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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ability_n	able_a	account_n	20	3	5.9418	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39678	The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native countrey, and the souls of men.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1691 (1691)	Wing F1180B; Wing F1466_CANCELLED; ESTC R214634	80,393	172

I hope it shall effectually lead me to repentance and dissolve for ever the strongest tyes betwixt me and my lusts SECT II. Conversion of the vilest Sinner possible THAT it is possible for the greatest and most infamous Sinner to be recovered by Repentance and Conversion and thereupon to find mercy and forgiveness with God is a truth as sure and firm as it is sweet and comfortable Three things will give full evidence of it 1. That their Sins do not exceed the power and sufficiency of the causes of Remission 2. That such Sinners are within the calls and invitations of the Gospel 3. That such Sinners are found among the instances and Examples of pardoning mercy recorded in the Scriptures And if the Causes of Pardon be sufficient and able to produce it if the Gospel-invitations do take them in and such sinners as these every way as vile and wicked have not been shut out but received to mercy then 't is beyond all doubt that there is at least a possibility of mercy for such sinners as you are I. 'T is past all rational doubt that the Causes of Remission are every way sufficient and able to produce the forgiveness of such sins as yours are For consider with your selves The power of 1. The Impulsive Cause 2. The Meritorious Cause 3. The Applying Cause 1. The sufficiency and ability of the Impulsive Cause of Pardon which is none other but the Free-grace of God the immense riches and treasures whereof do infinitely exceed the accompts and computations both of Angels and Men Exod. 34. 6 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Mic. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the Sea Once more Rom. 5. 20. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound So that whatever thy sins have been they do not they cannot exceed the ability and power of the Grace of God the all-sufficient Impulsive Cause of Remission That infinite Abyss or Sea of mercy can swallow up and cover such mountains of guilt as thine have been 2. Nor do thy sins exceed the power and ability of the Meritorious Cause of Remission namely the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for that Blood is the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. He is the Lamb of God whose blood is sufficient to take away the sins of the world John 1. 29. There is but one sin in the world exempt from Remission by this blood and if thy heart be now wounded with the sense of sin as I here suppose it to be that 's none of thy sin how heinous soever thy other sins be 3. Nor do thy sins exceed the ability and power of the Applying Cause of pardon namely the Spirit of God For though I should suppose thy mind to be clouded and overshadowed with grossest ignorance thy Heart to be as hard as an Adamant or Nether Mill-stone thy Will stiff and obstinate thy Affections enchanted and bewitched with the pleasures of Sin yet this Spirit of God in a moment can make a convincing beam of light to dart into thy dark mind make thy hard heart relent thy stubborn will to bow and all the affecti●ns of thy Soul to comply and open obedientially to Christ John 16. 9 10. The Spirit when he cometh he shall convince the world of Sin c. Thus you see whatever your guilt be it does not exceed the abilities of the Causes of Remission On what an Encouragement is this II. And there is yet further Encouragement in this that if you will open your Bibles you may find your selves within th● Calls and Invitations of the Gospel And no man can say that man is without hope that is within a Gospel-invitation Consider Isa. 55. 7 8. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts c. Here you have the nature of Conversion described Negatively and Positively by forsaking your ways and thoughts and turning to the Lord The way notes the external course of the Conversation the thoughts denote the internal frame and temper of the Mind both these must be forsaken And turning to the Lord denotes the sincere dedication of the whole man to God all which is possible and easy for the Spirit of God to do and this being once done abundant Pardon is assured If you say you cannot think it God tells you in the very next words That his thoughts are not your thoughts but as far above them as the Heavens are higher than the Earth Read to the same purpose Isaiah 1. 18 Rev. 3. 20. John 7. 37. III. And to make the possibility of Remission yet clearer know for your encouragement that as vile infamous and prodigious Sinners as your selves are recorded and found amongst the instances and examples of forgiven sinners in Scripture Paul was once a fierce and cruel Persecutor and Blasphemer yet he obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1. 