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	great_a	world_n	1,652	5	4.2491	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60350	The protectors protection, or, The pious prince guarded by a praying people a sermon preached at St. Edmundsbury in Suffolk, upon the 13 Octob. 1658, being a day set apart for solemn fasting and humiliation and seeking a blessing upon His Highness the Lord Protector / by Sam. Slater ...	Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.	1659 (1659)	Wing S3968; ESTC R22448	38,832	77

hearts mourn And on this behalf such as bear good will to our English Sion pour out their souls before God in prayers and tears Yet let us not be so peevish children as to throw away what we have because we have not all we would nor wish our selves in Egypt again because we have not as yet the possession of the promised Land Thus to do is the ready way to provoke God to shut us out thence with an Oath and to swear that we shall never enter into his rest Hereby we shall not prevail with God for what we want but provoke him to deprive us of what we have Doubtless if we will act ingeniously and as becomes us we cannot but confess that God hath made our present Rulers instruments of much good to us and the whole Land That we have peace and protection is something there are those that would have swallowed us up quick That we may sit under our roofs in quiet and enjoy our own none to make us afraid is something there are those who would have stript us of all and rejoyced to see us begging our bread from door to door The Saints in the 11 Heb. who wandred up and down in sheep-skins and goat-skins destitute afflicted and tormented would have set an high price upon this mercy That we enjoy the Gospel and have liberty to meet together and worship God in season and out of season is something they would have thought it so who walked in darkness had not the word of God powerfully preached among them and could not without danger repair to those places in which it was so preached In a word that we may if we will have Ordinances purely administred the holy separated from the profane is something they cannot but think so who do remember what a burthen unto their consciences unlawful mixtures not long since were Questionless Brethren these are mercies of no small magnitude We have prayed for them and wept for them and fasted for them and spent much blood and treasure for them and it would be an argument of an heart very much out of frame should we now slight and undervalue them Those blessed Saints that are gone before us and are now in Heaven maintaining an everlasting sabbath would have blessed God while they lived if they had but enjoyed that which we do now enjoy and therefore we have reason to do so too And by way of expressing our thankfulness let us pray for our Magistrates who have been a means of bringing over these good things to us And as for those mercies which we want let us pray for our Magistrates that through their means they may be supplied as for those things that are amiss and out of order among us let us pray for our Magistrates that by their means they may be rectified every stone of stumbling taken out of the way the work of Reformation compleated and the Head-stone of the spiritual Temple brought forth with shoutings crying Grace grace unto it By all that hath been spoken you may plainly see that to pray for Kings and such as are in authority is a piece of duty and no more then what we owe unto them as they are men as they are Magistrates and as they are Benefactors The third and last Reason is this Governors and such as are in Authority have need of prayers their necessity calls upon us to be much in actings of this nature There is not the lowest and meanest Christian who is placed in the narrowest sphere of activity and whose work lieth within the smallest compass but is constrained always but more especially at some times to call in the help of his Fellow-christians and see cause to rejoyce and bear up his spirit with this that he hath a stock of prayers going in other hands that Saints all the world over are praying for him But those who are placed in an higher and larger sphere who have greater work and more publick imployment cut out for them have much more need of prayers Thus Ministers in the Church who are the Guides Overseers Pastors Leaders of the flock of Christ have need of prayers Paul though an Apostle a man singularly learned eminently gifted furnished with a great measure of grace extraordinarily assisted from above yet could not be without prayers and therefore he doth most earnestly beg them in sundry of his Epistles Eph. 6.19 1 Thes. 5.25 and Rom. 15.30 Now I beseech you Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me Pray for me I say pray for me I say quoth Father Latimer Pray for me pray for me for Gods sake pray for me said holy Bradford Ministers should have a special interest in their peoples prayers for they have great need of them and so have Magistrates too As they cannot be without subjects so neither can they well be without praying subjects that prince is not like to live wel nor raign well not like to do his duty nor to be a blessing to the nation who is shut out of the prayers of the Saints The Head in the natural body cannot say to the meanest member I have no need of thee some way or other it may be useful and serviceable to it Truly so the Prince who is the Head of the Body Politick cannot say to the meanest subject I have no need of thee he that is the foot in that body may go to heaven and fetch a blessing from thence upon him A Prince hath as much need of praying subjects as he hath of grave and ●udicious Counsellers or of numerous and valiant Armies or of strong and potent Navies Nay let me tell you great persons have more need of prayers then any men in the world Great expences do call a good purse and large Revenues to bear them out An Earl or Noble-man must have a greater estate then an ordinary Farmer since he must keep a greater house and live at an higher rate Oh the expences of Princes are more then most men dream of they are continually laying out and so had need that some should be by prayer continually laying up for them But we shall by sundry particulars make this evident to you Princes need your prayers because their employment is great Many men are apt to envy them the Crown because it is made of gold but they little consider that it is lined with care and is heavy enough to make their heads ake It is true Diadems and Scepters are glittering things and they dazle the eyes of those that see them but believe it they make their hands weary that sway them The burden which lieth upon their backs is weighty and so they cannot be without good supporters Diogenes in a tub had more quiet and ease than Alexander in his throne They are full of thoughts in the day and cares in the night their rest is broken while we sleep sound and securely

