Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	authority_n	scripture_n	word_n	1,782	5	4.5549	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85393	A fresh discovery of the high-Presbyterian spirit. Or The quenching of the second beacon fired. Declaring I. The un-Christian dealings of the authors of a pamphlet, entituled, A second beacon fired, &c. In presenting unto the Lord Protector and Parlament, a falsified passage out of one of Mr John Goodwins books, as containing, either blasphemie, or error, or both. II. The evil of their petition for subjecting the libertie of the press to the arbitrariness and will of a few men. III. The Christian equity, that satisfaction be given to the person so notoriously and publickly wronged. Together with the responsatory epistle of the said beacon firers, to the said Mr Goodwin, fraught with further revilings, falsifications, scurrilous language, &c. insteed of a Christian acknowledgment of their errour. Upon which epistle some animadversions are made, / by John Goodwin, a servant of God in the Gospel of his dear Son. Also two letters written some years since, the one by the said John Goodwin to Mr. J. Caryl; the other, by Mr Caryl in answer hereunto; both relating to the passage above hinted.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1655 (1655)	Wing G1167; Thomason E821_18; ESTC R202307	68,987	94

borrow your Names to father so hard-favoured a Birth of their own The reasons why I cannot but a little at least demur whether the piece be yours or no are 1. Because I find in it most un-Christian falsification even that which some would call Forgerie 2. Because I find in it likewise such counsels offered Petition-wise to the Lord Protector and Parliament under a pretext of Godliness and zeal for Sion which are obstructive if not destructive to the prosperity and Sovereign interest of both 3. And lastly there is a sent or smell of such a spirit in the said Pamphlet which teacheth men to suppose that gain is Godliness I confess that notwithstanding any personal knowledg I have of you or any of you the Pamphlet may be yours under all the three characters of unworthiness now specified for I know none of you beyond the face and only one of you so far yet report hath so far befriended some of you in my thoughts that I am hardly able to conclude you all under the guilt of the shameful and un Christian enormities which dare look the Parliament and the world in the face out of those Papers For to touch the first in one instance only not having opportunity of making proof of more at the present Page 4. of the said Pamphlet this absurd passage is charged upon me in my Book of Redemption pag. 33 5. That in case any assureance of the unchaugeableness of Gods Love were to be found in or regularly deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any intelligent man to question their Authority and whether they were from God or no Surely they who lay this saying to my charge may with as much honesty and conscience yea and with as much appearance of truth impeach David as guilty of saying There is no God Psal. 14. 1. or make the Apostle Paul to say Rom. 10. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved For though these words are to be found in these sacred Authors respectively yet the sence they make otherwise then in consort of the other words relating in their respective periods unto them was as far from their Authors meaning as the Heavens are from the Earth David was far enough from affirming that There is no God and Paul from saying that If a man shall with his mouth confess the Lord Jesus he shall be saved yet the words of which both sayings consist are extant in their writings In like manner the Beacon-Firers whoever they be you or others for I shall not charge you with the folly but upon better evidence commit the foul sin of Forgery in making me say in their pretended Transcription out of my Book that In case any assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love were to be found or could regularly be deduced from the Seriptures c. Whereas besides several other words in the sentence they leave out the characteristical word Such any Such assureance of the unchangeableness c. the word that is the Heart Spirit and Soul of the sentence that gives a most rational and Orthodox taste and relish to the whole Period and without which the passage contains no more my sense or judgment then theirs who forged the Transcription For my sence and opinion which I argue and assert in several places upon occasion in my said Book of Redemption as viz. p. 63. 