Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	adam_n	death_n	sin_n	5,480	5	6.3830	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10018	Sermons preached before his Maiestie; and vpon other speciall occasions viz. 1 The pillar and ground of truth. 2 The new life. 3 A sensible demonstration of the Deity. 4 Exact walking. 5 Samuels support of sorrowfull sinners. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston Dr. in Diuinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1630 (1630)	STC 20270; ESTC S120145	80,456	162

iudgement as those things we apprehend to be euill them we feare too much and therefore labour to haue it enlightened Q. If you aske me how we shall doe that A. Bring it to the Word and see what that saies for the Word is as a glasse which represents things as they are I cannot stand to giue instances out of the Word how to direct euery affection as now take Pouerty which thou fearest so much the Word makes it nothing Reu. 2. 9. I know thy pouerty but thou art rich as if he had said it is a matter of nothing So likewise for your feare of men Feare not him that can kill the body but feare him that can cast both body and soule into hell fire first the Scriptures make nothing fearefull but Gods wrath and sinne and therefore now sticke to the Word and whatsoeuer thy phantasie is yet say sure I am thus God said and therefore I am sure it is so and this will rectifie the iudgement say it is but my fancy howsoeuer it may be greater or lesser yet the thing is the same as the Word said it As the garment may bee greater or lesser yet the body the same so take any thing else as the losse of credit or the like we thinke these something and feare them but the fault is in our phantasie men doe therefore well by fitting their hearts to what the Word saith to stay themselues Secondly againe if this will not preuaile then let vs pray our selues sober for inordinate affections make as much difference betweene a man and himselfe out of it as is betweene a drunken and a sober man Now Prayer composeth the heart much for it bringeth thee into Gods presence And as the Sun casts downe the mists and dispels them so Prayer doth an inordinate affection Againe thirdly adde to this communion of Saints and that is a good meanes for we are in such fits as men in a feauer whose mouthes being out of taste we should suffer our selues to be ruled by the iudgement and taste of others Fourthly after all this beseech God to conuince thy iudgement to perswade thy vnderstanding fully for that none can fully doe but hee The second Doctrine is that The greatnesse of our sinne is no impediment to forgiuenesse It is true saith Samuel yee haue done this great sinne I will not goe about to diminish it but the Lord will forgiue you not withstanding I will deliuer it in these termes because we are apt not to thinke so and when we haue sinned against the light of conscience relapsed often wee are afraid to come into Gods presence as we see it by experience and therefore now if any man hath committed any great sinne let him apply it to himselfe It is true I haue done such a great wickednesse why yet bee of good comfort humble your selfe continue to follow the Lord you shall finde God the same to you that here he was to this people Now the reason of this is First because the pardon of the Gospell which we preach makes no exception of any sinne Christ came to saue sinners to take away the sinnes of the world this is spoken indefinitely Secondly not of any person preach the Gospell to euery creature there is not any exception of any rebell or rebellion Thirdly besides the price that was paid answers for the greatest sinnes as well as the least he is ready to forgiue a thousand pound vpon satisfaction as well as ten groats and therefore if thou hast Christ for thy ransome it is no matter what thy sinnes haue beene great or small for the same price may as well stand for the one as for the other Againe fourthly the God which wee haue to deale with is a mighty God euen in this euen in pardoning Michah 7. 18. Who is like vnto our God that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of his heritage hee will subdue them and cast them all into the depth of the Sea that is herein the infinitenesse of God appeares in forgiuing transgressions he sheweth his might in it and being mercifull as God and not as man and therefore hee vseth that metaphor of casting their sinnes into the depth of the Sea that as the Sea drowneth mountaines as well as mole hils if they be cast into it so his Attributes are infinite and so are his mercies and therefore hee takes delight to forgiue great sins because we know him to be God and not man thereby because hee forgiues moe than a man is able or willing to forgiue But because examples are more preualent in this case I will giue you a few Adam was the cause of murthering the whole world he made all men not onely guilty of the first death but also of the second besides other aggrauations of his sinne beleeuing the Deuill rather than God c. yet we see that God found out a remedy and receiued him into mercy for he himselfe preached the Gospell to him and therefore not without profit So likewise Manasses sinnes exceeded so as indeed wee know not how a man should commit more almost yet when he humbled himselfe greatly for he had great sinnes God receiued him to mercy and restored him to his Kingdome so as when we read of his sinnes how he filled Ierusalem with bloud c. one of vs would haue beene ready to haue said What Lord wilt thou forgiue this man and set him in his Kingdome as if he had done nothing against thee To name no more than that in the 1 Cor. 6. 9. those monstrous and hainous sins there mentioned as greater there cannot be mentioned yet some of them that were guilty of them were receiued to mercy such were some of you but now are yee washed and iustified c. The vse shall be that you would take heed how you limit the holy One in regard of his mercy that he will goe so farre in pardoning and no further I dare boldly tell you it is as great a sinne to limit God in his mercy as in his power as that was the sinne of the Israelites when as they were to goe into the land of Canaan they limited God and thought hee could not bring them in because of so great walls and great Gyants c. and so take you heed lest you limit his mercy as that when your sinnes are such sinnes of so hainous a nature as that he will not forgiue you How did Dauid when he had committed the great sin with Bathseba c. and so Peter that stood in the same termes with Christ that hee did before and if you cannot bring your hearts to thinke this then goe beyond your owne iudgement by faith for this is it that hindreth vs from beleeuing that wee draw a scantling of the Lord by our owne phantasies whereas he sayes That his thoughts are aboue our thoughts in pardoning Isaiah 55. Another point that I will deliuer from

