Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	faith_n	good_a	salvation_n	3,234	5	7.4195	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62392	The faithful souldier's reward, or, A glimpse of the saints happiness discovered in two sermons, occasioned by the death of that truly vertuous and religious gentle woman, Mrs. Katherine Disney : the former preached at Kirkstead, the place of her last abode here upon the earth, on the 18th day of May, 1690, being the Lord's Day, and the latter at Swinderly, near Lincoln, where she was interr'd the Tuesday following / by William Scoffin.	Scoffin, William, 1655?-1732.	1692 (1692)	Wing S933; ESTC R11432	41,514	126

My Life hath been a military Life even a continual Warfare yet have I not fought the evil Fights of ambitious or quarrelsom Men but the Fight which I have fought is the good Fight of Faith I have stoutly opposed the Enemies of my Salvation and through Christ my Captain and Leader have conquered and overcome The Life of a Christian is often is Scripture compared unto a Warfare because of those spiritual Enemies which are continually Warring against us There are three great Enemies which every Christian has to grapple with As 1. The Devil which is a very subtil watchful and powerful Enemy 2 Cor. 11.3 14. He hath many Devices Wiles and Stratagems 2 Cor. 2.11 Ephes 6.11 He 's a malicious and enraged Enemy 1 Pet. 5.8 Who roveth about with unwearied Diligence seeking whom he may devour He hath his fiery Darts to molest those whom he cannot entice by his ensnaring Wiles Ephes 6.16 Yea we have not only this great Adversary the Prince of Devils to grapple with but whole Legions of Devils even all the Powers of Darkness Ephes 6.12 2. Another Enemy of our Souls is this evil World There are two ways by which the World overcomes Multitudes 1. By its Smiles and Allurements 1 Joh. 2.16 2. By its Frowns and Threats Joh. 15.19 20. Thousands are drawn from God and eternally ruined by the Smiles and Allurements of this evil World Some are taken with Pleasures some with Riches and some with Honours These are Satan's Baits whereby he catcheth Multitudes and keeps them in his Power Luke 14.16 20. Mar. 4.18 19. 1 Tim. 6.9 12. Mat. 19.16 22. Again Many who have in some measure escaped the World's Allurements have been conquered and overcome by its Frowns and Threats Mat. 13.20 21. Joh. 12.42 Yea such an Enemy is this evil World that none can overcome it but such as are spiritual they who are Believers indeed and are born from above 1 Joh. 5.4 5. 3. Another Enemy that Christians have to grapple with is Carnal-self Gal. 5.17 or our unmortified Corruptions I find a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin saith the Apostle Rom. 7.21 23. Now the Flesh or Carnal-self is a very dangerous and deceitful Enemy Jer. 17.9 The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it It 's an old saying and in this respect a true one that a Man has need of no worse an Enemy than he brings from home For sure I am there is no Man hath a more dangerous Enemy than Carnal-self Our Enemies without could never hurt us if it were not for this Enemy within For look as when an House is beset then one Enemy within is much more dangerous than many without So this home-bred and indwelling Enemy Carnal-self le ts in the Devil and the World to the spoiling and undoing of the poor Soul No wonder then that the first Lesson which Christ teacheth his Disciples is a Lesson of Self-denial Mat. 16.24 If any Man will come after me let him deny himself c. Keep down Self and we conquer all but if Carnal-self get the upper-hand the Devil and the World will easily overcome us It is safe Advice therefore which the Apostle gives 1 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims saith he abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul These are the dangerous Enemies that Christians have to grapple with and none can overcome them but through Faith in Christ Jesus Now some may ask why this Fight of Faith is call'd a good Fight Unto which I answer It may be so called upon several accounts As 1. Because they that are ingag'd in this Warfare do fight for a good Cause the best that ever Souldiers fought for they being God's Enemies as well as theirs whom they fight against and his Glory as well as their own Salvation is that which is contended for 2. They have a good Captain the best that ever Souldiers fought under for the Lord Jesus Christ is their Captain and Leader Heb. 2.10 3. They are furnished with the best Armour and Weapons that ever Souldiers made use of The Christian Armour lis Armour of proof and their Weapons are spiritual and mighty through God for the pulling down the strong Holds of Sin Ephes 6.10 17. 2 Cor. 10.3 4 5. 4. Their Wages are the best that ever Souldiers receiv'd He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Rev. 21.7 So chap. 2.7 10 11 17. chap. 3.5 12 21. There is good reason you see why the Life of a Christian may be compared to a Warfare and why this spiritual Combate or Fight of Faith may be said to be a good Fight Let us all then be perswaded to fight this good Fight of Faith Never had Souldiers greater Encouragement to fight than we have under Christ's Banner and never had Souldiers more need to fight than we for we must either fight or die fight couragiously or perish eternally And if we will resolve upon this we must see that our Faith be true and saving for such as want a true Faith cannot possibly fight the Fight of Faith therefore labour we for a lively Faith and then live we in the lively Exercise of it Thus you see what is meant by the first Words in my Text I have fought a good Fight I proceed now to the next Words I have finished my Course q. d. God appointed me a Race to run both as a Christian and also as an Apostle and Minister of Christ the which Race I have now finished and am come to the End and Period of my Days Act. 20.22 24. The Life of a Christian is often in Scripture compared to a Race as well as to a Warfare 1 Cor. 9.24 27. Heb. 12.1 Well then let us lay aside every Weight and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with Patience the Race that is set before us Let us press forward towards the Mark as this great Apostle did Phil. 3.13 14. He ran the Christian Race with an holy Activity and Vigour till he got to the Goal and won the Prize Let us so run that we may obtain What a blessed Condition is that Person in who can think of his Dissolution with Joy and Comfort and can say with an holy Triumph I have finished my Course Such a Condition was this holy Apostle in when he writ this Epistle to Timothy he knew Phil. 1.21 that to die was his gain having fought a good Fight and thrô Christ overcome Having run the Race that was set before him and kept the Faith unto the end i. e. adhered constantly in Judgment and Practice to the Faith he professed and preached to others he could therefore say with the fullest assurance Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness c. Heaven is express'd in Scripture by

