Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	abraham_n	faith_n	wrought_v	5,634	5	9.6527	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58147	Work & reward, or, The testimonial of a believer for his entrance into glory, examined and approved in a sermon at the interment of the vertuous lady, Margaret St. John, wife to ... Sir Alexander St. John, Septem. the 3. 1656 / by Francis Raworth ...	Raworth, Francis, d. 1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing R374; ESTC R21375	26,633	69

be no true Faith without Charity Moses in the Ecclesiastick Story was wont to say I like that Faith better that can be seen then that Faith which onely can be heard Ubi bona opera non apparent ad extra ibi non est bonum opus ad intra So where there is no Charity ad extra without there is no true Faith ad intra within So John Husse Though Faith have a preheminence because works grow out of it and so Faith as the root is first yet Works have the preheminence thus both in that they include Faith in Believers in them and that they diffuse and spread themselves more then Faith doth And it is remarkable That though Christ refer oft to believing in this life because he would be sure to plant and fasten that safely which is the root of all Faith yet in the next life his proceedings are grounded on Works and he will judge us according to our Fruits 2. Because works are visible demonstrations of Faith In Titles and Conveyances where Lands are made over to us we have Seals to our Writings and witnesses to our Seals so here our persons are instrumentally justified by our Faith as we ordinarily speak but our Faith is justified by our Works The evidence to God that our Works are good scil formally is our Faith the evidence to men that our Faith is good probably is our Works Men can give testimony concerning our Charity but Faith is a secret and God onely can witness to that Now God who is all Spirit will not judge the World immediately but by our Mediator God-Man that humane nature that hung on the Cross shall q. d. sit on a Throne the Judge then shall be visible and the Persons to be Judged shall be visible and the publick processe shall in a great part be concerning things visible too God will so act at that day as that all men shall see the righteousnesse of his Processe he will judg not according to his secret counsels his cabinet decrees but according to evidence and his revealed Law Now James saith Shew me thy faith without works and I will shew thee my faith by my works this demonstration à posteriori is manifest Faith like the Queen of the South comes not alone to Solomon she brings her traine after her Faith is this Queen let Repentance be her Usher to go before her and good Works as Patience Charity Meeknesse the Court that follow her so let her come to the King of Glory in the Presence Chamber of Jesus Christ in heaven As long as we feel thy pulse beating we are sure thou livest yet the beating of thy pulse is not the cause why thou livest but a signe by the effects As Christ said of himself when the question was whether he was the Messias View my works said he they are they that testifie of me So I may say of men their conversations their works testifie what they are Good works before men are good witnesses of our faith before God God will then examine men of those things that man can bear testimony to 3. Because men accused naturally and generally appeal to their good works by whom or by what wil the hypocrite be tried By Gods people No by the work of Regeneration No for that 's a mystery unknown to them but by my works will I be tryed why then to thy works thou shalt go thou boastest of thy works but where is their goodnesse How can thy works be good if thou thy selfe the worker art evil The Lord likes Adverbs better then Adjectives Benè better then Bonum Do your works proceed from a good heart and do they tend to a good end Our works must not only materially be good for there may be malum opus in bonâ materiâ but the aim and intention of our works must be good also or else notwithstanding our good works we are evil workers before God And further I believe that the meer outside Christian will then be found to have been defective in good works in some or other good work Either he will be charged for injustice in getting his estate with which he hath been charitable and that 's not properly charity for a man as we say to steal the whole loaf out of the cupboard of a poor man and then to give him a crust at the door Or as the Spanish Proverb is to steal a Goose and stick down a Feather Or secondly For partiality in doing good We may observe That all Causes are required to make an Action good but one defective Circumstance will render an Action bad Fourthly Good works will then be called in for Evidence because by them we are like God What one Evangelist hath Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect another renders it Be you merciful as