Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	affliction_n	great_a	sin_n	1,620	5	5.2580	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77996	The rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is shewed; 1. What contentment is. 2. The holy art or mystery of it. 3. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment. 4. The excellencies of it. 5. The evils of murmuring. 6. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring. By Jeremiah Burroughs. The first of the eleven volumes that are published by Thomas Goodwin, William Greenhil, Sydrach Sympson, Philip Nye, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Greenhill, William, 1591-1671.; Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Simpson, Sidrach, 1600?-1655.; Yates, John, d. ca. 1660.; Adderley, William.	1666 (1666)	Wing B6107B; ESTC R201188	189,505	233

strength from Christ Page 47 12 He makes up his wants in God Page 49 13 He fetches Contentment from the Covenant Page 53 Objection concerning the Plague Answered Page 54 SERMON IV. He supplieth wants by what he findes in himself Page 57 He fetches supply from the Covenant Page 61 1 In General ib. 2 From Particular promises Page 64 14 He reallizeth the things of Heaven Page 67 15 He letteth his heart out to God ibid. Lessons whereby Christ teacheth Contentment 1 Self denial Page 68 Whereby a Christian knows 1 That he is nothing Page 69 2 That he deserves nothing ib. 3 That he can do nothing Page 70 4 That he can receive no good of himself ib. 5 If God withdraw himself he can make use of nothing ib. 6 That he is worse than nothing Page 71 7 That there is no loss of him if he perish ib. 8 That he comes to rejoyce in Gods waies Page 72 2 Lesson To know the vanity of Creatures Page 73 3 Lesson To know that one thing necessary Page 74 SERMON V. 4 Lesson To know his relation in this world Page 76 5 Lesson Wherein the good of the Creature is Page 79 6 Lesson The knowledge of his own Heart Page 82 Which helps to Contentment 1 By discovering where discontent lies ib. 2 By knowing what is suitable to our condition Page 83 3 By this wee may know what wee are able to mannage Page 84 7 Lesson To know the burden of a prosperous estate Page 85 Which is fourfold 1 The burden of trouble ib. 2 The burden of danger Page 86 3 The burden of Duty Page 89 4 The burden of account ib. 8 Lesson A great evil to be given up to our own hearts desire Page 91 SERMON VI 9 Lesson The right knowledge of Gods providence Page 94 Wherein four things 1 The Universality of it ib. 2 The Efficacy of it Page 95 3 The Variety of it ib. 4 Gods particular dealing with his people Page 97 In three things 1 They are ordinarily in affliction Page 98 2 When he intends them greatest mercies hee brings them lowest ib. 3 How he works by contraries Page 99 The Excellency of Contentment 1 Excellency By it we give God his due worship Page 101 2 Excellency In it there is much exercise of grace Page 103 1 There is much strength of grace ib. 2 There is much beauty of grace Page 104 3 Excel The soul is fitted to receive mercy Page 106 4 Excel It is fitted to do service Page 107 5 Excel Contentment delivers from temptation Page 108 6 Excel It brings abundance of comfort Page 110 7 Excel It fetcheth in that which we possess not Page 111 In four Particulars SERMON VII 8 Excel Contentment a great blessing of God upon the soul Page 115 9 Excel A contented man may expect a reward Page 116 10 Excel By contentment the soul comes nearest the excellency of God himself Page 117 Use 1 To be humbled for want of Contentment Page 118 The Evils in a murmuring spirit 1 It is an argument of much Corruption in the soul Page 119 2 It is a note of a wicked man Page 120 3 Murmuring is accounted rebellion Page 121 4 It is exceeding contrary to grace in conversion Page 122 The works of God in Conversion 1 To make us sensible of the evil in sin Page 123 2 A sight of the Excellency of Christ ib. 3 Taking the heart from the Creature ib. 4 Casting the soul on Christ for all good Page 124 5 Subduing the soul to Christ as King ib. 6 Giving up the soul to God in Covenant Page 125 5 Evil Murmuring below a Christian Page 126 1 Below his Relation 1 To God as a Father ib. 2 To Christ as a Spouse ib. 3 To Christ as a Member Page 127 4 To Christ as a Co-heir ib. 5 To Gods Spirit as a Temple ib. 6 To Angels as one with them ib. 7 To Saints as of the same body ib. 2 Below his dignity Every Christian a King Page 128 3 It is below the Spirit of a Christian Page 129 4 Below the profession of a Christian Page 131 5 Below the grace of Faith ib. SERMON VIII 6 Below the helps of a Christian Page 132 7 Below the expectation of a Christian ib. 8 Below what other Christians have done Page 133 6 Evil By murmuring we undo our prayers ib. 7 Evil The effects of a murmuring heart 1 Loss of much time Page 134 2 Unfitness for Duty ib. 3 Wicked risings of heart Page 135 4 