Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	good_a	great_a	1,387	5	2.5396	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44515	Delight and judgment: or, a prospect of the great Day of Judgment and its power to damp, and imbitter sensual delights, sports, and recreations. By Anthony Horneck, D.D.	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1684 (1684)	Wing H2824A; ESTC R215360	126,341	401

can I refuse it except I will lose their favour and the Place I hold under them And is this such a bug-bear to fright you from your duty To whom have you greater obligations to God or Man If to God why dare not you prefer his favour before the favour of Men and be guided more by his Laws then by the benevolence of dust and ashes Have not you courage to make a vow and when you are solicited by your Superiours to go cannot you speak out and tell them that you lie under the obligation of a vow not to go and who will be so profane as to desire you to break it Had you rather sin then displease Men or is a poor Creature more terrible to you then he who thunders in the Heavens If you are persuaded in your conscience that to be present at these shews is sinful shall a creatures smiles make you venture the displeasure of the most High And what if you lose something considerable by pleasing God Hath God no ways to make you amends for your losses Hath he no Glory no Kingdom no reward no recompence to redintegrate your fortune If you lose this World for his sake is not the felicity of the next recompence enough But why should you mistrust him even in this present life He that made Moses after he had left the Court of Egypt General of his own Army and advanced Joseph who hated to be great and rich by sin to be Viceroy of the Realm and preserved Daniel in his grandeur for this reason because he would not depart from his conscienciousness is his arm shortned or his strength abated that he can do nothing equivalent to all this Are not the hearts of men in his hand and doth not he turn them as streams of Water How often doth he make it appear to the World that where a mans ways please the Lord he makes his very enemies to be at peace with him Nay how often do these generous selfdenials work by Gods providence upon Superiours and they that at first sollicited a man to do that which was vain and contrary to the Laws of Religion when they see him resolute in his conscienciousness how often have they been persuaded to reflect upon themselves at least to have a better opinion of the person who fears God more then them What you have often told me that from this way of reasoning it would follow that it is unlawful to write or to read a Play will deserve some consideration As for the writing of it though Poetry be a thing lawful and commendable and is sufficiently warranted by the writers of Divine Poems in Holy writ yet that will not justifie all the subjects Poets pitch upon and a consciencious man will take as much care that the subject he writes of be grave and serious at least innocent as he would do of his discourse in common conversation I do not doubt but that writing things obscene and filthy and undecent and contrary to good manners and whereby others may be Scandalized and either drawn into sin or harden'd in it is as bad as speaking of them Without all peradventure a man may be witty without being profane and exercise his fancy to the edification of readers without launching out into things at which Nature and Religion teaches us to blush and I need only put you in mind of what the incomparable Mr. Cowley saith in his Preface to his works speaking of the admirable subjects that the Scripture affords for the exercise of Wit and Poetry It is not without grief saith he and indignation that I behold that Divine science employing all her inexhaustable riches of wit and eloquence either in the wicked and beggarly flattery of great persons or the unmanly idolizing of foolish Women or the wretched affectation of scurril laughter or at best on the confused and antiquated dreams of senseless fables and metamorphoses As for reading of modern Plays he that considers what an aversion from seriousness and better things the reading of them causes in the younger sort will find no great reason to encourage them in such trifles but rather to disswade them all he can from studies of this nature and though I believe that a grave serious man whose senses are throughly exercised to discern betwixt good and evil may lawfully peruse them to see the humour of the Age and to know how to obviate and confute the debaucheries and errors which are growing and tending to the ruin of good manners as skillful Physitians may meddle with poison to make antidotes of it yet to persons whose understandings are slippery and weak whose passions are stronger then their reason and who have already too great a tincture of sensuality and consequently may easily encrease the ill humour by such divertisement they ought to be forbid by those who have the care of their