Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	efficient_a	faith_n	instrumental_a	2,644	5	11.5403	5	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

hath decreed to give more and better good things so that see love in God is to give or to will and decree to give good things so then his premised I declare first from the Scriptures that t is evident That faith is no instrumental efficient cause of a real application of Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God as that whereby the holy spirit brings a sinner into the love and favour of God who was out of it till faith came into his heart and this I prove first from that of Ieremiah chap. the 31. ver 3. I have loved thee with an everlasting love love in God as before declared is nothing else but will purpose or decree in God of doing good or giving good things so that then the sense of the words is this first God did will purpose or decree good to them he there spake the good things there promised were it temporal deliverance as some or eternal Redemption as others what ever good thing it was yet God did will and decree it them with an everlasting will and decree The word Everlasting must be a little cleared and then the place is most full for our purpose A thing is said to be everlasting especially three severall wayes First when a thing is to continue a long time though not for ever as Leviticus the 16. ver the 34. this shall be an everlasting statute Secondly when it shall never have end though it had beginning as the future glory of the elect and the misery of the reprobate as Mat. 25. ver 46. Thirdly a thing is said to be everlasting when without beginning or ending as God To be King everlasting In this last acception and respect Wilson saith that the purpose and pleasure of God to save the elect them that shall possess eternal glory through Christ is said to be eternal or everlasting which will be evident if ye consult with Eph. the 3. ver 11. or with my last text in the second Epistle to Tim. chap. the 1. ver 9. and indeed we may justly say that both love and hatred in God that is his purpose will or intendment of mans evil as also of his good and that of both sorts either temporal or eternal are everlasting or eternal especially as being without beginning in God For t is impossible yea inconsistent with the nature of God as described in the Scriptures that any purpose will or intendment in God of either evil or good to us should take beginning in God in time and not be coeternal with his being So that the meaning there is this God declared love there to Israel being nothing else but his will or purpose that they should be redeemed through Christ from death to glory I say the meaning is this that God willed or decreed to them he there spake the good and happiness of their Redemption with an everlasting will or decree that is with a will or purpose coeternal with the being of God not adventitious or coming to him in time which thing being granted t is not possible for faith to have any hand as an instrumentall cause of Gods spirit so to apply Christ to us as that then our pollution should become hid from God which were before open to him should then bring us into the love of God who before were in his hatred the reason is because to make faith an instrumental cause of Gods favour or will to save is to make the cause infinitely coming after its effect in time what greater absurdity ever heard of Again that faith is no instrumental efficient cause of applying Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God c. as before t is evident from that of Ezekiel chap. the 16. ver 6. 8. if ye look upon the contents of the five first verses of this chapter ye shall see that in the opinion of the Translators of the bible appointed to the work as I presume by King Iames under the similitude of a wretched Infant was shewed the natural state of Jerusalem that is as I presume under favour how spiritually polluted they the elect were in themselves and in respect to their own personal and natural condition now at the 6. and 8. verses the Prophet shews what they were then in respect to Gods will and fight through the satisfaction of Christ even whilest in that natural condition before spiritualized or indued with faith and that was pronounced just through Christ the sentence of eternal life was then gone forth for them from the mouth of Gods decree verse 6. when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live c. Again God looked upon them as in Christ and redeemed by Christ whilest in their natural condition before the faith of Christ was in their hearts for ver 8. it was the time of love of Gods loving them in his Son and therefore also impossible if this place be rightly expounded that faith should be any instrumentall cause of applying Christ to a soul as the cover of its sins from the sight of God as being that whereby the spirit brings a sinner into the favour of God who was in his hatred till then the reason is the former because to make faith an instrumental cause of Gods favour or will to save is to make the cause infinitely coming after its effect in time and so fully opposite to Ezekiel I le alleadge but one place more for this purpose and I have done and it is that of Saint Paul Rom. the 4. chap. ver 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted to him for righteousness Hence I may infer two things the latter comes home to the present purpose the first is Gods acceptance and approbation of our faith his delight or pleasure that we should rest alone upon him and his Christ for our salvation so accounting our eternal redemption to be of grace or favour not of due or debt because of any thing done or performed or to be done or to be performed by us his faith sales the Apostle is counted for righteousness cast your eyes once again upon the words but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly Me thinks from these words the spirit of God doth whisper as it were the time of Christs real satisfaction to the father for the elect and of the fathers acceptance of Christ in their stead that is the time when Christ is imputed and counted our righteousness and we beheld and looked upon by the father as interested in Christ to be benefited by Christ absolved from our sins because of Christ and that time of all this is a time before the income of grace yea of the grace of faith into our souls The Apostle saith plainly enough that he justifieth the ungodly that believeth on him that is on the father that justifieth that is

