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	lord_n	see_v	5,118	5	3.3465	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77363	England saved vvith a notwithstanding: represented in a sermon to the Honourable House of Commons, assembled in Parliament, Novemb. 5. 1647. The day of Thanks-giving for deliverance from the Powder-Plot. / By William Bridge, sometimes fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, now preacher of Gods word at Yarmouth. Published by order of that House.	Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.	1648 (1648)	Wing B4452; Thomason E412_31; ESTC R204475	32,013	35

Ingage the Name of God more and more in the time of danger And seeing for his own Names sake he hath saved you and your Fathers and Children and Families as it is this day Come now and let us Exalt his Name together The Name of God is Exalted when ye speak highly of his Power Faithfulnesse Mercy free love and grace and of all his Attributes A man Exalts his Name when he ventures upon Great things and Hard things even Lyons in his way upon confidence on the Name of God as David against Goliah The Name of God is Exalted when men yeeld up their Resolutions and Ingagements and that Presently upon the least discovery of Dishonour that may come thereby to this Name of God We Exalt the Name of God when we labour to bear up those Ordinances Waies and Truths of God which the world Decries There is a Verball and there is a Reall Exalting of Gods Name it s not the Verball but the Reall that God expecteth And seeing he saveth us and all Ours hitherto for his own Names sake Why should we not all joyn together in Exalting his Name Oh! you that are Parents call upon your Children to Exalt his Name You that are Governours and Masters call upon your Servants to Exalt his Name Tel them how he hath saved us with a Notwithstanding for his own Names sake and therefore Exalt his Name This is the fift Duty I should now tel you in the Next place That if God doth save us with a Notwithstanding then we should Serve him with a Notwithstanding all Opposition Notwithstanding all Discouragements that we should Believe and Trust in him Notwithstanding all our Fears and Dangers But I hasten to the Next Doctrine which is this Doct. 2 When God doth save his people with a Notwithstanding he doth then leave such Marks and Characters of his Infinite Power upon their Deliverance to Salvation that he may be Fully Clearly Plainly known to the Sons of men Ye shall observe therefore That when God promised any great Deliverance to his people in the time of the Prophets he frequently addeth these words Then shall ye know that I am the Lord or Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah Gods Infinite and Almighty Power is never more seen or legible then when he works in a way of free love And therefore if ye look into the 14. Numb you find that when Moses pleaded with God to pardon and passe by the iniquity of his people to shew forth his grace and love to them he doth then implore and call in the Power the Great Power of God ver 17. it 's said He made the Heavens by his Power but here Great Power is used and expressed for the pardoning of Sin And in Psal 99.8 we find that his free love and Power are knit together Deus fortis condonans c. For he is not onely strong and Mercifull but he is strong in Mercy So that whensoever God doth save his people with a Notwithstanding his great Design is to make known his mighty power unto the Sons of men Quest But it wil be said now We are all convinced and perswaded that the Lord hath saved Us and Ours in a way of free love with a Notwithstanding But what Marks or Impressions of a Deity or of Infinite Power are there upon the Deliverances or Salvations that we have had Answ 1 First it 's onely God himself that can turn the Tyde Poor weak man may turne and divert the stream of a River but it 's onely God and the Infinite power of the Almighty that can turne the Tyde When the Tyde comes in we may Saile up with the Tyde or cast Anchor but none can turne the Tyde but God alone Not long since there was a full Tyde of Superstition and Prelaticall malice coming in upon all Gods people and now of late how hath this Tyde been turned Oh! the Tyde is turn'd 't is turn'd This is the Lords doing and it may be marvellous in your eyes if it be not Secondly when there are such Great things done for Gods people as the nature of the second cause will not cannot beare then the hand and arme and speciall power of God is and may be seen therein Jer. 31.22 I the Lord have created a new thing in the earth a woman shall compasse a man (g) Neque enim simpliciter Propheta hic de viro loquitur sed nominat virum robustum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enim sumitur a fortitudine cum igitur foeminam viro comparet non dubito quin significet Propheta Israelitas ' qui similes erant foeminis hoc est carebant viribus destituti erant omni auxilio quin dicit superiores sore hostibus suis quorum potentia poterat toti mundo terrorem incu●ere Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat non amplecti sed obsidere saepenumero multis accipitur scripturae locis in malam partem Hostes circundederunt me Psal 118. Cum igitur noratur obsidio Scriptura hoc verbum usurpat perinde est ●●si Propheta dixisset redigent foeminae viros in angustias ita ut ipsos captivos teneant Calvin in Ierem. 