Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	know_v	let_v	see_v	3,024	5	2.9158	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01645	Gerards meditations written originally in the Latine tongue by Iohn Gerard Doctour in Divinitie, and superintendant of Heidelberg. Translated and revised by Ralph Winterton fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge.; Meditationes sacrae. English	Gerhard, Johann, 1582-1637.; Winterton, Ralph, 1600-1636.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.; Gerhard, Johann, 1582-1637. Exercitium pietatis quotidianum quadripartitum. English. aut	1638 (1638)	STC 11778; ESTC S103073	189,715	520

shape of man and threatned that he would destroy Sodom Here the Lambe of God is not set before us to look upon but to be tasted and eaten Vzziah coming inconsiderately unto the ark of the covenant was by the Lord suddenly smitten with a leprosie What wonder is it then if he that eats of this bread and drinks of this wine unworthily eateth and drinketh his own condemnation For here is the true ark of the new covenant which was prefigured by the old Now the apostle teacheth true preparation in one word Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this bread Now as all divine examination is to be squared according to the rule of divine scripture so also is this which Paul requires Let us therefore consider in the first place our own infirmitie For what is man Dust and ashes We were made of the earth we live of the earth and we return to the earth What is man Stinking seed a sack of dung and meat for worms Man was born to labour and not to honour Man is born of a woman and therefore with guiltinesse He liveth but a short time and therefore in fear he is full of many miseries and therefore of weeping many indeed because both of body and soul. Man knoweth neither his beginning nor his end We have our being for a while like a fading flower But this short life hath long sorrows and labours Let us consider in the second place our unworthinesse Verily every creature in respect of the Creatour is a shadow a dream nothing Therefore man also But man is unworthy in a greater and more grievous manner For he offended his Creatour by his sinne God is just by nature and by essence Therefore by his nature and by his essence he is offended and displeased with sinne What are we stubble to that consuming fire How shall our most filthy deeds appear How shall our iniquities which thou settest before thee and our errours which thou placest in the light of thy countenance God is infinite and alwayes like himself of infinite justice and infinite anger And if in all his works then certainly in his anger justice and revenge God is altogether great and wonderfull He that spared not his own Sonne will he spare his own workmanship He that spared not the most holy one will he spare the wicked servant God so hateth sinne that he doth punish it even in the best beloved as it appears by Lucifer the prince of the angels But let not this examination respect us onely but the blessed bread also which is the communication of the Lords bodie Then shall the true fountain of grace and the inexhaustible spring of mercie appear God cannot altogether neglect us seeing that he maketh us partakers of his own flesh For who ever hated his own flesh Therefore this holy banquet shall transform our souls This most divine banquet shall make us divine men untill at length we be made partakers of future happinesse being made capable of God wholly and onely and wholly like unto God What we have here by faith and in a mystery there we shall have in deed and openly Yea our bodies have attained to this dignitie that in them we shall see God face to face I say our bodies which are now the temples of the holy Ghost and are sanctified and quickned by the body and bloud of Christ dwelling in us This most holy medicine cures all the wounds of sinne This quickning flesh overcometh all mortall sinne This is the most holy seal of divine promises which we may shew before Gods judgement Having this pledge we may glory and be secure of eternall life If Christ his bodie and bloud be exhibited unto us assuredly all other benefits by that most holy body and most blessed bloud are prepared for us How can he that hath given us the greater things denie us the lesse He that hath given his Sonne to us how shall he not give all other thing● with him Let the spouse therefore be glad and rejoyce for the time is at hand when she shall be called to the marriage of the Lambe Let her put on precious apparel let her put on her wedding garment that she be not found naked This garment is the bridegrooms righteousnes which we put on in baptisme But our righteousnesse is so farre from being a wedding garment that it is as the cloth of a menstruous woman Let us be afraid therefore to bring the most filthy and stinking rags of our works to this nuptiall solemnitie Let the Lord cover us that we be not found naked Meditat. XXI Of Christs ascension Christ is ascended up on high