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	truth_n	3,438	5	6.0713	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62901	A word of information to them that need it briefly opening some most weighty passages of God dispensations among the sons of men, from the beginning, and insisting a little upon the state and condition of the nations, wherein they now stand, and particularly of England : for this end, that men may remember themselves, and turn unto the Lord, and seek to be delivered from the mysteries of iniquity, to walk with God in fellowship and communion : to which (as pertinent hereunto) is annexed, An addition concerning Lord-Bishops, and Common-prayer-book : with a tender admonition to those called priests, or ministers : and also, a loving exhortation to those that have separated from their superstitions / by W.T.	Tomlinson, William.	1660 (1660)	Wing T1854; ESTC R16928	33,341	46

are rendred nearer to the Greek who have spoken to you the Word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation what 's that Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever And Vers 17. he bids Obey such Leaders and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls they break their sleep and ease for your Souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you See they were such men whom the Apostle bids remember and follow and submit to as were of an exemplary Faith and of an exemplary Conversation which had Christ the Meek Lambe of God for the end of it Now such Leaders as these the Lambs are ready to follow and to submit to and obey them that thus go before them leading them by an unblamable Conversation and by the wholesome word of Truth But a Stranger they cannot follow they cannot follow a Proud Man a Scornfull Man an Earthly-minded Man a Deceitfull Man a Lording Spirit that seeks an Earthly Kingdome and Dominion and to have preheminence here Such they cannot follow As they are Babes and Little Children themselves so a Little Childe must lead them And so the Scripture of the Prophets is fulfilled which Prophesying of the Kingdom of Christ saith A Little Childe shall lead them Isa 11.6 One that 's Innocent Humble Meek Lowly in heart like Christ Pure Faithfull Unblamable in his conversation Such a One shall lead and such a One must he be that 's a Leader in the Kingdome of Christ Not a Great pufft up proud Lord. For he by his Example leads quite from the Kingdom of God whither the Lambs are going and leads into the Pomp and Vanities of this present world from which they are flying and against which he made others to promise and vow though he be the forwardest to lead into them How should the Lambs follow such a one judge you and judge as you will be judged Again further The Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which is the evidence of things not seen and the substance or being of things hoped for This Faith I say is not consistent with Exaltation and Greatnesse and Lordship among the Ministers of Christ Therefore saith Christ Jesus to such How can ye believe who receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh of God only John 5.44 You may see he looks upon such as out of the Faith For observe the ground of it lies thus His Faith or the Faith that he works which is the Faith of his Kingdome is not a dead blind thing such as the Faith of the world is But it is a clear sight Evidence or Demonstration of things not seen even of the things of his Kingdome which the carnall eye sees not nor the bodily eye Now where doth a man come to this Sight or evidence this open view as I may say of things spiritual wherein the Faith of Christs Kingdome consists Christ himself hath told us It is in a Low Place that is in a Low Condition the state of a Little Childe as of one new born And except a man come to this He cannot see the Kingdome of God For while the minde and heart of the Creature is pregnant or filled with desires and affections that are of this world there is no room for things spiritual and eternal to enter Neither doth he obtain the sight of them from the Lord for It 's to Babes that he reveals them Therefore a man must be emptyed and brought down as a Childe before God open to him the Treasures of his Kingdome God hides the things of his Kingdome and keeps them back from the High and Lofty who are big with Wisdome and Prudence and Learning and reveales them unto Babes praised be his Name therefore He replenishes the Humble and Hungry with Good Things but the Rich he sends Empty away The Proud he beholds a farr off his Eye is upon such a one to bring him low and abase him So that as men grow great and high and lift up themselves they go out from the place or condition of seeing the things of the Kingdom of God they go from the condition to which God shews them and to which he gives the evidence and demonstration of them inwardly by his Spirit and so this is to go out from the Faith of Christ which consists in this evidence or sight or demonstration shining into the soul and giving possession of the thing seen unto the soul And therefore how can ye believe who receive Honour one of another