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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	evil_a	good_a	tree_n	33,809	5	11.7409	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76021	Unum necessarium, or, The great duty of a Christian in two tracts : the one, Of adhering to God, written in Latin, by Albertus Magnus, the other, Of the love of God, written in high- Dutch, by John Staupitz / both faithfully translated into English for the promoting of primitive Christianity.; De adhaerendo Deo. English. 1692	Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280.; Johannes von Kastl, 15th cent.; Staupitz, Johann von, d. 1524.	1692 (1692)	Wing A878; ESTC R42992	62,774	183

Let him therefore who hastens to attain that Blessed impassibility and to approach to God himself account that every day wherein he is not reproach'd revil'd or contemn'd he suffers great loss and damage Now this impassibility here mention'd is nothing else but a freedom from Vices and Passions Purity of Heart and the entire Ornament of Vertues and Graces Suppose thy self therefore already Dead whom thou doubtest not but must Dye certainly And let this be the last and highest proof and surest Tryal of all thy Thoughts Words and Actions to prove whether they be according to God or no if by them thou becomest more humble and more recollected and fixed within thy self and in God but if thou findest the effect otherwise thou wilt have good reason to suspect that they were not according to God and neither well pleasing to him nor profitable for thee CHAP. XVI How the Providence of God extends it self to all and every thing NOW to the end that according to the foregoing instructions we may without let or hinderance readily securely and nakedly be carried towards the Lord our God with the greatest freedom and Tranquility become joyned with him and united to him and may firmly cleave unto him with an evenness of Temper whether in Prosperity or Adversity Life or Death it is of absolute Necessity that we resign and commit all and every thing without the least doubt or hesitation and with the greatest assurance to his unsearchable and infallible Providence Neither ought we to think strange of this Counsel forasmuch as it is he alone that gives to all things their being Power and Activity that is their Substance Vertue Operation Kind Manner and Order and that in Number Weight and Measure And this the rather because as all Artisicial Works presuppose the Works of Nature so every Work of Nature presupposeth the Work of God Creating Preserving Ordering and Administring Since to him alone belongs Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness and Essential Mercy Justice Truth and Charity immutable Eternity and Immensity Wherefore it is evident that nothing doth or on subsist by its own Virtue nor Act save only in the Virtue of God himself that is of the first Mover and first Principle who is the Cause of all Actions and Operates in every Agent For with respect to the true Order of the Administration of the World Go immediately provides and takes care for all Things even to the utmost Individuals So that nothing from the highest to the lowest can escape or avoid the Eternal Providence of God whether in things Natural or Voluntary or Casual and Fortuitous which were never intended by the particular Agent Neither can God make any thing but what must of necessity resort or fall under the order of his Providence no more than he can make any thing which is not subject to his operating Power It follows therefore that the Divine Providence doth extend it self to all and every thing even to the very Thoughts of Mens Hearts Upon which Foundation the Scripture builds the following Instructions Casting all your care upon him 1. Pet. 5.7 for he careth for you Cas● thy Burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee Psal 55.22 Look at the Generations of Old and see Eccl. Syr. 2.10 did ever any trust in the Lord and wa● forsaken Or did ever any abide in his Fear and was confounded And that of our Saviour Take no though for your Life Mat. 6.25 wha● you shall eat c. Wherefore let us assure our selves that whatsoever or how great soever the things are that we hope or expect from God we shall without doubt receive the same according to that Promise in Deuteronomy Deut. 11.24 Every place whereon the Soles of your feet shall tread Josh 1.3 shall be yours Because as much as every one can desire so much shall he receive and as far as he can reach with the foot of his trust and confidence so far shall he possess Accordingly Bernard tells us God the Author of all things doth abound with such Bowels of Love and Mercy that to how great a degree soever of Grace we can extend the reach of our trust and confidence the same we shall undoubtedly receive and be possest of To which purpose our Saviour Mar. 11.24 also assures us What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that you receive them and ye shall have them Now the stronger and more instant this trust and reliance in God is And by how much the more forceably it lifts it self up to and presseth into God with Humility and Reverence the more assuredly abundantly and swiftly it will obtain the desired good But and if it should happen that by reason of the Multitude or Greatness of Sin the Affiance should be luke-warm and slow in lifting up it self to God let such a one consider that all things