Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	bring_v	good_a	see_v	1,546	5	3.3026	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61898	For the king and both houses of Parliament who are desired to read over this following treatise and in the fear and wisdom of the pure holy God to consider, and lay to heart what is contained therein and in tender bowels of compassion to repair the great breaches that are made all over the nation : and to grant a speedy redress, now, while it is in your power / given forth in the spirit of love and meekness and written by John Stubbs.	Stubbs, John, 1618?-1674.	1670 (1670)	Wing S6070; ESTC R42228	9,757	20

Joel 2 28. Act 2.17.18 And are not these the last days here you see the Lord hath promised that every one should have something both Sons and Daughters Servants and Handmaids should prophesie and young men see Visions and old men dream Dreams So let the Prophets and Prophetesses tell their prophesies and let the young men tell their Visions and the old men their Dreams and do no hinder them Did not Christ say He that did not improve his Talent was to be cast into utter darkness where should be weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Matthew 25.28 And doth not Christ say How the Word was sown upon all Grounds and how far it sprang up in some till Persection came and how it sprang up in others till the Cares of this life choaked it and upon the High-way ground but the Fowles of the Air picked it up and upon the good ground it was sown and it only brought forth from it Perfection Matth. 13.19 c. So here Christ would let them see and all men that if they did not improve their Talents and Gifts and Graces which the Lord had committed to them and given them to profit withal and to live up to the Word of God in their hearts that then they should be cast out and rejected as unprofitable Servants and Stewards And so I desire that the Lord may give you an understanding Also you may see that Persecution for Conscience sake is against the Profession of Christian Princes and likewise condemned by the antient and latter Writers FIrst King James in his Speech to his Parliament 1609. saith It is a sure Rule in Divinity that God never loves to plant his Church by Violence and Bloodshed Also see the said Kings Exposition on Revel 20. in which he saith The Compassing of the Saints and the Besieging of the Beloved City declareth unto us a certain Note of a false Church to be PERSECUTION for they come to seek the Faithfull the Faithfull are them that are sought the wicked are the Besiegers the Faithfull are the Besieged Secondly Stephen King of Poland saith thus I am King of Man not of Conscience a Commander of Bodies not of Souls Thirdly the King of Bohemia saith That mens Consciences ought in no sort to be violated urged or constrained And further he saith So that once more we do profess before God and the whole World that from this time forward we are firmly resolved not to persecute or molest or suffer to be persecuted or molested any person whatsoever for matter of Religion c. By the antient and later Writers in short thus Hillary against Auxentius saith thus The Christian Church doth not persecute but is persecuted Tertul. ad Scapulam It agreeth both with humane Reason and natural Equity that every man worship God uncompelled c. neither beseemeth it any Religion to compel another to be of their Religion which willingly and freely should be imbraced and not by constrant forasmuch saith he as the Offerings were required of those that freely and with good will offered and not from the contrary Jerom in pr●am lib. 4. in Jeremiam Heresie must be cut off with the Sword of the Spirit c. Bre●tius upon 1 Cor. 3. saith No man hath power to make or give Laws to Christians whereby to bind their Consciences for willingly freely and uncompelled with a ready desire and chearfull mind must those that come run unto Christ Luther in Postil Dom. 1. Post Epiphan he saith Let not Christians be commanded but exhorted for he that willingly will not do that whereunto he is friendly exhorted he is no Christian wherefore they that do compel those that are not willing shew thereby that they are not Christian Preachers but worldly Beadles Again upon 1 Pet. 3. he saith thus speaking of the Civil Magistrate If you cannot bear it that any should usurp Authority where you have to command How do you think that God should suffer you to thrust him from his Seat and to seat your self therein Chrysostom saith It is not the manner of the Children of God to persecute others to death about their Religion c Moreover said he The shedding of Blood about Religion is an evident token of Antichrist Relig. Uris pag. 192. Haywardus said That the best Writers of that time did agree in one Opinion and with Tertullian Lactantius Cassidorus and Josephus c. That People must inform men to embrace Religion with Reason and not compel them by Violence Lactantius said If you will with Blood with Evil and with Torments defend the worship it shall not thereby be defended but polluted lib. 5. cap. 20. Reinaldus said That he who with Imprisoning and Persecuting seeketh to spread the Gospel and greaseth his hands with Blood shall much rather be looked upon for a Hunter then a Preacher or a Defender of the Christian Religion The Prince of Orange saith Anno 1579. That it was impossible that the Land should be kept in Peace except there were a free Toleration in the Exercise of Religion I might add the serious and ponderous Expressions of King Charles the first concerning Toleration and Liberty of Conscience as also King Charles the second that now is his Speeches and Promises at Breda with Speeches and Sayings of theirs are more ample copious and pertinent concerning toleration of Religion and liberty for tender Consciences then any other King or Prince that I have here inserted but for brevity sake I am constrained to omit them at present because I hope King Charles the second who now is hath not forgotten his own Promises neithers his Fathers Counsel in order to Toleration and Liberty in matters of Religion and Worship of God A Postscript IS it not a strange thing that the Turk should out-strip a Christian for how many Religions are tolerated in several places in his Dominions as Greeks Jews Armenians Jacobites Papists and others And also in Mogul ●s Country they do not force any And in several places of Poland and Hungary they give Toleration And you know the Jews in Christ's time were under the Roman Empire where lived divers Sects of Religion as Herodians Scribes and Pharisees Sadduces and Libertines Thadaeans and Samaritans with others besides the Religion of the Jews Christ and his Apostles all which differed from the common Religion of the State which was like the worship of Diana which almost the whole World then worshipped Acts 19.20 All these several Religions lived under Caesar's Government giving unto Casar that which was his and for their Religion and Consciences he left them to themselves as having no power over the Conscience and when any Tumults were raised by the persecuting Jews Priests and Professors of the Law against the Christians you may see the prudence of the Magistrate appeased them Acts 18.14 and 19.35 I desire that the Lord would so compose and qualifie the minds and spirits of the Christian Magistrates to do so now as the Heathen Magistrates did then J. S. THE END