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	good_a	justifi_v	5,059	5	14.2968	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14284	A plaine and perfect method, for the easie vnderstanding of the whole Bible containing seauen obseruations, dialoguewise, betweene the parishioner, and the pastor.; Plaine and perfect method, for understanding the Bible	Vaughan, Edward, preacher at St. Mary Woolnoth.	1617 (1617)	STC 24600; ESTC S102671	80,065	286

a witnesse because the conscience is a thousand more then needes euen so repentance towards God that is deferred needes no witnesse because when it commeth the conscience doth accuse it doth witnesse it doth condemne it doth iudge and it is many times ready to execute As Honey doth make sowre things sweet euen so I must tell you that the sight of my sins doth make things that are in their nature sweet to others sowre to me As he that is in extreame heate will be glad with a little cooling as hee that is in extreame sicknesse will be glad with a little ease and as hee that is in extreame hunger will be glad of a little food euen so I good reuerend Sir extreamely tormented wth the waight of sinne miserably vexed with the guiltinesse of conscience and heartily frighted with the feare of Gods deserued iudgements wold be glad with a little comfort with a little ease with a little pittance or crumme of recreation For mee thinkes I see Birds swimme and Fishes flye all things are so crosse and so contrary vnto me Me thinkes I see the lake Troglodides thrise sweet and thrise bitter in one day and me thinkes I see the shoare Lepanthus in the morning sending forth a sweet pleasant calme but in the euening lightning and thundering Some perswade me that by faith onely I shall haue comfort in conscience and saluation which glads mee and is sweet vnto mee for a while others disswade me and say vnto me that I must obtaine it by Faith and Workes which presently dampe mee and are as hot thunderbolts vnto me I am as in a mismaze or labyrinth Ariadnes thread would winde mee out but conscience still puls me in As Diues being in hell did wish and desire that his brethren might be warned lest they also should come to that place of torments so I being thus perplexed doe heartily wish and desire Almighty God that not onely my naturall brethren but all people may be warned by Gods word that they may make conscience of his Sabaoths and that they may specially regard zealous men lest they be tormented in conscience as I am Tell me therefore tell me I humbly pray you tell me what shall I say what shall I doe or what way or course shall I take in hand to be reconciled to God to haue peace in my owne conscience and to haue assurance that my soule shall be receiued into the fellowship of the Saints in heauen amongst whom there are some that I most heartily desire to see A comfortable Confection for a sorrowfull Sinner Pastor YOu discourse so philosophically of naturall things as makes you séeme yet to me a naturall man in which discourse I obserue two speciall questions or rather obiections well worthy the answering One is your perturbations for sinnes committed the other is your doubt whether Faith Works or Faith onely iustifieth To the first I answere that your great griefes perturbations in soule and conscience are not arguments or notes of reprobation but rather of Faith of Iustification which is begunne in you For by how much you haue the sense and féeling of your sins by so much the more you haue the assurance of mercy as hée who hath the sense and féeling of his naturall disease hath some assurance that he is not in danger of death And by how much dangerous the disease of the body is found to be so much the more vehement and bitter a corosiue must be vsed but first a Corasiue then a Lenitiue Euen so Christ Iesus the holy Physitian heales the soules of great sinners by suffering them to call to cry to vexe to grieue and euen to roare with the surpassing greatnesse therof and afterwards when the extremitie and bitternesse of the passion is past then hée heares then hée grants and then hee receiues to mercy vsing therein the practise of a good naturall Physitian who ministreth not medicine to a maladye when it is raging and at the worst but when it is somewhat mitigated asswaged and abated And it is iustice with God to doe sometimes as hée is done vnto he cals cryes earely and late and man will not heare he offers mercy earely and late yet man will not estéeme of it No maruell then if man call and cry and God will not heare him if man call and cry for mercy and God will not by and by heare him Hope confidently in Gods mercy constantly and resolutely abide therefore and wait the Lords leasure be strong and he shall comfort thy heart You haue the example of Dauid of Ezekias of Peter and many others who called who cryed who wept and roared bitterly who hoped in God and were resolute at last the Lord heard them As for your other scruple or doubt concerning faith with workes or faith without works the places befitting this purpose are farre more then néede or conueniency will suffer me to vtter That faith onely iustifieth Paul hauing no good worke but rather being full of guile and crueltie as his owne story sets forth was iustified by faith only which makes him in great humility and thankfulnesse to preach the same in all that his Epistle to the Romanes and in many places of his other Epistles to the other Nations S. Iames in his Epistle catholicall writes no lesse when as he saith Iames 2.15 Shew me thy faith by thy workes and I will shew thee my faith by my workes meaning workes that follow a true iustifiing Faith and not workes annexed as iustifying with Faith S. Peter setting forth the excellencie of Faith saith 1 Pet. 1. that the triall therof is much more excellent then gold meaning a tryall in tribulations after iustification and not before S. Iohn approuing Iustification also by faith 1 Iohn 1. magnifieth the mercies of God in Christ and concludes all men vnder sinne The allowance of faith onely is manifestly proued by Christs owne examples who healed all manner of diseases vpon sinners by Faith onely and also forgiuing sinnes which was in effect the office also of Iohn Baptist Mat. 3. And againe the vse of ceremonies in the Law forced no farther for Iustification then to faith in the Messiah I must say in another sort if righteousnesse come by the Law that is to say if righteousnesse come by workes then Christ dyed in vaine and our Faith is of none effect And I must say as S. Paul said 1 Cor. 15. If there be no resurrection then are we of all men most miserable euen so if faith and workes doe iustifie then am I with you and with infinite thousands more of all men most miserable Gen. 11. As Nimrod with his builders were far wide when they thought with the strength of their hands to worke their way to heauen and the Pharisee when he boasted of his vprightnesse euen so are they that think to obtaine saluation by their workes farre wide and cleane out of the right way Like the

