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	world_n	3,255	5	4.3685	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61222	Practical discourses on sundry texts of Scripture wherein is shewed and made known the absolute necessity for all people to turn immediately unto the Lord their God / by Richard Stafford ...	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1695 (1695)	Wing S5129; ESTC R34590	179,430	348

the Power of the Air even where Satan's Seat is and he doth hinder or resist or defeat all the Good he can His Devices are subtle and his Instruments many so he is the Cause of all the Evil and Misery which are scattered up and down in the Earth God suffers it to be thus for our Trial and other wise Reasons that by our overcoming he may have the greater Glory But because of this many are apt to doubt of God's Love to the World Whereas by this means he doth prove the Children of Men towards him For by their being amidst Temptation and evil the Trial of their Faith may be had whether they will follow the thing that good is Whether they will still resolutely put forth and countermine the Devices of the Enemy and so make them of none effect or cause him to fall and that he shall lose more than he got thereby God suffers many things to come to pass for our Trial whereof we are apt to stagger concerning his Love and Goodness to Mankind but thereby he hath shewed how they may approve themselves more than Conquerors and then he designs to crown them with greater Glory and Happiness This may be applied to the particular and several Dispensations which happen of whatever Kind they be each may be observed by a discerning Person to exercise our Faith and Trust Now for a Season if need be ye are in Heaviness thro' manifold Temptations that the Trial of your Faith being more precious than of Gold that perisheth might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. It is irksome at present and we are apt to have hard and distrustful Thoughts but this is because we know not all the Reasons thereof and how our End shall be yet more excellent and happy Who led thee through that great and terrible Wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought where there was no Water Who brought thee forth Water out of the Rock of Flint who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna which thy Fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter End Deut. 8. 15 16. This will be really found though it be hid from some and they are not sensible thereof all along Indeed this makes the rejoycing more at the End because it happens better than was expected but yet to know thereof beforehand makes that we fail not nor be discouraged Isa 42. 5. That we do not grow weary nor faint in our Mind nor abate one Tittle of our Duty nor yet desist waiting on the Lord not to be tempted so as to say with that profane King This Evil is from the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6. 33. but rather to make the contrary and right Conclusion This Trouble Opposition and Resistance is from Satan the Adversary I will endeavour through God's Grace to resist him more vigorously until he is bruised down under my Feet Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou trample under Feet because he hath set his Love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my Name He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in Trouble I will deliver him and honour him Psal 91. 14 15 16. As long as any one is in God's Way he is safe to carry him through all Difficulty and Danger that he may overcome and be crowned at the last It is said before He shall give his Angels Charge over thee to keep thee in all thy Ways Psal 91. 11. This Promise is exceeding particular and even so is the whole Psalm for Safety and Preservation over and from the several and successive Kinds of Evil there-mentioned So that we may trust and conclude that by what God hath done hitherto he will go on to establish and finish the same Cast not away therefore your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward Heb. 11. 35. It is not an hasty nor a fond Presumption nor yet a vain Conceit for it relies upon the whole Truth and Authority of God's Word which also speaks of the Evils and Hardships which we meet with in the mean while which we find to be so That same Word doth also assure us of Strength to hear and go through with and at last of perfect Deliverance and Victory out of them This is the Favour which the Lord beareth unto his People until he doth actually visit them with his Salvation Psal 106. 4. But for those who have sinned with their Fathers who have committed Iniquity and done wickedly how is it with them Will not the following Verse give them a Glimpse of Hope and Comfort Our Fathers understood not thy Wonders in Egypt they remembred not the Multitude of thy Mercies but provoked him at the Sea even at the Red Sea Psal 106. 7. If the Question should be asked wherefore do all Mankind sin and transgress against the Lord Have they not a present Temptation and Desire of seeming Good which they imagine God would hinder them of Not knowing that God hath provided greater Pleasure and Happiness for them and more Peace and Comfort in the mean while They are ignorant of this for otherwise they would receive the Good that exceedeth They do not understand the greater Multitude of God's Mercies for then they would not behave themselves rebelliously and contemptuously towards him Like Words unto those of Peter in Acts 3. 17 18. may be applied to Mankind of past Generations And now Brethren I wot that through Ignorance ye sinned thus as did also your Father Adam A present desire of pleasure and greatnessled him into the Transgression and so his Sons and Daughters ever since have had some seeming Reason why they committed Sin against God To be advanced a little more and better from their present imperfect State Now were they assured that what God would do for them would be beyond all this then they would endeavour to continue stedfast in his Covenant Were they fully ascertained that they should have greater Good by keeping his Judgments at all times than by declining from or walking contrary unto them either they would not transgress at all or in fewer Instances than now they have done God knoweth all things As he suffers so he doth likewise behold the whole course of sinning ever since he created Man upon the Earth until this day with the several Temptations Excuses Circumstances belonging to it as also to what degree of Extenuation or Provocation it might have and also the measure of Ignorance and Imperfection He doth not need to be informed thereof for He likewise discerns that Willing Ignorance that contempt and refusal of Instruction of set purpose The way of the just is uprightness Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just Isa 26.

