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	king_n	kingdom_n	1,417	5	5.6187	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05999	A commentarie vpon the first and second chapters of Saint Paul to the Colossians Wherein, the text is cleerly opened, observations thence perspiciously deducted ... Together with diuers places of Scripture briefely explained. By Mr. Paul Bayne. B.D.	Baynes, Paul, d. 1617.; Stubbs, Justinian, 1604 or 5-1681.	1634 (1634)	STC 1636; ESTC S101082	229,900	390

under the government of a flagitious servant such as the Papists grant Popes may be Let us therefore take heed that while we set up other heads then Christ over the Churches we doe not reject this glorious Head Iesus Christ from ruling over us as the Israelites when they refused that Aristocraticall governement in which God ruled and would have a King like other Nations the Lord chargeth them not only to have cast off Samuell but himselfe and what is more foolish then to thinke it needfull to have a visible universall high Priest on earth because CHRIST is in heaven invisible to us touching His corporall presence should the people of Israell have erected another High Priest to themselves when Aaron was at any time in the Holy of Holies where he was not visible to them so we stand here below in the entry our High Priest is but gone into the Holiest Sanctuary and we though His Divine nature be with us will set up another Sooner shall the heaven have two Suns then the Church two heads and though metaphorically one may be said to be the Head of a Church for the name of God Himselfe is thus Communicable yet in proper analogy none can be so termed For then the Church might be said His body properly which is such sacriledge as He I thinke in whose forehead blasphemy is written dare scarce commit A double head and a double husband become not the Church the latter is not for her honesty the former fitteth not to decency Thus much who is over us 2 Marke from this Observ that He is called the Head of His Church what neere compassionate and beneficiall superiority or authority that is which Christ hath over His Church He is the Lord of all Creatures yea the hellish fiend must bow the knee to Him But He is not an head to every creature if we take it in that proper analogicall accommodation which the Scripture looketh to in this terme The head hath the highest place and power in the body but yet it is so intimately conjoyned with every member so amiable and beneficiall a superiority that the like cannot in nature be shewen For first looke at the head it is by sinewes and other ligaments straitely conjoyned to every member so is Christ through the spirit of faith coupled with us Secondly from this union the head commeth to have a sense if any part be disturbed so hath Christ He knoweth how to compassionate our infirmities Saul Saul why persecutest thou Me Thirdly the head what ever it hath hath in a sort for the good of the body The perfect comlinesse of the head is the ornament of that body whereof it is the head the body being but a deformed trunke if the head be remooved Againe the sense and motion which are originally in the head as a fountaine they are derived from it to every member Fourthly The head giveth full direction to the other members So Christ is our glory He quickeneth us He giveth us direction both inward and outward We see then that His superiority He hath is most intimate fellow-feeling and commodious unto us Which first doth let us yet farther see what cause we have of thankesgiving who are come into His kingdom Vse 1 who is rather an head unto us then a King over us as the head is to the body To have a powerfull wise King is a great guift but to have one who is rather Pater then Rex Patriae is greater but to have one who should so affect his subjects as to condole with the poorest of them this were a miracle This must breed willing subjection to CHRIST our Lord Vse 2 looke at the members of the body doe they feele it a burthen to doe that which the head directeth to This must strengthen our affiance towards CHRIST Vse 3 that He will not faile to take notice of our griefes to succour and direct us That is a blockish head which can goe on in a Stoicall dedolency when the members are ill affected yea it must assure us that we shall have direction and protection from him Marke Obs 3 Who they are that have Christ so neere so beneficiall to them viz. the Church that is such only who are truely faithfull who shall one day be presented glorious in the heavens such as shall at length have salvation by Him There are in the visible Church many who are by outward profession members of Christ but if they have not learned Christ as the truth is in Christ they shall be found not to be of His body though they seeme so a while A glasse eye may be so set into the head that one would take it verily to be a naturall part of the head yet it hath but an externall insition which art affordeth and is nothing lesse then the naturall eye So many are externally by the Sacrament