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
A86324	The advantage of afflictions: a sermon preached before the Right Honourable House of Peers, Ianuary 28. 1645. being the day of publike humiliation, in the Abbey Church, Westminster. / By Gaspar Hicks, a member of the Assembly of Divines.	Hickes, Gaspar, 1605-1677.	1646 (1646)	Wing H1837; Thomason E319_9; ESTC R200555	25,203	34

parts very servicealbe for Christs cause but of a timerous disposition apt to be overmuch dejected in difficulties and at that time extremely pensive he was for fear of some sad issues of the great meeting at Auspurg Luth. in Epist ad Spalat Whereupon Luther wishes his friend to exhort and charge him in his name Ne fiat Deus that he make not himself a God he might seem to be farre enough from aspiring to be a God who was cast down below the ordinary pitch of a man But here was his pride his projects must like the counsels of God unerringly and unchangeably stand or the cause as he thinks was lost and his spirit sunke And is it not even so with thee Thou must have thine own minde and thine own will in all things whhich is Gods peculiar or thou art undone If thou hast not as quick and clear returns of thy prayers as much victory over thy lusts as much sweetnesse of grace as much ability for duty c. as thou hast fancied or promised to thy self thou hast nothing at all if the simple gourd of thine own projects or conceits be smitten and wither Iona. 4 ● Thou dost well to be angry to be disconsolate even unto death This pride of thine will keep thee low and cost thee dear till it be truly brought down and mortified 3. Is not thy distance from God occasioned by spirituall decaies They will certainly bring the soul into distressing languishments or faintnesse as the actuall abatements of naturall vigour by age or sicknesse take off the appetites and senses from their edge and delight somenesse about their objects Thou that hast had thy tender meltings and breakings for sin and canst now look upon it and thinke of it and act it with dry eyes yea almost with an unrelenting spirit will God thinkest thou apply healings to thee and pour in refreshments as heretofore Thou that hast been on fire in holy zeal desires and affections but now thy flames are reduced to a few sparks raked up in the ashes will the spirit breathe so sweetly strongly into thee as formerly Thou that hast bin constant and in earnest in holy duties but art now grown formall remisse neglective in them canst thou expect that the Lord should meet thee in them with wonted answers and impressions Briefly thou that hast lost thy first love in any degree or exercise of it though the Lord retain his everlasting love to thee in his own purpose yet how canst thou hope but that thy unkindenesse will interrupt the expressions and blur the evidences of it exceedingly to thy apprehension Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen recover thy self and go on in thy former strength lest the Lord yet depart farther from thee and refuse to be found of thee 4. Have I not yet hit upon thy disease nor discovered the right grounds of it Perhaps 't is nothing Melancholike persons we finde are sad they know not why and some Christians I grieve to name them doe affect a querulous sullen humour whereas there 's nothing that doth better become or beautifie Religion nothing that more encourages weak ones confounds insolent ones nothing that doth more damp temptations and cherish graces then a sweet serenity and composednesse of spirit expressed in chearfull walking with God Strange it is then that when God tenders peace to men beseeches to reconciliation opens his counsels his compassions his heart to them should refuse or suspect all and make it their art to stave off their own mercies to argue against their own good Great cares and great fears and great distractions they pretend when indeed it is not the greatnes of the cause but the greatnes of unbelief that makes them great Non magnitude cause sed in credulitatis Luther Away with such mannerly infidelity such wilfull winking at the light if ever thou wilt finde God upon thy seeking of him 2. To conviction let me add counsell to the sad doubting soul 1. I would advise such an one to be very exact and open in discovering the proper grounds of his distemper If we meet with a friend and finde his countenance changed towards us if we read displeasure in his looks we think thus with our selves Why what 's the matter How have I offended him Surely there 's something amisse we cast up in our thoughts what cause of distaste we have given him So when we perceive the Lord looking strange upon us in any of our approaches or seckings of him should we not ransack our hearts sum up our accounts pry narrowly into our passages till we have found out what offensive thing hath set us at a distance from him When Joshua lay upon his face Iosh 7.10 lift up his cry for the people when they fell before their enemies the Lord told him that that was not the way he must search out the causer of the evil if he would have him to be with them any more I tell thee likewise though thou bury thy soul in the dust of self-afflicting dejections though thou weep out thine eyes torture thy self with continuall anguish 't will be to small purpose till the thief the troubler of thy peace be found out and executed An unskilfull Physician making applications without discerning the cause of the disease doth but irritate the humours that were quiet and leaves that which was peccant untouched whereby the distemper is encreased And though thou feed upon thine own flesh drink down the most bitter potions and yet doest regard lessely or willingly spare the praedominant peccant the ill-affected humour thou dost hereby engender more stirs within and art the farther off from health and soundnesse Oh deal candidly with thy poor soul in this case 't is in vain to dally or dissemble with an awakened working conscience 2. If thy distempers arise rather from conceited then reall grounds when the flesh hatches scruples of it's own or Satan spitefully injects them to disquier thee t is the best way to repell them resolutely and speedily I have met with some pertinacious cavillers who have held it honour enough to them if a man of judgment will design to dispute with them they thereupon harden themselves in their errour and glory in their victory though they be never so soundly confuted Some cavils or distrusts are best solved by a sharp rejection whereas gentle or long debates make them more obstinate We finde David angerly expostulating with his spirit in the like case Psal 42 11. Why are thou cast down ô my soul Why art thou disquieted with in me 'T were good for thee to chide thy self our of spirituall frowardnesse and to shake off groundlesse discontentments with indignation Why wilt thou afflict thy self without a cause and stand of from thy comforts when they are warranted to thee In tantum opus est fide ne causa fidei sit sine fide and pressed upon thee True it is as a pious Divine well notes

