Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	day_n	great_a	lord_n	4,485	5	3.7317	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70718	A faithful narrative of the life and death of that holy and laborious preacher Mr. John Machin late of Astbury in the county of Chester. With a præfatory epistle thereunto; written by that excellent person Sir Charles Wolseley Baronet. Published for the furtherance of real piety in ministers and others.	Newcome, Henry, 1627-1695.; Wolseley, Charles, Sir, 1630?-1714.	1671 (1671)	Wing N896; ESTC R30742	27,053	108

the Friday before the Sacrament in publick prayers and preaching Gods Word and the day after the Sacrament in thanksgiving at his own or some other neighbour-family especially where there fell out in any Communicants family any occasion of special thanksgiving as recovery from sickness or the like A faithful account he hath taken and left hereof noting the Text preached upon by himself or his Brethren on those dayes and according to his observation giving a general character of Gods dealing with them in his Ordinance in such words as these The Lords supper was Sep. 21. 1656. a day of breaking bread indeed for Christ was broken to the breaking of some hearts that thought they could never be broken The Thanksgiving was at whereby many it was said Psal 103. 1 Sam. 7.20 Again S●p 1660. His last Sacrament there thus A good and great day as formerly the Lords presence and Communion with his Blood made it so And as much cause of thanksgiving for all the Ordinances that day especially I c. By Mr. Ms. coming to Astbury he had only opportunity of preaching there each other Lords day and had liberty on the other for his Charity-service which he heartily rejoyced in and was ready freely to help any of his Brethren so that he was seldome a day at ease And now he had opportunity to be acquainted with the Ministers and Congregations in Cheshire where the Lord blessed his indeavours to many soules For his labours here were much inlarged by the many Fast-dayes which he kept upon occasions offered unto which he was very ready and would gather up such special things as any in or out of his family desired to be recommended unto God in prayer on such days and at other times and press them to particularize some special thing lest they should come unto God on a sleeveless errand which things he would frequently write down in a paper for that purpose that those who were imployed might read it and so be inabled pertinently to pray for one another And he did much desire to make these dayes and indeed all Ordinances very serious and to rescue them from that formality that ordinarily accompanies them being little content with the work done unless he found something done thereby upon his own and others hearts Great benefit and comfort he knew was to be had in these ordinances and he would not rest contentedly without it but diligently observed the success of them and upon Gods withdrawing from him made it his business to seek his God untill he found him again and the Cause also of his withdrawing The strength of affection which he had in Gods worship was discernable to all that joyned with him so that he seem'd Deum toto ictu animae tetigisse and particularly in singing of Psalms which he did with such an apparent intention of mind and heart as is not ordinary and divers yet living shal never forget with what faith and fervency he would pronounce Amen Amen at the end of a prayer And after holy duties his heart was commonly greatly lifted up in the wayes of the Lord and though he far'd never so well in it yet he had not done with an Ordinance when it was over but had the heart unto and the art of improving an inlarged heart and would then with a Dexterity and Sincerity of his own put on to holy discourse as not only publickly urging things pro forma but would follow it after with all his might as if being the Lords Embassador he waited for an answer to him that had sent him A most unwearied man he was in Religious Duties and was never observed to give our though sometimes on special occasions they continued all night therein After one of these dayes of special Communion with God he retired with two or three beloved friends in private and there moved each of them to name some one thing they would chiefly desire of the Lord and so each of them pray'd over all those particulars that were cast in And the impressions and affections raised in their hearts by this occasion will not easily be forgotten by such as yet survive And for the increase of Knowledge and Holiness he held up a Conference to his own and peoples great benefit and that no time might be lost nor any ones Mite neglected he would take the answers of those that were absent at the stated times when he occasionally and opportunely met them and sometimes before the whole Assembly were gathered together at dayes of Prayer so that he was alwayes doing and designing the best advantage of the peoples Souls upon all occasions Whilst he was Minister at Astbury it pleased the Lord to give him four of the five Children which the Lord made him Father of concerning whose births he thus spakes in the faithful Memorials which he left The first Will I made was suddenly after Marriage he means the first formed Sealed Will and in it spoke of a Son Samuel as if I had seen him by faith though he was not then in being and it was a full quarter of a year before we had sensible hopes of a Child which was given us about March 9. 