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	suffer_v	suffering_n	2,047	5	9.4271	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55301	Armatura Dei, or, A preparation for suffering in an evil day shewing how Christians are to bear sufferings, and what graces are requisite thereunto : suited for all good Christians in this present time / by Edward Polhil ..., Esq.	Polhill, Edward, 1622-1694?	1682 (1682)	Wing P2750; ESTC R3431	68,313	156

will his wrath come down upon all Apostates if they are not dumb before men they will be speechless before God if Devils vex not their Bodies they will yet possess their Souls if there be no torments in their Bowels yet there are in their Consciences The miseries which Apostates incur are much greater than those which they avoid by their Apostacies It is therefore highly reasonable that we should prepare for Sufferings lest by Apostacy we make our selves more miserable than any outward Suffering can make us CHAP. III. Preparation for Sufferings considered more generally A Christian that will be prepared for Sufferings must secure to himself three things that is A good Cause a good Heart and a good God Having seen the necessity of Persecution and the necessity of Preparation I come now to the main thing intended to consider how a Christian may be prepared for Sufferings And here I shall first speak in General and then more Particularly In General a Christian that would be prepared for Sufferings must secure to himself three things a good Cause a good Heart and a good God The first will make Suffering honourable the Second will make us us meet for it the third will give assistance and comfort in it 1. The Christian must secure to himself a good Cause he must take care not to suffer as an Evil doer this is not grateful to God nor honorable among Men in it Christ is not imitated but Christianity is shamed Such Sufferers are the Devils Martyrs it cannot be reasonably expected that they should have the gratious Presence of God or any comfort in Conscience their own hearts cry out Guilty and plainly tel them that their Suffering is but the just wages of their Iniquity A Christian must be sure that there be no guilt in that which he suffers for Holy Daniel saith that Innocency was found in him Dan. 6.22 He speaks not of the innocency of his Person as if he were without sin but of the innocency of his Cause for which he suffered His praying against a Law did not merit a Den of Lions he broke the Humane Command only to keep the Divine It highly concerns the Christian to have an innocent Cause it is the Cause not the meer Suffering that makes the Martyr Again the Christian must take care that he suffer not as a Busy-body in other mens Matter he must not have his own Station nor forfeit Gods protection he must abide with God in his Calling and do his own Business God took care of the Bird sitting over her young in her Nest Deut. 22.6 but not of the wandring one The learned Johannes Fancius of a Minister of the Gospel in his Prince's Court turned Minister of State to his Prince and was at last for some evil Counsel condemned to dye and before he suffered he much lamented the leaving of his Calling and left this Distick Disce meo exemplo mandato munere fungi Et fuge ceu pestem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Learn this of me thine own Office to bear In others meddle not the Plague is there It is very uncomfortable to a Christian when he runs into Sufferings by going out of his own Sphear Moreover the Christian must take care that he suffer not for his own rashness He that defaced the Emperors Edict against Christians and Suffered for it was not accounted a Martyr Bishop Audas demolished the Persian Temple dedicated to the Fire as their Numen and suffered for it but it was reckoned as a Piece of rash and unreasonable Zeal We must not cast our selves into dangers God will keep us in our ways Theod. Hist Lib. 4 cap. 39. not in our Precipices We must take up the Cross that God makes for us but not make one of our selves by our own rashness If we must suffer let it be for that good Conscience which is a continual Feast for that Righteousness which is in Conjunction with Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Let it be for that Jesus who suffered for us for that God who crowns momentary Sufferings with eternal Glory This was the case of the Primitive Christians they suffered but it was in a good Cause Justin Martyr and Athenagoras in their Apologies for them shew That there was nothing amiss found in them no Atheism no Thyestean Suppers no unclean Copulations no unjust Actions the only Crime was Christianity And afterwards Tertullian shews That the name in Christians was condemned but no Crime was found in them towards God or man This is the first thing we are to do we must secure a good Cause 2. We must secure good Hearts It is said of the Children of Ephraim that being armed and carrying