Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	effect_n	necessary_a	1,860	5	7.1073	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33454	Methodus Evangelica, or, The gospel method of Gods saving sinners by Jesus Christ practically explained in XII propositions / by Abraham Clifford ; to which is prefixed a preface by Dr. Manton, and Rich. Baxter.	Clifford, Abraham.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1676 (1676)	Wing C4701; ESTC R23890	95,942	214

the disproportion is much greater B●twixt a mite and millions a small fee and a Kingdom though the difference be very large and wide yet there is still some proportion betwixt them they are both finite and so agree in the same common notion and predicament of beings but here the different terms are so far distant as not to admit of any comparison There the difference lies only betwixt finite and finite but here betwixt finite and infinite O●r obedience that is only finite but our reward infinite that is temporal but this eternal We serve God only for a moment but we are made happy for ever Now betwixt finite and infinite temporal and eternal there can be no proportion And where there is no proportion betwixt the work and the reward there can be no desert For whatever we receive either it must be an act of Justice or an act of bounty that gave it to us If an act of Justice there the only rule and standard is proportion That every Man may have as we say in our English Proverb a peny-worth for a peny wages agreeable to his work This is the true and proper notion of Justice But in acts of bounty there the rule and measure of acting is only the good will and pleasure of the Agent and not the worth or merit of the person that receiveth Since therefore the giving of eternal life to sinners upon terms of Faith and Obedience cannot possibly for the reasons already given be deemed a meer act of Justice it necessarily follows that 't is still an act of free Grace and bounty To make this yet more plain take this familiar instance He that sets a poor Man to work and at night pays him his ordinary wages he is just you will say but not bountiful and therefore upon this account there is no great thanks owing to him since the poor Mans sweat and labour was judged by common estimation to deserve it But he that imploies an indigent person for some few moments in his service and then gives him a thousand pound for his reward this man is to be accounted not meerly just but liberal and therefore notwithstanding some moments or hours service were required of him yet you would call it an act of free Grace and bounty and not of justice since so small a s●rvice could never deserve so rich a reward there being so little proportion betwixt them And surely then if we do but duly consider how much the disproportion is yet greater betwixt our obedience for a moment and infinite happiness to all eternity we cannot but acknowledge that notwithstanding all that 't is possible for any creature to do yet it can be no less than an act of free Grace and bounty in God to give us these eternal recomp●nces Upon all these accounts then you see 't is evident that if the notions of free Grace and sufficiency of Christs satisfaction be rightly stated according to the Gospel there is nothing affirmed in any of the foregoing propositions that is either inconsistent with or really prejudicial unto either Not to the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction since notwithstanding all that hath been said it remains sufficent and effectual to all those ends for which it was by infinite wisdom designed and intended Nor to the free Grace of God in Christ since notwithstanding all our performances 't is undoubtedly free because undeserved But secondly 2. That we may further evidence the truth of this proposition we must here distinguish betwixt causes and conditions which if duly weighed will be found to be of very different considerations A cause is that by whose proper vertue and influence the thing is produced but a condition that without whose presence or concurrence the principal cause cannot well obtain its end or produce its effect as to some determinate actions Thus to make it plain by some familiar instances the Sun 't is the original cause and fountain of light but the opening of the windows that is the condition or medium by which the Sun transmits its light into the house And fire is the proper cause of heat but the air notwithstanding a necessary requisite without which it cannot burn Or to instance in moral concerns which are more direct to the thing in hand He that sells and makes over his estate to another upon the tender and receipt of a considerable sum of moneys here the money or valuable consideration given is the true and proper cause why this man parts with his estate and setles it upon another person But he now that makes over an estate suppose of some thousands by the year to some poor Man with this proviso only that he pay quarterly some small fee a Rose perhaps or a pepper-corn by way of acknowledgment of his bounty or else that he have no right to the revenues and profits of it Here the payment of this acknowledgment being consequent upon the grant and no way answerable to its just value is not the cause but the condition only of this gift The condition it 's true must be accepted and performed by this poor Man that he may be admitted to and continued in the quiet possession of this estate but still for all this the Donors free love and bounty is to be acknowledged the sole cause why this rich revenue and inheritance was setled upon him And can it then be any derogation to the free Grace of God or merits of Jesus Christ in bestowing eternal life upon heirs of wrath to allow faith and obedience to have the place of a medium or condition in that Covenant by which this life is made over to them Notwithstanding this Jesus Christ may be and is the only cause of our Salvation Heb. 5.9 'T is by vertue of his satisfaction and merits that we are acquit from the condemnations of the old Law and admi●ted to be heirs of Glory Th●se were the valuable consideration and pur●hase money if I may so term them 1 Pet. 1.18 19. upon which the Father makes a new grant and conveighance of an inheritance incorrup●●ble and undefiled and that fades not away to the degenerate Sons of Adam Y●a but so still as that repentance and faith c. are to be acknowledged the conditions the small fee and homage upon the rendering of which the possession of this inheritance is put into their hands and secured to them and this we may do without fear of offering the least injury or prejudice either to the perfection of Christs righteousness or the freeness of divine Grace It 's true indeed to admit of these or any thing else but Jesus Christ to be the meritorious and procuring cause of Mans Salvation that is not only a little to eclipse but totally to extinguish the Glory of free Grace and plainly to deny the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction But to make them only mediums and conditions without which they will not be effectual to save us this may be very well consistent with

