Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	apostle_n	church_n	word_n	1,489	5	3.9514	3	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68210	A Christian letter of certaine English protestants, vnfained fauourers of the present state of religion, authorised and professed in England: vnto that reverend and learned man, Mr R. Hoo requiring resolution in certaine matters of doctrine (which seeme to ouerthrow the foundation of Christian religion, and of the church among vs) expreslie contained in his fiue books of Ecclesiasticall pollicie.	Willet, Andrew, 1562-1621, attributed name.; Cartwright, Thomas, 1535-1603, attributed name.	1599 (1599)	STC 13721; ESTC S107562	38,506	52

we not keepe our robe pure and without spot vntill the comming of Christ and so bee iustified more and more by our works as the popish Cannons teach but pray by Christes commaundement euery day Forgiue vs our trespasses The Church of England beleeueth that Predestination vnto life is the eternal purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the world were layde hee constantlie decreed by his counsell vnto vs vnknowen to deliuer from the curse destruction them whom he chose in Christ out of mankinde as vessells made vnto honour through Christ to bring them to eternall saluation Wherevppon they who are indowed with so excellent benefit of God are called according to his purpose and that by his spirit working in a fitt time But you Mai. Hoo. seeme to vs to affirme contrarie when you say If anie man doubt how God should accept such prayers in case they be opposite to his will or not graunt them if they be according to that him selfe willeth Our aunswer is that such sutes God accepteth in that they are conformable to his generall inclination which is that all men might be saued yet alwayes he graunteth them not for so much as there is in God a more priuate occasioned will which determineth the contrarie Heere we begge your ayde to make manifest vnto vs howe God eternallie predestinateth by a constant decree them whom he calleth and saueth as our Church professeth and yet hath as you say a generall inclination that all men might be saued Whether he foresaw not something that occasioned his will otherwise so that he elected not all but onely them whom he calleth and saueth or that of his generall inclination he elected all men but some more privatelie occasioned him in time to alter his will and to refuse them or that some men gaue God occasioÌ„ that he saueth them though he neuer decreed it before the foundations of the world What meant the blessed Apostle where he sayeth Whom he predestinated them also he called and whom he called them also he iustified c. Is this to bee vnderstoode of a constant decree as we say or of an inclination Hee sayeth God worketh all thinges after the counsell of his owne will Is this to be vnderstood that vpon occasion sometimes hee either altereth his counsell or decreeth something which hee had not thought vpon before Saint Iames saith that In God there is no variablenes nor shadowe of turning Is not this more then a variablenes or shadow of turning to incline one way and upon occasion to decree another Doe not these wordes of yours giue some place vnto chaunce and fortune Doe they not make GOD as a man not of an all-sufficient knowledge wisedome and counsell but inclinable some one way till by occasion he finde a more better way Where is that God you speake of in your first booke of whom and through whom and for whom are all things And where is that law by which he worketh which you there call aeternall and therefore can haue no shew or colour of mutabilitie Haue we not cause to feare that the wittie schoolemen haue seduced you and by their conceited distinctions made you forget That you are neither able nor worthie to open and looke into the booke of Gods law by which he guideth the worlde And yet you will say There is in God an occasioned will Good Mai. Hoo. helpe vs heere and shewe vs howe we may thinke that you incline not to the errour of poperie touching workes forseene and that you fauour our churches beleefe The Churche of Englande doeth confesse That the church of Christ is a companie of faithfull people among whom the pure worde of God is preached the Sacramentes rightlie administred according to Christes institution c. and that the church of Rome hath erred not onely in maners ceremonies but also in matters of faith Which by the Reverend Fathers of our Church is expounded thus Without Christ the church is no church neither hath anie right or claime without his promise nor anie promise without his worde The church of Rome being as it is now vtterlie voyd of Gods word is as a lanterne without light We haue departed from that church which they haue made a denne of theeues and in which they haue left nothing sound or like to a church which theÌ„ selues did coÌ„fesse to haue erred in manie things euen as Lot in olde time out of Sodom or Abraham out of Chaldea c. The generall error and defection of the popish Sinagogue froÌ„ Christ his true Church foreshewed in the scriptures is now manifest to the world by dissention from Christ and his holy Apostles doctrine and from the doctrine of the churches by the Apostles fouÌ„ded And for this cause they call the heresie of that Romish church Apostasia Romanensium ab Ecclesia The Apostasie of the Romish rabble froÌ„ the church And they cal the Pope Apostatam Antichristum an Apostata Antichrist And binde vp in one bundle Idolaters superstitious persons papistes and Atheistes