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
A95657	Pseudeleutheria. Or Lawlesse liberty. Set forth in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Major of London, &c. in Pauls, Aug. 16. 1646. / By Edvvard Terry, Minister of the Word, and pastor of the church at Great-Greenford in the country of Middlesex. Sept. 11. 1646. Imprimatur. John Downame.	Terry, Edward, 1590-1660.	1646 (1646)	Wing T781; Thomason E356_11; ESTC R201136	37,931	42

and an inferiority a command and a subjection a mastery and a Dominion in every order of men specially designed The body Politike is very fitly compared unto a naturall body which must not be all head or hand or foot but distinguished into superior and inferior parts for every member to doe its particular office The Heart or Soule sitting in the middest of the body as a King upon his Throne and according to the dictates of the heart the tongue speakes the eyes looke the feete move the hands stir c. Now a body Politike may most fitly be resembled to this Naturall body wherein there are parts as the Apostle speakes more and lesse honourable 1. Cor. 12. yet all tending to the mutuall decency service and succour of the fame body The Aegyptians made an Eie and a Scepter the Embleme by which they figured their government a Scepter for Jurisdiction and power an Eie for watchfulnesse and discretion And certainely a Kingdome without order and government is like the body of that fayned Giant Polyphemus without an eie or rather like a body without an head or which most fitly resembles it like that confused Chaos before the Creation where heighth and depth light and darkenesse were mingled together In the beginning therefore when heaven and earth were first made God established a superiority and rule in other creatures after their kinde and afterwards in man So Gen. 1. 16. God made two great lights the greater to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the starres also And one starre to differ from another in glory 1. Cor. 15. 41. And presently after when he had created man he invested him immediately with imperiall authority to subduethe earth and to rule in it v. 28. And to what other end is it called the host of Heaven Gen. 2. 1. but to shew how that Metaphor is taken from an Army where there must be superiority and subordination command and obedience without both which it cannot subsist For if the spirit and soule of obedience be taken away what can follow but Ataxie and Confusion Reason 2. Secondly there must be Government and Discipline for necessities sake to curbe and restraine all tumultuous and heady spirits all offensive and disordered persons whether in Church or Common-wealth The Lawes of God were first written in the fleshy tables of mans heart but sin did either blot or wear them out thence Then the wisedome of God thought fit to write them upon tables of stone that they might be lasting durable permanent But these Lawes of God thus written and commended and commanded unto man where slighted and neglected and forsaken by him and therefore Irenaus well observes in his first booke against heresies that therefore God appointed Kingdomes and men to rule in them because man forsaking God did wax feirce lawlesse masterlesse and being not sufficiently awed by the feare of the Lord God therefore put upon them the feare of man that fearing humane Lawes they should not devoure destroy consume one another as the fishes of the Sea and the beasts of the wildernesse and the fowles of the aire doe And for this reason there is an absolute necessity of Lawes to curbe and restraine and to keepe people under obedience for were it not for these our beds would not be suffered to lie under us our meate would be pulled out of our mouths our clothes would be torne off our backes rapine and violence would destroy us Vse Now for application this being so as it must needs be granted to be truth What just cause have all people who live under good Lawes to blesse God for them To one who asked the question why the City Sparta had no wals t was answered that the Citizens had good weapons in their hands unanimity in their hearts and to both these good Lawes to order them We want no weapons and these sad times have made almost every one amongst us a man of war And would to God that we had just cause to boast of unity and mutuall agreement amongst our selves But for good Lawes certainly we of this Nation have as great cause to be thankfull as any people under the Cope of Heaven ever had And oh that we had as just cause to prayse God for their due execution likewise But alas we have not Oh justice how faintly doest thou draw thy breath while thou sufferest so many desperate sinners and so many dangerous seducing Schismaticks to march boldly by thee and not bidst them stand Alas how doth the whole Land stinke of that beastly sin of drunkennesse that sin which robs a man of himselfe and leaves a beast in the skin of a man That sin which is like the serpent that stings two waies for it kills the body and slaies the soule too yet how doe those Tents of wickednesse those Thrones wherein Satan dwells those unnecessary tipling houses which so multiply Transgressors and transgressions amongst men increase amongst us How doe Pride and Luxury strive for the upper end of the table How doth the very breath of most desperate swearers and blasphemers even poyson the very aire of the Kingdome wherein we live And how doth the stone out of the Wall and the Beame in the Chamber cry out aloud against oppression And how hath the Error of Religion made many amongst us so wanton that they know not what to have nor what to hold Surely as the Prophet Isaiah complaines Isai. 24. 