Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	according_a	ecclesiastical_a	law_n	1,550	5	5.5075	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26702	The best of remedies for the worst of maladies, or, Spiritual receipts and antidotes for the preservation of a plague-sick, sinfull soul wherein is shown, sin is the cause and repentance the cure of the pestilence / seasonably published by a lover of peace and truth ..., R.A.	R. A. (Richard Alleine), 1611-1681.	1667 (1667)	Wing A983; ESTC R10719	150,980	258

sold for money According to what the Prophet Isaiah complained in his time Isa 1.23 Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of Thieves every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards they Judge not the Fatherless neither doth the cause of the Widow come unto them Or as he proceeds further in Ezek. 22.26 27. Her Priests have violated my law and have prophaned my holy things they have put no difference between the holy and prophane nor between the unclean and the clean Her Princes in the midst thereof are like roaring wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls and to get dishonest gain And yet says the Prophet Micah They did lean upon the Lord. How lean upon the Lord not with a holy trust and confidence which is ever accompanied with godliness but in hypocrisie out of an impudent arrogancy and a vain bold and carnal presumption as if God was engaged to protect them let them live and do what they pleased Like those that the Prophet Isay speaks of That swore by the name of the Lord and made mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousness And yet they called themselves of the holy City and staied themselves upon the God of Israel Isa 48.1 2. Or like unto them in the Prophet Jeremies time that cried The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and yet in the mean time they oppressed the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed innocent blood and did steal and murder and commit adultery and swore falsely Jer. 7.4 6 9. But how intollerable this was with God the sequel makes it evident Therefore shall Sion for your sakes be ploughed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps that is shall be utterly destroyed and laid waste So little care and regard had God of Sion and Jerusalem and of his holy Temple it self being thus polluted and defiled And therefore saith the Lord in Ezekiel 3 2. ult have I poured out mine indignation upon them I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads saith the Lord. So again for this doth the Lord threaten That their houses shall be turned unto others with their fields and wives together And he will stretch out his hand upon the inhabitants of the land For saith he from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness and from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsly Jer. 6.12 13. Which avaricious or covetous disposition was so predominant in them in the Prophet Isaiah's time Isa 56.10 11. That he termed the Watchmen then which were the Priest and Rulers of the people as Jer. 8.10 and Eze● 〈…〉 not only blind and ignorant and dumb do●● that could not bark c. but greedy dogs also th t could never have enough Like dogs strong in desire in lust in appetite greedy and unsatiable that could not be satisfied with money or large revenues And what follows in the next chapter v. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth said the Lord and smote him and whether this might not be a smiting with the pestilence Deut. 28.22 27. comp with Ezek. 33.27 and 31. verses I shall leave it to the wise to judge How did he smite Gehazi with the Plague of Leprosie for this thing 2 King 5.27 so highly provoking a sin is this sin of Covetousness unto the Lord. And oh that this were wisely considered and applied by the men of this Generation yea by the carnal and earthly minded Professions of our times For sure it is That the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6.10 6. The sixth Pestilential destroying sin is the sin of Cursing and Swearing and False-swearing This was the sin of Shemei that cursed David mentioned in the 2 Sam. 16.5 And see how the Lord did return his wickedness upon his own head being slain by the Command of King Solomon 1 King 2.44 46. This the Psalmist lays down as the certain Character of a wicked man that his mouth is full of Cursing and deceite And what imprecations does he use in his Prayer against him Break thou the Armes of the wicked and the evil man Seek out his wickedness till thou find none Psal 10.7 15. Rom. 3● 14. So in the 109. Psal Let Satan stand at his righthand and when he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin let his days be few his Children Fatherless his Wife a Widow his Children Vagabonds and beg their bread Let their be none to extend mercy unto him let his Posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out let the iniquity of his Fathers be remembred with the Lord and let not the sin of his Mother be blotted out and let the Lord cut off the memory of them from the earth And mark what follows As he loved cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing so let it be far from him As he cloathed himself with cursing like as with a Garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyle into his bones Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually It is true the Apostle Peter doth apply something of this to Judas who betrayed our Lord Christ Act. 1.20 But it cannot exclude all other the cursed enemies of Christ who love cursing and cloath themselves with it as with a garment So Jer. 23.9 10. Mine heart within me saith he is broken because of the Prophete all my bones shake c. because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness For the Land is full of Adulterers for because of Swearing the Land mourneth To this agreeth that of the Prophet Hosea Chapter 4.1 2 3. verses Where it is said That the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying c. they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish The dreadfulness of this sin is further set forth by Zacharies flying roll Zach. 5.3 4. This is the Curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth for every one that stealeth shall be cut off and every one that sweareth shall be cut off c. I will bring it forth saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall enter into the house of the Theif and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the Timber thereof and the Stones thereof And in the 3. of Malachy and the 5. I will

