Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	grace_n	merit_n	work_n	2,584	5	6.2801	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43844	Two sermons preached before the judges of assize 1. At Reading, on Cant: 7.4, 2. At Abingdon, on Ps. 82.1 : with two other sermons preached at St. Maries on Oxford, 1. On I Cor. 15.10, 2. On Psalm 58.11 / by John Hinckley ...	Hinckley, John, 1617?-1695.	1657 (1657)	Wing H2049; ESTC R37864	133,129	357

of our second birth to God alone of his owne will begat he us every good and perfect gift comes downe from above from the Father of lights James 1.17 18. He is the God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 we believe according to the working of his mighty power Ephes 1.19 Grace is noe quality of our own acquiring but t is the grace of God we are not Concausae fellow-workers and Coajutors wi●h God in this businesse but he gives i Pravenit impium ut fiat justus subsequitur justum ne fiat impiu● Fulgentius p. 260 continues perfects it neither is it with the production of spiritual life in our soules as with that of natural formes from any power that is in us indeed there is a passive capacity and an obedientiall power in respect of God who can make dead bones live and raise stones unto Abraham but there is no such activity in us as to reduce any such power into Act. David knew this doctrine well when he prayes for grace in this forme create in me a cleane heart o Lord Now Creation is whereby a thing is brought out of nothing therefore as the soule comes into the body so grace comes into the soule creando infunditur we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good workes Ephes 2.10 Christ is called a light that inlightens every man that comes into the world quia k August de Civ dei l. 10. cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril p. 136. l. p. 138. Quantulacunque vir tus quae dicitur nostra dei bonitate est nobis concessa Aust de Civ Dei l. 10. c. 22. nist ab illo nullus illuminatur because except he inlighten us we are in a state of darknesse As Christ had two birthes so have we but her 's the difference as I Fulgentius observes Christs first birth was of his Father from eternity his second exhomine of the Virgin in the fulnesse of time but we are first horne of our naturall parents and then in the second place we are borne of God by his spirit Qu. If all our sufficiency be of God why does he call upon us to repent to believe to doe all manner of good workes and to work out our owne salvation A. These precepts doe not imply our ability as there was not a power in Lazarus to rise out of his grave when cal'd Joh. 11.43 but our m Multa imperantur quae impossibilia nihil quod indebitum aut injustū Creditori jus suum non perit in obaeratum qui bona sua decoxit Soanhe Dub. Evan. duty they doe not conclude what we can doe now but what we could have done in Adam and though we have lost that power yet God does justly challenge obedience at our hands as we require money from our debtors though they are turned bankrupts Neither are such commandes in vaine but that wee seeing our duty and also our infirmity to execute it we might have recourse unto God to be made able da Domine quod jubes thou hast commanded said David that we should diligently keep thy commandements O that my wayes were made so direct that I might keep thy statues I am not ignorant what absurd inferences by way of comparison some draw from hence as if such commandes were as if a man should be called upon to write without handes or runne without legges here is Elenchus parium a wide disparity twixt a command of running without legges exerciseing Arts of grace because that was never in our power nor any part of our duty but this was once under the verge of our power and is still within the compasse of our duty 4. But what are we as stockes and stones in the businesse of our salvation A. No by noe meanes for although we can doe nothing by way of concurrence in the first infusion of the Habit of grace and the first Act of conversion yet I deny not but that after we have once received the spirituall life of Grace into our faculties that then we may and must worke together with the spirit of God in the progresse of our regeneration and in the practise of sanctification Phil. 2.12.13 but still subordinatly unto God worke out your owne salvation for it is God that worketh to wil and to doe Acti agimus God that made us without our selves in this sense wil not save us without our selves thus the preaching of free Grace may sweetly consist with the exercise of holy duties in unâ sede morantur free grace is so free from excluding or superseding duties Eph. 4.23 Ezek. 18.31 that it does enliven direct them Gods absolute promises doe include our conditionall performances God will be sought to by the house of Israel Peter has a promise his faith should not faile yet he must watch and pray therefore what God promises in one place he commands in another Hitherto you have heard that Grace is