13 14. That sinful Woman recorded Luke 7. 37 38 was an infamous and a notorious sinner yet her sins which were many were forgiven her v. 47. Manasseh was a Monster of wickedness as you may read 2 Chron. 33. yet found mercy And if you view that Catalogue of sinners given in 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. you will seem to find among them the very forlorn-hope of desperate sinners advanced nearest to Hell of any men upon Earth yet see ver 11. what is said of some of them And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are justified All these things plainly shew I say not the Certainty that you shall be but the Possibility that you may be pardoned which is a mercy and encouragement unspeakable SECT III. The Conversion of prophane ones highly probable AND because Satan labours to discourage them that are gone in sin so far as you are by cutting off all hope● of mercy from them and bringing them to this desperate Conclusion Damned we know we shall and must be and therefore as good be damned for more as less If we had lived sober and civil lives we might have had some hope but because we have no hope 't is as good for us to take our full swinge in sin as to think of returning by Repentance and Conversion so late in the day as this is To obviate this deadly snare of Satan I shall here further add That there is not only a Possibility of your recovery but in some respect

to wear it still till Sickness hath brought it to Rags and Death stript it from the Soul 'T is the Tool and Instrument by which it doth all its Works whilst it is in this state of composition and therefore the Soul cannot but love it fervently No man ever yet hated his own Flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it SECT II. The case so standing betwixt the Soul and Body the wisdom or folly of the Soul is plainly discovered in its way and manner of governing the Body as the love and prudence of an Husband is in the government of his Wife Or the Master in ordering the Affairs of his House or the neat breeding of a Man in the comely wearing of his Garments Or the skill and care of an Artificer in the brightness keenness and sharpness of his Tools Some Husbands give evidence to the world of their governing-prudence and ability in such an allowance of liberty to their Wives as the Laws of Conjugal Love require and their Estates and Incomes will conveniently bear and no more and in restraining their Extravagances as well as by encouraging their vertuous Courses in keeping back no due encouragement to Vertue nor giving the least encouragement unto Vice A well-bred man that carries with him a becoming-sense of his Quality and the Decorum he ought accordingly to observe will wear his Garments decently and becoming his Rank They shall be sure to be neat and clean and sit fit and comely upon his Body He abhors to wear a Garment tumbled in the Mire and go like a Beast without regard to his Reputation No prudent Owner and Governour of an House will let the Rain drop through the Roof nor choak up the Passage to his Door with a nasty Dung-hill His House within shall be neat and not nasty The Rooms clean and comely And yet abhors to suffer superfluous Ornaments and costly Vanities to swallow up his Estate that should maintain it and bring Bailiffs more odious than a Dunghill to his very Doors The curious Artificer neither grinds away the substance of his Instruments to make them bright and glittering and set an Edge too fine to hold one minutes use nor yet suffers them to be thrown aside in some neglected corner where Rust and Flaws shall render them utterly useless or make him blush at the botches such Instruments will cause in his Work The prudent Husbandman will neither break the heart of his Ground for want of rest and compost nor yet over-load it with dressing which brings forth nothing but rank and useless Weeds He will in a fit season turn in a stream of Water to his Meadows like a Cordial-draught to fainting spirits but will not drown it and rot the very roots of his Grass by letting in too much or by suffering it to lie under Water too long He will feed his Horse high enough to perform his Journey and carry him through the Mire but will not feed him to such an heighth that the Rider shall neither be able to sit nor command him In all these cases the common prudence of every man directs him to that just mediocrity wherein both his Honour and Profit do apparently lie And what we say in such common cases and concerns as these is as true and much more excellent in the Soul 's prudent government of its own Body unto which it was espoused in the Womb and is its dear and constant Partner both in present and future Good or Evil. 