Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	affliction_n	great_a	sin_n	1,620	5	5.2580	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31245	The truth and excellence of the Christian religion, with the corruptions and additions of the Romish Church a discourse, wherein the pre-eminence of Christianity is demonstrated above the religion of Jews or heathens, and the contradiction of popery to its main articles : and that religion prov'd in many instances to be a mixture of heathenish superstitions, and Jewish ceremonies : with a short vindication of Christian loyalty, and a brief historical account of Romish treasons and usurpations, since the Reformation / by a hearty professor of Reformed Catholick Christianity.	S. C.	1685 (1685)	Wing C126; ESTC R22983	60,383	154

in upon us at those wide breaches we have made for them By our Divisions we become accessary to our own ruin and have great reason to fear lest we do that with our own hands which all the Policies of Rome have not hitherto been able to effect By our Divisions we may provoke God to suffer our enemies to prevail and by fiery trials to scourge us into Love and Unity Then we shall too late repent of our violence and bitterness And when we sadly look back and reflect how happy once we might have been this will be no mean aggravation of our misery And when we remember we brought our afflictions upon our selves we shall have cause to say with sad hearts and tears in our eyes Oh that we had known the things that belong to our Peace Let us now therefore be intreated to lay aside prejudice and passion and have greater regard to the common good than the interest of any particular Party Let us more impartially weigh the differences among our selves and resolve that nothing but sin shall hinder a full agreement And by mutual compliances 't is no impossible thing to be reconcil'd But if that be too great a blessing for such a sinful People and there must be differences among us Oh that we could once learn to differ in judgment without any alienation of affections That we could once learn that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink consists not in such little things as are the matters of our difference But in Righteteouness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And he that leads an holy Life shall be accepted by God tho he worship not him after our particular mode and prehaps be guilty of some mistakes Are not our differences much of the same nature with those St. Paul mentions Rom. 14. And why should not his directions be carefully observ'd Why should we aggravate every little difference or heighten every small mistake or censoriously condemn one another as Hypocrites because tho we agree in all the substantials of Religion we cannot be all of a mind in some particular forms and modes and ceremonies Are not we all fallible creatures and shall we be angry at our brethren for that which is the common condition of Men May not the error be on our own side as well as our Brothers And is this becoming a Christian or an ingenuous man to condemn another for that wherein perhaps I may be guilty my self We cannot gratify the Papists more than by these unhappy disputes Let us therefore by the friendship we bear to the Protestant Interest by the concern we have for our Religion and just hatred we bear to the Romish Faith be perswaded either wholly to lay aside or at least to be more moderate and calm in our differences Let us labour after Healing Uniting Spirits imploy our zeal about the great Duties of Religion strive which shall be the best Christians and the best Subjects and leave the Disputes about lesser things to those who know not how better to imploy their time Then we need not fear the attempts of our enemies And as God hath hitherto so we may hope he will still be our great defender But as one says very well till we are as zealous against the Antichrists in our own breasts as Pride Anger Malice and Bitterness as against him that sits in the Roman Chair and learn heartily to love one another we have little reason to hope with Agag that the bitterness of Death is past but have too much cause to dread the Romish Yoak 4. Let us never Apostatize to the Romish Religion A Religion which perfectly overturns Christianity and absolutely overthrows all Civil Government A Religion which destroys our duty to our Heavenly and dissolves our obligation to our Earthly Sovereign A Religion that takes away that fear of God which Christianity obliges us to and denies that honour to the King which the Law of Nature and the Light of Revelation binds upon us If we would perform a more reasonable service than Heathens offer let us not return to the sorceries and charms of Rome If we have any respect to the Commands of God or dread Divine threatnings let us not deny him that Spiritual Worship he requires nor fall down before Graven Images Except we can be content with a Catechism without the Second Commandment a Sacrament