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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	according_a	good_a	work_n	2,753	5	6.1002	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89586	The song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lambe: opened in a sermon preached to the Honorable House of Commons, at their late solemne day of thanksgiving, Iune 15. 1643. for the discovery of a dangerous, desperate, and bloudy designe, tending to the utter subversion of the Parliament, and of the famous city of London. / By Stephen Marshall, B.D. and Pastor of Finchingfield in Essex. Published by order of that House.	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1643 (1643)	Wing M789; Thomason E56_5; ESTC R16053	30,483	54

with joy and given you another day to praise him Can you upon this day of thanksgiving doe lesse then enquire What shall we render unto the Lord I will tell you what he calls for and expects from you and I beseech you by these mercies of God that you render it unto him That you present your bodies and your soules a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service that you feare him and glorifie his name for he only is holy Fourthly and principally consider the late sacred Covenant and vow which you have all entred into you have not only entred into it your own selves but intend to draw the whole Kingdome with you into the Oath of God let me minde you what you have done you saw we were designed to destruction and that Gods meer mercy hath hitherto prevented it You see there are still destructive and trayterous designes in hand in severall parts of the Kingdome you acknowledge your own sins with others have deserved all these judgements which either lye upon us or are threatned against us and as a means to prevent our utter ruine you think it necessary to enter into this Covenant with almighty God and you have done it wherein you acknowledge the desert of your own sins and you confess your hearty sorrow for them and your reall intentions to amend your own lives and what you will further doe to save and preserve Religion and all this you have done in Humility and reverence to the Divine Majesty calling the God of Heaven the searcher of all hearts to witnesse your integrity as you will answer it at that Day when the secrets of all hearts shal be disclosed Think now how deeply you are engaged and brought under the curse of God if you perform not this solemn Covenant Think how horrid a thing it will prove for any of you to stand as perjured men before God in marters of such Consequence Shall he break his Oath said God of a King and be delivered Shall he escape that doth these things O Beloved It is a fearfull thing in such cases especially to fall into the hands of the living God to whom you have appealed and whose vengeance if you wilfully fail you have invocated upon your own heads Lay therefore your hands upon your heart and think what your purposes and Resolutions are in these few things which I shall mention to you First for what is past what reall sorrow have ye in your hearts for those sins which you call God to witnesse you are thus sorry for How grievous is the remembrance of them how intolerable do you feel the burthen of them or do you take Gods Name in vain calling him to witnesse of the sorrow for those things which he knows you take pleasure in Think what answer you will make to this Secondly What are your Resolutions for time to come You know what blasphemies what prophanenesses what uncleannesses you have hitherto lived in what irreligion and libertinisme your selves and families have hitherto been guilty of else you would never have acknowledged your sins to have deserved these judgements Now I demand what you resolve to do for time to come Do you purpose to go on in your old ways He that was unjust to be unjust still he that was filthy to be filthy still and had no other purpose but to lead the Kingdom a dance to go before them in the formality of a service without changing your Leopards spots or your Blackmoors skins or in truth be you resolved being changed by the renewing of your minde to become new creatures to serve Christ in newnesse of spirit that Christ alone may reign as Lord and King hereafter both in your hearts and lives and families as Ioshuah did when he bid the Israelites choose whom they would serve for himself he was resolved though he went all alone He and his family would serve the Lord Thirdly as you are Parliament men what are your purposes concerning your faithfulnesse to Christ and the Cause of Christ and his Church committed to your hands If you should altogether fail deliverance will come another way the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church of Christ But are ye really resolved to save the Church and Kingdom though your selves should perish in the attempt or do you intend under pretence of being factors for Christ to drive a trade for Satan and Antichrist to betray Religion and Liberty