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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	design_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	23	3	8.4720	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96538	A word in season, for a warning to England: or a prophecy of perillous times open'd and apply'd. Wherein the signes of bad times, and the means of making the times good, are represented as the great concernment of all good Christians in this present age. First exhibited in a sermon preached in the Abby at Westminster, July 5. 1659. and since enlarged and published. / By Thomas VVilles, M.A. minister of the Gospel, in the city of London.	Willis, Thomas, 1619 or 20-1692.	1659 (1659)	Wing W2308; Thomason E1734_1; ESTC R7862	218,037	465

extreamly evil and perillous Yea when a wicked Generation of men shall be suffer'd with Impunity to cast Contempt upon all the Ordinances of Gods Worship to vilifie and reproach the Assemblies of the Saints calling them the Synagogues of Satan with many more vile reproaches which I think not meet to mention what shall we think are not the Dayes evil the Times perillous When those shall be countenanc't honour'd advanc't in the State being set in Places of Power and Trust who do what they can to cast an Odium upon the Ordinances of the Gospel are not the dayes evil the Times perillous These sacred Ordinances are the paths of Christ wherein he walks amongst his People and hereby do men * Ps 79.51 reproach the footsteps of Gods anointed Hereby do vile persons cast dirt at the Chariots of the King of glory Hereby is the Lord continually provoked to depart from such a people and therefore the dayes which are defil'd with these Abominations must needs be perillous Times The fift Case Sinners Sedulity and Sloth in Saints VVHen the spirit of Errour and Profanesse prevailes more and more in the World and the Spirit of Prayer and Zeale for truth and holinesse decayes more and more in the Church the Dayes are evil the Times perillous When false Fires appear and the Fire of the Altar goes out sure God is departing from his Temple When the Locusts and Caterpillars swarme in the Fields and the Frogs croak in every corner of the House the Judgement of God is already upon the Land When † 2 Tim. 3.6 7 silly women are led captive in Troops by subtile Deceivers and soul-deluding Seducers * 2 Pet. 2.2 draw many Disciples after them the last Dayes which we are told shall be perillous Times are come upon us Activity of bad men in carrying on their wicked Designes and Lukewarmnesse in good men in promoting the Cause and Interest of Christ is a sad Symptome of some sore evil at hand When few are zealous for Truth and Righteousness multitudes are zealous for Errour and Impunity in the contempt of Gods holy worship we may justly feare God will shortly bring some fearful judgement on the Land When † Mat. 24.12 Iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold the Winter is come and stormes must be expected When the Spirit of Prayer departs the Spirit of Judgement comes in the roome of it When the Winde ceases presently the Rain falls When the hands of Moses fall down in Prayer and Amalek prevailes in battel we must needs expect it should go ill with Israel When Christians are fallen from their * Rev. 2.4 first Love and Professors are grow'n † Rev. 3.16 Lukewarm in Religion yea and many are become Key-cold in the Cause of Christ whilest others are very forward and zealous to promote the Honour and Adoration of the Deified IMAGES of their own Fancies they must needs be perillous Times ZEALE is the Pulse of the Church as JUSTICE is of the Common-wealth Now a wise Physician by feeling the Pulse may judge of the state of the Patient If it be violent and irregular the body is inflam'd and in a great distemper if it be very weak slow remiss and much interrupted it is a sad Symptome of approaching Death Apostacy in Religion is a fore-runner of Ruine and Destruction to such a particular Church and People * Jer. 8.5 15 Lukewarmnesse in Religion is a loathed temper I know thy Works sayes the Lord of the Church of Laodicea † Rev. 3.15 16. too true a Patterne of the Church of England that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou wert cold or hot So then because thou art Lukewarme and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth In these cases all good Christians have cause to bewaile the sad condition of the Church of Christ The ninth Symptome Divisions in the Church and Union of her Adversaries THe children of the Church have experience of perillous Times When the Professors of the true Religion are divided and the profest enemies thereof are united When the Canaanites are combin'd against the Israelites and the Israelites are divided amongst themselves needs must they be distressed by their Enemies When Idolatrous Nations joyne in Confederacy against the People that professe the true Religion their State must needs be dangerous Of this does the Psalmist complain as speaking the sad state of the People of God and therefore he makes his earnest suit to God for redresse saying * Psal 83 1-8 Keep not thou silence O God hold not thy Peace and be not still O God For loe thine Enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head They have taken crafty COUNSEL against thy People and consulted against thy hidden ones