Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	authority_n	church_n	see_v	1,737	5	3.7569	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20729	The Christians freedome wherein is fully expressed the doctrine of Christian libertie. By the rt. reuerend father in God, George Downeham, Doctor of Diuinity and Ld. Bp. of Derry.	Downame, George, d. 1634.	1635 (1635)	STC 7111; ESTC S102215	96,431	253

are lawfull that all authority is from God and that hee which resisteth lawfull authority resisteth God that they which resist shall receiue to themselues iudgement and that thou must obey not only for feare but also for conscience sake Remember what S. Peter saith Be subiect to all humane ordinance whether the soveraigne or subordinate governours But how As free and not as hauing the liberty for a cloake of naughtinesse but as the servants of God Can it not be vsed without the offence of thy weake brother Take heed saith the Apostle lest thy liberty be an offence to the weake For hee that scandalizeth his brother sinneth against Christ. Wherefore if meate offend my brother I will not eate flesh whiles the world standeth rather then I will offend him Lastly can it not be vsed in some particular vnlesse thou shalt passe the bounds of sobriety temperance humility modesty frugality c. Remember what the Apostle saith Brethren you are called to liberty only vse not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh But here ariseth a doubtfull question the explication whereof is needfull for these times For sometimes there seemeth to be a conflict betweene the law of loyalty and the law of charity as when that which the Magistrate commandeth cannot as wee thinke be observed without the offence or scandall of the weake In which case of Antinomy which some say is our case divers know not which way to turne them and others erroneously chuse to disobey the Magistrate rather then seeme to offend their weake brethren Consider therefore vprightly what I shall say and the Lord giue you vnderstanding mindes and tractable hearts to see and embrace the truth First therefore vnderstand that wee are neuer cast into such an exigent betweene two sinnes not yet committed but there is an issue from them both without a third Suppose therefore that in this case there were an Antimony or such an opposition betweene the two lawes of loyalty and charity as that the one could not be observed without the neglect of the other In such cases of Antimony we are to know that if wee obey the superiour law vnto which we are more bound as hauing higher and more principall ends the inferiour which giueth place vnto it is not broken Now the supreme end is the glory of God then the common salvation of the Church then every mans owne salvation then the salvation of his neighbour then the common outward good of the Church or Common-wealth then our owne then our neighbours So that publike and common goods are to bee preferred before private and spirituall before corporall and the glory of God before all Well then thou saist thou maist not yeeld to the ceremonies as namely the Surplice the Crosse and kneeling at communion because these things cannot bee done without scandalizing of thy brother Suppose it were so and remember that I doe but suppose it But on the other side thou refusing the vse of indifferent things whereunto thy Christian liberty extendeth being enioyned by lawfull authority with such conditions as these are enioyned I say vnto thee without supposition that besides thy disobeying the lawfull authority of a Christian Church and of a Christian Magistrate whom thou oughtest to obey even for conscience sake thou dost scandalize first thy weake brethren being affected as thy selfe who by thine example for which thou perhaps thinkest thou hast good ground are animated or as the Apostle speaketh edified without ground to contemne the authority of the Magistrate and of the Church and from that contempt doe many of them proceed to mislike of the State from mislike either to separation or to some degree of disloyall discontentment Besides those of thine owne disposition thou doest offend them who are more loyally affected who if they bee not the better grounded in our most holy faith doe stumble at your practise and begin to stagger in the profession and practise of religion when they see men seeming most zealous in our religion professing as they pretend the cause of sincerity vpon no iust cause to abandon their ministry to oppose themselues against authority to maintaine a faction in the Church and wilfully for any thing that they can see to persist in a bad course And hereupon many take occasion to rest in outward civility without grace and to mislike all forwardnesse in religion for your sakes c. Now here seemeth to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a scādall falling two ways indeed a single supposed offence opposed to a double scandal ioyned with disobedience If no more could be said who could doubt on which side rather to encline But to these I adde other respects that ought to be regarded more then a supposed scādall The question is not as many would seeme to vnderstād it whether it being a thing arbitrary meerely left vnto our owne choice either to vse these ceremonies or to forbeare them as it was in the Apostles question of eating flesh whether I say we ought to abstaine if we vnderstood that a brother would bee offended at the vse of them or not for then there were no question but that for avoiding of scandall we ought to abstaine But these things are not arbitrary in our choice but imposed by lawfull authority and that with such condition as that the obseruation of these things being indifferent in themselues becommeth respectiuely necessary First in respect of authority which not only for feare but also for conscience sake wee are bound to obey in all lawfull things This one necessity of obedience is sufficient to excuse me from scandall especially if I doe my endeauour to preuent it as after shall be shewed Secondly in respect of the conditions wherewith they are imposed as not to receiue the cōmunion vnlesse we kneele not to goe on in our ministery vnlesse we conforme For care of avoyding scandall respecteth arbitrary matters and not necessary duties appertaining to Gods glory and our salvation which we must performe though all the world would be offended thereat The care of thine owne saluation must be preferred to the supposed danger of another mans fall the care of the Churches saluation much more the glory of God most of all Well then maist thou not receiue the Communion being a duty appertaining to thine owne saluatiō to the edificatiō of the Church communion of Saints to the glory of God vnlesse thou wilt receiue it vpō thy knees it being a gesture not only lawful but most cōuenient to be vsed in such a part of Gods worship as is performed with inuocation on the name of God especially seeing the gesture vsed at meales is not to be vrged vnlesse the Sacrament were with our meales as at the first institution with Christ last supper and in the primitiue Church with their loue feasts receiued for the cause of the gesture being worthily taken away the reason of retaining it ceasseth for

