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	love_n	love_v	4,903	5	6.7044	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54378	The redemption of mankind, by the passion of our Lord A sermon, preached on Palm-Sunday, at Kintbury, in the county of Berks. By Jos. Perkins, late vicar of Hill, in Gloucester-Shire.	Perkins, Joseph, b. 1658.	1692 (1692)	Wing P1558; ESTC R221441	13,606	33

the Adoption of his Sons was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the good Pleasure of his Will and according to this Election all the Graces that are bestowed on us are freely wrought in us and derived to us from the Rich Over-flowing Fountain of his Grace The meer Love of God to Mankind is the cause why we are adopted to be his Sons Man miserable and forlorn Wretch had nothing to please God with all but was ashamed to appear before his Sight yet God reflected upon himself and findeth in his own All-sufficiency his glorious Love which he makes the cause of Man's Salvation Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Price of our Redemption the Foundation and meritorious cause of our Salvation But he is not the impulsive or efficient Cause of our Adoption Only the Love of the Father is the Cause thereof God so loved the World that he sent his only Begotten Son Joh. 3.16 It is lawful for him to do with his own what he pleaseth To some he shews himself in Mercy to others in Judgment from both he reaps his own Glory And let no Man reason if Men be saved good Works cannot further them if they be not in the state of Grace bad cannot make them worse for the Ways of the Lord are past finding out and none is his Privy-Counsellor Who dare call God to account It is better by humbling our selves to be conformed then Blasphemously to pry into God's secret Counsels Our Apostle to amplifie God's Favours mentioneth the Riches of his Grace It was favour that he Redeemed us but that he effected this Redemption by the Blood of his only Begotten Son proceeds from the Riches of his Grace For God finding nothing in Man that could move him to compassion but Misery out of his tender Mercy sent his Son to Redeem us I will heal their Rebellion I will love them freely for mine Anger is turned away from Sin And most lovingly He bespeaks us Isay 55.1 Ho! every one that thirsteth Come ye to the Waters and ye that have no Silver Come Buy and Eat Come I say Buy Wine and Meat without Silver and without Money This is his free Grace by which he doth work in us This is the Grace whereby he doth Regenerate us To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace whereby he hath made us freely acceptable in his Beloved Eph. 1.6 Beloved what manner of Men ought we then to be We are grafted and made Members of Christ's Body Shall the Head be Pure and shall the Members remain Unclean We are called out of the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of God out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Let us walk worthy of the Vocation whereunto we are called He hath placed us in a Kingdom He hath made us his Sons and therefore he giveth us his Inheritance not as a Stipend or Reward of mercenary Works but as a free Fatherly Blessing and Benediction Since we are Inheritors of this Kingdom let our own vile Affections be our Servants and let them have no Power over us When God commanded the People Obedience he incited them thereunto by a Preface containing the delivery of them out of Aegypt so that they knowing him to be the Author of Liberty might serve him with greater Alacrity Greater Liberty than we have no Man ever attained unto Let us fashion our selves to be like our Redeemer in all humbleness of Mind and Meekness Long-suffering Supporting one another through Love And after all Conflicts with Errors and Darkness yea with the Prince of Darkness the Devil and his Associates you shall find rest in God yea rest unto your Souls far from Troubles Through this World as through the Wilderness he will bring you to the Heavenly Canaan which floweth with Eternal Bliss and Happiness Whither God of his abundant Mercy bring us for his pretious Death and Passions Sake AMEN FINIS

may be effected and who can tell how oft he offends in a Day Then for the Satisfaction of one Days Sin a whole Life is not sufficient Sufficit ad Meritum scire quod non sufficiant Merita sed ut ad Meritum satis est de Meritis non praesumere sic carere Meritis satis est ad Judicium Concerning Merits It is sufficient to know that they do not merit Heaven but to want good Works is sufficient for Condemnation The Devil doth labour by Two Seducements to weaken our Faith First He would perswade us that good Works are the Cause and Means of our Salvation If he cannot succeed this Way then under a Pretence of Faith he would draw us from true Obedience and suggests it into our Minds That if we have Faith let us be indulgent to all Affections and commit all Offences yet Faith will bring us to an everlasting Kingdom But we are taught that real Sanctity of Life is never separated from a free Remission of Sins and we who are interressed by Faith in the Right of Inheriting by Works are wrought to the actual Possession of eternal Bliss Sanctification is a true and inseparable Companion of Justification For whom he hath justified them hath he also sanctified For how can a Christian be perswaded that