Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	faith_n	love_n	1,510	5	5.7755	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40889	Fifty sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London, and elsewhere whereof twenty on the Lords Prayer / by ... Anthony Farindon ... ; the third and last volume, not till now printed ; to which is adjoyned two sermons preached by a friend of the authors, upon his being silenced.; Sermons. Selections	Farindon, Anthony, 1598-1658.	1674 (1674)	Wing F432; ESTC R306	820,003	604

makes suffering Patience it makes giving Liberality it puts value upon a Mite or a cup of cold water Charity baptizeth all the other virtues and makes them Christian She stands as a Queen among the Virtues encircled and compassed about as with a crown Patience waits on her Bounty is as the breath of her nostrils Long-suffering is her very spirit In a word Faith is the foundation Charity the building which reacheth as high as heaven and Hope the pillar or buttress to uphold it We shall now find our way easier and the task not hard to bring Charity and Hope together For if Charity comprehend all virtues I am sure Hope is one I know that the essences of these virtues are distinct and their offices divers Distinct habits have their distinct acts The act of Faith is to believe of Charity to love and embrace of Hope to expect But yet though their acts and offices be divers and distinct they may all meet in the same subject They are distinct but not separate Nay to speak truth they are inseparable Faith may be said to love and Hope to believe and Charity to hope For he that doth truly believe doth love and he that doth truly hope doth believe and he that loveth doth hope and yet neither is Faith Hope nor Hope Charity The abstract doth here stand for the concrete Charity for the Christian man indued with charity And the sense is Charity is the sourse the original the immediate cause of Hope that which alone produceth it In subjecto in supposito in the same subject in the same person two virtues may meet which notwithstanding in themselves are most distinct Besides in this union of Virtues there is observable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of communication of idiomes As it is true to say of Christ that he who is God is Man and he who is Man is God but blasphemy to say that his Deity is Humanity or his Humanity Deity so he errs not who affirms aut sperantem credere aut amantem sperare that he who hopes believes or that he who loves hopes but he were strangely deceived who should say that either Hope is Faith or Faith is Charity Certainly when our Apostle says that Charity hopeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he commits no soloecisme he speaks no absurdity nothing which becomes not an Apostle The most fearful and horrid Soloecisme is in our life and conversation when we hope in God whom we do not love and when we expect a reward from him who deserve a stripe Sperare in Deum propter meipsum non amare Deum propter seipsum To hope in God for my own good and for my self and not to love him for himself is a dangerous mistake To divide and separate Hope from Love is as bad as to separate Love from Faith The Apostle in the next verse tells us that Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never falleth away He implyes a falling away of Faith and Hope in the last verse of the former Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now saith he here in this world abide Faith Hope and Charity so knit and united and coupled that no divorce shall make a separation If the hand of Charity wither my Hope is dead If I reach not forth drink to the thirsty and meat to the hungry and garments to the naked if I be so palsie-strucken that I cannot give a cup of cold water my Hope is sick and feeble and languishing spes informis a Hope without shape or form as withered and hanging down as my Charity as palsie-strucken as she not able to reach to a reward or lay hold on a blessing Now we cannot in strictness attribute Hope to the Saints departed whose Charity notwithstanding is now perfected For what should they hope for Heaven They already reign there The robe of glory They have put it on The penny They have received it He who was their hope is now their joy and crown They are extra statum merendi aut demerendi They can neither merit nor offend They are in termino quiescentiae in that rest which remains to the Saints of God That which is perfect is come and that which was in part is taken away Those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ancient Church their Prayers and Panegyricks and Oblations for the dead did rather testifie their own hope then perswade theirs Expect they did the full complement of their bliss and beatitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dancing and triumphing before him who taught them to conquer And being crown'd with victory what should they hope for Spes quasi pes animae saith Isidore Hope is the foot