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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	speak_v	word_n	3,147	5	4.0147	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87170	Topica sacra: spiritual logick: some brief hints and helps to faith, meditation, and prayer, comfort and holiness. / Communicated at Christ-Church, Dublin, in Ireland. By T.H. minister of the Gospel.	Harrison, Thomas, 1619-1682.	1658 (1658)	Wing H917; Thomason E1769_2; ESTC R202373	72,620	183

accursed thing unbelief a Jonah in the ship which will be raising new tempests and that is a fear lest God at last should turn his back upon thee and thou be found amongst those that are deceivers of their own souls being turned into hell when it seems their looks though nothing else were towards Heaven if ever this be thy case hye thee to God presently go fill thy mouth with Arguments 1. Complain against thine own heart so farre as there is any mixture of unbelief in this fear confess that as to God it is an unworthy jealousie and thou hast need with Gideon to cry him mercy to pray that his anger may not wax hot against thee for asking him so many signs considering how often the fleece hath been wet and the floor dry already to give thee satisfaction Yet when thou lookest downward there is misery enough and matter enough to justifie all thy fears and to move him to pardon yea to sanctifie them unto thee especially considering that thy All is at the stake and that it is Eternity Eternity Eternity that is before thee that vast gulf of eternity and if thou art mistaken in thy confidence thou art lost irrecoverably to all eternity this may move him to pity rather then to anger and to say to them that are of a fearfull heart be strong fear not behold your God will come and save you Isa. 35.4 2. For thy further establishment ask him if he have not made all as sure as grace can make it yea it is therefore all of grace that the promise might be sure to all the seed Rom. 4.16 as sure as infinite love infinite wisdome infinite power can make it and thou dreadest it as thou dost Hell it self to make the God of all Grace and Truth a Liar 1 Io. 5.10 to add to all thy other evils that grand abomination of unbelief which puts more affronts and scorn upon him then all other sins whatsoever 3. Ask if all the spirits of just men now made perfect will not confess the mercies of Christ to be sure mercies and that he as Boaz saith of Ruth shewed them more kindness in the latter end then at the beginning and that having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end and reserved the best wine for the last the last grapes especially in Chrifts vineyard yeild the sweetest wine David makes it obvious to any mans observation Psal. 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright he goes current for a perfect man for the end of that man is peace And even a Balaam is forced to acknowledg it and there is a desirableness in the death in the later end of the righous Numb. 23.10 Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my later end be like his 4. If yet thou fearest as to thine own particular ask if the holy Ghost who makes it his trade to help infirmities and hath helped thee in thine all thy life long ask if he will not then help thee when thou art most infirm nothing but a lump of infirmity and weakness surely then in thy greatest need he will not fail thee Lastly Tell him he knows why thou wouldst so fain be with him in his Heaven not because thou fanciest it a Turkish Paradise or a Paganish Elisium abounding with carnal or corporal pleasures not only because thou wouldst escape everlasting burnings though he himself cannot blame thee for ayming at this seeing he commands thee by all means possible to endeavour it But thy soul longs incessantly to go to Heaven because Heaven is the Land of Hallelujahs and thou wouldst fain be thankfull really thankfull Heaven is the Land of Love and thou wouldst fain take thy fill of love in loving and being beloved in loving as thou art loved without intermission without interruption enternally and so be ever with Christ which is by much farre better Phil. 1.23 All these meet daily with a thousand hindrances and incumbrances which make thee sick of earth and sigh for Heaven groaning within thy self with that blessed Apostle who had once been there 2 Cor. 5.2 For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven Hinderances and Imcombrances which make a Hell above ground not to be endured by any honest heart and how much more intollerable then is the nethermost Hell for there is never a nooke never a corner in it where a poore sinner might weep eternally without blaspheming without hearing blasphemies without hating of God without sinning against him He knows how often thou hast told him if there were how much more quietly thou couldst accept of the punishment of thine iniquity there and there justifie him and there bewaile thy folly and madness and lament the loss of him for evermore But to lose him and all love to him and to be sinning agaist him eternally this cannot be consented to but by a Creature damned already though above