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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wit_n	work_n	work_v	175	4	6.6114	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95730	Scriptures opened and sundry cases of conscience resolved, in plain and practical answers to several questions, upon the proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel / by that faithful servant of Jesus Christ, William Thomas ...	Thomas, William, 1593-1667.	1675 (1675)	Wing T990; ESTC R42854	160,919	408

ease and prosperity Zach. 1. 11. Psal 73. 10. Hab. 1. 13. Propitious and prosperous Providence is a quickener 2 Chron. 17. 5 6. Paenal and dejecting Providence is a deader Isa 64. 7. Psal 137. 4. Now hereby God may be said in a sort to cause to err not that God is the author of any sin which it is horrible to imagin but because God is the orderer of such Providences as whereupon through mans weakness and corruption sin and wandring from the right way ensueth Hence David saith That they that drove him from the inheritance of the Lord said Go serve other gods 1 Sam. 26. 19. Not that they said so but expelling him from the Ordinances of God and forcing him to fly for his life among Idolaters amounted to that because of the great temptation there was in it See Deut. 28. 64. But besides that erring and hardning may be said to be of God in these respects which are common to wicked men there are some respects wherein this complaining and humble casting of these things in a sort upon God is proper to the Children of God who are imboldened to do it 1. In regard of Gods Covenant in reference whereto it may be said that they err not only when God could hinder it but when he hath bound himself to hinder it Isa 30. 21. Ezek. 36. 27. Since therefore he hath promised to make them go in the path of his Commandments he is humbly questioned by his erring and grieving servants as if he made them go out for how could they go out if he caus'd them and made them to go in Psal 119. 35. So hardning from his fear is put by the boldness and familiarity of Faith upon his account because he hath promised to get hardness out and put his fear in and into the hearts of his Children Ezek. 36. 26. Jer. 32. 40. Hereupon faithful and holy men press God with these grievances so as no wicked men can who have no right to the Covenant and to whom if they should plead as they do here God might say I withhold from you what I am no way tied to give you and if you be in an erring and hardned state what do you tell me of it to wit continuing in a state of unbelief and ungodliness I am not bound by any promise I have made to help you who regard not the conditions of the Covenant on your part Psal 50. 16. Lay not the blame upon me if you live and die in a sad state it 's you that are enemies to your own good 2. In regard of Gods wonted ordinary dealing with his people whereupon they may say Why dost thou cause to err for want of working as thou was wont to do to hinder it Wilt thou forsake the work of thine own hands Psal 138. 8. Is not thy former an engagement for thy future working Phil. 1. 6. Now wicked men cannot plead this that God hath begun to build they are not able to design a better time and to say Lord it was not wont to be so but as for Gods children an inchoation is an obligation Isa 59. 21. Ezek. 39. 29. They may say Work O our God as thou wast wont in us and for us Isa 26. 12. Withal since they had a promise of return out of the Captivity wherein while they were shut up their hearts were much shut up as the earth in an hard frost when a thaw opens it therefore they might say and pray Return O Lord and graciously alter our sad and heartless condition so will we not go back and err from thy ways O quicken us and we will call upon thy Name Psal 80. 14 18. Our hearts shall not be hardened from thy fear some life in our condition putting life into our affection we will stir up our selves to take hold of thee Isa 64. 7. Now that this Prayer belongs to the faithful appears as by the fervency of it all along so by this very complaint for none are griev'd with erring that have not a mind to go in the right way nor doth a stone complain of its hardness complaint of hardness shews there is some softness and a desire of Gods return a lothness to live without him Scripture-Questions out of JEREMIAH Jer. 3. 6. The Lord also said to me in the days of Josiah the King Hast thou seen that which back-sliding Israel hath done she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree and there hath played the harlot V. 11 The backsliding Israel hath justified her self more than treacherous Judah Qu. How can Judah be said to be worse than backsliding and for their Sin divorced and destroyed Israel especially in the days of Josiah when there was so eminent a reformation A. 1. Negatively The Reason is not because Judah was in every respect worse than Israel for it is said Judah did rule with God and was faithful with the Saints that is Gods Government in the posterity of David was preserved among them in the civil State See 2 Chro. 13. 8. to v. 13. And for matters of Religion though there were foul defections Yet they kept to the Ordinances and Officers which God had appointed and which were transmitted to them by the Saints their faithful Forefathers when-as Israel constantly followed the Calves which destroyed them Hos 8. 