64. and again p. 278. c. cleerly and expresly is that The Love of God as all his Counsels and Decrees is unchangeable and consequently that an assureance of this unchangeableness is regularly enough deduceible from the Scriptures and this without any prejudice to their divine Authority yea rather to the establishment and confirmation hereof So far am I either from thinking or saying that if in case any assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love were to be found in or could regularly be deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any intelligent man to question their Authority c. Therefore they who have accused me especially unto a Parliament of such a saying have the greater sin That kind of unchangeableness of Gods Love the assureance of which I affirm were it to be found in or regularly to be deduced from the Scriptures would be a just ground to an intelligent and considering man to question their Authority c. I had imediately before described and besides sufficiently explained in the reason of the said assertion which I imediately subjoyn in these words Forthat a God infinitely righteous and Holy should irreversibly assure the immortal and undefiled inheritance of his Grace and savour unto any creature whatsoever so that though this Craeture should prove never so abominable in his sight never so outragiously and desperately wicked and prophance he should not be at liberty to withhold this Inheritance from him is a saying doubtless too hard for any man who rightly understands and considers the Nature of God to bear From these words it plainly enough appears that it is not any assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love as the Beacon-firers most un-Christianly and unconscionably suggest to the Parliament and indeed to the world which I conceive to be a just ground to any intelligent and considering man to question the Authority of the Scriptures in case it could either be found in or drawn from them but such an assureance hereof by vertue of which men turning aside from Christ after Satan from ways of righteousness and of truth to walk in ways of all manner of loosness and profaneness may notwithstanding with a secure confidence promise salvation unto themselves and that God will never take away his love from them And whether such an assureance of the unchangeableness of Gods Love as this were the Scriptures any ways confederate with it which far be it from every Christian Soul to imagine would not be derogatory or prejudicial in the Highest to their Authority let the Beacon-firers themselves or any other persons who make any conscience of putting a difference between God and the Devil judg and determine If I were a person prone to jealousie or desired to make any further breach upon mens reputations then only for the necessary reparations of the truth injured by them I could suggest this Query to the thoughts of men Whether it be not likely that they who thus palpably and notoriously have falsified the writings of one have not committed the same folly in the rest of their Transcriptions from the writings of others considering that it is a saying in the civil Law He that hath injured one hath threatened many and our Saviour himself He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much Luke 16. 10. But no more of this at present 2. That pernicious Counsel against the liberty of Printing and for the subjecting of all the learning gifts parts and abilities of

all the worthy men in the Nation unto the humor and conceit of a few men who for their comporting with the Religion of the times shall be sirnamed Orthodox which the said Beacon-firers do in effect very passionately suggest and commend unto the Parliament p. 11. and which were it put in execution according to the terms of the suggestion would certainly fire both Citie and Countrie as well as Beacons should me think argue the second Beacon not to be of your firing For you are reputed friends unto Jesus Christ and to the truth and consequently who can imagine that you should give any such advice especially unto a Parliament which is of an obstructive at least of a threatening import to the advancement and further discovery of Jesus Christ unto the world yea and which were it pursued by those to whom it is given cannot in greatest likelyhood but sort to an issue or consequence quite contrary to that whereunto it pretends I mean to a further propagating and spreading of errors and unsound Doctrines and Opinions in the Land and for the justification whereof there is neither footing nor foundation in the Scriptures For 1. Where doth the Lord Christ authorize any person or persons of what capacity soever to authorize or appoint any number of men whom they shall please to call Orthodox whether they be such or no yea or those which are such indeed to say unto the Holy Ghost nothing which thou revealest unto other men be it never so much for the glorifying of the name of God of never such worthy and sacred concernment unto the world shall publickly go forth into the world unlesse thou wilt reveal the same unto us also and make us partakers of the Vision as well as others Or doth not the Beacon-firers very passionately and importunely tempt men in authority to assume unto themselves such an exorbitant and prodigious power as this I mean to authorize a certain number of men who shall in their sence be Orthodox though according to the sence of as understanding men and probably according to the truth it self be as erroneous in their judgement as other men to word it is in effect at such a rate with the Holy Ghost 2. What ground is there in the Word of God for the investing of Edmund for example Arthur and William with a Nebuchadnezzarean power over the Press to stifle or slay what books they please and what they please to keep alive more then there is for the investing of Joshuah Peter and Tobiah with the same Or if the three latter be altogether as religious as judicious as learned as the three former by what rule of equity reason or conscience should they be more obnoxious in their writings and publication of them to the censure