Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	sin_n	soul_n	4,646	5	5.4196	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10734	The benefite of affliction. A sermon, first preached, and afterwards enlarged, by Charles Richardson preacher at Saint Katharines neare to the Tower of London	Richardson, Charles, fl. 1612-1617.	1616 (1616)	STC 21013; ESTC S119812	42,110	112

the sea and could not be moued and the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waues And the men that were in her constrained so many as could swimme to cast themselues into the sea and so goe out to land and the rest some vpon bords and some on pieces of the ship to escape and saue themselues He that had stood on the shore at that time no doubt should haue seene a fearefull and lamentable spectacle but hee that had beene a partie in it himselfe would haue sound it an vpspeakeable danger Deut. 13 6 It is a great heauinesse for a man to loose a louing friend which was to him as his owne soule as Moses saith And yet this was Dauids case in the death of Ionathan 1. Sam. 18 1 3. whose soule was knit to the soule of Dauid and they loued one another as their owne soules and they made a couenant together And how hee tooke it to heart may appeare by that dolefull lamentation that he maketh for him when he heard the tydings of his death Woe is me for thee my brother Ionathan 2. Sam. 1 ●6 very kinde hast thou beene to me thy loue to me was wonderful passing the loue of women The losse of children by any meanes whatsoeuer is a great griefe to kinde and louing parents who haue born them with great paine and trauell and brought them vp with much care and cost But to be depriued of them by vntimely violent feareful death is a griefe that cannot be expressed None knoweth the greatnes of it but they that haue felt it And yet this hath befallen euen the dearest of Gods children Aaron Psal 106 16. whom the Scripture calleth the Saint of the Lord had his two sons Nadab Abihu fearfully destroyed both in a momēt with fire from heauen Leuit. 10.2 Eli a good man 1. Sam. 4 11 had likewise his two sons Hophni and Phinehas slaine in battell both on a day Iob also Iob. 1 2 19. whose godlinesse we haue heard before had all his children seuen sonnes and three daughters pittifully slaine crusht in pieces with the fall of an house But the greatest griefe of all is when a mans childe is taken away in some sin so as besides the death of the bodie hee hath iust cause to feare the death of the soule And yet this was good Dauids case in the losse of his Absalom which made him breake forth into such passionate mourning as he did 2. Sam. 18.33 O my son Absalom my sonne my sonne Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my sonne my sonne It is a great griefe for a man to bee depriued of the wife of his youth Pro. 5 18. which hath long lyen in his bosome Deut. 13 6 which for many yeares hath beene vnto him as the louing hinde and pleasant Roe Prou. 5.19 in whose loue he hath so long delighted and which was the pleasure and desire of his eyes Ezech. 24 16 And yet this befell those two holy Patriarkes Abraham and Iacob Abraham was depriued of his dearest Sara Gen. 23.2 and 35 19 and Iacob of Rahel whom he so much affected There cannot be a greater affliction to a poore woman then to loose a kinde and louing husband which was the vaile of her eyes in all places Gen. 20.16 But with the losse of an husband to be bereft of all meanes of maintenance and exposed to extreame pouertie is such a crosse as can hardly bee imagined And yet wee haue examples euen of this kinde also Poore Naomi Ruth 1.3 was depriued of her husband in a strange cūtry where she had few friends and small meanes and her two sonnes which had taken them wiues there in the land of Moab died also 5. so that she was left alone and destitute of succour And how much she was affected with this calamitie may appeare by her speeches 20. when she returned againe into her owne country Call me not Naomi saith she that is beautifull but call me Mara that is bitter for the Almightie hath giuen me much bitternesse I went out full 21 and the Lord hath brought me home againe emptie why then call yee me Naomi seeing the Lord hath humbled mee and the Almightie hath brought mee into aduersitie So likewise the Prophets wife that dyed in the land of Israel 2. Kin. 4.1 besides the losse of her husband was left in great debt and hauing nothing to pay the mercilesse creditour came to take her two sonnes to be his bondmen It is an vncomfortable thing to dy in child birth Gen. 35.17.18 and yet it was the case of Rahel Iacobs wife who dyed in the paines of her labour Sai m. 4 19 20. of Elies daughter in lawe who hearing that the arke of God was taken and her husband and father in law were dead bowed her selfe and trauelled and in her trauell dyed It is feareful to dye a violent death and yet it is a thing that hath happened euen vnto those that were deare vnto God 1. Sam 4 18 Eli of whom wee haue heard before when he heard mention of the losse of Gods Arke being heauie and vnweildie with age fell backward from his seat and his necke was broken and so he dyed The Prophet of the Lord that was sent to cry against the altar 1. Kin. 13 24 which Ieroboam had made at Bethel because he kept not the commaundement which the Lord commaunded him a lyon met him by the way and slew him and his carkaise was cast in the way 2. Kin. 23.29 And good Iosiah who is so highly commended for his godlinesse was notwithstanding slaine in the warres by Pharao Necho king of Egypt Nay a man may be so far left to himselfe as he may cōmit such a sinne wherby he may deserue to be cut off by the sword of the Magistrate yet still be the child of God As the sins that Dauid cōmitted by the expresse law of God were to be punished with death if there had bin any Magistrat aboue him that had had power to inflict it By all these particular instāces many more that might be produced it may appear that there is not any kind of afflictiō or calamity but the children of God may be subiect to it according to that enumeration which the Apostle maketh Rom. 8.35 whē he saith Who shal separate vs from the loue of Christ shal tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword c. A man may bee subiect to all these miseries yet not be depriued of the loue of Christ But besides all these outward afflictions the children of God may bee and oftentimes are subiect to inward fear horror of conscience which as Solomon saith Prou. 18.14 is the most intolerable tormēt that can be indured The spirit of a man wil sustain his infirmitie

