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	justify_v	work_n	6,434	5	6.8388	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79762	A solemne and seasonable warning to the noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burrows, ministers, and commons of Scotland: as also to the Scotish armies without and within that kingdom. From the Generall Assembly, 12 Feb. 1645. And the humble remonstrance of the aforesaid Assembly to the King, 13. Feb. 1645.	Church of Scotland. General Assembly.; Church of Scotland. General Assembly. Remonstrance of the Generall Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland to His Majestie. aut	1645 (1645)	Wing C4259H; Thomason E293_25; ESTC R200167	12,823	16

of the excommunicate and aforefaulted Earle of Montrose and of Alaster Mac-Donald a Papist and an Outlaw doth exercise such barbarous unnaturall horrid and unheard-of cruelty as is above expression And if not repressed what better usage can others not yet touched expect from them being now hardened and animated by the successe which God hath for our humiliation and correction permitted unto them and if they shall now get leave to secure the High-Lands for themselves they will not only from thence infest the rest of this Countrey but endeavour a diversion of our Forces in England from the prosecution of the ends expressed in the Covenant of the three Kingdoms toward which ends as their service hath been already advantageous so their continuance is most necessary The second sort of Enemies from which our present dangers arise are secret Malignants and Dis-covenanters who may be known by these and the like Characters Their slighting or censulting of the publike Resolutions of this Kirk and State Their consulting and labouring to raise Jealousies and Divisions to retard or hinder the execution of what is ordered by the publike Judicatories Their standering of the Covenant of the three Kingdoms and Expedition into England as not necessary for the good of Religion or safety of this Kingdom or as tending to the diminution of the Kings just power and greatnesse Their confounding of the Kings Honour and Authority with the abuse and pretence thereof and with Commissions Warrants and Letters procured from the King by the Enemies of this Cause and Covenant as if we could not oppose the latter without encroacing upon the former Their whetting of their tongues to censure and slander those whom God hath honoured as his chief Instruments in this Work Their commending justifying or excusing the proceedings of James Grahame sometime Earle of Mon●rose and his Complices Their conversing or intercommuning by word or writ with him or other excommunicate Lords contrary to the nature of that Ordinance of Christ and to the old Acts of Generall Assemblies Their making merry and their inselent carriage and the News of any prosperous successe of the Popish and Malignant Armies in any of these Kingdoms Their drawing of Parties and Factions to the weakning of the common Union Their spreading of Informations That Uniformity in Religion and the Presbyteriall Government is not intended by the Parliament of England Their Endeavours Informations and Sollicitations tending to weaken the hearts and hands of others and to make them withhold their assistance from this Work Let this sort of bosome Enemies and disaffected Persons be well marked timely discovered and carefully avoided lest they infuse the poyson of their seducing Councels into the minds of others Wherein let Ministers be faithfull and Presbyteries vigilant and unpartiall as they will answer the contrary to God and to the Generall Assembly or their Commissioners The cause and the dangers thereof being thus evidenced unlesse men will blot out of their hearts the love of Religion and the Cause of God and cast off all care of their Countrey Laws Liberties and Estates yea all naturall affection to the preservation of themselves their Wives Children and Friends and whatsoever is dearest to them under the Sun all these being in the visible danger of a present ruine and destruction they must now or never appear actively each one stretching himself to yea beyond his power It is no time to dally nor go about the businesse by halfes nor by almost but altogether zealous Cursed be he that doth the Work of the Lord negligently or dealeth falsly in the Covenant of God If we have been so forward to assist our Neighbour Kingdoms shall we neglect to defend our own Or shall the Enemies of God be more active against his Cause than his People for it God forbid If the Work being so far carried on shall now miscarry and fail in our hands our own consciences shall condemne us and posterity shall curse us But if we stand stoutly and stedfastly to it the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in our hands and all Generations shall call us blessed Let Ministers stir up others by free and faithfull preaching and by admonishing every one of his duty as there shall be occasion And if it shall be the lot of any of them to fall under the power of the Enemy let them through the strength of Christ persevere in their integrity choosing affliction rather than sin glorifying God and not fearing what Flesh can do unto them Let our Armies beware of ungodlinesse and worldly lusts living godly soberly and righteously avoiding all scandalous carriage which may give occasion to others to think the worse of their Cause and Covenant and remembring that the eyes of God Angels and Men are upon them Finally renouncing all confidence in their own strength skill valour and number and trusting onely to the God of the Armies of Israel who hath fought and will fight for them Lat all sorts both of high and low degree in this Kingdom call to mind their Solemne Covenants and pay their vows to