Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	election_n	faith_n	1,811	5	6.4367	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62053	The sinners last sentence to eternal punishment, for sins of omission wherein is discovered, the nature, causes, and cure of those sins / by Geo. Swinnock.	Swinnock, George, 1627-1673.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.	1675 (1675)	Wing S6281; ESTC R21256	184,210	500

time now is the day of Salvation Therefore O Sinner Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Matth. 5.25 26. But having written largely of this in another Treatise and intending to speak of it here only by way of Preface to what I mainly intend and now come to discourse of and that is the Nature Danger Cause and Curse of Sins of Omission in the reasons of this severe Sentence I shall speak no more thereof but proceed to the third general part of the Text and that is the reason CHAP. XV. The reason of Christs severe Sentence and a question resolved whether the Righteous by their Acts of Charity do not deserve Heaven as well as the Wicked by their Omission thereof deserve Hell Thirdly THe reason of Christ's severe Sentence against them vers 40 43. For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not The words have nothing of difficulty in them and therefore I shall not wast time in the explication of them Every one knows what it is not to give meat to the Hungry or drink to the Thirsty or Raiment to the Naked c. That it is the omission of a Duty viz. Charity which God commands and also that Believers are the Members of Christ Ephes 1. ult Christ mystical 1 Cor. 12.12 And therefore what injuries are done to them are done to Christ Acts 9. Only it may be needful to speak to these two particulars before I raise the Doctrine 1. Whether there be not the like ground of the Salvation of the blessed that there is of the damnation of the wicked namely the merit of their works Both seem to speak it Come ye blessed c. For I was hungry and ye gave me meat Again Go ye cursed c. For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. 2. Why Christ will try men at the great day by the performance or neglect of this Duty of Charity and not rather by their performance or neglect of Prayer Hearing Watchfulness or some other Duty or by their Humility Heavenly-mindedness Patience Temperance c. In answer to the first though Bellarmine affirms There is the same reason in each and Cornel. A Lapide with the rest of the Papists concur therein yet if they were not wilfully blind they might see enough in the Text to disprove them 1. In that Christ calls to the blessed to inherit the Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Haereditatis jure possidere to enjoy a thing by right of Inheritance from Parents and Ancestors and not by right of Purchase or deserving therefore Heaven is often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Inheritance Col. 1.12 Ephes 1.14 1 Pet. 1.3 So the Type of it the Land of Canaan is often called by the 70 probably from the division or distribution of the Land by lot to them A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lexceu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Distribuo quia hereditates olim per sortem distribul solebant Josh 14.2 which to a word is the import of the word Now they who enjoy an Estate by right of Sonship do not possess it by Merit What can a Child who may inherit his deceased Fathers Estate in his Child-hood or Infancy do to deserve that Estate 2. In that Christ tells them That this Kingdom was prepared for them before the foundation of the World Now what could they do before they had a Being to deserve this Inheritance And the Apostle is positive that all is to be referred to the Purpose of God not to the piety of any men For saith he the Children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the Purpose of God according to Election might stand mark not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her The Elder shall serve the younger Rom. 9.11 12. Eph. 1.4 Rev. 13.8 If it be Objected That God foresaw that they would improve their Free will unto the performance of such good Works whereby they would deserve Heaven and therefore chose them to Heaven which the Papists stand much upon I answer 1. The fore-sight of their Faith and good Works cannot be the cause of their Election because their Election is by God himself declared to be the cause of their Faith and good Works If their Faith and Obedience be the effect of Election they cannot be the cause of it but so they are Joh. 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come to me i. e. believe on me Again As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 13.48 So for good Works Joh. 15.13 Eph. 1.4 Rom. 8.30 2. Then mans will must be the ground of God's Actions not his own Will The Scripture tells us That God worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 But say the Papists in Election God worketh according to the imp●●vement of mans will 3. Then the accomplishment of Go●… Decree depends upon the mutable and uncertain will of man so that there is a possibility that God may be disappointed of his Choice and his Elect of that Happiness to which they are chosen if both depend on a changeable Creature But the word of God speaks the contrary that God cannot be frustrated of his Choice Psal 33.10 The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations His Decrees are sure 2 Tim. 2.19 though his sentence may be alter'd Jer. 18.7 8 9 10. Nor can the Elect be disappointed Matth. 24.24 If it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. Here the impossibility of their seduction is grounded on the stability of their Election 4. Then there can be no Election of Infants to everlasting life I mean of such as God fore-seeth or ordaineth to die in their infancy because God cannot fore-see that these will improve the liberty of their wills unto Faith and Repentance That Infants may be saved is clear Matth. 19.14 Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Matthew calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first word signifieth Puerulus a little Child one say the Criticks that is in the first seven years of his Age. But the latter Luke 18.15 signifieth Infants newly born or sucking Babes Now if of such is the Kingdom of Heaven then they may be saved But none are saved save such as are elected therefore without any fore-sight of Faith or good Works

