Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	good_a	sin_n	sinner_n	3,410	5	7.5691	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68090	An apology or defence for the Christians of Frau[n]ce which are of the eua[n]gelicall or reformed religion for the satisfiing of such as wil not liue in peace and concord with them. Whereby the purenes of the same religion in the chiefe poyntes that are in variance, is euidently shewed, not onely by the holy scriptures, and by reason: but also by the Popes owne canons. Written to the king of Nauarre and translated out of french into English by Sir Iherom Bowes Knight.; Apologie ou défense pour les chretiens de France de la religion reformée. English	Gentillet, Innocent, ca. 1535-ca. 1595.; Bowes, Jerome, Sir, d. 1616.	1579 (1579)	STC 11742; ESTC S103023	118,829	284

part of this sentēce seemeth to forbidde a good deed for it sayth receyue not the sinner Vnderstand therefore that this is spoken by a figure taking the sinner for the sin to the ende that thou admit not any sinne Thus haue you heard the very wordes of S. Augustine which doe very well declare vnto vs as well by the rule as by the first example which he setteth downe that the eating of the flesh and bloud of christ in his supper ought to be vnderstoode spiritually sacramentally and not after the manner of the cannibals which is vtterly voyd of all humanity and good manners as those transubstantiatiers would make vs beleue And whereas the catholickes vphold that this sacramēt ought not to be distributed vnto the lay people but by halfes which they doe terme vnder one kinde the same is expresly cōdemned by their owne canons as hie treason towardes god For you shall here what a canon sayth which is taken out of the decrees of Pope Gelasius It is done vs to vnderstand that some hauing receyued the holy sacrament of the body do abstayne from the cup of the holy bloud which thing they ought not to do for in asmuch as it is euident that in so doing they entangle themselues in I wot not what a kind of superstition they ought to receyue the sacrament whole togither or els to abstayne from it altogither For the deuiding a sunder of one selfe same mistery can not be done without great trechery And furthermore where as the most part of the lay catholikes do content themselues with the receyuing of the sacrament onely once a yeare which is at Easter they are condemned by the canons which declare that those are not to be taken for catholikes which receyue not three times in a yeare These be the very wordes of a cannon taken out of the councell of Agatha The laye people which receyue not the Lordes supper at Christmas at Easter and at whitsontide let them not bee taken ne reputed for Catholikes Thus may all men perceyue iudge with what manner of passion these catholikes are caried away which do so boldly condemne the Protestants as heretiques for their doctrine concerning this poynt of the supper of the Lord and so do spitefully name them Sacramentaries as though they denied this sacramēt For in so doing they do also vnawares condemne their owne cānons which otherwise they esteme so greatly that many of them do attribute more authority vnto those Cannons than to the holy scripture saying that they be the determinations of the holy mother church wherunto they ought to sticke bicause the scripture is to obscure and may be taken both wayes But indede it is nothing so for the scripture hath but one sence which is easy to be found out of a man that is willing to learne by conferring one text with another But the cannons are in many cases quite contrary one to another I know full well that too shift off these contrarieties the schole men say that we must always hold vs to those that were last made But I answer them that that is asmuch to say as we must alwayes hold vs to the worst For euery man of sound iudgement may always easely perceyue that the ancient cannons are better than those of latter tyme. And further to abate the authority of their canōs by their canōs thēselues I say that the cannons do will vs to serch the vnderstāding of the obscure textes of the scripture in the scripture it selfe And those which seeke it elsewhere are the very scholemasters of errour These are the very wordes of a cannon What is more vngodly than to hold an vngodly doctrine and not to beleue those that are most wise and learned But all such do fall into this kind of ignorance as make not their recourse to the wordes of the Prophets to the writing of the Apostles and to the authority of the Euangelistes to learne the knowledge of the truth in any obscure poynt but will needes trust to their own wit And therefore they become scholemaisters of errour because they list not to be disciples of the truth Which cannon in very deede doth deeply in few wordes condemne the scholedeuines that make more accompt of the authority of the Cannons and doctors of the church than of the very text of the scripture which they accompt to be to obscure And true it is that some textes of the scripture are in some places very darke howbeit there is no text so obscure but it may be made playne by other textes of