Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	anger_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	16	3	8.8348	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10010	The saints qualification: or A treatise I. Of humiliation, in tenne sermons. II. Of sanctification, in nine sermons whereunto is added a treatise of communion with Christ in the sacrament, in three sermons. Preached, by the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Doctor in Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometime preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Davenport, John, 1597-1670.	1633 (1633)	STC 20262; ESTC S115180	353,805	720

the worke is so farre accepted as it hath an operation on our hearts and affections It is so in every duty as in Prayer when you call on God in private doth God regard the words of a prayer No but ' its working on your hearts ' it s humbling of them ' it s bringing of them into frame and making them perfect with God every day by a thorow renewing of your repentance and this is the doing of the thing Amongst your selves if a servant doth onely make a show of doing a thing it is not regarded but hee that brings the thing to passe is accepted of you and that is it which the Lord requires and accepts in our performances Now we shall see that this Text will helpe us to all that is required in a Fast as will appeare in the particulars Phineas the sonne of Eleazar c. In the former part of the Chapter the disease is set downe and that is Sinne which is indeed the onely disease of the soule illustrated from two consequents First from the wrath of God who as the Text saith was very angry with Israel for they had committed whoredome and joyned with Baal-Peor That was the disease the sin for which they had brought on them Gods wrath And secondly from an effect of that wrath the Plague God struck them with pestilence that is the punishment In this verse is set downe the remedy and that is the turning away of Gods wrath For as the Physitian sayes Morbi curantur contrarijs so it is true in Divinity as the wrath of God was the cause of the Plague so the turning away thereof is the remedy This turning away of his wrath is set forth by the cause of its turning away and that was the zeale of Phineas while hee was zealous for my sake and that is made good by two reasons One is in the latter end of my Text therefore have I not consumed them in my jealousie As if hee had said If Phineas had not beene zealous my jealou● should have burned more and more and the jealousie of that should have beene utter destruction The second is Gods owne Testimony set downe before my Text. The Lord himselfe said unto Moses that his wrath was turned away I will say no more for opening the words but in them you shall see these five points lye evidently before you First in that the removall of the Plague is attributed to God and to the turning away of his anger this is clearely deduced That it is God only that doth good and evill for you see his anger brought the Plague on them and the turning away of his anger healed them againe Secondly it is sin that causes Gods anger anger in God hath alway relation to sinne for sinne is the cause of it Thirdly the way to turne away the Lords anger is zeale for his sake Fourthly if there be want of this zeale among us his jealousie shall grow hotter and hotter it shall encrease upon us more and more Fifthly and lastly the issue of this jealousie of his will be utter destruction Wee will begin with the first which is That it is God onely that doth good and evill to every Nation to every Church and Kingdome yea to every particular person As you see here it was not the corruption of the Aire that brought the Plague nor the clearing of it with f●ost and wind that turned it away but the cloud of the Lords wrath shed this storme on them and when he was appeased with them there followed health and peace The Lord wounds and the Lord heales For what is the Plague but a sword in the hand of an Angell who drawes it out and puts it into its sheath againe at his Masters appointment And is not there the same reason of all other evils Warre you know is a terrible thing when Enemies come as Bees on a Land but doth not the Lord hisse for them And againe they are driven away as with a breath at his appointment Famine is a leane devouring evill which causes the Land to eate up the inhabitants thereof but is not the Lord the onely cause of it Doth not he make the Heaven as Brasse and the Earth as Iron Doth not he when he will open the windowes of Heaven and unstop the bottels of the clouds and powre outraine unseasonably And is not hee the cause of death which is the journeys end of both the former To which every one of us is subject yet wee consider it not Though we see men fall from the Tree of Life every moment yet wee regard it not This the Lord takes onely to himselfe Psal. 68.20 To the Lord belong the issues from death and therefore let us give to the Lord this great Prerogative of his That he onely doth good and evill and let no man question it You will say who doth question it It is very true we doe not question it in words but if we question it in our deeds it is an argument that our hearts make a doubt of it though our tongues doe not question it Therefore let us examine the matter If wee thinke the Lord onely doth good and evill why then will not we obey him and serve him and please him in all things But provoke him to anger by our words and by our workes as the Prophet speakes Perhaps you will say to me as Saul answered Samuel when he came from the warre of the Amalekites Oh thou blessed of the Lord I have fully kept the Commandement of the Lord but saith Samuel If thou hast done so What meanes the bleating of the Sheepe and the lowing of the Oxen So I say to you if you obey the Lord what meanes so many sinnes amongst us What meanes Fornication and Whoredome which is so frequent What meane those Oathes amongst us for which the Land mournes Not onely greater oathes but smaller oathes which exceed the greater for frequency though the greater exceed them in that they take the Name of God in vaine Againe what meanes the breaches of the Sabbath Of which I will speake a word by the way and that you may know that I doe not blame you for that as a sinne which is no sinne I will make this digression Doe you not think that Sabbaths are to be kept and to be kept holy I will name but two reasons to make it good you shall finde them in Esay 57.30 It is My Holy Day First it is a Holy Day and if it be holy you may doe nothing thereon that is common A Vessell that is sanctified and made holy may not bee imployed to take up common water or used in common services for it is holy So the time of the Sabbath is holy therefore you must not spend it about common actions for if you doe you prophane that which is holy Seeondly it is My Day and if it be My Day rob mee

