Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wonderful_a	work_n	wrought_v	56	3	7.3905	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27606	Evangelical repentance unto salvation not to be repented of upon 2 Cor. 7, 10 ; and as most seasonable, Short considerations on that great context Hebr. 12, 26, \"Yet once more I shake not only Earth, &c.\" : upon the solemn occasion of the late dreadful earthquake in Jamaica and the later monitory motion of the earth in London, and other parts of the nation and beyond the sea ; whereunto is adjoined a discourse on death-bed repentance, on Luc. 22, 39 / by T. Beverly.	Beverley, Thomas.	1693 (1693)	Wing B2148_PARTIAL_CANCELLED; Wing B2140_CANCELLED; ESTC R17858	162,555	326

our Saviour speaks in these Cases The things impossible with Men with God are possible Objection 3. But according to this state of the Case What should a Dying Man do that hath not yet repented Should he expect a Miracle or do nothing through despair Answer Have ye not read what David did when he was an hungry and had need He adventured over Laws and was blameless If any Man feel the necessities of a Soul perishing let him lay hold upon Mercy and Grace to help There is a Faith in this Case like the Faith of Miracles that removes Mountains and divides Seas He that can receive it let him receive it Mat. 19.12 But let every Man take heed how he falls into these Necessities For multitudes not having the right Faith like the Egyptians Essay this and are drowned Heb. 11.29 It is a very hard thing to distinguish between mirum and miraculum a Wonder and a Miracle so is it between a saving Faith and Repentance that may have wonderful effects through the Conviction of a Death-Bed and this true saving Faith this Faith of Miracles and for any thing I know Eternity only can make a Man safe concerning it and sure that he had it Doubtless many like Joab perish catching hold of the Horns of the Altar Objection 4. But what If Men having made a Profession of Religion have done many things religiously and soberly and yet through the prevalency of some Lusts it appears they have not truly repented May not the Conversation they have had with Religion so prepare things that their Repentance may be dispatched in the Instants of Death Answer 1. It is dreadful to consider how the unhappy pleas of some upon such kind of accounts recited by Christ are also rejected by him Many shall say in that day Lord Lord have we not eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets Luk. 13.26 c. In thy Name have we cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works Mat. 7.22 Yet he shall profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Besides all the Doubts already insisted upon such Men have made a Custom of deluding Religion and have great cause to fear they should do so at last God also is so provoked by such as have long tempted him proved him and seen his works and yet err from him in their hearts and do not know his ways that he comes to his oath against them Heb. 3.9 10. Answ 2. But lest this should discourage and suffocate all motions after God either in Life or at Death and they seem in as good condition that never mind Religion as those that do I add Any good thing found in Men either in their Life or Death though it have not the worthiness of Repentance to Salvation yet shall certainly have its reward in mitigations of Punishment which Consideration fully explained at the Day of Judgment will assoyl many of this sort of Doubts concerning the ways of God I believe those very early seekings of God notwithstanding which he is said to laugh at the Destruction of those from whom they come when they have first served the gloryings of Justice obtain lessenings of Pain as conquered Enemies after they have been led in Triumph to wait on the Conqueror's Glory may have even that Service recompensed with a more compassionate Captivity Answer 3. If there have been solidity and sincerity in any religious Exercises in the time of Life whereby the Heart by the Grace of God is prepared for further Grace as very often Conversion is by degrees It is hopeful God may use Death as a Season of compleating his Work yet this is to be registred among the seldomer disposes of God and both those Preparations and the Complement of them is under the caution of our Saviour Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13.24 Objection 5. Is it not at all times a great Folly to promise a to morrow to Repentance how long soever we may live after that to morrow because we daily harden through the deceitfulness of sin Is it not also always a curious Point and that requires a great jealousie over it whether our Hearts are at any time sincere in returns to God Is it not lastly always to be feared lest our to day the time of Grace slip from us Why then are the dangers placed so industriously upon this Repentance at Death Answer 1. First as concerning the time of Repentance It is to be acknowledged Every Man that is come to the strength and fixedness of his Understanding to the poize and inclination of his Will and Affections to the habit