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	natural_a	nature_n	4,625	5	5.6875	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80721	Prayers prevalencie for Israels safety. Declared in a sermon preached in Saint Margarets Westminster, before the Honourable House of Commons, at the late solemne fast, June 28. 1643. / By Thomas Carter, minister of Dynton in Buckingham-shire. ; Published by order of that House.	Carter, Thomas, d. 1646.	1643 (1643)	Wing C668; Thomason E60_2; ESTC R22771	35,268	44

and that not onely his servants the Prophets that are neare him as he never hideth any such secret from them g Amos 3. 7. 1 Sam. 3. 11. But all his servants in ordinary as Lot Abraham Noah and others The Lord doth not now ordinarily discover future judgements by divine revelation as of old Neither onely by their foregoing naturall causes For so every intelligent man and discreet Statist by an eye of reason may foresee the ruine of a Nation like a storme in the clouds by such evils as in their intrinsecall nature are destructive to a State and brings its ruine by way of naturall causation every effect being virtually in its proper cause before the actuall production of it as 1. Divisions in a Church or State like the oppositions of the Planets are of dangerous consequence and make way for civill warres as the Jesuiticall faction well know which makes them so industrious in sowing the seeds of dissention in Church State Parliament City and in all parts of the Kingdom expecting that a Kingdom or City divided will not long stand h Mat. 12. 25 Gen. 18. 17. Heb. 11. 7. 2. Generall misapprehension and misconceits of the Fathers of a Countrey when men looke upon them as destroyers who are the maintainers and upholders of it it is a dangerous symptome when a disease so seazeth upon the braine that the sicke man looketh upon his Father and Brethren as enemies comming to kill him whose onely desire and care is to recover and save him 3. When through the covetousnesse and ambition of some and partiality of others things are so carried in a Church or State that worth is neglected and worthlesse men advanced i Ec. 10. 6. 7. when the wise Counsellor and valorous Captaine the strength and stay of a Kingdome are taken away or taken off and children set to rule over men k Isa 3. 1 2. 3 4. 19. 11. when all creatures are out of their proper place and in a motion contrary to their naturall principles this must needs be a fearfull signe of approaching ruine 4. Licentiousnesse sensuality and luxury take away the heart l Hos 4. 11. effeminate mens spirits infatuate a people and make them neglective of their owne private and of the publike good and a body thus filled with excrementitious humours cannot be far from some dangerous sicknesse A Nations ruine by these and the like evils is discernible by reason as procuring it by naturall causation But the Lord foresheweth the ruine of a Nation to his owne people in speculo verbi and by an eye of faith it is discernible by parallel cases and upon spirituall grounds in the Word of God As first he sheweth the casting out of a Nation by its fulfilling the measure of sinnes and provocations of divine Majesty m Gen. 15. 15. when the sinnes of it are great in themselves great in Gods account by manifold aggravations universally spread over all sorts of people men hardened also under the meanes of grace by heapes of wrath n Rom. 2. 5. Dan. 5. 5. so laid up the Lord foreshowes a day of wrath at hand Secondly by prodigious sinnes mira if not miracula God with his owne hand as it were writing the ruine of a Nation as he did Belshazzars on the wals of the great house of the world which though the wise men of Babylon by all their Art could not understand yet the Lords Daniels can read and interpret them by helpe of the Word as letters written in unknowne Characters cannot be understood without a rule from the Writer I might instance in other particulars as the Lords making way for his judgements by taking away of the righteous or withholding their prayers But of this anon Now the Lord gives such cleare notice that howsoever blind Balaams will not see the sword that is before them yet as Solomon saith the prudent Christian foreseeth it n Prov. 22. 3. and that not only when it is so neare that obvious to sense or discernible by reason in the naturall cause of it but while it is afarre off as St. Peter speaks o 2 Pet. 1. 9. Zeph. 2. 1. in fieri not in esse in the wombe of Gods threatning before it comes forth and onely discernible by an eye of faith And indeed though the judgement be future and at present invisible as being not yet existent yet by faith it is made as evident and certaine to the faithfull as if this tragedy was now acting before their eyes as the Apostle speaketh p Heb. 11. 9. Noah by giving credence to divine warning 120. yeares before the stood came saw the windowes of Heaven opened the fountaines of the deepe broken up the raine falling the waters rising all crying Helpe helpe we perish we sinke we die The reasons why the Lord is pleased to discover his purpose may be these Reas 1 First To grace his people that the world may see that howsoever they account them as the worst of men and the off-scowring of all things q 2 Cor. 4. 13 yet they are privy counsellers to the great King and he reveales arcana imperii his secrets to them r Psal 25. 14 Reason 2 Secondly That Ministers publikely and others occasionally should warne the world to flye from the wrath to come as Eliah did Ahab saying there is aboundance of raine comming and therfore up to thy Charriot and flye for shelter s 2 King 18. 4 Reas 3 Thirdly That Gods servants might prepare aforehand against the storm either to get shelter from it or else to provide Cordials before to refresh and support them in it Uses This truth First should raise our esteeme of Gods servants Secondly Comfort and encourage them Thirdly Teach all to make a right use of these warnings But the time hastens mee to a second observation namely the Lords manner of taking notice of their sinnes in these two particulars mentioned First his view I have seene this people contemplatus sum or consideravi as Vatab renders it or notum est coram me as the Chald. Paraph. hath it i. e. he so considered of them that he had a cleare sight and full knowledge of them Secondly his censure it is a stiffenecked people Howsoever the Lord be an infinite omniscient essence above time no prius and posterius with him although he doth not draw forth one thing by and after another as man doth by discursive reason but sees all things unico simplici intuitu by one simple intuitive Act yet is the Lord pleased to use this Anthropopathie to hold out unto us this golden rule to be observed in judging either of persons or of things opinions or practises whether those be true or these good which I shall propose to you as my second Doctrine Doctr. 2 In judging we ought first to enquire and see and then accordingly determine The like rule we have laid downe by Saint Paul Try all things finde

