barons of the Exchecquer, July 8, 1678 / by Anthony Walker ...	Walker, Anthony, d. 1692.	1679 (1679)	Wing W308; ESTC R5261	13,981	60

this Woman addressed her ●●lf vers 4. Help O King So v. ● My Lord O King So in this ●welfth Verse Let thy handmaid I ●●y thee speak one word unto my Lord ●●e King and he said Say on This Book is stiled by a Learned Expositor the Throne of David whom the Holy Ghost represents as the Exemplar and Icon of an excellent Magistrate who himself had learn'd and practised that Lesson he taught his Son He that rules over men must be just ruling in the fear of the Lord. And this is not the least instance and proof of it that according to the old Verse Patiens sit Judicis auris he was willing to hear out the Plea of her who stood before him for help and by the forgetting which Rule and deflecting from which Method he contracted one of the foulest blots we read him to have stained his Justice with in all his Government I mean in the case of Mephibosheth 2 Sam. 19.29 He said Why speakest thou any more of thy matters I have said thou and Ziba divide the land Which precipitate Sentence had been prevented and an innocent Master delivered from the slanders of a treacherous servant if instead of why speakest thou any more he had said as he doth here Say on So that the words are a commendable instance which may have the force of a standing rule of a good Magistrate giving leave and encouragement to those who stand before them for Judgment to say all they can to make good their Plea and to grant them a full Hearing And to shew the excellency of this Rule we shall look upon the Words under several Aspects 1. As they are vox humanae naturae the voice of humane nature breaking forth from that first principle of it Do as thou wouldst be done by No Judge or Magistrate if instead of sitting on the Bench excuse the supposition which I will not make but with a modest Apology he should stand at the Bar as a reputed Criminal or as a Plaintiff or Defendant would be willing to have Judgment pass till his Plea were made and he had obtained a full and fair Hearing Therefore as we use to phrase it Turn the Tables Let the Reverend Judge suppose himself in his Circumstances who comes before him in Judgment and then do as Nature it self dictates as he would be done by Hear him out say as he would desire it should be said to himself Say on That 's the first they are the voice of humane nature 2. They are verba sapientiae words of wisdom Wisdom is highly requisite in a Judge Therefore Solomon wise already made it his Prayer which God so highly approved 1 Kings 3.9 Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people Or as it is 1 Chron. 1.10 Give me wisdom and understanding for who can judge this thy people that is so great And Hiram blessed God for giving to his Friend David a wise Son to judge his people Israel Now wisdom consists in the adapting sutable means for the attainment of desirable ends The end of judicial proceedings is to give to every Man what is right and due to him Now what means can be so sit and conduce so evidently to this as to sift out truth by a full and fair hearing of all the Allegations Pleas and Defences of the Parties concerned 'T was this that gave Solomon that Renown in judging betwixt the two Harlots 1 King 3. ult That all who heard it said The wisdom of God was in him to do judgment For 't was from their own mouths he discovered which was the true Mother of the Child which he had never done had he not let them Say on 3. Verba justitiae aequitatis They are words of Equity and Righteousness 'T is most just to hear Men out what they have to say before they be condemned or acquitted therefore 't is a customary question after Indictment read and Evidence produced What canst thou say for thy self and no Proclamation more common in Courts than Let them come forth and they shall be heard 'T is a Rule in every Man's Mouth Qui aliquid statuerit parte inaudita altera Aequum licet statuerit haud aequus tamen fuerit He that determines any thing without hearing both sides although he chances to determine what is just yet is not just himself in so determining Therefore 't was praise-worthy Justice in Agrippa Act. 26 that he said to the Prisoner Paul thou art permitted to speak for thy self And it was a standing Rule amongst the Romans a People so renowned for their Justice that S. Augustine ascribes all their Successes to God's rewarding of their Justice not to deliver any Man to die till the Accused had his Accusers face to face and liberty to answer for himself Act. 25.16 4. They are verba misericordiae words of mercy and commendable compassion and condescension The awful Solemnities which attend Courts of Judicature do often strike a consternation into those who appear before them and few Men of low and common Education have that presence of spirit and audacity whether Principals or Witness to recollect themselves suddenly 'T is therefore very commendable compassion to relieve them against their fears and amazements and not to discourage or put them out of countenance nor suffer others to do it but rather to raise them to a just confidence by bearing with and helping them against their