Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	deny_v	teach_v	ungodliness_n	4,302	5	11.7286	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B08023	A notable discourse of the happinesse of this our age, and of the ingratitude of men to God for his benefites: written in Latine by that godly learned man Iohn Riuius, and now Englished for the comfort, and commoditie of the vnlearned, by W.W. student..; De seculi nostri felicitate, et hominum erga Dei beneficia ingratitudine, liber. English	Rivius, Johann, 1500-1553.	1578 (1578)	STC 21064.5; ESTC S94909	108,359	160

Preachers doe daily perpetually beate into the eares and mindes of all men these other innumerable sentences of holie Scripture seeing that they preach the word diligently seeing that they are instant and vrge men in season and out of season seeing that they improue rebuke and exhorte as S. Paule warneth Timothie they are falsly accused to haue hitherto pampered and fostered to much the licentious liuing of the common people And yet notwithstanding that which our aduersaries doe obiect of vice and wickednesse which beareth such a sway in this age is as I saide before truer than I would it were Now albeit there haue bene men alwayes euen from the beginning of the Church which did professe Christianitie rather in name and title than in verie deede of which sorte Hilarie saith thus They pray because they feare they sinne because it is their will pleasure they call them selues Christians because they haue a good hope of eternitie they doe heathenish thinges because present thinges are flattering thinges they remaine not altogether impious because they haue the name of God in some honour they are not godlie because they followe such thinges as are farre from godlinesse notwithstanding I doe beleeue that all vices did scarse at any time beare such a sway in any age as in this our age Wee doe all of vs bragge and boast of our faith but wee doe not declare and shewe forth this our faith by godlie woorkes and by charitie towardes our neighbour Wee all glorie of the Gospell of Christ but wee studie not to liue worthie of the Gospell of Christ Wee teach and preach that wee haue receiued the pure religion of Christ but wee doe not perfourme in deede those thinges which are agreeable to it Wee will forsooth both bee and also bee accounted Christians which name verely ought to make vs somewhat ashamed to breake Gods commaundementes but wee doe not endeuour with all our mind and labour to leade a life after the imitatiō of Christ To be briefe we confesse God in woordes as the Apostle saith but in our deedes wee denie him So it comes to passe that for our sakes and for our sinnes and wickednesse the name of God is dispraised amongst the heathen that Christian doctrine is euill spoken of that religion it selfe is contemned despised For what goodnesse will the Turkes beleeue to bee in that religion whose woorshippers and Professours they see to be contaminated and defiled with all heinous wickednesse O ingratitude woorthie of eternall destruction Howe greatly am I affraid least for this one thing that happen to vs which our Sauiour Christ doth threaten to those cities which after so wholsome doctrine repented not of their horrible sinnes It shal be saith hee more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and Sodome in the day of iudgement than for you The aduersaries of the Gospell which will not acknowledge their manifest errours and receiue the true doctrine ought not so much to feare this so greeuous and horrible a commination as those which euerie where glorie of the Gospell whome God hath called out of darkenesse into his maruellous light that I may vse the words of S. Peter At the least let those moste sweete admonitions and exhortations of S. Paule moue vs to godlinesse of life I beseech you brethren saith hee by the mercies of God that yee giue vp your bodies a liuing sacrifice holie acceptable vnto God which is your reasonable seruing of god And againe They that are Christes haue crucified the flesh with the affections and lustes thereof And againe That grace of God that bringeth saluation vnto all men hath appeared teaching vs that denying vngodlinesse and worldlie lustes wee shoulde liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present worlde Item Bee yee saith hee followers of God as deare children that ye may walke in loue euen as Christ hath loued vs and hath geuen himselfe for vs to bee an offering and a sacrifice of a sweete smelling sauour to God. And againe Wee are his woorkemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good woorkes which God hath prepared and ordeined that we should walke in them Hitherto perteineth that saying of Christ in Saint Matthaewes Gospell Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good woorkes and glorifie your father which is in heauen I doe omitte almost sixe hundred such like places in the Gospell Those places of Scripture ought verely to moue vs chiefly and before all other which haue the mention of Christes death and punishment ioyned with them Such an one is that saying of Saint Peter Christ saith he his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree For what doeth he adde That we being dead to sinne should liue to righteousnesse The like place is that to Titus Christ saith he gaue himselfe for vs What doth he adde That he might redeeme vs from all iniquitie and purge vs to be a peculiar people vnto himselfe zealous of good woorkes And to the Galathians Which gaue himselfe for our sinnes But he addeth That he might deliuer and take vs out of this present euill worlde And to the Corinthians Christ died for all He addeth That they which liue should not liue hereafter to themselues but vnto him which died and rose againe for them And to the Colossians Christ hath reconciled you in the bodie of his fleshe through death He addeth To make you holie and vnblameable and without fault in his sight Now whom the diuell who as Iohn saith in the Reuelation seduceth the whole worlde feedeth with an hope of Gods mercie and goodnesse and whom he by that meanes reteineth still in their sinnes and forbiddeth them to feare Gods iustice let those men againe and againe see well what they doe The Lorde is mercifull and gentle saith Dauid in the Psalme But the same man saith The face of the Lorde is against them that doe euill I am the Lorde thy God shewing mercie vpon thousandes saith God in Exodus What is added To them which loue mee and keepe my commaundements I will not the death of a sinner saith God in Ezechiel What followeth But that he turne from his wayes and liue Hee that beleeueth in the sonne hath life euerlasting saith the forerunner of the Lorde in Iohn But Christ in the same S. Iohns Gospell saith They which haue done good shall come foorth into the resurrection of life but they that haue done euill into the resurrection of condemnation Iohn Baptist testifieth of Christ saying Behold that lambe of God which taketh away the sinne of the world But the same Iohn saith Repent yee of your former life and bring foorth fruite worthie amendment of life Peter in the Actes saith We beleeue that wee shall bee saued through the grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ But the same Peter saith Amend your liues therefore

backward into their former darknesse of ignorance errours For certeine men haue now begonne with no little care and cunning to set a faire glasse vpon old superstitions and with comelie wordes to cloake and couer the faultes and vices of the Papistes But now at this day seeing that our aduersaries doe shew foorth euidently and plainely without dissimulation what they goe aboute what they looke at what they ayme at what they shoote at and seeing that now wee may almost feele and groape as it were with our handes the fond counselles and wicked practises of the vngodlie Papistes I doe see there is no greate daunger and I thinke that wee neede not to feare so much any more lest they can induce and bring any man hereafter so easily into errour vnlesse hee bee starke blinde out of his right wittes For who now doth not see that the aduersaries of sounde and wholesome doctrine doe endeuour to take quite away to pluck out of all mens heartes yea after a sorte to burie wholy and altogether to ouerwhelme the very sacred and holy religion of Christe For thus they teache Ad verbum Woorde for woorde I will put nothing to of mine owne That faith say they by which a man doth stedfastly beleeue and assuredly trust to haue his sinnes forgiuen him for Christes sake and to possesse euerlasting saluation hath no testimonie or witnesse at all in the Scriptures yea it is cleane against it What else If any man shall say that the iustifying faith is nothing else but a stedfast trust in Gods mercie pardoning our sinnes for Christes sake or that that only confidence is the meane whereby wee shal be iustified let him bee accursed Item If any man shall say that to the obteining of saluation it is necessarie for euery man to beleeue assuredly and without all doubting of his owne infirmitie that his sinnes are forgiuen him let him bee accursed What is there any more of this stuffe Yea If any man shall say that a man is absolued from his sinnes and iustified for that he doth certeinly beleeue that hee is absolued or that no man is truely iustified but hee that doeth beleeue himselfe to be iustified and that our absolution and iustification is fully perfected and finished onely by this faith let him bee accursed I tremble and quake to rehearse such deuilish decrees of vngodlie men They will haue faith to bee onely a simple credulitie and a bare knowledge of the historie of Christ and not also a stedfast trust and beliefe in Christ as S. Paul in all his Epistles vnderstandeth it They woulde haue vs continually to doubte of the good will of God towardes vs They denie that a man is iustified only by trust and beliefe in the mercie of God pardoning our sinnes for Christes sake that is they denie that a man is iustified Gratis freely as S. Paul saith euen by the grace of God and that without woorkes They denie that faith is necessarie for all men to the obteining of pardon and remission of their sinnes They denie that faith is alwayes necessarie to absolution from our sinnes that is to speake more plainly they denie that wee ought necessarily to beleeue the Gospell