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	work_n	2,986	5	5.9689	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03444	A sermon preached at Saint Buttolphs neare Aldersgate, the 26. of Februarie, 1609. By William Holbrooke. Entitled No gaine to this	Holbrooke, William.	1609 (1609)	STC 13565; ESTC S119074	19,867	57

to Gods will Not to set thy heart vpon them canst thou receiue them thankefully and bestowe them to his glory this is Gods will and purpose in bestowing prosperitie vpon thee and the like correspondently is in thee if thou be truly contented prosperitie doth not lift thee vp steale thy heart from God nor make thee swinish to receiue them vnthankfully or vse them vnprofitablie Reas 2 That thou bee truly contented thou submittest thy will to Gods in the daies of aduersitie 1. In words yea when the tide gale and streame are all against thee thou canst say with old Ely and godly Hezekiah The word of the Lord is good though it go neuer so much against the haire so if thou canst say that aduersitie being the Lords worke is good for thee then thou art truly contented 2. In actiō This appeareth if in aduersitie thou canst and doest by thy actions shew thy selfe to be contented with Gods will as to fare according to thy estate and to cut thy coat according to thy cloth and not as many doe who are by this doctrine condemned run themselues into debt for apparell ouer head and eares so that they can neuer shift themselues of the same so long as they liue and that because they would not be suited according to their place but according to the fashion Of the like ranck are many gentlewomen who not stooping to their husbands ability wil make him to weare a bare coat sell his land and stand in the mercers bookes for the maintaining of their pride like vnto whom in the third place who likewise are heere obserued for reproofe are the gallants of our daies who weare vpon their backes not their owne but another mans their veluet cloake their satten suits and the like for which they are indebted to the mercers or tailers And another sort of thē which are of the best sort too and wee haue but few so good who cary all they haue with them not respecting old age or the time to come so that they may say with Bias omnia mea mecum porto and so they do honestie only excepted for that they carrie not with them because they haue it not the land is full of such snailes carrying their houses goods lands all they haue vpon their backs Now vnderstand mee Praeocc and mistake mee not I speake of such as thus deale not being necessarily occasioned thereunto but only because they scorne to stoope to their places and make their spending sutable thereunto For I know a man hauing but a little and his place requiring it he may lawfully spend it all in apparell the place being lawfull and such as by the laying out of all he then hath he is in possibilitie and likelihood to prouide for after times Here againe cōmeth to be reproued and to be charged deeply with this fault and sin the painted Iezabels of our daies who only not being content with that feature face God who is only wise hath giuen them must needs and doe digge vnto themselues cisternes of their owne inuentions A fearefull sinne it is and most vsed where sin should be least coūtenanced For the cōfutation whereof I will aske but this question whether those words Iezabel the whore that painted her selfe were spoken to the praise of her or dispraise if to the dispraise whether to be imitated or no answerable vnto which is that place of the damsels dauncing before Herod which was like to the wanton and artificiall dauncing so much vsed practised in these daies as I take it that is left vpon Record to the dispraise of her and then not to be imitated shee did it to please Herod without any thought of Iohns head vntill Herod made so large a proffer and she consulted with her diuellish mother And truly the wanton dancing of our daies is only to please men abominable as the effects thereof do shew For what doth it bring forth but wantonnes in action wanton behauiour after and often hereby are affections drawne to mariage to the after griefe of the parties dishonoring of God and vexation of parents Hereby is our Land and nation iustly taxed of this sin by being said to be the New-fangledest nation vnder the heauens For what is the cause of euery yeares nay euery moneths new fashion what is the cause I say that we go beyond all others in learning how to make and weare strange apparell and that we are so full of the East manners surely our discontentednes if this were not it we should see the fruit of our own lands more vpon our backes then wee do and not silkes veluets and tafferies so much in vse as we do this is the cause I say that we can hardly find that wise whereof Salomon speaketh That doth her husband good and no euill and her husband is knowne when he sitteth in the gates with the Elders so that both he and she are clothed with the workes of her hands what is the cause of this truly discontentednes counting all we haue at home base and nothing worthy but what is farre fetcht and deare bought all must bee Spanish and the like else no bargaine Note of true contentednes is thankfulnesse in aduersitie canst thou giue God thankes that thou art poore afflicted dost not thou murmur grudge and repine at Gods corrections then thou art truely contented if not thou art yet farre from godlinesse True contentednesse will not straine and cracke a good conscience to be inriched thereby it will rather bee without and count pouertie happines with the rich table of a good conscience to feast at then vse any vnlawfull meanes and indirect courses to attaine to more and climbe higher whereby are condemned as deepely guiltie of this fault all schollers that vse simonie temporising and laying of wagers and the like to aduance themselues by and to climbe to preferment Those that vse false waights deceitfull wares calling white blacke and blacke white set their money to vsurie take pledges vse gaming and playing yea sicophantising and humouring of men in their euill for the bettering and enriching of their estate are plainely told by this doctrine there is no godlinesse in them I would this were well weighed and and laid to heart by such as thrust others to get themselues in out of seruices houses shops c. and vse meanes to withdraw customers from others not doing as they would bee done by a common sinne and whereof many are deadly sicke but to all such be it knowne there is little godlinesse because no true contentednes in them True contentednes doth not make a man idle but hath alwaies ioyned with it an honest care and endeauour by all good and lawfull meanes to better his estate vsing the meanes committing the successe to God and resting therewith contented whatsoeuer it be pro or contra By these examine thy selfe whether true contentednesse be in thee and consequently godlines if these bee not in thee and thou

