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	lord_n	see_v	4,192	5	3.2926	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85329	Londons gate to the Lords Table. Where the eldership doth sit doing their office aright, in discovering and shutting out the ignorant, prophane, and meere civill honest man : in suspending the suspected formall, legall, and antinomisticall professor, and in drawing in the weakest humble beleeving soule. In a dialogue betweene a minister of the Gospell. Alexander an ignorant prophane man. Simon a proud professor. And Matthias an humble penitent. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy.	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.	1646 (1646)	Wing F995; Thomason E1213_1; ESTC R210120	58,722	302

we might busie our mindes and spend lesse time about such matters and bend our mindes and studies more about matters of substance viz. about the Doctrine of Faith and Repentance and matters that concerne Christian practice and godly conversation and meekenesse and love amongst our selves truly neighbour Simon I am perswaded that all both godly Ministers and godly Christians that doe now live in this Kingdome have great cause to rejoyce and be thankfull to the Lord that hath let them live to see those things which we see to wit that there is now power given to godly Ministers and Elders to keep back unfit and unworthy Communicants from the Lords Table the which it is well knowne hath not beene heretofore though much desired and O that the Lord would be pleased to move the hearts of all our godly discenting Brethren to come in and joyne themselves with us that so we might rejoyce and praise the name of the Lord together but no more of this Sim. Truly Sir these your words have moved my heart to your way and I wish I were worthy to come in amongst you but I will take my leave of you and goe home and consider of what you have this day said unto me concerning the state and condition of my soule for I still feare I am not right and I see that the chiefe thing to be looked after and regarded is the true Knowledge of Christ Min I surely that is the thing indeed and O that we could all of us seeke more after that then we doe and as one in a In Bacon hi● Catachis Epistle dedicatory certaine place saith very sweetly Oh that every one in this Kingdome that truly desires to feare the name of God were so wise as to forbeare this clashing dashing themselves in pieces one against another for matters externall triviall and circumstantiall in Religion and would at length content themselves with that which is alone saving and everlasting and account it honour and happinesse enough in matters appertaining to God to be a Christian I remember I was lately told by a Christian friend of mine that one comming to old Master Dod not long before his death to desire him to resolve him about the point of Re-baptizing or some such like point he answered Friend have you made your Calling and Election sure or rather give diligence to make that sure which in my judgement was a very gracious answer Sim. Well Sir I will now take my leave of you for this time and I beseech you pray for me Min. Truly neighbour Simon I would here breake off and take my leave of you were it not that I see our neighbour Mathias looke very heavily and therefore I pray you tarry a while till I have spoken a few words unto him and then I will take leave of you both together How doe you neighbor Mathias what aileth you to be so sad what is the matter with you Mat. O Sir if you did but know how it is with me you would say I had cause to be heavie and sad Min. Weepe not man weepe not I pray you but tell me what is the matter with you Mat. O Sir I am troubled to thinke what will become of my soule when I dye Min. And what causeth this trouble Mat. Why truly Sir the hearing of your discourse with my neighbour Simon hath caused it for I thinke with my selfe that if he that is a man of such great knowledge and holy life and conversation be questioned by you and doe question himselfe whether he be in a good condition or no alas then what may I thinke of my selfe that am such a poore ignorant and sinfull man as I am Min. But I hope you are neither so ignorant nor so sinfull as you thinke you are Mat. O yes Sir it is too true the Lord he knoweth it Min. Why have you no knowledge in the fundamentall points of religion did you never learne your Catechisme Mat. Yea when I was young I learned a little but alas I have forgotten it long since Min. No I hope you doe remember some of it and therefore I pray you tell me what is God Mat. I beseech you Sir beare with my ignorance and I will answer you as well as I can I thinke God is the Maker and Governour of all things Min. Well said and how many Gods be there Mat. Surely Sir I think there is but one true God Min. Well said and how many Persons is there in the Trinity Mat. I thinke Sir there are three Min. And how are the three Persons distinguished Mat. Alas Sir I cannot tell how to answer that Min. And how did God make man at the