Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	affliction_n	great_a	sin_n	1,620	5	5.2580	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80754	The covenant of God with Abraham, opened. Wherein I. The duty of infant-baptism is cleared. II. Something added concerning the Sabbath, and the nature and increase of the kingdome of Christ. Together with a short discourse concerning the manifestations of God unto his people in the last dayes. Wherein is shewed the manner of the spirits work therein to be in the use of ordinary gifts, not by extraordinary revelations. / By William Carter minister of the gospel in London.	Carter, William, 1605-1658.	1654 (1654)	Wing C679; Thomason E811_5; ESTC R207606	118,861	192

the Apostle Rom. 10. 6. applyeth to the Gospel in opposition to the Law as in it selfe considered without the Gospel or as a covenant of works Before the Fall the Law was given by God as Lord of his Creature but since the Fall it hath been the Law of the Kingdom of Christ which maketh it cease to be a covenant of works 1. Because Christ in his Kingdome is so our Lord as he is also our Head and we the members of his body and quickened by his spirit and therefore part of our duty therein required is that it be done by his strength Joh. 15. 5. Philip. 1. 11. In the covenant of works the Law was Do this and live but in the covenant of grace it is Do this in the strength of Christ and live 2. Because our state and condition as subjects of his Kingdome dependeth not upon our keeping the Law but upon free grace in Christ by faith although our comfort in that Kingdom and State be much according as we keep or break that Law Joh. 14. 21. He that hath my Commandements saith Christ and keepeth thē he it is that loveth me he shal be loved of my father and I wil love him and will manifest my self to him So we are to understand those words when the Apostle saith we are free from and dead to the Law and are not under the Law but under Grace that is in respect of our state and condition or of the justifying of our persons In the state of innocency Do this and live was the covenant in respect of state therefore Adam had no sooner sinned but he was in a state of eternal death but to us onely in respect of the comforts in that state wherein we are as subjects of the Kingdom of Christ and members of his body Therefore although we are punished for sin yet not with eternal death but with temporal punishments whether corporal or spiritual and that out of love to do us good as from a Father our state in Christ continues still Therfore although we are bound by this Law as subjects of his Kingdome yet we are free from the law in respect of that legal state as under a covenant of works 3. Because however we are punished by Christ for sinne yet the matter is wholly taken up by him in his Kingdom and we are not carried out thence to be punished or thrown to hell Therefore are we free from the Law as to the eternal curse 4. In that when he punisheth for sinne he proceedeth therein according to the nature of the justice of his Kingdom which is the justice of a Father which obligeth him in punishing to aime not only at the glory of his justice but also at the good of the person punished which end if he can attain by sparing he is engaged even in justice and that he may be a righteous Father to spare or if a lesser affliction will do it to take a lesse and although sometimes when he sees cause he will not spare and when a lesser affliction will not do the work he takes a greater and comes with seven times more Levit. 26. yet never to punish any of his children according to the full desert of any sinne He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Psal 103. 10. Now this is not according to the tenour of a covenant of works for there is no such liberty taken there is no sparing because the end of punishment therein is not the good of the person punished but onely the glory of his justice Thus we see that although one ingredient in the general nature of the Law both before and since the coming of Christ be that it is a command under penalties yet it follows not that either they were or that we now are under a covenant of works I have made so large a digression upon this subject because some do insist so much upon this point against Infant-baptisme alledging that the new Testament is so silent in it for by that which hath been said of the general nature of the Law to be one and the same to the people of God under both Testaments we see clearly the reason of these two things First how God could make the time of the old Testament to be the season wherin he would instruct his people in his Law and that for all ages afterwards according to that of our Saviour The law and the Prophets were until John and since that time the kingdom of God is preached implying that the doctrin of the Law was unfolding until then Secondly why the Lord Christ who is the Apostle of our profession and was faithful to him that appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all his house Heb. 3. 1. that is in all the service of it should speak so little in his new Testament concerning the Law which is the rule which he hath set for the service of that his house namely because he could look upon that for the greatest part to be done already And should he have been more particular therein he had taken his people off from the study of the old Testament which he would not doe since it was written for our learning yea he purposely avoyds it that he might oblige his people to that study His faithfulnesse in the house of God did bespeak it of him Therefore whoever shall confine himself only to the new Testament to finde out the law of Gods worship and service he shall never finde it not onely as to Infant-baptisme but also to all other Ordinances whatsoever because as I said the new Testament speaks of things only by hints here and there for the most part and as supposing many things then already known when that was written and commonly received among his people As for instance he saith of his Church even that Church wherein Timothy was instructed touching his behaviour 1 Tim. 3. 16. and therefore meant of a visible Church that it is his House See p. 28. and the Church of Corinth is said to be the Temple of God 2 Cor. 6. 16. But where is the nature of the house or Temple unfolded in the new Testament For that we must goe to the old and there we finde that a Temple or an house of God must be separated from that which is common and made sacred to his presence and such must a people be who are now his House and Church which presence of his when he totally withdraws he calleth it a profaning or defiling of his Sanctuary Ezek. 24. 21. I will profane my sanctuary the excellency of your strength that is he would make it common and to be as any other place Again the word separate is sometimes used in the new Testament as Acts 13. 2. 2 Cor. 6. 17. which is of necessity to be understood by him that would understand the Ordinances of God and service of his house or the house it selfe for