are possible with God and that whatsoever he will must necessarily come to pass And that what he wills not is for that very reason impossible and it is as easie for him to forgive and blot out innumerable Sins how enormous soever they may be as one only Sin And that as a Sinner cannot by all the Power that is in him raise himself up again from his innumerable Sins shake them off and free himself from them so neither from one only 1. Cor. 3.5 For we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing that is good much less to do it but our Sufficiency is from God Tho' indeed it be much more dangerous to be intangled with many Sins all other Circumstances being alike than with one alone because there is no Evil with without its Punishment and an Infinite Punishment is due to every mortal Sin and this according to the Rigor of Justice because every such Sin is committed against God who is of Infinite Reverence Dignity and Honour Moreover we are to consider that according to the Apostle the Lord knows those that are his and that it is impossible for any of those to Perish in whatsoever windings and Floods of Errours Scandals Schisms Persecutions Dissentions Heresies Tribulations Adversities and Temptations they may be involved seeing that the number of his Elect and the bound of their Merits hath been eternally and unchangeably foreseen by him so that all things whether Good or Evil proper or strange and Forreign prosperous or adverse do all work together for their good save only that they appear yet more Glorious and acceptable to God in Adversity than Prosperity Let us therefore securely and readily commit all and every of our and others concerns with a plenary Trust and Confidence to the Divine Providence who therefore permits all manner of Evils in what way soever to be done and it is good and well done of him that he suffers them to be done neither can they be more or otherwise done than as he permits them to be because he knows can and will change and dispose them

against it and lays hold only on the Cross trusting and confiding in that Fight and Combat which Christ without Sin maintained against the Sins of Men to exterminate the Diabolical Poyson and in the same came off a Conqueror and Triumphator And thus a Christian boasteth of Christ alone and wholly despairs of himself Wherefore it is much better for a Man to commit and resign himself wholly to God neither Praying for this or the other feeling or Perception of the Divine Love but that he would order all things according to his own good Pleasure When a Man comes to this State he enjoys a constant and abiding Peace Tranquility and Comfort founded and bottom'd on the unchangeable Love God bears towards us however Dead Barren or Heavy he may find himself But they who will not rest save in the highest degrees of Love and who do not believe God is with them when they do not feel in themselves the Sweetness of his Love or at least some Comfort and Solace of his Spirit such as these have no constant abiding Comfort here on Earth and are in Eminent Danger both as to Soul and Body CHAP. XVII That all things work together for the best of the Elect that Love God above all things ALL things and all Creatures are theirs who belong to Christ and are his as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 3. v. 21 22 23. The Apostles the World Life Death Things present and things to come and in a Word all Creatures are his who himself is Christs and Christ without a mean is Gods but we are his through or by means of Christ Wherefore also the Elect Soul is by means of Christ so highly Seated in Gods favour that all Evil yea even Sin it self is not only not hurtful to her but also conducive and helpful in the hand of God her great Physitian to her best State Verily a true Christian is a Miraculous Creature of God with whom God from Eternity in the highest Love has so intimately United himself that tho' as David saith Psalm 89.30 31 32. He forsake the Divine Law and walks not in his Judgments tho he prophane his Statutes and keep not his Commandments yet God for all this will only Chastise him Temporally and not utterly take away his loving kindness from him So that even his Sin must be helpful to his Salvation For what God hath once determined can never fail and whatsoever he hath once promised must Eternally be true whom God Loves and Favours to him Heaven and Hell Good and Evil must be helpful and advantagious And for this Reason it is that we are very Subject to be mistaken and confounded in our Reflecting on the Works of other Men and find that we are not able in the least to pass a true Judgment or Estimate what is profitable or hurtful to Men forasmuch as we find by experience that God sometimes out of great and faithful Love permits him that stands to fall Who doubts but that Peters Fall wherein he denied his Lord and Master was far more profitable and advantagious for him than to have continued and persevered in his self-confidence Our Lord and God has a greater Interest and is more concerned to manifest and display the glory of his own Grace Mercy than to maintain and keep up our Righteousness His least suffering was sufficient to reconcile his Heavenly Father to us to Justifie to Preserve or make us persevere in Righteousness and to save us but this would not have been sufficient to hold forth the unmeasurableness of his Love or the unalterableness of his Mercy