first Mat. In his owne Image and likenesse Min. And wherein did that Image or likenesse consist Mat. Truly Sir I cannot tell you Min. Well but you say you are a sinfull man how doe you know that you are so Mat. Because I was conceived and borne in sinne and have sinned all my life time Min. And what is sin Mat. Why surely Sir sinne is to doe contrary to the minde and will of God Min. Neighbour Simon you know him better then I therefore I pray you tell me what you thinke of him Sim. Yes Sir I have known him a great while and have alwaies taken him to be a simple honest man according to his knowledge onely I must tell you I have heretofore seene him now and then a little distempered with drinke but of late he hath seemed to minde matters of Religion for I have seene him sometimes at a Lecture on the weeke day and therefore I hope he is better now then he hath been formerly Min. Well neighbour Mathias I am glad to heare that you begin to minde the best things and to frequent the hearing of Gods Word more now then formerly I pray you tell me what hath moved you so to doe Mat. Why truly Sir a friend of mine a godly religious man whom neither of you know was the first occasion of it for he telling me in an humble loving manner that he feared I was yet in my naturall estate and condition and thererefore lyable to Gods everlasting wrath and damnation in Hell his words did so worke upon me that I asked him what he would advise me to doe and he bad me be diligent in hearing and reading the Word of God and get good Divinity Bookes and one Booke he commended to me above the rest called The plaine mans path way to Heaven and truly Sir I hope the reading of that Booke hath done me much good but alas Sir my sins my sins are they that trouble me Min. But whether are they your sinnes which you have formerly committed or your present corruptions that doe trouble you Mat. Truly Sir they are both for I am troubled at my former sinnes for feare they are not pardoned and I am troubled at my present corruptions because I cannot overcome them Min. I pray you tell me one thing

indeed growth in grace is a maine end and fruit of that Ordinance God thereby giving to every faithfull Receiver the Body and Blood of his Sonne Christ that by the Bread of his Flesh and the Wine of his Blood he may cause them to grow Mat. Well Sir this day hath beene a day of good tidings to me and surely Sir if the LORD have beene so mercifull unto me as you have declared then have I cause to magnifie and praise the name of the Lord as long as I live for bringing me hither this day to you surely if the Lord doe count me worthy to come to his Table and to receive Jesus Christ with all his rich endowments then may I truly say as I remember Hannah Samuels mother 1 Sam. 2. 8 said in her song He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and lifteth up the begger from the dunghill to set him among Princes and to make him inherit the throne of glory I little thought when I came hither with my neighbour Simon that I should bee found to be more fit and more worthy to be admitted to the Lords Table then he surely Sir if you had not proved it so plainly I should not have beleeved it Min. Assure your selfe neighbour Mathias that this day the words of the Apostle James are fulfilled concerning you two where he saith that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and so are the words of the Virgin Mary where she saith that God filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away Mat. Sir I will now take my leave of you and truly I cannot tell how to expresse my thankfulnesse to you for the great paines you have taken with me this day the Lord in mercy make it profitable to me and recompence your paines to you an hundred fold and I beseech you Sir pray for me Min. Now the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole spirit and soule and 1 Thes 5. 23 24. body be preserved blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfull is he he that calleth you who also will doe it Mat. The Lord be with you Sir Come neighbour Simon will not you goe along with me Sim. No I pray you be going before and I will come after you Mat. Well then I will also take my leave of you and I thanke you for suffering me to come along with you to this place where I have through the mercy of God received so much good Sim. Well but do not you now goe home and boast among our neighbours that Master M. hath found you fit to be admitted to the sacrament and me unfit Mat. No neighbour Simon I shall not do so for I know that if it be so it is the free mercy of the Lord towards mee and therefore I desire rather to speake to my owne soule and say unto it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. For who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received Now if thou hast received it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it And so the Lord be with you both Sim. Fare you well good neighbour Mathias Min. The Lord be with you good neighbour Sim. Well Sir I wish that I were fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for I see there is much good to be gotten by the right receiving of it Min. Surely neighbour Simon if men did but know what good is to be obtained at the hands of the Lord by the right partaking thereof and what hurt doth come to a man by not receiving it aright they would not onely desire to come thereunto as indeed many doe though it is to be feared hand over head as we use to say not knowing what they doe but they would also endeavour to fit and prepare themselves thereunto and therefore no marvell though you do desire that you were fit to receive it aright Sim. Sir I doe perceive that he who is not fit to partake thereof is a miserable man whether he do receive it or not Min. He is so indeed for if he doe receive it being not fit he doth thereby commit the greatest sinne that is unpardonable and doth expose himselfe to the greatest misery that can befall a man either here or hereafter as you know I told my neighbour Alexander and if he receive it not then hee misseth and comes short of all that good which you know I told our neighbour Mathias comes to a man by means of the right receiving thereof O then what great care and paines ought men to take to fit and prepare themselves to partake of that Ordinance and how often should they frequent it being duly fitted and prepared And yet alas for want of so doing how many men and women by their absence doe deprive themselves of these great benefits Some there are that are neither fit nor willing to come others there are that are willing to come and yet not fit to come and others there are that are fit to come and yet not willing as for instance How many are there who because they cannot receive the Sacrament kneeling as they have formerly done are not willing to come What said an old simple ignorant man in my hearing not long since Rather then I will receive it so unreverently as they doe now a dayes by sitting at Table as if they were equall with Jesus Christ I will never receive it while I live And are there not some others who meerly out of a superstitious conceit doe desire to come and yet by reason of their unfitnesse are justly upon examination kept backe by the Eldership And are there not some who it may be are fit to come and yet doe not come either because they are ashamed to come before so many men to bee examined as they are informed doe sit upon that occasion or else are fearfull least they should not be able to answer them to their content and so be turned backe to their disgrace And are there not also some others who it may be are fit to come and yet either because they scorne to be examined at these yeares or by such and such a man whom they doe conceive is inferiour to themselves they will not come And are there not others also who are fit to come and yet doe not come because such are admitted to the Sacrament whom they conceive are not fit to partake thereof Thus I say either thorow superstitious ignorance prophannesse or through foolish shame or feare or else through the sinne of pride many are kept from that great benefit which otherwise they might receive by the right partaking of that Ordinance Sim. It is true indeed Sir I see it clearly and therefore I beseech you tell me what course you would advise me to take to fit and prepare my selfe thereunto that so I may come before you

pray you Sir let me know who these Professors be and what they doe that so I may know whether I be one of them or no. Min. Why one sort of them of whom I thinke meet to speake first are such as may be truly called Antinomisticall Professors who confound the righteousnesse of Sanctification with the righteousnesse of Justification in making them to be both one for they will have that righteousnesse which is inherent in Christ to be the righteousnesse both of their Justification and of their Sanctification they will have all righteousnesse to be inherent in Christ and no righteousnesse to be inherent in themselves they will have God to impute all righteousnesse unto them but not infuse any righteousnesse into them they will apply a perfect righteousnesse unto themselves by faith when as they have neither faith nor righteousnesse they will have Christ without his Spirit and so indeed have neither Christ nor his Spirit you shall heare these men and women in their conference with others about these points will be ever uttering these or the like speeches As for me truly I have nothing in me that is good but am wholly sinfull neither doe I looke for any thing else to be in me but sinne and yet I doe verily beleeve that I am perfectly righteous in the sight of God through Christ or in Christ being cloathed with a garment of Salvation and covered with a robe of Righteousnesse so that I am all faire and cleane and there is no spot in me These men and women because they are not to looke for any good in themselves as a ground or cause of their faith they will not looke for any good in themselves as an evidence of faith because they are not to looke for inherent righteousnesse before