Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	believe_v	church_n	faith_n	6,736	5	6.2916	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12187	A miracle of miracles or Christ in our nature Wherein is contained the vvonderfull conception, birth, and life of Christ, who in the fulnesse of time became man to satisfie divine iustice, and to make reconciliation betweene God and man. Preached to the honourable society of Grayes Inne, by that godly and faithfull minister of Iesus Christ, Richard Sibbes. D.D.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1638 (1638)	STC 22499; ESTC S117264	26,445	58

man on God as God And CHRIST is a friend to both to GOD as GOD to man as man and therefore hee is fit to bee an Vmpire to be a Dayes-man to bee a Mediatour And hee hath done it to purpose making that good in Heaven that hee did on earth And therefore labour to make a gracious use of all this I know nothing in the VVorld more usefull no point of Divinity more pregnant no greater spring of sanctifying duty then that God and man were one to make GOD and us one He marry'd our nature that hee might marrie our persons And if it bee so that God and man are brought to tearmes of reconciliation on such a foundation as God-man then ought not wee to improve this comfort have wee such a foundation of comfort and shall not wee make use of it Shall we have wisdome in the things of this World and not make use of the grand comforts that concerne our soules But how shall wee improve it In all our necessities and wantes goe to God how through Christ God-man who is in Heaven making intercession and appearing for us by virtue of his satisfaction made on earth and therefore wee may goe bouldly to the Throne of grace to God being reconciled by God God hath God at his right hand appearing for us and shall wee bee affraid to goe to the Throne of grace When wee want strength comforts or any thing goe to God in the mediation of Emanuell and then God can deny nothing to us that we aske with the spirit of Faith in the name of Christ. I beseech you therefore let this bee the maine use continually to improve the gratious priviledges wee have by Emanuell Our nature is now acceptable to God in Christ because hee hath purified it in himselfe and Gods nature is lovely to us because hee hath taken our nature If God loved his owne Sonne hee will love our nature as joyned to his Sonne and Gods Nature is lovely to us He tooke our flesh upon him and made himselfe Bone of our Bone And shall not wee like and affect that which was so gratiously procured by Emanuell Consider of it and let it bee ground of reverent and bould prayer in all our wants to goe to God in Emanuell Let us make use of it likewise in behalfe of the Church The Church is Emanuells Land as yee have it in the next Chapter Verse 8. The stretching out of his wings shall bee the breath of thy land O Emanuell The Church of the Iewes was Emanuells land but then it was impaled within the pale of the Iewes but now the Gentiles are taken in The Church is scattered and spread abroad over the whole earth And there fore goe to God in behalfe of the Church Thou tookest our nature into unity of thy person that thou mightest bee a gracious and a mercifull head And therefore looke in mercy on thine owne mysticall body the Church They before Christ came in the flesh who had the spirit of Faith knew the Church of the Iewes could not bee extinct because Emanuell was to come of it And wee may know the Church shall never bee destroyed till the second comming of CHRIST because those things are not yet performed that God hath promised and must bee performed And therefore wee may goe as bouldly to Christ and spread the cause of the Church before him now as they spread the cause of the Iewes before him then looke upon thy Land looke upon thy Church O Emanuell That there must bee a Church wee must beleeve and wee can not beleeve a Non ens We must have ground for our faith and therefore never feare that heresy shall overspread the face of the Church Emanuells land shall bee preserved by some way or other though perhaps not by the way wee expect God must have a Church to the end of the world the Gospell must get ground Antichrist must fall God hath said it and man can not unsay it And therefore in all estates of the Church spread its cause before Emanuell When Emanuell came once the Church of the Iewes wasted Therefore if you will have good arguments against the Iewes this is a good one to convince them that Christ is come in the flesh The Church of the Iewes was to continue till Emanuell but the Church of the Iewes hath ceased to continue and is now no Church there is now no family of David and therefore Emanuell is come And for a further use let us haue thoughts of the second coming of Emanuell as they had thoughts of the the first Christ was called the consolation of Israell at his first coming and in the new Testament it is every where expressed a signe of a gracious man to looke for the appearing of Iesus Christ and to love it Now let us comfort our selves that this Emanuell will appeare in our flesh ere long let us wait for the consolation of Israell Emanuell came downe to us to take our nature upon him and to satisfie Gods wrath that hee might take us to heaven with himselfe and that we might bee for ever with him in glory And therefore let us if wee would make a true use of Emanuell desire to bee with him Christ delighted before hee came in the flesh to bee with the sonnes of men and hee is with us now by his spirit and so will be with his Church to the end of the world and shall not wee bee with him as much as wee may Indeed he loved our nature so much that hee descended from the height of Majestie to take our misery and businesse upon him and shall not wee desire to bee with him in glory There bee divers evidences whether wee have any ground of comfort in this Emanuell or no. This shall be one Wee may know wee have benefit by the first comming of Emanuell if wee have a serious desire of the second comming if wee have desire to bee with him If as he came to us in love Wee have desires to bee with him in his Ordinances as much as may be and in humble resignation at the houre of death how shall wee be with him here bee with him in thoughts in meditation in faith and Prayer meet with him wheresoever hee is hee is in the congregation where two or three are gathered together in his name he is amongst them be with them in all things where he vouchsafeth his gracious presence It is the nature of love to desire perfect union and therefore the Christian soule touched with the spirit of God will desire to bee dissolved and to be with Christ as best of all Come Lord Iesus come quickly and therefore in the houre of death is willing to resigne himselfe ro God that hee may goe to Emanuell and inioy his presence that left the presence of his Father to take our nature and to bee with us on earth But the

