Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	day_n	lord_n	3,361	5	4.2745	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94047	A discovery of peace: or, The thoughts of the Almighty for the ending of his peoples calamities. Intimated in a sermon at Christ-church London, before the Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor, the right worshipfull the Aldermen; together with the worshipfull companies of the said city, upon the 24th of April, 1644. Being the solemn day of their publike Humiliation and monethly fast. By John Strickland, B.D. pastor of the church at St. Edmunds, in the city of New Sarum; a member of the Assembly of Divines.	Strickland, John, 1600 or 1601-1670.	1644 (1644)	Wing S5969; Thomason E48_5; ESTC R14414	39,755	53

securitie we can have without him and therefore Moses was of that Heroick spirit he would rather chuse to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Heb. 11.25 11. Heb. 25. And beloved me thinkes we should learn to make a vertue of necessity there is a fatall necessity of suffering on the one hand or the other with or against Christ I may then expostulate with you as Chrysostome sometime did excellently with some others Seeing we must all suffer seeing we must bear afflictions why do we not rather chuse to suffer for the Gospels sake that brings with it so many Crownes and Lawrels so many comforts and consolations above all other sufferings in the world You see then that this patience in suffering for the Gospels sake is a very needfull grace So the Apostle We have need of patience that when we have done the will of God we may enjoy the promises 10. Heb. 36. Heb. 10.36 I might here relate unto you the grave counsell of Judith and though the Historie be Apocryphall I am sure the counsell is Canonicall the counsell I say which Judith gave to the men of Bethulia in Judith 8.14 15 16. verses when the men of Bethulia being besieged by the enemy had taken up a rash resolution that if God did not come and deliver them within 5 dayes they would deliver up the Citie to the enemy that lay before them Judith gravely thus bespeakes them Nay my brethren let us not provoke the Lord our God to anger for if hee come not within five dayes he is able to defend us when he will even every day or to destroy us before our enemies therefore let us wait for salvation of him and call upon him and he will heare us if it please him So may I say to you all this day Farre be it from us that we should yeeld up the cause and all we have if God should not at such a time or such a time deliver us let us not speak so to provoke the Lord Let us wait on the Lord and call upon him and he will help us if it please him To stirre up our hearts thus meekly and cheerfully to submit to the disposall of Gods hand in our sufferings Motives Three things may be proposed to you by way of motive First consider though God afflict us never so much yet be well perswaded and assured he will not lay on afflictions more on us then needs must If Gods people be in a sad condition or a sorrowfull estate it is but if need be we are in heavinesse 1 Pet. 1.6 1. Pet. 1.6 God doth never afflict his people meerly out of soveraignty because he will doe it that is farre from him 3. Lament Lam. 3.33 I doe not tread upon men sayes God as if I would crush them or shew my power over them no that is farre from God For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men to crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth But when he afflicts his people the most severely he doth it as a Refiner as a Goldsmith doth put his metall into the fire because he would separate the drosse from it and purifie it so God puts his people in the fire of affliction with some purpose or other for their benefit and advantage The Physician though after long evacuations and purgings he continue the same course and bring the Patient yet lower it is still with a purpose to take away the peccant humour and to cleanse him So God in afflicting his people 27. Isaiah 9. By this shall the iniquitie of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit Isai 27.9 the taking away of his sinne God will not lay one affliction on his people more nor continue it an houre longer then he knoweth it needfull Secondly the suffering of affliction for the cause of Christ is very honorable and therefore we need not so fret nor be so impatient under them they are honorable wounds we suffer for Christ which maketh the people of God beautifull in the eyes of all good men You may observe the Lord reserves it as a singular priviledge in the 1. Phil. 29. Phil. 1.29 To you it is given not onely to beleeve but also to suffer for the name of Christ And the Apostles tooke it for a dignity that they might suffer for the name of God rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for his Name Acts 5.41 5. Acts 41. And therefore the Primitive Martyrs suffered the spoyling of their goods with joy Heb. 10.34 Heb. 10.34 We doe it with fretting and murmuring and that must be taken