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	lord_n	people_n	4,203	5	4.5705	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65440	Ferguson's text explain'd and apply'd, in a sermon before the Right Honourable Sir Robert Geffery, Kt., Lord Mayor of London, at Guild-Hall Chappel, December the 6th, anno 1685 by Robert Wensley ...	Wensley, Robert, 1647-1689.	1686 (1686)	Wing W1352; ESTC R15240	16,002	36

against King Richard the Second II. The Two last Rebellions of this present Age. As to the First Though they had forced him 1st The bloody Punishment of the Rebellion against Richard the II. to Resign his Crown in open Parliament to Henry of Bullenbrook and had Confirmed it to him by all the means that Policy could contrive or Law could dictate yet as that Loyal Bishop of Carlisle * Mr. Trussell's Hist of Henry the IV. p. 52. Dr. Thomas Merks whose Name ought alwayes to be remembred as a Martyr for his Loyalty foretold to them The Child that was yet unborn did Rue the Work of that Day For though this Rebellion prosper'd in the highest manner for Two Generations yet in the Third such a War was Rais'd thereby between the two Royal Families as lasted † Vid. ibid. Hist of Richard the III. p. ult near an hundred Years and was the Occasion of the Loss of the Lives of near an Hundred Thousand Subjects amongst which were most of the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation Neither had it had an end so soon had not God Almighty been pleased of his great Mercy by several strange Over-turnings at length to Give the Crown to them whose Right it was in whose Posterity both the Families of York and Lancaster were firmly United So fully was that Old Verse which ought never to be forgotten confirm'd to us De male quaesitis vix gaudent tertius haeres The Third Heir scarcely ever enjoyes ill-gotten Estates But I need not go so far for Examples of this kind our own Experience being too well supply'd with them even in this present Age the two last Rebellions amongst us being no less apparent Instances of the like Punishments For Secondly As to that Rebellion against 2dly The Rebellion against Charles the First Charles the Blessed Martyr never to be thought on without the utmost horror Though it prosper'd for a while yet what did we get by it Instead of the Best of Men and the Best of Kings who was inhumanely Murdered by his own Subjects at his own Door under a damnable pretence of Justice we were forc'd to truckle under a Base and Bloody Vsurper Instead of The best Church and Religion in the World Established amongst us we had made our Nation nothing but a sink of all manner of filthy Schismes Heresies and Confusion Instead of the Best of Governments under which every Man could Claim the same Right and Law for his Possessions as the King Himself we brought upon our selves the Iron-Rod of meer Arbitrary Power and knew no Law nor Right but what the Sword gave us Instead of the most Blessed Peace and Plenty that our Nation ever enjoyed we brought upon our selves nothing but Sequestrations Decimations Rapine Sacriledge and the most Vnnatural War and Blood-shed To Summ up all All that we got by that Sea of Blood and those vast heaps of Treasure spent in that Rebellion was only this Viz. That we had entail'd upon our Posterity had not God been more Merciful unto us all those things which were the main pretences for those Fears and Jealousies which rais'd the first Feuds and Commotions amongst us unless we add which with good reason we may those amazing Judgments of The most Dreadful Fire and the most Raging Pestilence which were the Just Punishments of that most unjust Rebellion But Thirdly As to this last Rebellion 3dly The fatal consequences that would have ensued had Monmouth's Rebellion prevail'd Supposing the Late Monmouth had prevailed and by plain force had platted the Crown upon his own head What could we have expected from such an Usurpation but only another War Between Him and His Whigg-Parliament or else between the Two Houses of York and Monmouth that might in all probability have lasted as long and have been no less Bloody than the former between the Two Families of York and Lancaster But God Almighty thanks to his Holy Name hath by a most signal Providence put an end to all these Calamities and Dangers and hath Vtterly Over-turned both these Rebellions and their Authors and Abettors almost miraculously fulfilling the last Verse of the Prophesie of my Text so clearly even to every tittle of it as though the Prophet had meant it of none but our Times Viz. I will Over-turn Over-turn Over-turn it and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is and I will give it him For how wonderfully hath he Over-turned the Usurper his Family and the Fagg end of a Parliament that had unjustly seiz'd into their own hands the Supream Power of the Kingdom and made them stink in the Nostrils of all good Men How prodigiously hath He Over-turn'd the Committees of Safety the Keepers of our Liberties that kept them from us and the old Invincible Army of Implacable Rebels and all their Commanders who Usurp'd the Command of all things amongst us Lastly