Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	abandon_v	church_n	superior_n	12	3	9.8556	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09063	A Christian directorie guiding men to their saluation. Deuided into three bookes. The first vvherof apperteining to resolution, is only conteined in this volume, deuided into tvvo partes, and set forth novv againe vvith many corrections, and additions by th'authour him self, vvith reprofe of the corrupt and falsified edition of the same booke lately published by M. Edm. Buny. Ther is added also a methode for the vse of al; with two tables, and a preface to the reader, which is necessarie to be reade.; First booke of the Christian exercise.	Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610.	1585 (1585)	STC 19354.1; ESTC S114169	529,786	953

her but by calling them reformers Illuminates vnspotted bretheren and such other names that are different from Catholiques He that protesteth with S. Ierom that he doth abhorre all sectes and names of particuler men as Marcionistes Montanistes Valentinians and the like he that doth confesse sincerlie with blessed Cyprian that one priest for the time is to be obeyed by gods ordinance as iudge in Christes roome by the vniuersal brotherhode of al Christianitie he that is modest quiete sober voide of contētion obedient as S. Paul describeth a true and good Catholique he that is humble i his owne cōcept and aggreinge to humble thinges firme in faith not variable nor delighted vvith nevv doctrines he that can captiuate his vnderstandinge to the obedience of Christ which is to beleeue humblie such thinges as Christ by his church proposeth vnto him albeit his reason or sense should stande against the same And finallie he that can be content at Christes commandement to heare the Church in al thinges without doubt or exception and obey the Gouernours therof albeit in life they be Scribes and Pharises and consequentelie can say trulie sincerlie with the whole College of Christes Apostles together Creda sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam I doe belieue the holie Catholique vniue sal Church and what soeuer that Church doth set furth teach holde or beleeue that man no doubt is in a most sure case for matters of his faith and can not possiblie walke awry therin but may thinke hym self a good Christian for this first pointe which is for matters of beliefe THERE FOLLOVVETH the second parte of Christian profession concerning life and manners which is a matter of so much more difficultie then the former by how many more wayes a man may be lead from vertuous life then from sincere faith Wherin ther can be no comparison at all seing the pathe of our beliefe is so manifest as hath beneshewed that no mā cā erre therin but of inexcusable wilfulnes Which wilfulnes in errour the holie fathers of Christes primatiue Church did alwayes referre to two principal and original causes that is to pride or ouerweening in our owne concepts and to malice against our superiours for not giuing vs contentation in things that we desire Of the first doe proceede the deuising of new opinions new glosing expounding and applying of Scriptures the calling of holy writ it self in question the contempt of auncient customes and traditions the preferring of our iudgments before al others either present or past the debasing of holie Fathers priests prelates Councels ordinances constitutions and al other thinges and proofes what so euer that stand not with our owne good liking and approbatiō Of the second fountaine are deriued other qualities conformable to that humour as are the denying of Iurisdictiō and authoritie in our Superiours the contempt of Prelates th' exaggeration of the faults and defectes of our Gouernours th' impugnation of al Bishoplike dignitie or ecclesiastical eminentie and especially of the Sea Aposto lique wherunto appertainet the correction of such like offendours finally for satisfying this deuilishe and most pernicious veine of malice thos wicked reprobates doe incite and arme the people against their spiritual pastours they enkindle factions against Gods annointed substitutes they deuise a new Church a new forme of gouernment a new kingdome and ecclefiastical hierarchie vpon earth wherby to bring men in doubt and staggering what or whom to beleeue or wherunto to haue recourse in such difficulties as doe arise Thes two maladies I save of Pride and Malice haue bene the two causes of obstinate errour in al heretiques from the beginning as ful wel noted that holy and auncient martir S. Cyprian when he said so longe agoe Thes are the beginnings and original causes of heretiques and wicked schismatsques first to please and like wel of them selues and then being puffed vp with the swelling of pride to