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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	holy_a	teach_v	5,964	5	6.2816	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18521	The consolation of the soule being an assurance of the forgiuenesse of sinnes, with the most notable promises of God conteined in holy Scripture, both in the olde and newe Testament: briefly expounded and applied, as hereafter followeth. With certaine examples woorth the bearing in minde, touching the great mercies of God, towards poore, and miserable sinners. ... Made by Iohn Chassanion, and englished by H. S. of Greyes Inne. Gent.; Consolation de l'âme sur l'asseurance de la remission des pechez. English.	Chassanion, Jean de, 1531-1598.	1590 (1590)	STC 5061; ESTC S118621	36,864	96

THE Consolation of the Soule being an assurance of the forgiuenesse of sinnes with the most notable promises of God conteined in holy Scripture both in the olde and newe Testament briefly expounded and applied as hereafter followeth With certaine examples woorth the bearing in minde touching the great mercies of God towards poore and miserable sinners When I am troden vnder foote thy mercies doth lift me vp againe Psal 94. Made by Iohn Chassanion and englished by H.S. of Greyes Inne Gent. Imprinted at London for Symon Waterson ❧ To the faithfull of the refourmed Church of Metz grace and peace through Iesus Christ our Lord. SEING it hath pleased GOD deare bretheren to make mee an Instrument wherby to declare his holy worde vnto you I thought it very needfull to present this little Booke wherein I entend not to teach any newe matter but to put you in mind of your saluatiō which you haue of long tyme knowne and doe daily heare to the end it may be the better rooted in your hearts And so much the rather seeing by this you haue at all tymes such meanes to reioyce and comfort your selues in God whereby we may gather very many good instructions in Gods schoole if we bee certainly perswaded of his grace and indeuour our selues both to obey him and to amend that we finde to be amisse in vs. Also we shall cōtinually lift vp our harts towards him that we may be partakers of his felicitie bountifulnesse the very ground of our saluation After which maner doe the children of God truely exercise them selues in meditation looke throughly into the vnspeakable goodnesse of him by whome they are saued through Iesus Christ euen with an vndefiled thought and hope Also it is requisite that there bee a true amendment of life agreeable both to the seruice obedience honor which we owe vnto him and to cal vpon him vnfaynedly All which are the chiefest points comprehended in holy Scriptures and here summarily spoken of for the confirmation of our faith and hope the full assurance wherof is as it were the foundation of all others cōsisting in the certaine perswasion which we ought to haue of the forgiuenesse of our sinnes to which end also principally the preaching of the Gospell doth attende by reason whereof S. Paule calleth it the ministrie of reconciliation How happeneth it thē that the Cleargie men in our companie by an holie and religious custome euery Sonday in morning prayers declare the grace of God that is to say the forgiuenesse of sinnes to all true penitent Christians beeing necessarie for euery one to knowe Certainly principally for this cause that all may bee perswaded that their offences bee forgiuen them before God and that they bee reconciled vnto him and receiued into his grace what iniquitie soeuer they cōmitted And this certaine perswasion ought to be stedfast and deepely rooted in our hearts chiefly in the tyme of Calamities and great affliction whereunto the children of God are continually subiect hauing the obstinate and peruerse worlde their enemie which will neuer agree with them being set forward and inflamed by him which from the beginning is a murtherer and an aduersarie to all mankinde and neuer leaueth in rest those that giue themselues to the true seruice of their god but doth procure vnto them all hinderances and lets that he can and continually assaults them with mortall warres compassing them with euilles roūd about strangely oppressing them when they doe protract tyme. It may seeme then that for a tyme God doth giue them ouer and that he is very angrie with them and that he would vndo them and that they be lost but they hauing this ful knowledge that by his infinite bountie and clemencie he doth receiue them into his mercie and quiet orders See how they are reuiued and comforted and their consciences in rest And to this end is the worde of saluation giuen vnto them by the which God doth promise to be mercifull vnto them If then such a simple promise bee sufficient to make them certaine of his loue towards them how much more will it be when al other promises doe aboūd It is therefore for this cause that I haue gathered here a certain number of most singuler notes of the holie Scripture which consequently are added which are taken from one and the selfe same spring which shal be like towers strōg places most high to defend vs against the terrible and perilous assaults of the deuill and to put off from vs all incredulitie and mistrust That