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	world_n	worship_v	36	3	8.1129	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12554	A paterne of true prayer A learned and comfortable exposition or commentarie vpon the Lords prayer: wherein the doctrine of the substance and circumstances of true inuocation is euidently and fully declared out of the holie Scriptures. By Iohn Smith, minister and preacher of the Word of God.	Smyth, John, d. 1612.	1605 (1605)	STC 22877.1; ESTC S117609	137,387	190

the next place to be considered and they are opposite to the things wee pray for and they may be referred to fiue heads also which are these following First ignorance and errors Secondly vanitie of minde Thirdly a prophane heart Fourthly prophane speeches Lastly prophane actions all which are so many meanes to obscure or deface or abolish the glorious name of God out of the world Of these in order Ignorance dishonoreth God First ignorance either of Gods workes or word is the cause of prophaning Gods name for as pearles cast before swine or dogs so are the works and word of God amōg ignorant persons swine or dogs will trample pearles vnder their feete in the durt but skilfull Lapidaries will vse them carefully and set them in gold and costly garments so the ignorant people that know not the works or word of God wil contemne reiect or at least neglect the excellent instructions and documents of Gods glorie therein exhibited and so prophane the name of God but they that know them may vse them aright and glorifie God in them The dunghill Cocke as the fable moralizeth regardeth a barly corne more than a pretious pearle knowing the profit of the one but not the price of the other so the blind dunghill people of the world Atheistlike through light estimation because of their ignorance preferre the dirtie commodities of this life before the glorious footsteps of Gods Maiestie imprinted in his workes and word thereby marueilously disparaging the Lord himselfe and dishonouring his name Againe Error dishonoreth God Matth. 22. Ioh. 4. ignorance being the cause of superstition and errors as Christ teacheth saying Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures and ye worship ye know not what therefore it must needes bee a maine cause of blemishing Gods glorious names and memorials for errors and heresies are so many lies against the truth of God charging false and slanderous imputations vpon God making him the author of that which he abhorreth and condemneth and as it is blasphemous to make God the cause of sinne so is it of error for it is to call God by a false name and to belie God which is a great dishonour to God For as it is a disgrace to a Prince to bee belied or blasphemed or backbited so is it much more inglorious and dishonourable to God to make him the master and teacher of lies for it is customable with false teachers and their followers to father their doctrines vpon Gods word which God himselfe inspired to his Church and so by necessarie consequent in that they are found liers against the truth of God they shamefully dishonour God In the second place also we are to marke how vanitie of minde prophaneth the name of God Vanitie of minde prophaneth Gods name Rom. 1. The Apostle defineth this sinne to be the withholding of the truth of God in a lie that is to make a false consequent or vse from a true doctrine to know God and not to glorifie him as God for example to know God to bee inuisible and yet to make an image of him to know God to bee incorruptible and yet to resemble him to corruptible creatures as beasts birds creeping things c. and thus the Gentiles thinking themselues to bee wise hauing some truths of God became starke fooles in deducing foolish consequents from that truth so through their vanity of mind defaced that truth with a lie and this is a great indignitie offered to Gods truth For as a subiect knowing his Prince yet making as though he knew him not and so vsing himselfe vnreuerently before him doth disgrace the prince so they that know God and his workes and word yet notwithstanding doe not glorifie God but become vaine in their imaginations and discourses and conclusions from Gods word and workes thereby occasioning and encouraging themselues in licentious liuing and by their liues denying the power of their knowledge which otherwise might haue been auailable to their saluation do shamefully abuse their knowledge iniuriously dishonor the truth reuealed vnto them which they should haue glorified A prophane heart d shonoreth God As blindnes and vanitie of minde so prophanenes of heart also which in the third place commeth to be considered doth greatly dishonor God which is when mens affections are not stirred according to the qualitie of Gods workes or word his titles or attributes and that is especially of three sorts Atheisme dishonoreth God The first is an Atheists heart which is the extinguishing of al affections in respect of God for as an Atheist laboreth for a perswasion that there is no God so also he desireth that the feare of God may be cleane taken away also that the loue of God the hatred of sinne the loue of vertue and of the word of God may be put out and that he may liue as he list without any conscience or difference of good and euill which is to bury the memorie of God and to banish his name out of the world which is the greatest indignitie that may be VVorldlines dishonoreth God The second is a worldly heart when a man is so estranged from heauenly matters and so wholy possessed with the loue and liking of worldly things as that he careth not for God nor any goodnes further than he may gaine thereby which men doe greatly dishonor God and his truth making it a meanes of compassing the world whereas indeede we should make the world a meanes of religion for to this purpose hath God created and bestowed the world vpon man that thereby they might be the better prouoked and furthered to the worship and glory of God hither are to be referred all couetous persons that minde nothing but their goods all proud persons that minde nothing but the trimming of themselues gay apparrell and the credit of the world all wanton persons that minde nothing but the pleasures of the flesh generally all such as dishonor God by presuming any thing in their estimation and affection before God for seeing God is the chiefest good and the most high he therefore ought to bee the chiefest and mos● highly esteemed of vs otherwise we honor the creature more than the Creator Rom. 1.25 and dishonor God by communicating his glory to another The third is a secure heart Securitie dishonoreth God when men that haue the grace of God in them notwithstanding doe not so carefully and diligently ●●irre vp the grace of God in the meditation and application of Go is workes and word as the condition thereof doth require for sometime it falleth out that euen Gods children slumber and sleepe Cant. 5.23 2. Sam. 12. so we reade that the Church in the Canticles complaineth or excuseth her sluggish disposition so we reade that Dauid slept in securitie almost a whole yeere in which time no doubt hee vsed the word of God and the rest of Gods worship though with dulnes and great flatnes of spirit whereby it came to

