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	suffer_v	suffering_n	2,047	5	9.4271	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81927	A peace-maker without partiality and hypocrisie. Or The gospel-way to make up the present breaches of brotherhood, and heale the divisions, whereby some of the reforming professors and ministers of the kindome at the time, sadly dishonour their profession, mainley obstruct our reformation, utterly destroy the safe constitution both of church and state. Wherein are handled, 1. How the meanes of Christian peace, as well civill as ecclesiasticall, may bee found and ought to bee followed, both by pastors and people. 2. What are the speciall lets of Ecclesiasticall reconciliation, and what the causes of divisions are, and how to be remedied. 3. What are the grounds, termes and motives of brotherly unitie and forbearance, which the ministers and members of the churches of England ought ot professe and practise one towards another for the gospels sake. / All written upon severall occasions and at severall times by Mr. John Dury, one of the assembly of divines, &c. and now published by Samuel Hartlib, to whom they were sent.	Dury, John, 1596-1680.	1648 (1648)	Wing D2877; Thomason E458_19; ESTC R205070	94,791	118

equitable and charitable affections which the Spirit of Christ doth suggest yet now being put in minde thereof if henceforth the motions of his Spirit bee not rejected but sincerely entertained openly professed and effectually followed who doth not know but that yet a happy composure of our differences may be effected Thirdly Declarations of the truth that is in us are good but however they are no more but words except then reall actions answer them How they should prosecute thier aime and speake the truth of justice and peaceablenesse in our proceedings there can bee nothing but bitternesse in the end For nothing can prevent the crosse workings of mens spirits against us but that which is able to beget and settle a confidence in their mindes towards us and to beget this confidence and allay these jealousies which cause mens spirits boyle up to a disturbance of those proceedings wherein wee meane well I would suggest to our leading men these impartiall considerations The parts of this discourse 1 That they ought to lay to heart the causes which hinder others to confide in us to remove the same 2 That they ought to seeke and finde out the persons which are most capable of receiving good impressions of us and from us that the same may bee given them and by them propagated unto all 3 That they should make use of the proper meanes by which confidence is bred in honest mindes towards us that the same may bee set a working 4 That they should observe the method and manner of proceeding requisite in doing this that the attempt may bee effectuall and not miscarry Of these foure heads I shall suggest somewhat tending to the advancement of peace and truth as briefly as I can First concerning the causes hindering others to confide in us and begetting feares in them against us let me say this The causes of mistrust and feare He that doth not confide in his neighbours doth hinder them to confide in him and hee that doth feare others doth beget in them causes of feare against himselfe if then wee would have others to confide in us and not feare us wee must also confide in them and not feare them For if I cannot bring my spirit to trust my neighbour how can I expect that his spirit should bee brought to trust me and if I thinke that hee doth not trust me I will readily suspect him if I suspect him I will either arme my selfe to oppose him or weaken him lest hee oppose mee and if I give way to these thoughts I am at warre with him in my heart and the affection of Christian love and ingenuitie which onely can beget confidence is lost between us love being lost the fruits of emulation envie and passion will bee found and break forth in our nature I finde the sequele of matters in our nature to lie thus Where I doe not love I cannot confide where I confide not I will finde cause to mistrust where I finde cause to mistrust I will fortifie my selfe against the same and if I fortifie my selfe against my neighbour I must expect that hee will doe the like against mee for what cause hath hee to trust mee more then I doe him therefore as long as I manifest no love nor trust but force onely there can bee no confidence expected from any towards mee The maine hinderance then of confidence and cause of feare is the endeavour of force and if I once begin to endeavour force I seeke not onely security to my selfe but the conquest of that which I thinke is mine opposit because I cannot naturally rest secure as long as that which I count an enemy is not subdued and whatsoever I doe not trust I am apt to account an enemy therefore whilst I make nothing my friend but mine owne force I am apt to trust to nothing else but it From all which this doth follow that as soone as I forsake the simplicitie of my love I beget naturally feares within my selfe and when I take a course to secure my selfe from my feares by force I multiply feares in others and give them cause to mistrust me Let me then cure mine owne feares first which I have of others and then I shall bee able to cure the feares which others have of me if I take the beame out of mine owne eye I