Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	faith_n	justify_v	sanctification_n	2,387	5	10.2932	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71273	The verdict upon the dissenters plea, occasioned by their Melius inquirendum to which is added A letter from Geneva, to the Assembly of Divines, printed by His late Majesties special command, with some notes upon the margent under his own royal and sacred hand : also a postscript touching the union of Protestants.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.; Diodati, Giovanni, 1576-1649. Answer sent to the ecclesiastical assembly at London by the reverend, noble, and learned man, John Deodate.	1681 (1681)	Wing W3356; ESTC R36681	154,158	329

4. ult 3. There is something attributed unto Man He is the subject of this great benefit and some qualification is required in him towards his own justification Christ is set forth to be a Propitiation but it is through faith in his Blood tho we are said also to be justified freely by God's grace See Rom. 3. 24 25. And with the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10. 10. and to the saving of his Soul Heb. 10. ult 'T is out of controversy on all sides that Believers are justified freely through God's mercy and that Believers are justified for the Merits of Jesus Christ. All the matter of Question amongst sober men is this Whether in our justification Faith be our own Act whether considered as our Act and as a lively Act and fruitful of good works As we own no other Author of our justification but God no other Merits but Christ so likewise do we acknowledge no other Condition but Faith But that is not a dead Faith for St. James tells us flatly that 's unprofitable Jam. 2. This Faith must be an Evangelical Faith which though the Holy Ghost maks a Change not only in our Relations but in our Habitude in our Hearts and Practice Act. 15. 9. He that pretends to remission of sin before repentance may with as much reason pretend to a Pardon as some do before he is guilty We must not confound the Condition with the Cause either Efficient or Meritorious The presence of some disposition may be requisite as a qualification in the person to be justified and yet have no efficiency into his justification I think it is agreed among all Men learned and sober minded That 't is a lively Faith which is the Condition of our Justification And if we be agreed in this to wrangle about Notions Quae Quâ is not of so great importance as to study to be quiet and to follow the things which make for peace and the things whereby we may edify one another 'T is true St. Paul in the matter of justification does exclude the works of the Law Rom. 3. 28. But there are works of Faith 1 Thes. 1. 3. Are they excluded too By what Law The Apostle prays That the work of Faith may be fulfilled 2 Thes. 1. 11. To say we are justified by the efficiency of these works of Faith That 's against God's Prerogative To say we are justified by the merit of them that is against Christ's Mediation But will you deny the Presence and Concomitancy of them to attend to evidence and to attest our justification If it be Faith only yet it is not Faith alone of all qualifications which the Gospel requires Faith must have the respect of Soveraign but it stands not with her Enemies to be solitary Faith therefore may be considered in a double Capacity 1. Receptivè as she has the Office of a Receiver 2. Redditivè as she has the Office of a Dispenser 1. As a Receiver so taken Joh. 1. 12. she receives Christ in all his Capacities and Offices as a King as a Priest as a Prophet in his state of Humiliation in his state of Exaltation In this Habitude or Capacity to believe in Christ is the most Natural act of Faith her Elicite Act and as much a work as is the Elicite Act of Hope or Love or of any other Virtue The People ask John 6. 28. What shall we do that we might work the work of God Our blessed Saviour Answers This is the work of God the work commanded by God 1 John 3. 23. but to be performed by you That ye believe on him whom he hath sent 'T is Mans Duty at God's Command and by his Assistance 2. Take Faith Redditivè in the Capacity of a Dispenser so it is much more a work and the Mistress of it for so she disburses all her Talents and she sets all other virtues a work and so pays homage to Christ in all Capacities As he is a Prophet so she hears his Voice and own 's his Doctrine as he is a Priest so she trusts to his Atonement and relies upon his Merits and Mediation as he is a King so she obey's his Laws and observes his Institutions she renders up the whole Man to the dispose of his Redeemer and makes him resolve with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord and to submit to all his Commands and Impositions Take Faith therefore in the whole habitude and capacity of it and for a qualification to justification and life I may say 't is all in all It comprehends the sense of the word is so large the whole Principle of Grace and all the Effluxes and Egressions of it This Dr. Owen does acknowledge for speaking of Habitual Grace which dwels in us and makes it abode with us He saith thus This according to the dictinct faculties of our Souls wherein it is or the distinct Objects about which it is exercised receiveth various Appellations being indeed all but one New Principle of life In the Vnderstanding it is Light in the Will Obedience in the Affections Love in all Faith He that desires to be fully satisfied in this point let him consult the Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Thomas Hotchki's in his Second Part of a Discourse of Imputed Righteousness Chap. 28. and especially the 29th where he treats hereof solidly and perspicuously St. James gives us a double instance or example of Justification by works Abraham and Rahab and concludes with a kind of demonstration thereupon ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2. 21. to the end We must not therefore deny the Proposition in every sense For it is more modest to throw that Epistle quite out of the Canon as Luther did then to question the truth of this Doctrine in it But does not St. Paul contradict St. James No in no wise For in Christ Jesus he tells us neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision and these two divided the whole World but Faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. if nothing but Faith which worketh by love then no dead nor idle no other kind of Faith and if not avail to any thing then not to our Justification And 't is the Observation of P. Martyr Talem semper Apo●●olus describit fidem cum de justificatione agit quae necessario Confessionem opera bona habeat Conjuncta Where the Apostle treats of Justification he always describes such a Faith as has Confession and Good-works necessarily joyn'd with it And Calvin upon the same Text tells us That the Apostle notes there which is the true Faith from which this fruit of Justification flows lest any man should pretend to an empty title of Faith instead of it For the true Faith ought so to affect the heart with the glory of God that the flame may break out and appear openly And a little after Caeterum viderint quid

