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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	eternal_a	good_a	life_n	4,162	5	5.3241	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44931	A practical discourse of silence and submission shewing that good men should possess their souls in patience under the severest providences : and particularly in the loss of dear relations : preached at St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark / by William Hughes ...	Hughes, William, b. 1624 or 5.	1694 (1694)	Wing H3345; ESTC R2599	45,851	98

As for thy Prayers how can they be Frustrate either to the Deceased or unto thyself Surviving If all things work together for good to them that love God this providence also must do so Suppose thee such And then to pass by lesser matters Thy Friend is not properly Gone away only Gone before a little Nor are Requests denyed because not answered as we expected God hath a better way to grant them in when he doth not give them to us our way Our dearest Lord was heard in that he feared altho he dyed the Death against which he so earnestly prayed Heb. 5.7 Obj. 3. There are those also with whom this Language is to be found I have lost at once my dearest Friend a comfortable Estate nay my Subsistance and Support How should I bound my Lamentation Ans Being taking for a Person fearing God thou deservest the Reproof that was given St. Peter by our Saviour O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou fear Doth man live by bread alone and not by every word that goeth out of the mouth of God Matt. 4.4 whose is the world and the fulness thereof who feeds the fowls and cloaths the lillies And art thou less to God than they But there is worse than this at bottom of this Complaint The guile and fraud herein is plain to Man much more to God It is not the Friend but what was His it seems thou dost Bewail the loss of But to spare thee there Who is it bids us Take no thought for our life no nor for our body Matth. 6.25 Let not Anxiety seize us either for food or raiment For if our Souls be now as they should be in Heaven our Bodies will make good shift enough on Earth never fear it Our Gracious Lord who cannot deceive us bids us Seek God's kingdom and his righteousness above all things else and he hath pass'd his Word and is both able and willing to make it good that all things necessary shall be added to us Verse 33. thrown in as Thread and Paper at the Grocers without distracting Cares about them Nature is contented with a little And Satisfaction Peace and Quiet with our Portion is never attained by an Addition to but a Substraction from our fond Desires I need not send these People to that Cloud of Witnesses recorded in the Book of God who in their greatest wants could cast their care on Him and found supply enough in him That blessed Name whereby we all are called although he made the World and had it wholly at his Command and Beck was notwithstanding pleased well enough when he had not where to lay his head Mat. 8.20 But the Morals of a very Heathen will cry shame on such a Christian Thence you shall often hear much to the purpose * Dici potest de Divitijs quod in Medicum gloriosum dictumest tuum remedium morbum gravorem facit Plut. de Cupid divit Is maxime divitije affluit qui minime indiget Sen. de Pauper Non in Paupertate vitium sed in Paupere c. Id. de Remed fort of contemning Wealth and being content with a mean Estate What danger 's there and what safety here and therefore how far from being repined at are lower Circumstances in the World The Divine Oracle assures us That Godliness with Contentment is great gain And if we be Godly whatever Portion God shall allot unto us that will certainly serve and ought to please us And so this Storm is calm'd Obj. 4. The Comfort of my Life is gone say others What Counsel Support Refreshment and Encouragement was I wont to have from the true Sympathy of ANOTHER SELF But all is vanish'd and gone for ever And who can bear it Ans And is' t no Comfort that thou sometimes hadst such a Comfort and didst so long injoy it Methinks thy cheerful Thanks for that should some-what check thy doleful Moanes for this But to deal more plainly Is' t so indeed No marvel if a Jealous God would not endure a Rival with him His Kindness he is liberal of unto his People but his glory he 'll not give unto any other Esa 42.8 We often lose our Mercies because we dote so much on them as to have God too little in our Thoughts by reason of them And should he like that when Reason and Religion tell us the Creator should have the Throne within our Hearts the Foot-stool serves the Creature well enough Nay this is real kindness to us that God diverts the muddy Streams to make us run to the Crystal Spring When the loving Master will not give the Trencherscraps unto his honest Servant but the while allows him a well-stor'd Larder hath he any cause to take that ill Or if an affectionate Husband liketh not to have his Pocket pick'd whilst he gives his Wife the Keys to take out Gold and Silver at her own discretion hath she cause to make Complaint for this No doubt but every good Man will say to God with David All my springs are in thee Ps 87.7 And with the Apostle to our Saviour Whither shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6.68 Now such a Providence calls aloud upon him to hasten to his Fountain and his Store-house Indeed suppose a Saint in this distress had not a God to go to or were he bar'd access unto his Presence when his desired Comfort were gone for ever there might I grant be a little pardon for his Impatience But blessed be the Lord His Eyes are ever looking after him His Ears stand always open to him His Hands are stretched out continually for him and His Heart never without yearnings towards him and surely this is ample Compensation for and abundant Consolation in the worst Affliction if People will duly apply their Souls to God 'T is that He aims at and urgeth us unto Call upon me in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorise me Psal 50.15 Psal 55.22 Phil. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.7 Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee Be careful for nothing But cast all your care on God What loss cannot he make up in Specie Puta Deum dicere quid habetis quod de me queri possitis Sen de Pro vid. c. 6. if he please And if he doth not give the Idem the Tantundem is as good To be sure tho Elkanah ask'd his Wife only was not he better than Ten Sons God who is his Peoples Portion in all Distresses is better than Ten thousand Worlds Obj. 5. But 't was my woful Folly or else mine Evils had not come upon me That Loss This Sickness The Other bad Accident had never happen'd to me if becoming Frudence had been my Conduct Such Means would have prevented all my Misery Now Woe is me for my hard Hap Ans Remember first That Hap was certainly God's Hand For Fortune Luck and Chance Sed te nos facimus Fortuna Deam Coeloque

