Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	love_n	3,006	5	5.2017	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37070	The interest of England in the Protestant cause	Dury, John, 1596-1680.	1659 (1659)	Wing D2864; ESTC R15464	21,459	33

profession doth consist in the soundness of the doctrine of Faith and in the holiness of life of the professors Tit. 1.1 3 9. and 2.11 12 13 14. and those that make profession of Christianity are obliged by the speciciall command of God to maintain and advance both these one towards another 1 Pet. 4.10 and towards all men Mat. 5.16 by the Communion of Saints which consists not only in the conjunction of believers to strive together for the Faith of the Gospell Phil. 1.27 Jude 3. But also in a reall endeavour to strive one for another in prayers Ephes 6.18 And by the conjunction or rather communication of their gifts and graces to provoke one another to love and to good works Heb. 10.24 Now such endeavours as these cannot possibly be put forth by any except they maintain some Religious correspondency one with another to that effect therefore such a correspondency is absolutely requisite to be intended and upheld between all the Godly of these Nations and their neighbour professors of the Truth And if we mind it not it is evident that we come short of a Fundamentall duty and fall under the guilt of breaking the Communion of Saints of neglecting the fight for the Faith and of carelesness to provoke one another unto love and good works which God will certainly require at our hands if wee continue so to do having so great cause and so many and fair opportunities to do otherwise 2. The end for which God doth give the gifts and graces of his Spirit unto the Saints is that the members of the Body of Christ should profit thereby one towards another 1 Cor. 12.7 and that they should trade therewith to gain more graces for themselves Luk. 19.12 13. Mat. 25.14 But it is no more possible to do this without maintaining an intercourse of Spirituall Correspondency one with another then it is possible to the dis-jointed members of a naturall body to conveigh blood and nourishment each to other Therefore a course of Religious Correspondency is absolutely necessary for this cause also And if this be not intended God's aim in giving his gifts unto his Saints and Churches is not fulfilled and he will certainly deprive such of the gifts which they have received who continue under the guilt of not making a right use thereof For if the end of God's giving should bee answered by our receiving then wee are bound in Conscience to receive grace onely for the advancement of his Glory 1 Corinth 10.31 and of our mutuall edification 1 Cor. 14.26 and Rom 14.19 and 15.2 And if these two ends are so subordinate one to another that God cannot be glorified otherwise by us then by this that wee bring forth much fruit one towards another John 15.6 for our good cannot reach to him as David saith Psal 16.2 but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent ones in whom ought to be all our delight Ibid. ver 3. then it will follow that the main use of all grace is the improvement thereof towards others But it is not possible to intend this improvement of our goodness towards the Saints for mutuall edification except we use means to know one anothers spirituall condition by some course of spirituall Correspondency Therefore such Correspondency is wholly necessary to be settled and entertained if we will not deprive God of his glory and the Saints of the interest which they should have in us by the right use of our Talents towards them 3. The means by which these ends are to bee attained is to endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace which we are commanded and by many reasons exhorted to do Ephes 4.3 4 5 6. Now this endeavour being the effect immediately flowing from Charity which is the chiefe edifying grace as appeareth by 1 Cor. 8 1 and chap. 13. per tot urn and Ephes 4.15 16. And seeing Charity cannot be maintained nor edification advanced nor the unity of the Spirit upheld except there be an endeavour put forth to take notice of one anothers state therefore a Correspondency for mutuall intelligence in spirituall matters tending to unity and peace in the profession of the Truth is a thing absolutely necessary amongst such as intend sincerely to uphold the Truth of the Gospel-profession or if they intend it not it is evident that they come short of the Fundamentall duty of the life of Christianity by neglecting the means of mutuall edification wherein God is chiefly glorified and such as continue in this neglect and order not their way aright in the profession of the Gospel shall never see the salvation of God Psal 50.23 Of the Second THe present sad condition of the Churches comes under a twofold Consideration the one is in respect of their unacquaintedness with one anothers state the other is in respect of the opposition at which they are to cross one another in their ways If the Protestant Churches though agreeing in the same Faith and in the Rules of order be considered as unacquainted with one another's state and consequently at a distance in their mindes one from another Two evils arise from thence First they not onely make void the Truth of the holy profession by the neglect of the Duties belonging thereunto whereby the name of God is dishonoured their own mutual edification hindered and the glory and comfort of that unity which should be amongst them in the manifestation of love and holiness is darkned But by this means they being at a distance and dis-jointed from each other are void of that care which the members of Jesus Christ should have one of another for their mutuall good and become lyable to all the inconveniencies which are incident unto a solitary condition whereof Solomon gives us briefly the heads Eccl. 4 9 10 11 12. which are the want of help in bad occurrences want of encouragement and counsell in good enterprises and want of defence in cases of opposition Therefore saith he two are better then one for they have a good reward for their labour ver 9. The meaning is for their joining in labour and this good reward is their freedom from the forenamed inconveniencies which one that is alone is subject unto For saith he wo be to him that is alone when he falleth there is none to help him up ver 10. that is if a mischance happen or he lye under it there is none to remove it And again if two lye together they have heat but how can one alone be warm ver 11. If two lay their heads and hearts together in one design to contrive it or put it in execution they will warm one anothers affections and resolutions but one alone can add nothing to his own wisedom courage or strength and then Solomon saith if one prevail against one there are two to withstand him ver 12. That is if an adversary assault one alone he may be overcome but if there be two to

