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	faith_n	instrumental_a	2,644	5	11.5403	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19668	Fryer Iohn Frauncis of Nigeon in Fraunce A replication to that lewde aunswere, which Fryer Iohn Frauncis (of the Minimes order in Nigeon nigh vnto Paris in Fraunce) hath made to a letter, that his mother caused to be written, and sent to him out of England, in August. 1585. Wherevnto is annexed an aunswere, to that which the same fryer hath written to his father and mother: in defence, and to the prayse of that religion, which he dooth nowe professe: and to the disprayse and defacing of that religion, which is nowe professed in Englande. Whereof the fryer himselfe was a scholler and professor, vntill the yeere 1583. which was the 18. yeere of hys age. VVritten by Robert Crowley. Anno. 1586.	Crowley, Robert, 1518?-1588.; Debnam, Samuel.	1586 (1586)	STC 6091; ESTC S109119	122,478	144

tantum quoniam a beneficijs ipse cepit verum quoniam ipsius bona distribuimus si cuncta erog●mus All that we doo sayth Chrysostome we doo as satisfying or paying our debt wherefore he himselfe also that is Christ did say When you shall haue doone all say thus We are vnprofitable seruaunts for we haue doone those thinges that we ought to doo Therefore whether we shall shewe charity or whether wée shall giue money to the néedy we doo discharge our debt not onely because he did first beginne to bestowe benefites vpon vs but also because we doo but distribute his goods although we bestow al that we haue No man can write more plainly or pithily for confirmation of that which we holde concerning the meriting by workes then thys Chrysostome hath doone in these two places Thus you may sée if you be wylling to sée that the holy Doctors of the Catholicke Church are not so contrary to vs in iudgment as you haue perswaded your selfe that they be but when their works bée thorowly reade and the scope an purpose of their wrytings thorowly weyghed and considered they are found to be of a iudgment contrary to yours and be of one iudgment with vs. You alledge these wordes of our Sauiour Christ as a declaration of the cause of our saluation For you say hauing spoken these words Venite benedicti patris m●i c. Come ye blessed of my Father c. He sheweth the cause of this ioyfull sentence c. If you had sayde he sheweth a cause your spéeche might haue béene suffered For our féeding of the hungry giuing of drinke to the thyrsty clothing of the naked our harbouring of the harbourlesse c. are a cause of thys ioyfull sentence For they are Causa sine qua non A cause wythout which this ioyfull sentence shall not be pronounced To them onelie that haue doone these déedes it shalbe sayd Come ye blessed of my father c. But sith you say he sheweth the cause your meaning must be that these workes are the efficient cause of this ioyful sentence Which meaning is contrary to the definition or description of an efficient cause which is A quo primo fit motus That is The thing that maketh the first moouing That is to say the thing that doth principally or chéefely worke y e making of another thing And the efficient cause in giuing of this ioyfull sentence is by S. Chrysostome affirmed to be the frée mercy of God For in hys 80. Homely vpon Mathew whereof I haue made mention he sayth Per gratiam tamen coronantur Gratiae namque omnino illa benignitas est Although they in whose fauour this ioyfull sentence shalbe gyuen haue doone a thousande such workes yet they shalbe crowned through frée mercie for that bountifull liberality is altogether of frée mercy When you haue said he sheweth the cause you say that he sayth thus For when I was hungry you fedde me when I was thirsty ye gaue me to drink whē I was naked you clothed me but what are these thinges if they be not good workes Therfore and by thys place of Scripture good workes are meritorious to our saluation If you coulde prooue or if we would yéelde vnto you that these good workes were the efficient cause of the giuing of this ioyfull sentence which neither is confessed by vs nor can be prooued by you then might your conclusion be allowed of in the Schooles amongst Schollers But séeing that all men which haue knowledge to discerne one cause from another must néedes confesse that these workes be but Causa sine qua non A cause without which that ioyfull sentence shall not be giuen your argument is as good as this argument is Baculus stat in angulo Ergo Deus non est in coelo The staffe standeth in the corner Therfore God is not in Heauen From this place of S. Mathewes Gospell you sende vs to