Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	fruit_n	good_a	justification_n	4,396	5	9.1232	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B07186	Sions svveets, or, The spouses spikenard; and mysticall myrrhe / by Thomas Barnes, preacher of Gods vvord at St Margretts in New-fifth-street. London..	Barnes, Thomas, Minister of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London.	1624 (1624)	STC 1477.5; ESTC S124289	64,452	85

Position of theirs That wee are prepared by faith to some meritorious act of loue which act of loue doth informe faith and so dignifie it that then the person that hath it deserueth acceptance at Gods handes And this Assertion they are very stiffe in * Obiect alledging for it the Apostles wordes To him that beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly is his faith accounted for righteousnesse ſ Rom. 4.5 Answ that is say they God accounts that faith which he findes in a sinner so worthy thy that it doth deserue an habite of righteousnesse by which the sinner may be iustified But as the Proverbe is An ill glosse corrupteth the Text. For this Exposition holdes neither with the analogie of faith nor with the scope of the place Not with the analogie of faith for it is directly against the Scripture that a man may be a wicked man and yet haue some thing in him worthy of iustification Not with the scope of the place For there the Apostles ayme is being in disputation about iustification to show that there is an Antithesis or contradiction betwixt the righteousnesse of Christ and the righteousnesse of a man out of Christ and not to show that faith informed by charitie doth by condignitie merit the iustifying of the sinner in the sight of God 3. By maintaining iustification by Workes Thirdly how peremptorily doe they stand for justification by Workes abusing for their purpose many places of Scripture as Obiect 1 First that of Iames t Iam. 2.24 Answ Yee see then how that by workes a man is iustified and not by faith alone when as as it is well knowne the drift of the Apostle is there to show that good workes declare a man to be iust before men and doe not make a man iust in the sight of God Obiect 2 Secondly they bring in that of the Psalmist u Psal 18.20.24 Answ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousnesse and according to the cleannesse of my handes hath he recompenced mee But alas to little purpose For the Prophet in that place as some obserue doth not speake of iustification but * Certum est Dauidem hoc Psalmo nihil aliud canere de Deo quā quòd per illum liberatus fit ab hostibus c. Muscul ad loc onely of the deliverance that God gaue him out of the hands of his enemies which deliuerance also he doth not attribute to the merit of his owne righteousnesse For that he disclaimes vers 19. saying He deliuered me because he had a FAVOVR vnto me but onely he acknowledgeth that that deliverance was a testimony of his integritie how naught and vniust soeuer his enemies falsely accounted and accused him to be Many of the like places doe they thus abuse abuse I say and whither I speake right or no I appeale not onely to St Paul whose drift is in the fiue first Chapters of the Epistle to the Romanes to ouerthrow iustification by Workes but also to one of their owne x Aquin Super Gal. c. 3. Lec 4. Opera non sunt causa quod aliquis sit iustus apud Deum c. Doctors whose very wordes are these Workes are not the cause that any man is righteous before God but rather they are the fruits and declarations of righteousnesse And indeed how can we be iustified by workes when as by the confession of the Papists y Caiet in epist ad Roman c. 3. fol. 10. themselues the righteousnesse of Workes cannot blot out sinnes but leaues a man in the same Thus while the Papists doe partly curse those that hold justification by the free mercy of God and partly ascribe it to the dignitie of Faith and partly to the merit of good Workes doe they not rob Christ of that praise which his great kindnesse in iustifying a poore sinner doth deserue Dealing with this bundle of spirituall Myrrhe as some z Petrus de la Primaud Franc. Acad. part 3. c. 69. report the Arabian followers of Mahomet to deale with that corporall Myrrhe which they bring to Alexandria to sell vsing a thousand deceits to sophisticate it and gull Christians with it that buy it So they I say adulterate this precious Doctrine with their owne deceipts and deuices and would thrust it for good ware and sound vpon the common sort But I pray God they may neuer haue any vent for such deceitfull Myrrhe and counterfeit righteousnesse amongst vs. I am sure the Church entertaines no such