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	great_a	people_n	3,792	5	4.4298	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77750	A faithfull messenger sent after the Antinomians: to try their power in their last place of refuge, who are fled to Gods decrees for shelter, as Ioab did to the hornes of the altar, and say that they will dye there, I Kings 2. 29.30. Imprimatur Ja. Cranford.	Bakewell, Thomas, b. 1618 or 19.	1644 (1644)	Wing B533; Thomason E40_23; ESTC R5091	47,721	42

answer it wilt thou disa●ull my judgment wilt thou condemne me that thou maist be righteous Job 40.2.8 Then what if God was pleased to try Abrahams faith Heb. 11.17 Must they harbour ill thoughts against God Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out Job 37.23 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his waies past finding out Rom. 11.33 Then what if God permit the Divel to be a lying spirit he did not infuse lies into him but as a just Judge upon Ahab that would not heare the Prophet of God when he spake the truth he is now punished by them that speake lies And so was Iacob given to the spotle and Israel to robbers not by infusing the sinne of theft into those that robbed and spoiled but as a punishment of some sin in Israel abusing those creatures either to pride or drunkennes gluttony or whoredome or some way or other for commonly the sin may be seen in the punishment certainely some way or other they sinned with those creatures that the Lord in justice caused them to be taken from them and because the Egiptians were so cruel to Israel the Lord by his over-ruling providence who hath the hearts of men in his owne hand therefore he can easily make these enemies to be at peace with those that please him Pro. 16.17 So that he gave them favour with the Egiptians to lend them jewels and other needfull things for their use and then the Lord brought them out of that Land that they could not restore them againe now this was no sin because they did obey the revealed will of God both to borrow and to goe away with them now actions are not first evill and then God is offended with them but when God is offended with them then those actions become evill as on the contrary actions are not first good and then approved of God but first approved of God and then good because he approveth them Againe God hath hedged his people about and Christ prayes God to keep them from the evill Iohn 17.13 But if they grow wanton of Gods protection and sleight the prayer of Christ and be remisse and carelesse to please God in all things what if God withdraw his protection from them and so they fall necessarily into sin and misery must God be blamed for it who shall bind him to keep them from sin and misery he gave them power at the first tostand and they prodigally lost that power now must God be bound to supply prodigals at their pleasure they have carelesly wasted that which they were trusted with already now I suppose they themselves would not still supply a prodigall whom they have much trusted already and he takes no care to keep not to improve any thing but spends all that comes into his hands then why should God be blamed for not doing that which they would not doe themselves Againe God knowes how to bring good out of evill and he can make the very falls of his people to be profitable unto them so that all things shall worke for their good yea their very sins as we read of many failings in David before those great and foule sins of murder and adultery but those falls gave him cause to see his weaknesse and seeling the smart of it in his conscience he ever walked more watchfully afterwards and so Peter was full of failings before that he fell into that great sin of denying his Master with cursing and swearing but that so pierced his heart with griefe and sorrow that it stirrd up more caresulnesse to please God and feare to offend him than before so that we read not of so many of his failings after that as before nay after this saith he must we obey God or men judge yee he that denyed Christ through feare of men now he cannot but speake the things which hee hath seen and heard Acts 4.19.20 5.28.29 So then God may have a hand in sin as it is an action and yet be cleare from the defilement of it as also he is the Author of all actions and yet not the Author of that sin that cleaves to and defiles those actions as a man is the cause why his horse moves yet if he move lamely that is from himselfe no sin can be committed without God hee hath a hand in all sin and yet no sin can cleave to him Oh the infinite holinesse of our God! Ioseph's brethren sold their brother into Egypt yet saith he you did not sell me it was the Lord that sold me hither now they sinned through malice to their brother and through envy to prevent the accomplishment of his dreames this was their end in it why they sold him but God did mercy to him and them and their posterity to save much people alive Gen. 50.2 And the Jews crucified Christ yet saith Peter you have done but what God determined should be done Acts 4.28 But they finned in murdering him without a cause unjustly and all to satisfie their lust and malice upon him But God saw that his death was just when he tooke our sins upon him by imputation and so condemned him for the same yet not ayming at that end which they did to satisfie his malice but in his great mercy to his Church and people to save their soules eternally Thus God by his over-ruling providence can make the wrath of man to praise him and the remainder of wrath will he restraine Psal 76.10 Like a wise Phisitian who is able to make a soveraigne medicine of ranke poyson he can handle sin and he can make good use of sin and yet be free from the guilt of it for in him we live move have our being so that the hand that is stretched cut to slay another could not move without the Lord and yet he is clear from the sin of murder for no action in it selfe is a sin for God is the Author of it but the finfull intent of the heart makes it to be a sin and this was infused by the Divell and not by the Lord. Then let us say with David Against thee onely have I sinned and done evill in thy sight that thou mayst be justified when thou speakest and cleare when thou judgest Psal 51.4 O Lord righteousnes belongs to thee but unto us confusion of faces Dan. 9.7 But these men speake rightly of themselves out of their owne mouthes they may justly be condemned being as they say as dead as a stone after conversion and all they have to doe is but to let the spirit of God doe his owne workes in them and by them so that their best works as being acted by them are done But as we move a stone so the spirit of God moveth them by their owne confession and still they are as dead as a stone and their best works are no better than the workes of the Divell Againe if they sin they say the spirit

