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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	know_v	lord_n	see_v	2,747	5	3.2536	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44137	A discourse of the knowledge of God, and of our selves I. by the light of nature, II. by the sacred Scriptures / written by Sir Matthew Hale, Knight ... for his private meditation and exercise ; to which are added, A brief abstract of the Christian religion, and, Considerations seasonable at all times, for the cleansing of the heart and life, by the same author.	Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676.	1688 (1688)	Wing H240; ESTC R4988	321,717	542

that most rational and clear Doctrine of our Saviour 2. The thing denominating that action sinful it is the Obliquity of the act of the Will for the last act of the Will which preceeded the action is the Sin and the action divided from that act of the Willing is not nor can be sinful It is therefore called a sinful action because it is the fruit or expression of an act of the Will moving contrary to this Law of God. And by this it is evident that the Sin is not inherent in the external action produced by the Will but in the Will it self and that the Sin hath a pre-existence such as it is in the Consent of the Will before the action is produced And according to the measure of the freeness and fulness of that Consent is the measure of the Sin and not according to the action though it be regularly true that that consent of the Will that is strongest produceth most ordinarily an action Hence it is that an action contrary to the Command of God produced either through Incogitancy Fear Surprize Passion is not so great a sin as a deliberate studied resolved Sin though in truth it be not produced into act by reason of some extrinsecal impediment because there is a fuller Consent of the Will in the latter than in the former These things being premised we may conclude 1. God's Counsel doth not predetermine the Will to any evil for although it is true the Obligation of a Law is the necessary Antecedent of every Sin and it is impossible that the Laws which God gives to man do bind the Law-giver yet this is inconsistent with his Purity Truth and Justice Inconsistent with his Purity for certainly there is an intrinsecal Justice and Holiness in the Law of God whereof he cannot cause the Violation Inconsistent with his Truth the Will of his Counsel never crosseth the Will of his Command Inconsistent with his Justice to require an Obedience to that Law whereof he doth necessitate the breach And in this case predeterminating the Action by way of necessitating the Will and to predetermine the Obliquity differs little 2. Much less doth he infuse Obliquity or Evil into the Will to serve the Series of his Counsels But then it seems the Evil Actions of Men are out of the Counsel of God or God must take up new Counsels upon the Vision or at least Prevision of the actions of Men. No But here we must remember what hath been before premised that here is seen the great Justice and Wisdom of this Counsel that it puts nothing off from that manner of operation wherewith the God of Nature hath endued it Thus he draws out infallibly the action of a free Agent even in things sinful and yet the Will moves freely in what it doth and consequently owes that Sin to it self The Counsel of God is active in these particulars 1. Proposing of an Object The Babylonish Garment was no cause of Achan's sin for it was propounded to him meerly objectively and was passive to his Choice 〈◊〉 Permitting extrinsecal Moral Perswasions unto 〈…〉 This is Temptation Adam was created without 〈◊〉 yet with Liberty to sin He was left wholly in the hands of his own Will here was an Object presented the fruit was fair to look upon and Moral Perswasions by the Devil that there was no danger that it would make them wise the Man eats This is most clearly a most free act for neither the proposition of the Object nor Perswasions do any way derogate from the freedom of the action God could in his Counsel have intercepted the Object or impeded the Perswasion he doth neither the sin is committed and that without the least colour of imputation to the Counsel of God for the Man's Will was not necessitated he sinned freely 3. By withdrawing those efficacious Aids of his Grace and Dispensation which especially since the Fall of Man are the great impediment to that Career of sin that Man would run And this is no violation of Man's Nature or Freedom for they are extrinsecal to his Nature and therefore not due to him nor is he injured if withdrawn from him especially since for the most part Man thrusts them away before they are taken Such are the outward dispensations of his Providence in Education Affliction Prosperity the Preaching of his Word Advice of Friends giving external Allays to the humours of the Body These and the like God lends to the Sons of Men and may take them again when he will. And as he hath such outward operations so without question such is the Vicinity of God to our Souls that there are Secret Inward Perswasions sent in by the Power of God to our Souls which as they do not violate the Liberty of our Wills but direct them so they are not due to the Creature debito justitiae and may be withdrawn without injustice 4. By Ordering it Thus the Wise God oftentimes brings Good out of Evil by the restraining the sin quo ad hoc by the Dispensation of his Providence as a wise Politician