Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

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

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B07186	Sions svveets, or, The spouses spikenard; and mysticall myrrhe / by Thomas Barnes, preacher of Gods vvord at St Margretts in New-fifth-street. London..	Barnes, Thomas, Minister of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London.	1624 (1624)	STC 1477.5; ESTC S124289	64,452	85

Position of theirs That wee are prepared by faith to some meritorious act of loue which act of loue doth informe faith and so dignifie it that then the person that hath it deserueth acceptance at Gods handes And this Assertion they are very stiffe in * Obiect alledging for it the Apostles wordes To him that beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly is his faith accounted for righteousnesse ſ Rom. 4.5 Answ that is say they God accounts that faith which he findes in a sinner so worthy thy that it doth deserue an habite of righteousnesse by which the sinner may be iustified But as the Proverbe is An ill glosse corrupteth the Text. For this Exposition holdes neither with the analogie of faith nor with the scope of the place Not with the analogie of faith for it is directly against the Scripture that a man may be a wicked man and yet haue some thing in him worthy of iustification Not with the scope of the place For there the Apostles ayme is being in disputation about iustification to show that there is an Antithesis or contradiction betwixt the righteousnesse of Christ and the righteousnesse of a man out of Christ and not to show that faith informed by charitie doth by condignitie merit the iustifying of the sinner in the sight of God 3. By maintaining iustification by Workes Thirdly how peremptorily doe they stand for justification by Workes abusing for their purpose many places of Scripture as Obiect 1 First that of Iames t Iam. 2.24 Answ Yee see then how that by workes a man is iustified and not by faith alone when as as it is well knowne the drift of the Apostle is there to show that good workes declare a man to be iust before men and doe not make a man iust in the sight of God Obiect 2 Secondly they bring in that of the Psalmist u Psal 18.20.24 Answ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousnesse and according to the cleannesse of my handes hath he recompenced mee But alas to little purpose For the Prophet in that place as some obserue doth not speake of iustification but * Certum est Dauidem hoc Psalmo nihil aliud canere de Deo quā quòd per illum liberatus fit ab hostibus c. Muscul ad loc onely of the deliverance that God gaue him out of the hands of his enemies which deliuerance also he doth not attribute to the merit of his owne righteousnesse For that he disclaimes vers 19. saying He deliuered me because he had a FAVOVR vnto me but onely he acknowledgeth that that deliverance was a testimony of his integritie how naught and vniust soeuer his enemies falsely accounted and accused him to be Many of the like places doe they thus abuse abuse I say and whither I speake right or no I appeale not onely to St Paul whose drift is in the fiue first Chapters of the Epistle to the Romanes to ouerthrow iustification by Workes but also to one of their owne x Aquin Super Gal. c. 3. Lec 4. Opera non sunt causa quod aliquis sit iustus apud Deum c. Doctors whose very wordes are these Workes are not the cause that any man is righteous before God but rather they are the fruits and declarations of righteousnesse And indeed how can we be iustified by workes when as by the confession of the Papists y Caiet in epist ad Roman c. 3. fol. 10. themselues the righteousnesse of Workes cannot blot out sinnes but leaues a man in the same Thus while the Papists doe partly curse those that hold justification by the free mercy of God and partly ascribe it to the dignitie of Faith and partly to the merit of good Workes doe they not rob Christ of that praise which his great kindnesse in iustifying a poore sinner doth deserue Dealing with this bundle of spirituall Myrrhe as some z Petrus de la Primaud Franc. Acad. part 3. c. 69. report the Arabian followers of Mahomet to deale with that corporall Myrrhe which they bring to Alexandria to sell vsing a thousand deceits to sophisticate it and gull Christians with it that buy it So they I say adulterate this precious Doctrine with their owne deceipts and deuices and would thrust it for good ware and sound vpon the common sort But I pray God they may neuer haue any vent for such deceitfull