Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	free_a	grace_n	love_n	2,934	5	6.6495	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31997	The Godly mans ark, or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore : the other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation : hereunto are annexed Mris. [sic] Moores evidences for heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness / by Ed. Calamy ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1658 (1658)	Wing C248; ESTC R22111	99,589	306

hold out I was not taken off from the performance of holy duties no I thought with my self that I am commanded by God to perform holy duties which is the way and means whereby wee may meet with God For hee is ordinarily to bee injoyed no where but in his own ordinances but the Lord took mee off from resting and trusting in Ordinances And as hee made mee to see that without the practise of them hee would not accept of mee so also hee made mee to know that it was not for holy duties for which I was accepted The sins that cleave to my best performances are enough for which the Lord may justly condemn mee if I had no other sins 5 The Lord brought mee to see a Superlative beauty and excellency in the Lord Iesus Christ and my soul was deeply in love with him even with whole Christ in all his Offices and if I know any thing at all of my owne heart I desired Christ as much to bee my King and Prophet to teach and guide mee and subdue mee to himself and rule over mee as to bee my High-Priest to make Attonement by offering up of himself for mee and washing mee in his blood by which I must bee justified 6 The Lord brought mee to see a soul-satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and I think I should bee as fully satisfied with Christ alone as my heart can desire If I know my heart it panteth after Christ and Christ alone None but Christ none but Christ. The whole world in comparison or competition with Christ is nothing to mee But in him I see full contentment To see and know my interest in him and to injoy communion with him is that which if the Lord would bestow upon mee I should with Iacob say It is enough and with old Simeon Now let thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation Now I desire to set down some other Scripture Evidences that I finde upon search and examination of my heart by laying it to the Rule The Word of God My Second Scripture Evidence is taken from Mark 2. 17. Where Christ saith They that are whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick and hee came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance Now through Gods mercy I can say that I am a sin-sick-sinner the Lord make mee more sick I am not righteous in mine own eyes but a sinner and see my self undone for ever without the righteousness of Christ bee imputed to mee and therefore I hope I am amongst the number of those whom Christ was commissionated by his Father to come to save From Matth. 11. 28 29. I am weary and heavy laden now Christ hath promised to give ease to such And I am willing to take his yoke upon mee and would fain learn of him the lesson of meekness and lowliness and therefore am invited to come unto him I can say with David that my sins are a heavy burden to mee they are too heavy for mee Psal. 38. 4. and I can say that I mourn because I cannot mourn no more for my sins now Christ saith Blessed are they that mourn for they shall bee comforted Mat. 5. 4. From Matth. 5. 3. I think if my heart do not deceive mee I am pòor in spirit now theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven saith Christ. From Matth. 12. 20. I am a bruised reed and smoaking flax and therefore Christ hath promised hee will not break such a reed nor quench the smoak of grace if it bee true grace but hee will increase it more and more as hee saith Untill judgement breake forth into victory And hee came to set at liberty them that are bruised Luke 4. 18. Therefore I hope I am such a one as hee came to binde up and set at liberty Yea and that hee was anointed and sent by his Father to mee and such as I am Isa. 61. 1. From 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation saith Paul That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And so say I too it is worthy all acceptation that Christ should come from the bosome of his Father who was infinitely glorious and happy that hee should come into the world to save mee mee a sinner mee the chiefe of sinners mee that if saved I do verily beleeve there is none in heaven nor any that ever shall come thither that hath or will have the cause to magnifie and adore free grace as I shall have And herein doth God commend his love towards mee For if when wee were enemies wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled wee shall bee saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. I can say with Paul that I delight in the Law of God after the inward man