the most High and namely that Article of our first Covenant which obligeth us not to stay nor hinder any such Resolution as by common consent shall be found to conduce for the ends of the Covenant but by all lawfull means to further and promove the same Which lyeth as a bond upon peoples consciences readily to obey such orders and willingly to undergo such burdens as by the publike and common resolution of the Estates of Parliament are found necessary for the prosecution of the War considering that the Enemy cannot be suppressed without a competent number of Forces and Forces cannot be kept together without maintenance and maintenance cannot be had without such publike Burdens which however for the present not joyous but grievous yet it shall be no grief of heart afterwards even unto the common sort that they have given some part of their necessary livelihood for assisting so good a Work It is far from our thoughts that the pinching of some should make others superfluously to abound It is rather to be expected of the richer sort that they will spare and defalk not onely the pride and superfluity both of apparell and diet but also a part of their lawfull allowance in these things to contribute the same as a free-will-offering beside what they are obliged to by Law or upblike Order after the example of godly Nehemiah who for the space of twelve yeers while the walls of Jerusalem were a building did not eat the bread of the Governour that he might ease by so much the Peoples Burthens and Bondage In our last Covenant there is another Article which without the oblivion or neglect of any of the rest we wish may be well remembred at this time namely That we shall assist and defend all that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof and shall not suffer our selves directly or indirectly by whatsoever

the Standard against him from that day forward the Waters of their Deluge did decrease And for our part our Forces sent into that Kingdom in pursuance of that Covenant have been so mercifully and manifestly assisted and blessed from Heaven though in the mids of many dangers and distresses and much want and hardship and have been so far instrumentall to the foyling and scattering of two principall Armies First the Marquesse of Newcastle his Army And afterward Prince Ruperts and his together And to the reducing of two strong Cities York and Newcastle that we have what to answer the Enemy that reproacheth us concerning that Businesse and that which may make iniquity it self to stop her mouth But which is more unto us than all Victories or whatsomever temporall Blessing The Reformation of Religion in England and Uniformity therein between both Kingdoms a principall end of that Covenant is so far advanced that the English Service-Book with the Holy-dayes and many other Ceremonies contained in it together with the Prelacy the fountain of all these are abolished and taken away by Ordinance of Parliament and a Directory for the Worship of God in all the three Kingdoms agreed upon in the Assemblies and in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms without a contrary voice in either the Government of the Kirk by Congregationall Elderships Classicall Presbyteries Provinciall and Nationall Assemblies is agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster which is also voted and concluded in both Houses of the Parliament of England And what is yet remaining of the intended Uniformitie is in a good way So that let our Lot fall in other things as it may the Will of the Lord be done In this we rejoyce and will rejoyce that our Lord Jesus Christ is no loser but a Conquerour that his Ordinances take place that his Cause prevaileth and the work of purging and building his Temple goeth forward and not backward Neither yet are we so to understand the voice of the rod which lyeth heavy upon us as if the Lords meaning were to pluck up what he hath planted and to pull down what he hath builded in this Kingdom to have no more pleasure in us to remove our Candlestick and to take his Kingdom from us nay before that our God cast us off and the glory depart from Israel let him rather consume us by the Sword and the Famine and the Pestilence so that he will but keep his own great Name from reproach and blasphemy and own us as his people in Convenant with him But now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing we will beleeve that we shall yet see the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the living We will not cast a way our confidence of a blessed Peace of the removing of the scourge and casting it in the Fire when the Lord hath by it performed his whole Work upon mount Sion and Jerusalem much more will we be confident of the continuance of the blessings of the Gospel that glory may dwell in our Land This is the day of Jacobs trouble but he shall be saved out of it And the time is coming when a new Song shall be put in our mouths and we shall say This is our God we have waited for him and he hath saved us Though the Lord smite us it is the hand of a Father not of an Enemy he is not consuming us but refining us that we may come forth as Gold out of the Fire We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despaire persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed We know assuredly there is more mercy in emptying us from Vessell to Vessell than in suffering us to settle on our Lees whereby our taste should remain in us and our sent not be changed These things premised we come to the true langauge of this heavy judgement and to the reall procuring causes thereof For the transgression of Jacob is all this and for the sins of the house of Israel God is hereby shewing to great and small in this Land their work and their transgression that they have exceeded