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
A77813	A few sighs from hell, or, The groans of a damned soul. Or, An exposition of those words in the sixteenth of Luke, concerning the rich man and the beggar : wherein is discovered the lamentable state of the damned : their cries, their desires in their distresses, with the determination of God upon them. A good warning word to sinners, both old and young, to take into consideration betimes, and to seek by faith in Jesus Christ to avoid, lest they come into the same place of torment. Also a brief discourse touching the profitableness of the Scriptures for our instruction in the way of righteousness, according to the tendancy of the said parable. / By that poor and contemptible servant of Jesus Christ, John Bunyan.	Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.	1658 (1658)	Wing B5516; Thomason E1927_2; ESTC R210338	119,232	307

doest believe the Scriptures thou seest that they are the truth as really as if God should speak to thee from heaven through the clouds and therefore never flatter thy self foolishly thinking that if it were so and so then thou couldest believe I tell thee saith Christ If they believe not Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe though one should rise from the dead But 5. Doest thou believe the Scripture to be the word of God Then through faith in Christ thou endeavourest to have thy life squareed according to the Scriptures both in word and practice Nay this I say thou mayest have though thou do not believe them all My meaning is that if thou believe none but the ten Commandments thy life may be according to them a legal holy life and if thou do believe the Gospel too then thy life will be the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ that is either thou wilt live in the blessed and holy enjoyment of what is testified in the Scripture concerning the glorious things of the Lord Jesus Christ or else thou wilt be exceedingly panting after them For the Scriptures carry such a blessed beauty in them to that soul that hath faith in the things contained in them that they do take the heart and captivate the soul of him that believeth them into the love and liking of them 6. He that believes the Scriptures to be the word of God if he do but suppose that any one place of the Scripture doth exclude him and shut him out of and from a share in the promises contained in them O it will trouble him grieve him perplex him yea he will not be satisfied until he be resolved and th● contrary sealed to his soul for he know● that the Scriptures are the word o● God all truth and therefore he know● that if any one sentence doth exclude● or bar out him for want of this or the other qualification he knows also that not the word alone shuts him out but he that speaks it even God himself and therefore he cannot will not dare not be contented untill he find his soul and Scripture together with the things contained therein to embrace each other and a sweet correspondency and agreement be between them For you must know that to him that believes the Scriptures aright the promises or threatnings are of more power to comfort or cast down then all the promises or threatnings of all the men in the world And this was the cause why the Martyrs of Jesus did so slight both the promises of their adversaries when they would have overcome them with profering the great things of this world unto them and also their threatnings when they told them they would rack them hang them burn them none of these things could prevail upon them or against them because they did most really believe the Scriptures the things contained in them as is cleerly found and to be seen in Heb. 11. and also in Mr. Fox his records of their brethren 7. He that believeth the Scriptures to be the word of God believeth that men must be borne again and have that faith which is of the operation of God or else they cannot be saved And he that believeth this believeth also that if he be not borne again and also be partakers of that faith which is of the operation of God according as he hath read and believed he must and shall be damned And he that believeth this aright will not be contented until according as it is written he do partake of and enjoy the new birth and until he do find through grace that faith that is wrought by the operation of God in his soul For this is the cause why men do satisfie themselves with so slender a conceited hope that their state is good when it is nothing so namely because they do not credit the Scripture for did they they would look into their own hearts and examine seriously whether that faith that hope that grace which they think they have be of that nature and wrought by that spirit and power that the Scripture speaketh of I speak this of an effectual believing without which all other is nothing unto salvation Now then because I would not be too tedious I shall at this time lay down no more discoveries of such an one as doth savingly believe the Scriptures and the things contained in them but shall speak a few words of examination containing the things already mentioned As 1. Thou sayest thou dost indeed and in truth effectually believe the Scriptures I ask therefore wast thou ever killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the Scriptures To be killed and to be struck dead you will say what is that Why to be killed by the law or letter is by the power thereof to be made to see thy sins against it and to be left in an helpless condition by that law for I say the proper work of the law is to slay the soul and to leave it dead in a helpless state For it doth neither give the soul any comfort it self when it comes nor doth it shew the soul where comfort is to be had and therefore it is called the ministration of condemnation as in 2 Cor. 3.9 Yea in plain termes the ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 For though men may have a notion of the blessed word of God as as the children had yet before they be converted it may truly be said of to them Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Mark 12.24 2. You say you do believe the Scriptures to be the word of God I say again examine wast thou ever quickened from a dead state by the power of the Spirit of Christ through the other part of the Scripture That is to say by the power of God in his Sonne Jesus Christ through the covenant of promise I tell thee from the Lord if thou hast thou hast felt such a quickning power in the words of Christ Joh. 6. that thou hast been lifted out of that dead condition that thou before wast in and that when thou wast under the guilt of sin the curse of the law and the power of the devil and the justice of the great God that thou hast been inabled by the power of God in Christ revealed to thee by the Spirit through and by the Scripture to look sin death hell the devil and the law and all things that are at enmity with thee for thy sins with boldness and comfort in the face through the blood death righteousness resurrection and intercession of Christ made mention of in the Scriptures And thirdly on this account O how excellent are the Scriptures to thy soul O how much virtue dost thou see in such a promise in such an invitation O sayest thou there are some promises in the book of God that I have had nourishment from and through Christ in them O they are so large they say Christ will in no

