Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	punish_v	punishment_n	sin_n	4,188	5	5.7311	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36316	Earthquakes explained and practically improved occasioned by the late earthquake on Sept. 8, 1692 in London, many other parts in England, and beyond sea / by Thomas Doolittle ...	Doolittle, Thomas, 1632?-1707.	1693 (1693)	Wing D1883; ESTC R12441	54,165	169

the top to the bottom and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many Bodies of the Saints which slept arose and appeared unto many Matth. 27. 45 51 52 53. Writers do affirm that by this Earthquake not only Golgotha but the whole City and the Regions near were terribly shaken and some that in Bithynia and in Thracia certain Towns were overthrown but how far this Earthquake was extended is uncertain 7. Amongst these also must be ranked the Earthquake at the Resurrection of Christ Matth. 28. 2. And behold there was a great Earthquake 8. Of the same Nature was that when the Apostles were praying the place where they were was shaken God giving them by this Miracle a Testimony that their prayers were heard Acts 4. 31. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together The Greek word properly signifies to be moved up and down like the Waves of the Sea and is the same with that in the present Text where it is said by the Earthquake the foundations of the Prison were shaken which also I reckon to be of the number of those that are caused miraculously and immediately by God without those Causes that others are produced by What may be inferred and learn'd from this 1. May we not learn the certain Existence of the Deity Doth it not follow there is and must be a God if we may argue from an Effect to a Cause when there is an Effect that cannot be ascribed to any Creature must there not be a Being that is and is no Creature when things are done that are not done by finite power must there not be an infinite power by which they are done when there is no medium betwixt that which is finite and that which is infinite when any thing is effected of which no natural Cause can be named must there not be a supernatural Aaron at God's command stretched out his hand with his Rod and smote the Dust of the Earth and it became Lice in Man and in Beast all the Dust of the Land became Lice throughout all the Land of Egypt and when the Magicians did so with their Inchantments to bring forth Lice and could not did not these Magicians themselves say unto Pharaoh This is the finger of God Exod. 8. 17 18 19. When there have been such shakings of the Earth that no Man can say and prove what he saith that they were done by second Causes may not should not every Man say in these was the finger of God If you cannot gather there is a God by what he doth by Creatures cannot you conclude there is a God when things are done and not by Creatures 2. May we not learn that this God never wants means to effect whatsoever he pleaseth What he doth not do by second Causes he can do without them Jonathan when one of these Earthquakes happened said It is all one with God to save by few or by many 1. Sam. 14. 6. So it is all one with God to save by few or none and to do what he will with means or without them When he doth not shake the Earth by Causes got into its Bowels he can and hath shaken it without And indeed if he brought it out of nothing without any instrumental Cause for in Creation there can be none why may he not when it is created shake it till it tremble without any instrumental Cause cannot he that doth the greater do the less 3. Hath God made the Earth to tremble without any Natural Causes have not ungodly Men cause to tremble even then when there is no visible sign no reason from any Natural Causes to fear punishment and ruine Is not their own sin as meritorious of God's Wrath and sore Displeasure with the thoughts of God's infinite hatred of it and his Almighty Power to punish it a sufficient reason why they should fear and quake and tremble what tho' they live in such places and parts of the World that are not so subject to Earthquakes as some other places are Will they say First We live upon that part of the Earth that is only stony and hard and not soft and tender and therefore no fear the Earth should quake and tremble under us Secondly Will they say we dwell upon that part of the Earth that hath not those Caverns in which those Vapours that cause Earthquakes are generated therefore we are in no danger In the Body of Man winds and vapours are sooner and more stirred in the bowels and hollow parts thereof than in the hands and bones and more close and solid Members In subterraneous Caverns rather then in close and rocky places is the matter of an Earthquake but such is not that part of the World where we inhabit Thirdly Will they say we live in Inland Towns and not near the Sea which are most obnoxious to such Earthquakes because such places are more easily filled with Vapours therefore we need not fear Fourthly Will they say Let them live in fear of Earthquakes where the Earth they live upon is both soft and full of Caverns and near the Sea as most liable thereunto Let them quake when the Earth doth not because it is so subject in such places to such trembling fits but our Habitation is on hard and rocky solid places without such Concavities and in the midst of the Land remote from Sea and therefore secure enough Did you speak true before you were aware when you said you were secure Yes and let me add your heart seems to be more stony and rocky and hard than the place you boast you live upon as if God's Arm were so short he could not reach you as if your Mountain stood so strong it could not be moved nor shaken Do not you know have you not heard that God hath shaken the Earth by his own immediate hand without those Natural Causes and Rocks and Mountains too Fear to sin cease to provoke the Eyes of his Glory for he can reach you with his own hand and shake your strongest Tower by his own might without other Causes Quest III. What are the Natural Causes material and efficient of an Earthquake and how may it be described I. Concerning the Material Cause there are divers Opinions amongst Philosophers Seneca in his sixth Book of Natural Questions reckons up many Some say the Cause is from Water some from Fire some from the Earth it self and some from Spirits not Immaterial some in more of these and some in all of them Some of these Seneca doth confute and establisheth his own Opinion concerning Spirits That you may not mistake the word Spirit in this place which is taken otherwise than in Divinity as the Souls of Men and Angels are called Spirits let those that are not acquainted with the Philosophical Physical acceptation of it take this Explication of it according to Regius Exhalations or risings up are either from water and then they are called

