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	sin_n	7,176	5	5.3331	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62579	The remaining discourses, on the attributes of God Viz. his Goodness. His mercy. His patience. His long-suffering. His power. His spirituality. His immensity. His eternity. His incomprehensibleness. God the first cause, and last end. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the seventh volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708, publisher.	1700 (1700)	Wing T1216; ESTC R222200	153,719	440

sometimes rewarded in this World and domineering and outragious Wickedness is very often remarkably checkt and chastised All which Instances of God's Providence as they are greatly for the advantage and comfort of Mankind so are they an effectual declaration of that Goodness which governs all things and of God's kind care of the affairs and concernments of Men so that if we look no farther than this World we may say with David Verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth I know this Argument hath been perverted to a quite contrary purpose that if goodness govern'd the World and administred the Affairs of it good and evil would not be so carelesly and promiscously dispensed good Men would not be so great sufferers nor wicked Men so prosperous as many times they are But this also if rightly considered is an Effect of God's goodness and infinite Patience to Mankind That he causeth his Sun to rise and his Rain to fall upon the just and unjust That upon the Provocations of Men he does not give over his care of them and throw all things into confusion and ruin this plainly shews that he designs this Life for the tryal of Men's Virtue and Obedience in order to the greater reward of it and therefore he suffers Men to walk in their own ways without any great check and controle and reserves the main bulk of Rewards and Punishments for another World So that all this is so far from being any Objection against the goodness of God that on the contrary it is an Argument of God's immense Goodness and infinite Patience that the World subsists and continues and that he permits Men to take their course for the fuller tryal of them and the clearer and most effectual declaration of his Justice in the Rewards and Punishments of another life Fourthly and Lastly The Goodness of God to Mankind most gloriously appears in the provision he hath made for our Eternal Happiness What the happiness of Man should have been had he continued in Innocency is not particularly revealed to us but this is certain that by willful transgression we have forfeited all that happiness which our Natures are capable of In this lapsed and ruinous condition of Mankind the Goodness and Mercy of God was pleased to employ his Wisdom for our Recovery and to restore us not only to a new but a greater capacity of Glory and Happiness And in order to this the Son of God assumes our Nature for the recovery and redemption of Man and the pardon of Sin is purchased for us by his Blood Eternal Life and the Way to it are clearly discover'd to us God is pleased to enter into a New and better Covenant with us and to afford us inward grace and assistance to enable us to perform the Conditions of it and graciously to accept of our Faith and Repentance of our sincere Resolutions and Endeavours of Holiness and Obedience for Perfect and Compleat Righteousness for his sake who fullfilled all righteousness This is the great and amazing goodness of God to Mankind that when we were in open Rebellion against him he should entertain thoughts of Peace and Reconciliation and when he past by the fall'n Angels he should set his Affection and Love upon the sinful and miserable Sons of Men. And herein is the love of God to men perfected that as he hath made all Creatures both above us and below us subservient and instrumental to our subsistence and preservation so for the ransom of our Souls from eternal Ruin and Misery he hath not spared his own Son but hath given him up to death for us him whom he hath commanded all the Angels of God to worship and to whom he hath made subject all Creatures in Heaven and Earth Him who made the World and who upholds all things by the word of his power who is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person And after such a stupendious Instance as this what may we not reasonably hope for and promise our selves from the Divine Goodness So the Apostle hath taught us to reason Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things SERMON III. Vol. VII The Goodness of God PSAL. CXLV 9 The Lord is Good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works IN handling this Argument I proceeded in this Method First To consider what is the proper Notion of Goodness Secondly To shew that this Perfection of Goodness belongs to God Thirdly I considered the Effects of the Divine Goodness under these Heads I. The universal Extent of it in the number variety order end and design of the things created by him and his preservation and providing for the welfare and happiness of them II. I considered more particularly the Goodness of God to Mankind of which I gave these four Instances 1. That he hath given us such noble Beings and placed us in so high a rank and order of his Creatures 2. In that he hath made and ordained so many things chiefly for us 3. In that he exerciseth so peculiar a Providence over us above the rest that tho he is said to be good to all he is only said to love the Sons of Men. 4. In that he hath provided for us eternal Life and Happiness There only now remains the Fourth and last particular to be spoken to which was to answer some Objections which may seem to contradict and bring in question the Goodness of God and they are many and have some of them especially great difficulty in them and therefore it will require great consideration and care to give a clear and satisfactory answer to them which undoubtedly they are capable of the Goodness of God being one of the most certain and unquestionable Truths in the World I shall mention those which are most considerable and obvious and do almost of themselves spring up in every Man's Mind and they are these Four the first of them more general the other three more particular First If God be so exceeding good whence comes it to pass that there is so much Evil in the World of several kinds Evil of Imperfection Evil of Affliction or Suffering and which is the greatest of all others and indeed the cause of them Evil of Sin Secondly The Doctrine of absolute Reprobation by which is meant the decreeing of the greatest part of Mankind to eternal Misery and Torment without any consideration or respect to their Sin or Fault this seems notoriously to contradict not only the Notion of infinite Goodness but any competent measure and degree of Goodness Thirdly The eternal Misery and Punishment of Men for temporal Faults seems hard to be reconciled with that excess of Goodness which we suppose to be in God Fourthly The Instances of God's great severity to Mankind upon occasion in those great Calamities which by the

