Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
glory_n	affliction_n	eternal_a	moment_n	4,141	5	9.1958	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25225	The additional articles in Pope Pius's creed, no articles of the Christian faith being an answer to a late pamphlet intituled, Pope Pius his profession of faith vindicated from novelty in additional articles, and the prospect of popery, taken from that authentick record, with short notes thereupon, defended.	Altham, Michael, 1633-1705.; Altham, Michael, 1633-1705. Creed of Pope Pius IV, or, A prospect of popery taken from that authentick record.	1688 (1688)	Wing A2931; ESTC R18073	87,445	96

more grievously offended By fruits worthy of Repentance we are therefore to understand such fruits as are meet to testifie the truth of our Repentance and fit us to receive Grace and Favour offered And if we consider the following words they will farther confirm us herein for it is added v. 5. He that overcometh shall be cloathed in white aray c. Whence it is evident that to walk in white or to be worthy to do so was not a privilege peculiar to those few names in Sardis which had not defiled their garments but to all others who by Faith are armed with the power of Christ and by that means obtain a Victory over the World and the Devil for they also shall be cloathed with white aray This well represents that Righteousness wherewith all the blessed ones shall stand cloathed and covered before God which is not their own but a Righteousness given unto them by another and put upon them And is the same spoken of by holy David and quoted by St. Paul when he had occasion to treat of this argument 〈◊〉 xxxij 2. ●om iv 7 8. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin To be worthy therefore imports not that Men do merit eternal life by their works but it imports a fitness and capacity in them to receive it being justified by Faith in Christ Jesus as their holy and godly life did declare His next Scripture proof is Matth. v. 12. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Whence he inferrs that Heaven is given as a reward for their suffering and good Works That Heaven is a Reward we grant but it is a Reward of Grace not of Debt That it is given to those that suffer for Righteousness sake and do well we deny not but it is not given them for their suffering or well-doing And we acknowledge that it is a great Reward so great that it far exceeds the merit of all that we can do or suffer For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and eternal weight of glory saith St. Paul 2 Cor. iv 17. His last Scripture is Matth. xxv 34. where our Saviour is giving an account in what manner he will proceed in the last Judgment What inference the Vindicator would draw from hence he leave us to divine for he only quotes it and so leaves it and so shall I too till he thinks fit to form his argument and bless the World with the sight of it But he closeth up his Scripture Arguments with this Salvo All this as supposing and built upon the promise of Christ and his assisting grace Which if I mistake not is a full confutation of all that he hath been endeavouring to prove For if our good works be done by his assisting grace as undoubtedly they are then are they not so our own as to merit by them and if our deserving life everlasting must suppose and be built upon the promise of Christ then is it not a Reward of Debt but of Grace or by Pact and Promise which is the thing we contend for And now I come to examine his Authorities which he brings out of two Epistles of St. Austin viz. the 105. and the 118. ad Sixt. I have carefully read over these two Epistles which I question whether the Vindicator has done for if he had he would not have been guilty of so great a mistake for the 118 Epistle is not directed to Sixtus as he saith it is but to Januarius nor is there one word in it of all that he here quotes out of it nor any one Syllable relating to that matter it being wholly spent in directing him how to conform himself to the Customs of any particular Church where he came provided they were not contrary to Faith and good manners especially in the business of Fasting and the Eucharist The 105. Epistle is indeed directed to Sixtus though he doth not tell us it is and in that I meet with what he here sets down which makes me conjecture that he hath taken it from some other upon trust for if he did consult the Author himself he betrays a great want either of honesty or ingenuity or both For it is not honest in any man to curtail his Author's Sence nor is it very ingenuous by that means to endeavour to impose upon unwary Readers All therefore that I have here to do is to bring St. Austin to speak for himself and so leave the unbyassed Reader to judge between us The design of St. Austin in this Epistle is to instruct Sixtus how to answer the Arguments of the Pelagians who were then the great Advocates for Free Will and Merits by advancing the Free Grace and Mercy of God against them St. Austin in this Epistle hath these words which the Vindicator sets down viz. As death is rendred to the Merit of sin as the pay so everlasting life is rendred as the pay to the merit of Justice But he doth not tell you what goes before nor what follows after those words in that place If he had you would more clearly have understood St. Austin's meaning than perhaps he desired you should To undeceive you therefore I stall give you the passage intire as it is in the Author When St. Paul saith he in Rom. vi 23. had said The wages of sin is death who would not have expected that he should have added and the wages of righteousness is eternal life And truly it is so for as death is rendred to the merit of sin as the wages so eternal life as the wages is rendred to the merit of Righteousness But the blessed Apostle to repress the pride of Men saith The Wages of Sin is Death Truly Wages because due because worthily deserved because rendred to Merit But then to prevent the exalting of our selves upon the account of our own Merit or Righteousness he doth not say The Wages of Righteousness is eternal Life but the gift of God is eternal Life And that we may not seek it in any other way he adds In Christ Jesus our Lord. As if he should have said O Humane not Righteousness but Pride in the name of Righteousness why dost thou begin to exalt thy self and to require eternal Life as Wages due to thee It is true Righteousness to which eternal life is due But if it be true Righteousness it is not of thy self but is from above coming down from the Father of lights Wherefore O Man if thou art about to receive eternal Life it is indeed the Wages of Righteousness but to thee it is a Grace to whom Righteousness it self is a Grace In the same Epistle I also meet with these words Are there no Merits of the Righteous surely there are because they are Righteous But they had no Merits by which they became Righteous For

