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	work_n	6,191	5	6.9192	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12210	Yea and amen: or, pretious promises, and priviledges Spiritually unfolded in their nature and vse. Driving at the assurance and establishing of weak beleevers. By R. Sibbs D.D. master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and preacher of Grayes Inne London. Reviewed by himselfe in his life time, and since perused by T.G. and P.N.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.	1638 (1638)	STC 22521; ESTC S102402	91,199	446

to be exalted when we are poore then are we most rich and when we are dead then doe wee live For God worketh all by contraries hee lets men see his greatnesse and his goodnesse that so they may admire his works and give more glory to him he worketh without means and above meanes and against meanes out of misery hee bringeth happinesse and by hell bringeth men to heaven Which as it manifesteth Gods glory to his creatures so it serveth for the confusion of mans pride that hee may discern he is nothing in himselfe but is all that he is in the Lord. The third cause why all things work for the best to them that feare God Is Gods covenant with his Church when once this gracious covenant is made that hee will be their God and they shall be his people that he will bee their Father and Protectour must not all things then needs serve for their good When as God tells Abraham I am thy God All-sufficient only walk before me be thou perfect Doth not this engage him to set his power mercy his wisedome and providence all on work for the happy estate of Abraham When once God by his promise is become our God there is a covenant betwixt us and the creatures yea and the stones in the street that nothing shall wrong us but all conduce to our good The Angels are ours their service is for our protection safety welfare Heaven and earth is ours and all things in them for our behoofe Christ himselfe and together with him all things else are become ours in him we are heires of all What a wondrous comfort is this that God hath put himselfe over to be ours whom to enjoy is to possesse all things and to want is misery unexpressable Had we all the world without God it would prove a curse and no blessing to us whereas if we have nothing and enjoy God we have happinesse it selfe for our portion If we have no better portion here than these things wee are like to have hell for our portion hereafter Let God be in any condition though never so ill yet it is comfortable He is goodnesse it selfe And indeed nothing is so much a Christians as God is his because by his being ours in covenant all other things become ours and therefore they cannot but cooperate for our good When thou art in the fire and water I am with thee saith God And Thou art my Buckler my Glory and Shield therefore I will not be afraid though ten thousand of people shall be set me round about saith David for salvation belongeth unto the Lord. And if God be on our side who can bee against us If God justifie us who shall condemne us Can any thing hurt us when hee is become our loving Father Neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come nor principalities nor powers nor any thing whatsoever can separate us from his love toward us A fourth ground why all things fall out for the best to the Saints is The foundation of this covenant of God with his Church which is Christ Iesus who by his bloud hath purchased our peace hee being God became man and is the sole Author of all our comfort Without Christ God is a consuming fire but in him a most loving Father and ever well pleased God promiseth in Christ his Sonne to marry his people unto himselfe for ever Yea saith he I will marry thee unto me in righteousnesse and in judgement and in mercie and everlasting cōpassion Now upon this blessed contract made in Christ to his Church what followeth In that day saith the Lord I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the Corne and the Wine and the Oyle and they shall heare Israel and I will have mercy upon her that was not pittied And I will say unto them which were not my people thou art my people And they shall say thou art my God Where wee see what is the reason of all their happinesse even this that God will marry them to himselfe So that this marriage worketh all our blisse our conjunction with Christ and reconciliation through his death is the cause of all our comfort in him wee have the adoption of Sonnes Hence it is that we are at peace with God and have freedom from all harmes Christ in his greatest reproach and deepest humiliation had his greatest triumph and exaltation In his death on the Crosse he vanquished Death and entred into eternall life When Christ came into the world and took upon him our nature even then the greatest Monarch in the world Augustus Caesar was at his command whom he so ordered as that by his causing all the world to bee taxed Christ was manifested to be borne at Bethlehem in Iury. How commeth it to passe that death which is fearefull in it selfe cannot hurt us The reason is Death is swallowed up in victory by his death It is Christ that sanctifieth all crosses afflictions and disgraces to the Saints advantage The evill of them all is taken away by him and turned to his peoples good How commeth it to passe that the Law cannot hurt us which