Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	great_a	life_n	sin_n	6,258	5	4.5340	4	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03586	A learned discourse of iustification, workes, and how the foundation of faith is overthrowne. By Richard Hooker, sometimes fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford	Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Jackson, Henry, 1586-1662.; Spenser, John, 1559-1614.	1612 (1612)	STC 13708; ESTC S121045	45,591	98

see the truth and his mouth to renounce all heresie and error any wise opposite therevnto this one opinion of merits excepted he thinketh God will require at his hands and because he wanteth therefore trembleth and is discouraged It may be I am forgetfull and vnskilfull not furnished with things newe and olde as a wise learned scribe should bee nor able to alleage that wherevnto if it were alleaged hee doth beare a minde most willing to yeeld and so to be recalled as well from this as from other errors And shall I thinke because of this only error that such a man toucheth not so much as the hemme of Christs garment If he doe wherefore shoulde not I haue hope that vertue may proceede from Christ to saue him Because his errour doth by consequent overthrow his faith Shall I therefore cast him off as one that hath vtterly cast of Christ one that holdeth not so much as by a slender threed No I wil not be afraid to saie vnto a Pope or Cardinall in this plight be of good comfort we haue to doe with a mercifull God rather to make the best of a little which we hold well and not with a captious sophister which gathereth the worst out of everie thing wherein wee erre Is there any reason that I should be suspected or you offended for this speech Is it a dangerous thing to imagine that such men may finde mercy The house may come when wee shall thinke it a blessed thing to heare that if our sins were the sins of the Popes and Cardinals the bowels of the mercie of God are larger I do not propose vnto you a Pope with the neck of an Emperour vnder his feet a Cardinall riding his horse to the bridle in the blood of Saints but a Pope or Cardinal sorrowful penitent disrobed stript not only of vsurped power but also delivered and recald from errour Antichrist converted and lying prostrate at the foote of Christ and shall I thinke that Christ will spurne at him And shall I crosse and gainesaie the mercifull promises of God generally made vnto penitent sinners by opposing the name of a Pope of a Cardinal What difference is there in the world betweene a Pope and a Cardinall and Iohn Style in this case If wee thinke it impossible for them after they be once come within that ranke to be afterwards touched with anie such remorse let that be graunted The Apostle saith If I or an Angell from heaven preach vnto c. Let it bee as likely that Saint Paule or an Angel from heaven should preach heresie as that a Pope or a Cardinall should be brought so farre forth to acknowledge the truth yet if a Pope or a Cardinall should what finde wee in their persons why they might not bee saved It is not the persons you will saie but the errour wherein I suppose them to die which excludeth them from the hope of mercie the opinion of merits doth take awaie all possibitie of salvation from them What if they hold it onlie as an error although they hold the truth truelie and sincerelie in all other partes of Christian faith although they haue in some measure all the vertues and graces of the spirite all other tokens of Gods elect children in them although they be farre from having anie prowde presumptuous opinion that they shall be saved by the worthynesse of their deedes although the onelie thing which troubleth and molesteth them bee but a little too much deiection somewhat too great a feare rising from an erroneous conceipt that God will require a worthynesse in them which they are grieved to finde wanting in themselues although they bee not obstinate in this perswasion although they be willing and would be glad to forsake it if any one reason were brought sufficient to disproue it although the only let why they doe not forsake it ere they die be the ignorance of the meanes by which it might be disproued although the cause why the ignorance in this point is not removed bee the want of knowledge in such as should be able and are not to remoue it Let me die if ever it be proved that simply an error doth exclude a Pope or a Cardinall in such a case vtterly from hope of life Surely I must confesse vnto you if it be an errour that God may bee mercifull to saue men even when they erre my greatest comfort is my errour were it not for the loue I beare vnto this errour I would never wish to speake nor to liue 36 Wherefore to resume that mother sentence whereof I little thought that so much trouble would haue growne I doubt not but that God was mercifull to saue thousands of our fathers living in Popish superstitions in as much as they sinned ignorantly alas what bloodie matter is there coÌ„tained in this sentence that it should be an occasion of so many hard censures Did I say that thousands of our fathers might be saved I haue shewed which way it cannot be denied Did I say I doubted not but they were saued I see no impiety in this perswasion though I had no reason for it Did I say their ignorance doth make me hope they did find mercy and so were saved What hindreth salvation but sinne Sinnes are not equall