Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wonder_n	wonder_v	world_n	72	3	4.2947	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43620	The good old cause, or, The divine captain characteriz'd in a sermon (not preach'd, nor needful to be preach'd, in any place so properly as in a camp) by Edm. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1692 (1692)	Wing H1807; ESTC R7616	21,900	38

will ruine the best Cause in the World This common and open Prophaneness does not only provoke God's Wrath against themselves but against their Governors if they only reprove and make Proclamations in detestation of them Old Eli did thus much to his debauch'd Sons but for want of a severer Discipline God punish'd him and his House for ever This Leven must be purged out and cashiered or else it will leven the whole Lump It is no surprize therefore to thinking men to hear of vast Fleets put to Sea with vast Expence and vaster Hopes yet without Success whilst men thus impudently and openly from the First Rate Ship to the Tender from Stem to Stern from the Captain to the Cook swear and curse like Devils and therefore most unfit to play the men for our People and the Cities of our God None therefore can be greater Enemies to Their Sacred Majesties and so good a Cause the best Cause in the World in this Juncture than these damning cursing cursed and swearing Libertines that cannot truly and faithfully honour their King if they fear not God For such I 'll pray though as we do over the Doors of them that have the Plague Lord have mercy upon these Wretches or in the words of Moses O that they were wise Deut. 32.29 30. that they understood this that they would consider their latter end How should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight If therefore a Souldier love his God his own Soul his King his own Honour and Welfare his People and the Cities of our God let him so live that he may not be afraid to dye and then his good Conscience will add to his Valour and make a man of good courage and able to play the man 3. A third cause of additional Valour is valiant Leaders by their couragious Words and Deeds 1. First by their Words adding Courage to their Souldiers by such brave Speeches as this in the Text. The first and bravest Emperor Julius Caesar was very happy both in Arts and Arms a good Oratour and a good Captain and was addicted to these Harangues to cheer up his Souldiers when ready to come to the Push as may be seen in his own Commentaries No man spoke better no man fought better both he and Joab in the Text had as all valiant men have a great presence of Mind had their Wits about them in the midst of Dangers they did almost what they list and could say what they lift tho' what they said was but little yet they spoke much in little being happy both for the Pen and the Pike 2. But the brave Deeds of a Commander is far more efficacious than brave Words a couragious Leader like the Sun-beams influences all that see him with Spirit and Heat and Life For as Cowardice is infectious a few Cowards if not timely knock'd down are enough to ruine a whole Camp so Courage also spreads it self and there 's none so timerous but will be ready to follow their Leader if a brave man at Arms. 4. A fourth cause of additional Valour is good Arms and good Armour Those will put Courage into a Coward and those daunt the bravest Enemy that fights unarm'd A Souldier may with as much reason flight all his Garrisons ruine the Bulwarks of his strongest Forts and cut down his Palasadoes as fight without his Armour The Prince of Poets the first in Time as well as Exoellence never sights his Champion Achilles till he has first buckled on him his Armour of Proof Nor does our * Sir Philip Sidney who was elected to be K. of Poland but refused English Homer so famous for but less happy in his Pike than his Pen yet as terrible to his Enemies abroad as amiable to his Friends at home that accepted the Lawrel but refused the Diadem in his English Arcadia ever sight his Knights to beat the Giants till he has first brought them the best Horses the best Arms and Armour that he could imagine nay he spares for no Costs to furnish them with And neglected by none but Braggadochios especially since the Invention of Gunpowder Is Valour any Fence against a Bullet That dismounts the Highest's Courage in its full Careir tho' shot by the most feeble Arm. The Wonders done by a late Hero in England Scotland and Ireland in a had Cause was truly attributed to his care of good Armour for that cause sirnamed Ironside If good Armour has done so great things in a bad Cause what Wonders may it not do in our Cause at this day the best Cause in the World In defence of our People and the Cities of our God from the Ravage of a merciless and bloody Foe the Common Enemy of Mankind the Turks and Mahomet only excepted This harden'd Enemy wonted to spoil cannot be oppos'd in humane probability by a Militia that has no other Armour than Feathers and Scarfs as if a muster of Men when three Kingdoms lye at stake and rais'd and maintain'd at a vast charge to their Country were nothing but a Morris-dance that their Women out of their Windows might admire in the Street the goodly menage of the gay Puppit that belongs to their House No other reason can be given why at this day the Militia-Captains clude and frustrate the Statute that commands Back Breast and Pot for the Horse and Corslet for the Pikes now chang'd forsooth into a Leather Jacquet nick-nam'd a Buff Coat and into a Red Coat and Byonet Or is it because some Feather-bed Captains sell such Ware Oh! but Armour is wearisome and heavy Yes so also is the whole Duty of a Souldier but it is the Occupation he has undertaken and by which he gets his Livelihood and Can a Workman work without Tools Or is he asham'd like other Workmen to carry them on his Back Let a Souldier be asham'd of being beaten of being a Captive or running away but let him never be asham'd of the Tools of the Trade by which alone he stands fair for the Victory But say some This Armour speaks Fear and Timerousness Does it so Then be it so Fear that makes a Centinel or a Guard more watchful is a due Ingredient of true Valour Was there ever any wise or successful Generals but fortified their Camp When the Spade and the Pickax are the Souldier's Armour yet this is really fear of Surprizal but not Cowardice but the greatest Wisdom The great Alexander Caesar Pompey and generally the Grecians and Romans were no Cowards for they conquer'd the greatest part of the known World yet they never engag'd but in bright-shining Armour especially their Horse except some light-armed Horsemen with us called Dragoons that are not intended to abide the shock but in a Battel to be here and there and every where as occasion serves being Mars's Hermaphrodites neither right Horse nor right Foot yet both these and of extream use and behoof in a Camp A Souldier may as well dismantle

