Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	divine_a	faith_n	revelation_n	2,617	5	10.5414	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33220	Seventeen sermons preach'd upon several occasions never before printed / by William Clagett ... with The summ of a conference on February 21, 1686, between Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden, about the point of transubstantiation.	Clagett, William, 1646-1688.	1689 (1689)	Wing C4396; ESTC R7092	211,165	600

suppose he means believing them and by a Rule by which to acquire them He must understand a Rule or means whereby to know what the Articles of the Christian Faith are and then his meaning is That those who believe the Articles of the Christian Faith must be provided of some such Rule or Means to know what they are as cannot deceive them Now whether this be in it self true or false it does not at all follow from what he had laid down before For though the Truth of Things or Propositions is so sure that as he wisely says 't is Impossible they should be false yet it does by no means follow that the Reasons upon which I believe these things must necessarily be as sure as the Truth of the Things themselves And this I make no doubt the Disputer was well aware of But because I am sensible who they are whom he designs to pervert by this Paper and for whose sake I Answer it I will explain this matter by an Instance that will bring it down to all Capacities If there was such a man as Henry the 8th It is certainly Impossible that there should be no such man but my Belief that there was such a Man is grounded upon such Reasons as do not imply an absolute Impossibility of the Contrary because it is grounded upon the Testimony of Fallible men And yet I should be very little better then a mad-man if I should entertain the least doubt that there was such a man which plainly shews that I may have sufficient Reason to believe a thing without any Evidence of the Impossibility of the contrary and this is enough to overthrow his Consequence I shall now inquire what truth there is in the Conclusion it self To which end I observe That there are two things which may be understood by those words cannot deceive them either first that the Rule it self is so plain and certain that no man who uses it can be deceived by the Rule or secondly that 't is Impossible any man should be mistaken in the Vse of it If he means the former then I shall shew him presently that we have such a Rule as he speaks of and that he hath said nothing to make us ashamed of it If he means the latter then I say it is absolutely false That those who without doubting believe the Articles of the Christian Faith must have such a Rule to know what they are as that they cannot possibly mistake in the Vse of it To make which plain to every bodies understanding I shall add another Instance easy to be Applyed If a man skilful in Arithmetick hath a great many Numbers before him and desires to know what Sum they make when they are put together he has the Rule of Addition to do it by which Rule cannot deceive him Now there are these two things to be observed farther which I think the Disputer himself will not deny first that it is in the Nature of the thing Possible that this man may be mistaken every time that he puts these several Numbers together to bring them all into one Sum but secondly that notwithstanding this Possibility of being mistaken yet after he has tryed it over and over again he may be sure without the least doubt that he has done his work right Even so we may have a Rule of Faith that cannot deceive us and though it is not Absolutely Impossible that we should be mistaken in the use of it yet we may for all that be Assured and believe without the least doubting that we have learn'd what the true Faith is by that Rule For all the World knows that it is no sufficient Reason to Doubt of any thing that the Contrary is barely Possible Pap. To a Parliamentary Protestant the Antient Fathers can't be such a Rule because they are Accounted fallible Ans We never said they were such a Rule This therefore is Impertinent Pap. Nor Counsels because they also are accounted fallible Ans This is Impertinent also for we never said they were our Rule of Faith. But we have better Reasons to give why Fathers and Councils cannot be our Rule of Faith than this that the Disputer has made for us And one is this That we cannot make them the Rule of our Faith but by so doing we must depart from the Primitive Fathers and the ancient Councils in as much as all agree That the Holy Scriptures are the Rule of Faith and they made it theirs Pap. Nor Scriptures senced by a fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be false Ans This is the Place where I shall tell the Disputer what we beleive and why we believe it And when I have done I shall consider whether he hath said any thing in this clause to shake our Assurance We firmly believe all the Articles of the Creed into the Profession whereof we have been Baptized We moreover believe all other Doctrine that is Revealed in Holy Scriptures The Grounds of this our Faith are these That in the Holy Scriptures are Recorded those Testimonies of Divine Revelation by which the Doctrines therein contained are confirmed That these Testimonies were too notorious and Publick to be gainsaid in so much that the Doctrine built upon them could not be overthrown by the Powers of the world engaged against it That the holy Books were written by the Inspired Preachers of that Doctrine which they contain And that for this we have the Testimony of Vniversal and uncontroulable Tradition which is a thing credible of it self This is the Sum of that External Evidence upon which our Faith is grounded In assigning of which I do by no means exclude that Internal Evidence that arises from the Excellent Goodness of the Doctrines themselves which shews them to be worthy of God. Now whereas this Disputer says That these Scriptures cannot be an Infallible Rule to us because they are sensed by a fallible Authority that is because we who are fallible understand them as well as we can I answer That no man needs to be Infallible in order to the understanding of plain Scripture I who do not pretend to Infallibility am yet certain which is enough for me That I do find the Articles of the Creed in the Scriptures and many other Doctrines besides which I do understand I am sure that I know what these words of St. John signifie 1 John 2.25 And Chap. 5.3 This is the Promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and the like The Antient Fathers thought the Scriptures to be so plain that they argued out of them without pretending to an Infallible Authority of Interpretation as I will shew this Disputer when he pleases If nothing less then Infallibility will serve to understand or as he says to sense words why does this Disputer put into my hands this Paper of his which is none of the plainest neither I am sure he does

