Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	according_a	grace_n	work_n	1,598	5	6.0605	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15013	Prototypes, or, The primarie precedent presidents out of the booke of Genesis shewing, the [brace] good and bad things [brace] they did and had practically applied to our information and reformation / by that faithfull and painefull preacher of Gods word William Whately ... ; together with Mr. Whatelyes life and death ; published by Mr. Edward Leigh and Mr. Henry Scudder, who were appointed by the authour to peruse his manuscripts, and printed by his owne coppy.	Whately, William, 1583-1639.; Leigh, Edward, 1602-1671.; Scudder, Henry, d. 1659?	1640 (1640)	STC 25317.5; ESTC S4965	513,587	514

amongst them from their lusts that war in their members You see the loathsomenesse of this vice from the bad causes and effects of it Take notice therefore of your owne hearts and lives and see if none of you bee a quarellous and contentious person that is ready upon every occasion to strive with his brother and to breake forth into brawles and suits challenging that which is none of his and disquieting his brethren and himselfe A man may use legall meanes to get and keepe that which is rightfully due to him but he must not doe this in a froward manner with bitternesse and rage against his adversary but for the things that appertaine not to him in equity hee must make no striving at all otherwise he is a contentious man And because selfe-love maketh us so blinde that wee are apt to deceive our selves and to imagine we have good title to that which indeed belongs not to us wee must bee content to referre our selves willingly to other mens judgements and not stand upon our owne opinions I mean to other indifferent and uninterested persons whose judgements are like to bee clearer than our owne in things wherein themselves be not ingaged Let me therefore commend peace and concord let nothing bee done of strife in an humour to crosse and oppose another or to vexe and anger him If covetousnesse or envy rule in a mans heart hee will boile with contention and flame forth into debates and strifes but if he have an heart contented with his estate and charitably disposed to his brethren hee will then insue peace and follow after it For a just controversie may bee carried in a quiet and peaceable manner and so ought to be but be the cause of striving never so equall if the thing be carried tumultuously with bitter words and behaviour with railings swellings whisperings backbitings mutuall disgracing and upbraiding one another this is a signe of a naughty heart in whom the wisdome that is from below doth rule and beare sway Resolve therefore to follow peace with all men not striving but upon just cause and then also in a loving gentle and milde manner And so much for Isaacs contemporaries with whom his occasions gave him cause of intermingling I proceed now to Isaacs heire and successor that is to say Iacob * ⁎ * THE EIGHTEENTH EXAMPLE OF IACOB THE word Iacob signifieth he holds the heele the reason of which name you may reade Gen. 25. 26. He and Esau were Twins born at one birth Esau was the first borne and when he was borne his brother came out after him and held him by the heele whence this name was given him Of Iacob we must shew three things as in former Examples His birth life and death Concerning his birth the time and parents were the same which we noted before of Esau the manner was as you have heard as if hee had wrestled with his brother for the birth-right even in the birth in which may seem to be signified the great stir that should be betwixt their Successours as well as themselves yea and betwixt the good and bad in all ages even those that are heires of the promise and those that be contemners of the promise For the Lord had foretold that two Nations were in Rebekkahs wombe which should be separated one from the other and in them the Lord did manifest the freedome of his Election seeing he chose the younger before the elder to inherite the promises and that before they had done good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might remaine or be firme not of workes but of him that calleth meaning that Gods intention of saving by his grace who freely calleth not of any workes in any person whether repenting beleeving or any other workes might be stedfast and stable No workes cause God to call one or to purpose to call one or not to call another but alone his good pleasure whereof though it be sure that God hath in himselfe just reason for he is a reasonable agent and doth all things and most understandingly yet he sees it not good to reveale to us any reason because he would make us see what subjection we owe to him that is to say to rest in his will as a sufficient reason to satisfie us God might have purposed to call and also have called all without any picking or choosing or preferring one before another but his purpose was according to election or choice he intended not to raise up all out of the miserable estate into which Adam brought all but alone