Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	believe_v	eternal_a	live_v	4,587	5	5.4984	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B08923	Memoires of Mr. Des-Ecotais: formerly stiled in the Church of Rome the most venerable Father Cassianus of Paris, priest and preacher of the Order of the Capucins. Or, The motives of his conversion. Divided into two parts. I. That the doctrin of the now Roman church is not grounded neither upon the Holy Scripture; neither upon the belief of the primitive church or the authority of the Holy Fathers, which is more particularly and more evidently verified in the examination of the belief of Rome concerning the Eucharist. II. That the church of Rome is not the true church; that it doth not enjoy, as absolutely its own, out-shutting all other churches, neither the antiquity of the belief, neither the multitude of the people, neither the true and lawful succession of the bishops; that the authority thereof is not infallible, and that it is full of errors and corruptions.	Des Ecotais, Louis.	1677 (1677)	Wing D1174AA; ESTC R204416	150,657	428

Augmentation of the Sacraments of that Church the Ignorance of the Holy Scripture and the Invocation of Saints which in the Roman Church is gone as far as Idolatry are all grounded and lest some body should believe that I charge falsely the Church of Rome when I accuse it of Idolatry or lest some body should believe what the Papists use to say that it is but the common people that ground their hope upon the merits of the Saints and that the learned men who are lightned do not fall in so gross errors do but read the Psalter of the blessed Virgin Mary in the works of St. Bonaventure and you shall see that this Cardinal attributes to the blessed Virgin Mary all that which is attributed to God Almighty in Davids Psalmes and every where where the name of God should be he puts in the room the name of the Blessed Virgin pray can any thing be more impious and more wicked Neither can you say that that error is an error of a private man for I answer that it is a publick error in that Church and the error of the Church it self since in the book of the Mass upon St Nicolas's day (b) Decemb. 6. the Priest who says the Mass hath an order from the Church whereby he is engaged under the pain of a Mortal sin to pray God that by the merits and prayers of St. Nicolas they may be delivered from the fire of Hell Vt ejus precibus meritis à gehennae incendiis liberemur a Church which makes that prayer doth it not believe that it is by the prayers and merits of St. Nicolas that we are delivered from Hell and to believe that is it not to believe an horrible Impiety In the same book of Mass on the day (a) The 6th of July of St. Peter and St. Paul all the Roman Church prays to God that by the merits of these two Saints all men may obtain Eternal Glovy Vt amborum meritis aeternitatis gloriam consequamur then it is the errour of all the Roman Church and not of a private man to believe that it is by the merits of Saints we are to obtain eternal life And on the day (b) The 14 July of St. Bonaventure the Church of Rome prays God he would be pleased to absolve all men from their sins by the merits of that Saint ejus intercedentibus meritis ab omnibus nos absolve peccatis Now a Church which believes that it is by the merits of Saints that we are delivered from Hell that it is by the merits of Saints that we obtain eternal life that it is by the merits of Saints that our sins are forgiven is that a Christian Church could the Mahometans and Idolaters hold or think any thing more destructive of the merits and more opposite to the Glory of Jesus Christ could they invent an error more contrary to the truth of Christianity GENERAL CONCLUSION That I was engaged to go out of the Church of Rome whereof God Almighty made me know the errors by the degrees I have rehearsed in the two parts of this discourse AFter I had made that examination of the principles whereupon is grounded the Authority of the Roman Church after I had discovered the falsehood and the nullity of the reasons which she alledges to oblige the world to commit it self into her hands after I had found that Antiquity Multitude and Succession are not priviledges which the Church of Rome possesses above all other Churches after I had known that if the Church of Rome should enjoy all those priviledges above other Churches yet it would not be a good consequence from thence that it be the true Church and a Church freed from errors after I had discovered that all the infallibility of the Roman Church was grounded only upon the Authority of the Popes and that the greatness and Authority of the Popes was grounded but upon Ambition and Covetousness I understood that there was no other foundation of the true Religion but the word of God I acknowledged the truth of those Axiomes of St. Chrysostome (a) Homil. de Lazaro That the Ignorance of the Scripture procreates Heresies and that (b) Homilia 38. sup Joann the Scriptures bring us to God Almighty drive away Heresies and keep us from falling into error that thought imprinted it self upon my mind very strongly and made an end of scattering away the Clouds which Truth seemed to be wrapped in I knew manifestly that all points which are called Articles of Faith in the Roman Church but are not grounded upon the Scripture are indeed Articles of the Interest and of the Ambition of those who rule it and not Articles of Faith which are to be no other than Articles of the Word of God I understood well that that which was taught in that Church was the word of man not the word of God and that having no foundation in the Scripture they could not be sufficient Articles to oblige all men to believe them moreover in examining particularly and without preoccupation the Articles of Rome I knew them to be contrary to the Scripture so whereas at that time I acknowledged nothing but the word of God for the true rule of my Faith I concluded that all those Articles of Rome were so many errors and that having a natural obligation to forsake error assoon as we know it I was obliged to go out of the Roman Church to forsake altogether and faithfully all the errors which it stands for §. 1. The occasion of a Sermon about the Sacrament called again in my mind all the notions I had of the Errours of Rome THus I discussed the Articles of the Belief of Rome when the time of my obedience being finished I left the Monastery where I was near Saumur to come again to Paris there the F. Provincial who had disposed of his Secretary to send him to govern one of the Monasteries of our province spoke of making me his Secretary but the Divine Providence ordered it another way for the F. Provincial seeing that the F. General had taken upon himself all the care of our Province for the while he was to stay at Paris thought that it should be needless to take a Secretary that was the reason why he commanded me to go to preach at the Parish of Meudon which is a Borough six miles out of Paris That Place where God Almighty had begun some years before to lighten me with the light of his Truth seemed to me the place of all the world the most pleasing and the most well liked I preached every Sunday and every Holy-day which is kept by the Church of Rome till at last about the time that they Celebrate the days which are called Corpus-Christi-days being engaged to preach as I us'd to do I read again what I had written afore upon the matter of the Sacrament and I was troubled in reading what I had written What! said I must I abuse

