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	person_n	2,760	5	4.6597	4	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

before conversion by working or acting grace in his heart or was he then led by the spirit of God into all truth Iohn 16.13 When he persecuted and made havocke and breathed out threatning and slaughter against the Saints of God was the love of God then shed into his soule or did he then love the Saints of God when he so thirsted for their blood it is true he then loved them as the wolfe doth his prey But the true love of God is the infusion of that grace of love into their soul which both knits them to God and to his people but this could not be before their conversion then sure it was not before their being When God infuseth the graces of his spirit into the soule by those graces be sanctifies it and these are not the causes of our salvation but they are a part of it as the first fruits of that harvest Rom. 8.33 Iam. 1.18 And the earnest of that bargain He hath given unto us the earnest of his spirit 2 Cor. 5.5 After that ye beleeved ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance Ephes 1.13.14 Meaning the graces of Gods spirit Mat. 7.11 Compared with Luke 11.13 Therefore the promises commonly run and are made to them that are sanctified and seldome or never to them that are justified because the perfecting of sanctification is the last work and brings us into ful happinesse to al eternity then imputed righteousnesse ceaseth and faith ceaseth aad prayer ceaseth and the intercession of Christ ceaseth but the righteousnesse of sanctification that is begun is us here being purchased by Christ also and wrought by his spirit in us that abideth with us to all eternity for it is eternal life begun in us then what a miserable delution is that which speaketh evil of that eternal life that is begun within us saying what have we to do with that dungy durty duties of sanctification we thank God through Jesus Christ we have nothing to do with them these are workes for horne-book Christians but let me tel them that the promise of heaven and happinesse is only made to holinesse Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Mat. 5. And without holinesse no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Again Heaven is the inheritance of them that are sanctified Acts 20.32 But no unclean thing shall enter into it Rev. 21.27 Now all the persons in Trinity may be said to sanctifie us To them that are sanctified by God the Father Jude 1. I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you Exo. 31.13 Levit. 20.8.21.8 The very God of Peace sanctifie you 1 Thes 5.23 God the father sanctifies us by giving his son to purchase it for us and by sending the holy Ghost to worke it in us and by hearing and granting those petitions which are moved in us by his own spirit Rom. 8.26 Secondly God the Son is said to sanctifie us first by the purchase that he gave for it he hath washed away our sins in his owne blood Rev. 1.5 The blood of Christ doth purge your consciences from dead workes to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 Secondly by his ordinances the word and Sacraments Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it with the washing of water by the word Ephes 5.26 First by the word in shewing us our sins by it and also our duties and begetting faith in us by it whereby wee have both knowledg of and power to do these duties and to refraine those vices discovered by it and also by the Sacraments by strengthning and encreasing faith all other graces in us Thirdly We are sanctified by the spirit of God 1 Cor. 6.11 2 Thes 2.13 Now as the Father works by the Son and the holy Ghost so the holy Ghost workes both from the Father and the Son therefore it is said Your heavenly father wil give the spirit to them that aske him Lu. 11.13 The Father shal give you another comforter John 14.16 And saith the Son If I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I wil send him unto you John 16.7 Now saith the Apostle He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost which is shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.5 6. The spirit of God sanctifies by changing us into the same image from glory to glory that is From the glory of grace begun to the glory of grace perfected 2 Cor. 3.18 And by leading us into all truth John 16.13 This is done by inward motions and comforts encreasing that which he before infused into us Again it is said that faith sanctifies that they may receive forgivenesse of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith Acts 26.18 Purifying their hearts by faith Acts 15.9 When faith takes hold and receives the blood of Christ and makes it ours so it justifies us as an instrument or a hand laying hold on Christ the justifier But as faith works by love Gal. 5.6 And stirs up all other graces in their lively motion so it sanctifies us when it makes us love God unfainedly and stirs up a lively hope that maketh not ashamed and fear to offend God and care to please him and a zeal for his glory humility self denyall mortifying sin and a chearful walking with God in all holy obedience thus faith may be said to sanctifie and although other graces were infused into us by the spirit of God as wel as faith yet when faith acts them and stirres them up in their lively motion this second working may be called the fruits of faith because they are acted and encreased by it instrumentally although the graces themselves are all the fruits of Gods spirit wrought in us Gal. 5.22 But our Antinomians are strangers to this kind of working for they will have the spirit of God to do his own work and they must be as empty trunks for it and as dead stones without life or motion yea their faith they so much boost of must be but a spectator to look on their love must free them from obedience and their faith is without labour but saith Paul Remembring without ceasing your work of faith labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 Heb. 6.10 Again the Saints are not rewarded according to the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to them for then they should bee as high in glory as Christ yet I grant that to be the cause of our salvation but we are saved according to the measure of our sanctification that is wrought in us by the spirit of God neither are the reprobates rewarded according to the imputation and guilt of originall sin although that was the cause of damnation for then all should be tormented alike but they are rewarded according to their actual sins committed in their own persons For he that treasureth sin he treasureth up wrath against the day of wrath