Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	anger_n	angry_a	just_a	1,601	5	7.4510	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52427	Practical discourses upon the Beatitudes of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Vol. I written by John Norris, M.A., Rector of Bemerton near Sarum ; to which are added, Reflections upon a late Essay concerning human understanding ; with a reply to the remarks made upon them by the Athenian Society.	Norris, John, 1657-1711.; Norris, John, 1657-1711. Cursory reflections upon a book call'd An essay concerning human understanding.	1699 (1699)	Wing N1260; ESTC R15878	122,509	273

of Charity and Meekness Consider again that all Injuries befall us by God's special Providence and may if we hinder not its Course turn to our greater Good Consider again that God uses an incredible Patience and Long-suffering toward the worst of men and particularly towards our selves by the former setting us an Example of Lenity and by the latter making it very reasonable for us to follow it Consider again that all Vengeance belongs to God who has said Vengeance is mine And that therefore he that avenges himself assumes the Part of God yea withal of a Judge of an Accuser of a Witness and of an Executioner all at once against all Sense and Reason Equity and Justice This may be considered with reference to God Then again as to our Neighbour Consider that he is nearly related both to God and to our selves To God as made after his Image and to our selves as cast in the same Mould with us and partaking of the same common Nature Consider again what we would have done by our Neighbour to our selves and how reasonable it is that we should do the same to him Lastly Consider what we have already done to him whether we have not been guilty of the same or greater Injuries towards him than those which we so warmly resent from him Then Lastly With reference to our selves Consider First how much by our unjust Anger we expose our selves to the just Displeasure of God who by his Son has told us that Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment Mat. 5. 22. Consider again That we may easily and do often mis-interpret Men's Minds and Intentions by their outward Demeanour and think our selves affronted by them when there is no such thing intended and that therefore even upon this Account it is very reasonable we should be slow to wrath Consider again How much causless and intemperate Anger unfits us for all the Parts of Divine Worship which can neither be well performed by nor will be accepted from a Heart flaming with this strange Fire And therefore says the Apostle speaking of Prayer 1 Tim. 2. Lifting up holy hands without wrath implying that a Vacancy from Wrath is a necessary Qualification for Prayer To which purpose it is very considerable that when King David would have erected a Temple for the publick Worship of God tho' a Man otherwise of a sweet and gentle Disposition and only accidentally and innocently too engaged in Circumstances of Anger and Contention yet he was refused and the Work imposed upon one not of a more meek Spirit but only of a calmer and more serene Life And if God would not accept an House of Prayer from a Man of a Military Way and Character much less will he accept those Prayers which proceed from a Soul disturb'd with Anger Consider again how it unfits us for the Business of our Calling how it hinders the free Exercise of our Thoughts how it prejudices our Health disturbs the Tranquility of our Minds renders us odious and uneasie to all about us in one Word how utterly it unfits us both for enjoying our selves and from being delighted in by others Consider Lastly to what mean and sordid Principles within us this Passion owes it Rise such as Pride Self-love vain Curiosity and Suspicion rash Credulity Negligence and Inadvertency Ambition Lust Envy and the like So that besides its own proper Illness 't is farther to be detested upon the Scandal of its Parentage Having thus far discoursed of the Duty of Meekness First By shewing what it is Secondly By shewing that it is a Christian Duty Thirdly By stating the general Measures of its Obligation And Lastly By proposing such Considerations as may recommend its Practice I come now briefly to discourse of its Blessedness which may also serve as another distinct Consideration to inforce the Practice of it Blessed are the meek says our Saviour for they shall inherit the earth The only Beatitude which has a Temporal Promise annexed to it wherein our Lord seems to imitate Moses who in his Law had also one Commandment with a Temporal Promise And there seems to be great Resemblance between them One is That thy days may be long in the earth and the other They shall inherit the earth Here therefore we are to do two Things First We must enquire into the Sense and Meaning of the Beatitude Secondly Into the Truth of it That is We must First enquire What is meant by the Meek's inheriting the Earth And Secondly shew That they do so inherit it And First By their inheriting the Earth I suppose cannot be meant that they shall have large Portions of it that they shall raise great Estates that they shall take Root and spread and as the Prophet expresses it Isa 5. joyn house to house and lay field to field This I suppose cannot be meant I. Because this is not true The Meek do not inherit the Earth according to this Sense II. Because if they did this would not be a proper Ground for their being pronounced Blessed And First This Sense is not true the Meek do not thus inherit the Earth We rather find that the World is made for the Bold and the Violent for the Rough-spirited and Turbulent for the Furious and Boisterous and that they have commonly the greatest Share of it who deserve the least And therefore we commonly urge this as one Argument against the Goodness of Riches That they frequently fall to the Lot of the worst Men. And therefore says the Psalmist Psal 74. Lo these are the ungodly these prosper in the world and these have riches in possession While in the mean time the Meek are oppressed and devoured by these Beasts of Prey and are so far from inheriting the Earth that it is as much as many of them can do to live upon it and more than some of them can do to find Room under it But Secondly Suppose they did thus inherit the Earth by having great Portions of it yet this would not be a proper Ground for their being pronounced Blessed For Are Clods of Earth a suitable Good for Man Or Is Happiness to be measured by the Acre Do we find that rich Men are so very much happier than others Or Do we think that the Earth has Mines of Happiness as it has of Gold But whatever we think Is it at all probable that our Blessed Lord who himself made choice of Poverty who but in a Line or two before pronounced the Poor blessed who tells us that his own Kingdom was not of this World who bids us beware of Covetousness and warns us of the great danger of Riches by telling us how hard it is for one that has them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven who dehorts us from laying up Treasures on Earth and who lastly recommends to his Disciples nothing more than the Contempt of the World by assuring them that the Life of Man does not consist