and custom of his Life and Actions and hath not determined for God hath great reason to fear lest as there is a deep print of the high hand of Nature upon his unconverted state so there should be a Seal of Justice also and this Doubt increases every day Notwithstanding this All Doubts and Scruples that have an appearance of insnaring and intangling the minds of Men with fears they begin too late are to be avoided if it be not so late that it is just now dark and their feet stumbling upon the dark mountains Jer. 13.16 And these things being written especially for the living Isa 38.19 who have in ordinary probability time to lose the danger is best placed here where it takes them every way By the way of Encouragement that the time is not yet past while they have the spaces of Life and of the Patience of God which is not a slackness of Justice but a designed Salvation By the way of Caution because they know not how soon they may be cast upon a Death-Bed and this Patience be at an end With Dying Men the case is otherwise who are already in the thickest of the Danger and must work themselves out in that moment or perish for ever without any Injury therefore to them the living are thus to be warned Isa 38.19 Further It is evident all delays of Repentance roll down hither however Men propose a stop yet hither the generality come at last So that in effect it is all one whether Men are disswaded from trusting to a Dying Repentance or from delaying their Repentance For if they are given to delay It comes to this They repent and die together But if a Man be afraid to venture Eternity upon his last Breath he will repent presently 2. For the difficulty of being sincere in Repentance I place it here because though every Man should by drawing the parallel lines of Delusion and mistake upon himself try his Repentance when ever it is yet these Errors fall in greatest numbers upon that point of Extremity and with least possibility of rectifying them But seeing there are at all times such deceits in this Case there is nothing so necessary as to repent

even by one Affection because all are joyn'd and united with it For where Sorrow goes Love goes because sorrow is for the want of some good the Souls desires If then sorrow be after God and for Holiness It assures the Soul hath a springing Love for God and Holiness and in the distance it apprehends it self from these it laments Where sorrow goes there hatred also goes For sorrow arises from some evil that the Soul hates and abhors that presses in upon it In sorrow after God sin and the wrath and displeasure of God is what the Soul hates and it finding these near and closing upon it it sorrows and laments that they may be cast out and removed And how do these the Love of God and hatred of sin work to Repentance And thus also it might be shewn How Fear Hope Joy Delight move as sorrow moves The Apostle knowing with what a strength and force and presence the Affections move writes to the Colossians c. 2. To set their Affections on things above For if the Affections are so set the Spirit and Soul will be so set and therefore the whole man will be so set O● the contrary the sorrow of the World carries the strength of the Soul the Affections on the World which not able to sustain and bear up an Immortal Spirit it often destroys the Body by Violence and leaves the Soul to sink also the Spirit to fall down from God which is the Death of it 2. The Affection of sorrow is the Affection that is most properly conversant about sin and the consequences of it the wrath and displeasure of God the curse and evil Now then as sin is a departure from God the fountain of Life and happiness the supreme good and so ushers in and introduces all unhappiness so sorrow that is after God begins in the apprehension of God and of his Law and so descends on all the evil consequential or following on the loss of God But the sorrow of the World not beginning with God fetters it self with the Evils which press upon it with relation to the present World which can never be well removed without removing the principal cause sin and the displeasure of God for it But to this the sorrow of this World hath no regard and so is never cured but becomes of a peice with the sorrows of the second Death For so all sorrow here not Healed by the repentance to Salvation not to be repented of which Heals the sorrow after God becomes one with the sorrows of Hell and everlasting wailing By godly sorrow therefore sorrow is made to be its own Death and Plagues For working repentance to Salvation never to be repented of When it is sorrow after God it is the Destruction of all sorrow For it can be no longer but as Scripture speaks forrow and sighing shall flee away and there shall be no more sorrow As it came in by sin so by sin Repented of and Pardoned it for ever ceases and vanishes away So sorrow is conversant about its proper object and cause and it hath the great effect of removing it self and of it self loosing it self in that Joy that follows upon the Salvation of that Repentance it self hath wrought which must needs make an end of Sorrow or