Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	natural_a	nature_n	4,625	5	5.6875	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39733	A funeral sermon on his late Royal Highness, William, Duke of Glocester preach'd Aug. the 4th. 1700. By W. Fleetwood, chaplain in ordinary to His Majesty.	Fleetwood, William, 1656-1723.	1700 (1700)	Wing F1246A; ESTC R216786	11,999	17

Arm of Flesh alone and vaunting with the foolish Man who saith in his heart Tush I shall never be moved no harm shall happen to me If the Trust that is here dissuaded from be contrary to or exclusive of that Trust we always ought to put in God then to be sure it is condemn'd and sinful but if it be only a weak and groundless Trust then there is less Offence than Folly in it and the heavy Disappointments it must needs meet will punish it sufficiently Sometimes we see a Prince truly noble just and merciful wise and brave a Father of his Country a lover of his People careful of all their Interests and their Honour and born as it were to the good of Mankind It would be impossible not to put great Confidence in such a Prince and to hope a Nation will be happy under such Administration whilst he lives this sort of Trust is reasonable because 't is built upon so good ground Another time we see a Prince of beauteous Aspect lovely Disposition inclin'd to Learning Virtue Piety and full of all good Qualities it would be Stupidity not to hope well of him and to promise our selves a Harvest answerable to a Field of so fair shew such Hope and Confidence as this becomes us as we are reasonable and considering Creatures and it would be a kind of Ingratitude to God from whom we acknowledg all these Gifts and Graces come not to conceive such Hopes as such excellent Endowments promise A Man must shut his Eyes on Providence that will not make his Observations on what passes and collect what is most reasonable and likely For since God acts by reasonable Causes and procures our Peace and Happiness by Instruments that are in Nature proper for that purpose we owe it to him to expect it from them where they are so promising This is properly to trust in God for to look for Grapes from Thorns or Figs from Thistles is to hope against Nature and against Reason and not to be excused by any Reverence we pretend to God or dependence on his Power tho' he is truly able to produce those Fruits from those unnatural Stocks The Men of no Religion and no Thought are so intent upon these second Causes that they see no first nor will acknowledge any Supream Power that over-looks and governs our Affairs but governs them by Nature and by Reason but they who trust to One still in Subordination to the other in constant dependence on him and always in his Power to change and suspend as he sees fit do truly put their trust in God even when they put their trust in Princes They look for Rest and for security in Peace where Kings are virtuous wise and watchful and the People are at Unity for Victory in War where Generals are brave and wary the Soldiers healthy numerous obedient and courageous and well paid i. e. they promise to themselves the natural effects of Wisdom Strength and Concord but all from God who is to bless these natural and these moral Causes They look for plenteous Harvests where the Fields are full and flourishing but know 't is God that made them so and he that is to bring them in This Confidence he does himself raise in us and therefore never is offended with it because 't is built upon the Confidence we have that he will suffer things to go on orderly and naturally unless we provoke him to change or suspend the common Course of them And tho' our Disappointments are very great and very many yet might our hopes and expectations be very reasonable and just and are not to be condemned by an unhappy issue If our trust in Princes exclude not our trust in God we need not be afraid it will be faulty Nor does the Psalmist here condemn such trust for its Impiety but rather for the avoiding troublesome and heavy Disappointments would dissuade us from putting so much trust in Princes whose Lives are so uncertain and to look up to God more ardently and frequently whose Mercy and Goodness like himself they are himself endure for ever I think it is a kind Advice not to raise in our minds hopes that are so easily defeated and when defeated so vexatious and afflicting Put not your trust in Princes nor in any Child of Man for there is no help in them There is no help in Man in many Cases A thousand and ten thousand evils befals us wherein the Wisdom Skill the Riches and the Strength of all Mankind can give no Help afford no Comfort If we want Rain or have too much of it Can all the World procure a Shower or hinder it from falling Can it procure a favourable Wind or hinder a contrary one from blowing Can it recover Health where it is wanting to the good of thousands or restore a precious Life that is like David's worth ten thousand The utmost of humane Power for ought that appears is but an ability of doing huge Mischief and the best of it is an ability of hindring one another from doing Mischief But when we want Assistance in most of our Extremities Oh how unable is this World to give it The Wisest Richest and most powerful Men want help themselves and neither can afford it to themselves nor others there is indeed no help in them For when the breath of man goeth forth he shall return again to his Earth and then all his thoughts perish The very best is here suppos'd of the very ablest of them that they may be full of good Intentions form great and good Designs have their Hearts wholly bent on honouring God promoting Virtue and profiting Mankind seeking the Interest of their People doing Justice shewing Mercy and imitating Him whose Ministers and Substitutes they are Happy for them that they are full of these Designs no better thoughts can possibly possess their Hearts or employ their hours the King of Kings the Mighty Master of them all shall bless them and reward them whom he finds so doing But this is much too often all they do they form a multitude of brave Designs and live to effect but few I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like men and this they find and we find also Poor Princes Poor People They raise our Hopes and they destroy them suddenly We gather up all our Trust and place it on their Lives and in a day or two those Lives are spilt like water on the ground They are as the Prophet calls them the breath of our Nostrils And Nations sometimes seem to live in them and only to breath their breath and yet their breath goeth forth like other Peoples breath and they return again to their Earth their earth as well as ours and then all their thoughts perish and all our thoughts too with them but not our thoughtfulness that still survives to trouble every wise considering Man Our Thoughts are in this place our Hopes and they expire with the breath of him who

