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	righteousness_n	6,175	5	8.2431	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12703	The high vvay to Heaven by the cleare light of the Gospell cleansed of a number of most dangerous stumbling stones thereinto throwen by Bellarmine and others In a treatise made vpon the 37. 38. and 39. verses of the 7. of Iohn: wherein is so handled the most sweete and comfortable doctrine of the true vnion and communication of Christ and his Church, and the contrarie is so confuted, as that not onely thereby also summarilie and briefly, and yet plainly all men may learne rightly to receiue the sacrament of Christs blessed bodie and blood, but also how to beleeue and to liue to saluation. And therefore entitled The highway to Heauen. By Thomas Sparke Doctor of Diuinitie.	Sparke, Thomas, 1548-1616.	1597 (1597)	STC 23021; ESTC S102434	161,682	384

his inner man he consenteth vnto the lawe that it is holie and good yet he doth sometimes the euill that he hateth and findeth no meanes as he shoulde to performe that which is good Vers 14. c. And by workes done after grace flowing as they say from our owne freewill in great part if iustification should come at all how then could we be excluded from all reioyeing in that respect in our selues how coulde our iustification come freely and of sauour and not at all of debt as Paule teacheth it must how could it be but in some sorte we shoulde be heires by the lawe and not onely by faith and the vertue of the promise neyther of which can be sure and certaine if they rested vpon the condition of the workes that we at any time can doe which we can neuer be sure that we haue attained vnto eyther in that measure or manner as they themselues are driuen to confesse as is required of vs. Yea if thereby at all our iustification coulde come why then was not the promise made vnto vs in the plurall number in seedes and not in seede to warrant vs as especially to looke for the benefitte thereof by the merites of the seede of the woman of Abraham Isaac and Iacob so partly and secondarily at least by our selues and our owne merits or workes ioyned with his But to ende this point what can be more cleare to put vs out of all doubt that Paule shuts not from this office of iustifying onely workes of the lawe done before grace but also the best workes done in grace then that he himselfe in the third of the Philippians as we heard before in this respect doth not onely in the time past disable his own good workes done according to the lawe before his conuersion vnreproueable but also in the verie present time when he wrote that Epistle which was not long before his death his workes or righteousness which he then had as dung that so he might be iustified by another righteousnesse to be founde and attained vnto by faith in Christ In that also 1. Cor. 4.4 First he confesseth that he knew nothing by himselfe speaking then of himselfe as he was in the state of grace and then by and by he addeth that he was not thereby iustified he plainely shewed that though he had liued so in the execution of his Apostleship that his conscience accused him not of transgression therein any way within the compasse whereof laye moste of the workes that he had done in grace yet he thought not thereby to be iustified at all Wherefore from whom soeuer these our aduersaries haue sucked or learned this glose or interpretation of Paules wordes euidentlie heereby it appeareth that it is a cursed glose for that it so directly corrupteth the text and therefore vpon whom soeuer they would father it to put the enuie and shame thereof from themselues both of them must giue vs leaue rather to forsake them heerein then the plaine euidence of the scriptures themselues which I am fullie perswaded though they hardlie or neuer will be brought vnto they ha●●e so vowed themselues obstinately to resist the trueth that yet the ancient writers in whose writinges sometimes they finde something that soundeth too much this way if eyther they were in these times or when they liued had heard but halfe so much as they haue to the contrarie they would most readily and willingly haue retracted and recanted the same For so we finde they were willing to doe when eyther by their owne further reading or learning or by the information of others they had cause giuen them to see wherein for lacke of further aduise they haue erred and neuer did any of these by farre thus interpret Paules wordes to aduance mans merits and to darken and obscure the glorie of Christ as they doe yea if they coulde haue but foreseene that euer after any woulde haue come after them thus to abuse their wordes to driue men from seeking at all to be iustified by the imputation of Christes righteousnesse to the beleeuer in him that then they might trust to their owne righteousnesse inherent in themselues inhabit as to the formall cause of their iustification and in worke wrought as to the meritorious cause of another iustification euen of saluation it selfe I dare be bolde to say they woulde neuer by any meanes haue beene drawen to haue left one sillable behinde them in their