Therefore Paul tells us Rom. 11.32 That God hath concluded all under Vnbelief and Sin that he might have Mercy upon all If you take away Sin who then will be able clearly to understand that Gods Mercy is above and beyond all his Works or that Christ the true Son of God is the Redeemer of the World Which no other way could ever have been manifested but by his unalterable Love and by that great instance of his Transcendent Pity and Compassion to us miserable Sinners And therefore Gregory calls Sin Salutary or Saving because by Divine Mercy it procur'd us so glorious a Saviour and Redeemer Forasmuch then as God makes use of Sin for the advancement of his Divine Glory it is no longer any Wonder that he makes the same also advantagious to the Sinner But we must not argue from hence that if it be so we may therefore freely sin without Danger by no means but on the contrary it is our Duty at all times with our utmost Diligence and Strength to avoid Sin as we would the most deadly Poyson for to cover Sin with Mercy is the Work of God alone 'T is he only that can bring good out of Evil we can fall of our selves but not rise again of our selves this rests only in the gracious Mercifulness of God which excells and surmounts all his Works CHAP. XVIII Whosoever hath not received the Love of God above all things to him all the Temporal good things that God affords him are of no Profit ST Paul faith 1 Cor 13 1 2 3. Tho' I speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels and have not Love or Charity I am become like a sounding-Brass or a loud Cymbol and tho' I have the gift of Prophesie and understand all Mysteries and Knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing Moreover tho I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned if I have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Yea what 's still more where Love is not it is to a persons Hurt and Loss that ever he was born a Man and the highest Gifts or Benefits God hath bestowed upon him serve only for his greater condemnation It had been better for Judas he had neverbeen born as Christ himself testifies that he had never been an Apostle that he had never wrought any Miracles that he had never seen or heard of Jesus and had never eaten the sweet Food with him at the same Table than that after such great and inestimable Favours received he should become his Betrayer sell him and deliver him to the Jews From whence we may take notice that our dearest Lord God bestows that often in his Wrath which he denies in his Love From whence also follows that the higher the Gifts are we receive from God the more they engage us to the Duty of loving God above all things tho they cannot make us to Love God so and therefore are rather Poyson than Gifts if Love does not come along with them neither can they certainly assure us of that love wherewith God loves us to Salvation Moreover these Gifts when they ate separate from Love are the cause of a puft up Spirit Pround Mind censorious judging arrogant Actions imprudent Behaviour and converse Self conceitedness Hypocrisie and Contempt of the simple

and single hearted and other such like Wherefore also Jesus said to his Disciples when they boasted themselves because of the High gifts of God bestowed upon them and more espicially because the Devils were subject and obedient to them through his Name I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven and added this following Lesson true it is I have given you Power to tread upon Serpents and Scorpions and over all the Power of the Enemy notwithstanding for this rejoyce not nor in particular for that the Evil Spirits are subject to you but ratherrejoyce because your Names are written in Heaven Luke 10.17 18 19. It is very probable that Judas as well as Peter healed the fick cast out Devils and wrought other Miracles but forasmuch as he wanted Love all this was of no avail to him Wherefore it behoves us always to walk with Fear and Trembling and to be so much the more humble as we enjoy more of these Divine Gifts and Graces whereof we must give an Account to God how we have employ'd them CHAP. XIX Whosoever hath a true Love to God he undoubtedly keeps all his Commands A true Mark of the Love of God is the fulfilling of the Commands of God according to the Doctrine of the Wiseman for love begets likeness and conformity makes one Heart one Will one Soul in the Lover and the Beloved When Love raiseth her self above her self she frames her self into the will of her Beloved and if she stoops beneath her self she moulds all things into her own likeness and esteems or values nothing according to its natural goodness but according to her own good liking or pleasure And so makes that Evil which was by God created good in Nature He who loves God above all things is well pleased with whatsoever is well pleasing to God and is troubled at every thing that displeaseth him and therefore he loves Righteousness and hates Iniquity does that which is Good and avoids Evil I say he does that which is good tho not always according to the works of the Law yet always in conformity with the end of the Law for it happens sometimes that a man in doing contrary to the works of the Law yet does that which is right and good with reference to the end of the Law Now the end of the Law is the Love of God above all things with which no manner of Evil doing may consist So that he who truly loves God