Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	cause_n	faith_n	justify_v	3,162	5	9.0467	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30242	The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole third chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is annexed The godly and the natural mans choice, upon Psal. 4, vers. 6, 7, 8 / by Anthony Burgesse ...	Burgess, Anthony, d. 1664.	1659 (1659)	Wing B5656; Wing B5648_CANCELLED; ESTC R3908	509,568	411

Divisions are ye not carnal 25 Envy its several acceptations ibid. Observ That envying wheresoever it is is a fruit of the Flesh and such a sinne that a godly man should especially watch against ibid. Envy It s Original Degrees Object Subject Aggravations Remedies 26 The difference between Envy and Zeal 32 For whereas there is among you strife 33 Observ That strifes and quarrelling contentions amongst Christians argue them to be so farre carnal ibid. Sinfull strife Its Cause Effects Aggravations 34 Whereas there is divisions among you p. 37 Observ That divisions and factions do quickly creep into the best and purest Churches 38 Divisions divided their Nature Causes 39 Are ye not carnal and walk as men 42 As man its several significations ibid. Observ That all those who are named Christians and would be accounted so should walk and live as those that are more than meer men ibid. What the phrase to live as men implieth 43 Verse 4. For whereas one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not carnal 45 Observ That although it 's the duty of People to have a great and high esteem of the Ministers of the Gospel yet they are not sinfully and inordinately to admire or rest meerly upon any mens persons 46 Wherein the respect due to the Ministers of the Gospel doth consist ibid And when it may degenerate into sinfull admiration 48 For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not carnal 49 Observ That it is not lawfull for Christians to call themselves by the Name of any men though never so Eminent so as to build on them 50 Of the Names that Christians have been called by in several Ages ibid. Observ That when the Devil cannot hurt the Church by a prophane and sinfull Ministry then he labours to destroy it by abusing the names and esteem of those who are truly holy and eminent 54 What are the common wayes of Satans doing hurt to the Church by the Ministers and Officers thereof ibid. And even by eminent godly men 56 1 COR. 1.12 And I of Christ 58 Observ That although Christ only is to be relied upon as the Head of his Church yet it is not his will that under this pretence we should despise or contemn his Ministry and the means of grace he hath appointed 59. Of sinfull setting up of Christ ibid. Of the causes of grace Efficient and Instrumental ibid. Verse 5. Who then is Paul and who is Apollo 62 Observ That faithfull Ministers seek not to win or gain a people to themselves but to Christ 63 A two-fold end of preaching the Word ibid. The Characters of that Ministry that seeks not the peoples applause but to bring them to Christ 64 Who then is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed 66 Observ That the Ministry in Gods Church is the Means and instrumental Cause he hath appointed to work Faith and all other Graces in the Hearers 67 How the Ministry is not an instrumental cause of grace and how it is ibid The properties of the Ministry as such a cause 69 Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man 70 Observ That Faith is the great and eminent grace which God by the Ministry works in some Hearers ibid The Nature of Faith It s three Acts Knowledge Assent and a resting on Christ 71 The Effects of faith ad intra 72 Ad extra 73 Even as the Lord gave to every man 74 Observ That God hath given several Gifts and Abilities to the Ministers of the Church and thereby makes use of them all for his glorious ends ibid. Why all Ministers have not the same gifts 76 Rules or Helps to profit by the Ministry 77 Verse 6. I have planted Apollo watered but God gave the increase 78 Observ That it's Gods unspeakable goodness sometimes to send his Word and plant his Gospel among a people that never heard or knew any thing of it before 79 Apollo watered 82 Observ That it is not enough for a people once to receive the true Faith and principles of Religion but they need a further watering and quickning them up to grow ibid. Wherein this spiritual watering consists 83 And why there is such need of quickning means 84 But God gave the encrease 85 Observ That it's God only who can and will give encrease and spiritual successe to the Ministerial labours in the Church 86 How God works 90 Wherein God giveth the increase ibid. And why he only can 92 Verse 7. So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 93 Observ That the best and most able Ministry is nothing without Gods power giving the increase 94 What the Apostle doth not mean and what he doth mean in saying The Ministry is nothing ibid. Directions how to hear the Word 96 Verse 8. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one 97 Observ That although there is diversity and variety in the gifts of the Ministers yet they all ought to agree in one ibid. They should agree in Doctrine in their End and Scope and in Affection 98 The sad effects of dis-union in the Ministers 99 What people should do when Ministers and Professours are divided ibid. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour 101 Of Reward and Merit 101 105 106 Observ That according to a mans labour and working for God he is sure to have a proportionable reward 102 All have work to do ibid. A two-fold doing of good works ibid. The requisites to such a work as God will accept 103 A lawfull self-seeking 105 Verse 9. For we are labourers together with God 109 Observ That the Ministers of the Gospel are workers with God for the conversion of mens souls So 2 Cor. 6.1 110 Why God will have co-workers ibid. Ye are Gods husbandry ye are Gods building 113 Observ That the people of God are his husbandry and building ibid. What our being Gods husbandry and building joyntly implies ibid. And then what they severally imply 114 Ye are Gods building 117 Doct. That particular Churches are or should be Gods house Gods building ibid Of Gods house or Church ibid. What Gods building and our being his house implieth 118 Verse 10. According to the grace of God which is given unto me c. 121 Observ That it 's the property of godly men in all the good they have or do to attribute all to Gods grace ibid. The Properties of praising Gods grace ibid. Why the godly are so sensible of Gods grace 123 How profitable that duty is ibid. What opinlons are coolers of this duty of giving thanks to free grace 124 As a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation ibid Observ It 's a special part of the wisdom and heavenly art of the Ministers of the Gospel to lay a good and sure

fiducial and confident resting upon God or Christ and this is indeed the most noble and excellent Act of Faith Even as reason and understand are the chiefest acts of man though he can also sentire Faith as it doth thus rely on Christ it Justifieth But not only in matter of Justification doth it thus depend on God but also in all outward calamities and streights it in ableth the soul to rest and leane on the Lord. This is that trusting which David doth so often exhort to in the Psalmes For as a man cannot walk without legs or a Bird fly without wings so the soul of a man being wholly unable and impotent cannot subsist of it self but it must have something to lean upon It 's like Ivy that cannot grow of it self Now if the heart of man be corrupt his trust is wholly carnal he beareth up his heart and supports himself with some bladders or stilts that the world affords him But if his heart be sanctified then he doth solely depend upon the Power and Promise of God Now this trusting in God is a special duty and David many times useth this Argument why God should help him because he trusted in him We cannot in an higher manner glorifie God then by trusting in him For hereby we acknowledge God to be the Jehovah that he alone doth all things Insomuch that this is one of the chiefest duties required in the first Commandement The grace then of Faith hath this peculiar effect upon a man that it lifteth up the soul to God and maketh it rest and solely depend on him It 's true even in natural men there seemeth to be a trust in God but that doth as much differ from this holy confidence as light from darknesse For no natural man can put his trust in God there being as much grace required to put forth this as any other holy duty Secondly This trusting in God hath Its general Object And It s more special and adaequate Object The general Object is Any good thing that we stand in need of So that whatsoever the soul wants or the body wants Whatsoever thy necessities are thou art to depend on God for the supply This our Saviour insinuateth Mat. 6. to his Disciples when he tels them they should not be doubtfull and distrustfull what they should eat or drink but rest satisfied wholly in Gods provision who is an heavenly Father And therefore there is not any grace hath such a peculiar property to allay the tempests and rebuke the stormes of the soul as this hath This is David's Harp to chase away the evil spirit Whence are all those soul dividing and tormenting cares but from want of trust in God It were not possible thy heart should be so disquieted and tossed up and down if thou didst thus rest on him For this trusting in God it is a Catholocum it 's a general Remedy to all Exercises to all Dejections And hence when the Prophet Habbakuk saith The Just shall live by Faith the great Act of Faith in that place is dependance on God But then Faith as it's trusting and relying on God hath a more special and noble Object and that is Christ our Mediatour In the sense of all our guilt and unworthinesse we are to throw our selves on him And this is like the looking