writinges sounding that way And this sufficientlie may appeare to any that hath but red their workes therein they are elsewhere so plaine full and pregnant to aduouch iustification freely by faith in Christ through the imputation of his merits and righteousnesse vnto men as in sundrie places of an answere of mine in printe to Iohn de Albïne I haue at large shewed whereunto I therefore nowe referre the Christian Reader And whereas by grace whereby Pauls faith we are iustified they woulde beare men in hand that there by grace is not to be vnderstood the free sauour of God towardes man in Christ Iesus but that speciall gift of that grace the habit of charitie infused or powred into them that beleeue all the reasons and places vsed to confute the former shift of theirs serue also as pregnantly to ouerthrow this And hereof also as of the other their onely ground is sophistrie taking aduantage by the diuerse acceptions and significations of the worde grace here to teach men to vnderstand thereby an effect of grace whereas in deede the verie fountaine it selfe of all these effectes which is the free fauour of God towardes man in Christ is meant in deede To discerne their iugling and treacherie herein let a man but in steede of grace vsed by the Apostle in this argument in these fewe places following place but the habitte of charitie and then againe weye what a violence thereby is offered both to his woordes and sense We are iustified freely by his grace that is by his infused habit of charitie through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus Rom. 3.24 By grace are you saued through faith that is by the habite of charitie infused through saith and not of your selues it is the gift of God not of workes least any man should bost him selfe Eph. 2.8.9 to the praise of the glorie of his grace wherewith he made vs accepted in his beloued that is to the praise of the glorie of his infused habitte of charitie c. who seeth not both the absurdnes and ridiculousnesse of this interplation of grace and withall perceiueth not indeed nothing else in these places can be vnderstood by grace but the free fauour of God had towards his elect in Christ Iesus before the foundations of the worlde were laid Which grace as it was grounded before all times onely vpon the person and office of the sonne of God our fauiour so to shewe vs that in the reuealing of the same vnto vs and communicating the same vnto his he respects not any

possest there also the possessour may be assured that with him he possesseth all those things also And yet these men no not their Bellarmine can abide any of these but it shall be inough with them him also to beleeue there is remission of sins accompanying baptisme to be had by him in him in the Church that there is such a mercy of God that is able to saue and that the righteousnesse of Christ may be as he is our head ours in such a sort that it may be the efficient cause of an inherent righteousnes in our selves able to earne heauen by but particularlie especially for vs to beleeue that we shall without all doubt haue all our sinnes forgiuen vs that we are sure of this mercie and haue this righteousnesse of his imputed vnto vs as our owne whereby we shall and may be righteous before God at no hand they can abide As though he that sticketh not to giue vs his sonne God and man to be our verie owne so that we are his and he ours would not or could not together with him giue vs these things also Yea how can he withold them giuing vs his sonne seeing these and he goe alway togither But to proceede This vniō is not carnall but spirituall this vnion of ours and cōmunion with Christ though it must be certain reall true in refpect of the things to be vnited yet in regard of the manner of vniting them we must not imagine it to be any grosse or earthly commixtion or cōiunction with him such as is with vs the mingling or ioyning togither of any creatures that in themselues are diuerse but that it is altogither in respect of the manner spirituall and supernaturall and yet neuerthelesse true and certaine though it be both vnsearchable and vnutterable For let a man fearch all the scriptures thorow and an other communion and fellowship with Christ whereupon saluation commeth then that which is spirituall he shall nether finde eyther promised expected or performed In deede it was both promised and thereupon expected and performed that Godhead and manhood shoulde be vnited togither in one person that so man who by sinne had lost his vnion communion and fellowship with God might recouer the same againe in and by that person and by that which he should accomplish in those two natures for him But as the personall vnion of these two natures in one Christ as by our Catholicke faith we are perswaded is reall certaine and sure so we finde it yet by humaine sense and reason incomprehensible and yet by the power of the eternall spirite by the same faith we are taught vndoubtedly to beleeue it was so verily effected for our euerlasting good A communicating of the merits of this Christ God and man vnto those that belezue in him by imputation there is we knowe For the