Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	father_n	ghost_n	holy_a	5,369	5	5.6194	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61104	Chrysomeson, a golden meane, or, A middle way for Christians to walk by wherein all seekers of truth and shakers in the faith may find the true religion independing upon mans invention, and be established therein : intended as a key to Christianity, as a touchstone for a traveller, as a probe for a Protestant, as a sea-mark for a sailor : in a Christian dialogue between Philalethes and his friend Mathetes, seeking satisfaction / by Benjamin Spencer ...; Way to everlasting happinesse	Spencer, Benjamin, b. 1595?	1659 (1659)	Wing S4944; ESTC R13439	363,024	312

Lord God never expressed himself by more then three as appears first By his commanding Moses to blesse the people but thrice in the name of the Lord Deut. 6.24 The Lord bless thee and keep thee intimating the protection and providence of the Father 2. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee i. in pardoning thy sin by the gracious redemption and favour of the Son well expressed by St Paul 2 Cor. 4.6 calling it the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 3. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and give thee peace i. the joy of the Holy Ghost and peace of conscience in gods promise which the Holy Ghost sealeth to us Eph. 1.13 So the Seraphins pronounced God thrice Holy Holy Holy Esa 6.3 So we see in Christs baptisme 1. The Father speaking from heaven 2. The spirit descending and 3. The Son suscepting baptisme Mat. 3.16 And our Savivour affirms but three persons John 16.36 saying when the Comforter is come i. the Holy Ghost whom I will send i I the Son who proceedeth from the Father i. the first person Mathe. Is there any reason to prove this Phila. As much as any reasonable man can desire and that is the impressions of it upon his works and his gifts and in the minds of men 1. He hath given three principles of all bodies airie watry Chymists say Salt Sulphur and Mercury and earthy matter and three kind of lives or souls the vegetative or growing life or soule to plants The sensitive with vegetation to bruits the rationall with both the former to men but especially the Image of God in the first man argued the three persons immortality wisedome and freedome So to the rationall soule three principall faculties the Understanding the Will and the power of acting So Arts which are Gods gifts some of them sheweth his unity as Geometry draweth all lines from one point and Arithmetick from a unite draweth all numbers so Astronomy all motions from the first mover so Musick a rare gift of God ariseth from unison and three concords and discords arguing a unity in Trinity 2. But above all these three Arts by which we expresse our souls which have an impresse of the Deity sets forth the Trinity as they proceed one from the other For Grammer is the fountain of them by letters which makes words Logick of words frameth sence and Rhetorick by help of both maketh an oration So the Son is the word of the Father and the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both and therefore the Cabalists said that before God revealed himselfe in his operations he was like a dark solitary letter Aleph tenebro● sum of which we could make nothing But now we know by his word and his works not only that he is but what he is 3. He hath imprinted this Trinity in the minds of men as well as the unity of the Godhead Which made some learned men say Pythago Trismegist in Pimand Dial. 4 that all things are terminated in THREE Others that one begat one and by reflecting on each other begat a third Not that these men did apprehend the Trinity as we do by Scripture but this argued them to have a confused knowledge of it as Caiaphas had of Christs death when he said It was necessary one man die for the people Aquin. Non è ●●titia sed ex officie so prophecying as he was high Priest that year so these spake by naturall instinct Another that may be urged to prove the three persons in the Godhead is Bonum diffusivum Because God being the chiefe good is of a diffusive nature and so must communicate himselfe by some subsistency that is capable of the whole divine essence communicated everlastingly from one to the other John 10.30 therefore Christ saith I and my Father are one that is in the essence communicated not the personality So he saith I am in the Father John 14.10 and the Father in me that is by mutuall immanency in the same essence So he saith I came forth from the Father that is first By his divine and eternall generation and by his temporall mission into the world John 16.28 So he saith all that the Father hath is mine therefore I said he shall take of mine and give it to you i. the holy Ghost John 16.15 By which is understood the communication of the divine essence one to another and the communication of gifts of men A similitude of this divine reflection and procession God gave in the first marriage He made Adam one then he joined him to another made out of himselfe of these two he produced a third i. children Beside he makes all things but by a threefold vertue his Power Wisedome and Love a representative of the three persons Nor is there any more then three principall efficient causes from whom by whom and through whom a thing is Rom. 11. And so all things are from the Father by the Son through the Holy Ghost who receiveth and giveth a procession to things so that there is but one God the Father 1 Cor. 8.6 and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ and we by him and one Holy Spirit and we through him Mathe. But this is hard to conceive right and dangerous to conceive wrong I desire a rule or two to direct me aright in the conceiving hereof Phila. 