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cause_n	good_a	great_a	true_a	2,848	5	3.8360	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42096	The resigned & resolved Christian, and faithful & undaunted royalist in tvvo plaine farevvell-sermons, & a loyal farevvell-visitation-speech, both deliver'd amidst the lamentable confusions occasioned by the late forreign invasion & home-defection of His Majesties subjects in England / by Denis Granville, D.D., deane & archdeacon of Durham, (now in exile) chaplaine in ordinary to His Majestie ; whereunto are added certaine letters to his relations & freinds [sic] in England shewing the reasons and manner of his withdrawing out of the kingdom ...	Grenville, Denis, 1637-1703.	1689 (1689)	Wing G1940; ESTC R41659	109,381	177

vvich hee feared Heb. 5. 7. Our Blessed Lords Practice is the best warrant for ours hee himselfe being the Architype of all righteousnesse whose life ought to bee the Canon Rule of his Disciples These two Ioined in CHRIST JESUS our Grand Exemplar who is the VVay the Truth and the Life serve as tvvo stars to direct his followers unto him Feare stirres us up to seek all possible meanes for the prevention of Evills Faith keeps us from dispaire Feare is linked with the beginning of vvisdom without which your best actions are but as th●se Apples of Sodome which being toucht vanish into smoake or as Trees without fruit or shells without kernell As an ignorant Carelesse Marriner without his Compas wee should be driven upon all the shoales and rocks of temptation were not this feare placed in our Hearts as a watchman to forewarne our drowsy soules of approaching danger And as Gideon on Zeba and Salmunna Iudg. 3. 11. Sathan would surprise us unawares and rob us of our very Hearts Consciences while wee sleep in security But where the Heart is well fraught with feare there is no roome for Sathan and his traine It quickly espies prevents his most cunning Plotts putting to flight those armies of temptations with which hee useth to beseige mans wounded Conscience The holy Psalmist doth well informe us of the Povver and Force of Feare when hee tells us that it fights with Angells strength Ps 34. 7. The Angell of the Lord saith David standeth round about them that feare him delivereth them So that wee may here without crime presume to crosse our Saviours speech in another Case of servile feare understand mee of an holy feare O men of little faith vvhy are yee not afraid VVhensoever the Grace of God shall begin to increase in thee Feare VVhen it shall depart from thee Feare And vvhen it shall returne to thee Feare Saith S. Bernard When thou first feelest Gods holy Spirit to move within thee feare thine ovvn unvvor thinesse that thou receive it not in vain A Gift not used at all or not well imployed is a dishonour to the Donour When thou feelest any decay or suspension of the Operation of Grace within thee feare Gods displeasure who for some Cause or other suffers thee thus to fall But most of all must thou feare when Gods Grace is revived vvithin thee for the relapse is worse than the former disease Therefore thy Feare must increase with thy danger least being made cleane thou shouldst sin againe and a vvorse thing happen unto thee In adversity let us humbly acknowledge with Iob the punishment of God is fearefull In prosperity with David there is mercy vvith God that hee may be feared In all estates let his Essentiall presence beget an awfull Feare and Reverence in all our Actions since there is nothing more fearefull in the Saints and Servants of God than not to feare Jer. 32. 40. However scruple not hence yee sincere tho imperfect Christians ●ver subject sometimes to despondency the certainty of your Salvation An holy feare doth not make us more scrupulous but more certain saith S. Bernard in his 15 Sermon upon the Psalmes For this Feare as Hope is the fruit of an holy Faith and S. Paul joynes it with Faith. Rom. 11. 20. as an Antidote to a high Mind thou standest by faith be not high-minded but feare and indecd is the ground of our assurance of Salvation which wee cannot have but by faith I say by faith not as if that were not certaine but to exclude that certainty of Evidence sense which requires an absolute assent both in respect of the truth of the thing of our knowledge because it is so because wee can demonstrate it to be so As when wee say 4. is more than 2. the whole is greater than part perfect knowledge of sense Experience absolutely conclude it most certain The certainty of our Salvation is a faithfull cleaving to the sure promises of CHRIST JESUS Tho this in respect of it selfe be more absolute than that of sense as faith is more certain than any science yet mans mind not throughly purged from the foggy Mists of Original pollution cannot clearly determine CHRIST indeed hath broken downe the Partition VVall between God his people yet hath hee set the Register of his Elect beyond the ken of any mortall eye Neither can wee assure our selves any otherwise of our Salvation than by trusting in him by applying particularly what hee that cannot lye hath spoken in Generall VVhosoever believeth in mee shall be