Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	child_n	good_a	see_v	1,850	5	3.5052	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43620	The good old cause, or, The divine captain characteriz'd in a sermon (not preach'd, nor needful to be preach'd, in any place so properly as in a camp) by Edm. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1692 (1692)	Wing H1807; ESTC R7616	21,900	38

encounter with that Expression Isa 41.14 Fear not thou Worm Jacob. One would think if Jacob be a Worm had more cause to fear than any other Creature under Heaven a Lion has Strength a Worm has none the Dove is fearful but she has Wings the Hare the Deer are timerous but they have swiftness of Foot to fly from Danger a Snake has none of these Advantages yet she has a Sting But a Worm what Creature so despicable so subject to the tread of every Foot She has no Wings to fly no Sting to make them stand off yet Fear not thou Worm Jacob. And why the Reason follows in the next words For I am with thee saith God And if God be for us who can be against us And here I shall baulk my Discourse and the Text if Id o not shew Q. 1. First How God may be said to be for his People when the Lord does what seemeth him good in prospering them as he did Joab in the Text with Victory Or how God may be said to fight for his People Q. 2. And secondly How long he will fight for them 1. First I answer that God visibly fights for his People four several ways all applicable to this Text and these Times for which I purposely chose this Text and if I should conclude my Discourse on this Text only with shewing what we should do in case of Death Defeat or any other sinister event a Consideration very useful and necessary yet it would be a Contemplation too melancholly and ominous to conclude with Passive Valour in active and victorious times such as this of Joab in the Text a Victory sultable and parallel to ours in this Juncture For in the Verse next following the Text we hear the good News that the Idolaters are run for it the Syrians fled before Joab And when the Children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled then fled they also before Abishai Almighty God then gives Victory and visibly fights for his People when they fight in a good Cause four several ways He did it for Israel Great Britain and Ireland 1. First God is said visibly to fight when he raises up a Hero a Worthy by endowing him with the Spirit of Courage as he did Gideon Baruk Jephtha Sampson David Samuel and that I forget not Moses and Joshua But of this I have spoken fully already under that Head of Supernatural Courage But if I should only remember those famous Worthies so long ago and so remote my Memory would be as ungrateful as treacherous if I should forget what all the World at present admires and Posterity will much more His Sacred Majesty King WILLIAM whom GOD has raised up to be a Deliverer to us in the day of our distress and to rescue us from Popish Tyranny and Superstition and all those Miseries and Calamities which were ready to break in upon us I am upon a Subject uncapable of Flattery or Hyperbole but surely I cannot say less upon so great and Fair Occasion than to say my Prayers I only repeat the daily Prayers of the Church of England In raising up thy Servant King William to be a Deliverer to us in the day of our Distress c. When God's Hand is lifted up they will not see saith Isaiah but they shall see Isa 26.11 and be ashamed for their Envy c. We have still many Envious Souls amongst us it spites them to the Heart to see what God has done for these Kingdoms and yet they clap their Hands before their Eyes and will not see what all others in the World see What 's the Reason The Prophet says For their Envy c. Let them go on and let them go to their Idolater their Idol if they please or dare let the Blind lead the Blind till they both fall into the Ditch I mean the French and the Frenchified English Frenchified English There 's a word unknown to our Forefathers We used to be such Apes as to take Laws from France for Feathers and Lace and Top-knots but the English for 500 years and upwards have been a Terrour to France And are these Frenchified-English Natives then And do they know to whom they truckle and why I cannot say less on this ungrateful Subject and I will not say more especially at this time and on this occasion I am very ready at another time to speak more home to our silly fellows at home 2. Secondly God fights for his People by sending his Fear and Terrour Amazement and Astonishment into the Hearts of the Enemy This in Scripture is called God's Hornet which like Beasts stung with a Garabee or Hornet made Men run they did not know whither and they did not know why nor where to be safe they were in such a Consternation Deut. 7.20 21. Amazement and Fear And so is the word interpreted Thus when the cowardly Spies Cowards all but Caleb and Joshua went to spy out the Land of Canaan the poor Hearts were out of Heart when they saw the Giants the Children of Anak Num. 13.32 33. and that all the People were men of great stature But we say they were in our sight as Grashoppers and so we were in their sight But little men may look up to Heaven little men may cry I hope and call to GOD for help the less Ability they had in themselves Therefore saith God Josh 24.12 I sent my Hornet before you which drove them out from before you but not with thy Sword nor with thy Bow Yet they had both Sword and Bow in conquering Canaan but to little purpose if God had not sent his Hornet before them to sting the Enemy to the Heart and to leave the Lubbers like ominous Beasts for Sacrifice without a Heart And to apply it What account can be given in human Reason why Ten of our men lately in Ireland would usually make an Hundred to fly Was it because we were bigger or taller or stronger-limb'd than the Irish or French No such matter But all the reason that can be given is this they were stung with Dread Horrour and Amazement run like Beasts stung with a Garabee they did not know why nor whither nor where to hide God sent his Hornet before us and to him be the Glory not with thy Sword nor with thy Bow Nor can it be said that our late Deliverance and Redemption three years ago was wrought or brought about with Sword or Spear To see such an Army treble the number of our Deliverer none better mounted nor better arm'd to see a Navy well equipp'd Men of War well rigg'd and all these to melt away and scatter no man pursuing them What 's the matter God sent his Hornet before them Not but that it spoke both natural and supernatural Courage in a superlative manner to attempt so bravely and through Faith to subdue Kingdoms but it was digitus Dei the Hand of God was visible in it to him be the Glory not with

