Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	abraham_n	faith_n	justify_v	1,422	5	9.0902	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01711	Certaine sermons, vpon diuers textes of Holie Scripture Whereof some haue been seuerally before published, and other some for the greater benefit of the godly reader are here now added. By M. George Giffard, preacher of the worde of God at Mauldon Essex.	Gifford, George, d. 1620.; Gifford, George, d. 1620. A sermon on the parable of the sower. aut; Gifford, George, d. 1620. Two sermons upon I. Peter 5. vers. 8 and 9. aut; Gifford, George, d. 1620. Foure sermons uppon the seven chiefe vertues of faith. aut; Gifford, George, d. 1620. A godlie, zealous, and profitable sermon upon the second chapter of saint James. aut; Gifford, George, d. 1620. A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse the thirtie day of May. aut; Gifford, George, d. 1620. A sermon on the third chapter of Saint Iames. aut	1597 (1597)	STC 11848.5; ESTC S120470	152,707	288

declare a wonderfull faith and loue towards God as we may easily see considering all the whole circumstances of the storie God hath called him out of his natiue country and from his fathers house into a strange land hee had promised him a sonne by his wife Sara of whome the blessed seed should come he performed this promise in his old age euen when Sara was by nature past childbearing Gen. 21.12 he had no other child by her the promise was made in none but in him In Isaac shall thy seede be blessed Ech man shall now be driuen to confesse that here was a great triall when God doeth bid him take his onely sonne euen Isaac and goe three daies iourney to the place which he would shew him and to offer him vpon the altar a slaine sacrifice How great a griefe is it for a louing father to loose a sonne which hee loueth dearely especially when hee hath no more sonnes then how much griefe might this be not onely to see his sonne slaine but also to slay him with his owne handes and most of all that childe in whome the couenant of eternall life was made because Christ should come of him who beeing dead all hope of saluation did die with him All this did not withhold but the faith of Abraham carried so great a loue in him and feare towardes God that hee neuer grudged at the matter nor neuer made delay but went indeed to haue slain his sonne hauing bound him vpon the wood and hauing taken in his hand the sacrificing knife to kill him Then the Angell of the Lord from heauen did forbid him Before the Lorde it was as if it had been done because Abraham did fully purpose to doe it then wee see plainly by this what the true faith is But if any man should obiect and say this example is not fit euerie man can not be like Abraham nor haue such a faith as hee had hee was a rare man few or none to be compared with him Saint Iames doth answer If ye thinke this example to be too high and that yee are not to be measured by it I will shewe you another as low what say yee to Rahab the harlot was not shee iustified by workes did not her faith declare it selfe by good workes Can ye take any exception against this example Will yee not be ashamed that your faith should not be like hers As the faith of Abrahā did vtter it selfe to the world so did hers whereby she shewed her selfe to be a right daughter of Abraham although shee were not of his posteritie according to the flesh but came of one of those cursed nations which God had commaunded the children of Israel to roote out and destroy yet I say shee was his daughter according as Saint Paul setteth it forth in the Epistle to the Romanes that hee should be the father not onely of them which are of the Circumcision but also of those that walke in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham like as all his children both of the Iewes and Gentiles must doe which will be blessed with their faithfull father Abraham Then wee haue here the example of the father of all the faithfull with the example of one of his daughters which had been a poore harlot what excuse remaineth or what can wee pretend shall wee not blush and be ashamed to say that we beleeue well and take our selues to be the children of Abraham and the children of God when we are no more like him then as the common saying is an apple is like an oister Christ our Sauiour doeth vse this reason against the Pharisies in the Gospell of Saint Iohn If yee were Abrahams children saith he ye would doe the workes of Abraham but now you go about to kill mee a man that hath tolde you the trueth which I haue heard of God this did not Abraham And a little after Ye are of your father the deuill and the lustes of your father yee will doe What would ye haue more plaine than this Euen the verie seed and posteritie of Abraham which tooke themselues to be the children of Abraham and the children of God yet Christ Iesus telleth them plainely they are the children of the deuill and why Because their workes were not like the workes of Abraham their beliefe was not like his but it was dead Shall wee not then as boldly say at this day nay rather doth not Christ speake as plainly as he did and telleth vngodly men to their face howsoeuer yee bragge of your faith it is but dead and howsoeuer yee boast and take your selues to be the children of God yet in verie deede vnlesse yee returne from your vngodly waies and shew forth the fruites of a true liuely faith yee are the children of the deuill trust not vnto your vaine hope and deade faith for it will but deceiue you Dearely beloued let vs not be so mad when God telleth vs this with his own mouth as to beleeue the contrarie and to perswade our selues wee shall doe well enough although we continue in our sinnes This is a most pestilent craft of Sathan and commeth from the roote of Infidelitie as yee may see in our great grandmother Eue God had told her and Adam that what day soeuer they should eate of the tree they should die the death the deuill told her yee shall not die she beleeued him but beleeued not God shee thought euen as the deuill tolde her shee should doe well enough or els shee would neuer haue eate thereof we haue sucked this poison from her breastes when God telleth vs if your faith bring not foorth good workes it is deade it can not helpe yee if yee continue in these wicked deedes yee are the children of the deuill yee must speedily repent for yee can not when yee would No no saith the deuill on the other side that is not true your faith is good enough goe on yee shall doe well God hath mercie in store yee may repent afterward Now the most doeth beleeue the deuill in this and giue no credit at all vnto God and neuer seeke to trie themselues whether they be in good case or not When the Apostle saith here that Abraham was iustified by workes and that Rahab was iustified by workes c. Wee must note that this word Iustified is taken diuers waies in the scriptures which is one cause as I noted before why Saint Paul and Saint Iames seeme to be contrary Saint Paul proouing that we are iustified by faith taketh it as contrarie to this worde condemned for being by our sinnes guiltie and to receiue the sentence of condemnation we are in Christ into whose mysticall body wee are incorporate thorough faith acquit and discharged which is called iustification this cannot be by the workes of the lawe because there is no perfection in the deedes of any but euen the most pure are vncleane and spotted Therefore as Saint Paul saith they are all

