Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A26806
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Sermons upon Psalm CXXX, ver. 4 but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayst be feared / by William Bates.
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Bates, William, 1625-1699.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing B1124; ESTC R25865
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50,575
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129
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a Reprieve and Suspension of Judgment 't is the blessed Security of Believers they shall not fall under Condemnation There is such an Inconstancy in the Nature of Men that they often repent and revoke the Favours and Privileges they have bestowed they like to day and loath to morrow the same Persons but the blessed God is not subject to Change or Contingency His Love his Purpose his Promise to his People are unalterable From the Sense of God's pardoning Mercy Conscience is freed from those just Terrors that are the Consequents of Guilt The Blood of Christ purges our Conscience from dead Works from the deadly Guilt of Sin that cleaves to the Conscience A temporal Prince may pardon a Murderer and Conscience with a Countenance of Despair may summon him to appear and be accountable for his bloody Crime before the High and Everlasting Judg but those who are justified by Faith have Peace with God When the Original Bond is cancell'd the Counter-part has no Force Conscience is subordinate to God and when he justifies has no Authority to condemn When God blots out the Iniquities of his People as a thick Cloud there is a clear Sky a divine Calm and Serenity in Conscience It may be enquired how the compleat Pardon of Sin is consistent with the temporal Evils inflicted upon the Children of God for their Sins The Answer is obvious and easy Temporal Evils inflicted on the Children of God are declarative of his holy Displeasure against Sin but are not for Satisfaction to vindictive Justice This would be derogatory to the Love of God and the meritorious Sufferings of our Saviour who did not compound with God but made full and absolute Satisfaction for our Sins In the 12 th Chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle so divinely and accurately treats of this Argument there is a clear Account of the Cause the Nature and the Product of the temporal Sufferings of God's Children The Cause of them is the Love of their heavenly Father displeased for their Sins Whom the Lord loves he chastens and scourges every Son whom he receives Earthly Parents in their various Fits of Folly sometimes chasten their Children only for their Pleasure and sometimes spare the Rod to their Ruine but our heavenly Father is equally wise and compassionate and uses such Discipline as is requisite for their Profit to prevent their Continuance in Sin that would be destructive to them Believers are chasten'd of the Lord that they may not be condemned with the World And the Wisdom and Love of our Father and Physician mixes such bitter Ingredients and in that Proportion as are requisite for the Quality of the Disease and the Strength of the Patient He corrects them in measure he will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able Their Afflictions are deliberate Dispensations The Nature of them is signified in the word Chastisement The Correction of a Child is in order to his Amendment They are medicinal and have a main Relation and Prospect to the future to make us more fearful to offend God and careful to please him They are more lively and sensible Lessons of our Duty than the Instructions of the Word and are of the same Order The Product of the Chastisements of God's Children is the pleasant Fruit of Righteousness to them who are exercised thereby that is the sanctifying Graces of the Spirit Repentance Faith Hope Patience Self-denial Contempt of the World Resignation to the Divine Will are exercised illustrated and increas'd in those Christians who with unfainting Perseverance endure Affliction In short Death that was the penal Effect of Sin for the first Man while innocent was immortal tho continued yet the Sting is taken away the Quality of it is changed The Issues of it are vastly different to the Saints and the Wicked To the Saints 't is the Period of their Fears and Sorrows the final Remedy of all their Miseries to the Wicked 't is the Beginning of their Woe The Saints pass through the Darkness and Corruption of the Grave into the Kingdom of Glory the Wicked pass to the Blackness of Darkness for ever 2 dly The Intireness of this great Benefit is evident in that God restores his Love and forfeited Favour to all that are pardon'd Princes sometimes pardon Offenders but never receive them into their Favour Absalom was recall'd from Banishment but for two Years was not admitted to see the King's Face But God does magnify and manifest his Love to those whom he pardons He does not distinguish them from the Angels that always obeyed him He forgives our Sins as entirely as if they had never been committed and is reconcil'd as if he had never been offended We have the most clear Discovery of this in the Parable of the Prodigal It might have been expected that his Father should have reproach'd him for his obstinate deserting his House his wasting his Portion in Lewdness and Luxury and that bitter Constraint forced him to return no he dearly embraces him and cancels all the Debt of his past Offences with a most affectionate Kiss and whereas the poor Penitent presum'd only to be received as a Servant he was restor'd in the most affectionate manner to the Dignity and Relation of a Son and universal Joy was diffused through all the Family for his Return If our Saviour had not made this Relation with all its endearing Circumstances our narrow Hearts durst never presume and promise to us such compassionate Love of God to repenting Sinners But whoever imitates the Prodigal in his Return shall find the Reality to exceed the Representation I shall add some Examples of this Love of God to those who repent Mary Magdalen had been guilty of foul Sins yet our Saviour graciously received the tender Expressions of her Grief and Love to the Astonishment of Simon She wash'd his Feet with her Tears and wiped them with the Hair of her Head and kissed them and after his Resurrection appeared first to her as his endeared Favourite 'T is recorded by the Evangelist with an infinite Emphasis of his Love that he first appear'd to Mary Magdalen out of whom he had cast seven Devils Peter in whose Denial of Christ there was such a Mixture of Infidelity Ingratitude and Impiety he promised he would die with him or for him yet being questioned not with Terror by an armed Magistrate not surprized by a subtle Examiner but at the Question of a Maid renounc'd him yet he was restor'd to the Honour of his Office and the Affection of his Master 'T is very observable that when he appeared to Mary Magdalen he directs her to tell his Disciples and Peter of his Resurrection he particularly mentions Peter to raise his drooping Spirit by this new Assurance of his Love This happy Privilege belongs to all penitent Believers for whomsoever God pardons he prefers and adopts into his Family and makes them Heirs of Heaven The first Beam of Mercy shines