Myrrhe and counterfeit righteousnesse amongst vs. I am sure the Church entertaines no such stuffe here but speakes all to the commendation of her Beloued admitting of no Myrrhe no righteousnesse but his owne to prayse him and to commend by But to leaue them as confuted let vs come to our selues Vse 2 I would to God there were not some Popish Protestants amongst our selues who must haue some perfume in Natures garden to smell on some naturall or morall plant of their owne to put into this Bundle to mingle with Christs righteousnesse to iustifie them in the sight of God Some good desires deedes devotions which they much brag off and stand vpon for which God is forsooth bound to accept them and to like of them To whom I may say truely as Elihu in another case to Iob Behold in THIS thou art not iust a Iob 33.12 It may be thou art of a gentle nature of a curteous behauiour somewhat disposed to liberalitie out of a vaine-glorious humour canst not away with the company of the prodigall must God of necessitie iustifie thee like of thee for these things Yes that he must and doth too I would be sorry els I am sure he would not like of me if I should swill and curse and steale and quarrell c. that 's true for he cannot away with these grosse euills the committers of them are abominable vnto him Yet notwithstanding to conclude that thy morall vertues can iustifie thee before him is little differing from plaine Popery And I tell thee in standing vpon this thou doest Papist-like rob Christ of his glory and deny him that prayse which the members of the Church doe here giue him as his due in this Text. They say not here A bundle of Myrrhe is my Well-beloued and my Spikenard vnto me but my Well-beloued alone They acknowledge all in the matter of justification to come from Christ Iesus issuing and springing from the fountaine of his free loue They know that the best righteousnesse in themselues is as the Prophet speaketh as an vncleane thing and filthy rags b Isa 64.6 and that in the best actions they doe if their imperfections be not couered in Christ and sweetned with the Myrrhe of his righteousnesse there is more cause of damnation to be found in them then saluation It is by grace that wee are iustified not by Workes The very faithfull themselues please God no otherwise then in Christ Neither their loue nor faith nor good fruites can for the dignitie of the same deserue absolution before

Gods tribunall Now then if the graces that are inwardly wrought and the Workes that doe outwardly appeare in beleevers themselues can procure no further acceptance at Gods handes then their persons stand iustified and their sinnes acquitted before GOD in Christ then questionles as God once told the idolatrous Israelites neither thy Workes nor thy righteousnesse will profit thee c Isa 57.12 to iustification that art but carnall but ciuill That then I may cease to confute thee be a counseller vnto thee * Vse 3. Exhortation to disclaime our owne righteousnes let me exhort thee willingly to giue the Well beloued of the Church the glory of this grace alone Mingle not thy righteousnesse with his in the matter of iustification such a mixture such a composition stinkes before the Lord. I finde in the old d Exod. 30.34.35.38 Law how that the Lord commanded Moses to make a sweete perfume of Stacte Onicha Galbanum and Franckinsence and to temper it after the art of an Apothecary holy and pure Concerning which he threatned that whosoeuer should presume to make the like to smell thereto that soule should be cut off from the Lords people And hath the Father commanded a greater then Moses euen his onely begotten Sonne to temper an exact and most pure perfume of his owne righteousnesse and obedience for the Father to smell on that he might be pacified with the Elect for the Elect to smell on that they might be iust before GOD. And shall mortall sinfull man contrary to Gods charge presume to compose the like out of his owne righteousnes and yet the Lord endure it reckon that person amongst the number of his owne people No no. The ciuillest person that liues vnder the cope of heauen shall greatly displease the Lord if he presumes to offer it Didst thou equall nay excell the most vertuous moralists that euer were in iustice temperance magnanimitie affabilitie and the like yet thou must esteeme all these as nought in comparison of the righteousnesse of Christ crucified Learne therefore learne I beseech thee to disclaime thine owne righteousnesse Shuffle oh shuffle not in the merit the dignitie of any good deedes or desires