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	great_a	see_v	3,054	5	3.0976	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62089	Being for ever with the Lord, the great hope, end and comfort of believers what it is, and how to be obtained and forethought of / preached by Matthew Sylvester ; and published at the publick request of Mr. Ri. Baxter, at the hearing of it.	Sylvester, Matthew, 1636 or 7-1708.	1688 (1688)	Wing S6329; ESTC R34636	31,001	96

BEING For ever with the Lord THE Great Hope End and Comfort of BELIEVERS What it is and how to be obtained and forethought of Preached by MATTHEW SYLVESTER And Published at the publick Request of Mr. Ri. Baxter at the hearing of it LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard M.DC.LXXXVIII TO Mr. M. SYLVESTER'S HEARERS IF you know not the Reasons of my desiring Mr. S. at the hearing of it to publish this Sermon I now tell you they were these 1. I was affected with it as suitable to my own Condition who have little Comfort to live on but my hopes of being for ever with the Lord and no Motive so powerful to engage me to my great Duty and to overcome all Temptations 2. And that which is so suitable to me is not unsuitable to you I am not the only Man that must die and that hath another Life to live 3. Mr. Sylvester's Style is so concise and naturally elegant that neither I nor you can sufficiently digest his Sermons upon a transient hearing A full and frequent review may make them more our own Of-times four or five Names or Epithets signify as much as so many distinct Sentences and his Phrases are not always vulgar And therefore they are like strong Meat that must have longer time than lighter for digestion 4. The Subject is such as you must daily live upon and therefore should be glad of a daily Help for your practical Meditations on it Being for ever with Christ in Glory is that which you pray for hope for labour for suffer and wait for deny the Flesh and the World for and which you must fetch your supporting comforts from or else you must have neither Hope nor Comfort which sound awakened Reason can own 5. As it is a discouragement to Preachers when the best studied Sermons are forgotten at the Church-doore so it is a great mercy to Hearers when they may carry home and keep and daily use such excellent and powerful Helps If the Devil knew what Printing was like to do against his Kingdom I wonder that he did no more to hinder the inventing of it It was because the Father of Lights restrained him You Printers and Booksellers look well to your selves for next to Magistrates and Ministers there are few that Devils have more malignant designs upon than you either to silence your Presses and Shops as to Good or to open them to Evil. You speak more publickly than Pulpits do To many Thousands you either preach wholsom saving Truth or vend flagitious and pernicious Evil. If you vend the best Books only for Mony you have your Reward yet thousands may have a greater gain as carnal Preachers may perish themselves while their Hearers are saved Lastly I would have those Men that have thought our silencing these 28 Years to be the Churches Interest and have called on their Rulers to strike home to see what Doctrine it is that we preach and whether it deserve Hatred and Destruction If many such Sermons tell them not they may see it in the larger Writings of Mr. Ant. Burges Mr. Richard and Joseph Allen Dr. Manton Mr. Charnock and many more to pass by the yet living Your Servant RI. BAXTER 1 Thess iv 17. latter Part. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so shall we ever be with the Lord. THese words are a part of those cheering Passages which were written to this excellent and much-commended Church by way of Antidote against immoderate Sorrows for such as sleep in Jesus And indeed the provident Care and ministerial Faithfulness of this great Apostle clearly appears in the Matter Order and Vigour of Expression that this Epistle entertains its Reader with He first acknowledges what effectual Grace had brought them to 1 Thess 1 2-10 Hethen appeals to God and them as to his Sufferings Doctrines and deportment in both their genuine designed and succesful references to their Good 1. Thess ii 1-20 Then when he was to stay alone at Athens for which no doubt he saw great cause he sends Timotheus to them for their Establishment and Consolation in the Faith and to obviate all Discouragements and Snares which otherwise might make them droop or stumble And Timothy returns with a very good account concerning them which sends our Apostle to his Knees again with Thanks and Joys and further Supplications for them 1 Thess iii. 1-13 And then he presses them to walk according to his Doctrine and abundantly to improve that Christian Directory which they had received from him for pleasing God to avoid all polluting Sins all Sins are such but some incomparably more so than others as inconsistent with their Heavenly Interests and Hopes or prejudicial thereto and destructive thereof 1 Thess iv 1-12 And then when they are under providential Pressures let them repair unto the Hopes Comforts of their returning Lord from Heaven and of their abode with him and his whole Family for ever 1 Thess iv 13-18 and let them also make their highest practical Improvements hereof as being under better Circumstances so to do than others are 1 Thess v. 1-22 All which he closes with a solemn Prayer and Benediction with testified assurance of success herein 1 Thess 5.23 24. and hereupon he charges them by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Holy Brethren vers 27. as being of such consequence and concernment to them all And hence you may see how this great Apostle guards his Consolations in first securing Christianity in the Spirit and Practice of it and then proceeding to encourage and refresh the Hearts of Mourners Hence then consider the Text it self in its I. Sense II. Evidence III. Usefulness I. The Sense of the Text. And here these things occur'd to be considered tho briefly in their order 1. The Persons determined to this Priviledg We who are found alive and the Dead in Christ that rise first vers 16 17. and all of them Children of the Light and Day 1 Thess v. 5 8 9. The living Members and true Favorites of Christ distinguished from mere Pretenders Enemies and Strangers by their true conformity to Christ himself in Spirit Purpose and Behaviour 2. The Priviledg and State whereto they are determined to be for ever with the Lord. 3. The Time and Manner of their entrance into the full possession of this State. Christ comes descending with a shout from Heaven the Voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God. The Dead in Christ rise first They with the Living are caught up to meet Christ in the Air and so they are for ever with him ver 16 17. 1. The Persons here intended for this blessed State and reckoning duly thereupon We. How careful was this Eagle-eyed Apostle to prevent a Rape upon a thing so chast and sacred as this our Christian Hope You turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from Heaven 1 Thess 1.9 10. Your