Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	joy_n	rejoice_v	2,536	5	8.5850	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47040	The future state, or, A discourse attempting some display of the souls happiness, in regard to that eternally progressive knowledge, or eternal increase of knowledge, and the consequences of it, which is amongst the blessed in heaven by a country gentleman, a worshipper of God in the way of the Church of England.	Whitaker, Edward.; Jones, George, d. 1704.	1683 (1683)	Wing J941B; ESTC R13197	63,632	160

that All do so I cannot believe That there is no Difference between the Soul of the greatest Divine Philosopher or Statesman and that of the veriest Dolt or Ideot is to me an Improbable Paradox and I cannot but think that there is a Gradual Difference at least among Souls themselves 10. This Diversity I humbly conceive is found in all the Faculties and Powers of the Soul I mean in the Vnderstanding Will and Active or Executive Power In all these the Difference is Various according as Men's Love Service and Good Works may have been Various Here below Those that have been most Pious Holy and Abundant in the Works of Righteousness will have the Largest Understandings the most Vigorous Affections of Love Delight and Joy and the most Prompt and Ready Power and Method of Expressing them in Such Ways and by Such Means as are fit and congruous thereunto They will know most and love and rejoyce most and express this Love and Joy most readily in the Other World that served the Honour of God and the Good of Men most Industriously in This. They that have been Most Holy and lived Most to the Acceptation of God in Time will know Him Most fully and love Him Most passionately in Eternity And yet their Knowledge and Love as well as that of others may be capable of Increase and Augmentation as I have discoursed before 11. And there may be as great Diversity in the Bodies and Bodily Organs and Senses of the Blessed as there is in their Minds Some may be more Pure and Spiritual than others and consequently more Agile and Fit for Motion Some may have their Senses and the several Organs and Instruments thereof More Perfect and Compleat than Others and consequently more Capable of apprehending their Objects and Perceiving all the Perfections and Curiosities in them Some may have a More Large and Extensive Presence than others and therefore be capable of inspecting at One View more of the Works of God which renders them More affecting and More amazing He that stands upon a High Hill or Turret beholds More things than he that stands in a Valley and is much More pleased and delighted therein yea is much more ravished with Admiration of them 12. How great may be the Variety and Gradual Difference among the Blessed in these things cannot be determined Great have been the Numbers of Men that since the Creation have dwelt on the Face of this Earth and yet perhaps there were never Two among them in All things and Totally alike Some Difference in the Mixture of the Elements of which they were Compounded in the Shape Figure and Proportion of their Bodies in the Features of their Faces and Beauty of their Countenances might be seen and observed upon them And as Various may be the Difference of the Glorious Bodies of the Blessed The Starrs are Vastly numerous and yet perchance the Difference of their Glory may be as Great as their Number and that None of them are in all things Alike and Equal And such may be the Inequalities among the Inhabitants of the Celestial Kingdom 13. And it may be Modestly supposed that the Love of God to the Blessed may be as Various as their Glory and Perfections are The more Glorious and Perfect any Creature is the more Like he is to God and certainly the More Like any Creature is to God the More it is Beloved of Him Why else doth God despise the Heaven and the Earth in comparison of an Humble and Contrite Spirit and one that trembleth at his Word Isa 66.1 2. Is it not because there is More of his Image on such a Person than on the Frame and Fabrick of the Material Earth and Heavens Why doth God love and take more delight in the Man Christ Jesus than in Men and Angels and all the Holy Myriads that are About his Throne of which I think there is no doubt Is it not for this Reason that He is a far more Illustrious Image of his Attributes and Perfections than Any or All of them 14. How God will manifest a Various and Different Affection to the Blessed according to the Difference of their Perfections I cannot affirm Whether he will do it by Internal Effusions of Joy and Consolation or by External Effects and Demonstrations or by both which seems most probable I know not that 's a Question that I will leave for the Determination of the Other World But that God can and doth do it is past doubt with me He manifests a Peculiar Love to his Only Beloved Son and can do so to All the Members of his Body in Several Measures and Proportions 15. This great Variety of Love and Affection will Cause no Envy or Emulation Among the Blessed for they are free of all Sinful Passions Affections and Inclinations and do rejoyce in the Effusions and Manifestations of