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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	father_n	son_n	3,252	5	5.6495	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29096	The good old way, or, An excellent and profitable treatise of repentance made by John Bradford in the yeare 1553. Now published with two prefaces relating the life of the author, and the excellencey of the worke.	Bradford, John, 1510?-1555.; Harris, Robert, 1581-1658.; Wilkinson, Henry, 1616-1690.	1652 (1652)	Wing B4106; ESTC R25287	35,398	95

will endeavour my best now to helpe you by Gods grace But first because we cannot well tell what repentance is through ignorance and for lack of knowledge and false teaching I will to begin withall shew what Repentance is Repentance is no English word but we borrow it of the Latinists to whom it is an after thinking in English in Greeke a being wise afterwards in Hebrew a conversion or turning the which conversion or turning cannot be true and hearty unto God especially without some good hope or trust of pardon for that which is already done and past is therefore after hearty sorrow an earnest purpose to amend and to turne to God with a trust of pardon This definition may be divided into three parts 1. First a sorrowing for our sinnes 2. Secondly a trust of pardon which otherwise may be called a perswasion of God's mercy by the merits of Christ for the forgivenesse of our sinnes 3. And thirdly a purpose to amend or a conversion to a new life The which third or last part cannot be called so properly a part as an effect of that repentance we now speake of as towards the end ye shall see by Gods grace But yet lest such as seeke for occasion to speake evill should have any occasion if they tarry not out the end of this sermon I therefore divide repentance into the three foresaid parts 1. Of sorrowing for our sinne 2. Of good hope or trust of pardon 3. Of a new life Thus you may see what the thing is a sorrowing for sinne a purpose to amend with a good hope or trust of pardon This penance not only differeth from that which men commonly take to be penance in saying and going over our enjoyned Ladies Psalters seaven penitentiall Psalmes superstitious Fastings Pilgrimages Almes-deeds and such like things but also from that which the more learned have declared to consist of three parts namely contrition confession and satisfaction Contrition they call a just and a full sorrow for their sinne For this word just and full is one of the differences between Contrition and Attrition Confession they call a numbering of all their sinnes in the eare of their ghostly Father for as say they a judge cannot absolve without knowledge of the cause or matter so cannot the Priest or ghostly Father absolve from other sinnes then those which he doth heare Satisfaction they call amends making unto God for their sinnes by their undue works Opera indebita workes more then they need to doe as they terme them This is their penance which they Preach Write and allow But how true this stuffe is how it agreeth with Gods word how it is to be allowed taught Preached written let us a little consider If a man repent not untill he have a just and full sorrowing for his sinnes dearly beloved when shall he repent For in as much as hell fire and the punishment of the Divels is a just punishment for sinne In as much as in all sinne there is a contempt of God which is all goodnesse and therefore there is a desert of all ilnesse alas who can beare or feele this just sorrow this full sorrow for our sinnes this their contrition which they doe so discerne from their attrition shall not man by this doctrine rather despaire then come to repentance If a man repent not untill he have made confession of all his sinns in the eare of his ghostly Father if a man cannot have absolution of his sins untill his sins be told by tale and number in the Priests eare in that as David saith none can understand much lesse then utter all his sins Delicta quis intelligit Who can understand his sins In that David complaineth of himselfe elsewhere how that his sinnes have overflowed his head and as a heavy burthen doe oppresse him alas shall not a man by this doctrines be utterly driven from repentance Though they have gone about something to make a plaister for their sores of confession or attrition to asswage this stuffe bidding a man to hope well of his contrition though it be not so full as is required and of his confession though he have not numbred all his sinnes if so be that he doe so much as in him lieth dearely beloved in that there is none but that herein he is guilty for who doth as much as he may think yee that this plaister is not like salt to sore eyes Yes undoubtedly alas when they have done all they can for the appeasing of consciences in these poynts this is the summe that we yet should hope well but yet so hope that we must stand in a mammering and doubting whether our sins be forgiven For to beleeve remissionem peccatorum