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	doctrine_n	faith_n	1,496	5	5.4771	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23664	A doubt resolved, or, Satisfaction for the seekers wherein the case touching an administrator of gospel ordinances, in these times, is handled : wherein also some other questions are more briefly touched, viz. I. Whether water-baptism was to continue in force after the ministry of John the Baptist ceased, II. VVhether Gospel ordinances are things spirituall, or carnall, III. VVhether a power to preach by immediate revelation of the spirit, be necessary in every Gospel minister?, IIII. What is is to be baptized with the Spirit : well worthy the consideration of many who in these times are unsetled in their judgements touching these points / by William Allen.	Allen, William, d. 1686.	1655 (1655)	Wing A1063; ESTC R15502	29,149	40

you even Moses in whom ye trust saith Christ to the Jews in that the Doctrine of Moses which they had in writing did accuse them Moses himself is said to accuse them Again ver. 46 47. For had ye beleeved Moses ye would have beleeved me for he wrote of me but if ye beleeve not his writings how shall ye beleeve my words Where we see 1. That to beleeve Moses and to beleeve the Doctrine of Moses in his writings is the same thing And 2. That Christ held it altogether unlikely that those that would not beleeve and obey those matters of Doctrine whilst commended to them in the writings of Moses should ever beleeve and obey Christ himself teaching the same things And by rule of proportion it holds well that if those that would not beleeve Moses writings could not beleeve Christs words he speaking and Moses writing the same thing neither would they beleeve and obey the Apostles themselves or men of like qualifications if they should come again amongst us who now will not obey those Doctrines rules and precepts which they have left us in writing And hereto agrees that also Luke 16.31 If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Again John 7.19.22 did not Moses give you the Laws and yet none of you keepeth the Law ver. 22. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision c. How did Moses give them the Law and circumcision when as he was dead many hundreds of years before they were born Why in that they had the writings of Moses and were as well concerned in what they imported as those were to whom Moses first delivered the Law in that respect Moses was said to give them the law as well as to their fore-fathers Acts 21.21 They are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children and to walk after the customes Where likewise we see that to forsake the Doctrine of Moses is to forsake Moses and Luke 16.13 They are said to have Moses and the Prophets when yet they had but their writings so that to forsake Moses and to forsake his Doctrine and to have Moses and the Prophets and to have their Doctrine in writing is in Scripture language and account the same thing in effect and substance And there is altogether the same reason why to have the Ministry of the Apostles and to have their Doctrine in writing to forsake the one and to forsake the other should be substantially the same thing And let every man be sure of this that if Christ Jesus at his first comming did interpret mens neglect of Moses in his writings to be an neglect of Moses in his Ministry that he likewise at his second comming will account mens neglect to observe his Ordinances and wayes delivered us in the writings of his Apostles to be an neglect of the Apostles ministry yea of Christ himself whose Embassadours they are to the world and to the Saints as well by writing as speaking as I shall shew further by and by SECT. 21. 2. The same thing is true also of the Doctrines and writings of the Prophets for they by their writings are as wel Ministers to those under the New Testament as they were to those to whom they in their life time preached under the old so far as their Doctrine concerns men now 1 Pet. 1.10 11 12. Of which salvation the Prophets have inquired searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you ver. 12. unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselve - but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported to you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you Where note 1. That the Prophets are said to minister to us who now live under the New Testament the things of the Gospel the same things which those have reported who preached the Gospel and to minister to us and to be ministers to us of the Grace of the Gospel is in effect the same thing But then 2. How or by what means are the Prophets ministers to us of this Grace but by their writings and if they by their writings are ministers unto us then much more are the Apostles Ministers to us upon the like account Again Eph. 2.20 and are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles c. If then the Doctrine of the Prophets transmitted in writing was as wel the Basis and foundation upon which the Churches in the Apostles times were built as the Doctrine of the Apostles