Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	justification_n	law_n	work_n	3,179	5	6.5237	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23663	A discourse of the nature, ends, and difference of the two covenants evincing in special, that faith as justifying, is not opposed to works of evangelical obedience : with an appendix of the nature and difference of saving and ineffectual faith, and the	Allen, William, d. 1686.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1673 (1673)	Wing A1061; ESTC R5298	108,111	235

judge reverently and charitably of the Antients that used the word Merit of good Works because they meant but a moral aptitude for the promised Reward according to the Law of Grace through Christ. 16. They confess the thing thus described themselves however they like not the name of Merit lest it should countenance proud and carnal conceits 17. They judge no Man to be Heretical for the bare use of that word who agreeth with them in the sense 18. In this sense they agree that our Gospel-obedience is such a necessary aptitude to our Glorification as that glory though a free gift is yet truly a Reward of this Obedience 19. And they agree that our final Justification by sentence at the day of Judgment doth pass upon the same Causes Reasons and Conditions as our Glorification doth 20. They all agree that all faithful Ministers must bend the labour of their Ministry in publick and private for promoting of Holiness and good Works and that they must diifference by discipline between the obedient and the disobedient And O! that the Papists would as zealously promote Holiness and good Works in the World as the true serious Protestants do whom they factiously and peevishly accuse as enemies to them and that the Opinion Disputing and name of good Works did not cheat many wicked persons into self-flattery and perdition while they are void of that which they dispute for Then would not the Mahometans and Heathens be deterred from Christianity by the wickedness of these nominal Christians that are near them Nor would the serious practice of that Christianity which themselves in general profess be hated scorned and persecuted by so many both Protestants and Papists nor would so many contend that they are of the true Religion while they are really of no Religion at all any further than the Hypocrites Picture and Carkass may be called Religion Were Men but resolved to be serious Learners serious Lovers and serious Practisers according to their knowledge and did not live like mockers of God and such as look towards the life to come in jest or unbelief God would vouchsafe them better acquaintance with the true Religion than most Men have Having prefaced this much for the rest I refer thee to the perusal of this Treatise which will give thee much light into the nature of the Gospel and especially help thee to the right understanding of the meaning of the Apostle Paul in all his Epistles about the Law the Gospel and the Justification of a sinner O pray and labour for A CONFIRMED PRACTICAL FAITH as daily doth Your fellow Disciple Ri. Baxter Iune 4th 1672. The chief Heads of Discourse 1. THe nature of the Promise to Abraham 2. Why the Law was added to the Promise 3. How those under the Law were saved 4. The nature of the Legal Covenant 5. The mistakes of Iews about the Law and Promise and how St. Paul counter-argues those mistakes 6. How St. Paul's Doctrine of Iustification by Faith and not by Works was then mistaken by some 7. That the Doctrine of St. Paul and of St. James about Faith and Works do not differ 8. With an APPENDIX touching the difference and the reason of the difference between saving and ineffectual Faith A DISCOURSE Of the Nature Ends and Difference OF THE TWO COVENANTS THe mistake of the unbelieving Iews about the true import of Gods Promise to Abraham and of the Law of Moses was a principal cause of their rejecting Christ and his Gospel and their own salvation thereby To rectifie which mistake the Apostle St. Paul used various reasonings according to the various Errors contained in it In which reasonings of his there being some things hard to be understood there were others again which probably mistaking the Apostles reasonings against the Jew-Jewish Notion of Justification by Works ran into a contrary extream thinking they might be saved by Faith without Works as on the contrary the incredulous Iews thought they might be saved by Works without Faith And if many in our dayes had not run into somewhat alike extream through a misunderstanding also of the Apostles writings labour and pains would not have been so necessary as now they are to rectify their mistake and to prevent it in others To the end therefore that the plain Truth may the better appear touching Gods promise to Abraham touching the Law of Moses and the Apostles arguings about these I shall very briefly endeavour these seven things 1. To open the Nature and Design of Gods promise to Abraham And to shew 2. For what ends the Law was added to the promise 3. By what Faith and Practice the Iews under the Law were saved 4. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham 5. The grand mistakes of the unbelieving Jews and St. Paul's counter arguings touching both the Law and the Promise 6. The mistake of some pretended Christians in the Apostles days touching the Doctrine of Iustification by Faith without Works 7. That the Doctrine of St. Paul and St James about Faith and Works in reference to Iustification do not differ I shall begin with the first of these CHAP. I. The Nature and Design of Gods Promise to Abraham I Shall endeavour to open the Nature and Design of Gods Promise to Abraham Which Promise is also called the Covenant Act. 3. 25. Gal. 3. 17. In doing of which these eight things will come under consideration 1. What the nature of this Promise is in general 2. What the design of it is 3. What are the special benefits promised 4. What the extent of it is 5. The security given by God for the performance of it 6. That this Promise was conditional 7. What the condition of it was 8. What we are to understand by Gods accounting Abrahams Faith to him for Righteousness Sect. 1. Of the nature of it in general This Promise I take to be of the same nature with that which in the Gospel is called the New Covenant It 's true indeed they greatly differ in the Administration the one being but general implicite and obscure and the other more particular express and perspicuous But though in this they differ yet in their general nature they agree in one and are the same For 1. This Covenant as delivered to Abraham was confirmed in Christ as well as the Gospel afterwards Gal. 3. 17. and that 's a Character of the New Covenant Mat. 26. 28. 2. The Gospel is said to have been preached to Abraham in the Promise that was made him Gal. 3. 8. 3. He was justified by Faith which he could not have been but by vertue of a New Covenant And it was by Faith in the Promise made to him by God by which he was justified Which two things supposed it necessarily follows that that Promise was of the nature of the New Covenant 4. St. Paul argues against the erroneous Iews in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians the necessity of Evangelical Faith unto justification

the Law for them becomes imputed to them in it self and not only as the procuring cause of their Justification upon the terms of the Gospel so that they are looked upon as having themselves perfectly kept the Law in him it hath doubtless infeebled their endeavours after an inherent Righteousness and proved a temptation to them to think that so long as they have such anothers inherent Righteousness essentially in it self imputed to them as Christs is they have no great need to find it in themselves considering also that if they had it they must rather loath themselves for it than take any comfort in it But let no man deceive you saith St. Iohn he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3. 7. I do acknowledge that many of them have been worthy men who yet have propagated these Opinions But that makes the Opinions never the better but have done more hurt in gaining thereby the more credit It is true also that those worthy Men have zealously pressed the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life which proved indeed an Antidote against the Poyson of the other Opinions so that they did not become mortal to many as otherwise they would have done And indeed they would have made mad work if they had not been yoked with wholesomer Doctrine as we see they did among Antinomians Ranters and other carnal Chistians that have followed the Docture of those Opinions but have been shy of letting the Doctrines of Mortification and strict living to have any power over them But then if the preaching of those sounder Doctrines of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life have done much good notwithstanding they have been clogged with Opinions of another tendency it is easie to imagine that they would have done much more good if they had not been checkt by those unsound Principles But I shall say no more of this though more might be said because I hope I may say that most of those who have formerly imbibed these Opinions are now come to deliver themselves with more caution than heretofore And so I shall proc●●d to the last thing I propounded to touch upon and that is to shew CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and of St. Iames about Faith and Works in reference to Iustification do not differ but are wholly one IT is true indeed though the Doctrine of St. PAVL and St. IAMES was in nothing opposite the one to the other yet the nature of the subject-matter of their Epistles did differ just as the Errors they engaged against did differ The Errors of the unbelieving Iews consisting much in denying Justification to be by Christ and Faith in him and in placing it in their own works of Circumcising Sacrificing and other Mosaical Observations And St. Paul designing in some of his Epistles to antidote the Christians against the infection of them and to establish them in the saving Doctrine of the Gospel was led of course to bend his discourse in great part against Justification by Works of the Law and on the contrary to assert it to be by Faith in Christ in his Death and in his Doctrine without those works Whereas St. Iames having to do in his Epistle with such as professed