Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	law_n	sin_n	transgression_n	1,540	5	10.6759	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70287	A copy of a paper sent to John Otway, Justice of the Peace, concerning swearing	Howgill, Francis, 1618-1669.	1666 (1666)	Wing H3155A; ESTC R21667	6,149	8

A Copy of a Paper sent to John Otway Justice of the Peace concerning SWEARING My Friend THo I am little known to thee or acquainted with thee as to any Converse or Conversation yet hearing of thy sobriety and readiness to hear and enquire into those things which are scrupled among Christians and what may be said for or against any thing wherein every true Christian ought to be satisfied in his mind before he can believe and receive it as a Truth to have his Conscience obliged thereby which I account a point of Wisdom and not to take things upon Trust and Hear-say and Tradition as many do without any further enquiry Also understanding that thou hast not a hand in Persecuting thy Neighbour in bringing them into Bonds and others which I know thou mightst have done had not somthing in thy self limited thee beyond either Law or Examples which I hope thou wilt never have cause to repent thee for For the Meek shall inherit the Earth and to the Merciful God sheweth Mercy And If ever there was an Act of Mercy this is one To be tender of them that are tender of Gods Glory and Worship when so great severity hath been used against them that fear the Lord in their hearts which is the Seat of the Lords Judgment in Man. Likewise hearing that thou at a publick Session at Kendall lately in thy Charge or Speech in the Court spoke something about Oaths and the lawfulness of them and said that some gave false Glosses upon Matth. 5. and James 5. and did assert the Morality of them among Christians and how the Angel Swore after Christ had given that Command and shewed a necessity of them among Christians The Consideration of these things with some other was an inducement unto me to write these few things unto thee and shall leave them to thy Consideration and to the Spirit of the Lord in thy self to Judge according to that and seeing I am a Sufferer at this day and a great one too upon this account which If I were not certainly perswaded upon good ground of the truth of that I have believed in this particular I neither could nor would suffer for it but I must not forcean implicit Faith upon any only Judging it may induce thee the more to consider what I say I have had my share of long Contests about this thing amongst my Brethren and much hath been written about this particular by divers Hands whether any of them ever reached thy hand or not but however I would not be tedious unto thee and therefore shall contain my self in as narrow a compass as may be in so weighty a matter for which many thousands have and are like to suffer First of all There was a time when there was no Oaths When Man was made in the Image of God which consists in Righteousness and true Holiness Equity long suffering Patience Goodness Mercy and Truth wherein man was in a capacity to believe in God and men to believe one another this was in the beginning after the Heavens and the Earth was made and all things that are therein Then there were no Oaths neither needed any for Truth lived and man in it and that spoke and a certainer Testimony there could not be nor a greater and this was before Sin and Unbelief entred 2. Whosoever comes to witness a restoration again into the same Image by Christ the second Adam as all that are born of God and are true Christians indeed do come to there will be nothing but Truth speaking and ruling in the heart and in the words and Oaths ends 3. But after man had transgressed and eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and went from the power of God and had broken the Covenant of God he lost his wisdom and folly entred he lost Truth and a Lye entred and Unbelief so that he believed not God neither the Sons of Adam in the Fall could believe one another and Sin being entred and Death by it Deceit grew fast and Unbelief and but a few in a Generation bore the Image of God before the Flood as Abel Enoch and Seth and some few in comparison and the rest generally corrupted their waies and bore another Image and went after the imagination of their own hearts and set up Images and Idols and also after the Flood when the earth began to be replenished the cursed Seed grew faster and many great Nations became ignorant of the True God and made Gods of Gold and Silver Wood and Stone and reverenced them and Worshipped them and stood in fear of them and had them in esteem and Swore by them as the greatest thing and gloried in them 4. Abraham who feared the Lord and hearkned unto his Voice whom the Lord singled out of many people as a righteous Root of whom he would raise up a righteous Generation and more righteous than the rest of the Nations and made a Covenant with him and he was called The Father of the Faithful and was the Original of all the Tribes of Israel and the thousands of the people but the most of them became vain also and as corrupt as other Nations And the four hundred years that they had lived among the Egyptians they learned too much their manners and were much corrupted and darkned in their understandings and therefore the Lord was wroth with them and few were made partakers of the Promise because of their Unbelief 5. The Law was added because of Transgression four hundred and thirty years after the Promise was made or as some account from the Creation two thousand years which Law was given at Sinai to Israel and not to the Gentiles as it is written to Jacob He gave his Law to Israel his Statutes to every Nation he did not so which Law some of latter times have divided into three parts Moral Judaical and Ceremonial which distinction I do not read of particularly in the Scripture Moral as that which pertaineth to the manner of Israel how they ought to Worship God and walk towards their Neighbour Ceremonial that which pertained to the Priests and People as to Form or Discipline which was shadowy Judaical as that which belonged to their Policy or State. The two last generally are acknowledged if I may say parts of the Law to be ended and is not binding unto Christians but the first part some have said is Moral and perpetual the discussing of which would take up more time and reading than I intend to trouble thee with 6. Seeing the Law all of it was added because of Transgression that was the cause its evident If there had been no Transgression there had needed no addition of a Law as a limit or rule so whosoever comes thro Christ Jesus to witness Transgression finished and an end of Sin they become dead to the Law tho they are not without a Law to God for it hath power over a man as long as he lives to convict him and