education These Sir are my thoughts of the Query you proposed to me and though the Letter be somewhat long yet I hope the arguments I have laid down are not impertinent That they are liable to exceptions I question not being sensible that it 's easier to cavil then to answer and where men are resolved to maintain the vain humour they have imbibed from conversation they will always have something to say against the most sober truths and assertions The drift and design of the Gospel is certainly on our side if any be fond of preferring the dictates of flesh and blood or the suggestions of the world before the mortifying lessons of our crucified Redeemer all that we can say is this that we would have healed Babylon but she would not be healed I shall only add my wishes and prayers that what you have read here may be a means to bring you to a noble sense of a better World and convince you that the way to attain a future bliss is very different from that which leads to sensual delights and satisfactions Our natures are generally too prone to gratifie the flesh and we had not need add fewel to the fire but to do all we can to quench that which is already kindled that after our selfdenials here we may reign with the self-denying Jesus with whom we cannot live hereafter except we suffer with him here and endure the loss of the pleasures of sin for a season nor sit with him in his Throne except we continue with him in his tempations here And I am persuaded that did you live more in Heaven and gave your self time to meditate on the things which are not seen Did you incorporate those everlasting joys with your mind and riveted the belief of that endless bliss into your very spirits that your faith might be the substance of things unseen and the evidence of the treasures hoped for you would despise these shews and glories of the world as much as you do value and esteem them now and would be so far from stopping your ears against the reasons I have given that

Seraphim and Cherubim such a Perspicuity of sight do Tears give to a Holy Soul That which made these great Men weep so much was either a Sense of their own and other mens Offences or a lively Prospect of the Love of God or a glorious fore-sight of the Joys above But worldly Sorrow is no Virtue and he that weeps much either because he cannot have those Conveniences he would have or is cross'd and disappointed in his Designs or because he hath lost such a great Mans Favour or because some other Loss befalls him weeps in vain nay sins by his weeping and his Sin if he continue impenitent brings on Death 2 Cor. 7.10 Floods of Tears upon a mere temporal Account are insignificant in Heaven and no more than Water spilt upon the Ground such Tears God doth not put into his Bottle nor have the blessed Angels any Charge to number the drops that fall but where Religion and a mighty Sense of God and Tenderness of his Honour and Glory causes Rivers of Tears and where the Soul hath so delicate a Taste that it cannot think of God without weeping nor speak of him without weeping nor reflect upon his Goodness without weeping there the Man is come up to a Perfection which is the very Suburbs of Heaven It 's true all People cannot weep nor are they therefore in a damnable Condition for they may be sincere in Goodness and yet not be able to express their Sincerity in Tears tho I am apt to believe that it is for want of refining the Soul into a high Relish of Divine Objects that puts a stop to these sacred Floods in most Men yet where they can weep and something they see in God or in the Word of God or in the Providences of God is the true Cause of those Tears every drop is richer than a Diamond and such a Soul may vye Happiness with the greatest Monarchs They are inestimable Treasures and though Man knows not how to value them yet the Spirits above esteem them at a mighty rate and magnifie them in Gods Presence Luke 15.10 It 's a huge Mistake that Men cannot rejoyce except they laugh there are Tears of Joy as well as Tears of Grief and the very Heathen saw that true Joy was a very serious thing Hence it was that they confined true Joy to their Philosophers and left the louder Laughter to Slaves and Carters and Ploughmen and how often have I seen the richest Joys bubble forth from the largest Tears Nor would Men in those Circumstances change Condition with the most potent Prince in the World such Content such Satisfaction such Riches such Wealth appears in these Tears which Religion forces How much better is it to be afflicted where our Porsperity and a good Conscience are inconsistent than to enjoy Kingdoms and Principalities without the light of Gods Countenance This was the excellent choice of Moses and of all the Martyrs of old who were content to be sawn asunder to be stoned to be tormented to wander about in Caves and Dens weeping and destitute rather than defile their Souls with Sin which puts me in mind of the good Advice St. Jerom gave to his Friend Heliodorus Did the Babe thy Grandchild saith