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	fruit_n	good_a	2,614	5	4.5284	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61500	Three sermons preached by the Reverend and learned Dr. Richard Stuart ... to which is added, a fourth sermon, preached by the Right Reverend Father in God, Samuel Harsnett ...; Sermons. Selections	Steward, Richard, 1593?-1651.; Harsnett, Samuel, 1561-1631.	1658 (1658)	Wing S5527; ESTC R20152	74,369	194

they should be right welcome to his Fathers house and that he hath provided roome and diet for them all and yet the Noble man his Father hath a purpose to welcome but one or two and hath provided roome and diet but for one or two and shuts up the Gate against the rest Having so solemnly invited them all would they now then think this Noble man had dealt nobly with them It s our case beloved The joyes of Heaven are a feast of joy and the King of Heaven hath sent no less a personage then his onely Son and Heire to invite us thither and he tels us in his Fathers name that the King his Father had provided roome and meat enough for us and that the Angels of Heaven will be glad to see us at their Masters house and that there will be a great Iubile in Heaven at our comming thither and yet the King his F●ther saith this new device hath a purpose to entertaine but one or two and hath provided cheere and roome but for one or two and shuts up the everlasting doores against the rest though solemnly invited eternally Is this the royall word of a King and here they come in with Bellarmines dreaming that is Christ offers Grace to all sufficiently but it is not effectuall or saving Grace This is verily as drowsy a dreame as ever dropped from that Phlegmatique head First there is nothing sufficient for any thing which is not efficient to that use too Then whereas we teach and say that our Saviour Christ offers saving Grace effectually to all we plainly meane that Grace which hath power strength and virtue to save all though all in effect are not saved by that Grace and the want is not in the ●race but in them who despise and abuse the Grace it 's a beame of the same brightnesse that falls upon a cleare and upon a bleere-ey'd man yet both do not see a Talent of the same we●ght wrap't up in a Napkin and put to use yet both doth not yield increase Seed of the same goodnesse sowne among Thornes and in good ground yet both do not bring ●orth fruit the cause is not in the Beame the Talent the Seed but in the Eye the Napkin the Ground For the very same kernell of seed choaked of Thornes sowne in good Ground would have brought forth fruit the very same Talent wrapt up in a Napkin put to use would yield increase the very same Beame that dazeled the bleere-eye would have made the clean eye see and the very same saving Grace that is a savour of Life unto one is the savour of Death unto another no oddes in the Grace but in the Man We all ten have Lamps and Light alike to light us to the Kingdome of Heaven yet but five of us with wise usage shall keep our Lamps and Light and enter in and five of us by foolshnesse shall let our Lamps out and stand without The Kingdome of Heaven saith our Saviour in the same place is like a man that went into a farre Countrey and he committed to his servants to one five Talents to another two to another one some ods in the number but none in the nature of the thing For he that had least had a Talent and by all rules of proportion had as much ability to produce a Talent as two to gaine two or five to beget five and he that had it had as much liberty to use it as he that had two or five and if he had used it and gained a Talent he had been as sure of a City in the Kingdome of God as either of the other and if he had had a City he had been well For a disciples reward is but a bare place without either cap or covert upon it Ioh. 14.2 I goe to prepare a place for you If thou blowest the sparke saith the wise man Eccles. 28.12 thou shalt have fire and if thou spit upon it it will go out and both these came out of the same mouth I am come saith our Saviour Christ to send Fire o● the earth and what is my desire but that it may bee kindled so he that hath least of this Fier hath a sparke at least And there was never man so desperately wicked but at some time or other he felt this sparke of Gods Spirit glowing in his heart He that blowes that sparke may have a flame to light him to the Kingdome of Heaven and he that spits upon it makes himselfe a brand fit to increase the fire of Hell The Apostle Paul therefore had a speciall care of this very thing 1. Thes. 5.19 Quench not the Spirit Sixtly our last consequence is that contempt and neglect of Grace is the cause why any man doth not come into Heaven and not any privative decree councell or determination of God God quits himselfe of our destruction by an universall assertion against which upon the Genevian supposition the