42. vers 7 9 10 11. whence it came and what the end of its comming if not to prejudice the State turne it and looke upon it every way in its causes nature concomitants effects and consequences yet warily distinguishing betweene proper and accidentall effects 2. That with much humility and selfe-deniall we seeke to the only wise God that he would present his truth and make it clearly Prov. 20. 27. shine before us that he would heale our understandings that we may see it and by his Spirit guide our thoughts and so lead us Joh. 16. 13. into all truth Vse This Doctrine first discovers unto us the cause that we have so many errours in the Church like Tares among the Wheat sown by that envious man like the Frogs of Egypt creeping into Matth. 13. 25. every house surely it is because men judge according to appearance this act lookes like idolatry this forme of government lookes like the Antichristian this opinion or that way such and such holy men are for thus whiles they judge according to personall or reall appearances they judge not righteous judgement 2. It discovers the cause whence it comes to passe that learned and godly men do often meet and dispute yet cannot agree upon a right determination they have light and no doubt look through the mist of appearances into the very nature of things yet perhaps there may be passion or prejudice to sway or else they may be too full of selfe selfe-ends looking at the credit of victory rather then the beating out of truth or perhaps selfe-conceit and selfe-dependance Prov. 3. 5. leaning too much to their owne understanding and then no wonder if they judge not righteous judgement 3. It discovers the reason why we have so many misconceits and evill censures of our Worthies in Parliament and in our Armies men shooting the arrowes of harsh censures out of the Bow of a proud heart even against these Starres Surely for the most part the reason is because they censure before they see and speake Jude v. 10. evill of what they doe not understand So I come to the third point the compellation this people The Lord was wont to looke upon Israel as his owne as Exod. 3. Exod. 3. 7. Exod. 7. 16. I have seene the affliction of my people and Exod. 7. Let my people go but now their idolatry hath caused a variation of title now he will not owne them but lookes upon them as strangers populus meus is now become populus iste Whence we may infer Doctr. 3 That Idolatry dissolves a Church unchurches a people and breakes that bond of relation betweene God and them For the clearing of this proposition I shall endeavour to shew two things 1. What it is that constitutes a visible Church 2. How and in what respect Idolatry dissolves it First the profession of Christ in the use of right ordinances doth constitute a visible Church and difference it from all other societies and so it did even before Christs Incarnation though more obscurely then since As the true mysticall union of the faithfull with Christ and among themselves is the forme that gives being to the invisible Church so an externall union by profession not publikly contradicted by their owne opinions and practices as in the Papacie gives being to the visible Church as may be collected from Mat. 16. 18. Matth. 16. 18. Now this profession of Christ and of a people to be his followers must not onely be verball but reall and consisteth in the setting up of his ordinances either by a Law or by generall submission unto them and attending upon him in the constant use of them I say in the use of all the ordinances habitually and in the actuall use of such of them as they are capable of I doe not meane those inferiour ordinances of magistracie marriage c. But those sacred ordinances of preaching the Word celebration of the Sacraments and prayer which the Lord hath ordained and instituted as to be part of his worship so also to be the proper mediate ordinary meanes of conveying the beginnings and encrease of all saving grace unto the soules of men Indeed the right manner of using these ordinances with those helps of discipline government c. requisite to make the ordinances the more to put forth their strength and so the more efficacious to us these I grant to be necessary to the well-being of a visible Church but the ordinances themselves I conceive to be of the very essence and being of it no visible Church without them and that a true visible Church which hath them as afore specified And hence it is that the Prophet cals the whole Nation of the Jewes professing themselves to be his in the use of his ordinances the Lords flock in reference to those that were truly so the denomination Jer. 13. 17. there following the better part and the Lord cals the people of Israel his sonne and such they were though not by spirituall Exod 4. 22. Hos 11. 1. yet by externall adoption and so they are called his spouse as being married unto him by an externall covenant and stipulation Ezek. 16. 8. And as by effectuall calling there is a reall dedication of the soule to Christ and so an actuall admission into the invisible Church so by Baptisme we are given up to Christ by an externall dedication and so admitted into the universall visible Church and thereby are united to Christ and one to another by mutuall covenant if not actuall and formall yet vertuall and interpretative and thereby also made members of particular visible Churches nationall and congregationall Now secondly as the profession of Christ in the use of right ordinances as aforesaid doth constitute a visible Church so idolatry in setting up by a Law or by generall consent and submission a creature to be worshipped terminatively in stead of God or relatively intending or pretending to worship God by worshipping that creature this dissolves a Church An instance of this we have in my text this people having set up an Idol to worship though they intended not to terminate their worship in the Idol but to worship the Lord by it as vers 5. yet for this the Lord speakes of them as a people cast off Exod. 32. 5. and at present would not seeme to owne them And howsoever that Nation untill Christs incarnation had a peculiar priviledge which no other Nation could challenge in respect of Gods absolute covenant made with them and so were not de facto at least on Gods part unchurched he having not pronounced the sentence of divorce upon them yet their sinne both in respect of their demerit dishonouring God in so high a degree and also in respect of the intrinsecall nature thereof as having thereby forsaken the Lord and taken a strange God This sinne I say on their part did by breach of covenant actually unchurch them and on Gods part