Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A42449
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The apostles Paul and James reconciled in the point of justification, and the controversies about it among Christians amicably composed
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Gataker, Charles, 1614 or 15-1680.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing G304A; ESTC R216435
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8,334
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things come of him and of his own it is that we give him 1 Chron. 29.14 What hast thou that thou didst not receive 1 Cor. 4.7 Now there are two sorts of Blessings which we need and God hath to bestow temporal and eternal Temporal worldly and corporal Blessings are common to all both good and bad Persons and by themselves cannot cause in any Sinner holy Love to God For if we love God All true Love unto God and consequently all true Godliness and Uprightness of Heart springeth from a lively Faith even such a Faith as maketh known to a Man God's Love to him in Christ and maketh him able to receive Christ and to rest upon him Mr. Hildersham on Psal 51. pag. 366. It is certainly either the want of Faith and assurance of God's Love or a false and carnal assurance of it that is the true cause of all that Licentiousness and Lewdness that reigneth in the World Id. ib. p. 576. only or chiefly because of Worldly Temporal and Corporal Blessings such Love is not chaste and sincere but adulterous and false Eternal Heavenly and Spiritual Blessings cannot be had save by God's free Gift in Christ this free Gift in Christ we cannot have save by receiving it for giving and receiving are relative and receive it we cannot save only by Divine Faith this being the substance of things hoped for the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 Being made partakers of Pardon of Sin Justification Adoption and right to eternal Salvation by God's free Gift in Christ through Faith and by the same Faith inwardly perceiving this our blessed and happy State we cannot but by gracious necessity love God and live unto him and be fruitful in all good Works in some measure We love him because he first loved us 1 Joh. 4.19 That is God's electing eternal and distinguishing Love to our lost Souls in the free and full forgiveness of our Sins for the sake of Christ through Faith is the Spring and powerful cause of all our holy Love to him Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae 10. According to James God doth first make us sincere Converts he gives us Faith Hope Love heavenly Repentance and Regeneration and thereby makes us amiable and lovely in his sight Rev. 3.4 1 Joh. 1.9 Acts 3.19 Rom. 2.2 6. Acts 5.31 Eph. 2.8 Gal. 2.16 Rev. 22.14 and evangelically worthy of Pardon of Sin Justification Adoption and right to eternal Glory for the sake of his gracious Covenant in Christ and then he as sitting upon his Throne of Grace and Mercy doth judg his Servants to be what really by his Grace they are not absolutely sinless but sincerely penitent truly just and upright in Heart before him real Saints and evangelically worthy and accordingly he doth instantly pardon their Sins justify them from the Curse of the Law adopt them for his Children and give them right to the Kingdom of Heaven Herein God is supream Judg renewed Conscience is his Agent the Person justified is a penitent Sinner the Heart or inward Man is the Court the Gospel is the Rule of Judicature Fagi Enchirid. Disp 61. Thes 24. Bucer de vera Ecclesiar reconcil p. 145. Dr. Goodwin of the Punishment of Sin in Hell p. 85. Mr. Flavel of the Soul p. 21. Mr. Downam's Guide to Godliness p. 66. Faith is the Organ Instrument or Mean whereby renewed Conscience doth act heavenly Repentance and Regeneration is the Evidence and Testimony of the Holy Ghost Jesus Christ is Advocate and Justification is the Sentence whereby God doth graciously acquit and absolve the penitent Person from all his Sins and from eternal Curse and Damnation for the same and gives him right to eternal Glory as a Reward of Grace As when the Minister doth foundly preach the Gospel the Word in his Mouth is not the Word of Man but the Word of God by Man his Embassador so what renewed Conscience in the Sinner's Bosom shall by Authority and Commission from God according to his Word by Faith rightly and truly pronounce sentence and decide touching his spiritual and eternal State this is not the sentence Judgment and Decision of Man but of God by Conscience his Agent and Minister inwardly