and ignorance though it doth not make to be no sinne yet seeing it did make their sinne the lesse why should it not make our hope concerning their life the greater We pittie the most and doubt not but God hath most compassion over them that sinne for want of vnderstanding As much is confessed by sundry others almost in the selfe same words which I haue vsed It is but only my evill hap that the same senteÌ„ces which savor veritie in other mens books should seeme to bolster heresie when they are once by me recited If I bee deceived in this point not they but the blessed Apostle hath deceived me What I said of others the same hee said of himselfe I obtaine mercy for I did it ignorantly Conster his words and you cannot misconster mine I speake no otherwise I meant no otherwise then hee did 37 Thus haue I brought the question concerning our Fathers at the length vnto an end Of whose estate vpon so fit an occasion as was offred me handling the weightie causes of separation betweene the Church of Rome and vs and the weake motiues which are commonly brought to retaine men in that society amongst which motiues the examples of our Fathers deceased is one although I saw it convenient to vtter that sentence which I did to the ende that all men might there by vnderstand how vntruely we are said to condemne as many as haue beene before vs otherwise perswaded then we our selues are yet more then that one sentence I did not thinke it expedient to vtter iudging it a great deale meeter for vs to haue regard to our owne estate then to sift over curiously what is become of other men And fearing least that

Peter tearme it immortall How doth S. Iohn affirme it abideth If the spirit which is given to cherish and prescrue the seed of life may be given and taken away how is it the earnest of our inheritance vntill redemption how doth it continue with vs for ever If therefore the man which is once iust by faith shall liue by faith and liue for ever it followeth that he which once doth beleeue the foundation must needes beleeue the foundation for ever If hee beleeue it for ever how can he ever directly deny it Faith holdeth the direct affirmation the direct negation so long as faith continueth is excluded But you will say that as hee that is to day holy may to morrow forsake his holinesse and become impure as a friend may change his mind and bee made an enimie as hope may wither so faith may die in the heart of man the spirit may be quenched grace may be extinguished they which beleeue may be quite turned away from the truth The cause is cleere long experience hath made this manifest it needs no proof I grant we are apt prone and ready to forsake God but is God ready to forsake vs Our minds are changeable is his so likewise Whom God hath iustified hath not Christ assured that it is his Fathers will to giue them a kingdome Notwithstanding it shall not bee otherwise given them then if they continue grounded and stablished in the faith and bee not moved away from the hope of the Gospell if they abide in loue and holinesse Our Saviour therefore when he spake of the sheepe effectually called and truly gathered into his fold I giue vnto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hands in promising to saue them he promised no doubt to preserue them in that without which there can be no salvation as also from that whereby it is irrecoverably lost Every errour in things appertaining vnto God is repugnant vnto faith every fearefull cogitation vnto hope vnto loue every stragling inordinate desire vnto holines every blemish wherewith either the inward thoughts of our minds or the outward actions of our liues are stained But heresy such as that of Ebion Cerinthus others against whom the Apostles were forced to beÌ„d theÌ„selus both by word and also by writing that repining discouragement of heart which tempteth God whereof we haue Israell in the desert for a patterne coldnesse such as that in the Angels of Ephesus fowle sins knowne to bee expresly against the first or second Table of the Law such as Noah Manasses David Salomon and Peter committed these are each in their kind so opposit to the former vertues that they leaue no place for salvation without an actuall repentance But infidelitie extreame despaire hatred of God all goodnesse obduration in sin cannot staÌ„d where there is but the least sparke of faith hope loue sanctity even as cold in the lowest degree cannot be where heate in the highest degree is found Wherevpon I conclude that although in the first kinde no man liveth which sinneth not and in the second as perfect as any do liue may sin yet sith the Man which is borne of God hath a promise that in him the seede of God shall abide which seed is a sure preservatiue against the sinnes that are of the third sure greater and clearer assuraunce we cannot haue of any thing then of this that froÌ„ such sins God shal preserue the righteous as the apple of his eie for ever Directly to denie the foundation of faith is plaine infidelitie where faith is entred there infidelitie is for ever excluded therefore by him which hath once sincerely beleeved in Christ the foundation of Christian faith can never be directly denied Did not Peter did not Marcellinus did not others both directlie deny Christ after that they had beleeved and againe beleeue after they had denied No doubt as they confesse in words whose condemnation is neverthelesse their not beleeving