Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	faith_n	justify_v	salvation_n	3,033	5	8.0315	4	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09436	A graine of musterd-seede or, the least measure of grace that is or can be effectuall to saluation. Corrected and amended by W. Perkins.	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.	1611 (1611)	STC 19725; ESTC S113662	16,143	72

willeth that his grace should bee earnestly desired This doeth faith which iudgeth it a pretious thing and therefore greatly hungreth and thirsteth after it and so obtaines it For God is delighted to fill the hungrie with good things to send the rich emptie away Theodore Beza saith If thou finde not thine heart inwardly touched pray that it may bee touched for then must thou know that this desire is a pledge of the fathers will to thee KeÌ„nitius saith When I haue a good desire though it do scarcely shew it selfe in some little and slender sigh I must be assured that the spirit of God is present and worketh his good worke Vrsinus saith Faith in the most holy men in this life is imperfect and weake Yet neuerthelesse whosoeuer fecles in his heart an earnest desire and a striuing against his naturall doubtings both can and must assure himselfe that he is indued with true faith Againe Wicked men doe not desire the grace of the holy spirit whereby they may resist sinne And therefore they are iustly depriued of it for hee that earnestly desireth the holy Ghost hath it alreadie because this desire of the spirit cannot be but from the spirit as it is saide Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall bee satisfied Bradford saith Thy sins are vndoubtedly pardoned c. for God hath giuen thee a penitent and beleeuing heart that is an heart which desireth to repent and beleeue for such an one is taken of him he accepting the will for thee deede for a penitent and beleeuing heart indeede Taffine saith Our faith may be so small and weake as it doth not yet bring forth fruits that may bee liuely felt of vs but if they which feele themselues in such estate desire to haue these feelings namely of Gods fauour and loue if they aske them at Gods hands by praier this desire and praier are testimonies that the spirit of God is in them and that they haue faith alreadie for is such a desire a fruit of the flesh or of the spirit it is of the holy spirit who bringeth it forth onely in such as hee dwells in c. Then these holy desires and praiers being the motions of the holy Ghost in vs are testimonies of our faith although they seeme to vs small and weake As the woman that feeleth the moouing of a childe in her body though very weake assureth her selfe that shee hath conceiued and that shee goeth with a liue child so if wee haue these motions these holy affections and desires beforementioned let vs not doubt but that wee haue the holy Ghost who is the author of them dwelling in vs and consequently that we haue also faith Again he saith 1. If thou hast begun to hate and she sinne 2. If thou feelest that thou art displeased at thine infirmities and corruptions 3. If hauing offended God thou feelest a griefe and a sorrow for it 4. If thou desire to abstaine 5. If thou auoidest the occasion 6. If thou trauailest to doe thy endeauour 7. If thou praiest to God to giue thee grace all these holy affections proceeding from none other then from the spirit of God ought to be so many pledges and testimonies that he is in thee n Masterknockes saith Albeit your paines sometimes be so horrible that you finde no release nor comfort neither in spirit nor bodie yet if they heart can onely sob vnto God despaire not you shall obtaine your hearts desire And destitute you are not of faith for at such a time as the flesh naturall reason the law of God the present torment the diuell at one doe crie God is angrie and therefore there is neither helpe nor remedie to be hoped for at his haÌ„ds at such time Isay to sob vnto God is the demonstration of the secret seede of God which is hidden in Gods elect children and that onely sob is vnto God a more acceptable sacrifice then without this crosse to giue our bodies to be burnt euen for the truthes sake More testimonies might be alleadged but these shall suffice Against this point of dotrine it may be alleadged that if desire to beleeue in our weakenesse be faith indeede then some are iustified and may be saued wanting a liuely apprehension and full perswasion of Gods mercie in Christ. Ans. Iustifying faith in regard of his nature is alwaies one and the same and the essentiall propertie thereof is to apprehend Christ with his benefites and to assure the very coÌ„science thereof And therefore without some apprehension and assurance there can bee no iustification or Saluation in them that for age are able to beleeue Yet there bee certaine degrees and measures of true faith There is a strong faith which causeth a full apprehension and perswasion of Gods mercie in Christ. This measure of faith the Lord vouchsafed Abraham Dauid Paul the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs of God It were a blessed thing if all beleeuers might attaine to this height of liuely faith to say with Paul I am perswaded that neither life nor death nor any thing else shal bee able to separate vs from the loue of God in Christ but all cannot therfore there is another degree of faith lower then the former and yet true faith called a litle or weake faith and it also hath a power to apprehend and applie the promise of saluation but as yet by reason of weaknes it is infolded as it were and wrapt vp in the heart as the leafe and blossome in the bud For such persons as haue this weake faith can say indeede that they beleeue their sinnes to be pardonable and that seriously in their hearts they desire to haue them pardoned but as yet they can not say that they are without all doubt pordoned And yet the mercie of God is not waÌ„ting vnto them For in that they doe and can desire and indeauour to appreheÌ„d they doe indeed apprehend God accepting the desire to doe the thing for the thing done This which I say will the better appeare if the groundes thereof be considered Faith doth not iustifie in respect of it selfe because it is an action or vertue or because it is strong liuely and perfect but in respect of the obiect thereof namely Christ crucified whom faith apprehendeth as he is set forth vnto vs in the word and Sacraments It is Christ that is the author and matter of our iustice and it is he that applieth the same vnto vs as for faith in vs it is but an Instrument to apprehend receiue that which Christ for his part offereth and giueth Therefore if faith erre not in his proper obiect but follow the promise of God though it doe but weakely apprehend or at the least cause a man onely to Endeauour and Desire to apprehend it is true faith and iustifieth Though our apprehension be necessarie yet our saluation stands rather in this that God apprehends vs for his owne then that we