through Faith and therefore it must needs be supream and infallible we may most safely rely on it it is a sure Rock and fills the Soul with found Joy For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience c. 2 Cor. 1.12 If our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God 1 Joh. 3.21 11. Bradsha de Justis cap. 3. Mr. Baxter's Call to the Unconverted p. 105. And his Consideration of the Substance of Mr. Cartwright's Exceptions p. 5. There is a kind of Justification in the Conscience of the Devil For once he was a good and holy Angel for so long as he continued Good and Holy God by Conscience his Agent in Satan's Bosom will for ever justify and acquit him and lay nothing to his Charge But because he wilfully forsook God and became his most implacable Enemy therefore the same Conscience in Satan's Bosom cannot but against his Will for ever justify and acquit God and silence and condemn himself This is proper legal Justification for ever in the Conscience of the Devil of Debt and not of Grace without all favour and compassion to him 12. Mr. Jer. Dyke of Scandals p. 99. Deut. 29.19 20 21. Psal 50.21 Rev. 2.9 There is a Justification of a Sinner in his Ungodliness and there is a Justification of a Sinner from his Ungodliness The former is no Mercy but a dreadful Judgment a dismal Justification of which Satan is Author it is the chief Pillar of his Kingdom whereby wicked Ones bless themselves in their Wickedness and promise to themselves Impunity Pardon Peace with God and Eternal Salvation without Heavenly Repentance and Regeneration Luther as Cassander relates Consult Art 4. thought this a worse Error than any in Popery 13. The latter is a most sweet Mercy and precious Priviledg the principal Pillar of Christ's Kingdom For whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 Of this Justification we thus read But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4.5 That is as I conceive Abraham once was Ungodly and by Nature a Child of Wrath even as others God of his meer Grace and Mercy in Christ gave him divine Belief of the Gospel differing in kind from Belief in the Devils and all reprobate Men. By this divine Belief Abraham did deny and go out of himself renounce all Trust in his own Righteousness see an utter emptiness and insufficiency in himself see an all-sufficiency of Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption for his Soul in Christ truly repent of his Sins lay hold upon God's Promise of eternal Mercy in Christ and became a new Man and therefore God did graciously reckon repute and judg this
The Apostles Paul and James reconciled in the Point of Justification and the Controversies about it among Christians amicably composed 1. Solâ side nos justificari Doctriâ—a est saluberrima ac consolationis plenissima Anglic. Confess art 11. Verum id tamen non imus inficias justificari nos etiam ex operibus ut D. Jacobus dixit rependit enim Deus unicuique secundum sua opera Et non qui legem audiunt sed qui faciunt justificabuntur Rom. 2. Sed ista nostri justificatio id est ultima vitae aeternae adjudicatio exhibitio nascitur pendet ex justificatione fidei ex qua ipsa opera bona proveniunt habent id ut licet ex se nihil minus valeant vitam aeternam nobis mereantur Inde sane quod per fidem jam Deus nos inter filios suos habet nostra ex ejus Spiritu patrata opera ipsi tanti sunt tantaque compensare mercede dignatur Bucer Cont. Episcop Abrinceus pag. 54. EVangelical Justification is considerable two ways as a Gift and as a Reward Considered as a Gift so it is absolutely free and freely given of God in Christ by the Gospel and we thro Faith and through Faith only do thankfully siducially obediently and constantly receive it and so from the nature of the thing it becomes ours This I think is Paul's meaning Rom. 3.28 11.6 Ephes 2.8 9. 2. Considered as a Reward so also it is absolutely free of Grace and not of Debt yet it is conferred upon none but the penitent the faithful the regenerate the Lovers of God and his Saints the fruitful in good Works the godly in Christ Jesus and these are evangelically worthy of it because of God's Promise in Christ This I think is James's meaning Rom. 4.4 Jam. 2.21 24. Rom. 2.6 11 16. 3. Both Apostles mean Justification before God and by it they understand the Absolution of one who hath sinned from all his Sins and from eternal Curse and Damnation for the same In this only they differ Paul considers God as a Donor as infinitely good and gracious to some and not to others to Abel and Peter and not to Cain and Judas And so the sum of his Doctrine is plainly this That the whole of a Sinner's Justification Pardon Adoption and Salvation from first to last is from the meer Grace and Mercy of God in Christ by the Gospel through Faith and through Faith only as distinct from precedent to the cause of and inseparably connexed with Sanctification and good Works Mat. 13.11 Joh. 10.28 Ephes 1.3 4. 