Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A59623
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Salvation by grace and never the less of grace, tho it be through faith and not without it in several sermons on Eph. II, viii / by John Sheffield.
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Sheffield, John, 1654?-1726.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing S3065; ESTC R10848
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48,475
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122
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most provoking to God as we say Corruptio optimi est pessima the abuse of the best Things is of all other the worst and doth most heighten and aggravate the Sin and Guilt of those that do so If it be so hainous a Sin to abuse the Mercies of Gods common Providence such as his Benignity Patience and Long-suffering so as thereby to be more bold and fearless in sinning against him when they should be led thereby to Repentance and Thankfulness as it is Rom. 2. 4 5. Then how much more hainous and crimsondyed a Sin must it needs be to wrest and abuse his Grace that brings Salvation that offers Salvation that tends to Salvation that aims at and designs our Salvation that is the first moving and efficient Cause of Salvation to us What can be imagined worse than for Men to be evil and the more evil because God is good to them It is a Sin to return evil for evil to Men and what is it then to return evil to God for the greatest good of all There is nothing so provoking to a Man as to have his free Love and Kindness abused and turned against himself or to an end quite contrary to what he designed it and so it must needs be to God to abuse his Grace seems to be a greater Sin than to distrust his Power or to slight his Authority or to trample upon his Laws you only have I known of all the families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for your Iniquities 2. To abuse Grace is of all others the most pernicious and destructive to Mens Souls for this closes up the Fountain of all our Blessings this makes Grace it self a Mans Enemy and then who or what shall Plead for him and Justice will not fail to avenge the quarrel of abused Grace nay Grace it self will complain of the Wrong and solicite for Vengeance upon the Abusers of it If the only thing that can recover the Sinner be abused so that he falls the lower thereby that will be an irrecoverable fall indeed If a Man make Mercy and Grace it self his Enemy then who or what shall be his Friend But how or wherein is Grace abused 1. The Doctrine of Grace is notoriously abused when Men from hence do think that they are exempted or discharged from the Law as a Rule to govern their Hearts and Practices by this abuse may arise from a misunderstanding of that passage of the Apostle Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law but under Grace As if Grace and the Law was in all respects opposed to one another because they are in some as if because God doth acquit a Believer from the condemnation of the Law therefore we are discharged from all Obedience to it Our corrupt Hearts are very ready to imbrace such Doctrines of Libertinisme and Licentiousness as the Apostle shews by adding in the very next Words v. 15. What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid It is very pleasing to our carnal fleshly part to hear that Grace doth discharge us from all Obligation to the Law that it hath no directing regulating Power over a Believer But this is a gross abuse of Grace for when the Apostle saith that we are not under the Law it is true in several Sences but it is manifestly false in this Sence that we are under no obligation by it as a rule of life The true sence how we are not under the law is this 1. We that is Believers are not under the condemning Power of the Law but are by Grace freed from the Curse and Condemnation of it 2. We are not under the Law as a Covenant of life and salvation We are not under the Law as to the rigid exaction of perfect sinless obedience as the only Term or Condition of Salvation No though perfect Obedience is still a Duty yet through Christ and for his sake sincere Obedience is accepted But now because we are not under the Law in these respects it doth by no means follow that we are not under it as a Rule or because it hath no condemning Power that therefore it hath no regulating Power over us you shall see that this Apostle that saith we are not under the Law yet saith that in other respects He is under the Law 1 Cor. 9. 21. Being not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Apostle James saith If any break the Law in one point he is guilty of all Jam. 2. which plainely shews that all are under the Moral Law as a Rule of Life nay this Apostle when he had said We are not under the Law but under Grace the very next words shew that he means it in a restained Sence and that he did not mean that we are from under the Law as a Rule of Duty Rom. 6. 15. What then saith he shall we Sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid as if he should say you must not so understand it as if we were discharged from all Obligation of Duty by the Law for if so the Caution had been needless for where there is no Law there is no Transgression Again to say that we are not under the Law as a Rule of Duty is an high abuse of Grace because this is contrary to nay doth destroy the essential relation of the Creature as a Creature to God for our State and Condition as Creatures is necessarily a State of Subjection to God God is essentially related to us as our Governour and we to him as his Subjects but he is no Governour if he have no Law to govern us by nay he hath no Creature no not the highest Angels that are under no law The Angels they have many Immunities end Priviledges above us yet they are not exempt from Duty or from a Law Psalm 103. 20. Ye his Angels that do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his Word 2. Grace is abused when it is pretended to the excluding of a cautious fear of sinning or an awful reverential fear of the Divine Majesty This abuse may arise from a misunderstanding that Scripture 1 John 4. 18. there is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear which the Apoctle plainly means of a servile slavish Fear a distracting tormenting dispairing Fear but not of an awful Fear of God nor of a cautious Fear of offending him as is manifest by a multitude of other Scriptures both in the Old and New Testament For though we have through Grace freedom and boldness of aoeess to God yet it is still with reverence and godly Fear Nay the more Grace the greater Reverence of God and the greater Fear of sinning against him Heb. 11. 28. let us have grace Psalm 130. 4. there is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared Hos. 3. 5. they shall fear the Lord and his goodness