will order the Ambition Cruelty Lust c. of Men for bringing good to the Common-wealth The Depravation of Man's Nature is Universal and like as the Water would diffuse it self over the whole Surface in the pursuit of its own motion and Nature so the corrupted Nature of Man being now become universally evil would diffuse it self in all disorders but as a wary Artist will by external Provisions not only confine this natural motion of this extravagant Element to this or that course but also make its natural motion serviceable for artificial ends so the Wise God doth not only set Bars and Doors and saith to this Sea of Mischief Hitherto shalt thou go and no farther and here shall thy proud Waves stay but also so manageth the same that whiles Man sins he works his Creator's Will which he knows not O Assyrian the rod of mine anger c. howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few Isa 10.7 A sinful and unthankful Israel deserves a punishment an ambitious and cruel Assyrian flies at all opportunity of Rapine and Spoil the Wise God shuts him up upon all sides but that which is towards Israel and there he finds a passage and breaks out satisfies freely his own ambitious ends which only he pursued yet fulfils the Will of our Creator which he knew not nor thought of This also cometh from the Lord who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working Those ways of God and the manner of his Concurrence in those actions are evident in Scripture Exod. 7.3 I will harden Pharaoh 's he●rt c. Verse 11. They cast down their rods and they became Serpents c. and he hardened Pharaoh 's he●rt that he hearkened not unto them Exod. 8.15 When Pharaoh saw that there was respite he hardened his heart and

Scholastical and Metaphysical and therefore somewhat above the Capacity of ordinary Readers but it is but short but the other is for the most part plain and easie such as may be of great use to the meanest Capacities and yet full of matter worthy the Contemplation of the greatest But of the whole I must farther observe that it was a work of his younger years that he afterward much improved his Metaphysical and Scholastical Observations and Discourses and somewhat altered his opinion touching some Points in Controversie especially between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants But as in what is Scholastical there is nothing but what is agreeable to the Sentiments of the most eminent Writers in that kind of Learning so neither in the rest is there any thing disputable but what is maintain'd by eminent Men of the Church of England as the Doctrine of this Church And since his opinion neither first nor last was other than what hath been and is at this day asserted to be the Doctrine of this Church or at least within the bounds of what is so asserted For he was always very moderate in these things I conceive I need not trouble the Reader or my self farther about it And now if these things only which I have hitherto mention'd be duly considered I conceive they will afford so just Excuse and full Vindication of the Author against all Censures Cavils and Exceptions to any thing in this Work that I think they are not to be feared from any but such as have little ingenuity or sense of Humanity And the Censures and Cavils of such I am of opinion ought to be contemned And for my own part I hope I shall never be affrighted from any good and justifiable work by any such Bug-bears But I intend not only to do Right but to do Honour and yet no more than is justly due in what I do to our excellent Author And to this end I must take notice of the Time when this was written And that was about the same time when he began his Practice at the Law. He had at that time gone through and made himself Master of a long and intricate Study of a quite different nature from this had read and abridged all the Old and all the New Law then extant in two Volumes in Folio still to be seen had read over a great part of the Records as may be seen in his marginal Notes and References in divers of his Books and in the Transcripts of much of thom now in the Library of Lincoln's Inn for he spared neither pains nor charge in those things before ever he began to practise had looked into the Civil and Canon Laws so far as they are in use with us or were subservient to the compleat Knowledge of our Laws in short had read what ever either of Law History or other Books in Print or Manuscript he thought could any way conduce to compleat his Knowledge and Skill in his Profession of the Law. And for a Man thus industriously imployed in such Studies and yet to have made such a Progress in Philosophy and Divinity as appears by this Book nay and to write such a Book under such Circumstances as I have mentioned before and at such an Age viz. about thirty or one and thirty having been till then so busie in other Studies must needs I am perswaded in the judgment of all candid persons raise him and his Book not only above all need of other Excuse but to a high degree of Admiration The truth is what he performed in his Studies is almost as incredible as it is most certain and true But as he was admirably qualified by Nature for Studies so I doubt not but he had an extraordinary Blessing attending his Labours therein For if this be reasonable to be believed of any then certainly must I believe it of him upon divers Considerations as 1. His great Piety and Devotion and frequent application to Almighty God in the midst of his