Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	knowledge_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	132	4	9.5616	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39674	Planelogia, a succinct and seasonable discourse of the occasions, causes, nature, rise, growth, and remedies of mental errors written some months since, and now made publick, both for the healing and prevention of the sins and calamities which have broken in this way upon the churches of Christ, to the great scandal of religion, hardening of the wicked, and obstruction of Reformation : whereunto are subjoined by way of appendix : I. Vindiciarum vindex, being a succinct, but full answer to Mr. Philip Cary's weak and impertinent exceptions to my Vindiciæ legis & fæderis, II. a synopsis of ancient and modern Antinomian errors, with scriptural arguments and reasons against them, III. a sermon composed for the preventing and healing of rents and divisions in the churches of Christ / by John Flavell ... ; with an epistle by several divines, relating to Dr. Crisp's works.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1691 (1691)	Wing F1175; ESTC R21865	194,574	498

and ignorant ZEAL a temper preparing the mind both to propagate furiously and receive easily Erroneous Doctrines and Opinions When there is in the Soul more heat than light when a fervent Spirit is governed by a weak Head such a temper of Spirit Satan desires and singles out as fittest for his purpose especially when the Heart is graceless as well as the Understanding weak A blind Horse of an high mettle will carry the Rider into any Pit and venture over the most dangerous Precipices Such were the Superstitious Iewish Zealots they had a zeal for God but not according to knowledge This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blind zeal St. Paul charges justly upon the Iewish Bigots Rom. 10. 2. as the proper cause of their dangerous Errors about the great point of Iustification and surely no man understood the evil of it more than he who in his unregenerate state was transported by it to the most furious persecution of the Saints Acts 26. 11. and even to dotage and extreme fondness upon the Erroneous Traditions of his Fathers Gal. 1. 14. Blind Zeal is a Sword in a Mad-man's hand No Persecutor to a Conscientious one whose Erroneous Conscience offers up the blood of the Saints to the glory of God Iob. 16. 2. The blind but zealous Pharisees would compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte Matth. 23. 15. as our Modern Pharisees the Iesuits have since done who have mingled themselves with the remotest and most barbarous Nations to draw them to the Romish Error Of the same temper were the false Teachers taxed by the Apostle Gal. 4. 17. they zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you viz. from our Society and Ordinances that you might affect them And as it is the great Instrument by which Satan propagates Errors so it makes a fit temper in the Souls of the People to receive them For by this means Error gains the possession of the Affections without passing a previous and due test by the Understanding and so gains the Soul by the advantage of a Surprize Every thing by how much the more weak and ignoble it is by so much the more it watcheth upon Surprisals and Advantages Error cares not to endure the due examination and test of Reason and therefore seeks to gain by surprisal what it despairs of ever gaining by a plain and fair tryal There be few Errorists in the World of Alexander's mind who would rather lose the day than steal the Victory Hence it comes to pass that the greatest number of those they lead Captives are silly Women as the Apostle speaks who are the most affectionate but least judicious Sex From this blind Zeal it is that they cunningly wind their Erroneous Opinions into all their Discourses where they have any hope to prevail A rational and modest Contradiction puts them into a flame it breaks the nearest bonds of Friendship and Society Rabshekah in 2 King 18. would not treat with Hezekiah's Counsellors of State but with the common People upon the Wall and Error cares not to treat with sound Reason able to sift it through the Scripture-search but with the Affections as well knowing it is in vain to make war in Reason's Territories without first gaining a party among the Affections The Remedies The best Defensatives against Erroneous Contagions in this case are to be found in the following Particulars Defensative I. Reflect seriously and sadly upon the manifold Mischiefs occasioned every-where and in all Ages of the World by rash Zeal Revolve Church-histories and you shall find that scarce any cruel Persecution hath flamed in the World which hath not been kindled by blind Zeal Turn over all the Records both of Pagan and Popish Persecutions and you shall still find these two Observations confirmed and verified First That ignorant Zeal hath kindled the fires of Persecution and secondly That the more zealous any have been for the ways of Error and Falshood still the more implacably fierce and cruel they have been to the sincere Servants of God None like a Superstitious Devoto to manage the Devil's work of Persecution throughly and to purpose They 'l rush violently and head-long into the blood of their dearest Relations or most eminent Saints to whose sides the