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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	holy_a	new_a	old_a	3,310	5	5.0606	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61157	A discourse made by the Ld Bishop of Rochester to the clergy of his diocese at his visitation in the year 1695 : published at their request.	Church of England. Diocese of Rochester. Bishop (1684-1713 : Sprat); Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.	1696 (1696)	Wing S5031; ESTC R39999	25,340	72

Circumstances in this World are not so plentiful as to enable them to purchase large Libraries yet their Industry is by no means to be discouraged nor their Zeal in pursuing this Holy Skill abated I will open to you my own simple Apprehensions in this Matter with Submission still to better Judgements My Opinion is That altho' without question all manner of Secular or Ecclesiastical Learning can never be more usefully employ'd than in this search and is all little enough for it and too little to compleat it yet when all is done the Scripture it self is the best Expositor the best Commentator on it self It is apparent that the whole New Testament is so to the whole Old Testament that being the real Light of the others figurative Darkness and Mysteries the very Consummation of the others Prophecies and Shadows of good Things to come But I will also aver that every Part every Book every Sentence almost both of the Old and the New Testament well-compared and judiciously set one over against the other in their right View and Reflection cannot but prove by GOD's Blessing an inestimable Explanation of each other If a due and accurate Care I say be taken to interpret their difficult Texts by others of their own that are easier and to collate their Words Phrases and Sense that may seem dark or doubtful in some Places with the same or the like in other Places where they are clearer and more intelligible I cannot forbear as I go along to declare my Meaning a little fuller in this Matter by one special Instance For consider I pray how is it possible for any the most learned or sagacious Student in Divinity to conceive the true and genuine Sense of the Eloquent and Divine Epistle to the Hebrews except he has been also throughly conversant in the Writings of Moses Or where can there be found a clearer a more Spiritual and more illustrious Commentary on the whole Ritual Part of the Pentateuch than the Epistle to the Hebrews The like also may be proved of all other Portions of the Holy Book of GOD. And indeed to manifest what mutual Brightness and Splendor the Scripture gives to and takes from it self by comparing its several Parts I need only urge the frequent Practice of our Saviour himself and the inspired Pen-men of the Gospel in thus expounding the Old Law by the New and the New by the Old So that now I may with greater Freedom propound my humble Conceptions in this Matter That where Multitudes of Fathers Councils Schoolmen Histories are wanting which are all very beneficial Helps where they can be had but where they cannot be come at if a Clergy-man shall resort immediately to the Fountain it self first and always imploring the Assistance of that Divine Spirit by which the Scriptures were written and then with a sincere Love of the Truth and Resolution to live according to it without which GOD will neither hear our Prayers nor bless our Endeavours and also with an humble Heart a devout Mind and unquenchable Fervour of Spirit and a right unbyass'd Judgement join'd with a sufficient Skill in the Original Languages and in those other Introductory Studies which no Man in Holy Orders if it be not the Bishop's Fault as well as his own can possibly be altogether to seek in And if withal he shall be assisted with some of the ancient and some few of the modern sound and Orthodox Commentaries he will in all human Probability by an incessant daily and nightly meditating upon and revolving in his Mind the Divine Text it self become in time tho' not perhaps as Apollos is said to have been Eloquent and Mighty in the Scriptures yet a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth The more to incourage your Studies in this Method if you shall be necessitated to it give me leave to present you with one Example of a great Divine and Bishop in the Time of King Charles the First who was one of the most Eminent Confessors then and survived those Calamities to die in Peace and Tranquillity several Years after the Return of King Charles the Second In the common Persecution which then happened to the whole Episcopal Order this Reverend Person was exposed to a more than ordinary Degree of popular Malice and Rage so that without ever being once brought to his Tryal he was closely imprisoned in the Tower for almost twenty Years and was not only despoil'd of his annual Revenue and Personal Estate in the first Fury of the Civil Wars but was also plunder'd of most of the Collections of his former Labours and a very considerable Library Wherefore being thus laid up in Prison without any prospect of Liberty having also a numerous Family to maintain so that he was not able in any sort to repair the Loss of his Books and Papers he betook himself to this course of Study Well-knowing that he could have no faithfuller Companion for his Solitude nor surer Consolation in his Afflictions than the Holy Scriptures he applied himself to them immediately with little other help but what he had within himself and the best Prints of the Originals in the Learned Tongues and their Translations in the Learned and Modern in both which he was a great Master Thus however he firmly and vigorously proceeded so far in the single Study of the Scriptures that long before his Enlargement he had composed a great Mass of Annotations on divers Parts of the Bible What is become of them I know not If they are either imbezill'd or suppress'd no doubt it is to the great Damage of the Church since the Native Thoughts of a Great Man are generally at least as good as the most Artificial Perhaps you will say he might be able to do all this by the Strength of his Memory and the Variety of Learning he had laid up in it before-hand And I make no doubt but those were an exceeding great Assistance to him But what was very remarkable and for which I am bold to produce him as an Instance worthy your Imitation in this Particular I know he was often heard to profess solemnly that in all his former Studies and various Reading and Observations he had never met with a more useful Guide or a surer Interpreter to direct his Paths in the dark Places of the lively Oracles to give Information to his Understanding in the obscure Passages or Satisfaction to his Conscience in the experimental Truths of them than when he was thus driven by Necessity to the assiduous Contemplation of the Scripture alone and to weigh it by it self as it were in the Ballance of the Sanctuary Had I not been already so tedious there is one Particular behind on which I ought most justly to have expatiated which now I can only name And it is that touching the Manner of your Conversation that it be such as may render you Vessels not only sanctified but meet for your Masters Vse and

