Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	justification_n	justify_v	meritorious_a	2,124	5	11.4575	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00593	Clavis mystica a key opening divers difficult and mysterious texts of Holy Scripture; handled in seventy sermons, preached at solemn and most celebrious assemblies, upon speciall occasions, in England and France. By Daniel Featley, D.D.	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1636 (1636)	STC 10730; ESTC S121363	1,100,105	949

humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse therefore they who desire to be affected and liked of him must be like affected to him and not exalt themselves above others in pride but rather abase themselves below them in humility not behave themselves as lords over the faith of others but rather demeane themselves as servants for Christs sake not pursue ambitiously the glory of this world but account it the greatest glory to partake with Christ in the infamy of the Crosse How unfit and incongruous a thing is it in contention to preach the Gospel of peace in rage and choler to treat of meeknesse in malice and hatred to exhort to Christian love and reconciliation in pride to commend humility in vaine glory to erect the Crosse of Christ that is to deny the power of it in so declaring it Yet if they will needs bee ambitious if their affections are so set upon glory and honour that nothing can take them off let them take the readiest course to compasse their desire which lyeth not in the higher way they have chosen by advancing themselves but in the lower way which Christ took by abasing himselfe For glory is of the nature of a Crocodile which flyeth from them that pursue it and pursueth them that flie it as S. b Hom. 7. ad Philip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostome excellently declareth it Glory saith he cannot be attained but by eschuing it if thou makest after it it maketh away from thee if thou flyest from it it followeth thee if thou desirest to be glorious be not ambitious for all truly honour them who affect not honour as on the contrary they hold a base opinion of such as are ever aspiring to honour and that for the most part without desert Two weighty reasons wee have in this verse to incline all Christian minds to obedient humility or humble obedience a patterne of it and the reward thereof he humbled himse●fe so low therefore God exalted him so high Of the patterne most lively drawne in the life and especially the death of our Saviour I have said something already and shall more hereafter yet can never say all As Socrates spake of Philosophy that it was nothing but meditatio mortis a meditation upon death we may of Divinity that it is in a manner nothing else but meditatio mortis Christi a meditation on Christs death for the learnedest of all the Apostles would be knowne of no other knowledge that he had or much esteemed but this I c 1 Cor. 2.2 desire saith he to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified d Lib. 7. nat hist c. 2. Gen● Astoma radices florum secum portat long●ore itinere ne desit olfactus Pliny describeth unto us a strange kind of people in Africa that had no mouthes but received all their nourishment at their nostrils which is nothing else but sweet smells and fragrant odours who if they are to take any long journey provide themselves of great store of flowers and sweet wood and aromaticall spices lest they starve by the way I will not warrant the narration because I know it is a case over-ruled in Aristotles philosophy that smells nourish not but the application I can make good out of the Apostle who calleth the Gospel and the Preachers thereof odorem vitae ad vi●am a savour of e 2 Cor. 2.16 life unto life Though the naturall life be not yet the spirituall is nourished by odours savours And howsoever we are not in our bodies yet in our soules we are Astomi and like those people of Africa rec●ive nourishment from sweet trees and roots The sweet root we are alwayes to carry about us is the root of the flower of Jesse the savoury wood we are to smell unto is the wood of the Crosse that is the tree of life in the midst of our Paradise It is the ladder of Jacob whereby we ascend into heaven it is the rod of Aaron that continually buddeth in the Church it is the Juniper tree whose shade killeth the Serpent it is the tree which was cast into the waters of Marah and made them sweet no water so bitter no affliction so brackish to which the Crosse of Christ giveth not a sweet rellish But to proceed from the eff●ct of Christs passion in us our comfort and salvation to the effect of it in himselfe his glory and ex●ltation expressed in the letter of my Text Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him Wherefore Although there can be no cause given of Gods will which is the cause of all causes yet as Aquinas teacheth us to distinguish there may be ratio rei volitae a reason of the thing willed by God for God according to the counsell of his owne will setteth divers things