and disapprobation of these then these in their writings unto them Or by what rule delivered in the Word of God shall any man judge the three former either more religious learned or judicious and so more meet for the intrustment under consideration then the latter 3. Whether hath the Holy Ghost anywhere characterized or declared what qualifications are requisite and meet to be found in such persons who shall bee set over the Press and be intrusted with such a soveraignty of power as by which they shall be inabled to fill the world with books and writings for the advancement of their own faction or for the propogation of their own erroneous and perhaps dangerous conceits and on the other hand to suppresse whatsoever shall bee prepared by men of solid and sound judgements for the detection and eviction of their folly in such cases 4. Is not the granting of such a power over the presse as the Beacon firers in the great heat of their devotion and zeal sollicite the Parliament to vest in a certain number of men ill consistent with the interest and benefit of a free Common-wealth and of like nature and consideration with the granting of Monopolies Or may not the Commonwealth deeply suffer by the exercise of such a power in being thereby deprived of the use and benefit of the gifts parts experiments diligence and labours of many her worthy members 5. Who are in a regular capacity of power to nominate and appoint such persons to whom the said power over the Press ought to be committed If it be said the civil Magistrate 1. I would gladly know of the Beacen-firers who hath delegated such a power or authority unto him or in what part of the Word of God any such power is asserted unto him 2. Whether the said power over the Press bee an Ecclesiastick or civil power If it be the latter how are men set apart for the ministery of the Word of God and prayer capable of the investiture If it be the former how is the civil Magistrate in a capacity of conferring it or investing any man with it 6. If the Supream Magistrate in a State or Common-wealth be allowed a power to invest what persons he pleaseth with such a power over the Press as the Beacon-firers demand is it not to be expected that onely such persons shall be deputed to this trust by him which are of his own sence and judgement in matters of Religion and consequently who shall comply with a State Religion And are men of this character competent Arbitrators between persons of their own party and perswasion and those who are contrary minded to them in their contests about truth and errour And in case the Magistrate himself shall be unsound in the faith as men of this Order have no priviledge of exemption from errour more then other men nay they are under more and greater temptations then other men to be carried aside in their judgements from the truth if then I say the Magistrate be of an unsound judgement in things appertaining unto God shall not our Press-Masters be unsound also and consequently shall we not have errour countenanced and set at liberty and truth imprisoned and condemned to silence and obscurity 7. Shall not such men who shall undertake the administration of such a power by which the Press shall bee suffered to speak when they please and be compelled to keep silence when they please likewise run an extream hazard of fighting against God Or to reject and repel the Holy Ghost when he shall at any time be desirous to come forth by the way of the Press into the world with any new Discovery of Truth is this any thing lesse being interpreted then a fighting against God Or do they who know but in part universally or infallibly know when the spirit of truth and when the spirit of errour is desirous to come abroad into the world 8. Doth not a power of gagging the Press when men please carry a dangerous Antipathy in it to that Evangelical charge or precept imposed upon all men whereby they are commanded by God to try all things and particularly to try the spirits whether they be of God or no For if

Notwithstanding I had in some particular distinct explications of my self immediatly before endeavoured to remove the stumbling-stone such as it was out of his way and had shewed him before this how he might with a very good conscience with more honour to himself have passed by that passage without lifting up his heel against it but that I want such particularity of information about the carriage of the discourse as I desire hope in due time to obtain As for him who Arch-Rabbi-like concluded at once without premises al those without exception that hold the Doctrines of general Attonement by Christ and of a possibility of a final declining in such who ever believed to be men Godlesse Christlesse Spiritlesse Gracelesse I shall at present onely advise him to lay his heart close to those two sayings of a wise man Prov. 26. 12. and Prov. 29. 