shall see cleer to take the moat out of my neighbours Quest But the question will be How shall I cure mine owne feares Answ Isa 8.12.13 Truely to answer this I know none other way but to follow Gods counsell by the Prophet Isaiah Say ye not saith the Lord A confederacie to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacie neither feare ye their feare nor be afraid sanctifie the Lord of hosts himselfe and let him bee your feare and let him bee your dread It is then nothing else but the base feare of men upon politick considerations The cure of our owne fears and the want of the true feare of God upon divine Principles which troubles mee and drives mee to courses which make others afraid of mee but if I did not at all looke to men but unto God alone if I did not confide in mine owne force but in the Almighty others would finde cause to confide in mee As I behave my selfe towards God so I must expect that others will behave themselves towards mee if I mean from my heart well towards others in God God will move others to meane so also towards me 1 Pet. 3.13 14. And who is he saith the Apostle that will harme you if ye bee follwers of that which is good if I mind nothing but that which is good to every one what cause have I to think that any will mind harme or evill against me But suppose I suffer wrong whiles I minde that which is good and righteous the Apostle saith that I am happy and if I am happy I need not bee afraid of men nor troubled at my suffering But what if I bee afraid and troubled is it not because I am not willing to suffer in doing good if then I to avoyd suffering for righteousnesse will secure my selfe by force and make others afraid of mee it is evident that I doe not commit my selfe and my cause to God in well doing but I take it in mine owne hand to manage it by mine owne strength and how this will prosper I need not to mention Quest But now you will perhaps say How should I become a constant follower of that which is good Answ To answer this Matth. 7.12 the Doctrin and Rule of Christ is without all exception Whatsoever you would have others to doe to you doe you to them also the meaning is doe you it first unto them for we are commanded to consider one another to provoke each other to love and to good workes If I must consider to provoke then hee that is to bee provoked to love The way to

them is not to dictate any thing but onely to discover the possibility of a cure of this disease first in themselves and then in their hearers by the removall of the chiefe causes of all our prejudices which I shall reduce to two heads whereof the one is openly the other is secretly offensive That which doth openly offend and causeth prejudices to rise in the mindes of men who are otherwise godly and against men who are truely godly and their Brethren is the irregularitie of disputes and debates about matters of Religion which is mainly twofold some irregularitie there is in respect of the matter some there is in respect of the manner of disputing In respect of the matter prejudices are raised when men strive about needlesse matters and contend for words and this the Apostle doth often warne Timothy to avoid as a thing whereunto the Ministers were and would bee much subject 1 Tim. 1.4 5 6. and chap. 4.7 and chap. 6.4 5.20 and 2 Tim. 2.14 15 16 17 23. In respect of the manner of debating matters which are necessary and profitable prejudices are raised divers wayes but that which is the most common and hurtfull is that of passionate and provoking expressions against a mans person and his opinions to make him odious and his errours thought to bee extreame dangerous in that wherein hee dissents from us these railing accusations and all other injurious and insolent proceedings breed averse affections and stirring up mens spirits to strife and contradictions augment prejudices extreamly and fill the Churches with disturbance and confusion That which doth offend more secretly and doth beget much prejudice is the perverse and uncharitable observation of mens failings when they are construed suspiciously to the worse sense and then whispered in the eares of others that are leading men under the pretence of a caution or warning given unto them to take heed of this or of that for the strengthning of their hands in partiall designes and the promoting of particular interests This darke malicious devill who covers himselfe oft-times with a cloke of light and a zeale for holinesse and truth is exceeding busie in our dayes and hurtfull to our affaires and doth work his mischiefe not onely against him who is blasted in his reputation to make all the good which his talents may produce unprofitable unto others but also against the Authors of such whisperings themselves to make them the ring-leaders of division and of evill intelligence amongst brethren These are in brief the chief causes of our prejudices these must needs bee removed else the way of a lawfull condescension and forbearance will never bee plaine and easie in the settlement nor lasting in the continuance it will then bee of absolute necessitie that some course bee taken to remedy the same Therefore I shall for the present onely advise that when a brotherly transaction of matters towards a mutuall forbearance shall bee intended then some rules should bee thought upon debated and by common consent setled