And we must up like eagles flie MEditate upon thy bridegrooms ascension thou faithfull soul For Christ withdrew his visible presence from the faithfull to exercise their faith And blessed are they that see not and yet beleeve Where our treasure is there let our heart be also Christ our treasure is in heaven Let our hearts therefore be set upon those things that are heavenly and meditate upon the things that be above The spouse desires with most earnest sighs the return of her beloved So let the faithfull soul desire the coming of that day when she shall be admitted to the marriage of the Lambe Let her put her confidence in the pledge of the holy Spirit which the Lord left unto her at his departure Let her put her confidence in the bodie and bloud of the Lord which she receives in the mysterie of the supper And let her beleeve that our bodies which are filled with this incorruptible food shall at length be raised up again That which we now beleeve we shall then see Our hope shall then be reall fruition The Lord is present unto us here while we are on the way in a strange shape But in the mansion of our heavenly countrey we shall behold him and know him as he is It was our Saviours will to ascend up from the mount ● Olives The olive is a signe of peac● and joy Therefore not withou● cause did he ascend up from the mount of Olives because by his passion he hath purchased peace and tranquillitie for terrified and amazed consciences Not without cause did he ascend up from the mount of Olives For the court of heaven did exceedingly joy to receive him The mount doth call and invite us to heavenly things seeing therefore we cannot follow him with our bodily feet let us follow him with the fee● of our holy desires Moses also in like manner ascended up unto the Lord in the mount The holy patriarchs worshipped in the mount Abraham made choice of the mount and Lot of the plain Let the faithfull soul leave the plain of this world and by holy devotion go up to the heavenly mount So shall she feel God speaking unto her inwardly and that most sweetly So in

thy sinnes and fear him that shall judge thee for thy sinnes according to his justice Be not secure in prosperitie For God is angry with him that is not punished in this life What are the afflictions of the godly Bitter arrows sent from the sweet hand of God God esteems many in this life unworthy to be punished whom notwithstanding he reprobateth for ever Outward felicitie is oftentimes a signe of eternall damnation Nothing is more unhappy then the happinesse of sinners and nothing more miserable then he that knows no miserie Whithersoever thou turnest thine eyes thou seest cause of grief and findest remedies against securitie Think upon God above whom we have offended Think upon hell beneath which we have deserved Think upon the sinne behinde which we have committed Think upon the judgement before which we stand in fear of Think upon the conscience within which we have defiled And think upon the world without which we have loved Consider whence thou camest and be ashamed Consider where thou art and be sorrowfull Consider whither thou goest and tremble The gate of salvation is narrow but the way of salvation is yet narrower God hath given unto thee the treasure of faith but thou carriest it about thee in vessels of clay He gave thee the angels to be thy keepers But the devil is not farre off and he is ready to seduce thee Thou art renewed in the spirit of thy minde But yet thou hast much of the oldnes of the flesh Thou art set in the state of the grace of God But yet thou art not set in eternall glory There is a mansion prepared for thee in heaven But yet thou must endure first the afflictions and assaults of the world God hath promised forgivenesse to him that repenteth But he hath not promised will to repent to him that sinneth The consolations of eternall life expect thee But yet thou must expect to enter in through many tribulations The crown of eternall reward is promised unto thee But first thou must fight the great fight and be conquerour God doth not change his promise Neither must thou change the study of holy life If the servant doth not what the Lord commandeth then the Lord wil do what he hath threatned Let a man therefore lament grieve shaking off all securitie lest in the just and secret judgement of God he be forsaken and left in the power of the devils to be destroyed If thou hast the grace of God so delight thy self in it as knowing that it is the gift of God and that thou dost not possesse it by any hereditarie right Yet be thou so secure concerning it that thou canst not lose it lest on a sudden when God shall withhold his gift and withdraw his hand thou beest discouraged and become more sorrowfull then is fit But happy shalt thou be if thou labourest with all care and diligence to avoid securitie the mother of all evil God will not forsake thee But take heed that thou dost not forsake God God hath given thee his grace But pray thou unto him that he would also give thee perseverance