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	holy_a	1,461	5	5.2636	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86498	Dæmonologie, and theologie The first, the malady, demonstrating the diabolicall arts, and devillish hearts of men. The second, the remedy: demonstrating, God a rich supply of all good. By Doctor Nathanael Homes, [sic]	Homes, Nathanael, 1599-1678.	1650 (1650)	Wing H2562; Thomason E1341_2; ESTC R209143	95,747	222

doe they walke after or according to then Even after their owne lusts both corporall lusts namely those Principles that please the flesh and also intellectual lusts and mentall wantonnesses phantasies of their owne spirits What ever pleasant dreames they dreame or new devises they imagine to sooth up themselves and put away all true feare of God and the thoughts of judgement to come of locall Hell and Heaven and the immortality of the soule such dreames and imaginations I say as these that put away all fundamental truths and the thoughts of them are their Principles of truth And like Principles like conclusions Upon such premises must needs follow damnable heresies That the Creature cannot sin because God acts in him That the Creature hath done nothing that he should torment himselfe by denying himselfe any contentment That all things are common and to be enjoyed in common And thus they depart from the Faith As in that 1 Tim. 4.1 of the evil times the Apostle speaks of he saith Some shall depart from the Faith Est fides quâm fides qua There is either the Faith which we beleeve that is the object and ground of Faith namely the Doctrine of Faith the holy Scriptures or the Faith with which we beleeve namely the quality of Faith The parallel of our times to this is that there is in this Nation such an apostasie of Men and Women called formerly Professors from the Faith as I never heard or read of in any Ecclesiastical Story of any Nation We have them that deny the Scriptures and with those blasphemous reproaches cast upon them and with such audacious equalizing yea preferring of their owne dreames above them as it wil be safer to be silent touching the particulars then to carry the sound of them to your eares And if they depart from the object of Faith the Doctrine of the Word of God they must necessitatedly depart from the quality of so much Faith as may be in an Apostate before his faling away As from a fundament all Faith to wit That there is a God and from an historical Faith whereby hee once did beleeve that the Scriptures were the truth of God and so becomes worse then the Devill James 2. And worse then the generality of Heathens * For the Devill cannot be an Atheist but his sinne is properly the sin against the holy Ghost maliciously to hate and persecute that truth of which he is fully convinced And the generality of Heathens could not be Atheists because of the Common Law of nature Rom. 2.15 whoever of them as generally they all did set up any thing to be their God did withal acknowledge some Oracle secret conference or tradition c. whereby they knew the minde of that God And lastly these Apostates are worse then the Jewes or Papists whom they pretend to detest for they both in all their Heresies and Errors in opinion and practice stil in the maine keep to those Scriptures they first imbraced Nor is it a sufficient excuse for them to pretend they have all things dictated to them by the spirit because we are commanded to try the spirits by the Doctrine of the Scriptures 1 John 4.1 And if this place of Scripture is not of weight with these Anti-scripturians let them heare reason How were they two both ledd by the good Spirit when at the same time the one of them preteuded to Preach by the Spirit strange high Hyperphysicall transcendencies and the other in the auditory at the same time breakes out into lowd expressions of sublime spirituall raptures pretended to be upon the parties spirit to the occasioning of the Preacher to hold his peace a while til by and by he cryes out to the other Be silent O flesh Sure the spirit of God is not contrary to it selfe nor the author of confusion And if there be a lying spirit as wel as a spirit of truth how shal we know to distinguish the good from the lyer but by the old good way ever since there was a written Word on Earth namely by the written Word Isa 20.8 CHAP. III. A particular parallell of our times with that in the 1 Tim. 4.1 that men shall give heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils SSould seeme that in the last times there shal be seducing Spirits and their Doctrines as wel as the Spirit of truth and his Doctrines And as Satan is called a lying spirit so hee is sayd to be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs foure hundred false Prophets for one Michaia that spake by the spirit of truth so that mens spirits are also sayd to be lying spirits or spirits or error 1 John 4.1 prompted no doubt also by Satan The Parallell of these times to our times in this suits thus Men yea nominal Professors First are Levellers which was the Devils Doctrine to Adam Secondly Familists saying that men are Deified and God is the Creature which also was in effect the Devils Doctrine Thirdly are much given to heed and beleeve Diabolicall Magick and Divinations under the notion of lawfull Mathematicks and laudable Art to tel and foretel things which God doth not and nature cannot declare or Predict I speake not against proper lawful Art which I am ingaged to honour but against such practises as are above Art and belong to Diabolical assistances whereby many in these dayes are at last decoyed into the Circle of the Devils power of prevailing suggestions and bewitched Obsession if not also most probably by what I could tel you unto possession In Revel 12. Vers 10 11 12. in the type of the last times afore Christs appearance t is sayd Now is the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ and the Saints overcome by the blood of the Lamb. But immediately afore shal be a Woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth for the Devill is come downe unto you I say immediately AFORE because t is sayd first That the Devill and Satan were cast out And then it followes Now is salvation and the Kingdome of our God and his Christ Secondly t is sayd The Devil is come downe having great wrath because hee knoweth he hath but a short time * And Master Perkins shewes in his Booke of Witchcraft that a man that doth confidently beleeve that upon such Figures Circles and the like Diabolical traditions he shal be told such and such things not knowing any divine or natural reason WHEREFORE it should be so may be in an implicit Covenant with the Devil .. It is not enough for a right knowledge by Art to know That it shal be so but to know justly why and wherefore it shall be so The knowledge of wherefore promiseth Art But the knowledge of onely THAT it shal be so may be suspected of farr worse And doubtlesse some good men in these times whose returne to the truth witnesse their goodnesse of which we have but rare examples have been really bewitched being forced with an irresistable