1. That you are to beleeve the divine essence to be one yet the persons to be three and every person to be God and Lord and yet but one God because but one essence as there is but one humane nature though divers persons therein 2. That these persons are not before one another in time but in order nor greater then another but coequall 3. That these three persons communicate the divine essence one to another but not their personality for the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Esa 9.6 the Son is called the everlasting Father but not in regard of his person but his essence which is all one with the Father 4. That in those works of the Trinity which are wrought towards us though one person be entitled to it more then others yet all of them hath an hand therein though one more especially As the Father creates yet so as by the Son through the Spirit The Son redeemeth yet so as sent from the Father and conceived by the holy Spirit The holy Spirit sanctifieth yet so as through the Father by the Son breathing his holy graces into us 5. That the Father is the fountain of the personality but not of the essence for therein they be coeternall 6. They all flowe from one and the same essence as the light of the Moon and that of the air is from one Sun and as three rivers from one fountain 7. That they have

7.54 is described the very spirit of remorse not the remorse of spirit by saying they were cut to the heart by Stephens sermon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which argued only vexation envy and malice This kind of repentance may go before faith and be without faith but the true repentance to salvation is caused by faith or else it is meerly sinfull Rom. 14.23 nor can it purifie the heart without faith Acts 21.24 and therefore the arguments for repentance are drawn from the promises of grace exhibited in Christ Mat. 3.2 Two things must especially be observed in repentance 1. That it be not put off and deferred 2. That it be continued because the faithfull do continually sin little or much as appeareth Psal 32. and Psal 51. Mat. 18.2 and therefore even the very regenerate are exhorted upon their fals to repentance and pardon is promised them Ezek. 33.11 and Rev. 2.9 notwithstanding the rigid doctrine of the Novatians and the Catharists who denied repentance to those that had sinned after baptisme For though God in Christ takes away the power of sin yet not the power of sinning the dominion of sin is destroied but sin is not quite taken away out of our nature in this life that so we may the more aspire toward heaven where no sin shall remain Now the parts of this repentance is 1. A turning of the heart from evill with hatred and mortification of the old man and a turning of the heart to good with a love thereof and practice of it by enlivening of the new man Esa 61.2 V.d. Aug. lib. de vera falsa penit cap. 13. from whence floweth a sadness for offending God and a joy that arises from the hope of pardon Psal 51.10 for we need not hold contrition confession and satisfaction to be essential parts of true repentance because that reprobates have them and yet have not true repentance as Judas yet may they be the effects of true repentance in them that have it but not a cause of remission nor have power to blot out all sin as the Papists suppose as not the sin of a reprobate nor the sin against the Holy Ghost Nor need we think confession is absolutely necessary to salvation for Peter wept but said nothing as we read of yet sanctification produceth a confession of sin first to God either publickly as Neh. 9. or privately as Psal 32.5 and that generally of all sin Luke 18.13 or parricularly of the sins of our lives Jam. 5.16 as Psal 19.13 And 2. To my neighbor Mat. 18.15 that I may receive counsell and comfort from him and he satisfaction from me and so reconciled one to the other as Mat. 5.23.3 There is another confession which is made before the Pastors of the Church of some sins which burden conscience Luke 19.8 So there is a publick confession of sins made by Priest and people to God in the publick place and exercise of religion either ordinarily of the common sins that cleave to nature or extraordinarily on the times of humiliation for some peculiar sins that have infected both Priest and people Neh. 1.7 So there is a confession which hath been used