God bids thee be certain of thy salvation but he bids thee not be secure Thou must fight valiantly that thou mayest at length triumph gloriously Thy flesh within thee fighteth against thee And the enemie the nearer he is the more he is to be feared The world about thee fighteth against thee And the greater the enemie is the more to be feared The devil above thee fighteth against thee And the more potent the enemy is the more to be feared Through the power of God fear not to encounter with these enemies Through the power of God thou shalt be enabled to obtain the victory But thou canst not overcome these so great enemies by securitie but by assiduity in fighting The time of life is the time of fight Then thou art most assaulted when thou knowest not that thou art assaulted Then do thy enemies most gather their forces together when they seem to grant truce They are vigilant And dost thou sleep They make themselves ready to hurt And dost not thou make thy self ready to resist Many faint by the way never come home into their countrey How many of the Israelites died in the wildernes and never came to see the promised land How many spirituall sonnes of Abraham do perish in the wildernes of this world never come to enjoy the promised inheritance of the kingdome of heaven Nothing is more powerfull to make us shake off security then to think of the paucity of them that endure to the last Let it therefore be our onely desire to attain to the glory which is in heaven Let it be our onely love to come thither Let it be our onely grief that we are not alreadie come thither And let it be our onely fear that we come not thither That so we may have no joy but in those things that either further us in the way thither or give us hope of coming thither What profiteth it thee to rejoyce for a moment to lament for ever What joy can there be in this life when that which delighteth passeth away and that never passeth away which tormenteth We live in securitie as if we were past the snare of death day of judgement Christ saith that he will come to judgement at such an houre as we think not of This saith Truth it self and again he repeats it Heare this and fear If the Lord will come at such an houre as we think not of we have great cause to fear that so we come not unto judgement unprovided If we come unprovided How shall we be able to endure the strict examination in judgement Notwithstanding that which is lost in this one moment cannot be recovered again for ever In the shortnes of one moment judgement shall passe what we shall be for all eternitie In this one moment life or death damnation or salvation punishment or eternall glory shall be appointed to every one Lord thou that hast given us grace to that which is good give us also perseverance in that which is good Meditat. XXX Of the holy imitation of Christ his life Christs life must be a rule to thee If Christs disciple thou wilt be THe holy life of Christ is the most perfect pattern of all vertues Every action of Christ serves for our instruction Many would come to Christ but they will not follow him They would enjoy Christ but they will not imitate him Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart saith our Saviour Unlesse thou wilt be Christs disciple thou canst never be a true Christian Let not Christs passion onely be thy merit but let his action also be thy example to live after Thy beloved is white and ruddie Be thou also ruddy by the sprinkling of his bloud and white by the imitation

into the court of heaven The third is the book of the Scripture according to the prescript rule whereof our faith and good works shall be judged The word that I have spoken saith our Saviour shall judge them at the last day The fourth book containeth in it the testimonies of the poore which in the day of judgement shall receive us into an everlasting habitation The fifth book contains the inward testimonie of the conscience For the conscience is the book in which all sinnes are written The conscience is a great volume in which all things are written by the finger of truth The damned cannot deny their sinnes at the day of judgement because they shall be convinced by the testimonie of their own consciences They cannot fly from the accusation of their sinnes because the tribunall of the conscience is within and at home A pure conscience is the most cleare glasse of the soul in which she beholds God and her self A filthy eye cannot behold the splendour of true light Hereupon saith our Saviour Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God As a beautifull and fair face is pleasing to the eye of man So a pure and cleare conscience is acceptable in the sight of God But the putrified conscience begets never-dying worms Let us therefore in the present have a sense and feeling of the worm of conscience and labour to destroy it But let us not foster it lest it live with us for ever All other books were invented to mend this book What doth much science profit if there be a foul conscience Thou shalt be judged