and his office to reconcile God and us in one As he is God in our nature hee tooke our nature into communion of person so his office is to bring God and man together his two natures is to fit him for his office God and man were at much distant tearmes as could be unlesse betwene the Devill and God And therefore God man in one person must performe the great office of bringing such as were in such opposite tearmes together Of his conception by the Virgin Mary wee spake sufficiently onely wee will adde this for farther explication A further type of this was in the birth of Isaack Isaack you know was borne of a dead wombe Christ was conceived of a Virgin and in a manner farre more improbable then the other Isaack was the Sonne of the promise Christ was the promised seed both in some sort miraculously borne For indeed it was a true wonder that Isaack should be borne of a dead wombe And here that a Virgin should conceive Sara had nothing to supply moisture and juyce to the fruit And so here was nothing of a man to further Christs conception I will shew why there must be this kind of conception of Christ which will helpe our faith exceedingly First Christ must be without all sinne of necessity for else when hee tooke our nature stubble and fire had joyned together God is a consuming fire and therefore the nature must be purified and sanctified by the holy Ghost in the wombe of the Virgin And then againe in the conception there must be a foundation of all obedience active and passive and of all that was afterwards excellent in Christ. If there had beene any blemish in the foundation which was his conception if he had not beene pure there had beene defect in all that issued from him his active obedience and passive obedience for every thing savours of the principle from whence it commeth And therefore it was Gods great worke in this strange conception that sinne might be stop't in the roote and beginning nature might be sanctified in the foundation of it And so that he might persue sin from the beginnning to the end both in his life by living without sinne and also in his death by making satisfaction for sinne And therefore ground our faith on this That our salvation is laid on one that is mighty God man and on one that is pure and holy And therefore in his obedience active holy and in his obedience passive holy Againe he came to be a surety for us and therefore hee must pay our whole debt hee must pay the debt of obedience he must pay the debt of punishment Now obedience must come from a pure nature and his death must extend to the satisfying of an infinite Iustice. And therefore he must be conceived of the holy Ghost in the wombe of a pure Virgin And wee must know that in this conception of Christ there were 2. or 3. things wherin there was a maine difference betweene Christ and us Christ was in his humane nature altogether without sin we are sinfull in our nature Again Christs humane nature had alwaies subsistence in the divine and it was never out of the divine nature As soone as his body and soule were united it was the body and soule of God now our natures are not so And then in manner of propagation his was extraordinary altogether Adam was of the earth neither of man nor woman Eve of man without a woman All other of Adam and Eve Christ of a Virgin and without a man But setting aside his subsistence in the second person and extraordinary meanes of propagation Christ and we are all one hee had a true humane body and soule and all things like our selves sin and the former differences excepted Why Christ must be man we have already heard He became man to be sutable to us in our nature and to sympathize in all our troubles And shall call his name Emanuell He shall call his name Emanuel saith the new Testament That is he shall be Emanuell indeed and shall be knowne to bee and published to be so Whatsoever hath a name is apparent Christ was before hee tooke our flesh but he was not called Emanuell It did not openly appeare that he was God in our nature hee was not conceived in the wombe of a Virgin They before Christ knew that hee should come but when he was conceived and borne hee was then called Emanuell There were divers presences of Christ before hee came He was in the bush as a signe of his presence he was in the Arke as a signe of his presence he was in the Prophets and Kings as a type of his presence He tooke upon him the shape of man as a representation of his presence when he talked with Abraham and the Patriarkes but all this was not God with us in our nature he tooke it on him for a time and laid it aside againe But when hee was Emanuell and was called and declared so to be he tooke on him our nature never to lay it aside againe He was borne in our nature brought forth in our nature lived in our nature dyed in our nature was crucified in our nature became a Curse for us in our nature buried in our nature rose in our nature is in heaven in our nature and for ever will abide there in our nature All their faith before hee came in the flesh was in confidence that he should take our flesh in the fullnes of time Now came the time when hee was called Emanuell and then the word became flesh and tooke our nature on him From hence that God tooke our nature upon him in the second person come divers things considerable For first it appeares that he hath dignified and raised our nature above Angells because he hath taken the seed of Abraham and not of the Angells a wonderfull advancement of our nature for God to bee with us to marry such a poore nature as ours is for the great God of heaven and earth to take dust into the unity of his person If this may not have a behould before it I know not what may To joyne alltogether For the great God of heaven and earth before whom the Angells cover their faces the mountaines tremble and the earth quakes to take our flesh and dust into unity of his person and for such ends to save sinfull man and from such misery eternall misery from such great enemies And then to advance him to such great happinesse as we are advanced to take Christ Emanuell in the whole passage of his mediation and there is ground of admiration indeed But consider it specially in the raising and advancing of our natures to bee one with God Shall God bee God with us in our nature in heaven and shall wee defile our natures that GOD hath so dignified Shall we livelike beasts whom God hath