Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	holy_a	scripture_n	word_n	2,805	5	4.1192	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76085	The second part of that book call'd Independency not Gods ordinance: or the post-script, discovering the uncharitable dealing of the Independents towards their Christian brethren, with the jugglings of many of their pastors and ministers, to the misleading of the poor people to the detriment of their own souls, and the hurt both of church and state, with the danger of novelties in religion; proving that Independency, is one of the most dangerous sects, that ever appeared in the world, since mortality inhabited the earth. In the which also there is a satisfactory answer given to the principall cavils of him that writ that railing pamphlet, stil'd The falshood of Mr Will. Prynnes Triumphing in the antiquity of popish princes and parliaments. With Doctor Bastvvicks just defence against some calumnies in way of preface. / By John Bastvvick, Dr in Physick.; Independency not Gods ordinance. Part 2	Bastwick, John, 1593-1654.	1645 (1645)	Wing B1069; Thomason E287_9; ESTC R200091	93,218	111

and have undergone great persecution for Religigion as they publish to the world in their writings If it be tolerable therefore and praise-worthy in the Independents to oppose the Truth notwithstanding they have been sufferers will any rationall man count it an intolerable thing in me to oppose the errors and novelties of the Independents which they would impose upon the people of God as his lawes when they are but their own inventions and as things necessary to salvation And will any reasonable creature call this a persecution in any if in his own person to the uttermost of his abilities he labours to defend the truth and convince error and exhort all those that fear God to do the same because he hath been a sufferer I conceive upon deliberation he will have a more charitable opinion of such an one And if this be a crime in such as have suffered for Religion to resist Error the Independents are guilty of the same as deeply as any other for they also should remember they have bin sufferers yet they maintain their Novelties for truths and exhort all their followers to do the same and to oppose all gain-sayers which they do to the uttermost of their power in words and deeds and count this their honour and a great virtue yea valour and yet blame it in me and in all the Presbyterians and I know no reason why I or any Presbyterian should not be as valiant for truth as others should be for the upholding of their errours and Innovations especialiy when they fly so high in their Expressions as to make them the onely way to heaven and that whosoever is not in that their way they are in the broad street to perdition and exclaim against all such as oppose their opinions as persecutors of the wayes of God for this is their usuall dialect yea their ordinary language and custome to call all writing and preaching against the Errors and Heresies of the time Persecution in all the faithfull Ministers and people which duty notwithstanding they are bound unto by Christ and all the holy Prophets and Apostles who are by them commanded to lift up their voyces like a Trumpet to oppose and rebuke all gainesayers and to contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints And this is the language of that Author that writ the Arainment of Persecution and he that writ that malicious Pamphlet against M. Prynne who calls him and all the Presbyterians Persecutors whose wicked and vaine Cavils by which he laboureth to prove the necessity of a tolleration of all Religions are these following His words are these Six impossibilities which do necessarily accompany Persecution for cause of conscience 1. It is impossible that the Gospell should come to be preached unto all Nations if men may be questioned for matters of conscience 2. It is impossible that such as know but in part should grow in knowledge or from one measure and degree of Faith unto another 3. It is impossible that in a rationall way there should be a firme secure peace throughout the World nay not in a Province City or Towne so long as men may make a point of conscience to compell one another to their opinions 4. It is impossible to prescribe such a way for suppressing new and different opinions whatsoever which to any State or Church may seem Hereticall but there will still be left a gap a possibility of fighting against God even when such State or Church think they fight for him most of all 5. It is impossible that either the weak Believers mis-believers or unbelievers can be wonne by our godly conversation as is required 1 Pet. 2.12 and 3.1 2. and 1 Cor. 7.12.16 so long as we will not suffer them to live amongst us 6. It is impossble for a man to hold fast the truth or be fully perswaded in his owne heart of what he does of what Religion he makes choise of unlesse after he hath searched the Scriptures and tryed the spirits whether they be of God or no it be lawfull for him to reject that which shall appear to him as evill and adhere to that which seems good in his own judgement and apprehension These are the formall words of the Author that writ that Pamphlet by which he endeavours to maintaine that hellish opinion The tolleration of all Religions To the which I