Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	condition_n	faith_n	justification_n	7,535	5	9.7068	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80553	A vindication of the magistrates and ministers of the city of Gloucester, from the calumnies of Mr. Robert Bacon, in his printed relation of his usage there, which he intitles, The spirit of prelacy yet working, or truth from under a cloud. Together with ten questions discussed, which tend to the discovery of close antinomianisme. / By John Corbet minister, and chaplain to Major generall Massie. Published by authority.	Corbet, John, 1620-1680.; Nicanor, Lysimachus, 1603-1641,	1646 (1646)	Wing C6267B; Thomason E337_15; ESTC R200828	24,213	37

but in a great desertion and the want of a spirituall fight to behold the brightnesse of the Lord shining upon us Or when Faith revives a man from under the sad apprehension of his fall or backsliding it is done when he hath made search after his former evidences and discernes at lest the root of grace alive in the soule Q. 5. Whether Faith be a condition of the new Covenant Neg. according to Master B. 1. HEre we differ in opinion Master Bacon thus differenceth the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace That the one promiseth life upon condition the other gives it upon free promise Answ The difference of the Covenants was wont to be made by their conditions In the first life is promised upon condition of workes in the second upon condition of beleeving The same place which works had in the first Covenant faith hath obtained in the new There is a law of works and a law of faith Faith is the Gospell duty and unbeleefe is the maine Gospell sinne But let us examine the difference made by him The Covenant of workes promiseth life upon condition the other gives it of free promise Answ A free promise doth not deny all conditioning as To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God even to them that beleeve on his name neither doth the free promise exclude the condition of Faith for the Law of Faith is free of the highest grace and doth exclude boasting and bondage 2 We are not required to the ratification of the Covenant to bring faith to God but the new Covenant is to give us faith to bring us to God 〈◊〉 Answ Neither to the ratification of the first Covenant were we required to bring works to God nor did any works before the Covenant merit or make way for the promise of life upon condition of works But God in the very making of that Covenant gave man abilitie to perform the tenure thereof On the same manner supposing Faith to be the Condition of the new Covenant it doth not infer that we must bring faith to God but 't is most necessarie that God work faith in us to the ratification of the Covenant Faith is not pre-required in the way of merit or previous disposition but at the very instant when God strikes Covenant with the soul faith though freely given is requisite to the existence of that Covenant And whereas he saith The Covenant doth not depend upon our beleeving but upon Gods promise and faithfulnesse I answer The Covenent doth depend upon Gods promise as the ground and upon our beleeving as the Condition To prove that the Covenant doth not depend upon our beleeving as a Condition he urgeth 2 Tim. 2.13 If we beleeve not yet he abideth faithfull and cannot deny himself If he will draw thence any thing to his purpose he must thus expound it if we beleeve not yet he will give life unto us because he abideth faithfull and cannot deny himself Whereas the sense is manifest if we beleeve not yet he abideth faithfull and will make good his promises to them who by faith receive them 3 In the new Covenant God tyes himself and not the Creature Ans The essentiall form of a Covenant requires the binding of both parties But how doth he prove this paradox Because we are in Gods keeping and not in our own Is not this sound reasoning We are in Gods keeping therefore God tyes us not Or because God doth uphold us above the power of falling away therefore we are not bound to persevere in beleeving And if God tyes not the Creature he hath let loose the rains to all licentiousnesse In the last clause he saith That faith is urged in the Ministery of the Gospel and given to them that shall be saved because no man is justified in his conscience before God till he doth beleeve Ans Here we have an Antinomian principle that Faith doth not receive and apply our pardon but serves onely to read our pardon Secondly he confounds Justification before God and that before Conscience which are distinct notions Qu. 6. Whether godly sorrow for sin be required of such a one as is the Covenant of grace Aff according to Mr. Bacon We agree in the tearms of the Question but first I shall observe that Mr. Bacons preaching did rather tend to undermine godly sorrow He had these passages Pharisaicall Repentance doth consist in Contrition Confession Humiliation and Satisfaction First in Contrition i. brokennesse of heart thus the great Pharisees of the world speak of it That there must be in those that do repent before they be accepted of Christ Contrition enough i. brokennesse of heart before they come to Christ Now I would fain know when we should come to brokennesse of heart enough that we may be judged fit to come to Christ I think none of them are able to give satisfaction And a little after You must not think to get a broken heart before you have got Christ but having Christ he will give you a Broken heart Here he makes Contrition a part of Pharisaicall Repentance and accounts them the great Pharisees of the time who require Contrition enough before men be accepted of Christ But those Preachers who in Mr. Bacons esteem are Pharisees do teach that true Contrition is wrought in respect of time neither before nor after the receiving of Christ but at the same instant without which there is no coming to Christ though he saith it is wrought after When Christ proclaims Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden can any then come to Christ till he hath a Broken heart And Contrition enough is required not in respect of quantitie and measure but for quality and kind which is wont to be set forth by quantitative tearms because 't is a solid deeper and more piercing sorrow then all worldly mournings and the greatest howlings of Hypocrites 2. Whereas he now saith that godly sorrow is required in case of sin he hath expresly declared the contrary in the forementioned Sermon in these words Humiliation for we speak of Pharisaicall Repentance for these things are spoken of those that repent to Salvation but in an other way is a certain casting down of a man or woman because of sin or the evill that doth accompany it This is found in Hypocrites and unbeleevers Gen. 4. Matth. 6.16 Isa 58. By this dejectment they think to come into the favour of God but by it may come into the disfavour of God I shall describe that Humiliation that is approved by God and found in the Saints It is a dejectment of a mans self upon the sight and knowledge of the glory greatnesse power and goodnesse of God in Christ Jesus So that as the knowledge of God in Christ doth increase in the soul the soul is abased as Isa 6. four first verses Thus he declares Pharisaicall humiliation to be a casting down of a man because of sin the

