Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	faith_n	follow_v	justification_n	7,990	5	9.4298	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01539	the ioy of the iust vvith the signes of such. A discourse tending to the comfort of the deiected and afflicted; and to the triall of sinceritie. Being the enlargement of a sermon preached at Black-Friers London; on Psal. 95. 11. By Thomas Gataker B. of D. and pastor of Rotherhith.	Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.	1623 (1623)	STC 11665; ESTC S120494	156,256	180

spirituall relish in them or feele no comfort from them for the present Yea howsoeuer it be true as I said before that the want of alacritie and cheerefulnesse in performance of holy duties especially procured by some wilfull neglect or by some peeuish and way ward disposition framing matter of griefe to it selfe from idle toyes and trifles vnto the disturbance of it selfe in such duties doth much diminish and take away much the grace of them yet it is no lesse true that the constant and conscionable persisting in performance of such duties notwithstanding that all good meanes vsed the poore Christian soule cannot attaine to that alac●ity that faine it would may make them no lesse acceptable if not more acceptable to God than if they were done euen with the greatest delight Suppose two persons attend the King in his hunting or at his sports the one that taketh much delight in the game the other that hath little or no delight in it or the one lustie and healthy and that attendeth him therefore with ease the other weake and faint or lame or hauing some hurt about him in regard whereof he cannot follow him but with much paine and difficultie and yet will not giue ouer but be hard at his heeles still as readie and forward as the former His will may be euery whit as good as the other and his Soueraigne is no lesse if not more for such his seruice beholden to him than to the other Nor may the seruice of such a poore soule therefore be the lesse acceptable to God because it cannot performe it with such alacritie and delight as it desireth And in like manner for Faith and dependance vpon God It is not an argument of no Faith when a man cannot yet attaine to a full perswasion and assurance of Gods speciall fauour towards him and of the free remission of his sinnes in Christ that many other faithfull haue had and many doubtlesse also ordinarily haue This is a consequent rather of Faith that as Augustine saith of workes rather followeth the person iustified than precedeth and goeth before iustification as Faith being an instrumentall cause of producing it as an effect doth It is a consequent I say of it deduced from it as the same Father well sheweth by a Syllogisme wherein Faith is assumed and this perswasion concluded from it and that not simply and absolutely necessarie neither but such as is by generall consent oft seuered from it But for a man though he cannot yet attaine to it yea though he neuer should so long as he liueth yet to resolue to cleaue vnto God with full purpose of heart to sticke close vnto him to depend wholly vpon him and not to giue ouer still seeking and suing to him for it and the constant vse of all good meanes to attaine it like a Courtier who though the King shew him no Countenance but seeme wholly to neglect him and not at all to regard him yet will still follow the Court and tender his seruice and resolue to giue attendance hoping yet to finde acceptance at length yea to doe it constantly whether he shall finde acceptance or no or like the woman of Canaan that would follow Christ still and would take no nay of him though he seemed not only not to regard her or any other that made suit for her but to reiect and put her off with much disgrace it is a sound argument of a true and a liuely Faith and of no small measure of the same Where if it be demanded how this trusting to and dependance vpon God may stand with the want of such assurance I shall not need to say much because the Argument hath by a Reuerend Brother beene of late handled at large Only I make it plaine by this familiar Comparison Put case a poore man hath occasion to make vse of some great Courtier for the effecting of some businesse of great consequence for him euen as much as his life lieth on or all that euer he is worth as suppose the procuring him his pardon for some capitall crime from the Prince And this great Courtier telleth him that though he be but a stranger one that can claime no such thing from him yea one that hath deserued many waies euill of him yet if he trust only to him and rely wholly vpon him hee will do that for him which the poore wretch requireth of him This poore man now in this case may trust only to him neglecting all other means that either others may aduise him to or himselfe sometime thinke on rely wholly vpon him and yet hee may not be fully perswaded that he will effect it for him neither The consideration of his owne want of worth and euill desert his immoderate feare arising from the apprehension of the great danger that hee is in and the subtill perswasion of others that would beare him in hand that he will but delude him and not doe for him as he saith may either seuerally or ioyntly be a meanes to hold his minde in suspence and to keepe him from such assurance Yea his very mistaking and misconstruction of the great mans meaning when he saith If you will trust to or rely vpon me alone for it being possest with a conceit that his want of a full perswasion that hee will doe it which hee cannot yet for his heart-bloud bring his minde to any setled assurance of doth euidently shew that he doth nor trust to him may be a meanes to make him beleeue that he will neuer do it for him because he doth not what he supposeth is therein absolutely required of him which to that great man also if hee should be demanded of it not daring to tell an vntruth would appeare And yet for all this he may resolue to sticke to his mediation only and to rely wholly vpon him and not to seeke or trie any other way whatsoeuer any man shall perswade him to the contrary or whatsoeuer the issue and euent of it shall be And euen so may it well be and is questionlesse with a Christian soule many times God hath proclaimed and published a Patent of pardon and saluation by Christ to all that trust to him for the same A man may so doe encouraged thereunto by this gratious offer and the condition to it annexed yea many an one so doth and yet partly out of the sight and consideration of his owne vnworthinesse partly out of a kind of timorousnesse and pusillanimity of spirit partly by reason of some strong melancholike imagination and partly also through some powerfull delusion of Satan not be able possibly to perswade himselfe that Christ is yet his or that hee hath interest in him hath his sinnes pardoned for him and shall liue eternally by him Yea the very mistaking of the true Nature of sauing Faith and supposing the very essence of it to consist in this particular perswasion