Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	evil_a	good_a	tree_n	33,809	5	11.7409	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61104	Chrysomeson, a golden meane, or, A middle way for Christians to walk by wherein all seekers of truth and shakers in the faith may find the true religion independing upon mans invention, and be established therein : intended as a key to Christianity, as a touchstone for a traveller, as a probe for a Protestant, as a sea-mark for a sailor : in a Christian dialogue between Philalethes and his friend Mathetes, seeking satisfaction / by Benjamin Spencer ...; Way to everlasting happinesse	Spencer, Benjamin, b. 1595?	1659 (1659)	Wing S4944; ESTC R13439	363,024	312

may very well exist after separation from the body and live and understand though not as it did in the body by conversion of it selfe to the phantasie which then it hath not nor by any formerly received species kept in memory for then the souls of children departed should understand nothing but the soule separated understandeth as Angels do know a new thing presented to them By which we may see plainly that souls separated know not what is done here on earth Aquin. p. 1. q. 89. art 8. further then God pleaseth to reveal to them and who can prove God doth any such thing continually by way of reflection upon them Mathe. How fell men from God being made so righteous Phila. Solomon saith they found out inventions i. Adam and all his successors did yea and Eve first who was called Adam of God as well as he Ishab Virago Gen. 5.2 But her husband Adam called her woman Gen. 2.23 and afterward Havah Evah the mother of all living Gen. 3.20 Her first invention was to open her eare too wide to the Devils subtile counsell who had fallen himselfe first from God and from heaven the place of blessednesse and cast down into these lower regions where finding man to be Gods favourite he was very industrious to bring him to destruction with himselfe And for this purpose makes the serpents body the organ of his speech and tempts the woman supposing her to be inferiour to the man in understanding but far more inclinable to curiosity His temptation of her was to eat of the tree God forbad Aug. de civ dei lib. 13. c. 20. and set apart as a token of his prerogative and their obedience she consented and gave to her husband upon which St Paul saith 1 Tim. 2. the man was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression That is the man was not deceived immediately by the serpent but the woman was nor did the woman deceive him but gave it him for she had no mind to make him transgre sse for she was so perswaded by the serpent as if she had not transgressed in eating thereof her selfe so he was tempted by her but not deceived by her nor the serpent For the serpent left that work to the woman knowing how prevalent she might be with him being his only companion This tree whose fruit was forbidden them was called the tree of knowledge of good and evill Moses Barcephas translated by Masius not that it had any such vertue to increase knowledge for the tree was naturall not metaphysicall but it is called so from that unhappy effect which they should find after the eating of it Junius For as Adam in his innocence knew good and might have obtained it and knew evill and might have avoided it so after his fall he knew the good he had lost and the evill he found the good of obedience the evill of disobedience not but he knew good before by prudence but not evill by experience till now Their sin therefore was not a precacious carnall knowledge one of another as some think for we find a command for it increase and multiply but no time set of abstinence or continence by breach whereof they might offend God Gen. 4.1 And we find also in Scripture that they had no carnall knowledge of each other till they had sinned for had Eve conceived in the state of innocency no doubt but the children had been innocent also which had been so conceived Mathe. What was it that most prevailed with Adam to do this Phila. 1. Perswasion of the woman filled with unquiet vanity 2. It may be the false understanding of Gods threatning who had said the day on which thou eatest thereof thou shalt die and perceiving Eve had eaten and yet was not dead he was the more easily perswaded to eat But God meant they should become mortall not die presently 3. A loathnesse to displease her or sad her spirit that was his only comfort 4. His own ambition of a farther knowledge in himselfe did betray and over-power his understanding so that he did not look seriously into the evils incident and the sorrowes emerging from that act but affecting the supposed glory to be obtained by tasting he was driven on and transported by the gentle gale of perswasion and so turned from the Creator to the creature and so fell under Gods infinite wrath to be poured eternally upon body and soule Mathe. How did he escape it Phila. Naturall death he could not for justice must have its course he having brought himselfe under the power of death yea his soule too but that God himselfe provided a plaister so soon