Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	will_n	3,297	5	6.8462	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42472	A faithfull and faire warning humbly presented to the knights, gentlemen, clergie-men, yeomen, and other the inhabitants of the county of Suffolke ... / by Lionel Gatford ...; Faithfull and faire warning	Gatford, Lionel, d. 1665.	1648 (1648)	Wing G333A; ESTC R13983	55,462	60

Worthies in it their Enemies should prevaile over them to their and this whole Kingdomes further weltering in blood must not their and the rest of the blood of this Kingdome be charged upon your score When as if you had but sat still and not in gaged against them as you were by many bonds never to be cancellod obliged to doe there had not beene in all probalitie at this time any Enemies to Peace or thirsters after Blood that durst to have showne themselves so throughout the whole Nation And therefore what will God say or doe unto you when he comes to make inquisition for blood to avenge it This is the bloody Countie that had Peace layd at their feet and trampled on it that had Peace brought home to their doores and not onely shut it out but called to bloodie Warre to enter in that had many thousands of their fellow Brethren and Neighbours that would have ventured their lives to have preserved them in Peace and they chose rather to lose many of their owne lives to take away some of theirs They loved not Peace therefore it shall be farre from them they delighted in Warre therefore shall it cleave close to them and they thirsted for blood therefore shall they be drunke with their owne blood Doe not thinke that I speake more in Gods Name then I have warrant from Gods Word for though ye have bin too long used so and abused by such lying Prophets Search the Scriptures and observe from thence what God speakes of the shedding of blood and you 'l find that I speak very sparingly as having regard to your infirmities For there God tells you That shedding of blood is one of those crying sinnes which makes a land to mourne and every one that dwelleth therein to languish Hos. 4. v. 2. 3. That blood defileth the land● and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein or there can be no expiation for the Land but by the blood of him that shed it and that If a people would have God to dwell among them they must not so defile the land which they inhabit Numb. 35. v. 33. 34. That the shedding of innocent blood is such a sinne that of all other horrid sinnes the Lord will not pardon 2 King 24. v. 4. And therefore no satis●action was to be taken for the life of a murtherer which was guiltie of death but he was to be surely put to death Numb. 35. v. 31. with a multitude of other sayings on that subject that are to be trembled at by the Rebellious Subjects of this Kingdome 'T is true if a man killed any person unawares there were Cities of refuge appointed by God for such a one to flye unto from the avenger of blood but Oh my poore Countrey-men what Cities of refuge can ye fancie to your selves who wilfully murther your brethren And what lesse can the King say of you then this or to this effect The Countie of Suffolke 't is the most Rebellious Countie of all my Dominions For when one of my Kingdomes moved not against me when a second rose up for me and when the third Petitioned for me from almost all parts and tooke up Armes for me in most parts they of Suffolke neither Petitioned for me nor moved for me but rose up against me and when Rebellion was expiring its last poysonous breath they hazarded their owne lives to prolong its life and to preserve the lives of those Rebells that seeke nothing more then to take away mine When thousands of my Loyall Subjects were indeavouring to fetch me out of my Cruell Bondage and Imprisonment then they helpt to besiege and imprison to kill murther those very Subjects and when others with them were making what haste they could to set my Crowne againe firme on my head and to restore me againe to those Rights Honours and Comforts which I was wont to injoy they did what they could to throw my Crowne back againe to the ground and to keepe mine Honour still in the dust and me from all hopes of enjoying any Rights or externall Comforts here in this life Thus have they indeavoured to continue and adde to my Miseries who have therefore indured such Miseries in such Extremities because I would not yeeld to the delivering up of them amongst others to extreme Slavery and Tyranny Thus have they not onely fought against me without a cause but for the love that I had unto them they take now my contrarie part and have rewarded me evill for good and hatred for my good will But I give my selfe unto Prayer Stirre up thy selfe and awake to my judgement even unto my Cause my God and my Lord Judge me O Lord according to thy righteousnesse and let them not rejoyce over me Let them not say in their hearts Ah so would we have it Let them not say We have swallowed him up Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoyce at my hurt Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnifie themselves against me Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous Cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperitie of his servant and my tongue shall speake of thy righteousnesse and of thy prayse all the day long Amen Amen But what then will all the other Counties of England say of you O bewitched besotted Countie of Suffolke They that had lived in peace and plentie all these times when in the most Counties of this Kingdomes like those Territories spoken of by Azariah 2 Chron. 15. there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the Countries and Countries was destroyed of Countrey Citie of Citie and that might still have enjoyed those mercies themselves and have bin the happie instruments of restoring the like mercies to their Brethren in other afflicted distressed Counties They even they have pulled Warre and all the miseries and calamities that attend it upon themselves and have prolonged and increased the afflictions and distresses of other Counties They who were formerly honoured with that Eulogie of being alwayes forward in promoting the Gospel and had now an oportunitie offered them of being the preservers and deliverers of the Gospel from such blasphemous hereticall Antichristian reproachers opposers and impugners thereof as scarce any Nation since the promulgation of the Gospel were ever invested with the like They and few others but they at that time have joyned in a Confederacie with those reproachers opposers and impugners of the Gospel against those who indeavoured with their lives and estates the vindicating and re-establishing of it They that had bin informed beyond further questioning and assured beyond all doubting of the horrid Plots Conspiracies and resolved Designes of that Armie called the Parliaments and their abettors against the Libertie and Life of their Religion

