Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	natural_a	supernatural_a	1,915	5	10.5176	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38026	Polpoikilos sophia, a compleat history or survey of all the dispensations and methods of religion, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things, as represented in the Old and New Testament shewing the several reasons and designs of those different administrations, and the wisdom and goodness of God in the government of His church, through all the ages of it : in which also, the opinion of Dr. Spencer concerning the Jewish rites and sacrifices is examin'd, and the certainty of the Christian religion demonstrated against the cavils of the Deists, &c. / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1699 (1699)	Wing E210; ESTC R17845	511,766	792

such an Act as is above natural Force and Abili●y and is done wholly by virtue of an omnipotent Power There is a Physical Virtue and Agency given to all Creatures at their first Creation Their natural Properties and Affections are settled in them by God at first and according to these they constantly act except he who created them changes their course immediately influencing on them When the Creator thus alters their natural Course and Agency and when the Effects are contrary to their natural Power there is a Miracle wrought for Miracles are Actions that are against natural Efficiency This is opposed by Mr. Hobbs who holds that there are no real Miracles because all is by natural Causes only they seem to the Vulgar to proceed from extraordinary and supernatural Causes On this ground he endeavours to vilify the Miracles wrought by Christ. And Spinosa would fain thrust upon us this Proposition that whatsoever the Scripture affirms to have been done did necessarily come to pass according to the Laws of Nature and no otherwise and consequently that those things which go under the Name of Miracles have only natural Causes tho unknown to us And he conceits this to be a sufficient Reason of what he saith viz. that God and his Decrees are unchangeable and therefore the Laws of Nature can't be alter'd and so there are no Miracles because these are said to be Interruptions or Vi●lations of the course of Nature But if the altering the course of Nature be contain'd in the divine Decrees as most sure it is then what will become of his Argument It is a mere Fallacy and contradicts several Discoveries which God hath made of himself and his doings in the sacred Writ where we find that there are such Actions as cannot be done by the mere Power and Energy of Men or Angels either good or bad or of any created Beings It is of the Essence of a Miracle to exceed all natural Power A Miracle always supposes the Virtue by which it is produced to be Divine 2. This is another property of a Miracle which follows necessarily on the former that it is Vnaccountable We cannot solve it we cannot shew any reason why it is so It is above our apprehension for it being a thing above natural Power it is impossible that natural Reason should tell how it is done A Miracle is such a work of which no Physical Cause can be assigned therefore it is no wonder that it is beyond our Conceptions and that we cannot apprehend how it is performed 3. It is also something done rarely and unusually It is a saying of the Rabbins and a true one A Miracle doth not happen every hour It is an uncommon thing and Rarity is of the nature of it For the design of a Miracle was to beget Faith by its being rare and therefore if you could suppose it to be perpetual the end of it would be lost which is to stir up Men to believe by the uncommonness of what is done Divine works that are done daily and ordinarily are not Miracles thus to justify Sinners to convert them to save them c. are not call'd Miracles So Gods preserving and upholding the World is the work of Divine Power only but it is not call'd a Miracle because it is every moment Pliny declares that it exceeds all Miracles that any one Day passes and all the World is not set on Fire because of the innumerable subterraneous fires and by reason of the infinite number of Stars and the vast heat in the Sun and the inbred fires in Clouds c. But this is no rar● and strange thing and therefore is no Miracle The gravity of bodies the strange Operation of the Loadstone the reciprocal motion of the Sea are Phaenomen● that depend as I apprehend on the particular and immediate influence of a supernatural cause and yet because they are common are not Miracles God the All-wise Governor of the World hath his usual and ordinary ways but these oftentimes are neglected and despised because they are common wherefore he thinks good to use another method he exert● other acts and these are unusual and extraordinary and excite a greater regard and reverence in Men and have the name of Miracles 4. It is the qualification of a Miracl● not only to be supernatural unaccountable and rare but also to be something visible at least very evident and discernible The Egyptians saw Moses's Miracles the Priests of Baal saw what Elijah did And whatever Miracles are really done are done in the sight of People or the effects of them are to be plainly seen The reason is because they are exhibited to the World on purpose that they may be observed and taken notice of Wherefore a Miracle is such a Divine Work as is evident and apparent and thence this kind of Operations are frequently call'd Signs i. e. outward and open representations of the Almighty Power of God 5. And lastly they deserve the name of Miracles because they stir up Mens minds to admire them they cause amazement and wonder they are such works of God as create astonishment in all that seriously consider them And this proves what I said before viz. that it is against the nature of a Miracle to be constant and lasting and always continuing for if it were so it would not be wondred at and then it would cease to be a Miracle These are the inseparable properties and qualification of true and real Miracl●s but the first is the main and the only essential one for some other things are unaccountable we being ignorant of the extent of Nature's Sphere and unusual and wonderful but they are not against and above the power of natural causes therefore they are not properly Miracles for a Miracle is a thing that cannot be done but by Supernatural and Divine strength Consequently a Miracle cannot be done by the Devil or any of his Ministers and Agents These indeed can do strange and wonderful things that is either such as are really so but then they rise only from occult natural causes and means or such that seem to be so they appear only and are not and then they are mere Jugglings and Tricks of Art Thus far evil Spirits and their Agents are able to go and no further they can counterfeit Miracles but they cannot work one true Miracle Thus the Egyptian Magicians did wonderful things they did not only make their Rods to appear like that of Mercury with Serpents twining about them but which is greater they by their Inchantments turned their Rods into Serpents or seem'd to do so That the worst Men may have power to work such signs and wonders is plain from Deut. 13. 1 2. And the reason why God suffers false Proph●ts to work those seeming Miracles is suggested in v. 3. The Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soul It is to try Men

whether they will adhere to God or forsake him it is to make an experiment either of their Stedfastness or their Hypocrisy We have it from the mouth of our Blessed Saviour that there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders so great that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect Mat. 24. 24. And St. Panl lets us know that the Man of sin the Son of perdition shall come with all power and signs and lying wonders which last words lying wonders seem to have a very large signification for as this may be one meaning of them that though the actions they shall do shall be real and true though the things shall be really done yet they are but lying wonders because thereby the Devil impo●●th on Men and leads them into error and falshood or because these wonders are to attest a lye to maintain false and erroneous Doctrines so it is probable likewise they are call'd lying wonders because they are false and counterfeit and seeming only although they are pretended to be true Miracles So it is foretold in Rev. 13. 13 14. that the Grand Impostor of the last Times shall do great wonders so that he maketh Fire to come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of Men and deceiveth them that dwell in the Earth by the means of those Miracles or Signs which he hath power to do True Miracles cannot be wrought by Satan or his Instruments but he can do wonderful Things and lying Miracles and such are these here mentioned which false Prophets and Seducers are able to effect They either exceed not the course of Nature and are the Effects of natural Causes tho they be hid to us or else they are mere Cheats Deception of Sight and Delusions of the Senses and so they are only seeming Miracles and lying Wonders This is an undeniable Truth that tho Evil Spirits and wicked Men are permitted to do things prodigious and strange yet they cannot work true Miracles for a Miracle is something above yea contrary to the course of Nature Now God alone can alter this established Order This is proper to him only no Creature can effect it The Author of Nature can only change it He that first made all things of nothing can alter the Propriety of things Thus as the Psalmist speaketh God alone d●th gre●● Wonders Psal. 136. 4. Miracles are wrought by a divine Power wholly Having shew'd you what is the true Natural Miracles I am to prove that those Acts of our Saviour and his Apostles which we call Miracles are really such and are not counterfeit but true This is evident from what I have said already for those things which they did were above the power of Nature as healing all sorts of Diseases tho in themselves incurable feeding Thousands with a small Portion of Food and yet so that they carried away more than was first provided restoring People to Life after they were really dead and the like These things exceeded the Virtue of natural and created Agents and therefore must be acknowledg'd to be Divine and Heavenly and by consequence were true and proper Miracles But moreover I will prove that these Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were accompanied with such peculiar Circumstances as spake them to be of divine Original As 1. The simple and plain way of doing their Miracles is very remarkable Christ cured some by laying his Hands on them others by prayer and invoking of his Father others by a mere touch of his Hand as the Leper Mat. 8. 