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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	king_n	see_v	4,869	5	3.5371	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27165	No treason to say, Kings are Gods subjects, or, The supremacy of God, opened, asserted, applyed in some sermons preached at Lugarshal in Sussex by N.B. then rector there, accused of treason by James Thompson, Vicar of Shalford in Surry, and the author ejected out of the said rectory for preaching them : with a preface apologetical, vindicating the author and sermons from that false accusation, relating the manner of his ejection, and fully answering the narrative of the said Vicar, now also parson of Lurgarshal / by Nehemiah Beaton ...	Beaton, Nehemiah, d. 1663.	1661 (1661)	Wing B1568; ESTC R17272	43,029	53

Prince 1 Sam. 12. 25. If ye will still do wickedly the people are there spoken to ye shall be consumed both ye and your King As Subjects suffer many times through the folly and for the faults of their King so do Kings frequently suffer and fall for the wickedness of their People Suppose some Forraign Prince had gotten our King into his hands and having secured him in some strong Castle from whence it were utterly impossible his Subjects by force could rescue him should declare that if his Subjects here in England would but for one moneth forbear all Acts of Hostility he would safely restore him to them but if any of them upon any pretences whatsoever should attempt any thing of violence he would forthwith certainly put him to death In this case should not he and would not he be accounted a Traytor to the King that under pretence of affection should go about by open force to rescue him Surely you are all ready to pass sentence on such an one You may very easily apply it The King of Kings that hath the heart life and happiness of our King in his hand hath expresly declared That if we will walk in waies of sin and rebellion against him if we will do wickedly we shall not only destroy our selves but pull down the Judgments of God upon our King May we not then safely conclude them enemies to the King that do that for the very doing of which God hath threatned him You therefore that boast of your loyalty and affection to the King if neither the fear of God nor love of your own souls will prevail with you yet let the consideration of the great damage and danger your sins threaten the King with cause you to leave off your prophane and wicked practices 6. If the Kings heart be in Gods hand c. then certainly we may by parity or rather superiority of reason infer that all other mens hearts are in his hands also Kings have an inward natural liberty equal with others and an outward liberty belonging to their condition above others if therefore God can govern and rule them we may well conclude that no other man is exempted from his dominion which conclusion though it do not so much as shake the freedom of the will yet doth it quite overturn free-will as the Pelagians understand and assert it they think it not enough that the will be acknowledged under God a self-determining power unless we exempt it from his dominion with them it is not free at all unless altogether free from Gods Rule and Government nay though it be yielded them that God never exerciseth this dominion in such a way as is destructive to the natural liberty of the will yet will not this satisfie them they are guilty of Cicero his crime Qui sic homines voluit esse liberos ut fe●it sacrilegos counting it no robbery to make men equall with God as a first and independent cause Surely heaven or hell will shortly teach these men more humility and modesty What can an infinite and Almighty God only entice and perswade can he not infallibly and irresistibly turn the will of his Creatures Is it as some have dared to affirm in the power of our Wills when God hath done all he can to refuse what he would have us choose What is this but in other words to deny what Solomon in the words of my Text affirms Can he be said to have our Wills in his hands and to turn them whither he please that cannot turn it unless man please Let us beware of this dangerous errour let our hearts by this Text be established in this present truth the belief and consideration of which is of unspeakable use and comfort especially to two sorts of men 1. To those that have long mourned because of the hardness and stubbornness of their hearts the contrariety of their wills to the whole will of God they have spent much time and labour in the use of many means for their softening and changing and still as they fear they remain hard and unchanged Oh wretched men that they are who shall deliver them had they ten thousand Worlds they would exchange them all for a heart softened and savingly changed but alas they fear they shall never get such an heart well let all such believe and meditate on this Doctrine though Men nor Angels cannot yet God can make them willing in the day of his power he can make them such as he requires them to be wait then on him resolve to lye and die at his footstoole and to give him no rest till he have taken the heart of stone out of thy flesh and given thee an heart of flesh 2. Gods heart-changing power may exceedingly comfort and incourage those Ministers whose lot providence hath cast amongst a stubborn and rebellious people who do alwaies resist the Holy