Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	death_n	grace_n	sin_n	2,826	5	5.1233	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A11881	Five sermons preached upon severall occasions (The texts whereof are set downe in the next page.) By Iohn Seller.	Seller, John, 1592 or 3-1648.	1636 (1636)	STC 22181; ESTC S101223	58,521	276

requisite to defend them against all the fiery darts of Sathan Coelestis regiae januam gradibus panarum ascendentes Salvian de Gubernat Dei lib. 3. scalas sibi quodammodò de eculeis catastisque fecerunt The wrack the scourge the stake and what ever torture the witty cruelty of man was able to invent these were the steps whereby they painfully ascended up to Heaven But surely if ever unto any our yoake is easie and our burthen light in a peaceable age we reape the fruits of peace with the freedome of our conscience we enjoy the freedome of the world too in all the faire pleasures and delights whereof what ever liberty a discreet Heathen would desire a good Christian may enjoy and after all this with Non obstante to St. HIEROME Difficile imo impossibile est ut quis transeat de deliciis in delicias ad Iulianū Epist 34. de deliciis in delicias out of the bosome of the World we may gently remove our head into ABRAHAMS bosome quietly breath our last and into the hands of our Redeemer commend our Spirit Then indeed to invert a little the words of St. CYPRIAN facta est Ecclesia in cruore Martyrum purpurea Epist 9. the Church was of a scarlet dye in the blood of the Martyrs nunc in operibus fratrum candida now she hath or may have her garments white in the faire and peaceable conversation of the Saints Sic florìbus ejus nec lilia nec rosae desunt thus hath she been adorn'd and beautified with flowers of divers colours then with the red Rose now the white Yet true indeed it is that even to this day many are the troubles of the Righteous but troubles common also with the sinner wherin the graces of CHRISTS patiēce and humility are so far frō dejecting us as that they are the chiefe comforters we have There is a trouble of poverty wherein grace cheerfully sustaines us teacheth of as well how to want as how to abound and if after a faire endeavour wee cannot raise our meanes unto our minde presently humbles our minde unto our meanes There is a trouble of sicknesse but yet in all our sicknesse grace makes all our bed The Lord giveth giveth health and wealth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the name of the Lord. Lastly there is a trouble of sinne too which if grace shall sometime increase by laying the greatnesse and danger thereof neare unto our heart yet it will easily perswade us that it is good for us to bee thus troubled For indeed such is the strange and powerfull efficacie thereof as that vulnus opemque it both woundeth and cureth with a quick and sharpe sense of our sins it oft times draweth teares from our eyes and presently out of a joy that it hath made us become thus sensible it wipeth them off againe As then trouble is the inseparable companion of our life what more necessary then that grace should bee the inseparable companion of our trouble that if trouble should sometime overcharge us and force us to cry out Wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee Grace may presently succentunate and releeve us with a Thanks bee to God through IESVS CHRIST our Lord on which firme Rocke as long as we truly fasten the Anchor of our hope nor hight nor depth nor life nor death shall ever be able to remove us Againe are we all to receive grace for grace grace paralell and proportionable to the grace of CHRIST as indeed among other causes therfore was CHRIST incarnate that hee might give unto us a patterne of true grace that in all things we may learne to be holy as he is holy surely then from hence wee may best put in practice that caveat of St. IOHN and learne how to try the Spirit By the grace of GOD it is the common language of us all we hope we shall doe well but how shall we know whether the grace we speake off bee a grace in word onely or in deed And I hope there is no man here so insensible of such things as belong unto his peace but sometime in secret will commune with his owne heart and make inquirie Lord are there but few that shall bee saved and those few such onely as have received the marke of thy spirit how then shall I know whether I am partaker of this spirit that I may have if not an assurance yet a faire hope that I shall bee of the number of these few A question as very necessary to be made so truly very difficult to bee resolv'd For mine owne part I am perswaded there is no readier way to give our selves satisfaction in this doubt then to propose the doubt even in the very termes of my Text Have I grace for grace the grace of our Lord IESVS CHRIST some commendable measure of his charity his zeale his meeknes his temperance his justice his mercy Have I true patience and humility true sorrow and anguish of soule for mine owne sinnes answerable to that sorrow of his above all sorrowes for the sins of the whole World Alas otherwise if we bee full of spleene and malice if our mouth bee an open sepulchre therein ready to bury the good name and honor of every man whose wayes and actions doe but a little thwart us though yet Michael the Archangel in a farre juster contestation then can be betweene man and man would not revile the Divell we know that CHRIST prayed for his enemies and dyed for his enemies and how then dwels the love of CHRIST in us If upon every slight provocation we shall breake out into foule curses the pox the plague the divell evils that we need not imprecate happy are we if with all our prayers we can deprecate them and these curses shall second with fearfull oaths and at each word be prodigall of the life the wounds the death the bloud that precious blood of Christ one drop whereof perhaps the time may come when we shall call and cry for and not bee so happy as to obteine it we know that CHRIST when hee was reviled reviled not againe and in all our familiar discourse hath confin'd us to a yea yea and a nay nay and how then dwels the meeknesse nay even but the language of CHRIST in us If wee say unto our Soule Take thy ease eate drinke and bee merry and shall vilifie all others who will not follow the same excesse of ryot with our selves wee know that it was the strict charge of CHRIST that wee should not overcharge our selves with surfetting and drunkenesse the bastard parents of chambering and wantonnesse and how then dwelleth the temperance of CHRIST in us If wee be alwayes querulous and discontent upō every light crosse ready to blaspheme the sufferings of CHRIST with a non est dolor sicut dolor meus was there ever sorrow like unto my sorrow wee know that CHRIST though made a man of sorrowes and this sorrow

