Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	punishment_n	sin_n	suffering_n	1,654	5	9.6213	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62611	A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, April the 9th, 1693, concerning the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ by John, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1693 (1693)	Wing T1248; ESTC R9501	16,874	41

of God being made a Sacrifice for us and exposed to such bitter Sufferings and so cruel a Death for the Expiation of our Sins should create in us the greatest dread and detestation of Sin and for ever deterr us from all wilfull transgression and disobedience For if the guilt of our Sins was done away upon such hard terms and cost the dearly beloved Son of God so much sweat and blood then surely we ought to take great heed how by our renewed Provocations we renew his Passion and do what in us lies to crucifie to our selves the Son of God afresh and to put him to an open shame If God did so terribly afflict the dearly beloved of his Soul for our sakes if the Son of God was so grievously wounded for our transgressions and so sorely bruised for our iniquities If so fearfull a Storm of Vengeance fell upon the most innocent Person that ever was for our Sins then we have reason to take that kind and mercifull admonition of the Son of God to Sinners to sin no more lest a worse thing if it be possible come upon our selves In this Dispensation of God's Grace and Mercy to Mankind by the Death of his Son God seems to have gone to the very extremity of things and almost further than Goodness and Justice will well admit to afflict Innocency it self to save the Guilty And if herein God hath expressed his hatred of Sin in such a wonderfull way of love and kindness to the Sons of Men as looks almost like hatred of Innocency and his own Son This ought in all ingenuity and gratitude to our gracious Redeemer who was made a curse for us and loved us to that degree as to wash us from our Sins in his own Blood I say This ought to beget in us a greater displeasure against Sin and a more perfect detestation of it than if we had suffered the punishment due to it in our own Persons For in this Case we could only have been displeased at our Selves and our Sins as the just Cause of our Sufferings but in the other we ought to hate Sin as the unhappy Occasion of the saddest Misfortune and sorest Calamities to the best Man that ever was and to our best Friend for our Sins and for our Sakes Since then the Son of God hath so graciously condescended to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted let us aspire as much as is possible to become like to Him Above all let us hate and avoid Sin as the only thing in which the Son of God would have no part with us though he was contented to suffer such bitter things to save us from the Defilement and Dominion of it from the Punishment and all the dismal consequences of it He had no Sin but God was pleased to lay upon him the iniquities of us all and to make his Soul an offering for Sin and to permit all that to be done to Him which was due to us He was contented to be sacrificed once for all Mankind that men might for ever cease from that inhuman and ineffectual way of sacrificing one another whereby instead of expiating their guilt they did inflame it and by thinking to make Atonement for their Sins they did in truth add to the number and heinousness of them And let us likewise learn from this admirable Pattern to pity those that are in misery as Christ also hath pitied us and to save them that are ready to perish for His sake who came to seek and to save us that were lost Let us upon all occasions be ready to open our bowels of Compassion towards the Poor in a thankfull imitation of his Grace and Goodness who for our sakes chose to be a Beggar that we for his sake might not despise the Poor but might have a tender regard and compassion to those whose Condition in this World does so nearly resemble that in which the Son of God thought it fittest for him to appear when he was pleased to become Man In a word Let us in the whole course and in all the actions of our lives shew forth the Vertues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light and hath raised up a mighty Salvation for us that being delivered from all our spiritual Enemies from Sin and all the Powers of darkness we might serve him who hath saved us walking in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our lives Now To him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain To God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first-begotten from the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Unto Him who hath loved us and washed from our Sins in his own Blood and whilst we were Enemies to Him loved us at such a rate as never any man did his Friend To Him who became Man that he might bring us to God and assumed our frail and mortal Nature that he might cloath us with Immortality and Life To Him who was pleased to dwell and live amongst us that He might teach us how to live To Him who dyed for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and lives for ever to make Intercession for us To Him be Glory and Dominion Thanksgiving and Praise to eternal Ages Amen FINIS Joh. 3. 16. Heb. 4. 15. Joh. 8. 29. 1 Pet. 2. 22. Heb. 7. 26 27. Heb. 9. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Eph. 5. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 18. Joh. 15. 12. V. 13. Rom. 6. 6 7 8 1 Cor. 5. 7. Lev. 1. 4. Heb. 9. 28. v. 28. Obj. 1st Obj. 2d Obj. 3d. Obj. 4th

