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

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47454	The counterfeit Christian, or, The danger of hypocrisy opened in two sermons : containing an exposition of that parabolical speech of our Blessed Saviour, Matth. XII, 43, 44, 45 ... / by Benjamin Keach ...	Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704.	1691 (1691)	Wing K55; ESTC R18720	49,835	62

and only by this way we must be saved if ever we come to Heaven Another Foundation can no Man lay He that believeth not shall be damned Let him be what he will Righteous or Wicked 't is a great Error to think that Christ's Merits make our Services or Performances meritorious though 〈◊〉 are accepted thereby when they flow from Faith yet not as the Spring or procuring Cause of our Justification To close with this let me add one thing further which shews the Danger these Persons are in This Errour is a capital One 't is to err in a main Fundamental of Religion and therefore Heresy a damnable Principle And hence the Apostle calls it a subverting the Souls of such who receive it And it was also from hence God gave the Jews up to Judicial Blindness i. e. because they went about to establish their own Righteousness and did not submit to the Righteousness of God According as it is written God hath given them the Spirit of Slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they should not hear That must needs be a dangerous Evil that provokes the Holy God thus to leave and give up a Person to blindness of Mind and final Impenitency for such must needs perish of necessity Therefore in the last place it follows that the state of these People is worse than it was when they were no Professors of Religion at all but were openly wicked and prophane Sinners these unclean Spirits are worse than the first And from hence let all take heed how they mix Law and Gospel together in the case of Justification If by Grace then is it no more of Works otherwise Grace is no Grace But if it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work There is no mixing of the Merits of good Works and the free Grace of God together but one of these doth exclude and destroy the Nature of the other for if Election and Justification were partly of Grace and partly of or from foreseen Works then Grace is no Grace and Works no Works For whatsoever proceedeth of Grace as one observes that cometh freely and not of Debt but whatsoever cometh by Merits or Works that cometh by Debt But now Debt and free Grace or that which is free and absolutely by Grace and that by desert are quite contrary things therefore to say Men are Called and Justified partly by Grace and partly by Works or by whatsoever is done by the Creature this were to put such things together that cannot agree for 't is to make Merit no Merit Debt no Debt Works no Works Grace no Grace and so affirm and deny one and the same thing Therefore how absurd a thing is it for Men to mix the Law and Gospel together in this sense or make that which is the Creature 's Act or Work a procuring Cause of acceptance and Justification in God's sight seeing it utterly destroys the nature of Grace and so consequently the glorious Design of God's eternal Purpose in Jesus Christ and that blessed Covenant of his confirmed by the Mediator thereof Where the Creature is wholly abased and the free Grace of God alone exalted Man is not a co-worker or co-partner with God therefore those Principles that have a natural tendency so to do ought to be abominated by all good Christians But it is objected That we are said to be justified by Faith and also that Repentance is required as a Condition of Salvation c. 1. I answer Some put Faith in the room and place of perfect Obedience to the Law and that Faith which they speak of they affirm is the sole Act of the Creature But this certainly is a grand Errour for it would make our Justification to be still by Works and so destroy the Nature of God's free Grace for that which is the Creature 's Act is all one with the Creature 's Work 't is but to change one Work of the Creature to another from an external Work of the Life to an internal Work of the Heart For as Mr. Cary well observes 'T is Christ's perfect Righteousness and Obedience only which is put into the room and place of ours to justify and save us and his Sufferings take away the Curse which our Disobedience brought upon us Faith therefore is only the instrumental Cause of our Justification 't is only as an Instrument or Way of our receiving and applying the Righteousness of Christ if it justifies as a Condition of the New Covenant as Works were required under the Old and as that act or work injoined on our part to be done by us as Antecedent to the benefit of the Promise that would make our Act or Work the formal Cause of our Justification and so render the Terms of the New-Covenant much of the same Nature with the Old Faith is not our Righteousness in it self as a Work but in relation to Christ the Object of it or as an Act of receiving and applying his Righteousness and Merits as Eating nourisheth though it be the Meat that doth it in this sense Him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness And now whereas the Apostle James speaks of Works justifying and not Faith only Jam. 2. 24. it is easy to be comprehended and the great Apostle of the Gentiles and he reconciled Paul speaks of the Cause of our Justification before God and James of the Signs of our Justification before Men or shews how our good Works justify our Faith The one speaks of the Imputation of Righteousness the other of the Declaration of our Righteousness or one speaks of the Office of Faith the other of the Quality of Faith the one speaks of the Justification of the Person the other of the Faith of that Person the one speaks of Abraham to be justified the other of Abraham already justified Moreover 2. That Faith by which we are said to be justified is as much the Free-Gift of God's Grace to us as Christ is the Free-Gift of his Grace for us and hence Faith is called the Gift of God Eph. 2. 8 9. and also a Fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. And as it is a Grace wrought in us so also such a Grace that was promised to us as part of Christ's Purchase To you it is given saith the Apostle in the behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for his sake that is it is given freely of God's meer Grace yet upon the account of Christ's Merits and Mediation Their believing in Christ was not in their own Power No Man can come to me that is believe in me except it were given unto him of my Father And all that the Father hath given to me shall come unto me that is believe on me And again No Man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him

