Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	contend_v	zeal_n	zealous_a	13	3	8.6024	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89564	A divine project to save a kingdome: Opened in a sermon to the Right Honorable the Lord Maior and court of aldermen, of the citie of London, at their anniversary meeting on Easter Munday, Apr. 22. 1644. at Christ-Church. By Stephen Marshall, B.D. Minister of Gods word at Finchingfield in Essex. Imprimatur, Charles Herle.	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1644 (1644)	Wing M752; Thomason E47_31; ESTC R20669	34,916	50

not what becomes of Gods house So that Reuben may heare his owne flocks bleat and Asher keepe his owne Coasts safe let Deborah and Barack shift for themselves private interests and selfe-respects care of themselves and family have the whole of their soules and in these things they are in good earnest but no heart no spirit appeares in them for any cause of God they are like David in his old age no cloathes can warme them no motives worke upon them they drive like Jehu furiously in their owne businesse but in Gods like the Egyptians in the red Sea when their Chariot Wheeles were broken Ah beloved search and enquire whether there be not such among your selves such lukewarme Laodiceans such cold professors and if any of you be such give mee leave to tell you that your condition is wofull you not onely will be no Saviours to us in our distresses but for you and such as you are doth the Lord thus bitterly contend against us and be you assured that what ever he meane to doe with this sinfull Nation without speedy awaking and warming your hearts he will spue you out of his mouth Rev. 3. 15. The other use and so I will have done is for exhortation where I would provoke this City this Honourable City of London the Lord Maior Court of Aldermen Common Councell the residue that are here gathered together by your zeale for God to quench Gods wrath against us I confesse we have great cause to praise God for your zeale though I thinke you and others have had cause to bemoane the want of it for surely your zeale hath provoked many in the Kingdome and you have in great measure saved the Kingdome hitherto and it shall be a glory and a Crowne to you while this world standeth That in all this deplorable and forlorne condition we have beene in the zeale of the City of London for the more considerable part of it hath held up when others hearts have fallen and have stood for the Lord and his cause and we humbly blesse the Lord for it Let God have the glory It is Honour enough for you that God will accept any service frō you or kindle anything good in your hearts but I beseech you that you would abound more and more you who have done thus much already I hope are willing to save us if it lye in your power Now you heare what may save the Kingdome what may extinguish the fire of Gods wrath Zeale will doe it the laying out and drawing out the heart and affections to the uttermost for God will doe it O then lay out all your hearts and strength and affections for the Lord goe on with all your might with all your estates with all your treasure with what ever you have let God have it all in his cause if he need it and be you sorry that you have no more to part with doe it to the utmost shew your selves zealous in it and extend your zeale more against evill so farre as you can reach And you my Lord and Honourable Court and Gentlemen of the Common Councell may reach a great way this day your prayers your Counsels your Petitions and your purses may under God have any good thing done that you will put your hands to I say any thing that is good And therefore put to all your strength that Achans may be removed that all Idolatry may be rooted out that those delinquents upon whom God would have justice executed may be proceeded against doe you it upon such as are under your owne jurisdiction And by your humble Petitions if need be intreat justice may be done wherever God will have it done I am a Minister of Gods mercy and take no pleasure in pressing to such a worke as judgement and severity were it not that I am assured that if we should not doe justice where God requireth it to be done he will doe it without us and he will doe it upon us when Saul executed not Gods fierce wrath upon the Amalekltes 1 Sam. 15. he brought Gods fierce wrath upon himself when the King of Israel let goe a man whom God had appointed to dye his life went for the others life 1 King 20. 