Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	word_n	world_n	worst_a	105	3	8.1157	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43620	The good old cause, or, The divine captain characteriz'd in a sermon (not preach'd, nor needful to be preach'd, in any place so properly as in a camp) by Edm. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1692 (1692)	Wing H1807; ESTC R7616	21,900	38

THE Good Old Cause OR THE Divine CAPTAIN Characteriz'd IN A SERMON Not Preach'd nor needful to be Preach'd in any place so properly as in a CAMP Upon II Sam. x. 12. Be of good Courage and let us play the men for our People and the Cities of our God and the Lord do what seemeth him good By ED M. HICKERINGILL Rector of the Rectory of All-saints in Colchester Licens'd according to Order Feb. 1. 1691 2. London Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry 1692. To the HONOURABLE the Lord Colchester THE Noble Captain of Their Majesties Life-Guard c. May it please Your Lordship IN this following Text of all other Verses in the Bible is found the fairest Character of a Valiant Captain with a divine Mind a brave Courage in a Heavenly Soul a great and a good Heart a most auspicious Conjunction of Vertue and Valour If Vertue and Valour be not one and the same thing yet they are so near of Kin that the Latins have but one word to express both at least they are reciprocal No man is truly virtuous that is not truly valorous no man is truly valorous that is not truly virtuous For which cause Fortitude or Valour is accounted one of the four Cardinal Virtues To promote Virtue and consequently Valour in our Armies and Navies whereof these Three Kingdoms never had more need I have with an humble Heart lent my helping Hand from the Press to whom it could not be very audible from my low Pulpit And the Guard of His Majesty's Sacred Person the Darling of Heaven as well as of Mankind being more peculiarly your Honourable Province in this his so famous and necessary Expedition invites as well as encourages me to the dedication of this Sermon to Your Lordship which I may without Ostentation say is so useful to all Men against the Fears of Death the King of Terrours but especially in this juncture seasonable and suitable for the Souldiery if they will find time to read it and upon such a Text as perhaps was never handled before in this method by any man except by My Lord Your Lordships most devoted Servant E. Hickeringill THE Good Old Cause OR THE Divine Captain Characteriz'd II SAM X. 12. Be of good Courage and let us play the Men for our People and the Cities of our GOD and the Lord do what seemeth him good GEnerals of Armies have usually in all Ages amongst all Nations made a Speech to encourage their Souldiers when drawn up in Battel-aray and ready to engage Such a Speech is this Text made by Joab King David's General when his Army stood in battalia ready to fight the Enemy that had beset them Front and Reer the Syrians in the Front and the Ammonites in the Reer no way left to run away they must either fight or dye nay fight that they may not be killed In this desperate state the General faces his Army to the Front and Reer the Front he leads himself against the Syrians the other half of his Army his Brother Abishai led against the Ammonites In this posture the Army was drawn up in the face of their Enemies when the valiant Joab made a Speech addressing himself particularly to his valiant Brother Abishai saying If the Syrians be too strong for me then thou shalt help me but if the Children of Ammon be too strong for thee then I will help thee Be of good Courage and let us play the men for our People and the Cities of our God and the Lord do what seemeth him good In my opinion this is the most pithy and succinct as well as the most divine Speech of a noble General that ever I met with In the former part he speaks like a good Souldier like a brave man in the latter part like a Divine like a good man For Joab did not buy his Place nor make Friends at Court to intercede nor claimed Kindred to the Blood Royal and yet he might for the King was his Cousin-Germain but he won the place by his Sword For King David had pass'd his royal Word that he that first smote the Jebusites 1 Chron. 11.6 1 Chron. 11.20 21. he should be Chief and Captain Joab did it and his Lieutenant-General got his Place by his Valour too he lift up his Sword against 300 and slew them and had the first name amongst the second Ternary of David's Worthies Valour is twofold Active and Passive Active Valour consists in doing hardy things like a stout and great man Passive Valour consists in suffering and enduring hardship couragiously like a pious and good man These two sorts of Valour divide the Text into 2 parts Active Valour in these words Be of good courage and let us play the men for our People and the Cities of our God Passive Valour in these words Let the Lord do what seemeth him good or as the Chaldee Paraphrase none of the worst Versions Let the Lord do whatsoever he has predestinated or fore-ordained As if he should say Shall not He that made us and brought us into the World have Leave to continue us or take us out of the World according to his own not our good pleasure Let what will come all shall be welcome Life or Death Liberty or Captivity Soundness or Loss of Limbs Victory or Defeat even as best pleases Almighty God not my will but his be done let the Lord do what seemeth him good Active Valour is made up of three Ingredients viz. 1. A good Courage 2. A good Conduct 3. A good Cause These three Ingredients of Active Valour divide the first general part of the Text into three particulars 1. A good Courage in this Exhortation to it Be of good Courage 2. A good Conduct Let us play the men Some are fierce and stout as Lions and yet may have but a brutish Valour and be fool hardy except their Courage be managed with a rational and discreet Conduct and thereby play the men Though I confess in this Criticism I follow the English Translation which comes nearest to the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. but the Chalder Paraphrase and Syriack Interpreter authorizes no such nice distinction invalesce invalescamus for the Syriack and Chaldee Paraphrase have but one word to signifie both a good Courage and a good Conduct The former is the proper act of the Hand and Heart The latter is the proper act of the Head and Heart Solomon says A wise man is strong Prov. 24 5. i. e. though his Hand be weak yet a good Headpiece makes him strong and able to play the man 3. Thirdly A good Cause is the causa sine quâ non the sole Ingredient necessary to qualifie and sanctifie all fighting without a good Cause all killing is Murther nothing but a good Cause can hallow our Swords The good Cause in the Text is The Good Old Cause namely in defence of our People and the Cities of our God As if