Tho' an Host of men encamp against me my Heart shall not fear Saith he They compassed me about like Bees Psal 118. but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them Yet there are three sorts of Fighters at this day that play the men in a bad Cause which I cannot dismiss without a severe Repremand from this Text as 1. First Souldiers of Fortune such as was these 33000 Syrians that ran away and fled before Joab v. 13. they were Hackney-souldiers hired as Hackney-horses for such a Journey such an Expedition Here 's your Money These Souldiers of Fortune that fight without examining the cause and march with the first Chapman are the basest of Butchers for other Butchers get a greasie living by killing Beasts but Souldiers of Fortune live by killing men and are meer Cannibals and Men-eaters who like the Bravo's in Spain and Portugal have no other Trade or Profession but Hackney Butchers of Men any Men without any other cause than that of the Switzers they kill any body for the l'Argent What will ye give me saith Judas and I will betray and be guilty of Innocent Blood What will ye give me a day and I will kill ravish burn and murder saith the Souldier of Fortune And all this without any remorse custom of Sin hardens his callous Heart and makes him pittiless and without any Bowels of Humanity as if he had a Commission from Heaven as Peter had in another case Arise Peter kill and eat Of these St. James speaks from whence come Wars and sighting among you meaning the Factions of Judas Galiloeus Jam. 4 1 2. and also the other Jews then in war against the Samaritans and fought bloodily for the Money-business come they not hence even from your Lusts of Avarice and Ambition ye fight and war ye kill and desire to have that ye may consume it upon your Lusts For a Souldier of Fortune usually consumes in Debauchery what he gets by this inhuman Butchery Thus this Devil incarnate like his Father the Devil goes about like a roaring Lion from Country to Country seeking whom he may devour A Prince that has a good Cause may notwithstanding make use of these Man-slayers or Slaughter-men as Clyents sometimes see their Advocates not so much to be for them as that they be not hired against them though these Fellows are seldome either faithful or truly valiant for he that will sell his Soul or his Life for Money will not fear for Money to betray and sell his Prince But since they are kept like Cocks of the Game that are good for nothing in Nature but to fight these Forlorns will serve for a Forlorn and to blunt the Enemy's Swords for if they will not fight they are good for nothing but like the Locusts of Aegypt to eat up every green thing If these be Cowards they must be punisht as all Cowards are in a well-disciplin'd Army with present Death For plow they cannot work they will not fight they dare not for they are alwaies unsit to dye and therefore must be afraid to dye This Locust like other Locusts is one of the Plagues of Mankind good for nothing whilst it lives but Mischiefs and therefore though unfit to dye yet unfit to live These are the men that nourish and foment Wars in Europe War is their Trade their Commodity and can you blame them if they make the utmost penny they can of their Trade and Profession But as bad as this Caterpillar is I have another in the 2. Second place to expose that always fights in a bad Cause and therefore is worse if worse can be than a Souldier of Fortune for this Man-slayer fights as seldom as is possible since he does not love fighting but as lazy men love Work they must starve without it he fights to eat and if he could eat without fighting it would be the camest Brute alive But in the next place I must shew you a Hector that loves fighting and killing in a bad Cause as he loves his Life nay more than his Life or his Salvation I mean the Duelist that thinks himself a tall fellow if he has killed his Man though thereby guilty of a double Murther 1st of his Adversary 2dly of himself So unhappy is this Man of Blood if he dies in his Blood and breathes Revenge to his last Breath then it is a fearful thing to think of his fatal Doom and if he kills his Adversary 't is Odds but he is hang'd especially if all King's have such a Conscience as K. Charles I. that never would pardon a Murtherer saying The Almighty God has enacted that He that sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be●shed And who am I that should pretend a Prerogative to dispense with the Laws of the King of Kings Obj. But may some say would you have a Gentleman whose Honour is dearer to him than his Life put up an Affront especially since the neglect of demanding Satisfaction that 's the word is not interpreted Conscience but Cowardice and invites a second Affront and happy the Coward that can but come near so tame a thing that he may safely kick it Ans To which I answer That I knew not which is better Death or Life they are indifferent things and only good or bad as they are circumstantiated a man of Honour will either live in Honour or dye in Honour But by Honour I mean not that Puff or Blast or Vapour which has no affinity with Reason Honesty and a good Conscience a truly valiant man is a truly virtuous man and a truly honourable man a truly honest man but he can neither be a good man nor a brave man that is not a rational man Now I am content to give my man of Honour a Dispensation to answer any Challenge so that he retain his Reason and his Honesty But 1st Is it reasonable and equal that a Gentleman of a vigorous Health and a plentiful Estate for his Heirs and Heirs for his Estate should venture his Life against a Beggarly Hector that perhaps is weary of his Life thro' Poverty and Diseases the loathsom consequences of his Lust and would be beholden to that charitable Hand that would cut the rotten Thread of his Life rather than suffer it miserably and gradually to rot in pieces But 2dly What answers all other Challenges a Duel can never be fought with Honesty because it is point-blank a Defiance and Breach of the Laws of God and the King And therefore let no man pretend to any point of Honour that is inconsistent with his Allegiance to God and the King the only Fountain and Measure of Honour And if Hotspur dislike this my Decision as too sage and cold yet in his softer minutes he will thank me as fiery David did his Cooler Abigail when he was upon the Road in all haste to kill Nabal that Churl saying to her 1 Sam. 25.32 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which