Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	appear_v	great_a	see_v	1,485	5	2.9490	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69227	A sermon preached at Paules Crosse, the sixt of February. 1596 In which are discussed these three conclusions. 1 It is not the will of God that all men should be saued. 2 The absolute will of God, and his secret decree from all eternitie is the cause why some are predestined to saluation, others to destruction, and not any foresight of faith, or good workes in the one, or infidelitie, neglect, or contempt in the other. 3 Christ died not effectually for all. By Iohn Doue, Doctor of Diuinitie.	Dove, John, 1560 or 61-1618.	1597 (1597)	STC 7087; ESTC S111946	36,520	88

both was in iustice inflicted vpon one and in mercie but vpon the one that as one was an example of his iustice so the other might bee a vessell of mercie that none may boast of his owne merits because it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercie When the wicked shall be tormented in hell fire then shal Gods saints clearly perceiue howe much his grace and mercie did auaile them then shall they find it true by their owne experience as a thing verified in themselues which Dauid speaketh in his hundred Psalme My song shall be of mercie and iudgement For that they are saued it is free mercie that the other are damned it is iust iudgement When of two infants one is chosen through mercie the other refused in iustice he which is chosen cannot but confesse what in iustice was due vnto himselfe had not mercy beene shewed vnto him So then where mercye is not shewed there is not iniquity but iust iudgment inflicted I remember Saint Augustine speaketh very fitly to this purpose in an other place though vpon an other occasion for in his 157. Epistle to Optatus he proposeth this question why God hath ordained so few to be saued and foreseeing that so many millions of men are to bee damned for their sinnes why he doth creaate them Why so mercifull a God should be glorified more by the damnation then saluation of his owne creatures For if his glorie did consist in sauing rather then in destroying it should seeme without doubt that the greatest number shoulde bee saued and that hee would not create those whom he doth foreknowe to be but reprobate Hee maketh this answere Meritò iniustum videretur quòd fiunt vasa ad perditionem nisi esset vniuersa ex Adam massa damnata Indeede it might seeme verie iniurious that anie shoulde be ordayned to bee vessels of wrath if it were not that the whole lumpe of which the vessels of wrath are framed had beene damned before in Adam but nowe Quod fiunt nascendo vasa irae pertinet ad debitam paenam quod fiunt renascendo vasa misericordiae pertinet ad indebitam gratiam That manie are borne vesselles of wrath it is but a iust punishment due to theyr originall sinne that a fewe by their regeneration are made vessels of mercie it is vndeserued fauour But if all which are borne of Adam shoulde bee regenerate and borne anew and none should bee damned then Lateret beneficium quod donatur indignis Then Gods mercie which is extended to them that are saued which indeede are all vnworthy of their saluation would not bee so apparent as nowe it is when but a fewe are saued Plures Deus fecit damnandos quam saluandos incomparabili multitudine vt reiectorum multitudine ostenderetur quàm nulli momenti sit apud Deum iustum quan● talibet numerositas iustissimè damnatorum atque vt hinc quoque intelligant qui ex ipsa damnatione redimuntur hoc fuisse massae illi vniuersae debitum quod tam magnae eius parti redditum cernerent But therefore GOD hath ordayned without all comparison more to bee damned then to bee saued for these two causes First that it myght appeare by the great multitudes of them which are damned howe little GOD which is most iust regardeth the outcryes of whole multitudes of sinners which are iustlye punished Secondlye that they which are redeemed from that damnation may by their owne redemption confesse when they see the greater part damned that that damnation was due to the whole lumpe and therefore to their owne selues which was adiudged to the greater part Secondly he is not vniust by any parciality in punishing because first hee may because it is his will and pleasure iustly condemne some as it appeareth by Pharao secondly as in election so in reprobation between his decree and the execution of his decree there bee subordinate causes for although his will be the first principall cause that he decreeth who shall be saued and who shall bee damned yet between his decree to saue and saluation it selfe there is mercie for none is saued but by mercie and betweene his decree to condemne and the damnation there is hardening that men can not repent but continue in their sinnes So that albeit the cause why he decreed that men shoulde bee damned is only in himself because his owne wil is the cause of that decree there is found cause of damnation inherent in themselues which is infidelitie and hardnesse of heart so that none are condemned but first there is found in them matter enough worthy of condemnation as the Prophet speaketh Perditio tua ex te salus ex me Israel Thy saluation ô Israel commeth onely from me but thy damnation from thy selfe And as the apostle speaketh These which as bruit beasts lead with sensualities speake euill of the things they knowe not shall perish through their owne corruption Lastly where it is written Thou wilt say vnto me why doth hee yet complaine for who hath resisted his will Hee graunteth two antecedents that God hardeneth whō he will And that no man hath power to resist his will And yet the argument is denied as a weake consequent that therfore Gods wrath is vniustly kindled against them whō he thus hardeneth and constraineth to do his will shewing that man may not thus expostulate which hee proueth by two reasons First an argument called in Logicke à comparatis where he saith Nunquid deo non licebit quod figulo licet The potter may of his owne clay make vessels for the bedde as well as for the boord and may not God much more of the same lumpe make vessels of wrath The second is Ab optimo fine diuini concilij drawn from the end which God doth propose where he saith What if God woulde to shewe his wrath and to make his power knowen suffer with long patience the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction And that he might declare the riches of his glorie vppon the vessels of mercie whom he hath prepared to glorie who can accuse him of vniustice Then he sheweth that neither the saluation of the elect nor the damnation of the wicked is the last ende of his eternall decree and purpose but that he proposeth a further and better end which is his owne glorie that he may shewe his wrath and make his power knowne as also he may declare the riches of his glorie A poynt of so deepe diuinitie woulde require both a learned and large discourse especially before so honourable frequent and iudicious an auditorie but two houres are too short a scantling I am cōstrained to be briefer then I woulde But that you may bee fully satisfied concerning this poynt I will with as great breuitie as I can aunswere three obiections which doe seeme to make agaynst this doctrine of predestination which I haue deliuered vnto you The first is of

which commō places he inferreth this conclusion They once beleeued they were lightned they receiued y ● knowledge of the truth they were made partakers of the holy Ghost tasted of the heauenly gift were washed sanctified made the temples of God the members of Christ the Lord bought them Therefore they were redeemed and Christ dyed effectually for them and that they are not saued it is not any decree of God from euerlasting but the free will which was in themselues that being redeemed they renounced the benefite of their redemption when it was in their power to haue receiued it To these places I answere That indeed in outward appearance they were washed sanctified redeemed made the members of Christ and Temples of the holy Ghost but not in truth and in veritie for as much as they which are indeed the children of God can neuer reuolt and start backe from the faith and their state of saluation Our Sauiour saith My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I giue them eternall life and they shall neuer perish neyther shall any plucke them out of mine hande my father which gaue mee them is greater then all and none is able to take them out of my Fathers hande And the Apostle sayeth of the false prophets they went from vs but they were not of vs for if they had beene of vs they woulde haue continued with vs but this commeth to passe that it might appeare that they were not all of vs. And concerning free will which hee affirmeth to be the cause of their apostacie the time will not permit mee to say much onely this in a worde The will of man is neither as the Eagle which alwayes with stedfast eyes beholdeth the brightnesse of the Sunne neither as a stone which alwayes falleth downe from the top to the bottome for neyther doth it alwayes soare vp aloft nor decline to the centre but sometime it is in diuine contēplation some times againe it meditateth vpon vanity It is not dead yet it liueth not it is not blind and yet it seeth not as the seede sowne in the ground is not consumed and yet it springeth not vp without the warmth and comfort of the Sunne as the eye in darkenesse is not blinde and yet it neither liueth nor seeth without the especiall grace of God There are three sorts of agents the one is ex Placito and that is God the other is ex necessitate and that is nature then there must needes bee a third which consisteth in a mediocritie betweene them both for Positis extremis ponuntur Media No man is good agaynst his will so no man hath power to will any thing that is good vnlesse God giue him the will For as the Prophet speaketh The way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man to walke and direct his steppes We are not of our selues sufficient to thinke a good thought as of our selues but all our sufficiencie is of God No man commeth to Christ vnlesse his father drawe him What good I woulde do that do I not the euill which I would not do that do I sayth the Apostle But there is a schoole distinction betweene compulsion and necessitie For Qui necessariò peccat nihilominus voluntariò peccat Though man cannot choose but offend yet hee is willing to offend but that is no libertie or freedome of his will In the third he doth not so much dispute against the questiō as blaspheme against the maiestie of God As if all mankind be not redeemed by Christ neither was by his decree ordained to life that he may be iustly accused of notorious crueltie an iniustice his wordes are Immensae iniusticiae doli crudelitatis omnium flagitiorū quae saeuissimo competunt tyranno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They be such reprochfull wordes that you may blush to heare them and I when I do but thinke of them I may say with Iob Feare commeth vpon me and dread which causeth all my bones to tremble I am ashamed to repeate them in English because I would not defile your religious eares He doth sayth hee moreouer condemne men their cause being not heard or if it be heard himself doth inforce them to offend and leadeth them into snares to be intrapped he doth punish them for the contempt of that benefite of their redemption to whom he neuer ment that it should appertaine he is like an housholder which chasteneth his familie for refusing their dinner for whome no dinner was ordayned like the maister of a feast which inuiteth guestes to his Table but entertayned a verie fewe of them and intreateth the most of them hardly when they come thither hee did when he wept ouer Ierusalem Fundere lachrymas Crocodili that he was not verus but mendax and periurus To these vngodly and irreligious speaches derogatorie to the highnesse and maiestie of the Sonne of God I say with Saint Paule Euill wordes corrupt good maners and with Michael the Archangel when hee disputed with the diuell about the bodie of Moses the Lorde rebuke thee But to come to the reasons which he alledgeth setting aside his blasphemous wordes hee argueth in this manner To holde with Caluin that Christ dyed not to saue all but onelie those which in his will bee had predestinated were plaine Mahometisme Paganisme Sarasanisme For first that were to take away all comfort which is deriued vnto vs by the passion of Christ to annihilate the vertue of his death to ouerthrowe the foundation of fayth for fayth cannot stand being grounded vpon particulars the vniuersalitie of the redemption of mankind being denied because then euerie man in particular may doubt of himselfe whether Christ bee his Redeemer or no when it is helde that he hath redeemed but a fewe Secondly it were to abolish the ministerie of the Gospel for as much as the duetie of the Minister of Gods worde is to preach repentaunce and to pronounce remission of sinnes through Christ vnto all to minister the Sacraments to all and not to a few To these absurde conclusions I may say with Ierome Sententias vestras prodidisse refutasse est The verie recitall is a sufficient confutation of theyr absurdities For what man but meanely instructed in the rudiments of Christian Religion can bee ignoraunt that fayth is grounded vppon the trueth of Gods promise in his sonne Iesus Christ but the application thereof must not be made to all in generall but to euerye one in particular by his owne selfe For a true liuelye and iustifying fayth of a Christian man is thus defined To bee a sure and certaine knowledge of the loue of God towards himselfe which beeing grounded vpon the truth of Gods promise in Christ is reuealed and sealed by the holy Ghost And that is it which the Prophet speaketh Iustus sua fide