Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
knowledge_n commit_v sin_n sin_v 2,906 5 9.7075 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A03586 A learned discourse of iustification, workes, and how the foundation of faith is overthrowne. By Richard Hooker, sometimes fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Jackson, Henry, 1586-1662.; Spenser, John, 1559-1614. 1612 (1612) STC 13708; ESTC S121045 45,591 98

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

therefore their faith their beliefe doth not profitte them anye thing at all It is true that they doe indeed ioine other things with Christ but how Not in the worke of redemption it selfe which they graunt that Christ alone hath perfourmed sufficiently for the salvation of the whole world but in the application of this inestimable treasure that it may bee effectual to their salvation how demurely so ever they confesse that they seeke remission of sinnes no other wise then by the blood of Christ vsing humbly the meanes appointed by him to apply the benefite of holy blood they teach indeed so many things pernicious in Christian faith in setting downe the meanes whereof they speake that the very foundation of faith which they hold is thereby plainely overthrowne and the force of the blood of Iesus Christ extinguished Wee may therefore dispute with them vrge them even with as dangerous sequels as the Apostle doth the Galatians But I demand if some of those Galatians hartily imbracing the gospell of Christ sincere and sound in faith this one only errour excepted had ended their liues before they were ever taught how perilous an opinion they held shall we thinke that the damage of this error did so overway the benefit of their faith that the mercy of God might not saue them I graunt they overthrew the very foundatiō of faith by cōsequent doth not that so likewise which the Lutheran Churches doe at this day so stifly and so firmely mainetaine For mine own part I dare not here deny the possibility of their salvation which haue beene the chiefest instruments of ours albeit they caryed to their graue a perswasion so greatly repugnant to the truth Forasmuch therefore as it may be said of the Church of Rome shee hath yet a little strength shee doth not directly denie the foundatiō of Christianity I may I trust without offence perswade my selfe that thousands of our fathers in former times living and dying within her wals haue founde mercy at the hands of God 18 What although they repented not of their errours God forbid that I should open my mouth to gainsay that which Christ himselfe hath spoken Except yee repent yee shall all perish And if they did not repent they perished But withall note that wee haue the benefit of a double repentance the least sinne which wee commit in deed thought or word is death without repentance Yet how manie things do escape vs in everie of these which we do not know how many which we do not obserue to be sins And without the knowledge without the observation of sin there is no actuall repētance It cannot then be chosen but that for as many as hold the foundation and haue all holden sins errors in hatred the blessing of repentance for vnknowne sins and errors is obtained at the hands of God through the gracious mediation of Iesus Christ for such suiters as cry with the Prophet David Purge me O Lord from my secret sinnes 19 But we wash a wall of lome we labor in vaine all this is nothing it doth not proue it cannot iustifie that which we go about to mainetaine Infidels and heathen men are not so godlesse but that they may no doubt cry God mercie and desire in generall to haue their sinnes forgiven them To such as deny the foundation of faith there can be no salvation according to the ordinary course which God doth vse in saving mē without a particular repentance of that error The Galatians thinking that vnlesse they were circūcised they could not be saved overthrew the foundations of faith directly therefore if any of them did die so perswaded whether before or after they told of their errour their end is dreadfull there is no way with them but one death and condemnation For the Apostle speaketh nothing of men departed but saith generally of all If you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing You are abolished from Christ whosoever are iustified by the law ye are fallen from grace Gal. 5. Of them in the Church of Rome the reason is the same For whom Antichrist hath seduced concerning them did not S. Paul speake long before that they received not the word of truth they might not bee saved therefore God would send them strong delusions to belieue lyes that all they might be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes And S. Iohn All that dwell vpon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the booke of life Apoc. 13. Indeed many in former times as their bookes and writings do yet shew held the foundation to weet salvation by Christ alone therefore might be saved God hath alwaies had a church amongst them which firmly kept his saving truth As for such as hold with the church of Rome that we cannot bee saved by Christ alone without workes they doe not onely by a circle of consequence but directly deny the foundation of faith they hold it not no not so much as by a threed 20 This to my remembraunce being all that hath beene opposed with any countenance or shew of reason I hope if this be answered the cause in question is at an end Concerning generall repentance therefore what a murtherer a blasphemer an vncleane person a Turke a Jew any sinner to escape the wrath of God by a generall repentance God forgiue me Truely it never came within mine hart that a generall repentance doth serue for all sinnes it serveth only for the common oversights of our sinfull life and for the faults which either we do not marke or doe not know that they are faults Our fathers were actually penitent for sins wherein they knew they displeased God or else they fal not within the compasse of my first speech Againe that otherwise they could not be saved then holding the foundation of Christian faith we haue not only affirmed but proved Why is it not then confessed that thousands of our fathers which liued in Popish superstitions might yet by the mercy of God be saved First if they had directly denied the very foūdations of christianity without repenting them particularlie of that sin he which saith there could be no salvation for them according to the ordinary course which God doth vse in saving men granteth plainly or at the least closely insinuateth that an extraordinary priviledge of mercie might deliver their soules from hell which is more thē I required Secondly if the foundation be denied it is denied for feare of some heresie which the church of Rome maintaineth But how many were there amōgst our fathers who being seduced by the common errour of that Church never knew the meaning of her heresies So that although all popish heretiques did perish thousands of them which lived in popish superstitions might bee saved Thirdly seeing all that held popish heresies did not hold all the heresies of the Pope why might not thousands which were infected with other leven liue and die
