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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	good_a	great_a	3,277	5	2.6620	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52817	The signs of the times, or, VVonderful signs of wonderful times being a faithful collection and impartial relation of several signs and wonders, call'd properly prodigies, (together with some philosophical and theological descants upon them) which have been seen in the heavens, on the earth, and on the waters, as they have been testifyed by very credible hands, all of which have hapned within the compass of this last year 1680 : which may well be called another annus mirabilis, or wonderful year, wherein the Lord hath given us loud warnings to repent of our sins and return to him, that he may have mercy upon us / by C. N.	Ness, Christopher, 1621-1705.	1681 (1681)	Wing N463; ESTC R32306	68,903	90

when she looks most fully in a direct line upon the Sun then is she in the Full and most fully inlightned This is the great Duty Required to look vpon a Crucified Saviour Zech. 12.10 and Salvation in the Extent of it is in the former Scripture propounded as the Grand Wages of that work and Duty and that Universally to all Right Lookers both Jews and Gentiles The second Instance of a godly man desirous to see Signs is Gideon as Moses was the first both of them reckoned among Gods Renowned Worthies Heb. 11.20.32 This Gideon though but weak in Faith yet was faithful in weakness and therefore is he dignified with a Room in that Court-Roll of the most radiant Starrs in Scripture Horizon yet his Faith though true being weak required some Supporters hence he saith then shew me a Sign Judg. 6.17 This Sign Gideon sought not as that Adulterous and Evil Generation the Pharises c. did out of Curiosity and Incredulity but as Moses before him c. for farther Confirmation of his Faith concerning his call to so great a Work whereby he might be satisfied that it was God and not man or Devil that called him A good Cause a good Call and a good Conscience will make a good Courage and all are necessary to a Captain or Soldier Especially the Lord looked upon him as well liking his speech v. 14. vouchsafes him a Sign v. 21. signifying that the Midianites should be Destroyed without mans labour seeing Fire came out of the Rock as before Water had done Exod. 17.7 without any humane help to consume the Sacrifice therefore did Gideon erect an Altar to the Lord who had thus confirmed him not only by these Signs v. 17. but by two other Signs v. 36.37 and thus comforted him against his despondencies and called the name of his Altar Jehovah Shalom the Lord of Peace v. 23.24 O that this Inscription were upon all our Hearts as 2. Thess 3.16 The Lord of Peace give us peace always by all means this would answer all Doubts and advance Faith above Fear The sign of the Fleece Gideon desired to be doubled not out of Incredulity to tempt God but out of Humility to be supported under the sence of his own weakness and unsuitableness to so great an undertaking against which he found marvelous Relief in the double Wonder of the Fleece which intimated two things to him 1. Concerning Israel 2. Concerning Midian 1. As to Israel that was represented by the Fleece being sometimes wet with the Dew of Heaven and sometimes dry 2. As to Midian they had Fleeced Israel of all their good things and pull'd all the Wooll from off their backs as the Shearer in that Fleece had don to the poor Sheep turning him naked out of doors into the open Fields but now Gideon with the Lords help should fleece Midian the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon should do as much for them as they had done for Israel pay them home in their own Coyn and requite them to the full after the Law of retaliation hereby Gideons Faith weak at first did gradually grow strong by those confirming Signs so comes he in as a Candidate in that Apostolical Catalogue Heb 11.32 Amongst the highest Favourites in the Court of Heaven Besides those two Godly Men Moses and Gideon that desired confirming Signs there be many others to whom God vouchsafed Signs though undesired as the Tree of Life to Adam Gen. 3.22 The Fire of God to Abraham Gen. 15.17 The budding of the Rod to Aaron Num. 17.5 The Sun standing still to Joshuah Josh 10.13 And its running back to Hezekiah 2. Kings 20.8 9. Fiery Tongues to the Apostles Acts 2.3 4. A Draught of Fish to Peter John 21.6 A Star to the three Wise men Mat. 2.2.9 Dumbness to Zechariah Luke 1.20 and many other Signs to Believers Mark 16.17 18 20. Yet sometimes we find God forcing Signs even upon wicked men as upon that branded one Ahaz Isai 7.10.11.12.14 c. Though this was King Ahaz wicked with an accent even he shall see that while he was under the power of a malicious Devil yet hath he to do with a most gracious God who by a wonderful condeseension will needs give him a Sign 't is an unheard of vouchsafement to vouchsafe a Sign to such a notorious Unbeliever this is more than Christ would do to the Pharisees whom he calls a bastardly Brood for desiring a Sign as before Matt. 12.39 Ask a Sign either in the Depth c. Here was a fair offer to a most foul Sinner he might have had a sight of Heaven or of Hell for a Sign yet instead of an humble and thankful asking he sordidly answered tantamont I le ask no askings I lle try no Signs I know a trick worth two of that I 'le send to the Assyrians so help my self God may keep his Signs to himself I crave no such courtesy at his hands c. Did ever any branded Belialist or black-mouthed Bedlam speak worse to God than he in all this no wonder if God set a black brand upon him saying This is that Ahaz 2. Chron. 