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	great_a	king_n	2,733	5	3.5643	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57803	The Julian ship, or, Paul's transportation to Rome a discourse on Acts 27, 15, made on March 20, 1680/81, the Sunday before the last Parliament's meeting at Oxford / by Wil. Ramsay, Esq., B.D. ...	Ramsay, William, B.D.	1681 (1681)	Wing R216; ESTC R13588	13,504	28

final drift of it which was to move the People to most earnest Prayer that God would Vnite Our King and his Parliament contrary to the manifest endeavours of the Papists For I alwayes esteem'd it the most dangerous and chief part of the Popish Plot to disturb the close Vnion and sweet Agreement of the King and his Parliament without which neither Our Church nor our State can Flourish or Prosper And without doubt this is One of his Majesty's greatest Griefs as his most gracious Declaration does intimate that he was constrain'd to make so many Dissolutions and so short Sessions As for the Reasons or Political Causes of these I alwayes thought them above the Sphere of a private Man But as our Enemies rejoyce in these things I think we ought all to mourn and to beg of God with publick and private Prayers and most unanimous Supplications that he will please in due season to unite and strengthen the States of the Realm As to my other three Sermons of Mirmah Maromah and Maroum the matter of them being wholly new though the assertion Ancient and Orthodox I judg'd it necessary to print them to prevent the strange Accounts which many gave of them The Assertion is this That the Popish Principles and Practices maketh Witnesses of the late Plot most Credible that the Evidence of things has been so great that we ought to believe the Matter of Fact if not with a Divine Faith at least with all the Assurance of a Humane and Moral Faith That the Pope is the Antichrist that very Apocalyptical Beast the Number of whose Name is 666. That the next thing to be fulfilled in the Apocalyptical Order of the seven Vials is the fiery destruction of Rome that the time is very near and in most probable account to be fulfilled in this Generation or Century These things as to the Assertion are agreeable to all Reform'd Divines of Note especially the Ancient Divines and Bishops of England and of King James his time Yet I wonder to hear some Murmur as if now Divines were better inform'd of the Pope and cannot think him a Beast or the Antichrist if any Divine be so perswaded My Sermons are the more necessary for his sake As for the matter in which I handle and prove these assertions which is the Name of Maroum and that singular Prophecy of Isaiah chap. 24.21 I think that matter was never touched before to the same purpose and I think the Name of Antichrist to which that Number belongs was never discover'd before though thousands of brains have been busie in search of it and I think the discovery I made is the Divine truth and that Wisdom of God which St. John commends to every man that hath understanding Rev. 13.18 which ought not to be kept hid Wherefore I again commend those Discourses to the Whole Church of God as being of great Consequence and of comfortable Vse especially in these times And I do this again with the more earnest heart because I have found of a Truth that the discovery is sound and effectual and triumphs over all contradiction and dispute Neither let any man despise it for my Person for God did wonderfully call me from mine infancy to this profession the first of my Family that was of it and I have spent above thirty years in the Study of Languages and Sciences but chiefly of the holy Scriptures which I have known from a Child and to which as the chief means I ascribe next to the Grace of Jesus Christ my Faith and Knowledge of Salvation In fine I desire the Favour and Civility of all ingenuous men not to suffer the abuses of idle and empty Talkers much less the injuries of busie pragmatical Sycophants to lessen that Just Reputation of Godly Sincerity and Loyalty which as all my Name before me I pursue and hope to possess by due and proper means as being with cordial Affection and unshaken Constancy Gentlemen and Brethren Your faithful Brother and Servant in Christ Jesus W. Ramsay Thistleworth Nov. 14 Anno Christi 1681. ACT. 27.15 And when the Ship was caught and could not bear up into the Wind we let her drive THE Trope is frequent in Scripture that the Church is Typed by a Ship As by Noah's Ark Gen. 6. By the Ship in the midst of the Sea Mat. 8.23 and 14.24 and Rev. 8.9 Churches are called Ships And the body of every Church is call'd its Nave So the Now-Church of England seems to be aptly represented by this Ship of St. Paul in the Text which being caught with a Tempestuous Wind called Euroclydon could not bear up into Wind but was driven at the mercy of the Master of the Winds This will appear by all the Circumstances related of this Ship in this present Chapter Only I must first premise That the Now-Church of England may be taken First In a Common sense as it includes all called Protestants Or Secondly In a select sense as it includes only true Protestants Thirdly In a Malignant sense as it includes only Papists or Popishly affected Ones Or Fourthly In a National sense as it includes all English Subjects We shall use it sometimes in One sometimes in another sense as the Circumstances require The Circumstances are principally five 1. What Persons aboard 2. Whither bound 3. What Built 4. What Course 5. What Wind 1. The Persons Aboard are of three sorts 1. We find Paul and Luke and Aristarchus ver 1 2. Paul was the great Apostle and Doctor of the Nations Luke was the great Evangelist and Scribe of the Holy Gospel Aristarchus was a Noble Macedonian and a Zealous Christian of Thessalonica who Travell'd with St. Paul and St. Luke to defray their Temporal Charges to guard them from Injuries and to help them in all things for the Gospels sake These three Persons represent unto us the Now-Church of England in the select sense Apostolical and Evangelical Aristarchus interpreted signifies a most Excellent Prince as is our Most Gracious and Soveraign Defender of the Faith whom God preserve and by him and with him Our Paul and our Luke Aristarchus may also represent unto us whatsoever Wise and Christian Statesman or Patriot who for his Faithfulness to his Country is as a Noble Macedonian and for his Zeal in Religion and Aid to the Protestant Ministry is as a Pious Thessalonian Also Thessalonica was the Metropolis of Macedonia and had its Name from its Victories so it may represent our Great and Victorious City of London whose Victory now shines over and out of the Fires of her Enemies In fine every Protestant Citizen and Country-man is a Religions Macedonian or Thessalonian in the ship of St. Paul Guarding and Attending Our Paul Our Luke Our Aristarchus Our Church Our Gospel Our Government A second sort of Persons we find ver 1. and 42. Julius a Centurion the Commander of the ship with his Souldiers of Augustus's band to which we may joyn the Pilot and Master of the