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	people_n	time_n	2,902	5	3.5424	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61415	An admonition concerning a publick fast the just causes we have for it, from the full growth of sin, and the near approaches of God's judgments : and the manner of performance to obtain the desired effects thereof, which ought to be other than our Common Forms, and with stricter acts of moritication than is usual amongst us : with an abstract of Mr. Chillingworth's judgement of the state of religion in this nation in his time : and of a letter from the Hague concerning two sermons preached there in the French church at which were present divers of the English nobility.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Chillingworth, William, 1602-1644.	1691 (1691)	Wing S5415; ESTC R19528	31,813	42

Iniquity thereof in one notorious Part and that is Abuse of Apprentices after great Sums of Mony received with them I my self have had no less than four Sons as soberly Educated and as well esteemed as most before they came to be Apprentices and who behaved themselves afterward without any great Extravagancies placed here to suitable Trades with no little Pains and Charge yet after all ruined and undone by the Iniquity and Wickedness of their Masters and their Partners But I have seen the Judgments of God upon two of them already and to him I have committed my Cause with the other two This I write upon my own sad Experience and could say as much of my own Knowledge in the case of some others Of which I have written heretofore in a Paper Entituled Relief of Apprentices and mention it now as a Common Cause worthy of Consideration amongst others of the Magistrates for averting the Judgments of God from the City And while I write this of a Case wherein I my self have been so much concerned I cannot but be sensible of the case of some others which I often see and hear of and in Faithfulness to God and to the State and Charity to the poor People take notice of it upon this occasion And that is the Pressing of Men and sending them out of the Realm to Sea or beyond Sea by Force and Violence against their Wills I cannot find or learn upon Enquiry that there is any Law or Statute since those made in the Reign of King Charles I. are expired for the Pressing of Mariners and Sailers much less of Land-Men And if there be not I am sure it is contrary to a Principal Fundamental Right of the People whose Goods much less their Persons or Liberty cannot be touched but by Order of Law and their own Consent in Parliament and would frustrate the principal Design and Reason of the Habeas Corpus Act and render it ridiculous and contemptible in Cases of greatest Exigence and most needing its Relief The Rights of the Poor ought to be preserved inviolable as well as of the Greatest And they who can be content to see their own Rights violated in the meanest of their Countrimen while their own Persons and Estates are untouched do not deserve to have them preserved and may expect that they or their Posterity may by the just Judgment of God be deprived of them Nor can I see any Reason why the Poor of the Land who enjoy so little of it should be frighted from their Employments and forced from their Families Friends and the Trades and Labours to which they have been used to hazard their Limbs and their Lives against their own Wills to defend and maintain the Superfluities and Grandeur of the Rich Or how the Death of such in the Service being forced against their Will tho by Law unless they first forfeit their Right by their own ill Behaviour can be excused from Murder in the sight of God Nor Lastly How we can expect that either such should do any Great Service or that the Blessing of God should be with us in the use of such unreasonable Means If we enquire into the Methods of our Ancestors in such Case we shall find them more just and reasonable more prudent and honourable and more prosperous and successful when Men of Honour and Interest covenanted with the King to bring in their several Numbers raised them among their Tenants and Neighbours and led them themselves so that there was a mutual Love and Confidence between the Leaders and Soldiers But this mode of Pressing if I be not much mistaken is a novel Invention a base Project of the Authors of Ship-Mony put on now even while a Parliament is in being to the Prejudice of the King as well as of the Nation to furnish such Officers with prest involuntary Soldiers who have little Interest of themselves to raise Volunteers and whom few are willing to serve under And since it is done while a Parliament is in being which could have given Authority for it it may justly be looked upon as no ordinary Abuse to the King himself but as one of the Treacherous Policies of some Evil Persons to prejudice his Government and Cause make his Government offensive and suspected by the People and his Cause seem absurd while his Authority is abused to violate the Rights of the People which he came to preserve and in a Fundamental Point and contrary to his Coronation Oath and thereby to justifie or excuse the Miscarriages of his Predecessor For all this it plainly and directly tends to It is true there is a Necessity that Men must be had But Necessity will not excuse Injustice to the Poor with so great Violation of Common Right and when without either it may be supplied