Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	apostle_n	church_n	word_n	1,489	5	3.9514	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61104	Chrysomeson, a golden meane, or, A middle way for Christians to walk by wherein all seekers of truth and shakers in the faith may find the true religion independing upon mans invention, and be established therein : intended as a key to Christianity, as a touchstone for a traveller, as a probe for a Protestant, as a sea-mark for a sailor : in a Christian dialogue between Philalethes and his friend Mathetes, seeking satisfaction / by Benjamin Spencer ...; Way to everlasting happinesse	Spencer, Benjamin, b. 1595?	1659 (1659)	Wing S4944; ESTC R13439	363,024	312

since they are not of perpetuity Chem. Exam. part 1. p. 25. but have been alwaies changeable as we know at first in the Primitive time the people stood up at praier every Lords day from Easter to Whitsontide to argue their belief of Christs resurrection which is not now enjoin'd or used So the French prophecie or preach with their heads covered to shew their dominion of teaching their people are uncovered to shew their subjection to his doctrin which is contrary to the Apostles order to the Corinthians All ceremonies are not so fit for all times the Church hath liberty to settle or abrogate them as shee seeth cause which liberty no wise man ever denied the Church but holdeth significant ceremonies to be profitable for the people Calv. opusc p. 344. Calv. instit lib. 4. cap. 10. Chem. Exam. part 4. tract de Imag. p. 13. Zeppe Leg. Mos l. 4. c. p. 312 Juni cont lib. 4. p. 283. Chem. Exam. part 2. p. 32. so that such a mean be kept that Christ be illustrated not obscured I beleeve upon this ground it is that Luther Chemnitius and Calvin allow of pictures in the Church done by way of historicall narration both for ornament and remembrance without any superstition So Holydaies are and may be celebrated in remembrance of some speciall benefit received from God about that time or by some eminent person that he hath emploied for the Churches good And indeed none of these things were thought superstitious till opinion of merit and of efficacious operation was annexed to them But to conclude if ceremonies of humane institution being significant to some duty which Gods worship requireth be unlawfull I see not but men may refuse to take a lawfull oath because ones laying their hand on the book and kissing it Deut. 6.13 signifieth a worshipping God the author of that book in taking the oath and that one doth aver the truth of his conscience towards man as well as his faith towards God in so doing Nor can a man keep the Lords day religiously if it be not a mystical and significant sign to him of the resurrection of Christ past Heb. 4.9 and of our spiritual rest from sin of that eternal rest which is promised to the people of God Nor do I see how people can have any religious respect to Churches if they take them not as signs or shadowes of the celestiall Temple Zanch. de Redemp l. 1. tract de tempt col 703. where the spirits of the faithfull are collected together praising the Lord. Nor can we keep any festivall without casting an eie upon what it relates to in his signification And truly if ceremonies had no signification they were the more fit to be cast out of the Church as unprofitable and as such as the Papists use that want sign and sense Mathe. But having been superstitiously abused they ought rather to be abolished then used in the Church services Phila. Yet in Josh 6.19 the spoile of Jericho is commanded by Joshua to be brought into Gods treasury And Gideon was commanded to take the wood of the idolatrous grove and offer sacrifice Judg. 6.26 We find also that those things which the Jewes abused was continued by godly men Bishops of Jerusalem in the Primitive times as Circumcision though not as a Sacrament but as a sign to shew they came of the line of Abraham So the Feast of Easter was kept by many reverend and worthy Bishops and Martyrs before the Councill of Nice on the same manner and day as did the Jewes but not with the same end as the Jewes did So the Councill of Nice did not abolish the feast of Easter but changed it into the Lords day So the Papists have abused the Lords Supper by erroneous opinions and idolatrous adorations of it which sheweth many good things may be abused and yet are not therefore to be disused this were to deny the use of the Sun because Absalom lay with his fathers concubins in the open light Surely a ceremony washed from superstitious dirt may be used in the Church by mutation or correction Clem. Exam. p. 34. c. 1. Zanc. de Red. in 4. precept p. 678. without utter abscission for they being thus purged are sanctified to holy use And so the Church of England only retained three the Surplice to warn the Minister of purity the Crosse to warn Christians of constancy and kneeling to admonish communicants of humility We know the Papists have abused these and others to superstition but abuse makes nothing evill which is not evill in it selfe And therefore the best reformed Divines have