Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	lord_n	people_n	word_n	2,775	5	4.0281	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64470	Two sermons preach'd against immorality and profaneness The first, on January 13. 1698/9. The second, on May 3. 1700. By John Thane, M.A. and one of the prebendaries of Chester.	Thane, John, 1653 or 4-1727.	1700 (1700)	Wing T834A; ESTC R201131	27,921	65

of God revil'd in his Person or ridicul'd and evil spoken of in his Laws and Doctrine if we are silent and passive on such an occasion he may not then justly reckon us as asham'd of him and of his Words The Sum of all is this If we will own Christ for our Master we must then serve him to the utmost of our Power we must espouse his Interest and maintain his Cause against all Opposers whatsoever against the Theist and the Unitarian the Blasphemer and the profane Person against the Common Swearer the Drunkard and the Lascivious All which are one way or other either in Principle or in Practice the avowed Adversaries of Christ and of the true Christian Faith and Religion This if we consider is as little as any of us can do so long as we profess our selves Servants to the Blessed Jesus all whose Commands ought to be dearer to us than our very Lives And since Christ our Lord hath strictly charg'd all Men of all sorts and degrees without Exception to shun the Ways of Sin and the Paths of Iniquity let us contest this Matter with our selves and with all our might strive against the force and bent of our evil Inclinations and Passions Whatever Difficulty there may be in the Attempt still Duty and Obligation ought to take place here Let us not take upon us to dispute or cavil at any of his Commands but let us readily comply with them all whatever they be and be thoroughly satisfied that it is our Interest as well as Duty to fulfil and obey them Let us not think any thing too hard or too dear to part with for his Sake who hath shew'd himself the best Friend and the greatest Benefactor to Mankind that ever was And so much the rather because in return to those manifold unspeakable Advantages which he hath procured to us all that he expects or requires from us is that we constantly maintain and practice his excellent Religion whatever Contempt or Hardship we may meet with from the World In a word Tho' Vice and Profaneness have got many powerful Advocates on their side yet let not that be any discouragement to us while we have Christ on ours The Cause which we undertake is in it self highly honourable and at this Juncture the most necessary of all other The things that we contend for are Truth Virtue and Religion the best the most valuable in themselves and the most deserving of our Zeal and Concern Christ is our Master and Lord and as his Servants we appear we strive we oppose Letus be found true to his Service just to his Interest and zealous for his Honour and then that God who hath said them that honour me I will honour shall translate us into his own most Glorious Kingdom and shall actually Reward and Honour us to all Eternity Almighty and Merciful God of whose only Gift it cometh that thy faithful People do unto thee true and laudable Service Grant we beseech thee that we may so faithfully serve thee in this Life that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly Promises through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN A SECOND SERMON Preach'd against Immorality and Profaneness DEUT. xxxii 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord O Foolish People and Vnwise THese Words are part of that Prophetick Song which Moses composed and which he tells us he spake in the Ears of all the Congregation of Israel Here in a kind of Poetical Strain he sets forth the Goodness of God and the Perverseness and Disobedience of the People And being shortly to leave the World he Summons them together and rehearses this Song for a Testimony against them if so be they should hereafter turn aside and forget their God as he foresaw they would Alas so very deceitful is the Heart of Man so prone to Evil and so averse from Good that the wisest and best Instructions can make but little Impression upon it Tho' Moses here saith my Doctrine shall drop as the Rain my Spirit shall distil as the Dew yet from so corrupt a Root so cold and barren a Soil scarce any fruit or increase was to be hop'd for such was the unhappy Temper of that People so weak their Judgment and so perverse their Will that the Prophet seems to give them up for lost They are says he a Nation void of Counsel neither is there any Understanding them ver 28. And indeed what Wisdom or Understanding or Counsel can any People or Nation be said to have when once they have cast off God and Religion and are sunk into all manner of Wickedness and Vice That is a sad and deplorable Case indeed and which will bring swift inevitable Ruin upon us if we do not bethink our selves in time and return to a wiser and better Mind Which is the best thing that we can do and the only certain way for us to escape the Danger Whereas while we are thus Unmindful of the Rock that begat us and do thus forget God that form'd us we have reason to expect that he will rub up our Memories and will to our cost make us feel the weight of that Displeasure which we refused to stand in awe of I say we have all just cause to