'T is the Garment it wears the Instrument it useth and the Field it cultiva●es It must neither deny the Body those necessary Supports and Comforts which God and Nature allow it nor yet surfeit and overcharge it with more than it is able to bear In either of these Extreams the extream folly of the Soul is discovered SECT III. Now the dethroning of Reason and frequent Oppressions of Nature by the practice of Drunk●nness is the highest Exaltation of Folly in the Soul of Man plainly manifesting its ignorance and inability to order and govern the Body to which it is married by a vital Union Here 's a foolish Soul by misgovernment dishonouring and destroying its vigorous and comely Body under a pretence of Love and Kindness to it We account it one of the greatest outward Infelicities in this World incident to a discreet and virtuous Woman to be headed and governed by a sottish Fool neither able to govern himself or her nor give a reason of his own Actions or Commands A Man whose folly shall make her blush in all sober Companies he comes into and forces her upon such a Course of Life as she perfectly abhors and will bring speedy Ruin upon her all Men pity such a Case as this And this is the very Case of many a comely vigorous Body Only such a Woman hath two reliefs under her Bondage which the Body of a Drunkard wants She can sometimes withdraw and retire from his Company and enjoy the relief of her Solitude which the wretched Body of a Drunkard cannot do till Death but is tied day and night to the Company of its foolish Soul which is frequently abusing it and imposing upon it Besides such a Woman may haply over-live her vicious abusive Husband and spend many a comfortable year in the World with a more discreet sober and religious Partner of her Life whose Sobriety Discretion Piety and Love shall make full Compensation for all those years of Misery and Slavery she endured before But the Case before us admits no such Relief For as long as ever the Body lives and breathes the Soul is and must be with it and in it And tho Death will for a time separate and divorce them yet the Bodies second Marriage at the Resurrection can be with no other but the same Soul which oppre●sed and ruined it in this World And this second Marriage will be far worse than the first For tho it were the sottish Souls slave and drudge in this World and suffered many ● sickness shame and loss by its Folly yet in the World to come it must be its Partner and Companion in Hell-torments for evermore in a● much as it was the Instrument the Soul used i● most of those Sins committed by it in this World And this is the case of all Bodies married to and governed by Souls that have neither Reason nor Religion enough prudently and soberly to order and govern their own Bodies SECT IV. Sad and doleful therefore are the Laments and Complaints of the Bodies of Drunkards against the Folly and Tyranny of their Souls and as just as sad Let me therefore here act the part of an Advocate for your Bodies which is a part of your selves and to which by the Law of Nature you owe Love Care and Honour or rather by a Prosopopaea let me bring in the Body sighing out its own Complaints in the Ears of its own Soul and thus bemoaning it self to it Oh my Soul I have cause to lament the day

that ever I was married to such a sottish Fool as thou art who art destitute both of Wisdom and Love to Rule and Govern me I may justly resume Iob's Lamentation upon thy account and say with him Let the day perish wherein I was born and the night wherein it was said there is a man-child conceived Why died I not from the Womb Why did I not giv● up the Ghost when I came out of the Belly For now should I have lien still and been quiet I should have slept then I had been at rest I have been a perfect Slave and Drudge to thy unreasonable Lusts and Impositions I was once an active vigorous comely Body and hadst thou been Wise and Sober I had been happy But thou hast been a cruel Tyrant to me oppressing and loading me with more than I was able to stand under Thou hast plunged me many times into those puddles of Excess wherein thou hast drowned thy own Reason and my Health My well-mixed Beauty is now turned into the colour of flaming Fire my Hands and Legs shake my Tongue falters my natural Crasis and Temperament is destroyed Thou hast made me miserable in this World and intendest to make me more wretched in the World to come Sober Nature gave me my stint and measure I knew when it was enough and gave thee sufficient Items and Intimations amidst thy foolish Frolicks that I could neither with Honour or Safety bear one Glass more But thou wast deaf to all my moans and shewedst more Mercy to thy Horse than me Sick or well able or unable live or die I must take in the full number of Cups and Bottles thou enjoynedst me to take Like another Pharoah thou hast required of me the full tale whether I had strength to perform it or no. Yea like another