31.22 'T is ordinarily understood of Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary But as Calvin doth well observe 't is his Comment not Mine it 's not said That a woman shall compasse a man barely but a Strong one a woman shall compasse a strong one or one that is strong so the Hebrew word signifies And saies he that word which is translated Compasse signifies such a Compassing as Enemies doe use when they lay Siege to a City So Psal 118. They Compassed me about like bees It 's the same word there which is used in a Hostile way And so the meaning is thus Though O ye Israelites ye be as weak as Women and your Enemies strong yet you shal lay Siege to them and take them captive for I will create a new thing When God works Creation-wise then he puts forth his Almighty power and when a Woman or those that are weak shall lay Siege to and take the strong then his Creating hand is at work And hath it not been thus in these Great Deliverances that he hath wrought for us of late We may all say The Lord hath Created a new thing for the woman that is those that are weak have laid Siege to and taken those that are strong Here is Power legible Answ 3 Thirdly the Psalmist doth speak expresly The Lord is known by the Judgement that he executeth The wicked is snared in the work of their own hands When the wicked Plot Consult and Designe upon and against the righteous and they are so snared in their complotments as that the cause of the just and righteous is furthered by their own workings then is the Lord known then and there are the Marks Impressions Characters of a Deity upon that work And hath not the Lord led you in this way all

a long First for the Powder Treason the Enemies and Papists thought to have swallowed up the Protestant party and to have subdued all this Kingdome with their Religion promising themselves such a good day as they never had before But never had the Papists such a blow nor that Religion made more odious in this Kingdome then by this designe of their owne they were snared in their own works Quest And was it not so with the Prelates of late and with all you● Enemies I appeale to ye What hath contributed to or advanced the Cause of Gods people more then the Designings of their Enemies Oh! therefore who may not say Now I have seen a Deity now have I seen the Lord and his Mighty power Answ 1 But if there have been such Marks and Impressions of an Almighty power upon all our Deliverances and Salvations What is the reason that men see God no more therein God is yet known no more Let me tell you plainly Some men come to Gods work full of their owne Sense Interpretation follows the Disposition Every man interprets according to his own affection 'T is therefore observed by Masius That when Moses and Joshua came down from the Mount and heard the people dancing playing and singing before their golden Calf Joshua being of a warlike disposition interprets the noise to be the noise of war Moses being a meek man interprets the noise to be the noise of singing I have read of a certain Controversie that was at Rome concerning the two Missals or Services of Gregory and Ambrose the Controversie was very hot whose Missall or Masse-book should be allowed and authentick and thereupon they determined that they should both be left upon the Altar in Peters Church all the night and that they would expect some immediate revelation from Heaven the next morning it was so done both were left on the Altar and in the morning they found that Gregories Masse-book was rent and torn in many pieces and lay scattered about the Church But Ambrose's whole and open upon the Altar Which event saies my Author one would have thought should have signified thus much That the Missall of Gregory should have been cancelled and abolished and that of Ambrose Authentick and Canonicall But Pope Adrian in whose time it was being for Gregories Masse book expounded this lying Miracle thus That the rending of Gregories Missall intended the dispersing thereof over all the Christian World and that it only should be made Authentick Thus doe mens Interpretations follow their own Dispositions And so now when men come to Gods Works Deliverances and Salvations though there be much of a Deity therein yet coming to them in their own sense and abounding in their affection they follow their own Disposition and so they lose the Deity But when Moses came to see the wonder of the burning bush that was not consumed though he said I will turn aside to see this great wonder the Lord said Pull off thy Shooes Moses pull off thy Shooes So doth God now call unto us you say I 'le turn aside and see this wonder That Englands bush hath