Unthankfulness ib. 5 Shifting Page 138 8 Evil Discontent a foolish sin ib. 1 It takes away the comfort of what we have ib 2 We cannot help our selves by it Page 139 3 It causeth foolish carriage to God man ib 4 It takes out the sweetness of mercies before they come ib. 5 It makes affliction worse Page 141 9 Evil It provokes the wrath of God ib. 10 Evil There is a curse upon it Page 146 11 Evil There is much of the Spirit of Satan in it Page 147 12 Evil It brings an absolute necessity of disquiet ib. 13 Evil God may justly withdraw his protection from such ib. Aggravations of the sin of Murmuring 1 Aggravation The greater the mercies the greater the sin of murmuring Page 150 SERMON IX 2 Aggrav When we murmur for small things Page 157 3 Aggrav When men of parts and abilities murmur Page 158 4 Aggrav The freeness of Gods mercy ib. 5 Aggrav Discontent for what we have Page 159 6 Aggrav When men are raised from a low condition ib. 7 Aggrav When men have been great sinners Page 160 8 Aggrav When those murmur that are but of little use in the world Page 161 9 Aggrav To murmur when God is about to humble us ib. 10 Aggrav When Gods hand is apparent in affliction Page 162 11 Aggrav To murmur under long affliction Page 163 Pleas of a discontented heart 1 Plea I am not sensible of my afflictions 1 Sense of affliction takes not away sense of mercies Page 165 2 It hinders not Duty ib 3 It will make us bless God for the mercies of others ib. 2 Plea My trouble is for my sins 1 It is not if you were not troubled for sin before Page 166 2 What the greatest care is to remove affliction ib. 3 If after affliction is removed sin trouble us ib. 4 If there be not care to avoid sin after Page 167 5 There is the more cause to accept of the punishment ib. 3 Plea God withdraws himself 1 We think God is departed when he doth but afflict Page 168 2 Disquiet is a sign and cause of Gods departure ib. 3 If God depart from us we should not from him Page 169 4 Plea I am troubled for mens ill dealing 1 Men are Gods Instruments Page 170 2 We should rather pitty them than murmur Page 171 3 We have righteous dealing with God ib. SERMON X. 5 Plea It is an affliction I looked not for 1 It

great deal of power in it You find afflictions and your hearts are troubled and murmur consider how Gods mercies do aggravate this sin thus In the midst of our sins we do make account God should accept of our services do but consider thus If in the midst of our many sins we hope that God will accept of our poor services why then should not we in the midst of our afflictions bless God for his many mercies Shall God be thus gracious to us that notwithstanding our many sins yet he will not cast away our poor duties and services that we perform then why should not we in the midst of our sufferings accept of what mercies we have and not sleight them and disregard them If thou in the midst of Gods mercies shall not be willing to bear afflictions that God laies upon thee then it were just with God that in the midst of thy sins he should not regard any of thy duties now is there not as much power in thy manifold sins to cause God to reject thy duties and services as there is power in afflictions in the midst of many mercies to take off thy heart from being affected with Gods mercies And that 's the first aggravation of the sin of murmuring To murmur in the midst of mercies A second Aggravation of the sin of murmuring is When we murmur for small things Saith Naamans servant to him Father for so he called him if the Prophet had required you to do some great thing would not you have done it how much more this little thing So I say if the Lord had required you to suffer some great matter would not you have been willing to suffer How much more this little thing I remember I have read in Seneca a Heathen he hath this similitude which is a very fine one to set out the great evil of murmuring upon smaller afflictions saith he Suppose a man hath a very fair house to dwell in and he hath fair Orchards and Gardens and set about with brave tall Trees for ornament if this man now should murmur because the wind blows off a few leaves off his Trees what a most unreasonable thing were it for him to be weeping and wringing his hands because he loses a few leaves off his Trees when he hath abundance of all kind of fruit Thus it is with many saith he though they have a great many comforts about them yet some little matter the blowing off of a few leaves from them is enough to disquiet them It was a great evil when Ahab having a Kingdom yet the want of his neighbors Vineyard had such power to disquiet him So for us to murmur not because we have not such a thing as we have need of but because we have not what possibly we might have this is a very great sin Suppose God gives a childe that hath all the Limbs and parts compleat a Childe that is very comely and hath excellent parts wit and