that is to be certaine of forgivenesse of sinnes as our Creed teacheth us they count it a presumption O abomination and that not onely therein but in all their penance as they paint it As concerning satisfaction by their Opera indebita undue workes that is by such works as they need not to doe but of their own voluntarinesse and willingnesse wilfulnesse in deed who seeth not monstrous abomination blasphemy and even open fighting against God For if satisfaction can be done by man then Christ died in vaine for him that so satisfieth and so reigneth he in vaine so is he a Bishop and a Priest in vaine Gods law requireth love to God with all our heart soule power might and strength so that there is nothing can be done to God-ward which is not contained in this commandement nothing can be done over and above this Again Christ requireth to man-ward that we should love one another as he loved us And think you beloved that we can doe any thing to our Neighbourward which is not herein comprized Yea let them tell me when they do any thing so in the love of God and their Neighbour but that they had need to cry Remitte nobis debita nostra forgive us our sinnes So farre are wee off from satisfying Doth not Christ say When you have done all things that I have commanded you say that ye be but unprofitable servants Put nothing to my word saith God Yes workes of supererogation yea superabomination say they Whatsoever things are true saith the Apostle Saint Paule Whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things pertaine to love whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise have you them in your minde and doe them and the God of peace shall be with you Beloved this lesson well regarded would pull us from Popish satisfactory Works which doe deface Christs treasures and satisfaction In heaven and in earth was there none found that could satisfie God's anger for our sinnes or open heaven for man but onely the Son of God Jesus Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Juda who by his bloud hath wrought the work of

that giveth the more to his enemies will he not give the lesse to his friends God hath given his own Son then which nothing is greater even to us his enemies and we now being become his friends will he deny us faith and pardon of our sinnes which though they be great yet in comparison they are nothing at all to the price given Christ Jesus would give his own selfe for us when we willed it not and will he now deny us Faith if we will it This will is his earnest that he hath given us truly to look indeed for the thing willed And look thou for it indeed for as he hath given thee to will so will he give thee to doe Jesus Christ gave his life for our evils and by his death he delivered us O then in that he liveth now and cannot dye will he forsake us his heart blood was not too deare for us when we asked it not what can then be now too deare for us asking it Is he a changeling Is he mutable as a man is Can he repent him of his gifts Did he not foresee our falls Paid not he therefore the price Because he saw we should fall sore therefore would he suffer sore Yea if his suffering had not been enough he would yet once more come again God the Father I may say if the death of his sonne incarnate would not serve would himselfe and the Holy Ghost also become incarnate and dye for us This Death of Christ therefore look on as the very pledge of Gods love towards thee whosoever thou art how deepe soever thou hast sinned See Gods hands are nailed they cannot strike thee his feet also he cannot run from thee his armes are wide open to embrace thee his head hangs down to kisse thee his very heart is open so that therein looke nay even see and thou shalt see nothing therein but love love love love to thee hide thee there lay thy head there with the Evangelist This is the clift of the Rock wherein Elias stood This is for all aking heads a pillow of downe Anoint thy head with this oile let this oyntment embalme thy head and wash thy face Tarry thou on this firme rock and I le warrant thee Say with Paul What can separate me from the love of God can death can poverty can sicknesse hunger or any misery perswade thee now that God loveth thee not Nay nothing can seperate thee from the love wherewith God hath loved thee in Christ Jesus whom he loveth he loveth to the end So that now where abundance of sin hath been in thee the more is the abundance of grace But to what end Certainly that as sinne hath reigned to death as thou seest to the killing of Gods Sonne so now Grace must raigne to life to the honouring of Gods Sonne who is now alive and cannot dye any more So that they which by faith feele this cannot any more dye to God but to sinne whereto they are dead and buried with Christ As Christ therefore liveth so doe they and that to God to righteousnesse and holinesse The life which they live is In fide Filii Dei in the faith of the Sonne of God whereby you see that now I am slipt into that which I made the