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A00457 The castle of Christianitie detecting the long erring estate, asvvell of the Romaine Church, as of the Byshop of Rome: together with the defence of the catholique faith: set forth, by Lewys Euans. Evans, Lewis, fl. 1574. 1568 (1568) STC 10590; ESTC S101769 66,662 177

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we will leaue the Doctors and they shall haue their fained almes condemned by Scriptures Unto Abel they know God looked his offering he receyued But vnto Cain and his offering he had no regarde He looketh not vpon the almes sacrifices and burnt offeringes of the wicked the Lorde abhorreth them He that giueth an offering of vnrighteous good his offering is refused But who doubteth whether the goodes of the Priest were vnrighteous séeing they got them by polling the poore by abusing Gods worde by dreames by subtile deuises by selling absolutions by deceitfull whisperinges by hypocrisie by heresie then what followeth they themselues may sée What should I alledge more examples the Lord abhorreth the sacrifice of the vngodly but the prayer of the righteous is acceptable vnto him Reade the whole Scriptures and you shall not finde one sentence to defende such as thinke they giue almes of goods vnlawfully gotten Let this suffice of their counterfaite almes We for our partes doe set forth and teache that we ought to sell of our owne goodes and giue vnto the poore that wée ought of our owne substance to impart vnto the needie Howe oft doe our Preachers speake hereof vnto the people how oft doe they ring these words of S. Paule into their cares while wee haue time let vs doe good vnto all men and speciallye vnto them which are of the houshold of faith We further exhort men that they forgiue those who haue offended them For that is a spirituall kinde of almes Wee perswade all to get their liuings truly we admonishe the poore that he labour to his power wée counsell the rich that he aide and succor the néedie we teach all that they giue their almes not to be séene of men but in secrete Such is our doctrine howe can they dispraise it let good Christians iudge who followeth therein the Scriptures we or they Who set forth true prayers who commende due fasting who allowe perfite repentance who best thinketh of almes déedes we or they This considered let the worlde iudge They saye also that we denie one of the articles of our Crede vpon which slaunder they builde sharpe and rigorous wordes against vs and all to bring Gods worde in contempt and to procure vnto the professors thereof the hatred of the people Let as many as can read pervse but with indifferencie the bookes which wée haue set abroade and if they find not in the Crede the twelue articles fullie and truly translated then let them blame vs and condemne our doings Likewise if they there finde them then let them discredite our aduersaries reprooue their malice and reprehend their falshoode What if we proue that it is they who haue abused the Crede and that it is the verye Pope which hath denied that Article Aske of them who in our faith of twelue articles haue made fourtene Who sayth that there be seuen articles which concerne the mysterie of the Trinitie and seuen which belong vnto Christ his humanitie who take vpon them to correct the Apostles they or wée who sayth that the Bishops be not bounde to aunswere vnto the articles of their faith without deliberation is not this a moste heynous ignorancie this is so grosse that it can neuer excuse them to vse their owne wordes à tanto nec à toto Pervse the Crede made by Gregorie of that name the first Pope of Rome and you shall finde that it is he who hath left out one of the articles of our Crede the discension into hell Why then blame they vs without cause why accuse they not him that is guiltie you sée their equitie their iustice their indifferencie We doe further saye they contemne good workes maintaine bare words defend naked faith and so teach a doctrine that is licencious lewde and naught What they should say we knowe but what they dare say all the world maye sée Were they not ouer foolish they woulde herein holde their peace For I pray you what faith is it that we teach preach wée not the verie same which S. Paule doth in this wise define Faith sayth he is a sure confidence of thinges which are hoped for and a certaintie of thinges which are not seene How say they then is this to be blamed as for our workes what be they but witnesses that we are righteous was it not so in Abel And touching iustification the estate of the question betwéene the Pope and vs is this he sayth that man is made iust not onely by faith but also through the obseruation of the lawe We say that we are iustified by fayth alone by no merites of ours by no workes We say that a iust man maketh the workes good and not that the good workes doe make a man iust And as by faith alone without workes we be iustified so by grace alone without our desertes we be saued And what sayth S. Paule herevnto we suppose sayth he that a man is iustified by fayth without the deedes of the law Lo what can be plainer than this Let them which haue eyes see the wordes be euident let such as haue heartes vnderstande If you vnto the Pope not I but Paule sayth be iustified by deedes then haue you wherein to reioyce but not with God Goeth not this text verie plainlye to worke but haue I no power will one saye to doe any good déede of thy selfe not at all neyther one Wilt thou knowe what is in thy power it is in thy power not to doe some deede that is euill and yet is it not in thée to doe that which is good How so will one say doe not I that which is good if I doe not the thing which is euill No. And therefore marke it For were it so then did the Heathens and Ethnickes good déedes which thing who is he that will graunt shall we saye that the heathens were iust men or that they were vertuous God forbid And why bicause they wanted this faith which maketh the worke good which iustifieth a man For the whole lyfe of the vnfaythfull sayeth Augustine is sinne And therefore though we may saye that one hauing faith hath doth or if hée haue time would doe good workes yet can not we say that all which seeme in our eyes to doe well haue faith For manye Hipocrites there be a mans faith we know not his hart is secret his déedes we see No man sayth Ambrose shall be iustified by his workes Some man sayth the Pope shall be iustified by his workes The first proposition is true therfore this last being the contradictorie is false Here they will obiect against vs the wordes of S. Iames. But I would to God that they vnderstoode them S. Iames moued with many who bragged in their fruitelesse fayth is enforced in the prayse of workes to say thus as the bodie without life is deade so is faith without works What is
