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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	lord_n	see_v	4,192	5	3.2926	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59580	The Church of England's doctrine of non-resistance, justified and vindicated as truly rational and Christian; and the damnable nature of rebellious resistance represented. By Lewes Sharp, rector of Morton Hampstead, in Devon.	Sharpe, Lewes.	1691 (1691)	Wing S3007C; ESTC R219619	98,872	68

conflicts within from the Turbulency of their own unruly and domineering Passions and Lusts have kindled coales in their own bosoms and are at odds with themselves cherish the Insurrections and Rebellions of their Passions and Lusts against the Sovereign Powers of Reason and Conscience then they are disposed to make quarrels oppositions disorders and tumults and confusions in that Community to which they are related For they which stubbornly resist and reject the Dominion Authority and Dictates of their own Reasons Judgments and Consciences they will never bear a due reverence and regard to the Dominion Authority and Edicts of others 'T is not evil usages from without so much as evil Principles from within which make Men make-bates and bontifieus Indeed the Tyrannies and Oppressions of Princes may occasion but exorbitant and rancorous Passions and Lusts are the prime efficient Causes of Seditions Mutinies and Rebellions against the higher Powers And what is the state of Men thus addicted and exercised The Apostle tells us that Hatred envyings variance strife Seditions are the manifest Works of the Flesh and they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20 21. Sect. 121. 4. A rebellious Resistance of the Sovereign Power proceeds from covetousness If Covetousness be the root of all Evil 1 Tim. 6.10 'T is the Root of this too A covetous Man is ever ready to catch what he can and if he might have his Will he would have the Possession and Power of all that is And though the impulses of covetousness are not so loud and clamorous so raging and furious as the motions of wrathful passions are yet they are more strong and uncontrolable and not less cruel and barbarous as the instances of Ahab and Judas evince For covetousness doth not only imply the Engagement of the lower and lighter Part of the Affections which are eager and violent for a Fit but also the deliberate and steady-bent of the Will which is the most imperious and self-determining faculty of the Soul And therefore he that will be rich runs on his Course without fear or wit 1 Tim. 6.19 and cares not what legal Establishments and Foundations he overturns and removes so he may obtain those Ends his greedy Appetite fastens on and pursues 'T is gain is his godliness and to serve his Interest he will tread down the Authority of God and Man like the Mire of the Streets And how doth God account of such a disposed Man He reckons him as an Idolater a most horrible and detestable Offender one that hath not any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Eph. 5.5 Col. 3.5 Gal. 5.20 21. Sect. 122. 2. Let us consider the sinful and pernicious Evils which are Concomitants with a rebellious Resistance of the higher Powers and we shall further discover the hainous and Damnable Nature thereof 1. Idleness is one Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels are some of those busie-bodies the Apostle speaks of 2 Thes 3.11 Who work not at all and are mischievous as well as useless Better in the Earth than on it For starting out of their proper Place they are a Burden to it Rebels are of that sort of Men of whom Seneca complained who spent their time either nihil agendo aut aliud agendo aut male agendo in doing nothing at all or nothing to the purpose of advantage or nothing but evil they never do what they should do And partaking with the Sodomites in their abundance of idleness Ezek. 16.49 they deserve to share with them in their measure of wrath and vengeance Sect. 123. 2. Neglect of Family duties is another concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels neither attend for the present a Provision for the Bodies or Souls of their Wives and Children or any other who have a dependance on them And hereby making themselves worse than Infidels 1 Tim. 5.8 't would be strange if they should not be in a state of Damnation Sect. 124. 3. Forsaking the solemn worshipping Assemblies of God's People is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels assemble themselves in Troops but not in the House of God Their Congregations are seperations from religious Assemblies Their exercises interruptions yea dissolutions of the holy Congregations of the Faithful When they meet the Shepherds are divided from their Flocks and their Flocks scatter'd and perhaps butcher'd and their Sanctuaries laid wast and made desolate And when Men like Cain go out from the Presence of the Lord wilfully excommunicate themselves from the ordinary and standing means of Salvation we have no reason to think that God will by a miraculous Act of Sovereign Grace deliver them from damnation Sect. 125. 4. Hypocrisie is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels will not seem to be as they are nor to do as they do but like the Spies the high Priests and Scribes sent to entrap Christ They fame themselves just Men Luk. 20.20 pretend they act by a lawful Authority in a just and weighty Cause for a good and necessary End and have set up their Banner in the Name of the Lord of Hosts Psal 20.5 and engaged not themselves herein till they saw Matters reduced to an undoing extremity and will use this last Remedy for the redress of public Grievances without prejudice to the Innocent or injury to any Man observing all along the direction of St. John the Baptist Luke 3.14 alas good Men they are for a Pacification without contending and if Matters in difference were fairly adjusted they would put off their Animosities with their Arms. Whereas their hearts are set upon mischief cover red Inclinations with a pale Face and under specious Pretences of defending and preserving the public Safety and Welfare creep into opportunities to hazard and destroy them And such Hypocrisies are so hateful unto God that he makes the evil Portion of Hypocrites the Standard of the severest punishments allotted to Sinners as if Hell were primarily designed for them Mat. 24.51 and our Saviour comparing the Priests and Elders to the Son in the Parable that said I go Sir but went not the Emblem of an Hypocrite tells them That Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before them Mat. 21.30 31. Sect. 126. 5. Lying Defamation is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels ever have will and do stretch their Mouths and shoot their Arrows even bitter words of detraction and reproach against the higher Powers Oh! said Absolom when his Head was filled with seditious and rebellious Projections and Designs That I were made Judge in the Land that every Men that hath any Suit or Cause might communto me and I would do him justice 2 Sam. 15.4 insinuating that justice was not so saithfully and seasonably so universally and impartially administred as it might and ought to be and should be were it in his Power A manifest endeavour to undermine the reputation of his Fathers Government in the Opinion of his Subjects and to

