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	object_n	1,927	5	8.5671	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90897	God the father glorified: and the worke of mens redemption, and salvation finished by Iesus Christ on earth. Opened in a sermon before the Right Honorable the Lord Major, and the Right Worshipful the sheriffes, aldermen, and recorder, of the Citie of London, the second day of the tenth moneth (called December) 1649. / By Vavasor Powell, a willing (though weake) labourer in Christs Vine-yard in Wales.	Powell, Vavasor, 1617-1670.	1649 (1649)	Wing P3087; Thomason E584_15; ESTC R206284	43,217	67

for me he would answer It is for you that are Prisoners without acception if you accept of it A Pardon is now sent unto you that are finfull men and women who are Prisoners under the power of Satan and sinne I say to you all the Lord Jesus hath sent forth his pardon which runs thus I the Lord Iesus the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners out of my free grace and mercy rich love and pity am willing to pardon and forgive the sinnes and transgressions of you all and this I will doe really if you will come in and lay hold of this pardon and of my righteousnesse Will a sinner now say doth Jesus Christ meane me seeing he saith whosoever comes unto me I will in no wise cast him out and whosoever believes on me he shall be pardoned and saved This word whosoever comprehends all and excludes none therefore object not against your selves neither refuse your owne salvation Obj. Oh! but though Christ invites all and makes promises to all that doe come yet he intends not that all should be made partakers thereof Ans My beloved thinke you that Christs intentions and his expression are not one as reall as another I tell you and you may believe that he intends to pardon all and to save all as he expresseth it He saith not the words only but his heart is so also But marke it well and mistake me not I doe not meane that he saith absoluely I 'le pardon all and save all and no more oh no but he speaks conditionally I 'le pardon you all and save you all if you believe on me and accept of my pardon Obj. But alas he were as good never tender me a pardon nor make me a promise upon those tearmes for of my selfe I cannot believe nor receive his pardon and grace Ans It s true of your selves you cannot believe nor receive his pardon and grace though tendred to you yet as I said before cry upon him to give you eyes to see him and his grace and feete to come to him and hands to take hold upon his merits and righteousnesse He promiseth largely and freely peradventure now while the word is speaking God will be working these things in you Obj. But he doth not give this grace to nor worke this grace in all but to few therefore doe I feare least I should not be one of them Ans Though he doth not give grace to all for he hath not tyed himself so to doe neither is the cause in God why men want grace for he gave sufficiently at first yet you are bound to seek and the promise is made to Seekers nay I may speake more the Lord is found of some that seeke him not Prov. 18.4 Jer. 29.13 Rom. 10.20 Ezek. 34.6.11.12.16 Obj. But peradventure another here may further object and say I have long sought and I am even weary of seeking yea I am ready to conclude that if I had belong'd to God I should have found grace in his sight ere now Ans Oh deare soules conclude nothing neither against your selves nor against the Lord for he hath sought you longer then you sought him And you have not yet been thirtie-eight years waiting at the waters Christs Ordinances as that weak and impotent man Oh soule peradventure the Lord is now asking thee as he did this man John 5. ●5 Wilt thou be made whole If he be so make him answer and say Lord I am weake but yet waiting oh help me and heale me Lord. Thus much for the first use Seeing Christ hath glorified his Father Use 2. and finished the worke of mens Redemption and Salvation this then directs and teaches men what they should not doe and also what they should doe First what they should not doe In the first place First they should not goe about to worke their owne Redemption and Salvation againe for if Christ hath wrought it already then it s in vaine yea its ignorance and folly to think of doing any thing towards your owne Instification and salvation Object Sure there be none that thinke to doe any thing for and towards their justification and salvation unlesse they be Papists Answ Oh yes there be many besides Papists thot doe so for doe but aske many Protestants how they thinke to be justified and saved they will tell you by their good works and well-doing If we doe well say they we shall have well and if we doe ill we shall have accordingly Yea this is apparent in men both living and dying In their life time they will say if we can but keep the Commandements viz. to love God above all and our Neighbours as our selves then we hope it will goe well with us Then at their death they thinke that to build an Hospitall or to doe some such charitable worke will save their soules Marke this it is easier to doe good works then to undoe our selves from them and to have no confidence in them Phil. 3.3 and to be able to say as the Apostle said in him i.e. Christ I desire to be found not having my owne righteousness v. 9. Secondly Secondly on the other hand men should not rest and sit still and content themselves with this bare notion that Christ came to redeeme to and save sinners and that if he died for them then they shall be saved Oh! what are you the better that he dyed for sinners unlesse you know the death of Christ in the worth and efficacy of it and unless you have it apply'd it to your selves in particular and be able upon good grounds to say as Paul said Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.13 Gal. 2.20 and Christ loved me and gave satisfaction for me this particular faith you stand in need of Object I do beleeve that he dyed for me in particular Ans But upon what ground do you beleeve it what promise have you to build your faith upon there is a kind of * Luk. 8.12 Act. 8.13 Hystoricall beleeving or assenting unto this truth that Christ died for sinners which is not a lively but a dead faith which may rather be called a fancy then a faith this is but a conceit that arises in your hearts like the dreame of a sleeping man alas alas be not deceived for if every one did beleeve that doth say he doth beleeve the numbers of beleevers would be far greater Object I am sure my faith is as good as most mens faith Ans I tell you most mens faith is not worth a farthing for it is but Copper faith and carnall faith a faith that they had they know not how nor they know not when such a faith as they wil pawne for a penny 2 Pet. 1.1 Act. 15.9 Eph. There is a great deale of difference betweene your faith and the faith of the godly for your faith I meane you that are as the most are carnall is not

