Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	grace_n	work_n	7,426	5	6.4759	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42231	Hugo Grotius, Of the government and rites of the ancient church, conciliation of grace and free will, certainty and assurance of salvation, government of the highest powers in church affairs in a letter to the states embassador.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Barksdale, Clement, 1609-1687.	1675 (1675)	Wing G2118; ESTC R34449	21,440	54

any one living in the most remote parts of the World do make good use of the first Grace whether God will send a Preacher to him or an Angel Suppose the Answer be affirmative I know not how it can be refuted For the hand of the Lord is not shortned But he saith it never comes to pass How knows he that Because we read it not As if we had the Histories of those Nations or if we had the things befalling every particular person as the sending of an Angel were wont to be related in Histories when they use not often to come to the knowledge no not of the next neighbours And I see not how this can be deny'd to happen Did not God appear to Abraham living amongst the Chaldeans Did he not appear to Abimelech If you say these did not make a right use of common gifts I ask a reason why we should believe God would shew his power less to such as do make that use than to such as do not Have not the Prophets have not the Apostles preached the Word to many Nations wherein were some persons if not well using certainly less contumaciously abusing common gifts To Cornelius the Centurion praying and giving Alms which by Grace one may do who does not yet believe in Christ as Austin expresly saith of Cornelius there is sent both an Angel and an Apostle Who can assure us God is less willing now to do so or less able Indeed Cornelius was already endued with the spirit of the Law delivered by Moses But 't is confest the Law written in the hearts of men and the Law of Moses differ only in the manner of delivery and the degree of clearness not in substance wherefore also this Law the spirit is ready to assist calling to repentance and I see not how he may be refelled who believes God will cumulate the use of this gift with greater according to that general sentence Whosoever hath i. makes use of former gifts to him shall be given i greater gifts shall be granted Neither is he guilty of a new opinion who thinks so of the Divine Goodness For 't is the saying of Prosper There have been and are gifts of this sort so general that by their evidence men might be further'd in seeking the true God unto which gifts in all Ages witnessing the Author the bounty of special Grace hath been superadded And Austin saith 'T is not reckon'd to thee as a fault that thou art ignorant against thy will but that thou dost neglect to seek after that whereof thou art ignorant nor that thou dost not close up thy wounds but that thou contemnest him who is willing to heal them Bullinger saith No Nation wanted true Religion if they would have used it Musculus They have knowledge fit to lead them to the true worship of God and would lead them did they not binder it by their Idolatry Mattyr The Heathens were inexcusable because they performed not what was within their power And after all if one had a mind to maintain that the Apostolical Preaching came unto all the Nations of the World and the footsteps thereof are not wholly worn out no not among the Indians and Tartarians arguments would not be wanting and such as are of moment But this would be a Question rather Historical then Theological Merit of Congruity as the Papists call it is very justly condemned by Molinaeus but I suppose he includes not in that name this opinion That it is congruous or agreeable unto the Divine will without merit to confer upon a man greater gifts who uses former gifis even before faith as well as he can For this opinion wholly excludeth merit I. Because that very use is not from the strength of nature but from the strength given by prevenient Grace to one not only meriting no good but all evil 2. Because not the worthiness of mans act obtains the greater benefit but the undeserved bounty of God affords it Grace for Grace 3. Because this is the nature of merit that whatsoever is given in the way of merit merit is the cause thereof and for that reason it is given otherwise not given But now the Preaching of the Gospel and the gifts attending on it happen to very many who have foully abused former gifts so that an adequat rule of this concession cannot be taken from the use of former Grace And this is mainly urged by the Fathers to shew that the Grace of the Gospel is not given because of merit For that which without any precedent obligation without any discriminating sign is common to him who rightly useth former gifts and to him that does not that must needs be a pure and mere gift as well in the one sort as in the other That Free will hath no strength from nature unto spiritual good that Grace is efficacious i. actu secundo to give not to resist and to will it self that our salvation is wholly of