Perfects it into it self never to be Repented of 3. The serviceableness of godly sorrow to Repentance is that this Affection of all the Affections or Passions of the human Soul is that which makes it wise and considerative seeing Repentance then that is to Salvation is a most Wise and prudent grace This Affection of sorrow is most preparatory and contributary to it The sorrow after God is no Ignorant or unreasonable Passion or Affection call'd Attrition no superstitious Pennance or ceremony of Sorrow not a mere softness and dissolving into Tears not any desultory Passion that falls into some morning Dew or as it were heat Drops but a deep inward trouble that we have offended God and sinn'd against him and endangered our selves to Eternity by our sins And however there may be at first some sudden stroke or Impression and a Passion upon it that may go off yet it is indeed a spring that dis-embogues it self through the whole course of a Christians Life There is a sorrow and a relenting of Soul that is a soft Dew or Distillation from the Soul upon it self that makes it very tender humble and Apprehensive of the Evil of Sin of the Ingratitude and unthankfulness of having sinned against God and given Offence to the Eyes of his Holiness and of his Glory And as this arises from understanding so it begets understanding and close Consideration It is observ'd in Nature that sorrow and sadness encline to Wisdom and attentness of Mind Vexation gives understanding is a saying And hereunto the wise King Solomon agrees Eccles 7.3 c. sorrow is better than laughter It is better to go to the house of Mourning than to the house of Feasting for the Living will lay it to Heart And by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better In the day of Adversity consider that is the proper season of it Generally our Mirth and Rejoycing is too lighr and flashy it scatters and sets the Spirits in wandring I said of Laughter it is Mad and of Mirth what does it As the cracking of Thorns under a Pot so the Laughter of Fools is Vanity Sorrow is like a shade that congregates and gathers up the Spirits to think and weigh and poize things Sorrow loves solitude and so the Repenting Person is described he sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him Lam. 3.28 Vanity and folly the pleasures of sin that are but for a season cannot endure the tediousness and melancholly of an Hour alone And this is the unhappiness of mankind they cannot endure to be alone and to speak with themselves I hearken'd and heard but no man spake aright Jerem. 8.6 or said What have I done We are so naturally for Diversion They that are not so mad as to to be for the roar and madness of Company yet they cannot be content without what we call Divertisement and Merryment and cannot endure sorrow and sadness Let us now but ask our selves whether we think Solomon was a Wise Man or not and whether he was not in circumstances of greatest advantages to rejoyce in all the Pleasure Mirth and Enjoyment of this World which he calls Laying hold on folly Eccles 2.1 c. while yet he acquainted his Heart with Wisdom to understand what was the utmost amount or to be had from all the Entertainments of that kind And when he assures us as he does that Mirth is but Madness and the Laughter of this World so unreasonable that no Man can tell what it serves for or to what purpose it is and that he so much commends sorrow to us let us then take Counsel with our selves whether he spake wisely or not

security from Damnation but an assurance of a state of Life Glory and Blessedness For upon this very reason because God hath Sanctified Repentance to Difference and separate his Servants by from all the lost and perishing Repentance is so eminently call'd Repentance unto Salvation and Repentance unto Life For when the miserable and undone shall complain and endeavour to Impeach the Divine Justice with the Salvation of Sinners as great or greater than themselves Publicans and Harlots such as the Apostle speaks of 1 Cor. 6. When many sober moral Men both Heathens Jews and Christians are shut out from Heaven Salvation Life Matt. 8.11 and Happiness and fall into the Condemnation of Hell God justifies and Vindicates himself by the vast Distance between the one and the other Repentance hath made which as it should engage our Thoughts in deep search what kind of Repentance we have whether it can make such a Difference so it assures us there is a great excellency and Dignity in true Repentance when it shall be seen in the Glory of the Righteousness of Christ wherein it shall be display'd as in its chief Light Life and Lustre 3. There shall never be any cause the least cause to look back with sorrow or regret that we lost any of the pleasures of Sense or of this World or that we pass'd through the Severities or Rigors or Sadness of Repentance or that sorrow after God by which it was wrought And which expresses the Blessedness and Grace of this Repentance much more we shall not look back upon any of the Imperfections and impure Allays of it the Vacuities and Emptinesses of it that were not fill'd up now