Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	faith_n	good_a	life_n	1,751	5	5.0741	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62584	A seasonable new-years-gift a sermon / preached at White-Hall before His Late Majesty by John Tillotson.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1687 (1687)	Wing T1220; ESTC R30166	14,611	26

A SEASONABLE NEW-YEARS-GIFT A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL Before His late MAJESTY By JOHN TILLOTSON D. D. and Dean of Canterbury LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1687. Price Two Pence A Seasonable New-Years-Gift A SERMON Preach'd at White-Hall c. 1 Cor. III. 15. But he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire THE Context is thus According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise Master-builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is If any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward If any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire In these words the Apostle speaks of a sort of persons who held indeed the foundation of Christianity but built upon it such doctrines or practices as would not bear the trial which he expresses to us by wood hay and stubble which are not proof against the fire Such a person the Apostle tells us hath brought himself into a very dangerous state though he would not deny the possibility of his salvation He himself shall be saved yet so as by fire That by fire here is not meant the fire of Purgatory as some pretend who would be glad of any shadow of a text of Scripture to countenance their own dreams I shall neither trouble you nor my self to manifest since the particle of similitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly shews that the Apostle did not intend an escape out of the fire literally but like to that which men make out of a House or Town that is on fire Especially since very learned persons of the Church of Rome do acknowledge that Purgatory cannot be concluded from this Text nay all that Estius contends for from this place is that it cannot be concluded from hence that there is no Purgatory which we never pretended but only that this Text does not prove it It is very well known that this is a Proverbial phrase used not only in Scripture but in prophane Authors to signifie a narrow escape out of a great danger He shall be saved yet so as by fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the fire Just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used 1 Pet. 3. 20. where the Apostle speaking of the eight persons of Noah's family who escap'd the flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they escaped out of the water So here this phrase is to be rendred in the Text he himself shall escape yet so as out of the fire The like expression you have Am 4. 11. I have pluckt them as a firebrand out of the fire And Jude 23. Others save with fear plucking them out of the fire All which expressions signifie the greatness of the danger and the difficulty of escaping it as one who when his house at midnight is set on fire and being suddenly wak'd leaps out of his bed and runs naked out of the doors taking nothing that is within along with him but imploying his whole care to save his body from the flames as St. Chrysostom upon another occasion expresseth it And so the Roman Orator who it is likely did not think of Purgatory useth this Phrase Quo ex judicio velut ex incendio nudus effugit From which Judgment or Sentence he escaped naked as it were out of a burning And one of the Greek Orators tells us That to save a man out of the fire was a common proverbial speech From the words thus explained the Observation that naturally ariseth is this That men may hold all the Fundamentals of Christian Religion and yet may superadd other things whereby they may greatly endanger their salvation What those things were which some among the Corinthians built upon the foundation of Christianity whereby they endanger'd their Salvation we may probably conjecture by what the Apostle reproves in this Epistle as the tolerating of incestuous marriages communicating in Idol-feasts c. And especially by the doctrine of the false Apostles who at that time did so much disturb the peace of most Christian Churches and who are so often and so severely reflected upon in this Epistle And what their Doctrine was we have an account Act. 15. viz. that they imposed upon the Gentile Christians Circumcision and the observation of the Jewish Law teaching that unless they were circumcised and kept the Law of Moses they could not be saved So that they did not only build these doctrines upon Christianity but they made them equal with the Foundation saying that unless men believed and practised such things they could not be saved In speaking to this Observation I shall reduce my discourse to these two Heads 1. I shall present to you some Doctrines and Practices which have been built upon the Foundation of Christianity to the great hazard and danger of mens salvation And to be plain I mean particularly the Church of Rome 2. I shall enquire whether our granting a possibility of salvation though with great hazard to those in the Communion of the Roman Church and their denying it to us be a reasonable argument and encouragement to any man to betake himself to that Church And there is the more reason to consider these things when so many seducing Spirits are so active and busie to pervert men from the truth and when we see every day so many men and their Religion so easily parted For this reason these two Considerations shall be the subject of the following discourse 1. First We will consider some Doctrines and Practices which the Church of Rome hath built upon the foundation of Christianity to the great hazard and danger of mens salvation It is not denied by the most judicious Protestants but that the Church of Rome do hold all the Articles of the Christian Faith which are necessary to salvation But that which we charge upon them as a just ground of our separation from them is the imposing of new Doctrines and Practices upon Christians as necessary to salvation which were never taught by our Saviour or his Apostles and which are either directly contrary to the doctrine of Christianity or too apparently destructive of a good life And I begin 1. With their Doctrines And because I have no mind to aggravate lesser matters I will single out four or five points of Doctrine which they have added to the Christian Religion and which were neither taught by our Saviour and his Apostles nor own'd in the first Ages of Christianity And the First which I