Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A19899
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[O Vtinam 1 For Queene Elizabeths securitie, 2 for hir subiects prosperitie, ...]
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Davies, John, Sir, 1569-1626.
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1591
(1591)
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STC 6328; ESTC S115194
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32,263
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99
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of the proud scattereth the imaginations of their heartes He that bruseth his enimies with a rod ofIron and breaketh them in peeces like a potters vessell Hee whose outstretched arme turneth the wheele of prouidence and keepeth all things in a wonderfull order He that did many wonders in the land of Egipt and shewed many mercies in the land of promise He that humbled Nabuchadnezar for all his pride plagued him right sore for all his tyrannie He that rained downe fire and brimstone vpon Sodom and Gomor and preserued Lot from the fierie storm He that saith ofhimselfe I am Alpha and Omega and hee that is father of all aboue all through all in all yea all in all and the same for euer He yea euen he it is O earth ashes whome thou doest prouoke by thy lewd inuentions and incense to wrath thy licentious liuing and carelesse securitie O crooked and peruerse generation doo yee make the merciful forbearance of so great a maiesty an occasion of sinne will you for that hee is full of long suffering and not as a mortall prince reuenge by death the least iniurie offred more and more offend him Will you for that the king prorogeth his greate session of parlement for your onlye good and gaine because hee woulde haue you repent and not die in your sinnes conclude there shall be no such session yes sure there shall or else the sonne of God is a liar which to thinke were in the highest degree most blasphemous c. Therefore omitting all that which might procure you to loue him where is become the natural care you haue to auoid punishment which might prouoke you to feare him if not as children yet as seruants or subiects Thinke you O ye obdurate Libertines that because GOD if you thinke there is a God is mercifull hee is not therfore iust O know ye athists his iustice is as great as his mercy and either of both as great as himselfe For as soon can he cease to be God as cease to be iust iustice and mercie are properties peculiar to him and deny them by your words and denie him as to your greater damnation you doo by your workes If this be true as moste damnable it were to doubte thereof what furie then so bewitcheth you that you can cast off all care yea and y t natural feare wherof the verie brute beastes are not depriued And with such greedy appetites from day to day seeke to fill vp the measure of your iniquity to the brim As though indeed there were no God or as though there were no future reckoning to be made As though you could keep your transgressions from his knowlege or as the eie maker did not or could not se your abhominations hee both knoweth them seeth them though with greef and will in the daie that you so doubte of least suspect pay you home with a vengeance if you preuent it not by your speedie repentance which daie thoughe it hath pleased him to delaie for the triall of his chosen yet for their sakes he will shorten it and hee that is comming will come and bring his reward with him Moste ioyfull to the godly but woful to the contrarie And therfore ye wanton worldlings whose eies doo as it were swell with fatnesse ofyour aboundance and surfet with all worldly delight call to mind your mortalitie abandon your iniquitie forsake your infidelitie and so remember Gods mercie that you forget not his iustice being his propertie which is a depth without bottom it glorifies the godly and confoundeth the wicked Trust not vnto thy riches and say not I haue inough for my life for it shall not help in the time of vengeance and indignation and say not I haue sinned and what euil hath come vnto me for the almightie is a patient rewarder for he will not leaue thee vnpunished Saie not the mercie of God is great hee will forgiue my manifold sinnes for mercie and wrath come from him and his indignation commeth downe vpon sinners make no long tarrieng to turne vnto the Lord and put not offfrom day to day for suddenlie shall the wrath of the Lord breake foorthe and in thy securitie thou shalte bee destroied and thou shalt perish in time of vengeance Sowe not vpon the furrowes of vnrighteousnes leaste thou reape them seuen fold Saie not with your selues our liues are short and tedious and in the death of a man is no recouerie neyther was any knowne that hath returned from the graue For we are borne at all aduenture and wee shall be heerafter as though we had neuer bin for the breath is a smoke in our nostrils the words as a sparke raised out of our harts Which being extinguished the bodie is returned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as the soft aire Our life shall passe awaie as the trace of a cloud and come to naught as the mist that is driuen awaie with the beames os the sunne and cast downe with the heate thereof Our name also shall be forgotten in time and no man shall haue our works in remembrance For our time is as a shadowe that passeth away and after our end there is no returning for it is fast sealed so that no man commeth againe Come therefore let vs enioye the pleasures that are present and let vs cheerefullie vse the creatures as in youth Let vsfill our selues with costlie wine and ointments and let not the flower of youthe passe by vs. Let vs crowne our selues with rose buddes afore they be withered Let vs all be partakers of our wantonnesse let vs leaue some token of our pleasure in euerie place for that is our portion and this is our lot Therefore let vs oppresse the poore that is righteous let vs not spare the widow nor reuerence the white heares of the aged O debate not on this wise with your selues but flie from euill and doo good for God regardeth thee deeds of euerie man Call to remembrance the perillous times wherein we liue and the vncerteintie oflife How neere Gods iudge ments if not his generall iudgement approcheth vs. If we with a sound discretion consider it we shall find great cause to feare it and prepare our selues to preueut it Our liues as by hourlie experience wee proue hangeth by a slender twine by reason of our mortalitie incident to al men generallie But our liues hangeth by a weaker twine incident to vs in England as our case now standeth especiallie Which are compulsionsforcible inough to draw reasonable men to integrity of life and holy conuersation Yet fareth it with vs as with senselesse pictures that haue eies and see not eares and heare not heads and conceiue not the iminent dangers hanging ouer our heads We harden our harts with Pharao against the God of Israel they are not touched with threates nor terrified with torments till they be inflicted vpon vs as now they are too too neare vs. Now