Ghost who entertain all their messages from the Lord with contempt and scorn and with the Leviathan in Job laugh at the shaking of the spear Oh how is the heart of such a Minister ready to sink under this burden the hope of converting souls was that which engaged him in that difficult employment but now alas he mourns as without hope he plows and sows as without hope the more he preacheth the worse his People grow and therefore he is ready to give over and say with the Prophet I will speak no more in his name Well here is encouragement and comfort for such this Doctrine tells them that with God this is possible even the conversion of those that are Gods and their most resolute enemies even of these stones can God raise up children unto Abraham as fast as they are now running to hell he can stop and turn them and cause them to run the waies of his Commandments though then we have toiled all night and caught nothing yet let us not give over we know not what the next Sermon may do let us sow our seed in the morning and in the evening let us not hold our hand we know God can prosper both but we know not which he intends to bless 7. Hath God the hearts of Kings in his hands Then what an honour what an happiness is it to be his Favourites Kings usually have their Favourites though many are loved and respected by them yet usually there is some one singled out by them whom they delight to honour whom they are not ashamed to call their friends and use as if they were their equals they may request nay command any thing from them only in the Throne will they be greater than they David had his Favourite 2 Sam. 15. 37. Hushai the Kings Friend And Zabud the Son of Nathan is stiled 1 King 4. 5. Solomons friend the King of Kings hath his Favourites though the meanest Saint have an interest in his favour yet are they not all his Favourites there is but one Disciple that leaned on Chriss besome every one of his

what I can prove from his own mouth viz. That he had first obtained a promise or grant of my Living if I were removed before he attempted ought against me Although therefore he was a stranger to me yet with my Living was he so well acquainted that he knew it to be such a one as he had long gaped for and often succeslesly sought after Now Reader if thou canst not imagine that this accusation proceeded from malice which they say is a good informer yet might it not from avarice which is the root of all evil but bears no fruit so often as this of false accusation So that when God had prohibited this in the ninth Commandment he immediately added as that without which the other would never be kept Thou shalt not covet And when John Baptist had warned the Souldiers that they should accuse no man falsely he immediately prescribes this as the only remedy Be content with your wages It was the hope of getting the Living saith a learned Bishop that made Ziba accuse his Master falsely But Mr. Thompson had more than hopes he had an assurance of my Living before hand It was Naboths Vineyard saith the same Author and not his blasphemy that made him guilty and this this only was my treason I had a good living This hungry Vicar well knew that Lurgarshal afforded a larger bite than Shalford Common and that he could not get in unless he thus leaped the hedge the Law having let me in at the gate and shut it fast after me Wouldst thou know more of my Prosecutor to leave thee without the least doubt or scruple whether as foul a crime as false and forged accusations are yet he may be guilty of it Then hear what he hath since done When I was removing my goods from Lurgarshal this man desired to buy some of them Now though many perswaded me to decline him as a man not safely in any thing to be dealt with yet his proposition being fair that he would give as much as any and more than they could be worth if I removed them I consented to sell them But because I knew pretty well the complexion of his conscience I appointed him to bring one with him to prize them that so I might have another to testifie what passed between us In short we met and agreed on the prizes of several goods he appointed me to what person to deliver them promised again and again the payment of the money The goods I delivered according to appointment and now expected my money according to his promise but found that my Gentleman did not intend to hold my Living by one title and my Goods by another His five Witnesses were not yet dead and would they be so unkind when they had helped him to a house for nothing as to leave him now to pay for the furniture To a first a second a third demand therfore he denies to pay for my goods and bids me take my course Well after a civill Letter and almost a quarter of a years waiting he is arrested and the last Assizes the cause was tried between us Thither comes Mr. Thompson with one of his five credible Witnesses bragging of the victory and offering to lay great wagers he should cast me The Cause was called forth steps his credible Witnesse to do him now once more knights service and swears as heartily horresco referens or rather desperately as before but with some different success for the Jury so soon as they heard my Witnesses without stirring from the Bar gave Verdict against him Nay Sir William Wild who was of counsel for Thompson and who was by him prejudiced against me as one that had spoken Treason he I