trembling Phil. 2.12 He then will work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure ver 13. Must we be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 holding fast our confidence firm to the end Heb. 3.6 being faithful unto death Rev. 2.10 and not drawing back lest his soul should have no pleasure in us Heb. 10.38 He therefore hath promised that he will establish us 2 Thes 3.3 and make us fruitful Joh. 15.2 and perfect his own good work in us untill the day of the Lord Jesus Phil. 1.6 and keep us by his power 1 Pet. 1. that we may not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 10.28 From first to last you see we are indebted to Divine Grace for what we do All our works if good are begun and carried on and perf●cted by the assistance of the Sacred Spirit And therefore when we have done all we cannot plead desert or merit from any of our actions but still are bound to make Paul's humble acknowledgment 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am that I am And not I that laboured so abundantly but the grace of God that was with me Not I that repented and believed and became obedient and holy and fruitful in every good word and work continuing stedfast and unmoveable to the end Not I that did this by vertue of my own natural abilities no but by the aid and assistance of Divine Grace not by might nor by power from nature and reason but by the spirit of the Lord. And in this sense I suppose we are to understand that saying of some Divines that God stands engaged for both parts of the Covenant Engaged first by promise to justifie and save sinners if they repent and believe c. and next also to give repentance and faith by assisting them thereunto that they may be justified and have eternal life And so it may be no contradiction to say that the same thing may be both a benefit and a condition of the same Covenant As he that in the same Indentures wherein he binds his Tenant to repairs may also promise to furnish him with Brick and Morter and other materials for the work Thus faith and repentance are here commanded in the Covenant of Grace and so they become conditions on our own part to be performed But withal strength and assistance is promised enabling us to repent and believe and so they become benefits on Gods part to be given and on ours to be received But still it is to be remembred that Gods promise doth not null our duty nor his assistance supersede our endeavours but necessarily suppose and more strongly enforce them For as we can do nothing without God so he will do nothing for us without our selves 'T is he saith the Apostle that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure in the place before mentioned Phil. 2.13 What then Must we therefore sit still and do nothing Only take our ease and stretch our selves upon beds of Ivory and dream our selves into Abrahams Bosom No we must therefore so the Apostle in the same place argues work about our own Salvation with fear and trembling As 't is still the Tenants duty to repair the ruines of his house though his Landlord hath and indeed therefore the rather because he hath been so kind as to promise sufficient supplies for the building Thus much I thought necessary to add upon this argument that I might vindicate the conditionality of the Covenant from such exceptions as have been made against it and evidence the amicable agreement there is betwixt this doctrine and that of free Grace and sufficiency of Christs righteousness and satisfaction And would Men but be perswaded to lay aside their prejudices and to weigh things in an even ballance Would they as now instructed rightly state their notions of Christs righteousness and free Grace according to the rules and measures of the Gospel and not by the imaginary and unwarrantable sentiments of the carnal and uncatechised world Would they duly distinguish betwixt the causes and conditions of their Salvation which are vastly different and ought not therefore to be confounded that Jesus Christ may still be owned as the sole cause and Author of it and faith and repentance c. only as the necessary means without which it cannot be had Would they observe the order in which the several conditions of the Covenant are to be applied first faith and repentance for the obtaining of pardon and then holiness and obedience for the compleating and continuing our right to eternal life according to the order in which they are dispenced to sinners Would they also duly inform themselves in the nature of true happiness and what a near alliance holiness and obedience have to it that formally consisting in our likeness and conformity to God and these being that whereby we become actually like and conformable to him Would they in the last place to all add the assistance that God by his holy Spirit affords us for the performance of all these duties he requires of us Nothing being done in our own but all by his strength and agency Would Men I say thus distinctly weigh and consider things before they pass sentence upon the Doctrine herein delivered their objections against it would I am confident soon be answered and their scruples removed and their judgments convinced that there is nothing said that doth in the least either contradict or prejudice the Doctrine of Gospel free Grace or derogate from the sufficiency of Christs righteousness Nothing that doth as some have said speak the language of Bellarmine or Socinus or any way favour the opinions of any other who are justly censured as enemies to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus It is true the Church of Rome pretends much to good works and cries them up as the Ephesians sometimes did their great Goddess Diana and muchwhat upon the same design But alas what are those works they so zealously contend for A little bodily exercise and superstitious will-worship Masses and Dirges and Pilgrimages and Ave-Marys and abstinences and whippings and the like But for that which the Apostle calls the power of godliness and life of God that is little preached and less practised by them And yet these works as inconsiderable as they are they call by the name of satisfactions and make them both the matter of their justification before God and the meritorious cause of their own Salvation For according to their Doctors we are justified by works confession charity giving of alms c. as well as by faith in Jesus Christ and may be saved yea and by I know not what redundancy of desert in our good works help to save others too by our own merits The improvement say they of our own natural abilities deserves Grace ex congru● and the improvement of Grace so gained merits glory ex condigno This in short is the