without the Cup and a Bible which we cannot understand Except we will Worship we know not what Pray unto those that cannot hear us and trust in those that cannot help us Except we can be content with a Faith without knowledg● a Hope without foundation and a Charity that damns all the World but our selves Till we can be perswaded That there may be Devotion without understanding Repentance without amendment and Salvation without any labour or great industry to obtain it Till we can be satisfi'd in these and all the other particulars I have mention'd we cannot be thorow Papists And if these things are not prejudice enough against that Church it 's a sign we little understand what Religion means Let us therefore seriously reflect on these particulars that our abhorrence of Popery may not meerly be because we were educated in the Protestant Faith and 't is a fashionable thing to rail against the Church of Rome but it may be establish'd upon firm and stable principles such as may endure a storm and fiery trial which God knows whether we may not be visited with That we may never run such hazards of our Salvation as we shall incur if we Apostatize to that Church For how far the depths of Gods mercy may reach and his sovereign goodness may save a Natural Born Papist I know not how far their ignorance and prejudice may excuse them is not for me to dispute But this I will say If any who have been educated in the Protestant Faith and well understood the Grounds of that Religion shall turn Papist he must have a great measure of charity who can think such an one in any near probability of Salvation Let us therefore hold fast our Religion and strictly comply with its excellent commands let our professions be sincere and our lives obedient then tho our enemies do plot our ruin the God of Heaven will appear on our side and his never-slumbring Providence defeat their designs Tho these who have turn'd the world upside down should come hither yet their policies shall not prevail But only give fresh occasion to us to glorify God the Author of our Deliverance FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by John Gellibrand at the Golden Ball in St. Pauls Church Yard Folio BOnetti Sepulchretum sive Anatomia Practica 2 Vol. Mercurius competalitius sive index Medico-Practicus Medicina Septentrionalis Collatitia Baudrandi Geographia Ordina litterarum disposita 2 Vol. Quarto Z●diacus Medico-Gallicus 3 Vol. pro 3 Annis Binchii Mellificium Theologicum Theses Salmurienses 2 Vol. Sedanenses 2 Vol. Octavo Sir John Temples Irish Rebellion Sir Willian Temples Observations on the united Netherlands Miscellanea Plutarch's Morals Translated from the Greek by several hands in 3 Vol. Bishp Wilkins of Prayer and Preaching 2 Vol. Sermons and Beauty of Providence World in the Moon and Earth a Planet Mathematical Magick Dr. Fords Exposition upon the Church Catechism Dr. Jacomb's Personal and Domestick Dedication Duodecimo Herles Wisdoms Tripos Garbut on the Resurrection Virgil cum notis Minellii Florus cum notis Minellii Tentamen Medicum de Varioris Old Mr. Dods sayings in one large Sheet

their Obligation of making new Articles of Faith and condemning things plainly commanded by him If any shall pretend without sufficient Proof a Vicarious delegated Commission from him and usurp the place of the Universal Law-giver of the World These must be acknowledg'd to be invaders of his Regal Office and in how many Instances the Church of Rome hath been thus bold and Jaringly guilty is too well known How many new Articles have they obtruded on our belief since the Canon of Scripture was sealed And how doth their Faith increase and decrease like the Moon Tho the Apostle pronounces an Anathema against the highest pretended Saint or Angel that should Preach any other Doctrine than what he had deliver'd to the Galatians Gal. 1. 8. Yet the Conventicle of Trent those professed Angels and Guardians of the Church have levell d their curses against all that will fear the threatnings of the Apostle and will not receive their supplemental and corrupt Traditions with the same reverence and pious Affection that they do the Holy Scriptures I need not tell how they have claim'd a power of dissolving the Obligation of the most Solemn Oaths and Covenants and of allowing Marriages in forbidden degrees How they have made Fornication a lesser Sin in a Clergy-men than Marriage tho the one be the Ordinance of God and never prohibited to any company of men and the other forbidden by the very Law of Nature I need not tell how the Pope hath usurp'd the Office of Universal Bishop and Vicar of Christ tho Pope Gregory severely reflected upon John of Constantinople for affecting such a Titile and call'd it the badg of Antichrist I need not tell how they have added five other Sacraments to those two instituted by our Saviour what a number of Church-Officers they have instituted unknown in Scripture and the purest Ages of the Church Nor how they have Lorded it