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	time_n	5,928	5	3.4202	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30058	The church's request to all her faithful sons and children that they would now pray for her, and stand by her, and help her what they can, and not forsake her in her desolate condition, and the dark time of popery that is coming upon her / written by Digby Bull ...	Bull, Digby.	1695 (1695)	Wing B5409; ESTC R37486	34,998	41

and no likelihood that the wounds thereof should be healed And at this time the Church of Christ and our Nation give us too great a cause of sorrow in this respect Fourthly We are to endeavour to procure all the good we can to our Jerusalem our Church and Kingdom in a lawful and Christian way We are to promote the peace and prosperity thereof of all kinds as much as in us lies For it would be but vain to call upon God for his help and succour for our Jerusalem if we are so little concerned for it that we will not vouchsafe it our own help and assistance so far as we have power And the devout Psalmist here doth resolve upon this that he would do what good he could to Jerusalem Ps 122.9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good And the Apostle exhorteth us to seek the good of others 1 Cor. 10.24 Let no man seek his own but every man another's wealth And much more then ought we to seek the good and welfare of the Church and Kingdom which are of such a general concern and not to think much to bestow both labor and cost for the benefit of them And it is our Lord's command that we should seek the Kingdom of God and seek it in the first place Matt. 6.33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God saith he and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you The promoting of God's Kingdom and Righteousness among men is to be our first and chiefest ●are and to such endeavours a blessing of earthly things is promised And to promote the Gospel and the pure Religion thereof is to promote the Kingdom of God as St. Paul sheweth Col. 4.11 These onely are my fellow workers unto the Kingdom of God But not only the outward profession of the Gospel but chiefly the inward reception of it and the hearty belief of the Gospel which produces obedience and makes a life conformable thereto is the true Kingdom of God And so our Saviour hath told us that the Kingdom of God is within us Lu. 17.21 And not only the outward profession of the Gospel but especially the inward and hearty embracing thereof should we endeavor to promote and advance what we can And the Peace and Prosperity of our Church and Kingdom should we advance as much as we can that the Gospel and Kingdom of God may be promoted therein as much as may be and that God may be duely worshipped and honoured therein and that his worshippers and servants may receive true benefit and comfort thereby We are to endeavour by all mild and gentle ways to heal the breaches and divisions that are in the Church and to allay all bitterness and animosities that are among us and to draw all to union and concord and to promote love and goodness among all if it may be And by all other lawful means should we seek the good and welfare of our Church and Kingdom And herein especially are we to be assisting to the prosperity and happiness of our Church and Nation by leading of ha●mless and righteous and holy lives Hereby shall we do the Church and Kingdom the greatest service of all This will adorn our Church and Religion the most of all when all that are of other persuasions shall take notice what innocent and pious lives the Sons of our Church lead and how just and upright they are in all their ways And hereby shall we help to procure the Blessing of Almighty God upon us which is that which must complete and crown all our Peace and Happiness in every respect and make it firm and lasting or else it will never be done They are our sins which withhold good things from us and hinder the advancem●nt of our Peace and Happiness which we must remove before we can procure good to our selves This the Prophet shewe h Jer. 5.25 Your iniquities have turned away these things and your sins have withholden good things from you For amon my people are found wicked men And King David doth shew that the keeping of the Commandments of God was the way to enjoy the peaceable possession of the Land of Canaan and to leave it for an Inheritance to their Children 1 Chr. 28.8 Keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God that ye may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever And this must we do if we would enjoy the Blessing of Peace our selves and leave it for an inheritance to our Children after us And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 22.3 Thus saith the Lord execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor and do no wrong do no violence to the stranger the fatherless nor the widow neither shed innocent blood in this place For if ye do this thing indeed then shall there enter in by the gates of this house Kings sitting upon the throne of David But if ye will not hear these words I swear by my self saith the Lord that this house shall become a desolation And so it is like to be with our Jerusalem The doing of the works of righteousness is the way to procure Peace and Happiness to our selves and herein also shall we be instrumental in procuring of Peace and Good to our Church and Nation Fifthly We are to pray unto Almighty God for the Peace and Good of our Jerusalem in every respect This we are taught by the Text and what hath been said upon it All our own endeavours will be but vain and fruitless without the divine help of Almighty God and therefore we must address our selves unto him in earnest prayer that he would be pleased to grant to us this blessing of Peace who is the onely giver of it For the peace and welfare of the whole Church of Christ upon earth are we to pray That God would preserve and keep it in perfect peace that it might be no ways annoyed and that the Gates of Hell as our Saviour hath promised Matt. 16.18 might not prevail against it but that the Kingdom of God might come as our Lord hath taught us to pray and might every where prevail and be firmly rooted in men's hearts That God would enlarge the Kingdom of his dear Son and give him the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession according to that promise Psal 2.8 But more especially are we to pray for the good and welfare of our Church and Kingdom that they may enjoy all manner of Peace and Happiness We are to make supplication to Almighty God for the preventing of all judgments and calamities that may at any time befal them and to pray according to Solomon's form 1 Kings 8.29 That his eyes may be open day and night upon them and that he would watch over them and preserve them from all dangers and miseries that threaten them

