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	lord_n	sin_n	3,005	5	4.4939	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12977	A sermon preached in the cathedrall church of Worcester vpon Sunday morning, Nouemb. 27. 1636 In the time of pestilence in other places of this land, and now published in the time of the visitation of that citie, with that grevious sicknesse, and by reason of it. By Geo. Stinton,	Stinton, George, b. 1599 or 1600.	1637 (1637)	STC 23271; ESTC S113491	15,854	40

in the twenty third yeere of King Edward the third AN. DOM. 1349. of which I may say as it is said of the hayle in Aegypt Exod. 9.24 that it was very grievous such as there was none like it in all this land since it became a Nation When as the words of our Historian are vix vivi potuerunt mortuos sepelire Tho Wa●singham there were hardly enow left alive to bury the dead and the opinon of many was quòd vix decima pars hominum fuisset relitcta ad vitam that scarce a tenth one in ten of people was left alive Iudge of it by what I shall tell you out of our writers frō but two or three places And first of all our greatest city then not neere so great as now London Stow. in which the Churches and Church-yards being so filled that they could receaue no more a new burying place there where now the great hospitall is was purchased and hallowed The Charter-house and therein more then fifty thousand persons laid and interred in the afore-named yeere In which in another city viz. Norwich in the space of sixe moneths even frō Ianuary the first to the first of Iuly the relation is that there died fifty sven thousand a hundred four persons besides * In quibusdam Religiosorum domibus de viginti vix supererant tantum duo Walsing vid. Stow. in Annal. religious persons And having told this of Norwich let me tell this too of one Town in Norfolke Yarmouth in which is but one Church yet at that time as a Table hanging in that Church hath witnessed seven thousand fifty and two were there taken away But to come to later times and fresher memory let me speake of London againe and to say nothing of the present condition of it of which we have weekely notice give me leave only to reflect upon that dismall time there about an eleven yeares since in which above twenty thousand Families got them gone escaping for their lives as the Angell said unto Lot Vers 17. Gen. 19. and as it is said of the Levite Vers 8. Iudg. 17. departing to sojourne where they could find a place And yet notwithstanding so many leaving that place died of the Plague foure thousand foure hundred threescore and three in one week I here think of the words of Samson when he slew so many at one time Iudg. 15.16 heaps upon heaps At that time there were heaps of Carcasses one lying upon another like dead bones in a Charnel-house and in that valley whither Ezekiel was carryed chap. 37.1 Thus beloved you see how the Pestilence although it walketh in darknes yet it destroyeth in the noon-day and then maketh thousands and ten thousands to fall Ps 91.6.7 It walketh in darknesse invisibly we cannot see the comming of it like the Prince of darknesse Vers 7. Iob. 1. it walketh up and downe in the earth from Citie to Citie from place to place It walketh I say yea more it flyeth it being the arrow that flyeth by day as well as that walketh in darknesse Ps 91.5 And that flying Rowle which the Prophet Zacharie saw chap. 5.1 and of which vers 3. thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will bring it forth and it shall enter into the house of the thiefe and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my name and it shall remaine in the mid'st of his house and shall consume it Many have been the houses and households which this sicknesse being once in the mid'st of them hath consumed In the 12. chap. of Exodus v. 30. we read that in that great slaughter of the first borne in Egypt there was not a house where there was not one dead But we have heard of diverse houses infected in which have been all dead not one left alive As the Egyptians at that time said we be all dead Vers 33. so haue had many in many houses cause to say for as the Lord threatned by his Prophet Amos thus chap. 6.9 It shall come to passe if there remaine ten men in one house that they shall dye so may I apply and say it hath come to passe if there remained ten in one house that they have all died O the heavy hand O the cruell sword of God Almighty and of his destroying Angell O the deadly Arrowes of his quiver the poyson whereof drinketh up the spirits of men to speak with Iob chap. 6.4 Well might Moses say V. 7.9 Ps 90. We consume away in thy displeasure and when thou art angry all our dayes are gone and fitly may we say Thou in thine indignation hast striken us with grievous sicknesse and by and by In the Psalme in the booke for the fast we have fallen as leaves beaten down with a vehement wind But it is now high time to strike upon another string and to come unto what I proposed in the second place viz. The cause of the Pestilence in the land which I said is the Plague of the hearts of men c. The Marriners in Ionah in that mighty tempest desired to know for whose cause that evill was upon them chap. 1.7 being perswaded although being heathens that there was a cause for it extraordinary And Beloved when such an evill as this malum poenae an evill of punishment is upon us it is good and fit to search that we may know for whose and what cause it is S. Paul 1. Ep. 11 30. told the Corinthians that among thē many were weake and sickly and that many slept and dyed But there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cause for it for this cause saith he namely for their evill carryage and condition when they came to the Lords Supper When the Sonne of the Widdow of Zaraphath was dead what were her words unto the Prophet O thou man of God! art thou come to call my sinne to remembrance and to slay my sonne 1. King 17.18 Shee tooke her sinne to be the cause of the death of her Sonne and I may truely pronounce that which she spake of to be the cause of the death and slaughter of so many sonnes of men I may use the words of Solomon and most fitly say of the Harlot Sinne that she hath cast downe many wounded yea many strong men have beene slaine by her Prov. 7.26 It is worth the observing what you may find 1. King 16. concerning that wicked king Zimri who burnt a house over him selfe with fire and dyed But what was the cause of such his death It is plainly said there that he dyed for his sinnes which he sinned c. ver 18.19 In the pot of sinne there is death Thou with rebukes doest chasten man for sinne 2. King 4.40 and makest his beauty to consume away c. said David unto the Lord Ps 39.12 And I will make thee sick in smiting thee in making thee desolate because of thy sinnes said the Lord Micah 6.13 As the