the sole worke of God it remaines to consider 1. The proper causes of grace that we may know how to get it 2. The manner how we partake of grace 3. The peculiar effects of it that we may try our selves whether we have obtained it or no. 1. The Impulsive cause whereby God is moved to bestow his grace on us and that is not in us but in God himselfe It proceeds not from our free wills but his free love not from the ability of our nature but the mighty working of his spirit not from our merits of Congruity but from the Acting of his mercy we are borne not of bloud or the will of the flesh or the will of man but of God John 1.13 Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it know●n unto you be ashamed and Confounded for your own waies O house of Israel Ezek. 36.32 We are all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Confused lump or mass of clay all a like before God cast a look of his love upon us and if that great potter make any vessells out of us unto Honour it is onely for his owne sake that he might make knowne the riches of his glory upon the vessells of mercy which he hath prepar'd for glory Rom. 9.23 We are all cut out of a rock look unto the rock whence ye are hewen and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged Esa 51.1 Now as all stones in a quarry are impolisht and unfit to stand in the wall untill the Artificer stretch his line upon them so are we rugged and uneven no way fit to stand in the rank of living stones or to be members of that building whereof Jesus Christ is the cheife corner stone untill we be carved and squar'd by a wise Bezaleel untill our cragginess or protuberancyes and Camels bunches be knock'● off by the two edged sword of the spirit 2. The efficient Cause which produceth grace and that is the Holy a Sicut corpora nostra vivu● thalitu itatacit●

with my selfe at that imputation I hope it is no better which is commonly cast upon Physitians as if their very calling did incline them to Atheisme Whereas that necessary and excellent a Cum si● mortalis non est mortale quod optas profession may furnish a man with arguments enough to convince and reclaime the greatest Atheist These are supposed to have a narrow inspection into the secrets and mysteries of nature which may prove a sufficient Antidote or preservative against the poyson of Atheisme and a charme to allay all tumultuous and doubting thoughts concerning a God Physitians me thinks should be like Merchants who go b Ps 107.23.24 down to the sea in shipps that do businesse in great waters who see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep So these may evidently behold the deep things of God even in the very fabrik of the body of man this is Commentum Dei mirabile a wonderfull Commentary upon a God as Lactantius calls it who largly a Ex ipsis membrorum officiis usibus partium singularum quantâ vi providentiae quis que factus fit intelligere nobis licet Lactantius de opificio Dei proves the existence of God from the beauty and usefulnesse of our bodily members The sight of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see how harmoniously the bones are knit together is a loud sermon of a Diety and every Anatomy may be a divinity lecture and therefore Galen one of the Fathers of Physitians contemplating the curious structure of mans body could not but acknowledge that it was compos'd by no lesse then a divine Artifice and cryed out in words like those of David viz. That we are fearefully and monderfully made How degenerous should the sonnes of Galen be if they should terminate and immerse their thoughts in the things that are seene and forget God who though he cannot be seene yet is he alwaies about our pathes and we also in him In him we live and move and have our being Those study nature aright that use her as a handmaid to lead unto the Almighty and break forth into the praises of Gods wisdome power and goodnesse amidst their naturall speculations David was such a Divine Philosopher When I consider saith he thy Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moone and Starres which thou hast ordained He adds by way of admiration what is man that thou art mindfull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him Ps 8.3 4 As the covetous man that rests in his riches and sacrifices to his gold is an idolater so also is such a naturalist that looks not at the living God through second causes 3. God is manifested by his judgments Though God delights not in judgment it is opus alienum his strange work to rise a Esa 28.21 up as in Mount perazim and to be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon He is not such a God as the Poet describes Jupiter one that delights d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esa 57.16 Si quoties peccant homines c. in thunder for then the spirits should saile before him and the soules which he hath made If the Lord were as ready to powre downe his judgments upon us as we are to provoke him or to take vengeance on them that provoke