Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	aaron_n	action_n	internal_a	13	3	10.4034	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13209	Lectures vpon the eleventh chapter to the Romans. Preached by that learned and godly divine of famous memorie, Dr. Sutton, in St. Marie Overies in Southwarke. Published for the good of all Gods Church generally, and especially of those that were then his hearers	Sutton, Thomas, 1585-1623.; Downame, John, d. 1652.	1632 (1632)	STC 23507; ESTC S118002	306,616	538

These God giveth to man for his good and man turnes them to his owne destruction As for example God proposed the Word to Pharaoh by Aaron miracles by Moses by these his heart should have been softened but by his owne fault it became more hard so were the Iewes at the preaching of Isay And to this purpose saith God in Ierem. 6.21 I will lay stumbling blocks before this people the fathers and the sonnes shall fall upon them the neighbour and the friend shall perish Yet surely though all this be true it is not all the truth for in the storie of Pharaoh I observe three things 1. The preaching of the Word by Aaron 2. The working of miracles by Moses 3. The hid action of God in the heart of Pharaoh And these three God did thus order that Aaron should speake the word Moses should doe miracles but hee would reserve to himselfe the action of induration I will harden the heart of Pharaoh Exod. 4.21 as if he should say I will reserve that to my selfe So that besides the outward objects of the Word and miracles proposed by Moses and Aaron there was an internall action of hardening wrought by God not to goe still about the point the conclusion is God doth blinde harden and give over to a reprobate minde not onely by suffering it not onely by withdrawing his grace and helping hand nor onely by proposing of outward objects against which the wicked may stumble but also by an inward and strange working in the heart of man and all these be acts of Gods just judgement whereby hee punisheth mans sinne So that hardnesse and excaecation in respect of it selfe is sinne In respect of the consequents the cause of sinne and it is in respect of 〈…〉 God workes is difficult from the blame God is free from the guilt he is also free let man looke to both these But the punishment of sinne being an act of his justice hee acknowledgeth and in the punishment note three things 1. The matter wherewith a man is punished 2. The contrarietie betweene the partie and the punishment 3. The order of consequence that where such an offence went before such an evill shall follow to make the offender feele the smart of it In those punishments which be punishments onely and not sinnes God is the Author of all things implyed In those which be sinnes as well as punishments God is onely the Author of the order of consequence and of the contrarietie betweene the punishments and the parties punished as for example Pride is punisht by envie now envie is not of God But there is a contrarietie betweene the soule of a proud man and it which makes it bitter and afflictive and there is an order of consequence that where such a sinne went before there such a punishment should follow This is of God So that God workes in sinne 1. Positively as it is a physicall act 2. Morally as it is a just punishment of sin 3. Permissively as it is a sin not by giving consent to the doing of it but in not hindring it Yet in all this we doe not say that God is the author of sinne Antid in Rom. pag. 715. as Stapleton accuseth Calvin and Becanus p. 6. who saith that the God of the Calvinists is the author of sinne nor as Bellar mine 〈…〉 Beza First that we say God to be truly and properly the cause of those sinnes which men commit De amissione gratiae et statu peccatt Lib. 2. Cap 4. Secondly that we say God truly properly to sinne Thirdly God alone truly to sinne whereas Calvin holds the quite contrary Ins●●ut Lib. 1. Cap. 14. Sect. 16. Lab. 2. Cap. 4. Sect. 2. Neminem indurat nis●●e●●ò Epist 106. Non in●u●dendo malitiam sed ●●b●r ●●endo gratiam Aug. ad Sixtum Epist 105. But wee say that induration and excaecation bee just judgements of God He hardens none but deservedly saith Augustine and in Calvins judgement there bee these parts to bee considered First the withdrawing of his divine helpe Not by infusing malice but by withdrawing grace The punishment of precedent sinne when God takes away those helps of grace which formerly they had and when man wants this help of his owne accord hee rusheth into sinne Hence Pharaos heart grew hard because God would not give him grace to hearken to his ministers Moses and Aaron And the Gentiles having their cogitations darkened that is God not enlightening them with his grace they gave themselves over unto wantonnesse and to worke all iniquity with greedinesse Eph. 4.18.19 and this denying of grace is no sinne because it doth not conferre grace Secondly the delivering of man into the power of Satan which is Gods just judgement upon man for sinne as 1. King 22.22 when hee bade Satan deceive the false Prophets Thou shalt intice him and prevaile goe forth and doe so and in this no sin for Satan being the executioner of Gods anger and judgements doth so plunge those that are turned over to him into eternall destruction that he punisheth their former sinnes by making them commit greater than they did before thus did God with the wicked people Rom. 1.24 Because they regarded not to know God therefore God gave them over that Sathan might punish them by driving them into greater sinnes than ever they had committed before Thirdly divine permission when God suffers Sathan and wicked men to runne into sinne but without his furtherance as Psal 81.12 My people would not hearken Israel would not obey therefore I gave them over to the hardnesse of their heart let them follow their owne imaginations as he did here with the Iewes so did he with the Gentiles Act. 14.16 The God that made heaven earth in time past suffered all the Gentiles to walke in their owne waies and in Zach. 8.16 I set all men every one against his brother and yet in this permission God is neither altogether unwilling that it should bee done for it were impossible to bee done if God were wholly against it neither is he simply willing because hee doth both hate sinne and punish it as Psal 5.5 So that if permission be referred to the act of sinne God hates it wills it not but unwilling permits it but if referred to the end not which the agent doth intend but which the divine wisdome deduceth from thence then he permits it willingly Fourthly the determination of sinne when God will not suffer the wicked to goe on in sinne so farre as they desire but sets them bounds that they cannot goe beyond and as hee did with the seas Iob 38.11 Hither shalt thou goe as hee did with Sathan in the tempting of Iob All that hee hath is in thy power but upon himselfe put not forth thy hand Iob 1.12 as hee did with Pharaoh he suffered him to vex and persecute Israell but when Pharaoh would have maliciously brought them backe againe and intended more exquisite cruelty

