Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	apostle_n	church_n	time_n	1,642	5	3.9468	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08319	A treatise, maintaining that temporall blessings are to bee sought and asked with submission to the will of God Wherein is confuted the presumptious way of absolute praying for temporals, in the particulars, broached, and defended by Mr. Rice Boye, in a late pamphlet, intituled The importunate beggar. As also a discovery of the late dangerous errours of Mr. Iohn Traske, and most of his strange assertions. Both necessary to be knowne of all for the avoiding of the like errours, and continuing in the truth. By Edw: Norice.	Norris, Edward, 1584-1659.	1636 (1636)	STC 18646; ESTC S103140	33,983	192

are called See Christian Synagogue lib. 2. cap. 5. nor yet is it in our power to imitate his actions but in matters of morall obedience Vide Amesium in 1. Petri. cap. 2. ver 21. as in Patience Humility Meeknesse Love Submission to the will of his Father his example and patterne is proposed and recorded for our imitation and practise and of this nature is the point in question Which I therefore propose not indefinitely as to say that That which our Saviour Christ did in generall without limitation is to be done of us But what hee did in this matter of Praier being a Morall duty and so likewise the Apostles Which to say is a doctrine fit to bee spewed out of the Church as the Temporarie doth in his answer how beastly and blasphemous is it And for the ground of his speech that we are to live by rules and precepts and not by examples that being a Pillar of the Church of Rome it is even as vaine Exemphim Christi est praxis theologiae ibid. For are wee not commanded to follow the examples of Christ in those things as before hath been shewed Which generall commaund comprehends all particulars of that nature that they need not bee mentioned as the Temporarie foolishly requireth neither is this any Pillar especially a chiefe Pillar of the Church of Rome as hee speaketh to imitate our Saviour Christ and the holy Apostles in Morall duties and matters of obedience for then they would have better Pillars to support them than we know they have any It is well spoken for them but simply for himselfe who condemneth all the Churches of Christ as no Churches for not imitating those first patternes of the Apostles and their examples in those times as hee elsewhere alleageth Therefore herein I teach no Will-worship nor Idolatrous action nor any thing tending that way but what is warranted by Scripture and backt with reason Keck de locis commu pag. 281. See Perkins in Math. 6. pag. 328. Exempla enim nihil sunt aliud quàm generalis doctrinae regularum universalium specialia symbola Our Saviour himselfe confuteth the Pharisees and defendeth his Disciples partly by examples Mathew 12.3 St. Paul proveth and confirmeth the greatest Article of our faith by an example Rom. 4.22 23. The holy Scriptures oftentimes recommend unto us the examples of the Patriarcks the Prophets the Martyrs as patternes for our imitation to follow them Heb. 11. c. Therefore how rude is this man to reject the examples of Christ himselfe and the Apostles with such foule language as hee doth But hee hath somewhat to say against the Proofes 1. That Prayer of our Saviour he saith was extracted from him the horriblenesse of the punishment for mans sinne retaining for a time the whole humane mind untill his Divinitie raised him up againe after which hee spake after another manner as Matthew witnesseth alledging the testimony of a namelesse authour that it was Nequaquam justa precatio Christ knowing full well that hee must die c. Whereunto I answer that is certaine that our Lord did never any finfull action neither was hee subject with Moses to speake unadvisedly with his lips through distemper Psal 106.33 Nor was his Humanitie ever tainted or overcome with any sinfull perturbations Vide Melancthon De Passione Christs per Pezelium pag. 282. or impotent Passions as either to desire or to utter things unlawfull or evill that none might imitate therefore howsoever his agonie was very great Christi trepidationes non fuerunt similes nostris ibidem and the Humanity did that which was proper unto it seeke the diverting of an evill if it might be yet withall at the same instant hee doth advisedly and holily submit himselfe to his Fathers will therein without any reluctancie at all being one entire action How suspitiously and dangerously then doth the Temporarie handle this Praier as if it were some unadvised speech and fall of the Humanitie out of which the Divinitie recovered him againe For the defence wherof he would make one Evangelist to contradict another and citeth a namelesse Author saying that it was