Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	work_n	work_v	worker_n	129	4	11.6337	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17121	An historicall narration of the iudgement of some most learned and godly English bishops, holy martyrs, and others (whereof III; viz. Archbishop Cranmer, B. Latimer, and Bishop Hooper, suffred martyrdome, in the dayes of Q. Mary, for the truth and Gospell of Christ Iesus) concerning Gods election, and the merit of Christ his death, &c.	J. A., of Ailward.; Ailward, John, attributed name. aut; Andrewes, John, fl. 1615, attributed name. aut	1631 (1631)	STC 4; ESTC S100399	62,871	120

Rocke seeking to escape the dangerous Whirle-poole For an horrible Presumption it was of Pelagius to thinke that a man by Nature had such Power to choose Good and refuse Evill That hee needed not the Grace and helpe of GOD and a Desperate opinion is this of Others to say That the Predestination of GOD worketh all thinges in Man whether it bee Good or Evill And that a man cannot-choose but doe whatsoever hee doth For no doubt this Opinion maketh a very disordered Chaos and an utter Confusion of all thinges as it were mixing and thrusting together both Heaven Earth and Hell making one confused lumpe of GOD the Divell and the World of Sinne Grace and Nature turning all doings into Dreames all Truth into Traunces all Verity into Fables all Prayer and Meditation into vaine Imagination For if GODS Predestination be the onely Cause of Adams fall and filthy Sinne and consequently the onely Cause and worker of all Evill yea even with compulsion and force as they shamefully and plainely affirme then will no man deny that on the other side GODS Predestination worketh as violently in all thinges that are Good So then if Gods Predestination worke All without all exception both in Evill and Good then all other thinges whatsoever they be although they appeare to worke and doe some thing yet doe they indeed utterly nothing So that the Divell doth nothing Man doth nothing Lawes doe nothing Doctrine dath nothing Prayer doth nothing But GODS Predestination doth altogether and is the efficient Cause yea and the onely cause of all Thinges Against this Opinion the Word of GOD is exceeding plaine and manifest not onely in the places before rehearsed but also in these following here briefly noted in the Margine yea and abundantly throughout the whole Scripture Against this evill opinion also doe All the ancient Doctors with one consent vehemently write as they themselves cannot deny except onely Augustine which because of his exceeding obscurity and darknesse in divers places liee is often alledged of both parts Also against this opinion writeth earnestly Phillip Melanchton the chiefest and best learned of all the Germans In like manner doth Bullinger the chiefest and most excellent of all the Switzers The same doth also Erasmus Sarcerius and many other of the best learned Protestants whose sayings were profitable beere to rehearse but that their Iudgement in this matter is well knowne to all the Learned and my determination is at this present rather briefly and simply to declare what part of Doctrine I and many other mistike than with long discourses and many Authorities to disproove the same Wherefore to conclude Take this one Note in this matter of Cannot choose or of Necessity both for the better understanding of the thing it selfe and also of those which write thereupon They commonly speake of two kindes of Necessitie The One is of Necessity absolute and the other of Necessity of consequence or Meere necessitie and necessity upon Condition Which division all Learned and good Authors doe use and it is very profitable to be considered For touching the One there is neyther Reason Law Counsell or Doctrine neyther Faire promise nor Sharpe threatning nor any other thing whatsoever it bee which may h●lpe or kinder adde or take away hurt or profit wherefore there is never any of all the aforesayd wayes or meanes used in any of all those thinges which came to passe by Absolute necessitie As for Example It is of meere Necessity that the Divell is and ever shall be Damned That the Soule of man shall be Everlasting and not come to an End like to the Life of Beasts nor the life of Beasts bee Immortall as the soule of Man and such like Wherein it were more than madnesse to endeavour eyther by Reason Law or Counsell or any other way whatsoever it were to alter change with-stand or remove any of those thinges seeing of Meere necessity they must needes bee so and cannot be altered For as Augustine sayth Omne enim quod prohibetur ideo prohibetur ne quia potest fieri fiat Si autem Fati esset non posset fieri neque prohiberetur Whatsoever is forbidden