Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wit_n	word_n	writer_n	17	3	7.7107	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20770	A treatise of the true nature and definition of justifying faith together with a defence of the same, against the answere of N. Baxter. By Iohn Downe B. in Divinity, and sometime fellow of Emanuel C. in Cambridge.; Selections	Downe, John, 1570?-1631.; Baxter, Nathaniel, fl. 1606.; Bayly, Mr., fl. 1635.; Muret, Marc-Antoine, 1526-1585. Institutio puerilis. English.	1635 (1635)	STC 7153; ESTC S109816	240,136	421

Treatise I haue expresly shewed the contrary For first touching the Negatiue that Faith is not Assurance I vouched therein the authority of that reuerend and worthy man of God M. Foxe whose words anon you shall heare at large In the meane season it behooueth you if you will bee beleeued in this point to produce the cloud of witnesses you so much boast of that wee may heare whether they will depose the contradictory hereunto namely that Faith is Assurance For howsoeuer you say you haue no fewer then All yet it may bee when all comes to all you will proue as ill stored of testimonies as the wise man of Athens was of shipping who being not worth the poorest shallop in the harbor bare himselfe notwithstanding for owner of all the gallies that arriued therein And surely hauing throughly searched your Answer to this purpose I find the nūber by you cited so small that I need not much skill in Arithmetike to summe them vp for the totall amounts to no more then an Vnity and all your Authors are but one Caluin once alledged in the front thereof Vnto whom I denie not but you might haue ioyned some other of the later Writers but what are they to all both old and new for 1600. yeeres For as for the ancient Fathers not one of them so farre as I can learne affirmeth the iustifying act of Faith to be Assurance and among the Moderne it is more then manifest that a good part of them flatly denyeth it So that being backed of so few and yet craking so loudly of All Ter. Eunuch act 4. Scen. 7. you play right the glorious Souldier in the Comedie who hauing but foure men in all the world bestirred himselfe so busily with three of them as if hee had been mustering a whole Legion and at length missing the fourth gallantly demaunded where all the rest were Againe touching the Affirmatiue that Faith is Affiance I quoted that passage of S. Augustin To beleeue is to loue ad by louing to moue vnto God In my Treatise De morib Eccl. ca. 15. Now Loue by which that Father vsually defineth Vertue properly is not an act of Faith because of Charity Charity Faith being two different and distinct Habits 1 Cor. 13.13 And therefore by Loue you are to vnderstand generally an act of the will it being an affection of that Facultie as if in plainer tearmes he should haue said To belieue is that act of the Will whereby we moue vnto God Which elsewhere he expresseth more clearly saying He that commeth vnwillingly beleeueth not In Ioh. 6. tract 26. and he that beleeueth not commeth not for we run not vnto Christ by walking but beleeuing neither come we by the motion of the body but by the wil of the heart So that Faith being in S. Augustins iudgement an act or motion of the Will what other can it bee then Affiance 12. q. 40. a. 2. ad 2. For as Thomas sayth that motion in the appetite which immediately followeth Desire to obtaine that good which wee esteeme possible to be obtained is Affiance Adde vnto him Theophylact Hee that with great affection beleeueth In Marc. 11. stretcheth out his heart towards God And what doth it It is vnited vnto him and the heart enflamed gathereth great certainty that it shall obtaine his desires Where by the way obserue that certainty is concluded out of Faith and therefore can no more bee Faith then the Conclusion can bee one of the Premises Serm. de Sancto Andr. So Barnard To beleeue in God is to set all our hope in him And our Diuines in the Conference of Altemburg define it by Affiance in the Heart and Will In a word all those who seat it only or principally in the will Colloq Altemb accord with mee For although defining it popularly they put vsually into their Descriptions Assent vnto supernaturall verities which is an act of the mind yet making not that but Affiance only the proper act that iustifies they doe in effect fully accord and agree with me So that you see I am not driuen to so neere an exigent but vnto your one I can oppose more then you are aware of And yet had I farre more I would not vpon presumption either of their number or authority say vnto you Ep. 11. inter ep Aug. as Hierome sometime wrote vnto Augustin Suffer me I pray thee to erre with such men and sith you see I haue so many companions in error with mee you ought to bring forth one at least that ioynes with you For who is he that would willingly erre with whomsoeuer or how many soeuer 2 Pet. 1.19 But hauing as S. Peter speaketh a more sure word of the Prophets for my warrant I rather conclude with that free and ingenuous answer of Augustin to Hierom More testimonies I thinke might I easily haue found if I had read much Epist 19. but