and I am grieved that I cannot keep it I finde that spiritual war in mee between flesh and spirit which Paul complaineth of and I can say that Paul doth confess over my heart in his confessions Rom. 7. And I can go along with him there from verse 9. to the end of the chapter and from hence I gather that there is some spiritual life in my soul and an indeavour to walk after the spirit and therefore I hope and desire to conclude with him that there shall bee no condemnation to mee but that the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus shall make mee free from the law of sin and death I finde an earnest desire wrought in my soul to bee made like unto Jesus Christ and that it may bee my meat and drink to do and suffer his will as hee would have mee I can say that the Lord hath in some measure put his fear into my heart that I fear to offend him out of love to him and I love to fear him I can say with the Church to Christ Cant. 1. 7. O thou whom my soul loveth and if I know any thing at all of mine own heart Christ is altogether lovely and most desirable to my soul. I think I can truly say with David that I have none in Heaven but thee and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee in comparison of thee in competition with thee Though all that is dearest to mee in the world should forsake mee yet if God whom I have chosen for my portion will not forsake mee I have enough It is my desire and endeavour more and more to account all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ. I can with Peter make my appeal to him and say Lord thou who knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee and that it is the desire of my soul to love thee more and to love thee for thy self because thou art holy and good and gracious and the chiefest amongst ten thousand Yea God in Christ alone is worthy to be

and not before the greatness of their sin in selling their Brother Gen 42. 21. They open the ear to Discipline In prosperity wee turn a deaf ear to the voyce of the charmer though he charm never so wisely But adversity openeth the ear and causeth us to attend When God spake upon Mount Sinah in a terrible manner then the people said unto Moses Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and wee will hear it and do it Deut. 5. 27. Memorable is that Text Jer. 2. 24. A wilde Ass used to the Wilderness that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away all they that seek her will not weary themselves in her month they shall finde her in her month that is when she is great with young and near her time A wicked man in the day of his prosperity is like a wilde Ass used to the wilderness hee snuffeth at any that shall reprove him hee is of an uncircumcised ear and a rebellious heart but in his month that is when hee is bigge with Afflictions then hee will be easily found this will open his ear to Discipline 3 They will open the mouth to confess sin Judg. 10. 15. 4 They will command us to depart from iniquity Job 36. ● 9 10. Afflictions are Gods Furnaces to purge out the dross of our sins Gods files to pare off our spiritual rust Gods Fannes to winnow out our chaffe In prosperity wee gather much soil but adversity purgeth and purifieth us This is its proper work to work out unrighteousness Dan. 11. 35. Dan. 12. 10. 3 Gods end is not only to keep us from sin but to make us holy and righteous therefore it is said Isa. 26. 9. When they judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness And Heb. 12. 10. Hee for our profit that wee may bee partakers of his holiness As the waters that drowned the old world did not hurt the Ark of Noah but bare it up above the earth and as they increased so the Ark was lifted up nearer and nearer to Heaven So Afflictions when sanctified do not prejudice the Saints of God but lift them up nearer unto God in holiness and heavenly-mindedness 4 Gods design in afflicting his children is to make the world bitter unto them and Christ sweet 1 To imbitter the world There are two lame leggs upon which all worldly things stand uncertainty and insufficiency All earthly things are like the earth founded upon nothing They are like heaps made of wax that quickly melt away Riches and honours wise and children have wings and flye away they are like unto Absoloms Mule they will fail us when wee have most need of them They may puffe up the soul but they cannot satisfie it inflare possunt satiare animam non possunt They are all vanity and vexation of spirit so saith the Preacher but most people in time of health will not beleeve these things but when some great sickness betides them this is as a real Sermon to make out the truth of them then they see that a Velvet slipper cannot cure the Gout nor a golden cap the head ache Prov. 〈◊〉 4. That riches avail not in the day of wrath and this imbitters the world 2 To make Christ sweet and precious When Christ and his Disciples were in a ship together Mat. 8. 