Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	church_n	particular_a	universal_a	2,966	5	9.4467	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42882	Stimluus [sic] orthodoxus, sive Goadus redivivus A disputation partly thological, partly metaphysical, concerning the necessity and contingency of events in the world, in respect of Gods eternal decree. Written above twenty years since by that reverend and learned divine, Thomas Goad, doctor of divinity, and rector of Hadleigh in Suffolk.	Goad, Thomas, 1576-1638.	1661 (1661)	Wing G904; ESTC R216465	22,144	30

the number of objects for so as I said before no knowledge can be infinite but in respect of the omnipotent and boundless manner of actual comprehending those things with an infallible fore-sight which in respect of God were contingent their not being being as possible as their being And indeed this fore-sight of future contingents is the true character and Royal prerogative of Divine knowledge and Ergo in the 41 of Esay God upbraideth the Pagan Deities with this priviledge peculiar to Himself though juglingly pretended by them in their lying Oracles vers 21. The Lord biddeth them produce Gnatzumotheken the strongest Arguments by which they could prove themselves Gods and in the next verse he particularizeth and thrice bids them tell if they can what shall happen in the times to come It s worth the observing how that there was never any sort of Diviners Artificial I speak not of Devils Witches Gypsies and such palpable Impostors that undertook to fore-tell future contingents for if you prove those things which Astrologers and Physiognomers undertake to foretell to be meer contingent in respect of the Horoscope or Complexion and no way to depend on them as natural causes you have proved their Arts to be but Impostures How much then do our Opposites dishonor God in this case making the great miracle of his foresight of future contingents to be as much as nothing seeing they say that albeit they are contingent in respect of us yet they are necessary in respect of Him When any man hath answered any of these four Arguments then will I change my opinion In the mean time I proceed to the vindicating of it from such exceptions and objections as our enemies in this case make against it The dissipating of those mists wherewith they endeavour to obscure this opinion will not onely clear the truth of it for belief but also the sense of it for understanding Object 1 First they say That while we avoid their Stoicism as we term it we fall into flat Epicurism for while we make so many things in the world to fall out according to the inconstant bent of voluntary Agents we Deifie Chance and make Fortune a goddess we do in effect deny Gods providence which they say makes all things come to pass according to a most wise and constant method Answ I will be as forward as any man to Anathematize him whosoever he be who holdeth any thing to fall out fortuito in respect of God I will make it most evident that our opinion makes no Chance in respect of God and most sweetly illustrates Gods Providence First There is a vast difference between Contingency and Casuality Contingency is an equal possibility of being or not being Casuality is the coming to pass of an event ex improviso beside the fore-thought as I may say of the thing Now it is our assertion that many things fall out contingently in respect of God because he imposed no necessity upon their being but left them to the pleasure of the inferior causes that they might as well not have been as been But we say withall that nothing falleth out accidentally or casually in respect of God because nothing cometh to pass without his most certain and unerring foresight he knowing from all eternity what his creatures would do though he left it to their pleasure to do what they list In events there is a great difference between Contingency and Casuality of events in respect of men for most things we do we do contingently we being not bound by any inevitable necessity to do them yet as long as we do them upon certain persuasive reasons for certain ends we do them not by chance The same events yet are not after the same manner contingent in respect of God as they are in respect of us for He out of the Prerogative of His Deity fore-knoweth them but we by reason of our mortality cannot have infallible foresight of them and what foresight we have is in a very little distance And indeed if this point be punctually canvased we shall perceive that in that same proportion we have any knowledge of them they are not contingent but necessary for every thing so far forth as it is in existence or in near preparation for it is necessary Contingency is the middle point between necessity and impossibility of being and therefore so much as any thing inclineth to existence it is necessary The want or neglect of the distinction between contingency and casualty ☞ hath been a great cause of the error we confute for our Opposites still taking fortuito and contingenter for Synonyma because they would have nothing casual in respect of God therefore they would have every thing necessary not discerning the middle path which we walk in between Epicurism and Stoicism Concerning Gods Providence we teach that although according to that ordinary course which we call nature which he hath prescribed for the operation of his creatures in the decree of Creation many things fall out according to the free choice of voluntary Agents no way by Him necessitated yet God is still busie with a double providence The first is universal by this whatsoever natural Agents do contingently He fore-seeth most clearly and ordereth it most wisely according to His glory the preservation of the Vniverse and good of His creatures The second is particular by this He puts in oft-times a miraculous finger into such contingent business as respects his Church and oft-times so worketh the heart of the voluntary Agent that sometimes he doth that which if he had been left alone to himself he would not have done and sometimes is secretly diverted from the doing of that which otherwise he would most willingly and in all likelihood could most easily have done And here our Opposites may please to observe how our opinion is so far from denying particular Providence that it onely maintaineth a Providence properly termed Particular for that particular Providence which our Opposites so much talk of if it be well looked into will appear to be in no better sense particular than the Roman Church is universal They say That there is not any numerical act performed by any creature without an eternal decree from God this they call particular providence Alas this is the general which concerneth all the actions performed by all things or at least one mixt of general and particular As for example Because it raineth to day God so ordering that it should is it any sense to say This rain was by the particular providence of God unlesse we espied extraordinary matter in it We therefore call that universal providence whereby God directeth whatsoever His creatures do according to their natural propensions for the preservation and good of the Universe We term that particular or speciall providence whereby God interposing his extraordinary power amongst the contingent affairs of Common-wealths or private men sometimes by sensible miracles and prodigies sometimes by His secret omnipotency