or to trade in both the Indies to have a stock going on both sides that you may save your own stake which side soever win or lose to save your own skin whatever become of the Kingdom Like a certain Despot of Servia of whom I have read in the Turkish History who lived among the Christians and kept correspondence with the Turk who was a publike worshipper of Christ but a secret circumcised Turk that that Turkish mark might save him if need were Have any of you such cunning devices to procure externall safety with the certain ruin of your souls Honoured and Beloved I hope better things of you all though I thus speak I hope you purpose according to your Covenant and what God requires and expects at your hands to stick close to Christ and his Cause to sink and swim with the Church and Cause of Christ with singlenesse of heart and unwearied resolutions to carry on the work of God to value your selves onely as his Instruments and let him do by you and with you what is good in his own eyes And for your Encouragement let me speak a little of the third Use which the Church here makes of these great and marvellous these just and true wayes and judgements of this King of Saints which is a Propheticall Prognostication and foretelling of what shall further happen upon the pouring out of every viall and that is more and more people and nations shall come in and submit to Jesus Christ the Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgements are made manifest And this inables me for your comfort to help you to an answer of the most difficult question and most perplexing thought that I am perswaded is in the heart of most men living at this day viz. God hath cast our Lot in very perplexed times all the banks are broken down all Gods judgments seem to invade us at once and Gods administration to the Kingdom is such that the wisest man cannot guesse by Gods dealing to day what he intends to do with us to morrow Sometimes the Lord enables a handfull of ours to chase thousands of the enemies Sometimes multitudes of ours flee as at the shaking of a leaf when none pursues them Sometimes we have rare Instruments unexpectedly raised up by and by very usefull men are taken off and hopefull men prove treacherous Sometimes the Lord seems to intimate as in a Cock-pit that one fight shall end the businesse one way or other otherwhiles all

onely upon the followers of the Beast the worshipers of the Beast the kingdome of the Beast therefore let none feare any hurt frōthese judgments which Christ is now inflicting but such as either secretly or openly harbour any of Antichrists acursed stuff which must be destroyed let it be I beseech you your speedy care to cast out of this Nation and Church all those reliques which are the oyl and fuel that feed the flame which burnes amongst us God calls you now to this work and will be with you while you set your hearts and hands to doe it and doe it speedily it may be it is one Cause why so many breaches are made upon you because you have no more vigorously attempted it in the first place and fear not that ye should therby lose a party or strengthen a party against you beleeve it that party that hath drunk of the whores cup and is in love with her abominations will never be assistant nor wil Christ suffer them to overthrow the worke committed to your hands they may and shall destroy themselves bringing the curses written in this book upon themselves and their posteritie as Achan did by hiding the Babylonish garment and wedg of gold in his tent but the Lord will be with you therefore go on and prosper 2. Observe That how ever in the pouring out of these vialls in the destroying of the Antichristian faction Christ useth the ministery of Angels of instrumēts comming out of the Temple and fitted for that work yet the work is ascribed to Christ alone Great and marvellous are thy workes just and true are thy wayes thy judgments are made manifest Many worthy and excellent instruments hath Christ stirred up and employed in this Service many famous and learned Divines many excellent Nobles many illustrious Kings Queenes and Princes many grave Senates and Parliaments amongst whom I doubt not Yourselves will one day be recorded have put their hands to this worke to make this harlot desolate and naked to eat her flesh and burne her with fire for God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill his will but they conferre nothing of their own to the work they are but his instruments his bow and his battle-axe meer dead tooles who receive all their efficacy and operation from his hand who useth them their presence addes no strength to him their absence makes the work no more difficult to him And therefore let not our faith comfort ebbe and flow with the increase wane of humane helps Let us not therefore thinke the work will sooner be done because strong is our hand and arme of flesh nor that we are therefore like to lose the cause because our helpes prove either weake or treacherous