Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	election_n	good_a	work_n	4,641	5	6.8470	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65648	A sermon preach'd at the anniversary meeting of the sons of clergy-men, in the church of St. Mary Le Bow, on Tuesday, Decem. 3, 1695 printed at the desire of the stewards of the feast, to whom it is humbly presented / by Tho. Whincop ...	Whincop, Thomas, d. 1730.	1696 (1696)	Wing W1665; ESTC R34743	10,856	31

our hopes of Happiness and moreover First render our Services more acceptable unto God Are Means Secondly of bringing more Glory to his Name And Thirdly by which we shall be the greatest Gainers and reap most Advantage 1. They render First our Services more acceptable unto God's Purity and Holiness in the Heart before there be or when there is no opportunity to work are in themselves good but when they are demonstrated by godly and charitable Actions then smell they sweet and are Sacrifices well-pleasing Thus Noah's Thankfulness to God for his Preservation from that universal Deluge of all except himself Gen. 8.21 and those with him in the Ark and Abraham's Faith Gen. 22.12 were well known unto God but when the one publickly built an Altar and offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord and the other readily went to sacrifice his only Son the Text tells us that thereupon God smelled a savour of rest and now I know that thou fearest God A Man being inwardly upright towards God harmless and innocent tender and compassionate towards Man may have comfort and satisfaction in himself upon such Reflections but it would be far better to unlock those treasures and disperse them abroad by which they will gain greater Acceptance at God's Hands who is more especially delighted with the fruits of our Faith in the Practice of Piety and Exercise of a Christian Life both towards God and Man 2. By which Secondly God's Name is more glorifi'd which reason is affign'd by our Saviour why our light should shine before men Mat. 5.16 that thereby we may glorifie our father which is in heaven and he is so more particularly either in our selves or in others In our selves by our Obedience to his Commands which were therefore given us not that we might know only but do them Both natural and spiritual Endowments are given us 1 Cor. 12. as St. Paul speaks to profit withal Gifts themselves then cease so to be when their Use and Benefit ceaseth and those are subject to a most severe Account who bury their Talents as well as those that employ them ill A not gaining will condemn as well as a losing and a not doing good as well as doing evil with the unprofitable Servant in the Parable Men will be severely sentenc'd for bringing no Glory to their Maker in not being means of praising him as by their good Works they may In others God is glorifi'd by Mens good Works and truly blasphemed by their evil Ones Our Saviour and his Apostles curing the Impotent healing the Diseased Acts 4.21 and raising the Dead makes the Beholders glorifie God upon the sight of what was done and acknowledg'd Luk 7.16 That a great Prophet was risen among them and that God had visited his people Our Saviour there they took to be but a Man at best a Prophet attribute therefore no more to him but to God who as they thought had given such gifts unto men as upon St. Peter's Relation to the Apostles Acts 11.18 how God by his Preaching had converted the Gentiles when they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God And as good Works do win Glory to God so evil Ones on the contrary do mightily dishonour him and cause his Holy Name to be evil spoken of by those that do not believe This was St. Cyprian's Complaint long since what the unbelieving Heathens said in his time upon like occasion against the Christians Ecce quam jactant se redemptos c. saith he These are the men that boast themselves of their Redemption and Deliverance of their Baptism and Gospel when their whole Life was a Contradiction to it and then presently fall a railing at their Religion and speaking evil of that God whom they worshipped As Nathan could tell David after his Murder and Adultery By this deed saith he thou hast caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme and St. Paul objects the same thing to the Jews Rom. 2.23 24. Thou that gloriest in the law by breaking the law dishonourest thou God For the name of God is dishonoured among the Gentiles through you Which very Argument we find made use of as a principal Incitement to Honesty of Life and Manners 1 Tim 6.1 That the name of God and his doctrine be not evil spoken of for which reason also servants are to count their masters worthy of all honour that the name of God be not blasphemed as a Doctrine of Liberty and a Religion that allows any thing And indeed there is nothing wounds our Religion more or lays a greater Blemish upon it than a Form of Godliness and no Power a ' Semblance of Religion and yet licentious Practices these do more Injury to our Profession and bring more Dishonour to our God than an open Infidel and Pagan that denies both 3. By our good Works Thirdly we shall be the greatest Gainers or Losers in that by them we make our calling and election sure as St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence saith he to make your calling and election sure and how this was to be done he directs by adding to their