General Joab had said Let us play the men for our Countrymen whether they be good or bad people they have Lives and Estates and Liberties in the defence whereof our Swords are drawn they have also religious Liberties in the true Service and Worship of God in the Cities of our God in defence of which good Cause too we must play the men For all the Cities of the World as inhabited by God's Creatures might as well be called the Cities of our God as well as the Cities of Israel if the true Religion and Worship of God in those Cities be not meant by this Phrase The Cities of our God Thus St. Augustine stiles his Books concerning the Church of God as Joab in the Text de civitate Dei Obj. But some may say That this War when Joab made this Speech was not a defensive but offensive War an invasion of the Country of the Ammonites and the Battel was fought at the Gate of one of the Cities of the Children of Ammon ver 8. Ans I answer That notwithstanding this Invasion this War was purely defensive For the Ammonites had abus'd King David's Ambassadors which were sent in kindness to condole the death of Hyram their late King which was in effect the abuse of the King that sent them And this abuse of Ambassadors has always by the Law of Nations been reckoned a just Cause of War For this cause alone the Romans waged War with the Corinthians the Tarentines and Illyrians and this was once the cause of War betwixt the Emperor of Germany and the Port. And the Ammonites here did resolve upon a War and to that purpose hired Souldiers of Fortune the Syrians for Money to fight for them against the Israelites whereupon K. David like a wise General since fight they must he would not be behind-hand with his Preparations nor stay till the Ammonites should come into his Country and make Israel the Seat of War but by wise Conduct meets the coming Storm and in defence of his People and the Cities of his God carries the War to the Enemies Cities where our valiant General exhorts his valiant Brother to be of good courage c. The first Ingredient of true active Valour is a good courage which is threefold supernatural natural additional 1. First Courage supernatural which appears when God makes men more than men by infusing his Spirit of Courage nor was there ever a great Conqueror but he alwaies had this Spirit of God which has been given both to good and bad men Christians and Heathens This was so visible even to the Heathens that they all built Temples to Fortune which we call Providence Nemo vir magnus sine afflatu divino such was Alexander and Scypio Caesar Pompey Marius c. And the Heathen Historian observes that an Athenian General Themistocles as I remember never won a Battel after he had braggingly told his Countrymen after a great Victory This I did and in this Fortune had no power The Souldiers of the famous Marius thought he spoke in the fight with more than human voice when he fought and conquer'd that Inundation of Men the Amnons and the Cymbers that came to swallow up his Country When Gideon was to be a Jesus a Saviour to Israel 't is said The spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon Judg. 6.34 the same Spirit sometimes called Faith or good Confidence made Baruch and Sampson Jeptha David and Samuel Heb. 11.32 33. to play the men above common men who through Faith subdued Kingdoms As for instance in David Tho' in prudent and wise conduct he could not have encountered Goliah with any weapon better that a sling and a stone to enter that forehead where alone the Giant was unarm'd and little expected such an Encounter yet it was a bold Faith and Trust in the Name of the Lord that made his Heart strong and his Hand steddy And it was usual in those days with a Sling and a Stone before the use of Guns to hit at an Hairs breadth so dexterous I had almost said were those left-handed Benjaminites Judg. 20.16 Judg. xx For how big soever the Giant was David was neither longer-liv'd than we nor bigger nor stronger if so strong as we are but the Spirit of God put into him a supernatural and superlative courage to play the man for his people and the Citys of his God 2. Secondly Good Courage is natural the Bounty of Nature for which a man is indebted as Goliah was to the firmness of his Limbs the goodness of his Complexion and his happy Stars to make him martial strong and of good courage such were these two Sons of Zerviah in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Septuagint whom David confesses to be his overmatch and too hard for him For to his Brother Abishai this Speech is made tho' our English Translation only says He said but the Septuagint adds He said to Abishai Such men as are of a faint and timerous Complexion naturally have got a Caveat enter'd by Nature in their Bosoms against being listed for Souldiers Such men may be useful for the Plow or to wrap themselves in a Gown and serve well in the Pulpit or to make a noise at the Bar but the thundering of Guns and Drums will give them an Ague and put them into a Fit of trembling It is tempting of God and bidding Defiance to his Handmaid Nature for such effeminate Constitutions of all Employments to turn Souldiers let them leave the rugged and boysterous Wars to rugged and rocky Complexions and Constitutions Some men have stiled a Souldier a necessary Evil but I think under Heaven a good Souldier is one of the most necessary good things For as the World goes we should lose all other good things if it were not for those brave Souls that play the men in defence of the innocent Infants the weaker Sex and weaker Men still they are our People and a brave Souldier is their Rampart their Bulwark their Life guard the only Safeguard under God of our People and the Cities of our God Without these Protectors the Pulpit would be a Cypher an empty place the Bar unfrequented and our Lives and Estates at the mercy of a merciless Tyrant But there are but few of these Worthies Souldiers of Natures making yet a few of them are enow to put Courage into Cowards which is done by 3. Thirdly Additional Valour which has many causes as First a good Cause it will make a Coward fight to think that he fights for God for his People and for the Cities of our God as we usually and truly say That one honest man will beat two Thieves because the guilty Conscience makes a great Thief a great Coward and his Villany and Roguery makes him a timerous Villain and a fearful Rogue whilst he that fights in a good Cause fights for God and God fights for him This made little David boast so triumphantly Psal 17.3