Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bad_a	good_a	reason_n	1,431	5	5.5448	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75990	A sermon preached Decemb. 16. 1654. At the funerall of Mr Andrevv Pern, preacher of the Word of God at Wilby in Northampton-shire. By Samuel Ainsworth rector of Kelmarsh.	Ainsworth, Samuel.	1655 (1655)	Wing A817; Thomason E487_3; ESTC R205454	34,106	48

messengers of Christ by visiting of them in their distresse as we may receive good from them so they may receive good from us Onesimus was no small comfort and support to Paul when he was in trouble Junius reaped much spirituall advantage from the discourse of a plaine country man thus inferiour members of the body may be serviceable to the superiour Uses First This may reprove those who as they never cared for any converse with godly Ministers in their health but always kept at a distance from them so they care not for comming neare them in their sicknesse not for feare of any bodily infection but for want of sincere and spirituall affection let such men know they who love not the servants of Christ are without love to Christ himselfe and Christ will one day flight those who have slighted him in his servants It is to be feared that they never got any good by the Ministers of God vvho are disrespectfull unto them novv a sad doome hangs over the heads of all barren Christians vvho have enjoyed the choice mercy of a painfull and faithfull Ministry they are neere unto cursing and may expect to heare that sentence Cut them down why cumber they the ground Secondly This may reprove those vvho though they are not altogether so profane as to neglect the giving of a visit to Gods messengers lying upon their sick-beds yet come to see them not out of obedience to Gods command nor out of love to their persons or office nor out of any affection they beare to their doctrine nor out of any desire they have to comfort them or to receive counsell or comfort from them but meerly out of custome or in complement or to stop the mouths of some who would cry shame upon those who should neglect so necessary so charitable an Office Thirdly Let us be humbled for the neglect of this duty should God be extreame to marke our failings in this one particular what would become of us Jobs friends tooke a long and a tedious journey to see him when they heard how the hand of God was upon him but how often are we backward to take a journey of two or three houres riding nay to step a bows-shoot out of doores to visit an afflicted member of Christ to communicate with him in his sorrows to comfort him in his griefes to refresh and revive him with our presence and spiritual and pertinent discourse How should we shame our selves for this our want of love to the command of Christ to the members of Christ yea to Christ himselfe Well let us cry peccavi beg our pardon and looke upon it as a matter of duty to visit those with our personall presence whom Christ will vouchsafe to visit with his gracious presence The Apostle James excludes all those from being truly religious who make no conscience of the performance of this worke of love Jam. 1.27 Are there any of Gods friends and our acquaintance any of Gods Messengers and our Pastors any of Christs Members and our Brethren cast upon the bed of sicknesse Let us imitate Christ who when he heard Lazarus was sick went down to see him Let not this example of Joash rise up in judgement against us and condemne us would we not have others to expresse such a kindnesse to us Let us not deny that to others which we expect from others Mat. 7.12 But let us not give complementall visits only the sin of the times we live in but so discharge what God cals for in this businesse that God may have Glory the person visited comfort and we our selves benefit and advantage First Visit whether Pastor or Neighbour out of obedience to Gods command let Gods command not base and by respects carry thee on to this worke no action of ours though enjoyned by God will be accepted of unlesse it be done out of obedience to that God who enjoynes it Zach. 7.5 6 7. Secondly Do this that Christ cals for out of love to Christ then will Christ take it as done unto himselfe Thirdly Do this duty with an honest heart and sincerely the Prophet David tels us of some that came to see him in his sicknesse but not out of any cordiall affection they did beare unto him but for base ends to see whether there were any hopes that he would dye or to gather something or other from him that might prejudice him in his credit and esteeme and render him odious Fourthly Since God must make every office performed unto others comfortable unto them and profitable unto us let us upon such occasions and at such times lift up a secret prayer unto God that such a meeting or visitation might be blessed with the fruits of mutuall joy quickning and edification Having dispatched this Doctrine we now come to the effects that Jo●sh his visiting of our Prophet did produce and they are two First He wept over his face Secondly He gave him honourable titles 1. He cass him his Father 2. He stiles him the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof from his weeping over the Prophet now ready to expire we may observe Doctrine That the death of godly and painful Ministers is matter of great lamentation all forts of people good and bad righteous and unrighteous have cause to mourne and bitterly to bewaile the death of such Ministers who have been pious and faithfull First The Church in generall the whole company of beleevers who know and heare of it have cause to mourne Ministers are given to the Church for her gaine and cannot be taken away without her losse Eph. 4.12 They are not only members of her body but such members which are very usefull and necessary they are called the lights guides watchmen of the Church yea they are called her rulers let a man lose any one member it would trouble him but the more usefull any member is the greater will be his trouble Secondly The wicked have cause to mourne when God takes away his faithfull Ministers Joash was of this mind otherwise he would not have done what he did good reason there is why graceless men should lay to heart the death of gracious Ministers 1. God is never more angry with wicked men than when he removes his Messengers from them true bad men are never more merry than when good Ministers are laid in the dust but they have more cause to sigh than to sing to cry than to laugh If to be let alone in sin without check or reproofe be a judgement then certainly it is a judgement to wicked men when godly Ministers are taken away who by their reproofes and counsels did what they could to keep them from sin 2. They have lost one who did both earnestly desire and constantly endeavour their spirituall and eternall good and therefore they have cause to mourne if the losse of a bodily friend be matter of griefe what matter of griefe is the loss of a soule friend 3. They have lost one that stood

