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	know_v	reason_n	2,948	5	4.7939	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02685	Absaloms funerall: preached at Banbyrie by a neighbour minister. Or, The lamentation of a louing father for a rebellious child	Harris, Robert, 1581-1658.	1610 (1610)	STC 12817; ESTC S116599	29,333	41

joy in Absalom he cannot be master of them nor command them when he is dead hee will bee fond whilst he hath Absolom no body must touch him the winde must not blow vpon him therefore hee will extremely lament when hee loseth him and no body must comfort him because his Absalom is not Adde vnto this in the third place the deceitfulnes of our owne heart which doth but cosen vs and the subtiltie of the diuell who to the end he may carrie vs headlong with the whirlewind of passion into a sea of troubles will beare vs in hand that wee haue reason to grieue and to bee passionate Thus Ionah stands vnto his cause and beeing drunken with passion he cannot see but he hath the better of God Thus Dauid had a man closed hith him and asked him what he meant to be so loud would quickly haue beene his talsemaster what would hee haue said would you haue me vnsensible of such a stroke as this is there no thing to be done by the parēt when the Lord thus singles out his child ought not the father to take notice of it especially I must sith I did not the part of a father to him he should ere this haue beene executed for his sinnes I let him run on but now the Lord hath met with him and mee too to my woe It is iust vpon me and I am perswaded I ought not to let it passe without some vse I must greeue and yet were I sure his soule were now in heauen I would care the lesse but alas the example is searefull so to liue so to die Faire words good Dauid he speakes as he thinkes good man but he knowes not his owne heart is this the cause that you would haue died for him was it because he had sineed because you had failed in duetie alas what could your death do for his soule or your owne discharges no no hee was your darling you cannot spare him you must alwaies beare him in your eie hence those teares and thus we run on many times in a tale and would faine perswade our selues that what we do is done with iudgement when God knowes our sorrow is as full of flesh as Dauids here was and thus what through the errrour of our minds and disorder of our affections and deceitfulnesse of our owne hearts and Sathans cunning it comes to passe that we are in the depth of sorrow and passion as the Aramites in the mids of Samaria before we know where we be Now this being so that the best of vs all are subject to immoderate sorrow for outward things we must not onely learne to beare with one another in this our common frailty but further euery one for himselfe must fence and mound his heart against these absurd passions and excessiue griefes Many outward things be so base in respect of man that they should not once moue him they be not worthy his cares or thoughts vnfit to belodged in the meanest roome of mans soule to name them the same day with man were to set them aboue their place to bestow teares on these were to wash stables with sweet water not worth the while nor the cost All of them are but finite none absolutely good and therefore our griefe for them must be limited with respects and vsed with great moderation els it will degenerate and turne carnall Neither will it serue the turne to plead that our sadnesse hurts no body but our selues and that therein we are enemies to none but to our selues for were this a true plea yet were it vnsufficient for who gaue vs a commission to hurt our owne persons and to practise murther vpon our owne bodies but this is not all for besides a priuate wrong wee rob God of his glorie and men of that seruice we owe vnto them indeed worldly sorrow makes vs both vnthankful to God and vnprofitable to man and vnnaturall to our selues as hence might be shewed but we cannot stand on all and therefore let vs striue against it Let vs will some man say let vs if we can but how should we be armed against the excesse of worldly sorrow can you giue me any preseruatiues against it Answere some we will many we might but so farre as we practise these following we shall be freed of this vnprofitable guest 1. Let vs denie our selues in all worldly matters and not engage our affections vnto them either to be eagerly set vpon them when we haue them in chase or to bee foolishly puft vp with them whē we haue them in possession for if we do not leaue them till they leaue vs it is sure they will leaue vs in the lurch in the end witnesse Dauid Absalom was gone ere Dauid had denied himselfe in Absalom and therefore now here is nothing but roaring whereas if he before had sacrificed his name and crucified his affection he would neuer haue stood vpon those termes ô my sonne my son what will the world say that my sonne should come to this but he would haue comforted himselfe in his GOD as elsewhere he did and said It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth best to him and so if wee could denie our selues in our husbands wiues children names c. we would neuer take on so when wee part my son my son my husband my child c but as we were not doted with them whilst we had them so neither would we be discouraged when we lost them But heere is the misery let vs see it and amend it we lay the whole strength of our affectiōs vpon the things we fancy as the creeple laies his ful waight vpon his crutches and therefore when they are taken from vs as Pharaohs chariot wheeles we are downe vpon all foure and sticke in the mud yea we set on our affections as the Bee his sting with all our might and strength wee conuey vnto others our very bowels and hearts and therefore when they are gone we are heartles We see the errour what is the remedy Reioice as if we rereioiced not and then we shall mourne as if wee mourned not be not too glad when the sun shines and then thou wilt not be too sad when a cloud comes To this we must adde a second thing which in part hath beene alreadie toucht and that is often to thinke on crosses before they come and to promise our hearts no great matters from the world for what is the reason that wee grow so passionate sometimes but this ô I neuer lookt for this I neuer dreamed of such a day yea but whose fault and folly is that not to looke for crosses on the sea why should wee not thinke to be crossed as well as Dauid and as soone as Dauid Absalom was lusty in the morning dead ere night may not the like crosses steale suddenly on vs but this was Dauids owne errour he thought when God had giuē him a fine child that hee must needs bring comfort