stuffe here but speakes all to the commendation of her Beloued admitting of no Myrrhe no righteousnesse but his owne to prayse him and to commend by But to leaue them as confuted let vs come to our selues Vse 2 I would to God there were not some Popish Protestants amongst our selues who must haue some perfume in Natures garden to smell on some naturall or morall plant of their owne to put into this Bundle to mingle with Christs righteousnesse to iustifie them in the sight of God Some good desires deedes devotions which they much brag off and stand vpon for which God is forsooth bound to accept them and to like of them To whom I may say truely as Elihu in another case to Iob Behold in THIS thou art not iust a Iob 33.12 It may be thou art of a gentle nature of a curteous behauiour somewhat disposed to liberalitie out of a vaine-glorious humour canst not away with the company of the prodigall must God of necessitie iustifie thee like of thee for these things Yes that he must and doth too I would be sorry els I am sure he would not like of me if I should swill and curse and steale and quarrell c. that 's true for he cannot away with these grosse euills the committers of them are abominable vnto him Yet notwithstanding to conclude that thy morall vertues can iustifie thee before him is little differing from plaine Popery And I tell thee in standing vpon this thou doest Papist-like rob Christ of his glory and deny him that prayse which the members of the Church doe here giue him as his due in this Text. They say not here A bundle of Myrrhe is my Well-beloued and my Spikenard vnto me but my Well-beloued alone They acknowledge all in the matter of justification to come from Christ Iesus issuing and springing from the fountaine of his free loue They know that the best righteousnesse in themselues is as the Prophet speaketh as an vncleane thing and filthy rags b Isa 64.6 and that in the best actions they doe if their imperfections be not couered in Christ and sweetned with the Myrrhe of his righteousnesse there is more cause of damnation to be found in them then saluation It is by grace that wee are iustified not by Workes The very faithfull themselues please God no otherwise then in Christ Neither their loue nor faith nor good fruites can for the dignitie of the same deserue absolution before Gods tribunall Now then if the graces that are inwardly wrought and the Workes that doe outwardly appeare in beleevers themselues can procure no further acceptance at Gods handes then their persons stand iustified and their sinnes acquitted before GOD in Christ then questionles as God once told the idolatrous Israelites neither thy Workes nor thy righteousnesse will profit thee c Isa 57.12 to iustification that

messes which haue nothing but the world in store for the time of life and wrath in store against the day of death The fruition of the greater and better should alwayes counteruaile the want of the lesser and worser Browne bread and the Gospell said Mr Bradford is good cheere Say thou poore Christian Is not thy body as strong to labour and thy children as well liking as theirs that haue more abundance thou canst not deny it Plucke vp a good heart then and say with David * Psal 23.1 The Lord is my feeder therefore I shall not want He lets not my soule starue therefore he will not let my body famish Resolue on this I say For it is a greater dishonour to his bountie then thou art aware off to thinke that he will with-hold any needfull good thing from any that lead an holy pure and vpright life x Psal 84. vlt. ver The third circumstance in the first part We haue now done with the second thing which the Church commendeth her husbands greatnesse by The last remaineth to be handled which is his presence and residence with HER implied by HIS Sitting at Table While the King SITTETH at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof THis circumstance subdiuideth it selfe into two members 1. The fruition the Church hath of Christs sight and sitting couched vnder the terme of Sitting at Table 2. The fruit Shee gets by it and returneth for it in the smell that her Spikenard sendeth forth We will set these ioynts together in the meaning and not handle them a-part because they come vnder the same particular head While the King Sitteth at his Table my Spikenard c. Sitteth The Rabbines who as I remembred before The Interpretation by King vnderstand Iehovah and by Table Mount Sinai doe by Sitting at Table take to be meant the presence or residence of the Lord vpon that Mount with Moses when he delivered the Law vnto him Others referre it to the presence of y 2 Chron. 