Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	punishment_n	sin_n	sin_v	1,923	5	9.5821	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54839	The divine purity defended, or, A vindication of some notes concerning God's decrees, especially of reprobation, from the censure of D. Reynolds in his epistolary praeface to Mr. Barlee's correptory correction by Thomas Pierce ...	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1659 (1659)	Wing P2180A; ESTC R181791	123,156	150

I have collected in no more than 8. or 9. pages in my Accompt of the Correptory Correction If such of these are no Blasphemies then am not I to be excused for having avowed them to be such But if they are Blaspemies in grain and published to the world by the Authors of them and if the Authors of these Blasphemies are led into them by those opinions which my Reverend Adversary asserteth and I resist how will he make me a reparation for having publickly done me so great a wrong as to blame me for my distinction How can he answer to all good Men to the Church of God and to God himself that it was matter of trouble to him that I should make a distinction of modest Blasphemers and others who for Ligionem Ligonem Is it not a Blasphemy to speak against God Is it not the very blackest and most insufferable-Blasphemy to speak against the very purity and holinesse of God Is not his Purity himself and therefore it is not worse to asperse his purity than to deny his being And have not those Men whom Dr. Reynolds pleads for aspersed the purity of God with all the Fowlest Affirmations that can be thought on Let him or any Man living sit down and study with what variety of words and phrases it is possible to express the Author of sin and I will publickly demonstrate that all that variety of words and phrases hath been used even in print by the Men of that way which he asserteth and I resist in direct Affirmations of God himself I am sufficiently prepared to shew a very large Catalogue besides the several Catalogues already shewn And though I was so courteous as not to name them at the first yet I had reason to say that there were some in the world for Ligonem Ligonem And § 3. Thirdly when I said that some were modest Blasphemers that is bashful and shamefac'd but did not name any Creature I meant Such Writers as have only made God to be the Author of sin by way of necessary consequence and unavoidably deduction but have not said with Borrhaeus that God is the Author of evil whether of punishment or of sin nor with Zuinglius That Adultery or Murder is the work of God nor with Piscator That whatsoever sinners and flagitious men do they do it by the sorce of God's own will nor with Sturmius That God effecteth those things which are sins nor with Musculus that Gods Reprobation is the cause of the incurable Despair nor with Triglandius That both the Elect and Reprobates were preordained to sin quatenus sin nor with Beza That God predestin'd whom he pleased not only to damnation but to the causes of damnation nor yet with Peter Vermilius That God seemeth to be the cause not only of humane actions but of their very defects and privations nor yet with Smoutius that Man ought to have sinned and to have fallen from grace that God might have matter whereon to manifest his Iustice. Now if I was so civil as not to name either the modest or the immodest Blasphemers I should rather have been thank'd by their Disciples and Followers than have been reviled for my civility But § 4. Fourthly Let us descend in particular to those Things and Persons of which my Reverend Antagonist hath undertaken a defense I mean the Citations in my Notes p. 9. and 10. I will begin with that of Zuinglius because neither Mr. B. nor his Friends have yet discovered it to be his at least they have not owned it under its Authors own Name When God makes an Angel or a Man a Transgressor he himself doth not transgresse because he doth not break a Law The very same sin viz. Adultery or Murder in as much as it is the work of God the Author Mover and Compellor it is not a Crime but in as much as it is of Man it is a wickednesse Is not the scope of those words undeniably this That although God is not a sinner yet he maketh both Angels and Men to be so That Adultery or Murder is the work of God although it is not evil in as much as it is his that God is the Author of sin viz. Adultery or Murder though sin is not sin in as much as He is the Author of it nay that God is a Compeller of Men to sin though it is only sin as Men commit it and not as God compels them to it If this cannot be denied why then said the Prefacer that such words are no where to be found in them but rather the contrary That they are there to be found is apparent to all eyes which shall examine the place by my quotation and is abundantly confessed by Dr. Twisse Whom I observe in that place not only approving but commending Zuinglius for those expressions which being every whit as bad as if he had spoken the