Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	free_a	grace_n	love_n	2,934	5	6.6495	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65867	The glory of Christ's light within expelling darkness being the sum of the controversie between the people called Quakers, and some of the non-conformist priests, as manifest at two publick disputes in Essex : between George Whitehead (called a Quaker) and Stephen Scandret (Presbyter) being at the latter dispute assisted with five more of his brethren, the priests, to wit, Nathaniel Barnard, Henry Havers, Henry Coleman, Nath. Ball, and Robert Billoes : wherein are several.	Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.	1669 (1669)	Wing W1930; ESTC R39125	35,191	47

and that Christ died and satisfied only for that select number according to their Principle and that Justification by Christ's Righteousness imputed is only designed for that select number the rest that they reckon God with-holdeth mercy from passeth by as having ordained them to Everlasting death and wrath he withholdeth both saving Light and Grace from them so that they cannot avoid Hell and Damnation what ever they do according to this their Principle Answ. The Consequences and effects of this Doctrine have been very sad first in rendring God the Decreer and Designer of the Destruction of the greater part of Man-kind Secondly It renders him the Author of Sin and Iniquity which is the cause of Destruction in that they here accuse him as ordaining what ever comes to pass Thirdly it renders him both partial and cruel unto his own workmanship Fourthly it makes void the free extent of God's Love and Grace to Man-kind and his sending his Son into the World as also renders the preaching of the Gospel to every Creature to be of no use nor real intent for the good of the greater part of Man-kind so that Priests of this Perswasion might stop their mouthes and people never spend their money for their preaching any more Fifthly This their narrow and partial Opinion hath been an engine for Satan to work upon to the causing many poor Souls to dispair of ever having the benefit of Saving-Grace or Light when they have believed Death and Damnation to be unalterably designed for them Sixthly It hath pufft up a few conceited Professors as Presbyterians Independants and others in secret pride and self-confidence as being more regarded of God then all others supposing themselves from Eternity to be Elected and Grace and Salvation or the benefits of Christ's Sufferings and Death only to be free for them when their states and conditions are as sinfull corrupt and bad with pride and covetousness as others and therefore against them their narrow spirit Principle and partial Opinion in this matter we do in general lay down a few plain Scriptures which with many more might be produced for the same purpose on the behalf of God and his goodness to man and how equal his wayes are and how mans own iniquity and sin being continued in without repentance is his ruin As first Genesis chap. 2. vers 16 17. and the Lord God Commanded the man saying of every tree of the Garden thou mayst eat but of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die c. where note that God was neither the Ordainer nor Author of mans Transgression which brought death and occasioned his being driven out of Paradice chap. 3. ver 23 24. but God gave man a plain Prohibition Command and Warning to the contrary so that God did not secretly design or decree touching man contrary to his own pure and equal Law given to man Gen. 4. 6 7. And the Lord said unto Cain why art thou wroth and why is thy Countenance faln if thou do well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou do not well sin lieth at thy door So that it is evident here that God did not particularly design either that Cain should do evil nor yet decree his eternal death from Eternity seeing that in well doing he might have had acceptance but his evil doing was the cause of his misery Deut. 30. 15 16 17 18 19 20. See I have set before thee this day Life and Good I call Heaven and Earth this day to witness against you that I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing therefore chuse Life c And see vers 17 18. But if thy Heart turn away I denounce unto you this day that you shall surely perish c. Where mark that Life and Death was set before them that they might chuse Life and refuse death but if God had particularly decreed them for death and destruction it had been a mockery to bid them chuse life if they could never have it and if he had absolutely elected them from Eternity for Life Eternal why should it be denounced against them that they should surely perish if their hearts turned away from the Lord were it not an impertinent vain thing to warn persons of such a danger if they were absolutely secured from being liable to any such danger Nehem. 9. 20 26. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them and with-heldest not thy Manna from their mouth nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behind their backs and slew thy Prophets c. where note that God gave his good Spirit unto them who rebelled the Persecutors of his Prophets and if such had the good Spirit given them surely none are excepted but all have so much of the true Light or Spirit of God given them as shall leave them without excuse Psal. 81. 