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_v	world_n	worthy_a	40	3	6.3137	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41499	Pleroma to Pneumatikon, or, A being filled with the Spirit wherein is proved that it is a duty incumbent on all men (especially believers) that they be filled with the spirit of God ... : as also the divinity, or Godhead of the Holy Ghost asserted ... : the necessity of the ministry of the Gospel (called the ministry of the Spirit) discussed ... : all heretofore delivered in several sermons from Ephes. 5. 18 / by ... Mr. John Goodwin ... ; and published after his death ...	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.; Venning, Ralph, 1621?-1674.	1670 (1670)	Wing G1190; ESTC R1174	629,135	596

duty and more especially the duty of every Believer to desire and seek after part and fellowship in the highest Consolations which the Gospel administreth and which are attainable by men thereby because without being baptized with such a baptism as this men will not be in that singular and signal capacity to shew forth the vertues or pleasant and lovely things of God which they ought to lift up their hearts and desires unto That which as we said is asserted plainly in the Reason Sect. 8 is that without being filled with the Spirit men and women will never be able to reach the Consolations of the Gospel where they run high and carry in them a strong savour of life and immortality Now for the opening and clearing of this unto you you are to take knowledge and consider that men and women may so go to work may stand upon such terms before God and the Gospel for many years together that according to the ordinary and settled course of Divine Providence in the World and the exigency of second causes they will not be like I mean whilst they continue in such a way to know what the Consolations of the Gospel in those veins of it in which they are most soveraign rich and glorious mean Yea the truth is considering the present experiment which persons of both Sexes generally give of themselves in the World there is scarce one of a City or two of a Tribe whose hearts do in any measure serve them to live up to such terms which are like to render them capable of eating the fat and drinking the sweet of the Gospel For First men that savour as the Scripture speaks the things which are of men and love this present World are not in any likely capacity but only upon the changing of the frame of their mind and of their course of life ever to know what is the hope of their Calling as the Apostle speaks either in respect of the ground of it what pregnant lively and abundantly satisfactory arguments and grounds there are why they should hope for and expect all the great things which the Gospel promiseth or else what is his hope in respect of the object of it how glorious excellent and wonderful these things are which are now hoped for and will be found of all those that shall with Faith and Patience wait upon God for them Men and women I say that stick fast with their minds and hearts in the mire and clay of this present World are never like to know what the hope of the Gospel-calling is in either consideration and consequently not to inherit or enjoy in this World the riches of the glory of the Gospel Consolations The Reasons hereof are many we shall hint only two First Because when the intellectual powers and faculties of the Soul are drunk up with worldly and sensual engagements or over-acted upon the things which are seen they become aukward indisposed and unserviceable for spiritual negotiations and imployments about heavenly things By such low and mean Converse as this they contract an habit of a kind of intellectual rudeness and disingeniousness by reason whereof they know not how to quit or behave themselves about more noble and high-born objects nor indeed care not much to have to do with them or come into their company Even as persons that have been alwaies bred and brought up inter sordes amongst rude and rustical people of course and rough behaviour cannot presently change their temper and disposition and so become capable of conversing orderly and according to the principles of Civility with persons of better quality and more refined carriage and by reason of a consciousness to themselves in this kind they avoid as much as well they may the company of such persons In like manner those divine discoveries made in the Gospel those veins of wisdom and of the knowledge of God there upon which I mean upon the apprehension of which the high raisings and liftings up in Evangelical Consolations of which we speak chiefly depend being of a very fine spinning very spiritual and remote from the common thoughts and apprehensions of men and much more from the thoughts of such minds and understandings which have accustomed themselves wholly in a manner to this Worlds affairs persons of this Character knowing that these things lie out of the way of their Genius and that they are not able to conceive of them with much contentment to themselves nor to speak of them with contentment unto others in these respects take little or no pleasure to enquire after them nor to engage themselves to any