Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	efficient_a	end_n	final_a	2,172	5	9.9792	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50175	Winter meditations directions how to employ the leisure of the winter for the glory of God : accompanied with reflections as well historical as theological, not only upon the circumstances of winter, but also upon the notable works of God, both in creation and Providence ... / by Cotton Mather ; with a preface of John Higginson.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.; Higginson, John, 1616-1708.	1693 (1693)	Wing M1170; ESTC R24049	51,315	99

Winter Meditations DIRECTIONS How to employ the Liesure of the WINTER For the Glory of God Accompanied with Reflections as well Historical as Theological not only upon the Circumstances of the Winter But also upon the Notable Works of GOD Both in Creation and Providence Especially those which more immediately Concern every Particular Man in the whole course of his Life And upon the Religious Works wherewith every Man should acknowledge GOD in and from the Accidents of the WINTER By Cotton Mather With a Preface of the Reverend Mr. John Higginson Boston Printed and Sold by Benj. Harris over-against the Old-Meeting-House 1693. To the Right VVorshipful Sir JOHN HARTOP Knight and Baronet SIR WHen the Sons of the Patriarch were Travelling into that Country which was the Garden of the World he ordered them To take of the best of the Fruits of the Land and carry a present unto a Great Person there 'T is into the Paradise of the European World that a Little Book is now Travelling over the Atlantic Ocean Hei mibi quod Domino non licet ire suo And tho' it carry not of the best of the Fruits of the Land for it may without wrong to Me be tokl you that many parts of the Land afford far better yet the Fruits which it carries have this Rarity to Recommend them That they grew in the midst of the barren Winter but considering with my self to whom I should make a present of these Fruits the Character which YOU have among the Reformed Churches of God a thousand Leagues distant from the Island of your Abode presently determined this DEDICATION Might we in this American Wilderness more enjoy the Presence as I hope we cannot but enjoy the Good Will of persons like You Accomplished we should have a Compensation made us for all the desperate Hardship of our Winters but in the mean time we will Invite you to partake with us in our WINTER MEDITATIONS when we cannot have you to partake with us in our Winter Difficulties Altho' the Lines are fallen to You in the Pleasant Places of a more Temperate Climate yet the White Mantle of Snow at some Times covering that Happy Island also bespeaks for it the old Name of Albion and if at such Times the Lessons which then we have here had at our Fingers Ends may give You as Acceptable an Entertainment as they would a Seasonable One my Satisfactions will even make me forget the Time of the Year A most Excellent Pen long since did publickly describe You as a Person who were by Your Faith In Cacumine Olympi constitutus supra Ventes et Processas above the Blasts and Storms of this Unquiet World But. I perswadè my self that a Treatise produced in the Months that are full of Natural Blasts and Storms will have in it nothing Disagreeable to that Serenity of Soul wherein Your Faith has placed You. The Day comes on apace when the World which was once Drowned propter Ardorem Libidinis will now be Burned propter Teporem Charicatis I have here made for a few of my Friends an Essay To fetch out one Cord by another and albeit it would not be easie for to find All that should Less Need the Admonitions of this Essay than You yet I believe that Few will Receive it with so much Candor Goodness and Kind Resentment A Renowned Person once got himself an Immortal Sirname only by an Invention to come fairly at a Common Enemy over and thorough Interposing Snow-drifts I am here endeavouring to help my Neighbours with an Invention how they may Encounter their Spiritual Enemies the Flesh the World and the Devil not only In but even By the circumstances when God Says to the Snow Be thou upon upon the Earth By this Undertaking I have neither Pursued nor Deserved any further Name for my self and yet I am upon this Occasion ambitious to Earn and Wear that Name of Sir Your most Sincere and Very Humble Servant COTTON MATHER TO THE READER IT is one of the Heavenly Counsels of Aged Pard to Young T●●oth● which reacheth to all Ministers and Christians in all Ages 1 Tim. 4.7 Exercise thy self unto Godliness Now that is done by a frequent practice of those Duties which have a Tendency to the promoting of the Power of Godliness in our selves and others and which through the Blessing of God will not fail to attain that End amongst which there are none more useful than Meditation Self-Examination and Secret Prayer These are not only Enjoyned by the Word but Confirmed by the Experience of all the Saints bearing witness to this great Truth that there is no maintaining the Life and Power of Godliness without a diligent practice and frequent Exercise of the fore named Holy Duties and therefore any Contribution of help towards any of these and in particular that of Meditation deserveth a thankful acceptance from all the People of God The Object of Meditation God revealing himself in his Word and Works is of a large Extent the particularizing of some of the Works of God in Creation and Providence considered with the adjunct of Time wherein they do Exist and Expressing what the Word says of those Works in their Times and Seasons is of singular use to six the Volatile and Voluble Mind of Man unto profitable Medications with Application to our selves as a Godly Man once said Shew me any C●●cture and I will sh●w thee God The Works of God in their general Nature and special kinds are the proper Subject of Natural Philosophy for Physica est Ars bene Naturandi Natura es●●res nata e● p●●●●●is Principiuns est Materiale Formale i.e. the Material and Formal Causes do constitute the Nature and make up the Essence of every Creature of God in it self considered but the same Creatures Works considered in relation to the Supream Efficient and Final Cause as they are from God as their First Cause and for God as their Last End so they belong to Theology and so the Holy Scripture doth abundantly treat of them shewing Gods Efficiency running through and influencing all Second and Subordinate Causes and entring into every Effect and then the same Efficiency preserving the Being and Power of Working in all the Creatures directing all their Motions thorough all above all their next interior Ends to God himself as the last End of all Hence every Creature hath its Existence and Operations as it is Ens a prime ad Primum and thus the Holy Scriptures do every where proclaim God as the First and the Last Isa 44.1 Rev. 1. in relation to all the Creatures for of him and through him and to him are all things unto whom be Glory for ever Amen Rom. 11.36 It is further observable the Scripture doth not only treat of the Works of God themselves but of the Circumstance of Time not meerly as Time is Fluxus Nunc or duratio rerum but as it s under a Divine Predetermination of the Seasons of Ti●e