Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	life_n	soul_n	14,602	5	5.1897	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07444	The iudge of heresies one God, one faith, one church, out of which there is no saluation. Excluding all infidells, Mahumetans, Iewes, obstinate papists, and other heretikes of all sorts, and consequently all newters, who conforme themselues onely externally to any religion, from hope of participation of the kingdome of heauen. If they finally persist therein, and returne not to the knowledge and zealous profession of the true faith. By Iohn Merideth, Sub-Deane of Chichester.	Meredith, John, b. 1579 or 80.	1624 (1624)	STC 17830; ESTC S112660	68,232	98

the light thereof Neither can they pretend feare of heresie Seeing the Scriptures cannot deceiue any one nor neuer did who did reade it to the end hee might serue God the more truly and demeane himselfe toward his neighbour the more charitably and order his owne person the more soberly and chastly Therefore it is to be feared that the State of those P●pists who liue in this kingdome and other countries where the Romish Inquisition is exauthorized is damnable for here Christ speaketh vnto you and you refuse to be acquainted with the knowledge of his wayes and therefore your good meaning cannot excuse and defend you but your Wilfull affected Ignorance will accuse and condemne you for no ignorance doth excuse in those things which a man is bound to beleeue and know But you will obiect why should we doubt of our selues liuing and dying in the Romish Religion seeing our Forefather● Ob●ect who departed this life in the same are as wee hope saued who had they beene Heretickes must necessarily haue perished And you say the Romish Religion is heresie For an answer let vs consider that not euery one that ●eleeueth some points of religion whereunto they are bound in an hereticall Church is presently censured to be an hereticke vnlesse he do● willingly assent to such particular Articles of their belee●e which doe derrogate from the vertue of Christ his Crosse which is the s●le hope of the Christian either directly or by consequent if he keepe the Foundation whole and hold no particular errour in matters of faith against the Truth manifested to his conscience There is no doubt of him but through Gods mercy he shall be safe But such were the farr● greater part of the Laity in the time of Popery of whom no more was required to be knowne in matters of faith but only the Lords Prayer the Creed the Decalogue the sal●uation of the blessed Virgin and a general● superficiall knowledge of the Sa●rament of Baptisme and the Eucharist and that of Pennance and obed●ence to the Church Though they neuer knew what other points the Church commanded or belee●ed Explicite they were prohibited from Inquisition into farther particula● subtilties of Diuinity which were to be deduced out of the precedent heads which was a great meanes through the mercifull prouidence of God for the preseruation of the people who by the knowledge and beliefe of these particulars might haue perished as well as their great Masters So that it pleased Gods goodnesse by that imposed ignorance to preserue them from fundamentall errors and by their simple credulity and implicite faith in the principall of the fore-named points to giue them saluation Whereas their subtill Schoole-men and learned Diuines who disputed and broached many blasphemous absurdities ranne headlong to hell For as that Ancient said Mel●us est ergo et vtilius Idyot as ●t parum scientes existere et per char●atem proximum fieri Deo ●●●us ●h ● 〈…〉 cap. 45 quam putare multum sc●re et multa expertos in suum Deum blas●h●mos ●uentri It is better and more prositable to be No●ices and haue but a little knowledge if by loue wee become nigh vnto God then to thinke you know much and are expert in many things if withall you be blasphemous against God Infinite such persons were saued in the primitiue Church They acknowledged one God onely and the same their Creator whom they were to worship and that they were redeemed by Id. ● l●b 3. cap. 4. the bloud of Iesus Christ in whom alone they reposed all their hope and confidence and renounced all that was against this doctrine Such was the faith of our fore-fathers in the dayes of Popery they were not acquainted with the heresies of their Doctors and Teachers but died in this confession Viz. That they reioyced that they dyed in the faith of Christ that they confessed that they did not leade their liues as they ought to haue done and that they liued so wickedly that they merited eternall death that they were penitent for the same that they resolued to amend if they did liue any longer that they beleeued that Iesus Christ the Sonne of God was borne of the glorious virgine Mary That he dyed for them and that they gaue him thankes for these benefits and that they beleeued that they could not be saued by any other meanes but onely by his death and passion and in this confession they commended their soules into the hands of Almighty God and died securely This Confession is annexed by a learned man vnto Roffensis his Booke De fide et miserecordi● Dei with a preface prefixed Im●ressus