Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	faith_n	godliness_n	temperance_n	4,434	5	11.5825	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A11377	Dorcas: a true patterne of a goodly life, and good end With a pithy exhortation to the practice of faith and good works. In a sermon preached at Totnes in Deuon, Ianuary 14 16[...] at the funerall of Mrs. Mary Bab, widow. By Thomas Saltern, sometimes lecturer there; and preacher of the word at Bradford. And now published, at the request of sundry godly persons.	Saltern, Thomas, b. 1579 or 80.	1625 (1625)	STC 21636; ESTC S112139	17,242	24

fruits of faith the many branches growing out of the tree of holinesse and righteousnesse the seuerall Commandements of the two Tables are not more wide thē the name of good works is Whatsoeuer is commanded in any of those precepts faith it selfe alone excepted which is included in the first Commandement is comprehended vnder the name and title of good workes euen as the proper branches of our faith doe spread themselues as far as the Articles of our Creed doe the sum of that which a Christian ought to beleeue to his soules health Let no man therefore thinke it enough for him to bee carefull and zealous in performing the Commandements of the first Table while those of the second Table are neglected by him if not by his open or actuall transgression of the letter yet by too ordinary violating the sense of them in his truely disobeying vnder an vntrue pretence of greater obedience by his pride and malice and couetousnesse breach of charity of Christian yea of naturall affection hypocrisie double-dealing and deceitfulnesse into which crimes many I feare that thinke well of themselues and would be so thought of others do yet run headlong and doe not heed it nor on the other side will it serue our turnes to abstaine in some good measure from violating the precepts of the second Table which fear or worldly shame or other temporall respects may make vs carefull in while wee make no conscience of the Commandements of the first perning our Religion with the Weathercockes of the time diuiding our affections betweene God and Baal allowing Dagon a roome as well as the Arke gracing as wee thinke our speeches with oathes and blasphemies making our selues Gentiles on Gods Sabbaths for feare of being Iewes God hath ioyned these two tables together the first he calls the great Commandement and we make least account of it and of the second he saith that it is like vnto it and no man must if he wil be a true Disciple seuer the things which God hath ioyned they may be distinguished in our bookes and learning they must not bee diuided in our practice and liuing Now workes are then good when first the ground of them is good and that is the word of God the touchstone by which we must try the compasse by which we must direct the square by which we must frame and the rule whereby we must order all our actions if wee will bring them within the compasse of religious good workes Secondly when the roote of them is good and that is faith without which whatsoeuer hath the name of a good worke hath yet as our Church speakes art 13. seeing not done as God hath willed the nature of sin in it and all such things though they appeare specious and beautifull in the eies of men yet are as S. Austin speakes but splendida peccata they are not gold though they do glister And thirdly when the end of them is good that is Gods glory therefore sayth our Sauiour Christ Mat. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heauen And the Apostle Whatsoeuer you doe do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 And from good works thus vnderstood and thus qualified none are exempted all haue their peeces of money all haue their talents giuen them Luk. 19. to some in one measure and to other some in another but to all to imploy according to the Law of their Master and all to giue an account for their vse of them euery man hath his burthen and hee must beare it himselfe Gal. 6.5 Works of supererogation are works of superarrogation and he that wanting righteousnesse himselfe hopeth to be saued by another mans doth but mock himselfe as Pope Symmachus did when he said and as the Canonists doe the Pope in saying so too as it is dist 40. c. non nos that In Papa si desint bona acquisita per meritum c. If the Pope haue none or little goodnesse of his owne as it seemeth by this it may bee in that most holy Father himselfe he shall haue enough deriued vnto him from his Predecessor if none in possession enough by succession if little by purchase enough by inheritance no no the Saints in heauen though they haue Crownes to weare yet they haue none to spare And God shall reward euery man according to his not according to anothers workes Euery man is a tree and should be a good tree whose root is faith whose sap is hope whose branches the seuerall branches of Gods Commandements and of euery tree without exception that bringeth not forth good fruit it is said Mat. 3.10 it is cut downe and cast into the fire And vpon euery soule of man that doth euill shall bee tribulation and anguish Rom. 2.9 O now if I would looke about the world for a Dorcas and in the troope of Disciples too should I not need with the Cynicke Philosopher to light a candle and yet should not find not many The fruits of the spirit are loue ioy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse c. Gal. 5.22 These are fruits of faith these are workes of righteousnes But where are these And in stead of these what are the too common fruits of faith is your swearing and blasphemy a fruit of faith is your lying and periury a fruit of faith and what say you to your riot and drunkennesse to your chambering and wantonnesse to couetousnesse and oppression to vsury and extortion to strife and contention to enuie and malice in one towards another and the like to these If these were the signes of Christian profession if these were the badges of Christs Disciples if these were the works that God did looke for God might come when he would hee should finde these things amongst vs find vs full of them O iudge with your selues B. is this the way to make your calling and election sure as S. Peter willeth you or is it not the way rather to seale vnto your soules the assurance of your condemnation in the day of iudgment No no if you will as all good Christians ought to doe striue to attaine to a certainty of your future blessednesse these things ought not to be so among you the workes of darknesse are not the way to heauen the workes of righteousnesse are though no meritorious cause of our comming thither You must giue diligence saith the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.5 c. and all diligence for all will be little enough to adde to your faith vertue for faith without workes is dead to vertue knowledge or else you may doe that which is good but you shall not doe it well to knowledge temperance otherwise your knowledge will puffe you vp rather then edifie you to temperance patience for as you must doe so you shall suffer for your wel-doing to patience godlinesse for you may else giue your bodies to bee burnt in the fire and it shall

