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cause_n work_n work_v workmanship_n 51 3 11.7484 5 false
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A32083 A funeral sermon preach'd at the internment of Mr. Samuel Stephens for some time employ'd in the work of the ministry, in this city : who departed life the fifth of January, 1693/4 in the twenty eighth year of his age / by Edmund Calamy. Calamy, Edmund, 1671-1732. 1694 (1694) Wing C271; ESTC R10147 15,357 38

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given them which is short and very uncertain and therefore carefully to be improv'd and that he might insinuate this the better he brings Himself in for Company I shall not go about to try whether or no I could on a Subject so circumstantiated as this give you a learned and florid Discourse but shall only endeavour to be a plain Echo of that Providence which is the sad Occasion of our present Concourse in laying before you in distinct Propositions the several Truths which these Words contain of which I shall afterwards make a brief Improvement both General and Special Now the Truths which these Words naturally present to our Thoughts are such as these that follow I. That we are all sent into this World by God We must work the Works of him that sent us We came not hither of our selves We came not by Chance Our Production's owing to an Agent infinitely Powerful and Wise who though he did not immediately create us out of Nothing yet order'd dispos'd and actuated those Natural Causes by whose Concurrence we were form'd One would wonder how any that have the least spark of Reason should ever let it enter into their Thoughts that so Noble a Being as Man should be the Workmanship of fortuitous Chance when we see Men rising up in the World Age after Age in a stated Order And as for that Term of NATURE of which some are so fond if they mean by it any thing distinct either from the Author or the settled Order of Things they introduce by it a Being of whose Existence they can give no Evidence But let our Wits argue as long as they please we may securely defie them to give any Account how it should come about that when it was but a little while ago altogether Indifferent whether such Beings should ever have been or not one Generation should now so statedly succeed another unless they 'll own the Agency of the Great Creator of all Things the free Efflux of whose superabounding Goodness gave the first Rise to the World 'T is He that manifestly gives Natural Causes their Vertue sets them on Work bounds their Influence determines their Effects and over-rules and manages them in all their Productions So that as Things are now disposed we as much owe our Beings to God as we should do if by virtue of his Almighty Word we should in an instant start out of Nothing 'T was He that first shap'd us in the Womb as we may see Psal. 139. 14 15 16. 'T was He that brought us out of our first strait Confinement into so large and noble an Habitation as that of this Visible World Psal. 71. 6. 'T is on Him that we subsist all the time that we are here and therefore we may be assurd He sent us hither II. A Second Truth these Words afford is this That we have all of us Work to do here And need I go to prove this to you Do we not see all the Creatures in their several Ranks according to their Capacities at work about us Do we not find that we have Active Natures Noble Powers Large Capacities and Boundless Cravings And can we then think that we were design'd to be Idle Should we indeed look into most Mens Lives we should be apt to think either that we have nothing at all or nothing of any Consequence to do in this World But let 's but look ●ound about us or into our selves and we shall soon be satisfy'd that such active Natures as ours must have an Employment A Wise Being can never produce Powers to no purpose a Capacity without setting it a work We must have some Work or other to do or else we should be useless Impertinencies and insignificant Cyphers in the Creation of God Neither can our Work be at our own Choice we cannot be free to do what we please It naturally belongs to Him that gave us our Powers to employ them to Him that sent us into the World to allot and cut out proper Work for us in it And whenever we pretend to cut out Work for our selves we arrogate to our selves the Prerogative of our Maker who being an infinitely Wise Agent and having made us capable of Working hath designed Work for us and that such Work as is every way suitable to the Dignity Excellency and Ability of our Natures Now it 's well worth our serious Consideration what Work it is God design'd us for And this is a Thought which the greatest Part of the World seldom if ever to any purpose harbour and therefore 't is no wonder that their Lives are so disorderly confus'd and unaccountably extravagant and foolish I doubt not but there are some Hundreds and Thousands to be found who never spent one half Hour in all their Lives in deliberate Thoughtfulness about the Work for which they were made and sent into the World For can any Man who will allow himself soberly to weigh Matters ever think that so Noble a Creature as he should have no other Work in this World than to build Houses and plant Vineyards take his Pleasure and live at his Ease indulging his Appetites gratifying his Senses and pampering a short-liv'd Body to prog for Wealth and weary himself in heaping together a few Bags of perishing Dust to hunt for Honour and Credit Esteem and Applause among his Fellow-Creatures together with whom he himself must shortly pass off this earthly Stage so as to be quite forgotten Can any One I say that will give himself leave to think imagine this to be Work fit for so Noble a Creature as Man to be sent into this World for And yet of how great a Part of Mankind in all Ages hath this been the sole Employment Oh for God's sake let us be wiser Let 's but open our Eyes a little and we shall soon discern quite otherguess Work than this for us to mind Should I attempt here to be particular I should soon expatiate beyond the Bounds of a single Discourse Let me desire you therefore in short to observe that the Work which we have to do in this World is either Common or Special The great Work that is common to us all is while we are in this World to prepare for another this Life not being in order to it self but in order to a better Life We are sent into this World to be prepar'd qualify'd dispos'd and fitted for the noble and refin'd Enjoyments of another State for which we are design'd to live a Life of Faith and Patience that in due time we may be admitted to a Life of Glory And a greater Work this is than we are ordinarily aware of But herein lies the main of it We are to get our Spirits refin'd and a New and a Divine Nature convey'd into us without which we can never be capable of a Divine Life In order hereto there 's a great deal of Knowledge to be gotten We must know the God that made us and in the Enjoyment of