Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	day_n	great_a	1,992	5	2.9426	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60357	Vincentius redivivus, a funeral sermon preached Octob. 27, 1678 upon the occasion of the much bewailed death of that reverend and eminent servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Vincent ... / by Samuel Slater.	Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.	1679 (1679)	Wing S3979; ESTC R23647	37,199	50

this is the way to glorifie your God to honour your Religion to credit your Pastors In this way you shall be their comfort while they live their Crown when they are dead yea their joy and rejoycing in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming The exemplariness of your carriages is the best commendation of the Ministers you have and of the Sermons you hear whereas when you walk disorderly and as Enemies to the Cross of Christ you are our shame and reproach spots in our Assemblies goads in our sides and burdens upon our spirits Let no man nor woman tell others they sit under my Ministry unless they resolve by the grace of God to depart from iniquity 2. Follow them in their Love True faith works love and by it it kindles a pure flame of love and then makes use thereof for the promoting and furtherance of all duty Have you not taken notice of your Pastors love What did they think too much to do for you They have hazarded their liberty and spent their strength and broken their rest and wasted their lungs for you They mourned under the untractableness of some and were humbled for the unreformedness of others who had sinned and had not repented they longed for your Conversion to God and progress in Religion and growth in grace They had no greater joy than to see you walking in the truth Oh! how did they prize God and Christ and you how did they rejoyce in their work though hard yet sweet how welcome was a Sabbath upon which they might draw their breasts for your consolation and open their treasures for your inriching imitate you them in their love give the best the flower the quintessence of it unto God Erect in your hearts a Throne for Christ love him as well as you can and then mourn because you love him so little and always pray that you may love him more Love one another dearly for you are brethren and so fulfil the law of Christ and prove your selves his Disciples Have an universal love for all the Saints all in whom you can see aliquid Christi any thing of Christ yea so love all men as to wish their good and to do them all the good you can even your Enemies your Persecutors those that hate you do you hate their sins and wicked ways but love their persons and pray for their conversion and salvation 3. Follow them in their Joy You read of the joy of faith and of the Saints rejoycing in believing with joy unspeakable and full of glory Certainly it is a duty incumbent upon all the Saints to rejoyce in the Lord and that evermore and call to remembrance the times that are past Have you not seen the faith of your Pastors budding and blossoming with joy when you have been sinking and days have been dark and fears many Have you not seen a smile upon their brow even then when there was a Cloud upon their tabernacle You have indeed been acquainted with their sorrows and their tears because men hated to be reformed would not keep Gods Law but dishonoured his Name and opposed his Gospel and would break his bands asunder and cast away his cords from them but you have also been privy to and witnesses of their joys follow them in this Let them that are of a fearful heart be strong be you of a cheerful spirit and let your brethren and others see you are so You have O Saints matter of rejoycing in your worst conditions nay let me say this You have much more matter of rejoycing than you now have or ever shall have of sorrow and disquiet For if you be really what you profess your selves to be God is the cause and matter of your rejoycing it is he that is your comfort and your glory Psal. 43. 4. I will go saith that sweet singer of Israel unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy or as the margin tells you it is in the Hebrew unto God the gladness of my joy Now I beseech you if you can tell me What can possibly be I ask you again what can possibly be so great a cause of sadness and sorrow as your God is of joy and rejoycing Thou O poor drooping soul thinkest thou hast a great many sins in thy heart and the Church of Christ hath a great many dangers at this day in poor England City and Country is full of them and doubtless all this is very true too too true the good Lord help us Yet know God is above them all and greater than them all He is greater than all thy sins and so can both pardon and subdue them He is greater than all his Churches enemies and so can either reconcile and change them if he pleases or curb and conquer them As he is greater than all our dangers and so can easily obviate and prevent them He can with a word command deliverance and create peace and place a defence upon and about all our glory You have my Brethren at all times in the very worst times more cause of joy in God than you can have of sorrow and discouragement in any thing nay in all things This made the holy Prophet take up that brave resolution Hab. 3. 17 18. To rejoyce in the Lord and to joy in the God of his salvation though there should be a famine in the world and the staff of creature-comforts should be broken to pieces though earth should sink under him yet he would by faith hang upon a God above him and as long as he had a God above to live upon his joy should live and flourish He knew not only how to make a meal but how to feast it upon God alone Thus have I at large set before you that duty which is incumbent upon you in reference to your deceased Pastors who have Preached to you the Word of God it lieth in these two things Remember them Follow their faith Now I come to the last clause in the Text which you may look upon either as a third duty or an excellent means for the commending of the two former and facilitating them unto you and that you have in these words Considering the end of their conversation Here again you have the Act Considering and the Object The end of their conversation I will begin with the former Considering We ought to be a considering people it would be our safety our honour our comfort and advantage every way as I could easily shew you We should sin less if we would consider more Most if not all our sins come in at this door want of consideration Men do not consider their ways lead directly to Hell going down to the Chambers of Death and therefore they go on in them They do not look into the state of their souls nor consider how affairs stand with them and so when they should mourn and weep they live jovally and frolick their days away dancing and roaring upon the very brink