naked and destitute of daily foode 16 And one of you say vnto them Depart in peace warme your selues and fill your bellies notwithstanding ye giue them not those things which are needfull to the bodie what helpeth it 17 Euen so the faith if it haue no workes is dead in it selfe 18 But some man might say Thou hast the faith and I haue workes shew me thy faith out of thy workes and I will shew thee my faith by my workes 19 Thou beleeuest that there is one God thou doest well the diuels also beleeue it tremble 20 But wilt thou vnderstand O thou vaine man that the faith which is without works is dead 21 Was not Abraham our Father iustified through workes when hee offered Isaac his sonne vpon the Altar 22 Seest thou not that the faith wrought with his workes and through the workes was the faith made perfect 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which sayth Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse and he was called the friend of God 24 Ye see then how that of workes a man is iustified and not of faith only 25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot iustified through workes when she had receiued the messengers and sent them out another way 26 For as the bodie without the spirit is dead euen so the faith without workes is dead I Haue chosen this portion of scripture to interpret because there is very great vse and commoditie in the true and right vnderstanding thereof and the doctrine therein contained is most necessarie for all Christians to know First because it doth directly and fully ouerthrow beat downe all carnall profession of the Gospell shewing that the common and dead faith cannot saue a man Secondly because it is the principall piller which the Papists doe leane vnto and the chiefe place of Scripture which they doe peruert and abuse to prooue and establish Iustification by workes and the merits of men and to ouerthrow the free Iustification wee haue in our Lord Iesus Christ through faith The hold which they take in this point is vpon the speeches and phrases which the Apostle doth vse as when he saith Abraham our father was iustified through workes Also Rahab the Harlot was iustified through workes Likewise ye see that of workes a man is iustified and not of faith onely Herein the two Apostles of Christ Saint Paul and Saint Iames do seeme to be flat contrarie the one to the other for whereas Saint Paul saith Abraham was iustified by faith alone and not by workes Saint Iames saith he was iustified by workes Saint Paul saith and prooueth by sundrie and inuincible reasons that a man is iustified by faith alone without the workes of the law Saint Iames saith ye see that a man is iustified by workes and not by faith only This contrarietie is but in appearance for they both wrote by one spirite which is alwaies like himselfe and alwaies agreeth with himselfe The whole blame thereof is to light vpon vs that wee are so dimme sighted as not to see how these two seruants of GOD doe iumpe and agree together without any iarre at all I thinke it needefull for this cause before I come to handle the words of the Text as they lye in order first to take away this shewe of discorde If any man will demaund what cause there was which made them to appeare in outward shew so contrarie the one to the other I answere that although there be no contrarietie in the matter it selfe which they teach yet the diuersitie of the schollers which they lighted vpon the contrary affection of those whom they instructed caused them to vse a diuers and contrarie order of teaching Saint Paul hauing to deale with such as would seeke to be iustified partly by faith in Christ and partly by their owne deedes or the deedes of the Law vseth this order first shewing that we were lost and condemned in our selues then next iustified and saued through the merites of Christ afterward that we are sanctified in him and must shew foorth the fruites of our faith in a pure and holie life Saint Iames lighting vpon another sort of men which confessed the free iustification through faith in Christ yet in this they were deceiued that they did not consider how all those that are iustified are sanctified how all those that are in christ Iesus are new creatures that they are new borne and walke not after the flesh but after the spirit that the true liuely and iustifying faith doth bring foorth the fruites of righteousnesse in a holie conuersation Now because this cannot be remooued or separated from the right and liuely faith Saint Iames goeth as it were backward and prooueth that where this latter that is to say the fruites of faith are wanting there faith is wanting and so his drift is to shew that all vngodly and carnall professours of Christ haue but a dead faith which in no respect is able for to helpe or saue them A second cause why they seeme so much to differ is herein that men doe not marke well how they handle not the selfe same matter nor haue not the same drift For Saint Paul laboureth to prooue that the true faith doth ioyne vs to Christ and thereby saue vs. Saint Iames here beateth vpon this poynt that the dead faith which is but a bare image of the right faith cannot profite a man this shall appeare in the wordes of the Text and also a third cause is that they doe not take this word iustified in the same sense but diuersly as it shall bee prooued afterward Now will I come vnto the Text. What auaileth it my brethren though a man saith hee hath faith when he hath no workes can the faith saue him This is his proposition and the matter which he will dispute vpon in the whole text following thus much it is in effect that it doth not auaile a man to say he hath faith nor it doth not profit him to boast and bragge and to make profession thereof when he hath no good workes the reason is this because it cannot saue him marke and obserue this well for here at the first enterance the blindnesse of the Papists and their follie doth manifestlie bewray it selfe when as they doe not see nor vnderstand that it is not the purpose of the Apostle in this place to dispute vpon this point whether the true faith doth saue iustifie or not but to shewe that such as haue not good workes haue not the true faith in them and therefore whatsoeuer they professe they cannot bee saued For hee doth not propound his matter thus what auaileth it though a man haue faith and haue not workes but What auaileth it though a man say hee hath faith and hath not workes Whereby it is very manifest that when Saint Iames doth attibute the name of faith vnto this dead image hee doth it not in proper but in abusine speech and after