Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	believe_v	faith_n	justification_n	11,818	5	9.2159	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56600	An answer to a book, spread abroad by the Romish priests, intituled, The touchstone of the reformed Gospel wherein the true doctrine of the Church of England, and many texts of the Holy Scripture are faithfully explained / by the Right Reverend Father in God, Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing P745; ESTC R10288	116,883	290

because they faithfully reprehended themselves and therefore guile was not found in their mouth because if they had said they had no sin they had deceived themselves It is plain by this they did not look upon such persons as without all sin but only sincere and intire in their obedience to Christ's Commands Nay it is evident Zachary himself whom St. Luke so highly commends was not thus blameless as to be without all sin for he was much to blame in not believing the Angel who brought him a message from God and was punished for not believing it by being struck dumb till the Angel's word was fulfilled All his other Scriptures therefore and Fathers proving that which none of us deny are here alledged in vain He next of all saith we maintain XXI That Faith only justifieth and that Good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation Answer WHat shall one do with a man that opposeth he knows not what The first part of this Proposition is St. Paul's who in effect saith the same III. Rom. 28. II. Gal. 16. Therefore no man should be so bold as to contradict it but rather explain it which it is easie to do for when we say Faith only justifies this Faith includes in it a sincere purpose of good living without which we believe it will not justifie And therefore the second part of it is a new slander That we affirm Good works are not necessary to Salvation the direct contrary to which we heartily believe For it is absolutely necessary to our Salvation we all affirm that we act according to our Faith tho by such Good works we can merit nothing neither Justification nor Salvation But we are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ by Faith not for our own works or deserving as the words are in the XIth Article of our Religion So that when we say by Faith it is manifest we exclude not Good works but only the merit of them And thus Luther himself shows upon V. Gal. That Faith alone will not suffice tho Faith alone justifies Therefore all his Scriptures might have been spared especially the first of them 1 Cor. XIII 2. 1 Cor. XIII 2. which speaks of a miraculous Faith and besides doth not contradict us who believe Faith without works will not avail to Salvation though let us do never so much we can never merit it by what we do The second Text II. Jam. 24. James II. 24. is agreeable to what we say That the Faith which justifies includes in it a purpose of well-doing Such an one as was in Abraham whose Faith in purposing to offer up Isaac was imputed to him for Righteousness tho he had not actually done as he purposed to do In like manner if any man sincerely profess the Christian Faith and be baptized he is justified tho he have not as yet brought forth the fruit of it in good works witness the Eunuch VIII Acts 37. which if he should not produce afterward he could not be saved St. Austin in that very Book and Chapter which he quotes expresly saith Good Works follow him that is justified they do not precede him that is to be justified What doth he think of the Thief upon the Cross who only believed and was not so much as baptized II James 14. is not contrary to what we say but according to it Mr. Calvin himself upon these very words saith Therefore we are saved by Faith because it joins us to God which is done no other way but that living by his Spirit we be governed by him St. Paul and St. James agree very well though the one say We are not justified by Faith only which is St. James's Doctrine and the other St. Paul in effect says We are justified by Faith only when he saith We are justified by Faith without Works As he shows in Abraham's case where he opposes Justification by Faith and Justification by Works and affirms Abraham was not justified by Works but by Faith St. James alledging the same case and the very same words proves he was justified by Works and not by Faith only Can any one think they make use of the same instance for quite contrary ends It is a wonder men do not learn this plain and easie truth from hence That Faith alone having in it a purpose of well-doing enters us into the state of Justification before we have done what we purpose but Good Works are necessary to continue us in this state and so may be said to justifie us that is continue our Justification which Faith only cannot do The last place V. Gal. 6. we have noted so well that we expresly declare in our XIIth Article That Good works cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God's Judgment these are the great things we deny yet they do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith And the Doctrine of St. Austin * L. de F●de Operib c. 14. is perfectly ours which I will set down because it explains all that I have said A good life is inseparable from Faith yea in truth Faith it self is a good life And again * Lib. Quest 83. q. 76. How can he that is justified by Faith chuse but work Righteousness But if any man when he hath believed presently depart this life the Justification of Faith remains with him no good work preceding because he came to it not by Merit but by Grace nor following because he was not suffered to remain in this life From whence it is manifest what the Apostle saith We conclude a man is justified by Faith without works All his other Scriptures therefore serve only to shew his Ignorance if not his Malice in charging us with the denial of that which we affirm That good works are necessary to Salvation His Fathers he had better have kept to himself for they frequently say Faith only justifies Even Origen * In Cap. III. upon that very Book the Epistle to the Romans affirms that Justification of Faith alone suffices tho a man hath not done any works Which he proves by the example of the Thief upon the Cross and the Woman in VII Luke to whom our Saviour said Go in peace thy Faith hath saved thee But perhaps saith he some reading this may think he may neglect to do well since Faith alone sufficeth to Justification To whom we say That if any man doth wickedly after Justification without doubt he despiseth the Grace of Justification Neither doth a man receive Forgiveness of sins for this that he may think he hath a License given him to sin again for a Pardon is given him not for sins to come but for sins that are past And what he saith upon the next Chapter not the Vth. as this man quotes him but the IVth doth not contradict this Faith cannot be imputed to those who believe in Christ but do not put off the old man with his unrighteous

