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	justification_n	justify_v	3,020	5	8.4033	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79465	Anti-Socinianism, or, A brief explication of some places of holy Scripture, for the confutation of certain gross errours, and Socinian heresies, lately published by William Pynchion, Gent. in a dialogue of his, called, The meritorious price of our redemption, concerning 1. Christ's suffering the wrath of God due to the elect. 2. God's imputation of sin to Christ. 3. The nature of the true mediatorial obedience of Christ. 4. The justification of a sinner. Also a brief description of the lives, and a true relation of the death, of the authors, promoters, propagators, and chief disseminators of this Socinian heresie, how it sprung up, by what means it spread, and when and by whom it was first brought into England, that so we be not deceived by it. / By N. Chewney, M.A. and minister of God's Word.	Chewney, Nicholas, 1609 or 10-1685.	1656 (1656)	Wing C3804; Thomason E888_1; ESTC R207357	149,812	257

by Christ is imputed to us also But the former is true And therefore the latter Seventhly from another place in the same Epistle p Rom. 10.4 before we passe away from it in which the Apostle telleth us that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth From whence the argument may be thus framed If Christ be the end of the Law and the complement thereof for righteousness unto all that believe in him we ought assuredly to perswade our selves that the fulfilling of the Law performed by Christ is our righteousness by which we are justified before God But the Antecedent is true And therefore the consequent Eightly from the words of St. Paul q 1 Cor. 1.30 who saith he meaning as is before expressed Christ Jesus of God is made to us wisdome righteousness c. Whence we argue If Christ be made of God righteousness to us then is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us because he was so made righteousness as that we might be made in him the righteousness which is by faith through him as the Prophet Jeremiah r Ier. 23.6 the Lord our Righteousness But the former is true Therefore so must be the latter Ninethly from another place in the other Epistle to the Corinthians ſ 2 Cor. 5.21 He that is God made him namely Christ to be sin for us who himself knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him who otherwise of our selves knew not what righteousness was Here then as Christ was made sin for us wh●ch knew no sin So are we made the righteousness of God who knew not what righteousness meant in respect of any thing in us But Christ was made sin for us our sins by Divine Justice and his own submission thereunto being imputed to him and he suffering death for the s●me Therefore vve are also made yet without any work of ours ●n Chr●st the righteousness of God Christs righteousness being imputed to us Tenthly and lastly from another place of St. Paul to the Galatians t Gal. 4.4 when the fulness of time was come God sent his Son made of a Woman made under the Law c. Whence we conclude that if Christ were subject to the Law that he might redeem us from the Law verily the fulfilling of the Lawby Christ performed for us is truly imputed to us for our justification and salvation But Christ was subject to the Law for no other cause * Finis enim ostenditur ab Apostolo quod videlicet non sibi ipsi sed nobis talis est factus Tossanus in Gal. 4. pag. 212. but that he might redeem us from under the power and curse thereof Therefore the fulfilling of the Law performed by Christ for us is truly and really imputed to us for our justification and eternal salvation Thus we have proved the common Doctrine of imputation as the Dialogue scoffingly terms it that we m●ght if God see good to give a blessing to these poor yet well intended endeavours make it more common And herein we appeable to the judicious and understanding Reader whether he find the least shadow or appearance of that absurd●ty in it which he imputeth to it I hope then none will believe that lies are true We have now done with the Efficient Material and Formal cause of a sinners justification before God We come now to the last namely the F●nal cause which we conceive to be two-fold Supreme ex parte justificantis in respect of the person justifying Subordinate ex parte justificati in respect of the person justified The Supreme is the mani●estation of the glory both of the mercy of God and also of his justice which as they do concurre in all the works of God if we will g●ve any credit to the P●almist u Psal 145.17 as well we may who there saith The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works and espec●ally in the work of redemption and justification For therein God doth so exceedingly mani●est yea magnifie the glorious attribute of his mercy that rather th●n he would suffer such wretches as we had made our selves utterly to perish in our sins he sent his own only begotten Son out of h●s bosome that we might as the blessed Apostle St. Paul excellently sets ●t forth w Rom. 3.24 be freely justified by his grace though the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and mark the end to the praise of the glory of his grace Wherein as the same Apostle in another place expresseth it x Eph. 1.6 He hath made us accepted in his beloved His Justice also is made man●fest to the wonder and amazement of all the World For rather then he would suffer the sins and transgressions of his own Elect Children to go unpunished and so his Justice be unsatisfied he