Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	grace_n	work_n	7,426	5	6.4759	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51837	Christs eternal existence, and the dignity of his person asserted and proved in opposition to the doctrine of the Socinians : in several sermons on Col. I, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 verses / by the Reverend Tho. Manton.	Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.	1685 (1685)	Wing M520; ESTC R33496	105,834	258

this Relation bindeth us unto As obedience and self-denial 1. Obedience to his Laws and the motions of his Spirit His Laws Luke 6.46 Why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say The motions of his Spirit Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God 2. Self-denial Christ spared not his natural body to promote the good of his mystical Body he exposed his life for our Salvation we should hazzard all for his Glory Nature teaches us to lift up the hands to save the head 4. There must be sutableness and imitation 1 Ioh. 2.6 He that abideth in him ought to walk as he walketh 5. If you be planted into his Mystical body you will make conscience of Love and Tenderness IV. Vse Let us Triumph in this Head depend on him There are two Arguments his Ability and his Sympathy 1. His Ability He can give us Life Strength Health Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man Col. 1.15 Strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness 2. His Sympathy He is touched with the feeling of our Infirmities Heb. 4.15 We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points ●empted like as we are yet without sin The Head is concerned for the Members SERMON VI. COL 1.18 Who is the beginning the first born from the dead I Come now to consider the first particular Title which is given to Christ There are two other Titles given to Christ the one respects the state of Grace the other the state of Glory And First With respect to the state of Grace he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning that is Origo mundi meli●ris the beginning of the new Creature as well as the Old for the same place and dignity which Christ hath in the order of Nature he hath in the order of Grace also Therefore he is called the beginning of the creation of God Rev. 3.14 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not taken there passively as if it were the first thing that was created but actively that he giveth a being and beginuing to all things that are created and by the Creation of God is meant the new Creation So that the Point is Doctrine That Iesus Christ is the Author and beginning of the new Creati●● I shall briefly explain this and pass to the next branch Christ is the beginning two wayes I. In a way of Order and Dignity II. In a way of Causality 1. In a way of Order As first and chief of the renewed state This is many ways set forth in Scripture Two things I shall take notice of 1. That he is the builder of the Church 2. The Lord and Governour of it 1. As Founder and Builder of the Church Matth. 16.18 Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church Christ challenges it to himself as his own peculiar prerogative to build the Church More fully the Apostle Heb. 3.3 4 5. For this man was ●●unted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he that builded the house hath more honour than the house for every house is built by some man but he that buildeth all things is God And again Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant but Christ as a Son over his own house The scope of the Apostle is to prove that Christ must have the preheminence above all others that have been imployed in and about Gods House Moses was one of the chief of that sort that had greater familiarity with God than others and intrusted by him in very great and weighty matters yet Christ was not onely equal to Moses but far above him he proveth it by a comparison taken from a Builder and an House and from a Lord of the House and a Servant in the House but Christ is the builder of the House and Moses but a part of the House Christ is the Lord and Moses but the servant therefore Christ is more excellent and worthy of greater honour One of the Nobl●st works of God is the Church of the First-born none could build frame and constitute this but the Son of God coming down in our flesh and so recovering the lost world into an holy society which might be dedicated to God For the materials of this house are men sinful and guilty neither Men nor Angels could raise them up into an holy Temple to God none but the Eternal word or the Son of God Incarnate ●e that buildeth all things is God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all these things the things treated of he doth not speak of the first creation but the second the restoring of the lapsed World to God 2. The other Honour is that Christ is Lord of the new creation as well as the founder and builder of it for the World to come is put in subjection to him not to the Angels Heb. 2.7 By the World to come is not meant the state of Glory but the state of the Church under the times of the Gospel It is made subject to God the Redeemer it is solely and immediately in his Power and under his Authority and cast into a dependance upon him II. In a way of Causality So he is the beginning either as a Moral or efficient cause 1. As a moral Meritorious cause We are renewed by Gods creating power but through the intervening Mediation of Christ Or Gods creating power is put forth with respect to his Merit The life of Grace is purchased by his death 1 Ioh. 4.9 God sent his onely begotten son into the world that we might live by him Here spiritually hereafter eternally For life is opposite to death incurred by sin We were dead legally as sentenced to death by the Law and spiritually as disabled for the service of our Creator And how by him that he speaketh of verse 10. by his being a propitiation We were in the state of death when the doors of Mercy were first opened to us under the guilt and power of sin but we live when the guilt of sin is pardoned and the power of sin broken but this life we have not without Christs being a propitiation for our sins or doing that which was necessary whereby God without impeachment of honour might shew himself placable and propitious to Mankind 2. As an efficient cause by the efficacy of his Spirit who worketh in us as Members of Christs Mystical Body Wherefore it is said 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature And Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works Whatever Grace we have cometh from God through Christ as Mediator and from him we have it by virtue of our union with him It is first applied by the converting