their might to plead the cause of Truth and Holiness and finish that great work their Lord hath set them You also that are the People of God should double your diligence You are not ignorant how your faithful Pastors liv'd and labour'd how they walked and wrought what indefatigable pains they took for God and for you and with their own hearts though you do not know half yet let that which you do know be a spur to you Up Christians up shake off a supine sluggish temper Work out your salvation with fear and trembling give all diligence to make your calling and election sure Hasten oh hasten to the Kingdom of God lose no time slip no opportunity neglect no part of your duty fill up your days relations and places and so run as that you may obtain you are compassed about with a great Cloud of witnesses lay aside therefore every weight that presseth down and the sin● that doth so easily beset you gird up the loins of your mind call forth all your strength buckle in good earnest to your business and on on in that holy pleasant race that is set before you 5. Remember them so as to be encouraged by them and take heart You live in a world that lyeth in wickedness it is grievously polluted almost all places are so dirty that we can scarce tread clean surely these are the dregs of time you are invironed with enemies and dangers And speak seriously Do you not sometimes feel inward fears and faintings Well encourage your selves in the Lord your God And take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an ensample of suffering afflictions and of patience You have seen what great things God hath done by them and for them you have seen that God hath carried them through all their difficulties so that they have overcome at the last Satan that roaring Lyon hath pursued them and come with open mouth yet could not devour them he hath got some of them and winnowed them as wheat yet their faith did not fail Lusts and corruptions within their own bosoms have made frequent assaults and furious batteries upon them yet they could not prevail These holy souls through Christ strengthning them have trodden down sins strength sometimes they have gone halting but always came off conquering The World again hath one while fawned like a strumpet and another while raged like a fury yet could not gain them by fair means nor foul Though the Archers have shot sore at them their bow hath abode in strength and the arms of their hands have been made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Iacob The waves have lifted up their voice and dashed against them yet have they stood like Rocks unshaken some of them have had an hard passage and met with many a violent storm yet at last they have got in a Calm unto their desired Heaven and being landed in the other world ●re now feasting in the new Hierusalem which is above at the Court of the King of Glory It is true they died and so must we so must the strongest and the highest it is appointed for all men once to dye yet these dye but once they did not dye before the time they did not dye before their work was done they did not dye before they were fit to dye no nor before they were willing to dye they were ripe fruit and so dropt into the bosom of Abraham In a word they dyed to live and now they live to dye no more Be you therefore of good cheer O ye holy Ones that God who did so much for them can do as much for you his arm is not shortned nor his ear heavy nor his love less be you strong in him and in the power of his might 6. Lastly So remember them as to think of theirs who are left behind It is more than probable that some of their Wives and Children are in a low condition and want conveniencies if not necessaries Be you liberal to them give them a supply out of your abundance pare off some of your superfluities for their relief you shall not suffer nor be losers by it I dare ingage to you there is one in Heaven will take care of that There be others who though not reduc'd to such straits as to need the help of your purses yet being now in a disconsolate condition they do need your company and comforts Poor hearts their houses are left unto them desolate they are Turtles alone and mourn sore like Doves give a knock at their door● now and then when you can turn into those Widows houses and speak comfortably to them the very sight of their Husbands friends cannot but be cordial to them though for a time it will open the wound and renew their sorrow yet it will revive and chear them too Thus much for the first part of your duty Remember your deceased Pastors Yet before I pass on to the second let me subjoyn to what hath been said two things by way of Caution 1. While you remember them be not unmindful of God and do not forget to trust in God though they are dead yet God still lives yea he lives for evermore whosoever dyes God cannot dye he necessarily is and is necessar●ly what he is As he is eternally so eternally immutable not having the least shadow of turning And this ever-living God hath the residue of the spirit and can pour it out upon whom he will and furnish whom he pleaseth with Ministerial Gifts and Graces and he never ceaseth to look after his interest and people Look you to it that you be true to him and he will be true to you He will have a Ministry in England as long as he hath a Church in England and may that be as long as the Sun and Moon endure Amen This great Lord of the Harvest will lose none of his Corn not an ear not a grain for want of Labourers to gather it in This gracious and loving Father of the Family sees good now and then to pinch some of his Children but he will starve none When Israel was in a Wilderness he was pleased to work Miracles rather than they should not be provided for therefore let your Faith live as long as God liveth in Heaven and you upon Earth And let me add this for your comfort Let never so many good men eminent men dye your life O Believers is secur'd and insured to you by the life of Christ. Hear his own words Iohn 14. 19. Because I live ye shall live also 2. While you remember them do not forget your selves It is readily and joyfully acknowledged that God doth not stand in need of Ministers He that could make Heaven and Earth by the Word of his Power can accomplish all his pleasure without helps and instruments yet you do need them and it is his Will to employ them and continue them to the end of the world Magistracy and