equality of due proportion between our Works and Heaven without any respect had to Pact Promise or Favour To make a work truly meritorious it must have these five Qualifications 1. The work that is done must not be a work that is due to be done For it is no merit for a man to pay his debts Now our Saviour tells us When we have done all those things which are commanded us we are still but unprofitable Servants having done only that which was our duty to do Luke xvij 10. 2. The thing we offer must be our own For to present any thing to another that belongs unto him is no merit in us Now St. Paul. tells us We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but all our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. iij. 5. 3. The work that a man doth to merit of another must be profitable to that other of whom he designs to merit For no man will pretend to merit by an unprofitable service Now holy David freely confesseth That his Goodness did not extend to God i. e. was no way profitable or advantageous to him Ps xvi 2. 4. The work we do to merit withal must not be defective For if there be any thing in it that wants a pardon it can never truly merit Now St. John tells us If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 John i. 8. 5. There must be some proportion between the Work and the Reward Otherwise we cannot be said to deserve it In St. Paul's account The afflictions of this present time and certainly Suffering is more than Doing are not worthy of the Glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. viij 18. These are the requisites of Merit which if well attended to may be very useful in deciding this Difficulty and determining this matter in difference between us Let us now consider the other word viz. Reward That the Word Reward is frequently used both in Scripture and by the Fathers we own and that the strict and proper notion of it is a Debt due to man for the work he hath done we deny not But that it was ever used in this sence with respect to God or that ever any man according to this notion of the Word can be said to deserve a reward at God's hands we can by no means grant And hence ariseth the difference between the Church of Rome and us in order to the deciding of which let us consider that there is a twofold Reward the one due the other not due the one given as a just retribution for the work done and the other freely or at most according to Pact and Promise This distinction is fairly founded in Scripture where St. Paul saith To him that worketh the reward is not accounted to be of grace but of debt Rom. iv 4. Which plainly implies that a free gift bestowed out of meer bounty and liberality may be called a Reward as well as that which by the strict rules of Justice is due to Merit And thus we find it in Scripture sometimes given to the one and sometimes to the other For that which in Matth. v. 46. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reward in Luke vi 32. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Grace or Free Gift And the peny given to the labourer who came in at the last hour is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reward though much above his desert Matth. xx 8. Ambr. l. 1. Ep. 1. Upon which St. Ambrose very well observes There is a kind of Reward which is given of liberality and of Grace and another which is the wages of Vertue and the recompence of a man's labour Having thus stated the true notion of these two words Merit and Reward upon which depends the whole Controversie between us I shall now take a more particular view of his Proofs His first Scripture proof is Rev. iij. 4. From which he thus argues Thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments there is Purity and Justice and they shall walk with me in white there is the Reward and the reason follows for they are worthy The whole stress of this Argument lies in the word worthy a right understanding whereof will facilitate our answer thereunto St. Paul expresly saith I reckon that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy * Condignae ad futuram Gloriam Vulg. Lat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the glory which shall be shewed unto us Rom. viij 18. The Glory which St. Paul here speaks of and the White Aray which St. John mentions do certainly import one and the same thing viz. Eternal Life Of which St. Paul saith all our Sufferings and certainly they are more valuable than our Doings are not worthy And yet those who had not defiled their garments are said to be worthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk in white i. e. to be made partakers of Life and Glory This looks like a perfect contradiction which we cannot suppose these two holy and inspired Men could be guilty of for as they were both taught by the same Spirit so no doubt they both spake the same thing To reconcile them therefore we must find out another sence of the Word Worthy than this Gentleman puts upon it and I think it is no difficult matter so to do For a Man may be said to be worthy of a Reward either upon his own account or upon the account of another either for the sake of his own deservings or for the sake of another's merits To be worthy in the former sence a Man must have all those Requisites and Qualifications which are required to make up a Merit strictly so called but to be worthy in the other sence requires no more but only to be fitted and disposed to receive those favours which are merited for him by another That according to the latter of these notions we are to understand the worthyness here spoken of will appear plainly if we consider That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here rendred Worthy may be and often is rendred fit or meet as for instance St. John Baptist warns the Pharisees and Sadduces which came to his Baptism To bring forth fruits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of Matth. iij. 8. Luk. iij. 8. or meet for repentance that so they might escape the wrath to come i. e. Let your Reformation declare your Repentance to be such as may fit you to come to this Baptism and consequently to escape wrath let your Repentance be according to the measure of your sin if your Sins have been great Lyra in ●oc ●ed apud ●l Ord. in ●oc so must your Repentance be too So their own Lyra understands it And the venerable Bede gives this reason for it Because the same measure of Repentance is not required of him who is guilty of little or no Sin as of him who hath