Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	sin_n	suffer_v	suffering_n	2,120	5	9.4937	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60170	A new naked truth, or, The sandy foundation of the Sacramental test shaken, by a warning-piece discharged from heaven against all sorts of persecutors wherein you may hold Christ crucified mystically and sacramentally, upon the cross of the sacramental penal test, with all the rest of the penal laws and tests attending thereon, and contributing thereunto / by Giles Shute ...	Shute, Giles, b. 1650 or 51.	1688 (1688)	Wing S3709; ESTC R11222	67,483	56

the very Cause or present state of Suffering for fear of future Sufferings for the Cause is worse than the Effects of Suffering For while the Cause is in being the Effects may soon be produced again For to be afraid of future Suffering is to remain under present Sin. What Sin you will say Why Christ is still Crucifying upon the Cross of the Sacramental Test and ever will be until that Law be Abolished and Destroyed O Sirs I beseech ye do not deal by your Blessed Saviour as Pharaoh's Butler did by Joseph when he had gotten his own Elargement and was at Ease himself he soon forgot the Afflictions of Joseph whom he promised to remember when he came before the King. O! Do not you deal so unkindly by our Saviour Christ now you have gotten your Liberty and are at Ease your selves Do not forget that Christ our Blessed Jesus is in Sufferings still he is still upon the Cross of the Sacramental Test for if you do you may provoke God to bring you into greater Sufferings than ever you have been yet in and that from the immediate Hand of God for though the Lord B s have discharged all their Artillery against ye yet God may discharge his against ye and you cannot shift nor shun that as perhaps most of you of this Leven formerly have done In time of actual Persecution and Sufferings you could go to the Outward-Court-Worship one part of the Lord's Day and to a private Meeting to Worship at Night which was grievous Hypocrisie and down-right mocking of God and a Halting between two Opinions If the Lord be God follow him if Baal then follow him The Lord give Repentance unto all that were thus guilty for now it is a special time for all men to be serious Secondly Study your present Duty and do it let it be what it will follow God in the Footsteps of his Providence and be not afraid to lay your Hand on the Cockatrice Den to destroy it namely the Penal Laws and Tests for fear of an uncertain Snake in the Grass Let this legal Old House which the Plaister and Stones and the very Timber of it is infected with this fretting Leprosie be pulled down and utterly destroyed or else this Plague of Persecution which is the worst of Plagues will never be stop'd Do not think of Preserving this Stone or that piece of Timber but down with it all raze the very Foundation of it and build a better House in the room of it For the very End and Design of these Laws was but to strengthen the Hands of Evil doers And shall any sober man of any Perswasion even dare to be for the continuance of them And should consequentially choose rather that Christ the Son of God should remain Crucified and bleeding under them than to part with them for fear of the Snake in the Grass It is a sign of but little Love to Christ they love their own present Ease and prefer that before the Sufferings of Christ Thirdly Let not any Sober Man be afraid to come into the Government nor let not them be Uneasy that are in it whom God by his Majesty hath or shall call into it because they have not nor cannot take the Sop of Qualification which is a very great Sin in them that have thus Sinfully qualified themselves they that have not thus Unworthily complyed will have the most Peace and Comfort Shall any man be afraid to do good for fear of evil coming on it For these Insnaring Laws are against the Great Charter of Heaven and therefore it is that Persecuters are so much for them and so ready to Obey them and to Comply with them and therefore good Men all along have refused to yield Obedience unto them but have chosen rather to Suffer and be Ruined by them then Sinfully to Comply with them because that Wicked Persecuting Men and Good Men are of two contrary Principles Prov. 29.27 An Vnjust man is an Abomination to the Just And he that is Vpright in the way is an Abomination to the Wicked O my Beloved As you do value the Honour and Glory of God and his Majesty's Kindness and the Peace and Tranquility of your Country and the Good of your Posterity come into the Government and put your Hand to this Plow of God and do not look back but follow God in his Footsteps of Providence hear what that Gospel Prophet saith which seems to be very apposite to this purpose Isa 26.20 Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy Doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the Indignation be overpast I take this to be the same with the Great Voice that came from Heaven which brought us our Christian Liberty that said Come up hither Rev. 11.12 That is Come into your Chambers Meet publickly for all the Glorious Attributes of God are engaged for your Safety which are the Chambers of Heaven Well but what is these Doors and the shutting of that Why I humbly conceive these Doors to be something which exposeth us to danger while it stands open these Doors that are open upon us may be meant of the Penal Laws and Tests which all the Persecuting Thieves and Robbers who are the Enemies of Christian Liberty do always enter in at and Rob and Rape and Spoil all that are not of their Party that their Law or Lusts can reach Therefore as God by his Gracious Majesty's Declaration hath called ye up into Heaven into your Chambers so God by his Majesty is now further calling upon ye to shut the Doors about ye to keep out the Thieves and Robbers that they may not come in to Rob and Spoil ye for until that be done you are not safe neither can you for though we have this Christian Liberty Blessed be God for it yet the Doors stand open upon us and the Thieves may come in again But Secondly What is this making fast of these Doors round about us Why here is two things to be done I humbly conceive The First is You must destroy and take away all the Keys or rather Legal Pick-Locks which these Legal Thieves have with which they can open your Doors at their pleasure and come in and Rob you of your Substance and of your Christian Liberty Ay and they Robbed some Men of their Consciences also And these Legal Pick-Locks that let them in was the Penal Laws and Tests And Secondly You must make fast these Doors of Christian Liberty by making Just and Righteous Legal Locks and Keys and Bolts and Bars unto them even as his Majesties most Generous Gracious Unshaken Resolution is for having this Christian Liberty made into a perpetual Magna Charta that may be more Unalterable then those Laws of the Medes and Persians were And this is to shut the Doors round about us to secure our Christian Liberty unto us And pray Observe how well the Text and his Majesty's Resolutions for these Doors being

