Selected quad for the lemma: work_n
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A14261
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Foure sea-sermons, preached at the annuall meeting of the Trinitie Companie, in the parish church of Deptford: by Henry Valentine vicar
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Valentine, Henry, d. 1643.
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1635
(1635)
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STC 24574; ESTC S103489
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42,166
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77
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of fatherlesse children and their prayers will bee the best gale to waft your soules through the waves of this troublesome world unto your desired haven the Kingdome of Heaven Whither he bring us all that hath so dearely purchased it for us Iesus Christ the righteóus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost bee all Honour and praise might and Majesty now and for ever Amen * ⎠* PSAL. 107.24 These see the workes of the Lord and his wonders in the Deepe YOu have seene before that the businesse of the Seaman is warrantable honourable and profitable and yet there is another adjunct waites upon it and that is that it is a pleasant and delightfull businesse for they see those works and wonders of the Lord in the deep which they could not see upon dry land If you put the same question to mariners that our Saviour did to the multitude Mac. 11.8 What went you out for to see The text answers for them that they see the workes of the Lord and not his ordinary and every dayes workes as reeds shaken with the winde or men clothed in soft raiment for this is too common to be a wonder but they see things that are indeed strange rare admirable and wonderfull In which verse there are two things to be considered First the object or things that may be seene and they are of two sorts the works and the wonders of the Lord. Secondly the subject or place where they may be seen and that is the deep waters But I had rather resolve the text into these three conclusions First God is a working God for here are the workes of the Lord. Secondly among the workes of God some are more wonderfull and admirable then others for here are the wonders of the Lord. Thirdly the Sea is a place wherein wee may see both his workes and wonders For the first some have beene so transcendently presumptuous as to enquire how God imployed himselfe in that vast space of eternitie and what he did before hee created the world which is not yet of sixe thousand yeares standing Quid faciebat Deus antequam faceret coelum terram Alta inquit scrutantibus gehennam parabat Aug. conf lib. 11. cap. 12. To them I say as the Angell did to Manoah Aske not after it for it is secret Or as David Such knowledge is too wonderfull for thee or as he in S. Augustine God was making hell to torment such as will pry into the Arke of his mysterious and reserved secrets The first worke of God ad extra was the Creation which consists of many faire and noble pieces Some were of opinion that God created the Angels and then the Angels as his instruments created inferiour natures Job 38.7 Indeed the Angels were created first and are the first fruits of Gods wayes and they did sing together and shout for joy when the foundations of the world were fastened but they did not lay so much as one stone in that building It may be Moses in the history of the Creation makes no mention of the Angels least describing the glory and excellencie of their natures wee might joyne them in Commission with God and make them his associates and so rob him of the glory Another errour there was and that amongst the Jewes Putabant Deum post laborem fabricati mundi usque ad hunc diem quasi dormire Aug. in c. 5. Joann Iohn 7.15 that God after hee had finished the worke of the Creation sate downe and ever since hath kept a Sabbath and made it holy day But our Saviour confutes this for sayes he My Father worketh hitherto governing and conserving what he hath made that they slide not back againe into their first nothing Deus agens quiescit quiescens agit August There is no day wherein God doth not create new soules which he infuses into these bodies which are daily conveyed in the womb there is no day wherein he does not justifie some sinner Agit animas rationales quotidiè creando impios justificando purgatos ab omni reatu in coelis beatificando Carth. in 5. Ioann and to justifie a sinner is a greater worke then to create one just there is no day wherein hee does not glorifie some Saints who lived in his feare and dyed in his favour Nay let me tell you that those workes which we call our owne are of his working witnesse the Prophet Thou hast wrought all our workes in us Esay 26.12 Phil. 2.13 witnesse the Apostle It is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Witnesse our Saviour Without me yee can doe nothing Iohn 15. The Apostle therefore uses this correction Not I but the grace of God that was in me Now as man is the image of his Maker so he should affect conformity and resemblance to his patterne and be a worker together with God The maine worke of a Christian is the worke of Salvation Worke out your salvation with feare and trembling saith the Apostle A worke which if we dispatch not before we die we are undone for ever And therefore our Saviour quickens us Iohn 9.4 and calls upon us to ply it hard whilest it is day So long as wee are in this world it is day with us and we may worke and it is the day of salvation too so that we may worke out our salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 but when we dye it is night with us and who knowes whether it may not be this night and then we cannot worke But besides this we have a worke to doe and that is the worke of our particular callings S. Paul would have every man eate his owne bread and his owne it is not till his head or his hand hath wrought for it Salomon hath appointed a time to every businesse but he allowes no time for idlenesse Minimam vitae portionem dabat somno minorem cibo nullam otio in vita Ieron and Erasmus reports of S. Ierome that hee allowed but little time to sleepe lesse to meat but none to sloth But of this we have heard more in the former Sermon The second part of the Text is that amongst the workes of God some are more wonderfull and admirable then others for here are wonders as well as workes I confesse with the Prophet that God is a wonderfull and excellent workeman Esay 28.29 and that all his works are admirable For they were made of nothing It is true in Philosophy that out of nothing can nothing be made but it is true in Divinity that out of nothing were all things made that are made So the Poet. Nothing but nothing had the Lord Almighty Whereof Du Bartas wherewith whereby to make this City Againe all the workes of the Lord are wonderfull if wee consider the manner of their making If you aske what tooles what leavers Quis humeris saxa convexit quis congessit impensas