Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A34921
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Isagoge ad Dei providentiam, or, A prospect of divine providence by T.C., M.A.
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T. C., M.A.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing C6818; ESTC R4623
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270,847
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560
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fancy Gen. 37. 11. 2. The not heeding of Providence in its Proemial displays or presages may in some cases prove to be of dangerous consequence John the Baptist was the Elias to come he was the fore-runner of the Messiah for so said he Luke chap. 1. v. 17. He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias The Jews did not heed the Providence of God in the Baptist Mat. 17. 12. But I say unto you that Elias is come already and they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever they listed Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them Thus the King's Harbinger being not regarded no wonder if the King himself be not welcom'd He came unto his own and his own received him not John 1. 11. OBSERVATION XXXI Past and present Passages of Providence lay foundation more or less for future matters or What falls out after is the result or issue of Providence before as effecting or righteously permitting CHAP. I. THIS Observation being akin to the former the less may be said yet if the more be said each of these like two Glasses may reflect on each other and things reflected in them will the better be taken cognizance of Before we considered Providence rather as an eye looking forward here we may look on it as an hand throwing up the earth and laying in stones for superstruction-work to go on There are three Generals to be spoken to here 1. The various Mode or Manner how past or present passages of Providence lay a foundation 2. The interval of time between the Foundation and after-Superstruction 3. The Latitude or Extent of this with respect to Matters First To begin then with the first and so past and present things in order to what follows may be considered 1. According to their intrinsecal and proper nature their usual manner of working qualification for what is the ordinary result as Providence is conversant about them Thus it is said that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain 1 King 18. 44. And so Eccles 7. 7. Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad and a gift destroyeth the heart that is impatiency and vexation of mind as one saith Cartwright in locum is a kind of madness which oppression with its force and nature bringeth unless a man well principled with piety flie unto God for shelter and refuge and after the like sort bribery blinds the eyes of a wise man Again things may be considered according to a supernatural causality attending them in regard of their issues and here the said things may be considered as over-ruled by Providence three ways 1. As indifferent in their own nature for the production of this or that effect The Ax cuts the wood and cuts a man's leg the same Ax which fells the tree down for fewel or some other use kills a man at another time as Deut. 19. 5. 2. As having some tendency inclination or propensity for this or that effect but not proportionable in it self considered for the product thereof Gideon's Three hundred men rout a vast Army and so lay a foundation for their Countrey 's quier and respit from the Midianitish fury Judg. 7. 3. As averse and contrariant in all likelihood to what follows Thus Joseph's brethren rid their Father's house of Joseph which act of theirs by an over-ruling Providence contributes for the preservation of the Family afterwards as is asserted by Joseph Gen. 45. 9 10 11. There is another consideration of things past and present in order to futurity and that is 1. By way of natural causality as things according to their very natures physically considered work thus as for fire to burn the houses of Ziglag being applied to them 1 Sam. 30. 3. 2. By way of moral causality or order which the Lord hath set Thus the Corinthiant did prophane the Lord's Supper and this lays a moral foundation for a future House of Correction to be erected amongst them For this cause faith the Apostle many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 1 Cor. 11. 30. On the other hand when the Temple work was minded by them in the Prophet Haggai's time the laying of the foundation of the Temple was through grace the laying of a foundation of future Mercies as is plainly declared in Hag. 2. 18 19. 3. By way both of natural and moral causality Both these streams meet in one channel sometimes The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags Prov. 23. 21. These sins have not only a moral provocation in them by reason whereof God doth righteously punish the sinners but likewise according to a natural tendency are an in-let to poverty Drunkenness as one saith turns man his family yea his house too out at the Wicket Some sins are costly and are Moths to men's Estates Men do not only fight against God with their Mercies but also against their own Estates Peace and Comfort They take the link-stock fire the Cannons and have no ground to quarrel with Providence if the Chain-shot or Wedg heated red-hot in the fire of their lusts light on their own houses to the burning of them And thus for the first general propounded Secondly The interval or space of time betwixt Causes Effects and Consequents comes next to be insisted on And here as there is a Winter-grain and Spring-seed as Oats Barley which are earthed after the former so some things come to pass after which were founded in their Causes before There is a Treasure-house of Providence Mercies and Judgments are laid up in this Treasure-house The opening of this Treasure-house belongs to God He times the opening of it 1. Sometimes there is but a little distance between the issues of Matters and their Causes The House is soon up and covered whether it be an House of Feasting or Mourning A word and good word there is for Jehosaphat with the people when they are fasting and praying upon the account of that great Multitude which came against them 2 Chron. 20. 17. To morrow go out against them for the Lord will be with you Elijah sends word to Ahab after a long drought saying Prepare thy Chariot and get thee down that the rain stop thee not and it came to pass that in the mean while that the heaven was black with clouds c. 1 King 18. 44 45. Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. 2. Otherwhile the distance is wider Causes and Effects do not shake hands by and by Joseph's brethren made a Rod for their backs which hung up by the wall of Providence for some years ere they were lash't by in it Egypt and Joseph's being sent into Egypt had a reference to the future good of his Father's Family The Tree was transplanted long before Jacob with his sons eat of the fruit thereof for Joseph was seventeen years when sold