as the strong God sheweth that God is not onely strong and strength it selfe but that it is hee that giueth all strength to his creatures By this name Shaddai which is omnipotent God stileth himselfe vsually to the Patriarches calling himselfe El Shaddai the strong God Almighty this name belongs only to God and to none other Creature Adonai my Lord is found one hundred thirty foure times in the old Testament by this name wee challenge God to bee our God and with Thomas say thou art my Lord and my God Helion which signifieth most high was giuen vnto God by Gabriell telling the Virgin Mary that the child that should bee borne of her should be the Sonne of the most high Abba a Syriacke name signifying Father by it remember what you receiue from God proceedeth from a Fatherly loue and that you owe him againe Filiall obedience All these sacred names of God are as pledges and remembrances of Gods omnipotency and loue towards you and of your dutie towards him As the true knowledge of God is the onely inducement to the exercise of your dutie towards him so the religious practise of that dutie is the onely rule whereby you may liue reposedly and die cheerefully In this exercise I doe commend foure things vnto you Heare pray meditate and doe SECT III. of Hearing and reading the Scriptures THis hearing whereof I speake consisteth in the reading of Gods sacred word contained in the Books of the old and new Testament and hearing it from preachers For the whole Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improoue to correct and to instruct in righteousnes that the man of God may be made perfect in all good works The Scriptures are diuided into the old and new Testament the first is called the the old because it was reuealed in the former time the other New because it was reuealed in the latter time The difference betweene the old and new Testament is onely in certaine accidents Ceremonies and dispensation of things in externall forme and difference of time but in substance all one and tending to one effect in vertue and efficacy In the old the new is figured and shadowed in the new is the declaration and manifestation of the old By Moses was the old Testament reuealed and the law giuen being holy iust and good seruing rather to bring vs to knowledge of our owne insufficiency to fulfill the same then for laying vpon the corrupted sonnes of Adam that which they were not able to vndergoe The new Testament was reuealed by Christ when hee was manifested in the flesh in whom did appeare the righteousnesse of God or the goodnesse that comes from God to vs witnessed by the Law and Prophers In the Euangelicall dispensation of the Gospell is the deliuerance of Gods people not from an earthly but from a spirituall bondage of sinne and Sathan Here is a triumph ouer the suppressed enemy not Pharaoh but Sathan himselfe Here is an introduction to possesse not earthly Canaan but heauenly Ierusalem Here is a Law giuen not in Sinai but in Sion not by Angelicall ministery but by the presence of the Lord himselfe not after a fearefull sort but with wonderfull lenity and gentlenesse not grauen in stony tables but effectually printed in the hearts of the elect In the old testament was bondage feare in the new liberty glad tidings the ministry not of death but of life not a rigorous exacter but a mercifull Sauiour not the Sacraments of circumcision and the passeouer the administration whereof was blood but baptisme and the Lords supper both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnbloudy In the new testament is a preisthood not Aaronicall not externall not tyed to any one nation Family or tribe but spirituall and common to all the faithfull throughout the world In it is a sacrifice and that bloudy but not of beasts but the sweet smelling sacrifice of the pretious bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus not iterated but finished once for all vpon the Crosse. In the new testament are ceremonies few and easie to wit the word Sacraments and prayers In one word in the old testament were figures shadowes and promises in the new the fulfilling and accomplishment of all this new couenant of grace shall continue to the worlds end and shall giue place to no other but to the eternall fruition of the Kingdome of heauen Hereby the excellency of the new testament is manifest and that both the old and new differing in accidents and circumstances are in substance and truth all one and that the one is contained in the other making vp an absolute body containing perfect sufficiency to saluation and whereto wee must neither adde nor diminish neither seeke for Christ and saluation else where for this cause wee are commanded to search the Scriptures Therfore wouldest thou know what sinne is and the punishment thereof by the law The ●iue bookes of Moses shall teach thee the historicall parts of these the bookes of the Prophets Prouerbs of Salomon and Ecclesiastes will let you see the reward of the godly and punishment of the wicked and furnish you with a rich store-house of goulden sentences and diuine morall precepts The kingly Psalmes of Dauid shall plentifully admi●ister vnto you heauenly phisicke for all spirituall diseases The foure Euangelists shall teach you the life and doctrine and death of our Sauiour The Acts of the Apostles shall acquaint you with the practise of Christs doctrine in the Primitiue Church The Epistles of the Apostles shall traine you vp particularly in Christ his Schoole Make vse of the rest of the books called Apocrypha so far as they agree with the Scripture and no farther Read the ●crip●ures with a sanctified chast heart for vnlesse they be read by the inspiration of Gods spirit by the which they were written with humility desire to know they remaine as a dead letter in the efficacy thereof as I did aduise you before Admire reuerently such obscure places as by your weake capacity you cannot vnderstand neuer going farther in the curious search of diuine misteries then either by conferring some other place of Scripture or by conference with some learned Diuine you may bee informed so haue they that easinesse and plainenesse that the simple may be comforted taught They are that admirable Riuers both shallow and deepe wherein as the Lambe may wade the Elephant may swimme and it is only the dulnesse of our capacity that makes them hard to vs and the vaile of our hearts that cannot bee remoued except by him that hath the Key of Dauid that opens where no man shuts and shuts where no man opens Delight most in such places of Scriptures as serue best for your instructions in your owne calling for many men are too busie in others callings and negl●c●ers of their