They have said Come and let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance For they have consulted together with one CONSENT they are CONFEDERATE against thee The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the Inhabitants of Tyre Ashur also is joyned with them they have holpen the children of Lot Needs must those be perillous Times with the People of Israel when as a small Flock of sheep they were surrounded with so many troops of Wolves Lions and Bears thirsting after their blood and ready to teare them in pieces and devoure them When in the Dayes of Jehoshaphat † 2 Chr. 20 Moab and Ammon and mount Seir conspired against Israel and came up against Jehoshaphat to battel both he and all the people of the Land were struck with feare in the apprehensions of their great danger And well might they fear when three Nations had arm'd themselves against that People that had provoked the Lord by their sinnes to give them up into their Enemies hands But behold a strange turne of Providence which affords a further illustration to the matter in hand These three great Armies by a wonderful stratagem of the Divine Providence were divided one against another and so now their great strength became the cause of their weaknesse and destruction for even without any stroke struck by Israel they themselves destroy'd one another insomuch that when Israel came against them they had none to encounter with but the * v. 24. dead Bodies of the slaine which were fallen to the earth and none escaped Thus as their Conjunction was their strength their Division became their overthrow Sad Divisions and bitter Contentions amongst Christians do not onely make them a scorn and Derision to their enemies but also expose them to the danger of an utter Destruction Such Christians as like Cranes fight amongst themselves do easily become a prey to others Their enemies like Eagles and Vultures will hasten to their Overthrow Thus did the Romane EAGLES prey upon the miserable Jews conflicting together in

dissembled sayes Augustine is not Equity but double Iniquity because dissimulation is Iniquitie And the more glorious the Pretence is which covers a base Designe the more vile and wicked is the Person that thus audaciously steals the Robes of vertue to cloath his otherwise naked viliany Caligula the Romane Emperour was never more Profane then when in his Pride he would put on the Vestments of the Gods Nero within and Cato without is an abhor'd Monster in the Church of God When the Devil appears in the habit of Samuel 't is but to prophecy the prevalency of the Philistines and the Overthrow of Israel When Pernicious Projects are vail'd with glorious Pretences the Times are perillous When Piety is made subservient to Policy and Gain is accounted Godlinesse This is not Religion but Robbery Latro est Domum Dei convertit in speluncam Latronum qui Lucra de Religione sectatur cultusque ejus non tam Cultus Dei quam negotiationis occasio est † Hier. sup M●t. l. 4. He is a Robber says Jerome and turns the House of God into a Den of Thieves who takes up Religion meerly for the getting of Gain and whose worship of God serves onely for a fitter Occasion to advance his Trading in the World And we know it was not long after the Temple was made a Den of Thieves that it became a heap of Ruines The Times are perillous when the Royal stamp is put upon counterfeit coine and self-interest is called the Cause of God And the Danger is greater according to the Degree of the Person Self-seeking especially under plausible pretences of the Good of the People is extreamly pernicious in such Persons as have the chiefest Power in their hands which ought not to be used as an Engine for the advancement of mens private Interests but to be ever put to the best improvement for the Publick Good And therefore the pious and learned Father makes this the great difference betwixt a Tyrant who rules after his own Lusts and a King that governes his People by good and wholesom Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this sayes he does a Tyrant differ from a King that the one has still an Eye to his own Interests the other lays out himself for the Good of his Subjects But yet amongst a People professing godlinesse such Tyrants which makes their wickednesse so much the worse are wont to pretend the interests of Religion and the Honour of God for the colouring of their irregular enterprizes and the covering of their wicked intentions till they have accomplish't their cursed Designes and so attain'd their own ends So the bloody Nero in the beginning of his Reigne made great Pretences of Piety but when he was establisht in his Empire he delighted in nothing but wickednesse and cruelty And how perillous those Times were to the Christian Church the Teares and Blood of many thousand persecuted Christians gave sufficient Testimony whose † Rev. 6.9 10 Souls are under the Altar of God still crying with a loud Voice and saying How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth But now was it not for such faire Pretences these bloody Tyrants could never so smoothly carry on such foule Enormities to a full accomplishment It 's the Glory of God therefore which they pretend to the world to be the End of their audacious Actings but their own Names are firmly wrought into that Shield of Gods Glory which they hold out to the world for the