Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	witness_v	work_n	wrought_v	18	3	7.5583	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30905	Truth triumphant through the spiritual warfare, Christian labours, and writings of that able and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, Robert Barclay, who deceased at his own house at Urie in the kingdom of Scotland, the 3 day of the 8 month 1690.	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1692 (1692)	Wing B740; ESTC R25857	1,185,716	995

us § III. First then as by the Explanation of the former Thesis appears Expl. 1 we Renounce all Natural Power and Ability in our selves in order to bring us out of our lost and fall●n Condition and first Nature Justification springs of and from the Love of God and Confess that as of our selves we are able to do nothing that is good so neither can we procure Remission of Sins or Justification by any Act of our own so as to merit it or draw it as a Debt from God due unto us but we acknowledge all to be of and from his Love which is the Original and Fundamental Cause of our Acceptance Secondly God manifested this love towards us in the sending of his Expl. 2 Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the World who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savour Christ giveing himself a Sacrifice for us and having made peace through the blood of his Cross that he might Reconcile us unto himself and by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God and suffered for our Sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God Thirdly then Forasmuch as all men who have come to man's Estate the Man Jesus only Excepted have sinned therefore all have need of Expl. 3 this Saviour to remove the Wrath of God from them due to their Offences in this respect he is truly said to have born the Iniquities of us all in his Body on the Tree and therefore is the Only Mediator having qualified the Wrath of God towards us so that our former sins stand not in our way being by virtue of his most satisfactory Sacrifice Removed and pardoned To Remission of Sins Neither do we think that Remission of Sins is to be expected sought or obtained any other way or by any Works or Sacrifice whatsoever though as has been said formerly they may come to partake of this Remission that are Ignorant of the History So then Christ by his Death and Sufferings hath Reconciled us to God The only Mediator betwixt God and Man even while we are Enemies that is he offers Reconciliation unto us we are put into a Capacity of being Reconciled God is willing to forgive us our Iniquities and to accept us as is well expressed by the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them and hath put in us the Word of Reconciliation And therefore the Apostle in the next verses intreats them in Christ's stead to be Reconciled to God intimating that the Wrath of God being removed by the Obedience of Christ Jesus he is willing to be Reconciled unto them and ready to Remit the sins that are past if they Repent A Twofold Redemption We Consider then our Redemption in a twofold Respect or State both which in their own nature are perfect though in their Application to us the one is not nor cannot be without respect to the other I. The Redemption of Christ without us The first is the Redemption performed and accomplished by Christ for us in his Crucified Body without us The other is the Redemption wrought by Christ in us which no less properly is called and accounted a Redemption than the former The first then is that whereby man as he stands in the Fall is put into a Capacity of Salvation and hath conveyed unto him a measure of that Power Virtue Spirit Life and Grace that was in Christ Jesus which as the Free Gift of God is able to Counter-ballance Overcome and Root-out the Evil Seed wherewith we are naturally as in the Fall leavened II. The Redemption wrought by Christ in us The second is that whereby we Witness and Know this pure and perfect Redemption in our selves purifying cleansing and redeeming us from the power of Corruption and bringing us into Vnity Favour and Friendship with God By the first of these two we that were lost in Adam plunged in the bitter and Corrupt Seed unable of our selves to do any good thing but naturally joined and united to Evil forward and propense to all Iniquity Servants and Slaves to the power and spirit of Darkness are notwithstanding all this so far Reconciled to God by the death of his Son while Enemies that we are put into a Capacity of Salvation having the glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace offered unto us and God is Reconciled unto us in Christ calls and invites us to himself in which respect we understand these Scriptures * Eph. 2.15 1 John 4.10 Ezech. 16.6 1 Pet. 2.22 24. and 3.18 He slew the Enmity in himself He loved us first seeing us in our blood he said unto us live he who did not sin his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree and he died for our sins the Just for the Vnjust By the second we witness this Capacity brought into Act whereby receiving and not resisting the purchase of his death to wit the Light Spirit and Grace of Christ Revealed to us we witness and possess a real true and inward Redemption from the power and prevalency of sin and so come to be truly and really Redeemed Justified and made Righteous and to a sensible Union and Friendship with God Thus he died * Tit. 2.14 Phil. 3.10 for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and thus we know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to us This last follows the first in order and is a Consequence of it proceeding from it as an Effect from its Cause So as none could have enjoyed the last without the first had been such being the Will of God so also can none now partake of the first but as he witnesseth the last Wherefore as to us they are both Causes of our Justification The first the Procuring Efficient the other the Formal Cause Fourthly We understand not by this Justification by Christ barely the Expl. 4 good works even as wrought by the Spirit of Christ for they as Protestants truly affirm are rather an Effect of Justification than the Cause of it The Formation of Christ in us begets Good Works But we understand the Formation of Christ in us Christ born and brought forth in us from which good Works as naturally proceed as Fruit from a fruitful Tree It is this Inward Birth in us bringing forth Righteousness and Holiness in us that doth Justify us which having removed and done away the Contrary Nature and Spirit that did bear Rule and bring Condemnation now is in Dominion over all in our hearts Those then that come to know Christ thus formed in them do enjoy him wholly and undivided who is the LORD our RIGHTEOVSNESS Jer. 23.6 This is to be Cloathed with Christ and to have put him on whom God therefore truly accounteth Righteous and Just. This is so far from being the

