Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A50243
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The righteousness of God through faith upon all without difference who believe in two sermons on Romans 3, 22 / by Nathaniel Mather ...
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Mather, Nathanael, 1631-1697.
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1694
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Wing M1265; ESTC R6790
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55,229
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it freely imputed to us so as to stand in it before God for the present and everlasting acceptance of our Persons as righteous by it unto Eternal Life It may be and indeed is upon us as to some effects of it and this not be through Faith but unto Faith For Faith is obtained for us by it and bestowed on us for the sake of it But it s having an efficacy for us so as to have some effects of it communicated to us is indeed its operating for us and on us but it is not its being upon us which the Text speaks of This righteousness is one thing the saving effects of it are another The thing I am to speak to is not what reference Faith hath to any of the effects of this righteousness being wrought on us but what reference it hath unto the being on us of this righteousness it self and that by the free gift and valid imputation of God unto Justification of Lite Having premised these two things I shall deliver my self touching this matter in Six Propositions Propos 1. There is a reference or respect of connexion between Faith and this Righteousness being upon us unto Justification of Life And this connexion is inviolable and holds in all persons I speak of such as are adult for how it is upon Infants I now consider not Insomuch as it is a certain Truth that whosoever believeth not this righteousness is not upon him and whosoever hath it upon him is a Believer Having believed and having this righteousness are so inseparably connected and linked together that where-ever there is one the other also is and if there be not both there is neither If thou hast not believed with the Faith of Gods Elect thy own Conscience ought to pass this Judgment on thee for God in his Word doth it that thou hast not this righteousness upon thee And on the other hand if thou hast indeed believed with this Faith of the operation of God and thy Conscience know it thou mayst then conclude assuredly that whatever thy Sins have been or whatever thy defects and corruptions now be yet this righteousness of God is upon thee thou hast it and thou dost stand in it Propos 2. There is a reference of order between a mans believing and this righteousness being thus upon him I do not speak of an order of Time but an order onely of Nature and Consecution of the one upon the other And such an order there is among the Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant For it is ordered in all things 2 Sam. 23.5 all the concernments and blessings and benefits of it are wisely and graciously disposed and ranked by God You may see it in other Instances We are not first made Children and then pardon'd but first pardoned and then adopted to be Children We are not first sanctified and then justified but first justified and then being justified we are sanctified Not that there is any space of time between them no they are as to time done together and at once but yet there is an order of dependance and causality Our being sanctified is the Effect not the Cause of our being justified and our being justified the Cause not the Effect of our being sanctified In like manner it is between our believing and this righteousness being upon us for our Justification or the change of our state It is through Faith that this righteousness is upon us as the Text expresly saith and the Scripture every where speaks not contrarily Propos 3. There is between our believing and this righteousness's being upon as a reference of causality For Faith is a means thereof by the Ordination of God and whatever God hath ordained as a means hath some causal influence towards that whereof it is by him made a means Those Expressions of the Holy Ghost that we are justified by Faith and through Faith and this in the Text that this righteousness is upon Believers through Faith do imply some kind of causality nor do I see how they can be satisfied or a just account given of them without admitting some kind of causal influence and efficiency to be in Faith towards our having this righteousness or its being upon us I hope you will not stumble at the word causality All that call Faith an instrument do speak as much as I mean for instrumenta etiam in causis adjuvantibus connumerantur Instruments are a sort of Causes Those who are very tender in this Point and greatly averse and watchful against ascribing too much in our Justification unto any thing in us or done by us yet do concerning the hand of Faith herein freely use those words Causality Efficiency and instrumental cause See Dr. Owen of Justification pag. 148 149 150 151 152 153. Mr. Durham on Rev. digres 11. and indeed it is the common language of all Protestants who own the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto us I shall indeavour to clear it further in the following Propositions Propos 4. This Causality of Faith unto the righteousness of Christ being upon us is of the least and lowest kind It is not at all by way of Merit or Desert nor is it by way of sole Efficiency no nor principal but all its Efficiency or Influence herein is from Gods Constitution or Ordination and wholly by virtue thereof And this Ordination or Constitution of God is not that we should have the righteousness of Christ upon us either for or as a reward of our believing No far be such a thought from us But God having in Wisdom and Grace made this inviolable Constitution that this righteousness shall be upon every one that believes it doth actually take place upon particular persons at their believing and so this righteousness is upon them through Faith He that removes out of the shade into the shine of the Sun hereby comes to have the Sun beams fall upon him But that removal of his hath no influence upon the Sun nor doth any thing to draw down the beams of it upon him So our believing hath no influence upon the righteousness of Christ it hath an influence onely unto its being upon us Though our unbelief makes us unworthy of it or of any the least mercy yet our believing is as far from making us worthy to have this righteousness of Christ upon us as our defective and defiled Obedience is from making us worthy of Eternal Glory Propos 5. The next and immediate influence of Faith in this matter is that by it according to the constitution of God our mystical vital union with Christ is accomplished Such an Union there is between Christ and Believers They are ingrafted into him Joh. 15.4 5. Rom. 11.17 23 24. Betrothed and married unto him Hos 2.20 Rom. 7.4 They do dwell in Christ and have Christ dwelling in them Joh. 6.56 This Union is brought about effected and accomplished by our believing and therefore we are said to believe into Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
