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	true_a	3,110	5	4.9581	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70235	The vanity of self-boasters, or, The prodigious madnesse of tyrannizing Sauls, mis-leading doegs, or any others whatsoever, which peremptorily goe on, and atheistically glory in their shame and mischief in a sermon preached at the funerall of John Hamnet, gent. late of the parish of Maldon in Surrey / by E.H. Minister ...	Hinton, Edward, 1608 or 9-1678.	1643 (1643)	Wing H2066; ESTC R7444	51,429	56

best endeavours but this my wonder or griefe rather what great ones he hath great I mean for their then esteeme in the Christian world ready prest as it were to bee his seconds What else meane such large approbations making way for his Socinianisme Lament may we with David d 2 Sam. 1.19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places how are the mighty fallen Non homo voluntate suâ saith Austine adhuc in vitio liberi arbitrii claudicantis praevenit Deum ut cognoscat quarat eam gratiam e Lib. 7. contra Pelag mans will faultring through the mis-use of his former freedome doth not prevent God by use of his best endeavours by doing what he can his using such a measure of industry in finding of truth his humane prudence and ordinary discretion as our Defender would make us beleeve in his fore-quoted passage doth not I say prevent God in knowing or seeking his grace which deservedly he may challenge sed praecedit miscricordissimâ gratiâ suâ Deus hominis ignorantis nondum se quaereutis voluntatem liberi arbitrii ut eam se scire quarere faciat but God with his most free grace makes the will of man willingly to finde and know him which naturally and of himselfe is ignorant and carelesse of him And as 't is the free mercy of God which begins this great businesse of conversion in man so 't is also his free grace which furthers and perfects it In this respect may we say what in another God himself sayes f 1 Sam. 3.12 When he begins he will also make an end for 't is he alone which of his good pleasure worketh in us both to will and to do g Phil 2.13 Know therefore in the last place that graces though never so many and glorious cannot afford just matter of self-boasting let me therefore in the last place ask thee Why dost thou boast thy selfe in thy spirituall graces What if in many assaults thou hast got the better of the field become more then Conquerour yet remember 't was through Christ only which loved you h Ram. 8.37 and if the Lord had not been on thy side mayst thou now say if the Lord had not been on thy side when not men only but when the World and the Devill nay when thou didst rise up against thy selfe thou hadst been swallowed up quick Againe how knowest thou whether or no the Lord owes thee a forsaking and 't is more then probable he doth and will pay it too if thou too much pridest thy selfe and turnest his graces into wantonnesse When Ioh so securely and so proudly too My root is spread out by the waters and the dew layes all night upon my branch my glory is fresh in mee and my how is renewed in my hand i Iob. 29.19 and so triumphantly to the end of the Chapter see how sadly the next chapter begins Now they that are younger then me have me in decision whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock Thus David too no sooner had boasted that in his prosperity he should never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountaine to stand strong but presontly it followes thou didst hide thy face from me and I was troubled k Psa 30.6.7 Now if God once withdraw himselfe suffers thee to fall in a skirmish let Davids teares and groanes and sighes tell thee how strong throwes 't will cost ere thou recoverest thy selfe or thy right station Once more 'T were better to have no grace at all as the Father thinks then that thou shouldst make it matter of self-boasting Audeo dicere saith he superhis continentibus expedit caders ut in eo ipso in quose extollunt humilientur I dare affirme it greater safety for the chast to fall then to be proud of their chastity that they might be humbled in that wherein they prided themselves and the reason is good he gives quid enim prodest continentia si dominetur superbia what doth continency advantage a man whom pride swels l Aust Serm. 57. in Mat. He who thinks out of grace freely bestowed to get glory to himselfe labours to the utmost to pull down what God was building and to rebuild what God was pulling down i. he is proud of his humility humility being that which God seeks chiefly to erect and pride that which hee seeks chiefly to pull down A man in this case like Lots wife looks back on what the Lord was destroying and 't is the Lords meere mercy that for an example he leaves not such a one as he left her at the half-wayes end even in the midst of his journey to heaven that it befals not him as it did Eleazar who in fight first kild an Elephant and afterward unhappily by its fall was kild by the Elephant so 't is I say Gods goodnesse that whosoever having conquered pride and afterwards is proud of his conquest of his humility is