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A47366 A sermon preached before the Kings Most Excellent Majesty at Oxford by H.K., D.D. Killigrew, Henry, 1613-1700.; King, Henry, 1592-1669. 1643 (1643) Wing K445; Wing K503_CANCELLED; ESTC R18028 11,120 24

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cover their shame withall But David to avoid the like both sinne and punishment also thereof protesteth here that he will sing the mercie of God I say the mercy of God toward him and not his owne merits And here upon it was that being hardly beset and greatly distressed and perplexed in the daies of Saul while his hope of the Kingdome was suspended he maketh his prayer in these termes Shew thy marvellous mercies thou that art the Saviour of them that trust in thee from such as resist thy right hand And he hopeth one day to come into the house of God in the multitude of his mercie looke back to former ages and you shall find Iacob at his return from Mesopotamia homeward in the way to Canaan being greatly enriched after the service of almost three apprentiships under Laban framing his prayer of thanksgiving in this wise O Lord I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staffe came I over this Iordan and now have I gotten two hands And I conceive assured hope that by this example my gracious Soveraigne doth often meditate upon the mercy of God toward himself in respect of the great increase of temporall blessings which he hath found and felt And as for us beloved all of us which be ranged in the number of subjects considering on the one side the manifold and heinous sinnes which have formerly reigned amongst us both unpunished and unrepented of and on the other side the fearfull dangers that we have escaped I can say nothing but that which Ieremie spake in his lamentations long ago It is the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not Pray we therefore on the behalfe of our King that it would please Almighty God to pronounce of him as he spake in elder time by Nathan of Salomon I will be his father and he shall be my son and if he sin I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the plagues of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him Pray we likewise for this Church of England Scotland and Ireland that God would vouchsafe to hallow it with that blessed promise which in Isay was uttered over the whole church of Christ militant by the spirit of prophesie thus The mountaines shall remove and the hills shall fall downe but my mercie shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peacefull away saith the Lord that hath compassion on thee This done then may both King and Subjects even every of us utter with joyfull chear that which we reade in the Psalm I will sing the mercies of the Lord for ever Thus David having already sung the mercy of God toward himself he will sing also the judgement of God toward his enemies And to begin with his grand and capitall enemie King Saul after that he had been wounded by the archers of the Philistines fearing left the uncircumcised should have come and thrust him thorow and have mocked him he took a sword and fell upon it himself and so a cruell life had a desperate end And as for Davids chief enemies in the Court among Sauls favourites namely Chush and Doeg we read the ruine of them both For Chush travailed with mischief and brought forth a lie he made a pit and digged it and fell into it himself his mischief returned upon his own head and his cruelty fell upon his own pate And after that Doeg had for a space boasted himself in his wickednesse that being a man of power he could doe mischiefe at the length God plucked him out of his tabernacle and rooted him out of the land of the living Beside these particulars God gave unto David the necks of his enemies in generall and he did beat them as small as the dust before the wind and he did tread them flat as the clay in the streets Thus let thine enemies perish O Lord and the King enemies likewise but let him be as the Sunne when he riseth in his might Now the good that may enfue by the consideration of the fall of Gods the Churches enemies is of two sorts First God is thereby magnified as may appear in the person of Pharaoh whom God appointed for this cause to shew his power in him and to declare his name throughout all the world And in the destruction of the Babilonians the earth was filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Secondly men if they have grace may thereby be edified according to the confession of the faithfull in Isai saying We O Lord have waited for thee in the way of thy judgements for seeing thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousnesse Hitherto David hath sung mercy and judgement in respect of the time past by way of praise and thanks-giving Now he proceedeth to sing the same song in regard of the time to come touching the administration of his Kingdom by way of practice knowing that the duty of Princes and publick Magistrates is to be the Ministers of God for the wealth of them that do well by the exercise of godlinesse and honesty and to take vengeance on them that doe evill committing impiety and iniquity And these two mercy and judgement must go hand in hand being in association combined together lest if they were altogether and utterly severed then mercie without judgement might turne into foolish pity and judgement without any temper of mercie might become extreme cruelty And first to speak of Mercie happy is that Prince who hath the wisedome and the will to be mercifull to whom and when and where it is expedient For such mercie