kindled them His thoughts who rais'd our thoughts perish and therfore ours must perish with them Who can enough esteem those Lives which by experience are found so useful to the World to the securing its tranquility and happiness or those who from their earliest Infancy have promised all the good that Men can look for from the most virtuous towardly disposition and whose precocious advances could not fail of giving us some jealous Fears with our most lively Hopes Who can enough esteem such Lives if we consider these fine Qualities and who can value them too little or trust too little in them who considers how soon their breath goeth forth and they return again to Earth and all their thoughts perish What must we do in this uncertainty Our Affairs require a life as durable as Brass and the Laws of our Mortality will admit of none but what is subject to a thousand certain and a thousand accidental evils each of which may break us all to pieces Let us do any thing in this uncertainty but blame the Providence of God who hangs the good of so much people on so small a Thread for Righteous are his Ways and just his Government whatever we may fear whatever we endure But may I not unblam'd say with the Prophet Jerem. 12.1 I know I say it with all deference and humility Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with Thee of thy Judgments When thou in mercy turnedst away the Captivity of our Zion we were like them that dream when our Enemies were just upon us they stumbled and fell then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with joy The greatest Enemies we had could not forbear proclaiming The Lord hath done great things for them We could not our selves in Gratitude forbear proclaiming The Lord hath done great things for us already whereof we rejoyce Either to temper these Felicities or punish our Ingratitude Thou stoppedst up for ever the Breath of our Nostrils The anointed of the Lord was taken away from us of whom we said under her shadow we shall live not among the Heathen but at home in plenty and security To shew thou didst intend but to correct and not to give us unto Death thou didst by unexpected Instruments deliver the Life of the King from fear of the Enemy and from the Snare of the Hunter Thou savedst him from Destruction and crownedst him with Mercy and Loving Kindness and mad'st him instrumental in procuring the desire of all our Hearts an honourable Peace the Opportunity of healing all our Wounds recovering all our Losses and making up the Breaches our intestines Foes our foolish Discords and ill grounded Animosities had occasioned the Opportunity of settling our Affairs and looking to the Ground we stood upon of putting them in such a Posture that neither Enemies abroad nor Enemies at home might give us any great Disturbance that the Religion of our Countrey and its most ancient properst and best-tempered Government might be secured against the Attempts and Machinations of its old inveterate Enemies the Sons of Violence and Darkness and from the noisy Importunities of unexperienced raw new-fangled Schematists and Speculators But contrary to this the Spirit of Discord is gone out among us and the sweet Hope of all the Kingdom is in a moment snatch'd away from us e're we had time to try to move thee by our Prayers or time to apprehend a Stroke so painful and so mortal Thy former Favours did not promise such Conclusion But we will hold our Peace since 't is thy doing We are much surer that thou may'st in Justice thus chastise us for our Sins than we could be that thou hadst so much Mercy for such Sinners as we have all our Lives experienced from thee Permit us never so long to talk with thee of thy Judgments yet must we still conclude Righteous art thou O Lord when we plead with thee Such Losses and such heavy Disappointments needs must prove effectual Cures of all our Confidence in Princes Never were Hopes more justly raised nor placed more reasonably than ours have been upon two Noble Objects and yet six years have quite defeated them dried up our Springs and almost desolated a Royal Tribe one of the fairest and most fruitful in the World How short is our Prospect now in what a little Compass is our Kingly Family contain'd Two precious Lives make up our whole Treasure The People of the East we find in Scriptures addressed to their Princes with O King Live for ever 'T is a vain Complement to Men of Flesh and Blood whose Breath goeth forth so suddenly who dye like other Men who return again to their Earth and whose Thoughts all perish in a moment but if 't were ever reasonable our Case would call for it and we would use it May God enlarge these Borders build to these Princes a sure House and bind up their Souls in the Bundle of Life a long one here for our sakes and for their own an Everlasting one in Heaven II. Let us now withdraw from this uncomfortable side The Lives of Princes are it seems like Lands of Darkness where every step we make is in Distrust and Fear They give us little but Alarms Defeats and Disappointments Let us seek a Country of more Light and Safety where Hope dwells and where we may abide with Confidence Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his help and whose hope is in the Lord his God This is a Life and Will and Power we may depend upon Great is the Lord and marvellous worthy to be praised there is no end of his greatness The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion endureth throughout all ages These are Foundations strong enough for all the Trust and Confidence a Heart can hold He is of infinite Goodness to intend the Happiness of all his Creatures of infinite Wisdom to know wherein it lies and of infinite Power to effect his wise and good designs towards us Here therefore we may place our Trust without any Fears of Disappointment here we must fix our Hopes for here we can only find our Help Were there not such a Power above to over-look and govern Men and their Affairs what a place of Misery and Confusion would this World be what with the certainty of natural Causes working many sad effects tho known before yet unavoidable what with the multitude of fearful Accidents never to be prevented nor foreseen what with the Folly Ignorance Mistakes the Malice and Perversness and the Rage of one anothers Passions how wretched a thing would the Life of a Man be The Ways of God I think are to permit natural Causes to work their natural Effects according to the Powers he hath endued them with reserving to himself the Power of altering or suspending them as he sees fit and when he pleases