Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	earl_n	honourable_a	right_n	13,405	5	6.9102	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19498	A holy alphabet for Sion's scholars full of spiritual instructions, and heauenly consolations, to direct and encourage them in their progresse towards the new Ierusalem: deliuered, by way of commentary vpon the whole 119. Psalme. By William Covvper ...	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1613 (1613)	STC 5926; ESTC S108977	239,299	430

A HOLY ALPHABET FOR SION'S SCHOLARS FVLL OF SPIRITVAL INSTRVCTIONS AND HEAVENly Consolations to direct and encourage them in their Progresse towards the New IERVSALEM Deliuered by way of Commentary vpon the whole 119. Psalme By WILLIAM COVVPER Minister of Gods Word and B. of Galloway PROV 1. 5. A wise man shall heare and increase in knowledge and a man of vnderstanding shall attaine vnto wise counsels Amb in Psal. 119. NVN. Intelligimus ideo per literas Heb ●…rum Psalnium ●…unc esse digestum vt home noster tanquam pa●…vulus ab insantia per literarum element a for●…atus 〈◊〉 at as puer●…'is assueu●… v●…q ad maturitatem virtutis ex●…scat LONDON Printed by H. Lownes for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his Shop at the great South-●…oore of Paules and Britannes Bursse 1613. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE DAVID LORD OF SCONE ONE OF HIS MAIEsties most Honorable Priuy Councell in this Kingdome MY Lord when I dedicated to the Earle of Dunbar of good memory my Treatise of the Anatomy of a Christian I was then of purpose to haue presented to your L. this Holy Alphabet for Sions Scholars but could not perfit it till now Ye liued together in his Maiesties most honourable seruice like a paire of faithfull friends louing and pleasant in your liues and shall not be diuided in your deaths for me As my other Treatise went forth for a witnesse of my fauour without flattery toward him for the Dedicatorie Epistle was printed after his death so will I that this stand as a testimonie of my loue toward your L. partly for that which yee are and partly for that which I hope yee shall be Ille enim veraciter amat amicum qui Deum amat in amico aut quia est in illo aut vt sit in illo For he doth truely loue his friend who loueth God in his friend that is eyther for the good which is in him or else that the good which he wants may be in him There are many in this age with whom Satan hath couenanted as Nahash the Ammonit would haue done with the Israelites of Iabesh Golead vpon this condition That he put out their right eies These men haue an eye to see and a tong to speake of that which is euill in another but none to se that which is good compared properly by Nazianzen to venemous flyes who passing by the part that is whole light vpon that which is sore and make it worse then they sound it For mine owne part I neuer mind to be one of these If I should praise you for the good which ye want I knowe I should neyther please you nor prosite you your vnder standing being more solid then that shadowes in stead of substance can content you neyther yet also on the other hand will I so looke vnto that which ye want that I passe by the good which ye haue vnder hope also that this shall make you better There are none who knowe your L. but haue marked an affection toward Religion so indiuert●…ble that no man contrary minded durst euer attempt to alter it which in this declining age deserues no small commendation A heart in like maner toward execution of iustice s●… inslexible that ye haue preferred the lawe to the loue of men who otherway haue bin most deere vnto you for the which howsoeuer yee haue beene misliked of many yet haue you proued a profitable seruant to your Master in most difficill times for By iustice the Throne is established Your naturall iudgement in discerning betweene right and wrong may iustly be admired specially sith your education hath not been by precepts of artes in the Academie but by practise of them in the Palace where unto yee could also hardly haue attained if yee had not learned vnden such a King as is not onely a patterns of vertue himselfe but a solid Thealog and Philosopher euer discussing to his Domestiques of that which is good and euill both in Religion manners and policie But my Lord howsoeuer these be good things and worthy commendation yet haue they need to be strengthenea with better for all gifts were they neuer so excellent if they be not crowned with godlinesse may well increase conuiction but can render no consolation in the day of trouble This is it therefore which now I haue to recommend vnto your L. that yee growe in knowledge and in the grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ whereunto beside these common reasons that should stirre vp cuerie Christian there are three which more particularly prouoke you vnto it The first is that GOD by your first generation hath brought you forth a man of honour in this earth for in regard of naturall descent your honourable Father the Lorde of Baluaird was a brother of the Earle of Tullibardin whose house is as a noble stocke from which hath sprung out like branches exceeding many honourable Families all of the name of Murray and hath continued in this Lande these fifteene hundreth yeares Your Mother a Grahame daughter of the right Noble Earle of Montrose whose house hath continued with honour since the beginning of this Kingdome Your Mothers mother a Keith daughter to the right noble Earle Mershell whose House and Family being long before honourable in this Kingdome was sixe hundreth years agoe decorated with the Office of the Marshalship of Scotland for their vertue and valour in batteil where●… they continue vnto this day among the chiefest Peeres of the Realme Your Fathers Mother a Lyndsay daughter to the right noble Lord the Lord Lyndsay whose Hou●…e not inferiour to many in honour may aboue many most iustly he commended for their earnest z●…ale and sincerr affection toward the aduancement of true Religion All these should greatly increase your care that ye be no found lesse honourable in Christ then ye are in this world For this world properly is compared to a Stage-play wherin oftentimes Nobles are clad in beggars garments and the beggar takes on the habite of a King but when the guise is ended and the maskes remoued then euery one appeares to be that which he is and the man of base estate was not so much comforted with his temporall representation of an honourable man as he is now grieued to see hee was but honourable in sport and shew not in effect Yet many such are there in the world who goe in the state of honorable men but shall be found in the end vessels of dishonour To be honourable in both is rare yet such as may be obteyned by godlinesse for godlinesse hath the promise both of this life and of the life to come The second reason Ye haue serued his Maiestie these eight and thirtie yeares not as a Domestique onely but as a Counceller and Officer of estate also and that with so constant an affection that ye haue not spared to incurre the displeasure and malecontentment of any whatsoeuer so be it ye might procure pleasure and contentment to