of God's Ordinances The excellency of the Power is of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4. 7. and who can deny the effect when we have God's fiat for it when he said Let there be light there was light So it was at the Creation of the external light and so it is at the Creation of internal light when God is pleased to put forth his Power to that effect 2 Cor. 4. 6. And methinks Those men should easily be satisfied about the opus operatum of the Sacrament who are of opinion that we are merely passive in the work of our Regeneration that it is wrought in nobis sine nobis wrought in us but without us and that irresistibly The Second Rule is That we must not Substitute the Opus operatum to supply the neglect or want of Moral duty and a worthy disposition in the Adult for in such to make the Sacrament effectual there must be no bar of a deadly Sin as the Schoolmen call it but a fit and worthy disposition for the Sacrament For tho' the Sacrament hath a power of it self through Christ's institution and promise to produce Grace yet that it may actually produce it 't is necessary that the Receiver puts no Obstacles but if he be adult i.e. of age that he dispose himself by some meet and fitting acts to receive it By means of the Sacraments saith Holden God confers his Grace upon such as being worthily prepared are made partakers of them And Franciscus a Victoria semper infallibilitèr omnibus singulis digre ea suscipientibus conferunt gratiam The Sacraments do always and infallibly confer Grace upon all and every man who worthily receives them The next Objection is against the Doctrine of the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties This they say is so great a stumbling to their Faith They cannot get over it But we know full well that some of these Dissenters will scruple at little things stumble at a straw and yet so full of agility at other times they can nimbly leap over a block that very Block upon which they made their Soveraign a Sacrifice to their tender Consciences How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants believe and repent by Proxy They cannot understand And 't were well if this were the only thing wherein they could plead a want of understanding But Peter Martyr will tell them Fidles in liberis qui suscipiuntur dùm parvuli sunt non requiritur vel ad id ut Christiani sint vel ad remissionem peccatorum Faith is not required in Children who are Baptized while they are little ones neither to obtain Remission of Sins nor to make them Christians This is true of an actual Faith and a personal disposition yet they have a Title to such a Faith as is of good advantage to them To this purpose we have the Judgment of Mr. Perkins and in him the opinion of the Ancient Church 'T is objected that Infants have no Faith and consequently That Baptism is unprofitable to them To this objection he answers thus some think they have Faith as they have Regeneration that is the inclination or seed of Faith Others say That the Faith of the Parents is also the Faith of their Children Because the Parents by their Faith receive the Promise of God both for themselves and their Children and thus to be born in the Church of believing Parents is instead of the Profession of Faith To this second Opinion saith that Pious and Learned man I rather incline because it is the ancient and received Doctrine of the Church I wish our present Dissenters would be so Sober and well advised as to follow his Example For receiving the Sacrament of Baptism Faith and Repentance are said to be the qualifications in the Adult To Infants they are supplied by the Faith and Piety of the Church in general as well as by their particular Sureties respectively and where there is an absolute necessity for it because God is not wanting in necessaries 'tis piously credible that the supply is made by the High Priest of our Profession and sure these Dissenters will allow him to be a good Proxy for them Have they forgotten that Levi paid Tythes in the loins of Abraham was not that as great a matter as this they stumble at Let them tell us how the Adult do transgress and Sin for Minors and how Infants do transgress and Sin by Proxy and we shall be able presently to remove their scruple If the Adult themselves may receive advantage by the faith of others as undoubtedly they may Mat. 9. 2. how much more Infants who are neither capable of Sin nor of Grace but upon the account of their Relations under guilt or under Covenant 1 Cor. 7. 14. But we must look upon that person as a cruel Step-Father who gives his Child nothing but a Stone when he wants Bread and instead of Fish a deadly Serpent Dissenters Second Section THey Plead that they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace given unto us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof Where we have 1. The Matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a pledge to assure us of it Hence they say it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament that is an outward and visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an effect to it also to excite to stir up or increase Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the right efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an Humane Sacrament Such an institution say they is the sign of the Cross An outward visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace Ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for Answer Here we see they profess themselves unsatisfied and indeed it 's a very hard task to satisfie such as study more to contend and make themselves scrupulous then to be quiet and to do their own Business They are unsatisfied that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church are not