rational Creatures may be elected Rom. 8.30 Rom. 11.7 5. If fore-sight of mens Works be the cause of their Election then man hath whereof to glory He is then the cause of his own Salvation Election is the Original of all a spring that runneth under ground for a time first bubleth up and discovers it self in effectual Calling so glideth along in a life of Faith Holiness and at last emptieth it self in the Ocean of Peace and Joy and Happiness So that if man be the Cause of his Election then he may thank himself for his Salvation John is no more beholden to God than Judas for 't is the improvement of the freedom of his Will which brings him to Heaven God did as much for Judas say they as for John But how contrary is this to the word of Truth Rom. 4.2 But if Abraham were justified by Works he had whereof to glory The Scripture speaks in another Dialect By Grace ye are saved through Faith not of Works lest any man should boast Eph. 2.4 5. The Knife with which Adam cut his own Throat and wherewith he murther'd his Posterity was Pride He would hold of himself and not of God The wise and gracious God in the way he hath taken for our Recovery is pleased to lay this Knife as far as may be out of our way lest we be ruin'd by it a second time Though this Pride the Popish Doctrine of Merits and fore-sight of good Works maintains but God tells us Man is nothing and God all in all that no flesh might glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1.27 28 29. 6. The Holy Ghost gives us the true ground or motive of Election far differing from this of the Papists and that is the Will and Pleasure Having predestinated us according to the good Pleasure of his Will Ephes 1.5 Being predestinated according to the purpose of him vers 11. Rom. 9.18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Matth. 11.26 Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with a holy Calling not according to our work but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ before the world begun Again the Particle For enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is counted causal Piscat in Loc. not that always it noteth the Cause but sometimes a Reason or Argument whether taken from the Cause or Effect Matth. 1.18 Matth. 15.14 2 Tim. 2.7 Besides this is sufficient for parity of reason or the resemblance that as some go by the way of good Works to Heaven so others by the way of evil Works to Hell Good Works are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ceu causa salutis sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respectu fidei finis ejus vitae aeternae Glass not the cause of reigning but the way to the Kingdom Once more Let the Papists shew the same proportion between a few imperfect defective good Works which men are enabled to do by the help of God and the unconceivable eternal Joys and Glory of Heaven that is between the evil works of men and the endless pains of Hell and then let them plead their merits They may if they please observe that the Saints themselves are so far from pleading their Merits or boasting their deserts that they hardly remember that they ever did those Works which Christ proclaims to their praise and rewards through his own blood with a Kingdom Lord when saw we thee hungry or thirsty c. O what a vast difference is there between an upright humble Christian who acknowledgeth himself less than the least of all Gods mercies and a proud Papist that dares say Coelum gratis non accipiam CHAP. XVI Why Christ will try men at the Great Day by acts of Charity THe second question to be discussed before I proceed to the Doctrine is why Christ tryeth men at that day by the neglect or performance of Charity and not of some other Duty as hearing praying watching c. Or by their Patience Humility Temperance or Heavenly-mindedness c. To this I answer These Works of Charity are by a Synechdoche put for new Obedience and all the good works of a Christians life Though Christ mention those as the test of men at that day yet he doth not hereby exclude others The Scripture abundantly proveth that other Graces and Duties shall be rewarded at that day 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Matth. 10.18 Heb. 6.10 c. and that men shall be condemned for other sins beside the neglect of Charity The want of the Wedding-Garment Matth. 22.12 13. Unprofitableness in the improvement of Talents Matth. 25.30 We have a Bed-Roll of other sins condemning 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21.8 Indeed every sin any sin that men have lived in and loved who have died impenitent will be found damnable at that day It cannot rationally be supposed that the performance or neglect of those outward acts of Charity should be the general test I mean of all for how then shall those that die in their Infancy and Childhood or such as are extreamly poor be tried who are rendred wholly uncapable of feeding the Hungry or cloathing the Naked Neither do I judge it shall be the sole test for it 's possible for a man in these outward acts to be bountiful to men who hath no regard or fear of God in him The Apostle supposeth a man may give all his Goods to the poor and yet be void of true love to the poor 1 Cor. 13.3 It 's unquestionable that the Worship of the blessed God is much more excellent than our kindness to the Children of men as Calvin well observeth on the Text yet Christ who knoweth the hearts of all men and from what principles they act will mention the Saints acts of Charity at that day and reward them accordingly and will mention the Sinners omission of Charity at that day and condemn him for it 1. Because acts of Charity are more obvious and apparent to the World Though the Christian usually is close therein and will not let his left hand know what his right hand doth yet Charity like Musk will discover it self The Objects thereof will publish their Benefactors and he himself thinks it needful sometimes to be open and publick in his liberality though not for self-ostentation yet for others imitation Luther tells us That Christ will try men this way because the World shall justifie his Sentence both of reward and punishment If a man be charitable all his Neighbours take notice of it yea commonly love him for it the vilest of them will commend him though by his holy Conversation he condemns them I suppose this is the good man of whom the Apostle speaks when he tells us That for such a one a man will even dare to die Rom. 5. Therefore when Christ shall acknowledge the Charity of his people and then reward them with himself

