Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	preach_v	zeal_n	zealous_a	35	3	9.3361	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19503	Pathmos: or, A commentary on the Reuelation of Saint Iohn diuided into three seuerall prophecies. The first prophecie contained in the fourth, fift, sixt and seuenth chapters. By Mr. William Cowper, Bishop of Galloway.	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1619 (1619)	STC 5931; ESTC S108985	231,291	374

righteousnesse c. So the Horse whereupon this Conquerour is carryed through the world is the Ministerie of the Word Primasius by the Horse vnderstands Apostles and Preachers Ministers without the Word are not to be receiued and the Word without a Minister able to preach it is not profitable These two the Lord in his most wise dispensation hath ioyned together For it hath pleased God by the foolishnesse of Preaching to saue them who beleeue The Horse then is the Ministerie of the Word The Gospell preached is the Chariot and Horses whereby this King is carried through the world As in the gouernement of the world hee vseth the Ministerie of Angels so in the gathering and gouerning of his Church hee vseth the Ministery of Preachers Who can heare but by Preaching and who can preach except they be sent These are figured by Horses first for the courage wherewith they are endued This is obserued by the Lord himselfe as a speciall property of the Horse He mocketh at feare and is not afraid hee turneth not back from the sword And doubtlesse Preachers in whom Christ is and vpon whom hee rides are valiant and couragious men Their fore-head is like the Adamant and harder then the Flint They feare no death they faint for no trouble that can follow them in the seruice of Christ. Notable was that answer of Andrew the Apostle when Egeas Gouernour of Patris vpbraided him with the death of the Crosse hee answered that he would neuer haue preached the honour and glory of the Crosse if he had feared it And as the seruants of God are farre from that timiditie which makes men vnfaithfull in the cause of God so are they as farre from temerity whereby men ignorantly zealous are precipitate and carried head-long to accelerate for euery light conceite of their braine trouble on themselues Their zeale is like a fire kindled of stubble or straw which makes a faire blaze for the time but because it hath no matter to maintaine it vanisheth incontinent and endeth in vngracious smoaking I wish we had no example of any such among vs it is a shame to the Gospell to speake the one day and retreate the other A wrong cause will neuer furnish strength in trouble wisedom requires that men before-hand should ponder and consider well the cause for which they will resolue to suffer affliction Againe Preachers are figured by Horses and Christ going forth to conquer appeares riding on a Horse to note the speed and celerity which hee was to vse in propagation of the Gospell And indeed it is wonderfull to see how in a short time the Lord Iesus ranne through the world by the Ministerie of his Word ouercomming and subduing to his obedience most mighty Kingdomes by most weake Instruments This is well obserued by Cyprian Bishop of Carthage and Martyr Ecce à Domini Redempt●…ris temporibus anni effluxerunt plus minùs 240. iamque huius vitis palmites latiùs se sparserunt quàm Romanum Imperium It is little more or lesse saith he of two hundred and forty yeares since the daies of Christ the Redeemer and yet in this time the Church hath spred out her Branches larger then the Romane Empire Et qu●…s nulla ferri vis domare potuit emollit sanguis Agni candidi and they whom no power of the sword was able to daunt are made peaceable and tame by the bloud of the vnspotted Lambe Among many of that sort how the Lord hath beene mercifull to Scotland in that about sixteene hundred yeares this Conquerour with his white Horse entred in among vs and subiected vs to himselfe whom the Romanes could neuer subiect to their Empire I haue at large declared in that Treatise Intituled Six daies conference betweene a Catholike Christian and a Catholike Romane And againe as the Horse is bridled and ruled and turned here or there by him that rides vpon it and is not left to himselfe to wander where-away he will so is it with Preachers of the Gospell they are directed to Countries Kingdomes and Cities at the good pleasure of Christ they neither come nor go by accident but by the prouidence of God A notable example hereof we haue in S. Paul hee was of purpose to go to Bithinia but the Spirit suffered him not yea commanded him to go to Macedonia And albeit now the Lord doth not informe his seruants by such extraordinary reuelations yet doth he still worke with them in the same manner appointing them to such places and people as in his Wisedome hee thinkes most expedient Take heed to the flocke ouer which the Holy Ghost hath made you Ouerseers and they are as starres in the right hand of Iesus they shine not but where hee holds out his hand and sends them This is a warning to Preachers if they looke to haue their Ministry blessed of the Lord let them not goe where the calling of God leades them not Other riders are helped by their horses but heer the horse is helped by the rider for what is a Preacher if Christ bee not with him and worke in him he is like a Pen without a hand it can write nothing a tongue without a heart it can speake nothing a musicall instrument without one to touch it can make no sound at all We are not able of our selues sufficiently to thinke a good thought all our sufficiency is of God Sith it is so our care should be to carry our Lord alway in our Conscience how should we wait vpon him how should wee most carefully keepe him sith without him wee are able to doe nothing It is written of Bucephalus the horse of Alexander that hee would suffer none to ride vpon him but his owne master whether that be true or not sure it is this is most true Preachers should not be Asses like Issachar couching downe to receiue euery burden that any man will lay vpon them but they are horses for Christ onely to ride vpon Yea all other Christians in their callings are also to looke vnto this that the commandement and direction of their waies bee reserued onely to Iesus Christ Beatae animae quae dorsum suum cur●…arunt vt suscipiant Sessorē verbum Dei fraenacius patiuntur vt quocunque ipse voluerit flectat eas quia non iam propria voluntate incedunt sed ad omnia ducuntur reducuntur voluntate Sessoris Blessed are the soules which bow their backes to receiue The Word of God to ride vpon them who are content to be bridled by him and turned where-away hee will these walke not after their owne will but are turned hither and thither at the good pleasure of him who rides vpon them But to returne and conclude this second point As there is no horse which needeth not the spurre and the bridle the one to stirre him forward the other to gouerne him in

