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	testimony_n	1,573	5	8.5071	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61378	Sober singularity, or, An antidote against infection by the example of a multitude being practical meditations on Exod. 23, vers. 2 : wherein is opened the influence of the practise of a multitude, to draw men to sin, the special cases, wherein it concerns us to be most cautious, reasons why we must not follow them, together with the application of the whole : and therein, besides the general improvement of the point, an instance given of nineteen practises of the multitude to be avoided, seven of their grand principles to be rejc̈ted [sic] : sundry particulars concerning peace and unity, and the sanctification of the Lords Day, useful for these times / by R. Stedman ...	Stedman, Rowland, 1630?-1673.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5376; ESTC R38303	146,089	254

belief may not rest upon the bare opinions of men but upon the mouth of the Lord. That you may be able to say not only I acknowledg these doctrines to be divine and practise this and the other duty because men have perswaded me But because I find them contained in the Law of the Lord and that they are agreeable to his mind and will and that herein by the ministry I have been instructed in that which God himself hath revealed and prescribed who is a God of truth and faithfulness upon whose living word I bottome my trust and confidence Thus did the noble Beraeans and therefore many of them were converted and savingly wrought upon They did not take matters upon trust no not from Paul and Silas but they would see whether they taught them faithfully what they received from above And mark the note of excellency or asterisk that is set by the Holy Ghost upon their heads and the blessed issue of their enquiry Acts 17.11 12. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so Therefore many of them believed Do not think it enough to receive information of truth but examine whether they are indeed of heavenly extraction Search the Scriptures Jo. 5.39 They are appointed of God to be the sure doctrinal foundation whereupon our faith is to be bottomed Eph. 2.20 Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone That I may awaken you to heedfulness in this regard let me beseech you to study throughly these three following considerations 1. If your faith be not bottomed upon a divine testimony even upon the word of the Lord it can amount no higher than an humane faith It cannot be a divine faith which receives mattes wholly upon trust from the dictates of men For Sirs the nature of faith is not diversified by the quality of the principles and truths that are believed but by the grounds whereupon and the reasons why they are believed Then is it an humane faith when built upon humane testimony and then is it divine faith when the testimony is divine whereupon credence is given Else a man may receive spiritual and supernatural truths divine doctrines by a meer common faith an humane faith when he taketh them wholly upon trust from the credit of men If you would see the difference betwixt these two that text is full by way of illustration Jo. 4.39 40 41 42. And many of the Samaritans of that City believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did And many moe believed because of his own word And said unto the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world See also 1 Thes 2.13 2. If you do not search into the word and bottome your belief thereon you can never be stedfast and setled in the wayes of the Lord nor in any of the truths of religion You will be still in a wavering inconstant condition and in danger to be turned aside from the faith And the reason is apparent because the dictates of men are variable and inconstant One man may press upon you this as a point to be believed and another may possibly instruct you in the contrary as a truth Nay the same persons at different seasons may vent doctrines of a different nature To be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter than vanity And therefore if you build your faith upon their opinions you must of necessity be left at great uncertainties But the word of the Lord is fixt and permanent alwayes consonant and agreeable unto it self There you may rest as upon a rock that can never be moved For every word of God is pure Prov. 30.5 The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times Psal 12.6 Men are subject to mistakes and errours but the word of the Lord will never deceive you that cannot be mistaken 3. Unless you try doctrines by the rule of the scriptures and bottom your faith upon the word of the Lord you do not give glory to God in believing Unless you take it upon his word and receive it as proceeding out of his mouth you do not give unto God the honour of believing the truth If you receive the matters of religion only upon the dictates of men you rob God of his glory and give it unto them For this is a special part of our worship of God and one of the peculiar prerogatives which he doth challeng unto himself that we give up our judgments absolutely unto his guidance and yield perfect credence unto his word Jo. 4.20.21 Our father 's worshipped in this mountain and ye say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me c. q. d. You are apt to pin your faith upon the sleeves of your fathers whereas this is one of the glorious Royaltie * Magnus Dei cultus fides Magna in Deum blasphemia incredulitas which appertain unto me who am the Christ to have the absolute command of your faith you must try the doctrines and practises of your fathers and all the opinions of men are to be estimated according to their consonancy unto my word As in performance of duty we should be careful to give unto God the glory of his Sovereign authority which is when we do the work of the Lord because it is commanded to be done by him So in our assent to the truths of the Gospel we should give unto God the glory of his truth and faithfulness which is when we believe what is spoken of the Lord because we know the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it It is said of Abraham Rom. 4.20 He staggered not at the promise through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Why Sirs this is the way to give glory to God when we set to our seals to the doctrines of godliness because they proceed from the God of heaven believing the things which are written by the Prophets and Apostles those faithful Amanuenses of the Spirit of God who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2. Take heed of being corrupted by the example of the multitude in respect of the matter and substance of Religion wherein it is placed and whereunto they confine it For commonly people are wont to be too narrow and short upon this account Q. Wherein do the multitude for the most part place their Religion Ans I shall instance only in sive things 1. The generality of people place the whole of their Religion In the reforming and ordering their lives and actions But they seldom or never think of the necessity of sanctifying their