6. and fell quite from God to the Idolatry of Baal 1 King 18. 21. 2. Affirmatively This may be spoken of Judah 1. Because they were exceeding Sinful For. 1. They fell into that Idolatry whereof Israel was guilty It is said here not only that Israel played the harlot v. 6. but that Judah went and played the harlot also v. 8. See what is said before of Judah v. 1 2. and Jer. 19. 4 5 7 13. See also 2 Chron. 33. 9. Ezek. 16. 47. 2. They were eminently guilty in looking after forbidden Confederacies and trusting to Egypt and Ashur and forrein aid Jer. 2. 18. Isa 7. 20. 8. 6. Ezek. 23. 11 12 13. 30 31. 3. They were abominable in their practice as we see Jer. 7. 6. 9 13. Ezek. 16. 49 51 52. It is expresly said Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins v. 51. 2. Because the sin of Judah admitteth many aggravations beyond that of Israel viz. Because they had more means of doing well than Israel had for they enjoyed the Ordinances of God and had Priests and Levites of God's own appointing that instructed them 2 Chron. 30. 22. and Prophets that warned them that they should not do as Israel did Hos 4. 15. And whereas the Kings of Israel were generally wicked they had better Kings to rule them and when they fell into Sin under worse Kings They had divers godly Kings to reform them as Asa Jehosaphat Hezekiah yea Manasseh at last 2 Chron. 33. 15 16. 2. Because they saw Israels Sin and knew how by the Messengers of God it was cried out against which if they had had any Zeal for God would

Gospel-manifestations Mat. 13. 16 17. and yet they are the worst to wit in regard of the rage of Satan and wicked men Rev. 2. 10. Rev. 12. 12. John 16. 2. 7. When Times be at the worst if thou question the Cause do not question it with indignation as if the world were ungoverned or thy mind were to put in Interrogatories against the great Governour thereof Job 3 4. 7 8. but do it for information and then if thou enquire wisely thou wilt find the cause of worse Times to be the sins of the Times Jer. 30. 14 15. Mic. 3. 5. Turn therefore thy questionings and quarellings with the Times unto an examining of this is a wise enquiry Mica 6. 9 10 c. a mourning for and a reforming of as far as thy power reacheth those evils of sin that cause the Times to be so evil Deut. 31. 29. 8. Do not so complain of bad Times as to lay aside all hopes of better Jer. 30. 7 17. Jer. 33. 23. Psal 42. 11. Still hope in God Ezra 10. 2. 9. If there never come good Times in thy time instead of froward Queries about make a good use of exercise suffering graces in learn some good Lessons from those evil and castigatory Times Mica 6. 9. into which it hath pleased God to cast thee Ephes 5. 16. Thou oughtest always so to live saith Hierom in loc as that the present days may be better to thee than the days that are past Psal 119. 71. Hereupon unto thy Question What is the cause why the former days are better than these This Answer may be return'd That thy way● may be better than if the days had been better Nec vetus saeculum praesenti praeferas quia unus utriusque Conditor est Deus Vi●tutes bonos dies viventi faciunt viti● malos Hieron in loc Eccles 7. 16 17. Ver. 16 Be not righteous overmuch neither make thy self overwise Why shouldest thou destroy thy self Ver. 17 Be not overmuch wicked neither be thou foolish Why shouldest thou die before thy time Qu. VVHat 's Solomon 's drift in this double counsel Or what doth he mean by overmuch righteous and overmuch wicked Answ Sure it hath reference to his observation in the Verse going before viz. That a just Man perisheth in his righteousness and a wicked Man prolongeth his life in his wickedness according to which these Verses must be interpreted The Question therefore may be answered 1. Negatively certainly when it is said Be not righteous overmuch it is not to give a check to any strictness which the Word of God requires whether in opinion or practice for No man can be over-righteous by sticking close to the Rule of Righteousness any more than the Mason by rearing his Wall precisely according to his Rule and Plummet Nay to diminish from the Word Deut. 4. 2. to depart from the way of the Word to the right hand or the left is a destructive thing Deut. 5. 32. 6. 14 17. Psal 125. 5. 2. Positively The former being not Salomon's meaning the Question is what his purpose is in these words There is therefore a double more probable interpretation The first respecteth the subjects or the persons here spoken of with respect to their carriage and behaviour under Divine Providences The first Advice then is 1. Be not righteous overmuch that is considering that a just Man perisheth in his righteousness do thou look to thy righteousness that thou mayst not by any mistake therein expose thy self to a perishing condition If Men perish in a good righteousness by others Do not thou destroy thy self by a bad and overgrown righteousness Now This Errour and excess in Righteousness may arise two ways 1. In matter of Opinion by adding to the Word setting up and standing stifly upon that which the Word of God doth not warrant but though it may seem to be an high thing and to have much of righteousness in it yet being well search'd there 's nothing in it but a wisdom and righteousness of a mans own making Thus Saul and the People spared for Sacrifice wherein they might seem religious but they held before themselves a false light viz. that to sacrifice was better than to obey Thus also Peter by mistake and meaning to be righteous was righteous overmuch when he said Not so Lord Acts 10. 