of the soul And to move the foot this progressive motion this striving forward belongs to him who is going on his way Spes absentis est we hope for that we see not the Saints rest in God Spes itinerantis est Hope is my companion in my journey at my journeys end Hope leaves me Where there is Hope there is motion and with that motion she ends In the Saints departed there is Charity but Hope there is not And indeed the Charity the Apostle here speaks of is not charit as patriae but viae This Charity that hath Hope to wait on her this expecting Charity is Charity that hath a hand to give and a body to suffer and a tongue to speak is the Charity of him who can bestow his goods on the poor and give his body to be burned v. 3. is proper to him who walks and rejoyceth and labours in hope as the Apostle speaketh Well then we may settle it as an undenyable conclusion that Charity may be without Hope but in the next place it is as true that Hope cannot be without Charity In heaven there is no room for Hope where notwithstanding Charity is nor shall there be in hell where Charity is not Infinite joy there infinite horror here No addition to that which is infinite no succession to Aeternity Here our Arithmetick faileth us we cannot add one cubit or inch to infinitude we cannot multiply Aeternity nor add one day to Immortality and can we hope The blessed Saints departed rest in God who is the end of their Hope do not hope The Devils and damned reprobates hate God and cannot hope non ostiolum spei not the least wicket not a crany of Hope is left to them Behold the bridegroom is come and is entred and the door is shut Origen whom Matth. 25. some have placed with a picklock in his hand to open these everlasting doors and after the revolution of some thousands of years to empty hell and break the chains of everlasting darkness hath this censure in Photius to have delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many absurd positions and full of impiety If Charity could be found in hell I would perhaps look for hope there But to place Hope there without Charity is to turn darkness into light Judas into

binding then a debt surely you would think that due from them to him who had begotten them nay who was sacrificed for them and saved them for these glorious terms the Apostle gives himself saved them I say not their Bodies from the Grave but their Souls from Death O my Brethren there was a time when men sold all they had and laid it down at the Apostles feet there was a time even in our memory when Sacriledg was thought a sin and men conceived the maintenance of a lawful Clergy as sacred as their own Revenues in the time when axes and hammers were lifted up to build not to break down the carved works of the Sanctuary yet something is due still at least to give a cup of cold water in the name of a Prophet to hold up their weak hands and to support their feeble knees with your staff of Bread For though St. Paul would have worked with his hands now had they not been lock't up with manicles rather then prove burdensome to them for then was not a time to receive Gifts in the infancy of the Church yet he always says he might claim it as a recompence that he had power to challenge it and proves it by all kind of Arguments 1 Cor. 9. from Custom Reason and Scripture and least you should pretend the abrogation of this Law by Christ the Apostle adds v. 14. That the Lord hath ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel he hath ordained it enacted it and made it a Law for ever he hath tied and bound you up to it for ever it is not left to your choice and discretion And our Saviour when he sends out his Apostles calls their maintenance their Hire Mat. 10. 10. as if there did pass a tacite contract and bargain between the Preacher and the Audience that if he feeds their souls they should feed his body if he gives them the water of life he may claim a draught from out of their well as due and that he who deals the bread of life about should have in return the bread that perishes a fair exchange you 'l say on your parts Carnal for Spiritual things and a Birth-right that gives you title to become the heirs of God for a small mess of porridge The second advantage we have by Charity is the Exercise of our Patience before the day of Tryal come upon us Who pray among you would leave at this very instant his whole Estate to preserve his Conscience if violence should offer to take it from him or who would go immediately from this very place to the stake if God should call him thither but Charity leads us to this perfection for whosoever gives away of his own willingly may come in time to endure quietly if it be forced from him and who can chearfully part with some to relieve his Brethren will at last arrive so far as contentedly to loose all so he may preserve his Conscience My Brethren 't is all the business of our Time Diligence and Experience to be a Christian for though God did sometimes extraordinarily pour forth as much of his Spirit into some Vessels of Mercy as enabled them at once to become Christians and Martyrs both together ready to lay down their lives for the Faith as soon as ever they did believe Yet 't is said of Christ that notwithstanding he was a Son yet learnt he obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5. 