Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	enter_v	kingdom_n	lord_n	7,476	5	4.1420	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07444	The iudge of heresies one God, one faith, one church, out of which there is no saluation. Excluding all infidells, Mahumetans, Iewes, obstinate papists, and other heretikes of all sorts, and consequently all newters, who conforme themselues onely externally to any religion, from hope of participation of the kingdome of heauen. If they finally persist therein, and returne not to the knowledge and zealous profession of the true faith. By Iohn Merideth, Sub-Deane of Chichester.	Meredith, John, b. 1579 or 80.	1624 (1624)	STC 17830; ESTC S112660	68,232	98

shall not haue the Kingdom of Heauen no more can sinfull Catholiques possesse it He saith Anselme who will be of the number of the Elect let him labour to be of the number of the fewest Saint Augustine speaking of such who were Baptized and after dyed in mortall sinne saith That they were of the great multitude of those Lib. de corrept ●t Gram. who were called but they were not of the few of the Elect. And now what sayest thou ●oolish man wouldest thou haue me to say that All are and shall be saued I cannot blesse where God hath cursed Heare Augustine Before the Incarnation of Christ 4000. yeares of the world passed away In which time all were damned except a few of the Lib. de vero cult●● children of Israell See what an infinite multitude went to Hell Saint Peter saith The righteous scarcely shall be saued where 1. Pet. 4. then shall be vngodly and sinner appeare If this will not satisfie thee heare the infallible truth Our Lord Iesus Christ confirming this conclusion one saith vnto him Lord are there few that shall be saued Our Lord answered him and his fellowes Luc. 13. Striue to enter by the narrow gate for I say vnto you many shall seeke to enter and cannot Seeing therefore the aunswere ought to bee vnderstoode and expounded according to the tenour of the praecedent Interrogation wee may conclude and vndoubtedly hold that by this aunswere the Lord determineth nothing else but that fewe should bee saued And therefore Augustine expounding these wordes saith The Lord confirmed that Lib. de ver● Dom. which hee spake that is that there are fewe who are to be saued because fewe enter by the narrow gate For in another place hee saith the same The way which leadeth vnto life is narrow and few● there are that enter by it Vpon which wordes saith Ambrose Flendum magis quam proferendum plure● damnari quam saluari Wee may rather weepe then vtter it that moe shall be damned then saued for that which is affirmed by the truth can bee reprooued by no mans contradiction But what neede I cumber you with authorities seeing our conclusion is expresly preached by our Lord Iesus Christ saying Many are called fewe are chosen Therefore Augustine shewing the small number of those that shall be saued saith Arbitror tres mundipartes fore damnand●s Lib. de ver● Cu●tu c. I suppose three parts of the world shall be damned because among them Infidels or Heretickes doe raigne but of the fourth part what shall I say but with Saint Iohn Totus mundus in maligno positus est The whole world is set on mischiefe For what are the men of our time for the most part proude co●etous luxnrious gluttons drunkards murtherers fornicatours adulterers and worse wrathfull en●ious negligent in good workes and plunged in all manner of sinnes and wickednesse and therefore they must needes p●rish Now that no man despaire I say notwithstanding the praecedent position That the Elect who shall all be saued are infinite if you consider them absolutely in themselues God said vnto Abraham I will make thee a mighty Nation and againe I will make thy seede as the dust of the earth then shall thy seede be Gen. 13. ●umbred The Angell S●al●●h the seruants of God in their forehead Ap●calips 7. whose number was 144000. of all the Tribes of the children of Israel beside a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues stoode before the Thron● and before the Lambe cloathed with long white Ro●bes and palmes in their hands But if you speake respectiuely and compare them with the damned I say they are very few The drops of water that are in a Well or Riuer are infinite but if you compare them to the number of the drops of water that are in the Ocean they are very fewe And this is approued by Augustine who saith Lib. deverb D●m Non contrarius est sibi dominus c. Our Lord doth not speake contraries who saith That there are fewe that enter by the narrow gate and in another place he saith Many shall come from the East and the West and shall sit with Abraham Isaac and Iaccb in the Kingdome of heauen for they are fewe in comparison of the damned but many in the society of the Angels The Corne is hardly seene when the floore is threshed but the Masse which shall come out of this floore will be so great that it will fill the Barne of heauen For this cause our Sauiour termeth the Elect pusillum gregem a little Flocke in respect of the multitude of the Reprobate Luc. 