Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	harden_v	judgement_n	pharaoh_n	2,936	5	10.9003	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96265	A discovery, and confutation of the opinions, and practises of some false brethren, betwixt Bridge, and Lincolne: shewing how they agree in their opinions, with Pelagians; Papists; Arminians; in their practises, with Anabaptists. Wherein univerall redemption is confuted; and Gods absolute decree confirmed. / By John Wetherall, minister of Spridlington, near Lincolne. March 22. 1651. Imprimatur. John Downame.	Wetherall, John, minister of Spridlington.	1652 (1652)	Wing W1523; Thomason E661_1; ESTC R206761	53,660	88

himselfe hath fore-appoynted 6. God ordereth all these sinnes to his owne Glory and the good of his Elect. For the most sinfull Actions of man tend to the manifestation of Gods Glory either as Acts of mercy to the godly in whom sinne produceth punishment punishment Repentance Repentance Faith Faith the Favour of God and the Favour of God Life and Salvation or as Acts of Justice to the Wicked in whom sinne produceth punishment punishment hardnesse of heart hardnesse of heart incredulity incredulity hatred of God and hatred of God death and destruction All which is manifest in the different effects which sinne produced in godly David and in ungodly Pharoah as for example Davids Murther and Adultery occasioned Reproofes and Corrections from God 2. Sam. 12. Psal 6. Psal 22. These corrections and punishments wrought sorrow and Repentance in Davids heart Psal 5. that Repentance Faith and trust in God Psal 30. Psal 31. Psal 52. Psal 23. That Faith and Trust obtained Love and Favour from God Psal 27. and that Love and Favour an assured hope of Life and Salvation Psal 12. But Pharaohs oppressions provoaked God to send his judgements and plagues upon him these plagues they hardned Pharoahs heart that hardnesse of heart caused incredulity that incredulity the hatred of God and that hatred occasioned Pharaohs ruine and destruction in the red Sea as it is Exod. 14. Yea the goodnesse of God made the very drunkenesse and incest of Lot the incest of Judah the malice of the Jewes the treason of Judas and the injustice of Pilate Meanes of mans salvation yea even Adams Fall the fountaine of sinne and misery in man was by the wisdome of God made a meanes of greater happinesse to the Godly then his perseverance and continuance in Innocency could have been For if life had been given as a reward of our just Workes so the wittiest of the Schoolemen Scotus then our Worke being finite could not have merited an infinite reward the enjoyment whereof but one minute had passed our merit whereas life eternall being now conferred upon the faithfull not by way of Debt but by the Free Grace and Mercy of God this infinite Gift is proportioned not according to the meane merits of the Receiver but according to the goodnesse of God the Giver So that even Sinne it selfe on this manner that I have shewed may be said to be of God Let a man spur forward a lame Horse in that he moveth forward the Rider is Cause but that he halteth he himselfe is the cause When we see the Sun Beames shining through a Glasse the Light is from the Sun the Colour not from the Sun but from the Glasse For talis Actio cum tali defectu is not of God as sinfull Actions have in them formalem rationem peccati and are opposite to the Rule of Gods Law so God neither is nor can be the Causer of them yet is he the Cause of that inward or outward naturall Action wherein this defect of mans Will is found Entitas pravae actionis cadit in Voluntatem Divinam yet man hath not onely potentiam in se liberam but liberum usum potentiae not onely free power but also free use of his power as it appeares in Thieves Adulterers and the like who when there is danger doe not yet after do commit such sins God is no Enforcer in sinfull Actions yet may he be a Decreer or Permitter suffering persōs not elected to fall volūtarily into sins to continue volūtarily in thē to their lives end for thē to undergo endless misery in another life God decreed the permission disposing of sin which he fore-saw upon his permission would be but he did not decree the effecting or Existence of it that it should be it more appertained to Gods Omnipotent Goodnesse to draw good out of evill then not to suffer evill to be And as in bad so also in good Actions God not onely fore-sees that a man will use his Free-Will well but wils and preordaines that he shall use it well It is true that men justified by Gods Predestination by their endeavour and deliberation may be said to determine themselves to good Workes I say after Justification but it is God that moves and makes them thus to determine themselves and doe all these things with a Free Will This is a sure Rule a man doth not that good thing which by Grace he is able to doe unlesse God make him to doe it as he hath made him able to do it if he will Ad perseverantiam in Fide Gratia non opus est nova speciali Gratia sufficit ad hoc vel quod Naturà habemus vel quod semel per Spiritum adepti sumus to perseverance in Faith and Grace there needes no speciall Grace Nature or Grace once received is sufficient for this None have beene so bold to say thus but the old Pelagians and later Semi-Pelagians It is true that Christ saith of sinfull Jerusalem How often would I have gathered thy Children together as an Hen gathereth her Chickens and yee would not Mat. 23. 37. But he willed togather them not Voluntate beneplaciti which cannot be resisted but by his revealed Will using the meanes which might had man not falne have beene effectuall that impotency in our Wills comes not from the Creator but from man that fell from his Creator and the Will is now starke dead as to good Actions untill it be enlivened by God This damnable Doctrine that all men were redeemed by Christ but not made free because God distributeth his gifts according to the carelesnesse of such as came to receive them was an old rotten Heresie buried many hundred yeares since and raised up againe by the Devill to disturbe the peace of the Church in our dayes To drive this nayle any further were needlesse had I Men to deal with but my Adversaries many of them are such Beasts as fought with Paul at Ephesus therefore yet once over againe all this I have sayd shall bee poved both by evident Reasons and out of the Word of God For 1. I say God foresees all Contingent Effects to come in his own determination of the Causes thereof and therefore seeing the Contingent Operation of our Will hee determines it to the Effect 2. Els there should bee two severall beginnings of one and the same Effect in as much as Mans Will should begin to work as soon as God and concur to the Effect willed as principally as God 3. The Will of Man is but Gods Instrument the Hatchet the Hammer whereby God hewes out his own worke but every one that useth any Instrument moves applies and determines it to his own will 4. The Will of Man is but a secondary subordinate Cause under the first Cause which is God and exceeds not the measure of second Causes but if it were not determined by the first Cause it should be all one with the first Cause it selfe Second Causes are alwaies

