Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ghost_n	holy_a	spirit_n	3,926	5	5.5026	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70732	A discourse concerning God's fore-knoledge, and man's free agency wherein their seeming opposition is reconciled, and real consistency demonstrated from the Holy Scriptures, and arguments thence deduced.; Discourse, concerning God's fore-knowledge, and man's free-agency.		1697 (1697)	Wing O123Q; ESTC R217857	45,441	111

Heaven or in Earth that can prescribe in point of causality unto the Blessed Will of God 'T is no more then but Gods beholding or taking a View of his own Purpose and the Fore-knowledge of the future World must follow by consequence which Foreknowledge is nothing else but the Prospect of what was potentially existent in himself from everlasting as hath been said From the foregoing Discourse it may appear that Divine Prescience as such cannot in propriety of Speech be said to have created the World nor to have had any efficacious influence thereupon and if we consult the Scripture we shall find the same yet more evident There we find that God said † Gen. 1.3 Let there be light and there was light That * Psal 33.6 by the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made † Heb. 11.3 and all the host of them by the breath of his Mouth ‖ Heb. 1.3 That the Worlds were framed by the Word of God (a) Ver. 43 44. And that He upholds all things by the Word of his Power Now whether we take the Word of God for his Power or for his powerful Command or for the manifestation of his Will as it is frequently used in Scripture under these and sundry other acceptations it will still come to the same thing and what I am pleading for but I do not observe it ever taken for Prescience nor will the Bible I think afford an Instance of any Causality ascribed thereunto but on the contrary many Scriptures do clearly evince Divine Prescience and at the same time ascribe the Events foreseen to other Causes which must needs be very much to the matter in hand I shall mention two or three First Our Saviour Christ as was noted before is said to know all things that should come upon him and yet his being delivered unto death by the Jews is attributed to their ignorance For had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Scondly In the 29th Chap. of St. Luke's Gospel (a) Ver. 43 44. our Lord Christ foretold and therefore certainly he foreknew it that Enemies would cast a Trench about Jerusalem that they would lay it even with the Ground and not leave one stone upon another Should Prescience have these dismal Effects it might be thought to be a very malignant thing and that which belongs to God as a Divine Perfection could not be cleared from being the Cause of much Evil. But let us not charge God foolishly since we are informed of the true cause in the very next Words namely Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Thirdly In the Prophecy of Plosea it is said of Israel Ephraim and Judah * Chap. 5. Chap. 13. that they shall fall in their Iniquity and that they shall be as Chaff driven with the Whirlwind out of the floor and as smoak out of the Chimney Was this Fore-knowledge the cause of that destruction No for it is presently added O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Again the Prophet Ezekiel is commanded to say unto the Prince of Tyrus † ●●●k 28. That Strangers the terrible of the Nations shall draw their Sword against the Beauty of thy Wisdom and they shall defile thy brightness and bring thee down to the pit c. And shall this come upon him because God foresaw it No but because thine heart was lifted up and thou hast said I am a God Lastly To name no more St. Paul exhorting * 2 Thes 2.3 to stedfastness in the Faith foretells the Coming of the Man of Sin which would be after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders that there would be a falling away from the truth and men should believe Lyes that so they might be damned Now should any Man to requite St. Paul for his Care of the Church as to lay the blame of all these sad Consequences upon him I know not whether would be greater the Folly or Wickedness of such a Charge and it would be yet worse to lay the fault upon the Spirit by which he spake as coming near to Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost But the Text carries the Cause along with the Effect namely † Verse 2 3. Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong Delusions c. When truth has offer'd it self by Miracies and all possible demonstrations unto the minds of Men and will not be received it is a signal piece of Justice to give them over to believe a Lye But here first the true Physitian of a Christian Soul admonisheth it's safety and it's danger it 's safety not to be soon shaken and it 's danger of being decieved Now if the Soul reject both the Physitian and his Advice and having wilfully put it self into the Hands of an Ignoramus is destroy'd by him nothing in the World can be more ridiculous than to blame the timely Warning and Foresight of the good Physitian Object But as concerning these and other Prophetick Scriptures I meet with this Salvo namely That whatever God foretells he doth by his power inforce the accomplishment and fulfilling of the same For say these Persons tho' God knows all things knowable yet such Events as are contingent or depend upon the fluctuating and undetermin'd Wills of Men are never knowable till they are brought to pass and therefore God cannot foreknow them But now what God will have brought to pass and whereof he gives Notice to the World by his Prophets he doth bend and impel Mens Minds to do them and by an irresistable influence bring them to effect This Argument indeed strikes home the only danger is that it goes too far and will prove what the Patrons of it seem highly to oppose None can pretend a greater concern for the Honour of God than those that declaim against what they call Horrendum Decretum yet this Hypothesis of theirs will force them to admit the very same thing and will make God the author of Sin with an high hand For if in reerence to all such things as are foretold by prophecy there must not be admitted any thing contingent nor purely voluntary as falls out in other affairs but all such Events are brought about by absolute force what is this but a fatal and inevitable Decree And how can second Causes fall under any blame since they are infallibly predetermin'd by God's Almighty Power Hence it will follow that the Jews and the Roman Soldiers were no more to be blamed for their Injustice and Cruelty to the Blessed Jesus than a Watch is for going too fast when the Spring is set too high or made too strong for the Movement And if the fault be not in second Causes it must of necessity lye upon the first It will be in vain to alledge that they had been grievous Sinners formerly and therefore God justly gave them up afterwards to hardness