Devil sets this sharp Spur. Superstitious Zeal draws all the strength and power of the Soul into that one Design and wo to him that stands in the way of such a man if God interpose not betwixt him and the stroke It was a rational wish of him that said Liberet me Deus ab homine unius tantùm negotii God deliver me from a man of one only Design Now consider Reader if thy judgment be weak and thy affections warm how much thou liest exposed not only to Errors which may ruine thy self but also to Tongue and Hand-persecution wherein Satan may manage thy zeal for the injury or ruine of those that are better than thy self And withal consider how many dreadful threatnings are found in Scripture against the instruments of Persecution so employed and managed by Satan Certainly Reader it were better for thee to stand with thy naked breast before the mouth of a discharging Cannon than that thy Soul should stand under this guilt before such a Scripture-threatning as that Psal. 7. 13. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his Arrows against the persecutors And none more likely to become such than those of thine own temper and complexion especially if grace be wanting in the heart whilst Zeal for erroneous Principles eats up the Affections Second Defensative Consider what mischief zeal for an Error will do thine own Soul as well as others It will wholly ingross thy time thoughts and strength so that if there be any gracious principle in thee it shall not be able to thrive and prosper For look as a Fever takes off the natural appetite from Food so will erroneous Zeal take off thy Spiritual Appetite from Meditation Prayer Heart-examination and all other the most necessary and nourishing Duties of Religion by reason whereof thy grace must languish When thy Soul with David's should be filled and feasted as with marrow and fatness by delightful meditations of God upon thy Bed thou wilt be rolling in thy mind thy barren and insipid notions which yield no food or spiritual strength to thy Soul thou wilt lye musing how to dissolve the Arguments and Objections against thine Errors when thou shouldst rather be employed in solving the just and weighty Objections that lye against thy sincerity and interest in Christ which were time far better improved Third Defensative Consider how baneful this inordinate zeal hath been to Christian Society lamentably defacing and almost dissolving it every where to the unspeakable detriment of the Churches We read Mal. 3. 16. of a blessed time when they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a Book of remembrance was written before him for

to Babylon against the very Grammar of the Text and the Truth of the History And so again that place Isa. 58. 8. The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward through ignorance of the word read re-reward that is a double reward to his people But these are small matters compared with those grosser abuses of Scripture by the ignorant and unlearned which prejudice Truth and too much countenance Popish Reproaches The Remedies The proper way to prevent and remedy this mischief is not by depriving any Man of his just Liberty either to read or judge for himself what God speaks in his Word and think that way to cure Errors that were the same thing as to cut off the Head to cure an Head-ach Leave that sinful policy with the false Religion Let those only that know they do evil be afraid of coming to the light But the proper course of preventing the mischiefs that come this way is by labouring to bound and contain Christians within those limits Christ himself hath set unto this liberty which he hath granted them And these are such as follow Limitation I. Tho' Christ have indulged to the meanest and weakest Christian a liberty to read and judge of the Scriptures for himself yet he hath neither thereby nor therewith granted him a liberty publickly to Expound and Preach the Word to others That 's quite another thing Every Man that can read the Scriptures and judge of their sense is not thereby presently made Christ's Commission-Officer publickly and authoritatively to Preach and Inculcate the same to others Two things are requisite to such an employment viz. Proper Qualifications 1 Tim. 3. And a solemn Call or designation Rom. 10. 14 15. The Ministry is a distinct Office Acts 20. 17 28. 1 Thes. 5. 12. and none but qualified and ordained persons can Authoritatively Preach the Word 2 Tim. 1. 6. 1 Tim. 4. 14. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Christians may privately edify one another by reading the Scriptures communicating their sense one to another of them admonishing counselling reproving one another in a private fraternal way at seasons wherein they interfere not with more publick Duties But for every one that hath confidence enough and the ignorant usually are best stock'd with it to assume a liberty without due Qualification or Call to Expound and give the Sense of Scriptures and pour forth his crude and unstudied Notions as the pure sense and meaning of God's Spirit in the Scriptures this is what Christ never allowed and through this Flood-gate Errors have broken in and overflowed the Church of God to the great scandal of Religion and confirmation of Popish Enemies Limitation II. Though there be no part of Scripture shut up or restrained from the knowledg or use of any Christian yet Jesus Christ hath recommended to Christians of different abilities the study of some parts of Scripture rather than others as more proper and agreeable to their Age and Stature in Religion Christians are by the Apostle rank'd into three Classes Fathers Young-men and Little Children 1 Iohn 2. 