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
A29619	A single and general voice lifted up like a trumpet, sounding forth the Lords controversie concerning London, with her governors, priests, and citizens that walk in the manners, customs, and way of the heathen, that know not the dreadful God who is Light among them, neither like to retain God ... with somewhat directed to the ear of Thomas Atkin, called alderman of the said city : a reproof to his perverse and ungodly proceedings, message, and two letters ... also a letter from a servant of God in the said prison to Thomas Allen, Mayor of the city ... / by Daniel Baker.	D. B. (Daniel Baker), fl. 1650-1660.	1659 (1659)	Wing B485; ESTC R32851	25,174	40

done in the body be condemned or justified as is the ground and nature by which they are conceived and brought forth these are the true sayings of the sure word of prophesie that gave forth the Scriptures of Truth he that can believe and receive it without offence let him The Coppy of Thomas Atkin his Letter is as followeth DAniel Baker I saw you at my Lord Mayors gate upon the twenty ninth day of October last being the first day when he came from Westminster you were in a wild posture more like a mad man then a sober person you were then advised to return to your house but you still continued there in drawing a great concourse of people about you to the great disturbance of the peace of this City drawing Cut-purses and Pick-pokets about you a fit time for such persons to commit Robbery you were then deservedly carried to the Counter by force by Porters as I am informed who were paid for their pains taken about you if you had gone willingly you should not have been drag'd thither A Friend of yours desired me to discharge you to that end I sent for you to come unto me intending to have admonished you to make no such disturbance for the future and then to have discharged you but you writ me a Letter and sent me word by your Keeper that you would be dragged out as you were carried in this is false and if that be your mind when you desire your Liberty get a keeper to bring you to me and I shall give a discharge in the mean time if you want any fitting accommodation in the Counter it is your own fault I pitty your condition the Lord open your eyes and so I Rest Leaden-hall street London the 18 of Nov. 1659. Your well-wishing Friend THOMAS ATKIN Friend I have received thy Letter and I did not tear it to pieces after I read it as thou didst mine But how is it thou art so dark and blind though thou saw me at thy Lord Mayors gate Why could not thou see to do justice and relieve the oppressed within and without and cease from pevishnesse and perversnesse madnesse and folly for it is high time for thee to learn moderation and sobriety and cease from false accusing the Lords Servant whom thou say appeared more like a mad man then a sober person in a wilde posture know thou that the Servant is not above his Lord of whom such as crucified him said he is mad and hath a Devil and if they called the Master of the house Belzebub how much more them of his houshold and however I appeared to thee know it was the Lords Truth and Testimony I declared that season against your abominations I spake the words of Truth and sobernes as any moderate men may read in a Book Tituled A certain Warning which is fulfilling and is to be fulfilled upon the heads of such as are with thee in thy Life and Nature Thou say I was advised that day to return to my house I say it becomes not a Ruler to hearken to or to speak a lie which I turn back upon thy head for I heard none speak such words to me and forasmuch as thou say I continued there drawing a great concourse of people about me drawing Cut-purses and Pick-pockets about me and thou say a fit time for such persons to commit a robbery then I say such vile transgressors are beholding to the early Rulers that occasion so fit opportunities so frequently more especially in the wicked City London of all Cities and Towns throughout the Nations and I say how is it that thou art so dark and sottish that thou can lay such a charge upon me as the cause of such transgressors or concourse of people gathering together Behold I tell thee this filth is not to lie upon the head of the Innocent but to be turned back upon the head of the transgresser from whence it came and art not thou together with many more of the earthly Rulers Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of this wicked City inexcuseable herein let the Lords witnesse in all sober peoples consciences judge of this matter And if such a small number of persons gathered together at the Mayors gate were a fit time for Cut-purses and Pick-pockets to commit robbery I query how fit and large opportunities have they so frequently given them by the Rulers of the earth which forget Justice and Judgement as thou have done and to relief the oppressed and rather exalt folly and vanity and heathenish customes which captivates the minds of people out of Gods fear at such seasons when the Mayor Aldermen and great Earthly wise men that have