Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	flesh_n	put_v	stony_a	3,688	5	11.7128	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14095	A discovery of D. Iacksons vanitie. Or A perspective glasse, wherby the admirers of D. Iacksons profound discourses, may see the vanitie and weaknesse of them, in sundry passages, and especially so farre as they tende to the undermining of the doctrine hitherto received. Written by William Twisse, Doctor of Divinitie, as they say, from whom the copie came to the presse	Twisse, William, 1578?-1646.	1631 (1631)	STC 24402; ESTC S118777	563,516	728

implyeth any such impotency in God yet Austin long agoe did acknowledge this consequence Enchirid. 96. Deo quam facile est quod vult facere tam facile est quod non vult esse non sinere Hoc nisi credamus periclitatur ipsum nostrae fidei confessionis initium qua consitemur in Deum Patrem omnipotentem credere Neque veraciter ob aliud vocatur omnipotens nisi quia quicquid vult potest nec voluntate cujusquam creaturae voluntatis omnipotentis impeditur effectus Et cap. 27. In caelo in terra non quaedam voluit fecit quaedam vero voluit non fecit sed omnia quaecunque voluit fecit Et cap. 98. Quis porro tam impii desipiat ut dicat Deum malas hominum voluntates quas voluerit quando voluerit ubi voluerit in bonum non posse convertere And whereas you say that man is not capable of endlesse joyes unlesse he will be wrought by meere love without the impulsions of unresistible power to love him to love God the same insinite love which drawes him unto repentance in congruity leaving a possibility not to be drawne by it This is a notorious untruth For was there any possibility in Christ to sinne or not to bee drawne to that which was good I thinke you will not avouch it And was he not therefore capable of endlesse joyes And if Gods will be unresistible as the Apostle plainly testifieth shall not the operation whereby his will is accomplished bee irresistible And shall such a bug-beare deterre us from acknowledging God to be the author of repentance and move us to give the glory thereof to the will of man who through the hardnesse of his heart cannot repent as the Apostle speaketh Againe the Scripture testifieth that whatsoever God willeth that he doth both in heaven and earth whether it be by power resistible or unresistible is nothing to the purpose But you maintain that what God ardently willeth is not brought to passe by reason that man willeth not Neither doe w●e maintaine that God in working whom hee will unto repentance doth doe this by bereaving man of power to resist which alone denominates the operation of God irresistible but onely by taking away the will of resisting while ex nolentibus volentes facit And consequently wee say not that God takes away all possibility of refusing to be drawne by it For we maintaine that God brings to passe contingent things contingently that is with a possibility to the contrarie though supposing Gods wil to the contrary this possibility shall not be actuated And so when God workes a man to faith and to repentance nullum humanum resistit arbitrium No mans will resists and that the grace which God gives a nullo duro corde respuitur is refused by no hard heart So that all this is done without all coaction For neither can the will be constrained and God in making men volentes ex nolentibus cannot without great absurditie be said to constraine them as you would fain insinuate having no sound argument for it but such poore trickes to serve your turne withall And when God promiseth to circumcise the hearts of his people and thereby to make them love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soule hee doth not say he will constraine them to repent Deut. 30. 6. So when hee promiseth to take away their stony heart and give them an heart of flesh and put his owne Spirit within them and cause them to walke in his statutes and judgements and to do them Ezech. 36. 27. hee doth not signifie that hee will constraine them For God can change any mans will without constraining Nay in making them willing it is contradiction to say he doth constraine them to be willing for constraint is against the will but it is impossible a man should bee willing against his will yet this you obtrude upon your adversaries as though they maintained that God by his power did make them repent against their wils Neither yet can we like that other extreame which you approve that men must first be brought to a willingnesse and then God makes them repent For to will to repent is to repent for repentance is the very change of the will Neither can you in any sober manner expound unto us how God is said to make men repent after they are made willing hereunto And yet the very will to repent is the worke of God as who it is that worketh in us both the will and the deed according to his good pleasure Philip. 2. 13. not by such attractions onely you speake of though you are loath to betray your Pelagian Tenet though you expresse the threatning of judgement and thereby imply what you meane by attraction of love to wit the promises of reward Now this apparantly is not to worke it for this is onely suadere and suadere is not to worke it And the case is cleere even by your opinion that God doth not work it as oft as he doth exhort unto it which yet he should if suadere and hortari thereunto were to worke it And indeed suadere hortari ut resipiscamus is onely to exhort and perswade that wee would worke our selves unto repentance And in this sense to interpret S. Paul where he saith God workes in us both the will and the deed according to his good pleasure was of old the practise of the Pelagians as S. Austin hath discovered long agoe de grat Christi cont Pelag. Calest cap. 10. For thus Pelagius plaid the commentator upon S. Paul Operatur in nobis velle quod bonum est velle quod sanctum est dum nos terrenis cupiditatibus deditos mutorum more animalium tantummodo praesentia diligentes futurae gloriae magnitudine praemiorum pollicitatione succendit dum revelatione sapientiae in desiderium sui stupentem suscitat voluntatem dum nobis suadet omne quod bonum est And therefore he urgeth Pelagius to confesse another manner of grace then this if he will be accompted a Christian Ibid cap. 11. Nos eam gratiam volumus isti aliquando fateantur qua futurae gloriae magnitudo non solum promittitur verumetiam creditur us speratur Nec solum revelatur sapientia verumetiam amatur nec suadetur solum omne quod bonum est sed persuadetur han● debet Pelagius gratiam consiteri si vult non modo vocari sed esse Christianus And thus to circumcise our hearts in causing us to love him and to walke in his wayes and to keepe his statutes and judgments and to doe them this I hope is not to strangle us yet here is no violent operation in all this For Dum non mod●versas à vera side sed adversas verae fidei voluntates convertit ex volentibus nolentes facit it is so farre from violence that the will rejoyceth that God hath thus reformed it we do but as Scriptures