1653. at which time the Orchard was planting In May following we came to set up house-keeping at Astbury where God gave us the birth of our asking of God 1 Sam. 1.20 Samuel born Nov. 13. about eleven of Clock at night Baptized the Sabbath day following chiefly called Samuel because asked of God by Father Mother by both and many Christian friends there and elsewhere with great ends propounded at such times of Prayer viz. that he might be one to bear Gods Name here in his Church on Earth and one to take up a Room prepared for him in glory The Lord be Surety for thee my Son The Lord forbid thou should'st come short of these ends prayed thy Father Thus did he set upon his head the Remembrance of the Mercy of God in his Birth as the Servants of God of old did make the very names of their Children the means of remembring Gods signal mercies to them and so constant occasions and provocations to Gods praise which this gracious Man abounded in Again In the first year of his life he was by sickness twice under the sentence of death but Prayer that obtained him kept him Another great Deliverance to this Child he recorded which if it affect his heart when he is able to consider it as it did his Fathers who would make large Narratives thereof and beg the serious praises of his friends for it with extraordinary affections it will be of no small advantage to his Soul to in dear him to the God of his life Thus he records it Memorandum That July 10. 1656. the Lord prevented the death of my Son Samuel which in all probability might have been with my own hand bowling a stone with all my might towards the Child whether I saw him before it went out of my hands or no

12 s. per Annum be for ever set apart for the Gospel of my own estate that immortal souls may be won and Gods portion in the world increased To be disposed as abovesaid or as my Brethren Mr. N. and Mr. S. my dearest fellow labourers shall judge and find most abundantly and effectually to accomplish Christs ends and mine saying Rom. 10.1 my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved This Lecture he set on foot this Summer The first day was at Newcastle Aug. 4. 1653. where his two foresaid friends did preach as also the third course which was at Vttoxeter Sep. 29. following being the day of his marriage And this business was so much in his heart and purpose that when some scruple was made about it in the settlement of his Land at marriage he hath these words in a Letter Whether I change my condition or not I have cause and call to respect my promise to the Lord and his Gospel in the thing I intended which I think will now be preferred before the change of my condition And that you may discerne the undissembled holiness of his heart and bent of soule also to this good work we shall transcribe some passages of the Will he made Nov. 16. 1653. not two moneths after his marriage I commit my soule to God my God and my Saviour that created and redeemed it even into the bosome of the Father of Spirits my body to my Father Corruption and to the Worms my Mother and Sister Job 17.14 In hopes he will make good to me who with them some time have endeavoured to serve him his promise of Eternal Life Rom. 2.7 As for my dear beloved Wife I freely return and I pray it may be with advantage to him that hath lent her to whom I leave Joh. 17.24 Revel 21. last Jude 24. Psal 84.10 11. hopeing that I leave them heirs together with me or rather with Jesus Christ of a Kingdome that cannot be removed If the Lord should graciously give me Issue I pray it may be of his Heritage and prepared for a Room in Heaven to it I would leave 1 Chron. 28.9 and I pray God see it executed according to my will And it is my will concerning my Heir if the Lord give one that he may be a Samuel lent to the Lord and his Service in the Ministry for I can say he is an asking of the Lord as was Samuel And that he may have my inheritance performing his Fathers and my will concerning my Lecture As for my Personal Substance c. ending thus Praying whoever rules here may keep open house for God and his and all I leave may be his to whom I would in faith say Psal 31.5 hereunto subscribing with my heart and hand J. M. And in a Schedule dated herewith as followeth Some particulars concerning the thing that hath long been in my heart to do for God written as my last will as an occasion of some standing Service when I am not Motives Gods Glory Christs Kingdomes increase and poor Souls Salvation an expression of my thankfulness for what he hath done for our family and for me the least and last of it And the rather because I am here in my own apprehension so little serviceable in speaking doing and suffering for him and nothing at all advantageous in writing as others have been and I could have desired Those Motives together with that blessed experience I have had of its advantage already through Gods sealing work with it makes me to think my self favoured the more of God if I may do this for him and I doubt not but he can and will if need be give me and mine much more than this as is said 2 Chro. 52.9 and if I could say as David 1 Chron. 