encounter with that Expression Isa 41.14 Fear not thou Worm Jacob. One would think if Jacob be a Worm had more cause to fear than any other Creature under Heaven a Lion has Strength a Worm has none the Dove is fearful but she has Wings the Hare the Deer are timerous but they have swiftness of Foot to fly from Danger a Snake has none of these Advantages yet she has a Sting But a Worm what Creature so despicable so subject to the tread of every Foot She has no Wings to fly no Sting to make them stand off yet Fear not thou Worm Jacob. And why the Reason follows in the next words For I am with thee saith God And if God be for us who can be against us And here I shall baulk my Discourse and the Text if Id o not shew Q. 1. First How God may be said to be for his People when the Lord does what seemeth him good in prospering them as he did Joab in the Text with Victory Or how God may be said to fight for his People Q. 2. And secondly How long he will fight for them 1. First I answer that God visibly fights for his People four several ways all applicable to this Text and these Times for which I purposely chose this Text and if I should conclude my Discourse on this Text only with shewing what we should do in case of Death Defeat or any other sinister event a Consideration very useful and necessary yet it would be a Contemplation too melancholly and ominous to conclude with Passive Valour in active and victorious times such as this of Joab in the Text a Victory sultable and parallel to ours in this Juncture For in the Verse next following the Text we hear the good News that the Idolaters are run for it the Syrians fled before Joab And when the Children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled then fled they also before Abishai Almighty God then gives Victory and visibly fights for his People when they fight in a good Cause four several ways He did it for Israel Great Britain and Ireland 1. First God is said visibly to fight when he raises up a Hero a Worthy by endowing him with the Spirit of Courage as he did Gideon Baruk Jephtha Sampson David Samuel and that I forget not Moses and Joshua But of this I have spoken fully already under that Head of Supernatural Courage But if I should only remember those famous Worthies so long ago and so remote my Memory would be as ungrateful as treacherous if I should forget what all the World at present admires and Posterity will much more His Sacred Majesty King WILLIAM whom GOD has raised up to be a Deliverer to us in the day of our distress and to rescue us from Popish Tyranny and Superstition and all those Miseries and Calamities which were ready to break in upon us I am upon a Subject uncapable of Flattery or Hyperbole but surely I cannot say less upon so great and Fair Occasion than to say my Prayers I only repeat the daily Prayers of the Church of England In raising up thy Servant King William to be a Deliverer to us in the day of our Distress c. When God's Hand is lifted up they will not see saith Isaiah but they shall see Isa 26.11 and be ashamed for their Envy c. We have still many Envious Souls amongst us it spites them to the Heart to see what God has done for these Kingdoms and yet they clap their Hands before their Eyes and will not see what all others in the World see What 's the Reason The Prophet says For their Envy c. Let them go on and let them go to their Idolater their Idol if they please or dare let the Blind lead the Blind till they both fall into the Ditch I mean the French and the Frenchified English Frenchified English There 's a word unknown to our Forefathers We used to be such Apes as to take Laws from France for Feathers and Lace and Top-knots but the English for 500 years and upwards have been a Terrour to France And are these Frenchified-English Natives then And do they know to whom they truckle and why I cannot say less on this ungrateful Subject and I will not say more especially at this time and on this occasion I am very ready at another time to speak more home to our silly fellows at home 2. Secondly God fights for his People by sending his Fear and Terrour Amazement and Astonishment into the Hearts of the Enemy This in Scripture is called God's Hornet which like Beasts stung with a Garabee or Hornet made Men run they did not know whither and they did not know why nor where to be safe they were in such a Consternation Deut. 7.20 21. Amazement and Fear And so is the word interpreted Thus when the cowardly Spies Cowards all but Caleb and Joshua went to spy out the Land of Canaan the poor Hearts were out of Heart when they saw the Giants the Children of Anak Num. 13.32 33. and that all the People were men of great stature But we say they were in our sight as Grashoppers and so we were in their sight But little men may look up to Heaven little men may cry I hope and call to GOD for help the less Ability they had in themselves Therefore saith God Josh 24.12 I sent my Hornet before you which drove them out from before you but not with thy Sword nor with thy Bow Yet they had both Sword and Bow in conquering Canaan but to little purpose if God had not sent his Hornet before them to sting the Enemy to the Heart and to leave the Lubbers like ominous Beasts for Sacrifice without a Heart And to apply it What account can be given in human Reason why Ten of our men lately in Ireland would usually make an Hundred to fly Was it because we were bigger or taller or stronger-limb'd than the Irish or French No such matter But all the reason that can be given is this they were stung with Dread Horrour and Amazement run like Beasts stung with a Garabee they did not know why nor whither nor where to hide God sent his Hornet before us and to him be the Glory not with thy Sword nor with thy Bow Nor can it be said that our late Deliverance and Redemption three years ago was wrought or brought about with Sword or Spear To see such an Army treble the number of our Deliverer none better mounted nor better arm'd to see a Navy well equipp'd Men of War well rigg'd and all these to melt away and scatter no man pursuing them What 's the matter God sent his Hornet before them Not but that it spoke both natural and supernatural Courage in a superlative manner to attempt so bravely and through Faith to subdue Kingdoms but it was digitus Dei the Hand of God was visible in it to him be the Glory not with