28.22 Yet notwithstanding all this ingratitude and provocation God of himself gave Israel a Sign Isa 7.14 A singular Sign a Sign both from above and from beneath inasmuch as this Immanuel born of a Virgin did joyn pure Heaven and base Earth together in his two Natures Again those Signs which the Scripture mentions are manifold as 1. Such as be meerly Natural Gen. 1.14 2. Praeternatural beside the power of Nature in her ordinary production such are Prodigies in Heaven and Monsters on Earth c. 3. Supernatural which are either Divine such as were the Miracles God wrought by the Prophets and Apostles or Diabolical as the Lying Wonders Deut. 13.2.3 2. Thess 2.9 and Rev. 13.13 As there be Natural Signs so there be Instituted Signs to wit the Sacraments which are call'd Signs and Seals of the Covenant Rom. 4.11 Moreover the Signs God shews to men are either ordinary or extraordinary commnnia aut Insolita Signa Except we see not common but unusual signs we will not believe John 4.48 We have a frequent sight of Natural Signs and of Artificial Signs the former hanging in the Heavens exposed to open view the latter hanging over every House almost in this great City yea and such signs as be significant indeed some Signs are significant ex primaria intentione instituentis purposely and primarily Instituted to signify something whether the Institutor be God or Man God is the only Institutor of all significant signs in Sacred things as he Instituted the two Sacraments under the Law and the two Sacraments under the Gospel other significant Signs or Ceremonies which are only mans Institution and never came into the mind of God Jer. 7.31 Nor out of the Mouth of God Deut. 4.1.2 ought justly to be exploded All Divine Worship must have Divine Warrant and Divine Institutions may not be mingled

Vanity of their Gods or Idols saying That all certain Predictions of future Providences which yet have no assured natural Cause or significant Sign belongeth only to the true God Thus the Prophet Argues ch 44.7 and 45.20.21 and 46.10 and 48.14 Idols cannot declare things to come Secondly The Devil though a most Intelligent Spirit can know nothing of what shall befal for the future save only those things he seeth in their Causes or in the light of participation The Devil can better Discover what is past and done by his own Instigation as that Murder committed on a Stranger at an Inn in Exeter 30 years before the Discovery was made by an Apparition as was likewise the Fraud of an Executor converting a Gentlemans Estate from his Children to his own use who was affrighted by an Apparition unto a Restitution to the right Heirs both hapned lately and seem to be well attested by Godly Ministers 'T is certain that future Contingents are not within the compass of the Devils Cognizance any other way seeing they are wholy at Gods disposing yet Satan in some Cases and at some times can foretell things to come as 1st He being a Mighty Naturalist able by his Angelical sagacity to dive into the deepest causes and secrets of Nature which men cannot do and so accordingly to frame his Predictions such as seem supernatural to us he is also an Exact Artist attained both by his acute Observations and almost 6000 years Experience to an acquaintance of all natural moral and political causes of things as the Premisses hence may he give shrewd guesses though he know nothing Infalibly and gather such consequences as may probably come to pass if the great God be not pleased to interrupt this Chain of Causes as he sometimes doth by his over-ruling Power Though Satan be a Prince of Darkness yet may he have secondly such a participation of some light by Divine not only pirmission but Commission when God makes him the Executioner of his Judgments and in such a case 't is easy for him to foretel future things as in the Case of Job he could predict without difficulty that such and such Evils would shortly befal that good man when he had got a Commission from God for them and wanted no tools to work them and as in the Case of the 400 false Prophets of Ahab in whose Mouth he had a Commission from God to be a Lying Spirit and delude them 1. Kin. 22 6● 22. which shews King Ahab's Death was revealed to the Devil and then he could Reveal it to whom he pleased The Devil Deceived those Deceivers the false Prophets and they Deceived Ahab and draws him as the Mouse into the Trap where he Perished not only for his Cruelty to Nabeth but by his Credul●ty to those many cursed Sycophants yea and in the Case of Saul which is yet higher he only could have foretold the ●a●● of King ●ha● ut supra but he actually did foretel the Death of King Saul 1. Sam. 28.19 Naming the time though