of the medicine whereby Christ cureth our disease about the manner of applying it about the number and the power of meanes which God requireth in vs for the effectuall applying thereof to our soules comfort When they are required to shew what the righteousnes is whereby a Christian man is iustified they answere that it is a divine spirituall quality which qualitie receaued into the soul doth first make it to be one of them who are borne of God and secondly indue it with power to bring forth such workes as they doe that are borne of him even as the soule of man being ioined to his body doth first make him to be of the number of reasonable creatures and secondly inable him to performe the naturall functions which are proper to his kind that it maketh the soule amiable and gratious in the sight of God in regard whereof it is tearmed grace that it purgeth purifyeth and washeth out all the staines and pollutions of sinne that by it through the merite we are delivered as from sinne so from eternall death and condemnation the reward of sinne This grace they will haue to be applied by infusion to the end that as the body is warm by the heate which is in the body so the soule might be righteous by the inherent grace which grace they make capable of increase as the body may be more and more warme so the soule more and more iustified according as grace shall be augmented the augmentation whereof is merited by good workes as good works are made meritorious by it Wherefore the first receipt of grace in their divinity is the first iustification the increase thereof the secōd iustification As grace may be increased by the merit of good workes so it may be diminished by the demerit of sinnes veniall it may be lost by mortall sinne In asmuch therefore as it is needfull in the one case to repaire in the other to recover the losse which is made the infusion of grace hath her sundry after meales for the which cause they make many waies to apply the infusion of grace It is applied to infants through baptisme without either faith or works and in them really it taketh away originall sinne the punishment due vnto it it is applied to Infidels and wicked men in the first iustification through baptisme without works yet not without faith and it taketh away both sinnes actuall and originall together withall whatsoever punishment eternall or temporall thereby deserved Vnto such as haue attained the first iustification that is to say the first receipt of grace it is applyed farther by good workes to the increase of former grace which is the second iustification If they worke more and more grace doth more and more increase and they are more and more iustified To such as diminished it by veniall sinnes it is applyed by holy water Ave maries crossings papall salutations such like which serue for reparations of grace decayed To such as haue lost it through mortall sinne it is applyed by the sacrament as they terme it of Pennance which sacrament hath force to conferre grace anew yet in such sort that being so conferred it hath not altogither so much power as at the first For it only cleanseth out the staine or guilt of sinne committed and changeth the punishment eternall into a temporall satisfactory punishment here if time do serue if not hereafter to be indured except it be lightened by masses workes of charity pilgrimages fasts and such like or else shortened by pardon for terme or by plenary pardon quite removed and taken away This is the mistery of the mā of sinne This maze the Church of Rome doth cause her followers to treade when they aske her the way to iustification I cannot stand now to vnrip this building and to sift it piece by piece only I will passe by it in few words that that may befall Babilon in the presence of that which God hath builded as happened vnto Dagon before the arke 6 Doubtlesse saith the Apostle I haue counted all things losse and iudge them to be dounge that I may winne Christ and to be found in him not having my owne righteousnes but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnes which is of God through faith Whether they speake of the first or second iustification they make it the essence of a divine quality inherent they make it righteousnesse which is in vs. If it be in vs then is it ours as our souls are ours though we haue them from God and can hold them no longer then pleaseth him for if he withdraw the breath of our nostrils we fall to dust but the righteousnesse wherein we must be found if we wil be iustified is not our owne therefore we cannot be iustified by any inherent quality Christ hath me rited righteousnesse for as many as are found in him In him God findeth vs if we be faithfull for by faith we are incorporated into Christ. Then although in our selues we be altogither sinnefull and vnrighteous yet even the man which is impious in him selfe full of iniquitie full of sin him being found in Christ through faith and having his sin remitted through repentance him God vpholdeth with a gracious eie putteth away his sinne by not imputing taketh quite away the punishment due therevnto by pardoning it and accepteth him in Iesus Christ as perfectly righteous as if he had fulfilled all that was commanded him in the lawe shall I say more perfectly righteous then if him selfe had fulfilled the whole law I must take heed what I say but the Apostle saith* God made him to bee sinne for vs who knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnes of God in him Such wee are in the sight of God the father as is the very sonne of God him selfe Let it bee counted folly or frensie or furie whatsoever it is our comfort and our wisdome we care for no knowledge in the world but this that man hath sinned and God hath suffered that God hath made himselfe the sonne of man and that men are made the righteousnesse of God You see therefore that the Church of Rome in teaching iustification by inherent grace doth pervert the truth of Christ and that by the handes of the Apostles wee haue received otherwise then shee teacheth Now concerning the righteousnesse of sanctification we deny it not to be inherent wee graunt that vnlesse we worke we haue it not only we distinguish it a thing different in nature from the righteousnesse of iustification we are righteous the one way by the faith of Abraham the other way except wee doe the workes of Abraham we are not righteous Of the one S. Paule To him that worketh not but beleeueth faith is counted for righteousnesse Of the other S. Iohn Quifacit iustitiam iustus est He is righteous which worketh righteousnes Of the one S. Paul doth proue by Abrahams example that we haue it of