the Love of God to Others as well as to Themselves Particular Advantages are Matter of Common Joy As All the Heavenly Quires do Rejoyce in the Preheminence of Christ Jesus so do they in the Advantages of Each other 16. But tho this Variety causes no Envy or Emulation in Heaven yet methinks the Meditation of it should be a great Spur and Incentive to Piety Virtue and Good Works here on Earth Certainly it ought to make us abound in all the Fruits of Righteousness that so we may be capable of the Greatest Manifestations of the Love of God since those that are most Diligent in his Service since those that are the most Pious and Virtuous in This World will be the most Glorious and Excellent in the Other and those that are most Worthy will be most Beloved of God and receive the Greatest Evidences and Demonstrations of his Affection The Consideration of it should put us upon vigorous Endeavours after a mighty Holiness and Virtue that we may be the Objects of God's Choice and Peculiar Love in Heaven 17. 'T is a Question controverted among Divines whether the Blessed have any Knowledge of each other in the Kingdom of Heaven And I humbly conceive that from what I have said in the Fore-going Pages 't will not be Difficult to resolve it So Long a Tract of Time as Eternity may minister sundry Occasions and Opportunities to Friends and Relations for the Knowing of Each other And since 't is not spent in Solitude and Retirements but in Mutual Presence Society and Conversation 't is not possible Almost that they should escape the Knowledge of one Another 18. The Memory and Narration of the Mighty Works and Providences of God of which they had Knowledge in This World will bring Men to the Cognizance of each other There There is a Twofold Memory in Man there is a Sensitive and an Intellectual Memory The First of these depends upon those Ideas and Similitudes of things that by the Mediation of our Senses have been Impressed upon our Minds The Other depends of Such things as by Reason and Discourse are fixed

Blind and what they do see is Very darkly and with much Imperfections Their Capacities are very Narrow their Faculties are Weak and can neither Discern nor Comprehend much by the Most diligent Endeavours and Applications But in the Other World their Capacities will be enlarged and their Faculties strengthened and Light and Knowledge will be Increased beyond our present Conceptions and Imaginations 16. The Knowledge of God is the Most excellent Knowledge He is the Most excellent Object and therefore the Knowledge of Him must needs be so All Science is valuable according to the Objects thereof Where the One is Worthy and Excellent the Other is so where the One is Mean and Worthless the Other is not Valuable or Regardable And hence it is that even in this World the Knowledge of God surpasses all other Knowledge whatsoever it be 17. Whatsoever Constitutes Man happy must be Analogous and suitable to his Faculties There must be an Agreeableness between the Subject and the Object or Man cannot be Happy Light Beauty and Proportion Pleases the Eye Musick and Harmonious Sounds Delight the Ears and Fragrant and Odoriferous Scents and Perfumes the Smell And the Reason is they are Congruous to these Faculties there is a Proportion between them 18. Man is indued with a Reasonable Soul and the Knowledge of Things is very Suitable and Pleasant to it Musick is not more Pleasant to the Ear nor Beauty and Proportion to the Eye than Knowledge to the Mind of Man The Pleasures of Contemplation and the Delights of Knowledge vastly excel all the Pleasures of Sense be they never so exquisite or perfect The Delights of the Sensual and Voluptuous are Mean and Brutish the Delights of Wise and Knowing Men are Raised Sublime and Angelical 19. The Rational Faculty is not only delighted in Knowledge but 't is very much Perfected and Advanced by it The greater any Man's Knowledge is the greater and More Perfect is his Mind the less any Man is possessed withal the less and the More imperfect and defective is his Sense Those that have least Vnderstanding have the Narrowest and most contracted Spirits 20. Nothing so much delights and perfects the Minds of Men as the Knowledge of God that 's most pleasant and ministers greatest Satisfaction to them Th●● quiets and lays to rest the Motions and Satisfies the Appetites of them It also perfects and compleats them The Knowledge of God and the consequent Effects thereof is the Greatest Perfection that they are capable of attaining possessing and injoying either in This or in the Other World 21. In this World God is known by his Word and by his Works All that we know of Him is either by Contemplating the Works of his Hands or by Reading and Considering the Revelations that he hath made of himself in the Sacred Volums From the Effects of his Power Wisdom and Goodness visible and discernable in his Word and Works we come to the Knowledge of Those Perfections and do form Those Notions that we have concerning them 22. It seems Probable that we shall know God in the Other State after the Same manner that we know Him in This. God is the same Immutably in Him is no Variableness nor Shadow