returned him this sharp and warm Answer God shall smite thee thou whited wall For sittest thou to judge me after the law and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law There was indeed nothing in his Answer but what perhaps might have been justified by the Oddness of the Provocation but yet you cannot but observe a great Difference between the Behaviour of the Disciple and of the Master But if you would see a perfect Example of Meekness look upon him under the Shame and Dishonour and Pains of the Cross encountring at once with the Agonies of Death the Contradictions and Revilings of Sinners and the Vengeance of an Almighty God and all this without any the least Shew of Impatience or Discomposure of Spirit So that I think I may well enlarge the Question of the Prophet and to that Is there any sorrow like to my sorrow add this also Is there any meekness like to my meekness And here I cannot but make a Stand and with Sorrow reflect upon a certain Order of Men how little they have of the true Spirit of Christianity how little they have learnt either by the Precept or by the Example of him whose Religion and Imitation too they profess and by whose venerable Name they have thought fit to distinguish themselves who instead of this Meekness and Gentleness are all made up of Passion and Violence Fury and Out-rageousness mere Fire-brands in Society that kindle and lay waste where-ever they come and seem more like Granada's shot into a Town than Inhabitants of it by thus raging where they light by thus burning destroying and tearing all about them How unlike are these Men to the Temper of the meek Lamb of God! As unlike certainly as Wolves and Tygers And yet it is an Unlikeness they are so little sensible of that they will yet pretend to the Name and Practice of Christians yea to the very Name of Jesus And he had need be a bold Man or at a good distance from them that shall dare to contradict them But certainly as Wrath worketh not the righteousness of God Jam. 1. 20. so neither is such an allowed Course of it consistent with it And as he cannot be a good Man who is so inordinate in the Use of a Passion wherein both his own and his Neighbour's Peace and Quiet is so much concerned so much less can he be a good Christian who is of a Frame of Spirit so directly contrary to that of the Holy Jesus and who wants this great Christian Qualification the Spirit of Gentleness and Meekness which is so considerable an Instance of Charity and so strictly enjoyned by the Precept and so strongly recommended by the Example of Christ But because the Limits of this Duty are not so plain as the Obligation of it I proceed in the Third Place to state the Measures of its Obligation in its more general Cases And here in the first place it may be demanded Whether all Anger be contrary to Meekness and consequently unlawful The Affirmative is stiffly contended for by the Stoic but I think the Negative sufficiently warranted by the Apostolical Caution Be angry and sin not Eph. 4. 26. Which plainly implies that there may be Anger without Sin And it is also plain from the Nature of the Thing that there may for Anger is a Natural Affection implanted in us by God from whom nothing can proceed that is simply and as such evil And besides the Office of Meekness is not utterly to destroy this Passion but only to regulate it whereby 't is supposed that it is not in its whole Kind evil for what is so cannot be regulated and must be destroyed Since then Anger is supposed not wholly to be destroyed by Meekness as being Evil but only to be regulated lest it become so the next thing to be considered is by what Measures Now these Measures may either respect Anger as to the inward Passion as within a Man 's own Breast or as to the outward Acts Effects and Expressions of it And First As to those Measures which respect Anger as to the inward Passion as lodged within a Man 's own Breast These I think will be sufficiently comprized within these four Circumstances the Cause or Occasion the Object the Degree or the Time As to the Cause to render that justifiable it will be requisite First That it be something weighty and considerable something wherein either the Glory of God or the publick Good or else some very great private Interest is concerned 'T is not every little impertinent Trifle that can warrant our Anger Secondly 'T will be requisite that our Anger owe its Birth to some competent Measure of previous Counsel and Deliberation For if all our Actions are to be governed by Reason certainly our Passions ought not to be wholly exempted from it I am sure they need it most of all And if a Man thinks not before he gives himself leave to be Angry tho' the Ground of it should prove never so just and proper in it self yet as to him his Anger was brutish and unreasonable As it will also be if Thirdly it be not conceived for a due End such as either the Vindication of the Divine Honour and Glory the Procurement of Good to our Neighbour or the Prevention and Suppression of Sin And so much to qualifie our Anger with respect to the Cause But Secondly To the farther Regulation of it 't will be requisite that it have a due Object for all are not so There are some Things that cannot some that ought not to be the Objects of Anger that cannot with Reason and that ought not for Religion Thus we ought not to be angry with God as it is said Caligula was who being vex'd at the Thunder for disturbing his Banquet rose up from the Table and provoked Jupiter to fight with him Neither ought we to be angry with inanimate senseless Things as Cyrus was with the River for drowning one of his sacred Horses It argues a Mind overcome and blinded with Passion to be so prodigal of it where it can signifie nothing Nor ought we to be angry with those who either by Chance or Necessity or probable Ignorance or common Frailty have offended us Nor are we to be angry with those who though they have none of these Excuses to qualifie their Trespass yet acknowledge their Fault beg our Pardon and promise Amendment Repentance is the Measure of God's Forgiveness and so it ought to be of ours Nor lastly should we let loose our Anger against Brute Creatures Children Fools or Mad-men or any other that are under any great Defect or Disorder of Understanding But we are to be angry with such only as are impious and wicked and that are neither ashamed nor repent of their wickedness And even here also we ought rather to be angry with the Fault than with the Person For so Moses was exceeding angry at the Idolatry of the Israelites when at the same time