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	pope_n	power_n	1,442	5	4.9516	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20173	The new creature A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, Ianuary 17. 1619. By Stephen Denison, minister of Gods word, at Katherine Kree Church, in the citie of London.	Denison, Stephen, d. 1649 or 50.	1619 (1619)	STC 6607; ESTC S120525	30,181	101

but being ioyned with the Spirit it offereth grace and effecteth that in the harts of the elect in some measure which it doth require As we reade concerning Thomas Ioh. 20. 27. 28. Christs word cōmanded Thomas not to be infidelious but beleeuing and the same word wrought faith in him to beleeue so that he immediatly fell downe at Iesus feets and said vnto him Thou art my God and my Lord. Concerning the second question which is whether a man haue free will because it is said Why will ye die To this I answer a man or woman may haue a free choise in things ciuill and indifferent thus if any one be inuited to a feast he is at his own choise whether he will go or no and if he go he is at his owne choise of what dishes he wil taste or eate according to that in 1. Cor. 10. 27. If any one that beleeueth not bid thee to a feast and if thou wilt go c. But to make choise or to refuse to go to a feast or to make choise to feed moderately for conscience sake or for Gods glorie this is immediatly frō God the fountaine of all holinesse For we are not sufficient to thinke any thing as of our selues but our sufficiencie is of God Again that a Christian hath in some measure a freed will after conuersion though not an absolute free will we do not gainsay for Christ came to proclaime libertie to the captiues and the opening of the prison to them that are bound And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is libertie But to say that a man hath absolute freedome and that he hath power of himselfe without the Spirit to will that which is good and to nill that which is euil to affirme this we cannot For it is God which giueth both to will and to do of his good pleasure We haue not free will before conuersion For euery imagination of the thoughts of our hearts are onely euill continually And in vs that is in our flesh abideth nothing which is good Neither haue we free will after conuersion For without Christ can we do nothing And As the branch cannot beare fruite of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can we except we abide in Christ And therefore we Christians haue iust cause to reiect the doctrine of Poperie as in other points fundamentall as namely in the doctrine of iustificaton by a mans owne merits and in the doctrine of praying or giuing diuine worship vnto Saints and Angels and in the doctrine of Purgatorie and in the doctrine of the Popes authoritie to dispense with sin or to forgiue sin in the doctrine of Transsubstantiation in the doctrine of the Popes power to dethrone Christian Kings c. As we haue I say iust cause to reiect these vaine inuentions with innumerable other Antichristian traditions so likewise we haue iust cause to dissent from the Papists and new vpstart Arminians in the doctrine of Free will And the doctrine of Free will in that sence as it is maintained by Papists and Arminians is so much the more to be abhorred first because it denieth the doctrine of the erernall truth of God concerning election and reprobation maintaining that one person is not elected more then another except it be for foreseene faith or foreseene workes Contrary vnto that in Rom. 9. 11. For the children being not yet borne neither hauing done any good or euill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth it was said vnto her The elder shall serue the yonger as it is written Iacob haue I loued and Esau haue I hated Secondly the doctrine of freewill is so much the more to be reiected because it derogates from the glorie of God and maketh a man his owne sauiour for if a man haue absolute power of himselfe by his owne will to be saued or damned then if he be saued he may thanke himselfe and not God Thirdly if the doctrine of freewill were receiued then we must also grant that there is no assurance of saluation in this life contrary to that in 2. Pet. 1. 10. Make your calling and election sure Yea we must grant also that a Christian might fall finally and totally from sauing grace contrary to that in Math. 16. 18. The gates of hell shall not preuaile c. and thus one grosse absurdity being granted a thousand would follow The reason therefore that God expostulates thus with his Church Why will ye die is not to implie any free-will in vs but rather to intimate a great frowardnesse in vs vnto that which is good and a desperate forwardnesse and pronenesse vnto that which is euill Why will ye die that is why will ye desperately resist the Spirit when he offers grace vnto you and why will ye wilfully rush into sinne as the horse into the battell and so incurre the danger of damnation when ye are sufficiently forewarned Thus much for the meaning of the words and matter Cast away from you all your transgressions I purpose not to collect all the doctrines which I might out of this text because the time would be too short for so large a discourse I will therefore if God will insist onely vpon such points as stand best with the scope of the holy Ghost in this text or portion of Scripture and which I think to be the most necessary doctrines concerning the time and place Cast away from you all your transgressions Where note that it is not said lay by all your transgressions for a time but cast them away Againe it is not said cast away some of your transgressions or such transgressions which you can best spare but cast away all euen to your very infirmities Whence obserue we That a true penitent sinner must not not fauour or allow himselfe in any sinne or transgression whatsoeuer but he must be content to part with all yea with his best-beloued sinnes he must cast away all his transgressions whereby he hath transgressed For the proofe of which point I commend vnto you these places of Scripture following Ezechiel 18. 30. Repent and turne your selues from all your transgressions so iniquitie shall not be your ruine Math. 18. 8. 9. Wherefore if thy hand or thy foote offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather then hauing two hands or two feete to be cast into euerlasting fire And if thine eye offend thee plucke it out and cast it from thee it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather then hauing two eyes to be cast into hell fire 2. Cor. 7. 1. Hauing therefore these promises dearely beloued let vs cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God Heb. 12. 1. Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of

