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	person_n	son_n	3,185	5	5.8825	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88089	Vindiciæ Christi, et obex errori Arminiano: = a plea for Christ, and obstrvction to the first passage, whereat the errors of Arminus steal into the hearts of men: shewing Christs satisfaction in his humiliation, to be the sole price of our redemption; and evidencing faith in that satisfaction, no instrumental cause of our justification in the fight of God, nor condition given us for life. Delivered in three sermons: by Richard Lewthwat Master of Arts, in Caius Colledge in Cambridge, at his Parish of Wigston in Norfolk.	Lewthwat, Richard.	1655 (1655)	Wing L1855; Thomason E480_6; ESTC R205317	30,584	39

that pronounceth not onely guiltless but also perfectly just through Christ It follows That justifieth the ungodly The ungodly the word ungodly here must be restrained to the number of the elect or ransomed through Christ whose falvation was covenanted for from all eternity with the father by the Son upon the price of his blood and abasement to be undergone in the fulness of time at the time appointed by the father and promised by the Son to be performed at the time appointed Now these elected or ordained of the father to eternal life through the Son are in the Scriptures one whle and in one respect termed ungodly another while and in another respect stiled Saints and termed godly these elect are stiled ungodly children of wrath and enemies to God whilest in their natural condition of blindness ignorance and disobedience before illumination new-birth or regeneration by the Spirit of God before they be wrought to the faith of Christ or the faith of Christ be brought to them But now these elected ones after regeneration after faith be conveyed into their hearts they have their name changed by God they are termed Saints they are called godly and righteous So that now see the elect of God the redeemed through Christ do stand just before God through Christ are pronounced perfectly just through Christ by the word of the fathers will or decree even whilest in their naturall condition before they be indued with faith though the elect hear it not till then t is so The father Justifies the ungodly therefore we are not Justified by faith t is not counted our righteousness as being the instrumental efficient cause of a real application of Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God because Justified before even whilest ungodly before indued with faith Secondly faith is not cannot be in this wise as last mentioned instrumental because that granted many places of the Scripture are destroyed for brevities sake I le alleadge but one t is that of Isaiah chap. the 40. ver 1 2. if ye weigh the place well ye shall see that the Ministers command or commission is to proclaim the pardon of the elects sins upon the bare consideration of Christs pangs and sufferings in their stead Cry unto her that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received at the Lords hand double for all her sins See now brethren Isaiah and my self are in the same error in the Judgement of the Adversary Isaiah tells ye and bids all the Ministers of Christ tell their people as I have told you that the bare pangs and sufferings of Chist are the adequate and full means and cause of the absolution and pardon of our sins by the father the Prophet bids us proclaim peace and pardon to Jerusalem to the elect to this person and to the other to whomsoever we preach barely upon the Sons eternal covenant to dye in the fulness of time for us and the fathers acceptance thereof in our stead So that see Christ is an elected soul is every believer in the eye and purpose of the father by imputation before the holy Ghosts comfortable application of that Christ by faith Cry unto her that her iniquity is pardoned for that she hath received at the Lords hand double for all her sins See now a plain destruction of the direction to the Ministers by Isaiah upon the adversaries opinion Had the spirits of these times been living in the Prophets dayes to hear his last recited doctrine they would have stiled him an Antifidian and termed his words a doctrine of Devils They would have told him no man is acquitted or pardoned of his sins because of Christs satisfaction in the eye or by the will of God till the soul hath actually owned Christ as his Saviour by faith that no man is just or Justified through Christ in the sight of the father till he be actually believing on the Son I do most willingly receive faith to be a most blessed signal means but dare not receive it as an instrumental cause whereby the spirit of God doth bring a soul into the favour of God who was out of it till then and secondly for this reason because it alters and destroys the meaning of many comfortable places of Scripture this plainly of Isaiah containing the Ministers commission Thirdly and Lastly faith cannot be instrumentall to the application of Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God as that whereby the spirit brings a sinner into the favour and love of God who was out of it till that grace came into his soul applying Christ comfortably to the heart because that this being granted the very nature and being of God as described in the Scriptures is consequently destroyed and denyed There be many places in the Scripture tending to the description of our God I shall insist upon the places describing him especially as to the present purpose and that in Exodus 3. ver 14 is very considerable as to the present when Moses would be instructed by God with his name to answer the Israelites enquiring it God sets forth his name by his nature thou shalt say I am hath sent me unto you God in his first answer to Moses in the beginning of the verse where he saies I am that I am God holds forth his absolute independing and eternal subsistency and being I am that I am that is of my self not taking my being from the power pleasure or help of any pre-existing cause or thing this speaks the eternity of his being Now in these words of God I am hath sent me unto you God sets forth the manner or nature of the being of things in him of their being in his love will or purpose and consequently as to our capacity in his sight and knowledge as I may say they do set forth the nature of love will decree knowledge sight and other attributes of God This name shews that his love of any man his will and purpose to have any thing come about or to pass his sight and knowledge of all future events and things to happen in time as to us were all eternally present with God not taking beginning or being in him in his sight or knowledge in time God loves not the man to day that is doth not will purpose or decree to him to day that good thing be it either some temporal happiness yea or future life eternal that he did not purpose will or decree to him from all eternity he doth not see or behold a man to day Justified through Christ that he did not behold so before the foundation of the world was laid I am saith God that is as if God should have said I am now at this time what I was from all eternity in respect to will decree sight knowledge power c. Again I am now at this present what I shall be to all succeding times to eternity in respect to will decree sight knowledge power for all

