Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	faith_n	grace_n	justification_n	1,459	5	9.0615	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35439	An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of the book of Job being the summe of thirty two lectures, delivered at Magnus neer the bridge, London / by Joseph Caryl ...	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1647 (1647)	Wing C761; ESTC R16048	581,645	610

go on boldly till he meets with opposition he will work in a fair day till he meets with a storm and dangers threaten but there he gives over He that is not acquainted with the assurance office of heaven will seldome if at all runne hazards here on earth True trust brings God and the soul together but the hypocrite never comes near God and then no marvell if he be afraid to come near danger Note from it before we put the words together thus much That an hypocrite hath a trust of his own a trust like himself Whose trust An hypocrite doth most things which the upright and sincere hearted doe and he seems to have every thing which the upright and sincere hearted have Doe they pray so doth he Doe they hear se doth he Do they fast so doth he Have they faith He hath a faith too Have they the fear of God he also hath a kinde of fear Have they zeal so hath he yea the zeal of hypocrisie burns hotter for a blast then the zeal of sincerity He hath grace proper to his state false grace for his false heart he hath trust such as it is a trust which belongeth to all of his rank see the character of it in the next words It shall be a spiders web 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tam animal quam rete ejus quod solet contexere significat The Hebrew is It shall be the spiders house the web is the house of the spider We have the same word Isa 59.5 They weave the spiders webbe Isaiah speaks of such pretenders They trust in vanity and speaklie These were the spiders web which they weaved But why is the trust of the hypocrite compared unto the spiders web I shall clear that in four or five particulars which will be as so many notes upon this text 1. Because the profession and all the works of an hypocrite are very weak and unstable as the spiders web is There is a kinde of curiosity in them but there is no strength or stability in them The spider works very curiously but her house will not bear any stresse of weather much lesse force of battery The spiders web is no match for a broom or a whisk Thus it is with the profession the trust of hypocrites you may see a neat spinning a fine threed of profession accurate weavings and contrivances but when it comes to a push it is not able to stand if you doe but touch it 't is gone Some will stand out longer then others yet all fall as Christ assures us Mat. 7. ult it is the hypocrite who buildeth his house upon the sand to have a house built upon the sand is no better then to have a house built in the cicling when the storm comes that house fals and when the broom comes this must down 2. The trust of an hypocrite is called a spiders web because he fetches and frames it as it were out of his own bowels that whereunto he trusteth is wrought out of himself That 's the nature of the spider she hath no extrinsecall materials to build her house with she doth not hew her stones out of any quarry or fetch her timber from any forest as we may allude the materials which she hath she fetcheth out of her own bowels The Bee makes an house and fetcheth the materials from this and that flower so the Bee makes a comb for a house but the spider sucks no flowers Thus it is with hypocrites their trust and hope is as the spiders web made out of their own substance they eviscerate themselves they fetch all out of themselves The meaning is all their trust is in their own duties in their own strength in their own stock in their own gifts upon these they build these are their house We finde the Pharisees trust thus grounded such was his house Luk. 18. I fast twice a week I give alms I pay all men their due He was very exact in righteousnesse according to the Law upon this and out of this he makes his house this is to make an house like a spider Though it be our graces we trust upon our trust will be a spiders web The believer is well compared to a Bee the Bee hath an house and honey but the Bee fetcheth all from abroad from herbs and flowers Believers have their house to dwell in and their honey to feed upon but they such all from the promises of Christ yea they suck it from Christ himself they rest not in the letter of the promises but they go to Christ who is the matter promised and the accomplisher of all the promises Here they build their house and hew out the pillars of it 3. Their trust shall be a spiders web in the issue it shall perish like a spiders web How is that Assoon as the house comes to be cleansed down go the spiders webs when the house is swept the cob-webs are first swept away Thus it is with the trust of all hypocrites when God sweeps his house his Church he quickly sweeps out these spiders webs Isa 14.23 the Prophet speaks of the besome of God the judgements of God are the besome of God by which he sweepeth his house God hath a double besome or a double use of his besome he hath a besome of destruction and a besome of purgation It is a besome of destruction to hypocrites and it is a besome of purgation to his Saints When either the besome of destruction or the besome of purgation is in hand the trust of hypocrites is swept away When the Prophet describes the Lord in his great and terrible judgements Isa 33.14 the text saith The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulnesse surprizeth the hypocrite who shall dwell with devouring fire God provoked is a devouring fire How shall stubble and spiders webs stand before him When trouble comes the trust of hypocrites goes to wrack they tremble then for their trust is but a spiders web it cannot stand one stroak or endure the flaming heat The hope of a godly man grows strongest in times of trouble he is purified in the fire and the hope of an hypocrite weakens till it be none at all in times of trouble it is cast out of doors amongst the rubbish or is consumed with the fire 4. Take this parallel between the spiders web and the profession of hypocrites The spider makes his web to catch and ensnare others to catch the poor flies She hath a double use of her house to lie in it and to entrap flies in it Her house is a snare The profession of an hypocrite is a spiders web in this notion he makes it to catch flies with to ensnare and deceive the simple that he may prey upon them He would count godlinesse a poor thing did he not make a gain of godlines That brings him in food and cloathing he lives upon it This his deceitfull web is so fine spun and fairly woven that you cannot easily discern any

