Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	faith_n	work_n	2,131	5	5.9364	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19550	A sermon of predestination preached at Saint Maries in Oxford: by Ri: Crakanthorp.	Crakanthorpe, Richard, 1567-1624.	1620 (1620)	STC 5980; ESTC S109016	48,771	52

owne contempt themselues d●● first reiect God and by their wilfull obstinacie refus● his grace when it is offered vnto them How euidently do these men oppugne the Scriptures of God For if election and reiection depend on the actions of men after they be borne how can it be true which the Apostle teacheth that we are elected before the foundation of the world and that God elected Iacob ad hated Esau before they were borne when as yet they had done neither good nor euill Is not here a reiecting of Esau before he by his owne actuall contempt reiected God or despised his grace Or did Esau more then Iacob reiect God before he was borne Or if we seeme to any to straiten their opinion though their bookes and writings do testifie this to be their sence and meaning seeing our workes committed actually in time can no way be the cause of that Decree which is eternall and before all time Let vs proceed and see if the same works being from euerlasting foreseene foreknown by God as if they had been done may truely be said as some of better note haue taught to be the cause of our election to eternall life Now if we will herein hearken to the Apostles doctrine we shall cleerely perceiue that our faith sanctitie and all our good workes are so farre from being the cause of our election that they are in truth the very effects therof For we are elected that we should be holy and without blame Ephes. 1. 4. And the Apostle saith of himselfe 1. Cor. 7. 25. that he obtained mercy that he might be faithfull Whence it is manifest that God did not first foresee vs good and faithfull and therefore elected vs but first he elected vs and for this cause decreed to make vs faithfull good and holy in his sight And therefore Saint Austen hauing sometimes taught that God did chuse vs because he foresaw that we would beleeue afterwards retracteth and recalleth this sentence as erronious and deliuereth a truer lesson that faith is the effect of Predestination not the cause seeing the Apostle faith not that hee obtained mercy because he was faithfull but he obtained mercy that hee might be faithfull For we are not called saith he because wee did beleeue but that we should beleeue Againe when the Apostle demandeth 1. Cor. 4. 7 Who separated thee which was an other and principall motiue to Saint Austen to retract his former errour had the cause of our election beene either our faith or good workes foreseene it would haue beene easily answered My owne faith my owne workes my owne good will to embrace Gods grace these being foreseene by God separated me and moued God to elect mee rather then others but the Apostle knowing all these to bee the gifts of God and effects of his free loue and election referres wholly our separating from the rest to the grace and good pleasure of him who saith Luk. 12. 32. It is your Fathers pleasure to giue you the Kingdome that so no man might boast of himselfe but he that gloryeth might glory in the Lord. In the 9. to the Romanes the Apostle disputing this matter of set purpose and at large sheweth that though Iacob and Esau were in themselues alike before God not hauing done either good or euill the one more then the other borne at the same time and of the same parents yet for all this equalitie God loued Iacob and hated Esau. And because this might seeme vniustin the eyes of man that of two being altogether equall and alike the one should be loued and the other hated of God the Apostle proposeth to himselfe this great difficultie as S. Austen rightly calleth it What shall we say then is there vnrighteousnesse with God Now if God had loued and elected Iacob for his good workes or faith foreseene or hated Esau for his prophanenesse which from all etern●tie hee did foreknow surely this question not onely might easily be answered but there were no difficulty nor doubt at all therein For what vnrighteousnesse can this s●eme to any that God should loue Iacob who hee knew would loue and obey him or why should he not hate Esau of whom hee foreknew that hee would be a wicked a prophane person and one that would hate the Lord But the Apostle answereth not in such wise but knowing right well that God without all respect to the good or euill actions foreseene in the one more then in the other loued Iacob and hated Esau and knowing that the good actions of the one were not causes but effects of that loue of God and of his grace which he in mercy gaue vnto him and that the euill actions of the other proceeded from the want of Gods loue and of his grace which hee in iustice denyed or would not giue vnto the other He I say knowing all this giueth another and better answere that howsoeuer this may seeme vniust to the eyes of man yet it is in truth most righteous because it is the will and the good pleasure of God so to doe For I will haue mercy sa●th God on whom I will and whom he will he hardeneth And that we might plainely see that there is nothing at all in any one which did or could moue God to loue and elect him rather then another the Apostle addeth this Conclusion as ensuing necessarily on that testimony of God So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy The true and certaine cause then why God in particular elected these and rei●cted the other is no way in themselues nor in their workes either actually perf●rmed or foreseene and foreknowne by God but it is wholly and solely in God himselfe It is euen his good pleasure and will who as he elected vs that is pull'd vs out of that masse of perdition from the rest according to the good pleasure of his will so by the same his good pleasure and will did he leaue others in that masse of sinne whom he made vessels of wrath and as Saint Iude saith ordained to condemnation The reason of both which is that which the Apostle expresseth Hee sheweth mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth With what reprochfull speeches this doctrine and the teachers therofare reuiled you are not ignorant their bookes are too euident witnesses thereof And no maru●ll if they shoot their arrowes of most venemous words against men seeing they feare not to open their mouths against heauen in the insolent folly of their wits plead against God whose most holy will Iustice in this case they seeke to ou●rthrow First say they It can not withstand the will of God to ordain any to be vessels of wrath or to destruction for God witnesseth and that also with an oath Ezech. 33. 11. that hee desires not nor would the death of a sinner but that the wicked