secular Imployments 2. His religious observance and imployment of times set apart for sacred uses And 3. His conscientious application to and use of his Civil Profession Of all which in him I think I have as certain knowledge both by my Conversation and discourse of matters of Religion with him by perusal of his Writings of all sorts and by observation of his Actions as ordinarily any Man can have of another And therefore though the Representation of his great Industry Learning and Abilities be much for his Honour yet is it a greater Honour than all this which I intend to his Memory in the publication of this Book And that is to demonstrate from thence the true Principles of all his Worth and of those great and generous Actions which have made him so famous in his Generation and like to be so in future Ages and thereby give the Reader the clearest truest Prospect into the whole course of his Life Had he not been very cordially and deeply affected with these things it is no way credible that a Man so very intent upon other Studies of so different a nature for the six days together could upon the seventh so intirely have withdrawn his Mind from them as to apply it so closely to these And this being written at his very entrance upon his Practice and his Actions ever since being so reducible to the Principles discovered in this nothing could give a more true and satisfactory Prospect into the Fundamentals of the future part of his Life and consequent Actions He was indeed the most Heavenly-minded Man I have ever known He had had a Religious Education from his Childhood and he very early made his Religion the Religion of his Judgment and Choice not of his Education only He read the S. Scriptures to know it then studied the Works of Creation Providence and the Moral Evidences of the Christian Religion to know the Truth of it And having laid so deep a Foundation he ever after built firmly upon it and by his faithful observance of it arrived to that full Satisfaction and Knowledge of it which our Saviour mentions John 7.17 He began these Studies very early how early I do not precisely know but this I know from his own mouth that he was very busie in them while he studied at Oxford For when I first perused part of this Book I told him I perceived he had before he wrote it been acquainted with the Schoolmen and considering when it was written and how hard a Student he had been in the Law till that time desired to know when he could have had leisure for those Studies and what Authors he read He told me At Oxford and that he there read Aquinas Scotus Suarez and others whom he particularly named but these I remember And here by the way we may take notice how much he is misrepresented and injured in that Story printed in the Relation which very unadvisedly and improperly bears the name of his

his Glory by the death of Christ who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World Man is created in a glorious happy free Estate he hath a Covenant made with him which he may keep or break at his own liberty he is left in his own hands and not necessitated to break that Covenant which he but even now made with his Maker if he had done so the sending of Christ had been needless Man falls now is Christ promised Gen. 3.15 and after confined to the Line of Abraham Gen. 18.18 and after to the Line of David See what a World of Interventions of Accidents and Success interposed between the Promise and the Event the Birth of Christ any one whereof if it had miscarried had disappointed the whole Success When he was born what strange Events happen for the fulfilling of all the Prophecies concerning him So in the fulfilling of the Prophecy made to Abraham that after four hundred years bondage his Posterity should enjoy the Land of Canaan Gen. 15. ver 13 18. What a world of strange Interpositions were there conducing to the fulfilling of it between that and Exod. 12.40 and Joshua 18.1 The Births of Isaac Jacob and the Patriarchs the Dream of Joseph that caus'd envy against him and that very Envy conducing to the fulfilling of his Dream he is sold to the Ishmaelites by them to the Egyptians he is injured and imprisoned Pharaoh's Butler is imprisoned in the same Prison and then dreams this interpreted by Joseph the Butler delivered Pharaoh dreams Joseph is mentioned and interprets it is advanced furnisheth Egypt to be the Magazine of Africa the Famine pincheth Jacob's Family this lead his Sons to Egypt Joseph is discovered Jacob sent for he and his Family sixty six Persons go down into Egypt What a Circle is here of the Divine Counsel managing these seeming Casualties to fulfill that part of the Prophecy to Abraham That his Seed should be Strangers in a Land that was not theirs Well for their Deliverance from thence they must be oppressed that 's not enough the Males must be killed had not this been Moses had not been exposed Pharaoh's Daughter must come just to prevent his drowning and to give the opportunity of a learned Education this was the Instrument of their Deliverance The like we might pursue in the following Passages wherein we may see the Wise God by his Wise Counsel marshalling the Means fitting them most admirably with Circumstances and strange Conjunctures for the fulfilling of his purposed Ends. And herein is the Excellency of the Scripture that shews us a Hand ordering and disposing by a most Wise Counsel these seeming tumultuary and disorderly Passages in the World to most admirable