Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	natural_a	nature_n	2,983	5	5.5283	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02497	A sermon preached at St Maries in Oxford vpon Tuesday in Easter vveeke, 1617 Concerning the abuses of obscure and difficult places of holy Scripture, and remedies against them. By Iohn Hales, Fellow of Eton Colledge, and Regius Professour of the Greeke tongue in the Vniversitie of Oxford.	Hales, John, 1584-1656.	1617 (1617)	STC 12628; ESTC S103638	21,539	44

A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES 〈◊〉 OXFORD VPON TVESDAY IN EASTER VVEEKE 1617. CONCERNING THE ABVSES of obscure and difficult places of holy Scripture and remedies against them By IOHN HALES FELLOW OF ETON COLLEDGE and Regius Professour of the Greeke tongue in the Vniversitie of Oxford AT OXFORD Printed by Iohn Lichfield and William Wrench Printers to the famous Vniversitie 1617. 2. PETER 3. 16. Which the vnlearned and vnstable wrest as they doe the other Scriptures vnto their owne destruction THE loue and favour which it pleased God to beare our Fathers before the law so farre prevail'd with him as that without any bookes writings by familiar and frendly conversing with thē and communicating himselfe vnto them he made them receaue and vnderstand his lawes their inward conceits intellectualls being after a wonderfull manner as it were Figured and Characterd as St Basill expresses it by his spirit so that they could not but see and consent vnto and confesse the truth of them Which way of manifesting his will vnto many other gracious priviledges which it had aboue that which in after ages came in place of it had this added that it brought with it vnto the man to whom it was made a preservati on against all doubt and hesitancy a full assurance both who the author was and how farre his intent and meaning reacht Wee 〈◊〉 their of●●ng ought as St Chrysostome tells vs fo to haue demeand our selues that it might haue been with vs as it was with them that 〈◊〉 might haue had no need of writing no other 〈◊〉 but the spirit no other books but our hearts no other means to haue beene taught the things of God Nisi inspirationis divinae internam 〈…〉 ubi sine sonis sermonum sine elementis literarum eo dulciùs quo secretiùs veritas loquitur as saith Fulgentius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidorus Pel●siota for it is a great argument of our shame imperfection that the holy things are written in bookes For as God in anger tells the Iewes that he himselfe would not goe before them as hitherto he had done to conduct them into the promised land but would leaue his Angell with them as his deputie so hath he dealt with vs the vnhappy posteritie degenerated from the ancient puritie of our forefathers When himselfe refused to speake vnto our hearts because of the hardnesse of them he then began to put his lawes in writing Which thing for a long time amongst his owne people seemes not to haue brought with it any sensible inconvenience For amongst all those acts of the Iewes which God in his booke hath registred for our instruction there is not one concerning any pretended ambiguitie or obscuritie of the Text Letter of their Law which might drawe them into faction and schisme the Divell be like hauing other sufficie● advantages on which he wrought But ever since the Gospell was committed to w●●ting what age what monument of the Churches acts is not full of debate and strife concerning the force meaning● 〈◊〉 those writings which the holy Ghost hath left vs to be the law rule of faith St Paul one of the first penmen of the holy Ghost who in P●●●dise 〈◊〉 wordes which it was not lawfull for man to vtter hath left vs words in writing which it is not safe for any man to be too busie to interpret No sooner had hee laid downe his penne almost ere the inke was drie were there found Syllabarum aucupes such as St Ambrose spake of qui nescire aliquid erubescunt per occasionem obscuritatis tendunt laqueos deceptionis who thought there could be no greater disparagement vnto them then to seeme to bee ignorant of any thing and vnder pretense of interpreting obscure places laid gins to entrap the vncautelous who taking advantage of the obscuritie of St Pauls text made the letter of the Gospell of life and peace the most forcible instrument of mortal quarrell contention The growth of which the Holy Ghost by the Ministery of St Peter hath indeavored to cut vp in the bud and to strangle in the wombe in this short admonition which but now hath founded in your eares VVhich the learned c. In which wordes for our more orderly proceeding we will consider First the sinne it selfe that is heare reprehēded wresting of Scripture where we will breifly consider what it is and what cau●●● and motioners it findes in our corrupt vnderstandings Secondly the persons guilty of this offence discipher'd vnto vs in two Epithets vnlearned vnstable Last of all the danger in the last words vnto their owne damnation And first of the sinne it selfe together with some of the especiall causes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They wrest They deale with Scripture as Chimickes deale with naturall bodies torturing them to extract that out of them which God and nature never put in them Scripture is a rule which will not fit it selfe to the obliquitie of our conceits but our perverse and crooked discourse must fit it selfe to the straightnesse of that rule A learned writer in the age of our fathers commenting vpon Scripture spake most truely when hee said that his Comments gaue no light vnto the text the text gaue light vnto his Comments Other expositions may giue rules directions for vnderstanding their authors but Scripture giues rules to exposition it selfe and interprets the interpreter Wherefore when wee wade in Scripture non pro sententia divinarum Scripturarum as St Austine speakes sed pro nostra ita dimicantes vt tam velimus Scripturarum esse quae nostra est When we striue to giue vnto it and not to receaue from it the sense when wee factiously contend to fasten our conceits vpon God and like the Harlot in the booke of Kings take our dead and putrified fancies and lay them in the bosome of Scripture as of a mother then are we guiltie of this great sinne of wresting of Scripture The nature of which will the better appeare if wee consider a little some of those motioners which driue vs vpon it One very potent and strong meane is the exceeding affection and loue vnto our owne opinions conceits For growne wee are vnto extremities on both hands we cannot with patience either admit of other mens opinions or endure that our owne should be withstood As it was in the Lacedaemonian army almost all were Captaines so in these disputes all will be leaders and we take our selues to be much discountenanced if others thinke not as we doe So that the complaint which one makes concerning the dissention of Physicians about the diseases of our bodies is true likewise in these disputes which concerne the cure of our soules hinc illae circa agros miserae sententiarum concertationes nullo idem censente ne videatur accessio alterius From hence haue sprong those miserable contentions about the distemper of our soules singularitie alone and