Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	good_a	time_n	1,969	5	3.3322	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06525	A very comfortable and necessary sermon in these our dayes made by the right reuerend father and faithfull seruaunt of Iesus Christ Martin Luther ; concerning the comming of our Sauior Christ to Iudgement and the signes that go before the Last Day, which sermon is an exposition of the Gospell appointed to be red in the church on the second Sonday in Aduent ; and is now newly translated out of Latin into English and something augmented and enlarged by the translator with certaine notes in the margent.	Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.; Becon, Thomas, 1512-1567.	1570 (1570)	STC 16997.5; ESTC S2800	32,573	96

how the word of God is dayly more more contemned Many kind of errours pestiferous sectes horrible wickednesses increase dayly whereby the world is worse and worse whiles we hope but in vayne for amendement Wherfore then in such miseries and calamities should we be greatly desirous of our lyfe And if I for myne owne part had no great cause to desire the end of all things yet the perill and daunger of my brethren scattered here and there in the world ought to moue me for whose sake we haue good cause hartly to pray for it whose state is such as we both heare see that they are constrained to suffer all maner of ignominy reproch slaunderous wordes both priuely and openly violent iniury and finally most greuous persecution what soeuer with diuers kinds of tormentes cruelly handled and put to death For how many euē in our dayes haue we sene partly burnt openly or by some such meanes made away partly put to death priuely and by traiterous meanes dispatched There are many besides the infinite number of holy mē which haue bene slayne before our tyme since the Ascention of our Sauiour Christ or rather since the beginnyng of the world Whose bloud beyng yet vnreuenged cryeth for the commyng of our Sauiour to iudgement to the end they beyng restored to their bodyes agayne may haue full fruition of the ioyes lōg looked for and may be reuēged of the world as the reuelation of Iohn declareth Where God comforteth them after this sort saying that they must rest for a litle season vntil the number of their fel●…w seruaūtes and brethren which should be killed in like maner were fulfilled which I hope is now come to passe Therfore both the Christians that are lyuyng and those that are departed after a sorte do desire vs to helpe them with our prayers desiring God to hasten their redemption For what thing can be more miserable vnto Christiās then that they should be cōstrained alwayes to hold their tounges the world and the deuill continually bragging and raging ouer thē dayly putting to death and cruelly murderyng more more of the faithfull professours of Iesus Christ his vnfaillible word and seducyng men more and more encreasing these haynous offēces which before were vntollerable We heare see at this present the Turke and the Pope which is Antichrist rage with most cruell tyranny agaynst y name of Christ dayly sheddyng the bloud of his Saintes with many sectes bysides contrary to his Gospell And should we holdyng our handes in our bosome looke vpon the deuill practisyng without measure his crafty deuises agaynst the Christians and not make our earnest prayer vnto God for them without ceasyng There is no sparke of Christianity in a mans body remainyng that would not pray vnto God withall his harte to be deliuered out of these so great miseries and calamities Therfore if we haue a mynde to be Christians we must endeuer our selues to pray diligently and earnestly as our Sauiour hath taught vs and as our necessity requireth if it be any necessity whē we see good Christiās with great persecution slayne true doctrine oppressed the kingdome of the deuill withall maner of vice wickednes aduaunced Saintes by the meanes of wicked men not onely despised and troade vnder foote but consumed to dust and ashes finally the Gospell of Christ our Lord and his name spitefully blasphemed Therfore let vs call vpon God all that we may desiryng him for the glory of his name to take vppon him the defence of hys Christian children and of his owne doctrine and bryng them by hys commyng at the last day to iudge the quicke and the dead to that glorious rest which he hath promised and prepared for them frō the beginning of the world through the death and Passion of the immaculate lambe our Sauiour Christ. But if any man through the infirmitie of hys fleshe be afrayde of that day let hym print deepely in his mind the wordes of Christ our Sauiour and comfort him selfe with this that hee byddeth vs