our selues euen the best of vs all Poore Dauid that scarce euer came where prosperity grew had but a little rest and he beganne to dreame of golden mountaines hee thought crosses had now taken their leaue of him and would be afraid to looke into the court and therfore Absalom is sent out of his bowels to confute him And good Hezechiah who was first humbled at the comming of Saneherib and the second time brought to deaths dore by gricuous sicknes had no sooner a little respit but he begins to looke big and to lay about him whem embassadors came to visite him he carries them from place to place and sets the best side outward he swaggers not onely with them but with Esay too who tooke as small pleasure in this his courting as many of his cloath doe now in preaching ô Esay saith he you cannot tell who haue beene here great states the king of Babell sent Embassadors to vs such Princes so farre from vs take notice of vs and they I would haue thee know were royally entertained wee shewed them withall what store of gold siluer our treasuries could afford we would haue them know that all the wit and wealth is not lodged in Babell but that Gods people haue it in them and about them too as occasion shall serue Thus Hezechiah thought he spake but reason but the Lord seeing him so ranke thinkes it time to let him blood and therefore Esay giues him a cooler you haue made saith he for so in effect hee speakes a faire hand of your wealth you haue you haue brought the wolfe to the fold and now keepe him out if you can Gold-thirsty Babell now knowes where to haue a draught and as for your selfe sith you thinke the better of your selfe for your wealth the Lord hath made your will and the king of Babell is your executor Thus because Hezechiah surfeited he is physickt and this is onother reason of the Lords thus dealing with his people because the difference is not great whether you eate bad meate or surfet on good Thirdly God had but neede to diet the best of vs sometimes because we be so lazie when we are full much like to a man that comes newly from a feast fit for nothing we follow our calling as if we would drop on sleepe we performe exercises of religion as children say their lessons minding euery thing rather than that in hand wee come to the ordinances of God as fed wantons to a feast nothing pleaseth vnlesse it be some odde sawce or new inuention the worst dish on the table so it is with vs when wee come to the word the sense must be pleased as well as the heart edified else it is but a dry feast one tricke of wit doth more affect than twenty gratious sentences now when the Lord sees our mouth so farre out of taste that it cannot relish our meate and discouers in vs such a lazinesse about our busines he thinkes it reason to prouide some remedie in time lest these fore-runners of sicknes breake forth into worse inconueniences and surely Dauids practise and case may affright vs all for alas how did he gather mud when he had stood still a while and how would his corruptions againe haue growne to some head had not Absalom beene raised vp to breath him and to disperse them Now if Dauid were so foggie after so many breathings Dauid a man of so good a diet how resty should wee bee if neuer walkt how grounded on our lees with Moab if neuer turned forth from vessell to vessell It stands the Lord therefore vpon if hee will prouide for his haruest and our good to take some paines with vs lest otherwise he faile of his vintage whilst we want dressing Fourthly and in a word crosses had need to come and come thicke and come in strength to the strongest of vs because in the best there be many and strong corruptions ô the pride the pride the vnbeleefe the ignorance the selfe-loue that lodges in the purest soule would yee not haue thought that Dauid by this time had almost emptied himselfe of all pride that all passions all loue of the world all carnall affections had beene well nere buried but see see when crosses come how he laies about him hee sobs he roares he would die in a passion as if he knew not what he did or cared not what he said now should not such a stomach as this be taken downe yes the child had beene spilt there if the rod had beene spared and therefore God laies it on Now if good Dauid after so much breaking and so long standing in religion be so waspish so impatient so passionate do not you thinke that there is some store in vs let vs be crossed a little cannot we chafe let vs be abused cannot we find our tongues adde to this our worldlines cannot wee bee content to liuelonger in this world bad though it be do we not dote too much on one Absalom or other be not our hearts yet vnbroken why then you see God must smite and smite againe and smite home draw blood for no sound heart must go to heauen as none but sound hearts must come thither sound I say from hypocrisie but broken with sinne and sorrow thus wee see great cause of great affliction on Gods part sith our sinnes are great which must be purged and preuented our surfers great which must be cured our deadnesse great which must be quickned our inside bad which must be cleansed Time will not giue to speake of all One more reason shall bee drawne from our owne practise and so an end As God laies many crosses on vs so we may thanke our selues for many too not onelie in that we doe deserue them but in that 〈◊〉 worke them out of our owne bowels for many we diaw vpon our selues by riot Idlenesse vnthrif●nes rage c. and the most we make more heauy that are heauie enough already through our owne folly and that is whilst we rake into our wounds looking no higher and what with vnbeleefe and impatience doe double the crosse on our selues Dauids burden was heauy enough already hee did not neede to increase it yet such is Dauids weaknesse he cannot choose it is his Absalom prety Absalom and therefore he must pay for his passions and thus when God afflicts vs in measure as euer he doth his children wee make our crosses beyond measure because we keep no meane in mourning and not onely so but we prouoke our father to giue vs somewhat for brawling and for strugling thus we see some reasons of ours so great neare afflictions taken partly from our selues partly from our God The wicked will happily thinke themselues wronged that we giue not them and their master the credit of the Saints troubles but to speake properly they are no causes but onely executioners they are hangmen and bedles when an execution is to be wrought and the