deliverance 2 Kings 13.19 Smite five or six times and though you seem to strike a rock yet give not over until the waters gush out go up to the top of the hill and though you see nothing yet go again and again a cloud will appear at last The woman of Canaan prayed on though often denied and reproached too Iacob kept his hold when his thigh was lamed and would not let the angel go until he had blessed him he would sooner die then be denied God expects we should wait upon him and it is good maners in us so to do Indeed God doth sometimes prevent his peoples prayers and answers before they call sometimes he meets them and while they are upon the way he falls upon their necks and kisseth them but at other times he defers the grant and sends them away without that which they come for he will hear often from them before they shall hear once from him but it doth not become them at such a time to be so short breathed as to cast the duty off No multiply your requests till God doth magnifie his goodness You have it may be prayed many times against such and such burthens and yet you groan under them against such distempers and yet you do not see the healing of them against such abuses and yet they are not removed but what of all that will you therefore give over and pray no more seek God no more what would this be but to loose all your labor and wilfully to throw away all your former prayers and truly they are too good to loose Give the Lord no rest until he give in unto you an answer of peace The Merchant doth not lay aside his Calling because he hath made a bad Voyage etiam post naufragium t●●tantur maria though he hath suffered shipwrack he will try again God hid his face from the house of Iacob yet would Isaiah look for him and wait upon him Those Mercies are fullest and fairest and taste sweetest which are longest looked for So much may suffice for Direction take these following Motives First You will do your duty I hope this hath been so fully cleared up by what hath been all along said that there is none will question it you have heard this is the will of God that which he requires and approves calls for from you and accepts in you It is that which you owe to them as they are Men as they are Magistrates and as they are instrumental causes or means of conveying many and choice Mercies to you Now it becomes Christians to make conscience of duty yea of every duty Our obedience ought to be of equal length and breadth with the revealed will of God we must not pick and choose doing this and leaving that undone but every precept must pass currant which hath Gods name and authority instampt upon it then are we Christs disciples indeed when we do whatsoever he commands us and then shall we not be ashamed It is sad to see how Professors do their work by halfs some are very observant of first-Table-requiries but neglect the second others strict in their walking up to the commands of the second Table but slight those of the first Some rob from man that they may do sacrifice to God others neglect Gods altar and serve mens tables both which are an abomination Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things which be Gods If you would have a perfect reward at last look to it that you perform a perfect obedience now besides I am sure duty is both safe and sweet that way is hedged about with protection and paved with pleasantness and in the walking thereof we may groundedly expect both security and comfort Secondly this hath been the practise of the people of God in all Ages yea when they lived under heathenish and persecuting Princes who designed their ruine and thirsted for their blood yet they did pour out their prayers for them Thus Tertullian saith Christianus nullius est hostis nedum Imperatoris quem sciens a Deo suo constitui necesse est ut ipsum diligat c. A Christian is an enemy to no man much less to the Emperour but knowing him to be ordained of God it is necessary that he love and reverence and honor him and desire his prosperity And saith he Sacrificamus pro salute Imperatoris sed Deo nostro ipsius sed quomodo praecepit Deus pura prece We offer up sacrifice for the Emperours health but onely to him who is both his God and ours and in that way which he hath commanded by pure prayer And so Athenagoras in his Apology for the Christians hath these words Nos pro Imperio vestro preces ad Deum fundimus ut filius in regno olim parenti succedat ut Imperium vestrum magis magisque semper augeatur denique omnia ex animi sententia eveniant oramus i.e. We pour out our prayers to God for your Empire and intreat of him that your Son may be your Successour in the Throne and that your Territories may be more and more enlarged and all things answer the desire of your hearts Let us be followers of them who by faith and patience have inherited the promises If they prayed for Heathen Princes who persecuted the Truth how much more should we pray for Christian Princes who own the Truth and smile upon its most strict professors Let us shew our selves to be as good Christians as they by our being as good subject● Thirdly you may in this way promote the Nations prosperity By prayer Governors may be made a blessing It is true we do not know what God may do secret things belong to him and we cannot look into his bosom nor be acquainted with his counsel but we know what prayer hath done and how great and unexpected things have been brought to pass by it there is a kinde of omnipotency in it it hath helped at a dead lift and when others have been found Physitians of no value prayer hath wrought a cure England hath many enemies both at home and abroad ever had since the first Reformation and never more then at this day yea its own children are risen up against her who are now seeking its ruine and endeavor the under-mining of us what they could not formerly do by force and power that they would now do by wit and policy but prayer can do more for us then they can do against us As it hath broken the bowe and the spear of the stout warrior so hath it turned the counsel of wise Ahitophel into foolishness it can turn the valiant man into a Coward that he shall not finde his hands and the wise man into an Ideot that he shall have his brains to seek Christians in their Assemblies and Families and Closets if they will do but their duty may fill their Rulers and Counsellors with wisdom and strike rheir adversaries