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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	according_a	jesus_n	lord_n	1,817	5	3.2256	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05093	A treatise of the excellencie of a christian man, and how he may be knowen. Written in French by Master Peter de la Place, one of the Kings counsel, and chiefe president of his court of aides in Paris. Whereunto is adioyned a briefe description of the life and death of the said authour, to the end that euerie one may knowe what he was. Translated into English by L. Tomson; Traité de l'excellence de l'homme chrestien et manière de cognoistre. English	La Place, Pierre de, 1520-1572.; Tomson, Laurence, 1539-1608.; Farnace, Pierre de. aut	1576 (1576)	STC 15231; ESTC S106746	64,194	137

purpose to make them fit and meete to be partakers of his inheritance And for a man to imagine any pretence for man in this case it were as muche as if he shoulde go about to make him his owne maker And if we doe wel to giue God al the prayse for the direction of this our corruptible life howe may we be so bolde to ascribe that vnto our selues which is without cōparison a thousand tymes better to wit the lyfe that perisheth not but remayneth for euer seeing it is a great deale easier to make vs men then by our owne industrie and vertue to be regenerate into a farre more excellent nature Whereupon S. Paul to take away all presumptuous opinion of mans brayne in this behalfe sayeth That it is neyther in the willer nor in the runner that is to say neyther in merite nor worthines nor industrie nor will nor helpe or any meanes that man can worke but in the onely goodnes of our Lord and Master who doeth all things according to the counsel of his good will not according to our workes but according to that purpose of his grace which was giuen vs by Iesus Christe before the worlde was And this ought of a trueth content vs and suffice vs for all reason that may be brought for to go about to searche out any other what were it els but to open a gappe for rashe and heady fellowes to demande in like sorte a reason of al his workes why he bestoweth his graces more vpon some thē vpon other as to beginne with the brute beastes why God made them not reasonable creatures and why he made not a woman a Man and why he made not the ignorant weake and poore man a wyse stronge and rich man and as touching the elect them selues why they are not the same that their head is why there is so great oddes betweene them why they are so vncleane and he very cleannes it selfe and so in summe why he bestoweth not his giftes as well vpon this man as vppon that man. And yet my meaning is not that God hath no reason for making such a difference betwene his creatures as he hath done but because that reason is hidden within his secret counsell I say it must suffise vs for good and all that his will was so and say with S. Augustin that faithfull ignorance is better then rashe knowledge yea that such ignorance is learned and the desire to knowe more is a kinde of madnes Therefore when we see that some haue this honour done them that they are made Christians as well as other though we see no euident cause why it should be so we must learne to stand in admiration of the deepenes and profoundenes of Gods iudgement whiche we may in no wyse dispute of and therefore euery one of vs hath to content him selfe to knowe that to be a Christian is the workemanship as S. Paul sayeth and creature of God created in Iesus Christ and that God hath blessed him with all spiritual blessings in heauēly things in him as he chose him in him before the foūdation of the worlde being predestined of God to adopt him to him selfe according to the good pleasure of his will to the prayse of his grace which he hath powred out moste plentifully vpon him in all wysedome and vnderstanding and to whom he hath giuen to knowe the secret of his will according to his euerlasting decree which he purposed in himself being moued thereunto by no other meanes then of him selfe So then to come to the regeneration of a Christian and to speake of the order that is holden therin First of al we may not dreame of any such generation as Pythagoras made who thought that as soone as that bodies were dead the soules went into other bodies neither may we dreame of any naturall generation or power of man whereby this man should be made after this sorte for this generation is not wrought by a corruptible vncleane seede as the first was whereof we are all partakers which can engender nothing but corruption nothing can be borne of fleshe but fleshe whose ende is death and destruction but by an other and second generatiō which is spiritual made of an holy vncorruptible seede whiche is the worde of God preached whereby thei that are appointed to saluation are called and begotten to him For in deede there is no other differēce betweene Predestination and Calling but this that predestination is a preparatiue of that whereof the calling is the effect and the accomplishment and yet my meaning is not that this generation is made by the vertue of one simple worde vttered by the voyce of man which soundeth onely in the eares which God vseth as his meanes and instrument to call all men indifferently to him for many are called sayeth Christ but fewe are chosen and it were to set a mortall man to much on cockhorse to saye that his