For it shall in every regard be filled up to the Highest Complement of Perfection because it is surrounded with the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and Adorn'd with its Rays and Perfections and the mighty Operations of the Spirit of Christ holds them fast in that very moment wherein his servants go out of this World He apprehends them he holds them in his mighty Hand and Arm to perfect them to the Mark both in their Repentance and in all other Graces 4. There shall be Everlasting Joy Rejoycing and Triumph in the Acceptance of our Repentance by Christ So that all truly Repenting Sinners shall say with everlasting Hallalujahs blessed be God who hath given us Repentance to the Acknowledging of the Truth whereby we recovered our selves from the snare of the Devil when we were taken Captive by him at his Will Blessed be God 2 Tim. 2.26 who hath granted us Repentance unto Life Blessed be the Lamb who hath loved and washed us from our sins and even our Repentance from sin in his own Blood that it might how ere Imperfect be accepted before him who sits on the Throne Blessed be he who as a Prince and Saviour hath given us Repentance and Remission of sins Revel 5.6 Blessed be the Eternal Spirit who as seven Spirits before the Throne hath Diffus'd his Graces and among them this Grace of Repentance as the Spirit of Grace and Supplication Blessed be the word of his Grace that held out Repentance in its whole Circumference and Center Blessed be God for all the Preachers and Ministers of Repentance and Blessed of God are our Spirits and all the Faculties God hath given them that Ministred each in their courses to this great Grace and exercise of Repentance Hallelujah for ever and ever Head 5th I come now to the Fifth and last Head in the Doctrine of Repentance that is to reduce the Discourse of the Scruples and Cases of Conscience concerning Repentance that have not yet fallen under any proper resolution to this great Doctrine as I have now laid it down Herein I shall propose only these three as necessary to be more fully Debated any other that have Represented themselves to my thoughts I have already laid in Provision for the satisfying them in the plain Doctrine of Repentance easing the scruples without express naming them Quer. 1. Whether Repentance wrought by sorrow after God be not either unnecessary seeing there is full satisfaction for sin and Redemption for it in the ●lood of Christ Or 2dly If it must be acknowledged necessary whether it does not derogate from the Freeness of Grace and the Fulness and Perfection of Redemption in that Blood and so entrench upon Faith alone in it Quer. 2. Whether our Repentance is not made subject to Human Judgment in two Cases 1. To the Judgment of Ministers or as men speak of the Church seeing so many expressions of Christ seem to suspect it there whose sins so ever you remit Matt. 16.19 c. 18.18 John 20.23 they are remitted and whose sins you retain they are retained 2. When our sins are Trespasses and Injuries against Men whether if they do not forgive us it be not a prejudice and Bar to Divsne Forgiveness yea though we have but griev'd scandaliz'd or especially drawn them into sin by our example or even sollicitation and temptation to sin seeing some Scriptures command us to Agree with our Adversaries c. To leave our gift before the Altar Matt. 5.23 24 c. 18.15 c. Answer 1. Sorrow for sin and Repentance are by no means to be look'd upon as separate from the Blood and Redemption of the Lord Jesus but as flowing from it and Ordain'd by God in the hand of the Mediator who truly gives it washes it in his own Blood and as the great High Priest Offers it with the Incense Oyntments and rich Perfumes of his own Holiness Righteousness and Purity He Promotes Advances and gives Grace of a continual Renewing of it And this is the true account of the room and place all Graces have in the Covenant of Grace so that though they are required of us as indispensable Duties and even as it were Conditions of the Covenant of Grace on our parts and we are spoken to in a way of Rational and Intellectual manner of Exhortations Counsels Reproofs Promises Threatnings yet these are all but instrumental Conveyances of the Efficacies of the Spirit of our great Melchisedec who blesses his People in turning them every one from their Iniquities Even from every one of their own Iniquities and makes up whatever is wanting in the severities or Powers of Holiness in Repentance by his own Sufferings and Obedience And thus the weight of the Covenant that shall never be found fault with because the Covenantees brake it is suspended upon him that is mighty the Nail fasten'd in a place so sure that the weight of not only Cups but Flagons Vessels of all Quantities both the Issue and the Off-spring rest secure upon him even to Eternity Esay 22.23 And thus Discoursing of Repentance it can be no derogation either in the sorrowing nor the Reforming Parts of it Answ 2. The Administration of the Church or of the Pastors or Elders who are also the Evangelical Bishops hath no other Power but of Ministry in the Declaring