words himself is all that here needeth to be said of him besides that the sixth seventh ninth and tenth instance in my Notes may here be noted to have been his My first Citation from Mr. Calvin That all things happen by God's Decree c. Without any the least exception of all ungodly and sinful things nay purposely including as well the evil as the good as I shall prove by and by will soon appear to be a Blasphemy to wit a constituting God the Author of sin by the publick confession of Mr. Calvin himself For in a fit of Anger against the Libertines and in other fit of Forgetfulness which Anger easily produceth what himself had said at other times he chanced to let fall these expressions Whilst the drunken Libertines do jabber that all things are made or done by God they constitnte him the Author of Sin Yet Beza saith plainly more plainly than the Libertines That God efficaciously acteth or effecteth all things without any the least exception whatsoever And that Calvin means the same thing when he saith that all things happen by God's Decree is not only very evident by his agreement with Beza in these affairs but by his own positions in other parts of his works as when he saith for example that God did therefore Foresee things because he decreed them and again that no other cause can be rendred for the defection of Angels then that God did reject them Which is to say in effect That God by his rejection or reprobation was the only cause of the first and greatest sin that ever was to wit the defection or rebellion or Apostacy of Angels and again he saith that Man doth sin or do that which is not lawful for him to do which we know is all one impulsu Dei by God's impulse or compulsion or inforcement let him translate impulsus which way he pleaseth And this last as well as the first being one of my instances p. 9. I admire the Author of

wholly be ascribed to the Devil himself yet saith Piscator God made men hoc consilio with this counsel or to this purpose that they really might sin Again Prosper saith that nothing of those affairs was predestin'd by God that it should be done Yet saith Mr. Barlee God wills that sin should fall out p. 78. He is an absolute determiner in a soveraign way of the several acts of obedience and Disobedience in relation to Them p. 88. He did voluntarily decree that sin shall fall out p. 73. nor can Mr. B. mean a conditional but an absolute Decree witness his principles what he saith p. 88. He doth determine that sin shall be done p. 79. and may be said to tempt men unto-sin ibid. and many the like but also may much worse as hath been shewed 7. The late Primate of Armagh hath from the very Patrons of that Cause which I oppose put this confession upon Record That he doth evidently and horribly blaspheme gainst God who saith that he imposeth any necessity of sinning upon his Creatures because he thereby makes him to be the Author of sin by compelling men thereunto yet these men say that God necessitates sin that it cannot possibly but come to pass and that he secretly thrusts men on to those sins which he forbid's and when Mr. Barlee justifies the like expression in Mr. Calvin he adds his own wit to it and illustrates God's stirring up of sinners by a mans setting of Spurs to a Dull Iade p. 61. and whilst he saith that God is not blamable in so doing he skips from the Question which is not whether God doth sin but whether he willeth the sins of his Creatures and impels them to wicked acts so that he saith in effect the same with Piscator who endeavours to blaspheme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be civilly injurious against his maker by saying that God doth holily thrust men on unto wickedness that he may punish sins with sins And this perhaps may be the reason why Mr. B. will not hear of any fall from Grace either final or Total and why he is so indulgent to Davids Adultery and Murder how much soever aggravated by many foul and black circumstances as to say they did not place him in a state of damnation but only robb'd him of the joy of it of which what reason can be rendred except this one that David was a better Adulterer and committed a wilfull premeditated murder more holily and unblameably than other men as if his sins were the lesse damning by being committed against a clearer light and against greater obligations and against more means of Grace than what is afforded to the Reprobates But farther 8. The famous Archbishop of Lions who is reckoned by them a Patron too will be as much in their disfavour as I have been whilst they shall reflect upon what he saith on the same occasion viz. That if God had brought upon any man a necessity of doing wickedly he had been then the Author of sins how much for my opinion and against them whom I oppose my opponents themselves may now Conjecture 9. Bishop Cutbert Tunstal having pronounced it to be more than a hellish Blasphemy to say that God is the Author of sin as appears by the place already cited proceeds