and go up into Greatnesse out of the sight of the Kingdom which is Spiritual The lower that the Creature becomes the more capable he is to receive of the Spiritual Treasure and the further he enters into the Kingdom that is Spiritual and not of this World but the higher he grows in this Worlds Pomp and Greatness and Glory the further off he goes from the Faith of Christ So that one may say to such How can ye believe And here we stand upon firm ground in denying the POPE who takes the title of Vniversal Bishop and in denying all other Lording Bishops followers of his steps I say we stand upon firm ground in denying them all as men gone far far far off from the Paths of such Bishops as the Scriptures own and are fallen under the temptation which Satan presented before Christ even the glory of this World And whither then can they lead us by their Example Consider it well The Kingdom of God consists of little Children saith Christ and a little Child must lead them and not such as are great and seek preheminence such are gone out from the Faith and follow the steps of Diotrephes who loved to have the Preheminence that thing which Christ had forbidden 3 Epist Joh. ver 9 10. shews you what he did He began to be a Wolf in the Church of Christ when he had entred into the love of Preheminence And so it must be with those that follow his steps It cannot be otherwise especially now since the Mystery of Iniquity hath formed and founded a Politick Kingdom for their great spirits to rise in in the similitude of the World though under the pretence of Christs Church And so they cannot be Examples to the Flock if they would but must be Devourers thereof The very Mystery that they have given up themselves into will force them to be Devourers and Scatterers of the Flock though some of them may have a pitty arising sometimes in their hearts and would not yet the Mystery of Iniquity is so deeply founded that it carries them on who come into it whether they will or no to help to bear it up against the Lambs of Christ As a Wheel in a Clock is forced on by the motion of other Wheels So it is in this great Mystery And so the Lambs cannot look upon any that manage a

Mark can she not wipe off since many have perished in Prisons even of late years through her Persecution But if any will contend against it and defend her to be out from the Mystery of Iniquity and in the Truth walking in the Truth as a True Church of Christ We are able to prove to the contrary through the strength of the Lord even from her Teachers from her Ordinances and from your Lives and Conversations all which demonstrate you to be gone astray from the truth as it was delivered by Christ and his Holy Apostles and are in the Fornication of the great Whore are yet drunk with the Wine thereof and shall also drink of the wine of her wrath if you repent not Your Teachers teach for hire as the False Prophets did of old against which the True Prophets cryed out for so doing Your Ordinances none of them will abide the measuring line of the Scriptures and so are but the outward Court left out for the Gentiles who tread the holy City under foot Your lives are carnal Your Conversations earthly in the Lusts of the Flesh in the Lusts of the Eyes in the pride of life yea Your Solemnest Meetings are full of that sin for which God drowned the old VVorld Gen. 6.11 even full of Uiolence witnesse the violence done to any that come in to speak a sober word of truth among you and to inform you of your condition Oh sink down into your selves and think Is such a Company the Spouse of the Lamb Christ Jesus Is this his Church his Body the Pillar and Ground of Truth were such things abound Take this VVord home to your hearts and consider it well namely that you are not got out of this Mystery of Iniquity till that from whence it grew be dissolved That you may understand this saying take notice that the Mystery of Iniquity grew from hence even from the Earth unsubdued in Mans heart which covering it self with a Profession of Truth outwardly formed that Profession or Religion to its own Lust or Liberty that the Earth might still be saved alive in Man and live and he enjoy his Lusts therein And here in this state stood Balaam and in his way did the first Hereticks run in the Apostles times loving the wages of Balaam for reward and in his steps do they walk to this day and those that are one with them in the root and ground though differing in outward appearance For to this day its the same The Earth standing in Man's heart and a Religion or Profession raised up over that forms a Mystery of Iniquity and begets an Antichrist It forms a Mystery of Iniquity or a myst to hide Iniquity with it raises a smoke out of the Pit of Mans heart to blind the eyes of men with and begets an Antichrist a Spirit of Persecution seeking to blast the True Spirit with Reproaches which is Blasphemy And so under the name of Hereticks and such like to slay them to rid them out of the way because they strike at the root in which they live by their holy Conversation and by their chaste Mind to the Wisdom of the Lord abhorring the smoak and myst of mens devisings which arises out of mans heart More particularly to deal with you and to set before you your own state or standing let us compare you a little with the Primitive Times and see whether you answer to the Church then or to the World which hated it and persecuted it The Church of Christ then suffered by the World being distinct from the World called out of it and therefore hated by them of the World Ye suffered joyfully the spoyling of your goods saith Paul to the Church Heb. 10.32 33 34. 