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	sin_n	soul_n	4,646	5	5.4196	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70325	Mercy in her beauty, or, The height of a deliverance from the depth of danger set forth in the first sermon preached upon that occasion / by Nath. Hardy.	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1653 (1653)	Wing H736; ESTC R9862	38,712	41

or it proveth but a sickly repentance Oh then my Brethren be wise in time doe not lay the greatest load on the feeblest horse put not the weakest servant to the hardest labour put not off the maine businesse of thy soules health to the dolefull time of thy bodies sicknesse You have heard what sicknesse doth or rather undoeth it would not be amisse to enquire whence it came and how it was brought into the world Indeed as Christ saith in another case it was not so from the beginning Man in innocency was created with a body of so equall and lasting a temperature that had he not sinned it had neither been taken downe by death nor put out of frame by sicknesse Sinne it is which is fons Mali morbi mortis hath brought in evill instead of good death of life and sicknesse of health The Physitian being asked the cause of Diseases answereth and most truly mali humores evill humors in the body But the Divine resolveth it more fully mali mores ill manners in the life Phylosophy teacheth and Experience confirmeth it that passiones animae sequuntur temperamentum corporis the mindes passions much follow the bodyes temper Divinity preacheth no lesse truly that the disorder of the body followeth upon the distemper of the minde Mans soule was first sick of sinne and so the body becommeth infected with sicknesse for sinne It was the first sinne of Adam which brought forth and it is our owne actuall sinnes that nourish this degenerate Brat wherewith mankinde is so miserably infested A Meditation which if well pondered would learne us to beare sicknesse whensoever it commeth upon us without murmuring and yet with mourning 1. Why shouldst thou repine at God when any disease seizeth one thee True he is the efficient but thou art the meritorious cause he inflicteth but it is sinne that deserveth he punisheth but it is not till thou hast provoked him blame not his justice but thank thy owne wickednesse the Moth that frets the garment is bred of it the Tree giveth life to that Worme which killeth it Thy sicknesse oh man is of thy selfe and thy owne wayes and doings are they which procure these things to thee 2. When sicknesse smiteth thy body let repentance smite thy thigh when the disease rageth in thy members let thy soule be angry at thy sinne and as thou complainest of the effect so labor to be sensible of the cause {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Divine excellently sicknes is an wholsome Discipline it is so when it teacheth us to know our folly Happy disease which openeth our eyes at once to see and weep for our sinnes Oh my soule it is sinne hath caused thy body to feele sicknesse let sicknesse cause thee to feele the weight of sinne it is wickednesse hath brought this weaknesse let this weaknesse bring thee to a sight and sense of thy wickednesse why shouldst thou hold that sword in thy hand which hath so sorely wounded it or hug that serpent in thy bosome which hath so painfully stung thee rather since the fruit is so bitter pluck up the root and let not sin reigne any longer in thy mortal body seeing it hath made thy body so mortall And so much for the quality of the danger I pass on to the Extremity of the measure nigh unto death It is that which in some sense is true of every man alive this world is a region of Ghosts dying men yea young men in the prime of their dayes strong men in the full vigour of their age are nigh to death because death may then be neer to them The Philosopher being ask'd what he thought of life turn'd him round and vanished out of sight thereby intimating how easily and speedily life may be taken away and some of them have no lesse truly than aptly represented the distance between life and death by oculus apertus and clausus an eye open and shut which is done in a moment But though this in some respect be verified of all men yet it is more especially true of two sorts of persons to wit old men and sick men since old age is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a naturall disease and a disease is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an accidentall old age both must needs tend and hasten to death As for old men they are so nigh to death that the Proverbe saith they have one foot in the grave young men may dye soon but they cannot live long the dimnesse of light in their eyes and vapours that sometimes are drawne up into their braines argue the Sun of their life to be setting the hoary frost or rather white snow upon their heads proclaimes that the winter of their deaths is approaching The more strange it is to see them doting on who are going out of the world and as if they could set up under ground their mindes are most earthly whilest their bodies are ready to drop into the earth the more sad it is to think how both unwilling and unfit they are to die who yet are so unlikely to live and as if with the Eagle they could renew their youth they flatter themselves in hope of life when yet they are as it were within sight of death how short are such men of that heathen Seneca who said of himselfe ante senectutem curavi bene vivere in senect ute bene mori my care in youth was to live but in old age to die well then no doubt perceiving his death to be at hand As old men be they never so well so sick men by they never so young are nigh to death what Anacharsis said of Sea-men that he knew not whether to reckon them among the living or the dead is no lesse true of sick men who indeed are not dead because they breath and yet not living because not lusty every man carrieth death in his bosome but the sick man at his backe or rather in his armes before his face In summe there is a three-fold propinquity of death possible probable certaine it is possible the healthiest strongest and youngest may dye quickly it is certaine old men though they out-live far younger cannot live long and it is probable that the sick mans death is at hand But yet this in the proper sense is not true of all sicknesses that distinction of sinne cannot hold in Divinity according to the Popish acception that some are veniall others mortall since S. Paul saith indefinitely and meaneth it universally that death is the wages of sin but Analogically it is true in Physick of diseases some are onely painfull others mortall the Gout in the Toe a pain in the Teeth a prick in the Finger these though they cause pain yet are not in their owne nature deadly nor is the patient accounted the neere● death for them Besides of mortall diseases there is a difference some are a long time untwisting others in a short

