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	word_n	3,386	5	4.6780	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88089	Vindiciæ Christi, et obex errori Arminiano: = a plea for Christ, and obstrvction to the first passage, whereat the errors of Arminus steal into the hearts of men: shewing Christs satisfaction in his humiliation, to be the sole price of our redemption; and evidencing faith in that satisfaction, no instrumental cause of our justification in the fight of God, nor condition given us for life. Delivered in three sermons: by Richard Lewthwat Master of Arts, in Caius Colledge in Cambridge, at his Parish of Wigston in Norfolk.	Lewthwat, Richard.	1655 (1655)	Wing L1855; Thomason E480_6; ESTC R205317	30,584	39

that pronounceth not onely guiltless but also perfectly just through Christ It follows That justifieth the ungodly The ungodly the word ungodly here must be restrained to the number of the elect or ransomed through Christ whose falvation was covenanted for from all eternity with the father by the Son upon the price of his blood and abasement to be undergone in the fulness of time at the time appointed by the father and promised by the Son to be performed at the time appointed Now these elected or ordained of the father to eternal life through the Son are in the Scriptures one whle and in one respect termed ungodly another while and in another respect stiled Saints and termed godly these elect are stiled ungodly children of wrath and enemies to God whilest in their natural condition of blindness ignorance and disobedience before illumination new-birth or regeneration by the Spirit of God before they be wrought to the faith of Christ or the faith of Christ be brought to them But now these elected ones after regeneration after faith be conveyed into their hearts they have their name changed by God they are termed Saints they are called godly and righteous So that now see the elect of God the redeemed through Christ do stand just before God through Christ are pronounced perfectly just through Christ by the word of the fathers will or decree even whilest in their naturall condition before they be indued with faith though the elect hear it not till then t is so The father Justifies the ungodly therefore we are not Justified by faith t is not counted our righteousness as being the instrumental efficient cause of a real application of Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God because Justified before even whilest ungodly before indued with faith Secondly faith is not cannot be in this wise as last mentioned instrumental because that granted many places of the Scripture are destroyed for brevities sake I le alleadge but one t is that of Isaiah chap. the 40. ver 1 2. if ye weigh the place well ye shall see that the Ministers command or commission is to proclaim the pardon of the elects sins upon the bare consideration of Christs pangs and sufferings in their stead Cry unto her that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received at the Lords hand double for all her sins See now brethren Isaiah and my self are in the same error in the Judgement of the Adversary Isaiah tells ye and bids all the Ministers of Christ tell their people as I have told you that the bare pangs and sufferings of Chist are the adequate and full means and cause of the absolution and pardon of our sins by the father the Prophet bids us proclaim peace and pardon to Jerusalem to the elect to this person and to the other to whomsoever we preach barely upon the Sons eternal covenant to dye in the fulness of time for us and the fathers acceptance thereof in our stead So that see Christ is an elected soul is every believer in the eye and purpose of the father by imputation before the holy Ghosts comfortable application of that Christ by faith Cry unto her that her iniquity is pardoned for that she hath received at the Lords hand double for all her sins See now a plain destruction of the direction to the Ministers by Isaiah upon the adversaries opinion Had the spirits of these times been living in the Prophets dayes to hear his last recited doctrine they would have stiled him an Antifidian and termed his words a doctrine of Devils They would have told him no man is acquitted or pardoned of his sins because of Christs satisfaction in the eye or by the will of God till the soul hath actually owned Christ as his Saviour by faith that no man is just or Justified through Christ in the sight of the father till he be actually believing on the Son I do most willingly receive faith to be a most blessed signal means but dare not receive it as an instrumental cause whereby the spirit of God doth bring a soul into the favour of God who was out of it till then and secondly for this reason because it alters and destroys the meaning of many comfortable places of Scripture this plainly of Isaiah containing the Ministers commission Thirdly and Lastly faith cannot be instrumentall to the application of Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God as that whereby the spirit brings a sinner into the favour and love of God who was out of it till that grace came into his soul applying Christ comfortably to the heart because that this being granted the very nature and being of God as described in the Scriptures is consequently destroyed and denyed There be many places in the Scripture tending to the description of our God I shall insist upon the places describing him especially as to the present purpose and that in Exodus 3. ver 14 is very considerable as to the present when Moses would be instructed by God with his name to answer the Israelites enquiring it God sets forth his name by his nature thou shalt say I am hath sent me unto you God in his first answer to Moses in the beginning of the verse where he saies I am that I am God holds forth his absolute independing and eternal subsistency and being I am that I am that is of my self not taking my being from the power pleasure or help of any pre-existing cause or thing this speaks the eternity of his being Now in these words of God I am hath sent me unto you God sets forth the manner or nature of the being of things in him of their being in his love will or purpose and consequently as to our capacity in his sight and knowledge as I may say they do set forth the nature of love will decree knowledge sight and other attributes of God This name shews that his love of any man his will and purpose to have any thing come about or to pass his sight and knowledge of all future events and things to happen in time as to us were all eternally present with God not taking beginning or being in him in his sight or knowledge in time God loves not the man to day that is doth not will purpose or decree to him to day that good thing be it either some temporal happiness yea or future life eternal that he did not purpose will or decree to him from all eternity he doth not see or behold a man to day Justified through Christ that he did not behold so before the foundation of the world was laid I am saith God that is as if God should have said I am now at this time what I was from all eternity in respect to will decree sight knowledge power c. Again I am now at this present what I shall be to all succeding times to eternity in respect to will decree sight knowledge power for all