for example we haue Iudas so likewise they may beleeue in heart whose condemnation with out repentance is their not confessing Although there fore Peter and the rest for whose faith Christ hath praied that it might not faile did not by deniall sin the sin of infidelitie which is an inward abnegation of Christ but if they had done this their faith had cleerely failed yet because they sinned notoriously grievously committing that which they knew to bee expresly forbidden by the law which saith Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serue necessarie it was that he which purposed to saue their souls should as he did touch their hearts with true vnfeined repeutance that his mercy might restore them againe to life whom sin had made the children of death condemnation Touching this point therefore I hope I may safely set downe that if the iustified erre as he may and never come to vnderstand his errour God doth saue him through generall repentance but if he fall into heresie he calleth him at one time or other by actuall repentance but from infidelitie which is an inward direct denial of the foundation he preserveth him by speciall providence for ever Whereby wee may easilie know what to thinke of those Galatians whose heartes were so possest with the loue of the truth that if it had bin possible they would haue pluckt out their eies to bestow vpon their teachers It is true that they were greatly changed both in perswasion and affection so that the Galatians when S. Paul wrote vnto them were not now the Galatians which they had been in former time for that through errour they wandered although they were his sheepe I do not deny but that I shoulde deny that they were his sheepe if I shoulde graunt that through error they perished It was a perilous opinion that they held perillous even in them which held it onlie as an error because it overthroweth the foundation by consequent But in them which obstinatelie maine taine it I cannot thinke it lesse then a damnable heresie Wee must therefore put a difference betweene them which erre of ignoraÌ„ce retaining neverthelesse a mind desirous to be instructed in truth and them which after the truth is laide open persist in the stubborne defence of their blindnesse hereticall defenders frowarde and stiffnecked teachers of circumcision the blessed Apostle cals dogs sillie men who were seduced to think they thought the truth he pitieth hee taketh vp in his armes he lovingly imbraceth he kisseth and with more then fatherlie tendernesse doth so temper qualifie and correct the speech he vseth toward them that a man cannot easilie discerne whether did most abounde the loue which hee bare to their godlie affection or the griefe which the daunger of their opinion bred them Their opinion was dangerous was not theirs also who thought the kingdome of Christ should be earthly was not theirs which

such questions as these if voluntarily they should bee to farre waded in might seeme worthie of that rebuke which our Saviour thought needfull in a case not vnlike What is this vnto thee when I was forced much beside mine expectation to render a reason of my speech I could not but yeeld at the call of others and proceed so farre as dutie bound mee for the fuller satisfying of mindes Wherein I haue walked as with reverence so with feare with reverence in regard of our Fathers which lived in former times not without feare coÌ„sidering them that are aliue 38 I am not ignorant how readie men are to feed and sooth vp themselues in evill Shall I will the man say that loveth the present world more then hee loveth Christ shall I incurre the high displeasure of the mightiest vpon earth shall I hazard my goods endanger my estate put my selfe in ieopardie rather then yeeld to that which so many of my fathers embraced and yet found favour in the sight of God Curse Meroz saith the Lord curse her inhabitants because they helped not the Lord they help'd him not against the mightie If I should not only not helpe the Lord against the mightie but helpe to strengthen them that are mightie against the Lord worthily might I fall vnder the burden of that curse worthie I were to beare my owne iudgement But if the doctrine which I teach be a flower gathered in the garden of the Lord a part of the saving truth of the Gospell from whence notwithstanding poisoned creatures doe sucke venime I can but wish it were otherwise and content my selfe with the lotte that hath befallen mee the rather because it hath not befallen me alone Saint Paule teached a truth and a comfortable truth when he taught that the greater our misery is in respect of our iniquities the readier is the mercy of God for our release If wee seeke vnto him the more we haue sinned the more praise and glorie and honor vnto him that pardoneth our sinne But marke what lewd collections were made herevpon by some Whie then am I condemned for a sinner and the Apostle as we are blamed and as some affirme that we say Whie doe we not evill that good may come of it hee was accused to teach that which ill disposed men did gather by his teaching though it were cleane not only besides but against his meaning The Apostle addeth Their condemnation which thus doe is iust I am not hastie to apply sentences of condemnation I wish from mine heart their conversion whosoever are thus perversely affected For I must needs say their case is fearefull their estate dangerous which harden themselues