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	word_n	2,991	5	3.7261	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80064	Colchesters teares: affecting and afflicting city and country; dropping from the sad face of a new warr, threatning to bury in her own ashes that wofull tovvn. Faithfully collected, drawn out into a moderate relation and debate, humbly presented to all free-born Englishmen; by severall persons of quality. Who much doubted and desired to see the truth in the mist of various relations obscuring the same, but now convinced by their own eyes, doe conceive themselves bound to give out this brief narrative, to satisfie all unprepossessed civil and moderate men, and good Christians, who truly love Jesus Christ, their King, city, and countrey, and sincerely desire the settlement of peace and truth.		1648 (1648)	Wing C5018; Thomason E455_16; ESTC R205022	14,009	16

consideration giving is the evill of sinne to burn and so more to be avoided then the former Secondly their not giving warning before they burne usually unlesse they can get some thing of the Masters of the houses to save them and then presently to set fire to them and runne into the Town and cry out that the round heads fire the Town and we think that he that is the Master of cruelty is the very father of lies Thirdly they have entred Covenant with severall in East-street not to fire and taken money some say 14. l. some 15. and some 40. l. into their hands and then presently have fired the same houses themselves and lay the fault upon the round-heads nay they were demanded whether they would fire or no and did promise if so to discover it and were offended that the man should aske any more when they had promised him warning thereof and yet did fire it presently without warning notwithstanding They come out and plunder every day as farr as they dare those people who stay in their houses in hope to prevent fireing they force many to sweare that they have no more mony or else they will kill them within c. Nay they seized on one Mr. Hughes took his money and swore God dam me the rogue hath more mony and swore againe that if hee would not sweare by the same oath God dam me that hee had no more money that hee would presently kill him and so Mr. Hughes denying in a trembling troubled state still would not sweare the Souldier drew his sword and Mr. Hughes went mad thereupon They come out of the town fain themselves Roundheads get what will be had by fair or foul means take persons or goods that may be serviceable to them and fire the rest and these things many more of this nature are acted daily before the eys of hundreds against hundreds of families to the undoing and the disinhabiting of above six hundred Families in the suburbs of that woefull Town for so many were given in to bee ruinated at the least besides many thousands in the Suburbs and Country dis-inabled yea and in the City damnified and having Estates there are almost undone by losse already sustained in that place and the Lord knowes when the fire of his wrath and their burnings shal cease too As for those outrages committed in the Town we have them but by credible report yet because divers agree in the reports we think fit to name them but only thus the Inhabitants are much straightned in their provisions as it may be a two penny or three penny loaf in a family of course bread per diem and if any complaine for want they are checkt and told that they must not complaine until horse flesh be worth nine pence or ten pence the pound reply was made by one hearing awoman complain for food for her self and her child God dam me That child would make a great deal of good meat well boyld First Much filthinesse might be named of women attempted some forced others shreeking crying flying and sometime scapeing sending their husbands out forcibly and fall on their wives in their absence Secondly all persons and sorts seem to be tainted till it come to their Ministers one of them breaking three or four locks to come by a woman and shee no way to escape but by shriking and crying out nay Sir Charles Lucas himself had insnar'd a woman if my Lord Goring had not come in and cald upon him to goe to one of the Forts as a fitter place for him then there for said hee your Gunner is proved false he went away and the woman came away fled over the wall told her neighbour this story and that if this providence had not happily fallen in shee could not have escaped his hands but with dishonesty or death the most memorable is the answer of a gentlewoman who if shee did not yeeld had a Pistoll set to her breast yes saies shee I shall cheerfully imbrace your Pistoll and my death but not you Thirdly as for violence in their temporall rights their guests are Masters and Masters of Families in all they have are their slaves and are at their disposing so that if any stir presently a word and a slash nay inhumanely a maid seeing some injury offered to the person and goods of her Mistris in defending her Mistris hath her fingers tyed light matches put to them and burnt her fingers to the stumps All which and more if we tooke delight in this element are daily acted beside those heavy trialls laid on women with child and others newly brought a bed they and their children and all they have driven into some field or backsides or streets where they ly open to bullets to dash them theirs in peeces every moment How sad a spectacle it is to see goodly buildings well furnished houses and whole streets to be nothing but ruinous heapes of ashes and both poore and rich now brought almost to the same wofull state to see fick people scarce able to stand upon their legges and women some presently upon their delivery some ready to be delivered Infants in their Mothers lappes and some hanging on their Mothers breasts all turned out of harbour and left helplesse to lye on the cold ground to see poore and rich men late of good quality now equall to the meanest toyling and sweating in carrying some mean bed or other away or some inconsiderable houshold stuffe out of the burning all of them with wailing weeping gastly countenances and meager thin faces shifting and flying in distraction of mind they scarce know whither to heare the lamentable cries of people comming from the Towne old young women children poore and rich lying before and crying unto the Generalls guards to passe and bewailing their folly in entertaining such guests as now will bee sure to provide for themselves and leave the Town People especially if there be the face of Religion or civility on them to shift for themselves we professe we have heard some souldiers in their returnes from the Guards rejoycing to bee out of the mournfull ditty of people desiring to passe the Guards but not permitted because then the souldiers would easily drive away the Inhabitants from their owne houses and support themselves the longer by that provision which is left The Lord make their hearts sensible of that smart whose hands are so fild with cruelty to others for God knowes the worst we wish to those that are our adversaries if not implacable foes to Jesus Christ is that God would change their mindes humble their hearts and save their soules from the certain issue of this their rage wrath to come The Lord also bring the hearts of that people in and about the Towne to a true sight of the cause wherefore this great wrath is come upon them we judge not but remember 2 Chr. 36.16 that amidst the many other provocations that the immediate cause of Jerusalems

