Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	life_n	see_v	3,300	5	3.3210	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06525	A very comfortable and necessary sermon in these our dayes made by the right reuerend father and faithfull seruaunt of Iesus Christ Martin Luther ; concerning the comming of our Sauior Christ to Iudgement and the signes that go before the Last Day, which sermon is an exposition of the Gospell appointed to be red in the church on the second Sonday in Aduent ; and is now newly translated out of Latin into English and something augmented and enlarged by the translator with certaine notes in the margent.	Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.; Becon, Thomas, 1512-1567.	1570 (1570)	STC 16997.5; ESTC S2800	32,573	96

how the word of God is dayly more more contemned Many kind of errours pestiferous sectes horrible wickednesses increase dayly whereby the world is worse and worse whiles we hope but in vayne for amendement Wherfore then in such miseries and calamities should we be greatly desirous of our lyfe And if I for myne owne part had no great cause to desire the end of all things yet the perill and daunger of my brethren scattered here and there in the world ought to moue me for whose sake we haue good cause hartly to pray for it whose state is such as we both heare see that they are constrained to suffer all maner of ignominy reproch slaunderous wordes both priuely and openly violent iniury and finally most greuous persecution what soeuer with diuers kinds of tormentes cruelly handled and put to death For how many euē in our dayes haue we sene partly burnt openly or by some such meanes made away partly put to death priuely and by traiterous meanes dispatched There are many besides the infinite number of holy mē which haue bene slayne before our tyme since the Ascention of our Sauiour Christ or rather since the beginnyng of the world Whose bloud beyng yet vnreuenged cryeth for the commyng of our Sauiour to iudgement to the end they beyng restored to their bodyes agayne may haue full fruition of the ioyes lōg looked for and may be reuēged of the world as the reuelation of Iohn declareth Where God comforteth them after this sort saying that they must rest for a litle season vntil the number of their fel●…w seruaūtes and brethren which should be killed in like maner were fulfilled which I hope is now come to passe Therfore both the Christians that are lyuyng and those that are departed after a sorte do desire vs to helpe them with our prayers desiring God to hasten their redemption For what thing can be more miserable vnto Christiās then that they should be cōstrained alwayes to hold their tounges the world and the deuill continually bragging and raging ouer thē dayly putting to death and cruelly murderyng more more of the faithfull professours of Iesus Christ his vnfaillible word and seducyng men more and more encreasing these haynous offēces which before were vntollerable We heare see at this present the Turke and the Pope which is Antichrist rage with most cruell tyranny agaynst y name of Christ dayly sheddyng the bloud of his Saintes with many sectes bysides contrary to his Gospell And should we holdyng our handes in our bosome looke vpon the deuill practisyng without measure his crafty deuises agaynst the Christians and not make our earnest prayer vnto God for them without ceasyng There is no sparke of Christianity in a mans body remainyng that would not pray vnto God withall his harte to be deliuered out of these so great miseries and calamities Therfore if we haue a mynde to be Christians we must endeuer our selues to pray diligently and earnestly as our Sauiour hath taught vs and as our necessity requireth if it be any necessity whē we see good Christiās with great persecution slayne true doctrine oppressed the kingdome of the deuill withall maner of vice wickednes aduaunced Saintes by the meanes of wicked men not onely despised and troade vnder foote but consumed to dust and ashes finally the Gospell of Christ our Lord and his name spitefully blasphemed Therfore let vs call vpon God all that we may desiryng him for the glory of his name to take vppon him the defence of hys Christian children and of his owne doctrine and bryng them by hys commyng at the last day to iudge the quicke and the dead to that glorious rest which he hath promised and prepared for them frō the beginning of the world through the death and Passion of the immaculate lambe our Sauiour Christ. But if any man through the infirmitie of hys fleshe be afrayde of that day let hym print deepely in his mind the wordes of Christ our Sauiour and comfort him selfe with this that hee byddeth vs lift vp our heades and be of good cheare callyng that tyme our redemptiō that is not death but euerlastyng life not wrath but mercy and grace not hell but the kingdome of God not terror or daunger but comfort and ioye And therfore Paule not without a cause calleth it the blessed hope and appearyng of the glory of the great God and our Sauiour Iesus Christ. Therfore we may be of good cheare nede not feare the losse of our lyfe nor his commyng to Iudgemēt