them with the Zeal of their Salvation and to turn away their hearts out of Error as he did yours Ah! how many thanks are you to give to God Almighty that he has drawn you out of the Tyranny where you were born But we should be very glad to hear the particularities of your Conversion And it is to rehearse them that I undertook this Discourse to engage you to joyn your Thanksgivings to mine for to thank Him to praise Him and to glorifie Him admiring the Greatness of his Goodness and the Wonders he doth work in the Souls of those whom he has 〈…〉 § 2. The Conversion of a Man who did live in the errors of the Roman Church is a very great Miracle SAint Peter's Chains broken by themselves many Blind men recovering their Eyes many Sick bodies healed many Dead rais'd up again these are very great Miracles and marvellous Deeds of the Highest's Mighty Hand But the Divine alterations which Grace works in our Souls are a great deal more marvellous more worthy of God's Majesty better becoming his Almightiness The Man whom the Finger of God has touched to work the Miracle of his Conversion doth not know himself any more so considerable is that change he feels his Soul entirely perswaded of certain Truths which God has revealed which he regarded heretofore as so many lies and he finds himself delivered from a multitude of errors which he worshipped as the Truth it self Peradventure you would have supposed that the prejudications of Error which he found in his mind from his Child-hood might be like so many petty Tyrants and young Devils who perplex him who vex him who trouble the quietness of his Conscience and raise up in him dimness and darkness stealing from his Eyes the very light of Truth You are mistaken Grace gives him strength to dissipate the evil Spirits and to withstand Error He doth enjoy the light of the Gospel with a peace and quietness which cannot be expressed and as the dawning of the Day which comes first after Night is received by all Creatures with more pleasant and more delightful wellcome than the very Light of Noon so I dare say there happens sometimes the same thing in the state of Grace A Soul newly lightened enjoys sometimes the Light with more pleasure and sweetness than do those who have been all their life long in the broad day-light of the Gospel That a man should live in such a Tranquillity of Conscience as the Saints themselves enjoy in Heaven That he should find pleasure and sweetness in being perswaded of a Truth which he lookt upon before as an Heresie and did not think of without Horrour it is a prodigious work of the Highest it is Almighty Gods mighty hand A Christian who has prostituted himself to all his Passions who has dived into all kinds of Vices and Deboachments who has transgressed all the Commandements of God when Grace touches and Converts him it is a great Miracle yet that man who prostituted himself to all kinds of Vices did never conceive any horrour against those who follow Virtue He did consider Virtue as a very hard thing but not as an Abomination and in the very same time wherein he broke all the Commandements he thought not that it was a great sin to keep them He did not look upon those who observed them as so many Monsters as so many Franticks as a people who deserving the malediction of God and the execration of Men ought to be exterminated out of the World with Sword and Fire But a Man who did live in the errors of Rome before God had hightened him by his Grace he looked upon the Reformed Church as a Church full of Abomination he never spoke of those who follow that Church but with Imprecation and Cursing he never read any proposition of their Doctrin but presently he added an Anathema and damned them to the pit of Hell he had rather have the conversation of Devils than that of a Protestant In a word all the Invectives Raylings Imprecations Maledictions Anathematizations he could heap up were to be poured out upon those who do profess the purity of the Gospel When after all those Repugnancies and Estrangements which seemed to be an obstacle to Truth you see a Man mollified opening his Eyes to the Grace of God changing his Dispositions his Notions his Thoughts and all his Manners Is not that a prodigie of Grace Have I not reason to say that this Miracle is not only greater than that whereby God gives again Eyes to the Blind Life to the Dead but even a great deal more marvellous than that which Grace works in the Conversion of the greatest Sinners § 3. After what manner the Spirit of God made me understasnd my Errors THe Lord our God doth not always shew altogether at once the effects of his mighty Power nor doth he work always after the same manner in all the Conversions of Sinners He speaks sometimes with a thundering Voice which altogether at once beats down dazles and converts a Sinner And it was with such a Voice he spoke to (a) Act. 9. St. Paul when in a minute of time he turned him from the most furious Enemy of the Gospel into a very Zealous Preacher of the same Gospel Other times he begins to speak to a Sinner softly and a great way off He prepares him he prevents him and he puts him in the Dispositions he judges fit for his Conversion It is after this manner he converted the (b) Act. 8. Eunuch of great Authority under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians he doth not overturn him out of his Chariot he doth not cast him to the ground to Convert him suddenly as he did afterwards St. Paul but he dispoes him by the reading of the Scripture to receive the light of the Gospel And it is after this manner the Lord has been pleased to draw me out of the Errors of Rome and to bring me through his great Mercies to profess here freely the purity of his Holy Word This is that which I intend to rehearse in all this Discourse in the First Part whereof I will recite how I understood that the Doctrin of the now Roman Church is grounded neither upon the Authority of the Holy Scriptures nor upon the belief of the Primitive Church nor the Authority of the Holy Fathers And in the Second Part how I understood that the Church of Rome is not the True Church that its Authority is not Infallible and that it is full of Corruptions and Errors FIRST PART The Doctrin of the Roman Church is grounded neither upon the Scripture nor upon the belief of the Primitive Church nor the Authority of the Holy Fathers CHAP. I. How I understood the Doctrin of the Roman Church to be not grounded upon the Scripture §. I. The Reading of the Scripture disposed me before-hand to acknowledge the Errors of Rome BEing in the Ecclesiastical Orders of the Church of Rome I thought