Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	conclude_v	justify_v	work_n	5,025	5	6.3708	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41483	The banner of justification displayed: or; a discourse, concerning the deep, and important mystery of the justification of a sinner wherein the severall causes thereof, being both numerous and various, are from the first to the last diligently enquired after, and their severall contributions towards so great and happy a work, clearly distinguished, and assigned to their proper causes (respectively.) and more particularly is shewed, how God, how the grace of God, how the decree of God, how the soveraign authority of God; how Christ, how the active obedience [of] Christ, how the passive obedience of Christ, how the resurrection of Christ, how the knowledge of Christ; how the spirit of God, how faith, how repentance, how works, how remission of s[in,] how the word, how the minister of the word, how the P[ope?] himself which is justified, may all truly, though upon severall accounts, and after different manners, be sayed to justifie.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1659 (1659)	Wing G1150A; ESTC R221574	62,441	91

Meaning that they could have no reasonable ground to believe that they were discharged or acquitted by God from the Debt or guilt of their sins by means of the death of Christ if he should be detained in the Prison of Death the Grave until now and not have been raised again and set at liberty So then the rising again or rather the raising again of Christ from the dead by God the Father justifieth believing sinners as it were argumentatively and as exhibiting a rationall ground unto them whereon to build their Faith of a full and perfect Attonement made by Christ in his death for them or for their sins by which Faith according unto and by vertue of that Promise made or the Law enacted by God in that behalf they come to be justified Sect. 9 9. The Prophet Isaiah bringeth in God the Father speaking thus of his Son Christ By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justifie many for he shall bear their Iniquities Isa. 53. 11. That the Particle or Pronoun His is here to be taken objectively not subjectively a construction frequent in Scripture is I presume the award of every mans Understanding So that by his knowledge the knowledge of Christ is meant the knowledge of himself which he shall propagate in the World by the Ministry of the Gospel and by means of this knowledge of him many shall be justified according to that of the Apostle We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ i. By Christ believed on as he explains himself in the verse next following But if whilst we seek to be justified by Christ c. Whence by the way it may be observed that to be justified by Christ and by Faith or believing in Christ is of one and the same import So then the knowledge of Christ is or may be sayd to justifie men in somewhat a remote sense viz. As it is a ground of encouragement unto them to believe on him by which believing they are immediatly justified 10. Men are sayd in Scripture as well to be Justified as Sect. 10 Sanctified by the Spirit of God and this as Justification is distinguished from Sanctification But yee are washed but yee are sanctified but yee are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Some Exposito●s indeed understand the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} yee were justified not of Justification properly so called or which standeth in remission of sins but of such a justification which consisteth in a progress or proficiency in Righteousness or in the profession and practice of Christianity For the justification of which Exposition they plead the exigency of the order or gradation in the Text it self as also the like use or signification of the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in that of Apocal. 22. 11. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Let him that is righteous or just be justified still i. As the Expositers we speak of interpret Let him encrease and make forward in wayes of righteousness It must be acknowledged that to grow in grace and proceed in holiness and righteousness from day to day may be called a mans justification in a declarative or arguitive sense viz. As they argue or declare a man to be a justified pe●son and his Faith to be of the right kind a living and growing Faith yea they may be termed a mans justification as they are just matter of his app●obation and commendation which in many cases are used in a sense parallel to that of the word Justification as 't is used sometimes But the Justification which is the S●bject of our present Discourse doth not consist in any Action one or more nor in any Quality one or more but rather in a state or condition viz. Such whereinto a person is translated or brought by the pardon of his sins or sentence of absolution awarded by God Nor need we take the word Justification in the Scripture lately cited 1 Cor. 6. 11. in any other sense but this For Justification in this sense may be asc●ibed to the Holy Ghost as he hath a speciall and appropriate hand in raising the work of Faith by which men are thus justified in the hearts of those who do believe in which respect Faith is registred by the Apostle Paul amongst the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. and by his Fellow Apostle Peter they who believe are sayd to obey the truth speaking of the obediency of Faith to the Gospel through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 22. and Act. 18. 27. The Christians in Ach●ia are sayd to have believed through grace i Through the grace of God in his vouchsafement of his Spirit unto them by whom they were enabled to believe yea and actually believed Now then according to the known Maxime or Principle in reason Quod est causa causae est causa causati That which is the Cause of any Cause producing an Effect is the cause of the Effect it self as well as of the Cause producing it Faith being the cause or means of Justification and the Spirit the cause of Faith Justification may as truly and not much less properly be attributed unto the Spirit as unto Faith Sect. 11 11. That Faith justifieth is the constant assertion of the Scripture and the Architectonicall Doctrine of the Gospel Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. Again Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law Rom. 3. 28. Yet once more to spare Citations in a case so generally known We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles Knowing that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law c. Gal. 2. 15 16. By the way upon occasion of these with many the like passages in the New Testament wherein Justification by Faith is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} expresly affirmed I cannot but mention my dislike of their strein in teaching who lay down and deliver it to the people for a Doctrine positively and plainly that men are not justified by Faith or by believing Doubtless it is not convenient or comely positively to deliver or assert that for a Doctrine of Truth which is so diametrally opposite to the frequent cleer and express words of the Scripture If there be a limited sence to be put upon such passages wherein a Truth is commonly and from place to place held forth in the Scriptures this may conveniently and timously enough be done in the Explication or Opening

