Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	according_a	holy_a	truth_n	2,392	5	5.1254	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19412	Tvvo very Godly and comfortable letters, written ouer into England The one to a Godly and zealous Lady: wherin the Annabaptists errour is confuted and the sinne against the Holye Ghoste plainly declared. The other an answer to a Godly merchants letter: written for his comfort, being greeued with the heauye burden of sinne wherin is declared the true confession of sinne: Written by T.C.	Cottesford, Thomas.; Cartwright, Thomas, 1535-1603.	1589 (1589)	STC 5841.5; ESTC S116355	22,933	120

Two very Godly and comfortable Letters written ouer into England THE ONE TO A GODly and zealous Lady wherin the Annabaptists errour is confuted and the sinne against the Holye Ghoste plainly declared ¶ THE OTHER AN answer to a Godly Merchants Letter written for his comfort being greeued with the heauye burden of sinne wherin is declared the true confession of sinne Written by T. C. AT LONDON Printed by Edward Allde for Edward White 1589. A comfortable Letter written to a Godly and zealous Lady Wherin the Annabaptists error is breefly confuted and the sin against the holy Ghoast plainlye declared MADAME where as it pleased your good Lady ship to require me to writ vnto you my minde concerning the true sence and meaning of this place of S. Paule in his Epistle to the Hebrewes Heb. 6. 4 It cannot bee that they which were once lightned haue tasted of the heuenly gift and were become pertakers of the holy Ghost and haue tasted of the good woord of God of the power of the Worlde to come if they fall awaye and as concerning themselues crucifie the sonne of God a fresh and make a mocke of him that they should be renued againe by repentance Madame many in time The errour of the Nouatians and now of the Anabaptists past and at this present day mistaking this text and not truly vnderstanding it bothe haue béene and are incombred with the Nouacians erroure which is That after man by Baptisme and the holye Ghoste is regenerated and hath tasted of the grace of God and hath embraced Christe and his holye woorde if he fall to sinne againe he is without remedye of Saluation Vndoubtedly this is a verye damnable erroure inough to bring all them that are infected therewith to desperation But albeit they grounde this their errour vpon this afore aleadged texte of S. Paule and certaine other textes yet they misse the Marke because they take this Scripture too straitlye not referrng it to manye other places of scripture which plainely shew That when soeuer and how often so euer a Sinner repenteth him truely of his sinnes and cōmitteth him selfe with a sure faith vnto y● mercy of God thorow Christ God receiueth him again to grace and saluation Doubtlesse No prophecy in the scripture hath any priuat 2. Pet. 1. 20. interpretation but must néedes be expounded according to the generall articles of the Christian faith and agréeable to other textes of holy scripture and so must this text be also Now trueth it is that there is almost innumerable texts in holy scripture that most plainlye do declare that when so euer a true repentaunte sinner by vnfained faith returneth vnto God and asketh mercy for Christs sake he shall vndoubtly haue it And albeit the holye scriptu●● is full of such places yet heere by Gods grace I will shew and rehearse to you some of them to giue you occasion to marke them and such like places as you shal finde almost in euery leafe of the Byble Pro. 24. 16. A iust man falleth seauen times and riseth vp againe Marke y● scripture saith he riseth vp againe The wickednesse of the Ezech. 33. wicked shall not hurt him whensoeuer he conuerteth Note what it saith when soeuer he conuerteth Let the vngodly man forsake Esay 55. his owne waye and the vnrighteous his owne imaginations and turne againe vnto the Lord so shall he be mercifull vnto him Thou disobedient Israel Iere. 3. turn again saith the Lord and I will not let my wrath fall vpon you Thus saith the Lord doo Iere. 8. men fall so that they rise not vp againe or if Israel doo repent will not God turne againe to them Turne you vnto me sayth Zach. 1. the Lord God of hostes and I will turn me vnto you Remember from whence Apoc. 2. thou art falne and doo the firste woorks Mark in the Gospel of Luke 15. Luke the example of the vnthriftie Sonne Also Christe said vnto Peter Peter I haue prayed Luke 22. for thee