bring his Person into disgrace as one not well affected to justice and the public welfare and consequently not so fit for Government as himself Which Copy is transcribed by Rebels in all Times and Ages they very industriously reproach the Footsteps The Councils Measures and Actings of the Lords anointed Psa 98.51 represent the Designs and Manageries of the higher Powers as dangerous burdensom and useless partly from a deficiency in their integrity and faithfulness and partly from their imprudence and carelesness disabled for the exercise of Rule and Government Which is an Artifice to expose them to the malevolent jealousies and contempt of their Subjects the readiest way to undermine and weaken their Authority and Power and to debase and destroy their Persons For when they are libelled traduced arraigned and sentenced in their Subjects thoughts affections and judgments and become despised Persons and Ministers of Government and have no respect or awe in their Subjects hearts their hands will easily be engaged against them to fight them out of the Throne and to banish them out of all their Dominions For who will be subject and run hazards to maintain that which he despiseth And Rebels being ever Men that carry tales to shed blood as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 22.9 they are not only cursed by God as he is that slandereth his Neighbour privily Deut. 27.24 but deserve an everlasting confusion for slandering the Powers ordained of God Isa 38.11 Sect. 127. 6. Hatred is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels are Enemies to the higher Powers and enemies resist and fight to kill and destroy And he that hateth his Neighbour in his heart is a Murtherer and ye know no Murtherer hath eternal life abiding in him 1 Joh. 3.15 the Seed of eternal Death and of eternal Life cannot abide in a prevalent Degree in the same Subject at the same Time As ill will never speaks well so it never doth well but at the same Time it thrusts all love and respect to the higher Powers from Men it pusheth them forward to defie and destroy 'em ranks them with Cain mustereth and marcheth them under the Conduct and Command of the great Destroyer whose name is Abaddon and Apollyon Rev. 9.11 Sect. 128. 7. Revenge is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance Rebels are not for giving place unto to withdraw themselves from those provoked against them and refer the punishment of the injuries done unto them unto God and to overcome evil with good but they are for avenging themselves design and endeavour a wrathful retribution of evil and mischief to the higher Powers from whom they have felt or fear at least as they pretend oppressive and injurious usage Rebels will revenge evils feared as well as evils inflicted They are as impatient under the Belief of a plotted Mischief against them as of one executed upon them And indeed more often rebel and resist to prevent a conceited contrived Evil than to remove a real Evil endured And God having expresly forbidden us to resist Evil and avenge our selves because vengeance is his peculiar a part of distributive Justice which alone belongs to him and such as are Commissioned by him Rom. 12.9 and 13.4 what a notorious Usurpation is Rebellion upon the Prerogative Royal of God himself which forceth the Sword out of Gods band to turn it against those into whose hands God himself hath put it for the Conservation of human Societies and Guardianship of Laws and good Order And hath not God great vengeance especially for such as take vengeance with a spiteful heart Ezek. 25.15 Sect. 129. 8. Murder is another Concomitant or if you will effect of a rebellious Resistance So many Men as are slain in a Rebellion so many Murthers are there committed For whether Rebels kill or are killed they are Murtherers If they kill others they spill the Blood of the Innocent If they themselves are killed they are the efficient meretorious Causes of their own deaths If they neither kill or are killed but survive the Rebellion and come off by Victory or Escape yet they are Murtherers because the Action they engaged in had both a natural and moral tendency thereunto which is a Matter to be well considered by all such as are any way concerned in an unlawful War And surely if God will require the Blood of Mens Lives at the hand of every Beast Gen. 9.5 he will make a strict Inquisition after it when it is spilt by one of the same Nature with themselves Psal 9.12 and without repentance will not pardon it 2 Kings 24.4 but hath threatned that they shall perish by the Sword Mat. 26.52 and have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 Sect. 130. 9. An audacious presumption on the gracious and righteous Providence of God is another Concomitant of a rebellious Resistance When Men contend against each other with Force of Arms and put themselves into a State of War they appeal from Man to God and refer the Equity and Justice of the Cause contended for to his arbitration and umpirage expecting protection and prosperity according to the integrity of their hearts and righteousness of their quarrel Jos 22.22 wherefore though Rebels violate and trample on all the Restraints of Nature and the Laws of God and Man yet they solemnly appeal unto God and with stupendious security and boldness depend on his help and assistance for the Preservation of their Persons and the good success of their Cause The Prophet tells the Heads of the House of Jacob and the Princes of the House of Israel that they abhorred judgment and perverted all equity and built up Sion with Blood and judged for reward and yet they leaned upon the Lord and said is not the Lord amongst us and none evil can come upon us Mic. 3.9 10 11. thus rebellious fools rage against God and his substitutes and are confident Pr. 14.16 presume they shall speed well though God hath as expresly forbid them to do what they have engaged themselves to do as he did the Israelites when he said to them Deut. 1.41 Go not up neither fight for I am not among you and like those Israelites they refuse to be convinced of the Evil of their Engagments and go on presumptuously in their Rebellion as if God had a great Favour for them and were obliged to bless them with Success encouraging themselves herein by reflecting on those eminent deliverances and victories God vouchsafed to his choicest Servants in his own Cause Which is a tempting of God with such pride and stoutness of heart Is 9.9 2 Pet. 2.10 as incenseth him to such a Degree against them that his jealousie even smoaks against them for it so that He lays all the Curses that are written in his Book upon them and will blot out their Names from under Heaven Deut. 29.19 20. Now a rebellious Resistance being concatenated and mustered with such a Troop of damning Sins is it not reasonable to