Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	motion_n	soul_n	1,821	5	5.5524	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30019	Discourses and essays on several subjects, relating chiefly to the controversies of these times, especially with the Socinians, deists, enthusiasts, and scepticks by Ja. Buerdsell ...; Selections. 1700	Buerdsell, James, 1669 or 70-1700.	1700 (1700)	Wing B5363; ESTC R7240	90,520	247

of Man insomuch that the Sun shall stand still upon Gibeon and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon As a Miracle thus surpasses the Power of Nature so the Person in favour of whom it is wrought ought to know that this Miracle shall be thus wrought He ought either to know in particular that this Miracle will be wrought and no other or that a Miracle of some kind will be wrought when natural Helps shall fail Thus Moses when Pharaoh prest behind and the Red-Sea rag'd before tho' he seems to have had no special Revelation that the Sea should be made dry Land and the Waters be divided yet he knew in gross that The salvation of the Lord should be seen that day and that the Aegyptians whom they had seen that day should no more be seen again for ever Therefore the dividing the Red-Sea was a Miracle perform'd by Moses tho' he did not particularly foresee it But when the Person in behalf of whom a miraculous Work is brought about is wholly ignorant of it this can be no Miracle nor ought any Consequence to be drawn from it as if that Person was immediately Commission'd from God The sudden Advancement of Men from the lowest Fortunes to the highest Stations by unaccountable and unforeseen means is sometimes assuredly the immediate Hand of God but since this Exaltation may be for the Ruin as well as for the Happiness of Mankind and since the Party exalted could not foresee his Success 't is no Miracle tho' it is wrought by a Divine Power nor ought we to conclude that this Person is a nearer Favourite of Heaven than the rest of Human kind The Creation of a Reasonable Soul is miraculous but because it is usual is not of that kind of Miracles exprest in the Words Thus the Inspiration of Grace is miraculous but because it works now a-days according to the method of Reason and Discourse whatsoever the Enthusiasts may pretend to the contrary assisting us while we use such moral Means as Religion commands and Reason prescribes it is not to be rang'd with the Miracles mention'd here Since Miracles therefore are the Effect of a Power more than Natural it is just to enquire Secondly What Power is capable of working a Miracle Where notwithstanding what the acute Le Cler● and others of this Age have Jean ●e Clere de l' Incredulite Lettre 2. p. 355. advanc'd That Miracles may be wrought by good or bad Angels or by a Power less than Infinite yet it may be laid down as a Conclusion That infinite Power alone is capable of working a Miracle For a Miracle proclaims an omnipotent Agent and carries the Hand of God written upon it in bright Characters legible to the most Vulgar Reason For every true Miracle is a forming of something out of nothing and that either in the thing it self or in the manner of forming it In the thing it self when it is of that sort that it cannot be form'd by any second and ordinary Causes As the Resurrection of the Dead the Re-union of the Soul and Body the restoring of the Springs and Mechanism of Motion after a total separation For Death is a Prison which surrenders back its Captives upon no other Summons below those of the Almighty To restore Life being only the Prerogative of him who gave it Or a Miracle may consist in forming something out of nothing as to the manner of doing it when the thing lies within the power of second Causes yet is brought about without the assistance of any of them As to cure Diseases by a Word speaking or by touching the Hem of the Garment Where there is something which answers calling Light out of Darkness and commanding every thing to be from nothing Creation therefore being one of the peculiar Acts of God and which we do not know that He ever communicated to a Creature the Power of working Miracles as to the original of it must be so too For only He who first form'd the Laws of Nature can suspend or alter them 'T is true the Angels far surpass us in the excellency of their Faculties and therefore may perform such things as are apt to raise Admiration in us because of our unacquaintedness with the causes of them or manner of their Production Even the fal● Angels themselves have not their Forces so much broken by Sin but that by Lying Wonders they may easily impose on the Spectator's Eye tho' 't is wholly impossible for them by any Power of their own to alter the Course of Nature or produce a real Miracle So that if a Miracle has been wrought for the confirmation of any Doctrin 't is a sufficient warrant that this Doctrin is of God But since the evil Angels who have assum'd the Person of God may also counterfeit his wondrous Works it will be necessary Thirdly To enquire into some of those Marks whereby a true Miracle may be distinguish'd from a false one So that a difference may be put betwixt the Works of God and those of his