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

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85957	The fort-royal of Christianity defended. Or, a demonstration of the divinity of scripture, by way of excellency called the Bible. With a discussion of some of the great controversies in religion, about universal redemption, free-will, original sin, &c. For the establishing of Christians in truth in these atheistical trying times. / By Thomas Gery, B.D. and Rector of Barwell in Leicestershire.	Gery, Thomas, d. 1670?	1657 (1657)	Wing G618; Thomason E1702_1; ESTC R209377	93,977	264

And Phil. 2.13 It 's God that gives to will and to work of his good pleasure Therefore the conclusion is true Argument 4. IF our good works be not every way responsible suitable to the Law of God which requires them at our hands then can they not be meritorious this is clear But they are not so Therefore they cannot merit That they are not answerable and agreeable to God's Law is most evident because they are imperfect and defective whereas the Law of God is perfect as David affirms Psalm 19.7 Now that they are imperfect and defective it 's divers times affirmed in Scripture Isa 64.6 All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not And again in the 21. verse When I would do good evill is present with me Argument 5. IF there be no analogy and proportion between eternal life and our good works then cannot our good works merit eternal life This consequence is a clear truth in reason for a reward is to be adequated and proportioned unto the work But there is no analogy and proportion between eternal life and good works for the reward of eternal life is infinite but man's good works are finite and finiti ad infinitum nulla est proportio between a finite thing and an infinite there is no proportion Therefore the Conclusion holds That eternal life cannot be merited by mens good works I will answer the main Argument for the merit of works so I will conclude concerning this Controversie It 's alledged for defence of the merit of works That the Scripture affirms that they shall be rewarded with eternal life and that very often as Matth. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you c. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Luke 14.14 When thou makest a feast call the poor c. and thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just Heb. 11.26 It 's said That Moses esteemed the rebuke of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt becaus behad respect unto the recompence of reward And oft elsewhere eternal life is called a reward which say the Adversaries imports the merit of good works because merces meritum reward and merit are relatives To this I answer That there is a double reward 1. A reward of merit or debt and 2. A reward of mercy or favour And this distinction is not devised or coyned by man's wit nor hewen out of the quarry of his brain but is framed by the holy Ghost himself Rom. 4.4 where it 's thus written Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt where he bath made an apparent distribution of reward in these two sorts 1. A reward of grace and 2. A reward of debt Now eternal life is a reward of grace mercy or favour and not a reward of debt or merit as the Texts before quoted demonstrate scil Luke 12.32 John 10 28. Rom. 6.23 In all which places it's called the gift of God and a gift proceeding from his own pleasure and therefore can be no debt that God oweth to men for their good works for a gift and debt are so dissentaneous that they cannot consist together nor be predicated of one and the same subject And hence it is that though God hath oft promised to reward such as do good works with everlasting life that he may provoke all men unto them yet it is nowhere said that they shall be rewarded for them for that might have been interpreted to have intimated and imported some merit in them but the Scripture in mentioning God's reward of good works useth this phrase That they shall be rewarded according to their works which intimates the reward to be given of God's mercy and not to be obtained by man's merits Thus it 's expressed Psalm 62.12 Vnto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his works Matth. 16.27 The Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the tribunal seat of Christ that every man may receive according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Rev. 20.12 13. verses It 's twice said of the dead that they were judged according to their works and in Chapter the 22 and verse the 12. Beheld saith Christ I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be This is the constant expression of Scripture in speaking of the reward of good works to phrase it according to works and no where for them lest men should presume to ascribe some merit unto them And this makes it evident that the Popish distinction of the merit of condignity and the merit of congruity is but a meer gingle and shift to evade the force of the former Arguments against the merit of good works for the merit of congruity which they attribute to good works proceeds from mercy as they confesse themselves and therefore cannot properly be called merit for mercy and merit are contradistinct and inconsistent it 's the very affirmation of Scripture Rom. 11.6 If by grace then it 's no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work Here the Apostle makes a flat opposition between grace and works and there is the very same opposition between mercy and merit which hath forced that confession from Bellarmine which hath oft dropped from his pen in his book of Controversies Merita nostra sunt Dei munera The like was S. Bernard his confession to Almighty God Meritum meum est misericordia tua my merit is thy mercy Both which are agreeable to the sentence of S. Augustine in his Book of Homiles in Homil. the 14 Quum bona ●pera nostra remunerat Deus non merita nostra sed sua dona coronat When God rewardeth our good works he crowns his own gifts and not our merits From this premised discourse I deduct this corolary or capitulation of the causes of salvation as they are in order manifested in Scripture First God's free grace and love is the primary and principal efficient cause of election unto salvation This is justified by these Texts beside many other Rom. 11.5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace Ephes 1.5 Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will And again in the 11. verse following of the same Chapter In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will Secondly Christ's obedience

