Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	know_v	let_v	see_v	3,024	5	2.9158	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26870	A breviate of the life of Margaret, the daughter of Francis Charlton ... and wife of Richard Baxter ... : there is also published the character of her mother, truly described in her published funeral sermon, reprinted at her daughters request, called, The last work of a believer, his passing-prayer recommending his departing spirit to Christ, to be received by him.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1681 (1681)	Wing B1194; ESTC R1213	62,400	127

and trouble upon my spirits and well it may be so for the sins of this day have been very great My heart hath not answered the expressions of thanks which have been uttered by the mouths of those that spake them to God No no my heart hath not stirred and been drawn out towards my God! The thoughts of his love have not ravished my Soul Alas I scarce felt any holy spark to warm my Soul this day This day which was a day of the greatest mercy of any in all my life the day in which I have had an opportunity to give thanks for all the mercies of my life and thanks it self is a greater mercy than the rest All other mercies are to prepare for this This is the work of a glorified Saint even a Saint in heaven before the blessed face of God It 's his everlasting business to Sing the Songs of Thanksgiving and Praise to the Most High But my thoughts have not been filled with the sweet foretasts of this blessed work which I might have had this day O God I beseech thee forgive my sin and lay not my deadness to my charge but overlook all my transgressions and look on me in Jesus Christ my Saviour I am thine Lord and not mine own This day I have under my Hand and Seal in the presence of Witnesses nay in thine own presence who art Witness sufficient were there no eye to see me or ear to hear me Thou Lord that knowest all things knowest that I have devoted my All to thee Take it and accept my Sacrifice Help me to pay my vows Wilt thou not accept me because I do it not more sincerely and believingly O Lord I unfeignedly desire to do it aright O wilt thou strengthen my weak desires I believe Lord help my unbelief Thou that canst make me what I am not O make me what thou wouldst have me be In thee there is all fulness and to thee I desire to come by Christ. Wilt thou now cast me off because I do it not unreservedly Lord I confess the Devil tempteth and the flesh saith Spare something what let all go And I find in me a carnal selfish principle ready to close with the temptation But thou canst prevent and conquer all and speak death to these corruptions and bid the Tempter be gone It is thy pleasure here to suffer thy dear children to be tempted but fuffer not temptations to prevail against thy Spirit and Grace If temptation be like a torrent of water to smother quench or hide the flame yet wilt thou never let all the sparks of thy Grace be put out in the soul where once thou hast truly kindled it But Lord suffer not such floods to fall on my soul where the spark is so small already that it is even scarce discernible O quicken it and blow it up to a holy flame Most gracious God! O do it here who hast done it for many a soul O what have I said that I have a spark of grace why the least spark is worth ten thousand times more thanks than I can ever express and I have been dead and unthankful as is before confessed And is that a sign of grace Unthankful dead and dull I have been and still am but yet it must needs be from Gods gift in me that I have any desires after him and that this day I have desired to devote my self to him and that I can say I would be more holy and more heavenly even as the Lord would have me be Nay I do know the time when I had none of these desires and had no mind to God and the ways of godliness and do I not know that there be many in this condition who have no desires after Christ and holiness Here then is matter of comfort given me from him that doth accept the desires of his poor creatures even the Lord Christ who will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reed I see then that I have yet matter of rejoycing and must labour to be so humbled for my remaining sins as may tend to my future joy in believing but not so as to be discouraged and frightned from God who is longsuffering and abundant in mercy Rouze up thy self then to God my soul humbly but believingly repent that thou hast been so unthankful and insensible of the benefits this day received up up and lie not down so heavily God hath heard prayers for thee and given thee life and opportunity to serve him He hath given thee all the outward mercies thy heart can desire He hath given thee dear godly able friends such as can help thee in the way to heaven yea he hath set them to beg spiritual mercies for thee who prevailed for temporal for thee and oft for many others why then shouldst thou not watch and pray and wait in hope that he hath heard their prayers this day for thy soul as formerly for thy body They are things commanded of God to be asked and we have his promise that seeking we shall find It may be this night many of Gods dear children will yet pray for my soul I doubt not some will and shall I not be glad of such advantage I heard this day that I must not forbear thanks because the mercies are yet imperfect else we should never give thanks on earth Though therefore my Grace be yet but a spark and weak my body weak my heart sad all these administer matter of thanks and praise as well as of supplication Let me therefore keep close to both they being the life of my life while I live here and having daily need of supply from God let me daily be with him and live as in his presence Let him be the chief in all my thoughts my heart and life And let me remember to be earnest for my poor Relations and dear Friends and the Church and people of God in general And let me strive to keep such a moderate sense of sorrow on my soul as occasion requireth I have now cause of sorrow for parting with my dear friends my Father my Pastor He is by providence called away and going a long journey what the Lord will do with him I cannot foresee it may be he is preparing some great mercy for us and for his praise I know not but such a day as this may be kept here on his account The will of the Lord be done for he is wise and good we are his own let him do with us what he pleaseth all shall be for good to them that love God I have cause to be humbled that I have been so unprofitable under mercies and means it may grieve me now he is gone that there is so little that came from him left upon my soul. O let this quicken and stir me up to be more diligent in the use of all remaining helps and means And if ever I should enjoy this mercy again O let me make it appear that this night