Let not such be excluded from the Service who are able and willing to serve in their own Persons and have Interest and Reputation to bring in Seamen and Soldier Let the Salaries Pay and Profits of Great Officers especially who sit at home and are out of danger be reduced to Moderation and those who venture all have a proportionable Encouragement both by good Pay while in Service and of Good Provision in case they be disabled and we shall want no Men nor need any Pressing And let but good Discipline be exercised as it ought to be in respect of the Manners of Officers as well as of Soldiers and Seamen and we shall not want God's Blessing But to leave these things to the Consideration of the Parliament and of the City of the Evil Manners before mentioned those which are Secret Sins only by Secrecy in the Commitment and as they are concealed from Men but otherwise are well enough known to all to be Sins though they have not so much of Scandal as those which are openly committed yet may they have other Aggravations which may equal that and require no less Severity of judging our selves if we would not be judged of God As to the rest which either in their own Nature are not so palpable or easily discernible from what is Lawful or by common Opinion and Usage of the World are reputed Lawful and Harmless nay commendable and some perhaps excused and Patronized in opposition to Popery it is to be considered 1. That some are condemned as wholly unlawful not only by the Judgment and Practice of all the ancient Christians for many Ages and comprehended in that ancient Solemn Renunciation required of all admitted into the Society of Christians by Baptism viz. Of the Devil and his Works the World and the Pomps Glory and Vanity thereof and the Flesh and its Lusts and Desires but also by the express Doctrin of the Holy Scripture both under such General Comprehensive Names as the Flesh Gal. 5. 17. Lusts of the Flesh Gal. 5. 16 2 Pet. 2. 18 2 John 2. 16. The Old Man Eph. 4. 24. The Natural Man I Cor. 2. 14. Desires of the Flesh Eph. 2.

say trebly viz. also out of Gratitude for the special Mercies and Favours you have received Nay it is your special Business as much to suppress that as to cast out Popery without which you cannot prosper That God will bless your Majesty and that you may be faithfull to him and to the Trust reposed in You and may flourish in all Grace and Virtue and Prosperity is the hearty Prayer of Your Loyal and Faithfull Subject AN ADMONITION Concerning A PUBLICK FAST TO Implore the Mercy and Favour of GOD for the Averting of his Judgments and the Recovering of his Blessing BEcause I have heard that we are like to have a Proclamation for a Publick Fast or however because I am certain we have great need to have one at least for the use of those who desire to be found Mourners in secret for the Abominations that be done in the Land I have thought fit as an Act of Duty to God and Charity to my Country to publish this brief Admonition concerning the present just Causes we have for it and that manner of Performance of it which must be observed if we expect any good effect thereof I did formerly upon occasion of the Fast Jun. 5. 1689. publish a Paper Of Humiliation of which one of the Scoffers of the latter Times at a Coffee-House scoffingly said He supposed that would do more Service than 20000 Men in Ireland But how long did we afterwards see more than 20000 Men lie near the Enemy there and do nothing at all Not dare to attack them though one would think encouraged enough with so great and easie Success then so lately in England But of the Invisible Powers which attend and interpose in the Affairs of Men such bruitish Animals have little Sense or Apprehension And therefore it is not unlikely that this may meet with the like Entertainment But I am perswaded that they shall proceed no further and that their Impiety will very shortly meet with a due Correction if not before by the Hand of Governors by the Hand of Providence and the Sword of an Enemy in the midst of them And therefore leaving them to their own severe Mistress to proceed There are two great Causes to provoke us to an extraordinary Humiliation at this time 1. The Fulness and Ripeness of Sin 2. The near Approaches of a terrible Judgment Concerning the former to say nothing of other Evidences of its Maturity this one I think is sufficient When it is become past Remedy by Humane Means it must needs be ripe for the Judgments of God And then certainly is it past all Humane Means when it hath either so infected the Governors and Ministers that they will not or is become so prevalent that they cannot or dare not correct it or punish it as it ought And this is plainly our Case Rarely hath any Prince been more plainly admonished of a Special Duty and of the dangerous Consequence of the Neglect of it than King William hath been and in due Time And as rarely any more plainly admonished of his Fault when committed and of the Mischiefs thereby incurred than he bath been again and again Never was Parliament more plainly admonished of a foul Fault in the beginning of so great a Work than our Convention was of that-in their Order for the Thanksgiving which hath proved a Root of Bitterness ever since but so senseless in such matters is this Generation grown that I doubt we have some Doctors who do not understand it to this Day Nor ever were Parliaments more provoked