Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	know_v	think_v	3,397	5	3.7699	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48835	A sermon at the funeral of Sr. Edmund-Bury Godfrey, one of His Majesties justices of the peace, who was barbarously murthered preached on Thursday the last day of October 1678, in the parish church of St. Martin in the Fields / by William Lloyd ...	Lloyd, William, 1627-1717.	1678 (1678)	Wing L2700; ESTC R20443	19,287	44

IMPRIMATVR Guil. Jane R. P. D. Hen. Epis. Lond. à Sacris Dom. Nov. the 9th 1678. A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF S r EDMVND-BVRY GODFREY One of His Majesties Justices of the Peace Who was Barbarously Murthered Preached on Thursday the last day of October 1678. In the Parish Church of St. MARTIN in the Fields By William Lloyd D. D. Dean of Bangor One of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Vicar of the said Parish of St. Martin LONDON Printed by Tho. Newcomb for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Pauls MDCLXXVIII A Funeral Sermon ON 2 SAM iii. 33 34. 33. And the King lamented over Abner and said Died Abner as a fool dieth 34. Thy hands were not bound nor thy feet put into fetters as a man falleth before wicked men so fellest thou And all the people wept again over him IF I could at any time allow my self to transgress the rules of this place to Preach without a Text it should be now having this subject before me Here 's a subject that makes it's own Sermon and its own Prayer The Blood of Abel speaks saith the Apostle This Innocent Blood speaks and cries in the Ears of God the All-knowing God that hears matter without words it speaks and cries aloud to him for Vengeance How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge It speaks to you to your eyes and to your hearts many sad and astonishing things I judge of others by my self I do not hear but I feel what this speaks to me It speaks in such Language as this Oh my Friends I spent my life in serving you It was my business to do Justice and shew Mercy See what I had for it Insnared and Butcher'd by wicked Men against Justice and without Mercy How many things did I endure e're they brought me to this How many Lies were you told the mean while to hide it from you How many deaths have I suffered before Death came to relieve me And if that would have satisfied them if they would but have Buried me you should have heard none of all this But their Malice went farther My poor mangled macerated Body must be thrown out to Birds and Beasts and my Name to the obloquy of worse men Then it was time for me to speak for my self and God brought a number of you to hear me then I said see see O my Friends how they have used me Behold the Spectacle they have given you I saw it among the rest It was a most dismal fight such as that which we read of It was so that all that saw it said There was no such deed done nor seen from the time that we first came to be a Nation till this day 'T is possible I might find something like it among other Nations but I shall confine my self to what we find among the people of God And of all that God delivers to us in Scripture among them I think there is no example like that of the Murther of Abner which occasioned those words which I have chosen for my Text. And because I do not intend to dwell upon that I shall shew you but briefly these three particulars in it First the Person secondly his Sufferings and thirdly the Consequences of it First the Person that was Abner an eminent man both in dignity and also in usefulness among his people Secondly His Sufferings a bloody violent death And herein I have three things to consider First the kind of Fact He died he fell by wicked men He was Murthered by Ioab and Abishai Secondly the manner of it Perfidiously and cruelly with shew of the greatest Friendship they inhumanly killed him Thirdly the Authors of it Such as can pretend Friendship to destroy such no doubt are wicked men the most dangerous sort of wicked men By such a Wise man may be caught and die like a Fool a mighty man may be deprived of the use of his hands a wary man may be deprived of the use of his feet There is no fighting with such nor no running away from such an Enemy This David exprest in his Lamentation which moved the People to theirs and that was the consequence of it which comes last to be considered I shall repeat you my Text that you may see how all these parts lie together The King Lamented over ABNER and said Died Abner as a Fool dieth Could he make no shift for himself Why couldst thou not fight Thy hands were not bound nor thy feet put in Fetters why couldst thou not run away The reason is plain thou couldst do nothing to help thy self Thou wert caught in a trap As a man falleth before wicked men so fellest thou This the King having said all the People who wept before now wept again over Abner For the Person here spoken of He was a Prince of the Blood Cousin German to King Saul and General of his Armies all his Reign He was an excellent person as Iosephus describes him for Counsel Courage and Diligence Experience in affairs There is ground to believe this from Scripture which makes him after Saul's Death to have been the only support of his Son and Successor Ishbosheth 'T is said 2 Sam. 2. 8 9. That Abner took Ishbosheth and made him King over all Israel He might in all probability considering the others weakness as easily have made himself King if he pleased But he was true to his Relation and his Trust. In this Chapter at the sixth verse He set himself with all his might for the House of Saul Amidst his cares and concerns for the State he was not forgetful of the Church as appears by his Dedications 1 Chron. xxvi 28. I find nothing that can any way blemish his Memory unless it was something contained in this Chapter where it is said that he was charged by Ishbosheth with dishonouring the Bed of his late Master ver 7. He asketh him Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my Fathers Concubines Iosephus believeth the information was not true and it seems not so likely of one of his age being then above sixty years old when the King charged him with it The more cause he had to lay this to heart it made that great man think his Service misplaced and that God was not pleased with what he did for Sauls Family in opposition to David who had a better title to the Crown He knew that the Government was not yet made Hereditary but that it was conferred immediately by God who had decreed that he would take away Saul and set up David in his stead And reflecting upon this Abner swore he would now make amends for his Error he would bring over the Kingdom to David This Ishbosheth heard and durst not gain-say nay it seems he consented to it by what followeth For when Abner sent to David for Terms and he required this preliminary point that his Wife Michal should be sent home