he is beloved of God unless he be certain that he loveth God with an unfeigned Heart And who can love God who is not willing to perform and obey his Will and Precepts If ye love me keep my Commandments saith our Saviour Tho' we say that Children or Infants may be saved out of the Depth of Perdition by the Depth of God's Mercies without the Works of the Law yet let those to whom the Lord hath lent the length of Days think that he will exact an Account of their Stewardship how they have spent their Time how they have imployed their Talents which he in his Mercy had bestowed upon them Since our Redemption is of so high a rate that Christ's Blood was shed for it since the Malady of Sin is so cruel a Disease that nothing could cure it but the Death of the Physitian it behooveth us who are washed with his Blood to look to our ways and take heed of Vnrighteousness It is already manifest that our own Works are no causes of Redemption but rather the Fruits thereof 5. Now let us fall a little into Consideration of the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Christ and hear what great things he hath done for us And here I find him Buffetted Crowned with Thorns Spit upon Reviled Blasphemed Condemned Executed Dead and Buried Civis Romanus sum was enough to save a Citizen from Scourging and so St. Paul tryes the Experience of it Yet Christ that was Lord of Heaven and Earth and the only Door by which we enter and are made free Citizens of the new Jerusalem he was Whipped Who but our Saviour would have spent his Blood for our Sakes Who but our Saviour could have satisfied for our Sins and renewed us by his Spirit conferring infinite Graces upon us when we lay Dead in Sins and Trespasses Who but our Saviour could get Life into us and that by the sprinkling and shedding of his most Pretious Blood like the Pelican which is a Symbol of Christ Plutarch reports That the Senate durst not accuse Caesar for conspiring with Cataline and his Confederates against the State for if Caesar had been convented he would sooner have saved others than have suffered himself In like case it was an Happiness for us that Christ was Indicted for our Sins who was able to repel all the fiery Darts of Satan and to Triumph over him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 A Mystery it is that our Saviour should vanquish both Death and the Devil by Death which proceeded from the Maliciousness of the Devil that he should make the Devils Glory his shame his Power his Overthrow his Kingdom his Undoing What could the Prophet David in all his Zeal for God wish more against reprobate Men Trayterous to Christ and his Gospel than thus to wish Let their dainty Tables be Snares to take them and let their Prosperity be their Ruin Even thus Christ hath vanquished the Devil He hath spoiled Principalities and Powers and hath made a shew of them openly and hath Triumphed over them in the same Cross Behold Christ once again and consider Dilectionem in discendendo Mansuetudinem in Patiendo Fortitudinem in animose Perferendo Vtilitatem in mala Poenae et Culpae auferendo All the Punishments which we had deserved were inflicted upon our Mediator and he hath quit the Score So whatsoever Afflictions befal the Godly in this Life they are not Punishments but Fatherly Chastisements and Corrections for our Humiliation and Amendment Yea Death her self is spoiled of her Sting and is become to the Godly only a passage into a more Blisful Life The Afflictions of the Wicked in this Life make them readier for greater Torments in the World to come for they tend only to revenge but the Corrections of the Godly make them afterwards more Cautelous and tend to their Instruction Saul was punished by the taking away of his Kingdom David was amended by the loss of his Child Ferulis Verberantur Filij non ut mulctam delictorum Deo persolvant sed ut inde ad Resipiscentiam proficiant as Judicious Calvin hath it When we lay strugling in the midst of all Miseries Let us remember what our Jesus hath done for us and then it will be to us as we have believed The Heathen Philosopher could say None is of Strength to raise himself some Man must lend his Hand and then he shall be lift up The Mind of Man cannot be without some Refuge and as we say of the Elephant cannot rest unless it hath something to lean upon Let Christ be our rest which is the chief Corner-Stone of his Church and we shall never fall and let us so rest that we be not idle but obedient to his will and fructifying to good works Themistocles said of himself That the Athenians used him like the Plane-Tree to which in a Tempest they ran for Succour but the Storm being passed and fair Weather succeeding they tear down his Leaves and tread on them Let it not be so said of you who finding no other Remedy for your afflicted burdened Conscience but the Merits of Christ's Passion his Mediation but when the Storm is past and you begin again to find in your selves that Peace of God and Conscience which Passeth all Vnderstanding you should return again with the Dog and Sow to the Vomit and trample under feet the Blood of the New Testament and make a mock of the Passion of Christ who was so kind for you as to pay all those huge Sums wherein you stood bound to God and that without either Price or Prayers of ours but according to the Riches of his Grace Our Election into