Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	hear_v	receive_v	word_n	3,147	5	5.3302	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31997	The Godly mans ark, or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore : the other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation : hereunto are annexed Mris. [sic] Moores evidences for heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness / by Ed. Calamy ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1658 (1658)	Wing C248; ESTC R22111	99,589	306

that hee found rest no where nisi in angulo cum libello but in a corner with this book in his hand And what is said of Beza that when hee was above fourscore years old hee could say perfectly by heart any Greek Chapter in Pauls Epistles You that are women consider what Hierom saith of Paula Eustochiam and other Ladies who were singularly versed in the holy Scriptures Let all men consider that hyperbolical speech of Luther That hee would not live in Paradise without the VVord and with it hee could live well enough in Hell This speech of Luthers must bee understood Cum gran● salis Quest. May not a wicked man delight in the VVord of God Is it not said of Herod Mark 6. 20. that hee heard John Baptist gladly and of the stony ground Luke 8. 13. that it received the Word with joy Is it not said of the Israelites remaining wicked that they delighted to know Gods wayes and took delight in approaching to God Isa. 58. 2. and of the Iews Joh. 5. 35. that they were willing for a season to rejoyce in the Light held forth by the preaching of John Baptist Answ. There is a wide and vast difference between the joy and delight which a true Saint takes in Gods Word and that which may bee found in an hypocrite 1 The delight of a godly man is orderly and seasonable It is the consequent of conviction and humiliation For though Ioy bee the great work of the Spirit yet it is not the first work First The Spirit by the Word convinceth and humbleth and then comforteth therefore Christ saith Mat. 5. 4. Blessed are those that mourn for they shall bee comforted and David saith Psal. 126. 5. They that ●ow in tears shall reap in joy But the joy of an hypocrite is unseasonable and disorderly It is his first work It is said of the stony ground that when they heard the word they received it immediately with gladness Mark 4. 16. It is not said they received it first with sorrow and then with gladness Here is mention of joy without any antecedent humiliation Nay the Text saith expresly Luke 8. 6. it lacked moisture and therefore it withered away There are many Professors in our dayes that skip from sin to joy at first that all in an instant are in the highest form of sin and in the highest form of comfort that skip out of the lap of the Devil into the lap of joy These are as the stony ground These are wanton Christians They sow before they plough They know not the bitterness of sin and therefore in time of temptation fall away 2 The delight that a godly ma● takes in the Word is a well-rooted delight It is rooted in an humble good and honest heart as is said of the good ground Luke 8. 15. But the delight of an hypocrite is shallow and superficial as his graces are sleight and formal so are his delights Therefore it is said of the seed that fell upon the stony ground that it had no root Luke 8. 13. and Matth. 13. 5. it wanted depth of earth and therefore when the Sun arose it was scorched The Apostle hints this Heb. 6. 4. and have tasted the good Word of God The delight of a wicked man in the Word is but a tasting and sipping no soaking a floating a loft in the River of Christs blood no diving down to the bottome A man may taste a thing and not like it taste and like it and yet not come up to the price of it as the young man Matth. 19. 22. Hee was very desirous to injoy eternal life but hee would not part with his possessions for the obtaining of it A Cook tasteth of the meat hee dresseth but they onely that are invited eat of it Tasting doth not imply habitual grace A man may taste that which hee never digesteth nor concocteth The Israelites tasted of the first fruits of the Land of Canaan and yet did not enter into Canaan Such is the joy of the hypocrite It is outward and superficial But the delight of a true Saint is inward solid and substantial Ieremy saith that the Word of God was the joy and rejoycing of his heart and that hee did eat it Ier. 15. 16. hee did not onely taste it but eat it And Paul saith Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inner man His delights had depth of earth they were well digested and concocted 3 It is superlative and over-topping A godly man delighteth more in God and his Word than in any worldly thing whatsoever Lord lift thou up saith David Psal. 4. 6 7. the light of thy countenance upon us thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased So also Psal. 43. 4. Unto God my exceeding joy Psal. 137. 6. If I prefer not Ierusalem above my chief joy And Psal. 119. 72. 127. The delight of a Saint in Gods Word over-toppeth all his creature-delights and injoyments and for the joy hee findes in it hee will sell all hee hath to purchase it Mat. 13. 44. But the joy of a wicked man is of an inferiour nature hee rejoyceth more in Corn Wine and Oyl c. And when it comes into competition hee will leave his spiritual and heavenly rather than lose his creature and carnal pleasures Thus Herod rejoyced in the word that Iohn Baptist preached but hee rejoyced more in his Herodias and when it came to the trial hee chose to behead Iohn Baptist rather than to part with Herodias The stony ground when persecution arose parted with all its joy and faith rather than it would lose its estate or life As a godly man rejoyceth in worldly things as though hee rejoyced not 1 Cor. 7. 30. So a wicked man rejoyceth in spiritual things as though hee rejoyced not In the old Law those Fowls that did both flye and swimme were unclean A wicked man would many times flye aloft in spiritual delights but hee would also bathe himself and swimme in carnal pleasures and his heart is more affected with worldly advancement and bodily recreations than with heavenly and this is a sign that hee is an unclean Christian and that his delights in God and his Word are not right because they are not overtopping and superlative 4 It is powerful and soul-strengthening full of life vigour and activity it will inable the soul to do and suffer any thing for God it turns a Prison into a Paradise it makes Martyrdome to bee as a bed of Roses it is Armour of proof to steel us and make us fit to indure Afflictions both for God and from God therefore David saith in the Text Unless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in mine Affliction His delight in the Law supported him from sinking It is like Oyl to the Wheels like Sails to the Ship and wings to the bird but the delight that a wicked man hath