concerning three things First how needlesse disputes and multiplicitie of new controversies breaking forth in the Presse and Pulpit may be prevented Secondly how the injuriousnesse of censures and of proceeding which men of partiall dispositions and of high thoughts runne into may bee rectified when disputes are necessary And Thirdly how the secret mischief of suspicious whisperings and tale-bearing amongst Brethren may bee prevented and being discovered satisfactorily corrected And that some rules of righteousnesse may bee found in the Word to remedie these evills and may bee raised from the nature of Christian charitie equitie ingenuitie pietie discretion and prudencie I suppose none will deny who doth beleeve that the holy Scriptures with and by the spirit of God which is promised to the children of God are able to make the man of God perfect and throughly furnished unto every good word and worke Thus I have made out as briefly and as distinctly as this occasion seemeth to require the truth of the first and second assertion of this discourse namely that the Ministery of this kingdome is undeniably obliged in conscience to the mutuall profession of Brotherhood and that the termes of their unitie and forbearance are both in themselves full and satisfactory and may bee setled reciprocally amongst them in a plaine and easie way if the men that lead others were but willing to looke to God more then to men and to conscience more then to outward interests CHAP. XII The third Assertion Concerning the motions which should induce us to make profession of this unitie and forbearance Why these are requisite and what they are BUt now although these things are evidently thus demonstrable and by all that which hitherto hath been alledged it may be manifestly apparent that these who are the leaders of the flockes should not onely stand united and walk by one rule in that whereunto they have attained but also that their differences may and ought to bee composed in love by amiable meetings by orderly conferences and by the settlement of a necessary and lawfull forbearance of each other although I say all this is so yet wee see to the great dishonour of God the lamentable disadvantage of the truth and the extreame griefe of many godly soules that this hath not hitherto either beene done or effectually prosecuted and intended by those that are in the worke of the Ministery or if it hath been intended by some yet not so as it ought to have been that is upon the grounds which are proper unto their vocation What the causes of this neglect may bee wee shall not now particularly search into onely in generall wee may take notice that all such failings in dutie may proceed from two main causes either that men otherwise knowing and godly yet consider not the necessitie of this dutie in respect of the evills that follow upon the neglect thereof or that the excellencie commendablenesse and worth thereof is either not known or if not unknown yet not laid to heart Now then in this our present sad condition if any thing can be suggested which may be a helpe to remove these causes of our failing in this kind it may bee hoped that godly and conscionable men will bee more carefull of the performance and more fearefull of the neglect thereof then hitherto they have been Therefore it will not bee amisse but may bee of very great use to offer some motives and inducements to incline them without partialitie to these resolutions and this wee shall intend to doe if God permit CHAP. XIII Concerning the necessitie of Brotherly unitie in the Ministery IF then we should take into consideration the absolute necessitie of this dutie it will appeare that the present evills whereinto these Churches and the state of this kingdome are fallen and which threaten all with unavoydable ruine are mainely brought upon us through the neglect of that ministeriall unitie and correspondencie which is sutable unto Christianitie For whosoever

the description of this way doth shew a Threefold excellencie and usefulnesse of love The first is that without it no spirituall talents or good workes are profitable to the Church or to our owne salvation Vers 1 2 3. The second is that in it and by it all vertues tending to make a man perfect are wrought in us Vers 4 5 6. 7. The third is that above all other graces it is the onely durable and lasting unto eternitie Vers 8 9 10 11 12. Which doctrine being referred to the foregoing proposition in the last verse of Chap. 12. will produce this argument or demonstration concerning the excellencie of love That vertue without which no gifts nor good workes are usefull unto any and by which all vertues are wrought in us and which alone lasteth unto eternitie is the most excellent way to spirituall gifts But so it is that charitie is that vertue Ergo it is of all others the most excellent way to spirituall gifts The Minor or the Assumption of this argument is made good concerning charitie in the three severall parts thereof forementioned First then that without it no spirituall talents and outward good workes are usefull the Apostle doth make out in many particulars For he first mentioned the gift of utterance suppose a man could speake with the tongues of men and Angels yet if hee want charitie he is to his auditory but as sounding brasse or a tinkling Cymbale Vers 1. Afterwards the gifts of