in such an order that the former is the cause of the latter yet none of them a cause but an effect of his will For example in that golden chaine drawne by the Apostle Whom he hath f Rom. 8.29 predestinated those he hath called whom he hath called he hath justified whom he hath justified he hath glorified predestination is a cause of vocation vocation of justification justification of glorification yet all of these depend upon Gods will and his will upon none of them In like manner God hath so disposed the causes of our salvation that Christs incarnation and humiliation should goe before his glory and exaltation the one bee the meritorious cause of the other yet neither of them is causa voluntatis divinae exaltantis but ratio exaltationis volitae neither of them a cause of Gods will exalting but the former the reason of Christs exaltation as willed by God God Though Christ rose of himselfe and as himselfe speaketh reared up the temple of his body after it was destroyed ratione suppositi yet ratione principii it is most true God raised him up and therefore the Apostle saith else-where that he was g John 2.19 raised by the right hand of God that is divine power but because this divine power was his owne and essentiall to him as God he may be truly said also to have raised himselfe Hath highly exalted Above the grave in his resurrection above the earth in his ascension above the heaven in his session at the right hand of his Father In the words highly exalted there is no tautologie but an emphasis which is all one as if he had said Super omnem altitudinem exaltavit super omnem potestatem evexit he exalted him above all highnesse he gave him a power above all powers and a name above all names Him It is desputed among Divines whether this him hath reference to Christ considered as God or man that is to say whether he was exalted according to his humane nature only or according to the divine also Some later Expositors of good note and by name Mr. Perkins on the Creed resolve that Christ

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himselfe word for word made himselfe of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a servant and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 highly exalted him Superexaltavit as if ye would say he highly raised him on high The stroake is doubled upon the naile to drive it in further the beame is reflected to give more light and heat the word is repeated for more significancy and efficacy as Visitando visitabo and desiderando desideravi and benedicendo benedicam and gavisi sunt gaudio magno a● in c Exod. 32.34 visiting I will visit that is I will most surely visit and I have d Luke 22.15 desired with desire that is I have vehemently desired to eate this Passover and the wise men e Mat. 2.10 rejoyced with joy to see the starre that is they exceedingly rejoyced and in f Gen. 12.2 3. blessing will I blesse thee saith God to Abraham that is I will wonderfully I will extraordinarily blesse thee with store of blessings so here superexaltavit he highly raised on high signifieth he raised him by many degrees he exalted him to the highest honour he was capable of so highly that all creatures whatsoever are far below him In these two words highly exalted are wound up three Articles of our Christian Beliefe immediately following one the other in the Apostles Creed 1. Resurrection 2. Ascension 3. Session at the right hand of God When he was raised from the dead he was exalted but when he ascended and tooke his place at the right hand of God above all thrones dominions principalities and powers he was highly exalted As there are three descents in his humiliation his death his going downe to Hell his lying in the grave three dayes and three nights so there are three ascents in his exaltation correspondent unto them to the first degree of his humiliation his death answereth the first degree of his exaltation his resurrection to the second his descent into hell his ascension into heaven to the third his lying three dayes and three nights in the grave which was the lowest degree of his humiliation the highest degree of his exaltation his sitting at the right hand of God The sweet flower of Jesse which was set at his death and thrust deep into the ground at his buriall is now sprung up from the earth in his resurrection openeth his leaves and sends forth a savour of life unto life to all that by faith smell unto it But to keep to the words of my Text the parts whereof resemble insecta animalia those creeping things which if you cut them asunder will joyne againe therefore is as the communis terminus to them all because the Son of God was so farre humbled it was fit he should be exalted accordingly because he humbled himselfe therefore God exalted him because he humbled himselfe so low God exalted him so high where humility goes before there is a just cause of exaltation and where there is a cause God will exalt and where God exalteth he exalteth highly Wherefore It is hotly argued between the reformed Divines