Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	eternal_a	good_a	work_n	4,394	5	6.6946	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65701	A discourse of the love of God shewing that it is well consistent with some love or desire of the creature, and answering all the arguments of Mr. Norris in his sermon on Matth. 22, 37, and of the letters philosohical and divine to the contrary / by Daniel Whitby ...	Whitby, Daniel, 1638-1726.	1697 (1697)	Wing W1724; ESTC R1639	108,266	186

Works to Work that which is Good By doing these we are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to work Good to them and by withholding them to withhold Good from him to whom it is due But since we hereby only minister to them of those Creatures which saith Mr. N. are in no sense their Good nor able to do do them any nor can communicate any Good to them How can we thus do good to them only by communicating that which cannot do them any Good Were indeed that of the Apostle true of these things that they are good and profitable to Men we by this contribution might be well said to do them Good but if for want of Principles and Thoughts sufficiently Reformed from the Vulgar Philosophy he stiled that Good and profitable to Men which is in no sense their Good and is unable to do them any Good then St. Paul taught Men to commit Sacrilege and Idolatry in affording them some portion of our Love of desire for saith he if the Creatures be in any sense our Good then some portion of our Love is due to them 2 dly Is it not the Recommendation of Wisdom that she is to be preferred before all things desirable that she fills our Houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with things desirable that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desirable treasure in the House of the Righteous Is not fine Bread in Scripture called Bread of desire the pleasant Land of Canaan a Land of Desire fruitful Fields Fields of Desire pleasant Houses Houses of Desire pleasant Vineyards Vineyards of Desire and pleasant Furniture Vessels of Desire Doth not the Prophet Ieremy lament the Loss Ierusalem had sustained of all her pleasant things that the Adversary had spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things and that she was forced to give her pleasant things for meat to relieve her Soul And are not these pleasant things in the Hebrew her desirable things and in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now is not Wisdom thus recommended to us that we may be induced to court her for these desirable things These concupiscible Treasures with which she fills the Wise Man's House And must they not then be lovely and proper Objects of desire Do we reap no pleasure from these pleasant Lands Fields Vineyards Houses Furniture or this pleasant Bread Are they not all declared by the Wisdom of God to be desirable And can that be desirable which is in no sense our Good nor can communicate any Good to us If so why may not the Creatures be desirable though they do us no Good 3 dly Doth not the Psalmist say The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work And the Apostle That the invisible things viz. the Godhead and Eternity of him that made them were seen by the things that were made that God had by them clearly made known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which was known of God Doth not the Author of the Book Wisdom truly say That vain were they that could not out of the Good things that were seen know Him that is neither by considering the works acknowledge the work Master since by the Beauty and the Greatness of the Creatures proportionably their Maker is seen Now can it be said of those Creatures which declare to us the Glory of God and shew us by the Beauty that is in them the Beauty of their Maker in whom that which is known of God is manifest being seen in his Works Can that which thus affords us the knowledge of that God whom to know is life eternal be in no sense our Good wholly unable to do us any Good Can they in no measure be the Causes of the Happiness of those Heathens to whom they gave the Knowledge of the Nature of God and a Testimony of his Goodness to them Can they not give us so much as one grateful Sensation one little contemptible Pleasure resulting from this Knowledge of God If as Solomon says Light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun is it no pleasure thus to view in his Creatures the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God and the Beauty Order the Benefit which redounds to us from his Creatures I Answer by way of Concession That God produceth all our Pleasure and that he only doth us Good for so the Apostle Iames assures by saying he is the Giver of every good and perfect Gift he giveth to us Life and Breath and all things all things are of him and from him saith St. Paul For all things come of thee saith David and of thine own have we given thee Yet if he does us any Good by his Creatures by the Ministry of Angels pitching their Tents about us may we not love those Angels that thus minister to us May we not desire of God that he would give them charge concerning us If he does us any Good by the Conversation Examples Writings of Good Men may we not desire them and their Writings as our Good i. e. to improve our Knowledge and our Piety And why th●n may we not desire any other of God's good Creatures why not fruitful Seasons why not Food If as St. Paul affirms God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do us Good by giving us fruitful Seasons and by filling our hearts with food and gladness and doth enable us to do Good to others by them Again Is not God equally the cause of all our pleasing Sensations in us whether we believe that God himself is the immediate Author of them or that he hath given us those Faculties which are capable of perceiving a grateful Relish and Sensation in their regular Application to such Objects as are agreeable to their Nature and Divine Bounty hath administred For instance let it be indeed the Sun that shines upon us and that warms us by that Faculty of enlightning and producing heat that God hath given it seeing it doth this purely by the vertue the Divine Power and Wisdom hath imparted to it without any Knowledge or Intention of doing us any Good what portion of our Love can it deserve upon that account any more than by being the occasion only or positive condition determining God to produce in us that sweetness which the Wiseman saith their is in Light and that pleasure we find in beholding the Sun or being heated by his Rays 3 dly This seems to me to prove as effectually that we ought to hate nothing but God For If God be the only true Cause that acts upon our Spirits and produceth all our pain which Mr. N. doth equally contend for then he only does us hurt then he only is our hurt he only impairs the Perfection of our Being and makes us miserable and if he only does us hurt then he only is our hurt and then he only is