pronounceth a curse against every one that abideth not in all things written therein to do them The reason is Christ was made a curse for us he was made under the Law that hee might redeeme us who were under the Law and thus is Christ a meritorious and deserving cause of procuring all good to us and removing all ill from us He doth not only overcome evill for us but also overcommeth evill in us and gives us his Spirit which unites us to himselfe whereby wee have ground to expect good out of every ill as knowing that whatsoever Christ wrought for the good of mankinde he did it for us in particular In Outward favours grace makes us acknowledge all the blessings wee have to be the free gifts of God and invites us to returne the glory to him Gods servants take all occasions and opportunities of doing good by those gifts and abilities wherewith they are endowed When Hester was advanced to great honor Mordechay told her that God had conferred that dignity upon her for his peoples welfare that she might be a means of their safety Whereas on the contrary a proud heart destitute of the Spirit of Christ ascribes all to it selfe waxeth more haughty and growes worse and worse the more good he enjoyes A gratious soule upon the sight of the evill of sin in it selfe is more deeply humbled before God and with S. Paul crieth out of his wretchednesse A heavenly minded man being smitten for his wickednesse laboureth for subjection under the hand of the Almighty and saith I will patiently abide and endure thy correction because thou Lord hast done it When the gracious man is held under the crosse and suffereth bitter things he saith It is good for me that I am afflicted for

from doing us harme All the strength of the creature rests in the great Creator of all things who if hee denies concourse the arme of their power soon withereth It cannot but bring strong consolation to the soule to know that in all variety of changes and intercourse of good and bad things our loving God hath a disposing hand So as all blessings and crosses all ordinances and graces nay our very fals yea Satan himselfe with all his instruments being over mastred ruled by God have this injunction upon them to further Gods good intendment to us and in no wise hurt us which should move us to see his disposing hand in all that befals us We owe God this respect to observe his providence in the particular passages of our lives considering hee is our Soveraigne and his will is the rule and we are to be accountable to him as our Iudge We should question our hearts for questioning his care in the least kinde So long as God sits at the Sterne and rules all wee may bee sure no evill shall betyde us that hee can hinder Thirdly hence we may learne that there is not two but one Soveraigne head over the whole World which is plainly proved by this Text of Scripture For all things work together for the best to them that love God and things which in themselves are contraries agree together to procure their good therefore all things whatsoever are over ruled by the sole power of the Almighty The Devill himselfe although he be called the God of this World yet he is at Christs beck and could not enter into a few Swine without leave first obtained hee raiseth up hideous storms and tempests against the Saints but perisheth himselfe in the waves at last persecutions and perils may follow us but they are all limited in the doing of hurt which plainly demonstrates that there is but one main worker and wise disposer of all things Further hence observe that there is nothing in the world that to Gods servants is absolutely evill because nothing is so ill but some good may bee raised out of it not as it is an evill but as it is governed and mastred by a supreme cause Sinne is of all evils the greatest and yet sinfull actions may produce gratious effects through Gods ordering and guiding the same Againe observe that a childe of God is truly happy in the midst of all misery To prove this I reason thus In what estate soever the childe of God is it shall turn to his good therefore no affliction can make him truly miserable The proofe of this the Apostle sets downe in his owne example hee was poore yet made many rich he sorrowed yet alwayes rejoyeed he had nothing yet possessed all things he was chastned and yet not killed Gods children although to the world they may seeme to be miserable yet having communion and fellowship with him they are alwayes happy the very worst day of Gods childe ●is better than the very best day of the wicked The worst day of S. Paul was better to him than the best day of Nero was to him for the wicked in the midst of their happinesse are accursed whereas the godly in the midst of their miseries are blessed This Doctrine is a ground of understanding divers other places of Scripture as Psalme 91. The Lord promiseth that hee will deliver his from the snare of the Hunter and from the noisome pestilence and yet oft times his deere servants are in the hands of the wicked and taken away by the stroke of his judgements this truth neverthelesse remaining firme that all worketh together for their best So God teacheth us in his Word that he doth make a league betweene his servants and the creatures but all such expressions of his love we must bring to this Text and then they are true else they may seeme to bee false The plague shall not come