given to these Rites and Ceremonies by Learned men are these Retinacula Adminicula Incitamenta Ornamenta They call them the hold-fast the helps the Incitements and Ornaments of Religion and Piety These were the Traditions mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 2. Precepts left by Christ to the wisdom of the Governours and Presidents of his Church pertaining to good Order and Decency There were many of this kind saith Grotius of no great moment to Piety but therein 't was fit and profitable that something should be setled in common lest a different use and custom should blemish the Church beget disputes and as it often happens of disputes and Schismes So that these Rites are like the Leades in a Glass-window not design'd to let in Light but to hold the Quarries of Glass together to keep the Window tite and strong and make it the more serviceable to keep out storms and cold That these things in the esteem of the Church stand upon even ground with such things as are certainly Divine is so great an untruth that a modest man would blush at it They have not the same Author not the same end nor the same necessity nor the same obligation 1. They have not the same Author Divine things have God for their only Author but for these Ecclesiastical Rites and Ceremonies they ow their Original either to the customes of several places as standing in sign of Reverence Judg. 3. 20. Eglon stood up when Ehud told him he had a message to him from God When the word of God was mentioned Eglon gave honour to it by rising up saith Pet. Martyr And he says it is to be believed that it was the custom of those Countries at that time Or else 2. They derived their Original from the Authority of Superiors as 1 Cor. 11. 2. 34. and Tit. 1. 5. and the Practice of their institutions in process of time become customs too 1 Cor. 11. 16. Upon these words The rest will I set in order when I come St. Austin saith that Christ commanded no-nothing in these matters but left them to the ordering of the Apostles with whom he entrusted the disposal of the Churches c. Read the Epistle at large Or 3. The Rites and Ceremonies may take their rise from the Devotion of Pious Persons as the Practice of the Publican and Mary Magdalen Luke 7. 38. c. 18. 13. 2. As they have not the same Author so they have not the same End The end of Divine institutions is internal Grace and Sanctification This is said to be the end of Christ's Dispensation to his Church That he might Sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the word Eph. 5. 26. But the end of these Ecclesiastical Rites Ceremonies is not to confer Grace but to preserve good Order and Decorum to procure reverence and as objects fit for that purpose to help Devotion 3. They have not the same necessity For as touching Divine things an absolute necessity is laid upon us to observe them and it may be a double necessity Praecepti Medii not only because they are under command but also because they may be means without which salvation is not to be had But for Ecclesiastical Rites the necessity is not absolute they may be changed they may be abolished and we may be saved without them and that they do not stand upon equal ground the Church professeth in her Articles and this is clear upon an other account For Lastly There is a great difference in their Obligation Divine Commands and Institutions do bind the Conscience immediately and of themselves under peril of Eternal Death Ecclesiastical Rites doe not so And where there is no breach of Charity and that is where there is no contempt of Authority or Scandal to our Neighbour the Omission does not wound the Conscience nor incur the guilt of deadly sin as the Reverend and Learned Davenant has determined But perhaps there lies a Fallacy in the expression for to stand upon even ground does not always argue an equality 'T is said Exod. 14. 31. The People believed God and his Servant Moses Likewise 't is commanded Prov. 24. 21. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King There God and Moses may seem to stand upon even ground in the term Believed and here the Lord and the King stand upon even ground in the term Fear yet he were little less than a mad man that should conclude from hence that God and Moses or the Lord and the King are of equal consideration when notwithstanding the difference between them is no less then infinite We read in the book of Josuah of an unlucky jealousy which did arise in the heads of some of the Tribes of Israel against their Brethren and this begat a Dissent and that Dissent had ended in a Fatal and deadly Breach if it had not been made up by interposing the Innocent Parties Protestation The Two Tribes and half when they left the Camp of Israel in their return to their own Inheritance they built an Altar for Memorial and a Testimony Hereupon their Brethren lookt upon them as Apostates and Idolaters and took up Armes as they imagined to avenge God's quarrel When the Children of Ruben and God and those of Manasseh had heard by their Legates of their preparation for War and their bitter expostulation they calmly made their Defence The Lord God of God's knoweth and Israel shall know our Innocency If we have built this Altar in Rebellion or for Sacrifice to turn from the Lord let the Lord himself require it but we have done this only to intitle our selves and our Posterity to a share in God's Publick and Solemn Worship and to an Interest in his Tabernacle and Altar When the Priest and Princes of the Congregation had heard their Apology they were well pleased and declared their hearty satisfaction This day we perceive that the Lord is among us and they blessed God and all was concluded in a happy Peace Calvin reflecting upon Phinehas and the Ten Princes which were with him he commends the temper of their zeal that they did not insist upon the prejudice which they had conceived against their Brethren but admitted their excuse with kindness and alacrity For there are many saith he if they take offence no Apology can be calm them but they will always be finding out something unjustly to carp at rather then yeild to reason 'T is Lavaters complaint in treating of this story Hodiè reperies Magnos Theologos qui tam sunt importuni praecipites ut nondum auditis aut lectis aliorum argumentis statim responsiones fabricent in lucem emittant We see great Divines at this day who are so importune and precipitant that before ever they have considered or read the Arguments of other men they are busy at framing Answers and sending them abroad in publick But both Parties ought to be