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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	know_v	lord_n	time_n	3,131	5	3.5997	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89666	Mans wrath and Gods praise. Or, A thanks-giving sermon, preached at Taunton, in the county of Somerset, the 11th. of May, (a day to be had in everlasting remembrance) for the gratious deliverance of that poore towne from the strait siege. / By George Newton, Mr. of Arts, and minister of the Gospell in that place.	Newton, George, 1602-1681.	1646 (1646)	Wing N1045; Thomason E344_6; ESTC R200954	18,621	32

David and his men gat them up into the hold Vse 2. Is it so my brethren that the rage of wicked men against the people of the Lord is such a bottomlesse endlesse rage Then let us earnestly beseech the Lord that we may not bee given up into their power what ever judgement come upon us True it is wee must confesse we have deserved heavy judgements bitter tryalls sharpe corrections and if the Lord see fit we ought with meeknesse to submit to them and patiently to beare his indignation because wee have sinn'd against him But yet let us bee earnest with him that if he be resolved to scourge us hee would be pleas'd to take the paines to chasten us himselfe and not to give us up into the hands of those whose tender mercies are cruell Oh let us begge as the Prophet David did in such a case 2 Sam. 24.14 Let us fall now into the hands of God for his mercies are great and not into the hands of barbarous and bloody men And let it be our studie and endeavour so to walke that wee doe not provoke the Lord to take this sharpe and rigid course with us And to this end wee must be carefull to avoid those sinnes which cause the Lord to leave a people or a person in the hands of such wretches I might be very copious here but I shall name but two particulars for haste and so on 1. The first that I will mention is forsaking God and casting off his service When men wil be no longer subject to the Lord at least they will not be obedient to him fully but in some certaine things only then he will make them subject to their cruell enemies And when they cast away his easie yoake the Lord will lay a heavier yoake upon them the yoak of mercilesse oppression by barbarous and bloudy men This is the sin for which he threatens it to his people as you may see Deut. 28.47 Because thou servedst not the Lord in gladnesse and in joyfulnesse of heart in the abundance of all things therefore thou shalt serve thine enemie in hunger and in thirst and nakednesse and in the want of all things and he shall put a yoake of iron on thy necke untill he have destroyed thee And this we see accordingly fulfilled on Israel often in the booke of Iudges As long as they were faithfull and obedient they were free from enemies they flourisht in a prosperous state but when they once forsooke the Lord and grew weary of his service their adversaries were the chiefe and they that hated them ruled over them To this effect we have a memorable instance 2 Chro. 12.5 The Princes and the people had sate loose from God and gone a whoring after other gods and thereupon the Prophet comes and sounds this terrible allarum in their eares Thus saith the Lord ye have forsaken me and therefore I have also left you in the hands of Shishack q. d. I see that you are weary of my service and therefore you shall serve your enemies another while I have left you in their hands There let them worry you and spoile you there let them kill you and destroy you let them doe what they will for me you are out of my protection I have left you I take no further charge nor care of you 2. Another thing provoking God to give a person or a people up into the hands of cruell men is non-proficience by his hand upon them For when he sees they will not profit by his mild and gentle hand then he delivers them into the hands of those that will pay them to the purpose You shall observe that there are some afflictions which are in a peculiar name called the hand of God in Scripture as the pestilence for instance for so you find it term'd 2 Sam. 24.14 Let us fall now into the hand of God saith David there And that you may not doubt what is intended by the hand of God it is immediately annexed in the following words so the Lord sent a pestilence upon the people Now then this hand of God prevailes not when it is slighted and contemned and brings forth no amendment in a people when he perceives that it will never be unlesse there be some rougher dealing us'd he leaves them in the hands of cruell men The Lord himselfe hath an exceeding tender heart towards his people his very bowels yearn upon them when hee heares them cry so that hee knowes not how to lay so much upon them as their iniquities deserve nor as is needfull for their reformation And therefore when he meanes to have them soundly scourged indeed he gives them up unto the power of wicked men and they he knowes will doe it throughly If hee chasten them himselfe their cryes and teares will overcome him and make his bowels yearn within him as he speakes and therefore he withdrawes himselfe he goes away and leaves that office to ungodly men and they will scourge them till they bleed and roare for they have no compassion in them there is as you have heard no end of their fury And now my brethren I beseech you let us look home The hand of God I meane the plague of pestilence hath been on us the people of this place a first a second and a third time within the compasse of a very few yeares But what amendment hath there followed May not the Lord complaine of us as once he did of Israel Amos 4.10 I have sent pestilence among you after the manner of AEgypt and yet you have not returned to me saith the Lord I make no question there were some who were so farre affected with this stroke of God that they returned to him that smote them and reformed many things But they were but a remnant that returned they were but as the gleanings after the Vintage as the Apostle speakes Truly my brethren I have lookt abroad as wide as I am able to see if any universall Reformation have followed this affliction in this place and I professe unto you in the presence of the God of Heaven and Earth that I know not where to finde it nor yet in what particular to say that wee are better then wee were before Sure I am that swearing drunkennesse uncleannesse profaning of Gods holy day are not in the abating hand the face of things among us looks as ill as ever men seek the things of Christ as little themselves their own ends as much as ever Ah my beloved if this be all the fruit of the hand of God upon us the clouds that for so long a time have lowred blacke upon us are not so dispelled yet but that the Lord can raise up other enemies among us or bringin forreign enemies upon us that shall make us know the price of slighting and despising his gentle and indulgent dealing with us Vse 3. Is it so my brethren that the wrath and rage of wicked men against the people of the Lord

is such and so exceeding great that there is no end of it Oh then what cause have we the people of this place to magnifie the Lord that hath delivered us from this wrath and from the rage of these men Alas how neere were wee to have it wreakt upon us to the very utmost If the Lord had not beene on our side now may we truly say if the Lord had not beene on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quicke so desperately were they bent against us Wee had assuredly beene made a prey to the enkindled and envenom'd rage of the most bloody savage hardned and remorselesse enemies that ever drew the sword in these warres whose spight and rancour was raised to the height against us Ah my beloved thinke upon it What might you have expected from those savage creatures that were gathered round about you Nay what did you expect if this poore Towne had beene taken by assault Looke backe a little I beseech you and returne upon the thoughts and apprehensions that you had when men came in with pale and ghastly countenances and with trembling hands and tongues and cryed Alas alas the eneomie is broken in at such a place hee is come within the 〈◊〉 aboundance of our men are slaine and the rest have left the workes the Towne is lost there is no remedie When such sad allarums were bethinke your selves what did you looke for from the enemie consult with your owne hearts I make no doubt the worst that cruelty it selfe could devise to inflict You may a little guesse my BRETHREN what they would have done by that which they have done where they had power You may reade it in the ruines of this place Shall I say looke about the Towne of TAUNTON and tell her Bulwarkes and her Towers c No my beloved looke about her and tell her heapes of rubbish her consumed houses a multitude of which are raked in their owne ashes Here a poore forsaken Chimney and there a little fragment of a Wall that have escap't to tell what barbarous and monstrous wretches there have beene here Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell But blessed be our GOD for ever that did not give us over as a prey unto their teeth Oh blessed be our God for evermore that kept us from such endlesse and unsatiable rage as theirs was Who when wee had no helpe nor hope left wrought out a great salvation for a poore people Me thinkes I could dwell here but that the time runs and there is a second observation to which I am enforc't to hasten Doct. Be the wrath of wicked men as endlesse and unsatiable as it will though it have no limits in it yet the LORD sets limits to it and fetches praise and glory to himselfe from it The observation as you see consists of two parts or two branches First God sets limits to the wrath of wicked men And secondly he fetches glory from it I wil proceed with them distinctly and in order 1. Branch Sometimes the Lord sets limits to the wrath of wicked men though hee permit a parcell of it to breake out yet the remainder hee restraines as you have