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
A78378	William Catons salutation and advice unto Gods elect, of what county, meeting, or family soever they are; mercy and peace, joy, and everlasting refreshment be multiplied among you all.	Caton, William, 1636-1665.	1660 (1660)	Wing C1518; ESTC R171116	4,012	1

William Catons Salutation and Advise unto Gods Elect of what County Meeting or Family soever they are Mercy and Peace Joy and Everlasting Refreshment be multiplied among you all DEarly beloved Friends my Spirit is and hath been under a deep sence of your joy and pure rejoycing of your sorrow and sufferings And in the midst of it my heart hath been melted and overcome with the unspeakable love which hath flowed from my life to you-ward when I have beheld your glory and beauty your comliness and purity your innocency and simplicity And these things my spirit hath viewed and I have beheld them with much delight and my heart hath been so ravished with them even in the night watch that sleep hath vanish't from me And instead of being overtaken with that which nature is subject unto My heart hath been filled with joy my mouth with the high praise of the Lord upon my bed And therein my soul hath Solaced it self being abundantly revived with the fresh streames of my fathers love which from my soul hath flowed forth like unto a mighty stream And though my life hath breathed forth praises abundantly unto the Lord yet my heart is full and my cup doth overflow and my soul is poured forth into your bosoms where my Fathers love and life is shed abroad in which I do most dearly salute you Oh friends your work is weighty your adversaries many and your temptations not a few and these things my soul have weighed and seriously pondered upon And I have observed how the Nations in the most parts where your residence is are angry with you and bends their brows against you and great have your sufferings been in which the Lord hath not left you comfortless And so is it with our brethren beyond the Seas ●hose faith and patience the Lord tryeth by their being exercised in manifold Tribulations but it appeares by their writings that the Lord is exceeding good unto them and that their consolation by his Spirit abounds even in the midst of them which tend to the furtherance of the Gospel And truly I am glad when I consider how patiently you have suffered violence to be done unto you without doing violence to your adversaries which thing is become of good report among all that feareth the Lord who have heard of your long suffering and forbearance which we have learned of our Lord and Master who pleads our cause and clears our innocency and test f●●th to the faces of your adversaries by his witness that they have measured that measure to you which they would not have met unto themselves but when the cup of trembling comes to be put into their hands then shall they with sorrow and grief of heart remember what they have done unto you who have patiently sustained grievous sufferings from them but without controversie many of them who have affl●cted you must drink of that cup of suffering which they have put into your hands and then shall the oppressions wherewith they have oppressed you become their exceeding heavie burthen But however friends if the Lord should yet suffer your sufferings to be prolonged and continued for a season faint not you in your mindes but be strong in the power of the Lords might and be ye tender affectionated one towards another for an unspeakable necessity I see in the Light of the Lord of your being tender one over another that you may be a comfort and a refreshing one to another in the Lord in your several Counties Meetings and Families where you are dispersed and scattered abroad in the Nation and Nations as lights in the World And Friends beware of giving place to that which would gender strife among your selves and bring you into varience one with another for that spirit is not of God but of the World and that will not easily passe by offences but will both give them and take them neither will that bind up breaches but make them worse neither will that edifie the body but will bring suffering upon it and the suffering which that spirit brings upon it is more intollerable for the body then the sufferings that its open adversaries brings upon it for it will rejoyce in the failings of the weak and it will be lifted up when the Righteous are cast down and will look more at the failings of others then at its own Now my advise to you is to beware of it and watch vigilently against it as against one of your greatest and subtilest enemies of your souls and eternal peace And Friends you that are dispersed abroad in sundry parts of the Counties and it may be are not above two or three Families in a Parish and paradventure some of the family are friends and some are not Therefore you had need to be vigilent and circumspect and also beware of letting in the spirits of them that are of another spirit then that which you are of lest thereby you loose your Authority and Dominion over them and so bring trouble upon your selves which may easily befal you if you be too intimate and familiar with them Again you had need to watch over one another in tender love for good that if you see evil appearing in one another you may betimes minde one another of it though I know it will be a greater cross to you to speak to the party that is guilty then it would be for you to speak to another of the thing and when they come to hear of your acquainting others with that which concerned them and you not minding them of the thing before hence may prejudice arise Which when this is gotten up they in whom it is seated will strive to beget it in others against such as they have prejudice against and this will tend rather to the making of parties then unto peace Therefore be advised Oh! friends to take heed of that and I beseech you in the bowels of love be perswaded to live in love peace and unity one with another and be ye good paterns and examples one to another in all things least that you should bring burthens upon one another which the Lord knoweth you had not need to do for I know all of you in your several places wherein you are set who are truly under the yoak have much to bear already so that there is more necessity for your bearing ●ne anothers burthen then there is for your adding unto one anothers burthen Therefore keep t● the life in your selves that in the love which beareth all things you may be comprehended more and more And all you who are Rulers of Families who have the oversight both of children and servants be ye Paterns of love of meeknesse and wisdom of diligence and long-suffering that so your Families may be brought into these things to the praise of God and to your comfort And beware of tollerating any evil vice in your families by giving too much liberty to that which would be Idle Wanton and Extravagant Oh! let