Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	king_n	lord_n	people_n	4,953	5	4.9858	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91942	A letter, discovering the cause of Gods continuing wrath against the nation, notwithstanding the present endeavors of reformation: directing to the meanes of appeasing that wrath; and encouraging to constancy in those endeavours: / written with much judgement and pious affection, by Mr Nathaniel Rogers, a godly and learned Divine now in New-England, to a worthy member of the Honourable House of Commons, bearing date, Decemb. 17, 1643. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy.	Rogers, Nathaniel, 1598-1655.	1644 (1644)	Wing R1821; Thomason E53_20; ESTC R23205	8,921	12

A LETTER DISCOVERING The Cause of GODS continuing wrath against the Nation notwithstanding the present endeavours of Reformation DIRECTING To the Meanes of appeasing that wrath And Encouraging to Constancy in those Endeavours Written with much Judgement and Pious affection By Mr Nathaniel Rogers A godly and Learned Divine now in New-England To a worthy Member of the Honourable House of Commons bearing Date Decemb. 17 1643. Imprimatur EDMUND CALAMY LONDON Printed by G. M. for Christopher Meredith at the Crane in Pauls Church-yard M.DC.XLIV Honoured Sir OH that I had or could sanctifie the Lord according to his manifold and great administrations of late dayes in England our deare mother It 's not long since we were as men that dreamed dreames when we here at once heard of that which might have been the work of many yeares such a Parliament once more chosen and assembled such liberties granted unto it such acts done by it for Scotland whose peace and liberty procured by your counsels and Englands willing charges I hope shall not be wiped off from your account in the behalfe of the Land against enemies of God Religion Church State such tall cedars felled c. But how suddenly did the Lord bring a black cloud over the Nation and a new presentment of it had we as lying in blood rent with division even such as scarce any cause but the Gospell useth to make filled with alarmes the mart of all rich commodities made the shop of artillery the garden of pleasure the stage of warre in one part of the Countrey and another some Worthies already fallen besides divers no question though of lesse name on earth yet of precious account in Heaven some pined in prisons others spoiled of their estates not to mention miserable Ireland made a very slaughterhouse whiles your home-affaires filling your heads and hands and emptying your purses give advantage to those blood-thirsty sons of that scarlet-whore to execute that cruell rage that cries to Heaven In the midst of all these sad calamities your selves whom God hath honoured to serve him at such a time in that high Court as Pilots and Marriners toyling night and day in a storme longer then that Paul was in to save that precious Barke from shipwrack and utter submersion with all that rich treasure that God hath stored it with especially of precious Saints more precious then the fine gold though accounted as earthen pitchers It hath been matter of admiration unto me often to see how the Lord upholds that House it selfe from dissolution in many respects that you know better but that it s He that hangs the earth upon nothing Iob 26.7 and those whose hearts are faithfull and close to the worke how their heads have held and their spirits not been exhaust and hearts with weatinesse failed and given over who have so many various weighty unusuall cases to attend who were sufficient for these things without divine assistance But not to seeme to forget what I write by troubling you with long writing be pleased to understand hereby our due respect to and remembrance daily and almost continually of the great and high worke that you have in hand and our labours and travailing thoughts and desires according to our condition and measure to promote that Cause which you have the heaviest end of at present lying upon your hands and we say and desire the Lord daily to speake to your hearts what he oft did to his Worthies in their great employment Feare not but be cou●agious you serve a great Lord that is higher then the Kings of the earth and shall reigne in Sion in a victorious cause however oft oppressed and for a people that are deare unto God his Israel which he will deliver his Saints that shall reigne with Christ Jesus But why then are all these things befallen us and where are all his miracles c. Iudg. 6.13 I confesse its a case worthy enquiry and the Lord give an answer of peace unto his servants It 's true that Antichrist will not downe with case not the woman bring forth the man-child that should rule all nations with a rod of iron a son of the Church to reigne without the painefull throwes and bloody sufferings of many Martyrs Pharaoh would not easily let the people goe We our selves inherited the Gospell with a mercifull Reformation not without the ashes of many faithfull witnesses in those Marian dayes yea how long was the Church in her painefull breeding and bringing forth the Truth in the yeares and from under the tyranny of the Romish mystery of iniquity in the bitter persecutions and innumerable slaughters of the Waldenses and others of the same Religion though of severall names The two witnesses were slaine after their sad prophesyings in sackcloth before they are taken up to Heaven yet we must seeke a blameable reason from sinfull sons of men as of the taking away the Truth so of the withholding it from them And it 's no uncharitable guesse to say that the hearts of the people of England are not prepared for the receiving Christ Jesus in his kingdome This is obvious yet the case sticks for the neerenesse of England to this mercy and the suddaine withdrawing of it againe increaseth the darknesse of it Doth the Lord use to refuse zealous Reformation especially in the hands of men of authority that hath made such promises if there were but one such c. Ier. 5.1 Yes it's not without president Israel would correct Benjamins unnaturall wickednesse defended with diabolicall pride and impenitence yet they loose 40000. before