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A03696 Of the rich man and Lazarus Certaine sermons, by Robert Horne. Horne, Robert, 1565-1640. 1619 (1619) STC 13823; ESTC S104236 106,903 146

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me into prison but I was sicke and in prison and yee came not to me So the inhabitants of Meroz were accursed not for taking part with the enimie but for not taking the Lords part against his enimies Iudg. 5.23 And the axe is laid to the roote of euery tree that bringeth forth no good fruit though it bring forth no bad for the cutting of it downe to death hell Mat. 3.10 though Christians who should be trees of righteousnes in the Church as it were garden of God beare no euil fruit yet if they beare no good there hangeth ouer their heads an axe of cutting downe Our good workes cannot saue vs but our euill or want of good are able to condemne vs. This plea in mans Court that we haue done no man harme is good but it will not hold in that Court where not onely the euill done is iudged but the good vndone must be answered for To this agreeth that prouerbiall speech of Salomon He that turneth away his care from the crie of the poore he saith not he that makes him cry shal cry himselfe and not be heard Prou. 21.13 That is though he fall into such miserie as shall make him crie and that to God and man for helpe yet neither God nor man shall helpe him So it is proued not only that we should not hurt the poore if we will be saued but that as their needes shall require we must helpe them to our best abilitie if we will not perish with the cruell that cannot be saued The reasons are Euery breach of the commandement deserueth hell and second death Gal. 3.10 and this is one Secondly and more particularly to omit this duty when there is cause and we haue abilitie what is it but with sinne to keepe in our hands that which is Gods part and the poores portion and so to be guilty of both sacrilege against God and robbery against men Prou. 3.27 When God makes vs rich he makes vs but rich Stewards with a charge not to keepe the Maisters goods in our owne hands but to giue them to the proper owners the poore Neither is it robbery onely to neglect this seruice of God to Gods poore but a kind of murther Ecclus. 34.22 or a killing of those by cruelty whose liues we might saue by almes If then either theft or sacriledge or murther or all three deserue death eternall then that which is all the three not to minister to the necessities of Gods poore deserueth it Thirdly the vnfruitfull tree is cut downe for the fire Math. 3 10 and so must all vnfaithfull that is vnworking Christians be for hel-fire A reproofe of those who thinke and say Vse 1 they may doe what they will with their owne where first they are much deceiued by calling that theirs which is their Masters Luk. 16.1 2. For the earth is his Psalm 24.1 and these things that are in it he hath deliuered vnder account to rich men as to his Stewards to lay them out not as to Treasurers to lay them vp or if as to Treasurers to lay them vp yet so to keepe them that they be ready alwaies to bring them outfor the seruice of their Soueraigne and the good of their fellow seruants or if these earthly goods were theirs were it lawfull or reasonable to vse them against the glory of the bountifull Giuer If my Prince should rayse mee to honour were it tolerable were it not vilany to turne it against his Crowne and Honour or if a man should giue mee a dwelling house in the midst of a Towne might I set it on fire because it is mine and may I kill a man with a weapon because the weapon is mine owne wherewith I slew him Did Noah well to bee drunken with the fruite of his owne Vineyard Gen. 9.20 21. And who knoweth not that a man may abuse his owne and that he should doe not all he may but what he lawfully may But to put the matter out of question He that is Lord of all these things of whom wee hold in capite that is in chiefe hath but leased them out to the sonnes of men and hee that is Master of this great house wherein we are but Tennants for liues as hath pleased him to set our terme therein hath committed his goods to wealthy men but with a limitation to vses appointed by himselfe who is absolute may do with his owne what he will Math. 20.15 He is the owner and soueraigne owner of all and we haue but leases in these things from Him and that with certaine reseruations As first that we make no waste or spoile for we may not consume these good things on our lusts Secondly that we performe the Lords seruice keepe his Sabbaths as it were Court-daies and appeare in the assembly when the people come together to worship before the face of Iehoua Thirdly that we doe not denie him his rents the praise which is due vnto his name and when hee sends to vs by the poore his receiuers that we send to him by them the fruits of his owne ground by dealing mercifully with them and not euill entreating them as did those cruell husbandmen in the Gospel whom therefore the Lord of the Vineyard destroied Math. 21.34.35.36 c. For the godly poore are his Baliues and the gatherers of his rents whō he sendeth to vs. Fourthly that we acknowledge our homage by submitting to his lawes and the orders of his Court. Fif●ly that we abuse not our Lords land and goods to the maintenance of his enimies as they who feede the bellies of the wicked and starue his poore Sixthly that we plucke not vp his quichesets and ioine land to land till there be no more roome Esa 5.8 or place to wit to be taken for our money And lastly that when any seruice is to be done for him in the Church by the Minister and in the common-wealth by the King and his Ministers we giue willingly vnto Caesar his tribute and to the Minister his tithes Failing in these the Lord of our wealth and liues may take these leases from vs and pronounce all the estates we hold of him forfaited and voide by misbehauiour So he dealt with his Steward from whom he tooke away the office and place which he abused Luk. 16.2.3 And it is his great mercy that he doth not in like sort presently enter vpon vs and our estates who haue so often and long by sundry misprisions deserued a casting off Now then let vs giue all these considerations their due respect and say if these things may be called our owne for the which we are to giue to the Maister so strict account when he shall say by death to euery one of vs thou canst no longer be Steward Luke 16.2 which being so men haue smal cause to be proud of this that God hath set them vp in worldly riches and greatnes For to whom much is committed of them much shall be required againe Luk.