third part of repentance namely newnesse of life which I could not so have done if that it were a part of it selfe indeed it is an effect or fruit of the second part that is of faith or trust in Gods mercy For he that beleeveth that is is certainly perswaded sinne to be such a thing that is the cause of all misery and of it selfe so greatly angreth God that in Heaven nor in earth nothing could appease his wrath save onely the death and precious bloodshedding of the Sonne of God in whom is all the delight and pleasure of the Father he I say that is perswaded thus of his sinne the same cannot but in heart abhorre and quake to doe or say yea to think any thing willingly which Gods Law teacheth him to be sinne Again he that beleeveth that is is certainly perswaded Gods love to be so much towards him that where through sinne he was lost and made a firebrand of Hell the eternall Father of mercy which is the omni-sufficient God and needeth nothing in us or of any thing that we can doe to deliver us out of Hell and to bring us into Heaven did send even his own most deare Sonne out of his bosome out of heaven into hell as a man would say to bring us as I said from thence into his own bosome and mercy we being his very enemies he I say that is thus perswaded of Gods love towards him and of the price of his redemption by the deare blood of the Lamb immaculate Jesus Christ the same man cannot but love God againe and of love doe that and heartily desire to doe better the which might please God Think you that such a one knowing these things by Faith will willingly insist and wallow in his wilfull lusts pleasures and fantasies Will such a one as knoweth by Faith Christ Jesus to have given his blood to wash him from his sinnes play the Sow to nuzle in his puddle of filthy sinne and vice againe Nay rather then he will be defiled againe by his wilfull sinning he will wash often the feet of his affections watching over the vice still sticking in him which as a spring continually sendeth out poyson enough to drowne and defile him if the sweet water of Christs passion in Gods sight did not wash it and his blood satisfy the rigour of Gods justice due for the same This blood of Christ shed for our sinnes is so deare in the sight of him that beleeveth that he will abhorre in his heart to stamp it and tread it under his feet He knoweth now by his beleefe that it is too much that hitherto he hath set too little by it and is ashamed thereof Therefore for the residue of his life he purposeth to take better heed to himselfe then before he did Because he seeth by his faith the grievousnesse of Gods anger the foulenesse of sin the greatnesse of Gods mercy and of Christs love towards him he will now be heedy to pray unto God to give him his grace accordingly that as with his eyes and tongue hands and feet c. he hath displeased God doing his own will even so now with the same eyes tongue c. he may displease his own selfe and doe Gods will Willingly will he not doe that which might renew the death of the sonne of God He knoweth he hath too much sinne unwillingly in him so that thereto he will not adde willing offences This willing and witting offending sinning whosoever doth flatter himselfe therein doth evidently demonstrate and shew that he never yet indeed tasted of Christ truly He was never truely perswaded or beleeved how foule a thing sinne is how grievous a thing Gods anger

and present old and new thereby the holy spirit may be effectuall to worke in his time this worke of sorrowing for our sinne Look upon Gods anger for sinne in Adam and Eve for eating a peece of an apple or some such fruit Were not they the dearest creatures of God cast out of Paradise Were not they subject to mortality travaile labour c. Was not the earth accursed for their sinnes Doe not we all men in labour women in travailing with child and all in death mortality and misery even in this life feele the same And was God so angry for their sinne and he being the same God will he say nothing to us for ours alas more horrible then the eating once of one peece of an apple In the time of Noah and Lot God destroyed the whole world with Water and the Citties of Sodom with Gomorrah Seboim and Adama with fire and brimstone from heaven for their sinnes namely for their Whoredomes pride idlenesse unmercifulnesse to the poore tyranny c. In which wrath of God even the very babes birds fowles fishes herbs trees and grasse perished and think we that nothing will be spoken to us much worse and more abominable then they For all men may see if they will that the Whoredomes pride unmercifulnesse tyranny c. of England farre passeth in this age any age that ever was before Lots wife looking back was turned into a salt stone and will our looking back againe yea our turning back againe to our wickednesse doe us no hurt If we were not already more then blind Beetles we would blush Pharaoh his heart was hardned so that no miracle could convert him if ours were any thing soft we