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	justify_v	meaning_n	4,398	5	9.4322	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12708	A short treatise, very comfortable for all those Christians that be troubled and disquieted in theyr consciences with the sight of their owne infirmities wherein is shevved hovv such may in their owne selues finde whereby to assure them of their free election, effectuall vocation, and iustification.	Sparke, Thomas, 1548-1616.	1580 (1580)	STC 23025; ESTC S102432	22,600	64

Wynter in thy selfe sometime for if thou haste hadde once these florishing fruites of Sommer in thée heretofore be thou assured thou shalt haue hereafter a Sommer again and that the trées and hearbes are not dead though there appeare and be séene little gréenenesse in them for the sappe remaines in the roote which whē Sommer cōmes wyll garnishe all agayne When thou commest into an Orchard fielde and Garden thou canst comforte thy self with these thoughtes euen doe the like in this For it is written that whō he loues he loues to the end Iohn 13. in whome he hath begonne thys good worke of Regeneration in them he wil performe it Philip. 1. For the gyfts and calling of God be without repentance Rom. 11. And therfore though they séeme to be so raked vp couered wyth ashes that they are not séene nor perceyued insomuch that Dauid speaking according to his own sense be ready to saye that God hathe tourned his backe vppon him and forgotten to bée gratious shut vp his louing kindnesse in displeasure yet in truth it is not so whiche God will make manifest in hys good time by remouing of the a●●es that couered hys graces and gi●tes and by blowing the ●●●les thereof wyth the Bellows of hys spirite in the ministery of his worde and sacraments Further that hope that is in thée what is it else but faiths daughter For when by faith once wée haue learned what ●●ynges be prepared for vs at Gods hande in Christe Iesus thi●● by hope we looke for them in the mid●● of most grieuous tem●●tious wherein Hope playeth a g●●d daughters p●i●● in ●ourishing and ●●●●ngthning 〈◊〉 mother whyche otherwise then woulde be ready to languish but to hope ●or ●●ings whiche by ●aie● we knowe not before in Christe Iesus to appertayn●●nto vs in vaine and therefore 〈◊〉 ●●counted in di●● and that aptlye and worthily the daughter of Faith and therefore in confessing that you haue Hope you confesse that you haue Faith also For graunte once that there is a daughter and it is also of necessitie to be graunted that there was the mother first And whereas thou complaynest that thou féelest it not but rather the contrary I graunt thou neyther féelest Faith nor yet euer shall in the fleshe but in the inner man By these meanes that I haue shewed thou mayest fynde Faith and therewith content thy selfe and saye as the man sayd to Christe I beléeue Lorde Lord help my vnbeléete I beléeue in the spirite and inner man and there I fynde no doubtyng but a wrestling againste the least doubting and a mi●●iking of it but in my fleshe I finde vnbeléefe whych I beséeche thée O Lorde ●●●e and helpe If you dreame as it is ●●●ely you do of suche a measure of Faith in the spirite that shoulde ●●yte extinguishe euen the least doubting in the fleshe you drea●● of that whyche yet neuer ●●●●ll mann● had or shall haue if it be in the sinner man vnmixte wyth doubting whych it is if it mislike of the least doubting and sight againste it you haue Faith in his right nature yea and the greater your doubting and vnbeléefe in the fleshe hathe bin the stronger hath your Faith shewed it selfe in that notwithstanding it continueth striuing against it condēning it misliking it you muste vnderstand the the force of Faith in instifying dependeth not vpon the quantitie therof but vpon the qualitie for al that be iustified by Faith haue not Faith in equall measure and quantitie some haue it in strong measure some in weak measure but al that by Faith catch holde of their saluation must haue like faith in qualitie that is they muste séeke their saluation at Gods hands in Christ Iesus alone It is likely you knowe that all those amōg the Isralites that looked vp to the brasen Serpent had not like eyes al in bignes clearnes yet if they had eies were they neuer so little and so bleared yet looking directly●●ppe they found helpe as well as the other Be the beggers hande little or greate it serueth hym alike to take a penny wythall So if thou haue a right faith that is such a faith as séeketh and looketh for saluatiō through Christ God