Nequaquam justa precatio a speech that had need be warily understood and all this to explode this example Or rather to be abhorred from imitiation and so to establish his errour But for the clearing of all this I thinke it fit to produce the judgement of a godly learned Author on the place speaking thus It is the collection of most Writers Attamen ut liberetur petit unde colligimus c. Yet hee desireth to bee freed Whence wee gather that it is lawfull for us to deprecate those evils that are approaching For if it be naturall to grieve for them then are not they to be condemned that desire to be freed from them But herein the moderation or correction that Christ doth use is diligently to bee marked when hee addeth Yet not my will but thine be done In which saying hee asketh that which hee teacheth us to aske Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven This therefore may be a rule to us of all our Praiers concerning things of this life wherein it is not certaine to us what the Lord would have to be done And such are too bold and confident as will undertake to prescribe unto him on whose sole pleasure we depend and all ours This being the reason why the Praiers of manie are not heard because they are bold not so properly to pray as with a kind of authority to command and to prescribe unto God what they will have to bee done for them Gaulther in Luke 22.42 Which one testimonie might be sufficient to end the Controversie were the Adversarie reasonable but hee hath more to say 2. That of Rom. 1.10 doth shew the desire St. Paul had to come to them but hee had no promise of God that hee should come to them and therefore it 's no marvell that hee puts in an If as any one must doe when hee asketh what God hath not promised c. To which I answer 1. That herein I cannot but marvell at the daring spirit of this man that in the former Proofe doth little better than taxe the LORD JESVS himselfe of some fall and fault in his conditionall Praier And here hee accuseth the holy Apostle for praying and that very often for such a thing as for which hee had no promise that hee should be heard Without ceasing alwaies ver 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no marvell saith hee though hee doubteth seeing hee had no promise c. For whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin and where there is no promise at all there can be no faith Therefore those frequent praiers of St. Paul were offred up without faith and were sinfull Praiers by his opinion who elswhere affirmeth Page 15. that faith and doubting are so contrary that côdem instanti they cannot stand together

and that the word If arising from thence doth stand betweene God and us as a cloud This is his arrogant censure of the Apostles prayers 2. I would demaund of him or any that hold with him whether Saint Paul had not as much ground of assurance and as certaine a promise for his comming to the Romanes as the Temporarie or any other have of any particular Temporall benefit they aske at the hands of God for the promises run onely in generall It is not said of anie particular person that hee shall have this or that particular Favour Benefit or Request but in generall onely and all this St. Paul had For as a Believer hee had the promises of those Temporall benefits that were necessarie for him as an Apostle hee had a speciall promise from Christ of assistance in Preaching the Cospel to the Gentiles of which the Romanes were part Act. 26.17 As an earnest Petitioner for this particular favour being more necessarie than any Temporall matter hee had as much and far more promise of audience than any Temporary believer hath of any Temporall benefit that he conceives to be good for him And yet had hee no promise for what hee asked What promise then hath the Temporary for all his Temporals whereof hee is so confident But what if the Apostle had a promise from God and a particular assurance of his comming to the Romanes for it is certaine that hee had a promise of comming to Rome Act. 23.11 and before that hee was assured of it Act. 19.21 And when hee wrote the Epistle hee was confident in it Rom. 15.24 Where then is the truth of the Temporarie in saying that hee prayed for that for which hee had no promise Which practise elsewhere hee calleth babling in two places Page 20. 