25. it is said That Christ was asleep and as long as the Sea was calm his Disciples suffered him to sleep but when they were ready to bee drowned then they awoke Christ and said Master save us wee perish Even the best of Saints when fatted with outward plenty and abundance are prone to suffer Christ 〈◊〉 lye asleep within them and so neglect the lively actings of Faith upon Christ but when the storms of affliction and outward calamity begin to arise and they are ready to bee overwhelmed with distresses then None but Christ none but Christ. 5 Gods design in afflicting his children is to prove and improve their graces 1 To prove their graces Rev. 2. 10. Deut. 8. 2. to prove the truth and the strength of them 1 The truth and sincerity of their graces For this cause he loaded Iob with afflictions to try whether hee served God for his Camels and Oxen or for love to God As Solomons sword tried the true Mother from the false So the sword of affliction discovers the sincere Christian from the hypocrite Distresses are divine touchstones to try whether we be true or counterfeit Saints That grace is true which upon tryal is found true 2 To try the strength of our graces For it requires a strong faith to indure great afflictions That Faith which will suffice for a little affliction will not suffice for a great one Peter had faith enough to come to Christ upon the Sea but assoon as the storm began to arise his Faith began to fail and Christ said Why art thou afraid O thou of little Faith Mat. 14. 30 31. It must bee a strong Faith that must keep us from sinking in the day of great Distress 2 To improve our graces It is reported of the Lionesse that she leaves her young ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling and then at last gasp shee relieves relieves them and by this means they become more couragious So God brings his children into the deeps and suffers Ionah to bee three daies and three nights in the belly of the Whale and David to cry till his throat was dry Psal. 69. 3. and suffers his Apostles to bee all the night in a great storm till the fourth watch and then hee comes and rebukes the winds and by this means hee mightily increaseth their patience and dependence upon God and their Faith in Christ. As the Palm-tree the more it is depressed the higher stronger and fruitfuller it grows So doth the graces of Gods people Lastly Gods aim in afflicting his people is to put an edge upon their prayers and all their other holy services 1 Upon Prayer What a famous Prayer did Manasseh make when hee was under his iron fetters It is thrice mentioned 2 Chron. 33. 13 18 19. When Paul was struck off his horse and struck with blindness then hee prayed to purpose Therefore it is said Act. 9. 11. Behold hee prayeth In prosperity wee pray heavily and drowsily but adversity adds wings to our prayers Isa. 26. 16. The very heathen Marriners cryed aloud to God in a storm It is an ordinary saying Qui nescit orare discat navigare There are no Saylors so wicked but they will pray when in a great storm 2 Upon Preaching Prosperity glutteth the spiritual appetite adversity whetreth it 3 Upon a Sacrament How sweet is a Sacrament to a true Saint after a long and great sickness 1 It makes God and the word of God precious If God sets our Corn-fields on fire as Absalom did Ioabs then hee shall

cost Christ as little to wash away the guilt of great sins as of small Christ is a great Physitian And David prayeth Pardon my iniquity for it is great Psalm ●5 11. Though thy sins bee never so bloodily circumstantiated though never so often reiterated though thou beest never so loathsome yet if thou canst beleeve There is a Fountaine opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem for sin and for uncleanness and therefore let no man exclude himselfe from a right to Christ who is willing to take Christ upon Christs termes Hee that excludes himself offers the greatest injury imaginable First Unto Iesus Christ for hee makes him a lyar Christ hath said If any man come to nice I will in no wise cast him out and hee saith Christ will cast mee out although I do come to him Secondly Unto his own soule For hee necessitates himselfe unto damnation For Christ hath said expresly Hee that beleeveth not shall bee damned Object But I am afraid that I am a Reprobate and that God hath excluded mee from having any interest in Christ. Ans. Who told thee so It is one great sign thou art not because the Devil would perswade thee that thou art But howsoever Secret things belong to God but those things which are revealed to us and our children God hath kept the black Book of Reprobation secret Hee openeth the whole Book of Election to some of his children but hee keeps his black Book unrevealed It is a sin for any man to think himself a Reprobate unlesse hee can prove that hee hath sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost for this thought would hinder him from the use of means for his