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	good_a	see_v	2,875	5	3.5208	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28181	A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons, November 5, 1689 by P. Birch ...	Birch, Peter, 1652?-1710.	1689 (1689)	Wing B2938; ESTC R19813	10,539	40

they found not their account in putting those out of the reach of Conviction who are deluded by them As for us who suffer by these pretended Gifts of Gods Spirit we should beware of the other Extream the denial of his saving Graces and guard our Faith against such Delusions as tend to render that tremendous Article of Gods Grace a Subject of unprofitable Talk. III. Having thus attempted to shew the Falseness of that Principle upon which the Enemies of the Truth have persecuted its Professors with the chief Mistakes which lead Men into it it remains in the last place to apply this to the Circumstances we are under and make that sober use of the Admonition for vvhich it vvas intended The Context informs us that our Lord spake these things to the end his Disciples might not be offended and fall but when the time either of Tryal or Deliverance came remember he had told them of it This likewise is the end of all these Publick Commemorations that we may keep the great Goodness of GOD in remembrance and mention it with Honour and a Distinguishing Observation And 1. We are not to let these remarkable Events pass over our Heads without Observation but to regard the Works of the Lord and the Operation of his Hands His ways are sought out of all those who have Pleasure therein whilst the Wicked will not seek after God nor is God in all his Thoughts There is an Art of God no less in Governing the World than in Creating it and to meditate upon it with a due Reverence was anciently esteem'd a Mark of Piety and the principal part of their Worship But in what Rank soever we now place the Duty it certainly puts the truest and best Difference between Man and the Beasts that perish Their Senses are as quick as ours and for ought we know they argue as right as our selves so far as concerns the Action of their Life but it is Man alone who is enabled to look up to the First Cause of all and by the visible Things of Creation and Providence to find out the great Creator This also is the most Valuable Distinction between one Man and another One grows wise enough by Experience to chuse the Good and refuse the Evil the Other seeth many Things and observeth not One hath his Senses exercised and grows up to a perfect Man the Other hath no depth of Consideration for any thing to take root in and so never brings any Fruit to perfection It is indeed far above the best of our Capacities to see the Reason of all Divine Proceedings His Way says David is in the Sea his Paths in the great Waters and his Footsteps are not known Many Occurrences big with Wonder and rare Accidents do like the troubled Water close up again and their way is not seen But this is one of the Difficulties which was intended to quicken our Diligence We are not discouraged from the Labours of the Field because we know not how the Plants encrease and how their Seeds come to open into so curious a variety of shape and colour No Man refuses to eat because he knows not how his Meat is assimilated And we cease not to boast our Knowledge though we cannot explain the common Works of Nature how the Moon knows her certain Seasons and the Sea its Tides And therefore we who believe it may without any presumption go on to study that Providence which is too wonderful for us And that we may not judge amiss give me leave to mention only these two obvious Rules The first is to weigh the Judgments of God by their End and Design and the next to consider their dependency upon one another and how each particular concurs to make up the Beauty of the whole For although we are but of yesterday and know nothing yet we are certain where an infinite Wisdom is concerned there can be no room for chance and that where this directs those things are beautifull in their Season which alone looks like Deformity They seem'd very odd Means of his Advancement to have Joseph first hated of his Brethren then sold into a strange Country and there unjustly cast into Prison and yet without every one of these Misfortunes he had never been brought into Pharoah's Presence and saved his Fathers House It is to such bold Transgressions as were this Day attempted that we owe the Laws which preserve us and it was to the Violence of those who would have Rooted out at once our Liberties and Religion that we owe the Present Establishment of both had the Enemies of our Holy Profession been contented to lead us Blindfold into the midst of Samaria a great part of us had never opened our Eyes and seen the Danger but every Advance of theirs help'd on our Deliverance and encreas'd the Triumphs of this Happy Day If then we have seen the Hand of God in protecting his People and that never any put his Trust in the Lord but he did deliver him if we have seen him pusle the Wisdom of the Wise and overturn them in the midst of their Strength These are Experiences that deserve our Regard and that should give us a strong Confidence in GOD who hath done so great Things for us 2. Last of all We are to act conformably to those Sentiments which a due Estimation of these Benefits inspires us with and so to make what Retribution we are able VVe indeed cannot properly be said to Recompence the Almighty because we have nothing but what we have received from him But he is pleased to declare That He who offereth Him praise honours Him and therefore we are bound to pay these Praises due in some proportion to the Mercies we enjoy There is a natural Equity that where the benefit is Publick the acknowledgement should be so too and therefore since the Blessings we now Commemorate were extended to the good of Society and make Kingdoms Happy we are bound to Praise God with the Multitude and to enter only into our Closets would be interpretatively to Contemn him before the Congregation Man was not made a Sociable Creature for every thing else but the Acts of his Religion and all Nations have ever made their VVorship as Solemn as they could although they differed in the Objects of it if we respect that which God ordained the Religion of the Jews was perfectly National and the Unity of the Christian Church as well consists in one Visible Communion as it does in one Common Faith for else there could be no Schism without Apostacy If therefore we are oblig'd to a Publick Homage in the ordinary Acts of our VVorship much more when we come to honour GOD not only as our Common Parent but as the Father of our Country as He that hath divided us from the Nations round about as well in Happiness as in Scituation who hath not given us over to the VVill of our Enemies but hath still confounded their Devices and kept the Simple by their Right whose Hand is not yet shortned that it cannot save but who can make our Happiness as the strong Mountains that all the Storms of Envy and Malice shall break against it Above all To the Praises of our Lips we should add the Obedience of our Lives and so raise our selves up into his Protection who is the hope of all the Ends of the Earth VVe are not thus wonderfully delivered out of our Distress to add Sin to Sin and to make God's Benefits the Instruments of his Dishonour It is not to practise those Crimes our Selves which we condemned in others but to be a People Zealous of Good Works and to bring forth Fruit unto God. There is so general a Corruption of Manners and our Discipline is so far lost that it 's a Task worthy the Wisdom of this August Assembly to find out the Means of its Restauration and to keep up the Bank against that Flood of Wickedness which is visibly breaking in upon us In particular I hope there is that Generous English Spirit left among us that will not suffer our Common Mother to be torn and vilified till we come to a Contempt of all things Sacred If we once lose the Encouragements of our Learning and the Distinction of our Orders If that Noble Provision which is made for our Education be once neglected and those Schools of the Prophets be turned into little Seminaries where Men forget that Modesty is a Virtue and learn to talk without thinking we shall in a few Years sadly find that Rome will have none left to Oppose her This is not spoken to the reproach of any but out of a deep sense of our Folly and an ardent desire that we may not turn our Blessings into a Curse If therefore we would complete these Blessings and transmit them down to a late Posterity the VVay is open and the Means is certain Let but our Vices diminish and so will our Dangers God will still be our Mighty Saviour and Deliverer and so lead us through Things Temporal that we finally lose not the Things Eternal Now to God c. FINIS