Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	election_n	grace_n	justification_n	1,624	5	9.7216	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17121	An historicall narration of the iudgement of some most learned and godly English bishops, holy martyrs, and others (whereof III; viz. Archbishop Cranmer, B. Latimer, and Bishop Hooper, suffred martyrdome, in the dayes of Q. Mary, for the truth and Gospell of Christ Iesus) concerning Gods election, and the merit of Christ his death, &c.	J. A., of Ailward.; Ailward, John, attributed name. aut; Andrewes, John, fl. 1615, attributed name. aut	1631 (1631)	STC 4; ESTC S100399	62,871	120

shall be damned Howbeit wee know by the Scripture that notwithstanding this imperfection of Faith many shall be saved And likewise notwithstanding that Gods promise be generall unto all people of the World yet many shall be damned These two Points therefore must be diligently discussed First how this faith being unperfect is accepted of GOD. Then how we be excluded from the promise of Grace that extendeth to all men I will not rehearse now the mindes of other but as briefly and as simply as I can declare the minde of the Scripture in this matter Saint Paul calleth this servitude of Sinne naturally remaining in our Nature corrupted some times Apeitheian then Amartian at another time Asthenian The first word signifieth an Impersuability diffidence incredulity contumacy or inobedience The second signifieth Errour sinne or deceit The third betokeneth Weaknesse imbecility or imperfection So writeth Paul Mans body to be first borne in imbecility Also that God concludeth all men under infidelity In another place That the Scripture doth conclude All men under Sinne. In those three places thou mayest see the three wordes that I rehearsed before By which PAVL describes the infirmities of Man which infirmities are translated into CHRIST Not so that wee should be delivered from them as though they were dead in our nature or our nature changed or should not provoke vs any more to ill but that they should not damne us because Christ satisfied for them in his Body And Paul sayth That Christ dyed for Sinners that were infirme and calleth those sinners the Enemies of God Howbeit he calleth not them Theostygas in the Scriptures to wit Contemners of GOD. Every man is called in the Scripture Wicked and the enemy of God for the privation and lacke of Faith and love that hee oweth to GOD. Et impij vocantur qui non omninò sunt pij That is they are called wicked that in all thinges honour not GOD beleeve not in God and observe not his Commandements as they should doe which wee cannot doe by reason of this naturall infirmity or hatred of the Flesh as Paul calleth it against God In this sence taketh Paul this word Wicked when he saith that Christ dyed for the wicked So must we interpret St. Paul and take his wordes or else no man should bee damned Now we know that Paul himselfe Saint Iohn and Christ damneth the Contemners of GOD or such as willingly continue in sinne and will not Repent Those the Scripture excludeth from the generall promise of Grace Thou seest by the places afore rehearsed that though we cannot beleeve in God as undoubtedly as is required by reason of this our naturall sicknesse and disease yet for Christs sake in the iudgement of God we are accounted as faithfull beleevers for whose sake this naturall disease and sicknesse is pardoned by what name soever St. Paul calleth the Naturall infirmity or originall sinne in Man And this imperfection or naturall sicknesse taken of Adam excludeth not the person from the promise of God in Christ except we transgresse the limits and bounds of this Originall sinne by our owne folly and malice and eyther of a contempt or hate of Gods word we fall into sinne transforme our selves into the Image of the Divel Then ●ee exclude by this meanes our selves from the promises and merites of Christ who onely received our infirmities and originall disease and not the contempt of him and his Law Further the Promises appertaine to such as Repent Therefore Esay sayd without exception That the infirmities of all Men were cast upon his blessed shoulders It is our office therefore to see wee exclude not our selves from the generall Grace promised to all men It is not a Christian mans part to attribute his salvation to his owne free-will with the Pelagian extenuate originall Sin Nor to make God the author of ill and our damnatiō w th the Manichee Nor yet to say God hath written fatall Lawes as the Stoicke and with necessity of Destiny violently pulleth one by the haire into Heaven and thrusteth the other headlong into