enough of it owne and we must not aggrauate it with future care and sorrow but the answere thereto also is apparant by the intendement of Christ for Christ in that place laboreth to suppresse distrustfull Merimne and distracting care which deuideth the minde from God and Gods seruice but Christ forbiddeth not prouidence or foresight or prouision for the time to come Pronoia which the Apostle doth directly require in the gouernor of a family 1. Tim. 5.8 yet neuerthelesse concerning this laying vp in store and moderate prouident care some cautions must bee remembred as first Ephes 4.28 that our goods which we treasure vp be gotten with our honest labor or that we come by them by inheritance or gift or by some such lawfull meanes not by gaming or cosoning Psal 62.10 Secondly that if our riches increase we trust not in them Thirdly that wee doe not treasure them vp when wee should spend them in the needfull vses of the Church or common-wealth for such times are vnfit times for storing vp And in this respect the Apostle commendeth the Church of the Macedonians 2. Cor. 8.1.2.3 for that they were liberall in their extreame pouertie the necessitie of other Churches requiring it Lastly when we haue treasured vp riches we must not keepe them niggardly but we must bestow to the good of our selues and others such a portion of our treasure as shall be requisit and befitting our estate wherein sometime we are to passe the bounds of our abilitie in which respect Christ also commendeth the widowes almes of two mites Mark 12.44 It is apparant then these cautions obserued that storing vp and prouident care is not vnlawfull but very meete which serueth to ouerthrow that ouerlashing and swaggering disposition of riotous vnthrifts which like vnto the prodigall sonne consume all their substance so as at length they are brought to a morsell of bread and charge others with themselues and theirs whereas their patrimonie being moderately ordered according to their estate might haue not onely been preserued entire with the maintenance and reliefe of many poore but also out of the encrease and vse thereof much might haue been treasured vp for their posteritie For a conclusion therefore of this circumstance couetousnes is a sinne and so is prodigalitie liberalitie and magnificence are vertues so are also parsimony and frugalitie which by this consideration are insinuated vnto vs. The fourth circumstance followeth which is qualitas VVhat vse the bread hath O epi teousia armozon the condition or vse of the bread The greeke word expressing this circumstance is translated daily epiousion which the Etymologist expoundeth befitting our substance or being namely such a bread as is meete and conuenient for the preseruation of our being and the bread we aske hath this epithite adioyned in two respects One is for that our essence and being is in a continuall flux and as I may so say a naturall consumption for mortalitie which is inflicted vpon vs by God Genes 2.17 draweth vs euery day to corruption and we doe as naturally incline thereto as the fire goeth vpward wherefore the Lord in his mercie hath prouided bread which shall stay this declining of our nature in part and repaire the ruine of our essence that as the naturall lampe of our life consisting of fire and oyle Calor natiuus Humidum radicale Psal 81.16 spendeth and wasteth so there may be a new supply made by the fat of wheate as the Prophet speaketh till at the length the light of our life be extinct or suffocated either by old age when the wicke is spent or by disease and sudden death when the heate is choked or wanteth oyle Another respect why the bread is so intitled is for that this bread can neuer bee added to our substance for the repaire thereof except the Lord giue a blessing thereto for as the Prophet saith we may eate and not haue enough Leuit. 26. Hag. 1.6 drinke and not bee satisfied vse marriage and want children earne wages and put it into a bottomles bagge for howsoeuer the faculties of nourishment doth naturally worke in the stomacke and other parts and howsoeuer the bread hath in it a foyson or iuice fit for nourishment yet the Lord he can suspend the one and the other so as they shall neither of them performe their offices for he can stay the worke of all the secondarie causes and hee can worke without the helpe of any secundarie cause Hence therefore wee are taught both to vse the bread it being the meanes God hath appointed for our preseruation and also not to trust in the bread seeing that it cannot helpe vs if God suspend the vertue thereof more plainely two sinnes are here discouered and secretly reproued First tempting of God which is drawing too neere God Second is a secret idolatry withdrawing our selues from God All they tempt God which neglecting the bread which is the ordinary helpe of our life doe cast themselues vpon the immediate prouidence of God as the diuell perswaded our Sauiour Christ to cast himselfe downe headlong from the pinacle of the temple Mat. 4.6 when hee might come downe the staires for God will not haue vs neglect or despise the meanes which he hath giuen vs. All they withdraw themselues from God which make idols of the bread which vse the bread and neuer aske a blessing at Gods hands vpon the bread as if God were tied to giue his blessing to the bread necessarily this is the sinne which is oft times reproued by the Prophets for example to trust in chariots and horses to trust in Princes to trust in the Physition generally to trust in an arme of flesh VVhos 's the bread is The fifth and last circumstance followeth which is Dominus whose the bread is or the owner of it Christ calleth it our bread and that in diuers respects 1. For that it is so indeede wee hauing gotten it by our labour and industry or hauing it by inheritance or gift of friends and according to this construction the Apostle willeth the Thessalonians to eate their owne bread which they haue earned with the labours of their hands 2. Thes 3.12 this is the ciuill title which is called ius adrem 2. For that it is the childrens bread according as Christ saith to the Canaanitish woman Mat. 15.26 which was through Adams fall lost but now through Christs redemption is restored to vs againe as appeareth plainely by the Prophet in the Psalme And this is called ius in re Psal 8. the religious title 3. For that we desire no more of the bread than is fit for vs as Agur prayeth in his prophesie Prou. 30. and the Lord sutably doth bestow vpon vs onely and all that part of the bread which is good for vs Psal 34.10 Rom. 8.28 for we see that diuers of Gods children haue seuerall and different portions of this bread Abraham hee