Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	faith_n	word_n	3,386	5	4.6780	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77498	The drinking of the bitter cup: or, The hardest lesson in Christ's school, learned and taught by himself, passive obedience. Wherein, besides divers doctrinall truths of great importance, many practicall directions are held forth, for the teaching of Christians how to submit to their heavenly father in suffering his will, both in life and death, patiently, obediently, willingly. / As it was lately presented to the church of God at Great Yarmouth, by John Brinsley, minister of the Gospel there.	Brinsley, John, 1600-1665.	1660 (1660)	Wing B4713; Thomason E1838_1; ESTC R210133	201,893	311

peace Luk. 2.29 And the like do we in a spirituall sense receive we the Lord Jesus being held forth unto us in the promise of the Gospell and take hold upon him clasping and imbracing him in the armes of our faith receiving him as our Saviour and Lord. As our Saviour believing on him for the pardon and remission of all our sins As our Lord yielding up our selves to be guided and governed by him by his word and Spirit Which whilest we do now shall we have no just cause to fear this Enemy which is by this Captain of our Salvation conquered and disarmed so as now it cannot hurt any of those that are his O then let every of us make sure our interest in him Upon which depends all our hope and comfort both in life and death Christ being once ours now we may hear the Apostle telling us that all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 All things among which he reckons Life and Death with things present and things to come All ours so is Life even temporall life so as it shall be continued to us whilest it is expedient And so is Death which when it comes shall not be hurtful but advantagious and beneficial To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1.21 So are things present the concernments of this present life as Crosses so Comforts both serving for our good And things to come Eternal glory and happinesse Which whilest a Christian is assured of why should not he be as willing to dye as live 3. Only in the third place look out also for the seal of the Spirit Look out for the seal of the Spirit Thus are Assurances made among men by setting seals to writings to bonds and bils and other conveyances And such Assurance labour we for to get the promises sealed unto us and that by this seal the seal of the Spirit which the Apostle calleth the earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.13 14. An earnest confirms the bargain and assures the payment of the whole summe And so doth the earnest of the Spirit as he elswhere calleth it 2 Cor. 1.22 the work of Regeneration and Sanctification begun in the soul this is as Gods seal which confirmeth his promises to his people and giveth them assurance of their heavenly inheritance Which being assured off what should make them unwilling to depart hence when God calleth for them Having now another house to receive them when they are turned out of this and that infinitely better as the Apostle telleth them 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building not made with hands eternal in the heavens Now what man would be unwilling to leave a poor ruinous Cottage which he holdeth only at the pleasure of the Land-lord being subject to be turned out of it every day when as he may have posession of a Royal palace whereof also he shal have the fee-simple estate And such is that heavenly house that celestial glory and happinesse which Christ having purchased for those that are his is gone before to take posession of and to prepare for them I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14.2 it infinitely excelleth all earthly glory far more then the most princely palace doth the meanest cottage O labour we but to make sure this our Inheritance in that other world this will make us not unwilling to leave this Here is a first Direction Seek after Assurance that we have an interest in God and Jesus Christ and so a right to eternal life And being thus assured of Life Dir. 2 now Prepare for death Prepare for death by dying daily So did the blessed Apostle who tels his Corinthians that he dyed daily 1 Cor. 15.31 I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I dye daily Apprehending death continually hanging over his head he was daily preparing for it And the like do we that we may be willing to dye once when God calleth us to it dye daily Q. But how shall we do this A. Take the answer in three or four particulars 1. Dye daily to sin This the Apostle telleth us Christ once did for us To sin In that he dyed he dyed unto sin once Rom. 6.10 This he did not for himself for he knew no sin but for us for the expiating of our sins the taking away the guilt of them And what he did once doe we daily daily dye to sin for the taking away the power of it in our selves A work which will not be done at once as that of our Saviour was True the Apostle speaking of believers saith they are dead to sin Rom. 6.2.11 in as much as they are not now under the power of it as sometimes they were But this is but an imperfect work not done at once Though sin hath received its mortal wound in them yet it is stil alive Though they be dead to it yet it liveth in them And therefore they must make this their daily their continual work to be dying to it mortifying the body of sin that it may dye before them The life of sin is the life of death So long as a man liveth in any one sin he will never be willing to dye And therefore set we upon the mortification of all our sinful Lusts Specially our beloved Lusts those which have been most near and dear to us most strong and prevalent in us Never resting until we find our hearts brought to an utter abhorrence and detestation of them and of all other sinful waies and courses so as we can say with the Psalmist that we hate every false way Psa 119.104 Thus Sin being dead death will not be so terrible As we get ground of the one we shal get strength against the other Secondly Dye daily to the world To the world So did the Apostle who telleth us of himself that he was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 He had as little affection to the world as the world had to him he was dead to that and that to him And it is the counsel which he giveth to others 1 Cor. 7.31 that they should so use this world as not abusing it Not doting upon any thing here below whether riches o● pleasures or honours Not setting the heart upon them If riches increase set not your hearts upon them Psal 62.10 And so for the rest Not being inordinately affected with any contentments which this world can afford but looking overly upon them so using them as if they used them not So run those foregoing directions of the Apostle there 1 Cor. 7.29 30. This I say brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not And this let every of us strive to