he hang about thy Neck should thy Mother that bare thee bid thee look upon the Breasts thou hast sucked should thine own Father lie prostrate at thy Feet and entreat thee to spare thy self and to forbear venturing on the Strictness and Severities of Religion get away from them my Friend and with dry Eyes fly unto the Banner of Christ Jesus in this case to be cruel is the greatest Piety This was the Case of the Primitive Believers who preferred their Distresses before Nero's Chair of State and took greater Pleasure in their seemingly forlorn Condition than Claudius or Caligula in their Affluence In the midst of their Tears they were greater men than their Persecutors and though they wanted all things and their Enemies had all that Heart could wish yet they justly believed themselves happier in their Funeral Dress than the other in their Triumphs The Man that roars in a Tavern or sings in an Ale-house or rejoyces in his Sin had more need to wish that his head were water and his eyes a Fountain of Tears were he in his Wits he would do so But his Reason is distorted his Understanding darkned his Eyes blinded his Mind unhing'd his Desires perverted his Affections led astray and like a distracted Creature he rejoyces in his Nakedness Ah brutish and inconsiderate Soul Thou weepest to see a Child or a near Relation dye and canst thou see thy Soul die and be robb'd of that Goodness which must give her Life and be unconcerned Thou weepest at the loss of a thousand Pounds and canst thou remember how thou losest God's Favour and all Right and Interest in the Merits of a crucified Saviour and keep thine Eyes dry Thou weepest to see a Friend drowning or burning in a merciless Fire and canst thou think how thou flingest thy self into the Furnace of God's Wrath makest his Anger kindle and wax hot against thee and dost what thou canst to turn it into a Fire which no Man no Angel can quench and will no Tears flow into thine Eyes How barbarous how inhumane is thy Joy What doest thou rejoyce in That Sin which makes thee merry that Folly that cheers thy Spirit what is it but Ingratitude to thy kindest Benefactor What is it but requiting the greatest Good with the greatest Evil What is it but contempt of him who keeps thy Soul in Life What is it but bidding defiance to him who carries thee on his Wings and out-does the tenderness of a Mother the care of a Father and doth all that 's fitting to guard thy Soul from Ruine And are these fit things to rejoyce in Are these fit Objects for thy Mirth Are these Divertisements for a Creature that holds his very Being of God and is beholding to him for all the Blessings he enjoys What wonder if after all this Impiety and Stubborness God rejoyces too rejoyces in thy Groans rejoyces in thy Anguish rejoyces in thy Agonies rejoyces in thy Sense of his Justice rejoyces in thy Howlings This he must do at last to secure his Honour This he will be obliged to do in the end to vindicate the Veracity of his Threatings This he will be constrained to do after all that Devils may not mock his Holiness nor deride his Thunders nor upbraid him with Partiality At that time this will appear very good Divinity no Fable no Romance no Trade of Priests no Invention of Politicians no old Wifes Tale no idle Story and if thou could'st exhaust the Sea in that day and weep it out again to testifie thy unfeigned Sorrow thou would'st do it Happy the Soul that thinks of this Happy the Man that believes these Terrors before he feels them How much wiser are those tender Hearts that do little else but weep and

us but little good another day and serve only to tell us that we were cheated by those Encomiums Alas How many men are counted Just and Righteous Honest and Good here on Earth whom the Great Judge will not find so when he comes to examine their deeds by the Rule of Sincerity Sirs matter not whether men do look upon you as devout but see that God may esteem you so Alas what doth it signifie that men call me Religious when God knows I am an Hypocrite What comfort can it be to me that men think me charitable when God sees I give Alms to be seen of men What will it profit me that men call me Zealous and Fervent when God sees that gain and profit is the cause of it What doth it avail me that men say I pray well when God sees I study to please the Company What great matter is it that men applaud me for a single Virtue when God sees I am partial in my Obedience What great advantage can it be to me that men say I am humble when God sees pride in that very humility The Apostle therefore bids us look to the manner of our performances He that gives let him do it with simplicity He that rules with diligence He that shews Mercy with cheerfulness Let love be without dissimulation be kindly affectioned one to another with Brotherly love c. Rom. 12.8 9 10. So when you pray let your Hearts breath out holy Desires when you sing let your Minds bear a principal Part in the Hymn when you come to the Table of the Lord let your Souls be touch'd with the