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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	author_n	evil_a	sin_n	1,431	5	5.2703	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61850	A treatise shewing the subordination of the will of man unto the will of God by that eminently godly, able, and faithfull minister of Christ, William Strong, lately of the Abbey at Westminster ; the greatest part printed with his own marginal quotations in his life time, and now published by Mr. Rowe, Master Manton, and Master Griffith.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1657 (1657)	Wing S6008; ESTC R17435	173,191	368

is Here I must give you these distinctions First There are some things that the Lord doth of himself work by his own immediate power and stays not for any humane concurrence but doth them of himself and by himself If he doth work Isaiah 43.13 Psa 135.6 None can let it he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and so he governs the world and preserves and maintains it He suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways He did not incline them to walk in their own ways he did not command them but he did leave them to themselves and in the hands of their own Counsells And is therefore said to suffer them Mala sinit fieri non facit bona vero ipse facit sed nolens mala sinit volens bona operatur being in himself a free Agent he concurs with the creature when he pleaseth and as far as he pleaseth Lumb lib. 1. Sent. 45. Secondly we are to consider that the permitting will of God only respects the reasonable creature to whom properly his commanding will belongs It is true that all the Creatures come under his will For he rules all things according to the counsel of his own will He doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth Rev. 4.11 in the sea and all deep places It is by his will that they are created and it is by the same will by which they are preserved and governed in their being Ex necessitate naturae ad ultimum potentiae But all other creatures being to act necessarily no permission can belong to them but God either acts them or suspends their Acts at his pleasure not by a permitting but by a powerfull effecting will Only the reasonable creatures seeing they were created to act out of choice and election the Lord rules them Modo proportionate according to their own nature therefore he hath not put a Law in their natures which shall necessarily and infallibly carry them to their ends but he rules them in a Covenant-way and they are voluntary in all their actings neither shall any of them be confirmed or made impeccable but by grace in which the Lord would have all the vessels of mercy to stand as they were chosen in Christ so by him they are to be confirmed That as they ●●nor God the Creator in ordine naturae so they should honour the Son as Mediator in ordine gratiae And for this cause whereas the Lord could have confirmed Men and Angels in the day of their Creation as he hath now the Angels in heaven and the souls of just men made perfect yet he will not but reserves it as a blessing that should come in by the Government of his Son in a way of grace by whom the beatifical vision is bestowed upon the Saints And therefore I conceive Christ is called The Angel of Gods face that is Qui faciem Dei quasi conspicuam populo fecit Isa 63.9 Now the face of God in Scripture is put for three things 1. For a full Revelation of his will They shall see his face and his name shall be written in their foreheads Rev. 22.4 2. For a full manifestation of his favor So the Church is said To seek the face of God And the Lord is said to cause his face to shine upon his Saints Psal 67.1 3. A perfect vision of his glory and so heaven is a seeing of God face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 And in ●ll these respects Christ is said to be the Angel that discovers the face of God unto the Saints And it is by this last manifestation that they are made impeccable Thirdly The permitting will of God is only conversant about the sins of the reasonable Creatures in all their good actions the Lord doth concur and act them by an efficacious and a working will so as it is rather Gods work then theirs 1 Cor. 13.10 Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me Cooperando perfecit quod operando incipit Aust But for evil actions God cannot have a hand in them as the Author or Efficient cause for he is light and in him is no darkness at all he is goodness it self and in him is no evil neither can any evil come from him James 1.13 14. The case is decided that God is not the Author of Sin neither can be for he that forbids all sin cannot work any darkness cannot proceed from the Father of lights and yet against his will sin cannot be Non fit aliquid