worship and to serve him only And these are Rules of both Testaments and in truth Laws of Nature and therefore they that violate them are without excuse My design is to lay before you some of the principal Duties prescribed in these Rules with the sins that are opposed to them Now in the first place to worship God is to honour him as God which consists chiefly in two things viz. In a right esteem of him and in the expression of it 1. In the esteem i. e. in believing God to be the Soveraign Being infinite in all perfections in duration in wisdom and in power and above all in goodness from hence it is that affections suitable to such an esteem of God are also Worship because they are the most real acknowledgments of the Divine Attributes He that trusts in the wisdom and power of God more than in all the world besides ascribes to him the honour of infinite wisdom and power he that fears his displeasure and trembles at his word gives him the honour of his infinite holiness he that loves him above all things doth thereby effectually confess his infinite goodness By such apprehensions of God and disposition towards him we worship him in our Hearts and Souls 2. As to the outward worship of god it consists in such actions as either by God himself or by the common consent of Mankind or by the nature of the thing are made expressions of Divine Honour and of the worship of the Heart Sacrifices have been ever esteemed marks of Divine Honour given to that Being to whom they were offered and God appropriated them to himself in the Covenant he made with his own People He that sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord only he shall be utterly destroyed Exod. 22.20 Whether Sin-offerings or Thank-offerings they were testimonies and declarations of God's Soveraignty that he was Lord of all and the Giver of all to whom all praise and obedience was due For this reason the Christian Worship which knows no Sacrifice for Sin but that which was never to be offered but once and which has taken away the slaying of Beasts and the killing of Birds the Christian Worship it self I say is called a Sacrifice By him says the Apostle i. e. by Christ let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually Heb. 13.15 For though the gross Sacrifices were left off yet there was an incommunicable Worship of God that remained viz. the more spiritual Sacrifices of Prayer and Thanksgiving which were the true meaning of the Sacrifices before Christianity and therefore a more excellent Worship than they For Sacrifices were but the Rites and Ceremonies of Prayer and Thanksgiving a Sacrifice for Sin was but the outward Rite of calling upon God for Mercy a Sacrifice of Praise was but the outwaid Rite of offering Praise and therefore Prayer and Thanksgiving are proper expressions of Divine Honour inasmuch as they are in effect the same with Sacrifices and indeed a more excellent Worship than what was anciently called by that name And there are these two things which make them to be proper expressions of honouring God as God. 1. The matter of Religious Invocation which is either to pray to God of to give him thanks for those things which he only can give and for every thing which we either need or have received and this makes Prayer and Thanksgiving to be an acknowledgment of God's Omnipotence Soveraignty and Infinite Goodness 2. Our calling upon him at all times and in all places which is a clear acknowledgment of his Omnipresence and Infinite Knowledge And hence it is that hearing of Prayer is one of those Titles wherewith the Psalmist addressed himself to God Psalm 65.2 And thou that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all flesh come For when we speak to an invisible Being we can have no assurance that we are heard but only this assurance that the Being is every-where present and therefore though we see him not yet we know that he is with us and our Prayer is not lost And they are these two things each of which distinguishes that which in Religion we call Prayer and Thanksgiving from asking benefits of one another and giving thanks for benefits received that the latter supposes a limited power the former an absolute power over all things and is expressed very often by desiring such things of God as he only can bestow And again when we ask fit things of one another it is within the lines of civil communication by speaking if present by messages if absent but when we speak to God we speak to an invisible Being whom we therefore acknowledge to be every-where present And in these two things that is in Prayer and Thanksgiving or to include both in one expression in Religious Invocation the Substance of Divine Worship consists and all other instances of it may be reduced to this Thus it is an Act of Divine Worship to dedicate or set apart Places for Prayer and Thanksgiving for the erecting of Houses for the Service of an invisible Being is an acknowledgment of his Omnipresence no less then calling upon him there Thus bodily Adoration Bowing Kneeling or Prostrating are Acts of Divine Worship also when they are paid to an invisible Being because they too suppose the presence of it every-where to receive those outward Honours and to take notice of them And all this together is that which we call the immediate Worship of God because it is all an address or application to him This is what we commonly mean by Religious Worship though in a larger sence all Piety may be so called and he that obeys God in all things worships him because he makes an effectual acknowledgment of all the Divine Attributes 2. Since we know what it is to worship God nothing should be more easie than to understand that other Rule mainly intended in the words of the Text That God only is to be worshipped Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him ONLY shalt thou serve i. e. Infinite Perfection is to be attributed to him only Infinite Knowledge or Power or Goodness or Presence or Dominion is to be ascribed to him only he only is to be loved and reverenced and trusted in above all things and to be absolutely obeyed to him alone we are to perform those Acts of Worship which imply any part of that acknowledgment and therefore to none but him are Religious Supplications and Intercessions with Thanksgivings to be offered besides him no other invisible Being ought to be addressed unto by us To him only we are to pay those bodily Adorations of Kneeling Bowing and Falling-down which are properly Religious that is which accompany and go along with Prayer or Thanksgiving or any acknowledgment of a Divine Perfection we are to give to no other Being in the World that outward Worship which by all the circumstances of it is Religious or a signification of the least Divine Honour Upon these grounds I intend