Caution to the Corinthians Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10.10 We may conclude of this wherewith I close the Argument If we belong to God and are dissatisfied at his Dealings with us we lay a kind of force upon him Either to keep us longer in his Furnace or to remove us thence with our Dross upon us And surely the Choice is not the best on either side Wherefore we must rebuke Impatience and the rather for that Arg. 4. There is undoubted Good at the bottom of all Afflictions to the truly Godly Then what pretence for Discontentment under them Had they their rise from an Heart replete with Vengeance Rage and Fury towards us and were they the Blows of a bloody Enemy that aim'd at nothing less than our utter ruine our Case were then so sad that 't would be hard to find out Comfort for us and seem unequal to condemn a turbulent Carriage in Distresses But blessed be GOD things go at quite another rate The Cloud that is Darkness unto Egypt is Light to Israel Exod. 14.20 The Devil and his Angels who may be Executioners to the righteous and good Providence in our Sufferings are none otherwise than most malignantly disaffected to God's People Yet how bloodily soever they are bent and whatsoever Mischief they are permitted to effect that which happens is not what their Malice doth design but what God's Mercy doth direct The Axe never heweth but when and as the Carpenter strikes therewith And the sharpest Sword will fetch no Blood but from the Hand that wields and smiteth with it But Men and evil Spirits too are Tools which God as far as it is pleasing to him maketh use of And he lays them by again as he thinks good and then they must be quiet in spite of all their Cruelty The Condition of holy * Chap. 1 2. Ps 17.13 14. Es 10.5 6 7 15. Job doth make this evident And both the Psalmist and the Prophet Esay plainly declare as much So that who or whatever brings a Calamity to us we must conclude 't is sent of God for good And if we wisely attend our Duty 't will be with us as with ‖ He in his Excile living in greater state than his own Country could afford said to his Servants Sirs We had been Vndone if we had not been Vndone Plut. Them Themistocles Better in our trouble than without it This is not peradventure presently perceived by us in every Tryal Nor do the Sick or Wounded at the first or second or may be many applications of the most proper and soveraign Medecines to them forthwith receive a Cure or find Ease thereon However 't is better with them because they are in the ready way thereto And is it not egregious Folly to exclaim against or have hard thoughts of either Doctor or Surgeon for a griping Belly or a smarting Leg when 't is to save the Life and to recover Health Should Sufferers be so far from benefit in their Troubles that they do not yet so much as understand the meaning of them why they should know that the Golden Oar is cover'd with coarser Earth and it will ask both pains and patience to dig deep enough to reach it And our blessed Saviour's words to his Servant Peter are very applicable here What I do thou knowest not yet but shalt know hereafter Joh. 13.7 Wait then with quietness and thou wilt sooner find the Treasure But if thou quarrel with thy Medicines and storm at him that doth apply them it must be longer if e'er thou get a Cure when a submissive Spirit will soon be healed God must be met in his own way As he ‖ 1 Kings 19.11 comes not in a great strong Wind nor in the frightful Earthquake nor in the furious Fire but in the still small Voice we must attend him also with a still and quiet Spirit Turbulent Passions in the Soul are like loud Noises and deafning Clamours at the Ears These marr the Hearing and so the Understanding Hence 't is that in such a Lurry we cannot hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 so as to understand and receive the good God means us by it Yet good is surely meant thereby What prudent Father ever did correct his Child but for his benefit And how should Infinite Wisdom with equal Love have any other Aim Afflictions are God's File to rub off the rust of Sin that it may not rot our Souls His Fan to scatter far away the Dust and Chaff which are apt to bury our Grain in Uselesness Yea and his Furnace too where the Dross and Tin is sever'd that the Mettal may be pure and bright Are not all these for greatest good But the Apostle is express in saying That tho' some men correct for pleasure God chastens us for our profit Heb. 12.10 And the Psalmist had the proof upon himself for he professeth Psal 119.71 'T was good for him that he was afflicted For he was gone astray before that met him and brought him back to God And how far he might have wander'd to the utter losing of his Way had not his wild Carreer been stopt by the Rod of God who can tell Certain 't is that long Prosperity is a Bait to all Impiety and no Affliction oft-times proves the very worst Affliction Yea and Impunity the greatest Punishment Therefore God threatned in his high Displeasure Hosea 4.14 Esay 1.5 Hosea 4.17 Not to punish the daughters nor the wives in Israel for their whoredoms to strike Judah no more and let Ephraim alone in his idolatry When Providence smiting of a Pious Man with Lameness onely preventing his running away from God or with Bodily Sickness 't is for preserving his Soul in or recovering it to Health Such Mens Losses of Temporal Riches are for securing Eternal to them and Death's removal of their Earthly Friends is for renewing and faster setling their Friendship with the Heavenly Majesty Nay and their own approaching End serves for preparing them unto an Endless Bliss And where 's the Cause now of Complaining How great 's the reason rather of Rejoycing at least of Silence and Submission Especially when the 5th and last Argument shall be considered Arg. 5. Thou Lord didst it And this is what the Royal Psalmist urgeth in my Text. Which only tho our Proverb aptly saith Store's no Sore in mine opinion might be sufficient to give repose and quiet to a sincere Christian in his greatest troubles suppose it be considered in its just extent Should I pronounce it like the Tower of David builded for an Armory wherein there hung a thousand Bucklers all Shields of mighty Men it were not spoken much amiss I 'm sure 't is no Hyperbole instead of calling it a single Argument to say an Heap of those are lodg'd therein For with a little Patience you shall see it bringing forth at least One Decade of