14. That which seems high righteousness may be high unrighteousness if a Man make himself his own Lawgiver Jam. 4. 11 12. Upon this it may be infer'd Why shouldst thou destroy thy self for such a danger there is if a man do not conceive and think right things but speak and act upon misconceits as we see in the Friends of Job against whom Gods Wrath was kindled so that there needed a Sacrifice that God might not deal with them according to their folly which deserved destruction and yet they thought they pleaded the cause of God and the cause of Righteousness but God saith they spake not right they were overmuch righteous in ascribing so much to humane righteousness as to think God must still make much of such in an outward way and therefore that Job could not be a righteous man because God dealt so severely with him This made God angry unto which destroying is next Deut. 9. 20. Thus he that would not smite the Prophet albeit that might seem an unrighteous and horrid thing yet because he prefer'd his own reason before the special command of God at that time was slain by a Lion 1 Kings 20. 35 36. John Baptist seems to say there was no seemliness in Christs being baptized by him and there seemed to be good reason for it but Christ lets him know that what he thought was not right but it became Him to be baptized of John upon the account of righteousness Mat. 3. 14 15. And John thereupon yielded quickly and so prevented that dreadful check which was returned over-righteous and over-resolute Peter in the like case John 13. 6 7 8. Any Man that suffers or is destroy'd for this fault though it be by the hand of God yet may be said to destroy himself because himself is the cause of it as Hos 13. 9. 2. In matter of practice and carriage so he is righteous overmuch that is rigid overmuch in his dealing with others under the pretence and name of righteousness as Saul must needs kill Jonathan under a pretence of zeal for God in regard of the improvident curse under which he had bound the People though Jonathan heard it not 1 Sam. 14. 27 28 29. And such a kind of zeal he had in slaying the Gibeonites as seeming to respect the honour of God's people with whom such were not fit to be mixt whereby he destroyed seven of his Sons a part of himself 2 Sam. 21. 2 6 9. So the Corinthians that were negligent at first did over-do at last 2 Cor. 2. 6 7 8. The Second Advice is Be not overmuch wicked Where 1. We may observe as in

us in the Duties we owe unto him inasmuch as they proceed from weighty causes for light matters are not the matter of a Vow and the Bond thereof is so strait a Bond that Conscience trembles to transgress the bounds to which by a Solemn Vow we have confined our selves It 's good Discipline that keeps all in order and Vows discreetly made are a Christians voluntary Discipline and the hedg of Holiness * whereby he restrains himself from extravagancies as on the other side he lays by them a willing constraint on himself to do those important Duties which nature otherwise is untoward unto and treacherous in Now if a Vow be an assistance truly and justly so it is as it were demanded in the Duty it assisteth which supposeth and imposeth the getting of all helps for the better performance of it Yea This Vowing hath so near and so helpful a conjunction and consociation with Prayer that they pass in Hebrew Greek and Latine under the same Name the Reason whereof is because when we desire any thing more ardently we are still ready to add a promise to the prayer that in that way we may look to have it the more hopefully Hence it is that David saith Thou O God hast heard my Vows Psal 61. 5. that is Prayers made with Vows and which were afterward paid with thanksgiving Psal 116. 12 17 18. By these things the lawfulness of a Vow appears and that there is therein an agreeableness with the will of God revealed in his Word Now If the Question further be Whether there be any command for this Vowing To this I Answer that though there be everywhere commands for the performing of lawful Vows when they were made yet I find not any-where no not in the Old Testament where Vows are most mentioned any very clear Command for the making of them but still they are spoken of as voluntary things only there is one place where the expression looketh likest to a Command to wit Psal 76. 11. Vow and pay To which two Things may be said 1. That it is not a Command or Imposition but a Supposition Vow and pay that is If thou Vow be sure to pay As when it is said Be ye angry and sin not Ephes 4. 26. It is not a Command to be angry but to see to it if there be anger that it be not sinful anger and though the repetition in the latter part of the Verse Let all that be round about him bring Presents to him seem to be indeed a Precept yet that also may be thus understood If thou dost Vow the presenting of any thing to him then do not dally with him but be sure to bring it to him as Jacob said I will surely give the Tenth Gen. 28. 