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	remission_n	sin_n	2,805	5	5.4403	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65814	A discourse upon I Peter IV., VIII wherein the power and efficacy of charity as it is a means to procure the pardon of sin is explained and vindicated / by John Whitefoot.	Whitefoote, John, 1610-1699.	1695 (1695)	Wing W1862; ESTC R26478	56,458	143

be sufficiently avoided by alledging that although it be true that Faith is the only thing that is effectual to Justification or remission of sin and that no other Act or Vertue can contribute any thing to this end yet neither are the forementioned Promises nor the Exhortations void or useless in reference to this effect 1. Because there is a Necessity of presence though not of efficacy of those other Acts and Vertues which are mentioned in the Promises and Exhortations And so Charity amongst other things may be a causa sine quâ non of Salvation and remission of sin in respect of its necessary presence together with Faith 2. Because the same things are necessary to the verification of Faith i. e. to manifest the Truth of it though they have no concurrent efficacy with Faith to the Justification or Salvation of the Believer 3. Because the practice of these Vertues is necessary or at least usefull for the assurance of a mans Justification Pardon of sin and Salvation though it be no ways effectual to any of those ends considered in themselves Heb. 6.10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister And 2 Pet. 1.5 10 11. And besides all this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity i. e. an universal Charity extended to all men as well as Christian Brethren Wherefore ye rather give diligence to make your calling and election sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in some Greek Copies and though these words are left out in our own and other Translations because they are so in ordinary Greek Copies yet the Sense of them is confessedly included in all readings for so an entrance shall be given you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And 1 Joh. 3.18 19. My little children let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and in truth And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him So 1 Jo. 3.14 We know that we have passed from death unto Life because we love the brethren By these Texts and many more of like Sense it is evident that Charity is usefull to procure a mans assurance of those Benefits which are supposed to be obtained by Faith only Another verbal evasion of all the Arguments which are produced for the effectual concurrence of Charity and Good Works to the attainment of the great Benefits of final Justification and Salvation hath been vulgarly expressed by that trite saying of the Latin Father Bernard Bona opera sunt via ad regnum non causa regnandi Good Works are indeed the way to the kingdom of Heaven but not the cause of reigning Which words applied to the Doctrine by us grounded upon the words of the Apostle must have this Sense viz. That Charity is the way to obtain the covering or non-imputation of sin but no cause of it i. e a means but not a cause a very nice distinction to be considered further hereafter This I take to be a just account of the chief Answers that have been made to the premised Arguments from the Promises and exhortations of Scripture for the efficacy or validity of Charity and Good Works unto the remission of sin and the Salvation of a sinner Now in order to a sufficient reply to these Answers I think it necessary in this place to say something by way of explication of the Question tending to the clearing of the true Sense and meaning of the Doctrine what is meant by that Efficacy which any act that can be done by men may have towards the remission of their sins their Justification and Salvation It is evident that all these things are the proper and peculiar Acts and Effects of God himself who is the agent of efficient cause of them all And therefore 't is impossible that any Humane Act should have any direct or immediate influence or efficiency upon these Effects Who can forgive sins but God And 't is God that justifies and saves actively And therefore all the Efficacy that can be in Humane Acts towards these effects can be no more than preparative or passive And what can that signifie more than that they are certain Dispositions and Qualifications of the Patient or Subject to receive these Effects of Divine Grace Nor can Faith it self have any other influence or efficacy upon these Effects any more than Charity Faith it self doth neither pardon our sin or contribute any thing to that Divine Act by which we are pardoned Neither doth qualifie or save us any otherwise then by making such a Change or Qualification in us whereupon this Grace of Justification to Life is freely given us of God But against this Explication of the Efficacy of Faith to the Grace of Justification it hath been alledged that Faith in Christ doth not justifie as an act or qualification found in us but as it hath a peculiar Vertue not common to Charity or any other Act of ours and that is of apprehending and receiving Christ or uniting us to him and so making us Partakers of his Righteousness imputed to us by means whereof we come to be Justified our sins Covered and our Souls saved Whereunto I answer 1. By allowing an union of Believers with Christ the common Saviour to be indeed the true ground and foundation of the Benefits which we receive by him And that this Union is not barely Relative or Political such as is betwixt a King Lord or Husband and their respective Subjects Servants and Wives Nor only Pactional imputed and founded upon the Promise or Covenant of the Gospel to them that believe in him but a true and real Union effected by the Medium of the Holy Spirit communicated to them that believe and are baptized into the Faith of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit ver 11. of the same Chapter But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.12 If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his This Spirit of Christ is ordinarily called the Spirit of God abiding or dwelling in all true Believers whereby they are partakers of the Divine Nature as St. Peter speaketh as Christ also was 1 Cor. 3.16 1 Cor. 8.19 2 Pet. 1.4 though not in the same measure and manner Such a real Union there is between Christ the Head and all true Believers Members of his Body as there is between the head and members of a natural Body partaking of one and the