He openeth also their eare to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity We leave every Congregation in the Land every Family in every Congregation and every Person in every Family to examine their own hearts and wayes and to mourn for Congregationall Domesticall and Personall sins Cursed shall they be who have added fuell to the fire and now bring no water to extinguish it who had a great hand in the provocation and bear no part in the humiliation Let every one commune with his own conscience and repent of his even his wickednesse and say What have I done We shall here touch onely the Nationall sins or at least more publike ones than those of a Family or Congregation which we also intend for chief causes of a publike Fast and Humiliation If among our Nobles Gentry and Barons there have been some studying their own private interests more than the publike and Seeking their own things more than the things of Christ or oppressing and defranding the poorer sort and the needy because it was in the power of their hand and if among our Ministry there have been divers Time-servers Who have not renounced the hidden things of dishonesty whose hearts have not been right before God nor stedfast in his Covenant who have been secretly haters of the Power of Godlinesse and of Mortification shall not God search all this out who will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the Councels of the hearts In these also leaving all men to a judging and searching of themselves there are many other provocations which are apparent in all or many of this Nation from which though they wash with nitre and take much sope yet they cannot make themselves clean Because of these the Land mourneth and at these the Sword striketh As first the contempt neglect and dis-esteem of the glorious Gospel our unbelief unfruitfulnesse lukewarmnesse formality and hardnesse of heart under all the means of Grace our not receiving of Christ in our hearts nor seeking to know him and glorifie him in all his Offices The power of Godlinesse is hated and mocked by many to this day and by the better sort too much neglected and many Christian duties are not minded as The not speaking of our own words nor finding of our own pleasure upon the Lords day Holy and edifying conference both on that day and at other occasions The instructing admonishing comforting and rebuking one another as Divine Providence ministreth occasion In many Families almost no knowledge nor worship of God to be found yea there are among the Ministers who have strengthened the hearts and hands of the profane more than of the godly and have not taken heed to the Ministry which they have received of the Lord to fulfill it Next God hath sent the Sword to

Combination Perswasion or Terror to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed Union and Conjunction whether to make defection to the contrary part or to give our selves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this Cause According to which Article mens reality and integrity in the Covenant will be manifest and demonstrable as well by their omissions as by their commissions as well by their not doing good as by their doing of evil He that is not with us is against us and he that gathereth not with us scattereth Whoever he be that will not according to publike order and appointment adventure his Person or send out these that are under his power or pay the Contributions imposed for the maintenance of the Forces must be taken for an Enemy Malignant and Covenant-breaker and so involved both into the displeasure of God and Censures of the Kirk and no doubt into civill punishments also to be inflicted by the State And if any shall prove so outward and perfidious their iniquity shall be upon themselves and they shall bear their punishment Deliverance and good successe shall follow those who with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord and whose hearts are upright toward his glory When we look back upon the great things which God hath done for us and our former deliverances out of severall dangers and difficulties which appeared to us insuperable experience breeds hope And when we consider how in the midst of all our sorrows and pressures the Lord our God hath given us a naile in his holy place and hath lightened our eyes with the desirable and beautifull sight of his own glory in his Temple we take it for an argument that he hath yet thoughts of peace and a purpose of mercy toward us Though for a small moment he hath forsaken us yet with great mercies he will gather us He hath lifted up our Enemies that their fall may be the greater and that he may cast them down into desolation for ever Arise and let us be doing The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our Refuge TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY The humble Remonstrance of the Generall Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland met at Edinburgh the 13 day of February 1645. AS our Record is on high and our consciences within us bear us witnesse so the many former Supplications and Remonstrances to your Majesty from this Kirk and Kingdom our solemne Covenants and the whole course of our proceedings from time to time in the prosecution of this Cause Do make known to the World and we trust also to your own conscience our loyalty and faithfull subjection and how far our intentions are from the diminution of your Majesties just Power and Greatnesse And although the successe of many of our humble addresses to your Majesty hath been such as did frustrate our desires and hopes yet this hath not blotted out of our hearts our loyalty so often professed before God and the World but it is still our Souls desire and our Prayer to God for you that your Self and your Posterity may