Protection of the basest Designes as it s said the Name of Phidias was by his curious Art wrought into the Shield of Minerva Wo be to the People that are subjected to the Power of such pernicious persons for these a●e they which do with a witnesse make the Times perillous The Times then are perillous when glorious Titles are stampt upon base Designs and glorious ends are pretended for the crediting of such Enormous Actions as Religion cannot but blush that they should be called her children Thus Celsus the Philosopher having written a Defence of Paganisme gilds over his rotten wood with this golden Title or Inscription Verbum Veritatis † Orig. contra Cels l. 2. The Word of Truth Thus Absalom pretended a solemne Act of Religion in paying his Vow unto God when having plotted a cursed Treason he went on purpose to raise a bloody Rebellion against his Prince and Father * 2 Sam. 15 7-10 Th●● J●hu pretended the Reformation of Religion when he sought nothing but the establishment of the Kingdome to himself † 2 King 9 and 10. and therefore the executions done by him though according to Gods Order and Appointment * 2 King 9.6 7 are charged upon him as so many bloody Murthers soliciting the Divine Vengeance For sayes the Lord † Hos 1.4 yet a little while and I will avenge the Blood of Jezreel i. e. the bloodshed in Jezreel * 2 King 9 15 24 25 26 30. ult the Royal City of the Land of Issachar † Josh 19.17 18. upon the House of Jehu and will cause to cease the Kingdome of the House of Israel Thus one wicked Tyrant may be the Ruine of the whole Kingdome Yet does this bloody Wretch this Self-seeking Jehu while he was yet reeking in Blood and hot in pursuing his selfish Designes boast of his zeal for the Cause of God Come sayes he to Jehonadab * 2 King 10.15 16. Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD Thus do many wear a Cloak of Zeal upon a Habit of Vice Thus Saul out of his Zeale for the Israelites became a bloody Butcher of the Gibeonites and so brought a plague upon the whole Land of Israel † 2 Sam. 21 1 2 Thus that wicked Ahab proclaimes a Fast for the putting to death of Naboth that he might take to himself his Vineyard and so by one Act involves himself in the guilt of Murder Perjury and unjust Usurpation of the Right and Possession of the Innocent and Righteous * 1 King 21 12-16 So the Historian tells us of the Devilish Policy of Hanno a rich Prince of the Carthaginians who having laid a desi●ne for the Destruction of the whole Se●ate herein worse then Heliogabalus whose Pride was satisfi'd in the Expulsion of the Senators † Fulg. l. 9. c. 5. made use of a sacred S●lemnity in the Celebration of his Daughters Marriage Ut Religione Votorum nefanda committeret nefanda Commenta facilius tegerentur * Justin Hist l. 21. For the Execution and Concealment of his Damnable Designe and Hellish Treason Thus did the Monster of men Herod pretend he would † Mat. 2.8 worship Christ whilst he was plotting to murder him in the prosecution of which bloody Designe he cruelly * Mat. 2.16 put to death as it is thought about fourteen thousand Innocents the

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A WORD in SEASON FOR A Warning to England OR A Prophecy of Perillous Times Open'd and Apply'd Wherein the Signes of Bad Times and the Means of making the Times Good are represented as the great Concernment of all good Christians in this present Age. First exhibited in a SERMON preached in the Abby at Westminster July 5. 1659. and since enlarged and Published By THOMAS VVILLES M. A. Minister of the Gospel in the City of London Seal not the Sayings of the Prophecy of this Book For the Time is at hand Rev. 22.10 How do ye say We are Wise and the Law of the LORD is with us Lo They have rejected the Word of the LORD and what Wisdom is in them Jer. 8.8 9. Tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sIC transIt gLorIa MVnDI LONDON Printed by Tho. Ratcliff for Tho. Underhill at the Blew Anchor in Pauls Church-yard 1659. TO THE SENATORS SOULDIERS CITIZENS STRANGERS To whom This SERMON was As to its main SUBSTANCE EXHIBITED FROM THE PULPIT IT 'S NOW WITH MUCH ENLARGEMENT PRESENTED FROM THE PRESSE FOR THEIR SERIOUS PERUSAL By A MESSENGER from CHRIST A MINISTER of the GOSPEL THOMAS WILLES Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it Luk. 11.28 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 From the KING of SAINTS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST To his Faithful and Well-beloved Servants and Subjects that shall live in the latter Dayes TAke heed that no man deceive you For many shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many And ye shall hear of Warres and Rumours of Wars See that ye be not troubled For all these things must come to passe but the End is not yet For Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdome against Kingdome and there shall be Famines and Pestilences and Earthquakes in divers Places All these are the Beginning of Sorrows Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all Nations for my Names sake And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another And many false Prophets shall rise and shall deceive many And because Iniquity shall abound the Love of many shall wax cold But he that shall endure to the End the same shall be saved By the Hand of his Trusty Servant and Secretary * Chap. 24. v. 4 -13 