presuming on the mercy of God towardes others It is true that God is mercifull but lette vs beware of presumptuous sinnes God delivered Ionah from the bottome of the sea will you therefore cast your selues headlong from the toppes of rockes and say in your hearts God shall deliver vs Hee pittieth the blind that would gladly see but will hee pittie them that may see and hardeneth himselfe in blindnesse No. Christ hath spoken too much vnto you to claime the priviledge of your fathers 39 As for vs that haue handled this cause concerning the condition of our Fathers whether it bee this thing or any other which wee bring vnto you the counsell is good which the wise man giveth Stand thou fast in thy sure vnderstanding in the way and knowledge of the Lord and haue but one manner of word and follow the word of peace and righteousnesse As a loose tooth is a griefe to him that eateth so doth a wavering and vnstable word in speech that tendeth to instruction offend Shall a wise man speake words of the winde saith Eliphas light vnconstant vnstable words Surely the wisest may speake words of the winde such is the vntoward constitution of our nature that wee doe neither so perfectly vnderstand the way and knowledge of the Lord nor so stedfastly imbrace it when it is vnderstood nor so graciously vtter it when it is imbraced nor so peaceably maintaine it when it is vttered but that the best of vs are overtaken sometime through blindnesse sometime through hastinesse sometime through impatience somtime through other passions of the mind wherevnto God doth know we are too subiect Wee must therefore be contented both to pardon others and to craue that others must pardon vs for such things Let no man that speaketh as a man thinke himselfe whiles he liveth alwaies freed from scapes and oversights in his speech The things themselues which I haue spoken vnto you are sound howsoever they haue seemed otherwise vnto some at whose hands I haue in that respect receiued iniurie I willingly forget it although indeed considering the benefitte which I haue reaped by this necessarie speech of truth I rather incline to that of the Apostle They haue not iniured me at all I haue cause to wish them as many blessings in the kingdome of heaven as they haue forced mee to vtter words and syllables in this cause wherein I could not be more sparing of speech then I haue beene It becommeth no man saith St. Ierome to bee patient in the crime of heresie PatieÌ„t as I take it we should be alwaies though the crime of heresie were intended but silent in a thing of so great consequence I could not beloued I durst not be especially the loue that I beare to the truth of Christ Iesus being hereby somwhat called in question Whereof I beseech them in the meeknesse of Christ that haue been the first originall cause to consider that a watchman may crie an enimie when indeed a friend commeth In which cause as I deeme such a watchman more worthie to be loved for this cause then misliked for his errour so I haue iudged it my own part in this as much as in me lieth to take away all suspicion of any vnfriendly intent or meaning against the truth from which God doth knowe my heart is free 40 Now to you beloued which haue heard these things I will vse no other words of admonition then those which are offered me by St Iames My brethren haue not the faith of our glorious Lord Iesus in respect of persons Yee are not now to learne that as of it selfe it is not hurtfull so neither should it be to any scandalous and offensiue in doubtfull cases to heare the different iudgements of men Bee it that Cephas hath one interpretation and Apollos hath another that Paule is of this mind that Barnabas of that if this offend you the fault is yours Carry peaceable minds and you may haue comfort by this varietie Now the God of peace giue you peaceable minds and turne it to your everlasting comfort FINIS a Lib. 4. Ann b Lib. 1. Hist. c In vita Agricolae d Lib. a. 1 2 1. Cor. 5. 12. 13. 2. Cor. 6 v 7. a Or whosoever it be that was the author of those Homilies that go

therefore their faith their beliefe doth not profitte them anye thing at all It is true that they doe indeed ioine other things with Christ but how Not in the worke of redemption it selfe which they graunt that Christ alone hath perfourmed sufficiently for the salvation of the whole world but in the application of this inestimable treasure that it may bee effectual to their salvation how demurely so ever they confesse that they seeke remission of sinnes no other wise then by the blood of Christ vsing humbly the meanes appointed by him to apply the benefite of holy blood they teach indeed so many things pernicious in Christian faith in setting downe the meanes whereof they speake that the very foundation of faith which they hold is thereby plainely overthrowne and the force of the blood of Iesus Christ extinguished Wee may therefore dispute with them vrge them even with as dangerous sequels as the Apostle doth the Galatians But I demand if some of those Galatians hartily imbracing the gospell of Christ sincere and sound in faith this one only errour excepted had ended their liues before they were ever taught how perilous an opinion they held shall we thinke that the damage of this error did so overway the benefit of their faith that the mercy of God might not saue them I graunt they overthrew the very foundatioÌ„ of faith by coÌ„sequent doth not