Hell But assertaine thy selfe by the Scripture what be the causes of Reprobation and what of Election The cause of Reiection or damnation is Sinne in Man which will not heare neyther receive the Promise of the Gospell or else after he hath received it by accustomed doing of ill falleth eyther into a contempt of the Gospell and will not study to live thereafter or else hateth the Gospell because it condemneth his ungodly life and would there were neyther God nor Gospell to punish him for doing of ill This sentence is true howsoever Man judge of Predestination God is not the cause of Sinne nor would not have Man to sinne Thou art not the GOD that willeth sinne And it is sayd Thy perdition O Israel is of thy selfe and thy succour onely of me The cause of our Election is the Mercy of God in Christ. Howbeit he that will be partaker of this Election must receive the Promise in Christ by faith for therefore wee be elected because afterward we are made the members of Christ. Therefore as in the justification or remission of Sinne there is a cause though no dignity at all in the receiver of his justification and so we judge him by the Scripture to bee Iustified and hath remission of his sinne because he received the Grace promised in CHRIST So wee iudge of Election by the event or successe that hapneth in the life of Man those onely to be elected that by Faith apprehend the mercy promised in Christ otherwise wee should not judge of Election For Paul sayth plainly That they that beleeve by the spirit of God are the Children of God and that the spirit of God doth testifie with our spirits that wee are the children of God being admonished therefore by Scripture wee must leave sinne and doe the workes commanded of God or else it is a carnall opinion that we have blinded our selves withall of fatall Destinie and yet will not save us And in case there follow not in our knowledge of Christ amendment of life it is not lively Faith that wee have but rather a vaine knowledge and meere presumption Iohn sayth No man commeth to me except my Father draw him Many men understand these wordes in a wrong sence as though God required in a reasonable man no more than in a dead poast and marketh not the wordes that follow Every man that heareth and learneth of my Father commeth to me GOD draweth with his Word and the Holy Ghost but Mans duty is to heare learne That is to say Receive the grace offered consent to the Promise and not repugne the God that calleth GOD doth promise the Holy Ghost unto them that aske him and not to them that contemne him We have the Scripture daily in our hands reade it and heare

Everlasting damnation are Iust rewards of Mans Evill-deserving But the Love of GOD and Everlasting life are free guifts of GOD for CHRIST'S sake without any part of Mans owne deserving Take therefore this Saying of theirs No Sinne neyther Originall nor Actuall is the Cause of Gods hate or Eternall death and put the same into the one side of the Ballance then take and put into the other side this saying of Saint PAVL to the Romans Was that then which was good made Death unto me GOD forbid but Sinne was made Death unto me Then weigh both these Sayings together with the hand of good advisement in the indifferent Ballance of upright Iudgement and put not in above three graines of wilfull Partiality thus shalt thou plainly see that the Apostle agreeth farre better with the Maiesty of GOD and hath a much more Reverend opinion of his Iudgements than these men have yea thou shalt easily perceive whatsoever they say that neyther GODS Pleasure nor GODs Ordinance or Predestination nor none other thing that is good is made Death or the Cause of Gods hatred against any man But Sinne is the very grounded Cause why God hateth taketh vengeance and punisheth Man by Death and destruction According to that which the same Apostle sayeth Death is the reward of Sinne. And the wordes of HOSEA are also manifestly plaine where hee sayth O Israel thou doest destroy thy selfe but in Mee onely is thy helpe In which wordes of the Holy Ghost thou seest how manifestly God doth as it were purge himselfe from being the Cause or worker of Mans destruction so that the Perdition and destruction of Man is altogether to bee attributed unto Himselfe And GOD beeing cleere neyther accessary nor partaker thereof as the chiefe and high Iudge of Heaven and Earth unspotted and without blame giveth sentence of Everlasting death upon Man for his owne wicked deserving and offence But on the other side sayeth God unto Man In Me onely is thy helpe In GOD onely onely in God is our helpe and Salvation In him onely and of him altogether and