Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	time_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	72	3	8.8994	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

variance for man hauing become by sin an enemy vnto God had the Angels enemies vnto him a figure whereof wee haue in that Angel who stood with a sword in the entry of Paradise to hold Adam out of it but now man beeing reconciled to God by Iesus Angels are also reconciled with man For it pleased the Father to set at peace through the bloud of his Crosse both the things in earth and the things in heauen so that now they agree in one harmony to praise the Lord. Yea strange it is that they who before were figured by Lyons Bullocks Eagles and men are now brought in singing one song This is to magnifie the effectuall vertue of the Redeemer who hath reconciled God and man Angel and man yea man with man so that most sierce and barbarous natures are now made peaceable meeke and louing one to another by the power of his grace And this is it which was foretold by Esay of the kingdome of the Messia The Wolse shall dwell with the Lambe the Leopard shall lye with the Kidde the Calfe and the Lyon shall feede together Therefore Clemens Alexandrinus speaking of Christ Iesus calls him Nouum quendam Citharaedum What the Grecians spake of their Orpheus that by the sweet harmony of his musike he did mitigate and tame the most wild and furious beasts is onely and in truth done by our Christ Solus ipse feras mansuefacit for wild beasts of all sorts are tamed by him Volucres flying fowles that is wicked men carried aloft vpon the wings of vanitie them he makes solid and establisheth their hearts by grace Serpentes creeping things figuring deceiuers with their subtill wiles them he makes vpright Hee tameth Leones Lupos Lyons rauening wolues cruell and bloudy men he turneth into meeke and mercifull men Such a rauening Wolfe was S. Paul of the Tribe of Beniamin but Christ Iesus of a Persecuter conuerted him to a Preacher Yea lapides et ligna such as worshipped stocks and stones and had no more spiritual life in them then stones haue hath he raised quickned and made them children to Abraham What then shal we say of these men who for small offences by no means can be reconciled to their brethren Surely they are yet strangers from this grace in conceit they flye higher then Angels in stubbornnesse harder then stones in fiercenes of nature more barbarous then beasts are they who by the grace of Iesus are not tamed and made louing to their brethren The second circumstance is their gesture in worshipping noted in these words They fel down before the Lambe for still Saint Iohn speaketh of these things as they appeared to him in the Vision Alwaies by their example they learne vs with humbled hearts and bodies to praise the Lord which as it is a dutie whereunto we are bound for so saith the Apostle Yee are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and spirit for they are Gods so it renders to our selues very great cōfort for the time is at hand wherein our bodies must be committed to the graue then the tongue will be silenced the eye closed and no member of the body will be able to doe as now it may So long therefore as we haue the vse of them let vs make them vveapons of righteousnesse for the seruice of our God let the eye mourne for sinne and looke vp for mercy let the hands be lifted vp as an euening sacrifice let the tongue speake to his praise let the knees bow vnto him that made thē Thus if we vse them so long as wee haue them to his honor we may rest assured that he will honor them sith his promise is I will honour them that honour me Euen in the graue shal the Lord watch ouer them to keepe the very dust of them And howsoeuer the body be sowne in dishonour yet shall it be raised in glory it was the temple of the holy Ghost and he will not faile to restore and reedifie it If the Spirit of him that raised vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raised vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies because that his Spirit dwelleth in you The third circumstance is of the instruments which they vse in his praises It is said Euery one of them had Harps and golden Vials full of odours none of them wants euery one of them haue It contents them not that their companions prayse God beside them euery one of them haue their owne Harpe and praise God for themselues Let vs learne of them how we should behaue our selues in the assembly of Saints Vnder the Law no man might appeare emptie before the Lord it is now a greater sinne vnder the Gospell to come to the House of God and no sacrifice in our heart to offer vnto the Lord. Let vs take heede to our selues the Lord knowes his owne Israelites in whom there is no guile when they sacrifice then hee smelleth a sweet sauour hypocrites he knoweth also that sit in the seate of sacrificers but offer no sacrifice to the Lord they may maske themselues but the Lord cannot be deceiued for hee knowes them as they are and wil deale with them as they deale with him With the vpright thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright and The Lord will doe well to those that be good and true in their hearts But those that turne aside by their crooked waies the Lord will lead with the workers of iniquitie Their Harps note two things first the great ioy they haue in praysing GOD. There is no ioy on earth comparable to that vvhich is found in the praysing of GOD and praying vnto him When our Sauiour prayed then was his countenance changed when Dauid played vpon the Harpe the euill spirit that troubled Saul departed from him and when wee get hearts to pray or praise the Lord doe we not find by experience that then our troubles are mitigated our perturbations pacified then Satan is confounded and we our selues are comforted these are the sweet effects of the soules harping vnto God Againe it noteth the sweet harmonie and concent that is among them They are many and haue seuerall Harpes but all agree in one sound and Song O how good and how comely a thing it is for brethren to dwell together O how great is the glory of Saints when they all speake one thing and all minde one thing This was the happinesse of the Primitiue Church the multitude of beleeuers was of one heart but shortly after were they diuided by an vnnecessarie schisme Some said I am Pauls and some I am Apollos The like preposterous zeale makes a great distemperature and discordant sound in many Professors of our time without any cause The euill is more then we can mend at least let vs mourne for it and pray