which I present vnto you welbeloued brethren I dedicate it to witnesse the good affectiō that God hath giuen me towards you wishing that more and more you may be stedfast and conformable in the faith and certaintie of the fatherly goodwill of our God We cannot but alwaies hope well of such a gentle and gracious father which haue looked on vs a long tyme with his owne eyes and hath visited vs as his owne only by the true happy light of his word and by excellent Shepeheards of which some are already receiued into perpetual rest with the Lord others serue him yet happely in other places he hath established the ministrie of his Gospell among you which you inioye at this present by his inestimable bountie although the blustringes of the tempestes lately past haue brought into many and diuers places some straunge troubles and calamities This good God neuerthelesse hath alwaies care to preserue you in such extremities that you haue continuall occasion to giue him thanks the very tokens and witnesses of your faith which may appeare in that that you neede not greuously to seeke for the nourishment of your soules three long myles farre from your houses neither in painfull and sorrowfull waies Continue alwaies therfore in this zeale for the glory of God and in the confidence of his goodwill and mercie towards you vnto the ende I desire those which bee slouthfull to come into the pasture of the Lord to consider what he sayth in this place when he sayth that his sheepe follow him and doe heare his voyce Ioh. 10. And what he sayth in an other place He which is of God heareth Gods worde Ioh. 8. I doe warne them therefore with my brothers and fellowes to be most affected in it not to bee giuen so much to the loue of the world to their vanities to the end that they maye not depriue themselues before they be aware from the celestiall goods and riches which are euerlasting Deare brethren I pray to our God father that in houlding you alwaies vnder the shadowe of his winges he may cause you to profite more and more in his holy knowledge and continually to fortifie you in his seruice and to replenish you withal the gifts of his holy Spirite to his honor and glory to your consolation Your humble and affected brother in the Lord. Iohn Chassanion ¶ The Consolation of the Soule being

an assurance of the remission of sinnes with the most notable promises of GOD conteyned in the holy Scripture as well in the old as new Testament briefly expounded and applied vnto the same IF hee to whome the forgiuenes of sinne is giuen frō whome sinne is put away bee happie as it is sayd in the xxxij Psalme Happie is the mā to whom God imputeth no sinne He needeth not to doubt but on the contrary parte he is vnhappie which is tyed and bound in sinne he must looke for none other thing but for his cōdemnation and ruyne onely Be it for a time he liues in ease takes his pleasure and altogether giues himselfe to delight though he be increased with honor and euery bodie doe loue and cheare him yet he is neuerthelesse vnhappie if he be not set at libertie by grace and forgiuenesse of his iniquities for sinne is a burthen so hard heauie that no man is able to beare it pulling downe euery one that is laden with it from whence it appeareth that some do bowe vnder it and falles into ruine and brings them selues into dispayre as it happened to Iudas Other being oppressed in such sort that they cannot scant receiue any comfort and rest I haue seene a man which hauing committed as himselfe doth confesse some great and notorious faults was so abated troubled in his spirite by the memorie of them that he did resemble a poore man which was indepted and condemned to a greeuous sufferance and shamefull death he did alwaies grone and sigh with the trouble and paine of his Soule feeling himselfe so guiltie and doubting of the mercies of God for the inormitie of his sinnes in such sort that he made not any account to eate any meate and refused to take any nourishment if hee had not beene carefully mooued thereunto by those which did keepe him companie his heart being so oppressed with dolor that sometimes he wished that his bodie might bee punished with Iustice and that hee might suffer some greeuous paine to make his torment lesse which hee thought hee had deserued in his soule Sometimes in his anguish he did require to bee comforted and receiued into the Church by publicke pennance but he was a straunger and did but passe away I haue seene an other which hauing a long time abused the true knowledge of God yet at the last had such remorse of conscience which did gnawe his heart so that he was constrayned to lye as sicke and out of breath See therefore how horrible heauie sinne is of it selfe from which whosoeuer is lightned though he bee neuer so poore miserable and dispised of the world or otherwise afflicted he is neuerthelesse an happie man The blinde man of this world doth not esteeme nor iudge of these things otherwise then by apparance of deceiptfull vanities and not in trueth as it appeareth daylie but the spirite of GOD doth teach the godly otherwise as it is afore sayd That man is then very happy that feeleth the grace of God to be such as to haue his sinne forgiuen him for