righteousnes of God is on all and vpon all that beleene in him Rom. 3.22 which is a righteousnes that such attaine vnto by faith in him not made manifest by the lawe as the inherent righteousnesse of our owne merits if there were any such as men knowe is as both in that verse and that which goeth before is shewed But without the inhabitation of the spirit of God proceeding both from the Father and the Sonne the worke whereof faith is Iohn 6.29 Gal. 5.22 we cannot attaine heereunto Howbeit heere we talke not eyther of the vnion of the two natures in the person of one Christ nor yet of his communicating of his merits vnto vs by imputation nor of his dwelling in vs by his spirit but of his owne vniting and communicating of himselfe both God and man vnto vs. For consisting of those two natures heere in my text he biddeth vs to come vnto him and as I haue shewed to drinke of him which if once we duelie performe then we withal euen thereby are sure of all the benefits necessary to our saluation that by any of these we may looke for Now Paule when he spoke most plainely of this saying We are members of his body of his flesh of his bones Ephes 5.30 to assure vs that it is reall and essentiall yea and most certaine in respect of the thinges to be vnited Christ his members yet within two verses after he confesseth and saith that it is a great mystery that he speaketh of thereby also shewing that in respect of the manner of vniting of them it is supernaturall and vnsearchable by humaine sen̄se and reason howbeit this is our comfort that though we cannot conceiue it whiles we are heere and our knowledge is vnperfect that yet Christ our sauiour to our vnspeakeable consolation hath tolde vs that the day shall come when his shall knowe By the spirit it is obtained That he is to the father they in him and he in them Io. 14.20 In the meane time thus much it hath pleased him to reueale vnto vs by the worde that it is the holie Ghost the vertie spirit of God without which this cannot be and by the means whereof this vnion and communion is made betwixt Christ and vs. For it is written as vttered by Christ himselfe Io. 3.5 Except a man be borne againe of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God And Paule most plainelie saieth Rom. 8.9 If any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And likewise Saint Iohn 1. Epist cap. 4. vers 13. writeth that by this we knowe that Christ is in vs by his spirit that he hath giuen vs. Paule also to this purpose verie notablie saith by one spirite we are all baptized into one bodie and haue beene all made to drinke into one spirite 1. Cor. 12.13 And therefore vpon verie good ground hath the ancient father Irenaeus who liued in the next age to the Apostles in his third booke and 19. chapter against the heresies of the Valentinians and others written most sweetely and profoundlie Sicut de arido tritico massa vna fierinon potest neque vnus panis ita nec nos multi vnum fieri in Christo Iesu poteramus sine aqua qnae de coelo est sicut arida terra si non percipiat humorem non fruclificat sic nos lignum aridum existentes primùm nunquam fructificaremus vitam sine superna voluntaria pluuia that is As of drie wheate neyther one lumpe of dowe nor one loafe can be made so neyther we beeing many could euer haue beene made one in Christ Iesu without water from heauen and as the drie earth fructifieth not without moysture so we being first but dry wood could neuer haue had our fruit to be eternall life without voluntarie raine from aboue Which in the same place he interpreteth to be the spirit of God which God bestoweth vpon his Which Chrisosiom in his Homilie at Pentecost of the holy spirit calleth the coupling or band of the vnion betwixt Christ and his Further to

that the same scriptures put a manifest difference betwixt this righteousnesse of the law that lies in doing and that which we haue to make vs righteous by by saith in Christ Iesus Rom. 10.5 c. and Gal. 3.12 And yet euen their great Doctor Bellarmine neither is nor will be ashamed of any of this their doctrine of faith and in this last point though he be enforced to graunt that we are first iustified freely without workes in Christ Iesus and that heauen also is Gods childrens by adoption and inheritance yet the formall cause of our iustification must be with him the infused habite of charitie and good workes after done must make vs to haue a second right vnto the kingdome of heauen and so to further degrees of glory there by the way of wages and iust debt Though for all this when he hath done his best for the maintenance of this second title and right thereunto he dare not teach any with any special assurance confidence that cannot deceiue them to trust thereunto Nay these things thus being most certainly held and taught by thē touching the nature of faith quite contrary to the scriptures I can neuer maruaile that by their faith there is bred no certainner hope or confidence in them of Gods mercie or of the forgiuenesse of their sinnes or of anie thing else that appertaines to saluation then as when they are at the best may finally deceiue them and in the meane time