weaknesses with these or words of the same import Say on be not dismayed or afraid but speak freely let us hear all you have to say 5. Lastly They are verba patientiae words of patience than which nothing is a greater ornament to the Tribunals of Justice no word worse becoming their mouths who sit on them than non vacat which made the poor Woman reply so smartly to Philip of Macedon who when she demanded Audience and Justice of him said He could not tend it or was not at leisure Why then will you be King I pray Sir let some body else be that can and will De vita hominis nulla cunctatio longa No deliberation no delay should be esteemed long in which so precious a thing as the life of a Man is concerned And because you Gentlemen of the Long Robe have a just veneration for the sage and grave Sayings of your Predecessors I 'll cite a memorable and very commendable Passage I heard near forty years ago at Cambridge Castle from the Lord Chief Justice Banks when an inferiour Officer of the Court prayed him to make haste for they should be too late He openly replyed I had rather travel all night or put my self to any inconvenience than the King's Justice should be denyed to any of his Liege People or huddle over business for want of time to hear it fairly And this for the Speaker as they are the words of a King or Judge ecchoing the sentiments of humane nature speaking as a wise a just a merciful a patient Judge Say on

injustice yet takes care to make it apparent that he proceeds justly that he may be justified when he speaketh and clear when he judgeth As we have it Psal 51.4 or as the Apostle turns the words Rom. 3.4 That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged God himself cannot escape the censure of the world and therefore for the honour of his Righteousness he will manifest his proceedings to be just that no place may be left for cavil or reproach 3. To put an end to strife and contention What is the reason of bringing the same cause so often over but pretence of not having had a fair Hearing at the first Wh●●'s well done is twice done And trying Causes well once would prevent the trying of them it may be twice or thrice 't is not only for your honour therefore but for your case to let them Say on 4. To prevent clamour We have a Proverb Losers will have leave to talk and they often talk so much when they have lost because they had not leave to talk to prevent their losing Let them therefore Say on before the Sentence and they will have nothing to say after Yea the condemned Criminals will yield their lives more silently and calmly and submisly to the Law when Condemnation was not awarded till they had liberty to make their best defence 5. To restrain the violence of proud oppressing Men. Nothing so much emboldens great Men to oppress and wrong and grind the poor as a confidence that their complaints will not be heard or regarded Now if the Magistrate will consider the cause of the needy and afflicted the Fatherless and Widow the poor and helpless when they cry to him this will be a mighty restraint that the man of the earth shall no more oppress The one would not dare to lay on so unmercifully as oft they do if they knew the other should obtain so merciful a Say on when they make complaint 6. Lastly that true sentence may pass according to the merits of the Cause and as shall appear just upon a Full Hearing This is the Life and Crown of all for of the two it were better and more tolerable to huddle up a business and precipitate a Sentence though this be a very great fault than to pass Sentence against and give Judgment contrary to the merits of a Cause and what hath been made appear upon a Full Hearing to be just and righteous Therefore that a sacred Court may not be branded with the prophane name of a fortuitous Lottery let the Pleader Say on and let his so doing be crown'd with the Reverend Judges saying in his Sentence what is Just and Right according to the apparent merits of the Cause And thus far briefly of the Words as they have an aspect on the Assize But I may well suppose you are not all concern'd in the peculiar business of the day and the special occasion of this Solemn Appearance and so my Discourse hath hitherto not reached many of you and I would be loath that any man should wholly lose his labour of Attendance here especially by my fault I shall therefore borrow a short liberty for a double improvement of these Words Say on in a more spiritual manner and so as may be of an universal influence and use First Give God a fair Hearing interrupt him not let him Say on when he pleads his own cause to provoke you to your Duty or to convince you of your neglect of it Secondly Bethink your selves what you have to say make your Plea ready against God's calling you to account When he shall say to you why do you or why did you so or so and what canst thou say for thy self why thou shouldst not be condemned Say on thou shalt have a fair Hearing say what thou canst for thy self take heed your ways be not so unaccountable that you must then stand mute and have nothing to say for your selves when God bids you Say on First As to what God hath to say to you grant him a fair Hearing cut him not short