that thy faith fayle not and when thou art conuerted strengthen thy Brethren Marke he saith When thou art conuerted c. Lo if you weigh these places of scripture afore alleadged and almost innumerable moe of the same sorte you shall perceiue euidentlye that though A Christian haue sinned neuer so ofte as who dooth not daylye offende God yet when soeuer he returneth vnto God by true repentance which consisteth of inward contricion a sure faith in Christ Iesu he is assured by the woorde of God to recouer and receiue againe the grace fauour and mercy of God which thorow his disobedience he had worthely lost and immediatly to enioy ful absolute and perfect remission and forgiuenesse of all his sinnes thorowe Iesus Christe in whome he reposeth all his faith truste and confidence of saluation The Gospell assureth him no lesse saying So God loued the world Ioh. 3. that he gaue his onely begotten sonne that who so euer beleeueth in him shoulde not perishe but haue euerlasting life More ouer if you mark wel the examples of godlye men which are registred in holye scripture you shall plainelye perceiue that albeit they were highly in Gods fauour yet for all that many of thē had great falles and committed very hainous offences but they did rise vp againe returning to Gods mercye by true repentance faith and so recouered againe their former grace which they thorowe their owne folly had lost Aaron was so muche Aaron fauoured of God that by Gods calling hee was made the high bishop and curate ouer his People And yet at the light request of the Israelites he let them make and worship the Golden Calfe contrarye to his Conscience by reason wherof bothe hee and they committed that most detest able sinne of Idolatrye and yet he by true repentaunce and faithe returning to grace was saued Dauid Gods deare darlinge Dauid after that hee had the knoweledge of God and had muche tasted of his grace béeing indued aboundauntlye with the holy Ghost and gratious giftes from aboue fell both into the sinne of adultry and murther And yet by true and vnfained repentance returning to Gods mercy was accepted and receiued againe into Gods fauour Manasses also contrary Manasses vnto his Conscience fell willinglye to Idolatrye but yet he rose againe by true repentaunce and faithe and recouered againe the grace of god So likewise that wicked The sinfull Corinthian 1. Cor. 5. man of the Citie of Corinthus whom S. Paule straitlye charged the Corinthians to excommunicate and erclude out of the holy congregation of Christian men and that they shoulde neither eate nor drinke with him because of his open and abhominable crime of incest and outragious whordome and yet when he declared him self to be truelye repentant for his great and infamous sin Saint Paule admonished 2. Cor. 2. them with all gentlenesse and Christian Charity to receiue him again

Chrysostō vpon the fifth chap. of Mathew fifteen Homely filthinesse of sinnes but that they fall not againe a freshe into them it perteineth to the cure and laboure of the Apostles And Chrisostome vppon the .viij. Chapter in the liij Homilye sayth The bondage of sinne is moste greeuous from it onlye God can deliuer vs. For no man hath power to forgiue sinne saue onlye God We are reconciled and Austen in his booke called Enchiridion the 32. chap. brought in fauour againe with God thorow Christe which is the mediatour that of Enemyes wee might be made Sonnes And in the xix Chapter Neither shoulde wee bee deliuered thorowe him as 〈…〉 lye the mediatoure of God and man Christ Iesus if hee were not also God But when Adam was made that is to wit a righte man hee needed no mediatour But when as sinne did seperate and sunder mankinde far from God we must be brought in fauoure againe with God by a mediatour and a meane which was onelye borne without sinne liued and was slame vnto the rising agayne of the fleshe and to euerlasting life Beware thou shew any Chrisostom of Lazarus in the 4. Sermon man thy sinnes leaste hee cast them in thy teeth and reuile thee for them Neither doo thou confesse thee vnto thy fellowe-seruaunt that hee mighte tell thy faultes abroade but to him which is the Lord and Maister which also suffered for thee to him that is kinde and gentle and then shewe thy woundes vnto him which is a Physition And a little after he saith God will that thou shouldst tel not that thou shouldst be punished but be released and iustified Seeing that wee knowe Chrisostom of repentance