3. Others by their only touching the Hem of his Garme●t were made perfectly whole Mat. 14. 36. Multitudes were cured of their Diseases with a bare word yea with a word he raised the Ruler of the Synagogue's Daughter only saying to her Maid arise Luke 8. 54. He cured a Noble Man's Son so likewise a Centurion 〈◊〉 Son at a distance Iohn 4. 46. Mat. 8. 5. which could not be with application of Medicines or using of any Means Other Methods he made use of sometimes as when a blind Man was to be cured he anointed his Eyes with Clay macerated with Spittle and also bid him wash in the Pool of Siloe The ten Lepers were not presently healed but he bid them repair to the Priests and as they went they found their Cure At the raising of Lazarus he shed Tears groaned in his Spirit and call'd him out of his Grave with a loud Voice But these and all his other Miracles were wrought without Formality and Ceremony without any superstitious Rites and Observances without either Natural or Artificial Applications which is a great Argument that they were true Miracles and no Impostures for these latter are always done with Ceremony and Pomp with strange words and as strange Gestures and Actions 2. The Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were not obscure but evident not done in a corner but in the open light and so if there had been any Cheat and Forgery in them they might have been observed and they would most certainly for Christ and his Apostles had subtil Enemies about them who were busy in prying into all the Circumstances of their Actions When Christ cured the Man that had had an Infirmity thirty eight Years it was at a publick Meeting at the great Feast Luke 4. 33. He dispossessed a Man of a Devil in the midst of the Synagogue Iohn 11. 45. The Man was cured of the Palsy before the Multitude Mat. 9. 8. the Widow's Son was restored to Life before much People Luke 7. 12 and most of his other Miracles were wrought publickly so that there were many Spectators and Observers of them And it is certain that among these neither Wit nor Malice were wanting to find out the Errors and Deceits if there were any Yet we know that the Miracles of Christ were published by the Evangelists especially St. Matt●●w whilst yet the Persons were alive upon whom they were wrought and whilst innumerable Persons who were Witness of those things were surviving 3. Whereas one or two are said to have been cured in the Heat●en Temples and Impostors have been cried up for a few wonders they have done it is to be taken notice of and remembred that Christ cured v●ry many and the number of other Miracles which he did was exceeding great The Multitude of them is an argument of their Truth and Reality for it shews that it was not a thing by chance besides when so many Miracles were done there can be no suspition of doing them in a fraudulent manner for it had been easy at one time or other to discover it 4. Christs Miracles were not only many and various but often repeated and done several times over Both he and his Apostles did those extraordinary things daily and one Miracle was wrought by them to confirm another which gives us further Assurance that they were not counterfeit and false for then by frequent reiterating them

gave unto Cain Lands to till unto Abel Sheep to keep their Callings intimating to them what should be their Allotment and Portion afterwards the Real Estate being to be assigned to the eldest Son and the Personal to the younger as is in use at this day But the careful Parents might dispose of their Estate but they could not entail Virtue and Grace upon their Children Cain most maliciously rose up against his Brother and neither his Innocency nor his near Relation to him could divert him from violently pursuing and shedding his Blood This made th● hearts of the distressed Parents bleed afresh this added new dolours to their former ones and caus'd them yet more seriously to look back on their vile Apostacy from God which was the spring of all the Miseries they underwent There is nothing said in Scripture of the Repentaonce of these Sinners after their Fall whereupon some have concluded that these first Offenders died in Impenitency and were denied all Mercy and Pardon But it thust be remembred that the Sacred History omits many things being very short and compendious yea of this very nature some things are pass'd by as that Noah repented of his Drunkenness and Lot of his Incest so that we cannot draw an Argument in this case from Scripture-silence But we have reason rather to believe that Adam and Eve did repent and were saved for the● Promise of the Seed which was to redeem and save Mankind was made immediately after the Fall and so concern'd them as well as others Gen. 3. 