lift vp our heades and be of good cheare callyng that tyme our redemptiō that is not death but euerlastyng life not wrath but mercy and grace not hell but the kingdome of God not terror or daunger but comfort and ioye And therfore Paule not without a cause calleth it the blessed hope and appearyng of the glory of the great God and our Sauiour Iesus Christ. Therfore we may be of good cheare nede not feare the losse of our lyfe nor his commyng to Iudgemēt which hath geuen vs his Gospell and his grace therewith not to deny him but to loue him and confesse him to shunne no daūger in his cause which are and will be layd before vs of the world and of the deuill vntill the comming of our Sauiour whose comming shall not be terrible but ioyfull yet not to the world but to vs miserable sinners which for a tyme must continue here as it were in a den of theues where the deuill day and night seeketh to draw vs takyng away from vs not onely our life and our goods but vexyng our hartes and our consciences with diuers stormes of temptations to the ende we should feare the day of our redēption and beyng destitute of all cōfort should fal into vtter desperation Unto vs thus troubled the commyng of our Sauiour shal be ioyfull but vnto the world which will not beleue what daunger hangeth ouer his head before he haue experience thereof it shall bryng terrour feare plagues death destruction hell fire Therfore when that day shall come vpon the sodaine and vtterly destroy all thinges there is no cause why thou that art a faithfull Christian shouldest be afrayd therof least it destroy thee in lyke sorte For either beyng receiued thou shalt bee taken out of the graue and out of dust into heauē or els in a moment thou shalt be chaunged into a glorious estate for euer placed where no sinne no feare no sorrow no daunger but true rightuousnes ioy peace lyfe tranquilitie and euerlastyng blessednes shall reigne These thynges we looke for and preach for the little flockes sake which shall receaue them at that day which we desire withall our hartes and hope it to be now hard at hand bycause so many signes and tokens thereof are already past forespoken by Christ our true Sauiour And this is that consolation comfort which no mā can geue but onely the holy ghost by the word of Christ our Lord. Let vs suffer therefore the Sunne the Moone and all creatures to lowre and to threaten terrible thinges to come For although they bee terrible vnto the world they are ioyfull vnto vs which in them see that cōfortable deliueraūce which our Sauiour by y wordes of this Gospell hath declared vnto vs and which he expoundeth vnto vs by this godly parable or similitude folowyng See sayth he the figge trees and all other trees when

entisementes of theyr lewd companions Ecclesiastical persons that are in authoritie seke more the maintenaunce of their owne honour and estimation then the furtherance of the Gospel They seke not the encrease of godly preachers in their Diocesses nor the reformatiō of such as are idle and vngodly yea they suffer theyr owne families at home to be full of dissolutnes much more their Dioces abroad They admit into the ministery all maner lewd vnlearned persons They able not vnto one onely but vnto many benefices those that are both vnable vnwillyng to discharge one or to take any paynes at all in the vineyard of God yea many boyes that are neither Ministers nor fit to enter into the Ministery Priuate Ministers are some of them idle loyterers domme dogges hyrelynges which suffer the wolfe to deuoure their flocke feeders of thē selues and not of Christes sheepe committed to their charge Other some takyng vppon them to be Preachers not so much inwardly as outwardly called therunto in preachyng the Gospell preach them selues and not Christ as mē not endued with the spirit of God which without parciality reproueth all the world of sinne rightuousnes and Iudgement they rebuke some of lower sorte and flatter such as are able to do them a pleasure They preache many times sound doctrine but by their wicked lyuyng they bryng it in contempt and are therby cause of more offences thē if they had spoken nothyng at all They speake many tymes of them selues and not that which they haue heard in the Prophetes and Euangelistes and writtynges of the Apostles but their owne fantasies They do not glorifie Christ but thē selues For they take not that which is Christes but that which is their own declare that vnto the people The most part of the people heare not the word of God at all but either absēt thē selues from y Church or els sodenly departe before they haue heard the Scriptures read or any part therof expounded Generally all sortes of men the more they are