Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	begin_v	great_a	time_n	1,599	5	3.2122	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97114	A character of His most Sacred Majesty King Charles the IId. With a short apologie before it, an introduction to it, and a conclusion after it. / Written by a minister of the Word, who hath for a long time desired, and daily prayed for the happy settlement of Church and state within the three nations of England, Scotland and Ireland in truth, & peace, & order.	Terry, Edward, 1590-1660.	1660 (1660)	Wing W696A; Thomason E1836_3; ESTC R21751	17,958	39

together may not unfitly be resembled by that figure of the Man in our Almanacks who seems to be wounded in every part from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head yet I cannot look upon it as past all remedy or cure For there is still Balm in Gilead and Physitians there by which the health thereof may be recovered In order to which let us first know that to sin is not the way to prosper And therefore that we may not flatter our selves into ruine nor be infatuated to destruction let our consideration and fear prevent our perishing And if we do desire to understand the minde of God aright we must not take some passages of Scripture in a literal sense which the Spirit of God never intended by them but that which is quite contrary and there are many such to be observed in the sacred Story like that in the last of the Revelations He that is unjust let him be unjust still To this end Almighty God speaks often to sinners unto whom he intends Mercy that they should Return as if before they had been quite out of their way Repent and turn your selves from your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine And therefore if we would have mercy and pardon for sin we must labour as much as we may to free our selves from guilt and shew as much forwardness to redress Evils as to acknowledge or grieve for them remembring amongst many more particulars which might be here inserted that unquestionable Trath Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum That there is no remission without restitution if it can be made And here likewise we of these Nations shall do very well to call to remembrance our former Vows and Oaths as that of Allegiance and other lawfully imposed on us and taken by us as also since those were usually tendred The Soemn Protestation and after that the more Solemn League and Covenant which upon serious consideration was commended to the people here and by them received and sworn to with hands lifted up to Heaven and it would be remembred likewise what in them both was promised to his late so-so-so much suffering Majesty For Vows if lawfull and in our Power when made they must be kept Vow and pay unto the Lord your God Jephta was over-strict in this when he had made a rash Vow yet he concluded That he had opened his mouth to the Lord and therefore thought that he might not go back from it And for Oaths it is very observable in the case and story of the Gibeonites that though they had surreptitiously and by fraud gained a League with the Israelites God is very angry with I srael four hundred years after for the blood of some of them whom Saul slew though they were but servants yea drudges to the Israelites the Reason Because there was a Perjury attending upon their slaughter violating that ancient Oath wherein the Princes of the Congregation had bound themselves upon Joshua's League with those Gibeonites That they would suffer them to live And though this Oath was extorted by fraud from Israel yet because it was solemn and by no less Name then the Lord God of Israel God long after most severely punished the breach thereof with three years famine upon Israel All Vows Oaths Covenants if lawfull made on earth are registred in Heaven and God holds it a very high indignity that his Name should be Sworn by and the Oath violated And if the Vows and Oaths of others may bind us how much more must our own Now these particulars require a very careful and serious Review which we hope will be taken especially now at last it hath pleased Almighty God and in a very short space of time so wonderfully and unexpectedly to alter and change the outward Face of things here amongst us in making us like the Israelites when newly return'd out of their Captivity to be like men that dream or as sleepers suddenly started and awakened out of their dreams that cannot presently consider where they are or how it is with them So it hath been with many of us by the encouragement we have had by som● things already received in hand which of late we could scarce know how to hope for which makes us ready to question or make doubt whether it be so with us in reality which in deed is true Nescis quid vesper serus ferat We know not what a day may bring forth Yet if we observe the Courses of Gods Providence we may learn better how to know it One day cleared the innocency of Joseph from that most unjust Aspersion which lay so long upon him and brought him from a Prisoner in Egypt to become the Ruler over all the Land of Egypt and the same day changed his Fetters of Iron into a Chain of Gold his Rags into fine Linnen his Stocks into a Chariot his Jaile into a Pallace and Potiphars Captive into Potiphars Lord and Master Serving and Suffering leads unto Honor and God at last will be sure to pay his Children well for their Patience and Pressures I said but now That the great things which God hath done for us done for us already have made us like men that dream O how much did one day bring forth and another day may bring forth much more and blessed be God it is not a Dream we are in for God hath begun to open a door of Hope unto us which in good time may lead us on towards an happie settlement and we have great cause to praise God and earnestly to pray for those worthy Patriots who have been so instrumental in it as for all others who by his Providence shall be again suddenly intrusted with the great Publick affairs and high concernments of these Nations that by his most gracious assistance as they have a Price put into their hands so they may improve it to the utmost advantage that the end of their meeting may be Happiness and the conclusion thereof Peace which we may expect if amongst many other things which of necessity must fall into their most serious Consideration they shall think too and that very seriously of what hath been immediately before spoken as of that which here follows after Secondly Suppose that if the Condition of things among us should yet continue as they now for the present are and these Nations fot a time might appear to be setled in Peace and so that they might imagine themselves to be very secure yet could they never be established in Safety Because such a Peace would be like a grievous Sore skin'd over not cured and therefore continually ready to break out again For his Majestie or some other of his Royal Line and blessed be God there are many of them will be alwayes laying Claim to their Rights here and if they cannot by any fair means find out a way to them will then force themselves in the use of all other endeavours to make their

