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	grace_n	justification_n	1,624	5	9.7216	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67470	The lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert written by Izaak Walton ; to which are added some letters written by Mr. George Herbert, at his being in Cambridge : with others to his mother, the Lady Magdalen Herbert ; written by John Donne, afterwards dean of St. Pauls.	Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683.	1670 (1670)	Wing W671; ESTC R15317	178,870	410

overthrown and then he proceeds to discover that way which Natural men and some others have mistaken to be the way by which they hope to attain true and everlasting happiness and having discovered the mistaken he proceeds to direct to that True way by which and no other everlasting life and blessedness is attainable and these two wayes he demonstrates thus they be his own words that follow That the way of Nature This the way of Grace the end of that way Salvation merited presupposing the righteousness of mens works their Righteousness a Natural ability to do them that ability the goodness of God which created them in such perfection But the end of this way Salvation bestowed upon men as a gift presupposing not their righteousness but the forgiveness of their Unrighteousness Justification their Justification not their Natural ability to do good but their hearty Sorrow for not doing and unfeigned belief in him for whose sake not doers are accepted which is their vocation their Vocation the Election of God taking them out of the number of lost Children their Election a Mediator in whom to be elected this mediation inexplicable mercy this mercy supposing their misery for whom he vouchsafed to dye and make himself a Mediator And he also declareth There is no meritorious cause for our Justification but Christ no effectual but his Mercy and sayes also We deny the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we abuse disanul and annihilate the benefit of his Passion if by a proud imagination we believe we can merit everlasting life or can be worthy of it This belief he declareth is to destroy the very essence of our Justification and he makes all opinions that border upon this to be very dangerous Yet nevertheless and for this he was accused Considering how many vertuous and just men how many Saints and Martyrs have had their dangerous opinions amongst which this was one that they hoped to make God some part of amends by voluntary punishments which they laid upon themselves because by this or the like erroneous opinions which do by consequence overthrow the merits of Christ shall man be so bold as to write on their Graves such men are demned there is for them no Salvation St. Austin saies errare possum Haereticus esse nolo And except we put a difference betwixt them that err Ignorantly and them that Obstinately persist in it how is it possible that any man should hope to be saved give me a Pope or a Cardinal whom great afflictions have made to know himself whose heart God hath touched with true sorrow for all his Sins and filled with a Love of Christ and his Gospel whose eyes are willingly open to see the truth and his mouth ready to renounce all errour this one opinion of merit excepted which he thinketh God will require at his hands and because he wanteth trembleth and is discouraged and yet can say Lord cleanse me from all my secret sins shall I think because of this or a like errour such men touch not so much as the Hem of Christs Garment if they do wherefore should I doubt but that vertue may proceed from Christ to save them no I will not be afraid to say to such a one you err in your opinion but be of good comfort you have to do with a merciful God who will make the best of that little which you hold well a●d not with a captious Sophister who gathereth the worst out of every thing in which you are mistaken But it will be said The admittance of Merit in any degree overthroweth the foundation excludeth from the hope of mercy from all possibility of Salvation And now Mr. Hookers own words follow What though they hold the truth sincerely in all other parts of Christian Faith although they have in some measure all the Vertues and Graces of the Spirit although they have all other tokens of Gods Children in them although they be far from having any proud opinion that they shall be saved by the worthiness of their deeds although the onely thing that troubleth and molesteth them be a little too much dejection somewhat too great a fear arising from an erroneous conceit that God will require a worthiness in them which they are grieved to finde wanting in themselves although they be not obstinate in this opinion although they be willing and would be glad to forsake it if any one reason were brought sufficient to disprove it although the onely cause why they do not forsake it ere they dye be their Ignorance of that means by which it might be disproved although the cause why the Ignorance in this point is not removed be the want of knowledge in such as should be able and are not to