Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	grace_n	life_n	sin_n	2,939	5	4.9686	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95857	A charge against the Jews, and the Christian world, for not coming to Christ, who would have freely given them eternall life. Delivered in a sermon, before the Right Honorable the House of Peers, in the Abbey Church at Westminster, on May 26. 1647. being the day of their publick fast. / By Thomas Valentine, one of the Assembly of Divines, and Minister of Chalfont in the County of Bucks.	Valentine, Thomas, 1585 or 6-1665?	1647 (1647)	Wing V24; Thomason E389_6; ESTC R201520	27,808	35

not what he hath the soule lives in hope to injoy God the will of man goes further in her art then any other faculty sence looks at the outside of a thing viz. colour reason hath an idea or notion of it but will desires the thing it self the heart of man is set upon God himself Charitas intrat scientia foris stat Biel and as in heauen we shall know God more so we shall love him more and injoy him more and none can tell what affections he shall have in heaven the soule shall have a wide capacity and receive in much of God which may appeare by these two particulars 1. God is sweet in the use of his creatures as meat to the hungrie clothes to the naked sleepe to the wearie fire to them that are cold these are very welcome but if God be tasted in them they are sweeter then ordinarie 2. In the Ordinances God is more to the beleeving heart when the troubled conscience can find rest no where if it hear of the mercy of God in Christ it is revived the soule that groans under the burthen of sin if it be put in hope of pardon it begins to look up which before was quite down and utterly dejected But what need I to speak how sweet God is in his Ordinances I appeale to all those hearts that ever have received good by his word whether it hath not been more then their appointed food far above all the comforts of this world but in heaven we shall injoy God not in his creatures nor in his Ordinances but in himself and we shall find the varietie of all comforts to meet in him we shall need no Sun to shine upon us no wine to make our hearts glad no oyl to make our faces shine nay we shall need no Sacraments no preaching of the word but God in himself and from himself will communicate the fulnesse of joy and it shall continue without interruption without any mixture of sorrow or sinfulnesse no devill shall be there to tempt no deceitfulnesse in our hearts to betray us no worldly occasion to entangle or trouble us our hearts shall be lifted up and never fall again our affections warm and never coole again our mindes settled in the full assurance of Gods favour and never doubt again our natures shall be perfectly holy and never sin again all our thoughts and desires shall be set on God and nothing else and for conclusion of this point we shall be happie and there will be no danger no possibilitie of loosing it again lo thus shall it be done to the man whom God will honour And now that I have explained what life eternall is I come to the latter part which is to shew you that Christ will confer upon you this life by way of gift Rom. 6.23 he will freely give it to you The gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this aggravates the sin of the Jewes that they might have so great a blessing in such a free way of gift and yet would not come unto him and not onely the Jews in the daies of Christ were to be blamed but even in these daies the Papists will not come to him to have life in this way of gift they will merit it else they will not have it they will not have a heaven that costs them nothing To meet with both these I shall briefly shew you that Christ will freely give you life if you come to him and that you must have it this way or not at all Christ purchased it and meritoriously procured it and it is freely given by him to us he bought it as if it had been freely given it is freely given as if it had not been bought it is Christs purchase but our inheritance Christ is given who bought it the Word that works faith to apply it is given the Spirit that inables us to beleeve and to look after life eternall is given And therefore the grace of God is made the cause of salvation in generall Ephe 2.8 Rom. 3.24 Ephe. 1.6 7. and also ascribed to the particulars of justification adoption remission of sins and glorification And as God intended his glory should arise out of the manifestation of his severall attributes so he purposed severall works wherein they were to shine and more eminently to appear as his power in the Creation the invisible things of him Rom. 1.20 that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen in the Creation Wisdom and Providence are chiefly seen in the government of the world He made the Earth by his power he established the world by his wisdom and stretched out the Heavens by his discretion Ier 10.12 Justice is seen in the condemnation of the wicked and Gods free grace in the salvation