Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	necessary_a	produce_v	sufficient_a	2,945	5	8.9424	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75849	Satans stratagems, or The Devils cabinet-councel discovered whereby he endevors [sic] to hinder the knowledg of the truth ... wherein is laid open an easie way to end controversies in matters of conscience ... together with arguments to each book ... / by Jacobus Acontius ... ; as also the testimonies of some ancient divines, together with an epistle written by Mr John Goodwin ; and Mr. Duries letter touching the same.	Aconcio, Iacopo, d. 1566.; Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.; Dury, John, 1596-1680.	1648 (1648)	Wing A443A; ESTC R42404	127,449	159

Lord hath a true humane body and yet that the same body maybe in divers places at one thesame time Forasmuch therefore as they believe and that most strongly that Christ is true man the Son of God and raised from the dead and all other things which the Scripture holds forth as necessary to be believed what reason hast thou to deny that they may be saved even in this their Error It is clear therefore that as wel those which hold Christs body to be in the Sacramental bread as those which deny the same although it must needs be that one side err yet are they both if otherwise conscionable observers of our Lords commands in the way of Salvation In which regard they are bound to love and reverence one another as brethren the servants of God and members of Christ If they shal mutually vex one another with revilings reproaches cursings if they shal go on to exercise enmity one against another they shal not escape the just judgment of God Wherefore I pray and beseech both parties by Christ Jesus that laying aside all hatred and rash judgments they would strive to go beyond one another in offices of Love Let us abandon bad language scoffs contempt so wil it certainly fall out that such as err shal at the length be brought to acknowledg the Truth If we shal but once be united in heart and affection the Lord wil not deny us any favour or success neither wil he ever suffer that such as out of true love endeavour to draw their bretheren out of Error shal reap no fruit of their labour Now look how we have discussed these two points viz. the Error of Sabellius and the Controversie about the corporal pre-presence in the Sacramental bread it wil be easie for any man in like manner to judg of what ever other points shal come into Controversie For concerning what ever Error shal be questioned we must enquire whether or no the person so erring may not believe all such things as to the belief whereof Salvation is promised that in case he may we may perswade our selves that he errs not in a point necessary to be known unto salvation but if not that he errs in a necessary Doctrine Howbeit whosoever would condemn any man for any Error ought to consider again and again what assurance he hath that such an Error cannot stand with salvation Do but consider when as our Lord says come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I wil give you ease Shal any man be so fool-hardy as to dare to pul back him that is coming and of his own head to say to him Oh! do you hear it wil be in vain for you to go unto Christ who do not believe this or that point Who art thou that wilt hinder another mans servant from coming at his Masters call With what confidence takest thou upon thee to divine at the wil of God not being very clearly manifested unto thee Must you according to your fancy set bounds to the goodness mercy and kindness of God He unto whom it belongs to give life calls all unto him and wilt thou by I know not what exceptions of thine own devising limit those graces which he promiseth but limits not What dost thou in so doing Doubtless as much as in thee lies thou robbest a man of his life not of this life which is rather a death then life but of eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven adjudging him to eternal torments neither is it to one alone thou art so injurious but to thousands haply Thou maimest Christ in so many members thou rendest the Church into Sects and pavest a way to infinite mischiefs And if our Lord so severely menace such as offend the least what thinkest thou shal become of them who by their rash judging have drove men to make Sects without any necessary cause so requiring Wo unto them And if so be the way which we have set down to distinguish between points necessary to be believed and not necessary seem not to be sufficient do thou if thou canst produce a better one more sure firm and constant If thou wonderest that among such points which we have reckoned up as necessary to be known thou dost not find certain other points of Religion very highly accounted of Read over diligently the whole Old and New Testament and search throughly by what Texts thou canst prove that those points are so necessary to be known that he that understands them not cannot be saved Consider what knowledg the People of Israel could have of them from the Old Testament who were notwithstanding to be saved by the same faith that we are Consider again what the thief could know when it was said to him this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Or the Eunuch when Philip baptized him Or that woman to whom when she had washed our Lords feet it was said thy faith hath saved thee Or she that was wasted away by the bloody issue or the Palsied man with many others whose sins were forgiven them meerly upon their confessing the name of the Lord. It is also observable what the reason should be that whereas these points which we have set down as necessary are so frequently repeated in Scripture and required of necessity to be known those points which some men so highly account of are not in like manner required If those books had bin written by the wit of man which we account as indeed they are sacred we should say that honest Homer had took a nap and forgot himself But they are indicted by the Holy Spirit This therefore is not come to passe by chance but by the sure counsell of God who had he intended that those points should have been of like estimation he would at least in some one place plainly have signified his mind Which since he hath not done what is man that he should be able to conjecture Gods mind These things ought not to be measured by our wit or judgment but by the wisdom of God revealed unto us from heaven it alone must be regarded what ever reason may dictate But if so be any one shall erre in a point that ought necessarily to be known and cannot be reduced to a right judgment no man ought to question but that such a person may be justly condemned and cast out of the society of the godly And that not only if being admonished he shall go on to seduce others but also though he will be silent for what participation can the Church of God have with him unto whom eternal life is not promised But if the point about which some man erres be not in the number of those that must needs be known in this case I conceive we must use a distinction For if he that thinks amisse and cannot be reduced shall likewise endevour to seduce others having been often admonished to desist I see no reason but that he may and