12. Wherefore though they bee fewe in respect of the damned yet let no Christian despaire but rather labour to keepe the profession of our hope without wauering and make sure his saluation by good workes in Christ Jesus and so shall hee bee sure that hee is one of those fewe that shall be saued Now I will answere in a word or two the principall obiections which are made against this position omitting many idle absurdities whose very rehearsall were a sufficient c●nfutation of them as that of Origen who being ouer mercifull said That the diuell himselfe and his Angels should in processe of time after they had suffered long and grieuous ●pip●am Epist ad I●b Hierosol torments proportionable to the Merits of their sinnes be deliuered out of their torments and be ioyned with the holy Angels and returne to their first state and dignity in the Kingdome of heauen Of which opinion Augustine speaking saith Sed illum et propter hoc et propter alia nonnulla c. Non Immerito reproba●it Lib. 21 de ci●●● Dei cap. 17. Ecclesia But the Church did worthily condemne him for this and sundry other errors for by seeming to be too mercifull he lost mercy As also that which said that All mankinde should bee saued by the intercession of the Saints in the day of Iudgement confuted by Augustine in the same Booke and now Cap. 18. I come to the chiefe obiections The first is made from the Apostles wordes God would haue all men to bee saued They argue from the will of God and the vniuersality of the Terme All Gods will is immutable the Terme vniuersall and as the law saith Qui totum dicit nihil excludit hee that saith All excepteth nothing First for the will of God I answere with Saint Augustine When wee heare and reade in the holy Scriptures that God would haue All men to bee saued Enchirid. Cap. 6. ● though wee are sure that all men are not saued Wee must not therefore derrogate any thing from the most omnipotent will of God but so vnderstand that which is written who would haue all men to bee saued as if hee should say that there could no man bee saued but hee whom hee would haue saued Not that there is no

it is the cause of his owne destruction or if a man would goe vnto a place and knoweth not the way which leadeth thereunto but hauing a conuenient guide to direct him at hand enquireth not the way is not the cause of his going astray to bee imputed vnto himselfe If thou seest a Stranger or blinde man to goe out of the way thou art bound to recall him and direct him aright and to deliuer him from danger much more thy selfe Wherefore that Negligence in not seeking the way of truth and saluation is culpable and damnable neither may you pretend Ignorance For God gaue his diuine precepts to this end Vt homo de Ignorantia excusationem non habeat that Man might not Aug. lib. d● G●a lib. arb pretend Ignorance for an excuse But say that a man should fall among two Doctors of contrary profession the one an Orthodoxall Christian the other a Popish Hereticke and bee not able of himselfe to iudge whom he should beleeue would God require at his hands that he should diuine which is the true Faith I answer that in this case he must implore Gods helpe as Augustine saith and earnestly intreat him that he would enlighten his heart and vnderstanding to that part of the contradiction which is true and acceptable vnto him and we may presume that God in his mercy will open vnto him that so knocketh and that if his negligence in seeking after the truth or some other soule Sinne hinder not God will so worke in his heart that hee shall not giue way vnto error for God preserueth them that loue him Extra de spons cap. Iuvents Otherwise if he feare to bee perplexed hee must follow the counsell of the Law Semper in re dubia securior tutior pars est eligenda in euery distresse by scruple or doubt we must cleaue vnto that part which is most secure and safe But the Religion of the Protestants is the most safe for the Soule especially in the fundamentall point of Iustification as their best Diuine after long cauillation confesseth in these words Propter incertitudinem Iustitiae propriae periculum in an is gloriae tutissimum Bellarum lib. 5 de Iustisicat Cap. 7. est fiduciam totam in sola Dei miscricordia benignitate reponere Because of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaine-glory it is the safest way to repose our whole trust in thealone mercy and loue of God The which when he proued to be true by many testimonies of the Fathers he concludeth his Chapter with these words following His accedit ratio manifesta c. And reason confirmeth the former position for saith hee Either a man hath true merits or else he hath not if he hath not he is dangerously deceaued and seduceth himselfe by trusting in false Merits for they are false Riches which hinder the true Riches But if he hath he loseth nothing thereby in not trusting in them but in God only for God knoweth them well and considereth them and will not suffer them to be vnrewarded To this purpose and almost in the same words speaketh Rosfensis in his Booke De fide miserecord●a Dei. Ad Axie●●● 