Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A65949
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Safety in war, or, The infallible artillery of a kingdom, fleet or army in sermons unto Their Majesties forces by sea and land / by John Whittel ...
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Whittel, John.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing W2042; ESTC R38612
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29,317
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34
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he came to King Saul and said Let no Mans Heart fail because of him thy Servant will go and Fight with this Philistine 1 Sam. 17. 23 32. Yea such a Man as serves the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth in sincerity and truth and is a Soldier of the Holy Jesus in Deed as well as Profession will not only be ready to Aid and Assist his Prince with what Mony he can possibly against an Enemy of Truth and Peace but with David he will go himself and defie that Philistine to his Face who hath defied his God and his King And so Paul himself an Apostle or rather chief of the Apostles of Jesus Christ is not only ready to be bound but also to Die at Jerusalem for the Name of his Master and the Testimony of a good Conscience So that we who are or have been in the Wars and have shewed Courage for the Gospel sake and against the Children of Babylon need not to be cast down at the sharp reflections of some who pretend to be of our Church but God knoweth their hearts for they not only are remiss themselves in stirring up the people to be Couragious in Gods Cause and be stedfast and faithful unto Their Majesties in these times of War but they take occasion to upbraid such as do their Duty in this Nature For my own part I must speak in the Gospel words He that is not with us or for us is undoubtedly against us I can easily prove this for its a palpable Truth That whosoever grows not daily in Grace is going backwards from the Region of the Blessed Go we must and go we do daily there is no standing still because our Glass is running and our Time flies away as a swift Ship or as the Eagle that hasteth to the Prey Either we must walk in the Paths of Righteousness or else we must wander in the broad way So these close sort of People must either follow God or Baal they must and do adhere more to Their Majesties or else their Enemies in their Hearts for they can never be Neuters in real Truth And therefore he who always praises the French Arms does Tacitly dispraise Their Majesties He that Justifies the Wicked and he that Condemns the Just are equally an Abomination to the Lord as Solomon tells us Prov. 17. 15. And these sort of People are to be avoided I confess there are not lacking another sort who Asperse and have Aspersed this Saint-like Valour in the Servants of the most High God calling it Ignorance Fool-hardiness Pride of Heart and Folly when as it is indeed and in truth nothing else but true Christian Courage or Fortitude a Noble stedfastness of Mind and Spirit which will by no means warp or swerve from its Allegiance to our Governors or be Terrified with any Humane Puissance or any outward Terribleness or Amazements No nor will it be discouraged at Death it self or at all the Powers of Darkness Such was that Courage of David who says Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff they Comfort me Psal 23. 4. It was an excellent Answer that a certain Eminent Servant of God made unto one of the Emperours when he was Threaten'd for his Religion I fear not Imprisonment because I can have there as much freedom with my best Friends as now when I am at liberty As for Banishment I defie it for let me be driven into what terrible Desert or Wilderness whatsoever yet there shall I find my God And I look upon this World it self to be a Banishment of us all for our first Parents Sin and Transgression Paradise being the true place of our Souls Nativity And as for Death I long for it that I may Triumph over it through Jesus Christ and what am I now but a mere Skeleton even worn away to Skin and Bones and that is the passage unto Eternal Life and Everlasting Joy Oh what can we say to all Pusillanimous Persons that are afraid to serve the King or their Country in the Wars that dare not trust the Almighty Lord with their Lives in a Camp or Fleet as well as here at home although he is the preserver as well as giver thereof For in God we live in him we move and in him we have our being Acts 17. 28. Sure I am that Fearfulness and Pusillanimity are infallible Specimens and Signals of an Evil and Unbelieving Heart and the Portion of such St. John says is in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone And it is for want of a well grounded Hope and a firm Faith in God's Mercy through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that Men are thus Fearful which Hope the Children of God have as an Anchor of their Souls both sure and stedfast Heb. 6. 18. And therefore we have a Command for to consider him that endured the Cross and despised Death and the shame thereof for our sakes And again look unto that Prince of Glory who so willingly offered up himself to Death even a Cursed Ignominious and Painful Death And if we have but Faith as a Grain of Mustard-Seed we cannot but be Couragious and Valiant in his Cause and for his Truth and Gospel-sake What then so dreadful a Face of present Confusion or fore-imagined Forms of future Trouble and Calamity are able or ought Slavishly to Deject and Terrifie that Holy Soul which with a sweet and safe Repose is most happily and everlastingly hid under the Wings of that Mighty God whom it ought to trust and who is the best and safest Defence of all his People That infinite Majesty of Heaven and Earth which for the Defence of all such as Fear him and for their Deliverance is able to work 1. By very weak means as he did in Gideon's Army sometimes which was no more but Three Hundred against their Enemies the Midianites and Amalekites and all the Children of the East which were in the Valley like Grass-hoppers for Multitude and their Camels were without Number as the Sand by the Sea-side Judg. 7. 5 6 12. 2. Without any means at all Thus did he when he destroyed Jehoshaphat's Enemies the Moabites and Ammonites for says the Text 2 Chron. 20. 23. The Children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the Inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay and to destroy them And when they had made an end of the Inhabitants of Seir every one helped to destroy another 3. Contrary to means As when he made the Waters which came down from above to stand and rise up upon an heap and those that came down toward the Sea of the Plain even the Salt Sea failed and were cut off Josh 3. 13 16. So that where the everlasting Jehovah is a Defence and Salvation there Heaven and Earth and all the Hosts of both are Eternally Reconciled to such a Soul and become its Friends Yea all the Storms and