fear that because as this kind of behaviour is the worst sort of Ingratitude so it is moreover a very high Dishonour to God and a downright Contempt of his Majesty and Laws And do ye thus requite the Lord O Foolish People and Unwise In discoursing upon which Words I shall endeavour to make out these Four things I. The Baseness and Ingratitude of a Sinful and Irreligious Course of Life II. The gross Absurdity and Unaccountable Folly of such a Course III. The evil Consequences which attend it with respect to Men's private Interests and Concerns IVly and Lastly As it is Destructive of the Welfare and Prosperity of any Nation or People I. The Baseness and Ingratitude of a Sinful and Irreligious Course of Life The Obligations we lye under to God are Certain and Unquestionable whether we take the light of Nature or the brighter Discoveries of Revelation for our Rule and Guide Either of which doth plainly shew Impiety to be Baseness and Disobedience the utmost Ingratitude Thus several of the Heathens tho' they had only the dim light of Reason to direct them could nevertheless discover the necessity of Obedience to the Will of God Which made one of them to say Virtue Philosophy and Justice are but the sound of empty Words 't is only a good Life that can make Men Happy Sen. Ep. 123. But then as for Revelation that indeed hath made our Duty and the several Obligations of it so plain that Men must be utter Infidels if they reject it So that upon either of these Accounts no pretence of Ignorance whatsoever can excuse Men for their Disobedience or Unbelief For as Moses saith in the Words immediately after the Text Is not he thy Father that

makes Men fit to be trusted 't is that which breeds a generous Confidence and which maintains a friendly Correspondence between them when therefore Wickedness doth so prevail that neither Religion nor Conscience is regarded what Suspicion and hard Censure is that like to produce Where then is the Man whose Word will be taken or whose Faith is to be relied upon Nay what Ground of Assurance can others have but that after the fairest Promises the most solemn Professions they may come to be deceiv'd by him at last These and many more Inconveniencies will unavoidably befal us whilst Impiety and Profaneness and every other sort of Vice is suffer'd to abound I might likewise shew how our Sins and Vices tend directly to divide us whether in Opinion or Affection and consequently do touch and wound us in the most sensible Part I mean the Honour and Safety of our Mother the Church which is now so miserably Torn and Rent in pieces by Faction and Schism But I shall wave this Argument and proceed to shew in the Fourth and last Place IV. How destructive Impiety is of the Welfare and Prosperity of any Nation or People Now for the Proof of this particular Point what need we any other Instance than that of the People in the Text which is very Remarkable God had Born long with that Stubborn Disobedient and Sinful People but after all the Essays which he had made upon them for their Good they still continued to do wickedly and walked in the Counsels and in the Imagination of their evil Heart Great and Clamorous were their Sins and such as had Provok'd God to a just and a severe Resentment Therefore saith he to the Prophet Jeremy pray not thou for this People neither lift up Cry nor Prayer for them neither make Intercession to me for I will not hear thee Jer. 7. 16. God had now fix'd the date of their Calamity so that no Intercession should move him to avert it He saw there was no likelihood at all of their Repentance and Amendment and therefore he had determin'd to Chastise and Punish them to purpose And to that end he rais'd up a potent Enemy against them who with a mighty Force invaded their Country seiz'd upon their Possessions and carried the greater part of the Inhabitants away into Captivity Of which Calamity and the Cause of it God himself assures them in a solemn manner Hear O Earth behold I will bring Evil upon this People even the Fruit of their Thoughts because they have not hearken'd unto my Words nor to my Law but rejected it They have not hearken'd unto my Words nor to my Law said God to the Impenitent Jews That was his Complaint and Charge against them and that likewise was the sole Cause of their Misery and Desolation And now that God was thus Angry with his own People and did so severy Punish them for their Transgressions have not other Nations whose Sins and Iniquities abound as much reason to fear the like Judgment and Severity Yes most undoubtedly For do we not find that the same or like Sins and Provocations have ruin'd Cities destroy'd Kingdoms and laid waste several Great and Flourishing Churches even since the days of Christianity Thus it hath far'd with those false Christians those unprofitable Servants those slothful and wicked Husbandmen who were long since cast out as well as the Jews and that because they took not sufficient Care of their Lord's Vineyard The Kingdom of God as our Saviour speaks hath been taken from them and given to others that should bring forth the Fruits thereof Matt. 21. 43. These and such like Examples of Divine Vengeance are enough one would think to Startle us if we have not lost our Senses and to put us upon endeavouring a speedy and thorough Reformation That is the thing we want and that which our Circumstances plainly require and the rather because nothing but that can do us any Good nothing but that can preserve us from Evil. 