Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	aaron_n	bring_v	moses_n	187	4	7.4013	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61456	Ad magistratum three sermons preached before the justices of assize, at Bury-St.-Edmunds in the countie of Suffolk : with sacred hymns upon the Gospels for the hyemal quarter / by Tho. Stephens.	Stephens, Thomas, fl. 1648-1677.	1661 (1661)	Wing S5456; ESTC R26257	67,843	154

might have the juster pretence to secure their persons for spies of the land And this made David so often and so fervently pray for the clearing up of his integrity not that he suspected the integrity of his own heart for he was a man after Gods heart and so could not deal treacherously but Saul had suggested false insinuations of him He had laid to his charge things that he knew not they devised deceitfull matters against him that was quiet in the Land I am loath to preach Matchiavil in the pulpit It is truly said of the old Satyrists that they whipp'd the vices of the times so naked that they made sport to lascivious eyes to behold them I should be loth in the unmasking the designs of Tyrants to set a copy to any although of an inferior rank to write by Yet it is too well known that nothing so much advances the purposes of usurpers as plots ingeniously contrived by themselves and as fortunately discovered when their counsels are ripened for them For by this means they raise the reputation of their own sagacity and waking diligence and evermore weaken the power of the adverse party some of which must fall victims to their wit and industry But how prosperous soever such counsels are for a time Christianity warrants us not for such dark-lanthorn Stratagems But the third and last fallacy of these treacherous dealers is their non causa pro causâ the assigning the cause of their mischiefs to them who are most unconcern'd and innocent If a Lamb be drinking at a stream though much below the Wolf it is occasion enough to worry him and to pretend that he hath roil'd the waters When Ahab's cruelty and Iezabels sorcery had begot a famine in the fruitfull Land of Canaan and that Countrey felt an ebb which before had flowed with milk and honey the blood of the Lords prophets which were slain is quite forgotten and the abominations of the Zidonians Baals Idolatry not reflected on but the blame of all must rest upon Elijah that it s he that troubles Israel Herodotus tells us of a foolish people of Mauritania which yearly go out to curse the Sun with a great solemnity because he tanns their naked bodies Thus when jealousies and fears have laid us naked to all the mischiefs of base suspicion when ingratitude and rebellion have stain'd our souls as black as the sins the furies that harbour in them we have gone out to curse the Sun and make the blessed influence of his heat and light the cause of all our grievances But there is no Nation except our own hath given more pregnant instances of this then the Israelites whose ingratitude this way made the very quails their meat stink between their teeth and named the waters they drank of bitterness from their murmuring Sometimes Corah and his seditious Elders shall quarrel at Aarons the High Priest's preheminence upon a pretence of holiness they are as good as he why lifts he up himself above the people of the Lord And if Moses the civil Magistrate steps in to his rescue there is Tyranny straight clapt in his teeth He goes about to make himself a Lord over them Straight after this two hundred and fifty assembly-men shall dare challenge a share in holy administrations and offer incense on their unhallowed censers And when God shall make a miraculous discrimination between h●s anointed and those that rebel against them by not suffering them to dy who did not deserve to live but opening the mouth of the earth he shall let some of them down quick to hell whilst he rains down Hell from Heaven consuming fire upon the rest the very next day Moses and Aaron shall be challenged for it that they have murthered the people of the Lord even that very people that perished in their rebellion This begets a new plague when these whom they accuse for their murtherers must be their deliverers again for there is wrath gone out against them from the Lord whilst a cloud covers Moses and Aaron at the Tabernacle of the Congregation Yet in the very next story they are no sooner pinch'd with a little drought but they fall a chiding their governours again as the cause of all 't is they have brought them up to perish in the wilderness But what says Moses Hearken O ye Rebels why murmure ye against the Lord ye are gathered together against the Lord and what are we that you murmure against us And have not our eyes beloved seen all this acted Hath not the preheminency of our Aarons been questioned by a pretended godly party Hath not our Moses been accused of Tyranny because he stood up to vindicate them Nay hath not our Moses been arraigned for murthering of them that perished in their rebellion Hath not every unsuccessfull adventure every dear year every deluge or drought been imputed to him and his party Hath there been any thunder or rain in wheat-harvest which hath not been charged upon that great wickedness of asking a King But hearken Oh ye rebels 't is Gods Ordinances you despise in trampling upon Aaron Hearken Oh ye rebels 't is Gods Soveraignity you refuse in resisting Moses Hearken Oh ye rebels 't is God himself whom you arraign in challenging his Magistrate with the blood of them that perished in their rebellion Thus have they committed falshood the thief cometh in and the troop of robbers spoileth without Hos. 7. 1. and they have dealt treacherously against the Lord And this is the second aggravation of their sin they deal treacherously The last and chiefest remains this sin was acted without any just provocation They spoiled when they were not spoiled they dealt treacherously when they were not dealt treacherously withall without any just provocation I say For against unreasonable fears and jealousies there can be no security Historians tell us of the time when the Romanes might not whisper together in the streets least their breath should be accused to be rebellious I am sure we have known when our very prayers have been suspected of sin When Hannahs prayers were muttered in the Temple Eli supposed she had been drunken But alas the Temple hath been shut up against us and our worship as it was in Ieroboam's days and if we met in private to whisper our devotions some Sanballats and Geshams would be ready to inform that we met together to rebell Thus have they devised deceitful matters against them that were quiet in the land And quiet they are upon a double account First they cannot Secondly they will not retaliate injuries First I say they cannot For what teeth and claws hath a Lamb to encounter with a Wolf What beak or talons hath a Dove to grapple with a Vulture God does many times disarm his people of all outward help and leave them onely the spiritual weapons of prayers and tears to encounter with their enemies and this is to make trial what these dare do and what those can suffer Sad was it