the viall now pouring out is the Lords work and he will see it done doubt ye not 3. observ. That all the time of Christs pouring out the vialls of his wrath upon Antichrist should be a joyful time to the Church of Christ al those daies should be days of Purim days of thāksgiving though they stand upon a sea mingled with fire they should have the harpes of God in their hands and Hallelujahs in their mouths because Christ is judging the great whore and avenging the bloud of his servants at her hand Although it be so disposed by Christ that during the time of the vialls his Churches have much bitternesse and the hayle of every storme in some degree lights upon them yet must they overlook their own sufferings and be filled with joy for the judgments executed upon Christ's and their enemies and not deferre their prayses till their deliverances be compleat but upon every new deliverance to them and upon every new judgment upon the enemies have their mouths filled with new and renewed songs of prayse and thanksgivings to God as we doe this day These many such like general observations from the words are obvious to every eye very seasonable and suitable to the mercies celebrated this day I desire that they may not lightly be passed over in your thoughts though I shall say no more of thē purposing to confine my speech to one only observation which indeed is the very {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of the Text the burden of the song and to apply it for the same ends and uses for which it is here recorded by the Holy Ghost viz. The workes of Christ in the pouring out the vialls of his wrath in taking vengeance of the Antichrist and his followers are great and wonderfull fit to be wrought by him onely who is the Lord God Almighty just and true well becoming the King of Saints First they are great works whether of Mercy or Judgment or are great when they are the effects either of great wisedome in their contrivance or of great power in their production Secondly marvellous or wonderfull and that in a threefold respect First such as are rare and unusuall which seldome happen these draw mens eyes after them and make men wonder at them Secondly such as are unexpected which come praeter spem things which no body would think to come to passe Thirdly and chiefly things are wonderfull which are beyond our comprehension whereof we cannot see the causes whose height and depth cannot be measured such as nothing but the power of an infinite and Almighty God can bring to passe Thirdly Iust Wayes are just when they are according to a right rule and wayes of judgement of which my Text are then just when they are according to the nature kinde and degree of the sinnes against which they are executed Thou art righteous O Lord because thou hast judged thus for they have shed the bloud of thy Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them bloud to drink for they are worthy Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy judgements Fourthly True Wayes are then true when according to Covenant when done according to what was foretold and these wayes become a King of Saints other Kings often deal unjustly bearing the sword to execute wrath upon them that do well strengthening the hands of them that do evill condemning the righteous and acquitting the wicked and often untruly breaking their Oaths falsifying their Covenants but this King of Saints doth so manifest his righteous judgements that his people shall be able to say According to their deeds and according to his Word hath he repayed fury to his adversaries recompense to his enemies and his enemies though with gnashing of teeth shall acknowledge with Adonibezek As we have done so hath God done unto us Now that Christs judgements hitherto manifested in the pouring out the vialls of his wrath in thus farre destroying this great Antichristian enemy are thus great and wonderfull thus just and true may easily appear to every carefull Observer of the Church-story in these parts of Christendome this last Century of years since this work hath been in hand

greatnesse of his strength we finde him leading them in uncouth wayes which they knew not and wayes which to them seemed unpassable His way hath been in the sea and his pathes in the great waters and his footsteps were not known yet still leading his people like a flock sometimes removing mountains our of their way making them flow down at his presence sometimes skipping over them sometimes his way hath been in the whirl-winde and in the great storm yet always working in such wayes and in such a manner as that first his own people have thought he could intend nothing but their ruin as Ionah did when cast into the Sea and swallowed up by the Whale an unlikely way of deliverance and in such wayes secondly as to the enemy have ever seemed most advantagious to their own purposes and destructive to the Church God suffering them to lay the Plot for their own ruin to dig a pit for their own destruction