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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	act_n	sin_n	will_n	1,889	5	6.7849	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74986	An antidote against heresy: or a preservative for Protestants against the poyson of Papists, Anabaptists, Arrians, Arminians, &c. and their pestilent errours. Shewing the authors of those errours, their grounds and reasons, the time when and occasion how they did arise; with general answers to their arguments taken out of holy scripture and the ancient fathers. Written to stay the wandering and stablish the weak in these dangerous times of Apostasy. / By Richard Allen, M.A. sometime Fellow of Penbrooke [sic] Colledge in Oxford.	Allen, Richard, b. 1604 or 5.	1648 (1648)	Wing A1045A; Thomason E1168_2; ESTC R208803	57,457	159

the right hand of God Acts 3.21 Whom the heavens must receive until the time of restoring all things 1 Cor. 11.25 The Communion is a remembrance of his death till his coming again Object Our Saviour himself says Behold I am with you always even to the end of the world Sol. That is according to his Godhead grace and Spirit for according to his manhood he is altogether absent from us and locally in heaven So our Saviour says again Me ye have not always Mat. 26.11 CHAP. XI Of Predestination Truth SEeing the benefits of Christs death reach not to all but to a certain chosen number now follows the Decree of Gods Predestination chusing some to life eternal and rejecting others leaving them in their sins to be damned for the same Adversaries to this truth are 1. Errours Pelagians both old and new that scoff at this doctrine denying the same as there are at this day that say it is not sutable to God nor agreeable to his nature to pick and choose thus among men to chuse some and refuse others is partial and unjust 2. Libertines abuse this doctrine as of old the Predestinates did to all looseness thinking that now they are predestinated it is no matter how they live because nothing can help or hinder their salvation 3. Socinians and Arminians say That Predestination signifieth nothing else in holy Scripture but Gods decree and purpose to save those that shall beleeve and obey and dam● those that shall not denying the Independency of it 4. Denying the eternity of Predestination affirm That God doth elect none until they do beleeve 5. And deny the certainty and stability of it affirming that it is changeable so that the elect may become reprobates and the reprobates elect 6. The Papists in this point are contrary to themselves affirming both that God hath chosen freely of his meer grace and yet hath not chosen us but upon foresight of our good works Bellarm. l. 2. de Gra. et lib. arb c. 16. But the general opinion among them is That the Kingdom of Heaven is prepared for them that are worthy of it and deserve it by their well doing and that a man doth make himself eligible to life eternal by his good works Antidote There is a Predestination i. an election of some to eternal life and a reprobation of others to eternal destruction Rom. 9.22 23. There are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction vessels of mercy prepared for glory Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself yea the wicked for the day of evil Jude 4. Before of old ordained to this condemnation August De civit dei l. 15. c. 1. There are two Cities or Societies of men one predestinated to raign for ever with God the other to suffer eternal punishment with the Divel Secondly Predestination both election and reprobation is eternal Rom. 9.11 Before we are born or have done good or evil Ephes 1.4 Before the foundation of the world 2 Tim. 1.4 Before the world began Thirdly It is free and independent there is no moving cause of election to life in the persons predestinate either foresight of faith or good works but only the will and good pleasure of God And although sin be the cause of damnation being an act of Gods Justice yet of reprobation being an act of his absolute power there is no cause but the good pleasure of God Rom. 9.18 He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth Ephes 1.5 We are chosen according to the good plesure of his will Verse 7. According to the riches of his grace Verse 11. After the Councel of his own will 2 Tim. 1.9 Not according to works but according to his own purpose There can be no other cause beside the Wil of God because there is nothing before the Will of God which is it self the cause of all things that are August Faith and obedience are the effect of election and cannot be the cause because they follow after and do not go before it Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained unto eternal life beleeved 1 John 4.19 We love God because he loved us first Rom. 8.29.30 From Gods Purpose proceeds Predestination from Predestination Calling from Calling Justification Faith Obedience c. To say then we are predestinate in respect of our faith or works is not only to invert the words of the Apostle and falsifie his doctrine but even to