voyce were so pearcing of it self as to work a regeneratiō in the soule of man but I say it is by an other inward calling of God by the meanes of the outward which is wrought by mā which inwarde calling maketh it selfe heard within by drawing the hart vnto it which receyueth the witnes of the euerlasting grace and without which the voice of man could be but a bare sounde that vanisheth away in the ayre and a literall preaching dead without any fruit the seede time being of litle valew vnlesse the increase be giuē by vertue of that life which is reserued onely for them whiche were appoynted vnto it from the beginning of the world according to the purpose of God and no purpose of theirs to whom onely it is giuen to knowe the secrets of the kingdome of heauen all other men being shut out and left to their owne nature whereby they are deafe and blinde cōceyued and borne such of the vncleane seede of their parentes hauing beside a darkened vnderstanding whiche can not cōprehende the mysteries of God for his worde is couered and hidden to them so that they can no more perceyue the glorious and bright shining light of it then blinde men cā the light of the Sunne for no man can come to Christe vnlesse he haue a speciall grace who thought that as soone as the bodies were dead the soules went into other bodies neither may we dreame of any naturall generation or power of man whereby this man should be made after this sorte for this generation is not wrought by a corruptible vncleane feede as the first was whereof we are all partakers which can engender nothing but corruption nothing can be borne of fleshe but fleshe whose ende is death and destruction but by an other and second generatiō which is spiritual made of an holy vncorruptible seede whiche is the worde of God preached whereby thei that are appointed to saluation are called and begotten to him For in deede there is no other differēce betweene

heare of the adoption of God howe God hath adopted and taken vs to be his sonnes in Christ before the foundation of the world was layed And why so Because they go about to set vp their owne righteousnes and therefore will not be subiect to the righteousnes of god If we do wel because we are the childrē of God and if we beleue because we were appointed to saluatiō thē is it not our wel doing that maketh vs to be Gods children then are we not appointed to saluation because we beleeue then are al their merites gone then is al their fat in the fyer A Heathen a Pharise and a Papist is no bodie vnlesse he may merite vnlesse God may be bound to him and not he to God he wil not take the kingdome of heauen of gift he wil haue it of duetie and that is no God a mercie to him This is the very point of the matter iudge nowe which is the presumptuous doctrine either the heathenish pharisaicall papistrie or the trueth of the Gospel But as I sayd I can more easely enter into the matter then get out of it the grossenes of their heresie is so notorious and brutishe the trueth of our doctrine is so plaine and riche that I can not conteine my selfe if I should folow my self I will therefore surcease and leue your worship to the reading of the worke it selfe which shal be sufficient to instruct you in the waye of this trueth and arme you agaynst the assaultes of Satan by these his instrumentes The Lord by his holy Spirit worke those two effectes in you for this present so true and comfortable doctrine and further leade you into al trueth as he is the God of trueth that in the day of the Lord Iesus you may be founde to haue walked without stumbling in whatsoeuer he hath thought necessarie to reueile vnto you for your saluatiō 15. Sept. 1576. Your worships humbly at commandement L. T. A briefe collection of the chiefest points of the lyfe of Master Peter de la Place whyle he liued Counseller to the French King and chief President in his Court of Aydes at Paris set forth by P. de Farnace THough to iudge aright of any worke we haue to consider rather what the thing is in it self then to stande much vpon the authour of it because as truth is the opinions wherwith we are before possessed whether they be with or against the persons stay vs from iudging syncerely of their doings yet notwithstanding it is a cōmendable custome not onely to set mens names before their bookes but also to set downe what men they were to the ende the reader may be the better prepared to taste of the fruict when he shal once vnderstand what tree did beare it for it is to be thought that the fruict wil be like the tree that bare it And therefore seeing this worke came to mine handes I was so bold to put forth this short but yet moste true discours of the lyfe and death of the worthie man that made it being otherwyse thus minded though this occasion had not fallen out that it were an iniurie to posteritie to suffer diuers thinges lye buryed vnder silence which befell him in his lyfe tyme and are woorthie perpetuall memorie Therefore to begime at his byrth Master Peter de la Place an Angoulesmian borne was so well trayned by in learning euen from a chylde that he onely of all his brethren resolued with him selfe to followe the studie of the Lawes wherein he profited so marueylously that before hee was two and twentie yeeres olde he made a commentarie vpon the title of Actions and about the same tyme began to be a common pleader in the Parliament of Paris where he