shall briefly answer after I have set down some testimonies out of holy Scripture concerning Persecution Yet before I go any further I desire all men by the way to take notice that whiles I labour to shew the vanity and invalidity of this Cavillers assertions I animate no man to persecute the truth For I know that persecution of the true Religion is the greatest sin in the world one only excepted and therefore that all men should ever be carefull to offend in this kinde lest they bring speedy distruction upon themselves by it but they must also be as diligent to take heed lest whiles they would shew a vice they neglect not their duty and decline a vertue which is to oppose all errors and falsehood in Religion for that is as great a sin on the other side But now I will produce some testimonies out of holy Scripture and reasons from thence to shew that to be questioned for matters of conscience or persecution as they call it for cause of conscience imposes not an impossibility as they would infer that the Gospel by this meanes should be preached unto all Nations nor hinders not the growth of grace in Christians nor the measure and degrees of faith in them which is the first and second of these Propositions and the which to speak the truth are the main and chiefest of all the Independents Arguments by which they labour to evince the necessity of a tolleration of all Religions that prodigious Tenent lest forsooth otherwise the course of the Gospel and the increase of grace in the Saints should be hindred if men should as they pretend be persecuted for cause of conscience which is no better then whiles they seeme to dispute to blaspheme and to give Christ and the Spirit of God the lye who teach the contrary and to fight against the holy Scripture and truth it self as will by and by appear First therefore I shall desire that Christs own words may be heard and then what the holy Apostles have spoken concerning these points Christ in Matth. 10.17 18 19 c. speaking to his Disciples saith Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councels and will scourge you in their Synagogues and ye shall be brought to the Governours and Kings for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles but when ye are delivered take no thought how and what ye shall speake c. For the Brother shall betray the Brother to death and the Father the Sonne and the Children shall rise up against their Parents and shall cause them to dye and yee shall be

as idolatry and errours is a cause of Gods wrath and by that a cause of all troubles so the removing of the cause is the way to settle the peace of Kingdomes And if we reade the History of the Judges and indeed all the Prophets and holy Scriptures we shall finde the not questioning and bringing of the Seducers and false Prophets to condigne punishment was the cause of all their captivities and of all the warres and troubles the Israelites were continually imbroyled with And therefore they that are acquainted with the holy Scriptures may easily see the falsity and impiety of this assertion to say nothing what all Ecclesiasticall Histories and the Stories of all Ages relate of the continuation of peace in all those Nations and Kingdomes as long as men were both questioned and punisht for bringing in of Heresies and teaching of false doctrines and as long as they preserved the truth of Christian doctrine amongst them which no sooner begun to be corrupted and errors set up but immediately upon it Gods wrath was kindled against those Kingdomes and Countries and if we will give credit unto the Word of God and to the Annals of times the suffering and tollerating of errors in religion amongst them was the cause that the Lord was angry with them and removed at last their Candlesticks from them as we may see at this day in the seven Churches of Asia and all the Easterne and Westerne Churches and if we will not shut our eyes we may see also it has been the cause of all these miserable distractions and troubles that now these three Kingdomes are involved in which if they had established the Gospell in its purity and kept out Idolatry and all Heresies wickednesse and Schismes we should not have thus been afflicted on every side at home and abroad for the neglect of our duties in not keeping out of errors in religion hath brought down all these judgements upon us and therefore the tollerating of them all would much more increase our misery and disturbe the peace both of the Cities and countrey and therefore all such as plead for a tolleration of all religions ought to be spued out of the Kingdome as prophane and impious men And this shall suffice to have been spoken of this third assertion which is indeed to make war against God himself and not against us only For the fourth where he saith That it is impossible to prescribe such a way for suppressing new or different opinions whatsoever which to any State or Church may seem hereticall but there will still be left a gap a possibility of fighting against God even when such State on Church think they fight for him most of all This Position also is not only contrary unto the Word of God but indeed overthroweth all authority and by this no justice should be done against any blasphemous Seducers or against any impious offendours in points of Religion or against such as offend