29.23 I would think it little betwixt him and me who hath said That whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in my name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward and my Prayer is that those that come after me whose it might have been think it's better bestowed than the rest The Thing A double Lecture viz. of two Sermons once a month chiefly intending Souls Conversion The Ministers The most Orthodox able and powerful that can be procured for love to Jesus Christ and his Service or the will of the dead chosen by my Trustees successively The Trustees Four Ministers and four Lay-men The Ministers I leave in trust and question not their faithfulness herein for Christ sake are my dearest fellow-labourers in our Lords work Mr. N. Mr. S. Mr. B. and Mr. J. with whom I only leave for their direction and incouragement 1 Cor. 15.58 Mat. 28.20 The Laymen whom I put in joynt trust are Mr. B. Mr. M. Mr. B. and plain-hearted T. H. all whose faces I hope to see in Heaven with them I leave for their refreshment when taking some steps about it Mat. 25.39 40. for Eternity is the place I would be for to which when gone I am but a little before and you a little behind This Lecture he kept up by his constant cost and care from Aug. 4 1653. monthly until Jan. 2. 1659. whereof he kept an exact account in a Catalogue wherein he took notice of the day of the month the place the persons that Preached and their Texts some hints of the Congregation both number and seriousness 〈◊〉 continued it until the times would neither incourage nor bear it and thereupon it not only fell but also wanting publick liberty for such an Exercise according to the purpose of his heart he suspended his intentions and disposed this Land otherwise It seems to be like the pious intention of David upon the most holy and affectionate motives 2 Sam. 7.2 and such as we read not that Solomon had that after did it to build an house to the Lord. But the Lord accepted his desire blessed him for his pious design but would have his Son do it So God may revive this design on the hearts of his Son or Successors who finding the blessing of their Fathers Prayers Piety and Promises descending upon them may arise to build and finish what he began We find him now setled at Astbury whether he came to keep house in May 1654. where he saith himself I was entertained without exception or interruption And though for some years we met with troubles yet did the Lord stand betwixt me and all my trouble so that many times I was as a man wholly free and was made amends for all my Sufferings of that nature by the Lords presence sweet and powerful in his Ordinances especially in that of the Lords Supper there set on foot in March 1654. and continued without interruption monthly or once in six weeks till Anno 1660. And the Lord did mightily strengthen his hands and incourage his heart in this ordinance and great care he took in preparation for it spending

and disharmony among Christians He was never or very seldome and then not out of choice heard to discourse of the dividing Controversies of the times A peculiar tryal he was exercised with soon after his entrance on his Ministerial work and that was by strange and horrible apprehensions in the night season as if he were cut in pieces with knives or the like and he was in as real agony and distress as if he had felt the pain of such torment indeed Perhaps it proceeded from natural causes occasion'd by his extraordinary pains which did heat his body and that might influence upon his fancy and disturb it and thereby beget such apprehensions in him But he still apprehended it to be the buffetings of Satan they usually followed days of great pains and dayes of great inward comforts and he was often forced by them to leap out of his bed in the night and go to Prayer for ease and delivery He would very pathetically bewayl those gloomy nights and what cause soever they proceeded from they were great occasions to realize the apprehensions of hell to him and to keep him humble II. In his Relative Duties he was abundantly diligent and faithful 1. In his Family he walked in a perfect way in the midst of his house There he constantly read the Scripture a portion of the Old Testament in the morning and of the New Testament in the evening and sung some verses of the Psalms in order at every Duty After Reading he examined each one present what they remembred and observed and then would open and inlarge upon each ones portion and also on what was most observable and practical in that