Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	know_v	2,974	5	4.2147	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76312	The grounds and foundation of natural religion, discover'd, in the principal branches of it in opposition to the prevailing notions of the modern scepticks and latitudinarians. With an introduction concerning the necessity of revealed religion. By Tho. Beconsall, B.D. and fellow of Brasenose Colledge, in Oxford.	Becconsall, Thomas, d. 1709.	1698 (1698)	Wing B1657aA; ESTC R223530	119,538	326

Paradise may justly be presumed to be a kind of Terrestrial State of Vision and therefore God no doubt discovered himself in frequent Adumbrations of his Divine Presence and vouchsafed several special Revelations and his Divine Succours These may perhaps be thought unnecessary Dispensations in a State of unspotted Innocence and Integrity But certainly tho' Man in his original Frame was endued with a Sufficiency of Power to Decypher the Line of Duty as well as Propensions and Dispositions to observe and walk up to it yet such gracious Communications were in some measure necessary to maintain a deep Sense of the Majesty and Authority of our Maker and consequently a deep Sense of Duty and Obedience to maintain a deep Sense of the Goodness and Purity of God and consequently possess the Mind with an incessant Desire to act in Conformity to his most sacred Will Again necessary they were to arm those native Powers and Propensions with double Force and Activity to unite and fix 'em on their proper Object the Glory and Perfections of their Maker the Pursuit of Truth and Divine Knowledge and consequently to engage a Perseverance in the Line of Duty with the utmost Constancy and Resolution These were nodoubt the surprizing Felicities of Paradise And they are such as almost placed him out of the possibility of a Miscarriage had he not in some unguarded Minute fell in with a subtle indefatigable Impostor For without some such Misfortune he could not have failed in retaining a perpetual Sense of Duty and Obedience and persevering in it any more than in a discovery of the full Line of Duty § 2. But now Experience as well as Reason too fatally assure us there 's a powerful and almost irresistible Bias on the Animal Part that bears an older Date than Custom or Education can pretend to give a Bias that discovers itself in the first Efforts of Infancy a Bias that can never be perfectly regulated or corrected even by the most exquisite Arts of Education When the Powers of Nature seem to exist as it were in sieri folded up in Impotency and Imperfection and consequently one would think liable to be molded at Pleasure yet we find this Bias endu'd as it were with a Gygantick Strength able to resist the most powerful Antidotes obstinate under Commands and untractable under Counsels or Persuasives In a word it has introduced an internal Rupture in the whole Frame of Man renders him a kind of unnatural Production acted by two opposite Principles contending for two different Ends and Interests and agreeable to the sacred Language it has raised an intestine and eternal War for its a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Mind Rom. 7.23 So that Man is certainly sunk in his original Frame and lapsed into a State of Corruption and Degeneracy This is Truth so clear and unquestionable that the most discerning Heathens have given Testimony to the Substance of it They all found it wove in with their Natures and discovering itself not only in inward Motions and Propensions but mixing itself in their most exalted Actions It 's true they were perplexed in accounting for its Original yet they all saw it in its Effects and Consequences Their Opinions were various however I shall mention the chief of 'em Plutarch charges the Stoicks with ascribing Evil as well as Good to God's Providence and arraigns it as the height of Absurdities See his Tract Adversus Stoicos * P. 1065. Ed. Par. 1624. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If this were true why should they be more concerned to dispense Good rather than Evil or how is it possible that Evil should be hateful to ' em This indeed was an Opinion extremely gross and consequently rejected by the most discerning Sages However Gellius pursuant to this delivers it as the Opinion of Chrysippus This is the very Opinion which Plutarch ingeniously exposes Ib. That Vice sprang from Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dum virtus hominibus per consilium naturae gignitur vitia ibidem per affinitatem contraria nata sunt But the most general Opinion was That Good and Evil proceeded from two distinct Principles Hence Plutarch gives it as a most ancient Tradition recited by Divines and Law-givers and transmitted to Poets and Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Authority is not to be traced That there was not one only Supream Governing Principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And from the Eternal Mixture of Good and Evil as well as the Imperfection and Allay of Good concludes We are acted by two contrary Principles the one conducting or tolling us on in a true and direct Path and the other haling us back again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nay he further argues If nothing can exist without a Cause and Good cannot be the Cause of Evil there must be a peculiar Principle of Evil as well as Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Iside Osyride Page 369. But further not to dwell too long upon Authorities it 's well known it was an ancient Doctrine among the Heathens to ascribe the Origine of Evil to certain malevolent Spirits called Daemons or Manes that could exercise a Power over the Minds as well as Bodies of Men and dispose and incline them to evil Actions Plutarch in this very Treatise gives a full Account of the Notion and the Nature of 'em nay he delivers it as the Doctrine of Plato Pythagoras Zenocrates and Chrysippus following that of the Ancient Divines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. p. 360. The Opinion of Zenocrates is very remarkable who attributes Obsceneness Irreligion and other Evils to certain powerful malevolent Spirits inhabiting the Region of the Air that take Delight in such Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's well known the Romans constantly ascribed the Regimen of their Actions to their proper Genius assigning two to every particular Person These did not only attend 'em from their Birth and suggest Things to the Mind but contributed to the forming their very Constitutions Indeed it 's highly probable these were Traditions transmitted from the Greeks to the Romans and from the Egyptians to the Greeks and all founded in the History of the Fall of Man And truly Hierocles agreeably to his other Divine Flights describes the Degeneracy of Mankind in such a lively manner as if he had taken it from the revealed Canon In the first place he describes Man in his Original Composition to be Pure and Vncorrupt in both Parts of him and the express Image of his Maker 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hier. Comment in Pythag. Carm. p. 17. Ed. Lond. 1673. After this in his Comment on the Nature and Frame of Man with respect to the Rise or Origine of Good and Evil he represents with what a powerful Impulse we are carried into Evil and pronounces it to be the Effect of a wilful Apostasie and Revolt from God and his Society Even a Society which we once enjoyed in pure Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉

For first it must be confessed whilst Lust and exorbitant Appetites maintain their Ground a biassed Judgment at least cannot escape being chained to their Interest but these seem to depend upon the Health and Vigour of the Animal part As this is shocked or enervated whether thro' Age or sickness so these must decline and suffer Disgrace And therefore as the hear of Lust expires so the Judgment or Understanding will in proportion be discharged from her Fetters she will view things with a new aspect not thro' the Steams of Lust and as it were thro' a Glass darkly but Face to Face and in their naked Shapes and Features and consequently our Reflections on past Actions will be formed upon new Measures and Principles she 'll be able to discern the true Ends and Interests of Humane Nature and thereupon bring all her Actions to the Test of this Rule and this cannot fail to beget new Perswasions and Convictions according to the primitive Oeconomy of Conscience so that it is not a fit of Melancholy the effect of depauperated Spirits no otherwise than a an expiring Vapour is the cause of Light which before it obstructed but the returns of Natural Conscience acted upon a right Basis and exerting it self according to that frame in which it was created Thus much the Latitudinarian may discern from the Natural efficacy of Things But besides all this he may very well allow this wonderful change to be in some measure compleated by the concurrence of supernatural causes If God upon a long train of unrelenting impiety has at last consigned a Man over to irretrievable destruction I would fain know why he may not suffer the Devil or some of his Spiritual Crew to display before his Mind a Scheme of his past Actions No one can question but that Order of Spirits can converse with Spirits or make their applications to a Spiritual Being and consequently that he can if permitted excite such Motions and suggest such Ideas as will revive the most considerable minutes of our whole Lives and enable us to bring 