acts Which very well agrees with what he said before and we with him Faith enters us into a state of acceptance with God but we cannot go to Heaven unless we bring forth the fruit of Faith in new Obedience So he explains himself most excellently in that very place a little before in these words which comprehend the whole business I think that the first beginnings and the very foundations of Salvation is Faith the progress and increase of the building is hope but the perfection and top of the whole work is Charity I will not trouble the Reader with what the rest of his Fathers say since they themselves are sensible their Cause is endangered by the Fathers Which is so notorious that they have taken care to have this passage expunged out of the very Index of St. Austin's works * Printed 1543. apud Ambr. Girau upon the Psalms Through Grace we are saved by Faith tho St. Paul affirms the same II. Ephes 8. And out of the very Text of St. Cyril upon Isaiah these words are ordered to be expunged by the Spanish Index of Gasp Quiroga the Grace of Faith is sufficient to the cleansing of sin and Christ dwells in our heart by Faith In I. Isa in 51. No wonder then they have dealt thus with later Authors of theirs own who followed the Fathers Doctrine particularly with Vatablus out of whose Annotations upon VIII Isa 32. they have ordered these words to be blotted out They that beliive in the Lord shall be saved but they that do not shall perish And these upon VIII Luk. Faith saveth XXII That no Good Works are Meritorious Answer AT last he speaks some truth tho very lamely For if by meritorious were meant nothing but that good works are highly valued by God when performed out of love to him and we deny our selves to serve him which undoubtedly he will reward with a glorious Recompence tho far transcending our services there would be no quarrel about this matter But by works meritorious they mean such as are no ways defective and have such an exact proportion to the Reward that God is bound in strict Justice to bestow or rather pay it Now this is it we deny believing that Good works in the rigour of Justice do not deserve eternal life as wages and this is it which they presume but can never prove His first Text XVI Mat. 17. XVI Matth. 17. is so far from express that quite contrary it saith God will only reward every man according to his works not for the merit of his works which imports them to be an adequate cause whereas according signifies nothing of a cause but only of a respect or comparison between the work and the reward so that they who have done evil shall be punished and they that have done good be blessed And he belies St. Austin according to the manner of their Catholick Sincerity to justifie his Interpretation For St. Austin speaks of the Punishment of Sinners Serm. XXXV de verbi Apost not of the Reward of the Righteous I beseech you brethren attend diligently and be ye afraid as well as I for he doth not say He will render to every one according to his mercy but according to their works he saith not a word of their Faith which this man put in of his own head for now he is merciful but then just Would to God they would take St. Austin's counsel and so diligently attend to this as to repent of their shameless Forgeries that they may find Mercy with God which hereafter will be denied The word for Reward in V. Matth. 12. is not to be interpreted Wages and Hire due to the work For the Labourers who came at the Eleventh Hour into the Vineyard as St. Hilary * In Psal 129. in fine observes received Mercedem their Reward not of the work but of Mercy Which is exactly according to St. Paul IV. Rom. 4. where he saith there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which this man would have translated Wages Reward of Grace not of Debt Which place St. Austin * In Psal XXXI having occasion to mention thus glosses Now to him that worketh that is presumeth of his Works and saith that for their merit the Grace of Faith was given the Reward is not reckoned of Grace but of Debt What 's this but that our Reward is called Grace If it be Grace it is freely given What 's meant by freely given It cost thee nothing Thou didst no good and Remission of sins is bestowed upon thee I have quoted this at large that if it be possible such men as this may be put to the blush if not confounded As one would expect they should be when they read St. Paul who tho he say Death is the wages of sin yet saith Eternal Life is the Gift of God Which the Fathers take great notice of particularly St. Hierom he doth not say the wages of Righteousness as he had said the wages of sin for eternal life is not earned by our labour but graciously bestowed by God's gift The same Answer serves for the next place X. Matth. 42. and all such Texts And 2 Cor. V. 10. was answered before that we shall receive according to what we have done in the body they that have done well shall be rewarded above their deserts and they that have done evil receive what they have deserved Which is the highest encouragement unto well-doing to believe That God will do more abundantly for us out of his infinite bounty than we can ask or think and not consider our merits which are none at all but his own incomprehensible Goodness and Mercy They that teach otherways derogate from the Grace of God and proudly arrogate to themselves a worthiness of which creatures are not capable I need not examine that heap of Scriptures which he confusedly huddles together for they have no more in them than these we have already considered And as for the Fathers it is a most insufferable impudence to say as he doth That they unanimously confirm the same The quite contrary hath been unanswerably proved by our Writers That the Fathers from the first times down to Venerable Bede have taught as he doth That no man ought to think his own merits will suffice him to salvation but let him understand That he must be saved by the sole Grace of God * In Psal 31. It is frivolous to alledg the word Merit so often used by the Fathers for they mean no more thereby but obtaining that which they are said to merit So the word is used in innumerable places and in many Authors Insomuch that in the Passion of St. Maximilian it is said his Mother after he was killed merited his Body of the Judge that is she obtained it by her Intreaties Every Novice in Learning knows this XXIII Faith once had cannot possibly be lost Answer IT was not possible for him to go on to speak some Truth