keeps all that God hath commanded him even wha●soever is contain'd in the Divine Word ●ccording to the Doctrine of St. Austin who expresseth himself in these following Words Love but and then do what thou wilt Art thou silent be silent for Love dost thou cry aloud Cry aloud for love Dost thou reprove Reprove for Love Dost thou reconcile Reconcile out of Love keep but this Root in thy heart even true Divine Love and Charity and than nothing but what 's good can ever come from thee nothing can be done by thee but what is saving or tends to Salvation Wherefore Men can never be Divinely taught by any one save only in the School of Love with her alone are found the doers of of the Divine Word all other Arts and Learning whatsoever make nothing but Hearers only To this Art of Arts even the Love of God Parents should draw and allure their Children The Masters their Schollars the spiritual Pastors their Sheep or rather the Sheep of Christ Whatsoever it is they teach besides this is nothing but Labour and Vexation of Spirit Neither indeed is there any other Art necessary to Salvation Yet it is true too that no body can effectually teach this Divine Art of Love but God himself as before hath been declar'd wherefore aiso our Lord Jesus Christ forbids us to look out for any other Master for to attain the Art of Salvation save himself alone CHAP. XX. They who love God in the Highest degree do not think the Yoak and Burthen of Christ to be Heavy or Troublesome but rather Easie and Light ALas How many heavy and intollerable Burthens do we see which in this miserable State the Love of this World and our Fleshly uncleanness and corrupt inclinations make very easie and desirable In order to get Riches we see the Merchant exposeth himself to the Raging Sea breaks his Sleep and shortens his Life To arrive to Honour and Dignity a man abandons himself to a continual slavery at Court and to all that which is hurtful and grievous to Soul and Body For the sake of Lust and impure Love more especially that which men bear to Women and Women to Men what intolerable burthens are not readily willingly and gladly Born For Love alas is so fast rooted and riveted in our Flesh and Blood that beyond any other thing whatsoever no body without the special Grace and Assurance of God can any longer moderate curb or restrain it much less quite root it our The inclination of the heart brought the Love of Women along with it into Paradise and we suck the same from our Mothers Breasts yea we take it from our Mothers hearts whilst we are yet hid in the Womb. For the sake of Women saith● Zorobabel as we find it in 1 Esdras 4.14 15 16. Men forsake and abandon their Honour Lives and Goods yea Vertue and Reason and become captivated yea senseless and distracted by Reason of the Love they bear to them This inborn and inbred Love neither Frock nor Cowl neither Church nor Convent neither Cell nor Dungeon can keep out except the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ come in to our help But indeed when that once comes the work is Light and Easie for if that once sweetly impresseth and ingraves the unutterable Love of God on the heart then all other Loves must pack up and be gone and the more clearly she manifests her self and the more amiably she imageth or forms her self in the Soul so much the more speedily must Flesh and Blood sink and perish Yea sometimes she appears so sweet to the Soul that all Creatures become distastful to it Here it is that our Iron-hard heart becomes soft pliant and yielding the heavy and troublesome yoak becomes sweet and easie and insuportable Burthen light and pleasurable and all this because God doth amiably move and affect our Spirits VVould you have me Communicate this Art to you and tell you how it is able to perform these great things Pray resolve me first of a matter which is a thousand times less How comes it to pass that he heavy lumpish Iron runs to the embraces of the Load Stone and why as soon as a dish or bason wherein Iron lies is touched with the Load stone doth the Iron raise it self and begin to move that way to which the Load Stone draws it Dost thou say the Stone is able to do this tho thou canst not tell me how or by what means Then wonder no more how the Creator of Nature can

any other Source or Spring save only the Benigne Kind and Merciful Will of God even that very self subsisting Essential Love which is God himself Accordingly our hope is not in any degree founded on the Love we have to God nor on the Duties or Services we perform to God or for his sake but is only grounded on the Love which God bears to us and the Works that he himself operates in us This the Apostle St. Paul plainly and openly declares from the High Spirit he had received of God for after that he had spoke to the Romans concerning the comfort of Hope he immediately declares to them from whence the same proceeds saying And hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts Rom. 5. v. 5. through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This is the saving Comfort and highest Consolation of Man that out of the inexpressible Love of God the Holy Ghost is given unto him though the Merit of Christ not of his desert as it is written Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God Commendeth his Love towards us in that he died for us whilest we were yet Sinners Forasmuch then as he hath so highly loved us whilst we were