house of Israel might have said and answered with ease O God of our Fathers what meanest thou to say unto us why will ye die when thou hast from all eternity decreed that we cannot but die Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem saith our Saviour thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thee ●ogether as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings and ye would not there is Ego volui I would salus ex me thy salvation is wrought by me tu noluisti thou wouldest not perditio ex te destruction is willed by thy selfe Now whereas it is devised by some that our Saviour should weep over these Iews as man and laugh at them as God himselfe having decreed their destruction from all eternity this is a very bad and prophane device For it would make our Saviour Christ to shed Crocodiles teares to laugh and lament both at once And if this fancied decree of eternall designement to Hell without sin had any sooth in it then must it needs be that our Saviour Christ was at that holy counsel in Heav●n when as this decree was pronounced and made for God the Father in wisdom could not make a decree but by him who is the Wisedom of the Father and if he was in the bosom of his Father at this decree and himselfe gave his voyce and consent unto it that these I●ws should never come to heaven neither by the death nor medi●tion of our Saviour Christ then would he not of his goodnesse thus come downe on the earth and weep and lament that they would not be saved And the tenour of our Saviours deploration must then needs have beene this Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gath●red thee together as an ●en gathere●h her chickens under her wing● but ye could not For I and my Father have sate in councell in Heaven and from all eternity have made a decree that ye

primitive A Church become so famous for her Faith that forraign parts intreat her Communion as a more special favour an Estern Patriarch and an Asian Bishop I have seene their Letters saith C●saubon● to our most Reverend Metropolitan it is in his Epistle to the King before his Exercit. that Learned Frenchman doth there further professe That no Church comes nearer to the first then this of ours and that ever they who doe e●vy her felicity doe praise her moderation Buc●rs words may deserve your attention they are in his Discourse upon our Common Prayer Booke written at the intreaty of Arch-Bishop Cranmer So soon saith he as I underst●od the English Liturgie I gave thanks to God by whos● grace your Ceremonies we●e b●come so purely performed for there I found nothing but either borrowed from the Word of God or at least what did not oppose it if it be t●ken in a faire construction Shall our Church gaine this respect from strangers and will we her owne Sons offend her Are they within the Curtains of her owne Tent that can first neglect her Rites and then scorne at her Censures A Scandall in an high degree It offends those that are weake in the Church and makes them to suspect our Doctrine it selfe to see our Rites so questionable It abuses the good that are obedient and makes some imagine th●t their filial conscience is nothing else but a time-serving policy It hinders the strong too and consumes their time to recall a wilfull son which should be spent to gaine a forrein Enemy But I see 't is with the Church as with our Saviour He is neglected at home and yet from the East men come to reverence him and for our Liturgy t is sure with the Prophets works as with their persons They are not without ●onour save in their owne Countrey and amongst their owne people Some there are indeed who still cry out of Weakness who sit not easie though on their Mothers Knees They complain her cloaths do offend their tender eyes her Rites they say are scandalous and they must be reliev'd by that Text in S. Paul If meate offend my Brother I will eate no ●lesh while I live that I may not offend my Brother It followes then that for thei● weak sakes we must forbeare these Cerimonies But is the reason the same To eat is a private action in common converse wherein each man is true Lord of himselfe he may command his actions and therefore in this case to use connivences is still to be thought most commendable nay S. Pauls Example hath bound us to do it But we speake of actions publique solemnly designed for our Religious Meetings actions injoyn'd by Lawes and approved by the far more which is the Rule of Lawes And must Statuts be altered upon the suggestion of each private subject or Cannons upon the unresolved thoughts of each Private voluntary this course would soone bring a kingdom to ruine and a Church into confusion Should we give such content to these few that dislike we should displease multitudes that approve our Ceremonies and so instead of a pretended slight offence we should run our selves upon a true grosse Scandall Those who cry out so much Their