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	good_a	work_n	1,567	5	5.8652	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06193	The mysterie of mankind, made into a manual, or The Protestants portuize reduced into explication application, inuocation, tending to illumination, sanctification, deuotion, being the summe of seuen sermons, preached at S. Michaels in Cornehill, London. By William Loe, Doctor of Diuinity, chaplaine to his sacred Maiesty, and pastor elect, and allowed by authority of superiours of the English Church at Hamborough in Saxonie.	Loe, William, d. 1645.	1619 (1619)	STC 16689; ESTC S105401	92,048	356

Scripture calleth this cause The spirit of faith or the spirite ●f beleeuing Gods second cause of our ●eleeuing is his blessed and ●oly word read and preached 〈◊〉 the ordinarie means of our ●ith which worketh vpon ●wo forcible and perswasiue ●enses the eye and the eare ●he one for the reader of the word the other for the hearer of the word preached or read For the eare God hath ordayned a voyce to call vpon ●s by the paynes of preaching For the eye his sacred word is written or printed that it may be read and vnderstood of vs and our children and this is the cause of our beleeuing which is called The word of Faith Aske a Christian then why he beleeues the Trinitie in Vnitie and Vnitie in Trinitie his answer is because the Scripture records it there is the word of faith but reply vpon him and aske him why he beleeues the scriptures his reason is without reason in himselfe for he saith The finger of God is there If you vrge and say Why doest thou beleeue and I do not I heare the word as well as thee Saint Paule will answer with an out crie O depth That is a matter of amazement not of argument saith S. Ambrose But what might be the cause that stayeth and vpholds the hearts of the sonnes of men along the misery of this life in this word of beleeuing Surely eternall life the saluation of our soules the last article of our Christian faith is the finall cause and anchor-holde of out beleeuing in Christ Iesus For the hope whereof the holy ones of God purge thēselues both in soule and body that they may be accepta●le vnto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. And there●ore S. Peter calleth eternall ●ife the end of our beleeuing ●uen the assured glorification ●f soule and body which by ●aith wee expect in the other world In respect whereof also it is that this faith goeth not alone like some bankrupt but is royally attended with a troupe of good works semblable to the causes thereof For the spirit of faith is not barren but is in continuall motion in stirring and quickning vp the harts of gods children euery day to goodnes Neither is the word of faith verball onely But liuely and mightie in operation and sharper then any two edged sword enters throgh euen to the diuiding of the soule and the spirit and of the ioynts and the ma●row and is a discerner of the thought and the intents of the heart The people of God therefore whose hearts are thus powerfully moued by the spirit of faith to beleeue and thus effectually counselled by the word of faith to liue well endeauour nothing else but that their liuing may be answerable to their beleeuing that so their soules might bee saued For this sacred faith of Christ first of all purifieth the heart now if the fountaine be cleare and cleane the whole streame that issueth thence will be cleane also Secondly this faith of Christ worketh by loue and bringeth foorth good workes I should euer therefore distrust that I neuer was a true beleeuer vnlesse I felt my heart sanctified by grace and my and working the deedes of haritie This doubtlesse was ●he faith of the primitiue ●orld while the bloud of Christ was yet warme in the ●earts of those beleeuers Witnes all those Churches ●olledges Hospitalls En●owments Rents Reuenews ●ands Liuings Pensions and ●●l other such donations and ●onsecrations appropriated ●nd giuen to the maintenance of religion and learning to ●he succour of the poore and ●o the perpetuating of Gods worship here on earth vntill ●he second comming of Christ. For the people then liued and beleeued as men knowing that the faith of Christ is not fruitlesse and that by the fruites therof they are assured of their election past and of their perfection by Christ to come that their good deedes should follow them where nothing else ●ould and that according to the proportion of their workes wrought in earth by grace in Christ they should through the mercie of God and not of merit bee allotted a portion of happines hereafter in the heauens And therefore vnderstanding their weldoing