'T is not long if we remember since our Fears were upon us when God's Hand was lifted up and the Stroke was just falling upon us Then indeed we Sigh'd and Mourn'd and shew'd some Signs and Tokens of Amendment but no sooner was the Danger remov'd from us but we presently fell to our old Sins again and soon became as Bad or Worse than we were before Surely to behave our selves thus after so great Mercy is double Ingratitude and who can tell but that the Guilt of it is already put upon the Nation 's score No Man certainly knows whether the Sins of this Nation be yet come to a Crisis so as to be ripe for public Vengeance however thus much any Man may see that 't is high time to put a Stop to that Torrent of Wickedness which is breaking in upon us and which nothing but a Discreet and and Resolute Zeal is likely to Oppose So that if we have any Kindness for our selves or for those that shall come after us we must immediately resolve upon other Measures If we have any value for our Religion our Government our Liberties and Laws we must do all we can to discountenance Impiety and bring Vice to open Shame As we desire the Continuance of these our Enjoyments which cannot but be dear to every one of us we must be Vigorous in Promoting so Great so Glorious so necessary a Work Which if we are Backward or Unwilling to Ingage in let us consider what the Consequence of that Neglect must be and what a Reproach it is we should Live as we do Quiet and Secure and Careless of all that is Good Like the Inhabitants of Laish when as 't is said there was no Magistrate in the Land that might put them to Shame in any thing Jud. 18. 7. We are Intent enough most of us upon the things of this World Riches and Honours and Pleasures and nothing can Discourage us in the pursuit of them but we commonly leave Religion to shift for it self That 't is plain is the least of our Care unless it be to Wrangel and Dispute about it which oft-times we do to the Hurt and Reproach of it The thing is very certain and all good Men are concern'd to see it that the Interest of Religion declines daily amongst us but then where is the Fault and Misfortune of that to be charg'd Is it not upon the Coldness of some and the ill Lives of others who Profess it If we would in good Earnest Secure or Promote the Welfare of Religion the best way to do that is to practice it and then we need not fear that either Popery or Fanaticism will gain much Ground upon us Let us therefore do something for our own Safety for the Honour of God for the Publick Good something towards the healing of the Nation that so God may be reconcil'd our Sins pardon'd and we become a Prosperous and Happy People On the contrary let us be assur'd that if we still persist in our Impieties our good Things will all vanish and come to nothing That very Liberty which we are so tender of will become a snare to us and will at last end in Slavery and Oppression Consider how God threaten'd the Jewish Priests If he will not hear and if ye will not lay it to Heart to give Glory unto my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a Curse upon you and I will curse your Blessings Mat. 2. 2. In like manner if we the sinful People of this Land will not Hear and if we will not lay it to Heart so as to fear God and give Glory to his Name by a sincere and timely Repentance then will he be Angry with us and will curse our Blessings also All outward worldly Comforts will then fly away our Peace and our Plenty will both forsake us and either some Foreign and Powerful Enemy will invade us or else we shall fall out and divide and crumble in pieces amongst our selves so fatal an Aspect hath Irreligion upon the Welfare and Prosperity of any People To the End therefore that both Church and State may Continue and Flourish amongst us let us take care to amend our Lives and Reform our Manners that so God our great Benefactor may have no cause to complain of us as having conferr'd so many Blessings and Mercies upon a Disobedient and Unthankful People That God hath of late appear'd so Eminently in our behalf is a sign that he hath a Kindness for us and will still Watch over us for good if we by our Perverseness do not force him upon other Methods It is our part therefore so to Qualifie our selves as to be capable of his future Favours He hath shewed us what is Good and what he doth require of us which is only to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with our God To conclude I question not but all sober thinking Men will agree with me in this That whereever it is that Atheism Irreligion and Contempt of Godliness are seen there nothing but Disorder and Confusion is to be look'd for On the other Hand that wheresoever it is that Virtue is incourag'd the Honour of God and of Religion maintain'd and every kind of Vice effectually discountenanc'd there will the Divine Providence appear as a sure Guard and invincible Security There shall Peace and Tranquility and Abundance be found and nothing shall interpose to Vex and Annoy Not all the Power nor all the Malice of the World shall ever be able to Undermine that Society Overturn that Government or Destroy that Church which stands upon so firm a Foundation FINIS