remove it Let me dye sayes Mr. Hooker if it be ever proved that simply an Errour doth exclude a Pope or Cardinal in such a case utterly from hope of life Surely I must confess that if it be an Errour to think that God may be mercifull to save men even when they err my greatest comfort is my error were it not for the love I bear to this error I would never wish to speak or to live I was willing to take notice of these two points as supposing them to be very material and that as they are thus contracted they may prove useful to my Reader as also for that the answers be arguments of Mr. Hookers great and clear reason and equal Charity Other exceptions were also made against him as That he prayed before and not after his Sermons that in his Prayers he named Bishops that he kneeled both when he prayed and when he received the Sacrament and sayes Mr. Hooker in his defence other exceptions so like these as but to name I should have thought a greater fault then to commit them And 't is not unworthy the noting that in the manage of so great a controversie a sharper reproof than this and one like it did never fall from the happy pen of this Humble man That like it was upon a like occasion of exceptions to which his answer was Your next argument consists of railing and of reasons to your Railing I say nothing to your Reasons I say what follows And I am glad of this fair occasion to testifie the Dove-like temper of this meek this matchless man and doubtless if Almighty God had blest the Dissenters from the Ceremonies and Discipline of this Church with a like measure of Wisdom and Humility instead of their pertinacious zeal then Obedience and Truth had kissed each other then Peace and Piety had flourished in our Nation and this Church and state had been blest like Jerusalem that is at unity with it self But this can never be expected till God shall bless the common people with a belief that Schism is a Sin and That there may be offences taken which are not given and That Laws are not made for private men to dispute but to Obey And this also may be

Master of the Temple this Walter Travers was Lecturer there for the Evening Sermons which he preach'd with great approbation especially of the younger Gentlemen of that Society and for the most part approved by Mr. Hooker himself in the midst of their oppositions For he continued Lecturer a part of his time Mr. Travers being indeed a man of a Competent Learning of a winning Behaviour and of a blameless Life But he had taken Orders by the Presbytery in Antwerp and with them some opinions that could never be eradicated and if in any thing he was transported it was in an extreme desire to set up that Government in this Nation For the promoting of which he had a correspondence with Theodore Beza at Geneva and others in Scotland and w●s one of the chiefest assistants to Mr. Cartwright in that Design Mr. Travers had also a particular hope to set up this Government in the Temple and to that end used his endeavours to be Master of it and his being disappointed by Mr. Hookers admittance proved some occasion of opposition betwixt them in their Sermons Many of which were concerning the Doctrine and Ceremonies of this Church Insomuch that as Saint Paul withstood Saint Peter to his face So did they for as one hath pleasantly exprest it The Forenoon Sermon upake Canterbury and the Afternoons Geneva In these Sermons there was little of bitterness but each party brought all the Reasons he was able to prove his Adversaries Opinion erroneous And thus it continued a long time till the Oppositions became so visible and the Consequences so dangerous especially in that place that the prudent Archbishop put a stop to Mr. Travers his Preaching by a positive Prohibition Against which Mr. Travers Appeal'd and Petition'd Her Majesties Privy Council to have it recalled and where he met with many assisting Friends but they were not able to prevail with or against the Arch-bishop whom the Queen had intrusted with all Church-power and he had received so fair a Testimony of Mr. Hookers Principles and of his Learning and Moderation that he withstood all Sollicitations But the denying this Petition of Mr. Travers was unpleasant to divers of his Party and the Reasonableness of it became at last to be so magnified by them and many others of that party as never to be answered so that intending the Bishops and Mr. Hookers disgrace they procured it to be privately printed and scattered abroad and then Mr. Hooker was forced to appear publickly which he did and Dedicated it to the Archbishop and it proved so full an Answer an answer that had in it so much of clear Reason and writ with so much Meekness and Majesty of Style that the Bishop began to wonder at the Man to rejoyce that he had appeared in his Cause and disdained not earnestly to beg his Friendship even a familiar Friendship with a man of so much quiet Learning and Humility To enumerate the many particular points in which Mr. Hooker and Mr. Travers dissented all or most of which I have seen written would prove at least tedious and therefore I shall impose