the seconde Chapter of S. Paule to the Romaines a little way of from the beginning of that Chapter where you say we shall finde howe GOD wyll rewarde all men according to their workes And you say furder that if we will searche we shall finde the same most euidently in the xvi of S. Mathewes Gospell and in many other places of holie Scripture You might very well haue spared this laboure For we knewe before you were borne that both in those places that you name and in many other places of holy scriptures it appeareth euidently that God will giue vnto all men or as you terme it rewarde all men according to their works But what can you conclude vpon this Shall we therefore say that workes are the efficient cause of our saluation your selfe doo deny it For you say thus I doo not conclude by these parts of the New Testament that by good workes onely we are saued but mine intention is to prooue that neither by faith without good workes nor by good workes without faith we are iustified or saued Héere you haue flatly denied that which you haue before as flatly affyrmed For before you haue sayd that our Sauiour Christ sheweth the cause of the ioyfull sentence which he shall giue when he shal say Come ye blessed of my Father c. Wherein you affirme as before I haue prooued that the good workes that our Sauiour maketh rehearsall of are the efficient cause of gyuing that sentence and so by good consequence of our iustification or saluation And nowe you say that you conclude not so but that good workes and faith together are the efficient cause of our iustification or saluation For so men of your sorte doo meane by that manner of spéeche that you doo vse héere when you say by workes or by fayth But we haue another meaning of that spéeche as I will by Gods helpe let you vnderstand When S. Paul sayth thus Rom. 3. Arbitramur enim iustificars hominem per fidem sine operibus legis We suppose that man is iustified by faith without the déedes of the Lawe His meaning is that faith is the instrument y t God vseth in making vs righteous Gods frée mercy is the efficient cause and our faith is the instrumentall cause of our iustification So that God dooth make vs righteous by that fayth that himselfe hath wrought in vs by the word of his Gospell which is Virtus Dei in salutem omni credenti Rom. 1. The power of God to saluatition to euery one that beléeueth Thus we may sée that the word of the Gospell is the instrument that God vseth in making vs faithfull and faith is the instrument whereby he maketh vs righteous Fdes ex auditu auditus autem per verbum Christi Rom. 10. Fayth commeth by hearing and hearing commeth by the worde of Christ or as the Gréeke hath it of God So that the worde that is preached and the Preacher that preacheth are Gods outward instruments which he vseth in working fayth in the hartes of the hearers And in

this meaning S. Paul writeth thus to Timothe 1. Tim. 4. Attende tibi doctrinae insta in illis Hoc enim faciens et teipsum salum facies et eos qui te audiunt Take héede to thy selfe and vnto doctrine be instant or earnest therein for in dooing this thing thou shalt saue thy selfe and them that heare thée Héere we sée that Timothe being careful in looking to hys owne lyfe and to the soundnes of his doctrine and being earnestly bent to teache both by good example of life and by sownde doctrine is by S. Paule sayd to be the sauiour of himselfe and of them that heare him And yet it is manifest that he was neither the sauiour of himselfe nor of any other but an instrument that God vsed in working saluation both in himselfe and in other Because that by his carefull diligence in looking to his owne lyfe and sowndnes of doctrine and by his earnestnes in preaching the same fayth was begunne and increased in his hearers and continued and confirmed in himselfe Which fayth both in him in his hearers layd holde vpon and heldfast y e mercifull promise of God made in the mediation of the onely Mediator betwixt GOD and man euen the man Christ Iesus our Lorde 1. Tim. 1. And so bothe Timothe hys hearers and all the rest that haue béene are or shalbée by Gods good meanes made faithful are by Gods frée mercy saued according to the saying of the Apostle to the Ephesians Cha. 2. Gratia enim estis saluati per fidem et hoc non ex vobis Dei enim donum est non ex operibus vt nequis glorietur Ipsius enim sumus factura creati in Christo Iesu ad opera bona quae preparauit Deus vt in illis ambulemus By Grace are you saued through fayth and that not of your selues for it is Gods gyft not of workes least any man shoulde boaste For we are hys workmanshyppe