est J●te liber Co●on a●ud hared Ar. no● B●rckma●ni 1556. by the publisher wherein he doth thus censure it Certe hanc formulam legenti admiratio quaedam subijt diuinae bo●tatis ex qua sane perspicere licet doctr●am de meritis et intercessione Christi quamui● fortassis non nihil deformatam et obsc●ratam quod certe nenio inf●c●are pote●t non tamen penitus quod nonnulls falso putant oppressam atque extinctam fuisse cum diuina prouidentia fac●um sit vt tempore maxime necessario nempe sub exitum hu●●s vitae hoc exiguo interrogationum fasciculo totius Euangelicae et Aposto●cae doctrinae virtus et eff●catia pura sincera null●sque peregrinae doctrinae sordibus contam●ata proponerctur atque exhiberetur quo factum esse non dubito vt innumerae animae di●bolo creptae regno Dei sunt vindicatae In English thus Surely he that readeth the forme of Confession must needes wonder at the goodnesse of God out of which we may plainly perceiue that though the Doctrine of the Merites and Interce●sion of Christ was happily much depraued and obscured which surely no man can deny yet it was not wholy extinct and oppressed as many falsely imagine whereas God did so prouide that in a most necessary time namely immediatly before death the vertue and essicacie of the whole Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles should be propounded and exhibited pure sincere and voyd of the pollution of strange doctrine whereby it came to passe I doubt not that infinite soules were deliuered from the diuel and gayned to the Kingdome of God For father euidence hereof which may satisfie the most curious Read Sacerdotale Romanum Tract 5. part 1. cap. 13. in the Title Visitatio Infirmorum For a Summary of this point heare what Iohn Wickleffe saith hereof in his time being the height of Popery Now saith hee a fewe poore men and Ideots in Introduct scripturae cap. 10. comparison of Clarkis of Schole moune haue the trueth of holy Scripture ayens many Prelatis and religious that beene yeuen to worldly pride and couetis simony hypocrisie and other fleshly sinnes most sithen these poore men desire only the trueth and freedome of the holy Gospell and holy Scripture and accepten mans law and ordinancis only in as mych as they

the selfe sa●e they beleeued h●e should come in the fulnesse of ti●e wee beleeue and are assured that he is come Therefore hee is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and the last the beginning Apocal. and the end So saith the Father Res ipsa quae nunc Christiana Religio August lib. 1. Retract nūcupatur erat apud antiquos c. That euery thing which is now called Christian Religion was in vse among the old Patriarchs Prophets neither did it cease to flourish from the Creation vntill Christ his comming in the flesh at which time immediately the Religion which at that time was began to bee called Christian And Christ said of Abraham that hee saw his day and reioyced And the Apostle said Ioh 8. 1 Corinth 10. that all the Fathers did eate the same spirituall meate and did drinke the same spirituall drinke because they were iustified by the same ●aith and Religion in Christ Wherein that man might walke more confidently and securely vnto the truth the truth himselfe being God euen the Sonne of God assuming our humanity not consuming his Diuinity did constitute and founded the same faith that there might be a way for Man vnto God by Man who was God for this is the Mediator betweene God and Man euen the Man I●sus Christ Christ as hee is a Mediator is Man and the way to attaine vnto God Now if hee bee the middle way between him that walketh and the place vnto which he walketh there is hope of attaining vnto it But if you faile or bee ignorant of the way through which you must passe what auaileth it you if you know whither you must goe for Christ is the only strong most certain way against all errors He him●elfe being both God and Man Quo itur Deus qua itur homo God as the end at which we aime Man as the way by which wee passe This Christ God and Man spake first by the Prophets at length by himselfe afterward by his Apostles as much as hee thought to bee sufficient he made the Scripture also which is called Canonicall of most eminent authority the which wee doe verily firmely beleeue concerning those things whereof wee may not be ignorant neither are wee fit or able to know them of our selues In which is declared that inestimable benefit which Christ performed for vs. In dying as man for our Sinnes and rising vp as God for our Iustification and he that beleeueth so farre forth in Christ cannot bee damned This is the summe of the Gospell the joyfull message of mans Saluation All those who are ignorant heereof must faile in the true Religion by erring either about the Obiect and Substance when they worship not the true God or in the Manner in not beleeuing as they ought and in not giuing such worship as he requireth of mankinde And to this purpose the Apostles as some write collected out of the holy Scriptures an Epitome or briefe Summe of Christian Religion consisting of twelue Articles containing in them by way of Implication all such things as a Christian man is bound to know beleeue to his Soules health wherein is set