Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	bear_v	fruit_n	good_a	1,697	5	3.9177	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03104	The mirror of pure devotion: or, The discovery of hypocrisie Delivered in sixe severall sermons, in the Cathedrall Church of Chichester, by way of an exposition of the parable of the Pharises and the publican. By R.B. preacher of the word, at Chidham in the county of Sussex.	Ball, Robert, fl. 1635.	1635 (1635)	STC 1323; ESTC S113587	64,577	210

into the very secret thoughts and intentions of the heart For say I beseech you Is not the parable of the hidden treasure abundantly able to convince the Vsurer in particular The parable of the fruitlesse figge-tree to informe the Gardiner The house built upon the sand the Mason The strong man armed the Souldier The lost groat the Widow And the lost sheep the Shepheard and each or all of these aboundantly able to instruct all What plough-man is there in the world so stupid but when hee reads the parable of the Sower Luke 8. both propounded and expounded unto him by our blessed Saviour is able to reade unto himselfe a Lecture of sound Divinitie and medi●●te with himselfe thus That as himselfe goes forth into the field to sowe his seede so the Sonne of man came once personally into the world to sow the immortall seed of his sacred Word in the hearts of beleevers and to this very day hath left behind him Ministeriall Seeds-men the Preachers of the Gospel to dresse and dung and to manure his field and sow his seede As hee himselfe cannot possibly scatter his seede so choicely but some will of necessitie fall by the hie-way side and so either be troden under foote of men or devoured of the fowles of the Ayre some will fall amongst the stones and then no sooner it springs up but withers away againe for want of moisture some will fall amongst thornes and so the thornes spring up with it and choake it It is but the fourth part that falls upon good ground that springs up and beares fruit some thirty some sixty some an hundred fold So the Preachers of the Gospel cannot possibly scatter the good seed of the Word so choicely but doe what they can some will fall by the hie-way side that is amongst carelesse drousie and negligent hearers and then it is either trodden under foote of men contemned and vilified or else devoured of the fowles of the ayre that is the Devill and his instruments steale it out of the hearts of the hearers lest they should beleeve and bee saved some will fall amongst stones hard and flinty hearts where the Word for a time may be received with joy but for want of roote the people beleeve for a time and in the time of temptation they fall away some will fall amongst thornes worldly and licentious hearers in whom the cares of the world and the deceitfulnesse of riches and the lusts of other things doe so choake the Word that it becomes unfruitfull It is but the fourth part or scarce that which fals upon good ground that with an honest and good heart heare the Word and keepe it and bring forth fruite with patience Vpon which due and serious meditation he cannot choose but bring the Application of the parable home to himselfe himselfe then being in the very act of sowing When hee sees three parts of every handfull of temporall seed he sowes in danger of miscarrying some falling by the hieway-side some amongst stones and some amongst thornes hee cannot choose but grieve and much lament it oh how ought it then to perplexe his soule and yearne his very bowels to consider the most lamentable hardnesse and intolerable barrennesse of his owne heart that receives not the most precious seed of the Word of God with any reasonable cheerefulnesse muchlesse returnes it with any tolerable fruitfulnesse See what lumpes of divinity lye hid and buryed under the very clods of the earth what profound Lectures of Divine literature may bee read in the very field at plough so profitable are those doctrines in Scripture that are couched by our blessed Saviour under Similies and Parables In what a lamentable and dangerous condition then is the stupid Papist in forbidding and the negligent carnall Gospeller in forbearing to reade the sacred Scriptures both building their Babel upon this sandy foundation That they are darke mysteries and obscure parables Whereupon the Papists some of them forbid the reading of the Scriptures to the Laytie as a thing most dangerous and pernitious for them being as they affirme the roote and seminary of all strife and controversie the mother and the nurse of all heresie and faction Christ commands us to search the Scriptures 〈…〉 19. for eternall happinesse they countermand it with a Noli me tangere for feare of heresie The Spirit of Christ exhorts us to try the spirits whether they bee of God because many false prophets are come into the world these spirits forbid the common people the very touch-stone of tryall The spirit of truth adviseth Colos 3. 16. us to give the Word of God all possible entertainement not to lodge with us as a stranger for a night but to dwell in us plenteously as a continuall In-mate because it is profitable to teach to improove to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse The spirit of errour counsels to bannish it quite out of our coasts and in stead thereof to bring in ignorance for the mother of devotion The one tels us it is the peoples instruction the other tels us it is the peoples destruction The one tels us it makes the man of God perfect and absolute the other tels us it makes him hereticall and dissolute And so wee may safely conclude with Reverend Wickeliffe and that Iewell of England To condemne the Word of God of heresie is no better then to make God himselfe an hereticke But the very truth is beloved the Scriptures make men heretickes no otherwise then the Sun makes men blind As nothing is cleerer then the Sunne and yet nothing harder to be looked into for the weakenesse of our sight So nothing more manifest then the Scriptures in themselves and yet nothing more obscure then mysteries therein contained for that the naturall man perceives not the things of God Say then I beseech you Is light darkenesse because darkenesse comprehends it not Is sweet sowre because some men taste it not no more certenly are the Scriptures obscure because some men understand them not Wee deny not then a kinde of obscuritie to bee in the Scriptures both in regard of the profunditie of the particular points and of our disabilitie to conceive them but the manner of the deliverie is not obscure in it selfe but familiar and easie to them that have their senses prepared by the holy Ghost to understand them and use the meanes that God hath ordained for that end Let the wary Protestant then that would carefully avoid the Papists ginne soundly distinguish of these three The mysteries delivered the manner of the deliverie and the indisposition of the receiver The things themselves are mysteries therefore secret and involved in divers difficulties The indisposition of our understanding not onely darke but darkenesse it Eph. 5. 8. selfe therefore were they never so cleere wee could not possibly understand them till we were inlightned But for the manner of the delivery in it selfe it is apert and patent if any where darke it

