Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	good_a	sin_n	1,729	5	4.5767	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17590	A sermon preached before the right honorable Earle of Darbie, and diuers others assembled in his honors chappell at Newparke in Lankashire, the second of Ianuarie. Anno humanæ salut, 1577	Caldwell, John, parson of Winwick.	1577 (1577)	STC 4367; ESTC S107405	29,430	86

take possession of heauen The longer we liue and the nearer that we approch to death the more earnest we ought to be to serue God and the longer that we haue hard the Gospel and beleued in Christ so much the more earnest wée ought to be to obey the Gospell And therefore séeinge that we haue harde the Gospell many yeares in this Realme of England the more deligent we ought to be to serue God and to liue vprightly and to shewe foorth by our lyfe conuersation that we be dooers of the word and not hearers onely deceauinge our owne selues A prentice in seuen yeares wil learne his occupation and be able to doo hys maister good seruice and he will be more shylful the second yeare then the fyrst and so euery yeare better than another The lyttle chyldrne that goe to the Schole goe forwarde in learninge in thrée or foure yeres will not onelye be able to reade but also to write and to speake lattine But alas we haue gonne to schole not seuen yeares but eighttene yeares we haue had many notable Scholemasters and teachers and yet for all this wée be little amended but like very blockheades we tary styll in our ould lessons and will not take forth into good manners and newe conditions Yea we are more slowe to heare Gods worde and to frame our liues thereafter then we were whē it was first preached And we go rather backward then forward And what a reproche and shame is it for vs to be more slowe to serue God then we were in the beginning considering we haue tasted of his mercye and grace so longe and so many yeres together and that in such sorte that we may iustly say Non taliter fecit omni nationi He hath not dealt so with any nation as he hath dealt with vs. You knowe that they which runne for a wager that the nearer they draw to the marke the faster they runne and they make the more spéede So the longer that we haue harde the Gospel and the longer that we haue beléeued so much the holier we ought to be in life and conuersation And truely if ther were no other reason to perswade vs yet consideringe as I haue sayd already that our lyfe is shorte and death knocketh at the dores and the daye of Iudgement commeth on so fast that we may looke for it euery houre we ought to be perswaded to liue vprightly and to walk as it be commeth vs. But alas many at the first hearing of the Gospell shewed them selues zelous and ready to folow it But after a while they gaue ouer euen in the middest of their race and waxed weary of well dooing And truely it appereth that ther hath bene many of these slydebackes in all ages but yet I thinke neuer more than at this day Kinge Asa in the beginning of his raigne was zelous in abolishing of Idolatrie in restoring of sound religion but at the length he began to waxe cold in the zeale of the Lorde imprisoned Hananie the Sear for tellīg him of his fault therfore frō that time forwarde he felt the smart and bitternes of warre was striken by the hand of God with an extreme disease in the féete and at length taken away by death Ioas likewise was a good Kinge in the beginninge of his raigne and hée liued vprightly all the dayes of Iehoida the Priest who was vnto him a faithful counseller gouerned him by the worde of God but when Iehoida was dead he falleth to Idolatrie and forgettinge the kindenes which Iehoida had done vnto him slewe and s●oned to death his sonne Zacharia the Prophet of the Lorde For which it came to passe by the iust iudgement of God that he was slyan by the handes of his owne seruaunts The fi●e folyshe virgins went forth with their lampes to méete the Bridgroume aswell as the fi●e wise but bicause they faynted in the myddest of their race therefore they were shut out from the mariage and euerlasting life Let these horrible examples moue vs to take heede and to beware that we be not weary of well doing least we in the end perish as they dyd But let vs euery day morning euening risinge and goinge to bed consider that our salutation is now nearer then it was in times past and that therefore we ought with a good courage to goe forward to doo our duties throughly to the ende quietly to suffer that little trouble that is behind And euery day more and more to increase in faith to be more holy in lyfe It followeth in the text the night is passed and the daye is at hande Here is an other reason to moue vs to lyue vprightly and it differeth not much from that which he vsed before For the night hée calleth the ignoraunce of God and Christ the time of blindnes vnbelefe By day he meaneth the light of gods truth by which truth Iesus Christ the true sonne of rightuousnes doth appeare vnto vs And therefore in sayinge the night is passed and the day is come on he meaneth that séeinge we are not now ouerwhelmed with the thick mistes cloudes of ignoraunce as the infidels and vnbeléeuinge bée and as we our selues were in times past we ought to behaue our selues as the childrne of the day and light and not to sléepe still in sinne with the wicked and vnbeléeuinge And here by the way wée haue diligently to note and consider that Paule calleth the ignoraunce of Christ and his gospel night and darknes and cōpareth the vnbeléeuers to such as bée fast a sléepe And verie aptly and not without good cause is the ignoraunce of Christ compared to night For as in the night time all thinges are couered with darknes and as we cannot for want of light knowe what is what and discerne black from blew● and redde from russet yea sometimes in the night season we thinke a bushe to be a man a dead thing a liuing creature for then as the Poet saith Est color omnibus vnus all things seeme to be of one hue and coulor so when wee were altogether ignoraunt in gods word knewe not Christ we did mistake things through igoraunce we did so erre y we accoūted superstision to be good deuotiō thought our selues highly in gods fauour when as wée were fast tied in the diuells setters and almost plunged into the pit of endles damnaciō For without the knowledge of gods word we are so blind that we cannot discerne betwene iustice and iniurie protection opression religiō and superstition Christ and Antichrist good euill Paule himselfe beinge ignoraunt of Christ did with great rage crueltie persecute his disciples thirsted after innocēt blood he himself cōfesseth y he was sometimes vtterly parswaded that he ought to do many thinges against the name of Christ being led thervnto by a rash blind zeal and as yet wantinge the true knowledge of God. The Saduces