Bows they turned back in the day of Battel Psal 78.9 and the reason of this we have in the precedent Verse they set not their hearts aright Unless the Heart be good as well as the Cause men will turn back from God and the pure Religion Corrupt Hearts will fall in with the World and ever be on the Sunny side In Dioclesian's time they can be Pagans in Constantine's Christians in Constantius's Arrians in Julian's Pagans again Purpuram colunt non Deum It is the good Heart only that is sit for Sufferings Now two things are requisite to make a good Heart it must be purged from sin and again it must be furnished with principles of Grace 1. It must be purged from sin from the guilt and power of it It must be purged from the guilt of sin A man that hath inward wounds is unfit to bear outward ones Guilt upon Conscience like a Boyl upon the Back makes one uncapable to bear the burden of a Cross They that are partakers of Christs Sufferings in Martyrdome had need first partake of them for Remission They that wash their Robes in the Blood of the Lamb by suffering for him had need first wash their Consciences in it to take away their Guiltness It is not imaginable that a man can piously embrace a Temporal Death when immediately after it he shall fall into an Eternal one Or that he can patiently bear the wrath of Man when the wrath of God is to ensue upon it It was a very forlorn Case with the Egyptians when they were drowning in the Sea and God looked through the Cloud upon them and so it will be with Christians if the World be as a troubled Sea to them and withal God look with an angry Face upon them Therefore it much concernes them to get a pardon sealed in the Blood of Jesus Christ that when they come to suffer they may have nothing to bear but the single Cross without any pressure of Guilt upon Conscience to aggravate it Again It must be purged from the power of Sin Every Lust is a Dalilah an Exhauster as the Hebrew word signifies it takes away the Heart drains and debases the man makes him vile and impotent and by consequence altogether uncapable of so heroical a thing

as suffering for God is He that hath sin reigning in his Heart will comply with it reigning in the World he that carrieth an Idol within will fall down to an outward one Such an one will do any thing rather than suffer The power of sin must be broken that a man may be ready to take up the Cross Further the Heart that it may be good must not only be purged from sin but furnished with Principles of Grace The old Heart will not Hear or Pray or give Almes or do any thing for God in a right manner much less will it suffer for him A man must have gracious Principles such as holy Knowledg Faith Fear Love Zeal Hope Humility Obedience and Patience are that he may be ready for suffering There is a double preparation for it Habitual and Actual Habitual stands in the having those principles and actual in the using of them He that hath them hath a Divine temper disposing him for every piece of the Divine Will he is in the frame of his Heart above Creatures and hath no Center but in his Creator he is higher than Time and this lower World and lies upon the Borders of Heaven and Eternity His great Concerns are not in the Smiles and Frowns of men but in the Will and Favour of God His fear is of greater evil than the World can inflict and his expectation is of greater good than the World can bestow His Principles make him habitually ready for Suffering and when occasion comes the use of them will make him actually so Such an one may say at the fiery Trial as the famous Jerom of Prage did when the Wood was laid to him Salve festa dies Welcome thou joyful day of suffering for Christ This is the second thing we must secure good Hearts 3. We must secure a good God to be with us in our Sufferings A good Cause will not bear us up without a good Heart nor will a good Heart stand without a good God to support it The prayer of David is very remarkable Let Integrity and Vprightness preserve me for I wait on thee Psal 25.21 Integrity is a Preservative but we must wait on God to have our very Integrity preserved and pray as the holy Psalmist doth in the precedent Verse O keep my soul the most upright soul needs it Graces keep the Heart but those very Graces must be kept by the Keeper of Israel The God of Grace is as necessary to the New-creature as the God of Nature is to the Old If he withdraw Faith will fail Love will cool Hope will wither Zeal will be extinct and all Graces will Vanish as the Beams do upon the absence of the Sun The gracious presence of God is necessary to us at all times especially in times of Suffering Joseph's Prison would have been very dismal if God had not been there When all men forsook Paul he had been very forlorn if God had forsook him too How hard is it to be in wants if the All-sufficient one be gone How intolerable are Distresses if the God of all Comfort be absent How shall we bear the Cruelties