weakness is offended should be mindfull of this our Precept too Give ye none offence to the whole Church of God But these weak men when meane they to grow strong Si nunquam grandescunt non Lacte sed Aceto educatos fuisse certum est saith Calvin upon the like occasion in the place I quoted If these will grow no stronger its apparent they were still nursed not with milke but with Vinigar Good Satyrists instead of drinking in the Christian faith they suck nought but Invectives Let these men heare Peter Martyr speake Non semper c. Wee must not alwaies saith that worthy Dr. of our first Reformation yeeld to the weak in things indifferent but so long only till they have beene perfectly instructed if yet they stagger their infirmity deserves no further respect t is in his Loc. Com. 2. lib. 4. cap. 32. And it is plain that these have had Time and Meanes to learne that these things are indifferent and will they neglect or rather refuse instruction If they neglect it then that of the Civilian holds Data culpa aequiparatur dolo There is guilt in this gross negligence And if they refuse it the Casuists agree that in this case Scandalum pusillorum fit Pharisaeorum when men will not heare their infirmities turn pure malice and of weak Christians they become stout Pharisees and then we are taught to offend such men from our Lords own Example But while I indevour to follow my Text I do mistake my Auditors The words enjoyne me to speake of this subject although I presume 't is in this place lesse necessary If any here bee weak indeed Sanari potius quam oppug●ari volo as Saint Aug. speakes of the Manichees I desire to cure rather then to oppose him Sure the greatest fault lies in our owne Tribe who had rather bee factious then poore and will choose sooner to Please the itching eares of some liberall people then to advance this our cause of the Church of God It comes from these unworthy Levites who sell their Tongues to speake like Micah their good Master and can be content to teare the Church-Garments so they goe whole themselves But would you know how to direct your Carriage in these things indifferent Saint Ambrose givs you a Rule and him Saint Augustine did still ●ccount for an Oracle Ad quam forte Ecclesiam veneris ejus morem serva si cuiquam ●on vis esse scandalo nec quenquam tibi 't is in his 118. Epistle Keep still the Cerimonies of the Church you live in if you desire neither to give a Scandall nor to take it A direction grounded sure ● upon Saint Paul's owne practise who you see could both eat at Corinth and yet abstaine a●Ierusalem and Saint Ambrose followed him On Saturday saith he I ●ate at Mi●laine because 't is there the Custome but I fast at Rome for that great City doth use another Cerimony So Monica Saint Agustins pious Mother on Saturdaies did fast in Affrick and yet still eate at Millaine as you may see it in the same Epistle I 'le adde but one more of Calvin as Baza relates it in his life who at the supper of the Lord did alwayes communicate with common bread at Stratsbourg and yet he still used W●f●rs at Geneva And let the same minde be in you so shall ye performe what is here injoyned and neither give Scandall to the Church it self nor yet offence to your owne opinions so the God of Peace and of Truth shall be with you the blessings of Truth upon your Faith and peace upon your Actions Here then is Corinth made your Example a Church that 's truly militant that 's besieg'd with the Tents of the Iewes and Legions of the Gentiles the Lawes

the Innoce●t bloud and had laid his hands his bloudy hands upon himselfe when he had so done the Holy Ghost saith Acts. 2.25 Abiit in locum suum he went to a home not of Gods but of his owne providing The fearfull doome at the last day is Ite non Auferte Goe your waies not Carry them away goe the way your selves have chosen And it is to the sheep Venite benedicti Patris mei Come ye blessed of my Father and to the Goats Ite maledicti in ignem paratum Goe into the fire ye ●ursed but it is not Ite maledicti Patris Goe ye cursed of my Father God intitles himselfe to the blessing only And the fire is prepared but for whom Non nobis sed Diabolo Angelis ejus Not for you but for the Devil and his Angels So that God delighteth to prepare neither Death nor Hell for damned men This last branch of Gods protestation I delight not in the death of any sinner I resolve into six Consequences as Links depending on this Chain 1. God's absolute will is not the cause of Reprobation but sin 2. No man is of an absolute necessity the childe of Hell so as by God's Grace he may not avoid it 3. God simply willeth and wisheth every living Soul to be saved and to come to the Kingdom of Heaven 4. God sent his Sonne to save every Soule and to bring it to the Kingdom of Heaven 5. God's Son offereth Grace effectually to save every one and to direct him to the Kingdom of Heaven 6. The neglect and