forth the Essence Omnipotence and Goodnesse of God that man may know how and what worship to giue vnto God and what to belieue of him As that hee beleeue that God is three in Persons and One in Substance and Essence and that hee created all things of Nothing in time that the Sonne being the Second Person in the Trinity tooke our humanity wherein he gaue the Gospell suffered was buried and did rise againe from th● dead to saue man from eternall death And so Christian Religion presupposing such truth out of the Gospell doth adore God three Persons and the same One Creator and Rede●mer and giueth him thanks in the Eucharist in rememberance of his Passion and in Hymnes Psalmes and Prayers publike priuate giueth him thanks for all his Benefits receiued desiring future glory and that felicity which hee promised vnto man This is the Summ● of Christian Faith which except a man beleeue faithfully firm●ly hee cannot be saued From hence I inferre that Iewes Mahumetans and Infidels doe not worship God aright because they haue not the true faith For first they doe not worship nor beleeue the true God for they deny the Trinity in Vnity they deny the Article of Mans Redemption the Incarnation of the Sonne of God his Passion and Resurrection and consequently they intend to worship one God who is not three in persons nor Incarnate But there is no such God therefore they worship no God To this purpose Augustine spake properly Quis quis Qu●stio super 〈…〉 6. Cap. 26. talem cogitat Deum qua●ts non est Deus alienum Deu● vtique falsum in cogitatione portat whosoeuer thinketh God to be such a one as he is not carrieth in his thought a strange and a false God The like Censure may be iustly passed against Hereticks for no man dying in such Heresie which is detractory from the glory of our Head Christ Iesus such as are most of the learned Papists if their Faith be agreeable to their Writings can be saued This may seeme rough doctrine to Men pleasers They confesse the Iewes because of their obstinate Incredulity the Turkes because of their prophane Impiety the Pagans because of their absurd Idolatry are out of all hope of Saluation if so they persist But the Papists who confesse professe and worship God● and his Christ are in a farre different state from the former because they retaine some worship of Christ though it bee not so exact and perfect in truth as Gods word requireth I answere All the Impiety that euer was among the Gentiles was but a Deprauation of the true worship of God Saint Paul saith of them that They withheld the truth in vnrighteousnes He said not as one noteth that they had not the Rom 〈◊〉 Sedulis Ibid. truth but that they withheld the truth which they knew in vnrighteousnesse for they detained the truth of the Name of God in the vnrighteousnesse of the vnworthy matter of Idols And another doth most plainly illustrate this poynt vpon Theop●ylact the same words saying that the truth it selfe or the knowledge of God were from the beginning infused into men The heathen withheld the truth knowledge in vnrighteousnesse that is they depraued it as much as they could when they translated the glory of God to their Idols neither did they otherwise then they who hauing receiued money to be spent on the honour of the Emperour consume it vpon theeues and Harlots whom all men will confesse to deale iniuriously with the Maiesty of the Emperour Thus dealt the Pagans with God as Origen doth exemplifie Lib. contra celsum in the Egyptians who saith hee erected magnificent Temples pleasant groues stately Porches and Galleries admirable Chappels curiously vaulted vbi

beene grounded in holy Scripture eyther good reason and common profit of Christen puple and worldly praelatis and feinid religious grounden hem on sinfull mens statutis that sownen pride and couetise and letten the truth and fredome of goddis law● to bee knowen and bringin Christen puple in endles thraldome and great cost Moreouer it is certaine that they misliked and complained against many abuses in doctrine and manners then abounding in the Church of Rome This is plainly apparent by the sundry complaints of di●ers Emperours States Kings Nations and people made for reformation in all ages since the first Apostacie No man can doubt hereof who will conuerse with the Councels and Ecclesiasticall Histories of those Ages Againe it is certaine that many of them laboured to gayne the knowledge of Truth by procuring vnto them the vse of the holy Scriptures translated into the Mother tongue by reading whereof they might finde the right way vnto saluation This is plaine by the wordes of Iohn Wickleffe who in a Booke of his called the Introductory to the Scriptures saith Impressus est iste liber Lon●i●i per Robertum Crow●●y Jdio●●a●e Anglico in quo et ab ●u●●ore co●s●ri●●us est A●uto Dom. 1550. For though couetous Clarkis bene wode by Simony haeresie and many other sinnes and despisen and stoppen Holy write as much as they moune ●et the ignorant puple cryeth after holy writ to ●un it with great cost and perile of here life and saith That he himselfe had translated the Bible into English to saue mens soules and saith that Bede translated the Bible before him and King Alured the