turnes away the wrath of the Lord. Therefore remember these in particular and consider what it is to spare in this case Saul was lost by sparing Agag and remember what Elijah gained and Iehu gained by being zealous The manner we will wholly leave to you onely be zealous for the Lord. The second thing you must doe for the Church to turne away the Lords wrath is to contend for that which maintaines the Church I meane Faith maintaine that which maintaines you preserve that which preservs you the whole Church and Kingdome Wee will therefore commend to you that of Iudges I exhort you saith he that you contend for the faith which was once given to the Saints Marke it you are to contend earnestly for so much the word implies herein we are to be contentious men The very example of our adversaries may teach us to contend for th● Truth if we consider how they contend f●r the contrary if we observe what unity there is among them what joynt consent in opposing the truth Againe remember what you are to contend for it is for Faith for the whole doctrine of Faith every jot whereof is precious and it is the faith that was once given to the Saints As if hee had said looke to it if you lose it it shall be recovered no more Christ will not come againe from heaven to deliver this point of doctrine And againe it was once delivered to the Saints for what Certainly to be kept as we keepe Pearles and Iewels that it may not suffer the least detriment And let no man say he hath nothing to do with this for it is the common faith which every man hath to doe with you know in common things wherein every man hath interest every man is ready to maintaine his right Consider this and stand for the whole Faith for all the doctrine of Faith and know that these are matters of exceeding great moment all that we have said before of the punishment of Injustice Whoredome Idolatry and Superstition c. is not so much as this for a man may turne aside to these sins and yet have a right judgement but so long as the judgement is perverted the soule is irrecoverable Againe these are of exceeding great consequence for what Elisha did with the Syrians who when they thought they were led to the man whom they sought to take were brought into Samaria to be taken the same falls out where there is an errour of faith that which men think builds them up unto the Kingdome of GOD leads them to that which will bee their destruction Therefore contend for the Faith for the whole doctrine of Faith for every point of Faith and remember to contend for it earnestly The third and last action that wee will commend unto you is this Labour to doe that most which will most glorifie God that is endevour to set up a learned Ministery in the Land and Church you know it is a great complaint My people perish for want of knowledge and who are they that perish Acts 20.28 Even the flocke that God hath purchased with his owne bloud And at whose hands must it be required It is true we are the Vines that beare the Grapes but you are the Elmes that must hold up the Vines It is true wee are the Shepheards to defend the flock but it must bee your care to see that every flocke have a Shepheard Is it not a lamentable thing to see how many perish for want of knowledge in Wales in the Northerne Countries and in many places besides Is it not your part to take care and labour as farre as you may that every Candlestick may have a Candle set in it to give light That every P●rish have an able Preaching Minister It is true every Parish cannot be provided for alike Starres are of different magnitudes some Stars are greater some are lesser some Starres shine not at all some againe shine in another Hemisphere and not in our owne some shine like Meteors for a little time and then disappeare againe let it be your care that all S●rres that are in the firmament of the Church I meane those that are to dispence the mysteries of salvation may though weakely yet like true Starres shine These things wee must commend to your care onely remember this you know the wrong that is done to the flock if dogges be suffered among them therefore let them be removed I meane those that endeavour to put out the light that so they may the better prevaile and teach their doctrines of darkenesse As when the day is done the beast wanders abroad and doe not we finde it so amongst us For where doth Popery abound so much as in the darke places of the Kingdome I beseech you consider this and be zealous I should have added more but so much shall serve for the third point The other I will but name and indeed I will the rather name them though I doe no more because they follow so one upon another You have heard that GODS anger brings all evill that sinne is the cause of that anger that it is zeale that turnes away that anger Now Fourthly it followes that if you be not zealous his jealousie shall grow hotter it shall encrease more and more The very word Iealousie hath something in it when the Lord looks on a Church or Nation the losse of their affection breeds a jealousie which is intended more and more if there be not care to prevent it Therefore when the Lord is jealous he sends some tokens of his jealousie as when a man strikes we know he is angry so when the Lord sends a plague among us we may conclude he is angry When a messenger comes the sooner he hat● his answer the sooner hee is gone but hee will stay till hee hath his answer and will the Lord send this messenger in vaine Doth hee not send it for an answer And what is the answer the Lord lookes for That you fast and pray and humble your selves and turne from your evill wayes and bee zealous for his sake What else is the end of all his judgements Are they not as medicines or plaisters to heale a Church or a Nation or a particular person They will stick on till the sore be healed but when it is healed they will fall off so you shall finde these judgements of the Lord as long as wee remaine unreformed they will stick by us till we bee healed the playster wil continue Therefore are those phrases in Scripture his hand is stretched out still and still as in Deut. 28. Till wee be healed hee will not make an end of correcting he is now as it were engaged and you know when a man is engaged to proceed in a thing hee must goe on till hee hath brought it to an issue else it will be counted rashnesse and doe you thinke the LORD will turne from his wrath now it is begun

