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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	charity_n	faith_n	justification_n	4,801	5	9.5998	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89645	A little starre, giving some light into the counsels and purposes of God revealed in the Scriptures. Or A catechisme, wherein these ensuing principles. 1. What God is, and how he manifests himselfe. 2 Why he made the world and man. 3. Mans condition, what, 1. by creation. 2. By his fall. 3. By being restored by Jesus Christ. 4 The uses and ends of the law. 5. What the Gospell is. 6. Justification what it is. 7. Sanctification what, and how it is wrought. 8. What repentance is. 9. The use and ends of the Scriptures. 10. What true prayer is. 11. Baptisme, and the Lords Supper, why, and how used. 12. Generall redemption what, and how to be adjudged of. 13. Resurrection and judgement what. 14. Heaven and Hell what, in truth and misterie. All which are briefly by way of question and answer opened and explained. / By VVilliam Mason.	Mason, William, Anabaptist.	1653 (1653)	Wing M948; Thomason E1505_1; ESTC R208669	86,553	204

partly outward the inward part of the Covenant which was Christ was clouded and very dark as was said before and very little notice taken of it by the greatest part of them But the outward part of it was very plain and easie and they all knew it very well and acted generally according unto it and minded earthly Canaan long life and outward prosperity therein more than heavenly Canaan or the sweet and comfortable enjoyment of God in the lively apprehension of his love and favour But now Christ who indeed is the new Covenant for he is the substance of all those former Covenants being come and having acted his part in the flesh is now revealed in the Spirit for he is that Spirit or power of Gods infinite love proceeding eternally from the Father upon the Son and from the Son upon the Saints and into their hearts and now the Saints look not for Christ in outward observations but in inward and spiritual demonstrations of infinite love shed abroad in their hearts whereby they are transformed and conformed unto Christ their head more and more Neither doe the Saints now look to any outward Covenant for there is no promise made unto them of any outward or temporal things but with persecution and that they shall be contented with their conditions But the Saints look unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of their faith and count it all joy when they are accounted worthy to suffer rebuke for his name And this is the true reason why the Saints walk with God so chearfully and joyfully because they clearly see that they are not justified by or for any work or merit or worth of their own but meerly by the free grace and love of God in and for the righteousnesse of Christ Jesus who is the Lord our righteousnesse both unto justification and also unto sanctification Q. What is justification Or how may sinfull men be said to be justified or made righteous before God A. Justification is an act of Gods free grace and love whereby he through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ hath freely forgiven the sinnes of all his elect and accepts of them in him as perfectly just and righteous But more plainly Justification is that whereby God himself is pleased to condiscend and to cloath himself with our flesh and in our nature and our flesh to fulfill all the righteousnesse of the Law for us and also to subject himself in the flesh to death and curse hereby paying all our debts and satisfying divine Justice on our behalf and so became our righteousnesse for justification All which he hath done freely without any desert or desire on our part Q. But doth not the Scripture say that we are justified by faith What is faith And how are we justified by the same A. There be in Scripture divers kinds of faith mentioned by reason whereof many think that they believe to justification and are deceived for justification is free on Gods part and without any condition at all on our part for if faith were a condition of our justification then it were not free justification being an act of God in his eternal counsell and purpose before the world began if faith were a condition thereof then are we justified for some fore-seen grace in us and not freely by his grace Now faith is neither a meanes nor yet any condition of justification but rather an evidence or demonstration thereof for true faith is that whereby we close with God in the promise of life and salvation in and by Jesus Christ Now this faith is not in us by nature but is wrought in the heart by the manifestation of God in the soul When the Lord is pleased to reveal Christ in the soul and to discover to the same that he is well pleased with him in Jesus and that he hath freely forgiven all his sinnes meerly for the merit and righteousnesse of Jesus and that now he accepts of him as righteous in his beloved Son and that in Christ he hath adopted him to himself to be his Son now when the soul apprehends this then it is thereby enabled to believe it and rests upon it And thus true faith doth not act in the workes of justification but onely believes it when it is revealed in the soul and then believing hath peace with God and can look upon him with comfort and can joy in him in all tribulations Now no man can believe in Jesus Christ untill he be revealed unto him by the Father and according to the measure or degrees whereby God is pleased to discover himself to any man so he can believe or confide in him more or lesse so that it is plain that faith is no meanes or condition of our justification but by faith we believe it and rest confidently assured of it when it is revealed and so have joy and peace in believing Q. But doth not the Scripture say that Abraham was justified by works what say you then of good workes as prayer reading and hearing the word repentance and all other duties of piety and charity are not they required as good meanes of our justification A. The scope of that Scripture is not to declare that Abraham did act any thing in the work of justification for it is said that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousnesse and those good works whereby Abraham is said to be justified doe rather declare him to believe and his faith to be a live than any way to act in the matter of justification For faith as is said before doth not justifie but believes it and applies it true faith works by love and shewes what house it comes of by actions of piety and mercy There is a faith which is dead it being nothing else but a perswasion of a carnal heart which is deceitfull and of this many men brag and boast and cry religion religion but they doe not walk in love neither toward God nor men and this faith profiteth nothing or profitable to no man and is no better than the faith of Devils But true faith where it is indeed it proceeds from a holy seed being begotten by the manifestation or discovery of God in the soul and hath for its ground a word of promise not onely without but especially within and is reall and not in imagination so also it acts like it self and is profitable every way First toward God it gives him the glory of all his wisdome power justice mercy and goodnesse when men can say indeed In the Lord have I righteousnesse and in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength when a man can say now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me yea I can doe all things be any thing suffer any thing through Christ that strengthens me I can be abased and I

