Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	reward_n	work_n	2,765	5	6.8633	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14645	The poore-mans preacher A sermon preached at S. Maries Spittle in London, on Tuesday in Easter weeke, being April. 7. 1607. By Ro. Wakeman Bachelar of Diuinitie, and fellow of Ballioll College in Oxford.	Wakeman, Robert, 1575 or 6-1629.	1607 (1607)	STC 24951; ESTC S101713	35,727	96

learned Father Frustra manus ad Deum expandit qui has ad pauperes non extendit In vaine he stretcheth out his hands in praier vnto God that doth not exercise his hands in pitie vnto the poore Remember that thou art Gods minister as Origen speaketh to distribute a portion to thy fellow seruants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do not then like Iudas in carrying of the bagge cousen the poore do not appropriate that to thy selfe that belongeth to others tua non sunt tua saith S. Hierome in his 8. epistle ad Demetriadem those goods which thou callest thine are none of thine It is the bread of the hungrie which thou doest detaine it is the coate of the naked which thou lockest in thy wardrope the shooes of the barefoote which lie drying in thy house and the gold that should relieue the poore that lies cankering in thy coffers as Basil speaketh Lastly remember this and remember all it is the saying of Gregorie in one of his Hom. and woorthy to be remembred of euery faithfull Christian Quod iacenti in terra porrigitis sedenti in coelo datis What thou giuest vnto the poore lying on the ground thou giuest to Christ Iesus sitting in heauen What the poore beggeth of thée Christ beggeth of thée it is Christ that asketh thy house to lodge him it is Christ that craueth thy garment to couer him it is Christ that desireth thy bread to féed him it is Christ that intreateth thy drinke to refresh him And therefore as Christ said to the woman of Samaria If thou knewest who it is that saith vnto thée giue me drinke thou wouldest haue asked of him and he would haue giuen to thée the water of life Ioh. 4.10 So diddest thou consider that when the poore craueth it is Christ that craueth thy charitable beneuolence and when thou castest thy bread vpon the waters thou castest it vpon Christ Iesus thou wouldest not onely giue vnto him of thy transitorie treasure but intreat of him a greater almes euen the water of euerlasting life and after many daies thou shouldest be sure to finde it And so I come to my second generall part to wit the reward héere proposed noted in the last words For after many daies thou shalt finde it Pars secunda FOr after many daies thou shalt find it Although it might séeme sufficient which the holy Ghost by king Salomon had set downe in the first words of my text to perswade vs to a Chrstian commiseration of the poore for the will of a master is a sufficient reason vnto his seruants and the good pleasure of a king vnto his subiects and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he spake the word gaue sufficient credit to the scholers of that Philosopher to beléeue the trueth and follow the prescription of his precepts yet the blessed spirit of God considering the dulnesse of flesh and bloud in any thing that might concerne their instruction in the way of godlinesse and well waying how the nature of man is euer stirred vp by rewards the rather to allure vs to this holie dutie proposeth the promise of a reward to be receaued vpon the performance of this precept For after many daies thou shalt find it Wherein he frameth this argument ab vtili a most forcible argument of all other to flesh and bloud Thinke not much to cast your bread vpon the water to distribute your almes vnto the poore yea to lose your money for your neighbours sake for by this losse commeth great gaine for this after many daies you shall find many temporal blessings in this life and eternall glorie in the life to come for so the whole current of Interpreters expound these last words of my text And héere my brethren as the carkase of Amasah lying in the midst of the way caused the people to stand still 2. Sam. 20.12 So me thinkes in the verie entrance of this second part there ariseth a scruple to staie my passage and hinder my course which when we shal remooue we may the better procéed and goe forward in the same For whereas the spirit of God by Salomon doth héere implicitè set downe a temporall and eternall reward to all them that are plentifull in their charitable déeds towards the poore heereupon the aduersaries of the trueth misinterpreting the place doe presently conclude that these works of mercie did merit and deserue this reward at the hand of Almightie God The vanity of which conceit shall God willing plainly appéere vnto you if you will vouchsafe héerein a little to affoord mée your Christian patience and accustomed attention And if there be any héere present that haue béene seduced to fauour the doctrine of popish merits and are not yet fully satisfied and setled in the trueth let mée desire them in the bowels of Christ Iesus vnlesse they will obstinately continue in errour to laie aside all preiudicate conceits either of my person or of this cause and with indifferent eares to heare how in this one point by the disciples of Antichrist our Church hath béene wronged these weake ones abused the Scriptures peruerted and the faithfull generally scandalized For after manie daies they shall find it A temporall and eternall reward saie they is héere promised to him that casteth his bread vpon the waters that giueth his almes vnto the poore ergo this charitable almes merited this reward And the Rhemists in their annotations vpon Rom. 2. sect 2. affirme that Christians good works are meritorious and the causes of saluation and vpon 1. Cor. 3. sect 2. men by their good works deserue heauen Bellarmine their great champion in his 4. lib. 3. cap. de bonis operibus is of opinion that good works and namely almes déeds whereof Salomon héere especially speaketh doe merit eternall life not onely ex congruo by a kinde of congruitie which some of the Schoolemen allow but also ex cōdigno of condignitie or worthines in the highest degrée which many of the schoolemen doe denie The reason of this their assertion they fetch from that place Luc. 10.7 The labourer is woorthy of his wages but the faithful are laborers and eternall life is their wages promised Matth. 20.8 ergo the faithfull are woorthy of by their works doe merit eternall life But marke I beséech you brethren how like the ancient heretikes our Romanists by their cursed glosses corrupt this Scripture and violently wrest it from its true meaning for whereas our Sauiour there saieth The labourer is woorthy of his hire he doth not by hire or wages vnderstand the kingdome of heauen or eternal life but rather a temporall reward as the circumstances of the text do manifestly declare it For Christ Iesus there sending his disciples to preach the Gospell biddes them carrie no bagge nor scrip nor shooes with them but into what house soeuer they did enter they should tarrie there eating and drinking such things as were set before them for the labourer saith he is woorthie of his hire His meaning