is not turned back from us And Jer. 6.26 saith he O daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy s●lf in ashes make thee mourning as for an only son most bitter lamentation for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us To mourning doth he call them upon the sight of the evil that he saw coming upon them And for the great wickedness of his people and the Judgments of God that came upon them for it doth the Prophet lament sore Jer. 9.1 Oh saith he that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people and go from them For they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men And saith he Jer. 13.16 Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains and while ye look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness But if ye will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lord's flock is carried away captive While there remained some time to provide for their peace and good he exhorts them to a reformation and to give glory to God before the time of darkness came fully upon them But if they would not hear he tells them that he would sorely bewail their folly and the calamity and misery that would come upon them And this God ordered that they should mourn and weep for the misery that was coming upon them Jer. 9.17 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider ye and call for the mourning women that they may come and let them make hast and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may run down with tears and our eye-lids gush out with waters And ver 21. For death is come up into our windows and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets And saith God to him Jer. 14.17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them let mine eyes run down with tears night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach with a very grievous blow If I go forth into the field then behold the slain with the sword and if I enter into the city then behold them that are sick with famine yea both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not Thus was he to weep before them for their miseries And the Prophet sheweth how Jerusalem wept for the miseries and sorrows that were come upon her Lam. 1.2 She weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her all her friends have dealt treacherously with her they are become her enemies And I wish that the Sons of the Protestant Church would not now so deal with her and become her enemies And ver 15 The Lord hath troden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men The Lord hath troden the virgin the daughter of Judah as in a wine press For these things I weep mine eye mine eye runneth down with water because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me my children are desolate because the enemy prevaileth Zion spreadeth forth her hands and there is none to comfort her the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them Thus doth he bring in Jerusalem bewailing her self and doth much lament her desolate condition And saith he Lam. 2.11 Mine eyes do fail with tears my bowels are troubled my liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city In this extraordinary manner was he troubled and did sorely weep for the great misery that came upon them and their beloved Jerusalem And the Prophet Amos rebukes it as a crime in some of them that they were not grieved for the affliction of the People of God Amos 6.1 Wo to them that are at ease in Zion And ver 6. That drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments But tbey are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph And our blessed Lord himself wept over Jerusalem for the misery and destruction that was coming upon it Lu. 19.41 And when he was come near he behold the city and wept over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine eyes For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground Thus sorrowful did our blessed Lord shew himself for the great misery and destruction that was coming upon this City for the great wickedness thereof and did most earnestly desire that they would amend and mind the things that belonged to their Peace before it was too late and was greatly troubled at their carnal security that they were so unconcerned in this weighty matter By these and such places we see that it is our duty to be troubled and to mourn and weep for all the publick Calamities and Miseries that befal our Church and Nation To see men to grow cold in their Zeal and Devotion towards Almighty G●d and to have little or no heart towards their duty and se●vice towards him To see the house of God to be deserted and forsaken and his Ordinances and Worship to be slighted and neglected To see the Church rent and torn to pieces with schisms and divisions and to see mens zeal all spent a wrong way in heats against one another To understand that Popery is like to prevail over the Protestant Church for three years and an half and that the Popish Gentiles are like to tread under foot the holy City the true Church of Christ for forty and two months To see wickedness and impiety to abound every where in the Nation and Love and Goodness to be withdrawn to see the Kingdom divided into Factions and Parties and to know as our Lord hath told us that a Kingdom so divided cannot stand To see that our sins and iniquities are grown great and to know that wrath and judgments will be sure to be the issue and consequence of them These things must needs be matter of sorrow and grief to all good men and call them to lamentation and mourning to see the Peace of our Church and Kingdom in such a manner to lie a bleeding