say and to his honour be it spoken when he heard my Case fully opened sate down and refused to plead for him and when this modest Vicar urged him to speak Sir William replied aloud with indignation Do not urge me to speak against my understanding and conscience in such a Case as this Reader should I at large relate without any comment or aggravation all the odious circumstances of this last practice I am confident thou wouldst think the man is not to be matched in England Next hear what I have to say as to the Charge I am accused and judged for preaching maliciously against his Majesties right c. 1. It is known almost to as many as know me that my judgment was against the death of the late King and for the restauration of this 2. I have often to the hazard of more than I have now lost and to the trouble of my friends openly declared my dislike and abhorrency of the murder of the King by which name I have frequently called it in publick places and was for so calling it accused to one of his pretended Judges who therefore did threaten to do great things against me 3. I was so far from thinking that his Majesty that now is had no right of succession to the Crown of these Realms that I was alwaies perswaded he had an undoubted right and that it was my duty in my place to endeavour his recovery of that right and have laboured to convince others that it was their duty I am certain I did seriously and heartily do my utmost in my place to procure it If these three Assertions be true wilt thou believe there is any truth in this Charge Now to prove them true I can produce the Testimonies and have the Certificates of many Knights and a multitude of Gentlemen both Ministers and others I will not trouble thee but with one of Sir Thomas Woodcocks who so long jeoparded his life in the high places of the field for the late King and so lately hazarded it in the High Court of Justice at Westminster a more dangerous place than the former for his loyalty to his Majesty that now is and is deservedly of that repute both at Court and in the Country for his Valour and Civility that I should much dishonour him if by giving a Character of him I should but suppose that the Reader hath not heard of him or would doubt the validity of his Testimony which follows in these words These are to certifie all whom it may concern that I have been well acquainted with Mr. Nehemiah Beaton above seven years last past In which space of time discoursing very frequently with him concerning the King and his affairs I discerned in him so deep a sense of his Majesties sufferings and so great a desire of his restauration that I was encouraged at a proper season to consult him c. where followeth a large relation of a particular service I did in order to his Majesties restauration which for brevities sake I omit and then he concludes with these words All this and much more of like nature I know and am ready to attest for him conceiving my self obliged in honour and conscience thereunto he having then given me unquestionable evidences of his loyalty

returned into the Crown-office and upon the motion of Sir William Wild in the publick Court of the Kings Bench at Westminster upon reading the Record confirmed by my Lord Chief Justice and three more of his Majesties most reverend Judges upon the eleventh day of February last N. Beaton To what purpose are the Kings Bench the Crown Office Sr William Wild the Lord Chief Justice the most Reverend Judges mentioned unless to perswade the Reader that I had a second hearing But this he durst not affirm it would have been too gross Let the Reader then know that though I therefore obtained a Writ of Certiorari because I was informed it would produce a second hearing yet I found my self wholly deceived for no Witness was examined pro or con nor enquiry made into the truth of any matter of fact or the merits of the Cause c. What advantage then is this to his Cause now managing against my Reputation What if the Judgment had been thus confirmed a thousand times is it any proof of my guilt But Reader we have both now appealed he by printing his Charge I by publishing my defence to a Court of Equity thy Conscience and here sure the reading of the Judgment or his suggestions will not without more ado produce a confirmation But thou wilt hear and weigh both parties and then though my Adversary being first in his own tale might seem righteous yet when thou hast considered how I have come after and searched him I am as certain I shall by thy justice be absolved as Mr. Thompson is I was by the Justices condemned Which absolution of all sober unbyassed persons though it leave me as far from my Living as before yet would I not exchange for more than my Adversary enjoyeth by my condemnation For though a good name be not as precious as it is to be named with a good conscience yet it is to be prized above a good yea the best Living But if it should be the lot of these Papers to fall into the hands of persons whom malice prejudice or interest will not suffer to receive satisfaction or at least will cause still to pretend they are unsatissied As I regard not their censures so can I easily foresee and could as easily obviate and answer all their cavils and objections but shall take notice only of one for the sake of some honest but very weak persons whom they may think to startle with it Object But can any man imagine that such a Charge could be forged or framed without any ground That five men would have sworn it that c. Answ Consider Reader whom these Objectors wound whilst they thus strike at me They not only offend and accuse the whole Generation of the righteous but do Crucifie again the Lord of Glory and put him to open shame For if a man must needs be guilty because condemned Then what an Impostor and Malefactor must he be who is holy harmless separate from sinners For he was accused of blasphemy condemned as a Traytor and enemy to Caesar his prosecutors Priests the Witnesses many and of considerable quality And if they thus called and condemned the Master of the house is it any wonder that they deal thus with those of his houshold Mat. 10. 