Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	faith_n	righteousness_n	work_n	4,718	5	6.5009	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47454	The counterfeit Christian, or, The danger of hypocrisy opened in two sermons : containing an exposition of that parabolical speech of our Blessed Saviour, Matth. XII, 43, 44, 45 ... / by Benjamin Keach ...	Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704.	1691 (1691)	Wing K55; ESTC R18720	49,835	62

Religion for want of a saving Work of Grace on their Hearts are in such a deplorable State what vain pride and folly possesseth that foolish and debauched Crew we have amongst us Fourthly Vain-Glory also certainly may be another Sin this Person is become guilty of The Design of God in the Gospel is to discover how vile helpless and wretched all Men naturally are in themselves and so to shew us that we have nothing to glory in but that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. But these Persons glory in their seeming Gifts Parts Learning Knowledg and external Privileges they are like those of old who cried out the Temple of the Lord or the Church of God are we Poor Sinners have nothing to glory in unless it be their Shame The Publican cries out Lord be merciful to me a Sinner But the false and self-righteous Professor like as a rich Man glories in his Riches and a strong Man glories in his Strength so he glories in his own Righteousness in his spiritual Attainments and seeming Sanctity And doubtless this is another strong Chain with which the Devil binds these deluded Creatures Self-confidence Pride and Vain-glory are all of near Kin and proceed from that horrid Ignorance I first mentioned they are all the spurious Off-spring of that cursed Parent But why should we glory in the Lord or rejoice only in Christ Why 't is because ye are in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Ye are in him by Faith by Regeneration and his Spirit dwells in you Our Righteousness is so imperfect and so filthy that it is compared to a menstruous Cloth instead of glorying in it we have cause to be ashamed of it and to loath our selves and with Paul to account it but Dung our best Actions Works and Duties we perform cannot commend us to God nor in any respect procure the least Good from his Hands forasmuch as Sin cleaveth to them and nothing but a perfect and compleat Righteousness can render the Soul justified and accepted in his sight This vain-glorious Person little considereth what horrid Pollution abides still in his Heart for which he is accursed by the Law of God and so remains till he hath real Union with Christ and is brought under a Divine Change What though he has escaped some abominable Evils and Corruptions of his Life since his vicious Habits and filthy Nature is not changed nor he sees not the Purity of the Law of God Alas he beholds it as only forbidding all outward Acts of Sin but the Spirituality of it was never opened to him for if it had he would see no cause of glorying in himself but contrariwise would soon be convinced of his Error and sad Mistake and behold himself an undone Man and cry out of the deceitful Nature turnings and windings of his own base Heart Thoughts and Affections and what a disproportion or disagreement to the perfect Rule or how far he is from that Holiness and Purity and Rectitude described in the Book of God It amazed Paul when he once came fully to understand the Law when he looked on all the parts of it not only on the grosser Sins forbidden by it but on the Rectitude the Holiness which is required therein When he saw the Law discover'd Lust to be Sin and that the least Lust of the Heart is as palpable a breach of it as Murder Theft or the outward Act of Adultery and exposed equally to the Curse of it and so to the Wrath of God Then saith he Sin revived and I died that is as to any hopes of Life and Salvation by that Righteousness which before he gloried in and made his boast of The same Apostle afterwards came to see that in him that is to say in his Flesh dwelt no good thing nay and the Holy Ghost saith All are gone out of the way all are become filthy and there is none that doth good no not one What cause is there then for this Man to glory in his Parts Knowledg and seeming Righteousness since these things for which Men value and esteem themselves above others God saith there is no good in nothing excellent but 't is contrariwise abhorred and hateful to him But O how hard a thing is it to bring this and that self-righteous Person to believe this or receive it as a Truth What says he can ye make me think I am still a vile Sinner and God doth not accept me who do so much good that pray as I do and hear Sermons and am thus much reformed O this is a worse Devil than the former and he hereby is in a worse state than at first Before he was easily brought to confess his State bad when openly prophane his gross and scandalous Sins appeared