saved And this is in no man so perfect but that the best may still pray adjuva me Domine Lord helpe my unbeleife Hee that doth not thus feare hath no faith and then no certainty As the Spirit of God vvitnesseth vvee are the sons of God so Feare testifieth wee have the Spirit No man more surely relyes on his Saviour than hee that most feares to Offend him so is it no paradox at the same time to tremble and rejoyce in the Lord. The frailty of our nature the subtilty of the Divell conspire for our Ruine here is good Cause to fear But JESUS CHRIST is our Castle Defence here is greater Cause to rejoyce A man on the top of an high tower looking downe considering the danger of a fall trembles to thinke thereon but looking back on his feet seeing himselfe environned on every side with battlements rejoyceth that hee is so secure of the danger So the most steddy beleiver tho hee know that under the protection of the Allmighty hee cannot miscarry yet hee sometimes trembles to reflect on the deplorable Estate of Falling away Allbeit his principle bee true the Word of God cannot faile in any tittle VVhosoever beleiveth shall bee saved yet is hee Iealous of misapplying it to himselfe Tho hee thinketh hee standeth hee must take heed least hee fall For it is the Condition of Grace Faith as of Nature still to desire encrease perfection which necessatily requires earnest prayer and this implies a sollicitous Feare So then wee may say of a Christian as scipio sometimes spake of Rome it was more secure when it stood in awe of Cartbage The Church was never freer from Herisies than in the time of Persecution and the End of Persecution was the beginning of Herisy Wee are most certain when wee are most tempted When Sathan desires to vvinnovv S. Peter as vvheat then Christs prayer assures him of Salvation Christs Intercessions are more prevalent than any temptation and unlesse wee render them ineffectuall by impenitency they are never in vain Neverthelesse his Prayer may not hinder ours nor his Allsufficiency exclude our labours Wee must pray to him hee will pray for us Let us fullfill his Commandements hee will fullfill his Promises If wee Love him let us feare to offend him If wee have Confidence of our Election in him then let us use all diligence to make

respects odious infamous had not the boldness to seize on the Crown nor the People of England at that time thô plunged over head ears in Rebellion the Timidity nor Stupidity to offer it to him who without all dispute might then with less sin with more prudence have put it on his Head it having for a while before been deposited and unimploy'd than some body since snatch'd it from the Head of his own Uncle nay Father This is Gentlemen the true real cause of my withdrawing And if You please to be mind full of the criticall time vvhen the manner hovv the cause vvherefore being also so just to your Dean as not to looke barely on his going away but consider it as circumstantiated and allowing me so much Charity who have alwayes exercis'd greater towards my Dependants as to beleive I did at least mean well then and do speak true at present I am willing to beare all other ccnsures you can load me with for this late hazardous undertaking which however it may be mis-understood in England over which as of late there seemes still to hang some notorious cloud mist which strangely obscures mens understanding and deem'd an act of Fear or Folly yet I am God be prais'd fully perswaded that it was the most honest the most couragious thc vvisest Act of my whose Life And do incessantly praise his name that he was pleas'd to endow me with his grace passing by many more capable to do him service at that very time and in such manner as I did to Beare vvittness to the Truth 1 For my Flock had I whose notion both of Religion Loyalty had caus'd me all a long to act at an other rate fail'd by a sordid truely mean compliance I had certainly done them irreparable wrong by thwarting my past Doctrine destroying the example of my whole Life 2. As for my Revenue thô I possess'd the best Deanery and possibly the best Archdeaconry one of the best Livings in England A Faithfull Christian ought not so highly to value them as to put them into the scales with his Conscience And besides I do not forget that I both receiv'd held my Deanery by the King's favour do resolve that without his favour I will never keep it These two particulars granted I leave all men to judge whether it was an unwise act of mine all things consider'd to withdraw vvhen in such manner as I did I do well assure my selfe that it will be esteem'd otherwise by all those that do not deny the truth of this undoubted maxime that Honesty is the best Policy And I do comfort my selfe that my poor exploded Notions of Honesty Religion Loyalty to my King obedience to the Precepts Rules of the Church will yet come in vogue before I leave the World tho I have too much reason to apprehend that unless the change of air preserve me I shall not be a long liv'd man however they be run down rejected in this intoxicated Age which hath in a manner captivated men's Senses as well as their Understandings I that am the Lord be