on the Brazen Serpent by which we are healed It 's not working or labouring but resting of our souls on Christ that justifieth And indeed if we can trust on him for our Justification for our salvation what a shame is it we cannot depend on him for supply of all outward necessities Doth not the Apostle argue with the highest reason that can be Rom. 8. If he hath given us Christ how shall he not with him give all things else Will not this shame all thy distrustfull and dividing thoughts when thou shalt say I believe in God for the salvation of my soul yet I cannot trust him with my Children my health or any other streight I am in Thirdly The Motives to trust in God in the midst of all Exercises are two-fold Gods Promise And Gods Power For as our Saviour said concerning those who did not believe the Scripture They erred because they did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God Thus it 's here All thy dejected and repining thoughts arise within thee because thou art ignorant of his Truth his power First There must be Gods Promise otherwise it 's not trust in God but carnal presumption If a man should neither work nor eat or drink yet say He trusts in God for his life this would be desperate presumption for there is no Promise made to such Therefore whatsoever thy heart is born up with be sure thou hast a Promise for it And if there be a Promise then know Heaven and Earth will sooner fail then that Promise It 's true in the Old-Testament dispensation there were particular Promises made for many mercies so that they might the more boldly confide in God As David in this very particular he had a peculiar Promise that the Kingdom should be established to him and therefore he was assured that this Conspiracy of Absolom should not prevail Now although we have not such peculiar Promises made to us that God will remove such a calamity take away such an affliction yet we have a general Promise for every good thing and that all things shall turn to our good Which may make every Believer say I know either God will take this affliction away or it will be for my good That it is better for me to have it then to be without it And is not here ground of quietnesse enough within thee This makes the Apostle James give such a Proviso to all our Petitions Let him ask in Faith nothing doubting Chap. 1. for if he doubteth let him be assured he shall have nothing Now how must a Christian in every Prayer about temporal things pray without doubting I shall not say as some do That even in all temporal mercies we are to pray with the same assurance as for spiritual That temporal things are as absolutely promised as spiritual And therefore if any temporal mercy be not vouchsafed to us it 's wholly for want of Faith and Confidence But I rather joyn with those that say He must not doubt of Gods Truth and Goodnesse to help neither must he doubt whether he shall not have that or the equivalent This he must assure himself of And truly if a Christian would proceed thus farre he would find a world of ease and quietnesse in his mind And as Gods Promise so his Power also that is a second Motive for this trust in God For if we do not believe God is able to raise up the dead to call things as are not as if they were If we think the temptation too great the affliction too desperate then we cannot put any assurance in God Fourthly We adde in the Doctrine that Faith depending upon God

to grow in knowledge and mind the things of Religion but still we must be sensible of our own weaknesses If any man think he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know 1 Cor. 8.2 Oh it 's a dangerous thing when a man that is weak doth not know his weaknesse but thinketh he doth know as much as others Thirdly The last efficient are for these will come in better in the after verses Worldly hopes and desires of carnal advantages What made Judas cause such a sad breach among the Disciples but earthly gain The Apostle chargeth this upon many false Apostles this made the shipwrack of their faith and a good conscience when men judge gain godlinesse judge gain Religion and measure all things by this it cannot but make great divisions Many of those Hereticks in former times were so discontent they missed that worldly greatnesse and pomp they expected which made Austin put this in the definition of an Heretick that he doth beget or follow new opinions Alicujus temporalis commodi gratiâ for the sake of some temporal advantage Lastly There is an occasional cause but not efficient and that hath been the tyranny and scandalous lives of Church-officers This hath many times made sad rents Church-officers by their loose lives and rigid cruelty have made schismes and then they cry out of them and punish them One cause of Tertullians Montanizing was the loose lives of the Roman Clergy We see by Christs Parable Luke 12.45 it 's no new thing for such Officers to rule in Christs house as shall drink and be drunk and beat their fellow-servants putting