the same scripture Specially if they resort not to the cannons and decretalls but to the Hebrue text for the the olde testament and to the Greeke text for the new testament as S. Augustine doth teach vs who sayth in this wise Such as vnderstand the latine tongue must for the better vnderstanding of the whole Scriptures haue the knowledge of two other languages more that is to wit of the Hebrue and of the Greek to the end they may haue recourse to the very fountayne of the originall coppies when the diuersitye of the Latin rranslations doth breede any doubte And hereto accordeth a Canon which sayth thus Like as the trueth of the things that are contayned in the old Testament ought to be examined by the Hebrue books Euen so the truth which is written in the new Testament ought to be made playne and cleere by the Greek bookes I besech you what can be braied aagaynst this Canon by the whole herd of these Asses which are so bold as to say that the Hebrue and Greeke tongues be the Languages of Heritickes and therefore doe vtterly reiect and condemne them Do they not by the same meanes condemne the canons and auncient doctors And if they condemne them Are they to bee holden for good Catholickes Well let vs come now to speake of the Masse Of the Masse The viii Chapter THe difference betwixt the Masse and the Supper of our Lord is great For the Catholick schoolemen which vnderstand what the masse is for all of them vnderstand it not doe say that it is a Sacrifice whereby the Priest offereth vp the body and the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto God for the soule health both of the quick and of the dead Which Sacrifice is accompanied with diuers other parcels as accessaries that is to say with diuers prayers and diuers texts taken out of the gospels and epistles of the new Testament and with divers verses taken out of the Psalmes of Dauid and other bookes of the olde Testament and interlarded throughout with many and diuers Ceremonies And this goodly omnigatherū hath bene patched together at many Sondry tymes by dyuers Popes And that is the cause why the Catholickes do put the masse among the cōmaundementes of their holy mother Church For this commaundement Thou shalt heare masse vpō the Sondayes and vpon other feastfull dayes inioyned is the first

goodnes by heaping vpon vs his blessings as it were in recompence of the good works which he himself hath wrought in vs and in making vs to reap the fruit of his own labor and to receyue the reward which he himself hath deserued But touching the great and incōprehensible benefit of the gifte of eternall life and of knitting vs vnto him selfe in euerlasting happines he doth not geue it vs in any other respect or consideration thā only for the loue of his welbeloued sōne Iesus Christ That was the cause why he wold haue him to come down into this base world and to take our nature vpon him and to fulfill the law for vs and to beare our iniquities and greefes and at a word to be our Mediator our redeemer our high priest our Shepheard and our spirituall king All which titles he hath taken vpon him to saue vs and to be the onely cause of our euerlasting felicitie and to knit and incorporate vs vnto himselfe and to make vs partners for euer of his heauenly glory Yet may we not hereupon conclude that we should not doe good workes as though they stoode vs in no stead to saluatiō for they be fruits of faith and whosoeuer hath the true faith doth incontinently shew it by the good fruites and effectes which it bringeth forth in him And he that doth no good workes cannot saye that hee hath true fayth Besides that we also are sufficiently led to doe good workes by the great number of other benefites and blessinges wherwith God crowneth thē as we haue sayd before This is the sūme of the doctrine which the Protestants do hold concerning faith and good workes Whereby they yelde wholly vnto God and to our Sauiour Iesus Christ the honour which belongeth to hym as to the true onely cause of our saluatiō of all the good things which we haue and receiue aswell Spirituall as Temporal whatsoeuer they be It followeth then acording to our first Maxime that this doctrine is better thā the doctrine of the Romish catholicks who affirme that by theyr good works they deserue Paradise all the other good things which God geueth them that these good works do partly proceed of themselues and of their owne free will and partlye of Gods grace as if God alone coulde not saue them if they helped not the matter by their owne good workes which they hold to be part of the cause of their saluation which doctrine all men may easely perceiue to be repugnant to the nature of god For seing that he is altogether and perfectlye mercifull it must needes follow that those that be saued be saued wholly and not in part by his onely mercy which should not be perfect if the effect thereof were not perfecte and entyre Notwithstanding the Catholickes holde opinion still that their good workes are part of the cause of theyr saluation and that they be not saued by the onely mercy of God. Yea there are monkes which take themselues to haue such aboundance of good