and fixed Ends. This is the first thing wherein the Wisdom of this Counsel of God is seen in chaining all things one to another by the very same purpose whereby he determined the End. 2. That in the disposing of Means and Ends every thing notwithstanding moves according to that Law that he hath given to its particular Being We usually distinguish the actions or successes of things within our observation into three Ranks or Ranges viz. Necessary Voluntary Contingent 1. Necessary Effects are such as their Causes being admitted have a necessary conjunction therewith or consequence thereupon according to the usual course of Nature Such are the Consequences that rise upon the motions of the Heavens as the positions of the Planets the Consequents that arise upon the contiguity or conjunction of the Elements and divers such things that hold a constant course in Nature These although the great God may and sometimes doth interrupt by the extraordinary acts of his Power and to shew his Freedom yet most admirably he doth not hinder but useth them to the production of his own most sure Counsels And this evidenceth the Infinite Wisdom of the great God that hath so admirably framed his Works and his Counsels that while the former move uniformly according to that prescript Rule and Law which the God of Nature hath put into them yet the latter shall not be interrupted but effected by them though they know it not nor mean it not As when we see in a curious Watch the uniform motion of the Spring serving to produce several artificial motions as of the hour of the Day the day of the Month the age of the Moon and the like we commend the Wisdom of the Artist that hath so tempered the Spring that by one uniform motion it may be useful for all these and hath likewise so directed and managed this natural motion of the Spring to serve exactly those different intellectual motions and do conclude that the contrivance of this piece of Work was all at one time otherwise it were impossible that every part should hold that order So when we see the natural moti●ns of the Creatures conducing to the production of those rational Ends which God hath appointed we may justly admire the Wisdom of God that while he intends a Purpose above the conception or drift of a natural Agent he bringeth it about without the violation of the Rules or Laws which he hath appointed to be constant in Nature and may most justly conclude That the Law of Necessity in the natural Agents is but the Effect of that ●●ry Counsel that hath predetermined his own Purp●●●s by them and that they are all of a piece all laid at the same time And from thence grows the subservience of the natural Agent in the most rigid Law and Rule of his Operation unto the free Counsels of the great God that doth most sweetly and infallibly ●ffect the latter without the violation of that Rule which he hath given to the former And hence it is that those Effects which are produced naturally by natural Causes we do and may call Natural and Necessary and yet it excludes not the Counsel of the Divine Will in the production of it for it is the same Counsel that hath made this necessary connexion between the Cause and the Effect that did predetermine the Effect to be produced Here then is conspicuous the Wisdom of God that while his Creatures in whom he hath placed an uniform Course of Working fulfil his Will yet they keep their Law of Unformity and Necessity 2. Voluntary And this is admirable that whiles Voluntary Agents do most necessarily fulfil the Counsel of God yet they do it without the least diminution of their Freedom The Jews did most freely crucifie Christ yet it was by the predeterminate Counsel of God Pharaoh did most freely refuse to let Israel go yet Almighty God tells him for this purpose had he raised him up to shew his Power upon him Exod. 9.16 And from hence we may observe the reason why Almighty God in all times hath used rational ways for the reducing of Men to the Obedience of his Will not but that he could if he pleased force the Wills of all Mankind to what Dispositions or Actions

hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said ibid. Verse 32. and divers other parts of the History The Lord hardened his Heart by Permission of the Magicians Miracles by permitting objective presenting to him the Profit of the Jews Labours by Withdrawing that external Concurrence and operation of his Grace which might have softned it and Pharaoh actively hardens his own Heart 2 Sam. 24.1 Israel had offended God and must be punished but there was an Impediment to the Execution of this Judgment David's Integrity who was concerned in the good or evil of his People if God withdraw his assistance from David and let in Satan to tempt him David will sin as well as his People and so both deservedly punishable And he moved David to number the people yet 1 Chron. 