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	sin_n	will_n	1,909	5	6.8826	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36908	Dunton's remains, or, The dying pastour's last legacy to his friends and parishioners ... by John Dunton ... ; to this work is prefixt the author's holy life and triumphant death : and at the latter end of it is annext his funeral sermon.	Dunton, John, 1627 or 8-1676.; N. H., Minister of the Gospel. Funeral sermon.; Dunton, John, 1659-1733.	1684 (1684)	Wing D2633; ESTC R17002	124,862	318

and to Eternity with God For with him things are not past present and come as with us but always present in one infinite moment And therefore the Lord who seeth all the sins of a Reprobate by one pure individual act from and to all Eternity may as well pass an act of Damnation against them as if they were actually committed Par. Might not God as well damn men in a Capacity of holiness as thus to leave them to sin and then condemn them for it Conf. It is a curious and unprofitable question to dispute whether he might not without wrong to the Creature have done so Perhaps Rom. 9.20 21 22. will prove he might but such a case never did nor never will fall out However to our Capacity the justness of God should not shine so perspicuously if he should damn a Creature that never sinned for then should he inflict undeserved Punishment whereas in the course he now takes he only denyeth undeserved Favours and layeth on them deserved Penalties Par. But if Gods Decrees binds not man to a necessity of sinning how came sin into the World seeing Men and Angels were made holy and the whole Creation is by God himself pronounced good Conf. Gods Decree doth no otherwise bind man to a necessity of sinning than the withdrawing of the upholding hand from a staff reared up binds it to a necessity of falling viz. in a privative way I shewed before that sin is only privative that is a defect of some thing required as darkness is nothing else but a defect of light and these privations do not necessarily require causes or Creation light was indeed created but darkness was before on the face of the deep Now though God made Angels and Men holy he made them not Gods that they should stand of themselves without his help which when he withheld from man and some of the Angels they faltred in their obedience and so became sinful DIALOGUE III. Concerning the Providence of God Par. HOW can God by his Providence dispose of second causes that things can come to pass contingently freely or miraculously when he hath fore-ordained how they shall be in his immutable will Conf. There is a twofold necessity 1. In Gods Decree so all things that are fall out necessarily and cannot be otherwise 2. In Natural Causes so fire necessarily burns water necessarily wets c Now to us things are said to fall out necessarily when we apprehend a sufficient next cause But this sometimes is not sometimes appears not before the effect from whence the Notions contingent free miraculous have their rise As for Example When an Infant is formed in the Womb though in respect of Gods Decree it is necessarily a Male or necessarily a Female and so in time will prove yet to us from whom the next cause of this distinction in the womb is hid it is contingent whether it be Male or Female Par. How can God strengthen and govern all Creatures in their actings and be free from sin seeing many actions are sinful Conf. You must distinguish betwixt the action and the evil in it some sins are actual but none actions Therefore as a skilful Minstrel playing on a jarring Instrument causeth it to sound but it s own badness causeth it to sound jarringly So God causeth us to act but that we act sinfully the cause is in our selves To kill a man is not simply evil sometimes it is not only lawful but a duty but killing a man upon such terms without a just cause or call Sin lyeth in the moral circumstances not in the physical substance of the Action Par. If God be perfectly glorious how can he glorifie himself in the works of his Providence seeing nothing can be added to that which is perfect Conf. We may consider the glory of God these two ways 1. As it is essential to him and so it is ineffably perfect 2. As it is revealed to us and this because of our weakness is only in part and by degrees A Moses can but view the back parts a Paul but see in part and darkly as in a glass And God is said to glorifie himself when by the great works of his Providence he lets us see further into his glorious Attributes Par. If the Providence of God offer to men occasions to sin how is God free from the iniquity committed by reason thereof Conf. As a King that executeth Justice though he know some wicked fellows will thereat take occasion to be Traytors to him is not to be blamed So Gods works being holy though wicked men abuse them through their own perversness and make them occasions to sin he is not unrighteous out punisheth them in just Judgment suffering them to fall by their own folly Par. When God by his Providence makes wicked men scourges to his people how can they be blamed for doing what God would have done Conf. Though wicked men can do nothing to the people God but what he gives way to yet forasmuch as they endeavour to exceed their Commission and aim not at Gods Glory but their own ends shewing hostility and not pity to Gods people they shall answer for their ambitious malice though God by his wisdom will cause the wrath of man to praise him and the remainder of wrath he will restrain DIALOGUE IV. Concerning the Fall of Man Par. HOW could tasting the forbidden Fruit be so great an offence as to deserve Damnation Conf. Some give this reason that this act of our Parents was a breach of each of Gods Commandments in particular and indeavour to make it appear by an induction though for mine own part I think it holds in some not in all but this I desire to speak with modesty and submission However it cannot be denyed but the breach of the least of Gods Commandments maketh us guilty of all And the violation of his Law who is infinite deserveth infinite punishment which because it cannot be in extent we being finite must be in duration Nor doth the small value of the fruit abate any thing but rather aggravate it for as Master Byfield saith well their sin was greater that upon so small an Advantage would adventure Eternal happiness Par. But how comes it to pass that Adams fault and punishment is derived to his whole Posterity Conf. Adam stood in Covenant with God as Man not as a Man that is as a publick not a private person And therefore as he received the Covenant of Works and for a time stood by it for himself and all mankind so for himself all mankind he fell from it Par. Would it not have made more for Gods glory to have kept men from sin to serve him in holiness Conf. No for by this means man is a fit object for the rich mercy or just Judgment of God which by occasion hereof God manifesteth to his own glory Par. Some affirm that sin dishonoureth God others say he cannot be dishonoured whether of these is true Doctrine Conf.