Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	law_n	sin_n	transgression_n	1,540	5	10.6759	5	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96426	The extent of divine providence: or, A treatise tending to shew that the just and holy God, may have a hand in the unjust actions of sinfull men: and that in such a way as shall be without any impeachment of his justnesse and holinesse, or diminution of his power and providence. / By Thomas Whitfield minister of the Gospel.	Whitfield, Thomas, Minister of the Gospel.	1651 (1651)	Wing W2007; Thomason E628_10; ESTC R204032	39,726	51

Pharach charging him to let the people of Israel goe but hence Pharach tooke an occasion to grow stubborne and rebellious and more to harden his heart in a resolution not to let them goe Exod. 5.2 I know not the Lord saith he neither will I let them go yea the ofner Moses came to him with command from God for doing it the more he still hardned his heart against it looke as a strong streame the more it is stopt the higher it riseth though no new water be added to it so it is in this case Thus the Jewes the more they were warned by the Prophet of their Idolatry and that they should not goe downe into Egypt Jer 42.17 the more obstinate and wilfull they waxed both these wayes Chap. 44.16 so when Christs hearers heard that which they thought touched themselves it is said they were filled with with wrath and thrusting him out of the City they led him to the edge of an hill with purpose to have throwen him downe headlong Luk. 18.27 When Stephen preached so excellently to the Jews they burst with anger and gnashed upon him with their teeth running violently upon him Act 7.54.57 So that Christs and Stephens preaching was an accidentall cause of the wrath of these wicked men as the stopping of a streame is the cause of the rising of it Hence the Apostle speaking of the Law saith where there is no law thene is no transgression Rom. 4.15 that sin took occasion by the command and wrought in him all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin is dead but when the Law came sin revived Rom. 7 8 9. that sin took occasion by the command and deceived him verse 11. so that the Law quickned sin put life into it and seâ— it on worke it lying as it were dead before and not stirring so strongly as it did after the comming of the Law by all which it appeares that the Law is an accidentall cause of sin Now so far as the Law workes it God workes it the Law being his agent and instrument But here it may be asked Quest how can it be that the Law which in it selfe is holy just and good should any way be the cause of evill This ariseth from the contrariety that is betwixt the good and holy law of God Answ and mans corrupt and wicked heart there is nothing more pure and holy then the Law of God it being the perfect rule of righteousnesse and an exact idaea of all purity and holinesse there is nothing more corrupt and and impure then the wicked heart of man it being the fountaine of all pollution and filthinesse Mat. 15.19 Jer. 17.9 Now it is a true rule in Logick Contraria juxta se posita magis â—lâ—cescunt when contraries are placed neer together the contrarieties of their natures doth more appeare and put forth it selfe keep fire and water at a distance and the contrarieties of their natures doth not much shew it selfe but bring them together cast water upon the fire or put coales of fire into the water then they fight one with the other and the stronger overcomes the weaker so the more neer and close the most pure and holy word of God be brought and applyed to the corrupt and rebellious will of man the more is the innate corruption and rebellion of it irritated and stirred up and the more strongly doth it put forth it selfe The more strongly the command was pressed upon Pharaoh touching letting the Israelites goe the more strongly did his rebellious will rise up agaâ—nst it This we may see true in the ordinary carriage of wicked men Let a proud swearer or filthy speaker be rebuked for their ill language and they will the more breake forth into abusive speech Thus we see how the Law and Word of God that in its owne nature tends to restraine and represse sin may accidentally provoke and put men forward to greater eagernesse and violence in sinning yea not onely the Law but the Gospel may by accident be an occasion of greater evil Thus our Saviour tels the Pharisees that if they had been blind they had had no finne but because they said they did see therefore their sin remained Joh. 9. last if they had had no meanes of knowledge their sin had not been so great but now the light shined upon them thereby their sin was increased because they sâ—ut their eyes against it Hence likewise the Apostle saith that the Gospel was to somethe savour of death 2 Cor. 2.16 In it owne nature it did tend to life but by accident it came to be an occasion of death to such as rejected it Thus we see how God may be accidentally a cause of sin namely by administring occasion and that both inwardly and outwardly