Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	natural_a	nature_n	power_n	3,458	5	5.3714	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36132	A discovery of theisme together with such philosophical and mathematical observations as are consonant thereunto : deliver'd in a more refin'd manner then hitherto written, against atheisme and prophaness / by a person of quality.	Person of quality.	1698 (1698)	Wing D1660; ESTC R16081	23,490	112

Consideration of which together with the pious Examples Resignations in Spirit and contempt of worldly advantages Eminent in not a few Christian Professors raiseth no small desire in the Theist that he might Associate with them in saying Almighty and most merciful Father And consequently that in his Judgment next to the Belief of one God Christian Profession ought to be Embrac'd before any other in the World And thus you have a Summary of the most pertinent Science and Tenents applicable to the Doctrine of Theisme not hitherto devulg'd as also its Tendency to the Improvement of Holy Religion and Practice FINIS POSTSCRIPT THE main Intention of this Treatise has like the Figure of Janus two Faces By the one of which the Reader may take a backward prospect of such prophane Superstitions and Worships as were frequent in the Traditions and Writings of the Antients some of which are particularly mention'd in this Book Together with others better known then readily number'd yet so display'd that their Errors and Absurdities are totally render'd Inconsistent with the superlative Conviction which the Providence of the Almighty has visibly convey'd to Humane Understanding But such has been the gross Neglect or Supidity in Men that they have perversly applyed the Devotion of their Souls rather to the artful Insinuations of Counterfeit Tenents then to the sincere and palpable acknowledgment that there is Deity from what every common Eye may discern in the vast Theatre of his Works that contains Innumerable Scenes of manifest Wonders that could have no other Author then one Omnipotent The other signal Part if not the most useful was so to introduce Atheisme on the publick Stage that it might have a reproachful and full defeat from the Demonstration of a God by the Doctrine of the Theist no less prospicuously discernable then that Mankind with whatsoever is besides in the Compass of the Universe are by Divine appointment under a miraculous Conduct Notwithstanding however powerful those Motives the Atheist to cover his supine disregard of all such conspicuous and sublime Evidences that ought to be undeniably Attributed to the Ordination Management and Power of a deified Author seems to acquiesce in what he terms Nature and to which obscure Denomination he endeavours to annex the total sum of his Infidelity by urging that whatsoever has Being above or below have an ordinary and natural Subsistency from the Method of Causes and Effects Tho he cannot deny that by so affirming he is enforc'd to grant that this Empress of the Universe which he calls Nature is not Intellegible by any rational Definition of the Word or any Proprieties he Attributes to her because it is not possible for him to give any original Account either of the Natural Being of Man Animal or Vegetable Or when the Sun and Stars began first to shine for Universal Benefit no more then he is certainly able to tell what a Clock 't was before he was born Too many there are that if but Entertain'd with Tales of Magick Witchcraft or the devices and feats of a Jugler tho a despicable Imposter will not only incline to believe them but heartily wish they might behold such Imaginary Facts perform'd which but related they deem supernatural Wonders But were the same Persons Interogated whether by any of their Senses they as easily were charm'd by the miraculous Constitution of the Universe and all it Circumscribs 't is to be doubted that not a few of them would with the common Atheist reply that although divers Existencies and Operations in the World they behold appear stupendiously wonderful yet as they consider them as things of Course they could not Judge them so extraordinary as the Miracles they had heard of but for ought they could prove were never perform'd which Imbecillities in humane Comprehension proceed from no other Fond then want of Judicious Consideration or not being pertinently Instructed by Superiors Should it be demanded by the Reader why Texts of Holy Scripture or Arguments from Venerable Writers have not been more frequently Cited then are to be found in the precedent Book the Answer that can most properly be given is that the Authors design was barely to Convict the Atheist by proofs Inserted whereby the open Evidence of Theisme in the Belief of one God without other Divine Testimonial or Article of Faith might be ascertain'd to the clearest Eye of the Intellect Not but all necessary Texts of Holy Writ are thereby effectually Imply'd as is no less perspicuously discernable from the demonstrative Parts of this Treatise then if pronounc'd with the Psalmist That the Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy Work Nor can the Atheist if not obdurately such be by any other process so readily Convicted As he that may probably extend his Faith to the Belief of an Infinite Power and Being from Actual and Visible Miracles that could be produc'd no otherwise then by an Omnipotent Author Will not so easily devote his Assent to the most celebrated Authority of any Writing however Divine it ought to be understood 'T is reported of the Philosopher Aristotle tho far different in Opinion from the obstinacy of the Antient or Modern Atheist that he having perus'd the Books of Moses his Judgment of them was that they had in them the voice of God tho otherwise nothing was prov'd by them But had that great Man of Science throughly consider'd what might have been affirm'd suitable to what is sufficiently Demonstrated in this Work he would have at least declar'd for the Doctrine of Theisme But such is the inveterate Impudence and Odium that too many in our days have against Holy Belief of whatsoever Denomination that it is their Luxury to cabal for Atheisme and Prophaneness as they mingle those Impieties with their Wine and Mirth by which they would ascribe to themselves the Title of Wits however wickedly Principled or so foolishly Impious that they resist the Dictates of Sense As if they had Resolvedly confin'd their Souls to such a narrowness of Conception that the broadest Miracles of Divine Providence were not to operate on their understandings But 't is hop'd if they shall please with any reasonable discretion to Inspect the Substance of this Book that there Infidility together with their Debaucheries of Life will be so far Reform'd as that they will approve themselves better Subjects in their Duties to Heaven and Earth then hitherto they have been