there is nothing else but as Saint Paul speaketh 1. Corint 9. that his disciples preaching the Gospell should liue of the Gospell and sowing spirituall things vnto the people should be rewarded with their corporall reliefe Againe suppose that wages or hire did signifie eternall life as out of Matt. 20. they prooue yet shall we thinke by our good déeds to demerit the same séeing in that very chap. you shall finde that they who were called at the last houre had as large a reward as they that came at the first which had neuer béene if merit had béene respected and therefore as Saint Ambrose saith in his lib. 1. cap. 3. de vocat gentium Cùm hi qui in multo labore sudarunt séeing they which were in all the labour receaued no more than the last intelligant donum se gratiae non operum accepisse mercedem let them vnderstand they receaued a gift of Gods grace and had nothing in them to merit this reward of their works Yea but in the Reuelation the words are more plaine and the spirit there pronounceth them woorthy Reuel 3.4 Thou hast a few names yet in Sardi which haue not defiled their garments and they shall walke with me in white for they are woorthie But how beloued non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are not absolutely woorthy but respectiuely in cōparison of those wicked ones in Sardi that had consented to idolaters and polluted their consciences with euill and were altogether profane So doth S. Ambrose expound it writing on the 2. Timoth. 1. quantum ad caeterorum comparationem digni sunt quantum ad rem ipsam omnes indigni in respect of others they are woorthy but in regard of the thing it selfe they are all vnwoorthie Or else they are woorthy not simply of themselues but because God did so accept them in Christ Iesus Non ex operibus sed pura gratia as a good writer will haue it Not by the merit of their works but by the imputation of Christs woorthinesse not because they are clensed by their almes but because their robes are made white in the bloud of the Lambe Reuel 7.14 Yea but that place Matth. 24. cannot be answered Receaue the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world for I was hungrie and yée fed me naked and yée clothed me c. ergo almes déedes are the efficient causes of euerlasting life the casting our bread vpon the waters shall merit heauen for vs. Indéed my brethren this is the Scripture they most presse but if you will a little consider this place with me I doubt not but as that Aegyptian was slaine with a speare taken out of his owne hands 2. Sam. 23.21 So our aduersaries shall bée confuted out of these words which they alledge for the defence of their own cause For if we looke into the text we shall find that this kindgome was prepared for them from the beginning of the world Whence wée may frame against them this argument If this kingdome were prouided for the faithfull before they had done any almes déedes at all then did not the faithfull by their almes déedes as by precedent causes merit or deserue the same But this kingdome was prouided for the faithfull before they had done any almes déeds at all euen before the foundation of the world was laid ergo the faithfull did not by their almes déed merit or deserue the same Againe our works are said to be meritorious when we doe them of our owne frée will and pleasure and not of due debt for when wée doe that which wée are bound to doe we doe no more but our dutie But behold beloued and consider what the Apostle saith We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good workes which God hath ordained wée should walke in them Eph. 2.10 and the particular good works of almes déedes are in my text and in many other places of holy scripture required of vs. We are not left to our owne frée will and pleasure whether we will doe them or no but as Saint Paul saith of himselfe concerning the preaching of the Gospell Necessitie is laid vpon me and woe be vnto me if I preach not the Gospell 1. Cor. 9.18 So may all Christians say of themselues in this behalfe there is a necessitie laid vpon vs to relieue the poore to cast our bread vpon the waters and woe be vnto vs if we doe it not And shall we then make our almes meritorious when necessitie requireth that at our hand Did the master thanke his seruant because he did that which was commanded him Luc. 17.9 and doe we thinke that when wée haue done all that is commanded vs wée shall be in any better ranke then vnprofitable seruants or doe we looke the Lord should thanke vs or that he should bestow the kingdome of heauen on vs for the woorthinesse thereof Lastly betwéene the worke and the reward there should be an equall proportion otherwise it cannot be said to merit for if the reward be more than the works it is not a reward of desert but a gift of good will Whence it is manifest that our best almes can neuer merit this kingdome of heauen because none of them can equal it What is a cup of cold water to eternall life what is a morsell of bread to a crown of glory what is a small mite to the kingdome of heauen Nay what are our best works to such an immortall reward All the afflictions of this life are not woorthie of that glory that shall be shewed vnto vs Rom. 8.18 Quid possumus dignum facere praemijs coelestibus saith S. Ambrose in his 20. serm in Psal 119. what can we doe to deserue heauen Beatae vitae nullus potest aquari labor nulla operatio passiones nullae saith Gregory in Psal 142. to blessed life no labour worke or suffering can bée equall Quid sunt merita nostra ad tantum gloriam saith S. Bernard in his 1. serm De Annuntiatione What are all our merits euen our best merits in comparison of so great glorie To these I might adde the testimonies of S. Chrysostome S. Basil S. Hierome S. Augustine and the rest of the antient fathers of the Church who in many places of their works being rightly vnderstood doe beat downe this monster of popish merits to the shame of our fugitiue countrimen who are not ashamed to publish to the world that all the Fathers Councels Reasons Scriptures are in this point for them against vs. Whereas you sée the contrary hath béene in part and might be in the whole prooued if time would permit And the word of God herein is so opposite vnto them that I maruell not if that godly martyr was so thorowly perswaded of this trueth that hée said vnto his enimies He that can shew me in any Scripture that our almes déeds or best works doe merit heauen for the first Scripture I will without any