interrupt him not but say unto him Say on And that this may appear less forc'd yea proper and pertinent I may argue thus If it be incumbent on the Judge to bid the Prisoner the Pleader the Plaintiff or Defendant Say on 't is much more necessary equal and becoming that they should hear the Judge and most of all that we should hear him that is the Judge of all men the Judge of all the earth But nearer yet if the Judge must hear the Pleader Man must hear God for he vouchsafes oh astonishing condescension to make man judge and to plead his own Cause before the Tribunal of Man's Reason Isa 1.18 Come let us reason together And 5.3 O men of Judah judge ye I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard Where God's Plea is managed with such strength of Reason such convictive evidence such unanswerable clearness that Interest it self cannot bribe man to forbear giving sentence on God's side So the Prophet Samuel on God's behalf 1 Sam. 12.7 appeals to themselves while he pleads God's cause Stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord which he did to you and your Fathers So Jer. 2.9 I will yet plead with you saith the Lord and with your childrens children will I plead See also Ezek. 20.35 36. See also that full place to this purpose Mich. 6.1 2 3 4 5. Hear ye now what the Lord saith for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel O my people what have I done unto thee testifie against me That you may know the righteousness of the Lord. Now is it not all the reason in the world that when God appeals to Man and makes him Judge and pleads before him that he should allow him a fair Hearing and let him Say on But to make all sure that we proceed pertinently we have an instance in terminis S. Luke 7.40 where Simon the Pharisee useth this very word to our Lord Christ himself Master Say on Now I most earnestly exhort and adjure you to do likewise See that ye refuse not him that speaketh Turn not away from him who speaks from Heaven Heb. 12.25 To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Say with Samuel Speak Lord thy servant heareth Resolve with David I will hearken what God the Lord will speak Psal 85.8 and with Simon Lord Master Say on Now God speaks once yea twice Job 33.14 yea thrice 1. God speaks to thee by the voice of thy Conscience 2. God speaks to thee by the voice of his Word 3. God speaks to thee by the secret voice of his Spirit 1. He speaks to Man by the voice of his Conscience The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord Prov. 20.27 So 't is also the Tongue and Voice of the Lord. Conscience is

SAY ON OR A Seasonable Plea FOR A FULL HEARING BETWIXT Man and Man And a Serious Plea for the like Hearing betwixt God and Man Delivered in a SERMON AT Chelmsford in Essex at the General Assrze holden for the said County before the Honourable Sir Timothy Littleton one of his Majesty's Barons of his Exchecquer July 8. 1678. By Anthony Walker D. D. Rector of Fyfield in the same County Luk. 7.40 Master Say on LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1679. To the Right Worshipful Sr. WILLIAM DYER Baronet of Tottenham-high-cross High Sheriff of the County of Essex WORTHY SIR YOu cannot be more surprised to see those Notes made publick than I was being then so wholly a stranger to you by your desiring me to perform that service which occasioned their composure And though you us'd a civil Apology for giving me so short a warning for so solemn an appearance I shall trouble you and the world with none for yielding to their importunity who drew them from me I confess an obvious objection occurred which would have resisted all their entreaties had I esteemed so low a consideration as my own reputation fit to be put into the balance against the good I was made believe they may do viz. lest the acceptance they obtain'd when transiently delivered to the ear they should lose when exposed to the severer censure of the Eye It being no unusual thing for Discourses to sink when divested of the advantage of being spoken with some quickness warmth and pathos But if they meet with common candour in the Reader which I request and modestly expect I hope they may be useful However his expence will be so little either of money or time that a small charity may excuse his disappointment if any happen I have Sir inscribed your name upon them as a testimony of my respects the omission of which would have been so indecent that I hope it will neither by your self nor others be imputed as a fault to Worthy Sir Your Loving Friend and Servant Anthony Walker July 17 1678. Imprimatur Geo. Thorp Rever Patri Guliel Archiep Cant. a sac Domest AN Assize Sermon DELIVERED AT Chelmsford July 8. 1678. 