22. whereof the Reason followeth for he ought to be feared and therefore must not be mocked which is agreeable to that in Eccles 5. 7. Be not vain in thy Vows so as not to provide for the performance of them but fear thou God 2. That which may be said to that Scripture Mr. Perkins lays down thus If David speaks of Moral Duties then the Command concerns every Man because the thing commanded is a part of Gods Worship but if it be meant of Ceremonial Duties it binds the Jews only howhowbeit not all but only such as had just cause to Vow for otherwise they had liberty to abstain from Vowing Deut. 23. 22. Unto which Answer of his this also may be annexed That if it be taken for a Precept to such Persons as have just cause to Vow for Moral Ends then though the matter of the Vow be different in the Old and New Testament yet in regard of the End it is resolved into a Moral Vow and so may be extended unto the Times of the Old and New Testament but then it must be considered that being so taken it is not a Precept in the generality binding all Men but only such and such Men as have just cause to Vow for the help of their infirmity in the doing of that which God requireth So that the substance which can be gathered from that Scripture in reference to Gospel-times is that it binds Men to bind themselves in a generality to do the will of God according to their Baptismal Vow and further that it binds them to Vow that in indifferent things which they find necessary for themselves for their better fulfilling of the will of God as namely for the thankful acknowledgment of the goodness of God in great and glorious deliverances such as that Psalm speaketh of ver 10. And if the Words be taken thus that is for Vowing obedience and Vowing assistance the obedience that God requireth and that assistance which as to us the obedience requires according to the Rules of the Old Testament to the Jews and the order and way of the New Testament to us I see not but they are and continue still a Command for Vowing I say a Command extended to all in regard of the Moral Obedience and to all again in regard of the necessary assistance for that Obedience I mean in the generality but not this or that assistance in the particular which though this or that Man may be bound to in regard of himself because he cannot be so obedient unless he take up and bind upon himself such an help yet other Men are free that need it not or that can better help themselves otherwise In short if I could be brief in a Question expos'd to so many interposings A Vow or Votive Promise is two-fold General and Personal 1. General in and in the renewing of our Baptismal Covenant as the Jews were bound in and did often renew their Circumcision-Covenant which was the same for the substance of it with ours in Baptism the Covenant of Grace being ever the same I say they did often renew their Circumcision-Covenant Namely under Moses Joshua Jehoash Asa Hezekiah Josiah yea and in their Sacrifices generally though sometimes it might be done more expresly and eminently they that were Saints Gods favourites and that weighed well what they did made a Covenant with him and put to their Seal as it were that they would be his faithful Allies Hereunto there is subordinate yea in this is included another general Bond to wit to use as hath been often said before all needful helps for the performing of that Obedience and Duty to which there is a prae-ingagement in the Covenant of Baptism and a re-ingagement in the renewings thereof That we are and are to be thus bound may appear from the Exposition of the Ten Commandments and that extent that is ascribed to every Precept to wit that where any sin is forbidden there the cause and occasion of that sin is forbidden also as in the forbidding of Adultery Riot and Luxury is therewithal forbidden and on the contrary where a Duty is commanded whatsoever is necessary for

the Ten Tribes captives 2 King 15. 29. I say between that time and the taking of them away generally by Salmanasar divers of them fled for refuge to Judah and setled themselves there and that seems to be meant by strangers 2 Chron. 30. 25. that is such of the Ten Tribes who besides the Congregation that came out of Israel by the present call to the Passover did by reason of Religion settle themselves in Judah which they might do also in latter times for their safety being liker to fare better in Judah than with the Assyrian All this makes it out that there was a mixture of Judah and Israel before the Captivity Now to apply this to the present purpose the first remarkable time of their coming more closely together was at their return out of the Captivity wherein they had been scattered The Israel-it's that mixed themselves with Judah came it 's very like out of the Captivity when they did partaking therein of the priviledg of the better party to whom they had joined themselves which appeareth also in the genealogy of those that returned out of Babylon among whom not only Judah and Benjamin but divers of other Tribes of Israel are expresly reckoned 1 Chron. 9. 3. Ezra 2. 