and Preservation with some Opinions of the Learned The Third Including the Religion of the Theist and the manner of Holy Adoration redounding from thence As to the First Particular THE Theist does not concern his Imagination with the trite contests that both amuse and weary Mens understandings by their Impossible determinations as they are Debated in Schools where some undertake to determine that by the Efficacy of the Divine Will the World had an original Creation from nothing Or as others Assert from matter that had a precedent Existency and afterwards dispos'd by Omnipotency into the Figure we now behold Neither of which opinions the Theist allows to be his It being more perspicuous in his Judgment to believe that the Universe with all it contains is admirable then to define by what Method or Means its wonderful Structure was produc'd But however it came to pass 't was certainly accomplish'd without pains by whatsoever was the manner of the operation because in every thing it comprehends there is an easiness of Order and Being otherwise there could be no one Individual of any kind but might be destructive to another and the Cause perish with the Effect which would tend to a period of Providence Fox tho it be apparent that Bodies of Life whether Animals or Vegetables are subject to alteration and Death as any of them corupt in order to the Generation of others yet nothing is absolutely destroy'd but rather varied as a continual supplement to more productions so that the Cause remains entire however it effects Alteration Examples are obvious in many Particulars of which these are ocularly Illustrious the Sun Moon and Stars are influential Causes of innumerable Alterations of Bodies beneath 'em yet have no change in themselves as they Operate on other things And thus it is very manifest that the vast Bulk of the Universe subsists by open providential Causes and their Effects which by a Series of humane Thought ascend untill the Imagination to wonder leaves 'em as being not within its Capacity to proceed higher And therefore according to the poetical Allusion of Homer's Chain of Divine Providence stupendiously Comits the Scals of its Causes as fixt at the foot of Jupiters Chair If the total complexe of the Universe does admirably convict us that it has an unconceivable Structure and Being the Author of its Existency must impose on the Soul a more sublime Admiration which by the Theist is readily devoted to Divine Omnipotency There is no ordinary Understanding that may not Signally perceive the providential Results in Causes and Effects of a deified Power but not with the same possibility discern the Station or Essence of the wonderful Author Notwithstanding it is obviously apparent that there are diversities of Elementary Operations and Subsistencies appertaining to the Earth on which we tread that as to the Causes from whence they proceed are as far remote from our Conceptions as any Influenc'd from the supreamest Orb of Heaven Which experience fully assures it being not more obscure to our Intellects why some parts of Earth should enclose divers Materials Mines of Diamonds Gold Silver Minerals Streams and watry Depths when in others are found Quarries of Stone and Impenetrable Rocks Nor less clouded will be our Imagination should we search on Mountains tops and then discover the Head of a Spring that by secret descending supplies perpetually the Current of a mighty River Would not a Man think that it were as Impossible to think the Cause of this wondrous Scource as by Reason to conceive why the Bosome of the Earth should nourish the different Materials already mention'd Yet duely consider'd the Uses for which they are ordain'd the course Stone or Peeble differs not in Value from the purest Diamond as being more frequent for usage tho not in opinion of the same price So variously has Providence provided for our Ornaments and conveniencies of Life Could the Universe be compair'd with any Conception of the Humane Mind it were possible to Imagine a World as prodigiously wonderful in Whole and in Parts as this we visibly behold but that were to extend thought beyond what is actually Miraculous and therefore no less Absur'd then Impossible because we could think of nothing but would have some material Resemblance to what was observ'd before within the Compass of the World we Inhabit On which Ground it may be concluded that there can be no Miracle to Sense either great or small other then what is locally Encompass'd by the Circumference of Heaven and Earth Should a Man endeavour by any Extasie of Thought to contemplate the Being of Deity his Imagination could extend no farther then the usual Course of providential Operations And should he attempt to explain the Divine Essence he could not separate his thought from Apprehending the Corporeal Shape and Likeness of some Object he had before observ'd Wherefore 't is a presumption in words if deliver'd by them that God can be otherwise understood then by his admir'd Providence and Works Nor is it possible to Attribute other Definition to Omnipotency for tho God may be understood to have the utmost Perfection of spiritual Existency and what is more demonstratively such by operations of a spiritual Nature or equivalent to it as shall be evidently prov'd in the next Particular of this Treatise Notwithstanding it seems Impossible to word the Definition of a Spirit because nothing can be deliver'd by Speech but must be the Object of one or more of the Senses and no Man will averr that he can either see or feel a Spirit It being unconceivable that a Corporeal Eye or Sense whatsoever should perceive any thing that has not bodily parts otherwise then it may be exerted in some equivalent Capacity as already express'd But before the first Grand Particular of this Treatise receives a period The Theist would be understood that where he mentions the miraculous Sructure and Continuance of the total Universe he does not Annex a more Ineffable Wonder to the Whole then he does to every individual Part whether of Annimal or Vegetable Subsistency A Miracle is as absolute in Epitomy as in the utmost extent of Bredth Depth and Height Insomuch that every particular thing appertaining to Earth above and below its Surface are no less stupendious then the vastness of its Circumference and Bulk If ask'd why the Earth is adorn'd with Flowers of a various Coulour and Beauty and but the Grass and Leaves of Trees greenly flourishing The most intellegent Man can give no perfect reason no more then if requir'd to prove why any one Stone appears of a comlier Figure and Complexion than another If farther demanded how Rivers and Seas are supply'd with numberless Streams that are maintain'd and encreas'd He must profess his Ignorance because unknown to him both the manner of the Operation and Materials by which they were originally produc'd If interogated why Air is thiner then Earth or Water or why Stars are brighter then Trees or not