Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A25201
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A sermon preached at the assizes held at Leicester for that county on the twenty third day of March, 1681/2 by Nathaniel Alsop.
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Alsop, Nathaniel.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing A2904; ESTC R23629
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20,188
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36
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are sacred also and not to be invaded so long as there shall be any Reverence had to Law or Justice among us we must dissolve this Order or sin our selves out of the Protection of the Government before we can be miserable unless with Jeshurun growing fat and pampered we shall run headstrong down the Precipice of Ruine nothing else can bring it upon us Nay we seem so free from any present Grievance that we must call in imagination to help us to anticipate Misery and be astonisht at a dreadful painted Scene which only our affected Fears and Jealousies represent unto us And next unto Almighty God we must render unto his Majesty the Honour due unto him in all the fore-mentioned Instances of the Duty for our Peace and Plenty for our Shelter and Protection from Foreign Enemies and for the wise diversion of the sad Effects of our own Animosities for the repeated assurances of maintaining the Protestant Religion which should be dearer to us than our Lives for the continuance of His Clemency and Paternal Care over this our Reformed Church which renders her equally the Envy of Papists and Dissenters but a Sanctuary unto all such as flee unto her with any sober Persuasions of Religion And where now are our Returns for these Blessings for which the very Heathens would have been building of Altars and preparing Sacrifices upon like occasion Whither is our Love and Reverence of Authority fled or lost among us O my Country-men where is that Old-English Loyalty for which this Nation hath been of old so deservedly renowned Alas the New Plantation seems at length to return the Pest back again upon us that was formerly the Sink and Drain into which the noxious Humours of our State were wont to be discharged and now I know not by what Infatuation we seem to be fond of and willing to cherish them in our own Body as if These could be any Defence to the Protestant Cause which are the profest Enemies of the best Protestant Church upon Earth and if ever the Peace and Settlement of our Israel chance to be disturb'd it will be in all Humane Probability by an Eruption from the Confluence of These when ever they shall be ripe for Mischief Nay the fresh Experience of our Sister-Kingdom of Scotland puts it out of question But blessed be God the Wisdom and Vigilance of our State is awake and sufficiently apprehensive from what Quarter the Danger threatens and it 's hoped the whole Nation will be sensible for what these Coals of Fire are kept alive and glowing hot within her Bowels meerly by those various Winds of Doctrine which blow from the Caverns of Schismatical Conventicles To these it is our Nation ows her Lankness and Ill-thriving under the plenteous Means of Grace and Goodness and without Gods extraordinary abundant and overflowing Mercy it 's morally impossible that the Regular Ministry of the Gospel should have any the least considerable Success upon the Souls of Men among us under such strong Prejudices whilst the strange Fires of Nadab blazing upon unhallow'd Altars shall dazzle and misguide the Weak and the Wilful be suffered to persist in the Contradiction of Corah If that Paper-Draught and Scheam of an Association which was lately brought to light be justly thought worthy of the Abhorrence and Detestation of every Loyal Heart and Hand you will not spare those Assemblies of Schism those Garrisons of Sedition which are but so many little Models and brief Essays of the Association in act Neither your Peace nor Religion are consistent with them Our Princes Power in Ecclesiasticals after the Example of the Religious Kings of Judah is one main Article of our Reformation and what a mighty Influence this hath upon our Civil Vnion no Considering Man can doubt both which are twice contradicted and everthrown first by the Fact it self of Assembling so notorious and daring in contempt of Authority and next by those Seditious Doctrines which are but too frequently disseminated among them Nay if Pregnant Causes should not sometimes miscarry in their Productions of evil as well as good Effects such Practices as these so scandalous to Christianity persisted in and vouched for with the Pretences of Conscience and Religion were enough to make the Names of Conscience and Religion to stink upon the Earth As often as the Language of the prostitute Press and Common Places of Conversation shall be undutiful and reflecting upon Authority that only argues an ordinary itchy contagious Evil running upon the Vulgar but when the Greatest and Justest Power upon Earth shall be confronted with a pretended Commission from Heaven and a Publick Exercise of Worship set up in opposition to that which with the greatest Wisdom and deliberation is establish'd and Conscience brought to vouch for one which is the strictest Tie and Obligation to the other this shews a Diabolical Contrivance to sham Religion and make her turn the Point back and stab her self Yet this and many other Distempers we labour under would meet a speedy Remedy were we persuaded to put the Duty of my Text into practice A setled Reverence for Authority would breed an Affection to the Persons of our Governours and that would produce a Trust and Confidence in the Publick Management and this would be a means to banish those ill-boading Jealousies and sinister Interpretations which are put upon every Occurrence and perhaps is the worst Symptom of our Misery And can there be any thing more equitable than what is now recommended unto us to pay that Tribute of Honour to our Supreme Civil Parent which is exacted and not denied in all other Relations whatever The Master of a Family will not suffer his Power of ordering the Affairs of his own House to be disputed or encroach'd upon by any other and if it be the Lord of a petty Mannor how absolute will he expect to be in his little Territories What a rigid Account shall be exacted of those By-Laws which his Worship shall dictate and sometimes shall vaunt it more with that one molted Feather of the Crown and look for more Observance than what himself will pay to the Sacred Head which wears the Diadem One should think the very Love and Sense of Duty towards our Natural Lord and Sovereign should be as prevalent at least with us as the Dread and Terror of a cruel Usurper And shall this depress us to the basest degrees of Servility and the other not enlarge our Souls with great Propensions to Honour and Obedience But perhaps there is nothing will make us altogether Christians in this great Branch of Christianity but the proper Motives of Religion and therefore after the Equity of the thing let us next consider what Godliness there is in it And here we shall find such a strict Alliance betwixt the Fear of God and the Honour of the King that in Holy Scripture they are commonly joyned together and in Practice can never be divided The Name of Piety is