punished them in the person of his own Son exacting from him a full entire and perfect satisfaction for them having set him forth as St. Paul testifies y Rom. 3.25 26. for this very purpose to be a Propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus The Subordinate end of just●fication is our eternal salvation this is indeed the end both of our justification and sanctification For being made free from sin z Rom. 6.22 and become servants of God we have saith the Apostle in the person of the Elect our fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life So St. Peter a 1 Pet. 1.9 the very end of our faith by which instrumentally we are justified is the salvation of our souls These are the causes We come now according to our promise to the fruits or effects of this excellent Doctrine of a sinners justification before God which we take to be these Remission of sins * Remissio peccatorum fit per justitiam imputatam perfectam Pareus castique Bell. de justif Reconciliation with God An effectual vocation An actual adoption Peace of conscience Joy in the Holy Ghost and other such like gifts of the Spirit which it worketh in the hearts of those that are just●fied We shal not have to do with al these they are somewhat too many and too far off from our purpose in hand the two first only fall within the compasse of our present intendment and first of Remission of sins Remission of sins we conceive to be the free absolution of the person offending both from the guilt and punishment which by an irregular conversation he hath contracted and deserved If it were not in some measure free it could not properly be called remission or condonation If it were from the guilt of sin only and not from the punishment also it were foolish and ridiculous for we may as well and truly affirm that a man is discharged of a debt without be●ng freed or acquitted from the payment of the same

as to say a m●n ●s fre●d from the one and yet not discharged o● the other Some of the Socinian tribe do plead hard to have remission of sins the formal cause of a sinners justification but non benè convenit it fadges ill in their hands For dissolution of sins guilt by Chr●sts bloud before imputation is an uncouth dissolution it is a dissolution before application that which putteth the effect before the cause * Causalitate imputatio praecedit remissionem necessario prae-requiritur Polan in Daniel pa. 324. But hear their arguments and our answers compare them together and then judge indifferently First say they Remission of sins giveth denomination of justification therefore it must be the form Grant this say we though the illustration be not by whiteness and whitening whereby they make whiteness the form which among unbiassed men is the effect the form being whitning or application yet they must prove that it giveth denomination which they do thus and that worthily to If a sinner say they may therefore and thereby be justified because he hath his sins remitted unto h●m then remission of sins giveth denomination of being justified to that person whose sins are remitted This is a meer begg●ng of the question which is to be proved and we deny a sinner therefore justified till it shall be better proved which will not be while this man is Major I see by the manner of their working For say they it is a vindication or an exemption from punishment We joyn issue here say it is so indeed but after another manner then they take it it is so in effect that is that followeth something necessarily preceding which is just making or being just or else we run our selves upon a rock it will be justification of a wicked person which God himself telleth us is ah Abomination to him Secondly remission of sins say they is the formal cause of a sinners justification because it is that alteration and change which is wrought in the person justified by that act of God To which we answer 1. By denying the consequence every change or alteration in the person cnanged or altered is not the form if that act of God were the form then peace of conscience should be so for it is an alteration which supposeth pardon grounded upon imputation of righteousness whence justification and then pardon c. 2. By affirming that justification it self is so in that change which made and yet it is not the form of it self yea it is an effect of the form Thirdly their th●rd reason is vvound up thus That which makes a justified person compleatly righteous before God is the formal cause of justification But remission of sins maketh a justified person compleatly righteous before God because say they he is as cleer from sin and the guilt thereof as if he had fulfilled the whole Law and never transgressed any part or particle of the same We reply 1. That making is an ambiguous term and cannot vvithout more light then they afford us be fully discerned or discovered For every cause maketh the Efficient the Material the Formal c. 2. Remission of sins maketh not a person formally righteous and therefore vve deny the reason For though he be free from the guilt of sin yea so righteous as here they speak of yet the cause is the righteousness of Christ imputed by whose obedience he is constituted just Again they argue for the proof of this thus That righteousness which needs not fear the presence of a most strict judge is a compleat and perfect righteousness But remission of sins is such And now they think themselves cock sure for this say they will hold weight and measure But let them take our answer with them for all their hast which will we suppose take them