Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	bliss_n	call_v	jesu_n	335	4	16.3314	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00728	Of the Church fiue bookes. By Richard Field Doctor of Diuinity and sometimes Deane of Glocester.	Field, Richard, 1561-1616.; Field, Nathaniel, 1598 or 9-1666.	1628 (1628)	STC 10858; ESTC S121344	1,446,859	942

restlesse motiōs of vnsatisfied desires stay not till they come to the open view cleare vision and happie fruition of GOD their Creator O Lord saith Augustine thou madest vs for thy selfe and our hearts are restlesse and vnquiet till they rest in thee The reason of this so different condition of men and Angells from other things who so taketh a view of the diuerse degrees and sorts of things in the world cannot but with exceeding great sweetnesse of delight obserue and discerne There is nothing which in sense of want and imperfection doth not endeavour to returne towards God from whome all good and happie supplie of defect and want proceedeth neither is there any thing found in the world all things being full of defect which is not carried with some inclination of desire either seeking that it hath not or desiring the continuance of that it hath already receiued from him in whom the fullnesse of all happie good is found From hence it commeth that all things incline tend and moue to that place condition and estate wherein they may enioy the vtermost of that perfection they are capable of This inclination of desire ariseth and groweth in each thing out of the forme thereof which giueth it that degree measure and kind of being it hath neither is there any forme whence some inclination doth not flowe Those things therefore which haue no forme but that which giueth them their naturall beeing different and distinct from other things haue no inclination of desire but naturall to enioy and possesse themselues and continue that they are to grow and increase till they come to the full period of their naturall perfection and to continue the same by turning into their owne substance and nature such things by addition whereof they may be nourished increased and continued But those things wherein besides their naturall formes giuing them beeing by reason of their more spirituall and immateriall nature the formes and formall resemblances of other things do ●…ine and appeare haue farre more large desires growing out of the formes thus shining into the and apprehended by them And as they are of more or less●…rgenesse of apprehension so are their desires larger and more free or shut vp within the narrower compasse The most perfect and excellent creatures in the world below the condition of man haue not a generall apprehension of all things but onely of some outward sensible things in the getting or declining whereof their good doth stand and consist and therefore haue their desires likewise conteined within the same straites and are like prisoners subject to the will of him that restraineth them which cannot goe at large whither they will But man is by condition of his creatiō free having no bounds of any one kind of good things within the cōpasse whereof he is inclosed but as his vnderstanding is so large that it reacheth to all things that are though in kind never so different and number neuer so numberlesse so his desires haue no limitatiō to things of any one kinde alone but are freely carried to the desiring of whatsoeuer in any kind or degree of goodnesse appeares to bee good And because in this multiplicitie of good things nothing is good but as partaking of the chiefe good nothing better than other but as comming neerer vnto it therefore for the direction of all his desires that he may rightly value and prize each thing either preferring or lesse esteeming it according to the worth thereof it is necessary that he knowe and desire as the chiefe good that which indeed is the chiefe and principall good the measure of all the rest before he can rightly discerne the different degrees of goodnesse found in things and so rightly preferre one before another And this doubtlesse is the reason why no other creatures but onely men and Angels are capable of felicitie and blisse because the greatest good they knowe or desire is but some particular thing and that not better than themselues but men and Angels in whom so great perfection of knowledge is found that they apprehend the whole variety and multiplicity of things and all the different degrees of goodnesse in them never haue their desires satisfied till they possesse and enioy that soveraigne infinite and everlasting good by participation whereofall things else in their severall kinds and degrees are iudged good This glorious society of men and Angels whom the most high God passing by all his other creatures made capable of felicity and blisse calling them to the view sight enioying of himselfe is rightly named Ecclesia coetus evocatus the Church of the living God the ioyfull company of them among whom his greatnesse is knowne and his name called vpon the multitude which by the sweete motions of his Divine grace hee hath called out to the participation of eternall happinesse CHAP. 2 Of the calling of grace whereby God called out both men and Angels from the rest of his creatures to be vnto him a holy Church and of their Apostasie ALl other things seeking no higher perfection nor greater good than is found within the compasse of their owne nature by natures guiding without the helpe of any other thing attaine thereunto but men and Angels which seeke an infinite and Divine good even the everlasting and endlesse happinesse which consisteth in the vision of God at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore cannot attaine their wished good which is so high and excellent and farre remooued from them vnlesse by supernaturall force which wee call grace they be lifted vp vnto it For though by nature they know God so farre forth as by his effects and glorious workes he may be knowne yet as he is in himselfe they know him not farther than in the light of grace and glory hee is pleased to manifest himselfe vnto them thereby addmitting them to the ioyfull sight and blessed view of his glorious Maiestie Which dwelleth in light that no creature by it selfe can approach vnto This is true and perfect happinesse to see the face of God which to behold is the height of all that good which any creature can desire To this the Angels may bee lifted vp to this they cannot ascend by themselues to this man cannot goe to this hee may bee drawne according to that our Saviour delivereth of himselfe No man commeth vnto mee vnlesse my Father drawe him Those things which are inferiour vnto man can neither attaine by themselues nor be drawne nor lifted vp to the partaking of this so happy and ioyfull an estate The vapour of water goeth vp on high but not vnlesse it be drawne with the beames and sweete influence of the Sunne but more grosse and earthly things can neither ascend of themselues nor admit into them these heavenly beames to raise and drawe them vp Among bodily substances some are carried only with a straight and direct motion either to the highest or lowest places of the world