profit you nothing to godlinesse brotherly kindenesse for how can he that loueth not his brother say truely that hee loueth God and to brotherly kindnesse charity or loue not onely brotherly kindnesse to them that are of the houshold of faith but charity also towards all men friends and enemies as Christ stretcht out his armes on the Crosse to both the malefactors the first named of these things is faith the last is loue in the middle are other good workes the summe of all is that Gal. 5.6 Faith working by loue if this bee in you if these things be in you saith the Apostle and abound they will make you that you shall neither be barren nor vnfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ neither inwardly barren nor outwardly vnfruitfull And thus much concerning good workes in generall for which this Matron in my Text is here commended she is commended in the next place in particular for her almes-deeds an excellent species and member of those good workes to which we are enioyned We haue precept for it and example for it and reasons for it in the holy Scriptures Cast thy bread vpon the waters saith the Preacher Eccles 11.1 First hee saith cast doe not crumme it doe not doe it lazily as if lothly but giue it with a cheerfull minde Secondly Cast bread what is necessary for the sustenance of them that need and bread not a a bone that is for dogges not a bastinado that 's for rogues nor panem lapidosum as Seneca speakes bread full of grauell such as the hungry soule must needs eate but it goeth downe heauily because it is giuen grudgingly Thirdly panem tuum thy bread that which thou hast gotten with a good and an honest conscience for to rob a Church and then build a Spittle or to defraud or oppresse by the pound and then deale a dole by the peny is but according to the well knowne prouerbe to steale away the goose and sticke downe a feather And he saith the sonne of Sirach that bringeth an offering of the goods of the poore doth as one that killeth the sonne before his fathers eyes Ecclus 34.20 And lastly it is said vpon the waters First there distributed where there is no more hope of recompence then of regaining that which is throwne into the Sea Againe saith God in the mouth of the Prophet Esay c. 58.7 Is not this the fast first this is the fast that I haue chosen to deale thy bread to the hungry when thou seest the naked to couer him and that thou hide not thy selfe from thine owne flesh In which last words a reason is giuen why the rich should not turne away their eyes from the poore in contempt and disdaine as too commonly they doe euen because they all are of the same mold flesh and among themselues one anothers members And lastly the Apostle 2 Cor. 8.7 Therefore saith he as ye abound in euery thing in faith vtterance c. see that yee abound in this grace also viz. a liberall contribution to the necessities of the poore by the example of Abraham Gen. 18. of Lot Gen. 19. of Iob who protested for himselfe that hee did not eate his morsels alone but the fatherlesse together with him Iob 31.17 and by the example of Zacheus Luk. 19.8 Nor are examples so many but the benefit is as great After many dayes thou shalt finde it Eccles 11.1 And The mercifull man doth good to his owne soul Pro. 11.17 And He that giueth to the poor lendeth to the Lord and what he hath giuen he will pay him again Pro. 19.17 And Blessed is he saith Dauid that considereth the poore and needy the Lord shall deliuer him in the time of trouble Psal 41.1 And lastly Charge them that are rich saith S. Paul to Timothy that they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying vp in store for themselues a good foundation against the time to come c. 1 Tim. 6.18 I speak not this by way of taxe or as condemning you I know how the poore in this place are in very good measure prouided for but I speake you see to a great many of the Country as well as to you of the towne and all are not alike minded neither among them or you I pray God there be not amōg both sorts of you though I know none here some such as in the world there are too many who are humani in belluas in homines belluini prodigall in their expenses on hawks or horses or hoūds or worse yet close fisted the whil squint-eyed when they should look on and succour their poore needy brethren for them that are as in this case they should be what I haue spoken tends to their commendation and incouragement and to the exhortation and stirring vp of others who are not alike well minded not alike as others not alike as Dorcas in my text of whom out of the words themselues it may be truely affirmed that euen while she liued shee was full of almes which shee did She knew that in heauen shee should meet with none that did none her helpe and therefore shee would helpe them that needed before she was going thither I haue no reason to condemne mens leauing to the poore by way of legacy in their last wills yet ye know there is an old saying that bis dat qui citò that man doth giue double that giueth seasonably and on the contrary the Heathen man could say tantum gratiae demitur quantum mora adijcitur a good turne that is deferred and put off doth lose a great deale of that grace and thankes which otherwise it would haue and a suspition is left in the minds of men that we giue therefore then because we cannot keepe it non bona ta● pausat quam benefacta Deus God more respects the wel-doing of a thing then the deed done and indeed Beloued if no thing else did the hardnesse of these times hard times for the poore certainly doe euen force vs to open our hands as God hath inabled vs for their reliefe and succour O let vs not persecute them whom God hath smitten nor vexe them whom hee hath wounded let not their affliction bee forgotten in the midst of our feasting Plead not that the times are hard for others also as well as for the poore who will beleeue it that shall but thinke on this that scarce was there euer more spent in pride and gallantry in ryot and gluttony in quassing and carousing in sports and gaming and what a great deale of good might bee done to the poore if they had what may well bee spared out of the costlinesse of our apparell out of the superfluity of our diet nay out of that that is bestowed vpon the Deuill for who else but he gaineth by what is cast away in ryot and drunkennesse in lusts and filthines in games sportfulnesse in needlesse quarrels and