healed Which seems to be the sence of another Phrase often used by our Saviour in like cases to them that came to him for the healing of their Diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 9.22 Thy faith hath saved thee i. e. hath made thee whole as 't is there rendred in our English Translation agreeable to the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the woman was made whole from that hour Not that I suppose this to be all the Benefit that he ever intended to any Person to whom he uttered those words thy sins are forgiven thee amongst whom it is more than probable there were some whose Faith did qualifie them for a better remission of their sin But it is not evident that every one of those Persons that were cured of their bodily Diseases by him were endued with such an unfeigned Faith as did render them capable of an absolute Remission of all their sins as to another Life For to think as some Divines have said that our Blessed Saviour never cured the body of any Patient but he cured their souls also seems to be but an improbable opinion But supposing this Remission of sin as relating only to Temporal Punishments in this Life to be granted as a Reward of an Insincere Charity the Question may be moved whether the like Charity or any works thereof may not be available also to some degree of Remission or covering of sin in the Life to come at the last Judgement To this Question I shall not presume to answer dogmatically as not remembring at present any particular Testimony of Scripture whereby that Question may be determined either in the Negative or Affirmative notwithstanding my Opinion inclines to the Affirmative viz. that although such an infincere Charity can avail nothing towards a total Remission at the last Judgement or the Salvation of the Person whereof no man can be capable whithout an unfeigned Repentance and such a true Faith as works by sincere Love to God and his Neighbour yet that even such Good Works as do indeed proceed from Charity and are not done hypocritically for self Interest Worldly ends or carnal Motives only may abate the Degrees of the future Punishment in another Life My reason for this Opinion is grounded upon that Fundamental Principle of all Religion That all men shall fare in the life to come 2 Cor. 5.10 according to the things done by them in this Life whether they be good or whether they be bad Which Rule is understood not only of the respective states of Salvation and Damnation but also of the degrees of Reward and Punishment in that state As for the state of Punishment no question hath been or can be made concerning the difference of its degrees expressly declared in Scripture signifying that it shall be more tolerable for some Mat. 10.15 chap. 11.22 Luke 12.47 48. than for others in that day wherein some shall be beaten with many stripes and some with fewer And the Question that is made about the degrees of Glory is but a novel one none of the Ancients that I know of and very few Modern Divines have embraced the Opinion that asserts the equality of that state The Catholick Doctrine founded upon Scripture supposes as much disparity of degrees of Glory and Happiness in Heaven as of Punishment in Hell and that the respective measures of each condition will be allotted and assigned according to such proportion of Good and Evil as upon an exact and infallible Evidence before an Impartial Judge shall be found in the Persons to be judged with Relation to the bodily Life past So is that Judgement described by St John Rev. 20.12 And I saw the dead both small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works And that among all sorts of Good Works those of Charity to our Brethren will then have a special Confideration is sufficiently intimated by the words of our Saviour in his own Description of the last Judgement Mat. 25.31 to the end of the Chapter I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me c A Text which I shall have occasion to speak more largely of afterward in the Confirmation of this Doctrine And as by this Declaration of our Saviour himself who is to be Judge at that day it is evident that Works of Charity proceeding from an unfeigned Faith will then be specially considered as a qualification for the General Reward so that the Degrees and Measures of that Reward will be proportion'd to the Measures of Charity seems no less evident by the words of the Apostle speaking also of the same sort of works 2. Cor. 9.6 He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully And in the words of our Saviour in the forementioned Text it is likewise added as a Reason of the Sentence of Condemnation to be denounced against them on the left hand verse 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meit I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink c. Signifying that one just cause of that just Sentence will be the neglect of this great Duty of Charity whence it will follow upon a reasonable account that look how much that sin of neglect or omission shall be found to be abated by any thing done by the Person to be judged and condemned for that fault so much will be abated of the Punishment And though some Works of Charity bearing no proportion to the ability of him that doth them may be reckon'd as none in the Sense of our Saviours words and in reference to a mans discharge from the Substance of the Sentence yet it cannot be said that he that hath done some Works of Charity is altogether so guilty of the omission of that Duty as he that hath done none And consequently cannot be equally liable upon that account to the same degrees of Punishment And therefore his Charity how defective soever it was will save him from some degrees of Punishment in that state Besides all the validity it had to exempt him from Punishments and to procure any Temporal Reward in this Life What other Consideration may be had by the Judge at that day of Works of Charity done by any Person that then shall be found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reprobate and so fall into condemnation towards any counterpoise of his other sins or of the abatement of the degrees of their Punishment I cannot tell But this is certain that what ever can be equitably plended for the abatement of Punishment will be considered by that Judge who is infinitely Wise and Just knowing