from us which we should contribute unto the cause of God wee count it our punishment they counted it their crown and glory It is reported of Hooper Fox his Acts and Monum that when hee was Bishop of Worcester his Armes were a Lamb in a flaming bush incircled with the rayes of the Sun beams not under the notion of an Agnus Dei But if it was as it is observed by those that read the story under another intimation thus we may undertake to emblazon them The Lamb signifieth an innocent Christian and the burning bush the fire of persecution and the Sunne beames the beautie and glory of the innocent Christian in those sufferings Thirdly consider well the priviledge of suffering for Christ It is no small advantage for a Christian it being the way to perfect the graces of God that are in him you may see as much 1. James 2 3. James 1.2.3 Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations knowing that the triall of your faith worketh patience that yee may be perfect Indeed it is a childs portion a thing that God will give to all his own children and therefore the Apostle argueth that God deals with his people like children when they suffer for him 12. Heb. 7. Heb. 12.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you indure chastening God dealeth with you as sons If you suffer with patience saith the originall But if you suffer frettingly or with impatience that is not the signe of a child nor the badge of a sufferer for God The sufferings that are laid on his people by the hand of God they are not grievous meerly because they are sufferings Non sunt omnibus onerosa tolerantibus sed tol●rare nolen● ib●n Salvian but because of mens impatience they become grievous This hath been spoken by way of encouragement to lay downe our selves patiently and meekly under the hand of God in the time of tribulation and to beare the sufferings that God shall lay on his Church Let me next point at the meanes how we may bring our hearts into such a frame that we may with meeknesse and calmnesse of spirit under goe the hand of God he layes on us how heavie soever it may seem at present There are three

it could not be if it should come by sense and reason and that we could alwayes judge of the carriage of things if things were carried in our own way how ready should we be to sacrifice to our own wisdome and power and therefore the Lord will make foolish mans wisdom and make mens strength weakness and will carry on his work by such means as men think are inconsiderable to his own ends 7. Judges 20. the Lord had by providence put into the hands of Gideon a considerable army against the Midianites they were thirty two thousand Judg. 7.20 but God cometh to him and tells him these are too many for mee to deliver the Midianites into thy hands for if I deliver the Midianites into the hands of so many they will say Israel saved themselves and these men did the work and these shall carry away all the glory of the day and therefore saith God I cannot with safety of my own honour deliver into their hands the Midianites God could with more safety deliver them into the hands of three hundred then into the hands of thirty two thousand for then all the world must needs be convinced and say This was the very finger of God and a speciall work of the Almighty And indeed my Brethren we are never brought throughly to give God his honour in such things as these while we are in wayes of probabilitie while we are in hope through humane strength The Prophet observing such a disposition in the Jewes namely that they would not acknowledge Gods hand unlesse they were reduced into straits that should make them hopelesse tells them 37. Ezech. 12 13. They should be as good as dead in Babylon Ezech 37.12 13. wel-nigh buried in that captivity but God would deliver them thence and when I have opened your graves said God and brought you back out of your graves again then shall yee know that I am the Lord you would not know before but then shal you know that I am the Lord. Reason 2 Secondly because it becometh God Almighty to walk in an extraordinary way sutable to his infinite Majesty not as men according to rules of reason and power and humane wisdome when the Apostle cometh to speak of God his wayes and counsels questions and wonders Oh how unsearchable are his Judgements and his wayes past finding out 11. Rom. 33. Rom. 11.33 Est in rebus nec tamen est inclusus est extra res nec tamen est exclusus August It is like God when we say of him he is incomprehensible God is in things yet not included and he is without things yet not excluded so it is done like the Almighty when he doth not according to humane rules of policy and prudence but when he doth things beyond all grounds of expectation of wisdome and reason therefore the Lord is said to have his way in the whirle-wind Nah. 1.3 Psal 77.19 1. Nah. 3. and his footsteps are not known 77. Psal 19. Vse 1 This at once offereth both a check and remedy unto our carnall presumptions and our carnall feares carnall presumption is a disease