both by his workes and by his word and Bellarmine himselfe is forced in a manner to acknowledge thus much for he saith Bellar. de amiss grat statu pcti l 2. c. 14. Patientia Dei aliquo modo indurat Caeterum non dicitur excecare vel indur are nisi per accidens sedipsis homines abutentes rebus bonis seipsâ—s obdurat The patience of God doth after a sort harden men but yet he is not said to blind or to harden but onely by accident for when they doe abuse good things they harden themselves Here Bellarmine grants that God may bee said to blind and harden men by accident when they abusing his Patience and long suffering take occasion from thence to harden themselves in sinne CHAP. VI. Shewing that such causes as worke by accident may have a true efficiency and yet not be altogether blameless in blame-worthy actions THat accidental causes may have a true efficiency and yet not be faulty when the effect is faulty may appear both by Reason and Scripture 1. The rule of reason tels us that whatsoever hath a vis any power or vertue to bring forth an effect is so far a cause of that effect For causa est cujus vires est Now there be many things which have an efficiency in bringing forth such or such an effect which yet cannot justly be blamed though the effect be evill When a man stands so neare the fire that he scorcheth his legges the fire hath a true efficiency in this scorching yet not the fire but the man onely is to be blamed for though it be the natural property of the fire to burne yet the end why the fire was made was to warme not to burn those that stand before it and that it scorcheth the mans leggs it is his owne fault because he did not stand further off when he might have done it and the fire was onely an accidental cause of scorching When a man weares a sword for his defence and he in a Melancholike or mad humour shall run the Sword into his own body here not the Sword but the man is to be blamed because the end of wearing a Sword is the safety not the hurt

of the owner and though it hath a true efficiency in hurting wounding him yet the fault onely is his owne because he willingly turned the Sword against himself When a Physitian according to the true rules of Art shall administer wholesome Physick to his Patient for such or such a disease and this meeting with some hidden distemper or corrupt humour in the body shall cause greater pain or it may be death yet here neither the Physick nor Physitian are to be blamed because the work of both these in their owne nature tended to health and was fit to procure it When Jason had his impostume cured by the thrusting of a Sword into his body by the hand of his enemy this was no thank to his enemy who intended not his health but his death so on the contrary it is no blame to the Physitian that intends health and useth fit meanes to procure it though death follows by accident When the same Sun beames lights upon a Garden and a Dunghil and raise a sweet smell from the one and an ill savour from the other neither the Sun nor the beames thereof are to be blamed because the efficacy of them did extend to both a like but the different effect did arise from the difference of the matter whereon they did light The like instances also may be brought from Scripture when a man is hewing wood with an Axe and the head of the Axe slippeth from the helve and slayes the stander by here neither the Axe nor the man are to be blamed though they have an efficiency in the death of the other because they are onely causes by accident the scope of neither being to hurt the stander by Deut. 19.5 When King Uzziah went into the Temple of the Lord to burn Incense Azariah with fourscore other Priests went in after him and withstood him telling him that it did not belong to him to burne incense to the Lord then it is said Vzziah was wrath 2 Chron. 26.16 17 18 19. Here the Priests were causes of the wrath of the King but no faulty causes because they did but their duty and their intention was onely to hinder him from doing that which was unlawful for him to do but not to provoke him to anger and wrath When the Pharisees were filled with wrath against Christ and the Jews breast with anger against Stephen because they justly reproved them they were accidental causes of their wrath and anger but no faulty causes The Apostle saith that the Law causeth wrath Rom. 4.15 It causeth wrath by meanes of Transgression for transgression onely properly causeth wrath as the Law is the cause of wrath so likewise is the cause of transgression namely an accidental cause yet no faulty cause for the proper end of the Law was neither to procure wrath nor to procure transgression but rather to be a meanes to preserve man from both these by directing him so to walke as he might please God so when he saith that the motions of sin were by the Law that is were stirred up by the Law Rom. 7.5 and that sin took occasion by the Commandement and wrought in him all manner of concupiscence verse 11. here sin is said to be stirred up by the Law and to take occasion by the