with them should Abolish and for ever Destroy all these Snares and Snakes that are apparently so and make better Laws for the Security of our Christian Liberty in the Room of them Eighthly and Lastly I Exhort all you of the Church of England that have been at the Sacrament formerly or latterly to Examine your selves what you went to the Lord's Table for Or if you please give me leave to ask you a few Questions 1. What was your Business at the Lord's Table 2. Pray What Condition did you go unto this Holy Ordinance in 3. Who did you expect to meet with there 4. And lastly What Benefit did you receive or expect to receive at this Holy Ordinance First What Business had you at the Sacrament Did you go there for fear of Displeasing the Parson Or Did you go there because your Neighbours should have a better Esteem of you that they should think you are a good Christian Or Did you go to satisfie the Laws of Men that binds ye so to do Or Did you go there to qualifie your selves to come into the Government Or Did you go there to satisfie and quiet a Natural Conscience What was your End and Aim in going there and partaking of that Sacred Ordinance Was it in Obedience to Christ's Command Pray do you give the Answer unto God and your own Consciences Secondly In what condition did you go unto the Lord's Table Were you born of God For this is the Children's Bread and for none else Or Did you go and rush upon this Blessed Ordinance in your Sins Were you Regenerated and born of God before ever you came there For the same Graces that fits a Person for Eternal Salvation in Glory fits him for a Right Worthy Receiving of this Holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper therefore those do run a desperate Hazzard that do drive off Repentance and the getting all other Graces of the Spirit until they come to lye on their Death-bed when pale Death looks them grimly in the Face and is ready to launch them out into the Ocean of Eternity And then to expect that this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper shall bring all these Graces along with it to fit them for Heaven and Eternal Glory whenas they must have the same Graces to fit them for this Holy Ordinance which is lodged in the Kingdom of Heaven below as is to fit them for the Kingdom of Heaven above this being no Converting Ordinance For the Text in 1 Cor. 11.29 tells us plainly That he that Eateth and Drinketh Vnworthily Eateth and Drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's Body Therefore I beseech ye all in the Spirit of Meekness and in the fear of the Lord that are of this Opinion to consider seriously of it because Consideration is a good Hand-Maid unto Reformation for this Ordinance does not bring one dram of Grace along with it unto any Soul but unto such as have Grace in their Hearts before receiving this Ordinance It is like the pouring of Water into a Pump that standeth in a Well that hath Water in it to fetch the Water But the giving this Ordinance to any Person that hath no Grace is like the pouring of Water into a Pump that standeth in a Well that hath no Water in it It is as Water spilt upon the Ground nay it is infinitely worse But then did you ever feel the powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost dart spiritual Light into your Souls whereby you come to see that which you never see before and feel that in your selves which you never see nor felt before Have your Souls been raised out of the Grave of Unbelief Out of a carnal corrupt dead State by the mighty Power of the Spirit And has it infuled Spiritual Life into you Hath that Almighty Power that raised a dead Saviour raised thee that was a poor dead Sinner Have you ever found and felt Sin to be an intollerable Burthen unto your Souls so as you have apprehended your selves to be in a lost and undone Condition Have you ever been made sensible of the want of Christ who calleth the Burthened Weary and Heavy laden Sinner unto him for Ease and Relief And has it made you forsake all your Sins and Lusts and all other things that come in Competition with Christ to follow him fully Have you been throughly convinced that nothing could Redeem you from Wrath and Hell and Attone you to God and Purchase Eternal Life and Salvation for you but Christ and that by and through his Righteousness and Merits alone Did you cry to God and say Lord give me Christ or I die and shall be Damned and never enjoy God nor have any Benefits by his Death and Blessed All-sufficient-Merits and Copious Righteousness Had you the Kingdom of God within ye before you came into that which you apprehend to be the Kingdom of God without ye namely the Church Did you know what you were to take it for before you came to the Lord's Table And Pray What frame of Heart did you go to the Sacrament in Were your Graces in a lively Exercise Did all those sparkling Jewels that adorn the Soul of the Believer shine forth in their Vigour and Lustre which is the Trimming that belongeth to the Wedding Garment And did you see him whom your Soul loved and longed for And did you discern the Lord's Body by an Eye of Faith through the Elements And receive him by a Hand of Faith and feed upon him with the Mouth of Faith Did you go to the Table of the Lord even sick of Love to Christ And could nothing satisfie your Hungring Thirsty Soul but Communion with Christ in that Ordinance And did you Exercise saving Faith and Spiritual Light and Knowledge and godly Sorrow for your Sins which was the Cause of Christ suffering and dying And did you receive him with Praise and Thanksgiving and with a Holy Vehement Desire Thirdly Who did you expect to meet withal at the Lord's Table Did you expect to meet with a Crucified Saviour there and to have Communion with him in that Blessed Ordinance Or Did you go only to meet with the Parson and others of your Neighbours there Did you see him by an Eye of Faith that should be your Redeemer and the beloved of your Soul Or Are you wholly ignorant of what Communion with God in that Ordinance meaneth Fourthly What did you expect to receive at the Lord's Table Did you expect to receive the Bread and Wine only and to feed upon that Or Did you expect to receive Christ which is the spiritual Bread and Drink of your Souls into your Hearts and so to receive a fresh Pardon sealed unto you for all your Sins Did you go away thence with God's Broad Seal Impressed afresh upon your Souls And your Covenant-Interest with God Ratified and Confirmed unto you in the Blood of the Lamb And your Eternal Salvation made sure unto you But if on the contrary you went to that Ordinance