Secondly Their Interests and Thirdly their Principles We shall consider each of these First their Actions and Practices Since we know not who they are that were the Authors of this Wickedness at least can we find who they are that are not willing we should know it They that have practised and intrigued to this purpose to endeavour to hinder the Search or the Discovery if they knew what they did we have reason to judge they were concerned for themselves or for their Friends You cannot but remember the dust that was raised in the week when the Search should have been made those Calumnies those various reports that went about as it were on purpose to hinder the discovery One while he had withdrawn himself for Debt Another while he was Married that not very decently Another while he was run away with a Harlot even what the Father of Lies put into their heads At last when they knew what they intended to do with him they prepared you to expect it by giving out that he had kild himself You know how impatient they were to have this believ'd I was told it some hours before the discovery that he was found with his own Sword through his Body Others could tell that he had two wounds about him These things were found to be True some hours after But then they devised sundry Untruths to colour it It was suggested that it might be done in Distraction which they said was an Hereditary Disease in his Family that his Father and his Grand-father had it before him that this Disease being stirred up by some mis-apprehensions wrought that direful effect upon him to make him kill himself These things from whatsoever Author they came being confidently said were as easily believed by them that knew nothing to the contrary I confess I knew not what to think my self till I saw the contrary with my eyes When I saw he was strangled as well as thrust through I soon considered that no man could kill himself both those ways And then for the Scandal that was raised of his Family I found upon inquiry that all the colour they had to say it was only this that his Father was sometime afflicted with Melancholy almost to Distraction but it was before he was fifty years old he soon recovered of it and lived till the eightieth year of his Age. Besides I am informed that there never was any appearance of the like Distemper in any one Person of all that numerous Family Nor did any of his Relations ever come to an untimely end as has been falsly reported For the Melancholy that was observed in our Friend I think none that knew him ever thought it Distraction or any thing tending that way but a thoughtfulness sometimes that proceeded from the Intricacy and Multiplicity of Business I believe the weightiest business that ever he had was that which made him say some Days before his Death I am told I shall be knock'd in the Head He said this in my hearing without any great visible Concern He continued the same he ever was in his daily Conversation Serious in Business but Chearful and Pleasant at other times Thus he used to be alway He was so the last day of his living life that is till the hour that we lost him And how he was afterwards I suppose they best know that were the Authors of these Rumors That 's one way to try men I think by their Actions and Practises A Second way to find out the Authors of any Fact is to consider who they were that were concerned to have it done It was Cassius's word Cui bono For whose Interest was it Now consider for whose Interest it was to kill this Person They must be some that were not safe while he lived or some that might be the better for his Death And that in some considerable measure such as would requite all the danger they were to incur by it If you know of any that could not think themselves safe while he lived you have great reason to believe you know the Authors of his Death I have not so far been Privy to his doings as that I could be able to enter into this Secret Much less to know of any Personal Malice against him He that was so tender hearted even to those whom he punished could not provoke any one to this height of Revenge Much less were they Robbers or any such Poor Rogues that kill men for what they have These did their work Gratis They left him all his Money They took nothing but his Band except Papers 'T is therefore very credible that the Authors had some other Interest that moved them to it And that seems rather to have been against the Government and the Laws They knew how firm he was in his Duty to both and perhaps they had tried it in something else than we know of If so they could not but think it worth their while to send him out of the World One that durst do his duty when he knew whom and what he should provoke by it One that would give so ill an Example to other Magistrates which if followed might be the Ruin of their Cause What could they think of such a man We cannot scare him We cannot bribe him but we can kill him They could not have thought of a more Compendious way than this Especially if the killing of him would dishearten others and so be a means to weaken Authority and Laws Such men cannot but know that Publick-Spirited men are not so many and they that are are but Men They may be daunted they may be discouraged And what can do that more than the Terror of such an Example I doubt not they that did this would rather have done it Publickly for that reason As we hang up Thieves for Example to others so to hang up Justices for doing their Duty Oh that would be a pleasant thing indeed No Gentlemen we are not come to that yet God knows what we may come to for our Sins and by your Means But it will be the longer first if the Laws can find You out And towards that we have some guess at you by this Token They that are against the Established Laws it was their Interest to do this That is the Second thing The Third Token is by their Principles And so whosoever did this they should be either such as hold nothing Unlawful or at least such as hold it Lawful to do such things For the First that is Men of Atheistical Principles they follow only their Lust or their Interest Which will scarce unite any number of men to carry on such a formed design as this was Or if it had they would scarce have held together so long they would have impeached one another and so saved us the Labour of Discovering them by this Token I do not therefore charge it upon them that hold nothing Unlawful But how shall we excuse them that hold it Lawful to do