here to be necessarie to their well being for euer they studyed nothing else but to goe on in that race of goodnesse that they might attaine at the last the blessed end thereof euen the reward of mercy promised vnto them by the word of faith written vnto them in the bloud of our faith sealed assured vnto thē by the death of our faith stirred vp moued herevnto by the spirit of faith Christs vicegerent on earth whose they were encouraged thereunto by the bloud of so ●any faithfull beleeuers that ●yed for the faith of Christ ●nd continue therein vnto ●heir liues end by the exube●ant and abundant riches of Gods mercy in Christ Iesus their Ruler and Redeemer O Blessed Paule faithfull and beleeuing was the world when as yet the bloud of Christ was warme in me●s hearts and when the faithfull beleeuers inflamed with the loue of God and ouerioyed with the glad tydings of the Gospell thus bespake Gods seruants that preached th● faith vnto them Blessed in th● Lord will our goods pleas●●● you Behold we lay them dow● at your feete will our eyes 〈◊〉 you good Take ought of ou●● that is neere and deere vnto 〈◊〉 euen our right eyes Will our liues steede you Wee esteeme the● not for the testimonie of the fait● of Iesus Christ as for all manner of tribulations that can happen for Iesus Christ sake We accompt them not worthy 〈◊〉 the glory that shall bee receiued A blessed and beautifull ●ace of time it was O Paule when the prime beleeuing Christians had no other fault ●ound in them no not by ●heir verie enemies as Plinius ●ecundus an heathen testifieth 〈◊〉 Traian the Emperour but his was all hee could certifie ●gainst them to the state that ●hey oft times assembled ●emselues together before ●ay in the caues and holes of the earth to sing Psalmes ●nd prayses to the Lord of ●ife Christ Iesus which seruice for feare of persecution they durst not performe publikely O then was the time ho●y Paule that faith wrought ●y Gods loue and not by selfe loue by good workes and not by goodly wordes what time the beleeuing Christians were knowne not ●o bee of the tribe of Naphta●● giuing goodly wordes but of the tribe of Ioseph beeing fruitfull boughes euen fruitfull boughes by a Well whose branches run ouer the wall When Placilla the wife of Theodosius a beleeuing Empresse would resort vnto the Almes houses and Hospital●s of the poore to see them succoured and releeued and when her nice Gentlewomen that wayted o● her would dehort and disswade her not to debase her selfe to come into such meane places and neere such nastie people shee with teares in her eyes would re●ply and say O I wou●d not doe thi● and this onely

scriptures call those the Worlde whom God hath thus called out of the world because for their sakes onely this world was made and this world is as yet preserued and all things continue as from the beginning But when God hath his full number of these his chosen people out of the world then this world shall haue an end and there shall bee a new Heauen and a new earth wherein shal dwell righteousnesse To these his redeemed people in the world God made his promises both of the promulgation extension and augmentation of this Kingdome of Iesus Christ his Sonne First that the extention thereof should be as large as is the expansion of the Heauens and so great that it should encircle and surround the earth Secondly that the dominion thereof should bee from sea to sea And from the riuers vnto the end of the world The kings of Tharsis and of the ●sles should bring presents yea all Kings should fall downe before him at nations should serue him Thirdly that Christ should ●edeeme vs to God by his bloud ●ut of euery kindred and tongue and people and Nation Fourthly that there should ●ee so great a multitude of beleeuers of all Nations Kindreds people and tongues which stand before the throne and before the ●ambe that no man should bee ●ble to number them The performance of which ●rophesies and promises God shewed most power●●lly in the very commencement of this conquest of faith ●or Peter conuerred in one ●ermon three thousand and 〈◊〉 another Sermon fiue thou●and soules that beleeued and ●●●●rned to God from their in●quities So mightily yea so ●uddenly grew the word of God and preuayled yea 〈◊〉 is ttuely obserued both by Suetonius in the life of Nero and by Tacitus in the first booke of his Historie beeing enemies to Christ Christians and also by Tertullian a friend to Christians in his Apologeticall exhortation to the Gentiles that the multitude of beleeuers was so great in the Prim●tiue Church euen amidst those furious bloudy butcheries and wofull persecutions that their strength and