Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bad_a	effect_n	good_a	3,760	5	4.8923	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52773	Six Sermons preached (most of them) at S. Maries in Cambridge / by Robert Needham.	Needham, Robert, d. 1678.; Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.	1679 (1679)	Wing N410; ESTC R26166	88,797	240

advantageth it me to be able to declaim zealously against this or that Vice of the Age I live in or the persons with whom I converse if I cherish in my bosom other impieties which if not so open and notorious may yet be as inconsistent with my salvation as any other If we will take our Saviours judgment in the case the poor Publican though conscious of so many faults and infirmities and already judged and condemned by the Pharisee was yet in a much fairer way to be justified before God than the other who did not seem to apprehend that he needed any repentance Now were men truly humble and conscious of their own manifold defects and miscarriages they would find infinite more reason to turn the edge of their censure upon themselves There is no man who will take pains to search into the secrets of his own soul but may find himself guilty of more faults than he can reasonably suspect or accuse his Neighbour of We see onely the external gesture and behaviour of other men and cannot easily determine from what principle their actions flow we do not know all the circumstances they are engaged in which will much alter the nature of the actions we judge them for We cannot tell what we our selves should do in the like case and how far we may be able to resist the same temptations Whereas we may easily know the true grounds of our own miscarriages that the blame of them is due onely to our selves So that every man hath upon this account much greater reason to think and speak well of other men than of himself But now if notwithstanding this evidence men may have of their own guiltiness above that of their Neighbours they can give themselves the liberty zealously to declaim against the supposed faults of other men this must needs argue an unreasonable degree of self-conceit and proud overlooking those imperfections and follies which may be found at home in their own bosome 2. A further ground of this uncharitable practice is Idleness and a gross neglect of our own necessary affairs The business of our own salvation is of so near and great concern to us that unless we be very negligent of it we cannot find leisure to prie into and condemn the miscarriages of others Our life here is short enough to fit and prepare us for that unalterable state which we are hastning to and can we think it reasonable to spend any of those pretious hours which are never to be recalled in a business of so little concern to us as the faults and follies of other men especially when they may be imployed to so great advantage in furthering our journey and facilitating our admission to that glorious Kingdom which we all pretend to seek after Surely did men seriously consider that their title to an eternal and never-fading inheritance did depend upon the wise management of a few days here that the very best of mankind when they had done all they could were but unprofitable servants and that our future condition would be determined not according to other mens actions but our own they would think it much more reasonable to spend that leisure they had in the search and examination of their own souls while there is room left to repent and amend lest while they are impertinently busie in inquiring into and censuring the actions of other men they themselves should be surprised by the evil day and snatched away unprepared to the great Tribunal Every mans own business therefore being of so great and weighty a concern he that is really mindful of it can have no further leisure to observe the failings and miscarriages of other men than to take occasion from thence to exercise that great part of Christian charity which consists in friendly reproof and admonition where it may be given and when it may not to take heed to himself lest he also be tempted and if any man suffer himself to be transported beyond these bounds to censure and condemn other men he justly deserves the reproof in the Comedy Tantúmne ab re tuâ est otii tibi Aliena ut cures eaque nihil quae ad te attinent 3. A further occasion of uncharitable censures is Interest and Design When men make the disreputation of other men the step to their own advancement in the World and of this the experience is too manifest this being a disease that widely spreads it self among all sorts and conditions of men How seldom do we see any matter of interest decided without many hard speeches and unjust censures of the persons we contend with How apt are men to take advantage of every little circumstance of anothers life that is capable of an ill interpretation when it may suit their interest to disparage him There is a sort of politick and designing men in the World who can converse familiarly and speak friendly to their Neighbour and be lavish in his praises till a competition of Interest happen between them but then all his good deeds had some sinister design blended with them they can then discover many circumstances which are apt to create suspicion and those suspicions are soon spread with so much aggravation as though the suspected faults were real and evident and when they have said the utmost they can to lessen his esteem they can still express a great tenderness for the reputation of the man and that they are loth to say or think the worst of him Besides the greatness of the injury and other bad effects of this way of proceeding which I shall have occasion to insist on more particularly that which I shall at present take notice of to shew the great unreasonableness of it is this that none but bad men and a bad cause can stand in need of it He that pursues his own interest and advancement for no other ends but such as are just and reasonable viz. that he may be able with more freedom to discharge his duty toward God and Man and be in better capacity to do good in the World Such a one will consider that there is no such great need of his advancement in the World but that another man in the same state and condition may discharge the offices of that state as well as he And in the mean time he may satisfie himself that the duties he performs in a lower sphere are as acceptable to God and less distracting to himself than if he were raised higher and then what temptation can such a man have to exalt himself with so great an injury done to another man And this leads me to the second thing propounded to shew the unreasonableness of uncharitable judgment of our brethren from the greatness of the injury we do by it 1. It is an injury against which there is no defence He that assaults a man by open violence may be restrained by the use of our own power against his besides the publick authority of Laws provide for

