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	true_a	2,848	5	3.8360	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60327	Christus Deus The divinity of our Saviour : asserted and vindicated from the exceptions of the Socinians and others : in a sermon preached at St. Peter's Hungate, in Norwich, upon the festival of St. Philip and St. James, in the year 1673 / by Bernard Skelton, sometime vicar of Hinton.	Skelton, Bernard.	1692 (1692)	Wing S3933; ESTC R37553	16,850	32

kind by way of Understanding which in spiritual Beings is Conception or Generation so it 's no contradiction that there be an infinite Act of the Will too by way of infinite Love or Volition which is Procession But saith the Objector if it be necessary that an infinite Good be infinitely communicable how can these two be one as it is indeed the usual Method of our Adversaries to pose us with the manner of the Existence of a Plurality of Persons in one Divine Essence But who knows not that as to argue from the Existence to the manner of existing is no Consequence so to argue we know not the manner of it therefore it is not is very bad Logick We know not how the Loadstone drills and draws the Iron into its close Embraces but we are sure it is so The Wind we know blows but whence it comes and whither it goes we are ignorant In these and a thousand things more is Reason pos'd in Naturals much more in Supernaturals So that it is a sufficient Answer to say Scripture and Reason tell us it is so but how it is so we know not Neither do we desire to know left with the Bethlemites we smart for our peeping into the Ark of the Lord. But we are not altogether in the dark as to this neither There is something in Nature which tho there be no proportion between finite and infinite may yet at the least shadow out something not altogether unlike this Plurality of Persons in one Essence If we lift up our Eyes towards Heaven and look upon the Sun we cannot but perceive some Glimmerings of this great Truth in that beautiful and glorious Body Is it not the Fountain and Cause of natural Light Was it ever destitute of this pleasing Act of Generation Did it not ever since it was a Sun send forth these bright and joyful Emanations Thus the Son of God is the Brightness of his Father's Glory the eternal Son of an eternal Father Are not the Sun and its darling Light distinct Supposites Do they not differ as Cause and Effect Begetter and Begotten It is a poor shift here to say that Light is a Quality for Reason in the best of Antients Democritus Epicurus and generally in all the modern Philosophers speaks the contrary In short the Sun naturally and necessarily produceth Light Thus God who is the most free Agent in this great Act of Generation acts ex necessitate Naturae naturally which is the highest Perfection as I said before because being infinitely Good he is infinitely Communicable Now that the Sun and Light which as Cause and Effect Begetter and Begotten have one and the same individual Essence appears from the tacit Consent of all Men I ever met with for if nothing interposeth between the Rays of the Sun and them they will say they are in the Sun And it is true for the Sun is Light and Light is the Sun they are one in Essence tho distinct as Cause and Effect I could enlarge much upon this Similitude and make it clearer than the Sun it self But Time calls me to answer their other way of arguing which is by Scripture wherein I will be as concise as may be for I fear I have already tired your Patience First say our Adversaries his Divinity was by Donation as appears from Phil. 2.9 And again the Father is called the Head nay the God of Christ I answer All this is in respect of his humane Nature as we may see in the Chapter cited Phil. 2. for he that was in the Form of God and thought it no Robbery to be equal with God took upon him the Form of a Servant submitting to the Death of the Cross the Punishment of Slaves and Servants The Exaltation therefore of the Humane Nature as a Reward of his Death and Suffering could be no prejudice to his Divinity which the Apostle asserts fully in the foregoing Verses But saith the Objector how can the Son be the Father To do nothing of himself not to come of himself or seek his own Glory are Imperfections not suitable to the Divine Nature I answer What he calls Imperfections are the greatest Perfections for since the Divine Nature can be but one Christ if he be the proper natural Son of God as he is said to be in Scripture must have the same individual Essence with the Father and so consequently what the Jews affirmed for Blasphemy the most High God and he doth nothing of himself because the Father that dwelleth in him worketh together with him Opera Dei ad extra sunt indivisa The third sort of Objections are from those Scriptures which deny some Perfections to belong to Christ in some certain Respect But our Adversaries deny them absolutely as not to know the Day of Judgment and the like The fourth Objection is when they attribute some Imperfection to Christ absolutely which is spoken of him in Scripture only in some certain Respect as to be Man to Die to Pray to be Raised again that the Father is greater than he and the like all which are said of him only in respect of his Humanity Lastly saith the Objector Christ gives this as the only Reason why he is said to be God because he was sanctified and sent into the World And here I beg your leave to be more copious and that I may not seem to derogate or take any thing from the strength of the Argument I will repeat the very Words of their Authors as they are set down in the Racovian Catechism pag. 19. Having premised that the word God is taken two ways in Scripture first for the most High secondly for him who hath some sublime Dominion under him they add that in the latter Signification the Word of God is in certain Places dignified with the Title of God And this we prove saith the Racovian Catechism from the very Words of the Son himself John 10.35 If ye call them Gods to whom the Word of God comes and the Scripture cannot be broken Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God By this Speech Christ doth clearly intimate both that the word God is sometimes attributed in Scripture to them who are far inferiour to that one God as also that he called himself the Son of God for no other reason than because he had been sanctified by the Father and sent into the World To this I answer 1st That I admit the distinction but that the word God is applied to Christ only in the latter Signification is false as I have before proved And to say only as they do that in certain Places of Scripture the Word when attributed to Christ is taken in the latter Signification for him that hath some derivative Power from the most High God makes nothing against us for in certain other Places of Scripture it is attributed to Christ in the former Signification