concluded even as ancient fathers have done before them who did not demolish all that was dedicated to idolatrie Calv. opuscul tracb de vitand superst p. 78. but converted them to better use So neither doth Mr Calvin approve of that morosity in men who because some ceremonies of the Papists may not be observed therefore none may yea some non Conformists have written that though the Papists have dedicated Churches to idolatry yet there being a good use for them among us they may be retained as also Popish vestments may be altered and make ornaments for the Church And surely they say well in that and it were good if the rest would not wrest away the liberty of the Church in such things which may make a lawfull use of indifferent ceremonies for conveniency without offence to God Mathe. But yet they are offensive to many good men and therefore to be left off Phila. First we must consider whether they be offensive in themselves or made offensive by the intention of the Church Theo. l. 3. c. 16. as Julian the Apostate set up his image in the Market place among the images of the heathen gods that he that gave eivill respect to his image might be thought also to do honour to them or if they did no respect then they might seem to despise both the gods and the Emperour So he set an Altar neer his throne with a fire upon it and incense upon a table Sozo l. 3. c. 17. and all Officers of his army that came to receive his largesse of gold did first cast some incense into the fire by which many were scandalized or caused to stumble So he caused all the fountains in the region of Antioch to be dedicated to the heathen goddesses and all the meat in the Market to be sprinkled with heathenish holy water yet the Christians were so wise as not to avoid their drink and meat knowing that to the clean all things are clean Tit. 1.15 and also bought what was sold and made no scruple as 1 Cor. 10.25 Then next we must consider whether the offence arises not from our own ignorance and weaknesse and so we be not straitned by the Church but in our own bowels and so like little children that complain their cloaths are to little when their bellies are too full The offence

not plainly declare it only it saith such a place there is prepared for the devill and his angels called an Abysse and bottomlesse pit but whether it be under the waters where the old Rephaims or giants buried in the deluge of which is spoken Pro. 21.16 a man that wandereth from the way of understanding shall remain or in any subterraneous fires Pro. 21.16 which break out in divers places of the world Surius Hecla Aeina which fires I take to be not subtile enough to torment such spirits But that there is a place of torment to which they are reserved is typed forth to us by a place under the waters where the dead lie sighing Which place of hell is naked before God without any covering which is called also Job 26.5 6. Abaddon Prov. 15.11 the place of destruction And such a place seems to be under the earth from which Esay eloquently saith Esa 14.9.10 that the hell from beneath is removed to meet the King of Babylon after his ruine saying to him in an upbraiding manner art thou become like one of us So the vallie of Hinnom is a type of it from which hell was called Gehenna after the captivity from the detestable use of that where they burnt their children in Tophet to the Idol Moloch for which God made it a place of abomination First by the burning of 185000 of the dead Assyrians there whom the Angel slew 2 Kin. 19.35 prophecied of therefore Esa 30.33 and there likened to hell And 2 ly by King Josiah who made it a common lay-stall Jer. 7.22 And thirdly by buring the bodies of the Jews there who were massacred by the Babylonian army when Jerusalem was taken till no place was left to bury there therefore afterward called the vallie of slaughter Jer. 19.6 all which together with the burning of Sodom with fire and brimstone argueth such a dreadfull place to be reserved but where it is or whether yet it is till all these lower places be dissolved is doubtfull Mathe. Where are these evill spirits Phila. About the earth and the aire Therefore St Paul cals Satan the Prince of the power of the aire Hieron in Ephes 6. O ig in Num. cap. 22. 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude ver 6. And all the Doctors for the first 400. years held the same opinion Indeed the devill durst adjure Christ not to torment him before the time whereby it seems they were not as yet cast into hell but as St Jude saith and Peter also they were cast downward and are reserved in chains or for chains of darknesse to the last judgement when they shall be confined by the divine workman when the mystery of God is finished to their terra damnata the Abysse of blacknesse of darknesse for ever Mathe. What doth or can this knowledge profit me Phila. Very much As 1. Ovid. rudis indigest moles Since God first made a rude Chaos as a subject to work upon though he could have made all rightly formed at first but to shew how he intended to work upon us whom he foresaw would make our selves a deformed lump namely that