Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A60145
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The present correction and reproof of sin or A discourse on 2 Jer. 19. vers. Thine own iniquities shall correct thee, & thy backslideings shall reprove thee.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing S3681; ESTC R221463
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30,198
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59
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THE PRESENT CORRECTION AND REPROOF of SIN OR A Discourse on 2 Jer. 19. vers Thine own Iniquities shall correct thee thy Backslideings shall reprove thee Hoc sunt peccata Lapsis quod grando Frugibus quod turbidum sydus Arboribus quod Armentis pestilens vastitas quod Navigiis saeva Tempestas Cyprian Serm. de Lapsis LONDON Printed for J. Eaglesfield at the Marigold near Sarisburrycourt in Fleetstreet 1685. TO His much Honoured Friend Mr. *** SIR I Have not adventur'd to displeas you by publishing your Name to the World wherby you will easily apprehend that I send you this Discourse as to a Friend for your impartial Opinion of it rather than to a Patron for Protection the stale Complement of Epistles Dedicatory I designed it should have been accompanied with several other Discourses concerning the Evill of Sin and its Agravations First in relation to the B. Trinity as it dishonours God disparageth the Divine Nature bespatters every Attribute Perfection of the Godhead consequently strikes at the very being of a God As it is a Rebellion against his Souveraingty Enmity to his Holiness a Provocation to his Justice a Contempt of his Wisdom an ungratefull Affront to his infinite Goodness challenging his Allmighty Power giveing the Lye to his invariable Truth slighting his Omniscience wearying his Patience c. as it opposeth his Glory contradicts his holy Will the great design of all his Revelations Institutions Providences Secondly with respect to us as it thwarts the end of our Creation perverts our rational Faculties and the very principles of our Nature as it blurrs the Image of God upon our Souls robs us of his Delight Love renders us uncapable of any friendly Convers Communion with him As it deforms defiles the Soul inslaves us to many foolish hurtfull Lusts as it gratifyes the Devil brings us under his power as it infects others with its contagion disturbs Societies is the great Make-bate of the world and the fatal source of all he Mischiefs and Calamities under which the Creation groans and Thirdly In comparison with all other Evills of Affliction and Punishment wherby sin will appear to be the most pernicious and intolerable Evill especially as the cause of the Eternal Ruine of Souls Where I intended to consider the certainty of that Everlasting Destruction threatned in Holy Scripture to the finally Impenitent A Doctrine which so many would feign persuade themselv's to doubt of I cannot wonder at it since Intrest and Inclination are instead of Evidence in other cases as well as this men are loath to admit any such Premises whose Conclusion would ingage them to change their cours of Life it is not therfore strange if after haveing forfeited the Blessedness of Heaven they endeavor to extinguish the flames of Hell But being at present diverted from finishing what I began in that kind I am desired to let this be publisht alone I have not bespoke the Readers candor as is usual by representing in a Preface the seasonableness usefullness of the Argument treated of because both are sufficiently obvious There is hardly any man whose Experience observation will not oblige him to acknowledg that Sin doth very often correct reprove the sinner in this world The Evidence is too sadly notorious to be denyed in the miserable Catastrophe of Apostats in the afflictive consequences of great Transgressions in the ordinary fruits of Lust Folly Lewdness Passion Intemperance unrighteousness a disorderly Life Nevertheless thro the deceitfullness of Sin the subtility of the Tempter the neglect of Consideration the powerfull Influence of bad Company and sometimes the Righteous Judgment of God suffering men to harden themselv's in their wickedness the far greater part will not receive Instruction by this voice of the Rod but turn the deaf Ear to all the Calls of God will not be reclaim'd by all the methods of his Grace to bring them to Repentance SIR by the following acount that is given of it you will be furnisht with abundant matter of Thanksgiving to God who partly by the early communications of his Grace and the pious Care of those who had the conduct of your younger years partly by the kindness of his Providence in keeping you at a distance from Temptations by your own vigilance prudent Caution in places seasons of Danger hath preserved you from those Vices which are thus attended with Temporal sufferings Such an Improvement of this Discours should be made by all those happy Persons who cannot confirm this sad Truth by their own Experience save in very few the less considerable Instances of it The best men may reap this Benefit by perusing it that the consideration of the mighty Prevalence Growth of wickedness with the present bitter fruits of it may promote their being crucifyed to this World and willingness to quit it assoon as God shall please so dispose them to desire wait to be translated to a better state where they shall neither Sin nor feel the smart of Sin any more for ever or be greiv'd sadned by the sins or Sufferings of other men In this Life our corrupted Nature is not perfectly healed but doth ever anon cast forth Mire Dirt. Tho we are dyeing dayly unto Sin long for the funeral of the old man t' is not quite Dead neither will it intirely be so till our own Dissolution on which acount the Deceitfullness desperate Wickedness of the heart discovers it self in an hour of Temptation So that some of those who were thought to be Establisht Confirmed Christians have dishonor'd the name of God by scandalous Backslideings discredited their profession falsifyed their most solemn vows and obligations hardned the hearts of some weakned the hands of others and shamefully disparaged the Religion of our B. Saviour Wherupon God testifves his displeasure by inward and sometimes outward Troubles a terrifyed Conscience writes bitter things against them or God denies the aids of his Grace after such a forfeiture and their minds are darkn'd their hearts hardned by degrees they become careless and remiss in the Matters of Religion continue in their security till by a severe Providence or a more than ordinary Grace they are awaken'd to consider their ways and remember whence they have fallen Repent therby recover his lost favor God restores the Joy of his Salvation But this Sir is our Encouragement ought to be argumentative to continued watchfullness the utmost endeavors to persevere that if we are faithfull to the Death which may be nearer then we are aware we shall then enter into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Sin no more We shall no more provoke him to Anger by our Apostacy or suffer his correcting Rebukes for our Backslideings We shall no more be exposed to Temptation or seduced by Satan to defile our Consciences