purpose in the study of them So then this is one reason why such persons who are over-intent and bent upon this present World are not like to ascend in spirit into the Region of light where the Consolations we speak of have their dwelling and are to be found viz. because by continual digging in the earth with their reasons apprehensions and understandings they make them blunt and dull and altogether unapt to take the Genuine and through impressions of such Gospel-notions wherein the riches of the comforts thereof are laid up as in a store-house Secondly Another Reason hereof is because as we lately heard the revelations and discoveries of these Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge that are hid in the Gospel in the understanding and clear apprehension whereof as we lately likewise shewed the strength of the said Consolations lye are made over or as we may speak safely enough and yet more plainly are promised by God by way of reward unto those that love him and proportionably the fuller measure of them to those that love him above the rate of his ordinary friends Now the Holy Ghost expresly informs us 1 Joh. 2.15 That if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Yea the Apostle James goeth somewhat further or at least speaketh more plainly affirming That the friendship of the World is enmity with God and that whosoever will be a friend unto the World is an enemy unto God James 4.4 If the love of the Father of God the Father be not in men the deep things of God in the Gospel such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard c. are not prepared or made ready to be communicated unto them nor indeed are they prepared or fit to receive and understand them This then in a word is another Reason why persons much addicted to this present World are not like to sit at the upper end of the Table which is spread with the Consolations of the Gospel Secondly Sect. 9 Neither are they like to taste of the Feast we speak of or be filled with the best and choycest of the comforts of the Gospel who are hard of bowels cruel unmerciful hard to forget and forgive injuries yea who have not eyes and hearts full of commiseration and of pity hearts well exercised with mercy For as mercy in the Apostle Jame's

an activeness for God but only theirs who are filled with the Spirit of God what course soever they may take otherwise Now the truth is that both these in effect and by clearness of consequence have been proved already The former in those discussions wherein we made it appear that every of the said four Priviledges were respectively the natural and proper fruits and consequences of the signal intergrity of mens hearts and waies in the sight of God The latter in those passages wherein in like manner we evinced such an integrity of heart and life before God to be the genuine and appropriate effect of a being filled with the Spirit Therefore we shall here only vindicate and clear those discussions and passages from such difficulties or objections which may seem to encumber them and to weaken the truth or authority of them First then That men may attain to a freedom from all troublesome and tormenting cares and fears and whatever of this nature is apt to render the life of a man less comfortable less desirable without any such high engagements for God as were spoken of and so consequently without being filled with the Spirit appears from hence that many Heathen Philosophers and Wise men especially of the Sect of the Stoicks by study and dealing with themselves and their hearts effectually from such Principles and Considerations as the light of Nature afforded them did attain this atchievement they did absolutely deliver themselves from that bondage and subjection we speak of and did live in a constant tranquillity and serenity of mind and thoughts and did not feel any pricking Thorne or grieving Brier of any troublesome passion Yea more generally they of the Schole and Sect of Epicurus lived free from all cares and fears yea there are many amongst our selves who as our Proverb expresseth it set Cock on hoop and as they put the evil day far from them so together herewith they put away all care fear and all troublesome thoughts to the same distance therefore it seems at least one of the four Priviledges wherein you placed the desirableness of a mans life and condition in this World viz. a freedom from all troublesome and tormenting fears and cares may be obtained and enjoyed without a being filled with the Spirit I reply first concerning Heathen Philosophers these things First That as Painters use to do very frequently viz. flatter and give beauty and comliness in the artificial face where they are wanting in the natural So many Historians when they have a person of note or worth or of any great name to represent or describe they do not so much set or bend themselves to inform the Reader of the truth of things concerning them as to shew the rareness of their own genius and parts by making them the most accomplished persons in the World As Sophocles the Tragedian made reply to him who demanded a reason why contrary to his Fellow Euripides he made all Women that he personated in his Tragedies so