to their Duty by plain-dealing than ours have been again and again Lastly never were Bishops more honestly and plainly told of their Duty nor more justly and homely reproved for their most shameful Neglect than ours have been But alas here 's the Root of all our Evil. Their Unfaithfulness to God whose special Service was their proper business Unfaithfulness to Kings whom they have magnified above measure and more slattered for their own Advantage than faithfully admonished for the Service of God and been more forward to conspire with to subvert the Rights of their Country than to admonish them of their Duty both to God and Man to be Protectors of the Right of the meanest Subject Their Neglect of their Episcopal Authority for Reproof and Correction of the Scandalous Sins especially of Great Men against the Laws of God and on the contrary Abuse of it for punishment of Sober and Conscientious People with the utmost Severity for any breach of their own Canons or Laws made for their Advantage hath been the greatest Inlet of all our Mischief of the Bruitish and Carnal Sins of the Nation And again their earnest and endless pursuit of Preferments and mis-imployment of what they get hath been the great Incentive to those Animal Sins of Covetousness and Ambition which have betrayed the Nation and been the immediate Means to bring the Judgments of God so near to us as they are at this time Nor is this all But besides their Unprositableness in that great Place and Advantage which they had to have done good in the Parliament they have not only heretofore been the Principal Obstructors of many good things which have been proposed and begun in the House of Commons but have of late laid aside a Bill for the necessary Reformation of Manners and preventing the approaching Judgments of God which was drawn at the Request of some of them without offering any other in the place of it And besides some of them have not only in private obstructed the good Effect of those faithful Admonitions which have been given to the King by misrepresenting the Person to him who sent them as if the Truth and Weight of the Admonitions had not been the only thing to be regarded whoever was the Instrument but have at last even from the Pulpit in the Face of the World encouraged the King to Security in Neglect of that great Duty which had been so earnestly pressed in those Admonitions for his own Good and done it in such a manner as never any of the false Prophets of old except only their Pretence of special revelation or the great Enemy of Mankind could have done more subtily and plausibly Which though of sad Consideration in other respects yet may give the more hope of the Kings Case that there is in it so much the less of Fault as there is more of Unhappiness in that he hath been so unfaithfully dealt with by those about him And if with this we take into the Consideration the Bishops Excuse why they did not offer the Bill in the House of Lords viz. Lest a thing of that Nature should be ridicaled and contemned and Religion with it I suppose no serious Man but will acknowledge all this to be sufficient Evidence of the Prevalence and full Maturity of Sin and Wickedness in this Nation And now concerning the near Approaches of God's Judgments upon the Nation Every Affliction or Calamity upon a

they themselves shall judg sufficient-and convenient in others that then they should give over making Purchase after Purchase but with the surplusage of their Revenue beyond their Expence procure as much as lies in them that no Christian remain Miserably Poor c. Where almost are the Men that are or will be persuaded The Gospel of Christ requires of Men Humility like to that of little Children and that under the highest pain of Damnation c. Would it not be strange News to a great many that not only Adultery and Fornication but even Uncleanness and Lasciviousness not only Idolatry and Witchcraft but Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath and Contentions not only Murthers but Envying not Drunkenness only but Revelling are things prohibited to Christians and such as if we forsake them not we cannot Inherit the Kingdom of Heaven c. If I should tell you That all Bitterness and Evil speaking nay such is the Modesty and Gravity which Christianity requires of us Foolish Talk and Jesting are things not allowed to Christians would not many Cry out These are hard and strange sayings who can hear them c. To come a little nearer to the business of our Times They that maintain the King 's Righteous Cause with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes but by their Oaths and Curses by their Drunkenness and Debauchery by their Irreligion and Prophaneness fight more powerfully against their Party than by all other means they do or can fight for it are not I fear very well acquainted with any part of the Bible But that strict Caution which properly concerns themselves in the Book of Leviticus I much doubt they have scarce ever heard of it When thou goest to War with thine Enemies then take heed there be no wicked thing in thee not only no wickedness in the Cause thou maintainest nor no wickedness in the means by which thou maintainest it but no Personal Impieties in the Persons that maintain it c. I cannot but fear that the Goodness of our Cause may sink under the Burden of our Sins And that God in his Justice because We will not suffer his Judgments to atchieve their prime scope and intention which is our Amendment and Reformation may either deliver us up to the blind Zeal and Fury of our Enemies or else which I rather fear make us Instruments of his Justice each against other and of our own Just and Deserved Confusion 2. An Extract of a Letter from the Hague Concerning two Sermons preached there in the French Church 2 12 Mar. 90 1. I Was yesterday in the French Church where I heard two very good Sermons and such as would have given you great satisfaction one was upon Jonah 1. 