part against the Enemy of God and his Truth But which is yet a farther Addition to the Churches comfort That if her Enemies be better provided for War and preparâ—d for Battel seemingly and externally yet nevertheless the most holy and terrible Majesty of Heaven and Earth who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all in all and without whom all other helps and means are invalid and insignificant is of a certain departed and gone from them and their Idolatrous and Superstitious Camp As we may collect from the Record of the Spirit of Truth which says What Concord hath Christ with Belial And what Agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols Oh! can we imagine that the most holy One who charges the Angels with Folly and is of purer Eyes than to behold evil will abide or continue there and among such a People where the Glory which is due unto none but him alone is day by day given another and his Praise to graven Images See Isa 42. 8. It cannot be thought justly of him for he is a jealous God and when he doth visit he will do it to the purpose But on the other hand it cannot be denied but that the omnipotent Jehovah may seemingly withdraw his Presence and hide his blessed Face for a small Moment from his Church which is the only Excellency wherein he delights and as dear to him as the very Apple of his own Eye Yet be it known that he will never fail nor forsake her but rejoyce over her as a Bridegroom doth over his Bride and will give her his holy Spirit to comfort her and guide her into all Truth Nay he will be with her always even unto the end of the World And this leaving of his Church for a while is for her everlasting good for the Tryal of her Faith Patience and Constancy which is more precious than of Gold that perishes tho' it be tryed by Fire That she may be found a holy and reform'd Church without Spot and Blameless unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of her dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 7. And since the Lord of Hosts himself is our Portion and Inheritance our best and only Help and Strength our safest Defence and Horn of Salvation on whom alone we wholly depend in these deceitful Days wherein no trust is to be given to Man Then there is no cause for us to be cast down or any ways dismayed at the blasphemous Speeches of any wicked Rabshaketh or at the Pride and Arrogancy of an Idolatrous Sennacherib Tho' he hath laid waste some small Towns and Villages that are adjacent unto his Territories and reproached his Maker the everliving God O tarry ye the Lord's leisure with Meekness and Patience ye Children of the most-high For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Oh the Thoughts of the most Just and Terrible God are not as ours and his ways are past finding out For there 's no doubt of it but he suffers him to fulfil the number of his Sins and fill up the measure of his Transgressions which are not perhaps full ripe for Judgment And then he will cause his own Terribleness inevitably to deceive him and the Pride of his own evil Heart to lay him low in an Hour that he is not aware of as his did sometimes to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon while the very Word was in his Mouth And who can tell but that his Day is come and that happy time is at hand wherein the most terrible Majesty of the eternal King the mighty Lord will call him to an account for all his Wickedness and the Blood of his Saints and dear Children which he spilt like Water and will shew his Power on him by making him to know and feel That the Most-high ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will And none can stay his Hand or say unto him What dost thou Nay will compel him at last to confess with Adonibezek saying As I have done so God hath requited me Dan. 4. 25 35. Judg. 1. 7. What mean then all these causless and unjust Murmurings and Complainings in our Streets which I hear about the Times Know ye not what the Preacher speaks Say not thou What is the cause that the former Days were better than these For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this Eccles 7. 10. What 's the Matter O foolish People and unwise that ye have not Patience to wait God's time Do not ye understand this That you cannot have an Apple or a Nut but you must tarry its proper Period and let it bud and blossom and knit and grow and ripen And does not the Apostle tell thee That the Husbandman waits with long Patience for the precious Fruits of the Earth And must you be impatient and limit God in his own Work It is a grief to think on it that there are a sort of People among us which are not unlike to those Spies apt to bring an evil Report upon their Majesties Forces by Sea and Land and extolling the French in all Company always wheresoever they go Sure such are evil-minded and unbelieving Hearts The Spies said The Land of Canaan was a Land which did eat up its Inhabitants and all the People thereof were Giants or Men of a great Stature And so persuaded the Children of Israel they were not able to go up against them they were so strong Thus they consider'd not that the most high God was with them whithersoever they went that he was their Defence and Strength and fought all their Battels Whereupon they provoked him to Wrath against 'em and he destroyed those Spies and false Reporters before his Face by the Plague for their evil Reports and sware that not one of them which had seen his Glory and Miracles which he wrought in Egypt and in the Wilderness and yet for all murmured and complained against his Deputies Moses and Aaron should enter into the Land but die in the Wilderness for their Unbelief â—ave his Servants Caleb and Joshua In like manner our false Reporters Murmurers and Complainers cry Ah we shall be all ruin'd and undone by the French And tho' they do not say they are Giants yet all their Cry is They are too strong for us not considering that the Almighty God is our Defence Depart then from among God's People ye evil and unbelieving Hearts for you weaken the Hands of the Almighty and discourage his People as much as you can But let me tell you to your Faces That the mighty God hath deliver'd our Nation sundry times out of far greater Dangers than I hope we are now in And sure I am that the Lord's Hand is not shortned that he cannot save us now as well as he hath done in our Fathers and Fore-fathers days Yea not long since in our own Remembrance if our crying National Sins our Murmurings Complainings without cause and our wicked and