excellently vertuous and good I saith he represent them such as they should be In like manner we have great cause to suspect that they who have reported such glorious things of some Philosophers and others worthy men like enough in their Sphere rather represented and reported them such as they should have been than such as they were as Paterculus a Roman Historian speaking of Cato saith of him that he was Virtuti similimus qui rectè nunquam fecit ut facere videretur sed quia aliter facere non poterat He was a man most like unto virtue it self who never did that which was right that he might appear to do it but because he could not do otherwise as if he were a man unchangeably perfect and good After some other high Characters of commendation he saith of him that he was Homo omnibus humanis vitiis immunis A man that was far from the insirmities of a man with more of the same strain Yet that which the same Author reports of Scipio Aemylianus is much more viz. That he was a man Qui nunquam nisi laudandum aut fecit aut dixit aut sensit who all his life long never spake nor did nor thought any thing but that which was good And elsewhere this is said of another Solem fa●ilius e Coelo dimovendum c. That it was a more easie matter to turn the Sun out of his way than to turn him Therefore we are not bound to believe all that we have received by Tradition concerning the high Strains and Heroick attainments and Enjoyments of Heathen Philosophers and others famous for virtue although on the other hand there is little question to be made but that there were many of excellent Principles and deportments amongst them and such who shall rise up in Judgment against the common sort of Professors of Christianity amongst us and condemn them However there is no certainty of any such thing as absolute freedom from cares and fears enjoyed by and of them as that pretended in the Objection Secondly Suppose that as far as an estimate can be made Sect. 8 either by some passages of speech or discourse upon occasion uttered by some of them or else by many Sayings yet found in their Writings that they did some of them enjoy such a Priviledge as a freedom from cares and fears c. yet such an estimate as this is far from certainty or infallibility Though we should hear them utter sayings or speak of their security like that of Angels it doth not follow that they spa●e truth For as Aristotle speaking of many excellent Principles of Temperance and Sobriety saith of young men that they use to speak and discourse of these things but do not believe them In like manner men of Learning and Parts may hammer out many excellent Sayings and Strains of a very high nature and yet not believe them themselves David sometimes indeed said I believed and therefore I spake Psal 116.10 but the truth is that men may and frequently do speak and utter many things which they do not believe Our English Story reports of one John Crem●nsis who was sent over by the Pope to perswade the Priests from Marrying that the very next night after he had delivered his Message and in an eloquent Oration commended Chastity to the Clergy he was found in Adultery So that it is no great matter for men to write excellent things to talk of freedom from fears and cares but to get this into the heart and to make this real is another manner of thing Thirdly and lastly Though some of those we speak of might seem to enjoy such a Priviledge as that formerly described of a dreadless and fearless mind whilest either they were free from danger or under the arrest of some evil more tolerable and more easie to be born yet when they came to encounter with the King of Fears viz. Death their inward security and height of confidence and resolution was much

many places Actions are ascribed unto him that doth assist and direct and help men in the performance of them and not unto him that is the formal and immediate Agent Page 232 235 XVII That in Scripture Phrase is said properly and precisely to be of God not simply which he acteth or worketh but that which he acteth or worketh freely without any meritorious or demeritorious engagement laid upon by the Creature Page 242 XVIII Such Causes which work and contribute towards their Effects Sacramentally only are in respect of that which is literal or natural in them the poorest and lowest of all Causes 244. Yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand Page ibid. XIX A man may do that which is commanded by God and yet have little thank for his labour for doing it viz. when he knoweth not that it is commanded by him Page 248 XX. God is well pleased with all such Counsels Actions and Waies of Men which are in their nature and according to a true estimate and judgment of them profitable and advantageous and he is the more and better pleased with the Counsels Actions and waies of men the richer and faller Connexion they have with their peace and happiness Pag. 248 XXI Though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert and put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth Page 281 XXII The way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us but to go about that which is our Duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgement and deep sense of our inability Page 283 XXIII It is a usual Dialect in Scripture when the Act is expressed for the means or course that is usually taken to effect it Page 284 XXIV Though there be a presence of the Spirit of God with men in the state of Nature or unregeneracy yet the Scriptures do not speak of the Spirits dwelling in men nor of their receiving him until they receive him in a greater measure or after the manner in which Believers receive him Page 285 XXV Whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Page 286 XXVI Whosoever makes the Creature either meerly Passive in its Works or Services or willing as they say by or from a necessitation they despoil it of all capacity of being rewarded by God and so while they pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God indeed and in truth make nothing of it Page 287 XXVII It is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them should no other circumstance hindring be intrusted with a greater Page 288 XXVIII God usually walketh with Men by such Principles and Rules which are written on their hearts by the finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their Civil and Common Affairs Page 31 32 288 297 XXIX God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it Page 289 XXX The Hebrew Dialect many times uses and repeats the Antecedent for the Consequent Page 299 XXXI That is sometimes said to be d●ne which is done frequently or isal waies probable or likely to be done Page 301 XXXII The Connexive Particle and sometimes implieth a Motive enforcing a preceding Exhortation Page 304 XXXIII God hath built and framed the body of his Laws and Precepts given unto men upon like terms by such Principles and Rules of Wisdom and 〈◊〉 according to which prudent Law makers amongst men me went to compile and 〈◊〉 the body of those Civil or Politick Laws which they make for the benefit or use of their States or Communities respectively Pag. 348 349 XXXIV The Gospel being a Doctrine according to Godliness every limbe and vein of it must have a tendency the same way Page 363 XXXV When an Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded be not actually seduced Page 399 XXXVI Comparative senses or meanings are frequently expressed in absolute and positive terms Page 407 XXXVII When Men are greatly averse from believing or repenting they are not like to bestow any serious or intense consideration upon the means by which they should be brought to do either especially if they can find out any colour or pretense to disparage them and so to arm their Consciences and Judgments against them Page 407 XXXVIII Whether Words or Works they must be kept for some time upon the mind and intellectual faculties of the soul before they can accomplish any transmutation or change there Page 408 XXXIX When a man is unwilling to do a thing he may according to Scripture Dialect or manner of speaking be said to be unable to do it Page 20 21 413 XL. There is no ground to judge and determine a Ministry to be legal because the face of it is set and bent as it were to press men to the keeping of the Commands of God contained in the Moral Law Page 441 XLI A person may be said to be moved or enclined when that is done unto him which is apt and proper and sufficient to cause him to be moved and enclined whether he be actually moved or enclined or no Page 446 XLII Such a person is said to sow unto the Spirit who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Page 450 XLIII That which is delivered unto the World in the New Testament by the mouth of Jesus Christ himself or upon the account of his coming from Heaven as all that which the Holy Ghost hath further revealed by the Apostles is is more obliging and binding upon the Consciences of men and more severely punishable by God when neglected or despised than the things delivered in the Old Testament or before Christ's coming into the World were or are Page 459 XLIV It is not unusual in Emphatical Discourses to speak of one and the same person in different considerations as of two Page 459 It is usual in the Scriptures when things are more fully done or after a more rich and bountiful manner discovered to represent them as newly done Page 462 XLV It is frequent in Scripture when the Holy Ghost would reprove Men in things that be irrational to interrogate them as to the reason or ground of what they do Page 476 XLVI The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Page 501 XLVII The words Perfect and Perfection are most frequently used when applied to Men or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but in a limited and diminutive sense but when applied to God in the strictest sense Page 501 XLVIII Verbs properly signifying action many times declare the Natures and Properties of things and what they are able apt and likely to do Page 502 XLIX Many things in Scripture are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Page 512 L. The Verb Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which properly signifies the simple and absolute Being on Existence of a thing is oft used in the Scriptures for the Being of a thing in Act Exercise or manifestation Page 228 The End