to discover the very Grounds of so great Impiety and those he judgeth to be Three viz. the Doctrines or Tenents 1. That every will of God is a Decree and unreversible 2. That Predestination is instead of Fate 3. That the foreknowledge of God doth imprint a necessity on what is future Which he therefore thinks needfull to be confuted as the original of the evil and accordingly sets about it in three distinct Chapters These things being spoken of our Adversaries Doctrins even by them who are wont to be reckoned upon as Patrons they may receive their confirmation from other Protestant writers But I will first mention one who is too old to be a Protestant although an Orthodox member of the very same Church 10. The Anonymous Author of the book intitled Praedestinatorum Haeresiis one of St. Austin's Contemporaries set out by learned Sirmondus doth reckon the opinion of unconditional Degrees to be none of the least of all those Heresies of which his Book is composed and accordingly give 's it this solemn Title The ninetieth Heresy which asserteth that sins are committed by the Predestination of God 11. Certainly Grotius if ever any man did understood the Importance of words and phrases he knew when an Inference was right or wrong and out of what things what things do follow But he affirmeth that those men do make God to be the Author of all the Villanies in the world who say that men are predestinated to sin as sin that Reprobates are predestin'd to this condition that they are constrained with a necessity of sinning and that without repentance that God doth act the wicked to sin that he may punish him justly that men were made to this purpose that they might fall that God doth justly when he necessitates men to sin because he hath the power to govern as he will that God worketh all things in all yea even in the wicked that it is God who seduceth draweth commandeth hardeneth inciteth to wicked actions and that they also are called outwardly to Salvation upon whom God purposed not to bestow it by an immutable Decree This is that that makes God to be the Author of sin in the unparalleled judgement of that Great man and although he doth not name the Authors of those several expressions yet the Authors of them are so obvious that I am very well able to name the Books and pages where they are written and shall do it as readily as any Adversary will have me 12. He adds another sort of the same mens Aphorismes whereby they speak God to be the cherisher of sins as when they teach that the faithful can fall into Adulteries Murders Treasons but yet they can never fall from Grace but do still remain men after Gods own heart nor are their sins any hinderance or disadvantage to them because all their sins are remitted both past and future That the faithfull cannot fall from the Grace of God by any grievous sins no not so much as for a time and that the contrary opinion savours of hellish Incredulity and proceedeth from the Devil and many more maxims of this kind may be collected saith Grotius from this kind of men And because the Augustan confession which is unpassionately purely and discreetly protestant doth condemn those Doctrins which are taught by those men who call themselves Protestants as well as we and Reformers forsooth of our very Reformation I did therefore in my Notes prefer the Augustan confession to any other of the Protestants except our own and thence Mr. B. was so unhappy as to tell the world that out of pure love to the Augustan confession

wipe off the stains which his unwary Admirers are wont to fasten upon his Name whil'st instead of contending that he was sorry for his failings and intended to publish his Recantation they indeavour to justifie what he condemn'd and so the Calvinists in effect do write the most against Calvin So vast a difference there is betwixt them that are but the Followers of that Learned man and us who are his real Friends Who do not follow him where he erred through thick and thin but just as far as he follow'd Truth and as far as we hope he did intend his Retractations § 6. Whereas my Assailant is pleas'd to add that they intended no more than by multitudes of places of Scripture they were led unto referring by figures to many Texts but in words at length not naming One I have several things in answer to him First who told him that they intended no more or that places of Scripture did lead them to the speaking of what they speak 2. What Errors or Heresies have there been within Christendome which have not pretended the very same thing that multitudes of Scripture did lead them to their assertions 3. Why did he not compare one of the frightfullest speeches which I accused with any one Text of Scripture by him producible 4. Let him name for the future one place of Scripture whereby Zuinglius was led to say That God makes a man Transgressor that Adultery or Murder is the work of God the Author Mover and Impeller what places of Scripture led Smoutius Vermilius Beza