Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	imputation_n	justification_n	righteousness_n	3,015	5	7.9076	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64622	A body of divinitie, or, The summe and substance of Christian religion catechistically propounded, and explained, by way of question and answer : methodically and familiarly handled / composed long since by James Vsher B. of Armagh, and at the earnest desires of divers godly Christians now printed and published ; whereunto is adjoyned a tract, intituled Immanvel, or, The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God heretofore writen [sic] and published by the same authour.; Body of divinity	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Downame, John, d. 1652.	1645 (1645)	Wing U151; ESTC R19025	516,207	504

it is a judiciall sentence opposed to condemnation Rom. 8. 34 35. Who shall lay any thing saith Paul to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth who shall condemn Now as to condemn is not the putting any evill into the nature of the party condemned but the pronouncing of his person guilty and the binding him over unto punishment so justifying is the Judges pronouncing the Law to be satisfied and the man discharged and quitted from guilt and judgement Thus God imputing the righteousnesse of Christ to a sinner doth not account his sins unto him but interests him in a state of as full and perfect freedom and acceptance as if he had never sinned or had himselfe fully satisfied For though there is a power purging the corruption of sin which followeth upon justification yet it is carefully to be distinguished from it as we shall further shew hereafter This for the name of Justification but now for the thing it selfe what is the matter first of our justification The matter of justification or that righteousnesse whereby a sinner stands justified in Gods sight is not any righteousnesse inherent in his own person and performed by him but a perfect righteousnesse inherent in Christ and performed for him What righteousnesse of Christ is it whereby a sinner is justified Not the essentiall righteousnesse of his divine nature but First the absolute integrity of our humane nature which in him our head was without guile Heb. 7. 6. Secondly the perfect obedience which in that humane nature of ours he performed unto the whole law of God both by doing whatsoever was required of us Mat. 3. 15. and by suffering whatsoever was deserved by our sins 1 Pet. 2. 24. for he was made sin and a curse for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him What is the forme or being cause of our justification and that which makes this righteousnesse so really ours that it doth justifie us The gracious imputation of God the Father accounting his Sons righteousnesse unto the sinner and by that accounting making it his to all effects as if he himselfe had performed it But how can Christs righteousnesse be accompted ours is it not as absurd to say that we are justified by Christs righteousnesse as that a man should be wise with the wisdom of another or live and be in health by the life and health of another No doubtlesse because this righteousnesse is in Christ not as in a person severed from us but as in the head of the Church the second Adam from whom therefore it is communicated unto all who being united as members unto him doe lay claim thereunto and apply it unto themselves Rom. 5. 19. Rom. 10. 4. For if the sin of Adam were of force to condemn us all because we were in his loynes he being the head of our common nature why then should it seem strange that the righteousnesse of our Saviour Christ both God and man should be availeable to justifie those that are interessed in him especially considering that we have a more strict conjunction in the Spirit with him then ever we had in nature with Adam And though it be not fit to measure heavenly things by the yard of reason yet it is not unreasonable that a man owing a thousand pound and not being able to pay it his creditor may be satisfied by one of his friends If Christ have paid our debt how are we then freely justified by grace It is of grace that Christ is given unto us and also that his righteousnesse apprehended by faith is accounted ours It is true that the justification of a sinner considering the case as it is between the Father and Christ no man dare call it free no the price of our Redemption was the deepest purchase that the world ever heard of but what ever it cost Christ it cost us nothing and so to us it is freely of grace from Christ yea and to us it is freely grace from God the Father too not because he acquits us without a full satisfaction to his Justice or accepts that for perfect righteousnesse which is not perfect righteousnes but because he receives full satisfaction from the hands of a surety and that surety being his own Son when as he might have challenged the uttermost farthing at our hands which were the principals and then there had been no possibility for us to have been delivered What gather you from this doctrine