not at last overcome by this pride But me thinks the sad consequences of Peters boasts should sufficiently fright us from being guilty of the like for as of him so of others also is it generally observed both by Divines and Souldiers that the greatest Braggadochio's are the first which revolt and deny nay rather then they 'l hazard life or goods the first that will forsweare too Wot you not that Peter which ere whilst made that great vaunt Though all men should bee offended because of thee yee will I never bee offended m Malth 26.33 immediately afterwards ourst and swore he knew him not n Vers 76. and pray observe that 't is plaine from the content that this his revolting was not so much an argument of his weak faith as a punishment of his presumption There are a sort of Thrasonicall Professours alwayes boasting how farre they dare goe in a good cause which either ruffile it in a bad or will not venture a being wershod in a good men much like these Galli Insubros Florus speaks of o Lih. 2. which had corpora plus quàm humana bore a good bulk and show quorum primus impetus iis major quâm virorum crat sequens verò minor quàm foeminarum who at the first onset were valiant almost beyond men but in the heat of the battell cowards below women So these forward men as they seeme at the first like thornes make a great blaze and noise yet suddenly goe out notwithstanding some small penalty or disgrace they swell'd and bufled yet now now when there is happily a necessity of endangering if not leaving off all that we may follow Christ now there is laying down of lives for his sake now as that Histerian speaks of these Galli they have quaddam simile oum nevibus like soow they quickly dissolve and are lost either they goe beyond Sea thereby to quit themselves of trouble and expence or else like Metius

be done upon these fawning Curs by a knock then by a gentle put-off I shall therefore change my intended exhortation into a reproofe Applic. There are a sort amongst us that saile only with a popular wind they continue not good and fast out of the sound of a Bellè or an Euge which they so greedily thirst after that they had rather have an O brave bellowing in their eares by the ignorant rout then a Well done good and faithfull servant sounded to their consciences by their Saviour and this our misery that not some few of the lower forme only but those of the highest some otherwise fit for the sterne great ones 't is to bee feared live by this ayre To see a little Spaniell or Tumbler with his sneaking and fawning to beg a commending clap on the side or spetting in the mouth is somewhat tolerable but to see a great old Mastiffe riggle for it after the same ridiculous gesture is extreamly odious In like manner to see a Player or Fencer to expect or take courage from the clap or shout of giddy Spectatours 't is as pardonable as usuall but to see this old States-man or t'other great Souldier which ought to bee serious and in earnest Chamelion-like to live by the common aire to wax cold or hot in their weighty employments according to the cry of vulgar Ignorants 't would make a man lose both patience and modesty and tell this great Lord or t'other great man that the Compasse he steares by is unworthy either his blood place honour or calling and that this common aire he now lives by is of all aires most uncertaine and altering and may through sudden dislike become sufficiently thick and noisome to stifle or poyson him and that happily not undeserving For to speak truth the vaine glorious ones of our times are the lowest and unworthyest that ever I read or heard of History wil tell you that Scevola burnt his own hand off Zeleucus suffered one of his own and another of his Sons eyes to bee boared out Decius flung himselfe into the midst of a bloody and raging Army intending thereby to become a sacrifice for his Countrey and Brutus too whipt and beheaded his two Sons in one day and all these moved by the same ground and principle even as the Historian reports of that act of Brutus his favore civium o Flor. lib. 2. to gaine favour from the people and what spirit and resolution this spark of vaine-glory put into some Christians in the Primitive times Doctor Donne tells you p Pseudo-Mart whereas he excellently discovers and rightly blames their inordinate affectation of Martyrdome But alas the vaine-glory-hunters of our times though that only byasses them yet can it not thus strongly byasse them though favor civium be the thing they onely aime at and the wheele these puppets onely move by yet base as they are base below Christians in the infancy of the Church nay base below Heathens yet will they not venture on any danger or hazzard any losse to gaine or continue it Let these take home that of Tertullians haec ethnicorum exempla non sine causâ Dominus in seculum admisit sed ad nos nunc exhortandos in illo die confundendos si reformidaverimus pati pro veritate in salutem quae alii affectaverunt in perditionem q Lib. ad Martyr these forenamed examples of the Heathens God did not in vaine but for us admit of both for our present encouragement and