beginning of the Psalter But you will say They might read long but all in vaine seeing they did not vnderstand wanting an ●nterpreter which could not be had in those dayes when the Clergy detested that liberty in the Laity I answere partly with St. Ieromes words who I th●nke foresaw your time of the power of darknesse who speaking of Ieron in Nahum cap. 3. the Christian people deceiued saith That they should at length repaire vnto the Mountaines of the Scriptures and if they shall finde no man to teach them yet the good desire of the people should be well accepted of God and the negligence of their Masters should be openly reproued But thankes be vnto God he reserued Priest and people in no small number vnto himselfe who neuer bowed their knee to Baal to teach and beleeue the truth If I should name those of the Clergy whose workes I haue read not of the ordinary ranke but such who were eminent for learning i●dgement ●anctity and Ecclesiasticall dignity who euer since the first Apostacy of Boniface from the auncient Apostolicall humility and verity to Antichristian pompous pride and heresie impugned in their Writings their foule blasphemous and Idolatrous vnheard of fallacies I should be teadious But I referre the Reader for breuity sake to Illyricus his Catalogus Testium veritatis As for the Laity there is no doubt but they were many because such famous Masters could not be without many Disciples and Histories confirme so much vnto vs yea a Popish Inqui●itor confesseth that there haue beene Waldenses euen from the time of the Apostles He meaneth such who professed those Articles of Religion which Valdus and his followers maintained Which at this day the Protestants know beleeue and defend maugre the malice of Antichrist of Rome his Locusts and Scorpions which we hope shall in short time be entertayned by other noble Nations who as yet sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death which God graunt for his mercy sake that it may take effect to the aduancement of the glory of Christ the confusion of Antichrist and the saluation of their soules who shall embrace the same Yet say that there were infinite who though they ●arnestly sought after such Teachers but could not finde them by reason of their rarity in those dayes yet we must not doubt but that they might haue sauing knowledge abundantly by Gods grace and their industrious reading of the Scriptures for as Chrys●stome saith Fieri non potest vt is qui diuinis c It is impossible Hom●l 36. in Genes that hee who doeth seriously and zealously study the Scriptures should bee alway forsaken for although wee haue not mans instruction yet the Lord himselfe descending into our hearts enlighteneth our minde infuseth his beame into our vnderstanding discouereth hidden mysteries and teacheth vs those things which wee know not onely if wee will apply our sel●es diligently thereunto also our Sauiour confirmeth it vnto vs. Aske and you shall haue Seeke and you shall finde Knocke and it shall bee opened vnto Math. you But say that such should erre in some points which they held with their Teachers they must neuer the sooner be censured Heretickes for that cause for as the auncient Canon saith They are not to be reputed heretickes who are seduced not by their owne but by others boldnesse into error For Qui sententiam suam quamuis falsam atque peruersam nulla pertinaci animositate 14. ● 3. Dixi● Aposto●us defendunt c. They who doe not stubbornely defend their opinion though it be false and peruerse especially if it be such a one which themselues haue not broached of bold presumption but such as they receiued from their seduced and deceiued Auncestors If they seeke after the truth with carefull diligence being ready to subscribe thereunto when they haue found it Nequaquam sunt inter haereticos deputandi are not to be censured as Heretickes Out of the premisses I inferre this conclusion Viz. That there was great difference betweene the State of our forefathers who liued in that time of blindnesse and yours who liue in this age They sought after the Truth when it was locked vp from them You behold it presented vnto you and neglect it They were in darknesse and desired the light You liue where it shineth and yet you shut vp your ●y●s against it They were subiect to the rack torture for seeking after it You haue the peace of the Church ready to receiue you ioyfully and yet you despise it They wanted ordinarily helpes to further them in knowledge and yet followed after it You haue all outward meanes and opportunity to solicite dispose and direct you thereunto Oh that you had Gods grace inwardly in your hearts also whereof as yet you are destitute and yet you reiect it And therefore they as wee doe hope haue receiued from Gods mercy the Kingdome of heauen which they so earnestly sought and desired But you as wee feare for your ●ngratefull obstinacy if you doe not come out of Babylon cannot auoyde the torments of hell which you haue iustly dese●ued Therefore if you will be secure of saluation imitate your Ancestors in diligent Inquisition of the truth and pretend not a good intention to protect your negligence for you deceiue your selues you must know that if you will