ruine was mocking the Messengers of God despising his words and misusing his Prophets till there was no remedy And the good Lord worke all these sad providences upon all our hearts who are the grieved and wofull spectators of the miseries they feel and we fear because we doe deserve as well as they And now O you in the Towne whose designs we had great expectation of and whose manifestors rendred you formerly to us the moderate party of the Kingdome formerly under a farre other notion then those flames and desolations discover now give us leave to bespeake you and give us to understand what was the cause of your flying into a walled Towne when if your cause courage and consciences had been right as we then hoped you might have fought it out with the choise of the advantage of your own ground and being then as many as your enemies have trusted God the just Iudge of heaven and earth for successe why did you suffer your selves to be coopt up by those you seem in your answers unto so much to contemn and never but once in almost two moneths to looke out upon your besiegers and then by a great party upon terms of advantage taken make a poore flourish run in again with losse and shame from an unprovided party not past a quarter so many as your selves why doe you use that poor Town so hardly and your enemies so gently as if you would now tell us your cause or courage were not so good as before or else only intended to be first revenged of your sad friends in Colchester for entertaining you and then bury the Towne it selfe in the same grave that you have dig'd for the Suburbs Ah sirs why did you kindle those flames which have as a Limbeck set up in sad Colchester drarned the eves of all the moderate party of the Kingdome by this de●p●nkindn●ss● Perhaps you wil say your owne desire inforc't it wh●t w●●… you inforc't before ever you had tryed your own strength who would have had a hand in that which the child that is yet unborne shall curse the hand that acted it to all posterity or if your feare did enforce you to make such a distance 'twixt your walls and the remaining houses how did you overcome your feares to steal cut to burne and ruine houses and persons three or foure dayes after the great burning was by Gods mercy to our admiration quenched as if you tooke delight to exercise your cruelty on the houses of them you had first undone without necessity Ah unkind friends whom we are grieved to complaine against and yet enforced to be angry with for such bitternesse and unnaturall dealings we had hope that you would like those old Ministers of our sick State first have brought a necessity upon your selves for want of courage and then made that necessity to usher in your great discurtesie to your best friends how can you look us moderate men well affected to you heretofore in the face when you have made us blush and hide our heads as we hear these things how can we speake or d ee for you who have undone your selves and us in undoing your best friends why did you and wee complain here to fore against the Armies violence when your deeds justifie them and strengthen their hands to take revenge on all that have sided with you if the eye of the moderate part of the Kingdome lookt on them as enemies can they looke on you now as friends if an odium in the Kingdome and City was grown upon the Army doth not this course take it off of them and set it upon you if they had done more evill then this and lesse service then you have done for the King and Kingdomes deliverance they might expect heavens just guerdon in due time but what good can be in these● cruelties or desolations or what wages can be the crowne thereof in the issue they were low in the kingdoms eye 't is true but you tel the Kingdom now and let them see in these flames a necessity of their service if they will not make you their masters Many of them are blamed perhaps much blamable for their opinions in points of religion but are your judgements sound whilst these spots are found in your present conversation Some were offended for some of them arrogating to themselves to be our saviors do not you thinke more will be angry with you for being our destroyers How should you think and what fools we think now were we to imagine that they should by Almighty God bee used for our King and Kingdomes salvation that could scarce many of them to our knowledge until under your command keep themselves from the gallowes and that they should set the people free who were well known to be more willing to prey upon then to pray for or act for the people of Englands freedome What honour did our prudent King see you could doe him who hath not given you so much as Commission to act by what honour could you add to his crowne by putting fire stones in stead of pearls thereinto and inforcing as wee now see loyall subjects to take it away for a time from his use lest it should be prostrate to your violence what strength can be contributed to us by your infirmities or what stability be added to our Religion his throne or our tottering state by such wretched ignoble and weake props as we now feare the hand of heaven never cut out for that end We professe our selves so fill'd with astonishment that we find it true durum esse satyram non seribere and amongst other things we much admire at foure things First That Cholchester should entertaine a party whilst pursued by an enemy bring war to their dores and might have easily been seen neither able to defend themselves against their friends nor enemies Secondly That the Kings party should be so weake as to think that because the Parliaments Army as some judg'd lookt to be their Masters therefore they would give themselves up into their hands to become profest slaves Thirdly That Presbyterians and Independents should indanger to lose the substance of Religion for the shadow of a name and in making out a platforme of government upon which the devil hath mounted so many Ordinances of men or rather engines of the devil divisions we mean as threaten not only the battery but the demolishment also of the strongest holds of truth and true love which Jesus Christ by grace hath fortified the hearts of beleevers his saints by Fourthly That the City who must needs aime at two things chiefly the advancement of their honor peace and safety and the ending of these broiles 'twixt King and people by parly rather then victory lest he that conquers finding his adversaries purse empty should at last make himselfe amends out of their treasures that they should not as much labour to preserve Gods interests as their own to preserve the Parliament as the