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	faith_n	holy_a	1,533	5	5.3032	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96425	The doctrines of the Arminians & Pelagians truly stated and clearly answered: or, An examination and confutation of their ancient errors, which by the Church of Christ in former ages were justly abhorred, but of late under the names of Comfortable truths to be embraced are newly published. Concerning I. The universality of Gods free-grace in Christ to mankind. II. Concerning election. III. Redemption. IV. Conversion. V. Perserverance. Wherein the principal arguments brought to maintaine the orthodox faith are propounded, and the principal objections against them answered. / By Thomas Whitfield, minister of the gospel at Bugbrook in Northampton-shire. The Tares of Arminian heresie showed in former times (and by the help of prelatical influence then given to them increasing) and now growing up so much in these; I conceive this book wherein the author doth learnedly state and confute those opinions, is very worthy the publike light. Joseph Caryll.	Whitfield, Thomas, Minister of the Gospel.; Carly, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1651 (1651)	Wing W2006; Thomason E646_7; ESTC R208798	87,011	101

can we be sayed to be actually constituted freed and prepared for eternall life before beleeving when as faith is the first thing that fits us for life 4. The word here used is in the praeterperfect tense and doth not signifie any present condition or disposition in them but something which had beene done long before so many as were ordayned to eternall life long before this time of their hearing Paul preach Object 6 To the argument drawne from the equall extent of Christs offices that to whom Christ is a priest he is also a prophet to teach them and a Prince to rule them but these offices pertaine onely to his Church and chosen therefore the other also T. M. replyes that in all Christs offices there is something more generall which belongs to all something more speciall which belongs to the elect pag. 125. Answ But that great worke of his priestly office whereby he hath offered himself as a ransome for sinne which Tho. More makes common and generall pag. 192. to all is the foundation of all the rest being not onely satisfactory but meritorious such whereby he hath not onely satisfyed for sinne but purchased righteousnesse and life and therefore those who have their part in this shall have their part in all the rest as hath been already shewed He that spared not to give his owne sonne how shall he not together with him freely give all things also Rom. 8.32 Object 7 To the argument drawne from Gods denyall of giving to a great part of men the meanes of comming to the knowledge of Christ and therefore he hath not given Christ for them Tho. More replies that God doth use some meanes toward all to bring them to knowledge Answ But whether hath he given to all men since the beginning of the world sufficient meanes to bring them to the saving knowledge of Christ if he hath not then what he saith of giving them some means of knowledge is nothing to the purpose If he hath how then can that hold true that the Gospell was a mystery which had been hid from all ages and generations Col. 1.26 That the Gentiles before Christs comming were strangers from the life of God through ignorance Eph. 4.18 That they were strangers from the covenant without Christ without God in the world Eph. 2.12 that in times past he suffered all nations to walke in their owne wayes Act. 17.30 this was a night time a time of darkenesse with them Eph. 5.8 Rom. 12.12 2 Cor. 4.6 If the Reader desires further satisfaction touching this point of Christs dying for all let him passe on to the next treatise and looke into the Article of redemption where he shall finde that handled which here is omitted An Examination and Confutation of the Arminian erronious Tenets concerning ELECTION IN the Article of election the principall question is whether it be absolute or conditionall that is whether it ariseth meerly from Gods free purpose his gracious good will and pleasure or whether it ariseth both from the foresight of mans fall as also of his faith repentance and the like To this the Arminians answer negatively denying Gods election or decree of mans salvation to be absolute and affirming that both the foresight of sinne as also of faith and perseverance doe go before not onely mans salvation but also Gods purpose and decree whereby he hath appointed him unto salvation For in the decree of mans salvation they make God to proceed in this order 1. That upon foresight of the fall God decrees to give Christ 2. To save beleevers and damne unbeleevers 3. To give to all men sufficient meanes of faith 4. To save such particular persons as he foresees will beleeve and to damne the other That such a foresight as this doth not go before election or Gods decree touching the salvation of particular persons may appeare by these reasons Argument 1 We are elected unto faith and unto beleeving therefore election is not out of the foresight of faith neither doth faith goe before election either as a cause or condition but follows it as an effect or fruit of election In order of nature the effect alwayes followes the