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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	great_a	see_v	word_n	2,798	5	3.6685	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44124	The improvement of navigation a great cause of the increase of knowledge a sermon preached June 7, 1680 before the Corporation of Trinity House in Deptford Strand, at the election of their master / by Richard Holden, Vicar of Deptford.	Holden, Richard, 1626 or 7-1702.	1680 (1680)	Wing H2380; ESTC R4281	14,377	40

THE IMPROVEMENT OF NAVIGATION A great Cause of the Increase of Knowledge A SERMON Preached June 7. 1680. before the CORPORATION of TRINITY-HOUSE in Deptford Strand At the Election of their Master By Richard Holden Vicar of Deptford Published by their Appointment LONDON Printed by J. Macock for John Martyn at the Bell in St Paul's Church-Yard 1680. TO THE Right Honourable GEORGE Earl of BERKLEY Viscount DURSLEY Lord BERKLEY of Berkley-Castle c. and Master of the Corporation of Trinity-House in Deptford Strand My Lord WHEN this Sermon was Preached before You Your Lordship and the Worthy Gentlemen of Your Society were pleased by many kind and obliging Expressions to signifie your favourable acceptance of it and to let me know that it was your desire it might be made publick Which I confess was somewhat of a surprise to me Yet I considered that I ought to look upon the repeated declaration of your Lordships pleasure and the concurrent Vote of so many judicious persons in the nature of a command and have therefore chosen by this act of submission to pay that deference which is due to your judgment thereby giving the best assurance I can that I am My Lord Your Lordships most humble and most obedient Servant RI. HOLDEN DANIEL XII 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased THis Book consists of History and Prophecy In the historical Part there are great arguments of Daniel's and his Companions piety of their constant faith in God and courage in persecutions together with an account of the miraculous deliverances which God wrought for them In the prophetical there are predictions of strange Revolutions and of great changes and alterations of Government which should happen in several of the great Kingdoms of the World and these so plainly described that Porphyrie would not believe they were written before the event But above all there are clear and distinct prophecies of the Messias his name offices and the time of his death when he should be cut off and make a reconciliation for iniquity Dan. 9.24 26. In the three first Verses of this Chapter he speaks of the twofold coming of Christ at first to publish and confirm the Gospel vers 1. the other to reward his faithful Servants and to punish obstinate and incorrigible Sinners ver 2 3. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt And because many things here foretold were not to come to pass of some Ages after therefore he is commanded in the beginning of this verse to shut up the Words and seal the Book until the time of the end that is to preserve it carefully that afterwards by comparing the prophecies with the events men may see that these things were known to God long before For this is the great reason why God has been pleased in his Word to reveal to his Church many things which shall happen in after Ages His end and design therein was not to gratifie the curiosity of men who are naturally desirous to know what shall come to pass in future times but to clear his own Omniscience and to make it manifest after their accomplishment that they were not casual or unexpected to him but that he had a certain foreknowledge of them Whence it is that Prophecies are wont to be expressed in obscure words and in a dark language and are called a sealed Book because the meaning of them at least in all the circumstances is hidden from us till expounded by the event which when all is done is usually their best Interpreter But saith he in the words of the Text before the time of the end come before the accomplishment of this great Prophecy concerning the consummation and conclusion of all things the end of the World and the Day of Judgment Many shall pass to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased In which Words we have these two Parts 1. A Prediction of something remarkable that should happen in the latter days Many shall pass to and fro 2. The consequent of that the benefit which thence should redound to mankind And knowledge shall be encreased 1. For the former the Prediction of somewhat remarkable that should happen in the latter days Many shall run or pass to and fro Not to trouble you with variety of Expositions that which seems most probable in it self as well as most suitable to the occasion of this solemn Assembly is That in these Words the Prophet foretells the great improvement there should be of Navigation in the latter Ages of the World And this Interpretation I ground upon the proper notion of the Hebrew Verb here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as it signifies in Scripture generally any way of motion or passage so in the Chaldee which is the language wherein the Prophet wrote the greatest part of this Book it properly signifies to move upon the waters and the words which come from it referre to this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezek. 27.8 is rendered Mariners and vers 26. thy rowers and Isai 33.