and man alone be it that it is but little and weake yet it serueth thy turne In déede it is god that fynding faith in weake measure in vs we should striue by reading and musing of the word by diligent ●oaring it read and preached that wée maye growe in faith and procéed from a weak measure of faith to a stronger But yet in anys case we muste take héede that hauyng escaped from the filthinesse of Poperie in this point in séeking for any parte of our saluation in our owne merites suttle Sathan cause vs not to séeke for our saluation for the worthinesse of oure faith which we are very nigh vnto whē we are ready to saye or thinke that our● weake faith though it be neuer so right a faith cannot iustifie vs vnlesse it were in some worthier measure For is not thys a lykelihoode that wée are about to tye saluation to the worthinesse of faithe Wherefore to preserue vs from thys ●●●eight of Sathan we must vnderstand that if we accompte it absurde to séeke ●●luation in worthinesse of ●ure other workes it is as absurde to tooke for it for the worth●●●● of our saith For when wée are ●●●ghte in the worde that saith in the bloude of Christe Iesus iusti●●eth the meaning thereof is not to teache vs that faith hath this four for the toorthinesse 〈◊〉 it selfe but for the worthinesse of Iesus Christe the obiecte and matter that saith findeth out beholdeth and apprehen●●● So that the proposition so much●●icked againste of the eui●●ies of Gods s●●●● grace Faith onelye ●●sti●eth is that in e●●●●te Amongest al vertues when they are togither Faith alone hath thy●●●●ce though when shée ●●●●●●tes it she be not alone or vnaccom●auyed of other vertues to apprehende Christe Iesus and so in him alone to iustifie vs But to retourne againe to your complaint of not féeling faith and therefore you haue not faith I muste tell you further that I feare in these heauenlye thinges you haue folowed to muche sence and féeling For if yo● woulde iudge aright whether you haue faith or no and whether you be Gods déere chylde or no you muste not iudge by sence and féeling but by the words of Almightie God So that if your sence and féeling leade you one way to iudge of your selfe and the word of God 〈◊〉 and you an other waye you muste pref●●● the iudgemente and determination of God in hys worde who knowes better these thinge● than ●●ée o●●e selues who is better to bée beléeued than our owns sence and féeling before the sentence of fleshe and blo●●● To refuse thus to doe is to ob●●se ●●then to beléeue oure selues than GOD and to presume that we by oure owne sen●● féeling can iudge better in what ●ta●s we stande than

better warrant than the commaundementes and doctrines of men thoughe there bée in them neuer so muche shewe of wisedome humblenesse of mind as vaine foolish verse 20. c. By this rule all the wil worshipping wil-workes in Popery lacking allowance from the word are proued such as neuer coulde be matter of godlinesse But when thou hast suche regarde to the matter thou takest in hand be it tending to the 〈◊〉 frō sin or practise of vertue that thou arte assured out of the word that thou oughtest to be occupied therein yet then hast thou not done for vnlesse thou do the same thing in right maner it léeseth the power of a good work It cānot be denyed but that almes and prayer to God ●e things cōmanded therfore good matter of godlinesse but yet as it is euident Math. 6. though the Scribes Pharistes did bothe these yet were they not accompted good works then bicause they were not done in right maner The Lord in the first of Esay ●elleth the people that he regarded not their sacrifices burnt off●ings ●yes he signifieth vnto thē that he lothed them counted their labor therein bestowed vaine their incense abhomination yet it is well knowen that then sh●s● 〈◊〉 were matters allowed and com●●●●ded of God yet bicause when they were done they were not done as they oughte to haue béene therefore the Lorde thus despyseth the doyng therof Wherfore it is not ynough as the doltishe practise vnder Antichriste caused ●●●les to beléeue to giue almes to faste to pray to vse the Sacraments neuer to care howe and in what sorte to doe these thinges for we sée that thoughe these things be done neuer so much and neuer so ost yet if they be not done in right maner they are reiected of the Lord as vain as abhominatiōs in his sight Now in their maner of doing these thiges are to be regarded First that they pro●éede I mean al our actions from a heart puristed by faith For as 1. Tim. 2. verse 5. we be taught that the end