cause That we are elected unto faith the Apostle shewes plainly when he saith that we are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame Eph. 1.4 Now faith is a part of sanctification being one of the fruits of the spirit yea a principall one And Saint Petor saith we are elected unto obedience and sprinkling of the bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 Now Christs bloud is sprinkled on us by faith and all true obedience ariseth out of faith being therefore elected to the one we are elected to the other also and the Apostle tels the Thessolonians that God had chosen them to salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and the beleefe of the truth 2 Thes 2.13 Sanctification and beliefe of the truth are made meanes whereby they were to come to salvation therefore in order of nature the purpose of salvation must go before these they being meanes that tend to it none can deny that faith is the gift of God and a grace which he workes for the Apostle affirmes it Eph. 2.8 Now if God workes faith he must needs do this to some end and what can this be but that whereto faith tends and which at last it effects and brings forth namely salvation receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your soules 1 Pet. 1.19 Argument 2 The Apostle makes Gods election and rejection to be acts of his free will and pleasure he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9.15 But if election and rejection be out of the foresight of faith and infidelity and preseverance in these then they are acts of justice not of will and pleasure For if God makes a covenant with man to give him salvation if he believes on Christ and perseveres in doing so and on the other side to condemne him if he rejects Christ and persists in unbeleefe he cannot in truth and justice deny him salvation if he sees him persevering in the faith nor purpose to give it him if he sees him persevering in unbeliefe So that this way he should be led to elect or reject by a necessity of nature not a freedome of will Besides they make election to depend upon prescience and this prescience to be necessary and so upon this ground also election to be necessary Argument 3 If election be out of foreseen faith then God chuseth such as have chosen him before and loveth such as have loved him first contrary to that which Saint John sayth we love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 the love whereby we love God immediately flowes from faith for faith worketh through love and by this faith and love we chuse God to be our God cleaving to him as our chiefe Good Whether therefore upon foresight of our faith he purposeth to chuse us or

qualities not the men but their faith accidents without a subject but there is no touch in Scripture tending this way for the Apostle tels the Ephesians that God had chosen not their faith but them Eph. 1.4 and the Thessalonians that he had appointed them to obtaine salvation 1 Thessa 5.9 not their faith and that he loved Jacob and hated Esau before they were borne Rom. 9. not the ones cleaving to the righteousnesse of faith and the others following the righteousnesse of the law but themselves so every where persons not things are named upon the like occasions Neither can it stand with reason for that cannot be the object of Gods decree which neither hath nor never shall have being qualities never have any being but in their subjects faith considered by it selfe abstracted from his subject never had nor shall have being neither have believers any being but in Peter Paul and other particular believing persons It is a true rule in Logicke that universalia non existant nisi in singularibus Humanity hath no being but in Socrates Plato and other individuall person so neither believing nor believers have any existence or being but in the particular individuall persons of faithfull Abraham Moses and other the like And the decree of saving believers is nothing else but a decree of bestowing salvation upon Abraham or other-like faithfull person when he is a believer where salvation hath reference to the decree and believing to the execution and it is no more but this that God decrees to bring Abraham to Salvation by faith and to bestow this Salvation upon him when he is a believer and in Gods decree Abrahams person plainly goes before his Faith going in this order I decree to save Abraham and that he may be saved I decree to give him faith without which he can never come to enjoy Salvation 3. For the decrees themselves a conditionall decree is such as cannot agree to God for thus it runs I decree to save Peter if he will believe which either must beare this sense that God will save Peter being a believer and then it is all one with the absolute decree whereby he hath decreed to bring Peter to salvation by believing or else God decrees Peters salvation upon condition of his faith so as if afterwards Peter shall come a believer then he will absolutely decree to save him if otherwise he will absolutely decree to damne him now in this sense it cannot agree to God 1. For first in this conditionall decree of Salvation God puts no difference betwixt Iudas and Peter betwixt such as come to enjoy Salvation in heaven and such as come to be damned in hell for he decrees likewise to save Iudas