Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	act_n	power_n	will_n	1,439	5	6.6180	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19433	The interiour occupation of the soule Treating of the important businesse of our saluation with God, and his saints, by way of prayer. Composed in French for the exercise of that court, by the R. Father, Pater Cotton of the Societie of Iesus, and translated into English by C.A. for the benefit of all our nation. Whereunto is prefixed a preface by the translator, in defence of the prayers of this booke, to the saints in heauen.; Interioure occupation d'une âme devote. English	Coton, Pierre, 1564-1626.; Anderton, Christopher, attributed name.; Apsley, Charles, attributed name.; C. A., fl. 1619.	1618 (1618)	STC 5860; ESTC S108849	75,781	318

this point is euidently testified euen by Protestant Authors For Fulke a Fulk ●n his re●oinder to Bristow confesseth that Ambrose Augustine and Hierome held inuocation of Saints to be lawfull That b Agai●st the Re●ish Te●tament Nazianzen Basill Chrisostome make mention of inuocation to Saints That Theoderet speaketh of prayers vnto Martyrs That Leo ascribeth much to the prayers of Saint Peter All 2 Pet. 1 these auncient Fathers And more in particuler That c Answer to Counte●feit Ca● pag. 46 Sara● in defe● tract diuersi● c. pa● 349. 346. Mor● Apol f● part p● 227. 2 Orm● Pist p pag. 2 Vigillantius the heretick wrote against the inuocation of Saints him saith hee Hierome reproueth For the which likewise Sarauia a great Caluinist and Beza himself do acknowledge that Vigillantius was charged condemned by the Fathers Morton likewise acknowledgeth in expresse tearmes That all antiquitie taught the inuocation of Saints Adde vnto these Ormerod who therfore saith That the Fathers did not ponderously consider of this question And Perkins who speaking of the Primitiue Church setteth downe these wordes that follow Perkins Prob. pag. ●3 There was in the Church intercession to Saints in perticuler for men or thinges in perticuler And afterward hee presumeth to say That the auncient ●bid pag. Fathers especially after 400. yeares of Christ did sinne in the inuocation of Saints yea were guilty of sacriledge And so damneth to Hell the greatest Saints of Heauen now crowned with glory to iustifie the Dreames and fantasies of his owne deuices Now then my good friend to conclude this my first argument out of Scripture let any well minded Protestant consider whither not beleeuing these Councels Fathers but cōdemning them of sacriledge he doe not incurre the censure of our Sauiour that hee is no better then a Heathen for not beleeuing the Church it selfe and whither it be not only the heresie of Vigillantius reproued by St. H●●rome to disallow the inuo●ation of Saints but also as St. Augustine speaketh most insolent madnesse to dispute against it THE SECOND ARGVMENT Supposing the Creed of the Apostles to bee the infallible worde of GOD and if not Scripture yet certainly contained in Scripture I prooue the lawfulnesse or rather necessitie of prayer to Saints out of our Beliefe of the Communion of Saints Which doubtlesse for this cause among other reasons it hath pleased God to make an Article of our Creede to excite vs so much the more thereby to this kinde of pyous worship inuocation of them For if sinfull men on earth are truely vnderstood to bee here comprehended vnder the name of Saints much lesse may the Blessed soules of Heauen be here excluded from that tytle And who can imagine that the Soules of the iust are seperated by death from the communion of the Church wherein they liued For as Saint Augustine saith why doe they run so fast to the Sacrament of Baptisme in extreame danger of death that were neuer in the Church before Or why doe they make such hast to be reconciled therunto before they dye that are deuided from it vnlesse it be to inioy after death the communion of it Wherefore I do not see how we can beleeue that there is one Communion of the Saints in heauen and the Saints on earth according to our Creed except we beleeue a Communion or which is all one a Communication of Mutuall offices betweene them wee praying to them and they praying for vs the greater helping the lesse and the lesse in all their necessities hauing recourse vnto the greater THE THIRD ARGVMENT Is also in explication and confirmation of the former And supposing that if it be lawfull to pray the Saints of Heauen it is no lesse lawfull to pray vnto them as I haue shewed before in the third consideration It may be framed in this māner It is lawfull to recommend our wants by way of prayer or intreatie vnto all the friends