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
A55299	An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ, and our union and communion with him by Edward Polhill ..., Esquire.	Polhill, Edward, 1622-1694?	1675 (1675)	Wing P2749; ESTC R13514	277,141	650

his death and sufferings because this was the subject of his discourse but yet these expressions His righteousness and obedience seem to take in the whole compass of his obedience in doing and suffering the Will of God and the meaning of the words is this That as God was so highly displeased with Adam's sin that he entailed a great many evils and miseries and death it self upon his posterity for his sake So God was so well pleased with the obedience of Christ's life and death that he bestows the rewards of Righteousness on those who according to the rigor of the Law are not righteous that for Christ's sake he hath made a new Covenant of Grace which pardons our past sins and rewards a sincere though imperfect obedience For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be made righteous is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be justified That is treated like righteous persons So that Christ's Righteousness is not the formal cause of our justification that very Righteousness whereby we are righteous But it is the meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared Righteous and rewarded as Righteous for the Apostle tells us in vers 17. who those are who are thus justified by Christ and shall reign with him in life not those who are Righteous by the imputation of Christ's Righteousness But those who have received abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness that is who by the Gospel which is the abundant grace of God are made holy and righteous as God is which Righteousness is called a gift because it is not owing solely to humane endeavours but is wrought in us by supernatural means We are made righteous by the Righteousness of Christ not that his actual obedience is reckoned as done by us which is impossible But because we are made righteous both in a proper and forensick sence by the Gospel-Covenant which is wholly owing to Gods Grace and Christ's Merits and Righteousness So that the Righteousness of Christ is our Righteousness when we speak of the foundation of the Covenant by which we are accepted but if we speak of the terms of the Covenant then we must have a righteousness of our own for the Righteousness of Christ will not serve the turn Christ's Righteousness and our own are both necessary to our Salvation the first as the foundation of the Covenant the other as the condition of it We are now arrived at that famous place Answer as by the offence of one judgement came upon all to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all to justification of life as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5.18 19. The Apostle here uses two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Righteousness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Obedience both these signifie the doing of God's Will which doing for its rectitude is called Righteousness and for its subjection Obedience neither of them do properly signifie suffering Meer suffering which is not spirited with a right and subjective mind is not Righteousness or Obedience The Apostle here speaks of Righteousness in general and Obedience in general and who may pare off ought and say it is not all Christ's Righteousness or Obedience but some especially when that some the passive I mean is less properly such than the active and what necessity or cogent reason is there for doing so The Antithesis in the Text evinces the contrary Act is here set in opposition against Act Christ's Obedience against Adam's Disobedience Now for what the Author alledges I say it is true that of Christ's being obedient Phil. 2.8 reaches down to his death but it takes in all the Obedience of his life and that of Christs doing Gods will Hebr. 10.7 extends to the Sacrifice of himself but it comprises all the righteousness of his life too It is true that the Apostle in this 5. Chapter to the Romans doth first speak of Christ's Death and Sufferings but his active and passive Obedience are so near in conjunction that the Apostle may in his discourse easily pass from the one to the other Nay as I before noted when the one is expressed in Scripture the other is implied so that the Apostle doth not indeed pass from one thing to another but only vary his Phrase The Author himself confesses That those expressions his righteousness and Obedience seem to take in the whole compass of his Obedience in doing and suffering the will of God And how doth the active and passive righteousness of Christ justify us or make us righteous Why these procured that Gospel Covenant whereby we are declared righteous and rewarded as righteous Now this Interpretation may stand good when justifying and procuring the Covenant shall be what they can never be one and the same thing Christs active and passive Obedience according to the Author procured the Covenant for all Men But surely they do not justify all Men. The whole Obedience of Christ may be confidered two wayes either as it is procurative of the Covenant and so it renders us justifiable or as is it received by Faith and so it actually justifies us But neither of these can be without a Divine imputation without that first fundamental imputation which is implied in such Scripture expressions as tell us that Christ died for us the Obedience of Christ could not have rendred us justifiable any more than it doth Devils and without that second particular imputation which is implied in such Scripture expressions as tell us That we are justified by Christs Blood that we are made righteous by Christ's Obedience the Obedience of Christ could not justify us for it justifies us not as it procures the Covenant that is done according to the Author for all Men and all Men are not justified but it justifies us as it is particularly made ours and made ours it cannot be without an Imputation According to the Author the Apostle must be interpreted thus By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all unto Justification of life that is by the righteousness of one the Covenant was procured and so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous that is by the obedience of one the Covenant was procured But this Interpretation is so harsh and strange that I suppose few will be able to receive and own it But the Author tells us That the Apostle in ver 17. acquaints us who the justified are not those who are righteous by imputed righteousness but those who by the Gospel which is the grace of God are made righteous as God is But by the grace of God vers 17. is not meant the Gospel but the rich mercy of God and by the gift of righteousness there is not meant inherent graces but the righteousness of Christ which is made over to us by a gracious imputation the very same righteousness which is called the