greatest Enemies The first Mark of a true Miracle is That there should be sufficient Evidence that this Miracle has been wrought and the Effect of it ought to be addrest to our Senses For a Miracle it self is not an object of our Belief tho' it is form'd in confirmation of something which we are oblig'd to believe For then a Miracle would be as obscure as the thing which it is produc'd to prove And every Miracle would want another to make it serviceable to its grand design The second Mark of a true Miracle is That it ought not to tend to the overthrowing of any Doctrin before establish'd by God by sufficient Miracles For God cannot be divided against himself But should he overthrow that by Miracle which he had before settled by Miracle Eternal Truth would disagree with himself For Miracles and a Doctrin give mutual support one to another as Miracles declare the Doctrin to be true so the purity and excellence of the Doctrin confirm the Miracles to be Divine But if there is an Inconsistency between the Miracles and the Doctrin the decision must be in favour of the Doctrin in opposition to the Miracles For if a Person acts the most wonderful Works to give Sanction to a Religion which contains low Idea's of God or interferes with the great Duties we owe to one another his Miracles are nothing but artful Frauds and he himself only a more pompous Deceiver So on the other hand when Miracles are produc'd in favour of a Doctrin which is pure and holy whose prospects of Rewards are only laid in a future State which enjoins Modesty Temperance Sobriety and Patience and whatsoever is fitted to advance Human Nature such a Doctrin is highly fitted to perswade Men that the Miracles wrought in behalf of it are true The third Mark of a true Miracle is That the Effects of it ought to be lasting and durable If Diseases are remov'd by a

and is a kind of a pure Evangelick Deist if I may so call him may have our Saviour's Merits which he never heard of so far imputed to him as to free him from a state of Misery And how and by what Means God may make him happy is an Enquiry over-curious and concerning which our present Condition will not allow us to be satisfy'd A future State is in some proportion to us what America was to our Fore-fathers And I with all possible submission think that the Hypothesis of an † Dr. Scot●'s Christ Life Part 2. Ch. 4. S●ct 1. p. 2●5 admirable Person of our Church is too bold where he seems more than to intimate that God may extend the Tryal and Probation of these Heathens beyond this Life and discover in the other Life the Light of the Gospel to so many of them at least as have made any tolerable Improvements under the Light of Nature and if they make good use of it reward them accordingly That God will act not only justly on their own accounts but also in some degree mercifully on our Saviour's by these Nations seems an evident Truth But how or by what way is more than even this thoughtful Person ever knew As to the second part of the Objection That even where Christianity has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any extraordinary Effect on Men's Minds it may be answer'd That it is purely Satyr and Invective and is plainly void of Truth For tho' it must be with confusion own'd that many Christians are guilty of Vices which would make an ingenuous Heathen blush yet the Establishment of Christianity has given a total defeat to many National and Publick Crimes Amongst many Civiliz'd Nations as is plain from their own Poets and Historians Parents might expose their Children and Masters murder their Slaves with Impunity and without any dread of being call'd in question Those unnatural Sins condemn'd by the Apostle in the first Chap. to the Romans were parts of their Religious Worship a fit Service for such Gods Men were condemn'd to massacre one another in their Amphitheatres were engag'd against Beasts or with Men as cruel Altars were stain'd with human Blood a greater Villany than any it was design'd to expiate A Hero never dy'd but that he had pompous Trains of Slaves to attend him to their fancy'd Elysium But now all these barbarous Practices were as much banish'd by Christianity as the Idolatrous Rites of the Zabii by the * v. Ma●mon●des Mor. Nev. p. 3. c. 29. And Dr. Spe●cer de Leg. Heb. p. 177. cap. 9. ● 1. c. Jewish Ceremonies a sufficient Indication that Christianity has been highly profitable to the World Fifthly The Divisions among single Christians and the Wars and Discords between Christian Princes and Commonwealths often heighten'd by Religious Controversies and inflam'd by the violent Harangues of Ecclesiastick Persons and the Cause of Religion being defended by the Dint of Calumny as a late † ● T●● Amyntor ● 52. Author phrases it are no just Prejudices against Christianity nor do they give a Moral Deist an advantage over a Zealot for it We cannot deny but Christianity ill understood has been the innocent Author of publick Divisions and private Discords the most beautiful Parent of ill-resembling Children The Gospel has arm'd Nations to their own ruin and the Pulpit has given the signal for very unnatural Wars Notwithstanding this Religion it self ought not to be