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	reason_n	word_n	1,564	5	4.5860	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41483	The banner of justification displayed: or; a discourse, concerning the deep, and important mystery of the justification of a sinner wherein the severall causes thereof, being both numerous and various, are from the first to the last diligently enquired after, and their severall contributions towards so great and happy a work, clearly distinguished, and assigned to their proper causes (respectively.) and more particularly is shewed, how God, how the grace of God, how the decree of God, how the soveraign authority of God; how Christ, how the active obedience [of] Christ, how the passive obedience of Christ, how the resurrection of Christ, how the knowledge of Christ; how the spirit of God, how faith, how repentance, how works, how remission of s[in,] how the word, how the minister of the word, how the P[ope?] himself which is justified, may all truly, though upon severall accounts, and after different manners, be sayed to justifie.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1659 (1659)	Wing G1150A; ESTC R221574	62,441	91

importunely urging it to stave off the ●h●e●●nings of the Prophets of God against them 〈…〉 ●s God himself by his Prophet Jeremy expresseth thei d●votion in this kind Jer 7. 4. The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are th●se So is the cove●t of Orthodoxisme in sacred request with the men we speak of when they have invested themselves with it they are as in a Castle of War there is no coming ●t them no touching them with any Charge or Imputation of Error Heresie Blasphemy or the like ever and anon in their Writings in their Preachings in their Discoursings they are in effect saying The Orthodox the Orthodox the Orthodox are these pointing at or meaning themselves those that are of their Judgment When they have once given such an account of their Faith as to be admitted to commence orthodox they are as secure from infection in their Judgments with any of those noysome and poysonous Creatures Errors Mistakes Heresies as a Room built or seiled with Irish Oake is from the danger of any Spiders Webb But doubtless there can no sufficient reason or ground in equity be given why Pendente lite the matter being under so sober and serious a dispute between them and their Brethren of opposite Judgment as it is which of them are the Oxthodox they should antedate the Issue and success of the Contest run away with the Crown upon their own heads before they have won it yea if standers by and unpartial men may have leave to judge before they are like to win it So then let the word Orthodox in Mr. Hickmans Passage lately mentioned be taken Orthodoxly and signifie those who are as I verily believe Orthodox indeed in the Controversie he speaks of and then without controversie what he saith is most true That a spirit of most Childish insultation seems to have possessed as many as have lift up an English Pen against the Orthodox in the Quinquarticular Controversie Of the truth of the words in his sense of Orthodox he gave but one instance only and this strained and stretch'd beyond its Staple as hath been proved But of the truth of them in my sense of the said word Orthodox I have prevented him somewhile since with two instances pregnant and uncontrolable of two men both of them great Doctors and men of Renown famous in the Congregation of the Contra-remonstrants Doctor Kendall and Doctor John Owen whom in my Preface to my Triumviri and in the Discourse it self I have produced as Witnesses beyond exception against themselves as to the Point of the Delinquency whereof Mr. Hickman speaks I mean most Childish insultation and in this Preface have given him measure heaped up with a third instance in the same kind of a person highly I question not esteemed by him though not so well known unto him I mean himself As for his Spartan Valour if his Breast be enobled with it 〈◊〉 if so much as a spark of it warms his blood I doubt not but he will have an Opportunity to shew it by that time Mr. Pierce hath done with him Good Reader I have detained thee over-long with an Apologeticall story of no great consequence in respect of my self nor haply unto thee Only my hope is that the person concerned in it with my self may through the blessing of God upon his perusall and second thoughts of it advance somewhat towards the better understanding of himself I call God for a Record upon my Soule that I beare him not the least Graine of any Grudge or ill-will I love my self better then not to love him And that I do not neglect or despise him I think the pains I have now bestowed to set my self streight in his thoughts will sufficiently witness for me Nay upon the account of what I have heard concerning the Genius and St●ein of his Book I judge him a man commendably pregnant and that if he shall take heed of wronging his strength by over-pragmatickness and confidence in undertakings or his Conscience by unadvised clashing with the Truth he may make happy Earnings of serving his Generation Thus far Mr. Hickman Concerning the sequell of the Papers now in thy hand