lost the key of knowledge the oppressing Lawyers and Rabbies with their folly and vanity and heathenish customs and idolatrous abominations with them is carried through the open streets of the wicked City when so many thousands of people are gathered together to see the Beast that carries the Whore arise out of the troubled Sea and to behold your vanitie and wicked folly and dark inventions and vain glory and excesse which you wast and consume upon your lusts which war against your souls when so many poor widdows and fatherlesse halt blind and lame creeples so plentifully lye crying and lamenting up and down your streets and Mass-house doors and corners of Allies for want of bread food and rayment and honest employments to be set at work at them that can work The Lord God will assuredly account with you for these things and for his Creatures which you so greedily waste and consume upon your ungodly lusts and thou say I was deservedly carried to the Counter by force by Porters and what is my crime thou charge me with both in the Mittimus and thy Letter to me viz. I occasioned a great Tumult of people to be gathered together drawing a great concourse of people of Cut-purses and Pick-pockets about you say thou to me But heark Friend hast thou a Law for such Crimes or is this of thy own making Now if there be such a Law in force to be equally ministred or executed upon all without respect of persons which is but reasonable and all Laws should be grounded upon pure Reason that occasion great Tumults of people to be gathered together amongst whom doubtlesse may be transgressors of all sorts such as the Priests keep ever learning what to say but do not like themselves Then what will become of all the earthly wise men of London what must they not all deservedly be carried to prison I may appeal to the chief Authority in the Nation and if the Lords faithful and true witnesse in their Consciences will condemne me Lo I submit but who occasioned any or the greatest tumult or coucourse of people to gather together whether the Rulers and wise men of London in exalting their folly vanity and vain glory which the everlasting God will stain and bring to contempt or I that in the fear and power

of the Lord speak a few words of Truth and Sobernesse a Testimony against your Heathenish Customs and wicked actions which if Turks and Infidels were here to behold you no doubt but they would abhor and detest and defie you and your vain Religion rather then to be won to the faith of Gods Elect by such stinking and unsavoury examples to the shame of your dark teachers and bruitish pastors And the Lord is a pleading with the Inhabitants of the Earth because of their mighty sins and whorish hypocritical coverings and inventions of the Whore of the Beast and of the man of Sin together with the Witchcraft and Sorceries of the Mother of Harlots the well-favoured Harlot that hath so besotted and made the Kings and Rulers of the Earth even of all Nations of the Earth drunk with the Wine of her Fornication all Tables are full of Vomit wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth Moreover thou say if I had gone willingly I had not been dragged to Prison what is thy Conscience seared art thou altogether impenitent O man and thou I perceive dost rather countenance and strengthen the hands of evil doers that offer and do violence in a bruitish manner by buffeting and dragging the guiltlesse and innocent to Prison to which place I was forced I knowing assuredly by the Testimony of the Lord God within me that I was innocent in his sight and a prison I deserved not and had thou been a man of God thou might have savoured and seen so much also and therefore not willing to go or subject to the corrupt will of vain man but was therefore as a Sheep to the slaugter drove dragged and carried where I should not have been and this in the day when the Lords hand visits from which thou cannot fly nor hide will lie heavy upon thy conscience in the mean time I leave it to the witness in thee Again thou speaks in thy Letter thou sent for me to admonish me but thou being found a transgressor thy self art not fit to admonish another but to be threshed and admonished thy self and then to have discharged me thou say secretly when as I was so openly dragged as a great offender to Prison and thou may know that my words are fulfilled upon thy head viz. thou hast forgot to do Justice and Judgement in as much as thou sent not for me before the Judgement Seat where I ought to be tryed openly as I was cast into Prison openly and if I am found a Transgressor of any Law either of God or man Lo I refuse not to suffer or to die And moreover thou said thus you writ me a Letter and sent me word by your Keeper that you would be dragged out as you were dragged in I answer this is false I said not so but I told thy messenger and the Keeper if thou sent for me as I was cast into Prison that I was in their hands they may do as they were commanded but know thou that he that neither slumbers nor sleeps is my keeper though this vessel suffer under thy corrupt will