13. and accordingly the Wisdom of Christ hath directed to that sort of food which is proper to either For there is in the Word all sorts of Food suitable to all Ages in Christ there 's both Milk for Babes and strong Meat for grown Christians Heb. 5. 13 14. Those that are unskilful in the Word of Righteousnes should feed upon Milk that is the easie plain but most nutritive and pleasant practical Doctrines of the Gospel But strong Meat saith he that is the more abstruse deep and mysterious truths belongeth to them that are of full Age even those who by reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both good and evil that is Truth and Error To the same purpose he speaks 1 Cor. 3. 2. I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it Art thou a weak unstudied Christian a Babe in Christ Then the easier and more nutritive Milk of plain Gospel-Doctrine is fitter for thee and will do thee more good than the stronger Meat of profound and more mysterious Points or the Bones of Controversy which are too hard for thee to deal with God hath blessed this Age with great variety of sound and allowed Expositors in our own Language by the diligent study of which and prayer for the illumination and guidance of the Spirit you may not only attain unto the true sense and meaning of the more plain and obvious but also unto gre●ter knowledg and clearer insight into the more obscure and controverted parts of Scripture Cause III. There is also another evil disposition in the Subject rendring it easily receptive of Errors and that is spiritual SLOTHFVLNESS and carelesness in a due and serious search of the whole Scripture with a sedate and rational consideration of every part and particle therein which may give us any though the least light to understand the mind of God in those obscure and difficult points we search after the knowledg of Truth lies deep as the rich Veins of Gold do Prov. 2. If we will get the treasure we must not only beg as he directs vers 3. but dig also vers 4. else as he speaks Prov. 14. 23. The talk of the lips tends only to poverty We are not to take up with that which lies uppermost and next at hand upon the surface of the Text but to search with the most sedate and considerative mind into all parts of the written Word examining every Text which hath any respect to the truth we are searching for heedfully to observe the Scope Antecedents and Consequents and to value every Apex Tittle and Iota for each of these are of Divine Authority Matt. 5. 18. and sometimes greater weight is laid upon a small word yea upon the addition or change of a Letter in a word as appears in the names of Abram and Sarai It will require some strength of mind and great sedulity to lay all parts of Scripture before us and to compare words with words and things with things as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 13. comparing spiritual things with spiritual And though it be true that some important Doctrines as that of Iustification by Faith are methodically disposed and throughly clear'd and setled in one and the same Context yet it is as true that very many other points of Faith and Duty are not so digested but are delivered sparsinì here a little and there a little as he speaks Isa. 28. 10. You must not think to find all that belongs to one Head or Point of Faith or Duty lay'd together in a System or common place in Scripture but scattered abroad in several pieces some in the Old Testament and some in the New at a great distance one from another Now in our searches and inquiries after the full and satisfying knowledg of the Will of God in such Points it is necessary that the whole Word of God be throughly

Conduct of the Spirit and in all your addresses to God pray that he would keep them chast and pure and not suffer Satan to commit a rape upon them Plead with God that part of Christ's Prayer Iohn 17. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth Rule IV. Live in the conscientious and constant practice of all those Truths and Duties God hath already manifested to you This will bring you under that blessed Promise of Christ Iohn 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God Satan's greatest successes are amongst idle notional and vain Professors not humble serious and practical Christians Caus● XI Having considered and dispatched the several internal Causes of Error found in the evil dispositions of the seduced as also the Impulsive Cause viz. Satan who fits suitable baits to all these sinful humours and evil tempers of the heart we come next to consider the Instrumental Cause employed by Satan in this work viz. the FALSE TEACHER whom Satan makes use of as his Seeds-man to disseminate and scatter erroneous Doctrines and Principles into the minds of Men Ploughed up and prepared by those evil tempers forementioned as a fit Soil to receive them The choice of Instruments is a principal part of Satan's policy Every one is not fit to be employed in such a Service as this All are not fit to be of the Council of War who yet take their places of Service in the Field A Rustick carried out of the Field on Board a Ship at Sea though he never learned his Compass nor saw a Ship before can by another's direction tug lustily at a Rope but he had need be an expert Artist that sits at the Helm and steers the course The worst Causes need the smoothest Orators and bad Ware a cunning Merchant to put it off Deep-parted Men are coveted by Satan to manage this design None like an eloquent Tertullus to confront a Paul Acts 24. 