and to our Posterity Of the Engagement of the State HItherto I have reflected upon the reasons which should induce the Godly professors in these Nations to intend the duty of Holy Communion and Correspondency amongst themselves and with their neighbours for the manifestation of the Truth of the holy profession and the maintaining of Christ's Kingdom un animously in this our Generation now it remaineth to shew how farr they are engaged beyond others in this work and that the State it self as Christian is not free from this engagement but ought to mind it and advance the work in a leading way for if it hath been made out convincingly both upon spiritual and rational grounds that not only for the advancement of Christ's Kingdom in the world but also for the outward safety and preservation of the Churches which from within are undermined and from without are assaulted a Religious Correspondency is absolutely necessary for them Then an enquiry may be and ought also to be made further of two things First to whom the procurement of this Correspondency doth chieflly belong Secondly how it may be procured and maintained amongst the Churches and to answer in general terms these Questions I conceive we may say thus That the procurement of this Correspondency doth chiefly belong to those who stand most in need thereof for their own welfare and safety and who have most eminently engaged themselves to undertake the procurement of it And that the way to procure it amongst the Churches Phil 2.4 Heb. 10.24 can bee none other but a Christian endeavour to live and converse with other professors in the Communion of Saints which is not to look to our own things alone but that every one should look also to the things of others and in the consideration of others to provoke them unto love and to good works of a common concernment Thus much in general but then to answer the first Query in particular I conceive it may be truly said That the Godly Party living in this Common-wealth doth stand in more need of this Correspondency for the welfare of their Cause and for their own safety then any o her Churches do and that the same Party together with the State hath more eminently engaged it self towards God and men to undertake the procurement of this Correspondency then any other State or Churches have done And to make out both these assertions to bee truths I shall briefly offer these considerations First in respect of the need which they stand of it it is in my apprehension thus The Godly Party of this Nation with the State hath been led forth in a peculiar way of acting against the world and against Antichrist which others have not been acquainted withall This acting hath set them in opposition not onely to the world and Antichrist in a more direct way then others but also put them at a distance from their Brethren themselves who partly by reason of their weakness partly for want of that information which we should have given them partly because they have been prepossessed with false and injurious informations against us have been for the most part so offended at us that they have scrupled very much and many still scruple to own us as Brethren and look upon us rather as Apostates from the Cause and separate from all Relation towards other Protestants in their esteem we are a new thing start up and standing alone by our selves Now to bee in such a condition seems to be for us very unsate for if our enemies be able without any controule to represent us unto the world and to the Professors of the Gospel as giddy and unsettled men fit only to distribute and not build any thing and if we take no thought how to vindicate our Cause from false aspersions towards our Brethren and towards men of impartial judgment the Cause of Christian and civil liberty which we have undertaken and maintained hitherto cannot prosper but must needs at last miscarry in our hands For the prosperity of the Cause is nothing else but the gaining of Godly mens affections at home and abroad to it and if we make no Application to our Godly Brethren and neighbours to set them right and inform them of the truth of our Cause and proceedings and to interest them to Correspond with us upon a Gospel account how can our proceedings be successefull how can our Cause be justified and how can we promise safety to our selvs when our professed enemies together with our misled neighbours shall jointly conspire and rise up against us I know and am confident that the cause will prosper in God's hand and that he will carry it on and preserve the Instruments thereof who follow him in his way but I do not see any ground to believe that he wil do it without the ordinary Gospel-means of propagating the Truth of maintaining the Communion of Saints If then he doth intend to preserve us and to make use of us any further in this his work I am very confident that he will set us in the way whereunto he hath promised to give a blessing which is the way of brotherly love in a Religious Correspondency towards the rest of the Churches professing his name in the Truth By how much then our undertakings are more resolute and destructive to the course of the world by so much they are the more difficult to be carried on and therefore we stand the more in need of the help and concurrence of the Godly every where to carry it on with us to a good issue And by how much our present leaders in the cause are less interessed in the Godly Party a broad by so much if they desire to provide in God's way for the success of the Cause and for their own safety therein they should the more apply themselves to advance a Gospel-interest towards all the professors thereof and maintain with them to this effect a Religious Correspondency therein For as a man that is in a fight doth not make use of any one of his members alone but all the members of his body are set in a posture to concur and supply mutuall strength as standing in need of each others help so in this conflict of the body of Christ against the powers of the World and the subtilty of Antichrist as all the Churches are aimed at and assaulted so they stand in need of one anothers help and that part of the body which is most violently assaulted standeth most in need of the assistance of the rest for its safety Now it is without all doubt that the Godly Party of this Nation is most in the eye of the enemie and when the universall breach which is near at hand between Protestants and Papists shall be made it will be most violently put at therefore it doth stand most in need of help and is bound for its own safety in a Gospel-way to endeavour to receive it But the matter of