in ambiguous Words as to morrow is indefinitely used Exod. 13.14 and Matt. 6.34 Thus the Devil Equivocates in all his Oracles as in this and in that of Ahab The Lord shall deliver into the Hands of the King 1. Kin. 2.26 where the Particle it is not in the Original The word thee may as well be supplyed and this Lying Spirit names not which of the Kings he meant whether Ahab or Benhadad yea his quibling Oracle as the Delphick Devil had many might be construed in a quite contrary Sense either 1st The Lord will deliver thee Ahab into the hands of Benhadad or 2ly It to wit Ramoth Gilead into the hand of Ahab thus the deceitful Devil will save his Credit what ever hapned and yet as bad as this Abaddon is he shews more ingenuity here than doth the Jesuits for he ingeniously acknowledgeth his Equivocating Oracle to be no better than a Base Lye saying I will go and be a Lying Spirit in the Mouth of all Ahabs Pa●asytical Prophets v. 22. However Satan that mock Samuel seems more positive and peremptory in his Predictions of Sauls Dow●fal as above yet this was no more than what a prudently-thinking man might have conjectured from the concurrence of secundary Causes how much more might an acutely observing Devil make up a shrewd Guess by comparing things with things of Sauls approaching Ruine He could not be ignorant both of Sauls Rejection and of Davids Election the Courage and Confidence of the Philistines Army the Despondenties and Diffidence of Saul and his Souldiers both which had been formerly Valorous were not unknown to him or possibly he might peep into those Prophetick Predictions concerning Saul and David in ch 15. and 16. of the first of Sam. Yea he well knew what himself designed to do in the day of Battle with Gods Permission against Saul who had forfeited Gods Protection The third Consideration I shall conclude with is that the Devil hath his Instruments or Vassals amongst Mankind to whom he imparts his Predictions that they may impart them to others and those are mostly Women of the Devils choice more than Men because they are Weaker Vissels whose credulity is sooner imposed upon and easilyer abused and deluded by the Devil we have two samous Instances one in the Old the other in the New Testament the 1st hereof is 1. Sam. 28.7 where Saul said seck me out a Woman that hath a familiar Spirit not a Man but a Woman he had put down Witches before yet hoped he some might be remaining though not of Men yet of Women which are wont to be lighter and proner to Superstition not only because of weaker Wits and apter to be Deceived but seeing they cannot compass any Fame or Glory by Noble Exploits as men can they therefore would become Famous by Magick Art hence this Woman became a Dame to a familiar Spirit and thither Saul comes who rather than fail would crave help from Hell c. And the second Instance is not unlike this first Act. 16.16 The Divining Damosel who probably foretold many things that came to pass otherwise she could never have brought so much Gain to her Masters as that Scripture saith she might make unhappy Hits sometimes from the sagacity of her grand Master Satan yet miss too at other times for if the Divel himself cannot foretel all future Events nor any thing Infalibly himself but either as it is Revealed to him by God as was Ahab's Fall at Ramoh Gilead or as be foreseeth them in the Causes Signs or Prophecies of Holy Scripture wherein he is not a little skil'd and out of which he sometimes stealeth a parcel Far be it from me to apply our present Apparition to either of these aforementioned especially upon these Grounds 1st We do not find that this Apparition required any Adoration when Saul bowed himself to Satan that Mock Samuel 1. Sam. 28.14 That Adoration was the main thing that the Devil

chiefly aimed at 2ly We do not find in our Case any seeking to this Apparition for that is Tantamount a Worshipping though there be no bowing and how far amounts holding Conference with Apparitions see above but yet it seems an higher step to obey their Commands especially such as are dissonant to the Law of Nature or Nations or Scripture which is not our Case neither doth this comport with the latter Instance though here 's a Divining Damsel yet not such an one as the Septuagints usually call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Devil spake out of their Bellys for which cause also the Hebrews call them Oboth or Bottles because the Bellys of those Women thus made use of by the Devil swelled as big as Bottles when they began to Prophesy 2ly Neither do we hear of any gain either to her self or to her Masters here as appeareth there 3ly Neither do we find any Disturbance given to Gods Worship under specious pretences here as is found there They that desire to know more of those Divining Intrigues let them consult Baldwins Cases of Conscience Lib. 3. Pag. 533. to 620. c. too long here so much as to abridge in this small Treatise and other Casuists I add this only 1st If the Death of any be foretold by the Devil we ought not to believe it as from him the Lyar God can Cross it 2ly If God permit it 't is to harden the superstitious Observers of it 3ly 't is enough Gods Word foretels