again moving side-long to and fro Zanchy relates that this kind he saw at Ravenna when the Walls of the Chamber in the upper part of the House were moved out of their place and did so lean one way that they seemed as if they would fall but again they returned to their own place Oh this is saith he the great and wonderful Providence of God Seneca's Remark that in the Trembling Earthquake there is not so much danger as in the shaking or moving it upwards and letting it down nor so much danger in this as in the Inclining Earthquake because except the motion be speedily made back again from the side to which it leans to the other the fall and ruine will necessarily follow And these Earthquakes of these different and divers motions must proceed from different and divers causes Quest V. What are the usual Antecedent Signs os an approaching Earthquake given by Natural Philosophers which by Observation and Experience they commend unto us If these signs of Natural Earthquakes be sure and constant let it be considered and let us reflect whether any such were taken notice of by any before the late Earthquake in London and in other places if not either these Philosophers are under a mistake or we must judge that this late shaking of this City was from the more Immediate Hand of God if there were yet the presence and working of second and natural causes ought not to take us off from the minding and observing of the first for as much as all the second are at the Command Ordering and Disposal of the first and are all under the Government of the Providence of God and the Voice and Call of the first and second Causes is that we should Repent and turn from those sins that have provoked him to such sore Displeasure to so great Wrath and Anger as to make the Earth to shake and tremble under us 1. One fore-going sign of an Earthquake they teach is a certain troubling of Waters in the deepest Wells and in Fountains having then a Tincture of a Sulphureous taste and an infected and stinking savour Because from the subterraneous commotions the Waters in the Wells must needs be troubled Therefore it is reported of Pherecides the Philosopher that by Water drawn out of a Well he fore-discerned and foretold the Lacedaemonians the Ruin of the City by an Earthquake 2. When the Sea doth suddenly swell not being caused so to do by Winds and Waves when the Air is still and calm and no blasts of Winds yet on a sudden the Sea swells and the Ships thereon do shake The reason is because then the Earth in the bottom of the Sea is moved 3. When Birds sit trembling on the ground forsaking Trees because they perceive a certain trembling shaking the Trees and the Roots thereof 4. When there are great and terrible sounds in the Earth and roarings and noises in the Caverns of the Earth 5. Dimness of the Sun for some days going before the Earthquake 6. Long and thin strakes of Clouds sometimes sooner in the day but chiefly after the setting of the Sun the Weather in other respects being clear But of all that I have discoursed with about the late Earthquake I have not met with one nor heard of any one that hath that spake any thing of any of these Signs before it happened nor that by recollecting of themselves do say since that they remember any such fore going sign that gave to them the least intimation of it and the general surprize of all by it generally acknowledging that the moment before they had not a thought of such a shaking to be so very near I leave to all to judge and to their own thoughts whether this Earthquake did arise from Causes in Nature or from the Immediate Power and Working of God the Lord of Nature And if we see the Immediate Mighty Finger of God in it to study and pray to know his Mind and Will by it or be moved by the moved Earth to conform move unto his Will revealed in his Word Quest VI. What are the Effects and Consequents of Earthquakes which make them exceeding dreadful where they come Reason may dictate to us what terrible Effects what dismal Work Earthquakes when they have a full Commission from God to execute his Wrath do make Our Ears have heard the Miseries of multitudes of Persons the overthrow and ruine of Towns and Cities and Countries But those that have seen them would speak of them more sensibly and set them forth more fully It might make our flesh to tremble to hear of the woful devastations that the trembling shaking and opening of the Earth hath caused in many Ages in many places but such as did see and feel and suffer by them have contended with the Earth whether it or they should tremble most Oh the Cries and Shriekings Oh the doleful Lamentations Oh what bitter Complaints have been poured out and wishes in vain have have been uttered in the time and places of devouring and desolating Earthquakes When we shall hear some of these effects tho' not written of according to the fulness of the Terror wherewith they are done let us sympathize with the poor miserable People yet left in Jamaica and pray that their Judgment might not come over to London nor Travel further to other places First Earthquakes cause great Consternation in the minds of Men and fil● their hearts with fear When God makes the Earth to shake under them he makes their hearts to tremble within them When the Earth shakes and moves they cannot stand upon it without sear One Earthquake causeth many thousand Heart-quakes Did not many thousand People in London in its late Earthquake tho' through God's great Mercy so short feel great tremblings within themselves when they felt the Earth to shake under them and saw their Houses move this way and that way over them and could not te● whether they would stand or fall nay when so many thought and said them Houses would not stand but fall Were you not then under great Consternation when you thought those Houses yo● had slept in you must not only s● quickly dye in but be buried in them too That the Houses you had buil● or rented to shelter you from Storms and Tempests should bring that Destruction upon you which many Storms and Tempests had not done Have not you of late years heard terrible and roaring Thunderings God thundering with a Voice which none can imitate Have you not seen great Flashings of Fire and Lightnings which made the Night like Day that you said you could see to take up a small thing from off the ground and were not you then glad you had an House over your head But when this late Earthquake was were not you afraid because you had an House over your head when you thought it would fall upon your head and whole body And when this Earthquake was did you not make as much hast to get