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	natural_a	reason_n	1,505	5	4.9161	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53326	A present for teeming vvomen, or, Scripture-directions for women with child how to prepare for the houre of travel / written first for the private use of a gentlewoman of quality in the West, and now published for the common good by John Oliver.	Oliver, John, 1601-1661.	1663 (1663)	Wing O276; ESTC R30076	85,614	176

●●perbissi●orū origo Plin. nat ●ist l. 7. c. 7. The child in my womb is made of the like substance as I was And though I now have growth strength beauty or comelinesse yet I was once imperfect enough when I was newly begotten of man and conceived in the womans womb Alas how vile are those materials of which my body was made Scripture draws a veyl of modest and metaphorical expressions over this unsightly act of generation And when I consider oh my soul the poor original of my body Alas what preheminence have I herein above a beast what cause to abhorre all thoughts of pride and to walk humbly all my dayes If the Peacock let fall his plumes when he beholds his black feet have not I cause to be cast down with a less esteem of my self Phil. 3.21 when I consider my vile body In nothing more vile then in its first coagulation of ignoble matter MEDITATION 5. Thou hast cloathed me with skin and flesh Job 10.11 thou hast fenced me with bones and sinews Though in regard of the matter and manner of my generation my body is no better then a bag of flegm a lump of blood a moistened clod of earth yet when I raise my mind to the work of my Creator who fashioned me round about covered me in my mothers womb and formed me in the lowest parts of the earth I have then no cause to say to my Father what hast thou begotten or to my Creator why hast thou made me thus If I may in every creature see some prints and footsteps of the wisdome power and goodnesse of God in their formation production and conservation of their kind in a continual succession for the use of man how much more cause have I to search out this work of God in which there is as much of excellency curiosity and exactnesse of skill as in all the creation besides Much is said by Philosophers Physicians Anatomists c. concerning this great secret of Nature the Child in the Womb. They speak with much probability and rational conjecture of the manner and matter of generation conceptions of the very day when the womb by its natural heat begins to operate towards it when it receives its first change into a fleshy substance what day the brain heart and liver begin to be distinguished and when it receives a humane shape in other parts though the whole be no bigger then a small flie Also how it is nourished and in what place and posture it lies if male and in what if female What day it receives by the gift of God a living soul and when it begins to stir and calcitrate in the womb c. But the further I dive and search into this matter the more I am at a loss still new questions do arise which I cannot resolve Ps 139.6 Even this knowledge is too wonderfull for me Solomon hath put a question which I think himself could hardly answer Knowest thou how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child Eccls 11.5 Therefore oh my soul let mesing that song of David and if possible with Davids heart I will praise thee Psal 139.14 15 16 17. for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there were none of them How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the summe of them But I must not I cannot here leave off this delightful Meditation but must again praise the Lord for that he hath not executed the curse of Adam to the uttermost upon us Though sin hath robbed us of many most desirable perfections yet there is that left with which and for which we may glorifie God If we survey the frame and building of this earthly tabernacle we shall find that rare fitness of every part and that symmetry of the whole that we cannot but say its builder and maker is God What shall I say of the several members and particles of our bodies of the scituation of the more noble parts and subordination of the rest of the influences of the higher parts on those that are less noble of the many channels of conveyance whereby the inner parts transmit bloud strength and spirits to the exteriour and most remote What of the beauty strength tenderness majesty and singular faculties of some parts of the contiguities and artificial connexion of all parts what of the sagacity of the five senses the mixture of the four elements the correspondence our bodies have with all creatures the resemblance of the three regions yea of the three heavens c. For which causes Man is called a little world the measure of all things the pattern of the Vniverse the miracle of miracles c. Yea mans body is yet in regard of its majesty strength beauty and noble faculties of its several parts in some measure after the image of God (a) 2 Chr. 16.9 Dan. 9.18 Psal 34.16 Job 40 9. Psal 74.3 Isa 49.16 c. And God himself is pleased to represent his perfections and operations by several parts of the body of man If therefore the serious prying into any one part take up the time and study of the learned insomuch that Galen was turned from Atheism in studying the secrets of mans body and presently praised and acknowledged our Creatour then oh my soul let that which made him a Christian make me a more thankful Christian that I may more zealously glorifie God with my body and may hereafter have all its primitive perfections restored at the Resurrection when God shall raise it in honour and incorruption and make it like the glorious body of Jesus Christ MEDITATION 6. Anatomists themselves are utterly to seek what reason to give for the opening and shutting of the womb But though I know not the natural causes hereof yet I find by the effects that the child is quick within me And oh that I could say with like certainty that though I know not the way of the Spirit or how grace comes in and sin goes out how Christ enters and Satan is dispossessed yet I feel by the effects that whereas lust did once conceive and bring forth sin yet now grace conceives holy motions and brings forth religious actions that whereas my heart was a cage of unclean spirits and barren of goodness yet now Christ is formed within me now I feel by happy effects that grace is quick within me and quickens me to every good work Psal 103.1 Wherefore blesse the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me blesse his holy name Luk. 1.43.49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great

