Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	case_n	court_n	1,554	5	6.9960	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35537	An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of the book of Job being the substance of thirty-five lectures / by Joseph Caryl ...	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1664 (1664)	Wing C776; ESTC R15201	593,041	687

shall see God no more they shall not see him as long as they live they are afraid they shall never have comfort more nor peace more while they are in this world while they are on this side heaven yet whether ever they shall come to see him in heaven is their greatest their saddest their most heart-disquieting and heart-breaking doubt and feare And indeed as we cannot see God untill he gives us eyes so we cannot believe we shall see him untill he gives us hearts Many times his dealings both as to outward terrible providences and inward terrors are so dark that we can see nothing but darkness nor say any thing but as Job is here charged to say that we shall not see him Yea God doth often hide himself from his people on purpose to try whether they will trust him and wait upon him under such withdrawings for salvation whether temporal or eternal Isal 45.15 Thou art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour Let us therefore take heed of saying he will be for ever hidden or that we shall never see nor behold him as a Saviour say not it is so dark with us that as now we see no light so our night shall never have a morning Fourthly From these words Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him Note A good man is apt to give his heart and tongue too much liberty We should watch our hearts to keep out or cast out vaine thoughts we should strangle distrustful and unbelieving thoughts in the very birth that so our tongues may never bring them forth nor publish them to the offence of others Thou hast said thou shalt not see him But when our unbridled tongues have run at randome and spoken what is not right yet God will do what is right as the next words assure us Yet Judgment is before him These words plainly intimate that Jobs scope when he said he should not see God was that he should not see him as a Judge clearing up his cause or appearing to vindicate the wrong done him and to do him right As if Elihu had said Whatever thy opinion is concerning God that he will never appear in thy cause to do thee right yet know this O Job Judgement is before him and therefore I advise thee be thou better perswaded both of his presence with thee and of his providence over thee The word rendred Judgement is that from which one of the Patriarks had his name and it is a great elegancy Gen. 49.16 Dan shall Judge his people The proper name Dan is the same with the Verb which follows shall Judge When Judgement is said to be before the Lord it may be taken three wayes so we find it in the Sc ipture First we read there of Judgement as it is opposed to mercy These terrible and dreadful Judgements of God are every where spoken of Secondly Judgement is opposed to imprudence and want of understanding or discretion Judgement is a wise and clear sight or apprehension of things as we say such a one is a Judicious man or a man of a great Judgement Thirdly Judgement is opposed to injustice or to un●ighteousness thus we do judgement and justice Many have a great stock of judgement or understanding who yet will do little judgment that is little justice they have a right understanding of things yet will do little or nothing right Here when it is said Judgment is before him we are to understand it in the two latter senses for though it be a great truth that judgment as opposed to mercy is before the Lord And he shall have judgement without mercy that hath shewed no mercy though as the Apostle adds in the same place James 2.13 Mercy rejoyceth or glorieth against Judgement The Lord hath judgements all manner of judgements about him yet that notion of judgement doth not belong to this place but the two latter Judgement is before him that is he is a God of infinite understanding and wisdome he seeth every thing to the utmost he goes to the bottome of every mans case yea to the very bottome of every mans heart he sees every action quite through and every person And as he knows the truth of every mans cause and case so he will do every man right according to the merit of his cause and case Justice and Judgement are the habitation of his throne while clouds and darkness are round about him Psal 97.2 that is though present dispensations are obscure as in Jobs case yet both the procedure and dealings of God as also the issue or determination which he gives in every matter is just and righteous to all men as well as gracious and comfortable to good and upright-hearted men Thus Judgement or this judgement is alwayes before him that is he hath a clear sight of it and he is ready to do it Hence Note First God hath a right and clear apprehension of all persons and actions His understanding is infinite The Lord is as Hannah spake in her Thanksgiving-Song 1 Sam. 2.3 a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed That is he knoweth them exactly to a grain as we do the weight of those things which we have laid in an even Balance It is required of Judges in that advice which Jethro gave to Moses Exod. 18.21 That they should be able men that is not so much men of able purses as of able parts men of able judgement and of more than common understanding even such as were able to look through every mans Cause that came before them Such is the ability of the Lords understanding to the full he is Omniscient He is light and in him is no darknesse at all And as in him there is no darknesse so nothing is dark to him the most intricate and knotty Case the most ravel'd and vext Cause that ever was is plain and evident before his eyes with whom we have to do and who hath to do with us Judgement is before him neither is there any Judgement before any other in comparison of him God hath so much light that Men and Angels are to him but darknesse God seeth so much that all others may be said not to see or to be stark blind even those Judges may be called blind who are not blinded we may say they have no eyes whose eyes are not put out with gifts compared with God How blind then are those Judges who are blinded and whose eyes are put out either by prejudice or passion by hopes or fears it cannot be but Judgement must be before God because as he cleerly sees and fully understands whatsoever comes before him so nothing can divert or biass him f●om doing every man right according to his sight and understanding Judgement is before him Hence Note Secondly God will do right to every man as sure as he knows the right of every man There are many who know what is right who know whose Cause is right yet will not