in the fourth Homely these thinges let vs alwaies flee for succour vnto God which bothe will and maye take awaye all our greefes and sinnes If at any time wee must get anye thing of men by praier we must first meete with the Porter and entise the flatterers the iesters and the Plaiers and Skoffers and oftentimes goe a greate waye There is no such● thing in God ye may easily get by praier of him hee will graunt you your petitions and Prayers without any money or cost Saint Ambrose saith Peter mourned and wept because hee erred as a Ambrose vpon Luke man I finde not what hee sayde I knowe that hee wept I reade of his teares but I reade not of his satisfaction Thou needest no helpers nor Aduocates with God neither anye greate Chrisostom in the Homely of the going forward of the Gospell running about to flatter other men but thoughe thou bee alone and haste no Patrone or Aduocate and makest thy Prayer thy owne selfe vnto God doubtlesse thou shalt obtaine thy purpose For God dooth not so easilye heare when other praieth for vs as when wee praye our selues although wee be full of muche euill and vnrighteousnesse Thus haue I declared vnto you after my slender gifte of knoweledge bothe the Iudgement of the Aunciente Fathers of the Primitiue church and what I haue read learned in holye Scripture touching the confes 〈…〉 of sinnes Besides al these former fortes of confession there was also vsed in the primati●e Church an open Confession which they that had béene excommunicated Another Confession for greate and ha●nous sinnes made before the whole congregation at such time as they were restored againe to the same But because this is now out of vse it is the more to be lamented I will héere speake no more of it But wheras in the latter ende of your letters you instantlye desired me to write vnto you what I thinke of the eare Confession that is so straitlye commaunded among the papistes Truelye to vtter my Conscience plainelye vnto you in few woordes Abuses of eare Confession I thinke it bringeth manye a simple soule to the hazarde of damnation For doubtlesse there are manye shamefull abuses therein of which I wil by the grace of God rehearse two or thrée which are intollerable First it is commaunded of necessity Through which abhominable commaundement the simple common people for lacke of good instruction thinke for so are they deceiued by false teaching that without eare confession they cannot bee saued So this opinion of necessitye of the one partie and the compulsarye lawes made of stincking Papists for the maintenance of the same on the other partye I knowe this certainlye bringeth very manye to perplexed and doubtfull straites of conscience which if it be not in time remoued by y● sw●te promises of grace i●●hrist will doubtlesse d●ine thē to desperation Secondarilye it is no 〈…〉 le bondage of Christ●n ●eus consciences to ●empell the● to number ●ll their sinnes particularly with al due circumstances of time person and place and how many times euerye sin was committed Which opinion perswaded to the vnlearned People is not vnlike to bring many of their soules vnto the diuells daunger For they thinke themselues bounden in Conscience for so are they coruptly taught to confesse euerye sin perticularlye by it selfe and ●● open and declare to their ghostlye father euerye circumstaunce of the same And yet sometime for feare and sometime for shame they confesse not all but concealeth and hideth some offence Which not confessed oppresseth their weake and féeble Consciences sometime thrée or foure yeeres or more and so all that space they thinke themselues because of that concealemente to bee in the state of damnation and quite out of Gods fauor And manye times if the thinge were thorowelye knowne it is scantlye so waighty a matter as the eating of an egge vpon a Fridaye so deepelye are the Popishe traditions printed in their tender Consciences estéeming the breache of them to be a greater offence thē idolatrye blasphemye periurie theft slaunder or any transgression of Gods holy commaundements Whiche thinge oughte to make all the Babilonicall Bishoppes ashamed but y● they are past all shame already because they suffer Gods people to be so drowned in ignoraunce that they can not discern the commaundements of God frō the dirtye dregs of Papisticall traditions And albeit the holy scripture alloweth these sorts of Confession that I haue spoken of before in this Epistle yet for all that the