apprehend him for ours Phi. 3. v. 12. And rather in this that we are knowne of him then that we know him Gal. 4. 9. Out of this conclusion springs an other not to be omitted that God accepts the endeauour of the whole man to obey for perfect obedience it selfe THat is if men endeauour to please God in all things God will not iudge their doings by the rigour of his law but will accept their litle and weake endeauour to do that which they can do by his grace as if they had perfectly fulfilled the lawe But heere remember I put this caueat that this indeeuour must bee in and by the whole man the very minde conscience will and affections doing that which they can in their kindes and thus the endeauour to obey which is a fruit of the spirit shall bee distinguished from ciuil righteousnesse which may bee in heathen men and is onely in the outward and not in the inward man The trueth of this conclusion appeares by that which the Prophet Malachi saith that God will spare theÌ„ that feare him as a father spares his childe who accepts the thing done as well done if the child shew his good will to please his father and to doe what he can IV. Conclusion To see and feele in our selues the want of any grace pertaining to saluation and to be grieued therefore is the grace it selfe The Exposition VNderstand this conclusion as the former namely that griefe of the hart for the want of any grace necessarie to saluation is as much with god as the grace it selfe WheÌ„ beeing in distresse we cannot pray as we ought God accepts the very groanes sobs and sighes of the perplexed heart as the praier it selfe Rom. 8. 26. When we are grieued because we cannot be grieued for our sinnes it is a degree measure of godly sorrow before God Augustine saith well Sometimes our praier is lukewarme or rather cold and almost no praier nay sometime it is altogether no praier at all and yet we cannot with griefe perceiue this in our selues for if we can but grieue because we cannot pray we now pray indeede Hierom saith Then we are iust when we doe acknowledge our selues to be sinners Againe this is the true wisedome of man to know himselfe to be imperfect And that I may so speake the perfection of all iust men in the flesh is imperfect Augustine again saith That the vertue which is nowe in a iust man is thus farre forth perfect that vnto the perfection thereof there belongs a true acknowledgement and an humble confession of the imperfection thereof A broken and contrite heart after an offence is as much with God as if there had bin no offence at al. And therefore so soone as Dauid after his grieuous fall in heauinesse of heart confessed his sinne saying in effect but thus much I haue sinned the Prophet in the name of the Lord pronounceth the pardon of his sinne in heauen and that presently V. Conclusion He that hath begunne to subiect himselfe to Christ and his word though as yet hee bee ignorant in most points of religion yet if he haue a care to increase in knowledge and to practise that which he knoweth he is accepted of God as a true beleeuer The Exposition SVndry persons by the Euangelists are said to beleeue which had onely seene the miracles of Christ and as yet had made no further proceedings but to acknowledge Christ to be the Messias and to submit themselues to him his doctrine which afterward should be taught On this maner the woman of Samaria belieued and many of the Samaritans vpon her report and a certaine ruler by reason of a miracle wrought vpon his sonne is said to beleeue and all his houshold Ioh. 4. 42. 52. When our Sauiour Christ commended the faith of the Apostles terming it a rocke against which the gates of hell should not preuaile it was not the plentifull knowledge of the doctrine of saluation for they were ignorant of many articles of faith as namely of the death resurrection ascention and kingdome of Christ but because they beleeued him to be the sonne of God the sauiour of mankinde and they had withall resolued themselues to cleaue vnto him and the blessed doctrine of saluation which hee taught though as yet they were ignorant in many points The holy Ghost commendeth the faith of Rahab when shee receiued the spies Now this her faith was indeed but a seed and beginning of liuely faith for then shee had onely heard of the miracles done in Egypt and of the deliuerance of the Israelites and was thereupon smitten with feare and had conceiued a resolution with her selfe to ioyne her selfe to the Israelites and to worship the true God Now these and the like are tearmed beleeuers upon iust cause for though they bee ignorant as yet yet their ignorance shall bee no continuing or lasting ignorance and they haue excellent seedes of grace namely a purpose of hart to cleaue to Christ and a care to profit in the doctrine of saluation whereof they haue some litle knowledge VI. Conclusion The foresaid beginnings of grace are counterfeit vnlesse they encrease The Exposition THe wickednesse of mans nature and the depth of hypocrisie is such that a man may can easily transforme himselfe into the counterfeit and resemblance of any grace of God Therefore I put downe in this last conclusion a certaine note whereby the gifts of God may be discerned namely that they grow vp and increase as the graine of Musterd-seede to a great tree and beare fruit answerably The grace in the heart is like the graine of Musterd-seede in two things First it is small to see to at the beginning secondly after it is cast into the ground of the heart it increaseth speedily and spreads it selfe Therefore if a man at the first haue but some litle feeling of his wants some weake and faint desire some small obedience he must not let this sparke of grace goe out but these motions of the spirit must be increased by the vse of the word Sacraments and praier and they must daily bee stirred vp by meditating endeauouring striuing asking seeking knocking The master deliuering his talents to his seruants saith vnto them Occupie till I come aud not hide in the earth Matth. 25. 26 Paul vseth an excellent speech to Timothie I exhort thee to stirre vp the gift of God which is in thee namely as fire is stirred vp by often blowing and putting to of wood 2. Tim. 1. 6. As for such motions of the heart that last for a weeke or a moneth and after vanish away they are not to bee regarded the Lord by the Prophet Ose complaineth of them saying O Ephraim thy righteousnes is like the morning dewe chap. 6. Therefore considering grace vnlesse it be confirmed and exercised is indeede no grace I will heere adde certaine rules of direction that wee may the more easily put in practise the

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