he that joyns together both Jews and Gentiles in one way infallible hope or foundation of eternal life or again he is become the head of the corner That is he is become the proper support and onely true foundation of the hope of all mens salvation as in the first of the Cor. chap. 3. ver 11. For other Foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Iesus Christ he is become the head of the corner And now see in the next verse further for my purpose the Apostle saies that this Christ is the sole and whole vertue means and matter of mans salvation or Redemption neither saies he is there salvation in any other that is means and help to life eternal lyes no where but in this Christ this crucified Saviour this corner stone set at nought of you Jews or Jewish builders neither is there salvation in any other Look yet a little further and we have yet more for our purpose in the reason the Apostle there brings for confirmation for sayes he there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Let me give ye the meaning of the word name here and then the place is an invincible fortification for my inference and need not capitulate with the Adversary about surrender The word Name as it refers to God or Christ in the Scriptures is oft taken for the powerful aid help and vertue that is in God or Christ to us and for us Thus t is used as attributed to God Psa the 44. ver 5. Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us That is through thy power aid assistance or vertue we shall tread them under Thus under favour it is taken in the words I have quoted for my purpose there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved That is there is no other thing nature essence vertue power matter means or help whereby wherefore or for which we must be saved See brethren every thing in the world but Christ shut out from being the matter means purchase or condition of or for our Redemption or salvation yea the perfectest obedience the deepest repentance the truest charity the devoutest prayers yea the strongest faith all these and any of these are shut out from being matter or means whereby we may be saved the reason is plain because they are none of them this Jesus Christ of Nazareth This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of the corner neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved I confess there are many arguments and allegations brought against this doctrine and my last inference by the Anti-christian party within the sound of the word yea and profession of the Gospel some plead for good works obedience alms-deeds charity and such like graces in man to share as causes or means in the work of our salvation as the Church of Rome others that faith and repentance become mainly if not solely the matter means or cause of our Redemption or salvation in that they are a condition exacted by God to be performed by us for life ●s Mr. Plater and the Arminian faction and the most of our present Divines watching over the flock of God if they be such in all England as here about us Tenents if duly poysed as now held that be fully opposite to the free grace of God in Christ contended for by the Apostle in Rom. the 11. ver 6. and in many places elsewhere yea and further they are Tenents if duely poysed baneful and destructive to that comfortable hope held forth to us in the Gospel of Christ Perhaps the Adversary to my position rather then to skirmage in the several particulars will desire to try the victory with me as the Philistines did with Israel in the first of Sam. chap. the 17. namely with their Goliah by the valued and reputed help and aid that is in the grace of faith as to life and Redemption My brethren for brevities sake I am content to do it as also because I know that the ruin of this will be the dispersing of all the other adverse arguments if this falls there is not one can stand And now I le meet this their Goliah faith as David did that of the Philistines even clad with its whole or best armour with its helmet graves of brass Objection I will produce the places attributing the most to faith as in respect to the present purpose in all the Scriptures and fullest against my doctrine and inference The places I bring for the Adversary are out of the Epistle to the Romans and the first is in the fourth Chapter ver 3. For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness from hence ye will plead that the act of faith Abrahams believing the promises his resting upon Christ for salvation by or through whom the promise of eternal life was made I say ye will say that this Abrahams believing of God resting upon him for life eternal through Christ was partly if not wholly the means or cause of his now enjoying life eternal was the means or things for which or whereby at least in part he stood approved just and perfect in the sight of God as to Eternal life t is evident ye will say it was counted Abrahams righteousness and again in the 28. ver of the foregoing Chapter the Apostle saith we are justified by faith that is by the means of faith because of faith or for faith Look upon both Doctrine Inference and then consequently ye will say my doctrine and inference is false I have made the objection so strong as I can and that from the most opposite places in all the Scriptures I shall endeavour to give as full an answer I pray mark it well It is to be known that God may be said to account or reckon a thing to us for righteousness two several ways Answer properly or improperly in a proper sense or in an improper sense A thing may be said to be counted to us of God for righteousness properly if it be looked upon by God as that or part of that whereby of or for which we be free from the punishment due to us because of sin if it be that by which we stand just in the sight of God so right in the Court of heaven as that Divine Iustice hath not wherefore to condemn us In a word that is counted to us for righteousness in a proper sense which becomes the cover of our sins as in the Psalmists phrase or that takes and bears away our sins and blots them out as that God sees them not in us as to punish us for them remembers them not against us That may be said to be our righteousness properly that doth either partly or wholly so quallifie us as