practices of this world and the lusts thereof Oh! that some body would stop them from coming lest they also come into this place of torment and be damned as I am how will it torment me For the reason as I said before why some mens condemnations are more intollerable then others is sometimes because they have not onely damned themselves by their sins but their ungodly carriages have been stumbling-blocks to others causing them also to stumble and fall at that for which thou thy self art damned Balaam could not be contented to be damned himself but also he must by his wickedness cause others to stumble and fall Rev. 2.14 The Scribes and Pharisees could not be converted to keep out of heaven themselves but they must labour to keep out others too The deceived cannot be content to be deceived himself but he must labour to deceive others also The drunkard cannot be contented to go to hell for his own sins but he must labour to cause others to fall into the same furnace with him O friends look to your selves for here will be damnation upon damnation damned for thy own sins and damned for thy being a partaker with others in their sins and damned for being guilty of the damnation of others O how will the drunkard cry for leading their neighbours into drunkenness How will the covetous person howle for setting his neighbour his friend his brother his children and relations so wicked an example by which he hath not onely wronged his own soul but also the souls of others The liar by lying learned others to lie the swearer learned others to swear the whoremonger learns others to whore Now all these with others of the like sort will be guilty not onely of their own damnation but also of the damnation of others I tell you that some men have been so much the authors of the damnation of others that I am ready to think that the damnation of them will trouble them as much as their own damnation Some men it is to be feared at the day of judgement will be found to be the author of destroying whole nations How many souls do you think Balaam with his deceit will have to answer for How many Mahomet How many the Pharisees that hired the souldiers to say the Disciples stole away Jesus and by that means stumbled their brethren to this day and was one means of hindering them from believing the things of God and Jesus Christ and so the cause of the damnation of their brethren to this very day How many souls hath Bonner to answer for think you and several filthy blind Priests How many souls have they been the means of destroying by their ignorance and corrupt doctrine preaching that that was no better to their souls than Rats-bane to the body for filthy lucres sake * O ye Priests this word is for you They shall see that they many of them it is to be feared will have whole towns to answer for whole cities to answer for Ah Friend I tell thee thou that hast taken in hand to preach to the people it may be thou hast taken in hand thou canst not tell what Will it not grieve thee to see thy whole parish come bellowing after thee to hell crying out this we may thank thee for this is long of thee thou didst not teach us the truth thou didst lead us away with fables thou wast afraid to tell us of our sins lest we should not put meat fast enough in thy mouth ☞ O cursed wretch that ever thou shouldest beguile us thus deceive us thus flatter us thus We would have gone out to hear the word abroad but that thou didst reprove us and also tell us that that which we see now is the way of God was Heresie and a deceivable doctrine and wast not contented blind Guide as thou wert to fall into the dich thy self but hast also lead us thither with thee I say look to thy self lest thou cry out when it is too late O send Lazarus to my people my friends my children my congregation to whom I preached and beguiled through my folly Send him to the town in which I did pr●ach last lest I be the cause of their damnation Send him to my friends from whence I came lest I be made to answer for their soul and mine own too Ezek. 33.1.2 3 4 5 6. O send him therefore and let him tell them and testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment Consider this ye that live in the world while you are in the land of the living lest you fall into this condition Set case thou shouldest by thy carriage destroy but a soul but one poor soul by one of thy carriages or actions by thy sinful works consider it now I say lest thou be forced to cry I pray thee therefore that thou wouldest send him to my fathers house for I have five brethren that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment If so then I shall not onely say to the blind guides look you to your selves and shut out others no but this doth reach in all those that do not onely keep souls from heaven by preaching and the like but this doth also speak forth the doom of those that shall any wayes be instrumental to hinder others for closing in with Jesus Christ O what red lines will those be against all these rich ungodly Landlords that so keep under their poor Tenants that they dare not go out to hear the word for fear their Rent should be raised or they turned out of their houses What sayest thou Landlord will it not cut thy soul when thou shalt see that thou couldest not be content to miss of heaven thy self but thou must labour to hinder others also Will it not give thee an eternal wound in thy heart both at death and judgement to be accused of the ruine of thy neighbours soul thy servants soul thy wives soul together with the ruine of thy own Think on this you drunken proud rich and scornful Landlords think on this you mad-brain'd blasphemous Husbands that are against the godly and chaste conversation of your Wives also you that hold your Servants so hard to it that you will not spare them time to hear the word unless it be where and when your lusts will let you O if you love your own souls your Tenants souls your Wives souls your Servants souls your Children souls if you would not cry if you would not howl if you would not bear the burden of the ruine of others for ever then I beseech you to consider this doleful story and labour to avoid the soul-killing torment that this poor wretch groaneth under when he saith I pray thee therefore that thou wouldest send him to my fathers house For I have five brethren that he may testifie Mark that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment These

