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	tree_n	12,463	5	9.4505	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79993	The sect every where spoken against or, the reproached doctrine of Ely. As it was held forth in several sermons in the year, MDCLI. By Christopher Cob, lay-man, minister of an united people in Ely. Collected and analized for a private use, by Hampden Reeve, Master of Arts, one of that Society, and a constant hearer. Now published by the assent of the whole Society (as a short character, at present, of them and their way, till an opportunity of a farther and fuller discovery) for satisfaction in general.	Cob, Christopher.; Reeve, Hampden.	1651 (1651)	Wing C4769; Thomason E1251_1; ESTC R209173	234,596	386

bonds till we are freed and that is our way if indeed we would know it but how foolish and preposterous are we we would be walking before we are made alive But then 3. A man that is alive as He is capable of Instruction and teaching so he is fit for any employment to speak and walk and act what is set before him He may run the ways of Gods Commandments He may speak well of God The Living He shall praise thee saith Hezekiah The father to the children shall make known thy Truth Then indeed there will be a capableness of that other precious Promise to be partakers of Godliness to walk with God to be of his Councel But now is a dead man fit company for God Can God have fellowship with such as lie stinking in their graves Is there any communion to be had with dry bones Can you have any content and pleasure in a dead mans presence No you must first be partakers of Life before you can partake of Godliness to have his minde and nature and disposition in you God commanded Moses to speak to the people not to break into the Mount to gaze lest they were destroyed We are reaching to come neer and neer and plead for it to be taken in to know the minde and counsels of Truth Alass we are not fit Can we dwell with everlasting burning Can we come neer God and not be consumed Alass we know not what we have desired The old bottles would burst in pieces if this new wine should be put in There must be a new Life given before that new minde can grow Before we ●●n partake of godliness to have that God-like minde in all things to love Justice and Mercy and walk humbly with our God we must first be Living Men And it is but yet a promise to us though it be exceeding great and precious the Thing is yet to be done and therefore that which concerns us at present is to sit still in our graves in our bonds and darkness and sorrows till He calls us as They told the blind man Be of good cheer for He calleth Thee In the mean time it is in vain and dangerous for us to run and gaze These precious Promises are not made to all I would not have you all thrust in as sharers you may come and gaze for fashion-sake but I know there are among you in whom the love of God is not as Christ said to the Jews I know you have not the love of God abiding in you You come not out of a love to Truth or minde to be instructed but either as to hear a matter of news or to lie at catch to make a mischief Therefore beware what you do God will not be mocked by you It is dangerous tampering in Holy things with a deceitful heart we have payd dearly for it amongst us and He will surely divide between thoughts and intentions and separate betwixt the sheep and the goats He hath indeed promised all things belonging to Life Godliness Glory and Vertue but to whom Whereby are given TO VS saith the Apostle exceeding great and precious Promises TO VS and not to all And 1. That Promise of Life I told you what it was to Live to be freed of all snares and bonds and fears of Death which keep down the Soul a close Prisoner that it can stir neither hand nor foot But none will come in here but such as are close hunted and put out of all their holes and shiftings that they can no ways get Life at their own hand For so long as there is any fhift that we can either get up hopes or prayers or desires or resolutions of our own so long we are not dead men as God saith Thou hast abased thy self to Hell yet hast Thou not said There is no hope And till a man be dead there is no need of raising Him to Life and now to live is to be brought out of the grave and recovered by this free word of Promise You all live and walk and act but upon what terms Is it by this Promise of Life given to Abraham Have your lives been given you Have you been raised up by the same power that raised up Jesus Christ saith All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me and I will raise them up at the last day They shall be raised up and when at the last day not presently The best wine is not brought out first but at the last Day When Christ who is your Life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in glory and this is an exceeding precious Promise indeed to as many as God hath given it but not by any's thrusting themselves in that were never bidden The King will come and look over his guests and finde the man without the wedding garment 2. The second great and precious Promise is of Godliness to have a God-like minde to be Just Patient Merciful Single Holy as God is Holy c. to be knowing and in the light as he is in the light to be fashioned into the very minde of the Father This is godliness that hath great gain belonging to it having the promises of this life and that which is to come to submit thus to be God-like in all things to pray indeed Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven We would have our wills reign and be done in Heaven as they are in Earth We would have Gods minde come to ours and Heaven stoop to Earth There is something yet dear to us that we save and keep alive and would not every where and in all cases be like to God But this is the onely happiness and content to attain this life of godliness for a people to joyn together in one heart and Soul strengthening and building up one another in their most holy Faith provoking one another to good works seeking the good of one another as their own and ready to lay down their lives for their Brother How many people have we seen in our day to change and altar their Gods according to their own thoughts and imaginations as the complaint was against Israel According to thy Cities so are thy Gods O Israel such a changing tossing and variable thing is in the heart of man but where the minde of God is planted and spreads it self forth in the Soul and makes it partaker of Godliness that is a standing principle abiding for ever 3. A third great and precious promise is to be partakers of Glory There is a glory that follows and flows from godliness Moses face shone when he came down from God and the Church in her worst day yet says of her self I am black but comely and Christ yet owns and calls Her O thou fairest among women And I am confident however we are found in our selves weak and foolish and sinners yet we sit in the Consciences of our worst Enemies if they would speak their hearts freely That