your Heavenly Father Some things God teacheth us by precept other things he teacheth us by Example as to repent by Precept to love by Example Now we more imitate God in following his Precepts then in obeying his Commands Simply so considered we are more like God in our Love then in our Repentance hence God in Scripture is called Love but not Faith properly A Believer that is a good man a man full of compassion and bowels of mercy is the most godly the most God-like man in the world For the Application and Conclusion of this Doctrine That when a Believer dies his works die not with him Vse 1. Hence is by way of Caution concerning good works Good works say the Papists on this Scripture go before in respect of Merit but follow after in respect of Reward but the words speak of the Reward that follows not of the Merit that goes before a Reward we acknowledge Merit we deny we shall be rewarded according to our good Works but not for our good Works It is sufficient to merit that merit sufficeth not The Antinomians say Good works are not necessary for Salvation they might better say They are not necessary as to Justification that is that they Justifie not He that beggeth Mercy boasteth not of Merit Good works do not go before but follow us to Heaven The blood of Christ is the golden Key to open the door of Paradice It is reported that the Doctrine of Simon Magus was That a bare profession of Faith without a reformation in the life was sufficient for salvation Austin justly conceives that one reason why James so prefers Works Cave non tantum ab operibus malis sed etiam à bonis as to say That Abraham was justified by them was because that some Licentiats had so abused the Doctrine of Faith delivered before by Paul Good works are such things as no man can be saved for them and yet no man can be saved without them The truth is we are not onely not saved for our Works that we are not so much as saved for our Faith The greatest degree of Faith is not worth the least or lowest

degree of Glory It was height of Pride that made a Jesuit say Coelum gratis non accipiam the value of Faith grows non ex persona credente vel ex natura fidei sed ex pacto contrahenti not so much from our condition as from Gods Covenant He that believes shall be saved There is no inconsistency between these two Propositions He that believes and he that repents shall be saved For though we are justified by Faith onely yet not by Faith alone that is Works justifie not with Faith and Faith justifies not without Works Good Works qualifie the subject believing but Faith is the proper instrument of receiving the Covenant of Grace Faith is an evidence to us of our righteousness before God and Works are an evidence of the truth of our Faith before men Out of the point of Justification Works cannot be sufficiciently justified or commended but in the point of Justification Works are not to be admitted How hard is it to joyn together what God would not have seperated Faith and Works so to work and repent as if we were to be saved q. d. without Faith and so to believe as if we were to be saved without Works How difficult is it for a man a moral man to see the necessity of Faith to cry out What though I am righteous before men if yet I should want the righteousness of Christ before God My righteousness is but as rags my duties but as dung my tears need Christs blood Lord without thy free Grace and a Plaister of the merits of Christ notwithstanding all my Prayers and Performances I am undone Luther well observes how much the believing and the begetting Abraham differs the begetting Abraham was a worker the believing Abraham was righteous his Faith was on Christ the object of Faith and we are blessed not with the working but with the believing Abraham Vse 2. Is for the information about the aim and end of men in their Works It is curiously questioned whether it be not a sordid way of obedience for a man to eye his reward in his obedience but it is more becoming a Philosopher then a Divine I judge to provoke his Auditors to vertue without the least reflection of a future reward If that be true which is affirmed by many that Grace and Glory differ not specifically but gradually and that be true which is affirmed by all That mans Happiness and Gods Glory be indisputably conjoyned in Heaven then certainly we may have our eye to the Star while we have our hand at the Helm we may have one eye to our Reward as well as the other to the Work As it is no Prerogative act for God to damn the Hypocrite at last day but an act of Justice sin being the antecedent cause of wrath so the salvation of the Vpright will not appear to be the product onely of Gods Arbitrary Grace but according to his revealed truth the manifestation of his remunerative righteousness Grace in us being though not the cause yet the antecedent of Glory Hence it is that the Gospel deters us from sin by arguments formed out of Hell as the unquenchable fire and