Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	work_v	wrath_n	wrought_v	15	3	7.6955	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09970	The golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie by her marriage. And the Churches dutie in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekely fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne. By the late learned and reverend divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to His Maiesty, Mr. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and somtime preacher at Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Glover, George, b. ca. 1618, engraver.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1638 (1638)	STC 20227; ESTC S112474	187,142	312

not the greatest joy that discovers it selfe in laughter that is not the greatest sorrow which workes the most violent commotion in the heart there is a sad silent quiet sorrow that sinketh deeper and wets more slowly and sokes into the heart and makes the heart more fruitful in the issue which ariseth out of a more spirituall conviction of Judgement of the evill of sin though lesse passion accompanies it yet a stronger and deeper affection of sorrow is wrought I call it deeper because it is more constant and lasting more to purpose the one being as a land-floud the other as a spring Put the case such a violent sorrow should bee greater yet it is not alwayes alike necessary neither on Gods part nor mans Not on mans part as some disease doth not need so sharpe and quick a medicine as an other as some mens flesh is harder to heale than others so some mens hearts have more stubbornnes in them than others some have made themselves children of the Divell by their wicked courses worse then they were at first others in comparison are but as the children of Adam still as they were borne and therefore the same work may be wrought in them with much lesse adoe On Gods part it is not alwayes so necessary but is proportioned to Gods ends and God differs and is various in his ends concerning men He meanes to bestow a greater measure of grace upon one then upon an other and where he meanes to set a greater building there he digges a lower foundation hee meanes to use some as a meanes to comfort others and therefore letteth them see and feele more the bitternesse of sinne that they may be able to comfort others with the same comfort wherwith they have beene comforted Hee differs in the meanes to attaine his ends if hee meanes to bring them to the same measure of grace yet hee will not goe alwayes the same way to worke as hee often doth that without affliction which sometimes hee doth with it as a man is brought to the same Haven divers wayes some in a calme is tided in others are driven in with a storme but it is no matter how they come so they come in the promise is made to those that come A third consideration is that it is not for want of this greatnesse of humiliation that divers have not so violent a sorrow but from some circumstance in the worke it selfe as First because the light of comfort comes in sooner to some than to others they have the salve presently after the wound is given God having broken the heart bindeth it up presently againe a man may have as deepe a wound which a mitigated medicine comming neare to the bottome of the disease and soone applyed may sooner heale than another lesse deepe to which the remedie is not applyed a long time after which therefore askes longer So also it is in joy suddainnesse increaseth it for a fit for example put case a man is condemned for high treason and brought to the blocke and verily expects death and his pardon on the suddaine comes there is such a great sensible change wrought in him and our natures are sensible of great changes and therefore how excessively doth hee rejoyce but take one who is guilty of the same fault who knows that if he have not his pardon hee should lose his life but hath his pardon presently after the sentence passed hee will prize his pardon as much as the other though happily hee is not so turbulently affected as the other It falls out thus by reason of the ignorance some have lived in before who therefore are enlightened to know their estates all on the suddaine whereas an other hath beene brought up in knowledge and the knowledg of his misery being let in by degrees then the case doth also differ as betweene two men who were to goe through a wood whereof one is set upon by theeves not suspecting any and is put into a feare of his life and knowes not how to escape but one comes on the suddaine and rescues him and gives him his life but another is warned before knowes hee must goe through such a passage and that unlesse hee hath a strong guard to goe along with him hee shall certainely perish this man apprehends the danger as great as the other and the benefit as great and the love of him that should goe with him as great onely his passion either of feare or joy is not so violent as the others though hee truly rejoyceth in the deliverance as much as the other and thinkes himselfe as much bound to the man that delivered him I have spoken these things because some are scrupulous in the point and thinke they may not safely apply the Promise because they have not had that measure of sorrow that others have had But let no man suffer his assurance to hee weakned for want of this for a man may have as high an esteeme of CHRIST and bee as throughly convinced of sinne though hee want that violent worke which GOD workes in some even a great sence of his wrath and letting them lie there and then speakes peace so as these are wrought by distinct acts and causes in a great distance one from the other so that as their sorrow was evident so their joy was evident in another he workes so that as soone as hee sees sinne hee sees God also pardoning And in those that have that violent shyning of affection in their first Humiliation looke how much of it is violent will vanish and what is substantiall will hold so that even they in the end come to this solid conviction of Judgement at last which onely is constant and abideth with them And therefore let not thy assurance bee weakend for the want of this for faith unites to Christ and establisheth us in well doing But you will say is it not good to get that sensible stirring sence and sight of sinne I answer yes for to that end GOD leades through crosses and suffers thee to fall into sinnes that thou mayest see the vanity of the creature and the sinfulnesse of thy nature that when thou commest to heaven thou mayest say by thine own experience it was not by my owne righteousnesse that I came hither And therefore though it be good to get it yet let GOD goe his owne way and use his owne manner of working whether by Legal terror or otherwise what he sees good for thee he will do to humble thee but doe thou use meanes to understand the Law thy owne heart and actions and as thou art fallen into new sinnes labour to see what a case thou shouldest be in if Christ had not delivered thee But let not thy assurance bee weakened for you must know there are but two maine ends of humiliation which if they bee attained in thee thou needest not call in question thy estate Now first