moved to their Effects by the First and in their operations reduced to the motion of one universall prime Cause that is God Therefore it is the Scriptures say that the way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man to direct his owne steps Jer. 10. 28. It is God that gives a new heart and puts a new spirit in man Jer. 31. 33. God placed the members in mans body and orders them as it pleaseth him 1. Cor. 12. 18. It is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it as it pleaseth him Prov. 21. 1. He hardened Pharaohs heart Exod. 7. 3. as hard as a stone and he takes away our stony hearts and gives us hearts of flesh he hath done he doth and he will doe what he will The will of God was but fulfilled when Judas did betray Jesus Act. 1. 16. Herod Pontius Pilate and the whole Synagogue of the Jewes did no more then what God had determined to be done Act. 2. 23. and Act. 4. 28. The whole World united can doe nothing but what God will and God is not moved consequently by any thing which he as a superiour Cause moves and determines to the Effect but God himselfe antecedently as a superiour Cause moves and determines the Will of man to the Effect or that which it wils be it good or ill Therefore it follows God is not consequently moved by the good or ill use of the Free Will of man therefore the good use of mans Will foreseen moved not God to Elect him and the evill use of mans Will foreseen was not the Cause that God Reprobated him Therefore God had no Antecedent Will to save the Reprobate if they would by their Free Will receive and use his Grace aright therefore Gods Decree touching the Salvation and Reprobation of men is lastly and finally resolved into his owne pure Will Universalist thou tellest me of the love of God to Man and in that thou tellest me true for if all the World were full of Bookes if all the men in the world were Writers and if all the water in the Sea were Inke yet the Bookes would bee written the Writers weary the Inke spent and yet the Love of God to us poorely expressed but then let me tell thee that this Love of God to man should make a reflection towards this Sun and move man to love God againe and nothing but God and himselfe for this God that loved him when he was nothing submitting himselfe wholy and soly to the Will of God There are foure degrees of Love First a man loves himselfe for his owne sake for he is flesh and so naturally can love nothing but himselfe but when he sees that he cannot subsist without God then necessity compels him but for his owne sake still to flie to God and when he has begun to love God though but for his owne sake and begins withall to taste and see how sweet God is then he loves God no more for his owne sake but for Gods sake and when he has attained to this third step to love God for Gods sake he staies there and strives if it be possible for any man to obtaine this heavenly happynesse heere on Earth to love himselfe onely for Gods sake Thus the true love of God should both begin and end onely in God like a Circle which begins and ends in it selfe Now let Mr. T. take heed how hee preach against this absolute Will and Power in God and plead his owne Faith and Workes lest God at length be avenged on him God hath leaden heeles but iron hands he seemes to winke with his eyes but it is as Gunners use that they may hit surer when they shoot Origen in his second Booke against Celsus saith thus A certaine man gave counsell to his friend that was sick not to send for the Physitian because sayd he it is already appoynted by Destiny either that thou shalt recover of this Disease or that thou shalt not if it be appoynted by God or by thy Destiny that thou shalt recover thou shalt then not need the Physitian if it be not appoynted by God if it be not thy Destiny to recover the Physitian though hee come cannot helpe thee wherefore whether God have decreed thou shalt recover or not the Physitian will be called in vaine Another by the like Argument disswaded his Friend from Marriage Thou wilt marry a Wife sayd he to beget Children but if it be thy Destiny to have Children thou shalt have them without a Wife if it be not thy Destiny it will nothing further thee to marry a Wife for whatsoever Destiny hath decreed in this kinde will come to passe it is in vaine therefore to marry a Wife Thus wicked men deride and would rather that blind-man-buffle in the World then that God determine every Action and Event or fix his Decree But the first did send for the Physitian and the second did marry a Wife Hee us'd a wiser Argument who told them that God having Predestinated Men to such Ends Predestinated also that they should use the Means The sick man might safely answer nay rather if God have Decreed I shall recover therefore I will send for the Physitian that by his means I may attaine to that which God hath Decreed Thus Hezekiah had fifteen years added to his life by using the meanes and yet he 's a Devill that denies God did from all eternity determine the certaine number of his dayes And that other might answer if God have appoynted I shall have children seeing it can or ought to come to passe by no other meanes I will marry a Wife In this absolute Predestination we are far enough from the Stoicks Fate they subjected God himselfe to Fate we subject Fate that is the necessity of things to Gods most Free-Will they under the name of Fate understood a necessary connexion of naturall Causes and Effects we teach that God can and often doth suspend these Effects and works besides nay against Nature The Stoicks tooke away all contingency Wee admit contingency in respect of second Causes but we say there is a certaine prescience in the first Cause all things are ordered by the providence of God Indeed the Turks out of their obstinate beliefe of Predestination brutishly contemne all kindes of dangers for they say that as soone as man comes out of his mothers Wombe to enjoy the light of the world God writes in his forehead all the good or evill that shall happen unto him and particularly of what death hee shall dye the necessity whereof they say no humane power can avoyd and hence it came to passe that Anno 1611. there died of the Plague in Constantinople 200000. in five months every day 12 or 15 hundred for they will not turn away from a body dead of this disease nor forbeare to visit