8. He learnt it Let others learn to measure the Earth do you learn to despise it and let Philosophers dispute the causes of lightnings storms and thunder but do you Christians learn the way to Mount Sion where you may stand above them all The last and highest benefit we receive by our Charity is that as God will most severely punish the neglect of this duty so if we do perform it he will account himself in debt to us for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God will 1 Pet. 3. thank you for this for this God will in a manner acknowledge himself beholding to you You lend to the Lord lend to him who possesses all already as if God would willingly part with his whole right and title to this world so we in compassion to our poor Brethren would give him the least return of it again God owes you a blessing which you shall be sure to have not only hereafter but here also if we can believe God for whom it is impossible to lye For as God did certainly punish some with temporal punishments for offending against the Gospel as he did the Corinthians with diseases and sudden death for their prophaning the Lords Supper So 1 Cor 11. 30. likewise may not we doubt but God under the Gospel also rewards those who obey even with temporal blessings and if you observe it nothing prospers here better then this vertue of Charity For the very Politian himself advises us to help our very enemies if we mistrust they can get out of themselves because thus we shall make them our friends Beasts have so much reason and civility to return a courtesie Nature is still calling upon us for this duty so earnestly as some have wished their very friends to whom they stand most obliged in misery for no other reason but that they might relieve them and be quit of this debt On the contrary 't is remarkable what great advantages some have missed meerly because they knew not how to give in season For there is he saith Solomon that withholds what is meet but it tends to poverty Prov. 11. 24. But suppose men do turn inhumane and ungrateful yet still he that gives to the poor shall not lack Prov. 28. 27. For God in your extremities will either afford you an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place to slip out of or else give you strength to suffer which in effect is all one No great matter whether the three Children be in the Furnace or out of it so the flame does not so much as singe them and then you will without all question receive an ample reward in the world to come For if Heaven do stand open to such as have their sins forgiven then you for your Charity shall be sure to enter in for Charity shall cover the multitude of sins If your luxury did make your Saviour faste the feeding of his afflicted members that will feed him again and if your wantonness in apparel stript him in covering their nakedness you shall cloath him again in short if your sins crucified him in relieving them you revive him and make him alive again upon the earth This Sacrifice will expiate all Give to the poor what thou hast and all shall be clean unto you says our Saviour Luke 11. 41. Again do you think such as do all the whole will of God shall inherit eternal life then your Charity must of necessity let you in for Charity is the fulfilling both of the Law and the Prophets

great weakness it is when the Woman hath prevailed and we have given up our strength to infirmity then out of that to draw an apologie from whence by resistance we might have raised that virtue which would have crowned us with honour and glory It was the Woman saith Adam It is my Melancholy saith the Envious it is my Bloud saith the Wanton It is my Appetite saith the Glutton It is my Choler saith the Murderer But God gave Adam a wife not a tempter and God gave an appetite not Gluttony natural tempers and constitutions not Envie not Luxurie not Revenge And the Envious should clear-up the cloud of Melancholy with the light of Reason the furious Gallant purge his Choler the Wanton quench the fire in his bloud and make himself an Eunuch for the Kingdom of heaven and the Glutton 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 13 12. wage war with his appetite put a knife to his throat and beat down Prov. 23. 2. Cor. 9. 