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

us that our salvation and eternal life is purchased and brought about for us by Christ by his blood This my gloss on these words seems to me right and good thus expounded they being so consentaneous to other Scriptures as first that of Isaials speaking of the Ministers of the Gospel and quoted by Paul Romans the 10. chap. ver 15. How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tydings of good things He doth not say that bringeth good things save but by way of tydings by way of intelligence or as Isaiah from whence the Apostle hath it chap. the 52. v. 7. that publisheth these good things which he there calls peace one while salvation by and by now ye know that to publish is but to proclaim or make known abroad by way of voice or writing things past before as do the Ministers of the Gospel A most notable one we have for this purpose in the end of my last text the second Epistle to Timothy chap. the 1. ver 10. where the Apostle saith that Christ hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel He doth not say that the spirit hath brought life by the Gospel as if it had done that for us by the word of the Gospel was not done or accomplished for us before no he says he hath brought it to light that is he hath made it apparent and visible before us that was not so before Take the sum of this last in a word the doctrine concerning Christ is called the word of life the Gospel of salvation yea but life and salvation is transmitted to the word and Gospel but in a figurative speech but improperly that is as being manifested and made known to us by that word and Gospel that they are accomplished and wrought for us by the undertakings and performances of the Son of God not that they are thereby verily and really procured for us so in like manner our faith is said to justifie us or we are said to be justified thereby thus figuratively or improperly as being the means whereby tht spirit of God gives us sight assurance or hope of our future enjoyment of eternal life through Christ So then in a word to shew how far we are gone in the answer to the objection Abrahams believing God was counted to him for righteousness but not in a proper sense as being like the pretious blood of Christ for which we are redeemed from death but in an improper sense and that two several ways first in respect to Gods being highly pleased with that grace and with us for it And secondly in respect to its instrumental efficiency in the comfortable application of Christ and all his benefits to a disconsolated soul in this life And this being taken to be the extent of Gods counting Abrahams faith to him for righteousness or of our being justified by faith my doctrine and inference stand firm and unshaken and its this There is nothing in all the world but Christ but Christ crucified but Christs sufferings agonies and travels of his soul that was or is the matter means or price to God for our Redemption and salvation that was or is the condition of the Father with the Son for our eternal life Well but brethren as we are not to handle the word of God deceitfully so neither the glosses or opinions of men upon it I le therefore put the matter home Ye will say perhaps that Abrahams faith was counted to him for righteousness and we are justified by faith though not in the fore-mentioned proper sense yet in an improper sense though in another respect then I have yet mentioned and that is in respect to its instrumental efficiency in the real application of Christs righteousness to us as the cover of all our sins from the sight of God till which time ye will say as the holy spirit of God hath brought Christ to us and applied him to us by faith we are not looked upon by the father as just in his sight or before him not as justified by Christ not pardoned by the father not absolved by him from our sins not beloved of God for Christs sake in this respect ye will say our faith is counted our righteousness and we are justified by faith as being the instrumental means or cause whereby the Spirit of God covers and hides the polluted soul from the sight of God by the pure garments of Christs righteousness whereby it brings a sinner into the love and favour of God who was out of it till then and in his hatred In refelling and confuting the objection as last pressed and urged I suppose the Adversary will no more take the field with the former forces I confess I must now grapple with their faith as David with Goliah of the Philistines I cannot go against it begirt with any former armour composed by either preceding or contemporary fellow-labourers in the word of Christ I find nothing in all their works fits me for the combate I confess I find many like the second Son in our Saviours parable who to his father bidding him go labour said I go Sir but went not I meet with many laying down Gods Love Election Free grace Justification so absolute as if they would deny Faith any instrumental efficiency or any conditional means as to the procuring of our future glory but weigh their future progress there is no such matter so becoming false to their principles and to the trust reposed in them by God I therefore descend to the battel as David did namely with my staff in my hand the word of God and some smooth stones I mean reasons gathered out of the brook or clear fountain of Gods word Now that faith is no instrumental efficient cause of a real application of Christ as the cover of all our sins from the sight of God as that whereby the holy Spirit brings a sinner into the love and favour of God who was out of it and in the hatred of God til that grace of faith came into his soul t is evident first from Scriptures which affirm us justified and in the love of God before the income of faith into the heart Secondly because if it be so granted to faith as before mentioned comfortable and plain pla●es of the Scripture are destroyed yea and Gods own nature and being as described in the Scriptures is also destroyed I le to the work according to this platform and for the better success herein let me admonish ye that love in God as Dumouling saith is not an affection passion or desire in God for God cannot be touched by passions as being impassible and not subject to affections but as God is said then to be angry or to hate when he will punish or destroy so love in God is a certain and sure will of doing good to the creature whence it cometh to pass that he may rightly be said to be loved of God to whom he hath given or