the Divine Attributes are very awful but goodness is amiable and without this nothing else is so Power and Wisdom may command Dread and Admiration but nothing but Goodness can challenge our Love and Affection Goodness is amiable for it self tho' no benefit and advantage should from thence redound to us but when we find the comfortable Effects of it when the riches of God's goodness and long-suffering and forbearance are laid out upon us when we live upon that goodness and are indebted to it for all that we have and hope for this is a much greater endearment to us of that excellency and perfection which was amiable for it self We cannot but love him who is good and does us good whose goodness extends to all his Creatures but is exercised in so peculiar a manner towards the Sons of Men that it is called Love and if God vouchsafe to love us well may this be the first and great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind 2. The consideration of God's goodness is likewise an argument to us to fear him not as a Slave does his Master but as a Child does his Father who the more he loves him the more afraid is he to offend him There is forgiveness with thee saith the Psalmist that thou mayest be feared because God is ready to forgive we should be afraid to offend Men shall fear the Lord and his goodness saith the Prophet Hosea 3.5 And indeed nothing is more to be dreaded than despised Goodness and abused Patience which turns into Fury and Vengeance despisest thou the riches of his goodness and long-suffering and forbearance says the Apostle and treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God 3. The consideration of God's goodness is a powerful motive to obedience to his Laws and as the Apostle expresseth it to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing being fruitful in every good work This Argument Samuel useth to the People of Israel to perswade them to obedience 1 Sam. 12.24 Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider what great things all he hath done for you And indeed the Laws which God hath given us are one of the chief Instances of his goodness to us since they all tend to our good and are proper Causes and Means of our Happiness so that in challenging our obedience to his Laws as acknowledgments of our obligation to him for his Benefits he lays a new obligation and confers a greater benefit upon us All that his Laws require of us is to do that which is best for our selves and does most directly conduce to our own welfare and happiness Considering our infinite obligations to God he might have challenged our obedience to the severest and harshest Laws he could have imposed upon us so that as the Servants said to Naaman Had the Prophet bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more when he hath only said wash and be clean If God had required of us things very grievous and burthensome in love and gratitude to him we ought to have yielded a ready and chearful obedience to such Commands how much more when he hath only said do this and be happy In testimony of your love to me do these things which are the greatest kindness and benefit to your selves 4. The goodness of God should lead Men to Repentance One of the greatest aggravations of our Sins is that we offend against so much goodness and make so bad a requital for it Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise The proper tendency of God's goodness and patience to Sinners is to bring them to a sense of their miscarriage and to a resolution of a better course When we reflect upon the blessings and favours of God and his continual goodness to us can we chuse but be ashamed of our terrible ingratitude and disobedience Nothing is more apt to make an ingenuous Nature to relent than the sense of undeserved kindness that God should be so good to us who are evil and unthankful to him that tho' we be Enemies to him yet when we hunger he feeds us when we thirst he gives us to drink heaping as it were coals of fire on our heads on purpose to melt us into Repentance and to overcome our evil by his goodness 5. The consideration of God's goodness is a firm ground of trust and confidence What may we not hope and assuredly expect from immense and boundless goodness If we have right apprehensions of the goodness of God we cannot possibly distrust him or doubt of the performance of those gracious promises which he hath made to us the same goodness which inclined him to make such promises will effectually ingage him to make them good If God be so good as he hath declared himself why should we think that he will not help us in our need and relieve us in our distress and comfort us in our afflictions and sorrows If we may with confidence rely upon any thing to confer good upon us and to preserve and deliver us from Evil we may trust infinite goodness 6. The goodness of God is likewise an argument to us to patience and contentedness with every condition If the Hand of God be severe and heavy upon us in any Affliction we may be assured that it is not without great cause that so much goodness is so highly offended and displeased with us that he designs our good in all the Evils he sends upon us and does not chasten us for his pleasure but for our profit that we are the cause of our own Sufferings and our Sins separate between God and us and with-hold good things from us that in the final issue and result of things all things shall work together for good to us and therefore we ought not to be discontented at any thing which will certainly end in our Happiness 7. Let us imitate the goodness of God The highest Perfection of the best and most perfect Being is worthy to be our Pattern This the Scripture frequently proposeth to us Math. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect How is that in being good and kind and merciful as God is But I say unto you says our Lord Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And then it follows Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is heaven is perfect The same Pattern St. Paul proposeth to us Eph. 4.32 and Ch. 5.1 Be ye kind one to