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports properly such a recumbency a resting of the soul upon Christ Which where it is though there be not Assurance for the present yet it is a true and a saving Faith As for Assurance pertinet ad bene esse non ad esse It belongeth to the well being to the perfection of faith And upon that account it is earnestly to be sought after and much set by but not to the being Sense and feeling may fail and yet faith hold out I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not saith Christ to Peter Luke 22.32 Not that thy Assurance might not fail which in the best of Gods Saints it is subject to but thy faith which where once it is truly begun it shall never utterly fail In the paroxisme of his passion Christs assurance his sense and feeling were gone Why hast thou forsaken me Yet his Faith held My God my God Consid 3 To these add in the third place the unchangeableness of Gods Affection towards his people The unchangeablenesse o● Gods affection and of his Covenant with them His Covenant being the Covenant of grace it is a Covenant of salt an Everlasting Covenant Once their God and ever their God Once their Father and ever their Father In the midst of this spirituall desertion yet Christ calleth God his Father The Cup which my Father hath given me Though God did for a time hide his face from him yet did not this dissolve that Relation which was betwixt his Father and him noe nor yet make any alteration or change in his Affection towards him Even then when his wrath brake forth most hotly upon him yet his heart was towards him as much as ever And the like may all that are Christians be assured of Having once taken God for their Father this is an everlasting Relation which shall never be dissolved However God may represent himself unto them yet he is still a Father towards them Doubtlesse thou art our Father Isai 63.16 And such is his affection to them I have loved thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus is God unchangeable we may change as to our apprehensions of him but he changeth not I am the Lord I change not Mat. 3.6 Even as it is with the Sun in an Ecclipse the moon interposing it self maketh a change of the face of it but the Sun it self is not changed which it soone sheweth by shining again as formerly Even so is it in these spirituall Ecclipses The light of Gods countenance through some dark cloud of temptation intervening is for a time intercepted so as we see it not as it may be at sometimes we have done but God is still the same And waiting upon him we shall by comfortable experience find him so Here are a few of those Meditations which among many other being applyed to the heart will be of great use for the bearing it up even under this greatest of tryals In the second place by way of Practise take only the like number of directions Help● by way of practise because I am not willing to load your memories beyond their bearing 1. In this case make use of the judgments of others Make use of the Judgment of others A man is not looked upon as a competent judg in his own case And so is it here In soul conflicts men usually take part with sin and Satan against themselves And being parties they are no competent Judges And therefore submit rather to the Judgments of others Such as have had acquaintance with our Persons and conditions Specially herein lend an ear to the Ministers of Christ whose office it is under Christ to bind up the broken hearted Isai 61.1 To speak comfort to the afflicted Isai 40.1 To speak a word in season to him that is weary Isai 50 3. As Gods interpreters to shew unto man his uprightnesse Job 33.23 To acquaint him with the truth of his condition as also with his duty to shew him what state he is in and what course he is to take Thus are they Gods mouth to his people as the Lord telleth Jeremie Jer 15.19 And therefore as at other times so now specially to be hearkened to Thus the Lord sends Saul to Ananias that by him he might be restored to his sight and instructed what he should do Act. 9.6.12 And in the Chapter following he willeth Cornelius to send for Peter that he might tell him what he ought to doe Act. 10.6 Thus in matters of temporall Concernment men being in a straight they will not rely upon their own Judgment but will apply themselves to their Counsellours whose profession and practise gives them to be skilfull in the Law And the like let Christians do in their spirituall conflicts intrusting themselves hearken to the Ministers of Christ such as they judge to be able and faithfull and submit to their Judgment 2. In this case live upon former experience as upon the experience of others Live upon former experience so of our own Look back upon former times and remember what our condition hath been how it hath been with us as to our spirituall estate what we have seen and felt of God heretofore This was Davids practise if that Psalme be his which it is supposed to be Psal 77. Being in a most disconsolate condition so as his soul refused to be comforted as he saith v. 2. then saith he I considered the dayes of old the years of ancient time I call to remembrance my Songs in the night v. 5.6 I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord Surely I will remember thy wonders of old v. 12 11. Now he cals to mind what God had done for himself and others and herewith he stayeth and comforteth himself being assured that God was still the same God And the like do we in the like case 3. But above all in the third place live upon the promises Live upon the Promises casting our selves upon them as a shipwrackt man doth upon the rast that is cast out to him Though for the present we find no comfort in them or from them yet lay hold upon them casting our souls upon them living by faith in them So did Abraham the Father of the faithfull Against hope he believed in or under hope Rom. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When naturall causes had left him hopeless as to any issue of his body yet grounding his faith upon the promise of God he still hoped And the like let all his Children doe When sense faileth live by Faith resolving come what will come not to let that hold goe That was Jobs resolution Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 A truly heroical Resolution which let al the Lords people take up However the Lord shall deal with them yet let them not let go their confidence Cast not away your Confidence Heb. 10.35 If this be gone