Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	abraham_n	work_n	wrought_v	5,418	5	9.4241	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92898	The Christian man: or, The reparation of nature by grace. VVritten in French by John Francis Senault; and now Englished.; Homme chrestien. English	Senault, Jean-François, 1601-1672.	1650 (1650)	Wing S2499; Thomason E776_8; ESTC R203535	457,785	419

that to render him Faithful it will not suffer him to be Rational Though Faith have all these advantages yet must we acknowledge that without Charity it is unprofitable all a mans Miracles profit nothing without Good works and though this vertue raign so absolutely in the State of Jesus Christ she will never cause the Faithful to raign in Glory if he adde not the ardors of Love to the Light of Belief S. Augustine hath observed that though Abraham owe the beginning of his happiness to Faith he owed the perfection thereof to his Good works and Obedience when he believed the Word of God 't was a rare effect of Faith but when he obeyed the voice of the Angel armed his hand with a Sword lifted up his arm to strike his onely son 't was doubtless a very great act of Faith and a certain proof of his obedience Let us joyn therefore these two vertues that we may imitate him let us pass from Faith to Good works and if we would have the merit of that Patriarch let us fully believe the promises of Jesus Christ and faithfully execute his will that we may not be reproacht that our Faith is like that of Devils that fear the Justice of the Almighty but love not his Goodness The Fourth DISCOURSE Of the Hope of a Christian AS Sin hath robbed us of our Light so hath it deprived us of our Strength and he that cast us into Errour hath precipitated us into Weakness we are not onely Blinde but Impotent nor is it a sufficient Cure for us to have our Sight restored if withal we recover not our Vigour Faith takes pains to scatter our Darkness and Hope endeavours to strengthen our Weakness This vertue bears up the heart of a Christian draws him out of that unhappie Impotencie whereto sin had reduced him and resting upon the veracity of God expects with confidence the effects of his promises it knows very well that his Word is not like that of Soveraigns and being not subject to their Infirmities neither is he liable to their Changes For Princes oftentimes break their word either out of weakness or lightness or imprudence they cannot always do what they would their Will exceeds their Power and they are constrained to recal their word because they are not able to put it in execution 'T is enough that they are Men to make them Lyers The Scepter that adorns their hand and the Royal Wreathe that circles their head change not their Nature upon the Throne they are sensible of the failings of their Subjects and though the disposers of Honour and Life yet are they inconstant as their Mothers But were they resolved to keep their word that they might imitate his Constancie whose Majestie they represent they would be often forc'd to revoke it to avoid those disorders their Prudence had not foreseen for the Light of Kings is bounded as well as their Power they cannot read the obscure Characters of Futurity and whatever ministers their Councel is composed of they cannot prevent accidents if they consult not with Prophets so that necessity compels them to fail of their word if they will not fail of their duty But the God we adore is free from these infirmities and if he appear sometimes to repent of his designs or recall his decrees 't is only to suit with our understanding and to deal with men after the manner of men He is absolute in his state his Power is his Will as his Goodness is his Essence he finds no Rebels in the world and if there be any that seem to brave his Mercy they obey his Justice that punisheth them His Immutability is equall to his Power he never changeth his designs and though he accommodate himself sometimes to his creatures 't is in reducing them to his Will without constraining them He magnifieth himself in this Attribute in Holy Scripture and as if his Constancy were a proof of his Divinity he will have us believe him God because he is Immutable Ego Deus non mutor A surprisal or a mistake obligeth him not to change his resolution nothing happens in his State contrary to his Will or his Permission he prevents the revolts of his Subjects and if his Justice punish Crimes in Time his Wisdome foresaw them in Eternity His Councel regulates Events Successe answers his Enterprises and the malice of men not being able to surprise his Providence he is never forced to revoke his Decrees Thence it comes to passe that Hope which is founded upon his Promises is not liable to distrust 't is well assured that Truth can neither deceive nor be deceived that an absolute power meets with no difficulties that check it and that a wisdome subject to no errour is subject to no change Thus the Christian assisted with this Vertue lives in the sweetness of tranquillity nothing in the whole world makes him afraid the greatness of danger heightens his confidence and knowing very well that God can raise his salvation out of his very fall he is fearless in the midst of his enemies This made David utter those words In Domino sperans non infi mabor he could not have said so had he placed his confidence in the creature because as Saint Augustine saith it fell with man who was its support but being grounded upon him who is as Powerfull as he is True he was able to preserve his assurance in the midst of danger and to promise victory in the thickest of the conflict Thus doth Saint Augustine paraphrase upon the words of the same Prophet where out of an excess of confidence he cals his God his Hope Quoniam tu es Domine spes mea Let other men saith that incomparable Doctor trust in the vanity of their riches and think that with their gold they can seduce Women corrupt Judges and subdue their Enemies Let others confide in their Friends and perswade themselves they have a share in their goods as well as in their affections that assisted by their counsell or supported by their furtherance they can triumph over grief and fortune Let others raising their thoughts a degree higher hope in the weak power of Kings promise themselves admittance into their favour to be of their Councel to partake of their Secrets and to govern their Person or their State as for me who am no longer abused with these vanities I will rest upon my God and not violating the respect I owe him making the Almighty my Hope will say Quoniam tu es Domiue spes mea If this Vertue heighten the infirmity of Christians we must confess it sweetens their discontents and is in stead of Consolation midst all the torments that afflict them Not to know that man is miserable since he became criminal is to be extreamly ignorant the sweetest life hath its labours the shortest is long enough to be sensible of a thousand calamities the remedies whereof are a second affliction and that which we call comfort and consolation