20. The transgression of the earth of this earth whereon we live lies heavy upon it And now O justice how doest thou degenerate from thy selfe while thou sufferest thy sword for want of drawing to rust or else for feare or for some other ●ie respects to be lock't up in the scabbard I am not come hither to declame against the administration of justice in this honorable City this City so renowned for exemplary government the world over though I must tell you that if I knew any just cause to invite me hereunto I should not spare But this I am sure of that there is an intollerable an unanswerable fault some where when so much wickednesse goes unpunished when so many errors schismes heresies some of which destroy as the rest doe blast the profession of Religion are suffered amongst us though we have lifted up our hands unto the most high God in a solemne League and Covenant to the contrarie Or if they meet with any rebuke from some it is but such a one as that too-too much indulgent Ely who brought up his sonnes to bring downe his house gave his sonnes 1 Sam. 2. 23. saying why doe you so or such things A strange thing in Ely to punish the Thefts Rapines Sacriledge Adulters Incests of his sonnes with why doe you so what was this but to shave that head which deserved to be cut off Doubtles as I find it excellently observed to my hand it is with sins in the soule as with humors in the body a

Father of all saith the Apostle Eph. 4. 5. 6. All in unity And God is the God of order not the Author of Confusion 1. Cor. 14. 33. The body of a Church or State is then strongest when the multitude of believers have but one heart and one soul amongst them all As he that observes the cariage of the Primitive Christians shall finde this word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifies one consent one heart one mind in the 4 first Chapters of the Acts often applied unto them Which unity in the truth of Religion is the firmest band twixt man and man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the very knot and tie of all communion and consociation On the contrary as division of tongues in the eleventh of Genesis hindred the building up of Babel then so division of hearts hinders the setling and building up of the Church now And as Plankes and Timbers joyned together make a ship but disjoyned shipwracke and as connexion of stones and timber make an house dissipation a ruine so unity and agreement of Christians build up a Church as dissension puls it downe And as they say of Bees that when there is a stirre and strife amongst them it is a signe that their King is about to remove and leave the hive so strife schisme dissension in Religion to the hazard of it is a signe that God either hath or is about to leave a people One of the maine scandals the Iewes take from the carriage of Christians is their dissention and disagreeing one with another which they interpret to proceed from want of unity of truth in the foundation of Christian Religion by which they are startled and scared from the Gospel And some Papists have sayd of us and I would there were no truth in it what one Preacheth in the morning another contradicts after dinner and what peace and accord can there be in that house say they where the husband is a Calvinist the wife a Lutheran the servant an Oecolampadian c. And what settlement can we expect while one is a Brownist another an Anabaptist another an Antinomian another a Seeker and all these happily under one roofe another an Everything another a Nothing What can we looke for lesse then confusion as a most grave learned orthodox eminent man famous in his generation observed while we have Doctrine against Doctrine Prayers against Prayers Faith against Faith Religion against Religion the most fearfull consequences of which destructive waies were written in the murthers massacres tragedies wasts somtimes committed in France and both the Germanies and the reason the pretence of all that caused those their so great miseries only that which immediately before we named The Anabaptists in the upper Germany as Sleidan reports framed an imagination to themselves that by the will of God the Ancient Magistracy must be quite rooted out from the earth And said and happily they beleeved it too that they had speech with God who enjoyned them to kill all the wicked in the Land and to constitute a new World consisting only of the innocent What slaughter and havock this caused what profusion of bloud betwixt the Nobles and Commons Germany then felt and smarted for and Histories will relate to all Posterity The president whereof may make the World take heede how they be drawne by fanaticall spirits into these or the like desperate and damnable courses And if this hath been the fruite of such dangerous destroying waies let any one be judge that hath not lost his understanding whether it be fit for every Subject in a Realme for if it be granted to some it would be in justice to deny it unto others to be priviledged in his house to have a God to himselfe a Priest to himselfe a worship to himselfe as Micah had in Mount Ephraim and whether it be fit for people to preach and beleeve and obey and pray as themselves please But what may be done in this case may some one say The minds of private men are as free as Emperours every one is a King in his owne house as Telemachus said And nothing is so voluntary as Religion Yee may shift the bodies of men from place to place but yee cannot change their minds advice may doe more then threatning and faith commeth rather by perswasion then compulsion I answer first we must speake to the conscience by good Counsell by faire meanes by forcible-convincing arguments But if the eare of conscience be stopt up against us if perswasions prove unprofitable if exhortations convicting arguments carried on in love and mercy will not serve the turne we must then speake to the eare of the body to their Inheritance to their Liberty Let the body tell the conscience I am afflicted the Inheritance I am diminished Liberty I am restrained for thy sake I tell yee that these have been arguments which have done much good as Austin affirmes of the Donatists and Circum●ellions in Africa that being terrified by paines they began to enter into consideration with themselves whether they suffered for