certain perpetuity of a Believers State and the ground thereof The Righteousness of Christ is upon him through Faith His Estate therefore is not cannot be undecided and in suspense They who deny or consider not that this Righteousness of Christ is through Faith upon all that believe and look only to the falseness and slipperiness of our hearts and either imagin some other way then through Faith for its being upon us or hold that we stand not in it but in our own Obedience or Faith as our Righteousness before God it is no marvel if they be for Believers falling away from Grace Their Darkness and Error in those other great Principles of the Gospel naturally leads and betrays them to this uncomfortable unevangelical and racking Error also that a Believers State is in suspense and undecided But 't is a plain case They upon whom the Righteousness of Christ is they are not in a State of suspense their State is not undecided But so it is with all that believe It is true indeed if Believers stood in their own Obedience and in their persevering therein so as to have their State depend on them it might well be uncertain and must be in suspense and undecided till their last breath But their continuance in Obedience and the not failing of their Faith is one of the Priviledges of their Estate and the Effect or Fruit of their having this Righteousness of Christ upon them and not the means or cause thereof But it may be you will ask if it be not in suspense and undecided where is it decided I answer It is not always decided in their own Consciences they may possibly be in the dark about it and wofully tossed with weary fluctuations between hope and fear concerning their own Estate Neither do I mean that it is decided before Men. The work and walk of a true Believer may possibly under the prevailing of Corruption and Temptation and under Gods Dereliction be such as to make him look in the Eyes of Men like a graceless Cast-away Nor is it so publickly and so solemnly decided before all the World of Men and Angels as it shall be at the great Day But yet decided it is and put out of suspense Where In the Court of Heaven where God sits as a Judge passing Sentence concerning the Spiritual Estate of all Men. I mean his word his written word that 's the Court of Heaven there are Men condemned and there they are justifyed in the word God sits as a Judge pronouncing and passing Sentence concerning Mens Estates There he pronounceth a Sentence of Condemnation upon all that are out of Christ and there he pronounceth a Sentence of Justification unto all and upon all that are in Christ by Faith This I mean by the Court of Heaven We should take heed in this matter of having our thoughts vanish into Airy Speculations and Imaginations of I know not what Voices and Proclamations made in Heaven in the hearing of Saints and Angels just as there is here on Earth among Men when Persons arraigned are acquitted The Scripture tells us not of any such thing though it tells us indeed there is Joy in Heaven over a Sinner that repents and though it be made known to Angels when the Estate of an Elect here below is changed yet this is not Gods justifying of him but his revealing to them his being justified Gods justifying us is in and by his word what the Word speaks God speaks and there is the Estate of every one that believes in Christ put out of suspense for ever and immutably and eternally decided For there is an Unchangeable Everlasting Constitution that the Righteousness of Christ is and shall be upon every one that believeth in him Now he with whom God is immutably and everlastingly well-pleased his State certainly is not in suspence and undecided But so is God pleased in Christ with every one that is in him by Faith for this Righteousness of Christ is unto and upon every Believer USE 2. This Doctrine speaks Conviction unto all that are in their Vnbelief You may here see you should here read that your Estate is wretched and woful for the Righteousness of Christ is not upon you it is only upon those who do believe and upon none else And it is upon them through Faith but you are without Faith and therefore have not this Righteousness of Christ upon you And if his Righteousness be not upon you the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law even of the violated broken Law are upon you Gal. 3 10. For if this Righteousness of Christ be not upon you your Sins are upon you the guilt of them all is upon you As it is said of those Tyrants and Terrors in the Land of the Living in their day that they lay down in their Graves with their Iniquities upon their Bones Ezek. 32.27 So it must be said of you and it should be believed by you of you selves that you walk up and down among the Living with all your Iniquities upon you and if you dye in this Faithless Condition your Souls shall go down to Hell with all the uncircumcised and wicked of the World and the guilt of your Iniquities will be upon you for ever and ever And it is very fearful and overwhelming guilt that is upon you For there is the guilt of innumerable actual sins of thy own perpetration in Deed in Word in Thought and some of them are hainous and amazing Ask thy Conscience else And there is upon thee moreover the guilt of a depraved defiled Nature by that exceeding sinful sin which dwelleth in thee a sort of sin that hath a fulness of evil in it and excessive madness of heart Eccles 9.3 it hath in it Infidelity and Atheisme and Blasphemy and Contempt of God and Enmity a gainst him and also all the flagitious atrocious wickedness against the second Table that ever was committed by any of the Children of Men and moreover all that audaciousness and outrage which ever broke forth in any of the Sons of Belial in their sinning Such an one art thou in thy Heart and Nature before God and therefore in his judgment and his judgment is according to truth guilty before him concerning all these things though perhaps thou hast never felt many of them stirring in thy bosom And moreover there is upon thee the guilt of thy first Fathers sinning and disobedience when he turned Rebel against God thou wast involved in that woful deed of his and guilt and condemnation is upon the thereby Rom. 5.18 19. and from that sin of thy first Father thou canst never be discharged and justified unless this Righteousness of Christ be upon thee through Faith Isa 43.27 And lastly over and above the guilt of all these sins there is also upon thee the guilt of disobeying the Gospel in refusing and despising this Righteousness of Christ tender'd and brought near unto thee when thou art in such a