sensible onely in the Event manifesteth His Mercy or Justice to His own Glory or good of His Church This is properly termed special providence and in this sense it is taken by La Vosino the Italian in his Tract De particulari Providentiâ and by those who have wrote of that subject Well then I will now specifie my faith concerning Gods Providence First it is very probable that petty trivial matters such as are indifferent not onely in respect of themselves but also of their consequences fall out altogether contingently without any necessitating decree These matters of lesser moment are of three sorts 1. The toys and trifling vanities of voluntary Agents such as the Italians term Badalucii or Ballocametti What a company of idle gestures and sporting tricks use we every day which doubtless for ought God hath decreed we might have as easily omitted 2. The petty consequences of the main actions of natural Agents for example though the main drift and scope of the operations of the Elements and Meteors be according to the method eternally prescribed them by God yet some particular events accompanying their operations some circumstances questionless were not prefixed by a particular decree as now and then it hapneth to rain when the Sun shineth I cannot believe that there 's any special decree concerning this Hear I would have the Reader observe how these events are not so properly called contingent as those other are for they were swayed by no decree either general or special from the middle point between necessity and impossibility of being But these though they are contingent in respect of a particular decree and may as well not be as be for ought God hath precisely determined concerning them yet in respect of the general method prefixed to natural Agents they do necessarily come to pass because their main office cannot be performed without these circumstances and consequences The last sort are mixed of the two former and include all such events as result from the contingent concourse of natural and voluntary Agents as when the wind bloweth off ones hat c. to say that God particularly decreed such trifles I think it injurious to the Majesty of His Determinations But here by trifles I mean such matters as I said before which are indifferent not onely in respect of themselves but also of their consequences 2ly I believe that things of greatest moment are done necessarily by the immediate power of God either by swaying men from their own proper inclinations or by supernatural means quite crossing their enterprises So we read in the Scripture and Church-stories how God hath sometimes quite changed the hearts of men for some great purpose concerning his Church and glory 3ly I believe that the middle sort of events in the world such as are neither trivial nor yet extraordinary the ordinary serious matters which concern Religion Common-wealths the temporal and spiritual good of private men the preservation from confusion c. Of these I say my belief is that though ordinarily men and unreasonable Agents do things contingently yet God doth so manage this contingency daily and hourly interposing His power according to His Mercy or Justice that very few matters of consequence are meerly contingent For example Because I see Marriage for the most part to be either a great curse or a great blessing * This may so happen upon the post-fact I am so far perswaded of the truth of the common saying that I think that Marriages for the most part are made in heaven * Sure Davids was nor a Sam. 11.17 before they are on earth Let a man diligently peruse any story and he shall find many things done ordinarily according to the natural bent of particular persons and so contingently in respect of God and yet let him joyn all things done by all the Actors in the story together let him accurately observe how one thing followeth upon another he shall find that still at the last there will be something from the finger of God manifesting the glory either of His Mercy or Justice If we read the History of the Reformation begun by Luther and other Divines of Germany we shall perceive many things done by the natural humors of men by the guidance of Divine wisdom made admirable furtherances of the Reformation The like may be said of Henry the 8th his Marriage which set most Universities in Christendom a Disputing and the dissolution of Abbeys The like indeed may be observed in any History especially if it concern Religion or a Christian Common-wealth for I conceive that Gods Providence is more or less remarkable in a place proportionable to the profession of Religion Let a man but diligently observe the prime passages of his own times let him mark how the chief Actors in them do all things according to their particular bents and private humors yet let him more the upshot he shall perceive that there was some secret guide which directed all to God's glory though men do what they list according to their own pleasure The best Demonstration of this most usefull and delightfull truth every man might best make to himself if he would but seriously and circumspectly consider the whole course of his own life and mark how whatsoever he hath done out of the absolute freedom of his choice his actions have been turned and winded now and then contrary to his intent now and then beyond it now and then beside it sometimes to his grief sometimes to his comfort always to be examples of Gods Mercy or His Justice he will easily perceive how excellently the Divine Providence worketh upon Contingencies If men would be busied upon such contemplations they would not shuffle away so many good hours with those waking dreams of fantastick solitary discoursings which Charron and others have wisely taxed Here the Reader may see how I suppose some things necessary some things contingent some things mixt by reason of divers circumstances of both kinds by no means undertaking precisely to determine how many things are done contingently or how many necessarily c. Now as we have formerly shewed how our opinion doth most exactly Blazon the Divinity of Gods infinite knowledge by which He simply knoweth all things so also it doth most clearly set forth the honor of His active wisdom by which he governeth all things for to order all things in an harmonious concord to good whatsoever the confused distracted discord of choices in inferior causes produce is a more glorious and superlative act of wisdom than first to decree how all things shall be done according to certain platforms and to see them effected according to them Yea this conceit though it be Stoicism in it self yet it openeth a greater overture to Epicurism than ours for Ep curus and his fellows believed there were gods but they imagin'd that they incumbred not themselves with the ordering of sublunary matters but suffered matters here below to go for the most part