and externall profession tyed to Christ which are not native members and have no spirituall combination with Him Nay if like some temporisers thou dost get some quicknance of the spirit of Christ yet not such as purifieth the heart bringeth thee above all things to rejoyce in Christ Iesus thou art not of His body nor a true member having Him thy head but art like a wenne or warte mole or such like thing which hath a life in the body but is no member of it Wherefore as you would have any benefit by Christ Vse labour to come into this body not to be as wennes and wooden legges but to be living members such as have Christ living in you teaching you by His spirit to thinke speake and doe all things it is good being members of good Corporations which have good endowments priviledges and Charters but there is not a body like to this which hath all the unsearchable riches of IESUS CHRIST given it in which onely there is salvation That nothing is betwixt Christ and His body Obs 4 and that all the Church is his body and every one in the Church a member of the body not a substitute head unto it Where then shall we find the Pope let him take heed least while he strive to be a secondary head he doe not deprive himselfe of roome in the body out of which there is no salvation I know a Papist will say that the Pope as he is referred unto Christ is a member of the body but as he is referred to men subjected to him he is a head under Christ Answer that every one is a member we reade it and therefore beleeve that any one is a head to all but Christ we reade it not and therefore reject it Beside it is likely that betwixt Christ and the visible Church Saint Peter should have come in thus God is Christs head Christ of the Spirits with Him and Saint Peter and his successors the Churches head but this is no where found yea the contrary God over Christ Christ over the Church the Churches above Cephas Objection Emperours are

this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of meere grace and free favour 3 The Persons Vs which is to be marked for He had said Who quickened you Now he returneth The Person speaking in the first Person 4 The things forgiven all sinnes past present to come originall and actuall of each a little We see who it is that forgiveth our sinnes Doct. 1 properly God the Father Son and Spirit We pray to God therefore for forgivenesse and we see that the Scribes and Pharisies kept this perswasion that GOD only can forgive sinnes Concerning forgiving here thus much 1 We must know that forgivenesse of sinne properly is an act of God's will whereby Hee no longer holdeth our guilt and keepeth wrath against us but returneth into favour with us 2 That God forgiveth all penitent beleeving sinners holding the impenitent and unbeleever guilty 3 That God useth in an eminent manner His Ministers for applying this forgivenesse The question is how farre God useth them whether to testifie unto them what GOD doth or hath done to them repenting and so to raise up their faith toward Him with whom is forgivenesse or whether God useth them judicially that is as Iudges with power to forgive Himselfe onely executing what they determine ratifying that they pronounce suspending all His action till the Priest passe his sentence so that as the Iudges sentence doth make one innocent the King who giveth the power doing it by Him yea God Himselfe whose judgement was after a fingular manner in the Common-wealth of Israel not otherwise absolving and condemning thus by them So here God should forgive by His Priests whom He hath delegated with power in these courses Now this cannot stand For 1 The Priest should more properly forgive than God though he doe it as a Minister from God As the King doth not judge causes in triall formally but by his Iudges in Courts who have the power from Him though hee doth it in some sort because he giveth the authority ratifieth it and upholdeth the execution of it 2 If God gave power to Priests as Iudges to absolve that they had authority within themselves to doe this then they could not fitly be said to pray to God to forgive those they absolve as for example The King giveth his Iudges power to heare causes of this or that nature and to sentence them now what a folly were it for a Iudge who hath per demandationem power from the King to order this or that to petition to the King to order it would not the King say though of your selves you have no power yet is not the Law in your hands have I not given you power within your selves and am I not ready to ratifie what you determine But a good Priests chiefe efficacie in pardoning standeth in his intreating God to pardon therefore he hath no power judicially to doe it no this power is not delegable to creatures First because it is a personall royalty which God cannot give to others unlesse He would make Himselfe an underling to others and so suspend Himselfe upon man that His pleasure should sway Him For the forgiving of sinnes is the power of pardoning treason against His person Yea no inferiour can determine