built it was no longer lawfull to offer sacrifice in any other place Now when Almighty God shall bee so curious have such a quicke and iealous eye upon so small an over-sight as this how sensible will he bee when matters much worse are tolerated permitted Iude 3. the faith once given to the Saints It was but once given therefore if lost or any way corrupted it will not be given again for it was given once for all is not to be revealed a second time and therefore he exhorts them to contend earnestly for the same For our selves wee have cause to magnifie Gods mercie in our present condition under the government of his gracious Maiestie and to remember this day which is the birth day of his Maiestie seeing under his shadow wee enjoy the publicke profession and practice of Religion and may live not only a quiet but an honest life a blessing that we cannot prize too much and should therefore much inlarge our hearts with thankefulnesse to God and love to our Princes to bestow on them not only outward obedience but also inward to assist them and bee subiect to them not by constraint but willingly to pray for them not formally but heartily as for the instruments and conduit-pipes of so great blessings notwithstanding we the Ministers of God have been bold to deliver from the mighty God of heaven and earth to conscience his vicegerent this impartiall and inflexible rule not fashioned and bended by the hand of man but moulded by the holy Ghost that thereby we may discouer where in we have fallen short and bee carefull to amend it wherein we have done well and be encouraged to doe it more and more that is to make freer passage for the truth and dam up the current of errours whether Popish or Arminian or of what kinde else soever for it 's the Lords businesse and blessed is the man that doth it diligently for as any walked more perfectly with God so they had more perfect peace and where unevenesse was found in their obedience there was it also found in Gods blessing on them Though wickednesse and crooked wayes may get the advantage for a start yet by it shall no man bee established Prou. 12. 3. And againe though uprightnesse bee sometimes overwhelmed yet like a corke at last it will arise from under water the prosperitie of wicked men like a watrie sun-shine may for a while continue but the late evening will bring a storme that never shall blow over he may flourish for a time like a greene bay tree but at last shall surely wither Those that are perfect with their God may have a winters season but shall at last be sure to flourish For if God be governour of the world disposer of the things therein according to his will if good and evill are done by him alone then certainely it must bee well with those that feare him and ill with those that sinne against him for it will be alwaies found a true and certaine rule That uprightnesse and holinesse is the cause of all our happinesse and obliquitie and sinne the cause of all our miserie THE NEVV LIFE 1. IOHN 5. 12. Hee that hath the Sonne hath life and hee that hath not the Sonne hath not life THe Apostles scope here is to shew us what great priviledges wee have by Iesus Christ among which this is one of the chiefest that hee that hath the Sonne hath life that is hee hath the life of grace for the present and shall have the life of glory for ever which he sets out by the opposite and that is hee that hath not the Sonne hath not life So that this point lies evidently before us that whosoever hath not a spirituall life for the present he is not in Christ and whosoever hath it is in Christ and shall live for ever where these two things are to be observed First that every man by nature is a dead man dead that is in trespasses and sins Secondly that yet there is a life to bee had that is contrary to this death First I say every man by nature is a dead man for life you see here is from the Sonne now there is no man borne a member of the new Adam but every man is borne a member of the old Adam and therefore in that sense he is borne a dead man though otherwise indued with a naturall life For if the roote be dead as the old Adam is all the branches that rise from the roote must needes be dead also Againe spirituall life is nothing else but a conjunction of the soule with the Spirit of God even as the naturall life is a conjunction of the body with the soule now as the soule leaveth the bodie so the holy Ghost withdrawes itselfe from the soule when it is disjointed distempered and made vnfit for vse for even as a man dwels in a house while it is habitable plaies on a musicall instrument while it is fit useth a vessel while it is whole and sound but when the house growes ruinous and inhabitable hee departs from it when the instrument is unstrung hee laies it aside when the vessell is broken or boared thorow he casts it away and leaves it even so doth the soule depart from the body when it growes ruinous when it is made inhabitable through mortal disease it laies it aside as an out-worn garment and after the same manner the holy Spirit withdrawes it self from the soule of a man when it is broken ruinated distempered through the mortall disease of sin and of naturall corruption And this is the case of every naturall man whatsoever till he be renewed by the infusion of a new life and yet it is the common opinion of naturall men that if a man live in the Church and be baptized and pray heare the word and imbrace the true religion and practise the outward duties of it that he is out of doubt in the state of this spirituall life and therfore I think it would bee an houre well spent to discover dead men to themselves to perswade men that except they be made new creatures except they be borne again they are in a state of death and cannot bee saved in that condition for you see he that hath not life hath not the Son and he that hath not the Son shall die the wrath of God abides upon him for ever Ioh. 3. ult Now it is said Eph. 4. 18. that men are strangers front this life through the ignorance that is in them and through the hardnesse of their hearts Marke it they are strangers from this life Partly through Ignorance because they are ignorant of this worke of life and regeneration they thinke there is a greater latitude in religion than there is within which compasse if they come they are safe that is though they be not so strict and so zealous though they goe not so fast to heaven as others yet they shall doe as