off their confidence and it is this That which these socinians are to prove they often shift their hands of and would have us take for granted which we cannot do without prejudice to the truth They are here to prove that remission of sins is a compleat righteousness but that which they endeavour to prove it by as the ingenuous Reader may plainly perceive beggeth the question namely that it is righteousness For every thing that will abide the presence of God is not by and by righteousness much lesse compleat righteousness as they would have us believe upon their bare word As for example to the contrary in love there is no fear for perfect love casteth out fear b 1 Joh. 4.17 18. yet it is not righteousness not that righteousness by which we are justified Lastly say they remission of sins reacheth home and is given to men by God for their justification Therefore it is the formal cause thereof This they tell us is evident because by the formal cause they mean nothing else but pass●ve justification To which we return this answer 1. That many things may be and are given by God for justification in some way or other which are not the formal cause thereof for instance the Word of God and Faith are given by God for justification yet will any man therefore in his right wits conclude that they are the formal cause of a sinners justification 2. We do absolutely deny remission of sins to be given for justification we assert the contrary justification given for pardon and remission as being the effect and consequent thereof So the Apostle c Rom. 5.16 where mention is made of remission a gift as also of the gift of righteousness Whence we see ordine quidque suo first justification and then remission made good in the 18. and 19. vers of the same Chapter Moreover to put all out of doubt if remission of sins be justification passive as they said but now that is the effect of Gods justifying it cannot possibly be the formal cause thereof also For one and the same cannot be both the cause and the effect before and after it self the whole and yet but a part how ever they seem to jumble them together I have bin somewhat longer about this then at first I intended there being not wanting and that even among us that take upon them to maintain that remission of sins is the formal cause of a sinners justification before God that seeing how poorly it is defended by those that are champions for it the honest and well minded Reader may not be gulled by any Socinian 〈◊〉 bettor whatsoever The Dialogue is very much concern'd herein he doth not lag behind the rest setting remission of sins in its wrong place and then ascribing too much unto it For he makes it even our justification it self which cannot be for they are distinct in themselves and in order of time and manner of conferring to be distinguished by us which being well and wisely considered will plainly appear to be neither the whole nor a part as he nor the cause as others would have it of our justification but

he brings home and applyes unto our Souls the righteousness of Christ for our justification both as he is the Spirit of regeneration working in us the grace of faith by which we receive Christ for our justification in foro Caelesti before God and also as he is the Spirit of adoption confirming this faith in us together with the assurance of our justification by which we are freed and acquitted in foro conscientiae within our selves that is by the testimony of an upright sincere and rectified conscience The instrumental causes of justification are either external or internal external such is the Word of God the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ and is therefore called o Rom. 1.16 the very power of God to salvation in which respect Ministers are said to justifie because as Daniel tells us p Dan. 12.3 they convert many to righteousness being instruments though poor and weak in themselves q Media perfecta ad quae ordinantur that God is pleased to make use of for this purpose and by whom those that are ordained unto life are brought to believe r 1 Cor. 3.5 For by the preaching of the Gospel seconded and made powerful by the operation of the Holy Ghost the sentence of justification and remission of sins and so consequently of eternal life and salvation is pronounced and concluded in the conscience of the faithfull such the Sacraments also ſ Tit. 3.5 not by works of righteousness which we have done saith St. Paul but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost For first in them the benefit of the Messias is presented before us and by those outward signs discerned by us in which respect the Sacrament is called Verbum visibile a word which is visible Secondly such is the Sacramental Union between the sign and the thing signified which is Christ together with all the train and quire of his graces as also all his merits offered to us Thirdly this transcendent benefit of the Messias is not only offer'd in the Lawfull and commendable use of the Sacraments but is also given to and conferr'd upon every faithfull partaker thereof In this sense the Sacrament of Baptisme is said to be the seal of that righteousness which is by faith as the Apostle calleth circumcision t Rom. 4.11 The internal cause of justification is not hope though hope maketh not ashamed not charity though it be faiths almoner and shall be rewarded of God u Prov. 19.17 not fear though it restrain us from sin not repentance though it be the gift of God by which we wipe out the old score of our sins past and resolve to glorifie God for the time