for our shame and confusion if we shall through sca●e shrink from under-going these miseries for the truth unto eternall salvation which they for vaine-glory only affected unto their condemnation The necessary brunts hazzards and troubles these our present distractions put good men upon abundantly discover these empty quelque choses Now even now our Saviour sayes unto them If you 'l follow me shew your selves my Disciples goe and venture all that you have for me and you shall have treasures in heaven like the young man in the Gospel upon the like injunction and tryall they are not only sorrowfull beginne to flag and to be discontented to repent that they have gone so farre stickled so much for Christ but with the young man too they begin to depart shame to them and forsake him and upon the same ground too as the young man there did r Ma● 2.19.21.22 because they have great possessions when their store of Land or great Houses come in question then farewell reputation and popularity these shall no longer keep them in trouble or danger they will then tell you as the Spaniard sayes truly of such ſ Fanse● serm 37. That obligation of Religion is not so precise a thing that we should for the same adventure either our goods persons or peace of the State That which a States-man is most interested in is the profit and benefit of the people and by no meanes ought he to draw too much envie upon them for cause of religion So true is that of S. Pauls Not many wise men after the flesh not many noble are called t Cor. 1.26 And that of our Saviours Arich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven u Matt. 19.23 And so much be spoken of the first part of the question in generall and of its three particular branches in the last place fall wee upon its second part I say in the last place because my meditations on the first question have enlarged themselves so much farther then at first was intended that I shall have no time to handle the last question unlesse I touch on it in the application of the second Quest 2 Why dost thou boast thy selfe in mischiefe To justifie this carnest expostulation of my Psalmist I shall shew you out of the sacred History what a searfull and hideous mischiefe this boaster whether Saul the Tyrant or Doeg the bloody misleading informer was guilty of and leave it to your after meditations to make the conclusion whether or no they have just cause to boast of it or the Psalmist to be amazed and lost at their boasting David was so much in the peoples eyes Saul hath slaine his thousand and David his tenne thousands w 1 Sam. 18.7 that he therefore became lesse in Saul's and Saul eyed David from that day forward x vers 9. This emulation or rather envie bred wrath the wrath a murderous intention and Saul cast a javelin for he said I will smite David even to the wall with it y vers 11. So much danger did David finde there was in deserving and being thought well of by the people the Kings violence thus missing its aime he turnes his rage into wiles of an Ajax becomes an Vlysses drops preferment to ensnare him z vers 21. afterwards upon Ionathans plaine dealing pacification is made and the King binds it with a solemn Oath As the Lord liveth he shall not be slaine a

secondly he had many occasionall additions to his estate and is well known to you all This to free him from making too much hast to bee rich Again that he was not covetous these reasons prove First he dislik't sure I am ever since I knew him the unjust griping trade of usury Secondly he never made purchase as I have heard not himselfe only but some neighbours affirm wherein he gave not of the most Thirdly and lastly he was liberall at his door and hospitable in his house Whosoever shall be apt to condemn him out of this opinion that thrift and providence and the Lords blessing on these a joyning house to house and land to land cannot be without covetousnesse this man is much out of the way The truth doutblesse is quite of the otherside those which are carelesse of their own estates are most covetous of their neighbours witnesse Cataline of whom Salust sui profusus alieni appetens men oft spend that wit and time in taking from others which should have been imployed in keeping or encreasing their own becomming thus at the same time theeves and loyterers Some the desire of others goods and skill in cheating leaves them carelesse of their own others againe wasting their own estates become covetous of their neighbours The fifth as the last and chiefest his constancy in the observation of religious dayes and duties never since God sent me to you doe I remember that ever he absented himselfe from our holy meeting unlesse sicknesse or some undeniable and lawfull occasion detained him constantly did he observe set times of prayer in his Family And so punctuall was he in the observation of the Lords own day that when the violent danger of a fit and the earnestnesse of his friends his Minister urging reasons for it could not be perswaded that a Messenger should on that holy day travell for a Physician no not after our publike devotions were ended But his