Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	faith_n	good_a	3,186	5	4.5750	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86493	Of the nature of faith. A sermon, / by Barten Holyday, Doctor of Divinity.	Holyday, Barton, 1593-1661.	1654 (1654)	Wing H2532; Thomason E809_17; ESTC R207573	12,893	37

Sometimes you shall finde the weaknesse of Faith in the apprehension or application of Christ's benefits to our selves Yet even such Faith such palsie-Faith is able to receive a gift from Christ it is able to take hold on Christ who has compassionately promised not to break the bruised reed no nor to quench the smoaking flax But at last our observation shall finde a strength of Faith you shall feel a strength of Faith A yong faith is but a tender faith but a grown faith is a strong faith it grows as the body does from Infancy to Age. Which strength of faith arises from a continual observation of God's secret favours and motions in the soul through the whole course of life in the employments of the soul And yet this strength of faith is imperfect in this life the wisdome of God having left some doubtings in man that he may remember he is but man that he may the more earnestly depend upon the merits of our Saviour God and Man And thus by a gracious art he makes us by fearing the strength of our faith to increase the strength of it he shews his strength in our weakness nay he makes his strength our strength And to see the Effects of faith as there is no ground so weak but will by manuring if it has any heart in it beare some grain so Faith though weak being true Faith has some heart in it and will infallibly bear some fruit The infallible fruit of Faith as the Apostle teaches us is a good conscience Faith is the cause and a good conscience the effect whose evidence depending upon the cause makes it inseparable And since a good conscience is never without charity we may by the degrees of our charity measure the degrees of our faith and by a want of charity discern a want of faith And since a good conscience is a continual Feast there is provision not onely for him that makes the Feast There is provision enough not onely wherewith to please himself but wherwith also to please God As then faith provides a good conscience so a good conscience always provides a Sacrifice for God Look upon Abel's Sacrifice which the Lord did look upon and you shall see why the Lord did look upon it Both Abel and Cain offered that which was required they offer'd it to God by whom it was required but only Abel offer'd all that was required Ananias and Sapphira in a seeming holiness sold their possessions This was an action in it self indifferent in pretence good in purpose bad yea vile whilest they sold not onely their possessions but also themselves to work wickedness For when they brought the money to the Apostles as a full offering the price of all they kept back a part so when Cain brought his offering to the Lord hee kept back a part Nam Cain cum Deo offerret sua seip sum sibi retinuerat says Rupertus Hee brought an offering to God but hee left his heart behinde him Hee could not believe in God but thought that as God had no need of our offerings so he had no regard of our offerings Indeed he had no regard of his offering nay therefore God had no regard of it because Cain would not believe that God would regard it But Abel first brought his heart and then the firstlings of his flock His sacrifice was not only an offering from his flock but also from his conscience He did believe that he that commanded sacrifice did therefore regard it because he commanded it He did believe God could not command that which was unjust he could not command that which was in vain Therefore he had regard to offer sacrifice because he believed God did regard sacrifice You may see in Abel the whole course of Faith He did both know Gods will and assent unto it and professed both by his sacrifice he brought nay he rejoyced and brought forth fruit whiles he brought for sacrifice the fruit of his flock He went yet higher his faith was a faith of miracles for his faith fetch'd fire from Heaven to consume the sacrifice of his faith Nay this faith of miracles was also a saving faith it was the substance of what he hoped for he hoped to enjoy God in the Heavens and by Faith he prevents that joy and has him here on earth His Faith was the Evidence of God whom he hoped to see and by his Faith he saw God in the fire of his sacrifice In which fire that descended to consume a sacrifice the Rabbines have a tradition that the face of a Lion did still appear to represent the Lion of the tribe of Judah the Messias which to us is our Saviour Christ by whose only mediation sacrifices are made acceptable Abel's Faith was also an habit by which his sacrifice was made as acceptable as it was willing and ready and he as freely yielded it to the Lord as his flock yielded it to him And this offering of Faith proceeded both from his understanding and his will the fire express'd as much which did not only accept his sacrifice made by Faith but also exprest the nature of the Faith the light expressed his knowledge and the heat his love The cause was Grace Adam could instruct him to offer by Faith but Adam could not enable him to offer by Faith the knowledge was from Adam but the power from God And though his faith was before ours yet the manner of the production of it was like ours He understood the high offence of his Father and how that nature had cast him likewise under the same guilt this taught him to fear he had likewise heard of the prophesie that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head this made him to hope and both these inflam'd his desire to apply those mercies to himself The next degree of his faith was the wisdom of his faith which was to use those means which might attain the end Cain no doubt wish'd Heaven as much as Abel but not as well Cain desir'd Heaven but not Righteousness but Abel desired Righteousness as heartily as he desired Heaven This made his sacrifice as acceptable unto God as Heaven was acceptable unto Abel Now the reason why faith is of all virtues so acceptable unto God is because God is most honoured by faith for by faith we trust God we take God's Word and so at once acknowledge in him sufficiency and truth sufficiency that he is able to perform unto us what hee does promise and truth that he will infallibly perform it Thus did faithful Abraham honour God when upon Gods promise he left his Countrey his plentiful Countrey and his kindred not regarding the censures of the worldly-wise even in that age of the world who were ready to interpret his travail a levity and indiscretion to leave things certain for that which seemed uncertain Yet he did arm himself with Divine Wisdome against Humane wisdome against false discretion not having his eye upon the danger but upon the command which hee did not examine but speedily execute This was the faithful Abraham whom God honored But Abel was an example both for us and for Abraham if not for the degree of his faith yet for the precedency of it which as God made for an example in the beginning of the world so he intended it for an example to the end of the world Since then we have so excellent an hope in God and so excellent an example in Abel since God so looked upon his sacrifice that we might look upon his Faith since Abel's Faith was more precious unto God then his blood Let us beg of God that he will give us as true a Faith though not as glorious a Faith as Abels that he will give us not only the knowledge of faith but also the comfort of it a good conscience that he will make our Heart the Sacrifice and his Grace the Fire both to restifie his love unto us and to inflame our love unto him and that we may so follow Abel in Faith that we may follow him in Happinesse Which God grant for the merits of the blood of Jesus which speaks better things then the blood of Abel and work it for us by the power of his holy Spirit the giver of all good gifts the giver of Faith To which Three Persons and one God bee all faithful Sacrifice of Thanks and Praise now and for ever THE END Emendations PAg. 4. lin 1. dele hee Pag. 5. lin 11. and 12. read of corruption by the grave and death Pag. 8. lin 10. for understand r. understood P. 12. l. 4. for Theodosian r. Theodotion Pag. 14. lin ult for continue read convince P. 26. l. 7. dele was and for faith r. fail'd P. 27. l. 3 4. for evidence r. existence