Religion for want of a saving Work of Grace on their Hearts are in such a deplorable State what vain pride and folly possesseth that foolish and debauched Crew we have amongst us Fourthly Vain-Glory also certainly may be another Sin this Person is become guilty of The Design of God in the Gospel is to discover how vile helpless and wretched all Men naturally are in themselves and so to shew us that we have nothing to glory in but that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. But these Persons glory in their seeming Gifts Parts Learning Knowledg and external Privileges they are like those of old who cried out the Temple of the Lord or the Church of God are we Poor Sinners have nothing to glory in unless it be their Shame The Publican cries out Lord be merciful to me a Sinner But the false and self-righteous Professor like as a rich Man glories in his Riches and a strong Man glories in his Strength so he glories in his own Righteousness in his spiritual Attainments and seeming Sanctity And doubtless this is another strong Chain with which the Devil binds these deluded Creatures Self-confidence Pride and Vain-glory are all of near Kin and proceed from that horrid Ignorance I first mentioned they are all the spurious Off-spring of that cursed Parent But why should we glory in the Lord or rejoice only in Christ Why 't is because ye are in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Ye are in him by Faith by Regeneration and his Spirit dwells in you Our Righteousness is so imperfect and so filthy that it is compared to a menstruous Cloth instead of glorying in it we have cause to be ashamed of it and to loath our selves and with Paul to account it but Dung our best Actions Works and Duties we perform cannot commend us to God nor in any respect procure the least Good from his Hands forasmuch as Sin cleaveth to them and nothing but a perfect and compleat Righteousness can render the Soul justified and accepted in his sight This vain-glorious Person little considereth what horrid Pollution abides still in his Heart for which he is accursed by the Law of God and so remains till he hath real Union with Christ and is brought under a Divine Change What though he has escaped some abominable Evils and Corruptions of his Life since his vicious Habits and filthy Nature is not changed nor he sees not the Purity of the Law of God Alas he beholds it as only forbidding all outward Acts of Sin but the Spirituality of it was never opened to him for if it had he would see no cause of glorying in himself but contrariwise would soon be convinced of his Error and sad Mistake and behold himself an undone Man and cry out of the deceitful Nature turnings and windings of his own base Heart Thoughts and Affections and what a disproportion or disagreement to the perfect Rule or how far he is from that Holiness and Purity and Rectitude described in the Book of God It amazed Paul when he once came fully to understand the Law when he looked on all the parts of it not only on the grosser Sins forbidden by it but on the Rectitude the Holiness which is required therein When he saw the Law discover'd Lust to be Sin and that the least Lust of the Heart is as palpable a breach of it as Murder Theft or the outward Act of Adultery and exposed equally to the Curse of it and so to the Wrath of God Then saith he Sin revived and I died that is as to any hopes of Life and Salvation by that Righteousness which before he gloried in and made his boast of The same Apostle afterwards came to see that in him that is to say in his Flesh dwelt no good thing nay and the Holy Ghost saith All are gone out of the way all are become filthy and there is none that doth good no not one What cause is there then for this Man to glory in his Parts Knowledg and seeming Righteousness since these things for which Men value and esteem themselves above others God saith there is no good in nothing excellent but 't is contrariwise abhorred and hateful to him But O how hard a thing is it to bring this and that self-righteous Person to believe this or receive it as a Truth What says he can ye make me think I am still a vile Sinner and God doth not accept me who do so much good that pray as I do and hear Sermons and am thus much reformed O this is a worse Devil than the former and he hereby is in a worse state than at first Before he was easily brought to confess his State bad when openly prophane his gross and scandalous Sins appeared odious to him being so indeed in the Eyes of all sober and civilized People gross Wickedness seemed to him as filthy Rags or as a menstruous Cloth But to tell him his Righteousness is alike abominable filthy and hateful to God this he cannot believe but concludes 't is a glorious Cover a rich Garment a precious Ornament and so prides himself in it and makes his boast of it pretending now to so much Sanctity that like those of old he is ready in his Heart to say to others Stand by your selves come not near me for I am holier than you Thus the Pharisees of old sequestred themselves from all sorts of Men must not be so much as touched by any for so it seems by that passage when the poor Woman came to Christ and touched the Hem of his Garment they wondered that our Saviour would suffer himself to be touched by her she being a Sinner they could not endure to have any legal pollution upon them would not eat a bit of Meat until they had washed their Hands and oft washed their whole Bodies especially after they had been at a Feast for fear any pollution had fallen upon them and so also when they came from the Market lest peradventure they should have touched some Heathen or some Person who was legally unclean And now in this Righteousness they gloried trusted to it and sought hereby for Justification and Acceptance in the Sight of God which rendered their State worse than before And that which seems to feed and heighten this Pride Self-confidence and Vain-glory in some of these blind and self-deceived People is that strange Conceit and Apprehension they have of their own Power and Abilities to do and perform those things God requireth in order to their Acceptance with him together with their false Notions of God's Mercy in pardoning them wherein they come short In this very respect the Jews erred to their eternal Overthrow they thought they had Power and were able to keep the Law to such a Degree that they were accepted as righteous Persons in God's Sight by it and though they might not be puffed up