of the Doctrine But I judge it very incongruous for any Minister of the Gospel to set up a Doctrine as it were in defiance of or in Contest against any thing so frequently and so directly in terminis affirmed in the Scriptures as Justification by Faith And doubtlesse men need not be at all tender or afraid to deliver this positively for a Doctrine of Evangelical Truth that men are justified by Faith yea or by Faith alone if they do but declare or signifie withall 1. What the Scripture means by that Justification which it ascribeth unto Faith 2 What it means by that Faith unto which it ascribeth Justification For 1. that Justification which the Scripture attributeth unto Faith is precisely that which consisteth in Remission of sins as the Apostle plainly teacheth Rom. 3. 25. but more largely Rom. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. to omit other places Now certain it is that no kinde of works whatsoever enjoyned in the Moral Law have any thing at all little or much to doe about Remission of Sins or in the procurement or obtaining of it For in case a man should transgresse the Law or sin only once and this in the lightest manner and should for ten thousand years together afterwards with all possible exactnesse observe and keep this Law yet this long Tract or Series of Obedience or good Works would not make his Attonement for that Sin nor bring him off from the Guilt of it with Peace and Safety The reason is signified by the Apostle Heb. 9. 22. Without shedding of Bloud there is no Remission The Wisdome and Righteousnesse of God did not judge it reasonable or meet that the payment of one Debt by the Creature though amounting to never so great a Summe should satisfie for the Non-payment of another Now the most exact Obedience that can be performed or yielded unto the Law of God by any Creature whilest it hath any being is but a debt due from this Creature unto God Therefore no Obedience in this kinde can satisfie for or attone either in whole or in part the least Disobedience or Transgression So that Justification from sin as the Scripture phrase is Act. 13. 39. i. which standeth in Remision of sins cannot be purchased or procured but by the Death or Blood-shed of him that should undertake the Redemption of Sinners Only God was pleased to decree or make this for a Law which the Apostle calleth the Law of Faith Rom 3. 27. that Faith or believing in him through Christ should interess men in the benefit or blessing of the Death and Bloud-shed of Christ i. in that Remission of Sins which was purchased by his Death And in this consideration Faith justifieth viz. by vertue of the Soveraign Authority of that most Gracious Decree or Law of God wherein he hath said or decreed that it shall intitle men unto or in-right them in part and fellowship of that benefit of the Death of Christ which consisteth in Forgivenesse of Sins or which comes much to the same as it is a Qualification or condition ordained covenanted or appointed by God to bring upon those in whom it shall be found the great Blessing of that Pardon of Sin which Christ hath obtained for Men by his Blood And because God hath not passed any such Decree nor made any such Law concerning good works as viz. that these shall bring men into Communion of the benefit of Remission of Sins purchased by the Death of Christ therefore they have nothing to doe to justifie men in this notion or sense of the word Justification If by Justification we mean approbation commendation acquitting from blame or the like in which sense also the word is frequently used in the Scriptures * Good Works are proper and necess ry thus to justifie us both in the sight of God and Men only with this Explication or Proviso viz. that men live to meet with Opportunities for the doing of such works after their true believing For otherwise if the case should so happen that a true Believer should be taken away by Death the next moment to that in which he first believed it is not to be thought but that he should die not simply with his sins pardoned but under the approbation of God also Therefore Good Works in actu exercito as the Schoolmen speak or actually performed are not absolutely universally or in every case that may possibly happen necessary no not to that Justification it self which simpathizeth as hath been said in import with Approbation Commendation Vindication from blame imputed or the like It is true in actu signato or as they are Radically Seminally or Vertually included in that Faith which justifieth by Remission of sins of which more presently so they are universally and in all cases possible if we speak of persons capable by Years and Discretion of Believing necessary thereunto And God who accepteth the Will for the Deed when men want opportunity or means for Action looketh upon those good Works which are conceived in the Womb of a true and unfeigned Faith as actually performed and done when such a Faith wants means time or opportunity to bring forth In this notion our Saviour himself must be understood to speak at least in reference unto many of those to whom he speaketh if he be conceived to speak unto all standing on his right hand which I judge to be the more rational to suppose Mat. 25. 34 35 36. Come ye Blessed of my Father For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a Stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me Doubtlesse some yea a considerable party of those to whom the Lord Christ will expresse himself thus in that Great Day will be such who had been poor in the dayes of their Flesh and afflicted and stood in need of being relieved by their Christian Brethren better accommodated in the World then they and in whose relief Christ will acknowledge himself relieved v. 40. Therefore such as these had not been in a condition or capacity to minister actually unto the wants and necessities of other poor Christians in those respective Supplies and Accommodations here specified and yet we finde according to our late supposition that Christ gives the same testimony unto them for these services of Charity which he gives unto those that had actually performed them His meaning then must be that even these poor distressed Saints who had not wherewith either to cloath the naked or to give entertainment unto Strangers actually yet had both one and other the same works and services of Christian commiseration and charity here mentioned in the Bowels of the same kinde of Faith out of which they actually proceeded from their better World-provided Brethren and were performed by them But this occasionally here and by the way for the better Explication

