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	salvation_n	work_n	5,482	5	6.3075	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61453	A plain and easie calculation of the name, mark, and number of the name of the beast ... humbly presented to the studious observers of Scripture-prophecies, God's works, and the times / by Nathaniel Stephens ... ; whereunto is prefixed, a commendatory epistle, written by Mr. Edm. Calamy.	Stephens, Nathaniel, 1606?-1678.; Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1656 (1656)	Wing S5450; ESTC R17480	246,007	328

in pieces like a Potters vessel The scope of the Text is chiefly concerning the exorbitancy and exaltation of Earthly Powers against Christ. And these we say do more nearly and immediately symbolize with the Great Antichrist Secondly they come also in the nearest resemblance to Antichrist and to that which is truly Antichristian who forsake the Scriptures to hang meerly upon Dreams and Revelations For as the true Believers who take Christ for the Head of the Church have the Word of the Gospel applied to their hearts and sealed to their Consciences by the inward working of the Spirit So on the contrary they who mis-believe and take Antichrist for the Head of the Church have his Superstitions Laws and Decrees rooted and grounded in them by Visions Dreams and Apocryphal Revelations This is clear from the scope of the Scripture And here is the es●…igies and lively pourtraicture of Antichrists Kingdome But before I come to the point it is necessary that I should premise one Caution in the beginning And here let it be noted That I do not speak of Revelations absolutely and in their full extent but of Revelations restrictively and in a sense onely If we take Revelations in the first sense I do easily agree That not onely in the first 2000 years from Adam to Abraham but also in the last dispensation since the coming of Christ God hath wonderfully revealed himself to his People as it is clear by the Scriptures and by the Stories of the Church And in my own experience I can avouch it to be true as I have had occasion to converse in several places so I have met with some good Christian●… whom it hath pleased the Lord to bring home by an admirable way of Conversion And some select persons also I know whom it hath pleased the Lord to chuse out for himself to bear witness to his Truth both in dark and troublesome times I have found that they have spoken great things concerning the last troubles and divers events thereof which experience hath confirmed to be true But concerning this kinde of people that a distinction may be made between true and Apocryphal Revelations I have ever noted three things in them First they have diligently waited upon the publick Ordinances of God and have broke through all difficulties through perswasions of Friends through oppositions of Enemies through threatnings of Tyrannical Courts that they might enjoy the means of their Salvation Secondly I have observed that they have always adhered to the written Word and have spent very much time in the meditation of the Promises Commands and other Passages desiring nothing more in all the world then that they might know the minde of God that they might save their own the Souls of other people Thirdly I have observed this in them That though they have been under extraordinary teachings yet they have had great darknesses in which they have always begged of the Lord that he would not leave them so and that he would carry them on further Now in praying waiting and using the means they have first or last had assured help from the Lord by the immediate supply of his Spirit There is much spoken by the School-men concerning the harmony betwixt the Grace of God and Endeavor of Man Suarez hath his way Alvarez bath his Penottus seemeth to draw a threed betwixt both and Cajetan saith In hoc ego non possum quietare intellectum meum In this I cannot satisfie my understanding But for my part I never found better grounds of resolution any-where then from the experiences of some Christians whom it hath pleased the Lord a long time to exercise in the Schoole of Temptation As they have had sundry changes of trouble and fear so they have had interchangable supply of Spirit and of auxiliary Grace to direct help and comfort them in all their fears There hath been a sweet parallel betwixt Gods grace and their endeavor as they did work under the grace and by the help of grace received By their experiences I do finde That it is the manner of God in dealing with a Soul to break it all to pieces and then wholly to make it up by the continual help of his Spirit Now this doth not any way drown the endeavor of man but doth onely put him upon the work of his Salvation with fear and trembling and upon an humble dependance upon the Lord for the supply of his grace This I have found from the experiences of such as have lived by Faith in the Promises and have prayed much by Faith in the Promises With some of these the Lord hath dealt by peculiar Revelations But these are particular priviledges which he doth vouchsafe to certain persons extraordinarily whom he doth set apart for special services either to himself or to his Church I do acknowledge That some Believers in this last dispensation may be partakers of such extraordinary workings of the Spirit therefore I will not absolutely and peremptorily conclude against all Dreams Visions and Revelations in these last Times And I think it very expedient that men should be moderate in their censure But yet for the ordinary course of Visions and Revelations which men do make boast of in these days it is very much to be suspected that they do proceed from no good Spirit Especially when they are carried so high as to live above Ordinances and to slight the Scriptures which God hath appointed as the way and means to Salvation Nay when they shall go further and maintain things apparently contrary to Scripture and the analogie of Faith and rest wholly upon the proof of extraordinary Revelation there is great cause why we should have this way in deep suspition that the power and working of Satan is here And they who call every thing Antichristian in the Ministery in the Ordinances in the Worship in the literal expressions of Scripture if they would be pleased to examine themselves and lay their hands upon their own hearts they would finde That by their slighting of the Scripture by their hanging upon extraordinary Revelations in matters contrary to Scripture they themselves are the most Antichristian men and do come in the nearest resemblance to the Great Antichrist as he is described by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Thessalonians and by Iohn in the Book of the Revelation But let us come to particulars these are the words of the Apostle Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with miracles signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they did not receive the truth in the love of it that they might be saved Chap. 2. ver 9 10. In which words the Apostle doth plainly shew and foretell That not onely at the coming of Antichrist but also in all the time of his Kingdome the Devil shall have power given him to do great things to deceive the world that they may believe the lies of Antichrist