us that our salvation and eternal life is purchased and brought about for us by Christ by his blood This my gloss on these words seems to me right and good thus expounded they being so consentaneous to other Scriptures as first that of Isaials speaking of the Ministers of the Gospel and quoted by Paul Romans the 10. chap. ver 15. How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tydings of good things He doth not say that bringeth good things save but by way of tydings by way of intelligence or as Isaiah from whence the Apostle hath it chap. the 52. v. 7. that publisheth these good things which he there calls peace one while salvation by and by now ye know that to publish is but to proclaim or make known abroad by way of voice or writing things past before as do the Ministers of the Gospel A most notable one we have for this purpose in the end of my last text the second Epistle to Timothy chap. the 1. ver 10. where the Apostle saith that Christ hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel He doth not say that the spirit hath brought life by the Gospel as if it had done that for us by the word of the Gospel was not done or accomplished for us before no he says he hath brought it to light that is he hath made it apparent and visible before us that was not so before Take the sum of this last in a word the doctrine concerning Christ is called the word of life the Gospel of salvation yea but life and salvation is transmitted to the word and Gospel but in a figurative speech but improperly that is as being manifested and made known to us by that word and Gospel that they are accomplished and wrought for us by the undertakings and performances of the Son of God not that they are thereby verily and really procured for us so in like manner our faith is said to justifie us or we are said to be justified thereby thus figuratively or improperly as being the means whereby tht spirit of God gives us sight assurance or hope of our future enjoyment of eternal life through Christ So then in a word to shew how far we are gone in the answer to the objection Abrahams believing God was counted to him for righteousness but not in a proper sense as being like the pretious blood of Christ for which we are redeemed from death but in an improper sense and that two several ways first in respect to Gods being highly pleased with that grace and with us for it And secondly in respect to its instrumental efficiency in the comfortable application of Christ and all his benefits to a disconsolated soul in this life And this being taken to be the extent of Gods counting Abrahams faith to him for righteousness or of our being justified by faith my doctrine and inference stand firm and unshaken and its this There is nothing in all the world but Christ but Christ crucified but Christs sufferings agonies and travels of his soul that was or is the matter means or price to God for our Redemption and salvation that was or is the condition of the Father with the Son for our eternal life Well but brethren as we are not to handle the word of God deceitfully so neither the glosses or opinions of men upon it I le therefore put the matter home Ye will say perhaps that Abrahams faith was counted to him for righteousness and we are justified by faith though not in the fore-mentioned proper sense yet in an improper sense though in another respect then I have yet mentioned and that is in respect to its instrumental efficiency in the real application of Christs righteousness to us as the cover of all our sins from the sight of God till which time ye will say as the holy spirit of God hath brought Christ to us and applied him to us by faith we are not looked upon by the father as just in his sight or before him not as justified by Christ not pardoned by the father not absolved by him from our sins not beloved of God for Christs sake in this respect ye will say our faith is counted our righteousness and we are justified by faith as being the instrumental means or cause whereby the Spirit of God covers and hides the polluted soul from the sight of God by the pure garments of Christs righteousness whereby it brings a sinner into the love and favour of God who was out of it till then and in his hatred In refelling and confuting the objection as last pressed and urged I suppose the Adversary will no more take the field with the former forces I confess I must now grapple with their faith as David with Goliah of the Philistines I cannot go against it begirt with any former armour composed by either preceding or contemporary fellow-labourers in the word of Christ I find nothing in all their works fits me for the combate I confess I find many like the second Son in our Saviours parable who to his father bidding him go labour said I go Sir but went not I meet with many laying down Gods Love Election Free grace Justification so absolute as if they would deny Faith any instrumental efficiency or any conditional means as to the procuring of our future glory but weigh their future progress there is no such matter so becoming false to their principles and to the trust reposed in them by God I therefore descend to the battel as David did namely with my staff in my hand the word of God and some smooth stones I mean reasons gathered out of the brook or clear fountain of Gods word Now that faith is no instrumental efficient cause of a real application of Christ as the cover of all our sins from the sight of God as that whereby the holy Spirit brings a sinner into the love and favour of God who was out of it and in the hatred of God til that grace of faith came into his soul t is evident first from Scriptures which affirm us justified and in the love of God before the income of faith into the heart Secondly because if it be so granted to faith as before mentioned comfortable and plain pla●es of the Scripture are destroyed yea and Gods own nature and being as described in the Scriptures is also destroyed I le to the work according to this platform and for the better success herein let me admonish ye that love in God as Dumouling saith is not an affection passion or desire in God for God cannot be touched by passions as being impassible and not subject to affections but as God is said then to be angry or to hate when he will punish or destroy so love in God is a certain and sure will of doing good to the creature whence it cometh to pass that he may rightly be said to be loved of God to whom he hath given or