1. A subtil Eccius to enter the List in defence of the Popish Cause against the Learned and Zealous Reformers When the Duke of Buckingham undertook to Plead the bad Cause of Richard the third the Londoners said They never thought it had been possible for any Man to deliver so much bad Matter in such good Words and quaint Phrases The first Instrument chosen by Satan to deceive Man was the Serpent because that Creature was more subtil than any Beast of the Field There is not a Man of eminent parts but Satan courts and sollicites him for this service St. Austin told an ingenious but unsanctified Scholar Cupit abs te ornari Diabolus The Devil covets thy Parts to adorn his Cause He surveys the World and where-ever he finds more than ordinary strength of Reason pregnancy of Wit depth of Learning and elegancy of Language that is the Man he looks for These are the Men that can almost indiscernably sprinkle their Errors among many precious Truths and wrap up their poisonous Drugs in Leaf-gold or Sugar Maresius notes of Crellius and his Accomplices That by the power of their Eloquence and sophistry of their Arguments they were able artificially to cloath horrible Blasphemies to allure the simple And like the Hyaena they can counterfeit the voices of the Shepherds to deceive and destroy the Sheep There is saith a late Worthy an erudita nequitia a Learned kind of wickedness a subtil art of deceiving the minds of others Upon which account the Spirit of God sometimes compares them 2 Pet. 2. 3. to cunning and cheating Tradesmen who have the very art to set a gloss upon their bad Wares with fine words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they buy and sell the people with their ensnaring and feigned words And sometimes he compares them to cunning Gamesters that have the art and sleight of hand to Cog the Die to deceive the unskilful and win their Game Eph. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And sometimes the Spirit of God compares them to Witches themselves Gal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you How many strange feats have been done upon the bodies of Men and Women by Witchcraft But far more and stranger upon the Souls of Men by the Magick of Error Iannes and Iambres performed wonderful things in the sight of Pharoah by which they deceived and hardened him and unto these false Teachers are compared Such a Man was Elymas the Sorcerer who laboured to seduce the Deputy Sergius Paulus though a prudent Man Acts 13. 7 8 9 10. Oh full of all subtilty and all mischief thou Child of the Devil saith Paul unto him The Art of seduduction from the ways of truth and holiness discovers a Man to be both the Child and Scholar of the Devil But as the wise and painful Ministers of Christ who turn many to Righteousness shall have double Glory in Heaven so these subtil and most active Agents for the Devil who turn many from the ways of Righteousness will have a double portion of misery in Hell The Remedies The proper Remedies in this Case are principally two Remedy I. Pray fervently and labour diligently in the use of all God's appointed means to get more solidity of Judgment and strength of Grace to establish you in the Truth and secure your Souls against the cunning craftiness of Men that lye in to deceive 'T is the ignorance and weakness of the people which makes the Factors for Error so successful as they are Consult the Scriptures and you shall find these cunning Merchants drive the quickest and gainfullest trade among the weak and injudicious So speaks the Apostle With good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 harmless weak easie Souls who have a desire to do well but want wisdom to discern the subtilties of them that mean ill who are void both of fraud in themselves and suspition of others Oh! what success have the Deceivers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their fair words and sugared speeches sweet and taking expressions among such innocent ones And who are they among whom Satan's cunning Gamesters commonly win the Game and sweep the Stakes but weak Christians credulous Souls whom for that reason the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children The word properly signifies an an Infant when 't is referred to the Age but unskilful and unlearned when referred as it is here to the Mind So again 2 Pet. 2. 14. They that is the False Teachers there spoken of beguile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unstable Souls Souls that are not confirmed and grounded in the Principles of Religion Whence by the way take notice of the unspeakable advantage and necessity of being well Catechized in our youth the more judicious the more secure Remedy II. Labour to acquaint your selves with the sleights and artifices Satan's Factors and Instruments generally make use of to seduce and draw Men from the Truth