for righteousness were pleasing to him in the forementioned proper sense that is as becoming like the pretious blood of Christ or with it the matter or means of our Redemption or freedom from the wrath of God due to us for our sins were this the sense of it then we must all back again to Popery attributing merit to our works ye a and destroy all the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles No they are pleasing in Gods sight or if ye will are accounted to us for righteousness in an improper sense as being acceptable to him as being his delight having here great reward being followed with all the bounty and kindness that God vouchsafes his beloved ones in this life with the abundance of blessings yea with spiritual with the comfortable hope and assurance of enjoying the future happiness purchased by Christ My brethren under favour if I should say that in this improper sense the Apostle meant Abrahams believing God to be counted to him for righteousness if I should say he meant there that it was the grace most pleasing and acceptable to God that it was the joy and delight of God I say if I should say thus I do not see how I should be injurious or detrimental to the purpose of Saint Paul whose main drift is in this Epistle and in most of the rest to take men off from resting upon legal performances in the least for Redemption and to set forth Christ the sole and all-sufficient salvation of man and so thereby to work in mans heart the grace of faith most eminently profitable and comfortable to him in this life and most transcendently pleasing to the father himself Sharpius in the forecited reconciliation glossing upon that of our Saviour Iohn the 6. ver 29. where he saith this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent I say glossing upon those words and shewing in what respect faith may be there termed the work of God amongst other respect he saith it may be so called because t is the work that doth most especially please God and for that purpose he quotes the very place of Genesis quoted by Saint Paul which is in Gen. chap. the 15. ver 6. the words And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness So that see Sharpius gives the same gloss in effect upon the Apostle that I did last namely that t is not our righteousness properly but improperly t is the grace the work that is most pleasing and acceptable to him And indeed this esteem and valuation I do from my heart believe that the Lord makes of this grace of faith in us as is apparent First because t is faith that makes every work a man performs acceptable with God so Hebrews chap. the 11. ver 4. By faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice then Cain if a work ariseth from any other principle then faith the cause of love which constrains us to obedience t is not possible for that work to get the least acceptance with God So Hebrews the 11. ver 6. Without faith it is impossible to please him So then seeing t is faith and that grace onely that makes our works pleasing unto God it must evidently follow that t is that that is most pleasing to him and holds the preheminency in his esteem Propter quod unumquodque tale illud magis tale Secondly this high valuation of faith by God is probable to me upon this consideration that Gods and Christs temporal blessings vonchsafed to men have been gained by nothing so much as by faith nay by a faith far inferiour to the faith in hand the faith of Christ I mean that faith which hath but given a man to rest and wait upon God and Christ as able to bring about the temporall blessings desired by them or promised them of God If we peruse the Scriptures we shall find that this kinde of faith never returned empty or unsatisfied by either God or Christ it ever sped as did the faith of the two blind men in Matthew chap. the 9. ver 30. who believing that Christ was able to cure them had their desire even their eyes opened See what watchful experence in David had found as to this purpose Psalm the 18. ver 30. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him Faith and trust in Gods power never wants defence so pleasing to God is this inferiour kinde of faith seeing then this faith is so pleasing to God I cannot but see the other faith that which gives a man to rest upon God and Christ for salvation to be of most high esteem with him for mark it duely prizeth and valueth the blood of Christ it infinitely declares the honour and glory of God and Christ it speaks them infinitely and incomprehensively loving good just powerful merciful the attributes of Gods delight and honour so that though I denyed Abrahams faith to be counted to him for Righteousness in a proper sense yet improperly it might be termed his righteousness and that first in this respect as being the work the grace that is most pleasing unto God and making us acceptable to him in our obedience Thus much dear brethren I dare speak for faith and attribute to it further as to the present distinction and consideration of Gods counting Abrahams saith his righteousness or our faith ours no man ought to go not a right principled Christian indued with the fear of God but would tremble to value faith above this to value it mans righteousness in a proper sense But then again Secondly faith may be counted our righteousness may be said to be that which justifies us or by which we are justified in an improper sense and that in respect or out of consideration to its instrumental efficiency in the comfortable application of Christ and all his benefits to a soul in this life giving the soul here sure hope of a real possession of unspeakable glory in the world to come because of Christ In this respect we are said to be justified by faith without the deeds of the Law our faith and not our legal performances being the instrument or means whereby the spirit of God conveys the righteousness of Christ to our apprehensions and the hope of salvation therefore Out of this respect in a Metaphorical or metonimical expression we see in the Scriptures things often transferred or carried to what they do not properly belong in this respect we finde the doctrine concerning Christ stiled the word of life Phil. the 2. chap. ver 16. and the Gospel of our salvation Eph. the 1. ver 13. the word of life that is as I think not the word that worketh or causeth our eternal life but the word that manifesteth and discovereth to us where that our life lyes and by whom t is wrought effected and accomplished And so the Gospel of our salvation not the Gospel that worketh or bringeth about our salvation but that manifesteth to