of the elect Yet we must not imagine that nothing else but power and wisdom and justice and grace appear in these works but these are more eminent and perspicuous and the Attributes of God though they be not subordinate or inferiour one to another yet they give way one to another as the Mayor and Aldermen in a Corporation they give honour to him whose turn it is to have the chief place so here all give way to power in Creation none did so much appear as that and all give way to Gods free grace in our salvation and from those words of the Apostle Eph. 1.6 we were adopted to the praise of the glory of his grace We may infer the like he made the world for the praise of the glory of his power he governs it for the praise of the glory of his wisdom he condemnes wicked men for the praise of the glory of his Justice and saves his own for the praise of his glorious grace And how dare any shew themselves enemies to the grace of God or go about to obscure it or derogate from the goodnesse of Christ who doth freely offer life to them that come unto him That we may vindicate the grace of God against the Papist and others and shew that life eternall is not merited or deserved by man we will pick out an Argument or two such ●s see● to have most strength in them and answer them yet so as to deliver the positive truth rather then meddle much with the controversie There are two things alledged against this truth one by ancient Writers the other by Modern Papists which seem to prove that we are not to look for life at Christs hand of free gift I will put them both together thus If the holy actions and services of beleevers come from the Spirit of grace inabling them thereto and shall be rewarded not of grace and favour but of justice then they are meritorious and consequently life eternall comes not by free gift but is due to the Saints But both the former are true Ergo. The first is urged by Biell and Greg. de Valentia Biel li 2. dist 29.

removing of the Objection But the question is whether Adam had power to beleeve in Christ crucified He did beleeve in God and his faith was joyned with his obedience for he obeying the voice of God was to beleeve that God would make good his promise to him but his power was to the things of the Law written in his heart it was within that compasse and latitude but not in the way of the Gospel which supposeth man to be fallen and quite over-turned and how faith in Christ which is the condition of the Covenant of grace should be commanded in the Law given to Adam in his innocencie I do not understand And though he did beleeve in God yet he might not have power to beleeve in Christ dying for sinners But suppose God had revealed to Adam while he stood the event of things and imagine he had said to him Adam I have made thee wise and righteous I have enstamped mine Image upon thee I have given thee a just Law and power to keep it and for thy reward I will give thee life I have put thee into a pleasant Paradise where thou hast all things for necessity and delight but thou wilt disobey my voice and loose thy self and forfeit all that I have given thee yet neither thou nor all thy posterity shall perish I will send my Son into the world to take mans nature and dye for sin and life and happinesse shall come by faith in him The question is whether Adam could have beleeved upon such a Revelation I answer That he could and would have credited God and beleeved the truth of this relation made unto him by his Creator but to beleeve in Christ and cast himself upon a Saviour must presuppose him to be cast away and lost But could not Adam have promised to beleeve in Christ upon the former Revelation I answer If he had it had not been available for it is all one as if a rich man worth many thousand pounds should promise and give his Bond to pay me an 100 li. when he is broken and not worth a groat But it is very true that men have more power then they put out for faith and obedience and it is as true that infidelity is in their power and they willingly remain in unbelief The Answer that men return to the invitations of Christ are the same which the Jews made unto him How often would I have gathered thee together as the hen her chickens Matth. 23. and ye would not 1. Further to clear the point in hand we may safely affirm that all men in Adam stand guiltie of disobedience and God may justly punish them for that sin I●h 3 36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non dicit ira Dei veniet super eum sed ira Dei manet super cum quamvis naturaliter damnati jam sint reprobi sua tamen infidelitate novam sibi mortem accersunt 2. That Christ being offered to them to deliver them from curse and condemnation and they wilfully rejecting him they aggravate their sins and bring upon them the condemnation of the Gospel so that the Law and the Gospel both condemne them the wrath of God that formerly was upon them by the sentence of the Law abides upon them and new wrath is kindled against them because they beleeve not in Christ the Son of God and so comes the great condemnation oft mentioned Joh. 3.19 And to set out the cause of mans miserie take it in this comparison A man lyes sick of a feaver he is told by the Physitian unlesse he bleed or purge and take other Physick he will dye he is distempered and will not be ruled he dyes The question is what this man dyed of I answer He dyed of a Feaver that was originally the cause of his death And then in the second place he dyed of wilfulnesse because he would not follow advice In the great day of judgement men shall be condemned for their disobedience and next which is the great aggravation of their sin for infidelity because they beleeved not in Christ Vse Before we come to the next point let us make a breefe application of this and it shall be an Item to take heed of infidelity especially of willfull infidelity say not that ye will not come to Christ neglect it not for he will take it ill and that because Foure aggravations of the sin of infidelity 1. The last best words that ever God spake were by Jesus Christ and to contemne them were a greater sin he that despiseth Moses Law did sin in a high degree but what will betide him that despiseth the glorious truthes of the Gospel uttered by Christ to honour him and the truthes he revealed the sweetest expressions were made that ever we heard of Luk. 2.14 Glory to be to God on high Peace on earth and good will towards men the Jewes could not be ignorant of those glorious manifestations and might have bin convinced by them we all do beleive the doctrin of the Gospel and we receive them and are readie to come unto him in the use of his Ordinances But with our faith we must joyne all other graces and the practise of al duties we must do every thing answerable to the profession of the Faith or else we are in some measure guilty of the sin of the Jewes 2. There is no such impediments to hinder us as was to the Jewes they might have said the Priests lips must preserve knowledge and the people must seeke the Law at their mouthes and they say that Christ is a deceiver a Samaritan and hath a Devill these might stumble the Jewes and keepe them from comming to Christ but there is no such let to us the Gospel is countenanced Christ is received In the Primitive times they were faine to sell all in Q●een Maries daies they went through the flames or else they could not have Christ these were great tryalls they fall not upon us and therefore our sin is the greater if we do not imbrace him 3. We must give a reason why we did not come to Christ why we did not beleive in him why we did not accept of him when he was offered unto us with all his Excellencies he came to us and brought with him righteousnesse life pardon heaven and the glorie of it and would have freely given us them if we would willingly and freely have accepted him for our Saviour but those that have rejected him shall see with sorrow the fruites of their infidelity and cry out against themselves for loosing so great joyes and pulling so great torments upon themselves and as Malefactors in the day of their execution lament their folly and obstinacie in that they would not be ruled and that brought them to their miserable end so the unbeleever in the day of judgment shall have it charged upon him and he shall repeat these words in the dolour of his trembling heart I dye and am

and most Schoolmen that write of that subject And they amplifie it thus The noblenesse of the cause argues the nobility of the effect the Spirit of God works in us and by his grace we are what we are our actions are not ours but Christs which by his Spirit produceth them in us therefore The second viz that these actions shall be rewarded not of grace but in justice Bellarmine urgeth 2 Tim. 4.8 and quoteth the words of Paul From henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give to me and not onely to me but to all that love his appearing here he triumphs for here is saith he justice or righteousnesse both in the Judge that gives the reward and in the Crown that is given and Justice gives every one their due and if it be of due debt it is merited And he urgeth the like phrase If we confesse our sins God is just to forgive them 1 Ioh. 1.9 God would have wrought in Adam per generalem influentiam he works in us per sperialem inspirationem quod munus nostrum minus merit●ium of all the arguments that I have met with this seemes to be one of the strongest For answer to the first branch it must be acknowledged that the actions of a man regenerate are more noble then Adams could have been if he stood in his integritie for his obedience had come from the liberty of his will and from his own spirit but now under the Covenant of grace we have a more glorious spirit the Spirit of Christ that works in us not by a generall influence but a speciall operation quickning inspiring acting and eliciting every thing that is good in us But though our actions are more noble yet lesse meritorious because they are lesse ours then Adams would have