gote himgreat commendation and prayse for excellencie of witte and eloquence in pleading and especiadly for singular vprightnes of conscience For which cause also the deceased King Francis the great did him this honour to chuse him for his Aduocat and Autourney in his Court of Aydes in Paris In which office he behaued him selfe so well that no man is able to bereue him of this commendation that he kept his handes continually cleane from briberie and neuer dyd any thing against his office either for vnbrideled ambition or couetousnes King Henrie the last hauing sufficient testimonie of his good and vpright bearing of himselfe in steade of continuing him in this office chose him amongest a number of other to be his Presidēt in the said Court of Aides And whilest he was in this office it pleased God to call him to knowe him about the yere 1554 after a strange fashion About twentie yeres before whylest hee was a student at Poictiers it pleased God to make him see Master Iohn Caluine passing then that way with the Archbyshop of Tillet whome he was content to heare speaking honourably of the knowledge of God in generall but when hee spake of the pure seruice of God he made astaye there as one very zelous of that religion wherein he had bene carefully brought vp Yet so it was that euen from that daye there remained some scruple in his conscience that it might well be he might be deceiued and that his mynde ran vpon oftentimes as he confessed afterwarde which was as you would saye a preparatiue to nourishe this litle seede vntill it came to budde forth and spring at such time as God had appointed it After this it fell out on a daye that standing at his doore there came a certaine strāger to him by a wonderfull prouidence of God whom he knewe not but seeing him to be a man of some qualitie and one that wanted reliefe in his extreme pouertie turned to hym very humbly and made him a long discourse in excellent Latin vpon the cause of his miserie And finding hym to be a man well qualified caused him to come in euen into his studie to feele hym the better to the bottome at his leasure Then this poore mā as one sent from God began to discyfer out frankely vnto hym all the abuses of the Popishe Church and to shewe hym the true and onely way to serue god And after he had heard him patiently he rewarded him and prayed him notwithstanding very earnestly to come no more to him so afraid he was of the fyers which were prepared against them which were suspected the lest that might be for the doctrine of the Gospel as in deede this poore stranger not long after was tried in the fornace at Paris But after this Peter de la Place left not tourning both the Scriptures and al the old fathers euen to the very scholemen to finde some meanes if it were possible to take away this scruple which troubled his minde day night By this meanes in shortspace God touched his heart and opened his eyes and caused him to behold the light of the Gospel in so much as after the death of King Francis the second he declared him selfe openly to be of

our selues the grace of God can not helpe vs for as they say all the matter lyeth not in Gods helpe but we must cast in our reckoning also yea and that it is in vs to begin and in God to make an ende holding this for an vndoubted trueth that GOD hath giuen man power to doe well and to do euill both when and as him listeth and that he is at his own choyse to take of them which he will. This I say to shewe howe with all the light of vnderstanding and vprightnes of reason whereunto they ascribe the soueraintie of the whole man making it as it were a Monarche and Emperour man is blinded and daseled with the knowledge of the excellencie which he laboureth in vaine to finde in him selfe by the knowledge of his powers and beholding all things that are within him And so consequently how much they abuse them selues which thinke there is no better way to moue and perswade men to frame their liues accordingly as they ought then to put them in remembrance what goodly and precious things they haue in them for thereby they wil be moued to make some accompt of them selues and be more carefull to keepe them selues in their place and degree shunning sinne and following righteousnes seeing that all this can serue to no other purpose but to puffe him vp with vayne glorie ouerweening of him selfe and cause him to weary him selfe in conceyuing a good opinion of him selfe which will not further him the worth of a pinne and then to vndertake suche things as he shall neuer be able to compasse neyther by the reache of reason nor by accomplishing in deede what he intended For the knowledge of a mans selfe according to the rule of trueth standeth properly in this that man weye with him self the miserable state and condition whereinto we are fallen through the fall of Adam to the ende that hauing a right feeling of it as wee ought all vaine glorie and presumption may be beaten downe in vs with a deepe consideration of the losse of our vprightnes and in steade thereof of a corruption and fall from all goodnes which is come vpon vs by reason of the corruption of our nature Satan hauing so fast footing in al the parts of our soule that euery one of vs in him self as S. Augustin sayeth is become a Deuil enemie to God and accursed on all sides to the ende that being liuely touched by this meanes with the feeling of our vanitie and