he be drawn to forbear such practises as are declared offensive to him 8 Each mans sight failes him when he should see these faults in himself but he needs no spectacles to spie them in another Other mens doings he is apt to misconstrue being exceeding suspitious yet if a man once begin to think highly of and attribute much to another man especially in matters of religion therein he wil over-shoot all bounds of reason and make that man a kind of a God Other ways he wishes wel to none but himself and would have no body else excel in glory Whereupon if any profit or praise accrue to another he becomes envious and hinders what he can the increase thereof He diminishes the praises and augments the failings of another using calumniation 9 If in any matter he be never so little opposed he is exceeding prone to wrath and hatred neither can he easily remit his stomach but rather whets himself more and more to blood slaughter and all kinds of cruel revenge Thus is man of his own nature above measure arrogant high-conceited intemperate coveteous unsatiable desirous of what is another mans a supplanter lyer contentious envious revengeful murderous blind rash obstinate ungodly and born to all mischeif In a word the nature of man such as now it is is not much unlike the Nature of the unclean Spirits True it is notwithstanding that such vices as we have or might have named do not all alike appear in all men but some shew themselves more in some men then in others and some are not at all seen in some men by reason they want means or opportunity to practise them Constitution of body education custome study and such like are of great moment both to render a man prone unto and to withdraw him from vices yet is there not any man in whom the seeds of all vices are not found Howbeit there are yet remaining in man some foot-steps and prints of his first nature as a kind of obscure knowledg of what is just and unjust honest and dishonest that good deeds deserve praise and ill deeds punishment He seems to have a natural desire of knowledg and understanding He has in him a certain kind of ability from things perceived by the sense to arrive to the knowledg of insensible things and so to raise himself to a certain kind of knowledg of the divine Nature it self He hath some suspition that there shal be a life after this which shal ever last attended with happines to the good with misery and torments to the wicked This is manifest by the Poets fables whose discourses being accommodated to the opinions of the People make frequent mention of such things With this slight opinion of another life goes hand in hand some little desire of Salvation wherewith provoked he enquires after the means of worshipping and procuring the favour of God But the truth is these remainders of mans pristine goodness are kept under by so great and manifold oppositions of depraved nature that in most men they wholy vanish and come to nought and though in some they strongly resist the corruption of nature as may be seen in Socrates Seneca and others yet in their strength never so great as without the assistance of God to be of any moment to procure Salvation Rather by the event it appears Man is thereby led into greater darkness Now this is that which vexes Sathan that God of his infinite goodness bearing an extraordinary affection to mankind chuses himself out of Mankind servants ever and anon on whom he bestows the knowledg of his Law and whom he sends to instruct the Nations of the world Mans Nature then being such as we have shewn and the End of all Sathans consultations discovered the next thing we have to consider is by what way he seeks to attain unto this end Two conditions there are in the one of which the people are always found in the Light of truth or in the Dark of errors and Ignorance Neither is there ever so much light but that some mists of ignorance remain which we thought necessary to give warning of least in speaking of that lightful condition of men and making mention of error we might be thought to handle things out of their place Now when the people enjoy the Light of Truth Sathan endeavours to overwhelm them with darkness if they be already in the darkness of Error his scope is that that darkness may for ever remain Now a man may walk in the darkness of ignorance either exercising no Religion or a corrupt and false one Again a man may be without Religion either having never heard of such a thing as we call Religion and never having once thought of such a thing or understanding the notion but denying that there is any such matter as do those monsters of men who either deny that there is a God or that he cares for the affairs of Mankind Yet that there should be any Nation so bruitish as not to think of God seems incredible but that there is never wanting a parcel of desperate fellows that perswade themselves it is a vain and silly thing to think of God is more manifest then to need any proof these are the Divels drudges he makes use of for the accomplishment of any the most abominable wickednesses After that the true Religion hath been extant in a Nation to the end that Nation fall therefrom into Errors it is necessary their judgments alter Now this change is either observed by the people or not observed If they observe it there must needs be some cause why they should leave that Doctrine they had approved to embrace some other false and impious Now the causes that true opinions in matter of Religion are changed for false are false arguments passions and affections of mind such as are desire wrath hatred a good opinion of such as err a bad opinion of such as teach the truth and lying signs or wonders False arguments we account such from which untruth is any way inferred which may come to pass divers ways For either all that is alledged is false as in this inference the Mass ought to be retained because the Church of Rome hath used it ever since the times of the Apostles and what ever hath bin of ancient use in the Church of Rome ought to be retained or that which is alledged is in part true and partly false as in this inference because the Apostles ordinances are to be practised which is true and confession of a mans sins in the ears of a Preist is an ordinance of the Apostles institution which is false therefore this custom of confessing sinns in the Priests eare ought to be retained Again all that is brought for proof may be true and yet nothing to the purpose as if a man should say we are bound to observe difference of meats according to the prescriptions of the Church of Rome because fishes herbs Roots and the like do nourish