of God that are desirous to heare vs and are able to helpe vs in perticuler But such are all the Saints of Heauen Therefore it is lawfull in such manner to commend our selues and our wants vnto them The Maior is so euident euen by the light of Nature that there needeth no Scripture to confirme it For as now at this day so no doubt before the Scripture was written it was lawfull for the childe to recōmend himselfe vnto the prayers of his Father or of any other holy man because it was beleeued that such kinde of men were able and willing to helpe them by their prayers And the onely reason of any waight which the Protestants alleadge for their not praying to Saints is especially this because they thinke the Saints of heauen doe not heare them Wherefore if they heare and can and will helpe vs there is no further doubt but that wee may pray and beseech them to relieue vs. The Minor therefore that the Saints in Heauen are most desirous and likewise most able both to heare and helpe vs is prooued first a Posteriore or from the effect and secondly a Priore or from the cause a Posteriore thus They doe actually present or recōmend our prayers vnto God The foure Apoc. 5. ● Beasts and the 24. Elders hauing golden vialls full of Odours which are the Prayers of Saints Therefore they not onely know our prayers in perticuler vnlesse thou wilt imagine that they Offer them sealed vp in a Bag as ignorant of that which is contained in them but also are a meane to God for vs and helpe vs to obtaine them The same is also prooued a Priore three manner of waies And first by the perfit loue and charitie which is between the Saints in heauen and their brethren here on earth For as Saint Paul saith Charitas nunquam excidit Charitie which is the loue of God and our brethren neuer falleth away but remaineth with his Saints for euer And the reason thereof is manifest For louing God so perfitly as they doe they must needes loue all those whom they know to bee so much beloued of him as that he gaue his onely Son to redeem them This therefore being supposed out of Scripture and the Minor consisting of two parts The first that the Saints of heauen desire to heare and helpe vs And the second that they are able to doe both the one the other The first part I proue by the latter in this manner The Saints of God desire it therefore they cannot want the means to performe it That they desire it is proued first out of the Nature of all true loue in generall For the which you must vnderstand That Loue being the first act of the Will and the formall obiect of both the act and power of the will beeing that which is good to loue another is nothing else but to will him that which is good especially for this reason because it is good vnto him So that the finall and formal

cause of true loue being the good of another To loue one truly is to wish him all the good that may be and to loue very much is to will or to wish the same very much vnto him And because it is the Nature of the will and by consequence of loue to doe that which it willeth vnlesse it be hindered Therefore it produceth in vs not onely a desire to heare and vnderstand the good and euill of the partie beloued but moueth vs likewise by all the meanes wee can to prosecute the one and to auoyde the other For the which cause loue is said to bee more effectuall then affectuall Plus enim facit quam ●fficat and according to Saint Gregorie Probatio amonis est exhibitio operis And therefore Loue without these acts and fruits of loue is worse then the Fig-tree which our Sauiour cursed and is indeed no loue at all From whence also it followeth that albeit wee may loue those whom we know not in perticuler as belonging to such an One or as the parts of such a Communitie which is principally beloued of vs and may content our selues with that generall good which we are able to doe them yet if our loue be perfit it is impossible we should not desire to know them and to doe for them also in perticuler if we be able or if our attendance to the perticuler knowledge and seruice of them do not hinder some greater good which otherwise we might performe in generall towards them By which it is manifest that either the Saints in heauen desire to heare vs to releiue vs not onely in generall but also in perticuler when we call vpon them because the one in them can be no hinderance to the other Or else it must needs be granted that they doe not loue vs. For that without this desire it is very plaine they care not for vs. I know some Protestants do here obiect against this perticuler care the same which many Atheists haue also obiected against the prouidence of God Affirming that the Saints of heauen Caluin instit lib. 3. cap 20 per. 24 cannot giue eare to our Prayers or attend to our affaires without some trouble and impeachment to their felicitie But the Protestants granting as they doe that this is no trouble at all neither to the person of God nor to the soule of Christ nor to the Angels themselues Psal 90. 