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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	church_n	truth_n	world_n	1,700	5	5.2016	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04187	Iustifying faith, or The faith by which the just do liue A treatise, containing a description of the nature, properties and conditions of Christian faith. With a discouerie of misperswasions, breeding presumption or hypocrisie, and meanes how faith may be planted in vnbeleeuers. By Thomas Iackson B. of Diuinitie and fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford.; Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed. Book 4	Jackson, Thomas, 1579-1640.	1615 (1615)	STC 14311; ESTC S107483	332,834	388

death Thus much of true faith and the errors concerning the Nature of it It remaines we intreate of misperswasions concerning the possession or presence of it with the right vse of it and other spirituall graces that attend it SECTION 2. Of immature perswasions concerning mens present estate in grace with the meanes to rectifie or preuent them CHAP. I. The generall heads or springs of hypocriticall perswasions with briefe rules for their preuention 1. HHappy were we whom God hath appointed to sowe good seede in others hearts because not altogether without hope to see some fruits of our labours if this censorious age would permit vs to strike as freely at the rootes of Atheism infidelity or hypocrisy as it is ready to censure Atheists Infidels Hereticks or Hypocrites To me it hath often seemed a question very doubtfull but farre aboue my capacity to determine whether such as reuolt from the orthodoxall Church vpon obseruation of monstrous dissonancy betweene the truthes professed in it and the professors liues or resolutions be in case better or worse then such as embrace true religion vpon no better grounds then they or their confederates oppugne it Thus much the word of God will warrant that the portion of hypocrites shall be the bitterest in the life to come And yet hypocrisie if it be of that stampe which our Sauiour so much condemnes is alwaies moulded in that deepe notice or strong perswasion which men haue of their owne loue and others opposition vnto diuine truthes of their owne diligence and others negligence in performance of sundry duties expresly required by Gods lawe And this is a miserie of miseries peculiar to the hypocrite that whereas the height of others impiety ariseth from their opposing the way of truth and godlinesse this monster the more he detests falsehood and error or the impietie whether of others practises or opinions the more still he increaseth his owne corruption and warres vnwittingly against his owne soule For seeing loue to himselfe indulgence to his deare affections or carnall glorying in prerogatiues perhaps spirituall is the common roote as well of his imaginary loue vnto such points of truth as haue some kinde of coniunction with his humours as of the detestation he beares to others obliquities that in life or profession ill consort with him the oftener he lookes either on their knowne transgressions or his owne precise obseruance of such duties as by nature hee is addicted or otherwise accustomed to by both meanes he more pampers and nourishes that vicious habit whence the forementioned bad fruites did growe And thus at length by vsing the helpe of strong but impure vnruly affections to abandon particular errors he ouerthrowes his owne soule as the ancient inhabitants of this land did their state by vsing the Saxons aide to driue out the Picts 2. After this manner the Iew by nursing a loathsome conceit of Publicanes and open sinners dissolu●nessesse not tyed vnto so much as any solemn acknowledgement of their misdeeds or set forme of repentance tooke a surfet of those outward ceremonies which God had ordained as sauees to sharpen not as foode to satiate his appetite of sauing health Other-whiles fiercely bending his indignation against the idolatrie of the heathen by too much depression or debasement of their folly he sublimated his owne naturall inclination vnto pride and haughtinesse into presumptuous boasting in the purity of that lawe which God had giuen him by Moses Whence in the fulnesse of time sprung an irreconcileable hatred of the long expected Messias desperate contempt of his Gospell and wilful refusall of saluation preached in his name But howsoeuer the deadlinesse of this disease was most conspicuous in the fall of Gods chosen people whom wee may without suspition of slaunder seeing the holy Ghost hath written the obseruatiō safely charge with the infection yet the danger of it amongst all professors of true religion throughout euery age and nation continues the same as hauing a perpetuall cause in nature For whether wee speake of contraries morall or phisicall the enmities of the extreames is alwaies greater then betwixt them and the meane from which they alwaies so much further decline as they more eagerly entend their force each against other The greater strength heate and cold from their vicinity gather whether by mutual irritation or a secret kinde of daring each other to combate or by a stricter vnition of the materiall parts wherein their forces lodge the more both disagree with the luke-warme temper The more likewise the prodigall detests the niggards manners or the niggard his the farther both roaue