Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	church_n	faith_n	necessary_a	1,742	5	6.7179	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33961	Defensative armour, against four of Sathan's most fiery darts viz. temptations to atheistical and blasphemous impressions and thoughts, self-murther, despair, and presumption : wherein is discoursed the nature of these temptations, the several tempters to these sins, the arguments ordinarily used by the tempters in the inforcing of them, and some proper advice is offered to those who are exercised with them / by J.C. D.D. ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1680 (1680)	Wing C5312; ESTC R12985	145,095	356

was made perfect through Sufferings And in the Greek there is no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for every the Substantive is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then the sense is he tasted of every Death or which it may be is more probable it must be supplied from the next verse for every Son who was to be brought unto Glory But not to enter into that Discourse onely to caution you from laying too great stress upon Particles in Scripture 2. Consider what I before hinted That none of those who hold the utmost Extension of the Death of Christ as to the Objects ever said That all those for whom Christ died should be saved Those indeed who believe Christ died only for the Elect assert this but those who hold Christ died equally for all no more for Judas than for Peter and those that say Christ by his Death purchased a certainty of Salvation for some and a possibility of Salvation for all yet neither of them will say That all shall be saved for whom Christ died which hath made me often admire at Mens heats for these Opinions which if they could prove to be true have no more Significancy Indeed they seem to be calculated for nothing but the Assertion of a Power in the will of Man to chuse and do what God requireth in order to Salvation and so to be his own Saviour Now if this be all that any understanding Man pretends to in his asserting that Christ died for all how is it possible that any particular Soul can from his Belief of it conclude he shall be saved 3. Besides this Notion is pressed with the same absurdities as that which I first mentioned for he that believeth That Christ died for all and every Man and therefore for him must needs hold Universal Salvation though not upon the account of Creation yet upon the account of Christs Redemption and this is not onely to hold what God no where hath revealed in his Word but that which is directly contrary to the Revelation of the Word and that which is contrary to a multitude of Promises and Threatnings and will make them to be meerly superfluous and insignificant The conclusion is That thou hast no ground from any such Notion be it true or false to conclude any such thing as that thou art actually reconciled to God and shall be saved nor did ever any judicious Person so conclude but I fear thousands of ignorant ordinary Persons build their Hopes here and my self have by some been told so 3. A third Notion upon which some may be tempted to presume is The Vertue and Efficacy of Baptism The Jews you know rested much upon their Circumcision and I fear too many amongst Christians rest as much upon their Baptism and their being in it Regenerated and Born again To arm you against this Temptation I shall as to the other offer you some few things to be considered 1. None can be confident upon this account but they must consider Baptism either as it is the Door into the Church From thence it must follow That all those that are Members of the Church of God shall be saved Or Secondly As an Ordinance of God with which God doth constantly concur in washing away the guilt of Sin by Vertue of the Blood of Christ I shall shortly shew you that which of these two ways soever Men look upon their Baptism they can make no such conclusion from it 1. There is nothing in Scripture to justifie such a Conceit That all those who are by Baptism admitted into the Catholick visible Church shall be saved for I pray observe in this Notion of Baptism 1. It doth no more than Circumcision did under the Old Testament to which it succeeded Circumcision was the Door into the Church of the Jews as Baptism is the Door into the Gospel Church Now there is nothing clearer in all the Scripture than that all those that were Circumcised were not saved Judas was Circumcised yet a Devil a Son of Perdition The Scribes and Pharises Lawyers and Hypocrites against whom our Saviour in the Gospel denounced so many Woes they were all Circumcised The Apostle expresly tells us that Circumcision availeth nothing nor yet Uncircumcision but a New Creature That Circumcision verily profiteth Persons if they keep the Law but if they were Breakers of the Law their Circumcision is made Uncircumcision Rom. 2. 25. That he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart and the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is of God not of Men v. 28. 