Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	charity_n	faith_n	justification_n	2,032	5	9.8267	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67164	A sermon preached at the parish church of Solihull in Warwickshire, December 21. 1690 On occasion of the death of Anne, the wife of the reverend and worshipful Henry Greswold; precentor of the Cathedral of Lichfield, &c. and rector of Solihull aforesaid. By John Wright Master of Arts.	Wright, John, 1665 or 6-1719.	1691 (1691)	Wing W3701; ESTC R221256	21,352	34

because he upon a mistake will condemn himself no more than he will save that wicked Person who dyes believing all shall go well with him But now Death puts a stop to all our Opportunities and cuts off the hopes of wicked Men they must then abide under the wrath and vengeance of God for ever and are reserved in a miserable Estate for the Judgment of the Great Day when there will be the final Consummation of Rewards and Punishments for evermore This should therefore put us upon doing all the good we can while the day of Salvation lasteth before the dismal Night comes upon us which for ought we know may be within this Week and after that no more trial for we must dye but once Be ye therefore ready saith our Saviour for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not We may be cut off on a sudden seiz'd with distraction or dulness so as not to be able so much as to set our House in order And tho' Men by a strange partiality are apt to fancy to themselves that they shall live as long as any body uses to do yet we see they are often mistaken When and where and in what manner we shall dye God has conceal'd from us to engage us to constant Watchfulness and an early Piety And who then would have his Heart set upon this World who knows not how soon his Head may be laid low how soon he may be turn'd out of his Earthly Tenement it may be to morrow for ought he knows yea This night his Soul may be taken from him and then with our Life the day of Grace ends Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith to day if ye will hear his voyce harden not your hearts And since our Blessed Lord will reward all the good Offices we do for him so that a Cup of cold water given for his name sake shall not lofei its reward We may get to be rich in good works for the more we do the more we shall be rewarded and God will proportion our Glories according as we have improv'd our Talents and Opportunities to do good here and have laid up our treasures with him Now this shews Men besides the hazard they run what they lose by not beginning the Service of God early Nor can they rationally think that they who begin to live well at the latter end of their time should have an equal reward with those who have as the Gospel says to another purpose born all the heat of the day have served God all their Life Nor that they who do but little should be as well rewarded as they who have done a thousand times more good Which is also contrary to what our Lord delivers in those Parables concerning a Nobleman travelling into a far Country who delivered to his Servants his Goods to each according to his several ability to improve for him and at his return rewarded every one proportionably according to his works But tho' some Men are contented to be least in the Kingdom of Heaven and care not how late they prepare for it nor how little a share they have in the Glories there so they can have any and it is well if such indifferent Persons ever can Yet there are others who do not mind it so much and scarce ever in good earnest think of another Life till their Souls are pasting into it and then it may be they sadly lament their Folly in that they prefer'd the deiuding Scenes of this World before the compleat and endless Glories of the other and this they are apt to call Repentance but is too often only a Conscience distracted with a sense of its own Guilt and the fearful expectations of the Divine Vengeance These Men part with their Sins as many do with their Charity not while they live and can keep it themselves but when it cannot be reckoned among the Actions of their Lives Lord what Horrors and Agonies are they many times in What Vows and Promises of better Obedience and no doubt sometimes sincere and hearty as is plain in some few who have recover'd Now in this Case there is certainly very great hazard and therefore no less madness for any of us to leave our Salvation to it as the World of Christian Writers do generally I suppose conclude and divers of them and those of the first Magnitude that it is at least next to desperate And I confess Justification by Faith only seems principally to respect our entring the Baptismal Covenant yet sure Charity will not determine that it does so absolutely and solely but rather find reason to hope that the All-wise God who foreseeth all future Contingencies and the Effects of things in their Causes while he discerneth in a penitent sick Person a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or change of mind such as if the Man liv'd would be productive of a good Life will mercifully accept according to what a Man hath and not according to what he hath not as he graciously does of the Faith and Repentance of those who fall into Sin after Baptism but through an unexpected Death do not live to pursue their good Purposes and Resolutions And why should that be such a difference in the State of a Man's Soul where the Principle of a new Life is arriv'd to a like degree in both that their deaths are alike near but in the one not thought so We read of the Sick whose sins shall be forgiven before recovery And our own Church obligeth us to absolve the sick Person after Confession if he humbly and heartily desire it though his Conscience be troubled with weighty Matters And this we do not only for those who may recover though if they do the Absolution is past but in the Case of such Malefactors who we are sure will not And there are many Promises in the Gospel to encourage us in so doing If any man sin saith St. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And all those Places of Scripture which represent Jesus Christ to come into the world to save Sinners And if this be meant of Penitent Sinners believing on him who renounce every Evil way and will effectually serve him in a good Life if they live why such are those suppos'd to be we speak of And yet their end must needs be very tragical since no Man can be sure tho' God is at that time whether he is one of them 4. We proceed to the last thing What may comfort us against the fear of Death Now this may be resolv'd according to those several Notions wherein Men fear it 1. If we consider Death as 't is a leaving these earthly Tabernacles behind us to dissolution Men