Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bring_v	effect_n	good_a	1,532	5	3.6660	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57090	The reuniting of Christianity, or, The manner how to rejoin all Christians under one sole confession of faith written in French by a learned Protestant divine ; and now Englished by P.A., Gent.	Learned Protestant divine.; P. A., Gent.	1673 (1673)	Wing R1187; ESTC R38033	70,964	276

occasion of falling insensibly into an indifferency for Religion and to favour in some sort the contempt of all Now as this is a pressing Objection and able to drive from this design all good Souls if it were well founded I am confident that whosoever shall have well examined the Foundations which I have laid down will find that there is nothing further from my purpose than this consequence which they would draw from it This would be to make darkness arise from light and as the Scripture says to draw filthiness from that which is pure to imagine such effects should proceed from a cause so holy and innocent Can that which only tends to the Re-uniting of Christians in the same Opinions hurry them into impiety and irreligion Will that which brings Us back to the most plain and most naked Doctrine of the Gospel cause an indifferency for Religion to spring from it What then would this be living without Religion to be fully perswaded that there is a God who hath created Heaven and Earth who hath made Man kind who punisheth the wicked and cherisheth the Good Is it to be without Religion to believe firmly that we have no other means of getting out of that misery wherin our Sins have cast Us but by embracing the promises which God has made Us in his Son Jesus Christ Is it to be indifferent in matters of Religion to hold for certain that there is no way to obtain Life and Eternal Happiness but by that of Holiness and good Works Is it to be impious wholly to consecrate our selves to the service of God according to the Rules which he hath prescribed Us in his Word under the colour that there are but sew Rules embraced Yet however embraced with an entire perswasion of their truth I maintain on the contrary that all these defects of Piety and all these inclinations to irreligion do not proceed from any other cause than this that Religion has been overcharged with too many curious and strange Questions I hold that it is this great number of Ceremonies scrupulous Observations of the externals of Religion and such other trisles which have divided the minds of Men and alienated the most tender affections For those who are not penetrating enough to search into and resolve all the difficulties which are met with in these kind of matters suffer themselves to fall into an indifferency They never looked upon Religion but as a Subject whereon the most subtil and active Wits set themselves awork Whereas if we did but once reduce Christian Religion to the natural simplicity of its Rules it would then discover all its graces and beauty and would be lov'd by us all because it would have nothing in it but what was lovely to our Eye Lastly There might be produced other difficulties which might occur in the prosecution of this grand design Some will say that if it were a feasible thing it would have long ago come into the heads of some others who would have tryed it And if they did discover it without making some attempt in it it was because they knew the execution of it to be impossible That there are too many different Geniouses to overcome too many different Interests to reconcile too many Jealousies and distrusts to surmount That after we shall have begun to remedy the precedent evils there will arise from this design other new subjects of contention and dispute and by consequence of Division But perchance no body to this present has ever considered this affair as I do It may be if they have made the same discovery they have wanted application of spirit to form the design of it and clear the difficulties For my part I do not think the difficulties unconquerable And I say once more that would we engage in it with Zeal and Religious motives the affair would succeed happily to the great good of all Christendome These spirits would let themselves be vanquished by the motions of Piety and Charity All these particular Interests would give place to that of the Glory of our Soveraign All these Jealousies and Distrusts would be smothered by an ardent Zeal for the Service of God And why shall I loose the hopes of succeeding in this generous Design Did we not see that at the Disputation at Poissy in the Year 1561. The Roman Catholicks and Protestants had almost agreed together about the termes wherein the Article of the Communion should be expressed Yet that is esteemed the greatest difference amongst them And had it not been for certain Doctors who indeed for their particular Interests broke off this accommodation it would then have been seen that these two Grand Parties would have been reconciled together Do we not know that at the Conference held at Marporg in Germany in the Year 1529. between Luther and Zuinglius they sell into agreement about certain expressions almost in all the Points of Religion and it was concluded that as to those whereon they could not likewise agree they should bear charitably one with another and that that should not hinder the Reunion which was to be made I know that afterwards it was crossed by the ill disposition of bad spirits But when all these particular Interests and prejudicate Opinions shall be removed which have at other times crossed all these fair designs what shall hinder us from meeting in that Point and true Center now at last wherein all Christians may be Reunited Who shall hinder us in those things wherein it may be we cannot easily be enlightened from using a charitable and brotherly bearing with one another And that so we may work together as well United Brethren for the Glory of the Common Father of this great Christian Family whose Head the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be divided The greatest rub is in the first steps which must be made towards this Reunion but this is no unconquerable difficulty We read in the Relations of Voyages made to the Eastern Countrys that in Turky Persia c. All the Christians which are there met with of whatsoever Sect they be live together in a perfect Unity and give mutually all possible marks of a sincere friendship Olearius observes that in Persia they make no difficulty of joyning together in their Devotions And Peter de la Valle a Roman Gentleman relates Tom. 2. Ep. 3. that when an English Ambassadour arrived at Hispahan a Consultation was held whether or no the Roman Catholicks the Spaniards and Italians which were there should go to Visit Him and that by Joynt consent they were of Opinion that it was the common Interest to make it appear to that Mahometan Prince notwithstanding some difference that there was amongst them in certain Points of Religion yet that they lived together in a perfect correspondence And he adds a very considerable Instance VIZ. That in Constantinople all the Christians both Catholiques and Heretiques as his phrase is dwell together in so excellent and perfect an Unity that once when he

