Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	natural_a	supernatural_a	1,915	5	10.5176	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62642	Sixteen sermons preached on several subjects and occasions by the most reverend John Tillotson ... ; being the second volume, published from the originals, by Ralph Barker ...; Sermons. Selections	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1700 (1700)	Wing T1269; ESTC R18542	169,737	479

Happier Life this will make Death attended even with Extremity of Terror to be tolerable as we read of some in that long Catalogue of Saints and Martyrs Heb. 11.35 Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection It would make a Man to rejoyce in the Ruin and Dissolution of this earthly tabernacle to be assured that when it is dissolved we shall have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens as the same Apostle assures us 2 Cor. 5.1 Thus you see what Virtue there is in the firm Belief and Persuasion of a better Life to bear up Mens Spirits under those Sufferings and Torments which may seem unsupportable to Humane Nature And so indeed they would be without an extraordinary Grace and Assistance of God to enable them to bear those Sufferings which his Providence permits them to be exercised withal But of this extraordinary Grace we are assured not only from the consideration of the Attributes and Providence of God but likewise from the express Promises and Declarations of his Word The Attributes of God and his Providence give us good Grounds to believe that he who loves Goodness and Righteousness and hath a Peculiar Favour and Regard for good Men will never suffer his Faithful Friends and Servants to be brought into that Distress for Righteousness sake that they shall not be able to endure those Evils and Afflictions which befal them upon that Account And if in the Course of his Providence any thing happen to them that is above the ordinary Constancy and Patience of Humane Nature to bear that in such a Case God will extraordinarily interpose and give them Strength and Patience Support and Comfort proportionable to the Evils and Sufferings that are upon them and that he will either lighten their Burden or add to their Strength he will either mitigate their Pain or increase their Patience either he will check and restrain the Effect of Natural Causes as in the Case of the Three Children that were in the fiery Furnace and of Daniel who was cast into the Den of Lions or else which comes to the same Issue if he will suffer Causes to have their Natural Course he will afford Supernatural Comforts to ballance the Fury and Extremity of them This is very credible from the meer consideration of God's Goodness and of the Particular Care and Favour of his Providence towards Good Men. But besides this we have the Express Promise and Declaration of God's Word to this Purpose which puts us out of all doubt concerning that which we had good Reason to hope and expect before 1 Cor. 10.13 St. Paul there tells the Christians at Corinth that tho' they had met with some Troubles yet they had not been Tryed with the Extremity of Suffering But when that should happen they had no cause to doubt but God would enable them to bear it There hath no Temptation taken you but such as is common to man that is you have not yet been exercised with any Trial but what is Humane what the ordinary Strength and Resolution of Humane Nature is able to bear But in case it should come to extream Suffering and that they must either comply with the Heathen Idolatry or endure Extremity of Torments they had the Promise of God's Help to support them in that Case God is faithful says he who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able to bear but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it And then it follows wherefore my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry that is let no Suffering that you are Tempted withal make you guilty of this Sin And 1 Pet. 4.14 The Presence of God's Spirit in a very glorious manner for our Support and Comfort is promised to those who Suffer for him If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you And this consideration of God's Strength to support us under Sufferings makes the other of the Reward of them a Perfect and Compleat Encouragement which it could not be without it For if upon the whole matter the present Sufferings of Good Men were intolerable and Humane Nature were not Divinely assisted to bear them How great soever the Future Reward promised to them should be they that lay under them would be forced to consult their own present Ease and Deliverance I proceed to the II. Thing I proposed to consider namely How it may be made out to be Reasonable to Embrace and Voluntarily to submit to present and grievous Sufferings in Hopes of future Happiness and Reward concerning which we have not nor perhaps are capable of having the same degree of Certainty and Assurance which we have of the Evils and Sufferings of this present Life Now granting that we have not the same Degree of Certainty concerning our future Happiness that we have of our present Sufferings which we feel or see just ready to come upon us yet Prudence making it necessary for Men to run this hazard does justifie the Reasonableness of it This I take to be a known and rul'd Case in the common Affairs of Life and in Matters of Temporal Concernment and Men Act upon this Principle every Day The Husbandman parts with his Corn and casts it into the Earth in confidence that it will spring up again and at the time of Harvest bring him in a considerable return and advantage He parts with a Certainty in hope only of a great future Benefit And tho' he have no Demonstration for the Infallible Success of his Labour and Hazard yet he Acts very Reasonably Because if he does not take this course he runs a greater and more certain Hazard of perishing by Famine at last when his present Stock is spent The Case of the Merchant is the same who parts with a Present Estate in hopes of a Future Improvement which yet is not so certain as what he parts withal And if this be Reasonable in these Cases then the Hazard which Men run upon much greater Assurance than either the Husbandman or the Merchant have is much more Reasonable When we part with this Life in hopes of one infinitely better that is in sure and certain hope of a Resurrection to eternal life and when we submit to Present Sufferings to avoid an Eternity of Misery which is much more to be dreaded than Temporal Want this is Reasonable because here is a much greater Advantage in view and a more pressing Necessity in the Case nothing being so desirable to one that must live for ever as to be Happy for ever and nothing to be avoided by him with so much Care as everlasting Misery and Ruin And for our security of obtaining the one and escaping the other we have the promise of God who cannot lye which is all the Certainty and Security that Things Future and Invisible are