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	let_v	see_v	1,400	5	2.9576	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92077	Morbus epidemicus: or The disease of the latter dayes: discovered and laid open in a sermon out of the II Ep. of Timothy, ch. 4, v. 3, 4. / By John Ramsey, minister of East Rudham in the county of Norfolk.	Ramsey, John, Minister of East Rudham.	1656 (1656)	Wing R224; Thomason E892_2; ESTC R631	18,369	36

falling off from God and shall be turned after Fables that is a conversion or falling on to the creature For as there is no vacuum or emptiness in nature but it is always replenished and filled with some kinde of Body even so there is no vacuity of sin in the Soul and no sooner hath the minde taken the leave and bid Adieu unto the Truth but it is forthwith entertained and taken up with fond Fables dangerous Doctrines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 damnable Heresies or Heresies of damnation as St. Peter stiles them To the denying of the Lord that bought them in his several natures as God and Man yea to the denying of each person in the blessed Trinity and hereof the present Times afford us most sad and wofull experieuce wherein men having once shaken hands with fundamental and saving Truths they are immediately proselyted and perverted to gross errours of all sorts and sizes they turn Anabaptists Familists Quakers Ranters and what not and so bring upon themselves quick destruction And as this follows by a spiritual kinde of necessity there being no vacuum in sin no more than in nature so it chiefly comes to pass and takes effect through the just judgment of God receiving in themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That recompence of their errour that was meet as St. Paul speaks of the Gentiles Rom. 1.27 And because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they might believe a Lye As the same Apostle tells the Thessalonians 2 Thess 2.10 11. They that will not believe this Truth are justly given over to believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That great and prodigious Lye of Antichristian Doctrine And (k) Quia nox faciunt bona quae cognoscunt non cognoscunt mala quae faciunt August seeing they do not the good which they know they are so seduced by the spirit of ignorance and errour that they shall not know the evil that they do But if any demand and ask concerning the time when their Disease shall be in the Paroxysm 5. The time of the Disease the fifth part of the Text. in the full heat and heighth and propound the Disciples question touching the destruction of Jerusalem Matth. 24.3 Tell us when shall these things be St. Paul shall answer the question out of the Text For the time shall come This he spake full sixteen hundred years ago and what was then a Prophecy and a Prediction of a thing to come is now a History and a Relation of what is past And I may a little alter St. Paul's words and turn his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time shall come into The time is come and apply and take up our Saviours words to his Countreymen at Nazareth Luke 4.21 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears And it may be there are some Readers that will make good St. Paul's Prophecy and will not endure sound Doctrine either Text or Sermon Like unto those of the Popish party (l) Joan. Manl. Collect. whom the Frier justly reproved and told him plainly of it That the Truth he preached was like Holy Water which every one desired and called for with a great deal of earnestness yet when the Sexton cast it on them and sprinkled them therewith they would turn their backs upon it And if there be any such let them make inquiry and narrow search into the cause of the Disease and look to their lusts Let them see if there be not in them a lust of proud ignorance or wanton curiosity or sordid covetousness Let them examine and try it by the several signs and symptomes The Itch of the Ear and the heaping to themselves Teachers young and youthfull Teachers ignorant and unlearned Teachers false and flattering Teachers and let them take heed and beware in the last place of the lamentable effects of it They shall turn away their Ears from the Truth and shall be turned after Fables But in case men will not endure sound Doctrine The application must the Ministers of God prove mealy-mouth'd and be as men in whose mouths there are no reproofs Or shall they take up the Prophet Jeremy's resolution Jer. 20.9 Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his Name Nay rather let them attend and obserue Ezekiel's charge Ezek. 2.7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are most rebellious The Word of God must be spoken and sounded forth both from the Pulpit and the Press whether men will hear (m) Mens boni studii ac pii voti etiamsi effectum non invenerit coepti operis habet tamen praemium voluntatis Salvian de Gubern Dei Praefat. or whether they will forbear and so much the rather when men stop their ears and turn their backs upon it If the Iron be blunt there must be put to more strength Eccles 10.10 The more (n) Gravissimus nodus in ligno non potest expelli nisi gravissimo oppressorio Ambrose knotty and cross-grain'd the Timber is the more sharp and strong must the Wedges be and the forcible blows must be redoubled and repeated and the more thwart and opposite men declare themselves unto sound Doctrine the Ministers of God must be the more importunate and vehement in the pressing and urging of it that is the ground of the Apostles exhortation in the words before the Text and is noted out unto us in the Particle For the first word of the Text. Preach the Word Be instant in season and out of season Reprove Rebuke Exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.2 For the time will come that they will not endure sound Doctrine And it is a strange kinde of For as if the Apostle should argue in this manner Seeing men stop their ears like the deaf Adder Cry aloud and spare not and cause them to hear whether they will or no and being fallen into a spiritual Lethargy a deep and dead sleep labour to awaken and to arowze them up and sith (o) Mundus senescens patitur Phantasias Gerson contra superstitiosos in this fancy-full Age of the World men are wholly given over to Dreams and Dotages imploy and improve both power and parts to the utmost of your ability to disabuse and undeceive them of their errours And give me leave to apply it to my Brethren of the Ministery The conclusion and to speak it home to my self and others in the Apostles words Preach the Word Be instant in season out of season Reprove Rebuke Exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine And the reason is here rendred in the words of the Text For the Time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lusts shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth and shall be turned after Fables FINIS

