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	justification_n	2,857	5	9.3476	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41649	A word to sinners, and a word to saints The former tending to the awakening the consciences of secure sinners, unto a lively sense and apprehension of the dreadfull condition they are in, so long as they live in their natural and unregenerate estate. The latter tending to the directing and perswading of the godly and regenerate unto several singular duties. As also a word to housholders stirring them up to the good old way of serving God in and with their families, from Joshuah's resolution, Josh. 24. 15. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Set forth especially for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of St. Sepulchres Parish, London by Tho. Gouge, late pastor thereof.	Gouge, Thomas, 1605-1681.	1668 (1668)	Wing G1371; ESTC R222576	207,485	324

both Satisfaction and Intercession applyed to Christ. Satisfaction by his death and Intercession now that he is risen again and sitteth at the right hand of God Christs Sacrifice on the Cross was of such efficacy that Gods Justice was thereby abundantly satisfied his wrath fully pacified yea his face and favour and all blessings following thereon was purchased The death of Christ is therefore said to be a Sacrifice to God a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 And the Church is said to be purchased thereby Act. 20.28 namely from all that bondage under which it was as sin the curse of the Law the Wrath of God Death Devil Damnation After Christ had offered up his Life a Sacrifice unto God and thereby made satisfaction for the sins of his Church he was buried and laid in the grave to sanctifie the grave to all his members And the third day he arose from the dead As he himself laid down his life so he himself took it up again And then he ascended into Heaven there to make intercession for us which is the second part of his Priestly Office The former was to make satisfaction this latter to make intercession Christ may be said to make intercession for us two wayes 1. By a continual presenting of himself to his Father for us Christ saith the Apostle Heb. 9.24 is entred into Heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us Christ presents himself our Sacrifice and propitiation for our sins whose very blood becomes our Advocate to plead with the Father for us Heb. 12.24 2. By manifesting his will to have all his made partakers of the vertue and benefit of his Sacrifice Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me The word Intercession properly signifieth supplication for another It is attributed to Christ especially as he is now in Heaven by way of resemblance The resemblance may be taken from the Favourite of a King who is alwayes at Court in the Kings presence and there presents his friends petition and intercedes for the granting thereof Christ the great favourite of the Lord stands before him continually to present our supplications and procure our acceptance Q. How comes Christ and those things which he did and suffered in his own person to be ours A. By Faith Rom. 3.22 Faith is called the faith of Iesus because we thereby relying on Christ are united to him and so have a right to all that is his In this respect whatsoever we receive from Christ is attributed to faith By faith we are justified Rom. 3.28 We are saved by faith Eph. 2.8 By faith we have access to God Rom. 5.2 In a word As they who in the dayes whilest Christ lived upon the earth received cure of any malady from him received it by faith So every good thing that now we receive from Christ we receive by faith How needfull then is it that we be well instructed in the nature of faith Q. What is faith A. True saving faith is a grace wrought in us by the Spirit of God through the Ministry of the Word whereby we receive Christ as he is offered in the Gospel and rest upon him alone for life and salvation First I say True saving faith is a grace It is not the work of nature it being as impossible for a man by his own strength to believe as it is to keep the Law Faith therefore in Scripture is called the gift of God It is added wrought in us by the spirit of God by whose efficacy as the principal cause it is begotten in us Through the Ministry of the Word because that is the ordinary means whereby the Spirit of God doth work faith in our hearts It s true that the reading of the Scriptures and of good books may through Gods blessing be a means of working faith but it is most sure and certain that the most ordinary means is the Word preached as Rom. 10.17 Faith cometh by hearing viz. the Word of God For first the Law discovereth unto us our sins and miserable condition by reason of them That we are utterly lost in our selves having deserved and are lyable to all judgements and plagues here and eternal death and condemnation hereafter and that we are altogether unable to free our selves out of this miserable condition whereunto we have plunged our selves by sin And then the Gospel shews us that in the fulness of time Jesus Christ who was the Eternal Son of God came into the World took our nature upon him and therein became our Surety and as our Surety hath taken our debts upon him and by his obedience and alsufficient Sacrifice of his own body once offered upon the Cross hath made full satisfaction to Gods justice for the same Yea the Gospel farther sheweth that God in him offereth grace and reconciliation pardon of sins here and eternal salvation hereafter to all that believe in him The which truth being revealed to us by the Preaching of the Word the Spirit of God inwardly worketh in us effectual assent thereunto upon which followeth an high prizing of Jesus Christ above all things an hungring and thirsting after him and a resolution of heart to receive him as our all-sufficient Saviour and to rest upon him and his merits alone for life and salvation And therefore it is added in the forementioned description that faith is a grace whereby we receive Christ. And indeed thereby is Christ made ours For what is more our own than that which is freely offered us and we have received To receive Iesus Christ is the same as to lay hold on him or to embrace him and apply him to our selves But I have the rather made choice of this word receive because it is the very expression of the holy Ghost Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe This latter clause to them that believe is added as an explanation of the former clause As many as received him shewing what is meant by receiving Christ namely a believing on him Which two are very fitly joyned together Believing is added to receiving to shew what is meant by receiving Christ. And receiving is added to believing to shew what kind of faith it is whereby Christ becomes ours it is such a faith whereby we accept of and receive Christ with the benefits of his death and passion It follows in the description of faith How Christ must be received namely as he is offered in the Gospel Christ is offered in the Gospel In all his Offices as Priest Prophet and King And so he must be received not only as our Priest who hath made satisfaction for us by his death upon the Cross and now in Heaven maketh intercession for us But likewise as our Prophet to be taught and instructed by him and as our King to be ruled and