in the Church by those which for disobedience have been excommunicated and could not be received into the congregation again without such confession But these confessions prove not papisticall auricular confession of all sin to be either forced upon men as lawfull or necessary to our reconcilement with God for as it is impossible to confesse all sins Psal 19.13 so it is not any where commanded in Scripture nor any example given that it should be so done to a Priest or to that end and the rather because there is another rule of remission and justification with God set down Ezek. 18.21 and Rom. 4.23 namely repentance and faith Indeed confession of sin was not established as the Papists urge it till the time of Pope Innocentius the third who did order in the Councill of Lateran at Rome about the year 1215. that all of either Sex after they came to the years of discretion should confesse all their sins faithfully once in a year to their own Priest which was seconded by the Councill of Trent which enjoined confession before Easter but we find it not imposed by any divine authority as it is of no great antiquity Therefore though a man may in case of a troubled conscience go and confesse to one that is a true minister and lawfully called thereunto having the word of reconciliation and Gospell dispensation committed to him yet he is not to be forced thereunto for in that there is too much formality and something of tyranny or if thou hast wronged thy neighbour thou maist confesse thy fault to him but if thou beest ashamed to confesse it Chryl hom 2. in Psal 50. lest it prove approbrious to thee yet confesse it daily to God and thine own soule and devise some means or way to make him satisfaction Aug. lib. 10. conf cap. 3. Amb. lib. 10. in Luke cap. 96 as the case requireth for some sins as Peters are confessed by the eie in tears when shame stops the mouth of confession and let those exactors passe that are very curious in the search of other mens sins but too sloathfull to amend their own Now the effect of repentance is a christian holy life by which we come to be of the communion of Saints And such a life we must lead that we may recover that chiefe part of Gods image lost consisting in righteousnesse and holinesse And this is necessary because our God is holy and we are joined to this holy God and made his people by covenant and he hath in Christ purged us redeemed us and adopted us his children and because Christ hath inserted us into his own body as his members and the Holy Ghost hath dedicated us as temples to God and hath appointed us to heavenly incorruptibility and therefore a Christian life consisteth not in an outward profession of the Gospell in tongue but in an imitation of Christ having his word for the rule and Gods glory for our end and scope simplicity and sincerity for the mode and manner of it with a continuall perseverance and daily progresse in it Now of this life there be three parts 1. A deniall of our selves 2. A meditation of life to come 3. A right use of worldly goods Mathe. I pray declare how Phila. First a deniall of our selves there must be the foundation whereof is because we are not our own but Gods who by Christ hath redeemed us Rom. 14.7 8 9. and therefore we must renounce all our affections that resist the law of God as impiety pride and hypocrisie and have an humble and voluntary subjection in all things to the will of God and a practice of those things that God requireth of us as of sobriety righteousnesse and godlinesse as Tit. 2.12 Therefore this life must have respect both to God and men

Quest 1 Is there a way then for a man to attain eternall happinesse Phila. Yes First if there were no eternall happinesse God had made man in vain with so vast a mind which no finite thing can satisfie and then there must be a way to this happinesse or else that happinesse is ordained in vain also for man Mathe. Some think it is not necessary to know any more happiness then nature sheweth and dictates to us Phila. Nature sheweth in part that felicity which is necessary for man to know but not fully but as in the wrong end of an optick glass which makes things appear farther off or lesse then they are or else sheweth us a false felicity as in a magnifying or multiplying glasse wherein it appeareth bigger or more then it is all which sheweth there is an happinesse though nature mistakes it or cannot perfectly shew it though it be necessary for us to know it Mathe. How prove you it is necessary for us to know it Phila. 