malice Charity is not envious but envy raigns particularly in division where each party respects the obligation of their proper Interests Charity is not insolent nor puffed up with Glory whereas Division is fierce proud and insupportable It inspires those who possess it with a desire to abase and oppress others if it be possible that they may raise up themselves and Rule without Competitor Charity seeks not its own ends is not dispiteful and thinks no evil These ill qualities are the true Characters of Division in which it hath no other end than the advancement of its own party to the detriment of all others Charity rejoyces not in injustice but altogether in the truth Division oppresses the truth and is never pleased but with unrighteousness and violence Charity endures believes hopes and bears all things Division causes suspicions and jealousies to arise gives ill interpretations to actions and even to the most innocent words and drives us into passion and impatience into murmuring and extravagances And to draw the last Line to this parallel God grant that as Charity never fails but is maintained in the very ruine of all that which is most Glorious and most firm in Society so on the other side by the rule of contraries that we may quickly see this unhappy Division utterly decay and cease by a perfect uniting of all Christians CHAP. IV. The Third Effect of this Division That it makes Men Irreligious and causes Atheisme IN all Divisions which tear in pieces Kingdomes and Monarchies each side at the first does boast by their Manifestoes and Declarations that they took not up Armes but for the Publick Good and for maintaining the Crown and Authority of the Prince And although those Parties be so contrary and averse that their Swords are drawn and in a readiness to decide their quarrel yet both of them have the confidence to alledge in their Vindication the Justice of their cause and interest of their Soveraign whilst in the end all tend to the utter subversion of the State and total change of the Government And it will many times happen in these contests that the most mutinous and most sedicious do make themselves Masters of Soveraign Authority So is it ordinarily seen that in the division of Opinions in Religion every one protests that no other Argument or Interest perswades him to follow the Religion that he embraces but the real love of truth and desire of his Salvation All those who would be the promoters and spreaders of some new Opinion show an extraordinary Devotion and Zeal at the beginning But by little and little all that degenerates and all the overtures which Division makes serve but as so many doors by which at last Impiety Irreligion and Atheisme do slip in 'T is amidst these differences that we commonly see some new Religion thrust in it self among us which differs but very little from the disclaiming of all Religion Just so was it by means of the divers Sects which heretofore sprang up in the Church that the Doctrin of Mahomet has taken such footing in the World Every one knows how wide the Division of the Eastern and Western Churches was at that time And I do not believe but that the great diversity of Judgments and Religions which we see at present in Christianity hath been the cause of this coldness and want of Devotion amongst us in what we call Christian Society Insomuch that Piety and Religion seem only to be left in full Authority amongst Women and the Vulgar This Evil arises from hence that the greatest part of Men either cannot or will not give themselves the trouble of searching into these different Opinions to determine which they might close with so they choose rather to believe nothing absolutely than to be always in suspence about what they ought to believe As the great diversity of Medicines which are prescribed to a Patient do very often make him refuse all thinking it better to resign up all to venture at once rather than stand so long about making his choice of the Remedies which are proposed to him Some go towards it but with such a kind of negligence and natural sloath that makes them apprehend a great deal of trouble in it And these esteem it better to suspend all manner of action than undertake any thing that requires so much care and intensness of thought concerning it These are like lazy Souldiers who suffer themselves to be kill'd rather than they 'l couragiously take up their Armes and stand to their own defence Or those who out of a desperate Fury thrust a Dagger into their own Breasts for fear least their Enemy is pressing upon them to do it There are others who dare not venture upon this tryal through the distrust which they have of themselves and of their own power They do not feel themselves strong enough to sustain such a weight nor able to break through all those difficulties which they meet with This obliges some blindly to follow the first that is presented them and suffer themselves to be led by those who pretend to have skill herein Supposing they are in a good condition if they put themselves under the conduct of their Leaders And others stand Newters not daring to adhear to any Party out of a Distrust which they have of all such as offer themselves to them And this it is that causes Irreligion and Atheisme Yet are there some whose Fault is not neglect of examining these different Questions but the true Reason of it is because they are not indeed capable of it Such are all Pesants and Mechanicks and others who know nothing more than what belongs to their employments and who being taken out of that are as if they were in an unknown Country where they are ignorant both of the wayes and Language It puts them to a stand as though they had neither sense nor Motion They make all their Devotion and all the Service which they should pay to God to consist in the well observing these outward actions of Religion in which they have been trained up Witness the poor Christians of Muscovia all whose Religion is no more than just a showing to those who desire to be informed of their belief the Image of some Saint which they carry about with them And others also who think that if they know but how to make the sign of the Cross aright may pass for very good Christians Therefore if instead of puzelling our selves about so many questions and controversies we would study to bring back the Christian Doctrin to its true Principles which are but few in number and easy for all sorts of Persons to comprehend it would be the ready way to make true Christians who would know what is really essential in their Doctrine and so would quickly be brought to a true piety and to the fear of God which is the only design of Christian Religion Here it may also be added that this great diversity of