hereafter before the throne of God not by the book of thy science but by the book of thy conscience If thou wilt write this book right indeed write it according to the copy of the book of life Christ is the book of life Let the profession of thy faith be conformed to the rule of Christs doctrine and let the course of thy life be conformed to the rule of Christs life Thy conscience shall be good if there be puritie in thy heart truth in thy tongue and honestie in thy actions Use thy conscience for a lanthorn in all thy actions For that will plainly shew unto thee what actions in thy life be good and what be evil Avoid that judgement of thy conscience in which one and the same shall be both defendant and plaintiffe witnesse judge tormentour prison scourge executioner and slaughterer What escape can there be there where it is the witnesse that accuseth and where nothing can be hid from him that judgeth What doth it profit thee if all men commend the●● and thy conscience accuse thee What shall it hurt thee if all men detract from thee and thy conscience defend thee This judge is enough to accuse judge and condemne every man This judge is uncorrupt and cannot be moved with prayers or corrupted with rewards Whithersoever thou goest and wheresoever thou art thy conscience is alwayes with thee and carrieth about her whatsoever thou hast laid up in her whether it be good or evil She keeps for the living and restoreth to the dead that which was committed to her keeping So it is true that a mans enemies are they of his own houshold So in thine own house and amongst thine own family thou hast those that do observe accuse and torment thee What doth it profit thee to live in all abundance and plenty and to be tormented with the whip of conscience The fountain of mans felicitie and misery is in his minde What doth it profit a man in a burning fever to lie upon a bed of gold What doth it profit a man t●●mented with the firebrands of an ●●conscience to enjoy all outward felicitie As much as we regard everlasting salvation so much let us regard our conscience For if a good conscience be lost faith is lost and if faith be lost the grace of God is lost and if the grace of God be lost how can we hope for everlasting life As the testimony of thy conscience is such judgement mayest thou expect from Christ. Sinners shall become their own accusers though none accuse them or bring ought against them As the drunkard while he is overwhelmed with wine hath no sense of the hurt which he receiveth by the wine but when he hath slept out his drunken fit then he feels the hurt So sinne whiles it is in action doth blinde the minde and like a thick cloud doth obscure the brightnesse of true judgement But at length the conscience is roused and gnaweth more grievously then any accuser There are three judgements The judgement of the world the judgement of thy self and the judgement of God And as thou canst not escape the judgement of God So neither canst thou escape the judgement of thy self although sometimes thou mayest escape the judgement of the world No walls can hinder this witnesse from seeing all thy actions What excuse can save thee when thy conscience within doth accuse thee The peace of conscience is the beginning of everlasting life Thou mayest more truely and heartily rejoyce in the midst of troubles having a good conscience then thou canst in the midst of thy delights having an evil conscience Against the backbiting of all that bear thee ill will thou mayest confidently oppose the defence and excuse of thy conscience Enquire of thy self concerning thy self because thou knowest thy self farre better then any other man doth At the last judgement what will the false praises of others profit thee or the backbitings of others without a cause hurt thee By Gods and thine own judgement shalt thou either stand or fall Thou shalt not stand or fall by the testimonie of others The conscience is immortall as the soul is immortall And the punishments of hell shall torment the damned as long as the accusation of conscience shall endure No externall fire doth so afflict the bodie as this inward fire doth inflame the conscience The soul which is burned is eternall and the fire of the conscience is eternall No outward scourges are so grievous unto the bodie as these inward whips of conscience are unto the soul. Avoid therefore the guilt of sinne that so thou mayest avoid the torment of conscience By true repentance blot thy sinnes out of the book of thy conscience that they may not be read at the judgement and that thou mayest not be afraid of the voice of Gods sentence Mortifie the worm of conscience by the heat of devotion that it do not bite thee and so beget eternall horrour Extinguish this inward fire by thy teares that so thou mayest attain to the joyes of an heavenly cooler Grant O Lord that we may fight the good fight keeping faith and a good conscience that at length we may come safe and sound into our heavenly countrey Meditat. XXXIIII Of the study of true humilitie What is a