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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_n	work_v	world_n	344	4	4.3733	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71273	The verdict upon the dissenters plea, occasioned by their Melius inquirendum to which is added A letter from Geneva, to the Assembly of Divines, printed by His late Majesties special command, with some notes upon the margent under his own royal and sacred hand : also a postscript touching the union of Protestants.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.; Diodati, Giovanni, 1576-1649. Answer sent to the ecclesiastical assembly at London by the reverend, noble, and learned man, John Deodate.	1681 (1681)	Wing W3356; ESTC R36681	154,158	329

4. ult 3. There is something attributed unto Man He is the subject of this great benefit and some qualification is required in him towards his own justification Christ is set forth to be a Propitiation but it is through faith in his Blood tho we are said also to be justified freely by God's grace See Rom. 3. 24 25. And with the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10. 10. and to the saving of his Soul Heb. 10. ult 'T is out of controversy on all sides that Believers are justified freely through God's mercy and that Believers are justified for the Merits of Jesus Christ. All the matter of Question amongst sober men is this Whether in our justification Faith be our own Act whether considered as our Act and as a lively Act and fruitful of good works As we own no other Author of our justification but God no other Merits but Christ so likewise do we acknowledge no other Condition but Faith But that is not a dead Faith for St. James tells us flatly that 's unprofitable Jam. 2. This Faith must be an Evangelical Faith which though the Holy Ghost maks a Change not only in our Relations but in our Habitude in our Hearts and Practice Act. 15. 9. He that pretends to remission of sin before repentance may with as much reason pretend to a Pardon as some do before he is guilty We must not confound the Condition with the Cause either Efficient or Meritorious The presence of some disposition may be requisite as a qualification in the person to be justified and yet have no efficiency into his justification I think it is agreed among all Men learned and sober minded That 't is a lively Faith which is the Condition of our Justification And if we be agreed in this to wrangle about Notions Quae Quâ is not of so great importance as to study to be quiet and to follow the things which make for peace and the things whereby we may edify one another 'T is true St. Paul in the matter of justification does exclude the works of the Law Rom. 3. 28. But there are works of Faith 1 Thes. 1. 3. Are they excluded too By what Law The Apostle prays That the work of Faith may be fulfilled 2 Thes. 1. 11. To say we are justified by the efficiency of these works of Faith That 's against God's Prerogative To say we are justified by the merit of them that is against Christ's Mediation But will you deny the Presence and Concomitancy of them to attend to evidence and to attest our justification If it be Faith only yet it is not Faith alone of all qualifications which the Gospel requires Faith must have the respect of Soveraign but it stands not with her Enemies to be solitary Faith therefore may be considered in a double Capacity 1. Receptivè as she has the Office of a Receiver 2. Redditivè as she has the Office of a Dispenser 1. As a Receiver so taken Joh. 1. 12. she receives Christ in all his Capacities and Offices as a King as a Priest as a Prophet in his state of Humiliation in his state of Exaltation In this Habitude or Capacity to believe in Christ is the most Natural act of Faith her Elicite Act and as much a work as is the Elicite Act of Hope or Love or of any other Virtue The People ask John 6. 28. What shall we do that we might work the work of God Our blessed Saviour Answers This is the work of God the work commanded by God 1 John 3. 23. but to be performed by you That ye believe on him whom he hath sent 'T is Mans Duty at God's Command and by his Assistance 2. Take Faith Redditivè in the Capacity of a Dispenser so it is much more a work and the Mistress of it for so she disburses all her Talents and she sets all other virtues a work and so pays homage to Christ in all Capacities As he is a Prophet so she hears his Voice and own 's his Doctrine as he is a Priest so she trusts to his Atonement and relies upon his Merits and Mediation as he is a King so she obey's his Laws and observes his Institutions she renders up the whole Man to the dispose of his Redeemer and makes him resolve with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord and to submit to all his Commands and Impositions Take Faith therefore in the whole habitude and capacity of it and for a qualification to justification and life I may say 't is all in all It comprehends the sense of the word is so large the whole Principle of Grace and all the Effluxes and