odious to him being so indeed in the Eyes of all sober and civilized People gross Wickedness seemed to him as filthy Rags or as a menstruous Cloth But to tell him his Righteousness is alike abominable filthy and hateful to God this he cannot believe but concludes 't is a glorious Cover a rich Garment a precious Ornament and so prides himself in it and makes his boast of it pretending now to so much Sanctity that like those of old he is ready in his Heart to say to others Stand by your selves come not near me for I am holier than you Thus the Pharisees of old sequestred themselves from all sorts of Men must not be so much as touched by any for so it seems by that passage when the poor Woman came to Christ and touched the Hem of his Garment they wondered that our Saviour would suffer himself to be touched by her she being a Sinner they could not endure to have any legal pollution upon them would not eat a bit of Meat until they had washed their Hands and oft washed their whole Bodies especially after they had been at a Feast for fear any pollution had fallen upon them and so also when they came from the Market lest peradventure they should have touched some Heathen or some Person who was legally unclean And now in this Righteousness they gloried trusted to it and sought hereby for Justification and Acceptance in the Sight of God which rendered their State worse than before And that which seems to feed and heighten this Pride Self-confidence and Vain-glory in some of these blind and self-deceived People is that strange Conceit and Apprehension they have of their own Power and Abilities to do and perform those things God requireth in order to their Acceptance with him together with their false Notions of God's Mercy in pardoning them wherein they come short In this very respect the Jews erred to their eternal Overthrow they thought they had Power and were able to keep the Law to such a Degree that they were accepted as righteous Persons in God's Sight by it and though they might not be puffed up

and only by this way we must be saved if ever we come to Heaven Another Foundation can no Man lay He that believeth not shall be damned Let him be what he will Righteous or Wicked 't is a great Error to think that Christ's Merits make our Services or Performances meritorious though 〈◊〉 are accepted thereby when they flow from Faith yet not as the Spring or procuring Cause of our Justification To close with this let me add one thing further which shews the Danger these Persons are in This Errour is a capital One 't is to err in a main Fundamental of Religion and therefore Heresy a damnable Principle And hence the Apostle calls it a subverting the Souls of such who receive it And it was also from hence God gave the Jews up to Judicial Blindness i. e. because they went about to establish their own Righteousness and did not submit to the Righteousness of God According as it is written God hath given them the Spirit of Slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they should not hear That must needs be a dangerous Evil that provokes the Holy God thus to leave and give up a Person to blindness of Mind and final Impenitency for such must needs perish of necessity Therefore in the last place it follows that the state of these People is worse than it was when they were no Professors of Religion at all but were openly wicked and prophane Sinners these unclean Spirits are worse than the first And from hence let all take heed how they mix Law and Gospel together in the case of Justification If by Grace then is it no more of Works otherwise Grace is no Grace But if it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work There is no mixing of the Merits of good Works and the free Grace of God together but one of these doth exclude and destroy the Nature of the other for if Election and Justification were partly of Grace and partly of or from foreseen Works then Grace is no Grace and Works no Works For whatsoever proceedeth of Grace as one observes that cometh freely and not of Debt but whatsoever cometh by Merits or Works that cometh by Debt But now Debt and free Grace or that which is free and absolutely by Grace and that by desert are quite contrary things therefore to say Men are Called and Justified partly by Grace and partly by Works or by whatsoever is done by the Creature this were to put such things together that cannot agree for 't is to make Merit no Merit Debt no Debt Works no Works Grace no Grace and so affirm and deny one and the same thing Therefore how absurd a thing is it for Men to mix the Law and Gospel together in this sense or make that which is the Creature 's Act or Work a procuring Cause of acceptance and Justification in God's sight seeing it utterly destroys the nature of Grace and so consequently the glorious Design of God's eternal Purpose in Jesus Christ and that blessed Covenant of his confirmed by the Mediator thereof