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	word_n	work_n	3,143	5	6.0877	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75707	Good courage discovered, and encouraged: in a sermon preached before the commanders of the military forces, of the renowned citie of London. In the parish church of Great St. Helens. May the 17. 1642. By Simeon Ash, preacher in London.	Ashe, Simeon, d. 1662.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1642 (1642)	Wing A3956; Thomason E149_26; ESTC R3991	25,215	40

the government and worship of the Lord Christ for the safety and honour of our King for the welfare of his three Kingdomes for the Priviledges of our Parliament and for our rights by Law All these are to bee prized at an exceeding high rate our happinesse will bee great in the enjoying of them and our misery not small in the want of them Every man according to his Relations and engagements should reason the case with himselfe What adventures should I make and what hazard should I runne that my selfe may not bee enslaved that my Wife may not bee abused my Children massacred and which is above all that Christs holy Religion may not bee corrupted and that Popery may not bee introduced and established in England Thus meditation upon the worth of the things to bee maintained will bee a speciall meanes to quicken and to augment Courage Fourthly Keepe Christ your Captaine in your eye For true valour there never was nor ever shall bee any like unto him Gird thy sword upon thy thigh ô most mighty with thy glory and Majesty and in thy Majesty ride prosperously and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things Psalme 45. 3 4 How valiant a Champion was the Lord IESUS Heb. 12. 2. Hee endured the Crosse and despised the shame Hee went on though dogges did barke and Lyons did roare though men reproachfully reviled him and the Devils endeavoured to devoure him though the earth as it were did shake under his feete and the Heavens were black and thundring over his head Although when his professed enemies had conspired his death Iudas did betray him and his other Disciples did forsake him yea although his God and Father did hide his face from him when hee answered Divine Iustice for our sinnes yet hee shrunke not hee drew not back from the glorious worke undertaken When outward dangers encompassed him and the sorrowes of Hell tooke hold upon his Soule though hee was apprehensive and sensible of all unto the utmost and therefore both complained and prayed to his Father yet was he not discouraged Hee did not sound when hee saw his own bloud yea although his body was wet all over with a bloudy sweat but he worthily did wade through the floud of his appointed passions Consider him consider him beloved that you may not faint in your minds when a souldier sees his Captaine content to take up with poore provisions and undaunted though hee meet with hard services harsh usages sore affronts hee thereupon growes the more resolute For thus bee reasons within himselfe My worthy Commander for his diet takes up with a crust of course bread and a little water hee hath not beene in bed these many nights but still either watcheth or else hee lies upon the ground the cold ground no wayes no weather discourages him Winter Summer wet or dry scorching heate the pinching frost are alike unto him Bullets blowes wounds bruises broken bones doe not cause him to sound a retreat to give back and shall I shrinke Beloved if Christ had shrunke when Heaven frowned and men deserted and Devils opposed him what had become of you and mee Is this Christ my Captaine and hath hee Captaine-like Champion-like for mee both done and suffered thus worthily thus incomparably and shall not I put on Courage and shew my selfe a man a valiant man for him I beseech you consider this frequently and affectionately Fiftly I commend unto you mutuall Christian communion as a speciall meanes of Christian Courage In the Prophet Malachy his times when wickednesse was Mal. 3. 16. growen to a great head and the power of godlinesse was discountenanced in them then those that feared God spake often one to another When Paul after shiprack saw the brethren who came Act. 28. 15. to meete him hee tooke Courage And also upon a strong Act. 18. 5. dispute with some who opposed Christ when Silas and Timotheus were come Paul was pressed in Spirit God bee thanked for that unity and love which is amongst you amongst you the Aldermen and Commons of this City unto whom the Militia is committed God continue it God knit your hearts together more fast and firme from day to day God give you when you meete to consider seriously what may heat and hearten your Spirits in the way of Christian valour according to that which this day I have preached and according to that which this day wee all need Wee read in Isay 41. 6. of a Company of Idolaters animating each other in promoting Idoll worship They helped every one his Neighbour and every one sayd to his brother Bee of good Courage So the Carpenter encouraged the Gold smith and hee that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth with the anvill c. Doubtlesse at this day those who envy our hopes and oppose our peace doe meete and hearten one another both by words and actions God forbid therefore that wee should bee more regardlesse of one another having a better cause and more incouragements Sixtly set faith on worke in the promises of the Gospell The worthies in the primitive times waxed valiant by meanes of faith Hebr. 11. 34. You may doe well to informe your selves what the Lord is pleased to speake in the word of truth for your comfort By the bond of his owne rich unchangeable grace he is become your debtour to doe more then I can possibly expresse Three things I thought to have spoken unto under this direction First The promise of Gods assistance Bee of good Courage and hee will strengthen thine heart The sweet Psalmist saw much sweetnesse in this and therefore doth mention it once and againe when the Soule saith I am ready to Psal 27. 14. fall downe yet taking courage to march forward it shall renew strength it shall receive an addition of new strength Esa 40. 31. And that speech of Solomon Prov. 10. 29. is very remarkeable The way of the Lord is strength to the upright They goe on and gather strength in going they walke from strength to stregth Psalm 84. 7. Truly this is an heartening consideration Secondly The promise of good successe Beloved Christians maintaining the cause and minding the glory of God are as sure of victory as if now they were singing the triumph and going away as Conquerours This is most certaine for truth it selfe hath spoken it In the World Ioh. 16. 33. yee shall have affliction bee of good cheere or bee bold I have overcome the World The Devill hath his deaths wound Corruption hath as it were the knife at the heart of it and the power of wicked men is broken they are but sprunting and striving for life By this argument the Lord heartened his servant Ioshua Bee strong and of a good Courage for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto their Fathers to give them Josh 1. 6 As though the Lord had thus spoken although thou mayest fight many battailes receive

