Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A40737
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A funeral sermon on the occasion of the death of Algernon Sidney, Esq. Who was beheaded on Tower-Hill, on December the seventh 1683. for high-treason
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1683
(1683)
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Wing F2539A; ESTC R214649
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22,178
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74
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Churches were built for them which prosperity being abused by the Bishops and the Clergy and other Christians unto Pride and Idleness strife and Contention It moved the Lord to scourge them with another See the tenth Persecution which began in the nineteenth year of the Emperour Dioclestan which raged very sore and extended unto this Island which was then under the goverment of the Romans Korah Dathan and Abiram though they had a Preheminence above many others yet the Pride of their Spirits causeth them to swell against Moses and Aaron Humility of Spirit is a special means to keep the heart in peace with God and from breaking out into irregular motions An humble man blesseth God that he hath raised him above any others and is not troubled that others are raised higher than himself Jacob confesseth himself to be less than the least of all God's Mercies Some think others too high who think themselves not high enough Plenty Riches and Prosperity do usually puff men up with Pride and Pride ingendereth strife and contention He that is of a Proud Heart stireth up Strife Prov. 28. 25. Some men are contentious to shew that they are men of Spirit Proud and Haughty Scorner is his name who dealeth in Proud Wrath. Prov. 21. 24. Some men are violent and wrathful meerly out of Pride that others may know they are men of mettle This is proud Wrath as the wise Man termeth it Ambition Pride and immoderate desire of greatness moved Alexandria the Great to wage War with Darius King of Persia This was the Cause of the Civil war between Caesar and Pompey Sylla and Marius Anthony and Augustus Pride hath been the cause of many Schisms and Divisions in the Church Hence the Corinthians ran into Schisms and Parties one was for Paul another was for Apollos a third was for Caephas a fourth above all Ministers and Ordinances he is for Christ alone Whence arose the strife between Basil and Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea and between Origen and Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria whence arose the stirs that Montanus Demetrius and Arrius made in the Epiphan lib. 2. Theodoret lib. 1. cap. 8. Sozom. lib. 2. cap. 18. Church whence were the contentions between Paulinus and Flavianus Lucifer and Eusebius the Meletians and Eustathians all at the beginning good Christians and embracing true Doctrine yet at last so divided they were that the one Excommunicated the other whence was the strife between Chrysostom of the one part and Cyril Theophilus and Epiphanius of the other about the Burning of Origens Books did not all these contentions spring from Pride whence were the contentions among certain Popes and Popish Bishops was it not from Pride was it not about the Supremacy which ambitious Popes have proudly challenged Humility is a low Postern at which the Proud man will not stoop Heaven is an High City yet hath but a low Gate as St. Augustine saith Peace is humble Pride quite overlooks her The safest way to keep fire is to rake it up in Embers and the best way to preserve Peace is in Humility Observation IV. That near Neighbourhood between men of corrupt Principles and working Spirits is very dangerous to the publick Korah with the Kohathites and Dathan and Abiram with the Reubenites were quartered on the South side of the Tabernacle This near Situation gave them opportunities of frequent coming together whereby they had an advantage of hatching this wicked PLOT against MOSES and AARON Confederacy in Evil is strong in Operation God complaineth Ezek. 22. 25. of the Prophets of Jerusalem thus There is a Conspiracy of her Prophets in the midst thereof The Hebrew for Conspiracy is from a root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ligare colligare Metaphorice dicitur de animorum colligatione conjurare facere ligam or word which signifies to bind to tye together as Jeremiah 51. 63. Isaiah 49. 16. and metaphorically is referred to the minds of men combining together as 2 Sam. 25. 31. It is said that Ahitophel is among the Conspirators with Absalom Backsherim in Conspirationibus his mind with others of his Associates was United in a Conspiracy against David So 2 Kings 12. 20. Jehoash his Servants arose and made a Conspiracy It is in the Original they conspired a Conspiracy they were all of one heart and mind and it was to kill their Master Being fellow Servants and dwelling together they had the more opportunities of meeting together to Plot the Destruction of their Master So the evil Prophets had a Conspiracy they met in Jerusalem they consulted and agreed together to Prophecy the same things that none should Prophecy otherwise they made a Conspiracy against the true Prophets and those that were truly Religious opposing God and Godliness Ye may read how they set themselves against Jeremiah Chap. 26. 8. and stired up the Princes and People against him verse 13. How they Prophecied the same things Jerem. 23. 17. Such was the Counsel of Trent a meer Conspiracy did they not agree together that whoever Preached against their Canons and Articles should be Anathematized did they not stir up the Princes and Powers of the world to punish those they Judged Schismaticks and Hereticks Observation V. That outward blessings bestowed upon evil men do commonly become snares to themselves and sometimes hurtful and prejudicial to the Common-Wealth These Conspiratours were Princess of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of Name or Renown Their dignity put them upon this mutiny with hope of success Poyson given in Wine worketh strongly Sin meeting with outward advantages is the more mischievous when evil men come to places of Eminency they vent the Corruptions that lay hid in them before they make Progress in Wickedness and nothing restrains them we are ready to think that great men that have had good Education are well natured will prove admirable Instruments of God's glory and the publick good but we deceive our selves in some when they come to high and publick places their evil natures do appear and they grow worse and worse Nero at first for five years carried himself well like a Lamb but he was a Lion and his Lionish disposition shewed it self to the full These Princes of the Assembly perverted the end for which they were ordained of God and set up by men in Micahs days the heads of the house of Jacob and the Princes of the House of Israel abhorred Judgment and perverted all equity They build up Sion with Blood and Jerusalem with Iniquity and for their sins and sakes was Sion Plowed as a Field and Jerusalem made heaps The Venetian History informs us that in a time when the Common-Wealth of Venice was much afflicted Baimonti Tepulo who issued from a noble family but bearing a Devilish hatred to his Country with divers others of the same quality and means conspired against it divers of the common people being in pay with the Conspirators who in the midst of a horrible tempest intermingled with