memory but it may be there is a wart that grows upon the finger of the childe and she murmurs at it and Oh what an affliction is this to her she is so taken up with that as she forgets to give any thanks to God for her Childe and all the goodness of God to her in the Childe is swallowed up in that would not you say this were a folly and a great evil in a woman so to do Truely our afflictions if we weighed them aright they are but such kind of things in comparison of our mercies Rebeckah she had a mighty desire to have children but because she found some trouble in her body when she was with childe saith she Why am I thus As if she should say I had as good have none onely because she found a little pain and trouble in her body To be discontent when the affliction is small and little that encreases very much the sin of murmuring it is too much for any one to murmur upon the heaviest cross that can befal one in this world but upon some small things to be discontent and murmur that 's worse I have read of one that when he lay upon a heap of Damas Roses he complained there was one of the Rose leaves lay double under him So we are ready thus for very small things to make complaints and be discontented with our condition And that 's the second Aggravation A third Aggravation is this For men that are of parts and abilities to whom God hath given wisdom for them to be discontent and murmur that 's more than if others do it Murmuring and discontentedness is too much in the weakest yet we can bear with it sometimes in Children and Women that are weak but for those that are Men Men of understanding that have wisdom that God imploys in publick service that they should be discontent with every thing this is an exceeding great evil for men in their families to whom God hath given parts and wisdom when things fall out amiss there to be always murmuring and repining their sin is greater than for women and children to do it A Fourth aggravation is The consideration of the freeness of all Gods Mercies to us What ever we have it is of free-cost what though we have not all we would have seeing what we have is free If what we have were earned then it were somewhat but when we consider that all is from God for us to murmur at his dispensations is very evil Suppose a man were in a family entertained by a friend and he did not pay for his board but he hath it given him for nothing it s expected such a one should not be ready to find fault with every thing in the house with servants or with meat at table or the like if such a one that hath plentiful provision and all given him gratis and pays nothing for his diet should be discontented if a Cup should not be filled for him as he would have it or if he should stay a minute of an hour longer for a thing than he would this we would account a great evil So it is with us we are at Gods Table every day and it is upon free cost whatever we have It is accounted very unmannerly for a man at his friends table to find fault with things though at home he may be bold Now when we are at the table of God for so all Gods administrations to us are his table and are at free-cost now for us to be finding fault and be discontented this is a great Aggravation of our sin A Fifth Aggravation of the sin of murmuring is this When men and women murmur and are discontented and impatient when they have the things that they were discontented for the want of before they had them So it is sometimes with children they will cry for such a thing and when you give it them they throw it away they are as much discontented as they were before So it was with the people

and this comes from hence not only because I see that I should be content in this affliction but because I see that there is good in this affliction I find there is honey in this rock and so I do not only say I must or I will submit to Gods hand no but the hand of God is good it is good that I am afflicted That it is just that I am afflicted that may be in one that is not truly contented I may be convinced that God deals justly in this God is righteous and just and 't is fit I should submit to what he hath done O the Lord hath done righteously in all his waies but that is not enough but thou must say Good is the hand of the Lord the expression of old Ely Good is the Word of the Lord when it was a sore and hard word that word that did threaten very grievous things to Ely his house and yet Good is the word of the Lord saith Ely Perhaps some of you may say as David It is good that I was afflicted nay you must come to say thus It is good that I am afflicted Not good when you see the good fruit that it hath wrought but when you are afflicted to say It is good that I am afflicted Whatever the affliction be yet through the mercy of God my condition is a good condition it is the top indeed and the height of this art of Contentment to come to this pitch to be