Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	lord_n	word_n	2,981	5	3.8029	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41840	Great precious promises, or, Some sermons concerning the promises and the right application thereof whereunto are added some other concerning the usefulnesse of faith in advancing sanctification, as also, three more concerning the faith of assurance / by Mr. Andrew Gray ... ; all being revised since his death by some friends, the last impression carefully corrected and amended.	Gray, Andrew, 1633-1656.	1669 (1669)	Wing G1609; ESTC R39446	117,294	219

name I think what he giveth must be one of the noblest names that ever was given all the stiles and titles under heaven cannot equal it And thirdly we see David in the 18. Psal. found much sweetnesse and advantage in this when nine times he hath that word my My strength my rock my fortresse and my deliverer my strength and my buckler the horn of my salvation and my high tower O David what needeth all these Mys David would answer us O! he is so sweet in himself but O! much sweeter to me when I put to that possessive note My. Now to speak more particularly to these advantages of assurance The fi●st is That a person that is assured of his interest in Christ he is much in desiring communion with Christ Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth there is his assurance where thou feedest and where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon there is desire of communion and Song 7.10 11. My beloved is mine and his desire is towards me there is her assurance and immediately followeth Come my beloved let us go forth into the fields let us lodge in the villages there her desire of communion Song 2.16 17. My beloved is mine and I am his and what followeth upon that He feedeth among the lillies untill the day break and the shadows flie away Turn my beloved and be as a roe or a wilde hart upon the mountains of Bether that is in short let me have sweet correspondency and fellowship with thee till the day of Eternity shall come I think the desires of an assured Christian they are like the grave the cry continually Give give and they never say it is enough What is the reason ye seek so little after fellowship with Christ it is even this ye are not perswaded of your interest in him believe it if once ye had attained to this blest length as to cry out Christ is mine it would be a hell upon earth for you to live at such a distance with him as ye do for the most part O but assurance maketh absence from Christ an unsupportable burden Psal. 22.1 My God my God there is assurance and immediately followeth his complaint Why hidest thou thy self from me Song 3.1 2 3. that word Him whom my soul loveth made her to weep so much under absence from Christ and Ioh. 20.13 when the Angels ask the question at Mary Women why weepest thou I think she thought it a needlesse question and she tells the cause of it They have taken away my Lord I think her heart was at her mouth when shee pronounced these two words My Lord she spake them with a great deal of emphasis and force could ye resent absence with Christ so little if ye were assured he were yours I confesse it is no wonder when persons losse that which is not their own that they weep not much for the losse of it but O! to losse that which is our own it maketh it a crosse and a burden to us Secondly It maketh the soul to have a high and matchless esteem of precious Christ Song 5.10 My beloved is white and ruddy the chief among ten thousand O saith the Spouse I never saw his like and I shall never see his like again there is much in that My interest maketh her look upon Christ with another eye nor she would have done strangers look upon him but as a tree planted on the sand 1 Pet. 2.7 To you that believe Christ is precious not to every one And Song 2.2 I sate down under his shaddow with great delight the reason is interest in the words going before As the apple tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons yea assurance will make every thing in Christ exceeding pleasant to the soul as is clear Song 5.16 My beloved is altogether lovely or hee is all desires I tell you what assurance will do it will make Christs person pleasant and precious to the soul it will make Christs Natures pleasant to the soul it will make Christs Offices pleasant to the soul it will make Christs Promises pleasant to the soul it will make Threatnings pleasant to the soul it will make the smell of Christs Garments pleasant to the soul and it will make the kisses of His Mouth pleasant to the soul O saith the assured Christian there is nothing of Christ but it is most pleasant and is all desires His Threatnings are pleasant they are the wounds of a friend and His kisses are pleasant they are better then wine His Name it is pleasant it is as precious ointment powred forth His smellings are most delightsome whose countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the cedars O to imbrace a married Christ how pleasant is it to the soul What makeeth you to have so low thoughts of Christ even this the want of assurance that Hee is your H●sband Thirdly Assurance will make the Christian patiently to submit to every crosse and sad dispensation he meeteth wi●h this is clear Heb. 10.34 They took with joy the spoiling of their goods and what made them do so They hoped for a better inheritance and a more induring substance I tell you assurance it will answer all crosses with this Christ is mine when they are afflicted assurance will lift up its face and cry out Christ is mine and when they are reproached they will comfort themselves with this Christ is mine I can put on the Lord Iesus Fourthly Assurance will keep you from apostacy and defection from Christ 2 Pet. 1.10 Make your calling and election sure and if ye do this saith he ye shall never fall Heb. 3.11.12 It is there set down as a fruit of the evil heart of misbelief it maketh us depart from the living God but on the contrary assurance knitteth the soul to Christ by a threefold cord which is not easily broken Believe it the assured Christian can cry out with much confidence of faith My mountain standeth strong I shall never be moved the assured Christian can cry out with much chearfulnesse In God will I praise his word in God have I put my trust I will not be afraid what flesh can do unto me yea he can sweetly sing in the very mouth of danger The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid Psal. 27.1 Fifthly Assurance keepeth all the graces of the spirit green and flourishing it is as a refreshing dew upon our branches which maketh every grace sweetly to blossome in its season 1. It stirreth up the exercise of love O how vigorous are the actings of love when a Christian can cry out My beloved is mine and I am his Song 1.13 My beloved there is her assurance He is a bundle of myrrhe and shall lye all night between my breasts that is as long as time shall last I shall never have Christ out of my my heart there is love 1 Ioh.

