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	true_a	2,848	5	3.8360	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93889	Catholique divinity: or, The most solid and sententious expressions of the primitive doctors of the Church. With other ecclesiastical, and civil authors: dilated upon, and fitted to the explication of the most doctrinal texts of Scripture, in a choice way both for the matter, and the language; and very useful for the pulpit, and these times. / By Dr. Stuart, dean of St. Pauls, afterwards dean of Westminster, and clerk of the closet to the late K. Charles.	Steward, Richard, 1593?-1651.; H. M.	1657 (1657)	Wing S5518; Thomason E1637_1; ESTC R203568	97,102	288

yet it is great in vertue and operation The Rabbins say that Manna had all manner of good tastes in it so hath faith it drinks to a man in a cup of Nepenthes and bide him bee of good cheer God will provide for him who likes not to bee tyed to the second ordiniry causes nor that in defect of the means wee should doubt of the providence It is true God commonly worketh by means when hee could do without that wee may not neglect the means as being ordained of him David shall have victory but by an ambush a Sa●● 5. Men shall bee nourished but by their labour Psal 128. 2. But yet not so as that hee doth all in all by those means hee made Grass Corn and Trees before hee made the Sun Moon and Stars by the influence whereof they are and grow yea to shew himself chief hee can and doth work other-whiles without means 2 Chron. 14. and against means suspending the power and operation of the natural causes as when the fire burnt not the water drowned not the Sun went back ten degrees the rock gave water the iron swam And then when hee works by means hee can make them produce an effect diverse from their nature and disposition or can hinder change or mitigate their proper effect As when at the prayer of Elias it rained not for three years and an half and hee prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruits A man would have thought that after so long drought the roots of trees and herbs should have been utterly dryed up and the land past recovery But God heard the heavens petitioning to him that they might exercise their influence for the fructifying of the earth and the heavens heard the earth and the earth heard the corn the wine and the oyl and they heard Jezreel Hof 2. 21. Let all this keep us as it did our Saviour when hee was tempted in the fourtth of St. Matth. from diffidence in Gods Providence and make us possess our souls in patience Hang upon the promise and account it as good as present pay though wee see not how it can bee effected God loves to go a way by himself Hee knows how to deliver us saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 2. and hee might speak it by experience if ever any man might The King shall rejoyce in God saith David of himself when hee was a poor exile in the wilderness of Judah Psal 63. 11. but hee had Gods word for the Kingdome and therefore hee was confident seemed the thing never so improbable or impossible Wee trust a skilful work-man to go his own way to work shall wee not God Loose wee then any particular means saith one It is but the scattering of a Sunne beam the breaking of a bucket when the Sunne and the fountain is the same But wee for the most part do as Hagar did when the bottle was spent shee falls a crying shee was undone shee and her childe should dye till the Lord opened her eyes to see the fountain It was near her but shee saw it not when shee saw it shee was well enough If thou hadst been here said Martha my brother Lazarus had not dyed as if Christ could not have kept him alive unless hee had been present So if Christ will come and lay his hands on Jairus his daughter and Elisha stroke his hand over Naamans leprosie they shall bee cured So the Disciples beleeved that Christ could feed so many thousands in the wilderness but then hee must have two hundred pennyworth of bread But our Saviour soon after gave them an ocular demonstration of this truth That man lives not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Preventus diabolus in accusatione Ultra nos accusare non poterit Origen BE sure before thou come to the Sacrament to renew thy repentance in confession one sweet advantage shalt thou have by it amongst others and that is this our self-accusations in ● our confessions will bee a prevention and a disappointment of Sathans accusations against us The Devil even at the Sacrament will bee laying in against us It is good therefore to take a course to defeat him Hee will bee pleading against a man Lord shall this man bee welcome to thy Table Shall hee receive the benefit of thine Ordinance Hee hath done thus and thus I can lay to his charge these and these sins Thus by his accusations will hee seek to put in a bar against a blessing upon us Now when a man before the Sacrament renews his repentance and hath in his confessions brought in the accusations against himself Satan is prevented for then wee do as I may say furnish the Lord with an answer to stop Satans mouth for then will God bee ready to answer for us why Satan thou accusest this man of nothing whereof hee hath not already to the full accused himself hee himself hath accused himself of all this already Thou comest too late all thine accusations shall bee no bar to my blessing The elder brothers nose swells at his fathers kindness and goodness to his prodigal brother and therefore Luke 15. 