Answ Gods love is not opposed to his displeasure but to hatred Yea the more love the more displeasure when we sinne against love This in Parents is the fruit of paternall affection 3 T is most peremptorily to be affirmed that God hates sin in whomsoever This is true but we speak of displeasure not of hatred 4 So farre as the children of God live off from Christ and walk unworthy of the Gospell so farre they lye under the sense of wrath insomuch as the Apostle saith he scourgeth every sonne whom he loves it 's impossible that a man should have peace in the wayes of sinne Answ Here he contradicts and refutes himselfe and runs out beyond our desire The children of God walking unworthy of the Gospell doe not alwayes in such a case lye under the sense of wrath which is the apprehension of the guilt of sinne binding them to eternall vengeance which is as farre distant from the bare apprehension of displeasure as the spirit of Bondage from the spirit of Adoption Where the Apostle saith he scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth he doth not meane the sense of wrath But he addes 't is impossible that a man should have peace in the wayes of sinne whence I inferre where there is no peace and so ought to be no sense of peace there Gods displeasure must needs be apprehended for when God is not displeased there is peace in the soule and if we must apprehend the Lords displeasure he is really displeased except we are bound to apprehend a falshood Many times the Saints apprehend displeasure when God is pleased but they are never bound so to doe but when God is actually displeased therefore it doth necessarily follow that if there were no peace in the wayes of sinne God must needs be displeased with his people for sinne 5 The fift paragraph is answered in the former 6 The sixt is exceeding tedious and confused the substance thereof I collect and examine That a naturall man looking upon God in the Law apprehends he pleaseth God so farre as he keeps the Law and so farre as he comes short of obedience to the Law so farre he apprehends he despleaseth God But a spirituall man seeing himselfe accepted of God in Christ ought not to conceive that God is up and downe with him in his love for whom he loves he loves to the end Answ Gods love is opposed to hatred not to displeasure the love of our persons and a temporary displeasure conceived against our persons are well consistent as in the case of paternall affection Secondly God is said to be angry with Moses I demand whether Moses being in the Covenant of grace was bound to beleeve Gods displeasure upon Gods owne manifestation or whether he did dishonour God by beleeving that he was displeased with him as Master Bacon imports a beleever doth in such a case That same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.17 is the everlasting love of God abounding to the acceptance our persons and performances yea the love of complacency which doth not exclude the particular acts of displeasure and the way of attonement and redintegration after our fals 7 The seventh proves nothing but that being reconciled we are saved from wrath viz. divine revenge which we grant But in the last place he doth extreamly subtillize his Notions he is contented that God should be displeased with sinne but not with the sinner It is true that in some cases God doth hate sin but not the sinner as a father hates the disobedience of his son but hates not his sonne in disobedience for hatred is the extreamest alienation but displeasure is an act of dislike not of alienation Now a man may dislike his friend but never hate him in the notion of a friend and he must needs dislike him when he offends against the bond of friendship though that bond be not broken and a father that is displeased with his childs rebellion must needs be displeased with his child that rebels To conclude if God be in no case displeased with his people they need not confesse that by sinne they have provoked him to displeasure Under most grievous fals their condition is as good towards God as ever they are bound even then to apprehend the light of his countenance and the brightnesse of his glory shining upon them and by consequence David was as much accepted with God and might have conceived as much spirituall joy in the bed of adultery with Bathsheba as after that great humbling of his soule Q. 4. Whether those in the Covenant of grace are to try their Justification by their Sanctification Aff. according to Master B. HEre we agree in the tearmes but whether in the thing it self it 's very doubtfull When we propounded this question we did conceive that Master Bacon would put no other meaning upon the tearme Sanctification the inherent holinesse But we justly suspect some other sense first because he doth here interpret holinesse to be that seed of God which John saith abideth in every one that is borne of God 2 John 3.9 and at the disputation by this seed he did understand the spirit against which interpretation I made reply that the seed of God must be the work of the Spirit and not the spirit it selfe Secondly in that he saith That which is done in foro Coeli in the Court of Heaven is done also in foro conscientiae in the Court of Conscience by the Spirit of Christ and where the spirit of Christ is there are the fruits of the Spirit goodnesse righteousnesse truth This is true in it selfe but it doth not cleere unto our understanding but that he meanes by Sanctification the inhabitation of the Spirit by whose sole testimony our justification must be evidenced and that goodnesse truth and righteousnesse are the immediate workings of a supernaturall spirit by which we are over-acted and not of habituall graces I doe not directly charge him with this meaning in these words of his but they doe not evince the contary and the passages forementioned hold forth grounds of jealousie Besides I know that those of his party doe much undervalue if not wholly deny the use of Markes and Signes in this Triall 2 In the second Paragraph I assent unto him in this That when I doe some good actions I must not therefore beleeve my Justification but I dissent from him in the other part wherein he saith when I faile in some works to suspect my justification tends to overthrow the glorious work of Justification Had he said that a Christian is not thence absoluetly to cōclude that he is not justified he had said right but to say that he must not suspect his justification when he failes in some works as to instance David in adultery Peter in denying Christ which were failings in some works is no sound nor safe Doctrine That height and glory of faith beleeving in hope against hope is not exercised in the slighting of our sinnes