Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	england_n	homily_n	1,679	5	11.5743	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14096	The doctrine of the synod of Dort and Arles, reduced to the practise With a consideration thereof, and representation with what sobriety it proceeds.	Twisse, William, 1578?-1646.	1631 (1631)	STC 24403; ESTC S102470	142,191	200

is preached in the word in the issue left to the free will of man to beleeve or no to repent or no to obey or no and yet notwithstanding give out that the word it is which converts them brings them to faith repentance and obedience and yet cavill at our ascribing those effects to the word of God in one kinde of operation which yet we ascribe solely and immediately to Gods spirit in another kind of operation ●specially considering that it is Gods word not their word and sent by God in his Spirit by the ministery of the Prophets and not sent by them in their Spirits and it is the meanes whereby Gods Spirit workes as before I have shewed and not a meanes appoynted by them whereby their Spirit worketh But it is nothing strange that they who oppose Gods grace should in the end fayle even of common sense The Synod sayth this Au●hor leaveth it no other function then to serve as an object and to represent it When Bellarmine sayth that Suadens agit per modum proponentis objectum He delivereth this as a dictate of common sense knowne by the very light of nature I say a litle more that he who persuades ought his office is to rep●esent that wh●reunto he persuades in the most alluring manner ●o draw the partie whom he persuades to like it and to labour for it Farther I say we doe ascribe to the word as much as they doe or can doe in truth In pretence I deny not but they may deale w●th it as they deale with Gods grace mak●ng shew as if ●hey ascribed thereunto their faith their repentance When indeed they impute it to their owne free wills not fearing to mocke God if he would be mocked And as the Iewes sometimes crowned Christ with thornes so do these crowne the grace of God with scornes But the true difference betweene us is not in ascribing or denying ought to Gods word but in that we ascribe that to the Spirit of God which they ascribe to the freedome of their wills I say the difference between us is whether it be not so indeede as here I professe and am ready to make good But wheras he saith we make the word of God only to represent that without which the holy Spirit hath allready wrought within as well in the will as in the unde●standing without any cooperation of the word this passage is eyther falsely copyed or falsely translated out of the French For the first without comes out of his place the sense it beares being afterwards represented at full in these wordes without any cooperation of the word and besides it marres altogether the sense of the wordes following therfore I leave it quite out and reade the passage thus to represent that which the holy Spirit hath allready wrought within as well in the will as in the understanding without the cooperation of the word Now here is a prety mystery woorth the opening For he imputes unto us as if we should say that the word persuades and exhorts to that which the Spirit hath allready wrought both in the will and in the understanding Now I desire to knowe what that is which the Spirit hath allready wrought and when it was wrought according to our opinion as he saith for I willingly professe it is a myste●y unto me namely that we should maynteyne that God sends his ministers unto us to persuade us to that which God hath wrought in us and that perhaps long before we heard the word And I willingly confesse in this case we might well seeme to make the ministery of Gods word to be very unprofitable and vayne Now as I sayd so I say still this is very mysterious unto me But I must fishe it out as well as I can by Interrogation And what is it trowe we that this Author meanes by this Is it the worke of regeneration consisting in the renovation of all the rationall faculties of man both the understanding and the will Vndoubtedly this is his meaning though the Au●hor caryeth himselfe obscurely without particulating what he meaneth and wherin it consists Then agayne when was this wrought If before we are pertakers of the word preached as he playnly signifi●th is it not cleare that it must be before we come to the use of reason being as we are brought up in the Church of God and accordingly made pertakers of Gods word as soone as we come to the use of reason And what time of infancy is more likely to be conceaved as most congruous herunto than the time of our admittance unto the Sacrament of Baptisme I am out of doubt that this is his meaninge wherby it appeares that these Arminians are of a contrary opinion utterly denying that the grace of regeneration is conferd in Baptisme Yet master Hooker hath maynteyned that the grace of regeneration is conferd in Baptisme against master Cartwright and one I knewe in my time a favourer of his that maynteynd in the divinitie schooles that Baptisme is necessary unto salvation And nowadayes our Arminians are eager in the mayntenance therof which our Arminians beyond the Seas as it seemes doe utterly deny yet they hugge one another in the armes of love in opposing o●hers But to make short let our Englishe Arm●nians looke how they answeare this For my part I maynteyne no such opinion and albeit master Montacute would put such an opinion upon our Church out of the booke of common prayer where it is sayde Now this childe is regenerate though the same Author professeth that all that we reade in the homilies is not to be receaved as the doctrine of the Church of England Yet Bishop Carleton hath answeared master Montacute upon the same point and hath shewed out of Austin that it is one thinge to be truly regenerate and another thing to regenerate Sacramento tenus I willingly confesse that the Sacrament of Baptisme is the seale of the righteousnes of faith unto us Christians as Circumcision was unto the Iewes Rom. 4. which is as much as to say that it assures us of the remissiō of our sinnes as many as believe and that as a Sacrament in generall is defined in the smaller catechisme of our Church to be an outward and a visible signe of an inward and invisible grace And so I conceave baptisme to be and that not of justification only unto them that believe but of the grace of regeneration allso but how not at that instant collatae but suo tempore conferendae To witt when God shall effectually call a man and it is very strange unto me that regeneration shoulde goe before vocation And therfore we are free from maynteyning any such unprofitablenes and vaynes of the ministery of the word as to persuade us to that which God hath wrought in us allready yea long before both in our understandings in our wills as here it is charged upō us but causelesly for ought I knowe And if the Synod of Dort or Arl●s