is at liberty will not come neare a man but when hee is hotly pursued with the dogges hee will runne to him of his owne accord for succour So it fareth oftentimes with vs when wee are at ease and nothing doth molest vs wee turne our backes vpon GOD but when wee are brought into distresse or danger we are glad to repaire vnto him for helpe As one confesseth of himselfe and it is our case aswell as his a Si bene essem sine te non venitem ad te If I could be well without thee I would neuer come at thee As the water when it is at large and hath scope enough runneth with a still and silent motion but being brought into a streight it maketh a great noyse In like manner when a man is at large he looketh not much to this duetie of prayer but when hee is in affliction and straites hee will excite and stirre vp himselfe thereunto So did the children of Israel in the time of their bondage they sighed and cryed Exo. 2 23 24 and made their moane vnto GOD. And wee reade in many places of the Booke of Iudges That howsoeuer in their prosperity they were vntoward carelesse of God Chap. 3. and 4 yet when God raised vp any new enemies against them they cryed vnto him And Dauid saith of himselfe that although before while he thought his mountain to be strong enough as we haue heard he was foolish and prowd yet when God hid his face from him Psal 30.2 then hee cryed vnto the Lord and praied vnto him And we may obscrue that the most of his Psalmes were made when hee was in affliction Yea our Sauior Christ himselfe thogh all his lifetime hee was much conuersant in prayer sometime rising earely in the morning before day Mar. 1.35 and sometime spending the whole night therein yet he neuer prayed more earnestly nor more feruently then immediately before his passion when as the Apostle saith Heb. 5.7 he offered vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares yea he was so seruent that his sweat was like droppes of bloud trickling downe to the ground Luke 22.44 Wee see then by all that hath beene spoken that affliction is as it were a whet-stone to set an edge vpon our deuotion and sharpen our hearts to prayer Sixtly affliction doth containe the children of God in obedience It is with the best of vs as Agiselaus said of the Athenians that a Liberi mali●unt serui boni When they were at libertie they were nought but when they were in bondage they were good so we in our prosperity do start aside like a broken bow but when affliction commeth wee submitte our selues to the Lords yoke The people of Israel when the hand of God was vpon them eyther by warre or famine or any other calamity carried themselues very religiously and walked in obedience vnto his will But when God carryed them vp to the high places of the earth as Moses saith that they might eate the fruites of the fieldes Deut. 32 i3 14 15 when hee caused them to sucke hony out of the stone oile out of the hard rocke when hee gaue them butter of kine and milke of sheepe with fatte of lambes and rammes fed in Bashan with the fatte of the graines of wheate and made them drinke the red liquor of the grape then they that should haue beene vpright when they waxed fatte spurned with their heeles they were fat they were grosse they were laden with fatnesse therefore they forsooke God that made them and regarded not the strong God of their saluation And this doth Dauid confesse of himselfe when he saith Before I was afflicted I went astray Psal 119.67 but now I keep thy word And the Church acknowledgeth that before the Lord corrected her Ierem 31.18 shee was like an vntamed calfe Though man were created after the Image of God and aduaunced to great honour yet if God let him alone Psal 49.20 hee will become like vnto the beasts that perish as Dauid saith And therefore the Lord threatneth the rebellious Iewes Hosea 2.6 that he will stoppe their way with thornes and make an hedge that they should not finde their pathes Where hee sheweth that necessitie requireth that hee should holde them in with seuere Discipline and sharpe corrections comparing them to wanton and vnruly cattell which must bee kept in with thornes and hedges lest they leape out of the pasture and goe astray Seauenthly it helpeth to tame and subdue the vnrulinesse of the flesh that it may be in better subiection to the Spirit The flesh is like an head-strong horse which if he be fatted and pampered in the stable for a while waxeth so frampall as hee can hardly be ruled and brought to acknowledge his rider So this stubborne flesh of ours if it inioy but alitle prosperity it straitway groweth so rebellious that it will not be subiect to the Law of God Rom. 8.7 And as the horse-rider to pull downe the stomacke of such an horse taketh away his prouender and feedeth him with straw and chaffe and if that will not serue handleth him roughly and beateth him So doth the Lord with our flesh hee taketh away those outward blessings which puffed it vp and made it swell and loadeth it with one affliction after another 1 Cor. 9.27 that so he may beate it downe and bring it into subiection And this is a great benefite to haue the flesh with the cursed lustes and affections thereof mortified and subdued in this maner For it is one of those deadly enemies of our soules Galat. 5.17 with which we must fight and incounter while we liue Now as he that were to enter a single combate with an aduersary that were stronger then himselfe would be glad of some bodie would first weaken and foyle him that so he might the more easily ouercome him In like manner the children of God haue cause to reioyce that it doth please the Lord by outward calamities to tame the flesh and to treade it vnder their feete that so they may with lesse difficulty and danger get the maistery of it Eightly it is a meanes to withdraw our hearts from the loue of the world to raise them vp to the desire of heauenly things Such is the corruption of our nature that we doate too much on this world We are like to foolish children that would not willingly be weaned from the breast and therfore their mother annoynteth the nibbles of her breast with some bitter thing to make them out of loue with it So if wee might haue our wills wee would alwayes hang vpon the breasts of the world would neuer leaue sucking if the Lord did not powder our desires with the crosse and make them bitter to vs. The children of Israel though they were grieuously afflicted in Aegypt to make them more earnestly desire to possesse the land of