Religion wil more brightly appeare when as in the last and next place you shall heare how religiously and thriftily he husbanded the time of his sicknesse Which was almost nothing else but a continued prayer a praying alwayes a praying without ceasing For his sicknesse seized him with such violence deadly symptomes that it told him at first what he was to look for wherefore he presently pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto himself resolv'd for death and thereupon forthwith betook himself unto God in a long and serious prayer and unlesse it were in some necessary intermissions of rest of receiving either spirituall or temporall food and Physick he continued in the same posture and action untill his last fit which took him away praying Nay when he was quite tyred with the extremity of his fit sleep offered it selfe he would oft refuse it saying he could not spare so much time from his devotions and when I answered him that by rest he would be the better fitted and quickned for prayer he replyed but oh I shal have ill thoughts get within me even in my sleep to my great hinderance at last when I told him that such ill thoughts that seized on him thus unwillinly and were suddenly sorrowed for awaking would as soon vanish and be pardoned he was with much difficulty brought to admit of an houres intermission for that rest which he so much wanted Yet even then too did he manifest himself part of the Church of Christs Spouse who though she slept yet her heart waked b Cant. 5.2 for seemingly to us asleep yet many times the up-moving of his hands showed his heart was awaked unto God But when he was perfectly awaked with such earnestnesse even in his extreamest fits did he fasten his eyes and hands and heart too I dare say towards heaven that I believe 't was with him as with Stephen c Acts 7.56 By faith he saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God whom he then so earnestly plyed to pray the Father for him He came at last to such a delight in prayer that spending one whole almost even a terrible night of many threatning fits in this heavenly Colloquy and familiarity with God and I asking him the morrow following how he had sped that night Oh said he I have had many brave fits and told me withall that God would not let him lose one fit but ever after it he found his faith and comfort encreasing The Lord by them does work me said he and by degrees I creep unto him When we first sate about the great businesse of preparation for death which truth is ought to be the businesse and task of our whole life I could not take the course usuall with me on the like occasions first to administer the Law its exactness terrors and curses on the disobedience allowing some certain time and dayes for the working of it ere I administred the Gospel but by reason of the danger his fits threatned I was forc't to make a confection of the Law and Gospel to administer them mingled and compounded acquainting him at the same time with terrours and comforts threats and promises hell and heaven lest he might have been suddenly cut off in a desperate sorrow or a false joy And God bee praysed accordingly it wrought with him now you should have his eyes fastened on the ground in token of humiliation anon piercing the Heavens in token of confidence now you should have his hands wrung in token of griefe anon again held up in token of hope now a teare in token of sorrow and then a smile in token of joy just like this Month of April raine and Sun-shine stormes and calm But towards his end these enter changes ceast the calm begun to be full and glorious he might have cryed out with the Church d Cant. 3.11 12. Lo the winter is past the raine is over the flowers appeare on the earth the time of the singing of birds is come the voyce of the Turtle is heard For I asking him whether or no his comfort did encrease he answered me excellently greatly and how faith held out hee replyed strongly even then when I could scarce hear him Whereupon demanding of him loath I was the the Devill should at last gull him whether he could at the present resist unto blood be burnt undergoe the fiery tryall for his Saviours cause and glory he answered me gladly gladly Lastly the Lord so much shewed himself unto him gave him so full a view of his treasures such a largetaste of those joyes that were laid up for him in heaven as wee are charitably given to believe that he underwent the extremity of his fits not with patience only but with comfort and left the world his wealth friends and pleasures not out of a dull sense of the paine and agony of his sicknesse or a prophetick sensiblenesse of the miscries falling on this Kingdom which he would oft lament nor made he in this respect a vertue of necessity carelesly left it because he could no longer enjoy it this were like a condemned thiefe or traytor who seem willing to lay down their lives because they can no longer keep them not in this or that or the other false respect did he welcome death but therefore was with joy and cheerfulnesse dissolved because his faith assured him he should be with Christ FINIS