Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	efficient_a	end_n	final_a	2,172	5	9.9792	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57733	The fire upon the altar. Or Divine meditations and essayes containing the substance of Christian religion	Rowe, Cheyne.	1679 (1679)	Wing R2061A; ESTC R218415	226,122	405

God 2 Thes 2.12 which is his word we must believe the truth of his threatnings as well as the truth of his promises Jer. 32.19 This belief saved Noah and his family from the destruction of the deluge and this was commanded in him for a worthy act of faith and by this Lot escaped when Sodom was destroyed and his doubting wife made a perpetual monument or spectacle for her infidelity the chief and special object is Christ Act. 16.37 If we must leve Christ then is Christ the principle the cause efficient and final the matter and the forme of that life His example our pattern and his will ours to me to live is Christ is meant in some or in all these senses for faith verifies it in them all He is the end of our conversation because we can desire no more nor can we need any more if we have him he is the matter and forme of it because the natural life is drowned in this and is made spiritual as it is said If we have known Christ in the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more The holy soul doth not injoy its life if it doth not feel Christ living in it by his Spirit quickning its graces it crys O miserable man that I am c. As faith tells the instrument and meanes whereby we attain the greatest good so it is the Armour that defends us from the greatest evils therefore said the Apostle Ephe. 6.16 Above all take the shield of faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Whereby he commends faith above all the spiritual Armour shewing the cause of his commendation from the exceeding virtue of it that it inables them to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked the virtue of it is universal against the worst of evils if it be taken that is if it be used It must be used in the relying act and in the aplying act staying our selves upon the Lord Psal 37.5 Commit our way unto the Lord. The Applying act is when the soul can say his righteousnes is mine to justify me his blood which he shed upon the Cross an attonement for my sins his Spirit mine to quicken me The fiery darts which Satan shoots are first the guilt of sin then afflictions inward and out ward those who were stung by the fiery Serpents could not be cursed unless they looked up to the brazen Serpent Faith sees that the blood which Christ shed for sinners was shed for my sin that he had an eye unto me in his sufferings A 2 Way faith quenches the fiery darts of Satan by seeing that sin is condemned if so then it can have no power to condem the soul A 3 Way is to see afflictions to be a means of grace that they sanctify us and work for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And to see God in the afflictions working for our good and keeping us from the hurt which men intended to us I will be with thee in the fire and in the water that the fire shall not burne thee nor the water hurt thee Isa 43.2 I will keep him secretly from the strife of tongues This made the suffering Martyrs more than conquerors through Christ that loved us and gave his life for us therefore they were wiling to suffer for him and lay down their lives for the testimony of the Gospel to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods and to think all too little for God for whom they suffered it therefore let us set before us our blessed Saviours suffering who endured for us such bitter paines mocking and contradiction of sinners lest we faint in our minds and are weary of the Cross of Christ Let us also set before us the examples of the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and the examples of our own memory Our late King whose head was anointed with holy oyle yet his Majesty trampled upon with the greatest indignities and when the meanest of his subjects a common Souldier spit in his face used no reproof and he that was Gods vicegerent of the Crown was humbled to be Christs vicegerent of his Cross a rare and wonderful example of suffering patiently the good will and pleasure of God Our imitation of his virtues shall be a lasting monument of his Glory Aere ceu vacuo pendentia Mausolaea Mart. Holy David went far in this as when one abject fellow cursed him and threw durt at him he let him alone saying Who can tell whether God will requite good for his railing And God did not fail him because his faith did not faile though it was tried to the uttermost this faith carried him through all When the people talked of stoning him by this he encouraged himself in the Lord and was not dismaied and if it became the Captain of our salvation to be made perfect by sufferings why should it be thought strange if all that fight under the same banner be made perfect Soulders by the same discipline Oh that we could all follow him not only in drinking of the Cup which he drunk off viz. The bitter Cup of the Cross but also do it with the same charity to our enemies as he had when he prayed Father forgive them for they know not what they do whose steps the Proto Martyr St. Stephen also followed and for his reward he saw the Heavens opened and his Saviour standing at the right hand of God by this we are sure that the same Spirit is in us as was in Christ T was impossible for Job to have undergone so many of Satans fiery darts upon his estate his relations and bodily sufferings but that he believed that his redeemer lived and that he should see him with his eyes at the last day though wormes consumed his flesh And St. Paul having fought the good fight of faith had the like assurance as he testifieth henceforth is layed up for me a Crown of glory this inabled him to undergo the fight with victory and this took away the sting of death so that death it self was not formidable to him nor to the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs who willingly underwent it for a good conscience not accepting deliverance Those great temptations which Satan most relieth upon are those of sins guilt accusing the conscience and bloody persecutions though all manner of temptations as the vanities of the world the cares of the world the lusts of the flesh the pride of life are all of them by the arts of our Spiritual adversary so suited and managed according to several complexions that without this grace they are unresistable therefore the Scripture testifieth that this is the victory whereby we overcome the world and if morality could be sufficient to mortify our lusts and good education as some pretend how came it to pass that those moral Philosophers who writ so many things against lust covetousness and other vices were yet themselves overcome of them but through faith in Christ the world is