God who is a righteous Judge will not dispense with the offences of wicked men by which he is continually affronted and provoked though in the day of his patience he doth for a while spare yet he is ready to deal with them cominus hand to hand for he is sharpening his sword eminus at a distance for he is bending his bow The Arrow is upon the string and how soon he may let it fly we cannot tell We are never safe till we turn to him and enter into his Peace and so the obligation to punishment be dissolved 2. On our part our senseless forgetfulness will do us no good Carnal men mind not things which relate to God or the happiness of their immortal Souls but they are not happy that feel least troubles but they that have least cause A benummed Conscience cannot challenge this blessedness they put off the thoughts of that which God hath neither forgiven nor covered and so do but skin the wound till it festers and rancle into a dangerous sore our best course is to see we be justified and pardoned 2. The best of us still need it partly because though we be justified and our state be changed yet renewed sins need a new pardon We are still sinning against God either we are omiting good or committing evil what will we do if we be not forgiven renewed sins call for renewed repentance We do not need another Redeemer or another Covenant or another Conversion yet we do need renewed Pardon Partly because our final sentence of pardon is not yet passed nor shall be passed till the last Judgment Act. 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins maybe blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. We are now pardoned and justified constitutively by the tenour of the New Covenant and there by description The sincerity of our Faith and Repentance is not presently evident it is possible but difficult to know that we are sincere penitent Believers but at last when our pardon is actually pronounced by our Judges mouth sitting on the Throne then all is clear evident plain and open And partly because daily infirmities call for daily repentance We do not carry our selves with that gravity and watchfulness but that we need to cry for pardon every day SERMON II. COL 1.15 Who is the Image of the invisible God the first born of every creature THE Apostle having mentioned our Redemption doth now fall upon a Description of the Redeemer He is set forth by two things First His Internal Relation to God Secondly By his External relation to the Creature Doct. It is a great part of a Believers work to have a deep sense of the Redeemers excellency imprinted upon his Mind and heart Here I shall shew I. How it is set forth in this verse II. Why this should be much upon our minds and hearts I. How it is set forth in this Scripture 1. That he is the Image of the invisible God 2. The first-born of every Creature For the first Expression there I shall consider 1. What belongs to an Image 2. In what respects Christ is the Image of God 3. How he differeth from other persons 1. What belongeth to an Image and that all this is in Christ. In an Image there are two things impression and representation both are in Christ. There is a divine impression upon him and he doth represent God to us 1. For impression There is 1. Likeness for an Image must be like him whom it representeth An artificial Image of God or such as may be made by us is forbidden upon this account Isa. 40.18 To whom then will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him what is there among all the Creatures that can be like such an infinite and almighty essense or by what visible shape or figure would they represent or resemble God 2. Deduction and derivation The Image is taken from him whom it is intended to represent it is not some casual similitude between two men that have no reference or dependance one upon another but such as is between a father and his onely begotten Son as it is said of Adam Gen. 5.1 He begat a son in his own Image and so it is verified in Christ because of his Eternal Generation Like him because begotten of him 3. There is not a likeness in a few things but a compleat and exact likeness so Christ as the second person is called Heb. 1.3 The express image of his person There is not onely likeness but equality God cannot make a creature equal to himself nor beget a Son unequal to himself 2. Representation For an Image it serveth to make known and declare that thing whose Image it is If light produce light the light produced doth represent the light glory producing the more perfect and immediate the production is the more perfect is the resemblance a lively expression of the pattern and exemplar And this is the reason why the word invisible is added because God who in his own Nature is invisible and incomprehensible to man revealeth himself so far as is necessary to Salvation to us by Christ Visible things are known by their visible Images with more delight but not with more accuracie The Image is not necessary to know the thing but here it is otherwise we cannot know God but by Christ Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at anytime the onely begotten son which is in the bosom of the father he hath declared him God is invisible and incomprehensible by any but Jesus Christ who being his onely Son and one in essence with the Father he doth perfectly know him and reveal unto mankind all that they know of him Thus you see what belongs to an Image 2. In what respects Christ is the Image of God 1. In respect of his Eternal Generation So Christ is the express Image of his ' Person not substance but subsistence We do not say that Milk is like Milk nor one Egg like another because they are of the same substance so Christ is not said to be of the same substance but of the same subsistence He is indeed of the same substance with him whom he doth resemble but the Image is with respect to the subsistence so he resembleth the father fully and perfectly there is no perfection in the Father but the same is in the Son also he is Eternal Omnipotent Infinite in Wisdom Goodness and Power 2. As God Incarnate or manifested in our flesh so the perfections of the Godhead shine forth in the Man Christ Jesus in his Person Word and Works 1. In his person They that had a discerning eye might see something divine in Christ Iohn 1.14 We beheld his glory as the glory of the onely begotten of the Father There is the as of similitude and the as of congruity as if a mean man taketh state upon him we say he behaveth himself as a King but if