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Gally with Oars And to this sence the vulgar Latine had an eye when it translates the words of the Text Plurimi pertransibunt multiplex erit scientia Many shall pass through as it were from one end of the World to another and knowledge shall be encreased And how exactly the event has answered the Prophecy will easily appear to any one who considers that the Mediterranean was the biggest Sea which was known to the wisest Nations of those Ages the Hebrews Greeks and Romans whence in all their Languages it is called the Great Sea Numb 34.6 Josh 1.4 Rom. 7. ● it being greater by far than any other they knew the Sea of Galilee and of Genezareth and the rest being but bigger Lakes and the Red Sea much less than it And though they had heard of the Ocean which is mentioned by Homer yet little or no use of it was made in many Ages for Navigation insomuch that St. Clemens Ep●ad C●r p. 28. who lived in the first Age of Christianity says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Ocean was not to be passed by men Jun. in loc and yet it is thought that he meant no other but the narrow Sea which is betwixt England and France Further than Hercules's Pillars or Gades they accounted as Pindar's words are Oly n. 3. ad fin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly unpassable filled with nothing but darkness and confusion And Herodotus relating how Neco King of Egypt sent out some Phoenician adventures from the Red Sea Lib. 4. Ch. 42. p. 237. who when after a voyage of three years they were come home affirmed that they had sailed around Africk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they had the Sun on their right hand and so returned by the Streights through the Mediterranean into Egypt again he

them to a love of your Religion When the Unbeliever shall see the Christian sober and composed and regular in his whole conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 524. he will be astonished saith St. Chrysostom* and will be ready to say Certainly the God of the Christians is a great God What kind of men does he make them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of how bad how good of Men he makes them Angels It is a known saying of Plato's that if virtue could assume an humane shape its beauties and excellencies are so great that all men would be taken with the love and admiration of it Now by the good lives of Christians Virtue and goodness are as it were imbodied and represented not only to the Ears but to the Eyes of men made visible to all they converse with which must doubtless very much adorn their holy calling and would have a mighty efficacy upon those who should see these shining lights Those Husbands saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.1 2. who obey not the word may without the word be won by the conversation of the Wives Their Modest and Virtuous behaviour would be a most likely means to commend that Religion wherein they had been instructed Justin Martyr gives us himself for an instance of this Apol. 2. who as he says being brought up in the School of Plato and hearing the Christians every where spoken against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but seeing them fearless of death and whatever the world accounts dreadful he concluded it was impossible they should be wicked or voluptuous persons as they were represented to be who were so resolute and constant in the greatest dangers When the lives of Christians are visible Sermons Epist ad Trall and as the Blessed Ignatius says of a Primitive Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his whole carriage and behaviour was a constant lecture of all Christian graces whereby at once and that all his life long he preached to his whole Diocess then it is no wonder if as he there adds that even Atheists and the most prophane contemners of Religion could not chuse but stand in awe of such a person for a good man is the most sacred and venerable thing upon earth And certainly it would tend much to the honour of Christianity for you to manifest by your regular and exemplary lives what influence the commands and promises and threatnings of the Gospel have had upon your own hearts And whilst the School-men dispute with a great deal of curiosity more than profit about the Character of Baptism do you show the reality of it in your lives by making it evident to those Heathens with whom you Converse and Traffick that your separation to Christ your being markt out and designed for his in your Baptism has imprinted an indeleble Character of all Christian Vertues and Graces upon your Souls Eth. ad Nicom l. 10. c. 7. That so what Aristotle says loftily concerning the Contemplation of the great Book of Nature may as in reason it ought be the visible effect of your study of this less but better Book of Scripture that it does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were render men Immortal divest them of their bodies and raise them above the dregs and baseness of this lower world This would be a convincing demonstration indeed which would even compel them to come in to the Faith You would then carry thither a greater treasure than any you can bring from thence The Kingdom of Heaven that is the Doctrine of the Gospel being a rich Jewel Matt. 13.45 46. a pearl of great price which well deserves the parting with all we have for the attainment of it This would consecrate even your civil Employments make your Trade become an act of Worship and Religion and as God tells the City of Tyre render your Merchandise holiness to the Lord. Is 23.18 It would be your comfort in this life you might then Deut. 33.18 as Moses bids them of Zebulun Rejoyce in your goings out your Voyages abroad would be really a cause of joy and comfort to you when you made them subservient to true Religion For certainly next to that Peace which passeth all Understanding the calm and serenity which ariseth from a good Conscience and a sense of Gods favour there is nothing can be matter of more real and solid joy than to have rescued a Soul from the jaws of everlasting Misery to have made another happy to have been the instrument of my Brothers Eternal welfare And lastly it will abound to your account in the day of the Lord Jesus for as it is in the Verse before the Text Dan. 12.3 They who turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever FINIS ERRATA PAge 5. l. 4 marg for Rom. r. Dan. 7. p. 6. l. 2. r. adventurers ib. l. 5. for around r. by the South of ib. l. 5. marg for Boet. Phat r. Boch Phal p. 19. l. 7. r. Creation p. 21. marg r. Psal 135. 7. p. 24. l. 7. for should r. would