as well as Peter if Iudas will believe and to damne Peter as well as Iudas if Peter will not by this decree Esau and Iacob are loved and hated both alike And what a decree of Salvation may we thinke this to be that belongs to the Reprobate as well as to the Elect to the damned in hell as to the Saints in heaven by this it is all one to be loved or hated elected or rejected How then can Election be an act of greatest love 2. There is no certainty in this decree for it hath no certain object damnation being the object of this decree as well as salvation it respecting the one equally with the other now both these cannot be certain because they cannot both stand together the one being contrary to the other so that if Salvation be certaine damnation is uncertaine and so on the contrary 3. It is true that God decrees conditions but these conditions belong to the execution not to the decree God decrees to bring men to Salvation by the conditions of faith repentance and the like these are therefore necessary for effecting Salvation but not for establishing the decree to Salvation these must go before mans Salvation but not before Gods decree All conditions are as means fitting for the end and means have the nature of a cause and are all one with it food is the means of nourishment and so the cause of it so Physick is the means and cause of health thus it is with Faith and Repentance they are means and so causes of Salvation though not meritorious yet preparing and disposing causes though not causes why God gives it yet causes fitting us to receive what he freely gives if therefore these should necessarily belong not only to Salvation but to the decree whereby we are appointed to Salvation then the decree should have causes as well as the execution of it which were it so how can Gods will and decree be the first and highest cause of all other things 4. God when he decrees life to believers or to Peter if he will believe knows certainly that he will believe and therefore his decree is not conditionall but absolute If a man determines to take a journey to morrow if it be faire weather and knows certainly at the same time that it will bee faire weather this is an absolute determination Object Faith and Repentance goe not before as causes but as necessary conditions Answ If they be necessary conditions they have in them the nature of a cause there is nothing needfull for bringing forth an effect but the causes if therefore they be no causes God may establish his decree without them and so there is no necessity of them as going before the decree Object But God alway propounds Salvation to men upon conditions therefore he hath decreed it on conditions Answ God hath decreed to execute his purpose of Salvation by meanes and these are conditions of Salvation as Faith Repentance and the like these therefore must be made known to men because no man can come to Salvation without them God having decreed the means as well as the end but though these go before Salvation and are the causes of that they follow the decree and are effects of that for Gods decree is the first cause of Salvation and all that belongs to it the ignorant mistaking or wilfull jumbling together of these two namely the decree and execution is the cause of much confusion in mens thoughts touching the nature and order of Gods decrees Hence it comes to passe that because the Scripture propounds certaine conditions as necessary to mans Salvation some take occasion to inferre a necessity of these unto Gods decree touching mans Salvation whereas these belong only to the execution not to the decree and therfore cannot be brought into that A man cannot build an house without Timber and Stone cannot he therfore purpose the having of a fit habitation for himself unlesse the consideration of Timber and Stone first come into his mind 4. If God decrees to give men Salvation conditionally yet how doth he decree to give men faith conditionally He gives to all men absolutely the power of believing as Arminians teach but upon what condition doth he give the act of believing if it be

those never receive it to whom it is given yea the thing it selfe which is given not have being at all in rerum natura 12. By this doctrine that speciall grace of conversion should be for litle purpose or rather be of no use at all for if God stands ready by his speciall grace to concurre with man in the act of believing and repenting onely when he sees man moving and applying his owne will to the doing of these things what needs there any such speciall grace at all for to will to repent and beleeve is all one with repenting and beleeving they teach that if man doth not resift God calling him to beleeve that God is ready to concurre with him in the act of beleeving now not to resist this call is to obey it to obey God calling to beleeve what is it but to beleeve If man doth believe what needs there any help of speciall grace to cause him to do that which he doth already or how can God be said to work that which hath been wrought already or give being to that which hath being already nothing can be a condition of it self and it is absurd to say that God is ready to work faith in us and cause us to believe if wee believe already before he puts forth this Worke of his Objections against