which hath geuen vs his Gospell and his grace therewith not to deny him but to loue him and confesse him to shunne no daūger in his cause which are and will be layd before vs of the world and of the deuill vntill the comming of our Sauiour whose comming shall not be terrible but ioyfull yet not to the world but to vs miserable sinners which for a tyme must continue here as it were in a den of theues where the deuill day and night seeketh to draw vs takyng away from vs not onely our life and our goods but vexyng our hartes and our consciences with diuers stormes of temptations to the ende we should feare the day of our redēption and beyng destitute of all cōfort should fal into vtter desperation Unto vs thus troubled the commyng of our Sauiour shal be ioyfull but vnto the world which will not beleue what daunger hangeth ouer his head before he haue experience thereof it shall bryng terrour feare plagues death destruction hell fire Therfore when that day shall come vpon the sodaine and vtterly destroy all thinges there is no cause why thou that art a faithfull Christian shouldest be afrayd therof least it destroy thee in lyke sorte For either beyng receiued thou shalt bee taken out of the graue and out of dust into heauē or els in a moment thou shalt be chaunged into a glorious estate for euer placed where no sinne no feare no sorrow no daunger but true rightuousnes ioy peace lyfe tranquilitie and euerlastyng blessednes shall reigne These thynges we looke for and preach for the little flockes sake which shall receaue them at that day which we desire withall our hartes and hope it to be now hard at hand bycause so many signes and tokens thereof are already past forespoken by Christ our true Sauiour And this is that consolation comfort which no mā can geue but onely the holy ghost by the word of Christ our Lord. Let vs suffer therefore the Sunne the Moone and all creatures to lowre and to threaten terrible thinges to come For although they bee terrible vnto the world they are ioyfull vnto vs which in them see that cōfortable deliueraūce which our Sauiour by y wordes of this Gospell hath declared vnto vs and which he expoundeth vnto vs by this godly parable or similitude folowyng See sayth he the figge trees and all other trees when

sunne the moone and the starres be already fulfilled or not But this is my belefe most certaine hope that the greater part of them haue bene already sene and that many other are not here after to bee looked for For if we will beleue there hath bene sene euen in our time aboundantly both many and great Eclipses or darkenyngs of the sunne and mone within few yeares together one after an other besides diuers in one yeare the lyke we haue not read to haue appeared at any time before since the begyn nyng of the world But he that will not beleue the word of God will not beleue y signes nor take them for signes but will cōtemne them and tread them vnder hys foote yea although the sunne should be dayly darkned before his eyes the starres should fall by heapes from heauen Although Astronomers say that such darkenynges of the sunne and moone happen by y course of nature which some of them can tel of before hand yet they deny not but they signifie some terrible thyng to happen on the earth especially seyng there be so many all most euery yeare Besides this contrary to the course of nature many signes haue bene sene in the Heauens many Sunnes at one time many Raynebowes many terrible blasyng Starres fyres in the ayre like dartes and swordes and diuers other prodigious sygnes which if they should be written would fill a whole volume but all are forgotten if they be not dayly before our eyes and assone as they are past we liue securely as though no such thyng had euer happened at any tyme yea rather the oftener they happen so much the lesse we regard them For we take thē for customable thynges thinkyng with our selues that of necessitye they must so come to passe makyng no more accountes of them afterwardes And true it is that of necessity they must so come to passe otherwise they should be tokens in vayne and the world should not bee so soone destroyed if it beyng moued therby should beleue the Gospell For it might turnyng to God by repentaunce auoyde or turne away his wrath ▪ or at the least prolong it for a tyme But alas this is rather the chief care of the world by continuyng in wickednes most obstinatly heapyng sinne to hastē Gods wrath and spedely to procure●…hys owne destruction Thus much as concernyng the signes in the Sunne the Moone and the Starres Now as touchyng the signes in the Sea and the Waters I commit them in like maner to the Iudgement of my Christian brethren Whether they be fulfilled al ready or no. Old men testify that no man aliue is able to remember so great tempestes windes and floudes as haue happened within these few yeares Some floudes haue drowned whole countreys such haue happened of late about Rome and in the lower Germany besides the earth quakes which we haue heard of but I let them passe By these thynges it semeth that such is now the condition of the world that nothing shall continue any longer in hys old estate