they all can punish one such Tribe as vengeance it selfe would not suffer to live Iosiah is zealous in purging and restoring Gods worship his heart of a most choice temper his actions almost all non-paraile matchlesse and superlative yet it stands not there were sins before which God would not pardon 2 King 24.4 no not to the accessaries though they were to the principall Manasseh I mean but it was that those repented not but their hearts hung idolward What remedy then Truly you are the Body representative and there are many of the body personally yea some of all rankes whose sincerity of Repentance I am perswaded the Lord would not refuse And I know your Fasts are many and your care great that all the people of the Land should observe them Blessed be God! Only be pleased to give me leave to suggest one question which it may be you can readily assoyle though my distance keeps me ignorant Hath that Honourable House which hath begun to cast out the persons and things that have so much offended God and good men hath it confessed the guilt of neglecting such Reformation in former Parliaments yea the rejecting of motions presented that way and justifying the then present state of the Church as being pure c Hath there beene any publike testimony of acknowledgement of the great sinne of the Land in worshiping Christ after the manner of Antichrist and

he will delight to worke by It 's not by might nor wit but my Spirit the barley cake tumbles down Midians tents that is Gideon humbled with such a description made of him in that divine dreame Now the time is for such as Nehemiah was to repaire Ierusalems walls men of faith that will not be daunted men of innocency and goodnesse that cannot be blemished men of zeale that can neither endure Gods honour to be prophaned nor peoples poverty to be oppressed by the greatest whatsoever And who but Nehemiah's could doe your work and act your part at this day who could have endured such labours and discouragements His enemies scoffe at length they conspire to be upon him from every part his own people complaine of the difficulty of the work their weary shoulders with carrying burdens the aboundance of rubbish still remaining never like to be overcome Neh 4 3 8 10. yet he encourageth the people puts himselfe and his upon the hardest taskes puts not off his cloathes watcheth worketh prayeth and is at great charges instead of taking the wonted allowance of men in his place Truly when God hath such work to doe he raiseth men of such extraordinary spirits Blessed be our God that hath raised up such and upheld their hearts in that Honourable House of invincible courage and patience and labours whatever is become of others whom the Lord deligts not in to honour them with such choice work as his Temple-work is Be you assured that the hearts of the faithfull in Israel are towards the governours of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people blesse ye the Lord Iudg. 6. The poore despised of Christs flock here doe pray whiles you watch and work and in the sense of the weight of your charge would gladly be putting stones under your armes whiles with Moses you are stretching out the rod of your authority and deliverance and others are fighting against Amalck And the good Lord stirre up the hearts of the people of the Land to cleave unto you that as God hath made you as the two hundred heads of Issachar men that had understanding of the times and what Israel ought to doe and their brethren were at their commandment 1 Chro. 12.32 so you may be able to say as the Governours of Iudah The inhabitants of Ierusalem are our strength in the Lord of hosts their God Zech. 12.5 And certainly the true inhabitants of Ierusalem they are a great strengthening though very few not in themselves indeed but in their God who is the Lord of hosts you are the Vindices or Judges of Gods Israel a people precious unto him who should be afraid to be the keeper of Gods sheep Ioab bid be of good courage and behave themselves valiantly for their people and the Cities of their God 1 Chro. 19.13 He that keeps the Church of Christ keeps that which will keep him yea it is the Ark of the Lord which you are guarding which guards them that carry it as sometimes when it was sent homewards in a Cart by the Philistines it was both auriga onus as Theodoret observes Esther need not shrink to speake for the saving of that people whose safety without her was surer then her own without speaking for them as Mordecai told her And though it 's not the least part of your temptation that the successe depends much upon people who are generally as unstable as waters who may doe much either way but are doubtfull whether yet both these are in the hands of the Lord who if he touch their hearts they shall as one man flow and stick close unto you and doubtlesse the faithfull in the Land who are not of a double heart close with your godly aimes and endeavours and one of them is better then a thousand others and the Saints shall prevaile though it be by their death to bring forth the Cause of the Lord Jesus in his own time But oh that I might aspire farther in hop● that the Lord in whose hands are the hearts of Kings would give you the heart and hand of his Anointed to joyne with his Nobles and people to bring back the Ark with David to its place and that He would at length say that which I am perswaded he might say in his very heart The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord their God and alas that in the mean time his soule dwells among those who are Apollyonists children of the curse the generation of Gods wrath of whom we might say Depart from their Tents least c. and with Iaacob ô my soule come not into their secret The Lord perswade As for your selves whom the Lord hath hitherto maintained constant and faithfull to his Cause though with the extreame hazzard of your persons families estates c. in the midst of such multitudes of your ranke that follow the wind yea a body of people which through ignorance and prophanenesse are enemies to the pure and exact ways of our Lord Jesus the Lord remember you and wipe not out any of your kindnesses to the house of your God