Where the Creature is wholly abased and the free Grace of God alone exalted Man is not a co-worker or co-partner with God therefore those Principles that have a natural tendency so to do ought to be abominated by all good Christians But it is objected That we are said to be justified by Faith and also that Repentance is required as a Condition of Salvation c. 1. I answer Some put Faith in the room and place of perfect Obedience to the Law and that Faith which they speak of they affirm is the sole Act of the Creature But this certainly is a grand Errour for it would make our Justification to be still by Works and so destroy the Nature of God's free Grace for that which is the Creature 's Act is all one with the Creature 's Work 't is but to change one Work of the Creature to another from an external Work of the Life to an internal Work of the Heart For as Mr. Cary well observes 'T is Christ's perfect Righteousness and Obedience only which is put into the room and place of ours to justify and save us and his Sufferings take away the Curse which our Disobedience brought upon us Faith therefore is only the instrumental Cause of our Justification 't is only as an Instrument or Way of our receiving and applying the Righteousness of Christ if it justifies as a Condition of the New Covenant as Works were required under the Old and as that act or work injoined on our part to be done by us as Antecedent to the benefit of the Promise that would make our Act or Work the formal Cause of our Justification and so render the Terms of the New-Covenant much of the same Nature with the Old Faith is not our Righteousness in it self as a Work but in relation to Christ the Object of it or as an Act of receiving and applying his Righteousness and Merits as Eating nourisheth though it be the Meat that doth it in this sense Him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness And now whereas the Apostle James speaks of Works justifying and not Faith only Jam. 2. 24. it is easy to be comprehended and the great Apostle of the Gentiles and he reconciled Paul speaks of the Cause of our Justification before God and James of the Signs of our Justification before Men or shews how our good Works justify our Faith The one speaks of the Imputation of Righteousness the other of the Declaration of our Righteousness or one speaks of the Office of Faith the other of the Quality of Faith the one speaks of the Justification of the Person the other of the Faith of that Person the one speaks of Abraham to be justified the other of Abraham already justified Moreover 2. That Faith by which we are said to be justified is as much the Free-Gift of God's Grace to us as Christ is the Free-Gift of his Grace for us and hence Faith is called the Gift of God Eph. 2. 8 9. and also a Fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. And as it is a Grace wrought in us so also such a Grace that was promised to us as part of Christ's Purchase To you it is given saith the Apostle in the behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for his sake that is it is given freely of God's meer Grace yet upon the account of Christ's Merits and Mediation Their believing in Christ was not in their own Power No Man can come to me that is believe in me except it were given unto him of my Father And all that the Father hath given to me shall come unto me that is believe on me And again No Man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him

with Pride as some of late amongst us are and have been as to think they were without Sin yet did not doubt but wherein they came short or were guilty God as a pure Act of his Mercy would forgive them not seeing a Necessity of Christ and of his Righteousness Which Notion tends at once utterly to make void the Doctrine of Faith and Covenant of Grace and so consequently the whole Design of God in sending Jesus Christ into the World for if Salvation may be obtained this way Christ is dead in vain And whilst I am hinting these things to you I cannot but bewail another sort of Men who though not so grossly blind and mistaken as some others are yet doubtless greatly miss it and run upon almost as bad a Rock whilst they apprehend and think all Men are put into such a Capacity that they may be saved if they will i. e. by improving the means of Light and Knowledg they have by their own inherent Power and Abilities without the special Operation of the spirit not considering the woful pravity of Man's Nature by original and actual Transgression they being dead in Sin and stand in as much need to be quickned by Jesus Christ or to have a Principle of Divine Life infused into them if ever they spiritually live as Lazarus had to be quickned and raised again after he had lain four days in the Grave Nay and 't is evident God doth work in us who are spiritually quickned and brought to believe after the same manner which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead One ground or cause of these Mens Mistake may arise from the Consideration of that Power Men in general have by the help of natural Conscience and the external means of Grace to leave the gross Acts of Sin and so reform their Lives and cleave to God in all Acts of Obedience in the external Ordinances of the Gospel which is I fear all the Conversion some Professors ever attained unto and is also indeed the Substance of that which Man by the Power of his own Will is able to arrive unto to affirm that Man by his own natural and internal Abilities as influenced by common Grace hath Power to renew himself change his own Heart or form Jesus Christ in his Soul is in effect to attribute to him Omnipotency and make a God of him even no less than a creating Power For the Image of God which is wrought in all true regenerated Persons is called the new Creature and a glorious Creature it is as ever the Almighty formed being the top-Glory of all his creating Power And besides this necessarily makes way for Men to boast and glory in themselves for it makes Man a Competitor a Co-partner and a Co-worker with God in Redemption for the Work of Redemption doth not only consist in a price paid or an Atonement made by Jesus Christ whereby he appeased Divine Wrath and satisfied God's offended Justice but also by Power and blessed Conquest the one was done without us in the Person of Christ the other is done in us by the Spirit of Christ whereby those evil and vicious Habits that are in us naturally are removed and the Power of Satan broke into Pieces or that strong Man armed overcome and the Soul set at Liberty To this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil No Man can be said to be redeemed by Christ until he is redeemed from his Sins or delivered from that Enmity that naturally is in his Heart against God or that sacred Image of God be again restored in him not until he is quickned or raised from the dead Hence St. Peter speaking of Redemption saith We were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from a vain Conversation c. but with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot The Redemption is from a vain Conversation 't is not from Wrath only but from Sin the cause of that Wrath also And all Men know this is not universal seeing but a very few are indeed thus redeemed and they may as well perceive that this is as absolutely the Work of Christ as he is our Redeemer viz. thus to work in us to redeem us as it was his Work to die for us How good is it therefore for us to consider the Danger that arises from mistaken and unsound Principles if we would not be found guilty of this Sin of Vain-Glory The truth is some good Men are so misled that they make the new Covenant a mere conditional Covenant and if after all Christ hath done their Interest in it and eternal Life wholly depends upon the weak and wavering Principles of the depraved Creature and his stubborn and rebellious Will has its negative Voice and if the Creature works not complies not to those Conditions required the whole of Redemption-Work may be lost and not one Soul redeemed And were it thus there is more reason to believe Christ would have lost all his Labour and infinite Kindness than otherwise Since Man is naturally so depraved and averse to that which is truly good having such Enmity in his Heart against God and is wholly under the Power and Government of the Devil and this also would render the new Covenant not better nay not so good as the first for then Man was a perfect Creature having not then such a captivating Power of Sin nor Satan in him but had a Power of Will to stand if he had exercised it and resisted the Tempter from without There is one thing more I shall note before I leave this Point 'T is easy to perceive from hence what Grace it is that Man may fall from I mean finally and totally fall i. e. whatsoever Men may act or do from those common Operations of the Spirit or by the Power of natural Conscience under the external Preaching of the Word or means of the Rod or Afflictions by the Assistance or Help of which I doubt not he may become another Man a great Professor pray hear the Word have a sort of Faith viz. that of Credence be baptized and so become a Church-Member yea a Preacher and may be in the Sight of Men of a blameless Life and Conversation and yet never changed in Heart or regenerated by the effectual and special Operations of Christ's Spirit nor have Union with Christ From this Grace or such a reformed Life and Profession of Religion a Person may fall away and indeed rise no more And such I conclude the stony and thorny-ground-Professors were Moreover 't is as evident that the good-ground viz. the honest-hearted Person brought forth Fruit to Life eternal and fell not finally and totally away from the Grace of God If any ask how it came to pass any of the ground is said to be good I answer Naturally all the Hearts of Men and