I will kill thy Children with death to the Church of Thyatira Now when we seriously consider what our SAVIOUR sayth Hee that reades these things let him understand and what St. IOHN hath added Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare what the Spirit saith to the seaven Churches for the case of these Churches is a leading case for all the Churches of the World Let us remember that all these things have been said and done to serve as ensamples unto us That since the reformation of our Church great have been the manifestations of Gods mercy great peace great plenty and that which is greater then all this great salvation in the free and sincere dispensation of the great mysteries of Godlinesse wee cannot but all thankfully acknowledge And if my observation as certaine it is be true that great judgments attend great mercies upon the neglect of so great Salvation that great Visitations will ensue wee cannot but be afraid But yet it is not for mee to tell you the times and seasons of those judgements which God hath reserved in his owne power For as the exhalations arising from the Earth and Seas wee all know to bee the cause of those clouds which produce raine and stormes yet no man dares take upon him to assure That this day or this houre it will raine or this moneth this yeare will bee a great flood So though wee know the exhalations of our sinnes rayse clouds of separation betweene GOD and us yet how long these clouds will be gathering together before they produce a generall storme it exceeds the apprehension of man to be able to determine And indeed hitherto whether in the course of our Religion in this last Age there have been ebbes or flowes whether wee have increast or diminisht the talents God hath given us though many men rashly take upon them to give judgement yet I think it is not so easie a matter to decide And because in this argument every man almost presumes to spend his conjecture I hope the commonnesse of the Presumption will excuse me if I shall discover mine And for my part I am perswaded that there is no such iniquity in Iacob no such transgression in our Israel no such transgression exceeding the transgressions of our Fathers even in the best times that can be nam'd that for this reason wee should have any more cause then they to feare that God who hath hitherto come graciously to us with his Love should now shortly bend his bow and whet his Sword and come upon us with the Rod. Necessary I confesse it is that with the declaring of GODS just judgements unto sinners wee should often threaten and humble the Soules of men but yet so farre to dishearten the Lords people with the feare of generall imminent visitations as to bring them into dislike of the Church and State wherein they live to occasion them to remove by hundreds and thousands into remote and desolate parts of the world as if they could any where bee more safe then where they are surely this is a point of zeale strain'd so farre beyond discretion that I am perswaded GOD himselfe doth not approve it 'T is possible I confesse on the one side to daube with untempered morter and say Peace peace when there is no peace but on the other side let mee tell you 'T is not impossible for men to make ZEDECHIAS hornes and say Thus and thus shall the Lord push when the Lord hath not sent them and thereby as the Prophet complaines make the heart of the righteous sad Ezech. 13.22 whom the LORD hath not made sad For mine own part as long as wee are not able and blessed be GOD that wee are not able to demonstrate the like sinnes of Idolatry cruelty injustice and oppression wherwith God by all the Prophets chargeth his people Israel before ever hee threatens to come and visit them I cannot be perswaded that any man hath just warrant to denounce the like judgements against us And thus farre have I declar'd my selfe not that I would flatter the Times or footh men up in theyr transgressions for wee know that every day God for single sinners hath single visitations though the great and terrible day of his Wrath be never so farre off What because wee feare not any judgement on the whole Land shall any Sinner therefore not be afraid of judgement on himself This is as if a Soldier in the warres thinking himselfe safe from the Cannon should therefore desperatly runne upon a volly of small shot when as we know a little Pistoll will kill a man as well as a great Ordnance But thus much have I spoken for three causes First that I might advise men to bee more wary in theyr comparative invectives against Sinne. For cry aloud and spare not tell Iudah of his sinnes and Israel of his transgressions but shall wee therefore to the heavie prejudice of the government of the State and if the imputation were true to the inexcusable dishonour of our owe profession to whose charge the Soules of men are committed if we that are appointed to build up shall suffer them to fall downe shall wee therefore say never more sinne never more transgression never more feare of CHRISTS comming unto Iudgement For who hath kept a booke of remembrance who knowes how oft wee have offended or who knowes how oft out Fathers have offended Nay who knowes but that GOD may bee offended for want of our thankfulnesse for the increase of his grace and favor toward us which we will not be perswaded to acknowledge Secondly that I might a little moderate the zeale and passions of men For as wee are equally beholding to the motion and influence of the Moone if that bee the second cause sometime for withdrawing the waters to an ebbe as well as sometime for raising them up unto a flood so surely it is as commendable an act though not so popular sometime to allay the affections of men when they begin to overflow as well as sometime to raise and stirre them up when they are at a low ebbe And indeed if the minds of men bee once strongly perswaded that daylie the World growes worse and worse every man will take upon him to finde out the cause and cōmendable it were would they only conceive in generall that the Imaginations of the heart of Man were continually proner and proner unto evill but when they presume to goe on unto particulars and one pointeth at the Doctrine another at the discipline of the Church one at the government another at the Governours both in Church and Common-wealth this is that which in time may bring all unto confusion and with their owne hands help to pluck downe those Iudgments which they pretend to be most carefull to keepe off when as if the minds of men were perswaded better things and such as accompany salvation would they beleeve that it is with our Religion as with our wealth though many