Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	election_n	faith_n	foresee_v	1,644	5	11.3276	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A22562	Three treatises Viz. 1. The conversion of Nineueh. 2. Gods trumpet sounding the alarum. 3. Physicke against famine. Being plainly and pithily opened and expounded, in certaine sermons. by William Attersoll, minister of the Word of God, at Isfield in Sussex.	Attersoll, William, d. 1640.	1632 (1632)	STC 900; ESTC S121173	371,774	515

the Rod should shake it selfe against them that lift it up or as if the Staffe should lift up it selfe as if it were no wood Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the Potsheard strive with the Potsheards of the earth Wherefore albeit he shewed no mercy on Cain Esau Saul Ahab Judas and sundry others yet is he not herein unjust for hee was indebted unto them nothing at all Nay more then all this had he denyed mercy to all mankinde and appointed all the sonnes of Adam of whom they come as out of a corrupted masse to endlesse torments as he did the Angels that fell yet had he done them no wrong but executed upon them just judgement and their deserved punishment so that no man can justly utter a word of complaint against him Rom. 11.51 Hence it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 11. Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced unto him againe This reprooveth two sorts First Vse 1 such as set up mans free will and make the beginning of our salvation to come from our selves This crosseth the doctrine of the holy Scriptures which teach that in our will is no good at all untill God from above give it and graft it in us as the earth is dry and barren the dryest of all the elements untill it receive the showres from Heaven to make it fruitfull This error setteth up mans nature and puffeth up flesh and blood It abolisheth the grace of God and derogateth much from the glory of his mercy because we are no more able of our selves to doe good then the stone can of it selfe mount up aloft If you take it and throw it into the aire it flyeth upward so if the Sonne take us and make us free Cant. 1.4 then we will and worke freely and if wee bee drawne Obiect wee runne after him What then may some say Are we stockes and stones without will without life without motion I answer Not so Answ wee are not utterly as blockes or stones without understanding For our will is capable of good when once it is wrought in us whereas stones sencelesse creatures and bruit beasts are not Nay we have a certaine freedome and liberty in naturall and civill things and some Ecclesiasticall so farre as both sence and reason may guide us But to any thing that is simply good and well-pleasing to God before he make us willing that are unwilling wee are worse then stocks I meane to doe good in a good holy and sanctified manner For not onely wee have stony hearts but also we rebell against God and lift up our selves against him which stockes and stones never doe against their Maker Ioh. 15.5 Ephes 2.1 so that Christ saith Without mee yee can doe nothing And the Apostle Wee are borne dead in sinnes and trespasses Whosoever therefore shall tell us and perswade us that we have power of our selves to doe that which is good and that wee stand in need of nothing but to be gently holpen with the hand to walke in his waies and need not to be wholly assisted and prevented by grace they are lying spirits and false prophets beleeve them not bid them not God speed neither receive them to house What a stirre hath there beene heretofore and is yet in the Church of Rome and among other Sectaries and who is ignorant of it about the matter of free will Were he not a fond man who being fast bound in chaines and irons would talke of nothing but of his present freedome and liberty Yet this is the case with us we are bondmen and yet we hold our selves to be free men wee have just cause therefore utterly to abolish this name of Free-will and learne to reason of our bond-will another while For we are as unfit to begin any good in our owne selves as the greene wood is to kindle in it selfe and of it selfe any fire or heat which being kindled it is rather apt to be put out againe These never knew the greatnesse of the fall of man and the deadly wound that nature hath received for it is God that worketh in us the will and the deed And if both the deed and will it selfe be Gods gifts I would gladly know what good gift we have left unto us in nature or what we can rightly challenge to our selves God is Alpha and Omega the first and the last the beginning and the ending and therefore all power and ability is taken from us quite and cleane of doing any thing that is good True it is the first man Adam before his transgression had free will to chuse the good and to refuse the evill but by his fall hee lost both it and himselfe both his liberty and his innocency Mans freedome is a very bondage For now our freedome is onely to be free to sinne too free alas we are to it if that may be called a freedome which indeed is the most miserable and slavish bondage while wee can doe nothing else but sinne lying as it were fast bound in chaines and fetters hand and foot O but a man that is fettered hath at least a will and desire to be loosed It is true of bodily captives and prisoners but it is not so with the naturall man that is unregenerate For as he is fettered so of himselfe he is willing and desirous to be so he doth evill and he will doe it he loveth his chaines as if they were of gold or silver Ephes 5.14 2 Tim. 2.26 and hath no will to bee raised from the dead sleepe of sinne Hee thinketh himselfe at liberty and as free as the best when he is faster holden then the worst Gally-slave He is the servant of corruption and yet hee is offended with him that moveth him to shake off those heavy bolts and fetters and to come out of that bad and bond condition The Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 2.14 that the naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Secondly it reprooveth such as teach that faith and workes foreseene are the causes of our election to life and salvation This were for us to choose God Faith foreseene is not the cause of our salvation and not for God to choose us whereas he witnesseth the contrary This is to reject all infants from Gods Election who are taken away by untimely death as corne that is reaped downe in the greene blade This maketh election to be uncertaine and to depend upon the will and pleasure of men This teacheth that grace is not the totall cause of faith This is as much as to begin our spirituall life at our selves and to give the praise to our selves at least in part and not to God for the blessings that we receive from him This is to be afraid lest we should bee too much beholding to God for our salvation and too little