attributed unto him but per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by conformity to the nature of man Sorrow may be incident unto Christ for hee was man as well as God and so man is subject to the law of God which commands us to love our neighbour as our selfe and who is to bee accounted our neighbour himselfe hath taught us in the parable of a certain man that descended from Ierusalem to Iericho by the way as he went fell into the hands of thieves and a fruit of this love is well knowne to bee compassion whereby wee rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weepe with them that weepe yea weepe for them who weepe not for themselves And yet it is very strange to inferre that because Gods sorrows for his peoples plagues doth inferre that he hath done all that he can for his people therefore God hath done all that hee can doe for them that perish Or because God doth expostulate with his people for their unthankfulnesse therefore he doth all hee can doe for the salvation not onely of his people but of them that perish also But it is true in the ministery of the word hee invites them to repentance that doe not repent And it is as true that if this bee required to the doing of all that hee can doe for the salvation of them that perish then many thousands perish for whose salvation God doth not all hee can doe For many thousands have perished that never enjoyed the ministery of the word to bring them to repentance They indeed that live within the precincts of Gods sanctuary enjoy this benefit though many thousands of them perish Neither doth it follow that because God invites them to repentance he doth all hee can doe for their salvation For if it pleased him hee could not onely invite them to repentance but give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. last and Act. 5. 35. and Act. 11. and the 18. And as Austine saith Quantamlibot Deus praebuerit patientiam nisi Deus dederit quis aget poenitentiam so may I say Quantumlibet Deus invitaverit ad rescipiscendum nisi Deus dederit quis aget poenitentiam And as Austine in the same place professeth of such as God hath not predestinate whether out of the Church or in the Church Istarum neminem adducit Deus ad salubrem spiritualemque poenitentiam qua homo reconciliatur Deo in Christo sive illud ampliorem patientiam sive non imparem praebeat And consequently though hee profereth salvation upon condition of faith and repentance for no otherwise doth he profer it to any unto some of those that perish yet herehence it followeth not First that hee profereth this unto all that perish or secondly in profering it to any that perish he doth all that he could doe for the salvation of them that perish as when he saith Esa. 65. 2. I have spread out my hands all the day long unto a rebellious people which walke in a way that was not good and herehence it followeth not that hee did all that he could doe for their salvation For this signifieth onely his invitation of them and readinesse to imbrace them upon their repentance and complaint of the hardnesse of their heart in not repenting But God could doe more then this hee could take away their stony heart and give them an heart of flesh and put his owne Spirit within them and cause them towalke in his statutes and to doe them Ezech. 36. 27. And therefore it is a very vaine discourse of yours when you say The unremovable rules of eternall equity will not suffer him to stretch out his hand any further then he doth towards the sonnes of men for it is apparant that he doth stretch them further to as many as in the course of his loving kindenesse he doth convert and thus farre hee doth stretch them out to as many as hee transports into the land of promise as your selfe confesse But whereas you say The measure of their iniquity being accomplished is an obstacle to God as whom his justice in this case will not suffer to stretch them out so farre any longer this is one of the articles of your creede besides all text of Scripture or Christian reason for God calls some even at the last hower of the day as the Gospell preacheth in the parable of the labourers hired into the vineyard end in the example of the thief upon the crosse the example of the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. sc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if at any time God may give them repentance and the ancient saying is inter pontem fontem And S. Augustine counts it impietie and madnesse to thinke otherwise Enchir. 98. Quis porro tam impie desipiat ut dicat Deum malas hominum voluntates quas voluerit quando voluerit ubi voluerit in bonum non posse convertere And the order of our Church in visiting the sick doth justifie this in urging us to visite all to invite all to repentance even to the last gaspe saving that indeede no mans iniquitie is at full till his death and after death no calling to repentance for the wicked imediately upon their death are carried into hell as Dives was and Ex inferno nulla redemptio out of hell no redemption At you say that with sorrow hee doth withdraw his hands so you may with as good sobriety say that with soraow hee doth punish the reprobate men and Angels with eternall fire and directly contrary to Scripture phrase Prov. 1. 24. Because I have called and you refused I have stretched out mine hand and none will regard 26. I will also laugh at your destruction and mock when your feare cometh As for the love of God in stretching out his hands I deny it not because to stretch out his hands in inviting unto repentance is a speciall favour which God denies to many thousands and such as whereby many a reprobate may and doth profit ad exteriorem vitae emendationem quo mitiùs puniantur to an outward emendation of their lives that they may be punished more mildly But you make this love to reprobates equall to the love of God towards his elect for you maintaine that God doth as much as he can doe for the salvation of the reprobates And it it apparant hee doth no more for the salvation of his elect Now this is an abominable opinion And the stranger is Gods mercy in electing you wherof as I have read in some of your writings you make no doubt when you thinke you are not bound to render him more thanks for his goodnesse towards you then a reprobate is but though yet you do not you may doe ere you die and be pulled out of this abominable opinion of yours as out of the fire with feare For as Paul was a chosen vessell of God though for a while hee persecuted the truth of God even unto bloud so may you bee not withstanding your impugning of it though in a milder