that we are often sick of in these dayes when as God is pleased to smile on us a little in our trouble and misery to give us some revivings then are we too apt to be too much lifted up too hold in our confidence and to conclude too peremptorily Let us take the check which the Lord giveth us here My thoughts are not as your thoughts and therefore saucily talk no more of your thoughts in the ways of God Gods ways are above your wayes his thoughts above your thoughts God hath cleerly given our thoughts the check in four * Four things wherein God hath checked our presumptuous thoghts touching our present troubles things concerning these troubles which we ought to receive and take notice of as so many convictions of this truth and occasions of reflecting upon our selves with shame and sorrow this day First we thought that if we had to our enemies those that were Gods enemies then we must needs quickly overcome them and that because our enemies are Gods enemies swearing enemies drunken enemies Popish enemies Atheisticall enemies prophane enemies we conclude God will never favour them nor suffer them to prevaile nor deliver his people into their hands but beside our owne experience on the contrary we find that Amaleck the worst of all the enemies that Israel had a people as much abhorred of God as any yet if Israel shall transgresse Amaleck shall prevaile if Israel will not pray not seek unto God not humble themselves all the wickednesse of the Amaleckites shall not destroy them Exod. 17.11 17. Exod 11. The proud Assyrian that boasting wicked enemie God had j●stice and wrath enough in store for them yet God will not medle with then they shall go on and oppress Israel till Israel be reformed till the work be done upon mount Sion and on Jerusalem God will not strike a stroke against Assyria for their ruine but will suffer them to prevaile 10. Isaiah 12. Nay if Gods people continue impenitent and remain in their wickednesse God will then strengthen the hands of their enemies Isai 10.12 3. Judg. 12. When Israel had sinned saith the Text the Lord strengthened the hands of Eglon against Israel because they had done evill in the sight of the Lord. We should not run too much on that strain Our enemies are wicked and prophane enemies its true and God will plague and punish them But let us not make that a ground of our too much confidence boldnes God may both suffer and strengthen them against us if wee remaine an unreformed and a rebellious people we have hitherto felt and found them as goads in our sides and thornes in our eyes Our thoughts have therein deceived us Secondly we are so taken up with the thoughts of a good cause that we cannot admit a thought of miscarrying A good cause may miscarry ●d tempus I grant in the issue it shall prevaile and finally and we may conclude as much in the generall But take heed of concluding peremptorily for particular times as that we should conclude so of this time and of these enemies that we shall overcome at this day or in this generation who can say so A good cause may yet have a prevailing enemy a l●ng time and the people of God may have a good cause and yet flie before their enemies Observe a cleare instance in the people of Israel they went against the children of Benjamin Judg. 20.18 Judg. 20.18 A good cause they had and they were so bold thereon that when they came to go against the Benjamites they did not so much as ask the Lord whether they should goe or no. But the first question they make is Which of us shall go up first as taking it for granted their cause was so good they must needs prevaile onely they would be ma●tialled

by the Lord But yet for all their good cause they flie before their enemies Vers 21.25 you may see once at the 21. verse and againe at verse 25. Therfore build not too much upon the cause as if the present issue of things did depend barely on that Deliverance in time shall come which may be a comfortable encouragement to goe on in a good cause But let us not limit the holy One of Israel the cause in which we suffer is as sure to conquer as the light is to shine being Gods and therefore shall prevaile at length But a good cause may be ill managed and suffer for the sins of those that undertake it and in this also we have had experience of the vanitie of our thoughts we are not yet delivered though our cause be good Thirdly another thing we have too high thoughts upon and wherein Gods thoughts are otherwise is the priviledge of outward ordinances Blessed be the name of our God that we have the liberty we have and that God hath taken off the yoke of the oppressor wherein our consciences were burthened with more then Egyptian bondage yet should we be humbled that this outward priviledge in Gods ordinances hath too much lifted up our thoughts and we have been too confident upon them because we have the ministery of the word more purified and some superstitions purged out from the worship of God among us we have thoughts that therefore we shall now prevail our enemies shall be consumed