and sentence the matter of a superiour till his superiour have put himselfe in that cause under his inferiour Secondly this is such an act wherein no man can be a competent Iudge as man may be in causes betwixt man and man which are civill because a man cannot know certainly the truth of faith and repentance in any according to which the sentence must be pronounced if truely All the Ministers can doe is to certifie what God doth not as a private Christian doth but as a publike messenger who bringeth from God's Majesty the word of Pardon as Saint Paul saith the Word of reconciliation that thus he may excite the faith of the penitent beleever to behold God pardoning him and feele the pardon of God as it were sealed within him My Lord Chancellour doth not give the Kings pardon which he giveth to those that come to take it forth at his first entrance he doth not as a Iudge give them forth as his pardons but delivers them as the Kings sole deed out of his Princely clemencie Thus the Priest in the Law did not make a Leper cleane but did manifest him to himselfe and to all Israel to be that he was The Minister of God hath no power to pardon but ministerially he doth co-operate with God that God's pardon may be applied and sealed within the consciences of them that beleeve Wherefore Vse 1 let us hate those most arrogant wretches who would justle God out and as it is with the Pope himselfe so would every one thrust himselfe into the roome of God This is a fruit of their monarchicall ambition they will in all their doings not be content with an Oecumenicall steward-like power but challenge a regall authority over the LORD's heritage Let us seeke to the Lord who saith Vse 2 I am He that blot out your transgressions and forgive iniquity Yet seeing that He maketh Ministers His Messengers in whom Hee putteth this word of Pardon yea such as co-operate with Him in applying this His only Pardon unto us let us likewise looke to them as men of GOD who can testifie to us what he doth in His Name Further observe hence Doct. That GOD's pardon is of meere grace to us we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in CHRIST IESUS that is we come to have pardon of sinne and to bee taken to favour freely CHRIST indeed bought it deare we have it freely Which is to be marked against satisfactions which are satisfactory to the Iustice of GOD the revenging Iustice of GOD. Satisfactions were indeed anciently used in reconciling penitent ones but they were to the Church offended not unto GOD whom none but CHRIST can satisfie And though GOD is said to have rested as satisfied in some punishment taken at the hands of His children yet this is the quieting of a fatherlike and temporary displeasure not of a revenging justice with which wee have to deale in answering the guilt of the least sinne Let us therefore hate this popish arrogancie Vse which will teach men to deserve their pardon no no it must be begged of free gift at God onely of grace or it is buying our selves out not seeking pardon 3 That He changeth the Person You hath Hee quickened Doct. having forgiven us Observe hence That wee must remember what God hath done for us while we shew to others the things bestowed on them The holy Apostle could not stand out from the thankfull acknowledgement of God's favours to him when he telleth others what GOD had done for them There are some like such schollars that can learne their fellows lessons but cannot say their owne parts they can tell what God hath done for others as if they had kept a catalogue for them and yet in the

them that have treasure and great charge about them letting penniles travellers alone So doth Satan he is busie to rob those whom GOD hath trusted with His graces VERSE 10. That ye might walke worthy of the Lord and please Him in all things being fruitfull in all good workes and increasing in the knowledge of GOD. NOw followeth the obedience it selfe set out by the practice of it that he prayeth for 1. In generall 2. More particular In generall it is to walke worthy of the Lord what this is may be understood by comparing it with like places Ephes 4.1 Worthy of the vocation whereunto yee are called Phil. 1.27 As it becommeth the Gospell 1 Thes 2.12 Worthy of God who hath called you to His Kingdome and glory To walke worthy of the Lord then is to live and behave our selves as becommeth those to whom God hath vouchsafed so great mercy that passing by thousands and ten thousands for deserts all as good and in outward respects many of them better than they Hee hath of His meere grace and free love in CHRIST chosen and called them out of the World to be partakers of Eternall life and glory with Him and for this cause hath caused His Gospell to be preached unto them and by His spirit hath made it effectuall in them we must therefore seriously consider 1 the dignity of our calling 2 the excellency of the Gospell whereby we are called 3 the kingdome of Glory whereto wee are called 4 and our most Holy and glorious Lord God by whom we are called and accordingly