but all things shall quickly be turned vpsidedowne and fall to decay And also this we see come to passe by many examples that many are so troubled and vexed that for very anguishe of mynde they dispayre Which thyng may be vnderstanded both bodely and spiritually but especially spiritually For we haue heard of many before tyme and yet dayly heare of mo whom the deuill so troubleth and vexeth by temptations and desperation that for the greatnes of the grief and anguish they lay hand vpon them selues procure their owne death so that we see all the signes forespokē by our Sauiour Christ haue happened in all the world And although all thynges be not fully cōplished and ended yet we can not deny but that the greater part of them is already fulfilled especially so many happenyng together one after an other Therfore litle or nothyng hereafter is to be looked for besides the end of all thyngs which signes are therfore forespoken to put vs out of doubt and that we should not thinke they happen without a cause by chaūce or fortune rather thē to signifie some notable thyng to come But they are in dede all of them terrible signes threatening vnto the world cruell euēts although it do not feele them nor care for them But true Christians do both see them and marke them well are therby terrified much more then nedes seyng they are not sent to their destruction but rather to their consolation therfore they ought with ioy gladnes to behold cōsider them and not be discouraged although the firmament appeare lamentable vnto the beholders the Sunne the Moone the Starres and all the heauen beyng darkened The Sunne although he be couered with a thicke and blacke cloude although he leese his light neuerthelesse he goeth forwardes in hys course he is no worse then he was before he remaineth the same Sunne still and shineth as he dyd before sauyng that he lowreth for a time in token of destruction to wicked men in lyke mader the residue as the Moone and the Starres in that they seeme terrible to behold it is no harme vnto them selues For they are no tokens vnto them selues but vnto the wicked world of whō they are contēned After the same sort whereas mē are troubled and vexed hauyng a timerous fearefull consciēce it is in dede a terrible signe but not vnto thee or thē which suffer this if they be Christians onely it signifieth destruction to the wicked and despisers therof which do not suffer it but neglect it For the sufferers are preserued neuerthelesse and take no harme therby although they go vp and downe with a pensiue mynde in token of destruction to the wicked and vngodly persons Euen as Esay went naked and without shooes and Ieremy caryed a chayne about hys necke for a signe of misery and calamity to the Egyptians and Philistines and yet no harme happened vnto either of them For Ieremy remayned out of bondage ▪ thraldome and in as much liberty as he was before and Esay notwithstādyng hys ▪ nakednes kept still hys garmentes So they which kepyng vnto them a good cōscience do cary about them these tokens shal be without harme and voyde of of all daunger onely they declare vnto other what shortly after shal be their estate and condicion For although they bee euill signes yet they bryng no euill to them that cary them Otherwise he that hath the execution of condemned persons would not cary the sword or the axe neither durst any mā cary a weapon But thou which art a mansleaer and murderer take thou hede to thy selfe for thou art lyke to go to the pot when the officer draweth foorth his sword In lyke maner the fire the gibbet the halter the gallowes hurte not them selues but bryng destructiō to theeues and robbers which haue committed haynous offences So before the last day there must be many men whom

they shoot out their buds you see and know of your selues how that Sōmer is thē nigh at hand so likewise ye also whē see these thinges come to passe be sure that the kyngdome of GOD is nigh Doubtelesse this is a notable exposition which I my selfe could neuer inuent or apply vnto this purpose For who euer herd that the darkenyng of y Sunne and the Moone the destructiō of the heauē and earth the feare and tremblyng of men the ruine of the ayre water all creatures should be likened to the shootyng out of buds and y blossomyng of trees I would thinke rather that these thynges should bee lykened to a rough sharpe and very hard winter which with vntollerable cold destroyeth and kylleth all frutes and what soeuer groweth vpon the earth But our Sauiour Christ of all other the best interpreter and expounder of his word expoundeth these signes after an other sorte better to our comfort and consolation shewyng that those thynges which seeme terrible vnto vs are pleasaūt and beautifull to behold as if we see the Sunne and the Moone darkened the water and the wyndes stormy and tempestuous the mountaines ouerthrowē made equall with the valleyes he teacheth vs to say thankes be to God for now the pleasaunt som●…●…s at hād now we see the spryng of the leafe in some trees and other some to shoot out theyr buddes No man no reason no humane wisedome could thus interprete these signes terrible to behold