Commandement of working concupiscence and therefore the Law hath some kind of efficiency in producing of sin it is an accidentall cause but no faulty cause As the Law is in it selfe holy and just and good Rom. 7.12 so it is good that it should be brought to mans understanding by the knowledge of it and to his will and affections by the right application of it but the more this is done he being left to himselfe the more doth it irritate and stir up corruption in him and his will by reason of the contrariety that is in it to the holy Law of God waxeth so much more stubborne and rebellious as the Law is more closely applyed to it When the Apostle saith that beleevers are not under the Law Rom. 6.14 and that they are delivered from the Law that being dead namely that corruption wherein we are held Rom. 7.6 this must needs be understood of the accidentall worke of the Law whereby by meanes of our corruption it stirs up sin in us for it cannot be understood of the Law as it is a rule of obedience because then the Law should be wholly abolished to which the Apostle gives an absit do we then make the Law of none effect through faith God forbid Rom. 3.31 neither can it be understood in this place of the condemning power of the Law for though it be true that believers are freed from the curse and condemnation of the Law yet this is an effect of justification and hath reference to that whereas the subject of the Apostles discourse in these two Chapters where he speakes of freedom from the Law namely the sixth and seventh is altogether about sanctification and he brings many arguments to prove the necessary connexion of these two together and this amongst the rest because they were not under the Law they were delivered from it they must not suffer sin to raigne in their mortall because they were not under the Law but under grace cap. 6.14 they were delivered from the Law lust and concupiscence being kild in them chap. 7.6 How were they not under the Law how were they delivered from it So far as they were truly sanctified they were no longer under the accidentall worke of the Law whereby it had power to irritate and stir up the rebellion and corruption of their natures and so to cause sin more to abound in them being implanted into Christ and made partakers of the vertue of his death and resurrection their old man was crucified and their body of sin destroyed so as they should no longer serve sin as they did before chap. 6.6 while they were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law which were stirred up by having the Law brought nearer to them did worke in their members to bring forth fruit unto death but they were delivered from the Law from that accidentall worke of the Law that being dead wherein they were held their sinfull lusts being in part mortified that they should serve God in newnesse of spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter chap. 7.5.6 by both which places it appeares that the Law hath power to stir up sin and corruption in those that are in the a state of corruption that remaine as yet altogether unsanctified and so it is an accidentall cause of sin yet no faulty cause that remaining still holy and just and good In this sence likewise Christ saith of himselfe that be came not to send peace but the Sword that he came to set a man at variance against his Father and the daughter against the Mother Mat. 10.34 35. that he came to set fire on the earth Luk. 12.49 How is this to be taken that

therefore he cannot will it as it is in it selfe and in its owne nature and as wicked men will it But as the skilful Physitian can so order and temper some poysons that though they be in themselves destructive to nature yet he can make them medicinall and helpfull so the wise and mighty God is able to make that which is in it selfe against his glory to be serviceable to his glory he can worke out his owne glory from the work of mens actions he can make them usefull to the best ends and so far he may both will them and worke them namely as he can and will bring good out of them Non sineret bonos fieri malis Enchirid. cap. 100. nesi omniâ—otens etiam de malo facere pâ—ssâ—t bene saith Augustine the good God would not suffer evill to be unles he being omnipotent could bring good out of evil To the same purpose he saith also in another place Scivit Deus magis ad omnipâ—tentissimam ejus bonitatem pertinere De correpes grat cap. 10. etiam de malis benefacere quâ—m mala non sinene God did know that it more befirs his omnipotent goodnesse to bring good out of euill then not to sâ—ne any evill at all to be yea Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth that God did Ex lapsu hominis ingens bonum eliceâ—e did draw forth a wonderfull great good out of the fall of man So that we see that sin though evill in it selfe may have some respect of good in it and some way make for the glory of God now in this respect onely God wils it and this he may do and his will still be a just holy and righteous will If mans sâ—n be the object of Gods decree