to minde gentle Reader the tyrannicall persecutions and cruell martyrdomes perpetrated in the bloudie and pitilesse raigne of Queene Marie imagine withall thou seest as then to the griefe of many thousandes was seene the tormenting furnace of Nabuchadnezer glowing hote scorching and consuming the fleshe and bones of Christes deere saintes and blessed martirs For professing y e trueth ofhis Gospell Imagine thou hearest and seest though to thy small edification or profite the administration of his blessed word and sacramentes in a toong to thee vnknown Imagine thou seest deuine honour and spirituall adoration performed to stocks and stones and other sencelesse shadowes and thou on paine of death compelled to performe the like Imagine yet further thou seest thy Christ robbed and dispoiled ofhis honour to be geuen vnto saintes and other his creatures thou not onely to be in danger of life but to be excommunicated and held accursed if thou doo not participate of this blasphemous impietie and when thou hast called to thy remembrance these and thousandes such like extremities then compare that time of tyrannie with this sweete time of mercy and thou wilt bee constrained to say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people hath raised vs vp a Queene by and vnder whose godly and gratious gouernment we may serue him without feare in true holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the daies of our life And therefore let all true Israelites praie for hir from whome as from the instrumentall cause these manifolde benefites and irrecompensible blessinges are deuolued to vs. Let vs not not with Isops frogs growe wearye of hir gentlenesse least Ioue in requitall of our great ingratitude send the stork to deuoure vs. No man hath managed the charge of any one priuate household more duly orderly then since the beginning of hir reigne she hath doone this populous kingdome Therefore O England let thy yoong men and maides old men and babes thy beasts and cattell thy fish foule thy mountaines and hils thy riuers welles thy plants and trees thy corne and grasse thy fieldes and meades thy citties and townes thy woodes and groues thy downes and dales each in their kinds laude and praise the Lord for giuing vs such a Queene in and by whom we are so happy for thrugh whome we are blessed and in whom as in a streame of Maiestie and princely magnanimity all the gifts and graces which God bestoweth vpon the children of men doo swim and to his praise and hir perpetuall renown with out fault or imperfection doo superabound O but some will saie if so they durst Sir you are too too extreame in hir commendation you infringe the bounds of trueth whereby it seemeth you aime at hir fauour by the leuell of flatterie Shee is not so endowed with giftes and graces as you vainlie and most vntruely affirme Neither is she so faultlesse and praiseworthie as you make hir Indeed did not hir deserts merite my praises my flatterie were too too palpable but beeing no more then hir proper right the repetition thereof I know is vtterly repugnant to hir pleasure and therefore they are deceiued whiche imagine that I poore snake and contemptible worm aime at so high a marke with so grosse a shaft But for that which first I did attribute vnto hir besides hir zealous forwardnesse in the execution of Gods will and the matter of hir and our soules welfare hir exact knowledge of the toongs hir deepe sight in the sciences hir quicke capacitie hir swift vnderstanding hir mercie to offenders hir care of hir subiectes and hir peaceable regiment doo plainely manifest All whiche and manie other such like as inuincible arguments doo proue mine assertion To the second be it graunted that she is not vtterly faultlesse and therefore not vtterly blamelesse I replie she is though a most gratious Queene as I said a mortall creature framed of the same substance that we be and therefore subiect to those passions and infirmities that we are But so was Dauid of whome GOD saide I haue chosen a man according to mine own heart euen Dauid my seruaunt yet whether he were faultlesse or no his owne wordes doo manifest when hee saide The woundes in my soule doo fester and stincke euen thorough my owne faultes and offences and againe Turne thy face O Lord awaie from my sinnes and blot out all my misdeedes and againe My sinnes are more in number than the haires of mine head And again I acknowledge my faultes and my sinnes are euer before me and they thrust me down euen as an intollerable burden but if thou wouldest know wherein he offended the holy Ghost will resolue thee in the second booke of Samuel and the 11. chapter And letting passe all the holy kings and prophets mentioned in the old Testament y t acknowledged their infirmities and yet God tendered as the apple of his eye come we to sainct Paul who although he were no king yet was he a blessed Apostle and had the spirit of God in great measure yet said he ofhimselfe as his owne Epistle to the Romains testifieth The good that I would doo that doo I not But the euil that I hate that doo I. If then it appeareth by these and such like vndoubted testimo nies that mankind vnder heauen are sold vnder sin who can then be so malitious to entwite hir maiestywith that which is proper to all in generall Neither can she be touched with any blot of infamie other then that which is incident to the most vprightest liuers If this be true as what man liueth findeth not the same so tobe O then ye priuie whisperers and secret backebiters whose toongs are as the stinges of Scorpions full of deadly poyson cease to sting hir whom youshal neuer hurt or haue power to defame though like vnnaturall paracides you seeke it with all greedinesse and as by hir gratious gouernment you breath haue your being so acknowledge it and be not such vngratefull monsters as to render hir euill for good but requite hir louing kindnes with thankfulnes hir princely beneficence withall dutifull obedience Think reuerently ofhir for Gods sake and in respect of the great perils she still sustaineth for our sakes for the paines she taketh for our onelie profite and for the waightie charge imposed vppon hir and if as one wise man saith the cares that attendeth a crown were duely considered it is not worth the taking vp if wee found it in the streetes then what a worthlesse iewell hath she ofhir crown in respect ofhir cares no one can expresse them saue shee that hath them and for our sakes doo indure them Therefore maligne hir not by worde nor thought But wish hir well and saie Good lucke haue you O gratious Queene with your honor according to the great renowme wherewith the king ofkings hath ennobled you Peace and prosperitie be vnto them that loue you but confusion of face