Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	faith_n	work_n	work_v	15,333	5	8.0919	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13103	A motiue to good workes Or rather, to true Christianitie indeede. Wherein by the waie is shewed, how farre wee are behinde, not onely our fore-fathers in good workes, but also many other creatures in the endes of our creation: with the difference betwixt the pretenced [sic] good workes of the Antichristian Papist, and the good workes of the Christian Protestant. By Phillip Stubbes, Gentleman.	Stubbes, Phillip.	1593 (1593)	STC 23397; ESTC S111359	64,680	234

them they could haue none lest there were not inogh for them both Wherby wee see that as no man can buy the good workes of another so no man hath inough to saue himselfe The Apostle Peter saith There is no other name giuen vnder heauen whereby man can bee saued but onely Iesus Christ. And if good workes coulde saue vs as the same Apostle reasoneth then had Christ died in vaine For how vaine a thing had it ben for the maiesty of God to haue sent his owne sonne into this miserable worlde to take our nature vpon him to shed his most precious bloud for vs if wee coulde haue iustified our selues or purchased our saluation either through our inherent righteousnes as the papists most blasphemously affirme by our merits or by anie other means whatsoeuer And therefore Paul was bold to conclude that wee are iustified by faith only without the works of the law Being iustified sayth he by faith we haue peace with God thorough Iesus Christ. And to the Galath he sayth further that as many as do relye vpon the works of the lawe are vnder the curse and banished frō grace To which the Prophet Abacuc seemeth to agree saying the iust shall liue by faith But what shall we say then to the Apostle Iames who sayth we are iustified by works and not by faith only I answere There are two maner of iustifications one absolute before GOD the other demonstratiue before the world Paule writing that wee are iustifyed by fayth onely meaneth absolutely before God Iames saying wee are iustifyed by workes meaneth demonstratiuely before the worlde Agayne Paule wrighteth of the efficient cause of our iustification Iames of the effecte Paule had to do with them that contemned faith as the Heathen Iewes and Turks do now and therefore he attributed and that worthely iustification to faith only Iames he had to do with them that contemned good works as things of no value affirming that bare faith alone was sufficiēt to saluation therefore he attributeth the more to works therby to draw them to the practising of them Againe Paule speaketh of such works as goe before iustification Iames of such as followe after Paule meaneth not of a bare and naked faith without good works but of such a faith as can no more be without good workes than the sunne without light or the fire without heate Iames he meaneth of a bare naked and dead faith such as the very deuils haue as the very heathen infidels haue So that in substance matter they both meane and speake one and the same thing For truly as faith is the efficient cause of our iustification before God so our workes are the effects or fruits issuing thereout whereby wee are knowen to bee iustified before the world And therefore let vs brag of our faith as much as we will if it bee but such a faith as bringeth forth no good workes we can neuer be saued by it This is not that iustifieng faith which Paule speaketh of nor which the children of God haue but a dead faith a barren faith an historical faith which the deuills and all reprobates haue But here perchāce some captious sophister wil aske me if we cānot be iustified by good workes to ' what end then shoulde wee doo them To whom I answere We are to do good workes for sixe causes especially first for the loue obedience which wee owe vnto God secondly for the mutuall loue brotherly charity which wee beare one towardes an other thirdly to make our saluation sure certaine vnto vs as the Apostle saith Make your saluation sure by good workes fourthly for the zeale wee haue of the glorie of God fiftly to drawe others from sinne to the practife of godlinesse by our good example and sixtly for the increase of our owne rewarde in the life to come where no good worke such is the bountifull liberalitie and mercifull beneficence of our good GOD towards vs miserable sinners shall bee lefte vnrewarded And albeit that good workes are no causes of our iustification nor that thou canst not be iustified by them yet canst thou neuer be saued without thē And therefore woulde I wish euerie one that hath a care of his saluation to labor studie endeuor night day to do good workes Remember how notably our forefathers haue behaued thē selues heerein what monuments of charity and almes deedes haue they left behinde them to the posterities to come and yet liued in feare and trembling And doe wee thinke to come to heauen and leaue no good works behinde vs at all but rather infinite millions of wicked deedes and vngodly examples which cry for vengeance before the throne of God night and day incessantly Oh let vs remember and neuer forget if it be true which some do hould as I fully perswade my selfe it is that as our wicked deedes and euill examples which wee haue left behinde vs in this life do hurt vnto other and dishonor the Maiestie of God so shall our paine be increased augmented in hell for euermore world without end And againe as our good deeds and good examples which we haue left behind vs in this life do good to the Saints of God vppon earth and increase his glory so shall our glory and our ioy be increased from day to day to the end of the world in the kingdome of heauen Let either the feare of the one therfore deare christian or the loue of the other moue thee now at the last to this resolution of good works Let not the vayne-glory and deceiptfull honor of this world beguile thee let not couetousnes blinde thee nor any priuate affection else moue thee to do euill or to deceiue any more in bargaining selling or otherwise howsoeuer for the Lord as the Apostle witnesseth is the reuenger of all such wickednes and though thou escapest for a time the lawes of men yet canst thou not escape the iudgements of God but in his good time he wyll finde thee out and recompence thee according to thy deserts Remember that Salomon was rich and had as plenty of gould siluer as of stones iewells and ornaments great store with fish-pondes orchards gardens forrests parkes men-singers women singers musicke and all pleasures else vnder the Sunne and of them all he pronounced this sentence Vanitas vanitatis omnia vanitas Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanitie Consider with thy selfe and often reuolue in thy minde the wordes of our sauiour Heauen and earth shal passe but the word of God indureth for euer And againe in another place No mans life standeth in the abundance of those thinges which he possesseth And againe What will it preuaile a man to win the whole world loose his owne soule Remember the rich glutton though he fared dilitiouslie and ruffeled in his silkes and veluets euerie daie yet in one moment his soule was taken from him he lodged in hell Take example by the rich man in the gospell who flowed with such abundance of all things that he was forced to pull downe his olde barnes and to build new ones was it not saide to him Thou foole this night shall they fetch awaie thy soul and then whose shall those things be which thou hast gathered Oh what a vaine thing is it therfore for a man to rake into his handes fiue hundred or one thousand mens liuinges to leaue it to his children who for the the most parte spend it either in hauking hunting dicing carding or else in whooring gourmandizing and infinite the lyke vices for Malè parta malè dilabuntur Ill got ill spent whereas in the meane time thou must goe to the barre to aunswere for the getting of them peraduenture to euerlasting damnation both of bodie and soule Therefore haue a care whatsoeuer thou be that thou get thy goods in the feare of God with a good conscience so shall they prosper with thy children after thee and thou blessed eternally And when thou hast thus got them be carefull how thou bestowest them and to whome thou geuest them For it is not inough for thee to say I gaue so much and so much to my carnall kindred friends and aliance but if thou hast geuen so much and so much to the poore so much and so much to this good end and to that good end to this good worke and that good worke to remayne to the posterities after thee to the end of the world oh then well is thee and happy shalt thou be yea then shalt thou be sure to attayne to the end of thy hope that is euerlasting life To the which hee bring vs all that apperteyne to his kingdome that dyed for vs to whom with the Father the holy Ghost be all glory and prayse for euer Amen FINIS Heb. 1.14 Gen. 19.22 1. Reg. 19. Gen. 21. Gen. 16. Gen. 21. Dan. 3. 2. Reg. 5 Tobit 5 Dan. 6 Exo. 1● 2. Sam. 24 2. Chr. 12.21 Luke 1.26 27 28 Iude vers 6 Gen. 6. Psal. 51.5 Math. 5.28 Math. 15.18 19.20 Gen. 1 ● Gen. 1 ● Gen. 6. Esa. 1 Gen. 47 9● Gen. 3. Reuel 22 Iudic. 20.35.46 Nu. 25.8 Gen. 18.1.2 Gen. 19.1.2 3. 1. Timot. 3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Cor. 14. Psal. 1.1.2 Deut. 6. Matth. 4. Rom. 13.8 3. 4. 6. 7. Tit. 3 Timoth. 2. Rom. 14● 1. Cor 13 Esay ● Tim. 4● Math. 5.33 34. 35. Iacob v. 12. 1. Cor. 13. 1. Pet. 4.8 1. Ioh. 4.16 Iob. 14. Luke 1.74.75 Matth. 25. Galath 5.

other way Good Lord I can not but wonder at the bountifull liberalitie of our predecessors they built all these edifices and buildings from the ground of theyr owne proper costs and charges without all contribucions or collections that we reade of and yet we can not so much as maynteyne and repayre them except we haue contributions collections and gatherings throughout the realme for euery little Bridge And if there be but a small Bridge to be built from the grounde Iesus what a peece of worke wee make of it yea wee must haue a licence to begge all ouer the land for it or else it will neuer be built So that I verely belieue if we should haue but euen one such a building to make as we haue some in England built by our ancestors Oh it would shake the verie foundations of the common wealth nay I thinke assuredly they would neuer be able to performe it not for that we are not able but for that we are wretched miserable for there is greater riches welth in Englād now Gods holy name be praysed for it than euer there was since the beginning of the world by many degrees and yet we will part with nothing to any good worke so couetous are we and so voyd of that holy zeale and burning charitie which our forefathers had To goe forward Is it not a good work to build Colledges and Vniuersities to erect free Schooles and houses of learning being indeede the very seminaries of all wisdome learning and knowledge for the better education of youth in good letters wheras otherwise ignorance and barbarisme would ouerflow vs And yet notwithstanding all this you shall haue some giddy heads that would haue all Vniuersities Colledges Schooles of learning to be vtterly supprest and ouerthrowne which were euen to pluck the Sunne out of the elemēt the starres out of the skye the Moone out of the heauens for as the world without the one would seeme as it were a confuse chaos palpable darknes so without the other should we be all as dizarts sots and peasants yea very buzzards blockheads little or nothing differing from bruite beasts Nay to wish the ouerthrow of them is to wish the subuersion of the word of God and of religion with a vniuersall confusion of all things For are not Vniuersities and Schooles the way to learning and knowledge Is not learning the way to wisedome and is not wisedome as it were the very fynewes and tendons that hold together the whole body both of the Churche and common-wealth Nay to say more is not wisedome the very life of them both and therefore they that desire the decay of the one doe wish the destruction of the other But yet to wade in this matter a little further Is it not a good worke to erect Hospitalls Spittles and Almes houses wherein all such as be eyther olde aged impotent blind lame halt or otherwise decrepite might be relieued yea I hould it to be one of the chiefest good workes that a man can doe in thys life For doth not Christ accoumpt it done to himselfe whatsoeuer is done to his poore members vpon earth And therefore I pray GOD to rayse vp more such men as may erect mo such houses yea if it were in euery Citie towne and village Then should we haue eyther none or at lest fewer beggers as we cal them amongst vs than we haue according to the cōmandement of God who sayth Let there bee no beggers in Israel that is amongest those that professe the Gospell and religion of GOD whilest those that were olde halt blind or lame should be there harboured and other lustie vagabonds who were able to worke and would not shuld be compelled to worke by seuerity of law And to this end as I would wish moe hospitalls for the reliefe of those that are not able to worke as I haue sayd so woulde I wishe that there were mo houses of correction in euerie shiere one at the least to punish and chase such lusty knaues and queans as goe roagueing about the Countries not laboring at all but liuing vpon filching stealing purloining and pilfering frō others I remember there were certaine motions of late for the erectiō of such houses in euery shire but there is nothing effected as yet Parturiunt montes nascitur ridiculus mus It was too good a work to take place with vs we haue many good motions but few good effects follow God be mercifull vnto vs. But here a question may be asked whether the building of monasteries priories other religious houses were good workes or no I aunswere that in deed they had a zeale in them but not as the Apostle saith secundum scientiam and they built thē to a good intēt as namely that the seruice and religion of God might bee maintained and continued in them for euer And therefore if they were afterwardes abused as they were in deed as is before remembred and peruerted to another end than was intendended by the first founders of them by a sorte of caterpillers and idolatrous locustes that conuersed in them and poisoned the whole world with the filthie dregges of theyr fornication the fault was in the abusers not in the founders And yet I will not iustifie the founders for their good intents sake neither For a good intent is no good intent excepte it haue his ground and warrant out of the worde of God It is not inough for a man to doo euill and then to saie hee dyd it to a good intent Saul for a good intent as he pretēded as namely to sacrifice to the Lorde kept aliue the best of the cattel cōtrarie to Gods cōmandement but notwithstanding his good intent God cast him of for it and deposed him from his royall dignity telling him that he delighted more in obedience than in sacrifice But howeuer they were built or to what end or purpose so euer sure I am they were pulled downe to a better purpose as beeing in deede the dens of theeues the neasts cels of vipers the dungeōs of dragons the harborows of cocatrices the cages of vncleane beasts And yet as I thank God for the ouerthrowe of them for that they had almost drowned and in short time would not almost but altogether haue drowned the whole world with the filthy puddle of superstition idolatry infidelitie buggerie and sodometrie so could I haue wished that the lands and reuenues of them had ben better imployed as namely to the mainteuaunce of Colledges and schooles of learning to the maintenance of preachers throghout the land to the reliefe and sustentation of the poore and defence of the common wealth and such other good purposes then shoulde not our land haue beene pestered with so many vpstart single-soled Gentlemen as it is But it was the will of God that those thinges which were the bane of his Church and the poison of his children and therefore stood as anathema and accursed before him shoulde