nisi Omnipotens fieri velit vel sinendo vel faciendo Aust Sin could not have come into the world if God would have kept it out he could have created all the creatures impeccable if he had pleased There is a threefold order to be observed concerning the decrees of God 1. The same Soveraign Lord that did elect some to life did decree to pass by others and not to confer the same grace and favour upon them For we teach no absolute Reprobation but a preterition only and non-election or which the Schoolmen call Reprobatio negativa which as Suarez hath well observed opusc lib. 2. pag. 175. Non est poena sed solum negatio gratuiti beneficii quod Deus ut supremus Dominus negare potest 2. Unto these he doth resolve and decree not to give grace but to leave the other to the instability of their own wills 3. He doth decree that he will for their sin cast them off for ever and eternally destroy them So that the Lord decreed to leave the creature unto that strength which he had received in his Creation and then falling he did decree to damn him for that sin which he did of himself voluntarily commit Thus God did from eternity decree to permit sin to come into the world though it be the act of the Creatures and not of God And hence it was that sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.14 4. The Lord in his permission doth withhold his grace and doth not bestow that which should keep a man from sin but leave a man to walk in his own ways to act according to his own counsels and doth not effectually determine his will unto that which is good but leaves it to be freely carried away to that which is evil Therefore permission is as it were the removing of the impediment and no more As Twiss Vindic. part 2. pag. 28. hath well observed Ex remotione impedimenti effectus interdum sequitur cujus causa non est removens impedimentū sed aliquid aliud As if a stone being staid from falling you remove the impediment then it falls immediatly the stop being taken away but the taking away of the stop is not properly the cause of its fall but it s own natural form which hath a tendency to its center So when there is restraining grace upon a man an impediment put in the way of sinning his way is hedged up but when the Lord removes the restraint the

A TREATISE Shewing the Subordination of the WILL of MAN Unto the WILL of GOD. By that eminently godly able and faithfull Minister of Christ WILLIAM STRONG lately of the Abbey at Westminster The greatest part Printed with his own Marginal Quotations in his Life Time and now published by Mr. Rowe Master Manton and Master Griffith LONDON Printed by R.W. for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet near the Inner Temple-Gate 1657. To the Reader Good Reader THere are two things always in competition for the throne God and Self lay aside God and Self steppeth in as the next Heir there are four undoubted priviledges and prerogatives which belong to God and are as it were the flowers of the Crown of Heaven not to be alienated or communicated to any creature these are to be the first cause upon whom all things depend in their being and operation the chiefest good and so to be valued above all beings interests and concernments in the world the highest Lord to sway all things by his Laws and Providence the last end in which all things do at length terminate and centre Now the great Idol of the world Self as Reuben went into his Fathers bed seeketh to usurp this peculiar honour which is only due unto God we seek to justle him out from being the first Cause by self-dependance the chiefest good by self-love the highest Lord by self-will and the last end by self-seeking in other Treatises already published the Author hath pleaded Gods Right against Self as he is chiefest Good he now pleadeth his soveraignty against self-will as he is the highest Lord we own God as the highest Lord by a willing and full obedience to his Laws and an absolute subjection to the dominion of his providence the one is holyness and the other is patience that which we call Religion is nothing else but the right poyse of the will or the setting of it in its due and proper place to have our Created wills steered and guided by the rule and measure of the divine and uncreated will which is the supream reason of all things usually the great contest between us and God is Ierem. 44.28 29. whose will shall stand or be supream his or ours and hence come rebellious murmurings and discontents and all the confusions that are in the world and it will never be otherwise till the creature learn to keep its rank and place and we say with our Lord Jesus Father not my will but thine be done This Treatise as it deserveth respect from the nobleness of the subject of it so for the advantage it hath of other pieces of the Authors already Printed for whereas they were made up from his own private Notes not intended for publike uses and some few supplies from them who could best take after him in preaching this was fitted and prepared for the press yea and as to the greater part of it actually Printed during the Authors life and the reason of its not being finished then was be cause some things in it especially that which concerned the permissive will of God and our duty under it requiring deep consideration and great exactness made the Author delay the publication of it Now this is intimated not only to commend the Work to thy acceptance but to give thee some account of that disproportion which possibly may be discerned between the former and latter part of the Book for though the materials be equally weighty throughout yet the former part being printed whilest Master Strong lived seemeth to have more of lustre and ornament in it Now the good Lord work us to a more submissive frame of spirit every day and accomplish the whole good pleasure of his will in our souls We are thine in the Lord Jesus John Rowe Tho. Manton George Griffith The Table of the Scriptures Chap. Vers Page Genesis 1 2 154 9 27 57 49 10 171     See marg Exodus 6 3 107 21 6 27 23 2 73 28 39 267 32 6 133     See margent 34 29 106 Leviticus 26 24 138     See margent   41 93 Deuteronomy 13 6 211 16 20 287 33 3 273 1 Sam. 2 31 92 3 18 114 9 15 77 10 27 325 16 1 108   14 291 1 Kings 19 11 299 21 25 211 2 Kings 9 6.8 174 10 13 102   14 ibid.   31 179     See margent 1 Chron. 21 1 210 2 Chron. 35 21 103   22 ibid. Nehemiah 5 8 250 Job 1 21 98 22 21 296 Psalms 8 6 105 10 14 93 19 13 62.283 22 15 122 24 1 95 38 10 255 40 6 27 43 4 280   5 97.255 45 7 56 56 8 141     See mar 57 5 113 73 9 330 78 8 323 93 1 151 97 1 151 110 3 29 112 10 294 116 7 254 119 3 26   30 37   173 Ibid. 121 2 309 125 4 14 131 2 92 Proverbs 8 30 153 16 4 97 25 28 34 Ecclesiastes 7 14 158     See mar Canticles 1 4 263 6 12 58 Isaiah 24 15 308 25 1 113 28 29 115 31 2 136 41 2 272 45 9 117   10 ibid. 49 4 122 51 20 138     See mar 57 20 286 60 20 192 63 9 202 Jeremiah 1 10 86 17 16 164 31 33 23.54 50 28 178     See mar Lamentations 3 26 249 Ezekiel 1 0 144   18 160   19 159     See mar   20 156.194     See Mar.   25 144 36 26 52 Hosea 1 4 177     See mar 2 14 57 Amos. 4 5 18   12 137 Jonah 4 0 128.129   9 67 Micah 6 8 19 Nahum 3 12 89 Habakkuk 2 1 126.306   9 176     See mar 3 3 105   4 ibid.   9 256 Zachary 1 8 110   9 ibid. 2 13 89 3 1 211 4 7 155 6 1 142   8 155 12 8 159 Matthew 6 10 143 8 31 289 11 25 98 12 35 67 16 14 223 24 29 192 Luke 12 29 255 17 2 300   24 1 John 1 18 22 5 19 148   20 ibid.     See mar   22 144. 145 8 36 45 16 13 23. 75 Acts. 2 23 33   36 149 7 51 29 20 22 6   28 153     See mar 21 14 10. 198     222 Romans 1 6 44 4 20 272 7 5 262   15 66 8 14 154     See mar   21 151 9 3 70   20 242 12 2 18. 21     32. 314 14 17 301 1 Corinthians 10 7 133     See mar 13 10 202 15 26 145   27 ibid. 2 Corinthians 3 17 46 5 7 227   9 64 12 7 232 Galathians 6 1 68 Ephesians 1 11 32   22 147     See mar 2 3 34 3 10 116. 316 4 18 16   19 ibid. 5 20 307 11 22 152 Philippians 1 9 58 4 7 303. 310 1 Thessalonians 4 11 249 5 18 307 2 Timothy 2 4 173     See mar

man immediatly falls into sin And yet the taking away of the restraint is not the cause of his sinning but his own natural propension and inclination of Spirit thereunto The Lord doth by permission but remove the impediment take away the restraint As a man taking his hand from a glass it breaks not because he takes away his hand but from its own brittle nature so there is a Divina manutenentia which the Lord takes away As a man that doth loose an Anchor and lets a Ship drive into the Main when by the Wind and the Sea it s dashed against the Rocks thus the permission of God is but a removing of the restraints that are upon the spirits of men In sinfull and holy actions three things are to be distinguished 1. The action it self so the Lord doth concur unto both by a common Providence unto both the beings and the motions of the Creatures They must depend à primo motore For in him we live and move and have our being 2. There is also the quality of the action either good or evil And here is a different concurrence of God 1. To a gracious action the Lord concurs not only in the substance of it but in the goodness and rectitude of it For we have no sufficiency of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 When we turn to him it is he turns us first when we make our selves a new heart it is he first gives us a new heart when we work with him he works our works in us and for us The Lord concurs to it with a gracious and efficacious will It depends more upon the act of God then upon the act of the creature But in the evil and