prophesie of understanding all mysteries of all knowledge of all faith to doe miracles yet if there be no charitie he declareth that all this is of no use and vertue neither to the Church nor to him that hath it Ver. 2. Then concerning good workes he supposeth the largest and most compassionate relief of the poore and the greatest constancy in martyrdome for the truth even that a man should give his body to bee burnt yet if there be no charity all these workes will availe him nothing Vers 3. Charitie then is more excellent then these gifts and is to bee counted the life and as it were the soule of them all Secondly that by charitie all vertues are wrought in us the Apostle doth in like manner declare in many particulars For the vertues which make us perfect for our behaviour towards persons in actions and about things they all proceed from charitie For our behaviour towards persons if others bee crosse and froward it teacheth long-suffering If they bee good and vertuons it teacheth kindnesse if they are in glory and prosperity it doth not envie their condition if wee in respect of our selves find some excellencies or eminencies in our own condition which others have not it doth not suffer us to vaunt thereof towards others nor to be puffed up thereby within our selves Vers 4. For our behaviour in actions whether they bee our own or other mens whether evill or good charity doth teach the vertues which are to bee exercised in them In our own actions in respect of the forme charity doth not behave it selfe unseemly in respect of the end it seeketh not her own In the actions of others if they bee evill it is not provoked easily to wrath or sharpnesse by them if they bee good it doth not thinke evill of them Vers 5. it s own proper action is joy whereof the object is not iniquitie but truth whether in our selves or others Vers 6. For our behaviour about things if the things are indifferent and present as done by others it beareth with them if the things are good and said or promised by others it beleeveth them or absent and expected from others it hopeth for them if the things are evill it endureth them Vers 7. Thus in all respects it doth make a man compleat in all vertues So that it is not without cause that the Apostle doth call it the bond of perfectnesse and in that respect doth exhort us above all other endeavours to exercise our selves therein Coloss 3.14 Above all these things put on charitie which is the bond of perfectnesse Thirdly that of all other graces necessary to make us perfect unto salvation charitie is alone the permanent vertue the Apostle doth shew First by declaring that it never faileth Secondly by comparing it with Prophecies with Tongues and with knowledge which all shall faile and vanish away Vers 8 9 10 11 12. And thirdly by exalting it above Faith and Hope as the greatest of these graces Vers 13. And if to all this wee should adde the commendations which the Apostle John in his first Epistle doth give unto this vertue as the chief meanes of our communion with God of comfort within our selves and of our inoffensivenesse towards our neighbour wee might bee very large upon this subject but to such as in their Ministery have any conscionable respect unto the expresse will of God and who can discerne the things that are excellent this will suffice at this time to commend unitie and charitie considered in themselves as they are good pleasant lovely and desirable Sect. III. Of the common rules of Christianitie as they are more especially obligatory unto Ministers in the duties of their calling BEsides the lovelinesse and excellency of these vertues which doth commend to all the practise thereof in a common way there are three speciall considerations which ought to induce Ministers of the Gospell to entertaine in the workes of their Ministery one with another the duties of brotherly communion and correspondency following thereupon The first is taken from the rules which are common to all professors without which none can bee answerable unto the calling wherewith hee is called unto Christianity it selfe The second is taken from the laudable practise of those who are set before them as infallible examples in the Ministery And the third is taken from the consideration of those things which God doth peculiarly require of them as they are Ministers So that none who neglecteth these duties will bee able to approve himselfe in the beautie of holinesse either a true Christian by the common profession or an upright follower of Christ and his Apostles in the Ministery or a faithfull servant to the trust committed unto him in his charge but in the day of accounts must expect to receive not the praise due to the good and faithfull but the reproof to be given to the wicked and slothfull servant Marth 25.21.23.26 together with his reward As for the duties of the common profession wherein professors are obliged to relate to one another and which to that effect are mainly pressed upon the consciences of all againe and again commended unto us in the Scriptures as matters which to uphold the integritie of the profession before the world are most of all necessary they are nothing else but the effects of unitie and love in truth and holinesse For truth and holinesse are the fundamentalls of a single profession but without the effects of love and unitie in these there