of men if the Father of Mercies do not assist us Or how shall we stand under own Creature-weakness if the never fainting Creator do not strengthen us What shall we do in doubts if the only Wise one do not guide us Or what shall we do in the Vally of the Shadow of death if the living God be not with us The Presence of God saith a worthy Divine will turn a Prison into a Pallace a Fiery Furnace into a Gallery of Pleasure and the Stocks into a Musick-School Acts 16.25 I may add it is in stead of all things to us With it no Suffering can be too heavy without it none can be tolerable Let us therefore labour to secure this Presence with us and for that end let us secure our being in Christ and our walking in him First let us secure our being in Christ God manifest in the Flesh is the foundation of God sin habiting in the Spirits of men If Christ had not come and mediated for us God would never have come to dwell and to walk in us If we are in Christ God who is personally present with his Humane Nature will be graciously present with us as Members of of him We shall be preserved in Christ as pieces of him by that special Presence which accompanies those that are in him Our blessed Saviour prays that those that were given him might be kept through the Fathers Name Joh. 17.11 that is through that Divine Power Wisdom Mercy and Grace which is with them Again let us secure our walking in Christ Let us walk after his Command and Pattern that is in Meekness of Wisdom in Zeal for Gods Glory in readiness of Obedience in sweetness of Charity in an universal Compliance witht the Divine Will Let there be somewhat of Christ in every step this is the way to have the Divine Presence with us Thus our Saviour left us If any man Love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our aboad with him Joh. 14.23 Such as keep his words shall have the Shechinah the Divine Presence in a peculiar manner with them This will be to them Joy in Sorrow Security in Fears Strength in Weakness Life in Death and All things in the want of All. CHAP. IV. Preparation for Suffering the first direction is Try thy Heart see the Deceit of it what Reliques of Sin are there how it steals out of Duties how false it is in Promises how it extenuates Sin Search see what uprightness is there Doth thy Heart set God before thee doth it respect all Commands doth it eye Gods Glory and did it make a right contract with Christ HAving spoke somewhat in general touching Preparation for Suffering I now come to speak of it more particularly And here I shall lay down several Directions and shew how a Christian may be in a fit posture for suffering 1. If we would be in a fit posture for Suffering let us diligently try our own Hearts Suffering is a searching thing it tries a man as fire doth Metals sifts and winnowes him as Corn is shaken in a Sieve and discovers his thoughts and the bottom of his Heart Many a man seems to be fully for God yet when the Test comes proves to be for the World Therefore it is very proper for us to search our selves before hand to try our Hearts inwardly before the outward trial come to sift and winnow our selves before Providence do it to discover our Hearts to our selves before God discover them to others This is Gods own direction to his People Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired or as the words in the original may be rendred search lift your selves yea search lift your selves O nation not desired before the Decree bring forth before the day pass

Whore no not to save his life offered to him on those terms Holy Fear will tell us that sin must not be done to avoid suffering that we were better bear all reproaches then dishonour God lose our Estates then leave our Religion nay and lay down our lives then be separated from the Divine Love O let us look upon sin as the Maximum formidabile as that which hath in it the most proper cause of fear and flight that no external miseries and dangers may be able to drive us into it 2. Holy Fear looks at the sufferings which God inflicts in Hell as incomparably greater then those which man doth or can inflict upon Earth Our Saviour directing our fear to its right Object takes notice of the vast difference between them Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill he soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell Math. 10.28 Mans killing is one thing but Gods destroying another Man may kill the Body and it may be in a tormenting manner but there is no death like the second no torments on Earth are comparable to those in Hell no finite arm can strike so hard as the infinite One no Culinary or Elementary Fire can burn so hot as the Infernal doth God bid Moses take and sprinkle the ashes of the Furnace and they should become boils and blains Exod. 9.8 9. A Great Doctor of ours glosses on the words thus The sufferings here on Earth are but the ashes of the Furnace small things in comparison of the Furnace