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	revelation_n	1,466	5	9.8611	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53959	A practical discourse upon charity in its several branches and of the reasonableness and useful nature of this great Christian virtue / by Edward Pelling ...	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1693 (1693)	Wing P1086; ESTC R21750	75,615	304

deserv'd not to see the Light yet the killing of them was a most Evil Example An Example that in latter Ages hath been scandalously followed by the Church of Rome and 't is the more to be Lamented because some furious Protestants followed it too The Burning of Servetus at Geneva was a Fact which the best Men of the Reformation would never go about to Justifie And the Author of the History of the Council of Trent tell us It was to the Admiration of many that the First Reformers did shed Blood in the Cause of Religion The Truth is such is the Spirit and Genius of Right Christianity that it savours of nothing but what is Pure and Desireable such as Meekness Patience Humility Goodness And with these most amiable Virtues Love Charity Peaceableness Moderation Gentleness Mercy and great Tenderness of Temper Though Charity it self may sometimes hold out a Rod to terrifie People from those Scandalous Disorders which Kindness alone cannot many times put a stop to yet to Vindicate even the true Faith with the cutting Arguments of Steel or by the Torments of the Stake is a Sign rather of a Barbarous than a Religious and Christian Mind Such Burning and Flaming Zeal as this the gentle Spirit of Christ doth not kindle I have now ended the Consideration of those things which I proposed at my Entrance upon this Discourse concerning Charity and in the most Useful because the most Practical Part of it I have as near as I could trod in the Steps of St. Paul himself who left us no less than Fifteen several Characters of Charity as a particular Direction for us how to express this most Necessary Christian and Comprehensive Virtue It is one great Argument of the Truth of Christianity that as its Doctrines are Reconcileable unto so the Duties of it are Founded upon the best Reason and are for the most part adapted to the Necessities and Interests of Humane Societies This particular Duty of Charity is one without which Societies cannot possibly subsist not in that happy Condition to be sure which Christianity hath an Eye upon in the Duties it lays before us if we were so wise as to consider and see where our Real Good lieth even in this World The Motions whether or Virtue or Vice carry a great Stroke with them and affect not our selves only but those also that are round about us And when the Apostle delineated this Virtue Charity it was upon great Consideration both of the Good Effects which attend it and of those very Evil Consequences which follow the several Vices to which Charity stands in opposition and they to it Hence it was that in shewing you the several ways of expressing your Charity I was concerned of course and necessity to take some Notice of those Operations and Consequences which Argue the great Reasonableness of your Practice as to this particular And hence too it was that in speaking of those Operations I have used all possible Plainness for every ones Conviction and this in pursuance of St. Paul's great Design to bring all our Hearts to a right Christian and Charitable Temper the Thing that is above all Things the Thing that we must mind very diligently if we expect ever to be saved We must not think to prescribe to our selves the Way to Salvation but we must take the Conditions of it at the Hand of God who alone hath a Right and Power to propose them and who alone knoweth which is the best way for us And Charity is the Way that he hath laid out before us in the Holy Scripture The same Jesus Christ that hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel hath also revealed this as a Means of bringing us to that Life Immortal So that we must take the whole Revelation as it is and as well make the one part of it the Measure of our Practice as we make the other the Ground of our Faith and Hopes because the very same Revelation which gives us Authority to believe a future Blessed State shews us likewise the Necessity of a Charitable Temper in order to it There is one and the same Warrant for both and for that reason we must believe both or neither Indeed 't is very Suspicious that Uncharitable People believe very little of God and a future State whatever they pretend at least that they think not of these Things with that Seriousness and Intention of Mind which is necessary to prepare them for the Practice of Charity For such Divine Thoughts could not but affect them and work powerfully upon them did they really believe what is most certainly true that by wanting Charity they must needs come short of Heaven Charity is as indispensably necessary as Faith or as any other Act of Religion And that we may apply our Hearts in good earnest to the Study and Exercise of it let us at the close of this Subject consider briefly this one Thing only besides those Motives which have been considered already Namely What an Vncomfortable Condition People of Uncharitable Spirits involve themselves in continually How great soever their Health or Strength or Fortunes or their other outward Enjoyments may be they are the most miserable People in the World because all this while they are in an Unpardon'd State They go about with all their Sins bound and in danger of Eternal Damnation every moment for God is their Enemy and they his The Words of our Saviour are plain Matth. 6. 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses And to the same purpose saith the Disciple of his Bosom 1 John 3. 14. He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death Hence it follows that the Ordinances of God though they be the standing Means of Grace and Salvation do such Uncharitable People no manner of Good but Hurt rather which is a great addition to their Misery The Hearing of God's Word doth but increase their Guilt The Sacraments of Christ's Body and Blood are like Poison to their Souls and their very Prayers which of all People they have most need to send up unto Heaven day and night are so far from availing them that they are turned into Abomination Prov. 28. 9. And what if Death should surprise such People unawares such Accidents do commonly happen nor is any Man secure but his Turn shall be the next to drop into the Grave on a sudden And what a desperate Condition doth he drop into who falls thus unawares with his Conscience burdened with such a heavy Sin and in a State of Enmity against the Laws of God and against the Saviour of the World It had been good for that Man had he not been born Mat. 26. 23. But 't is more than probable that Uncharitable Wretches seldom think of Dying much less of dying a sudden Death though Apoplexies and unexpected Accidents happen every where and are Daily Monitors to us all Let them presume then that some Lingering