then his cōscience is in peace and rest and he feareth not to perish neither hath he the iudgements of God in horror but assureth himselfe of his fauour and bountifulnesse which God is to be esteemed the greatest that a man can receiue in this mortall world Among the Sarasines those which haue not considered of thinges very narrowlie haue yet well knowne that it was a precious treasure not to bee troubled by any committed forfeite of which the most wittie and sufficient among them haue made a treatise which he calleth the quietnesse of the Soule but altogether ignorant of this poynt of the free forgiuenes of sinne as all other Philosophers not esteming any other rest of conscience but in vertue and integritie of life which is but an imagination of no value before God for this man is like vnto him which buildeth without foundatiō and would make a shew of that thing which is not For to come then vnto such blessednesse and to inioye so happie felicitie wee must knowe that GOD to whom we must giue an accompt is gentle and mercifull to whom wee ought to haue all our refuge being certaine that he will be quiet and mercifull towards vs neither imputing our iniquities but will forgiue vs them freely Then as the m●st sicke and lingering deseased haue more neede of remedies for to be helped and eased of their griefe and paine likewise also the most troubled soules which are tormented with sorrowe and anguish by feeling and acknowledging their greate sinnes dreading the anger and most feareful iudgement of God haue more neede of consolation and greater assurances of the mercie of God wherevpon their hope should be totally founded and rooted Who although some times they be debased by diuers temptations yet by the mercies of their God they neuer fall into any dissolation or confusion by dispaire although it happen that the most forwarde in Religion and in the feare of God haue to susteine many temptations of Sathan who doth often giue them hotte skirmishes and shooteth against them his poysoned and mortall arrowes for to abate their faith and to cast them into euerlasting distruction if it were possible for them so to fall and if they some times seeme to doubt being trobled by distrust and fearefulnes yet it neuer happeneth that they can fall vtterly from the trust which they once conceiued of the mercies of God Dauid was not without some anguish and perturbation of spirit when he cried My soule why art thou vexed and why art thou so disquieted within me But when he addeth by exhortation that it should hope still in God he declareth the stedfastnes and constancie of his faith wherein hee saith that he was shut vp from the sight of the Lorde it seemed that by the great aduersitie which hapned to him that God had cast him of and quite forsaken him yet he did not for all this leaue to call and to hope in him so that in the ende he was highly exalted And thus it happeneth oftentimes to the children of God finding them selues intangled with a gulfe of euils their hope seemeth to bee swallowed vp and drowned although in the end it freshly appeareth and lifteth vp the head and comming vnto it selfe againe wholy trusteth in GOD and resteth vnremoueable vpon his greate bountie and mercie in which onely they glade and comfort themselues and not by any vertue or desert which is in them aluding to that which is in the 9. Chap of Ieremie that he which glorieth may glorie in the Lorde that is in his blessednes and in his mercie In this point then consisteth our trust by the which wee must needes see what the foundation is and how farre it reacheth if so bee it bee firme and sure and because wee ought to bee certaine and resolued thereof for this cause wee will bring foorth the holy Scripture as wel of the Old

we haue of GOD that if wee aske any thing according to his will he will heare vs. And if we know that he heareth vs whatsoeuer we aske we know that we shal obtaine that we haue desired of him WE cannot be in doubt when we come to God in our prayers grounded on his commaundements and promise but that we shall be heard and receiue such things as we want which condemneth those men that call vpon strange Gods yea on those which are no Gods and pray to those which are departed out of this life who can haue no certaintie of their prayers But wee must bee certaine that GOD doth hearken vnto vs when wee pray to him as wee are taught in his holy worde for he hath promised to giue and graunt vs such things as we aske him being necessary and conformable vnto his will which are the meanes whereby he vseth to doe vs good and to giue vs his grace in full and conuenient tyme. Rom. Chap. 8. ver 26. Likewise the spirite also helpeth our infirmities for wee knowe not how to pray as wee ought but the spirite maketh request for vs with sighings which cannot bee expressed but he which searcheth knoweth what is the meaning of the spirite seing he maketh requestes for the Saincts according to the will of God AS by the holy Ghost wee are lead to the true knowledge of our saluation so by it we are made certaine of the same being the seale and earnest of our inheritaunce which testifieth with our Spirite that wee be the sonnes of God in that wee hate all euill and