hath given me I should lose nothing And this is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day John 6.39.40 But when others are left to perish in their sin this also is according to the will of God they were ordained to this condemnation Jude 4. And who hath resisted his will Rom. 9.19 Thus all things come to passe according to the secret will of God a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his will Mat. 10.29 Now it will not follow that God loves all things that comes to passe according to his will for sin it selfe could not be without his permitting will yet I hope they will not say that sin is beloved of God because he permitteth the being of it although his will is good and therefore a good will yet I deny not but God loves his work in the very Devils and Reprobates in the time of their being If this be the love of good will they meane I shall grant as much but yet the creature may perish for all this good will Againe I demaund how there can be any true love without delight here they would measure the love of God by their owne bushell for they say that they beare good will to Christ and the Gospell but they neither love the Father nor his Law but if these men did truly love the Sonne they would love the Father also 1 John 5.1 But let them have what pretence they will they neither delight in the Father nor the Sonne because they abhor all Bonds and Covenants that should ingage them to obedience doe they not rage against God and Christ his anointed saying let us break their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us Psal 2.1.3 Neither will they hazard any thing for the name of Christ but saith Paul I am not onely ready to be bound but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Iesus Acts 21.15 They pretend love to Christ and his Gospell but yet they will not fight nor strive together for the faith of the Gospell Phil. 1.27 Nor contend earnestly for the faith that was once given to the Saints Jude 〈…〉 against sin Heb. 12.4 If they did truly love Christ they would fight against his enemies to rescue his Gospell and his people whom they say they love but this is their love of good will separated from their love of delight But suppose they say if one man purpose to doe good to another this is actuall love So if God purposed from all eternity to doe good to his Elect this is actuall love I answer A man may not onely purpose to doe good but he may also doe it and yet not love him to whom it is done as the unjust Judge did deliver the poore widow because shee troubled him but not through love to her for he neither feared God nor regarded man Luke 18.4.5 And the Pharisees gave Almes but not through love to the poore but to get praise themselves Mat. 6.2 So God may cause the Sun to shine and the raine to fall he gave them a King in his wrath and quailes in the wildernes but not in love But now although men sin when they seeke their owne praise and doe any good worke without love yet God doth not so Againe when one man intends to doe good to another there is an object for his love but before the Creation there was no object for Gods love but himselfe therefore God loved nothing before the Creation but himselfe it was not his love to the Creatures that moved him to create them but it was love to himselfe to set forth his owne glory Ephes 1.12 According us he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should bee holy and without blame before him in love ver 4. Here you see Holinesse goes before Love and not Love before Holinesse and also Obedience goeth before Love Deut. 7.12.13 Iohn 14.21.23 And Reformation goeth before Love Hosea 14.4 They would set forth Gods love to his people by the love of David to Absolom When Absolom fled the soule of King David longed to gee forth unto Absolom 2 Sam. 13.38.39 And in the next Chapter the King said Let him turne to his owne house and let him not see my face So he dwelt twofull yeares and saw not the Kings face Ver. 24.28 Thus they would have God to love his people from all Eternity although they doe not see his face that is although he doe not manifest himselfe unto them I answer Absolom was Davids naturall Sonne then although he offended his Father yet his Son-ship remained still and Absolom was in present being and an Object fit for his love being his Son But before the Creation we had no being then there was no Object for Gods Love but himselfe Againe then we were neither the Sons of God by Creation nor by Adoption nor nothing in us lovely beyond the Creation hence I conclude that all the Love of God then to his people was but a purpose to make them lovely and then to love them But they will alledge the words of Iohn God so loved the world that he sent his onely begotten Son that whose ever beleeveth in him shall not perish but have 〈◊〉 lasting life John 3.16 Here say they is actuall love going before the sen●ing of Christ I answer if they look back they may see Christ tend●ed before ver 14. As the Serpent was in the wildernes and also it may be supposed that Faith was given to some of them to receive and close with Christ in these words Whosoever beleeveth in him shall not perish but have eternall life ver 15 then it followes ver 16. God so loved the world but what is meant by the world here but those beleevers who had Christ tendred before and had Faith given them to receive him As many as received him he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 And so Mr. Perkins reads it in his Exposition on Iude Page 52. He that believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life But why shall not believers perish Because saith he God so loves the world of Believers So then first God gives his people Faith and makes them lovely and then he loves them with actuall Love and saith he in the same Booke page 104. The proper cause of the Decree of God must be in himselfe because it was before the creatures were he decreed to love one and to hate another this he purposed in himselfe Ephes 1.9 God needs not goe out of himselfe for motives from outward respects to chuse or refuse but because his good pleasure is such Mat. 11.25 Then fore-sight of Faith in some or infidelity in others nor love to some and hatred to others was the cause of chusiug some and refusing others seeing Gods