contempt of his Grace is the cause why every one doth not come to Heaven and not any privative Decree Counsel or determination of God These six I will breifly discuss and so commend you to the Grace of God For the first Almigty God at the Creation when he tooke a view of all his Creatures as men use to do that have newly drawne an Image they view and pry to see what is amisse in it it seemes when he looked upon them he found they were Good and when Man was made behold They were very Good Gen. 1.31 Now if God had cast a way man before he had sinned not in eye to sin but in absolute judgment the malicious would have cried the Kingdome of God is worse then the kingdome of Satan For Satan is not divided against Satan Belzebub the Prince of Devils doth not cast out Devils Matt. 12.26 But by this Device Ipsa bonitas Goodnesse it selfe is divided against goodnesse the Goodnesse of the Creator against the Goodnesse of the Creature God is at defiance with his owne Creature and Image the Fountaine of Goodnesse that God did see in Man what was it but Radius divinae bonita●is a beam of that Goodnesse which issueth from the Fountaine God himselfe Secondly God's Hate does not arise as his Love doth for his Love ariseth of and from himselfe For being all beautifull and glorious which cannot be but all lovely and amiable within and seeing himselfe cannot but love and like himselfe ●o that he hath in him to move him to Love but he hath not in him to move him to Hate but that commeth from without and there is nothing from without which God hateth but sin The man of sin had so much goodnesse as to say Odi quia Inimicus I have hated him because he is my enemy Now sin only is the sworne enemy to God Enemy to his Goodnesse being badnesse it selfe Enemy to his Majesty being baseness it self Ene●y to his Glory being Ignominy to his lightnesse being Darkness to his Beauty being Deformity to his Justice being Iniquity to his Pity being Cruelty to his Life being Death to his very Being it selfe having no Being Sin was an intruder into the World and had not where to lay his head So that God cannot hate any thing but sin and what he hates he hates for the sake of sin The second consequence is No man is of absolute necessity the child of Hell so as by God's grace he may not avoid it And this is a sprig of the former Branch For if God cannot hate any man but for sin and himselfe cannot delight in sin then can he not delight that any man should go to Hell but he that delighteth himselfe to die in sin Let us look back to the Garden from whence wee came God planted in the Gardan of 〈◊〉 a Tree of Life and it was 〈…〉 to be found as the Tree of Death A●am with the same ease might have reached out his hand to the Tree of Life and saved all as to the Tree of Death and marred all So that it was not absolutly necessary that any should goe to hell When Adam had erred in making choice of the wrong Tree and had barred himself from the Tree of Life God put him out into the open field of the World and in it planted a Tree of Lif● better then the Tree in the Garden of Ed●n a Tree that came downe from heaven Apocal. 2.7 and caused his Herald to proclaim before it This is the Tree of life that came downe from Heaven whosoever tasteth of this Tree shall not die but have ●verlasting life The Tree which was in the Garden of Eden did never seek men and reach forth fruit unto them but man was to seek and to reach forth his hand unto it and so taste it But this Tree seeketh us and reacheth forth fruit unto us Nay God himselfe plucketh off the fruit and followeth us with it as a Nurse doth follow her child with meat Psal. 81.11 Aperi os tuum late Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it And if w● will not be at the 〈…〉 our mouth that we may be 〈…〉 Heaven Death will be at the paines to o●en her jawes that we may feed him in hell They lie in hell and Death knaweth upon them Psal 49.14 The third consequence is God simply willeth and wisheth every living soule to be saved and to praise God for his goodness among the Angels in heaven And this Truth the Holy Ghost hath taught us by the mouth of holy Paul 1. Tim. 2 4. Deus vult omnes salvos esse God would have every man living to be saved and none to die eternall Death And here the Genevian conceit hath delt with this gracious bounty of God and this blessed saying God will have all to be saved as Hanan did with the Ambassadors of David he cut off their Garments to the hips and this hath curtailed the grace of God at the stumps for it saith It must not be meant that God would have every living soule to come to Heaven but one or two out of every Order and Occupation to come unto heaven As if our gracious God were fallen out of liking with Christian souls and suddenly fallen in love with Orders and Occupations And yet I feare me beloved it were as easie to bring up all Christian souls unto heaven as it is to