'em to a new Test and view 'em in their proper Lineaments and proportions and consequently as they appear to clash with the Line of Duty plunge a Soul into the most direful Agonies and Convulsions This is but a kind of Anticipation of that future misery which I 'm confident he will be the Instrument to enhance upon all Reprobate Sinners But on the other hand if the patience and long-suffering of God extends to the leading a Soul to repentance who can dispute the Divine Influences of the Holy Spirit in bringing all past Actions to our remembrance He can discover such minute circumstances as will recover lost Ideas He can excite such Meditations and Thoughts as will suggest the true Rule of Action and Line of Duty and consequently such as will necessitate the Mind to pass Sentence on every Action pursuant to it It 's an Undisputed Truth that the Holy Spirit can move and excite the Powers of the Soul by a spiritual kind of Converse as effectually as the Rhetorick and perswasives of fellow Creatures that must be Transmitted by Sounds thro' material Organs and Vehicles This is an Assertion so clear and indisputable that I can see no reason why those ministring Spirits the blessed Angels by the divine Appointment may not be allowed capable of maintaining Intercourses of this nature even with this lower World since it only places their Power upon a level with accursed Spirits who have on all hands a Power attributed to 'em of influencing the Souls as well as Bodies of Men. And certainly God whose infinite Knowledge and Wisdom enables him to adapt all his divine Succours to sutable Seasons and Opportunities could not exert 'em better than when the Animal Part is disabled by Age Sickness or other humane Calamities And certainly its highly agreeable to the divine Wisdom when a Change of Mind and Conscience is wrought to give 'em a deep sense of their Folly and Error and consequently to throw 'em into the severest Agonies and Convulsions before he raises 'em up by his special Restoratives the refreshings of the Lord. And now certainly we have foundation enough to answer for the Contradictions of Conscience and at the same time assert the Divine Oeconomy of it This is an Hypothesis cannot be disputed in a state of Revelation And tho' in a state of Nature God has not covenanted to govern Mankind by spiritual Succours or the Effusions of his Holy Spirit on the hearts of Men yet I do not find he has any where bound himself to the contrary and it s highly probable his infinite Goodness and Wisdom may sometime incline him to dispense his Favours on this part of his Off-spring and consequently contribute to the Establishment of Conscience upon its true foundation I mean according to the primitive Model and Oeconomy of it CHAP. XXI Of the Evidence of future Rewards and Punishments from the Presages of Natural Conscience THat Mankind was Originally Formed and Created under the Conduct of a Law and that Rewards and Punishments are ascertained to the Observance or Violation of this Law has already been proved beyond any just colour of Dispute That which remains is to fix the Stage where this great Scene shall be displayed and a Formal Distribution Transacted Now I am perswaded it will be easily granted that Rewards and Punishments cannot well be Executed in this State of Life For first the Established Coercive Powers of this World can by no means pretend to it they can determine nothing beyond the Surface or External parts of the Action And these must be handed to them upon the evidence of Senses the Authority of Circumstances and the Veracity of Men and Sinners so that very often the Innocent is Sentenced to Act his Part in Sufferings in the room of the Guilty By this means the substantial parts of the Action lie Dormant and escape the most subtle Remarks and Censures of Mankind so that there may be a Thousand whited Sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead Mens Bones and of all uncleanness But this is not all for must we not admit a vast Scroul of Enormities that the nicest observations can never pretend to reach or fathom some that are sheltered by Studied Retreats and Privacies others by passing no further than Thought or Intention and the inward Workings of the Mind so that it 's impossible that any thing less than an infinite Power or a Searcher of Hearts and Reins can pretend to state the Deservings of Men and adjust an Allotment of Rewards and Punishments in proportion to them Indeed an All-wise Creator that knoweth the very Thoughts long before is abundantly qualified to finish his Dispensations of this kind even in this Life But yet in Crimes that are Publick and Notorious we sometimes see the Authors pass off the Stage of the World without any visible Marks of Divine Vengeance at least