and truth preserveth the King and his throne shall be established with mercie Moreover happy is that countrey where mercie and truth meet together and so righteousnesse and peace kisse one another and worldly happy are those subjects to whom the prince vouchsafeth to shew mercie and loving kindnesse For the Kings wrath is like the roaring of a Lion and as messengers of death but in the light of his countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter raine and like the dew upon the grasse And David well knowing how laudable and honourable it was to be mercifull with discretion being established in his Kingdome he made enquiry if there remained yet alive any of the house of Saul in whom he might shew the mercie of God that is such mercie as is acceptable to God for his old deare friend Ionathans sake And we find it to be a laudable custome of Princes that I may speak it the Scripture phrase in the Psalmes by hearing the mourning of the prisoners and delivering the children of death And in Isay by loosing the bands
of wickednesse and by taking off the heavy burdens by letting the oppressed go free and by breaking every yoke former extortions exactions and other grievous oppressions O how faire a thing is this mercie in the time of anguish and trouble It is like a cloud of raine that cometh in the time of drought Thus can David shew Mercie when he thinketh it meet and Iudgement also when the matter so requireth it For he is not ignorant that the establishment of the Kings throne is Iustice and Iudgement and the seat thereof is peace Yea manifold is the good effect which followeth the executing of justice upon malefactours First it is profitable to the offendours themselves for affliction giveth understanding Foolishnesse is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it away from him The rod and correction give wisedome the blewnesse of the wound serveth to purge the evill and the stripes within the bowells of the bellie that is sharpe punishment which pierceth even the inward parts is profitable for the wicked to bring them to amendment But on the contrarie he that spareth the rod spilleth the child witnesse the example of Hely towards his sonnes Hophni and Phinehas And of David toward his son Adonijah whom he would not displease from his childhood to say Why hast thou done so and so in the end he proved a presumptuous traytor and rank rebell Secondly this exemplarie justice is commodious unto others that are by-standers and beholders who may learn to beware by their neighbours harms according as Moses willeth punishment to bee afflicted upon the transgressours of the law that Israel may hear and feare Whereupon Salomon groundeth this exposition of policie or judicial proceedings Smile a scorner and the foolish will beware that is to say the simple and ignorant men learn their duty when they see the wicked punished And for this cause did God by Moses command that the censers of Korah and his complice being 250 in number who had been destroyed and consumed by a fire that came out from the Lord should be taken and beaten forth into broad plates for the covering of the Altar that they might be a signe to the children of Israell of Gods judgements against all mutinous i●ditious and rebellious persons Whereas on the other side If the incestuous person at Corinth be not censured by excommunication behold a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump And by the judgement of the preacher because sentence against an evill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set in them to doe evill that is by way of abridgement where Iustice is delayed there sinne reigneth Therefore the Princely Psalmist promises in the last verse of this Psalme betimes to destroy all the wicked of the land that he might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the citie of the Lord Thirdly the executing of hainous and notorious offenders withholdeth the wrath of God from the publick state of the Realme by taking evill out of Israell But the unpunishing of Achan though his crime was unknown was so hurtfull to the host of Israell that the hearts of the people melted away like water Neither could the great dearth in Davids time be removed nor God fully pacified for Sauls cruelty long before committed against the Gibeonites till seven of Sauls ofspring were hung up to the Lord in Gibeah of Saul In brief due execution done upon great and grievous malefactors is a sacifice acceptable unto God and a preservative of the state of the Church and commonwealth Therefore a wise King scattereth the wicked and causeth the wheel to turne over them But here must be inserted a caveat against all cruelty in execution of justice For by the law of Moses even in seeking of birds nests it was not lawfull to take the damme with the young Neither might the body of the executed malefactour remain all night upon the tree Beside this God would not turn to them of Damascus because they had threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron neither would he turne to the children of Ammon because they had ript up the women with child of Gilead that they might enlarge their own border there is like to be judgement mercilesse to Pilate who would shew no mercy but mingled the bloud of some that had offended him with their own sacrifices Yet no marvell it is that he did so for though the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast yet even the mercies of the wicked are cruel Howbeit though cruelty is alwaies to be abhorred yet remisnesse in dealing with the adversaries of the ●ruth the practicers and mainteiners of a false