2 SAM 14.12 Say on THough a Short Text and as Short a Warning be no good Prefaces to a long Sermon they may be no bad or unwelcome Earnests of a short one as I design this shall be not to comply with the humour of those un-devout Souls to whom every thing is tedious which is serious and to whom holy David himself though the sweet Singer of Israel prolixe canit is too long as St. Gregory Nazianzen observes in his sixteenth Oration and the sacred Melody of whose Psalms cannot expiate or atone for the length of them But to comport decently with the present occasion that the Pulpit may not intrench upon the Tribunal nor the first Table over-lay the second or crowd it up into too narrow a room The words are a very small yet a most considerable part of the largest and best managed Parable in all the old Testament contrived by subtle Joab and carried on and acted by the wise Woman of Tekoah whom the Jewish Rabbins will needs have to be the Grandmother of the Prophet Amos a Native and Inhabitant of the same place which S. Jerom tells us was a small Town nine Miles distant from Jerusalem The use of Parables though it was not unknown to other Nations witness that famous one of Menius Agrippa among the Romans by which he successfully appeased a dangerous popular Sedition and those many witty ones of honest Esop amongst the Grecians yet was it more signally frequent amongst the Hebrews and Syrians as the Learned Grotius observes and as by that remarkable one of Jotham Judg. 9. and many other in the Old Testament and by our Saviours frequent use of them evidently appears And though the first Design of them seems to have been to instruct the rude and ignorant multitude whose minds are less susceptive of the impressions of solid Reason they being a kind of mental Pictures and you know who call Pictures Lay-mens Books by which the matter is represented more lively to the Fancy and Imagination Yet the second end of them is to insinuate conviction and reproof insensibly into their minds who would be less patient of it in express words or plainer Reprehensions And thus Nathan had proceeded with David in the case of Uriah and Bathsheba chap. 12. and succeeded happily to ensnare him into Repentance by the Parable of the poor Man's Ewe-Lamb And thus Joab by the Woman of Tekoah attacks him here by a fiction of her two Sons striving together in the Field and the one slaying the other and the rest of the Family rising up to put him to death The scope of the whole was to prevail with David to recall Absolom from Geshur whither he had fled and where he had remained in Banishment three years after the slaying of his Brother Amnon Although there is a great deal of excellent matter in the Parable and some would find even much of the Gospel in it to instance but in one Verse viz. 14. which runs thus For we must needs die and are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again neither doth God respect any person yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him As if it imported these three Particulars 1. The forlorn Estate of man by the first Apostacy and his desperate ease that can no more recover himself than water spilt upon the Ground and drunk up by it can be gathered up again 2. That no wan in David's Phrase can redeem his Brother or give to God a ransome for him For God respects nothing that any Man can do 3. Yet he himself helps when no creature could by his unsearchable wisdom devising means Job 33.24 Deliver him from the pit for I have found a ransome by Christ to satisfie Justice and magnifie Mercy to punish the Sin and spare the Sinner that his banished from Paradise may not be expelled from Heaven But I must dismiss and wave whatever is contain'd in the Body of the Parable and single out this seasonable Passage Say on Which words are so plain they need no Explication and so few they admit no Division the only Method that remains to handle them seems to be this to consider A quo cui quo fine dicta sunt 1. By whom they were spoken By David a King and a Judge 2. To whom they were spoken To the Widow woman of Tekoah a Petitioner a Plaintiff who stood before him for Help and Judgment 3. To what end and intent they were spoken To give her leave and encouragement to make her Plea as fully as she could and to grant her a fair Hearing before he pronounced entence in her case Of these in order First Of the person who spake ●hem David the King the Judge 〈◊〉 whom

God's Deputy what that speaks he speaks that accuses or excuses according to the Law his own Finger hath written on thy heart Therefore stop not its mouth stifle not its checks put it not to silence but hear it out and say unto it Say on 2. He speaks to thee by his Word This is beyond controversie with all but downright Atheists that what the Scriptures speak God speaketh This teacheth thee to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously soberly godly in this present world There 's not a sin against the Law of Nature or Grace which this forbids not under pain of eternal death nor a duty of either to which it encourages not with the promise of eternal life This shews the equity the reasonableness the excellency the necessity of every Duty Virtue Grace and the iniquity unreasonableness baseness danger of every Corruption Vice and Sin Hear consider weigh well what it saith And dare not to go on where God's Word bids thee stop nor dare to stand still where God's Word bids thee go forward Time will not give me leave nor will the Text well bear it to plead God's Cause I may only admonish you to hearken how he pleads it in his Word himself where you shall meet with all the cogent Arguments Right Reason can be moved by in the behalf of Virtue Temperance