on the contrary take pleasure in the lawes of the Lord. For it is the Spirit which comforteth vs in our affliction and strengthned vs in our weaknesse in making vs beare paciently the burden of our tribulation and aduersities in so much that our affections being at variance among themselues many tymes slowe to prayer are yet stirred vp by the holy Ghost who teacheth vs to stay our selues vpon the promises that we are to aske of God with desire and earnest affection of heart which cannot bee declared in wordes By this meanes are our prayers exalted to God and accoumpted iust and reasonable being made by the holy Ghost which is the Spirite of God God who acknowledgeth and accepteth that which is his and proceedeth from him by giuing vs deliuerance and adiudge vs vnto saluation Seing then that our prayers ought to bee ordered according vnto the will of God and done in such sinceritie and singlenes of heart we may comfort our selues in the vertue of his grace and operation of the holy Ghost To this is added that which the Apostle teacheth in this Chapter that by the spirite of adoption wee may boldly crye abba father In this maner then ought wee to aske in faith and certaintie without doubting as S. Iames exhorteth vs being founded vpon the assuraunce that wee haue of the fatherly goodnesse of God towards vs by the holy Ghost Parables similitudes of the grace mercie of God towards poore sinners which do repent them selues IT is manifest not onely by all the sayinges which heretofore are shewed and other places of holy Scripture to the same purpose touching the grace of God proffered vnto vs by the forgiuenes of our sinnes but also by certaine Parables and Similitudes which serue vs as promises and which our Sauiour Christ hath vsed for our comfort as we may reade in the 15. of S. Luke The first is of the Sheepe that went astray and was lost in the wildernes whome the Sheepheard seeketh earnestly and finding it taketh it vpon his shoulders bringeth it home and reioyceth more ouer that one then for the nintie and nine which he had in like sorte saith our Sauiour is it in Heauen for one sinner that repenteth him selfe Hath sinne then deceiued thee hath it caried thee away from the flocke of Christ and made thee stray from the right path Art thou in the middest of a Desert in daunger of a roring Lyon the enemie to thy saluation Withdrawe thy selfe betimes and recant of thy straying and goe to thy flocke least thou perish vtterly returne vnto thy soueraigne Sheepheard Iesus Christ which will bee gentle vnto thee neither stande in doubt but that he wil receiue thee if thou returne to him seing he goeth seeking and calling those which goe astraye to bring them into his fould and when thou art returned be not afrayde but be sure of thy saluation and reioyce for the Angels in heauen reioyce for thee Luke Chap. 16. ver 18. As a woman which hath lost a peece of siluer after she hath found it againe reioyceth so doth the Angels of God for a sinner which doth repent ALthough we lose our selues by our owne fault bee guiltie of our estraying from God yet for all this he houldeth vs so deare and precious and hath such care of vs that he will neuer forget vs but prouideth for our saluation bringeth vs to himselfe keepes vs as his owne euen as though he should keepe some excellent treasure for which the celestiall and heauenly Angels doe sing for ioye and gladnesse Luke Chap. 15. ver 11.12 BY the goodnesse of the father towardes his prodigall sonne our Sauiour sheweth the great clemencie of God our celestial father towards poore sinners which conuert themselues vnto him If by the lightnes and foolishnesse of our mindes and by the vanities of our harts we haue abused the goodnes of God either temporally or spiritually by our owne meanes are drawne from his commaundements in slouthfull and dissolute life and so fallen into confusion by feeling our pouertie and miserie let vs not feare to turne againe to our God with true humblenes acknowledging our misdeedes seeing he is gentle and mercifull he will receiue vs as his children he will clothe vs with his benefites and spirituall graces with all ioye and mirth By the Parable and Similitude of the Publicane acknowledging himself a poore sinner standing a farre of and thinking him selfe vnworthie to lift vp his eyes to heauen striking his breastes and bewayling that he had neglected the mercies of God our Sauiour makes vs certaine and perswades vs of the iustification and mercie for our sinnes if truely we feele our selues guiltie if we be beaten and humbled in our harts if we haue a true displeasure and are sorie that we haue offended our God if wee be so touched wee shall finde him gentle and quiet towards vs. Worthy examples touching the great mercie of God towards poore sinners ALthough many promises and excellent proofes be here set before vs as sufficient to quiet the conscience of euery one notwithstanding it shall be needefull to set forth some examples for more certaintie and confirmation of the same seeing that such examples and instructions do stirre vs vp the more to consider better of the matter Wherefore as in our first father Adam sinne began to appeare so in him also God shewed the