11 12. But my people would not hearken to my voice nor Israel would none of me so I gave them up to their own hearts lust and they walked in their own counsels See here they refusing to hearken to the voice of God and their refusing him was the cause of his giving them up to their own lusts and evil counsels and not any partial secret decree concerning them Isa. 63. 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their Enemy and he fought against them Here their rebelling and vexing the holy Spirit of God was the cause of his turning to be their enemy and warring against them surely then God was their Friend before he turned to be their Enemy in that he had befriended them with his own Spirit 2 Chron. 15. 15. Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the Son of Obed and he went out to meet Asa and said unto him O Asa and all Judah and Benjamin hear ye me The Lord is with you while ye be with him if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you So that it is mens forsaking of God first for which cause he forsakes them and man forsakes the Lord before the Lord forsake him and is not this a falling from Grace to forsake the Lord. Isa. 1. 19 20. If you be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land but if you refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the sword and ver 28. The destruction of the Transgressors and of the Sinners shall be together and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed Where mark upon what terms God promised good unto them and what was the cause of destruction but rebellion and forsaking the Lord See likewise Jer. 12. 17. Ezek. 18. 20. The Soul that sinneth it shall die verse 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the Wicked should die saith the Lord God c. verse 25. Hear O House of Israel

Is not my Way equal are not your wayes unequal and see verses 26 27 28 29. Again vers 30. Repent and turn your selves from all your Trangressions so Iniquity shall not be your ruin And verse 32. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live ye and Hosea 13. 9. Oh Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help See how evidently in these passage God is cleared both in warning them and in that he willeth not nor hath pleasure in their destruction and how Iniquity is the ruin of them that continue in it and not any secret design or decree of God contrary to his own Testimony given by his holy Prophets concerning his good will for the Recovery of man out of Iniquity as also see Ezek. 33. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. what is the cause of peoples destruction and how their blood shall be upon their own heads that do not take warning and now lets a little take notice of the Testimony of Christ and his Ministers As first John 3. 16 17. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved Surely then God did not from Eternity design or decree the destruction of the greater part of the World for that had contradicted the end of sending his Son John 12. 46. I am come a Light into the World that whosoever believe on me should not abide in darkness So here it is manifest that Christ is freely given a Light to those that are in darkness that whosoever believeth on him it is not that a designed or select number of persons only should not abide in darkness but whosoever believeth c. And see the Testimony given of him John 1. 9 That was the the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World It is not said which lighteth only a select small number 2 Cor. 5 14 15. For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for ALL to be testified of in due time Hebr. 2. 9. But we see Jesus who is made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering which death crowned with glory and honour that he by the Grace of God should taste death for every man 1 John 2. And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World In all which passages observe that the free and universal Love Grace and Good-will of God in Christ is testified in the Suffering Death or Sacrifice of Christ for all that were dead for every man for the sins of the whole World it is not said that he died only for a few or for a small number Elected from Eternity but for all men and gave himself a Ransom for all for a Testimony in due time And therefore away with such Doctrines and Opinions as oppose the free extent of the Grace of God and Light of Christ which universally is given to all Man-kind and do not blame or lay the fault upon God any longer as either decreeing mans destruction or the cause of it but lay it in the right place upon the Rebellious and Transgressors who hate the Light and love Darkness rather see John 3. 