30. hee rips up all his courses and throws the filth of them in his face that hee was one that had devoured his Fathers living and had spent it among Harlots And this hee doth now whilst they are at the feast at the fatted Calf and good cheer Yet all this doth the Prodigal no hurt the musick ceaseth not the feast is not broken off nor hee thrust out of doors again And how comes it about that all this did him no hurt because the Prodigal had prevented his brother hee himselfe had accused himself to the full in his confessions when hee came to his Father and so by his own confession had took out the sting and poyson of his brothers malicious accusation So that his brother comes too late now the feast and the merriment goes on nevertheless So will the Devil bee snarling against and picking quarrels against men even in the Feast time but he comes too late to do them hurt if they themselves have first put in the bills of their own indictments against themselves in their confessions before their coming to the Sacrament Hamine non est solammodo necessarium ut Christum i● ipsius passione depioret sedmagis seipsum in Christo Bernard BEhold saith the Baptist the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world Upon the Cross wee behold Christ taking away the sins of the world On it wee see Christ crucified wee see his hands feet and side pierced now this sight should so affect us as it should pierce the very hearts of us What the blessed Son of God to strip himself of his glory● to humble and abase himself to the ignominious and accursed death of the Cross the glorious Son of God thus abused and abased the onely begotten Son of the Father to make

thy mortal heart Are the wounds of thy transgressions so deep that they cannot bee searched or so old that they corrupt and putrifie here is that good Samaritan that will either binde them up or pour in oyl but art thou not yet dead in trespasses are not thy ulcers past cure Are there any seeds of true life remaining is there any motion of repentance in thy soul● will thy pulse of remorse beat a little hast thou but a touch of sorrow a spark of contrition a grain of faith know there is oyl of comfort for him that mourns in Sion Isa 61. 3. not a tear drops from thee in sincerity which is either unpitied or unpreserved God puts it into his bottle On the other side is there a Pharoah in thee a heart unmollified a stone that will not be bruised a flint unmalleable I both mourn for it and leave it But is this heart of stone taken away and is there given thee a heart of flesh is it soft and tender with remorse truly sacrificed to sorrow then know there is balm of Gilead for the broken heart balm that will both refresh and cure it T●●● then which groanest in thy spirit and art drawn out as it were into contrition for thy sins thou which hast washed thy hands in innocency go cheerfully to the Altar of thy God and cry with old Anselm Etsi domine ego commisi unde me damnare potes tu tamen non amifisti unde me salvare potes Qui pectus suum tundit se non corrigit aggravat peccata non tollit August VVHere there is an outward percussion of the breast without remorse of the inward man there is rather an aggravation of sin than a release That subtle fallacy of the eye pointing towards heaven that base hypocrisie of the knee kissing the earth that seeming austerity of thy hand martyring thy breast gains from God neither applause nor blessing but the curse of the Pharisee whose example would have chid thee to such an outside of devotion Is then thy repentance disguised Hath it a touch of dissimulation in it Is not thy old corruption clean disgorged but must thou again to thy former vomit Hypocrite thy Altar is without fire thine Incense without smoak it shall never touch the nostrils of the Almighty thy prayers in his ears sound like brass and tinckle like an ill-tuned cymbal all this formality of zeal is but a disease of the lip Give mee thy heart my son saith God Prov. 23. I will have that or nothing and that clean too washed both from deceit and guilt Those blanchings and guildings and garnishings of external zeal are as odious in the eye of God as those of body in a true Christian This gloss this paint of demureness speaks but our whoredomes in Religion and the integrity of that man is open both to censure and suspicion that is exposed either to the practice of it or the approbation A villain is a villain howsoever his garb or habit speak him otherwise and an hypocrite is no less though sleeked over with an external sanctity and dressed in the affectations of a preciser cut Let us bee truly that what wee seem to bee and not seem what wee are not let