worship is likewise to be excluded because it is most pe●ilous to the church of God as appeareth by the history of the Canaanites who by the cōnivency of the Israelites being permitted to converse with them and to live quietly among them became prickes in their ●ies and thornes in their sides When Ioash the King of Israel came downe to visit Elisha lying sick upon his death bed he was willed by the Prophet to take into his hand the arrow of the Lords deliverance against Aram and to smite the ground wherupon he smote thrice and ceased But the man of God was angry with him and said thou shouldest have smitten five or six times so thou shouldest have smitten Aram till thou hadst consumed it where now thou shalt smite Aram but thrice the meaning is that Ioa●● deserved just reproof and great blame because he seemed content to have victorie against the enemies of God for twice or thrice and had not a zeal to overcome them continually and destroy them utterly And surely Saul cannot spare Agag saving to his own hurt Neither can Ahab have the life of Ben-hadad but with his own losse Wherefore the King Asa did not faile to depose his grandmother Maachah from her regency because she had made an Idoll in a grove which Idoll he brake down and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron Consider here a little with me beloved the mishap that I say not miserie of divers Princes keeping me within the limits or bounds of the holy Scripture in this case of shewing mercy practising of judgement For first of all it falleth out not seldome that those notorious malefactours deserving death whom Princes do pardon in mercie if not upon foolish pitie doe afterward most unthankfully and treacherously seek to take the Scepter out of the hand and to pull the Crown from the head and to withdraw life from the body of their benefactours who had graciously forgiven them their crimes and so consequently given to them their lives lands goods libertie and all This may be fitly exemplified in Absalon who after that he was pardoned for the murdering of his brother Amnon and restored to favour
in Court rose up early and stood hard by the entring in of the gate and reached forth his hand to every suiter of account and by slander flattery and faire promises he stole away the hearts of the people and at the length he brast forth into actuall rebellion against his naturall father Ioab likewise when he had escaped without punishment for stabbing of Abner he was thereby emboldned to proceed forward to the murdering of Amasa and this done without controlement he presumed to aid aspiring Adonijah to the prejudice of Salomon who was to succeed in the Kingdome by the appointment of his father David yet living Secondly Princes have beene sometimes overawed by the Peeres of the Realme or otherwise for fear of the tumult in the State they durst not either shew kindnesse and give entertainment to good men whom they loved or to execute mighty malefactours as in duty they should have done Of the first sort we have an example in Achish the King of Gath who confessed that David pleased him as an Angel of God but therewithall he told him that he must be packing out of his company because the Princes of the Philistines did not favour him Of the second sort we have an example in David who though he spake did much in detestation of Ioabs murdering of Abner yet he durst not put him to death for it as it may be collected by these words of his I am this day weake and newly anointed King and these men the sonnes of Zeruiah be too hard for me the Lord reward the doer of evill according to his wickednesse But this falleth out well and rightly that whom David spared in policie those Saloman executed in judgement as railing Shim●● and bloody Ioab Here let me stand a little upon Davids promise to sing mercy and judgement and consider whether hee performed the same alwaies or not I will put the case in the example of lame Mephibosheth the sonne of his old and deare friend Ionathan to whom I confesse he did kindly shew mercy for his fathers sake by restoring unto him all the fields of his Grandfather Saul and licensing him to eat bread at his owne Table continually but when he came to the point of judgement I finde him defective For when David fled before the face of Absalon Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth meeteth him with a large present of his Masters goods and presenting the same unto him he frameth sycophantly a most false accusation of treason against his Master as though he had said this day shall the house of Israel restore me the Kingdome of my father Whereupon rashly without leaving the one eare for the defendant he gave sentence condemning the innocent in favour of the plaintiffe being a calumniator saying to Ziba behold thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth and when as Mephibosheth afterward met David returning after the overthrow of Absolon fully cleared himself of the haynous crime of treason wherewith he had beene falsely charged then David giveth sentence in this wise Thou and Ziba divide the lands Herein David did evill in taking his land from him before hee knew the cause but much worse that knowing the truth he did not restore them And here we may observe that in the case of justice our {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is more upright then our {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} our contemplation is sounder then our practice Or to speake to the capacity of the meanest hearer a man may more easily penne the cause of Justice in his private study then rightly practice it in publicke upon