according to the Pattern their elder Brother Christ the Humanity and Divinity joyned in together God with man and in man Christ in you the hope of glory For all others in whom something of God is not are but a meer outside and shadow but where ever in any man this Divinity is joyned in and to the Humanity there is the compact Jerusalem of such members is that City made the Jerusalem from above which is the Mother of us all And 3. These are the City built upon a Hill What is that what Hill It is the everlasting Love and good-will of God that unchangeable purpose which is a Hill too high for any thing to reach and come neer to destroy and undo them though the winds blow and storms beat and floods come yet the House stands because 't is built on a Rock unmoveable as Mount Sion And this is the Jerusalem this the City these the People that Christ weeps over II. And when He drew neer the City Whence consider That the great care and business of Christ is to draw neer this City Jerusalem to come nigh his people This is the thing He mindes above all other things Seek ye first the Kingdom of God That was the great work He layd upon his Disciples to seek up this Kingdom to look up the sons of Peace such as are to be saved It is his meat and drink to do the Will of Him that sent Him And that was his Will That He should lose none that were given Him of his Father All this have I said saith Christ that you might be saved And how contrary is this to the way of the Ministers of the World They seek Livings and Honors and respect they seek a multitude to follow them and to be called Rabbi But Christ the true Shepherd He seeks his own sheep where ever they straggle and wander He follows and searches them up among Harlots and Publicans by the high ways and hedges where ever He may finde the sons of peace there lies his way And this minde of Christ hath been in all his people in their day Not seeking yours but you saith Paul This is the thing Christ ayms at in all his seekings and labors and travels in leaving his glory and crown and ease in taking upon Him the form of a servant was not this the cause of all That He might come neerer to his Brethren Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood He also took part of the same That was the thing He came for to visit his Brethren to gather up Iacob to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel III. How is Christ affected when He comes neer and beholds Ierusalem He wept over it Now weeping is a passion or affection of the Soul being moved and stirred either with joy or grief and bo●h these have a share in Christs weeping over his People 1. He weeps for joy that He had found the City of a blessing the beloved people His own Brethren His Soul is glad at it and breaks in him for joy So Ioseph when he saw his brother Benjamin his bowels were moved he could refrain no longer but weeps over him for joy But what joy can there be to see Ierusalem in this case killing her Prophets stoning them that are sent to her lying at present in a dead and sensless condition How can Truth be affected with joy to finde a people in this case though truly belonging to God Yes Christ weeps for joy in these three Considerations 1. For joy that however the present case stand with them that they are dead in their graves and now ready to stink in all appearance past recovery yet They are such Dead as He knows shall hear the voyce of the Son of God and live such Dead whose Souls shall not be left in Hell nor they suffered to see corruption He hath met with such Dead where a great Miracle is to be wrought and the glory of God shall be manifest and this is Joy to Truth When He came to Lazarus his grave He wept Why what was the cause He breaks out thus I thank thee O Father that thou hast heard me and I know thou hearest me always Why Lazarus was yet in his grave and the thing not wrought of raising him to Life I but Christ weep● for joy to see the thing shall be There was a hope and faith in the thing as if already done He joys that He hath met with one where a cure is to be wrought there is a work and service for Him to do to honor his Father by The beggerly the poor the out-casts that no man looketh after but lie in their graves like dead men out of minde That He meets with these where there is work for Him to do to set the Begger with the Princes of his people this Truth joys at to be employed to help its Brethren We have a little Sister saith the Church and she hath no brests what shall we do for our Sister c. 2. He weeps for joy to think that God hath hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to Babes That God hath chose the weak and poor and foolish things of this world to confound the great and wise and honorable This breaks his heart to see the hungry Soul fed and the rich sent empty away They had their good things in this Life their Heaven and solace and content but Lazarus his evil things I but now he is comforted and the other tormented And this pleaseth and contents Truth to see these equal proceedings of God Therefore I thank thee O Father c. That the proud and scornful are not always suffered to reign and lord it and carry all before them but a day comes of doing right to the meek of the Earth this Christ joys at And certainly it is as great a content to Truth to see the rich and wise and proud and scornful that scorn and trample all under their feet to see these cut off as to see the Begger lifted out of the dunghill to see the poor ones saved 3. He weeps for joy that this Ierusalem how ever she be now against her Prophets and her own good yet the day will come when they shall say Bl●ssed be He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. They shall be willing and embrace and receive Him in the day of his power they shall be a willing people and this He joys at in hope that he shall see Ierusalem recovered that his people shall not always be scorning and despising and kicking against the Truth that they shall not always be covering and hiding themselves and stand out against their own mercies but the year of Jubilee will come the day will be when God will break the yoke from off their neck and set them free And then saith David I will run the ways of thy Commandments when thou hast set my feet at liberty Then all his Love will be

