Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	appear_v	great_a	see_v	1,485	5	2.9490	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62962	A plea for the life of dying religion from the word of the Lord in a sermon preached to the General Assembly of the colony of the Massachusets at Boston in New-England, May 16, 1683, being the day of the election there / by Mr. Samuel Torrey ...	Torrey, Samuel, 1632-1707.	1683 (1683)	Wing T1918; ESTC W27667	39,643	58

was so of the People of Israel It made them great and glorious above all other Nations Deut. 33.29 Happy art thou O Israel A People saved by the Lord And great above all Nations it also made them Deut 4.7 For what Nation so great that hath God so nigh unto them High also it made them above the Nations in praise in name and in honour Deut. 26.19 It made them a Crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal Diadem in the hand of their God Isa 62.3 That God hath made our People and Nations at least in these latter Ages so much a Glory among the Nations and so much the Bulwark and Defence of Religion in the World it ought to be acknowledged with Doxologie That God hath bless'd poor New-England with so much of Religion planted these Heavens and laid the foundations of this Earth in such an happy subserviency thereunto this we ought to commemorate with Thankfulness yet not without some yea much diminution of our joy and comfort under a sorrowful sense of our present Defection therein VSE II. It ought to be for Admonition If we are a People of Religion if Religion be our Life O let us then be Admonished to take heed that we do not destroy our Religion and so destroy our own Life destroy our selves utterly and most miserably by destroying our Religion And we are the more concerned to give most diligent and earnest heed to such an Admonition and Warning because our Lord Jesus seems to speak to these Churches as to the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.1 I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead That there hath been a vital decay a decay upon the very Vitals of Religion by a deep declension in the Life and Power of it that there is already a great Death upon Religion little more left than a name to live that the things which remain are ready to dye and that we are in great danger of dying together with it This is one of the most awakening humbling Considerations of our present State and Condition Oh! the many deadly Symptoms Symptoms of Death that are upon our Religion Consider we then how much it is dying respecting the very Being of it by the general failure of the work of Conversion whereby only it is that Religion is propagated continued and upheld in being among any People As converting work doth cease so Religion doth dye away though more insensibly yet most irrecoverably How much Religion is dying in the very Hearts of sincere Christians by their Declensions in Grace Holiness and the Power of Godliness How much it is dying respecting the visible Profession and Practice of it partly by the Formality of Churches but more by the Hypocrisie and Apostasie of formal hypocritical Professors How much it is dying under the prevailing power of those Sins and Evils which are utterly inconsistent with and destructive of the Life of it Those Sins continuing and prevailing Religion cannot live it must needs dye Such as are the deep and general Degeneracy of the Generations Unprofitableness under all means of Grace Unbelief Disobedience to the Gospel Formality Hypocrisie and spiritual Idolatry in the Worship of God Prophanation and Pollutions of the House of God Slighting and Neglect of Holy Things Interests and Injoyments thereof Worldliness Prophaneness Sensuality All these Sins more especially when they are become the very Spirit of the Times and Generation when they are penal and judicial then they will certainly issue in general and total Apostacy and so will destroy not only the life and power but the external Form Order and Interest of Religion also Hence how is Religion dying in Churches Churches which are constituted on purpose for the propagation and preservation of the Life of Religion that live and have their being only by the life of Religion how little is there of the life of Religion left in them and how are Churches themselves languishing and dying together with Religion How is Religion dying in Families through the neglect of the religious Service and Worship of God and of the religious Education of Children and Youth in Families Truly here and hereby Religion first received its death's wound Hence Religion is dying in all other Societies among all Orders and Degrees of men in all ways of Converse both Civil and Ecclesiastical O there is little or nothing of the Life of Religion to be seen or appearing either in the Frame or Way Hearts or Lives of the generality of the Professors of it And that which remains thereof ready to dye How much and great cause have we then to take heed that we do not quite destroy it That is 1. Take heed that we do not exchange our Religion for the World that we do not commit that Heaven-astonishing Sin which God charged his People with Jer. 2.11 12 13. But my people have changed their Glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye heavens at this be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils they have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water They had exchanged their God and their Religion for the World they had advanced the Interest of the World above the Interest of Religion and thereby Inslaved themselves V. 14. Is Israel a servant is he a home-born Slave why is he spoiled God destroyed them by that worldly Interest whereby they had destroyed their Religion If once a People do set their hearts upon the World so as to make it their highest and heart-interest their preponderating ruling Interest which doth sway all and carry all before it when the Spirits Principles Counsels and Designs of a People are all for the World set for the promotion and advancement of their worldly Interest when the Interest and Concernments of Religion yea even Religion it self is made subordinate and subservient to the World yea prostituted by worldly men to worldly Lusts and thereby exposed to all kind of abuse scandal shame reproach and made an Opprobrium when the visible Professors of Religion are not only in heart alienated from but are become secret Enemies to it when Religion is oppressed and depressed when it is made not only to serve but also to suffer under the rising ruling Interest of the World WO then will be to such a People for they have exchanged their Religion for the World therefore their Religion will dye The spirit of the World and of Worldliness hath been is and is like to be the most general and powerful Principle of Apostacy to the professing people of God and it is often yea ordinarily the death of Religion It is always so when where it prevails 2. We are admonished to take heed that we do not desert Religion If we desert it it will certainly dye dye without remedy That we do not desert it by