alter the very course of nature by setting the effect before the cause Rom. 9.12 Before they had done either good or evil it is said Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Was it the foresight of their good or evil works to come that moved God hereunto That the Apostle denies in these words That the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth August lib. de Predest c. 7. Fourthly It is immutable and unchangeable the elect can never perish nor the reprobates be saved 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God remaineth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his Luke 10.20 Their names are written in the book of life John 10.3 He calleth his sheep by name 1 Pet. 1.5 They are kept by the power of God unto salvation They can never fall away and perish for whom he did predestinate them he also called c. Affording them in due time all those means that shall infallibly bring them unto glory If any man making a fair shew of holiness fall away it is no Argument that the elect may fall away but that those which fall away are not elect 1 John 2.19 They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us We see it plain now that God hath made a difference between men chusing some and refusing others Latet discretionis ratio non latet ipsa discretio Ambros de Vocat Gent. We see the effect we cannot perceive the cause the thing it self is manifest the reason of it is hidden and secret to us and yet though it be unknown we know it cannot be unjust because it is the good pleasure of his will who is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Doth any man yet complain Hear the Apostle Rom. 9.20 21. O man who art thou that repliest against God! Hath not the Potter power over the clay Do not dispute but fear and admire with the same Apostle Rom. 11. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom of God how unsearchable searchable are his Judgments But we are all by nature one mass of corruption one is chosen another is left God sheweth mercy upon one and not upon another how can any man complain now when all were alike corrupt and culpable and no desert in any Will every man dispose freely of his own and shall not God If any man

overthrow and therewith the whole Gospel burying Christ again that is risen for our Justification For if our works before or after Justification do merit grace and life by congruity or condignity then is Christ in vain and become of no effect To the Adversaries we say First 1. That we are justified without works by faith alone not that faith is or can be alone without good works in respect of its Essence but in the act of Justification it is alone as it is an Instrument of Justification Psalm 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Iob 15.15 What is man that he should be just or he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous Rom. 3.20 By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 3.11 And that no man is justified by works is evident For the just shall live by faith Rom. 3.28 We conclude then that a man is justified by faith without works Good works indeed may justifie us before men as an evidence of our faith and of this S. Iames speaks Iames 2.24 Ye see then how by works a man is justified But before God we are justified only by the perfect Righteousness of Christ applyed unto us by the hand of faith wherein our own works have not the least finger Secondly we are justified by faith not as the cause but only as an Instrument of our Justification not as it is a vertue inherent in us but as it goes forth and apprehends and applies Christ unto us not by the merit of faith but by the merits of Christ applyed by faith and therefore it is said Rom. 3.22 The righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all that believe And v. 24. We are justified through the redemption that is in Iesus Christ And Phil. 3.9 The righteousness whereby we are justified before God is called the righteousness that is through the Faith of Christ and the Righteousness by faith and therefore when it is said we are justified by faith it notes the use or effect not the merit or dignity of faith For 1 Cor. 1.30 Christ is made unto us Righteousness And 2 Cor. 5.21 We are made the Righteousness of God in him Thirdly There is a glorifying Righteousness in the world to come In this world a sanctifying a justifying Righteousness that wherewith we shall be dothed in the world to come is both perfect and inherent that wherewith we are sanctified in this life is inherent but not perfect that wherewith we are justified is perfect but not inherent The Righteousness whereby we are justified before God is not inherent in us but in Christ in us not by inhesion but imputation the Righteousness of Christ whereby we are justified is not infused but imputed to us and accounted ours So Rom. 4.5 Abraham was iustified by a Righteousness imputed or accounted unto him 2 Cor. 5.21 We are made the Righteousness of God in him the Righteousness of God not ours in him not in us August Enchirid. cap. 41. Fourthly