against the Lawes of Kingdomes and Nations because for footh by doing of their duty which God requires at Magistrates hands there will still be left a gap and a possibility of fighting against God as if to do good and that which God enjoynes them would leave open a gap and a possibility of fighting against God I have read That we may not do evill that good may come of it I have also read that God can create good out of evill and bring light out of darknesse but I have never read in the Word of God That Christian Magistrates and Rulers should be deterred from doing their duty suppressing of Schismes Errors and Heresies because through the wickednesse of men and the craft and subtilty of Satan there may sometimes troubles immediately arise to any Nation by it All good Magistrates are to do their duty and what God commands and leave the successe to God and to commend themselves and their endeavours to the Lord who hath a recompence of reward in store for them for their well doing and ought not to be deterred from their duties by such poor cavils as these which are both impious and ridiculous And whereas in the fifth assertion he affirmeth That it is impossible that either the weak believers misbelievers or unbelievers can be wonne by our godly conversation as is required 1 Pet. 2.12 and 3.1 2. and 1 Cor. 7.12 16. So long as we will not suffer them to live amongst us What is this but openly to fight against Gods Word and God himselfe Who Deut. 13. and in many other places of Scripture commandeth that Secucers should be put to death and exterminated and cast out from amongst Gods people whose wicked conversation would corrupt others and be so far from winning weak Believers mis-believers or unbelievers as it would make them all worse and worse and utterly vitiate all the places they dwell in as daily experience teacheth us and as the Scripture affirmeth which assert that A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump 1 Cor. vers 6. As for the places of Scripture he there citeth as they make nothing for his purpose so they sufficiently shew that he is a meer stranger in Divinity and in the Word of God as I could evidently make appear if I studied not brevity And it might also be made evident that the banishments and persecutions of many of Gods people as well as their presence and co-habitations amongst the wicked have been the cause of many thousand mens conversions who seeing men willingly to relinquish all earthly things and leaving their own countries and nighest relations for their religion made others the more to look into that doctrine and to enquire after that religion that men for the love of would lose all things yea liberty and life it selfe which I say hath been the cause of the conversion of many thousands so that not only the presence but the absence of men is the cause of many others conversion by which the vanity of this assertion is also sufficiently manifest But it seemes strange to me that this wrangler should use this Argument to prove a Tolleration of all Religions when the practise of the Independents is contrary who cast all that are of a different opinion from them out of their Congregations and where they have power in their hands banish them from amongst them and yet here in England they would have all Religions tollerated to do mischiefe when Saint John notwithstanding in his 2 Epistle to the Elect Lady forbids her and in her all Christians to receive false teachers into their houses or so much as to bid them God speed lest they that shall so do partake with them in their evills by which doubtlesse he never gave a tolleration of all Religions but as I said before it is well known that people are converted many times as well by the absence of men as by their presence whether it be for errour or for the Truth for by enquiring after the cause of it and why they were

〈◊〉 4● 〈◊〉 Mans dayes are vaine and as a flower they fade Heere 's one proclames whereon man's life is stay'd His sufferings Changes Comforts in strict thrall Shon's GOD alone preserues and Gouernes all THE Second part of that Book call'd INDEPENDENCY NOT GODS ORDINANCE OR The Post-script discovering the uncharitable dealing of the Independents towards their Christian brethren with the jugglings of many of their Pastors and Ministers to the misleading of the poor people to the detriment of their own souls and the hurt both of Church and State with the danger of Novelties in Religion proving that Independency is one of the most dangerous Sects that ever appeared in the world since Mortality inhabited the Earth In the which also there is a satisfactory Answer given to the principall cavils of him that writ that railing Pamphlet stil'd The falshood of Mr Will. Prynnes Triumphing in the Antiquity of Popish Princes and Parliaments With Doctor BASTVVICKS just Defence against some calumnies in way of Preface BY JOHN BASTVVICK Dr in Physick 1 THESS 5.21 Prove all things and hold fast that which is good LONDON Printed by John Macock for Michael Spark junior and are to be sold at the sign of the blue Bible in Green-Arbour 1645. Dr Bastwicks Defence against some calumnies with an Answer to certain cavills for a Tolleration of all Religions in way of Preface to the ensuing Discourse WHen I was a prisoner in the Northern parts and first heard of the miserable