prosperously reign over this your ancient and native Kingdom and over your other Dominions And now as we have published a solemne and free Warning to the Noblemen Barons Gentlemen Burrows Ministers and Commons of this Kingdom concerning the present affliction of this Nation and their sins procuring the same So when we call to mind that God accepteth not the persons of men and that the greatest are not to be winked at in their sins We assure our selves that the best and most reall testimony which we can give at this present of the tendernesse and uprightnesse of our affection to your Majesties true Happinesse is this our humble and faithfull Representation of your Majesties great and growing dangers and the causes thereof Of which if we should be silent our consciences would condemne us and the stones themselves would immediately cry out The troubles of our hearts are enlarged and our fears increased in your Majesties behalf perceiving that your Peoples patience is above measure tempted and is like Cart prest down with sheaves and ready to break while as beside many former designes and endeavours to bring desolation and destruction upon us which were and we trust all of that kinde shall be by the marvellous and mercifull providence of God discovered and disappointed Our Countrey is now infested the blood of divers of our Brethren spilt and other acts of most barbarous and horrid cruelty exercised by the cursed crew of the Irish Rebels and their Complices in this Kingdom under the conduct of such as have Commission and Warrant from your Majesty And unlesse we prove unfaithfull both to God and to your Majesty we cannot conceale another danger which is infinitely greater than that of your Peoples displeasure Therefore we the Servants of the most high God and your Majesties most loyall Subjects in the humility and grief of our hearts fall down before your Throne and in the Name of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who shall judge the world in righteousnesse both great and small and in the Name of this whole Nationall Kirk which we represent We make bold to warn your Majesty freely that the guilt which cleaveth fast to your Majesty and to your Throne is such as whatsoever flattering preachers or unfaithfull councellors may say to the contrary if not timely repented cannot but involve your Self and your Posterity under the wrath of the ever-living God For your being guilty of the shedding of the blood of many thousands of your Majesties best Subjects For your permitting the Masse and other Idolatry both in your own Family and in your own Dominions For your authorizing by the Book of Sports the profanation of the Lords Day For your not punishing of publike scandals and much profanenesse in and about your Court For the shutting of your eares from the humble and just desires of your faithfull Subjects For your complying too much with the Popish party many wayes and namely by concluding the Cessation of Arms in Ireland and your embracing the councels of those who have not set God nor good before their eyes For your resisting and opposing this Cause which so much concerneth the glory of God your own honour and happinesse and the peace and safety of your Kingdoms and for what other causes your Majesty is most conscious and may best judge and search your own conscience nor would we have mentioned any particulars if they had not been publike and known For all which it is high time for your Majesty to fall down at the footstool of the King of Glory to acknowledge your offence to repent timely to make your peace with God through Jesus Christ whose blood is able to wash away your great sin and to be no longer as willing that the Son of God reign over you and your Kingdoms in his pure Ordinances of Church-government and Worship These things if your Majesty do it shall be no grief of heart unto you afterward a blessing is reserved for you and you shall find favour with God and with your People and with all the Churches of Christ But if your Majesty refuse to hearken to this wholsome councell which the Lord forbid we have discharged our own consciences we take God and Men to witnesse That we are blamelesse of the sad Consequences which may follow and we shall wait upon the Lord who when he maketh inquisition for blood will not forget the cry of the humble In the mean while beseeching your Majesty to take notice That we are not staggering or fainting through diffidence of the successe of this Cause and Covenant of the three Kingdoms unto which as God hath already given manifold Testimonies of his favour and blessing so it is our stedfast and unshaken confidence that this is the Work and Cause of God which shall gloriously prevaile against all opposition and from which with the assistance of the grace of God we shall never suffer our selves to be divided or withdrawn but shall zealously and constantly in our severall Vocations endeavour with our Estates and Lives the pursuing and promoving thereof That which we have concluded concerning Uniformity in Religion between both Kingdoms is to be humbly offered to your Majesty from the Commissioners of this Kingdom for your Royall Consent and Ratification Although your Majesty was not pleased to vouchsafe us the presence of your Commissioner according to the supplications of the Commissioners of the preceding Generall Assembly yet we have proceeded with as much respect to your Majesties honour and as much remembrance of our duty as if your Royall Person had been present in the mids of us And we shall still continue our Prayers for you that God would graciously incline your heart to the Councels of Truth and Peace and grant unto your Majesty a long and happy Raign that we may live under you a peaceable and quiet life in all Godlinesse and Honesty FINIS