Devil thou hast sometimes cast me into fiery Fevers and watry Dropsies and will next cast me if thou continue this course into Hell-fire it self Other Souls have set thee a better Pattern in their more sober and prudent Government of their Bodies They give their Bodies the true Pleasure of the Creature by keeping them to that happy Mediocrity in which it consists They devote their Bodies to the Service of God thou hast devoted me to the immediate Service of the Devil A Majestick Beauty sits upon their Faces Sottishness and Folly upon mine Their Knees are daily bowed in Prayer to God mine shake and tremble in the Service of the Devil They enjoy pure and sanctified Pleasures every day but I am denied the sober Pleasures of a Beast Their Bodies will be happy with their Souls in the World to come but I must suffer Eternally with thee and for thee Thou hast both consumed me and thy Estate given to support me and now I am like to suffer as much by want as I have done by excess and all this through thy misgovernment These Feet if thou hadst pleased to command them would as readily have carried thee to thy Closer or the Assemblies of God's People as to an Ale-house or Tavern These Fingers would have served to open and turn the blessed Pages which contain the Oracles of God as to Cog a Die or have Shuffled and Dealt a Pack of Cards This Tongue might have been melodiously employed in singing the Praises of God among his People as well as in Swearing Roaring and Singing among drunken Sots and Fools if thou hadst been endued with governing Wisdom Thou knowest I could do nothing without thee Thou hast a despotical Power over all my Members They are at thy beck and thou at the Devil 's Better had it been for me had I been the Body of a contemptible Worm or Fly than a Body animated and governed by such a sottish Soul as thou art And now my Soul what hast thou to say for thy self What tolerable account canst thou give to God or me of these thy vile Abuses of both SECT V. Now let us hear what the Soul of the Drunkard hath to plead in its own Excuse and Defence for all his wrongs against God mischiefs to it self ruin to his Health Name and Estate They have various Excuses tho not one sound or rational one among them all Such as they are let them be tried by the Rule of Reason if any Reason by yet left in them who daily dethrone it by this worse-than bruitish Practice That which they have to say for themselves is this 1. That their Bodies are strongly constituted more capacious to receive and able to bear greate● quantities of Wine and Strong-drink than other● are and therefore why should they not drink down and glory over those that vye with them 2. Others say They would not take that Course they do but that when they are Sober and Solitary they are so press'd with the thoughts of their Debt● and Incumbrances in the World that they are upon a perfect Rack and they find nothing like good-fellowship in a Tavern or Ale-house so effectually relieving against the Cares and Anxieties of their Minds 3. Some will tell us they are drawn into it by the snare of Pleasure nothing being so grateful to their Palate as their full load of generous Wine or Strong-drink And seeing it is so pleasant and delightsome to them why should they deny and abridge themselves of their Pleasure 4. Others will profess they had never taken this Course which they find upon many account● pernicious to them but that they are not able in Civility to deny their intimate Friends and Companions especially such with whom they have concerns in Trade and Business and they must drink as they do or suffer loss in their Trade and beside that be stigmatized for Phanaticks 5. They will also say they are obliged in point of Loyalty to pledg him that Consecrates as they Catechrestically call it the first Glass to the King or Persons of Quality and Honour 6. And lastly some will tell us They have plentiful Estates that will bear such Expences and since their Pockets are full why should not their Heads and Stomachs be for too Beside these six Apologies for Drunkenness nothing falls into my Imagination pleadable for this Sin We will weigh these that are pleaded in the common Ballance of the Reason of Mankind and try the validity of them one by one And for the Excuse I. And first to what you say of the Capacity of your Bodies Strength and Ability of your Constitutions to receive and bear greater Quantities of Wine and strong Drink than others can and therefore why should you not give a proof of it when challeng'd and get Reputation to your selves by drinking down and glorying over such as vye with you To this I reply three things which must be laid in the Counter-ballance and let the Ballance be held in the upright Hand of your own Reason 1. A strong and vigorous Constitution will be readily acknowledged to be so great an external Blessing and Mercy that no Man of sound Intellectuals