Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	heart_n	see_v	sin_n	2,656	5	4.6330	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31107	Mercy in the midst of judgment by a gracious discovery of a certain remedy for London's languishing trade : in a sermon preached before the right honourable, the lord mayor and the citizens of London, on September 12, 1669, at the new repaired chappel at Guild-Hall / by D. Barton ...	Barton, William, 1598?-1678.	1670 (1670)	Wing B989; ESTC R37078	21,906	62

had hard Taskes and cruel Task-masters yet they had their Fleshpots and their Garlicks and their Onyons to the full bnt now they labour and have nothing to eat thus the Messengers of ill newes as to Job did throng upon them one at the heeles of another which was none of the smallest aggravations of this Calamity that it followed so immediatly on the neck of the other The fourth marke of the Severity of this Judgment was the frustration of their hopes and expectations Ye looked for much and loe it came to little If hope deferred makes the heart sick Prov. 13. 12. Hope frustrate and lost can do no lesse then breake it When men thinke themselves sure as Esau did of the blessing and it then failes them this is matter of bitter weeping For God to take away the Corn in the time thereof and the Wine in the season thereof that is just at harvest when it is to be inned when the old store is spent and they looke for a new recruit then to have the meat cut from their mouths and the morsel from between their teeth then to have their hopes defeated hightens the misery A fifth print of the Severity of this Judgment was the loss of their labour It is very frequent and scarce ever otherwise to see the Sluggards hopes blasted he that will not sow in Winter can never promise himselfe to reap in Harvest but after Plowing Sowing nay Reaping too and bringing home to find but little that adds to the weight of the want Nothing so much discontents men as labour in vain to take paines and to see nothing come of it is enough to make a Prophet complain to labour all night in fishing and take nothing may tempt an Apostle to desist To labour in the fire and to weary themselves for vanity to lose oleum operam cost and paines is sufficient to bring men to desperation Especially when that little which is coming in doth no good when God blows on it and takes away the nourishing virtues so that either men dare not eat their fill for feare of want another day or if they do eat the Staffe of bread being broken for want of Gods concurrence they are not satisfied A Boulimy or Canine appetite being a disease common at such times when in the fulness of their sufficiency as Zophar in Job speaks of the wicked they are in streights that little is so far from abating that it encreaseth the Calamity And so much for the first Particular the Judgment with the Severity of it The Second thing is the Author of this Judgment I did blow upon it Saith the Lord of Hosts Shall there be Evil in the Citty and I have not done it Saith God himselfe Am. 3. 6. God Challengeth the execution of Justice to himselfe not only at the Last Day but in this world and it is as agreeable to his nature now as it will be hereafter It is not luck or fortune that tosseth or tumbleth things below but God sits at the stern and steers the affairs of this World The Genealogy of all the good creatures is resolved by God into himself Hos. 2 21. Unless he hear the Heavens and the Heavens hear the Earth no Corn or Wine or Oyle can be expected The Earth is a kind Mother yet it cannot open her bowels to yield seed to the sower or bread to the eater if it be not watered from above The Heavens are the Storehouses of Gods good treasure which he openeth to mans profit and nourishment yet they cannot drop down fatness on the earth if God close it up and with-hold the seasonable showers which he can do if he please and will do if he be provoked First He can do it easily Secondly He will do it justly First He can do it easily It is but his blowing upon it and it is done As he made all things so he can dissolve them by the breath of his mouth He hideth his face and the creatures are troubled he taketh away their breath and they dye He sendeth forth his breath and they are created and reneweth the face of the Earth He turneth man to destruction and again he saith come again ye children of men And this he can do so easily because he is the Lord of Hosts a title frequently used by these three last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy who prophesying after the Jews return from the Babylonian Captivity when their state was at the lowest scarce ever name God by any other title to denote unto them how easie it was for him to bring his Judgments upon them and to remove them again all creatures being at his command as Lord of Hosts and like the Centurions Servants if he say to one Go hee goeth to another Come hee cometh and to a third Do this hee doth it When he will do a thing who shall hinder him Nature may be resisted and stopped in her course Men and Devils though never so potent may want of their will and be crossed in their designes and desires but the Lord of Hosts doth whatsoever he will both in Heaven and Earth without controul or contradiction Secondly He will do it justly Gods Judgments are not alwaies manifest they are alwaies just And he may say as David to his Brethren in another case What have I now done is there not a cause God never punisheth a People but there is a just cause for it and could men but see it the root of the matter would be found in themselves It is the Plague of their own hearts that procures them all their mischief and this might have been put among the aggravations of the Judgment that it is from themselves that they are the cause of their own ruine that they may thank themselves and blame their sin as the Mother of their misery and cause of their Calamity O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Saith God So that there is no ground of complaint why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Had man never been sinful he had never been miserable had he never lift up his heart against Heaven to provoke God God had never lift up his hand on earth to punish man If these Jewes would but have considered their own waies as God himselfe exhorts them twice in a breath vers 5. and 7. They might have easily found the Serpent that bit them to be lurking in their own bosom the contempt and neglect of Gods worship which brings me to The Third particular The cause of this Judgment why saith the Lord of Hosts c. Wherein three things offer themselves to our Consideration First The sin it's selfe Gods House lyes wast Secondly The Aggravation of that sin Ye run every man to his own house Thirdly The Proportion between the sin and the punishment First The sin it selfe is that Gods House is suffered to lie wast This House which God Challengeth to himself