therefore that other must needs be so cruell and uncharitable as never to forgive me that wickednes Why Though God did leave thee to thy self and so thou through want of Grace didst deal most injuriously and wi●kedly with another yet thou canst not without injury to the Spirit of God conclude that therefore he will also leave that other so to himselfe as that he shall revenge hi● sel●e on thee The King is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill And therefore having done that which is evill yea most abominable evill thou hast cause to be afraid as the Apostle there argues But withall as thou art there told he is also a minister of God to thee for thy good and therefore if thou wouldst not be afraid of the power doe that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same Cease to doe evil and learn to doe good break off thy Rebellion and return to thy Allegiance and thou shalt finde that the King will be to thee not a revenger to execute wrath upon thee for thy evill because that thou hast forsaken and abhorrest thy self for it but a gracious receiver of thee to mercy because thou art returned to thy dutie and art resolved to persevere in that dutie for the King knows well that mercy as well as truth preserves a King and his throne is upholden by mercy But suppose the King were not so eminently inclined to mercy and forgivenesse as he is Remember what he tels you who was a King himselfe The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he will and therefore doe but you turn to the Lord and to your duty and you need not feare but the Lord will turne the Kings heart to you for your good They that despaire of Gods shewing them so much mercy upon their repenting of their iniquity as to turne the Kings heart to them so as to remit unto them what they have deserved to suffer temporally how can they hope for so much greater mercy from God as that his own heart should be so turned within him as the Prophets expression is as to remit to them what they have deserved to suffer eternally if they despaire of Gods mercy in the lesser degree how can they hope for his mercy in the greater God does t is confessed oftentimes chastise and afflict and so make use of men as his instruments for that purpose temporally those whose sinnes he pardones and forgives eternally As Daniel Job c. But then they are not such as despaire of finding mercy in a temporall deliverance but such as hope for mercy in a deliverance temporall if God see it good for them and waite in faith and patience Gods will and pleasure in it Gods mercy is infinitely greater then mans and so the cruelty of men may be feared where the mercy of God is hoped for and relied on but that feare where t is as it should be does not banish the hope of deliverance from that crueltie that is most feared David chose rather to fall into the hand of God because his mercies are great then into the hand of man That is when David had sinned and had his choyse of temporall iudgements for that sin offered him by God he chose rather to have a temporall judgement of Gods more immediate inflicting by his owne hand such as the plague is then a temporall judgement inflicted by the hand of man such as the sleeing before enemies and being pursued by them is and yet by the way when David did at any time as he did often fall into the hand of man he never dispaired of deliverance from that hand but on the contrary patiently waited for it and confidently expected it But David did not chuse so to fall into the hand of God rather than the hand of man as to adventure to doe any thing which was displeasing to God and so to run the hazard of his punishing him either with temporall or eternall judgements rather then to venture the displeasing of man and so to suffer what he could lay on him which is the case of too m●ny in these dayes No David knew well what I beseech you all to consider that in that sense t is a fearefull thing to fall into hands of the living God infinitely more fearefull then to fall into the hands of the most cruell of men To descend yet lower for men in dispaire descend very low and he that would lend them his hand to recover them must follow them close Let it be supposed as I am confident t is yet but a supposition that the abu●●d mercy and ●lemency of the King should be turned into the extremity of rigo● severity and being injured by thee beyond expression he should exccute vengeance on thee beyond moderation T is acknowledged that he that is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill may himselfe doe evill and pull Gods wrath upon himselfe By his executing wrath upon another for he may sooe ●…termixe too much of ●is owne wrath with it but if he should thou must willingly submit to the execution thereof and leave the sinne of his executing it to himselfe to answer for and him to God to be called to that answer But t is a crime to be abominated by all men upon feare of anothers punishing thee otherwise then thou wouldest or perhaps then he should for thy wickednesse already committed to proceed on therefore in thy wickednesse and to adde to it the just desert of greater punishment for the preventing as thou thinkest that punishment which is too great Vengeance is the Lords and he will repay recompence every one according to their deeds if not by one revenger or executioner of his wrath to bee sure by another and the suffering patiently by the hand of him whom thou hast injured though his hand should be heavy may not only be a quieting to thy conscience in giving such satisfaction to the person himselfe wronged and to the Law but it may be also such an acceptable satisfaction to divine Justice it selfe through him that hath otherwise fully satisfyed it that no f●…r satisfaction shall be required of thee for those injuries thou having made such satisfaction to him unto whom thou didst them And let this s●…ce in answer to the distrust of the Kings 〈◊〉 I have but a few words to adde concerning the Kings Party who are by divers more distrusted then the King and then I close up this first Consideration How the Kings loyal and faithful Subjects who in obedience to Gods command and in conscience of that duty in fidelity to the established Religion of the Church of England in testimony of that fidelity in love to their Soveraignes supereminent Graces and vertues and in gratitude to God and him for his exercising them in his regall and Christian goverment of them