Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bring_v	great_a	reason_n	1,648	5	4.3830	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43703	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-hall, on Sunday the 26th of October, 1690 by Charles Hickman.	Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713.	1690 (1690)	Wing H1900; ESTC R11429	12,291	29

commute for the punishment and the Beast suffers for the Man's offence What is the meaning of all the Rites and Ceremonies of Worship but that the sense of our Sins teaches us to keep our distance and this appointed distance makes us the more sensible of our Sins These are the bounds which God has set about his holy Mount the necessary fences of our devotion that we might not rudely and familiarly break through upon the Lord and perish in our uncleanness Nay what other design had God in imposing Religious Worship it self upon us which is more particularly call'd in Scripture the fear of God 2 Kings 17.28 but that it might bring us to a religious awe that having God more immediately in our thoughts and all his holy Attributes before our Eyes we might learn to purify our selves even as he is pure and to abhor those sins of ours that make us unworthy of his presence 'T is this worship that strikes a reverence into us and sets us as it were before Gods Tribunal where the sight of his Majesty must needs affect us with a sorrowful sense of our own Corruptions and this godly sorrow will soon bring us to Repentance With what other intention do we meet here in our Religious Assemblies to what purpose do we attend to the word of God but to work our Souls into pious resolutions and to improve those resolutions into an actual amendment of our Lives that when the Judgments of God are here declared unto us the Vengeance which he denounces against our Sins we may hear and fear and do no more such wickedness amongst us There is indeed an antipathy in our nature against this manner of correction and as we were born free so we desire to preserve our liberty and look upon all fear as a servile thing Had we preserv'd our Innocency we might have maintain'd our freedom still but where there is sin there must be punishment and where there is punishment there will be fear Nay 't is our happiness that we have this Curb upon us for fear is now become a necessary qualification in Man not only to preserve his Vertue but to accomplish his Nature too 'T is this that must give weight and moment to our thoughts and poize our Souls which are light and airy and full of Vanity of themselves and require such grave serious reflections to make them steady and considerate There is a giddy heedless intemperate Spirit in the generality of Mankind which nothing but Religion can fix nothing but the fear of God can humble There is a sort of Men whom Mercies only encourage to be more wanton still indulgence does but make them arrogant and as they are untractable to all gentle means so nothing but a strict rein and a heavy hand can bring them into order But this Discipline will certainly reclaim them divine worship must needs inspire us with diviner thoughts For how dare we offend in the very face of an angry God how can we provoke him any more when we see his hand is already lifted up against us and for ought we know the very next provocation may bring it down in vengeance upon our heads But if this is true if the fear of God is able to produce such wonderful effects to turn the tide of our affections restrain the over-flowing of our Lusts and say to our unruly Passions thus far shall ye go and no farther If Religious Worship necessarily puts an awe upon us and that awe naturally restrains us from committing sin it may be objected How comes it then to pass that notwithstanding the frequency and solemnity of religious worship yet so many Men lead irreligious Lives that they can frequent the Altar of God and leave their Sacrifices there but carry their Sins back again to the place from whence they came 'T is pity indeed that such an objection should be made but to our shame we must confess that there is too much reason for it and we must needs perceive that this non-performance on our parts does effectually bring a reproach upon our Religion and yet the fault is not in our Religion but in our selves The best Medicine in nature may fail us if our Bodies are not well prepar'd And the best Religion in the World may be ineffectual if we do not come to it with a due preparation of Mind If therefore we find that the publick worship of God does not make us stand in awe we must call in the help of our own private Devotion and this brings me to the 〈◊〉 Third Rule observable in my Text. We must commune with our own hearts 'T is a great Art and Excellence in Man to know how to Think To look into the nature of humane Actions to weigh well the Causes and compare the consequence of things and to exercise that reason which God has put into us on purpose for the government and direction of our Lives 'T is what he himself will exact from us at the great Account when he will certainly judge of all our works according to this very Standard which he has put into our hearts We may neglect this duty if we please and as we our selves make no scruple of what we do so we may think that God also will accept of all our actions in the gross but when the fatal doom shall come he will bring them all to that righteous Balance where there are no grains of allowance to be made Since God has given us a discerning Faculty to distinguish between good and evil what strange perverseness is it in us to return it back upon his hands as a useless thing and manage our Lives without it to commit our ways to blind Chance and trust Fortune for the event When God reckons with the World for Sin Ignorance indeed may be some excuse but inconsiderateness is none at all 't is a fault it self and an aggravation of all those faults that follow from it We might have known our duty but we purposely shut our Eyes for fear the light should be offensive to us The temptation was inviting and the bait was pleasant and therefore we would not stand to deliberate upon the thing but boldly swallowed the Bait without considering how we could digest the Hook We think perhaps there is no resisting a temptation when it comes upon us so powerfully recommended We think so because we are loath to try and 't is easier indeed to yield but 't is much safer to resist and more honourable too We cannot tell what efficacy and power there may be in our Soul till we come to put it to the stress We know not but we may be able to stand it out or if we should chance to fall at last yet then our Vertue has something to plead in its behalf we did what Men could do and then no doubt but God will supply the rest If we are infirm he knows whereof we are made and does not expect from us the steadiness of