Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	gentile_n	heart_n	write_v	7,180	5	5.8793	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09918	An euident display of Popish practises, or patched Pelagianisme Wherein is mightelie cleared the soueraigne truth of Gods eternall predestination, the stayd groundworke of oure most assured safetie by Christ. Written in Latin by that reuerend father, mayster Theodore Beza, and now lately Englished by VV.H. preacher of the Gospell.	Bèze, Théodore de, 1519-1605.; Hopkinson, William.	1578 (1578)	STC 2018.5; ESTC S113313	179,020	284

rather to do agayne the worke of god Nor doe I onely say that that may be gathered of their former speach laste we should contende in disputing whether that were there meanyng or no but I say that self thing which themselues confesse And so much the rather they especially determine that thing with thēselues that they may bedasle consciences to the ende that men voyde of al care might accomplish whatsoeuer came in place and whatsoeuer they desired as if God had giuen his lawe in vayne whereby good might be discerned from euill But I aske this one thing of them whether we haue not in the lawe the declaration of the Diuine will but by that God hath pronounced that whoredome thefte murther and as it foloweth couetousnesse hatred enuie ambition and others of lyke forte doe displease him Nowe if they may be sayde to be acceptable to him is he not teproued of a lie Moses witnesseth that the lawe was giuen that we might learne to serue God to sticke to him and to obey hys will leaste wée prouoke his wrath agaynst vs with our sinnes These miserable men doe indeuour this that they may finde out in vs the like thoughts And least we should conceiue any thing they binde vp our eyes with this swathing bande that is that all things are done by the will of God therfore that nothing doth displease him as if God were mutable and agréed not with himselfe or a dissembler affirming that he hateth detesteth that which yet he lusteth and aloweth For this saith Paul the wrath of God commeth vpon the vnbeleuers Ye make sadde the Spirite of God saith Isay You haue bene burthenouse to me saith the Lorde in an other place Also the Lorde is vehemently angry with and his displeasure is inflamed against Israell I know in déede that God is not subiect to mens affections but all these speaches do signifie that he disaloweth and condemneth euill and that therefore sinne is the cause of enmities twixt vs and him and that wée can not so long as we do euill agrée with him that rather we may looke for correction and reuengement seyng he is a iust indge who cā suffer no iniquity We almost read in the whole Scripture nothing else but these exhortations Feare the Lord take héede thou offend him not takehéede auoyde euill But these madde men do exclayme the cōtrarie that it is foolish to feare least we offend him sith we do nothing eyther good or euill but he worketh all things in vs Paul saith that the very Gentiles wāting both Scriptures and doctrine haue the lawe written in their hartes that is a conscience wherewith they eyther defende or accuse thēselues before god These euill disposed men endeuor to deface it denying that there is any thing wherof we may be accused seyng all things are done of god How should they shame to peruerte the Scriptures when they dare doc so much that they feare not to deface that persuasi● naturally infixed printed in our mindes of God if for the excusing of our selues we would alleadge ignoraunce God sendeth vs to our conscience which can abundātly teffifie against vs But these madde men hauing suppressed this testimonie say that God ought first to accuse himself if he wil intend any accusation against vs seing he worketh all things in vs Moses calleth that a roote bringyng forth gall Wormewood when with starterings we endeuour to suppresse al rentorse of conscience so deceaue our selues that we should thinke wickednesse to be sport An in very déede what poyson rā be more deadly pestilent in al the world Also he calleth that to ioyne dronkennesse to thirst and by good right for our natural affection is an inordinate appetite and as it were a thirst to do wickedly When therfore we blesse our selues as he saith in that place and persuado our selues that we shall haue peace so long as we liue loosely wickedly that is euen so as as if one vehemently inflamed with thirste shoulde make himselfe drunke with wine least he should any more be moued with any sence when he ought rather to haue brydled and repressed I is thirste with sobrietie and abstinencie An excellent place truly for our instruction that we may vnderstande what poyson lurketh vnder the honie whiche these vnluckie men deliuer vnto vs Yet notwithstandyng they continually apply themselues to thys outscape that there is vtterly nothing done besides the will of god But I answere that for that belongeth to the workes that we doe Gods will is to be considered of vs in suche forte as himselfe declareth the same As for example when he commaundeth euery thing to be kept to his proper owuer that losse and iniurie be not done to any there