1● Asa when he was in the middest of the Israelites congregated and gathered together to make a Covenant with the Lord. But thou knowest READER I haue shunned these paths from the beginning Others expound it of the presence of Christ alluding to the presence of Salomon with his Bride on the day of his marriage And amongst these I finde some difference one vnderstanding his glorious z Piscator Dun● fruitur gaudijs Calestibus Metaphora qualis Mat. 8.11 presence in heauen where he Sitteth partaking of caelestiall ioyes a Merc. Another his gracious presence with his Church in this world Now that the presence of Christ is here signified it is probable yea very probable Because a man cannot sit at the same Table with another but they must enioy the presence of one another But whither his glorious presence alone or his gracious alone or both be here meant that 's the question For mine owne part albeit I dare not peremptorily exclude his presence in glory because whiles he is at Table with his Saints on earth he is as well at repast with his Saints in heauen and whiles the one hath his gracious presence here the other hath his glorious there yet I doe rather encline to his presence by grace here And that for these reasons The reasons of the meaning of the word Sitting First Because it is held generally that this verse is the speech of the Church militant speaking and shewing what her husband is to her and doth for her euen in this life Secondly Because of the end of her speech which is to invite the daughters of Ierusalem that is them that are without the Church to come to Christ But what stronger argument to this purpose could shee vse then one taken from the enioying of his presence as well by grace here as in glory hereafter For little courage to come to Christ would men haue if so be there were no comfortable sight and presence of him to be had in this life as well as in that which is to come So then by Table being vnderstood as hath beene alreadie shewed the Word and Sacraments by his Sitting at this Table is meant his presence by grace with his Church by his Ordinances My Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof One of the Iewes by Spikenard here vnderstands the worship which the Israelites did yeeld vnto the golden Calfe and by the smell that it cast forth the noysome sauour that this Idolatry sent vp to the Lord whiles he was with Moses on the Mount which was so strong and loathsome that the Lord was faine in hast to send Moses downe vnto them Another by Spikenard vnderstandes the couenant it selfe which the Tribes made before the Lord in the 15. yeare of Asa's raigne and by the sending forth the smell thereof he meaneth the sounding forth of that b 2 Chron. 15.14 Vow with a loud voice with Trumpets and Cornets and such like Instruments of Musicke But letting these passe c Ambros in Psal 119. Nunc autem redolet fides Ideoque dicit Ecclesia Nardus mea dedit odorem suum others doe by Spikenard vnderstand Faith alone d P●sc others Good workes alone e Mercer and Geneb others both Faith and Good workes This last iudgement I follow in regard of the resemblance betwixt Spikenard and Faith betwixt Spikenard and Good workes * How Faith resembleth Spikenard First for the resemblance betwixt Faith and it Spikenard is a very sweete and fragrant herbe with a tender roote full of leaues vpon the top of which eares spring forth full of fruit Of this herbe an ointment is made which it seemes was in much vse in Salomons time which hath a threefold or rather fourefold vertue to comfort the heart to helpe against the weaknesse of the stomacke defects of the braine and f Diosc lib. 1. cap. 6. eyes And is not faith much like First It is a very sweete and fragrant vertue it perfumes whatsoever we doe without which it is g Heb. 11.6 impossible to please God Secondly It hath a tender roote it springs vp in a broken heart in a conscience wounded bruised and prepared h Perk. Catechis Thirdly It comforteth the heart by the apprehension and application of the promises Fourthly It availeth against the diseases of the stomacke it keepeth from casting vp the spirituall food as i Dios l. 1. c. 6. Spikenard from casting vp the corporall it helpeth against carnall and earthly diseases it moderates the affections Fiftly It is full of leaues he that hath it makes profession of Religion Neither is it in the last place void of fruit for faith makes a man as well to practise as professe Now as Faith in All of these How good Workes resemble Spikenard so Good workes in Some of these things are like to Spikenard also and chiefely in respect of the comforting qualitie of it For Good workes doe comfort