been burning thus many years and is not consumed a wonder indeed to be beheld and considered by all But if you would see the Lord therein ye must pull off your own shooes and the Lord calls unto ye O my servants pull off your shooes lay aside your own Dispositions else you will not see this wonder nor my power Answ 2 Secondly sometimes men come to Gods work with their hearts full of Envy and Malice at Gods Instruments And (h) Ira sequitur invidiam quae mentem exulcerat sensum hebetat linguam immutat oculos obumbrat totumque corpus perturbat Ambros Envy is blind They will not see saies Esay in a case of Justice but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at thy people If a man have an envious malicious eye at Gods Instruments he will never see much of God in the work Answ 3 Thirdly though there be much of Gods Power and Glory in all those Salvations which he hath wrought for us with a Notwithstanding yet sometimes men see not God because they stand poring so much on the second cause God seldome doth any great work but still he doth use some Creature in the doing of it though the Creature be too short to reach the work And though it be but a piece of brasse which say the Naturalists to behold is hurtfull to those that are stung with the Serpent yet the Israelites will rather adore the brasen Serpent then they will see the Lord. The Jewish Rabbins say That when the Philistims had taken (i) Ebrai tamen dicunt quod Philistaei fecerunt eum dormi●e eum mulieribus robustis ut ex eo prol●m robustam susciperent quomam idem vocabul Iud. 16.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iob 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dilherus Elect. lib. 2. cap. 9. Sampson and saw that he was a man of such strength none like him in all the earth they caused him to sleep with some women that they might have a Generation of Sampsons and strong men among them and the reason of this Notion they take from Judg. 16.21 where it 's said That they made him grind not in the Mill but they made him grind Which word is the same in the Hebrew with that in Job 31. Then let my wise grind to another And if this Notion of theirs be true ye see how the Phil stims lost the sight of God in the strength of Sampson namely by poring too much on the second Cause of strength But when our Lord Jesus Christ was on earth what great and glorious things did he do yet the Jews had not an eye to see them or God in them Why Is not this the Carpenters son say they Can any good come out of Nazareth they looked no higher then Nazareth or a Carpenter There was Flesh in Christ and a Deity they look't so much upon his flesh as they did lose his Deity So in all these great things that God hath done for us there is a flesh in the work something of flesh and there is a Deity the Impressions of infinite power but men stand looking so much upon the Flesh of the action as they lose the Deity of it Some stretch and crack their eye-strings so much in beholding the Creatures and in the admiration of Men as they have no eye left for to see the Lord sometimes men see no more of God in his works because they are not acquainted with his waies and methods of his proceedings with his people his way is in the deep and therefore his footsteps are not known we seek for him in our own way and find him not for his waies are not as our waies whereupon saies (k) Discamus regulam ordinem gubernationis Deo usitatum nam ego saepe certas rationes conatus sum Deo praescribere quibus uteretur in administratione

Gods working for his Names sake is stil set in opposition to our deservings God doth sometimes work for his Names sake that it may not be Defiled and Polluted by Men. Sometimes that the glory and honour of his Name may shine out the more In both these respects the words are to be understood but especially they are meant in the latter and so they are explained in Esay 63.12 And to this purpose the following words That he might make his Mighty power known The word in the Hebrew is To make known his mighty power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad notificandum fortitudinem suam Ar. Mont. Much of Gods power is to be read and known in all his Creatures but in this their deliverance at the Red sea there were the special prints of his fingers the Characters and Marks of his infinite Power and Deity whereby he might be plainly and clearly known And that this Name and Power of his might be thus known he did save them with a Notwithstanding all their former Sins Whence observe Two things First though the sin of a people be exceeding great and very hainous yet God will and doth somtimes save them for his owne Names sake He doth somtimes save his people with a Notwithstanding Notwithstanding all their Sin and Guilt Secondly when God doth thus save his people with a Notwithstanding he doth then leave such Marks and Characters of his mighty power upon their Salvation that he may be clearly and fully known and manifested to the Sons of men Doct. 1 First God d●●h sometimes