it It will be expedient for me to premise certain Theological conclusions or principles which all Orthodox Divines unanimously and univocally have acknowledged to be undoubted Truths as Praecognita and Canons to have recourse unto for the decision and determination of any Controversie as need shall require which if they deny to assent unto they are not to be disputed with as the proverb speaks Contra negantem principia non est disputandum There 's no disputation to be held with him that will deny the principles of Art The Principles I think fit to premise are these four 1. That the Canonical Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is authentical and creditable of it self 2. That there is no contradictions in the Canonical Scripture 3. That the same makes and so by consequence alloweth to be made distinction between things that sometime in Scripture have the same denomination This appears by many instances in Scripture whereof I will name these three Fear Faith and Sorrow First About Fear the Scripture mentioneth a fear which is gracious and godly which the learned have termed Filial and a Fear which is gracelesse which the learned have termed Servile of this we have an example in 2 Kings 17.33 34. where it 's said of the Babylonians in the former verse that they feared God and then in the latter verse that they feared him not Whence it 's evident that a distinction must be made of the fear of God whereof some is a Gracious Fear and some a Gracelesse otherwise there would be a contradiction between the two verses which Scripture admits not Secondly About Faith The Scripture doth distinguish it into these two sorts namely a Faith that hath Works and a Faith that is without works which it also calleth a dead faith James 2.17 Faith if it have no Works is dead being alone Thirdly About Sorrow The Scripture speaks of a godly sorrow for sin and a worldly sorrow in 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh Repentance to salvation but the sorrow of the World worketh death Hereby it 's clear that a distinction is sometimes to be made betwixt things that have the same denomination The fourth Principle which I shall premise is this That seeming contradictions in Scripture are so to be expounded by help of other Texts either speaking of the same point or otherwise that they may symphonize and accord together Which help the Scripture affords in one place or other If our Adversaries will yield to be tryed about the forementioned Controversies by these old Canons which have been universally received for undoubted truths by all Christian Churches in primitive times when the waters ran clearest from under the Threshold of the Sanctuary I shall adventure to bear the disgrace if I do not convince them of error about each Controversie that I have before named The first Controversie handled About Election THeir first Error that I shall undertake to confute is their assertion That God's election of men unto salvation is grounded upon his foresight of their Faith and Obedience or sanctification and Good Works That is that he electeth such and such men to life and salvation because he foreseeth that they will believe and walk in obedience to his Commandements This Assertion I shall prove to be an error by these four Arguments The first Argument If men shall therefore believe because they are elected and ordained to eternal life then they are not elected and ordained to eternal life because they will believe This consequence cannot be denied by any intelligent man But men shall therefore believe because they are elected and ordained to eternal life and therefore are not elected and ordained to it because they will believe The Assumption I prove out of Acts 13.48 where it 's said That as many as were ordained to eternall life believed Here Faith is made the fruit and effect of election to eternal life and therefore cannot be the cause of it for nothing can be the cause and effect too of one and the same thing My second Argument is this If men be elected or chosen that they may be holy then their election must needs be the ground and cause of their holinesse and sanctification But men are elected that they may be holy so saith the Scripture Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Therefore Election is the ground and cause of holinesse or sanctification and not holinesse the ground and cause of election The third Argument If the good pleasure of God's will be the ground and first cause of mens election and predestination to salvation then God's fore-sight of their Sanctification and Good Works cannot be the first cause and ground thereof This consequence is undeniable But the good pleasure of God's will is the first cause and ground of mens election and predestination to salvation Therefore God's fore-sight of their sanctification and Good Works cannot be the first cause and ground thereof The A sumption I prove from these two Texts of Scripture passing by many other to the same purpose Rom. 9.11 S. Paul there affirms That the purpose of God according to Election stands not of Works but of him that calleth Where works are denied and Gods will affirmed to be the cause of election And Ephes 1.5 and again verse 11. the good pleasure of God's will is made the ground and cause of mens election to salvation The words in the fift verse are these Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will And the words in the 11. verse are these In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the councel of his own will If the Adversaries answer that Election may be according to the good pleasure of God's will and yet the good pleasure of his will may not be the cause of Election To this I reply That the Apostle makes it plain in the 11. verse that he speaks of the good pleasure of God's will as the cause of Election by the addition of these last words in the verse Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will For if he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will then Election is necessarily one of those things which he worketh after the councel of his own will and therefore the counsell of his own will must needs be the cause thereof The fourth Argument is this If Good Works be no causes of salvation then neither of election unto salvation this is plain because Election is the cause of Salvation But Good Works are no causes of salvation and therefore no causes of Election The minor Proposition or Assumption is proved by Ephes 2.8 9 verses where the Apostle saith By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the

