Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	create_v	good_a	workmanship_n	4,350	5	11.8942	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51788	Præparatio evangelica, or, A plain and practical discourse concerning the soul's preparation for a blessed eternity being the substance of several sermons preach'd at Leeds / by Timothy Manlove ...	Manlove, Timothy, d. 1699.	1698 (1698)	Wing M455; ESTC R6789	123,238	196

up th● measure of their Sins and so making themselves rip● for Ruin Treasuring up Wrath against the Day of VVrat●● Rom. 25. So God by his Grace qualifies and prepare● his People for Heaven enabling and habitnating the●● to those spiritual Desires and Endeavours which ar●●● suted thereto Vers 9. Wherefore we labour th●● whether present or absent we may be accepted of him Phil. 2.13 He worketh in them both to will and to 〈◊〉 of his good Pleasure A Work so great that it emula●● even Creation it self insomuch that the Persons th●● wrought upon are new Creatures as vers 17. of th●● Chapter If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creatur●● not in point of Essence or Faculties but of new Qual●ties and Dispositions wherewith they are endued An● thus we must be wrought for this self same thing Hence Believers as such are called God's Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes 2.10 His Building raised and framed by him for an habitation of God through the Spirit Vers 22. His Husbandry 1 Cor. 3.9 Being cultivated by him to bring forth that Fruit unto Holiness the end whereof is Everlasting Life Rom. 6.22 Thus they are the work of his Hands Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Isa 60.21 Ch. 61.3 So these Vessels of Mercy are prepared for Glory Rom. 8.23 Made meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 Well set or rightly dispos●d for the Kingdom of God As the word signifies Luke 9.62 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this it is which the Text principally aims at wherein you may observe several things 1. That great work whereof the Apostle here speaks as a thing already done He that hath wrought c. 2. The Author of this Work viz. The Blessed God himself 3. The Subjects or Persons upon whom it was wrought Namely the Apostle himself and other Gospel-Ministers Vs yet not so as to exclude any other Persons who had obtained like precious Faith with them 2 Pet. 1.1 Or that had believed through their Word Joh. 17.20 See the foregoing Chapter vers 14. as also Chap. 1.21 us with you 4. The end and design of this great Work namely to fit them for Heaven giving them a Temper suted thereto and causing them to long after it 5. The necessity of this great Work as may be gathered from the Relation which these words bear to the Context And more especially by the word now or bur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which connects this Verse with the fore-going q. d. we know that the Heavenly Inheritance shall be ours And we earnestly desire to be there vers 1 2. c. But then it must be remembred that we are wrought for this self-same thing otherwise our Hopes were presumptuous our Confidence meer self-deceit According to which plain Exposition this little Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is big enough to exclude all from Heaven who are not in some measure thus wrought for it And now 't is obvious that many points of Doctrine might easily be drawn from these words thus opened and divided But I will mention no more than one which I design to insist upon and to it all the rest may be reduced Doct. There 's no coming to Heaven till we be wrought or prepared for it by the Power of Divine Grace In handling this Point three things must be distinctly spoken to I. The Explication of it or what it means II. The Proof of it or how it appears III. The Use and Improvement of it or what may be deduced from it either to inform our Judgments or to direct and regulate our Practice As to the first of these I shall proceed as follows 1. To give you some general Account of the Heavenly Felicity for which we must be prepared 2. Set before you a more distinct and large Explication of that great Work of Grace whereby the Souls of Believers are fitted for Glory Without some competent Knowledg of the End we are not like to understand the Means And except we enquire into yea and chuse the Way we shall never come to enjoy the blessed End CHAP. II. Some general Account of the Heavenly Felicity to which are subjoyned some short Hints how unfit we are by Nature for that blessed State and how we came to be so 'T IS not to be thought strange that our Conceptions fall exceeding short and our Expressions yet shorter when we come to discourse concerning that Glory which is within the Vail Who can at this distance give any other than a very imperfect Account of that fulness of Joy which is in the Presence of God and those everlasting Pleasures which are at his Right Hand Psal 16.11 Yet are we not left wholly in the dark neither somewhat of Heaven may be known and therefore should diligently be enquired after while we are here on Earth all cannot till we come thither At present we have some Revelation of it both objective and subjective viz. so far as is sutable to our present State 'T is revealed to us Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 'T is revealed in us true Believers have the foretasts of it in those Exercises of Grace which lead to it Tho it doth not yet fully appear what we shall be yet in part it doth For we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 Tho out Life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 Yet nor so as if nothing of it could be known but rather that it might be more earnestly searched after Even as in him are bid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg Chap. 2.3 compared with Prov. 2.2 3 4. See also 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard c. but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit vers 12. that we might know th● things that are freely given to us of God Well then it is a great advantage that we have ● Map of the Holy Land a Description of the New J●rusalem set before us in the Sacred Records And ye● greater if we taste the Sweetness and feel the Power of those Gospel Discoveries in our own Spirits But then those that do so can hardly make others understand these grateful Relishes The Joys of Believen are such as Strangers intermeddle not with cannot be rightly apprehended but by inward vital Sense and Experience known only to them that have them Word● can but saintly exp●ess them for they are unspeak able 1 Pet. 1.8 How much more inexpressible must those Pleasures be which in Heaven are grown up to fui● perfection Therefore as to what is unrevealed let us wait●● while it cannot be long time runs fast on Eternity is almost upon us The Concerns of our Souls are in safe Hands Our Eyes as one observes are in our glorified Head Jesu Christ He knows for us what