love of Jesus when you are kind to your Neighbours banish all sinister Designs when you express any holy Fervours let God's Glory be in your Eye when you discharge any part of your Duty to God and Man let a cheerful Obedience to the Gospel be the Motive Do all this as unto God not as unto Men do it as if no Creature saw you do it as if none but God were before you do it as if you were to be summoned this Moment to Judgment such Services will endure the Probe such Devotions will stand good such Acts of Piety will hear searching such Works God himself will be a witness to that they were wrought according to his Will and by the Power of his holy Spirit 9. What Injuries you receive in this World from Men bear them patiently out of regard to this great Day of Judgment when God will set all things to rights and take care that you lose nothing by your Sufferings Rejoyce Christian in thine Innocence which God intends to proclaim in this Day before all Men and Angels He 'll wipe off all the Dirt and Aspersions that are thrown upon thee in this day He will bring forth thy Righteousness as the Light and thy Judgment as the Noon-day What need'st thou take notice of an Affront offer'd to thee when thy God stands engaged to take notice of it with a Witness in this day What need'st thou seek Revenge when thy Master whom thou servest is resolved to judge thy Cause in this Day What need'st thou fret and rage at the Contempt Men put upon thee here when thy great Lord will be sufficiently angry with the Offender in this day What need'st thou grieve that Men abuse thee here when thy Sovereign Master will grieve every Vein of the Reviler's Heart in this day What need'st thou be concerned for the Reproaches Men cast upon thee for thy Righteousness sake when he for whose Name thou sufferest will vindicate thy Wrong and call the Persecuter Fool for his Pains in this day Say not At this rate there will be no living for me in the World trust that God who hath promised to clear thy Innocence in this day and he will hide thee under the shadow of his Wings while thou art in this troublesome World he that preserved Elijah when Ahab and Jezabel and all the Prophets of Baal were enraged against him knows how to keep thee in the Hour of Temptation Ay but Revenge is sweet What if it be so to Flesh and Blood it will prove bitter to thy Spirit and if ever thou art saved a bitter Repentance must come in and salve the Wound and wilt thou prepare for a needless and uncertain Repentance How knowest thou whether God will after the Fact give thee his holy Spirit to come to this Repentance And what Cruelty is it when God is resolved to revenge thy Quarrel that thou wilt needs revenge it too If thou revengest it God will take no care to plead for thee but if thou leave thy Cause entirely to him thy Wrong will be infinitely recompens'd in this day Thus did thy blessed Master who when he suffer'd threatned not but committed himself to him that judges righteously Wilt thou boast of being his Disciple and art thou loth to follow his Example Fear not those Men who wrong thee now will be sufficiently sorry for the Injury either here if ever they be truly converted or hereafter when the Almighty will convince them to their everlasting Grief how much they were mistaken in their Verdicts and what sinister Constructions they put upon thy Actions how barbarous their Rage was against thee how inhumane the ill Language they gave thee and how unjust all their Reproaches were Do but stay a little while and thou shalt see it with thine Eyes Have but Patience untill that appointed day and thou wilt find the Prophet was in the right when he said The Righteous shall rejoyce when he sees the Vengeance so that a Man shall say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that judges in the earth Psal. 58.9 10. 10. Consider particularly That it will be more tolerable for Heathens and professed Infidels at this day than for Christians and not without reason Treason is more excusable in a Stranger than in a Citizen or Domestick and more may be pleaded for a sinful Life in a Pagan than in one of Christ's own Houshold A Heathen is obliged to God by the Right of Creation and Preservation but a Christian hath besides these Baptism and his Vows to tye him his Motives to the Fear of God are stronger than they can be in other Religions Where the greatest Rewards are there we may justly believe People will be most industrious most laborious and most sedulous No Religion proposes those rewards that Christianity doth The Heathens either had doubtful Apprehensions of an everlasting Happiness or were Strangers to the nature of it Among us this endless Glory is not only professed but most clearly revealed we are sure of it confident of it have no reason to dispute the certainty of it and the nature of it is discovered to us by him who came out of his Fathers Bosom therefore he that under these Manifestations proves careless and negligent of God's Love can have no Excuse And as Heaven is or may