believe not in him and are not thus united and made one with him in the Spirit though they eat his flesh and drink his bloud namely in the carnall and outward use of Bread and Wine yet they have no life in them neither shall they enjoy any true comfort in him nor eternall life by him but shall goe into condemnation Q. But is it not said in the Scriptures that Christ died for all men and that as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life How say you then that some go into condemnation A. Christs death did in some respect reach forth it self unto all men God had a glorious design in making of man and for this end did bring forth this outward creation of all things to be subservient to his glory to help forward this design yea and the Lord was rich in mercy and store and abundantly provided aforehand to keep this design on foot for Christ was that Lamb prepared and slain before the foundation of the world Now if Christ had not died in the purpose and account of God before man had actually sinned then there had been an utter subversion and dissolution not onely of mankind but also of the whole Creation by mans sin But now the death of Christ coming between divine wrath and the whole creation did still give a being unto the same that it should be serviceable in helping forward this glorious design And upon this account meerly it is namely by the death of Christ that all men even the most wicked enjoy a temporall life health riches yea all outward things whatsoever for in this sence he is said to save or preserve man and beast for he doth good to all and makes his Sun to shine and his Rain to fall upon the just and unjust namely the Sun and Rain of his outward providence and thus Christ died for all men and so he is the Saviour of all men But there is a more especial salvation as the Apostle saith He is the Saviour of all men but especially of them that believe and this salvation is not that outward or temporal salvation but an inward and spiritual one and is peculiar onely to them that believe in him and are made one with him and upon this ground it is that the Apostle saith as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to justification as if he had said that as Adam by sinning brought all men into a state of sin and so of condemnation so all that are justified unto life are made just by the free gift and grace of God by faith in the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ so that the words doe not extend that as all men fell in Adam so all without exception should be justified and saved by Christ but onely they who by faith lay hold on the righteousnesse of Christ the which the Apostle declares at large in the 3 4 5 6 7. Chapters In the 3. Chapter he proves all men to be under sin and that by the workes of the Law no man can be justified and that God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation that whosoever believes should be justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in his bloud In the 4. Chapter he tells them that even Abraham was not justified by or for any work which he wrought but onely by faith in Christ Jesus and that faith was reckoned unto him for righteousnesse and so it shall be to all that doe believe In the 5. Chapter he tells them that justification by faith brings peace and joy into the soul which justification by the work of the Law could not doe because the work was ever doing but never done and they looked upon God in that estate as ever angry But now sayes he we have peace with him and can joy in tribulations for though in Adam we were under condemnation yet now believing in Jesus and looking to him for righteousnesse we are justified unto life Thus the Apostle is farre from intending a general redemption but an especiall salvation by faith in Jesus Christ peculiar onely to them that believe Q. But the Apostle writing to Timothy exhorts that prayer be made for all men because he will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and further saith that Christ is the Mediator between God and man who gave himself a ransome for all And the Apostle John saith That Christ is the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole world How say you then that salvation is peculiar onely to them who doe believe A. For the clearing of this the meaning of these Scriptures must be inquired into The Apostle indeed exhorts that prayers intercessions and giving of thankes be made for all men for Kings and all in authority and gives a twofold reason First in respect of themselves that so they might live in quietnesse and godlinesse under them The second reason respects God it is his will he is well pleased with our praying for them because he will bring some of all sorts high and low to the knowledge of the truth that so they may be saved And if he say what must we pray for the Gentiles for our Governours are no Jewes is it lawfull to pray for them Yea saith the Apostle God will have all to be saved Gentiles as well as the Jewes for there is but one God and he is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jewes and there is but one Mediator between God and man even the man Christ Jesus who gave himself to ransome the Gentiles as well as the Jewes and this mystery was not known to former ages but now in due time it is to be manifested and for this very purpose saith he I am ordeined a Preacher and an Apostle to bring this good tydings to the Gentiles and to assure their hearts that if they believe in Christ they shall be saved and thereof you need not doubt for as Christ who is truth is in me so that which I speak is truth And hereto agrees that of the Apopostle Peter in Acts 10. 34. That God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation Gentiles as well as Jewes he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him shewing plainly that the purpose of God in bringing in the Gentiles was a secret to that day but now was revealed And where the Apostle John saith That Christ is the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole world he doth not mean every particular person in the world but onely they who walk in the light as God is in the light even these the bloud of Christ doth

