Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	evil_n	sin_n	4,011	5	5.5536	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38449	Englands vanity or The Voice of God against the monstrous sin of pride, in dress and apparel wherein naked breasts and shoulders, antick and fantastick garbs, patches, and painting, long perriwigs, towers, bulls, shades, curlings, and crispings, with an hundred more fooleries of both sexes, are condemned as notiriously unlawful. With pertinent addresses to the court, nobility, gentry, city and country, directed especially to the professors in London / by a compassionate conformist.	Compassionate conformist.	1683 (1683)	Wing E3069; ESTC R32945	62,360	146

Nations England hath scraped together and in a Bravery put it on the Estimation whereof is little a light wavering mind matched with a vain proud Heart desireth a light vain strange proud and monstrous Apparrel to cover and clad it but Sobriety is content with that which is seemly And in his Sermon before the Parliament recommending this one evil to their prudent considerations as fit to be redress'd being so dangerous and very grievous As our principal care must be for the higher matters Sincerity and Vnity in Religion so may we not pass over other matters which need redress Gorgeous Apparel and sumptuous Diet may seem small things but they are the causes of no small evil They eat up England and are therefore to be repressed by strait Laws And elsewhere in a Sermon before the Queen he expresseth himself pathetically and it is worth your noting Ezechiel teacheth that the Sins of Sodom that Sink of Sin were Idleness fullness of Bread Pride and unmercifulness to the poor Are not these the Sins of this Land of this City of this Court at this day Half England liveth idly or worse occupied we be fed to the full and who is not puffed up with Pride And who relieveth his Neighbours wants No man is contented with his own Estate but every one striveth to climb higher and to sit aloft there is want of the true fear of God in all sorts and Estates and Ages yet we please our selves and walk on as if God either saw not our Sin or else would not punish it Surely our Sins will not suffer his Plagues to stay long from us What Plagues I dare not presume to Prophesie for God hath kept that secret to himself But I stand in fear that we are the men to whom Christ saith The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you That we are they whose Sins will bring the Scepter of this Kingdom into the hands of an Hypocrite Know Reader that this was when the Papists expected so highly the Return of their Religion at the Death of Queen Elizabeth And that made the heart of this good man so bleed in that consideration he goeth on If God in his Justice do this ●o worth us most wretched men The Loss of the Gospel is the Loss of our Souls and the Loss of our Soveraign the Loss of our Lives Truly when I fall into consideration of the wickedness of this world that all sorts of men fall to sinning with greediness that in all conditions Iniquity doth abound and Charity wax cold that the Zeal of God is utterly dried up in the Hearts of Men that God is served for Fashion sake and not in truth what should I think but that God hath gathered his Lap full of Plagues and is ready to pour them down upon us And thus you see how God hath stirred up his Faithful Prophets to drop down their testimony against this poor Sinful Land for the Pride and prophaness thereof in that Age. Let us come down to King James his time and see whether the matter be any whit amended and one might justly expect it because they lay under the obligations of a new mercy in disappointing the expectations of the Enemies of the Gospel by the coming in of a Protestant Prince who so zealously by his Learned Pen contended for the Truth But we shall find this Vanity still triumphing in its full vaunt and Glory and I shall not disparage so holy a Witness as Bishop Sands by subjoyning a mean or unworthy Person to him but will call forth the sweet spirited and excellent Bishop Hall to give us his Evidence against the Pride of that Age wherein he Lived and besides others which I omit I will shew to what height the Women were grown at that time from a Sermon of his Preached at the Spittle O God to what a world of Vanity hast thou served us to I am ashamed to think that the Gospel of Christ should be disguised with such disguised Clients are they Christians or Anticks in some Carnaval or Childrens Puppets that are thus dressed Pardon I beseech you Men Brethren and Fathers this my just and holy impatience VVho can without indignation look upon the prodegies which this mis-imagination produces in that other Sex to the shame of their Husbands and scorn of Religion and damnation of their own Souls Imagine one of our Forefathers were alive again and should see one of those his Gay Daughters walk in Cheap-side before him what do you think he would think it were Here is nothing to be seen but a Vardingale a yellow Ruff and a Perriwigg with perhaps some Feathers waving in the top three things for which he could not tell how to find a Name Sure he could not but stand amazed to think what new Creature the times had yeilded since he lived and then if he should run before her to see if by the foresight he might guess what it were when his eyes should meet with a powdred Frizzle a painted Hide shadowed with a Fan not more painted Breasts displayed and a loose Lock swing wantonly over her Shoulders betwixt a painted Cloth and Skin how would he more bless himself to think what mixture in Nature could be guilty of such a Monster Is this the Flesh and Blood thinks he is this the hair Is this the shape of a VVoman Or hath Nature repented of her work since my days and begun a new Frame It is no marvel if their Forefathers could not know them God himself that made them will never acknowledg that he never made the Hair that he never made theirs the Body that is ashamed of the Maker the Soul that thus disguises the Body Let me say therefore to these Dames as Bennet said to Totilaes Servant Lay down that you wear it is none of your own All the world knows that no man will rough-cast a Marble VVall but mud or unpolished Rags that false art instead of mending Nature mars it But if our perswasions cannot prevail hear this ye Garish Popingays of our time if you will not be ashamed to Cloath your selves in this shameless Fashion see how the Spirit of this Meek Moses raiseth into indignation against this madness that all the world knew to be so mild and tender of it self God shall Cloath you with shame and confusion hear this ye plaister-faced Jezebels God will one day wash them off with Fire and Brimstone See Reader what a Faithful Witness this holy and excellent man was for God against the Pride and Folly of that day To this famous Witness for God Let us adjoin another of his own Order as Zealous and Faithful as himself the worthy Bishop King who bears his Testimony for God against the Rage of this folly that Ruffled so proudly Throw away your Robes and costly Cap●●isons You Kings and Queens of the Earth You that are not so by the Ordinance of God but by your own Usurpation that take such honour upon you not

