Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	formal_a	justification_n	meritorious_a	1,409	5	11.1733	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25202	Anti-sozzo, sive, Sherlocismus enervatus in vindication of some great truths opposed, and opposition to some great errors maintained by Mr. William Sherlock.	Alsop, Vincent, 1629 or 30-1703.	1676 (1676)	Wing A2905_VARIANT; ESTC R37035	424,995	711

the First must be justified if ever they be justified by the Second Adam v. 22. The Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe for there 's no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God As all men that ever were are or shall be are sinners under Condemnation so all that ever were are or shall be righteous in the sight of God are so by that righteousness which is by Faith of Iesus So that every pardoned accepted justified sinner must own that he is justified freely by the Grace of God through the Redemption that is in Christ. From these and such-like Scriptures it is that Christians ascribe their Iustification before God not to their own good Works but to the Free Grace of God through Iesus Christ but our Author has a way of proving his Sentiments worth a thousand of these Could men says he be reconciled to plain sence it would need no other Confirmation but the Natural evidence of naked and simple Truth It has been observed of the great Bellarmine from whom our Author has borrowed some things that he never comes in with a Procui dubio but the next words are a Rapper the same I observe in our Author that when he has done just nothing he always makes the loudest cackle It was a handsom Come-of if you did but mind it that when he had pester'd us with his prejudices surfeited us with Arbitrary distinctions filled our heads with empty Notions and when we looked to have been attack'd with one of his old plain kill-cow demonstrations he faces about and pops us off with this It needs no other proof than the Natural evidence of simple and naked Truth But now let the Reader take something warm next his heart let him use his phial of Essences for our Author is just now a-coming to examine those Texts of Scripture which are abused by these men to set up the personal Righteousness of Christ as the only formal Cause of our justification And must not those Texts of Scripture be miserably abused indeed that are thus prest in for such a service What the personal Righteousness of Christ the formal Cause of our justification I have heard some say it was the Meritorious Cause some the Impulsive Cause others the Material Cause and some that it is no Cause but our Author is the first that ever I heard this expression from There was once a good Orthodox Bishop as Orthodoxy past in that Age his Name Downham he has Written many a long page upon this Subject and he acquaints us with the sence of Protestants Lib. 1. Cap. 3. Sect. 1. That the matter of our justification is Christ's Righteousness and the form is God's Imputing it and this way go most of your Systematical Divines but from hence I learn it 's the Mode now-a-days for these Gentlemen to Confute that is to Rail at those long-winded Authors they never had the patience to read nor the Brains to understand but let this pass amongst our Authors Negligences or Ignorances till I understand better where to marshal it In examining the Texts which they abuse he will begin and end with Phil. 3. 8 9. Yea doubtless and I account all things loss for the excellency of the Knowledg of Iesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith The main Question here will be What was that Righteousness which the Apostle renounces from having any place in his Justification before God Upon this one hinge turns all the Controversie betwixt our Author and his Antagonists They say it was what-ever inherent Righteousness he had attained or could attain what-ever Obedience he had performed or could perform to the Commands of God Ay but says our Author what proof have they for this he can learn none but that they take it for granted that My Righteousness signifies Inherent Righteousness And really they are to be pittied if not pardoned that by His own Righteousness understand his own Righteousness for if Inherent Righteousness be not His own Righteousness it 's plain he could have none at all for an External Conformity of Actions to the Law alone is not Righteousness at all but Hypocrisie and Vnrighteousness but I shall inform him of some other proofs why they take His own Righteousness for Inherent Righteousness 1. That which he calls his own Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tells you in the next words is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is from Law from a Law from any Law indefinitely now a Righteousness which is from a Law is such a one as the Law urges presses upon and prescribes to the Conscience but that without question is an Internal Conformity of soul to the holiness of the Law but this the Apostle rejects therefore he rejects Internal and Inherent Righteousness 2. The true Notion of My Righteousness is not to be fetcht from some sorry Conjectures from precarious Hypotheses which men when they are in streights invent to avoid present ruine but from the stable fixed constant use thereof in Scripture but so is this expression My own Righteousness and My own or your own Works used in Scripture viz. for real sineere Conformity of heart and life to a Law therefore so ought we to take it here till we see cogent Reason to the contrary That this is the fixed use of the expression in Scripture we shall see Gen. 30. 