For I pray you what other thing is absolution but the voice of the Gospell sounding by the minister of the Church by which voice that remission of sinnes promised to the penitent in the Gospell is priuately and particularly applied to euery mans conscience And seeing that our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell of S. Marke flatly commaundeth both namely to repent and to beleeue the Gospell beholde heere the intollerable boldnesse or rather impudencie of our aduersaries For they very willingly graunt the one that we ought to repent but verily they doe so stoutly denie the other namely that wee ought to beleeue the Gospell that is the preaching of forgiuenesse of sinnes that they accurse and condemne euery one that affirmeth this to bee true Christ saith Credite Euangelio that is Beleeue the Gospell but these men say quite contrary If any man say they shall affirme that in absolution of sinnes wee must beleeue the Gospell let him bee accursed Now what an absurde thing also is this their Anathema If any man shall say that if grace bee lost through sinne faith also is alwayes together lost with it or that that faith which doth remaine is not a true faith although it bee not a liuely faith or that hee which hath faith without charitie is not a Christian let him bee accursed Here to be briefe they affirme that adulterers manquellers extortioners and such like whome S. Paule denieth euer to be heires of the kingdome of God persisting still in their sinne and wickednesse may conceiue some hope and trust of their saluation and may promise vnto them selues that God for Christes sake will be mercifull â–ª and fauorable vnto them for that is it which we call To beleeue If this their assertion be true then surely the Apostle S. Paule is in an errour But if it bee impietie to graunt that the Apostle erred then they them selues doe erre and are deceiued and doe manifestly teach a falshood In the meane while such is the miserable blindenesse of those mens mindes they doe not see and perceiue how that they speake contraries They doe denie that there is any liuely faith in heinous sinners and wicked offenders Ergo it necessarily followeth that their faith is a dead faith such an one as the Diuels also may haue in them according as S. Iames witnesseth How therefore can that faith be founde true which is dead Here I doe beleeue they will coyne and bring foorth out of their owne braine as Iupiter brought forth Minerua out of his head a new definition of faith But let vs briefly haue a viewe also of other of their Diuelish decrees The Catholike Church say they doeth reteine and receiue whatsoeuer the chaire of Peter hath giuen out doeth giue out and shall giue out concerning faith and religion Hereby you may easily vnderstand how greate the credite of the Church of Rome and the authoritie of the Apostolicall seate is amongst them Let vs proceede on forward to the rest Ecclesiasticall constitutions say they concerning fastes feastes and abstinence from meates and many other thinges doe bind a man in conscience to obserue and keepe them Etiam extra casum scandali yea without the case of offence to any This is a hard saying But what followeth Christ say they doeth giue and graunt many thinges vnto vs here on earth through the merites and intercession of Saintes which otherwise he would not bestowe vppon vs Wherefore they doe verie holily and religiously which with a deuoute pietie and godlinesse doe visite those places which are dedicated to them and which by this meanes seeke for helpe at their handes Here you see that they doe allowe prayer to the deade and

of which by the way I haue saied somewhat before concerning the impure single life of Priestes concerning the superstition hypocrisie and tyrannie of the mendicant or begging Friers to be briefe of Pharasaisme in the Frieries and Monasteries of Epicurisme in the Collegies of Canons of Iudaisme in Ecclesiasticall rites of Paganisme in the life and manners of the Christians of the former age of so many snares of mens consciences of the feigned miracles of Saintes almost sixe hundred such like deuises But I hope that euerie man will by these few which we haue spoken of easily coniecture the rest which remaine which are very many For as I suppose I haue shewed sufficiently what hath bene the state of Christianitie now of late yeares and many ages past and I haue declared what superstitions what faultes what abuses haue crept into the Church I beseech God the father of our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ that as he hath restored the light of his Gospell to those which heretofore were compassed with the thicke cloudes of errours so he woulde open the eyes of the aduersaries of the Gospell that they may be conuerted from darkenesse to light from the power of Sathan to God finally from the vaine superstition of their auncestours and forefathers to the worshippe of true godlinesse Amen The second parte of this Discourse Wherein is declared what hath bene amended and corrected by our men in Ecclesiasticall doctrine NOW will we come to the second part of this booke and we will briefly declare what hath bene nowe at length amended and