and I was not willing to be dragged to Prison neither to be dragged out and thou did write me word saying if that be your mind when you desire your liberty get a Keeper to bring you to me and I shall give you a discharge Know thou that my mind is become subject to the Higher Power the light that is higher then the power of darknesse and behold I demand my liberty with boldness as my proper right for I have deserved no bonds for the pretious truth of God is on my side as a Friend and Servant of the Lord and so a true Christian and as I am a free-born English-man in this land of my nativity and as I have served my generation and moreover dearly purchased by the shedding of my blood and shattering of my bones not onely in my own behalf as I am a Christian an English-man a Free-born Member of this Nation but in the behalf of all the Free-born Inhabitants of this Land and thou also hast a share in what I and many more have jeoparded our Lives and Estates to purchase and what art thou found without Natural affection who also say after thou have thus cruelly executed thy enmity against me by casting me into prison if you want any thing it is your own fault and say thus I pitty your condition the Lord open your eyes But I know the Lord heareth not Sinners he who was born blind and had his eyes opened by the Light Christ said such words and how dost thou pitty me if I have of my own I need not want or it is my own fault thou say then it is like I may perish for all thy pitty and the tender mercies of the wicked is cruelty saith the wise man but know thou that if my outward man perish in this noysome hole of a prison that my blood will lie heavy upon thy conscience more especially and many more may feel the weight of it also if so and the Lord whom I serve I know then will require it at thy hand therefore see thou to it for so far have I cleared my Conscience and I can truly say I rest in peace but I know thou spake not truth in saying so in thy Letter for the Lords Eternal and Faithful witnesse in thy Conscience speaks not peace to thee and so thou cannot rest and the Scripture saith the wicked are like the troubled Sea that cannot rest but cast or foam up mire and dirt and sober people may favour the dirty stuff and corrupt fruit thou bears and brings forth therefore it is needful thou repent of this thy wickednesse and bring forth fruits meet for repentance least thou die in thy sins and if they were to depart into everlasting flames or unquenchable fire that visited not Christs little ones sick and in prison what thinks thou will be their portion that not onely cast them in but speaks all manner of evil against them let this remain with thee and many more of thy brethren the persecuting Rulers of England the Lord lay it not to the charge of them who simply know not what they do Father forgive them And how can you be clear and not guilty of all the Robberies committed at such a fit time as Thomas Atkin calls it hurt to the Creatures and of wasting and devouring the Creatures and the Creation thus upon your ungodly lusts time after time by which you tempt and and provoke the eternal Spirit of the Lord God to smite you and to give you up to the deceit and excesse of your own hearts lusts May not the Cut-purses Pick-pokets and evil doers say and rejoyce in the strength of their wicked hearts with such gladnesse that they have such fit opportunitiies so frequently given them by the Governours Magistrates and earthly great men that should be more wise and be good sober sound savoury examples to all and a terrour

to evil doers and can you I say be clear of the same crimes that you will judge and condemn such vile Transgressors for be wise therefore and consider and remove the cause of such fit opportunities or times as Thomas Atkins calls them Now forasmuch as people that suffer in any degree at such seasons may say if the Rulers and Magistrates did cease to proceed in their heathenish Idolatrous Abominations and vain glory by which the Lord God is so highly dishonoured tempted and provoked from time to time by which also many thousands of people gather together to gaze at folly and wickednesse and run greedily into the excesse pride vanity pleasures and hurtful lusts of the flesh that war against the Lambs Spirit and neglect their honest imployments we should not thus suffer in any degree when the fit time as thou calls it or I say rather wicked and vain opportunities be removed and taken away And this I may say to clear my Conscience on the Lords behalf and I know it of a truth had not the Spirit of the most high been opprest vexed and grieved with the long continuance of your wicked heathenish actions doubtlesse the Lord had not at any time sent any of his Messengers to testifie against and reprove you and to lay before you your mighty sins and to cry aloud and lift up their voices like Trumpets though they be looked upon or esteemed by the unwise as mad men contrary to all men for reproving you for your folly vanity and wickednesse did it not thus abound in all Streets through the Nation as the upright in