render it up unto suspicion for that known Rule of Tertullian holds sound for the most part (r) Id verum dominicum quod prius extraneum falsum quod posterins Haereses non tam falsitas revincit quàm novitas Tertul. Praescript adv Haeret. That is true which is most ancient and that erroneous and false which is of later date And both Hereticks and Heresies are not more strongly confuted and confounded from their falshood than by Novelty The third and last cause why men will not endure sound Doctrine is the Lust of Sordid Covetousness 3. The third Lust Sordid Covetousness There is not any sin more opposite to the profession and practice of Religion nor the reverend and respective hearing of the Word than that of Covetousness It was the blemish and bane of Ezekiel's Hearers and moved them to bejeer him and to laugh him to scorn Ezek. 33.31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouths they make jests but their heart goeth after their Covetousness Our blessed Saviour himself escaped not the flouts and scoffs of the Pharisees and it was their Covetousness that was in fault Luke 16.14 And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him How many are there even among us that do not onely quarrell the Persons and Doctrine of the Ministers but except also against the Calling of the Ministery And would you know the true cause Is it not their means and maintenance that is as a scourge in their sides and as thorns in their eyes Do they not complain of the payment of their Tithes as a heavy burthen too heavy for them to bear And do they not endeavour that Ecclesiastical Livings should want a sufficient Livelihood and so prove no Livings at all But rather like unto the Diets of sick men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosth Phil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Orator speaks of them which neither afford a man life nor yet will give him leave to die Therein after a sort justifying the virulent but unjust crimination of our Romish Adversaries That our Doctrine is Negative our Religion is Ablative How far are these men from that heroical and religious resolution of King David who when Araunah offered him his threshing-floor and his Oxen as a free Gift would in no case accept of it Nay but I will surely buy it of thee at a price neither will I offer a Burnt-offering to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing 2 Sam. 24.24 Whereas we on the other side are every way unwilling to receive ought of the hand of God though never so unvaluable and prizeless a mercy that shall cost us any thing Fain would men have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen stiles it A Gospel that is cost-free without expence and charge How far are men from hearkening to the wise mans counsel Prov. 3.9 Honour the Lord with thy substance Who though they can be content to draw near to God with their mouth and to honour him with their lips with the Jews of old yet will they be very hardly perswaded to honour him with their substance Herein they plead Prescription and Exemption and crave that Privilege for their god Mammon that Naaman did for his bowing in the House of Rimmon 2 Kings 5.18 In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant The Lord pardon thy servant in this thing The third general part of the Text is the Signs and Symptomes of the Disease 3. The third part The Signs Symptomes of the Disease two 1. The first Symptome Having itching Ears and they are two The first Symptome is in the Ear Having itching Ears The Itch is a natural infirmity and ailment in the Body which is seemingly allayed and eased with the rubbing and scratching of it but repays the short pleasure with a long and lasting pain and oft times draws bloud after it Such a spiritual weakness is the Itch of the Ear which seeks to be scratch'd and claw'd with pick'd phrases queint sentences and strong lines which have not the property of Physick to cure the Distempers of the Soul but serve in stead of an Ointment to smooth the Skin to supple the Joints and to recreate and refresh the Body (ſ) Benè olet unguentum benè olet pharmacum hoc tantùm delectat illud verò prodest Plutarch There is this difference betwixt an Ointment and Physick though both are well sented yet an Ointment delights onely whereas Physick brings profit with it (t) Pruritus auditûs non sanam cupit doctri●am sed confricationem audi●ûs sed delectationom audiendo Cajetan in locum But the itching Ear preferres pleasure before profit prizeth an Ointment above Physick and makes choice of such Physicians which tickle the Ear though they never cure their wounds (u) Aegrotus non quaerit Medicum elegantem sed sanantem Seneca which no sick men will do besides The palliated cure of any spiritual Emperick or Mountebank are best accepted who heal the hurt of their souls slightly saying Peace Peace where there is no Peace Jer. 6.14 And they say to their Teachers as the rebellious Jews of old to their Prophets Isai 30.10 Prophesie not unto us right things Speak smooth things Prophesie deceits It was the saying of one of our own who was so far in love with it that he desired it might remain as a Memorial upon his Monument (x) Pruritus disputandi Ecclesiae scabies Sir Henry Wotton The Itch of Disputation is the Scab of the Church And what he spake of the Itch of Disputation is most true of the Itch of the Ear in the general it is the Scab of Religion the Scab of the Church a spiritual Leprosie that overspreads the whole man The second sign or Symptome of this Disease 2. The second Symptome They shall heap to themselves Teachers is the scratching and clawing of the itching Ear with a multiplied variety of Instructors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall heap to themselves Teachers Ipsi sibi as Beza renders it that is (a) Scientes ac prudentes sibi accersere suae perniciei instrumenta Beza in locum They sha●l wittingly and willingly procure the Instruments of their own destruction as he glosses upon the place This Heap of Teachers may be conceived in a double reference A Heap in a double reference 1. The quantity 1. The multitude and number 2. The quality 2. The condition and qualification of their Teachers First 1. The multitude and number of them this Heap of Teachers may be referred to their multitude or number when they are multiplied unnecessarily and without cause which is against the Rule of common Reason who though they have never so able and painfull a Pastor of their own and a company of orthodox and faithfull