2. v. 70. albeit they dwelt for present not in the cities of Samaria but of Judah Secondly to come to the second period Although the ten Tribes if we speak of the generality and the Body of them returned not out of Captivity as Judah did to their own country yet under Christ to whom this Coming and Covenanting is to be extended as Jer. 50. 20. they came together when the Gospel was preached as under one Head Hos 1. 11. Hence we read Act. 2. 5. of Jews out of every Nation under Heaven they being scattered by the Assyrian Babylonian and other succeeding Kings into far distant places There also we find the Apostle speaking to the whole House of Israel v. 36. and that at the same time three thousand were converted that is united together in Christ v. 41. That of St. James is clearer who writes expresly to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad that is scattered by the Assyrians and Babylonians or Antiochus So as that they returned not with others to their own Land yet to the Faith of Christ they were converted and therefore James writes to them as to those who had received the Faith though they did not as they ought shew it in the fruits St. Peter also points to the same Persons when he writes to the Strangers 1 Pet. 1. 1. that is to those of Judah and Israel dispersed here and there where they lived as Strangers but yet he writes to them as Persons come into Jesus Christ and conjoined on that corner-stone 1 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. Thirdly there is another period of time that we expect and that is when the Jews shall be called and come together in a considerable Body Rom. 11. 25 26. unto and under Christ the Head of the whole Church unto which time divers Learned men refer those prophecies Ezek. 37. 10 12. Hos 1. 11. Amos. 9. 14. 15. And howsoever this Prophecy may be said to be fulfilled truly already yet ther 's cause to say that it shall be most remarkably compleated then Jer. 50. 4. Weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God Qu. Wherefore should they go out of Captivity and when they went to meet with God weeping when parting 's cause weepings and meetings joy Joh. 16. 6 22. with Matth. 28. 8. Psal 126. 6 A. Men and so the Church may weep albeit there be cause of rejoycing before them for divers reasons namely out of joy or because of Afflictions accompanying their comforts or for their sins First men may weep for joy and because of the Workings of Natural Affections upon strange and un-expected comfortable changes and alterations so it was with Joseph's brethren the revealing of himself to them after a sad condition before was accompanied with weeping Gen. 45. 13 14. 46. 29. Thus when Archedamus sent word of a great victory with much Loss to the enemy but of none on their part the Spartans hearing of it fell all a weeping Vsq adeo Lacrumae tum laetitiae tum dolori sunt communes Xenoph. Lib 7. Sect. 620. Secondly because of manifold afflictions accompanying their comforts As here in their return 1. Because they had been so long absent from God as Friends met at last weep because they have wanted one another so long When they ken'd a returning God it might well grieve them that they had wanted his sight Seventy years 2. Because divers of their brethren were scattered here and there and abode still in Babylon as not able or not willing to return Hab. 2. 6. Now every creature mourns when it wants its company 3. Because their Countrey was spoiled and wasted A great Comfort it was to see Jerusalem builded as a City compact Psalm 122. 3. but to see it burnt and broken and consum'd that was a weeping business Neh. 1. 4. 4. Because they were to meet with so many Enemies and Oppositions in their own Countrey for though God made Heathen Kings to be for them yet they had to do with malevolent men round about them Neh. 2. 10. that would do them all hurt with all their heart but no good nor suffer to have any but against their will This they might foresee when they went to Zion and grieve at it 5. And especially because the Temple was burnt and the Lord had never an House to dwell in with them we may see the sadness of this in the mournful posture of those fourscore men Jer. 41. 5 6. that are said indeed to come with Offerings to the House of the Lord yet it is not probable that the news of the burning of that House had not sounded so far as Sechem and Shilo They came therefore to present their piety not so much in the House as in the place where the Lord had had an House which because it stood not now as before therefore they were so sad for what 's Canaan without Jerusalem Jerusalem without Zion Zion without God and where was God then most eminently but in his Holy Temple 6. Because though after their return there was a new Temple erected yet that fell so short of the former that they came therefore weeping Ezek. 3. 12. Hagg. 2. 33. To which we may add 7. Because they were never like to see things in their Countrey restored to any such Beauty as they had seen it in formerly to wit looking on things with an eye of Sense and most had not the eye of Faith to look to Christ Hag. 2. 7. yea all generally had a dim eye in those days as to things Spiritual Thirdly There was cause enough to mourn for their Sin In regard whereof 1. There was a mourning making way for their coming out of Captivity for the Lord hears Ephraim bemoaning and then