20. When I shall hear that he is throughly baptized into the Spirit of these Scriptures I shall judge him a person worthy a reproof when he offends In the mean time I judge that He who told it amongst news from Heaven unto the City that Arminius his rotten posts were lately new painted together with him who not long after diurnal-wise told the same story over again to the same Audience only in a more dismal Metaphor informing them that Arminius his Ghost was lately started out of his Grave and walked neither of them medling any further with the controversies I judge I say that these are men wise in their generation and did well consider that the name of Arminius is the most forcible Engine though made of nothing but air and wind to batter the walls of those opinions which they so cordially wish in the dust and that should they have engaged any Scripture or Argument upon the designe they had run an hazard of losing all that ground or more which they had reason to hope they had won by drawing the pedigree of the said opinions though most untruely from Arminius it faring with their credulous hearers according to the Proverb The blind swallow many a fly But Sir Concerning that passage in my late Book upon the horn whereof you were pleased to tye a lock or bunch of hey by way of signal unto your friends and others to take heed of it and to keep at distance from it if my intelligence leadeth me to the right place as I suppose upon competent grounds it doth as far as I am able with the most impartial eye I have to see into it it is so far from meriting the brand of ignominy wherewith you have stigmatized it that rightly understood and considered it is as innocent and offenceless as any saying that ever fell from your own mouth in any of your Sermons The passage I presume is this page 335. of the said Book I shall recite it verbatim Yea that which is yet more I verily believe that in case any such assurance of the unchangeableness of Gods love were to be found in or could regularly be deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any intelligent and considering man to question their Authority and whether they were from God or no The reason of this saying I immediately subjoyne in these words For that a God infinitely righteous and holy should irreversibly assure the immortal and undefiled inheritance of his Grace and favour unto any creature whatsoever so that though this Creature should prove never so abominable in his sight never so outragiously and desperately wicked and prophane he should not be at liberty to withhold this inheritance from him is a saying doubtless too hard for any man who rightly understands and considers the Nature of God to hear What there should be in either of these sayings so much as lyable to any suspicion of an incomportance either with reason or with truth cannot enter into my thoughts to imagine or conceive The pile of the discourse is built and I cannot but presume regularly enough upon this foundation that if any thing were found in those writings or books known by the Name of Scriptures whether in the letter of them or in any expresness of consequence from them here justified or approved of any blasphemous importance against God or any his Attributes it were a just ground at least to question whether the said writings were from God or no I suppose I shal not need to argue this principle being so full of light in it self The Holy Ghost himself teacheth us that God cannot deny himselfe a and as certain it is that he cannot blaspheme himself nor yet authorize inspire or teach any person or creature whatsoever to blaspheme him the blaspheming of himselfe being nothing else but a constructive denying of himself as is evident Therefore what book or writing soever contains any thing blasphemous against God I do not mean as simply reported but as asserted and maintained in either is not onely a just ground to question which yet is all I affirm in the point whether such a writing or book be of divine inspiration or from God or no but even positively to conclude against them that they are not So then if there be any thing dangerous or of suspicious consequence in either of the said passages it must be this that in the former of them I suppose and in the latter constructively affirm that such an unchangeablenesse of the Love of God as is mentioned in the former and described in part in the latter is of a blasphemous import and repugnant to those great Attributes of righteousness and holiness in God Though the latter of the said passages recited carrieth a sufficient light in it to satisfie any man impartially considerate concerning the truth of this assertion yet the matter being of an high and sacred importance I am willing and shall endeavour to give both unto your self and others somewhat a more full and distinct account hereof First then evident it is that that unchangeablenesse of the love of God which these passages speak of and without a supposal whereof the common Doctrine of Perseverance against which I here argue cannot be maintained in the formal and proper notion of it supposeth that if ever God once truly loveth a person it is unpossible that upon any occasions or interveniences whatsoever he should hate him afterwards Secondly Every whit as evident it is that such a supposion or notion as this supposeth that in case a person hath once or at any time truly believed suppose in his youth under which condition he must needs be beloved by God though the very next hour or day after such his believing he should fall into wayes of sin wickednesse disobedience rebellion against God and should without repentance or remorse continue in these abominations adding drunkenness to thirst from time to time for 10. 20. it may be 40. 50. years together and to his last breath yet God all this while truly loveth him and remaineth unchanged in