sum or perfection of the whole law is Loue so are we told that it commeth out of a pure hart of a good cōscience saying the true christil loue indéed is not foūd growing where ther is no pure hearte neyther can there be a pure heart where is not a good conscience neither yet can this g●od conscience be where there is absent an vnsayned Faith but where this vnsained faith is that is where a ful and setled persuasion or assuraunce of saluatiō is throughe Jesu Christ alone wrought in the heart by the holy Ghoste thereis a good conscience bicause being iustified by Faith we haue peace with God thorough our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. so ther is also a pure hart for it is faiths propertie to purify the hart Act. 15. verse 9. And therfore is it writtē that by saith Abel offred a better sacrifice than Caine Heb. 11. verse 4. For if there hadde bin faith in Caine as in Abell his sacrifice had bin as well accepted as Abels but euen for lack of this it was not If therfore we lacke faith in God when we go about a good matter we léese our labor for it is impossible to please God wtout faith Heb. 2. vers 6. therfore euē hereby al the gay glorious works of Turks Iewes Atheists Heretikes Papists are proued to be no good works at all in the sight of god bicause they proc●●d frō such as are destitute of the true Christian faith Secondly we must take héed that our workes be done in humilitie and lowlinesse of mind taking our selues to be bound as indéed we are to doe more than we do or can do yea being ready to say think indéed as Christ hath taught vs that whē we haue done al that is commaunded vs to do whiche is impossible for vs to do Act. 15. Rom. 8. that we bée but unprofitable seruants Luk. 17. Further that this Humilitie muste be of measure in vs that it cause vs alwayes to suspect our own weaknesse infirmitie that so there may be founde in vs a holy trembling feare to offend oure good God in omitting the least necessary circumstance of a good work as we be taughte Phil. 2. verse 12. in these wordes Make an end of your saluation in seare trēbling That this humilitie lowlinesse of mind is necessarily to be ioyned with exercizing our selues in good matters Christ hath plainly taught vs Luk. 18 in the parable of the Pharisie Publican there it appeares the the Pharisie had exercised himselfe in good matters both in abstayning from outwarde fins and in doing of good and lawfull things yet bicause when he had done he lackte humilitie therwith was puft vp to think that God was therfore indebted to him he mard al lost al his labor And therfore al merit-mongers that perswade thēselues that by their works they haue deserued Heauen for al their bragging of works more thā ynough to iuf●i●●e thēselues withal are by Christe sent home vniustified yea not so much as once reckoned accompted amongst the workers of any iust holy work Thirdly least any shold think that in teaching vs to be thus lowly minded when we goe about a good work we be taught therein vtterly to distrust or dispaire that god wil at any time regard our good workes accept thē we must learne of the worde to ioyne hope with our humilitie that as the one preserueth vs frō truste in our workes so the other may kéep vs from vtter dispairing that God wil reward them But that this hope may be found in vs we must not séek to groūd any kind of worth●nesse in our selues for when we looke into our selues consider our works as they come from vs in great imperfection we find see our selues to tremble ●●ar being ready al of vs to say with Esay c 4. at our righteousnes is but as ●●thye clouts but we must resorte to Christe that as in him we our selues are iustified so for his sake these pore fruites of oures might be accepted To teach vs thus to doe Peter hath saide vnto vs 1. Epistle Chap. 2. to whom ●e come as vnto a liuing stone dis● lowed of men but chosen of God and pretidus and be made a spirituall house a holy priesthoode to offer vppe spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ He knew sul wel that to encourage Christians to exercise thēselues in godlines which he termes here the offering 〈◊〉 of spiritual sacri●●te● it was nece●●●ry to teach th●us that though when they had done they should find no cause in their own works worthinesse why they shoulde be accepted of God that yet acceptable they should be in Christ Iesus that thus yet he mighte teache them to doe good workes in hope that their labour shoulde be acceptable in Christe and for his sake the infirmities and imperfections