in the dark about these matters and Cannot order our speech by reason of darkness The word here rendred to order may have a double allusion First To a Military Secondly To a Judiciary ordering It is an allusion to the Military ordering of an Army or Camp because words in speech ought to be put into good order to be duely ranked and drawn out as souldiers to battel They al●o that have to do in Causes and Courts o● Justice ought to order their words aright they must not speak at random or what comes next but they must weigh the plea they make and put eve●y thing in its due place Thus saith Elihu here We cannot order o●● speech we canno● tell how to ●●aw up our reasons we are over-matcht in this business we know not how to plead before God in thy case nor what defence to ma●● for thee thou pretendest to be able to contend with him but we are not we cannot order our speech Why not By reason of darkness It is darkness that usually hinders the putting of things in order Darkness in the Air doth so much more darkness of the Understanding There must be light of one kind or other for the ordering of every matter Where darkness is there must needs be confusion and therefore Elihu gives a very good account why they could not order their speech when he saith We cannot do it by reason of darkness What da●kness there is a twofold da kness First There is darkness proper or natural Once there was darkness because light wa● no● come or created of that Moses speaks Gen. 1.3 4. Darkness was upon the face of the deep Now there is darkness eve y night caused by the departure of light or the going down of the Sun as also sometimes by the Eclipse of the Sun Matth. 27.45 There was darkness over all the land when Christ was crucified It was not this kind of darkness that hindred Elihu from ordering his speech for a man may order his speech though he have nei●her Sun-light nor Candle-light a man needs no other light but that of Reason and Understanding to order his speech by Secondly Darkness in Scripture is taken improperly and metaphorically and so we are to understand it here We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness And this darkness which I call improper or metapho●ical is of several kinds First Trouble and sorrow in Sc●iptu●e language are called darkness Psal 18.28 Thou O Lord w●lt lighten my darkness that is thou wilt bring me ou● of a sorrow●ul into a joyful state Joel 2.2 It is a day of darknes what is that a day of trouble and affliction Hence the state of the damned in Hell is called darkness yea utter darkness Math. 22.13 because it is a state of sorrow even of everlasting sorrows This da●kness of sorrow and trouble will hinder a man very much f●om o●dering his speech He that is compassed about wi●h especially if discomposed by sorrow is unfit to speak before men of understanding yet I conceive this was not the da●kness here mean● Secondly Darkness in Scripture notes the state of a natural man as unregenerate and without faith Ye were sometimes darkness saith the Apostle Eph. 5.8 that is ye were sometimes unconverted or in a state of nature which is called darkness not only there but often elsewhere 1 Thess 5.4 Brethren ye are not in darkness that is ye are not in a sinful condition grace hath shined unto you yea it hath shined into you or as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 4.6 it hath shined in your hearts to give you the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he it was who came on purpose into the wo●ld as to give life to them that were dead so to give light to them that sit in darkness Luk. 79. 'T is a truth also that this kind of darkness doth exceedingly hinder a man in speaking especially when some things are to b● spoken He that is in the darkness of a natural condition will be to seek as we say or knoweth not how to order his speech befo●e God in any spiritual matter Yet neithe● is this ●ere meant for Elihu was not a man in this kind of darkness he w●s doubtless a godly man a man that had much acq●aintance with and in the things of God Therefore it wa● not because of this darkness that he could not order his speech before God Thirdly Darkness is put for the deserted estate of a godly man Isaiah 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant he that doth so is su●ely a godly man or in the state of grace who is there of this sort among you that walketh in darkness and hath no light God having with-drawn the light of his countenance from him Now 't is a very great truth and sadly experienced by some that this kind of darkness doth exceedingly hinder a man from ordering his speech before God A poor soul th●t is walking in the da●kness of a spiritual troubled deserted state that is bewildred with fear and doubt about the savour of God to him and his acceptance with him knoweth not what to do or say before God he knoweth not how to order his speech in prayer or discourse This darkness hindereth us mightily in ordering our speech befo●e God Yet I conclude that neither is this the da●kness here understood which is a darkness following upon the present going down or setting of the Sun of Righteousness upon the soul who was himself once thus grievously benighted when nayled to the Cross he cryed out my God my God why hast th●u forsaken me Fourthly Darkness taken for that remaining ignorance or impe●fection of knowledge which abides even in the best in the holyest of men after their conversion while on this side Heaven Thi ignorance is da●kness 1 Cor. 13.9 and this is that darkne●s w●ich Elihu here intends when he saith we cannot order our speech by reas●n of darkness As if he had said Though I and they with me a●e not altogether rude nor ignorant of God and his wayes though we have received through grace a competency of divine light to guide us through this world yet we are sensible of so much dimness and darkness that we cannot order our speech before God nor direct our selves what to say for thee as thou hast handled the matter Further The darkness that as Elihu saith hinde●eth man in o●dering his speech before God may be taken not only for the darkness of the man or of the person speaking as hath been shewed already but also for the darkness of the matter or of the things about which he is called or occasioned to speak As there is a darkness of the Subject so a darkness of the object which David thus expresseth Psal 49 4. I will utter dark sayings upon the harp And again Psal 78.2 I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark