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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	good_a	grace_n	justification_n	9,536	5	9.0702	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90696	Two sermons preached in the Tovver. The former, on Sunday the 30. day of Ianuary. 1641. The later, on Sunday the 24. day of April. 1642. By the Bishop of Bath and Wells.	Piers, William, 1580-1670.; W. D.	1642 (1642)	Wing P2211; Thomason E155_21; ESTC R23322	31,288	88

did not sinke Matth. 8. And when Peter was walking upon the sea and ready to be drowned then Christ put forth his hand and saved him Matth. 14. God suffereth his servants many times to come to the very brinke of destruction and then hee delivereth them Dejicit ut erigat vulnerat ut sanet ut pressura ver●●tur in gratiam afflictio in coronam God hath to the us but he will heale us he hath smitten us but he will binde us up againe Hosea 6.1 I have seene in my experience divers of the servants of God sometimes by the violence of a fever sometimes by the dampe of melancholy and sometimes by Satans temptations brought even to the gates of hell who have reasoned very eloquently and strongly against their owne salvation and that for many daies together even to the approaching of death and upon persons in the like case we must take heed we doe not passe any rash judgement but impute their despairing speeches unto the distemper of their brains or unto the sway of their temptations and not unto the desertion of grace And yet in the end how have they been raised up again how have they been restored according to the words of the Psalmist in the multitude of the sorrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts have refreshed my soule Psal 94.19 I have done with Saint Pauls petition I come to Gods answer which is my second generall part And therein I observed first Gods deniall Saint Paul had an answer to his Petition after many prayers and in it a deniall and this did not a little satisfie him that hee had an answer though it were a deniall For many times the long and perhaps endlesse expectation of an answer is more grievous then a deniall Et dixit mihi and he said unto me But how God did answer Saint Paul here whether immediately by himselfe or mediately by an Angel whether by Vision or Revelation whether by lively speech or by the secret inspiration of his blessed Spirit Saint Paul hath not told us here and therefore we must not bee curious to inquire It is enough for us to know that God did answer the Apostles but as for the manner of the answer it is not for us to dispute it Well then the answer for the effect thereof was a deniall the Apostle prayed often that the thorne of affliction which did so trouble him might be pluckt out but it would not be but yet he shall have an antidote against the anguish thereof My grace is sufficient for thee A naturall man would marvell that St. Pauls complaint being so lamentable and his desire so reasonable God should deny the importunate prayers of his owne servant an Apostle and give him a repulse Exauditur diabolus petens Iobum tentandum non exauditur Paulus petens stimulum removendum saith Saint Austin Satan desired leave of God to tempt Iob and it was presently granted him the Apostle prayed often to God that the meslenger of Satan might depart from him and it was denied him this seems to be a strange thing but yet neither did S. Paul displease God with his praier neither was God unmercifull to him in his deniall for although God did not grant St. Paul that thing which he prayed for yet he granted him a better thing which he prayed not for and this is Gods fashion many times to his owne children Non semper exaudit nos ad voluntatē nostram sed semper exaudit nos ad utilitatem nostram saith S. Austin God doth not alwaies heare us according to our wills but he doth alwaies heare us for our good A father denieth a knife to his young childe because he knowes he may quickly hurt himself therewith and yet he denies it him in love God is our Physitian and he will not give us cold drinke when wee are sicke of an ague though we beg never so much for it Coelestis medicus non facit voluntatem ut faciat sanitatem our heavenly Physitian will not doe alwaies that which pleaseth us but which helpeth us I have done with the deniall I come now to the divine aid which God gave Saint Paul against the thing which did so trouble him wherein the first thing I observed is the nature and quality thereof it was his Grace Gratia mea my Grace is sufficient for thee This life begins and ends in Grace the other begins in Glory but never ends Grace is the preparation to Glory and Glory is the reward of Grace but let us see what Grace of God this was whereof the Lord spake unto the Apostle for there is a twofold Grace of God First there is Gratia Dei extra nos the Grace of God without us even in God himselfe which is the eternall love and favour of God whereby he loved us and elected us in Christ Jesus unto eternall life before the foundation of the world was laid Ephes 1. And here by the way I cannot but observe the ungracious dealings of the Romish Schoolemen with this grace of God which is the fountain of all our happinesse they never discusse nor handle it at large in their disputations they onely name it and so away we never finde them magnifying this grace of God as they ought to doe what 's the reason Because it makes against their proud doctrines of election for good workes foreseene and of justification by good workes done Now some Divines understand the answer of God here of this grace of God which if a man have he is safe enough from the hurt and danger of all temptations and afflictions whatsoever Deus meus omnia saith Saint Austin give me the love and favour of my God and I have all things But now although this grace of God be here first meant yet this grace alone is not here meant Secondly there is Gratia dei intra nos the grace of God within us as all the gifts of Gods holy Spirit in us which are truly called Gods graces because they are the fruits and effects of that eternall Grace the love and favour of God towards in Christ now of this grace also infused into the soule of a Christian man is the answer of God here to the Apostle as that by which he was to wrastle with and in the end to overcome the thing that did so trouble him of this grace Saint Peter speaketh We are kept by the power of God unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 What power Why the power of this grace and from what are we kept Why from the hurt of all temptations and afflictions whatsoever this grace was St. Pauls token in all his Epistles which he writ alwaies with his owne hand 2 Thes 3.17 This is the pretious jewell and ornament of the soul of man and as the soule is the life of the body so this grace is the life of the soule This stirreth us up to all goodnesse and restraineth us from evill this keepes us from pride in

God of heaven and earth bestow his blessings and shew his mercy upon us without our praiers Secondly because our praiers shew our confidence in Gods power and providence in his mercy and love A father can give his beloved son all that he wants without his praiers but he will not because he delights to have him sue to him Yea but Gods decrees are immutable and his will is unchangeable how then can our praiers incline him this way or that way Thus indeed have wicked wits reasoned against praier but it is a true and a well known rule subordinata non pugnant inter se things which are subordinate are not contrary one to the other and such are Gods decrees and our prayers as God hath ordained the end so hath he ordained the meanes now Gods purposes are not hindred by our praiers but rather executed and our praiers are as it were the midwives to deliver them and the second causes and meanes to effect his decrees Christ knew that all those things which hee prayed for would be granted before he prayed but yet he prayed for them But now as our prayers in affliction must be fervent so must they bee frequent too and therefore the Apostle prayed often ter thrice that this thing this affliction might depart from him which is the third branch of this Petition A medicine must be often applied otherwise it will not worke the cure here is a certaine number for an uncertaine thrice for often as ter beatus thrice happy is very happy so when the Apostle said here ter rogavi I prayed thrice he meanes often or very much importunately even untill the Lord answered him Is thy praier denied the first and the second time why then it is very likely thou hast made some fault in thy prayer Yee aske and receive not because ye aske amisse saith St. Iames Iames 4.3 go to it therefore the third time and by often praying thou shalt finde out the error of thy prayer If God heare thee not in thine affliction at the first and second knocke it is to prove thy patience thy faith and thy love Ostium Coeli forsitan proptere● clausum est ut ta fortiùs pulses Heaven gate is therefore perhaps shut that thou maist knocke the longer and the lowder give not over knocking then untill the doore be opened Magna beneficia magnis precibus sunt comparanda great blessings are not to bee obtained but with importunate prayers Did the unrighteous Judge in the Gospell yeeld at last to the importunate prayer of the widow And shall not the righteous Judge of heaven and earth thinke ye yeeld to the importunate prayers of his owne deare servants in their afflictions The Kingdome of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force what force Why the force of prayer haec vis Deo grata saith Tertullian and this violence is most pleasing unto Go● Vincunt invincibilem ligant omnipotentem our frequent and importunate prayers overcame him that is invincible and binde him who is omnipotent But if our love and obedience to God cannot excite us to this frequency of prayer yet I am sure the thorne of affliction will urge us to call often upon the Lord who is our onely refuge in time of trouble rogavi Dominum I prayed unto the Lord c. which is the first branch of this Petition We have neither precept nor practice in all the canonicall Scriptures for praying to any other in heaven but onely unto the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but thee said David Psal 73.25 but the Papists are not of Davids Religion in this point for they have their St. Franc is and St. Bennet and thousands more in heaven whom they pray unto besides the Lord nay they have almost for every severall kinde of evill a severall Saint they pray unto their Saint Apollonia against the toothach to their Saint Petronella against a fever to their Saint Roch against the plague to their Saint Liberius against the stone to their Saint Nicholas against a tempest at sea to their St. Leonard against bonds and imprisonment and to other Saints against the like evills as Cornelius a lapide one of their owne writers is not ashamed to confesse in his Commentaries upon the second Chapter of Saint Pauls Epistle to the Hebrewes He must bee a good Arithmetician that can reckon up the names of all their Saints upon whom they cal when they are in any trouble or danger thus they dishonour God and rob him of his worship by their superstitious invocation of Saints departed who cannot hear nor help them That same cantlike argument of the Romanists that we must not or we should not presume to goe immediately to a King with our petitions but we must first make our way by a Master of Requests or by a favourite doth not deserve a scholarlike answer for God is is every where and his ears are open to our prayers and he knoweth the thoughts of our hearts long before they are thought and hee hath no other Master of Requests but the Spirit it selfe to make intercession for us no other favourite to present out praiers but his deare Son and our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ who is our Advocate at the right hand of God And so I come to the end of Saint Pauls Petition which was that the thing which did so trouble him might goe away from him Vt discederet à me that it might depart from me Afflictions in themselves are unpleasing and contrary to our nature and therefore in themselves not to be wished for or desired but to bee borne with patience comfortand joy when God sends them as being profitable for us As medicines in physicke which are made of corrected poysons are very good for us and therefore we are willing to take them but wee would not have them stay with us but when they have done their worke we would have them depart from us it is even so with our afflictions But in the meane time although these thornes of affliction be not presently pluckt out these messengers of Satan doe not straight way depart from us yet they shall never make us despaire of Gods goodnesse and mercy neither shall they vex us for ever Accepit diabolus tentandi licentiam sed non accepit subruendi capiam saith Saint Ambrose although Satan have leave to tempt us yet he hath not power to overcome us for there shall no temptation 〈◊〉 affliction take us but such as is common to man humane and moderate so indulgent is God to his children for God is faithfull and will not suffer us to be tempted or afflicted above that we are able to beare but when the temptation is at the highest when the affliction is at the worst God will make an issue that we may escape 1 Cor. 10.13 The bush that Moses saw burned but was not consumed Exod. 3. The ship wherein Christ and his Disciples were was covered with waves but yet it