Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	england_n	rome_n	1,883	5	6.9320	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09298	A treatise containing the aequity of an humble supplication which is to be exhibited vnto hir gracious Maiesty and this high Court of Parliament in the behalfe of the countrey of Wales, that some order may be taken for the preaching of the Gospell among those people Wherein also is set downe as much of the estate of our people as without offence could be made known, to the end that our case (if it please God) my be pitied by them who are not of this assembly, and so they also may bee driuen to labour on our behalfe.	Penry, John, 1559-1593.	1587 (1587)	STC 19611; ESTC S114395	36,469	64

A TREATISE CONTAINING THE AEQVITY OF AN HVMBLE SVPPLICATION WHICH IS TO BE EXHIBITED VNTO HIR GRACIOVS MAIESTY AND this high Court of Parliament in the behalfe of the Countrey of Wales that some order may be taken for the preaching of the Gospell among those people Wherein also is set downe as much of the estate of our people as without offence could be made known to the end that our case if it please God may be pitied by them who are not of this assembly and so they also may bee driuen to labour on our behalfe AT OXFORD Printed by IOSEPH BARNES and are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Tygers head 1587. TO AL THAT MOVRN IN SION VNTIL THEY SEE Ierusalem in perfect beuty namely to my Fathers Brethren of the Church of England grace mercy and loue in the Lord Iesus bee multiplied IT hath beene the iust complaint beloued in the Lord of the godlie in all ages that Gods eternall and blessed verity vnto whom the very Heauens themselues shoulde stoupe and giue obesiance hath bin of that smal reckoning and account in the eies of the most part of great men as they valued it to be but a meere losse of time to yeeld anie attendaunce thereupon Hence it commeth to passe that the truth being at any time to be countenanced none very often are found in the traine thereof but the most contemptible and refuse of men And because these also being guilty vnto themselues of great infirmities and foule sinnes manie times and not ignorant that affliction is the sequele of earnest and sincere profession doe pull their neckes from the yoke and their shoulders from the burden the Lorde is constrained verie seuerely to deale with them before they can be gotten to go on his message Whereupon also followeth their endeuours in Gods owne cause not to haue the euents which they expect Example hereof Ionas may be one for all And which is farre more lamentable in as much as the drousie and carelesse security the colde and frossen affections of the godly themselues in most waightie affaires is neuer wanting their careful diligence and earnest zeale ioined with hartie and vehement praiers alwaies desired the Lord suffereth his owne cause to contract some spot from their sinful hands These considerations beloued but specially the later kept me back a great while from this action which I haue now by the goodnes of God brought to this passe you see It would be a greeuous wound vnto me all my life long if the dignitie of a cause worthy to haue the shoulders of al the princes vnder the coape of heauen for it footstoole should be anie whit diminished by my foule hands which notwithstanding I protest to haue been washed as fair as their stains would permit But I am not a little comforted two maner of waies First that the Lord knoweth he thrust me almost against my wil hereunto And for asmuch as I see the honour of Iesus Christ in whose countenance God the father hath louingly wincked at my sinnes and whose is al that I haue standeth vpon the progresse of the woorde preached among vs my silence though to the daunger of my life shal not be tray his honour Is not he a God Will he not be religiously worshipped Wil he not haue this religion framed according vnto his owne mind Hath hee not regard whether his true seruice be yeelded him or no if he haue woe be vnto that conscience that knoweth this and keepeth it secret or is slacke in the promoting hereof Seing it pleased him who also separated me from my mothers womb to stur me vp hereunto I doubt not but hee wil giue that successe of my labours that may be most to his glory Surely by his assistaunce I neither can nor will be slacke The dignity of the cause I hope wil be regarded if not importance must take no deniall in the matter of our God My second comfort is that what effect soeuer shal ensue my paines I seek not my owne but theirs whom it concerneth namely my parents and brethren according to the flesh Whose state is so miserable at this daie that I think it were verie great vndiscreetnes for me to spare anie speech that were likely to preuaile Naie I would to God my life coulde winne them the preaching of the Gospel Our sicknes is at the hart it must not be dallied with either present remedy or vndoubted perdition And so will they iudge who viewe our estate offered vnto her Maiesty and the Parliament Which was not published onely least posterities should knowe such dishonour of God either at al to haue beene or in 28. yeares not redressed vnder Queen Elizabeth our souerain As for the aduersaries who vnderstand our estate too wel and reioice at our silence I regard them not at al for what haue we amisse at this day which flowed not out of the midst of their inheritance cursed Rome that bottomles pit fornace of idolatry I haue only therein touched our calamity not touched a great part thereof To come vnto you beloued of the church of englād I know our cause shal come through many of your hands I do with teares beseech that it maie haue al the lawful fauor you find of your harts to affourd vnto Christ in his poor members It may stand in some one to dash the whole Therefore in the name of God I require al of you that you hinder not his honour the saluation of perishing souls the good to the common wealth hereby intēded If you do otherwise I praie God so many souls as perish in miserable Wales for want of preaching be not required at your hands in the daie of iudgement But beloued I promise al good things on your parts and craue not only praiers vnto the Lord for the speedy erecting of our Ierusalem but all other helpes of speech and countenaunce of motioning the matter vnto her Maiesty the Parliamēt shewing the danger of denying the great profit and necessitie of granting our petition It is your dutie which cannot bee shaken off as it appeareth by the example of Ebed-melech Ierem. 38.9 Ieremie 38.9 The like act done by the Princes and Elders of the Lande Ieremie 26.16 17. When the Princes hard Baruch read in their eares the wordes of the booke containing al the curses Iehouah had determined to bring vpon Israel and Iuda c. it is recorded by the holy Ghost that they were affraid both one and other and said vnto Baruch we wil certifie the king of these woords and did so Wherein they perfourmed nothing but that which euery one of you before the Lord is bound to doe Gods people requireth this at your handes The state of the common wealth and her Maiesties whom the Lord in mercie deliuer from all forraigne and domestical treasons crie vnto euerie one of you that can giue anie counsel Iliad 3. A counsellor must not sleepe all

reward his vnconceiueable kindnesse in such sort as to suffer any that you can hinder to be sworne seruants of his professed enimies Sworn seruants I say for whosoeuer serueth not the Lorde Christ in e Rom. 6.16 7.5 2. Pet. 2.20 newnesse of life and holinesse of conuersation hath taken the oth of a souldier to serue sinne vnder Sathans banner Why should the sonne of God be bereaued of the title that he hath in his people conueiance thereof made vnto a damnable crature Consider I pray you the weight of the cause in this one point it is concerning no lesse matter thā a kingodme yea the kingdome of the God of al kings Iesus Christ the contention is betweene the most glorious in heauen earth and his own slaue where the indignity of the vsurper ought to moue you We are wearie of the heauy bonuie bondage of the one and desire the easie yoke of the other In the absence as it were of our Lord and king wee haue none to runne vnto for helpe but you whom he hath placed aboue vs. Pitie our condition naie rather let it bee seene that you reioice to haue such oportunitie to enlarge and make conspicuous the glorie of your redeemer that it may bee a witnesse vnto your soules whensoeuer you depart this life that indeede you haue quited your selues like men in the places whereunto he hath enioined you by defacing the kingdome of Sathan You are nowe to declare vnto which of the two you would haue vs subiectes who shal be king Sathan or the Lord Christ and therfore whether of the two can preuaile more with you Not that the diuel is able or dareth withstand his maker or that the Lord needeth the helpe of mā to ouerthrow his forces as not being of power to rule vnlesse man set the crowne vpon his head but because hee hath taken this course in the gouernment of his Church here vpon earth that vnlesse the Magistrate doe vphold his honour against Sathan it will fall to the ground for ought men can see and hee hauing commaunded men of authority to