Doctrine and in the whole Spiritual Government Therefore there ought to be a temper kept for this disease hath always reigned in Princes to desire to bend Religion according to their own pleasure and lust and for their own profits in the mean time So far he In which words two Points are observable First the lawful exercise of the Power of the Supreme Magistrate as it doth keep its due limits in Causes Ecclesiastical Secondly the redundancy and the excess of the Power when it doth tread under foot the Laws of the Church That which these learned men did speak concerning the Supremacy of the Kings of England in Causes Ecclesiastical and the danger of the excess of the Civil Power hath been too truly verified by some in our days not onely to the total ruine of themselves but also to the destruction of that Soveraignty it self which they did so immeasurably exalt And whereas Calvin in the place aforementioned hath these words Et hodie quam multi sunt in Papatu qui regibus accumulant quicquid possunt juris potestatis And at this day saith he how many are there in the Papacy that heap upon Kings whatsoever Right or Power they can possible So that there may not be any Dispute of Religion but this Power shall be in one King to Decree according to his own pleasure whatsoever he list and that should remain fixed without Controversie So far he But we for our parts may not onely say Quam multi in Papatu How many in the Papacy but how many in the Profession of the Protestant Religion have accumulated this great Power upon Princes that they might do what they list in the Church of God and in the determination of matters of Faith In Daniel and the Revelation these things are set down as the true causes of the destruction of Kingdomes That is a most Divine expression of Daniel and the three Children Chap. 2. ver 20 21. Wisdome and might are his and he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And for the cause of these Changes it is more particularly expressed Chap. 7. v. 11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake I beheld even till the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning fire All solid Interpreters do understand some State or Government to be typed by the Little Horn. Now the destruction of such a State or Government doth arise immediately from hence because of great words which the Horn did speak against the most High Therefore the exorbitancy of the Power against Religion Christ and his Saints is oftentimes the cause of the eversion of States and Kingdomes But that we may more fully understand how far the Power may go and whither it must not go let us consider the examples of the Kings of Iudah And here it is clear That Asa Iehosaphat Hezekiah Iosiah did great things about the affairs of the Church and had a very large testimony for their zeal in the Worship of God yet I am sure none can say that their Power was so transcendent as to abrogate any thing that was appointed or immediately commanded by God in his Word For when Uzziah the King would offer Incense that appertained not to him but to the Sons of Aaron he was imitten with leprosie and compelled to dwell alone as one that should have no commerce nor society with men So Belshazzar the King when he made a Feast to a thousand of his Lords we reade That in the time of the Feast the fingers of a mans hand did appear and write upon the wall the destruction of the King and the Kingdome And the cause of this Judgement is expounded by Daniel himself in these words Chap. 5. ver 25. Thou hast lifted up thy self against the Lord of Heaven and they have brought the vessels of his House before thee and thou and thy Lords thy Wives and thy Concubines have drunk wine in them Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar both by strong convictions and demonstrations were brought to understand That the God of Israel was the onely true God and that they had their Dominion from him Now when they were not contented with this which the Lord had given them but would insult over the Giver and drink wine in the Bowls of the Temple which they had taken with sacrilegious hands this was the cause of the ruine of the King and Kingdome at last There is a remarkable passage of Herodotus in his second Book where he maketh mention of a Statue that was set up to Sennacherib in one of the Temples of Egypt with this Inscription and Title upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever looks upon me let him learn to be pious This Testimony as it hath the greatest probability of truth so doth it singularly well agree with the Story of the Scripture We reade that 185000 were slain in one night in the Camp of the Assyrians by an Angel sent from Heaven Sennacherib himself was killed by his own two sons and that great Empire did decline and lose its vigour by degrees Now if we look into the cause of all this we shall finde That the insolency of that King against God and his Church was that which broke him all to pieces This was done in the sight of all Asia that the world might know that the insolency of the greatest Powers of the Earth against God will prove the certain cause of their destruction But we will conclude this matter with that Exhortation of the Psalmist for so he speaketh to all Princes and Potentates who do intrench upon the Prerogative of Christ Be wise now therefore O ye Kings and be instructed ye Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Psa. 2. ver 10 11 12. Now why doth he exhort the Kings and Judges of the Earth to be wise rather then other men They are Gods Vicegerents and there is none greater in Power then they and through the greatness of their place none are more apt to bend Religion according to their own pleasures and lusts then they are Because this is more immediately against the Kingdome of Christ and cometh nearest to Antichristian pride the Psalmist doth advise them to take heed what they do to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoyce with trembling If not he tells them plainly their insolency against Christ and his Church will be a certain cause of their destruction This is made manifest from the beginning of the Psalm The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the L●…rd and against his anointed saying Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us ver 2. Now he doth direct his speech to such as these and tells them plainly That the Lord Christ will break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them