Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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B08933
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Divine consolations for mourners in Sion being an extract of certain choyce epistles of dying martyrs to each other and to their fellow prisioners for the cause of Christ, in the times of cruell and fiery persecution, wherein is much variety of suitable matter of meditation for all such who are burthened under the pressure of their sins and sorrows in these evil times.
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1664
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Wing D1719; ESTC W41420
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70,279
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130
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Careles through Christ the Beloved Say therefore with David Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name for he hath forgiven thee all thy sins as truely he hath And hereof I desire to be a Witness God make me worthy to hear from you the like true Message for my self Mine own dearly Beloved you have great cause to thank God most heartily that hath given you such Repentance and Faith The Lord increase the same in you and me a most miserable wretch whose heart is harder then the Adamant stone or else I could not thus long have stayed from writing unto you If I live and may I purpose and promise you to make amends Pray for me my most dear Brother I heartily beseech you and forgive me my long silence God our Father be with us for ever Amen Yours in the Lord John Bradford John Careles his Letter to Mr. Bradford THe Peace of God in Jesus Christ A sweet Letter of John Careles to Mr. Bradford a little before his Martyrdome the Eternal Comfort of his sweet Spirit which hath surely sealed you unto Eternal Salvation be with you and strengthen you in your joyful journey towards the Celestial Jerusalem my dear Friend and most faithful Brother Mr. Bradford to the setting forth of Gods glory and to your eternal joy in Christ Amen Ever since that good Mr. Philpot shewed me your last Letter my dear heart in the Lord I have continued in great heaviness and perplexity He mourneth for the loss and lâ—ck of Mr. Bradforâ— in the Church not for any hurt or discommodity that I can perceive coming towards you unto whom doubtless Death is made life and great felicity but for the great loss that Gods Church here in England shall sustain by the taking away of so godly worthy and necessary an instrument as the Lord hath made you to be Oh that my life and a thousand such wretched lives moe might go for yours Oh why doth God suffer me and such other Catterpillers to live that can do nothing but consume the Alms of the Church and take away you so worthy a Workman and Labourer in the Lords Vineyard But woe be to our sins and great unthanfulness which is the greatest cause of the taking away of such worthy instruments of God as should set forth his Glory and instruct his People If we had been thankful unto God for the good Ministers of his Word we had not been so soon deprived both of it and them The Lord forgive our great ingratitude and sins and give us true Repentance and Faith and hold his hand of Mercy over us for his dear Son Christs sake Take not away all thy tâ—ue Preachers forth of this Realm O Lord but leave us a Seed lest Englâ—nd be made like unto Sodom and Gomorrah when thy true Loâ—â— be gone But what go I about to mingle your mirth with my mourning and your just joy with my deserved sorrow If I loved you indeed as I have pretended I should surely rejoyce with you most heartily and praise God on your bâ—half from the very bottom of my heart He rejoyceth for the honour of Mr. Bradfords Martyrdome I should praise God day and night for your excellent Election in and through his great Mercy and should give him most humble thanks for your Vocation by his Gospel and your true Knowledge in the same I should earnestly praise him for your sweet justification whereof you are most certain by Gods Gâ—ace and Spirit and should instantly pray unto him for your Glorification which shall shortly ensue I should rejoyce and be glad to see you dignified by the Crown of Martyrdome and to be appointed to that honour to testifie his Truth and to Seal it with your Blood I should highly extoll the Lord who hath given you a glorious vâ—ctory over all your enemies visible and inv si le and hath given you Grace and Strength to finish the Tower that you have begun to build Finally if I loved you I should most heartily rejoice and be glad to see you delivered from this body of sin and vile person of the Flesh and brought into that heavenly Tabernacle where you shall be safely kept and never offend him more This and much more should I do if I had a good heart towards God or you his dear childe But alas I am an hypocrite and do seek nothing but mine own commodity I would have Gods everlasting Providence give place to my peevish will and purpose although it were to the hindrance of his glory and your sweet commodity God forgive me my horrible ingratitude sins and offences against him and good Brother do you forgive me my great negligence and unthankfulness towards you and henceforth I promise you I will put my will to Gods will and pray that the same may be fulfilled in you so long as you be on this earth and when you are taken hence I will most heartily praise the Lord for you so long as I have my being in this world Ah my dear heart now I must take my leave of you and as I think John Careles taketh his leave of M. Bradford my Vltimum Vale in this life but in the life to come I am right well assured we shall merrily meet together and that shortly I trust And in taking of my leave of you my dear heart in the Lord I shall desire you faithfully to remember all the sweet messages that the Lord our good God and most dear loving Father hath sent you by me his most unworthy Servant which as they are most true so shall they be most truly accomplished upon you eternally and for the more assurance and certificate thereof to your godly Conscience he hath commanded me to repeat the same unto you again in his own Name and Word Therefore now give ear and faithful credence Hearken Testimony of Gods Spirit O ye Heavens and thou earth give ear and bear me witness at the great Day that I do here faithfully and truely the Lords mâ—ssâ—ge unto his dear Servant John Careles doth Gods message to M. Bradford his singularly beloved and elâ—ct Childe â—â—â—n Bradford John Bradford thou man so specially beloved of God I pronounce and testifie unto thee in the Word and Name of the Lord Jehovah that all thy sins whatsoever they be be they never so many so grievous or so great be fully and freely pâ—â—doned released and forgiven thee by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ thine onely Lord and sweet Saviour in whom thou dost undoubtedly believe Power and practise of the keyes of the Gospel Christ hath cleansed thee with his Blood and clothed thee with his Righteousness and hath made â—hee in the sight of God his Father without spot or wrinckle so that when the fiâ—e doth his appointed office thou shalt be received as a sweet burnt Sacrifice into Heaven where thou shalt joyfully remain in Gods presence for
