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	power_n	soul_n	2,506	5	5.3976	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10181	God, no impostor nor deluder, or, An answer to a popish and Arminian cauill, in the defence of free-will, and vniuersall grace wherein God's tender of grace by the outward ministry of the gospel, to reprobates who neither doe, nor can receiue it, is vindicated from those aspersions of equiuocation, falsitie, and collusion, which some by way of obiection, cast vpon it / by William Prynne ...	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1629 (1629)	STC 20459.3; ESTC S2847	14,173	20

elect and chosen Saints by meanes of whom their soules and bodies doe oft times fare the better It s no small benefit or blessing to injoy the company of Gods elect for as their company is louely comfortable sweete amiable innocent mild and harmelesse so it is a meanes of keeping many judgements from and pulling downe many blessings vpon reprobates and cast-awayes It is common in the Scriptures and ordinary in experience that God sometimes blesseth reprobates and keeps of judgements from them for the godly mens sake that liue among them wherefore though the Gospell doth not conuert them to the Lord yet it is not in vaine vnto them euen in this respect Seuenthly Reprobates who liue vnder the Gospell are sometimes made the instruments and meanes of good to others and the furtherers of Gods glory though they doe no good to themselues Kings ministers magistrates schollers of all sorts artificers and the like though they are such as God hath rejected are oft times made the instruments of much good vnto the Saints the executioners of Gods will and the aduancers of his glory which brings much joy and comfort to them for the present and gaines respect and honour to them in the sight of men since therefore reprobates injoy so many blessings priuiledges and comforts by the Gospell as these here mentioned they haue no cause to say that God deludes and mockes them when as he sends the Gospell to them because though he giues no inward efficacy nor power to it to conuert and saue their soules yet he deriues many outward blessings comforts priuiledges and fauors to them by it for which their soules and bodies fare the better If you now object that the Gospell aggrauates the sins of reprobates and makes their condemnation greater because it leaues them without excuse therefore they are no gainers but losers by the Gospell I answere that it is true that it had bin better for some reprobates yea for all those reprobates that goe on in sinfull and rebellious courses without restraint that they had neuer injoyd the Gospell by reason of their disobedience to it but as for others who are reclaimed by it though it aggrauates their condemnation one way in adding to the greatnesse of their sins yet it extenuates it another way in detracting from the multitude and number of their sinnes which they would haue doubled and trebled had not the ministry and preaching of the word restrained them so that they are farre greater gainers in this last respect then losers by the first All reprobates fare the better for the Gospell here in regard of those many outward blessings and priuiledges that accompany it many of them speede the better for it not onely here but hereafter to those that fare the worser for it it is from their owne defaults they might haue vsed it better if they would themselues in hauing more care and conscience to practise and obey it so that the Gospell is a blessing to them all though it proues a curse and condemnation vnto them through their own defaults Lastly though God doth not giue men power to beleiue and receiue his Gospell yet he doth not delude them though he offers it vnto them with a desire that they should receiue it for as God doth not delude men in injoyning them not to sinne and to obserue his law in euery point though he giues them no power nor strength to doe it and though it be impossible for them to fulfill it no more can he be said to delude or mocke men in offering grace vnto them by the Gospell though he giues them no power to receiue it because hee commands them no more then they had strength at first to doe which strength and power they lost through their owne defaults and because the end of this command is to no other purpose but to cause men for to see their owne disability and so to fly to him for strength for grace and mercy But you will now demand of me if the Gospell doth truly and of right belong to none but the elect if it conuerts and saues none else but they why then is it propounded so generally to all to reprobates as well as others If it were proper and peculiar to the elect alone it should be preached to none else but they To this I answer that the Gospell is thus generally propounded vnto all not because it belongs alike to all or because God intends that it should be alike effectuall vnto all but because it is the will the pleasure and command of God that it should be thus propounded as is euident by Marke 16. 16. Luke 10. 5 6. cap. 24. 47. Matth. 13. 3. to 24. Acts 1. 8. Col. 1. 6. 21. Now the reasons wherefore the Gospell is thus generally propounded vnto all though it be principally intended for the conuersion and saluation of the elect alone are these First because reprobates are intermixed and mingled with the elect as the weedes and tares are with the corne and grasse as the chaffe is with the wheate and as the stones are with the mellow ground now as the rain doth oftimes fall vpon the tares the weeds and stones as well as on the corne the grasse and mellow ground not because it is principally intended vnto them but because they are intermixed with the grasse the corne and fertile ground and as the fanue doth blow vpon the chaffe as well as on the wheat because it s mixed with the wheate though it seatters the one and purgeth the other Euen so the pleasant showers and breathings of the Gospell doe oft times fall on reprobates and wicked men who are compared to weedes to tares to rockes and chaffe throughout the Scripture not with a determinate purpose to conuert and saue them but because they are mingled with the elect and chosen Saints of God who are compared to wheat to corne to good and mellow ground for whose effectuall calling and conuersion they are only sent Secondly the Gospell is thus generally propounded to all that will imbrace it and not to the elect alone because the ministers of the Gospell being but fraile and silly men as others are and not able to discerne into the secret counsell and decree or God cannot distinguish betweene the elect and reprobates If the ministers could discerne betweene the elect and reprobates betweene those that would imbrace and willingly receiue the Gospell and such as would reject it they might then propound the Gospell to the elect alone but because they know not who are chosen and elected nor who are reprobated therefore they must preach the Gospell vnto all that so those who are elected may be effectually called and conuerted out of all Thirdly the Gospell must be thus propounded because else it would be vaine and ineffectuall vnto all for if the Gospell should be pronounced to the elect alone as he that is elected shall be saued then