by beneficence and bounty and wonderful deliverances wherein his hand and almighty power onely could help us appears by Psal 10● Which recites the wonders which God wrought for the Israelites in Egypt Whereby he delivered them from that thraldom and afterwards brought them to the promised land that flowed with Milk and Hony The end of all which is expressed in the last ver That they might keep his statutes and observe his laws When God bestowes such great mercies upon us as astonish our understanding as he did to them they were like men that dream when they were deliverd from Captivity when he delivereth us miraculously just then when we are at the very brink of destruction when the knife is at our throats or like brands pulled out of the fire so are we rescued and sometimes we are so rescued from the precipice of Hell before we are consumed it is no cause that may induce us to think that we are better than others or that it is for our own righteousness sake God forwarneth the Israelites from such misconceptions and that caution seemeth to imply that we are prone of our selves to such delusions God commands them when they bring their offering to say A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. But the cause that moved God was from himself because of his love and favour which he had to them his goodness only was the efficient cause and the final cause his own glory and so it is of all our deliverances that we being delivered should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the daies of our lives Sutable thereto is the practice of Gods Servants for they ascribe them not to their own merit but reflect upon their own unworthiness that they may ascribe the more to Gods free goodness and mercy saying with David What am I and what is my Fathers house that thou shouldst do such great things for me Psal 116.9 And Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him And St. Paul admiers Gods mercy to him who he saith Was the least of the Apostles and not worthy to be called an Apostle Which humility of mind and sense of our own unworthiness kindles the flame of our holy love to God for all his goodness and excites our Zeal to do all we can for God And not only the mercies received are improved to inflame our affections to love God our great benefactor but the mercies also which we hope for and expect hereafter as in 2 of Sam. 7.19 David speaks to God Who am I O Lord and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord God! Though men the more they have done the less we can expect from them yet with God every mercy is an earnest of a greater therefore he argued well that said The Lord delivered me from the Lyon and Bear and will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine So did St. Paul saying The Lord hath delivered me and will deliver me And this assurance and hope alone in the want of all outward comforts by the strength of faith was able to support holy Job for therefore he was a conquerer over all these fiery darts of Satan and was able to do and suffer the good will and pleasure of God because he believed that his redeemer lived and that he should see him at the last day A further improvement the heavenly soul makes of mercies to engage its love and affections to God in the consideration of the overplus which God in his great goodness and liberality bestowes upon us above our desires and requests as when Solomon asked wisdom God bestowed upon him riches and honour and when David asked life God gave him a long life even for ever and ever So Abraham asked a child and God gave him seed as the sand of the Sea And we know of our own experience how God hath exceeded our requests for many temporal blessings which for the present when we had received them seemed great to us and to a thankful heart they will alwaies seem so and have the same operation to affect the heart with burning love to so great a benefactor But much more that overplus of eternal happiness which the Saints believe they shall receive For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him And as a Virgin beloved puts not an estimate upon the gifts of her Lover according to their meer value but according to the respect which she hath to his love whereof they are pledges so the heavenly soul also looks more upon the love and favour of God shewed in his mercies than upon the benefit it receives by them as David expresseth in the Psalmes Psal 63. saying Thy loving kindness is better than life it self Therefore saith the Spouse in the Cant. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then Wine Which holy love the soul delights in and by it all duties in religion and works of piety charity and mortification are made easy delightful and desirable and not burthensome And so love may be said to be the fulfilling of the law because God accepts the will of them that are carried by this principle And they likewise accept of all that comes from God as from his love whether it be affliction or prosperity because they believe that God will bring good out of evils and cause all things to work together for their good and will shew his love and faithfulness in delivering them and will give them their hearts desire if they delight themselves in the Lord. Psal 37.4 And injoy themselves in serving him call the Sabbath a delight and as the Spouse in the Cant. ch 1. Sit under his shadow with delight If they trust in him hope in him rely upon him stay themselves upon him All which duties and all others they can do in some degree through Christ that strengthens them from whom they have all their sufficiency whose Grace is sufficient for them though of themselves they can do nothing not think a good thought for his strength is perfected in their weakness and his Spirit helpeth their infirmity for instance in the duty of Prayer they will approach the Throne of Grace to pray and praise God though they feel in themselves dulness and indisposition because they have found assistance in former duties from Gods Spirit enabling them when they were as much indisposed as at present therefore they do hope for and expect the like again and therefore they go on assured as Abraham was that God will provide himself a Sacrifice A parallel instance is that which St. Paul experienced when the