Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bear_v	fruit_n	tree_n	1,451	5	8.5127	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02058	An alarum to England sounding the most fearefull and terrible example of Gods vengeance, that euer was inflicted in this world vpon mankind for sinne: seruing generally as a warning for all people to eschew sinne, lest they partake of the like vengeance. By Robert Gray, preacher of the Word of God.	Gray, Robert, 16th/17th cent.	1609 (1609)	STC 12203; ESTC S120400	50,215	146

these silly dumbe creatures it is a maruell that they doe not break their league with man and shake off the yoke of obedience toward him It is a maruell that y e earth doth not rent in sunder vnder man as he walkes vpon it séeing it is so plagued with barrennesse for the sinne of man It is a maruell that our oxen and our horses with their hornes and hooues doe not make warre against vs séeing we are such vnrighteous tyrannicall Lords ouer them not content to haue their vse and seruice except wée plague them besides into such vndeserued vengeance of GODS wrath by our sinnes and transgressions Let vs therefore forbeare and eschew sinne and flye from it as from a Serpent séeing by it wée doe not onely draw downe Gods heauy iudgements vpon our heads but also wée plague our posteritie and the very dumbe and vnreasonable creatures into the wrath of Gods vengeance by our sinnes and transgressions And let vs further learne the perfect hatred of GOD against sinne who doth not onely punish it in mā which committeth it but in all things which any way serue man in his sinfull courses and let vs estéeme no sinne small séeing the infinite maiestie of God is offended by it infinite torments are prepared for it and nothing can satisfie for it but the inestimable price of Christes blood applyed to the conscience by a true and liuely faith Now it remaines that in the last place we examine the cause why the Lord brought such a fearefull destruction vpon this land and people There must néeds be some great cause that did exasperate the Lord to execute such a fierce strange iudgemēt vpon them The cause is not hard to be found out for nothing doth separate man from God but sinne nothing doth prouoke God to punish plague and destroy man but sin nothing doth draw downe the iudgements of God vpon man but sinne and sinne it was that mooued the Lord to reuenge himselfe thus seuerely vpon this land and people as it appeares by the wordes of Almightie God to Abraham Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is exceeding grieuous I will go downe now saith the Lord. Sin brought death into the world they are twinnes bred and borne in one day sinne and destruction are Relatiues admit the one and the other followes death and destruction growes foorth of sinne as fruite from the tree and therefore if we sin we may surely expect to be punished and if we be punished we need not doubt of the cause but we may safely thinke with our selues it is for our sinnes Therefore as we haue considered the punishment of Sodom so let vs consider the sins of Sodom which were the cause of her ouerthrow and destruction The Prophet Ezechiel doth make knowne vnto vs the sinnes of this people to be foure Pride fulnesse of bread idlenesse and vnmercifulnesse towardes the poore But these were not all the sins of Sodō for the Scripture layes downe another sinne practised amongst this people which because it did either beginne amongst them or was more practise● amongst them then amongst any other people beside deriued the name from them and so holds it to this day but the Prophet doth reckō the forenamed sinnes to be the sinnes of this people because they were the principall causes of that vnnaturall sin which wi●h the cry thereof brought such a fearefull vengeance vpon them In speaking of the sinnes of Sodom I will kéepe the same order that the Prophet obserueth in the place before cited placing Pride in the first ranke as though it were the Ring-leader to the rest and the roote from whence all other vices doe follow and so it is indéed and therefore it is called the Center in the sphere of mans life from whence are drawne lines to the circumference of iniquitie If a man haue any good gifts or qualities in him pride doth expell and abandon them if a man haue none pride will not giue place for any to enter and the first thing that pride works in mā is an irrespectiue care and an incurious respect of God hee cares not for God he séekes not for God hée doth not trust and relye vpon God nay he thinkes alwayes there is no God for the obiect of his pride is his God and in it he doth trust vpon it he doth relye and he sets it vp as an Idoll not onely in his owne heart but in the eyes and view of the world to the end all men may applaud admire honour and magnifie it as if a man be proude of his Nobilitie of his dignitie and greatnesse of his wealth and riches of his credit and estimation of his learning and wisdome of his apparel of his costly and goodly buildings or whatsoeuer else is the obiect of his pride he doth not onely set his heart vpon it himselfe séeking all meanes to vphold and maintaine it deriuing all his ioy and contentment from it depending vpon it as vpon the staffe and stay of his strength but he must haue all other men likewise to commit Idolatry with it and as the finger is alwayes where the paine is and the eye where the affectiō is so is the heart of a proud man alwayes setled fixed vpon y e thing whereof he is proud And therefore it is true that Dauid speaks of him he cares not for God he séekes not for God he thinks alwayes there is no God as he is thus careles inrespectiue of God so is he most iniurious to his neighbor in scorning disdaining despising vildly estéeming him Superbus nes●at esse socius A proud man acknowledgeth none to be his equall A proud man is alwayes contentious and by reason he is wholy possest with selfe-loue a man shall neuer haue iustice at his hāds for which cause Moses gaue warning to the Israelites not to chuse a King that should lift vp his heart aboue his brethren for when the chiefe Magistrate is proud and haughty all iustice and iudgement is peruerted he gouerns all things after the rule of his owne proud conceyts And euen as when a man winnoweth wheate the chaffe mounts aloft though it be light and vnprofitable but the wheate falls downe vnto the groūd though it be more precious and excellent then the chaffe euē so when a proud man sits in gouernment vanity is preferred but iustice and iudgement are depressed Dauid complayneth of the proud that they had him excéedingly in derision and in another place that they imagined a lye against him noting vnto vs thereby that in the first place they scorne and disdayne all men and in the second place that they wrong maligne and deale vniustly with euery man Thus is a proud man foūd impious towards God iniurious to his neighbour not capable to receyue any good gifts or graces as a certain Philosopher told Alexander perceyuing his pride God

