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	justify_v	sanctification_n	1,487	5	11.2350	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15824	A modell of divinitie, catechistically composed Wherein is delivered the matter and method of religion, according to the creed, ten Commandements, Lords Prayer, and the Sacraments. By Iohn Yates, Bachelour in Diuinitie, and minister of Gods word in St Andrewes in Norvvich.	Yates, John, d. ca. 1660.; Yates, John, d. ca. 1660. Short and briefe summe of saving knowledge. aut; Richardson, Alexander, of Queen's College, Cambridge.	1622 (1622)	STC 26085; ESTC S103644	253,897	373

haue good hearts which vndoubtedly are the worst for these two parts will euer goe together Divine Philosophie will teach vs to referre all our speculations to action yea our very affections Feare in Scripture is ever accompanied with seruice seeing God hath so wedded them together let no man presume vpon any condition to devorce them as Papists doe with a dead faith but their dispensation therein is the dissipation of the truth which will haue seruice and obedience the true probats of faith and feare And as Dalilah said to Sampson How canst thou say thou louest mee when thy heart is not with mee So how can they professe they loue God whose hearts obey him not In the new Testament Religion is distributed into faith and lone 2. Tim. 1.13 Keepe the paterne of wholesome words which thou hast receiued of me in faith and loue Loue springs from faith 1. Tim. 1.5 And faith workes by loue Gal. 5.6 and loue fulfils the law Rom. 13.10 not by action but intention for it is the end of the law 1. Tim. 1.5 God accepting sincere loue for perfect dutie By faith wee are spiritually glued and cimented to God that we may bee one spirituall body with him in which sense it is said He that is glued to the Lord is one spirit 1. Cor. 6.17 Cords will bind so will the cords of loue Hos 11.4 Zach. 11.7 But cords may be vnknitt Nailes will fasten and wee haue the words of the wise as nailes fastned by the masters of the assemblies Eccl. 12.11 but yet nailes may slip or leaue a chinke onely the glew of faith ioynes all close together or rather both these parts will cause vs with full purpose of heart to cleaue vnto the Lord Act. 11.23 The heat of faith and loue will digest this whole Art that it may be distributed into the veines of euery good word and worke These two will make vp a perfect paire of compasses that can truely take the latitude of this Art And first must wee haue faith as the one foote pitcht vpon the Center which is God whiles obedience as the other walkes about in a perfect circle of all good duties The fire of faith and light of life will evince against the gates of hell the vndoubted truth of Religion So that by these sweete and cordiall flames may the soule of euery Christian warme it selfe against all those cold despaires whereunto Satan tempteth Q. What is Faith A. The first part of Religion whereby from knowledge I beleeue in God the first act of faith is passiue in receiuing what God giueth And so layes hold of happinesse workes it not Faith makes iust as the hand makes rich that is filled with the wealth of another or as the Iewellers boxe base in it selfe is made precious for the pearles it containeth Here may wee iustly say it is a poorer and meaner act to beleeue then loue nay rather passion then action for we are first apprehended of God before we apprehend him againe Phil 3.12 This grace is most freely graced that it might the more frankely reflect all vpon God a gaine And because it is the roote of all the rest will teach humilitie exclude boasting like the ful eare of corn that hanges downe the head towards the originall or if any be so graciously exalted and freely favoured aboue his fellowes that his stalke is so stiffe that it beares him vp aboue the rest of his ridge then faith will make him looke vp to heauen aboue not in the thoughts of pride but in the humble vowes of thankefulnesse and say with Mary the Lord hath regarded the low estate of his servant Thus will faith rightly vnderstood teach vs to knead nature in the durt and dust and spoyle our free will of all her proud ragges loading her with reproches and giue all glory to him that sayes he will not giue it vnto another Papists being of late more ashamed then before doe confesse all is giuen but say they is it not all one to pay a summe and haue so much giuen mee as may pay it No doubt Faith receiues a full discharge makes it not We rather by Faith receiue an acquitance sealed in the blood of Christ then the blood of Christ to make our owne workes meritorious which we may offer to God in payment for our selues Eternall life Rom. 6.23 is both merit and mercie we take it as a gift Christ earnes it as wages Ephe. 2.8 Saluation through faith yet not of our selues Here lies the errour of the Papists euen in faith it selfe and euery other good grace of the spirit that our free will hath his intervention and operation betwixt Gods giuing and our taking so that if God will but beare halfe the charges by his co-operation man shall vnder-take to merit his owne glory and fulfill the royall law so abundantly that he shall haue something over and aboue to be very beneficiall and helpefull to his needie neighbours But the way of the law is longer then our pursey hearts and short legges can reach to the end and perfection of it As Constantine sayd to Acesius the Novatian Set vp ladders and climbe to heauen so I to Papists scale heauen by your workes as for vs we haue found another way and that is to ascend vpon Iacobs ladder Wee leaue tuggling and strugling that way to preuaile and fall with Iacob to wrestle with Christ for a blessing And though we goe lymping by our sinnes yet by our conquering Faith wee shall be Princes with God By this therefore the vaunt of Papists must needs avaunt yet further faith in another act will cut the very winde-pipe of our free-will and merit It is wittily sayd of one that faith in regard of his passiue act is rather a beggarly receiver then a deserving worker all our conversion is passiue but see faith in our actiue conversion and you shall see workes a forme too low to come in any such request as to iustifie For what is faith but as the hand of the soule and what is the dutie of the hand but eyther to hold or to worke This hand then holds in the first part of Divinitie and workes in the second Now without all question Iustification is to be taught in our first part and therefore goes before obedience and faith which is as an instrument or hand for to hold Christ to iustification is mightie and operatiue both for sanctification and new obedience Workes therefore are the effects of sanctification and sanctification is the effect of iustification hence is it impossible to be iustified by workes as causes as effects and fruits they may shew it If then the secret apprehension of the closed hand of faith hide what it holdeth see the hand of faith open to iustifie the cause by the evidence of the effects in this sense workes may iustifie and perfect faith as the second part of any Art doth the first Iam. 2.22.24 Papists against the whole order of