How miraculously hath He brought the Wheel over the Whiggs and utterly Over-turn'd them and all their Rebellious Devices And by those very Means by which they thought to have destroy'd our King and Government hath so firmly settled the Crown upon his Head whose undoubted right it is and so immoveably Fixt and Establish'd His Throne That unless we by our Sins and Abuses of his Mercies do provoke God to permit them we have Reason to believe that neither the Devil himself the first Rebel nor all his Followers shall ever be able to shake it To summ up All that I have said Since seldom or never any Rebellion hath long The general Application of the whole Discourse Prosper'd but hath generally been even in this Life it s own Punishment Since it is such a Sin that contains all other Crimes and no Amends nor any sufficient Excuse can be made for it And lastly Since it is such a Sin as can very hardly if at all be Repented of and by Consequence Since there is very little or no Hope of Forgiveness for it If we have any Regard to our own Happiness either in this World or That which is to come Let us follow the Wisest Advice of the Wisest of Men viz. * Proverbs c. 24. v. 21 22. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to Change And let us always bear in mind the Reason that Solomon gives us the Truth of which our own Experience hath so often confirm'd viz. For their Calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruin of them both And lest any should be drawn into Rebellion with a Shew and Pretence of Religion Let me add the most necessary Exhortation of the Great Apostle of the Gentiles viz. † Rom. c. 16. v. 17 18. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them that cause Divisions amongst you contrary to the Doctrine ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the Simple For so long as such Deceivers are mark'd by the People for Godly and Precious Men as to my Knowledge the greatest Rebels even Ferguson himself hath been cry'd up as the Most powerful and Soul-saving Preacher amongst them it is impossible but that all manner of Rebellious Principles will be planted in their Heads But if our Magistrates would Mark such as make Divisions amongst us contrary to the Doctrine we have received in our Church so as to execute our Laws with all Vigour against them and if all the People would so Mark them as to Avoid them it would be impossible for them to turn our Faith into Faction and our Religion into Rebellion And methinks they have shewn themselves such bare-fac'd Rebels to all our Nation that he that can still have such a Kindness for them as to continue still to follow them doth clearly demonstrate to the World that he hath but very little Loyalty to his King or Religion to his GOD. Let me Conclude All with this short Prayer That God Almighty would Unite all our Hearts in the Wayes of True Religion towards Him of Temperance and Sobriety towards our selves of Justice and Charity towards all Men and of Duty and Loyalty towards our Soveraign And that as He hath so signally Over-turn'd His Enemies and given Him the Crown and Diadem whose right it is so He would please to Establish the Work that He hath wrought amongst us upon the sure Foundations of Peace Truth and Righteousness And that to this End He would bless our KING with length of Dayes and all Happiness in this Life and finally Crown Him with Immortal Glory To which Prayer I am sure every True Son of our Loyal Mother the Church of England cannot but heartily say AMEN Now To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost the Great Disposer of all Things and the Giver of all Victories be ascribed as is most due all Praise and Glory Majesty and Dominion now and for evermore AMEN FINIS

Mine I shall proceed to what remains viz. Secondly To Apply this Text to such Things The 2 d. Application to Things viz. against Rebellion chiefly against which it is directly and naturally Applicable And surely it can be Applyed against nothing so directly as against Zedekiah's Crimes of Ingratitude Treachery and Rebellion As for the Two former they being mainly comprehended and compleated in the Latter I shall restrain my Discourse against that Crime that contains all the rest i. e Rebellion For no Man can be a Rebel but he must be Every Rebel must be Vngrateful as well as Perfidious 1. He must be Vngrateful 1st Ungrateful For the Preservation of his Life or Fortune and of what soever can be dear to him he owes wholly to his Prince who gives Life to the Laws by which they are preserved by his vigorous Execution of them without which all Law is but a dead Letter and signifies nothing at all to the Safety or Welfare of Human Society 2. He must be Perfidious also 2dly Perfidious For no Man can Rebel but he breaks those Ties of Nature as well as his Promises and Oaths which by our Laws every Subject is supposed and required to take by which he is bound to maintain his Prince's Life and Government Now against all Rebellion this Text doth apply it self as the highest and strongest Argument that can be by answering all the Pretences and Excuses that can possibly be made for it For What