Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	will_n	3,297	5	6.8462	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41728	The life and death of Mr. John Rowe of Crediton in Devon	Gale, Theophilus, 1628-1678.	1673 (1673)	Wing G146; ESTC R18383	49,518	150

greatly swallowed up in and by the sense of Gods love to him What delight did he take in concealing that grace which was conferred on him under an humble self-abasement before God and men He lived the most that ever I knew any in a continual separation not only from the world but also from himself He seemed to me to have arrived unto the greatest abjuration of self-sufficiency that ever I met with Oh how much did he depart from himself day by day that so he might more intirely enter into and live in Christ What a generous design had he to abandon every part not only of sinful but legal self for Christ But yet the less he lived in the Spirit of his own Gifts or Graces received the more he lived in the Spirit of Christ his head Oh what an amorous union with and value for Christ did he gain by the Ruines of self-love The less he was in his own eyes by so much the more did he magnifie Christ His works did praise him but how much did his tongue heart and life praise Christ Yea how much did he rejoyce to see Christ glorifyed by others as well as by himself I must confess according to my best knowledge I never knew any that did more cry down self and cry up Christ than this now glorified Saint How willing was he to render unto Christ whatever he received from him Thus as the Rivers receive new supplies by emptying themselves into the Sea so did this holy man by returning the acknowledgement and improvement of all his grace unto Christ the Ocean of all As Humility kept him low in his own eyes so Faith raised in him an high esteem of Christ As he went unto Christ for all grace so he ascribed all unto him Thus he made Christ all in all He seemed so laborious in the ways of Godliness as if there were no Christ to trust unto and yet he was so much in Faith and dependance on Christ as if there were nothing to be done on his part As for his diligence in the work of God that he ascribed to Christ but as for any negligence he was guilty of that he ascribed to himself His will stood strongly Bent for God Oh! what a pure sound single entire upright heart for God had he How did Divine Love bend his will purifie the intention thereof keeping it in a firm adhesion unto God What spiritual Affections for Christ ballanced with saving light was his heart possessed withall How much did he fear God under Smiles love him under frowns hope in him under difficulties desire and enjoy him under all other enjoyments What a beautiful Harmony was there between his will and the Divine Will Yea how much did he live and die in the Soveraign Will When the Lord took from him any dear Relation what a correspondence with and Acquiescence in his royal pleasure did he discover in his deportment How Passive yea Active in concurrence with the will of God was his will under all chastisements How little covetuous or thirsty after his own will was he Oh what a flexible humble meek and broken will towards God was there discovered in him and yet lo how inflexible and stiffe was his will as to whatever had the appearance of evil how patient calm and submissive was he in his own cause and yet what an ardent zeal had he for the concerns of his Lord How much could he condescend to the will of the meanest for their good and yet how little would he stoop to the lusts of the proudest As for the constant establisht tenor of his Spirit in walking with God not only in Religious dutys but also in his civil Affairs I have much admired it Yea I cannot but tell the world what I have oft mentioned in private that I verily believe this holy man enjoyed more of God in his civil employments then many Christians do in their spiritual Retirements and Devotion I have taken him when newly come of a croud of secular affairs and have found him more spiritual in his converse then I find the most of Christians after their most serious exercises in religious worship And I remember he then told me what I hope I shall never forget That this was his course every day to examine what had been Gods carriage towards him and what had been his carriage towards God A Golden Rule for Heart examens Oh what an estrangement from a worldly Spirit had he in all his worldly concerns How were his Thoughts Principles Inclinations Affections and Actions moulded into a fit frame for walking with God Was not this the main business and exercise of his Life How much time did he spend in the service of his Lord and how little was he taken up with self-concernments What a serious lively affectionate communion with God had he not only in but also out of duties How much was his end ever in his eye And with what vigorous activity did he pursue the same How much was his heart with God in eating walking commerce and all parts of civil Conversation What a curious vigilant eye had he on his Spirit to secure it from all violent passions and irregular motions How unwilling was he to let pass the least occasion presented for receiving or doing good How little was there of a Vacuum in his Life for tentation to fill up What an equal uniform and harmonious life did he lead In sum He was one of an Universal Spirit for Godliness The Yoke and Cross of Christ were pleasant and familiar to him Oh how strict was his life but his heart large towards God and men How much did he vindicate the Reality of his Religion by living at a more than ordinary rate in Religion It was his great Aphorism both living and dying That Religion was a Real thing And how much did he demonstrate the same by the power thereof in his life and conversation What an Heaven of Holiness and Happiness did he find in his way to Heaven What a Tranquility of Spirit did he arrive unto in this inferiour world Was not his life by reason of the equality of its parts like a circle which every day began and ended in God What a constellation of graces seemingly contrary did there shine forth in his Conversation How knowing in the deep mystery of Faith and yet how humble was he What a blessed mixture of zeal and meekness appeared in him What a Majesty mixed mith a sweet Affability was there in his presence How much did he advantage men that knew him by giving them such a bright shining example of visible Godliness I would not exceed in mine esteem of persons or things but yet I must confess I cannot but admire the grace of God that shone so illustriously in this eminent Saint And I think I may say it without injury to truth or person that to my best remembrance I have not seen any one clothed with more visible and shining grace then

