Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A93754
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Sermon I. on Phil. IV. 11.
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Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing S5131C; ESTC R233366
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22,642
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26
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looketh from Heaven he beholdeth all the Sons of Men from the place of his Habitation He looketh upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth he fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their Works Psal 33. 14 15. And so he doth Order and Over-rule and dispose of all their ways and Works For thus much may be understood that he our God or an Evil Spirit from the Lord acts in every Man and Woman by Thoughts or Imaginations By Thoughts I mean such as are true and good By Imaginations I intend such as are false or evil And these Thoughts or Imaginations are the immediate Fore-runners Principles or Causes of Action But here take heed how thou affirmest too far for let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any Man James 1. 13. So do not thou say that God acts in Man or Woman by false or evil Imaginations for God cannot be the Author of Falshood or Evil neither doth he tempt or act any Man to it All this is true but yet this difficulty may be well understood and reconciled from the aforecited 1 Kings 22 for there it is said All the Host of Heaven stood before him on his right Hand and on his left So that there were good and true Spirits which probably stood on his right Hand and evil and false Spirits which stood on his left Hand But as an Earthly King doth this or that thing by his Ministers or Officers so the Everlasting God the Creator of the Ends of the Earth whom the Scripture stiles a great King as so indeed he is doth act and work through and by his created Beings that is by his Angels or Spirits He sends forth and commands his good Angels or Spirits He permits or suffers the evil Angels or Spirits And one of these two sorts doth actuate or Act in all the Children of Men according as we read of the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience True it is Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity Hab. 1. 13. Nor yet is he the Efficient Cause or Author of sin or Evil. But yet as He giveth to all Life and Breath and all things Acts 17. 25. And he hath Created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were Created Rev. 4. 11. And so he doth uphold and govern all things that they cannot move or act without him Therefore of necessity he must be so far concerned in sin or evil for he suffers that as he did the manners of the Israelites Fourty Years in the Wilderness as is before explained For though it hath been a puzzling thing unto Divines to assign how that nothing hath been nor yet can be done in the World but what is the Will of God that the same should have been done for otherwise it was impossible and had never been done and yet in all this to keep his Holiness unstained from the Sin or Evil That he is not in the least a Partaker with and sharer thereof and that the Will of God is Holy and Just and Good but too many things have been done on this Earth which are Unholy Unjust and Evil. But yet by Ascribing Greatness unto our God how he at first made and containeth all things By lifting up our Eyes on high and beholding who hath created all these things that bringeth out their Host by Number he calleth them all by their Names by the Greatness of his might for that he is strong in Power not one faileth By knowing how that he is Sovereign and Infinitely above all other things By knowing how that the same God Who made Man at first upright but he sought out many Inventions So in the very beginning he made the Devil and all his Legions of Spirits Good Creatures at first for that is the return made upon the several parts of the Creation And God saw that it was Good But the Devil and his Angels became Evil of themselves and sinned 2 Pet. 2. 4. and kept not their first Estate Jude 6. And now they are the Black Fountain beneath from whence do spring up all Sin or Evil But God who now suffers it all and over-rules it for the Great Ends of his Glory is high and as much exalted above it all as the Sun in the Firmament shining in its brightness is above a Quagmire Dunghill or dark hole of the Earth For all the Sin or Evil which hath been now is or shall ever be doth no more Impair Lessen or Darken his Holiness then the other now doth as to the bright Beams of the Sun Take and consider all this together into our understandings with the other Divine Truths which relate to this matter and they do all most clearly open and unfold this mystery How God doth suffer sin and yet is not the Author thereof and how all things both Animate and Inanimate do his will and yet Nevertheless His Will like his Commandment Is Holy Just and Good So that though the Committing of Sin is not according to the will of God in which he is well pleased yet it is the will of God barely to suffer and then afterwards to Punish it For Notwithstanding all that is here said still there is a fault Evil deserving and willfulness in the reasonable Creature in Committing Sin or Evil or in speaking Falshood upon that fault evil deserving of theirs the future Punishment of God is righteously founded Here we should remember our Creature State How that Angels and Devils Men and Beasts Birds and Fishes Things with life or without life visible or invisible they are all but Creatures or Instruments in the Hands of God for to do whatever his hand or his Counsel hath determined or suffered to be done For of a Truth against thy Holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the People of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy Hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done Act. 4. 27 28. In like manner it may be reasoned and applied of the whose Creation of God Fire and Hail Snow and Vapour stormy Wind fulfilling his Word Psal 148. 8. So all the living Creatures in all their Actings and Movings do agree and meet herein for to do Whatsoever thy Hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done So the Devil and his Legions and all those People in the flesh our Fellow-creatures they are all but Instruments in the Hands of God for the Devil Acted through Herod and Pontius Pilate in putting Christ to Death for to do Whatsoever thy Hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done And so all those Afflictions Trials and Temptations are to be looked upon which do befall any of the Children of Men. David could say concerning Shimei Let him alone let him Curse for the Lord hath bidden
