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	justification_n	4,667	5	9.6727	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09086	The seconde parte of the booke of Christian exercise, appertayning to resolution. Or a Christian directorie, guiding all men to their saluation. Written by the former authour. R.P.; Booke of Christian exercise. Part 2.	Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610. Christian directory.; Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610. First booke of the Christian exercise.	1590 (1590)	STC 19380; ESTC S110194	217,337	475

be saued as well as other men then it wyll be to purpose to haue a foundation without a building vppon it or a stocke or tree that beareth no fruite Which thing S. Iames speaking of that historicall and dead fayth whereby the wicked the very deuils thēselues beleeue that there is one GOD expresseth most excellently in this fitte similitude As a bodie without a spirit is dead euen so saith he is fayth without workes Thys poynt of doctrine of vertuous life and obseruing of Gods commaundements not our Sauiour Christ alone in his Sermon most earnestly vrged as hath beene sayde but his fore-runner also Saint Iohn the Baptist and hys followers the holie Apostles whereof the one continually called vpon the people to bring foorth fruites meete for repentance the other in all theyr writings no doubt in all their Sermons after matter of doctrine and faith propounded do proceede to exhortation and precepts of Christian life In so much as Saint Augustine other auncient Fathers are of opinion that the rest of the Apostles S. Peter S. Iames S. Iohn and S. Iude perceiuing the loosenesse and securitie of the people in theyr tymes directed theyr writinges eyther onely or principally to this ende euen to perswade and enforce the necessitie of good life and conuersation among Christians Yea and that Saint Paule himselfe when hee concludeth that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the Lawe doth not exclude the works of charitie as effects and fruites of fayth which followe him that is alreadie iustified in the sight of God but hee excludeth thē as causes of saluation which goe before him that is to be iustified Wherby it appeareth that S. Paule handling the causes of our iustification in the sight of God is not repugnant or contrary to S. Iames speaking of the notes and signes whereby we are iustified that is as the word is taken els where declared or known to be iust or righteous before mē The sum is that although good workes are not the causes of our saluation yet they are the way as it were and the path that leadeth thereunto because by them as by certaine markes we perceiue our selues to haue entered and to haue proceeded in the waie of eternall life Yea they are the fruites and effects whereby we testifie and declare both vnto our selues and to others the trueth of that faith which we professe And therefore our Sauiour Christ willeth vs in the Gospel to let our light shine before men that they seeing our good works may take occasiō therby to glorifie our heauenly father And his holy Apostle Saint Iames biddeth those carnall sensuall Christians that stood so much vpon the only name of faith to shewe him theyr fayth by their workes as he would shew them his faith by his works● that is they should declare and testifie vnto men as I haue said the fayth which they professed by the fruites thereof To men I say because men which iudge but by the outward appearaunce onely cannot knowe the goodnes of a tree b●t by the good fruite which it yeeldeth they cannot discerne the inwarde faith but by the outwarde workes But as for God that searcheth the secrets of the harts and reynes it needeth not that wee shoulde shewe him our faith by our workes nor may wee looke for iustification at his handes by the best of them for then might wee haue whereof to boast but there is no boasting with God and therefore no iustifying by workes in his sight Yet notwithstanding the Lorde requireth good workes at our hands to the end that himselfe might be glorified our needie bretheren releeued and comforted others gained wonne by our example to the embracing of the same faith and Religion which we professe our owne faith exercised and strengthened and our calling and election made sure and confirmed And it is very requisite that the children of GOD which are bought with so high a price as with the blood of Iesus should glorifie God both in soule body because they are redeemed both in soule and body and not liue vnto thēselues but vnto him which died and rose againe for them Thys is the ende of our election before the foundations of the world were layde as the Apostle testifieth Ephes. 