God than to be glorifyed with him this Saint Paul declares to his hope yea his earnest expectation that Christ might be magnifyed in his body whether by life or death No wonder then if considering how much Epaphroditus his life might conduce to Gods glory he reckoned it as a mercy Besides 2. He increased his owne reward the longer a good man especially a goood Minister liveth the more sinners he converteth and they that turne many to righteousnesse saith Daniel shall shine as the starres for ever and ever nay every soule that a faithfull Minister winnes to God is as a new gemme added to that Crown which shall one day be put upon his head Thus then the case stands Epaphroditus indeed by dying had received his reward but by living he did the more service by dying he had obtained glory from God but by living he brought glory to God and our blessed Saviour saith It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive by dying he had enjoyed his recompence sooner by living he made it greater that would have accelerated but this augmented it so that even in respect of his owne future happinesse he was no loser but a gainer by the prolonging of his life and therefore most justly doth Saint Paul say God had mercy on him Briefly and yet clearely to state the whole matter Life and death may be considered and compared foure wayes 1. In their formall nature and so death is a privation life a position of good and therefore death evil and life good 2. In their Causes death is a fruit of sin life an effect of love our wickednesse deserved the one Gods goodnesse conferreth the other in which respect death is threatned as a punishment life promised as a reward 3. In their naturall and proper effects death bereaveth as well godly as wicked men of the society of friends possession of their estates yea all the comforts which this world affords whereas by life we have the fruition of them continued to us so that in this regard also life is farre better than death even to a good man 4. Lastly in their accidentall consequents when a wicked man dyeth there followeth torment but whilest he liveth there is hope of his repentance yea many times it so falls out some come into the Vineyard at the eleaventh houre and to such life is a choice mercy indeed when a godly man dyeth he is carried into Abrahams bosome placed in a state of blisse but by living longer he honoureth God edifieth the Church worketh out his salvation he gaineth both the more time to prepare himselfe for get assurance of yea make an addition to his future glory and therefore in this likewise and so in all comparisons life hath the preheminence and the continuance of it is justly called by the Apostle a mercy To close up this life continued health restored are mercies oh let not us by abusing them to sinne turne them into judgement who can believe it and yet we may often see it men change blessings into curses by their iniquities and as Parisiensis excellently expresseth it Ipsa beneficia sibi faciunt poenalia instrumenta contra seipsos divinae justitiae They make benefits to become punishments and the fruits of Gods mercy instruments of his justice The truth is it was not so much life as the right use Saint Paul conceived Epaphroditus would make of his life which moved him to call it a mercy Multis periculo pestilens sanitas fuit qui tutius aegrotassent Indeed these things are good or evill to us according as we imploy them It had been a greater mercy to many impenitent sinners that they had continued sick or dyed then that they were recovered Let us therefore lay out our life our health according to our severall places in Gods service so shall it prove glory to God benefit to others and a mercy to us Oh my soule thou hast received as it were a new life improve it in new obedience health is restored to thy body imploy it in the service ef thy God why should thy honey be turned into gall thy shield into a sword thy delicates into poyson Oh let thy life be expended by thee as it was intended by God so shalt thou have cause to take up the Apostles language God had mercy on me And thus much shall suffice for the second particular I hasten to the 3. Opportunity of the time which is the last branch implyed in the ex●eptive But And a comfortable But it is indeed the sicknesse like a floud was carrying him away God puts in a But and stops its current Epaphroditus was falling into the pit But God reacheth forth an hand to uphold him God doth not so preserve him that the sicknesse should not come nay when it is come he doth not hinder it from increasing but when it is come to the height then he rebuketh the disease and saith hitherto th●u shalt come and no further All hopes of his recovery in mans eyes are perished and lo he is raised by the hand of God Means either are not afforded or however unable to help God becommeth his Physitian and commandeth the cure It lets us see thus much that When all hopes are livelesse and helps seem fruitlesse then is the season of Gods deliverance That childs condition is very sad whom the father and mother forsake but then the Psalmist finds God ready to take him up And the causall particle in the Originall is very considerable not onely when but because he was as a forsaken babe God vouchsafeth to protect and provide for him our extremity being not onely the opportunity when but a motive why God will deliver It was a dolefull complaint which the poore Creeple made to Christ {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I have not a man to put me into the poole but even that narration is an efficacious prayer The absence of mans help being the season of Christs presence and succour Saint Paul speaking of our blessed Saviours Incarnation saith it was when the fulnesse of time came if you will know when that full time was the Evangelist answereth it was in the dayes of Herod the King and if with Chrysologus you looke into those dayes you shall find them dayes of extreame misery to the Jewis● Nation their Temple profaned Liberty suppressed Worship abolished and the whole State full of confusion In those dayes was the fulnesse because indeed the fitnesse of time come for him who was the Redeemer to appeare and the horne of salvation to be raised up In which respect the Messiah is called by Moses a fit man or according to the Originall a man of opportunity Thy way oh God is in the sea and thy paths in the great waters saith the Psalmist By which expressions no doubt he chiefly intends as appeares by what followeth to note the imperceptible secrecie attending upon many of Gods dispensations so