Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	follow_v	good_a	work_n	2,965	5	6.2248	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00801	A sermon preached at Paules Crosse the second Sunday in Mychaelmas tearme last. 1590. By Geruase Babington D. of Diuinitie. Not printed before this 23. of August. 1591	Babington, Gervase, 1550-1610.	1591 (1591)	STC 1092; ESTC S110424	34,925	81

others the rest on boards and broken péeces of y t ship came all safe to shore Thus did meanes effect Godꝭ purpose and not Gods purpose knowen of Paule hinder the carefull vse of meanes in him or the company A third example if you will let vs adde to these two as pregnant to our purpose as either of thē Our Sauiour Christ him selfe in his youth was sought for by Herod to haue bene slaine Yet God had apointed him to liue and to effect the worke of our redemption So in respect of Gods decrée it was not possible y t Herod should hurt him doe what he could What then would God haue this counsell of his a cause of securitie or neglect of meanes in Ioseph the reputed father of our Sauiour No. But his owne selfe willeth him in a dreame by his Angel to take Mary and the Child and to slye into Egipt there tarying till he should bring him word Which Ioseph dyd so by vse of meanes preserued him whom yet God had apointed to liue from euerlasting do Herod all the world what they could Did Mary hinder Ioseph from vsing these meanes saying to him tush do not we know what God hath aponinted this Child vnto Did not I heare what the Angell said to me when I conceiued what the Shepherds wise men said when he was borne what Simeon and Anna sayd at my Purification all which things Mary layd vp in her hart saith the text therefore let Herod doe what he can Gods apointmēt must take place cannot be preuented by his malice though we sit still and slye not at all Did I say Mary thus reason or thus hinder him Nothing lesse And therefore learne we euer by this example the true dutie of Gods children the right vse of the doctrine of gods predestination Surely it is this that whatsoeuer the decrée of God is we euer pitch our owne eyes vpon the meanes that God hath apointed knowing that as he hath apointed vs to the ende so he hath prescribed away to come to the same by If I wilbe saued I must doe this if I will not be damned I must auoyd that So you sée did Rebecca Paule God himselfe for his Sonne Christ and all that euer feared God vnderstoode this doctrine since the world began So doe we our owne selues I doe not doubt at this day carefully working our saluation with feare trembling by hearing the word receiuing the Sacraments and folowing the course prescribed in the word to such as wilbe saued Making the determined counsell of God in predestinating vs to life whereof in our consciences we féele a swéete assurance the ende of this our obedience a comfort against our imperfections whē we cannot do the good that we would and therevpon Satan séekes to terrifie vs and in a word rather a chéefe cause to incourage vs to the vse of meanes then any way to make vs negligent in the course of good liuing Let prophane persons doe what they will and say what they list as hoth works and words be vnsanctified yet thus both doe say the godly whome we are to folow If for the abusing of this doctrine by some the doctrine it selfe must be reiected then must y e whole word it selfe be also prohibited because that vnto some it is a sauour of death vnto death as often as it is either read or preached But God forbid Let sinne be sinne in them that abuse it and truth be frée for them that will learne it Uaine then is this obi●ction I hope you sée against gods predestination that it maketh vs carelesse what we doe Surely it maketh vs most carefull as I haue shewed And let this suffite Why but if I did nothing yet I should be saued being apointed to be saued and if I do neuer so well yet I shalbe damned being apointed therevnto Be not deceiued Being apointed to be saued it is not possible that you should do nothing For aswell you are apoynted to the meanes as to the end which apointmēt is effectual euer as examples haue showed no example can be showed to y ● contrary For as predestination hath folowed vpon loue in God so doth calling folow predestination iustification folow calling sanctification which is this vsing of meanes that I speake of folow iustification Till at the last we come to gloryfication You knowe it is the Apostles cheyne to the Romanes Contrarywise if a man be apoynted vnto death and a reprobate it is neuer possible that his déeds should be good in respect of him selfe but alwaies there wilbe some secret poyson in them as was in Iudas care for the poore when he would haue had the oyntment sould beare they neuer such a glosse to the eye of the world And therefore that againe is but an error that men shalbe damned do they neuer so well being apoynted therevnto Well Sir then may you say this is also that which maketh against this doctrine which you now handle that it séemeth to iustifie or excuse the wicked who are not able to do other wise thē they do being marked of God vnto perdition therfore should not as it séemeth be punished for that which they cannot chuse but commit Neither in this againe let vs be deceyued For to sinne necessarely and to sinne constraynedly are two things farre differing one from an other The reprobate they sinne necessarely in respect of Gods decrée but yet they sinne not constreynedlie or by force thereof at any time For then might their punishment séeme somewhat hard But there is in them knowledge many times when they sinne will delight anger if they be restreyned or brideled any way all which are testimonies against thē of the iustice of their punishment fully conuincing them in their consciences and accusing thē clering this doctrine of Gods decrée from being any compulsion to them to transgresse euer Let this cauill therfore also cease and this holy doctrine stand still vndefiled in our eyes Thirdly it is not so high mysticall obscure hidden if it be soberly intreated of and within the limitts of the word but that it may be vnderstode with profit and comfort of a reuerēt minde Witnesse hereof all that I haue now saide of the points seuerall members of this doctrine so euident and plaine and easie as we cannot desire a greater light If any thing be obscure in it or hard yet may not that cause all the rest to be reiected as Austen truely testified when he said Numquid negandum quod apertum quia comprehendi non potest quod occultum Must we therefore deny what is playne and manifest because we cannot comprehend what is hidden Thus doe we sée the vanitie of mens cauills against this sacred truth of God and whatsoeuer else is brought of any man against it falleth as these with the light of truth when they are considered and compared with it And let thus much

