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	reason_n	sin_n	2,514	5	4.6493	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41476	A sermon preached before the Honble Society of Lincolns-Inne, upon the 26th of July, 1685 being the thanksgiving-day for His Majesty's victory over the rebels / by John Goodrick ...	Goodrick, John.	1685 (1685)	Wing G1144; ESTC R7981	11,287	39

for the Righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth And thus I have done with the first Observation from the words I proceed to the second 2. To shew the necessary consequence of acquiescing in these his dealings without murmuring or repining Be still and know that I am God And this by a plain connexion follows from the former Position For if God's Power and Providence order all Events of War and Peace then to acquiesce in these dealings is highly reasonable for notwithstanding our petulency we cannot alter the nature and issue of things they being disposed by an Almighty Power which none can resist Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who can say to him What dost thou And if this be true in respect of temporal Princes it is much more so with regard to God by whom Kings reign and Princes decree Justice For on the one hand let Force and Counsel Strength and Policy a good Cause and a wise-formed Prosecution let Numbers and the Sinews of War be all united together to effect the designed Purpose yet all these shall be too little and stand in no stead when God pleaseth to overthrow the Enterprize Nay suppose further that the subject-matter of the Undertaking be just and good and to speak without a cant that it be really the Cause of God the defence of Religion and Liberty of the Subject as was truly the case of the blessed Martyr King Charles I. in that Civil-War and Rebellion and of this late Conspiracy notwithstanding their false Shews and Pretences to the contrary I say supposing all this yet it is God alone that can give Victory and Success and to make the Issue and Event prosperous And again when wicked Achitophels and traiterous Absoloms combine together in Treason and Rebellion when their Strength is united and their Force formidable when their Plots are laid as low as Hell and their breaking out as terrible as that of a mighty Torrent T is God alone that can frustrate these Designs His Counsel shall stand maugre all their Imaginations He bringeth to nought the Counsels of the Wicked and maketh their Devices of none effect In the same Net which they hid is their foot taken The Snare is broken and blessed be God that we see this Day to give Thanks that we are delivered Now the result of our reasoning in these matters comes to this That seeing the Power and Providence of God orders all the Events of Peace and War vve should always be the issue what it will As to refer all things to him so to rest satisfied with what is done vvell knowing that he in his Wisdom best understands what is fittest and most condusive to our Good and Happiness And would we patiently submit to God's Will in all concerns of life especially in such extraordinary cases as Tumults and Insurrections Commotions and Rebellions it would more contribute to the quelling of those and effecting our Peace than any other course whatsoever we could take Let us consider that God governs the world and that vvhatsoever is done in the Earth he doth it himself That his Will shall take place be our Contrivances and Devices what they will And then these Meditations cannot chuse but banish all our Fears of the worser part raise our Hopes fortify our Trust and mightily encourage our Undertakings or at least let the extreamest and sorest happen it will cause us with all humility and patience to acquiesce in God's Dispensations and to say Not my will but thy Will he done Or to expostulate vvith our selves in the words of the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God Which brings me to the third Observation from the words vvhat reason we have to trust God in the ordering these Events Now tho I have in a great measure prevented my self by vvhat I have already spoken upon the former Heads viz. from the Power and Providence of God in ordering all Events not to murmur and repine vvhen the issue of things have gone contrary to their causes yet because good and holy Men have made this the matter of their complaint and has proved the ground of great trouble and disquiet to them as I could instance in Job David and Jeremiah I shall therefore consider this Case a little further and shew vvhat reason vve have to trust God in these Events and to rest assured that he vvill be favourable and propitious to us I deny not but that vvicked Men have grown great and prosperous in the World have by their Cunning and Force prevailed to the Overthrow of Righteous Kings and Nations yet it must be acknowledged also that this is a rare Case and seldom happens And vvhen it does besides the secret Reasons which Almighty God reserves in his own Counsel not too narrowly to be pried into by us because not revealed this I may positively affirm that Sin is the moving Cause of such Evils according to that of the Prophet For the Iniquities thereof the Land shall mourn Vertue and Vice Sin Repentance are the standing Reasons of Prosperity and Affliction So the Prophet tell us Jer. 18. 7 8 9. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up pull down and to destroy if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil then I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my Voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them So that this is one Reason why we should trust God with these Events because he has promised that he will deliver us out of Calamities Which Promises are not to be taken too strictly as if it were never otherwise but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. For the most part it will hold true that God will protect and defend such as do their duty and depend upon him We have the highest Reason imaginable to trust God with all our Concerns because if we do so that God who is Truth it self and cannot lye has promised Protection and Deliverance Thus David in that Thanksgiving-Psalm after his Deliverance from Saul and all his Enemies tells us 2 Sam. 22. The Lord is a Buckler to all them that put their trust in him God is my Strength and Power He teacheth my Hands to war so that a Bow of Steel is broken by mine Arms. And Ps 37. 39 40. The Salvation of the Righteous is of the Lord he is their Strength in the time of trouble The Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the Wicked and save them because they put their trust in him And hence it