Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	death_n	grace_n	sin_n	2,826	5	5.1233	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58147	Work & reward, or, The testimonial of a believer for his entrance into glory, examined and approved in a sermon at the interment of the vertuous lady, Margaret St. John, wife to ... Sir Alexander St. John, Septem. the 3. 1656 / by Francis Raworth ...	Raworth, Francis, d. 1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing R374; ESTC R21375	26,633	69

WORK REWARD OR THE TESTIMONIAL OF A BELIEVER FOR HIS Entrance into GLORY Examined and approved In a SERMON at the Interment of the Vertuous LADY Margaret St. John Wife to the Right Worshipful Sir Alexander St. John Septem the 3. 1656. By Francis Raworth Teacher to the Church at Shore-ditch London Printed by T. Maxey for John Rothwell at the Fountain in Goldsmiths-Row in Cheap-side 1656. To his Honored Friend The Right Worshipful Sir Alexander Saint John Honored Sir THe great Design of God in this World is to exercise man and the greatest interest of man is to glorifie God who hath provided the Touch-stone of his Word to try our hearts by and the Balance of his works to weigh our Lives in So much strength as we have in a day of temptation so strong we are and since Temptation is for our Probation we have as much cause to bless God for our support under Tryals as for our deliverance from tryals It is true Satan hath his Sieve and his aim is to seperate the Wheat from the Chaff to give life to our sins by the death of our Graces but God hath his Fan in his hand and his design is to seperate the Chaff from the Wheat to give life to our Graces by the death of our sins I must acknowledge That God hath lately put into your hands a bitter Cup to drink off in the decease of your Vertuous and Beloved Consort onely this I presume doth support you That your eyes are opened to see that it was of your Fathers mingling This affliction is a sharp Arrow but it is shot out of a sweet hand amara sagitta ex dulci manu Dei as the Father speaks How excellent a thing is it when Gods Rod is upon our backs to have our hands upon our mouthes and not to murmur While unbelief commenceth an Action against and complains of the heavy hand of God to the World for us to complain rather of our own evil hearts to God Your experience Sir I trust in Gods School hath acquainted you with the Equity of his Discipline and Pedagogy Oh! What an advantage have we over Satan when we understand the intent and and possess the fruit of every Cross when we can see our Lashes to be our Lessons our Corrections to be our Instructions our Crosses to be the Executioners of our Corruptions It was an Heavenly Prayer of him that said Lord I do not desire that the Burthen should be taken off but that I might have stronger shoulders to bear it And an Heroick Experience of him that said If any man would ride post to Heaven let him get up upon the Cross The truth is every affliction is Gods Messenger and every one of his Messengers have their Errand to deliver The Rod must be heard or the Word will never be felt Though all that are corrected are not Gods children yet all that are Gods children are corrected Afflictions are favors and therefore when God threatens that he will shew mercy no more he threatens that he will afflict no more Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Lord rather let every gracious heart say let thine hand be laid on me then that I should be cast out of thy hand rather frown on me then that thou shouldst turn thy Face from and not look on me But the great Advantage of our tryal is to come here the Language of the rod is easie and plain but the Dialect of that Language is hard and difficult to be known conformity and self-denyal are indisputably the meaning of every blow but we are disposed to misconter Providence in Particular what God intends onely for our exercise we pretend is done out of his anger And therefore where the Text is obscure we must be wary in writing Cōmentaries we must take heed of turning his Reubarb into Ratsbane by reading wrath where God never wrote it There will come a time when God will interpret his own minde and satisfie us not onely in the Regularity and justice of his Rods but in the Reason and suitableness of them why we are almost burned and consumed while others were but singed why he drew so much blood from us more then from others that seemed more exorbitant God loves not to be stinging like the Bee he exhibits honey freely but he stings upon provocation his wisdom and our necessity weigh and prescribe every drop of gall that is put into our Cups and every lash of the Rod that is laid on our backs A Cordial is fitter for this man a Corrasive fitter for another Such a Christian will be wakned by the light of a Candle another stands in need of a Clap of Thunder How sweet is it to justifie God when he condemns us At last day we shall say The Lord knew our distemper and he let us blood in the principal Vein if we had not perished we had perished His Sun-shine melted us his Hammer brake us Blessed affliction that made us see more uglinesse and emptinesse in the Creature and more excellency in God that weaned our affections from the world and occasioned our more serious thoughts of Eternity It may satisfie us That God dealeth with his as the Persians I take it do with the offending children of their Princes they correct their Royal Garments in publick but let their Persons go free our Bodies are beaten and our Souls are bettered Here we must be polished by Tryals and hewn by Hammers and hereafter we shall be laid into Gods Building Nunc foris per flagella tundimur ut intus in Templum Domini disponamur Afflictions are the fruit of his Wisdom Repentance our fruit of his Afflictions The Lord grant that all our storms may drive us nigher to our Harbor I should humbly crave excuse for this freedom but that I know your Ingenuity and that your condition requireth support and as remembring that words spoken in season are like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver I am sorry of so sad an occasion of presenting this yet so seasonable a subject to you I request your acceptance of it the advantage whereof is the desire of Your worships much obliged to serve in the Lord F. R. From my Sudy in Shoreditch Decem. 20. 1656. Revel 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them IN these Words we have two things The Work and the Reward of a Christian In the work of a Christian we have 1. Something Implyed It is supposed That those that die in the Lord do first live to the Lord For as it is impossible for one that lives well to die ill so it is impossible for one that lives ill to die well for on that to the last lives to the Divel to die to the Lord. 2. Something Expressed They are such as die in the Lord Some