your daily study and let me in writing see some fruits of your labours before I go hence and be seen here no more Be not wanting to your own Comforts and you cannot displease God nor your Mother who longs more after your Eternal Good than I can now utter My Love to you all and Prayers for you all I continue Your most tenderly Loving Mother M. H. § 22. In another to Oxford 1657. ALL will work for good to them that love God I hope you are one of those The Lord direct your paths that you may work out your Salvation with fear and trembling in your Youth and not let time slip till Age which will come or Death before it on all flesh and an account must be given of the precious Time which we now neglect I have more to say but when I see you it will be done with more ease The Lord keep you all and make you faithful to the Death that you may receive the Crown of Glory which is the Prayer of her that tendreth the good of your Soul M. H. § 23. In 1659. In another she writes thus MY dear Child My greatest Trouble is that I can have no better account of your health of Body yet surely the cure of the Soul is of far more worth Therefore I faint not Else I could not subsist under the heavy stroke which I have justly deserved Who knows but my sins may be some cause of thy distress of Soul However let us return to the Lord and he will heal all our breaches and will bind up all our Sores and will give us a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens where we shall never be forc'd asunder and all Infirmities shall be left behind and we shall take up all pleasure in the enjoyment of our Heavenly Redeemer In the mean time let us with courage and confidence press hard toward the mark for the price of that calling which was set before us For the things which are seen are temporal but the the things which are not seen are eternal I can go no further but cannot forget to be Thy truly Loving Mother M. H. This was written to her in her sickness when for better Air she lay at Old Mr. Richard Foly's house at Stourbridge § 24. I have transcribed these to shew the mind and care of the good Gentlewoman and what cause I and my Neighbours had of comassion to her in her Sorrows when she was separated from an only Son whose welfare she had prosecuted with so strong affection and long labour and patience and began to have much comfort in this Daughter whom she had formerly least valued and thought she must so suddenly leave her Let those that think these too little matters to be told the World remember that Neerness Love and Sorrow may be allowed to make things greater to me than they seem to those that are not so concerned in them And that Mr. Fox in his Book of Martyrs publisheth a great number of as mean Letters as any of these even some of women and some written to the Martyrs as well as those written by them And while I say that I will add that though for Nineteen years I was so seldom from her that she had few Letters of mine yet those which she had I find now among her reserved Papers And that you may see what it was that I' thought she most desired and what she her self most valued I will here add one of them not venturing to trouble such with more as are affected little with any matters but their own which is the case of most I recite this rather than others partly also as an act of repentance for those failings of her just expectations by the neglect of such helps as I should have given her which I had here mentioned For though she oft said that before she Married me she expected more sowrness and unsuitableness than she found yet I am sure that she found less zeal and holiness and strictness in all words and looks and duties and less help for her soul than she expected And her temper was to aggravate a fault much more in her nearest and dearest friends than in any others and to be far more troubled at them But this use she made of my too cold and careless converse and of all my impatiency with her impatience and of all my hasty words that she that had long thought she had no grace because she reach 't not higher than almost any reach on Earth and because she had many Passions and Infirmities perceived by me and many other esteemed Teachers that we were all as bad as she and therefore grace doth stand with more faultiness than she had imagined and that all our teaching much excelled the frame of our souls and lives and was much more worthy to be followed and therefore that God would also pardon such failings as her own THough I have received none from you but one by Mr. H. I will not be avenged on you by the like I have nothing of News or business to communicate but to tell you that we are all here yet as well as you left us excepting what your absence causeth And yet I must confess I find that it is easier to be oft speaking to God when I have no body else to speak to than when there are other Competitors Expectants or Interpellators Just as I can easier now fill my Paper to thee with some speech of God when I have nothing else to put into it than I can when many other matters are craving every one a place It is our shame that the Love and Glory of God doth not silence every other Suiter and even in the midst of crowds and business take us up and and press every creature and occasion for their service But while we are weak and compassed with flesh we must not only consider what we should do but what we can do It is our great fault that we are no skilfuller and faithfuller in helping one another that we might miss each other on better reasons than meerly from the inclinations of Love I hope God will make us better hereafter that when we are asunder each of us may say I miss the help for Watchfulness and Heavenliness for true Love and Thankfulness to God which I was wont to have But O! what an enemy is a naughty heart which maketh us unable for our duty alone and makes us need the help of others and yet will not suffer us to use it when we have it When we are alone it maketh us impediments to our selves and when we are in company it maketh us impediments to others Yet is there none no not the weakest of Christians but there is much in them that we might improve But we are so bad and backward at it that Satan too commonly hath his end in making us unprofitable to each other If a good Horse or a good House be a valuable mercy how much more