goe and humble my selfe I will goe home to God and change my course and give up my selfe to him and serve him and this we shall finde in these examples mentioned before especially of the Prodigall Luk. 15. he came to this conclusion If I stay here I dye for hunger but in my fathers house there is bread enough here was hope that bred this resolution I will goe home and say to my father I have sinned against heaven and against thee c. here was that true humiliation we speake of So Manasses hee humbled himselfe greatly out of an hope of mercy for a man comes not to this active humiliation wherein he kindly humbleth himselfe unlesse hee hath hope of mercy and the beginning of faith is with a hope of mercy which sets a man a worke to goe to God and say Lord I have committed such and such sinnes but I will returne to them no more I am worthy of nothing Now there are foure severall compositions or foure paires of ingredients that have influence into this second kind of humiliation to cause us to humble our selves 1 Payr an hope of mercy as wel as a sence of misery that whereas before wee did looke upon God as a severe Judge we looke now on him as one willing to receive us both are requisite Sence of misery onely brings a man but to himselfe as the Prodigall first is said to come to himselfe but hope of mercy joyned with it drives a man home to God as it did also him without which sence of misery drives us from the LORD but hope of mercy being added to it causeth this active humiliation wee speake of whereby wee say I will goe and humble my selfe 2 Payre of ingredients are the sence of our own emptinesse together with an apprehension of that Alsufficiency that is in God which we also may see in the Prodigall when he said I shall starve and die if I stay here but in my fathers house is bread enough he lookt to that alsufficient fulnesse that was in God to supply his wants The creature whilst it findeth any thing in it selfe it will stand upon its owne bottome and not bee humbled but when it finds nothing in its selfe but emptinesse then it beginneth to seeke out for a bottome which it seeing to be in God alone it goes out to him for men will not be drawne off from their owne bottome till they see another bottome to stand upon 3 There must bee a sence of a mans owne sinfulnesse and the LORD JESUS his righteousnesse and so a light comes in that discovereth both thus when S. Paul was humbled there was a light shone about him which was an outward symbole of that new light which shone within him of Christ and his owne sinfulnesse A sence of the love of God and Christ joyned with the sence of a mans unkindnesse unto God whereby wee looke upon sinnes as injuries done to God and an unkindnesse shewne therein And now let us see the difference betwixt these two works or parts of humiliation that wee may further understand what it is to humble our selves And first they differ in the matter they are conversant about in that first a man is humbled properly but for the punishment a man indeed is humbled for sinne yet principally as it hath relation to punishment it is guilt works on him he is not humbled for sin as it is contrary to God and his holinesse but as contrary to himself and his own good and thus we are not humbled till we come to love God and to have a light discovering the holines and purity of his nature which one that is savingly humbled hath wrought in him They differ in their grounds and principles whence they arise The first ariseth but from selfe-love and is but a worke of nature though thus farre a worke of God to stirre up self-love by the sence of misery and to awaken it but so as any unreasonable creature if in danger useth to be sensible of it and what wonder then is it for a man when hee begins to have some sence of hel and death let into his conscience to be wounded and apprehensive of it but the other ariseth from the love of God kindled in the heart by hope of grace and mercy They differ in the instrumental causes that work them the one is wrought by the spirit of bondage by an enlightning meerly to see his bondage and the soule is as one that is in bondage fearing God as a master and he hath no further light than thus to see God as a Judge but this other is wrought by the spirit of adoption making the Gospell also effectuall discovering God as a father They differ in their effects as The one driveth a man from GOD but this latter causeth a man to goe to GOD and to seeke Christ it workes that affection to Christ that the Church in the Canticles had to him who would not give over seeking him till she had found him whom her soule did love Though there bee twenty obstacles in the way yet the soule hath no rest as a stone hath no rest till it bee in its owne center so nor this soule thus humbled but in God and therfore gives not over seeking him though it hath never so many denyalls The first breeds death an acedia a deadnesse and listlesnesse it makes a man as a log that moves not to God in prayer So it wrought in Nabal and Achitophel it breeds such discouragement as often ends in death Of worldly sorrow and such is all sorrow whereof God is not the end commeth death but when it is right and true and kindly sorrow for sinne it doth that which an affection should doe it quickneth him to doe that which he ought to do so feare when it is right worketh and so all other affections which were put into the soule for that end that it might bee stirred up by them to that which it should doe for GOD and its owne good and therefore this affection of sorrow for sinne quickens a man to seeke out to God when it is right The first breeds a fiercenesse and turbulency in a mans spirit as we see often in men whose consciences are awakned to see their sinnes they are fiercer then they were before for guilt of sin vexeth their spirits and where there is no sence of mercy from God there is none to men but hee that is broken for sinne spends his anger upon himselfe frets chiefly for his owne vilenesse and unworthinesse and the Peace of God which his heart hath a sence of makes his spirit gentle and peaceable and easie to be entreated and perswaded bring him Scripture and a child may lead him and perswade him The rough wayes are made smooth the rough and froward dispositions of the heart and every Mountaine-like affection cast downe as it is said they were by Saint

