Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	father_n	ghost_n	son_n	4,633	5	6.0871	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86549	Salvation from sinne by Jesus Christ: or, The doctrine of sanctification (which is the greater part of our salvation) founded upon Christ, who is both the meritorious, and and efficient cause of sanctifying grace, purchasing it for, working & perfecting it in his people. Applied (as it was specially intended) for the better information of our judgements, and quickning of our affections in holiness, wherein our everlasting our everlasting happiness chiefly consisteth. / Preached in the weekly lecture at Evesham in the county of Worcester, by George Hopkins, M.A. minister of the Gospel there.; Salvation from sinne by Jesus Christ	Hopkins, George, 1620-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing H2743; Thomason E1608_1; ESTC R208454	135,124	325

made And the Holy Ghost created Gen. 1.2 So in this new creation the Father sanctifies therefore Christ prayes Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them with thy truth The Son sanctifies as hath been already proved at large And the Holy Ghost sanctifies Rom. 1.4 Divines joyne them all togegether thus God the Father sanctifies us in Christ by the Holy Ghost In the forming of the new man the whole Trinity is imployed as at the framing of the first Man when God said Let us make man after our owne image Gen. 1.26 Where note by the way that in this work though the three persons are all imployed they are not subordinate causes nor three co-ordinate causes concurring to the same effect but one cause For although there be a mysterious distinction of the persons yet by reason of the Unity of the Essence s Ubi caedem sunt operationes ibi eadem essentia Et vice versâ there is a Unity of the Divine attributes and operations And thus according to the confession of Athanasius we say The Father is God the Son is God the Holy Ghost is God and yet there are not three Gods but one God The Father Almighty the Son Almighty the Holy Ghost Almighty and yet there are not three Amighties but one Almighty So we must say The Father Created the Son Created the Holy Ghost Created and yet there are not three Creators but one Creator So also the Father Sanctifies the Son Sanctifies the Holy Ghost Sanctifies and yet there are not three Sanctifiers but one Sanctifier Thus they are all but one cause because they all have but one and the same causality viz. one and the same Divine power by which they worke This mysterie may be intimated in that Hebrew Idiotism Gen. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where a verb singular is joyned with a noune plurall signifying the unity of causality action as well as of Essence and Nature in the three persons Though the Holy Ghost is specially called our Sanctifier Answ 2 because he doth immediately sanctifie yet may the worke be eminently attributed to Christ 1. Because the Holy Ghost the sanctifying spirit is given by Christ to his people Mat. 3.11 He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire which is of a purifying nature John 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send you from the Father even the spirit of truth c. Ch. 16 17. If I goe not away John 1. 16 17. Col. 1 19. ver 18. John 15. 1 Part. the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you 2. Because in Christ is the fulnesse of all Grace and the faithfull derive it from him as the Members from the head t Caput distat distinguitur à suis membris tripliciter 3. Ratione causalitatis influentiae Caput enim motum sensum omnibus membris impertit communicat membra omni motu sensu destituuntur fi à capite sejungantur Sic Christus vitam spiritualem motum gratiae infundit membris suis altoqui stupidis mortuis ab omni motu spirituali destitutis Sin● me nil potetestis facere at contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dav. in Col. cap. 1. ver 18. as the branches from the stock as the streame from the fountaine He received the spirit without measure and conveieth it in measure to his people As Christ is the Procreating cause of sanctifying grace so is he the conserving cause of it It is he that gives and maintaines the life of grace As God at first by his power made all things of nothing and since maintaines them in their being by his providence having their continued being from him who gave them their first being so that the Apostle saith Act. 17.28 In him we live move and have our being So is it in the new Creature the continuance of Grace is from Christ u Neque ipsum recte vivere nobis ex nobis est nifi credentei adjuvet orantes qui et ipsam fidem dedit quia nos ab illo adjuvandos esse credanius Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 19 cap. 4. who created the first Grace in the Soule and we are no more able to live the life of Grace or performe any gracious worke without his conserving co-operating and assisting grace than we are able to live walk and worke without the preservation and assistance of Divine Providence Christ is to the Soule as the Soule is to the Body when Saint Paul saith Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ yet neverthelesse I live he doth with an Epanorthosis correct himselfe thus yet not I but Christ liveth in me As if he should say this spirituall life of Grace which I now live is not from my selfe but from Christ who liveth in me to wit by his Grace and gives life and motion to me As the Soule gives life to the Body and the Body lives no longer than the Soule is united to it but becomes a dead carcase whensoever it is separated from it So if Christ who is the life of the Soule should be severed from it it would immediately become dead againe in Trespasses and Sinnes and able to doe no more in Grace than a dead Corps in Nature This our Saviour Christ himself excellently proves and illustrates in another comparison John 15.5 6. As the branch cannot beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the vine and ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can doe nothing As the branches that sprout out of the vine receive sap from it whereby they are preserved and become fruitfull but being once broken off become dead and fruitlesse having no more sap or life in themselves So saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 severed from me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye can doe nothing There are in the Greek two negatives which deny the more vehemently as if he should say ye cannot possibly doe any thing for if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered Philosophers are of opinion that if the Heavens should stand still but a minute of an houre and withhold their influence from this lower world man could not move so much as a little finger Much more if Christ should but withhold the influence of his grace from us should we be unable to move one haires breadth towards any good Christ is likewise called the head and the faithfull the members w Caput membra in eo conveniunt quod babeant inter se continuitatem quod omnia actum suum informationem habeant ab eadem anima Sic caput hoc mysticum omnia ejusdem membra habent continuitatem quandam inter se informationem suam spiritualem vivificationem ab codem principio Est enim inter