would beginne to sobbe Of six hundred thousand men only two entred into the Land of promise because they had ten times sinned against the Lord as he himselfe saith and think we that God will not sweare in his wrath that we shall never enter into his rest which have sinned so many ten times as we have toes and fingers yea haires on our heads and beards I feare me and yet we passe not The man that sware and he that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day were stoned to death but we think our swearing is no sinne our bribing rioting yea whore-hunting on the Sabbath day pleaseth God or else we would something amend our manners Elies negligence in correcting his sonnes nipped his neck in two but ours which pamper up our Children like puppets will they put us to no plunge Elies sonnes for disobaying their Fathers admonition brought over them Gods vengeance and will our stubbornnesse doe nothing Sauls malice to David Acabs displeasure against Naboth brought their blood to the ground for dogges to eate yea their Children were hanged up and slaine for this cause but we continue in malice envy and murther as though we were able to wage warre withthe Lord Davids adultery with Bathsheba was visited on the child borne on Davids daughter defiled by her brother and on his children one slaying another his Wives defiled by his own sonne and himselfe driven out of his Realme in his old age and otherwise also although he most hartily repented his sin But me thinks we are more deare unto God then David which yet was a man after God's own heart or else we could not but tremble and beginne to repent The rich glutton who insatiatly delighted in gluttony what did it availe him it brought his soule to hell and have we any preheminence that God will doe nothing to us Achans subtil theft provoked Gods anger against all Israel and our subtilty yea open extortion is so fine and politick that we think God cannot espie it Gehezi his covetousnesse brought it not the Leprosy upon him and on all his seed Judas also hanged himselfe But the covetousnesse of England is of another cloth and colour Well if it were so the same Taylor will cut it accordingly Ananias and Saphyra by Lying linked to them suddain death but ours now prolongeth our life the longer to last in eternall death The false witnesses of the two Judges against Susanna lighted on their own heads and so will ours doe at length But what goe I about to avouch ancient examples where daily experience doth teach The sweat the other yeare the stormes the Winter following will us to weigh them in the same ballances Men hanging and killing themselves which are alas too rife in all places require us to register them in the same roules At the least Children Infants and such like which yet can not utter sinne by word or deed we see Gods anger against sinne in punishing them by sicknesse death mis-hap or otherwise so plainly that we cannot but grone againe in that we have poured out these sinnes in word or deed more abundantly And here with me a little look on God's anger yet so fresh that we cannot but smell it although we stoppe our noses never so much I pray God we smell it not more fresh hereafter I meane it forsooth for I know you look for it in our deare late Soveraigne Lord the Kings Majesty you all know he was but a child in years defiled he was not with notorious offences Defiled said I nay rather adorned with so many good gifts and wonderfull qualities as never Prince was from the beginning of the World Should I speake of his wisdome of his ripenesse in judgement of his learning of his Godly zeale Heroicall heart Fatherly care for his Commons Nurse-like solicitude for Religion c. Nay so many things are to be spoken of Gods exceeding graces in this Child that as Salust writeth of Carthage I had rather speak nothing then too little in that too much is too little This gift God gave unto us Englishmen before all Nations under the Sunne and that of their exceeding love towards us But alas alas for our unthankfulnesse sake for our sinne sake for our carnality and prophane living Gods anger hath touched not only the body but also the mind of our King by a long sicknesse and at length hath taken him away by death death cruell death fearefull death O if Gods judgement be begun on him which as he was the chiefest so I think the holyest and godliest in the Realme of England alas what will it be on us whose sinnes have overgrowne so our heads that they are climed up to heaven I pray you my good brethren know that Gods anger towards us for our sinnes cannot but be great yea too fell in that we see it was so great that our good King could not beare it What befell Jewry after the death of Josias Lord save England and give us repentance my heart will not suffer me to tarry longer herein I hope this will cause some repentance If therefore the prayer for Gods feare the looking in God's glasse and the tagge thereto will not burst open the blockish heart yet hope I that the repetition