Egressions of it This Dr. Owen does acknowledge for speaking of Habitual Grace which dwels in us and makes it abode with us He saith thus This according to the dictinct faculties of our Souls wherein it is or the distinct Objects about which it is exercised receiveth various Appellations being indeed all but one New Principle of life In the Vnderstanding it is Light in the Will Obedience in the Affections Love in all Faith He that desires to be fully satisfied in this point let him consult the Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Thomas Hotchki's in his Second Part of a Discourse of Imputed Righteousness Chap. 28. and especially the 29th where he treats hereof solidly and perspicuously St. James gives us a double instance or example of Justification by works Abraham and Rahab and concludes with a kind of demonstration thereupon ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2. 21. to the end We must not therefore deny the Proposition in every sense For it is more modest to throw that Epistle quite out of the Canon as Luther did then to question the truth of this Doctrine in it But does not St. Paul contradict St. James No in no wise For in Christ Jesus he tells us neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision and these two divided the whole World but Faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. if nothing but Faith which worketh by love then no dead nor idle no other kind of Faith and if not avail to any thing then not to our Justification And 't is the Observation of P. Martyr Talem semper Apo●●olus describit fidem cum de justificatione agit quae necessario Confessionem opera bona habeat Conjuncta Where the Apostle treats of Justification he always describes such a Faith as has Confession and Good-works necessarily joyn'd with it And Calvin upon the same Text tells us That the Apostle notes there which is the true Faith from which this fruit of Justification flows lest any man should pretend to an empty title of Faith instead of it For the true Faith ought so to affect the heart with the glory of God that the flame may break out and appear openly And a little after Caeterum viderint quid

the Parish where we live is quite demolisht by the Doctrine of Justification by Works we are bound therefore to provide for our safety and depart and when we are once out we will advise upon another Church not which is tolerable but which is most eligible and in all things neerest the word The Answer That the Soul is a very pretious thing whether we look into its Creation and Original or into the Purchase and Redemption of it we do readily acknowledge We should not hazard it for 't was God's great care and should be ours But we must take heed and we have a Proverb to admonish us that we do not leap out of the Frying-pan into the Fire For in this Case of Seperation we may fitly ask the Question What Authority have you for it and and who gave you that Authority Whatever your Corner-stone be we question whether your new erected Church will be built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Yet upon second thoughts we find you have something to say out of Scripture for your practice For we find you 1 John 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us We find you again Acts 20. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them And we find Predecessors of yours 2 Cor. 11 13. and part of your Character at least is to be seen in St Jude's Epistle Psal. 19. These be they who seperate themselves and whether Diotrephes was not the President of the New Colledge you should do well to consider for he had an aspiring spirit and was imperious and as our Author observes of him his fingers itch't to be tampering for he loved to have the preeminence and set himself to oppose Order and Apostolical Authority But there 's little satisfaction in following such examples That Schism is a work of the Flesh and excludes such as are guilty of it from the Kingdom of Heaven is the express Doctrine of the Apostle Gal. 5. 20. 'T is one of his Rules 2 Cor. 7. 24. Wherein a Man is called to the profession of Christianity whether in a state of Servitude or freedom therein to abide so as he may abide the Servant of God If my Christian Liberty dos not warrant or allow me to desert the service of Man to whom I am antecedently ingaged much less the service of the Church into whose Communion I was baptized and under whose Jurisdiction I was bred and born Quo pax concordia Vndique Constat inter Christianos homines quaedam dissimulanda sunt quaedam ferenda quaedàm benigniüs interpretanda Saith the Learned De la Cerda That Peace and Concord may be kept on every side among Christians some things are to be dissembled some things to be tollerated and some things to be favourably interpreted Where there is nothing injoyn'd to the peril of our Souls or the impeachment of our Salvation we are oblig'd to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace not to break the Communion of the Church but to observe the Orders and Decorum practised