Lord answered David when he enquired concerning the three yeares famine It is for Saul and for his bloody house 2. Sam. 21.1 So if any enquire concerning this and other yeares sicknesse and mortality and what may be the true cause of it it may be answered in like manner It is for sinne and for its bloody house which bloody house is that which my text speaketh of a mans owne heart in which a mans spirituall part lyeth and in which the Plague of sinne hath its seat and residence Of which part we may say most truely what Tertullus did of S. Paul most maliciously that we have found it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Plague Act. 24.5 And as S. Peter did of Simon Magus chap. 8.23 that we perceive it to be in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity What bitter waters issue from this fountaine how much iniquity and how many Plagues are in this part the heart of man our Saviour hath told us at large whose words are out of the heart of men proceed evill thoughts adulteries fornications murthers thefts covetousnesse wickednesse deceipt lasciviousnesse an evill eye blasphemy pride foolishnesse all which evill things saith he defile and infect a man Mark 7.21.22.23 This is that inward part of which speaking to the Pharises he saith that it is full of ravening and wickednesse Luk. 11.39 The heart of the sonnes of men is full of evill and madnesse is in their heart 1. King 4.29 saith he who had so large a heart Eccl. 9.3 And how can it chuse when Satan many times filleth it as S. Peter said to Ananias Act. 5.3 this being the house out of which the uncleane spirit came and said he would returne into againe entring in and dwelling there according to our Saviours words Mat. 12. Satan thus filling it V. 44 45. and that uncleane spirit dwelling in this house it becommeth like the gyant Augaeus his stable full of unsavoury matter and as S. Iames saith of the tongue chapt 3.8 an evill full of deadly poyson Of the deadly poyson and venome of sinne which infecteth a man yea undoeth him and by reason of which many a man may cry out with the Prophet Jsai ch 6.5 say Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of uncleane lips and J dwell in the middest of a people of uncleane lips Sinne is the Plague of the heart and the cause of the plague in the land Men have had this plague in their hearts the plague of pride and haughtinesse the plague of envie and malice the plague of covetousnesse and inordinate desires the plague of cruelty of hypocrisie and the like They haue had it in their mouthes Luk. 6.45 speaking of the abundance of the heart wishing a plague and pestilence one upon another and now it is come home unto them they have it in their houses I told you before the word of Tertullus the Oratour calling S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a plague and I remember the words of that pander Sannio in the Comedie saying of himselfe Terent in Adelph ego sum pestis I am one that am a plague and I may say that men have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plagues infecting one another with the plague and contagion of sinne and now they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plagues to one another in infecting one another with the disease and Contagiō of the plague Men have sate in cathedra Pestilentiae in the chaire of Pestilence according to the phrase in the vulgar Translation Psal 1.1 And now they sit in domo Pestilentiae in a Pest-house Men have kept ill company and therefore they are now kept from company Men have not feared God and therefore God hath made men to feare men Men have been sick of sinne Ephes 2.1 and dead in it and therefore are so many now sick and dead of this sicknesse Our sinnes which the Prophet Jsai ch 1.6 calleth putrifying sores have caused so many putrifying sores to break out Our sinnes as red as scarlet according to the words of the same Prophet Vers 18. in the same chapt have made the red and scarlet spots so common Our proud flesh hath caused the Lord to use this sicknes as a corrosiue to eat it away and to make it eate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as doth a canker or gangreene to use S. Pauls words in another case 2. Tim. 2. V. 17. Rom. 13.12 Psal 88.5 Our works of darknesse have brought among us the pestilence that walketh in darknesse and which sendeth so many to the place of darknesse Our sinnes haue increased and therefore hath this disease increased Heare and think upon the words of the Lord unto Israel Ierem. 30. J haue wounded thee with the wound of an enemie with the chastisement of a cruell one for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sinnes were increased v. 15. What shall I say As David saith Ps 107.34 A fruitfull land the Lord maketh barren for the wickednes of them that dwell therein So may I say a full Land a full City he maketh empty for the wicknednesse of them that dwell therein Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it wast and turneth it upside-downe and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof c. and why because they have transgressed the lawes c. Isai 24.1.5 To be briefe as the Lord saith concerning Ierusalem Ezek. 14.22 Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it So must we know and be assured that what he hath now done unto us and in this Land he hath not done without good cause with which cause it is time to have done and I have Only as Quintilian having told of his many losses saith thus Institut l. 6. in Proaem Non sum ambitiosus in malis nec augere lacrymarūcausas volo uti namque esset ratio minuendi So let me say I take no pleasure here in aggravating this cause or in making things more or worse I wish rather there were cause for the contrary The time passeth and I now passe to the third thing which I said I would shew viz. what course is to be taken when there is in the land Pestilence Plague c. which I shall doe as briefly as I may In the beginning of my last part I told you of the marriners in Ionah how they desired to know for whose cause that evill which they suffered was upon them Let me now tell you other words of theirs unto Ionah ver 11. What shall we doe that the sea may be calme unto us In like manner it concerneth us to talke of and to take a course to advise what is best to be done and to doe our best that the sea as I may say of this sicknesse may be calme the storme of it be blown away and a serenitie ensue And here let me turne you to an excellent place then which none