their being lock'd up in darkness while there is so little profit in their Blood to the Living and the happiness is only to themselves in being delivered from plagues more infectious than those that destroyed them And to this day the Sword of God reaching to the very soul The Flames of his Wrath burning in the spirits of men ready to devour each other and enkindle the whole Kingdom into Flame while every one strives under the pretences of Religion which in truth is almost abandoned by all the Marrow and Fatness of it quite suck'd away while we are passionately quarrelling for the bone And while those that profess say Here is Christ and others say Nay but He is there The miserable prophane conclude he is no where The very Life is lost in the contentions for the Form and the Substance is so farr from being embraced that the very Shadows are hated and persecuted by most So little care taken for making up our Divisions that new Methods are dayly contrived to widen them And while we are weakning one another the Enemy fortifyes himself against us all Oh beloved Countrey-men What shall we do to be saved Is there no Balm in Gilead Nor means to retrieve us shall we not at least go hand in hand and reconcile to prayers and tears shall we not weep together for deliverance without upbraiding each others drops as Hypocriticall Is not the Blessing a Common Salvation which we all so passionately long for do we hate each other to that Degree that some are contented to be miserable still that others may not be happy Is this the spirit of Love This the temper of the Gospel-Charity This the way to atone an incensed God who because our Spirits are burning in hatred is still enkindling the Flames of his Vengeance whose ashes because we will not lay them on our Heads God ere they are quenched lays them on our Habitations again and blows them up into fresh Fires and upon our breasts too to encrease the Coals there Nay so far are we from thinking on Sackcloaths or treaties with God for forbearance so far from bending the stiffknee and lifting up the humble hand That there is a danger in the very motion to it the very Exhortation to Repentance is maliciously construed into Sedition as a piece of Non-Conformity to the happiness and prosperity of the Age. As if Conversion to God were not the ready way to Establishment of peace Come Reader before we breath in the Ayre and after we shall have ceas'd breathing here Will that maxime hold unanswerable in our Bibles There is no peace saith my God to the wicked God saith so and he will make us all to know so Hath He said it and will He not bring it to pass Let us lay down our pride our insolence our contempts of Judgments our abuse of names our cursed animosities our dreadful heart-burnings and bring our selves into a posture fit for Humiliation and return to God then may there be some hope indeed but without this God hath said it There is no peace And a Mercy of Mercies it is that at such a time as this the Tongues of our Prophets do not cleave to the roof of their Mouths nor are Dumb. And He assure you some of them have cried aloud Ezech. and spared not yea have lift up their voice like a Trumpet and have not fear'd very roundly to shew the provocations of the Age And the words that They have spoken shall Judg us at the last day Instead of many I will instance but in two and those indeed instar omnium the very worthy and undaunted witnesses of God against all the cursed debaucheries that with such brazen fac'd impudence do spread and reign every where in the midst of us And first Arise thou Chariots of Israel the Horsemen thereof the Valiant and Magnanimous Bishop of Hereford who in thy discourse to the Lords assembled in Parliament February 4. 7 3 4 from that above mentioned Text There is no peace to the Wicked hast uttered these Words Pag. 17. Many complaints I heard abroad in the World but very little to the purpose not one of an hundred considers matters aright much less layes to heart the true cause of that whereof they complain But shall I tell you the true Causes of our misery We have made a League a most unfortunate evil League and we have made a War a most dangerous destructive War a League with Satan and a War with God these are the radical causes of our destruction and unless rooted up will be our confusion Not long since we lamented a Plague that destroy'd many thousands that ceased but our Sin the cause thereof that remained therefore another calamity ●oon followed Then we lamented a great and dreadful Fire which consumed our Capital City that also ceased but Sin still remained Then we lamented a dangerous War when our Enemies sayled up the River so near us that it struck a Terrour into the hearts of all they likewise are gon Our Sin still remaines So we go on lamenting one Calamity after another and labour still with might and main to redress the present grievance but the neglect the cause like men in a Feaver pain'd here and pain'd there we toss from side to side to find rest we call for this that Drink to quench our thirst but all in vain the Feaver of Lust still burns in our Bowels and till this be cured no ease no rest to be had Again Page 20. The lusts of the Flesh are most horribly exorbitant in both the parts of it Voluptuousness of Diet and Lasciviousness of body The business of Diet which formerly was the care and talk of Women to their Cooks and Caterers is now become the study and discourse of men even Gentry and Nobles whose Brains is sunck into their Guts and so are become very skillful in the Belly-science for they have invented Rarities never heard of in former Ages and are so early ripe in this Art that before they have studied Philosophy or Gramar they are Masters in the Art of Cookery Nor are they less skilful in Drinks than Meats and 't is a thing adds much to their Reputation that there is not a sort of Wine growing in any part of France Germany Spain Italy but they have the particular name thereof more ready than their Creed or Pater-noster and will entertain you with a score at least in one Meal And Page 22. Thus having by the lust of Voluptuousness by curious and excessive Eating and Drinking procured the lust of Lasciviousness They give themselves up to work all manner of uncleanness with Greediness Fornication and Adultery not only frequently acted in private but publickly owned Men in the dark formerly sculk't into lewd houses and there had their revellings but now men Married men in the light bring into their own houses most lewd Strumpets feast and sport with them in the face of the Sun mean while their