constantlie affirming that among English christians no other thing is ment by the name of papistes then heretickes and traytours Antichristians and Apostataes enemies to God their Prince and their countrie Now we finde in you these peremptorie affirmations With Rome we dare not coÌ„municate concerning sundrie her grosse grieuous abhominations yet touching those maine partes of christian trueth wherein they constantlie still persist we gladlie acknowledge them to be of the familie of Iesus Christ. And a little before We hope that to reforme our selues if at anie time we haue done amisse is not to seuer our selues from the church wee were of before In the church we were and we are so still And in another place you would haue men To acknowledge that it is due to the church of Rome to be held reputed a part of the house of God and a limme of the visible church of Christ. And your principall reason seemeth to be because you say That whiche separateth vtterlie That which cutteth off cleane from the visible church of Christ is plaine Apostasie direct deniall vtter reiection of the whole christian faith as farre as the sonne is professedly different from infidelitie Heere you seeme vnto vs to come foorth as an other Elias to bring againe the people vnto the God of their Fathers They say that the church of Rome hath erred not onely in manners but also in matters of fayth You you call theÌ„ backe and say Sundrie grosse and grieuous abhominations They say that the church of Rome as it is nowe is vtterlie voyde of Gods word as a lanterne without light and that it is a denne of theeues in which they haue left nothing souÌ„d or like a church but is like Sodom c. You call them backe and say That they haue mayne partes of christian trueth wherein they constantlie

persist They affirme and that constantlie that there is a general errour and defection of the church of Rome foreshewed in the scriptures and therefore cald them Apostataes and matched them with Atheistes seeing it is nowe made manifest to the world that they are departed from the doctrine of Christ his Apostles c. you call them backe and say we gladlie acknowledge them to be of the familie of Iesus Christ and to be helde and reputed a parte of the house of God and a limme of the visible church of Christ. And therefore you are bolde to affirme that we seuer not our selues from the church we were of before In the Church we were we are so still We are here in a streight except you helpe vs out For if we beleeue you we must thinke our reverend Fathers to haue misledd vs all this while either of malice or ignorance if wee beleeue them we must thinke that Mai. Hoo. is verie arrogant and presumptuous to make him self the onelie Rabbi We pray you therefore to reconcile these two iudgemeÌ„ts that men fall not away to looke back into Egypt or else explane your minde further shew vs some cleere demonstration of that you intende whether you be not sorrie that wee are departed from the vnitie of that Sea or that you thinke they erre not in matters of faith that all these great disputes about the church and bloodie dissentions and conflicts come by ouersight and too great zeale and for want of knowledge in our Reverend Fathers in all those millions of learned men that haue franklie giuen their blood for the detection and departing from that church as from Antichrist and an Apostata And heere wee pray you to shew vs out of divine trueth your rule to discerne a Congregation to bee a member of the visible Church whether whosoeuer holdeth anie one professeth trueth differing from infidelitie may be reputed a member of the visible church and whether you meane by infidelitie nothing els but that which is not taught by the gospell of Iesus Christ and they which holde anie part of that which you call supernaturall trueth that is as we take it of that trueth which men know no otherwise but by the worde of God they are not fallen into an Apostasie c. And heere we craue your iudgement of the Turke how your rule fitteth them For as wee thinke by reading his Alcoran hee holdeth some mayne pointes of christian trueth as namelie these There is one God and that he created all things without labour or wearines and that he preserueth the things created faith is giuen and augmented of God He forbiddeth the adoring of saintes and images affirmeth God to hate and abhorre the arte of Magicke and teacheth the resurrection of all men from the dead Shewe vs now whether the Turke be not of the familie of IESVS Christ. Lastlie we pray you to open vnto vs that seeing you saye the church of Rome is the house of God whether a man continuing in that house and neuer comming out to holde the true beleefe of Christ as we doe in England but renouncing and persecuting it to the death whether such a one may be saued if yea why need we seuer our selues to so great trouble from her grosse and grieuous abhominations if they bee not such as can extinguish our faith to our destruction If no why doe you not ioyne with our Reverend Fathers to abandon that house where there is no saluation Of Gods house it is said It is the grounde pillar of trueth The habitation of God by his spirit and the glorious rest of Christ. In which God loueth to dwell and wherin he hath delight and the same hee will blesse in victualles Priestes and Saintes So that such as be planted in that house shal florish in the courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruite in their age c. Shew vs wee pray you whether these thinges may bee applied to the church of Rome rightlie