Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	let_v	lord_n	see_v	4,698	5	3.6890	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94070	XXXI. select sermons, preached on special occasions; the titles and several texts, on which they were preached, follow. / By William Strong, that godly, able and faithful minister of Christ, lately of the Abby at Westminster. None of them being before made publique.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6007_pt1; Thomason E874_1; ESTC R203660	309,248	523

God that men cannot receive the heart makes up a stop a dam against them they pass not through the whole man to bring into subjection every thought 2 Cor. 10.6 but men imprison truth in unrighteonsness Rom. 1.18 and will not suffer it to pass through the whole man through the whole soul this is a marish place c. Secondly when the waters and the earth do mix together this makes the myre when the Truths of God do mix with the corruptions of men that either men can hold some Truths and yet keep their lusts they can stand for truths and yet they live in their sins and so shine as lights and have their lamps and yet be unclean all the while or else when men do make use of the Truths of God to justifie their sins and they do plead the word of God to maintain their lusts they can stand for the Truths of God yet will not leave their lusts but seek to cover them under it Clem. Alex. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. for●ing the Scriptures to their lusts Voluptatem sequi non quam audit sed quam attulit Aust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Austin 2 Pet. 3.16 They do wrest the Scriptures and make them to speak that which the Spirit of God never intended in them and all is to favor some lust or other following the hidden things of dishonesty they do handle the word of God deceitfully and make it speak peace when the Lord in the word doth speak terror c. Thirdly the longer men continue the more filthy they grow the longer the Truths of God lie upon the heart of a man and if they reform not they make him grow the more filthy and the more polluted it makes a mans lusts the more hatefull and the more defiling for Ordinances do ripen mens sins as well as their graces and in this respect they may the more fitly be called myrie places N●w the judgment is They shall not be healed they shall be given unto salt First They shall not be healed they had the waters flowing in upon them and by them many were healed but they were not healed under them and now in judgement the Lord saith that they shall not be healed those healing Ordinances which work a very great change upon other men and restore their souls they shall take no place upon them that which was their sin shall be their plague they would not be healed they shall not be healed they would not be purged they shall not be purged they will not come when they are invited they shall not taste of my Supper A man cannot have a greater plague befall him then to be given up unto his own sin and that which is the natural fruit there of Men that have lived under the Truths of God and have not been healed by them the Lord gives them up as incorrigible in judgement they shall not be healed that makes the Anathema Maranatha reserved they are as incorrigible for the judgement of the Lord at his coming for this is that curse upon them which is denounced by God most properly its Gods ordinary way to deal with sinners that shall be their punishment which they chose to themselves as their way of sinning He that is ignorant shall be ignorant still and he that is filthy shall be filthy still he that will not be healed the Lord says he shall not be healed c. Secondly They shall be given to salt which hath a double interpretation given of it First they shall be given up unto a perpetual barrenness Deut. 29,23 The whole land is brimstone and salt it is not sowen and neither grass nor any thing grows therein So Abimelech dealt with Shechem he beat down the city and sowed it with salt Judg. 9.45 Psal 107.34 a fruitfull land he turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into saltness that is barrenness and so Jerom given to salt Ut in perpetuum frugibus careant that they may not bear fruit for ever Secondly Given to salt ut alios condiant exemplorum sale that is he shall be given up unto some exemplary judgement that may teach all other men to beware For he that built his house and not upon a rock when the rain falls and the winds blow he will fall and the fall of that house will be great Doctrine Some men that live under the purest and the most powerful Ordinances are in judgement given up unto a perpetual barrenness For the explication of this there are these sour particulars First that God doth by the Gospel execute spiritual Judgements as well as confer spiritual blessings Secondly that of all judgements those that are spiritual are the most dreadfull Thirdly why the Lord doth in Judgment give men up to a barrenness under the Gospel Fourthly the manner how the Lord doth this and how these Judgements are executed in an ordinary way First the Lord doth by the Ordinances of the Gospel execute spiritual Judgements as well as confer spiritual blessings there are the greatest curses as well as the greatest mercies come out of Zion all Judgements both temporal and spiritual come out of Ordinances for as they have the promises of this life that now is and that which is to come so there belongs to them also the threatnings of the life that now is and that which is to come temporal Judgements come out of ordinances Ezek. 10.2 Take fire from off the Altar and scatter over the city they thought that the fire of the Altar had served for nothing else but ad expianda scelera Calvin To expiate their sins but the Lord doth let them see that it will burn their City also 1 Cor. 11.30 for this cause many are sick and many weak and many are fallen asleep and when the day of Revelation shall come that the Counsels of God and the hearts of men shall be made manisest we shall then see that many of the Judgements that now we complain of will be found to be fire taken off the Altar and to be inflicted for the neglect and abuse of the Gospel which now we do very commonly attribute unto other causes every man according as his own fancy or party leads him and also spiritual Judgments as Rev. 4.5 there are before the throne the seven spirits of God all spiritual gifts and graces are poured out in Ordinances and there are out of the throne thundrings and lightnings and voices which note the terrible ways that the Lord has of punishing wicked men for their contempt and neglect of the Gospel Fulgura tonitrua terribilia supplicia significant nec ullo modo vitanda Br●ghtman Judgements from Heaven shall be poured out immediatly upon the spirits of men and that from Heaven Isa 28.13 The word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept and line upon line here a little and there a little that is summacum industria indulgentia He did it daily and he did it with a great deal