33. My Righteousness shall answer for me in time to come which our Author would paraphrase thus My Righteousness that is My Roguery Iob 27. 6. My Righteousness I hold fast my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live My Righteousness that is would he say My Hypocrisie Matth. 5. 16. That men may see your good works that is in the New Glossary Your Complement Dan. 9. 18. we present not our supplications before thee not for our Righteousnesses but for thy great Mercies The Prophet in the Name of the Church must be supposed here not to renounce real Righteousness but the Sceleton of Obedience Now had the Apostle designed only to reject his own Hypocrisie he was not so barren in expressions but he could have fitted it with its Proper Name 3. The Apostle expresly renounces both what-ever he had attained before or after his Conversion v. 7. These things that were gain to me whilst I was a Pharisee those I accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loss for Christ But is that all No! Yea doubtless v. 8. and I do now account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things but loss I have accounted all things attained in my Iudaism loss when I was first convinced and I do now account all things even my own Righteousness loss and dung for Christ

Covenant made a Covenant his Righteousness and Obedience have procured a Covenant are the Meritorious cause of a Covenant when the total Summe of all is no more than this That God has promised to Pardon and Save us if we Believe and Obey the Gospel though we Obey not perfectly So that at last it 's our own Obedience that Recommends us to God our own Righteousness for which we are Iustified Whereas the Apostle is Peremptory That by the Obedience of Christ we are constituted Righteous His Conclusion is therefore this That the Righteousness of Christ is not the formal Cause of our Iustification but the Meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared Righteous and rewarded as Righteous I perceive the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Obedience of his Death are like to prove something ere long One while they Confirm and Seal another while they Procure and at last they Merit a Covenant I cannot but Examine particulars though I have often done it 1. The Righteousness of Christ is not the Formal cause of our Iustification Indeed I think it is not Never any Man in his Wits affirmed it so Give but us leave to call it the Material cause or the Meritorious cause immediately and properly of Justification and he shall take Formal cause and deal with it at his pleasure I think I have a Commission from all the Systematical Divines of Germany the Voluminous Tigurines and Bulky Low-Dutch with those few that are left in England to make a Bargain with him Hard and Fast That the Righteousness of Christ is not the Formal cause of our Iustification 2. Says he It is the Meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared Righteous A Meritorious cause sounds very high if it had an honest Meaning But what has it Merited Iustification By no means What then Any particular Mercy or Priviledge or Blessing By no means for then it would be a proper cause of it there 's an Exact and Severe proportion betwixt the Reward and the Work in all Merit What is it then the Meritorious cause of Why of a Covenant But are we made Righteous by the Covenant Not at all only we are declared Righteous But how does the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Obedience of his Death Merit such a Covenant at Gods Hands Nay That he will not tell us God was well pleased with them but why he should be so is a Secret which must be reserved for the coming of Elias 3. The last thing I shall Exmine is his Exceptions against our Interpretation of the Apostle 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall be made Righteous says he is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall be Iustified Well I agree to him But then I say the former Expression explains the way of our being Iustified that it is by Vertue of a Gospel-Law-Constitution or Appointment of God who considering all Believers as one with their Redeemer does Constitute them Just and Righteous there 's the Formal Cause in the Righteousness of Christ there 's the Material Cause of Justification as all the Posterity of Adam are constituted Sinners and liable to Condemnation by the Constitution of the old Law as Represented by him their Common Head 2. He excepts That the Apostle tells us ver 17. Who they