ground nothing therefore short of Heaven can satisfie thee or ought so to do and if upon these terms thou canst not be admitted into his rest sure he will have but little who went thither to prepare a place for thee This hope then we have as an Anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedee Heb. 6.19 20. thus building up your selves on your most holy faith and praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternall life , Jude 20 21. ver. But hast thou not a good mind before parting to speak a good word for others also this hath been constantly the way of the spirit of adoption when David came before the Lord upon the saddest occasion that ever his soul was acquainted with when he was most full of his own concernments and had most cause of fear that his appearing for others might do harm rather then good yet then he ventures to frop a word for Sion and remembers Jerusalem amidst his greatest grief as well as he prefers her before his chiefest joy do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jeresalem What his sinnes had weakened and attempted to ruine he endeavours to strengthen and repair by his prayers and seldome do ye see him rise from of his knees before he had pleaded the Churches cause and oftentimes he makes that his only errand as you may find by severall Psalms pend for no other purpose Nay many times the best pleaders feel not their hearts warm in the work till they come out of the narrow circle of their own personall concernments and launch into the business of the body of Christ and then are their hearts fixed 06 by the spirit of grace and

holy boldness if he be not willing to be known though he cover himself with darkness but he is too big and too bright for a covering though he make darkness his Pavilion round about him and if so then 2ly Why hath he mad eIntellectual Beings capable of knowing him and eternally miserable if they know him not thy soul is so for certain 3ly Why hath he so many ways issued forth and made out Himself why hath he written such admirable Comments in the things which are seen upon the invisible things of God his eternal power and Godhead Why hath he sparkled forth such glorious Discoveries in the sacied Scriptures in the face of Jesus Christ in the births and breathings the hints and whispers of his Spirit in the wayes and workings of his Providence in the experience of all his Saints yea in thine own heart mind and soul dark and dolesome though it be for the most part so that thou canst not order thy speech by reason of Darkness Fourthyly why hath he so often laid his Commands upon poor sinners to seek him if he mean not to be found shew him his own hand for it thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel Seek ye me and ye shall live Amos 5.4 Seek the Lord and ye shall live ver. 6. and yet again verse 8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion and turneth the shadow of Death into the morning What meaneth all this earnestness if he mean not to be found or saith he these things to Israel only to Israel after the flesh and saith he not the same to all Nations Nay is not his the very end why he giveth to all Life and Breath and all things that they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us Act. 17.27 and he never said to the seed of Iacob who wrestle with him seek ye me in vain Isa. 45. 19. And thou hopest thou art one of them though the weakest of all those spiritual Wrastlers Nay shew him his Warrant directed to those who have plowed wickedness and reaped Iniquity and eaten the fruit of lyes Hos. 10.12 13. why then shouldst thou be excluded Fisthly Ask him if he have nor been found of many a soul that sought him not Did not he prevent them and ofter himself and say Behold me Behold me Isa. 65.1 Is there a soul with him now in Heaven whose name is not sought out Isa. 62.12 And will he now hide himself from one that seeks him 6ly Ask him whence is it that thou hast an heart now to seek him Is it not because he hath found thee and means to be found of thee Ier. 29.12 13 14. c. and he knows that thy whole heart is or would fain be engaged in this work Seventhly Why doth he allow so long a time to seek him in all the time of this life as some think at least till the Decree bring forth till he swear in his wrath till the heart be judicially hardened which yet is not thy case through infinite Mercy thou art not yet free amongst the dead nor bound among the damned 8ly Tell him if thou canst say so truly that it is in order to practise that thou wouldst be aquainted with him not meerly to gratifie a natural itch after knowledge not meerly that thou mightst talk of him but walk with him and love him and fear him and obey him in all thing and even in natural things Manus est causa scientiae the hand contributes more to knowledge then the Brain those things we learn to do we learn by doing them and as to Spirituals Christ hath past his word for it John 7.17 If any man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine 9. Lastly Tell him t is not in a pang in a fit in an humour of newfangledness that thou art thus covetous thus ambitious of his acquaintance but though late though too too lite thou begannest this enquiry he knows thou hast been of this mind for many a day thou hast though weakly followed on to know him and now thou expectest that good word of his should be made good unto thy soul Hos. 6.3 Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the later and former rain unto the earth press these things upon him and his Love and Truth will let him hide no longer Secondly Doth the sense of thy more then ordinary unworthiness oppress thee Doth the horridness and beynousness of thy sins lie as a mountain of lead upon thy soul and stiflle all the movings and mountings of thy Spirit upward Doth this nip all the buddings and bloomings of faith and hope and force thee often to sigh out in secret It is impossible for me to be saved I shall certainly at last prove a Reprobate Is this thy case Go order thy cause before him and sill thy mouth with Arguments in all humility ask him if he did not before the foundations of the world were laid chuse voluntarily absolutely and immutably what company he would have with him to all Eternity sometimes thou thinkest he would never chuse thee there now lies a secret Bar in thy way study the point a little and get it removed He was under no necessity to chuse any no not Christ himself to be the head of the Church for he might have chosen whether ever there should have been such a body yea or no God the Father begets the Son necessarily not arbitrarily that is from his Nature not from his good pleasure but he chooseth him to be the head and root and Representative of the Church arbitrarily not necessarily this is from his good pleasure not from his Nature How free is he then in all his other Elections He chose in deed in Christ but not for Christ as in the natural birth so here first the head comes forth and then the Members Christ is the cause of the Salvation of the Elect but not of Election to Salvation Christ is the meritorious cause of the application of all good not of Gods volition or decreeing that good Election is God himself electing and there can be no cause of God God cannot be an effect Christ indeed was by but had not the naming of the Blect this was the Fathers part and gives him primitively and Originally and interest in them as Christ himself acknowledgeth John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me Christ himself did not propound sollicite for this or that person much less any foreseen qualifications which are the effects but could not be the causes of that Love or choise and if there was none by to move him was there any to manacle him to prescribe Laws and limits to him to say unto him You may not chuse such or such

head fall to the ground for he hath wrought with God this day 1 Sam. 14.4 so doth every good Warriour every good Magistrate and that 's his greatest comfort glory and safety that he works with God and God with them So Paul speaks of himself and his fellow-labourers in the Ministry we then as workers together with him 2 Cor. 6.1 But I fear I must never have the honour of that Title whatever my calling or capacity be for it was not only his way in the Old Testament in the old Temple but 't is threatned in that Gospell-vision Ezek. 44.10 11 12 c. That they who have strayed far from him in times of temptation and epidemicall apostacy shall bear their iniquity their shame and their abominations that is some sad reward and remembrancer thereof and though admitted to the injoyment of many precious priviledges yet must be banished from the nearest approaches and highest services 't is exprest in the strain and stile of the Old Testament but is intended and calculated for the Meridian of the new and reaches not only Ministers but all Professors all those who are now the royall Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.5 9. Rev. 1.5 and even amongst good people where is the man that is able to beare being laid aside and cast off at the end of the stage and to see fresh instruments chosen what is it else imbitters so many spirits and how shouldst thou be able to bear such a tryall either to fall from thy standing or do no good though continued in it which of the two is the worst by farre if ever this be thy case go order thy cause before him and fill thy mouth with Arguments Though guilty of many strayings from him 1. Tell Him thou perceivest it is not his will to destroy thee if the Lord were pleased to kill thee he would not have accepted an offring at thine hand neither would he have shewed thee all these things which he locks up from so many thousands and yet hath acquainted thee with them thou canst look him in the face and say with the Prophet Hab. 1.12 Art not thou from everlasting O Lord my God mine holy one I shall not die Thou art the King eternall and swayed not by time-accidents but by eternal conside-rations thou changest not and therefore I am not I shall not be consumed Now then 2. Plead upon this ground and tell him it is not so much for his honour only to keep thee alive and make no use of thee to preserve thy soul only as salt to preserve the body but do no service and if thou hadst help to do all that