prowdest Papiste of them all cannot finde in holye Scripture these woordes or sentences To his owne Curate whatsoeuer he is all Sinnes perticularlye all circumstances such like trash For all these are nothing else but Pedlarye patches of Papistrye Which I pray God maye bee purged againe and banished out of Christendome and that shortlye Finally beside the aforesaide abuses of eare Confession the common sorte of people are therewith two manner of wayes deceiued Firste because they thinke that their Confession is the cause of forgiuenesse of their sinnes by reason whereof they blotte out the blessed benefite of the passion and death of Christe our onely Sauiour which is the onlye obtayner of Grace and Mer●ys for the Sinnes of all mankinde Secondarilye because they are fullye perswaded that the Penaunce that is that Fasting Praier or alme 〈…〉 enioyned them of their ghostlye Father is the due satisfaction and full recompensation to God equiuolente for their sinnes past which they haue confessed to the Préeste And so for lacke of knowledge and instruction they are therin vtterlye deceiued For sure it is that to God no man is able to satisfie for Sinne for that satisfaction hath onlye our Sauiour Christ wrought in hys paynefull 〈◊〉 ●● but ●● will at this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them ouer 〈◊〉 Thus 〈◊〉 haue I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you of the Confession of sinnes to declare vnto you my conscience and simple Iudgmente therein according to your requeste in you 〈◊〉 Letters written vnto mée by NICHOLAS NERIN from Roane in Fraunce the eight day of IANVARIE And ●● you accepte of my rude writing and collection in this matter I shall by the grace of God doo mine endeuour likewise in other matters of holye Scripture to shewe you heereafter my small and slender knowledge and iudgement Thus the liuing God increace in you dayly more more faith charitie meekenesse godlinesse and pacience Amen From Copyn Hauen in Denmarke the 3. of Februarye ¶ If you write againe to me write to Geneua for thitherwards by Gods grace I intend to goe shortly Yours in the Lord. T. C. 〈◊〉 by Eaward Allde for Edward White and are to be solde at the little North doore of S. Paules Church at the signe of the Gun

suche Persons as are hothe chaste honest vertuous and godly Beside that to remēber dayly what painefull passion and death Christ suffered for our sinnes and filthy affections To consider also the certaintie and suddainnesse of death and what a straite account and reckoning must be giuen of euery idle woorde much more of filthye actes and vncleannesse But speciallye to vse daylye faithfull and feruent suite Praier and supplication vnto God for the grations gifte of chastity and cleannesse of heart And finally if these ●e practised and will not serue nor suffise for the auoiding of Whordome then in any wise to take a wife for when all other remedies faile that with the practising of the other will serue For that is the moste present medicine and natural remedy that God hath properly ordeined to cure the disease of filthye concupiscence whordome and adultrye after the doctrine of S. Paule which fayth To auoyde Wh●●do me let euerye man take his own wife and 1. Corin. 7. euerye woman her own husband Thirdly this priuate ●●●●lession is chéefelye néedefull for them that are tormented in their Consciences and are not fullye perswaded y● their sinnes are forgiuen them by reason whereof they are halfe in desperation These I say haue muche néede of a discrete spiritual Phisition to comfort them For vnlesse their weak faith ●e staied and lifted vp by some comfortable restoratiues of the swéete promises of grace and mercy in Christs Iesu it is to be feared that their ghostly enemy Sathan will shortlye bring them to desperation and finallye to euerlastinge damnation Therefore héere the discreece ●oule Phisition will laboure with too the and nayle to beate into this spirituall pacients minde remembraunce the most swéet plain and euident promises of Gods aide and assistance to be alway ready to them that aske it in faithfull praier Wherfore it is verye néedefull to such weaklings in the Faithe that are so sore brused in Conscience to make all the haste that they can possible to the Heardman of their souls and plainely to open and acknowledge their gréefe vnto him desiring to here of his mouth the comfortable promises of grace in Christe Iesu to staye and lifte vp their weake and féeble Consciences Sainte Iames saythe Pray one for another that ye may bee healed For saith Iames. 