Therefore when this is done in the second place this is to be added that a man so dwell vpon his actions as that hee compares them with the rule he sets them both together and therefore in Prou. 4. 26. that which is called consideration in another place is there called Pondering Ponder the waies of thy feet the meaning is consider the waies of thy feet Now you know what Pondering is when you haue a thing to weigh there must be something to weigh it by which therefore is the rule thereof and as in measuring there is the thing that you measure by this is the second thing to bee done in consideration to compare it with the rule But yet this is not all for there may bee a comparing of actions and intentions with the rule by which it is squared when yet it is not consideration a Scholler may take a thing into consideration whether it bee true or false whether it be a practike or a speculatiue thing he may compare it with the rule but his end is not to practise it but onely to know the truth of it and so he lets it lie And not onely Schollers but it is so with all men for the most part they heare vs deliuer the truth of God their end is to see as it were to vnderstand it to know the truth of it they doe no more but see if the thing be true and giue their assent to it but in consideration there is somewhat more Therefore I adde that it layeth a command vpon the will to put it in execution or else it is not properly consideration but when a man considers of a thing so as that he resolues to doe it that hee layes an imperatiue iniunction vpon the inferiour faculties to put that in practice and execution that he resolues on so now you see more distinctly and cleerely what the Apostle would haue vs doe this is the action hee would haue vs doe to Consider that is to stay vpon our actions to compare them with the rule and not to let them lie there but to put them in practice and execution this is the thing we are here exhorted vnto to Consider or Take heed what we doe And it is that which we haue little reason to be backward to though in truth wee are backward to nothing more which is the cause of many errors of our life if we consider First that this consideration is the excellency of all a mans actions it is that which is proper to man as hee is a man there is no beast capable of it It is a peculiar excellencie to man to be able to returne and to reflect vpon his actions Beasts looke forward altogether vpon the present pleasure which is propounded but to consider an action whether it be to be done or not to be done it is an excellency peculiar to man Therefore as the Mathematicians say of Figures the strait Figure or the strait Line is the weakest but the Circle is the strongest of all other and the best because one part returnes to another and holds vp another so these direct actions of ours these transient actions that passe suddenly vpon a thing they are the weakest in them wee are most subiect to erre but these actions wherein wee returne againe vpon our selues as a circle or round figure are more perfect and exact I say it is the excellency of an action and this should make vs ready to doe it but that is not all there is not only a generall excellency But it is the best for our selues it perfects vs aboue all other take all other actions that goe directly forward they perfect somewhat that is out of a man but they perfect not the heart of a man If it be in teaching others in it is the perfection of the Scholler other actions of wealth of honour of learning or any thing of this nature they perfect the thing vpon which they are pitched but now this action by which the heart returnes vpon it selfe this reflect action is that which perfects a mans soule it makes him a better man it builds him vp in grace and in truth when a man lookes in and returnes vpon himselfe he makes vp the breaches of his heart if there be any thing amisse there he rectifies it therefore it is an action that we should easily assent vnto and agree to the exhortation of the Apostle Therefore to conclude this point let vs be exhorted to consider what we doe the failing in this is the cause of so many errours in our liues the cause of so many ill spent houres of so many vaine speeches of so many grosse sinnes committed all for want of consideration If the swearer would well consider what that is when the Lord saith I will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh my Name in vaine hee would not be so ready to sweare as he is If the adulterer would consider what God saith Heb. 13. Whoremongers and adulterers God will iudge hee would not so easily continue in that sinne so you may runne thorow other particulars therefore this consideration is necessary in things that belong to saluation It is not so in other things in other things the notion passeth soone from the minde to the rest of the saculties as soone as the light it is no sooner kindled but present'y it is executed but in matters that belong to godlinesse there may bee a sparke and it will goe out againe in the heart as greene wood putteth out the fire in that case there must bee paines taken because of the stubbornnesse in the faculties of the minde to obey the light which is dictated to the conscience Therefore wee must doe in this case as we doe with stubborne seruants they must be bidden doe a thing againe they must be forced vnto it If the vnder-faculties were as ready to obey the minde in spirituall things as in other things it were another case In other things for the most part we shall finde that the minde hath no sooner resolued on a thing but the faculties presently are ready to practise and to execute it If it be a matter of pleasure a matter of commodity a matter of businesse if a man resolue once to doe it he findes no resistance but if it bee a matter tending to a holy life hee is resolued and fully intended to doe it yet when hee comes to the point how many impediments doth he finde in the vnder-faculties they are like stubborne seruants that haue need of pressing vpon and must haue such imperatiue iniunctions vpon them as I speake of Therefore this consideration is necessary for vs we see if we be negligent in it it is impossible wee should lead a holy life because we goe vp the hill in that there must bee paines taken in that there is no good action but it will cost this consideration and the rather we should doe it