1.4 euen that we should be holy and blameles before him in loue Thys is the ende of our creation as the same Apostle witnesseth Ephesians 2. 10. Where he saith that we are Gods workmanshyp created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes wherein he hath ordained that wee shold walke This is the end of our redemption as olde Zacharie prophecied Luke 1. 74 75. that beeing redeemed and deliuered from all our spirituall enemies and from eternall destruction whereunto we were subiect we should serue God without feare in holines and righteousnes before him all the daies of our life Finally this is the ende of our vocation For God hath not called vs to vncleannesse but vnto holinesse and as hee that hath called vs is holy so must we be holie in all manner of conuersation And it can not be that they which are truely iustified that is to say made righteous by a liuely fayth in Christ should not also in some measure be sanctified that is made holie by a faithfull lyfe in him Let not men therefore deceiue themselues with the onely name and shadowe of faith without the nature substance therof Let them not promise vnto themselues euerlasting life because they knowe the true God and whom hee hath sent Iesus Christ but let them remember howe Christes Apostle whō he deerely loued expoundeth that saying when he writeth By this wee knowe God truely if wee keepe his commaundements and whosoeuer sayth that he knoweth him and yet keepeth not his commaundements is a lyer and the trueth is not in him For as it is a true saying and by all meanes woorthy to be receiued that Christ Iesus came into the worlde to saue sinners so is it as true a saying and no lesse woorthie to be affirmed that they which haue beleeued God should be carefull to shew foorth good works Saint Gregorie vpon the words of Christ to S. Thomas Blessed are they who haue not seene and yet haue beleeued hath a notable discourse to this purpose If any sayth hee inferre heereof I beleeue and therefore am blessed and shall be saued he saith truely if his life be aunswerable to his beleefe for that a true faith dooth not contradict in manners the things which hee professeth in words For which cause S. Paule accuseth certaine false Christians in whom he found not vertuous life aunswerable to theyr profession that they confessed God in wordes but denyed him in theyr deedes And Saint Iohn auoucheth that whosoeuer saith hee knoweth GOD and keepeth not his commandements is a lyer Which beeing

iam temporis aetas Magnus ab integro saeculorum nascitur ordo Iam redit virgo rediunt Saturnia regna That is nowe is come the last age prophecied by Sibylla called Cumaea now cōmeth to be fulfilled the great ordinance and prouidence of God appointed from the beginning of the worlde these were Sibylles words nowe commeth the Virgine and the first golden daies of Saturnus shal return againe Thus much translated Virgil out of Sibylla touching the eternall determination of God for Christes comming into this world as also of hys Mother the Virgine and of the infinite blessinges that shoulde appeare wyth him Nowe ensueth in the same Poet what Sibylla had sayde for Christes actuall natiuitie Iam noua progenies caelo dimittitur alto Chara Deum soboles c. Now a newe progenie or of-spring is sent downe from Heauen the dearely beloued issue or chylde of the Gods And note here that Sibylla sayd plainly Chara Dei soboles the deerely beloued sonne of God and not of Gods but that Virgill would follow the style of hys time And thirdly hee setteth downe out of Sibylla the effect and cause of thys sonne of Gods natiuitie in these words Te duce si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri Irrita perpetua soluent formidine terras That is thou beeing our leader or Captaine the remnant of our sins shall be made voyde or taken away and shall deliuer the world for euer from feare for the same These are Virgils wordes translated as I sayd out of Sibylla And nowe consider you in reason whether these prophecies might be applyed as Virgil applyed thē to those poore chyldren in Rome or no who dyed soone after thys flattery of Virgill wythout dooing good eyther to themselues or to others Albeit perhaps in thys point the Poet be to be excused in that he beeing not able to imagine what the Sibyl should mean made hys aduantage thereof in applying the same to the best pleasing of Augustus These then are the proofes which Constantine vsed for the credite and authoritie of the Sibyll verses And of Sibylla Erithraea in perticuler that made the Accrostike verses before