Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A32746
|
A conference of faith written in Latin by Sebastianus Castellio ; now translated into English.; De fide. English
|
Castellion, Sébastien, 1515-1563.
|
1679
(1679)
|
Wing C3731; ESTC R11201
|
20,516
|
79
|
A CONFERENCE OF FAITH Written in Latin by SEBASTIANUS CASTELLIO Now Translated into English Mark 9.23 All things are possible to him that believeth Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ LONDON Printed by J. R. for John Barksdale at the Five Bells in New-street near Shooe-lane 1679. To his Friend D. of C. SIR I Confess I was glad when I heard you lately being with you in your well chosen Library Commend Castellio whose Dialogue De Fide I told you I had Translated and taught Ludovic and Federic to speak English I shall be willing as you mov'd me to do the rest if I see this does any good to the English Reader and serveth towards the plucking up of that vulgar noxious Error concerning Faith rooted in the hearts of our People so deep that there is need of more hands to joyn with yours for the Eradication thereof I commend your holy Studies to the Father of Lights Your Servant R. of N. Theodorus Zuingerus in Theatro vitae humanae p. 2808. SEBASTIANUS CASTELLIO a most Learned and most Holy man when he came from Geneva to Basil with his Wife was so pressed with poverty that he was near famishing unless JOANNES OPORINUS the Printer had sustained him by his Liberality and encouraged him to the Translation of the Bible Having then obtained the profession of the Greek Tongue he had greater relief of his poverty especially his Fame which yet he never affected as all good men can witness drew unto him Scholars from the remotest Nations At his death he left Riches worthy of a Christian man seeking his Treasure in Heaven Therefore his Scholars of Polonia were at the charge of his Funeral and they honored him with a fair Elogy He hath left ample matter for Pious and Learned men to exercise their liberality upon a good number of poor Children He deceased 4. Cal. Jan. An. Ch. 1563. Philip. Melanch to Castellio WHen I considered the Ornaments wherewith you are endowed I could not chuse but love you though we had no familiarity and here are many Witnesses of the honorable mention I do often make of you among my Friends A CONFERENCE OF FAITH The Persons LUDOVIC and FEDERIC The Argument What it is to believe in God What is the Vertue either of Worldly or of Divine Faith What are the Impediments of Faith By what means a man may be able to hate himself and to renounce himself by Faith and by the Spirit to kill the deeds of the Flesh In summ He that believeth in God and in his Son Jesus Christ is able by the Vertue of that Faith and by the Holy Spirit to mortifie his Flesh with the Lusts thereof and to serve God in Spirit and in Truth LUDOVIC I have willingly heard bost yesterday and to day your discourses Federic and I have learned out of them many things whereof I was Ignorant and that especially moved me which you shewed that God commands nothing which cannot be done For I was perswaded before as is it commonly heard and taught that we are not able to Obey God's Precepts which perswasion surely that I may confess the truth to you Federic made me slack in my obedience so that I never put my whole strength toward it FEDERIC And I have found the same by my Experience Ludovic nor could I apply my self truly and seriously to obey before I did believe it possible for us to obey Whence I learned the force and vertue of Faith For Faith drives a man to the study and resolution to obey To which study afterward when aid from Heaven is added a man is enabled to do what he believes possible to be done by him and so is saved by obeying as before he was lost by disobeying But 't is a small matter to believe obedience is possible unless you know also the way by which you may be able to obey without which obedience no man can be saved I would have you assure your self Ludovic ours and others Disputations are that I say no worse unprofitable except they bring us to obedience and to the new man Lud. These things are true Federic therefore to the End I may reap some profit from our Conference I entreat you shew me by what way I may be able to obey God since by this your Speech of the possibility of it I have conceived a desire of Obeying Fed. O my Ludovic would to God I my self were truly obedient that I might lead you to obedience as it were by the hand Now it cannot be that I should lead you further then I have gone my self Lud. Yet I believe and methinks I see it that you have made further progress than I wherefore pray shew me the way at least so far as you have proceeded Fed. I will gladly do it Ludovic as I am able God being my Guide But I fear least the difficulty and roughness of the way may deter you Lud. Be not afraid I hope I am ready for all things though difficult so that I may come whither I desire Fed. I pray God to confirm in you this Will and bring you to perfection To begin therefore Do you know what the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews hath Written That without Faith it is impossible to please God Lud. I know it Fed. Therefore it is first of all necessary that you believe in God if you will be saved Lud. Go on therefore Federic to other things for as to Faith I have ever from my Child-hood believed in God and truly I think there be very few if any at all which do not believe in God Fed. Indeed that is easie to be said and so they are commonly perswaded but I fear least it be said rather rashly and of custom than sincerely For I sometime also have believed the same both of my self and others but when I came to Examine I saw how far I was absent from it Lud. Do you think then that I have not Faith Fed. Ludovic I do not think that you have no Faith but I think you have so little that it cannot be truly called Faith or such as can save you And I pray be not offended For having said you are ready for all things though difficult it is fit you should suffer this first that I may shew you have not that wherewith you suppose your self to abound And indeed the first step to the knowledg of the Truth is to unlearn Error otherwise there will be no place for good Seed where all is full of Thorns Well then that we may examine your Faith When you were a Child Ludovic did you believe in your Father Lud. What do you mean by believing in my Father Fed. To have him truly for your Father and depend wholly upon him Lud. I did believe in him certainly Fed. Therefore if you had need of any thing as Shoes or Coat or Bread you did run to him alone and doubted not at all of his good Will toward you Lud. No more than I