here made the ground of a Christians confidence So Rom. 4. 12. Beleevers are said to walk in the steps of Abrahams faith Thus David comforted himself Psal 22. 4 5. Our Fathers trusted in thee and they were not confounded Faith is a great work but this incouragement we have the things to be believed are things of a common salvation Jude 3. A duty to which others are obliged as well as we and that which many thousands have done before us 1 Pet. 5. 9. Whom resist stedfastly in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren which are in the world So Col. 1. 23. If ye continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven As if he had said Had it been a Gospel devised onely for you and so you put upon a way of believing by your selves you might then have disputed the case and have been unsetled but it is not so Fourthly That Oaths are lawful and in some cases a duty among Christians God himselfe sweareth and his swearing is set forth by what is in use amongst men namely for confirmation to put an end to all strife When he swears he acts after the manner of man now if he acts as a man it shall not be in that which is sinful He was made like us in all things yet without sin Heb. 4. 25. Leut. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his name So Jer. 4. 2. whereby we see how to understand those other places Math. 5. 33. James 5. 12. namely that we swear not profanely or commonly but religiously and as a sacred work so saith our Saviour let your communication be yea yea nay nay And that we swear not by any creature but by his name such instances are given in both places Fifthly That those who are Beleevers have not onely the Promise but also the Oath of God to rest their confidence upon He loveth to do like himselfe and therefore to do the utmost for his people In working his right hand teacheth him Psal 45. 4. and in promising and making sure his promise he doth what may be done for us Because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself What cause have we to be convinced of sin because of unbelief as our Saviour speaketh John 16. 9. since God hath done and said so much if we are unbelieving notwithstanding Sixthly That there is a strife or controversie between God and each uncomfortable soul among his people Full of disputes and jealous thoughts we are which are the cause of our discomforts therefore God gives to us his promise and his oath to be an end of all such strife between himself and us That by two immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to Lye we might have strong consolation Other things might be observed I shall name but one observation more and that I shall insist upon and for which I made choice of this Scripture upon this occasion It is this Seventhly That what the Lord confirmed by Oath to Abraham he confirmed it to us even to all beleevers after Christ to the worlds end Abraham is here brought in as a pattern and all beleevers are here supposed to inherit the promise made to him in common with him in as much as he saith that what God did for Abraham when by Oath he confirmed to him the promise of blessing him and multiplying his seed he did it that he might shew the immutability of his counsel to the Heirs of promise and that we that is the beleevers of the New Testament might have strong consolation If the promise so confirmed unto him had not been intended and belonged also unto us that confirmation of it so to him had conduced nothing to our comfort nor had we been Heirs of that promise For a further proofe of this point take Gal. 3. 29. If ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and heirs according to the promise Where we see that what we have in Christ we have it all as Abrahams seed and as heirs with him of the same promise and what we have as Abrahams seed we have it all in Christ so as the promise made to Abraham is an Epitome or the summe of the Gospel So Luke 1. 55. 72 73. wee finde that when Christ was sent into the world and what was done by him it was to perform the Oath of God to Abraham He hath holpen his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spake to our Fathers to Abraham and his seed for ever To perform the mercy promised to remember his holy Covenant the Oath which he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life A further proofe hereof we have in all those places where beleevers of the New Testament both Jews and Gentiles are called Abrahams seed because thereby they are all intitled to his promise made as you see to him and his seed As for instance Gal. 3. 16. To Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ. And this I say that the Covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after could not disanull This one seed which is Christ is not meant of Christ in his own person onely for then no beleever should be accounted the seed of Abraham but onely Christ but of Christ in his mystical body as 1 Cor. 12. 12. All the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ Which body saith the Apostle here is not made up of two seeds Jews and Gentiles but of one seed though made up of both And that he meaneth Christ in that sense is evident by that passage The covenant which was confirmed in Christ 430. years before c. What before he called a promise made to Christ the one seed he afterward calleth a covenant confirmed in Christ namely to us in him as members of his body both Jews and Gentiles therefore this one seed which is Christ is meant of Christ in his mystical body By which it appeareth that the promise made to Abraham was confirmed to beleevers both Jews and Gentiles as his seed So Rom. 4. 16. Therefore is it of faith that it might be of grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all Another proofe is that in Psal 105. 6. O ye seed of Abraham his servant ye children of Jacob his chosen he hath remembred