governed by him and we must as willingly cast our selves at the feet of Christ in subjection to him as into the arms of Christ for salvation from him we must be as willing to serve Jesus Christ as to be saved by him The purpose of God in freeing us from the spiritual bondage in which we were by nature being this that we should serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Vainly therefore do they deceive themselves who are willing to receive Christ as a Redeemer but not as a Ruler as a Saviour but not as a Lord and King Let such know that Christ will be a Saviour to none to whom he is not a Lord and King His subjects alone and none other will he save for he will not part his Offices In the last place is added And rest upon him alone for the pardon of our sins here and for eternal life and Salvation hereafter This resting on Christ we find is set forth in Scripture by sundry Phrases as a trusting in Christ Eph. 1.12 And a leaning on Christ Cant. 8.5 A staying our s●lves upon him Isa. 50.10 Q What are those esp●cial benefits which believers receive from Christ A. 1. Justification 2. Adoption 3. Sanctification That justification is by faith the Apostle concludeth Rom. 3.28 We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law Q. What is Iustification A. Justification is an act of Gods free grace whereby he forgives us all our sins and accepts of us as righteous in and for the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us That justification is an act of Gods free grace The Apostle expresseth Rom. 3.24 Being justified fre●ly by his grace And that God accepts us as righteous in and for the Righteousness of Jesus Christ is clear from Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sin-ers So by the Obedie●ce or righteousness of o●e namely Christ shall many be made righteous that is perfectly righteous so as God shall accept them for righteous We are justified not by any inherent righteousness of our own which is imperfect but by the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to us and by God himself accounted ours 2 Cor. 5.21 He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteous●●ss of God in him that is in Christ. In which words is expresly noted that we are so made righteous before God in Christ as he was made a sinner for us Now how was Christ made a sinner for us Namely by imputation according to that of the Prophet Isa. 53.6 The Lord hath laid on him the i●iquity of us all God accounted our sins his and accordingly he was punished as a sinner And so he accounts his righteousness ours and in that respect we are righteous before God The Lord accounting us as righteous through Christs righteousness as if we had kept the whole Law Admirab●e is the comfort which a believers soul receiveth from this point of his ju●tification before God For so soon as he be●ieveth even while he liveth in this World he is thus justified in Gods sight Hereby therefore is he upheld against the afflicting sense of the imperfection of his own righteousness For though his own righteousness be but as filthy rags yet this is his comfort that he is righteous in the sight and account of God by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to him Q Which are the parts of Iustification A. 1. Remission of all our sins 2. Acceptation of us as righteous through the imputation of Christs Righteousness Rom. 4.6 7 8. 1. Our sins make us odious and abominable in the sight of God yea they make us cursed and lyable to eternal damnation they therefore are first taken away not that they are not or that God seeth them not but in that God imputeth them not to us 2 Cor. 5.19 2. God to make us glorious in his sight imputes his Sons righteousness unto us and therein accepts us In which respect we are said to be made righteous by Christs righteousness Rom. 5.19 and to be made accepted in the beloved Eph. 1.6 By laying these two parts of our justification together the transcendent love of Christ to believers is clearly set out For 1. That which is our own namely our sins because they make us miserable he taketh from us and layeth on himself He was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 2. That which is none of our own because without it we cannot be happy he imputes to us and accounts ours and accepts of us as if it were our own namely his own perfect righteousness For ●aith the Apostle We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Q. What is Adoption A. Adoption is an act of Gods free-grace whereby of Children of Wrath and of the Devil we are made the Children of God Ioh. 1.12 We are not only accounted Children and taken into the number of the seed of God but are invested with all the priviledges of the Children of God Rom. 8.17 Q. What is Sanctification A. Sanctification is a work of Gods Spirit whereby a justified person is by degrees renewed throughout according to the Image of God in holiness and righteousness First Sanctification is said to be a work of Gods Spirit because he is the principal author and efficient cause thereof Whereby a justified person is renewed I add a justified person because Justification and Sanctification alwayes go together Though Justification be before in Nature yet are they both wrought at the same time The Lord accounteth no man righteous by imputing Christs righteousness unto him but he makes him also righteous by a righteousness inherent in himself Is renewed by the work of Sanctification a man is morally made a new man and as it were another man All things are become new 2 Cor. ● 17 He hath new thoughts new desires new dispositions This renewing is by degrees that is by little and little and not all at once Indeed we are justified at once but we are Sanctified by degrees In which respect Sanctification is compared to the light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 And Eph. 4.26 To the body of a man which groweth and encreaseth in stature and strength till it be come to the perfection of it Even so our Sanctification encreaseth by degrees we go on from grace to grace from vertue to vertue till we be perfect men of full growth in Christ Jesus This renewi●g as it is by degrees so it is throughout that is within and without in all the faculties of the soul and parts of the body And that according to the Image of God in holiness and righteousness So that a Christian by the life of Sanctification lives like unto God at least he hath an holy disposition and inclination and heartily endeavours so to do to be holy as God is holy and as the Apostle speaketh Rom.