Object 2 then mans sins necessarily for what God hath decreed must necessarily come to passe and if the decree of God be the cause of this necessitie then likewise it is the cause of that sin which followes upon it and so God shall be the Author and proper cause of sin That Gods decrees do not take away the liberty of mans will may appeare many wayes Answ 1. Christs death was decreed for he was delivered by the determinate counsell of God Acts. 23. yet he dyed freely for he saith of himselfe that he laid downe his life when no man had power to take it from him John 10.17 18. he laid it downe willingly and freely beside if he had not done thus if Christs death had not been voluntary it had not been an act of perfect obedience and so could not have been meritorious The stedfastnesse and firme standing of the good Angels in their integrity is a free act for they are not enforced to it 2 Thes 2.2.13 yet this was decreed for they are elect Angels The Saints are chosen to faith and sanctification yet they beleeve and repent freely not being led to it by any naturall or violent necessity All our naturall motions and actions proceed freely from us yet to deny these to be within the compasse of Gods decree were to deny a great part of his providence In him we live and move Act. 11.28 Pro. 16.9 And what he doth in time he hath determined to doe before all time 2. Gods decree is actus ad intra one of those immanent acts which are alwayes within himselfe and of theâ—e acts the rule holds true that they do nihil ponere in objecto they put nothing into the object about which they are conversant Gods decree alone being an instrument within himselâ—e works nothing upon the creature till it comes to execution till some some way or other he doth put forth his purpose by some outward act unlesse therfore it can be sâ—ewed how God in the execution of his decree by some outward act upon man doth necessitate mans will his decree alone will never infer any necessitie upon it and we find the contrary by experience namely that we are carryed forward to the committing of sin frely as we are to eat out meat or drinke our drinke or performe any other action most agreeable to our natures being led to it neither by any violent or naturall necessity 3. Gods decree is so far from infringing the liberty of the second causes that it establisheth and strengthens them in their liberty for he doth not onely discernere rem ipsam sed modum rei not onely determine and decree the thing it selfe but also the manner of it he determines that somethings shal come to passe necessarily other things freely and contingently That necessary things shall come to passe by necessary causes contingent things by contingent causes All entilies and beings as from God with all the adjuncts and properties that belong to them and he worketh in all things according to the nature of the things and therefore in naturall agents he causeth things to come to passe necessarily in free agents contingently so that though Gods will determine mans will yet it determines to worke contingently and freely Vt voluntas necessario movetur ad agendum eu uâ—posttione motionis divinae Vindic. lib. 2. pag. 31. page 27. ita eâ—iam necessariâ— movetur ad ageâ—dum libere quia movet Deus voluntatem hominis conveniunter suae natucae saith Dr Twisse as the will is necessarily moved to act upon supposition of the divine motion so it is necellaâ—ily moved to act freely because God moves mans will in a way agreeable to its owne nature Posito decreto necesse erat ut primus ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ peccaâ—et sed necesse erat ut peccaret liberÃ¨ Upon suppoâ—â—ition of Gods decree it was necessary that the first man should â—inne but it was also necessary that he should sinne freely 4. Causes by accidâ—nt never worke necessarily but contingently the Sun sends forth light necessarily but darkes weake eyes contingently The Law is onely an accidental cause of sin as before was shewed and look how the law works it God workes it and as he workes it so he hath decreed to worke it therefore his decree inferres no necessity Besides a cause by accident never workes till causa perâ—se such as is properly and in its owne nature a cause sets it on worke The Sword which a mad man weares will never move to hurt him till he himselfe begins to move it The wall will never hurt the glasse or pot till the drunken man or some other dasheth it against the wall no more will the Law of God ever hurt a man till he dasheth himselfe against it Causes by accident are alwayes reducible to other causes so the last resolution of sinne must be in the freewill of man as into the true and proper cause of it Object But here it may be further objected that if that which God hath decreed doth not necessarily come to passe then his decree may be frustrated Answ This Objection makes as much against Gods foreknowledge as against his decree for as he cannot be disappointed in his decree so he cannot be

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