degree of Glory It was height of Pride that made a Jesuit say Coelum gratis non accipiam the value of Faith grows non ex persona credente vel ex natura fidei sed ex pacto contrahenti not so much from our condition as from Gods Covenant He that believes shall be saved There is no inconsistency between these two Propositions He that believes and he that repents shall be saved For though we are justified by Faith onely yet not by Faith alone that is Works justifie not with Faith and Faith justifies not without Works Good Works qualifie the subject believing but Faith is the proper instrument of receiving the Covenant of Grace Faith is an evidence to us of our righteousness before God and Works are an evidence of the truth of our Faith before men Out of the point of Justification Works cannot be sufficiciently justified or commended but in the point of Justification Works are not to be admitted How hard is it to joyn together what God would not have seperated Faith and Works so to work and repent as if we were to be saved q. d. without Faith and so to believe as if we were to be saved without Works How difficult is it for a man a moral man to see the necessity of Faith to cry out What though I am righteous before men if yet I should want the righteousness of Christ before God My righteousness is but as rags my duties but as dung my tears need Christs blood Lord without thy free Grace and a Plaister of the merits of Christ notwithstanding all my Prayers and Performances I am undone Luther well observes how much the believing and the begetting Abraham differs the begetting Abraham was a worker the believing Abraham was righteous his Faith was on Christ the object of Faith and we are blessed not with the working but with the believing Abraham Vse 2. Is for the information about the aim and end of men in their Works It is curiously questioned whether it be not a sordid way of obedience for a man to eye his reward in his obedience but it is more becoming a Philosopher then a Divine I judge to provoke his Auditors to vertue without the least reflection of a future reward If that be true which is affirmed by many that Grace and Glory differ not specifically but gradually and that be true which is affirmed by all That mans Happiness and Gods Glory be indisputably conjoyned in Heaven then certainly we may have our eye to the Star while we have our hand at the Helm we may have one eye to our Reward as well as the other to the Work As it is no Prerogative act for God to damn the Hypocrite at last day but an act of Justice sin being the antecedent cause of wrath so the salvation of the Vpright will not appear to be the product onely of Gods Arbitrary Grace but according to his revealed truth the manifestation of his remunerative righteousness Grace in us being though not the cause yet the antecedent of Glory Hence it is that the Gospel deters us from sin by arguments formed out of Hell as the unquenchable fire and the terrors of the Lord so it animates us to duty by arguments made out of Heaven and Glory How doth it embolden a Believer to sail through Storms and Tempests when he thinks on his Harbor to resist unto blood and rather to die for then deny Christ when he ponders on his Crown Let us endure the cold frosts let us be content though we are buffeted for a while cryed the Martyrs of old for Heaven will make amends for all There may be amor mercedis a love of the Reward as well of the Rewarder and yet no mercinary love no amor mercenarius When I will not love God without this world when I love or respect God onely for riches and honors c. this is a mercinary love but not when I love God for the hoped perfection of my Graces for the moral obolition of my sins for the contemplation of his presence in light for if the enjoyment of God be the essential Heaven then to love the enjoyment of God is to love Heaven and I am no more mercinary for loving of God the more for Heaven then for loving of the enjoyment of God Some have applauded the strength of direct obedience without eyeing the reward by an Emblem of a Lady with a Water-pot in one hand and a Fire-brand in the other saying She would serve God though with the water Hell-fire were quenched and there were no torments to punish her for sin though with the fire Paradice were consumed and there were no everlasting happiness to reward her Yet methinks though good use may be made of such Hyperbolies they do not so fully speak to a Christian under tryals they teach us how to run but they obscure the Garland they teach us how to shoot but in the mean time take away the mark It s true God is principally to be beloved for himself vix queritur Deus propter deum and so he may be and yet be loved for Heaven We may pray and wrestle against sin for the love of our King and yet have the hope of a Kingdom to be enjoyed after the battel The Doctrine of the Resurrection is the foundation of Religion and he that considers not of the Resurrection of the flesh will hardly be drawn to mortifie the flesh I know no such suggestion in the Bible Sinners Would you deny the lusts of the flesh and the pomp and vanity of the World if there were no Resurrection no Salvation And it s a dangerous temptation to a perplexed conscience to have his sincerity tryed by this touchstone if you can't serve God without a reward in Heaven you are an Hypocrite Vse 3. Is for terror unto two sorts of Workers 1. Evil workers 2. Idle workers 1. To Evil workers Shall the works of Gods Children follow them then by just consequence your evil works your lying your scoffing at Religion shall follow you As righteousness shall follow the righteous so wickedness shall follow the wicked Those that will not now finde out their sins Morientes divitias hic dimittunt peccata sua secum portant their sins shall one day finde out them and judgement shall finde out their sins Even as Destruction said to Pride they being both invited to a Feast contending who should go before and who should follow said Pride Go you before no replyed Destruction I prae sequar Go you before and I will follow after So here impenitency goes before to Hell and the impenitent sinner follows after their sins reached to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accumulata pervenerunt as one Mountain laid on the top of another the same word as in my Text so one sin follows another until the sinner and his sins meet together in Hell The wicked shall not carry their goods but their evils with them They shall leave