stir up in us shame and sorrow for Sin The Judgments of God may break us but the consideration of God's Mercy should rather melt and dissolve us into Tears Luke 7.47 The Woman that washed Christ's Feet with her Tears and wiped them with her Hair the account that our Saviour gives of the great Affection that she expressed to him was she Loved much because much was forgiven her and she grieved much because much was forgiven her Especially we should sorrow for those Sins which have been committed by us after God's Mercies received Mercies after Sins should touch our Hearts and make us relent It should grieve us that we should offend and provoke a God so Gracious and Merciful so slow to anger and so ready to forgive But Sin against Mercies and after we have received them is attended with one of the greatest Aggravations of Sin And as Mercy raises the guilt of our Sins so it should raise our sorrow for them No Consideration is more apt to work upon human Nature than that of kindness and the greater Mercy has been shewed to us the greater our sins and the greater cause of sorrow for them contraries do illustrate and set off one another in the great Goodness and Mercy of God to us we see the great Evil of our Sins against him Every Sin has the Nature of Rebellion and Disobedience but sins against Mercy have Ingratitude in them When ever we break the Laws of God we rebel against our Soveraign but as we sin against the Mercies of God we injure our Benefactor This makes our sin to be horrid and astonishing Isa 1.2 Hear O heavens and give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me All the Mercies of God are aggravations of our sins 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And Nathan said to David thus saith the Lord God of Israel I anointed thee king over Israel and delivered thee out of the hands of Saul and I gave thee thy masters house and thy masters wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Isreal and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight God reckons up all his Mercies and from them aggravates David's sin 1 Kings 11.9 He takes notice of all the unkind returns that we make to his Mercy and 't is the worst temper in the World not to be wrought upon by kindness not to be melted by Mercy no greater evidence of a wicked Heart than that the Mercies of God have no effect upon it Esay 26.10 Let favour be shewn to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness Vse 3. Let us imitate the merciful Nature of God This branch of God's goodness is very proper for our imitation The general Exhortation of our Saviour Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect is more particularly expressed by St. Luke Luke 6.30 Be ye therefore merciful as your Father which is in heaven is merciful Men affect to make Images and impossible Representations of God but as Seneca saith Crede Deòs cùm propitii essent fictiles fuisse We may draw this Image and likeness of God we may be gracious and merciful as he is Christ who was the express image of his Father his whole life and undertaking was a continued work of mercy he went about doing good to the Souls of Men by Preaching the Gospel to them and to the Bodies of Men in healing all manner of Diseases There is nothing that he recommends more to us in his Gospel than this Spirit and Temper Mat. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy How many Parables doth he use to set forth the mercy of God to us with a design to draw us to the imitation of it The Parable of the Prodigal of the good Samaritan of the Servant to whom he forgave 10000 Talents We should imitate God in this in being tender and compassionate to those that are in misery This is a piece of natural indispensable Religion to which positive and instituted Religion must give way Amos 6.6 I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice cited and used by our Saviour Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O Man what it is that the Lord thy God requires of thee to do justice and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God This is always one part of the description of a good Man that he is apt to pity the miseries and necessities of others Psal 37.26 He is ever merciful and lendeth He is far from cruelty not only to Men but even to the brute Creatures Prov. 12.10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast There is nothing more contrary to the nature of God than a cruel and savage disposition not to be affected with the miseries and sufferings of others how unlike is this to the father of mercies and the God of consolation When we can see Cruelty exercised and our Bowels not be stirred within us nor our hearts be pricked how unlike is this to God who is very pitiful and of tender mercies But to rejoyce at the miseries of others this is inhumane and barbarous Hear how God threatens Edom for rejoycing at the miseries of his Brother Jacob Obadiah 10 11 12 13 14. But to delight to make others miserable and to aggravate their sufferings this is devilish this is the temper of Hell and the very spirit of the Destroyer It becomes Man above all other Creatures to be merciful who hath had such ample and happy experience of God's mercy to him and doth still continually stand in need of mercy from God God hath been very merciful to us Had it not been for the tender Mercies of God to us we had all of us long since been miserable Now as we have receiv'd mercy from God we should shew it to others The Apostle useth this as an Argument why we should relieve those that are in misery and want because we have had such experience of the mercy and love of God to us 1 John 3.16 17. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us But whoso hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need c. how dwelleth the love of God in him That Man hath no sense of the mercy of God abiding upon his Heart that is not merciful to his Brother And 't is an Argument why we should forgive one another Eph. 4.32 Be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Chap. 5.1 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children Col. 3.12 13. Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against

