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	final_a	material_a	2,518	5	8.7678	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09386	A C[hristian] and [plain]e treatise of the manner and order of predestination and of the largenes of Gods grace. First written in Latine by that reuerend and faithfull seruant of God, Master William Perkins, late preacher of the word in Cambridge. And carefully translated into English by Francis Cacot, and Thomas Tuke.; De prædestinationis modo et ordine. English	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Cacot, Francis.; Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657.	1606 (1606)	STC 19683; ESTC S103581	116,285	285

and bestowing on him necessarie and sufficient helpe for the auoyding of sinnes now man being forsaken by him sinneth necessarily And yet the fault is not to be laid on God because that in this his forsaking him the will of man commeth betweene For God forsaketh man being willing to bee forsaken and not against his will and mind Secondly I answere to the aforesaid reproch of our doctrine that wee say not that sinne is from the decree or of the decree of God as from the efficient materiall formall or finall cause But wee doe teach and au●rre that sinne commeth to passe according to the prouidence or decree of God as the sole consequent thereof For wee assuredly thinke and iudge that the decree of God doth so go before the sinne of man as that it hath no respect vnto any cause vnlesse it be of such a one as is a failing and deficient cause So saith Augustin Therefore truely the great works Enchir. cap. 101. of the Lord are exquisite in all his wills so that after a wonderfull and vnspeakable manner that is not done beside his will which notwithstanding is done contrary to his will Againe it is obiected He that saith that the decree of God is the energeticall operatiue beginning of all things necessarilie maketh the decree of God the beginning also of sinne Whereunto I answer That the holy Ghost himselfe saith that the decree of God is the beginning of all things being and existent Eph. I. cap. II. verse God worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will And againe in the 17. of the Acts In him we liue we moue and haue our being Augustine saith The will of God is the very cause of all things which are Hugo De gene cont Manic lib. 〈◊〉 c. 2 de S. Vict. saith There is no cause of the will of God which is the cause of all things And this very thing common reason will teach vs because there must first some certaine ground be laid from whence euery thing should haue or take the being and existence thereof and this ground is euen the very will of God For a thing is not first and then afterward God willeth it to come to passe but because God hath decreed that a thing should come to passe or be done therefore it is And yet shall not God therefore bee the cause of sinne because sinne is not properly a thing action or being but a defect only and yet neuerthelesse it is not therefore nothing For whatsoeuer hath a being is either E●s Real● Rationale Really and positiuely or else in Reason onely And vnder those things which are in Reason are contained not only notions and relations but also priuations because they haue not a reall matter and forme out of the vnderstanding But sinne hath not a positiue and reall being yet it hath a being in Reason as they terre it For so farre forth it is in the nature of things being as it may cause a true composition in the mind and although it doe not exist positiuely that is by matter or forme created yet it is priuatiuely because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by the remoue or taking away of originall righteousnesse that doth immediatly and truly follow and exist Neither doth it follow as some other naturall habit or as a pure negation but as a certaine thing betweene both that is a want and absence of the contrarie good Some vse to obiect that wee doe teach that God doth incline vnto sinne and that hee doth positiuely harden the heart Whereto I answere that wee allow not a bare permission seuered vtterly from his will neither doe we atribute a positiue or naturall action vnto God as though hee did infuse corruption and sinne and yet we say that hee doth actiuely harden the heart The action of Gods Prouidence as saith Suidas in the works of men is threefold The first is according to his good pleasure whereby God willeth any work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alloweth it effecteth it and is therewith delighted this action is onely in good workes which haue their beginning in vs from the holy Ghost The second action of Gods prouidēce is of sustaining wherby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God vpholdeth and maintaineth the being and all the faculties motions actions and passions of nature which offendeth Act. 17. 28. In him we liue and moue and haue our being And although God do sustaine nature offending and the action of nature yet is hee free from fault because he vpholdeth the creature onely as it is a creature not as it is euill For the second cause as the will of man can by it selfe doe euilly and corruptly yet it can doe nothing by it selfe vnlesse the effect thereof bee reduced to the first cause As may appeare more plainly by this similitude A man doth hault by reason that his legge is out of ioynt now heere are two things to be considered the very walking or motion it selfe and his haulting the haulting proceedes onely from his legge out of ioynt the walking both from his legge and also from the facultie of mouing In like manner a man sinning in that he doth it is of God but in that he doth euilly it is of himself We must therfore heere know that God doth vphold order as it is of nature but furthereth not the will violently breaking out against the order of the morall law The third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 action of Gods prouidence is according vnto concession whereby God in the euil worke of man worketh some things holily and this last action is threefold The first is permission whereby God forsaketh especially the wicked by withdrawing from them his grace and by leauing them according to their deserts vnto their owne wickednesse which hee had before restrained that it might not breake forth to so immoderate libertie And wee vse commonly to say that he which permitteth doth and effecteth some thing as when the rider giueth the reines vnto his wanton and sporting horse wee say that hee doth moue and encourage him and wee say that the hunter doth put his dog on the game when as hee letteth him slip The second action as I may so terme it is occasionall whereby God by proffered occasions in themselues good or indifferent outwardly draweth foorth stirreth vp and bringeth out sinne in those who of themselues openly runne into wickednesse to the intent that hee may either iustly punish their knowne impietie or else discouer it being closely shrouded The like haue wee ordinarily euen among our selues for the Physitian by his preseruatiue medicine stirreth vp inflameth and draweth foorth the humours out of the corruption of the bodie Admit a house be weakely timbred which being almost now already falne wilere lōg fall and that I doe not with any engines or instruments throw or beate down the same but onely take away the outward hindrances and on euery side as it were open a way for the