pleasures all the delusions all the things in the world and all the meu in the world could not hinder mens redemption and salvation but Jesus Christ overcome them all be therefore of good cheare for here is ground of comfort to sinners and Saints Then the sixt and last enemy that Jesus Christ hath overcome was death and hell Job 18.14 death you know is called the King of terrors and there had need some great King come to overcome this King therefore Jesus Christ comes and undertakes and effects this worke therefore Paul could say when he speaks of the resurrection of Christ Oh death where is thy sting oh hell or grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.15 death come out and let me see what thou canst say against me or believers hath not my Lord Christ conquered and taken a way both the power and sting Satan hath the power of death and in is the sting of death but Christ hath overcome qoth Heb. 2.14 1 Cor. 15.56 death and hell they may fear believers with their ghastly looks but death is but a bed to belieuers it is but as a darke door out of the roome of grace into the roome of glory out of the spiritual presence of Christ into the glorious presence of Christ Thus I have opened the second way how Jesus Christ finied the work of mens redemption salvation one way was by putting himselfe into their room place And then secondly by removing and conquering was in the way to hinder mens redemption and mens salvation And then thirdly and lastly Thirdly by purchasing both the persons and portions of men or the men and their glory Believers and their inheritance were purchased with an honourable and precious price Now Christ did not onely remember this remove sinne make satisfaction unto Justice fulfill the Law overcome Satan overthrow the world and conquer death and hell but hee did also purchase mens persons and mens porcions First he did purchase mens persons as the Apostle saith in the first of the Cor. the 6. and the last Ye are bought with a price l 1 Cor. 6.20 or with an honourable price as the word signifies to wit m 1 Pet. 1.19 with the precious bloud of Christ The Lord Jesus hath bought the very haires of your heads you that are believers or will believe I say unto you there is not a haire of your head falls to the ground but Christ hath bought it Marke that expression of the Apostle who loved meaning Christ the Church and (n) Eph. 5. gave himselfe for it this doubtlesse was typed out in (o) Gen. 29.20.27 28. Iacob who bought his wife Rachell with 14. yeares hard service And (p) 2 Sam. 3 ●4 David who bought his wife with a hundred of foureskins of the Philistines These three doubtless were types as also others that bought their wives under the Law of Jesus Christ in this particular Then secondly he hath bought also the inheritance and portion which the Saints are to have for ever in the first of the Ephes the 14. ver the Apostle (q) Eph. 1.14 saith that the spirit sealed them unto the day of redemption vntill the purchased possession that is untill they come to obtaine what Christ hath purchased for them Obj. Heaven is a gift and a purchase But is not Heaven a gift how then doe you say it is purchased Ans The truth is Heaven is a gift but yet gift through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6.23 Obj But if Christ purchased Heaven before why doth he say he goes to prepare a place for them nay what need he intercede for them Ans This is as a man that goes into a Goldsmiths shop and buyeth Jewels there for his wife and goes home to his wife and saith wife I have bought such and such Jewels for thee wilt thou goe and call for them I saith she if you will goe along with me he goes with her and saith deliver these Jewells to my wife he purchaseth them not the last time for he bought them before So this is the difference betweene Christs death and intercession by his death he purchased Heaven and by his intercession he desires they may partake of Heaven Christ did not goe to Heaven to indent there with his Father for it but he went thither as a Bridegroome useth to doe to make all ready against he brings his spouse home And mark when Christ intercedes in Heaveen he doth it by his will for as he once said on earth so he still sayes in Heaven (r) John 17.24 I will that they may be where I am that they may behold my glory Now having opened the Doctrine I 'le give you but 2. reasons beside Christ's testimony here to prove that hee hath glorified his Father and wrought the worke of mens Redemption and salvation The first reason is this Reason 1. because else Christ should never have entred into glory note that The Apostle puts much up in this (s) 1 Pet. 1.21 that God raised him up from the Dead and gave him glory When Jesus Christ had once come downe from heauen and had undertaken this work doubtlesse there was no readmissions into heauen till he had finished it If you should see a Judge take a malefactor that had been arraigned before him at the barre and lead him by the hand and exalt him to sit upon his own right hand would you not conclude and say surely this man is not onely acquitted from all that was laid to his charge but hee is in great favour also with the Judge Now God the Father he judged condemned his Sonne for if I may so say man had not so great a hand in the crucifying of Christ as God had mark it is said (t) Acts 4.28 that he was put to death by the determinate counsel of God Now after his death God leads him out of his grave into his glory this was a sign that there was nothing could be further laid to the charge of Christ nor to the charge of such that Christ did then undertake for This is the argument of the Apostle who shall lay any thing (u) Rom. 8.34 saith he to the charge of Gods electe it is Christ that dyed yea rather who is risen who also sitteth at the right hand of God and he puts a RATHER upon it YEA RATHER who is risen and fits upon the right hand of God The second reason is this Reason 2. because that the Gospel is now published unto men wee should never have had the Gospel had not Jesus Christ finished the work You know till Christ was taken up into glory there were two great things that were kept backe in heaven from men First there was the spirit of God And secondly the counsell of God Both these are wrap'd up in the Gospel These two I say were kept backe from men till Christ had ascended into heaven but as