him 2 Sam. 6. 11. Abisha did call him a dead Dog for thus doing And here we may make use of this Parallel and Similitude we should not be like unto Ignorant and Angry Dogs to bite the stone without having respect unto him that flings it So alas We are too apt to blame and to have indignation at that Fellow-creature of ours or outward Accident whom or which we suppose to be the cause of our Affliction Loss or Disappointment But here we should rather be silent and submit take it with the Spirit of meekness and willing resignation for the Lord hath bidden him or he hath given Commission and Leave to such an Evil or Lying Spirit to Act through Incarnate or visible Instruments such afflicting things against us As in good things It is not such a Man but Christ who dwelleth in him doth the same so in evil things the Devil Acts through such who do evil And over and above all things we may look up to the Great Invisible God who Over-rules and Determines all for the Great Ends of his own Glory Who will make all things work together for Good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his Purpose Rom. 8. 28. The consideration of all this put together should make us to lay our hand upon our mouth to have a care least we reply against God Shall the thing formed say unto him that formeâ— it why hast thou made me thus Shall the Creature Governed by him and dependant on him say Why hast thou suffered or ordered it to be thus or thus with me which I do not like or I had rather it was otherwise Hath not the Potter Power over the clay of the same lump to make ouâ— Vessel to Honour and another to Dishonour Is it not Lawful for the Good Man of the House for the Lord and Governour of the World To do what he will with his own Shaâ—â— we receive Good at the Hands of God and shall we not receivâ— Evil The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord. For the Lord will not cast off for ever But though He cause grief yet will He have Compassion according to the Multitude of his mercies for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men Lam. 3. 31 32 33. These and such like things are written and scattered up and down here and there in the Book of the Lord for our Comfort and Contentment Be still and know that I am God That he is our Creator and we are pure and meer Creatures in his hands We may perceive a manifest diversity between his own Omnipotency or Almightiness if I may so express it and our own impotency inability and weakness For it is evident and experienced that there are many things which we would â—ave and yet we cannot obtain which we endeavour after and yet cannot accomplish As our Bodily motion is confined to such a degree beyond which we cannot move faster Our strength is also limited to such a Pitch that we can lift so much and no more So we may perceive as to all our other Powers of Action that they are determined and limited on every side There is none who in this mortal and imperfect state hath all his desires or every thing according to his mind even as he would have God is to be eyed and observed in this thing also and it is meet to be said unto him It is the Lord let him do with me what seemeth him Good It was a Good Resigned and Contented Temper and Disposition of David when he said If I shall find favour in the Eyes of the Lord He will bring me up again and shew me both it the Ark and his Habitation But if He thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth Good unto him 2 Sam. 15. 25 26. Even so in all the difficulties and doubts of our Life amidst all fears and troubles we should refer them all unto God Commit thy way unto the Lord the Marginal readâ—ng is Roll thy way upon the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him Psal 37. 5 7. And under the Gospel it is commanded Casting all your care upon him for He careth for you 1 Pet. 5. 7. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee in the Wilderness where thou hast seen how that as a Man bareth his Son so did the Lord bare thee in all the way that thou wentest This expression of the Holy Ghost seems to allude unto a Man carrying a Suckling or Infant in his Arms which cannot go of it self but must go whither it is carried and it knows not Even so we are as Bâ—bes and Sucklings unto God And he doth so carry us his Creatures in this Life and through this Wilderness of the Earth tho' too many do not see know and discern as much For the Lords Portion is his People Jacob is the Lot of his Iâ—heriâ—ance He led him about He instructed him He kept him as the Apple of his Eye As an Eagle stirreth up her Nest fluttereth over her Young spreaâ—â—â—h abroad her Wings taketh them and beareth them on her Wings Behold what a fit Comparison here is to resemble and set forth how the Invisible Creator doth brood over his visible Creatures and take care of them Like as we read of in the beginning And the Spirit of God mooved upon the Face of the Waters Gen. 1. 2. Even so ever since his Spirit yea his own Being and Himself doth Encompass and contain and over-shadow the Face of all his Creation He upholding all things by the Word of his Power so the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange God in him He made him ride on the High Places of the Earth that he might eat the Increase of the Fields and He made him to suck Honey out of the Rock and Oyl out of the flinty Rock Butter of Kine and Milk of Sheep with fat of Lambs and Rams of the Breed Bashan and Goats with the fat of Kidneys of Wheat and thou didst drink the Pure Blood of the Grape Deut. 32. 9 10 11 12 13 14. From all which we may see that even the least things pertaining to Life and to the Body the husk and shell of the Soul are ordered by God our Maker and then much more doth he take care and dispose of things for that even the better and more enduring substance within us I have often thought as to the several Passages Occurrences and Things which I meet withal in the course of mine own Life both as to what is past or present some of which I do remember but what is to come God only knows That as when Peter was let out of Prison by the Angel who bid him follow me when they were past the first and second