verse one line nay one word of holy Scriptures make in his heart so that he cannot eat sleep work keep company with his former companions and all because he is afraid that the damnation spoken of in Scripture will fall to his share Like Balaam who said I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord so long as he had something of the word of the Lord with authority severity and power on his heart but at another time he could teach Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel Rev. 2.14 3. Because the carnal Priests do tickle the ears of their hearers with vain Philosophy and deceit and thereby harden their hearts against the simplicity of the Gospel and word of God which things the Apostle admonished those that have a mind to close in with Christ to avoid Col. 2.8 saying Bewar●●est any man be he what he will spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men and rudiments of the world and not after Christ And you who nuzzle up your people in ignorance with Aristotle Plato and the rest of the heathenish Philosophers and preach little if any thing of Christ rightly I say unto you that you will find that you have sinned against God and beguiled your hearers when God shall in the judgement-day lay the cause of the damnation of many thousands of souls to your charge and say He will require their blood at your hands Ezek. 33.6 4. Another reason why the carnal unbelieving world do so slight the Scriptures and word of God is because the judgement spoken of in the Scripture is not presently executed on the transgressors Because sentence against an evil act is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of the sons of men are wholly set in them to do evil Eccles 8.11 Because God doth not presently strike the poor wretch as soon as he sins but waits and forbears and is patient Therefore the world judging God to be unfaithful go to it agai● and again and every time grow harder and harder till at last God is forced either to stretch out his mighty power to turne them or else send death with the devil and hell to fetch them Thou thoughtest saith God that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thy face Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psal 50.20 21. 5. Another reason why the blind world do slight the authority of Scripture is because they give ear to the devil who through his subtilty casteth false evasions and corrupt interpretations on them rendring them not so point blank the minde of God and a rule for direction to poor souls perswading them that they must give ear and way to something else besides and beyond that or else he labours to render it vile and contemptible by perswading them that it is a dead letter when indeed they know not what they say nor whereof they affirme For the Scripture is not so dead but that the knowledge of it is able to make any man wise unto salvation through faith and love which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 And is profitable for instruction reproof and correction in righteousness that the man of God may be throughly furnished to all good works ver 17. And where it is said the letter killeth he meaneth the law as it is the ministration of damnation or a covenant of works and so indeed it doth kill and must do so because it is just forasmuch as the party that is under the same is not able to yield to it a compleat and continual obedience But otherwise I will call Paul and Peter to witness that the Scriptures are of a very glorious concernment in as much as in them is held forth to us the way of life and also in that they do administer good ground of hope to us Rom. 15.4 For whatsoever things were written a foretime Mark whatsoever were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture m●ght have hope And again Rom. 16.25 26. Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mistery which was kept hid since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith And therefore whosoever they be that slight the Scriptures they slight that which is no less then the word of God and they who slight that slight him that spake it and they that do so let them look to themselves for God will be revenged on such Much more might be said to this thing but I would not be tedious A word or two more and so I have done with this Consider the dangers of slighting the words of the Prophets or Apostles whether they be correction reproof admonition forewarning or the blessed invitations and promises contained in them 1. Such souls do provoke God to anger and to execute his vengeance on them They refused to hearken they pulled away their shoulder they stopped their ears lest they should hear the law and they made their hearts adament stone that they might not hear the law and the words that were spoken to them by his spirit in the former prophets Therefore came a great wrath upon them Zach. 7.11 12. 2. God will not regard in their calamity Because I called and ye refused I stretched out my hand no man regarded but set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamities and mock when your fear cometh When their fear cometh as desolation and their destruction like a whirlewind Then shall they call but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me Proverbs 1.25 26 27. 3. God doth commonly give up such men to delusions to believe lies Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie That they all might be damned 2 Thess 2.11 12. 4. In a word they that do continue to reject and slight the word of God they are such for the most part as are ordained to be damned Old Eli his sons not hearkenning to the voice of their father reproving them for their sins but disobeying his voice it is said It was because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2.15 Again see in 2 Chron. 25.15 16. Amaziah having sinned against the Lord he sends to him a prophet to reprove him But Amaziah sayes Forbear wherefore shouldst thou be smitten he did not hearken to the word of God Then the Prophet forbare saying I know that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast not hearkened to my counsel Read therefore