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	part_n	soul_n	2,761	5	5.3627	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44456	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city of London, in the parish church of S. Mary le Bow, September 3, 1683 being the day of humiliation for the late dreadfull fire / by William Hopkins ...	Hopkins, William, 1647-1700.	1683 (1683)	Wing H2754; ESTC R17537	23,331	39

to the computation Dr. Hammond takes notice of in this Annotation whose number was very great were ordinarily cast into it If the virtuous particles of the entrails were well diffused why might not these waters have cured as many as went in before they subsided If it be said they sunk quickly it 's much they should cure so much as one patient for it 's by long continuance in them and frequent use that baths relieve inveterate weakness whereas it should seem once descending into the pool was sufficient And lastly This account of the matter is contrary to the sentiments of the Ancients who ascribe these cures to a supernatural power and particularly ‖ In Joannem Homil. 35. Tom. 5. Homil 62. in Paralyt demissum per tectum S. Chrysostome more than once comparing the Pool of Bethesda to the Baptismal waters makes the former a miraculous type of the latter I need not labour farther in confutation of this opinion which that excellent Authour delivers modestly and onely as a conjecture and therefore shall proceed to shew how our Blessed Lord Acts X. 38. who went about doing good came to this healing pool and among a multitude of expectants is pleased to single out this poor Paralytick as the meetest object for him to shew his Divine power and compassion upon Not that he deserved better than others many of whose diseases might be pure infelicities whereas his long infirmity was the fruit of his Sins The miserable circumstances under which he lay were the onely motives of our Saviour's pity He considered 1. the long time he had been in that weak and helpless condition 38 years and perhaps had for the greatest part of that time in vain waited at Bethesda for cure V. 6. Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been a long time in that case And then 2ly he considered his Impotence and Poverty which rendred him unlikely ever to receive help there being unable to step first into the pool after the troubling of the waters V. 7. and having no friend or servant to put him in His sad condition moved pity in the Blessed Jesus who immediately with a word restored spirits to his weak nerves and strength and motion to his withered limbs Such a surprising mercy might carry a man of no extraordinary devotion to the Temple with a Soul full of Joy and Thankfulness Thither the impotent person quickly went to offer up his Praises to God and thither our Saviour followed him to complete the cure which was scarce half wrought at Bethesda His Body indeed was there made whole but his better part his Soul still needed the Physician and till that also were healed the cause of his long infirmity still remained and he was in danger of relapsing into a much worse condition than that out of which he was newly recovered The Blessed Jesus therefore applies him to the cure of his spiritual maladies and in my Text prescribes a Sovereign Antidote against all possible danger of a relapse gives him this † Cyril Alex. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this wholsome ghostly advice Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee In which words I shall observe three Particulars hinted by S. Chrysostome on this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in loc Joh. IX 2 3. 1. An implicit Accusation and gentle Reproof of his past life A plain intimation that his tedious bodily distemper was the punishment of his Sins Our Saviour's infinite candour which absolved both the blind man and his parents and declared that his calamity ought not to be imputed either to his own or their Sins could not acquit this impotent person ‖ Chrys Tom. V. Hom. 62. He doth not openly shame him before the multitudes at Bethesda He doth not publickly reproach his former lewd conversation but finds him out in the Temple and privately admonishes him to amend his life Sin no more or as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred Sin no longer now implies him formerly to have been a gr●evous Sinner and that his long infirmity was his punishment 2. These words are an Admonition and contain wholsome advice for the future conduct of his life Sin no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in loc 3. This Admonition is enforced with a twofold argument the one drawn from the obligation which was laid upon him by this great mercy of his miraculous cure and the other from the danger of a relapse He puts him in mind of the signal favour he had newly received of God Behold thou art made whole by a miracle and oughtest not in point of gratitude to offend the Authour of so great a blessing And then withall he sets before him the danger of returning to his old vomit threatning him not onely with the forfeiture of the mercy thus miraculously conferred upon him but also with some heavier Judgment lest a worse thing come unto thee Having thus opened the words I shall deduce from them these three very natural and easie Observations 1. That great calamities are generally inflicted by God for the punishment of Sin 2. That when God is pleased to remove such calamities we are obliged to forsake those Sins for which they were inflicted 3. That if upon the removal of such calamities we do not forsake those Sins for which they were inflicted we may justly dread much sorer Judgments I shall speak briefly to each of these in order and in conclusion apply all to this Solemn occasion I. Great calamities are generally inflicted by God for the punishment of Sin I say generally not always for God hath other ends in some afflictions when they concern onely the single persons that suffer them And yet even these are for the most part punishments and should be so esteemed by the Sufferers but to great Societies to Nations and Cities they are always punishments Though God doth not now interpose in so immediate and extraordinary a way in the government of the Kingdoms of the world as he did in that of the Jews the form of whose government was a Theocracy See Dr. Hicks his Peculium Dei. Joseph contra Appionem Antiquit lib. 4. Moses sic loqui docetur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the supreme civil Magistrate was but a Vice roy or Deputy to Jehovah who was their King who gave them their Political Laws and frequently executed them also upon Offenders with his own hand yet doth his Providence still visibly appear in recompencing politick Bodies in this world according to their works in protecting and prospering religious vertuous and just Nations and in punishing such as are profane dissolute and faithless And in truth if it please God to punish Cities and Nations as such he must doe it in this world for though every member of any Society must appear at the Judgment seat of Christ and may receive the things done in the body as well Politick as