changeable unconstant and variable as the weather never at any certainty discontented with the present Government which if changed for another they would like no better weary of present things affecting change and alteration either they serve basely or rule proudly As for liberty that is the mean between them both they have neither the skill to despise with reason nor the grace to entertain in any proportionable measure Sir Wat. Ralegh History of the world as one saith But what say our Church Levellers the people are all holy what need there be any one to teach them they can teach themselves the Church are all Saints they all know the Lord from the greatest to the least what need is there then of any such thing as the ministerial Office Heb. 8. 11. They have received of God an Unction or an anointing which teacheth them and need not that any man should teach them 1 John 2. 27. Resp By Unction and Anointing is meant the Spirit and his Graces so called because they are the Unction wherewith Christ and his Members are Anointed Now to conclude from hence that the Ministry and the Ordinances are not necessary but only the immediate teachings of the Spirit is a conclusion never intended by the Spirit of God First because this would be contrary to his own Institutions and Commands and so make God to contradict himself For God hath set up the Ministry to teach edify and perfect Saints he hath commanded them to Preach in season and out of season God prohibits us to despise Prophecying He threatens Damnation to such as shall neglect to hear the Gospel Preached To what end hath God appointed and commanded these things if his mind be that we shall be immediately taught of God by the Spirit 2dly St. John himself makes this evident to be his meaning 1 John 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of God If they had been all immediately inspired by the Spirit it had been absurd for John to write unto them But because the Spirit of God doth teach by the Word mediately therefore he writeth to them God's Courts are his School his ordinance are his books by which he teacheth Men And they that will be taught of God must come to his School and wait upon his Ordinances St. Paul sheweth that the Ministry is to continue in the Church till we all meet together in the Unity of Faith and of the Knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ The Ministry is to continue till we all meet in the Unity of Faith in the Universal Meeting when Christ shall appear in Glory when we shall have an uniform Faith and Knowledg of Christ Observation IX That those that are the greatest Deceivers of the people do often pretend most Zeal for the Peoples Liberty So we see here in Korah and his Company St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 2. 3. of false Teachers that through Covetousness by feigned Words they make Merchandize of those whom they seduce Doth not the Scripture among divers kinds of Merchandize in the Ware-house of the Whore of Babylon number the Souls of men Rev. 18. 19. Hereticks for Gain by feigned Words do sell the Souls of Men to the Devil by fair pretences they draw Men into damnable Heresies c. Pernitious Practises and into the way of Destruction Observation X. That it is usual with evil Men to draw false Conclusions from true Premises What was the ground Korah went upon That all the Lord's People were Holy every one of them This is true according to Scripture in a Sense externally holy as a people professing the Lord to be their God But what was the Conclusion they drew from hence it was that therefore Moses and Aaron took too much upon them and that there was no need of Magistracy or Ministry Take heed of sudden Entertaining any New Doctrine though it seem to be countenanced by some Scripture misapplyed Observation XI That true Zeal doth oppose great Sins with great Detestation This mutiny tended to destroy those two great Ordinances of the Magistracy and Ministry and to bring confusion into the Church and Commonwealth of Israel and to provoke the Wrath of God against them And therefore Moses though the meekest Man upon Earth yet he was far from coldness and neutrality in this respect he was full of Zeal he falls upon his Face in Detestation of so foul a Rebellion and was very wrath with them verse 15. True Zeal is proportioned to the Object The greater the Sin is against which it is set the more it is stirred it is fervent as the Cause requireth it is governed by true prudence or discretion and proceeds with caution A true Christian useth Zeal as a skilful Rider doth his Horse making use of the mettle of his Horse suitable to the Use he hath of him True Zeal mindeth the Cause and according to the Importance of that riseth or falleth as the Tide which followeth the course of the Moon Observation XII That it is true Wisdom to undertake such a Cause and so to manage it that whatsoever opposition may arise a man may confidently and safely appeal to the righteous God So it was with Moses he had undertaken an extraordinary Work and he had managed it in an extraordinary way yet such was his carriage in it that he approveth himself to God And then if men did offend him scorn and resist him here was his comfort that his witness was in Heaven though Men did condemn him yet God did justify him Carnal Wisdom thinks it best for men to engage in such a Cause and so to carry themselves that men may be pleased with them but it is cold comfort to a Prisoner at the bar that some ignorant persons standing by shall acquit him and the Judge on the Bench shall condemn him A good cause and an evil Conscience are so unsuitably match'd that some sleight occasion of discontent is enough to divorce them Observation XIII That evil Men are apt falsely to object things against their Betters which may truly be retorted upon themselves These Men say to Moses and Aaron Ye take too much upon you which Moses restores unto them v. 7. ye take too much upon you ye Sons of Levi and justly accuseth them for medling with things too high for them which the Lord had never called them to 1 Reg. 18. 17 18. Ahab saith unto Elijah Art thou he that troublest Israel The Prophet retorteth this upon him because of his Abominations The Pharisees charge Christs Disciples for transgressing the Traditions of the Elders To whom Christ answereth why do ye also transgress the Commandments of God by your Traditions Observation XIV That evil Men pretending only to quarrel with men do many times rise up against God These Mutineers pretended to rise up against Moses and Aaron but Moses tells them that they are risen up