though thou hadst them were not able to vphold thee if the Lord in his anger look downe vpon thee A fearfull example hereof we haue in Baltasar the last of the Assyrian Monarches who hauing about him all worldly comforts that the heart of man could craue yet when the Lord wakened his conscience and wrote his doome with three fingers of an hand vpon the wall ouer against him his countenance changed his flesh trembled his knees smote one against the other his spirit was perturbed and none of his comforts could comfort him Sith it is so that we cannot endure to want his creatures farre lesse can we liue if wee want himselfe will we still prouoke the Lord to wrath by our sinnes Are we stronger then hee that any way we should be able to beare the force of his indignation Why then are we not more carefull to make peace with him Thou canst not resist him why wilt thou not bee reconciled with him God giue vs wise and vnderstanding hearts that in time wee may consider of it This plague of famine comes in into the third roome and is not to be limited within any definite time for as the course of the white Horse shall continue to the worlds end so where he is reiected the Black and the Pale shall follow ac-according as it pleaseth the Lord to appoint them Cotterius who assigneth seuen yeares and no more to euery Seale confesseth hee cannot proue that this plague of famine threatned heere should be restrained to seuen yeares onely and so it is indeed for where the red Horse followes the White to persecute the Preachers and Professors of the Gospell it is a righteous thing with God to send in the Blacke and the Pale Horses to plague them They who despise the Bread of Life are iustly punished when bread needfull for the body is taken from them Seek first the Kingdome of heauen all other things shall be ministred vnto you And on the contrary where men will not receiue the Kingdome of God offered vnto them all other things which they would haue shall be taken from them They shall not enioy the comforts of the earth who despise the pleasures of heauen proclaimed and preached by the Gospell The blind world blameth the Gospell most wrongfully as if it were the cause why men are plagued with famine and pestilence but we see the true cause is the persecution and contempt of the Gospell So the Iewes of old ignorantly gloried as the Papists do now that there was wealth enough when they worshipped the Queene of heauen And Infidels in the Primitiue Church imputed Famine Pest and such like to the Christians But heere the true causes of wealth and of want are discouered to vs. And yet still they obiect that Famine and Pestilence cannot be plagues sent vpon the world for contempt of the Gospell because Preachers and Professors of the Gospell are not exempted from them But this is easily answered for good men and euill as in one and the selfe-fame action so also in one and the selfe-fame passion are farre different one from another Cain and Abel sacrificed yet was the one accepted the other reiected their hands wrought alike but not their hearts Iudas said I haue sinned in betraying Christ Peter I haue sinned in denying Christ Alike in confession but not in contrition and confidence Two Malefactors crucified with Christ the one continuing in his sinne blasphemed him the other by grace conuerted from his sinne blessed him There yee haue in like action and like passion an vnlike disposition Quicunque boni malique pariter afflict●… sunt non ideo ipsi distincti non sunt quia distinctum non est quod vtrique perpessi sunt manet tamen dissimilitudo passorum etiam in similitudine passionum licet sub eodem tormento non est idem virtus vitium Good and euill men are not therefore not distinguished because it is not distinguished which they suffer There is a great dissimilitude of the sufferers euen in the similitude of suffering and vnder one and the selfe-fame torment yet are not vertue and vice one and the same The same answer before him gaue Cyprian to the Ethnickes when they obiected the like to Christians Thinke not saith he that yee and wee because we both suffer in the like afflictions are therefore alike when we are stricken like you yet are we not like Ne putes participem esse poenae tuae quem non vides participem doloris tui thinke him not partaker of thy punishment whom thou seest not partaker of thy paine Now the Rider on this blacke Horse is said to haue a Ballance in his hand first in token of penurie and scarcity he giues bread vnto men not by measure but by weight which is according to the curse threatned in the Law When I shall break the staffe of your bread then ten women shall bake your bread in one Ouen and they shall deliuer your bread againe by weight and yee shall eate and not bee satisfied A token of great scarcity when in one Ouen as much bread is baked as must serue seuen Families and which yet is worse They shall eat and not be satisfied Secondly the Ballance in the hand of him who brings this plague of Famine notes the equity of God in the execution of his Iudgements hee makes his plagues proportionall to the sinnes of men and in punishing them doth nothing vnrighteously Hitherto tend these borrowed speeches of Lines Measures and Cups vsed in holy Scripture to expresse the moderation and equity of God euen in punishing hee keeps a measure a rule and order But in the execution of mercy it is farre otherwise for our best seruice is not worth the least of his mercies our recompence is not by lines nor measures but as our Sauiour speaketh A good measure pressed downe and shaken together and running ouer shall bee giuen vnto you The Lord shall doe to vs aboundantly aboue all wee can aske or thinke Much more aboue all that we haue done VERSE 6. And I heard a Voice in the midst of the foure liuing creatures say A measure of Wheate for a peny and three measures of Barly for a peny and Oile and Wine hurt thou not NOW followes the exposition of the former Type wherein by a Proclamation from the Throne or the Lamb that sits thereon the plague threatned here is declared to be famine dearth The Choenix in the iudgement of all Interpreters is such a measure of dry corne as might serue to be bread for a day vnto one man The penie againe was the ordinary wages of a common Labourer for a day as is cleere out of the Parable of the Vineyard and those who laboured in it So great then shall the Dearth be that a man labouring all the day long shall be able to gaine no more bread