12. But aboue all that we might be vnexcusable God hath assigned vnto vs a certaine remedy to preuent error and heresie whereinto we might be seduced by false teachers and that is Confeience with the holy Scriptures Thus the Berrhaeans daily searched and examined the Scriptures Act. 17. to know whither that which Paul and Sylas preached were true or not Chrysostome expounding these words When yee shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place saith That Christians that would be secured of the true faith are commanded to flyeto no other thing then vnto the Scriptures Our Lord said that the Sadduces error sprang from their Ignorance of the Scriptures for which cause St. Ierome would haue vs In lib. 3. in Epla ad I phes cap. 4. reade them diligently that like cunning exchangers we may bee able to discerne good coyne from counterfeit for as another saith They who are conuersant in the Scriptures cannot be deceiued by T●co●● Sup. cap. 15. Luc. any meanes for they are the Lanthorne whereby the thiefe is discryed The abridging hereof from the people hath beene in all ages the cause of ruine of Religion Our Sauiour chargeth the Lawyers that they tooke away the Luk. 17. key of knowledge they would not enter themselues and hindred other who would enter into the kingdome of heauen On which words saith Lyra Similes sunt Doctores Ecclesiae speaking of his owne time Such are the Doctors of the Church who hinder the vnderstanding of the truth which is necessary vnto S●luation with strange and curious words and opinions The Doctors and Teachers in the Romish Sinagogue where Satan dwelleth imitating the aduice of Varro the Heathen Philosopher preach vnto the simple credulous people meere falshoods and shut vp the truth Inter par●etes scholarum within the precincts of their Schooles to be disputed of though by their disputations they neuer attaine vnto it Neither will they suffer the people to search any farther or to seeke for the truth least they should forsake their damnable falsehood● And this was an old pollicy of the Pagans whereof saith Lactantius Hinc sida silentia Sacris instituta sunt vt nesciat Lib. 5. de Iustitia cap. 20. populus quid colat Cunning fellowes silenced Men from acquaintance with sacred matters that the multitude should not knowe what they worshiped In what a miserable case are such people who belieue they knowe not what not beeing able to giue a reason why they should be perswaded but flye onely to the Iudgement of their Auncestors that they were wise and hang on the opinions of their seducing teachers that they approue they knowe what is best and consequently bere aue themselues of their sences rob themselues of reason while they giue credit to their errors and thus being wrapped vp in ignorance they know neither themselues nor their Religion But like the poore seduced people in the time of Arr●anisme Credunt quod non credunt Hillar ad Constant Intelligunt quod non intelligunt They beleeue without faith they vnderstand without knowledge This is no faith but Folly not effectuall to Saluation but bringing certaine damnation Constat fidem st●ltam non prodesse Aug. in qu●st ●et test qu●st 43. sed pot●us obesse It is certaine that foolish faith doth not proffit but rather hurt yet this is the thraldome of the poore people who beleeue this deceiptfull opinion that Minores saluantur in fide Maiorum The ignorant Lay-people are saued B●ll●rm lib. 1 de Justific cap. 7. by the f●ith of their learned Priests bee their faith meere falshood whereof saith the great Cardinall T● per obedientiam c. Thou canst not be deceiued by thy obedience toward thy Prelate whom

myracles doe not proceed from a loue toward God and to the end hee may be glorified in them are vnprofitable how shall those workes which are acted by him who hath no faith bee conducible to procure eternall life You are therefore danger●usly deceiued who presume that God regardeth not what or whether wee beleeue or not misapylying to that purpose which the Apostle Rom. 2. saith To euery man that doth good hee will giue glory and honour and peace to the Jew first and also to the Grecian and that because there is no respect of p●rsons with God For how can glory bee to the vnbeleeuers which is not giuen vnto any but vnto those who are iustified for those whom God Rom. 8. hath iustified he hath also glorified Or what honour shall be giuen to Infidels When Saint Peter teacheth that it is not giuen but onely to those that beleeue Or how shall there be peace vnto him who is not Ephe● 1. redeemed with the blood of I●sus Christ In whome God hath pacifiea the things which are in Heauen and in Earth for he is our peace who hath made of both one But this peace cannot bee poss●ssed without the faith and loue of Christ for wee being iustified by faith haue peace Rom. 5. with God through our Lord Iesus Christ through whome wee haue entrance by faith into this grace wherein we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God This hope doth not make vs ashamed because the loue of God is powred forth into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is giuen vnto vs for we haue receiued the spirit of Adoption whereby we crie Abba Father That therefore men may bee made the Sonnes of God they receiue the onely begotten Sonne of God by faith and by his gift they receiue this power from the Lord that they may beleeue in him and appertaine to the number of the Sonnes of God For as many as receiued him to them he gaue power to be made the Sonnes of God euen to those Iohn 1. that beleeue in his name In their hearts hee writeth his Law that is the Law of Ierem. 