neere thy dwelling place but only so far forth as it is for thy benefit The good Prophet was torne in pieces by a Lion and sundry holy men have received hurt by wilde Beasts whose eternall welfare were furthered thereby Therefore this phrase of Scripture that the creatures are in league is to bee understood not that they have put off their hostile nature But that they have the same issue as those that are at peace with us Here likewise is a direction for us how to pray for earthly blessings and the removall of temporall judgements often times worldly honours and riches are snares unto Gods children and temporall chastisements which wee so earnestly pray against work much good unto us And therefore it falleth out that when wee pray against temporall calamities wee pray against our owne good Being therfore afflicted we should desire not absolutely that God would remove our troubles but that hee would work his owne good pleasure upon us therby Our prayers for temporall blessings and removall of temporall crosses must alwayes be conditionall for what good will it bee for us to come out of the fire worse than we were when wee went into it If therefore God in his wisdome see it good for us to have affliction we should not desire him absolutely to remove the same till it have done us good And then Lord deale with us as seemes best in thine own eyes As for such as affect neither God nor goodnesse let them know that if all things work for the best to the Saints then they may forbeare their successesse endeavours which they daily enterprize against them in going about to hurt the godly they doe them most good for God will benefit them by their malice Their wicked practises shall not only bee made frustrate but dangerous to themselves after the chastisement of his servants for their good God will cast the rod into the fire Men may know whether they are vessells of mercy or no by the use they are put to The basest of people are fit enough to be executioners It is a miserable wisedome when men are wise to work their owne ruine Do not many spin a fine thred and weave a faire web when by their turnings and devices they turne themselves into hell What ever wee get by sinne for the present it will one day prove the heaviest businesse that ever wee undertook God is the onely Monarch of the world and makes all things and persons whatsoever service able to his owne end and his Churches good He is higher than the highest Sathan with all his instruments are but slaves to the Almighty executioners of his will Can we think that Gods children who are so neere deare to him shall alwayes bee trampled upon by the powers of darknesse No certainly hee is interessed in all their quarells and takes their injuries as don to himselfe When wee can bee more subtill than the Devill or more strong than God wee may think to thrive against them He is a wall of fire round about

heathen could say that we are then best in soule when we are weakest in body for then we are most in heavenly resolutions and seeking after God Yea then it appeares what good proficients we have beene in time of health Oh how happy were our conditions if we were as good when wee are well and in health as we usually are when we are sick and ill Even death it self which is the end of all though it be fearefull and irksome to nature yet it is to Gods servants a bed of Downe easing them of all their miseries and putting them in possession of an heavenly kingdome therefore saith Solomon the day of death is better than the day of birth God will be the God of his not only unto death but in death Death is the death of it selfe and not of us it is a disarmed and conquered enemy to all the faithfull for which cause S. Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Death albeit it seemes terrible and dreadfull yet the sting thereof being taken away by the death of Christ it brings everlasting joy along with it and is only as a Groom-Porter to let us in to a stately Pallace Whether tend all the troubles we meet with in this world but only to fit us for a better condition hereafter and to assure the soule that when earth can hold it no longer Heaven shall Yea when friends forsake us and are false unto us God is a sure helpe in time of need he is our refuge from one generation to another do we not see that in the decay of worldly comforts God then manifests himselfe most comfortably to his people doth he not stile himselfe the Comforter of the comfortlesse and the helpe of them that are in distresses and doe not with him the fatherlesse finde mercy if men were more fatherlesse they would find more mercy at Gods hands As Christ makes us al to him so should we make him all in all to our selves If all comforts in the world were dead we have them still in the living Lord. How many friends have we in him alone who rather than we shall want friends can make our enemies our friends Thus it appeares that all miseries are a triall of us to God and to the world what we are they are a cure of sin past and a preparation to endure further crosses they have many excellent uses and ends and all for the best to Gods servants It is good we should be exercised with present crosses to put us in minde of the evils we have done long agoe that so we may repent of them Iosephs brethren being afflicted and imprisoned called to minde how hardly they had dealt with their brother