Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	branch_n	grow_v	leaf_n	1,875	5	9.3763	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30574	An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth, & tenth chapters of the prophesy of Hosea being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhil, London / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the seventh book published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682.	1650 (1650)	Wing B6070B; ESTC R36308	388,238	512

might be another in thy family or place that might bring forth fruit to God but thou hinderest God might have more Rent as I may so say for all his possessions in the world the great Rent is the fruit that the Church brings forth in Cant. 8. 11. it is said that Solomon let out his Vineyard and it brought him in a thousand pieces of Silver for the fruit of it And God he lets out his Vinyard and his Rent I say it is the fruit that the Saints bring forth to him What glory hath God in the world if those that profess themselves to be his people should be empty 8. God doth not let us sit under empty Vines our Vines they have bin fruitful Vines shall we then be empty Vines our selves 9. The Lord hath justly struck this Vine here in England and our Vine bleeds it bleeds and is in danger to bleed to death and what though it doth it hath brought forth little fruit and therefore it 's just with God that he should let this Vine even bleed now to death 10. According to the greatness of the opportunities that any man hath or any society of men so is the greatness of the evil of emptiness Oh! now to be empty when God puts great opportunities of great service into our hands now to be empty when God expects great services Oh! it is the most vile thing of all Oh my brethren that we were but sensible of this But if this be an evil thing to be empty than what is it to bring forth the Grapes of Sodom and the Clusters of Gomorrah to bring forth the Wine of the Gall of Asps wild Grapes And yet a great deal of such fruit there hath been brought forth And truly the fruit that most men have brought forth now they are wild Grapes at the best If men do any thing yet they do so mingle the vanity of prid the sowreness of their own spirits the rigedness of their own nature with what they do that all is but sowr before God Well To conclude this about the emptiness of the Vine Oh! let us prize fruitfulness more and say as the Vine that is brought in in the 9 th of Judges Shall I leave my Wine which cheereth God and man and go and reign over you Oh so Shall we leave our fruitfulness upon any earthly advantage in the world Let us account it a greater advantage to bring forth much fruit to the glory of God than to glory in any earthly advantage No matter what becomes of us so we may be but fruitful though God dung us though he cast all the filth and reproaches in the world upon us yet if God will make this but cause us to be fruitful it is no great matter But further from the manner of the Phrase Israel is a Vine emptying its self That is an aggravation of emptiness when we empty our selves when God is not wanting to us in means but we are the Cause of it And what is the cause of emptiness but the emptying out our strength and spirits to our lusts and the world No mervail though we have no fruit for God and strength in his service when we let out all to other things And the old Latin here turns it A leavie vine And the Seventy they have it A Vine that brings forth goodly branches And yet it 's said here empty that is all the strength and juyce of it is let out in the goodliness of the branches and leaves Oh! so many Professors in these daies they empty out all their strength that they have and all their parts meerly into leaves and have goodly branches make goodly outward profession and goodly words they give and will speak much of Religion but nothing but leaves nothing but words all this while Pliny in his 17. Book and 22. Chapter saith of Vines that it is fit at least for two years together after their planting that they should be cut down to the very ground that they may not sprout out in leaves and so to lose their juyce and strength at the root And truly this is that that hath lost the hopeful beginnings of many yong people in these times they have presently sprouted out into leaves for never was there a more hopeful time of yong people than at the beginning of this Parliament and no greater encouragement was there than from them at that time I will not say it is wholly lost but Oh! how many of them that began to understand the waies of God hath let out all their strength in leaves and contests and disputes and wranglings and strange kind of opinions and little fruit is come of any thing Nay there is little savor at all in their spirits Oh! how happy had it been if so be that God had kept them down in a work of humiliation to the very ground for a yeer or two together Now that 's a thing that is altogether laid aside any work of humiliation but presently they sprout out into leaves My Brethren whatsoever may be said or whatsoevee heretofore hath seem'd to be preached to the contrary yet certainly if rightly understood hath been but the same things that must of necessity be acknowledged we do not press Humiliation as the Condition of the Covenant of Grace we look not at it so but Humiliation keeps the spirits of men low and empties them of themselves and keeps them down I say this is that which would have made them a great deal more fruitful and they could not have run up as meer leaves and their strength spent and so how many of them are fallen off again not only to be slight and vain but to be wicked and ungodly and quite naught because they were not kept down low for a while but God ordering things that they should live in times of liberty Oh! how luxurious have they grown that way When God lets a people grow rank and prunes them not they quickly grow barren We had never so many rank Christians as we have at this day that grow out in luxurious branches and they think they have over-topt all because they can talk more than others do when as there are some poor Christians that grow low to the ground and when they get a little comfort it is gone away from them presently and they walk humbly before God and no body takes notice of them but are despised and contemned O! these will grow and be delightful to the pallate of God when such rank professors as these shall wither and be cast out The pruned Vines bring forth the best fruit and therefore that 's observable compare Isa 5. with the 27. there 's a Note very observable In the 5. Chapter God complains of his Vinyard that he lookt for Grapes and they brought forth wild Grapes but there the Prophet speaks of the time before the Captivity but in the 27. Chapter there is a