be zealous in his cause wil reward them according vnto their loue towardes him in this point For hereby hee doth trie their good wils in that he declareth his honour to be vsually measured in the hart of the people according vnto the proportion of the magistrates loue towards him reseruing alwaies vnto him neuerthelesse the power to beget his loue in the subiectes whose prince may be an Idolater and to bridle the furie of his enemies when hee will without the assistance of man and to reedifie his Church though al the kings vnder heauen gainesaie the same But this not proceeding frō them wil be to their greater condemnation because they chose rather to haue their people in the slauery of Sathan than in the liberty of Christ For one of them will yea must needes beare rule in the hearts of all men either the Lord by his spirit conueyed vnto them through the ministery of his word or the old serpent by his diuelish illusions That both cannot rule togither a Mat. 12.25.29 it is apparant because they are so contrarie the one to the other the subiectes of both kingdomes disagree the lawes be diuerse If you chuse the sonne of God and place him in his throne among vs by the preaching of his Gospell for otherwise you cannot be said to make choise of him then assure your selues that the Lord will b 1. Sam. 2.30 honour you because you honour him and not forget the vpholding of his kingdome by you especially in such an age as wherein most of the estates in the earth haue bereaued him of his right and giuen their crowns vnto the beast Then happy be your names and memories and the memories of your posterities for euer And happy be the daies that euer we were borne to be gouerned by such a godly Prince and godly counsellers But if you make worse than Claucus his chaunge and as much as in you lieth robbe Christ Iesus of his kingly dignity what are you to looke for at his handes but the cruel destruction that is prepared for those who will not suffer the sonne of God to rule ouer them or theirs Consider and consider againe that they deny Iesus Christ a kingdome ouer theirs and consequently prefer Sathan before him which deny the ministery of the Gospell vnto the people vnder their gouernment The reason of which assertion appeareth not onely by some places of Scripture before quoted but also in that the woorde preached is called the a Matt 13.19 Luke 8.11 woord of the kingdome by our Sauiour himselfe and the glad tidings of the Gospell called the b Luke 8.4 Matth. 3.1 kingdome of heauen By the parable of the vineyard which is said to be the inheritance of the sonne of God Matth. 21.38 and whereof he accounteth himselfe robbed when he hath not fruit yeelded vnto him Matt. 21.38 which only is done where the Gospell florisheth In that the Ghospell is called the Ghospell of the c Mat. 24 14. kingdom Wherein politik Gamaliel also d Act. 5.39 gessed aright that the High-priests and Sadduces should be found to do nothing lesse than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is fight against God if they withstoode the course of the Gospel To be short e verse 31. Peter in the very same chapter a little before maketh it a part of Christs prerogatiue roial to work repentance in the hart of man and assurance of remission of sins which no Christian wil saie to be otherwise effected than by preaching In so much as they must needes be conuinced to eneruate and weaken the same soueraignety of the Lord of life who any way refuse to haue them for whose wealth they are to prouide good lawes instructed by the Gospel If this conclusion be true as in very deed it is most true oh how ought you of this honourable assemblie to labour for the erecting of the ministery of the word in Wales seeing they that wil be slack in the same detract from the honour they owe vnto Iesus Christ and plainly shewe how little they care whether his kingdome sincketh or swimmeth As for these that withstand this I dare boldly affirme them to conspire with Sathan about the inuading of Christs kingdome and most contumeliously to tread his crowne vnder foote Where by the waie they are intreated with al reuerence to looke better vnto their dealinges who vnder the name of conformity and obedience stay the course of the ministery in any place desired to acknowledge this vnity to bee nothing else but a consent with Satan to wrest the scepter out of Christ his hand and vndermine his chaire of estate if they haue done heretofore foolishly let them now following the counsel of the wiseman lay their hands on their mouthes and take heede least by defending former practises they ad drunckennes vnto thirst It may be