Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	call_v	church_n	pillar_n	2,921	5	10.5182	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B04528	The lavvfulnes of hearing the publick ministers of the Church of England proved, by Mr. Philip Nye and Mr. John Robinson, two eminent Congregational divines. Together with the judgment of Dr. Goodwin, Dr. Owen, and other independents, as well ancient as modern, concerning forms of prayer, parish-churches, and communion with them: and the judgment of other nonconformists about kneeling at the sacrament.	Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Robinson, John, 1575?-1625.	1683 (1683)	Wing N1496; ESTC R203023	37,350	46

upon those whom you call Brownists to this day this I cleared them from and it is as great a clearning as can be The second Error was of those who hold Particular Churches those you call parish-Parish-Churches to be no true Churches of Christ and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and upon that ground forbear all Church-Communion with them in Hearing or in any other Ordinance And as I acquitted these from that other Error so I acquitted my self from this and my Brethren in the Ministry I would not now have touched upon it again but as I said to clear not my self so much as some mistakes about it The first is this It was understood as if I said that all parish-Parish-Churches and Ministers generally were Churches and Ministers of Christ such as with whom Communion might be held I said not so I was wary in my Expressions I will only say this unto you about it There is no Man that desireth Reformation in this Kingdom as the generality of all Godly People do but will acknowledg and say that multitude of Parishes where Ignorance and Prophaness overwhelmeth the generality Scandalousness and Simony the Ministers themselves that these are not Churches and Ministers fit to be held Communion with Only this The Ordinances that have been administred by them so far we must acknowledg them that they are not to be recalled or repeated again But here lieth the Question my Brethren and my Meaning Whereas now in some of the Parishes in this Kingdom there are many Godly Men that do constantly give themselves up to the Worship of God in publick and meet together in one Place to that end in a constant way under a Godly Minister whom they themselves have chosen to cleave to tho they did not chuse him at first These notwithstanding their mixture and want of Discipline I never thought for my part but that they were true Churches of Christ and Sister Churches and so ought to be acknowledged And the contrary was the Error that I spake against Secondly For holding Communion with them I say as Sister-Churches occasionally as Strangers Men might hold Communion with them And it is acknowledged by all Divines that there is not that Obligation lying upon a Stranger that is not a Member of a Sister-Church to find fault in that Church or in a Member of it as doth on the Church it self to which one belongeth I will give you my Reasons that moved me to speak so much It was not simply to vent my own Judgment or simply to clear my self from that Error but the Reasons or rather the Motives and Considerations that stirred me in it were these First If we should not acknowledg these Churches thus stated to be true Churches of Christ and their Ministers true Ministers and their Order such and hold Communion with them too in the sense spoken of we must acknowledg no Church in all the Reformed Churches none of all the Churches in Scotland nor in Holland nor in Germany for they are all as full of mixture as ours And to deny that to our own Churches which we do not to the Churches abroad nothing can be more absurd And it will be very hard to think that there hath been no Church since the Reformation Secondly I know nothing tendeth more to the peaceable Reformation amongst us than to break down this Partition Wall for there is nothing provokes more than this doth to deny such Churches to be true Churches of Christ For do but think with your selves and I will give you a familiar Example You come to a Man whom you think to be a Godly Man you tell him he hath these and these Sins in him and they are great ones it is as much as he can bear though you tell him he is a Saint and acknowledg him so But if you come to him and say besides this You are a Limb of the Devil and you have no Grace in you this provokes all in a Man when there is any ground in himself to think so or in another to judg him so So it is here Come to Churches and say You have these Defects among you and these Things to be reformed but if you will come and say Your Churches and your Ministers are Antichristian and come from Babylon there is nothing provokes more Therefore if there be a Truth in it as I believe there is Men should be zealous to express it for this is the great Partition Wall that hindreth of twain making one Then again This is that which I consider and it is a great Consideration also I know that Jesus Christ hath given his People Light in matters of this nature by degrees Thousands of good Souls that have been bred up and born in our Assemblies and enjoy the Ordinances of God and have done it comfortably cannot suddenly take in other Principles you must wait upon Christ to do it In this Case Men are not to be wrought off by Falshoods God hath no need of them No rather till Men do take in Light you should give them all that is comfortable in the condition they are in we should acknowledg every good Thing in every Man in every Church in every Thing and that is a way to work upon Men and to prevail with them as it is Philem. vers 6. That the Communication of thy Faith may become effectual by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus It is that which buildeth men up by acknowledgment of every good thing that is in them Lastly The last Inconvenience is this It doth deprive men of all those Gifts that are found amongst our Ministers and in this Kingdom that they cannot hold any Communion or Fellowship with them So that I profess my self as zealous in this Point as in any other I know And for my part this I say and I say it with much integrity I never yet took up Religion by Parties in the lump I have found by trial of things that there is some Truth on all sides I have found Holiness where you would little think it and so likewise Truth and I have learned this Principle which I hope I shall never lay down till I am swallowed up of Immortality and that is that which I said before To acknowledg every good Thing and hold Communion with it in Men in Churches or whatsoever else I learn this from Paul I learn this from Jesus Christ himself he filleth all in all he is in the Hearts of his People and filleth them in his Ordinances to this day and where Jesus Christ filleth why should we deny an acknowledgment and a right hand of Fellowship and Communion My Brethren this Rule that I have now mentioned which I profess I have lived by and shall do while I live I know I shall never please Men in it Why it is plain For this is the nature and condition of all Mankind if a Man dissents from others in one thing he