be Righteousness Equity and Justice as it 's expected behold instead of this there spings up a crop of Oppression Vnrighteousness and Injustice that is bitter as Hemlock I rather think that this must be the meaning because I find that in divers Scriptures Injustice is compared to bitter things yea to Hemlock its self in Amos 5. 7. Ye turn Judgment to Wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the Earth And in Amos 6. 12. Shall Horses run upon the Rock will one plow there with Oxen I will not stand to open the former text but you see the Scripture charges the people by this expression of sinning against Judgment and Righteousness that they turned it to Hemlock Now I find three things especially recorded of this herb First It is a very venimous herb therefore I find Pliny records of it in his 25. Book 13. Chap. of Natural History that the Athenians did use to give this to malefactors that were condemn'd to die to execute them withal And Socrates that was so wise a man among them yet he because he did not yield to their gods but spake against their false gods therefore they judged him to die and he must drink a potion of Hemlock and so died And Secondly I find the same Author saith of it that the leaves are somewhat like to Coriander but that they be more tender and a strong stinking smel they have with them and the seeds like to Annis And so Justice seems to have a very fair pretence sometimes and may seem to do things that are very good under very fair pretences men are very injust the leaves when they come up one would think there should be such a fine fruit one would think to have Coriander or Annis but the truth is it comes to Hemlock at last And then the third thing is that which Hierom reports of it and it is in his Comment upon my text he saith that Hemlock grows up very stiff and full of joynts and at the joynts he saith it puts forth a stalk and that doth not only sprout upwards and bear fruit but downwards to have a root he saith that every branch If it hath but a joynt in it will serve instead of a seed yea every sprig of it will serve instead of seed yea he saith if any pieces falls to the ground It wil grow up and so grow up as that it will be very hard to rid the ground of it And truly thus it doth resemble Injustice if it be let alone but a little Oh how it multiplies one to another and spreads through the whol Land quickly And Pliny doth observe many other things too he saith that the root of it is hollow and that 's unfit for any use at all and so are the hearts of those that are injust hollow hearts and unfit for any thing And also he saith that the leaves are fit for swellings and against sore eyes And God doth turn even the injustice that is many times among a people to be medicines to his people against their swellings and to open their sore eyes And he saith That if Hemlock be drank in Wine it will certainly kill a man and there is no remedy So if men shall be Injust and take delight in it and take pleasure in it and scorn and contemn at those that they can oppress by Injustice those men are in a desperate condition indeed And then lastly he doth observe by this Herb that it kils by cold those that takes the leaves or seeds if they get the mastery of any they shall feel themselves begin to was cold in their inward parts and so die inwardly Oh! how many who have been very hot and zealous yet having gotten power into their hands they have unrighteously used their power they have grown cold in what they were formerly zealous in and still they grow colder and colder and thus their unrighteousness is like to prove to be their death In the furrows of the field Calvin puts this Question Why doth he not say it springs up in the field but in the furrows of the field And he gives this Answer to it Where there are furrows in the field there hath the plow come that hath broken up the field and it is to prepare for good seed when the field is laid in furrows and it 's less tollerable for Hemlock to spring up there than in the field that is not plowed or in other places But when a field is plowed and prepared for seed and one would hope to have much advantage by his field to have much Justice and Righteousness in a Country when we see there hath been great works of God to cast out those that were injust before and the expectation of all the people is that certainly now there will be nothing but Righteousness and Judgment but instead of that comes up Injustice and Oppression as Hemlock it springeth up in such a field that is so prepared for Justice Oh! this is that which is a sore evil that the Lord is so provoked against and so complains of that Judgment springeth up as Hemlock in the furrows of the field Thus Judgment springeth up as Hemlock in the furrows of the field What the meaning of Hemlock in the furrows of the field is you have heard already From whence the Note is this That People is in a sad condition and it is a sign the Lord hath forsaken them that they are neer ruin when those places where there is most likelihood of Justice and Equity that there should be Injustice and Oppression Oppression and Injustice in places where God expects Righteousness and Equity is a sad Omen a forerunner of great evil to places It 's Gods complaint in Isa 5. Just before he threatned the utter spoiling of his Vinyard he gives this reason I saith he looked that it should bring forth Grapes and behold it brought forth wild Grapes and he mentions among the wild Grapes Injustice there it 's call'd wild Grapes as Hemlock here for both are very sowr and bitter before the Lord Injustice in places from whence Justice may be expected is by the Lord accounted a most fearful a ruining sin In Amos 5. 12. I know saith the Lord your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins Now the word that is translated mighty sins it is in the Hebrew your Boney sins because the strength of a man it is in his bones and therefore he calls the strength of that sin boney it is a very strong sin it cannot easily be resisted your sins have great bones in them saith he and what are they You afflict the Just you take a Bribe that you may turn away the poor in the gate from their right that 's their great and their mighty sins In Jer. 22. 15. Did not thy Father do Judgment and Justice and then it was well with him He judged the Cause of