this It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and every time you sin you are within his reach Let then the consideration of God's Presence deter us from Sin and quicken us to our Duty The Eye and Presence of a Superior will lay a great restraint upon Men the Eye of our Prince or our Master or our Father will make us afraid or asham'd to do any thing that is foolish or unseemly And will we do that under the Eye of God which we should blush to do before a grave or wise Person yea before a Child or a Fool Did but Men live under this apprehension that God is present to them that an holy and all-seeing Eye beholds them they would be afraid to do any thing that is vile and wicked to profane and pollute God's glorious name by a trifling use of it in customary swearing and cursing Whenever you sin you affront God to his Face and provoke the omnipotent justice which is at the door and ready to break in upon you And the consideration of this should especially deter us from secret Sins This is the use the Psalmist here makes of it If we believe that God searcheth us and knows us that he knows our down-sitting and our up-rising and understands our thoughts afar off that he compasseth our path and our lying down and is acquainted with all our ways that there is not a word in our tongue but he knows it altogether that he hath beset us behind and before that the darkness hideth not from him but the night shineth as the day and the darkness and light are both alike I say if we believe this how should we live in an awful sense of the Majesty which is always above us and before us and about us and within us and is as inseparable from us as we are from our selves whose Eye is upon us from the beginning of our Lives to the end of our Days Did Men believe that God is always with them that his Eye pierceth the Darkness and sees through all those Clouds with which they hide and muffle themselves and pries into the most secret Recesses of their Hearts how would this check and restrain them from devising mischief in their hearts or in their Bed chamber The holy Presence and the pure Eye of God would be to us a thousand times more than to have our Father or our Master or our Prince or him whom we most revere to stand by us Did but Men representare sibi Deum make God present to them by living under a continual sense of his Presence they would as the Expression of the wise Man is be in the fear of the Lord all day Magna spes peccatorum tollitur si peccaturis testis adsistat aliquem habeat animus quem vereatur cujus authoritate etiam secretum suum sanctius facit The main hope of Sinners is to remain undiscover'd let but some body be privy to their designs and they are utterly disappointed 'T is fit for the Mind of a Man to have an awe of some Being whose Authority may render even its privacy more solemn This is the Character of wicked Men Psa 86.14 that they have not God before their Eyes One great cause of all the Wickedness and Violence and Looseness that is upon the Earth is they do not believe that God is near them and stands by them And as the consideration of God's Presence should deter us from Sin so it should quicken and animate us to our Duty It is ordinarily a great Encouragement to Men to acquit themselves handsomely to have the Eyes of Men upon them especially of those whose Applause and Approbation they value God alone is amplum Theatrum he 's a greater Theater than the World and it should be more to us that he stands by us than if the Eyes of all the World were fix'd upon us Sen. adviseth it as an excellent means to promote Virtue to propound to our selves and set before our Eyes some eminently virtuous Person as Cato or Laelius ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus That we may live just as if he were locking upon us and do all things just as if he beheld us How much greater incitement will it be to us to think that God looks upon us and sees us and really stands by us than faintly to imagine the Presence of Laelius or Cato This should have an Influence upon all the Duties we perform and the manner of performing them that we do it to him who stands by us and is familiarly acquainted with us and is more intimate to us than we are to our selves This Cic. in l. 2. de leg looks upon as a great principle of Religion sit igitur hoc persuasum civibus qualis quisque sit quid agat quid in se admittat quâ mente quâ pietate religiones colat deos intueri piorum impiorumque rationem habere Let Men be throughly perswaded of this that the Gods observe both the disposition and the actions of every particular Man what he consents to what he allows himself in particularly with what meaning with what degree of inward Devotion he performs his religious worship and that they distinguish between the pious and the impious 2. To encourage our Faith and Confidence in him When we are in Straits and Difficulties and Dangers God is with us when Trouble is near to us God is not far from us where ever we are how remote soever from Friends and Companions we cannot be banisht from God's Presence if we dwell beyond the utmost parts of the Sea there his hand leads us and his right hand holds us Psa 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved The consideration of God's Presence is the great stay and support of our Faith Psa 46.1 2. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea In the greatest Commotions and the most imminent and threatning Dangers this should charm and allay our Fears that God is a present help This was the support of Moses his Faith in his Sufferings as the Apostle tells us Heb. 11.27 he endured as seeing him who is invisible To conclude all when ever we are under any Pressure or Trouble we should rebuke our own Fears and challenge our anxious Thoughts with David Psa 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me trust still in God believe that God is with thee and that Omnipotent Goodness stands by thee who can and will support thee and relieve thee and deliver thee when it seems best to his Wisdom SERMON XIII Vol. VII The Eternity of God PSALM XC 2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou had'st