us the whole Armory of heaven might ere this have been emptied upon our heads but it goes even against him to execute his wrath e Hosea 11. ●1 His very heart is turned within him and his repentings are kindled together How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim yet the Lord is not so sparing of his judgments but that he may be known by the judgments which he executeth Psal 9 16. This I shall shew more fully when I come to the last words of the text He judges in the earth but here we may see his indignation display'd against blasphemers It is easy to reckon up many t See D. Beards Theater of Gods judgments examples of this kind as also of murders which have been miraculously discovered in which he that doth not see the finger of a God is altogether blinde but in a particular manner g Diagoras Pherecides Lucian Olympius Julian Atheists have felt the strokes of that God whom they have denied Some have been burnt some eaten up of lice some devoured of Dogges Others Thunder-shot from Heaven and that in their very Act of challenging and blaspheming God O quake and tremble all ye that forget God All ye that never think upon God but when ye sweare profanely by his name O feare lest you become the next monuments of his wrath For the repressing of Atheisme an inquisit●ion were merciful justice Bp● L●k Se● p. 146. and so be cured of your Atheisme by ●he torments of Hell and become the D●vels Converts and together wi●h them believe and tremble for though through the indulgence of God and Princes Atheists for a time enjoy a cruel libe●ty and exemption from torments yet this patience shall one day adde to their plagues 1. Vse To confute the mistaken wisdome of some luxuriant wits of this age who by wisdome know not God 1 Cor. 1.21 Such as are ingeniose nequam witty and subtile Proctors Pandars and Decoyes for Hell it selfe Wisdome and learning in such wretches is as a diamond set in dirt or a jewel in a swines snout The Lord complaines that he gave his people corne b Hosea 2.8 Jer. 5.7 and wine oyle and multiplied their silver and gold yet they prepared them for Baal He fed them to the full and they committed adultery the same complaint is too just against some I hope not many of refined and elevated parts who imploy those very parts which God hath given them against God himselfe He hath given them a mouth and wisdome and their mouthes they set and level against heaven as if they would batter it downe with the volleyes of their blasphemous speeches And their understanding they use as an engine to undermine and subvert the throne of God but this God will bring to nothing the understanding of such prudent ones 1 Cor. 1.19 i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in cap. 12. ad Rom. Better they had never been borne or been natural fooles then to have received great abilities and parts and not to have spent them and drawne them forth to the honour of their Creator How shall these miscreants be confounded another day what can they plead for themselves will it serve their turnes to say they had thought all things had been made by a contingent meeting together of Atomes no the beautifull harmony of the world the even and constant motions of the same without monstrous productions may confute such a dreame though the book of Genesis were quite abol she and lost Better they were dasht

Histories were all ancient Records and Annals lost we that are but of yesterday who have seene the out-goings of God in these nations within a small compasse of yeares last past may easily discerne this method in the way of his judgments How manifest are the tracts of his Chariot wheeles How hath the cup of his fury been handled from one troubler of Israel to another How fresh and how wonderfull have the works of God in this kind bin in our eyes The Lord has been knowen by the judgment which he executeth The wicked is snared in the work of his owne hands Psal 9.16 We can say and posterity shall say doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth in the earth Obj. Me thinks I heare the whispers of some wicked heart endeavouring to Confute the truth of this doctrine by its owne impunity Thus I have bin a traitour and rebell to heaven I have abused the name and the day the Ordinances the Ministers the Saints and creatures of God yet I am lusty and strong I never came into any misfortune my bull gendereth Job 21.10 and faileth not my cow calveth and casteth not her calfe I am troubled neither with head-ach nor heart-ach I wash my very foot-steeps in butter Who is there among all the strict and precise worshippers of God who ever injoy'd more affluence and health more prosperity and successe then I have done where then is the execution of his judgments how is God a God judging in the earth 1. T is true this very thing to see the wicked prosper and increase in riches did not only perplex devout Salvian and made him cry out cur probi jaceant improbi convalescant why are good men troden under foote and the wicked insult and