there bee doors and casements in our breasts that men may see the loyalty betwixt our heart and tongue and how our thoughts whisper to our tongue and how our tongue speaks them to the world Away with those meteors and false-fires of Religion which not onely by-paths us in a blinded zeal but mis-leads others in our steps of error Let us then put off the old man in our pride vain-glory envy malice hatred and that foul disease of the times hypocrisie and let us put on the new man in sincerity faith repentance sobriety brotherly-kindness and what without it disparages the tongue both of men and Angels charity That so at length wee may receive that everlasting benediction Come yee children in herit the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world Bonum causatur ex integra causa malum autem ex singularib us defectibus Tho. Aquin. GOd expects perfection perfection of parts where man expects acceptance Now as unto that which is good so unto that which is perfect there must bee an intire concurrence of all requisites The defect or want of any one thing required may cause an imperfection but to the constitution of perfection there must bee a meeting of all things required It will appear in the cause specified Lev. 22 21. The sacrifices of Beeves or of Sheep there mentioned must bee perfect Now if the beast had wanted but any one part an eye an ear an horn an hoof any one of these defects had caused an imperfection and the sacrifice had been imperfect and so no acceptance of it But now to have made it perfect to bee accepted it must have all and every one of the parts every member of the body in its number and proportion Now the equity holds in all duties of worship To what end is our worship if not accepted if wee will have it accepted wee must have it perfect there must bee all these things in it that God requires Now God requires in worship not onely that wee use his Ordinance but his Order as outward so inward Now when there is this perfection that God requires then may a blessing and acceptance bee expected But if that Order that spiritual Order which God calls for bee wanting if wanting in any one part of it there the duty is imperfect there no acceptance can bee looked for but rather a breach Wee may see it exemplified in the Law of the Peace-offerings Levit. 7. First see the Ordinance of God vers 11 12 13. There is the substance of the sacrifice prescribed then the Order is that they bee eaten in due time vers 16. It shall bee eaten the same day that hee offers his sacrifice that the flesh bee clean vers 19. And the flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not bee eaten That the persons that do eat it must bee clean vers 19. And as for the flesh all that bee clean shall eat thereof that is all that eat thereof must bee clean as appears by that which follows vers 20. So then as here is the Ordinance prescribed so the Order of eating that they may bee eaten purely that pure things bee eaten that they bee eaten of pure persons there Peace-offerings thus eaten were accepted because here was perfection from the concurrence and integrity of the causes constituring perfection But now if any one of these things were missing in point of order it made them imperfect and so unacceptable If not purely in regard of time though p●re flesh and eaten by pure persons yet no blessing no acceptance but a breach vers 18. It shall not bee accepted it shall bee an abomination and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity If not pure flesh eaten though

impudent Stand wee therefore still upon our guard and look for no ease here The Roman Captains when they had once triumphed took their ease ever after So did not Cato and is therefore highly commended So may not wee if ever we will bee approved as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ Our whole life is a continual warfare and wee must look for the continual hail-shot of Satanical assaults and suggestions When Xerxes fought against the Greeks the Sea was full of ships saith the Orator the Earth of souldiers and the Air of arrows So fares it with the Saints under Satans batteries no truce but continual conflict St. Paul sounds the alarm Eph. 6. Arm arm Take the whole Armour of God and bee ever in your harness And St. Peter gives the reason Because your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh and watcheth night and day soeking whom he may devour For our incouragement as the Devil is a roaring Lion so is Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Juda that delivereth us and maketh us more than Conquerors holding the Crown of glory over our heads as wee are fighting with this inscription Vincenti dabo To him that over-cometh will I give Fight therefore and faint not your reward is s●●e your Armour is of proof Get on both these peeces of defence as the girdle of truth brestplate of righteousness shooes of peace and patience shield of faith helmet of hope and those also of offence as the sword of the Spirit and darts of prayer It is said of Sc●va at the siege of Dyrrachium that hee so longresisted Pompeys Army that hee had two hundred and twenty Darts sticking in his shield and lost one of his eyes and yet gave not over till Caesar came to his rescue The like and somewhat more is reported of Cynegrius the Athenian in the Persian wars These did thus for a corruptible Crown or temporary honour what should not wee do for an eternal Hold out and hold fast that thou hast that no man take thy Crown from thee Gods Spirit sets up a standard in the Saints Isa 59. 