t Father Which because many yea the most part of men are not therefore they beléeue not neither imbrace that thing which in it selfe yet is worthie all loue and following Necessarie I say to these weake ones that they may learne not to fall away from goodnesse for this cause and necessarie to these vnbeléeuing contemners to awake them to looke how this contempt taketh any roote in them least happely it be by their reiection from God because they are not of the number of them whome the Father hath giuen to his Sonne to be saued of him and by him and in him in his iudging day Purposing then by the Lords assistance and your godly patience to say something of this matter let the order for me to speake and you to heare be the selfe same which the holy ghost directeth vs vnto in the text First of the Fathers giuing Secondly of their cōming that are giuen Thirdly of the intertainmēt with Christ that they finde which being giuen doe come Non eijcio I cast not away 1 Part. Concerning the first to wit the Fathers giuing contained in these words all that the Father giueth mée a learned writer sayth thus Quos pater dedit praedestinatione veniunt per fidem tales non eijcit Christus Whome the Father giueth by predestination those come to Christ by faith and he casteth not away such commers Making this giuing of the father to be nothing else but his eternall election apointment vnto life of such as he will haue saued in Christ and by Christ And in déede so it is Dat enim Christo pater cum eligit in Christo tanquam in capite in quo omnia mēbra salua erunt The Father giueth to Christ when he electeth in Christ as in the head in whome all the mēbers shalbe saued Proofes of scripture are the grounds of grounds to direct both my speche and your faith of those I could remember you of many if it were néedefull But the 17. of Ihon shall suffice vs for all where it is said I haue declared thy name vnto the men whom thou Gauest me thine they were thou Gauest them me I pray not for the world but for them whome thou hast Giuen me Holy Father keepe them whome thou hast Giuen me Them whom thou Gauest me I haue kept Ouer ouer repeating this word you sée euer by the same noting Gods election of his seruants and children apointed to be saued Therefore this exposition is plaine not onely by testimonies of interpreters but by conference witnesse of scriptures themselues So then the doctrine of Gods election is the first point that to day we are occasioned by this text to speake and heare of it being ment by y ● word Giuing as I haue shewed A doctrine as you well know that both heretofore hath and euen yet still is of ignorant minds auoided as a dangerous doctrine iudged not fit to be spoken of except it be in schooles and charged with many wicked inconueniences as flowing from y ● affirmation thereof The Epistles of Prosper and Hilari prefixed before the bookes of Austen De predestinatione sanctorum will iustifie what I say in stede of many mo which might be brought What others of later time especially Papists haue both writen and dayly speake would be to tedious to obserue Whatsoeuer they were or are olde or 〈◊〉 is most certaine they consider not Either y e dutie of gods ministers childrē Or the great euidence of Scripture for this doctrine Or y e swet vse of it to mani special purposes For all these do show that the doctrine in no case is to be auoyded but both spoken and heard of as occasion shall serue to Gods great glory and his true seruaunts swéete comfort And first for our dutie thinke of it I pray you Surely it is this Ut arcana non inuestigare ita reuelata non occultare supprimere As not to search the secrets of God which are not reuealed so not to suppresse and hide what is reuealed For so teacheth vs Moyses if you remember when he saith The secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things reuealed belong to vs and to our children for euer that we may do all the words of the lawe Againe it is our dutie to estééme of the Lord and his word thus that as he hath omitted nothing that is needefull to be knowen so hath he laid downe nothing but what ought to be knowen and is most ●●●fitable But he hath laid downe this doctrine of our election therefore necessary to be taught and looked into of all men Thirdly it is the dutie of all faithfull ministers to preach the gospell wholie to Gods people and to deliuer vnto them euen all the counsel of God But this doctrine is a part of the contents of this booke of God therefore to be deliuered to Gods people as occasion shall serue or else we do not our duities And least any man should distinguish of Gods people say some be learned some be vnlearned the one may be thus preached vnto but not the other cōsider I pray you the words of our Sauiour Christ Go preach the gospell Omni creaturae To all creatures euidently giuing the simpler sort as good right to the whole doctrine of his word as the better and the vnlearned as the learned Which y ● faithfull Apostle well knew when he saide I am a debter both to the Graecians and Barbarians both to the wisemen and to the vnwise If any man will say yet a care must be had of mens capacities and of edification I confesse it willingly and therefore haue alwaies added as occasion serueth that is as shall be fit for y ● people to whom we speake going by degrées in all our doctrine as may most profit and euer soberly and carefully keping within the limits of the word But vtterly to suppresse and alwaies to auoyd any truth reueled in the booke of God or by name this truth of our election and predestination I say it is not lawfull but the contrarie a parcell of our bounden dutie both to God our selues and our brethren In the second place they consider as litle the euidence of scripture for this doctrine as they haue done before our duties For I may bouldly saye there is no one thing more plainely and fully testified in the word then this is being often iterated and beaten vpon in sundry places That a thing often spoken of might at one time or other be duelie marked and borne away First the doctrine then the branches The doctrine it selfe is layd downe in this sort That as the clay lyeth before the potter to be vsed and handled disposed of and formed as shall please him so were all men at the first before the Lord in his eternall counsell to receiue an ende or vse according to his will to life or death