mentioned of Christes death passion he concludeth in these wordes These are the things which fell from heauen into the minde of this Virgine to fore-tell For which cause I am induced to account her for blessed whom our Sauiour did vouchsafe to chuse for a Prophet to denounce vnto the worlde his holie prouidence towardes vs. And we may consider in thys whole dyscourse of Constantine for authoritie of these verses Fyrst that he vseth onely the testimony of such wryters as lyued before Christ was borne or Christians once thought vppon Secondly that hee vseth these proofes to no meaner audience then to a Councell congregation of learned men Thyrdly that he was an Emperour which vseth them that is one that had meanes to see and examine the originall Copies in the Romaine Treasury Fourthly for that hee had great learned men about him who were skilfull and would be diligent in the searche of such an antiquitie of importaunce especially Lactantius that was Maister to his sonne Crispus and who most of any other Author reciteth and confirmeth the sayd Sibyls verses and Eusebius Caesariensis that wrote the Ecclesiasticall hystorie and recorded thys Oration of Constantine therein And finally we may consider that Constantine was the first publique Christian Emperour liued within three hundred yeeres after Christ when the Recordes of the Romans were yet whole to be seene He was a religious vvise and graue Emperour and therefore woulde neuer haue bestowed so much labor to confirme such a thing at such a time to such an audience had not the matter been of singuler importance And thus much of the second point touching Prophets among the Gentiles Of the confessyon of Oracles concerning Christes comming THere remaineth onely a word or two to be spoken of the thirde which is of the confession of deuils and Oracles concerning Christes comming especially when the time of hys appearance drew neere and that they beganne to fore-tell his power and vertue Wherin as I might alleage diuers examples recorded by the Gentiles themselues so for that I haue been some what long in the former points and shall haue occasion to saie more of this matter in another place heereafter I wyll touch onely heere two Oracles of Apollo concerning thys matter The one wherof was to a Priest of his owne that demaunded him of true Relgion and of God to whom he aunswered thus in Greeke O thou vnhappie Priest why doost thou aske mee of God that is the father of all thinges and of this most renoumed Kings deere onely sonne and of the spirit that containeth all c. Alas that spirit will enforce me shortly to leaue thys habitation and place of Oracles The other Oracle was to Augustus Caesar euen about the very time that Christ was ready to appeare in flesh For whereas the sayd Emperor now drawing into age would needes goe to Delphos and there learne of Apollo who should raigne after hym and what should become of things when he was dead to which demaund Apollo for a great space wold make no aunswere notwithstanding Augustus had beene very liberall in making the great sacrifice called Hecatombe But in the ende when the Emperour began to iterate hys sacrifice againe and to be instant for an aunswer Apollo as it were inforced vttered these strange words vnto him An Hebrue childe that ruleth ouer the blessed Gods commaundeth me to leaue this habitation and out of hand to gette me to hell But yet doe you depart in silence from our Aultars Thus much was Apollo inforced to vtter of hys owne miserie of the comming of the Hebrue boy that shold put him to banishment But yet the deceytfull spirit to holde stil hys credite would not haue the matter reuealed to many Whereupon Augustus falling into a great musing with himselfe what thys aunswere might import returned to Rome and builded there an Aultar in the Capitole wyth thys Latine inscription as Nicephorꝰ affirmeth Ara primogeniti Dei The Aultar of Gods first begotten Sonne Thus then haue I declared howe that the comming of Gods sonne into the world was fore-tolde both to Iewe and Gentile by all meanes that possibly in reason myght be deuised that is by prophecies signes figures ceremonies tradition and by the confession of the deuils themselues Not onelie that hys comming was fore-tolde but also why and for what cause he was for to come that is to be the onely Sauiour of the world to die for the sinnes of all men to ordayne a new Law more perfect Common-wealth Howe also he was to come to wit in mans flesh in likenes of sinne in pouertie humilitie The time likewyse of his appearance was prefigured together with the manner of hys byrth life actions death resurrection and ascention