Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	day_n	place_n	time_n	1,574	5	3.3545	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66060	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions before the King at White-Hall by the Right Reverend Father in God, John Wilkins ... ; to which is added, A discourse concerning the beauty of providence by the same author.	Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.	1677 (1677)	Wing W2213; ESTC R22933	57,878	194

advantage that End which it did seem most directly to oppose So likewise for that dissention betwixt Paul and Barnabas Act. 15. it might seem the most unseasonable breach that could possibly be imagined when the Church of the Christians was now in its beginning and infancy that then the two chief Members of it should fall at variance amongst themselves was such an untimely dissen●ion that an Enemy could not wish them worse Nothing could more thwart the promulgation of the Gospel of Peace than the contentions of those that preach it If that State which is already established into a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand much less could those small beginnings think to encrease into a Church by divisions And yet this likewise was so disposed of in the event that it did mightily conduce to the Gospel thorow the whole world for by this means those two parted asunder the one into Cyprus the other into Syria and Cilicia and like two mighty streams spread themselves several ways that so they might the better water the barren and thirsty corners of the world Thus have you seen the Beauty of Providence in some rugged passages of it 'T is so in every other particular though seeming unto us never so deformed But man cannot find out the work of God from the beginning to the end For the further evidencing of this truth there are two grounds upon which 't is bottomed that being understood and considered will make the point very clear 1. God is exactly careful of every thing 2. He is infinitely wise for the disposal of all to the best 1. God doth overlook all things by an especial Providence Eph. 1. 11. He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will There is no event in the World i● is ordered both according to God's will and by his counsel Psal. 135. 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he both in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places Not only in the Heaven where his glory is more especiolly conspicuous but in the earth too where matters seem to be full of confusion and in the Sea and in all deep places where we cannot so much as take notice of them There is nothing so great but is under his Power nothing so little but is within his Care Those actions and events that seem unto us most free and casual inconsiderable are all of them ordered by his Providence 1. That which is most free the hearts and affections of men do follow the guidance of his Decrees Men may do after their own counsels and inclinations but they are still suitable to his Providence there is nothing more in our thoughts and words and yet both the preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. 2. That which seems most casual The disposing the Lot is from him Prov. 16. 33. He who is accidentally flain by another is said to be delivered into his hands by God Exod. 21. 13. That casual Arrow shot at random was directed by Providence to fulfil the prediction of Ahab's death 1 King 22. 34. There is no liberty for Causes to operate in a loose and stragling way but in matters of greatest uncertainty there is a preordained course of Effects 3. The least most inconsiderable things are not neglected by Providence It was a prophane speech of the Aramites That God was the God of the Mountains not of the Valleys 1 King 20. 23. Whereas he regards the lowest the least thing as well as the greatest The young Lions Psal. 104. 21. The Ravens Psal. 147. 9. are provided for by him He feeds the Fowls of the air adorns the Lillies and clothes the Grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven Sparrows you know are but cheap Birds Are not two of them sold for a farthing Mat. 10. 29. And yet not one of these do fall to the ground without your Father He must give the Fowler leave to kill them nay when they are upon the wing in their frequent and often repeated motions yet then it is He that must appoint them the time and place when and where they shall settle and in this sense also not one of them doth fall to the ground without your father The hairs of your head are yet less observable contemptible even to a Proverb Pili non facio Ne pilo quidem melius And yet these with God are inter numerata amongst those things whereof he takes an exact account That place 1 Cor 9. 9. Doth God take care for Oxen doth not simply exempt such things from the Law of his providence but 't is Argumentum a minori and doth imply his especial care of that higher rank of creatures to whom these are subordinate The plain meaning of it is that if God hath by a particular Law provided that the Ox should not be muzled that treads out the corn he will be much more careful of the Labourers in his Harvest 'T is recorded to the glory of some ancient Generals that they were able to call every common Souldier by his own name and careful to provide not only Pay for their Captains but Litter also for the meanest Beast that did serve the Camp Now you know there is not any Creature but is a Souldier to the Lord of Hosts He doth sometimes muster up an Army of Lice and Flies and therefore 't is but reason that his Providence should take care for such things also why should it not be as great an argument of his Power to preserve and order these lesser Creatures as it was at first to make them The Creation of a glorious Angel did not cost him more than that of a despicable Fly Was it not He that out of the same primitive nothing put that difference which there is amongst several natures And if the Painter in the same Piece draw a silken and a woollen garment why should he value the one above the other since it was the same Art that did both make and distinguish them 2. As his Providence doth extend to all things so likewise does his Wisdom As he is exactly careful so is he infinitely wise and therefore as able for the contrivance of every the the least particular thing as he would be if he had nothing but that to look after If the Providence o● God had but one project on foot we could easily conceive how he might be able to drive that through all the windings and circumstances of it with care and wisdom Nay we would trust any wise man with the managing of a single business when he had nothing else to distract his endeavours But for all those multitude of affairs amongst Men and Angels nay for the very circumstances and manner of all those several actions and motions which are performed in every moment of time through the whole World we cannot conceive but that in