active and passive is the meritorious cause of salvation and of all the means conducting thereunto So Colos 1.14 We have redemption through his bloud even the forgiveness of sins And 1 John 1.7 The bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin And 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Knowing that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot with many such like Texts Thirdly Faith is the instrumental cause that is to say the instrument whereby we receive Christ and apply his merits to us so John 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name And Ephes 3.17 The Apostle saith that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith And hence it is our righteousnesse is called both the righteousness of faith Rom. 10.6 And the righteousnesse which is by faith Heb. 11.7 And the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 Fourthly and lastly Vocation and Justification and Sanctification and good works and eternal life and salvation are the joynt fruits and effects of the aforenamed causes successively following one another Vocacion Justification and Sanctification and good works are the first fruits and effects of the foresaid causes brought forth here in this life as numerous Texts of Scripture testifie which I need not recite because they are familiarly known and because I have mentioned divers of them formerly And Eternal Life and Salvation is the last fruit the consummation and ultimate end of all as it 's very often taught and testified Rom. 6.22 Being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto heliness and the end everlasting life And 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls These are the links of the golden chain of salvation and the order of the causes thereof as they are annexed and held forth to us in the word of God And in Rom. 8.30 they are summed up together though in fewer words Whom he did predestinate saith the Apostle them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified And hence is Mr. Haggar's grosse error in his concatenation of the causes of salvation detected and confuted In that he makes sanctification and good works causes of salvation which are but fruits and effects of God's election and the merits of Christ apprehended by faith for they go before salvation only as necessary antecedents and as the appointed way to lead us to salvation and as preparatives for Heaven as hath been already declared but not as causes thereof 1. They are Via regn● but not causa regnandi So that as the way to any place is not the cause that brings any man to it though he must needs passe through the way to come to that place but the cause of his coming to it is his own will and motion So sanctification and good works though they be necessary antecedents to salvation so that we cannot passe to Heaven but through them yet they are not the causes which brings us thither but the causes thereof are the mercies of God and the merits of Christ apprehended by Faith And so I end this Controversie If now I have not untied the Gordian knots of these long debated Controversies so fully and openly as to give satisfaction to all whose thoughts have been formerly puzzled about them as I believe I shall not yet my labour will not be wholly lost in these regards First Because I have hereby declared my willingnesse to do the Church service to my power by putting my hand to the supportation of the truth of the gospel which these stormy times have so impetuously and vehemently shaken Secondly Because what I have delivered may happily give satisfaction to some and let them loose out of the briers of their hesitation that were doubtful before what opinion to incline to Thirdly Because this Essay may happily be an occasion to invite and induce some more Logical and Learned pen to publish a more Scholastick and plenary solution of them The fifth Controversie About Original sin THat I may the more fully discover and confute this error I will unfold these four points about the sin of our natures the sin wherein we are conceived and born which therefore all Orthodox Divines have fitly and properly called Original Sin First I will render a reason of the epithete why it is called Original Sin Secondly I will give a definition of the Sin what is Thirdly I will alledge some of the evident proofs of Scripture for the justification of it Fourthly I will frame some irrefragable and convincing arguments drawn out of Scripture to prove it by necessary and undeniable consequence The first Point opened THe sinful corruption or corrupt disposition of man's nature from the womb hath many epithetes or names given unto it in Scripture which denote and declare that it hath its original and beginning with man's conception and birth and therefore is fitly and properly termed Original Sin and so ever hath been for above this thousand years by all sound and learned Divines both ancient and modern For though it be not in terminis in these very words so called in Scripture yet hath it divers other epithetes and names there given it which are consignificant and import and imply the same sense and meaning with these words Original Sin amongst which take notice of these Rom. 6.6 It 's called The old man and the body of sin 1 Cor. 5.7 It 's termed The old leaven Rom. 7.17 The sin that dwelleth in us Rom. 7.23 The law in our members Rom. 7.24 The body of death Gal. 5.16 The lusts of the flesh Jam. 1.14 A man 's own lust In which Text in the next words following it is punctually distinguished from all actual sins as being expresly affirmed to be the procreant cause of all actual sin for the cause and the effects cannot be one and the same The second Point opened what original sin is ORiginal sin is a pravity vitiosity or vitious habit or corrupt disposition of man's nature from his first conception as a just punishment of all mens sin in Adam whereby they are born the children of wrath and become subject to death both of body and soul and also become prone to commit all actual sins Or thus Original sin is a pravity of man's nature from his first conception whereby he seems to be prone to all sin as a just punishment of Adam's sin or transgression whereof all men are guilty and for which all men are exposed and subjected to death both corporal and eternal Both these definitions have one and the same sense And from them ye may observe that there be three things in Original Sin or three parts of it The first