off the thoughts of their Masters coming Therefore the bloody cruelty or licentious prophane lives of those that have ruled in the Church have made a just cause of troubles and divisions neither are those that make the division then to be blamed if it be in that which is good and after a good manner but the actings and lives of such Church-officers I should speak of the final causes but they will come in afterwards Vse 1. Of Instruction That Vnity and Catholick consent is not a sure mark of a Chu●ch or divisions a note of a false oxe The Papists they think they strike us to the ground by this You Protestants are fallen into manifold Sects they will reckon up fourscore factions Now this indeed is a very plausible objection but it might have been cast upon the Church of Corinth and upon the primitive Churches As for the Protestants they that take themselves to be so indeed for Socinians and others we own them not they differ not in fundamentals In matter of Church-goverment or Rites of Religion there may be some discrepancy but in fundamental Articles they consent And as for Papists themselves their Writers have factions and bitter strifes one with another as might be shewed at large They have no such consent as the vulgar people are made to believe Do not therefore be scandalized to see diversity of factions and opinions What grief is it to hear people say one is of this way and another is of that way who can tell what is true and so they grow very Atheists If thy faith were sound this would not stagger thee God hath wise ends in suffering of these breaches Vse 2. Take heed whom you call factious and seditious for if men go no farther than to strive for the true Doctrine against errors or the power of godlinesse against prophanenesse and that in a prudent and orderly way this is no faction but zeal Christ himself made these divisions Father against sonne and son against father to disquiet Satans kingdome to bring sinne to a due punishment to make a cord as Christ did to cast out all prophanenesse and superstition out of the Church of God This is still no faction but true zeal and love to God Vse 3. Of Admonition to those that are or would be accounted godly be humble modest keep your places God hath put you in Oh think it had been better thou hadst never been born than to make any sinfull divisions in the Church I say sinfull For to divide from sinne and Idolatry is a necessary duty onely be sure hat be sinne and Idolatry which thou callest so All that reproach and scandal which comes to Religion and godlinesse by divisions will in a great measure fall on thee Take up Jonahs resolution when he saw the tempests and winds did rise because of him Take and throw me into the sea for I have sinned If godly men cannot be of one mind yet humility moderation pure ends and love to the Word and Ministry will much further it for the divisions of Reuben were great searchings of heart Cursed be their fury for in their anger they dug down a wall yea they tore the body of Christ Are ye not carnal and walk as men The Apostle had proved they were carnal and so incapable subjects for the sublimer Mysteries of Christ by an enumeration of severall sinnes that did necessarily demonstrate this upon which he makes a repetition or re-inforcement of the Conclusion to be proved Are ye not carnal Where the Interrogation doth put more quickness and sharpness into his words And for the further amplification and shame of them he addeth Do ye not walk as men As if he had said What a reproach and dishonour is it to you who are called of God who have put on Christ who are sanctified by his Name to be as other men of the world Passionate as they are Covetous earthly envious and quarrelsome as they are In the Scripture the word man or according to a man hath severall significations Sometimes it is put for love and mildness Thus God said in Hosea Hos 11.4 He drew them by the cords of a man that is love And so to chastise with the rod of man 2 Sam. 7.14 is to do it moderately and mercifully At other times the Phrase to speak after a man denotes to use any similitude or Comparison from matters used amongst men Gal. 3.15 But most frequently the word is used in a debasing way Either for frailty and misery As What is man And That they may know themselves to be but men Psal 9.20 Ye shall die like men Or else for that which is sinfull and wicked because man is wholly corrupted and plunged into all sin Rom. 6.19 Hos 6.9 So that to call one a man or to say a man you name all sinne and misery at the same time Oh how should this debase and vilifie the proudest and higest of men How should this make them look upon themselves as worse then Toades or Serpents in many respects And in this sense it is used here Walk ye not as men in opposition to God his Power and Holiness which he demonstrated in all Believers Doct. That all those who are named Christians and would be accounted so yet walke and live as those that are more than meer men They must not