Sufferings that he should give eternal life to as many as his Father had given him and this was that joy set before him expressed in the latter clause of the Verse by his sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God in prospect of which he endured the Cross despising the shame And we have all the reason in the World to believe that he who could endure so much ignominy shame and pain for the obtaining this Reward was both sufficiently certain of the reality of it that it would be made good to him upon the accomplishment of his Sufferings and likewise that this joy set before him was of inestimable value and far exceeding those tribulations and sorrows he undertook in order to it And lastly that he could not deceive his Followers with the promise of an imaginary Joy since he did himself endure such real and unexpressible pains to obtain it for and confirm it to them The sum of this Argument is briefly this Our blessed Saviour endured the Cross despising the shame in full assurance of the certainty of the Joy set before him and of the inestimable value of it above the proportion of his Sufferings and therefore that we also ought to imitate his Patience being well assured by his Example that the light afflictions of this life which endure but a moment are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed and that if we suffer with the HOLY JESUS we shall be also glorified together Thus far have I endeavoured to represent the force of the Apostles Argument from the Sufferings of our Saviour to engage us to imitate his Patience and to suffer with him when Gods calls us to it but we must not confine the influence of our Saviours Sufferings to this single duty The Race set before us mentioned in the former Verse may fairly be understood of the whole Course of a Christian Conversation and our Saviours Sufferings and Death have doubtless a very great efficacy to oblige us not onely to the patient enduring Afflictions and Calamities but to an universal and impartial obedience to the will of God For with what face can we look up unto JESUS and consider the intolerable weight of sorrow which he endured for the sins of men and not be ashamed and blush again to be guilty of any of those sins which put the Son of God to such shame and pain Or how can we call to mind his boundless compassion and love to us in enduring such things for our sake without being effectually moved to render to him all possible demonstration of our thankfulness and love for all his benefits Which we cannot better express than by a sincere and constant obedience to the precepts of the Gospel and by walking before him in all holiness and godliness of living Which that we may all do God of his infinite mercy grant for the sake and merits of our blessed Saviour to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and praise and glory henceforth and for evermore Amen SERM. VI. 1 COR. v. 10. We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad ONe great priviledge and perfection of Mankind whereby they are distinguished from and far excel the Beasts that perish is this that whereas other Creatures are either wholly determined in their actions by outward and necessary causes or at least are led on by those objects onely which are present and work immediately upon their senses without any prospect of or regard to future and remote events Men onely by comparing causes and effects are able to make an estimate and value of future good and evil and accordingly to determine their present actions and choice in proportion to those ends which they propose to themselves and therefore though all men naturally seek after good and are averse to those things which are painful and unpleasant yet if they are well assured that what is now pleasing and delightful to them will be the certain cause of future and more lasting evils than can be recompensed by any present and transitory pleasure This consideration to those that use their reason is sufficient to put a check to and divert them from any present enjoyments which will in the event be dangerous and hurtful On the contrary by the same principle men may be encouraged to undergo many difficulties and hardships if they can be convinced that their present sufferings shall be recompensed with a suitable reward and satisfaction for the time to come And therefore no kind of Arguments are more naturally fitted to persuade men to the practice of Vertue and Goodness and to discourage them from the contrary ways of Sin and Wickedness than a due consideration of those several ends which they lead to and of those Rewards and Punishments which will be the unavoidable events of them And accordingly no kind of persuasions are more frequent in the Gospel than those which are taken from an expectation of a judgment to come and from those incomparable rewards which will then be the portion of the Righteous and the unspeakable miseries which will be the lot of the Wicked and Disobedient And this is that which the Apostle particularly insists on in this place as the ground of his persuasions We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which is done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrours of the Lord we persuade men In these words there are many circumstances of great weight and moment worthy of our most serious consideration which I shall briefly represent to you 1. Here is the certainty of a Judgment to come declared in these words We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2. Here is the person before whom we must appear it is the Judgment Seat of Christ He who was before our Mediator and Advocate who came to redeem us from our iniquities and to make us capable of being happy in another life will then be our Judge and will actually dispense those rewards he promised to those for whom they are prepared and will also be the severe avenger of those who would not be reclaimed 3. Here are expressed the persons that must appear We we the same men that are now alive in the body though our earthly tabernacles be dissolved though our bodies die and see corruption yet we our selves must again appear The same Almighty power which at first framed us in our Mothers Wombs and curiously fashioned all the parts of our body though they be dissolved into dust and variously scattered over the earth will again restore them to life and we shall again appear the same men that we were before For we must appear and no other 4. Here is expressed the universality of the