29. What is more plain than that of our Saviour Publicans and Harlots shall enter into the Kingdom of God and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out Luke 13. 26 27 28. v. 25. he is speaking to the Jews who were all circumcised all Members of the onely Church God at that day had in the World When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut the Door and you begin to stand without and to knock at the Door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer unto them I know you not whence you are● Then shall you begin to say We have Eaten and Drank in thy Name and thou hast taught in our Streets I hope all these were Sons of the Church and no ordinary Members of it but v. 27. He shall say I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and the West and the North and the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God And behold there are last which shall be first and first which shall be last So as this alone is no ground of Hope or Confidence to any Soul 2. This appeareth further from hence That many Persons be Baptized and Members of Churches in whom Faith and Repentance which the Word of God every where makes necessary to Salvation are most certainly wanting Many Persons are Members of the Church by Baptism who yet are Drunkards Whoremongers Lyars Unbelievers such as the Scripture hath expresly said shall have their Portion in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Baptism therefore in this Notion affordeth not the least ground of Confidence to any thinking and considerate Soul 2. Suppose we take Baptism in the Second Notion as it is an Ordinance of God instituted for something It is true the effect of Baptism what it is and how far it extendeth hath been a great Question amongst Divines Some ascribing to it the Justification of the Soul and the Remission of Sins to all but then they restrain it to Original Sin and so it onely as

I before said gives us Comfort as to Children dying in their Infancy others maintain The Regeneration of Elect Infants by Baptism I shall freely tell you what I judge is all in this Cause The most of those Baptized in the time of the Apostles were Persons grown up who had first made a visible Profession of their Repentance and Faith in Christ to these Baptism was a Seal of the Forgiveness of Sins and an Engagement to an Holy Conversation as you read Rom. 6. 4 c. To Infants it is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace as exhibited to Mankind That in case they do Repent and Believe their Sins shall be washed away with the Blood of Christ To these it is an Ordinance of Admission into the Church To these it is an Engagement to be the Lords an Avouchment of God for their God and Christ for their Saviour To these if when they grow up they shall Repent and Believe it shall be as a Fountain of Living Water springing up in the Soul to Eternal Life they shall as the Apostle instructeth the Romans Rom. 6. 4 5 6. fetch Arguments obliging them to die unto Sin and to live unto God Whether it hath any such immediate Effect as to all to justifie them from the guilt of Original Sin or to Regenerate them that is to make a change in their Heart I shall not dispute but cannot prove it nor do understand how possibly it should have any further effect of this Nature than Circumcision had to the Jews I am sure the Holy Scripture makes Pardon of Sin and Justification not the necessary or ordinary Effect of Baptism but of Confession of Sin True Repentance and forsaking of Sin and True Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ Flatter not your selves therefore if there be any Soul that liveth in any known course of Sin that never confessed his Sins and forsook them nor knew what godly Sorrow for Sin meant nor what it was to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe in him onely knoweth he was Baptized and he liveth in the Church and is called a Christian and here he resteth not doubting but being confident that he shall be saved Let me tell him or her he presumeth and trusts his Soul upon a Lie and that which no weighed Divine of any Perswasion would ever say was a sufficient bottom to rest his Soul upon None ever said that Baptism washed away Sins past and to come and those that do ascribe Justification to Baptism make it such a state as may be lost and is lost by a course of Actual Sinning CHAP. V. The Notion of a Power in Man to Repent and Believe agreed by few if true no ground of hopes for Eternal Life Why Mistakes about the Nature of Regeneration Conversion Saving Repentance Faith Holiness great Occasions of Presumption The Truth as to those Notions enquired and proved What Regeneration Repentance Conversion Faith Holiness is necessary to Salvation and to the raising any Hopes in us with Relation to it 4. A Fourth Notion which I instanced in as a cause of Presumption was this That every Man and Woman hath his Life in his hands I mean a power in and of himself supposing the Common Grace of God denied to none to do all