Divine gift that when we follow God calling we owe it to the Grace of God and in other things which are well said by Molinaeus to the honor of Grace I am of his mind They are all without controversy amongst the Protestants But though a man not yet regenerate be able to do no spiritual work i. truly and properly such though no man without faith can please God i. to Justification yet does it not follow hence that a man excited by prevenient Grace not at present regenerate cannot by the power of that Grace do something which the Divine Goodness may accept of so far as to carry on the doer to that Grace without which he cannot be justified Wherefore whereas Molinaeus saith It is impious to hold any degree of sufficient Grace without faith in Christ 't is very true if you understand Grace immediately sufficient unto salvation or remission of sins And yet Prosper is not to be accus'd nor they that with Prosper affirm The more general Grace preceding faith is sufficient to a remedy understanding a remote sufficiency because that Grace is apt to lead one by the hand as 't were to further Graces and by Gods order is sufficient to that purpose So likewise I conceive it is not to be denied that before faith it self there do in some precede certain Dispositions effected doubtless by virtu of Grace prevenient which are not found in other men For when Christ saith Job 7.17 If any one will do the will of my Father be shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God He plainly setteth an obedient temper of mind precedent to faith it self So are some persons said to be not far from the Kingdom of heaven Marc. 12.37 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well disposed to the Kingdom of God Lu. 9.62 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a more generous nature Act. 17.11 And this affection being the effect of Grace some do apply here that text Act. 13.48 where 't is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the well

whether it be with prescience or by a decree without prescience but Anathema is pronounced against them that say any men are by the divine law predestinate to evil In the same it is said Grace to believe is conferd upon all that desire to be baptized And All the baptized are able to fulfil all things pertaining to salvation by the help of Christ The most clear doctrins of Prosper are these No man is predestinate to sin From the unpredestinate also original sin is taken away by baptismal grace and he that denies it is no catholick Such as are not predestinate are therfore not predestinate because they were foreknown what they would be i. revolters without correction of penitence All are rightly said to be redeemed but not all delivered out of captivity God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the truth but they that come are directed by Gods help they that come not resist by their own pertinacy and the word All is to be understood universally There is given always to all men a certain measure of doctrin though of more sparing and more secret grace yet sufficient to some for remedy to all for testimony or as it is else where explained The Grace of God is present to all men by a various work and in a divers measure Help is given to all by innumerable ways To all is afforded a measure of general aid it is their own wickedness whereby it is refused by many that it is by many received is the work of divine Grace and of humane will This is the definition of Fulgentius God to shew what he foreknew to be rendred and what to be given predestinated them to punishment whom he fore new to depart from him by the pravity of their evil Will and predestinated them to a Kingdom whom be foreknew to believe in him by the aid of preventing Mercy and to abide in him by the aid of subsequent Mercy Out of Austin many places might be alleged even from his latter Writings wherein he declareth That Free-will is helped and amended by Grace not taken away Certainly no diligent Reader of the Ancients will deny this That Austin himself Prosper Fulgentius and as many Catholick Writers as were either before or after them held and taught this Doctrine Many justified and regenerated Persons do not persevere in Faith which worketh by Love and some fall irrecoverably Whether the things written by Molinaeus do agree with these let such as are skilful in them judge This is manifest to me in the antient Church it was the custom to place in their Creeds only those things wherein Catholick Writers always had agreed omitting such as approved Authors had in doubt And this way as to me it seemeth the Arausican Fathers took and Coelestinus Bishop of Rome with assent doubtless of the most learned Priests then at Rome and before these the Bishops who met at Diospolis at Carthage at Milevis Innocentius also and zosimus Roman Bishops all consulted about these very Controversies Whose modesty to speak with Molinaeus it is far better to imitate than to adhere stifly to preconceived Opinions or to pluck away from the Unity of the Church those who have probable Reasons of a divers judgment in subtile Controversies