and making the ways by them intended for the Churches ruin to be the greatest meanes of their deliverance as fully and clearly as Hamans Plot proved the exaltation of the Iews and Mordecai and the ruine and destruction of himself and family a Volume might be filled with instances of this kinde The device of Charles the fifth to disinherit the Duke of Saxony to keep the Landgrave of Hessen in perpetuall imprisonment thereby intending utter ruine to the Protestant party in Germany was the very occasion of the confederacy of Smalcald which almost drove Charles out of Germany and established the Protestant party in the liberty of their religion The Massacre in France in which were destroyed within the space of thirty dayes as the Historian reports it above seventy thousand Protestant souls proved ye know a means within a short space to double and treble if not quadruple their numbers in that Kingdom and procured them publike Edicts and Cautionary Towns for the liberty and security of their Religion which before they had not The cruelty and tyranny of the Spaniards in the Netherlands one of whose Deputies Duke D'Alva boasted that he put to death six and thirty thousand Hugenots and Protestants hath been the greatest meanes to prevent the swelling of his intended Monarchy and increase the freedom and strength of the Protestant party not onely in the five United Provinces but in all these parts of Europe Who that hath read the Scottish Story is ignorant that the Archbishop of St. Andrews cruell burning of Mr. George Wischart conferred much to the Reformation of that whole Kingdom The time would fail me to tell you of the desperate Conspiracies of the Priests and Jesuits in England all the time of Queen Elizabeth of the Powder-treason and their unwearied Machinations in other States and Churches and how constantly the Lord hath turned them all to the advantage of his Church and to bring ruine and destruction upon the contrivers of them And if any of you have not had time or means to observe these things in Story your eyes cannot but see them all fulfilled in Christs late and present dealings with our selves and our brethren of Scotland For them what great things hath the Lord lately done and by what very weak means hardly the fifth part of the Nobility as I have heard appearing for them the greater part openly opposing them scarse one fourth part of the Kingdom owning the Cause how often were they at their wits end when some unexpected door was opened to them And were not all their works wrought for them by the rage cruelty and cunning of their enemies Were not the book of Service and the book of Canons sent and obtruded upon them from England the occasion of their late mercies was not the tyrannie of a few of their Prelats a means to unburden them of their whole Prelacy and when they were as much shut up in straits as the Israelites at the Red-sea and knew not over-night what would become of them the next morning then constantly some absurd desperate Plot or other of their enemies brake out which gave them an out-gate to escape And even so hath God dealt with England his work amongst us is of the very same warp and woof The great mercies which we enjoy the great deliverances we have lately received from what a high hand have they come to what a very dead low ebbe were we brought Our liberty almost swallowed up and turned into slavery our Religion into Popery and Arminianisme and even then God remembred us in our low estate and by what instruments becommeth me not to speak much in your own presence Your selves know how sinfull and all the Kingdom how mean and contemptible in the eyes of your adversaries they looking upon you as Sanballat and his company did upon Nehemiah and his builders and with like scorn uttering the same reproaches What do these feeble Iews will they fortifie themselves will they make an end in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish even that which they build if a fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall And well may you take up the builders complaint Hear O our God for we are despised and yet by such despised broken vessells hath the Lord hitherto delivered us And which is still more wonderfull to the glory of God be it spoken our greatest deliverances have been more promoted by the cunning treachery and violence of the enemy then by the foresight vigilancy and strength of our best friends The Prelates late Canons and Oath purposely contrived for the perpetuating of their Hierarchy and their other treacherous and malicious endeavours against the State joyning with the Papists and with them labouring to turn all into confusion rather then suffering the least abatement of their former pride and tyranny have helped thus farre towards the taking them away both root and branch The multitudes of calumnies and reproaches cast upon the Parliaments just proceedings slighting their Authority slandering their intentions misinterpreting their actions have they