is fallen into sinne continues in it the guilt and power of it remaines upon his soule and he excuses himselfe with the smalnesse of it This is a common fault and therefore I will presse it the more Consider that which Christ saith Heaven and earth shall passe but the least jot of this Law shall not passe What is the meaning of that It is as if he had said somethings in the Law of God you may thinke small which are but ïotas though other things be greater but take you heed that you keepe every particular for there is not a jot of it but the Lord will have all his servants regard it exactly they shall have respect to every Commandement and to every part of that Commandement the least particular in his Law shall not passe away For consider if it were not so it would bee a prejudice to the Lords wisdome for there would bee something that hee commands which wee might slight But the Lord that hath commanded all both great and small knowes that it is best that all shall bee kept and therefore though heaven and earth shall passe yet the least jot of that Law shall not passe that this is the meaning of the place you may see by Christs exposition of the Law The Pharisies said Adultery must not be committed but I say saith CHRIST He that lusts hath committed adultery in his heart They said You must not sweare by the Temple but I say Sweare ●ot at all they said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say You must forgive your brethren Thus we must labour to resist sin in every even the least particular and reforme our selves in the omission of the least particle of the Law And so much likewise for the second point Thirdly we come now to consider what it is that turnes away his wrath and that is Zeale Phineas hath turned away my wrath while hee was zealous for my sake so that Zeale turnes away the Lords wrath You shall see it exemplefied in Elijah's answer to the Lords demand 1 Kings 19.4 What dost thou here Elijah As if he had said what hast thou done abroad in the world Sayes hee I have beene zealous for the Lord of Hosts because the children of Israel have broke thy covenants throwne downe thine Altars and killed thy Prophets and I onely am escaped As if he had said I have done the most I could for the safety of the Church I have beene zealous for the Lord and therefore hee prevailed with God for his owne deliverance You may see it likewise in Iehu who being zealous not in word onely but in deed also turned away the wrath of the Lord. And you may know it by the contrary that it is zeale that turnes away the Lords wrath because it is coldnesse and luke-warmenesse that brings on his wrath Rev. 3.16 consider there what is the reason why the Lord will spue out the Church of Laodicea and cast it away Because it was luke-warme and therefore the meanes to continue or procure his favour is it not heate and zeale Againe Rev. 2.4 The Church of Ephesus fell from her first love what then Therefore I will come against thee shortly and remove thy Candlestick Then to abound in love so that our workes may be more at last than at first to bee zealous for the LORD is the way to stay the Lord among us and to continue his Gospell of peace Therefore by the way it is not only the great sinnes of the Land that are causes of Gods wrath but the coldnesse of them that are otherwise good that causeth the Lord to remove the Candlesticke The very coldnesse of the Church of Ephesus in falling from her first love the luke-warmenesse of the Laodiceans the LORD would not endure in them Let every man consider this is his zeale now as much as it hath beene if not let us know that it is reckoned coldnesse and luke-warmenesse the falling from our first love is the cause of bringing Gods judgements on a Nation But what is this zeale Zeale is nothing else but the intention of all holy affections and actions I will goe no further than this Text to shew the nature of it Phineas was zealous that is he not onely did the thing but his heart burned within him with zeale for GOD. So as First there must be a stirring up of affection Secondly it must be holy it must bee for the Lord and this is it that discovers true zeale to looke onely to the Lord to have no by-respects as there may be zeale that makes a great deale of hea●e and yet it comes from the earth although it makes as great a show as the best Againe there must bee intention not only of affections but also of action Therefore it is said while hee was zealous for my sake among them as if he had said this zeale of Phineas was not kept smothered in his owne brest but it brak● forth into action hee did something for the Lord. And indeed it is action that glorifies GOD and that benefits men onely actions stand on our reckoning for you know God judgeth every man according to his workes It is action that doth our selves good that makes us usefull and serviceable to men and the Church that makes us instruments of Gods glory Therefore adde action to affection and know that zeale stands in both for it is the intention of holy actions and affections I will adde no more in the explication but will briefly apply it And first if it bee zeale that turnes away the Lords wrath then why should wee discourage zeale by it I dare bee bold to say the Citie stands Why doe wicked men cry downe all religion and zeale under the name of precisenesse and overmuch strictnesse of life walking bouldly in the streets and reckoning it their glory to wound God through the sides of men So that they make those that beare the name of Christ ready to reckon that their shame which is their glory to hang downe the wing and to seeke corners to hide their heads in whence it is that the servants of Christ follow their Master a far off as if they were halfe ashamed of his service when as they should weare his Livery in open view as accounting that their greatest honour It were well if some meanes were used to prevent this If it be zeale that turnes away the wrath of God wee should doe well then to nourish and cherish them that are zealous Are not religion and zeale the two which hold all up Are they not the pillars that beare up the Church and Common-wealth Are not they the rescues that deliver the Citie Yet doe not wicked men with them as those that to lop the Tree are still hacking at the boughes But the Lord still holds them up and the world for their sakes For why is this heape