Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	fruit_n	good_a	seed_n	4,166	5	8.2531	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03507	The safegard of the soule Declaring sundry soueraigne salues tending to the comfort and saluation of the same: very necessarie to bee learned and obserued of all men, and at all times, but chiefely in the extremitie of sicknes, and grieuous pangs of death. Composed by Lawrence Bankes, preacher of the word of God: and parson of Staunton, in the county of Glocester.	Bankes, Lawrence.	1619 (1619)	STC 1363; ESTC S114914	78,218	435

instruction in holy Scriptures Indeede this I must needs confesse that no kinde of crosse bee it of minde or body is simply on our parts to be wished because it is grieuous to flesh and bloud and not delightfull to the minde of man And yet notwithstanding such crosses and calamities are dayly to be expected of the godly and when they come patiently to be suffered without either murmuring or grudging against God that sendeth them or against man that offereth them Alwayes perswading our selues that they come not vnto vs by chance or fortune but by Gods diuine prouidence and permission who will not suffer one hayre of our heads to perish neither permit vs to be 1. Cor. 10. 13. tempted aboue our strength And therefore we may assure our selues in all our afflictions and tryals that GOD hath some good worke in hand the end whereof shall at last turne to our great ioy and comfort For we must weigh and consider with our selues that God our heauenly Father sendeth vs sundry crosses for sundry causes Sometime to set forth his glory might and Maiestie that hee may bee knowne to be a God Sometime to punish our former sinnes and thereby to call vs to repentance Sometime to keepe vs lest we fall into sinne and so forget God and this is good for vs. Sometime to try our faith and patience whether we be true or falseharted whether wee will cleaue vnto him or shrink from him And therefore in the middest of our aduersities our Sauior Christ doth comfort vs saying By your patience possesse your Luke 21. 19. soules that is Be of good comfort faint not but liue cheerefully vnder the crosse let patience bee a plaister for euery wound and a soueraigne salue for euery fore It seemeth that the Apostle Saint Paul was of the same minde in his experienced griefe where he saith Wee reioyce in tribulations Rom. 5. 3. knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience and patience experience and experience loue And therefore in his greatest perils by Land and by Sea at home and abroad yea euen when hee was whipped beaten stoned and cast into Prison he reioyced greatly So the 2. Cor. 11. 24. Apostles being beaten reioyce that they were counted worthy to suffer rebuke for Christs name Act. 5. 41. Therefore Cast not away Heb. 10. 35 your confidence which hath great recompence of reward 36 For yee haue neede of patience that after ye haue done the will of God ye might receiue the Promise For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Christ neuer commeth empty-handed Come he soone come he late he bringeth his Fathers blessing with him for all his louing children which patiently beare the rod of his correction And therefore happy is that seruant whose manners his Master amendeth while hee remaineth in this life that hee may be blessed in the life to come For our God is a plentifull rewarder of the patient if thou sustaine iniury he is a reuenger of wrong if thou sustaine losse he is a restorer of right if thou sustaine sicknes he is a skilfull Physician if thou suffer death he can raise thee vp to life Yea this patience is such a Noble Vertue that it fenceth our Faith preserueth Peace increaseth Loue helpeth Humilitie moueth Repentance ruleth the Flesh reuiueth the Spirit brideleth the Tongue refraineth the hand comforteth the poore and stayeth the rich of enemies it maketh friends it heapeth vp coales vpon their heads conuerteth their hatred into loue For we reade of cruell and wicked Tyrants who beholding the force of patience in the godly haue presently turned to God and forsaken their crueltie Lactantius maketh mention of one Tyrant which persecuted three Christians who when he beheld and saw their constancie and patience that they feared no punishment but meekly suffred torment he presently vowed said Et ego Christianus ero that is I will become a Christian also In like manner Nebuchadnezzar seeing the Faith Constancie and Patience of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fierie furnace that they would not bee forced to worship his feigned and false god Bel hee was sodainely moued to blesse and praise the liuing God and say Blessed bee the God Dan. 3. 28. of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who hath sent his Angell and deliuered his Seruants that put their trust in him and haue changed the Kings commandement and yeelded their bodies rather then they would serue or worship any god saue their owne God Thus also the Vulgar sort when they see men torne in pieces with diuers kinde of torments as Whipping Racking Hanging Burning c. willingly to take their death yea and to wearie their Tormentors and Hangmen with their inuincible patience they are of the same minde that some were who beholding our Sauiour Christs end said Verily this was Mat. 27. 54. the Sonne of God So they seeing the patience constancie of these men are moued in their conscience to think as well they may that neither the consent of so many men neither the patience and constancie of those that dye is in vaine and that they were neuer able to ouercome such paine except God himselfe were with them for Traitors Murtherers Theeues and Malefactors neither can nor will abide such torment if by any meanes they may escape it But they cry they mourne they fret they fume they sweare they rage they blaspheme God and reuile men They despayre and are swallowed vp of sorrow Contrariwise the godly endure all aduersitie patiently and that with boldnes contemning the punishment threatnings of cruell tyrants resigning and committing themselues to God who in the middest of our misery sheweth most mercie Therefore the more wee are tryed by aduersitie the purer we are The more the Gold is beaten the better it is The more the iron is rubbed with the fyle the brighter it is The more the corneis threshed and fanned the cleerer it is So the more that God tryeth vs in the furnace of tribulation the more hee loueth vs and the more we glorifie him A Vessell if it be foule must bee scowred before Wine be put in it and be that will make his ground fruitfull must first pull vp the weedes before hee sowe good seede Euen so by these sharpe medicines of Gods correction must the body be purged that the mind may bring forth her due fruit in feare and reuerence The good Corne for a time lyeth vnder the Chaffe Flowers grow among weedes and the sweet Rose that smelleth commeth vp with the sharpe Thorne that pricketh So the godly for a time are kept vnder and vexed with the wicked and oftentimes God doth more punish them with pouertie paine and sicknes then he doth the wicked weeds of the world but all this is for out good to make vs more obedient in dutie towards his Maiestie And therfore all these crosses and losses are patiently of our parts to bee suffred as