the terrors of the Lord so it animates us to duty by arguments made out of Heaven and Glory How doth it embolden a Believer to sail through Storms and Tempests when he thinks on his Harbor to resist unto blood and rather to die for then deny Christ when he ponders on his Crown Let us endure the cold frosts let us be content though we are buffeted for a while cryed the Martyrs of old for Heaven will make amends for all There may be amor mercedis a love of the Reward as well of the Rewarder and yet no mercinary love no amor mercenarius When I will not love God without this world when I love or respect God onely for riches and honors c. this is a mercinary love but not when I love God for the hoped perfection of my Graces for the moral obolition of my sins for the contemplation of his presence in light for if the enjoyment of God be the essential Heaven then to love the enjoyment of God is to love Heaven and I am no more mercinary for loving of God the more for Heaven then for loving of the enjoyment of God Some have applauded the strength of direct obedience without eyeing the reward by an Emblem of a Lady with a Water-pot in one hand and a Fire-brand in the other saying She would serve God though with the water Hell-fire were quenched and there were no torments to punish her for sin though with the fire Paradice were consumed and there were no everlasting happiness to reward her Yet methinks though good use may be made of such Hyperbolies they do not so fully speak to a Christian under tryals they teach us how to run but they obscure the Garland they teach us how to shoot but in the mean time take away the mark It s true God is principally to be beloved for himself vix queritur Deus propter deum and so he may be and yet be loved for Heaven We may pray and wrestle against sin for the love of our King and yet have the hope of a Kingdom to be enjoyed after the battel The Doctrine of the Resurrection is the foundation of Religion and he that considers not of the Resurrection of the flesh will hardly be drawn to mortifie the flesh I know no such suggestion in the Bible Sinners Would you deny the lusts of the flesh and the pomp and vanity of the World if there were no Resurrection no Salvation And it s a dangerous temptation to a perplexed conscience to have his sincerity tryed by this touchstone if you can't serve God without a reward in Heaven you are an Hypocrite Vse 3. Is for terror unto two sorts of Workers 1. Evil workers 2. Idle workers 1. To Evil workers Shall the works of Gods Children follow them then by just consequence your evil works your lying your scoffing at Religion shall follow you As righteousness shall follow the righteous so wickedness shall follow the wicked Those that will not now finde out their sins Morientes divitias hic dimittunt peccata sua secum portant their sins shall one day finde out them and judgement shall finde out their sins Even as Destruction said to Pride they being both invited to a Feast contending who should go before and who should follow said Pride Go you before no replyed Destruction I prae sequar Go you before and I will follow after So here impenitency goes before to Hell and the impenitent sinner follows after their sins reached to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accumulata pervenerunt as one Mountain laid on the top of another the same word as in my Text so one sin follows another until the sinner and his sins meet together in Hell The wicked shall not carry their goods but their evils with them They shall leave

acquittance Men said he speak evil of me but they are evil men that do so and an argument for us from an adversary is not to be neglected though wicked men curse the Saints while they live yet they shall bless and justifie them in the day of Visitation as the Apostle speaks 1. Either when pangs of conscience seize on them Or Secondly When they come to die as one said O that I might be Craesus living and Socrates dying Or as the Proverb is Let me live in Italy but let me die in Spain So Balaam though he lived the life of the wicked yet he loved the death of the righteous though men live Hypocrites yet they would die sincere though many live by a form of godliness yet they would fain die by the power Or Thirdly They shal respect and honor them at the Judgement-day Oh will Pharaoh say then that I were Moses Wil Cain say that I had been but suffering Abel Who would be a Rake-hell or a Ranter then when many of those that have been Judges shall be judged and the judged many of them I mean shall be Judges when Paul that once stood at the Bar shall sit on the Bench for the Apostle telleth us That the Saints shall judge the world That time is a coming though now the world judgeth the Saints and one Saint judgeth another that is shall be q. d. Coassessors with Christ at the last day consenting to and applauding of his Judgement of the world when the Judge shall say to the Cursers Go ye cursed