save a people with a Notwithstanding all their Sin and all their Vnworthinesse Reason 1 For God is gracious to a people as wel as to a person The bloud of Jesus Christ is sprinkled on Nations as wel as particular persons Now for a particular Person ye read in the 1 Tim. 1.15 how the Lord dealt with Paul saith Paul himself I was a Blasphemer Injurious Persecutor Neverthelesse I obtained mercy although I did it ignorantly through unbelief or Notwithstanding I did it ignorantly c. Ye read the words ordinarily thus For I did it ignorantly as if Ignorance were the reason of his Conversion by way of Excuse But the Greek ὅτι which you translate For may be read Although As in Luke 23.40 Fearest thou not God saith the Thief on the Crosse to his fellow (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 23.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1.17 Vulg. annumerabatur enim nobiscum quasi esset ratio cur iste se ducem praebuerit illis qui Christum capiebant cum contrarium velit Apostolus hoc modo ille Judas a diabolo carne sua seductus eo pervenit dementiae ut suum dominum turpiter prodiderit quamvis cum aliis maximis ab eo sit affectus beneficiis tum vel hoc inprimis ornatus quod in numerum Collegium Apostolorum erat cooptatus Tarnov exercit bibl 188. 189. Seeing or Although thou art in the same condemnation So Acts 1.17 who speaking of Judas was guide to them that took Jesus although he was numbred with us ye read it ordinarily for but it should be rather rendred although for it is the same ὅτι Neither can it be truly translated For by way of Extenuation it being an Aggravation rather For Sins of Ignorance are of Two sorts Either such as are simple Ignorance Or of Prave disposition Simple Ignorance doth excuse but Ignorance of Prave or ill disposition doth aggravate Such was (b) Paulus cum verbum de Christo praedicato audiret nolebat credere sed repugnabat ut alii Pharisaei licet hic cis fervidius fecit enim ea quae sunt infidelitatis hoc est non tantum habuerit fidei vacuitatem sed etiam malorum operum plenitudinem quo spectat quod vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saepe includat ἀπειθείαν imo repugnantiam Ignorantia facti circumstantiae excusat in tantum non in totum sed Paulus peccavit ex ignorantia Juris quae non excusat Nam Paulus se vocat peccatorem primum seu praecipuum misericordiam Dei praedicat quae quo peccatum majus eo ipsa major quamvis igitur Paulus Pharisaeus cum scire omnino posset deberet Jerosolymis vivens Christ● doctrinam esse divinam quippe tot miraculis confirmatam ipsumque esse mundi Salvatorem in V. Test promissam tamen oculos ad tantam lucem claudens volens illam ignorabat quam habere poterat si non restitisset praefracte jam id admirans dicebat gratiam nihilominus sibi esse factam quantumvis ignorans fecerit illa sua incredulitate Idem p. 1106. 1107. c. quomodo igitur per ὅτι vel quia ignorantia potest constitu● causae quum extraordinaria praeter Dei volumatem nullam habeant saltem quod nos sciamus causam Paulus enim hic constituitur πρὸς ὑποτύ πωσιν omnium qui sunt credituri confer v. 15.16 Et hic versu 16 est causa cur deus Paulum converterit διὰ τοῦτο si enim ὅτι vertis causaliter tum ignorantia incredulitas erunt causa remissionis peccatorum proinde omnis qui peccat ex incredulitate ignoranti● ut Judaei Act. 37. c. 13.27 1 Cor. 2.6 gratiam consequitur quod tamen falsum est Idem exercit bibl pag. 193. 189. Pauls Ignorance for saies he I did it ignorantly in Unbelief He doth not barely say I did it ignorantly but ignorantly in Vnbelief which is the worst disposition and that doth aggravate Besides Ignorance is either such as is Invincible and cannot be help't Or such as is Wilful and may be help't Such was Pauls Ignorance for he stood by and held the cloathes of those that stoned Steven There was enough done and said before him to convince him of Christ and therefore his Ignorance was rather aggravating Yea and as Tarnovius doth wel observe Paul in this Scripture doth not go about to extenuate but aggravate his Sin Witnesse the precedent and following words In the precedent words saies he I was a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and Injurious In the following words Whereof I am chief c. Besides the conversion of Paul was miraculous and not to be laid on the ordinary cause of Ignorance and if he were therefore converted because Ignorant then all that are Ignorant should be converted but not so we see the contrary The words therefore are not to be read with For but with an Although or with a Notwithstanding thus I was a Blasphemer Injurious Persecutor Neverthelesse I obtained mercy Although I did it ignorantly in unbelief And wil the Lord save a particular person with a Notwithstanding and wil he not save a People his People with a Notwithstanding all their Guilt and Sin God keeps the same method in giving out the benefits that do come by Christ as in giving out of Christ himself Now for Christ himself the first promise that was given of him was given with a