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	scripture_n	word_n	3,674	5	5.0369	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36096	A Letter to the late Lord Bishop of L. and C. upon his translation to W. shewing the ill consequences of such removes.	E. D.	1699 (1699)	Wing D16; ESTC R18655	6,964	16

A LETTER TO THE Late Lord Bishop of L. and C. UPON HIS Translation to VV. Shewing The ill Consequences of such REMOVES LONDON Printed in the Year 1699. My Lord SOME Occasions having call'd me to Ireland a little before I left it which is not long since there happened the Death of a Bishop which occasion'd a Remove in the Church that gave no small offence to all her Well-wishers and among others I was resolv'd as soon as I got home to give the Party concern'd my thoughts of it but fore I could do this we had the account of your Lordship's Translation to W r tho 't was not believed at this distance by any here that pretend to be of your acquaintance till confirm'd by the last Post Your Character for the most part has been such that I have been always one of your Admirers and had I not happened into the Conversation of some discerning Men here who see the ill consequences of such Removes that Admiration might perhaps have still continued which now I confess is wonderfully lessen'd and as a reason for it give me leave to lay before your Lordship their Sentiments which I shall do truly and plainly having neither Will nor Skill to do otherwise They say my Lord you have now a second time given the Church her self as well as that sacred Order to which they believe you unworthily intituled a more severe Blow than any of her pretended Friends nay her most cruel and profest Enemies were ever able to do You have they say declared to the World what those of your Order generally speaking propose to themselves in desiring and accepting that Office which the Apostle calls A good Work You have given incouragement to that deluge of Atheism which hath broke in upon us and espoused their Cause whose hope extends not beyond this present World and look for no other reward for all their best Services than what this Life affords and this at a time when you are just leaving it have more than one foot in the Grave and will not without their being the Prophet of your Wo live long to enjoy it They wonder what remorse of Conscience must needs seize you when you consider what you have done how you have open'd the mouths of Adversaries who lie in wait for advantages of this kind and are of themselves without any manner of occasion too ready to revile and asperse your Profession nay have given your very Friends reason to conceive most desperate Prejudices against your high and holy Calling And some of these Gentlemen have an account from London that several who have been formerly attackt but never could be prevail'd with to desert the Church have upon this Translation of yours turn'd their backs upon her and chose rather to join themselves to those Societies where such unwarrantable Practices are not allow'd and where their Teachers seem to have an eye for all their Services and Labours to a future Reward than to abide in the Communion of a Church where their very Governours and Guides by their daily Practices declare if they can by hook or by crook no matter how add to their Wealth and Grandeur here they value not what may be feared or hop'd for hereafter You have say these Gentlemen very unhappily given us a sad instance of this and the Ground thereof pretend what you will 't is like proceeds from something too near Atheism It is not very likely say they you believe there is a God or that the Scriptures are his Word which besides that inward Peace Comfort and Satisfaction which naturally attend the performance of a man's Duty propose no other Reward than what chiefly relates to a future State whereas you seem say they to despise this and are altogether for the present who for the lucre of not many 100 l. a year have forsaken they wish they could say your first your second nay your third Love and left a Diocess where by knowing and being known you might be much more serviceable than where you are altogether a Stranger and cannot expect to live to be otherwise and in divers respects unfit to succeed him that is gone who yet besides his learned Works left no great Character behind him nor found out the way of doing so much good as might have been expected from him and which they fear may much less be hop'd for from your Lordship Ambition and Avarice have been as they conceive the two great Rocks you have in your Christian Course split upon The former carried you from the Vicaridg of St. M rt-ns to the Bishoprick of St. A the latter from thence to L. and C. and now from thence to W. In your first remove you declar'd your self sensible of the temporal Loss you sustain'd but the pretence was the desire of doing good a very warrantable inducement to which you said your being a Native of the Country and skilful in the Language would conduce much But being either weary of doing good or unable to do any to others you began to think of doing good to your self and laid hold of the first opportunity to give your poor Countrymen the slip and got into a Diocess of much greater profit as well as of a far larger extent and in which as to a great part of it you are as I am inform'd as much a Stranger as he that writes this who was never within the Verge of any part thereof These Gentlemen would fain ask what answer you will make when you shall be called to give an account of your Stewardship Will it be sufficient to say a great part of your time was taken up at London in minding the Affairs of State which yet notwithstanding you could never comprehend no less in managing the private concerns of your Family and so much in indulging your aged and decayed Carcase that you had little or none left for the business of your Calling However my Lord all this is no stumbling Block to me who have learnt to distinguish between the personal failings of Men and their Office but others not so well satisfied desire to know from which of the Apostles or Primitive Bishops from whom you boast of a Succession do you derive Authority for this unwarrantable Remove As the former were for the most part no where fixt and therefore can afford us no precedent in this case so it is well known how industriously the latter wav'd all opportunities of forsaking their first Charge and could never be brought to it but when the pressing Necessities of the Church requir'd it and then 't was often from a greater to a place of less Profit Nor is this all you have hereby exposed your Profession and Order not only in your own Person but cast a Temptation in the way of another The Bishop of O in every respect a single Man being unable to live upon 700 l. a Year tho he never spent 200 removes from O the Seat of the Muses and the sweetest preferment