of Justification by Christs righteousnesse 1. To condemn the proud opinion of Papists who seek Justification by their owne workes and righteousnesse inherent in themselves whereas though being accepted we must in thankfulnesse doe all we can for God yet when all is done we must acknowledge our selves unprofitable servants the onely matter of our joy and triumph both in life and death must be the imputation of Christs righteousnes not our persons nor the best actions of the holiest men dare appeare in Gods presence but in his name and merit who consecrates all the Lords Jesus 2. We may here take notice that there is no comfort to a Christian soule like that which floweth from this Well of salvation this sweet doctrine of Justification 1. Here we have assurance of the sufficiencie of our Redemption that soule must be throughly acquited that is stated in such a righteousnesse that debt must be fully discharged that hath such a price laid down for it our sinnes though never so great cannot weigh down his righteousnesse and merit Rom. 8. 33. and God having accepted his Sons righteousnes for us will not hold us any longer trespassers but he disables his own Justice from making any further demand 2. Hence there is nothing comes upon the Saints from Gods revenging Justice but all our corrections are medicinall from Gods Fatherly love to purge out that sin out of our nature which he hath already pardoned to our persons 3. Lastly this doctrine may be great comfort to weak Christians in the midst of their troublesome imperfections and sense of their weak measures of Sanctification To consider that the righteousnesse that is inherent in themselves is not the matter of their Justification or that which must appear before Gods presence to be pleaded the righteousnesse of Christ is compleat and perfect that is our main joy and crown of rejoycing to be found in Christ not having our own righteousnesse but that which is in him and made ours by Gods gracious account But how is this great benefit of Justification applyed unto us and apprehended by us This is done on our part by faith alone and that not considered as a vertue inherent in us working by love but only as an instrument or hand of the soule stretched forth to lay hold on the Lord our righteousnesse Rom. 5. 1. 10 10. Jer. 23. 6. So that faith justifieth onely Relatively in respect of the object which it fasteneth on to wit the righteousnesse of Christ by which

9. Whether is grace properly attributed to God in the second sense or no Yea most properly for God doth justifie us that is he doth account us for just through his Sonne Jesus Christ and that of his free grace and favour without any desert of our parts or any thing in us Rom. 3. 20. 24. 4. 16. What be the causes of this grace or favour of God The efficient cause is his goodnesse and free will the finall cause cause thereof is the salvation of his chosen children and the glory of himselfe and of his Son Christ Jesus What be the effects of Gods grace to us wards In generall the grace of God whereof there is no cause in us but onely his own goodnesse and will is the first cause the middle cause and the the last cause and the onely cause of all that belongs to our salvation Rom. 9. 11. And particularly it is the cause of our Election of our Redemption of the sending of Christ into the world of our Calling of the preaching of the Gospell Eph. 1. 4. John 3. 11. 34. Rom. 5. 8. It was the cause why the Apostles were called to the preaching of the Gospell Gal. 1. 15 16. Eph. 3. 8. 9. It is the cause of our Faith of the forgivenesse of our sinnes of our whole justification of our regeneration of our renovation of our love to God and our neighbour of the Holy Ghost in us of our good works of our obedience of our perseverance of the feare of God of eternall life and of life it selfe 2 Tim. 1. 9. Phil. 2. 13. Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 9. Rom. 3. 24. Tit. 3. 5. 1 John 4. 9. Ezek. 36. 27. Jerem. 32. 40. and in a word the begining the continuance and the accomplishment of our whole salvation doth depend wholly upon the grace and favour of God and what good thing soever we have or have had or may have belonging either to this life or to the life to come is to be attributed wholly to the grace and favour of God What is the love of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he loves himselfe above all and others for himselfe 1 John 4. 16. Rom. 5. 8. John 3. 16. Tit. 3. 4. Mal. 1. 2 3. What learn you from hence That wee should love him dearely and other things for him That we may the better know what the love of God is declare first what love is in our selves It is a passion of the mind whereby we are so affected towards the party whom we love that we are rather his then our own forgetting our selves to doe him good whom we so love And is love such a thing in God No the true love of God is not such as our love is What difference is there There is great difference two wayes First in time for love was in God before it was in us or in any thing created for he loved himselfe and us also before the world was John 17. 