faith vertue to their vertue knowledge to their knowledge temperance to their temperance patience to their patience godliness to their godliness brotherly-kindness and to their brotherly-kindness love The Apostle there lays down a full Catalogue of those Graces which beautifie a Christian's Life and those Works by which a Man comes as it were step by step to a full Perfection in Christ the Foundation of all which is Faith and the Top Love to our Brethren These are the works saith he that assure us of election that if we live in them we shall certainly be saved in the end But 't is to be remembered that whatsoever good Wrok we do is no meritorious Cause of our Election or Salvation but necessary Effects which follow and from whence we may ground an Assurance to ur unutterable Comfort that if we continue in them our End shall be Peace and why Because the Promise of God is sure and stedfast Joh. 5.29 That they which have done good shall come forth of their Graves to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation and every Man shall receive his Wages according to his Labour And it is observable God hath often declar'd that those unspeakable Joys in Heaven are therefore prepared by him only as Rewards of Mens well-doing in this World and shall be distributed to each according to the measure and proportion of that Good which they have done in the World Come Matth. 15.34 ye blessed of my Father will our Saviour one day say inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and the Reason is added I was hungry and ye fed me thirsty and ye gave me drink a stranger and ye took me in in prison and ye visited me Gal. 6 9.

Therefore saith St. Paul let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not And in the Verse before Verse 3. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting This is the Ground of our Assurance That a good Life shall be crowned with Eternal Glory which was St. Paul's rejoicing having fought a good fight and finished his course that thenceforth was laid up for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge should give him of his own free Grace and Mercy as a Gift not a Debt as a Reward not the Purchase of his well-doing And though our Judgment at the latter day be according to our Works as the Scripture in many places expresses yet our Works shall be no Causes of this Judgment I mean our good Works we read indeed that every man shall be rewarded according to his works Rev. 2.6 Rev. 20.13 and that they were judged according to their works i. e. according to the quality of their Works not according to the Merit of them as their Works were not according as their Works deserved The Apostle therefore speaking of that Act of distributive Justice in God Rom. 2.5 whereby he dispenseth Recompence according to the quality of every Man's Person and Demeanour calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Revelation of the just Judgment of god as if he should say Then it shall appear to all the World how just the Lord is in his Rewards and Remunerations when every Man shall receive according to what he hath done I might instance further in respect of our own present Advantage even in this World which a Man shall sometime or other find by living well and doing good according to the Advice of Timothy That Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Practice of Piety living religiously and holily as their Faith is sound so having their Manners uncorrupt and blameless is profitable for all things having the Promise of good things here and hereafter of Blessings in this World and the next as the Scriptures are frequent in Instances had I time to recount them unto you There remains now in the last place only to shew III. Why those are more indispensibly obliged to be exemplary in all good Works who have been more particularly acquainted with God's Will and early instructed in it As we may be supposed to have been whose Parents were our Spiritual Guides as well as Fathers of our Flesh and under whose Roof we were early seasoned with their daily Instructions and good Example We shall therefore reflect upon their Memory and Care we shall cause others to uncover their Ashes with Dishonour unless we adorn that Faith our Fathers believed which they taught us and which we saw them practise We therefore from Children having been trained uup in the way that we should walk should not ever depart from it but transmit the Honour of our Fathers Memories to Generations to come by walking after their early Directions Tit. 2.7 by shewing our selves patterns as they shewed us of good works in all things and as St. James more fully Jam. 3.13 out of a good conversation shewing forth our works with meekness Such a Practice might possibly win others or at least stop their Mouths whose Religious and Charitable Conversation while they behold might be either allured to practise the same or else silence their Clamours and Censures For the beholding our good Works is the best Argument to persuade an evil Generation from the Wickedness of their Ways and even an unanswerable Reason to an Infidel for his Conversion as they were to the Jaylour mentioned in Acts 16. who seeing the Constancy and Cheerfulness of Paul and Silas was thereby turned to the Faith By this Method was our Religion first recommended to the World when our Church-Histories also tell us of By-standers and Executioners too that at the Martyrdom of Godly Christians beholding their Patience and Universal Charity their Faith and Courage in suffering made them become Christians also Thus Justin Martyr of a vain Philosopher became a Religious Christian Justin Martyr Apol. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he himself gives an Account to the Roman Emperour in his first Apology And I might alledge other Instances even of Enemies Julian Epist 49. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Julian the Apostate himself in his Epistle to Arsacius the Pontifex of Galatia Epist 49. advising him To build Hospitals and take care of the Poor in every City according to the Practice of the Impious Galileans as his usual Style is who by their Bounty to the Poor and Strangers their Care in burying their Dead and their Holiness of Life propagate their Religion and overspread all By these good Actions many are wrought upon and won more than by any Arguments whatsoever and therefore the Apostate directs to the Practice of the like Bounty and Holiness of Life And by the same Methods still we may continue the Reputation of our Religion and wipe off all the Slanders and Reproaches of either that or us that profess it by doing what the Apostle advises the whole Christian Church That they have their conversation honest among the Gentiles 1 Pet. 2.12 that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation May we all therefore endeavour to bring Glory to our Maker by our abounding in all good Works especially of Charity to the Necessitous which makes us resemble God himself the Chief Happiness whose Excellency consists in being and doing Good I need not offer Arguments I am sure to you to perswade to that which you know is no Indifferent or Arbitrary thing but as strictly required the contrary as severely threatened and the Rewards of Bounty and Charity as firmly ascertain'd as any other Precept in the Gospel And who knows the wise Ends of God's Providence in not so liberally providing for some of the same Tribe as others perhaps that the most Wealthy and Great may wisely consider what even they are subject to as well as their poor Brother whose Necessities implore their Aid Perhaps to prove them whether they will say in their Hearts as the Israelites of old did Deut. 8.17 My power and the strength of my arm hath procured me this abundance Or lastly that the World may see whether those who are Rich in this World will be also in Good Works whether they will be ready to do good and communicate and be bountiful out of that Basket whereof they are but the Almoners and be liberal of that Store which was given them like Joseph's Corn to be laid up in Barns against a Famine and hard time to come That we may answer therefore the Design of God's Providence in suffering some to want while we are full And that we may make some grateful Acknowledgments for those Blessings we have in Plenty shower'd down upon us by his Bounty from whose Hand alone we receive all that we possess Put on Bowels of Mercies and make the Hearts of the Widows and Fatherless of those of the same Family and Houshold with your selves rejoice with you and praise God for you their Numbers and Necessities bespeak your Compassio and command your Assistance to love them not in word or speech only but in deed and in truth for your Compassion may perhaps cheer them a little in their Distress but it must be your Hands that must raise them and your good Works lift them up to a better Estate The Honour of God and our Holy Faith obliges us our own Descent and the Memory of them from whom we sprang require us to do as much good as we can to them of the same Houshold of Faith As we have therefore Opportunity and now once more one is put into our Hands dedicate to God some Portion of that Substance wherewith God hath blessed you and why may it not be the same Portion out of our own which our Heavenly Father allotted our earthly Parents out of other Mens Estates to bring up and maintain our selves By his Blessing on their Care we have been brought up and disposed of into our respective Stations in the World The Manest of which have their Mite and the more Honourable and Great by their greater Number of Talents have greater Obligations as well as greater Opportunities of doing Good therewith Both are obliged as the Son of Syrach and the Apostle advises To give unto the most High according as he hath inriched them and to lay by in store as God had prospered them and for their so doing they have God for thier Pay-Master who hath promised If they sow bountifully they shall reap bountifully and greater shall be their Reward in Heaven By making thus Friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness whenever they fail as sometime or other how soon we know not they will they may receive us into everlasting habitations and we shall lay a Foundation in the highest Heavens which no Disturbance on Earth shall ever remove or take away from us but our Blessedness shall remain for ever and we be rewarded with all the abundant Riches of God's Kingdom for evermore Which God in his infinite Mercy grant unto us all thro' Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit Three Persons and One God be ascribed by us and all the World All Honour and Glory Praise and Power Might Majesty and Dominion now henceforth and for evermore Amen FINIS