conscience or for obstinacy But it may be againe objected that some have not been bettered hereby he answers this objection Ideo negligenda est medicina quia nonnullorum est insanabilis pestilentia Shall we therefore reject physick because the sicknesse of some is incurable I confesse that a man should not suffer for a meere default in his understanding but if the fault be in his will it alters the case and without doubt a number even now among us mistake their will for their conscience which may easily be done for they lodge both in the same soule therfore they may be easily taken one for the other Now as the rectified good will of man must not be without fruit So the stubborne depraved will of man must not scape without punishment the voluntary default of a mans will being the just cause of all his suffering Clavis sapientiae frequens interrogatio questioning is the Key of knowledge he that never askes cannot attain to knowledge and he that ever askes shall never receive satisfaction When people are become such scepticks that they will question every thing and receive satisfaction in nothing doubt whether the Sun have light or the fire heate or the like doubts in other things which should not be questioned such must be regulated Tertullian is of the same minde with Austin that it is meet that Hereticks and Schismaticks too should be compelled to doe their duties if they will not be perswaded to doe them I say compelled if allurements and perswasions will not serve the turne they must not alwaies be entreated he that hath a Phrensie must be bound He that hath a Lethargy must be prickt up And they which strengthen themselves in error or schisme diffuse them amongst others to the prejudice of Church or State must be violently pul'd out of them Undoubtedly the sword was never appointed for Authority only to

when he was Consul of Rome which he uttered in his first Oration against Catiline Intelliges me acrius vigilare ad salutem quàm te ad pernici●us Reipublicae Thou shalt know that I will be more wakefull for the safety then thou canst be for the destruction of the Commonwealth So should every member of the Church especially those whose places make them more publike resolve to be more vigilant for the setling flourishing enlargement of the Church then others can be malicious for the ruine thereof T is an high commendation that Moses gives to Levi Deut. 33. 9. who said of his Father and Mother I have not seene them neither did he acknowledge his Brethren nor his Children his neerest naturall relations giving place to his spirituall and so should ours And as that was the ground of his so will it be a ground likewise of our highest commendation Vbi de Religione ibi quoque de vita agitur as Philo Judaeus excellently spake our very lives I and our soules too hold upon our Religion and therefore we must act for Religion for that which concernes Gods Glory the Churches and our owne eternall good as we would act for life {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is a word vsed in the 13 of Luke the 24. which hath very much in it for it implies thus much that when we deale either with God or for God we must strive as wrestlers doe for mastery or as Combitants doe for victory or else as a man strives and struggles for life having the pangs of death upon him Pro aris focis was the ancient proverbe First for Gods rights and after for our owne And therefore it is very well observed of Aeneas how that though he were eminently renowned for his deare respects to his Father yet when the City of Troy was sack't wherein he then was he first rescued and exported {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and then {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} First his Gods and then his Father The morall the Lesson taught from which story is exceeding good That we must first for-most with the neglect of every thing beside appeare for God To which Purpose the carrage of Moses is most observable a very meeke man above all the men that were upon the face of the earth for the spirit of God gives him that testimony Numb. 12. 3. which made him not to regard in not taking notice of but trampling as it were upon all injuries done unto himselfe as if they had not been done as you may observe Exod. 17. and in other places yet when God was dishonored he shewed himselfe to be a man of another spirit in vindicating His cause as you may reade at large in the 32. of Exod. And thus our blessed Saviour of whom Moses was a type how most contemptuously was he vsed while he was upon earth as we reade in his story and how willingly did he give his cheeke to the smiters and his back to the scourges and when he was most shamefully reviled he held his hands yea and he held his tongue too for he reviled not againe 1 Pet. 2 23. But when he saw the Temple dedicated to the honour of his Father prophaned he laies about him in overthrowing the tables of the money-changers in casting them out that bought and sold there nay whipping and scourging all out thence Joh. 2. 15. Of which carriage of our blessed Saviour all the Evangelists take speciall notice O now let us looke upon their examples and get this instruction from them to be very forward in the cause of God And let every one of us who desire the happinesse of the Church and State wherein we live Labour to act wisely religiously and boldly in our proper spheares whether we be Magistrates Ministers or People let 's resolve by God his asistance against all sinnes which if we take not heede will undoubtedly destroy us And against all schismes too that may if we be not wary unavoydably undoe us and against every evill beside that may hinder either our present or our future happinesse To pray them downe To preach them downe To smite them downe And to live them downe I could aboundantly enlarge but I am in a Sermon not in a treatise And therefore that I may not be farther injurious to your Patience I will abruptly breake off as in the midst of a sentence FINIS