some and in his choosing he might have left whom he tooke and contrarily but he would take some not all and these not those because in his wisdome he saw it fit and so great is his power and soveraignty that we ought to be contented with this reason God would have it so Gods Election is his purpose to call such and such leaving the rest and of this purpose we can give no other cause but this so it seemed good unto him though himselfe have such grounds of his choice within himselfe as it is fit for a wise agent to have for the ground of all his actions He that will not quiet himselfe thus in the matter of election shall entangle himselfe so that he will never bee loosed And so much of Iacobs birth Now for his life we will consider his vertues faults crosses benefits For his vertues we will speake of them first in generall and here two things are noted in him Gen. 25.27 Iacob was a plaine man and did dwell in Tents The word translated a plaine man signifieth a perfect or upright man It is of larger signification than that phrase of ours A plaine man for that in common speech noteth one that is simple and dealeth squarely and eavenly without fraud deceit guile or any tricks in his actions so may one be and have no great goodnesse in him But this word is used to denote an upright hearted man a truly and intirely godly man a perfect man that is good within as well as without and good in all things at all times and in all places one as well as another one that carefully follows all the Commandements of God not giving himselfe leave to swerve from any of Gods wayes at any time Perfection is that property in things by which they have all which is requisite for their due constitution There is a double perfection one of degrees unattainable in this life and it is when a man hath all the parts of obedience in the highest degree that the Law requireth of him this is a legall perfection without which no man can be justified before God by the Law and because no man can attain it therefore By the Law shall no flesh be justified but beleevers have it in Christ in whom they are made the righteousnesse or God and to whom righteousnesse without workes meaning workes of their own

forth his griefe before God in these words If thou wilt deale thus with me kill me now kil me if I have found favour in thine eyes and let me not see mine evill Sometimes you finde good men desirous to escape death and crying Lord save me from the hands of mine enemies and sometimes againe even covetous of it and crying with vehemency again and again kill me Lord kill me and if thou lovest me kill me Iob was exceeding desirous to die and said He would seek for it as for gold yea and fine gold So you perceive that mans nature is prone to waxe weary of living because of affliction and that this is a fault and a weaknesse is evident It is an act of ingratitude because a man considers not as well the good he enjoyeth as the evill for if he would reckon well he doth alwaies receive more good at Gods hand in this life than evill but as one bitter morsell causeth that the mouth tasteth nothing almost but bitternesse though it have before received many dainty morsels so it is with us in this case Againe it is a fruit of hopelesnesse and despaire the soule doth not expect the favourable goodnesse of God to strengthen and deliver in due time but thinks it will never be better with mee till I die and therefore wisheth it selfe out of the world Hope would hold the heart up from these faintings but it is a kinde of despaire that casts it into such swounes as Iob said As for mine hope where is it Thirdly pride is one great cause of this disposition men consider not with themselves how unworthy they be of any good how much they have deserved far greater evill and therefore are immoderately vexed with those they feele and therefore count their beeing a burden But is it not a fruit of great pride in a man that as if he were his own maker preserver disposer will be no longer then he may have his own will and may see things to go along with him after his owne wishes Further a man wrongs himselfe exceedingly by suffering himself to grow weary of life for first he makes the misery greater by makeing himselfe weaker to beare it If a man be to beare a great burden it doth him much hurt to scratch the skin of his shoulder for that will adde much to the pain of bearing A gauled place will smart of it selfe how ill doth be provide for himselfe that rubs off the skin from his shoulders when he is put to carry a thing So doth he that will needs give way to so much impatiency as to be weary of life yea he exposeth himselfe to the danger of becomming a self-murtherer that yeeldeth to this wearinesse of life For it will not be very hard to perswade any man to cast away that which is his burden So it is evident that this was an offence in Rebekkah And now come you men and women of all rankes looke into your selves Have not you also been weary of life and that upon a very small occasion A maide is crossed in her desires by her parents for her good and she sees no likelihood