long before It should be our wisdome while we remaine here to consider our warfaring condition how we are daily invironed with enemies and therefore ought to stand continually upon our guard against Satan and the Powers of darknesse and as Pilgrims and Strangers go on in our journey to Heaven not starting at the barking of every Dog nor intangling our selves in worldly things whereby we should be stopped in our way It is for our best not to bee condemned with the world Afflictions serve for this very end to make us more prize God deny the creature with all its excellencies are our crosses great here let us not be daunted but beare them patiently our comfort shall be the greater afterwards It is not only good for us that wee should have crosses but that they should be continued upon us that wee may the better know our selves If all were well with a man wounded and the sore clean healed the plaister would fall off it selfe So were wee thorowly cured of our spirituall wants and in a continuall resistance of every evill way These afflictions which are the plaisters of our soules would soone cease and leave us Furthermore Sathan himselfe and all his instruments when they most set themselves against Gods people and seek their overthrow then are they working their chief good The Devill when hee thought to make an end of Christ by putting him to death even then by that very thing was vanquished himselfe and the Church of God fully ransomed from hell and damnation God suffers many heretiques to be in the world but why not that the truth should be held in darknesse but that it might thereby bee more manifested and knowne It is Sathans continuall trade to seeke his rest in our disquiet When hee sees men will to heaven and that they have good title to it then he followes them with all tentations and discomforts that hee can Hee cannot endure that a creature of meaner rank than himselfe should enjoy a happinesse beyond him but our comfort is that Christ was tempted that hee might succour all poore soules in the like case Wee are kept by his power through faith unto salvation Now the causes why all things doe work together for the best to them that love God are these viz. 1. It is Gods Decree 2. It is Gods manner of working 3. It is Gods blessed Covenant 4. It is the foundation of the covenant Christ Iesus Gods decree and purpose is of bringing all his Elect unto eternall salvation and therefore all things in heaven and earth must conduce to bring his servants unto glory The reason is this God is infinitely wise and infinitely strong provident and good therefore by his infinite wisedome power providence and mercie hee turneth all things to the best for his whatsoever is in heaven earth or hell is ordered by God neither is there any thing without him therefore nothing can hinder his Decree Sathan himselfe with all his instruments yea the worst of creatures all must serve Gods purpose contrary to their natures for the good of his children The Prophet saith God hath commanded salvation and he hath commanded deliverance to Iacob When God hath determined to save any man all things must needs serve him that over-rules all things As it was said of Christ when he stilled the Seas Who is this that the very wind and Seas obey him God commanded the Whale to serve at his beck to save Ionah and it obeyed All creatures in the earth are at his disposing and serve to accomplish his pleasure The second cause why all works together for the best to beleevers Is the manner of God working in things which is by contraries he bringeth light out of darknesse glory out of shame and life out of death Wee fell by pride to hell and destruction and must be restored by humiliation to life and salvation Christ humbled himselfe being God to become man for us and by his death restored us to life When our sinnes had brought us to greatest extremities even then were we nearest to eternal happinesse Therefore saith the Apostle When wee are weak then are we strong in the Lord. When wee are abased then are wee readiest

wrath against the day of wrath and the declaration of Gods just judgement which one day shall ceaze upon them Because hee doth not speedily execute his displeasure therefore they grow worse worse Never considering the lamentable condition that sinne brings men into which did they throughly weigh they would give the whole world if they were possessours of it to have their spirits at freedome from this bondage and feare God will take a course that his grace shall not bee turned into wantonnesse First or last thou shalt find who ever thou art at what rare thou buyest the pleasure of sin Those that have enjoyed long the sweet of sinne may expect the bitterest sorrow and heart-breaking sor it Nay the greater good things they have the greater evill they receive thereby by abuse of the same the more they are illuminated by the Word their hearts become more rebellious against it and the greater authority wealth and health they enjoy the more mischiefe they do with them Those heavenly Doctrines which should build up a good heart unto holinesse doe they abuse to bring their soules deeper into wickednesse shewing themselves like to their Father the Devill whose children they indeed are God hath said Hee would give his Angels charge over thee which is a most comfortable place to a good heart But how doth Sathan abuse this