19. And stronger is hee that is in you than hee that is in the world That old Serpent hath his head so bruised and crushed by Christ that he cannot now so easily thrust in his mortal sting though hee assay it never so often unless wee dally with him and lay our selves open unless wee tempt Satan to tempt us by inconsideration security or venturing on the occasion Vitanda est glacies si nolis cadere hee that tastes of the broth will have a minde to the meat The Nazarites might not not onely drink wine but forbear to eat of the grape whether moist or dry Num. 6. 3. Saturitas ventris seminarium libidinis Hieronymus A Full belly and a foul heart scarce go uncoupled for indeed how should they Per membrorum ordinem saith St. Augustine Ordo vitiorum intelligitur as in the Anatomy of our bodies the parts of gluttony and lust are linked together so are the sins themselves And therefore the Apostle joyns them Rioting and Drunkenness Chambring and Wantonness first Rioting and then Wantonness that leads on this and not onely this but a whole troop of rebellious actions security disobedience idolatry Thus when the Fools barns in the Gospel were filled with Corn there was no thought of God the Benefactor all the care was about Soul take thine ease eat drinke and bee merry And indeed this eating quite takes away our stomach from all holy duties I need not tell you of Adams surfeit the Israelites in their Paradise of Canaan fell to eating too and by eating fell as hee did from their God And this the Lord fore-told them in the 31. of Deuteronomy when sayes God I shall have brought Israel into the land that floweth with milk and honey i●nud they shall have eaten and filled themselves then will they turn to other gods then and not till then and just so they did For in the very next Chapter at the 15. vers you have Jeshurun which is Israel waxed fat and kicking and then saith the Text Hee forsook God which made him Well therefore did the Church of Christ prescribe fasting to a Religious end to bridle and keep in the lust of the flesh so to prevent sins to come and punish our selves for those already past And this last St. Paul calls an holy chastising and afflicting himself for that thorn in his flesh which forced him to his watchings often and his fastings often to his Castiga corpus 〈◊〉 To correct the in ward man and bring his body under the lash And this was Christs reason of fasting before tentation Now Christ abstained thus not for himself for the Devil could not have prevailed had hee not fasted There were no faulty desires of the flesh to be tamed no possibility of a freer and more easie assent and compliance of the soul with God who was already perfectly united to the Deity but as for us he would suffer death so for us too hee would suffer hunger that first as a Saviour this last as an example pointing us that had need for hee had none the best way to encounter the evill spirit of concupiscence which is not cast out no nor kept out neither but by fasting In Praedicando Evang elium non merita personarum sed officia sacerdotum considerantur Ambrosius HOliness becomes every man well but best of all publick persous and that not onely for example of good but liberty of controling ill The Snuffers of the Sanctuary made to purge others must bee of pure gold themselves Thus Herod feared John not cause hee was a powerful Teacher but a just man This holiness casts a more dazeling lustre than any other accomplishment whatever But now suppose the Priest sinful shall the people notwithstanding follow his doctrine his doctrine whose life is not the use his voyce whose hand points a contrary way Nothing more for what if the Sacrificer bee unclean is the offering so Was the glory of Israel the Ark any whit lessened when it came from the Philistims Did the breath of the Lord his answers pass by the less regarded cause a Saul prophesied Scripture is Scripture though the Devil speak it no mans sins should bring the service of God into contempt nor may good bee refused because the means are accidentally evill It is a gross dull capacity that cannot distinguish betwixt the work and the instrument the weakness of the person and the power of the Function You know no unclean Viands were for the table of an Israelite no birds of prey fit company for a Prophet yea Sampson made much of his honey though in a putrified Lion and if Ravens are sent to preserve an Eiah hee willingly accepts their courtesie and dislikes not the meat cause the waiters were black These then of the Law are less scrupulous than some of the Gospel who disdain the graces of God when not served in the