as he was wounded by the serpent For since he could not stand by the Law he propounds to him a promised seed of the woman who should loose the bands of Satan in which they were tied purposed of God upon the foresight of their fall that so they might live by faith since they could not by works Not that God did hereby abolish mans duty but shewed that his duty was insufficient to justifie him in his sight whose infinite justice he had offended So that now all he did in pious practices was only a fruit of his faith not a cause of his justice Rom. 5.18 to shew his gratification not justification therefore did God shew forth his intent of this way of worship and religion from the beginning And therefore as he forbad them the tree of knowledge to shew that none could come to felicity by seeking curious and unnecessary knowledge so he barred them of the tree of life lest the carnall knowledge they had got should lead them into farther presumptuous error as to eat of the tree of life in hope that might bring them to eternity as they hoped the other tree should have made them wise and so abuse that for nutriment which God set rather for a Sacrament Mathe. How was the hope of Gods promise continued Phila. By Covenant Types Promises Prophecies till the fulnesse of time came 1. By Covenant This covenant did not appear plainly at first saving to Adam in the promise of Christ Gen. 3.15 called the seed of the woman For we find no covenant made by God with any of the Patriarchs about Religious worship till Abraham though they that were of the line of Sheth were called the sons of God because they professed that true Religion constantly which they had received from Adam by tradition But these mixing themselves with the daughters of men i. the linage of Cain God was displeased so that he drowned all the world save Noah and his family which were but eight persons in all This time was called an obscure or dark time Scaliger in Proleg in Euseb Varro de re rustica and it continued even after the flood till the time of Moses who first gave the true light of Gods proceeding with man It is true that there were many good men

beleeving if not by justice yet by mercy if not by our deserts yet by Christs merits by which we attaine so great honour that those Angels that never sinned Heb. 1.14 are yet made our servants to minister to us And the rather we should endeavour to know him because now he may be known though in former time he hid himselfe yet now he hath revealed himselfe not only by his attributes in Scripture but also in his Son Heb. 1.2 by whom we may apprehend him by operations in himselfe and toward us Mathe. What are the operations of God in himselfe Phila. They be such as concern the three persons among themselves in relation one to the other as the Father begetting the Son eternally Opera ad intra or divisa the Son giving from the Father procession to the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost receiving this proceeding and returning the glory thereof to the Father and the Son so glorifying themselves in themselves This operation never had beginning nor never shall have ending because God can never cease to be what he is in essence nor as he is in subsistence Now these operations distinguisheth one person from another because in these what the one doth the other doth not The Father is not begotten but the Son and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both for Christ sends him from the Father John 1● 5 John 15.26 And this is part of that glory which Christ saith he had with the Father before the world was But beside this God may be said to have other operations in himselfe Opera ad extra or indivisa which are common to all the three persons And these are said to be either internall or externall The internall are such as his praescience and predestination Interna by which he decrees all things to their proper ends and man also and this is an operation wherein the whole Trinity hath an equall hand wherein is contained the whole counsell of God 2 Tim. 2.19 which is the firm foundation on which every thing depends and by which he knoweth among men who are his And by this determinable counsell Christ was delivered into the hand of wicked men and men are predestinated to the adoption of children in Christ Jesus according to his will and so by him we obtaine an inheritance Acts 2.23 Eph. 1.5 being predestinate according to his purpose Eph. 1.11 who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will And so he hath saved us and called us to an holy calling not according to our works but his purpose and grace which was provided for us in Christ 2 Tim. 1.9 before the world began In whom those that he foreknew Rom. 8.29 them he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son which are called elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.2 By which we may perceive that God was never sedent nor cessant before he made this world but had both his personall and internall operations by which also he did in time produce his externall works of creation and providence Mathe. How is predestination to be understood rightly Phila. 