and that is Grace 2. The Way or Means of our being made actual Partakers of this Salvation of Grace and that is through Faith To explicate the Terms First What is meant by Grace There are several Acceptations of this word Grace but two most notable 1. It is sometime taken for Gods free Favour and good Will 2. And sometimes for the Effects of it in us But here it is meant in the first Sence the free Favour good Will or good Pleasure of God Here are several Words in this Text and Context that do all express the impulsive moving Cause of our Salvation and every one hath something peculiar in it the more fully to set forth the free Favour gracious Pleasure and good Will of God in the Business of the Salvation of Sinners 1. Here is Love and great or much Love which Notes a great or ardent Desire and Affection to any Thing or Person and such as the Person loving doth rest or take pleasure in and so some derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is expressed Zeph. 3. 17. He will rest in his Love 2. Here is Mercy and rich Mercy that Notes Gods great Pity and Compassion towards those that are miserable God loves the Angels and is gracious to the Angels but he is not said to be merciful to them because they never were miserable 3. Again here is Grace and exceeding Riches of Grace and that Notes the freeness of Gods Love and Kindness whereby he doth Things freely without merit or desert Grace doth all gratis without any precedent Debt or Obligation 2. Are saved some say that is inchoate and so would limit it to Justification But other learned Expositors as Zanch. Simpli and Beza say here is intended not only Justification but whole and compleat Salvation as is manifest from the whole Context in ver 7. of the former Chapter he saith we have forgiveness of Sin in which is included Justification and that of Grace And then Chap. 2. ver 1 5. There he speaks of Sanctification and adds that this was by Grace and now again in the Text he saith For by Grace ye are saved quasi dicat all the steps and degrees of Salvation from the beginning to the end from first to last is of Grace Through Faith or by Means of Faith Faith being the means dispositive Condition Qualification or Instrument of our receiving or being actually Partakers of it And that not of your Selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is some Difference amongst Expositors what this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth refer to some think to the whole Sentence quasi dicat and this that you are saved is not of your Selves but rather I should think with other Expositors that it doth refer to Faith that is the immediate antecedent Ye are saved by Grace through Faith and this Faith hoc ipsum this very Thing is not of your selves Doct. I. That the principal Efficient and first moving Cause of a Sinners Salvation from first to last is the free Grace of God Doct. II. That we receive and partake of Salvation of Grace through Faith or by means of Faith Doct. III. That Salvation being through Faith doth not hinder or oppugn its being of Grace for Faith it self is of Grace or the Gift of God which is the same nay Faith is so far from being opposite to Grace or making it to be less of Grace that the Apostle saith Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be by Grace This great Work of the Salvation of Sinners the Scripture sometimes ascribes to God the Father thus he is called God our Saviour and it is God that Justifies And sometimes to Christ the Mediator therefore was his Name called Jesus a Saviour because he shall save his People from their Sins and again sometime we are said to be saved by Grace as in the Text and elsewhere and sometime by Faith as Christ said to that Woman Thy Faith hath saved Thee and the Apostle to the Jaylor Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy House You see the Scripture useth these several forms of speaking in the Matter of Salvation God saves us and Christ saves us and we are saved by Grace and saved by Faith and every one of these have a distinct Notion in the business of Salvation and yet not one opposite to another but one subordinate to another and all do admirably Consent and Agree and do not in the least interfere or clash When God is said to be our Saviour that Notes that he is the first Fountain and Original the principal Author and efficient Cause of it And when we are said to be saved by Mercy or Grace that shews us what was the first internal moving Cause that it is his own free Favour or good Will without any Merit or Desert in the Sinner And when Christ is called our Saviour and said to save us that shews the principal medium the meritorious Cause through or for whose sake God vouchsafes his Mercy and Grace and the blessed Effects of it to us thus the very Words before the Text and Tit. 3. 6. Again when Faith is said to save us that Notes the qualifying Condition or receptive Disposition whereby we are made qualified disposed and meet subjects of the Salvation that Gods free Grace doth give and Christs Merit hath purchased for us It is the principal Efficient first moving Cause of a Sinners Salvation that I shall speak to from this Text which from first to last is the free Grace of God Which Grace that we may the better see understand what a State we are all in by the fall and that is in this Context dead in Sin legally and spiritually Dead Legally Dead or as it is in other Terms under the Curse Children of Wrath. And spiritually Dead or Dead in Sin dead to God and Holiness and all spiritual and saving good having no more Inclination or Disposition to any spiritual and gracious Acts than there is in a Dead-man to the Actions or Comforts of Life again Dead in sin as fast bound chained and inslaved under the Power of fleshly vicious and sinful Dispositions and habits as a Dead-man is by Death from ever rising by his own Power such are we in a spiritual Sence If we have what is our due that is Death Eternal Death but if we be saved that is of Grace and Favour It is God that is the principal Author and Efficient of Salvation But if you ask what moved him to it why he would so concern himself for the Recovery and Salvation of lost and miserable Sinners Why it was only his own Grace and free Favour that moved him to it Consider Salvation in all the Parts of it in all the Degrees and Steps that lead to it from first to last and you shall see that Grace doth all 1. It was of his Grace that he gave his Son to be our Saviour the Scripture