bad shall rise at the last day and such like matters cannot be comprehended by the naturall man therefore he must attaine vnto it by Faith This Faith traines vs to a third kinde of Faith For in euery Triangle there are thrée lines the first beginneth the second augmenteth and the third finisheth the figure euen so there are thrée kindes or sorts of Faith the first is Historicall to wit an assent to the truth of the Scriptures the second Legall when a man stands partly vpon his works for iustification the third is Euangelicall to wit a Faith that procéedes from Grace and thence takes way to the apprehending of Christs merits onely for his iustification This is the true and catholicke Faith the other may be in the Diuell This true faith which yéeldeth testimonie to Gods word is battered and bruised by many temptations but neuer broken because it takes hold in méekenesse on Christ Hée that hath this faith contents himselfe with weake meanes because hée knowes that God is powerfull in them and hée contents himselfe without meanes because it is all one with his Maiestie and yet hée omits not the opportunitie nor any good that is offered To conclude this faith is not idle it worketh by loue it euer sanctifieth and is profitable to euery good worke The Sinner desireth to know how to attaine Faith Parishioner EPaminondas the Theban being in the danger of death was tolde that his Buckler was sound and vnbroken Ruben Simeon and Leui when they had vnnaturally handled their brother Ioseph brought their Father his coate to comfort him euen so all that you haue said and done is little worth or rather an aggrauation of my griefe vnlesse you will direct mee a ready way or shew mee a perfect course how I shall obtaine faith that great and effectuall instrument of comfort to the conscience of saluation to the soule The Bee in a storm can counterpaize her selfe with a stone that shee may flye directly to her hiue The hedgehog can make two holes in his caue the one towards the South if the winde be North the other towards the North if the winde be South The Foxe can cure himselfe with the iuyce of Pine tree the Serpent can cure himselfe with Fennel the Tortise with Margerom but as for me silly soule light or heauy si●ke or whole sincke or swimme I haue no meanes of comfort I haue no place to hide my selfe nor helpe to flye away Christ said to a rich man concerning a pearle that was precious Goe sell all that thou hast and buy that pearle O that Christ of his mercies would say so vnto me then would I sell all and giue all if it would not be so bought I would giue my life to boot Lord then would I flie away and be no more seene then would I hide my selfe in some great Obeliske for euer nay then would I mount vp aboue the skies in the flames or sparks of Gods fiery chariot into the glorious presence of his all-sufficient Maiestie and into the ioyes of my most faithfull affected friends whose ioy would be my ioy O how am I rauished now with holy desires O how doe I long to change the company of men for the company of Angels nay the company of Saints militant for the company of Saints triumphant Come Lord Iesus O come and welcome Lord Iesus come come and welcome As good Mary said to the Angell How can this be since I know not man so say I vnto you O my good Pastor how can this be since I know not Faith nor where to finde it O that I might haue the answere of the Angell who said to Mary The holy Ghost shall come vpon thee and the power of the Highest shall ouershadow thee O then should I not faile of Faith An Answere how to attaine Faith Pastor AS Ananias spake swéetly and comfortably vnto Saul Acts 9. Brother Saul the Lord euen Iesus hath sent me that thou mightest receiue thy sight euen so I perceiue by your godly desires and by your zealous prayers I may say vnto you from the ministery of his holy word swéetly comfortably Brother and faithfull seruant of God I am ordained and sent to say vnto thee and to assure thée that by the preaching of the Gospell thou shalt haue faith and that the scales of ignorance infidelitie and such like shall fall from thée As the Lord himselfe said to Ananias Seeke in the house of Iudas for one called Saul for behold he prayeth goe thy way he is a chosen vessell vnto mee So the Lord saith vnto you séeke in my holy word for my spirit thou shalt haue faith and shalt be a chosen vessel vnto me And as Saul saw in a vision Ananias laying his hands on him that he might receiue his sight so will the Lord reueale vnto you and lay his blessed hands on you that you may receiue faith For the better testimony and assurance hereof harken how our fauiour Christ reasoneth with the murmering maligning Iewes concerning their incredulitie and concerning this question which you put forth What shall we doe that we might doe the workes of God Hee answered thus It is the worke of God that ye beleeue in him whom hee hath sent Io. 6.29 To which effect Saint Paul reasoneth with the Romans Ro. 10.9 saying Whosoeuer shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saued Which proposition he vnfoldeth with three interrogations or obiections as it were on the contrarie and then concludes as vpon a necessary consequence that Faith iustifieth and Faith is obtained by the word preached The first of which interrogations is How shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued As if hee had said there is no calling vpon God without faith The second is How shall they beleeue on him of whom they haue not heard As if hée would say no man can haue Faith without the hearing of Gods word And the third is How can a man heare without a Preacher As if he had said there is no benefit of hearing the word without a preacher The conclusion is then that Faith commeth by the hearing of Gods word preached Thus also it may be said on the contrary as the interrogations are laid Take away the preacher take away the word take away the word take away hearing take away hearing take away Faith take away Faith take away calling vpon God take away calling vpon God take away saluation in Christ The same Apostle in the same place magnifying the ministery of Gods word and the excellencie of things which faith bringeth cries out emphatically O how beautifull are the feete of them that bring tidings of peace As if he had said it is farre more ioyfull and farre more profitable for a Christian congregation to sée a Preacher come amongst them because of faith which they are to receiue by his preaching then it is to sée a Prince who notwithstanding his great maiestie must