bys will is euident What therefore may please him further ought not to bée searched for we knowe that if wée doe that we shall obey his will but if not we shall not be accepted of hym If any therefore should steale and say then that he hath done nothyng besides the will of God he lyeth impudently seyng he hath transgressed the commaundement of God in the whiche he was gyuen to vnderstande of it Some one will aske whether any thing can be done agaynst the will of God I graunt their can not But we muste vtterly take héede that we inquire not of his prouidence which is vnknowne to vs sithe wée knowe what he requireth of vs what he aloweth or what be condemneth Salomon affirmeth not without cause that it will come to passe that hée shall be confounded of the glory that searcheth the maiestie And of truthe it is for euer necessarie that it fall out so and that this way the arrogancie of the proude be punished That we haue by experience in these who when they will clyme aboue the cloudes that they may searche out the will of God when they are not contented with the reuelation whiche is set bowne thereof in the Scriptures they runne headlong into so absurde and beastly dotages as is horrible bothe to be spoken and hearde OF the thirde onsequence which the Libertines drawe out of this proposition God doth all things that is that it is not lawfull to reproue any thing Chap. xvi AFter they haue so let louse the raynes to al as they suffer euery one to liue as he liste by this cullor that they suffer themselues to be gouerned of God from the same ground they gather that it is wickedly done if he be iudged for any matter But they cā haue no sitter doctrine whereby they may make way to their abominations For they haue gained much whē they haue closed or rather shut vp that eyes of their auditors that no man dare any more iudge whether their sayings and doings be good or euill But if we graunt them this whereto is this sentence of God whereby he curseth all those that call euill good Sée how God denounceth all things to vs

from him who of all men shall hée moste miserable Doest thou not heare howe Paules teaching was accepted at Athens Doest thou not heare Paule crying out that the natural man conceiueth not those things which are of God What sayst thou to these goodman For indéede so the matter standeth The Lorde communicated the benefite of the Gospell with all people whome therefore the Prophet calleth vpon to aduance the glorie of god For neither wil the Lord be praised of euery one but only of the Saints as it is written O ye righteous reioyce in the Lorde it becommeth well the iust to be thankefull And in an other place God said to the vngodly man why doest thou make mention of myne ordinaunces and takest my lawes in thy mouth It is therefore necessarie that that thankesgiuing whiche is acceptable and pleasaunte to God procéede from sayth séeing that without sayth nothing can please god And fayth cōprehendeth God not such as we conceyue him by our common sense for as Iohn sayth darkenesse doth not cōprehend the light but such as he hath set forth himselfe to be beholden and loked vpon in his worde in whose hartes the day starre hath shined But séeing now by almoste infinite testimonies of both testaments wée haue so manifestlye proued that not all things vniuersally but euen euery thing is gouerned by the prouidence and eternall decrée of God euen so muche that God willeth iustlye and accomplisheth also those things iustlye whiche both Satan and men wil iniustly and performe vniustly and that no infection of the mouings or actions may reache vnto the first cause but bicause it procéedeth from the depraued beginnings of the instruments there also it remayneth finally séeing we haue manifestly shewed that there is vtterly nothing done which redoundeth not to the glorie of God in so much that euen by our lye the truth of God is aduaunced what remayneth but the thou packe hence with thy moste foolishe and false argument And that which thou pratest of a bearde and one hauing a bearde doth it not manifestly proue what mind thou broughtest to handle these secretes of God For what hath a beard or one bearded to do with the kingdom of God Yea who wil not thinke that these so foolish things are rather vttered of a childe being an infante than of a bearded man But in déede thou diddest miserably feare least thou shouldest loose the pleasant scoffe Yet I wil aunswere thée in few words least thou complain the we deride those Arguments which we can not scriously confute A beard is of a méere naturall motion sinne of a voluntarie motion and therfore corrupt bycause that wil is corrupte iudgement corrupt vnderstanding corrupt appetyte corrupt and finally whole man enbondaged to sinne Yet that thing causeth not as we haue shewed by the testimonie of Scripture alreadie set downe that the Lorde should abandon himself from the soueraigntie of his effectuall prouidence wherby it is that he no lesse iustlye rightly inclyneth bendeth and directeth euen the euil wils whether soeuer it pleaseth him than if they were not corrupte But sée thou of what iudgemente it is to compare things