he we are always confident vers 6. Again vers 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. q.d. We do not run as at uncertainties nor fight as Men that beat the Air but know whom we have trusted and that he will not fail our trust This is the Faith we walk by at present till we come to the World of immediate sight and fruition Vers 7. And now let us return to the words of the Text and consider more distinctly both the literal and real importance of them Now he that hath wrought us i. e. made formed or fitted us The word signifies to fashion or polish a thing which was rude or unshapen before and so 't is used by the Septuagint Exod. 35.33 1 Kings 6.36 For the self-same thing viz. That blessed State in which Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life whereof he had been speaking just before vers 4. or if you understand it of those desires and groanings Heaven-ward which are wrought in the Souls of Believers it comes all to a sense for none but those who are prepared for Heaven do rightly and judiciously desire it as shall be shewn more at large hereafter Is God even he that hath provided that Glory for us vers 1. hath also fitted us for it The Order and Tenour of the words is very remarkable God is not the Subject but the Predicate of this Proposition It is not thus expressed now God hath wrought us for this tho that had been true but the same Truth is spoken with a more piercing Emphasis and Majesty as the words are here placed He that hath wrought us is God q. d. Would you know the reason of our Confidence Hope and earnest Desires after Heaven Why we are wrought for it Do you ask how we came to be so or who hath thus wrought us 'T is God that hath done it who always acts like himself therefore this work is divine beseeming its great Author such as none but he could effect the Finger of God is plain in it and for that reason we doubt not but the Issue will be answerably glorious and excellent The same way of expression ye have Chap. 1.21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is GOD. As for the real importance of the words the only remaining difficulty if that be any is what divine work the Apostle here speaks of In answer to this I shall only take notice of the three following particulars which are most full and comprehensive in the case 1. God as he is our Creator and the God of Nature hath given us immortal Souls furnish'd with faculties to prepare for a better Life He hath made them pure spiritual noble intellectual Substances no● consisting of any contrary Principles which by acting upon or against each other might infer the dissolution of the whole Now in that he has given the Soul such a Nature 't is manifest that he designs it for an eternal State because he doth nothing in vain but always fits his Creatures for the respective ends whereunto he hath appointed them And since both Grac● and Glory presuppose Nature that is the Fundamental Capacity of the Subject therefore this particular may well enough be taken in tho it cannot reasonably he imagined that this is the main much less the only thing intended in the Text. The Souls of the vil●● Men yea even the Devils themselves are thus fa● wrought for an Everlasting State But it is not m●●● Immortality but a glorious and blessed Immortality that 's here spoken of So that to be wrought for this self-same thing must needs signify something peculiar unto true Believers for they only have a right to the Heavenly Glory and besides the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems not so naturally to signify the creating of a Soul as some subsequent work upon it already created to which it 's natural essence is presupposed not produced by it 2. As our Redeemer and the God of governing reconciling Grace he hath opened the way to Heaven for us and so deals with us upon Terms of Mercy and Compassion in order to our recovery from that sinful and miserable state into which we had brought our selves To this end the Eternal Son of God in the fulness of time sanctified a Portion of Humane Nature and took it into union with the Divine and in it fulfilled all Righteousness perfectly obeyed the Law offered up himself a Sacrifice to satisfy Divine Justice conquered Satan Death and Hell died arose ascended and was glorified that we might chearfully and believingly follow him Thus Human Nature in the Person of our great Mediatour was wrought through ●ariety of Labours and Sufferings till it arrived to the highest Advancement that from hence we might be assured how great things are intended for us if we do not reject the Counsel of God against our selves He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 He is gone before to prepare a place for us and to take possession c. his Arms are ever open to receive returning Sinners the more weary and heavy laden with the Burden of Sin the fitter for him to exercise his Office upon He will cast out none that sincerely come to him None are excluded who do not by wilful and final Impenitency exclude themselves On his part all things are ready what then remains but that we thankfully lay hold on this Tree of Life and by Faith feed thereon that we may live for ever 3. As he is our Sanctifier and the Applyer and Perfecter of all to fit us for Glory he works in the Souls of his People those holy Qualifications Tendencies and Affections whereby the Heavenly State becomes con-natural and agreeable to them or rather they to it To live and have a being in a furture State is o●● thing to be happy therein another Meer Immortality fits you for the former immediately but only in a more remote sense for the latter O Sirs it is but cold comfort to know that your Souls are immortal if in the mean time ye be utterly in the dark whether it shall be well or ill with them hereafter Live they must to all Eternity but if a great deal of care be not taken in time that Life is like to prove worse than Death Therefore ye know that Eternal Life is usually taken in the best sense Mat. 25.46 The Righteous into Lis● Eternal Rom. 6.23 The Gist of God is Eternal Lis● Those in Hell live too because they cannot not because they would not die Know then that you Souls are no less capable of exquisite Torment and Misery than of Joy and Blessedness in another World their everlasting Weal or Woe depends mo●● directly and nearly upon Moral Qualities than upon their Natural Essence As wicked Men are silling