the Apostle Paul shall bee vnto mee insteed of them all yea aboue them all N. B. Let vs therefore see what you affirme and wee agree to be our iustifying Faith and how you impugne it Fides iustificans in adultis quae sit Iustifying Faith agreed vpon vs both as holden by the Church We agree both in this that iustifying Faith as we hold it and you deny it is A certaine knowledge infused into the hearts of the elect by the Holy Ghost by which they constantly agree to all things reuealed in the Word of God and also a firme Assurance whereby euery one of the Elect relieth vpon the Promises of Christ fully resoluing that Christ with all his merits are giuen to him for iustification and eternall life Now as you deny this to bee iustifying Faith so againe let vs see what you count iustifying Faith to bee M. Downes iustifying Faith Iustifying Faith is a rest of mans will vpon Christ and his merits of Iustification and Saluation The validity of your definition wee will view anon by Gods help in the meane season let vs see with what engins of rare wit and solid Syllogismes you endeuour to ouerthrow the former definition of ours consisting vpon the generall Word the causes the effects the proper Subiect and Adiuncts or essentiall Properties I. D. Your second cogitations I see are wiser then the first and now you shoot with far better aime then erewhile missing not much of the right state of the Question For the Definition here attributed vnto me is I confesse that which I defend and the other assumed vnto your selfe is that also which I impugne I meane so farre forth as it makes Knowledge the Generall Word and Particular Assurance the Act or as you tearme it the adiunct or essentiall Propertie For otherwise that causally it is from the Holy Ghost subiectiuely in the elect and effectuall vnto Iustification is not questioned by mee but equally acknowledged of vs both Now the validity of my definition you say you will view

of the Doctrine whether you meane thereby either this Doctrine that God commands him to belieue or this that it is absurd hee should command him to bee assured I confesse indeed that neither is the cause why the Reprobate cannot belieue but that either of them is false you shall neuer bee able to shew and I haue sufficiently proued the contrary N. B. Ex. 14.4 Rom. 9. If you aske who hath hardned him I answer God who hath power ouer the vessels of his owne making to shew his Iustice or mercy vpon them as pleaseth his diuine Maiesty If you will demand the cause why God would not giue him a fleshly heart to belieue Ioh. 12.39.40 I answer I know not Est enim aliqua docta ignorantia there is a certaine learned ignorance as well teacheth Master Caluin neither can our shallow wits search out the cause of his doings But this I know that it is so and the cause thereof principally to be his good pleasure To conclude therefore this point this Doctrine bringeth no blasphemous absurdity as you impurely and impiously affirme neither is the Doctrine false or implieth contradictories though our blind natures cannot vnderstand the things that bee of God Of this matter and argument let these places bee well weighed and by you either answered or reuerenced Rom. 11.23 Gal. 3.22 Act. 13.48 2 Thess 3.2 Mat. 13.11 Prou. 16.4 Rom. 9 1● 19 20. and from henceforth leaue off to greeue the Spirit of God wherewith the elect are sealed vnto the day of Redemption I. D. This is right that Sophysticall place which Aristotle in his Topicks calleth Apagogen Lib. 2. c. 5. See Muret. var. lect l. 7. c. 10. that is Abduction For whereas I goe about to proue that God commandeth not a Reprobate to bee assured because so doing hee should command him to belieue a manifest falshood which implieth contradiction and affirmeth errour to bee truth you not knowing what answer to make vnto the argument deriue the attention of the Reader another way and runne out into the common place of Gods secret counsels and the cause of Induration and the Reprobates inability to belieue discoursing too and fro of these things at pleasure hauing no other reason for so doing but onely because in my argument you read the word Reprobate and that I told you in this point you had no iust cause to say vnto mee as in our priuate conference you did who art thou that disputeth with God And yet as if all the while you had been in the very bowels of the cause and had not wandred so much as a haires breadth from it you conclude very soberly and sadly Therefore this Doctrine bringeth no absurdity neither is false nor implyeth contradiction But faine would I know what the Premisses are whereupon you inferre this Therefore or whether by the rules of your Logicke you may conclude without them Vnlesse this bee the sequele I know not what to make of it Our shallow wits cannot search out the cause of Gods works Ergo wee may not thinke it absurd that God shoul● command a Reprobate to belieue and assure himselfe of that which neither is nor neuer shall be true Vaine man proue once that God commandeth so and I will presently grant it is not absurd to thinke so Why dispute you so earnestly of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why