Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	faith_n	justification_n	sin_n	2,620	5	4.9771	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14750	The life of faith by Samuel Ward ...	Ward, Samuel, 1577-1640.	1621 (1621)	STC 25049A; ESTC S1745	31,215	132

meere Strangers to this life of Faith I expect not reading should put life and spirit into them onely I pray for such that they may heare Gods voyce in the Ministerie and liue but as for thee whom the Law hath wounded and the Gospell is healing who art euen at the byrth and stickest betweene the knees onely wantest power to come into the light who liuest but feelest not thy life holdest Christ but with benummed hands beleeuest but canst not yet beleeue thou hast Faith What is the matter thou art still ensnarled in the cords of death Why loosest thou not thy handkerchiefes and commest out of thy Graue and walkest chearefully in the Land of the liuing Suffer Faith to doe her perfect worke in thee to forme Christ in thee suffer not thy selfe alwaies to bee detained in the throwes and throbs of feare and doubt The Common causes of this slownesse of beleefe and snares of Death I obserue in most to be one of these three First Immoderate aggrauation of sinne Secondly Foolish and proud humilitie Thirdly Preposterous desire of Sanctification before Iustification First Thou wouldest beleeue but thou hast beene a sinner Whom came Christ to saue but sinners And whom doth hee iustifie but the vngodly Oh! but thy sinnes are Scarlet crying scandalous sinnes Said I not all things are possible to Faith onely if thou canst beleeue Are not all faults easily pardonable to an infinite mercy which exceedes Mans as Heauen doth Earth which can redilier forgiue seuenfie then Man seuen offences Well did Mar●●●s answere the Diuell himselfe obiecting his former life to him that euen his might bee pardoned if hee could beleeue Did not Christ take the flesh of Rahab and Bathsheba and did hee refuse to take their sinnes vpon him Did not his blood wash Dauids bloody sinne as white as snow Doth not he delight to forgiue much that hee may binde to loue much Shall not his fauour abound to the sense of thy Faith where sinne hath abounded to the wounding of thy heart But thou art an olde habituate sinner As if Christ came from Heauen to cure onely small fearres greene cuttes and not deepe inuetorate woundes diseases of eight of twelue of eight and thirty yeares olde to cast out single Diuels and not Legions also Oh then take heede thou adde not to thy great and many sinnes a greater then all Cains sinne which was greater in infidelitie then in fratricide All thy help is to looke of thy selfe an obiect of confusion and to looke vpon Christ an obiect of consolation And then how fiery and deadly so euer thy sting bee by meere looking a strange cure I confesse yet most approued that is by sole beleeuing thou shalt be cured and liue Secondly But forsooth thou wilt be more mannerly then so with Peter thou wilt not suffer Christs precious hands to wash thy foule feete Take heede thy modesty turne not into pertinacy lest he swear in his anger thou shalt haue no part in him if thou stubbornly refuse his gratious offer he liked well the humility of that Cananitish that bore the terme of dogge but better her confidence that would not be said nay of the crums of his table And shalt thou not tenne times more honour him and please him in trusting his mercy and sealing to his truth then in fearing his iustice and dreading his power Take heede of pride in the clothes of humilitie Bee not deceiued It is pride and high pride not to come when thou art called Faith is obedience and obedience is more acceptable then curtesie complement The sooner thou commest the better welcome It is rudenesse and not good manners not to do as thou art bidden to doe yea so often and earnestly charged to doe To doe the worke of God is to beleeue in him whom he hath fealed and sent to be thy Sauiour Thirdly Oh! but thou wouldest faine first repent amend and doe some good workes and then thou wouldest bee bold to come That is thou thinkest thou shalt not be welcome vnlesse thou come with thy cost Thou wouldest accept of a pardon if thou mightst pay for it but his are free and he bids thee come and buy without siluer or else he saies thou and thy money perish Thou wouldest goe the old and naturall way to worke What shall I doe to inherit euerlasting life but that is now farre-done and impassable through our infirmity Besides before thou canst walke or worke thou must be aliue Did Christ indent with