the Argument or subject Matter of it is an Essay or Endeavour to make 1. A discovery of all the Causes from the first to the last as far as they are either held forth or insinuated in the Scriptures of that mysterious and weighty Business Justification 2. To assign unto every of these Causes respectively their appropriate Interests Interposures and Contributions in and about and towards this great and happy state of a Sinner As there is no ground in Christian Religion that hath I conceive more Springs in it of Questions and sublime Contemplations then this of Justification so neither is there any about which the Holy Ghost to my observation hath employed so many Pens especially in that variety of Discourse and enquiry Intending only an Epitome or Summary Comprisall of the more materiall Points or Difficulties relating unto the Subject we speak of we had no opportunity to insist upon any particular at large That which was chiefly projected and desired by this little Piece was to make diligent and narrow search after the different co-operations of those numerous Causes which God hath judgded meet to imploy ordinarily according to their respective Natures and Capacities of acting in and about the investing of a Sinner with that great Blessedness of Justification which he hath contrived and provided for him That knowledge in Matters of Religion which is so commonly presum'd to be in Professors of this Age above the former is rather a Bulk then a Body of Knowledge and though it commonly passeth under the name of Knowledge yet in propriety of speaking it is not so but rather a confident perswasion or belief that things are so or so as they apprehend them to be Which belief though it answers the reality and being of that which is believed so as it were by accident be true yet it is not knowledge nor doth it argue Knowledge unless the Believer understands the Reason of what he thus believeth or at least a substantiall Ground why he thus believeth it Yea in all matters of doubtfull Disputation from the Scriptures for men to pretend or alledge the Scriptures as a Reason or Ground of what they believe signifieth little unless they should give a good and substantiall Reason to prove that to be the true Sense and meaning of the Scriptures which must Countenance and confirm their Opinion for truth against their Adversary Yea when two shall contend for their respective Opinions being opposite the one unto the other from o● by the Authority of the Scriptures if neither of them be able to give any competent account why they interpret or understand the Scriptures so or so in comportance with their Opinion was sometimes it happeneth they do but beat the Aire with contesting and both their

Meaning that they could have no reasonable ground to believe that they were discharged or acquitted by God from the Debt or guilt of their sins by means of the death of Christ if he should be detained in the Prison of Death the Grave until now and not have been raised again and set at liberty So then the rising again or rather the raising again of Christ from the dead by God the Father justifieth believing sinners as it were argumentatively and as exhibiting a rationall ground unto them whereon to build their Faith of a full and perfect Attonement made by Christ in his death for them or for their sins by which Faith according unto and by vertue of that Promise made or the Law enacted by God in that behalf they come to be justified Sect. 9 9. The Prophet Isaiah bringeth in God the Father speaking thus of his Son Christ By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justifie many for he shall bear their Iniquities Isa. 53. 11. That the Particle or Pronoun His is here to be taken objectively not subjectively a construction frequent in Scripture is I presume the award of every mans Understanding So that by his knowledge the knowledge of Christ is meant the knowledge of himself which he shall propagate in the World by the Ministry of the Gospel and by means of this knowledge of him many shall be justified according to that of the Apostle We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ i. By Christ believed on as he explains himself in the verse next following But if whilst we seek to be justified by Christ c. Whence by the way it may be observed that to be justified by Christ and by Faith or believing in Christ is of one and the same import So then the knowledge of Christ is or may be sayd to justifie men in somewhat a remote sense viz. As it is a ground of encouragement unto them to believe on him by which believing they are immediatly justified 10. Men are sayd in Scripture as well to be Justified as Sect. 10 Sanctified by the Spirit of God and this as Justification is distinguished from Sanctification But yee are washed but yee are sanctified but yee are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Some Exposito●s indeed understand the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} yee were justified not of Justification properly so called or which standeth in remission of sins but of such a justification which consisteth in a progress or proficiency in Righteousness or in the profession and practice of Christianity For the justification of which Exposition they plead the exigency of the order or gradation in the Text it self as also the like use or signification of the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in that of Apocal. 