25. I am accused for calling the Queen Harlot Adulteress Why with the very same train did the devil blow up the Ministry of that holy Father and faithful servant of Christ Chrysostome Adversus Joannem calumnias struunt Sermones ipsius quosdam assumentes ut dictos in probrum Reginae invidiose divulgantes They forged calumnies against him taking hold of some speeches of his and maliciously spreading and divulging them as spoken in disgrace and reproach of the Queen But what stirred up his Accusers Why he had so freely and sharply reproved their wickedness and prophaneness that they resolve some way or other to rid themselves of such a burden and this was the likeliest way What if I never spake against his Majesties right of Succession Yet I had spoken against some mens Swearing Cursing Debauchery c and that was not put into the Act for confirming of Ministers as a cause why they should not be confirmed and the other was I shall conclude with the words of the learned Bishop Sanderson for they are as his use to be worth the transcribing That there should be mighty ones sick with longing after their meaner neighbours vineyards that there should be crafty heads to contrive for greedy great ones what they unjustly desire that there should be officious instruments to do a piece of legal injustice upon a great mans Letter that there should be Knights of the Post to depose any thing though never so false in any cause though never so bad against any person though never so innocent that an honest man cannot be secure of his life so long as he hath any thing else worth the losing Of all this saith he here is an instance in my Text. He doth not say that of all this my Case is an instance nor will I now but when any man goes about to shew wherein the parallel failes he may know more of my mind till then no more as to my own vindication But though I began with my own vindication and have hitherto solely attended it yet shall I not conclude till I have also vindicated that noble Knight Sir Richard Onslow from those ealumnies and slanders which in this sheet he hath published against him for he hath done me the honour to abuse me with that worthy and honour able person With whose vindication I should have begun as the more considerable and noble subject had not I considered that till I had cleared my self I should but sully another by undertaking his defence And here though I shall not set down his words at length as before yet shall I not do him the least wrong but give thee the substance such as they have of them Only first I must acquaint thee with the occasion of this his Schedule Some malicious persons had published several Libels against Sir Richard Onslow for the smoak of envy and detraction will alwaies pursue the fairest in which they accused him to be the great enemy and ejector of many learned loyal and Orthodox Divines That is they accused Moecenas to be a hater of Poets and Alexander an enemy to valour Well against these Libellers Collonel Gardiner sends out a hue and cry in which he discovers the folly and falshood of that accusation and names many learned loyal Orthodox Divines whom Sir Richard was a refuge to in the late storms and amongst others his only mistake reckons up this James Thompson Which I call a mistake not that Sir Richard had never done him a Curtesie but because he reckons him amongst Learned Orthodox Divines Now in answer to this hue and cry of Collonel Gardiners comes forth this narrative A great part of which he spends in telling his Reader

the Prince of the Eunuchs 2. He can cause them mortally to hate whom they have before most loved and do●ed upon Whom over night they feasted as special Favourites the next morning they shall adjudge to the gallows Esth. 7. What a strict League and Friendship was between Abimelech and the Schechemites they help him to his Kingdom and are therefore the onely men with him but God will break the League and turn this Kings love into hatred Judg. 9. 23. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem 3. Their Courage and Valour without which however otherwise furnished they are altogether unmeet for the Regal Office this God can furnish them with or deprive them of He can make the feeblest King as David and the House of David as the Angel of the Lord Zech. 12. 8. On the other side He can cause the heart of the King to perish and the heart of the Princes Jer. 4. 9. And cause the heart of these mighty ones to be as the heart of a woman in her pangs Jer. 49. 