the Saints shall say Amen Lord when Rabshekah shall be thrown down to Hell and Hezekiah taken up to Heaven Who would rise in that estate of wrath he was born lived and dyed in Those that now accuse the godly for dissemblers and Hypocrites will then publikely confess their sincerity Christians Be not discouraged in your more strict profession of Christianity it is no matter what now they say of you behinde your backs but what they shall be forced to speak of you to your faces at that day Fifthly Even the Spirit of God will bear a testimony to his works What though all men and Angels should condemn us now God himself will not condemn but acquit us as he hath a bottle for our tears so he hath a file for our Prayers and a Book for our Works Wicked men look on the infirmities of Gods people their mole-hills as mountains their motes as beams as sins of the greatest magnitude and on their own mountains and beams as mole-hills and motes Men are merciless in their censures but God hath more equitable scales and can give Grains of allowance to his Gold Even as God seemed to stand Neuter for a time while there was a dispute held between Job and his Friends concerning his integrity at length God steps from behinde the curtain and pleads his cause Who saith my servant Job is an Hypocrite you charge desperately on my servant but you have not spoke of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath done Job 42.7 Gods people oft in their temptations speak that against themselves that God never spake we are but Hypocrites we are cast out of Gods presence these miscarriages of ours have dissolved the Covenant between God and us are inconsistent with integrity or true Grace but God Revel 2.2 knows their works their patience their labors of love their gold notwithstanding some dross their sincerity amidst many failings and will make them known to themselves all the World at the last day the Lord will say concerning this and that man I know them to be cleansed by the blood of my Son however men have cast dust on them Others have surveyed their lives and seen some spots which they themselves have lamented and I know them to be Holy and to have feared my Name Now if God shall justifie who shall condemn at that day Fifthly and lastly Their works shall follow them in respect of a guerdon and reward In Scripture the word Work signifieth three things 1. The very act of Labor so Solomon tells us that in the Grave there is no wisdom no work that is no working for Heaven Eccles 9.10 2. For the effect of labor that which is wrought we call his work as well as the act of his labor thus the fire will try every mans work 1 Cor. 3.13 3. For the reward of a Christians Labor Work is taken for wages it is usual to put Prayer for the thing prayed for or for the thing obtained by Prayer so Hannah 1 Sa. 1.27 The Lord hath given me my petition that is The childe for which I did Petition It is usual to put sin for the reward or punishment of sin Gen. 4.13 My sin that is my punishment for sin is greater then I can bear so also its usual to put the work as for the reward of the work and that 1. In malo as Jer. 4.18 Thy way hath procured this unto thee this is thy wickedness that is this is the reward of thy wickedness 2. In bono as in my Text their works followed them that is the reward of their works they had done their work and now God rewards them through Grace Their works die not with them as Hortensius his labors did A cup of cold water shall be produced Matth. 25. They forget their good works When saw we thee an hungry or naked But Christ remembers them inasmuch as you did it to one of these little ones you did it unto me those that have done well shall have a well done those that have sown to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap everlasting life Glory and Honor and Peace shall be to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile if in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable as in Adam all dyed so in Christ shall all be made alive as sure as we are gracious so sure shall we be glorious as sure as Heaven enters into a man in this world so sure shall that man enter into Heaven in the world to come To be brief in this as certainly as now the Crown of immortality and Glory shines in the eyes of Gods people so certainly shall it one day sit gloriously on their heads It s easier to tell what Heaven is not then what it is We may talk of the greatness of our future reward but we shall never know the weight of that Crown till we have it on our heads the worth of that Livery till we have it on our backs the greatness of that Glory till it rest in and shine into our hearts The reward of good works shall be great Q. But why doth the Gospel chiefly mention or more apparantly note the reward of works of mercy pity and charity at the last day A. Upon four accompts 1. Because good works are the fruits of Faith There may be charity without Faith but there can