thanked happily deliver'd for a while from the Foggs of my own Country which were sadly increas'd since it's late Alliance Communication with Holland do no more doubt than I cease to pray for the King 's glorious blessed Restauration That joyfull Day in spight of Men Devils will come as soon as the Church and Kingdome are by a profound Humiliation sincere Repentance prepared for so choice a blessing And when it doth come or is nigh approaching it will infallibly open men's eyes cause them clearly to discerne their past egregious folly facility in suffering themselves to be so soon overcome by such deplorable Delusion as not to distinguish betwixt the felicity of living under an undisputable lawfull gratious Prince of the most mercifull and eligible Race and Qualifications bearing the Yoke of an Usurper whose Crown must necessarily be maintain'd as it is gotten by the Sword. And whose Reigne tho it begins in nomine Domini is usher'd in by a shevv of Religion seeming love of Liberty Lavves soon becomes greivous his little finger felt much heavier than the Lawfull Predecessour's Loyns It will not be needfull to pretend to the Spirit of Prophecy for this Discovery the last eight or nine Month's experience doth powerfully evince the Truth of what I affirme There doth seem already to be eyes enough open if their hands were at Liberty and good swords in them in Scotland England too as well as Ireland to deliver those miserable Kingdomes from reall Tyranny Presbitery which are not like to be found much more tollerable for the late injustifiable as well as unintelligible method of Exclusion of Popery pretended Arbitrary Povver All those who were come to could exercise their Understandings from the year 41 to the year 60 cannot forget the unsufferable Slavery which the three Kingdomes underwent upon the unhappy Conjunction of those foremention'd unseparable Twins The horrid Rebellion of those dayes was less odious than the present one which is accompanied with the highest Aggravations less odious I say or at least less unnaturall than that under which the best Subjects Christians in England at present groan in sundry respects had not the former been deeply dyed in the blood of King Charles the Martyr And yet all the Religion great ostentation of Purity of the Gospell wherewith it was introduced at last after a floud of Loyall blood submitted to by an infatuated Generation ended at length in down right Enthusiasme which by breaking of Fences tearing up Foundations let in a Deluge of all kind of Prophaneness The Priviledges Properties as well as the Liberty of the Subject were got into the hands of such miserable Keepers as kept them all to themselves in such sort as scarce any Person You do well remember could be Master of them or meet with them but at Wallingford House In a word after inexpressible violence Injustice Cutting off sundry Pillars of Church State most those well fix'd Church of England-men Clergy or Layicks who had the valour to withstand the Usurpers of those dayes all matters at last run into Anarchy Confusion And the Babell which had been twenty years in building after a short tottering at the Death of their Cheif Upholder fell crush'd it's selfe with it's own weight and cover'd all their Antimonarchicall machinations with it's Ruines The serious sober review of all past Transactions from the begining of the long great Rebellion home to the Dutch Invasion to witt of the first stupendious wickedness of the Enimies of the King Church of England The wonderfull long suffering of a justly Incens'd God His unconceivable Goodness and Compassion at length in a reall delivery of the Nation our Church from not only the most Arbitrary

Operations following 1. They increase our knovvledge both of our Creatour our Selves 2. They increase our Devotion making us allso more conformable to Christ our Head so fitter subjects for his Pitty Compassion First they increase our knovvledge c. While our Outward man is consumed the inner man is renewed For as long as the body triumphes in his strength the soules whole imployment is to furnish the corporeall organs with vigour power for their more base Exercises But those parts disabled by Adversity to receive those Faculties they returne to the soule and united worke more strongly in a weightier matter even in a divine Contemplation There is now no fewel for Lust no shews for Pride every sense failes to bring in those delightsome species which in the time of bodily health overloaded the fainting soule This Prison therefore of the soule thus once broken she becomes active in her businesse runs the vvay of Gods Commandements Whereas before she only heard of God as Job speakes by the hearing of the Eare The Vail of the Temple once rent by sickness or other adversity now her Eyes see him The Eye of her understanding shee more clearely apprehends his Povver The Eye of her Faith shee more confidently relyes on his mercy Secondly This knovvledge inflames her Devotion and renders us fitter subjects for his pitty Wee most Earnestly sue for a Remedy of Danger from him whom wee best know cares most for us While wee are in our Jollity just like the