Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	people_n	3,792	5	4.4298	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19261	A white sheete, or A warning for whoremongers A sermon preached in the parish church of St. Swithins by London-stone, the 19. of Iuly, anno Domi: 1629. the day appointed by honorable authoritie, for penance to be done, by an inhabitant there, for fornication, continued more then two yeares, with his maide-seruant. By Richard Cooke B: of D: and parson there.	Cooke, Richard, 1574 or 5-1639.	1629 (1629)	STC 5676; ESTC S108659	25,390	52

A White Sheete OR A Warning for Whoremongers A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of St. Swithins by London-stone the 19. of Iuly Anno Domi 1629. the day appointed by Honorable authoritie for penance to be done by an Inhabitant there for fornication continued more then two yeares with his Maide-servant BY RICHARD COOKE B of D and Parson there Fornication and vncleanes let it not once be named amongst you as it becommeth Saints Ephes 5. 3. Fornicatio nulli impunè conce●itur August de conflict● vitior 〈…〉 vi●tutum LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Henry Overton and are to be sold at the entrance into Popes-head-Alley out of Lumbard-streete 1629. TO THE RIGHT VVORSIPFVLL AND HIS worthily respected friends Mr HVMFRY SMITH ALDERMAN M. William Essington M. Richard Glover M Richard Caswell M. Mathew Craddocke Common Counsell men of the Parish of St. Swithins and to the rest of my kind and loving neighbours there GRACE and GLORY RIght Worshipfull and the rest I little thought when I preached this Sermon the rude and undigested meditations of some few houres that it ever should haue gone further then where you found it God is my witnes I haue ever beene so conscious to my selfe of so much weakand disabilitie of making any thing of mine owne publicke that I haue ever held it true benè qui latuit benè vixit he liveth contentedly that liveth retiredly accounting my selfe happie enough if I could but giue content to them by my private labours by whom I liue and haue my meanes and maintenance From the Pulpit it is now come to the Presse and had not some of my good friends at home and other loving acquaintance abroad earnestly pressed and importuned me for the publication of it it had seene no Sun but being vnwiling to denie many a thing so reasonable and hoping it might be profitable for many and especially for him who that day was the cause of so great a concourse and conflux of people I haue adventured to present that vnto your hands and eyes which at the first I onely intended for your eares though mine hopes haue failed me and the successe I expected giue me but small incouragement or comfort in it You haue heard I perswade my selfe since I preached the Sermon how vildly and vncivilly I haue beene traduced by him the thing that I feared is fallen vpon me I could looke no better fruit from such à Crab Men doe not gather Grapes of Thornes nor Figs of Thistles Who can expect sweete water from an vnwholesome fountaine or a pleasing Odour from a stinking Dunghill but regium est malè audire and my comfort is the testimonie of mine owne conscience with mee and for mee that what then I did or spake was intended for his good both for his humiliation and for his comfort But as the best meates received into a foule stomack turne rather to corruption and putrifaction then vnto good and wholesome nutriment so is the word pabulum animae the food of our soules to feede us and fit us for the kingdome of heaven when it is entertained into a wicked heart The Bees sucke hony out of common and course flowers when Spiders and Toads gather nothing but payson out of the best and sweetest The word of God is alijs odor vitae ad vitam alijs odor mortis ad mortem as the Apostle tels us 2. Cor. 2. 16. unto some the savour of life unto life and unto others the savour of death unto death I am heartily sorry it wrought no kindlier or no better with him And as for my selfe whatsoever his basenes and unbefitting behaviour hath since beene unto mee I thanke God I can as easily contemne it as he obtrude it with Socrates answer onely as Laertius reports it who being reviled made no other answer nor was further moved at it but with benè loqui non didicit he had not yet learned to speake well I know his tongue is no slander why then should I be moved or discontented at any thing invented or vented by such a man Philip being told that the Graecians spake evill of him notwithstanding the much good hee had done them and therefore being sollicited to punish them for it mildly replyed what would they doe if I should doe them any hurt Ego verò sic vitam instituam ut nemo illis sit crediturus but I will so order my life that no man shall beleeue them what soever evill they shall speake of me I say no more for my selfe or of him but Father forgiue him and Lord lay not this sinne unto his charge What my life and conversation hath beene amongst you for now more then twentie and foure yeares you best know in whose eyes I haue ever lived who I presume will easily vindicate my reputation from all malevolent and scandalous aspersions I appeale vnto you all how vniustly and vndeservedly he hath defamed me I comfort my selfe with Davids answer to Abishai concerning Shemies rayling and reviling him Let him alone it may be the Lord will looke on mine affliction and that the Lord will doe mee good for his cursing this day 2 Sam. 16. 13. and I am confident of that truth of the wise man The curse that is causelesse shall not come Pro. 26. 2. We use to say they runne farre that never returne all were not called into the vineyard at the first houre of the day Some at the third some at the ninth and some at the eleventh Mat. 20. 3. c. I hope that this Prodigall may come home againe into himselfe and that by the goodnesse and mercie of God unto him in Christ hee may be more carefull of his owne salvation and conscionable of my good name and reputation which God grant The Lord knoweth that I neither thought nor meant him ill in all I said or did If I dealt plainely and and to purpose with him it was the good of his soule and the discharge of my conscience to God and men that I onely aimed at and if for this I shall be either evilly thought of or spoken of blame me not if I be a little moved pardon me this passion and pittie my disgrace and saue mee what you can from the lash of lewd and slandering tongues we are both sufficiently knowne vnto you and what our liues haue beene amongst you Iudge and spare not which of us two haue most offended I haue thus farre presumed of your loue and favour my kind and loving neighbours to dedicate these my poore and plaine labours unto you and unto none but you for unto whom should I or could I giue both my selfe and whatsoever that little that Christ enabling me I shall be able in the worke of my ministery next vnto God then unto you amongst whom for these many yeares I haue lived as comfortably and as contentedly I blesse God for it as any poore Minister in this Cittie I presume you will not deny the Patronage and protection of this

