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	life_n	sin_n	9,880	5	5.5192	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41542	A sermon on occasion of the death of the reverend and learned Mr. Stephen Lobb, who dyed June 3, 1699 by Thomas Goodwin.	Goodwin, Thomas, 1650?-1716?	1700 (1700)	Wing G1270A; ESTC R32448	23,607	49

and knew how to vindicate them In their necessary defence he employ'd that Art of reasoning of which he was a Great Master I do not mean an Art of Sophistry and Cavil but that which gives just Rules for the framing clear and distinct Ideas which direct us to judge according to the due perceptions that we have of things and which Instructs us in an orderly Method of Arguings that we may not be confus'd perplex'd or mistaken in our Reasoning This was the Art of which he made use and he Argued without Wrangling and knew how to be zealous for the Truth and yet not be Angry If we consider him farther as to his relative Duties he was a Loving Husband a Tender Father True to his Friend Punctual to all Acts of Kindness and never promis'd more than he meant to perform And to name that Station in which he most shin'd he was a Faithful Pastor labouring in the Word and Doctrine conversing with Souls enquiring into their Cases and Necessities and administring Counsel or Reproof as was needful The Churches of Christ have lost a Man of great Use and Service a Loss which I fear they will every Day feel more and more You who are Members of that Congregation over which he was in the Lord you especially have lost a Faithful Pastor and there is nothing to relieve you under this severe Affliction but this one Thought which indeed is sufficient that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Universal Pastor never dies and you walking in his Ways and observing his Ordinances may be assur'd of his Presence Care and Direction I am now to speak unto you who are his Off-spring you have lost a Loving Father but he has left to you a grateful Memory of himself and the Example of his Life You lived and conversed with him imitate him in that Good Nature Candour Ingenuous Temper Piety towards God and Vertuous Deportment among Men which endeared him to you and to all that knew him But above all know the God of your Father and serve him with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind if you seek him he will be found of you as a Father of which you can never be depriv'd But if you forsake him he will cast you off for ever 1 Chron. 28. 9. And now let every one of us make a right use of this Afflicting Providence Let us seriously reflect how many Worthy Ministers of the Gospel we have lost and that within the compass of a few Years Let us lay our Hands upon our Breasts and make a close Enquiry what have I done Or how have I been wanting in the Performance of my Duty Let us all consider this and turn to the Lord with our whole Hearts least he make an utter End of us and not only take away some Ministers but all and the Gospel together USE III. Is it so that our kind Redeemer by dying hath deliver'd us from the Power of Satan and Death Let us have an high and grateful Sense of his Love in the Performance of the extraordinary favour he hath done us and of the Inestimable Benefits which we have receiv'd It is a small Matter in our Account that the Eternal Son of God should descend from Heaven and all its Glories and take upon him the Form of a Servant and he a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs and after a Miserable Life pass'd on Earth die to Redeem us from Death Is it a small matter that this Glorious Person who lay in the Bosome of the Father should by undertaking our Cause and putting his own Person instead of ours and bearing our Sins imputed to him expose himself to all the Threatnings and Curses of the Law and to all the Wrath and Justice of the offended Deity What mov'd him to do this Nothing but that Infinite Love which is above all our Thoughts and which we can never sufficiently Adore And if we regard the Blessings which flow to us with his Blood and spring out of that Grave in which he lay but three Days how Inestimable will they appear to us What greater Misery could befall us than that Spiritual Death which had seiz'd our Souls made us Vassals to the Devil 's Arbitrary and Tyrannical Sway and enslav'd us to every Vicious Inclination and bound us in Fetters ready for the execution of Eternal Death What Happiness is there greater and in which we have more reason to rejoice than to feel the Power of this Death destroy'd by that of Christ then to experience that as he died unto Sin once we die unto it daily then to be free indeed by his making us the Sons of God and to see the Devil's Fetters knock'd off and our selves deliver'd from Vengeance and the Wrath to come What could be more vexatious than to be subject to the Bondage of the fear of Death which oppress'd us with its intolerable weight And what can be more pleasing to our disquieted Souls then to be delivered from these Fears which perpetually tortured them Now looking on Christ by Faith as their Resurrection and Life they are ready chearfully to go out of the World at God's Call knowing that their departure hence is but the beginning of their Happiness USE IV. If any of us when we come to die would encounter this our last Enemy in the strength of Faith and so be Victorious If we would look Death in the Face with a firm Courage and Constancy of Mind let us look to it that we now believe on Christ that we now live by Faith on the Son of God and then we shall die in Faith and Joy If we trust in him all our Days he may he will be our Confidence at our latest Hour If we hold this Shield of Faith and never suffer it to slip out of our Hands we shall be able to repel Satan's Fiery Darts even those which are thrown thickest at us when we are dying we shall with undaunted Resolution face our last Hour and in whatever-shape Death appears it cannot affright us But if we come to die and have no Faith in Christ if we come to give up our Souls before we have in trust committed them to him we can resign them to nothing but Hell and Despair Let us consider what a dreadful Scene of things will open upon us in that Hour Wherever we shall turn our Thoughts they will encounter nothing but Objects of Horror If we reflect on our forepast Lives we see innumerable Sins unpardon'd coming in Troops to assault us we hear our own Consciences accusing us and feel the Devil driving us to Despair If we look back on the World which we are leaving the thoughts of loosing all these enjoyments whom we so much lov'd and pursued as all our happiness will Torture us with regret If we take a view downward there is nothing but Hell and Flames ready to receive us If we cast our languishing Eyes up to Heaven there is God indeed before whom we must