1. Predestination and election are much of one likenesse only election argueth that God chuseth one and not another and predestination argueth that God ordains some to glory and passeth by others though all taken out of the same nature and lump and though both these are in the divine mind at once yet election relates more to person and predestination more to the means by which those persons should be made happy For predestination is a decree of God Mat. 24.24 causing in time such effectuall grace in those that are elected that it will infallibly bring them to glory and therefore it is said that the elect are not to be seduced for it is Gods pleasure to give them the Kingdome Luke 12.32 who hath chosen them in Christ before the world that they should be unblameable before him 2. You must know that predestination looks upon all men in the same condition as Israels father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite even of those Nations whom God cast out of Canaan But that in predestination there is such grace prepared that makes the elect become both holy and happy 3. You are to conceive neverthelesse that this grace prepared for the elect doth not impose any necessity or violent constraint upon their wils Abul in 3. Reg. c. 12. Cant. 1.4 Aug. de lib. arbit but causeth a free endeavour to vertue by a sweet perswasion of the heart to make Gods will ours who makes us by his divine motion of unwilling man to become willing Nor doth Gods passing by others called reprobation or not electing exclude such from all possible means of happinesse but it permits them by the freedome of their own will to neglect or abuse the means which is the just cause of their damnation Hos 13 9. for mans perdition is of himselfe God destinates none to sin but to punishment for sin and therefore predestination is not in Scripture applied to the reprobate because predestination in Gods is of the means i. grace and the end i. glory But reprobation is of the end i. punishment not of the means i. sin for predestination doth direct a man to that which by nature he cannot attain but reprobation destinates no man to aim at sin to which nature of it selfe is too prone when God passeth by it in his election but only preordains men to punishment deserved by sin So that as predestination necessitates no man to good works so Gods not predestinating some doth not necessitate anothers will to evill works no more then a Kings chusing one for his favorite doth necessitate him to do vertuous actions against his will nor another to be traiterous with his will For the decrees of God takes not away the liberty of mans will Mathe. But surely as predestination causeth salvation so Gods preterition or rejection of men causeth their damnation Phila. Wicked men are not damned because they are not predestinated but because they live and die in sin For rejection in God is only a deniall of election which may stand with a possibility of avoiding sin and damnation So all men in Adam were not elected yet all men in Adam had a certain power to stand so that as predestination is not a bare ordination of a man to eternall life by such a sufficient means as makes the event possible but it provides to make the means efficacious So reprobation excludes no man not elected from all means of salvation necesarily but permits them to be lead by their own will so that predestination of some 2 Tim. 2.19 doth not damn others by necessity of consequence but in the infallibility of Gods prescience as Joseph did foresee the seven years famine but did not cause it Mathe. But why doth God looking on all in the same

Gospel-truth So the Pharisees blasphemed the miracles of Christ saying that they were wrought by Beelzebub Mat. 12.24 whereas be did them by the spirit of God ver 28. by which they were convinced both what and from whence he was Joh. 7.28 Again this sin must be continued in without remorse which sometimes maketh men despair of mercy when they reflect upon the greatnesse of their sins which men may doe though they never committed this sin yet this sin is continued unto death as appeared in Julian the Apostate without any repentance and therefore is called the sin unto death 1 John 5.16 and the sin unpardonable by our Saviour Mat. 12.13 not because it exceeds Gods mercy or the merits of Christ but because it prevents and disappoints the application of them for want of faith and repentance they having apostated in their very heart which is the place where faith and charity should be rooted although they do not alwaies shew it outwardly Heb. 3.12 Mathe. How may one be sure to escape this sin Phila. First let him examine himselfe whether he have the Holy Ghost Rom. 8.9 and we may know it by its lusting against the flesh and making our heart to rise against sin Gal. 5.17 Next it begets in us a pleasant taste of things that are of a spirituall nature for of our selves we have spirituall foul palates like people in feavers Rom. 8.5 that makes them distaste what is good Next it stirs us up to mortifie sin and all evill concupiscence Rom. 8.13 