Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	according_a	justice_n	law_n	1,616	5	4.3920	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85412	The remedie of unreasonableness. Or The substance of a speech intended at a conference or dispute, in Al-hallows the Great, London. Feb. 11. 1649. Exhibiting the brief heads of Mr John Goodwin's judgement, concerning the freeness fulness effectualness of the grace of God. As also concerning the bondage or servility of the will of man. Occasioned by an undue aspersion cast upon him; as (viz.) that he held free-will in opposition to free-grace.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1650 (1650)	Wing G1197; Thomason E594_1; ESTC R202311	11,715	15

in publique and many in private touching the present Controversies I appeal to them all conjunctim divisim whether ever they heard me utter so much as the least word tending to exalt the freedom of the will of man unto that which is good My present opinion is and my constant Doctrine hath been That the will of man destitute of the Grace of God and his co-operating assistance with it is or would be most desperately wicked and servile unto sin Yea and further that notwithstanding the co-operative Grace of God with it yet it is exceeding apt and prone to be led captive unto sin by the Devil Whereas the opinion of my Antagonist being truly and fairly interpreted if it be contrary unto mine is That the will of man by means of the co-operating Grace of God with it becomes free after the manner of the freedom of the Will of God himself i. e. so free unto that which is good that it is unpossible for it not to move or to be carried out unto it Concerning the Grace of God there are three things wherein the glory of it consists the freeness of it the fulness or extent of it the force or efficacy of it Concerning the first of these I clearly hold and have upon all occasions constantly taught 1. That the whole plot or counsel of God concerning the Salvation of the World is of free Grace of meer Grace and goodness of Will or pleasure in God 2. That his purpose of Election or Predestination of men unto life and glory is an act of free Grace also and that there was no obligation or necessity upon him to predestinate any man or any sort of men as now he hath done 3. That the gift of Jesus Christ unto the World is a gift of free Grace and that God was no ways obliged hereunto 4. That to give or confer Justification Adoption and Salvation it self upon believing in Jesus Christ are acts of the pure and free Grace of God 5. That to give strength power and means of believing unto men is an act of meer and free Grace likewise 6. That it is of the free Grace of God and by the help and assistance thereof that any man doth ever actually believe 2. Concerning the fulness or extent of this Grace my sence is and my Doctrine hath been 1. In respect of persons that it is not imprison'd or confin'd within the narrow Compass of an handful of men in comparison or that it extends it self either in the intentions of Salvation or in the provisions which it makes or affords unto men for Salvation only unto those few who come in time actually to believe and to be saved but that like the Sun in the firmament of Heaven it compasseth the whole Earth from the one end of it unto the other and stretcheth it self unto all men 2. In respect of the Good which it intends unto men my opinion is That it is exceeding full and comprehensive i. e. That the good or blessedness which God graciously intends unto men in and by the Gospel is a full absolute and compleat Blessedness containing every good and desireable thing in it 3. And lastly for this That in respect of the means which it vouchsafeth and exhibiteth unto men for the bringing them to the full enjoyment of this blessedness it is full and compleat also so that the means which God graciously exhibiteth unto men to make them blessed are everyways sufficient for such a purpose or end 3. Concerning the power or effectualness of this Grace I hold and teach upon all occasions 1. That in the gift of a power or a sufficiency of means unto men whereby to believe or to be saved it is simply irresistible and that men cannot frustrate or hinder this operation of it 2. That what good thing soever any man doth he doth it through the assistance of the free Grace of God and is in no capacity or meetness so much as to conceive or think a good thought without it 3. And lastly That when any man actually believeth or is truly converted unto God that he is mightily strengthned and assisted by the supernatural or special Grace of God thereunto So that the act of Conversion or believing is to be ascribed unto God not only as the sole Author and giver of that power by which men do believe but as the sole supernatural Actor also of this power in the Act it self of believing and that man when he doth believe is so far from having any cause or ground of boasting in himself because of this his believing that he hath all the reason in the world to confess and say in our Saviours prescript of words That he is an unprofitable Servant and hath only done that which was his duty and that in abundance to do Only I conceive that men are not necessitated by this Grace of God or any working thereof to believe whether they will or no nor yet made willing upon any such terms but that there is a possibility left unto them of nilling or of remaining unwilling to any moment or point of time until the act it self of believing be produced So that my opinion concerning the Grace of God being truly compared with the opinion of those that dissent from me appears to have much more in it for the exaltation of the Grace of God then theirs and theirs much more in it for the exaltation of the will of man then mine For 1. My opinion makes the Grace of God so free as to enrich the whole world and all that is called man in it and that without the least engagement upon God from men thereunto Whereas their opinion imprisons it within a narrow compass of men in comparison and so bridles or stiffles the freeness of it in that consideration 2. As in one branch of their opinion they stiffle and destroy the glory of the freeness of it so in another they quite destroy the very nature or essence of it and make it to be no Grace at all For that opinion which makes the Grace of God the fountain or cause of no other actions in men then such as God cannot according to the Law and constant method of his remunerative justice or bounty reward destroys the very nature of Grace And that the opinion maintained by our Opposers doth this is evident from hence viz. because that making men to act necessarily and unavoydably by means of the grace which is given them maketh them to act physically or as meer natural Agents and so reduceth all that they do by vertue of the Grace of God to the Law and Condition of meer natural actions which by the standing Law of Gods remunerative bounty are not capable of reward by God Again That their Opinion tends many thousand degrees more then mine to magnifie the wills of men is evident thus I affirm the wil of man even under the strongest and most effectual motions of the Grace of God whereof it