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	soul_n	time_n	1,787	5	3.7088	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30698	The celestial race a discourse perswading to the practice of celerity, constancy, & sincerity in the ways of God : preached at the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Knack, daughter of Mr. Thomas Knack of Edgerton in Kent, who died January 2, Anno Dom. 1692 in the eleventh year of her age / by William Bush ...	Bush, William.	1692 (1692)	Wing B6232; ESTC R1534	21,943	74

shall have an Eternal Rest Do you object by way of Complaint I suffer so much by reason of many and great Afflictions and Troubles and by reason of God's taking away my Comforts my Children my Relations and Friends that I find my self greatly hindred in my way to Heaven and I fear that I shall not hold out long I doubt I shall not persevere to the end I shall endeavour to answer you fully and so close You must then believe this as a great truth That Afflictions must of necessity come upon those that run in this Heavenly Race nay 't is impossible to be freed from them all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution for whom God loves 2 Tim. 3.12 he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives We are Bastards and not Sons if we are free from Affliction Those Beasts that are appointed for the Slaughter are let run in Fat Pastures but those that are not appointed for such an end are daily wrought and subject to the yoke The Stones that were for Solomon's Building 1 Kings 7.9 were squared and hewn before they were laid therein and so must every Christian be squared and hewn too by Affliction that is to be a lively Stone in this Spiritual Building Psal 118.22 of which Christ Jesus is the Head Corner-Stone The Lord spareth some for a time that he may punish them for ever and he chastens some for a time that he may spare them for ever Dives that was spared on earth was tormented in Hell and Lazarus that was afflicted on earth was received into Heaven Luk. 16.19 ad finem He that would reign with Christ in the Kingdom of Glory must suffer for him in the vale of Tears He that would obtain Christ must follow him and he that does follow him must do it with his Cross Christ suffered before he entred into Glory and so must Christians before they can be glorified Surely the Servant must not be above his Master If we suffer we shall reign We must not expect to drink of those Rivers of Pleasures that run through the Celestial Paradice unless we are willing to drink of the bitter Cup of Affliction Many are the Troubles of the Righteous one affliction seldom comes alone for God is not like the wasp that having stung once can sting no more but there is a plurality of Crosses with God he can sting agen and agen As one sorrowful messenger came to Job after another even so one affliction visiteth the Christian after another Those therefore that run in the race of Godliness must not think this strange neither must they think to be free from affliction Thus you see that of necessity afflictions must come upon the people of God upon those that run in this Heavenly race You say further that God takes away your Comforts your Children your Relations your Friends and this makes you fear you shall not hold on but rather draw back In answer to this consider Hath God dealt worse with you than with others of his Children that have been as precious in his sight as you and have done as much for his Glory Pray compare your case with Job's read that Chapter seriously at your leisure you 'l there find that God depriv'd him of all his outward Comforts and of his Children too and blessed be God he hath not dealt so severely with you you have yet a great many blessings and comforts that God is yet pleased to continue to you Job 1. and particularly as to Children God has not taken your All and can't you spare God one Lamb or two out of your Flock without repining Observe what Job says when depriv'd of all his outward Comforts The Lord gave Job 1.21 and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord He acknowledges him to be both good and just in all his ways and blesseth him for all whether giving or taking O do you learn Job's spirit But by this time you may readily ask what reasons can be given for God's thus suffering his Children to be afflicted I answer there are many reasons that may be given for this I shall give you a few of them 1. God suffers his Children to be afflicted that he might wean them from the love of this world which we are naturally prone to dote upon but especially in a prosperous state then we are apt and ready to be forgetful of God and of our selves too then the weeds are ready to overgrow the corn and the flesh ready to domineer over the spirit but by affliction we are brought to hate that which before we loved and to embrace that which before we loathed In time of prosperity we are apt to pride our selves in our worldly enjoyments in our Goods and Possessions and to have high and lofty thoughts of our selves as Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty But when the Lord takes him to task making of him to live with the beasts of the field and to eat grass like oxen then he was brought to acknowledg one above him Dan. 4.37 to acknowledg that he was able to abase all those that walk in pride By dealing thus with us he brings us experimentally to know that the world and the things thereof are vanity and that they are at his disposal to give and take away at his pleasure Thus therefore does God suffer his Children to be afflicted that he might withdraw their affections from the fading vanities of the world 2ly To draw us to amendment of life Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted says the Psalmist I went astray but now have I kept thy Word Affliction was the cause of his reformation when we sin and go on therein then God out of love strikes us with the rod of affliction to cause us to remember our sins and to repent of them The affliction of the Body many times proves wholesome Physick for the soul though it wounds the outward man it many times renews the inward man God can't endure to see the blemish of sin upon the faces of his Children but he presently washeth it off with the water of affliction 3ly God suffereth his Children to be afflicted that they might the more earnestly call upon him and the more speedily seek unto him 'T is hard to keep silence when in grievous pain Affliction makes us run to God for help and releasement Jon. 2. thus did Jonah when in the Whale Our requests are then commonly more earnest and fervent how earnest are they in their distress Jon. 1.14 We beseech thee Lord we beseech thee Thus therefore does God many times oppress us that we might cry unto him crying unto him he might hear us and hearing us might deliver us and delivering us he might be glorified of us 4. 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