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	faith_n	great_a	1,674	5	3.5313	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33724	The incomprehensibleness of imputed righteousness, for justification, by humane reason, till enlightned by the spirit of God preached in two sermons at the Merchants-Lecture in Broadstreet / by Thomas Cole.	Cole, Thomas, 1627?-1697.	1692 (1692)	Wing C5031; ESTC R18740	16,799	72

the man is of another mind now he doth immediately fall in with his own Faith What is the reason that carnal men do oppose the Gospel 'T is because they don't believe it when they do the case is altered they are of the same mind with Christ can set to their seal That his Word is true and that every man is a lyar who says otherwise When we know experimentally what it is to believe in Christ with all our hearts we shall be fully satisfied in the Doctrine of Faith how strange soever it seemed to us before Let us not go about to prove the fundamental Points of the Gospel by Principles of Human Reason Faith fetches all from the Word whether there be reason or no reason for it Faith will believe it relying with a holy security of mind upon God's Word let what will be against it in Reason Nature or common experience and observation of all mankind so did Abraham and Sarah Faith is a great Mystery 1 Tim. 3. 9. above all human wisdom by the light of reason we cannot know Christ till he give us an understanding 1 Joh. 5. 20. Faith is much opposed by the Devil the world and our own hearts but we resist all in Faith when we continue to believe holding fast our confidence notwithstanding all objections to the contrary This is our Victory even our Faith that it stands its ground still nay when objections come up nearer to us get into the Conscience to the great amazement of the soul yet Faith well acted overcomes all Terrors of Conscience and says triumphantly The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid Psal. 27. 1. Rom. 8. 38 39. Hope grounded upon Faith is a sure anchor of the soul Heb. 6. 19. Col. 1. 4 5. Faith is all the evidence we have for our Salvation we stand by Faith 2 Cor. 1. 24. We hold by no other tenure 'T is hard for Believers themselves to act Faith because of that mixture of Unbelief that is in them and therefore it must needs be much harder for Unbelievers to receive their first Faith God by his Almighty Power lets it into the heart and keeps it there Faith is not such a comprehending knowledge as we have of those things that are subject to man's understanding it is above that neither do we ever attain to it till we are persuaded of that which we cannot by reason conceive or understand because it passeth knowledge Eph. 3. 18. Calvin shewing the Inst. l. 3. c. 2. Sect. 14. difference between Reason and Faith expresses it thus Persuasum habet quod non capit i. e. the mind of a man is by Faith persuaded of the truth of that which by Reason it cannot conceive or comprehend and Calvin was no Enthusiast The knowledge of Faith standeth rather in certainty than in any clear natural logical demonstration of the thing it self Faith is more than knowledge i. e. more sure and certain things that are not made evident by their causes yet are made sure and certain by Faith which begets confidence Eph. 3. 12. This certainty doth not always keep us from doubting but rather supports us under it We are flesh as well as spirit Faith may be shaken by Temptations but it always opposes them and at last overcomes them Thus it is when the work of Faith is fulfilled with power 2 Thes. 1. 11. when the Truths of the Gospel which we hear and are enlightned in the knowledg of are sealed by the Spirit to our hearts Eph. 1. 13. Faith comes by hearing we must hear what we are to believe before we can believe it and besides hearing there must be an inward conception of the meaning of those words we take in the sense of them and then the sealing of the Spirit follows setling and confirming us in the belief of those Truths We must make use of Reason to find out what is revealed in Scripture but 't is Faith only that assures us of the truth of that When we are satisfied that God hath so said in Scripture let us then yield the Obedience of Faith without any further disquisition or reasoning about the nature of the things themselves The Fundamental Principles of Christian Religion as they are plainly laid down in the Scripture will admit of no dispute they are peremptory Conclusions proved by the express word of God not by any Principles of Reason here is nothing to be denied nothing to be distinguished upon we must take them as they are laid down in the Word yielding the obedience of Faith to Divine Testimony I grant we are to explain obscure figurative metaphorical Texts according to the Analogy of Faith and according to the letter of plainer Scriptures Object There seems to be a contradiction in some Scriptures as between Paul and Iames. Answ. There may seem to be a Contradiction but no man who professeth himself to be a Christian can say there is for this would overthrow the Authority of the whole Bible we must not raise a Civil War in the Scriptures setting one Text against another I don't believe that Iames contradicts Paul or Paul Iames there is a sense in which they do agree though we may not presently find it out let us not rashly cry out a Contradiction but consider how to reconcile these two Scriptures to make out the truth of both that Abram was not justified by Works in Paul's sense and Abram was justified by Works in Iames's sense that was and was not is not circa idem Paul speaks of one thing and Iames of another therefore no Contradiction were they two to speak together they would agree and justify one another's words 'T is a safe rule never to interpret Scripture into a contradiction to it self while we think the Scripture contradicts it self we shall be under a temptation to make it good by all the Sophistry imaginable we are not in a capacity to reconcile the Scripture to it self while we suppose a Contradiction possible this is to blaspheme the Word of God contradicting ends in blaspheming Acts 13. 45. They are hard put to it to maintain their own Opinions who can do it no otherwise than by setting the Scripture at variance with it self to make good their Notions we may differ in our Interpretation but let us not so much as suppose that the Scripture can differ from it self but humbly wait upon God till we can better reconcile one Text with another we shall find that in so doing Gospel Truths will open themselves to our Faith more and more we shall by degrees come to that unity of Faith and knowledge spoken of Eph. 4. 13. Faith seems unreasonable to all men 'till it be acted then it goes forth in its own light carries its own Evidence along with it 't is persuaded of the truth of the Word and such a present persuasion admits of no contrary impression if any

grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Eph. 2. 7. Not according to our Works as men are apt to think but according to his own purpose and grace 2 Tim. 1. 9. Man cannot say when he hears the Gospel that he thought before-hand that God would take this way no he is amazed at it astonished at it what manner of love is this Here is a new thing created in the Earth It is the glory of God to conceal a thing Prov. 25. 2. God never advised with Angels or Men about the way of a Sinner's Salvation but from Eternity contrived it in his own breast Who hath been his Counsellor Rom. 11. 34. This secret of the Lord is now revealed unto us in the Gospel O how great is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh The Third Reason why God hath laid it so high c. viz. Because nothing keeps man in a closer dependance upon God than to see the way of his Eternal Salvation wrapped up in such a Mystery that none but God can reveal unto him Since this great undertaking of God to save Sinners is a business of that nature of that high concernment to us and also quite beyond our skill and above our knowledge to conceive a right of how should we humbly wait upon God for further light that he would open the eyes of our Understanding c. as the Apostle prays Eph. 1. 18. To whom should we go thou hast the words of eternal life Joh. 6. 68. q. d. None can teach us the way of Life but Thou alone O lead us in it and suffer us not to depart out of it God hath laid the way of a Sinner's Salvation so high in Christ Jesus that none would ever come to him if the Father did not draw them Ioh. 14. 6. The Iews those Builders of old they set at naught the Chief Corner-stone Jesus Christ built upon other Foundations till at last the House fell upon their heads How positive is Peter about the only way of Salvation by Christ Acts 4. 12. He saw that naturally men went the wrong way knocked at the wrong Door did not enquire for the right and only Saviour of Sinners no other Name under Heaven c. So much for the Second General Head viz. Why God hath laid the way of a Sinner's Salvation so high that no Humane Understanding can reach it 3. The Third General Head viz. Though the way of a Sinners Salvation by Christ be above the Capacity of a natural Man to reach and take in yet God can give us a true discerning of it and full saction about about it inclining our hearts readily to comply with it and acquiesce in it and this discerning God gives the Saints by his Spirit not in the Light of Humane Reason but in the Light of a Divine Faith grounded upon the Word of God Faith sees things as they are in God in lumine veritatis prima in the Light of the first Verity which is God himself all Gospel-truths are copied out from that Divine Original and revealed to us in the Scriptures so much truth as we have in us so much of the Image of God we have upon us and no more an enlightned Mind ascends upwards by that which is revealed to God himself the first Exemplar of all truth and sees sufficient grounds for our faith and hope in him God lets things into the Soul at another Door than Reason does which admits nothing but what first passes thorow our Senses Faith having to do with things Supernatural consults not with Flesh and Blood about them but takes them in by a higher Light God shining in our hearts and giving us that evidence of things not seen nor apprehended by the Light of Humane Reason It may here be queried Since the way of a Sinner's Salvation by faith in Christ is so mysterious so much above the reach of a mere Humane Understanding cannot be discerned but in the light of Faith and that Faith being not of our selves but the Gift of God The Query is Whether Man without offering violence to the Principles of his Nature as a Reasonable Creature be capable of such a Faith that lifts him up above his Reason and carries him out to those things which a Humane Understanding conceives not This is the Quere which I am to say something in answer to First God compels none to believe yet he makes things so clear to his Saints that they cannot but believe Though God gives Faith Eph. 2. 8. yet he forces it upon none Faith is voluntary A Mind spiritually enlightned sees sufficient grounds of faith in Christ himself and therefore out of choice and judgment relies upon him only rejecting all other confidences as vain Secondly Faith is either Humane or Divine We are naturally capable of both but with this difference We may bring our selves to a Humame Faith but not to a Divine Faith i. e. we may bring our selves to a Humane Faith about things we see hear and understand Reason and common Charity doth this there is no man but believes something I am not now speaking of a natural Faculty of believing in a humane way all men as men have this but I am speaking of a Divine Faith proper only to Christians a faith in God and Christ about those things that transcend our Reason I say no man can bring himself to such a Faith he hath no natural Faculty or Principle in him that leads him to such a Faith it is the work of God that he believes in God I grant Man as a Rational Creature is passively capable of a Divine Faith none else are but Reasonabe Creatures and yet I must tell you nothing doth more oppose Faith than Reason doth you must know that this natural Capacity that is in man for Faith doth arise from the necessary subjection of his Mind to the Creating Power of God they who would resist his Will cannot resist his Power else his Power would be no Power far from Omnipotency if it could be resisted by a Creature therefore he must needs have a passive Obediential Capacity or Receptivity of any higher Principle that God shall think fit to create in him he cannot refuse but must receive any further Light that God shall let in upon him and set up by his Almighty Spirit as a standing Supernatural Principle to guide and direct him in all his ways As it was in the first Creation Let there be light and there was light so 't is in the second Creation God commands light to shine out of darkness else there would be no possibility of a Sinner's Conversion for upon the Principles he now goes and the present Light he walks by 't is impossile to convert him but by putting higher Principles and a higher Light into him he may be converted this God can do and none else who calls things that are not as though they were and gives them a being he puts a new Supernatural Light into