the one ouer the other short from that marke whereat they aime but which truly liberality only hits And as the mutuall discord of extreames grows greater by the increase of their seueral strengths so the hastie or violent introduction of the one into a subiect capable of both makes waie for the others entertainment and excludes the meane which findes no entrance but where it is vshered by moderation So water too much or too violently heated is more apt to freeze then to retaine the middle temper Young prodigalls we often see turne old niggards seldome liberall vnlesse their education haue been exceeding good their naturall discretion extraordinary or the seeds of vertue in them very strong And what more vsuall then for a niggards feast because not agreeable to his ordinary disposition to smell of waste and prodigalitie Buzzards by naturall constitution through extreamity enforced to take heart and turne againe ouerrunning valour boisterously rush into fury And desperate hotshots once made to feele the smart of their folly become afterwards basely timerous The Cynicke could spurne at his fellow Philosophers pride but so as his scornfull heeles did bewray his preposterously proud ambitious heart 3. Are these obseruations true in workes of nature or morall affections onely and not in perswasions of religion Yes euen in these also for hath not the vntimely heat of indiscreete precisenesse disposed sundry in our daies to freeze the sooner in the dregges of Popery Haue not others mounted so high in groundlesse and presumptuous confidence that their sudden fall hath made them sinke for any helpe man could affoord without recouery into the very suds of melancholy and desperation Others vpon a dislike of their former hot enforced zeale haue changed their wonted confidence into carelesnesse and become open professors of licentiousnesse like the possessed childe in the Gospell falling sometimes into the fire sometimes into the contrary element And experience prooues it so common a thing for young Saints such I meane as affect to be ripe in holinesse ere well growne in ordinary discretion or common honesty to prooue old diuels that the bent of nature vnseasonable or too much curbed in the parents oftentimes burst out in the vnbridled affections of their children 4. The reason of the experiments whether in nature moralities or religion is as perspicuous as they are true For contrarie exstreames alwaies

Christ is not worthy of him Yea he forsakes him in not disclaiming them in vniust courses Euen amongst men to professe greatest loue to one and take part with another in causes which equally concerne both and both alike affect is in the mildest censure it can admit a breach of friendship or forsaking of his friend Yet who can be so neere a friend to vs as our Redeemer is to truth what can they whom we loue best on earth so much affect as he doth equitie and righteous dealing Is it then hyperbolicall to affirme or rather hypocrisie either in heart or word to denie that he which for loue to his friend p●ru●rts equity transgresseth the common rule of charitie and ouerthrowes iudgement especially of the sonnes of affliction openly denies Christ who is alwaies the principall in euery controuersie of right or wrong alwaies more offended with vniust grieuances then the parties grieued are euer better pleased with doing right then he to whom right is done 5 Others againe through heat of blood or greatnes of spirit aduenturous or otherwise prodigall of life for purchase of fame can with ioy imbrace such dangers in Christs cause as would much daunt many good professors In perswasions of zeale hence grounded they might perhaps die in battell against the Infidels or in the Romish inquisition and yet doe no more for the Sauiour of their soules then they would for a strumpet or some consort of bodily lust or then malefactors haue done one for another And it is a miserable kind of martyrdome to sacrifice a stout body to a stabborne minde yet besides the vanitie of the conceipt or ouer esteeme of their owne faith or vncharitable censures of others frailties in like difficulties the very nursing of this resolution vpon these motiues disenables them either for the right fruition or resignation of life vpon others more acceptable to the Lord and giuer of life Few thus brauely minded but are more impatient of life or death attended on with disgrace of the most or such as they expect should be propagators of their fame more impotent then others to resist contempt or set light of publike scorne Howbeit the strength of faith rightly Christian is better tried by valour passiue such as appeared in our Sauiour when he willingly submitted himselfe to the taunts mockes and abuses of his enemies then by valour actiue such as Peter shewed when he smote of the high Prists seruants eare the cause in generall was most iust and the resolution bold hauing not one for three to mainetaine the quarrell but Peter at this time was more fit to make a souldier then a martyr for which seruice secular souldiers are for the most part meaneliest qualified All the circumstances of the story notwithstanding perswade me it was resolution truely noble and Christianly valourous as proceeding from liuely faith in that French Souldier who for his zealous profession of reformed religion adiudged with others to the fire and in lieu of