workes in store that they not onelye haue ynow wherewith to merite their owne saluation but also a great masse of ouerplus which they cal works of supererogation to purchase the saluation of other men but chiefly of such as do them good and geue them liberally of their temporall goods which doctrine in very truth all such as loue the name of God ought to reiect For it is an vtter defacing of the benefit of our lord Iesus Christ an attributing of the honor of our saluation to the vncleane works of sinners whereas in deed we ought to attribute the same to the death and passiō of the son of god who is without sinne Also it is to be discerned by Gods word which of the two doctrines is the truest and most auncient For the Scripture doth playnelye teache vs that we be iustified by fayth without the workes of the law so consequently by fayth onely when it sayth Wherfore no flesh shall be iustified before him by the workes of the law And it sayeth in an other place for you are saued by grace through fayth and not of your selues it is the gifte of God Not for workes leaste any man should boast of himselfe And in an other place it is sayd He hath saued vs not by the works of righteousnes which wee our selues haue done but of his owne mercy And Saynt Paule sayeth in an other place I esteme all things as doong so I may gain Christ and be found in him not hauing mine owne righteousnesse which is of the law but the righteousnes which cōmeth by beliefe in Christ Now as there is no comparison betwixt the desertes of Iesus Christ our sauiour and the desert of mens good workes no more than is betwixt the brightnes of the Sun a litle sparke of fire so must we needes confesse that our consciences do finde without all comparison far greater and excellenter quietnesse in the righteousnesse of fayth thā in the righteousnes of good workes And in that respect doth S Paule say Beeing then iustified by fayth we haue peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ By whom we haue also accesse through fayth to this grace wherin we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God. But yet this fayth which doth iustifye vs may not be void of good workes for then it were like the fayth of deuils who beleue that God hath commaunded the contentes of the tenne commaundementes but doe quite contrary For such a faith wyll not iustify vs as S. Iames doth teache vs And wheras the Catholicks hold opinion that we are iustified by the grace of Christ and our good workes both together S. Paule doth answere them thus If it be of grace then is it no more of workes for then grace were no more grace And if it be of workes It is no more of grace for thē were works no more workes And whereas the Monkes beare men in hād that by their good works of Supererogation they deserue Paradise for themselues and for theyr benefactors Iesus Christ doth aunswere them himselfe and vtterly cast down their pride and ouerwéening in that he sayth when you haue done all the things that are commaunded you say vnto your selues we are vnprofitable seruauntes we haue done no more than we ought to do Neither may we say that Iesus Christ doth commaūd vs to say so to make shew of humility for he who is the truth it selfe doth not cōmaūd vs to lye for any intent good or euil And therfore it followeth that seing he commaundeth vs to say that though we haue done al the cōmaundements which neuer any man did but onely Iesus Christ yet were we but vnprofitable seruauntes and god were nothing in our dette for it because we haue done nothing but that whereunto our duety bindeth vs I say it followeth that the same is certayne and true Dauid also doth

Christ The Lambe is the passeouer The circumcision is the couenaunt The sacrifice is the clensing of the law and Christ is the church For out of question all these textes are to bee interpreted figuratiuely Thus may you see that the doctrine of the Protestauntes touching the holy sacrament of the supper is grounded vpon the pure word of God. But now as touching the canons The Catholickes thinke they make altogether for them and for the vpholding maintayning of their transubstantiatiō as in deed there be of them which do and chiefly the canon before alleadged which is an abiuratiō that pope Nicolas caused to bee made at Rome by one Beringarius a deacon of the church of S. Mawrice of Angiers by which abiuratiō they inforced this poore man of Angiers to say and protest that he renounced the doctrine that he had holden aforetime wherby he had maintained that the bread and wine of the sacramēt remained bread and wine stil after the consecration that the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ could not be handled with the handes of men nor eaten with their teeth Declaring that contrariwise he there allowed the doctrine of the Romish church and of pope Nicholas that is to wit that after the cōsecration the bread and the wine doe chaunge and transubstantiate themselues into the very body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ and that the priest in putting the sacramēt into the mouthes of the faythfull doth sensibly handle Christes very body it selfe and that