Prodigall in S. Lukes Gospell wee look no further than our selves And that I am afraid hath been one of the sins of this Nation of this Place A litle cross may drive us to our Neighbour but when wee are driven to eat Huskes with the swine in our greatest Extremity then humiliatio in humilitate our minds are humbled with our Bodies then not till then Necessity becomes a vertue I vvill because I must go to the Father God deales with his Children as a Nurse with hers suffers them to stagger now then that they may looke the better to their feet There is a Hand behind which the Child sees not that holds him up Our Heavenly Father indeed plunges us if I may so speake here into the depth of Sorrow that wee may dive into the depth of our own Heart and to make us more sensible punishs us by degrees as hee did Iacob first with the loss of Rachel then of Ioseph aftervvards with famine feare of Benjamin Even as Ioseph dealt with his brethren but as Ioseph also tho hee began in wrath hee ends in Peace Mercy follows Judgement and nothing but impenitency doth make a separation If God at any time be long in punishing it is to teach his people more sensibly the guilt of their sin that so by the better knovvledge of their guilt they may be driven the sooner to repentance the seat of mercy Both which methods of Allmighty Gods dealing vvith his servants have been often experienced by the People of this land Rough hevvn timber and unpolishd stones are unfit for any Princely Building therefore God savves us as it were in pieces by Adversity smoothes our inordinate affections hevvs dovvn our Rebellious lusts before vvee can become a meet Temple of the Holy Ghost God vvell knovvs vvee have lost that image superscription vvhich hee stampt us in and therefore melts us anevv as the Prophet speakes Jer. 9. 7. and purifies us in the fire of Affliction that vvee may bee made fit materialls in that day in the vvhich hee maketh up his Jevvells Mal. 3. 17. In a Christian life then as in the Almond tree vvee must expect a hard shell tho there be a svvee kernell Hardness all knovv by Experience thus many times conteines svveetness and sundry other usefull quallityes as comfortable Health often follovves after an unpleasant Potion Let us approve our selves therefore the servants of God in much Patience as dying but behold vvee live as chastned but not killed as sorrovvfull yet allvvay rejoycing 2. Cor. 6. 9. 10. Our Sorrovv is but Quasi tristitia transitory it seems as there noted by the Apostle a dreame or shaddovv of sorrovv But the Ioy of a true Christian is other vvise there is Ce●tum gaudium it is not said as Ioyfull but allvvay rejoycing Hath then God taken avvay our Worldly vvealth from any of us It is vvee may conclude because it should not deprive us of Eternall Happinesse Hath God bereaved any of us of our Children or Freinds It is because vvee should put the more Trust in him Hath hee brought any of us to Dishonour here It is because vvee may bee more fit for Glory hereafter Externall Benefits none can deny are Gods Blessings but so is the vvant of them also All things vvorke together for the best to those vvho Love God. Rom. 8. 28. Christ is to his faithfull servants both in life Death advantage Would not any vvise man vvillingly sovv in teares that hee might reape in ●oy Would not a man be content vvith a vvet spring so that hee might bee certaine of a good harvest And thus much the Holy Prophet David assures us of Ps 120. 6. Hee that goeth on his vvay vveeping bearing forth good seed shall doubtlesse come againe vvith Ioy bring his sheaves vvith him The Keeper of Israell may sometimes seeme to vvink but indeed hee neither slumbers nor sleeps If hee suffer a storm for a tyme vvherevvith vvee are at this instant dreadfully threatned hovvever the ship shall not sink God is most povverfull oftentimes vvhen vvee seem most neglected Mans Extremities are Gods opportunities hath allvvayes ben the observation language of Holy men When ABRAHAMS hand is up for the Stroke then an Angell stops the svvord When MOSES lyes spravvling in the River then hee is most safe from the Egyptian cruelty And our Iacob here most comforted in his sons when hee supposed hee had lost them They are to him as the Red sea threaten destruction but prove safety While hee complains they will bring dovvn his gray haires vvith sorrovv to the Grave they revive his old age with good tidings of Corne Ioseph Let us then in in the name of God without farther inlargement take up Iacobs Resolution in our distresses to perswade which is the cheif design of this and my former sermon and for which wee had never more cause and wee may justly Expect Iacobs Revvard Let us use all meanes with Feare faithfullnesse Diligence and Courage to prevent those evills which threaten us and leave the Event to Gods Good pleasure still ready with Patient Constant Iob in the extremest misery to cry out Though thou Killest mee yet vvill I put my Trust in thee So shall wee approve our selves faithfull servants to God the King. And at last receive that Crovvne of Eternall Bliss vvhich is laid up for all those that feare him But I shall not proceed any further in