puissan●e if they should haue waged warre was oft times a feare and terror euen to the ve●ry persecuting Emperours themselues This was exceeding strange that a World of people so dissonan● so dissolute so aliant so repug●nant to God and to goodnesse should become so plyable so flexible so obediēt 〈◊〉 submit and subiect them●●lues to the yoke of Gods ce●●estiall direction And albeit this very acte ●f beleeuing may seeme very ●aruellous vnto vs in it selfe ●et the strange means where●y this victorious conquest was wrought by Christ in ●educing the world to the act ●f faith was indeed incompa●ably wonderfull and aboue mans capacitie to conceiue For Christ Iesus the Sonne of God when hee made this conquest of the World by faith did not proclaym to the world as king Cyrus did whē he intented his conquests great pay worldly promotions magnificent titles and honourable entertainements for his voluntaries and Followers neither did Christ proffer as the diuell did All this will I 〈◊〉 thee shewing all the king●omes of the world if thou wilt fall downe and worshi● me nor as the licentious Turk doth grants libertie of wiueving to what number of women men will of thriuing by what callusions and deuises men can so they doe no violence to all that embrace his Mahumetanisme nor yet as the most Turkish Pope vseth who grants pardons and indulgences from all kinde of punishments to all his Peccadilloes whatsoeuer For then Christ doubtlesse might haue had followers on a sudden more then enough But behold and consider the iniunctions motions and perswasions that Christ vsed to moue the world to beleeue and then tell me Beloued in our Lord if this be not a secret and hidden Mysterie The very first mandate that Christ ienioyned to those that meant to follow him was Re●●nt yee that is Bee of another ●inde and leade another life 〈◊〉 you haue done hereto●●re Become new creatures ●●at is leaue off to doe euill 〈◊〉 learne to do good This was no lesson for the ●●lfe louers of the world to ●●arne and of these there is an ●●finite number By this doctrine Christ ●●ight lose all the nice of the world and all that were wed●ed to their owne selfe li●ings Another iniunction was ●n the world if you will bee mine you shall haue augariation and your hearts shall bee pierced ●hrough with many sorrowes This was no coppie to bee taken out by the effeminate delitious and delicate persons of the world A third was You shall bee hated of all men for my names sake saith Christ. This was no condition to obligue faint and false hearted cowards of the world A fourth was He that loues his life shall lose it This was not the way to winne a worldling notwithstanding all these and other such like more conditions and entertainments euen to exquisite torments ye● I say what euer could be sayd or done to the contrary by the infidell party in all the bloud and but chery of Gods Saints behold yee the power of God in this wonderfull conquest of the world by faith For a Centurion beleeue● euen to life albeit Christ is absent from doing any act speakes this in the words of a beleeuer Say the word onely O Lord and my seruant liueth A Canaanitish woman beleeues to health if she might eate but the crums th●● fall ●●om the table or touch but ●he hemme of Christ his ve●ure The good theefe beleeues 〈◊〉 saluation in Christ Iesus ●hom he beheld fastened to ●●rosse laden with disgrace●●●l reproches and scoffings forlorne and forsaken of the ●hole world strugling in his 〈◊〉 dolours gasping gaping 〈◊〉 weltring in his owne ●oud Oh wonderfull power 〈◊〉 faith Oh maruellous work ●f God! Is there any reason 〈◊〉 bee yeelded hereof Are ●●ere any causes of this so rare 〈◊〉 maruellous a change in the ●eart and resolution of man ●o surely Mans reason in this ●ynt is but as a beast as Iere●ie sayth But Almightie ●od hath his reasons for it ●ost preg●ant most pow●●full For this beleeuing in ●hrist being an act of the vnderstanding assenting to Gods diuine truth at the commandement of the will so moued by the grace and spirit of God sheweth that it is the power onely and spirit of God that inclineth our hearts to beleeue as the first mouing cause thereof This was the reason why Lydia the Thyatirian hearkned to Paules preaching which many other did not that heard the word notwithstanding as well as she For the Text saith God opened the heart of Lydia that she attended the the words of Paule that is to say She attended not vntill God openeth her heart The inuisible finger of God being as you see a golden key to vnlocke our steely hearts that may see perceiue and be moued to seeke after God for our saluation And this is the reason why ●he