and then it gives us victory over sin by making us free from the law of sin by the law of the spirit of life Rom. 8.2 so that the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Rom. 8.10 by which the heart is circumcised as well as the outward man or the outward manners Rom. 8.29 Beside this spirit doth transform us into the image of holinesse from one glorious grace to another as he hears them related in Gods word wherein we behold the glory of God 2 Cor. 3.18 also it makes us glorifie God in the very fires of affliction because his love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 and when a man findeth that he hath the Holy Ghost then let him beware of those sins that are forerunners of this As first the forsaking of that means by which they were once enlightned as the Jewes did the ministry of John the Baptist who was a burning and a shining light and for a while they rejoiced in his light but after fell away So take heed of affecting mens praises more then Gods and of a common alienation of the mind from goodnesse and of evill actions without temptations of envy at godly men and misinterpretations of their good words and works If they have any sense of these sins break off the course of them lest you proceed to the contempt of the operation of this good spirit but rather behave themselves as those that partake of the spirit Gal. 5.25 by bringing forth the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 as love joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance c. by which they are known to be his Church Mathe. What mean you by the Church Phil. This word Church is to be considered nominally locally and personally The word or name Ecclesia the Church was used among the Athenians for an assembly of Citizens called together out of the common multitude by name by a publick Crier to hear the decrees of the Senate which word is used by the Apostle to signifie the Church Christian which also signifieth a company of people called together by the voice of Gods ministers out of the rude world and kingdome of Satan to hear the Gospell revealed from Heaven But the word Church is derived of the Greek word that signifieth Lord from which word Kyriake or Kyrios Lord comes the Scotch word Kirk and our word Church 2. This word is taken for a place of holy assemblies to meet in about the service of God so 1 Cor. 11.18 when you come together in the Church which though not it may be such as ours is yet being a place set apart for such an use he cals it the Church And such places the Christians had from the Primitive times which being the place that conteined those that were the living Churches of God namely faithfull Christians the place so conteining in a figurative form of speech Aug. Q. 57. in Levit. is called by the name of the people contained therein which ancient writers have not feared to call holy places in regard of their separation to holy uses and therefore as Christ did not allow common things to be set or carried through the Temple so the ancients did not like that holy services that concerned generall meetings should be done in common places or houses Basil in Rug. comp explic Q. respo 310. except dedicated to holy uses urging that in 1 Cor. 11. to forbid common eating in the Church and the holy banquet in a private house That the word Church hath been used for place it appears by all that have anciently written on the 1 Cor. 11. or commented thereupon Sedul Com. C●●y●ost Theodo And indeed there were such places from the beginning of the Gospels reception even from the time of the Apostles to the Emperor Constantines time Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three hundred years after Christ though they were no stately structures but at first some upper rooms in houses which some devout Christians dedicated to divine worship Bede de locit sanct ●● 3. c. 3. the first of which was thought to be that upper chamber where Christ kept his last supper and where the holy spirit descended upon the Apostles where they had assembled before and where Christ had twice appeared to them on the first daies of the week John 20. In this place it seems the Apostles met often upon weighty occasions as in the choice of the seven Deacons Hieron Ep. 27. and there was the first Councill held about circumcising the Gentiles Acts 15.6 And this place some called the chamber of Sion and the upper Church of the Apostles Cyril Hieroso which place seemed to be sufficiently consecrated by the presence of Christ in the celebration of the holy mystery of his Sacrament Psal 50.2 so that from Sion God appeared in perfect beauty and the Gospel went forth from Sion as the Law from Sinai And we need not make doubt of this when we consider how men sold their possessions and then laied them down at the Apostles feet who no doubt with such money would purchase some place for Christian-assembly and rather this then any other being first sanctified by Christs institution of his last supper there and therefore some take this place for that house where the Apostles sate together when the Holy Ghost fell upon them Acts