of Turning His Nature Attributes Excellencies and Perfections suffer no Alteration What He Is He Was and Will Be Eternally 23. The Nature of our Faculties will remain the Same There that they are Here. Gradual Advantages and Perfections I do acknowledge they will receive and those Very Great immediately upon their Admission thither But Gradual Advantages will not alter the Specifick Nature of our Souls If their Specifick Nature were changed we should cease to be Men and then it would follow that Men obeyed and disobeyed the Laws of God and another Species or kind of Creatures will be Saved and Damned Which seems to me very Absurd and Incongruous Whether God may awaken any New Powers or Faculties in the Soul of Man after its Departure hence I know not nor will I deny the Possibility of it for I think it consistent with the Preservation of our Specifick Natures Which is all that I affirm 24. If God be the Same in the Other State and This as 't is certain He is and if our Essential Faculties continue the Same I see no reason why we may not think it at least probable that the Blessed shall know God by his Works and such other Revelations as he shall make of himself there 25. And indeed I cannot tell of what Use the Various and Illustrious Objects in that State will be unless they discover to us the Excellencies and Perfections of God Of what Use will the Pomp and Splendour the Glory and Lustre of the House of God be if it learn us nothing of his Nature and Admirable Attributes and Perfections This is the Great though not the Only Use of all things in This World and such I conceive will be the Use of them in That which is to come 26. VVhether God will make Use of any Second Causes for the Maintenance and Support of our Beings though it seem to me probable yet I will not affirm but if that should be granted yet it cannot with any Reason be imagined that That is the Only Vse of them 'T is not the Only Vse of them Here nor is it in any measure probable 't will be the Only Vse of them There The Heavens declare the Glory of God and so do all the Beings that are contained in it and encompassed by it And I make no doubt the Heaven of Heavens and all the Illustrious Objects there are of the Same Vse and designed to the Same Intent and Purpose 27. That the Objects in the Other World will contribute towards the Happiness of the Blessed I shall affirm But yet 't is I conceive by acquainting us with the Excellencies and Perfections of God and demonstrating the Transcendency and Riches of his Love his Bounty and his Grace 'T is God is the great Object of Humane Happiness and in the Knowledge of Him and the consequent Fruits and Effects thereof is the Supreme Felicity of Men. Created Beings promote our Happiness only by revealing the Excellencies of God and giving us a Knowledge and Perception of them 28. Some School-men I do easily grant do assert an Immediate Knowledge of the Essence and Perfections of God in the World to come But I am not satisfied in the Proofs and Evidences that they bring in favour of it and many if not most Protestants reject the Opinion and with very Considerable Reasons Confute what they Affirm and lay down for the Support of it Vid. Voet. disput select Pag. 1193. Vol. 2o. Cum multis aliis 29. But though it be granted That the Happiness of the Blessed will consist very Much in the Knowledge of God yet peradventure it may be doubted whether This Knowledge be Perpetually Increasing or whether it be Instantaneous and present it self to the Eye of the Mind as

Administrators of it in those Other Worlds as well as in This of which there is no doubt or the least scruple or peradventure among those that bear the Name of Christians 6. By this means the Blessed may be informed of the Nature of the several Beings Existent there and what was the Vse the Virtue and Perfections of them and especially what Reasonable Creatures did inhabit There as also what was the Government and Laws that God prescribed unto and imposed upon them and what the Obedience they gave unto them To which I might add many other things as what was the Period of their Existence and by what Subordinat Means and Causes their Beings were preserved and continued what and where they do receive Rewards and Punishments 7. Thus also they may be informed of all the great Emergencies that happened to them and what were the Causes and Occasions of them as also what Laws what Order and Government was observed among them and into what Various and Different sorts these Reasonable Beings were distinguished and how they employed and spent their Time For Reasonable Souls must have something upon which they may Exercise their Powers either by Action Contemplation or both else their Powers are of No Vse but are made in Vain which cannot be imagined it being beneath the Wisdom of a Prudent Man and much beneath that of the All-Wise God to give Being to Rational Creatures to no End or Purpose 8. How many and numerous the Notices may be that the Blessed may receive after this manner is neither safe nor possible to determine for should they descend to things minute and particular and who knows how low they may descend how almost