all his good seruice to the King and state hauing this grace bestowed vpon him that he should goe to the stake gentleman-like without a with demaunds the reason why hee might not be permitted to weare such a chaine as his fellowes did esteeming this rebuke of Christ more glorious then the ensignes of Saint Michaels order Such vncorrupt witnesses of Christ were these Aluigeans mentioned in the second booke which neither out of stubborne humour of contradiction nor hope of celebritie amongst men but out of sincere loue vnto the truth gaue euidence for the recouery of Christs Gospell concealed and prescribed against by the iniquitie of former times But in Saint Cyprians time the solemne memoriall of former martyrs and that high accompt which Christians made of Confessors that had escaped did bribe others to giue testimony vnto Christs name desirous to die the death of the righteous out of loue indeed but not of that iust one but of fame and vaine glory Against this poison that religious Father and holy Martyr prepared this antidote following which I esteeme so much the more because of the good effect it wrought in himselfe Christ bequeathed peace vnto vs enioyning vs to be of one heart and one minde the league of loue and charity he commanded should be inuiolately kept He cannot approue himselfe a Martyr that holds not the band of brotherly loue and againe He is a confessor but after confession the danger is greater because the aduersary is more prouoked He is a confessor in this respect he is more stricktly bound to stand for the Gospell as hauing through the Gospell obtained greater glory of the Lord. For the Lord hath said it to whom much is giuen of him much shall be required and more seruice shall bee exacted of him on whom more dignitie hath beene bestowed Let no man perish through the confessors example let no man learne iniustice insolence or perfideousnesse from his manners He is a confessor let him be humble and meeke let him be modest in his cariage that as he is entitled a confessor of Christ so he may imitate Christ whom he consesseth for he hath said He that exalts himselfe shall bee brought low and his father hath exalted him because he humbled himselfe here on earth albeit he were the word the power and wisedome of his father and how can hee loue arrogancie which hath enioyned humility by his law and hath obtained a name aboue all names of his Father as a reward of his humility 6. Non sanguis sed causa facit Martyrem It is not the blood but the cause that makes a Martyr was a saying subscribed vnto by orthodoxall antiquity and since approued by the ioint consent of all truely religious I may adde it is not the cause or profession of whose truth and goodnesse men rest strongly perswaded but the grounds whereupon they imbrace it or motiues inducing them to giue testimony to it which makes their death acceptable vnto God Christ requires we keepe our bodies without blemish or purifie them by repentance if they haue beene spotted with the world ere we offer them vp in sacrifice vnto him He that truely Assents to the greater and more terrible of worldly euils as good and fit to be sustained in his cause will questionlesse suffer and sustaine grieuances of lesse weight at his request Now he that commands vs to deny our selues rather then him before men exacts of vs that we confesse him by integritie and fidelity in his seruice by abstinence from vnlawfull pleasures of what kinde soeuer none of which can bee so deare to vs as is life which he that for his sake renounceth by faith would by the same renounce all pleasures incident to it For he that faithfully obaies in the greater and more difficult will doubtlesse performe like obedience in the lesse We know saith Saint Iohn that we haue passed from death to life because we loue the brethren he that loueth not his

of this desire and height of his fall thereby procured hath the maliciousnesse of his deiected pride and deepe dissimulation for bringing his murtherous plots about continued since Whose sonnes then may we suppose they are who neuer contented with their naturall station much bettered by many casuall accessions and daily additions of Gods temporall blessings searce giue themselues respite to thinke how well God hath done by them alreadie so eagerly are they set to soare higher and higher without fixing any period to their towering thoughts as if they had said in their hearts Wee will ascend aboue the height of the clouds and wee will be like the most high Besides their participation of this hereditary qualitie or first sinne of Sathan the preposterous deuises of men ambitious to effect their wils rightly blazened proclaime their pedigree For as Lucifer since ●●● fall albeit still like himselfe not the sonne but the father or Prince of darkenesse doth outwardly transforme himselfe into an Angell of light So this painted Helen the mistresse of moderne thoughts ambition though alwaies in trauell with rauen murther and cruelty is notwithstanding for outward resemblance as one well obserues the most exquisite ape of that Angelicall vertue Christian charity It suffereth all things it endureth all things it belieueth all things it doth not behaue it selfe vnseemely it is kinde not with respect to Gods glory or any spirituall end but to the recompence of present reward or in hope of gaining their fauour which may