mocketh at feare and is not affrighted neither turneth hee back from the sword The Quiver ratleth against him the glittering speare and the sheild hee swallowes the ground with fiercenesse and rage neither beleeveth hee that it is the sound of the Trumpet And this boldnesse that is in bruits it is spoken of as a piece of this same courage that God is pleased to give to men Ezek. 3. 9. this is the Lords promise As an Adamant harder then the flint have I made thy forehead The word Harder is the same in the Hebrew that is here in my Text Fortiorem petra The Rock that is not afraid of any weather Summer or Winter Sunne and Showres Heat and Cold Frost and Snow it blusheth not shrinketh not it changeth not it's complexion it is still the same Such alike thing is courage in the common nature of it Secondly Consider the subject it is the Heart the Castle where Courage commands and exerciseth Military Discipline shall I so say it s within the bosome it is the Soule of a valiant Souldier Some conceive our English word Courage to bee derived from Cordis actio the very acting of the heart A valiant man is described 2 Sam 17. 10. for to bee a man whose heart is as the heart of a Lyon And sometime the originall translated Couragious as Amos 2. 16. may most properly bee rendred a Man of heart Beloved valour doth not consist in a piercing eye in a terrible looke in bigge words but it consists in the mettall the vigour that is within the bosome Sometimes a Coward may dwell at the signe of a roaring voyce and of a sterne countenance whereas true fortitude may bee found within his breast whose outward deportment promiseth little or nothing in that kind Thirdly Note the qualfication of this same subject I said a sanctified heart for I am not now speaking of fortitude as a morall vertue whereof Heathens that have not God are capable and for which many among them that are not Christians have beene worthily commended But I am now discoursing of Courage as a vertue Theologicall as a gracious qualification put upon the people of God by speciall covenant And there are three things that doe characterize it and which doe distinguish it from the morall vertue of fortitude The Roote whence it ariseth The Rule whereby it is directed The End to which it is referred The Roote whence it riseth is love to God All the Saints of God that love the Lord bee of good Courage The love of Christ constraineth mee to make these bold and brave adventures saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 14. The Rule whereby it is directed is the word of God what the Lord hath pleased to leave on record for a Christians guidance in holy pages 1 Chron. 22. 12. 13. The Lord give thee wisedome and understanding that thou maist keepe the law If thou take heed to the statutes and judgements which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel be strong and of good courage dread not nor be dismai'd Bee a man of mettall but let thy mettall bee according to my mind according to this rule And the End to which it referres is God For every sanctified man being a selfe-denying and a God-advancing man his God is his Center wherein his actings his undertakings rest and his Soule is not yea it cannot bee satisfied but in God The fourth thing considerable in the Description is the naturall the formall the immediate operations that doe flow from this gracious audacious frame of heart they are two There is an adventuring upon difficulties And there is an undergoing of hardships First There is an adventuring upon hard services It is said 1 Sam. 31. 12. The valiant men rose and went all night and tooke the body of Saul and the bodies of his Sonnes from the wale of Bethshan and came to Gabesh and burnt them there When the Philistins had taken their bodies and were gone away Conquerours and fastened them there as Ensignes of victory brave blades well mettalled men went by night and fetched them back againe an hard and a brave service And by reason hereof there is an enduring of hardships Those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy who are said to be men valiant in fight Heb. 11. 34. This testimony is given of them that They endured torturings the tryall of mockings or cruell mockings of scourgings of bonds and imprisonment of stoning of being sawne asunder of being slaine with the sword of wandring up and downe in sheeps skins and goats skins being men destitute afflicted and tormented Fiftly in my description I cast in the cause which true courage undertakes to doe and suffer for the object it workes upon the prize it adventures for it is a good cause Matters of faith stand ye fast in the faith quit ye like men It is 1 Cor. 16. 13 a Gospel peice for which I am to jeopard a joynt to hazard alimbe to adventure life 1 Cor. 6. 13. or matters of fact I must be of good courage for my conscience that I may maintaine an evennesse of spirit in reference to my rule in relation to my God 1 Pet. 3. 14. If yee suffer for righteousnesse sake happy are yee be not afraid of their terrour neither be troubled It is a noble a Christian resolution in any man if hee thus determine rather then I will make a wound upon my conscience a breach betweene God and my soul rather then I will violate asacred vow and transgresse the command of my God I will run the greatest hazards in outward regards that can be imagined The goodnesse of the cause Divines say for which a man suffers makes the Martyr In like manner it is the warrantablenesse of the worke wherein the souldier the man of mettall appeares that gives him the credit the honour of this title to be accounted a valiant man Sixtly and lastly I added that good courage makes the Ios 1. 9. foresaid adventures upon the call of God Have not I commanded thee be strong and of a good courage If the Lord please to beat up the Drum If the Lord please to bid them arme and come abroad his call is sufficient Now God cals either by his precept or by his providence Either God cals his Champions for to undertake dangers or hee commands dangers to over-take them and hereupon being led forth by the Lord of hoasts they expresse their valour For this they know that whether it be estate or peace or life or liberty or Religion or whatsoever else they hope to defend they are all tallants that God hath entrusted them with and that therefore only upon his Commission signed and sealed by his own hand they may come forth and must come forth bravely and shew themselves couragious in reference thereto Now for a man in an impetuous giddy neady way to breake himselfe unwisely in his reputation liberty estate and himselfe knowes no other reason but because his spirit moves