Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26211
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The judgment of the learned and pious St. Augustine concerning penal lavves against conventicles : and for vnity in religion : deliver'd in his 48th epistle to Vincentius.; Epistolae. Number 48. English
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Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing A4210; ESTC R4058
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8,337
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19
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the earth shall serve our Lord Christ by thus curing the Diseased and healing the Weak He is not alwayes our Friend who spares us nor he alwayes our Enemy who strikes us Better are the wounds of a Friend then the kisses of an Enemy Prov. 27.6 It is better to love with Severity then to deceive with Lenity It is better to take the Bread from the hungry if feeding him makes him neglect Righteousness then to give him Bread to continue him unjust He that binds a Mad-man and awakens a Lethargick is troublesome to both but loves both Who can Love us more then God does yet he does not only teach us kindly but also profitably terrifies us To his gentle Lenitives adding the bitter Medicament of Tribulation He exercised the Pious and Religious Patriarchs with hunger the stubborn People with greater Pains He takes not from the Apostle the Thorn in the Flesh though Thrice intreated that he might perfect Strength in Weakness Let us Love our Enemies for this is just and Gods Command that we may be like our Heavenly Father who makes his Sun to shine upon the good and bad But as we commend his Gifts so let us think of his Stripes wherewith he scourges every Son whom he loves Think you that no man ought to be Compell'd to Goodness when you read how the Father of the Family sent out his Servants to Compel them to come in whom they found Luke 17.23 When you read of Saul afterwards Paul compell'd by Christ himself with great violence to receive and defend the Truth Is Money dearer to Men then the sight of their Eyes yet Christ strook him blind and did not restore him to his sight till he was Incorporated into Holy Church and Do you think that there is no Force to be used to Free Men from Dangerous Errors when you see God who loves us no one better by diverse Instances doing the same and hear Christ saying No man comes to me unless the Father drawes him which is done in the hearts of all who turne to God for fear of his displeasure Have ye not sometimes known a Thief scattering Meat before the Sheep to draw them away and steal them and a Shepheard with his Rod driving back the stragling Sheep to the Fold We read of Sarah Chastising her stubborn servant Hagar expelling her and her Son and yet St. Paul sayes That as then Ishmael he that was after the Flesh persecuted him that was after the Spirit Gal. 4. So it is now By which you may understand that the Church rather suffers Persecution by the Pride and Wickedness of Carnal Men whom she endeavours to amend by Temporal Punishments and Corrections Whatsoever therefore the TRUE MOTHER does in this Case though it may seem harsh and bitter she does not render evil for evil but endeavours by wholesome Discipline to expel Sin not out of hatred or desire to hurt but out of a love to heal When good and bad Men doe and suffer the same things they are to be differenced not by their Deeds or Sufferings but by their Causes Pharaoh exercised the People of God with hard Labour Moses Chastised the same People when they did wickedly These did both the same things but they did not aime alike at the Peoples good in one it was Domineering Pride in the other Pure Charity Jezabel kill'd the Lords Prophets Elias slew the false Prophets I suppose the Merits of the Doers were as diverse as those of the Sufferers View the times of the New Testament when Meekness and Charity were not only to be kept in the Heart but are to Shine before Men when Peters Sword by Christs own order was Commanded into the Sheath and we thereby Taught that the Sword must not be drawn no not for Christ yet there we read God delivered up his Son to Death The Son gave up Himself to Death And it said of Judas That Satan entered into him that he should deliver him to be Crucified Why is God good and jâ—st and Man guilty and sinful in this Act but because in the same thing which they both did there was not the same cause for which they did it There were three Crosses in the same place on one hung the Thief that was to be saved on another the Thief who was to be damned Christ in the midst who was to save one and condemn the other What more like then these three Crosses What more unlike then the three that hung thereon Paul was delivered to Prison to be bound 1 Cor. 5. St. Paul Delivers a man to Satan worse then any Jaylor for the destruction of his Flesh that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. Let us learn to Discern Difference or Intentions in the same Actings nor let us shut ouâ— eyes and Slander and Accuse Good Men for Persecutors 1 Tim. 1.20 when the same Apostle sayes That he delivered some to Satan that they might learn not to Blaspheme Did he render evil for evil Did he not rather Judge it a good Work to amend Ill Men by the Evil One If it were alwayes Praise-worthy to suffer it had been enough for our Lord to have said â—lessed are they who suffer he needed not to have added for Righteousness sake If it were alwayes a Fault to make any man suffer it would never be Just to inflict Punishment Sometimes therefore he is Unjust who suffers and he Just who afflicts Certainly at all times have the Evil persecuted the Good and the Good punisht the Wicked those unjustly to hurt these to amend by Discipline Those Cruelly these Mercifully those serving their Lust these their Charity For he that Kills considers not how he Butchers but he that Cures takes heed how he Cuts the former aimes at destruction the other at health and recovery Wicked Men kill'd the Prophets and the Prophets put some Men to death The Jews whipt Christ and Christ whipt the Jews The Apostles were delivered to the Secular Powers and the Apostles delivered some to the Power of Satan In all these we must consider who Suffers for the TRUTH who for INIQUITY who Afflicts to Hurt who afflicts to amend Nebuchadnezzar made a Decree That whosoever would not worship his Idols should be put to death he made another Decree afterward That whosoever should Blaspheme the God of Shedrac c. should be put to death The first was a wicked Law punishing the Godâ—y the second was a Pious Law Correcting the ungodly Who of us nay Who of you does not Commend the Lawes of Emperours made against the Heathen Sacrifices yet there the Penalty was Capital But in the Lawes against Schismaticks such moderation was used that the Lawes seem'd rather to Admonish then Punish you For perhaps it may be said of you what St. Paul said of the Jewes Rom. 10. I bear them witness that they have a Zeale of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish