Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	author_n	sin_n	will_n	1,685	5	6.8791	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17641	Commentaries of the diuine Iohn Caluine, vpon the prophet Daniell, translated into Englishe, especially for the vse of the family of the ryght honorable Earle of Huntingdon, to set forth as in a glasse, how one may profitably read the Scriptures, by consideryng the text, meditatyng the sense therof, and by prayer; Praelectiones in librum prophetiarum Danielis. English. Abridgments	Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564.; Gilby, Anthony, ca. 1510-1585.	1570 (1570)	STC 4397; ESTC S107376	186,474	266

the instinction of the spirite that they are nothyng that is before God because it commeth to passe none otherwyse that they should extoll them selues so much but that they are blinded in theyr owne darkenes But when they shal be drawne vnto the light they shall know that they are altogether nothing And what so euer we be it hangeth altogether of the grace of God which doth kéepe vs euery moment and doth ioyne vnto vs a new strength Therefore our part is nothing els but to rest and stand stedfast in God because as soone as he draweth backe his hād and the power of his spirite we fade away Therefore we are something that is in the Lord God but we are nothing in our selues Now it followeth that God worketh according to hys will in the army of heauen and in the dwellers vpon earth This might séeme absurde that God is sayd to do as he will as though he had neither moderation nor equity nor rule of iustice But we must marke that which we haue spoken in an other place that men are gouerned by lawes because their willes are peruerse and are caryed hither and thether after their owne lustes without measure but God is a law vnto him selfe because his wil is most perfect iustice Therfore as oft as the Scripture setteth forth vnto vs the power of God and doth commaunde vs to be content therewith it doth not attribute vnto God a tyrannicall Empire as the wicked do falsely imagine But because we do not leaue of to speake agaynst God and do set our reason agaynst his secrete counsailes and so striue with him as though he dyd not that iustly and wisely which is not allowed of vs therfore that the holy ghost might bridle this presūption he doth pronoūce that God doth all things after his owne will. Let vs then remember that when we heare mētion made of God there cā no peruerse nor vniust thyng be layd vnto him his will is not chaunged by any lust but is great iustice Seyng then it is so let vs also remember how great how stubburne and how proude our rashnes is which dare cast and obiect this or that agaynst god Whereof it foloweth that this doctrine is necessary to cast vpon vs a bridle of modestie that God doth all thynges after his owne will as it is sayd in the Psalme our God is in heauen he hath done what soeuer he would Now we do gather by this sentence that nothyng commeth by chaunce but what soeuer commeth to passe in the world commeth by the secrete prouidence of god Neither ought here to be admitted that vnsauery distinction betwixt the sufferaunce of God and his wil. For we sée that the holy ghost which is the best master to teach vs to speake doth here playnly expresse two thinges that is the God worketh he worketh after his owne will. And sufferance as also these curious searchers do say differeth frō wil as though God did graunt as it were agaynst his will that which yet he would not haue done There is nothing more worthy to be laughed at thē to imagine this weakenes to be in god Furthermore the very force of doing is added Therefore saith Nebuchadnezer God doth what he will. And he doth not speake accordyng to the sense of the flesh but by the instinction of the spirite as hath bene sayd He should therfore as well be heard as if a Prophet were sent from heauen Now then we sée that the world is so gouerned by the secrete prouidence of God that nothyng commeth to passe but that which he hath commaunded and decréed and furthermore that hee should also worthily be counted the author of all thynges Where some do obiect a kinde of absurditie that God is therfore the author of sinne if nothing be but by his will yea if he worke it this cauillation is easily put away because there is a diuersitie betwixt the doing of God and the workyng of men For when any man sinneth God after his maner doth worke there but in the meane season he farre differreth from man because he exerciseth his iudgement euen as he is sayd to blinde and to harden When then God doth commaunde the reprobate or the deuil those doth he geue vp to be cast into all kindes of lustes When God then doth so he doth exercise his iudgementes And he which sinneth is worthely giltie neither can he intāgle God in the societie of his wickednes Why For God hath nothyng common with him as concernyng the action of sinne Therefore we see that these thynges which many would haue to disagrée betwixt them selues do well agrée that is that God doth rule by his will what soeuer is done in the world and yet he is not the author of sinne Why For he so vseth the deuill and all the reprobate that he is alway a iust iudge The cause doth not alway appeare vnto vs but we must marke this principle because that with God is all power therfore it is not right to speake agaynst his iudgements what shew of absurditie soeuer they haue And therfore it foloweth in the text There is none that can stay his hand or can say vnto him why hast thou thus done When Nebuchadnezer sayth that the hand of God can not be stayed hereby he derideth the madnes of men which yet do not doubt to rise agaynst god Now let them lift vp their finger if they can to stay his hand and yet beyng ouercome of their infirmitie they go forward in that their rage Therfore Nebuchadnezer doth worthely shew their foolish madnes whiles they lift vp them selues so presumpteously that they would put God to silence or shut him vp in their cages or make some chaynes wherby they may binde hym Seyng then that men do burst forth into such outragious fury they are worthily laughed at And hereto belong the wordes which we read in Daniel Afterward he addeth that none sayth VVhy hast thou done so We know that mens tounges are losed to all wickednes of talke because scarce the hūdreth part of mē doth conteine them selues in this sobrietie to geue the glory vnto God and to confesse that he is iust in hys workes But here Nebuchadnezer did not looke what men were wont to do but what was lawfull Therfore he sayth that God can not be corrected that is by right seyng how soeuer the reprobate do talke yet their vayne talkyng doth fall by it selfe because it hath no ground neither yet any colour The summe is that the will of God should be a law vnto vs because we striue agaynst him in vayne and furthermore because if we permit vnto our selues so much lust if our madnes also do brust forth so farre that we will braul with God this shal be without successe For God hym selfe shal be iustified in his iudgements and so all mens mouthes shal be stopped This is the summe But we must marke that which is added That the will of God is done