Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	think_v	4,338	5	3.9369	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50555	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, March 11th, 1691/2 by R. Meggott ...	Meggott, Richard, d. 1692.	1692 (1692)	Wing M1632; ESTC R851	10,711	33

It is not that which most vexeth us but that which most pleaseth God we are chiefly to take care of in our Repentance Now he looketh upon all that we do without amendment all Penances all revenge upon our selves but as Self-deceit and Superstition He that will drink nothing but Water for so long time because he hath been intemperate and will make a Beast of himself again next time he meeteth with his Comrades he that giveth so much Money to a pious use as a fine upon himself for his Vncleanness and turneth again to folly upon sight of the strange Women hath rather the Ague of Repentance than the Grace Such a one may be said to have fits of Repentance but not the fruits of it They are firm and lasting To have these meet it is not enough that there be an utter forsaking of the sin but there ought to be likewise a careful exercise of the opposite Grace to it It is not enough for the profane man the he talk no more corruptly and atheistically his communication must be good to the use of edifying for the licentious man that he leave off his wildness and debaucheries he must be an example of gravity and sobriety So St. Paul admonisheth the converted Romans Chap. 6.19 As ye have yielded your Members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your Members servants to righteousness unto holiness That thence forward they would be as eminently vertuous as before they had been loose and vicious This is meet in the fruits of our Repentance as to our selves But this is not all the fruits of it must be meet with respect to others also as many as have been any ways wronged or injured by our sins Besides the dishonour done to God by them sometimes mens sins are highly prejudicial and mischievous to their Neighbours And where it hath been so the fruits of Repentance are not meet except they extend to them too according as they have been damnified by them either In their Outward man or Their Inward First If they have been damnified by them in their outward man Thus he who hath taken away the Life of another in Duel or heat of Blood must not think he repenteth by lamenting and being sorry for it tho he can make no satisfaction to the person himself whom he hath thrust into the other World in so unbeseeming so dangerous a posture it is meet he be sollicious to make the best and most proper he can to that of him which is left his Relatives that survive him He who by defiling the Bed of another hath imposed a spurious Off-spring upon his Family and Fortunes must not think he repenteth by being some times troubled in mind about it but doth nothing to prevent the subsequent Evils it is meet if it be in his power so to order it that none of the lawful Issue receive damage by it He who hath defrauded another by artifice in dealing or abusing a trust reposed in him must not think he hath repented because he hath asked God forgiveness for it so long as he detaineth the gains of unrighteousness in his hands it is meet if he be able that he make him actual restitution He who hath defamed another by calumniating and misrepresenting him must not think he repenteth by holding his tongue for the future it is meet that whenever he judgeth it may be serviceable to him by acknowledging the groundlesness of it he make him reparation There is no speaking to all the particular cases in this kind they are so many and various let it suffice to say That tho where the offence hath been only against God to bring forth fruits unto him is all that is required yet where it is in any kind against our brother too there a consideration is to be had of him also or our repentance bringeth not forth meet fruits As it must be thus in our repentance of sins against the Temporal good of others So it must be Secondly In such sins as are against their eternal good prejudicial to their immortal precious Souls Such is every one guilty of who hath been the unhappy instrument of corrupting and debauching any other person It is not for any to make light of this because it was in their own choice whether they would hearken to and be perswaded by them or not The Devil hath so much to plead for his tempting us and yet he will be tormented for it not withstanding that and so will men too who have been the means of enticing and turning any from the ways of righteousness if they endeavour not what they can to reclaim them they have so perverted and prevent the fatal Consequences of it The Lascivious must not be satisfied with repenting himself of his lasciviousness but must seek to bring the unhappy frail one his importunity prevailed with to sin with him to repent too The profane one must not think it sufficient to recover himself out of the Snare of the Devil but must strive to recover such as he hath poisoned with his loose and wretched Principles out of the Snare of the Devil also Was it not a cutting Question of God to Cain Where is Abel thy Brother when it was he that murthered him but how much deeper must it pierce to be asked at last Where is thy Companion whom thou hast been the barbarous cause of depriving not of temporal life but of eternal How knowest thou O man but thy good counsel yet may save them it being likely to leave a greater impression on them than that of any other person And thinkest thou not thy self concerned to try This is so meet that if it were not duty one would think meer ingenuity and good nature should be enough to prompt to it The rich man is represented having so much charity in Hell as to desire his Brethren might be warned that they came not into that place of torment and would it not look monstrous to find so little on Earth in any who have endangered the Souls of them thy pretended particular uncommon kindness for to suffer them to go on in the way that leadeth to destruction which they themselves enticed them into without caring what becometh of them Surely as hath been the transgression so ought to be the repentance where the transgression hath reached to others to pollute there the repentance must reach to them also to instruct perswade and reform them I conclude with this one Inference from that which hath been spoken When there are so many fruits meet for repentance relating both to our selves and others whoever put it off to the close of their lives must be guilty of unanswerable carelesness and presumption Fruits require time to bring them to maturity and can all the fruits of repentance which are no fewer than you have heard in our last sickness as in a hot bed be raised and ripened in a few days or perhaps but hours Who that hath any sense of an immortal state would venture it upon such unlikelihoods Can the Temple of the Holy Ghost be built in a day If the fruits of repentance be not only a sorrowful looking back upon our lives past but a sincere living well for the time to come how absurd as well as desperate is it for any to defer it while they perceive they cannot live Men flatter themselves with the Example of the Thief upon the Cross and the Labourers that came in at the last hour both which were never called before and so are not our case but consider not that of the foolish Virgins which is The Parable acquainteth us with their fear and sorrow their diligence and desire their great cry and running up and down their begging of oyl and their going out to buy when the Bridegroom was just on coming all that could be done in so short a space And telleth us withal the no effect of it That when they came to enter they had stayed too long the door was shut upon them It is not to be denyed but that God can do Miracles of Mercy as well as Miracles of Power but why should he that has a Soul to save run so bold so needless a hazard to have nothing else to depend upon Having been too long to press this further I shall end with a passage of St. Augustine containing his Opinion of it A faithful Man saith he living well Hom. 41. goeth hence securely A wicked Man that Repenteth and afterwards liveth well goeth hence securely He that Repenteth not while he is going hence si securus hinc exit ego non sum securus c. Do I say he shall be damned I do not say it Do I say he shall be saved I do not say it I Judge not I Promise not I Know not Would you free your Souls from doubt Would you avoid that which is uncertain Repent before that day overtake you Then you may have good Reason to believe you are sincere in it because you leave off your sins when you might enjoy them But if you only renounce them when you can no longer enjoy them you cannot so properly be said to leave your sins as your sins to leave you God Almighty grant that every one of us may timely consider of it before the Ax be laid to our Root For as the Tree falleth so shall it lye FINIS