Zacheus for Restitution and almes or Paul bid the Iaylour first repent become a new man and then beleeue No they knew that the one would voluntarily necessarily together immediately follow or rather accompany the other Wherefore swim out of these weedes lay hold on the Rocke and to facilitate thy birth by the Act of beleeuing set beefore thy eyes Christs freedome to all suitors in the time of his flesh repelling none that truely desired the price of his blood And especially Gods esteeme of Faith aboue all other Graces Deeds or Acts of thine Study striue endeauor to beleeue as thou doest in a difficult point to conceiue Pray for a faculty and for the act of beleeuing Be not euer beleeuing and neuer a beleeuer euer beginning to liue and neuer liuing Liue to day to day is Saluation offered steppe from death to life and write this day thy birth day and number from hence the dayes of thy life in which of a Childe of perdition thou are made the sonne of GOD through Faith and so made foreuer Doest thou beleeue this with thy whole heart Driue on the Charriot of thy life with ioy and reioycing till thou come to the marke But what signe shall I haue of the truth of my Faith May it not bee presumption if without repentance and sanctitie How shall I be sure it is not that vaine and dead Faith Saint Iames speaketh of At the first it shall suffice to finde and feele a change of the minde an vnfained purpose desire and resolution of new vniuersall obedience which is contemporary with Faith though the younger and a second brother in order of Nature which where it is sufficeth to warrant Faith and to embolden the confidence in the first act of conuersion Zacheus the Iaylor and all new Conuerts had not any more could haue no experience of amendment of life and yet relyed vpon the word Beleeue and thou shalt bee saued CHAP. VI. The vse of Faith to young men in Christianity PVT off now thy sackcloth and ashes put on the garments of ioy and gladnesse Let not white raiment be wanting nor oyle to thy head Liue I say liue to day liue to morrow liue oh Christian for euer Not for one or a fewe dayes But all the dayes of thy life This thou mayst doe if thou wilt learne to vse thy Faith not as men vse Wedding apparell for a weeke or two after Marriage and then lay it vp for high and solemne dayes onely

to foule them againe When shee hath appeased her Beloued howe doth shee adiure her-selfe and others by the Hyndes and Roes not to awaken and offend him againe The Text sayeth Not euery hypocrite euery profligate professor of Faith that liues as hee listes shall liue by his Faith but the Iust or Righteous Which golden sentence is indeede ambiguously enunciated of purpose by the Holy Ghost that it may either way bee taken The Iust by his Faith shall liue Or The Iust shall liue by his Faith yet so as it hath but one right eare to bee holden by and that is onely for the hand of the Righteous man Implying that whosoeuer beleeues or liues by his Faith is also and must of necessity bee a righteous man a Iust man not onely imputatiuely but inherently in part such an one as vnfainedly loueth righteousnesse studieth the practise of it denieth and hateth all vnrighteousnesse endeuoureth euery day to bee more and more righteous and so deserueth the denomination of righteous So that looke how the rationall Soule includeth and implyeth the animall so doth Iustification Sanctification being indiuiduall CHAP. X. How Faith Sanctifies and Mortifies SO I slide into the second part or kinde of Christian life consisting in holinesse and righteousnesse which I shall easily demonstrate not onely to bee an indiuiduall companion but a naturall and necessary effect of Faith For looke how the strength of the heart breedes not onely cheerefulnesse but actiuenesse Motion as well as health whence it is that life is put for liuelinesse and agility driues away all lassitude hebetude and indisposition brings in aptnesse and delight to stirre the like doth Faith in the soule which may as the former in the body for a time stand with some sleight distempers spots of the skinne atche of limbes but not long with deadly diseases either vanquishing them or vanquished by them This noble vse of Faith will excellently appeare in both the parts of this newe life Mortification and Viuification And in each of these two manner of wayes doth Faith produce this effect partly as a moouing partly as a procreant cause In the first kinde admirable is the Pitho Saada of Faith aboue all the Oratory in the World All the common incentiues taken from profitte pleasure and