Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	great_a	people_n	sin_n	4,952	5	4.7777	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00908	A defence of the Catholyke cause contayning a treatise in confutation of sundry vntruthes and slanders, published by the heretykes, as wel in infamous lybels as otherwyse, against all english Catholyks in general, & some in particular, not only concerning matter of state, but also matter of religion: by occasion whereof diuers poynts of the Catholyke faith now in controuersy, are debated and discussed. VVritten by T.F. With an apology, or defence, of his innocency in a fayned conspiracy against her Maiesties person, for the which one Edward Squyre was wrongfully condemned and executed in Nouember ... 1598. wherewith the author and other Catholykes were also falsly charged. Written by him the yeare folowing, and not published vntil now, for the reasons declared in the preface of this treatyse.	Fitzherbert, Thomas, 1552-1640.	1602 (1602)	STC 11016; ESTC S102241	183,394	262

doing other workes of deuotion as I declared before he addeth mansit haec Christi capitis membrorum consonantia suauis donec Arriana perfidia c. this sweet consonance or agreement of the members of Christ the head remayned vntil the Arrian heresy spread her poyson there and although he insinuat as saynt Bede also doth that afterwards the people became new fangled and embraced other heresyes meaning no dout the Pelagian heresy which as I haue shewed before out of S. Bede was quickly extinguished there yet afterwards he signifieth playnly that neither the Arrian nor Pelagian nor any other heresy took root in Britany and that the Churche was cleare therof after the cōming in of the Saxons about the tyme of his byrth which was in the yere of our Lord 594. for speaking of the tyme and of the ouerthrow geuen by Ambrosius Aurelianus to the Saxons and Picts and of the great slaughter of them shortly after at blackamore in York-shire which as Polidore supposeth is called in Gildas mons Badonicus he sayth that the people hauing noted the punishment of God vpon them for their sinnes and his mercy in giuing them afterwards so greate victories ob hoc reges publici priuati sacerdotes ecclesiastics suum quique ordinem seruauerunt for this cause saith hee the Kings and others as wel publik as priuat person●● Priests and ecclesiastical men did euery one their dutyes and although he declare presently after that by the extreame negligence of their Kings and gouernours ecclesiastical and temporal which immediatly succeded greate corruption was entred at the same tyme that he wrote yet it is euident ynough in him that it was not corruption of fayth but of manners as pryd ambition dissolutiō of lyfe drōkenesse lying periury tyranny in the Kings simony couetousnesse in the clergy sildome sacrifices breach of vowes of chastity and of monastical lyfe profaning of altars and such lyke for the which he threatneth and as it were prophesyeth the vtter destruction of Britany which shortly after followed so that amongst other things which he was persuaded brought the plague of God vpon our country we see he taxed certayne customes peculiar to our aduersaries and the proper fruits of their religion tending only to the ouerthrow of ours therfore it playnly appeareth that ours was then in vre and receiued detriment by those who though they were not protestants in profession yet were protestants in humour and condition I meane profaners of Altars and holy things breakers of vowes of chastity and Apostatats from religious and monastical lyfe such as Luther and many of his followers haue ben since And now to come to later tymes after Gildas yf we consider the relicks of Christian religion which saynt Augustine found in Britany amongst other things the great monastery of Bangor wherein were aboue two thowsand monks it wil be manifest that the ancient religion of the Britains was our Catholike fayth for although in the space of a hundreth seuenty and three yeres that passed from the comming in of the Saxons vntil their conuersion the Britain Church was not only much decayed but also had receiued some aspersion of erronious and euil customes yet in fayth and opinion they diffred not from S. Augustine insomuch that he offred to hold communion with them if they would concurre with him in three things only the first in the tyme of celebrating the feast of easter the second in the manner of administring the sacrament of Baptisme and the third in preaching the faith to the Saxons all which the monkes of Bangor refused vpon no better reason then for that S. Augustine did not ryse to them when they came to the synod condemning him therefore to be a proud man notwithstanding that he had restored a blynd