salvation and cause him to despair which is a sin of the first magnitude and therefore take heed of complementing thy self into Hell by a sinfull modesty in refusing to beleeve in Christ Take heed of dallying or delaying in the great work of laying hold upon Christ upon Christs termes Remember God excludes none from Christ but such as exclude themselves by unbeleef And remember Whosoever beleeveth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him 2 You must study the Freeness of the Promise of Christ. God promiseth Jesus Christ freely Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and hee that hath no money Come yee buy and eat yea come by VVine and Milke without mony and without price c. Christ is offered in the Gospel sine pretio sine merito sine motivo without price without merit and without any motive inducing on our parts Therefore the Holy Ghost saith VVhosoever will let him take the water of life freely Let not then thy undeservedness hinder thee from laying hold upon Christ as thy portion Say not I am not worthy that Christ should owne mee Christ will owne thee not because thou art worthy but because hee delights in mercy Micah 7. 18. Say not I am not humbled enough and therefore I dare not lay hold upon Christ. For humiliation is not required to make us precious to Christ but to make Christ precious to us and if thou beest so far humbled as to bee willing to take Christ upon Christs termes thou art humbled enough unto Divine acceptation though not unto Divine satisfaction Every stung Israelite who was inabled to look up to the brazen Serpent was healed though hee was not stung to that proportion that another Israelite was 3 You must study ●he condition upon which Christ is promised It is certain Christ is not tendered absolutely without any condition Christ is not offered to a proud sinner resolving so to continue or to a Drunkard resolving to persevere in his drunkennesse Those Texts which declare the Freeness of the offer of Christ doe also mention a condition to bee performed by those that will have him Isa. 55. 1. Revelat. 22. 15. In both places the condition of thirsting is expressed Let him that is a thirst come Ho every one that thirsteth Quest. Doth not the mentioning of a condition take away the freeness of the tender of Christ Answ. By no means The reason is because this very condition is the free gift of God The Apostle saith Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might bee by grace The condition of Faith doth not make the offer of Christ not to bee of grace but therefore it is of faith that it might bee of grace for as Christ so also faith is the gift of God Wee do not preach conditions unto justification in a Popish sense as if they merited out of congruity the pardon of sin or in an Arminian sense as if wee could do any thing by our free-will without grace to dispose our selves unto justification but in a Scripture sense wee say That all those on whom God intends to bestow Christ freely hee freely openeth their eyes to see their undone condition out of Christ hee humbles them under the sense of their sad condition and out of his free mercy inables them by faith to lay hold upon Christ and to accept of him upon his own termes Faith is not the cause for which but the cause without which God will not give us Christ. Quest. But what is the condition upon which Christ is promised Answ. There is if I may so speak Conditio praeparans disponens and conditio applicans the condition required to the preparing and disposing us for an interest in Christ and the condition applying Christ to us and bringing him into our possession 1 The condition required to the disposing preparing and fitting us for an interest in Christ. And this is the sight of our sins the sense of them and a real willingness to part with them There is no man qualified according to the Gospel to rest upon Christ for pardon of his sins who is not really willing to part with them And no man will bee willing to part with his sins which hee naturally loves as himselfe unlesse hee see the sinfulness and cursedness of them and feels in some measure the smart of them The woman who had the bloody issue never thought of coming to Christ till all her mony was spent in vaine among other Physitians T●e Prodigal childe would never have returned to his Father had hee not seen himselfe utterly undone by wandring from him 2 The condition applying Christ to us and bringing him into our possession This is Faith which therefore is the proper condition of the Gospel upon which Christ is tendred Now this Faith is not a bare receiving and taking of Christ. For there are many who take him and mistake him There is no man but is willing when hee is dying to take Christ as the men of the old world were willing to go into the Ark when the Flood came but this taking and receiving of Christ if it bee right hath six Properties 1 It is a receiving of Christ with all his appurtenances