distractions and great divisions that were amongst Christians in London and in all the Eastern Western and Southern parts of the Kingdome about Religion and the Government of the Church and saw the great rejoycing of the common Enemies at it as who hoped by this meanes to facilitate their way of attaining to their designe which was to make themselves our masters and all the people their slaves I conceived that it was but a meer fiction and that indeed there had been good agreement amongst the brethren as having all joyned in a solemne covenant which ought never to be forgotten against all Popery and the Prelaticall party for the upholding of the true Protestant Religion and that they had been so really united together in love and affection one towards another and in so sweet an harmony amongst themselves that all the enemies of the truth and of our Country could never have raised any discord or made the least jar or breach of friendship amongst them But not many weeks after having received certain Intelligence from good hands that there was indeed a reall rent and division amongst those that were and had formerly been best affected to Reformation it did not a little perplex me knowing very well the danger of divisions and the evill consequences that would ensue if they were not timely prevented And after that I had informed my self what the ground of the difference was viz. About Independency I declared my self unto such as were permitted to come to me as they can witnesse that as I conceived that opinion to be a meer novelty so it tended to nothing but to distraction and making of a breach in Church and State and thought withall that it was brought about by the subtilty of the Prelaticall and Jesuiticall party for this very purpose howsoever the dissenting parties discerned not the craft of the adversaries And I promised then if ever God gave me liberty though for my own particular I wholly dissented from the Independent brethren in their Assertion yet I would use my best diligence to moderate between them that if it were possible I might make up all breaches amongst brethren that they might the better unite all their Forces for the common defence But the Independent brethren hearing that I was for the Presbytery against their tenents after they had used some arguments which I have set down in the insuing discourse to diswade me from writing about that subject or at least that I would stand Neuter and perceiving that I would not be silenced of friends they all became my enemies and fell into open hostility at least in words against me so that I could not enjoy the very Laws of civility in many of their Companies and abused me with such reviling language as would be above beleefe to recite them all amongst other of their expressions they affirmed that I was the greatest Incendiary in the Kingdome and that they would prove it and that I was an Apostate and that now I had forgot my own sufferings and the kindnesse that had been shewed unto me by the godly party and of a sufferer was become a persecuter of the Saints many words of contumely and disgrace they daily utterd against me and for no other cause but that I dissented from them in opinion and that I profest it was not for the safety of the Church and Kingdome to tollerate all Religions for I never wronged any of them in word or deed So that they gave me just occasion then to suspect though I knew there were many truly fearing God in that number yet that the Religion of many of their leaders was but a meer faction and I had very good reason for this my conceipt as the following discourse will more fully declare for I never yet thought that true Religion consisted in word and tongue or in opinion but in rightly believing and in conscionably and duly practising what God in his holy Word hath taught unto his people which is to lead a godly righteouus and sober life and to live in charity and amity amongst the Brethren and to shew love unto all for the better winning of them and to follow Christ in doing and suffering to whose example all Christians must conforme themselves if they will be his Disciples and partake with him in his glory and as they must set Christ before them for imitation so they must be obedient likewise to his commands who hath enjoyned all his followers to love one another telling them that by this it will be knowne that they are his Disciples if they love one another Now although I heard often of the Independents New-lights I saw none of their new lives for I well perceived they had no great regard to this command of Christ of mutuall loving their Brethren which he had so often inculcated upon all Christians and that upon the least dissenting from them in their new and fond opinions of Independency they forthwith proclaimed us all enemies of Christ and his kingdome and disavowed all communion with the Brethren in holy things and would neither admit our children to baptisme nor our selves to the Sacraments with them but separated themselves from us and in most odious Pamphlets laid all disgrace upon their Brethren dehorting their followers from reading our books or hearing of our godly Ministers and declining all communion with us and rather joyning with the common Enemy all which their proceeding made me think that their religion was but faction and that now there