and essentiallie and what comfort wee may haue by departing from her communion if shee be a parte of the house of God c. and these things we pray you to averre not by humane witnesse but by that which commeth down froÌ„ heauen So did Elias Againe out of this article ariseth another noe smal scruple where our church constantlie affirmeth that The visible church is that coÌ„gregation of faithfull people wherein the pure worde of God is preached Wherevpon the Reuerend Fathers of our church publickely teach that The true preaching of the word is an essential note of the church For which cause they interpret the parable of the seede in this sorte God is the husbandman the Preachers of the worde are the seede sowers the seede is the worde of God the grounde is the hearts of men c. And Therefore Christ did sende his Apostles to preach the Gospell that thereby they might be brought to the beleefe of the Church And To this preaching he annexed such force of his holie spirit that it had greater strength and authoritie then all the eloquence then all the wisedome then all the learning then al the pollicie and power of the worlde and that not onely in the Apostles but also in the Preachers who haue restored the pure light of the Gospell in these latter dayes euen in those countries whose Princes and people were professed aduersaries therof vnto which accordeth the holy scriptures calling this preaching A gifte of the grace of God to admonishe euery man and to teach euery man in all wisedome that wee may present euery man perfect in Christ Jesus Which thinges maketh vs much to muse what you meane where you say Sith speach is the verie image whereby the minde and soule of the speaker conveyeth it selfe into the bosome of him that heareth We can not chuse but see great reason wherefore the worde that proceedeth from God who is in him selfe very trueth and life should be as the Apostle to the Hebrewes noteth liuelie and mightie in operation sharper then any two edged sworde Now if in this and the like places we did conceaue that our owne sermons are that strong and forcible worde should we not euen heereby imparte euen the most peculiar glorie of the worde of God vnto that which is not his worde For touching our sermons that whiche giueth them their verie being is the will of man and therefore they oftentimes accordinglie taste too much of that ouercorrupt fountaine from which they come Heere Mai. Hoo. we are hampered with your words because they seeme to vs contrarie to the iudgement of our church We therefore desire you hartilie to resolue vs what you meane in this place by sermons whether it be not all one with that our Fathers call preaching of the word consisting in teaching and exhorting by the worde of God secondlie what you meane by the being of

telling Abraham his couenant reached to his seede and by differring the seale of the same to witt circumcision to the eight day You Maister Hoo. speake to our vnderstanding a farre differing language namely Predestination bringeth not to life without the grace of externall vocation wherein our baptisme is implyed For as wee are not naturallie men without birth so neither are we christian men in the eie of the church of God but by new birth nor according to the ordinarie course of divine dispensation new borne but by that baptisme which both declareth and maketh vs christians in which respect we holde it to bee the doore of our actuall entrance into Gods house the first apparant beginning of life a seale perhaps to the grace of election before receaved but to our sanctification heere a stepp that hath not any before it And againe The fruit of Baptisme dependeth onely upon the couenant whiche God hath made that God by couenant requireth of the elder sorte fayth and Baptisme in childreÌ„ the sacrament of Baptisme alone And in another place We haue for baptisme no day sett as the Iewes had for circumcision neither haue wee by the lawe of God but onely by the churches discretion a place therevnto appointed Baptisme therfore euen in the meaning of the lawe of Christ belongeth vnto infantes capable thereof from the verie instant of their birth which if they haue not howsoeuer rather then loose it by being put of because the time the place or some such like circumstance doth not solemnly enough concurre the church as much as in her lyeth wilfullie casteth away their soules Heere are we at our wittes ende not knowing what to beleeue For if our English confession bee true that baptisme is a signe of regeneration and visibly sealeth our remission of sinnes and adoption and increaseth grace c. we know not what to make of that you say Baptisme to be the first apparant beginning of life a seale perhaps of the grace of election and that there is no stepp of sanctification before Baptisme And againe if it be true as you say Predestination bringeth not life without the grace of externall vocation wherein baptisme is implyed what shall we thinke of that our Reverend Fathers say A man by Gods free election is holy and pure and that before Baptisme a man may stande in the state of salvation And if our churches doctrine be true that baptisme is a seale of remission of sinnes and that the Sacramentes make not the couenantes but are seales of the covenantes howe can yours bee true that by couenant God requireth fayth and baptisme in the elder and baptisme alone in children Is baptisme parte of the couenant and more then a seale And seeing our Reverend Fathers affirme that God and well ordered churches forbidd baptisme by women