the Christian Faith and Justification by it but erring dangerously about the nature of Faith as justifying thinking that opinionative Faith would save them though destitute of a real change in the moral frame and constitution of their Souls and of a holy Life Hereupon it became in a manner as necessary for him to plead the Renovation of Man's Nature and Evangelical Obedience to be some way necessary unto Justification as it was for St. Paul to contend for Justification by Faith without the deeds of the Law And therefore though their Doctrines in this respect did in great part differ yet they did not differ as Truth differs from Error nor as opposites but only as one Truth differs from another For otherwise when St. Paul had to do with the like Erroneous and Scandalous Christians as those were which St. Iames expostulated the matter with When he had to do with such as had a form of godliness but denyed the power thereof he could and did decry a reprobate faith and plead the necessity of a Faith that is unfeighned and of a holy Life as well as St. Iames as appears in part by what was said in the former Chapter and will I doubt not be made sufficiently evident in this In order whereto I shall recommend to consideration these ten things 1. That Works of Evangelical Obedience are never in Scripture opposed to God's Grace 2. That St. Paul in speaking against Justification by Works gives sufficient Caution not to be understood thereby to speak any thing against Evangelical Obedience in reference thereto 3. That Regeneration or the new Creature as including Evangelical Obedience is oposed to Works in the business of Man's Justification as well as Faith is and as well as the grace of God it self is 4. That Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith and together with Faith is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification 5. That Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to the Works of the Law 6. Faith it self is an act of Evangelical Obedience 7. By Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a right to Salvation 8. The Promise of benefit by the Blood of Christ is made to Evangelical Obedience 9. Repentance And 10. Forgiving Injuries are both acts of Evangelical Obedience without which a Man cannot be justifyed And if these things be made out they will I think amount to such a Demonstration as that we cannot well desire a clearer or fuller proof that St. Paul together with other the Apostles taught Justification by Evangelical Obedience as the effect of Faith as well as St. Iames. 1. The works of Evangelical Obedience as the effects of Faith and Regeneration by Faith are never in St. Paul's Epistles or any other the holy Scriptures opposed to God's Grace in referenee to Justification and Salvation Works and Grace indeed are opposed to each other But then by Works we are to understand either Works antecedent to Conversion or as they are denyed to merit at the hands of God or the Works of the Law of Moses as Erroneously contended for by the Iews Or the Works of the Law as Typical and as opposed to things Typified Or the Works of the Law as the Law is in its rigour opposed to the milder Oeconomy of the Gospel But the Works of Evangelical Obedience are never opposed to Grace no more than Faith it self is And there is no reason why they should because Evangelical Obedience is the effect of Divine Grace as well as Faith it self is and tends to the praise of it and is accepted and will be rewarded through Grace Contrary hereunto those words in Titus 3. 5. Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy

such as were injudicious concerning the Faith that will save and under mistakes of the Apostles Doctrine about it All this will easily appear to any that shall but with a competent measure of understanding view and consider the Scope and Contents of that Epistle And thus you see how plainly it appears by the Epistles of the Apostles that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works in the sence in which the Apostles asserted it was misunderstood by many Gnosticks carnal Gospellers or Solifidians The sense in which the Apostles did assert it was that Faith justifies without Works Antecedent to believing and without Works as the Works of a literal observation of Moses Law which was opposed by the Iews to Faith as having Christ crucified for its Object and Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience in a holy Life for its inseparable Effects But these deceived Souls that deceived their own Hearts seem to have understood the Apostles as if they had taught Justification by Faith considered only as having the Death of Christ and the Atonement made thereby for its Object without respect to Regeneration and new Obedience as any part of the Condition And it had been much better for the Christian World if those corrupt Notions about the Doctrine of Faith as justifying had dyed with those Men which in the first Ages of the Christian-Church were infected with them But alas it is too apparent that the same or much of the same dangerous and destructive mistakes have been transmitted to or revived in these latter Ages of the Church For we find by experience in this present Age that very many of those who are called Christians presume themselves to be Christians indeed and such as shall be saved by Christ though their lives declare them to be far from being new Creatures from ●eing renewed in the Spirit of their Minds Wills Affections and Conversations as those are that have been taught as the Truth is in Iesus Ephes. 