Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bishop_n	church_n	time_n	3,239	5	3.7702	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51403	The clergyman's office, and the clergyman's due a sermon preach'd at the Triennial Visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God Edward, Lord Bishop of Gloucester at Campden, Octob. 7, 1698 / by Robert Morse ...	Morse, Robert, 1660 or 61-1703.	1699 (1699)	Wing M2815; ESTC R4155	14,141	25

THE Clergyman's Office AND THE Clergyman's Due A SERMON Preach'd at the Triennial Visitation of the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of GLOVCESTER AT CAMPDEN Octob. 7. 1698. By ROBERT MORSE A. M. Rector of Willersy in the County of Gloucester and Master of the Free-School in Campden Fortis est falsam infamiam contemnere Sunt qui quod sentiunt etiamsi optimum sit tamen invidiae metu non audent dicere Tul. Of. l. 1. p. 37. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard and Henry Clements Bookseller in Oxford 1699. To the Right Reverend Father in God Edward by Divine Providence Lord Bishop of Gloucester My Lord HAving receiv'd your Lordship's Letter to Preach the Visitation-Sermon at Campden I was not long in resolving what Points of Doctrine to insist upon The Duty of Prayer took up my Thoughts in the first place one of the principal Duties of sinful Men though now accounted if we may guess by their general Practice the least of Christian Obligations I am much afraid that they who are negligent in coming to the Publick Divine Service are not more forward in the performance of this indispensible part of Religion elsewhere Though Common Prayer is now become a scandalous thing in the Opinion of some wo unto them by whom the offence cometh yet I am persuaded the more frequent use good and wise Men make of it the higher esteem they must have for it Discoursing once about the Excellency of our Service-Book as some Men call it by way of contempt as if Book-Prayer was altogether Antichristian with a Minister of the Presbyterian Communion upon his Accusations of it in General I desir'd him to instance in some Particular After some pause he at last pitch'd upon these Words Give Peace in our Time O Lord because there is none other c. God be praised by the Courage and Conduct of His Present Majesty King William we have the Blessing pray'd for but as the Learned Bishop Stillingfleet says to Mr. Baxter in his excellent Book of the Unreasonableness of Separation on a like occasion at this rate some Men may want Causes to defend but they can never want Arguments That I take occasion in the second place to Discourse upon the Duty of Thanksgiving Gratitude at this time more particularly obliges me and all of us of the Reform'd Persuasion For I take it to be past all doubt that we of the Church of England and Protestant Religion were not long since in imminent danger of losing the publick Exercise of it In my third and fourth Particulars I aim at the Honour due to the Clergy upon the account of their Office and shew that they ought to preserve themselves from Contempt by a Demeanour suitable to their Sacred Office That this of ours is a despicable Deanery of Clergy-Men we dare challenge our greatest Adversaries to prove Bishop Nicholson us'd to call it his Beloved Deanery and I hope we shall all deport our selves so as to find the like Approbation in your Lordship our Diocesan That Sober Religious and Learned Ministers should be any where despis'd must proceed from a gross and barbarous rudeness of Men mixt with an Atheistical Genius Wherever Men have been truly well Bred sincerely Virtuous and Pious they have paid their due respects to God's Ministers That your Lordship may long enjoy that Happiness where-ever you are concern'd as you justly merit it by your Love to the Church of England which among sundry other Instances you have signally demonstrated in your late Encouragement of the Minister of Cirencester is the very hearty wish of My Lord Your Lordships most Dutiful And Humble Servant ROBERT MORSE 1 Thessal Chap. V. 17 18 19 and 20 Verses Pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophecyings THE Occasion of St. Paul's Writing this Excellent Epistle to the Thessalonians was the ill usage those among them who had embraced the Christian Faith received together with their Apostle who had Preach'd it into their Ears and by those Instruments of Conveyance God Blessing the Seed sown by the best of Demonstrations and most Infallible Arguments rooted it in their Hearts The hard Treatment they underwent was from the Unbelieving Jews or their Adherents who liv'd in Thessalonica or were Inhabitants of some part or other of Macedonia They were none of them at that distance but their Malice and Revenge would bring them quickly together to Consult and effect if possible the Extirpation of the Christian Religion The Good Apostle had dealt very fairly with these Believing Thessalonians and the other Macedonian Christians he had told them plainly what they must trust to if they were Christians in reality 'T was not a Life of Ease or Luxury they were to lead but such as his own a Life of Labour and hard Travel yet withal alleviated by a chearful Spirit and a thankful Commemoration of the Disciple being like unto his Master and the Servant as his Lord Mat. 10.25 With an Assurance That Sufferings for Christs sake would not last for ever but the recompence of the reward would which God the Father through the Merits of his Son Christ Jesus would bestow upon them The Persecutors of the Church St. Paul knew would flourish like a Green Bay Tree for a while but their end he foresaw without timely Repentance which he most earnestly desired would be Infernal Flames and that it would not be long e'er the Christians as 't was reveal'd to him from Heaven should have a glorious Deliverance and after the Storms and Tempests of Persecution quiet Halcyon Days as they had The danger was least in the interim upon a timorous prospect of the Trouble that should intervene they should be drawn away from the Profession of the Faith turning aside like a deceitful bow Psal 78.57 As to this Affair St. Paul was very sollicitous lest his labour in the Gospel should prove in vain upon their accounts tho not his own as appears from the Third Chap. of this Epistle ver 5. Wherefore he saw it necessary frequently to put in mind what they were and what to do To this end may be read what is antecedent and consequent in this Epistle to the Chapter where my Text is Pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks c. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophecyings Which Words are several short and pithy Sentences of Exhortation to Believers how to behave themselves in this World in order to their being happy in another not limited wholly to the Thessalonians particular circumstances but very extensive and reaching all Christians of all times and places whatsoever In the Words we have these Particulars First We are positively enjoyn'd the great Duty of Prayer and the Constancy of it Pray withont ceasing Secondly The Duty of Thanksgiving in the like positive manner and how universally to