hearkened unto my counsel 2 Chron. 25. 16. Men live not then half their days according to the probable course of Nature though they dye according to the number of days fore-known or determined by God 3. It may be objected That some are the cause of their own death and so dye before their time according to what is said Eccles 7. 17. Why shouldst thou dye before thy time Ans 1. The same will hold if it had strength as to others being the cause of the death of others as the Jews who killed Christ and yet this horrid fact of theirs was consistent with the stated time of Christ's Ministry on earth as was before proved John 7. 30. John 8. 20. John 13. 1. 2. However some are the cause of their own death yet not without the wise Providence of God either as righteously punishing them 1 Sam. 31. 4 2 Sam. 17. 23. or graciously chastizing them 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep So Josiah is in a sort accessory to his own death and yet he dyes in peace whilst he dyes in warr his death was but a sanctified flea-biting in comparison of the evil to come on his Kingdom he is removed from being a heart-broken Spectator of them and lives not to be the object of a barbarous and insulting Adversary's reproach and cruelty See 2 King 22. 20. with 2 Chron. 35. and 36 chap. Now from what hath been said as touching the extent of Divine Providence to the death of persons these four following Consectaries or Lessons may be commended 1. There is no reason to give way to anxious and disquieting thoughts from the consideration of difficulties dangers casualties which may attend our selves or those related to us in the way or calling in which God by his Providence engageth in according to his word warranting the way or calling There is an irregular fear and disquiet which leaps objectively from the black face of second causes into the hearts of men and women Our Saviour intimates so much in Mat. 10. 28. the disease there is Fears about the body and the cure of this disease is by going into the Shop of Divine Providence where a remedy may be had v. 29. the sweet and serious meditation on Divine Providence is the best Cordial under all fears and disquiets of this nature It comes to be the death of fears and disquiets which referrs to death There is a story of an Husbandman and Sea-man communing together The Husbandman asks the Sea-man Of what Civil Profession his Father was He replies A Sea-man as he was and so likewise was his Grandfather too The Husbandman enquires where his Father died Answer is made At Sea and so did his Grandfather too Hereupon saith the Husbandman Are you not afraid to go to Sea The Sea-man asks the Husbandman of what Profession was his Father and after his Grandfather and it being answered They were both Husbandmen he further asketh where they died Answer is made At home in their beds And are not you saith the Sea-man afraid to go to bed The application of this story is easie and needs not a screw 2. It 's wisdom then for persons to interest themselves in the God of Providence Happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psal 145. 15. there are two great encouragements to look after an interest in God as reconciled to the soul in and through Jesus Christ 1. None go with so strong a guard as they who have thus the Lord for their God Christ tells his Disciples that the very hairs of their head were all numbred Mat. 10. 30. 2. Whatever distresses Saints meet withal suppose a violent death they have a counterpoyson or remedy against the evil of the evils The Lord 's John Baptists lose their heads but not an hair they are then gainers when they seem to be losers There is enough by death to make amends for death Blessed are they which dye in the Lord c. Rev. 14. 13. 3. It may quiet the spirit when God takes away by death Friends Relations acquaintants These dye not at hap-hazzard The God of Wisdom placeth and displaceth persons in the World and all wisely and righteously If Children are with us like Jonah's Gourd for a night and then a Worm eats them to a withering There is no reason to quarrel with the Lord who hath variety of wise Ends in the Gourd-dispensation of this Nature We have reason to quarrel with our unreasonable quarrellings at the Lord 's bereaving us of Relations There was never a Marriage but a Funeral as consequent And yet doth not the Funeral of Relations usher in the Funerals of quietness and thankfulness to God for the loan of comfortable Relations so long If one lend us an hundred pounds for some years freely and after calls for it Is there ground for disquiet and fullenness as if so be there had been no courtesie at all for divers years How often do we forget our selves as men and much more as Christians in matters of this nature The Apostle Paul doth caution against irregular sorrow for death of persons 1 Thess 4. 13. and an excellent Illud quoque quâ justitiâ in omnibus rebus es necesse est te adjuvet cogitantem Non injuriam tibi factam quod talem fratrem amisisti sed beneficium datum quod tam diu pietate ejus tibi uti fruique licuit Seneca de consolatione ad Polybium Copy is left for us to write by when Death sets its cold hand on any of our friends 2 Sam. 12. 22 23. 4. What ground is here for a mortifi'd frame of spirit both to things and persons in the world Our days and the days of others will have their period We and others are like passengers in a Ship who whether they sit walk on the Decks or sleep in the Cabins are in motion towards the Haven The World is rather an Inn than an accustomed Home-Stall or Dwelling-house one generation passeth away and another cometh Eccles 1. 4. It 's folly then for the sons of men to be elbow-deep in the thick clay of the world as if so be they and their wealth their pomp and their pleasures were to abide here for ever Oh that what the Apostle Paul adviseth were engraven on the heart with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond But this I say brethren The time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they bad none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 29 30. 31. SECT 5. That the Providence of God extendeth to the meanest creatures and things trivial or of less moment in human apprehension comes in the last place to be insisted on and this