23. Secondly they differ in nature and quality for that love which is in God is most perfect and pure Rom. 9. 13. without passion but in us it is imperfect and matched with passions with impure affections and grief of the mind After what manner doth the Scripture expresse the love of God In the Scriptures God doth compare himselfe to a father and to a mother loving their children to a hen gathering her chickens together under her wings to a good shepherd seeking up his sheep and to divers other things And wherefore serve these comparisons They are for our profit two wayes First to shew us that Gods love towards us is most vehement and sincere Secondly to make us bold in coming to him and calling upon him so for this love Christ Jesus calleth us by all the names of love as his servants his kinsmen his friends his spouse his brethren and by many names moe to shew that he loveth us with all loves the fathers love the mothers love the masters love the husbands love the brothers love c. and if all loves were put together yet his love exceedeth them all for all could not doe so much for us as he alone hath done If love doth not signifie any affection or passion in God as it doth in us what then doth it signifie In God it signifieth three things most perfect first the eternall good will of God towards some body for the love of God supposed towards the Elect is his everlasting good will or his purpose and determination to shew them mercy to doe them good and to save them as in Rom. 9. 11. 13. Secondly the effects themselves of his love or good will whether they be temporall concerning this life or eternall concerning the life to come as in the 1 John 3. 1. Thirdly the pleasure and delight which he taketh in that which he loveth and so it is taken in Psal. 45. 7. 23. What things doth God love besides himselfe Besides himselfe God loveth all things else whatsoever he made but he loveth not sinne and iniquity for he never made it as Saint John saith 1 John 2. 16. Again he loveth his Son being manifested in the flesh and he loveth his chosen children for his Sons sake with whom he is well pleased Mat. 3. last verse Obj. 1. The Scripture saith that God doth hate all that work iniquity how then can God both hate and love one and the same man In every wicked man we must consider two things First His nature Secondly his sinne His nature is the work of God and that he loveth but his iniquity is not of God and that he hateth Obj. 2. God doth afflict his children therefore he doth not love them Whom he loveth he correcteth and therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them even as a gold-smith tryeth his gold in the fire because he loveth it Whether doth God love all alike or no No he preferreth mankind before all his other creatures for which cause God is called Philanthropos that is a lover of men and this appeareth by three effects of his love First he made him according to his own Image that is in righteousnesse and true holinesse Gen. 1. 26. Eph. 4. 24. Secondly he made him Lord over all his creatures Psal. 8. 5 6. Thirdly he gave his own Son to death for his ransom Doth God love all men alike No for he loveth his Elect better then the Reprobate for the Elect he calleth effectually by his Spirit in their hearts when he calleth others but by the outward voyce of the Gospell c. Again amongst the Elect themselves some are actually wicked and not yet reconciled nor called as was Paul before his conversion but the rest are called and already made holy by Faith in Christ as Paul was after his conversion and of these he loveth the latter sort with a greater measure of love then the former as the Scripture testifieth in Prov. 8. 17. What manner of love doth God beare

mercy in God doth spring out of his free love towards us Why doe you say out of the free love of God are there more loves in God then one There are two kinds of love in God one is wherewith the Father loveth the Son and the Son the Father and which the holy Ghost beareth towards both the Father and the Son and this love I call the naturall love of God so that the one cannot but love the other but the love wherewith he loveth us is voluntary not being constrained thereunto and therefore is called the free love of God and thereof it commeth to passe that mercy is also wholly free that is without reward or hope of recompence and excludeth all merit How prove you that the mercy of God ariseth out of his love That the love of God is the cause of his mercy it is manifest in the Scriptures 1 Tim. 1. 2. Paul saluteth Timothy in this order Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ to shew that that peace which the world cannot give the mercy of God is the cause of it and the cause of his mercy is his grace and his grace is nothing else but his free favour and love towards us The same order doth Paul observe in Titus 3. 