57. Doth it not rather appeare herehence that in all our undertakings wee are to have dependance upon God and to wait upon his will resigning our selves to his good pleasure and therefore in our prayers either expresly or implicitly to desire as the Apostle doth by the will of God to doe this or that worke to have this or that benefit from him to make our journeys prosperous c. as the word importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As we say A good journey and not as the Temporary proudly teacheth Give me this and give me that for I know it is good for mee which kind of language wise Parents would not allow in their children Doubtlesse it argues not a little arrogancy in this man to quarrell so with the words of the Apostle desiring by the will of god to have a prosperous journey to the Romanes May hee not as well alter the third Petition and say not Thy will be done but Our wils bee done in our prayers for it tends unto it apace But he goes on further yet 3 That of Saint Iames Ye ought to say If the Lord will is intended onely against those vaine boasters who would peremptorily say We will goe to such a Citie c. seeing no man knowes that hee shall live a day but to reserre it to prayer for temporall necessaries is a grosse abuse seeing Saint Iames speakes of Saying and wee of Praying For answer whereunto I say that Saint Iames speakes not onely of saying neither is it the saying or not saying of those words simply So Calvin on the place that hee intendeth but the reproofe of the arrogant confidence and groundlesse securitie of such as if their lives and actions had been in their owne power and all at their owne disposing would without any acknowledgment of God or dependance upon his providence considently undertake all their actions neither in heart conceiving nor in words expressing any submission at all to the will of God or dependance on his providence Against both which evills doth the Apostle inveigh teaching men as wel in their hearts to acknowledge as by their tongues to confesse their relying wholly upon God and dependance upon on his will in all their designes purposes which thing hath such relation to Prayer as that the one cannot stand in truth without the other neither are they ever severed in practise for hee that doth truely acknowledge the soveraigntie of God in all things and his absolute power over him and his actions will also by earnest prayer seeke his grace and favour to dispose of him in mercy for the best considering his owne unworthinesse of any good My times are in thy hand Psal 31.15 And seeing the counsell and purpose of God is unknowne to us concerning our lives our estates and the event of all our doings such a one will with submission to the will of God offer up his requests concerning outward things as if it may stand with his pleasure to grant him this or that benefit or favour if it may tend to his glorie if it may further our everlasting good c. and so speake before men Of which practise what better patterne can wee have than that of Saint Paul who not onely offered his prayers in such cases and that more than of a secular nature with such a submissive If the Lord permit if God will c. if but used it often in his speeches and writings as appeares by Act. 18.21 1 Cor. 4.19 1 Cor. 16.7 Rom. 1.10 Phil. 2.19 24. and yet had a more speciall and particular promise in those cases than any man now can ordinarily have neither hath he ever till now that I have heard beene taxed for unbeliefe therein or praying without a promise much lesse babling proh scelus And heerein I wish the Temporary would take notice of his notable ignorance and rashnesse together who in grounding his opinion for absolute prayer hath reference onely to the revealed will of God excluding his secret counsell and purpose altogether For although it be true that the written Word of God doth containe in it a perfect discovery of good and evill to regulate our obedience and that therein is plainly declared what things are lawfull or unlawfull for the generall matter of them to bee asked at his hands yet for the determination of the particulars to whom how and in what manner those things shall bee done it is not revealed but reserved unto his secret counsell and purpose to bee ordered and disposed according to those glorious ends that hee hath ordained and appoynted Dan. 4.35 Psal 33.11 And this is that will So Tareus on the place which Saint Paul intendeth in the forenamed places and that St. Iames heere meaneth when hee requires that wee say If the Lord will For St Paul doubted not of the revealed will of God for the lawfulnesse of his desire to goe to Rome and Corinth but for the time the comfort of his journey and the good successe which were secrets therein he desires favour Neither doth Saint Iames question the lawfulnesse of travelling to Cities and Townes in mens lawfull trades for commerce and gaine as

if it agreed not with the revealed will of God but the purpose of God concerning the lives of particular persons and their severall successes therein which is reserved to his secret will which they knew not and therefore are to interpose that condition Hebr 6.3 If the Lord will or If God permit Which consideration the Temporarie will not acknowledge but stands only upon the revealed will as if it were definite determinate to each particular concerning persons and matters making great adoe about the sufficiency of the Scriptures and the absolutenesse of the promises as if the purpose of God concerning the temporall condition of all his servants were there manifested or were to bee ordered one way Iob David Salomon the Martyrs Lazarus whether it bee a parable or not were all the servants of God had all the same generall promises and yet their outward conditions were very different which was not revealed to them in the word but by experience whereby that secret will of God was seene and heere is the submission of the faithfull when they pray that the will and purpose of God concerning them may bee effected in mercie towards them themselves patiently submit unto it crossing and denying their owne wills and desires so that if it please the Lord to trie them by wants and by a low estate as Iob and Lazarus they are contented if by any other crosses great afflictions they say Thy will bee done and they challenge nothing of certaintie but that they bee not forsaken Hebr. 13.5 Vnto this will therefore all the servants of God are to submit themselves not onely in deed but in word and that not in saying alone but in praying if it stand with the will of their Father if it bee his pleasure Which is an If of submission not of unbeliefe if it bee good for them if it tend to his glory to take off such a crosse to be●tow such a favour on them which is not contrary to the revealed will the promises being indefinite but agreeable to it that hath taught us in such cases so to pray therefore are we not gone from praying to bare saying as the Temporary dreameth and so his taunting speeches at the word If in prayer as arguing alwaies infidelity as a cloud that stands betweene God and us as that which makes our prayers not agreeable to the word as that which deprives us of many blessings as that which lulls men in security c. are no other then the froth of Imagination and the vanishing vapour of errour And his direction in all our prayers for temporall things to come unto God in this sort Lord thou hast commanded us to aske the very thing wee now desire and therefore wee expect it at thy hands here is our Evidence wee know it is good for us c. charging the Lord with his promise mise condemning them that misse of the particulars so asked with unbeliefe and a plague in their hearts is a presumptuous kind of praying and an unwarrantable ground of censuring And thus of the fourth Argument The fifth Argument Argu ∣ ment 5 If the Faith of Miracles was limited and bounded by the will of God then all other faith is so But the faith of Miracles was confined to the will of God and his pleasure Ergo. This appeares 1. By Actes 19.12 where it is plaine that Saint Paul had the Faith of Miracles and healed Diseases 2. Yet 2. Timoth. 4.20 Hee complaines that hee left Trophimus at Miletum sicke No doubt but hee desired his health and prayed for it but could not obtaine it though it bee promised that the prayer of Faith shall heale the sicke Iames 5.15 Because it is subject to Gods pleasure and will which shewes the promises to be conditionall Explication The groūd of my Argument is that the faith of Miracles and the gift of healing the body in those times had as certaine and as speciall promises as a justifying Faith hath for any particular Temporalls which is prooved by the Commission and power given the Apostles Mathew 10.8 Heale the sicke cleanse the Lepers raise the dead cast out Devills c. and by that of Iames the prayer of Faith shall save the sicke and the Lord shal raise him up c. Iam. 5.15 which yet was so confined to the will of God that al were not healed or raised thereby Mr. Goodwins returne of prayers pag. 50. for then none must have died at all or if they had must have beene raised up againe Therfore notwithstanding those absolute promises a secrer reservation to the will of GOD was implyed in regard of the particulars so it was limited and bounded To which the Pemporary replyeth That both the Faith of Myracles and all other Faith had no other bound but the revealed will of God utterly denying the other and therupon my Argument Which if it were so then the former consequence must needs follow that all must bee healed and all raised seeing the promises runne absolute and generall according to the letter and are so to bee understood according to his owne renent without any other limitation intended Whereas then I produce the example of Trophimus whom Saint Paul left behind him sicke to prove the gift of healing not to be unlimited using these words no doubt he desired his health and prayed for it c. To this hee answereth