heart feel something of the weight of your wickednesse and great abominations and the everlasting God will plead with his Righteous Judgement with you for a sword is to passe through your Land Oh ye stiff-necked Generation for these things and except you repent and depart from evil by the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of Wisdome the Light of the World whose light is in every one of your Consciences and with it you bring forth fruit meet for repentance unto life as sure as the Lord God hath given you breath you shall die in your sins and this is love to thy soul among the rest that lyeth under the bondage of corruption What I have suffered since I came into Prison is unexpressible because of sin sinful men ungodlinesse blasphemy and prophanenesse that abounds which with my pretious life from time to time I have Testified against because of which I have endured the Contradictions of ungodly sinners day by day and as truly as the Soul of righteous Lot was vexed from day to day with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Sodomites so certainly have I witnessed the like Condition in this noysom Prison where wickednesse and ungodlinesse daily abounds and where is there a Prison in this Nation that is not as it were a Nursery for all manner of abominations and the Rulers ought to see to it that they be not so else will it not lie upon their heads and is countenanced and upheld by the Keepers also that should be as every Magistrate ought to be a just man of Truth hating Covetousness and to despise and shake their hand at the gain of Oppression and so to Rule over and be a good example a terror to evil-doers that such may go out with a reformed life rather better then worse then when they came in but contrariwise the chief Goaler or Keeper hath gone about and endeavoured to limit the Spirit of the Lord Behold to his everlasting praise I testifie that I have gladly received that into my heart to Rule me and hath the preheminence even the Spirit of Truth the Light that reproves the world for sin and with my life in my hand have I reproved and testified against wickedness and ungodliness blasphemy and the like evils that abound in this Prison for which the Keeper Humphry Gifford a Professor of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles good words hath caused men to draw me away and cast me into a place where the filth of the prisoners run almost round about me and this is of truth that I write and at that season my Testimony I declared and laid it upon his head who Commanded me to be taken away because I Reproved blasphemy and ungodliness he said I spake too loud although unclean and ungodly Songs and wicked Revellings as it were made the house ring again imediately after as at other seasons and Humphry Gifford will remember this when the hand of the Lord visits for all the deeds done in the body and forasmuch as he who should have been a terror to evil doers strengthened their hands by commanding violence to be done to me that Reproved sin and ungodliness with my life the Lord is witness and sundry men that are more sober then the rest can also bear Record And moreover every first day of the Week since I have been in Bonds have the Prisoners done violence to me and my Friend Humphry Bach● and forced and carried us into the Hole of the Prison and Locked us up by the Keepers Order because we could not for Conscience sake but did refuse to enter into Covenant with them viz. to be silent and so limit the Spirit of the Lord whose peculiar right only is to command the Tongue and every Member of our body at his good will in us to work although such a thing be not demanded of any other of the Prisoners and although we have been there while they have been at part of their Worship and spake never a word yet have they abused and then done violence and taken me up and carried me into the Hole and locked me up and one Friend thrust out of Door by one Parrat a Turn-key with such violence as if he would have broke her neck and sometime after I asked him saying How if thou hadst broke her neck Then I should be hanged for it said he And let the Magistrates consider Whether such persons be fit to have any Authority or at least to serve sober persons and the Priests that professe themselves Ministers of Christ beholding such Cruelties and not a mouth open to reprove them that do violence and one Priest a prisoner for Debt said in the hearing of many Witnesses There was no way to Dispute with us but with blows Let the sober mind weigh and judge of these things But sometime standing behind the Door like a Thief and would not come in as if he were ashamed to tell his Dream or studied stuffe or Divination of his own brain or to deliver his message till we have been thus taken and carried violently out of his sight as Sheep to the slaughter and cast into the Hole of the prison and notwithstanding that Humphry Gifford chief Goaler had Covenanted with the Hired Priest and Judas Iscariot the Traytor went from the light the unchangeable Priest to the changeable Priests and Covenanted with them