decree is in order and time before the creature which being the latter cannot be the cause of the former and saith Mr. Calvin Instit 3.22.3 Speaking of those that would have fore-sight of Faith and Holinesse to be the cause of Election but saith he how shall these things agree together that those things which are derived from Election should be the cause of Election We are elected that we may be holy that so God may love us Ephe. 1.4 Not because we are holy so then the cause of Election was in God himselfe Ephes 1.9 Saith he God considered nothing without himselfe whereby he had regard too in his decrees therefore the end of Election tends to the praise of the glory of his grace ver 6. So that it was not actuall love to the people of God from all Eternity that moved God to send them a Saviour the moving cause was then in himselfe Againe I answer from another like place to this Luke 7.47 Many sins were forgiven her for shee loved much Will they say here the womans love went before Gods forgivenesse If they say no then I say they must needs conclude the same from that place in Iohn 3.16 That God did not love them before the sending of Christ and besides if they affirme the contrary they overthrow their first Argument for then they said that they were reconcil'd in Christ before the world was but here they would have all to be done before the sending of Christ but if this were so I demand to what purpose he came if not to reconcile and to adopt us and so to bring us into the love and favour of God the discovery of their owne contradictions might be a sufficient confutation of it Againe the world here with God so loved may be understood more generall and then more speciall First more generall he hath disposed the whole world and then more speciall First more generall he hath disposed the whole world Job 34.13 that is God disposeth of Heaven and Earth and all creatures in them The world is mine meaning all things that ever God made Psal 50. He shall judge the whole world with right Psal 96.13 That is he will doe all his creatures justice and so here God so loved the world John that is God so loued all his creatures and saw them all very good Gen. 1.31 When he had finished them he rested and was refreshed Exo. 31.17 So greatly did God delight in the workes of his hands that he was not willing they should be all destroyed in regard they were all very good therefore he sent mankind a Saviour that so all his creatures might be preserved I mean some of every kind The Elect Angels should be established by Christ that they cannot fall as also the highest Heaven is established that it cannot be moved but the lower heavens and the earth with all the creatures in them are defiled with sin The Heavens are not cleane in his sight Job 15.15 And the Angels that fell he chargeth with folly Job 4.18 And the Earth also is corrupt before God For all flesh had corrupted his way Gen. 6 11.12 So then all the creatures in the two lower heavens and the earth are corrupted by the sin of man and partake with him in punishments but by Christ they that are sound alive at the day of judgment shall be restored agame to their first perfection and so remaine for ever And their earnest expectation is when they shall be delivered Rom. 8. See the Saints Inheritance after the day of judgment this world of creatures God so loved that he sent to mankind a Saviour that some of all the workes of God may be preserved for ever For the new Heavens and the new Earth which I will make shall remaine before me saith the Lord Isai●h 66.22 The second exception of this word world is more specially to be taken for the world of believers that is all the beleevers from the first to the last in the time of their being and this world was never without beleivers since Christ was promised to Adam and Eve they having a justifying Faith wrought in them they should not perish nor any true beleevers that discended of them For God so loved the world of believers that he sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world 1 John 4.14 And Christ gave his life unto the world John 6.33 And bee taketh away the sins of the world John 1.29 But these places must needs bee understood to be the world of believers they shall never perish but have everlasting life for God so loved the world of believers is to take away their sinnes They are his people children that wil not lye So he was their Saviour Isa 63.8 When Israel was a child saith the Lord then I loved him Hosea 11.1 But all this will not prove that God loved him before he was a Child from all Eternity before they were adopted or sanctified by the Spirit But they will say God loved Iacob and hated Esau before they were borne because the Apostle quoting Malachi saith It is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Rom. 9. I answer the Prophet wrote this a long time after their death now if he say after their death that God loved one and hated the other in the time of their being wil that prove that God either loved or hated before they were all that the Apostle saith was done before they were born is this that the elder should serve the younger this was the purpose of God according to election Rom. 9.11 12. And Gen. 25.23 Yet this was not to be understood of their persons but the elder nation should serve the younger which was also fulfilled 2 Sam 8.14 Where it is said that al they of Edom became servants to David K. of Israel Then they alleadg these words of Moses Deu. 7 6 7 8. That God loved them before they were but in the text there is no such matter but is plainly spoken to those that were then in present being saying Thou art a holy people the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a speciall people Now the reason why God chose this people and loved them was not because they were more in number then other people but because the Lord would keep the oath which he had sworn to their fathers vers 7 8. But here is nothing to prove that God loved them before they were if we would speak of Gods love before their being then it is this The Lord loved their fathers in the time of their being and therefore he chose their seed Deut. 4.37 Again if they say God sees all things at once both past present and to come and therefore the elect that are to be justified he ever saw them justified and therefore they were alwaies beloved from all eternity I answer by this rule that God once saw David commit adultery and murther for it was done in his sight Psal 51.4 Therefore hee sees