Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wit_n	word_n	write_v	142	4	5.0105	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96866	Justification by faith: or, a confutation of that antinomian error, that justification is before faith; being the sum & substance of a sermon / preached at Sarum; by Benjamin Woodbridge, minister of Newberry in Barkshire. May 26. 1652. Imprimatur, Edmund Calamy.	Woodbridge, Benjamin, 1622-1684.	1652 (1652)	Wing W3424; Thomason E673_18; ESTC R207183	23,288	41

compare them with other places of Scripture we shall finde three things of distinct consideration the conclusion of which is the only support of this feeble Argument 1. There is the matter and blessings of the Covenant on Gods part I will be their God and they shall be my people In which words as many blessings temporal and eternal are promised so peculiarly pardon of sin mentioned in the words next following for which the Covenant on Mount Sinai to which this opposed made no provision and therefore when the Apostle mentioneth this Covenant again he leaves out those words I will be their God c. and takes notice of the great blessing contained in them namely Pardon of sin Heb. 10. 17. 2. There is expressed the bond and condition of it on our part and that is Faith which is confessedly signified in those words of putting Gods Laws in our mindes and writing them in our hearts In these two things is the tenor and formality of the New Covenant They that believe the Lord will be their God and they shall be his people and this is the Covenant so long before promised but most expresly Enacted in the days of the New Testament But thirdly There is also a Promise and Declaration that God will work this condition by which men shall have an interest in this Covenant and a right and title to the blessings thereof I will put my laws into their mindes that is I will give them Faith which Faith is not promised as an effect of the Covenant already made but as the means by which we are brought into Covenant and thereby invested in a right to all the blessings of it So that the words are in this sense This is the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel when I shall write my Laws in their hearts I will be their God c. I do not herein give the Grammatical Translation of the words though if a man should read the words thus This is the Covenant which I will make saith the Lord that giveth his Laws into their mindes and writeth them in their heart c. he would be so far from offering violence either to the Greek Translation of the LXX which the Apostle follows or to the Hebrew Text in the Prophet as that he might justifie it by many examples But the matter is of no consequence at all to either side You see the sense which I give of the words And that this is the true sense of the place is most evident if we compare it with other Scriptures where this Covenant is mentioned For example Jer. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for or when they shall return unto me with their whole heart where we have the very same Arguments as here viz. The blessings promised I will be their God The condition on the peoples part which is their returning with their whole heart and the cause of this return I will give them an heart The Apostle is yet more distinct Heb. 10. 14 15 16 17. He proves that Christ hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified whereof saith he the holy Ghost is a witness to us for after that he had said before This is the Covenant that I will make with them I will put my laws into their heart And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more Before which last words must be repeated these Then he saith or Then it followeth and so the whole sentence runneth thus For after he had said before I will put my laws into their hearts then he saith Their sins and their iniquities I wil remember no more which clause as is already observed is one of the special and noble blessings contained in that general promise I will be their God and they shall be my people from which distribution of the words of the Covenant we may as before observe 1. Where begins the grand promise of the Covenant to wit in those words I will be their God and they shall be my people 2. The Qualification of the persons to whom this promise is made They are such in whose hearts Gods Laws are written that is such as believe 3. The efficient cause of this their Faith and that is God himself I will write my laws in their hearts The same Covenant is delivered in other terms in Scripture in all which the giving of the first Grace is promised not as a part of the Covenant but as the means and qualification on mans part for his entrance into Covenant as Ezek. 11. 19 20. I will put a new spirit within them that they may walk in my statutes and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God which is the sum of the Covenant on Gods part so in Ezek. 36. 25 26 27 28. Again the Lord promiseth That he will cleanse and purifie them and so they shall be his people and he will be their God Ezek. 37. 23. which is the grand promise of the New Testament as the context makes it manifest And after he had promised that they should walk in his judgements and observe in his statutes it follows Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant which in sum is this I will be their God and they shall be my people verse 24. 26 27. The premises being considered it is an easie matter to take the elevation of all the strength which our opponents can gather out of this Text If they will argue rightly they must cast their Argument into some such form as this They concerning whom God hath promised that he will give them Faith they are in Covenant before they believe But concerning the elect God hath promised that he will give them Faith Ergo. Here the major is utterly untrue for the promise of Faith which in reference to us is rather a Declaration de futuro of what God will do then a promise is the promise of the condition by which we are brought into Covenant and therefore though God hath declared that he will give Faith it will by no means follow that we are in Covenant before Faith But let them frame their Argument how they please it concerns not me to be solicitous about that I shall advance one Argument against them from this their place of refuge and pass on If God be not the God of any nor they his people before they believe then none are in Covenant with God before they believe But God is not the God of any before they believe Ergo. For the proposition he is destitute of common sense that shall deny it The being of the Covenant consists in that properly which God hath in us and we in him The Assumption is proved thus If God promise to give Faith that we may be his people and he our God then till that Faith