return Eternal wrath is my due Hell is my deserved portion even there may I justly carry thes stings of conscience even there must I acknowledg I was justly condemned punnisht own the righteousness of my doom to unquenchable fire with my flameing tongue breath Wretch that I am who shall deliver save me only the mercy of God in Christ whose bloud cleanseth from all sin can possibly relieve the exigence of my case And wilt thou pitty and pardon and graciously receive such a rebel For Jesus Christ his sake spare me give me repentance blot out my transgression for it is great and hide thy face from my sin from my sin which is ever before me I cannot avoid the sight of it I cannot but remember it and abhorr my self in dust ashes goe mourning all the day long Thes are the thoughts this is the language of an humble Penitent under the sens of former backslidings To this purpose David tells us in one of his penitentiall Psalms 51 Ps 3. that his sin was ever before him And in another that his sorrow was continually before him The one as the cause 38 Ps 17. the other as the effect His sin as the reason of his sorrow his sorrow as the fruit of his sin was continually before him This made him cry so earnestly for pardon O Lord blot out my transgressions and remember not my sinns i. e. I remember them I acknowledg I humbly confess them they are ever in my view before my face O do not thou remember them but cast them behind thy back On this account he complains of broken bones a wounded spirit That the arrows of God stuck fast in his soul and his hand pressed him sore that he roared all the day long watered his couch with his tears Thes conflicts and terrors this darkness despondency are the fruit of backsliding and t' is well if it do not issue in the sin unto death in final incurable Apostacy T' is true some who are fallen from so great an height are raised againe and God upon sincere Repentance will pardon and save returning Backsliders yet so as by fire with great difficulty And they may never recover their former tranquillity and peace but walk heavily and softly under doubts and fears and dejection of spirit to their dyeing day And likewise suffer smart Afflictions to scour off the filth they have contracted by their revolt and to humble them more deeply under the apphrehension of their agravated guilt In thes and other such instances as might be mentioned sin doth correct and reprove the sinner in this world What remains is to consider what Inferences of truth duty may be collected from the preceding discourse for our instruction and practise or what improvement we should make of it Which I shall dispatch in thes following Propositions § 1. That we ought thankfully to admire the wisdom goodness of God who hath in so great measure connected our present duty happiness That we cannot disobey God without injuring our selv's feeling the smart of it even in this Life Let us thank him for hedging up our way to Eternal death by the thorns briars of temporal calamities By makeing sin so unreasonable painfull shameful troublesome against our Intrest even on this side the Grave In so much that in many instances we can not be undone forever without being miserable now nor loos the happiness of the other world without exposeing our selv's to many sorrows calamities in this By our sin folly we make the Rod which corrects us our own finger twists the cords wherby we are rebukt chastened the web which insnares intangles us is spun out of our own bowells And God in wisdom kindness so orders it to prevent our perishing in both worlds § 2. We ought hearthly to bless God for restraining us by his grace providence from Presumtuous Crimes That he was pleas'd to stop us in our way to ruine mercifully prevent us from running into those excesses which would have been attended with such miserable effects here at last have exposed us to his condemning sentence Had he not sometimes withheld us by his grace when we were tempted prevented us at other times by his providence from divers Temptations by which others have fallen we had ere this been deplorable spectacles of divine Justice and severely corrected by our own folly And this is the favor which God is pleased to vouchsafe to his Children to succor them when they are tempted to keep them from such Temptations as they would not be able to resist Not that he is a good man who would live wickedly if he were but tempted to do so by those ordinary trials that humane nature may expect but he who prefers God and the blessedness of the other world before all things els lives agreable to such a choice if he so continue shall be saved tho there might have been supposed a Temptation so strong as would have conquered his resolutions with that measure of Grace he then had if it had not been fortified with new supplies Therfore thank God for the care of his providence which secures us from many dangerous Temptations for the assistance of his Grace in inabling us to come off wit victory when we have been tryed § 3. How much better then is a Life of holy Obedience to God then the practice of sin if there were no reward to be expected after Death If in this Life only we had hope the case of cruel persecution excepted such as St. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 15. And extreme Poverty bodily Pains c. because under thes the hopes of a future blessedness are the chief supports otherwise We should be so far from being of all men the most miserable in this world by obeying the Gospell of Christ that t' is apparently for our present Intrest to observe the precepts of natural Christian Religion the Yoke of Christ is easier his burden lighter the service of God less difficult then the drudgery of Sin with such consequences as have been mentioned Let me seriously appeal to your Experience wither it be not evill bitter to depart from God cast off his fear have you not found it so to your cost have not you your selv's many others whom you know been severely chastened reproved by sin what fruit have you or they or what fruit have you ever had of the sins you are now ashamed of but such as hath been described what profit hath he saith the Wiseman 5 Ecl. 16. who hath labor'd for the wind Bring in your acounts of what you have ever got by a wicked Live compare it with the present reward of holy liveing Set down your income proceed to a reckoning see what the total summe amounts to So much Shame Fear so much Care