reformed in the doctrine of the Church First therefore it is plaine and euident to all men at this day that from the beginning of the worlde till now there hath alwayes beene one and the same way to obteine saluation by namely by the sole and onely trust and confidence in Christ whome the godly did beleeue should come as the Sauiour promised to Adam and to the old fathers euen from the originall of the worlde whom we now beleeue to be come alreadie at a determinate time and to haue brought saluation vnto mankinde For our faith also at this day is the very same with the faith of the Patriarchs Prophetes and finally of the whole people of Israel in times past because they expected and wayted for that to come which we doe beleeue to be alreadie done Now though we conceiue in our mindes that the holinesse of the Patriarches was exceeding greate whiche without all doubte was singular and most notable notwithstanding they were saued by no other meanes but by faith in the Redeemer of mankinde then promised to them now exhibited to vs who is the sonne of God our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ So that the holy fathers were not as yet Christians in woorde but in deede they were Christians by reason of our common faith and beliefe in Christ whome they did hope would come whome wee doe beleeue to be come long agoe Therefore all men must looke for saluation from this one and onely Christ neither is there among men any other name giuen as S. Peter saith whereby we must be saued For to this Christ giue all the Prophetes witnesse that through his name all that beleeue in him shall receiue remission of sinnes Seeing these things are so who would not maruell much at the blindnesse of the Christians both in our memorie and in former ages which did attribute that to mans merites which is due vnto Christ alone For that can not bee denied which we haue before declared more at large to witte that mortall men did not heretofore trust so much to the goodnesse clemencie bountie mercie and grace of GOD alone nor so much to the satisfaction of Christ onely for our sinnes as they did to the dignitie and woorthinesse of their owne woorkes For whitherto tend so many rites and formes of woorshipping GOD found out and ordeined by men so many will woorshippes so many fraternities so manifold varietie of Masses moreouer Pilgrimages Pardons a Monasticall life voluntarie beatings and also whippinges of our owne bodie hungers watchinges lyinges vppon the bare ground and who can rehearse all Whereto say I doe wee beleeue that all these thinges did tend but to the obteining of forgiuenesse of sinnes to the satisfaction for offences to the deliuerance from eternall death briefly to the obteining of saluation and blessednesse So now men ascribed their saluation not to the sonne of God our Lord Redeemer Iesus Christ who by his owne bloudshed satisfied for the sinnes of the worlde and pacified the wrath of God but to the worthinesse of their owne woorkes and to their owne merites and vertues Now as the people of the Iewes in olde time were of that minde that they thought the Leuiticall ceremonies and the sacrifices of the lawe were auayleable to the remission of their sinnes the Prophets in the meane time shewing them a farre other vse of the lawe and warning them of that future sacrifice of the Messias which the Leuiticall sacrifices did shadowe so the men of the former age obserued and kept superstitious rites for that they were thoroughly persuaded that God by them was reconciled that he by them was satisfied for our sinnes our men at this day condemning this so impious a persuasion and testifying that all men obteine peace with God and pardon of their sinnes and that all receiue saluation only by faith in Christ For not mans ceremonies but that seede of the woman promised to Adam doeth breake and bruse the heade of that olde Serpent which as Iohn saith in the Reuelation is called the Diuell and Sathan that is the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ is he alone which doeth destroy the workes of the Diuell to witte sinne and death Not the Leuiticall sacrifices but that lambe of God whom Iohn Baptist pointeth to with his finger is he that taketh away the sinnes of the world Not by our merites and desertes but through Christ is remission of sinnes preached vnto vs as the Apostle saith Not mans satisfaction but the sonne of God him selfe as S. Iohn testifieth is the reconciliation for our sinnes We haue obteined reconciliation not by the intercession of Saintes but by our Lord Iesus Christ as S. Paule doeth witnesse For this is he alone which may reconcile vs to God being the onely Mediatour betwixt God and men as the same S. Paule saith Not he that buyeth and redeemeth the Popes bulles but he that beleeueth in the sonne as our Sauiour saith in the Gospell of S. Iohn hath eternall life Man is not iustified by his owne woorkes but by the grace of God freely through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus as saith the Apostle No man is saued by his owne good deedes but by the grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ are wee saued as saith S. Peter in the Actes I suppose that I