that God requireth of him in order to Salvation is a power to Repent to Believe to Love God c. Hence many think that there is no haste for Men to deny themselves or to take up the Cross or to follow Christ they may stay till they are old and their Eyes can be no longer pleased with Seeing nor their Ears with Hearing if then they do but Repent and Believe all is well enough As to which give me leave to speak two or three things 1. As brisk as this Opinion seemeth to be in the World I could never yet meet with any so hardy as to affirm That these things were within the Power of Man without the Assistance of Special Grace I have met with many that have talked high for the Power of Mans Will but when they have been brought to a close Discourse they would assert it no farther than either as to Moral Actions or Acts of Moral Discipline They would affirm indeed that a Man hath a power to go to Church instead of going to the Tavern to turn away his Foot from the House of an Harlot to do Justly and an hundred such things to read to hear the Word to pray to consider his Sins Now these are things which none denieth onely we say his power as to these is much weakened by the fall So as we doubt whether by Common Grace and all the Natural Power Man hath he can do these materially good Actions when he is pressed with a vehement Temptation But I say I could never yet meet with any that would say It is in the power of Man to Believe to Repent savingly to Love God c. 2. If any doth say so He saith what is contradicted by a multitude of Scriptures But it is not my work to enlarge here on that Discourse 3. In the next place Those Divines that do hold the greatest Natural Power in the Will of Man yet do say Time may be past that a Man may have sinned away this Natural Power and have his Heart so hardened in a Course of Sinning that he may have lost this Power and so be concluded to an Eternal Misery which alone to considerate Souls is enough to spoil its Presumption from this Head For how shall I who go on in a Course of Sin knowingly presume because I have a power in my self to turn when I will if it be possible that I may by a Course of Sinning have so provoked God as he may have given me up to a judicial blindness of Mind and hardness of Heart 4. Admitting thou hast such a Power if it still remaineth established that this Power must be produced into Act and that before thou canst enter into Heaven thou must actually Repent and Believe how dost thou know thou shalt have time for it May not God take away thy Soul with a stroke May he not come upon thee on the sudden and say This Night thy Soul shall be taken from thee and then what doth thy Power signifie Doest thou not see Men and Women die suddenly So that a pretence of such a Power in thee signifies nothing but that thou art more inexcusable by it if indeed thou hadst such a Power that thou didst not use it for the end for which thou hadst it 5. I proceed now to the great grounds of Mens Presumption viz. Mistakes as to the Nature of Regeneration Faith and Holiness The Scripture makes all these so necessary to Salvation that altho some ignorant Persons may build up to themselves idle and presumptuous Hopes because God made them and Christ died for all Men and they are Christians and Baptized c. yet considerate Persons plainly must see That unless a Man be

upon which account they all have their Confessors depends upon this Doctrine of the Priests Absolution all the pretended necessity of it is in order to the receiving that benefit Then they further say That God doth onely Pardon the Eternal guilt of Sin and Christ hath onely satisfied for that So that for the removal of Temporary Punishments there must be also Satisfaction Hence their Priests have power to appoint People Pilgrimages Building of Churches Paying sums of Money for Satisfaction This Penance being undergone they do declare that any Priest being appointed thereto by the Church may in ordinary Causes not onely Declaratively but Judicially Pardon and Absolve the Sinner but if an higher Priest a Bishop or the Pope hath reserved some Cases in which he or they alone will have power to Absolve and to appoint to Penances and Satisfactions in those they onely can do it the more private Priests cannot This is their Doctrine Protestants now say that God alone can forgive Sins but by his Ministers in the Preaching of the Gospel he doth declare a Mans Sins are forgiven who have a true Contrition who truly repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ fully forgive them so that he expecteth no further Satisfaction for the Sinner than that which was long since given by the Blood of Christ who hath Trod the Wine-press of his Fathers Wrath alone and finished all that Work They say indeed that Confession of Sins in most causes is sufficient to God alone It is he alone that can forgive them In some Causes indeed a more open Confession is necessary 1. When the Church hath been publikely Scandilized not that this is necessary in order to Gods Pardon