Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	father_n	son_n	3,252	5	5.6495	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47422	Mr. Blount's oracles of reason examined and answered in nine sections in which his many heterodox opinions are refuted, the Holy Scriptures and revealed religion are asserted against deism & atheism / by Josiah King ...	King, Josiah.	1698 (1698)	Wing K512A; ESTC R32870	107,981	256

whereas he says if we could find out that of which the World was made yet we cannot find into what it is dissolved he is under a great mistake for the Production of a thing hath no necessary Relation to the continuance or discontinuance of its Existence for one thing may begin to be and last but an Hour another may last for a thousand Years another may last for ever yet all three and as many as you please may begin at one and the same instant the difference depending either on the Nature of the things themselves or on the Pleasure and Will of God who made them We acknowledge and firmly believe that the Universe was made by God yet with the same firmness we believe that part of this Universe shall perish part continue to all Eternity as Angels and the Souls of Men by which it appears that some things which had a beginning shall have no end and some shall have an end So that Lucanus's pretended Universal Rule is not only precarious but also false P. 211. Now whatsoever had a beginning of its Production and ought to partake of Dissolution ad●iteth two Alterations the one from that whi●h i● less to that which is greater and from that which is worse to that which is better and that Term from whence it beginneth to be altered is called Production as that to which it arriveth is called State the other alteration is from that which is greater to that which is less and from that which is better to that which is worse but the Period of this Alteration is called Corruption and Dissolution Now the Vniverse doth of it self afford us no such Evidence since no one ever saw it produced nor altered either in Ascensu or Descensu but it always remained in the same condition it is now in equal and like it self ANSWER Mr. Blount's Translation of Ocellus Lucanus is not so fair as it ought to be for the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Original ought to be translated Generation and not Production which somewhat alters the case the one being more general then the other which yet I should have taken no notice of did it not seem affected and designed But perhaps he followed the Translation of Ludovicus Nogarola the Italian none of the best Interpreters However this Argument of Ocellus is more gross then the former for he who manageth the Argument this way proves nothing at all save only this which no Man in his right Wits will deny that this Universe and the Parts thereof which are of greater Perfection were not generated in that manner that we see some other Parts thereof were as Trees Plants and living Creatures But that there can be no other way of Production besides these ordinary Generations or that the Universe was not some other way actually produced neither this Argument nor any other of his Arguments prove And he still labours under the Imputation of that Sophism of begging the Question If he had proved that it implies a Contradiction for Almighty God to have produced the Universe after any other manner then those things are produced which we see and observe in this World he had proved something to the purpose We assert one infinite and eternal Being who produced all things out of nothing and preserves them in their Beings and this we call not Generation but Creation which is a Production excluding all Concurrence of any material Cause and all Dependence of any kind of Subject as presupposing no Privation nor including any Motion So that the proper and peculiar Sense of the Word Creation is expressed when we conceive something that is made and not any thing preceeding out of which it was made It must be granted that the Word used by Moses in the beginning of Genesis requires not such a peculiar acception for it is often used to signifie any kind of Production as the making of one Substance out of another pre-existing as also for the renovating or restoring any thing to its former Perfection for want of Hebrew Words in Composition nay it sometimes imports doing some new and wonderful Work the producing some strange and admirable Effect We do not therefore collect the true Nature of Creation from the Force of any Word The Words Creation and Annihilation in the Modern Sense are not used either with the Jews the Greeks or the Latins they are factitious Words neither that I know of are they so used in any Tongue whatsoever but we collect it from the Testimony of God's Word The Opinion of the Church of the Jews will sufficiently appear in that zealous Mother to her seventh and youngest Son 2d Macchabees Chap. 7. Ver. 28. I beseech thee my Son look upon the Heaven and Earth and all that is therein and consider that God made them of things that are not Which is a clear Description of Creation that is Production out of nothing But because this is not Canonical Scripture we shall therefore evince it by the undoubted Testimony of St. Paul who expressing the Nature of Abraham's Faith propoundeth him whom he believed as God who quickneth the Dead and calleth those things which be not as if they were For as to be called in the Language of the Scripture is to be behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the Sons of God saith St. John in his first Epistle who in his Gospel told us He hath given us Power to become the Sons of God so to call is to make or cause to be as where the Prophet Jeremy saith Thou hast caused all this Evil to come upon them the Original may be thought to speak no more then this Thou hast called this Evil to them he therefore calleth those things that be not as if they were who maketh those things which were not to be and produceth that which hath a Being out of that which had not that is out of nothing This Reason generally persuasive unto Faith is more peculiarly applied by the Apostle to the belief of a Creation For through Faith saith he Heb. 11. ver 3. we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear For the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place is equivalent to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Book of Macchabees and this manner of Speech is according to the best Greek Authors as our Doctor Pearson hath observed The Sense of the Apostle then is that those things which are seen that is that are were made of those things which did not appear that is which were not There is an excellent Treatise among the Works of Justin Martyr entituled Eversio dogmatum Aristotelis a Refutation of Aristotle's Opinions directed to one Paul a Presbyter of great Note as it seems from the Compellation given him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O most honourable Presbyter Paul Who the Author