in the Word is a powerless dead fruitless and strengthless delight It is as a paper Helmet and a painted fire it will not support him in the hour of adversity The persons represented by the stony ground fell away notwithstanding their joy as soon as ever persecution arose for the Gospel But the joy of a true Saint is soul-supporting and soul-upholding The joy in the Lord is their strength Neh. 8. 10. 5 The delight that a godly man hath in the Word is sin-excluding It cannot consist with a delight in any sin therefore David saith Psal. 119. 11. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sinne against thee Sinne is as a wooden window to shut out the true joyes of the Spirit But now a wicked man though hee may delight in the Word yet hee also delights in sinning against the Word Although Herod heard Iohn Baptist gladly yet hee kept his Herodias and though the Israelites delighted to know Gods wayes yet they did not delight to walk in his wayes They were as a Nation that did righteousness hee doth not say they were such but quasi gens c. as a Nation that did righteousness And though they delighted to approach to God yet they did not delight to obey that God before whom they approached they took pleasure in sinning against God as well as in serving of God Isa. 58. It was not a sin-excluding joy and therefore it was false and counterfeit 6 It is grace-increasing The more a Saint delights in the Word of God the more careful hee will bee to obey the Will of God and to grow and increase in the grace of God therefore David saith Psal. 119. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies for I love them exceedingly And Psal. 40. 8. I delight to doe thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart because the Law was written in his heart therefore hee delighted to doe it Hee that delights to keep Gods Law God will give him more grace to keep it according to that remarkable text Psal. 119. 55 56. I have remembred thy Name O Lord and have kept thy Law this I had because I have kept thy Precepts What had David for keeping Gods Precepts Hee had power to keep his Law that is to grow and increase in keeping of it As the Prophet Hos. 6. 3. speaks of the knowledge of God Then shall wee know if wee follow on to know the Lord that is if wee industriously labour to know God wee shall have this reward to bee made able to know him more So may I say of the grace of God Hee that delights to keep Gods Law shall have this reward to bee inabled to keep it more perfectly A true delight in Gods Word is Grace increasing Grace is the Mother of all true joy Isa. 32. 17. and joy is as the Daughter and the Mother and Daughter live and dye together True spiritual delight ebbs and flows as grace ebbs and flows As the wood is to the fire oyl to the flame the shadow to the body so is joy to grace Quantum cres●is in gratiâ tantum dilatâr is in fiduciâ But now a wicked man though hee may have a kinde of delight in Gods word yet it is not a delight of the right kinde It doth not argue that hee hath true grace in him An hypocrite is all joy and no grace a Giant in joy and not so much as a dwarf in grace like a green bough tyed to a dead tree Hee is in the highest form of joy and not so much as in the lowest form of grace 7 The delight that a godly man hath in the word is not onely a delight in spiritual things but a spiritual delight grounded upon spiritual aimes and reasons But the delight of a wicked man though it bee in spiritual things yet it is but a natural delight As a godly man spiritualizeth carnal things so an ungodly man carnalizeth spiritual things Austin before his conversion rejoyced much to hear Ambrose preach but it was because of his eloquence as hee saith not upon a spiritual account A wicked man may follow a Preacher and delight in his preaching because of his elegant words and Rhetorical expressions because hee is unto him as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce c. as it is Ezek. 33. 32. Or out of novelty because newly come as the Israelites delighted in Manna at first but afterwards loathed it or because hee loves his person or out of a desire to obtain a form of knowledge in heavenly things The Pharis●es delighted to do many spiritual things out of vain-glory Iehu delighted to do the will of God but it was for his owne ends Pauci quaerunt Iesum propter Iesum Stella is of opinion that the Devil perswaded Herod to hear Iohn Baptist gladly and to reverence him and to do many things that so hee might hold him the faster in his possession The Devil had him sure by one sin and therefore hee provoked him to do some good things that so hee might rock him asleep in presumption and by his good things hee might quiet his conscience and put a fair gloss upon his incestuous practices A man may rejoyce in spiritual things upon sinful grounds and reasons But now a true Saint delights in the word upon a spiritual account because it is Gods word and God would have him delight in it because it is his guide to glory the way by which he is sanctified It is both concha canalis A Cistern to contain the glorious mysteries of salvation and a Conduit to convey God and grace into his soul. In a word hee delights in it because it is holy and pure hee can say with David Psal. 119. 140. Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it This no wicked man can truly say 8 The delight that a godly man takes in the word is without any reservation or distinction Hee delights in the whole word of God in the commanding and threatning word as well as in the promising word he beholds God and his wisdome and goodness in every verse and therefore hee can say with Hezekiah Isa. 39. 8. Good is the Word of the Lord. Hee hath the whole Law written in his heart and rejoyceth in every tittle of it But a wicked man hath his reservations and distinctions hee may delight in the promising word but hee undervalues the commanding word and turneth a deaf ear to the threatning word It is said of the Iews that they rejoyced in the light of John Baptist but it is not said They rejoyced in his heat Hee was a burning and a shining Light they rejoyced in his shining but not in his burning It is hardly possible for a wicked man remaining wicked to rejoyce in the burning zeal holiness and strictness of a Iohn Baptist. But a godly man delighteth both in the light and heat of the word 9 It is an abiding delight 2