not through the goodnesse of Him who preserveth them from the strife of tongi been an occasion of making their Authority Priviledges intentions actions clear as the Sun at noon day And to instance no further this late bloudy and mischievous Design in which this Honorable Senate this famous Citie and with them our lives religion laws and liberties had undoubtedly been made a prey to their mercilesse rage and fury the Lord hath not onely brought to light without any foresight or watchfulnesse of yours but made those that were the contrivers to be the discoverers their own evidence and confession being the thread which lets you into the depths and labyrinths of those counsels which they had digged deep to hide if possible even from the eyes of God himself and thereby giving you a great opportunity the Lord in mercy teach you to improve it to advance the glory of his Name for

things are set as if there would be a lengthening out of these unnaturall wars untill the Cities and Countries are utterly spoiled and the Land wasted without inhabitant Now in these calamitous times every mans thoughts run as Nebuchadnezzars with desire to know what should come to passe hereafter and to demand with that Saint How long it shall be to the end of these troubles and all complain that there is no Prophet to tell us how long neither can I blame them as curious who are modestly solicitous to know what will be the event of these things for even the Prophets and holy men of God heretofore searched diligently to know what and what manner of times the Holy Ghost intended when he spake of the sufferings of Christ whether in his Person or in his members Now my Text gives I say a satisfactory answer to this difficult Question and I undertake without fear of being censured to be wise above what is written to tell you what will be the issue and event of all these troubles All Protestant Writers do agree that we are under the pouring out of some one or more of these seven vialls Some think the fourth viall is now powring out upon the Sun of the Antichristian world Others the fifth upon the throne of the Beast there are that think we are come as farre as the sixt viall and the river Euphrates is drying up I will not determine which of them it is it is sufficient which of them soever it be my Text assures me the event shall be this which is the event of every viall Antichrists part shall be weakned and the Church of Christ shall be strengthened Something in every viall may afflict the Church but incurably wounds the Beast As the seven Trumpets were so many degrees of the destruction of the Heathen Empire so the seven vialls are so many degrees of the destruction and ruin of the Antichristian Empire and it is worth your observing that all the time the whole twelve hundred and threescore years of Antichrists reign Christ always had an army of Saints to warre against the Beast a competent number of witnesses who loved not their lives unto the death But all the while of Antichrists rising and triumphant reigning the event of every conflict or scuffle was that the Beast grew higher and the Church fell lower the Papacy prevailed over all that rose up against it so that the Church in the end was hardly to be found visible upon the face of the earth But it is far otherwise in his declining time the time when the vials are pouring out every one of thē plucks part of his fleece one of them strips him of this Kingdom another of that one of them weakens his Temporall another his Spirituall Jurisdiction He is under the vials as Haman before Mordecai having once begun to fall he can never more prevail against them untill in the end the seventh viall being poured out upon the whole power of darknesse the whole Church triumphantly shouts with a loud voice It is done there is an utter end of this enemy So that I dare speak it as confidently as I beleeve the Revelation to be divine Scripture and the meaning of it thus farre made known to the Churches that what viall soever is now powring out the issue will be That Antichrist shall lose and Christ shall gain And there is but one objection against it which I confesse to be a great one and that which troubles many viz. Whether the two witnesses be yet slain their story ye shall read in the eleventh of the Revelation These two witnesses are the small yet competent number of pure worshippers who follow the Lamb and conflict against the Beast all the time of his reign now it is there said that during this whole space of time they prophecy in sackcloth and ashes in a low and mournfull condition and the Beast makes warre against them and prevails against them but quando finituri sunt testimonium a little before the end of their mournfull prophesie which is a little before the Beasts finall destruction the Beast shall not onely keep them low in sackcloth and ashes and prevail by degrees against them as heretofore but shall kill them and their dead bodies shall lie unburied in the streets of that great City