it in my Text. Although their rancour have no bounds within yet GOD sets bounds to the externall exercise of it Let them bee as outragious as they will and let them bristle while they can the Lord hath them in a chaine and hee will take them short at his pleasure The Heathen rage saith holy DAVID Psalme 2.1 their passions boyle within their bosomes that is the working of their sensuall pride and then they plot and they imagine how to vent and how to wreake this rage of theirs that is the working of their intellectuall part But doe they execute it No GOD will not suffer them Their policy and fury doth melt away and come to nothing they imagine a vaine thing The wrath of the ASSYRIAN was exceeding great so great that GOD himselfe takes notice of it 2 KINGS 19.27 I know thy abode saith hee thy going out and thy comming in and thy rage against me Hee takes it as against himselfe because it was against his People The enemie was full of rage and on hee would against the Citie and meant to doe great matters But marke what followes I will put my hooke into thy nostrills and my bridle in thy lips and turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest And with respect to this saith the holy Prophet here Surely the wrath of man shalt praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restraine I shall enlarge my selfe no further here but appeale to your experience This day my Brethren was this SCRIPTURE and this point of Doctrine fulfilled in your eyes How full of rancour those malicious wretches were who came against this poor Town your selves who heard their railings and their bitter threatnings who saw and felt their cruel deeds can tell They came upon you with an open mouth and thought to have devoured you suddenly but GOD would not suffer them You saw my brethren many of you who are here beheld it they came over your Workes and the Line that you had made and you could not hinder them But GOD had made a line within yours and over that they could not get beyond that they could not passe And certainely if ever GOD did bound and limit furious men if ever he did say unto them as the Psalmist personages him speaking to the Sea thus farre you shall come and no farther Hee did it here in this place You have seene it my beloved you have found it by experience and so you have reason now of any people in the WORLD to say the wrath of Man did GOD restraine Somewhat indeed hee suffered them to vent and to bring to execution upon our friends upon our Persons upon our houses and estates But the remainder hee did restraine Reason And this hee hath done and will ever doe because hee sees his people cannot beare the utmost of the wrath and rage of wicked men If hee should suffer all the weight thereof to lye upon them either they would reach forth their hands to evill or else their hearts would faint and sinke under it Beloved God is very tenderly affected to his poore people I speake it after the manner of men and therefore though hee suffer them sometimes to have a taste of the rage of wicked men for their correction yet when they lay it on without measure hee considers with himselfe as once he did concerning Ephraim Ieremie 30.20 Hee is my sonne hee is my pleasant childe still And therefore when hee sees his pleasant childe about to faint and when the enemies are ready to devoure his people then his bowells worke within him and out hee cryes hold there no more I can suffer it no longer Sometimes indeede hee goes away and leaves his children in the hands of wicked and

ungodly men to scourge them But when hee heares them crye and roare so that they are about to swound then hee comes running in and sayes Comfort yee comfort yee my people they have received double You mercilesse and cruell wretches you have given my Children double twice as much as they can beare and so hee falls a kissing them to fetch life in them againe And so mee thinkes I see the Lord come running in among the mercilesse besiegers of this place and crying out as Isa 3.15 What mean yee that yee beate my people in pieces What doe you meane to doe to them What doe you purpose to reduce this Towne to nothing to consume it all to ashes to butcher all my people here so that I shall not have so much as one left Is that your resolution and intent indeed I have permitted you to wreake a great deal of your rage upon the houses and the persons of my poore servants But what doe you intend to burne all and kill all So that there shall not bee a house standing nor a SAINT alive here I cannot beare it no the remainder of your rage must I restraine And thus you see GOD limiteth the wrath of wicked men which is the former member of the point 2 Branch And as he limits it in part so that part of it which hee doth not limit he turneth it to his owne praise and fetches glory to himselfe from it Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee saith the Psalmist here so much as is permitted unrestrained shall bring honour to thy Name and the remainder