As likewise most absurde to hold one and the selfe same nature begotten vnbegotten for so there should be a first second and third nature as there is a first second and third person and so three Gods as well as three persons But this will better appeare by the sequele Oh the necessitie of this high knowledge which who attaines not may babble when he prayeth and bee superstitious when he worshippeth Onely here is our greater helpe that we haue the manhood of Christ as a Iacobs ladder to climbe vp to the God-head Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten sonne of the Father as out of his bosome hath revealed him vnto vs. So that in this intricate way to the throne of grace it will not availe vs as we now stand except we take with vs the second person as a Mediator whose presence and merits must giue passage acceptance and vigour to our prayers Christians must therefore learne to ascend from earth to heauen and from one heaven to another CHAPTER IIII. Of Gods Essence Question VVHat is Gods Essence Answere It is that whereby be is the first and most absolute being Being is that whereby a thing is truely and really in essence or existence And it is either the first being or that which is from the first Now God is the first Isa 41.4 and 48.12 and therefore essentially one Isa 46.9 Deut. 6.4 Eth. 4.6 Furthermore God is absolute as being independent from any other There was a first man and a first in euery kinde of creature but no absolute first saue God Exed 3.14 Ioh. 8.58 If any aske me why wee define the essence of God seeing wee formerly sayd it was not knowne of vs our answere is wee define it relatiuely not simply to wit as it is a first and that absolute first being is knowne best in it selfe and so is God for there is nothing more intelligible then he yet of vs nothing is lesse knowne we come to him by seconds and the begins of other things Which proue necessarily a first and that absolutely for two will proue one to goe before and dependent beings will proue an independent The Sunne beames are more visible to our eyes when they are cast obliquely vpon their obiects then when they fall directly so wee must shew you God rather in the blessings we receiue from him then those excellencies which are in him It is the best and the longest lesson even thus to learne him and of surest vse which alone if wee take not out it were better not to haue liued Oh that we would often exercise to acquaint our nature and draw it into some familiaricie with God the very soule and being of it And though at first wee make but our fire of greene wood yet not to bee tyred with blowing vntill our devotions be set on flame If we endeuour God will helpe by enlightning our vnderstandings till we be wholly enflamed with a loue of him And as Moses by often talking with God had a glorious glistering set vpon his countenance so wee by our often frequenting conference with God in prayers and meditations shall finde in our selues though not suddenly yet in time a most heavenly change Q. What followes from hence A. The observation of the essentiall name of God as Lehovah Iah Eheie The first word delivers vnto vs such an essence as ever was is and shall be Rev. 3.14 Ie is a note of the Future tense Ho of the Present and Vah of the Preterperfect tense and so is well expounded Rev. 1.8 But ill expounded by those which by them would vnderstand the Trinitie giuing the present to the Father past to the sonne and to come to the Spirit Yet it is true the Father workes of himselfe and as the present begins time so he the action it is also true that the Sonne works from him and therefore passeth on the action as that which is past doth time Neyther can this be denyed but that the Spirit worketh from them both and so finisheth te action as the future doth the poynts and periods of time But this word is essentiall and not personall and therefore is giuen of God to expresse the essence not the persons Iah is contracted of Iehovah not to signifie a diminute God as if it were the diminutiue thereof but still for essence and present being Neither is it applyed to Christ humbled in the flesh as if that were the diminution of it but it is the denomination of one and thee selfe same glorious essence in all the persons Eheie is as much as I will be which no creature can peremptorily affirme Time changeth all things and there is none that hath the command of it but he alone that gaue it beginning and continuance and to whom the account of our very houres are due and best knowne But I must not lead you from Elins into the wildernesse and leauing the wells of water trouble you with the barrennesse of mans braine Take these Texts of Scripture for confirmation and further illustration Exod. 3.14 and 15.2.3 Psal 68.4 Isa 42.8 Happy are we that wee rest vpon such a being and may enioy all things in him and him in all things nothing in it selfe so shall our ioyes neyther change nor perish for how ever the things themselues may alter and fade yet he in whom they are ours is ever like himselfe constant and everlasting Q. What followes in the second place A. That God is free and voyd of all power either to be or be otherwise then he is And therefore faith rests vpon a most substantiall and immutable being Hee hath neither causes to over power him or accidents to change him and so he is aboue all substantiall and accidentall power Causes prevaile in euery creature but the Creator is voyde of them And hereupon God is from himselfe of himselfe through himselfe and or himselfe He that is An●●tios without causes is Autoon God of himselfe yea in vertue and power more then all causes to himselfe Goe then yee wise Idolatrous Parasites and erect Shrines and offer sacrifices to your God the world and seeke to please him with your base servile devotions it shall be long enough ere such religion shall make you happie you shall at last for sake those Altars emptie and sorrowfull for both you your God are beholding to a better being then your selues How ridiculous is it to plead for an Idollgod that hath all the causes put vpon him What fooles will be perswaded to resigne vp their owne eye-sight and to looke thorow such spectacles as very sottishnesse doth temper for them I will her presume to presse in with an easie determination although it seeme to me to be no other then a plaine quarrell betweene stomacke and discretion a small deale of wisedome might decide it especially considering that all things are from God and God alone from himselfe Blush ye Gentiles that vse a Smith and Carpenter so