When we say we are justified by faith alone we do not mean a faith that is alone that is solitary without good works but a living faith and a working faith for a dead faith cannot justifie and a living faith cannot be idle but worketh by love Gal. 5.5 We are justified by faith alone without works not that works are separated from faith or can be but only excluded from the act of Justification The parts of our Justification are 1. The imputation of Christs righteousness 2. Forgiveness of our sins The inward moving cause is Gods mercy the outward is Christs merit The formal cause is the imputation of Christs righteousness the instrumental faith and faith without works whereby works are excluded not from the nature of Faith but from the act of Justification CHAP. XIV Of Sanctification Truth WHom he justified them he also glorified Our glorification which shall be finisht and compleated in the life to come is begun in this life partly in regard of our condition wherein we are made happy and partly in regard of our nature wherein we are made holy We are made holy in our nature by the grace of Sanctification which is the renewing of our whole nature though not wholy in this life according to the image of God in righteousness and true holiness Adversaries to this truth were 1. Errours Simon Magus and his disciples who gave libertie to all looseness and uncleanness saying That sin defiled the body but not the soul and they are followed by the Libertines of our age who scoff at all sanctitie or holiness of living And if you observe you shall find that holiness of life is had in great esteem and reverence among all sorts and sects among Papists and the very Turks themselves after their way only it is in disgrace among our common Protestants who usually despise and brand those with odious names who are any way strict and severe in their lives endevoring to live in the fear of God 2. Some Anabaptists as the Adamites and Familists say that they re perfect and pure from all sin and that there are men living as perfect and pure as Christ was So the Pelagians and Donatists of old of latter time● a Sect called Fratricelli affirmed that a man might attain in this life to that perfection to be without sin and he that is so is freed from all subjection to mortal men and had no more need of prayer fasting or such exercis●s of piety Among these Perfectists we reckon also the Papists 3. There be others so contrary to the Papists who would have justifying righteousness inherent in us that these will have none at all affirming that Christ is the new creature and all graces are in Christ as in the subject none in us upon which follow many other strange doctrines Antidote Now we are justified by faith through the free grace of God we ought to follow after holiness with the more diligence 1. That we may glorifie Gods name who hath done so great things for us 1 Cor. 6.20 Mat. 5.16 1 Pet. 2.12 Because 2. it is the will of God 1 Thes 4.3 Because 3. it is the end of our election Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us that we should be holy 4. It is the end of our Redemption Luk. 1.74 He hath saved us that we should serve him 5. It is the end of our calling 1 Thes 4.7 God hath called us unto holiness and Heb. 12.14 Without holiness we shall never see God Secondly Though we ought to endeavour and follow after holiness yet we can never be perfect or without sin in this life 1 John 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us James 3.2 In many things we offend all 1 Kings 8.40 There is no man that sinneth not Prov. 20.9 Who can say I am pure from my sin Eccles 7.10

of second causes wherewith they have tyed Gods hands as it were and not left him the liberty to change alter or order things at his own will and pleasure 3. Familists hold That all things are ruled and ordered by nature 4. Some place many things in our own power and freewill which they say are not subject to Providence 5. Worldlings ascribe all the good that befalls them to their own wisdom and endeavours 6. Divers imagine that Gods Providence doth not reach unto every small and trifting matter conceiving it not agreeable to his Majesty and greatness even as it is too low and base for a Prince to look into the affairs of his Kitchin Antidote That there is a Divine Providence over-seeing and over-ruling the whole world and all things therein is clear because there is a God infinite in wisdom and power which were not so if any thing came to pass by chance or fortune or could be done without him or beside his will and pleasure The whole Scriptures bear witness unto this truth and in particular Prov. 15.3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place Psal 113.6 He abaseth himself to behold things done in heaven and earth Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth c. For Isai 43.13 If he work who shall hinder it 1. First God doth order and dispose all things freely according to his own good will and pleasure without the least compulsion or restraint and it pleaseth God to do many things contrary to the