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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	good_a	know_v	tree_n	4,740	5	8.9177	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81250	The root of apostacy, and fountain of true fortitude. Delivered in a sermon before rhe [sic] Honourable House of Commons, on their late day of thanks-giving for the great victory given to Sir William Waller and the forces with him, against the army of Sir Ralph Hopton. By Thomas Case, Preacher at Milk-street, London, and one of the Assembly of Divines.	Case, Thomas, 1598-1682.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons.	1644 (1644)	Wing C839; Thomason E46_11; ESTC R22888	28,474	40

of the state of the Battell whereby their brethren also were strengthened to returne and resist the rage and fury of the Enemie and to pursue it to a great slaughter and a totall routing and discomfiture of that proud daring Armie Well we may conclude That God was in that dayes worke of a certain and wrought wonderfully and immediately for the salvation of his people Surely so great a victory with so cheape a losse was more then Gods finger it was his Arme his right-hand that turnd the question of that day and the feares of his people into inconquerable courage and their mourning into triumph and rejoycings All that I have to do now is to bespeak you Honourable and Beloved that under this and other Deliverances and Victories we have and hope for as they were wrought by the knowledge of God so we would behave our selues as a people that know our God let us wear our deliverances as a people that are acquainted with God In the first place therefore 2 Sam. 12.27 28 29 30. let us carry it thankefully let us do with Christ as sometime Joab did with David who when he had taken Rabbah sent for David lest the City should have been called after Joabs Name and set the Kings Crowne very weighty and rich with precious stones upon the head of David Let us us this day bring in our Lord Jesus Christ and let not victory be called after our name but let His Name beset upon it The Lord our Righteousnesse and strength and the Crowne upon his head I have read of a King going by water who looking over the bardge his Crown fell into the water one of the Watermen leapes in dives takes up the Crowne and when he comes up above water puts the Crowne upon his head that he might use both hands to expedite his returne to the Boat The King proportions his reward thus for saving his Crown he allowes him a Talent but because be put it on he takes off his head thinking that head not fit to stand upon its shoulders that presumed to weare that Crown which was made onely for the head of a King my Politiques are not sufficient to Critick upon the Justice of such a censure Sure I am it will be the highest act of Treason in Vs if we shall put this Crown of victory upon our own head upon the head of our own strength or wisdome c. Which as it was wrought onely by the hand so it was made onely for the head of him who is the King of Saints and Lord of Hosts And the highest act of Justice in him if he take away not the Crown onely from our head in refusing to give us any more victories but our heads too from our shoulders by leaving us to their Execution whose mercies are cruelties Let us therefore with the Elders in the Revelation fall down before him that sits upon the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever Reve. 4.10 11. and cast our Crowns down before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and honour and power c. And therefore Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise if we stay till God come to demand his Crown woe unto us Secondly Let us carry it obediently Whoso offereth me praise Psal 50. last Glorifieth me It is some glory indeed to God and you have done well Noble Senators that you have set apart a day to praise God for this victorie wherein your resolutions have bin like that of David I will not offer to God that which cost me nothing 2 Sam. 24.24 You have not turned God off with a day that was his own before though it be a Sabbath dayes work to celebrate his praise for any Mercy or Deliverance being all the fruits of that grand Redemption which that day doth remember But you have sequestred a speciall day for a speciall Mercy and you have done well in it the Lord be blessed and the Lord blesse you for it but yet let me tell you from this Text This is not all nay this is the least part of that which God expects at your hands and at all our hands the main piece of praise is the Ordering of your conversations aright there is so much thankfulnesse in our hearts as there is holinesse and selfdeniall in our Conversations Without this Isa 58.5 Quasi sua offerent Deo seipsos Diabolo Bern. Infidelis disputat contra fidem Improbus Christianus vivit contra fidem c. as our Fastings are but the holding down of the head like a bulrush for a day so our thanksgivings are but the holding up of the head like a Reed for a day and wee are found guilty of that mockery Bennard speaks of to give our Sacrifices to God but Our selves to the Devill I remember Augustin comparing the prophane Heathen and vile Christian together makes onely this difference between them The Heatthen talketh against the faith but the Iewd Christian lives against the faith c. A poor difference wherein if either have the better it is the Heathen without doubt Let me invert it a little thus The wretched Cavalieres they swear against Christ The unholy Parliament-Protestant lives against Christ they blaspheme Christ in their mouthes