Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	death_n	sin_n	3,567	5	5.2223	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88797	The penitent lady: or Reflections on the mercy of God. Written by the fam'd Madam La Valliere, since her retirement from the French king's court to a nunnery. Translated from the French by L.A. M.A.; Reflexions sur la misericorde de Dieu. English. 1685	La Vallière, Françoise-Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, duchesse de, 1644-1710.	1685 (1685)	Wing L623H; ESTC R179362	31,041	152

whence springs all my Misery 't is from this that instead of serving thee in Spirit and in Truth instead of making thy Glory the end of all my thoughts words and actions I persue after nothing but the gratification of my irregular Lusts Let me be never so rash and so ungrateful unto thee O my God as to fancy my self the Author of those Reflections which I somtimes make when I retire my self from the hurry of this world wherein an unquencheable appetite torments the most happy persons and renders them miserable slaves even by the accomplishment of their most earnest desires REFLECT V. The Thoughts of a penitent Soul fearful of being deceiv'd by the Appearance of a False Conversion WHat am I my Lord and my God what am I but a proud Atome a poor blind creature who continually goes astray when thou withholdst the Rays of thy Grace I deserve to be annihilated if at any time I should attempt the conversion of my self by my own power without the assistance of thy Grace Mortifie in my soul all vain glory every thing that tempts me to too good an opinion of my self but chiefly that frothiness of humour which serves only to divert me from thy ways to deprive me of the benefit of my afflictions and the sweet comfort ●f thy Holy Spirit Give me humility and distrust ●f my own reason let me thirst ●fter doing good more and car●al knowledge less lest valuing 〈◊〉 more than thy grace I lose my ●elf and instead of becoming a ●ood Christian become a Phi●osopher better acquainted ●ith the Maxims of Aristotle and ●escartes than the knowledge ●f the Cross O how vain and deceitful are ●he thoughts of man unless go●ern'd by that Wisdom which is ●rom above by that Wisdom ●hich is Foolishness to the World because it is unacquainted ●ith it by that Wisdom which ●od has concealed from the ●roud and discovered to the ●umble by that Wisdom which ●aughs at humane subtilty and ●cts only according to the grace of Jesus Christ In short 〈◊〉 that Wisdom which is produc●● by the Fear of God and whi●● is the beginning and the end 〈◊〉 all true Wisdom Permit me not O my God t●● flatter my self that I hate all si●● because I am perhaps restraine● from Luxury and passion Le● me not flatter my self that 〈◊〉 am taken off from loving th● Creature because my diversion● are innocent Let me not flatter my self tha● I have mortified my passions fo● I find them revive with mo●● strength then ever and encli●● me to self-love which is th● more dangerous decause by j●● stifying these irregular motion● it renders me deaf to the dictate● of my reason and the holy in spirations of thy grace Let me not fancy my self to b● without pride ambition sel●-love because I despise the World ●●d scorn to owe those Honours ●ortune has stripp'd me of to ●●ything else but my ovvn deserts Let me not so much deceive my ●●lf as to think I am throughly ●●nverted when indeed I have ●●ly chang'd the sins of sense ●●r those of the mind A pro●●ane proud and fensual Life 〈◊〉 which I was always tormented 〈◊〉 reflecting on my Crimes and ●●e remorse of my Conscience ●●r a life in which my whole en●eavour is to gratifie self love ●nd enjoy the pleasures of the World and in the mean while ●se my precious time forget my ●od hazard the salvation of my ●oul obtain nothing but the Mo●ality of a Heathen which alone ●ill not save me at the day of Judgment O state truly deplorable ●nd the more so because I am ●ot sensible of my condition but rest satisfied without endeavouring after any other Repentanc● or Conversion REFLECT VI. Vpon the Opposition of a Worldl● Life to the suffering Life o● Jesus Christ TEach me O Lord that thi● sort of life is not the life of a Christian and that the end of Christ's Death and Incarnation was not to instate us in so delicate and effeminate a life as might gratifie sense and indulge the flesh and that all Moral Vertues are but dead Works unless enlivened by the Merits and Vertue of Jesus Christ That unless the inclinations of our hearts are changed it will nothing avail a sinner to reform his outward conversation to ●ate the World without love to God to do works of Justice without sincere Repentance and as the Royal Psalmist has it ●o cease from evil without doing good At the same time O Lord that thou destroyest my sinful Habits plant in my soul such Graces as may be fruitful to Good Works Grant that by a lively Faith I may meditate on the Mysteries of thy Life and Passion That my soul may be deeply affected with them and that it may be my greatest pleasure to contemplate those Sufferings which thou didst willingly undergo for my sake That beholding the Divine infant lying on the Straw and in a Manger the Treasures of Heaven vailed in the Poverty of the Earth I may contemn all those Riches which endure but for a moment and endeavour to obtain those incorruptible treasures which Moth and Ruct do not corrupt which will never fly away That the consideration of that private life in which thou wast pleased to disguise thy self from the eyes of the world may create in me a desire to be forgotten by it that I may retire and employ my self only in the great business of my salvation That rhe receiving of thy holy body and precious blood those sacred pledges of thy love which thou wast pleas'd to leave us when thou gavest thy life for our offences may produce in me a holy horrour at the consideration of the cause of thy Death and a detestation of all sin That I may rejoice and be exceeding glad when I shall be disgrac'd and contemned remembring my Saviour's humility who was set at nought by Herod and the Court where he never appear'd but once and then on purpose to be despised That those Scourges which rent thy Sacred Body those Thorns which pierced thy Precious Head may penetrate my callous heart render me truly penitent and willing for the love of thee to undergo all those rigours of Mortification and Self-denial which are requisite for the subduing of our Lusts In fine that the consideration of thy ignominious death on the Cross on which thou perfectest the work of my salvation in grief and misery may be my only hope REFLECT VII What the Hope of a Penitent Soul ought to be THis is the second Favour I desire of thee for the Merits of that precious Blood which trickled from thy Sacred Wounds and which thou didst offer to thy Eternal Father for the price of my Redemption That thou wouldst be pleas'd to give me a true hope in thy Mercies I say Lord a true hope because there is nothing more common than to abuse thy Mercy by making it an incouragement to sin more securely than for sinners to hope in thy goodness without so much as endeavouring