and Papists Utrum Christus sibi meruerit Whether Christ merited any thing for himselfe or only for us The Romanists stand for the first the Protestants for the second opinion I see no cause why this controversie should not be composed for questionlesse Christs humiliation deserved an exaltation neither can we attribute too much glory to our Redeemer Albeit therefore as Mediatour he merited for us yet as man he might also merit for himselfe and the word Quaproptet Wherefore seemeth rather to imply the meritorious cause of his exaltation than a consequence only of the hypostaticall union Where God exalteth there is alwayes some cause he advanced not his Son without merit Whose example if they in whose gifts the greatest preferments are did alwayes follow the garlands of honours should not be taken from them that winne the race and given to standers by Cato was in the right who said he had rather that men should aske why hath Cato no statue or monument rather than why should he have a monument And surely it is a greater honour that men should enquire why such a man of worth is not preferred than why is such a man of no worth preferred yet as in nature so in states the heaviest bodies will ascend ad supplendum vacuum to fill up a vacuity Worthlesse men like Apes and Monkies will not be quiet till they have got to the top of the house and when they are there what doe they but make mouthes and faces at passengers or breake glasses or play other ridiculous feats The old thorow-faire to the Temple of honour among the Romans was by the Temple of vertue but now it is said men have found a neerer way through the postern gate of Juno Moneta The ancient Philosophers did but dreame of a golden age but we see it Aurea nunc verê sunt secula plurimus auro Venit honos auro conciliatur amor This may be well esteemed the golden age in which gold is in greatest esteem Gold supplies all defects and answereth to all things A g Exod. 32.6 Calfe shall be worshipped with divine honour if he be of gold But the best is they that rise like Jonas gourd in a night are blasted in an houre and as they are raised no man knowes why so they fall no man knowes how It is not possible that a high and great building should stand without a foundation Now if we will beleeve Saint Austine the foundation of honour is worth and this must be laid deep in the ground of humility He humbled himselfe therefore God highly exalted him If Christ who humbled and abased himselfe so low be now so highly exalted above all principalities and powers and thrones and dominions there is no cause then why any of Gods children humbled under his hand how low soever they are brought should despaire of rising againe Looke they upward or downward they may fasten the anchor of their hope beneath them our Saviour was who now is above the heavens Are they spoiled of their goods he was stripped starke naked Have they left a great estate he left a Kingdome in Heaven Are they falsly accused he was condemned of blasphemy Are they railed at he was spit upon Are they pricked with griefes he was crowned with thornes Doe they lye hard he hung upon the crosse Doe they sigh for their grievous afflictions he gave up the ghost in torments Are they forsaken of their friends he was for a time of his Father My h Mat. 27.46 God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Have they things laid to their charge they never knew he was charged with the sins of the whole world which pressed him downe to the earth nay yet lower to the grave

be imagined either in fire or tongues the meaning therefore is no more than it abode or rested on them Thus have I peeled the barke let us now sucke the juice we have viewed the engraving on the outside of the cup let us now drinke the celestiall liquor and rellish the spirituall meaning couched under the letter The later Commentatours for the most part like Apothecaries boyes gather the broad leaves and white flowers that are found on the top of the water but the ancient like skilfull Indians dive deep to the bottome and from thence take up pearles 1. They observe that God useth signes to strike our senses thereby to stirre us up that we may give more heed to that which he then fore-warneth us of or at the present worketh in us Of signes in Scripture wee find three sorts 1. Irae of Gods anger as extraordinary earth-quakes fire and brimstone falling from heaven and other prodigious events 2. Potentiae of his power or rather omnipotency as miracles 3. Gratiae of grace and favour and these were 1. Significantia tantum such as signified or prefigured grace only as types 2. Obsignantia such as seale unto us and actually exhibit grace as sacraments The first sort are praeter naturam the second contra naturam the third supra naturam The signes here were transeunt only as the burning p Exod. 3.2 bush the q Mat. 3.16 dove in the likenesse whereof the spirit descended and therefore could not be sacraments in the proper acception of the word yet are they to be reduced to the third kind of signes