not materiall to the businesse in hand it sufficeth that the expression takes it for granted that to be childlesse was a curse and a reproach in Israel So that 2 Sam 6.25 of Michal the daughter of Saul who mocked David it is mentioned as a memorable and severe judgment that she had no child to the day of her death 6 God hath in his Scriptures ever taken to himself the praise of this work and his people have ever acknowledged it as his gift mercy when they conceived and bare children Thus the wives of Jacob. Thus Jacob himself answering his brother Esau Gen. 30.6.17.22 c. 35.5 these are the children which God hath graciously given thy servant Thus Hannah Elizabeth and others still their phrase is God opened their wombs Psal 113.9 Faecundicas foeminarum casta vota filios desiderantium ad quem pertinent nisi ad Dominum Deum Aug. Enarr in Psal 66. God rolled away their reproach God gave them children c. He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyfull mother of children Seeing therefore by this cloud of Scripture-testimonies 't is evident that women are not with child but by the mercy and gift of God I must adde a few inferences from what I have said 1 That none be dejected at a state of barrennesse though among the Jews it was esteemed so great an affliction If the age of one or both parties render you not uncapable you may with modesty and moderation make your request known to God and then rest satisfied in his pleasure concerning you For though the posterity of Abraham did all desire that the promised seed might come of them as some do uncertainly conjecture and had also too high esteem of temporal blessings and carnal apprehensions of promised blessings did much possesse the mind of the generality yet we are now under a better testament containing exceeding great and precious promises of things Spiritual If therefore we stick too much on the letter of old-Testament promises we shall commit as great an errour in our faith as the Jews by resting in the bare letter of the precepts ran into gross error in their practice God never delighted in their most glorious and costly ceremonies unlesse they gave him their hearts and now he accepts of internal worship with simplicity and spirituality of mind without any further desire of those pompous observations So let us learn to worship God without their Rites John 4. Rom. 14. and to love God though without their mercies Let us count riches and posterity nothing without God and God sufficient without either of them If Christ be ours every thing needfull is ours If we be the Sons and Daughters of God it shall be no unhappinesse if we have neither Sons nor Daughters of our own There is then no curse in what we have no need of what we have not Dr. Gouge of domest duties a Where naturall impossibilities doe hinder the fecundity of the wombe they should also if known have hindred marriage But when the sterility is meerly accidentall from some such present prevailing infirmity as discomposes the body of either party it may by the blessing of God upon medicinall helps be lawfully and success fully removed But when the cause is unknown and unfruitfullnesse seems meerly judiciall viz. immediately inflicted by the hand of God in that case prayer is the Proper course that he who shuts the womb Luke 1.13 Psal 10.17 Psal 145.19 as he did the wombs in the house of Abimelech would open them again as he did theirs upon the prayer of Abraham It may be he will grant thy petition as he hath done of some that for above twenty years in a state of marriage went childlesse yet at last he made the solitary to dwell in families and gave them children like olive plants round about their table Or perhaps he will not yet answer thee Perkins Cas of consc lib. 2. c. 6. qu. 4. Reinolds on Hos 14.1.2 Serm. 1. p. 53. 1 John 5.15 to exercise thy faith prayer and dependence in waiting upon him or perhaps he will deny thee this mercy at last to exercise thy patient submissivenesse to his Will and thy heavenly-mindednesse and wisdom in seeking some better blessing Sure it is thy prayers shall returne into thine own bosom with some answer of peace and if we aske aright we shall receive (c) Deus non sempèr audit ad voluntatem vel voluptatem at Sempèr exaudiet ad salutem Isidor de summo bono l. 3 c. 3. according to Gods choice if not according to our own He hath variety of blessings which like the stars of heaven differ from one another in glory Therefore blesse his name if by this providence he promote in thy heart humility saith patience or any other grace (d) Ward ●n Mat. 8. pag. 451. seeing its better to be fruitfull in grace then fruitfull in children If he give us his favour (e) Bonus qui non tri●uit quod ●olumus ut ●ribuat quod malimus Aug. epist 34. that 's a blessing of more value The Angels neither marry nor are given in marriage yet have happinesse enough in God Let him be to thee worth ten Sons In a word I say of these certain cares and uncertain comforts that he who hath none of them hath lesse incumbrance here and lesse to reckon for hereafter 2. T is an an addition to the mercy when God gives children in a state of marriage T is a mercy to be kept in a single estate from the unclean libidinous practices of beastly sinners (f) Mat. 22.30 and to be at last happily entred upon that state of matrimony which God appointed and hath sanctified as his ordinance 1 Cor. 7 2 3 4 5. for preventing of fornication and 't is also I say a greater blessing when he is pleased to Crown the chast embraces of wedlock with a hopefull conception Oh how dreadfull are the scripturee-xamples of many women whom God having partly or totally left to their vile affections and inordinate lusts having prostituted their chastity brought shame upon Israel and disparaged the innate modesty of the female sex grew at last past feeling and spent their life in common whoredome till their sin was come to a ripeness But alas in these last days 2 Tim. 3.1 3. the sin of incontinency is grown more perillous by its commonness and also by the impunity of our intemperate Grandees whose example herein gives a law to others And surely those who are priviledged from punishment here shall find it a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb 10.31 Heb. 13.4 who hath said whoremongers and adulterers I will judge i.e. though the secrecy of their actions the potency of their persons or the negligence of Magistrates may secure them for a while yet there is nothing so secret but is under his eye nothing so great but is under