these blaspheme Christ in their lives And tell mee Christians which dishonours God most their verball or our reall blasphemies and what do you think were it not better God should be dishonoured by a people that professe open enmity and warre against Christ and his Government then by a people that makes such profession of love to both Amos 3.2 You onely have I known of all the Nations of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities Surely our secret abominations are more hatefull to God then their open wickednesses which they commit in the face of the Sun And better truely were it for us to perish by the lusts of our enemies then to perish by our own lusts The lusts of our enemies can kill us but once our own lusts will kill us to the second death Christians our God doth not onely speak peace and speak mercies Psal 119.68 but he gives peace and doth good Thou art good and thou dost good In our returns of praise let us be like our God and not content our selves to speak our thankfulnesse and sing our thankfulnesse but let us live our thankfulnesse and do our thankfulnesse and be our thankfulnesse Let us take all from sinne and self and give all to Jesus Christ If this be our thankfulnesse I dare promise you in the Name of my God this shall not be the last Victory God will give us for so the Psalmist hath yet to tell you To him that orders his Conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God You shall have yet more salvations Psal 50. ult even on this side everlasting salvation Brethren look to your Conversations it is both your thankfulnesse and your salvation Thirdly Prayerfully This Victory hath been the return of prayer let prayer be the return of this Victory So David resolves Psal 116.13 17. I will take of the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord and verse 17. I will offer to the the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord You that never prayed in all your lives now learn to pray and so help to fulfill that Prophesie Psal 65.2 Oh thou that hearest prayers to thee shall all flesh come God hath shewed himself willing to hear do you shew your selves willing to pray and you that have prayed double your prayers and with your Master Jesus Christ pray yet more earnestly Oh it is a sweet and a glorious thing when prayer begets deliverances and deliverances again beget prayer Fourthly and lastly Believingly Brethren let us lay up this fresh experience by us and learn to live by faith in the next tryall Shall wee yet distrust our God Shall wee yet make flesh our Arm The Lord forbid Surely the least that God expects and merits at our hands for this and all other miraculous Deliverances is this that wee should resolve with returning repenting Ephraim Ashur shall not save us Hos 14.3 we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands Yee are our gods for in thee the fatherlesse find mercie Christians let us remember this Deliverance and trust God as long as wee live God hath done these things of purpose to bribe and support our faith Psal 78 46 7. Brethren this will bee honour to our God when the Enemies shall see in our greatest disadvantages and dangers wee serve a God whom we dare trust And thus Brethren in carrying our Victories Thank fully Obedientially Prayerfully Beleevingly we shall behave our selves as a people that know their God and for whom God hath done so wonderfull things I could have been larger but that I was choicely prevented in the forenoon There is a gracious Promise made to Israel the Lord make it good upon England Israel shall cry unto me My God Hos 8.2 I know thee It is an harder matter it seems then ever Israel thought of or then we think of to know God And you have done well noble Senators that you have engaged your wisdome and zeal for the promoting of this blessed and blessing-knowledge of God in this * Westminster where is a Lecture every morning at six of the clock maintain'd by 7 godly able Divines place in the neighbouring City and in other places of the Kingdome so far as your power and opportunity have served you by removing those vile persons whose lives and preaching have tavght nothing but rebellion in Israel and putting such in their rooms that both in life and doctrine should teach people the good knowledge of the Lord. You have done well I say for you know him that hath said Wisdome and knowledge shall bee the stability of thy times and strength of Salvation Isai 33.6 And the good Lord so accompany his own Word and his own Works by both which hee now is teaching England with his own Spirit and presence that at length not onely these places but the whole Kingdome even all England may say My God I know thee Amen FINIS

and producing the same harvest In a word If you would in your greatest dangers but get so much leave and time of your Fears and Distractions as to read over these Psalmes the 104. the 146.147 and hear what stories of providence are told there to wonder and delight and then sit down and work the consideration of them upon your hearts Surely in spight of all the ods and disadvantages you meet with in the world and in your work and way whether publike or personall you might be able to come off with the Gallant Psalmist pardon the Epethite The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever Psal 104.31 the Lord shall rejoyce in his works and not only God will rejoyce but I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise to my God while I have my being Vers 33. Psal 146.10 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord c. And again The Lord shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion unto all generations praise ye the Lord. It is a very taking consideration to observe how in the midst of straits wherein the Church or the Psalmist himself was at the times of penning these Psalms He doth discourse himself into Faith from the very misteries of providence 2. But then contemplate God in his extraordinary works of providence towards his Church and people and from thence you might collect these six Observations Obser 1 First That the Churches despairing times have been Gods helping times Obser 2 Secondly That God carries on his designes not onely against but by the opposition and conspiracies of his cursed Enemies Obser 3 Thirdly That the Enemies have been neerest their downfall when they have held up their heads highest Obser 4 Fourthly That you never heard God complaining of too few you have heard him sometimes complainig of too many Judges 7.2 Obser 5 Fifthly That every turne-back in a deliverance is not the losse of the Designe Israel had many a turn-back in Egypt and in the Wildernesse and yet their deliverance was carried on Obser 6 Sixthly That even in these passages of Providence wherein God seems to fight against his people he is fighting for them Psal 31.22 and while he seems to reject their praiers he is answering them Honored Worthies and beloved Christians what strength would these and the like considerations well wrought in by meditation contribute to your weak hands and feeble knees But above all Thirdly If you would study to know God in the glorious work and misterie of Redemption by Jesus Christ there you shall finde these Heart-strengthening Soul-raysing wonders First The greatest enemies that ever the Church had conquered As 1. A Malignant World 2. An Enraged Devill 3. A violate Law 4. The violenced Justice of God and Lastly man himself afraid of nothing so much as of his own Salvation All these taken off and conquer'd Secondly The hardest difficulties that ever were heard of reconciled sc how Justice and Mercy might be both satisfied in mans recovery how the curse might be both removed and executed A Mother and yet a Virgin God and yet die Thirdly God at the greatest charges that ever was heard of to bring this about it cost him the thoughts of his heart from all Eternity before time and the beloved Son out of his bosome and Him the dearest blood out of his heart in the fulnesse of time all these were laid out upon this purchase Christians consider Hath the Church yet such Enemies to conquer hath God yet such difficulties to reconcile will it cost God so much now to redeem his Church people from death the wrath of men as did from Hell and the wrath of God And yet if it should I am perswaded God would not stick at it to do it the second time rather then his Church and people should perish But it needs not the price of all the Churches deliverances was paid in at the first purchase then it cost him the blood of his beloved Son Now it will but cost him the blood of his cursed Enemies upon whom the sentence is already past Those mine enemies that would not have me raign over them Luke 19.27 bring them hither and slay them before me The consideration of this work of God is of such a cordiall Influence that God stopt the mouthes and quieted the hearts of his people with the mention of it even when their hearts have been moved with fear as the trees of the wood are moved with the winde even with this word Vers 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bare a Son and so again Isa 7.2 Mich. 5.5 This man shall be peace when the Assyrian come into the land c. And all this while this word was but yet in the promise a far off a Mistery a Riddle Oh what life and strength would it put into a languishing Spirit well chafed in by meditation * Now we see it in the full accomplishment Rom. 8.32 Isa 43.34 whereby the Soul come to it self again might resolve with the Apostle he that spared not his own Son but gave him up for us how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Surely he that Spared not his Son for the Churches Redemption will not now stick to say I will give men for thy life and people for thy ransome for certainly all other deliuerances are not worthy to be mentioned on the same day with this Deliverance of Deliverances Secondly As you should study God in his works so study him in his Word His Word of 1. Truth 2. Command 3. Threatning 4. Promise First The word of Truth Isa 40.15 and there you shall finde all Nations as the drop of the Bucket and the dust of the Ballance Alas what is lesse considerable then a drop of a Bucket for what is the Bucket to the Well and what is the drop to the Bucket behold the Well is neither fuller nor emptier for the bucket nor the Bucket for the drop Or what of lesse moment then the dust the small dust of the Ballance which turnes the ballance neither this way nor that way which is blown off with the least breath Now if all Nations be no more Then what is one Nation What is a wretched partie or a Faction in a Nation in an house Surely not a drop of a drop not the least imaginable part of a small dust Secondly Know God in the word of Command the sum whereof is be thou faithfull to the death Sirs Revel 2.16 God desires no more of you but fidelity look to duty and leave successe to God Thirdly Else hear the word of Threatning and behold it is set on with a Curse hear it Oh ye people a Curse not from the mouth of a passionate Preacher but an Angel from heaven the Angel of the Covenant Curse ye Meroz Judges 5.23 said the Angel of the Lord Curse him bitterly