aduantage it Not late experience of our owne misery can make vs poore men more compassionate to our miserable brethren then one ambitious man is courteous or kinde vnto another or ready to further him in causes that doe not crosse his owne preferment And happie were they in their mutuall kindnesses were not these full of cruelty towards the poore and needy From a generall consideration how mightily that golden rule Whatsoeuer yee would that men should doe vnto you euen so doe vnto them is violated by the mighty of our times I was moued some yeeres agoe to vtter publikely what no experiments which I could since obserue as yet occasion me to recall that if all the calamities either immediately laid vpon men of meaner rancke by God or procured by their owne follie and ouersight were laid together in one ballance all would not equalize the grieuances which befall them by the mutuall gratifications of great ones who either spare not to sacrifice the life and substance of the needy with whose miseries the huge distance of their places will not suffer them to be affected vnto others luxury or superfluous pleasures with whose vnnecessary wants through the vicinity of their estates and like conditions they easily and exactly sympathize or else to ease themselues of some light care in preferring their dependants respect not what heauy burthens fall vpon inferiours by these vnnecessary aduancements of their fauorites Againe vnto what meane seruices and base emploiments for satisfying bodily lust or desires of reuenge will these infernall sonnes of pride prostitute themselues to gaine some present interest with hope of future soueraignty in seely impotent discontented soules And did he not well characterize the ambitious man that said vt dominetur aliis prius seruit curuatur obsequie vt honore donetur How many in our times would be willing so God would graunt it to take Chams curse vpon them for their present blessing euen to be serui seruorum slaues to great mens seruants so they might hope at length to dominere in the tents of Sem or beare rule ouer the tribe of Leui Lastly there is a property wherein the hellish fiend the bewitched loue and the ambitious minde are vniuocall communicants For though all of them daily complaine of their vexations as being howerly tortured with those things which they most affect yet can no inducement draw them to desist still as it were striuing to entangle themselues faster in the cordes or bonds of their cruell rackes 3. Or if the troubles of minde wherewith the ambitious mans suites are still sollicited and their accomplishment perpetually attended did want that sting whereby euen his sweetest delights become too deare he were to be thought very vnwise or wise in his generation onely that would forgoe the pleasant opportunities of a priuate life for the right setting of his faith for the encrease of his deuotion or gaining greater frequencie of more familiar and secret conference with the spirit of truth albeit he were sure to gaine a kingdome by employing his wits another way For what doth it aduantage a man to gaine the whole world with danger of loosing his owne soule yet is he very likely to loose it that hath but small time to seeke it and as one saith nemo occupatus bonam mentem inuenit he that is much busied in other matters whereunto God particularly hath not called him can hardly be at leasure to search much lesse to finde in what tearmes his owne soule stands with her Creator or faithfully to make vp those accounts our Sauiour exacts at our hands ere we can be worthy of his seruice Yet of all businesses ambitious emploiments most hinder the true knowledge of our selues whose first elements are Dust thou art and vnto dust shalt thou returne Dust then being our natiue foile and last home to which we must by a decree most certaine one time or other but vncertaine whether sooner or later repaire by soa●ing aloft we doe but make our wearisome way the longer and crookedder and our fall especially if suddaine more grieuous And seeing such aspiring thoughts as we harbour did ouerturne the great tempter himselfe that which a religious father obserued of pride in generall is most proper to this branch at whose rootes we strike vntimely desire of promotion such as are ouergrown herewith need not tempter the diuell cannot wish them more harme then they are ready to doe themselues by zealous following that course which brought him to his fall Cease I shall to wonder hereafter what spirit should moue such young and tender oliue plants as scarce thriue vnder the wals of Gods house or such vines as hardly beare fruite in the warme and wel-fenced vale to affect remoouall to the cold and open mountaines exposed to blasts of noisome windes Is it their glory to bee aboue others of their owne rancke and education This might be purchased with lesse danger to themselues and more good to Gods Church if they sought to ouertop them more by their owne proper height or seasonable well furnished growth then by mere aduantage of ground For when euery valley shall bee exalted and euery hill and mountaine made low vntil the crooked become straight and the vneuen places plaine the fruit which hath growne in the vale will appeare both higher and better then the ordinary ofspring of the mountaines O that men were so wise as in heart to consider that the lower their place