Justice Charity and universal Holiness and against Vice Prophaneness Debauchery Dishonesty and Irreligion drawn from his authority over thee and Benefits to thee from all the Attributes of his Nature from all the Methods and Instruments of his governing the Rational World His Promises and Threatnings his Rewards and Punishments c. So from Christ the example of his Holy Life the love and design of his Bloody Death c. Now when thou art moved to any Duty or tempted to any Sin before thou refuse the one or yield to the other hear fully what God in his Word saith for it or against it Let God make his full Plea before thou yieldest and givest sentence for the World the Flesh the Devil do not precipitate and because one reason prevails not resolve to hear no more but hear him out Master Say on If his bare authority prevail not try what the obliging sense of his Benefits may do If Thus saith the Lord be not enough hear him saying O foolish people will ye thus requite the Lord If his love constrain thee not try whether his fear and the terrors of the Lord may not restrain thee if the promises and hopes of going to Heaven be too light put in the wrath revealed from Heaven and the consideration of eternal Burnings If Gods Glory move thee not hear what he saith of thine own interest if the declaration of the promises and threatenings suffice not hear what he saith of the fullfilling and exemplifying of them upon others to give thee warning I suggest these few Instances transiently which may teach you to make many more and I beseech you do it hear all God saith for Duty and against Sin before you reject the one or yield to the other and remember that the sinfulness of the world and their final condemnation is chiefly ascribed to their not hearing what God saith to them in the Word Peruse with greatest seriousness that awakening place Prov. 1.24 to the end which if you mind as you should do I hope you 'll give God a Fuller Hearing for the future and when he speaks to you in his Word will let him plead his Cause at large and Say on 3. He speaks to you by his Spirit whispering secretly and silently to your Hearts There is an intimate converse betwixt God's Spirit and Man's of which the standers by can take no notice Thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying this is the way walk in it Isa 30.21 Hear him therefore as a spirit of conviction pleading with thee to convince thee of and bring thee to repentance for thy past Sins As a spirit of excitation stirring and quickening thee to present Duty as a spirit of restraint to withdraw thee from thy sinful practices or purposes Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate As a spirit of Application setting home general truths to a man's particular case this concerns thee Thou art the Man Generalia non pungunt therefore the spirit in the reading or hearing the Word uses to infer from Generals and apply in this or the like manner If the wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness then against mine If every one be accursed that continues not in all things that are written in the Law then so am I. If every one that repents not must perish then must I if I repent not the spirit and the bride say come and whoever will let him take of the water of life freely then I may take it 't is as free to me as to any other God hath not excluded me if I exclude not my self sic in caeteris in the general threats promises precepts Oh therefore when the spirit stands at the door and knocks open to him when he calls answer him Resist him not provoke him not quench him not grieve him not put him not to silence treat him not rudely turn not a deaf ear but say unto him What wilt thou have me do Speak Lord thy servant heareth Blessed Lord Say on The last improvement I shall make of the words is to mind you to get ready a good Plea against the time God shall call for it and give you the liberty to use t. There is a day approaching nay in some degree now is in which we must appear at God's Tribunal and though we must expect a strict yet we may assure our selves of a Fair Trial. God will hear us out he will give us leave to Say on all that we can say with reason for our just defence Isay 41.21 Produce your cause will the Lord say bring forth your strong reasons saith the king of Jacob. Resolve therefore with the Prophet Habbak 2.1 To watch to see what he will say to you and what you shall answer when you are reproved or argued with Now God hath two Tribunals one in this world the other in the world to come The first erected in every man's Breast his Conscience enlightened by the word which is magni judicii prae judicium as a private Sessions preparatory to the general and grand Assise which is the second the judgment seat of Christ at which we must all appear to give an account of all we have done in the flesh whether good or evil I beseech you therefore bethink your selves before hand provide your Plea for God will certainly call for it First What hast thou to say when God shall summon thee to appear before his Deputy thy own Conscience and shall demand a reason of thy ways O man why dost thou do so or so I am ready to hear thee Say on A wise man should do nothing