to our owne selves 1 Cor. 1.29 The doctrine of the nevv Sectaries This is to reioyce in an arme of flesh and not in the mercy of God 1 Cor. 1.29 The new Sectaries teach that Election resteth and dependeth upon the foreknowledge of faith and that it is made for faith foreseene which the sounder sort of Papists begin to be ashamed of as appeareth in Bellarmine The Apostle teacheth plainely Ephes 1.3 4. that all spirituall blessings whatsoever are given us according to Election before the foundation of the world Ephes 1.3 4. and therefore Election must of necessity bee before those blessings Againe we are elected that we should be holy and without blame he saith to holinesse not for any holinesse and consequently to faith not for faith So Paul obtained mercy 1 Cor. 7.25 Acts 22.14 That he should be faithfull 1 Cor. 7.25 not because God considered him as already faithfull Christ Iesus chose his Disciples not already bearing fruit but that they should bring forth fruit Ioh. 15.16 Acts 13.48 Ioh. 15.16 This also Luke sheweth that such as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Act. 13. Election therefore is before faith and it is the cause why men doe beleeve whereas our new Sect-masters and Strife-makers set the Apostle and the rest of the Church to Schoole and teach him to speak as they do yong children that they beleeved afterward were ordained to eternall life Rom. 9.16 The words of Paul It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy could not be true if God had mercy on men for faith foreseene For what could he foresee but his owne gifts which himselfe determined to bestow upon us This teacheth us also to pull downe all high conceits of our owne worth as if our salvation depended upon our owne selves and that wee were able to guide our waies and order our steppes to life and on the other side admonisheth all Gods Children to thinke humbly of themselves and of all that they can doe or have done touching the cause and foundation of their salvation and withall to magnifie highly the riches of the mercy of God and the aboundance of the love of Iesus Christ our Saviour shed abroad in our hearts acknowledging the beginning proceeding continuing and finishing of our salvation to spring from him onely True it is our destruction is not of God Hos 13.9 Iam. 1.13 14 15. but of our owne selves but our salvation is not of our selves but of God Wherefore then hath God chosen us and refused others made us vessels to honour 2 Tim. 2.20 Rom. 2.5 and left others to be vessels to dishonour why hath hee taken away the hardnesse of our stony hearts and given over others to walke in their hardnesse and hearts that cannot repent as he did Pharaoh Wherefore hath he sanctified us with his Spirit and passed by many thousand others that they might worke out their owne destruction and damnation Doubtlesse he hath not done all these nor any one of all these things for any good he saw in us nor for any goodnesse he foresaw would be in us nor for any inclination to goodnesse hee could perceive in us nor for any workes of preparation to make us fit for grace for what could he see in us though he be of pure eyes but matter of his wrath to feed upon as the fire doth upon the fuell It was not greatnes of wealth noblenesse of birth highnesse of estate worthinesse of condition multitude of friends that hee respected who respecteth no mans person so that when we consider what we are of our selves and how graciously God hath dealt toward us we should cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his iudgements and his waies past finding out Rom. 11.33 Lastly seeing it is of Gods good pleasure that he saveth us and not any thing that is in our selves that moued him this ought to stirre us up to thankefulnesse and our thankefulnesse to dutifulnesse and obedience toward him The greater his mercy is and the more free his grace is the more wee ought to praise and magnifie his great Name It is he that hath given us all let him therefore have the praise of all We have nothing in our selves therefore let us challenge nothing to our selves The worke is his owne and properly belonging to him let us take heed we commit not sacriledge and robbe him of the glory due to his Name They are pure or rather impure naturall men that set up nature and they are destitute of grace that pull downe the post or piller of Gods grace which holdeth up the whole building We cannot ascribe too much to him wee cannot detract too much from our selves We cannot deny too much to Nature we cannot ascribe too much to grace Our good thoughts our good desires our good deeds our good words if we have any come from without Matth. 15.18 as evill thoughts come from within and doe defile us as water comming from an uncleane fountaine All our good is of his good pleasure and therefore it is good reason that hee should bee honoured and glorified in it and for it Hence it is that the Apostle saith What is it that thou hast not received Wee are so farre from comming to our iournyes end without his direction that we cannot set one foot forward in the right way Wee are so farre from being able to practise any thing that is good that wee haue no power to prepare our selves to it Psal 10.17 forasmuch as it is he that prepareth the heart Psal 10.17 And the Apostle saith We are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 but all our sufficiency is of God This use doth Christ our Saviour point unto Mat. 11. I thanke thee O Father Matth. 11.25 26. Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes even so Father for it seemed good in thy sight That which Christ our Saviour doth ought we all to practise and performe It belongeth to all the Elect and godly to shew great love to him that hath loved us first and continuall thankefulnesse toward him because wee hold our selves and all that we have of his gracious favour We enjoy not any good through our owne deservings but all besides our merits nay directly against our merits For by the guilt of sinne we deserve to be in the same condition with the reprobate and it is the great goodnesse and mercy of God who hath separated us and allotted unto us a better estate and that it goeth better with us How often doe we requite his love with unkindnesse for wee give him nothing but he giveth us all neither doe we prevent his liberality but he preventeth our ability if