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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	blood_n	john_n	spirit_n	3,921	5	5.9402	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40370	Of free justification by Christ written first in Latine by John Fox, author of the Book of martyrs, against Osorius, &c. and now translated into English, for the benefit of those who love their own souls, and would not be mistaken in so great a point.; De Christo gratis justificante. English	Foxe, John, 1516-1587.	1694 (1694)	Wing F2043; ESTC R10452	277,598	530

Argument There are also many other Scriptures which they have wrested abominably for the defence of their Opinion about Inherent Righteousness As for example where the Lord says That he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Hence they infer that all that would be saved must of necessity keep the Law That I may answer this Objection I acknowledge that saying of the Lord to be very true and I know what he professed in words he performed in the practice of his Life For he came not to destroy the Law but perfectly to fulfil it and that not so much upon his own account as upon ours But it is not therefore a right consequence which they draw from an ill formed Argument Argument Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Therefore there is no Salvation to any but those that perform the Law This is a false consequence for there is more in the conclusion than in the antecedent For this should have been the conclusion Therefore should we diligently endeavour to fulfil the Law according to his Example especially in those things that belong to us for we are not subject to the same Ceremonies of the Law that he was As when he was circumcised and went to the Feast at Ierusalem thrice a year abstained from things that were ceremonially unclean and from things strangled and blood and celebra-ted the Passover according to the Law and many things of that kind whereunto we are not now obliged But though it be very true that he came to fulfil the Law yet we are not therefore obliged to the fulfilling of the Law as a thing necessary to our Salvation For the Office of Christ is distinguished by a twofold end For he was sent by his Father partly for this purpose that in our stead he might yield perfect Obedience unto the Law to which impossibility we our selves had a woful Obligation and that he might stir us up unto Vertue by his own Example but the Office of the Mediatour consists chiefly in this That he hath delivered us from the dreadful Curse of the Law and by his Death made full satisfaction to Divine Iustice for all our Debts and translated us from our bondage and slavery into a blessed state of liberty Which makes us now to rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Therefore it is seasonable here to give notice that they who upon this account take Christ for a Law-giver as if he had been sent by God for no other cause but to make new Laws in the World are in a great Errour For though he made a sound and right Interpretation of his Countrey Laws which were commanded by God and given by the Ministry of Moses yet he was not sent principally for this purpose to make new or old Laws but rather to bring help to those that were under the Curse of the Law and thereby in peril of damnation Another Argument Unless Christ had kept the Law he had neither saved himself nor others Therefore we cannot be saved unless we keep the things that are commanded in the Law Answer Under this similitude there lies hid a great disparity For there is no small disproportion between us and Christ. If he had failed in any thing commanded by the Law there was no other Redeemer that could have interposed for him The same may be said of the Angels if they had sinned But if we through infirmity go astray the blood of our Lord Iesus Christ is in readiness for our Redemption to raise us up when we are fallen to procure the pardon of our offences and to restore us unto a blessed state Argument Unless a man be born of Water and the holy Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Iohn 3. Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink his blood ye shall have no life in you Iohn 6. Therefore Faith only is not sufficient for Salvation Answer Verily there is no other Weapon put into our hands that we can retort with greater advantage upon Enemy than this very Argument For the Mystical signification of both these Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper is nothing else but Faith in Christ Iesus for as Baptism is called a Sacrament of Faith and therefore is sometimes by Augustin put for Faith so those that are well instructed in the knowledge of Christ understand that to eat the flesh of Christ is the same with believing in him If we rightly consider the nature of this Sacrament there cannot be a more evident demonstration that we are justified by no other thing but Faith only For by what Argument could it be more manifestly set before our Eyes how great benefit redounds to us from the shedding of the blood of Christ than by the Institution of the Sacramental Bread and Wine for a memorial of his Body and Blood Or by what other thing could he more effectually represent unto our Faith the powerful efficacy of his Death than by the Institution of this Sacrament First Pious Reader call to mind and consider with your self this miserable and mortal Nature which how void and destitute it is of all things and how empty of Divine Grace and laden with iniquities you cannot be ignorant Thou who in thy self art a wretched and destroyed man comest to the Banquet where thou art commanded to take the Sacramental Bread and Cup in the name of him that was slain for thee and then thou art bid Eat for otherwise to what purpose should you hold the Bread in your hands when it is broken and reached forth unto you unless it be received inwardly for digestion Eat saith he and drink ye all of it for this is my Body and this is my Blood that was shed for you What was his design in expressing himself thus but to make us understand that his Death would be like a great Supper to his whole Church in which sinners that in themselves were wretched and miserable and empty and hunger-bitten might be refreshed with an everlasting Feast of fat things according as the Lord had long since promised by the Prophet Isaiah For as this mortal Life cannot continue without daily nourishment so neither hope of Eternal Life nor any other Grace can endure unless it be supported by Faith in the Lamb of God and thereby receive spiritual nourishment And therefore unless ye eat saith he the flesh of the Son of Man c. Whence it is evident that there is no Iustification for miserable sinners but that which consists in Christ only who was slain for us Yea there is no Iustification in him neither but by Faith which receives inwardly and digests this Bread that came down from Heaven according as we are taught in the Gospel He that believes in me hath Life eternal that believing ye may have life through his name Unless ye believe that I am he c. Thy Faith hath made thee