the faythfull doe crowze and crashe it betwixt their teeth But agaynst this goodly abiuration racked by pope Nicholas and a hundred and fourtene bishops out of this pore Deacon whom they helde amongest them in their clawes there are many other canōs to be opposed which are of a better stampe Thus sayth one of them which is taken out of S. Augustine wher he interpreteth these wordes of the Lord The wordes which I haue spoken vnto you are spirit life meaning of the eating of his flesh and of his bloud These words sayth he are spirit and life to those that vnderstande them spiritually But to those that vnderstand them carnally they are neither spirit nor life You shall not eate this bodye that you see neither shall you drinke the bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifye me the thing that I commend vnto you is a sacrament If you vnderstād it spiritually it will quicken you the fleshly vnderstanding thereof auayleth nothing at all Afterwards he concludeth thus The Lord shall be still aboue vntill the end of the world but yet in the meane while his truth shal remayn here amongest vs For it must needes be that the body wherein he is risen agayne is in a place certayne but his truth is spred euery where throughout the worlde And to shew that the flesh of our lord is not crushed so betwixt the teeth as Beringarius sayth in his abiuration here is an other canon taken also out of S. Augustine which sayeth thus To what purpose doost thou prepare thy teeth and thy belly beleue and thou hast eaten for to beleue in the Lord is to eat the bread and to drinke the wine who so beleueth in him eateth him And an other Canon following sayth thus That which is seene and perceiued with the eies is the bread and the cuppe but as in respect of sayth which seeketh to be taught the bread is Christs body and the cup is his bloud And because the receiuing of the sacrament is spirituall It followeth that at that supper the wicked receiue but the signes onely not the things signified whiche are the spirituall meat of Christes body and bloud And the same is auowed by an other Canon which sayth He that agreeth not with Christ eateth not his flesh nor drinketh his bloud though he receiue the sacrament to his vtter vndoing and damnation By these Canons it appeareth plainly that transubstantiation is reproued and condemned and so by cosequence the locall worshipping of the body of christ in the sacrament of the bread and wine But before I passe out of this matter I will alleadge one text of S. Augustines which is so cleare and fitte to confute this transubstantiatiō as is possible For first of all that men may learne to know what manner of speaches in the scriptures are to be taken figuratiuely and what are to be taken according to the letter he setteth downe this rule which is a very notable one If there be any thing sayth he so spokē in Gods word as that it can not properly agree with the comelines of good maners nor with the trueth of fayth you must take the same to be figuratiuely spoken Afterwardes to make this rule plain by examples he sayth these very wordes If then the maner of speaking be a precept so as it forbiddeth any crime and misbehauiour or commaundeth the thing that is good and behoue full such maner of speaking is not figuratiue But if it seeme to commaund an euill fact or to forbidde the thing that is good and behouefull then is it spoken figuratiuely Vnlesse you eate the fleshe of the sonne of man sayth our Lord and drinke his bloud you shall haue no life in you By this maner of speaking he seemeth to commaunde a cruelty and an euill facte in eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud therefore it is a figure wherby we be commaunded to become partakers of the passion of our Lord and to imprint gentlye and profitably in our memories that his flesh was māgled and crucified for vs. The Scripture sayeth likewise If thine enemye hunger feede him if he be a thirst geue him drink no doubt but in this case he commaundeth a good deede But wheras it followeth for in so doing thou shalt heape coales of fire vpon his head forasmuch as thou mayest thinke that he commaundeth a malicious deed doubt not but that this manner of speache is figuratiue and that those wordes may be taken two manner of waies the one to do hurt the other to do good Thou oughtest therfore rather to construe them according to charitye than otherwise and by those burninge coales to vnderstand the burning sighes of repentaunce wherby the pride of the party is healed in that he repenteth himself to haue bene an enemy to such a one as releeueth his misery and necessity Also it is written who so loueth his soule shal lose it Now It is not to be thought that he forbiddeth so requisite a thing as the sauing of a mans owne soule but that this speache ought to bee taken figuratiuely He shall lose his soule that is to say he must suppresse and forsake the froward vntoward dealing wherunto his mind is now geuen by meanes wherof he is so greatly wedded to these temporall things that he hath no regard of the euerlasting things Agayn it is also written Shew mercy and receiue not the sinner The latter