of thine owne into this bundle least like the mixture of Opocalpasum with Myrrhe it proue deadly to thy soule as that to the body e As Mathiolus cites it out of Galen Opocalpasum exitiale est multosque nos sorte quadam vidimus nostrae aetatis de cursu mori quòd inscij Myrrham cui Opocalpasum admistum erat assumpsissent Mathio Comment in Dios li. 1. c. 67. Pag. 77. and thou neuer smell the sweetnesse of the same in assurance thou art iustified to thy consolation here and salvation hereafter Now to the end thou mayest learne to disclaime thine owne righteousnesse indeede This threefold Meditation will be very availeable * Three meditations to further vs in disclaiming our owne righteousnesse First that mans righteousnesse cannot acquit him discharge him before the Iudge Secondly that it breaketh euery way that it can fulfill no way the Law of God perfectly and entirely it omitteth much good it committeth much euill that good which it doth it doth not aright that euill which it escheweth is eschewed for by-respects Thirdly Meditate that the worthiest and holiest of the Saints of God haue cryed out of it neuer looked to be iustified by it As Dauid In sinne Lord hath my Mother conceiued me f Psal 51.5 and Iob The Angels are vncleane before thee how much more abhominable is man that is borne of a woman g Iob 15.15.16 And Paul I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing h Rom. 7.18 These three things I say feriously and wisely thought of and paused vpon will much further thee to thinke meanely of thine owne righteousnesse beest thou neuer so ciuill Wilt thou know how I will show thee The first Meditation will driue thee to speake thus betwixt God and thy soule Good Lord cannot all my righteousnesse cleere me before thy Tribunall notwithstanding my ciuilitie my fidelitie in keeping my word my gentlenes of nature my abstaining from the grosse and enormious vices of the times doe I not stand discharged before thee the most vpright and vnpartiall Iudge Lord why should I then stand vpon my righteousnesse Oh cause me to abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes The second Meditation will driue thee to this What and for all my righteousnes doe I breake thy Law transgresse thy Commandements in the omission of good in the commission of euill in the doing of good and forsaking of euill after a wrong manner Lord I perceiue then by this that I cannot be iustified in thy sight by my selfe when as that righteousnesse which iustifieth before thee must performe an exact obedience to thy most righteous Law without sweruing one iot from the same The third Meditation will by the grace of God worke in some such wise with thee as this is Lord haue the best that euer were cryed out of their owne filthinesse complained of their natiue vilenes denied their owne righteousnesse and shall I be puffed vp with an opinion of mine owne worth Did so holy a man as Dauid was so patient a man as Iob was so good a man as Paul was cast downe their crownes before the Lambe acknowledge that in themselues was nothing but sinne no cleanenes no good thing and shall I a vile creature farre inferiour to the least of them stand vpon my patience my honestie my goodnesse Lord let it be farre from me c. And when these Meditations haue brought thee to this passe produced these effects tell me whither then it can be possible for thee to sing any Song but this in regard of thy iustification None but Christ none but Christ His righteousnesse his righteousnesse alone to discharge me before the Iudge to fulfill the Law for me to cure my spirituall sickenes to couer my naturall filthinesse If these Meditations were but duely made vse of by our ciuill Iustitiarians themselues they would vaile the Bonet come downe a peg lower in their owne conceits and runne altogether out of the garden of nature into the garden of grace for this Myrrhe and depend vpon Gods loue alone in Christ Iesus for their iustification But alas alas they meditate not vpon this and hence it is that they stand so much vpon their owne worthines that the righteousnes of Christ is neither thought on nor sought for by them as it should be Vse 4 Lastly is Christ the alone Iustifier of the Church and is his free grace the ground of it Advise to Beleeuers to be thankefull to their Iustifier how thankefull then ought this to perswade Beleevers to be and how carefull to sing such a Song as the Church here doth to the prayse of their Well-beloued We vse to say a Nosegay is worth thankes especially when it is giuen by a louer as a token of loue and