22. 11. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Let him that is righteous or just be justified still i. As the Expositers we speak of interpret Let him encrease and make forward in wayes of righteousness It must be acknowledged that to grow in grace and proceed in holiness and righteousness from day to day may be called a mans justification in a declarative or arguitive sense viz. As they argue or declare a man to be a justified pe●son and his Faith to be of the right kind a living and growing Faith yea they may be termed a mans justification as they are just matter of his app●obation and commendation which in many cases are used in a sense parallel to that of the word Justification as 't is used sometimes But the Justification which is the S●bject of our present Discourse doth not consist in any Action one or more nor in any Quality one or more but rather in a state or condition viz. Such whereinto a person is translated or brought by the pardon of his sins or sentence of absolution awarded by God Nor need we take the word Justification in the Scripture lately cited 1 Cor. 6. 11. in any other sense but this For Justification in this sense may be asc●ibed to the Holy Ghost as he hath a speciall and appropriate hand in raising the work of Faith by which men are thus justified in the hearts of those who do believe in which respect Faith is registred by the Apostle Paul amongst the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. and by his Fellow Apostle Peter they who believe are sayd to obey the truth speaking of the obediency of Faith to the Gospel through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 22. and Act. 18. 27. The Christians in Ach●ia are sayd to have believed through grace i Through the grace of God in his vouchsafement of his Spirit unto them by whom they were enabled to believe yea and actually believed Now then according to the known Maxime or Principle in reason Quod est causa causae est causa causati That which is the Cause of any Cause producing an Effect is the cause of the Effect it self as well as of the Cause producing it Faith being the cause or means of Justification and the Spirit the cause of Faith Justification may as truly and not much less properly be attributed unto the Spirit as unto Faith Sect. 11 11. That Faith justifieth is the constant assertion of the Scripture and the Architectonicall Doctrine of the Gospel Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. Again Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law Rom. 3. 28. Yet once more to spare Citations in a case so generally known We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles Knowing that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law c. Gal. 2. 15 16. By the way upon occasion of these with many the like passages in the New Testament wherein Justification by Faith is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} expresly affirmed I cannot but mention my dislike of their strein in teaching who lay down and deliver it to the people for a Doctrine positively and plainly that men are not justified by Faith or by believing Doubtless it is not convenient or comely positively to deliver or assert that for a Doctrine of Truth which is so diametrally opposite to the frequent cleer and express words of the Scripture If there be a limited sence to be put upon such passages wherein a Truth is commonly and from place to place held forth in the Scriptures this may conveniently and timously enough be done in the Explication or Opening

from Joshua God entreated her as a justified or righteous person by preserving her and her Fathers house for her sake with all that she had when the City she dwelt in with all that was in it both man and woman young and old besides were utterly destroyed with the edge of the Sword Josh. 6. 21 22 23 c. So that the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be justified in this Coutexture of Discourse doth not signifie the proper effect of that Act of God by which he constitutes or makes men righteous or just or by which he justifies them but the effect one or more of some such Act of his by which he expresseth himself lovingly graciously and bountifully towards such persons who are or have been justified and made righteous by him and hereby declares and after a sort pronounceth them righteous But he doth not judge it fitting or meet thus to countenance them or to entreat them as righteous or justified persons untill they have first given a good Testimony of the reality and soundness of that Faith upon and by which he justifieth them The expression wherein a person is sayd to be justified when he is only respected or dealt with as being justified i. As a justified person is metonymicall and frequent in Scripture the Antecedent being oft put for the Consequent Thus by Hunting Gen. 27. 3. is meant taking or getting by hunting and Deut. 21. 