Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	punishment_n	sin_n	sin_v	1,923	5	9.5821	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59891	A sermon preach'd on the second of September being the fast for the fire of London, at the cathedral church of St. Paul's, before the right honourable the Lord-Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London / by W. Sherlock ...	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1699 (1699)	Wing S3362; ESTC R33837	12,679	29

Creatures if any Evil befals them without his Will and Appointment But Natural Conscience sees the Hand of God in all the Evils we suffer Whatever the visible and immediate Causes and Instruments of our Sufferings are a guilty Conscience takes notice of the Divine Vengeance the Terrors of God take hold upon him and he trembles before his Judge though he do not see him he is afraid of God when he feels only the Hands of men And what is the meaning of this What is the Language of these guilty Fears but that whatever the Rod be that strikes it is moved and directed by a Divine Hand that the Wickedness and Injustice the Wrath and Fury of Men is no other than the Vengeance of God For why should the Evils we suffer from men so terrify a guilty Conscience had we not a Natural Persuasion That all these Evils are sent by God whoever are the Instruments of them Thus it is natural in all such cases to fly to God for help Atheists themselves cannot wholly prevent this but when they are surprized with any sudden Dangers Nature is too quick and too powerful for their Philosophy and surprizes them into an acknowledgment of God and a Providence which they must do Penance for when their Fright is over Sinners who forget God in Prosperity fly to him in their Distress remember that God is their rock and the high God their Redeemer And if this be a Natural Acknowledgment of Providence as it certainly is it owns the Hand of God in our Sufferings as well as his Power to save for both equally belong to the Supreme and Sovereign Lord of the World and it is not merely his Power to help which makes Sinners fly to God in their distress but a sense of his Anger in what they suffer They do not fly to God as men do to a powerful Patron but as Criminals do to the Mercy of a provok'd Father or Prince When they fly to God it is to implore his Mercy as humble Penitents to appease his Anger that he may remove his Judgments and when we fly to the Mercies of God to remove the Rod it is an acknowledgment that it is he that strikes as well as he alone that can save And that Conscience judges right in all this however some men may attribute it to a Superstitious Education is evident from Scripture which expresly tells us That God doth whatsoever pleaseth him both in heaven and in earth That none can stay his hand or resist his will or say unto him What doest thou That there is no evil in the city which the Lord hath not done If Iob be stript of all his large Possessions in a day it is the Lord that gave and the Lord that taketh away If the mighty King of Assyria invade Israel and lay waste their Cities and Countrey he is the rod of God's anger and the staff in his hand is his indignation 10. Isa. 5 6. Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground but God is the judge he putteth down one and setteth up another 75. Psal. 7 8. This shews us that whatever our Sufferings are it is God that appoints the Rod and then it must nearly concern us 2dly To hear the Rod what and to whom it speaks Now in this case also Conscience and the Word of God are the best Interpreters of God's Judgments The Rod teacheth another way but teacheth the same thing that Conscience and Scripture teach us that is it proclaims aloud the Evil of Sin and God's Anger and Displeasure against it and calls us to Repentance and Reformation of our Lives When the Judgments of God are upon us Conscience knows their Errand and calls all our sins to remembrance and sets them in order before us Nothing but Guilt makes us afraid of God and how quiet and secure soever Sinners are at other times the Judgments of God will awaken their guilty Fears and if men will hearken to the Voice of an awaken'd Conscience it will certainly tell them why God strikes and we cannot take a safer course than to reform those Sins of which our Consciences then accuse us All the Threatnings of Scripture are against Sin and all the Judgments there recorded especially Publick and National Judgments were inflicted for the Punishment of Sin and these are to be our Examples as they are the standing Rules and Measures of Providence God never punishes but for Sin though he may exercise particular good men with difficult Trials and therefore when bad men and a wicked Nation suffer they may certainly know the Cause they have sinned and God is angry and summons them to Repentance for this is the fruit of all to take away sin The Voice of Judgments is the same with the Voice of Conscience and the Voice of God's Prophets Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes Cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow 1. Isa. 16 17. This is plain enough and sufficiently known if it were but sufficiently laid to heart and this is all that we are concerned to know of the Judgments of God The secret and hidden Designs of Providence which many times surprize the World with unexpected Events are the Care of God and belong not to us till the Scene opens and we see what part is allotted us in it Whatever God be a-doing we have nothing to do but to amend our Lives which will remove the Scourge from us and entitle us to the Care and Protection of Providence Whereas to busy our selves with Politick or Prophetick Guesses at unknown Events to paint our Imaginations with black and frightful or with gay and charming Scenes of things as desponding Fears or sanguine Hopes inspire the Prophet can do us no good but may do a great deal of hurt to our selves and the World This is not the Voice of the Rod which makes no new Revelations to us but only awakens the Convictions of Conscience and enforces the Reproofs and Threatnings of the Word with such sensible and smarting Proofs of the Evil of Sin and God's Anger against it as will make all men consider who have not lost their Senses and many times restore Sense and Understanding to those who had lost them But this to some men will seem a very dull Account of God's Judgments which will neither gratify their Curiosity nor Ill Nature nor which they think worse leave them any excuse to palliate their Hypocrisy The Judgments of God declare God's Anger against Sin and call us to Repentance This men will own but do not like to hear it express'd in such general Terms as if when God sends his Judgments amongst us he were angry with us for all our sins and called us to repent of them all This they think hard that they must part with all their Sins to remove these Judgments