the pulpits in times past sound with such words as these Lord remember bleeding and dying Ireland Lord this is Ireland that is a cast-out peopl● hat none cares for but when thou makest inquisition for blood remember them c. and those prayers which were put up from many a gracious heart which are now answered though now many of them haply are displeased and discontented with the return of their own prayers Secondly it is a mercy given in when all things were desperate and even all hope of a deliverance was gone Now is God a help found in the needful time of trouble when the enemies power and confidence was high and they said Ireland is our own we will pursue them even take them and satisfie our lusts upon them we will surely root out the English name from amongst us and we will try if they can swim into England it may be their faith will bear them up as that partie hath alwayes scoffed at godliness in all their successes but be no more mockers least your bonds increase Now when you had not an Armie in the field the whole Kingdom was their own and not a Garrison left in the whole Kingdom but one and that brought to the very brink of destruction also and must have been surrendred speedily after they made their approaches to it Now God gives in the mercy now doth the Lord judge his people and repent him concerning his servants when he sees that their power is gone and that there is none shut up or left Deut 32.36 when there is no Army in the field no souldiers in garrison now is the time that the Lord doth appear and take to himself his great power and raign Thirdly when the Lord doth therein exceed the expectations of his servants a deliverance they hoped for but not so great not so sudden so that when it came they seemed as men that dream and they can scarce believe that God would do so great things for them when the Lord is come to do them when the son of man comes shall he find faith upon earth its a faith in reference to the coming of Christ for to take vengeance on the Churches adversaries Isa 64.3 thou didst great things for us which we looked not for for God doth not answer prayers according unto our hopes but according to his own mercies as he doth not reward our services according to the measure of our duty but in the mouth of mercy Hos 10.12 a man doth sow in duty but he doth reap in ore misericordiae Fourthly when it is by the hand of those whom they have oppressed when the witnesses that were slain shall rise again and they shall destroy their persecutors by the sword that comes out of their mouthes then it is the greater mercy and far the greater confusion unto the enemy Isa 41.15 When the worm Jacob shall thresh the mountains and when the arm of the Lord should be made bare in it and his hand more immediately seen beyond the purpose courage and intention of men they are engaged before they are aware and victorie is won before they know they are engaged in a Battle when the Lord shall bend Judah for him and fill his bow with Ephraim and they shall have the honour of the conquest that have had their great share in their Torments and were by the enemies designed for destruction and they shall fall by their hand it makes the mercy far the greater Fifthly when it is such a mercy as lets us see still that God owns the same cause and however men warp and turn too and fro yet the good old cause in which the people of God were engaged against the Antichristian party the Lord owns that cause still and gives unto his people hereby hopes of a settlement For the Lord Christ when he rides forth in the conquest of the Gospel he doth ride forth conquering and to conquer not all at once but by degrees and doth give to his people yet a ground of their faith to see if they be of the seed of the Jews before whom they have begun to fall they shall surely fall God hath given us therein Hos 2.15 the vally of Achor for a door of hope it is true that Achor was a pleasant vally and it was sweet in it self therefore it was joyned with Carmel and Bashan but yet it was much more sweet in reference to the hope for it was at the first entrance into the Land of Canaan and as the first fruits gives them possession of the whole Sixthly it is still a carrying on of the grand design that the Lord Christ hath to do in the world in the latter daies for Christ in glory hath not only Saints to gather home to himself and to bind them all up in a bundle of life and he doth raign for their sakes for he is the head over all things for the Churches sake but the Lord hath also enemies to be subdued he must raign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet and he will be faithful as the Fathers servant in the one as well as in the other therefore Rev. 14. there is a harvest of all the Saints to be reaped and there is a wine press of wicked men at the same time to be trodden c. Now the great enemy unto Christ in the latter daies of the world is that wicked one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Baylon the great the Mother of Harlots Now so far as this tends to the promoting of that great design as it doth exceedingly so far should the Saints of God rejoyce therein for they must by degrees go into p●rdition and though all the former subjects would be fit matter for our meditation throughout this day and might have given us several Considerations of very publike concernment in reference to the mercy of the day yet at present I have chosen this rather to draw out your praises thereby concerning which I shall present you but with these three considerations First the least return that you can make of a mercy is praise to God for it and it is all that the Lord doth expect of you Hos 14. and we will give thee the calves of our lips it is all the promise that the Lord would have his people make to him in the time of their straits Afflictions they are stupefactive and of a confounding nature and they close the mouth J●r 8.14 let us enter into our fenced Cities and let us be silent there for the Lord our God hath put us to silence but mercies they are of an expansive and dilating nature and they open the mouth as Hannah not only her heart 1 Sam. 2.1 was filled but her mouth was enlarged also Secondly if you do not return praises for mercies God will surely add Judgements unto mercies and will turn his hand against you do you evil after he hath done you good Hezekiah received a mercy but he did not render according to