blam'd For first The Founder of this Religion predicted that such a dismal Event should attend his Institution Think not that I am come to send Peace on Earth I came not to send Peace but a Sword Secondly It was not the design of Christianity to cherish Factions and Discords amongst its Followers Nothing could be a greater encourager of Candor Good-nature Peace and Mutual Forbearance than this Religion justly practic'd and all the Calamities incident to human Life are in a great measure the Products of Irreligion and Scepticism For if every Person liv'd up to the height of his Religion all Wars and Contests would quickly cease all Passions be compos'd and the Seat of the ancient Paradise would not ne●d to be farther enquir'd into when all the World was One. These Objections which I have endeavour'd transiently to answer are some of the pretended Reasons for Scepticism and Doubts about Religion I shall proceed Secondly To take a short Survey of the true Reasons and Motives which make Men Scepticks And the first is Pride For the Truths of Religion as they are design'd for the Salvation of all Men so are they in some sort adapted to the Apprehensions of all But there are several of such sublime and exalted Thoughts that they can relish nothing but what is plac'd out of the vulgar method of Thinking Thus the Emperor Julian tho' adorn'd with Temperance Gravity Chastity and Sobriety as appears from his own * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. Jullani Miso●●g p. ● 0 ●dit Spanhem Writings nor do his Adversaries Cyril or Nazianzen deny it yet the nicety and sublimity of his admir'd Philosophy made him too proud to debase his Understanding as he fancy'd to the Lowliness of the Christian Faith Out of this Principle a late † To●and ' Christianity not Mysterious Writer has excluded all Mysteries out of Religion and nothing now must be believ'd but what can be comprehended The second true Cause of Scepticism is Prejudice or a rash Judgment made upon Religion For not only the Jews and Gentiles but some who have been initiated into Christianity frame false Idea's of it They are too much prejudic'd to believe that God will punish Crimes of finite duration with infinite Pain They fancy that there is reason to hope that he may release his Threats and some way mitigate the Penalty that it is a servile and mercenary Motive to engage us to Obedience by addressing to our Fears by proposing Prospects of eternal Misery But these Objections rising from Prejudice would be easily remov'd if the Sceptick would consider that God does not punish Men for Sins which they could not avoid not for single Acts but inveterate Habits and final Obstinacy That Repentance if sincere takes off the greatest Guilt That he gives us Grace to shun Sin and Grace to repent of it That Hope and Fear are the fittest Passions by which a reasonable Creature may be acted upon That every Sin is against infinite Majesty an Act too of our own Choice That God would be wanting in promoting the Observance of his Laws if he did not make the greatest Punishment due to the Violation of them That he promises eternal Happiness to Obedience as well as threatens everlasting Misery upon Disobedience The third true Cause of Scepticism is a Disposition of Heart contrary to Religion For a Soul stain'd with Vice can never comply with the Truths of Religion The Will and Affections must first be purify'd before the Understanding can be enlightned Hence our Saviour endeavours to plant the Innocence even of Children in the Minds of his Followers before he proposes the great Mysteries of Religion Happy are they who have preserv'd their Innocence unstain'd and whose Soul has never lost its native Candour The first proposals of Religion will strike upon such Minds as these with the most vigorous Light and will convince them as soon as addrest to them But to Spirits sunk into a state of Sin Religion appears upon a disadvantage and like an Object striking upon a disorder'd Organ forms an irregular Impression Let the Wings of the Soul once be disengag'd from the weight of Sin as the Pythagoreans as well as Scripture neatly stile it and it will fly up to Truth and Goodness as to its proper Center The fourth Cause of Scepticism is the prevailing Humour of turning every thing into Ridicule Nor are sacred Things themselves exempted which takes off that Veneration which is due to them and makes them look first contemptible and afterwards false The fifth true Cause of Scepticism and the last which I shall mention is want of Consideration or Attention For if Men either think not at all or not regularly or employ their Thoughts in other curious Speculations they will of necessity continue Scepticks But the fault is in themselves not in Religion they can no more complain of Obscurity in that than those who have wilfully clos'd their own Eyes of want of Light in the Heavenly Luminaries Let the Sceptick take away these true Causes of Scepticism and the pretended ones will vanish of their own accord But while these remain they are like to continue Scepticks till the Punishments of a future State shal not only make them understand but even feel that Religion is True FINIS