with due regard of all these things carry our selves in this present world let others then live as they list walke in sinne and wallow in filthinesse such a course may sort with their condition but for us we are by the grace of God of another dignity of an higher and more holy calling and such as waite for a Kingdome prepared for us even an Eternall Kingdome in the heavens This walking worthy of the Lord he expresseth by the end that it respecteth and aimeth at namely a pleasing of Him in all things or a full and entire pleasing of Him If then we will walke worthy of the Lord we must study to please Him and to give Him contentment in all things not accounting of pleasing any man yea or al men with displeasing him 1 Cor. 4.3 And good cause for life and death depend on Him He hath power to save and destroy yea He hath done such great things for our soules already and assured us of so great glory hereafter that we are the most unthankefull and impious Creatures that ever breathed our selves being judges if wee study not to please Him in all things Wherefore let others addict and give themselves over dedicate devote and consecrate themselves to serve and please to bow and becke to kneele and crowch and in all points to observe this or that great man on whom they depend by whom they live from whom they expect their advancement and rising in the world let us study and strive how we may please the Lord our GOD. He is to us in stead of all yea all inall Here Observe That this pleasing of GOD must bee in all things Obs or it must bee whole and universall for hee that seeketh not to please Him in all things seeketh not to please Him in any thing and hee that laboureth not to give Him an universall contentment laboureth not to give Him any at all according to that of Saint Iames Sam. 2.10 Whosoever shall Keepe the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all for the same God hath commanded all as well that Hee leaveth undone as that Hee doeth and therefore if out of conscience toward God hee hath care of doing any he would have conscience of doing all Which serveth notably to convince those who reforming and conforming themselves to the will of God as they would have it thought in many things Vse yet retaine some speciall beloved sinnes whereby they plainely shew that their reformation in other things is but counterfeit as being for some by-respects of their profit or estimation or such like Having thus set forth this pleasing of God in generall he expresseth it after in two particulars Bringing forth fruite Increasing in the knowledge of God For the bringing forth of fruite being an expressing of our duty to please God specially in an outward manner before God and Men may bee called not unfitly one particular of pleasing God Observe Hence Obs We must be fruitfull in good workes as Trees and plants are fruitfull in their kindes for from thence is this speech taken for being planted by Gods owne hand in His own Orchard or Garden yea in His owne house Psa 92.14 being also kept and dressed by Him as our Husbandman Ioh. 15.3 Esa 27.3 Ioh. 15.3 being watched over night and day and watered every moment finally being branches of CHRIST the true vine from whom by the vertue of His spirit we receive sappe and juice good reason wee should be fruitfull and if not we shall bee surely cut downe and cast into the fire Mat. 3.10 Ioh. 15.6 Luk. 13.7 For who among us would endure an unfruitfull Tree in his Garden who would not say with indignation Cut it downe why cumbreth it the ground If that were rooted up I might have another planted in the place of it that might bring me forth good fruite When the wicked see us grow livelesse powerlesse sapplesse they say what matter is in them and in their profession It is a shame that they should say I had rather live with any deale with any have a promise from any than from a Professor Their condition is incurable Reason when the Carpenter hath cut and hewen and sees it will not fit his turne ther 's no remedy but it must be cast into the fire My spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Gen. 6.3 Esay 5. GOD calls a counsell What shall I doe with my Vinyard A hedge Lord will do it good send them prosperity and security that they have had A winepresse Lord will doe them good that they have had afflictions will not worke upon them When no plaister will cure the Legge it must bee cut off when the Gospell will doe thee no good nothing can do thee good See the ground and cause of all our evils Vse wee impute them to the malice power or improvidence of men No no thy barren heart is the cause of all 1 Cor. 11. For this cause many are weake and many sicke and many sleepe as if hee should say you blame the ayre you say such a distemper was the cause no no it was your unprofitable comming to the Sacrament that hath brought this plague upon you Our unprofitablenesse is the cause why the Lord is still hacking at the Tree of England How many great Families are perished and yet by no ill husbandry or great improvidence no no they