22. I have but one thing more to do e're I come to Application to give you the Reasons and Grounds of this Point which are four 1. God hath a most absolute Dominion over Kings yea the hearts of Kings For even they as well as any others are his Creatures and nothing can be more ridiculous and absurd than to imagine that the Creator should not be able to rule his Creature that he should make a Creature which he cannot master Kings and rich men as well as Subjects and poor men are Gods Creatures The poor and rich meet together and the Lord is the Maker of them both Prov. 22. 2. Yea the hearts of Kings Psal 33. 15. He fashioneth their hearts alike No wonder then that they can do nothing without God who were made out of nothing by God 2. Kings are preserved and upheld by God and can do nothing without his concourse 't is in him they live move and have their beings Acts 17. 28. They cannot move or act according to those Natures and Properties bestowed on them in Creation without Gods immediate concourse so that every action of theirs is from God as the first and themselves as the second Cause Must not He then be able to govern them and their hearts in all their Motions and Operations seeing they cannot move or stir but as moved and acted by him Suppose an Artist should make a Clock and not by weights but with his own hand should turn the wheels about is not he able to make it move more fast or slowly or hinder its motion by taking off his hand God fashioneth the heart and with his own hand causeth and ruleth its motion Certainly then it cannot think or purpose any thing without him 3. The truth of this Doctrine may be demonstrated from the Omnipotency of God Were the heart of any Prince or Monarch too subtle stiff or stubborn for him to turn or rule here were something he could not do and so we might say of his Power Hitherto it can reach but this it cannot do Matth. 19. 26. is notable to this purpose With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible The occasion of those words briefly was this Christ had affirmed it impossible for a rich man to be sav'd v. 24. which exceedingly amazeth the Disciples v. 25. and they cry out Who then can be saved Why saith Christ with man this is impossible that is if men have riches left to themselves they will certainly love and set their hearts upon them and the heart thus set cannot by all the power of men be taken off and turned to God so that with men this is impossible that such an one should ever be saved but with God all things are possible that is he is able to turn their hearts from Riches to himself 4. Were not God able to turn and rule the hearts of Kings how could he know and reveal what they will do before they have any thoughts or purposes of doing any such things yea long before they have a being God tells Moses before hand what entertainment his Message will finde and what Pharaoh will certainly do Exod. 4. 21. He revealeth what a good King Josiah shall be how zealous against Idolatry before Josiah was born 1 Kings 13. 2. 1. Learn hence to admire and adore this glorious Power of the great Jehovah When the Mariners saw Christ command and govern the Winds and Sea they cannot but worship him and wonder at his mighty power that was able to master and rule such ●oysterous and unruly things and cry out with admiration What manner of man is this Matth. 8. 26 27. Behold here a greater wonder the heart of a King much deeper and more hardly fathom'd than that great Deep the Will and Resolutions of that Heart more heady and hard to be turned than the swiftest course of the mightiest waters the Affections and Passions of a King more furious and boysterous than the highest and fiercest winds searched and sounded turned and changed quieted and allayed without the least labour and toyle by the great God of Heaven This is one of the greatest discoveries of the great and infinite power of the most high God and therefore requires our most heedfull observation and highest admiration For though as S. James saith of the Tongue it be but a little Member though the Heart seem but a small and contemptible part yet is it more hardly rul'd than any other part of man or creature whatsoever You may far more easily hold the hand tame the tongue stop the foot and govern all other parts than this Sooner may the least child conquer the fiercest Lion and strongest Goliah than the greatest King yea the mightiest Angel turn the heart of the weakest woman The arm of a Sampson may serve to rend a Lion but it requires the Almighty Arm of an Infinite God to rend the heart of man When you hear therefore God in Scripture saying I will make them a new heart I will give them another heart Can you forbear wondring at this power It is observable that that proud and haughty King Nebuchadnezzar who had seen the wisdom of God in revealing his secrets to him Dan. 2. 47. who had observed the mighty power of God in preserving his Servants in the midst of the fire which greatly astonisheth him Dan. 3. 29. yet neither of these raise him to so high a pitch of admiration as when he saw and felt God exercising this power and dominion over his heart What humble Confessions what notable expressions doth this extort from him Dan. 4. throughout especially v. 3. How great are his signs How mighty are his wonders His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom c. Let us give then unto God the glory of this his mighty power and look upon this as indeed it is one of the most glorious discoveries of that power