c. Although the wrath of man doe not accomplish the righteousnesse of God it doth accomplish the glory of God The Lord as he design'd to doe gat honour out of Pharoah's rage and out of the Assyrians rage against his people And I am confident hee will have honour out of the wrath and rage of his and our malicious enemies against this place Thus hee hath done heretofore and will doe to the worlds end But you will interpose and aske mee now Which way doth the LORD fetch praise out of the wrath of wicked men against his people I answer principally two wayes First Hee fetches praise and glory from the rage of wicked men against his people as it commends the greatnesse of his owne power For it is a great thing that the LORD should keepe his people notwithstanding all their fury That though there be enough of the Malignant Church to devoure the Militant to eate up GODS people as a man would eate bread And though they bee so full of bitternesse and wrath against them as it is possible for men to be GOD should preserve them notwithstanding safe and sound in the midst of these men That hee should keepe them as hee doth sometimes unsinged and untoucht in a fournace of wrath heate hotter then ordinary This setteth off the glory of his power Secondly God fetches praise and glory to himselfe from the rage of wicked men against his people as it doth accidentally commend the excellency of the graces which hee hath bestowed upon them Is it not very much my brethren that the Saints should stand it out and be upright notwithstanding all the spite and fury of ungodly men against them That all their malice all their rage and all their threatnings should not cause them to desert or to deny the Cause of God no nor to droop or faint under it Have not the spirits of the Saints of God been admirably strengthned and upheld in these latter times of triall when there were no outward meanes appearing to the eye of sence or reason and when there were no hopes left Is not the grace of God by which they were upheld then he you a glorious thing Hath hee not much honour by it It was an honour to the Lord that Iob continued constant and patient notwithstanding all the malice of Satan and his Instruments and the worst that they could doe It glorified the grace of God in him And therefore God me thinks doth vaunt and pride himselfe in this pretious Saint of his in that speech of his to Satan Iob 2.3 Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth and still he holdeth fast his integrity Though thou hast done thy utmost to him hee hath not done as thou didst wickedly suggest hee would hee hath not yet deserted or denyed mee No still hee holdeth fast his integrity And so the Lord doth seeme to say in these dayes to the malicious enemies of his people Looke upon those Saints of mine though you have plundred them and stript them and turn'd them bare and naked to the mercy of the World though you have imprison'd them though you have threatned them with death it selfe they never yeelded or complyed with you they never took the cursed oath that you endeavoured to impose upon them they never yet denied me nor my cause but still they have held fast their integrity though you have shewed the utmost of your rage and spight against them Were not the rage of wicked men declared against the Saints of God the glory of his power and grace could not be magnified and set off as now it is But now the wrath of man doth praise him Vse 1. Now to apply it very briefely Is it so that though the wrath of wicked wretches have no limits in it yet the Lord sets limits to it Why then I say as David touching the Philistine let no mans heart faile him by reason of the rage of these men Let them fume and let them storme and let them swell even till they burst with inward fury they shall doe but what the hand and counsell of God determined before to be done When they have done what he determines they shall not move one jot they shall not stirre an inch further And why then are you so affraid of the oppressor as the Prophet speakes and forget the Lord your maker who limiteth and boundeth their fury Oh you of little faith wherfore doe you doubt Why will you say though God restraine the wrath and rage of wicked wretches many times yet at some other times he permits it to break out in a very great measure and so wee have cause to bee affraid of it Yet here is comfort still my brethren for that which hee permitteth unrestrained he turneth to his owne glory And shall we not take sweet encouragement in this that God is glorified though our selves suffer Should wee not cheerefully endure a little of their rage so the Lord have honour by it Should wee not preferre his glory farre beyond our owne quiet So that you see wee want not something to support us every way and however matters goe If God restraine the wrath of wicked wretches wee have ease if hee permit it unrestrained he hath praise And this is not an empty notion rais'd by fancy but a certaine thing there is no doubt no