of Chalcedon they condemne Leo Bishop of Rome they accurse Eutyches and honour Dioscorus and Iacobus his Disciple Fourthly they are baptized in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost in such sort as other Christians are but they are also circumcised both Male and Female which may seeme to cut them off from the fellowship of true Christians and the hope of saluation according to that of the Apostle if yee be circumcised yee are fallen from grace and Christ can profit you nothing For the clearing of this point Thomas à Iesu deliuereth these propositions First that Circumcision and other legall observations were so abrogated after the promulgation of the Gospell that the continuing of them became not only a dead thing and of no force but deadly also So that Cerinthus Ebion thining otherwise were condemned as Heretickes 2 That some legall observations though not as legall may bee nay are retained and continued amongst Catholique Christians For the better vnderstanding of this proposition he noteth that legall and ceremoniall things may be obserued foure wayes First as they are legall that is with an intention to keepe the Law and to doe as the Law prescribeth and in this sort Christ submitted himselfe to bee circumcised Secondly that things prescribed or forbidden in the Ceremoniall Law may bee done or omitted not onely in respect of obedience to the Law but as figuring the comming of Christ or as figures of Christ to come as Thomas Aquinas sheweth So the holy Fathers that liued before Christ kept this observation Thirdly we may doe or omit such things as are commaunded or forbidden in the Ceremoniall Law neither as figures of Christ to come nor as being bound by the Law so to doe or not to doe but onely to make it knowne that such Lawes were not euill but of God howsoeuer they are now no longer to haue any binding force Thus the Christians after the resurrection and ascension of Christ before the full promulgation of the Gospell retained circumcision for a time that they might bury the Synagogue with honour Fourthly such things may be done or omitted as the Law forbiddeth or prescribeth materialitèr sine vllâ formalitate vel respectu ad legem veterem that is though the same thing be done that is there prescribed yet it is not done as there prescribed but for other ends as we keepe the feast of Pentecost which the Iewes obserued but not because it was prescribed in the law nor for the same reasons for which they kept it for it was therefore a solemne day with them because as on that day the law was given vnto them vpon mount Sina but with vs because on that day the law of the spirit and life was given so in like sort some Christians consecrate in vnleavened bread yet are they not to be condemned as Iewish seeing the reasons of their observation are very different from those motiues the Iewes had So that to omit or doe such things as are forbidden or Commaunded in the ceremoniall law materialiter tantum that is without anie of the former respects is vndoubtedly lawfull as if a man should bee circumcised or should abstaine from swines flesh for physicall considerations or keepe Saturday holy as many Christians doe but to omit or doe such things as are forbiden or prescribed in the ceremoniall law because they are there forbidden or prescribed or as figures of Christ is hereticall wherefore let vs see in what sort the Abissens vse circumcision Zagazabo professeth that they vse it onely as an auncient observation of their Countrie which they had receiued before they became Christians even from the time that the Queene of Sheba went to see Solomon and that they retaine it onely for the honour of their nation that they may thereby shew that they are of the stocke of David and indeede Herodotus speaking of certaine nations that were circumcised before the comming of Christ amongst the rest hee numbreth the Aethiopians which being soe I see not why wee should censure them as heretickes for this observation William Reinolds speaking of the Abyssens hath these words The Abyssens Christianly and as wee that beleeue as Christians should doe Baptize their infants and that they may shew from how noble a stock they are come circumcise them also but not as if circumcision were of any force or a man might put any trust in it as the Iewes doe which being soe I would no more condemne them in respect of Circumcision then a man that should abstaine from swines flesh which was forbidden by the Law vpon the advise of his physician onely Caietan and Bartholomeus de Medina thinke they sinne not in retaining this observation but supposing it to be lawfull whether it be fit they should be tolerated still soe to doe many taking offence at it I had rather sayth Caietan heare the Church speake then other particular authors Some impute to them that they are not Circumcised onely or principally for the causes before expressed but in imitation of Christ and consequently to fullfill the law which was the end of circumcision and therevpon condemne them as observers of the Ceremoniall Law But first it will hardly be proved as I thinke that they vse circumcision in imitation of Christs circumcision And secondly it will not follow if it be so that they are circumcised to the same end he was but only that they desire to be like vnto him in the outward act and to haue that done vnto them in the honour of him So that I rather encline to the opinion of Caietan and Bartholomeus de Medina who acquit them then to that of Soto and others that condemne them vpon this supposall The particular points of their religion are these First they think that the soule is ex traduce Secondly they vse the same forme of words in baptizing that the Latines doe saying I baptize thee in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost 3 None baptizeth with thē but the Priest or in his absence the Deacon 4 Their males are not Baptized till the 40th day their females till the 80th till which time the mother is not purified nor entereth into the Church but if there be danger of death they are baptized sooner but they must not suck the brests of the mother vntill shee be purified They are vniustly charged that they Baptize with fire for there is none amongst them that do so but in some Provinces they signe themselues in the forehead either that they may differ from the Mahumetans or for the cure of diseases incident to the eyes 5 On twelfe day in memory of the baptisme of Christ they goe forth in great multitudes to the riuer and after many praiers said by the priests they put them selues into the water but no man is newly baptized 6 They thinke that the infants of beleeuing parents are sanctified in the vvombe as Hieremie and Iohn the Baptist were and therefore