God here Let us not fall out by the way for we are brethren 5. As to all other matters that are more abstruse and difficult and where in there is a great deal of variety in the interpretation of the Scripture even amongst sober Christians themselves In such cases unity and concord must be built upon the foundation of forbearance and mutual tenderness of believers one towards another If in order to peace and union in the Church the judgment of some that are in power be set up as the Standard unto which the consciences of the rest in the minutest affairs are to be reduced if peace and unity I say depend upon these ticklish terms it is likely never to be attained whilst the world endures As soon may you cut all men to the same stature as bring their judgments in all things to the same size But if we would follow after the things that make for peace and unity let us with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbear one another in love Eph. 4.2 3. Shall not Christians forbear where the God of heaven is pleased to forbear Sould not we deal tenderly with such and give them the right hand of fellowship whom God doth tender as the apple of his eye Rom. 14.3 That is an excellent Rubrick for direction in the Saints Liturgy Philip. 3.15 16. Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing So much for the first use of the point by way of information SECT VII 2. For Exhortation IF God hath given us strict charg that we do not comply with a multitude in doing of evil let us then seriously ponder and weigh this lesson in our thoughts and endeavour to practise it in all the particulars of our conversations Take heed lest Satan pravail upon you through this wile and artifice of perswading you to that which is sinful because a multitude embrace it Take the example of Noah for imitation herein Gen. 6.9 Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God Mark it the generation wherein he lived was excessively corrupt and sinful it was egregiously profane and debauched wickedness as a deluge forerunner of the other had overspread the whole face of the earth And yet Noch was upright and kept close to the Lord thereby condemning the world of the ungodly Take the instance of Obadiah who dwelt in Ahabs family a man that sold himself to wickedness in the sight of the Lord that there was none like unto him He lived in dayes of such general Apostacy and Idolatry that Elijah thought there had been none left but himself who had any zeal for Jehovah and had not dealt falsely in his covenant And yet in such place and time Obadiah feared the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 See the carriage of the Christians at Pergamus for incouragement herein They dwelt where the Devil had his seat where he was set upon the throne and had many servants and followers And yet they departed not from God they would not say a confederacy with them in sin They held fast the name of Christ and did not deny the faith though in dayes when persecution raged and reached unto the death Rev. 2.13 Hath God cast your lot in a wicked family amongst carnal relations in times of general atheism corruption and debauchery Labour as Obadiah to fear the Lord greatly do they entice thee to sin Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Prov. 1.15 Do they violently and furiously rebel against the Lord and make a scoffe of godliness and oppose the professours of it Do you study to serve him the more eminently and to walk with God as Noah the more closely and strictly Let no man deceive you with vain words Let not their enticements prevail with you let not their presumptions embolden you to fin with them let not their reproaches cause you to desist from your course For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them Eph. 5.6 7. So keep your selves free from any sinful correspondency with the ungodly be they never so many that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Holding forth the word of life Philip. 2.15 16. In managing this use of exhortation I shall speak something to you under these four heads 1. By way of particular exemplification or instance Wherein you should beware that you do not follow the multitude 2. By way of special direction what course you ought to take that ye be not intangled with their example 3. By way of motive or provocative to quicken you to a closure with that course and a diligent observing this counsel 4. By way of Retortion I shall shew you what use you should make of the example multitude seing you must not joyn in combination with them 1. By way of particular exemplification and instance Wherein we should beware that we be not led into sin by the example of the multitude For the better digesting whereof and that the truths I shall deliver may be more easily imprinted upon and firmly reteined in your thoughts and memories I will cast them into five rankes 1. The Ground of religion whereon it is bottomed 2. The matter of religion wherein it is placed 3. The method and order wherein it is prosecuted 4. The time and season when it is minded 5. Sundry particular duties wherein the multitude are prone to miscarry 1. As to the ground of religion whereon it is bottomed The generality of people are wont to take up the principles and mysteries of godliness wholly upon trust They build their faith upon the dictates and opinions of men they believe that Christ is the Saviour and accordingly call themselves his servants they acknowledg such and such ordinances ought to be attended upon and accordingly lend their bodily presence at them and the like But if you enquire into the ground and reason why they believe and embrace this way of religion and worship all they can truly say is because the Minister tells them it is so or their parents bred them up in this way They hold these things for truths for they are points which they have held ever since they can remember they were of this religion from their very childhood and infancy and were brought up in these performances But do you my brethren build your faith upon the infallible word of the Lord and get an insight into the everlasting gospel Search the scriptures daily and diligently and make use of the ministry of men to help you to get knowledg of the scriptures that your