the former Arguments Object 1 AGainst the first argument it is objected that God may be said to worke both the will and the deed and to cause men to walk in his statutes c. because he concurs with mans will in the act of obeying in the act of believing and the like Answ But according to their doctrine this is only a generall concourse or influence whereby he assists mans will in these as in all other actions that as if a man will speak walk or the like God is ready to concurre with him in these things so if he will believe hee is ready to concur with him in the act of believing and by this meanes God concurs onely ut author naturae non ut author gratiae as a supporter of nature not an infuser of grace whereas in all spirituall actions that man performs God doth act upon him not only by a naturall but a supernaturall power whereby he moves his will to do the same thing which he requires as also to do it in the same manner and to the same end which he requires for which a double grace is needfull one habituall whereby nature is regenerated and enabled for supernaturall acts the other actuall whereby the will being regenerate is excited and put on to these acts as to beleeve obey and the like 2. If God only assists men in the act of believing when he sees that they will believe how can he be said to work the will and the deed if when he sees that man wills to walke in his statures and keepe his Commands he only stands ready to concur with him in this worke how can be he said to cause him to walke in his statutes How can Faith be said not to be of our selves but to be the gift of God 3. This new motion of the will whereby it moves and stirres it self to repent and believe being a new entity and being whence can it proceed but from him in whom wee live move and have our being all gracious habits must have a first efficient that gives being to them which can bee no other then him that is the authour of grace Object 2 Against the third argument it is objected that man is not wholly dead in sinne nor properly dead but only by way of resemblance and similitude for there are many differences betwixt one that is corporally and spiritually dead and this is somtimes resembled to sicknes or sleep where life remains as well as to death Answ Though mans soule bee not properly dead yet it is truly dead and wholly dead in sin being as wholly void of spirituall life as the body is of naturall when the soule is separated from it and though there be some differences betwixt the naturall and spirituall death as in all similitudes there is some dissimilitude yet they agree in the maine which is this that as he who is naturally dead cannot prepare himself to live or put life into himself no nor hinder his owne reviving and quickning when God will worke it no more can he that is spiritually dead do this and though spirituall death sometimes be compared to other things as sickness sleep c. yet this hinders not but the Soule may be truly and wholly dead because in divers respects it may be said to be sick and asleep and also dead sick because weak infirme and void of spirituall strength asleep because void of sense and disabled for motion and action as a sleepy man is for a time dead because disabled not onely for the act but deprived of the faculty of spirituall action and motion and that not for a time but alway unlesse God restore it by infusing spirituall life Object But a dead man cannot resist the infusion of life whereas a dead sinner resists the work of grace Answ Though a sinner wants the life of grace yet the sin which is in him wants not life that old man and body of sinne which wholly possesseth him and prevails in him is lively quick and active causing a man to yeeld the members of his body as instruments of unrighteousnes to commit iniquity Rom. 6.13 alway lusting against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 this is no argument to prove that a man is not wholly void of the life of grace because he is able to performe actions belonging to the life of sinne but rather the contrary for where sinne most prevails there grace hath least power sinne wholly prevailes in an unregenerate man for he is a servant of sinne Rom. 6.17 Object 3 Against the Seventh argument it is objected that though all have the like outward means and like inward abilities yet it is not man but God that makes the difference because he dispenseth the means to some in such a congruous manner and time when they are so fitly disposed as he knows they will receive grace offered which he doth not to others Answ Though grace be offered in the most congruous manner and time that may be yet still he that receives may reject it if he will and he that rejects may receive if he will and so it is mans will that makes the difference and since this congruous disposition whereby a man is more fit and ready at one time for receiving of grace and mercy then at another doth or may arise from naturall causes hence it will follow that the efficacy of grace may be resolved into nature 2. What congruity is there betwixt contraries what agreement is there betwixt righteousnesse and unrighteousnesse light and darknesse 2 Cor. 6.16 if whatever is borne of the flesh be flesh and the flesh alway lusteth against the Spirit they being contraries Gal. 5.17