his spirit must move upon us and that he would call light out of darknesse that we might become children of light for the Creation was a type of our recreation and the first Adam of the second and making all so excellent as he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a prototype of what he meant to do by his personall and declarative word by whom and for which all things were created 2. Out of light he made the highest heavens the place of the blessed for them to dwell in a light never to be extinguished that we might know there is a rest for the people of God and therefore not to set up our rest here nor mind things below but above to have our conversation in heaven and seek another City whose builder and maker is God 3. He began with light not that he needed it but to teach us not to doe the works of darknesse but walk in light and to begin our works with the light of true understanding not with blind affection or rashnesse 4. Because some of the Angels of light fell because they would not stand by the way God had determined as by his grace power or order but rather by their own devise and so fell from heaven Take heed of desiring to be independent which God hath granted to nothing in this world for all depends on Gods power or love or grace or order Jude Ep. that he hath set except such as will fall by envy pride or rebellion into destruction especially men if they go in the way of Cain or the gainsaying of Corah or love with Balaam the wages of unrighteousnesse they must needs fall with the apostate Angels Mathe. What order did God observe in creating the world Phila. 1. He made the generall and more imperfect creature as the elements under the name of heaven and earth 2. Things composed of them some with life as trees herbs beasts birds fishes some without life as stars meteors stones and minerals with which when he had furnished the world like a fair house then he made man and put him in possession of all 3. He made some in actuall being Homers Chain as the vegetative and chiefe sensitives some only in potentiality of being as those many creeping things which heat and moisture is apt to produce 4. In this great work he hath ordained certain midling natures by which as by certain links of a chain we may be led to the highest natures As 1. Water and earth is coupled by slime air and water by vapors fire and air by exhalations So chrystall is a middle nature between water and the harder sort of precious stones So Quicksilver between water and mettals Corall between roots and stones so some vegetals are of a middle nature between a plant and a living creature as the Mandrake and the Zeophytes so some sensitives as the Amphibions are creatures of a middle nature between fish and flesh such are Crocodiles Seals and Sea-Morses so Estriges are a middle nature between a beast and a foul a Bat between a creeping thing and a bird an Ape between man and beast Hermaphrodites between man and woman a man between a bruit and an Angell an Angell a middle nature between an intellectuall and rationall spirit Christ a mediator uniting God and man together Mathe. Whether had God no coadjutor in this work of Creation Phila. He had none For God is the sole cause of creation and Being is the first effect of creation and nothing can come between the first cause and the first effect but a meer nothing and therefore God had no instrument or coadjutor to assist him No not Angels for they can do nothing in an instant as God doth in creation by an efficacious word only which doth distinguish him from all false gods and heathen vanities as Jer. 10.11

which not being done the Sacrament is slighted and profaned because that to which it relates hath no impression in us as by remembring his love expressed to us in his death than which none could be greater being endured for us while we were enemies Rom. 5.8 or the horrour of his death being most painfull shamefull fearfull enduring not only the spight of wicked men but an abstraction of the divine comfort for a time so that never was sorrow like his Lam. 1.12 all which was most properly due to us nor remembring the benefits of his death which concerns us as by it the sting of death is taken away though a stain is left the curse of the law is abolished it is to us no killing letter the exaction of the law is nullified we being not bound to every jot and tittle of it for our justification but our weak performances are excepted of God in Christ because we have a right to all Christs righteousnesse and a just claim in him to all the blessings of the law so that neither the corruption of nature can reign over us Rom. 6.14 nor sin bind us over to punishment everlasting and for temporall afflictions they shall all work to our good and glory as they did to Christs Rom. 8.28 Phil. 2.9 Mathe. How may one then rightly remember Christ in receiving the Sacrament and so become a faithfull receiver Phila. These do one include the other For as faith looks upon Christ and his benefits so remembrance cals those things to mind which faith beleeves so that this remembrance must be a beleeving remembrance