are that are Iustified by Christ and shall Reign with him in Life not those who are Righteous by the Imputation of Christs Righteousness to them But I do not hear the Apostle telling me one such word whatever he has told our Author privately by way of Cabala I hear him saying plainly That as by one Mans offence many were made sinners so by one Mans Obedience many were made Righteous And because I cannot devise how possibly one Man should be made a sinner dealt with as a sinner Condemned and Judged as and for a sinner by another mans sin unless he be some ways or other guilty of sin and because it is not the making of that one mans sin their own by Immitation and Example that the Apostle speaks of but by a constitution of a Covenant or Law Therefore till I can find a better Term to express the Doctrine by I shall call Gods charging Adams sin upon his Posterity to their Condemnation his Imputing it to them And then because I cannot neither devise with my self how one man should possibly be made Righteous by the Obedience of another but that others Obedience must some way or other become his own and because to say Christs Obedience is ours by Imitation of his Example is to cross the Apostles paralel and to cross the Truth for we Imitate it but in part and very Imperfectly therefore I shall take the Freedom also to call Gods constituting Believers righteous by the Obedience of Christ his Imputing that Obedience to them for their Justification provided always that when more convenient and expressive Terms shall be found out to satisfie the Apostle this of Imputation be left indifferent Well but if not these who are then Why those who have received the abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness these are justified by Christ these shall Reign with him in Life It 's very true the Apostle does tell us no less And I cannot imagine how he should more fitly describe a justified person that others may know him and he should know himself than by the Fruits and Effects of Justification such as abundance of Grace are For whatever our Author thinks of the Apostle he does not use to describe a thing by it self or something equally obscure but by that which is more known and Obvious than the thing described and therefore the Apostle seems not to describe Justification but a justified Person by Sanctification They that have received abundance of Grace and the Gift of Righteousness these are justified Persons not that Justification is from any Inherent work but that the justified Person is only known to himself to be such by an Inherent work and to others by the fruits of it This answer I will deal truly with my Reader came next to hand I had it from our Author and I presumed he would accept a bad one of his own before a better of another mans The Apostle says he tells who those are that are thus justified by Christ Nay then thought I that will kill no body for a justified Person may be described by his Qualifications and yet his Righteousness wherein he stands accepted before God not consist in those Qualifications But to deal plainly with him I do humbly conceive that the Apostle describes an Imputed Righteousness by that expression They which receive the abundance of Grace and the Gift of Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the over-flowing and Redundancy of Divine Love to accept a Surety to fulfill all Righteousness and Suffer for us and abundance of Grace too to let us in by Faith into the Righteousness of Christ's Life and the Sacrifice of Christs Death

and then our Authors Argument will hold though his Cause break If God for the sake of Abrahams imperfect Obedience yet as he was the Head of the League gave so many temporal Mercie to Israel surely then God for the sake of Christ the Head of all that the Father hath given him will bestow Spiritual and Eternal Mercies for the Head and Members making but one Body the Obedience of the Head is reputed the Obedience of the Members And as the Blessings which God bestows for Christs sake are Transcendently g●…eater than those bestowed on Israel for Abrahams sake so is the Obedience which Christ performed upon it's own account and the Dignity of the Person infinitely beyond the imperfect Obedience of Abraham and the Union which Faith makes with Christ is a stricter Union than any Natural Civil Political Union that could possibly be between Abraham and his Posterity Thus I have endeavoured to Vindicate our Authors Argument but I am sure he had rather it should perish than be thus justified But is it not strange our Author should tell us That he knows how many Blessings God bestowed upon the Children of Israel for their Fathers sakes and yet not acquaint us with one single Blessing that God bestows on us for Christs sake For the sake of Christs Personal Obedience I wish I had so much Interest in any Friend of his that had that Interest in him to perswade him to acquaint us freely and open-heartedly what those blessings are and how procured Why just now he comes to it The Righteousness of his Life and the Sacrifice