the Earth but banished him their Hearts and Houses must think and expect that he will not like or love their presence but sentence them to an everlasting banishment from him 2. The grosly ignorant Creature shall be banished the presence of Christ He will not know them who do not know him Wilful Ignorance doth certainly exclude the undefiled Inheritance A blind eye cannot see the blessed Jesus in all his Glory neither can a dark Heart enjoy the Kingdom of Light The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels to render Vengeance on them that know not God 2 Thess 1.7 8. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. The portion of such will be everlasting destruction from his presence They are destroyed for lack of knowledge because they reject knowledge Christ will reject them Hos 4.6 They are lost Souls whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded 2 Cor. 4.4 Inner darkness is the direct way to utter darkness 3. The hypocritical Professor shall be excluded the presence of Christ He that hath but the shadow of Holiness must expect a real Hell If thou bearest the Name of Christ and art not partaker of the Divine Nature thy Profession as Vriahs Letter to Joab will but hasten thy Execution Job 13.16 He i. e. God also shall be my Salvation but an Hypocrite shall not come before him God will be the godly upright Souls Salvation but not the Hypocrites He shall not dwell with God Psal 5.4 No not stand in his sight Psal 5.5 Nay not so much as come before him with any Comfort He may come before good men with acceptance as the foolish Virgins before the wise who were ignorant of their Hypocrisie but he shall not come before the Omniscient God When those Virgins came which wanted Oil the door was shut Matth. 25. There was no entrance no admission for them They had not received God into their Hearts though he was often in their Lips and he would not receive them into his House The door was shut CHAP. IX An Exhortation to flie from this wrath to come with some helps thereunto 2. IT may exhort us to take heed that this separation from Christ be not our portion O Reader how much doth it concern thee what-ever thou losest to make sure of the presence of Christ in the other World Believe it though thou canst bear the loss of an Estate or Friends or Relations yea and the partial absence of Christ in this World yet the total loss of Christ in the other World will be an intollerable loss They who live here chearfully without him cannot do so there When thou shalt be banished from all thy Possessions and all thy Relations and all thy worldly Comforts then also to be banished from Christ the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory and Consolation of Israel will be a woe with a witness Canst thou read and hear the misery of the wicked in their total eternal separation from Christ and not tremble for fear it should be thy portion lest thou shouldst be of the number of them that shall hear that dreadful Voice Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire To this end that thou mayst escape this woful Condition of the Ungodly obey these few Directions 1. Believe and bewail your enmity against Christ He loves you yet by nature thou hatest him Prov. 8. Rom. 1.31 Rom. 8.7 Indeed he may say of thee and all others in thy Condition They hated me without a cause But thou dost hate him and thereby art wholly uncapable of his presence Can two walk together unless they be agreed This enmity of thine against Christ which discovers it self in thy daily Rebellions against his Laws and Opposition to his Authority must be felt and lamented There is little hope of their recovery who are sick unto death and insensible thereof Matth. 9.12 They that be whole need not the Physician but they that are sick Thy first work must be to know this plague of thine own heart and to know it not notionally as a Physician by reading of it or beholding it in others but experimentally as the Patient knoweth a Disease by feeling it complaining of it mourning for it and longing to be freed from it Consider with thy self how impossible it is for thee to delight in the presence of Christ whom thou abhorrest and to take pleasure in the Company of any whom thy nature hath a reluctancy against 2. Make Christ your Friend through Faith in his blood There is no getting to Christ hereafter but by coming to him here Accept him now and he will accept thee then He will say to those that are now strangers to him Depart from me I never knew you If thou dost not know him and him crucified in this World he will not know thee in the other World Thou canst not rationally expect admission into his presence if thou hast no acquaintance with his person Strangers and Enemies are kept out when Children and those that are the Friends of the Master of the house are taken in It is by Faith in his blood that thou canst be united to him and made one with him as the Wife is united to the Husband and the Members to the Head Ephes 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church Ephes 1. ult Which is the Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes 3.17 And being so made one with him Husband and Wife Head and Members shall be together for ever Where I am there shall ye be also Joh. 14.2 3. The great ground of Christs passion was to bring those that believe to God and that they might abide with him eternally 3. Follow after holiness The holy Soul can only suit an holy Saviour and therefore the holy Soul can only enjoy the holy Saviour Two cannot walk comfortably together unless there be an agreement in their dispositions Into the new Jerusalem can in no wise enter any thing that defileth or is unclean Rev. 21. ult Heaven is an holy Hill Psal 15.1 An undefiled Inheritance 1 Pet. 1.3 The holiest or most holy place Heb. 9.8 12. And therefore will admit of none but holy persons Dogs must be without when Children shall be taken within doors CHAP. X. The positive part of the Sinners misery exprest by Fire and why I Come now to the second part of the Punishment of the Wicked and that is Poena sensus the positive part of their misery or that anguish which God will inflict on their Souls and Bodies Which punishment is set forth 1. By its extremity 2. Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall speak first to its extremity Fire The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from the Hebrew Vr and so the Latin Vro to burn From the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes Pyrausta a flie that lives in the fire and dies out of it Fire is used to describe the pains