Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	eternal_a	life_n	merit_v	5,950	5	10.7779	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12473	A sub-poena from the star-chamber of heauen A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse the 4. of August. 1622. With some particular enlargements which the limited time would not then allow. By Dan. Donne, Master of Arts, and minister of the Word.	Donne, Daniel, d. 1646.	1623 (1623)	STC 7021; ESTC S121163	55,741	137

the wayes of peace in a word we must giue all our members seruants vnto righteousnesse Rom 6. 19. in holinesse Abounding in the fruits of the Spirit in loue peace long suffering Galat. 5. 22. gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse patience and in euery good worke that may make vs perfect men in Christ Jesus For this were wee elected before the world God the Father did chuse vs in Ephes 1. 4. Christ his Sonne before the foundations of the world that wee should bee holy and without blame before him in loue For this were we created into the world wheras all things were made to serue for the vse of man man was made to serue his Maker For this end were we redeemed out of the world For Christ deliuered Luke 1. 74. vs from the hands of our enemies that we might serue him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life For this purpose doth God sanctifie vs in this world with his Holy Spirit I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walke in my Ezek. 36. 27. Statutes and ye shall keepe my iudgements and doe them And for this shall we bee glorified in the world to come Come yee blessed of my Father take the Inheritance Matth. 25. 34. of the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was an hungred and yee gaue mee meate c. Thus will God crowne the holy liues of his seruants with an eternall weight of glory Such honour shall haue all his Saints which are fruitful in good works not that they doe by their fruits of holinesse No man can merit heauen and workes of pietie merit so glorious a remuneration alas what can we pleade for by way of merit at Gods hand seeing when we haue done all that we can doe yea that wee are commanded to doe which is more then wee can doe we are but vnprofitable seruants Luke 17. 10. saith our Sauiour And what is the reward for vnprofitable seruants which God will render vnto them at the last day Why this is their fearefull Sentence Cast yee the vnprofitable seruant into Matth. 2● ●● vtter darkenesse there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth No my beloued Eternall life is not of mans merit but of the meere gift of God through Iesus Rom. ● ●● Christ our Lord As a reuerend religious Prelate of our Church hath obserued Doctor King 〈◊〉 of London wee may read of a Mercy-seat in the Temple of God but neuer heare of a Steole of Merit but in the Chappell of Antichrist Indeed God doth in many places of his Scripture promise the kingdome of heauen to all that leade a religious and holy life but this his promise is not grounded vpon a foresight of any merit in man but proceedeth meerly from the free grace and bounty of God who herein dealeth with vs as a louing and bountifull father with his child promising him some gift of great worth for the performance of some small piece of seruice happily for making vnto him a legge or the like that so by his bountie hee may bring his childe on willingly to tender that reuerend respect which otherwise of dutie he is bound to doe Holinesse of life and conuersation is that which God strictly commandeth and accordingly requireth from euery Christian It is as you haue heard the end of our Election Creation Redemption Sanctification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring forth good fruit If we search the Bible from the beginning to the ending we shall find this to be the very pith the marrow the maine subiect and life thereof yet behold the great goodnesse of God what he might command and compell vs vnto in the name of our Soueraigne Lord and maker he doth considering our weaknes and infirmitie intreat and wooe vs vnto in the language of a louing and bountifull Father As S. Augustine most Serm. 3. de verbis Domini sweetly Nobis praemia repromittit vt nobis obsequia debita seruitutis extorqueat he doth make vnto vs a promise of remuneration to draw vs to the performance of that seruice which in dutie we owe vnto him in the whole course of our life and conuersation Vt quos nolle seruire conspicit sponte suorum beneficiorum possit promissionibus inuitare that whom he sees will not freely serue him of his owne accord he might louingly and friendly inuite by promising a reward This doth God to make it knowne VVhy God doth promise a revvard to good vvork●s and manifest vnto the sonnes of men 1. how sweet and pleasing a sauour the sacrifice of our holy Obedience doth send vp into the nostrils of the most High 2. That none shall euer inherit the ioyes of heauen but such as doe wholly endeuour and bend themselues forward to bring forth good fruit here on earth such as labour for the inward sanctitie and lead a holy and religious course of life And 3. that they shall be as sure to participate of this his promised bounty as if by their deserts and merits they were interested in it And that the Sunne of Gods grace and bounty may yet more clearly and freely reflect its beames vpon the eyes of your vnderstanding I hold it not vnfitting before we proceed any further in a word or two to remooue out of the way the opinion of Mans merit which like a thick mist and darke cloud the enemies of the crosse of Christ haue cast before it to the great obscuring and impayring of the glorious splendor thereof It is a point I take it well worth the time and may iustly plead for your Christian attention Sure I am it maketh much for the promoting of Gods glory and the furthering of our owne Good for when wee seriously consider the insufficiency of our owne works to saue vs we may learne a poynt of true wisedome not to leane vpon the broken staffe of our owne Merits which will surely deceiue vs but wholly to relye vpon the louing mercies of God which are sure and will neuer faile vs. Thus Gods shall be all the glory and ours all the good I am not ignorant that many of our moderne Diuines haue not a little studied this point and left the fruits of their learned Labours vnto the broad eye of the world that who so list may looke into them and receiue satisfaction to the full for nothing of substance can bee super-added vnto that which they haue already set forth yet I think it not amisse considering the present occasion to borrow a little handfull out of the liberall haruest of their labours and present you with a taste of their fruits dressed after my owne fashion I doubt not but it will be pleasing vnto some I hope and pray that it may be profitable vnto all Happily I may herein seeme to some to make an impertinent digression frō my text but who so well weigheth the drift of the