not of our selves commeth our Salvation and all whatsoever belongeth thereunto The same is also set forth by all those Scriptures which are before rehearsed to proove that Sinne and Evill commeth not of Gods Predestination For upon that Conclusion dependeth also this Proposition That Sinne is not the cause of Reprobation or of GODS hatred towards Man And upon the same Article dependeth also another part of Doctrine which they Teach worthy to be misliked of All men as well for that it importeth a Sophisticall search of bottomlesse Secrets in the very Essence and Nature of GOD as also for that it clearely withdraweth us from CHRIST the onely stay and comfort of our weake Conscience delivered unto us in the Word of GOD. For that they might bee surer to hold fast the former Principle That All thinges come of GODS Predestination as Running streames out of a deepe Fountaine They affirme that the free Mercy of GOD in Christ is but an Inferiour cause of Election and that wee are taught to ascend unto a higher Cause as unto the Eternall Purpose and Predestination of GOD which hee determined onely in Himselfe So sayth the Printed Booke before named Translated out of French into English That same thing wee reade also late set foorth in English Print in the Glosse of the last Translated Bible Rom. Cap. 9. With these Words AS The onely Will and Purpose of GOD is The chiefe Cause of Election and Reprobation So his Free Mercy in CHRIST is an Inferiour cause of Salvation c. But for my part I trust in minde never to ascend unto that high cause of Election and in Heart never to taste of that Eternall Purpose or Predestination which GOD hath determined onely in Himselfe without or above his Free-mercy which is in CHRIST For surely That Eternall Purpose which commeth not of GODS free Mercy in Christ is to Destroy and not to Save Againe if that Eternall Purpose spring out of Gods Free-mercy then is that Free-mercy of GOD the Chiefe cause and not an Inferiour cause why hee purposeth to save us For a great dishonour it were to the Mercy of GOD To bee put in an Inferiour place touching Election and Salvation of Man For if Ever GODS Mercy bee above all it is in the Saving of miserable Man And Mercy there is not in God towards Man but onely in Christ. Therefore St. PAVL calleth it the Eternall Purpose which hee purposed in CHRIST IESU our Lord In CHRIST therefore was this Eternall Purpose and For his onely sake GOD the Father Eternally purposed to Elect and save us Consider and marke it well whence commeth this Purpose or Will of GOD to save us But of his free Mercy If his Purpose to save us spring out of his Free mercy why is then his Mercy inferiour to his Purpose Or how is the Fountaine inferiour to the Springs that come thereof Also what may bee sayd in GOD at any time or in any respect to bee higher or greater than his Mercy Seeing it is written That his mercy is as great as Himselfe Yea and most especially it is so to bee sayd That his Mercy passeth All when we speake of this matter For of this it is written That mercy reioyceth against Iudgement and why All the Iudgements of God in this behalfe are not to be compared unto his Mercy For though it were not true which DAVID sayth That his mercy is above all his workes Yet were in cleare that in Election Redemption and Salvation of man GODS mercy in Christ hath Ever the highest place And Those which in the Salvation of our Soules make the Free mercy of GOD an Inferiour cause how base a Roome will they assigne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercy in nourishing and preserving our bodyes Let them reach as high as they can I trust to goe no further but to hold me fast by the Everlasting Mercy of GOD and by the Hemme of CHRIST's garment For the Scripture describeth GOD unto me without Christ as a wrathfull and most terrible Iudge but in Christ and for his sake as a Father whose wrath is pacified and Hee well pleased reconciled agreed and at one And to speake of a higher cause or purpose to Elect and Save onely in GOD beside or without this Free-mercy in Christ or that Christ and Gods free-mercy in him is not the chiefest Cause which worketh and obtayneth the decree and purpose of God to Elect and save it is plainly nothing else but to deny the mercy of God in Election Reconciliation Redemption and Salvation by Christ in Christ and for Christ As easily it may be perceived if a man doe but weigh and consider what Eternall purpose an Election and a Reconciliation is Seeing Christ is our Advocate Mediator Peace Reconciliation and Attonement as in these Scriptures following and many other it doth plainely appeare Psal 84. a.