upon my Reader no more then two which shall immediately follow and by which he may judge of the rest Mr. Travers excepted against Mr. Hooker for that in one of his Sermons he declared That the assurance of what we believe by the Word of God is not to us so certain as that which we perceive by sense And Mr. Hooker confesseth he said so and endeavours to justifie it by the Reasons following First I taught That the things which God promises in his Word are surer than what we touch handle or see but are we so sure and certain of them if we be why doth God so often prove his Promises to us as he doth by Arguments drawn from our sensible Experience For we must be surer of the Proof than of the things Proved otherwise it is no Proof For Example How is it that many men looking on the Moon at the same time every one knoweth it to be the Moon as certainly as the other doth but many believing one and the same Promise have not all one and the same Fulness of Perswasion For how falleth it out that men being assured of any thing by Sense can be no surer of it than they are when as the strongest in Faith that liveth upon the Earth hath alwayes need to labour strive and pray that his Assurance concerning Heavenly and Spiritual things may grow increase and be augmented The Sermon that gave him the cause of this his Justification makes the Case more plain by declaring that there is besides this Certainty of Evidence a Certainty of Adherence in which having most excellently demonstrated what the Certainty of Adherence is he makes this comfortable use of it Comfortable he sayes as to weak Believers who suppose themselves to be faithless not to believe when notwithstanding they have their Adherence the Holy Spirit hath his private operations and worketh secretly in them and effectually too though they want the inward Testimony of it Tell this to a man that hath a mind too much dejected by a sad sense of his sin to one that by a too severe judging of himself concludes that he wants Faith because he wants the comfortable Assurance of it and his Answer will be Do not perswade me against my knowledge against what I finde and feel in my self I do not I know I do not believe Mr. Hookers own words follow Well then to favour such men a little in their weakness Let that be granted which they do imagine be it that they adhere not to Gods Promises but are faithless and without belief but are they not grieved for their unbelief they confess they are do they not wish it might and also strive that it may be otherwayes we know they do whence cometh this but from a secret Love and Liking that they have of those things believed For no man can love those things which in his own opinion are not and if they think those things to be which they shew they love when they desire to believe them then must it be that by desiring to believe they prove themselves true believers For without Faith no man thinketh that things believed are which argument all the Subtilties of ●●●ernal powers will never be able to dissolve This is an abridgement of part of the Reasons he gives for his Justification of this his Opinion for which he was excepted against by Mr. Travers Mr. Hooker was also accused by Mr. Travers● for that he in one of his Sermons had declared that he doubted not but that God was merciful to many of our fore-fathers living in Popish Superstition for as much as they Sinned ignorantly and Mr. Hooker in his answer professeth it to be his Judgment and declares his Reasons for this Charitable opinion to be as followeth But first he states the question about Justification and Works and how the Foundation of Faith is

worthy of noting That these Exceptions of Mr. Travers against Mr. Hooker were the cause of his Transcribing several of his Sermons which we now see printed with his Books of his Answer to Mr. Travers his Supplication and of his most learned and useful discourse of Justification of Faith and Works and by their Transcription they fell into the hands of others and have been thereby preserved from being lost as too many of his other matchless writings were and from these I have gathered many observations in this Discourse of his Life After the publication of his Answer to the Petiton of Mr. Travers Mr. Hooker grew dayly into greater repute with the most learned and wise of the Nation but it had a contrary effect in very many of the Temple that were zealous for Mr. Travers and for his Church Discipline insomuch that though Mr. Travers left the place yet the seeds of Discontent could not be rooted out of that Society by the great Reason and as great Meekness of this humble man for though the chief Benchers gave him much Reverence and Incouragement yet he there met with many neglects and oppositions by those of Master Travers Judgment in so much that it turned to his extreme grief and that he might unbeguile and win them he designed to write a deliberate sober Treatise of the Churches power to make Canons for the use of Ceremonies and by Law to impose an obedience to them as upon her Children and this he proposed to do in