man to sight by his prayers in the presence of all the Bishops and clergy of Britany who vndertooke to do the lyke in confirmation of their customes but could not performe it Therfore as saynt Bede reporteth S. Augustine did foretel to the sayd Monkes of Bangor that seing they would not haue peace with their brethren they should haue warre with their enemies and yf they would not preach vnto the English nation the way of lyfe they should by their hands receiue reuenge of death which after was truly fulfilled for Edelfrid a pagan King of Northumberlād killed a thousand two hundred Monkes of that monastery at one tyme by the iust iudgement of God as saynt Bede sayth for their obstinacy Thus much for this matter wherby thou mayst see good reader that saynt Augustine found in wales amongst the Britains the same religion faith in substance that he then preached to the English or Saxons and which we Catholykes stil professe which being considered with that which I haue proued before concerning the continual practise therof in the primatiue Church of Britany whyles the same was in purity and integrity no man that hath common sence can dout that the same fayth was deliuered by Pope Eleutherius to King Lucius and generally professed throughout Christendom at those dayes in which respect we fynd honorable mention and testimony of the faith of the Britains in the Fathers both Greekes and Latins from the tyme of their conuersion as in Tertulian in K. Lucius tyme and in Origen presently after in S. Athanasius and S. Hilarius in the tyme of the Arrians of which two the first testifieth that the Bishops of Britany came to the councel of Sardica and the other commendeth the Britan Church for reiecting the Arrian heresy as I haue noted before also in S. Chrisostome and saynt Hierom who commendeth the deuotion of the Britans that came to Bethlem in pilgrimage in his dayes about the same tyme that the Saxons entred into Britany CERTAINE POINTS OF CONTROUERSY are discussed wherby it is prooued that King Lucius receiued our Catholyke fayth and first of the Popes supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes CHAP. VII BVT to the end that this vndouted truth may be cleared of all dout I wil ioyne Issue with our aduersaries vpon some two or three poynts now in controuersy betwyxt vs and them and breefly proue that the doctrin that we teach concerning the same was publykly held for truth throughout Christendome in King Lucius dayes and that therfore he could receiue no other then the same from the Church of Rome and this I vndertake the more willingly for that albeit all matters of controuersy haue ben very learnedly and sufficiently handled yea and whole volumes written of them by our English Catholykes in the beginning of her maiestyes raygne yet by reason of the strayt prohibition of the sayd bookes there are an infinit number in England especially of the younger sort that neuer saw the same to whome I desyre to giue in this treatyse at least some litle tast of the truth of our Catholyke religion so farre as my determined breuity wil permit First

is diffused in our harts by the holy ghost which is giuen vs and that Christ dwelleth in our harts and that wee liue for iustification for that the spirit of God dwelleth in vs all which proue a real and inhaerent iustice in vs and not a iustice in Christ imputed only to vs this the Apostle signifyeth by the similitude of Baptisme with the death resurrection of Christ saying that wee are buryed with him by baptisme to the end that as Christ did rise from death so wee may walke in newnes of lyfe vpon which words S. Augustin sayth as in Christ there was a true resurrection so in vs there is a true iustification and S. Chrisostome proueth the same by the woords of S. Paule where he sayth you 're washed you are sanctified you are iustified he sheweth sayth he that you are not only made cleane but also that you are made holy and iust to which purpose he noteth that it is cauled lauacrum regenerationis and not remissionis or purificationis the water of regeneration and not of remission or purification for sayth he it doth not simply remit sinnes but makes vs as though wee were of a heauenly generation which Clemens Alexandrinus confirmeth saying being baptised we are illuminated being illuminated we are adopted to be the childrē of God being adopted wee are made perfect being perfited wee are made immortal according to that of the Psalmist I say you are all Gods and the children of the highest The same also in effect sayth S. Gregory Nazianzen Baptisme sayth he giuing help to our first natiuity of old makes vs new and of human deuine all which doth playnly proue that which we teach with saynt Augustin who sayth the grace of 〈◊〉 doth woorke