so dissonant as if they were vtterly like that is that which is méere naturall which is voluntarie The Sycophants seuenth Argument to the eleuenth Sclaunder If Caluin shal say that this is the secret iudgement of God and to vs vnknowen we answere that in deede there be certaine secrets of God which we knowe not but that which belongeth to iustice that is knowen to vs and manifested in the Gospel according to which reuealed Gospel as Paul teacheth not after that secret iudgement of Caluin wil God iudge the world and so it shal follow from al as wel godly as vngodly for as wel the godly as vngodly shal see that it is iust that those that haue not obeyed the trueth not secrete such as is Caluines but reuealed such as is the Gospels may bee punished those which haue obeyed may receiue reward THE REFVTATION There wants somewhat in this thy writing but it is his fault to whom thou cōmittedst thy booke to be writtē For otherwise in déede with greate trustinesse all thinges are printed out of that very coppie whiche thou sentest to Paris to be printed there by stealth But to the matter Why I pray thée makest thou mention of these things For do we saye that there is another rule of good and euill of iuste and vniuste than the lawe of God Do wée shewe another waye of saluation than the Gospell of the sonne of God so as it remaineth written Or do we saye it shall come to passe that God shall iudge the world by any other prescription than by his worde Or rather are not we the men which not only haue auouched the auctoritie of the worde of God for oure vttermoste against the Papistes but also against thy selfe thrée yeres ago when thou biddest that newe reuelations be looked for bycause the word of God such as is deliuered vs by the Prophets Apostles suffiseth not to decide the controuersies of the Churches But arte not thou the verye man whiche in thy Commentaries vppon the first Epistle to the Corinthians affyrmest that Paule hath but onely taughte vs the rudimentes of religion and that he had an other more perfect doctrine whiche he cōmmunicated with certaine his perfect Schollers Howe is it therefore that being so suddainely chaunged thou risest againste vs as if we rested not in the onely words of God Is it that thou maist shewe that thou haste repented But truelye we be the same men we were nor haue we learned at anye time to reste anye where but in the onely worde of god God shall iudge the worlde by the Gospell that is whosoeuer he shall finde embracing Christe by faith whiche indéede will appere by their fruits be wil forgiue declare them Coheires with Christe the reste being worthily condemned he shall giue ouer to be tormented in eternall flames By this will of the heauenly father I say Christe shall iudge the quicke and the deade But what madnesse is this to gather of that that al the counsels or iudgements or all the iustice and will of God are manifest to vs that is whatsoeuer he doeth is manifest vnto vs and whatsoeuer he hathe decréed of euerie one and in euerie one from euerlasting But arte not thou verie he whiche canste expresse vnto vs the reasons of all Gods counsells or also of his iustice whiche he hathe vsed both to wardes the gooly and also towardes the vngodlye from since the foundations of the worlde were laide and also hereafter shall vse doest not thou I saye knowe all these secreats of Gods eternall prouidence Yea thou wilte say I grant that there are certaine secreates of God whiche we know not but al his iustice I saye is manifest to vs But a little before thou denyedst that any wil of God was vnknowen But doe not the secreates of God

that there is an vniuersall grace of God that is that it is confusedly offered to al without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without respect of persons there is in verye déede no difference But we in déede dos teaching togither with the doctrine do ioine the vse therof But thou when thou neither vnderstandest what this doctrine is nor what is the vse therof nor hast with sufficiet diligence read their writings whose name authori ti● thou blemishest with thy blasphemies what dost thou else but bewray thine ignorance ioined with intollerable lewdnesse But that other place of Peter which the cytest wherein it is sayde that God will haue no man perishe we haue sufficiently expounded in the Refutation of the ninth Argumente vppon the firste slaunder Therfore I come to the thirde testimonie For thou sayest God sent his sonne into the earth whose righteousnesse did superabounde wheresoeuer sinne did abound Here I can not ynough maruel at thine impudencie For I reade not in Paule Wheresoeuer sinne abounded but where sinne abounded that there abounded grace But indéede the Apostles purpose in these words is not to shew how largely the benefite of Christe extendeth that is whether it belong to all or to certaine onelye but rather to she we this one thing that the lawe of Moyses did not therefore excéede the lawe of nature that any should be iustifyed in it but of the contrarie that men might the rather be holden conuict and guiltie but when men are toyled in that miserable condition that the grace