For as much as they that are in the flesh that is vnregenerate cannot please God as the blessed Apostle speaketh Vse Let euery man and woman lay to heart this necessitie let them not deceiue themselues with that fond conceit that if they liue ciuilly and pay euery man his owne and go to the Church as others do that then they shal surely be saued though they remaine as ignorant of regeneration as euer was Nicodemus I tell you nay for vnlesse you be regenerate and borne againe you remaine in danger of eternall condemnation you remaine the very slaues of Satan and the best things that you do or can do in your naturall condition are abhominable and odious to God Concerning the meanes whereby regeneration is wrought we are to note first that the efficient cause of it is not man nor Angel but Gods Spirit There is no creature in heauē nor earth that can conuert a soule by his owne power this worke belongs to God alone for we are borne not of bloud nor of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh but of God as S. Iohn speaketh in his first chap. and 13. verse And therefore the whole glory of the admirable worke of regeneration is due to God alone and is not to be ascribed to any creature Secondly the most ordinary instrumentall cause not to speake of the extraordinary meanes which God vseth for the conuersion of soules is the word of God especially preached as appeares by these places of Scripture Psalme 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect conuerting the soule 1. Cor. 4. 15. For though you haue ten thousand instructors yet haue ye not many fathers for in Christ Iesus I haue begotten you through the Gospell Iames 1. 18. Of his owne will begat he vs by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruites of his creatures 1. Pet. 1. 23. Being borne anew not of mortall seed but of immortall by the word of God which liueth and endureth for euer By all which places and many more it is euident that the especiall instrumentall cause of regeneration is the holy word of God contained in the Canonicall Scriptures Whereby it appeareth what infinite wrong the Pope doth vnto the soules of the cōmon people by withholding from them the vse of the Scriptures and also what enemies they are vnto Christs kingdome and to mens saluation which labour to their power to suppresse and extinguish the powerfull preaching of Gods word Lastly this should teach vs to glorifie God for the plentie of preaching in this Land but especially in this Citie for hereby there is good hope of the conuersion of many soules And let vs alwayes as we haue all iust cause pray against Poperie and that not onely in respect of the bloudthirstinesse of that religion displayed in that most barbarous plot of the gunpowder treason but also because it seekes to depriue vs of the vse of Gods word the especiall instrument of mans saluation Concerning the degrees whereby regeneration is most commonly wrought they are these following First the holy Ghost quickens the soule which it doth conuert finding it dead in trespasses and sins Thus it quickened the prodigall son Luke 15. 32. This thy brother was dead and is aliue againe and thus he quickened the Ephesians in the fifth Chapter of that Epistle the eighth verse and in the second Chapter the first verse Where we are to note that the soule is not said to be dead by nature or to be quickened by regeneration because the soule is destitute of all life but because naturally it is an alien from the life of God as Paul speakes in Eph. 4. 18. God doth not exercise the life of grace in the soule of any vnregenerate person as he doth in the hearts of those that are regenerate And this first act of regeneration or spirituall quickening is termed in Scriptures the first resurrection First because as in the day of the generall resurrectiō Many that sleepe in the dust shall awake Dan. 12. 2 so by vertue of this first resurrection many that sleepe in sin shall awake to liue righteously 1. Cor. 15. 34. Secondly as in the generall resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall be made like vnto the glorious body of Christ himselfe Philip. 3. 21 so by vertue of this first resurrection the soules of the Saints come to beare the image and stampe of God himselfe being made holy as he is holy Eph. 4. 24. And hereby a man or woman may trie whether they be regenerate and quickened or no if they will but examine whether they be awake to liue righteously or no and whether they beare Gods image in true holinesse or no. If these things be in thee thou art vndoubtedly quickned if not thou remainest still but a dead man The second degree whereby regeneration is wrought is illumination for when we begin to stand vp from the dead then immediatly Christ giues vs light Ephes 5. 14. the God which commanded light to shine out of darknesse beginneth to shine in our hearts 2. Cor. 4. 6. Yea then the day of saluation beginneth to dawne and the day-starre of sauing knowledge to arise in our hearts 2. Pet. 1. 19. By vertue of this heauenly light a man or woman is brought to see in some measure the danger of their natural state and what need they haue of repentance and of Christ and of Gods mercy and of inward purging from their corruptions and what reason they haue of denying themselues carrying about with them such a masse of corruption whereof now they are aware Where it is to be noted that the reprobate may in some measure be enlightened also He may haue so much light as to leaue him without excuse This is manifest out of Heb. 6. 4. where it is said of the apostates and finall backsliders that they were once enlightened But the difference is first the child of God is enlightened and quickened but the reprobate is onely enlightened and not quickened for he remaines still an alien from the life of God Ephes 4. 18. Secondly the elect are enlightened to see their sinne as we see in the example of Paul Rom. 7. 27. I see another law in my members c. but the reprobate are enlightened especially to behold the danger of sin and the punishment of the same as we see in the example of Cain Gen. 4. 13. My punishment is greater then I can beare Thirdly the elect are enlightened to amendement as we see in the example of Iob in his 40 Chapter fift verse I haue spoken once but I will do so no more or I will not answer But the reprobate are enlightened to despaire and to desperate courses As we see in the example of Iudas Math. 27. 5. who so soone as he was enlightened to see the danger of his estate went immediatly and desperately hanged himselfe And hereby we may examine and try our selues whether