in the gap to keep off judgements from breaking in upon them had it not been for the prayers and teares of their faithfull Pastor divine vengeance might have ceased upon them long before now how many times hath God been ready to draw his sword to cut them off to lay his axe to the root of them and to chop them down when their watchfull and compassionate overseer hath interceded for them and held Gods hands from destroying them Jeremies prayers for the Jews did prevaile with God for a season to spare them and when God was fully determined to ruine them he bids Jeremy not to pray for them Chap. 14.11 Psal 106.23 Ezek. 22.30 31. Luke 13.5 6 7. Thirdly The godly where such a Minister did live have cause to mourne when he is taken away for 1. As God is angry with the wicked so he is angry with his own people when he deprives them of their Pastor it is promised as a singular testimony of Gods love to his children to let them have the liberty of seeing the faces and enjoying the labours of their Teachers Isa 30.20 2. They have lost one who was watchfull over them carefull to prevent their falling into sin and ready to raise them up with all possible speed when fallen 3. Some of them have lost a spirituall father and ought not the child to lament the losse of his father Besides all of them have lost a diligent instructer 4. They have lost one who through Gods blessing hath kept them out of many a snare carried on the work of grace in their hearts awakened their drouzy soules quickened their dead hearts strengthened their feeble hands and knees revived their almost expiring graces reduced them when they have been wandring encouraged them in the waies of God when they met with strong opposition comforted them when they have been sad answered their doubts scattered their feares and filled them with joy and peace through beleeving Eph. 4.12 5. They have lost one who was acquainted with their condition knew in some measure the state of their soules and so was the better able to speake seasonably to them and to their necessities A stranger may preach wholsome truths to a people but he knows not so well to apply his doctrine to them as their own Pastor Another may give a child meat to eate but he cannot tell what that food is which is most convenient for it so well as the mother that Physitian who hath been longest acquainted with our bodies knows what Physick is most proper for us thus you see all sorts have cause to lament the fall of a faithfull Minister the reasons are these First God commands us to mourne when he afflicts us with the losse of godly and painefull Ministers when God was pleased to take away Nadab and Abihu none of the best Priests and such who died in their sin yet even then did God call upon the people to bewaile the burning which he had made Lev. 10.8 Must the death of wicked ones be lamented then certainly we must lament the death of the righteous Must not Nadab and Abihu go to their graves without teares What teares should we poure out when a Samuel and Elisha or a Stephen go to their graves Secondly It hath been the practice of the godly bitterly to bewaile the losse of pious and faithfull Ministers what is written in this particular is written for our learning we must be followers of those who are good so far as they are followers of that which is good 1 Sam. 25.1 Micah 7.1 Acts 20.37 38. it went to their very hearts to thinke that they should lose one who had been such a notable instrument to promote Gods glory and his Churches good Paulinus writing of the life of Ambrose reports thus much of him Quod flebat amarissimè quotiescunque fortè annunciatum illi fuerat de cujuscunque sancti obitu Sacerdotis that he wept most bitterly whenever any one told him of the death of any godly Minister It is also reported of Philo that when he heard where he came of the death of any holy man he would weep very bitterly because the Town and the Church had no small prejudice by such a losse Thirdly Such as have had no grace have lamented the death of the Prophets and Messengers of God we have Joash for an example who will rise up in judgment against and condemne those who can let godly Ministers go to their graves without sighs in their hearts or teares in their eyes when the old Prophet who seduced the Prophet sent to Jeroboam saw that he was slaine by the Lion he brought his carkasse into the City laid it in his own grave and they mourned over him with the Text saying Alas my brother 1 Kings 13.30 Fourthly God complaines of those who neglected to lay to heart the death of the righteous Isa 57.1 God never finds fault where there is none were it not a duty to lament the losse of Gods servants none should have met with a check for the neglect of it Fifthly Peoples sins are the cause of Gods taking away their faithfull Pastors the unthankfulnesse and unfruitfulnesse of heares provoke God to remove their preachers and ought we not to lay to heart those sins which deprive us of very choice mercies Sixthly The death of Gods faithfull Ministers is the forerunner of some approaching judgement what but darknesse can be expected when the Sun is set Have we not cause to feare an inundation of waters when the banks that kept them from overflowing are cut down If the pillars of a house be taken away can the house stand If the watchmen be killed the City is in danger to be surprized Isa 57.1 History tels us that so soon as Saint Austin was dead and gone the Goths and Vandals broke into Hippo the City where he lived and spoyled it The Smakaldicke war began in Germany not long after Luther was laid in the grave Spinola took Heilderberg not long after God had taken away that precious servant of his Pareus You see then there is no small cause of mourning when God takes away his faithfull Messengers and Ministers Uses First This serves to reprove those who are not affected with the losse of Gods faithfull Ministers those righteous men perish and how few lay it to heart They go to their long home but where are the mourners about the streets God hath been pleased of late to put out many shining and burning lights as Dr Hill Mr Whitaker Mr Gataker Doctor Bolton and many others men famous in their generations usefull and precious men of whom the world was not worthy we heare of the fall of those Cedars but tremble not of the removall of those pillars but are not afraid we regard the losse of those blessed instruments no more than the losse of a horse or hog no more say I nay not so much Gadaren-like we can better part with the Messengers of Christ than with our swine