deridingly after his manner Who told you that Saint Paul prayed for the health of Trophimus another may say no doubt he did not pray for him c. The secret things belong unto God I know not how it can bee rightly resolved unlesse you call Paul or Trophimus from the dead againe Wherein I cannot but admire the rudenesse of this mans spirit and language that before chargeth the Apostle with unbeliefe and praying without any promise which in two other places hee calleth babbling and heere he questioneth his Charitie making a great doubt whether hee did so much as offer up a prayer for his sicke friend to recover him It is no marvell if he vilisie others with his foule language that dares thus to handle the holy Apostle Would not hee himselfe thinke it much to be so taxed to be with a Christian in sicknesse to have neede of his health yet not so much as to offer up a prayer unto God for him but there to leave him Surely it were no Christian cariage and therefore most unmeet to be imputed to so excellent a person for grace and holinesse as Saint Paul was For my part then I say againe as I said before that there is no doubt but Saint Paul prayed for Trophimus Hee that presseth this duty so much upon all Christians in his Epistles that practised the same so much himselfe for the beleevers ant that by name Ephes 1.16 Col. 1.9 Phil. 1 3.4 1 Thes 1.2 being absent from them that was so full of grace and love himselfe that for a beleever a companion with

It is two great presumption for any Minister to undertake the Exposition of any whol Book in the Scriptures Therefore he holds that which he cannot shew because hee cannot shew how Christ is involved in every pert The Ephesians left their first love Rev. 2.4 Every true Believer howsoever it seemes doth alwaies grow in faith love and answerable fruits Then no living man can say that he loveth his brother No man can say hee doth love his Brother till he hath laid downe his life for him Neither can wee say our selves that we love the Brethren but wee may say of others that they doe so expounding 1 John 3.14 Hee calleth this The glorious way The subject so he writes and stileth himselfe The Subject in whom the Lord delighteth to work through Christ. THese are the Flowers of his Garden dispersed abroad in Print and Writings and by word of mouth wherby he hath laboured to seduce the simple which I think sufficiet only to mention for their absurdity an answer being too much credit to them although the most of them are already * By Master Hynd Mr. Burton and Doctor Taylor in his Regula vita at large answered in publike and private onely I think it expedient to advertise the Reader and all that have to deale with him of five things 1. That they give no heed to any Catalogue of his Gospell grounds because hee hath published many of contrary quality in divers particulars one crossing another as thus Believers do alwaies grow in faith and love and the exercise of all pious duties A man may be a Believer and for a time have neither humilitie love trust nor any other grace bud forth in practice The Law sheweth what man should doe The Law is not the rule of Life With many such 2. That they take no great heed to his interpretation of Scripture for that hee will suddenly devise as many senses as will serve his turne 3. That they credit not easily his Protestations or Denials because therin he hath been found most unfaithfull and false witness one for all in a Letter I pre●●st before God who knoweth all and before JESUS CHRIST the Iudge of all that I hold no other but that one Gospell which Moses wrote of the Lord Iesus and his Apostles Preached the Martyrs witnessed our King defendeth our Divines Pre●●●h and maintaine c. A fearfull Protestation yet how true the former assertions declare 4. To beware of his Riddles for when hee would hide his Error he will turn it into a Riddle as thus They would have the Law to be a Rule of life to such as know it in the infinit holinesse of it the vaile being removed from their hearts as they dare thinke on no righteousnesse by it at all but onely in and by Iesus Christ Againe The Law hath nothing at all to do with Believers but they have most of all to doe with the Law c. 5. To beware of his fawning by which hee deceiveth but chiefly his pride through which hee erreth and dares to abuse the holy Scriptures as hee doth And thus recommending also this disery to the care of every Christian for his owne safety that he may try the Spirits before hee receive them and not run under the curse of believing or venting New Gospels Gal. 1.8 I end with this advertisement That the Spirit of regeneration is a Spirit of Truth Ioh. 3.5.14.17 FINIS Ventri servire blandè loqui seu assentari duae sunt notae Psendo Apostolorum Pet. Mart. in Rom. 16.18