yet Sinners as to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father when we did not desire in the least any such thing of him how can it be then that being now reconciled through him to the Father we should not be saved yet not in our own but in his Life For most sure it is that all Life must proceed from one Life as all Death 's proceeded at first from one Death From all which it follows that they are not our own works that can give us comfort so as that from them we should be able to conceive a true and lively hope towards God but they afford us only a comfortable conjecture that this true hope is in us in the very same manner as each fruit points us to the tree upon which it grew It is in this Sense St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 that we must be diligent to make our Calling and Election to Eternal Salvation sure by the good Works we do When the Holy Ghost is in any Soul her condition may be compared to water springing out of a Rock Now in this case first there must be water in the Rock for otherwise none could ever spring thence in the next place those hidden springing waters must make a Well before that ever any streams can proceed from them Wherefore as the streams or rivulets lead us to the Well or Spring and the Spring to the hidden Water in like manner do good Works lead us to the Fountain wherein Faith Hope and Love do first spring and these three again lead us to the inward hidden Water even to the Holy Ghost who is the self-subsisting Essential Love of God By this very comparison or Similitude God leads the Samaritan Woman from the Water she drew out of Jacob's Well to that Water which is God himself which through Faith Hope and Love becomes a Well springing up into Eternal Life and flowing forth in the streams of all good Vertues and Graces For the Holy Ghost is the hidden Water Faith Hope and Love are the Spring that make the Well or Fountain and good Works are the Streams or Rivulets Thus you see for a conclusion that no good Work can be in us except the Holy Ghost be there before as hath been already mentioned Now when he dwells in us then is he himself in us that Living Water which becomes in us a Well springing up into Eternal Life through Faith Hope and Love Here thou mayst understand how and in what manner Faith Hope and Love are poured forth or conveighed into our Souls why because the Holy Ghost who is the true Living Water sheds himself abroad in our hearts and so causeth them to flow forth which afterwards farther diffuse themselves into manifold other Vertues and Graces first to those that have them and afterwards also to others that see their Works And lastly as the stream is not the Original of the Spring nor the Spring or Fountain the Original of the hidden Water so neither can our Works be the Original of Faith Hope and Charity nor Faith Hope and Charity be the Original or Cause of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost CHAP. X. The Love to God that is in us is begotten and born of the Revelation of God's Love towards us NOthing can be conceived more proper and efficacious to beget Love than Love therefore 't is that God then and there only appears most amiable and lovely unto us when his unutterable Love towards us his surpassing Benefits and the Merits of Christ are pourtrayed and imprinted on the heart when in his Light we discover how our Heavenly Father when we were as yet his Enemies gave his only begotten Son to come down into Flesh into this mortal Life yea into the bitterest Suffering and Death for us But now this Revelation Manifestation and Impression on the heart cannot be performed by any one but by God alone who has the hearts of all in his own hand and inclines the Will according to his own pleasure Our dear Lord Christ is that flinty Rock that strikes Fire but yet doth not give it forth except it be forc'd from him with the strong Iron Christ also is the Rock that gives forth Water yet not till it be smitten with Moses's Rod. His Holy Life his Suffering and Death give forth no kindling no inflaming fire except they be stir'd and struck with the eternal unchangeable constant strong Love of God in which he immutably and without repentance has elected those who shall be the Inheritors of his Eternal Joy for no striking helps nor kindles any fire except it fall into the true catching Tinder of those Souls whom God from Eternity hath determined to favour with his Grace to sanctifie and save them For else strike who will the Rock never gives fire and consequently neither doth the Tinder catch it But when God strikes the Rock in the heart of his chosen then it presently gives forth fire then the dead Coals become live Coals the black Tinder looks glorious like the burnish'd Gold and the cold fire becomes shining and flaming in that Love which is kindled by God's Love Thus Love proceeds and springs from Love that is from the Love of God to us proceeds our reciprocal Love to him So likewise neither doth this Rock give forth Water except it be struck with the Rod of Moses ever flowing streams of Grace do not flow from Christ neither doth he appear in the highest degree lovely and amiable friendly and kind in that he was scourged crown'd with Thorns mocked and crucifyed but because the merciful Lord God the true Moses the Great Law-giver of the Law of Love out of pure Love to us or as the Prophet Isaiah chap. 53.5 8. saith for our sakes hath