that redemption and euerlastyng ioye should be signified thereby which vnto reason mans wisedome seeme rather to prognosticate death and all kind of destruction But seyug we haue learned this interpretation of such a notable scholemaster euē of him which sendeth them and therfore knoweth best how to expound thē therfore I say let vs learne it well accustome our selues vnto it that we may print it in our mindes the better to our comfort and that we may behold these signes and geue our indgement of them accordyng to the word of God and not according to reason and mans wisedome which is foolish and ●…ull of corruption which teacheth vs to shunne and bee afrayed of those things that in dede are pleasaunt ioyfull It will not gladly suffer vs to be hold all thinges darkened and to looke lowringly thunder lightenyng great stormes tēpestes are vnacceptable vnto it Notwithstanding a Christian mā ought not to be troubled therwith but take hold vpon Gods word whereby he openeth our myndes that as he interpreteth these thinges we may interprete them also knowyng therby y pleasantnes of sommer is now at hād and the earth will very shortly bryng forth an abundance of goodly lilies and swete roses most pleasāt to behold that is to lay that now after this filthy and wicked lyfe in the which we are tumbled and tossed with many miseries and calamities we shal be brought into the hauen of tranquillitie blessednes and all pleasure which neuer shall haue end For this is his will that as we must be new mē so we must haue new sences new cogitatiōs new vnderstandyng of thynges not behold any thyng with the eyes of our own reason as they seme vnto the world but with the eyes of faith and as they seme vnto God that we may the better fashiō our selues vnto that new lyfe to come which is inuisible which we hope for after the tribulation of this world And that we be not delighted with this temporall lyfe nor greued to depart out of it or to see the destruction of the world and all creatures therin of whom it is no time now to take pitie we ought rather to take pitie of the miserable Christiās both of them which presently are afflicted in the world and also of them which beyng departed sleepe in the graue and desire to see the glorious day of their resurrection Euen as the yerbes which in the wynter tyme lye hid in the earth and the trees the iuyce therof beyng kept in with cold can not spryng and bryng forth buds blossomes and leaues but looke for the spryng at which tyme shootyng out their buds they florish and are liuely to behold so we in lyke maner ought with ioy to looke for the iast day saying Now the sharpenes of wynter is ended the pleasaunt sommer is come yea such a sommer which neuer shall haue end At the commyng wherof not onely the Saintes but also the Angels reioyce and are glad Pea all creatures after a sort looke for it and desire it earnestly For heauen earth Sunne Starres ayre and all creatures can no lenger beare the wickednes of the world which they are constrayned to behold vnto whom it is greuous to serue to the vse or rather to the abuse of sinners are an ayde to the wickednes of the deuil And therefore they would gladly bee deliuered of thys fylthy bondage and be made a new heauen and a new earth as Peter and the Prophet Esay sayth in y which onely rightuousnes shall dwell For iniquitie and the wi●…kednes of man passeth all measure so that it can not be suffred any longer And therfore all thynges are moued as now we see crying as it were vnto God for their deliueraunce For this cause our Sauiour Christ concludeth after this sort So you when you see these thynges come to passe know that the kyngdome of God is at hand Verely I say vnto you this age shall not passe vntill all thynges be fulfilled heauen and earth shall passe but my word shall not passe As though he should say you haue prayed after this sorte Let thy kyngdome come deliuer vs from euill Therfore now know you for a certainty euen as certainely as my worde is true and euerlastyng that when you see these sygnes your prayer is heard that the kyngdome of God shall come euen as you haue desired and all sinne shall haue an end and be consumed c. Therfore when I come in the cloudes withall my aungels with great glory in flaming fyre wherwith all creatures shall melt and be consumed and all thinges shall geue alyght and shyne after a straunger and wonderfull sorte your bodyes shal be glorified so that they shall passe the purenes of the ayre and all the army of heauen shyne they neuer so bright and shall raigne with me for euer in vnspeakable glory Finally you shall see the wicked vnder your feete naked in the earth in perpetuall shame tremblyng and shakyng beyng accursed and cast downe headlong into hell Now to make an end after this sort as I haue declared vnto you the signes of the last day must be expounded vnto the Christian people that it may appeare they signifie no harme but marueilous ioy great profite and commodity As for the Astronomers let them interprete them to signifie nothyng els but warre murder and vtter destruction let them feare and tremble which haue and desire nothyng but a temporall lyfe