Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	faith_n	scripture_n	spirit_n	3,116	5	6.3634	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75493	An apologetick for the sequestred clergie of the Church of England. Disclaiming and detesting the late unnatural, presumptuous, unparallel'd and antichristian proceedings, against the honor and life of the best of Kings, our most dear and dread sovereign Lord and King, St Charls the martyr. / Communicated in a letter to a religious and loial gentleman, his honored friend.		1649 (1649)	Wing A3537; Thomason E554_7; ESTC R205760	14,269	25

was this much to them who well remembred that it behoved them to follow the High-Priest of our Profession who was thus consecrated by sufferings They were 1 Stoned they were 2 Sawn asunder were 3 Tempted were 4 Slain with the Sword So was the Proto-martyr 1. St Stephan the Prophet 2. Isaiah the Patriarch 3. Job and 4. Zachariah the Priest the Father of the Baptist They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins beeing destitute afflicted tormented Their glories were within their garments mean and suitable to their habitations For they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth Of whom the world was not worthie And wherefore this quo oculo For they had a respect unto the recompense of the reward that they might receiv a glorious Resurrection And are these the prizes of our Sufferings These were enough to sweeten bitterness it self to make them welcom Death to hug the Cross to embrace the Flames Indeed wee have not drunk so deep as they in the bitter Cup of Gall and Vineger Wee dare not saie Our Sufferings equal Theirs in the degrees or qualitie of torments They were more noble and exceeded us triumphing in their Chariots of Fire dallying with Lions and the cruel beasts less cruel then their persecuting Masters singing upon the Gridirons and Racks of exquisite and new-invented Tortures tiring the malice of inhumane Butchers with an undanted Christian resolution with a victorious Faith and Patience spitting defiance in the face of Crueltie pregnant with Heathen wit and arm'd with power These were the great excesses of those Worthies who knew no other Arms but these besides their Praiers and Tears to fight with and to conquer a world of Tyrants and of Infidels These things did those mightie men Did so wee said for sure they were not counted Sufferings which were thus courted and embraced by them Such were the Leaders in the glorious Armie of the Martyrs Nor have they wanted honorable followers in all the Ages of the Christian Church Who though they did not wade so deep in the Red Sea of Blood yet marched after in their Liveries of Stripes of Bonds and Persecutions the lesser marks of the Lord JESVS the Captain both of Suffering and Salvation The difference of whose glorious reward accidental perhaps but not substantial an Aureola to one to one a Crown will bee abundantly made up and reconciled in the blessed fellowship of Saints and Angels and the eternal fruition of Christ and God to the full completing of the greatest Hope and the assurance given by S. Paul That the light afflictions which are but for a moment shall work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Hyperbolical expression for an Hyperbolical reward a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glorie Indeed wee dare not compare our selvs to these nor make our selvs of their member who were the glorie of their times It will bee joie enough for us if wee can saie Sequimur Patres though wee bee forced to add non passibue aequit Shee did what shee could was to our comfort compead a good Plea by Christ and justified in Marie Magdalen Wee dare not nay wee need not plead the rigor and intensness of our Sufferings for bee they more or less by Sword or Fire by Death or by beeing but Undon Wee are accepted according to that which wee have not that which wee have not But if anie question the Justness of our Cause a righteous Cause if ever anie or doubt of the Intention and Preparation of our Souls Quocunque Dens to follow whither God shall pleas to call us Wee speak foolishly but wee speak it with S. Paul Whereinsoever anie dare bee bold wee dare bee hold also Are they Christians even so are wee Are they true Sons of the Church of England even so are wee Have they suffered for righteousness sake even so have wee Are they the Ministers of Christ wee speak as fools wee are more In Labers more abundant in stripes above measure in Prisons more froquent in deaths oft If wee must needs glorie wee will glorie in the things which concern our afflictions The Plunderings Sequestrations Imprisonment Banishment Death of thousands endured by us with so much Patience Meekness and Heroïck Courage Our Constancie and Perseverance in this fierie Trial still holding our Integritie and blessing God in the loss of all save Faith and a good Conscience are evidence enough to God and Man that wee cannot but detest such high impietie which striking so immediatly at the Sacred Person of the King God's Vicar upon Earth will mediately bee found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strike at God Himself But becaus the foulest Fiend somtime put 's on the fairest Vizard and the Prince of Darkness hath been often known to transform himself into an Angel of Light the furious Donatists cried out of Persecution and in a frantick Zeal and mad Devotion ventured upon swords and flames pretending the Religion of a Holie Cause as here their younger Brethren did and do to warrant their unjustifiable Actions Groundless suspitions may bee rais'd of us our Innocencie may bee counted a Malefactor and our verie Sufferings may suffer But if Causa non Paena facit Martyrem bee a truth and ever taken so to bee by men of all Perswasions and Professions wee shall not doubt to own our Sufferings and justifie Our selvs and Them by the prescription of a Righteous Cause Indeed wee cannot see by their New Lights which seem to us more black then the Egyptian Darkness Their Revelations are Obscurities and their Apocalyps Apocrypha Wee dare not give our Faith to their Pretensions wee dare not trust their Spirit without Trial since wee have found it to the woful disturbance of Christendom run cross and contradictorie to the Holie Faith which was consigned to the Catholick Church in the undoubted Records and infallible volumes of the Sacred Scripture which upon better and more certain grounds then the Laws of the Medes and Persians have the highest privilege and honor as dictated by the Spirit of Truth to bee unalterable Wee know ndeed that God spake in them as for these men wee know not whence they are It is another Spirit they pretend It is another JESVS whom they Preach It is another GOD whom they Adore The Holie Spirit wee know JESUS wee know and GOD wee know But who are these If we may pass a judgment by their works and Christ will warrant us by His Ex fructibus You shall know them by their fruits They are not Sheep but Wolvs not Doves but Vultures not what they call themselvs the Meek the Saints They speak their Father and his works they do who was a Serpent is a roaring Lion who having managed the highest Treason against his supreme Lord and Sovereign the King of Heaven and Earth not onely engaged many of his fellow-subjects in that grand Rebellion but hath ever since made it his work to disturb all Kingdoms but