sayth AVGVSTINE therefore it is forbidden because it might be done and yet ought not to bee done But if it were of Destinie then could it not be done nor should not be forbidden These wordes of Augustine being few containe much matter if they be truly weighed Now to the necessity of Consequence or necessity of Condition whereof Melancthon sayth Neque enim haec consequentia libertatem voluntatis tollit Neyther doth this Consequence take away the liberty of the will And this necessity is not-repugnant to diligence Prayer Lawes or Doctrine For therefore that I may use againe the words of AVGVSTINE things are forbidden to bee done because they might be done but ought not to be done And this necessity groweth upon former causes granted or wrought As it is of necessity or needs must bee that Sects and Heresies shall grow in the Church because the wicked seeke their owne glory and Sathan stirreth their hearts to imagine and set forth abominable Errors wherein they serve the Devill with all the diligence of their power Wherefore it must follow that Sects and Heresies shall grow Neither doth This necessity proove that they could-not-chuse but commit such Evills But seeing they doe refuse the Light and embrace the Darknesse this must necessarily follow this must needs be the end that Heresie and much mischiefe shall spring or As when a man Presently beholdeth with his eyes Murther Theft Drunkennesse or any other wickednesse it must needs be true that such things are committed according to that which a man doth see plainely before his eyes Yet doth not follow that those wicked doers could-not-chuse but commit those outragious Crimes but seeing that they doe commit such things it must needs be true by the necessity of Consequence that such things are committed of them These two kinds of necessity doth AVGVSTINE notably declare how and in what sort they spring out of GODS Predestination First of all faith AVGVSTINE it is horrible iniquity to say that GOD doth Predestinate any thing saving onely that which is good But of Predestinations some be of binding or of bondage and others be of condition These are of Iustice and Those of Power And that it may be the more manifest it shall be declared saith he by Example which are of binding and Power and which are of condition and Iustice GOD created Heaven and Earth and Sunne and Moone Further he did Fore-ordaine or Predestinate that the Heaven should ever bee turned and the immovable Earth should be in place of a Center unto the turning heaven The Sunne and Moone should rule the day and Night the day and night should succeede one another in certaine times appointed These Predestinations are of power and of binding for Every one of these things aforesaid is so bound unto his worke by the

Everlasting damnation are Iust rewards of Mans Evill-deserving But the Love of GOD and Everlasting life are free guifts of GOD for CHRIST'S sake without any part of Mans owne deserving Take therefore this Saying of theirs No Sinne neyther Originall nor Actuall is the Cause of Gods hate or Eternall death and put the same into the one side of the Ballance then take and put into the other side this saying of Saint PAVL to the Romans Was that then which was good made Death unto me GOD forbid but Sinne was made Death unto me Then weigh both these Sayings together with the hand of good advisement in the indifferent Ballance of upright Iudgement and put not in above three graines of wilfull Partiality thus shalt thou plainly see that the Apostle agreeth farre better with the Maiesty of GOD and hath a much more Reverend opinion of his Iudgements than these men have yea thou shalt easily perceive whatsoever they say that neyther GODS Pleasure nor GODs Ordinance or Predestination nor none other thing that is good is made Death or the Cause of Gods hatred against any man But Sinne is the very grounded Cause why God hateth taketh vengeance and punisheth Man by Death and destruction According to that which the same Apostle sayeth Death is the reward of Sinne. And the wordes of HOSEA are also manifestly plaine where hee sayth O Israel thou doest destroy thy selfe but in Mee onely is thy helpe In which wordes of the Holy Ghost thou seest how manifestly God doth as it were purge himselfe from being the Cause or worker of Mans destruction so that the Perdition and destruction of Man is altogether to bee attributed unto Himselfe And GOD beeing cleere neyther accessary nor partaker thereof as the chiefe and high Iudge of Heaven and Earth unspotted and without blame giveth sentence of Everlasting death upon Man for his owne wicked deserving and offence But on the other side sayeth God unto Man In Me onely is thy helpe In GOD onely onely