honour all the Topicke places of Logicke Figures of Rhetoricke what poore and weake engines are they to the irresistable pe●arre of Faith which sayeth but Ephata and presently our Euerlasting Gates yeeld and stand open For thus it goes to worke with vs Hath Christ giuen himselfe for thee forgiuen thee so many debts conferred fauours of all kindes vpon thee and what hast thou to retribute If thou giue all thy goods to the poore thy body to the fire thy soule to his seruice yea were euery hayre of thine head a man or Angell were not all short of recompence Louest thou louest thou this Sauiour of thine and darest thou or wilt thou dare to venture vpon any thing displeasing him is there any thing too good too heard or deare for him Mary if thy teares will washe his feete wilt thou not poure them out Is thine haire too good to bee the towell Is there any Spicknard too costly for his head Ioseph the LORD requireth the handsell of thy Tombe and wilt thou deny him Zacheus louest thou thy wealth aboue his honour that hath saued thee Stephen louest thou thy life aboue thy Master Can or did any Beleeuer giue the nay to these melting commaundes or commaunding entreaties of Faith will it take the repulse Doth it not constraine and extort more then all rackes and strapadoes allure more then all wages and prizes Doth not this Magnes as easily drawe weighty yron as other Iet doth strawes So that when thou wouldest bee sure to speed and obtaine any thing of thine vntoward heart set Faith a worke to make the motion and that will be sure to speede not onely by this perswading facultie but also by a Diuine power secretly effecting what it requires conueying into the heart will and abilitie vnto the deede It stands not without doores as a Mendicant Flexanimous perswader but enters into the closets of the heart shootes the barres vnlocks the boults takes away all reluctation and redaction infuseth a plyable willingnesse of woluish and dogged makes the Will Lambe-like and Doue-like of wilde and haggard morigerous and mansuete No otherwise then the medicine curing the vicious stomacke and restoring it to health makes it long for wholesome meate as before for coales and ashes All this it doth by fetching supernaturall efficacie from the death and life of Christ yea part of that mighty power where by Christ raised himselfe from the dead cured all diseases and wrought all his miracles By the vertue whereof it metamorphizeth the heart of man creates and infuseth new principles of action Make triall of this in mortifying the flesh to sinne and quickning thy spirit to holinesse For example complainest thou of some preualent corruption some violent passion that oft carries thee headlong against thy desire and resolution as Castrusius to Hierom who shall helpe mee subdue Nebuzardan Goliah Holofernes my raging lustes that are too mighty for mee Answere thy selfe as Dauid himselfe to the like Through thee O Lord shall wee doe valiantly ouer Edom shall I cast my shooe c. yea when thou hast spent all thou hast vpon other Phisitions tried all morall conclusions of purposing promising resoluing vowing fasting watching selfe-reuenging yet get thee to Christ and with a finger of Faith touch but a hem of his garment and thou shalt feele vertue come from him to the curing of thy disease What if thou hast often encountred thy enemie and receiued the foyle relapsed after victorie yet cast not away the sheeld of Faith but with the Israelites against Beniamites the second and third time set a fresh in the name of the LORD and they shall flye before thee Complainest thou with Augustine of his in-bred hereditary habituall inueterate vices holding thee in the Adamantine chaines of custome against which thou hast often resolued and resolued modo modo now I will leaue them and now I will forsake them why should I not as well as such and such as Potitian and Victorinus and yet they keepe thee Prisoner still full against thy will and endeauours Find out the cause which hee had reuealed to him in te stas non stas Thou standest vpon thine owne feete and therefore fallest so foulely thou wilt like a childe goe alone and of thy selfe and therefore gettest so many knocks Dye to thy selfe renounce the broken reede of thine owne free-will which hath so often deceiued thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ And it will crucifie the olde man and giue him his Hoc habet his deathes wound pierce his sides and breake his knees in peeces Be weake in thy selfe and strong in the Lord and through Faith thou shalt bee more then Conquerour