passage I pray that God will make use of my self and you in such a way as that God alone may be seen and we not taken notice of at all that he may have the glory and we may not be seen It was a mighty rejoycing to him to see Religion honoured and to hear of any passage of providence that made for the credit or honour of Religion When there was an old disciple an ancient Christian that had professed Religion many years dyed and had held out in his profession to the end without any stain upon his conversation he seemed to be transported with an extraordinary joy and could hardly speak of it without tears Oh said he such a one hath left no stain behind him He was constantly affected with a great sense of Gods dispensations towards the Land The great Sense he had of Gods Dispensations towards the Land if there were any signs of Gods displeasure and the Judgments of God seemed to be approaching or else the Land lay under Judgments at the present his manner still was to humble himself in a more then ordinary manner and to stir up himself to pray with more fervency And he was wont to say he loved to look above the Instruments and the second Causes and to transact all things between God and him and to consider what it was that God aimed at in every dispensation In the time of the late troubles he wrote to a near Relation to this effect We had here with us as loud Thunder as I remember ever to have heard our house in which I was did shake the Lightning also then was extraordinary such as I never saw in all my life I stood to behold how it came forth at the breaking of the Clouds and I saw and so did many others with me that out of the midst of the Lightning there came forth divers times the likeness of fresh burning coales of fire so redand sparkling as any hot Iron can be when it is heated to the utmost in the Smiths Forge These Signs from heaven with the Sword drawn out on earth among us do seem to speak alowd that our provocations are very great Joyn with us to intreat the Lord for pardon and reformation Stir up your godly friends to do the like It may be the Lord will hear and spare because he warns or it may be such seekers may be hid or marked out from the common destruction or if the outward man perish sure I am the soul shall find mercy that seeks the Lord in truth He will in no wise cast out such a Soul In another Letter he wrote thus at such a time fell abundance of rain and the waters were so high as hath been seldom seen many mens harvest is yet behind and great loss likely to ensue our heavenly Father shakes the rod of Famine as he hath of the Sword Oh let us pray that grace may turn all of us that are his from our Iniquities In another letter speaking concerning the troubles and publick distractions that were in the land he expressed himself thus Methinks the voice of the Gospel considered with the uncertainty of all things here below doth seem to put us most seriously to resolve upon the setting of our affections on things above I hope it is our resolution with yours But yet I think we and you need more firmness in resolution else why should our wise heavenly Father hold us at such uncertainties if he did not see this to be best for us In another letter speaking of the publick troubles he had this expression I believe that one end of our troubles may be to keep us up in a fervent frame of praying that we may pray up our selves more and more into that heaven-like conversation in which the ancient Saints have been inabled to out-live their troubles and so I trust shall we These few instances amongst many more that might be produced are brought to shew how sensible he was of Gods dispensations towards the Land and of publick Judgments and what his carriage was under them He was a man of a sound Judgment His soundness in the Faith and most stable in the Faith insomuch that though he had been a professor of Religion for many years and lived in such a time wherein so many opinions sprang up he never took up much less was fond of any private particular or novel opinion but he always preferred the old Divinity as he call'd it and liked that doctrine best which he knew to be held and maintained by the generality of godly sober and Orthodox Diviner Where he perceived any were led aside into any erroneous or corrupt principle by the subtilty of Satan and their own weak Judgment he would pray with great compassion and tendernss for their reduction and recovery and herein he was veryeminent instead of censuring others or quarreling with them about their opinions he did Conscientiously set himself to pray for them and as he had opportunity would endeavour in the Spirit of meekness by setting before them the clearest and plainest texts of Scripture that were opposite to their opinions to inform them in the truth And being sensible how much the work of Christ was hindered by the falling away of many that had newly taken up the profession of Religion to vain opinions his prayers ran much that way that the Lord would please to reduce wandring Souls and he would exhort others to do the like Oh says he let us be earnest with our God to stablish us and ours and all his people in the truth of the Gospel His Charity His Charity towards others was exceeding exemplary where he saw any thing of Christ or sincerity though mixed with some errors in Judgment and accompanied with other infirmities his Charity would pass over those defects and imbrace that of the grace of God which he apprehended to be in them He always loved to make the best construction of the actions of others and if the action of an other could possibly admit of a good interpretation he would be sure to construe it in that sense It was a rule with him never to speak of the faults and failings of others behind their backs except it were in these two cases either that it might some way or other tend to the persons reformation or else to warn others to take heed of such a one that might do them a mischief And as he laid a Law upon himself never to speak of the failings of others for discourse sake but only upon a weighty occasion and for a good end so he could not patiently endure to hear an evil report concerning others and it was the most unpleasing discourse to him to hear the infirmities of others blazoned without a cause He was most ready to distribute to the necessities of such as were in want to his power and many times beyond his power His house was free and open at all times for the entertainment of godly