contrary to all the laws of Nature that the Accidents subsist without their Subject and that the Substance of the Bread and Wine being turned into that of his Body and Blood keep notwithstanding its Colour Taste and Form He is multiplied without being divided to satisfie the love of his Spouse and admitting his Humanity into the priviledges of the Divinity filleth his State with his presence We are in a doubt whether he does not work a Miracle for the Faithful which is not indulged the Blessed and we are yet ignorant whether this divine multiplication be an effect of his glory or of his power For though there are some Divines who believe that glorified bodies may be in divers places without a miracle and that the part they have in the Immensity of God multiplies their bodies without dividing them the Schools have always lookt upon this effect as a prodigie and have taught us that the order of Glory had its Miracles as well as that of Nature and Grace Finally it seems that the Son of God to make his power and his love admired Dicitur virgini supervenient in te Spiritus sanctus dic●tur etiem Sacerdoti superveniet in te Spiritus sarctus efficiet quod intelligentiam tuam excedet Joan. Damasc had a minde in this Mystery to repeat all the Miracles he had wrought during the course of his life For if he were born of Mary without interessing her Virginity if making her a Mother he left her a Virgin if the Fruit she bare deflowred not her Purity he is produced in our Sacrifices without violating their Accidents and changing their substance into his alters not the Species that cover them If he turn water into wine at a Marriage in Cana and manifest himself the Master of the Elements in changing their qualies he appears no less absolute in a Sacrament where he turns the Bread into his Body the Wine into his Blood and the Creature into his Creator If he multiply the loaves in the wilderness and operate this prodigie by the hands of his Apostles they being ignorant of the manner he daily multiplies his Body by the hands of the Priests who cannot comprehend a miracle whereof they are the witnesses and the Ministers If heretofore he cured the sick that came unto him here he cures the diseased that receive him and if he raised the dead by his touch or by his Word here he promiseth life to all those that feed upon him and engageth himself by a promise as sure as an Oracle that he will draw all those out of the grave that have served him here for a Temple Thus this adorable Sacrament deserves the name of Manna better then Manna it self and ought no less to fill our hearts with astonishment then with love But to continue our resemblances and to manifest the truth in the figure The Psalmist hath observed that Manna was not a bare Nutriment but a preservative and a remedy For while the Israelites made use of it in the Desarts they were never molested with any infirmities Though they so often changed their Quarters marched through a Wilderness where the want of water and the multitude of serpents might make them fear an infection nevertheless this food which participated of the Tree of Life and made them taste in the Desarts the delights of Paradise so well suited with their temper that though they daily beheld rebels in their Camp they never saw any sick In Tribubus eorum non erat infirmus There by a strange prodigy diseases were not the harbingers of death they gave up the ghost without any pangs some small weakness gave them notice of the houre of their departure the soul fairly took leave of the body and the Feaver which seems the forrager of death durst not set upon men whom Manna served for nourishment The Eucharist works the same miracle in our souls that this Heavenly food did in their bodies It is at the same time diet and an Antidote it gives life and preserves it it delivers us from evil and then protects us against it it maintains the constitution of the soul in a regulated evenness of temper and much happier then physick which cannot tame the disease without weakning nature it deals so critically with the sins that it never prejudiceth the sinner Many times when Faith seconds Piety this Celestial viand extends its effects as far as the body it maintains health as well as salvation and cures the diseased as well as the wicked In the Primitive Church it wrought wonderful cures and the great Saint Cyprian tels us that Physitians were useless in those days because Christians found their cure in the Eucharist and proved there was the same Jesus present whose Word was heretofore so fatal to infirmities and so favourable to the infirm If in this particular it supass Manna in another it equals it Manna non solum sanitatem sed animum Judais conserebat Jos●ph because in restoring health it infused strength and inspired courage For there are some Writers that are of opinion that the valour of the Israelites was an effect of Manna that they owed those formidable victories they gained from their enemies to this meat that came down from Heaven Neither ought this to seem strange to the incredulous since experience teacheth us that wine which is the pure work of Nature produceth daily the same effects drowns fear in its vapours inspires men with the contempt of dangers gives a new vigour to soldiers and constitutes the best part of their courage Therefore I am easily perswaded to believe that Manna wrought the same wonder in the Israelites whilest nourishing their body it maintained their valour and making them sound and lusty made them withall magnanimous and valiant Indeed inasmuch as this food was more miraculous then natural and acted rather by the directions of Heaven then the properties of its own nature it lost this faculty assoon as the Israelites lost grace and as if it had changed quality when they changed disposition it produced fear in the same hearts where it had formerly produced courage and assurance All these wonders were but the shadows of what we adore in the Eucharist which is not only the food but the force of the Christian we come from the Altar as Lions terrifying the Infernal Spirits they cannot endure our sight the presence of Jesus Christ wherewith we are surrounded startles them into a disorder and remembring that we bear about us the same slesh and bloud which triumphed over them upon Mount Calvary they dare not set upon us They flie such men who lodge a god in their souls and beholding their Judge seated in our hearts as upon his Throne they are afraid lest he pronounce sentence against them re-doubling their pains and aggravating their torments It was this Heavenly Bread that animated the Martyrs to the combat this adorable Bread that gave them courage to daunt their executioners and the sword of