that the Sacrament presents to us under seal the benefits of Christs death and passion It also must be a thankfull remembrance for those inestimable favours of which I told you Next it must be an obedient remembrance to what he hath commanded and now God in him entreats us to do out of love By all which you may discern how a communicant must be qualified and in what he must especially examine himselfe namely in faith which is the speciall condition of the covenant of grace of which the Sacrament is a seale Now faith must be considered in the cause the nature and the effects of it The causes of faith are the word which is the seed of it and the spirit which is the vertue of this seed both these brings light to discover the darkness of our naturall estate and the comfort in Gospell light Then next a power to regulate and conform us to its own rules and to subdue all opposition 2 Cor. 10.4 Now for the nature of faith it being convinced that the word is of divine authority it gives both an intellectuall assent to the truth of it because God doth avouch it and a fiduciall assent to the goodnesse of it for our own salvation and as to the Word so to the Sacrament which is the seal thereof which goodnesse breedeth in us a love longing and delight in the holy mysteries Upon which followeth an heavenly and holy effect of faith as to desire and hunger after the food of the soule and a strong conversion of it into our soules nutriment and growing in grace by the strength of it more and more Rom. 13. 2 Pet. 2.2 Next a sympathy with Christs members in their griefs and joies Then a readinesse to every good work and a strong repulse of evill upon which followeth affiance in God hope in his promises peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and a continuall fructification in an holy life by the strength of the Word and Sacrament while we walk here in this wildernesse of sin as the Israelites did in the strength of Manna and the Rock-water till we come to the land of everlasting rest Mathe. I thank you for your patience and resolutions of my generall and disordered queries I shall make bold hereafter if God give leave and you will affoord me your assistance in resolving me to trouble you with some other more particular cases But before I part I desire you since there is such divisions among us to tell me what Church you think most safest for one to cleave unto in life and death and what congregation is best to associate my selfe withall Phila. I suppose you find by what hath been said that the Protestant Church is the soundest for doctrine and therefore hold you to their principles of doctrine as they have been set forth and maintained by our * The 39. Articles of the Church of England Church of England in the time of King Edward the sixt and Queen Elizabeth and her successors And for matters of discipline it is to be wished that some were setled among us for the suppressing voluptuous living and libertinisme But if it may not be had let us be content with the Gospell preached and pray for reformation As for the Congregation you speak of I hold the publike generally best because Preachers in Churches will make more conscience of what they preach then those of the private conventicles or chambers except it be some that are forced to make such places their refuge to exercise their ministry which in conscience they cannot give over though prosecuted much like as the primitive Doctors were persecuted Mathe. But they that do preach in publike some are of one opinion some of another as Prela●icall Presbyterian and Independent Phila. Let no titles trouble you but trie the spirits whether they be of God by their teaching faith and an holy and good life Let men impose upon others or take up what names they please to themselves be thou content to be a Protestant Christian And for mens private opinions except they publish them to seduce others they must stand or fall to their own master And for joining your selse to a Congregation I will give you no advice but only si●ce you have liberty given use it to the best advantage for your soule by hearing ministers of the soundest judgement and most edifying And because all Congregations are mixed it is best to consort with those that are the most pious in their lives and unanimous in their worship of God Mathe. But some say the learned are not the right Preachers but the plain man though a Tradesman who preacheth by the spirit Phila. Surely the learned are more to be trusted for the soule as a learned Physitian for the body but they go by rule others by rote so do these mechanick preachers they despise learning as some do riches because they despaire to get and so they entitle the spirit to their ignorance of which the spirit is no author but the devill and mans presumptuous sins for the spirit never imploied any about his Church but either he made them able by infusion which they cannot prove he hath them or else by acquisition He gave Isaiah the tongue of the learned as well as Bezaleel and Aholiab the gift of handicraft So Christ took plain men to preach his Gospell but he made