instructed by the word of God the worse they are cā not abide in any case to be reprehended and rebuked for their wickednes So is the word of God hys law troade vnderfoote of all degrees and the true preachers therof receaue no other reward of mē but scoffes and mockes and deuilish hatred which is very greuous to good Christians and pearceth the hart lyke a sword Ought we not therfore to pray day night cry vnto Christ our Lord that now at the length he will vse hys seueritie and suffer all thynges to come to ruine that such detestable wickednes may haue an end and that all occasion of offence all snares and stoomblyng blockes may be quite taken away For except at length we should be preserued from these thynges we were of all men that euer were borne most miserable For we must not so much consider the harme destruction of the world nor the misery of y wicked worldlynges but how great a grief it is to vs to all Christiās to seé God hym selfe hys word contemned reproued blasphemed and hys preachers most spitefully hadeled iniuriously trode vnder foote and most cruelly tormented in the world all preaching crying out agaynst wickednes rebukes admonitions and threatnynges are allmost vnprofitable in vayne Therfore y beholdyng of these signes aforesayd ought much to reioyce vs as by the which almighty GOD declareth to our great comfort that he will fight shortly with the world and will deliuer vs out of all our miseries and calamityes Therefore it is our part not onely with ioye t●… looke for this day of saluation but also with feruent desire and earnest request to desire it of Christ our Lord saying after this sorte Thou Lord hast promised to vs this day of redemption therfore if it be thy pleasure let it come quickly and make an end of our miseries in this life and for euer world without end As touching our miseries in this life we may take an example of the most deuilish Pa●…istes the deadly enemyes of God and vs how couragious they are how they triumphe and leape for ioy as oftē as there appeareth vn to them neuer so litle hope to oppresse the Gospell and vs with it With what exclamations and earnest requestes dyd they desyre the commyng of Caesar the Emperour into Germany to destroy the Lutherianes as they terme vs to establish agayne their tyran●…icall power What daunsyng leapyng and triumphes dyd they prepare agaynst hys commyng Bragges aboue measure reioysing singyng laughyng leapyng clappyng of handes was heard amongest them which hoped to bathe themselues in our bloud Their reioysynges were so great that they could not tell how nor by what meanes to expresse the gladnes of their myndes Some went vp downe laughyng in theyr sleues did not communicate to any man the secret ioye of their hart sauing onely vnto their frēdes whom they made partakers ther of by sendyng letters to fro Other some with open mouth did cry out and made manifest theyr ioye to al men that did see thē saying our Sauiour cōmeth our Sauiour commeth meanyng the Emperour so that theyr ioye was passing measure See these desperate theeues and murderers how they reioyced in a false sauiour which was not able to helpe thē any thyng at all no although he had ioyned all his power with them had gathered together an infinite number of armed men to take their part yet so they dyd hope that they should be exalted againe yea a great deale more honorably set in higher authoritie thē at any tyme before when they lyued in abominable wickednes in all dissolute behauiour hauing their hartes hardned so that they could not repent They were so past al feare so iocunde that almost with great grief of mind I doubted God would not performe hys promise but should be foūd a lyer where he sayth that he onely will be our Sauiour and that we should not put any confidence in Princes as in whom there is no hope of saluation This I somethyng doubted when they laying their heades together whispered one with an other tooke counsaile and concluded with them selues with what army with what furniture and with what weapons they would set vppon vs as though they had had vs presētly in hold They did so thunder agaynst vs with most cruell threatenynges as though they would haue depriued God of hys tittle vz. that is hee which scattereth the counsayles of Princes and bryngeth to naught theyr vayne imaginations But God almighty in whose handes are the hartes of all Princes suffered not his honor to be taken away from him but as one which is all truth stode to his promise and compelled them to leaue vnto hym hys glorious title and we remaine by the great goodnes of God alyue at this day and they are defeated of their false sauiour They were wonderfully deceaued of their expectation For