42. And certainly the Idolatry and blood and other crying abominations that some are guilty of in this Land I meane some of the chief Ringleaders in these evills who have made these wofull breaches be tween our Soveraigne and his people and thus violently promoted Idolatry and spoyle the Lord will have them reckoned with and let your zeale be laid out that way Doe it cordially and so as God may see it And to stirre you in all these things to be zealous for the Lord take these few Motives Bee you so against their sinnes I pray you though not against their persons First let me tell you That it is for a God that hath been very zealous for you So zealous that when he had but one onely sonne hee did not spare him but sent him purposely to be hanged upon a Crosse to save you it is for a Saviour who zealously redeemed you how zealously he prayed preached lived died for you to purchase you to be a people for himselfe zealous of good workes and his zeale hath preserved you and all yours all this while and all the good you have or hope for the zeale of God hath holpen you to it Secondly the cause you contend for is such a cause that lose this cause and you shall never have such another as long as you live lose your estate lose your wives lose your children lose your lives God can give you as good and better but lose this cause and never shall you bee tryed in such a cause againe while this world standeth Thirdly let me assure you your enemies want no zeale against you they have followed it what all the Popish party in Christendome could do against you hath bin done to destroy you and they want no ill wil at this day and I beleeve should the Lord for our sins but deliver London up to their hands since England was a Kingdome never was so sad a day knowne as they would make London to know such is their zeale against you Fourthly Consider as this doctrine makes it plaine this is the most certaine way to save this famous City this will preserve London this will keepe it as a Citie of God yea a few zealous men may doe it Oh that you could all be as Phinehas zealous for the Lord but if all should not the zeale of a few may doe it some Aldermen if all will not some Common Councell men if all will not a considerable number will prevaile with God yea who knowes how far the zeale of one man may prevaile therefore goe on in it to the utmost without any self-seeking Let offices goe let wife and children goe let estate goe be wholly for the Lord and say What may I doe wherein

that it is the most devillish villany and double iniquity With Jesabel to proclaime a Fast to get a Vineyard to strike in zealously with the right side that wee might crush some enemy of ours which appeares on the other side is a zeale which the Lord abhorreth But if it be be true zeale for God that zeale whereof the Lord saith He was zealous for my sake the heart must be upright toward him There must be sincerity within the coale of sincerity must glow within before ever the flame of it will shine abroad in zeale That is the first thing That true zeale is alway the edge of a gracious spirit of a man who is upright to God in the truth and sincerity of whose heart the Lord and his wayes are set us as their greatest good Another thing which you shall alwaies find in true zeale is this it 's prodigall of doing good for any cause of God it 's I say a prodigall grace it spares for no cost to their strength and above their strength any thing shall goe every thing shal go if God Christ Jesus or his cause have need of it You never knew a zealous man a good husband in all your life time Jesabel in her zeale for Baal will maintaine 400. of his Prophets at her Table I mean that whatsoever a mans heart is zealous for hee ever doth his utmost in the prosecution of it never commeth to say I hope here is enough done for my share if he can doe any more Let a voluptuous man have his heart set on his pleasure let an earthly man have his heart set upon Mammon Let an ambitious man have his heart set upon preferment or honor he never saith I have done enough for it if he can doe any more If David have 1300. Cart load of silver gold he can joyfully part with every penny of it toward the building of Gods house and blesseth God that hee had it to give if Gods Tabernacle be to be built The women bring their Jewels their Lawnes and Looking-glasses and all other materials so willingly that Moses was faine to make a Proclamation that they should bring no more Exod. 36. 6. 38. 8. And in the Primitive Church when the exigents of Gods people required it they who had houses lands or other possessions sold them all and put them in the common Treasury This is a second property of zeale it is liberall bountifull for God You all know that if a man have the vanity of his heart let out about any thing Take a Gentleman that is otherwise a good husband and a provident man I meane penurious if his heart be set on the building of an house if he resolve upon two thousand pound it is ten to one if he grutch the laying out three or foure or five thousand pound to make it fit to his minde or if a mans heart be set upon his garden and flowers it is little question but hee will bee wastfull upon it the like may be said of Hawkes and Dogs and so is the zealous man for God whatsoever cost it puts him to he doth not sticke at Thirdly Zeale where ever it is true for God it appeareth most of all in greatest