course of nature as when he caused the Sun to stand still at Joshua's command and go back at Hezekiah's request to shew that the order or course of nature is nothing else but a Law or Statute of his own making that he can repeal alter and change when he please and that all second causes are but several links of Divine Providence that depend one upon another and all upon God 2. Secondly Gods Providence extends to all creatures even the most base and vile Psal 104.27 All creatures wait upon him Psal 147.9 The poor Ravens as well as the stately Lions the peasant as well as the Prince Psal 82.1 God stands in the Congregation of Princes Psal 113.6 He takes the simple out of the dust and poor out of the mire Psal 146. He relieveth the oppressed and looseth the prisoner Psal 33.13 The Lord beholds all the children of men and considers all that dwell upon the earth 3. Thirdly To the most casual actions Prov. 16.33 The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is from the Lord and what more casual then lots 4. Fourthly To the most trivial things Mat. 10.29 An hair doth not fall from our heads without his Providence and what more trivial 5. Fifthly Even wicked and sinful actions are subject to Divine Providence so that sin it self is not committed without or beside his will his most wise Providence ordering and turning it beyond the purpose or intent of the sinner to his own glory and good of his people Acts 4.28 His hand and Counsel fore-determined whatsoever was done against Christ So that God was an actor in the business as well as Judas and yet God was just and righteous Judas wicked and sinful because in all one thing which they both did there was not all one cause or end for which they did it August Epist 48. ad Vincent Object But if God have such a hand and stroke in sinful actions then he is the Authour of sin Sol. God forbid God doth not infuse any evil or malice into us but in him we live and move and such as we are such we are moved by him unless he please to alter and change our nature The earth gives sap to all trees but that some bring forth evil fruit the fault is not in the earth but in the evil quality or disposition of the trees God is an actour in ●inful actions and yet is not the Authour of sin for all that God hates sin whereof if he were the Author how then shall he be the Judg How shall he take vengeance Rom. 3.5 6. All things then that are or are done ●n the world are subject to Gods Providence both Angels and men bruit creatures and devils themselves all degrees of men high and low their persons life liberty and estates all their actions both natural and voluntary good and bad nothing so small that is hid from his sight nothing so casual but he directs it nothing so trivial but he takes notice and disposeth of it Great are the works of the Lord insomuch that after a marvellous unspeakable manner that is not done beside his wil that yet is done against his will because it should not be done if he did not suffer it neither doth he suffer it against his will but with his will neither would he being good suffer evil to be done unless being also Almighty he were able to bring good out of evil August Enchirid cap. 100. CHAP. V. Of the fall of man and of Original sin OUR first Parents Adam and Eve Truth were created in a perfect and blessed estate both holy and happy but through their own voluntary disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit contrary to Gods command they fell from the same plunging themselves and all their posterity into the contrary estate of sin and death so that by and ever since that unhappy fall the Image of God is defaced in all mankind every mothers son is conceived in sin and born a child of wrath Some endeavouring to extenuate the sin of Adam and make it less say That it was only the intemperance of the Appetite Pelagius and his followers deny Original sin affirming That Adam sinned only to his own hurt and nothing at al hurt his posterity thereby so that no man shall ever perish in hell for Adams sin That sin is derived from the first man by imitation or example only not by generation or natural discent That Infants derive no sin from their Parents and therefore need not to be baptized in their steps tread the Anabaptists The Papists do not deny Original sin but yet extreamly lessen it and make nothing almost of it and they say that concupiscence or sin remaining after Baptism is not truly sin nor so called because it is properly sin but because it cometh of and enclineth unto sin or is the matter whereof sin is more easily bred so they have decreed it quite against the Scriptures accursing all that dare say the contrary Concil Trid. Sess 5. c. 1. Antidote These are the divels subtilties by covering and hiding the disease to make it incurable but that Adams sin was no small offence being an act of horrid rebellion against God will appear if we do but open and dissect the same and see how many foul sins that one contains within it As 1. Intolerable pride and ambition for not content with the Image of God stampt upon