it is when I flatly deny the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is And why doe you thus alwayes grate vpon the Conclusions and make so little reckoning to answer the proofes I bring for it Well not to wrestle with words any longer nor so fruitlesly to beate the aire because you thinke like the Cuttle-Fish to escape the net by casting about you a filthy inke of foule speeches telling me I speak impurely impiously and charging me with Presumption and Curiosity for inquiring into the Counsels of God giue mee leaue by distinguishing matters to cleare the water which you wittingly and purposely haue pudled and withall to let the Reader see how basely and cowardly you seeke out starting holes to shift your selfe aside from my arguments rather then Schollerly to answer them by some conuenient solutions Consider therefore I pray you these few Positions 1. The secret Counsels of God are those matters which hee hath treasured vp in the closet of his owne knowledge and doth not disclose vnto mankind but what truth soeuer it hath pleased him in wisdome to reueale vnto vs and hath registred in his Word is not to bee esteemed nor taken for a secret 2. As to search into the hidden and secret Counsels of God is damnable Presumption so not to search and inquire into his reuealed will is damnable Negligence For as Moyses saith The secret things belong vnto the Lord our God Deut. 29.29 but the things reuealed vnto vs and our children for euer De vocat Gent. l. 1. c. 7. Whereupon Prosper The things which God would haue hidden must not be searched and the things which hee hath made manifest must not bee neglected lest in them we be found vnlawfully curious and in these damnably vngratefull 3. They therefore that painfully and diligently trauell to find out such truths as are either expressed or infolded in the written word are not to bee tearmed Curious but Studious So distinguisheth Saint Augustin Although both De v●il credendi ca. 9. saith hee bee carried with a great desire of knowing yet the curious man inquireth those things which nothing concerne him and the Studious man contrarily inquireth those things which doe pertaine vnto him 4. This is a reuealed truth that There is no contradiction in God and that Hee cannot doe those things which imply contradiction 2 Cor. 1.17.18.19.20 Heb. 6.18 or are repugnant vnto the nature and definition of a thing For in God as saith S. Paul there is not yea and nay but yea and Amen neither is it possible that hee should lie or deny himselfe and it is rather impotency then Power so to bee able to doe whereas contrarily De Trin. l. 15. c. 14. as elegantly Saint Augustin saith Powerfully hath hee not power to doe this neither is it infirmity but firmity because that truth cannot bee false 5. These two Propositions are contradictory The Reprobate is iustified The Reprobate is not iustified and The Reprobate shall bee saued The Reprobate shall not bee saued God therefore cannot make that they should be true at once For as Saint Augustin saith Contrà Faustum Man l. 26. c. 5. Whosoeuer saith if God bee omnipotent let him make that those things which haue been haue not been sees not that he faith if God be omnipotent let him make that those things which are true in that they are true be false 6. One part of the Contradiction is necessarily false namely this The Reprobate is iustified Rom. 8.30 The Reprobate shall bee saued for they onely who are Predestinated vnto life are as Saint Paul

the inward holynesse or hollownesse of the heart but onely the heart it selfe and God which made it May therefore bee erronious and though proceeding from Charity yet in the meane season swaruing from verity If then when Men iustify vs our owne Consciences tell vs that they pronounce a wrong sentence and absolue the guilty the comfort that growes vnto vs thereby is no better then a cup of cold water is vnto a man sicke of a burning feuer or then the Sardonian laughter which makes the face seeme to grin while the deadly poison is searching through euery veine and seazing vpon the very heart But if wee bee well assured that the sentence is iust and true and that they are not deceiued therein although it bee not the end wee aymed at nor the Crowne wee looked for yet is it a sweet and amiable companion of holy life publickely testifying vnto our great comfort that God hath been glorified by vs our profession honoured and others inuited if not gained vnto Christ And thus much haue I thought good in regard of your silence to speake I hope not impertinently at least wise not vnprofitably of Iustification the summe whereof is that Affiance iustifies before God Assurance before Consience works before Men. So that I doe not simply deny either that Assurance is Faith for in my Treatise I acknowledge that the Scripture sometime calleth it Faith or that it iustifieth for I confesse it iustifieth at the barre of Conscience onely I deny it to bee that Faith which iustifies before God affirming that Faith to bee no other then Affiance N. B. Thus Master Downe you haue what you haue so much so earnestly so bitterly and