before us notwithstanding many other our yet latent sinnes See what in the like case did befall the Israelites when the Philistines came against them 1 Sam. 4.3.5 1. Sam. 4.3 5 And when the people of God were come into the Camp the Elders of Israel said Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines Let us f●tch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when it commeth among us it may save us out of the hand of our enemies And when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang againe At the 10. and 11 vers And the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every man to his tent and there was a very great slaughter for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen And the Ark of God was taken and the two Sonnes of Eli Hophni and Phinehas were slain The Ark though it was the outward Testimonie of Gods presence it would not bear them out they were slain before the enemy with a great slaughter and the Arke of God was taken I speake not this that this should any way weaken our love or our thankfulnesse to God for those outward Priviledges we enjoy or that we should any way lessen our esteeme and reverence of Gods ordinances but that we should not make them nor any thing else a ground of carnall confidence that we should build our selves up in vaine hope and set our selves upon a deceitfull expectation That the very outward ordinances should deliver us from outward afflictions and temporall punishments that may bee on us by the hand of God In this also we have found that God hath checked our thoughts and brought us low before our enemies that would captivate our religion as the Philistines did the Ark. The L Brook M. Hambden M. Pym c. Fourthly in our thoughts touching those worthy and pretious instruments whom God had raised up to carry on his work among 01 us we thought it had been they that should have delivered us some by th●ir counsels and others by their valour being so choicely fitted instruments that we looked upon each of them as an Atlas to our cause and Kingdome and such pillars of the reformation as that without them it could not have been supported or carried on Yet all this while that we were idolizing his servants God intended to do his work by other hands then we looked on and that Moses should not bring the Israelites into the land of Canaan though he was a man called and excellently fitted to lead them thitherward but when Moses was dead he was able and so raised up Joshua with whom he would be and was as effectually to all purposes as he was wi●h Moses And I may appeale unto you all whether God hath been wanting to his cause through or since the taking away of such famous men as have appeared for us or whether he hath not carried on the work more strenously since he that had spirit to make such instruments hath spirit enough to raise up more as we have seen so that in this also we have seen God checking our thoughts And as it is a check it should be looked upon likewise as a remedy i● should be enough to cure our presumption to think on this Doctrine Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts A check to carnall fears in times of trouble It may as well afford us a checke and a cure to our carnall feares for as we are too bold on the one hand we are too weak spirited on the other in times of afflictions and when Gods hand is yet out against us we are as full of desperate feares as before we were full of saucie presumptions And in our jealousies conclude there is no recovery no hope or expectation left for the people of God whereas Gods thoughts may be are otherwise even to carry on his ends by weak means and when his people are lowest to raise them when things are desperate and all past cure then God thinks to worke for hee worketh not by power nor by might but by my spirit saith God 4. Zach. 6. He giveth not the battell to the strong Z●ch 4.6 Ezek. 9.11 nor the race to the swift but to whom he pleaseth 9. Eccles 11. God many times layeth the foundation of some great deliverance very low out of sight and as it were under ground The foundation that God laid for the deliverance and preservation of the Church of Israel in Egypt you may observe was the selling of Jos●ph by his brethren A strange foundation So likewise Gods providence had a hand in turning away David from the Philistines Armie wherein God beyond all imagination intended to prevent David lest he should have his hand in the blood of Saul who was slain by the Philistines shortly after David was gone from them as is obserable 1 Sam. 29 30 31. chapters Yea we find God had another reach in bringing away David from the Philistines Armie for there was need of Davids service at Ziglag because that was taken shortly after and therefore David was come away by the hand of Providence to serve for the rescue of that town and of his wives that were taken prisoners there We should therefore in times of danger when there is the least likelihood of safetie or deliverance we should stay our hearts against all carnall feares