Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bring_v	good_a	let_v	1,459	5	4.0417	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52387	The cross crowned: or, Short affliction making way for eternal glory Opened in a sermon preached at the funeral of Daniel Waldoe Esq; in the Parish-Church of Alhallows Honey-lane, May 9. 1661. By James Nalton, minister of the gospel, and pastor of Leonards Foster-lane London.	Nalton, James, 1600-1662.	1661 (1661)	Wing N121A; ESTC R219314	34,657	97

me if I have done iniquity I will do no more If thou canst say with David who had been trained up in the School of affliction My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psal 119.120 Burnt child we say dreads the fire If it be so with thee that thou canst say I dare not be bold with those sins for which I have formerly smarted I dare not be bold with the fire wherewith I have been scorched nor stumble on the same stone whereon I have been bruised then thou mayest conclude thy affliction is sanctified to thee and thou art sanctified by it But now on the contrary If after God has made thee smart under many rods and exercised thee with various afflictions in thy body or in thy soul or in thy estate or in thy relations and yet thou be as proud and self-confident as ever as carnal and earthly-minded as ever as stubborn and inflexible to Gods commands as ever as unthankfull in the use of mercies and as ready to abuse them as ever as hard hearted and unbroken as ever and as fearless of offending God and careless to please him as ever thou hast been heretofore doubtless thy afflictions are not at all sanctified to thee neither art thou one jot made better by them they are but the fore-runners of thy everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power whereof the Apostle speaks 2 Thes 1.9 they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prelibations or foretasts of the punishments in Hell fire I have dealt somewhat plainly and freely with you in this Use of Examination O that you would deal freely and unflatteringly with your own souls Oh that you would be true to your own spirits and that ye did but love your selves so well as not to beguile your own souls in the latter end Vse 3 The third Improvement that may be made of this Doct in is for Exhortation To put us upon the practice of three needful Duties Duty 1 The first is this If afflictions make way for glory we should justifie the Lord in all his providences and proceedings toward us Though the rod be never so sharp and the burthen we groan under be never so heavy yet let us keep up good thoughts of God and say with the godly Levites in their confession Neh. 9.33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Lord thou smitest not without cause thou seest we stand in need of such sharp physick else thou wouldst deal more gently with us It was the speech of Mauritius the Emperour when that bloody and treacherous phocas slew his children before his eyes using the words of David Psal 119.137 Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy judgments And it was the Legacy that Mr. Ezekiel Culverwel an ancient grave Divine in this City gave to his daughter after he had been many years bed-rid and sore afflicted with the Gout and Stone Be sure saith he in every condition that God casts you into keep up good thoughts of God and speak well of his name Wicked men in the day of their calamity are ready to dispute the cross which they should take up and quarrel with every rod that God laies on them Though their condition be above their worth yet their pride is above their condition and therefore they are ever murmuring in such language as the Israelites used Numb 14.3 Wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this Land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey to our enemies the Canaanites were it not better for us to return into Egypt And when the Prophet Jeremy threatned them with the Caldean Army that should even in their dayes and before their eyes take away the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the Bride Jer. 16.9 10. All that they replyed was this Wherefore has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us What is our iniquity or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God But the godly have another spirit and a better language for they say with holy Ezra chap. 9.13 After all this is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespasse Thou O our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities do deserve Yea saith David Psalm 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me This is the first Duty Du ∣ ty Second Secondly We should learn to bear every rod not only patiently but also thankfully 1 Bear it patiently because we have sinned so did the Church Mic. 7.9 I wil bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me It was a savoury and submissive speech of Jo Brown a Martyr in Q. Maries daies Lord I will bow and thou shalt beat me 2 Bear the rod thankfully because God can order it to our advantage for all the paths of the Lord all the passages of his providence are mercy and truth to them that keep his Covenant and his testimonies Psal 25.10 Even paths of severity are paths of mercy and we know saith the Apostle we can speak it by experience Rom. 8.28 that all things shall work together for good to them that love God c. Though the passages of providence taken singly by themselvs alone seem to work against us as Jacob said on a sad occasion Gen 42.36 Me ye have bereaved of my children Joseph is not and Simeon is not and ye wil take Benjamin away also All these things are against me yet take these providences together they are all for us not against us As Letters in a Printers shop if ye take them singly by themselves they will make never a word but if you put them together they wil make first one word and then another one line and then another till the whole book be printed A needle woman if she take one colour alone can make no curious work of it but if she put many colours together then she makes an excellent piece So here we must put all providences both of goodness and severity as the Apostle phraseth it Rom. 11.12 together and not judge of Gods working by one act but by many acts together and then we shall find them all tending to our salvation and ending in it For 1. Either by a Temporal evil God will work a Spiritual Good to make us more holy humble and heavenly-minded 2. Or secondly By a lesse temporal evil God will work a greater temporal Good as Josephs imprisonment was the way to Josephs advancement Jobs great losses were recompenced with far greater gain for he lost but seven thousand sheep and three thousand Camels and five hundred yoak of oxen Job 1.3 14 16. But God