obliquity of an action the Lord concurs by a permitting will only leaveing the creature to act according to its own rules and to walk after its own imaginations taking away the powerfull determination of grace and all the restraints that were before laid upon them Now the act is of God but the obliquity and the defect of the action is from the Creature only 3. There are the ends of the action and the Lord doth appoint them also Of good actions the end is his glory according to the intention of the Agent and of evil actions the end is his glory though it be praeter intentionem Agentis As an Artificer useth natural causes unto artificial ends as we see the Loadstone that naturally draws Iron how it is made use of in the Art of Navigation and we commonly use the natural enmity of a Dog or a Hawk to accomplish our end on some other of the creatures else unserviceable to us So doth the Lord over-rule the natural enmity of the creature and orders it unto his own ends the glory of his own Wisdom Power and Justice As we see in Nebuchadnezzar though he as an instrument in the hand of God intends no such thing he thinks not so Isa 10. And in these properly doth the nature of permission consist Now let us see the permitting will of God being conversant only about sin and that only the acts of the reasonable creature in what particulars it is exercised what it is that the Lord doth permit in them And they are these especially 1. God leaves remainders of sin in the best of his people This belongs unto his permitting will that though they be sanctified it is but in part He doth suffer sin to remain in them that if the best men say they have no sin they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them Sin dies a crucified death it hath only received its deaths wound and dies by degrees There is in the best a Law of the members as well as a Law of the minde which makes them cry out Vnclean undone wretched man that I am Non peccare in via praeceptum est in patria praemium It is in this life our Law and in the life to come it shall be our reward it is here our duty then our glory Peccatum in renascentibus remittitur in proficientibus minuitur in resurgentibus tollitur Aust 2. He suffers Satan both as a tempter and as an accuser and it is for these ends that he hath not yet his full torment He knows the time is not yet full come Art thou come to torment me before the time First The Lord suffers him as a Tempter this was a great part of the humiliation of Christ the King of Saints that he was not only made fin by God but he was tempted unto sin by the Devil And he suffered being tempted that he might be able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.18 All the Saints are there called those are tempted and tempted as we are Heb. 4.15 and the people of God had need of succour not only in their sufferings but especially in their temptations And there is no possbility for them to stand out against them without succour from Christ Sometimes Satan comes upon them by his own immediate injections which the Apostle calls fiery darts because they are apt to take shot as Granadoes and Wild fire into the Camp of an enemy So it is said Satan did move David to number the people 1 Chron. 21.1 The word doth signifie to perswade by force of Argument and by a vehement and continual importunity to take no denial And herein properly doth the strength of a temptation lie in the strength of the Arguments and the reasonings of it and the importunity of it from day to day It s used in Deut. 13.6 if a man doth perswade and entice his friend secretly to other Gods gives him reasons and arguments to perswade him thereunto It s the same word that is used of Iezabel 1 Kin. 21.25 Whom Iezabel his wife stirred up She provoked him by earnest perswasions by continual importunities And sometimes he makes use of the Creatures and there is no creature that Satan will not make use of to withdraw from God and to draw to sin A Disciple a Friend a Wife God made her a rib Satan a dart 2. He permits him as an ac cuser for he is called the accuser of the brethren And as he doth move us against God in a way of sinning so he doth move God against us in a way of Judgment And therefore Zach. 3.1 It s said Satan stood at Ioshua's right hand to resist him Some say as an accuser the manner being to set the accusers on the right hand of the person accused Others take the right hand for the instrument of action and so it was effectually to hinder Ioshua in his work So Iob 2.3 the Lord faith Thou hast moved me against him without a cause the same word is there used of his moving God against Job as before he had moved David against God in the one as a tempter in the other as an accuser And there is as great fear of Satan in the one as in the other Now it is