themselves as by this text it clearly appears that it was then by the same rule the Doctrinal writings both of the Prophets and Apostles are a sufficient foundation whereon to build Churches now in these times And therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 16.25.26 that by the Scriptures of the Prophets as well as by the preaching of the Apostles Christ Jesus is made known to all nations for the obedience of Faith If then the Scriptures of the Prophets be a sufficient ground for men in all Nations in faith to act upon for so much of the Gospel as is revealed in them as you see by our Apostle they are then without doubt the Scriptures of the Apostles also are a sufficient ground for men in all Nations in faith to act upon as touching all those Doctrines Ordinances Rules and Precepts of the Gospel contained in them John 20.31 But these are WRITTEN that ye might BELEEVE that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his name SECT. 22. 3. I shall yet further strengthen my principal assertion touching the presence of an Apostolical power now amongst us directing and authorizing men in the gathering of Churches and administration of Ordinances I say I shall further confirm this by several considerations taken from the nature manner and extant of the apostolical ministration SECT. 23. 1. The Apostles were and are Apostles to men as well by their writings being absent from them as by their preachings when present with them For this consider first Rom. 15.15.16 Neverthelesse Brethren I have written the more boldly to you in some sort as putting you in mind because of the Grace that is given me of God that I should be the Minister of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles ministering the Gospel of God Two things would be noted here touching our businesse in hand 1. The act of Paul he wrote and wrote boldly unto these Romans 2. The reason or ground why he did so write and that was because by the Grace of God he was made the minister of Christ to the Gentiles such as they were to minister to them the Gospel of God By which we gather that in that he wrote this Epistle to them it was in direct pursuance of his Office as being the minister or Apostle of the Gentiles and that

wrote this Bernard in his 65 Sermon on Cant. pag. 144. as Mr. Blackwood in his storming of Antichrist pag. 31. but as quoted by Mr. Tombs in his 66 Sermon hath this complaint against this people They laugh at us saith he because we baptize infants because we pray for the dead because we require the prayers of Saints c. by which it appears they held the baptizing of infants ridiculous SECT. 17. Secondly It may further appear that this people or at least many among them were called Anabaptists because when Luther and Calvin rise up in their times they bitterly inveigh against the Anabaptists as well as the Papists as their writings do abundantly declare by which it appears that they in their times found such a people in being as well as Papists And that these were of the same sort of people of which Bernard and the Frier had formerly complained may well be conceived inasmuch as the foresaid Author Du Plessis saith they were so spread abroad in Germany and France where Luther and Calvin had to do as that their prints and footsteps are to be discerned throughout the course of all Histories pag. 403. and that we see their Churches out live so many miseries and even untill these times consist and continue flourishing and largely propagated pag. 565. And History also relates how the Anabaptists in Germany spread themselves into the Netherlands and as it seems from thence into England For as Mr. Fox relates in his Acts and Monuments Vol. 2. fol. 95. in King Hen. 8. time there were two and twenty Dutchmen Anabaptists apprehended and about ten of them put to death in the year 1535. Since which time there hath remained in the Low Countries or England or both of the same race unto this every day If then this kind of people by Adversaries own confession did continue from the Apostles days and that their prints and footsteps are to be discerned throughout all Histories till Luther's time and so downwards why should any man be tender of being confident especially having those Scriptures of Mat. 16.18 Epk. 4.12 13. to back him that there hath a successive line of true Churches and true Gospel Administrators run along throughout all ages from the Apostles times to this day SECT. 18. Thirdly Though it should be granted which yet may not that the line of succession both of duly constituted Churches and of all due administrators of Gospel Ordinances had been cut off by the prevailings of Apostacy in times of Popery yet it would not hence follow that there neither is nor can be now true Churches or right Administrators of Ordinances because we have upon the matter and in substance and effect the same apostolical power now amongst us to plant and settle churches to administer Ordinances as was injoied in the Apostles days The ground upon which I build this assertion is this viz. Because we have the same instructions and directions from the Apostles in their writings about things of this nature as they had who lived in the Apostles times For though the Beleevers then were sometimes taught the use of Ordinances by word of mouth from the Apostles yet other while they were taught the same but in the same way as we also now are that is to say by their writings or however their writings were as authentique this waies as their preachings and instructions were when they were present This is plain from 2 Thes. 2.15 Therefore Brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle The word here translated traditions would surely be better translated Ordinances as it is 1 Cor. 11.2 as those that are well skild in Greek do inform and so Mr. Tindal hath translated it in this place In this Text there are two things chiefly to be observed to our purpose 1. That the Apostles instructed or taught men about the use of Ordinances as well by their Epistles as by word of mouth 2. That men were to use practice and keep those Ordinances they had been taught by the Apostles writings as well as when they had been taught the same by word of mouth their writings did as well authorise yea oblige them to hold fast to wit in use and practise the Ordinances they had been taught thereby as any other way of teaching used by the Apostles SECT. 19. Neither did the Epistles of the Apostles if any should make a doubt of this So appropriately belong to those to whom first and immediately they were directed but that they also were intended for the good of all that call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for so the 1 Cor. 1.1.2 shews being directed as well to all those which in every place cal on the name of Jesus Christ as unto them For so the words run Paul called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Softhenes our brother unto the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints WITH ALL THAT IN EVERY PLACE call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ both theirs and ours So that if we or any others in any place of the world call upon the name of Jesus Christ this Epistle as well belongs to us as it did unto the Corinthians in like cases Besides many of the Epistles of the Apostles are called general Epistles as being intended indefinitely to all whom they might concern so the 1 and 2 Epistle of Peter 1 Epist. John and the Epist. of Jude and the 7 Epist. to the 7 Churches in Asia though immediately directed to them yet even every one that hath an ear to hear is to hearken what the spirit saith unto the Churches as you have it in the close of every Epistle Revel. 2.7.11.17.29 3.6.13.23 Seeing then that the Apostles writings do as well concern us as they did those to whose hands they first came what being written aforetime being written for our learning as the Apostle teaches to reason Rom. 15.4 and since also these writings of theirs do sufficiently direct men about and authorise them in the use of Gospel Ordinances it thence follows that we have in substance and effect the same Apostolical power among us to direct and warrant us in the use of Ordinances in Church communion as those Beleevers had who lived in the Apostles daies SECT. 20. And because the knowledge and beleef hereof is of soveraign use to cure that infirmity which troubles many and keeps them out of the way of Jesus Christ and to resolve the main doubt therefore I shall yet make this further manifest by what follows I. Then since Christ Jesus is the Prophet of the New-Testament as Moses was of the old as hath been oft-minded it will not be amisse to shew that Moses by his writings was a Minister to the Jews as well when he was dead as while he was alive John 5.45 There is one that accuses

lightly imaginable They indeed first set it on broach in the Nations but there were many others who were instrumental to hand it up and down the world Many of whom the Apostle upon that account calls Fellow-labourers Fellow-helpers and Fellow-workers together with them both of men and women 1 Thes. 3.2 Phil. 4.3 Rom. 16.3.2 Cor. 8.23 Col. 4.11 Philem. 1.24 It was indeed the Apostles sound that went into all the earth and they were their words that went to the ends of the world Rom. 10.18 they made the whole world to ring with their Doctrine but yet the Beleevers which were also made such by their preaching helped to carry this sound from one place to another till it had filled the world In which work the Beleevers at Rome had not the least share they having a greater advantage and opportunity this way then many others inasmuch as the place of their abode was in the Metropolitan City of the world where the Emperour thereof had his seat and residence whither and from whence upon that account men had recourse from and to all parts of the known world whither the influence of the Imperial Government did extend and by that means the same of the faith of the Gospel professed at Rome went out into all the world as the Apostle informs us Rom. 1.8 I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world But whoever were the immediate instruments the Apostles themselves were the original ministers even to all that beleeved In which respect all those that have beleeved the Gospel in what place or age of the world soever since the Apostles are all said to beleeve through their word John 17.20 For when Christ saith speaking of his Apostles Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word he plainly implies that all that ever should thereafter beleeve should beleeve through their word unlesse we will suppose that Christ did not pray for all Beleevers In which respect likewise I conceive Christ promiseth his Apostles to be present with them to wit in their ministry unto the end of the world Mat. 28.20 which also shews that their Ministry in their Doctrine should continue even unto the end of the world If then the Ministry of the Apostles be of the same extent with their Doctrine and that the one is as broad and as long as the other and that whomsoever the one reaches the other reaches 〈◊〉 the affirmative whereof I conceive hath been abundantly proved then the case is clear and out of doubt that the Ministry of the Apostles is now amongst us to direct and authorise in what is to be done in the Christian life in matters of worship Ordinances and otherwise as well as it was among those Churches which were planted in their days because we have the same Doctrine with us in the Scriptures by authority whereof Churches were planted and Ordinances administred in the first times of the Gospels publication And that the different terms upon which we now have and the Beleevers then had the same Doctrinal instructions and directions from the Apostles the one by word of mouth the other by writing doth not alter the case so as to leave us out of that capacity of injoying Gospel Ordinances which they were in I shall now come further to clear in the next head of this discourse Therefore SECT. 27. 3. The weight efficacy authorizing and obliging vertue of the Apostles Doctrinal instructions about matters of salvation worship administration of Ordinances and the like did not depend upon the Apostles themselves as they were such and such men but upon the will pleasure and Grace of God which was indeed made known by them For which cause the Apostles frequently labour to carry mens thoughts and expectations off from themselves as touching the import energie operation and vertue of the things ministred by them and to charge the same wholly upon God that is upon his will and appointment and the influence of his power and grace as concurrent with his own appointments 1 Cor. 3.7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither is he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Though Paul plant and Apollo water yet the effects which the Gospel doth produce in men depend no more upon Paul or Apollo then the increase of the seed depends upon the hand of him that plants or waters it which by the blessing of God is wont to grow and increase by what hand soever planted and watered Again 2 Cor. 4.7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us Where we see likewise that the excellency of the power of this treasure did not depend upon the vessels as such to wit the persons of the Apostles in which it was brought but upon the Will Grace and Power of God how weak or earthen soever the Vessels are in which it is carried unto men See further for this 1 Cor. 15.10 and 2 Cor. 3.5 Act. 3.12 This being so it follows that we having the same will of God now made known to us by the writings of the Apostles by which men were directed authorized and warranted to beleeve be baptized gather into Churches and to hold communion in all Ordinances in the Apostles days that therefore we also are every whit as well authorized and required to repent beleeve be baptized unite in Church bodies hold communion in all Ordinances of the Gospel as they were for the will of God which is the ground and foundation of all is the same whether it be expressed by speaking or writing And I fear it will be found a slender excuse for men in the great day of reckokoning to say that therefore they had not kept his Orninances because he did not deliver his mind about them upon the same terms to all as he had done to some when as notwithstanding he hath sufficiently enough discovered his mind will herein And why should any think either that God will more excuse men in these days from obeying him in his Ordinances then he did in the Apostles times or that men have lesse need now of the help and benefit of all the Ordinances of the Gospel then they then had SECT. 28. What hath been said already touching the presence of the apostolical ministry among us and the validity of their writings as being equivolent with their personal speaking to authorise men in the use and administration of Ordinances may I suppose abundantly satisfie any that are desirous of satisfaction touching an Administrator and mens power of administring baptism now in these daies yet because men might in this kind have good measure heaped up pressed down and running over into their bosoms I shall speak yet something further to that particular case The question is what power any man hath in these days to administer Baptism The