Son to intercede for the Pardon of a Rebel yea and to suffer some punishment or to pay a Fine for the obtaining of it does not in effect and in all equitable and gratefull construction forgive him freely Thirdly It is yet further objected That this seems to be more unreasonable than the sacrificing of Beasts among the Jews nay than the sacrificing of Men among the Heathen and even of their own Sons and Daughters Because this is the offering up of the Son of God the most innocent and the most excellent Person that ever was To which I answer that if we consider the manner and the design of it the thing will appear to be quite otherwise As to the manner of it God did not command his Son to be sacrificed but his Providence permitted the wickedness and violence of men to put him to death And then his Goodness and Wisdom did over-rule this worst of Actions to the best of Ends. And if we consider the matter aright how is this any more a reflection upon the Holy Providence of God than any Enormities and Cruelties which by his permission are daily committed in the World And then if we consider the End and Design of this permission of Christ's Death and the application of it to the purpose of a general Expiation we cannot but acknowledge and even adore the gracious and mercifull Design of it For by this means God did at once put an end to that unreasonable and bloody way of Worship which had been so long practised in the World And after this one Sacrifice which was so infinitely dear to God the benefit of Expiation was not to be expected in any other way all other Sacrifices being worthless and vain in comparison of this And it hath ever since obtained this effect of making all other Sacrifices to cease in all Parts of the World where Christianity hath prevailed Fourthly The last Objection is the Injustice and Cruelty of an innocent Person 's suffering instead of the Offender To this I answer That they who make so great a noise with this Objection do seem to me to give a full and clear Answer to it themselves by acknowledging as they constantly and expressly do that our Saviour suffered all this for our benefit and advantage though not in our place and stead For this to my apprehension is plainly to give up the Cause unless they can shew a good reason why there is not as much Injustice and Cruelty in an innocent Person 's suffering for the benefit and advantage of a Malefactour as in his suffering in his stead So little do Men in the heat of dispute and opposition who are resolved to hold fast an Opinion in despite of Reason and good sense consider that they do many times in effect and by necessary consequence grant the very thing which in express terms they do so stiffly and pertinaciously deny The truth of the matter is this there is nothing of Injustice or Cruelty in either Case neither in an Innocent Person 's suffering for the benefit of an Offender nor in his stead supposing the Suffering to be voluntary But they have equally the same appearance of Injustice and Cruelty Nor can I possibly discern any reason why Injustice and Cruelty should be objected in the one Case more than in the other there being every whit as little reason why an Innocent Person should suffer for the benefit of a Criminal as why he should suffer in his stead So that I hope this Objection which above all the rest hath been so loudly and so invidiously urged hath received a just Answer And I believe if the matter were searched to the bottom all this perverse contention about our Saviour's suffering for our benefit but not in our stead will signify just nothing For if Christ dyed for our benefit so as some way or other by vertue of his Death and Sufferings to save us from the wrath of God and to procure our escape from eternal Death this for ought I know is all that any body means by his dying in our stead For he that dies with an intention to do that benefit to another as to save him from Death doth certainly to all intents and purposes dye in his place and stead And if they will grant this to be their meaning the Controversie is at an end and both Sides are agreed in the thing and do only differ in the phrase and manner of expression Which is to seek a quarrel and an occasion of difference where there is no real ground for it a thing which ought to be very far from reasonable and peaceable Minds For the Socinians say that our Saviour's voluntary Obedience and Sufferings did procure his Exaltation at the right hand of God and Power and Authority to forgive Sins and to give eternal Life to as many as he pleased So that they grant that his Obedience and Sufferings in the meritorious consequence of them do redound to our Benefit and advantage as much as we pretend and say they do only they are loth in express terms to acknowledge that Christ dyed in our stead And this for no other reason that I can imagine but because they have denied it so often and so long But I appeal to the ingenuity of our Adversaries whether this do not in the last issue come all to one and be not on their part a mere Controversie about words For suppose a Malefactour condemned to some grievous punishment and the King's Son to save him from it is contented to submit to great disgrace and sufferings In reward of which Sufferings the King takes his Son into his Throne and sets him at his own right hand and gives him power to pardon this Malefactour and upon a fitting Submission and Repentance to advance him to honour Will not any man in this Case allow that the King's Son suffer'd instead of this Malefactour and smile at any man that shall be so nice as to grant that indeed he suffered for him but yet to deny that he was punish'd for him to allow that he bore the inconvenience of his faults but yet obstinately to stand it out that the faults of this Malefactour were not laid upon him or in any wise so imputed to him that he can be said to have suffered in his stead This is just the Case and the difference in reallity and in the last result of things is nothing but words Thus far have I tryed your patience in a contentious Argument in which I take no pleasure but yet shall be glad if I may be so happy as by any thing that hath been said to contribute towards the putting an end to so unhappy a Controversie which hath troubled the World so long and raised such a dust that very few have been able to see clearly through it However I cannot dismiss this Argument without making some usefull but very short reflection upon this great Doctrine of our Religion namely That the Son