scandalous sinnes but the first rise of it was his unconscionable walking with God in secret as the Apostle Paul sayes of the Gentiles Rom. 1. 20. to 24. That because when they knew God they glorified him not as God God gave them up to vile affections So Psal. 80. 11 12. But my people would not bearken and Israel would none of mee So I gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they walked in their owne counsels As if he had said I used all the meanes they still refused and would none of me and therefore I gave them up Seest thou a man given up to a lust his heart so cemented to it as hee cannot live without it know this is in judgment to him for some unconscionable walking before and not practising according to his knowledge 3 There is yet a judgement beyond these when the Lord forsaketh the creature and withdrawes himselfe from a man which though men doe little account of is the fearefullest of all others The losse of Gods presence is a losse unvaluable Take a man that makes wealth or honour his God take that prop from him and how doth his heart sinke within him how much more when the true God shall bee departed from a man that God that is the God of all comfort if hee bee withdrawne the heart sinks into a bottomlesse pit of horrour as when the Sun is gone all things run into darknesse All comfort is from some measure or degree of Gods presence though men doe not take notice of it which when it is taken away there remaines nothing but horrour and despaire when God was departed from Saul 1 Sam. 16. hee from that day ranne into one errour after another in his government till hee was destroyed and the cause of this was sinne he had cast off the Lord and therefore the Lord rejected him The like was Caines case Gen. 4. His judgement was to bee banish'd from the presence of the Lord which hee acknowledgeth to be an insupportable punishment which hee was not able to beare When any trouble is upon thee sticke not in the rind and ba●ke of it but looke through it and beyond it to the inward root of it looke to sinne as the cause and thou shalt finde it so it may bee the immediate cause and instrument may bee some outward thing some enemy of thy disgrace some sicknesse c. but who hath permitted them to worke is it not the Lord and what is the motive of his permission but sinne men may have many severall motives to doe this or that but nothing moves the Lord but sinne and grace When an enemy comes upon thee say not this man is the cause of this evill but the Lord hath suffered him to worke and sinne hath occasion'd this suffering 2 Chron. 12. 5 7. Shishak was but the violl through whose hands God powred out his wrath so I may say sicknesse is but the violl it is the Lords wrath that is powred out in it Amend this common errour that men are ready to seeke out the naturall causes of the evils that befall them if it bee sickenesse they looke to such a distemper in diet or cold c. as the cause of it so if they miscarry in any enterprize what folly and oversight hath beene the cause of it These are but the naturall and immediate causes but Christians should looke to and seeke out to the supernaturall When there came a famine upon the land of Iudah for three yeares 2 Sam. 21. 1. the naturall cause was evident which was a great drought for that famine was healed by raine afterwards and so in those hot countries famine came by drought alone but David rests not here but went to the Lord and enquired out the reason the sinne that should bee the cause of it And God told him it was for the sinne of Saul and his bloudy house in slaying the Gibeonites as wise statesmen when they find a meane person in a treason they rest not there but seeke further what deepe heads was in the businesse and who was the contriver of the plot When Iacob saw the Angels descend and ascend he lookes to the top of the ladder and saw the Lord there sending them to and fro Looke not to the stayres of the ladder one or two that are next to thee but to the top of the ladder and there thou shalt see the Lord sending one Angell to do thee a mischief another to be a Saviour to thee If you say how shall I know for what sinne it is Pray earnestly and enquire as David did and as Ioshua did when he saw the people flie before their enemies that God would reveale to thee the particular sinne and if thou canst not find out the particular sin for it may bee some sin long ago committed or some secret sinne yet be sure that sin is the cause of it for as in the works of nature we know the vapours arise out of the earth and ascend invisibly but come downe againe in stormes and showers which we are able to see and are sensible of so the judgements may be open and manifest enough but not the sins but some secret sin that past by thee without notice taken is the cause of it Learne hence to see sinne in its owne colours sinne is a secret and invisible evill and in it selfe as abstractly considered is hard to be seene of the best therefore looke upon it as it is cloathed with calamities and when you view it under the cloathing you will have another opinion of it than you had before If you should know a man who whersoever he comes doth nothing but mischiefe poysons one stabs another c. and leaves every where some prints of his villany how hatefull and terrible would he be unto you it is sin that playes all these reaks among us if sin come upon a man cloathed and armed with Gods wrath as it often doth at death then it is terrible Why do we not look upon it thus at other times but because we doe not behold it in the fearefull effects of it as then in the wrath due to it we doe Sin is the same at all times else but our fancy is not alwaies the same as the body is alwayes the same though the shadow bee greater or lesser that which we now count a small sinne as swearing and petty oaths will one day bee terrible such a sinne as was committed by Ananias and Sapphira would seeme small it may be to you in it selfe alone but see it cloathed with that judgement that befell them dying at the Apostles feete so see the sinne of Ahabs oppressing Naboth which you may looke at but as doing a little wrong to a poore man by a great man but see it cloathed with Ahabs death and the dogs licking his bloud and it will appeare to be most hainous so the prophanenesse of Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire Learne