5. But Jonah was gon down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep The scope of what was said was to shew That the Church was in as great a storm as ever she had been and that greater security was never seen amongst Professors of Religion than was to be found at this day which threatned greater desolation than our Fathers had ever been witnesses to The other was preached by Monsieur Arnold who is the chief Commander of the Waldenses as well as their Minister There was a great Auditory and amongst others the Bishop of London Earl of Nottingham Earl of Monmouth and Mr. Wharton his Text was 1 Cor. 1. 27. from thence he took occasion to tell us that we were not to expect fine language from him it being that which God seldom made use of for gaining the ends of the Gospel that he was to discourse to us of plain Truths not valuing what should be our Censures of him if he might approve himself to his God that we were not to think that he was afraid before such an Appearance of persons of all ranks to reprove what was amiss for if the King himself were present though he would give him that respect that was due to his Character yet he would speak the truth as became a faithfull Servant of Christ he did with great modesty without mentioning of particulars shew in general how by a few hundreds of the Waldenses God had scattered thousands of proud enemies and from thence took occasion to exhort us above all things to make it our business to have God on our side because it was through his chusing of them that the foolish and weak things were able to confound the wise and strong and withall did shew us that we were not like persons chosen of God to confound the designs and strength of our enemies while irreligion vanity and debauchery did so much abound amongst us and did particularly insist upon the vain Attire of Women and then with great seriousness did exhort us to amend our ways and doings assuring us without taking upon him as he said to be a Prophet of victory over our enemies if we did sincerely set about a Reformation These things I thought would give you some satisfaction as they did not a little to me which hath made me the more particular in my relation I forgot to tell you that all heard him with great attention and particularly those of our Countrey I mean Britain and I did observe that 〈…〉 could not withhold from tears 3. An Abstract of Archbishop Usher 's Prediction concerning a Great Persecution to come upon the Protestant Church to one who supposed it might have been over in his Life time All you have yet seen hath been but the beginning of Sorrows to what is yet to come upon the Protestant Churches of Christ who will e're long fall under a Sharper Persecution than ever yet has been upon them And therefore look ye be not found in the Outward Court but a Worshipper in the Temple before the Altar For Christ will measure all those who profess his Name and call themselves his People and the Outward Worshippers he will leave out to be trodden down by the Gentiles The Outward Court is the Formal Christian whose Religion lies in performing the Outside Duties of Christianity without having an Inward Life and Power of Faith and Love Uniting them to Christ. And these God will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the Gentiles But the Worshippers within the Temple and before the Altar are those who do indeed worship God in Spirit and in Truth whose Souls are made his Temples and he is honoured and adored in the most inward Thoughts of their Hearts and they sacrifice their Lusts and vile Affections yea and their own Wills to him And these God will hide in the Hollow of his Hand and under the Shadow of his Wings And this shall be one great Difference between this last and all the other preceding Persecutions For in the former the most eminent and spiritual Ministers and Christians did generally suffer most and were most violently fallen upon but in this last Persecution these shall be preserved by God as a Seed to partake of that Glory which shall immediately follow and come upon the Church as soon as this Storm shall be over For as it shall be the Sharpest so it shall be the Shortest Persecution of them all and shall only take away the gross Hypocrites and Formal Professors but the true Spiritual Believers shall be preserved till the Calamity be overpassed To this I think very pertinent that other Excellent Passage of his concerning Sanctification in these words We do not well understand what Sanctification and the New Creature are It is no less than for a Man to be brought to an intire Resignation of his Will to the Will of God and to live in the offering up of his Soul continually in the flames of Love as a whole Burnt-Offering to Christ. And how little are many of those who profess Christianity experimentally acquainted with this Work on their Souls FINIS