been For the second branch that God of justice not of favour and mercie is to give the reward I answer that justice is either in sayings or in deeds The former is truth and fidelity which stands in keeping of promises of which John speaks he hath promised pardon to them that make confession of their sins and therefore if you do it he is just and faithfull saith the text one explains the other and you shall be sure to have the pardon of your sins Justice in actions is either legall rigid strict justice or else Evangelicall tempered allayed justice whereby God condescends as lowe as may be parts with as much right as possibly he can and so gives man a reward which appears by the Apostles mentioning a throne of grace a throne is a place of Justice yet this throne in which God sits is a throne of grace erected upon the merits of Christ where strict justice is moderated and tempered Iob 9.15 else it were a vain thing for Job to supplicate his Judge We may have eternall life from this justice and yet it is neither merited nor due But if it will do them any good we may say heaven is due Debetur personae non operi and yet hold it as a free gift coming from Gods bountie It is due to the person by reason of his sonship and adoption not due to him in regard of any perfection in his service and obedience to the heir The inheritance is due saith the Cardinal we grant it but how came he to be a son and heir was it not free grace that made him so yes doubtlesse It is due in regard of Gods promise for God hath made himself a debtor not by receiving any thing from us Debitorem se fecit Deus non accipiendo sed promittendo but by his own free ingagement to us and what moved him to make us such a promise It was his free grace and goodnes to us It is due in regard of the Covenant of grace whereby he hath made over Heaven to them that beleeve in his Son If the condition be kept we are sure to have it But who inables us to beleeve Is it not God And what moved him to enter into Covenant was it not his free grace But now that the Covenant is established and Christ hath tendred a ransome for us and it is accepted the justice and righteousnesse of God will not suffer him to require a second ransom or to deny that which is purchased for us But let us leave this point I suppose it is clear to them that desire to see the truth You hear there is eternall life which Christ will freely give you and herein you have a view of his bountie Vse there are divers attributes in God which neither devil nor the worst man can condemne as love mercie patience bounty they have an amiablenesse in them and cannot be hated and when Christ doth in his bounty offer life to men he doth like himself a man may give honour wealth counsell but none can give life but God and nothing can be acceptable or indeed a gift without life If you would bestow never so much gold and silver or makeover Land to one that lyes dead before you nothing is done unlesse you could give him life and then they were fruits of your love and bounty Christ will give you life and lest we should undervalue this gift because life is accompanied with many cares and griefs and crosses in the world and if it were never so pleasant yet death comes and takes all away therefore our Saviour offers eternall life and this bountifull offer doth much aggravate the sins of men that will not come unto him But what ever Atheists and unbeleevers do let those that are wise and godly come to Christ that their souls may live And if you desire this life you will often enquire about your selves as you use to do of the Physitian when a childe or friend lyes sick Is he like to live do you think he will recover is there no danger of death For direction if you remember what was said in the beginning life eternall is begun in this life you must be made alive here or else you cannot live eternally and if you live by faith and are quickned who were dead in sins I can assure you you shall live eternally Bend then your thoughts to consider whether you are alive or no which will appear First by a desire to preserve the life of grace naturall life is carefully preserved what physick what bitter potions are taken what cost are men at what will they not do to prolong life And shall men do nothing for their souls will you live any where not caring whether the Sun of righteousnesse shine there or no will you live in dark cellars or dungeons or will you endure any unwholsome air and such are the places where the Gospel is not preached Heat is a signe of life cold is a fore-runner of death warmth is a temper arising from divers graces which we must carefully keep Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the