of having what shee would have then she pules and takes on and wisheth she were dead and buried she would forgive him that would knock her on the head A man hath met with somewhat a froward woman which vexeth him with her words then he will be dead in a chafe I would I were out of the world never man was so pestered with a shrew as I so it is with wives too Come now recount you owne passions are you not ashamed of these drunken distempers what is life a thing so dog cheape with you that upon every occasion you would cast it away Are your selves things of so little value that so small a matter should make you weary of your selves You wrong God exceedingly in such distempers for you make it appeare that you think of him as of an angry governour that cares not how unreasonably he laies upon his servants in his anger Either these corrections are sufferable or not I meane such as by wisdome and discretion you might compose your selves to beare with gentlenesse or they be not if they be why do you chafe thus If they be not who hath sent them Verily you provoke God to send unsufferable crosses that will make easie crosses unsufferable What saith the Father to the froward childe doe you cry for nothing take you that then to make you cry for something and so doubles and redoubles his blows with a strong arme till the childe feeling the smart of his Fathers anger begins to compose himselfe to a little more sufferance Brethren let us repent of this folly there scarce liveth a man that hath not overshot himselfe in this fashion O let us repent of it and let us diligently resist such disorderly passions hereafter Let nothing make us weary of life but sin and not that so excessively as to make us intemperately wish death Of sin we should be weary but of life for sins sake I know not whether we may allow our selves at all to be weary But for crosses be they what they will we should not be so weak and impatient as to grow weary of life For God is able to deliver us out of all crosses and will do it and he will so sanctifie them to us that it may be more for our profit than if it were removed and can give as in Iobs case he did so blessed an issue that our selves shall confesse it was but our folly not to be willing to continue under them according to his will Had not Iob cause to unwish his former wishes when the Lord did make so large an addition of happy dayes unto him Above all we must consider of our worthinesse to be damned that we may not thinke much of crosses and labour so to rest upon God for the escape of damnation that afflictions which are but for a short season may not seeme unto us extreame Looke upon our Lord Iesus Christ what sufferings were comparable to his Yet we never meet with any wearinesse of life or wishing of death in him Looke upon S. Paul too Never man had feeling of greater tribulation and he tels us that hee tooke pleasure in necessities afflictions tribulations but that he wished himselfe dead that hee might be free from his crosses wee never reade Let us follow the vertues of godly men but let their weaknesses be our warnings And that we may not distaste life for any crosses that befall us therein let us often renew our faith in Gods gracious promises to give us an happy issue out of all and to bring us safely to his heavenly kingdome Moreover if sometimes these fainting fits doe gather upon us and our mindes be overtaken with this tirednesse of spirit let us learne though to be humbled yet not to be discouraged We conclude not against Elias Moses Rebekkah Iob that they were not truly

unprofitably brought up to the knowledge of himselfe such a one shall be much more to seeke how to live religiously than another that hath some imployment for in not knowing what course to take he is made to stand distracted and doubtfull of his course and so full of vexation and unquietnesse Now all you Parents that have neglected your children very much and suffered them to trifle out all that golden season of youth in which they should have fitted themselves for a profitable and comfortable life in elder dayes be ashamed you have been so foolish as not alone to transgresse the duty of Christians but even that which the heathens have done You have been causes of your childrens misery and the Common-wealth too and if it proceed not from some other cause then from wisdome your children must be but burdens and diseases to themselves and the world Rich Parents are sometimes guilty of this fault for they thinke they shall leave them sufficient to maintaine them though they doe nothing and therefore intend them not to any vocation not considering how soon the Lord can empty a full Vessell and make the River Iordan yea the red Sea dry as dry ground and then what will become of their children Yea as not considering that to leave children much wealth and not some sufficiency for good imployment of themselves is to leave them furnished to doe themselves hurt and others and to bring all to nought quickly But many of the poorer ranke are guilty of this fault too who give themselves so to unthriftinesse that they