signa gratiae Strange accidents for the most part fore-shew strange events and as many signes are miraculous so many miracles are significant In Sicilie the sea water began to sweeten a little before the deposing the cruell tyrant r Plin. nat hist l. 2. c. 97. Eo die quo pulsus est Dionysius regno mare dulcescebat in portu Dionysius in like manner Domitian dreamed that he saw a head of gold rise up upon the nape of his necke which fore-shewed that a better head of that Monarchy should succeed him Before the civill war between Caesar Pompey there were seen two ſ Plin. l. 2. nat hist c. 83. In agro Mutinensi duo montes inter se concurrebant crepitu maximo assultantes mountaines running one at the other in the field of Mutina and to shew that Caesar should have the better at the beginning of the warre there grew in the Capitoll on the sudden a laurell tree at the foot of his statue Before the destruction of Jerusalem there was seen a starre in the skie like t Joseph de bel Jud. l. 7. c. 12. Supra civitatem stetit sydus simile gladio per annum perseveravit a drawne sword perpendicularly hanging over the City And not to build upon the sandy foundation of humane Histories the sacred Story affordeth the like Before the true bread descended from heaven Manna rained from heaven upon the Israelites The water issuing out of the rocke that was strucke fore-shewed the fountaine for sinne and uncleannesse which was opened when the side of Christ the true rocke was struck and pierced by the speare of the souldier the drowning of Pharaoh and all his host in the red sea the destruction of the Divell and all our ghostly enemies in the bloud of our Redeemer the going backe of the Sunne in the diall of Ahaz the setting backe the finger in the diall of Hezekiahs life the appearing of a new starre to the Sages the rising of a new light in the world to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of the people Israel the eclipse of the Sunne at Christs death the obscuration of the divine majesty in the Sonne of God for a time the great draught of fish which Saint Peter tooke after Christs resurrection the happy successe of him and the rest of the Apostles who were fishers of men and caught many thousands at one draught in the net of the Gospel There fell scales from S. Pauls eyes before God drew from the eyes of his understanding the filme of ignorance and blind zeale and here before the Apostles were filled with the holy Ghost and spake with divers tongues the roome where they aboad was filled with a mighty rushing wind and there appeared in the aire fiery cloven tongues But what did the suddennesse of it betoken Suddenly The Fathers read three lectures upon this circumstance teaching that the motions and operations of the Spirit are 1. Speedy 2. Free 3. Come and gone in an instant The first is read us by St. Ambrose Spiritus nescit tarda molimina the Spirit is quicke in operation As the lightening passeth in an instant from East to West because it findeth no resistance so the worke of grace in the heart is suddenly done especially for the reason given by St. Austine Because no hard heart can repell or refuse it for the first worke of grace is to take away the stone out of the heart which being taken away it presently receiveth the Spirits impressions Who more averse from the Christian faith than St. Paul yet in an instant by a vision from heaven he is changed from persecuting Saul to preaching Paul At one Sermon of St. Peter many thousand soules were gained And in Dioclesians time after the edict set up in the market place for the utter extirpation of the Christian Religion the whole world on the sudden turned Christian When God knocketh by effectuall grace the iron gates of the hardest heart flie open on the sudden The second lesson is read by St. Gregorie That grace is free and not procured by any merit of ours Here was no matter of this winde nor naturall cause of this sound no more can there be assigned any meritorious cause in us of supernaturall grace Who can cause the sunne to rise or the wind to blow or the deaw to fall much lesse can any procure by his merits either the beames of the sunne of righteousnesse to shine or the gales of the spirit to blow or the deaw of grace to fall upon him Therefore the Synod at Diospolis condemnes them for Heretickes who affirmed Gratiam Dei secundum merita hominum dari that the grace of God is given according to mans merits And the Synod at Arausica pronounced an Anathema against such as teach that man beginneth and God perfects Whosoever say they teach that to him that asketh seeketh knocketh c. u Concil Arausic c. 6. Si quis sine gratiâ Dei credentibus volentibus pulsantibus c. grace is given and not that by the infusion and inspiration of the holy Spirit this is wrought in us that we beleeve aske or knocke gain-sayeth the Apostle demanding what hast thou that thou hast not received The third lesson is Origens That good motions are as suddenly gone as they come The Spouse in the Canticles on the sudden findeth