the Bench For in solitary meditation a man may without difficulty abandon all rashnesse and partiall affection but in judiciall place abroad respect of persons and other corruptions doe easily enter into our mindes and hearts by the Ministery of our eies and ears Now the way to prevent this mischiefe is to doe that sincerely which David promiseth here to doe namely to sing unto the Lord that is to shew mercie and practise Iudgement to the glory of God whereunto all things ought to be referred according to Saint Pauls direction whether ye eat or drinke or whatsoever ye doe do all to the glory of God Insomuch as almes must be given in charity without the sound of a trumpet and prayer must bee made of devotion without publicke ostentation And to descend from the generall doctrine to the particular instruction which I have in hand miserable was the case of that wretched Judge who did right to the poore widow nor for feare of God or reverence to man but only to avoid her clamor and importunity And no better was the case of the Philistins in the booke of the Judges who when as the Timnite gave his daughter being Sampsons wife to another man they regarded not to punish this unjust and adulterous act But when as Sampson in revenge of this wrong had with three hundred Foxes turned taile to taile having firebrands fastened thereto set on fire and burned up the rickes and the standing corne with the Vineyards and Olives of the Philistins then they came up in troopes and burnt the Timnite and his daughter with fire Thus the wicked punish not vice for love of Justice but to be revenged in respect of former losse and for feare of future danger which else might come unto them Again to thee O Lord will I sing that is howsoever by the chaunting of this ditty of mercy judgement I shall seem to howle in the eares of the ungodly yet my song to thee O Lord shall be thought very melodious Whereby we are taught this generall doctrine that in doing of our duty in our severall vocations this ought to be our comfort that our words and workes are pleasing unto God howsoever they be displeasing to the world of wicked men So though Noe was scorned by the men of his time for preparing the Arke and urging repentance to prevent the perill of the Deluge to come yet is he by the providence of God ad perpetuam rei memoriam Chronicled for a Preacher of righteousnesse And though David for dancing before the Arke being girded with a linnen Ephod was by his wife Michal despised in her heart yet was he had is most high reputation by the maids of honour attending upon Michal Yea David will yet bee more vile then thus and he will be low in his owne sight knowing that all shall bee acceptable in heaven which is here on earth done before the Lord that is for no worldly affection but only for the zeale which wee beare to Gods glory Isai and the children which God gave unto him were as signes and wonders in Israel yet their reward was with the Lord If Iohn come neither eating nor drinking they say he hath a divel And if the Sonne of man come eating and drinking they say behold a glutton and a drinker of wine a friend of publicans and Sinners But yet wisdome is justified of her children If Festus be judge of Pauls speeches then Paul is beside himselfe much learning doth make him mad Howbeit Paul is not mad O noble Festus but he speaketh the words of truth and sobernesse The Apostles were made a gazing-stock unto the world and to the Angels and to men they were counted as the filth of he world and the off-scowring of all things howbeit ●hey passed very little to bee judged of mans judgement knowing that they were unto God the sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them which perish to the one the savour of death unto ●eath and to the other the favour of life unto life Thus the sweet singer of Israel promiseth to sing he divine ditty of Mercy and Iudgement to the Lord of Lords even God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost to whom three Persons and one everliving God be all honour and glory both now and for evermore Amen FINIS Jam. 5. 13 Psal. 137. 1. 2. 3. 4 Deut. 6. 5. 2. Sam. 6. 14. Psal. 110. 3. Psal. 69. 9. Mat. 11. 12. Act. 17. 16. Act. 14. 14 Exod. 32 15. unto the ●1 2 Cor. 9. 7 Jer. 48. 1● Rom. 12. 14. Tit. 2. 14. Apoc. 3. 16. Psal. 50. 15. Psal. 51. 15. Psal. 22. 20. 21. 22. Luk. 17. 15. 16. Hab. 1. 15 16. Hos. 2. 5. to the 11. Psal. 17. 7 Psal. 5. 7. Gen. 32. 10. Lam. 3. 22 2. Sam. 7. 14. 15. Psal. 89. 1. 1. Sam. 31. 3. 4 Psal 7. 1. 15. 16. Psal. 52. 15. Psal 18. 40. 42. J●d 5. 31. Ex. 9 16. Hab. 2. 14 Isa. 26. 9. Rom. 13. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 14 Pro. 20. 28 Psal. 85. 10. Pro. 16. 14 15 19. 12. 2 Sam. 9. 1. 3. Psal. 102 1. Isa. 58. 7. Eccles. 35. 19. Prov. 16 12. Isa. 32. 17. Prov. 22. 15. Pro. 29. 15 Pro. 20 30 Pro. 13 14 1 Sam. 2. 12. 22. 23. 24. 1 Reg. 1. 6 Deut. 13. 11. and 17. 13. and 21. 21. Prov. 10. Numb. 16 37. 38. c 1. Cor. 5. 6 Eccles. 8. 11. Psal. 101. 8. Deut. 17. 12. ●2 22. Josh. 7. 1. 5 2 Sam. 21. 1. 6. 14. Prov. 20. 26. Deut. 22. 6 Deut. 21. 22. 23. Amos 1. 3 13. Jam. 2. 13 Luke 13. 1 Pro. 12. 10 Numb. 33 55. 2. Reg. 13. 14. to the 20. 1 Sam. 15 22. 23. 1 Reg 20. 42. 2 Chio. 15. 16. 2 Sam. 15. 2 Sam. 3 27. Ibid. 20. 9 10. 1 Reg 1. 7 1 Sam. 29 6. 9. 10. 2 Sam. 3. 36. 1 Reg. 2. 5. 6. 8. 9. 31. 44 45. 46. 2 Sam. 9. 1. 3. 7. 2 Sam. 16. 1 2 3 4. 2 Sam 19. 29. 1 Cor. 10. 31. Mat. 6. 1. to the 7. Luke 18. 4. 5. Judg. 15. 1 to the 7. 2 Pet. 2. 5. 2 Sam. 6. 14. 16. 20. 21. 22. Isa 8. 18. VV●s 5. 15. Mat. 51. 18. 19. Act. 26. 24. 25. 1 Cor. 5. 9. 13. Ibid. v. 3. 2 Cor. 4. 15. 16. 2 Sam. 23.