21.1 And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number the people Here were three Parties God moved by permitting Satan to provoke by withdrawing a powerful Countermotion by Ordering David's sin for the means of the punishment of Israel's sin Satan provoked incited and perswaded either immediately or mediately for now the Watchman is gone God hath withdrawn his Hand and Satan loseth not the opportunity David numbers David's Heart was as corrupt and vain-glorious as anothers and as easily surprized by a Temptation when the Keeper of Israel is absent and remoto impedimento sins as freely and more naturally as before it walked conformable to the Will of his Maker this Sampson hath lost his Locks and he becomes as another Man. In the mean time let us ever admire the Justice of our Maker who never necessitates us to incur a Punishment by necessitating our Sin and his Mercy in rewarding that Obedience which he alone performs in us Also to thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every Man according to his Works Psalm 62.12 CHAP. III. Of the Execution of the Eternal Counsel of God in his Works of Creation and Providence NOW we come to consider the Execution of that Counsel in those two greater transient Acts viz. Creation and Providence 1. Touching the Creation This we consider in general and particularly as concerning Man In general we resolve the work of Creation into three parts 1. The original production of all things out of nothing This is simply Creation Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth God Created This is the greatest conceptible motion viz. à non esse ad esse and though it be an act of Faith to believe it because related Heb. 11.3 yet it is a conclusion of Reason to know it as it appears by what hath been before observed concerning the impossibility to have any eternal subsistence but one And this truth though it be deducible by necessity of Reason if a God be once admitted yet so infinite is the distance between Nothing and a Being that divers of the acutest Naturalists were ignorant of it the ignorance of which Principle caused many of their absurd and unintelligible Positions and Superstructions to supply those difficulties which by this only Truth are avoided as concerning the First Matter the Eductions of Forms out of the power of it by I know not what Agents God created This infinite Motion could only proceed from an infinite Power who by the mere act of his Will constitutes something out of nothing In the beginning Time could not be before there were something that had succession of Being for it is the measure of a successive Being and therefore the beginning of created Beings must needs be the beginning of Time and Creation was the beginning of created Beings The Heavens and the Earth The indigested matter of the Heavens and the Earth 2. The dividing and ordering of this Mass calling out the particular Subsistences and furnishing of them with forms and qualities This was subsequent to the creation of the Matter and we find the Manner of this production in two Expressions 1. The motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters Vers 2. containing an act of the Divine Power whereby he fitted every thing to be ready for his call for though by the same instantaneous act the Divine Power could in the first instant of Creation have put things in their several Beings yet it was his Will to work successively first creating the Matter then breathing upon it and fitting this confused substance with aptitude for the things to be thereout produced 2. The Word of Command Let there be Light c. in the several works of the six days And here we may observe the admirable Wisdom of God as in divers particulars c. so especially in these 1. In the Order of the creating particular Creatures proceeding 1. to the finishing of Fundamentals then to Superstructions though of more curiosity and perfection yet more dependant upon those of the first creation 2. in the Variety of the Creatures and accommodating them with Qualities and Conveniences suitable to their Kinds whereby one doth not desire to encroach upon the Conveniences of the other's Subsistence For an Instance the Beasts Fishes Fowl endued with Appetites suitable to their Being yet the several Kinds affecting several Nourishments several places of Residence c. Herbs of contrary qualities drawing several Nourishments of several Natures even from the same Clod of Earth 3. In the Position and Situation of created Beings both for Beauty and Convenience so that the Wit of the most envious Atheist cannot imagine how the Elements the Heavens the several Creatures could be more beautifully or usefully placed every thing serves to accommodate and fit the other and speaks the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator the Position of the Earth the Water the Air with exquisite Convenience that they may meet for the constitution of mixt and the subsistence of animate Creatures The Earth and other Bodies have dependance upon the power and influence of the Sun and Heavens each is fitted with a Figure and the Heavens with a Motion that may with admirable convenience dispense that Influence the variety of Seasons depending upon the ecliptical motion of the Sun giving variety to the Creature and intermissions to the Earth whereby she may recover strength in the Winter for the supply of the Summer The very imprefect Creatures the Rain the Winds Snow c. of admirable use for the Earth Air and Water The Elements so placed and ordered that whiles their contrary motions and qualities of Rarety and Density preserve the extremity of their contrary active qualities from meeting yet their Vicinity is such that one allays the violence of the other and so are in a fit position and temper for production of mixt Bodies 3. The planting in every thing a radical Activity and Causality by which it moves This is by Virtue of that Word of the Power of God the very Multiplication of the Creature Gen. 1.22 The warming of our Garments by the South Wind Job 27.17 The Nourishment that comes from our Bread