and that God hath not inthralled his church to such vrgent necessitie and that such doctrine is fearfull iniurious and blasphemous and our sweete and tender Father hath saide I will be thy God and thy childes not adding anie condition of baptisme if it cannot be had as it ought How can it bee well in you to make it a bloodie and wilfull casting away of soules if the church provide not that children haue baptisme howsoeuer And heere we pray you to teach vs whether the couenant and Sacramentes in the Gospell bee not the same in nature virtue and substance that they were vnder the lawe or that our Sacramentes haue more necessitie And if so why our Reverend Fathers disavow the necessitie of Baptisme to be done anie other wise then as it ought because God appointed circumcisioÌ„ till the eight day is there a further grace in our sacrameÌ„ts or haue they not somewhat in the worke wrought whiche the Sacramentes of the law had not We pray you therefore plainelie and distinctlie to shew vs your minde whether righteousnes coÌ„meth by baptisme or by faith And seeing notwithstanding all these harde and peremptorie speaches you sometimes saye that grace is not absolutelie tyed to sacramentes and the necessitie of receaving not so absolute as that of administring the Sacramentes Wee would faine knowe what you holde and affirme what manner of necessitie you meane For if grace be not absolutelie tyed vnto Sacraments and necessitie of receaving Sacraments not absolute we knowe not what should make necessitie of administring absolute but that as our Reverend Fathers say we are not enthralled to appoint or suffer it to bee done by Women or lay persons if it cannot be had as it ought and if GOD haue not added any such condition of baptisme where borrowed you that distinction Wee can not tell where to finde you or how to take your meaning or at the least that your minde concurreth with the doctrine of the church of Englande we expect therefore and pray you to declare faithfullie these thinges vnto vs. The Church of Englande pronounceth that The Transubstantiation of the bread and wine in the Eucharist can not bee proued by the sacred Scripture but is against playne wordes of Scripture overturneth the nature of the sacrament hath giueÌ„ occasion of many superstitions And for this cause our Reverend Fathers call it A monstrous blasphemous doctrine bringing in doubt the trueth of Christs body Contrarie to Christes wordes sayinge It is expedient that I goe awaye Joh. 16. 7. and to that of Peter Whom the heauens must contayne vntill the time that all things bee restored Act. 3. 21. disagreeing from the articles of faith Hee ascended into heauen sitteth at the right hande of God the Father c. making voyde the institution of Christ which is to continue till he come c. casting holy things to prophane as whoremongers murderers c. mise and dogges to receaue the true reall body of Christ. causing most cruell eating of mans fleshe and manie monstrous miracles accidentes without subjectes the body of Christ without his qualities and true manner of a bodye nourishinge the Marcionist to beleeue the phantasticall body of Christ and Eutichians confounding the two natures of Christ and therefore they which affirme transubstantiation are indeed right Sacramentaries and Capernaites In regarde whereof we intreate you Mai. Hoo. to make a fitt construction of your wordes were you say Sith we all agree that by the sacrament Christ doeth reallie and truelie in vs performe his promise why doe we vainely trouble our selues with so fearce contentions whether by consubstantiation or els by transubstaÌ„tiation the sacrament it selfe be first possessed with Christ or no a thing which no way can eyther further or hinder vs howsouer it stande because our participation of Christ in the Sacrament depeÌ„deth on the cooperatioÌ„ of his omnipotent power which maketh it his body and blood vnto vs whether with change or without alteration of the element such as they imagine we neede not greatlie to care nor inquire after In all which words you seeme to

for the vse of those great giftes which God hath bestowed vpon you that you woulde returne and pervse advisedlie all your five bookes compare them with the articles of our profession set out by publick authoritie and with the workes Apologeticall other authorised sermons homilies of our church and of the Reverend Fathers of our Lande and with the holie booke of God and all other the Queenes Maiesties proceedings and then read and examine with an indifferent equall minde a booke sett out in Latin called Querimonia Ecclesiae and an other in Englishe late come abroade speaking of Scotizing and Genevatising Allobrogicall Discipline and having maturelie with a iudicious coÌ„science in the feare of God pondered and wayed them in the ballance of trueth and iustice then tell vs roundlie and soothelie That if the Reverende Fathers of our church assisted with some of the approved divines of both Vniversies did reade peruse and examine your bookes and those two other bookes whether they would not iudge in their conscience and giue sentence with their mouthes that by those three writinges the Church of Englande and all other christian Churches are vndermined and that they are verie notable bellowes if Gods mercie stayed it not to blowe the coales of sedition and fierie civill warre betweene all christian Churches and to make all people who reade them to fall either flatly to Atheisme or backewarde to poperie when they shall see all godlie Ministers and christian