But to believe that Ignatius Irenaeus Iustin Cyprian Martyrs and then Athanasius Basil Gregory Nyssen Nazianzen Chrysostom Ambrose Ierom are to be condemned by us as injurious to Gods grace and as overthrowers of the Saints Confidence and Consolation that cannot I as yet induce into my mind In the Writing of Molinaeus I find many things right and sober nor doubt I but if our Ministers would imitate his prudence we should have the Church much more at Peace than now it is But the things which in reading and reading again came into my consideration are as followerh He sets down this as a most certain Truth Many things are done necessarily which are done freely I think not so God saith he is necessarily good This is true yet freely This I cannot acknowledge For that is free which is undetermined to either side But God is determined by his Nature i. by the Deity it self to good So that it involvs a contradiction to say He is God and He can be not good God cannot lye saith the Apostle Therefore he is not free in not lying True God is sponte spontaneously veracious But not all things that are done spontaneously are done libere freely as Philosophers well note Many are deceived by not discerning twixt the quality or general nature of Action and the single kinds thereof God created Man freely redeemed him freely and freely in this or that manner declar'd his Goodness But this is not to be freely good but to demonstrate his goodness freely so or so And the Devil does evil necessarily since by a free act he cast himself into this necessity nevertheless in vexing Job in tempting Christ he acteth freely for he might be evil and not do evil in that kind Likewise a man sold under sin sins necessarily not freely he cannot but sin but he is an Adulterer freely a Murtherer freely a Thief freely Nor can I grant to the settling of liberty 't is sufficient to take away Coaction for Nature is not less contrary to liberty than Coaction is This does outwardly determine that inwardly and therefore causes the thing done to be done not freely Neither is it free for a man not to see having his eyes open because the nature of the eye and things visible is such that he cannot chuse but see But methinks they labour in vain who study to reconcile things essentiall differing such as are necessary and free for liberty is the Mother of contingency by respects That indeed seemeth to me most true especially if we speak of the ordinary way of Divine providence In whatsoever manner God moveth our wills yet hath the will its liberty and things have their contingency as Molinaeus excellently saith But he that saith so must withall say The will is not moved by God in the way of predetermination For that cannot be free which to one side is predetermined and limited by any of the causes and chiefly by the first cause upon whose efficacy depend all inferior causes in their working nor can any thing be contingent of which it may be said 'T is impossible for it not to be But'tis impossible for the effect predetermined not to be predetermination being granted I do also approve that which Molinaeus affirms He is diservedly condemn'd who abuseth the Seeds naturally sown in him and does not use them in what manner and how far he might have done But what if he doth use the seeds in what manner and how far he is able having the Divine aid of that measure which unto none is denyed Shall he be condemned nevertheless He cannot then be said to be condemned for abusing if having rightly used them he be nevertheless condemned Molinaeus enquires if

signifie the native liberty is not in the will without which it cannot be a will and by which it cannot will and nill supposing all prerequisits i. strength to will being granted Therefore Austin saith Who among us affirms that by the sin of the first man free will perished from all mankind And to exclude here all together pious actions other sayings will not permit If no grace of God how doe he save the world if no free will how does he judge the world And The Divine precepts would be profitable to no man had he no free choice of will Also The Catholick Faith denies not free will neither to good life nor bad nor attributes to it any power without grace Elsewhere He that denies free will is not a Catholick but he is a Catholick who saies that without God it can neither begin nor finish any good work By which saying 't is not signified that by nature we have to will well which is Pelagian but by nature we have this thing to will which being inform'd by grace we will well For grace is the Principle from which the will or free choice is the principle in which conversion is made That of Austin No will of man resisteth God being willing to save is so to be explained that another sentence of his lately cited be not contradicted where he saith It is imputed to many that they contemn God willing to heal There is then a certain Will conditionate which Prosper calls inviting there is also an absolute Will which follows a certain at least conditionate prescience That of Molinaeus whom God hath predestinated to the end i. Salvation