dissiculties It cannot be taken off with There is a Lyon in the way and I shall be kil'd if I goe out into the streets goe you first and I will see how safely you speed and I shall come in my due time after you neither doe you heare a zealous man talke so alwayes Cravens and Cowards hang backe but the best horse ever leads the way You shall have a very Samaritan if there be no danger in it if Authority be on their side he will be a Jew and be a kin to him and come and build with him but if there be danger in it Jew stand on your legs for all the Samaritan Just so now in the cause of God if there be ease and profit by it if it goeth well and no displeasure incurred many well appear as forward and frolike for a good cause as the forwardest but if any danger appeare a base heart presently tackes about or draws backe I promise you I have a great charge I have somewhat to lose I shall incurre such a great mans displeasure I know not in what blacke booke I may be written but a zealous man disdains difficulties answers with Nehemiah when they would have him flie into the Temple Shall such a man as I flie into the Temple no not I I professe if I might save my life by it So when they would have Luther goe Thinke any thing of Luther said he but running from Gods cause or recanting but never imagin if they were all devils as many devils as Tyles on the house I will refuse to goe when God bids me goe That is a third difficulty and danger and opposition taketh not off the spirit of a man that is zealous for God Fourthly another companion of true zeale is this Zeale for God alwayes maketh a man coole for himselfe a zealous man cannot trade in both Indies to any purpose he doth not trade for God himselfe too because there can be but one chiefe one that is most highly regarded in his bed in his closet in his family in all his relation in his office where ever hee hath any thing to doe hee hath but one that is his chiefe and that is God and because the whole of his heart is given to God hee must by consequence be a man that doth not greatly prosecute his owne businesse You shall find this old observation to bee a very true one that in all the world there cannot bee found a man that is eager truely eager in Gods cause and in his owne cause too indeed cholerick and hot spirited men whatsoever they doe velle they doe valde velle they are very eager upon it from the temper of their nature But if it be a gracious frame where the grace of God hath the predominancie it layeth out all the strength and mettle so for God that there is little left for themselves thus Moses that is starke mad almost in Gods cause is the mildest man in his owne cause Nehemiah hee that can teare the haire of his head and professeth he will lay hands on any man that will prophane the Sabbath hee can be contented any man shall jeere and scorne him if it be his owne cause I would have you remember that Gods fire doth rost or boyle or bake a sacrifice but never doth hee allow it to rost our meate in our owne Kitchin no that cannot bee find me the man that drives any self end in any high degree of his owne and I will shew you the man that hath no true zeale for God It is an observation that one hath of Solomon That Solomon built an house for God the stateliest house that ever was thought to bee in the world the Temple and hee was seven yeares

A DIVINE PROIECT TO SAVE A KINGDOME Opened In a Sermon to the Right Honorable the Lord Maior and Court of Aldermen of the Citie of London at their Anniversary meeting on Easter Munday Apr. 22. 1644. at Christ-Church By STEPHEN MARSHALL B. D. Minister of Gods Word at Finchingfield in Essex JER. 5. 1. Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seeke in the broad places thereof if yee can find a man if there bee any that executeth judgement that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it REV. 3. 19. Bee zealous therefore and repent Imprimatur Charles Herle London Printed by Richard Cotes for Stephen Bowtell and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Bible in Popes-head-Alley 1644. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE The Lord Maior Court of Aldermen of the famous Citie of London LUke-warme Laodicea by some hath beene made Englands Embleme and sutably enough not so much to the cold climate and this coole evening of the world we live in as to the tepid spring of our reformation at first especially to the decaying Autumne which of late yeares wee were come to But as cold oft breeds an inflammation so this hath inkindled Gods wrath and it these sad combustions which we are already well-nigh consumed with what remaines now therefore but that fire should take out fire the kindly warmth of holy zeale the wofull heate of this devouring fire that it may not come to everlasting burnings Great is the honour that God in this kind hath conferred upon you and great the blessings which hee hath to this whole land conveyed by you