greatness of his benefits what more Divine If his Life it self every way perfect with all purity of the greatest Vertues what more admirable Unto whose example as the most perfect rule for imitation seeing you invite us so earnestly I must needs both willingly approve of your Piety therein and also give you thanks upon this account for your diligence And so much the more upon the account that the unhappy calamity of these times does so greatly need such incitements which I know not by what means having obliterated the footsteps of the Heavenly Adam seem to have degenerated again unto the Earthly Father with a perfect conspiracy Wherefore I could the rather with to these manners and times that those things which are very well discoursed of by you concerning following the Example of Christ concerning the resembling of his Death concerning imitating his Divine Life may pierce not only the Ears of Men but also the most inward parts of their minds For what is more solid for Advice or more seasonable for the Time than that which you so much enlarge upon with a plentiful amplification of Words that every Man according to his power should propose unto himself Christ the chiefest Example of all Vertue and Master of Life for Imitation and Resemblance That having rooted out the filth and relicks of the Old Nature He may drive away very far from him with a resolved and magnanimous Spirit all Taints of impurity And because as you say we cannot be in the middle between the two therefore it remains that having forsaken the party of the body we should so fight under the banner of Christ our Prince we should so subdue the body it self by the power of his saving Crosi all rebellion of the body should so be overcome in us that this unbridled lust which maintains everlasting enmity against God may at length yield to his command and that we may not lessen any endeavour or labour howsoever great in this most holy observance of Iustice and imitation of Christ. As these things are proposed by you most excellent Osorius no less Holily than Eloquently so I would that in like manner your Rhetorick might make a suitable Harmony concerning the Imitation of Christ in the Ears of the Roman Bishops and Cardinals That these Men having abdicated the perishing and transitory Wealth of this World with which they overflow beyond all measure of their own profession and also above royal magnificence may at length think of the poverty of Christ that they may diminish their Possessions and large Inheritances heaped together their Diadems and their other regalities I say not according to the example of the Ancient Philosophers but according to the contentation of the most Holy Apostles that seriously rejecting the luxury and superfluity of this Life their vain glory their needless vanities and trifles may at length cease to be conform to the wicked fashions of this World And that laying aside all haughtiness and pride of Life they may submit themselves to the humility of Christ and restrain and compose the exorbitancy of their Minds and Spirits And laying down this Popish Cruelty and Tyranny learn to become meek of Christ that most perfect pattern of meekness Learn saith he of me because I am meek and lowly of Spirit I do not require that those Roman Priests should wash the Feet of the Poor according to the example of Christ but that they should not embrue their cruel Hands in the Blood of their Brethren neither do I require that they should give Water to refresh the Disciples of Christ but that they should not heap up Flames and Faggots to burn their Bodies nor lay Snares for them or devise to entrap them privily design their ruine and destruction furnish Darts and Weapons to slay them for whom Christ was Sacrificed and by whom they themselves were never hurt If Example should be taken from Christ I pray you what doth the Divine Father and Creator commend more unto us what else doth his whole life breath but mutual Charity both towards Friends and also towards Enemies Who not only doth not break the shaken and bruised Reed but upon the Cross prays for his very Crucifiers Therefore we have an example singularly excellent which we may imitate We have also together with an example a commendation by the mouth of the Apostle by whom Charity is called the bond of perfection Moreover there is not wanting the Preaching of Divines who in their Books in their Exercises in their Sermons do attribute so much to Charity that they call It the form the perfection and the very life of faith without which there is no other vertue that can be helpful to Salvation And now I need not here in many words declare what agreement there is between the Doctrine of those great extollers of Charity and the practice of their lives seeing there are so many proofs before our eyes so many ten thousands of men slain do witness it and so great abundance of Christian blood shed there is so great outrage of Persecution every where there is nothing safe from slaughter fury tumult snares contentions dangers articles of Inquisition bonds and imprisonments In some places the Turk makes havock with the Sword and elsewhere with flames and smoak And the Fathers of the Roman Court exercise Cruelty First they make Laws written with blood which afterwards they commit to Political Monarchs to be promulgated and to the other Officers to be executed by Law On the sudden Citizens of good repute and Learned Ministers are violently haled to examinations and afterwards to death if any Man dare but open his mouth against the manifest abuses of errours they spare neither Age nor Sex nor Condition Thus forsooth those perfect Roman Catholick Nobles imitate the Charity of Christ so they follow his Divine Life so they resemble his death so they shew forth his meekness so they bear the Image of the Divine Father so they wholly and more than wholly form and fashion themselves from the imitation of the earthly Father to the example of the Heavenly Who justly deserve to hear from the Lord ye are those that justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is of high account before Men is abominable before God What if the most Holy Popes and purple Cardinals those Chiefest Dignitaries of the Church with all this your Order of Bishops and the most strict Orders of Monks who by Place Dignity and Profession seem to approach nearest unto Christ and to supply his place upon earth differ so much from him what cause is there why we should hope better of the whole body of the common people or that any Man should promise himself Salvation in following the footsteps of Christ but God willing I shall elsewhere make enquity into this just matter of complaint Now let us return to you Osorius whose so godly and eloquent exhortations about putting on and imitating Christ