to stop their mouthes therefore if you would not have Judgements encreased take heed when you see the Lord appearing for his Church providentially acting the Lord is up then Say to thy own soul Let all flesh be silent before him That is the first looking upon these words as referring to the Churches enemies A word I shall add looking upon these words as referring to the poor distressed Jews who were now returned out of the Land of their Captivity but there was a mighty power of the enemy against them why yet saith the Lord do you keep silence silence your doubtings silence your frettings Silence your doubtings It it said of Abraham Rom. 4.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not dispute the business pro and con and truly neither must you if God be up leave the work in his hand leave off your doubtings leave off your doubtings upon conjectures and suppositions That is the first Let all flesh keep silence silence your doubtings Secondly Let all flesh keep silence silence your frettings saith David Psal 39. I kept silence I was dumb saith he for it was thy doings A terrible Judgement befell Aaron two sons were taken away by an immediate stroke from Gods hand and Aaron held his peace his spirit did not rise and discontentedly fret at the present dispensation Oh ye that fear God take heed when the Lord ariseth for his people keep silence before him silence your doubtings silence your fret tings That I press by four considerations and so I shall conclude I beseech you mark them You that fear God that know his name that expect an interest in all that mercy that the Lord intendeth for his people in the latter daies take heed I say that ye keep silence before the Lord. First Consider but this will you contend with God will you I say contend with God in Judgement the Lord challengeth that Who will appoint me a time who will contend with me in Iudgement Will you dispute the business out with God Consider Gods Judgement is the last Judgement and his Judgement is an eternal Judgement from his Sentence there is no appeal it is the worst course that a man could take that is to be Judged to undertake to contend with his Judgement before God therefore take heed of it you cannot contend with God in Judgement Iob 9.32 Secondly should not the Sove●aignty of God put you to silence though it may be all the actings of God be not according to your will should not the Soveraignty of God I say stop your mouthes ● hath not the Lord reserved to himself the power of Kingdoms Depoint Reges disponit Regna he it is that disposeth Kings he it is that disposeth Kingdoms now I beseech you observe this seriously this did silence David I was dumb and opened not my mouth it was thy doings truly had I looked barely upon man it was such a thing I could not have born if I had looked only upon instruments but when I looked upon him as my Soveraign and absolute Lord then saith he I was silent before him In the third place consider this A fretful spirit even in Gods own people doth strangely blind their eyes that they cannot see the goodness of God in the mercy but take many times that which is a high and glorious mercy they take it to be a cross and an affliction My Brethren observe envy will strangely hoodwink a man when the hand of the Lord is lifted up they will not see why for their envy at the people they text saith it is an evil frame of spirit in a Christian a froward discontented fretful spirit a spirit ill becoming a Saint your wisdom should hinder it Solomon tels you a man of understanding is of an excellent Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frigidus spiritu he is a man of a cool spirit a man of understanding a great many men will speak of their understandings and their zeal many times but know that a man of understanding is of a cool spirit Consider the Spirit of Christ comes in the form of a Dove be innocent as Doves without gall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine felle sine dolo so the word signifies the Dove is without gall as well as without guil and truly that is a spirit becoming a Christian and the want of this my Brethren makes many deny the most glorious actings of God towards his people when many times even an Heathen man a stranger standing by is ready to cry out as he did truly it is a glorious God the God of the Christians Alas they will not look upon it they cannot see it envy I say strangely bleareth the eyes take heed of it therefore In the last place and so I have done Consider doth the wrath of man work the righteousness of God the Apostle S. Iames tels you clearly the contrary certainly you that will maintain Gods cause you must do it by Gods means the Lord needs no carnal weapons no help of any body no fleshly interest to maintain his spiritual cause no I entreat you consider it when if ever you will carry on the cause of God let it be done by the means and with that spirit that God requireth I dare undertake you shall find that of Nazianzen a good rule Nazian Let us be weak that we may overcome I that is the way the way to overcome men or to mannage a cause though you say it is the cause of God I say it is not to be done by humane heats and fleshly animosities therefore this is that I shall leave with you for the present in these five considerations farther and so have done First God hath never set up any authority or way of government but he hath reserved to himself in his providence a power to change it at his pleasure Zach. 21.10 Remove the Diadem take away the Crown God will shew himself to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords Secondly it is his ordinance that there should be a Magistracie they are called the shields of the earth the stay of your tribes the foundations of the earth and it is not good there should be an Anarchie for God hath set Rulers over men some by providence some by promise But yet God sets them over them that should be enough to restrain men of giddy spirits who are like the children of Belial without a yoak therefore let us not go about to pluck up our own bedge and destroy our own foundations Hab. 1.13 The fishes of the Sea have no Ruler over them but devour one another The Persians at the death of their Kings have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on purpose that men might find the evil of it therefore be not unruly boysterous spirits like the raging Sea But be content to submit to the bounds that God hath set you Thirdly though this Government be an Ordinance of God yet the extent and specification of it is but an humane creation 1. Pet. 2.13 〈◊〉