Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A65322
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New prayers and meditations with pious exhortations for fast-days pursuant to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary's injunctions to suppress irreligion and prophaneness / by Tho. Watts, Vicar of Orpington and St. Mary Crey in Kent.
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Watts, Thomas, 1665-1739.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing W1157; ESTC R38244
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22,013
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34
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depraved Will lay thy self prostrate before the Throne of Grace cry mightily to God for Pardon and Mercy and begin now to wash off thy filthiness in the Tears of Penitence fly to the laver of Regeneration and pray for divine help in the due knowledge and performance hereof and for this end consider my Soul what is this Repentance is it not a Sorrow for sin A due sense and acknowledgment with an utter abhorrence of all Impiety 2. The descrip and division and an entire Reformation of Life Is it not a Mourning in a more doleful manner than was heretofore signifyed by the external signs of Sackcloth and Ashes And is it not a weeping an inward roaring disquietness and grief with stronger crying and Tears then can be express'd by rending the Hair and Garments and besmearing the Face For this is a rending of the Heart afflicting the Mind and Soul creating such a troubled Spirit such a broken and contrite Heart as God may not despise and thus true and sincere Repentance consists of these three Parts Confession Contrition and firm Resolution of Amendment with actual Deeds of a new and throughly Reformed Life O set about this then betimes and view thy necessary Obligations and Incouragements hereto do not the Commands of thy Creator and Redeemer at all move thee 3. The Causes Does not Love Justice and Gratitude compell thee to this Duty Will not the experienc'd Abomination and Odiousness the ridiculous Folly and Vanity the sordid irksome drudgery the manifest Evils Mischiefs and dangers and even the self-self-punishment of sin force thee to Repent Or may not the most benigh and bountiful Offers of heavenly Grace and assistance the assured hopes of Gods favour here and glory hereafter or the inevitable privation of these in insuportable Misery and an Eternity of Torments drive thee to work out thy own Salvation with fear and Trembling Oh will neither the greatest benefits the most earnest invitations and charming Inducements on the one hand nor the dreaded displeasures certain Vengeance and Terrours of the Lord on the other perswade thee Or dost thou not remember thy Baptismal Vows and repeated Promises and Resolutions with thy manifold breaches thereof adding the worse of Perjury Rebellion and Treachery to the black and dismal Catalogue of thine innumerable transgressions But further do not Nature and Conscience check and inform thee Do not the invisible Motions and secret whisperings of the Blessed Spirit instruct and reprove thee And do not the sacred Ordinances of God and his Church whereof thou art a sworn Member or the ordinary visible means of Grace and Salvation in the solemn Administration of God's holy Word Rites and Sacraments remind thee of all And do not thus thy lawful Pastors and Teachers those Stewards of the unfathomable Mysteries and Embassadors of Heaven cry aloud lift up their Voices like Trumpets and call frequently upon thee to turn from thy Evil Ways and live Enough enough I groan under the intolerable weight of sin my bones are broken my heart is contrite my Spirit Heavy my flesh 4. The Effects my wounds stink and are corrupt I am abominable and loathsome I abhor my self in dust and ashes in great bitterness and anguish I cry unto the Lord I call upon my blessed Physician for ease comfort and freedom for help and Pardon I loath the mire which I have been long wallowing in I run with horrour and amazement from the fatal Precipice which I was tumbling down I have laid hold upon the Horns of the Altar and fled to the Sanctuary and now methinks I am almost rap'd up into the third Heaven I am risen from death I am flying in Ahrahams Bosom I admire and love the Life of the Saints and I long to be triumphant with them above Since now my God thou hast mercifully cleansed and heal'd me thou hast purg'd me with Hyssop thou hast wash'd me and made me whiter than Snow yea thou hast made me hear of joy and gladness in turning thy Face from my misdeeds blotting out my Transgressions with thy Blood nailing them to thy Cross and renewing in me a clean Heart and a right Spirit therefore will I rejoice in thy Salvation I will love thy gracious Precepts and in love will I ever obey thy holy good and just Laws O stablish me with thy free Spirit that I may teach thy Ways unto the Wicked and Sinners shall be converted unto thee O satisfie me with the Pleasures of thy House let me dwell in thy Temple and wait at thine Altar yea thus let me live that I may never be disappointed of my hope O come Lord Jesus come quickly and let thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven But Lord what is Man that thou shouldest be thus mindful of him 5. The Subjects and Adjuncts or the Son of Man that thou shouldest so regard him Man whom thou didst make after thine own Image didst indow with Innocence seat in paradise and gavest him Dominion over all the works of thy hands yet Man who so soon fell and was so wretchedly tempted to a fatal sin by the miserable Serpent Man who thus brought the Devil sin Death and Hell with all Temporal and Eternal Curses and Plagues upon himself Yet Man whom thou hast prodigiously thro' meer Compassion and infinite loving kindness redeem'd O Father by the Incarnation and Blood of thine own eternal and only begotten Son and Man of whom thou requirest no more than Faith and Repentance and a godly righteous sober living according to thy most reasonable and upright Laws which alone can render him happy both here and hereafter For is not Godliness O my Soul profitable unto all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come and yet O Man why dost thou sin why dost thou remain still disobedient and prove the only Rebel of the whole Creation Dost thou not know that God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity Dost thou not see the Devil prevailing upon the weakness of thy Flesh alluring thee with Worldly Vanities enslaving and fettering thee only to secure thy Soul and Body for his eternal Torments dost thou not perceive thy barbarous Ingratitude in making thy dear Saviour bleed afresh by thy blasphemy prophaneness irreligion by thy Covetousness uncharitableness oppression cruelty prodigality worldly-mindedness by thy Luciferian pride arrogance presumption hypocrise Schism Heresie Ambition Lust Rage Intemperance with all the Brutal Vices Diabolical Villanies and innumerable wilful Transgressions daily and impenitently perpetrated in the World Why dost thou not cast off this old Man Why dost thou not seek to be renewed O seek to the Lord to heal thee of these Ulcers and to expell these torturing Feavers hast thou not the means before thee canst thou not fast and pray without which this kind goeth not forth canst thou not abstain and mortify and bring thy Body in Subjection to thy Soul canst thou not deny