MATTHEW Publicano-Christianus To the SACRED MAJESTY OF HEAVEN THE KING of KINGS AND LORD of LORDS The Supream Governour of the whole World The Humble Address and Representation of the Gratitude Requests of many Thousands of the Well-affected People of the Land who desire to approve themselves Faithful to the Cause of Christ and to be found walking in the Good Old way Most Mighty LORD WHereas it hath pleased thy glorious Majesty out of the exceeding riches of thy Free Grace and thy tender compassions in Jesus Christ to call us thy poore unworthy Servants out of the World to the Profession of thy truth and Gosspel and the Participation of thy saving Grace when out of thy infinite Sovereignty and Justice thou hast past by Millions of men and left them to perish everlastingly in their sinnes we humbly desire in a deep sense of our own utter Unworthiness to express our free and hearty Acknowledgement of that infinite Obligation which thou hast hereby laid upon our soules to perpetual Gratitude Love Honour and Obedience to thy Glorious Majesty for so invaluable a Mercy And we cannot but with sorrow of Heart confesse that we have by our unsuitable Walkings shew'd our selves very Unworthy of such rich Discoveries of thy Love unto us But we humbly implore thy Mercy in the forgiveness of our many Miscarriages and beseech thee to give us Leave with all Humility to present thy Majesty with these few Petitions to which we earnestly beg a Gracious Answer That it will please thee to grant preserve and establish a Righteous and Religious Magistracy a Faithful and painful Ministry in the Land with that Blessed GOVERNMENT which is most agreeable to thy holy Word and Will both in Church and State That it will please thee who hast the Hearts of all men in thy Hands to put it into the Hearts of our Counsellors and Governors to study and endeavour the Advancement of thy Glory and thy Churches Good by the suppression of Errour and Profanenesse and the Promotion of Truth and Holinesse in the Land That where thou seest those Persons in Places of Power and Trust who by their pernicious Principles and Practises make the Times Perillous thou wilt Graciously be pleased by thy Hand of Power to remove them and to set in their room men truly fearing Thee and hating Covetousness who may cordially seek and endeavour the Peace and Welfare of thine English Zion That thou wilt pour down on thy Servants a Spirit of Humiliation for the sins of the Land that thou wilt graciously pardon the Transgressions of thy People and purge the Land from its Abominations that thou mayest dwell amongst us That thou wilt break the wicked Designes and dissolve the cursed Conspiracies of those that under Pretences of thy Name Cause and Glory violently prosecute their Pernicious Purposes for the satisfaction of their Ambition and Covetousness and the Introduction of Errours Heresies and all manner of Licentiousness into the Land to the Hazard of many thousand souls and the dishonour of thy Glorious Name That it will please Thee to heal the Breaches of thy own People and to establish these three Nations England Scotland and Ireland in Peace and Love upon the sure Foundations of Religion and Righteousness and crown them all with thy Loving-kindnesse and tender Mercies And to this End that thou wilt awaken the spirits of thy Saints from their security in an unsettled and distracted condition to a serious minding of the great Concernments of thy Church and People their own Souls and this sinful Nation That thou wilt be graciously pleased speedily to change the Perillous Times that are or may come upon thy people according to the Predictions of thy holy Prophets into those Glorious Times which thou hast raised the hearts of many of thy Saints in Expectations of by thy Precious Promises However be pleased to preserve thy People in times of Peril and Persecution and to carry them as on Eagles Wings by thy Spirit of Grace through all Difficulties and Dangers till thou shalt receive them up into thy Kingdome of Glory So shall we thy poore unworthy Subjects and Suppliants as in Duty bound celebrate thy Glorious Name with everlasting Praises The Names of the Petitioners are written in Heaven A PROPHECY OF PERILLOUS TIMES Open'd and Apply'd 2 TIM 3.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This know also that in the last dayes perillous times shall come The Introduction THe knowledge of the Times and Seasons is very useful for all men Without

the Devils who was and is GOD blessed for evermore Now sayes our Saviour * Mat. 10.24 25. The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the servant as his Lord if they have called the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold It 's our Honour who are the Ministers of the Gospel that the Lord hath made us not onely his Servants but the † 1 Cor. 4.1 Stewards of his House Seeing then the Master of the House hath undergone such reproaches from the vilest of men let not us think it strange if we be reviled and railed upon by men of the like spirit with the most Opprobrious Names of Dog and Devil Now what 's the designe of these Seducers herein but the bringing the Ministry of the Gospel into contempt that having by this meanes fasten'd many Prejudices in the mindes of the People against the Preachers of the Gospel they might the more easily draw them off from their Attendance