in it 'T is the Faith which the Learned Zanchy profess'd and published when he was 70 years of Age in the name of himself and Family Tho Defects and Errors are never to be dissembled yet Peace and Communion is to be held with all Societies as the true Churches of Christ in which the Foundation and Sum of Apostolical Doctrine is reteined and no manifest Idolatry admitted Episcopius who was no great admirer of Rites and Ceremonies says there can be no just cause of seperation from the Church but what seperates from Christ from God's Paternal favour and the Kingdom of Heaven And seeing there can no such thing be charged upon this Church 't is undoubtedly Schism to seperate from her Communion Hence the very worthy Dr. Falkner makes this solemn asseveration I account my self to have as plain evidence from the Laws of God and the constitution of the Christian Church that Schism and unnecessary seperation is a sin in the breach of Christian unity as that Adultery is a sin in breaking the bond of Wedlock And I account my self to be as certain that if ever there was any unwarrantable separation from any known Church since the Apostles time the separation from the Church of England is really such Since our Church is truly as free from any just exception● in its Constitution Doctrine and Worship as any other since that time either was or is Thus that worthy Author But these Dissenters do alledge That the Doctrine of Justification is Articulus Stantis vel Cadentis Ecclesiae an Article with which the Church falls or stands And that in the Parish where they or some of them live this Article is quite demolisht by the Doctrine of Justification by Works But I must tell them that one Error broacht in one Parish ought not to make them desert the whole Establisht Church That Error tho grievous cannot be deadly to them that have all necessary truth laid before them if they do cordially embrace and profess the same The Error is only his who through the weakness of his Judgment cannot discern that the necessary truth is not overthrown by it But because they alledge a Print and publick allowance this reflects upon Authority and our Governors and therefore the Charge requires a more strict and punctual examination And here we must premise That Justification without Christ's Merits and Mediation or without Faith in his Blood dissolves the Church of Christ because there is salvation in no other Act. 4. 12. The Christian Church is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone Eph. 2. 20. and other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3. 11. Fides est Caput initium Christianismi saith St. Austin Into this Olive-tree we are ingrafted and stand by Faith The Jews were broken off through unbelief But in Justification we find several persons concerned There is something attributed to God Something to Christ and something to Man himself 1. God is lookt upon as the Author and Efficient for who can forgive sins but God only I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy transgressions Isai. 44. 22. and Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that jnstifieth 2. There is something attributed to Christ. We are to look upon him as the Meritorious Cause and Procurer of it He is said therefore to have loved us to have washed us from our sins in his own Blood Apoc. 1. 5. for by him we have received the Atonement Rom. 5. 11. and for his sake God hath forgiven us Ephesians

But to think the Walls of the City are presently to be broken down to let in this Trojan Horse as a great Prelate exprest himself at Court is an attempt like to be fatal and a certain way to bring in ruine 5. That some should be obliged to obey the Laws and shew Conformity and others be dispensed with cannot stand with Equity Aequalitas prima pars aequitatis saith Seneca Equalitie is the first and chiefest part of Equite We are taught also by a dear experience that such a dispensation will breed division for a division in Laws makes division in Kingdoms a choosing of sides and a mustering into Parties whence strife infallibly with Envy Emulations Contentions and a Worldr of other mischiefs do arise And as Division in Laws causes division in Kingdoms so those divisions cause the subversion and overthrow of such Kingdoms For 't is Gospel that a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand Satans Kingdom thus divided would come to desolation how then can a Kingdom of Flesh and Blood a Kingdom of Mortal Men subject to impetuous passions subsist under Agony and conflict of divisions If there were no such danger likely to ensue upon a Toleration or Connivance yet it cannot stand with Decency and Honour that one People within the same Land and under the same Government and especially Monarchical should be under divers Laws 'T is like an Oracle in Curtius Ejusdem Juris esse debent qui sub eodem Rege Victuri sunt Such as are under the Government of one and the same King within the same Land and Nation should be under one and the same Law especially as to publick Administrations 