made one by anytie of matrimoniall coniunction such as was the sinne of Shechem with Dinah and of Zimri with Coshi The other kind of this vncleanesse is Adulterie which is a plaine a palpable breach of holy mariage The word adulterium some haue thought to haue beene derived of quasi ad alteram of comming to or accompanying with an other which I thinke is something short others better tell vs that adulterium is ad alterius thorum accessio the climing vp vnto the bed of another as y Aquinas defineth it to be the vnlawfull companying together of them that are coupled together such as was the sinne of Ruben David with Bathsheba and of Absalon with his Fathers concubines both which the Apostle tells vs God will iudge Secondly we haue them discovered by their nūber whoremōgers adulterers meaning not some one but all such speaking indefinitely generally in the plurall number aiming at every man mothers sonne God in cases of iustice being a God of pure eyes that can behold no iniquitie a God that taketh no pleasure in wickednes neither shall any evill dwell with him He is neither accepter of places nor persons He that gaue such a strickt charge to his delegates deputies not to countenance a poore man in his cause and charged them also not to haue respect of persons in Iudgement but to heare the small as well as the great and not to feare the face of men This God I say thus strict and punctuall in his precept vnto others that iustice might be caried in a right line and levell will not lay heauie burdens on other mens shoulders and not mooue them himselfe with one of his fingers but will be as impartiall against all sortes of sinners whose repentāce and humiliation after sinne committed comes not forth speedily to meete this God as Abigail did David or the inhabitants of Tyrus and Sidon to pacifie Herod displeased with them Let no vncleane person dreame of a dispensation in his sin I know God never hath nor will grāt any that is enough for Dominus Deus noster Papa of Rome as his base claw-backes and Sicophants blasphemously stile him God scorns to liue by so base and beastly rents commings in anima quae peccat morietur that soule that sinneth shall die The Lord will cut off head taile branches and rush in one day and if happily it should finde any favor with men which God fobid yet let it hope for none with God Gods purpose is otherwise if such mend not their maners for Whoremōgers c. The next thing to be handled and dispatched in the text is the Iudge before whom they should be tried and that is God for Whoremongers and Adulterers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God then shall be their Iudge truely termed and stiled by Abraham to be the Iudge of all the world shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right and surely so he is the only Lord chiefe Iustice of all the world riding no lesser or shorter circuit then the compasse of all the world Two wayes is God said to Iudge per se per suos by himselfe or by some others immediately or mediately vsually by both and in both together In taking vengeāce and inflicting punishment vpon offendors what or who is it that is not at his command readily and chearefully to be at his becke to doe his pleasure When God goes about the devastation and conflagration of Sodome and Gomorrha by the iudgement of hell out of heauen by raining downe fire and brimstone from the Lord out of Heaven God will be their Iudge but Gods Angels shal be his executioners When God intendes to coope vp that blasphemous mouth of Rabshekie and to take downe the pride and insolencie of his Master God will bring it to passe by an Angell and men Yea what creature is so meane despiseable or contemptible which God cannot quickly arme with strength and power enough to avenge the quarrell of God in the confusion destruction of the proudest offendors Lice frogs catterpillers out of the very dust and ashes of the earth can God muster vp an armie to fight against Pharaoh when he comes to plague him and his people By all which or by any of which whatsoever is effected these are but the instruments God is primus motor the especiall agent and mover God by these and in these bringing to passe his intended purposes and good pleasure in the punishments of such as shall dare to provoke him by sinning against him It is true that vsually most an end God hath put the power of punishing into the hands of subordinate authoritie of whom he hath said Dij estis yea are Gods by God appointed to take vengeance of them that doe evill yet whatsoever these doe in courts and causes of Iustice iustly and sincerely is Gods owne act it is hee that doth it these are the mouthes and hands of God from whom they speake and for whom they strike when offenders suffer If any shall aske why the Apostle tels vs that God naming none but God will haue the hearing and hādling of such fowle matters as these himselfe will sit in iudgement vpon whoremongers and adulterers I suppose that happily it might be for these severall causes and reasons First the church and people at this time being vnder persecution and dispersion they could haue no publique court of Iustice nor any law civill or Eclesiastick to punish this sinne or secondly if there were meanes for the suppressing of it yet it was not so stricktly looked after as was fitting as may appeare by that indulgencie which the incestuous person found in the Church and Congregation of Corinth But the chiefe and principall cause as I coniecture was in terrorem peccatorum for the greater terrifying of such offenders that al such filthy wretches and beastly livers might be assured that they could neither sinne so secretly but they should be discovered nor after sinne committed scape vnpunished if there were none that either would or could looke after them yet God himselfe would plague them for it for whoremongers and adulterers God c. Two things amongst many make the wicked bold and presumptuous to fal vpon any sinne with greedinesse Hope that their sinne shall not bee seene and secondly weakenesse in authoritie if found out and taken with it It often hapneth that as other sinners so Whoremongers and adulterers are so close and cunning in their vncleanesse that the most vigilant and observaut eye of authoritie can take no notice or knowledge of it it is a peece of the mistery of their iniquitie and a tricke in that blacke Art Si non castè tamen cautè if they can be but secret they thinke they are safe enough The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight and saith none eye shall see him and disguiseth his face