Infinite and beyond all Computation would they be Should there have been many Worlds Pre-existent to This or Co-existent with it what Infinite Matter of Communication and Discourse would their Affairs afford to the Holy Angels or other Intellectual Agents that had Knowledge and Cognizance of them And how much of Eternity would be Employed in these kind of Histories and Narrations And if we may judge any thing of the Agreeableness of things Then to the Temper of our Minds by what we may find Here below and observe concerning them we must say That such things will be very Pleasant and Delightful not barely as Histories but as Reports and Evidences of the Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness of God not as bare Narrations of such and such Events but as Effects of the Infinite Power Admirable and Vnsearchable Wisdom and Immense Goodness of the Creator of all things 9. After the Same Manner the Blessed will obtain the Knowledge of the Affairs of This World since the Creation of it The Holy Angels will certainly give them a large Account of the World before the Flood how and by what Gradations they corrupted themselves departed from God and abandoned themselves to Sensuality and Prophaneness What Moses hath very briefly reported they will discourse more at large and give to the Blessed a Full Clear and Satisfactory Knowledge of them Many things that are Dark and Obscure to us will be set in Open Light by their more Large and Ample Discourses That which now ministers Matter for Many and almost Insuperable Objections will be totally freed from them by their Larger Commentaries and Explications concerning them 10. The Holy Men of that Age may also contribute something towards the Increase of the Knowledge of the Blessed Adam and Abel and Seth and Enoch and Noah knew very much of the Affairs of the World from the Creation to the Deluge and since their Removal to Heaven there is no question but that they have very much improved it And surely they will Communicate their Knowledge and entertain the New-Come Saints with the Reports and Narratives of it 11. The Holy Angels also will acquaint them with the History of the World after the Flood till the Days of Abraham they will give them Account of the Re-peopling of it by the Posterity of Noah of the Tower of Babel that they began to build of the Confusion of their Language and of their Dispersion into several Parts of the World thereupon Of these things I make no question they will give very large and particular Accounts Of those things of which we now know almost nothing then and there I mean in the Society of the Blessed we shall have a Clear Full and Perfect Knowledge 12. Noah himself lived four hundred and fifty Years after the Flood and there is no doubt Saw and Knew much of the Affairs of the World And there is as Little Doubt in my Opinion that he doth and will Communicate the Knowledge thereof among the Blessed And so will other of the Pious Patriarchs and Good Men of that Age. They will all contribute to the Increase of the Knowledge of those that in succession of Times are admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven 13. And surely the History of the Church of God in all Ages of the World by the Narrations of Saints and Angels will be most perfectly delivered to the Blessed They will acquaint them with the several Accidents that have happened to it how it hath suffered Many and Great Calamities from its Enemies and sometimes hath Almost perished from among Men and then how and by what Means it hath risen as from the Ashes and become Illustrious again in the World 14. They will declare and propose to their Knowledge and Consideration by what Improbable Means God hath raised and preserved it In the First Ages of Christianity God raised and increased His Church by the Preaching and Discourses of a few Poor Fisher-men in despight to all the Opposition that was made against it by all the Wisdom Learning Power and Policy of the World yea those very Means by which the Enemies of God's Church thought to destroy it were by the Wise and Over-ruling Providence of God made instrumental of advancing it They persecuted all that were called by the Christian Name they despoyled them of their Estates their Friends their Liberties and their Honours they treated them as the Vilest Miscreants they killed and murthered them by Thousands they invented the most Cruel Lingering and Painful Deaths that they could imagine And yet all this would not destroy the Church of God the Blood of the Martyrs was the Seed thereof and the More they mowed and cut them down the More they increased 15. As God raised his Church at first I mean the Christian Church by very Improbable Means so hath he recovered it from a Lapsed and Corrupted Estate by Means altogether as unlikely After it had lain divers Hundreds of Years under the Papal Yoke after it had long sat in Ignorance and Darkness and been accustomed to Superstition and Idolatry and all the Kings of the Earth were ingaged in the Defence thereof was it likely that Luther a poor mean Monk should so Leaven the World by his Doctrine as to cause a Separation from the Romish Falshoods and