4 5. where he saith when the goodnesse and love of God our Saviour appeareth not by the works of righteousnesse which we had done but according to his mercy he saved us First he sets down the goodnesse of God as the cause of his love Secondly his love as the cause of his mercy And thirdly his mercy as the cause of our salvation and our salvation as the effect of all and therefore there is nothing in us which may move the Lord to shew mercy upon us but only because he is goodnesse it self by nature and to this doth the Psalmist bear witnesse Psal. 100. 5. saying that the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth is from generation to generation Towards whom is the mercy of God extended or shewed For the opening of this point we are to consider that the mercy of God is twofold First generall Secondly speciall God as a God doth shew mercy generally upon all his creatures being in misery and chiefly to men whether they be just or unjust Psal. 140. 147. and so doth succour them either immediately by himself or else mediately by creatures as by Angels or Men by the Heavens by the Elements and by other living creatures and this generall mercy of God is not extended to the eternall salvation of all but is only temporary and for a while Of this read Luk. 6. 36. What say you to the speciall mercy of God That I call the speciall mercy of God which God as a most free God hath shewed to whom he would and denyed to whom he would and this pertaineth only to the elect and those which fear him Psal. 103. 11. for he sheweth mercy upon them to their eternall salvation and that most constantly while he doth effectually call them unto himself while he doth freely and truly pardon their sins and justifie them in the bloud of the Lamb Jesus Christ while he doth sanctifie them with his grace and doth glorifie them in eternall life and of this speciall mercy we may read in Eph. 2. 4 5 6. How great is the mercy of God It is so great that it cannot be expressed nor conceived of us and that is proved by these Scriptures following Ps. 145. 9. James 2. 13. 1 Cor. 11. 32. Psal. 57 10. How long doth the mercy of God continue towards us Although the mercy of God be great and infinite in Christ yet for that mercy which pardoneth our sins and calleth us to faith and repentance by the Gospel there is no place after death but onely while we live in this world which is warranted by these places ensuing Gal. 6. 10. Let us doe good whilest we have time to shew that a time will come when we shall not be able to doe good Apoc. 7. 17. Be faithfull unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of life to shew that the time which is given unto death is a time of repentance and of exercising of faith and of works but after death there is no time but to receive either an immortall Crown if we have been faithfull or everlasting shame if we have been unfaithfull Besides these see Apoc. 14. 13. Mark 9. 45. Esa. ult 24. Luk. 16. 24 25 26. Mat. 15. 11 12. John 9. 4. What uses may we make of Gods mercies First it serveth to humble us for the greater mercy is in God the greater misery is in us Secondly we must attribute our whole salvation unto his mercy Thirdly we must flee to God in all our troubles with most sure confidence Fourthly we must not abuse it to the liberty of the flesh to sin although we might find mercy with God after death for the mercy of God specially appertains to those that fear him Psal. 103. 11. Fiftly the meditation of Gods mercies towards us should make us to love God Psa. 116. 1. Luk. 7. 47. fear God Psa. 130. 4. praise God Ps. 86. 12 13. 103. 2 3 4. Sixtly it must make us mercifull one to another Luk. 6. 36. Matth. 18. 32 33. What is the justice of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he is infinitely just in himself of himself for from by himself alone and none other Psalm 11. 7. What is the rule of this justice His own free will and nothing else for whatsoever he willeth is just and because he willeth it therefore it is just not because it is just therefore he willeth it Eph. 1. 11. Psal. 115. 3. Mat. 20. 15. which also may be applied to the other properties of God Explain this more particularly I say that God doth not always a thing because it is just but therefore any thing is just that is just because God will have it so and yet his will is joyned with his wisdome as for example Abraham did judge it a most just and righteous thing to kill his innocent son not by the law for that did forbid him but only because he did understand it was the speciall will of God and he knew that the will of God was not only just but also the rule of all righteousnesse That wee may the better understand this attribute declare unto mee how many manner of wayes one may be just or righteous Three manner of ways either by nature or by grace or by perfect obedience How many ways may one be just by nature Two ways First by himself and of himself in his own essence and beeing thus we say that in respect of this essentiall righteousnesse there is none just but God onely as Christ saith none is good but God only Secondly derivatively by the benefit of another to be either made righteous or born just and in