4. James considers God as a Judg infinitely just and righteous and passing Sentence upon Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel without out respect of Persons And so the sum of his Doctrine is clearly this That God as he is the Judg of all the World by Jesus Christ cannot but 〈…〉 for ever difference between the righteous and the wicked the penitent and the impenitent the faithful and the faithless the Lovers and Haters of God and his Saints the fruitful in good Works and the fruitless the obedient and disobedient by loving delighting in approving pardoning and glorifying the one of his meer Grace and Goodness because of his own holy Oath and Covenant in Christ by hating abhorring disapproving cursing and damning the other of Debt and due Desert because of their Sins persisted in and never truly repented of by rendring to both according to their Works Gen. 18.25 5. According to Paul Justification and Pardon of Sin as a free Gift in Christ received by Faith is antecedent to and by gracious necessity the cause of all our holy Love and therefore the more is forgiven us the more we love but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Luk. 7.47 6. According to James not only Faith but also Love hope in God's Mercy filial Fear hatred of Sin heavenly Knowledg forgiving others their Trespasses against us and the like Evangelical Vertues and Graces these are antecedent to and by gracious necessity prepare and make us meet for and capable of pardon of Sin Justification before God Adoption and right to eternal Salvation as a Reward of Grace assured by God's holy Oath and Covenant in Christ to Persons so and so qualified Of a Truth I perceive that God is no Respecter of Persons But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Act. 10.34 35. 7. According to Paul no Sinner while unpardoned and liable to eternal Damnation A holy Sin-hating God engaged in Justice to damn the Sinner is not such an Object as a guilty Soul can love Mr. Baxter's Life of Faith p. 218. can sincerely love God Fear and flee from him as his righteous and terrible Judg he may and needs must but love and draw nigh to him with filial Reverence as his gracious God and reconciled Father in Christ he cannot But as soon as we are by God's Grace and Mercy in Christ through Faith freely pardoned all our Sins and by the same Faith perceive that so we are then we cannot but by sweet and blessed necessity love God resign our selves to his Will and be sincerely obedient to him in all things In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise which is the Earnest of our Inheritance Ephes 1.13 14. That is as I conceive Pardon of Sin and Justification through Faith in Christ is antecedent and fealing with his holy Spirit whereby is meant Assurance and Sanctification is by gracious necessity consequent and so they are related and as related they are by nature together without all possible Priority 8. According to James no ungodly and impenitent Person while such is capable of Pardon of Sin and Evangelical Justification it is a Contradiction to the eternal Nature of the holy just and good God to pardon and justify a Sinner in his Ungodliness and set his Conscience free from eternal Guilt and Condemnation before and without heavenly Repentance and there cannot be heavenly Repentance without Faith Hope Love and Participation of the Divine and Godly Nature For what Fellowship hath Righteousness with Vnrighteousness And what Communion hath Light with Darkness And what Concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. The penitent Thief upon the Cross who was pardoned justified and saved as at the last Gasp yet was he not without good Works in the sight of God For together with Faith he had Hope Love filial Fear hatred of Sin godly Sorrow for it penitent Confession earnest Prayer giving Glory to Christ Meekness Patience holy Submission to God's Will compassionate wise and faithful Reproof towards the other Thief wise care for his own Soul and all other heavenly Graces and Vertues necessarily comprized in Regeneration and being a new Creature 9. According to Paul we must first receive from God before we can return any thing to him worthy his Acceptance For all