16. to make a Son the first-born signifies to respect him as the first-born or to confer upon him the Priviledge of the first-born So also Rom. 5. 19. to be made sinners imports a being made lyable unto punishment or such a Condition which belongs unto sinners to omit many the like In this sense and notion of the word justifie the Lord Christ may be sayd to justifie those that shall stand at his right hand in the great day in saying thus unto them Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the Foundation of the World The reason or ground in equity of this justification is declared in the words next following For I was an hungry and yee gave me meat I was thirsty and yee gave me drink c. Mat. 25. 34 35 c. This most gracious address and application of Christ unto those that shall be saved especially in conjunction with that most dreadfull and Soul-confounding address immediatly following unto those that shall eternally perish Depart from me yee Cursed into everlasting fire c. together with the reason hereof in the next words For I was an hungred and yee gave me no meat c. I say these respective Decisions or Adjudications of Christ plainly evince and prove that no person whatsover of years of discretion and actually capable of knowing Good and Evill shall receive the great benefit and blessing of justification by means of any such Faith which shall not utter and approve it self before God and men by fruitfulness in well-doing according to such means and opportunities as shall have been afforded unto them And this also is the apparant drift and scope of the Apostle James in that Discourse some passages whereof we lately sifted and insisted upon out of his second Chapter Thus we see what the interest and part of good works is in the great business of justification according to the Scriptures 14. That Remission of sins likewise is no Alien or Sect. 14 stranger unto Justification but in some neer imployment about it is of ready demonstration from the Scriptures The discourse of the Apostle Rom. 4. from v. 1. to v. 8. inclusivè is pregnant to this purpose But to him saith he v. 5. that worketh not Viz. With an intent or hope of being justified by his working or that worketh not i. That wanteth works competent or sufficient to justifie him but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly meaning God who justifieth even those that have been ungodly and so must needs be without works meritorious of Justification upon their believing his Faith is counted for Righteousness i. He is made a righteous or just man by means of his believing and is accordingly looked upon by God Even as David also describeth the blessedness i. Either the justification or the blessedness accruing by it Of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness i. Whom he justifieth Without works Viz. Which are any wayes meritorious of Justification For this Apostle by works in opposition unto Faith in the business of Justification constantly understandeth The Merit of Works In which sense also his Adversaries the Jews understood and urged it saying Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin By this Description from the Pen of David Of the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness i. Justifieth as hath been been shewed It appears that his Righteousness or Justification passively taken which is the cause or means of his Blessedness consists in the forgiveness of his Iniquities or which is the same in substance though differing in consideration or respect in the non-imputation of sin unto him By means as well of the one as of the other of these the mans sins are sayd to be covered that is I conceive to pass unpunished Indempnity from punishment being a kind of Veyl by which the sins of Transgressors are kept from being much minded or taken notice of by men As on the other hand when God openly judgeth or punisheth men for their sins he is sayd to un-cover or dis-cover them Ezek. 16. 37. 57. Ezek. 23. 10. and elsewhere Now by that Description as the Apostle termeth it which David giveth as we have heard of the blessedness of the justified Person placing it in this that his Iniquities or sins are remitted or forgiven It is a clear Case that Remission of sins justifieth Per modum causae formalis as the form or formall Cause is sayd to give being to that which is caused by it When a Painter maketh a Wall white Whiteness is the Form or formall Cause by which the Wall is made white or which maketh the Wall white Nor can it be with reason reduced to any of the other kinds of Causes as is evident it being no Efficient or materiall or ●●…all Cause hereof nor carrying the least semblance of any of these In like manner when God justifieth a sinner that which he doth to him or for him is precisely this He forgiveth him his sins this is the very form of that his Action i. The form which by his Act of justifying he introduceth anew upon the sinner Nor doth he any other thing directly and immediatly unto a person when and as he justifieth him but only forgive him his sins Of one and the same Act or Action there cannot be a plurality of Effects immediate and direct really differing the one from the other It is true as there may be sundry collaterall