this else to say than if one haue true faith it is impossible but he hauing time should haue good works What doth he else here but exhort them to shewe their fayth by their workes to shewe that they haue true fayth I will be briefe and so bring them herin to knowledge the truth Whatsoeuer purifieth the heart by that a man is iustified but fayth purifieth y e hart therefore by fayth a man is iustified Howe commeth a man to be iustified Marrie as S. Augustine sayth non per suas vires nequeper literam ipsius legis quod fieri non potest sed per fidem not through his owne strength not through the letter of the law which can not be but by faith What further testimonies thē nede we why should any arrogātly arrogate vnto himself any supererogatiō We knowe sayth S. Paule that a man is not iustified by the dedes of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ And therfore we haue beleued on Iesus Christ that wée might be iustified by the saith of Christ and not by the dedes of the law for by the dedes of the lawe no fleshe can be iustified These authorities bee so full agaynst the aduersaries the places bée so playne that will they nill they they must yéelde and therefore in these wordes they subscribe These witnesses doe not onely moue but also so farre further that we must confesse that wee haue the remission of our sinnes and iustification through faith by Christ Yea and that before faith there was in vs no good workes whereby we should deserue that faith which is the free gift of God Now we here sée that in this they confesse y e truth and that they knowledge the Scriptures if thē they afterwards deny it be that to their own daunger not to our deluding be it to their owne perill not to our poysoning if they to shewe their follye or to vtter their arrogancie doe passe this scope séeking by wresting the scriptures by shifts and subtilties to shadowe the truth let that redounde to their false dealing not to diminishe out faith to their iugling not to our vndoing Let this be vnto thée Christen Reader a watch worde wander not wyth them into the wyldernesse ▪ staye with the Scriptures at the standarde of truth let Paule perswade thée let not the Pope allure thee let an Apostle of Christ ▪ instruct thee let not an Apostata deceiue thée This much of iustification The next thing and the last which we nowe will defende is mariage wherein sayth S. Augustine if puritie bee kept damnation is not to be feared Deus masculum foeminam propagandi generis causa nuptiali castitate coniunxit GOD sayeth he coupled man and woman togither for the increase of mankynde in chast wedlock But what will one saye néede you to write in y e defence of mariage is there anye man that maye or meanes to impugne it yes Else had not the holye ghost spoken in Paule that in the latter times some shoulde giue héede vnto the spirite of errour and deuilish doctrine of them which speake false through hypocrisie and haue their consciences marked with an hote yron forbidding to marrie We wil therfore bring forth y e testimonies of holy scripture and that from the first institution of mariage against this deuilishe doctrine against these spirites of error against such as forbid to marrie After that Heauen and Earth the Sea and all that in them is were made after the creation likewise of man the Lord God cast a slumber on Adam and of one of his ribbes he made a woman and then he sayde For this cause shall a man leaue his father and mother and cleaue vnto his wyfe and they shall bee one flesh Such was the first estate of mariage it was instituted in Paradyse Here is no exception of anye man no excluding of any woman no cause is here shewed no prohibition is made but that all men maye marrie This holye institution was so allowed of all and euery where with such sinceritie receiued that if a man should be foūd lying with a woman that had a wedded husbande then they both shoulde be put to death The Prophet Malachie doth bitterly reproue him that putteth awaye or despiseth his wife Neither in Moyses nor yet in Malachie can we finde anye one worde to prohibite matrimonie Reade from the first of the Genesis vnto the last of the Apocalipse reade the first reade the last you shall finde in no place mariage prohibited or any kinde of person of what calling so euer excluded O how godly is the state of mariage set forth and howe to marrie in Tobias O that aswel the maried as the vnmaried woulde reade and well weigh it Consider chaste Sara who though she kept not companye with those that passe their time in sport yet an husband consented she to take not for hir pleasure but in Gods feare The Chamber vndefiled is commendable the estate of mariage is honorable But amongst whom amongst a sort a certaine a fewe No. Inter omnes amongst all This is spoken vniuersallye not particularlye If amongst all then why forbiddeth the Pope to marie why defendeth he that deuilishe doctrine why maintaineth he in any rather fornication than lawfull coniunction with what face can he set forth that it is lawfull for one to haue loco vxoris si coniux d●est concubinam in the steade of a wife and if he haue no wife a harlote If the Reader be indifferent then will hee deale indifferently For my part I promise before hand I will not be partiall I like the vnmaried I mislike not the maried I commend both if they follow their calling But yet be he Priest or anye other person the flesh is frayle if he cannot abstaine let him marrie For it is better to marrie than to burne it is better to haue an honest wife than a wicked harlot it is better to liue in holinesse than in whoredome If one marrie onelye to aduoyde fornication non tamen ideo nuptiae malae iudicantur yet is not mariage therefore counted euill Well when began this deuilish doctrine through which men are prohibited to marrie had it anye place within y e compasse of holy scriptures No. And that the Pope knoweth well ynough The question was moued in the Councell of Nice there they laboured that Priestes mariages shoulde not be lawfull But at that time stoode vp Panutius the confessor he there expressed the Scriptures he perswaded the whole Councell he caused them to reuoke their opinion so was it left in euery mans will mariage was still lawfull What was not this a decrée of their owne If anye doe this thinke of a maried Priest that he ought not by the meanes of his mariage to minister the Communion and so doth therfore mislike his ministring let him be accurst Here is the