THE LAVVFULNES OF Hearing the Publick Ministers OF THE Church of England PROVED By Mr. PHILIP NYE AND Mr. JOHN ROBINSON Two Eminent Congregational Divines Together with the Judgment of Dr. Goodwin Dr. Owen and other INDEPENDENTS as well Ancient as Modern concerning Forms of Prayer Parish-Churches and Communion with them And the Judgment of other Nonconformists about Kneeling at the Sacrament Published as well to satisfy those that yet scruple Communion with the Church as to vindicate those that have complied from the uncharitable Censures of those that vilify them as Temporizers or that they have done so to qualify themselves for an Office to serve a Turn or to save themselves from the Penal Laws LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1683. TO THE READER THe design of these Sheets is to satisfy the Consciences of those Dissenters that hold Communion with the Church of England unlawful beseeching them seriously to consider what is here said in order to the Church's Peace and to prevent their designed ruin by Learned and Holy Men that are of the Separation commonly called Independents I have quoted none of the Presbyterian Perswasion only in the business of kneeling at the Sacrament because it would be an endless work they generally both Ancient and Modern having asserted the lawfulness of at least Lay-Communion with the Church of England And besides I perceive their Arguments will not prevail with Independents who deny a National Church I know there are many that are convinced it is lawful to Hear Sermons but not the Liturgy as an imposed Form They may find here what the Reverend and Learned Dr. Owen says concerning Forms of Prayer in the latter end of these Sheets And whereas they complain the Church-Prayers are empty Forms I wish they would come and fill them with Spirit and Zeal But the greatest Scruple that hinders them is kneeling at the Sacrament and that which pinches them most is that this Gesture is said to be Adoration given to the Elements but they should consider what the Church says concerning that Gesture which me thinks should remove that Scruple and satisfy every reasonable Man in that particular which for their satisfaction I here quote at large Viz. Whereas it is ordained in this Office for the Administration of the Lord's Supper that the Communicants should receive the same Kneeling which Order is well meant for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the Benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers and for the avoiding of such prophanation and disorder in the Holy Communion as might otherwise ensue Yet lest the same Kneeling should by any Persons either out of ignorance and infirmity or out of malice and obstinacy be misconstrued and depraved It is here declared that thereby no adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any Corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood For the Sacramental Bread and Wine remains still in their very natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the truth of Christ's natural Body to be at one time in more places than one This Caution which wholly denies Transubstantiation together with that Prayer about the Gunpowder-Treason being now incorporated in our Liturgie do as Dr. Goodwin told a Reverend Doctor of the Church of England now living make it impossible there should be any Reconciliation with the Church of Rome The Reverend and Learned Mr. Perkins an old Puritan says to this effect That that Adoration used in the Sacrament is not terminated in the Elements but a token of Godly Reverence to Christ himself sitting in Glory c. Mr. Cartwright says also That a Man must not refuse to receive the Sacrament kneeling when he cannot have it otherwise Mr. Fenner speaks to the same purpose And the Learned Mr. Vines says That Gestures at Receiving are Moveables and not of the Free-hold of this Ordinance In short whether Men are satisfied in whole or in part I wish they would consider seriously what that excellent Man Mr. Jer. Burroughs a Congregational Divine says in his Irenicon pag. 182. viz. That one great dividing Practice hath been this That because Men cannot join in all things with others they will join in nothing Mr. PHILIP NY's Resolution of this Case of Conscience Viz. Whether we may lawfully hear the Now Conforming Ministers who are Re-ordained and have renounced the Covenant and some of them supposed to be scandalous in their Lives Answer FOr the Resolution of this Case there is a three-fold Consideration pertinent Consideration I. About the Duty it self Hearing the Word There are four ways by which at this Day the Great God conveyeth the knowledg of himself and his Mind unto sinful Man 1. His Works of Creation and Providence Psalm 19.2 2. The suggest of Conscience even the remainder of God's Image in us 3. The Word or Law of God written expounded or applyed in ordinary Preaching 4. The Church which is the Ground and Pillar of Truth the Knowledg of God and his Mind is more especially there held forth by the Gifts given and Offices therein appointed by Christ These are distinct Ways and Methods of God by which he is pleased to make known himself and we are obliged even by the Law of Nature to attend when God doth speak it is therefore an undoubted moral Duty to attend the speaking of God in whatsoever way by Providence brought unto us The Scripture with the Interpretation and Application thereof commonly termed Prophesying or Preaching is one of the forementioned Means by which God makes known himself to us this is a National Gift according as God in his Providence shall dispose Psal 147.19 20. Such National or Publick Preachers may be said to have their Call from Christ he having a hand in ordering the Motions of Providence for the Good of his Church John 5.17 And particularly in this Providential sending of Ministers Mat. 9.38 and this is the calling and sending mentioned Rom. 10.15 The Lord in these Administrations by Preachers thus sent according to the good Pleasure of his Will finds out a People before they seek him This is a dispensation of God to Men as his Creatures For Application to the Case The Word of God interpreted and apply'd by preaching in this providential way is a choice Mercy and Gift wherewith God hath blessed this Nation for many Years to the Conversion and Edification of many thousands The Governors thereof have successively according to their Light made divers good Laws and Statutes for improving this Mercy for the best advantage of the Nation as appears in that 1. There are Schools and Universities maintained for the bringing up of Persons in Learning also there is a constant setled Maintenance