itself an Hell of unquenchable fire man may kill the body but he is not alwaies a killing of it he may torment but he cannot bear up the Patient in long suffering the torments in a little time will cease and the Martyr Sleep in Jesus but God kils the damned and is still a killing them power supports them and Justice punishes them the fire of Hell kindled by eternal breath never goes out and the smoak of their torment ascends for ever and ever After thousands and ten thousand of years still there will be wrath to come such as no time can measure Man may kill the body but after that he can do no more his Engines of Cruelty cannot reach the Soul or touch the inward man which is a Sanctuary for God but God kils the soul his wrath is in a peculiar manner poured out there where the chief seat of sin was the neverdying Worm is ever growing upon corscience The spirit of the damned furiously reflects upon itself over the eternal misery that it lies under All the horrors of a Spira or a Judas are far short of that desperate rage and anguish which tortures the lost souls in Hell He that hath this holy fear in him will chuse any sufferings on Earth rather then those in Hell One of the sons of Solomona told the Tyrant Antiochus that his fire was cold and indeed it was so comparatively to the Fire of Hell St. Austin putting the question whom we should obey God commanding one thing or the Emperor commanding another makes his answer Da veniam Imperator tu carcerem minaris ille gehennam Gives place O Emperor De Verb. Dom. serm 6. thou threatnest a Prison he a Hell When Polycarp was threatned with Fire his answer was That the Persecuter threatned only a momentary Fire but knew not The Eternal one He that ever heard that true Thunder which is the voice of God would hardly be afraid of such Artificial Cracks as the Emperor Cajus Caligula used to make to shew himself a God And he that carries upon his heart an awe of those sufferings which God inflicts in Hell will hardly fear those which men inflict on Earth 3. Holy Fear looks upon Spiritual and Eternal Losses as incomparably greater then Carnal and Temporal ones The loss of the World may be made up in the saving of the Soul but for the loss of a Soul nothing can make a recompence That little sparkle of Divinity mightily outweighs the great Globe of the World What are Bodies to Spirits Nemo saith Austin bene se inspexit qui non omni corpori qualemlibet animam praeponendam esse fateatur he that looks well into himself must confess that any Soul is to be preferred before all Bodies The loss of mans favor may be richly made up by the presence of Gods Moses endured the King's wrath as seeing the invisible one the presence of God was so with him that he feared no human frowns But if the Divine Favour be wanting nothing can supply the defect of it It 's true a man without it may have all outward blessings flowing round about him but he eats and drinks and Sleeps under the wrath of God which hangs over his head as the sword did over the head of Damocles at the Tyrants Table and as soon as the thread of life breaks it comes down upon him in an utter ruine The loss of Creatures may be made up by an interest in God a real Christian having nothing may possess all things in him but if a man forsake God what will the World give in exchang for him It 's Riches are but poor moth-eaten things which in a little time vanish away its Pleasures are but the titillations of Sense and perish in the using its Honours are but a blast a little popular Air which soon go away and come to nothing When once God who is the Fountain and Spring of all good departs it is in vain to hope for any thing from the little Rivulets and Cisterns of the Creature He that hath this holy Fear in him will chuse to suffer loss in Carnal and Temporal things rather then in Spiritual and Eternal It is the saying of St. Ambrose Eaest vera pietas quaepraeponit divina humanis perpetua temporalibus Lib. 7. Epist 56. that is true Piety which prefers Divine Things to humane and perpetual things to temporal St. Austin sets out servile and filial Fear by an Adulterous and a Chast Wife Timet mulier adultera In Joh. Tract 63. in E pist Joh. Tract 9. ne vir ejus veniat timet casta ne vir ejus abscedat The adulterous woman sears lest her husband may come the chast woman fears lest her husband depart In like manner servile Fear makes us afraid that God will punish filial Fear makes us afraid that God will depart The loss of him is more then the loss of all things When the Martyr Menas under the Persecution of Dioclesian Magd. hist Cent 4. cap. 12. was brought forth to suffer he gave this reason for it Nihilest quod meâ sententiá conferripossit cum regno coelorum neque enim totus Mundus potest aequâ lance expensus uni comparari animae there is nothing in my judgment like the Kingdom of Heaven neither may the whole World if weighed in an equal ballance be compared with one Soul He had