and to be called into fellow ship with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Here is matter of admiration indeed Stand here and pause a little see whether you have not more cause than before to cry out O the breadth length and depth and height of the grace of Christ The soule that is betrothed to Christ in holinesse may much more say in this case what David said when he was advanced from a mean family to great dignity Lord Who am I and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto Here may we likewise say with the Psalmist Psal 8.4 What is man Lord that thou art mindfull of him and the Son of man that thou so visitest him And are not they to be esteemed the most faithfull preachers of the Gospel who shun not to reveale unto the people both parts of the Counsell and Grace of Christ but shew forth the glory of his sanctifying as well as of his justifying work Beware then I beseech you of the dangerous way of admiring grace against grace which is indeed to destroy grace Take heed of hearkning to them that so much contemne the doctrine of Sanctification by Christ under pretence of exalting Chr●st The Doctrine of the grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly justly and godly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. Paul teacheth us that it is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners but not to save them in their sins that were a contradiction but to save them from their sins There is in him plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psal 130. ult and he saves them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Hebr. 7.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the perfection of all And were it so that Christ should save us from wrath and not from sin he would be but an imperfect Saviour for it would be but a halfe salvation nor so much neither But Christ doth not leave his work imperfect those that are his redeemed ones are compleat in him Col. 2.10 he justifies them he sanctifies them and so saves them And he that will be a faithful Minister of Christ must preach justificatiō sanctification which are inseparable It is no marvell if Antinomian teachers carry the multitude after them When they shall teach them that there needs no sorrow for sin no repentance no such care to please God that God takes no notice of their sins nor is displeased with them for sin it is no strange thing if those that are in love with their lusts do folow applaud approve them when they cannot bear the plain dealings of a faithfull Minister of Christ who tells them they cannot have Christ and their lusts too That the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men That the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God That if they will be saved by Christ they must be content to have their iniquities destroyed they must be saved from their sins for they and their sins cannot be saved together It is no marvaile I say to see those loose sort of Teachers gain a multitude of imaginary Converts How easie a matter is it to make a Proselite of a worldling if he may have Christ and his Mammon too or a voluptuous man if he may have Christ and his carnall pleasuers too And who would not have Christ when he shall be taught to deny or part with nothing not so much as a beloved lust for Christ Such clawing teachers are fit to please men of itching ears and such rotten doctrine hath undoubtedly made so many unsound Professors as we see of late How many Antinomian pretenders to more than ordinary Christians have attained to do we see that give way to intemperate drinking lascivious jesting defrauding and many other evils If Solomon when the two women pleaded their cause before him concluded that she was indeed the Mother of the Child whose yerning bowels pleaded against the dividing of it knowing that was the ready way to destroy it Let the wise discern betwixt us and our Antinomian Adversaries which of the two is upright in his cause and whether a divided Christ be like to prove a living and quickning Saviour We may here with the Apostles of Christ lift up our voice to God with one accord Acts 4.24 to 29. and say Lord thou art God which hast made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things The Kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ For of a truth against thy holy child Iesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before to be done But this thou in mercy hast ordered to the saving of thy people But now behold a combination of Antinomians Familists and licentious Libertines with evil hearts and wicked hands have what in them lies divided and separated the saving work of thy Son Jesus Christ contrary to the revealed will to the ruine and destruction of many thousand soules And grant unto thy servants that they may with all boldnesse speak thy word not dawbing with untempered mortar but plainly telling Iudah of her sins and Ierusalem of her transgressions that so they may through thine effectual grace be instruments of recovering many from this snare of the Devil who are now led captive by him at his will 7. If the great work of Christ be the saving of his people from their sins this wil further inform us who they are that are the best Christians that have most interest in Christ even those that are the most saved from their sins that have their corruptions most mortified that are the most meek humble self denying obedient Christians and not they that are most in shew and outward appearance This I speak because I see most judge by a wrong rule both of themselves and others in point of Christianity I have heard some highly applauding such as talk and seem to know much while they complaine of their own ignorance want of expression inability in comparison of them calling the other able Christians And we see in this talkative age those that talk much to be renowned among many while the modest humble hearted are little set by I have sometime seen a Gallant in gold and silver lace strutting in great state and perhaps not so much worth in all the world beside as the clothes upon his back To this man many do reverence ignorantly apprehending him to be some honourable person when they regardlesly pass by another man in plain habit