Holy Ghost shall find and consequently beare me witnesse that I doe not beg my Theame pick a quarrel with that which the text of it selfe will not seeme to affoord and offer That which God in this Writ requireth of vs is the bringing forth of good fruit this is the maine thing intended in this text and pressed vpon paine of Gods furious wrath and fiery displeasure for euer signified in being cut downe and cast into the fire As if he had said more fully yet briefly and plainly thus If ye bring forth good fruit yee shall be saned but if ye doe not bring forth good fruit yee shall be damned Now the not bringing foorth of good fruite being the meritorious cause of our Damnation as you shall heare afterward one would thinke on the contrary that the bringing foorth of good fruit is a meritorious cause of our Saluation That we cannot by way of Merit challenge so magnificent a remuneration as God out of his great goodnesse doth binde himselfe by promise to conferre vpon the Sonnes of Men for their pious and godly conuersation may be plainely demonstrated vnto you by diuers particulars I will at this time contract my selfe in fiue In euery Worke to make it meritorious there are Our vvorkes numeritorious for fiue Reasons fiue things requisite 1. Gratuitie 2. Vtilitie 3. Proprietie 4. Puritie 5. Paritie 1. That Worke which doth merit any thing at Gods hand must of necessitie be opus Gratuitum a free-will Offering a worke of Gratuitie and in no wise due for any other cause or respect Seeing then we owe of dutie vnto God whatsoeuer we are or haue vndoubtedly whatsoeuer we doe can merit nothing at Gods hand 2. There must be Vtilitie that Good which we doe to make it meritorious must be profitable and commodious vnto him at whose hands wee merit any thing But no action of ours of what straine soeuer it be can bring any benefit any commoditie vnto God for as Eliphaz said vnto Iob May a man be Iob 22. 23. profitable vnto God as he that is wise may be profitable vnto himselfe Is it any thing to the Almightie that thou art righteous or is it profitable to him that thou makest thy wayes vpright His Interogation doth argue a stronge negatiue resolution as if he had said in a word No mans righteousnesse can bee any way profitable vnto God and therefore we can merit nothing at Gods hand 3. In that by which we merit any thing we must haue an absolute proprietie it must be our owne Now Good workes Good fruits are not our own they are Gods wee cannot of our selues so much as Will much lesse worke that which is Good for it is God that worketh in vs both the will and the deed Therefore Phil. 2. 13. we can merit nothing at his hand 4. There must bee a Puritie our workes must be performed according to that absolute Perfection and Puritie which God in his reuealed will requireth of vs they must bee vindicated and freed from all vncleannesse and imperfection which no man so long as hee liueth in the flesh can vndertake for the best and choisest fruit he bringeth forth for euen our best actions were they narrowly scanned in some thing or other Carnis putredinem sapiunt as Caluin noteth doe sauour and relish of the Corruption Lib instit de Justif fidei Cap. 10. of the Flesh happely they haue leaned to some sinister respect or haue not beene performed with such sincerity and alacrity as God requireth 5. To make our workes meritorious there must be a Paritie there must bee some proportion and equalitie betweene that Good we doe and the reward wee receiue for it Now what Parity what Proportion betweene our workes which are but temporall and finite and the reward which is eternall and infinite The Naturall Phylosopher and any one that is not a mere naturall will tell vs that Finiti ad Infinitum nulla est proportio there is no proportion betweene that which is finite and that which is infinite Therefore our choicest fruits our best workes being defectiue in euery one of these fiue particulars which ought necessarily to concurre for the making of them meritorious it is strange there should liue in this great light of the Gospell any that dare attempt such a worke of darkenesse as to stampe mans workes with the Character of Merit Sure I am in the Word of God we cannot so much as finde the Word Merit Indeed God doth very frequently in the Sacred Scripture promise a reward to the godly and hence they fondly collect that the godly doe merit by the holinesse of their liues as if between reward and merit there were a mutuall relation that no reward is giuen but vpon a presupposed merit For answer whereunto I may tell them as our Sauiour the Sadduces That they erre not knowing the Scriptures for as the Learned Matth. 22. 19. haue obserued that which by Saint Mathew is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reward is Math. 5 46. Luc 6 32. by Saint Luke termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace fauour or thankes to signifie vnto vs that when God rewardeth the righteousnesse of men the reward is not to be ascribed to any worth or dignity in the Creature but wholly to the benignitie of the Creator not to any desert or merit in Man but vnto the meere grace and mercy of his Maker For as Saint Paul 2 Ephes 8. 9. a place worth the 2 Ephes 8. 9. noting By Grace we are saued through Faith and that not of our selues it is the gift of God not of workes lest any man should boast himselfe The Caese being so cleare we may be bold to affirme that most blasphemous is the practise of the Papists who both in Pulpit and Presse so stiffely contend to enthronize the imperfect impure workes of sinnefull man in the Chaire of Merit in which nothing by right but the holy and perfect obedience of the Sonne of God can sit My beloued I dare confidently affirme it for trueth and you may boldly take it vpon that terme that no Mortall by building him vp a Babel of his merits can euer reach Heauen Heauen being a transcendent too high for the short reach of humane merit The fairest face hath some Mole or Freckle the soundest Pomegranate some rotten Kernell Corruption is a great part of the best yea the best euen from their conception are wholly ouer-runne with corruption from which they can neuer be throughly purged till the soule and the body by death be parted and put asunder by reason whereof euen our best actions are stained our best fruits wee bring forth are foulely blemished and wil not endure the Iust eye of heauen to behold them as they are in themselues the serious consideration of this made the Prophet Dauid thus pray vnto God Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant for Psal 143 2. no flesh is righteous in thy sight