dealing with the poore to be an iniury done vnto his owne person according to that saying of Salomon He that oppresseth the poore reprocheth him that made him Thus you may well perceiue that all the wrong that is done to the poore the LORD doth take it as done to himselfe for in euery place throughout all the whole Scripture the Lord GOD doth professe himselfe to bée the Gardian and kéeper of the poore and néedy and acknowledgeth them to be his Wardes and Pupils and therefore God wil reuenge himself in iustice without mercie vpon all those which either deale vncharitably or iniuriously with them Whereupon the Lord expostulates the matter with his people and demaunds of them What they had to doe to grinde the faces of the poore As though it were a thing that they could not iustifie And to the end that all the cruell and vnmercifull of the world might know that GOD will not suffer the wrongs that are done to the poore to escape vnreuēged hee proclaimes it to the world by the Prophet Dauid that for the comfortlesse troubles sake of the needy and because of the deepe sighing of the poore I will vp saith the Lord and helpe euery one from him that swelleth against him and will set them at rest As if he should say Though I passe ouer other sinnes and beare with patience other indignities though I sit still and winke at other transgressions yet when the case concernes the poore when my Orphans and Wards are wronged then I will vp saith the Lord I le beare no longer but I will reuenge their cause and relieue them For which cause Salomon giues al the vnmercifull dogges of the world warning not to bite nor deuoure these silly shéepe for the Lord will defend their cause saith he spoile the soule of those that spoyle them The poore saith S. Augustine are Gods barnes in which except we lay our earthly treasures of pittie and compassion in this world we shall not finde that heauenly treasure of euerlasting life in the world to come Many and fearefull are the plagues which are threatned against those which deale vnmercifully with the poore Their prayers are abominable the Lord will not heare them though they cry vnto him in the bitternesse of their soule He that stoppeth his eare at the cry of the poore shall also cry and not be heard In which words Salomō doth giue vs two things to vnderstand first that the vnmercyfull men shall crye how rich how honorable how potent and mighty soeuer they be yet the Lord will lay some grieuous thing or other vpon them eyther in health or in sicknesse eyther in this world or in the world to come that shall make them cry as vpon their death-bed the guiltynesse of their owne conscience the feare of death the horrour of hell and dread of damnation If God lay these things vpon them they wil be inforced to cry but if not yet certaynly they shall cry in hell with their fellow Diues for cry they shall as Salomon sayth but the second thing is they shal not be heard The Lions roare and the Lord heareth them The young Rauens cry and he heareth them he heares the heauens he heares the blood of those that are murthered and indéede he heares all things but an vnmercyfull man he shall cry and not be heard Diues is a notable president to all those that are dogged and hard-hearted towards the poore he cryed not in this world he had his pleasure as many more rich men haue but for all that the saying of Salomon proued true vpon him for though he cryed not in this world yet he cryed in hell I am tormented in this flame But was he heard Alas no he could not haue so much as a drop of cold water graunted him This therefore is one plague and a fearefull one also which shall happen to all vnmercyfull cruell and vncharitable persons They shall cry and not be heard The second misery that shall befall those that do not strēgthen the hand of the poore nor succor them in their miseryes is they shall not inioy y e things which they chiefly desire to inioy their present hope shal be frustrate and when they think thēselues to be the surest of their wished desires euen then shal they be depriued of al their hopes and shall neuer sée the fruites of their labours This doth the Lord threaten by the Prophet Forasmuch he sayth as your treading is vpon the poore ye haue built houses of hewne stone but yee shall not dwell in them yee haue planted pleasant vineyards but yee shall not drinke wine of them This is the miserie of the vnmercifull they shall purchase for others to inherite they shall builde houses for others to dwell in they shall get and scrape together but others shall inioy their hopes and carry away the fruits of their labours Nabal that foolish Churle may serue for an example to confirme the truth of this vnto vs who out of his hard and incompassionate heart denyed his bread his water and his flesh to Dauid and his followers in the wildernesse This Nabal did sheare his shéepe but he neuer liued to sell his wooll he made a great feast but hee neuer digested his meate for he became as a stone and dyed in tenne dayes after So shal the hopes of all the vnmercifull bee frustrate and they shall not be partakers of their wished desires but leaue their labours for others to inioy Now if the sinne of vnmercifulnes did onely prouoke God to inflict priuate and particular punishments vpon men it were the more to bee borne withall but indéed it procureth the fierce wrath of God and his heauy iudgements vpon a whole land and against a people or nation in generall For so the Lord hath threatned by his Prophet Heare this ye that swallow vp the poore that yee may make the needy of the land to faile shall not the land tremble for this and euery one mourne that dwelleth therein So that vnmercifull men do not onely prouoke the vengeance of God vpon themselues but to the land wherein they inhabite and to the people of the land where they dwell No maruell then if the Lord God brought such a feareful and strange punishment vpon Sodom and Gomorrah and the people of that country séeing this sinne of vnmercifulnesse was rooted amongst them so that they did not strengthen the hand of the poore The last miserie that shall befal vnmercifull men is that last and dreadfull speech which shall be pronounced vnto them at the day of iudgement Depart yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the deuil and his angels Then shal al the vnmerciful of the world know and féele to their wofull experience that there is a God that reuengeth the cause of the poore and néedie Then they shall pay deare for all that they haue gotten by oppressiō and wrong and by