draw unto Prayer that so it may be done acceptably Eph. 6 1● For since we are to Pray always in the Spirit and cannot Pray of our selves without it Acceptably This Watching must be for this end recommended to us as preceeding Prayer that we may Watch and Wait for the seasonable time to Pray which is when the Spirit moves thereunto Secondly II. We know not how to Pray but as the Spirit helps This Necessity of the Spirit 's Moving and Concurrence appears abundantly from that of the Apostle Paul Rom. 8.26 27. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Which first holds forth the Incapacity of Men as of themselves to Pray or Call upon God in their own Wills even such as have received the Faith of Christ and are in measure sanctified by it as was the Churcb of Rome to whom the Apostle then wrote Secondly It holds forth that which can only help and assist Men to Pray to wit the Spirit as that without which they cannot do it acceptably to God nor beneficially to their own Souls Thirdly The Manner and Way of the Spirit 's Intercession With sighs and groans which are unutterable And Fourthly That God receiveth graciously the Prayers of such as are presented and offered unto himself by the Spirit knowing it to be according to his Will Now it cannot be conceived but this Order of Prayer thus asserted by the Apostle is most consistent with those other Testimonies of Scripture commending and recommending to us the Vse of Prayer From which I thus argue Arg. If Man know not how to pray neither can do it without the help of the Spirit then it is to no purpose for him but altogether unprofitable to pray without it But the first is true Therefore also the last III. Pray always ●n the Spirit and Watching thereunto Thirdly This Necessity of the Spirit to true Prayer appears from Eph. 6. verse 18. and Jude ver 20. where the Apostle commands to Pray always in the Spirit and Watching thereunto which is as much as if he had said that we were never to Pray without the Spirit or Watching thereunto And Jude sheweth us that such Prayers as are in the Holy Ghost only tend to the Building up of our selves in our most holy Faith Fourthly The Apostle Paul saith expresly 1 Cor. 12.3 That no man can say IV. Man cannot call Christ Lord but by the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost If then Jesus cannot be thus rightly Named but by the Holy Ghost far less can he be acceptably Called upon Hence the same Apostle declares 1 Cor. 14.15 That he will Pray with the Spirit c. A clear Evidence that it was none of his Method to Pray without it V. God will not hear the Prayer of the Wicked But Fifthly All Prayer without the Spirit is Abomination such as are the Prayers of the Wicked Prov. 28.9 And the Confidence that the Saints have that God will hear them is if they Ask any thing according to his Will 1 John 5. verse 14 So if the Prayer be not according to his Will there is no ground of Confidence that he will hear Now our Adversaries will acknowledge that Prayers without the Spirit are not according to the Will of God and therefore such as Pray without it have no ground to expect an Answer For indeed to bid a Man Pray without the Spirit is all one as to bid one See without Eyes Work without Hands or Go without Feet And to desire a Man to fall to Prayer ere the Spirit in some measure less or more Move him thereunto is to desire a Man to See before he Open his Eyes or to Walk before he Rise up or to Work with his Hands before he Move them VI. All Sacrifice is Sin not offer'd by the Spirit § XXIII But lastly From this false Opinion of Praying without the Spirit and not judging it Necessary to be Waited for as that which may be felt to Move us thereunto hath proceeded all the Superstition and Idolatry that is among those called Christians and those many Abominations wherewith the Lord is provoked and his Spirit grieved so that many deceive themselves now as the Jews did of old thinking it sufficient if they pay their daily Sacrifices and offer their customary Oblations from thence thinking all is well and creating a false peace to themselves as the Whore in the Proverbs because they have Offered up their Sacrifices of Morning and Evening-Prayers And therefore it 's manifest that their constant Vse of things doth not a whit influence their Lives and Conversations Prov. 7.14 but they remain for the most part as bad as ever Yea it is frequent both among Papists and Protestants for them first to Leap as it were out of their vain light and profane Conversations at their set Hours and Seasons and fall to their Customory Devotion and then when it is scarce finished and the Words to God scarce out the former profane Talk comes after it so that the same Wicked Profane Spirit of this World acts them in both If there be any such thing as Vain Oblations or Prayers that are Abomination which God heareth not as is certain there are and the Scripture testifies Isa. 66.3 Jer. 14.12 certainly such Prayers as are acted in Man's Will and by his own Strength without God's Spirit must be of that number § XXIV Let this suffice for Probation Now I shall proceed to Answer their Objections when I have said something concerning Joining in Prayer with others Those that Pray together with one accord Concerning Joining in Prayer with others use not only to Concur in their Spirits but also in the Gesture of their Body which we also willingly approve of It becometh those who approach before God to Pray that they do it with bowed Knees and with their Heads uncovered which is our practice But here ariseth a Controversy Whether it be lawful to Join with Object I others by those External Signs of Reverence albeit not in Heart who Pray formally neither Waiting for the Motion of the Spirit nor judging it necessary We Answer Not at all Answ. And for our Testimony in this thing we have suffered not a little For when it hath fall'n out that either Accidentally or to witness against their Worship How with Idolaters we cannot Join in Prayer we have been present during the same and have not found it lawful for us to Bow with them thereunto they have often persecuted us not only with Reproaches but also with Strokes and cruel Beatings For this Cause they use to accuse us of Pride Profanity and Madness