that is in all the Territories of spirituall Babylon and the Beast and his followers shall be more jolly and glorious then ever they have been Now many learned Divines suspect this killing of the Witnesses is not yet past and if it be not the Church must go lower then ever it hath been and how then is the Antichristian State weakned by every viall To all this I answer that although I am not able to say This bitter Cup is yet past Father if it be possible let this Cup passe away yet I can say this is true I have delivered that every viall shall weaken the Beast and strengthen the Church and whether they be killed or not killed when ever their killing comes it lasts but three propheticall dayes and a half that is but three years and a half and then presently come in the glorious times which Christ hath promised and the Church long lookt for so that what that Father said of the Arian persecution Nubecula est cito transibit it is but a short though terrible storm and will quickly have an end and that end will be comfortable to the witnesses who shall after three dayes and a half arise from their death and ascend up to heaven in a cloud their enemies beholding it and the great City immediately destroyed with a terrible earthquake And is not this comfortable You see I go not about to determine what the event of these troubles will be to England as England is a Civill or Politicall State or Common-wealth Christ breaks and moulds Common-wealths at his pleasure He hath not spoke much in his word how long they shall last or what he intends to do with them onely this that all Kings and Kingdoms that make warre against the Church shall be broken a pieces and that in the end all the Kingdoms of the World shall be the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Saints and they shall reign over them But it is the cause of the Church the blessed event of these things to the Church of Christ which I speak of the welfare and good successe of Religion in which Cause you are properly engaged and interessed and which I hope is dearer to you then ten thousand Englands Therefore Beloved Be ye stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord fear not your enemies because they are blasphemous and wicked because they are set on fire with the rage cruelty and treachery of Hell fear them the lesse for that Let my enemy be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me be as the ungodly Their wickednesse is your advantage it is their weaknesse and makes you strong Let not the huge stature of the Anakims and Zamzummims terrifie you Our state for the present is low it may be we shall be lower but lower we cannot be then Iob was upon the dunghill from whence God raised him up not lower then Ionah in the Whales belly from whence the Lord delivered him not lower then the Israelites at the Red-sea thorow which the Lord made a way for them Go on with your work and fear nothing this King of Saints hath depths answerable to all our depths depths of mercy answerable to our depths of misery depths of power answerable to our depths of weaknesse He can give a comfortable Outgate out of all our straits and my Text sayes he will do it and with my Text I conclude Great and wonderfull are the works of our God And he delights to work wonders both in ruining his adversaries to uphold comfort and deliver his people engaged in his Cause and to bring others in subjection to him who yet are strangers from him The Nations shall come and worship before thee because thy judgments are made manifest FINIS Some few instances clearing the main Doctrin and some in largement of the first Use 2 Cor 8. 12. The Text 1. 2. 3. Exod. 15. Josh. 7. The main Doctrine of the Text Explained Revel. 16. 5 6. Isaiah 59. 18. Judg. 1. 7. 〈◊〉 Doctr. 〈…〉 instances Deut. 32. 36. Isa. 59. 16 c. Albertus Crancius Cajetanus Cardinalis Judg. 7. 13 14. Jer. 31. 22. Jer. 38. 11. Neh 3. 5. Revel. 16. 8. Psal. 77 9. Isai. 64. 1. Cant. 2 8. Nahum 1. 3. Sleidan Veramundus de suroribus Gallicis Knox Hist. of Scot Thuanus Psal. 136. 23. Nehem. 4. 3. Prov. 26. 25. Judg. 14. 14. Revel. 16. 2. Ver. 5. Ver. 9. Ver. 10. Levit. 24. 10. Luke 6. 38. Vol 3. 954. c Vol. 2. 185. 187. Revel. 17. 5. Chap. 11 8 9. Chap. 16. 2. 3. 10. 21. Chap. 16. 12. Chap. 19. 20. Revel. 16. 7. Chap. 19. 1 2. Deut. 32. 34. Revel. 1. 1. Revel. 19. 9. Reason 1. Revel. 13. 2. Sands West relig. fect 13. Exod. 18. 11. Dan. Revel. 18. 24. Dan. 3. 16. Rev. 13. 16 17. 2 Thess. 2. 9. 10. Revel. 13. 14. Revel. 18. 4. Matth. 24. 24. Revel. 11. 2 3. Application 1. For admiration Mat. 24 2. Psal. 107. 43. Psal. 104. ult Motives 1. 2. 3. John 1. 50. Jer. 33. 3. 4. 5. 2. Vse of Exhortation Revel. 14. 6. Col. 1. 16 17. Motives 1. 〈…〉 10 11. Psal. ●●6 71. Psal 106. Esay 57. 16. Ezek. 2 Kings 2. Revel. 15 ● Isay 1 Sam. 2. 30. Ezck. 17. 15. 1. 2. 3. 3. Vse of Encouragement Dan. 2. 29. Dan. 8. 13. Psal. 74. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Ester 6. 13. Dan. 2. 24. Dan. 7. 22. Revel. 11. 15.