to come but faith and faith only by which we overcome the World and that not in respect of its existency as Socinus would fain have it and doth earnestly plead for it w Imputatur nobis fides à Deo pro Justitia c. in Dialog de Iustif but in respect of apprehension and the faculty of application as that which is alone though it never be found alone without the company and attendance of other graces a convenient instrument fitted for the laying hold upon the righteousness of Christ And yet for all this faith is not to be considered in the Act of justification either dispositively or habitually or formally or meritoriously or in the kind and nature of a work but in part organically in regard of its Act and in part correlatively in regard of its object Whence the Apostle wisely disposing his words as being directed by the Spirit of Wisdome it self which cannot miscarry saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 x Rom. 5.1 we are justified through faith and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith but never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for faith Hitherto the Dialogue and we walk together passilus aequis as it were hand in hand neither of us stepping aside with Socinus in the place fore-quoted and some other of his followers y Non innocentiam aut justiam Christi credentibus imputat Deus sed fidem illorum imputat illis pro justitia Smalcius in disputat contr Fran. to take up this ball which they have cast in our way that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith it self or the very Act of believing doth properly justifie yet if he be acquainted with Socinian John as I believe he is a●mighty stickler in this case he may soon be drawn away and easily perverted to comply with him and his party even in this matter also But now partes locus est ubi se via findit in ambas we come to the pinch indeed in which we shall discover where and upon what terms we are constrained to part company The matter or meritorious cause of our justification is the next thing that is to be considered by us which is neither the habit of charity or the exercise thereof but only the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Mediator And here here it is that we must part and not so fairly as may be expected For though the distance be small at the Center yet 't is many times found to be wide enough by that time it come to the circumference So the difference at first may seem small that is between us but being duly considered is so great that we can by no means give our consent of compliance For the Dialogue using that faculty here which in many other places he shews his dexterity in namely disputandi de non concessis chargeth us with that which we never held and which is more never mean to do if it please God to keep us in our right mind that so he may take occasion without occasion to quarrel w●th us thinking thereby to shew his valour in the eyes of his great admirers fighting though it be but with his own shadow and yet now and then giving a slanting blow even at the Justice of God himself Who ever heard any of us whom God hath established in his truth and made and constituted faithfull dispensers of the same so much as whisper among our selves much lesse publish it abroad that the active righteousness of Christ alone * Justitia Jesu Christi per quam justificamur coram Deo est perfectissimato tius Legis Divinae obedientia Polani Syntag. that is that obedience which he performed to the Law doth justifie a sinner before God We never said it we never thought it and therefore all the pains he hath herein taken to confute us or rather to blast us and the truth in us under the pretence of confutation might very well have bin spared and the time better spent but some will be doing though it be to no purpose and how can we keep company with those that charge us with such assertions which we utterly disclaim and cast such aspersions on us which we did never deserve Again God cannot do this God cannot in Justice do that

he was made a curse For the third in what nature he was made a curse We have this answer In his humane nature consisting of body and soul yea in soul rather then in body the soul of man being the principal seat and place of residence for sin For saith Christ himself z Mat. 15.19 out of the heart which in Scripture beareth usually the name and title of the soul proceedeth evill thoughts murthers adulteries c. Yet I say in both compleating and making up the humane nature sustained and supported by the Divine being in Union with it Here is something to be borne and meet it is a Bishop Andrews ser that every one should bear his own burthen the nature that had sinned bear his own sin Mans nature had sinned and therefore mans nature ought to suffer But that which mans nature should mans nature could not bear not the heavy and insupportable weight of Gods wrath due to sin but God could The one ought and could not The other could but ought not if he had not bin man he could not have suffered if he had not bin God he had sunk in his sufferings and had never bin able to have gone thorow with them God had no shoulders Man had but too weak God knows to sustain so great a weight So that as he was man he was lyable and as he was God he was able saith that learned Prelate b Pag. to bear the burthen in the heat of the day c Psal 16. To the last how far forth Christ was accursed We answer thus There is a two-fold death a first and a second death in the first death there are two degrees separation of body and soul and the putrifaction