contumeliously wrested from mee in writing sith that you haue refused to defend your Doctrine preached here by Disputation I. D. Indeed Master Baxter when I vnderstood by the aduertisements of sundry my good friends in Bristoll that you had not onely drawne vp an Answer against me full of reprochfull and disgracefull speeches but had also dispersed it abroad into the hands of diuers Burgesses of that City thereby to discredit both mee and the Doctrine which I preached among them without vouchsafing after a whole twelue months space to send mee a copie thereof according vnto promise true it is that as soone as the next oportunity was affoarded mee I could not forbeare to chalenge you for this vnchristian and vnschollerly dealing and to let you know the iust indignation and disdaine I conceiued thereat Besides that once did I neuer either by word or writing sollicit you in this matter and then earnest perhaps and vehement I might bee in expostulating with you but Bitter and Contumelious I am sure I was not and for proofe thereof I referre mee vnto the testimonie of those who were then present with vs. But whether earnest and vehement or Bitter and Contumelious Answer from you by no meanes could I wrest any And that now I haue obtained a Copie thereof thanks vnto those my good friends who neuer left following vpon the sent of the Foxe vntill they surprized him for me and not vnto you who desired and laboured nothing more then to keep it from mee Of all men you liked not it should light into my hands and yet of all men me it most concerned and vnto mee was onely promised And so after the Parthian manner you fight flying and as Caesar said of the Scythians make it more difficult to finde you then to foile you Well yet I refused you say to defend the Doctrine I preached by disputation First the course which formerly we had agreed and resolued vpon was Writing and therefore I saw no reason why I should yeeld to haue the cause remoued from a higher vnto an inferiour Court from Writing vnto Disputation For as a late learned writer saith Writings are more solid peaceable Dan. Chamier Ep. ad Egnat Armand and certaine then is present speech for more solid must those things needs bee which are meditated then which are suddenly spoken more peaceable then those things which are done in the tumult and while the minds of the Disputants are with present vehemence inflamed more certaine for writings remaine and words are winged and fly away and writings easily conuince the impudence of them that would corrupt them which speaking cannot so well doe And although in quicke writing there bee without question more aduisednesse then in present speaking yet doth Saint Hierome excuse his hasty commentary vpon Saint Mathews Gospell Proaem comment in Math. promising a more absolute worke that you may know saith hee What ods there is betweene the boldnesse of sudden enditing and the diligence of well-studied writing Secondly as the Apostle Saint Paul answered the Serieants that were sent vnto him from the gouernours of Philippi Act. 16.37 After that they haue beaten vs openly vncondemned which are Romans they haue cast vs into Prison and now would they put vs out priuily Nay verily but let them come and bring vs out so say I vnto you after you haue in a more publicke manner traduced and wronged mee scattering through the whole City a most slanderous inuectiue and libell against mee doe you thinke now by a priuate and chamber-disputation to content mee Nay verily this plaister is too narrow for the wound and open wrong requires open satisfaction Lastly howsoeuer you pretend that you set not pen to paper vntill I had refused your chalenge of disputation the Reader may bee pleased to vnderstand that it is cleane contrary And therefore as I cannot but impute your deniall to impart vnto mee what in writing you had opposed against mee to the distrust you had either in your cause or in your owne sufficiency so now hauing scribled away so much precious time and sacrificed so much paper to Cloacina that suddenly you apprehend a disputation I assure my selfe it was but a sleight deuised vpon the present to shift mee off and to rid your selfe from me whose residence you knew to bee elsewhere and who at that time was to take vp a nights lodging with you Or if you meant sincerely and vnfainedly doublesse it was confidence you had either in the boldnesse of your forehead vncapable of the purple tincture of modesty or in the vnskilfulnes of those who were like to be our Auditors Moderators who as I take it haue more skill in Marchandize and trafficking then in Demonstration or Dialecticall Syllogismes For otherwise wee had beene vpon equall ground in either of the Vniuersities I suppose you would haue beene better aduised ere you had made that challenge vnto mee N. B. I pray God it may worke in you a willing mind to embrace Peace and Brotherly loue without the which wee can neuer see God Bristol Iuly 27. 1602. I. D. It is impossible that vnto a man of vnderstanding any benefit or profit should accrew by reprehension vnlesse it may appeare vnto him by some euident remonstrance that that which is