of the Gospell hath appeared which should abounde abone sinne and shoulde bring the greater benefite to men by so much how much more was the bondage of sinne which had increased by the lawe Who maye not thinke that thou haste losse al iudgemēt of minde when thou wrytest these to that end the thou mayst prone that God willeth that al men should be saned Now I come to the place of Iohn wherein thou thinkest it is sayd that the light of the iustice of Christ doth lighten all that commeth into this world But who wyll graunt thée this For by the name of light ther I graūt that Christe is signifyed but in respect of creation not redēptiō For Iohn describeth the excellency of the eternall worde by whose power and goodnesse séeing all things are created and men themselues especially beyng indued with the light of vnderstāding do line yet bycause this light hath shined to the blinde the blinde haue not acknowledged the light This when Iohn had sayde in the beginning of the Chapter afterwardes interserting mention of Iohn Baptist he vrgeth the same in two verses of the same chapter that is the ninth and tenth Then from the beginning of the eleuenth verse he commeth to the comming of Christ That this is the natural meaning of this place I hope they will graunt me whosoeuer haue diligently weyghed those things that be spoken there For ouer and abone that this is the order of speach say I praye thée by what meanes at the last wilt thou prone that they are al lightned of Christ that come into the worlde Is it bycause they are all made partakers of the grace of Christ But Iohn addeth that Christ was not receiued of his but of a certaine who bycause they were borne of God did therfore beléeue Furthermore thou canst not deny that the benefite of Christ is receiued only by faith But faith cōmeth by grace and not by nature nor is it giuen to all men All therefore are not lightened of Christ that is made partakers of the grace of the Gospell But wilte thou flée to that vniuersall preaching of the Gospel and wilt say that the light of Christ is offered to all albeit very manye will refuse it being offered But euen this could neuer be saide of euery man For tel me before the comming of Christ howe many yeares passed in which as Paule sayeth God suffered the Gentyles to walke in their own wayes where was then the light of Christ that was to come among the Gentiles Yet I graunt that they all had so muche light in the meane time as is sufficient to make them without excuse séeing their conscience was to them for a law and by the sight of visible things they ought to haue bene recalled from Idolatrie But we aske of the light of the Gospell where with thou saist that all men that is euery man is lightened at the least outwardly But I affirme that before the cōmyng of Christ the greatest part of the world was not lightened with the beames of this light neyther inwardly nor outwardly But after comming to Christe I graunte in déede that the light of the Gospell was dispersed into al landes but arte thou so sottishe that thou thinkest that thys benefite belongeth to euery man and not rather to certaine that is to the electe of all people loke nowe at the least what is the countenance of the world and sée how many there be in the vniuersall compasse of the earthe whiche die before they heare neuer so little report of the Gospel Is the Lorde therefore cruell to you in déede as I sée when a certaine felowe euen of thy familiars in a little booke whiche he published thrée yeares past of the Largenesse of the Mercie of God had rather defende that they are neuerthelesse saned by Christe to whome the Gospell was not preached than thinke that so manye menne are inthralled to eternall tormentes But we veryly haue learned not to place healthe anye other where than in Christe nor Christe elsewhere but in the faythfull and the faythfuls house so farre is it off that therefore we shoulde accuse God of anye cueltye that of the contrarie we say not that hée is cruell if he hadde reiected euen all to one séeing we are all by nature the children of wrath Let vs also procéede further For albeit we shoulde not be borne the children of wrath yet if it should be the wil of God for the declaring of his power and wrathe sake to create al to destruction let vs rest silent as it is right in that will as in the soueraigne and alone rule of Iustice For what is more iuste than that men iudge that to be truely iust and good whiche God doeth albeit they cannot comprehend hys iudgements But if be dampne moe than he doeth sane he doeth not therefore séeme to vs more readie to wrath than to mercie bycause the mercie of God by Christ is so greate that albeit it should appertaine to one manne onely yet for that it belongeth to vs this goodnesse of God shall be greater by manye degrées than his iuste wrath againste the rest For whereas he is angry wyth sinnes he séemeth after a sorte to doe it of necessitie and whereas euen for the safegard of one man he made himselfe man that in verye déede séemeth after a sorte more infinite than infinitenesse it selfe It remayneth that we consider that moste swéete voice of Christe