6. But the prevailing Argument is The Hellish Plots the Implacable Malice and the Secret Combinations of the Popish party to destroy us the consideration whereof is thought sufficient to induce us to take into Union and Association with us all sorts of Dissenters that have but Mettle and Edge enough to encounter and oppose the Chuch of Rome But has the matter been duly weighed in an equal Ballance Or has not the dreadful apprehension of a present attempt from the one party so far transported us as to make us forget the like tho perhaps a little more remote danger which threatens us from the other Queen Elizabeth in her time thought it a measuring cast which of the two Factions was the more pernitious to the Rights of the Crown and the establisht Government She knew the Principles of these Dissenters as well as those of the Popish Priests and Jesuites she observed their practices also and the Methods they took that altho they began with tender and meek Petitions yet they proceeded to Admonitions nay to sharp and Satyrical Remonstrances and at last having Calculated their numbers and Computed who was and who was not for their Cause they supposed themselves certain of so great a Party that they durst and began to threaten first the Bishops then the Queen and Parliament Hereupon the Queen having a strict Eye and Check upon them in a Parliament held the 28th of her Reign Commanded Serjeant Puckering who was then Her Mouth as well as the Speaker of the House of Commons to declare her Majesties sense and to caution her Subjects against them which was done in these expressions And especially you are Commanded by her Majesty saith he to take heed that no ear be given or time afforded to the wearysome Solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewith all the late Parliaments have been exceedingly importun'd Which sort of men whilst in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturbe the good People of the Church and Commonwealth which is as well grounded for the Body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that professeth the Truth And the same thing is already made good to the World by many the Writings of Godly and Learned Men neither answered nor answerable by any of these new fangled Refiners And as the present Case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Jesuites do offer more danger or be more speedily to be repressed For albeit the Jesuites do impoyson the hearts of her Majesties Subjects under a pretence of Conscience to withdraw them from obedience due to her Majesty yet do they the same but closely and only in privy Corners But these men do both publish in their printed Books and teach in all their Conventicles sundry Opinions not only dangerous to the well setled Estate and Policy of this Realm by putting a Pyke between the Clergy and the Laity but also much derogatory to her Sacred Majesty and her Crown as well by the diminution of her antient and lawful Revenues and by denying her Highnesses Prerogative and Supremacy as by offering peril to her Majesties safety in her own Kingdom In all which things howsoever in many other points they pretend to be at War with the Popish-Jesuites yet by this Seperation of themselves from the Vnity of their fellow Subjects and by abasing the Sacred Authority and Majesty of their Prince they do but joyn and concur with the Jesuites in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion that is threatned against the Realm This was the sense of that Great Queen and her Great Council And hereupon such Laws were Inacted as were designed to strike equally at both Factions Now upon the premisses the Quere will be whether such as attempt to violate and dissolve those Laws which she made to secure the Church and Kingdom as then established do Cordially affect the Authority she had and the Government she exercised In all reason such as pretend so great a veneration for her Name should defer some thing to her Judgment and yield something to her Wisdom and Experience But if she were now alive might she not find just cause to expostulate with Subjects as our Saviour did some time with his Disciples Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say You call me Renownd and Glorious a Queen of Blessed Memory and you honour me with a piece of Formal Pageantry but you have no Reverence for the Authority which I was invested with For have you not the same Crown the same Sword and the same Scepter still Have you not the same Government the same Reformation the same Religion which was publickly profest maintained and honoured in my Reign For where 's the difference No alteration no addition has been made but for the advantage of the Nation and the Protestant Cause in general yet what Elogies are given of her daies and how is the Protestant Religion cry'd up for the flourishing condition of it under her Government The Protestant Religion says Vox populi in which they and their Fathers have been so many years bred and under which they have seen so many happy Days freed from the