Triglondius Musculus Sturmius Piscator Borrhaeus not to mention the Doctrines of Mr. Calvin Dr. Twisse Mr. Hobs and a multitude the like to say that God is the Author of evil whether of punishment or of sin that wicked men sin by the force of Gods will that God effecteth those things that are sins that his Reprobation is the cause of incurable despair that both the Elect and the Reprobates were ordained to sin Quatenns Sin that he is the cause not only of the actions but of the very defects and privations that is of the obliquities irregularities and sinfulnesses themselves Thus we see who they are whose Doctrines of irrespective and unconditional Reprobation not places of Scripture have led them to charge God with sinfull actions sins sinfulnesse metaphysically abstracted beyond which no language no tongue can speak above which no fancy no wit can reach 5. Though the wonder already is very great yet will it still be much greater if we compare one of the Texts by which they are said to be led to their Intentions of speaking thus The first Text he refers to is Gen. 45. 5 6 7 8. from which place it is evident that God is affirmed by Ioseph to be the Author of much good which his guilty Brethren never thought of but not at all of the evil which they thought against him And it will seem to me somewhat more than strange if Dr. Reynolds cannot distinguish betwixt God's permitting or suffering evil to fall out by the wills of wicked men which are free to evil and by which they are said not to be unavoidably fatally or necessarily wicked but to be voluntarily and wilfully wicked I say it is somewhat more than strange if he cannot distinguish betwixt Gods permitting that evil that he might draw good out of it and his being the Author or Cause of that Evill upon occasion of which the good is wrought Before he had resolved to give an instance from that Text he should have compared it with what went before chap. 37. where because Iacob loved Ioseph more than all his Brethren v. 4. and therefore made him a finer Coat v. 3. they hated Ioseph and could not speak peaceably unto him v. 4. but they did not hate him by the Impulse of God as Mr. Calvin at first spake nor did God urge them or smite their mindes as Dr. Twisse For the Devil and their own Flesh one or both did intice and tempt though they could not force them to hate their Brother Well Joseph dreamed a Dream which was also a Prophecy that his Brethrens sheaves should make obeisance to his v. 6 7. which dream was from God and accordingly both good and true But his brethren hated him the mor● v. 8. which greater hatred was from the Flesh and the Devil Joseph kind to his brethren as well as obedient to his Father went to seek out his brethren from the vale of Hebron to Sichem and thence to Dothan v. 14 17. This was from God But before he came to them they conspired against him to slay him v. 18. This from the flesh and the Devil Reuben said let us not kill him shed no bloud and would fain have rid him out of their hands to deliver him again unto his Father v. 21 22. This was from God the wise and holy disposer of all that happens to his Glory But they plunder'd Ioseph of his Coat and sold his Body to the Ishmalites for 20. pieces of silver v. 23 28. This was meerly from the flesh and the Devil being not hindered but permitted by the long-suffering God to execute their wills against his own And this he suffered the rather that he might order and dispose their wicked Fact of cruelty to their innocent Brother which was also their Rebellion against the commandement and will of their patient God to many great aud good ends which never could enter into their thoughts For by the wise and holy providence of God whose excellency it is to draw good out of evil not evil out of Good Joseph was sold by the Midianites into Egypt v. 36. and aduanced in Potiphar's House c. 39. 5. and by his Interpreting of Dreams which was a gift from God and not from Satan he was so advanced from one degree to another that he was made a Father to King Pharaoh Lord of his House aud Ruler over his land ch 45. 8. This was Gods doing but no sin sure for injured Ioseph to be advanced There was a Famine in all lands over the face of the Earth ch 41. 54 56. But that was no sin Iosephs brethren went up to Egypt for a supply c. 42. 43. still no sin Joseph supplyeth them c. 45. which was charitably done and so without sin What said Ioseph of Gods oeconomy to comfort his brethren when they wept aloud and were troubled at his presence v. 2 3. He said no worse things of God than that he sent him before to preserve life aud that I hope is no sin to preserve his brethren a posterity in the Earth and to save their lives by a great deliverance who had delivered him up to be destroyed with vassalage Nor was it his si● to requite them with so much love for their hatred with so much good for their Evil. Ioseph goes on it was not you that sent me hither but God For they sent him no whither but sold him to