in God is our helpe and Salvation In him onely and of him altogether and not of our selves commeth our Salvation and all whatsoever belongeth thereunto The same is also set forth by all those Scriptures which are before rehearsed to proove that Sinne and Evill commeth not of Gods Predestination For upon that Conclusion dependeth also this Proposition That Sinne is not the cause of Reprobation or of GODS hatred towards Man And upon the same Article dependeth also another part of Doctrine which they Teach worthy to be misliked of All men as well for that it importeth a Sophisticall search of bottomlesse Secrets in the very Essence and Nature of GOD as also for that it clearely withdraweth us from CHRIST the onely stay and comfort of our weake Conscience delivered unto us in the Word of GOD. For that they might bee surer to hold fast the former Principle That All thinges come of GODS Predestination as Running streames out of a deepe Fountaine They affirme that the free Mercy of GOD in Christ is but an Inferiour cause of Election and that wee are taught to ascend unto a higher Cause as unto the Eternall Purpose and Predestination of GOD which hee determined onely in Himselfe So sayth the Printed Booke before named Translated out of French into English That same thing wee reade also late set foorth in English Print in the Glosse of the last Translated Bible Rom. Cap. 9. With these Words AS The onely Will and Purpose of GOD is The chiefe Cause of Election and Reprobation So his Free Mercy in CHRIST is an Inferiour cause of Salvation c. But for my part I trust in minde never to ascend unto that high cause of Election and in Heart never to taste of that Eternall Purpose or Predestination which GOD hath determined onely in Himselfe without or above his Free-mercy which is in CHRIST For surely That Eternall Purpose which commeth not of GODS free Mercy in Christ is to Destroy and not to Save Againe if that Eternall Purpose spring out of Gods Free-mercy then is that Free-mercy of GOD the Chiefe cause and not an Inferiour cause why hee purposeth to save us For a great dishonour it were to the Mercy of GOD To bee put in an Inferiour place touching Election and Salvation of Man For if Ever GODS Mercy bee above all it is in the Saving of miserable Man And Mercy there is not in God towards Man but onely in Christ. Therefore St. PAVL calleth it the Eternall Purpose which hee purposed in CHRIST IESU our Lord In CHRIST therefore was this Eternall Purpose and For his onely sake GOD the Father Eternally purposed to Elect and save us Consider and marke it well whence commeth this Purpose or Will of GOD to save us But of his free Mercy If his Purpose to save us spring out of his Free mercy why is then his Mercy inferiour to his Purpose Or how is the Fountaine inferiour to the Springs that come thereof Also what may bee sayd in GOD at any time or in any respect to bee higher or greater than his Mercy Seeing it is written That his mercy is as great as Himselfe Yea and most especially it is so to bee sayd That his Mercy passeth All when we speake of this matter For of this it is written That mercy reioyceth against Iudgement and why All the Iudgements of God in this behalfe are not to be compared unto his Mercy For though it were not true which DAVID sayth That his mercy is above all his workes Yet were in cleare that in Election Redemption and Salvation of man GODS mercy in Christ hath Ever the highest place And Those which in the Salvation of our Soules make the Free mercy of GOD an Inferiour cause how base a Roome will they assigne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercy in nourishing and preserving our bodyes Let them reach as high as they can I trust to goe no further but to hold me fast by the Everlasting Mercy of GOD and by the Hemme of CHRIST's garment For the Scripture describeth GOD unto me without Christ as a wrathfull and most terrible Iudge but in Christ and for his sake as a Father whose wrath is pacified and Hee well pleased reconciled agreed and at one And to speake of a higher cause or purpose to Elect and Save onely in GOD beside or without this Free-mercy in Christ or that Christ and Gods free-mercy in him is not the chiefest Cause which worketh and obtayneth the decree and purpose of God to Elect and save it is plainly nothing else but to deny the mercy of God in Election Reconciliation Redemption and Salvation by Christ in Christ and for Christ As easily it may be perceived if a man doe but weigh and consider what Eternall purpose an Election and a Reconciliation is Seeing Christ is our Advocate Mediator Peace Reconciliation and Attonement as in these Scriptures following and many other it doth plainely appeare Psal 84. a.