1 Thess 2.14 15 16. 2 Thess 1.4 So then in that time there was the Haters and the Hated the Spoilers and the Spoiled the Abusers and the Abused the VVolves devouring and the Sheep devoured Now compare your Church with them Are you the Sufferers or those that put others to Suffering for Righteousness sake Did not the people of tender Conscience who could not worship God after the Traditions of men suffer under your Church both formerly when the Antichristian Lording Bishops ruled it and so fled some to New-England and others to other Places And sinc they were put down still you have been the same What haling pulling pushing abusing of people hath been in your Congregations and by them of your Congregations what beating in your Synagogues stoning in your Streets stocking whipping imprisoning persecuting spoyling of goods c And nowthat those Antichristian Prelates are coming in again you are still the same and the same measure hath been met withall from some of you already If any say Those that did so or do so are but the Rude Rabble and are not to be counted for our Church I Answer These things have been done among you and by them that are of you unrestrained If by the Rude Rabble then behold the Rude Rabble are the strongest part of your Church if they do such things and you cannot restrain them from that violence If you say Yea we could have hindered them if we would but we did not because we look upon those they abused as Seducers Answ Then see you consented to their violence and so made your selves Partakers with them as Saul did when he consented to them that stoned Stephen But say you They were Seducers they were Hereticks that were abused and our Ministers spake against them I Answer So did they stone Steven as a Seducer and all the violence done to them that feared the Lord was in such like thoughts of them they thought they were Seducers and their Ministers spake against them But where did ever the true Church use violence even to Seducers and Hereticks Consider that They suffered violence themselves but never used violence to others So see your selves now on what part you stand For whatever they be that you use violence to for conscience sake whether they be in the Truth or be Seducers yet your violence to them declares you not to be the true Church but to be the World where the persecution is found You are on the Persecuters part not on the Persecuted You are not they that the VVorld hates but you are they that do hate others for Conscience sake such as Paul said they Themselves were before Conversion hatefull and hating one another Titus 3.3 and so others suffer under you for Conscience sake even those against whom you cannot justly complain for any wrong done to you by them and so they suffer innocently as to you although they should be Seducers So see your selves now That your Church resembles not the Church of Christ in the Primitive time but You fully resemble the World that then abused the Saints and Servants of the Lord. And for your counting and calling them Hereticks and Seducers that suffer under You and your Ministers This makes the Sufferers more resemble the true

for their advantage and over-reach one another for the greediness of gain Promise-breakers who will promise to one another and frequently fail one another in their Promises so that you dare hardly trust one another Is not your Church now made up of these and such like persons guilty of these and such like wickednesses Pick out all that are such in your thoughts and see how many will be left behind If any be they are called out by the Lord who saith Come out of her my People lest you partake of her sins and so partake of her plagues To be superstitious though never so much in the traditions of men it will not keep off the wrath of God from such workers of Iniquity And you have nothing else that 's peculiar to your selves in your Church-state to be zealous of as hath been manifested in another Writtng called A Reproof to your Priests or Ministers c. Now consider in the fear of God as if you were to give account of your judgment in that thing before him and before his holy Angels Are such as these think you such I say as are reckoned up such as your Church is made up of Are such I say the Church of Christ Are these the Church in God the Father sanctified by his Spirit Are these the body of Christ Are these the pillar and ground of Truth For the true Church of Christ is all these If such persons as you consist of be the Church then tell me who are the World Oh how apparent it is what you are and yet have you Teachers heaped up to your selves after your own lusts