flung the dirt of this detestable action in the face of their somtime Brethren now cruel persecuting Enemies Wee have read indeed SIR the Vindications which have com forth from som particular Members and from som Bodies or as they love to speak som Classes of them Wee cannot but approve and saie Amen to their abhorrence of so traiterous an Attempt But when wee weigh the grounds they go upon their voluntarie Oaths and Covenants of which wee may well ask Quis requisivit What Law of God or Man required them When wee remember not a word or argument urged by them from their former Legal Oath of Allegiance to their Undoubted Sovereign as if there had been no tie or obligation upon their Souls till that accursed thing the Covenant came out to the disturbance of Three Kingdoms When wee consider that their chiefest Motives are drawn from their Implicit Faith of the pretended so they now appear Professions Protestations and Declarations of the Gentlemen at Westminster to bee very tender of the Rights Honor and Life of their Sovereign and to make Him a Glorious King and so indeed they have by Suffering when wee reflect upon the Rise and grounds first laid and still persted in by them which infallibly begat that fatal stroke which was given immediatly indeed by other hands but consequentially by theirs For if it bee resolved in point of Law that there are no Accessories but all are Principals in high Treason no question they have as much to answer for that bound the Hands as they that cut off the Head of His Sacred Majestie When wee consider these and many more which highly aggravate their guilt wee cannot think them so innocent and free from participation in that horrid crime of shedding the pretious blood of our Blessed Sovereign but that they are insinitely beholden to the Pardon and Praiers of the highest Charitie That God would not impute His blood to them further then to convince them what need they have of Christ's blood to wash their souls from the guilt of shedding His. In confidence of the efficacie of which praier as wee hope they will at last perceive their Error and upon sight thereof bee pricked at the hearts and bring forth the worthie fruits of Penance so wee shall with a willing minde imitate the Father of the Prodigal bee readie to entertein them with the embraces of peace and to salute them with the holie kiss of Charitie In the interim the cold or no-reception of them who had gon so far along with these Usurpers was such a cooling-card so poor an encouragement to us who are look'd upon as altogether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and wholly opposite to their destructive Grounds Waie and End that wee thought it wisdom to sit down and weep by these waters of Babylon as despairing of any sutable entertainment or probabilitie of good success Especially when being lately warned that the charitable service offered in the Humble Address of our Reverend and Learned Brother was either not accepted or not regarded wee had too great reason to conclude that the light of Nature beeing wholly extinguished and the Bowels of Christian Charitie as their Brother Judas's gushed out all further Counsels or ghostlie admonitions would bee but giving Holie things to Dogs or casting Pearls to Swine Thus SIR wee have at last discharg'd our thoughts into your charitable bosom and hope that one or all of these will set us right in the good opinion of all Judicious honest men Yet as wee cannot but acknowledg with all thankfulness your great favour and tender respect in the communication of your fears lest our honor or Conscience should bee thought to lie too open to the unreasonable descants of censorious and ill-affected men so we must ever think our selvs bound to your goodness as for your own charitable construction of us so for giving us this opportunitie of discovering our sense and judgment which as wee have hitherto cum bono Deo attested by our Sufferings and still shall God assisting us with our Lives and which is dearer to us with our Souls so wee trust this free and publick Declaration will for the future preclude and stop up the way of all uncharitable surmises and confront the least suspitions of our approbation and compliance and confirm in you a fair construction not onely of our Profession but of our Sufferings which wee beseech you to believ wee are so far from thinking much of or repining at that on the contrarie wee cannot but rejoice and triumph in them as our greatest honor and our Crown esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the threasures of this world and glorying with the Apostles that wee were counted worthie to suffer for His Name in the Profession of our Faith Dutie and Allegiance to the Best of Kings our late most Dear and glorious Sovereign St CHARLS the MARTYR Nomen Ejus in benedictionibus Usque quò Domine usque quò TERTULLIANUS CHristianus nullius est hostis nedum Imperatoris quem sciens à Deo suo constitui necesse est ut ipsum diligat revereatur honoret salvum velit Colimus ergo Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit ut hominem à Deo secundum quicquid est à Deo consecutum solo Deo minorem Hoc Ipse volet Sic enim omnibus major est dum solo vero Deo minor est Sic ipsis Diis major est dum ipsi in potestate sunt Ejus Itaque sacrificamus pro salute Imperatoris sed Deo nostro Ipsius sed quomodo praecepit Deus purâ prece ad Scapulam parag 2. Nos pro salute Imperatoris Deum invocamus aeternum Deum verum Deum vivum quem Ipsi Imperatores propitium sibi praeter caeteros malunt sciunt quis Illis dederit Imperium sciunt quâ homines quis animam Sentiunt eum esse Deum solum in cujus solius potestate sunt à quo sunt secundi post quem primi ante omnes super omnes Deos. Illius Ipse cujus coelum omnis creatura Indè est Imperator unde homo antè quàm Imperator indè potestas Illi unde spiritus Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus denique sine monitore quia de pectore oramus pro omnibus Imperatoribus vitam Illis prolixam Imperium securum Domum tutam Exercitus fortes Senatum fidelem Populum probum Orbem quietum quaecunque hominis Caesaris vota sunt Hoc agite boni Praesides extorquete animam Deo supplicantem pro Imperatore Apol. parag 30. FINIS