to Christ That he should fling himselfe headlong from the Pinnacle of the Temple and as the Devill so every wicked man by all instructions of the Word takes occasion to tempt God the more turning both grace it selfe and the Doctrine of Grace into wantonnesse Are there not many ●hat heare the Word and know Gods mind who yet profit nothing to amendment of life were it not better for these never to enjoy such meanes of heavenly wisedome Than now having the light still to live in darknesse their knowledge onely makes their damnation the greater if they continue in sin what a lamentable condition is that man in whose knowledge is only sufficient to damne his owne soule But let us see further how all evill things work together for the worst to ungodly persons And to begin with spirituall ill things as Heresies and errours they serve but to ensnare the wicked for instead of making them cautelous and diligent to search out the truth they are carried away with every wind of Doctrine So for the ill of good men their fals and sins the wicked of the world reap no benefit there by but incourage and hearten themselves the more in a sinfull way rejoycing thereat and making it their daily talke neither doe their owne daily sinnings any whit better them but are as so many punishments of their former transgressions God in his justice suffering them still to runne on to the fulfilling of the measure of their iniquities And for outward evils in this life those that doe turn to a good mans happinesse fall out continually to their destruction Pharaohs tenne Plagues which might have humbled his soule made him but worse and worse therfore saith God Why should I smite you any more for even since I punished you ye revolted still The wicked are like to the Smiths-Anvill which by often beating is made harder and harder so the more they are corrected the stubborner and stiffer in sinne they grow Their crosses are laid upon them from an angry God and are sorerunners of his eternall wrath which shall seaze upon their soules in hell where the more they are tormented the more they shall blaspheme and the more they shall blaspheme and the more they shall blaspheme the more they shall be tormented without cessation The cause of all this evil upon the wicked is first Gods infinite justice which will not be unsatisfied Secondly their owne vile hearts which like a sick man having an ill stomack digests nothing but turnes all to poyson Therfore saith the Apostle To the uncleane all things are uncleane As poysonsome Plants put into a fertile place doe invenome the ground whereinto they are removed So the same crosses that turne unto a good mans welfare prove a bad mans ruine by reason of the corruption within him Another cause is the Devils malicious working by it He makes wicked men abuse all their parts both inward and outward to Gods dishonour and their own confusion endeavouring to conforme them to himselfe None hath greater knowledge and understanding in the Word of God than the Devill Yet he turnes all his knowledge unto the sin against the Holy Ghost but yet the Devill cannot sorce men to wickednesse it is their owne sinfull hearts which betray them into his hands Whence we learne that all wicked men in the midst of their happinesse are most unhappy because they turne the sweetest blessings into bitter poyson for all the gifts of God without his speciall gift of using them well are turned into a curse As Balaam had good parts but they not being sanctified proved his bane We see further that outward prosperity is no mark of the true Church Abundance of temporall blessings is no signe that we are in Gods favour neither are learning and knowledge evidences of spirituall grace for the Devill hath greater understanding and parts than any man howbeit sight of sin preserves us from falling into it and such as shut their eyes against the light plunge themselves into deeper the misery Now to proceed to further instructions doe all things work together for the best to Gods servants then hence we may learne the certainty of the salvation of Gods elect I take my reason from the Text it selfe after this manner That which nothing can hinder that is certaine but the salvation of Gods children cannot be hindred therefore the salvation of Gods children is most certaine If any thing do or can hinder the Saints recovery or perseverance it is sin but to such as are united unto Christ by faith sinne is so farre from hindring their happinesse that by Gods over-ruling providence it turnes to their best good The second thing which wee may ground here for the information of our judgement is this That as we know the providence of God is the cause why all things work together for the best to his children so wee should eye this very particular providence in all that we enjoy turning the same to our good there is a working hand of God in every thing towards us as wee may see in the examples of Iob Ioseph and David with other of his servants whose present sorrow and humiliation was but a meanes of their future glory exaltation There is nothing so bad but hee can draw good out of it when any evill is intended God either puts barres and lets to the execution of it against us or else limiteth and boundeth the same both in regard of time and measure The God of spirits hath an influence into the spirits of all men knowes how to take them off