with none more thē those that should be most free bestowers of the sacred inheritance of the Church but for those Patrones of Church lidings that should bee faithfull doorekeepers in Gods house and yet giue no free entrance into the doore of the sheepe but sell that way for money to Simoniacall Hirelings such as will open the doore soonest and best with a siluer key let them not forget that these greedy morsels will come vp again in an vp braiding conscience at the day of their death if they repent not now in their day and strike them with a remembrance that will sticke as close to them as this of Abraham to Diues Remember Sonne or Church-robber Remember that heere thou soldest heauen and thy part in heauen for money I might thus goe through the land but it shall not neede onely this is needfull that euery priuate person remember that his sinnes whatsoeuer they proue to bee if hee repent not for them and forsake them will leaue a bitter after-sent in his mind for the time to come And let all young and olde and all remember this A terror to greedy sinners Vse 2 for one day they shall heare the voyce of their conscience in these two vpbraiding words Remember sonne I may adde remember daughter or daughters of pride remember Remember Cain how thou slewest thy brother and remember Iudas how thou soldest thy master and remember Saul how thou persecutedst thy friend Diues thou that wouldest not giue thy crummes to Lazarus remember Sodome thou that didst so vexe thy good neighbour remember Sinners of the old world ye that did nothing but eate and drinke and marry and giue in marriage till yee were all buried in that vniuersall graue of waters remember And yee that in this world and now eate and drinke and take your ease neyther caring for heauen nor fearing hell or iudgement this that is spoken to the rich man in hell may one day bee spoken to you there Remember Sinne is an hypocrite honey in your mouth and poyson in your stomacke if the honey which is in it deceyue you the poyson that is in it will kill you When the honey of sinne hath spent his pleasure the poyson that is in sinne will worke by incurable vpbraidings then comes Remember sonne Then wee must answer for all that cannot answer for one all the sports of our youth all the sinnes of our life all the lyes wee haue tolde all the oathes wee haue sworne all the pleasures that wee haue beene louers of more then of God our drunken cups and companies our whoredoms our oppressions our pride our thefts our slanderings of the Gospell and of our neighbour all these and all such as these will one day remember vs or bee remembred to vs though we would forget them there is a Table of remembrance kept and a booke of Items which will bee found in all consciences that are not purged before they goe hence for conscience followeth sinne as hell doth death and then they shall heare of all that here would not endure to bee told of any nothing shall then bee concealed where here nothing must bee knowne O therefore let vs now remember as wee should that hereafter we may not remēber or be remembred as we would not too late or as this Rich man in hell So much for the manner the matter of Abrahams reply followeth That thou in thy life time receyuedst thy pleasures c. The matter of Abrahams reply by deniall standeth in two things which made the Rich mans request impossible to be granted The first in this verse the second in the next The first is because hee had his heauen of pleasures here which ended with his end in death The second because God had inuiolably shut vp the way as with an euerlasting barre between heauen and hell The first is taken from the iustice of God which requiteth those with pains who for their pleasures here put his poore as Diues this poore man to paine The second is taken from his ordinance eternall which is that there shall neuer bee any release out of hell or passage and path-way betweene heauen and bell and this in the next verse The first thing in this first reason of denial is taken from the contraries of pleasures and paine here where by pleasures we are to vnderstand not lawfull pleasures but the pleasures of sinne and by paine the paines of pouerty and hunger in godly Lazarus not relieued nor any way pittied by mercilesse Diues For simply this Rich man could not be condemned because he had pleasures here and Lazarus paine but because he altogether here followed his pleasures and would not with his crummes ease this poore mans paine as if Abraham had sayd Thou hast liued to thy se●fe and ●●●ther to God nor thy neighbour Thy belly was th● 〈◊〉 thy lusts and pleasures thy gods In these thou hast 〈◊〉 and no way in Gods obedience therefore art thou tormented now and shalt bee euer This was Abrahams meaning and therefore it condemned not the Rich man that he was wealthy and had some pleasures here but because hee was rich and cruell and because drunken with the pleasures of life because his minde was altogether set vpon worldly vanities and in euill workes and neuer a whit vpon heauenly things and no time vpon goodnesse We heard before that riches cōsidered in themselues and not abused by their owners doe not bolt the doore of heauen against any as neyther do the pleasures of life vsed lawfully and well for then no Rich-man could bee saued nor any that liueth in any pleasures here but b Augustine poore Lazarus is in rich Abrahams bosome and godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come 1. Tim. 4.8 And as riches and pleasures doe not in themselues barre any out of heauen so neyther doe pouerty and paine for themselues bring any thither for Lazarus was not saued because hee was poore and in paine but because in these hee trusted in God and waited for his saluation To winde vp and to come to the point That which condemned this Rich man was the abuse as hath beene sayde of his wealth and pleasures heere and because the soule of his delight was in them not delighting in God hating his poore From whence we learne Doct. 1 that they who heere are drowned in pleasures and in the loue of their belly must heereafter looke to liue in paine and misery as this Rich man in the torments of hell for ever So it is threatned to the young man who cheared himselfe with the joy and delights of youth following euery pleasure and pleasant obiect that his heart could imagine or eye see that for all these things he should bee brought to iudgemen to witte to the iudgement of condemnation Eccles 11.9 Also when spirituall Babylon was fallea the doome shee receyued for her life of pleasures was So much as shee