beinge ignorant of the scriptures denied the res●rrection of the fleshe therfore said Christ vnto them You erre bicause you knowe not the scriptures neither the power of god The wicked Iewes through ignorāce put Christ to death for Christ praying to his father for them saith Pater remitte eis nesciunt enim quid faciunt Father forgiue them for they knowe not what they doe And S Paule saith if they had knowne they woulde neuer haue killed the kinge of glorye But I will let passe them and come nearer to our selues When we were ignorant in gods worde and hard nothinge but the sound of a ti●●klinge Cimball did we not thinke supersticion to be religiō deceauers true teachers vanitie to be veritie the gospell to be heresie to gad abrode on pilgramage frō this saincte to y saincte to be a part of gods seruice mens traditions the commaundements of god Antichriste Christes vicar the man of Rome who is a creature ouerwhelmed with al wickednes and the beast that did rise out of the bottemles pit a most holy father Yea we thought that God was delited wyth incense perfume waxcandles golden copes and vestmentes and we worshipped those thinges which our owne consciences gaue vs to vnderstande were no gods we made no difference almost betwixt Christ his creatures wée confounded the signe with the thinge signified worshipped a wafer cake which is a creture corruptible in stéede of the maker of heauen and earth beleued it was the verie body of Christ that was borne of the virgin Marye and slaine for our sinnes vpon the Crosse The cause of all which grosse errors was the ignorance of Christ and hys worde For although some of the Papistes say that ignorance is the mother of deuotion yet it appeareth that it is the mother of all errour supersticion And therfore verie aptly it is compared to the night and to sléepe For euen as one when as he is in the night time fast a sléepe in his bedde hath all his senses so tyed vp and bound that hée cannot doe any thinge and yet neuerthelesse he dreameth sometimes and verily thinketh that he is dooing this that so they which are ignorant of Christ and his worde haue al the powers of theire soules so let and hindered that they cannot moue towardes heauen or doe anie thinge that can please God although oftentimes they thinke they do god most noble seruice whē as they commit most horriable and greuous crimes But forasmuch as it is nowe not night with vs but day let vs doe those things that are séemely for them that haue the lyght and followe the counsell of Paule who wylleth vs to cast away the workes of darknes and to put on the armoure of lyght By the workes of darknes is signified sinnes and naughtye vices and they are so called chiefely for two causes The first cause is bicause they procéede of the ignoraunce of gods word and bicause wée are moued to doo them by the motion and instinct of Sathan who is the prince of darkenesse Secondly bicause they that commit naughti●sse flée the light and couet rather for the night then for the daye according to the sayinge of our Sauiour Christe Qui malè agit odit lucem he that doeth euill hateth the light For whoremongers théeues murtherers and wicked persons commonly doo their feates in the darke and in the night season and therefore saith Paul Quae ab illis clam fiunt turpe est vell dicere It is a shame euen ones to name those thinges that are done of them in secrete The darkenes of the night doth make them bold to commit sinne for they feare onely the eyes of men and consider not that the eyes of the Lord are vppon euery mans waies that with him ther is no darkenes at al but that the night is with him as the noone daye And therefore although men commit sinne neuer so closely yet doth god sée them and at length will reauele and bring it to lyght as he dyd the whoredome of Dauid and there is no wall so thicke that can hide them that worke wickednesse from the sight of god Let vs therefore cast away the workes of darkenes and put on the armoure of light By the armoure of light he vnderstandeth good workes bicause they procéede of faith and of the true knowledge of god and shine before men to the honor praise of our good god who worketh them in vs by his holy spirit But here it may be demaunded why Paule doth call vices and sinnes the workes of darkenesse good workes the armoure of light Truely you knowe that our flesh is prone ynough and inclined of it self to follow naughtinesse and in committing sinne we take great pleasure and thinke it no payne at all to doo wickedly But if we begin ones to serue God to frame our liues according to the rule of his word then must we striue and take great paines and there is a battell set before vs full of great labour and perill In which battell we must fight against Sathan the inticem●n●es of the world and y sinfull lustes of the fleshe For the diuell is chiefe captayn in this battel and giueth vs euery day terrible assaultes and rangeth about like a rearing Lion seeking whom he may deueure Besides this great and mighty enimye looke howe many wicked thoughts ●u●l affectiōs there be in vs so many enimies we haue that fight agaynst our saluation and which séeke to bring vs to destructiō And therfore if we wil liue vprightly we must continually mayntayne war againste Sathan the world the flesh Christ himselfe doth admonishe vs hereof in the Gospell whē as he telleth vs y the way to heauen is strayt and narrow and the crowne of lyfe cannot be obtayned without paynes taking And we sée dayely by experience that they which giue themselues to serue God to be subiect to sclaunders and reproches to be beset on euery side with All which places do sufficiētly proue that it is not inough for vs to absteine from euill but also we must doe good And therefore here wée may sée that they vse vnséemely speaches which say what shoulde we giue our selues to holynes Or why should not wée folowe our pleasures if wée be of the elect and chosen of GOD we shall be saued howsoeuer wée liue if we be reprobates cast awaies we shall be damned whatsoeuer we doe As though the election of god did giue leaue vnto men to doe wickedlye when as it is playne by the testimonye of S. Paule that wée are chosen in Christe not to liue loselye but that we should be holy without blame before him in loue For it is certayne and out of doubt that holynes of lyfe cannot be seperate from the grace of election And therefore although good workes be not the causes of our saluation yet séeinge that the ende of our election is that wée shoulde liue vprightly