cōtemne their gouernours superiours Thus doe they abandone and forsake the church thus doe they erect a prophane Altar out of the church agaīst the church Thus doe they breake the peace and vnitie of Christ and doe rebell against Gods holie ordination Now then as thes are the causes either only or principal of erring ī our beleefe most facile and easie as we see to be discerned so of errour in life maners ther are many more occasions causes ofspringes and fountaines to be found That is to saye so many in number as we haue euil passions inordinate appetites wicked desires or vnlauful inclinations within our mynde euery one wherof is the cause oftentimes of disordered life and breach of Gods commandementes For which respect ther is much more set doune ī Scripture for exhortation to good life then to faith for that the errour herein is more ordinary and easie and more prouoked by our owne frailtie as also by the multitude of infinite temptations Wherfore we read that our Saueour Iesus in the verie beginning of his preaching straight after he was baptised had chosen vnto hym S. Peter and S. Andrew Iames and Iohn some other few Disciples wēt vp to the moūtaine ther made his first most excellēt famous and copious sermon recited by S. Mathew in three whole chapters wherin he talketh of nothing els but of vertuous life pouertie meekenes iustice puritie sorowe for sinne patience in suffering contempt of riches forgyuing of iniuries fasting prayer penance entring by the strait gate and finally of perfection holines and integritie of cōuersation and of the exact fulfilling of euery iote of Gods lawe and commaundementes He assured his Disciples with greate asseueration that he came not to breake the law but to fulfil the same and consequentelie whosoeuer should breake the least of his commaundementes and should so teache men to doe that is should perseuer therein without repentance and so by his example drawe other men to doe the like should haue no place in the kingdome of heauen Againe he exhorted thē most earnestlie to be lightes and to shyne by good workes to all the world and that excepte their iustice did exceede the iustice of Scribes and pharises which was but ordinarie and external they could not be saued He told them plainlie they might not serue two masters in this life but either must forsake God or abandon Mammon He cried vnto them Attendite stand attent and consider well your state and condition and then againe seeke to enter by the straite gate And lastlie he concludeth that th' onlie trial of a good tree is the good fruite which it yeeldeth without which fruite let the tree be neuer so faire or pleasant to the eye yet is it to be cut downe burned that not euerie one who shal say or crie vnto hym Lord Lord at the last daye should be saued or enter into the kingdome of heauen but onlie such as did execute in

Cessant Oracula Delphis Al Oracles at Delphos doe nowcease etc. That also of an other Poete Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis Dij quibus imperium hoc steterat c. That is the Goddes by whom this empire stood are al departed from their temples and haue abandoned their Altars places of habitatiō Strabo also hath thes expresse wordes The Oracle of Delphos at this daye is to be sene in extreme beggarie and mēdicitie And finally Plutarche that liued within one hundreth yeares after Christ made a special booke to search out the causes why the Oracles of the Goddes were ceased in his time And after much turning winding many waies resolued vpon two principal pointes as causes therof The first for that in his time ther was more store of wise men then before whos answers might stād in stead of Oracles and the other that peraduenture the spirits which were accustomed to yeeld Oracles were by length of time growen olde and dead Both which reasons in the verie common sense of al men must needs be false and by Plutarch him self can not stand with probabilitie For first in his bookes which he wrote of the liues of auncient famous men he confesseth that in such kinde of wisdom as he most esteemed they had not their equals amōg their posteritie Secondlie in his treatises of Philosophie he passeth it for a ground that spirits not depēding of material bodies can not die or waxe olde and therfore of necessitie we must conclude that some other cause is to be yeelded of the ceasing of thes Oracles which can not be but the presence and commaundement of some higher power according to the saying of S. Iohn To this ende appeared the sonne of God that he might dissolue or ouerthrovve the vvorkes of the deuil Neither did Iesus this alone in his owne person but gaue also power and authoritie to his disciples and folowers to doe the like according to their commission in S. Matheus ghospel