over the Consciences of men by rigorously imposing numerous burdensome Ceremonies which change the spiritual Worship of the Gospel and alter its very Nature 'T is confess'd that Governours have a Power of imposing indifferent things and whatever tends to the more orderly and decent Administration of the Worship of God may be the object of their command But when these are either vain and useless or indecent in their number when they are impos'd as parts of Worship and necessary to Salvation When they obscure the Worship of God and are more like the shadows of the Law than becoming the light of the Gospel such Impositions are Acts of Tyranny and Usurpation I shall conclude this head with the mention of one more bold tho acknowledg'd Invasion of the Regal Office of Christ and that is their half Communions They have snatcht away the Cup in the Eucharist from the People and ingross'd it to the Clergy This was establish'd as an Article of the Romish Faith at the Council of Constance and afterwads confirm'd at Trent The chief remarkable Causes are these Seeing that in divers parts of the World there be some who rashly presume to say That Christian People ought to receive the Eucharist under both kinds this present Holy General Council being desirous to provide for the safety of the faithful doth decree That tho Jesus Christ did Administer the venerable Sacrament in both kinds and tho in the primitive Church the faithful did so receive it yet notwithstanding this custom ought to be kept i. e. that the Priest that says Mass shall communicate under both species of Bread and Wine but the Lay people under that of Bread only● and they that say the contrary let them be expell'd as Hereticks and grievously punish'd by the Bishop and his Officials How horrible a Canon is this and what a notorious Usurpation of Christs Prerogative They accuse of Rashness Error and Heresie all who dare by their own Confession imitate Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Church for this only reason some have been burnt at a Stake and it was an occasion of cruel Wars and Bloodshed in Germany They indeed pretend this to be an indifferent circumstance to be continued or remov'd at the Churches pleasure But why should this be more indifferent than the Bread Hath not Christ more expresly commanded the drinking the one than receiving the other Drink ye all of it says he as if he foresaw and design'd to prevent this great Corruption And to argue ad hominem our Saviour tells us Joh. 6. 53. Except ye drink the blood of the Son of man ye have no life in you These words if understood of the Eucharist as the Romanists pretend prove the absolute Universal necessity of communicating under both kinds So that either this great prop of Transubstantiation must be deserted or their half Communion condemn'd 2. They have invaded Christs Priestly Office By this he hath fully satisfi'd Divine Justice by giving himself a compleat Sacrifice for our Offences and procur'd for us the pardon of Sin the Graces of the Spirit and eternal Happiness upon Condition of sincere Obedience to his Laws and now is enter'd into Heaven and is by vertue of this Sacrifice our powerful Intercessor at the Right hand of God This Office also is shamefully invaded by those of the Romish Church and that in these following instances 1. By their proud doctrine of Merit Tho the Scriptures fully declare that by grace we are saved and eternal life is the free gift of God tho our reasons may convince us that a Creature how innocent soever can deserve nothing at his Creators hands tho a little reflection upon our selves will discover many spots in our fairest vertues many blemishes in our best duties many imperfections in our most religious exercise many sinful mixtures in our most unpolluted actions and great defects in our best obedience yet do these men boast of their good works and account them not only spotless but meritorious too but if all this zeal for good works as one well observes were designed to advance an holy life the nobleness of the design might a little excuse the fault but alas those works which they most extol are either pieces of will-worship that tend only to advance the Secular interest of their Church as Pilgrimages building Abbys enriching Monasteries c. or else are such actions as we think to be daring sins as murdering Hereticks and persons coldly affected to the Catholick Cause Thus 't is storied concerning Cardinal Richelieu that great Politician of France that when he lay upon his death-bed his Consessor came to him to perform the last offices of charity and urged him to a full confession of all his sins the Cardinal mention'd only some little petty crimes and told him those were all he could recollect at which the Confessor started saying Surely this sickness hath rob'd your Grace of your memory for we who have been plac'd in a lower sphere have observ'd many actions of a far deeper Dye and then mention'd many Murders committed by his