who are so unmeet for our proper end Like the wood of the vine that is good for nothing not so much as to make a pin whereon to hang any thing Ier. 20.15 Good for nothing but to be cast into the fire unless it be fruitful What are we good for if we be not serviceable to the ends for which we were created 2. The design of God was that the whole Creation should be put in subjection to the word Incarnate Not onely this lower world wherein man is concerned but the upper World also Our R●●eemer who hath bought us hath an Interest in all things that may concern us that they may be disposed of to his own glory and our good and advantage All are at the making and at the disposal of our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore it is said Heb. 2.10 For whom are all things and by whom are all things God that frameth all things ordereth all things to their proper end His works are many and some are more excellent and glorious than others and one of the chief of them is the salvation of man by Jesus Christ. Therefore all things are subordinated thereunto to the Glory of the Mediator by whom this is accomplished 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Thirdly Why the Creation of Angels is so particularly and expresly mentioned I Answer for three Reasons 1. To shew the Glory and Majesty of the Redeemer The Angels are said to excel in strength Psal. 103.20 and else-where they are called Mighty Angels This potency they have from their Creator who giveth power and strength to all his Creatures as it pleases him their strength may be conceived by that instance that one Angel in a night slew one hundred and eighty five Thousand in Senacheribs Camp Now these potent Creatures are infinitely inferiour to our Redeemer by whom and 〈◊〉 whom they were made Though they are the most excellent of all the Creatures yet they are his Subjects and Ministers at his beck and command both by the Law of their Creation as Christ is God and also by the fathers donation as he is mediator and God Incarnate 1 Pet. 3.25 He is set down on the right hand of God Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject to him And again Eph. 1.22 He hath set him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this world but in that which is to come They have a great name but Christ hath a more excellent name than they Heb. 1.5 for they are all bound to worship him ver 6. and serve him for he employeth them for the defence and comfort of the meanest of his people They are subject not onely to God but to Christ or God incarnate Look as it is the glory of Earthly Kings to command mighty and powerful subjects are not my princes altogether Kings Isa. 10.8 that so many Princes held under him as their Soveraign and served him as their Commander and when God speaks of the Assyrian he calleth him a King of Princes Hos. 8.10 Namely as he had many Kings Subject and Tributary to him so is this the Majesty of our Redeemer that he hath these powerful Creatures the mighty Angels in his Train and retinue These heavenly hosts make up a part of that Army which is commanded by the Captain of our Salvation 2. This is mentioned to obviate the Errors of that Age Both the Iews and the Gentiles had an high opinion of Spirits and Angels as Gods Ministers and Messengers For he doth not alwayes immediately administer the affairs of Mankind Now as they were right in the main as to their service so they added much of curiosity and superstition to the Doctrine of Angels and by their vain speculations infected the minds of many in the Christian Church who were but newly come out from among them insomuch that they fell to the worshipping of Angels as mediators to God As the Apostle intimateth col 2.18 Now because this was to the disparagement of Christ the Apostles did set themselves to check this curiosity of dogmatizing about Angels and the superstition or Idolatry of Angel-worship thence growing apace Now this they did by asserting the dignity of Christs Person and Office As Paul Col. 2. and the Author to the Hebrews chap. 1.2 3. Hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds who being the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his person and upholding all thing by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high It is true Christ was sent from Heaven as the Angels are and he came in a despicable way of appearance to promote our Salvation and recovery as they assumed bodies sutable to their Message yet his superiority and preheminence above the Angels is clear and manifest He was not onely equal to them but far above them Heb. 1.3 Seven things are observable in that verse 1. Christ came as the Eternal Son of God He hath spoken unto us by his Son When he cometh to the Angels he sai●h they as servants and ministring spirits For a short while he ministred in the form of a servant in the days of his Flesh they continue to be so from the beginning to the end of the World 2. He was heir of all things That is Lord of the whole creation They onely Principalities and Powers 〈◊〉 certain ends to such Persons and Places over which Christ sets them 3. He was the Creator of the World By whom also he made the worlds saith the Apostle they are noble and divine creatures indeed but the work of Christs hands 4. He is the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of his person that is the essential Image of God They onely have some strictures of the Divine Majesty 5. The upholding all things by the word of his power that is the conserving cause of all that Life and Being that is in the creature The Angels live in a continual dependance upon Christ as their Creator and without his supporting influence would be soon annihilated 6. By himself he purged our sins He was sent into the world for that great and glorious work of Mediation which none of them was worthy to undertake none able to go through withall but himself alone They are sent about the ordinary concernments of the Saints or the particular affairs of the World he is the Author of the whole work of Redemption and Salvation and they but subordinate Assistants in the particular promotion of it 7. He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high They are Spirits near the Throne of God ever in his Presence attending on