thou do Dost thou war against I AM Thou and all Creatures all thy strength and hope and plots all the forces in which thou trustest ARE NOT and wilt thou fight against I AM He that Is strength and Power and with a word can crush thee to nothing Such a word from this poor wise man is able to overturn and shake down all the great Bulwarks of this great King But the rumor and noise of a barly loaf is heard and this wise man can so order the matter it shall skare and undo a whole Army Now for you that are indeed besieged by this great King against whom he hath raised his strong Bulwarks and fills your ears alwayes with desperate rumors and hot alarums of ruine and destruction and possesses your Souls with strange fears and perplexities and sinkings Alas what a sad case are you in if you now are to seek and know not whether this poor man be in you or no who alone by his wisdom can deliver the City These things will surely bring you to a strait when seised upon your hearts to consider 1. That for certain God hath a City a people in whom he dwells 2. this is but a little one and hard to find 3. There are but few men in it Little help to wage war and defend it 4. A great King comes against it and besieges and builds great Bulwarks against it all in appearance makes to destroy it he raises all his forces Gebal and Ammon the Philistines with them of Tyre the Ishmaelites and Hargarens all the Legions of Hell will be sure to have a throw at this City and now here will be the strait whether this poor wise man be in thee or no if he be not there it is impossible thou shouldst ever deal with this great King and his Powers they will surely undo thee but if thou canst find the wise poor man in the City if thou lightest on him happily he may help thee by his wisdom he may find out some wyle or other to draw this great King out of his Bulwarks and if he can but cast him out the unclean Spirit shall then enter no more if he can but draw him forth out of the City out of his Bulwarks then he will soon spoil the strong man of his Armor and deliver the City Bu● truly wonderfull it is that ever man or woman should be saved since the fall of man such is the ma●●gn●●y and strength of this enemy and such the mans weakness and utter incapableness to help himself All are against Truth be what they will they all agree against the Lord and his Christ a great Councel is held and great resolutions neither to eat nor drink till they have slain Paul till this City be destroyed but well there is yet hope in Israel in it was found a poor wise man c. Whence I would consider these two things 1. Where this poor wise man is to be found And that is in it in the city in the man in thy soul now shift it not off and say who shall go to heaven to fetch him thence or go down to Hell to bring him thence but the word is nigh thee It is within if it be at all The Kingdom of heaven is within you the poor wise man is in this City else it can never be saved by him And this might shew the great vanity of peoples thoughts who look for the Kingdom of God to come by observation they think to pull it to them by their huntings and seekings and endeavorings and strivings no but if ever it be to be had it is within thee truth is to spring out of the Earth the seed is there already that seed of God onely the spirit goes forth to unlock and open the ground that it may get out when it pleased the Father saith Paul To reveal his Son in me c. He was there before only now is revealed and made manifest but 2. How then shall you know whether this poor wise man be in you or not whether Christ be there or no It is not every one that saith Lord Lord that shall enter many have good words and can learn the language of truth as a Schollar learns Lattin by road but it is not their own it is not their mother Tongue in which they were born they have not a root in themselves and so the seed soon withers How then shall we know it whether Christ be in us or not 1. If Christ be in thee the body is dead because of Sin the Humanity is certainly convinced that he cannot help himself nor ever deal with this Enemy the man is cut off from ever getting life at his own hands but he cryes out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me c. that is the first work of Christ where ever he is in any Soul to be ever stopping and curbing and snibbing the man in the vain runs and promises of his heart he sets a flaming Sword that man may not put forth a hand to reach to the Tree of Life and as Job says He seals up the hand of every man He shuts up and there is no opening Now many are wearied and wearied by their own labours because they see nothing come out of all and so their hearts dye and are weak to go on in their old way but yet truth hath not cut them off Thou hast wearied thy self in the greatness of thy way saith God yet hast thou not said there is no hope hope lived still in all this I but Christ when he works cuts off all hope from man ever to deliver himself The Body is dead because of Sin c. 2. Where Christ is though the man would dye and sink and give up all and again and again run to despairing yet he cannot it is impossible to drown this truth cast it where you will it will swim and get above this seed of Life cannot quite dye Thou holdest our souls in Life saith David and again thou holdest me fast behind and before he can get out no wayes he can neither promise himself deliverance nor yet conclude destruction such a strange bond holds the Soul and I would now seriously enquire of some of you in whose souls the truth is whether ever you could say soberly in all your lives you were utterly cut off and there was no hope in God for you for as it is impossible to bring up others to this close cleaving and hanging upon truth though they seem never so high and confident and nail their God never so sure yet he will fall so impossible is it to kill this Spark of Life where-ever it is but it will hope and cleave and look towards God though it be in the bottom of Hell c. 3. as Christ saith to the Jews If God were your Father you would love me for I came from God so I say if Christ be in thee thou canst not but love Christ that of