offered by Moses and Aaron The Iewes they slue Christ and the Apostles and upon this followed the judgement Then came the floud upon the old world fire upon Sodome the sea in upon Aegvpt the spirit of slumber upon the Iewes There cannot be a greater judgement than to be strucke with a spirituall lethargie that nothing will waken to have hearts so hard that nothing can soften them to be like Epimenides in his cave or like the famous sleepers in the time of the Emperour De●ius o● like Dionysius of Heraclea c. But this will better appeare in the two particulars whereof the first is Eyes that they should not see Salvian Lib 2. The eyes of the body which are fenestrae mentis the windowes of the minde should guide from corporall and the eyes of the minde from spirituall dangers * Tria imp●●iunt occulum 1. Ten●brae viz. peccata 2. Humor concretus viz. conflu●us peco●torum 3. Cura terrenorum With the former they lookt cleere enough not a mote in them but in the eyes of their mindes there were great beames that they could not see Three things hinder the eye 1. Darknesse to wit sinnes 2. a Concrete humour to wit a concusse of sinnes 3. The care for earthly things This Christ upbraided them with I speake to them in parables because seeing doe not see c. Matth. 13.13 which was a just judgement saith Musculus a Quia cùm loquebat●r perspicùe noluerunt intell●gire in paenam jam loquitur obscurè Because they would not understand when he spake cleerely to their punishment hee now speaketh obscurely And againe in Ioh. 12.40 He hath blinded their eyes c. Will you know a point by the way When the Iewes bewrayed their blindnesse that was in the time of Christ the Prophets and Apostles as Musculus observes and hee gives this note upon it b Malum ingenium impiorum nunquā cl●riùs deprehenditur qùam ub●lux veritatis splendere incipit The ill disposition of the wicked as never more clearely discerned than where the light of the truth begins to shine As c Splendente solenoctuae vespertiliones naturae defectum ostendunt sed noctè circum circa volitant hae solae aves The Sunne shining the Owles and Bats shew the defect of their nature but these birds alone in the night fly about here and there So wicked men shew themselves most vile when the best meanes are used to doe them good when this light came into the world then did this people bewray their blindnesse when Christ preached powerfully professed himselfe to bee the Messias then did they most of all whet their malice and rage against him when hee said I am of God and would have instructed them in his divinitie then they goe about to take him Ioh. 7.30 When he taught that high mysterie I and the Father are one then they goe about to stone him Ioh. 10.31 The more light they had the more their blindnesse appeared In the night time all colours are alike the foulest fogs and fens are not discerned from the crystall streames but in the morning they are discerned Reprobate men are never so bad as when the best meanes are used to doe them good Herod never worse than when Iohn preaches against Herodias till then all is well but if hee lay a plaister to that sore off goes his head Whence make a difference betweene the good and bad at the hearing of the word The one trembles and therefore onely is fit to heare as Isay 66.5 Heare yee that tremble at my word The other rages as Zidkijah did with Michaiah 1 King 22.24 When this Sunne shines the one is mollified like wax the other hardened like clay when the Law is read the one melteth like the heart of Iosiah 2 King 22.19 the other is never harder than then like as Pharaoh the more miracles Moses wrought and the more Aaron spake from God the more hee was hardened to be short we may see here both the nature of the word that it can discover a mans blindnesse and finde out everie uncleane corner in his heart as Heb. 4.12 It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Secondly it is a marke to know a castaway by his hearing of the word the seeing the light makes him more blind the hearing more hard Let them take heed then that have heard so many Sermons against pride and yet studie new tricks to cover foule carkasses more than ever they did So many against neglect of the word and now absent themselves more than ever they did Against greedinesse and yet wooe and sollicite the world more than ever they did I will not say what I feare not that they are reprobates But as old Iacob said of Simeon and Levi Genes 49.6 Into their secrets let not my soule come I come a little neerer It is not Eruit illis ●culos Soto in Rom. 11. He hath pluckt out their eyes that they should not see But though hee give other eyes to to see hee gives them eyes that they should not see a greater judgement than if hee had quite taken away their eyes Qui privati sunt oculis non possunt videndo seduci For They that have no eyes cannot be seduced by seeing But the purblinde though he have eyes and see somewhat as hee in Mark. 8.24 Menlike trees is many times more wronged by seeing than if he were quite blinde for so our Saviour tels this people in Ioh. 9.41 If yee were blinde yee should not have sinne but now you see therefore your sinne remaines They had eyes to see cor●icem Legis the barke and outside of the Law sed non penetrabant oculi corum ad medullam but their eyes pierced not to the marrow thereof The points are many 1. That the word which is the best salve for some mens eyes doth take away the sight of others yet the fault is not in the word but in themselves Non crimen Phoebus noctua crimen habet The fault is not in the Sunne but in the Owle 2. When God gives a blessing as eyes to see and men abuse it and regard not God in justice deprives them of the use of it So in the Word and the Ministers which is the note of Anselmus But the note which I insist on is Observat that they saw his miracles and beleeved not The eyes of their body saw him doe those works which none could doe but God and by delegation from him as healing the sicke cleansing Lepers raising the dead yet they smoaked out the eyes of their understandings that it might not sinke into their hearts and for all that they saw they beleeved him not and therefore God in judgement casts such a mist upon their understanding that now they cannot see though they would and such a distemper is now in their eyes that the sight not onely failes but deceives them and