enemy therefore when Sathan had overcome Eve he makes use of her to tempt her husband as being a more likely way to prevaile than to treat with him himself Thus he made use of Solomons wives to draw him to Idolatry For this cause the Lord forbad the Israelits to make marriages with Idolaters Deut. 7.3 4. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son For they will turne away thy son from following me that they may serve other Gods And Paul giveth the like admonition to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 6.14 Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers And as the Lord warned the Israelites of the danger that would insue upon the making of such Marriages so accordingly it befell them when they transgressed this command Their strange wives became a snare to them Judges 3.5 6. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites Hittites Amorites Perisites Hivites and Jebusites And they tooke their daughters to be their wives and they gave their daughters to their sons served their gods It was Sampsons Delilah that betrayed him into the hands of the Philistims And how is it found by sad experience that such as yoke themselves unequally for carnall advantages are much insnared in their spirituall condition When Marriages are made the infidelity or prophanenesse of the one party is not sufficient to make a necessary divorce but the believing and spirituall are to do what they can to win the unbelieving and carnall yet when persons are free they had best take heed how they intangle themselves And wo to that person that becomes a snare Thou that art an inticing husband canst thou not be content to perish alone but thou must needs draw thy wife to the same eternall ruine with thee Thou that art an inticing wife canst thou not be satisfied to perish alone but thou must draw thy husband to the same everlasting torment with thee must you needs go to hell by couples As those that have been happy instruments in saving their yoke-fellows shall reap the everlasting comfort of it So on the contrary it will be an everlasting torment to those husbands and wives who have been Sathans instruments in destroying each others soules O consider this and lay it to heart before it be too late The last way I shall mention of hindring the saving of people from their sins is by persecution Although now there is not blessed be God such open persecution with violence as in the dayes of Popish Kings and Rulers with fire and faggot and other waies of torture Yet the scornes decisions and abuses that have been offered to the waies and servants of God have been a great means to hinder some by discouraging them in the way to turn others out of the good way wherein they were going In these times I confess a slight forme of godlinesse and some smooth words About matters of Religion especially the arguing of controversies in divers opinions is in great credit and much in fashion and the upper garment of Saint ship is the very livery of the times we live in But the power of godlinesse is but here and there found and serious Christian practice hath little savour and acceptance He that will be a Christian indeed shall be reviled by the profane party on the one hand for his precisenesse and scorned and vilified by our Novelists on the other hand as a Legallist and Formalist as one that trusts to and hopes to be saved by his duties Is not ancient serious christian practice every where spoken against by the wantons of our age who account old stedfast professors no better than Pharisees and Selfe-justitiaries It was a cruell practice of Paul before his conversion that he persecuted the Saints shutting many of them up in prison and gave his voyce against them when they were to be put to death and that he punished them oft in every Synagogue and being exceedingly mad against them persecuted them even to strong cities but the most mischievous of all was that he compelled them to blaspheme Acts 26 10 11. The other were but temporal sufferings this a spirituall mischief So now may we say it was a murtherous practice in Bonner and others that burned the Saints in the daies of Queen Mary but of far more evil consequence is the sin of those that by scoffs and scornes at the power of godlinesse under specious pretences have deluded many simple soules causing them to blaspheme the ancient tried and approved wayes of God and rejoice in it as if they had done God good service O how doth this confirm the ungodly in the midst of their wickednesse and cause many that began to minde Religion to take up with a slight Antinomian profession and go no further And how sad is it to heare many talk of Gospel liberty and Saints priviledges applying all to themselves while they are in the gall of bitternesse and bond of iniquity their lives conversations plainly declaring that they are as great strangers to the worth of Regeneration as ever Nichodemus was And while they promise liberty they bring themselves into real bondage 2 Pet. 2.18 19. Whosoever thou art that hast had a hand in managing this will of the Devil to secure poor Soules in the midst of their sins as it were bidding them sleep on and take their rest crying peace peace where there is no peace know that a fearfull woe belongs to thee the blood of those soules which thou hast destroyed will be required at thy hands Suppose thou hadst seen the vision of John in the opening of the fifth Seal Rev. 6.9 10. and hadst beheld under the Altar the Soules of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held and hadst heard them crying with a loud voyce saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwel on the Earth wouldst thou not have blessed thy selfe from being of the number of them that should have a hand in their blood But there will a louder and more direfull cry from poor damned soules in hell be lifted up for vengeance against thee even those whom thou hast destroyed by teaching them to spurn at the power of godlinesse The Martyrs that were slain died but temporally to live eternally but those poor Soules whom thou hast taught to score at holinesse indeed must die eternally and without recovery O that all these sorts of hinderers of the work of Christ in saving people from their sinnes had but this reproof set home upon their hearts O that seducing Teachers mischievous Dividers scandalous Ministers and others exemplary for wickednesse that enticing Sinners and self-admiring Scorners at Godlinesse had but the loud cry of dying souls that by their means perish in their wickedness continually ringing in their eares that it might be a means to recover them out