into the second Chariot of Egypt and become the next man unto the King let him then especially remember that the King hath reserved the Throne unto himselfe Wee conceive and we know wee stand upon a sure ground that wee can doe good workes no better right then to to assigne them locum proprium their owne place to advance them higher is but to bring them lower The principall aime and intention of our blessed Saviour in the proposition of this parable was the conviction of certaine arrogant and hypocriticall merit-mongers trusting in the righteousnesse of their owne workes that they were just and despised others And after a plaine demonstration of the controversie in the severall passages of the parable expressed in the Temple by the severall devotions of the two men the Pharisee and the Publican the Event of all proclaimes the controverfie ended in the Consistorie where the impartiall Iudge that cannot lye neither for feare nor favour is pleased to pronounce this irrevocable sentence I say unto you this man that is the humble Publican that renounced his own merits and layed hold by faith onely on Gods mercies was justisied rather thē the other that is the proud Pharisee boasting and trusting to the broken staffe of selfe-confidence From whence I briefely gather thus much to conclude the point That if such dejected and rejected humilitie so over-clogged and pressed downe with a masse of iniquitie did in the estimation of the Almightie so tryumph and insult over pharisaicall sanctitie how much more shall the same humilitie supported by true pietie become more then a conqueresse through him that so infinitely loves her And if pride and arrogancie bee so mischievous to destroy a whole broode of vertues oh what a generation of Vipers is shee able to hatch in a neast of vices If our blessed Saviour condemne those that boast of the good works they havedone whereof they may seeme to have some small share because both by Gods preventing accompanying and consummating grace they do in some Gratia praeveniens concomitans consummans sort co-operate with God such as are fasting praying giving of almes paying of tithes the like and give not God all the glory in them and for thē how much more shall he condemne those that boast of their good qualities and comely features wherein they have no share at all and yet rob God of all his glory for them such as are health beautie comelines strength and agilitie of body and the like certainely most abominable must these fooles needs be in the sight of God It is a sufficient warning given us by the Prophet Let not the rich man glory in his riches nor the Ier. 9. strong man glory in his strenth nor the wise man glory in his wisdome but let him that glorieth glory in this that 〈◊〉 knowes and understands me sai 〈…〉 Lord. Whereupon the Ap 〈…〉 Paul most humbly resolves upon an Absit gloriari God forbid that I should glory in any thing but in the Crosse of Christ whereby the world is crucified to me I unto the world All other glory is but vaine and will end in shame The Event of this Parable hath already prooved it fatal to others if we take not the more heede the ensuing application will proove it fearefull to our selves For every one that exalts himselfe shall be abased but he that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted I am securis ad radicem Now is the axe layed unto the roote of the tree by the best Worke-man that ever stroke stroake Every tree therfore that brings not forth good fruit now is hewen downe and cast into the fire The use and Application of the doctrine is framed by the best Preacher that ever was or shall be He therefore that hath eares to heare let him now heare hearing beleeve and beleeving practise the things that belong unto his peace lest hereafter they b● kept for ever from his eares At first indeed the Parable was propounded but to some but the doctrine and application was intended unto all And indeed no more then needs for every man by nature is like Simon the Sorcerer conceiting himselfe to be some great man We have all by nature a kind of an inbred Pope a phantasticall opinion of our owne works Narcissus-like we doat upon our owne shadows though we finde no reall vertue or true substance in us And this is no better then the very head of the Serpent as Luther tearmes it Omnium in justitiarum Tit de prasump ferè sola causa est justitia An arrogant presumption of our owne righteousnesse is the onely cause almost of all unrighteousnesse But so great a thing is it for a man to seeme small in his owne eyes that no man is able to learne that lesson of any man but of him only who being in the forme of God and thought it no robberie to be equal with God tooke upon him the forme of a Servan● and became man yea the very scorne of men and the contempt of the people It is high time then for the seede of the woman to breake this Serpents head and for that great Actor and teacher of humilitie to read unto us a large Lecture of humilitie in his owne person not onely by propounding a speciall Parable to some but by framing a generall doctrine to all and a particular application to every individuall So that now the case stands not onely betweene the Pharisee and the Publican but Every one that exalts himselfe shall be abased and every one that humbles himselfe shall be exalted You see then the finger of the Application directly points at the fall of pride and the resurrection of humilitie Every mountaine and hill shall be brought low but every valley shall be exalted Pride and humilitie bee the two common Roades that are most tracked and beaten in this mortall pilgrimage the one leades to miserie the other to glory The former of these is chalked outby Solomon Prov. Prov. 16. 16. Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall The first that found out this road was Lucifer that rode poste from heaven to hell The second was Adam that posted from Paradise to miserie The third was Pharaoh and his Hoast that posted from the pompe and pleasures of Egypt to a fearefull ruine in the red Sea And presently that roade grew so common one passenger could not passe for another for not onely Dathan and Abiram Saul Absolon Adonias Rehoboam Senacherib Nebuchadnezzar Antiochus and divers others haue made the sacred Story blacke with fearefull presidents of ruine but daily examples doe continually proove it a fatall thorow-faire to destruction The latter of these was chalked out by Solomon too Proverbs 15. Prov. 15. Where hee tells us That humilitie is the high-way to glory But I must needes say this roade was first found out by a greater then Salomon even the propounder and applyer of this Parable the blessed Author