stand not according to these affected there is no contentednes in thee and as little godlinesse And that this contentednes should follow godlinesse surely it standeth with all reason though flesh and blood say not so but is alwaies hauing and repining but that you may be brought to this to account that you haue sufficient be it more or lesse consider with me these motiues following It is an argument that thou art godly as both this place sheweth thee and the example of Iob declareth for that was one proofe that God had said true in commending him to bee an vpright and iust man and one that feared God I say this prooued the same namely his contentednes with much or little and I tell you this is no smal matter to haue a marke to assure thy selfe that thou art Gods or rather by this bee marked in the forhead for his it is better to haue this then to weare a coate with the Kings armes vpon it for this assureth thee to be seruant to the King of Kings the other to a man whose breath is in his nostrils Whatsoeuer thou hast is best for thee be it more or lesse for thou being godly and the sonne and the child of God he out of his fatherly respect to thee louing and respecting thee more then a father or mother can their child giueth thee that which is best for thee not that which may please thy hauing corruption best and therefore thou art to thinke with thy selfe if more were better I should haue it but God seeth that I would vse it to his dishonour it would puffe me vp make mee proud steale my heart from him and make me forgetfull of him and therefore he being wiser and knowing what is better for me then my selfe doth allot me this as best for me this if wee were fully resolued of would bring vs to contentednes with our portion being more or lesse If thou haue any thing it is more then thou hast deserued for what hast thou deserued but to bee a vagabond and runagate and to begge thy bread and to goe vp and downe naked surely nothing If God therefore giue thee any thing thou hast good reason to bee content for thou hast more then thou canst any waies deserue or challenge for merit and due This is the way to get more to bee contented with that wee haue not to grudge murmure and repine for humilitie is the way to honor and God neuer aduanceth any of his for I iudge not such as are without but such as he seeth are truly contented with that they haue and euery such a one is the nearest to preferment so that therefore we should learne to be contented it being the next doore degree and step to haue more And surely the contrary hereunto discontentednesse and alwaies finding fault with Gods allowance is the way to moue God not only to curse that thou hast the meate and drinke thou puttest into thy bellie and the clothes thou puttest vpon thy backe c. as hee did the meate in the mouthes of the murmuring Israelites but also to bring worse things vpon thee and to make thee to drinke thine owne iniquities yea to be in a far worse estate then thou wast before For where was it euer read or seene that any moued through discontentednesse labouring to better their estate by their own wit euer prospered not any where let the builders of Babel speak the now wicked angels that would be like God the people of Israel that must needs haue a King if these fared well then bee thou discontented murmure and grudge but if thou wouldest not drinke of the same sauce as they haue done namely to be worse then thou wast before because thou wast wel and couldest not hold thee so I say if thou wouldest not fare thus labour to be contēted and account sufficient that thou hast bee it more or lesse weigh these motiues and pray to God to sanctifie the same vnto thee thou that hast not yet learned the lesson of contentednesse Out of the second sense of the words with sufficiencie as they may be referred to the matter containing a promise we obserue and teach Doct. Godlines is such a gaine that whosoeuer professe the same shall alwaies haue sufficient which God hath verified elsewhere and left in black and white sealed with the blood of his owne Sonne if we will but consider the promises made to euery godly man in the 28. of Deut. in the former part of that chapter or what the Psalmist hath recorded in Psa 34.11 or againe in Psal 80. That no good thing shal be wanting to them that feare the Lord such shall be fed with the finest wheat Reas And this must needs be true if we consider whereby wee challenge and hold the right we haue in the things of this life namely by our godlinesse so far as thou art in Christ redeemed by his blood and sanctified by his Spirit so farre thou art assured of sufficiencie and hast right claime and interest to the things of this life being lost before by the first Adam and recouered for thee and all such as feare God by the second Adam If we ioine hereunto the care of God and the loue he beareth to his this must needs be true for will hee care for the wicked and not for his in truth hee sheweth himselfe to haue little care ouer them if they professe him and he yeeld not them sufficient allowance Then as he is a carefull God for the good of his thou shalt haue sufficient if thou serue him To allure all to come to this estate Vse 1 and to encourage all to go on herein that haue laid hold on the same for thou shalt haue sufficient for thee and thine at all times for thy seruice the deare yeare and old age all is one to him he wil not for charges cast thee off in the one nor discarde thee in the other for he is able to maintaine his familie and houshold as well in the deare yeare as when there is abundance of all things and all things at an easie rate for who euer serued God and wanted Obiect Some will say notwithstanding all that hath been said and Gods faire promises yet they see men that serue God haue little enough and are often in great scarcitie and want Answ It is good that such do look to themselues that their sinnes be not the cause of the same None of Gods children if they cast Vse 2 their eie vpon their present condition but they haue enough for if in affliction they haue sufficient for that if poore 〈◊〉 that but if they consider themselues ●therwise according to that they are 〈◊〉 but according to that they would 〈◊〉 then they haue not enough but th●… sufficiencie must be measured by th●… present standing and so there is n●… that followeth the Lord in truth but 〈◊〉 hath sufficient Vse 3 Thou must measure thy sufficiencie by the wil of the doner not of thy selfe Thus farre haue I according to the measure of grace receiued proceeded in this Scripture Now my desire is th●… all that reade the same may gaine by this doctrine Which God for his Christs sake grant Amen Amen FINIS