spoken concerning the certaine truth of Gods word he now amplifies it that he had found it by experience Sure it is the Word of God doth euer comfort them who beleeue it but when by experience in their particular troubles and tentations they finde the truth of it then doth it so much the more confirme them Let vs looke to our selues and marke narrowly the working of GOD with vs that as we beleeue Gods word to be a most true word in itselfe so in our owne experience we may finde it toward vs. This stabilitie vnchangeable truth of Gods word if wee once bee perswaded of it shall be an Anchor to our soules to holde vs fast that wee bee not carried away with the winde and waues of greatest temptations Long before Dauids trouble came this was settled as a truth in the heart of Dauid and therefore in all trouble it sustained him There fall out oftentimes such confusions and perturbations in the world as makes the children of God to doubt whether the hand of God by the stable order of his prouidence rule them or not and where they are moued to doubt what maruell if Insidels Epicures and other Naturalists doe altogether distrust it After the opinion of that Ethnique Rex mundi magna curat parua fortunae relinquit But it is farre otherwise his prouident and ruling hand extends to smallest things Videte quia minima non contemnit Deus nam si contemneret non crearet For if he neglect them he would not haue created them Neyther doth any thing fall out by fortune but as saith the Apostle He worketh all things after the counsell and good pleasure of his will Alway to confirme vs against this tentation let vs resolue with Dauid here That God hath established his testimonies for euer More of this see ver 142. 160. RESH VER 153. Behold mine affliction and deliuer me for I haue not forgotten thy Lawe THese prayers of Dauid are penned with such heauenly wisedome that they are conuenient for the state of the whole Church and euery member thereof The Church is the bush that burneth with fire but cannot be consumed euery member thereof beareth a part of the crosse of Christ neuer without some affliction for which they haue need here to pray with Dauid Behold mine affliction We know that in afflictions it is some comfort to vs to haue our crosses knowne to such as of whom we are assured that they loue vs it mitigates our dolour when they mourne with vs albeit they be not able to helpe vs. But the Christian hath a more solid comfort to wit that in all his troubles the Lord beholds him like a King reioycing to see his own seruant wrestle with the enemie he lookes with a mercifull eye pitying the infirmitie of his owne when he sees it and with a powerfull hand ready to helpe them But because many a time the cloude of our corruption cometh betweene the Lorde and vs and lets vs not see his helping hand nor his louing face looking vpon vs we haue neede to pray at such times with Dauid Behold mine affliction For I haue not forgotten This reason is not quòd iactare se cuperet sed vt Dei in se gratiam prouocaret as if Dauid here did boast of himselfe for he saith not that he had fulfilled Gods lawe but that he had not forgot it But this is subioyned to moue the Lord to pitie and compassion toward him from this reason That his conscience was good toward God if not in that which he had don yet at least in that which he would haue done for he euer protests that it was his ioy to doe the will of the Lord his God And it is onely this good conscience that dare make request vnto God where the euill conscience dare not look to him more then a wounded eye can looke to the light yea it flies and runnes away from God as we see in Adam fearing euill from him because it had done euill against him and farre lesse dare it seeke good things from him VER 154. Pleade my cause and deliuer me quicken me according to thy word HEere is an appellation made by Dauid from men vnto God The meaning of it is O Lorde I finde that among men equity is not regarded euen they who vpon earth are thy Deputies who should maintaine the right and punish the wrong by them the cause of innocent men many a time is borne downe wherefore Lord I beseech thee who art the righteous ludge of the world pleade my cause against them Wherein first wee haue a comfort for them who are oppressed by the vnrighteousnesse of men they are taught here by Dauids example to appeale to God and call him to be Iudge betweene them and their oppressors Many a time good men faint fall down euen in a good cause for a while because they trust in their cause neglecting to seeke the Lords protection And againe here is a warning for all men in the world specially for Iudges to whō belongs the cognition of other mens causes that they take heede what they doe seeing as Iehosaphat said to his Deputies The iudgement is the Lords for when they haue iudged the Lord will iudge them ouer againe their iudgement also either to ratifie or disannull the sentence they haue giuen And therefore it were good for them not so much to look vnto such as are vnder them with whom they may do as they think in the matter of right and wrong at their pleasure without controlement as to look vnto him who is aboue them whose iudgement they themselues must vndergo both in their persons and actions Quicken me See ver 25. 37. 40. 50. 88. 93. 107. 154. 156. VER 155. Saluation is farre from the wicked because they seeke not thy Statutes THis Verse contains a protestation of the miserable condition of the wicked expressed in this weighty sentence Saluation is farre from the wicked Ipsi sunt authores sui periculi quia Domino non appropinquant they themselues are the authors of their own wracke because they drawe not neere vnto the Lord. Salute quae abste est se ipsi qui inique viuunt priuarunt they who liue wickedly depriue themselues of that saluation which is in thee Non refugit eos salus sed ipsi salutem fugiunt saluation flies not from them it is offered vnto them but they flie from it A fearful estate not only to want saluation but to want it in thy owne default because thou wilt not embrace it In the verse 150. he said that the wicked were farre from Gods lawe now he saith that Gods saluation is as farre from them The Lord hath conioyned these two his Word and Saluation for by his Word hee saueth such as are to be saued they who despise the one shall neuer finde the other If wicked