inwardly our illumination and iustification neuertheles wee deny not that the iustice wherwith wee are ma●●●ust is the iustice of God by whose grace we haue it but we deny that it is not ours really in vs when he hath of his great mercy and liberality geuen it vs so that we say it is both his and ours his because he giues it ours because wee haue it by his gift Therfore saynt Augustin sayth let no Christian man feare to say that we are made iust not by our selues but by the grace of God working the same in vs. In this sence Elizabeth and Zacharias were called iust in the scripture of whome wee read that ambo crant iusti they were both iust not before men only but aute Deum before God and not because Iustice was imputed to them but because they did walke in omnibus mandatis Iustificationibus Domini sine quet●la in all the commaūdments Iustifications of our Lord without blame in this sence also it is said in the scripture the doers of the law are iustified before God not the bearers only which saynt Iohn confirmeth fore warning as it were and arming vs against these seducers for so he tearmeth all those which teach that a man is not iust by really doing the acts or works of iustice let no man sayth he seduce ●ow he which doth Iustice or righteousnes ys iust as God is iust he which doth sinne is of the diuel to this end apeared the sonne of God that he might dissolve the workes of the deuil thus farre S. Iohn If then the comming of our Sauiour and his suffring was to dissolue the woorkes of the diuel which is sinne and as yt is signified in infinit other places of scripture to redeeme vs from iniquity to deliuer vs from the seruitude of sinne to renew vs in spirit to make vs new creatures to cleanse vs to sanctify vs to iustify vs that is to say to make vs iust yea to make vs immaculat and irrepre●ēsible to make vs his tēples his friends his childrē how is this performed yf notwithstanding the merits of his passion applyed vnto vs by Baptisme and other meanes wee are only reputed to be iust and not so in deed but remayne stil soyled with sinne bondmen of iniquity and children of the diuel as S. Iohn sayth we are if wee be in sinne how can we say that Christ conquered the deuil and sinne and deliuered vs from the seruitude and bondage of them both if we remayn slaues of both for being bondmen of sinne as Luther makes vs wee are also slaues of the diuel by consequent and can it be any derogation to the merits of our Sauiours passion to say that he made vs who were before thralles captiues to both the deuil and sinne able to vanquish and conquer them both nay is it not far more glorious to him to conquer them dayly in vs and by vs then if he had only conquered them for vs for by making such weak ones as wee tread them vnder our feet his conquest and triumph is farre more glorious his mercy to vs more manifest his enemies ours more confounded and wee infinitly more obliged and therefore wee may say with saint Paulo Deo gratias qui dedit nobis victoriam God be thanked which gaue vs victory but how by our selues no per Dominum Iesum Christum by our Lord Iesus Christ. Thus thou seest good reader how consonēt to the scriptures how glorious to our Sauiour how comfortable to vs is our doctrin concerning iustification and merits of workes on the other syde how erronious and iniurious to his passion is the opinion of our aduersaries who to the end they may with better colour and more boldly bark against good woorkes and the merit therof seeme to haue in singular estimation the merits of his passion But where the ful force and true effect therof is to be shewed to Gods greater glory to the confusion of our enemy the diuel and our singular comfort there they hold it to be of no force or valew yea rather they make it a cloke to couer sinne then a meanes to cleanse it and to take it away and so they establish in the kingdome of Christ the tyrannie of the diuel whose instruments and proctors they shew themselues to be woorking in mennes myndes by their doctrin that which the diuel doth woork by temptation that is to say discouraging all men from doing we● and from keeping the commandments by teaching the same to be needlesse impossible and of no merit wherby they giue ful scope to sensuality and sinne and carry men after them headlong to hel as I could make it most euident yf I list to prosecute this poynt which my purposed breuity wil not permit THE CONCLVSION CONUINCING by the premisses that our Catholyk doctrin was deliuered to King Lucius by Pope Eleutherius aud is the vndouted truth that Christ left to his Church with a note of the notable impudency of our English ministers CHAP. XXI NOW to returne to King Lucius and to conclude I dout not good reader but thow hast perceiued by these few