1. Because I have a soule capable of such a knowledge nor is an industrious soule quiet till it find either it or something like it wherein it may find a rest and content Therefore the spirit of a man is the candle of God to search hidden secrets Pro. 20.27 yea even the things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 and by desire a man having separated himselfe seeks and intermedleth with all wisedome Pro. 18.1 2. Because man is made for it God intended him for happinesse For as the world was made that God might be revealed so God was revealed that man might know him which is felicity God sought to bring man to it first by obedience wherein he failing thereby shewing the mutability of created nature God next set before him the object of beleeving viz. his promise of Christ to know whom in God is life eternall John 17.3 and felicity 3. Because man is a future not only a present creature for he hath a soul which will be existent after death in joy or sorrow and therefore necessary for him to know felicity and to avoid misery Mathe. How prove you that he hath such a soule Phila. From our immortall desires to live either in memory or posterity for ever which argueth the immortall nature of the soule though it be deceived in the choise of it by placing immortality where it is not So Absalom set up his monumentall pillar 2 Sam. 18.18 and some call their lands after their own names Psa 49.12 and men desire tombs which argueth a desire of perpetuall life No creature hath this desire but man for things without life desire to preserve themselves in their particular being Secundum numerum pronunc Vid. Scor. Dist 94. and beasts desire the continuance of their kind only for the present time but man desires a perpetuall being included in no bounds 2. Because it hath a kind of infinit apprehension comprehending singular things and universall things and the kinds of all things which argueth an immortall nature 3. Because God hath made a perpetuall covenant with man Numb 18.19 and therefore the soul hath a continuall being in or out of the body else is the Covenant ended But God is not the God of the dead Mat. 22.32.33 but of the living for all do live to him therefore he cals himselfe the God of the Patriarchs after their death Exod. 3.6 so some in scripture are said to be gathered to their fathers in peace though slaine as 2 Chron. 35. as good Josiah But it is meant to the spirit of the Fathers which were at rest and peace with God bound up in the bundle of life 2 Sam. 25.29 among the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 4. Because men undergo losse and crosse and death without cause joifully which were madnesse if the soule were not immortall and expected after death some felicity to enjoy 1 Cor. 15.19 But many love not their lives that they may find them hereafter Mar. 8.35 5. Because God in the last judgement may shew himselfe just as Gen. 18.23 for in this world good men suffer and evill men flourish Psal 37. Psal 71.2 3. so Jer. 12.1 yet it is but to fat them for the slaughter Jer. 12.3 Therefore the soule is immortall that every man may find the justice of God at last 6. The learned heathen did acknowledge this Arist Cic. Tusc 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling the soul the first motion as if it were the beginning of motion so by their letting an Eagle flie aloft when the bodies of their Heroes were put into the funerall fires It is true that the Scripture saith the soul that sinneth that shall die but the meaning is not that the soul shall be dissolved in his essentiall life but in the relative life to God-ward by whose goodness and mercy it obtaineth an eternall felicity Mathe. But how can I prove that it hath any existence after the death of the body Phila. Because it is distinguished in this by all wise men from the souls or life of bruits for the spirit of a man goeth upward and the spirit of a beast goeth downward Eccles 3.21 And again Eccles 12.7 the dust shall return to the earth and the spirit to God that gave it which returning to God signifies the souls immortality Psallus that is as God alwaies is so the soule is subsisting with God for if the soule be immortall it cannot wax old Phocylid but must live ever so that you must denie the soule to be immortall or else grant that it never dieth But the old Chaldeans and Egyptians shall rise against such Christians whose precept was that a man should make haste to the light and splendors of the Father and to seek Paradise which is the splendid and cleer region of the soule Trismegistus confirms the perpetuall being of the soul Cic. Tusc Pythagoras saith as much and Tully from him Epictetus saith we are the kinsmen of God and return from whence we came Plat. in Phaed. Comment Mo● Zill Hisp in Plat. Plato is more clear then any And St Paul himselfe makes use of Aratus in the Acts saying We are Gods off-spring Acts 17.28 But beside Christ gives us greater light in the point John 3.36 saying He that beleeveth in me hath life eternall and to the thief he said This day thou shalt be with me when as that day both their bodies were dead 1 Cor. 5.1 So St Paul saith We know when this earthly house is dissolved we have a building of God in the heavens He doth not say when this house shall be repaired as at the resurrection but so soon as it is dissolved So in the fifth verse saith he When we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and therefore are willing to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord therefore he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ And St Stephen praieth God to