Notions of Religion though may be false and corrupt Notions but if they can but bring a Person to receive their Principles and external Ordinances then they glory tho hereby he is made twofold perhaps sevenfold more the Child of Hell than before the poor deceived Wretch thinking this change of Religion is a true Conversion and so never looks out for any other but speaking Peace to his own Soul judging all is well within They doubt not but they have Religion enough when it doth commend them to Me● and are taken for Saints by Saints their greatest Labor is to keep up their Name and Credit in Religion so that if they may pass unsuspected amongst their Fellow-Creatures or have the Approbation of Men and that if none can charge them justly with any immoral Actions they rest satisfied whereas the greatest Care of a true Child of God is so to walk and labour that he may be accepted of God and have his Approbation 7. Self is commonly in the bottom In all they do they aim not at the Glory of God but have a carnal Design Self-Advantage or Self-Applause c. This moves and quickens them and animates them in all they perform in religious Services and if they miss of their end be it what it will they soon are weary and grow cold and flat in their Spirits and become quarrelsome and seek Offences and disturb the Peace of the Church to whom they belong 8. Moreover they are not the same at Home which they are Abroad not in Private what they seem to be in Publick may be seldom pray either in their Family or Closet or if they do 't is with little Zeal Enlargedness or Affection to God There are divers other Marks and Characters of Hypocrites and of these false Professors which I must pass by because I would speak a word or two of Application In the last place The latter State of these Men is worse than the first 1. Because God oftentimes leaves them to judicial Blindness and to the hardness of their own Hearts According as it is written God hath given them the Spirit of Slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they should not hear unto this day Even thus as God dealt with the Unbelieving Jews or the People of that Generation so I say he oftentimes deals with other formal Hypocrites c. and for the very same Cause Doubtless it was for those Spiritual Sins Unbelief and Hypocrisy the Pharisees and other People of Israel were rejected and cast off And O what Wrath were they laid under the Wrath of God is said to come upon them to the uttermost Moreover some of these false and counterfeit Professors also fall into the very same Sins and horrid Abominations they were guilty of before they made any profession of Religion nay and they prove more vile and notorious in Wickedness than ever It hath often been seen that this sort of Men who forsake the Ways of God which they seemed to own and profess have at last appeared more impudent in Sin than the vilest Men being ring-leaders to all lewd and cursed Practices and Deeds of Darkness so that the same unclean Spirit returneth into some of them in the same shape also though I cannot see any ground to believe it happens so to them all for doubtless many of them retain their seeming Zeal and external Profession of Religion and outward Holiness until they die Evident it is our Saviour applies this direful Doom on the People of that Generation viz. the Jews particularly to the Scribes and Pharisees see the 38th verse Yet certain it is many of them never turned to open Prophaneness but died in their Unbelief whilst they abode proud and zealous Pharisees Yet I see no reason to question but this returning Devil and those seven other Spirits more wicked is applied to them as well as to others who fell away from their seeming Piety and Profession But of some of them especially it hath happened according to what St. Peter speaks For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and are again overcome the latter end of that Man is worse than the first that is such a knowledg of Christ as brings with it or doth produce an outward reformation of Life For as the Elect cannot be deceived so they cannot fall finally having the seed remaining in them cannot sin unto Death they are said to have eternal Life abiding in them Because saith Christ I live ye shall live also He that hath begun that good work in them will perform it to the Day of Christ They are passed from Death unto Life and shall not come into condemnation But as to these false-hearted or hypocritical Persons it happeneth to them that is to some of them according to the true Proverb The Dog is turned to his own Vomit and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire The Apostle comparing them to Dogs and Swine shews what fort they were viz. such who never passed under an effectual change of Heart but were whilst they made a great or high profession like unclean Beasts A restraint may be put on an evil Beast or on a filthy and unclean Nature where there is not a change of nature 't is one thing to have the Life washed or cleansed and another to have the Heart cleansed Furthermore Some of this sort who have received those high though common Illuminations of the Spirit even to such a degree as they are said to be inlightned and to have tasted of the Heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost c. that is in the common Gifts and Graces thereof and yet after all they fall away nay and so fall that they can never be renewed again by Repentance Therefore some of these Persons are they who sin the Sin against the Holy Ghost that shall never be forgiven Prophane Persons doubtless do not sin this Sin nor can true Christians commit it they cannot sin unto Death No no these are those miserable Souls those cursed Apostates who are liable and in danger to sin the unpardonable Sin Nay and observable it is that the Lord Jesus in the verses before he spake this Parable intimates that those very Pharisees c. were guilty of or in danger of being charged with this Sin see vers 30. they shewed so much Malice against our blessed Saviour as to charge him with a Devil and that he cast out Devils by Beelzebub But when the Pharisees heard it they said This Fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils And from hence he said All manner of Sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven to Men but the Sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And therefore he bids them to make the Tree good intimating whilst the Heart was evil and under diabolical Influences