neither without the imputation of these we cannot be entitled to them to our Justification Now that Faith justifies not absolutely and as our Act may appear In Justification there is a judicial proceeding and we must answer to something to the Gospel only or to the Law also if to the Gospel only then Evangelical Justification is in a way frustrative and not perfective of the Law there needeth only Faith to answer the Gospel and not perfect Righteousness to answer the Law But what saith the Apostle to this Having concluded Justification to be by Faith Rom. 3.30 he immediatly adds Do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law ver 31. And how is this That Faith which answers to the Gospel receives that perfect Righteousness of Christ which answers the Law in every point Christ being the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth as we have it Rom. 10. Without this it is not at all imaginable how Faith or Justification by it should establish or complete the Law our sincere Obedience which flows from Faith can no more do it than imperfection can reach perfection Again if to the Gospel only then all the Pagans must needs be justified for they have nothing to answer unto not to the Gospel that is not reveiled to them not to the Law of Nature that is but the relicts and broken pieces of the Moral Law And if Christians who have the Moral Law in its entire perfection are not to answer to it then surely Pagans who have only some little Fragments of it need not answer thereunto and by consequence they must be recti in Curia before God But if as of necessity we must we must answer to the Law also then Faith as it is in it self and our Act cannot possibly justifie it being but a piece of the Law and that imperfect God who judgeth according to truth will not esteem those perfectly righteous who are not so indeed nor accept of a partial Righteousness for a total one If reply be made This is true when God judgeth Judicio Justitiae but not when he judges Judicio Misericordiae he in his condescending Mercy accepts of Faith in the room of total perfect Righteousness I answer this cannot possibly stand God's Mercy and Truth are never at variance his Truth will not esteem us righteous upon account of a partial imperfect righteousness and his Mercy will not condescend so far as to interfere with his Truth But when he esteems us righteous upon account of a perfect Righteousness which is not our own but Christ's then Truth and Mercy both shine forth Truth in that there is a perfect Righteousness to answer the Law and Mercy in that it is not our own but our Sureties But further If Faith be taken for a perfect Righteousness then it is lifted up into the room of Christ and his Righteousness If you say no Christ's Righteousness is the foundation of this acceptance of Faith I answer Then will it follow that Christ died not so much for Persons to justifie them as for Graces to elevate Faith above it self into the estimation of a perfect Righteousness and withal that Faith is our proper Righteousness in an immediate formal way and Christ but a remote Cause only much after the same rate as the Papists say Bona opera tincta sanguine Christi justificant Works are made the immediate Cause of Justification and Christ the remote Moreover it is to be remembred that nothing can be Instrumentum instrumentatum the Artificers Tools are not the House he makes the Hysops sprinkling of Blood in the Jewish Sacrifices was not the Blood of Christ Faith is not our Righteousness but the Medium to it Hence Phil. 3.9 we read of righteousness by faith it is not it self our Righteousness but a means to it Thus it appears that Faith in it self and as our Act justifies not therefore it justifies as it is that Evangelical Medium which receives Christ and his perfect Righteousness Thus the Reverend Hooker Faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ to Justification and Christ the only Garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled Natures hideth the imperfection of our Works preserveth us blameless in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weakness of our Faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable yea to shut us from the Kingdom of Heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter Thus our Church 2. Hom. of salvation The true understanding of this Doctrine That we are justified by Faith in Christ is not that this our own Act to believe in Christ which is within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification for that were to count our selves justified by some Act or Vertue that is in our selves And in another place This Righteousness 1. Hom. of salvation which we receive of Gods Mercy and Christs Merits embraced by Faith is accepted by God for our perfect Justification But this is past all doubt Mr. Sherlock when it is confirmed by a Metaphor or two A Ring which hath a precious Stone in it which will stanch blood may be said to stanch it but the Virtue lies in the Stone Faith is the Ring Christ the precious stone all that Faith doth is to bring home Christs Merits to the Soul and so it justifies an invention I never met with before And again In the Body are Veins that suck nourishment from the Stomach Faith is a sucking Vein that draws Virtue from Christ Is not this plain that we are saved by Christ as the Body is nourished by the Stomach That of the Ring is no new or absurd invention Answer it was many years since used by Dr. Pomeran Melch. Ad. in Vita Georg. Anhalt in these words Vt Annulus magnò estimatur amatur propter gemmam non propter aurum sic dicitur fide justificari homines propter gemmam Filium Dei hanc autem gemmam fide amplectimur With this Similitude George Prince of Anhalt was much delighted Neither need the Author have found fault with that other Similitude of a sucking Vein all spiritual nourishment is drawn from Christ and that by Faith Now to make all clear Mr. Sherlock we may give a Philosophical Account why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification Because it is an humble Grace and gives the Glory of all to Free Grace If Repentance should fetch Justification from Christ a man would be ready to say This was for my Tears strange deserving Creatures these who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears But Faith is humble it is an empty Hand and what merit can there be in that Doth the poor man's reaching out his hand merit an Alms yes just as much as a few tears merit Heaven Faith is only a golden Bucket that draws water out of the Well of Salvation But why may not