Impertinency when that indeed is so with which they please and content themselves So that VVord doth pronounce which is to Judge and determine of every Man's State and Condition and according to which he is to receive We are but Creatures upon Trial and in that same word it is set down how God will be pleased to deal and add further with every one of us So that tho our different Thoughts and Apprehensions do not signifie much as to one another yet we must give Account to that God with whom we have to do who is Judge of all Men and of all Things and he hath expresly foretold us that we shall receive according to the Good or Evil we have done And tho in this wicked corrupt World they call Evil Good and Good Evil Isa 5. 20. Because they have the Multitude and Fashion to bear them along with it yet God is Judge himself Psal 50. 6. Who will sweep away the Refuge of Lies Isa 28. 17. and adjust all things according to Righteousness and Truth If Men do at present contemn and refuse what he doth command and esteem of and again they do honour and seek after what he hath forbidden and is an Abomination in his Sight But God's Thoughts are not as our Thoughts and his ways are not as our ways He is not beholding to his Creatures He is great and highly Exalted And what are a parcel of Worms of the Earth unto him But yet themselves shall know and feel what they get by this their opposition and contrariety to their Maker If there was not Stubbornness and Rebellion in their hearts they might understand For as the Eye doth discern Light from Darkness and the Taste doth perceive Sweet from Bitter So likewise in this diversity of things the Soul of Man can discern between Good and Evil Truth and Falshood Wisdom and Folly Every Scribe that is instructed into the Kingdom of God is like an Housholder who brings out of his Treasure things New and Old Both sorts are wholsome and good which were first received in and he produces forth upon occasion Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your Heart and your Soul Deut. 11. 18. He means the words of the Spirit of God and of Truth The greater number whereof the Mind is furnished withal so much the better That as the desire of the Righteous is only good Prov. 11. 13. Let him sincerely and diligently endeavour that all the thoughts of his Heart may be good true and significative at all times thereby shutting out Evil Falshood and Vanity A good Man out of the good treasure of the Heart bringeth forth good things Matt. 12. 35. which may spring up into suitable Words and Actions Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth John 17. 17. And People may discern what is rightly opened and alledged what is necessarily inferred from this Word of Truth for that also is true and will be fulfilled And tho many false Christs and false Prophets and Deceivers have and are gone out into the World as this same Word of Truth hath foretold and it hath been verified by the experience of every Age yet they deluded more by their Signs and Wonders by their forged Miracles and lying Legends as thereby hath increased the Roman Church more than by their Doctrin For that of our Saviour is Remarkable If it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect Matt. 24. 24. But it is not possible to deceive them for we have a standing Word which is as a Rule or Touch-stone to try the Doctrins whether they be of Men or no and by setting our Consciences in the sight of God and by the Spirit he hath given us we can search out and know the hidden things of Dishonesty and the practice of those who handle the Word of God Deceitfully But when the Truth is manifested it will appear so to us For great heed is to be taken lest under the pretence of avoiding Deceivers we do refuse and turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven and so we shall not escape Heb. 12. 25. But be in danger to be excluded from thence For this slanderous Report and false Imputation of a Deceiver was fastned on our Saviour Jesus Christ Matt. 27. 63. and his chosen Prophet Jer. 20. 7. and his Apostles 2 Cor. 6. 8. and upon almost all faithful Preachers and Writers ever since Such is the Subtlety of Satan and his Instruments by which he deceiveth the Nations That he will first throw out that Reproach and Calumny falsly on others to ward off divert and turn aside that Imputation which truly falleth back upon himself VVho are Deceivers indeed they will call those so who teach the way of God in Truth For these last being obliged in the course of their Ministry to lay open every thing that helps forward the Salvation of Mankind and to hinder their Destruction as much as possible they must also herein be like their great Master as to give a caution to People to take heed what they hear and to beware of those who are Men-pleasers more than the Servants of Christ Nay we must admonish of every thing which dishonours God and brings danger unto Men as unfaithful Teachers do both But these again through Pride and unwillingness to be Reformed seeing they hate Instruction Psal 50. 17. will endeavour to stop the way against the true handlers of the VVord of God for the former sort being secretly conscious of what may be proved and manifested against themselves they will try to be before-hand and falsly accuse or surmise such to be guilty of that which is truly their own Sin and Fault This is one cause of that Reproach which hath fallen on God's holy Prophets and People since the VVorld began As also it shews the perverseness and Disobedience of Mankind that they will as it were Reply against God Rom. 9. 20. In the Margin it is Answerest again and disputest with God which is to resist his will and it is a token of an unmannerly proud and disobedient Servant VVhen they break his Laws and God tells them thereof by his VVord and Spirit which he sends forth through some of their Fellow Creatures yet they are angry thereat and will retort upon them Again they have a mind to continue and go on still in Disobedience But this telling them is a kind of stop and interruption which they do not like and so they had rather remain Disobedient and have this for an excuse that they did not know it They would willingly be forgiven by God yet what they do in this manner is a further Sin and Provocation But God will search it out though we cannot so particularly and exactly discover it for he knoweth the very Secrets of the Heart Who is wise and he shall understand these things Prudent and he shall know them for the ways of the Lord are right and the Just shall walk in them but the Transgressors