eight Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity intending therein to shew such Arguments as should force an assent from all men if Reason delivered in sweet Language and void of any provocation were able to do it And that he might prevent all prejudice he wrote before it a large Preface or Epistle to the Dissenting Brethren wherein there were such Bowels of Love and such a Commixture of that Love with Reason as was never exceeded but in Holy Writ and particularly by that of St. Paul to his dear Brother and fellow Labourer Philemon than which none ever was more like this Epistle of Mr. Hookers so that his dear friend and Companion in his Studies Doctor Spenser might after his death justly say What admirable height of Learning and depth of Judgment dwelt in the lowly mind of this truly humble man great in all wise mens eyes except his own with what gravity and Majesty of speech his Tongue and Pen uttered Heavenly Mysteries whose eyes in the Humility of his Heart were alwayes cast down to the ground how all things that proceeded from him were breathed as from the Spirit of Love as if he like the Bird of the Holy Ghost the Dove had wanted Gall let those that knew him not in his Person judge by these living Images of his soul his Writings The foundation of these Books was laid in the Temple but he found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Arch-Bishop for a remove to whom he spake to this purpose My Lord When I lost the freedom of my Cell which was my Colledge yet I found some degree of it in my quiet Country Parsonage but I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place and indeed God and Nature did not intend me for Contentions but for Study and quietness My Lord My particular contests with Mr. Travers here have proved the more unpleasant to me because I believe him a good man and that belief hath occasioned me to examine mine own Conscience concerning his opinions and to satisfie that I have consulted the Scripture and other laws both humane and divine whether the Conscience of him and others of his judgment ought to be so farr complyed with as to alter our frame of Church Government our manner of Gods worship our praising and praying to him and our established Ceremonies as often as their tender Consciences shall require us and in this examination I have not onely satisfyed my self but have begun a treatise in which I intend the Justification of our Laws of Church-Government and I shall never be able to finish it but where I may Study and pray for Gods blessing upon my indeavours and keep my self in Peace and Privacy and behold Gods blessing spring out of my Mother Earth and eat my own bread without oppositions and therefore if your Grace can Judge me worthy such a favonr let me beg it that I may perfect what I have begun About this time the Parsonage or Rectory of Boscum in the Diocess of Sarum and six miles from that City became void The Bishop of Sarum is Patron of it but in the vacancy of that See which was three years betwixt the Translation of Bishop Peirce to the See of York and Bishop Caldwells admission into it the disposal of that and all Benefices belonging to that See during this said vacancy came to be disposed of by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he presented Richard Hooker to it in the year 1591. And Richard Hooker was also in the said year Instituted July 17. to be a minor Prebend of Salisbury the Corps to it being Nether-Havin about ten miles from that City which Prebend was of no great value but intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preferment in that Church In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and these were entered into the register Book in Stationers Hall the 9. of March 1592. but not published till the year 1594. and then with the before-mentioned large and affectionate Preface which he directs to them that seek as they term it the Reformation of the laws and orders Ecclesiastical in the Church of England of which Books I shall yet say nothing more but that he continued his laborious diligence to finish the remaining four during his life of all which more properly hereafter but at Boscum he finisht and publisht but onely the first four being then in the 39 th year of his Age. He left Boscum in the year 1595. by a surrender of it into the hands of Bishop Caldwell and he presented Benjamin Russel who was Instituted into it the 23. of June in the same year The Parsonage of Bishops Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is in that Arch-Bishops gift but in the latter end of the year 1594. Doctor William Redman the Rector of it was made Bishop of Norwich by which means the power of presenting to it was pro ea vice in the Queen and she presented Richard Hooker whom she loved well to this good living of Borne the 7. of July 1595. in which living he continued till his Death without any addition of Dignity or Profit And now having brought our Richard Hooker from his Birth place to this where he found a Grave I shall onely give some account of his Books and of his behaviour in this Parsonage of Borne and then give a