11. Dan. 10. 13. Zac. 1. 12. Math. 18. 10 Lue. 15. 10. Acts. 12. 15. Apoc. 8. 3. make this Obiection against the Saints of God with lesse reason and more malice then it was made by their Masters before them against God himselfe Secondly therfore this desire of theirs will yet better appeare by the consideration of the Nature of Charitie in perticuler For according to that which hath bene said as to loue another is to will the good and by consequence the will of another which is also the reason that a wicked man because he willeth not his owne good as he is wicked can neuer be truely beloued so to loue God is nothing else but to will the will of God and therefore in effect to desire that it may be perfitly fulfilled both in our selues in all other Creatures And because as the Apostle speaketh This is the will of God Thes 4. 3 o●r sanct●fication or which is all one the saluation of our selues and others Therefore to loue God about all thinges wherin consisteth the nature of all charitie includeth a will to attend aboue all other thinges vnto the sanctification saluation first of our selues and secondly of all our Brethren Now then to goe forward as nothing is desired but that which is good so the greater the good is if it be well knowne and considered the more it is desired And therfore as there is nothing so good as the will of God so nothing by many degrees can bee so much desired of those that truely loue God as that his will be most perfitly fulfilled in the sanctification and saluation of all men Againe as the will of God himself is the end of all things so the loue of his will and the desire of dooing thereof is the end of all other loues and all other desires And therefore as God himselfe hath ordained so it must needs bee that our loue of his will and desire to fulfill the same if our loue be right doe exceede with like proportion all other worldly loues or desires whatsoeuer Wherefore to conclude this point if true loue in the lowest degree not onely of grace but also of Nature produceth in vs a perpetuall and constant desire not onely to heare and vnderstand the good and euill of the parties beloued but also to endeauour by all good meanes and courses to releeue them how great must the floud and Torrent bee of that desire which floweth continually in the highest degree from the Fountaine and sowrse of all loue which is God himselfe into the Soules of the Saints of heauen to complie and cooperate with his eternall will by all the meanes they can in the sanctification and saluation of others And if the zeale of men on earth not onely in the time of grace but also vnder the dead letter of the Law extend it selfe with such desire not only to heare and vnderstand but also to succour and redresse by their daily prayers infinit dangers continuall labours and miseries of their brethren cōpassing both Sea and Land as our Sauiour saith to make one Math 23 15 Proselite or to conuert one soule vnto Christ how much more doth the inflamed charitie of the Saints in heauen transforme their soules into the like desire And admiring so much as wee doe the vehement loue of Moyses and zeale of Saint Paul while they liued amongst men to their Naturall brethren the Exod. 32 32. Iewes not refusing to bee strucken out of the Booke of life and to bee made an Athema if need Rom. 9. 3 should be for their saluation How wonderfull and vnmeasurable thinke you is the desire of the Saints of heauen to procure the saluation of their brethren here on earth and how effectuall to recommend their perticuler prayers which here euen in this world is the least and most easie office that one friend can do for an other certainly this desire in these golden vials must needs so farr exceed the former in those earthē vessels as the easines of the one exceedeth the difficultie of the other And as their knowledge and loue of God whome now they see exceedeth the obscure knowledge which they had of him and their imperfect loue towards him when they could not beholde him Adde vnto all this that the felictie of the Saints of heauen is much increased and perfited by the saluation of their brethren on earth And therfore as much as they desire the perfectiō of their owne felicitie they can no lesse desire to receiue and to recommend our prayers vnto God