duties for them besides the time and perhaps caring thoughts that all his Family expences and affairs will require And then it will disquiet a man's mind to think that he must neglect his Family or his Flock and hath undertaken more than he can do My conscience hath forced me many times to omit secret prayer with my Wife when she desired it for want of time not daring to omit far greater work 2. And a Minister can scarce look to win much on his Flock if he be not able to oblige them by gifts of charity and liberality And a married man hath seldom any thing to spare especially if he have children that must be provided for all will seem too little for them Or if he have none House-keeping is chargeable when a single man may have entertainment at easie rates and most women are weak and apt to live in fear of want if not in covetousness and have many wants real or fancied of their own to be supplied 3. In a word St. Paul's own words are plain to others but concern Ministers much more than other men 1 Cor. 7. 7 c. I would that all men were as I my self It is good for them they abide even as I 28. Such shall have trouble in the flesh 32. I would have you without carefulness He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord but he that is married careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife This is true And believe it both caring for the things of the world and caring to please one another are businesses and troublesome businesses care for house-rent for children for servants wages for food and rayment but above all for debts are very troublesome things and if cares choak the word in hearers they will be very unfit for the mind of a Student and a man that should still dwell on holy things And the pleasing of a Wife is usually no easie task There is an unsuitableness in the best and wisest and likest Faces are not so unlike as the apprehensions of the mind They that agree in Religion in Love and Interest yet may have daily different apprehensions about occasional occurrences persons things words c. That will seem the best way to one that seems worst to the other And passions are apt to succeed and serve these differences Very good people are very hard to be pleased My own dear Wife had high desires of my doing and speaking better than I did but my badness made it hard to me to do better But this was my benefit for it was but to put me on to be better as God himself will be pleased That it's hard to please God and holy persons is only our fault But there are too many that will not be pleased unless you will contribute to their sin their pride their wastfulness their superfluities and childish fancies their covetousness and passions and too many who have such passion that it requireth greater skill to please them than almost any the wisest can attain And the discontents and displeasure of one that is so near you will be as Thorns or Nettles in your bed And Paul concludeth to be un-married is the better that we may attend the Lord without distraction v. 35 38. And what need we more than Christ's own words Mat. 19. 10 11 12. when they said then It is not good to marry he answers All men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given For there are some Eunuchs who were so born from their Mothers womb and there are some Eunuchs who were made Eunuchs by men and there be Eunuchs which have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake He that is able to receive it let him receive it Oh how many sad and careful hours might many a Minister have prevented And how much more good might he have done if being under no necessity he had been sooner wise in this § 18. Another Use of this History is to shew men that it is not God's or our Enemies afflicting us in worldly losses or sufferings especially when we suffer for Righteousness sake which is half so painful as our own inward Infirmities A man's Spirit can bear his Infirmities of outward Crosses but a wounded Spirit who can bear My poor Wife made nothing of Prisons Distrainings Reproaches and such Crosses but her burden was most inward from her own Tenderness and next from those whom she over-loved And for mine own part all that ever either Enemies or Friends have done against me is but as a flea-biting to me in comparison of the daily burden of a pained Body and the weakness of my Soul in Faith Hope Love and Heavenly Desires and Delights § 19. And here you may see how necessary Patience is and to have a Mind fortified before-hand against all sorts of Sufferings that in our Patience we may possess our Souls And that the dearest Friends must expect to find much in one another that must be born with and exercise our Patience We are all imperfect It hath made me many a time wonder at the Prelates that can think it the way to the Concord of Millions to force them to consent to all their Impositions even of Words and Promises and Ceremonies and that in things where Conscience must be most cautelous whereas even Husband and Wife Master and Servants have almost daily Differences in judging of their common Affairs § 20. And by this History you may see how little cause we have to be over-serious about any worldly matters and to mind and do them with too much intensness of Affection and how necessary it is to possess them as if we possest them not seeing the time is short and the fashion of this world passeth away And how reasonable it is that if we love God our selves yea or our Friends that we should long to be with Christ where they are far more amiable than here and where in the City of God the Ierusalem above we shall delightfully dwell with them for ever Whereas here we were still sure to stay with them but a little while And had we here known Christ after the flesh we should so know him no more Whereas believing that we shall soon be with him even those that never saw him may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory § 21. Lastly Here you may see that as God's Servants have not their portion or good things in this Life so they may have the same Sicknesses and manner of Death as others Lazarus may lie and die in his sores among the Dogs at the door when Dives may have a pompous Life and Funeral There is no judging of a mans Sincerity or of his future state by his Disease or by his Diseased Death-bed words He that liveth to God shall die safely into the hand of God though a Fever or Deliration hinder him from knowing this till Experience and sudden possession of Heaven convince him Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. Therefore in our greatest straits and sufferings let us comfort one another with these words That we shall for ever be with the Lord. Had I been to possess the company of my Friends in this Life only how short would out comfortable converse have been But now I shall live with them in the Heavenly City of God for ever And they being there of the same mind with my forgiving God and Saviour will forgive all my Failings Neglects and Injuries as God forgiveth them and me The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away And he hath taken away but that upon my desert which he had given me undeservedly near Nineteen years Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I am waiting to be next The door is open Death will quickly draw the Veil and make us see how near we were to God and one another and did not sufficiently know it Farewel vain World and welcom true Everlasting Life FINIS