of the body separated The first Christ suffered but not the second For his body being deprived of life according to the dialect of the Psalmist c Psal 16. saw no corruption Again in the second there are two degrees the first is a separation from God in sense and feeling The second is an absolute separation from him for ever never to be admitted into favour any more Into this last degree of death Christ entred not for in the midst of his most grievous sufferings in the exaltation and height of all his sorrows he yet cryed out my God my God declaring his trust in and dependance upon God notwithstanding all his misery Neither could it be otherwise without a dissolution of the personal Union But into the first deg●ees of this second death we affirm and that upon plain Scripture grounds against all opposition that Christ did enter that is the sense and feeling of Gods wrath and indignation d Cum ira Dei sit voluntas puniendi rectè etiam di●ipotest Iratus illo quèm vice loco delinquentium punire vult essen due to the Elect in regard of their iniquities by which they had provoked him to be highly displeased with them Not to muster up any more * Instances witnesses we will only take a short survey of that place of the Apostle to the Hebrews cap. 5. vers 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared and so free it what we may from the violence done unto it by the Dialogue who notwithstanding his profession of reverence to those Authours who expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear yea the fear of astonishment at the sense and feeling of Gods wrath for the guilt of our sins yet labours tooth and naile to overthrow their exposition and by one of his own to carry the meaning of the Text another way telling us that some translate it reverence others dignity a third sort piety to which because he himself adheres rather then to any other doth therefore conclude that it must be so taken here and must not cannot be otherwise But by the Dialogues good leave there is no such necessity for that as he would have us believe the proper signification of the word being fear together with the frequent use of it by all sorts of Greek Authours both holy d Heb. 12.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and humane e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plut. in Camille declare the contrary as also the Proposition annexed f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot be bribed or corrupted to comply with the sense and interpretation of the Dialogue It was not an ordinary fear arising from an ordinary cause g Metus vel solitudo c. that thus constrained our blessed Saviour to entreat and supplicate for he felt such pains saith Piscator h In animo pariter corpore tales sensit dolores quales damnati sensuri sunt in inferno ut ita satisfaceret pro peccatis nostris quae ut Sponsor in se susceperat c. In Heb. 5.7 as the Elect if they had bin damned in Hell should have felt that so he might make satisfaction to the Justice of God for their sins the guilt of which as a Pledge or surety he had freely and voluntarily taken upon him He offered up saith the Apostle prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared If it had bin fear of bodily death only as the Dialogue would have it what need such cryes such strong cryes with tears Surely be would make him lesse then a man and more faint in a good cause then Malefactors are in a bad But the Text is plain he was heard in that he feared that is saved from the death he feared but he was not saved from the bodily death for he dyed and gave up the Ghost i Mat. 27.58 therefore it was not the bodily death but the great horrour of soul * Christus ut plenè pro nobis satisfaceret non tantum corporis sed etiam summos animi cruciatus sustinuit Vicit B●za in Mat. by reason of the wrath of God which he suffered that he so feared and from which he was in respect of the eternity there of delivered Nor was it Christs deliverance out of these sufferings much lesse from a bodily death only as the Dialogue but upon what grounds I know not doth most vainly to say no worse affirm but the glory of God his Father in the salvation of the Elect which was the Master-piece of all his prayers Well we have enough for our purpose He prayed that he might be delivered from death True but this death was the death of the crosse the principal part whereof was the curse that is the wrath of God due to the Elect for sin from which he was delivered in respect of duration but sustained it for a time for them that they might for ever be freed from the same And this we take to be the

which we are to speak for which purpose neither Cicero Terence Caesar nor any of those who were the first and purest Authours of the Latine tongue were ever acquainted with this word Justificare which is now in use among us and with which at this time we have to do We must therefore seek farther and look higher if we mean to be truly certified hereof and fully satisfied herein Omitting then all others we will only pitch upon two places the one in the Old the other in the New-Testament as the aptest in my judgment of all other for this purpose The one that of the Wiseman e Prov. 17.15 He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are an abomination to the Lord Here is the Word it self and its opposite the Word it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying * Absolvere to absolve or free the opposite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing * Improbificare si ita liceret loqui i. e. condemnare ad