World wil have his Oracle invent his words and lawes of the Art of Divination c. which he communicates to his Subjects especially to his trusty tryed ones to put them in execution to draw others to sin And therefore the Apostle cals all superstitious worship Observations actings and communion with them Diabolicall 1 Cor. 10.20 21. The Gentiles sacrifices are sacrificed to the Devill And I would not saith the Apostle to the Corinthians there that yee should have fellowship with Devils yee cannot drink of the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils yee cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils Fourthly In the last times a little afore the comming of Christ 2 Thes 2.1 8 9 10 11 12. The principal wicked Agents of Satan shal come with the WORKINGS OF SATAN with all power and SIGNES and LYING WONDERS and with all DECEIVE ABLENESSE of unrighteousnesse in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth And for this cause God shal send them strong DE LUSIONS that they shall beleeve a LYE that they all might be damned who beleeve not the truth but had PLEASURE in unrighteousnesse Fifthly The ground of Divination or Sorcery Inchantment Witchcraft c. is a COVENANT As God makes a Covenant with his people sealing it with Sacramental seales by faith wherein they can doe gracious acts above and contrary to flesh and blood as to defie Satan conquer sin repel a temptation and suffer great things patiently for the Name of Christ Many Heroick instances whereof and of other things we have in the eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the ten Persecutions and the Marian dayes so the Devil in derision of godlinesse and malice to God and to draw away soules from entering into Covenant with God makes a Covenant with wicked men and seales it with many visible signes figures c. by confidence wherein they are helped by him God permitting to doe strange things For which the Scripture is evident Deut. 18.10 Moses having named Diviners Observers of times or as some render it Astrologers Enchanters and Witches in the 11. Verse he names Charmers as the ground worke of all before and the ayde of them that follow Viz. To consult with a familiar Spirit and Wizardly to know and Necromantically to enquire of the dead And with such dependence to that which followes doth the Syriack render it And hee names Charmers with this Notation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jungens junctionem as Arias Montanus translates it word for word that is Joyning into conjunction or agreement yea and of society For all that know but a little Hebrew can tei that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to be sociated associated conjoyned used of Ephraims joyning with Idols Hos 4.17 That is Reverencing and trusting in Idols as Inchanters Diviners Charmers c. doe in the Devil as a part or appendix of their Covenant yea it signifies to be coupled or to agree or make an agreement with one And Schindler saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies an Inchanter or one Qui consortium habet cum Daemonibus that hath a share with Devils or a partnership with Devils Indeed these Diviners c. are they of whom that Isa 28.15 is most properly and in a speciall manner true They have made a Covenant with Hell and Death Other evill men doe metaphorically by way of presumption and security in sinning But these properly and by a kinde of paction So much is intimated in Psalm 58.5 They are like the deafe Adder that stoppeth her eare which will not heare the voice of Charmers the voice of a learned conjoyner of societies or skilful maker of Compacts So the Hebrew exactly word for word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 T is true this is but a Simile or Comparison but in such is supposed as granted an evident truth in the particulars whence the similitude is formed else it had not been a familiar and plaine way of Preaching so much used by Christ So here t is taken for granted that there are Charmers and that Charmers are skilled in making Compacts Not with Beasts that were a ridiculous imagination but with those that can helpe them in their Art who onely are the Devils and so they come to have power to Charm Inchant and doe strange things beyond the strength or sphere of meer Art or natural vertue Which Covenant-making with the Devil doth something more appeare by the Devils offer fully on his part which he made to Christ Matth. 4. That hee would give Christ all the Kingdomes if he would fall downe and worship him and for that end formed somehow before Christs senses a kinde of representation of all the glory of the World Which is sufficient to shew how ready the Devil is to make a Covenant with men and upon what tearmes and what by permission he can doe and what opportunities he takes to make such offers namely when men are in the greatest distresse as Christ now had fasted forty dayes and forty nights in which he hopes men having no help from God and growing into desperate discontent his offers may be accepted For surely if he would offer this to Christ who fully would and did refuse them how much more to wicked men whose lives shew that their hearts are badd enough to close with his offers And we have experience to rivet this fast and firme from the confessions of Sorcerers Diviners Witches c. of very many Ages who have acknowledged that by vertue of a Covenant with the Devill they effected what they did Which to be truly spoken by them common reason must needs evince seeing the Witch of Endor and the like poore ignorant weak and silly and sinful men and women have no true and right skill nor divine gift nor power over nature c. above other men to act their feats which other men out of Covenant with the Devil cannot act of what indowments soever Which is the more confirmed because this I am most sure of that whiles some of these Diabolical Artists have been at their feats some worthy godly man in the company secretly groaning earnest prayer to God that those delusions of the people might not be permitted they have swet with endeavours to act their wonders but in vaine being unable to bring to passe crying out that some body in the company did hinder them Certaine it is that some wicked men have a special intimacy interest c. with the Devill Else why should the Apostle intimate Idolaters have that sacrificing to the Devil they have special Communion fellowship and partnership with the Devil Weigh that 1 Cor. 10.20 21. wel and they that can the Greek also for I cannot stand to dilate on all things intending all brevity and consider all the circumstances of that Text and you wil finde that Idolaters are in a great agreement with the Devil and if they much more Inchanters if such men be not both