is commanded or can be expected of thee in thy place is not thy soul prepared to say thou art but an unprofitable servant Luk. 17.10 and never open thy mouth more by way of boasting 3. Minde him that through his grace some sad sinners have proved most shining Saints as in Scripture the children of women long barren have proved most eminent instruments in Church and Commonwealth of Sarah Isaac of Rachel Joseph of Hannah Samuel of Manoahs wife Sampson of Elizabeth John the Baptist so amongst sinners some that came in late into the vineyard have plied their hands and laboured more abundantly then they who were admitted before them Ahimaaz out-runs Cushi though he set out after him and comes to David before him and if ever soul had need to redeem the time and fetch up what hath been lost thou much more and it will be to the praise of the glory of his grace if he will help thee so to do 4. He knows that thou art now in a way of purgation and purification and therefore it will be no dishonour to him now to use and imploy thee nay he hath published it by the pen of his Apostle that if a man purge himself from these from the pollutions wherewith he hath been defiled he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and made meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good work and thou askest no more 2 Tim. 2.21 They who will not be reduced and made better are often against their wills reduced and made lower if not utterly cashiered and dismissed from further service but he that can plead the former may scape the later as having now through grace prevented the Lord and saved him a labour 5. Ask him if he did not call thee and lead thee to thy present station and will he now leave thee to wither like a bulrush in the mire and to vanish away in utter unserviceableness Who in a way of God can take unto himself the honour of Magistracy or Ministry or any other way of usefullness but he that is called of God thereunto as was Aaron Heb. 5.4 and yet thou desirest to be prepared to justifie him though he proceed with thee as with Eli's house 1 Sam. 2.30 Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy fathers should walk before me but now the Lord saith be it farre from me for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed and thou hast been too too often guilty of despising him 6. Ask if he remember not how thou didst often beg him never to trust thee with advantages with opportunities unless withall he would give thee an heart to be faithfull and fruitfull in the improvement of them Hast thou not prayed upon these termes even against power and riches lest thou shouldst be full and deny him and say who is the Lord hast thou not been in this regard more afraid of riches honour greatness then their contraries yea sometimes more afraid to live then to die fearing lest thou shouldst not live unto him and to his service loath therefore hast thou been to launch into the world again after thou hast been laid up by some sickness 7. How often hast thou desired since thou camest into the road of opportunities in sence and fear of unanswerableness rather to be removed then to fill up a room and cumber the ground and keep out others that might be more usefull and will he neither remove thee nor improve thee niether cut thee down nor make thee fruitfull Lastly Tell him plainly that passage in Rom. 5.20 Where sin abounded grace did much more abound makes thee being now found of him in away of faith and repentance not only not to fear extraordinary judgments but even to look for extraordinary favours more love unto him more humility more holiness more watchfulness and by these more then ordinary usefullness and serviceableness in thy generation let him put or place thee where he pleaseth it is not his disposition to upbraid Jam. 1.5 and therefore thou expectest he should give liberally of that wisdome to thee which may make thee serviceable in thy station After all this there may yet be a secret Achan in the Camp which will be fingring the

Gen. 14.20 Pay tythes to Melchisedec the great Representee of Christ who is brought upon the stage like a man dropt out of the Clouds only to shadow out Christ as if he had neither Father nor Mother birth nor death Heb. 7.2 And that they were paid as a due to the Priesthood of Christ sustained then in a figure by Melchisedec the 7th Chap. to the Hebrews proves abundantly and that Levi himself who took Tythes here paid them and that Levi had only a Commission pro tempore to be Gods rent-gatherer and receiver they mistake that think the payment of the tenth part was then first set on foot to defray the charges of that costly worship it was paid long before Abraham is a full instance four hundred and thirty years before the Law as the Apostle observes upon another occasion Gal. 3.17 and I would know whether that were will-worship in him or what Law he hath observed what rule he walked by therein Abraham would not take a thred or a shooe latchet to himself and then returned the rest though now become his by conquest to the former owner but if he gave the tythe only by courtesie and not divine authority it proves not the thing