Your Engines not more admirable to quench fire in your Citie then your care cost and blood freely usefull to the extinguishing of the generall scare-fire of this whole kingdome your zeale herein hath saved many provoked more hath under God beene as a wall of fire about us and will bee for ever a more sparkling Diamond in your Crowne then those stones of fire in the King of Tyres Diadem The Ministers Lungs some make the Prophets Bellowes to blow up a dying fire I desired that mine in preaching this Sermon might helpe to blow up yours to a yet brighter flame and if this further publishing of it at your request may any whit serve to keep still alive this holy fire on the Altar of your hearts whilst Incendiaries set on fire from hell are every where shooting fiery bullets to set all into a further combustion I am but subservient to my great Master in his present work who is now purging the blood of our Jerusalem out of the midst of it by the spirit of judgement and burning Fervet opus and then I know you will not coole It s reformation worke and the examples of Phinehas Elias John Baptist Luther Knox and those other great reformers tell us it requires zeale Baruch was a great repairer of Jerusalems walls but it is said of him that flagrante animo instauravit hee repaired fast but it was when hee was hot upon it It is Gods worke and they must be fervent in spirit that would serve the Lord who had rather wee should let his worke alone then see us freeze at it it is his zeale that must now doe all for us and therefore hee expects that our zeale should doe what wee can for him It is Christs worke and cause who is willing to redeeme us but that wee might bee a people zealous of good workes hee did not sweat that wee should freeze nor shed his blood out of his owne veines that it might congeale in ours It is finally a great worke and the oppositions against it are greater but as they said to Joshua Onely be couragious so I to you Onely bee zealous and then bee not discouraged Hannibal by fire made his way over the Alpes and you by zeale may make yours over greatest mountaines of opposition which without running up with full strength and speed will not bee gotten up to Palmes are the Embleme of victory but they love to grow in a hot soyle be warme and promise your selves the Palme nay God promiseth it and that not onely to Smyrna whose name smells sweet of warme incense that if shee will be faithfull to the death he will give her a Crowne of life but even to our cooler Laodicea that her whom hee was ready to spew out of his mouth whilst she was lukewarme hee will be ready to come into and sup with when she shall once be zealous and repent which is the humble and hearty prayer of your Servant for Christ STEPHEN MARSHALL A DIVINE PROIECT TO SAVE A KINGDOME Numb. 25. 10 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas the Sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron the Priest hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel while hee was zealous for my sake among them that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousie IF you view this Portion of Scripture seriously you will find Right Honorable and Beloved that the businesse contained in it doth very nigh concern our selves In a few words The condition of the Israelites at the present time which this Text speaketh of was this They had indured a long peregrination in the wildernesse for forty yeares together God had visited former rebellions upon them and now their wandrings were well-nigh accomplished they were come almost to the skirt of the Land of Canaan God had begun to deliver the promised inheritance unto them by overthrowing and rooting out Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan and had given their Country into the hand of Israel and had told them hee would goe on and root out all the rest of the Canaanites before them that there should not a man be able to stand in their way As the Lord your God hath done unto these two Kings so shall hee do unto the other Kingdoms whither they passed they need not feare them the Lord their God would fight for them and would very shortly place them in that land which hee had long before promised to their fore-fathers And now when they were just upon entring into the Land they had like to have made ship wrack in the very Harbour and had brought down such a new Plague upon them that if there had not been a timely remedy put in they had perished every Mothers childe of them without any forain enemy striking a stroake at them And thus it was when Balaam could not obtaine leave from God to curse the Israelites hee taught Balak the King of Moab a trick how hee might make God himselfe curse them viz. If hee could by any wayes draw them to rebell against God Hee had told him plainly that while they kept close to God all the world would bee too weak for them but could hee but devise any way to make them fall out with God God would