he hath predestinated to the means seemeth plainly to define that before he determines any thing concerning Faith he determines absolutely to save this man Which definition segregates from us all the Fathers before Austin Whether it agrees with Austin himself is disputed unless perchance the word predestination be so generally taken as to comprehend also that which is not absolute but which the means supposed passeth into absolute Concerning the word sufficient grace and necessary and free we have already spoken That none of them can perish whom God hath predestinated to the Kingdom none by any means be saved whom he hath not predestinated unto life is fully true in the conjoyned sense what way soever predestination so it be absolute is taken but in the divided sence 't will be true if this were true that reprobation is without prescience of a free act which Molinaeus seemeth to deny Surely Prosper was not afraid to say Because they are foreknown the predestinate will not fall And They should be predestinate if they would return and persevere in holiness Again Because he foreknew they would fall by their own will for this he did not separate them from the Sons of perdition by any predestination Again Therefore were they not predestinate because they were foreknown that they after would be such by voluntary prevarication I will add this on the by the Book De fide ad Petrum out of which is cited that newly mentioned sentence is by the learned thought not to be the work of Austin and that upon weighty arguments That which is said God hath elected the predestinate to believe is well said since every benefit unto which not all attain is justly signified in Scripture by the word election Neither yet does it follow hence that the same men can no way be said to be elected i. to be justified because they believe if the word because denote not the cause deserving but in any manner anteceding In the same manner he sheweth mercy to us that we may be faithful nor yet must we deny there is some mercy following faith and therefore shewed to the faithful as such God by giving faith makes men hear the Gospel worthily but yet we must not therefore deny God out of his immense goodness whereby he converts many long contumacious will not purposely exclude from that benefit the less contumacious and such as diligently read and hear his word Neither seems it fit to be denied that such as do attentively hear the Preachers of Gods word are less unworthy of the gift of faith than such as stop their ears like the hearers of St. Steven Thus in the Gospel the Apostles coming into any City or Village are bid to enquire who in that place is worthy to whom they are opposed as unworthy who will not receive the Apostles nor give audience to the word Mat. 10. And in the Acts the Jews are said then at last to have judged themselves unworthy of eternal life i. by a greater and more special unworthiness after they were filled with wrath and contradicted the word and that with blasphemy Act. 13. But if any man speaking not figuratively or comparatively say there is in the unregenerate any ability to do that whereby he may be worth to attain to faith that his opinion is dangerous none I think will deny Now whereas Molinaeus saith the Causes why he hath elected these not elected those are with God and not anxiously to be enquir'd by us first he seems to intimate that the only and universal cause of this discrimination is not the divine pleasure For this cause were open enough to exclude other causes whatsoever And when he saith they are not anxiously to be enquir'd he seems to grant they may be enquir'd at least in some manner which seems not far from that opinion of Austin which many think was retracted by him where he saith the cause why this person rather than that is reprobated proceedeth from our own merits Because the grosser Papists refer the word merit to the nature of the work and to commutative justice we do upon very good grounds not dare to use this word The Fathers took to merit for that which is to obtain by doing somewhat and merit for a pious work unto which is a due reward by liberal and gratious promise So the word being molified we shall less wonder now if among the Fathers more antient than Austin we find man is predestinate for merits For they speake of an absolute decree of giving glory by way of reward whence Ambrose whose merits he hath foreknown their rewards he hath predestinated To conclude this part Really I am of Molinaeus's judgment that in these controversies such an Article may be contrived to which the French English Belgians Helvetians embracing the more pure Religion will subscribe and the Article may best be taken out of the Arausican Council and out of Prosper Sentences ad capitula Gallorum And I think this ought to be the scope That in good the honor of grace may be kept inviolate in evil man may accuse himself and not draw God at all into the Society of his crime Moreover That man may be taught neither to distrust the Divine assistance nor seek security in any other way but in the study of piety Withal I would wish