No just or sufficient Excuse for Rebellion greater Excuses can be imagined than those which were the real Causes of Zedekiah's Rebellion May the Invasion of our Rights Liberties and Lives or the Violation of the True Religion be sufficient Excuses for it All these Zedekiah had in the highest manner and yet was blamed and punish'd in the highest manner for his Rebellion His People's Properties Lives Liberties and Religion were utterly invaded and violated First As to their Properties Lives and Liberties 1st Not Property Life and Liberty Was not the King of Babylon a meer Invader of them all What Right had he but only what his Sword had given him to the Country of Judea And yet did he not by meer Force without so much as a Pretence of Right or Title to it besiege take and destroy its Chief * Vid. 2 King c. 24. from v. 10. to v. 17. City Did he not seize as his own and carry away with him not only all things of Value in it but all Persons also of any use to it killing many of them and making the rest his Slaves in Babylon Was it not to preserve his People's Lives from Murther and to regain their Liberties and Properties from the highest Injustice and the greatest Slavery and Tyranny that the King of Israel rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar And yet all this could not excuse his Rebellion But though Life Liberty and Property which relate only to this World will not excuse Rebellion against the worst of Tyrants yet surely Religion that must bring us to Eternal Life is so sacred a thing that the least Violation of it will be a full Excuse But this will appear as vain an Excuse as the former if we consider the Instance in the Text. For Secondly As to Religion even that which God 2dly Not Religion himself had Instituted amongst the Jews it was no less violated by the King of Babylon than their Liberties and Properties For Was not Nebuchadnezzar the highest Idolater and the greatest Promoter of Idolatry in the whole World Was it not He that cast Shadrach Meshach and Vid. The 3 d. Chap. of Daniel Abednego into the Fiery Furnace heated seven times hotter than it used to be only because they worshipped the True God and would not Fall down and worship the Golden Image that he had set up Was it not He that not only prophan'd but destroy'd the Temple of the Lord the Glory of the Jewish Religion Was it not He that not only polluted their most Sacred Altar where was the Secanah or Glory of God but pull'd it down and utterly defac'd it Was it not He that had seiz'd all the Sacred Vessels and Inestimable Treasures of the House of the Lord and carried them away to be in the highest manner prophan'd in Babylon And was Zedekiah's Rebellion any thing more than an Endeavour to regain his People's just Rights and to Re-establish the True Religion amongst them And would not all this excuse him For our full Satisfaction in this Particular let us read 2 Kings ch 24. v. 20. and we shall there find it expresly said That it was for this cause that God had Cast out him and all Israel out of his Presence i. e. out of his Protection For saith the Text through the Anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his Presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the King of Babylon Since then nothing can excuse Rebellion Give me leave as a further Application of these Words to press these Two Considerations 1. The Greatness of the Sin of Rebellion Two Considerations against Rebellion 2. The remarkable Punishments of Rebellion The First will be apparent in these Three Things 1. Rebellion is a Complication of all Sins 2. A Sin for which no Amends can be made 3. A Sin which seldom is or can be Repented of First It is a Complication of all Sins 1st Rebellion is a Complication of all Sins It is not any single Act of Prophaneness or Perjury but Thousands of Perjuries joyn'd in one It is not any particular Act of Injustice or Murder but all manner of Rapine Plunder and Desolation all sorts of Rapes and Adulteries innumerable Murders of Innocent Persons and Violations of all things Sacred are the necessary Consequences of it It too often makes Children to sheath their Swords in the Bowels of their Parents and Subjects to destroy the Lives of their Soveraigns which they ought to defend though with the Loss of their own How often doth it bring in a Foreign Enemy to enslave a Nation Have not we too dearly experienced this in England Look into our Histories and ye may find that we could never have been Conquered either by the Danes Saxons or Normans nay not by the Romans themselves had it not been for our Intestine Wars and Rebellions In a word There is no Crime so black and horrid at which the Conscience of any thing but the Devil himself would startle and be amaz'd but that Rebellion too readily draws us into it Nay Secondly It is such a Sin as no Amends can be 2dly It is a Sin that no Amends can be made for made for How can any one make Amends for memberless Rapines Plunderings and Desolations of whole Towns and Countries Unless we could suppose him possess'd with all the Riches of the Indies But if we could suppose all this yet How can he make Amends for