19 20. Object But some object That God loved Jacob and hated Esau before they were born or had done good or evil Reply What then did he hate Esau for for any to suppose he hated him for nothing or without cause is to render God cruel and unequal in his wayes but those that thus object do both grosly mistake and misplace the words For that which was said before the Children were born was The elder shall serve the younger the mystery whereof is only known where the two Seeds or two Births are known Rom. 9. 12. and then follows as it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated but where was it written before Paul mentioned it it was not written or spoken to either Isaac or Rebekah but it was written many hundred years after concerning their Successors to wit those of Israel and Edom by the Prophet Malachi chap. 1. and those whom God hated were the same people that was called The Border of Wickedness the people against whom the Lord had Indignation for ever so that it was because of their Wickedness that the Indignation of God was against them Object Again some object That God hath Mercy on whom he will and whom he will be hardneth Hath not the Potter power over the Clay c. Reply God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might shew mercy upon all it is his universal Love and good will in the first place to tender and shew Mercy in his own Son unto all both Jews and Gentiles but it is his Justice to give them up to hardness and unbelief who reject and oppose his free Love and tenders of Mercy for what can be the reason of hardning some seeing this hardning is a Judgment upon them in time not particularly or partially design'd from Eternity as to particular persons simply for it s no reason for any to say that he will harden some because he will hearden them but because its just for him so to do they having provoked him and grieved his holy Spirit in them see Zachariah 7. 11 12. But they refuse to hearken and pull'd away the Shoulder and stopped their Ears that they should not hear yea they made their hearts as an Adamant-stone c. Therefore came a great Wrath from the Lord of Hosts And as for his having power over the works of his hands as the Potter hath over the Clay who questions that but though he made or formed man as man or as his Creature he did not make him nor ordain him to be a sinfull Rebellious man God is not his Potter or Former into Sin but the Devil which if man continue in against his Maker without repentance then his end which is destruction is determined For Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it what makest thou Wo unto him that sayeth unto his Father what begettest thou c Isa. 45. 9 10. Surely God did not make man to strive against himself nor yet to question or suppose evil against his Workmanship for he is not the Author of Sin and it is because of Iniquity that God hides his Face and consumes people who are the Clay and he the Potter Isa. 64. 7 8. Now to be sure God doth not find fault with any thing that is proper to his own Workmanship nor doth he consume any meerly as his own Workmanship but because of Iniquity see also Jer. 18. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. by which these partial opinionated Professors are absolutely confuted besides it is such as like not to retain God in their knowledge whom he gives over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1. 21 28. Wherefore we advise all who tender their own Salvation not to be byassed or prejudiced with private and corrupt opinions of men of corrupt minds nor yet to reject or dispise the Free Grace or Light of Jesus which is freely tendred and given unto all but every one wait in it and mind its appearance in your hearts that thereby your understandings may be opened that you may come to know the Election in Christ as chosen in him to be holy and without blame this Election we own and be conformed unto his Image even the Image of the Son of God and know him as the First-born among many Brethren as those that are chosen in him through the Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth to be holy and without blame before him which is a high and precious state that many are short of who conceit and pretend themselves to be Elect Persons when yet they are polluted unsanctified unregenerate unholy impure unfaithfull to God rejecting the elect Seed the elect and precious Stone therefore their Foundation is Sandy their Building shattered and the Lord our God is risen to stain their glory and the pride of all Flesh and yet more to confound all empty and Babilonish Professions that are set in opposition to his Glorious Appearance in this his day G. W. The moderate Reader is desired to Correct some Errors that have escaped the Press whether they be Words Letters or Points and not impute them to the Authors PAge 11. l. 8. read of these p. 12. l. 37. for affirmed r. answered p. 18. l. 12. for no wit r. now it p. 21. l. 11. r. as for l. 34. dele yet p. 22. l. 17. for to the dele the. p. 23. l. 33. for bare r. bear p. 26. l. 1. blot out them p. 31. l. 11. r. trees p. 34. l. 18. r. Chap. 1. p. 39. understand or add to the names subscribed viz. Witnesses that these are the Priests Contradictions p. 44. l. 4. r. passages l. 37. for which r. and. THE END Priest Note Observation Rom. 11. 32.