created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath prepared that we shoulde walke in them And to the Rom. 9. Chapter The Apostle sayth thus Non volentis neque currentis sed miserentis est dei It standeth neyther in mans willing nor in mans running but in the mercy of God It séemeth to me a strange thing that any man professing the Religion of Christ dare conclude as you doo so directly contrary to the expresse wordes of the Apostle Paule You say in your conclusion we are iustified or saued by fayth good works together S. Paule sayth Wée suppose that man is iustified by fayth without the déedes of the Lawe Nowe if you can teil vs of any déedes y t are of more force to make vs righteous before God then the déedes that God hath commaunded in his Law then haue you sayd somewhat although but a little For those déedes must bée déedes commaunded of men whereof the Prophet Esay writeth thus Chap. 29. Theyr feare towards me was taught by the precepts of men therefore beholde I wyll take in hand to worke a strange worke that shall be a miracle and an astonishment to this people For wysemen shall loose their wisedome and vnderstanding shalbe hydde from the prudent I would wysh you to weighe well these wordes of the Prophet Esay and to consider whether they be not already verified in you and in men of your sorte Consider also what our sauiour Christ addeth to these wordes Mat. 15. In vayne doo they worship me teaching the doctrines and commaundements of men Whereby we are admonished that it is but lost labour for a man to goe about to be made righteous before God by such workes as men doo or can deuise and commaund S. Paule to the Ephe. 2. sayth That through fayth wee are saued by frée mercie and that not of our selues For it is the gyft of GOD and commeth not of workes least any man might haue any occasion to boast and how dare any man conclude as you doo that faith and works coupled together may make vs righteous before God I doo therfore conclude according to y e true meaning of the wordes of our sauiour Christ the Prophet Esay and the Apostle Paul that neither the workes that God hath commaunded nor the workes that men haue deuised or can deuise and commaund yea or y e faith that God hath dooth or shall worke in the harts of men either bée or can be the efficient cause of mans righteousnes or saluation But the frée mercy of God onely is the alone efficient cause that hath wrought doth and shall worke saluation in the faithful onelie and in none other In whom he himselfe worketh faith that by that fayth they may laie hold vpon holde fast that saluation that in frée mercy he doth and will fréely bestowe vpon them And surder I conclude that though the workes that GOD hath prepared for the faithfull to walke in neither be nor can be the efficient cause of saluation yet they are Causa sine qua non that is a cause that must be founde in them to whom it shalbe sayde Come yee blessed of my Father c. so that they that shall heare that ioyfull sentence must hunger and thirst after righteousnes of life all the dayes of their life And vse that faith that GOD hath wrought in them in laying holde vpon and holding fast that righteousnes that God hath in frée mercy bestowed fréely vpon them hauing a continuall care to shewe themselues thankfull to him for the same by walking in those good workes that hee hath prepared for them to walke in Nowe for the meaning of those places that you direct vs vnto namely the 2. to the Romans the 16. of S. Mathew and many other wherin we may by search find how God will reward al men according to their works I say thus I could by y e knowledg that God hath giuen me answere you sufficiently Yet because my wordes be of small credite with you I wyll aunswere you by the wordes of a holy father of the Catholicke Church whose wordes I hope you will admit and giue credite to them although as I coniecture you be not much acquainted with them S. Augustine writeth thus Quod est ergo meritum hominis ante gratiam quo merito accipiat gratiam cum omne meritum nostrū non in nobis faciat nisi gratia Et cum Deus coronat merita nostra nihil aliud coronet quam munera sua What is the merite of man before whereby he may receiue grace séeing that nothing but grace dooth worke in vs all our merite And when God doth crowne our merits he crowneth none other thing but his owne gifts Thus writeth S. Augustine Tom. 2. Epistola 105. And againe in his 7. Tom. in the 7. Chap ter of his booke De gratia libero arbitrio he wryteth thus Si ergo Dei dona sunt bona merita tua non Deus coronat merita tua tanquā merita tua sed tanquam dona sua