Scripture Neither did he circumscribe Religion to Family duties as many doe who from morning to evening Prayer scarce ever think or speak of spiritual things but had familiarized holy Discourse in his house all the day long as there was any occasion or opportunity He alwayes repeated at home the Sermons he heard abroad The Lords-days Sermon he us'd to repeat the Saturday afternoon following or some other Sermon to prepare for the ensuing Sabbath On the Lords-day evening he would take his Children in private and there instruct them and there teach them how to pray He constantly Catechised his Children and Servants twice in the week causing them to get some verses of the Scripture and of their Catechism daily by heart He often had private Fasts with his family only and was well vers'd in secret humiliation also His ardent desires and endeavours after the Salvation of his Children and other Kindred are further evident in a serious Discourse to his Son on 1 Chron. 28.9 which he hath prepared and another which he call'd A word to my meerly Natural Friends on Isa 55.7 which if not with this Narrative may in due time see the light to the great advantage of his Relations and others wherein the precious breathings of his Soul after his Children and Friends in the flesh are largely manifested And upon this account he gave twenty of Mr. Baxters Calls to the Vnconverted amongst his Kindred and Servants in divers whereof he framed and wrote such pertinent Dialogues as were most suitable to their Souls Estate 2. In his Ministry indefatigable He was in Labours oft in Journeyings oft We may truly apply to him that which the Apostle said of Timothy Phil. 2.20 We have no man like minded that doth naturally care for the State of Souls His mighty forwardness and earnestness in this work his travelling and toyling and procuring all the help he could for the work was so great that it could not have been more if he had foreseen the shortness of his own dayes or the length of our night And the more universal was the influence of his labours in that he was strangely stirr'd up to Preach in several parts of the Countrey Ministers and people generally promoting and accepting his holy and sincere endeavours where envy or prejudice did not manifestly interpose When other Ministers or himself have been imployed in the usual courses of the day he would often choose rather to repeat the Sermon to the people at Noon than go to his Dinner according to the pattern of his dear Master before him Joh. 4.33 34. And indeed sometimes his zeal to the work of God would carry him to do more than his body or the peoples convenience could well bear but as it was sincerely meant by him so it was generally well taken by them and God made it answerable in the event It is said of Mr. Latimer that when he had reproved some peccant persons in his time somewhat sharply and was complained of for lack of discretion he would reply that he was glad they had no allegation against him but want of discretion it being evident thereby that the substance of his business was right so for this our glorified Brother the worst that could be laid to his charge was sometimes want of Prudence in respect of the length and frequency of his labours A thing he might well be excused in when so few transgress on that hand many being too wise to be serious too exact to remit the least of their conceited neatness for the benefit of their hearers or to go out of their rode to fetch a Soul in to Christ For this good Man such was his heavenly spirit and way in his work that though the matter he brought was ordinary yet the manner he delivered it in was not ordinary and his success was great in the Conversion of many Souls One sayes that well knew him and oft accompanyed him I cannot forget how the people after a day of Preaching would meet him with tears in their eyes some following him many thanking him for his pains and by their Countenances shewing they had met with God in the Ordinance And this is sure That he that winneth Souls is truly wise If that great Man on his death-bed could profess that one Soul Converted by his means would be a greater honour and comfort to him than all the Greatness and Honours he had enjoyed with what glory is this Holy Man gone off the Stage that was an Instrument in the hand of Gods Spirit to Convert many and to Convince and Quicken more His Converse was a continual Sermon He never went but the Minister and the warm-hearted Christian went with him He was the same out of the Pulpit as in it A lively Comment on the Apostles words Let your Speech be alway seasoned with Salt that it may minister grace to the hearers far from that common formality of most Preachers that as if they had left all their Divinity and Heat in the Pulpit come down and talk like other men which tempts people to rest little affected with those Truths that seem so little to affect the Preacher himself and to hold those things but meer notions when like the Actor of a Tragedy that hath done his part the Minister talks and walks as if he