upon the sound Doctrine by them deliver'd to the embracement of their owne Erroneous Opinions For as Saint Augustine well observes Heretici cum ipsam Divinae Scripturae Veritatem quae ubique disfusa Christi Ecclesia commendatur criminari obscurare non possunt homines per quos praedicatur adducunt in odium de quibus fingere quicquid in mentem venerit possunt * Aug. Ep. 137. ad Hipponen Hereticks when they can neither stain nor cloud the Sunne of SCRIPTURE-TRUTH which spreads its Beames throughout the Church of Christ and is accounted its glory endeavour by disgraces to darken the Stars by Reproaches to cast an Odium upon them by whom this Truth is preached For of them they can freely speak whatsoever their minde or malice can invent And this their Malice against the Ministers of the Gospel they manifest by persecuting them as Cain by Cursing them with Balaam by opposing and contradicting them by exalting themselves into their sacred Office as Corah And therefore sayes the Apostle Jude † Jude v. 11 Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward and perished in the Gain-saying of Core They are * ver 13. raging Waves of the Sea foming out their own shame For what are these vile reproaches which issue from their mouths but the fome of that cruel Rage which boyleth in their hearts They utter many hard speeches against the children of God and especially against the Ministers of the Gospel that oppose their damnable Doctrines and soul-destroying opinions They are Murmurers and Complainers of good Governours who restraine them and Flatterers and Admirers of wicked leaders who countenance and encourage them But their doome hath been declar'd long ago as appears by that most ancient Prophecy which the Apostle Jude mentions and applies to this very sort of Seducers For Enoch sayes he † Jude v. 14 15 16. the seventh from Adam prophecy'd of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoked against him These are Murmurers Complainers walking after their own lusts and their mouth speaketh great swelling words having mens Persons in Admiration because of advantage These snarling Sectaries are still quarrelling at the Doctrines of the Gospel deliver'd by the Ministers of Christ and crying up the wilde Notions of their own Braine in opposition thereunto For as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so sayes the Apostle Paul * 2 Tim. 3.8 do these also resist the TRUTH men of corrupt mindes reprobate or of no judgement † Marg. Gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the Faith Herein they are but the Devils Agents sent forth to oppose Christs Ambassadours For Diabolos Haereticos movet ut sub vocabulo Christiano Doctrinae resisterent Christianae * Aug. de civitate Dei l. 18. c. 51. Hereticks by the Instigation of the Devil do under the Name of Christians oppose the Name of Christ We read in the Book of Job † ch 1. v. 6. that when the Sonnes of God came to present themselves before the LORD Satan came also among them So when the children of God come to present themselves before the Lord in the Assemblies of his Saints to seek his Face in the Beauties of holinesse and to be instructed in his will revealed in his word these Agents of Satan will likewise sometimes come amongst them but 't is onely with this devilish Designe to make some opposition to the Ministers of the word and to subvert the Faith of the Hearers by some contradiction of the Doctrines of the Gospel by them deliver'd 'T was not then without cause that Saint Cyprian makes this complaint of them Ad nos saepe studio magis contradicendi quam vera discendi veniunt clamosis vocibus personantes malunt sua impudenter ingerere quam nostra patienter audi●e * Cyp. contra Demet. They often resort to us but 't is rather with a designe to contradict then a desire to learne the Truth which is taught them and then setting up their Note they make a fearful bauling and will needs impudently ur●e their own Opinions rather then patiently h●are our Instructions This Spirit of Contradiction had they but once power in their Hands would soon be turn'd into the Sword of Persecution Yea this very † Heb. 12.3 Contradiction of sinners is one kinde and degree of the Persecution of the Saints And therefore sayes Augustine Eos teneamus Interfectores Prophetarum quos contradictores invenerimus Linguis Prophetarum * Aug. l. 2. contra lit Petil. c. 14. Let us hold them to be the Persecutors that kill the Prophets whom we finde to be the persons that contradict their Prophecies These railing Apostates these slandering Seducers are by the Apostle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † 2 Tim. 3.3 DEVILS being indeed like to the●● great Master in that they are FALS●-ACCUSERS of the Brethren the children of God Doubtlesse Railing and Reviling is not the Language of the Spirit of God by which they pretend to speak Alas they know not what ●pirit they are of But we know 't is not the property of Sheep to bark and bite but of * Phil. 3.2 Dogs and † Act. 20.29 Wolves And by the names of these hurtful and cruel creatures we finde Seducers to be set forth in the Holy Scriptures When ever therefore in discourses of the Things of Heaven we heare from any man this Language of Hell we may well say * As Mat. 26.73 Surely thou also art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee There are two other Characters by