of his Death both serve to the same end to establish and confirm the Gospel-Covenant God was so well pleased with what Christ did and suffered with the obedience of his Life and Death that for his sake he entred into a Covenant of Grace with Mankind Very good what needed all this Circumlocution and Periphrase To beat about and about the Bush Had it not been more Civil to have given us our doom in plain English than to Tantalize us with sugared hopes and expectations of some great matter from Abraham Isaac and Iacob Some would say 1. That this ascribes more Influence to Abrahams Obedience than thus to Christs for God for the sake of Abraham's Active Obedience entred into a Covenant with Israel and chose them to be his peculiar People without the Death of Abraham but the Obedience of Christs Life and Death must both concur to procure this Covenant and yet it is such a one as I suppose God would not refuse upon as small an account as the sake of Abraham 2. Some will say this is not to Answer the Question but perplex it The Question at first was what influence the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death have upon our acceptation with God He Answers They serve to establish the Covenant they confirm to us that God will pardon and save us if we believe and Obey but what if I Obey without such confirmation shall my Obedience be rejected without it be performed upon that Confirmation Ay but God entred into this Covenant of Grace for Christs sake Still I say that 's not an answer but the bandying the Question upon us again a hundred times over Why should his Life and Death have such an influence upon God to make that Covenant Why should they Operate that way What connexion is there between Christs active and passive Obedience and such a Covenant But sure we forget our selves for we are enquiring into the influence of Christs Active Obedience And 1. For Confirming a Covenant let any rational Man satisfie me how The Obedience of a Person perfectly holy pure spotless sinless being accepted of God should prove this promise That therefore God will accept them whos 's best Obedience is imperfect and defective This is so far from confirming it that God will accept me who am a Sinner that it leads to utter dispair of acceptance with him seeing I came so infinitely short of my pattern What hope can a sinner have of acceptance from a consideration that God has accepted Christ who was no sinner If Faith was ready to believe that God would accept him that believes and obeys yet had it seen Christs Faith and Obedience and his acceptance thereon it might have stagger'd him that ever such pitiful things as his Faith and Obedience should find favour with God And if Faith was so strong as to overcome that difficulty as to believe the Promise notwithstanding this staggering Example yet it 's far enough from Truth that a sinner should believe the promise ever the more that his imperfect Service should be accepted and rewarded because Christs entire obedience was so Nay without question it had been a greater confirmation of that promise to have had assurance that God had pardoned some hainous Offender some flagitious wretch who deserved Condemnation than to behold him accepting a Person not obnoxious to Condemnation So says the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who hereafter should believe on him to Life everlasting The Pardon of a Blasphemer one injurious a Persecutor is a stronger confirmation that God will pardon a sinner than the acceptance of Him that had done no wrong neither was guile found in his mouth 2. But now for Gods making such a promise for Christs sake or entring into a Covenant to pardon accept for Christs sake this answers not the Question in the least for 1. It onely asserts that God has declared openly that he will do it Now a Declaration of Pardon is not a Pardon a promise of acceptance is not acceptance and therefore a Reason of or Motive to such a Promise such a Declaration is not a Reason of or Motive to Pardon and acceptance Christs Obedience was so well pleasing to God that for his sake he made such a Promise Well but if my Obedience be little Christs Obedience will not make it accepted as if it were great if imperfect it will not render it accepted as if it were perfect 2. That God has made such a promise for Christs sake answers not the Question for it s but turning the Question into an Assertion As if we should enquire what Reason is there that God should accept me for Christs obedience And he should Answer there is a Reason why God should accept me for it but never shew the Reason Or thus What Cause is Christs Obedience of the Acceptance of our Obedience And he should say it is a Cause but not shew the Cause But then further The Obedience and Righteousness of Christs Life was one thing which made his Sacrifice so Meritorious I confess I question the Truth of the Proposition had Christ Sacrificed himself as soon as he came into the World his Sacrifice had been as Meritorious being the Sacrifice of him that as Priest was God and