the Apostle there from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body according to the Working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself O blessed Change indeed They shall be fashioned like unto his glorious Body Now the Bodies of the Saints are vile but then they shall be glorious For Christ's Body now glorified in Heaven is surely a glorious Body indeed * Rev. 1 13 16. Mat. 17.1 2. And the Bodies of the Saints shall be like his O how joyfully will the Soul reunite with the Body when this glorious Change is passed upon it And what a blessed Union will this be nevermore to be broken O then will the Saints be in a Capacity of enjoying the highest Felicity 3. Their Bodies and Souls thus re-united shall be received into Mansions of Bliss and Glory where they shall for ever be with the Lord and be perfectly happy to all Eternity And O how should the Thoughts of this chear our Hearts and fortify us under all our Trials Let not your Hearts be troubled Joh. 14.1 2 3. saith Christ ye believe in God believe also in me In my Father's House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you And if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also O comfortable Words indeed Yea and Christ has left them for our Comfort Wherefore comfort one another with these Words 1 Thess 4.18 saith the Apostle With what words Why that Jesus Christ will come in the Clouds Ver. 16 17. and meet Believers in the Air and they shall for ever be with the Lord. O blessed and glorious Day when Christ shall pronounce that blessed Sentence to such as have been his faithful Followers Mat. 25.34 Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World The Members of Christ are now look'd upon by the World as a Company of Hypocrites and vile Miscreants even such as are unfit to live in a Common-wealth but Christ pronounceth them Blessed The World saith Act. 22.22 Away with such Fellows from the Earth for it is not fit that they should live but Christ saith Mat. 25.34 Come ye Blessed And Christ calls them the Blessed of his Father shewing thereby the Orignal Cause and Fountain of all our Happiness The beginning of our Salvation was from an higher Cause than our own Holiness yea than Christ's Merit even from the free Grace and Favour of God the Father He is the principal efficient Cause of the Saints Blessedness Christ as Mediator is but the way to the Father Joh. 14.6 It is the Father that appointed Christ and gave him to Sinners Joh. 3.16 And in time brings them to close with him Joh. 6.44 It is the Father that prepared this Kingdom for them before the Foundation of the World They are not less beloved and blessed by the Father than by the Son who redeemed them but whosoever is dear unto the Son is dear also unto the Father O what Soul-enravishing Joys will the Saints be filled with when Christ shall pronounce this blessed Sentence Come ye Blessed of my Father To the Wicked he will say Depart but to the Saints Come as the Quintessence of all Misery lieth in the one so the Consummation of all Blessedness lieth in the other We see here what the Sentence will be at the Grat Day the reason of this Sentence followeth For I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat I was thirsty and ye gave me Drink I was a Stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me Mat. 25.35 36. These good Works are mentioned by Christ and given as a Reason of the Sentence not as if Heaven was merited by them but as the undoubted Evidences and Fruits of a true and saving Faith And that a true Faith is implied in the Works here mentioned is very clear and evident 1. From the Expression it self For I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat saith Christ 't was Christ they respected in his Members Now it requireth Faith to see Christ in a poor needy Person or Prisoner to love Christ in them above our worldly Goods and to part with our Wealth for their Relief because they belong to Christ This is a great Piece of Self-denial and doubbless the Fruit of a saving Faith for 't is not meerly the relieving the Poor but the doing of it as in and to Christ 2. Faith and good Works are very nearly linked together for Faith is not sound and saving unless it produce these good Works and these Works are not acceptable unless they proceed from Faith and are done in Faith Heb. 11.6 1 Tim. 1.5 Where there is true Faith there will also be good Works as the genuine Effects and Fruits of it yet certain it is that the best of those Works do no ways deserve Heaven Luk. 17.10 Ephes 2.8 9. And the Saints will be so far from pleading their Works in a way of Desert or Merit that they will rather altogether disown them being sensible of their many and great Imperfections and how far short they came of their Duty Then shall the Righteous answer him saying Mat. 25.37 Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee Drink Ver. 38. When saw we thee a Stranger and took thee in or naked and clothed thee Or when saw we thee sick Ver. 39. or in Prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Ver. 40. Verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me By the way we may observe these three or four Particulars 1. The wonderful Love and Humility of the Lord Jesus Christ the King of Glory in owning the poorest Joh. 20.17 Heb. 2.11 12. and least of his Members for his Brethren In as much as ye have done it saith he unto one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me O wonderful condescending Love that the great God should take such poor Worms as we into so near a Relation unto himself 2. Observe that Christ takes that which is done to his Members as done to himself I was an hugred saith he and ye gave me Meat I was thirsty and ye gave me Drink I was a Stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me For in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me So that we