15. Besides we may piously believe that God's Mercy would not overpass these poor Offenders at its very first setting out but rather that it would begin with them to give an Instance of his present Pity and Kindness and an assurance of his future Goodness and Clemency The wise God would not suffer Satan to boast that his first Conquest and Spoils remain'd entire and met not with an afterdefeat This was the Judgment of the most antient pious and learned Fathers and they declar'd that the Tatiani and others who held that Adam never repented but was damned were very unreasonable and absurd in their Assertion Yea Irenaeus and Epiphanius reckon this as an Haresy and con●ute it And this may be observ'd that the Fathers both Greek and Latin do generally agree in this that Adam was buried on Mount Calvary where Christ was crucified intimating thereby that he had the benefit of our Saviour's Sufferings that his Repentance for his Apostacy was accepted for Christ's sake that in the great and universal Shipwrack of the World for it was then all concern'd he swam safe to shore on this Plank But I proceed to consider some larger Effects of our first Parents Apostacy i. e. what befel their whole Race as well as themselves We will consider them both together And these dole●ul Effects are both Temporal and Eternal I begin with the first the temporal Evils they are either outward or inward The outward and bodily Evils which are the Consequences of Man's revolt are very many and great Cursed is the Ground for thy sake saith God to Adam Gen. 3. 17. At first its pregnancy and ●ecundity were exceeding great so that it yielded its Fruit easily without any toil Per se dabat omnia tellus And again Ipsaque tellus Omnia liberiùs nullo poscente ferebat And the like we find spoken by other Poets concerning the Golden Age from some broken Notions and Traditions as a judicious Person of our own hath observ'd of Man's first Estate in Paradise and of that Estate wherein the World and all things should have continued of Man had not fallen There was nothing noxious in the Earth at first all things were safe and wholesom useful and pleasant serviceable for the Life of Man and every ways advantageous to him But Man's Fall introduced a change the Ground brought forth Thorns and Thistles Gen. 3. 18. which shews that the former fruitfulness of it was decay'd and that now it would require some toil and pains to prepare and manure it in order to a plentiful Crop And therefore I am not forward to assent to what a late learned Writer suggests that the Pl●ugh was of no use till after the Deluge and was not invented till than as if the State of Innocence lasted till that time He confesses himself that God sent the Deluge ●o destroy that Constitution of the Earth which was calculated and contrived for a State of Innocence and to fashion it anew according to the lapsed and frail state of Mankind And therefore according to his own concession the Flood should have come presently after the Fall of Man whereas it was above sixteen hundred years after i●r This Author ingeniously lays hold upon the Sentence of Death which was pronounced at the same time with this part of the Curse about the Earth's Sterility and argues from the suspending of that to the suspending of this But I conceive this is not a good way of arguing unless he could have proved that neither our first Parents nor any others felt the effect of that Sentence of Mortality before the Deluge for it is of this which he was discoursing and his Opinion is that this was the cause which check'd the exuberance of the Earth and therefore the Curse took not place till this time But the very words and expressions themselves by which the Curse of Sterility is set forth seem to me to put this matter out of controversy for they respect not only Mankind in general but the first Man in particular and more especially and therefore must have taken place before the Flood Cursed is the Ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy Life See here Adam himself for whose sake the Earth had its Doom was to experience the sad Effect of it by eating of the Fruits of the Ground in sorrow that is with labour and toil the Ground not bringing sorth its Fruits with that ease and in that plenty which it did before The Curse then was inflicted in Adam's time ●nd consequently before the Deluge And unto Adam himself the following words are directed Thorns and Thistles shall it bring ●orth unto thee and ●hou shalt eat the Herb of the Field viz. with hard labour and pains or as 't is express'd in the next Verse IN THE SWEAT OF THY FACE and this must continue until he return VNTO THE GROVND OVT OF WHICH HE VAS TAKEN And we know he return'd above 700 years before the Flood and consequently the Commination did affect that generation of Men which lived before that time And there is a farther proof of this in v. 23. Therefore the Lord sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the Ground from whence he was taken This shews that the Curse had actually taken effect and that Thorns and Thi●tles were come up for Adam here is set on work by the immediate Order