Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26412
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A fannaticks mite cast into the Kings treasury being a sermon printed to the King because not preach'd before the King / by Henry Adis.
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Adis, Henry.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing A581; ESTC R28080
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68,628
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81
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compelled them to Blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even unto strange Cities v. 11. But this I did saith he Ignorantly in Unbelief 1 Tim. 1. 13. And thus it fares often times with many in things about Religion according to that Principle of the Church of Rome that their Ignorance is the Mother of their Devotion And is it not so in this our Day with thousands in this Land of our Nativity that are of lewd wicked and debauched Conversations yet are very zealous for their Common-Prayer And though they will be Drunk many of them and live in known abominations all the week long yet such is their blind Zeal that they must needs to their Common-Prayer on the Sunday they think themselves undone else This I know by Experience it was so with my self for a long time together but now through Mercy I can say with the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 15. 10. I thank God I am what I am though some call me a Fannatick or a mad man I would not be mistaken I do not here go to beat down Zeal For it is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good matter Gal. 4. 18. But I would have Zeal â—…oyned with Knowledge and so set upon its proper and right Object for the Jews we know had a Zeal to God but not according to Knowledge Rom. 10. 2. By which Zeal of theirs they went about to establish a Righteousness of their own and Contrary or in Opposition to Christ who is made of God unto His both Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Thou O King as thou art now upon thy Work of Reformation see thy Zeal run not before thy Knowledge lest thou with the Apostle Paul make havock of the Church of God and waste it sure I am thou wilt not want Perswaders thereunto But let me beg thee in Gods fear first to Inform thy Judgement aright Regulate that according to the Rule of Gods Word and then joyn Zeal to thy Knowledge that so they may draw in one yoak together and suffer me to bind this Persâ—…vasion close to thy Conscience for thy Eternal good with that saying of the Apostle James 4. 17. To him that knoweth to do well and doth it not to him it is sin The next thing considerable in this one and twentieâ—…h verse is That those that came out of his own Bowels slew him with the Sword Whence we may observe That whilst men are acting against Gods People out of a blind Zeal to bring them at an under and to root them out God then appears for his People and brings their enemies low and many times maketh their nearest Relations to become their greatest Enemies for it is in vain for men to fight against Christ it is hard for them to kick against the pricks yet thus inconsideratly do all those that fight against his People and he looketh upon it as done to himself for so saith the Lord from Heaven Acts 9. 4. Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me And he that receiveth you receiveth me Mat. 1. 40. And in as much as you did it not to one of the least of these you did it not unto me Mat. 25. 45. Thus in a most miraculous manner without effusion of blood God on Hezekiah's part delivered Hezekiah the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and guided him on every side And thus God hath done for thée O King And this was one great Cause why God expected an answerable Return from Hezekiah and to me it seems as a Reason Why thou O King shouldst render to the Lord according to his Benefits bestowed on thee seeing God thus or in such a miraculous manner hath wrought such a Deliverance for thée and thy Friends without blood-shed The next thing that God did for Hezekiah was He recovered him from a mortal distemper for so saith the Text ver. 24. In those dayes Hezekiah was sick to the death and he prayed unto the Lord and he spake unto him and he gave him a Sign This Text is but an abstract of what we have fully laid down to us in 2 King 20. 1 2 3. and Isa. 38. 1. The which Texts we must have some recourse to if we intend to have a full discovery of what God did for Hezekiah in 1 Kings 20. 1. The Text saith In those dayes Hezekiah was sick unto death and the Prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto him Thus saith the Lord Set thy House in order for thou shalt dye and not live and Hezekiah turned his face towards the Wall and prayed unto the Lord and said Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight and Hezekiah wept sore And it came to pass after Isaiah was gone out into the middle Court that the Word of the Lord came unto him saying Turn again and tell Hezekiah the Captain of my People thus saith the Lord the God of David thy Father I have heard thy Prayers I have séen thy Tears Behold I will heal thee on the third day thou shalt go up to the House of the Lord Many things there are in this Passage worthy Consideration and the first thing that I shall take notice of is That Hezekiah was sick unto Death and he must set his House in order for he must dye and not live yet Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord and he healed him Whence we may note That many of the Resolves of God concerning the Sons and Daughters of men are not absolutely peremptory but many times conditional for yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed yet when Nineveh repents God repents of the evil he intended against them Jonah 2. 4 5 10. And thus saith the Lord by his Prophet Jer. 18. 7. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to Build and to Plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then will I repent of the Good wherewith I said I would Benefit them So also saith the Lord to Ely upon the misdemeanor of his Sons by that man of God 1 Sam. 2. 30. I said indeed that thy House and the House of thy Father should walk before me for ever but now the Lord saith Be it far from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Now know O King that God is about to Re-build and to Plant Thee and thy People again and if thou and they shall answer God in acts of Obedience and do that which is well-pleasing in his sight he then will go
upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem And Thirdly This may serve for a Use of Exhortation to Members of Congregations and Children and Servants of particular Families that they be also constant in this Duty of Prayer in the behalf of their respective Pastors Elders Fathers or Masters that they may be so directed by divine Assistance that as under their Prince so likewise under them they may lead a peaceable a quiet and a godly life in all godliness and honesty And so I shall passe to my Third and last Teachable Conclusion viz. Thirdly That outward Enjoyments do many times so affect the Heart of man as that they lift them up even to the forgetting of God to their own ruine The great Jehovah knowing right well the nature of things as he was the Maker of thom and the temper of Mans Heart as he was the Former of it when he caused Moses to let Israel know the particular Priviledges they should enjoy in the Land of Canaan Deut. 8. he giveth them this Caution v. 12 13 14. That when they had eaten and were full and had built goodly Houses and dwelt therein when their Heards and Flocks their Silver and their Gold was encreased that then their heart should not be listed up But the truth of this Assertion we may see verified in Belshazzar King of Babylon for when Daniel was sent for to Read and Interpret the Haud-writing on the Wall to Belshazzar Dan. 5. 18. he said O King the Most High God gave unto thy Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Power and for the Majesty he gave him all People Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down as thou dost now O King But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardned in Pride he was deposed from his Kingly Throne and they took his glory from him and he was driven from the Sons of Men and his heart was made like the Beasts and his dwelling was with the wild Asses they fed him with grass like Oxen and his body was wet with the Dew of Heaven till he knew that the Most High Ruleth in the Kingdom of men and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will Whence we may note That as his heart was lifted up and his mind hardned in Pride so it was upon the account of his high enjoyments to the forgetting of God who dispensed them to him which we see was the Cause of his casting down The like we may see in Uzziah 2 Chron. 26. 1. who after the death of Amaziah his Father was made King of Judah And he Reigned in Jerusalem fifty and two years and he did that which was right in the fight of the Lord And V. 5. He fought God in the dayes of Zechariah who had understanding in the Visions of God and as long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper And he went forth and warred against the Philistines and brake down the Wall of Gath and the Wall of Jabneh and the Wall of Ashdod and God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians and the Ammonites gave gifts to him and his Name spread abroad even to the entring in of Egypt for he strengthened himself exceedingly and he built Towers both in Jerusalem and in the Desert and digged many Wells for he had much Cattel both in the law Countrey and in the Plains Husbandmen also and Vine-dressers Moreover he had an Host of fighting men that went out to War in Bands his chief men or Captains of War were two thousand and six hundred And vers. 15. He made in Jerusalem Engins of War made by cunning Work-men to be on the Towers and on the Bulwarks to shoot Arrowes and great Stones withal and his Name spread far abroad for he was marvellously helped till he was strong But when he was strong V. 16. his heart was lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the Temple of the Lord and burned Incense upon the Altar of Incense And he was struck with Leprosie and died without cure Thus whilst Uzzia sought the Lord V. 5. God made him to prosper But when his heart was lifted up and he forgat God God left him and punished his sin with a Disease that to him proved mortal Whence we note That when Uzziah separates himself from his God by forgetting him God by that Leprosie separated him from the Priviledges of his House and the Society of men and from all things that were the Cause of his hearts lifting up for so saith the Text ver. 21. And Uzzia the King was a Leper until the day of his death and dwelt in a several house being a Leper for he was cut off from the House of the Lord And Jotham his Son was over the Kings House Judging the People of the Land And thus we see the Lord had a Controversie with the Prince of Tyrus against whom he gave out a Commission to the Prophet Ezek. 28. 2. saying Son of Man say unto the Prince of Tyrus Thus saith the Lord Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a god I sit in the Seat of God in the midst of the Seas yet thou art a Man and not God though thou set thine heart as the heart of God And the reason of the lifting up of his heart is rendred in the fourth and fifth verses which proves our Assertion fully for saith vers. 4. With thy Wisdom and with thy Understanding thou hast gotten thee riches and hast gotten Gold and Silver into thy Treasuries And v. 5. By thy great Wisdom and by thy Traffick hast thou encreased thy riches and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches V. 7. Behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee the terrible of the Nations and they shall draw their Sword against the beauty of thy Wisdom and they shall defile thy brightness And v. 8. They shall bring thee down to the Pit and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the Seas And vers. 10. Thou shalt die the death of the Uncircumcised by the hand of Strangers for I have spoken it saith the Lord Thus whilst mens hearts are lifted up and they forget God in the Enjoyment of outward things and with the rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12. 19. begin to live to themselves and to sing a Requium to their Souls the Lord we see brings them down with a Thou Fool this night shall they require thy Soul from thee So that we see the Point also fully proved viz. That outward Enjoyments many times do so affect the heart of man as that they lift it up even to the forgetting of God to their own ruine Several Uses might be made hereof the which for brevity sake I shall here omit And shall onely this say