Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	true_a	2,848	5	3.8360	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60146	Resignation to the divine good pleasure in every condition recommended as the duty and happiness of every good man in a sermon from 2 Sam. XV, 26.	Shower, John, 1657-1715.	1684 (1684)	Wing S3682; ESTC R10146	17,860	35

than the measure of his judgment For one cross we have many blessings Have you not the Love of God the Testimony of a good Conscience the Influence of the Holy Spirit the Ministry of Angels the Promises of the Gospel and the Hopes of Glory These you have kept or might have kept notwithstanding all your afflictions After such reflections as these can we reasonably suppose that there will ever be any just ground of dissatisfaction in God's disposal Ever any reason for us to quarrel with his Providences and be displeased with what he doth He hath done us good and not evil all our days hitherto and are we loth to be guided by so Gracious a Father Are we unwilling to be disposed of by so good a God 2. We ought in duty to resign to his will if he had not thus oblig'd us by his benefits because we are his Creatures and owe him subjection and because by our many sins we deserve his wrath He hath an undoubted right to order us by his Providence as well as govern us by his Law And 't is a vile contempt of the Authority and Wisdom of our Absolute Soveraign to dispute his will We cannot suffer any evil of affliction but what is of his sending Poverty as well as Riches is his gift The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken blessed be his holy name Job 1.21 Prov. 22.2 Psal 39.8 1 Sam 3.17 The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is maker of them both I was dumb and open'd not my mouth because thou O Lord didst it saith David It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good unto him saith Eli. We owe obedience to all the instances of his declared will And when we see his hand at the bottom of the Warrant silent submission becomes us as we are his creatures especially considering that we have provok'd him and deserv'd his Wrath that all the good we receive is undeserved but none of the evil we suffer is so We cannot challenge his favour or merit his love and therefore should be thankful for every mercy We cannot but confess that we deserve his judgments and therefore should humbly submit to every Affliction Shall we not bear the indignation of the Lord Mic. 7.9 Lev. 26.41 Ezra 9.13 having sinn'd against him Shall we not accept the punishment of our iniquities especially when 't is less than our sins deserve Hath God removed any one comfort we did not forfeit Doth he inflict any one calamity we did not merit And ought we not with thankfulness to acknowledg his mercy and with intire submission resign unto his good pleasure 3. Upon the account of Interest We are not only obliged to this Resignation of our selves to the Will of God in duty to him but for our own Interest and Convenience Because 1. God knows better what is good for us than we can possibly do our selves 2. Because having resign'd all to his Will the worst that can befall us will be really for our good 1. God knows better what is good for us than we can possibly do our selves We think that to be evil which God brings about for good From the finiteness of our Nature and the feebleness of our Reason we can't view the full circuit of his Providence or discern the gracious design in every dispensation which he infallibly carries on and will at length discover We have nevertheless the highest Reason to adore his Will and hold the general conclusion that whatever he doth is best Eccl. 3.11 and 't will be beautiful in its season 'T is therefore our Interest to refer our selves to him Eccl. 6.12 For man knoweth not what is good for himself in this life God like a wise Physitian may consult our health when he doth not gratifie and please our Palates He may deny us in some particulars to grant us in others which will be more for our advantage He may contradict our designs and wishes to secure our greater good How many men who have waited for a Wind and miss'd it have fretted and disquieted themselves for being occasionally absent when the Ship set Sail who soon after have thank't the Providence of God for preserving their lives by so cross an accident when they heard that the Ship perisht in the Voyage and all the men were drown'd We know not how much God may be befriending us when we think he acts like an enemy As he gives us many things by his Providence for our good which we afterwards find to be so but would not have chosen so he takes away many with the same design which we are loth to part with God may take away one blessing which we prize to substitute another in the room of it that is much superior So that were we offer'd our choice what we would have we could not do wiser than to put the choice to him again and desire him to chuse for us For we behold not the series of good or evil consequences which would follow upon our Wishes if they should be granted That may be good on a naked prospect which a series of depending events may turn to evil And so on the contrary But God who holdeth the Chain of all Causes in his view seeth what reference one part hath to another and so orders all as may best attain his great design and our truest interest Jacob understood not till afterwards that the loss of Joseph was the means of his advancement to the Throne of Egypt and the preservation of his Family in a Famine the intended issue His Brethren sold him for a Slave that he might not become their Master And by that very means it came to pass that their sheaves bowed down to his according to his dream We only take notice of what is good at present but know not what would be so for the remainder of our lives but God can order things so as to be for our greater and more lasting good And hereafter we shall find that what now afflicts us was a real kindness and advantage Even those barren Women in Jerusalem who long'd to become joyful Mothers and for want of children would not be comforted when Titus sack't the City and the Inhabitants were destroyed by Fire Sword Famine and all sorts of Calamities they then found the words of our Saviour to be true Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bare and the paps that never gave suck Besides we know not what is best for us as we stand related to others and in reference to the publick The publick good of Mankind may be promoted by our private inconvenience and loss and of that God is the best Judg. We are troubled at the frustration of our endeavours and hopes as to some instances when that disappointment may conduce to the publick advantage because we should but have got into the room and place of our betters who are of greater use and service to the common Interest of Christianity