which were agreeable to the words indeed but far from the scope and purpose of that Text. In l●ke sort those words of Solomon need an exposi●ion The condition of man and beast is the same as these did so do they both die alike neither is a man better then a beast Now the exposition to be understood is that thus it is not absolutely but for ought which a mans reason can observe to difference them Which exposition being excluded he that shall press the words of Solomon shall pluck up all Religion by the roots Those add unto the true sentence of Scripture who say That those shall obtain eternal life who believe that their sins are forgiven for Christs sake provided they shall recount all their sins unto the Priest and obtain absolution from him He changes somewhat of the true sentence who says That the Law is therefore holy because the knowledg thereof makes a man holy for it is not therefore holy but because it makes a man to despair of his own strength and brings him unto Christ the onely means of salvation and because it shews what things please or displease God to the end we may worship him not after our own inventions and constitutions but according to his command A third means whereby a false sentence is thrust into the doctrine of Religion appearing to be true onely instead of that which is true indeed is when from some true sentence a false one is by a wrong inference collected which collection shall be used in place of the true one from which it was drawn So when the Bishop of Rome hath gathered out of those words Whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever shall be loosed by thee on earth shall be loosed in heaven this sentence That he hath power to make new laws and to constitute new heads of doctrine or as they call them new articles of Faith and to compel men to keep and observe the one and to believe the other This collection or inference of his he makes account of as of a sentence of Scripture Now there is a kinde of false inferences or collections very hidden and obscure forasmuch as they are partly drawn from suppositions which are neither expressed nor perhaps once thought of by the collectors yet are such collections admited without any question even as if they did arise out of most certain and clear grounds This may be seen in that collection we last named For that it may be infered That power to make laws was given to Peter it is requisite that the word binde should signifie to make laws For so you shall rightly collect to binde is to make laws power of binding is given to Peter and consequently of making laws In like maner you may collect to loose is to repeal laws now power to loose was given to Peter therefore power to abrogate laws was given to him And since it is said Whatsoever thou shalt bind and whatsoever thou shalt loose it will follow that Peter may make or revoke what laws he please yea the Ten commandmen●s he may abrogate if he think fit Again That all this may appear to belong to the Pope another supposition must be made viz. Whatsoever authority was given to Peter the same is given to the Roman Bishop since therefore Peter had authority giv●n him to make or abrogate what laws he please the same authority is given to the Roman Bishop But this conclusion is infered without any mention of those suppositions That to binde and to loose is to make and revoke laws and that Whatever authority was given to Peter is given to the Bishop of Rome Neither is every man able to mark in the making of such collections what that is which is omited and passed over with silence as out of all question true though it be indeed as false as false may be Furthermore easie it is for any to understand That the obscurity of sentences or doctrines of Religion is a cause that if any mutation be made it cannot easily be discerned Now the obscurity of Christian doctrine springs from these grounds First because it handles the things of the spirit and therefore cannot be understood without the spirit which spirit being wanting though there be a great corruption of doctrine yet can it not be discerned Another ground is because being written in one tongue we are forced to learn it in another tongue into which it is not very aptly translated And although a man should give himself to study the Hebrew and Greek yet seeing they are not now used by any Nation but have their Being onely in Books he will never be able to lea●n them so perfectly but that the proper signification and various use of many words and phrases will be hid from his knowledg Howbeit this obscurity we speak of is not so great but that where some portion of the Spirit is present those things at least which are necessary to be known for salvation may easily be understood And so much for the causes of not discerning a change in doctrine which are in the doctrine it self we are now to handle such Causes as are in the maner of the change Now the manner of the change makes it undiscerned for as much as the change is made by little and little for if so be as we said before out of some great heap of grain every day some few grains should be taken and as many of another sort be put in the room of them who could be able to discover the mutation Who is able to discern how much it is that a boy grows daily or how much a man declines and waxes old Now the very self-same thing is to be seen in the mutation of doctrine for we shall have a man to day suppose who if he make no other change will at least invent some generall name for to call such things by as agree in nature or in some common reference or respect which name will be afterward applied to things very different and it shal by this means come to passe that the nature and notion of the former things will be obscured thus did they that first called the holy washing and the Supper of our Lord Sacraments What hurt could any one so much as suspect from so small a matter Howbeit in process of time there were those who supposing that any sacred and holy rite was intended by the terme Sacrament began to give that name to laying on of hands Marriage Penitence Confirmation Extreme Unction Whence it is come to passe that Baptisme and the Supper having a name common to them with other things of much different nature their true notion is rendred dark and obscure For there remained with the generall name a notion in like manner generall and common to those other things whereas the proper notion which ought ever to be kept in mind is forgotten Hence also it came to pass that as it was manifest that