27. his body with fasting and abstinence Beloved if this care were general and serious we should not hear Adam complain of Eve nor should we complain of Adam nor make our Infirmity an apologie for sin nor our Weakness to resist temptation a temptation to those sins which encrease our weakness God sendeth us into the world as the Romans did their armies against Carthage not to return but with conquest If we fail and be foiled it will be in vain to urge and plead our Infirmity It is the perverseness of the will saith St. Ambrose that damneth the wicked but no necessity of nature nor infirmity of the flesh can excuse them God indeed gave the Woman to Adam but dedit in adjutorium he gave her him to be an helper So there is not any thing which God hath given us that of it self can hurt us There is no natural appetite or inclination in man say the Schools which may not be drawn up to a virtuous act There is no fuel no spark in our nature which may not be improved and fixed up at last as a star in the firmament of the soul For every inclination is from God and therefore is good and tendeth to good My inclination to Anger may end in true Christian Fortitude my inclination to Sorrow may be perfected in Repentance my inclination to meats in Sobriety and Abstinence If the Woman had been given to Adam to have given him the Fruit he might have tasted and not dyed and if our natural inclination did necessitate us to the act we may say it and be no lyars that we have no sin What pretence then can we find what excuse can we possibly frame when we break God's command That Sin doth insinuate A Christian hath a charm That it is invisible and so insensible Faith unfoldeth it That our nature is weak Christ doth strengthen us That there is a Woman with an Apple in her hand many incitements to sin There are more and stronger to goodness There needeth no instructour to teach us saith St. Basil no Oratour to perswade us to hate a loathsom disease and by the common principles of Reason we commend Justice and Temperance and condemn that which is evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is saith he in the soul of Man an aversness from evil which he never learned but brought with him into the world But then what if Evil look well and speak well and appear in some glory We have light enough to discover that imposture For the Fruit with the inscription there is a Morte morieris If the World flattereth God threatneth If Nature incline grace is a bridle If the Devil suggest the Angels are our guardians If he fetch his circuit and compass to see where he may foil us they are ready to pitch their Tents round about us What speak we of Temptations They are officina meritorum a shop to build good works in If Temptation cloath it self with Lust I may make it Chastity and Temperance If it smile in a piece of gold I may make it poverty of spirit If it cringe to me in his knee that honoureth me I may shadow it with humility Our Passions which have quandam mulieritatem a kind of womanishness in them and are many times as froward and perverse as any of that Sex yet may be made useful and serviceable cùm illud quod in illis foemininum est virile facimus saith the Father by turning their effeminacy into true manhood by making my Fear a Centinel to warn me of danger my Anger a Magistrate to punish my sin and my sorrow a penetentiary to water my couch with tears nay cùm illud quod in illis ferinum est divinum facimus by making that Divine which was bestial and brutish in them And indeed wherein can we more nearly resemble God then in the destruction of sin and this we may work by help of our passions This fleshly part of ours God hath given us but dedit sociam he gave it for a companion not an enemy Nyssene will tell us that the Soul may set it in tune as a Musician doth his Harp and Lute and make such an harmony as shall be very delightful in the ears of God And a friend also we may make it to exalt and promote us It may help us to a Confessors place in Heaven by the confession of the tongue it may procure us a Virgin 's place by chastity and crown us with Martyrdome by dying for Christ Nemo non in cansa Dei facere potest quod in causa sua quotidiè facit We are prodigal of our blood and of our life if our Lust or some quarrel call for it why should it then be so difficult a matter to employ and spend it in the cause of God If we shall search the Scripture to improve our knowledge if we shall earnestly beg of the God of grace to inflame our Love let the Woman tempt never so much we shall not hear her Let our natural endowments be what they will he that doth little amongst us shall do much and he that doth much shall do much more And for our enemies which we so fear and which we bring in as an excuse of our cowardise one of us as Deut. 32. 30. it was said of the Israelites shall chase a thousand of them and if they Deut. 28. 7. come out against in one way they shall flee before us seven wayes Nor shall we ever so forget our selves as to palliate our offences and when God and our Conscience or our Conscience which is our God shall call us to account put them off upon Adam as Adam did here upon Eve There shall never come a MULIER DEDIT or a TU DEDISTI The Woman both done this or Our Flesh hath done this or God hath done this into our apology Nor will we hide our selves under any Tree but that whose leaves are to heal the Nations nor run unto any Rock but the Rev.