at the first on set or entrance of tryals upon us A besieged place if it stands out till it be battered and mined and starved runs a great hazard and comes of with harder termes of capitulation It were a desperate adventure to fight against God to the last man Oh come in yeeld to him at the first summons or discharge he makes against thee If whips will not serve turn Scorpions will be added if gentle strokea prevail not severity may break us in peeces in a dreadfull manner 2. If our continuance be long our measures deep in afflictions we have need to be the more urgent in seeking remedy and shelter with God A man that is dangerously falling cries out for help and laies fast hold on something to stay him up if our perils are extreme we should earnestly and resolutely fasten the apprehensive strength of faith on God On t of the depths have I cried unto thee Psal 130.1 O Lord saith David deep afflictions should raise up strong affections loud cries to heaven The Ark was neerest heaven when the waters of the floud were at the highest Our afflictions prove advantages when they heighten and strengthen our pursute and apprehension of God Some scruples may here arise which must be taken out of the way Ob. 1. It may be demanded whether all the godly are in the depths and are thus brought in by afflictions Sol. 1. To this I answer 1. That God doth not confine himself to one method or way of working He can and doth sometimes draw home his own by a calm and gentle tracture without any hideous or violent breakings he overcomes constrains them by love carries them up on the wings of faith leads them forth with joy Yet know withall what he spake of learning Isa 55.12 may be verified of our spirituall state If thou wilt apply thy self to study thou must be a poor man or like to a poor man Si animo vacare velis vel pauperent vel pauperi similent tresse oportet Seneca like him in sustaining labours in restraining sensuality and licentiousnesse So if thou wilt seek God in earnest thou must be brought to it by suffering or sense of misery or else be reduced to such a passe as they are in that have been so exercised Thou must be brought to an utter distrust and displicency of thy self convinced of the absolute necessity all-sufficiency and excellency of God And whether the discovery of Gods surpassing soul-satisfying goodnes or the manifestation of his displeasure against our sinfull vilenes be most prevalent to effect this it matters not so it be done 2. 'T is hard nay impossible to finde any of the Saints that are altogether without a share of sufferings which they may improve to the more earnest and effectuall seeking of God Petrus mereltur c. Peter sinkes saith an Ancient and is in danger of drowning which makes him hastily cry out for help to his Master If thou meetest not with fiery trials some flashes at least expect If as yet the sum of thy sufferings is not great haply there 's the more to come Ye have not yet resisted unto blond Heb. 12.4 striving against sin Souldiers to not fight all at once but every one in his order thou knowest not how soon thou mayest be set in the front 3. Saints are of a tender constitution they are sensible of every stroke from God a little noise from heaven awakens them The illiterate vulgar are apt to think that the Sun goes down on the other side of the next mountain at farthest that he is dipped in the Ocean The learned know by good demonstration that that great lightsome body is at a vast distance from them The godly are quickly and deeply sensible of Gods departure and distance from them In every affliction they tremble a thousand times more at Gods displeasure or withdrawing himself then at the weight or pain of the suffering In their trials they look first how the case stands between God and them and seek him in them as their only support and remedy Ob. 2. Another scruple offers it self here It is the complaint of Gods dear ones deserted so overwhelmed with spirituall afflictions so fast bound in misery and irons that they thinke it impossible for them to move towards God They have sought long but cannot finde him fished all night and taken nothing strained hard yet still they come short Sol. Suffer me here a little to insist the satisfying of one such soul were worth many Sermons many dayes of humiliation If there be any such here 't were pity that the spirit of one of them should be out of tune not able to hold harmony with us this day For such I have matter 1. Of Conviction 2. Of Counsell 3. Of Corroboration 1. It will be for their benefit that I discover to them the cause of their distemper 'T is true that God doth sometimes of very faith fulnesse cause his dear ones thus to be afflicted the reason of his own acts of deniall and desertion are known only to himself 'T is their part then to submit and tremble to wait and supplicate But yet 't were much if upon due search you should not in your selves finde cause enough of the dejections you complain of 1. And let me demand Is it not sinne that separates between you and your God that hides his face from you that he will not hear nor be found of you Sinne is the great make-bate and all sins are apt to work the soul to a distance from God but most of all these 1. Foul fins committed against light and conscience which like a great blow on the head hurt the faculties and cause stupefaction or astonishment 2. Close customary evils which winde themselves our of the reach of the Word are not shaken by ordinary trials so that God must hunt them out by an immediate work upon the Spirit substracting comforts and casting in anguish which will not suffer them to lurk or lie quiet When fair warnings prevail not God frowns and withdrawes What is it then that overwhelms thy spirits and drowns thy comforts Is it fluctus irruens August the violent irruption of a huge wave a hideous monstrous lust or sin No wonder that it staggers and confound thee till thou art recovered Is it sentina neglecta a secret evil like a leak in the bottome of a ship hard to be found or long neglected 'T will certainly work thee continuall cumber perill and perplexity till it be discovered and remedied 2. Is it not thy spirituall pride which causes contention between God and thee Tumours are seldome without Atrophies without witherings or wastings in other parts of the body If thou hast a swelling conceit of thy own abilities and archievements thou wilt have a shrivelled heart that will hold but little comfort 'T is remarkable to this purpose what Lather writes to Spalatinus touching Melancthou Melancthou was a man of excellent