Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	sin_n	world_n	2,522	5	4.6350	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65319	A lawyer's advice to the devil's agents: or, Some strokes at the unfruitful works of darkness, tending to their destruction made with a weapon taken out of the armory of the Most High. By William Watson, student in law.	Watson, William, student in law.	1693 (1693)	Wing W1150A; ESTC R220895	26,435	71

resists these Solicitations to Vice should be addicted to Covetousness it cannot properly be said to be that which keeps him from this Sin neither can he in the least be said to be guilty of it by abstaining from it for he only is the Covetous Man who when it is his part to receive receives more than he ought and when it is his part to disburse disburses less than he ought and desires that which of right belongs not unto him and through Oppression and Injustice encreases his Substance and not he that refuses to waste what is justly his own in sinful Extravagancies And as we ought not to speak or think evilly of or envy those that by their honest Industry and refraining the wastful Conversation of the Uagodly improve what they have but to praise and commend them and endeavour to imitate them so neither ought we to envy those that enrich themselves by Oppression or choose any of their ways as the Wise Man says Prov. 3.31 Envy thou not the Oppressor and choose none of his ways And here those evil-minded People that are apt to envy their Neighbours because they live in better Reputation and grow richer than they may see their Folly and Sin in disobeying God's Command For if they get them fairly and justly they are the Blessings of God and 't is his Pleasure they should have them because he knows if they will imploy them to a good use and he that is angry and through envy repines at this repines at the Mercies of God and is in effect angry with God tho' he may level his Anger only at the Man envied and vainly think it terminates in him because he gives Riches and Honour to that Person which he is unwilling should have them as if he knew better how to bestow God's Gifts than he himself does and this is no small Reflection tho' perhaps he thinks not of it upon God's Omniscience and by consequence a most heinous Sin And on the other side if they get them through Dishonesty and Injustice we are under the like Obligation not to envy them for tho' God may suffer them to flourish for a while yet when he sees fit he can soon stop their sinful Progress either by extending his pardoning and preventing Grace if they reform and sincerely ask for it or by exerting his Power and Justice if they presevere and continue obstinate in their wickedness and casting them down into Destruction And the thoughts of this soon made the Prophet David understand his errour in envying the Prosperity of the Wicked when he went into the Sanctuary to know the reason of it Psal 73.16 17 18 19. v. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me Vntil I went into the Sanctuary of God then understood I their end Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into Destruction How are they brought into Desolation as in a moment They are utterly consumed with terrours And moreover a Man cannot envy others without vexing and disquieting himself he carries a Tormentour in his own Breast and therefore the Holy Spirit of God so severely declaims against this Sin in Sacred Writ because he would not have Men so foolishly sinful as to afflict and punish themselves Prov. 24.19 20 Fret not thy self because of evil men neither be thou envious at the wicked For there shall be no reward to the evil Man the candle of the wicked shall be put out Secondly We must not converse with the Wicked because we shall not only defile our selves and help to strengthen and confirm them in their ungodly Courses but entice others by our evil Examples to do the like for evil Examples will be sooner imitated if we may credit daily experience than good ones especially amongst such People as this Prophane Age abounds with which have naturally so strong a Tendency and Inclination to wickedness For if ever we had occasion to take up the Prophet Hosea's Complaint Chap. 4. Ver. 2. Now is the time for by Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and committing Adultery they break out and Blood touches Blood The word in the Original for Blood is spoken plurally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bloods to express the great quantity that was spilt And what was the cause of all this Blood-shed but the Sin of the People And has there not been of late and is there not still a great deal of Blood spilt amongst us that call our selves Christians from the same cause when such Multitudes fall by the Sword Which we report only as matter of News little considering that our wickedness is partly the occasion of their violent and sanguinary Deaths and that so far as we by our Sins have been accessary to their Deaths so far without a speedy and sincere asking of Pardon and Forgiveness we shall be obliged to answer for them And how can we ever expect that God should bless our Forces with Success abroad if we lie thus shamefully wallowing in wickedness at home But we are so foolishly favourable to our selves as to overlook this and attribute these Wars and Commotions to other Causes we know and find there are as in times past tyrannizing and persecuting Princes and Potentates in the World and we fansie they are the sole Causes of them to satisfie their Ambition in enlarging their Dominions and rendring themselves more absolute 'T is true they are the Cause of Wars and Devastations but 't is only the Instrumental not the Efficient Cause that is Sin Wicked and Ambitious Princes and Rulers are the Instruments of doing mischief and making confusion in the Earth but 't is the sin of the People as well as their own that sets them on Work For God suffers wicked men to bear Rule that they may declare themselves Enemies to the Inhabitants of the Earth and punish them for their Iniquity And whensoever a potent Enemy or Enemies begin to disturb the Peace and Tranquillity of a Kingdom or Common-wealth they may assure themselves whatever other Reasons they may imagine there are for it that their ways are not pleasing to God For if they were he would force them to be at Peace with them Prov. 16.7 When a Man's ways please the Lord he makes even his Enemies to be at Peace with him God draws such a Line of defence about good Men that live 〈…〉 and Service that their most inveterate Enemies have not power to hurt them 1 Pet. 3.13 And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good But wicked Men lie open to the Wrath of God and the fury and malice of their Adverfaries and must never expect any real peace and comfort unless they return from the errour of their ways if the Scripture be true for God says plainly there they shall have no peace Isaiah the 57th at the teo last Verses But the wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose Waters cast up mire and