supplicum tradere to condemne or to deliver over to just and condigne punishment They are both Judicial terms exercised or used in judgment holden on such weighty matters as touch the life or death of the person concerned or engaged The other answerable hereunto is that of St. Paul Rom. 8.33 where he propounds the question Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect and rather then we shall go away without an answer he himself as best able for to do it will furnish us Surely none None indeed can justly do it to which he adds a reason to the purpose For it is God that justifieth The Apostle in this place makes a bold challenge in the behalf of all the Elect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who can accuse them or call them into question or is there any thing that can be laid against them And yet we see they do not want accusers the Devil is ready at hand to do it the Law of Moses will do it yea rather then fail their own consciences will do it But what says the Apostle al this is to no purpose For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is God that justifies that is frees them from all these accusers and their accusations too yea absolves them from the guilt of sin not imputing it to them but imputing the righteousness which is by faith For the Apostle opposeth justification to condemnation here as Solomon also did before Even here also are two actions of judgment set before us The one charging a man with guilt or crime of which being justly convicted doth pronounce the sentence of the Law against him The other opposite to both these absolving and acquitting him from guilt and punishment doth declare and publish him to be just and righteous This is a matter of high concernment and to speak the very truth there cannot but be a great deal of difficulty in defining things of this nature We will not therefore trust to our selves or any abilities in us as thinking it sufficient to trade with our own stock in a business of so much consequence but will rather as the man of Macedonia call for help and see where or how we may best supply our selves And behold here is one at hand that is both able and willing to furnish us of whom we will make use at present for I suppose we cannot mend our selves look where we will with such a definition of Justification as may be justified in all the parts thereof which is this it is saith he an act of God whereby he acquitteth every penitent and believing sinner not imputing to him his sins but imputing to him the perfect satisfaction and righteousness of Christ There is not any part of this definition but is Scripture proof as we shall see God willing by degrees hereafter In the mean time having seen what is meant by the word Justification as also the nature and definition thereof we passe on to the next thing proposed by us namely the causes which as in all other things so in this are four to wit the Efficient Material Formal and Final The Efficient causes of a sinners Justification are of two sorts either principal or instrumental the principall is God both essentially the whole Trinity g Isa 43.25 Rom. 3.26 I even I am he that blot out thy transgressions and also personally The Father h Rom. 8.33 That He namely God the Father might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus The Son also testifieth this of himself i Matt. 9.6 saying the Son of man hath power to forgive sins and so to justifie these that were ungodly The Holy Ghost performeth this too k 1 Cor. 6.11 And such wretches by reason of iniquity were some of you even guilty of the same impieties but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of our ●ord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God For seeing this work is of that kind which by the Schools is termed ad extra an outward action of God it is common to all the three Persons And yet it is distinct too in regard of the order and manner of working as also the terms and limits of operation whence the Act of justifying is antonomastically ascribed to the Father the merit thereof to the Son and the application of this merit to the Holy Ghost So that God the Father justifieth as the primary cause and as being the Authour thereof God the Son as the meritorious cause and God the Holy Ghost as the cause applicatory and brought home to the justified persons conscience in the comfortable assurance thereof So that the whole amounts to thus much God the Father through the Son doth justifie us by the Holy Ghost The Father I say as the principal cause and that in two respects 1. In that he gave his only begotten Son for us and set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud that all that believe in him should be justified as the Apostle witnesseth m Rom. 3.25 2. In that he absolveth those that so believe and pronounceth them just in Christ The Son as the Mediator and meritorious cause and that also in two respects 1. As he his our Surety who paid our debt our Redeemer who laid down the price of our redemption for us n Isa 53.11 affording unto us both the matter and the merit of our justification 2. As he is our Intercessor and Advocate to plead for us that his merits may be imputed to us For though the sufferings of Chr●st be a precious salve to cure our Souls yet we cannot look for healing by them unlesse they be applyed and though his righteousness be a wedding garment sufficient in it self to cover all our Spiritual nakedness yet will it not clothe us unlesse it be put on Therefore in the third place the Holy Ghost is said to justifie us because