triumph But it made even David himselfe to stagger Ps 73.2 3. My feet said he were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt When I saw the prosperity of the wicked untill vers 17. He went into the Sanctuary of God and then he understood the end of these men namely how they are set in slippery places to be cast downe into destruction Alas notwithstanding all their jollity and all there thriving in the pathes of sinne though they take the timbrell and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the organ though they put farre from them the evil day yet they know not but in a moment they may go down to Hell 2. God do's not punish every sinner with severe punishments in this life but as a a B. Cowper Divine observes sometimes he singles out a sinner to make him the example of his Justice and to shew that there is a God Others he lets go for the present to assure us of the judgment which is to come Now as for such who are repreived from the judgments of God here and yet reserved for eternall burning hereafter they have no cause to hugge and Flatter themselves in such a suspension of their sufferings For God is sometimes most angry when he seemes not angry at all He will recompence the slownesse of his coming with the vehemency of his blow Israel was in a most deplor'd Condition when the Lord said I will not punish your daughters when they commit adultery nor your sons when they commit Whoredome Hos 4.14 This is a terrible b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignati ad Ephesios p. 38. kind of lenity Misericor diam hanc Nolo I tremble at the thought of such mercy such longanimity and patience will undo us Let God rather smite me here then destroy me hereafter 3. The worst of men are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all c Chrysostome respects wicked but they have some morall good or some Common graces in them which God is pleased oftentimes to reward with temporall blessing and for this cause also the judgments of God are respited towards them As Ahab was a bloudy wretch a very Hypocrite yet because outwardly be humbled himselfe God adjourn'd the judgments which he pronounced against him and promises that he will not bring the evill in his daies but in his Sons daies 1 Kings 21.29 Vse To winde up all in a word of application Do's God judge sinners proportionably to their sinnes so that their sufferings carry an analogy with their sinnes then le ts not only be circumspect and wary that we provoke not the majesty of our sinerevenging God lest he make us the next monuments of his indignation lest we kindle a fire and he compasse us about with sparks and make us lye down in the fire we have kindled Ela. 50.11 And with his hands he ingrave our sinne though never so secret upon our very foreheads in the execution of his judgments upon us But Secondly le ts study the nature of our Calamities and the judgments whether Nationall or personall that are upon us in the daies of our distresse that so we may the better finde out that Achan which troubles our camp I meane that sinne which had a more immediate Causality and influence into our sufferings that so in the daies of our humiliation we may fight neither with small or great but set our selves in array especially against that Agag that master-sin which made most havock of our peace and was the maine engine to pull downe our judgments upon us THE END Seasonable Instructions for the Right Worshipfull G. P. Esq and the Honourable Lady the Lady K. B. directing them how to make their Matrimonial Yoke Easie Light Sweet and Comfortable Your name Sir in French signifies pure Faith and yours Dear Madam in Greek imports pure Manners O happy Mates to whom all things are pure Whilst Purefoy and Katherine indure How can there breach of Promise be or strife Whilst pure Faith meets with purity of life Noble Sir and Elect Lady IT would be almost a sin to sever your names whose hands have been so lately joyned whose hearts so long long long may they so continue It was my Happiness and Honour both to be the instrument of the first It was the power of Heaven alone which did the last And as the Heavens did both begin and consummate your happy union so let their sweet influence and propitious aspects for ever preserve that Knot inviolable and make the Ocean of your love to flow with the Chrystal streams of mutual Complacency without the least tincture of discontent or any mixture with the waters of Marah Let living purling fountains cease to run Before this Knot be raveld or undone Out-vy the Constant Doves let your Rings prove The perfect Emblemes of your endless love But on a sudden me thinks I am surprized with trembling and begin to quiver out of a jealousie of my self lest this address should seem to flow from boldness flattery or any pragmatical humor yet these vapours are no sooner raised then scattered for why should such black thoughts interrupt my Pen These suggestions are but the untimely issues of a sick fancy I never travelled with such