answerable thereunto who sew pillows under your elbows and bear up your name for CHRISTIANS in this State If any one oppose the things here written I shall more closely come to him with these QVAERIES following which I require him to answer in himself clearly without dawbing lest he stop his own way and the way of others from returning and looking after the Kingdom of God Quaery 1. Whether there be such a thing as a Cup of Fornication over-spreading the Nations since the dayes of Christ wherewith the Nations are made drunk according to Revel 19.2 Chap. 18.23 Quaer 2. Whether there be such a thing as a great Whore that sitteth upon many Waters that is Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues according to Revel 17.1 15. Quaer 3. Whether she hath not prevailed to corrupt the Earth with her Fornication according to Revel 19.2 even to give to all Nations to drink of the Wine of the Wrath of her Fornication Chap. 14.8 and 18.3 and so to make them drunk therewith Revel 17.2 Yea and prevailed over the Kings of the Earth also to make them drink of the same Cup Revel 17.2 Chap. 18.3 Quaer 4. Whether this great Whore shall not be judged from the Lord and burnt with fire according to Revel 18.8 Quaer 5. Whether shall not they that partake of her sins partake of her plagues according to Rev. 18.4 Quaer 6. Whether cannot this Whore be known to the Servants of the Lord seeing the Book of the Revelations which declares her was written for this end to shew unto his Servants things which were to come to passe Revel 4.1 Ch. 1.1 Quaer 7. Whether it doth not highly concern us all to be able to know her and the Cup of her Fornications that so vve may avoid her plagues by coming out of her More particularly thus Whether it doth not highly concern us all to know What this Whore is What her golden Cup of Fornication is and by what means she reacheth it forth unto the Inhabiters of the Earth to make all Nations drunk therevvith that so vve may take heed of it and seek to be cleared from it If these QVAERIES be yeilded unto then in the next place for discovering a little further what this Whore and her Fornication is it is Quaeried 1. Whether she be not called WHORE for departing from the Bed of Christ to another husband More plainly thus for departing from being chaste to the Counsels of Christ and from lying down in his Wisdom to let in the Wisdom of the flesh and submit to the Inventions of man instead of Christs Counsels Whether her Whoredom doth not lye herein principally according as the Israelites formerly were charged with Whoredom for the like Ezek. 6.9 2. And whether this be not the golden Cup of her Fornication wherewith she hath overcome the Nations and made them drunk namely A Pack of mens Inventions and Traditions gallantly composed to the fleshly mind and decently ordered together and imposed and upheld with great reverence as to outward appearance and as all Idols have been upheld with a like reverent Solemnity so that therewith she hath taken the minds of the Inhabiters of the Earth so generally and the Kings of the Earth also and hath subjected them to those Inventions and overcome their minds to fall under them as under the Counsels and Ordinances of the Lord and with that conceit hath made them drunk so that they being intoxicated with that conceit like drunken men will hear no reason against them though evident from the Scriptures but even like Drunkards fight and quarrel and are ready to buffet and kill and slay them that shall not submit to the same Inventions with them and call them and count them Ordinances of God as they do Let any one that opposes this shew what the general Cup of Fornication is since the dayes of Christ if this be not it and let him shew how his Cup will answer the things spoken of in the Revelation concerning it Let him shew another Cup so general wherewith the Nations have been made drunk according to what is said Revel 14.8 and 17.2 and 18.3 23. and 19.2 3. If the Cup of Fornication be thus understood then it is Quaeried Whether the means by which she reacheth forth this Cup to the Inhabiters of the Earth so generally be not by their National Ministries Whether any other way is found large enough and adaequate to the work namely to effect a general Fornication to mens Inventions and to subject the minds of men so generally to own Inventions and Traditions of men for Ordinances of God and to keep them resting under that Fornication but Ministries that may go over them all 4. Whether the Nations be willing to lye down under and submit to or have layen down under and submitted to the Deceivings of any Ministries but them they own and pay Wages to If they be deceived as the Scripture witnesses they are Rev. 18.23 Then is it not from their own Ministries seeing they will not receive Truths nor Deceits neither from any other but fight against them Now thou who hast read these things and thereby receivest any light into thine understanding take heed henceforth of reviling the Servants of the Lord who in his fear follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes leading them out of the Mystery of Inniquity