or abide in him or no. And Bellarmine in his 5th book and 5th Chapter concerning justification citeth it to prove That a believer cannot know that he is justified but must believe blinde-fold or take the work of justification by grace in the dark For saith he God goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on and we perceive him not Allen●ssi ●e hūc locum citat Bellar●inus ut probet nu●ū fid●lem scire an justificatus sit Coc. That is as his glosse speaks God commeth in favour to justifie or he leaveth under wrath and yet man remains ignorant both of the one and of the other state Surely he was at a great pinch to finde a proof for his point when he was forced to repair to this Scripture to seek one Providence toward man-kinde not the justification of a sinner is the proper subject of this text And as there is nothing for a blinde-fold justification here so many other Scriptures are expresly against it To say that a man cannot know when God loveth him or shineth upon him is to contradict what our Saviour asserts Joh. 14.17 I will send the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Ye know him saith Christ to his people the Saints see God in a spirituall sense or in his workings upon their spirits And though God works much upon our spirits which we know not yet we have a promise of the Spirit by whom we know God in his workings Few know when God is nigh or when he is a farre off what his goings away mean or what his commings But when he cometh to the Saints they know he commeth and when he hideth or departeth from them they know his hidings and departures Hence their joies and over-flowings of comfort when he manifests his presence and hence their bitter complainings and cryings after him where he seems to absent himself and hide his face yet this Text hath a truth in it in reference to the inward and spirituall as well as the outward and providentiall dealings of God that sometimes He goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on also and we perceive him not Hence learn First That God is invisible in his essence and incomprehensible in many of his actions Mans eie cannot see him Mans understanding cannot comprehend what he doth But why speaks Job this as a matter of wonder if it be the common condition of man-kinde Behold he passeth by and I see him not who can see him who can perceive or comprehend him When Moses Exod. 33.20 desired to see his face the Lord answers No man can see my face and live God spake to Moses face to face that is familiarly as a man speaketh to his friend yet Moses did not could not see the face of God No man can see God in his essence or nature A sight of God would astonish yea swallow up the creature It is death to see the living God and man must die before he can see God so fully as he may and know as he is known But though the face of God be invisible yet his back-parts may be seen Behold saith the Lord to Moses there is a place by me stand thou there upon a rock and thou shalt see my back-parts thou shalt see much of my glory shining forth as much as thou canst bear as much as will satisfie thy desire were it a thousand times larger then it is though not so much as thou hast not knowing what thou askest desired of me My Name shall be proclaimed Gracious and mercifull c. the back-parts of God may be seen the invisible God discovereth much of himself to man and shews us a shadow of that substance which cannot be seen Some may object that of the Prophet Isaias crying out Woe unto me for mine eies have seen the King the Lord of hosts Chap. 6.5 Seen him could Isaias see him whom Job and Moses could not Isaias did not see him in his essence and nature but in the manifestations and breakings forth of his glory His train filled the Temple saith the Text vers 1. or his skirts It is an allusion to great Kings who when they walk in State have their trains or the skirt of their royall robe held up T' was this train which Isaias saw He saw not God who was present but he saw the manifest signs of his presence That speech of Isaiah seemed to savour of and border upon highest blasphemy and was therefore charged as an article of accusation against him he was indited of blasphemy for speaking those words I have seen the Lord his enemies taking or wresting it as if he had made the Lord corporeall and visible with the eie of the body And it is conceived he was put to death upon that and one other passage in his prophecy Cha. 1.10 calling the Princes of Judah Princes of Sodom and the people thereof the people of Gomorrah But though God be thus invisible in his essence yet there is a way by which the essence of God may be seen And of that Moses to whom the Lord said Thou canst not see my face the Authour to the Hebrews saith Heb. 11.24 That he saw him who was invisible the letter of the text carries a contradiction in the adjunct it is as much as if one should say He saw that which could not be seen The meaning is He saw him by the eye of faith who could not be seen by the eye of sense faith sees not only the back-parts but the face of Jehovah the essence of God is as clear to that eye as any of his attributes yea his essence is as plain to faith as any of his works are to sense Thus he is seen Whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 not the Saints in heaven they are not able to see the Lord in his essence He passeth by them there and they see him not in heaven we are promised a sight of him yet not that fight Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God and without holinesse no man shall see the Lord then holy men shall see him the state of the Saints in glory is vision as here it is faith 2 Cor. 13.12 We shall see him face to face and as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 These Scriptures which speak of the estate of the Saints beholding God in glory are not to be understood as if the nature and essence of God could be seen for no man hath seen that nor ever shall but they are meant of a more full and glorious manifestation of God We shall see then face to face that is more plainly for it is opposed to seeing him in a glasse we see him now in a glasse that is darkly in ordinances in duties in his word and in his works but there shall be no need of these glasses in heaven We