yea the Lord is with you and you are laying that stone which hath seven eyes which run through the whole earth to watch for you and most wisely and prosperously to carry on your work about it to perfection in his season Feare not but let your hands be strong you fight the battels of the Lord and I trust evill hath not been found in your no not in your hearts towards his Anointed He shall bind up your soules in the bundle of life but the soules of the Cavalieres shall be flung out as out of the midst of a sling Only may I humbly suggest my suite that no unbeleeving feares nor ensnaring flatteries of men wise according to the flesh cause you to make haste or turne aside short or into any crooked ways but make through work as tender hearted Iosiah and listen not to Samaritan worshippers any more as formerly others have Placet mirum in modum nostrae carni saith P. Martyr on 1 Cor. 5. in duas partes claudicar● quod est Deo quam odiosissimum Civiles homines quòd in Reformatione leniter agere volint causam adducunt quòd tumultus horrent atque seditiones Ideò ubique suadent ad multa connivendum esse Caterum alia est severitas verbi Dei Moses was so strict and yet it was but faithfulnesse as to stay 600000. men then leave one hoofe behind him for that it might be for sacrifice in service of the Lord. It 's true Prudence directs quibus medijs to presse and put on the work of the Lord but Piety admits not of any fitting of Religion or the Kingdome of Christ to times places or persons His worship and Kingdome is not one framed for the plaine or persecuting times of the Apostles and another for the stately frames of Christian polities be they never so great All States must conforme to the Church all

Kingdomes unto Christs Ecclesiam ad mundi normam Regnorum Statuum componere est merè Domum tapetibus accommodare I know the contrary hath been the professed judgement of many and I feare the practise and way of more inclines thereunto But once I hope Christ shall in England be acknowledged All and only in his Church and it shall be the greatest honour unto him to accept him in every of his laws and priviledges And give me leave to use the like argumentation that Bucer whose piety in his works de Regno Christi is worth the reading and observing at this time to King Edward you will not suffer any Parliament priviledges or rights and liberties of subjects to be taken away but will rather hazzard the losse of all shall not zeale and punctualnesse here be much more seasonable and warrantable I doe not think all will be seen at once yet this shall be acceptable service and honour to the Lord Jesus our King if you aime at that one way wherein he will be served and weigh all in the ballances of the sanctuary and preferre the wisedome and authority of his word therein above civill policie humane reason yea universality or antiquity of any practise since the first normall patterne prescribed in the doctrine recorded in the history of the sacred Scriptures And I am perswaded thus much being asserted for truth and sincerely professed as your scope and aimed at in endeavours it shall be acceptable unto the Lord and a blessing to his people Pardon my boldnesse good Sir if I present to your wisest consideration the unhallowed passages that come forth in Mercurius Britanicus of scornefull dishonour put upon the Name and Person of Him who is by you acknowledged the Lords Annointed It 's very aimeable to reade tearmes of honour put upon his Majesty though so farre stirred up against you It 's that which I meddle not with what is cast upon those that are about the King I deeme just to make Remonstrances as things stand wherein even the actions of his Majesty may be complained of for your justification but to put bitter and most contemptuous scoffes upon His royall Person is that which Davids heart could not beare nor will your selves if you take notice of it I am assured and know the offender It 's against not only the course of Scripture but one Article of the late Covenant Though I am thus bold to mention what flies about yet I am not so bold as to accuse any of that Honourable House herein who may be farre from the knowledge hereof Since my setting pen to paper we heard so sad newes as made me lay aside my pen fearing no passage would be to you but since againe much better blessed be the God of our mercy that would not let us sinke in sorrow and the comfort of our comfort is in the religious and blessed Covenant made by you and the Scottish which He who hath wrought it graciously accept it and scale it in all hearts and give us all with you not to make the emphasis of our Joy that it is made with the Scottish but that it s made by them and you with the great God of Heaven that sinne is so humbly acknowledged so holily disavowed and divorced and Gods truth and service so zealously avowed and professed It 's the way whereby Kings have sought and found the Lord and whereby Nehemiah setled the peace of a troubled State You have to all the world avouched the Lord for your God now we looke for Him to avouch you for His people in the sight of the world And now our hearts have gotten some good hold to wrestle with the Lord which we poore worthlesse wormes desire to doe so as your expectations may not be failed of us nor our duties towards you on whom the eyes of the world are set and in whose hands is the Cause of God and the great action of this age for his Church and in this purpose and posture I shall humbly take leave and with all due service and honour to your selfe and worthy Mr M.C. the only one that I have had acquaintance with in that Honourable House which hath now some yeares been more your house then your own home where that worthy and vertuous consort and sweet hopefull children were wont to accompany you to whom with most affectionate respect I desire to be remembred I commit you to the God of the spirits of all flesh who hath honoured you with his highest work and will crowne you with an immortall reward through Christ Jesus the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Ipsw Decemb. 17 1643. Your Worships obliged but especially in the Cause of our Lord Jesus NATH ROGERS FINIS