such like possessions they will have it and force it away from the owners thereof As Ahab in the case of Naboths Vineyard 1 King 21. And thus they oppress or practise violence upon a man and his house even a man and his heritage or his inheritance that is they make him poor and sad dispossessing and bereaving the Proprietor thereof which God would in no wise allow to be taken away or alienated from the heir Therefore saith the Lord Behold I devise an evil against this Family or against this generation Even as they wickedly devise contrive and practise the evil of sin so do I now devise the evil of punishment that shall be executed upon them from which ye shall not remove your necks the yoke of bondage which ye shall be made to undergo shall be so close and strong upon you And from whence proceeds all these evil incroachments these violent oppressions and practises but from this evil and bitter root of covetousness Against which the Prophet Habakkuk comes forth with the like woe and denunciation of judgment Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house that he may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evil And mark what follows Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people and hast sinned against thy soul For the stone shall cry out of the Wall and the beam out of the Timber shall answer it Woe to him that buildeth a Town with blood and establisheth a City by iniquity Behold is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity Hab. 2.9 10 11 12 13. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness that he may set his nest on high that is that seeks and practices by all manner of base unworthy and unwarrantable ways to inrich himself his wife children and posterity that he and his family may rise and become great and famous in the world and live secure and safe A similitude taken from the Eagle and such Birds as love to build their Nests in high places Obad. 4. Well but consider a little what thou art doing all this while in contriving to be so great Thou hast but consulted shame to thy house saith the Lord as if he had said Thou hast setting all honour and honesty aside raked much riches together and raised great and stately Palaces and Places and filled and adorned the same with all manner of rich and sumptuous furniture yet all this speaks but thy own shame and infamy because thou hast accumulated and heaped all this together by thy covetous and unworthy practises And thou hast sinned against thy own soul in all that thou hast done And therefore the stone out of the Wall shall cry The very Stones wherewith thy Palaces are built shall testifie against thee namely that thou hast built them unrighteously by wronging and injuring of others which call aloud to God for vengeance against thee And therefore woe to him that buildeth a City with blood or bloods as it is in the Original that is with murder or with the goods of him or them that are slain or murdered or with the sweat and blood of the people Ezekiel calls it the bloody City Woe to the bloody City I will even make the pile for fire great Ezek. 24.9 So the Prophet Nahum Woe to the bloody City or City of bloods it is full of lies and robberies the prey departeth not And therefore Behold it is not of the Lord that the people shall labour in the very fire and weary themselves for vanity It is of the Lord surely it comes to pass by the secret counsel of God that these Houses and Cities which they build shall either come to be consumed by fire And what dreadful fires hath hapned amongst us of late days or else the people shall weary themselves in vain for vanity and to no purpose seeing it comes so soon to be destroyed and ruinated what they build Therefore saith the Lord Behold I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee Ezek. 22.13 intimating an abhorring of their wickedness and a purpose to proceed against them in fury as is expounded in Ezek. 21.17 I will smite my hands together and I will cause my fury to rest I the Lord have said it All holding forth the Lords great displeasure against this sore evil which is more evidently manifested by consulting some few Verses more in that 22. of Ezekiel beginning at the 24th Verse Son of man say unto her Thou art the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation As if the Lord had said Thou art the Land that is not amended or reformed by my Judgements and punishments that hath not had her showers of rain to cleanse thee my judgements will not cleanse thee As a great showre of rain you know is wont to cleanse and wash away the filth and dirt of the streets Thy filthiness remains still unwashed away But how comes this to pass There is a conspiracy of her Prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring Lyon ravening the prey they have devoured souls And what else They have taken the Treasure and precious things they have made her many Widows in the midst thereof They did devour the godly mens estates and bereaved the Women of their Husbands by their false accusations and evil practises causing them to be put to death This was that devouring of Widows houses which our blessed Saviour so sharply reproved the Scribes and Pharises and Hypocrites of those days and all under a pretence of making long Prayers Therefore said he ye shall receive the greater damnation Mat. 23.14 Much like to what the Prophet Micha spake of in his day Micha 3.10 11 12. They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money Observe that Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us The Priests taught for hire that is out of a covetous disposition they suffered themselves to be drawn for money to Teach and Preach according to mens Pallates like to those which Paul spake to Titus of who subverted whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucres sake Tit. 1.11 Whereas they should have been content with Gods allowance and held forth the pure Word of God without regard to men In whose mouths the Law of truth should be and in whose lips iniquity should not be found Mal. 2.6 Thus for the Priests Then for the Prophets they did divine for money meaning the false Prophets The Lord implying here that both in the Civil and Ecclesiastical State among his people all was corrupted and to be bought and