that so likewise which the Lutheran Churches doe at this day so stifly and so firmely mainetaine For mine own part I dare not here deny the possibility of their salvation which haue beene the chiefest instruments of ours albeit they caryed to their graue a perswasion so greatly repugnant to the truth Forasmuch therefore as it may be said of the Church of Rome shee hath yet a little strength shee doth not directly denie the foundatioÌ„ of Christianity I may I trust without offence perswade my selfe that thousands of our fathers in former times living and dying within her wals haue founde mercy at the hands of God 18 What although they repented not of their errours God forbid that I should open my mouth to gainsay that which Christ himselfe hath spoken Except yee repent yee shall all perish And if they did not repent they perished But withall note that wee haue the benefit of a double repentance the least sinne which wee commit in deed thought or word is death without repentance Yet how manie things do escape vs in everie of these which we do not know how many which we do not obserue to be sins And without the knowledge without the observation of sin there is no actuall repeÌ„tance It cannot then be chosen but that for as many as hold the foundation and haue all holden sins errors in hatred the blessing of repentance for vnknowne sins and errors is obtained at the hands of God through the gracious mediation of Iesus Christ for such suiters as cry with the Prophet David Purge me O Lord from my secret sinnes 19 But we wash a wall of lome we labor in vaine all this is nothing it doth not proue it cannot iustifie that which we go about to mainetaine Infidels and heathen men are not so godlesse but that they may no doubt cry God mercie and desire in generall to haue their sinnes forgiven them To such as deny the foundation of faith there can be no salvation according to the ordinary course which God doth vse in saving meÌ„ without a particular repentance of that error The Galatians thinking that vnlesse they were circuÌ„cised they could not be saved overthrew the foundations of faith directly therefore if any of them did die so perswaded whether before or after they told of their errour their end is dreadfull there is no way with them but one death and condemnation For the Apostle speaketh nothing of men departed but saith generally of all If you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing You are abolished from Christ whosoever are iustified by the law ye are fallen from grace Gal. 5. Of them in the Church of Rome the reason is the same For whom Antichrist hath seduced concerning them did not S. Paul speake long before that they received not the word of truth they might not bee saved therefore God would send them strong delusions to belieue lyes that all they might be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes And S. Iohn All that dwell vpon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the booke of life Apoc. 13. Indeed many in former times as their bookes and writings do yet shew held the foundation to weet salvation by Christ alone therefore might be saved God hath alwaies had a church amongst them which firmly kept his saving truth As for such as hold with the church of Rome that we cannot bee saved by Christ alone without workes they doe not onely by a circle of consequence but directly deny the foundation of faith they hold it not no not so much as by a threed 20 This to my remembraunce being all that hath beene opposed with any countenance or shew of reason I hope if this be answered the cause in question is at an end Concerning generall repentance therefore what a murtherer a blasphemer an vncleane person a Turke a Jew any sinner to escape the wrath of God by a generall repentance God forgiue me Truely it never came within mine hart that a generall repentance doth serue for all sinnes it serveth only for the common oversights of our sinfull life and for the faults which either we do not marke or doe not know that they are faults Our fathers were actually penitent for sins wherein they knew they displeased God or else they fal not within the compasse of my first speech Againe that otherwise they could not be saved then holding the foundation of Christian faith we haue not only affirmed but proved Why is it not then confessed that thousands of our fathers which liued in Popish superstitions might yet by the mercy of God be saved First if they had directly denied the very fouÌ„dations of christianity without repenting them particularlie of that sin he which saith there could be no salvation for them according to the ordinary course which God doth vse in saving men granteth plainly or at the least closely insinuateth that an extraordinary priviledge of mercie might deliver their soules from hell which is more theÌ„ I required Secondly if the foundation be denied it is denied for feare of some heresie which the church of Rome maintaineth But how many were there amoÌ„gst our fathers who being seduced by the common errour of that Church never knew the meaning of her heresies So that although all popish heretiques did perish thousands of them which lived in popish superstitions might bee saved Thirdly seeing all that held popish heresies did not hold all the heresies of the Pope why might not thousands which were infected with other leven liue and die

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