Super omnia Demonia spiritus immundos c. You shal haue authoritie ouer al deuils and vncleane spirites Which commission how they afterward put in execution the whole world yeeldeth testimonie And for examples 〈◊〉 onlie I wil alleage in this place an offer or chalēge made for proof therof by Tertullian to the heathen magistrates and persecutcurs of his time his wordes are thes Let ther be brought here in presence before your tribunal seats some person who is certainly knowen to be possessed with a wicked spirite and let that spirite be commaunded by a Christian to speake and he shal as trulie confesse him self to be a deuil as at other times to you he wil falselie say that he is a God Againe at the same time let there be brought forth one of thes your priests or Prophets that wil seeme to be possessed by a diuine spirite I meane of thos that speake gasping c. in whom you imagine your Gods to talke and except that spirit also commaunded by vs doe confesse him self to be a deuil being indeed afraid to lye vnto a Christian doe you shedde the blood of the Christiās in that very place c. None wil lye to their owne shame but rather for honour or aduantage yet thos spirits wil not saye to vs that Christ was a Magician as you doe nor that he was of the common condition of men They wil not saie he was stolne out of his sepulcher but they wil confesse that he was the vertue wisdome and worde of God that he is in heauen and that he shal come againe to be our iudge c. Neither wil thes deuils in our presence denie them selues to be vncleane spirits and damned for their wickednes and that they expect his most horrible iudgment professing also that they doe feare Christ in God and God in Christ and that they are made subiect vnto his seruantes Hytherto are the wordes of Tertullian conteining as I haue said a most confident chalenge and that vpō the liues and blood of al Christians to make trial of their power in controlling thos spirites which the Romanes and other Gentiles adored as their Godes Which offer seing it was made exhibited to the persecutors them selues then liuing in Rome wel may we be assured that the enemie would neuer haue omitted so notorious an aduauntage if by former experience he had not bene persuaded that the ioining herein would haue turned and redounded to his owne confusion And this Puissant authoritie of Iesus imparted to Christians extended it self so farre forth that not only their wordes and commandemētes but euen their very presence did shut the mouthes and driue into feare thes miserable spirites So Lactantius sheweth that in his daies among many other exāples of this thing a seely seruing-man that was a Christiā folowing his maister into a certaine temple of Idoles the Godes cried out that nothing could be weldone as long as that Christian was in presence The like recordeth Eusebius of Diocletian th' Emperour who going to Apollo for an Oracle receyued answere that the iust mē vvere the cause that be could saye nothing Which iust men Apollos priest interpreted to be meant ironically of Christians therevpon Diocletian beganne his most cruel and fearce persecution in Eusebius daies Sozomenus also writeth that luliā th' Apostata endeuoring with many sacrifices and coniurations to drawe an answere from Apollo Daphnaeus in a famous place called daphne in the suburbes of Antioche vnderstood at last by the Oracle that the bones of S. Babylas the Martyr that laie nere to the place were the impedimēt why that God could not speake And therupō Iulian presently caused the same bodie to be remoued And finally here of it proceeded that in all sacrifices coniurations and other mysteries of the Gentils ther was brought in that phrase recorded by scoffing Lucian Exeant Christiani let Christians depart for that while they were present nothing could be wel accomplished To conclude the Pagane Porphyrie that of al other most earnestly endeuored to impugne and disgrace vs Christiās and to holde vp the honour of his enfeebled idoles yet discoursing of the great plague that raigned most furiously in the Citie of Messina i Cicilie wher he dwelt yeeldeth this reason why Aesculapius the God of Physike much adored in that place was not able to helpe them It is no maruailes sayeth 〈◊〉 this Citie so many yeares be vexed vvith the plague seing that both Aesculapius and al other Godes be novv departed from it by the comming of Christians For since that men haue bigunne to vvorship this Iesus vve could neuer obtaine any profite by our Godes Thus much confessed this Patrone of paganisme concerning the mayme that his Godes had receyued by Iesus honour Which albeit he spake with a malitious minde to bring Christians in hatred and persecution therby yet is the confession notable and confirmeth that storie