they have by faith apprehended the imputed righteousnesse therefore they will not looke for any inherent righteousnesse at all because they must not looke for inherent righteousnesse to move them to beleeve therefore they will not looke for it to assure them that they have beleeved Sim. Surely Sir these men and women are much mistaken but what doe you thinke is the reason of it Min. Why truly I have thought upon three Reasons of it as first because that they have either by meanes of hearing reading or conference been instructed in the law of faith onely without instruction in the law of workes going before or the Doctrine of the Law of Christs following after or else in the Doctrine of the law of workes and the law of faith without the Doctrine of the Law of Christ My meaning is they have been instructed that they of themselves are altogether unable either to doe or suffer that which the law as it is the covenant of workes requireth and that they are therefore in a damnable condition and that yet notwithstanding if they truly beleeve and so apprehend the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ they shall have life and salvation but they have not been instructed that if they doe truly beleeve then they doe hereupon become subject and obedient to the minde and will of Christ revealed in his Word they have been instructed that he is Jesus a Saviour but they have not been instructed that to whomsoever he is Jesus a Saviour he is also to them Christ a Lord. The second Reason is because they take faith to be nothing else but a meere notion of Christ and his Righteousnesse swimming in their braine or at the best but a meere apprehension thereof in their minds which is but a faith of their own forging so they think they have a strong faith when as indeed they have not the least measure or degree of a true weake faith they thinke they have Christ in their hearts when as indeed he is but in their heads they thinke they have him in their wills and affections when as indeed they have him but onely in their understandings And a third Reason is because they mistake the meaning of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 30. where he saith that Christ is made unto us of God both righteousnesse and sanctification for whereas they doe thence conclude that Christs inherent righteousnesse is not onely that righteousnesse whereby a Beleever is justified but also that righteousnesse whereby he is sanctified and that in a Beleever there is no inherent righteousnesse nor sanctification as I have heard some have affirmed the meaning of the Apostle is not so but his meaning is that God hath not onely ordained that Beleevers should be justified by having the righteousnesse which is inherent in Christ imputed unto them but that Christ also should by his Spirit infuse righteousnesse into them and so sanctifie them he having not only by the merit of his Death procured the one but also by the vertue of his Death procured the other and so indeed is made unto them both righteousnesse and sanctification and thus have I shewed you the first sort of those Professors who confound his two-fold righteousnesse and how they doe it Sim. Well Sir I thanke God I am none of this sort and therefore I pray you shew me also who are the second sort and how they doe it Min. Why the second sort are such as are truly called formall or legall Professors who confound the righteousnesse of justification with the righteousnesse of sanctification making them to be both one for they will have that righteousnesse which is inherent in man himselfe or rather those righteous actions which are performed and done by himselfe to be not only that righteousnesse wherby he is sanctified but also that righteousnesse whereby he is justified and hence it is that such men doe labour and endeavour to reforme their lives and their waies and to performe good duties both towards God and man and also to the end they may have a ground to build their faith upon and so farre forth as they can see a righteous disposition in themselves and righteous and religious actions performed by themselves why so farre forth they will beleeve that they are justified in the sight of God and no further Sim. And I pray you Sir shew me also the ground and reason of this their mistake Min. Why truly I have also thought upon three Reasons of this whereof the first is because they either by meanes of hearring reading or conference have been instructed in such a manner in the Law of the ten Commandments as if a man in the time of this life were able to keepe and doe them perfectly and so might be justified in the sight of God by his owne obedience to them and they have not been condemned and killed by the Law in having it made knowne unto them in the purity and perfection of it The second Reason is because they have had little or no instructions in the Doctrine of the Law of faith or Covenant of promise especially betwixt that covenant and the covenant of workes or betwixt the righteousnesse of Justification and the righteousnesse of