frowardnes we may be moued to come out of our selues as voyde and destitute of all goodnes and seeke our excellencie worthines and noblenes somewhere els yea and be moued to sighe and in sighing to breathe after it with great desire to recouer the same Whereby it appeareth howe grossely they were deceyued abused which thought to fynde the worthines of man within man him selfe and in that that is of man. The cause of their errour is this that the secret of their destruction and fall which came by our first fathers fault wherein they would nedes seeke a fayre and sound buylding was not reueyled vnto them Whereby it came to passe that through pryde which they conceyued of them selues for that smal remnant of light that remayned of the first beginning which was included in our nature whiche they call a little portion of the Godhead they spake so boldely and presumptuously of that which they knewe not and commended man for that whiche in deede is not in him and wherfore he is not in any wyse to be commended And seeing the case standeth so that though man be fallen into a miserable state through the fall of Adam and the image of God in him be marred and miserably deformed yet he hath some sparkes left whereby there remayneth in him some darke light and perceyuerance of the excellencie of his nature that is to saye of that vprightnes wherewith the firste man was beautified and made noble so that the corruption of sinne was not able to doe so muche as vtterly to deface the image of GOD in vs but that there remained alwayes some litle trace of it thereby it came to passe that men pricked and awakened with the feeling of the reliques of their firste dignitie and excellencie inwrapped notwithstanding in darkenes and possessed with a peruerse and presumptuous desire to haue somewhat of their owne remayning within them were easily moued to prayse and commende the excellencie of theyr nature which foolishe desire being once presented to the vnderstanding and brayne of each mā by the same deceyuer that would needes perswade our fathers to become like to God there is not one of vs that hath not a roote of pryde deepely planted within his heart Not that I meane to denie but that litle vnderstanding that man hath in him euen of nature for the maintenance of this present life and that discretion of good and euill engraued in his heart yea that piece of knowledge of God which he hath naturally in him is not out of doubt excellent in that it commeth from God but I saye that all these thinges are defiled in man euen as wyne that hath receiued infection by the vnsauery taste of the vessel wherinto it was put wherby the grace of his sauour and goodnes is gone and hathe gotten beside a bitter and vnwholsome taste Because the iudgement and discretion which he hath left to discerne and make his choyse of thinges is partly imperfect and full of confusion and all the witte he hathe becommeth vayne as also his will is tempestuously caried and full of phrensies accordingly as man is wholy caried awaie with sinne and to be shorte his vnderstanding and perceyuerance which he hath of GOD is nothing els but verie horrible welspring of errours as appeareth not onely by the idolatries and superstitions which he inuēteth but also herein that wheras the heauens keepe their natural motion the waters their accustomed course the byrdes make their nestes and the plantes bring forth fruit eche one in his due time to be short no creature subiect to man faulteth in his worke man indued with knowledge iudgement discours and vnderstanding is he that onely erreth and erreth in such sort that in the whole world there is no fault no disorder cōfusion but on his part So that to speake truely there remaineth not one droppe of vprightnes in his whole nature so farre is he from that excellencie wherof I meane to speake by reason of the corruption that is in him as euery man will freely confesse that can and doth rightly cōsider the heauie sight of his decaie Wherefore seeing that this our nature which is common to all men liuing is not capable of that excellencie whereof I speake we must nedes say that that man of whom I speake is transformed into an other new and more excellent nature whereupon God hath bestowed a singular wonderfull vertue which farre passeth

and surmounteth al that is in mā as in dede it can not be found nor be confessed to procede from any but frō God yea from the Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ by whom his good pleasure was to restore al mankind towards whom though the soueraignecreat●r● maker of al things sheweth sufficiētly his fatherly fauour diuers sundry ways yet notwithstanding vntil he shew himself to man a restorer in the person of his only begottē sonne their cōscience reproueth thē within thē selues maketh thē perceiue that by reason of their filthines they are wel worthy to be cast away as wretched men caitifs cannot be taken accōpted for his worke established in them In which worke is only truely that excellēcie wherof I meane to speake which is a worke that farre passeth the worke of the first creatiō of man as it wil appeare more plainly hereafter of which man when S. Paul speaketh he saieth that the efficacie of the might power that is to say of the mightie power of God is plentifully shewed in him because he setteth forth in him after a wonderful sort his infinite vertue according to the vnspeakeable