A CHARACTER OF His most SACRED MAJESTY KING CHARLES the IId. WITH A short Apologie before it An Introduction to it And a Conclusion after it Written By a Minister of the Word Who hath for a long time desired and daily Prayed for the happy Settlement of Church and State within the three Nations of England Scotland and Ireland In Truth Peace Order Some mocked and others said We will hear thee again of this matter Act. 17. 32. LONDON Printed by D. Maxwell 1660. The Apologie IF any shall wonder as doubtless many will why a private person should presume thus to meddle in such a high business and of so great concernment as this t is answered First That in a sinking Bark the poorest Ship-boy is as much concern'd to mind his own preservation as the Pilot himself And then for the Substance of what is here written He is not alone or doth not stand as one single person to affirm it because there are more then many thousands as he dares presume to say within these Nations whose Hearts and Tongues and Hands and Feet with every thing beside are ready to bear witness to it For the Writer hereof if He had manifested himself to be one of those strange Spirits which very much appear in this scribling Age the rankness and luxuriency of whose fancies to the exceeding high dishonour of God and the very great reproach of Religion make bold profaneness filthy obscoenity or downright and disgracefull railings as foyls to set off what they abuse their wit whereby they fight as much as they can against God with his own weapon he could not suffer too much for so doing But he cannot lie under that guilt who hates and abhors such blots and blurs and defilements and waste of Paper and here most seriously professeth so far as he can know his own Heart that he beleeves there is not one which breaths out of flesh and blood who more desires the happy settlement of this Church and State then himself and could be well content to do or suffer any thing within his compass in order to it And therefore being much perswaded of the Truths laid down in these following Papers and hoping they might accidentally at least tend towards that happy End to which they are intended he was like one of those bottles in Job ready to burst until he had found a vent for them Yet if his strong affections and hearty desires herein expressed have carried him beyond the Rules of Prudence or Discretion he humbly craves pardon for his sake whose Goodness hath been wont to wink at or not to impute the Errors of an honest Zeal and so loves the strength of his peoples good affections that he passeth by or overlooks their failings and infirmities The Introduction THe simple saith Solomon believeth eveword whereas he that is wise will not be too credulous Fama mendax Report hath got a very ill Name and till she hath freed her self from that aspersion which chargeth her so much and so often with speaking falshoods they which consider will not be apt to give credit unto every thing she speaks And there is much Reason for it as it is true likewise that if we do not assent unto the reports of many who are of known honesty and therefore dare not make a lie nor willingly publish any thing that is false we our selves deserve not to be believed even then when we speak Truths Now no Truth is for every ones turn and therefore this may be questioned by some and disliked or slighted by others especially by such whose Black mouths and venom'd tongues which in good time will doubtless fall upon themselves have been long spitting of Poyson at the sacred Person presented in this Narrative such who care not how false any accusation is so it be spitefull enough having learn'd a damn'd Position from that Devil Machiavel Calumniare fortiter semper aliquid adhaerebit Throw Dirt enough upon or calumniate any man to purpose and some of it will stick on him And there is no wonder at all in this if we consider that it is in vain for any one in the world to think or hope that he can be beloved of all for there was never yet any man to whom some took not exceptions impossible it is either to please or displease all men whiles some are in love with Vice as deeply as others with Vertue and some dislike Vertue if not for it self yet for contradiction sake and will rather devise then want causes to blast it But for him who now writes this which long since had been communicated if the times had been fit to bear it his witnesses are in Heaven and in his own bosome too that he dares not knowingly let the Readers hereof think what they please speak or write any thing against but for Truth which he undoubtedly believes what here follows is therefore cannot but speak it and so presumes that many-many thousands of these now undeceived Nations will do and entertain the report as it most highly deserves with much joy and gladness And that it may be so received and not thought to be a phantasie of the Writers own Brain he will make hast to discover when and how he came by it In order to which the Reader may please to take notice that the occasion of his having it offered it self thus Where first of the Person from whom it was had and then of the time when and how he had it For the Person first from whom it was had He is a Gentleman of a very good Extraction a wise and an honest man a person of very much Honour and Integrity one of a very high Resolution and of a much tried and approved Valour a Bed chamber man to his Majesty in Scotland taken prisoner at Worcester amongst many other Gentlemen of good Quality and brought to London but had his liberty there upon his Parol And it was he that gave me the Character o● his Majesty as afterward with some requisite circumstances towards the close of this Introduction more fully appears For the time when I had it it was suddenly after his Majesty above-mentioned suffered a defeat at Worcester from that very numerous opposition there made against him which certainly thousands would have forborn to make if they could before have known him aright And that circumstance of time invites me by the way to revive and relate a very sad story I desire pardon if I lengthen it out too much because it is such a one as deserves neither to be written nor read but with abhorrency however I shall repeat it because I fear it is too too much forgotten by the Nation here though certainly it is registred and recorded in Heaven to be reckoned for when God shall please to do it It was about the time when so many of the poor vanquished Scots were brought Prisoners to London and not a few of them 'twixt Worcester and that place when