in hand the exellency of Melchisedec's Priesthod above the Leviticall for surely that had authority to take them and so had Melchisedec paid then the tenth part was long before the Law and Levi had only a Commandement to warrant his taking of the tythes Heb. 7.5 The jus decimandi being long before vested in another Priesthood and only protempore lent to that of Levi But this was only a tenth of the spoiles taken in war may some say what say ye then to that engagement of Jacob Gen. 28.22 Of all that thou shalt give unto me I will surely give the tenth unto Et hoc tam pro se quam pro posteris suis vovet he binds his posteritie hereunto as well as himself saith Mercer in Loc. Methinks he speaks of it as a duty that he had been Catechised and trained up in the knowledg of He had the direction of the spirit for it saith Calvin and why not also the instruction of his Ancestors For Abraham practised it before him And yet this good man though he promised it so surely was not so carefull and punctuall in his performance as he should have been and his omission of it at his return when hasting to pacifie his brother he pluck away a good fleece from his estate before the decimation thereof according to his vow seems to be the cause why the Angel contended so sore with him that he put him to his tears and prayers as Hosea tells us Chap. 12.4 And though he blest him yet he sent him limping to his grave Gen. 35.1 God calls him to perform his vow and whether he paid it into the hands of Heber or Isaac the head or the family vel potius consecrarit in usus sacros set it a part for pious uses t is all one to us here 's something belonging to the Law of nature or morall Law for our instruction and imitation nor doth he engage upon condition the particle {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} rendered if ver. 20. untill ver. 15. when Numb. 36. surely Prov. 3.34 This takes away the great objection if it were a duty according to the morall Law or Law of nature he would have engaged absolutely and so you see he did notwithstanding that If the Text Thus is was before the Law Ceremoniall and Christ approves it Matth. 23.23 and affirms that dedicating a part to charitable uses sanctifies the whole as the first fruit sanctified the lump Luk. 11.41 42. 12.33 And finds no fault with the Pharisee for his practice Luk. 18.12 for his giving up of a tenth part to all that he possessed to pious uses but for his trusting in it nor were the tenths all of them consumed by Christs Consumatum est but he teacheth us even to the end of the world to give unto God the things that are Gods Marke 12 17. and both we and all that we have are his I Cor. 29.14 though he is pleased to accept a small part in lieu of the whole And plain it it that there is such a thing as sacriledg now in the daies of the Gospell all I fear many more are guilty thereof then are aware of it nay well were it if they were not most guilty who seem most to abhor Idols thou that Abhorest Idols dost thou commit sacriledg Rom. 2.22 Concedimus Deo saies Magna Charta when it speaks of seperating the tenth part to holy uses which part was called by the Antients Dei censes Gods Rent nor hath God forfeited his Right because of mans abuse or superstition I think also there must be some rule of proportion for that laying by in store commanded by the apostle 1 Cor. 16.2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come according to Deut. 16.10 According as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in some due proportion Now if there be no rule for the quantity a large heart may lay by too much and defraud his relations or other occasions a narrow heart will be sure to lay by too little and so be guilty of sacriledg by alienating that which is due to God to whom Jure Coronae besides homage and fealty service ad fidelity we owe an honorary tribute though no subsidiary Rent for that he needeth not But this he requireth and little comfort shall they have who deny it to him This though far too little for the point may seem too much in this place but if the Lord would set on the sence of this duty upon the hearts and consciences of prosessors and take them off from their subterfuges and cavils and evasions how soon would there be a sacred bank a stock raised a Temple-treasury filled to answer all religious occasions to give a speedy relief to the necessities of Saints abroad at home who starve many times while the grass is growing while the alms are a gathering How would this rowle away our reproach of being Solifidians and make the Gospell cry for fruitfullness in good works with Popish charity and blind devotiion Tit. 3.8 let them who have believed in God be carefull to maintain good works How would it cut off occasions from the flesh which craves and cals for all and consumes more upon some one lust then all a mans graces ever cost him How would it bring a blessing and prove a hedg about all the rest of the estate like Hannahs loaf which was lent to God I Sam. 2. 20 21. He gave her back five for one and so will he do by every one that ventures with him will ye prove him Mal. 3.10 do but try me saith he in this