goodnes grace and fauour which he beareth to a Christian man. And that it is so to shew it more particularly our heauenly father not content that he brought a Christian into the world of nothing and that he made him not an oxe or an asse which he might haue done or a dogge or a catte or any other more bite and abiect creature but a man that is to saye a singular and perfect piece of workemanship and that he made the world beautified the heauens and the earth with a perfect abundance varietie and beautie of all things to lodge him in it as it were in a great sumptuous palace well and richely furnished with all thinges necessarie not content I say with al this moroeouer that he had forgotten his vnthankeful and detestable infidelitie and felonie where he deserued to be cast of and depriued for euer of all his blessinges yet notwithstāding it pleased him of a certein more then fatherly loue and speciall fauour which he bore him not onely euen from his birth day and from the first howre that he brought him out into this world but euen from his mothers wombe yea and before he was conceiued yea and that more is before the world was made as he predestined him to him self from euerlasting to elect and chuse him frō amongst an infinite million of men to marke him set him apart to exempt him from the common state and condition of al other men that is to say from euerlasting condemnatiō and destruction which was prepared for him as wel as for euery other man to reserue him for him selfe to adopt and regenerate him in the hope of life to an incorruptible inheritāce kept in store in heauen to be reueiled to his elect at that day when all thinges shal be restored and to shewe in him the richesse of his glorie as in a vessell of mercie prepared to saluation All the cause of this excellent prerogatiue and dignitie is not as we see to be sought any where els but in the singular grace and mercie of God whom it pleased without any further regarde or consideration of any thing without him selfe foreseing the faulte and condition of mankinde of his good pleasure to haue mercie vpon some to set them in honour as vessels of his mercie and leaue the rest in their iudgemēt giuing grace to some which was not due to them and rendring to the rest that punishment that was due to thē being in his power to giue to one part that which they deserued not so setting forth his grace and not to giue it to all thereby shewing what al had deserued without further bestowing like mercie on all for he made all things as Salomon saith for his owne sake yea the wicked man to the day of his destruction according to the decree of the good pleasure of his wil which onely is the souereine and high rule of iustice that iudgeth al the world his wayes which are mercie and trueth being incomprehensible as whereby he so worketh that they which obteine mercie at his handes haue nothing but his mercie to boast of and they that are left in their condemnation haue nothing to gainesay the iudgemēt of trueth as mē guiltie nor ought wherewith to pleade against him in so much as on the one side to shewe forth his wrath and make his mightie power knowen he through great patience and meekenes beareth with the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction on the other side setteth out the richesse of his glory towards thē that he chose by his grace whom he prepared to glorie For so it is as S. Augustine sheweth it at large where he speaketh of the predestination of God that when God had resolued with him self to buyld the Monarchie of this world al that is cōteined in it forsawe that the first man should fal wittingly and willingly into death being pliable to good euill hauing not that giuen him to continue stande stedily in that state wherin he was placed yea and that al mortal creatures should be within the compasse of his fall subiect vnto it hauing so appointed it by his incomprehensible counsel and wisdom which hath a foreknowledge of all thinges ioyned with it as also his mightie power which gouerneth all thinges by his hande and yet notwithstanding minded to haue a litle rēnant euen as you would say an handful of men taken out of such a great multitude to serue for the praise of the glorie of his grace he chose set apart frō the multitude one man amōgst many which should be in his time ordeined to be conceiued of the seede of Dauid and should be borne of a virgin to wit Iesus Christ finding nothing in all the seede of Adam worthy his election and such a prerogatiue and excellēcie in whom also as in the head he chose to be members as it were of his bodie such as it pleased him freely of his grace to appoint before hand receiue to life and by the selfe same man to ioyne them vnto him selfe and allie them so togither that they should neuer be seuered hauing foreseene a great while before that in Adam there should come good of euill and knew most vndoubtedly the it belonged to his almighty goodnes to turne good into euill rather then to suffer that there should be no euill and so accordingly disposed the life of men and Angels as that he would thereby shewe first what free wil was able to do and thē what the gift of his grace could do hauing shut all vnder sinne that al might haue nede of grace And therfore as the excellencie which I ascribe to a Christian and proceedeth from this grace appeareth fully and abundantly in Iesus Christ so is it