can abound I can as well be content to be hungry as to be full fed to be poor as to be rich to suffer as to raign to dye as to live when a man can live in God and unto God above all this world and esteem all things but drosse and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus And true faith is also profitable to men when it is exercised in godly conference building up one another comforting one another and if need require reproving one another when it works in feeding the hungry clothing the naked releiving the oppressed and by doing to every man as we would be done unto This is living faith and it is thus evidenced to be alive Thus we are not justified by nor for our good workes for we are his workmanship created a new in Christ Jesus unto good workes that we should walk inthem Justification where it is indeed will evidence it self by acts of sanctification Q. What is sanctification And how is it wrought A. As Christ is made of God righteousnesse unto us for justification so also for sanctification as he is our justification because he perfectly fulfilled the righteousnesse of the Law for us and paid all our debts yeilding up himself to death for us so also he is become our sanctification by fulfilling the righteousnesse of the Law in our hearts even by living in us As we are justified by his death so we are saved or sanctified by his ●sfe Sanctification is an act of Gods infinite love whereby he takes us out of Adam or the old man and puts us into Christ or the new man and this is the new creation or the new creature when a man that before was unholy profane and to every good work void of judgement is now become through the power of Christ living in him holy unblameable and ready to every good work and this is wrought by the power of God revealing Christ in the soul when Christ is revealed in the soul to be white and ruddy the most excellent the most amiable one in whom God is well pleased and in whom his soul delighteth yea and by whom and in whom he is well pleased with poor sinners and delights in them then that soul is ravished with his beauty which is his love and with beholding or apprehending of it is transformed into the same Image of love more and more Christ is the Saints life and this life is hid in God untill it be revealed and when Christ who is our life doth appear in the soul then the soul lives in his life and appeares with him in glory Now every one in whom Christ lives indeed he conformes them to himself First in death if Christ be risen in the soul then the old man is crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed and the soul is dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God in holinesse through Jesus Christ who lives in him Secondly Where Christ is risen indeed there is a conformity in life Christ being the life living in the soul the soul must needs live indeed and live unto God and not any longer to the flesh for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace and thus is Christ our sanctification when he arises and appeares in our hearts whereby he transformes and changes us into his own Image even his Image of glory more and more Q. But doth not the Lord in Scripture call men to repentance and promise them life upon condition of the same yea the Lord doth solemnly protest that he delights not in the death of him that dieth but rather that he should repent and turn and live And again why will yee die repent and turn and live yee And our Saviour saith except yee repent yee shall all perish and the Apostles exhort them in the Acts to repent for the remission of sinnes and that their sinnes might be blotted out And again if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Doth it not from all these places appear very plain that repentance is necessarily required as a meanes or at least a condition of life A. There is in Scripture a twofold repentance spoken of a repentance of the Law and a repentance of the Gospel The repentance which is of the Law is suteable to that Covenant of workes which the Israelites were under for temporal blessings when they at any time acted contrary to the command then the Lord plagued them sometimes with famine pestilence warre captivity c. untill they did repent and when they repented or ceased from their wicked wayes and works then the Lord would also repent or remove the judgement for temporal blessings were promised upon condition of outward obedience and temporal punishments were diverted or turned away upon their legal repentance and ceasing from their evill wayes In the time of Ezekiels prophesie the Israelites were many of them in captivity already and the rest of them were threatened and when the Lord by the Prophet called for repentance the people thought it was to small purpose to repent seeing their fathers had eaten sour grapes and their teeth were set on edge and that it was but a light businesse to promise them any good upon condition of repentance seeing they did but pine away in their fathers sinnes To which the Lord commands the Prophet to tell them that it was no such matter it was their own sin which was the cause of their misery and that if they would return from their idolatries and other abominations he would cease from punishing of them and hereupon uses that solemn oath As I live I have no delight in plaguing you I had rather yee would turn from your evill wayes and live in your own land why will yee die or why will yee be slain or die by famine or pestilence c. And so our Saviour tells those which spake to him of Pilates cruelty that unlesse they did repent they should likewise perish meaning that some temporal judgement would overtake them and thus legal repentance served onely for the preventing or diverting of temporal punishments But repentance which is of the Gospel is not any meanes or condition of life for eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and it is a free gift and not purchased by repentance nor yet promised nor given upon condition of repentance for it is not sin nor Satan nor death it self can make a separation between them that are elected and the love of God in Christ Jesus which is eternal life The Lord who hath promised is not a man that he should lie or the son of man that he should repent in this respect Now this repentance is called godly sorrow and it is wrought by the working power of