things to come are as present with me I am saith God hath sent me unto you That place of Peter in his second Epistle chap. the 3. ver 8. which backs my last gloss as a truth in it self may very well be used to expound the meaning of the former words in Exodus where he saith that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day A thousand years or eternity a part past that is yet to succeed cannot alter the knowledge decree will or purpose that is in or with God this day cannot bring to God a new purpose or decree a wil in him of doing any thing for any that was not in him from everlasting A thousand years cannot bring one soul to be clean through the blood of Christ in the eye or view of God that is not or was not so in his eye this present time or from everlasting That God sees all things together and at once with one act view and inspection was held sound Polemick and School Divinity till of late and certainly was their couclusion from such places as I have looked upon last to see the description of God as to the present purpose Now to bring all this to my present purpose Last faith cannot be looked upon as an instrumental cause of the application of Christ as the cover of our sins from the sight of God as that whereby the spirit of God brings a sinner into the favour and love of God through Christ who was out of it and in his hatred till that grace came into his soul applying Christ comfortably to the heart the reason is because that this being granted the very nature and being of God as described in the Scriptures is destroyed and denyed that being granted God can no longer say of himself as he did to Moses namely I am that is I am but now what I have been from eternity because that being granted time hath brought something to him which was not with him from everlasting then a day and a thousand years are not all one with God God is not the same in the day that he is in the end of a thousand years after the day When the grace of faith comes into a soul makes it an instrumental cause of our righteousness before God grant it that thereby we come to be justified in the sight of God not justified in his sight before not righteous in his sight through Christ before and then a thousand years future time add much to God that he had not before his knowledge and sight of justified persons is increased over it was his love that is his will or purpose to save such and such from eternal death is now come to God which was not in him or with him before his act of pronouncing this man just or quit from sin through Christ is now done and acted by the father in time which was not done nor acted by him from everlasting See brethren grant faith an instrumental cause of our righteousness of our being justified through Christ in the sight of God and then his nature and being as described in the Scriptures is destroyed and denyed God can no longer say of himself I am Peter erred when he said that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day How is God without variableness and shadow of change if the adversaries opinion be true I could say much more to refell the objection to evidence the impossibility of faith being instrumentall to our Justification through Christ in the sight of God but judging I have said enough to prevail with ingenuity with hearts not possessed with obstinacy I shall give yea breviate of my long answer and so go on Faith must not be received as an instrumental cause or means of our righteousness before God of our being justified in his fight through Christ First because the Scriptures affirm us plainly just in Gods sight before the income of grace into the soul See the places before quoted Ier. 31. ver 3. Ezek. 16. ver 6. 8. Rom. 4. ver 5. Secondly it must not it cannot be for if it be received it destroys many places of Scripture especially that of Isa 4. ver 1 2. Thirdly it must not it cannot be because so held as objected the nature and being of God as described in the Scriptures is destroyed and denyed especially as described in Exodus chap. 3. ver 14. and in 2 Pet. 3. ver 8. and elsewhere Well but perhaps the Adversaries will yet reply for grace especially for the grace of faith that t is the conditional means for life that the Gospel promiseth life indeed but t is upon condition of our faith and therefore the matter and means at least in part of our salvation Mr. Perkins shall make answer to this in his Commentary upon the Galatians pag. 157. as Mr. Saltmarsh quotes him where he thus saith That the Gospel hath in it no morall condition of any thing to be done of us Indeed faith is mentioned after the form and manner of a condition but in truth t is the free gift of God as well as life eternal and long after that he goes on and affirms that our salvation stands in this not that we know and apprehend Christ but in that he knows and apprehends us first of all So to this purpose 1 Ioh. chap. 4. ver 10. Herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us and therefore I may say can be no conditional means for life Mark the 12. ver 41. the treasury was open for the poor to cast in their small sums as well as for the rich to cast in much and in Exodus the 35. At the making of the Tabernacle the offerings of Goats hair and Badgers skins were accepted as well as gold and silver and the rich materials let me cast in my mite my courser matter to the destruction of the present objection The Ministers that hold forth faith as a condition to be performed by man for life as without which done by them they cannot inherit the future glory if they come to heal wounded spirits and to quiet disturbed souls with this salve or means and otherwise can give them no hope for life faith being not in their power to work into the heart of the diseased they may prove if Gods concurrence be not speedy like Iobs friends even miscrable comforters I think that that Minister that makes faith in Christ the condition for salvation and do deny man life unless upon that term this Gosspel Minister for so he will be termed considered duly with him that denies life unless upon performance of the whole Law by and in himself me thinks this man doth to the Church of God as Rehoboam said he would do to Israel complaining of his father Solomons Taxes who said his finger should be thicker then his fathers loyns if faith be given us as a condition for