ye might 〈◊〉 the day that ever ye were born if yee 〈◊〉 once come to close with Christ. Now 〈◊〉 him that hath the keyes of the house of D●vid that can open your hearts to give 〈◊〉 entry we desire to give praise SERMON IV. 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust THere are three most glorious and excellent gifts that God hath bestowed upon man there is that comprehensive gift of heaven Iesus Christ who is so called Iohn 4.10 and sure such a gift as ●hat ought in some sense to blind our eyes ●nd make us look upon all things that are be●ow him as nothing The second royal Gift that the Lord hath given is the precious promises of the everlasting Covenant which are given to us thorow him A Christian ●hat is united unto him by the bloud of Faith 〈◊〉 may write this above the head of every promise of the everlasting Covenant this is ●ine and this is mine His third precious gift is the gift of Faith which is that grace that maketh use of the former two and wee conceive that our little making use of ●hese three excellent gifts is the great occasion and cause why these four most sad ●nd lamentable evils have befallen us ● The evil of a silent conscience that though we be profound to commit iniquity and do love a reward under every green tree yet our conscience doth not speak nor reprove us and if at any time they do speak yet there are some that are so possessed with a dumb and dea● spirit they can neither hear what God doth speak nor can they hear their cons●ience 2. The evil of a 〈◊〉 nod wee know not the voice of our rod and who is he that hath appointed it God doth not now open our ears to discipline nor seal up our instruction 3. There is that evil of silent mercies the mercies that we receive of God we understand not the language of them ar● not our mercies Barbarians unto us speaking to us in an unknown tongue and yet we may say there is not a rod nor a mercy a Christian meets with but it hath a voice if wee did understand it And lastly there is that evil which hath befallen us and alas this is the capestone of all a silent God who doth not hearken unto the voice of our cryes but turneth about the face of his Throne covering himself with a cloud in his anger so that our prayers cannot passe through Alas may not each Christian of this time cry out Call mee no more Naomi but call me Mara because th● Lord hath dealt bitterly with me In short I think there are these two things that may b● our lamentation upon the high places of Israel First That we live without sight of God And secondly that wee live without sight of our selves and all this because wee live without a sight of these precious Gifts Christ and his Promises But now to the words We to●d you tha● in them there were these four things holden ●orth concerning the promises 1. The original and fountain of the promises in that word Whereby or by whom 2. The properties of the promises which we told you were these four The first was that the promises were free holden forth in that word they are Given all the promises of the everlasting Covenant being the noble gifts of God The second of which we are to speak at this time is this that the promises of the Covenant they are unchangeable which is imported also in that word they are given the gifts of God being indeed without repentance And as to this 1. Wee shall prove the truth of the point and for this end consider that place Numb 23.19 which was a part of Balaams song Hath hee not spoken it and will hee not also d● it Hath hee said it and shall it not also come to passe and Psal. 89.34 I will not break my Covenant nor alter the word that hath gone out of my mouth and the point is clear also from the name that the promises getteth in Scripture are they no called the sure mercies of David Isa. 55.3 and are they not sometimes in Scripture called Truth as wee may see from Micah 7.20 Thirdly The nature of the Covenant proveth it in that it is called an everlasting Covenant and sometimes a Covenant of Salt because that Covenant is above the reach of alteration or putrifaction And fourthly It may be likewise shown from the constant experience that the Saints have had of the unchangeablenesse of the promises This Ioshua taketh notice of Chap. 23.24 where when he was a dying There hath not failed saith he one thing of all these good things that God hath spoken and hee is so confident of this that he is forced to repeat that word over again in that verse and hee taketh notice of it Iosh. 21.45 where hee hath tha● same expression again There hath not failed saith he one thing of all the good things that God hath spoken and this Solomon hee took notice of 1 King 8.56 There hath n●t failed one thing that God hath spoken unto us by Moses and indeed there is near six thousand years experience that preacheth this truth the promises are unchangeable so that wee may now say The word of the Lord i● tried as silver is purified in a furnace of earth hot seven times If there had been any falshood in the precious promises of the everlasting Covenant six thousand years triall should have brought it to light but doth not every one of the cloud of witnesse● that have gone before us leave this testimony upon record Faithfull is he that hath promised who will also do it his promise 〈◊〉 with the night and with the day it cannot bee altered the ordinances of heaven continue to this day much lesse can this Covenant of love be broken or altered only wee would have you taking this Caution by the way that there are some conditional promises that God passeth unto his people which in the depths of his spotlesse wisdom hee doth not accomplish unto these who never fulfill the condition such was that promise that he gave to the Israelites in the land of Egypt of their possessing the land of Ca●aan who yet died in the wildernesse And ●ence is that strange word Numb 13.34 see shall know my breach of promise saith the Lord which is a word spoken after the man●er of men not importing any change of pur●ose in God but only shewing that because ●hey did not believe and so fulfill the condi●ion of the promise therefore it was not to ●e fulfilled personally to them The second thing that we shall speak to ●pon this that the promises are unchange●ble shall be to propose these six golden ●illars and excellent foundation● upon which the unchangeablenesse of the promises 〈◊〉 built And