word signifies heat and we would have our friends hot in our cause we would not have a Counsellor that should plead coldly or indifferently and shall we be indifferent in the service of God far be it from us Breathing is a signe of life it befals many that are in swoonings and dangerous fits that it is heard to tell whether they be yet if they breath in wholsome aire and pant after God and the Scriptures and after good advice to be set and kept in the way of Religion it is an argument they live I might follow the similie of breathing in and out but I surcease Those that are alive to choose would converse with the living and not with the dead I would not have any one to think that I would insinuate any such matter or suggest any such thoughts into the heads of any that should go about to tell who are dead and who are alive but we must not deny that which Scriptures plainly affirm to choose a man that is not dead in sins would not familiarly converse with any but such as he hopes in the judgement of charity to be alive and it stands thus between the living and the dead no fellowship no commerce if you speak to a dead man you are not answered if you take him by the hand and otherwayes expresse your self yet no correspondence no sutablenesse your love is not answered again and therefore there can be no joy in such conversing Speak to a worldly man he can say little unles it be in worldly things he is out of his element And surely such as rejoyce in good things must needs cheerfully delight in the society of such as minde the like And for further enlarging of this point think what a miserie it would be for a man to marry a dead woman to have her layed in his bed carried to his board to be with her continually it would be irksome and unpleasing You see Abraham would fain bury his wife Sarah out of his fight for the face of death is irksome and uncomfortable And is it not the case of many a man that lives with a dead wife and the wife with a dead husband if it be no sorrow to you it is so much the worse with you for then you your selves are dead A woman goes with grief and is daily in sorrow if she think her child is dead in her wombe she hath no joy to think of the time of her deliverance O what is it to carry about with you a dead heart a dead soul And it is so if you be not moved in pitie to such as converse with you of whose life in Religion you have no warrantable nor well grounded hope But all you that by these or the like signes can suppose and conclude to your selves that you are now alive I dare be bold to assure you that you shall still live and live eternally in heaven many things may in this world trouble you molest the comfort of your lives but nothing shall cut it off therefore with patience wait untill you injoy a better life then you now have beare with patience sicklinesse of body troubles of minde the reproaches and crosses of this life in hope of eternall life And the consideration hereof should make us willing to undergo any difficulties because we hope to live happily and that happinesse to remain eternally And surely there is great reason why the servants of God should wait patiently and cheerfully expect the accomplishment of their hope for of all men in the world they are in the way to the greatest preferment and by faith they see already the bounty of God which shal hereafter be manifested towards them It may be of reproofe justly to tax and challenge the most part of Christians Vse 2. for not longing more after life eternall what should moove us to be in love with the world Ah do we so much esteem life that is temporall it is a wonder to see so great matters mentioned in the Scriptures and our hearts so little affected with them and it may be a matter of wonderment why our hearts make no more after things that be so pretious I take it these causes may be rendered but all of them intimate matter of reproofe First men that are not assured of a better estate are loath to leave that which they have in possession a poore man tha●●ives in a cold house and hath never a good roome yet if he knowes not whither to go he will not wil●lingly go out though it be never so cold so is it with many men that are miserable and poor they have no assurance of a better estate and therefore they are loath to leave this It may be they have some hopes and cares and that honest and religious as in David he had a promise of the Kingdom and his heart was set on the service he meant to do when he came to the Kingdome this may be in the mind and hinder the more earnest desires of heaven The maine cause is life eternall and the joyes of heaven are so high above our spirit that till the soul be fitted by an extraordinarie measure of grace and raised above an ordinarie pitch it is not made sutable to them Paul that had visions and revelations was elevated higher than ordinary he was full of heavenly desires FINIS Die Jovis 27 May. 1647. ORdered by the Lords in Parliament assembled That Mr. Valentine one of the Assembly of Divines is hereby thanked for his great pains taken in his Sermon Preached yesterday before their Lordships in the Abbey Church Westminster And he is hereby desired to cause the same to be Printed and published Which is to be done onely by Authority under his own Hand Jo Browne Cler Parl ' I Appoint Joh Rothwell to Print my Sermon Tho Valentime