that all shall fall out for the best to them that love God Rom. 8.28 So ail's welcome so far as Gods Word guideth us we walk safely but if we step farther into a By-way 't will lead us down into the Chambers of Death I Omit the strange Apparitiors at Pons Town in Tipperary in Ireland attested by 16 persons Eye Witnesses and Printed The last and latest of Land-Prodigies omitting many others that come not yet well proved to my Hand is the Death of 3 Tower-Lyons called Old Charls Queen and Duke which is the more Remarkable because we do not find scarce in a whole Age any Record of the Death of so much as one of those Royal Long Lived Creatures the Keeper whereof is so much obliged both by Loyalty and Advantage to preserve them much less of so many and that within few days as if they had conspired to march off together the more to amuse and amaze this Tripple Realm for every Kingdom one to Exemplify it in our English Chroniels though something like it is said to happen in King Richards Reign yet I cannot find a fit Paralel unto this strange Prodigy upon Record save only in Henry the sixths Reign Whereof Sir Richard Baker who is generally owned as an Impartial Chronicler of former Times giveth us this Account That in the 18th year of Henry the sixth all the Lyons in the Tower Dyed Bakers Chron. pag. 199. This Kings Reign was attended with many mischiefs betwixt him and the then Duke of York Henry the Fifth after he had Conquered France and kept his Court with incompatable Magnificence for some time then he Returns with his Queen into England who was delivered of a Son at Windsor called therefore Henry the 6. of Windsor upon whom at his Birth his Father spake Prophetically I Henry of Monmouth have gain'd much and shall remain but a short time but Henry of Windsor shall Reign long and loose all and acording to this Paternal Prophesy the Son first lost His All in France and after 2ly His All in England In this Henry the sixths time France Normandy Aquitain were all lost from the English and in England such were the bloody Contentions between the two Houses of York and Lancaster that ten several fierce Battels were fiercely fought between the two Factions whereof 5 were fought in Henry the sixths time The first at St. Albans in which Yorks prevailed the second at Black-Heath in which the Confederate Lords were Conquerors the third at Northampton in which Henry the sixth was again overthrown the fourth at Wakefield in which the King was Victorious the sixth at Towton in which the new Duke of York carried it who became thereby King Edward the IV. In whose time also five more several set Battels were fought upon the same Quarrel as first that at Exham secondly that at Banbury thirdly the Battel of Loose-Coats fourthly that in Barnet Fields and fifthly that at Tewxbury Thus even the White Rose was Dyed Red over and over again with the blood of many brave men and a Period was never put to this Contention twixt the White and Red Rose until that concluding Battel at Bosworth Fields in which the Plantaginets expired and both the Houses were after united in Henry the VII Rosse's History of the World pag. 534. c. and Dr. Prideaux's History of Successions in our own Land pag. 333. Who tells a memorable Story of those such Catching Times as he calls them of one Burdet a Mercer in Cheap side who jocularly said to his Son if he would ply his Book he should be Heir to the Crown meaning his own House which had the Crown for its Sign and had no Relation to the Crown of the Kingdom for this Jest the Man lost his Life assuredly an Honest Jury would not have given him such hard Measure God bless us from such Contentious and such catching Times which were presaged not only by the Death of the Tower Lyons as above but also by several other Prodigies as a Blazing Star Monstrous Births a prodigious C●●k out of the Sea at Portland crowing three times and turning his Head to the South North and West and Pauls Steeple was fired with Lightning See Ra●●es History of the World pag. 534. And Sir Richard Bakers Chronology of the same time all these Prodigies were Presages of sad future Calamities Enquiry Why must the Death of Lyons be made a Prodigy seeing they are M●r●● as other Beasts and Dye only in the common course of Nature Answer the first Consider in the general A Lyon 1st For his Majesty that sits enthroned in his looks 2ly For his Magnanimity as disdaining to go out of his stately pace though Danger pursue him Prov. 30. v. 30. 3ly For his Formidableness insomuch that when the Lyon Roareth all the Beasts Tremble Am. 3.8 and have not power to fly from him though they can out run him hence he is the Hyeroglyphick of Dominion and worthily as well as vulgarly is called the King of Beasts Hereupon the Fall of a Lyon is as the Fall of Abner the Fall of a Prince 2. Sam. 3.38 'T is looked on as a Fatal Fall the Death of a Lyon was the presage of Julian's death saith Ammianus Marcellinus Answer the second more specially as the living Lyon Resembleth Majesty Domineering according to Aesops Apologue over the Ass and the Fox in sharing the Prey they had joyntly caught in Hunting So the Dead Lyon representeth Majesty Deceased according to