but as an Act of Obedience to Gods Will and for a more Comfortable Brotherly Communion and the Churches Satisfaction that the Person ought not to be longer kept out of its Communion 2. They say further That in the case of great Horrors of Conscience and Terrors upon Peoples Spirits it may be of great advantage to particular Christians under such Terrors to confess some particular Sins unto their Judicious Brethren or unto their Faithful Ministers but not in order to their Pardon of them but in order to their Prayer to God for them and offering words in season unto them that are weary and being more knowing and mighty in the Scriptures than they are from the Scriptures declaring the Will of God in their case comforting them if their case will bear comfort from the Word of God or otherwise advising them what to do according to the Will of God that they may receive true and solid comfort and Peace They do also further say that Satisfaction where any hath wronged another is necessary if in our Power as in Cases of Theft c. but for any necessity of any other Confession or Satissaction in order to Gods Forgiveness of the Sin they do not understand it nor believe it And for Judicial Absolution they say it is Gods alone Act and that all that the Minister can do is to declare the Will of God to People in case they do truly Repent and Believe that God hath doth and will forgive them freely for Christs sake In the mean time they do not deny but God may concurr with the Minister as his Ordinance giving a sense of the Remission of Sins which Remission was before given them upon their Repentance and believing in Truth to them while the Minister faithfully declareth the Will of God for the pardoning such as truly Repent and Believe but if any person be Absolved by a Minister hath cheated him and pretended Repentance and true Faith having no such thing his heart Or if any Minister hath either through Ignorance or Passion declared a Persons Sins forgiven whose Sins while he is in those Circumstances God hath said he will not forgive he may have cheated his own Soul or the Minister may have cheated him but God is not mockt his sins remain notwithstanding his pretended Absolution God dispenseth out the Grace of forgiveness not according to the Ignorance and Passions of Men but according to the Rules of Holy Scripture which is the Revelation of his Divine Will 2. Trust not therefore to any such vain Imaginations no nor to the Receiving of the Sacrament either in thy life time or at thy death That the Lords Supper is an Ordinance of God by which God doth signify and seal the Remission of Sins and Eternal Life by the commemoration of Christs death to such as truly repent and believe is out of question but that God in that Ordinance doth give Remission of Sins or hath appointed it so signifie seal or convey the pardon of Sin to any unbelieving Impenitent Soul is a very great Errour Such Persons may Eat and Drink there but it can be nothing but Judgment and Condemnation This hath made me frequently admire at some persons fondness of that Holy Ordinance when they apprehend themselves in danger of Death who never made Conscience of it in the time of their Health and Life especially considering that it cannot be administred in a right order viz. In the Communion of the Church where many who are joyned in one body eat of that one bread Upon which all Protestant Churches reject private Administrations of that Institution and upon just grounds Christ first gave it to the 12 at least to 11 of them we never read the Apostles Examples or Directions to or of any such Administrations upon this Account unless some particular Persons that have had long and lingring Sicknesses and of that nature as have not influenced their head nor so indisposed them but their minds could attend to the Action some of which I have known desiring a competent number of the Church with them privately to partake in the Ordinance from the publick Participation of which they have been long hindred I do not know that I ever knew any judicious Christian so much as desire such an Administration but many others I have which makes me think some more Ignorant People rest upon it and trust to it We know the Popish Notion of it and what a stir they make with the Host carrying it about in great state to dying Persons And I fear a tang of their Doctrine yet sticks in the minds of many who are professed Protestants We know what a trade the Papist make of their Doctrines of Auricular Confession Satisfactions and Private Masses Celebrated for the living and the dead and were it not for the gain came into their Purses by them they could not be so fond of such absurd Opinions and Practices But Christians take heed of these Notions which tend to nothing but to nourish Presumptions in your Souls and that you may take heed of them let me mind you of 2 Passages of our Saviours Mark 4. 24. Take heed what you hear and Luk. 8. 18. Take heed how you hear Take heed how you hear hear as those noble Bereans Acts 17.