4. 21 24. For they are confident they believe all the Articles of their Creed and in doing so they are confident they shall be saved and so they would if that belief of theirs were but so effectual and operative as to produce such a change in Heart and Life as would denominate them new Creatures But the mischief is they deceive themselves in the nature of their Faith it being but an Opinionative inoperative and dead assent to the truth of the Gospel such as is only an act of the mind or understanding and doth not powerfully influence the Will and so it is not a believing with all the Heart but is the act only of one faculty of the Soul A Belief its probable may be found in the Devil himself And such a Belief was found in some who were so convinced by the power of Christ's Miracles in concurrence with his Doctrine and Life that they could not choose but believe him to be an extraordinary Person sent from God though their carnal interest prevailed so much in them as that it would not suffer them to confess him openly because they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God Joh. 12. 42 43. And besides these Men deceive themselves about their Faith in this also that they do not heartily believe the whole Doctrine of the Gospel but are partial in their Faith They in a sort believe Christ to be the Son of God and that he came into the World to save sinners and that he dyed for our sins and the like But then they do not heartily believe his Doctrine touching the necessity of Repentance of being born again of denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts of living righteously godly and soberly in this present world Or else they frame such Notions of these things unto themselves of Repentance and Regeneration as that they think they believe Christ's Doctrine touching them when they believe only the lying imagination of their own brains And there is too much ground to fear that many Mens ill managing the Doctrine of Justification by Faith hath not a little strengthened Men in this vain confidence For while Evangelical Obedience it self under the Notion of those Works to which Faith is opposed hath been decryed as Popish when interessed in Justification and Justification asserted to be by Faith alone in opposition to all works whatsoever inward and outward as well Evangelical as Legal as well those after Conversion as those before yea and the disposition thereunto the Flesh and the Devil to help it hath got great advantage thereby to perswade men against the necessity of a holy Life in such a sense of a holy Life as the Scripture makes absolutely necessary to Salvation For though its true that good Works have been acknowledged and pressed too as necessary to Salvation yet when withall they have been denyed to be necessary to Justification and Men have been taught that when once they are Justified they can never fall away from a state of Justification they have easily been drawn to believe that good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation no more than to Justification but Faith only And upon supposition that the other 2 Points of Doctrine are true it would be but rational for them so to believe For if good Works be not necessary to Justification at all And if it is impossible but that those who are once justified should be saved how should Men chuse but infer from hence that good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation unless it shall be said that Men are not put into an immediate capacity of Salvation by being justified Which to affirm would be to say Men are not freed from Condemnation by being freed from Condemnation which would be a contradiction in terms For to be justified is to be freed from condemnation Rom. 8. 33 34. 5. 16 18. and therefore Justification must needs put Men into an immediate capacity of being saved And as there is great reason to think that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone in opposition to the works of Evangelical Obedience hath been a stumbling-stone unto many and a back-friend to the power of godliness so there is another which hath been wont to be joyned with it that hath rendred it the more dangerous and it self no good friend to holy living and that is the Doctrine of the imputation of Christ's Righteousness unto Justification in that way in which it hath been managed by very many for otherwise there is a sense as I have shewed in which it is a great and a comfortable truth For when Men have been taught to esteem their own Righteousness but as filthy rags not only because of its utter insufficiency to justifie in stead of Christ or as he justifies in which respect indeed it is no better but also as any part of a Condition of Justification or of our acceptance with God And when they have been taught also that upon their believing only Christ's Righteousness in fulfilling