and the general good of the World And should we have our Wills in one particular against the purpose of God it may be it would cross the designs of God in a thousand others for great things may depend upon that which we would have to be otherwise than it is Lastly God only knows what is best for us in order to our eternal happiness All men would chuse to be prosperous in the World but how many thousands would perish and be undone if they were so Riches may impoverish and ruin us health and strength may weaken and undo us and that which we desire and chuse may prove a curse and a snare an inducement to sin and shut us out of Heaven We know not how we could grapple with the temptations of an higher condition All men cannot carry a full cup without spilling or be advanc't very high but their heads will turn round We discern not those many instances wherein our Temporal interest would contradict our Eternal where our present satisfaction would be inconsistent with our future blessedness But since God doth 't is our interest in all things to resign to his dispose and the rather because 2. Having resign'd our selves to the Will of God the worst that can befall us will be really for our good God doth never afflict willingly or in vain but in great faithfulness to us and for excellent purposes never without a just cause on our part and a gracious design on his He can no more do an unwise act than an unholy one being infinite in Wisdom as well as in Purity He intends us good by all and hath promised that shall be the issue Rom 8.28 1 Cor. 3.21 22. He hath put losses and calamities afflictions and Death it self the Death of others as well our own into the covenant of grace they are all compriz'd within a promise and shall work for good All the evil God at any time inflicts on his Children is only another method of doing them good That by suffering in the flesh we may cease from sin That when our hearts are melted like wax we may be capable of Divine Impressions That he may open our ears to discipline by the voice of his rod Check our Pride and humble us at his foot prevent our security and cure our earthly mindedness perfect our patience beautify our faith and repair our inward vigor imbitter this world to raise us above it to take us off from our false hopes and carnal dependences to awaken our sleepy consciences and revive a Spirit of Prayer c. And the Wisdom of God doth oftentimes suit our necessities in these particulars by the kind and season of the affliction And Blessed are those sufferings which bring us more into a Conformity to his Holy Image Happy are those depressions to the Earth which afterwards lift us nearer Heaven Those sighs and groans are matter of joy whose eccho is a more holy and circumspect Life And welcome should be that evil which thus effects our greatest good God the great Physitian of Souls can Cure the Plague of the heart by a bodily Disease and make one troublesome distemper more effectual than many Sermons He can teach us such Lessons from the House of Mourning as we should never have learnt in the House of Feasting Yea he doth sometimes cause his Rod to be a Staff of comfort and give the sweetest inward peace to his People through streams of Bitterness For some never read the love of God so legibly as under the darkest cloud of outward distress As the Ark was nearest Heaven when the Waters of the floud were highest Besides is it not our advantage if he will prove our sincerity and exercise our Grace by a change of Providence To see whither we can love him as a Father while we feel his Rod whether we can believe the truth of his Promise when humane succors fail whether we can derive our support from his covenant love when we have little else to depend upon whether we can live upon the Fountain when the streams are cut off and the cisterns fail Now if this be the merciful design of Heaven in the worst that can befal us we are traitors to our own interest not to resign our selves intirely to him But this will lead me to the 3d particular to 3. Consider the Advantages and Benefits of this Resignation of our selves to the Divine good Pleasure And they are such as follow It will very much prepare us to receive without murmuring the smartest correction and qualify us humbly to improve the severest strokes Still encouraging our selves in the Lord our God to whom we have surrendred our selves and the management of all our affairs It will fit us for Prayer and dispose us to a Spiritual Communion with God therein For without such a temper no prayer respecting the things of this life can be acceptable to God It will prevent our making use of unlawful means to avoid any feared evil or to extricate our selves from any present difficulty because God can bring about good by seeming evil He can make the earth to help the woman accomplish his gracious designs by what seems to oppose them It will suppress an undue Inquisitiveness after things future And keep us from making use of any irregular or suspected methods to be inform'd of what shall come to pass For keeping within the bounds prescribed us by God and managing our affaires with the best discretion we can we may be very well satisfied by referring the success and issue to a divine conduct It will take us off from blaming second causes and fretting against Instruments under afflictions and will make us look higher to that hand of Providence which manages the Rod and hath wisely appointed it It will assist us to glorify God in the fire acknowledging his supremacy and subscribing to his Wisdom and believing his faithfulness and thereby satisfying our minds that if losses and disappointments poverty or tribulation or any other calamity be God's appointment that is best If to be crost in our desires deceiv'd in our expectations depriv'd of our friends goods or reputation be the Will of God that is altogether best From such a temper we may be able to say Lord here I am ready for any service prepared for any suffering girt for any encounter resolved for any difficulty and satisfied with whatsoever thou shalt please to order Lead me to the right hand or to the left lift me up or cast me down Do unto me what seemeth good in thy sight I submit to thy direction I am thine and at thy dispose and resolve to follow thee without disputing thy pleasure If thy Will be such and thy Wisdom advise it Poverty is better than riches disgrace than honour a prison than liberty losses than possession missing more eligible than obtaining frustration a greater kindness than success and a Tempest more desirable than a Sun-shine Such a temper as this will secure the