Natural whether they be good or bad yet those Societies themselves will cease with this world and cannot be punished in the next Now there concur two very different causes to the punishment of Sinners viz. The Righteousness of God and their own Unrighteousness The latter justly meriting those calamities which the former inflicts So that in every sad Providence we must acknowledge the just hand of God lifted up against us and recompensing the evil works of our own hands upon us 1. In all our Sufferings we must behold the righteous hand of God by whose Providence afflictions befall sinfull men For as Eliphaz saith Job V. 6. Affliction cometh not forth out of the dust nor doth trouble spring out of the ground The most inconsiderable and seemingly contingent events Matt. XI 29. Prov. XVI 33. such as the fall of a Sparrow or the turn of a die are under the government of Divine Providence And therefore it must needs be much more interessed in what befalls so noble a creature as Man nay great Societies of men The Calamities of Cities and Kingdoms must not be imputed to mere chance nor may we think that God is no farther concerned with them than by his general concourse with the immediate and second causes of them If we suffer by Fire or by Sea by immoderate Rain or Drought we must behold these as scourges in God's hand If we are punished either by War or Pestilence we must esteem both our Enemies and the destroying Angel God's Ministers and the Executioners of his just though fierce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrath He makes the creatures his weapons for vengeance on his enemies Wisd V. 18. If the Sea overflow its banks and drown a Countrey it 's by God's commission that the Ocean enlarges its Territories and swallows up a sinfull Land If Famine afflict a Nation whether the immediate causes be excessive drought or rains know that it is the Lord who breaks the staff of bread Ezek. V. 16. who sendeth unseasonable rain and withholdeth it in its season If the Pestilence rage in a City and consume its Inhabitants this evil also is of the Lord. If we undergo the miseries of War and our Enemies prevail over us we must remember Isa XXXIV 6. that it is the sword of the Lord that is in their hands and fills it self with our bloud They shall know that I am the LORD when I put MY SWORD into the hand of the King of Babylon Ezek. XXX 25. It is the Lord of hosts that pleads with us by the Sword and sells us into the hands of our enemies because we have sold our selves to work wickedness If the Fire consume our dwellings and lay our Cities in Ashes the Prophet tells us that God pleads with sinfull flesh by fire as well as by the sword Isai LXVI 16. Hos VIII 14. He sendeth fire upon our Cities and flames to devour our Palaces In short by whatever hands we suffer by whatever instruments he pleases to afflict us we must hear the rod and consider who hath appointed it Mich. VI. 9. We must acknowledge our sufferings to be from God and the chastisement of our sins 2. Whilst we behold God as the Authour of our calamities we must ascribe them to his Justice A Deo quidem punimur sed ipsi facimus ut puniamur Salvian de Gub. Dei l. 8. and not forget that the cause of our sufferings is in our selves For God would not inflict them did not we both need and deserve them The wrath of God is never revealed but against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men And even when his hand is heaviest upon us Ezra IX 13. Job XI 6. Psal CIII 10. our punishments are much lighter than our iniquities deserve There had been no such thing as Vengeance belonging to God but for the Wickedness of his Rebellious creatures Sin and Punishment are as nearly related as the Cause and Effect and the latter in the very notion of it implies the former For no suffering is properly a punishment unless inflicted for Sin Hence in the language of the Holy Scriptures to bear sin or iniquity signifies to be punished or put to death for it Exod. xxviij 43. Levit. XXIV 15 16. And Christ is said to bear the sins of many i. e. in their punishment Isa LIII 11 12. When a man is punished for his Sins he is said to eat the fruit of his ways Prov. I. 31. to be recompensed according to his deeds and the works of his own hands Jer. XXV 14. and to possess his iniquity Job XIII 26. All which forms of speech import our sins to be the meritorious and impulsive cause of our calamities And as we must acknowledge the Justice of God in our sufferings so must we likewise own his goodness his wisedom and fatherly care of us In our present lapsed condition in this state of Sin and Frailty Rev. III. 19. Heb. XII 5. he would not truly love us should he not when he sees it necessary rebuke and chasten us Should he not visit our transgressions with the rod Psal Lxxxix 32 33 34. and our iniquity with stripes we might have just ground to fear that he had utterly taken his loving-kindness from us and was about to break his Covenant It will neither consist with the Honour of his Justice and Wisedom nor yet with his Love to us that we should be permitted to sin without punishment I know some men refer all to irrespective Decrees or tell us that vindictive Justice is natural to God and that he must sacrifice some of his creatures in Hell fire to the honour of that Attribute Nay that he hath foredamned the greatest part of mankind by mere Prerogative and purely for the exercise of his Sovereign Power But this account of God differs infinitely from that he gives us of himself in the Holy Scriptures They represent him mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Exod. xxxiv 6 7. keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin They tell us that Psal CXLV 9. Ezek. xxxiij 11. 2 Pet. III. 9. He is good to all and that his tender mercies are over all his works That he hath no pleasure in the Death of a sinner That he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come unto repentance He never goes about to get himself glory in the death of a sinner till he sees the sinner will die that he is desperate and incorrigible that he hardens his heart to that degree that neither gentleness nor severity can work upon him He seeks no advantages against his wretched creatures Though to punish be his work Isai XXVIII 21. it is his strange work He never sets about it but with reluctance and when we compell him to it for the vindication of Justice and Providence He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. III. 33.