Gods love in the soul apprehended by faith and is a fruit of faith There is a worldly sorrow which causeth or worketh death being wrought by the apprehension of death or punishment and this is in wicked and unregenerate men fear of death drives them to a kind of repentance yea and the Saints sometimes having attained but a small measure of the apprehension of Gods love in Jesus Christ being under a spirit of bondage and looking upon God as he manifested himself upon Sinai are so filled with fear and terror which causeth abundance of sorrow even mourning and grieving exceedingly because they can grieve no more and that meerly upon this ground that if their sorrow were in any good measure answerable to their sin then they hope that God will pardon them apprehending in themselves and being told so by others that if they doe not soundly repent mourn and grieve for their sinnes heartily and seriously confesse them with a resolution to leave and forsake them that God would not nay could not pardon them and all this from mis-understanding of Scripture as he that hideth his sinne shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy and if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive c. concluding from the very letter of these Scriptures not having the true meaning thereof explained unto them that unlesse they first grieve and mourn and confesse God will not pardon and so goe heavily under this burthen for want of better information but true repentance which is repentance indeed doth not proceed from a bare hope of pardon but from sence of pardon already apprehended for as no man can believe his justification until God hath revealed it to him by Jesus so neither can any man repent truly and indeed untill he first understand and believe that God for Christs sake hath forgiven him all his trespasses And this repentance is called a repentance unto life or a repentance flowing from life or evidencing life and life which is Christ is very desireable unto all them who have but the least sence or taste of it and it is also active wheresoever it is and puts men upon all enquiries what must we doe that we may have life those Converts in the Acts had but a little before been very forward in the crucifying of Christ and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him goe Yet now when they hear the Apostles preach remission of sinnes in his name and that there is no other name given under heaven whereby they must be saved but the name Jesus onely and that God hath advanced him on high and given him all power to bring all those to life and salvation that desist from their evill wayes and believe in his name Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts now Christ who is life began to stirre or act a little in their hearts and now what shall we doe men and brethren that we may have and enjoy more life To whom the Apostle answered repent not that repentance doth purchase pardon but if yee doe indeed believe in Jesus and if he be come into your soules then yee can repent indeed and by your true and sound repentance yee may be assured that your sinnes are forgiven for yee shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost which shall seal the same unto you and it is further said that the same day there were added three thousand soules And for that which the Apostle John saith If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive c. The Apostle seemes in this place to deal with two sorts of men The one sort are very high in notion and opinion and think themselves to be the men that are in Christ and have fellowship with the Father in the Son and yet notwithstanding they walk contrary to him in their practice nay saith the Apostle that cannot be for God is light and with him is no darknesse at all God is a holy and righteous God and will doe neither can he doe any thing but what is most pure and just and if any say that they have fellowship or communion with him and yet are not conformable to him in holinesse and righteousnesse they lie and doe not the truth and if they say as many doe that they have no sin Christ hath finished transgression and made an end of sin in them so that let them doe what they will they cannot sin they deceive themselves saith he their deceived heart hath turned them aside and there is no truth in them The other sort are such as in whom Christ is revealed but yet in a low degree and these are still in feares and doubts and would gladly know how they may be assured in some comfortable measure of the favour of God and of the pardon of their sins To these he answers If yee walk in the light as he is in the light c. God is a holy God a most pure Spirit with whom is no iniquity and if he by appearing in your soules hath wrought you to a love of purity and holinesse and also to a loathing of all sin and wickednesse then yee may be sure yee have fellowship with him and the bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth you from all sin But if they further say as many a poor soul doth yea but we find that sin is not dead in us but lively and corruptions strong a Law in the members leading us into captivity the good that we would doe we doe not the evill which we would not doe that we doe The Apostle answers your condition is good if God by his Spirit in you hath brought you to see and confesse this yee need not be discouraged for God is a faithful God he never begins a good work but he will perfect it he hath already pardoned your sinnes and he will more and more assure your hearts thereof by cleansing you by degrees from all your corruptions Q. If justification and remission of sinnes be free without any condition desert or desire on our part why then doth our Saviour teach us to pray for it saying forgive our debts And if men be justified and their sinnes be forgiven before they repent then what need have men to repent at all A. Although justification and remission of sinnes be free and undeserved yet it is not presently revealed to the soul so soon as men believe but it is brought home to the soul a little at once by degrees according as they are enabled to believe neither doth the Lord discover himself in his love to all in a like measure for it pleaseth him divers times to suffer many of his dear ones to sit a great while in darknesse and to see but a very little light and to have but a small measure of the comfortable