sins is to be had yet it legitimates or authorizeth the person for the reception of this blessed Accommodation from the hand of Faith And for this reason also it may well be conceived to have the promise of Justification or Remission of sins made unto it as well as Faith it self Sect. 13 13. That good works have their part also in the great businesse of Justification is the expresse affirmation of the Scripture Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2. 24. Again Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Jam. 2. 21. We have already upon occasion argued and shewed the Interest of Works in or about Justification Peruse 11. We shall here partly adde and partly repeat 1. That that Justification which consists in Remission of sins and which enstates a person in a right of title and claim to Eternal Life is not attained but by sinners being brought into Communion with Christ in his Death or which is the same into part and fellowship in this Death which is the only procuring cause of this Justification by way of purchase 2. That whatsoever bringeth men hither I mean into Communion of or with the Death of Christ must be sealed and authorized by God hereunto 3. That a true and unfaigned Faith in God through Jesus Christ sometimes called Faith in Christ yea and several other wayes expressed as hath been already observed and this Faith only not any work or works of what kinde soever or in what number soever injoyned in the Moral Law hath a commission or power from God to bring men into or to give men part and fellowship in the Death of Christ Therefore Good works have thus farre no part or interest at all in Justification as it standeth in Remission of sins being excluded here-from by the same Law by which Boasting also is excluded which the Apostle termeth the Law of Faith Where is Boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but BY THE LAW OF FAITH Rom 3. 27. By this Law Faith hath the office or work of justifying men in this sense and with this kinde of Justification setled upon and confirmed unto it self alone There is another kinde of Justification which the Scripture also frequently speaks of under this name as was noted 11. which consists in the approbation commendation or vindication of a person from guilt or blame whether justly or unjustly imputed unto him Of this kinde of Justification when it is duely and justly given or pronounced Good Works in one kinde or other and for the most part those of the Moral Law have a special and particular interest in it being the only regular ground upon which the act or sentence of such a Justification can or ought to proceed And though God by means of his appropriate priviledge of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or knowing the heart can and doth upon a sufficient ground secretly and in himself approve of him who as yet only believeth I mean with a true and unfeigned Faith and before he hath any wayes justified or commended this his Faith by good works yet he is not wont to signifie or declare by one means or other this his approbation of any particular person untill he hath shewed the World his Faith by his Works Nor doth he require of any man to judge of any other person as a man justified in his sight by a true and unfaigned Faith who hath not given either unto him or unto some others from whom he may receive the information a fair and reasonable account by works suteable of such a Faith residing in him And questionlesse it was this kinde of Justification of which the Apostle James discourseth so largely in his Second Chapter as appeareth all along the Context from vers 14. to the end Therefore when he demands vers 21. Was not our Father Abraham justified by works when he had offered his Son Isaac upon the Altar Evident it is that by Abrahams being justified he doth not mean that Abraham had his sins pardoned for he had been thus justified long before And besides his offering up his Son Isaac upon the Altar could be no means of obtaining Remission of sins from God But when he is said to have been justified by works when he had offered c. the meaning is that upon this great testimony given by Abraham of the truth and effectualnesse of his Faith God highly approved of him loved him and dealt by him as by a person righteous and just and called him his Friend The tenour of the story in Genesis fully accordeth herewith For immediately upon Abrahams stretching forth his hand and taking the knife to slay his Son the Angel of the Lord called unto him ●ut of Heaven and sayd Lay not thine hand upon the Lad neither do thou any thing unto him for now I know that thou fearest God seeing that thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me Gen. 22. 11 12. A second time also the Angel upon this offering up of his Son called unto him out of Heaven and sayd By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy Son thine only S●n That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy Seed as the Stars of the Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea shore and thy Seed shall possess the Gate of his Enemies And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my Voyce Gen. 22. 15. 16 17 18. In these passages is that justification of Abraham expressed and contained whereof the Apostle James speaketh affirming him to have obtained it at the hand of God by Works as well as by his Faith which he sayth wrought together with them meaning towards the procuring or obtaining of this justification or approbation from God and was by them perfected or made perfect i. Was declared to be perfect that is sound and good or else was perfected {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. Became effectuall to the obtaining of its proper end Viz. The approbation and love of God with favourable and friendly respects from him which is the perfection Viz. Arguitivè or Argumentatively of any thing As on the contrary when any thing pretending to be a means for the compassing of such or such an end proves yet unable to effect it this argueth though haply not alwayes demonstratively the imperfection or weakness of it In much a like sense to that wherein Abraham as we have heard is sayd to have been justified by works is Rahab the Harlot also i. Who formerly had been an Harlot sayd to have been justified v. 25. The meaning is that upon Rahab's Demonstration of the reality and truth of her Faith in exposing her life to danger by entertaining and hiding the Spies sent