5. h● the feruente Prayer of a righteous Man anayleth much If the praier of one godly person be of muche value then is the prayers of two good Christians agréeing togither in prayer for any Godly purpose of more value For Christe sayth If two of you shall agree vppon Math. 18. earth for what thing soeuer it bee that they desire they shall haue it of my Father which is in Heauen For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest among them Marke that Christe sayth If two of you shall agree vppon earth c. And where two or three are gathéred togeather in my name there am I present among them And I pray you is not this weake faythed person and his curate consulting of these matters gathered togeather in Christes name If they be as vndoutedly they are then is Christ in companye with them by the assistaunce of his grace and presence of his God head Againe if they two thus assembled doo agree to pray together to God for the increace and establlshmēt of the fayth of this Spirituall patient then sayth Christe vnto them thus If two of you shall agree vpon earth for what thing so euer it be that they would desire they shall haue it of my Father which is in Heauen Good Lord what a comfortable place of scripture is this For we may learn by it that if there be but two persōs gathered togither in Christes name for any good and godlye purpose then is Christe presente with them And if they agrée to aske any godly requeste of God they shall haue it graunted what thing soeuer it bee saith Christ so it be a godly requeste contained within the lymits of faith charity and agréeing vnto 1. Iohn 5. the will of God For ●● Iohn saithe If we shall aske any thinge according to his will he heareth vs. But heere one will say Obiection Sir me thinke you take the scriptures too straightly if you would binde vs to cōfesse our faults only to a préest or onely to our owne Curate For albeit S. Iames saith Iam. 5. Knoweledge your faultes one to another Yet he saith not one lay man vnto a Préeste nor one Parishione● vnto his own Curate and to no other but he saith generally one to an other Therefore I thinke that I may aswell make my confession to anye other man as vnto a Préeste or vnto mine own curate Answere Trueth it is that thou mayest freelye chuse anye discreete Christian man that is well learned in the holye Scripture and resorte to him for learning counsell and comfort but yet for all that there is none so meete for thy purpose in that behalfe as thine owne Curate if he be no Papist neither or corrupt iudgement in y● scriptures but be honest discreete well exercised in Gods holye woord For he is appointed of God to be heardman of thy soul at whose mouth thou maiste lawfullye require learning counsel and comfort yea hee is called and appointed of God to preach vnto thee and to all other his Parishioners both priuately and apertly secretlye and openlye the Gospell of Christ to comforte thy soule when néed is Which preaching of What is the true absolution Gods mercy freely giuen to the faithful for Christs sake what other thing is it then the true absolution of their sinnes For what other thing is the priuate absolution of the préest but a priuate or secret preaching of Christs Gospell What can the Préeste more promise the sinner by his absolution but therby to declare vnto him that if hee repent him of his sinfull life and vnfainedlye purpose to amend reposing his whole faith trust and confidence in the promises of grace and mercy in Christe Iesu that then Gods trueth shall saue him for Christs sake Can he promise the sinner anye other thinge then to bee saued if hée from the hart doo repent beleeue and purpose to walke in a newe life I think not Resorte therefore to thine own Curate if he be honest discréete and well learned as I saide before and thinke him to bee that person that is appointed of God to minister Christs Gospell and his Sacraments vnto thee at suche conuenient times as shall be needefull to the comforte of thy troubled conscience There is also another kinde of priuate Confession Confession of reconciliation which may aptly be called the confession of reconciliation As when I haue offended my christian Brother and haue prouoked him to anger It is my bounden duetye to reconcile my selfe vnto him and to acknowledge my faulte and desire of him forgiuenesse thereof This Confession