with much feare and doubting of their estate trouble them yea I rather wonder that in the iust iudgement of God they are not in continuall horrour and terrour of conscience and as it were compassed about euery houre with the verie tormentes of hell for that they will not be brought to seeke to come to the father onely by him but by whom as he himselfe hath taught vs none can euer come vnto him Io. 14.6 For whiles thus they pleade and stand vpon a wrong title and would also beare men in hand that a speciall ende and vse of Christes comming was not to procure them sufficient title and right to the kingdome of heauen in and by himselfe and thinges done and suffered by and in his owne person but to inable them by these meanes to make themselues to haue a second a better further title thereunto they are most worthy to loose al the comfort that they might haue if they would stand to the right and onely good title by and for Iesus Christes sake alone And doubtlesse as I haue shewed before if they repent not they will one day all the packe of them finde though too late that Paule hath pronounced sentence of them in the like case of the Galathians Cap. 5.4 saying Yee are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the lawe yee are falne from grace God of his mercie therefore if it be his holy will open their eies in time that they may repent of all these their most dangerous errours and come with vs once to be content to beleeue in Christ Iesus as the Scriptures indeede teach vs. In the meane time let this that I haue said be a sufficient warning to vs as the adopted sonnes of God thorow faith in Christ Ioh. 1.12 to looke for heauen as an inheritance prepared for vs by our heauenly father before the foundations of the world were made Matt. 25.34 and now reserued for vs which are kept by the power of God thorow faith vnto saluation Pet. 1.4 5. that so heauen may be to vs as it is said to be indeed the free gift of God Rom. 6.23 through Iesus Christ our Lord. And let vs let thes hireling and mercenarie minded men alone that disdaine to haue heauen of Gods free almes and therefore will haue it eyther by their owne earninge and deseruing of it or else they will goe without it which they are most like to doe bicause they will haue it otherwise then God himselfe the owner therof hath couenanted and appointed that euer anie shall come by it I know they haue their colours and sophistical deuises to giue yet such a glosse and faire shewe to this their dealing as though for all this all were very well of their sides but all they can gaine therby is this that so much the more they proue their religion to be aptlie and worthily tearmed by the Apostle the mistrie of iniquitie 2. Thess 2.7 and that the proud and pompeous whore of Babylon shoulde haue that worde Mysterie set for her very brand and marke in her forehead and that she should yet carie al her abhominations and fornications wherewith she shoulde make the inhabitantes of the world drunken in a golden cup the sooner to entise them to drinke deepely thereof For indeede and trueth as I haue shewed before and elsewhere they can stand them in no better steede eyther before God or before any that are wise than Adam and Eues fig leaues did them to hide their nakednes from the eies of God For how can they be so sillie and simple as to imagine indeede that in this great light any can wil be so foolish as hearing what they doe so plainelie and plentifully set downe euerie where in the doctrine of the gospell that Christ went thorow effectually in his owne person with the worke of our redemption and saluation as once to be drawne by their sophisticall perswasions that yet what he hath done serueth especially but to merit that chantie first should be bestowed vpon vs and then that thereunto to our good workes proceeding therefrom should be conuaied from his merits a dignitie and power first formally to iustifie vs by the one which we could not bee by the application of him and his merites vnto vs thorow faith and then after to earne and merite more surelie for vs by the other the kingdom of heauen then he had done For they may prate and brag that whiles they thus say and teach they attribute more to the merits of Christ than we doe that both for our iustification and saluation trust onelie thereunto but euerie man for all that vnder these fayre wordes may plainely see that in verie deede they heereby most grosselie woulde make him as I saide before the verie principall in the robbing of himselfe of that speciall honor that is his to be a full and a perfect Sauiour in and by himselfe This faith is wrought by the spirite But inoug his said of this point Howbeit this further touching this faith whereby we eate and drinke Christ and make him our owne welbeloued I would haue you to vnderstand that it is not to be attained vnto by any power or strength of flesh and blood but it is the speciall worke and fruite of the Spirit of God For immediately after Iohn had tolde vs that they that beleeue in Christ at they that receiue him whereby they are made the sonnes of God he saith that such are borne not of bloode nor of the