able to say Well my condition and afflictions are thus and thus and is very grievous and sore yet I am through Gods mercy in a good condition and the hand of God is good upon me notwithstanding Now I should have given you divers Scriptures about this I shall but give you one or two that are very remarkable you will think this is a hard lesson to come thus far not only to be quiet but to have a complacency in affliction Prov. 16.6 In the house of the righteous is much treasure but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble Here 's a Scripture now that will shew that a gracious heart hath cause to say it is in a good condition whatever it be In the house of the Righteous is much Treasure his house what house it may be a poor Cottage perhaps he hath scarce a stool to sit on perhaps he is fain to sit upon a stump of wood a piece of a block instead of a stool or perhaps he hath scarce a bed to lie upon or a dish to eat in yet saith the holy Ghost In the house of the righteous is much treasure Let the righteous man be the poorest man in the world It may be there are some that have come and taken all the goods out of his house for debt perhaps his house is plundered and all is gone yet still In the house of the righteous is much treasure the righteous man can never be brought to be so poor to have his house rifled and spoild but there will remain much treasure within if he have but a dish or a spoon or any thing in the world in his house there will be much treasure so long as he is there there is the presence of God and the blessing of God upon him and therein is much treasure but in the revenues of the wicked there is trouble There is more treasure in the poorest bodies house If he be Godly than in the house of the greatest man in the world that hath his brave hangings and brave wrought beds and chairs and couches and cupboards of plate and the like what ever he hath he hath not so much treasure in it as in the house of the poorest righteous soul therefore in a verse or two after my text no marvail though Paul saith he was Content you shall see in Phil. 4.18 But I have all and abound I am full I have all Alas poor man what had Paul that could make him say he had all where was there ever man more afflicted than Paul was many times he had not tatters to hang about his body to cover his nakedness he had not bread to eat he was often in nakedness and put in the stocks and whipt and cruelly used yet I have all saith Paul for all that Yea you shall have it in 2 Cor. 6.10 He professes there That he did possess all things as sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things but mark what he saith it is As having nothing but it is Possessing all things He doth not say as possessing all things but possessing all things it is very little I have in the world but yet possessing all things So that you see a Christian hath cause to take complacency in Gods hand whatsoever his hand be The Eight thing in Contentment it is In Gods dispose Submitting to and taking complacency in Gods dispose That is the soul that hath learned this lesson of Contentment looks up to God in all things looks not down to the instruments or the means as such a man did it and it was unreasonableness of such and such instruments and the like barbarous usage of such and such but looks up to God a contented heart looks to Gods dispose and submits to Gods dispose that is sees the wisdom of God in all in his submission sees his soveraignty but that that makes him take complacency it is Gods wisdom the Lord knows how to order things better than I the Lord sees further than I do I see things but at present but the Lord sees a great while hence and how do I know but had it not been for this affliction I had been undone I know that the love of God may as well stand with an afflicted estate as with a prosperous estate and such kind of reasonings there are in a contented spirit submitting unto the dispose of God The last thing is This is in every condition It may be in some things you could be content You shall have many will say if my affliction were but as the affliction of such a one I could be content yea but it must be in the present affliction that is upon you We use to say There is a great deal of deceit in Universals in the general come to any man or woman and say Will not you be content with Gods dispose Yes say they God forbid but we should submit to Gods hand what ever it be you say thus in the general it is an easie matter to learn this lesson but when it comes to the particular when the crosse comes sore indeed when it strikes you in the heaviest cross that you think could befall you what saith your heart now Can you in every condition be content not only for the matter but for the time that is to be in such a condition so long as God would have you to be content to be at Gods time in that condition to have such an affliction