Lord and Master Christ But yet let us be of good chear for Christ hath overcome the World The pain is but short that we can feel here but the pleasure is perpetual that we shall feel elsewhere Let us set before us the Example of Christ which abode the Cross and despised the shame Consolation under the Cross in respect of the joy that was set before him even so let us consider for whose sake we suffer whose Cause we defend and what glorious Reward we shall have at the day of our victory and then doubtless the consolation of these things will make sweet all our sufferings and soon swallow up all the sorrows that we are sowled in for Gods sake I could recite divers Texts of the Scriptures to confirm this point but I need not for I am well assured that you do know them most perfectly already The Lord give you strength and assist you with his holy Spirit that you may continually walk in all points according to your godly knowledge And then shall you do not as the most part of your Gospellers do now adayes the more is the pity There are a great many in England that do perfectly know that the Idolatrous Mass is abominable devillish and detestable in the sight of God and yet alas they be not afraid to pollute and defile their bodies which ought to be the Temples of the holy Ghost with being present at it so sinning against God and their own Conscience But dear Sister K. do you fly from it both in body and Soul as you would fly from the very Devil himself Drink not of the Whore of Babylons Cup by no means for it will infect the Body and poison the Soul Be not partakers of her sins saith the Angel lest you be partakers of the Plagues that shortly shall be poured upon her O what an array is this that so many that know Gods Truth will now turn again and defile themselves in the filthy Puddle of Antichrists stinking Religion They go about to save their lives with their double dissimulation but doubtless they shall lose everlasting life by it if they do not Repent in time and turn unto the Lord. But dear sister my trust is that you do utterly abhorre the coming to any such thing I hope that you will not by any means turn back into Egypt now but that you will boldly venture through the Wilderness of Trouble and Persecution that you may come into the Land that floweth with all kinde of Heavenly pleasures and joyful delectations and possess the same for ever Let us consider how that every one of us doth owe unto God a death by nature and how soon the Lord will require it of us we know not Oh how happy are we then if God of his goodness appoint us to pay Natures debt with suffering for his Truth and Gospel sake and so making us his faithful Witnesses with the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors yea with his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom he doth here begin to fashion us like in suffering that we might be like him also in glory Thus my dearly beloved Sister I have been bold to trouble you a little with my rude and simple Letter being made in haste as it doth appear Yet I desire you to take it in good worth as a token of my poor zeal unto you and do accept my good will And if it please God to spare me life and liberty I trust hereafter to write unto you more largely Fare ye well dear Sister E. K. the Lord bless you and all yours and pour upon you the heavenly dew of his Grace The Lord indue you with plentiful knowledge of his Verity and fill you with his holy and mighty Spirit that you may continually rejoyce in the Comforts of the same now and ever Amen Pray pray pray with stedfast Faith Your daily Oratour John Careles Prisoner of the Lord. A Letter of John Careles to Mrs. Agnes Glascock THe everlasting peace of God in Jesus Christ the continuall ayd strength and comforts of his most pure holy and mighty Spirit be with you my dear and faithfull Sister Glascock to the good performance of that good work which God hath so graciously begun in you to his glory and the commodity of his poor afflicted Church and to your own eternal comfort in him Amen In our Lord I have most humble and hearty commendations unto you my dear Sister and most faithful Mother Glascock with all remembrance of you in my daily Prayers giving God most hearty land praise and thanks for you and on your behalf in that he of his great mercy hath hitherto so mightily strengthned you constantly to cleave unto your Captain Christ notwithstanding the great assaults and manifold temptations that you have had to the contrary Doubtless dear heart it cannot be expressed what joy and comfort it is unto my very Soul to see how mightily the Lord hath magnified himself in you and other his dear elect darlings whom he will shortly glorifie with himself as he hath done other of his sweet Saints that are gone before you Rejoyce therefore and be glad for verily you have good cause if you diligently consider the great dignity that God hath called you unto even in your old age to be one of his worthy Witnesses unto the World and I think you shall with me and other your Brethren in Bonds seal the Lords Verity with the Testimony of your Blood Surely sweet Sister What an high honour it is to suffer for Christ this is the greatest promotion that God can bring you or any other unto in this life and an honour that the highest Angel in Heaven is not permitted to have Therefore happy are you Oh faithful daughter of Abraham that the Lord will now preferre you before many other yea or any other of your age that I do know in England Oh faithful and virtuous Matron which wilt not be moved from the sure Rock Christ upon whom you have so firmly built your house that neither storms nor tempests neither yet Hell gates or any other temptations shall ever be able once to prevail against it Full well doth it appear by your constant continuance that you have played the part of a wise builder in counting the Cost aforehand belonging to the finishing of your Tower and I doubt not but through Gods gift you have sufficient to the performance thereof that the Hypocrites of their part shall have no just cause to triumph against you or to mock you saying Lo this woman began to build but is not able to make an end Therefore go on boldly and fear not for God is faithfull as S. Paul saith which will not suffer you to be tempted above your strength but either will he give you grace and strength to stand unto the death which is the gate and entrance into life or else he will make such an out-scape for you as shall be to the setting forth of