31. Faith which beeing inspired doth Iustifie This Lawe God doeth write in the hearts of his people not by the Condition of Nature but by the bountie of Grace not by the free will of Man but by the Ministery of the preaching of the Gospell not in stone by the Letter of the Old Testament but in the heart by the Spirit of the liuing God Hee writeth therefore the Law of faith by which God iustifieth the Gentiles that by giuing grace he might renew Nature And for this cause hee diffuseth Loue which is the fulfilling of the Lawe by his Spirit that hee may make men labour to fulfill that which hee commanndeth and he bestoweth the grace of Illumination by the Spirit of faith that therefore faith might worke by loue that which is pleasing vnto God The which as long as it is not in Man whatsoeuer hath remained in man written by the Lawe of Nature without the Law of Faith doeth not possibly saue him that doeth thereafter because God doeth iustifie no man without Faith neither can it purchase saluation vnto the worker● because that without faith it is impossible to please God Hebr. 11. Wherefore the Law of Nature by which a man preserneth the bond of humane Societie without faith if it bee fulfilled cannot suffice to saue the Soule as Diues would prooue But that Law by which a man knoweth and loueth God by beleeuing in him not by which a man growen proud doeth challenge vnto himselfe good workes or faith it selfe but by which hee doeth with humble subiection ascribe both his Faith and his Workes vnto God who doeth worke them mercifully in him for this is the nature of true faith so to compose and direct a mans heart That when a man heareth the precepts of God Iddonari sibi quod praecipitur poscat Et cum in fide operatur Fulgent lib. d●●●carn Christi cap. 27. gratia Dei se ●●giter adiuvari non ambigat He prayeth vnto God to make him able to doe that which he commandeth and when hee doth good workes as a beleeuer he acknowledgeth that hee is helped wholly to performe them by the grace of God But we say farther That hee that doth not beleeue cannot haue any true vertues as wee haue prooued before in part and wee adde besides that as faith without workes is no faith so workes without faith are no workes Saint Ierome saying Sine Christo omnis Virtus in vitio In cap 3. ad Galat. est Without the faith of Christ no vertue is faultlesse yea were they present they could bee of no continuance For if so bee the threatning of Hell the promise of Heauen the exemplary liues of inuumerable Saints and all other meanes which we can vse can hardly among vs who are Christians prese●ue m●n in vertuous actions what can wee thinke of those who liuing in Infidelitie and are destitute of these furtherances But that they are so farre from being preserued in the practise of vertues that it is not possible but that they should become starke naught and vitious Therefore I conclude That an innocent life and vertuous actions without the faith of Christ cannot suffice to saluation And I doe adde further that good deeds being found in any one who professeth Christ otherwise then the Scripture teacheth and the true Church beleeueth are wholly vnprofitable and no better then the forenamed false vertues of Infidels for Vbi sana fides non est non potest esse Institia 24. q. 1. cap. vbi Sana ex ●ugustin● there can bee no true righteousnesse where there is no sound faith Therefore let no man deceiue himselfe by confidence in an innocent and vertuous life if h●e die in a damnable and hereticall Religion such as is Popery heare Saint Augustine for a Summary Constituamus aliquem castum continentem Lib. 4. de Baptis●●● non auarum non Idolis seruientem c. Say there is a man who is chaste continent not couetous no Idolater giuen to Hospitalitie to Almes no mans enemy not contentious patient quiet hating no man envying no man sober thriftie but withall an Heretike Nulli vtique dubium est propter hoc solum quod Haereticus est regnum Dei non possessurum No man doubteth but for this cause onely for that he is an heretike hee shall not inherite the kingdome of God CHAP. 3. Declareth that a good Intention or meaning toward God auaile●h not Hereticks to preserue them from damnation without the right knowledge of the true faith where is proued that Negligence and Ignorance in matters of Faith is damnable which ought to bee expelled and preuented by diligent reading and examining of the Scriptures with a detection and con●iction of the Popish politicall tyranny in prohibiting the Laity from the reading of the Scr●ptures containing also an