churches by men of their owne side and profession to be so openlie traduced and notoriouslie detected and all the articles of our Religion many partes of our church government to be checked blamed or coÌ„tradicted And might they not thinke that the Popes factors in Englande haue some intelligence with such writers Or is that new found discipline so neerlie seated with our English creed that such expert archers ayming at the one must needes hit the other Our last scruple and demaund is this seeing your bookes bee so long and tedious in a stile not vsuall and as wee verelie thinke the like harde to be found farre differing from the simplicitie of holie Scripture and nothing after the frame of the writinges of the Reverend and learned Fathers of our church as of Crammer Ridley Latimer Iewell Whitgeeft Fox Fulke c. And that your Prefaces and discourses before you come to the question are so longe mingled with all kinde of matters and sutes of learning and doctrine whether your meaning bee to shewe your selfe to bee some rare Demosthenes or extraordinarie Rabbi or some great Pythagoras that enioyne your schollars or your adversaries to fiue yeares silence before they can be perfect in your meaning or able to replye or that these men you write against bee not sounde in matters of fayth and therefore you handle all thinges or else you had no better way to make doubtfull the chief groundes of our faith and religion and that you would haue men better seene in Philosophie and schoolemens diuinitie and namelie in Aristotle or that you were afearde that if you had not handled it with so graue heroicall and loftie a maiestie you should haue bene reputed like some other man and so your same should haue bene but small or that you would wearie your aduersarie with such thicke and continuall fallinge strokes that hee should not bee able to stande before you to strike one blow against you or that you would beare downe the cause with swelling wordes of vanitie and cunningly framed sentences to blinde and intangle the simple or that you would shew your selfe another Aristotle by a certaine metaphisicall and crupticall method to bring men into a maze that they should rather wonder at your learning theÌ„ be able to vnderstand what you teach in your writinge Wee which stande for the defence of our English church highly commend R. H. bookes wee alleadge your opinions as well as wee can to stop the mouthes of foolish carpers Wee commend your books as very excellent and learnedly penned and not to be answered then they promptly aske your reasons and require of vs to shew by what arguments you maintaine those assertions then returne wee to your bookes wee seeke and beate our braynes but are hardely able by our meane capacitie to gather any thinge but as a man a farre of beholding a bryer tree all blowen ouer with his flowers with great desire approacheth neere vnto it and findeth himselfe deceaved so the delight of reading your booke is meruelous great but the fruit thereof howsoeuer it come to passe vnto vs that search and examine it is far vnlike the goodlie shew and appearance In the booke of that most learned and reuerend Father D. Withgift wee finde the question iudicially sett downe his aunswere to the matter in question sensible his reasons eyther from holy scripture from Fathers or new writers without all circumferences and crooked windings directly applied so as such poore men as wee be may beare away what hee saith and what hee intendeth but in your writing wee are mightely incombred wee walke as in a labyrinth and are suddenlie ouerwhelmed as in the deepe sea sometime it seemeth to vs that wee see great florishing of warlike and glittering weapons and to heare the lowde outcryes and noyce of them which pursue their enemies in battell thundring gunshott tossing of speares and ratling of harnesse yet cannot we perfectly perceaue any thinge almost rightly to touch the aduersarie pretended but rather as in our demandes before wee verely thinke doeth manifestly appeare most heauie stroakes poysoned pellettes and dangerous pushes of the pikes against the Ierusalem of God the holy Christian church of Englande whom you would seeme to defende Wee desire you therefore with all instancie that you would not denie vs three things First to shewe vnto vs what arguments you haue alleadged which are materiall and of waight which are not to bee found in the aunswere of that reuerend Father vnto Maister Carthwright and herein plainly to de clare which be your arguments or direct aunswers which are neither fine and close Ironies or blustring bitter scoffes begging of the question or peremptorie affirmations and how wee may knowe what is the state of the question and when you are in or out and what you holde in your conscience to bee the trueth in Gods sight howe great and large your fiue bookes would bee if you had vsed reasonable intelligible and logicall argumentes onely as other writers and disputers doe and had left out all needlesse wittie gloses and Rhetoricall shadowes in preambles discourses digressions amplifications and had kept your selfe out of the common iayle of sophisticall elenches and impertinent outleapes and had followed S. Peters prescript in a meeke reuerend and direct apollogie and defense proceeding from a good conscience Secondly that if you sett foorth your other bookes which are promised you would bee more playne and sensible and followe the vsuall language and stile of

Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Text snippets containing the quad