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	know_v	soul_n	2,162	5	5.1925	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53959	A practical discourse upon charity in its several branches and of the reasonableness and useful nature of this great Christian virtue / by Edward Pelling ...	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1693 (1693)	Wing P1086; ESTC R21750	75,615	304

to an habitual Practice of all manner of Piety and Virtue He which converteth a Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death Jam. 5. 20. Such a Man saveth several Souls at once his Neighbour's and his own too A most Honourable Office certainly the most Excellent Work that is Crowned with a Reward so Glorious so Infinite Secondly Charity obligeth us to express a tender Regard to the Worldly Necessities of others also according to our Abilities God who hath ordered all Things in Number Measure and Weight hath of his great Goodness and Wisdom made variety of Conditions among Mankind and hath so suited Men's Capacities Fortunes and Abilities to their several States of Life that every one is to be useful in some respect or other to the rest And because no Man can possibly live alone or support himself in a State of utter Separation from all others Common Necessity ties us all together like so many Limbs and Members into one Body that each may minister its Assistance towards the Maintenance of the whole Now so far as any one wants and becomes feeble so far it is disabled and hindred from lending its own help to its Fellows So that were nothing else to be consider'd but the Preservation and common Interest of Humane Society that alone would be enough to set all Hands at work upon extending themselves in Acts of Charity But our Obligations to it are the greater still because the Divine Being who careth for us all hath made that which is a Civil Duty to be a part of our Religion too that which the Necessities of Humane Society call for he himself requires as necessary in order to our Eternal Interest Upon both accounts therefore as we are Men and Christians also we must be very careful to express the Benevolent Disposition of our Hearts by all outward Acts of Beneficence according as our Stations and Capacities are and according as the Needs and Sufferings of other People require our helping Hand as to save Life when it is in danger to deliver Captives to relieve the Oppressed to take care of the Sick to help the Infirm to feed the Hungry to cloath the Naked to cherish the Comfortless to lift up the Head that hangeth down to visit the Fatherless and Widow in their Affliction and to send up to the God of Comfort our Charitable Intercessions for all It was a Pious and Noble Reflection which Job made upon himself in the midst of his own Distress Job 29. from Vers 11. to Vers 18. When the Ear heard me then it blessed me and when the Eye saw me it gave witness to me Because I delivered the Poor when he cried and the Fatherless and him that had none to help him The Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the Widow's Heart to sing for joy I put on Righteousness and it cloathed me my Judgment was a Robe and a Diadem I was Eyes to the Blind and Feet was I to the Lame I was a Father to the Poor and the Cause which I knew not I searched out And I brake the Jaws of the Wicked and plucked the Spoil out of his Teeth Thirdly Besides our doing Good to the Souls and Bodies of Men after this manner we are bound to express our Charity by being kind to their Reputation also Interest Fortune Comfort Peace Life it self depends upon this and it is the more necessary to be preserved with Care because it is easie to be lost and the hardest Thing to be recover'd Nay in some cases the common Welfare and the very Honour of God depends upon it too For if the Persons whose Credit is wounded be placed in any publick Station either in Church or State it will be impossible for them as long as the Wound remains to do the World that Good or God that Service which is the end of their Office and by this means the Blow striketh very deep and affects in some measure the whole Community And therefore for the Love of God and Man we should always endeavour either to prevent or heal If the Persons reproach'd deserve it not 't is but Justice to be their Advocates if they do 't is Charity however But what ever it be to them to be sure 't is Charity to the Publick and perhaps an Effectual as well as Charitable Way to shame and reclaim the false Accusers themselves whose business is not to convince or mend others but to expose them Besides rarely doth any one's Reputation bleed but the first Drop is drawn by those Backbitings and Whisperings which St. Paul mentions 2 Cor. 12. 20. by Artifices in private where the greatest Innocence cannot stand upon the Defensive and then 't is like the breaking in upon the Dead that cannot help themselves In which case Common Charity should move every Man to be for a Rescue Alas even Crimes should be buried and lie quiet in the Grave because they cannot appear above Ground without Scandal V. 5. Having shew'd you that Office of Charity which consisteth in Kindness or in doing others Good in every respect I proceed now to the next Character the Apostle gives of it Charity envyeth not That is will not be disturbed or grieved at another's Happiness or at any Thing wherein another excels The Scripture calls this Passion An Evil Eye Matth. 20. 15. And Plutarch compares it to a Disease in the Eye by means whereof it cannot endure to behold any splendid or bright Object Of all the Distempers of the Mind there is none that proceedeth from a worse nor yet from a weaker Cause for it is not grounded upon any Personal Crime but upon a Wicked Opinion of Partiality in Providence and upon an Abusive Conceit of ones own Deserts Where is any Injustice or Blame in the Man if God pleaseth to bless him with outward or inward Gifts above his Neighbours Yet this is the Original of Envy that for Great and Wise Reasons God doth dispense his Goodness to some with a more Liberal Hand than what he extendeth unto others And can any Thing be more wicked than to quarrel with the Divine Being for his Bounty Or can any Thing be more unreasonable than to find fault with a Man because he is happily made a Partaker of it For Anger and Hatred and some other Vices there might be some Tolerable Pretence did not the Laws of Religion forbid them This Vice is the most unfortunate of all that it hath no Covering but an Evil Heart But I am not now to consider so much the Unreasonable Nature of Envy as how contrary and opposite it is to a Spirit of Charity for whereas a Charitable Person wisheth well to all and endeavours as far as in him lies to do Good to all the Envious Wretch grieves and pines murmurs and complains frets and rages at his Neighbour's Happiness Such a Wretch is not so much as Charitable to himself because his great I had