cannot bestow so much as reading and writing on them much lesse some higher calling to which these should fit them If any mans unpreventable poverty disable him we blame him not for that to which necessity compels him only so that he pull not that necessity on himselfe but he that in a poore estate hath not some care to bring up his children to worke and if he cannot effect it himselfe doth not herein seeke help of the publique and able persons is not so good a Parent as nature will teach him that he should therefore now I commend Iacobs patterne to your eyes and pray you to cut out your lives according to his scantling Be not wanting to your childrens welfare the common prosperity and your owne comfort Let not others have cause to bestow upon you the reproofe of Solomon A childe left to himselfe maketh his Mother ashamed and what is hee but left to himselfe and the devill that is not acquainted with any profitable employment in a calling And let me speake something to children in this behalfe If Parents take never so due care and children will cast off the yoake what can the Parents doe Therefore you must learne you selves to practise subjection to your Parents as in all other things so in this Be carefull in the callings wherein your Parents have thought fit to place you that you may get ability in them to doe good to your selves and others The inconveniences that else will presse you hereafter shall prove more burden some unto your consciences when you shall be upbraided with these thoughts ah I might have done well but for mine owne wilfulnesse had I answered my Parents care and cost it would not have been thus evill with me But now to a second duty performed to them all Hee blessed them all according to their severall blessings as is noted of him that is he pronounced in Gods name and by way of promise from him what good things God would doe for each of them in his posterity that was to come after him For a mans selfe is blessed when hee is assured that benefits shall be granted to his childrens children in future generations Now in this way of blessing we cannot imitate him because wee want the Spirit of prophesie to foretell future events but there is a way of blessing which lyeth upon each of us we must pray for a blessing to our children and to our posterity after us and must carry our selves so religiously and righteously that we may procure a blessing to them by vertue of Gods promise to the seed of the righteous A good man walketh in his integrity and his children shall be blessed after him and Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord his children shall be like Olive plants Loe how you must blesse your children feare God walke uprightly and then shall you conveigh a blessing to them And so it is said He is ever mercifull and lendeth and his seed is blessed There cannot be a better Counsellor than Gods Spirit see the way of blessing your children and you that have cursed your children as many a Father hath done both with bitter curses in word and also by walking in a way of cursednesse abhorre your selves that have walked into a way quite contrary to that wherein Iacob did walk The Lord hath appointed that the Son which curseth the Father should die the death Although the Parent owe not so much respect reverence and gratitude to the childe as on the other side yet sure hee doth owe as much love and this cursing contradicteth love because to love is to wish well and to curse is to wish ill therefore God will punish him severely also that curseth his children I doe not meane him that in Gods name doth pronounce a curse against them but him that in his fury doth make some ill wish against them O how unnaturall is that man who doth worse than ever it was heard that any bruit beast hath done yet that is in a rage teareth his owne children in pieces If it be a proofe of an unsanctified man that His mouth is full of cursing and bitternesse then sure he is extreamely unsanctified that curseth his owne children for that mouth is full of cursing to the very brim that will dash over against the fruit of ones owne body But you that have not yet cast off all so much as likenesse to Christianity I pray you learne of so holy a man Blesse your children in your kinde as he did in his live not in so wicked courses as may curse your seed and root them out to destruction If you desire that God should grant prosperity to your off-spring walke in the wayes of his Commandements Interest your selves into his promises by being upright and mercifull and following every good way But I proceed to let you see what Iacob did to some of his children in particular First Simeon and Levi that had committed a great murder hee reproved them although indeed I thinke with too much lenity sayin Ye have troubled me c. In which words he aggravates the fault from the mischiefe it was like to bring upon himselfe not mentioning the sinfulnesse against God perhaps because he saw their temper to be such that they would little regard the sin but would be somewhat moved with the danger but on his death-bed he is justly severe