to the contrary such a compleat and consummate Faculty of reading the Common Prayer Quam nequeo monstrare sentio tantum is of so great difficulty as well as use that I am fully convinced it very well deserves to have some place among our constant Studies at least in the first Initiation into our Ministry if not throughout the whole course of it I could heartily wish it were altogether needless for me to lay so much stress on this Advice as I do Yet I hope I may do it without Offence since it is not with design of censuring any particular Mens Failings or Deficiencies but only for the public Good that we may all strive to attain not only to a Mediocrity but to an Excellency in this kind Which in my small Judgment can never be done unless we shall make this Duty a Business by it self and assign it a special Place among our other Ecclesiastical Studies It cannot be denied but the Church it self has provided for this with all imaginable Circumspection having solemnly enjoin'd every Clergy-man besides the Times of his public Ministry to read some very considerable Parts of his Office once a day at least to himself except he shall be excused by indispensable Business By which wise Injunction tho' no doubt the Church intended primarily to produce and increase in the Minds of all its Ministers a frame of Spirit perpetually serious and devout Yet if that be also accompanied with a proportionable Regard to the Manner as well as to the Matter of our Public Prayers this other Advantage of well-reading what is so often to be read will follow of course and by necessary Consequence It seems indeed to me that the very way of performing all the outward Acts of Religion has so wonderful an Influence towards obtaining the inward Effects of it on our Hearts and Consciences that I cannot but think we can never be too laborious in preparing and exercising our Thoughts and even our very Voices in private for a public Service of so great Importance 'T is true we generally value and esteem Preaching as our great Privilege and Honour And so far we are in the right But we are not so if we look on the reading of Prayers only as our Task and Burthen and as such shall be willing to get rid of it altogether or to get thro' it in any undecent Manner with such Heaviness or Precipitation as in any Affairs of worldly Interest we would never be content with A preposterous Custom which if due Care be not taken may be very prejudicial and mischievous to our Church by quenching the Spirit of Devotion in our own People and giving occasion to our Adversaries to throw Scorn and Contempt on our otherwise-incomparable Liturgy Consider I pray you How can we expect that others should revere or esteem it according to its true worth if we our selves will not keep it so much in Countenance as to afford it a fair Reading If we will not do it so much common Justice as to contribute as much as lies in our Power that it may have an impartial Hearing equal at least to any other Divine Ordinance If we shall refuse to lay as much weight on those Devotions which our whole Church has injoin'd us to pour out before the Throne of Grace for the People as we do on those Discourses which we make on our own Heads to the People Wherefore I say again this very commendable Skill of devout and decent Reading the Holy Offices of the Church is so far from being a perfunctory or superficial Work a mean or vulgar Accomplishment or a subordinate lower Administration only fit for a Curate that it deserves to be placed among your Ministerial Endowments of greater Superiority and Praeeminence as being one of the most powerful Instruments of the Holy Spirit of GOD to raise and command Mens Hearts and Affections of the Holy true Spirit of GOD I say which tho' in our inward Ejaculations or private Supplications towards Heaven it often helpeth our Infirmities and maketh Intercession for us with Groanings that cannot be uttered Yet in the public Worship is most frequently pleased to operate by such Words and Sounds as are express'd with the best Utterance So that now with a just Assurance I may assert this to be a very proper Qualification of a Parochial Minister that he has attain'd to an habitual Faculty of setting forth the public Prayers to all their due Advantage by pronouncing them leasurably fitly warmly decently with such an Authority in the Speaker as is in some degree suitable to the Authority of what is spoken Thus much I may safely say that the Reader of the Prayers if he does his part in the manner I have mention'd by such a vigorous effectual fervent Delivery of the Words and Conceptions put into his Mouth by the Church it self may give a new enlivening Breath a new Soul as it were to every Prayer every Petition in it He may quicken and animate those Confessions Intercessions and Thanksgivings which when read coldly and indifferently with irreligious Carlesness or ignorant Flatness will seem to some to be but a dead Letter He may make every Hymn every Psalm every Lesson Epistle and Gospel to become well nigh a new Sermon at least he may give to the old standing Text of the Bible a very good clear Exposition even by his very way of reading it to the Congregation This upon Experience you will find to be apparently true For if as is usually observed by Men of Learning in printed Books the very accurate and critical pointing of the Copy is one of the best kinds of good new Commentaries on any old Author how much more in all the Offices of Devotion would that which consists not only in good Pointing and observing all due Stops but in so much more besides I mean a good distinct forcible yet easie and unforced reading of every Prayer and Portion of the Holy Scriptures how much more would all this really serve for a good new Paraphrase and Illustration of every Sentence in them It is indeed almost incredible how quite another thing the daily morning and evening Prayers will appear what new Figures and Beauties and hidden Treasures of sacred Eloquence they will continually discover when thus pronounc'd how much apter they will be to kindle in us and our Auditors all manner of Heavenly Affections of Spiritual Grief and Contrition of Love and Gratitude of Faith Hope and Charity and Joy in the Holy Ghost When the Harmony of the Tongue shall be tuned as it were to the Harmony of the Matter When the Zeal of the Reader shall keep Company with his Voice and his Voice shall be adapted to and varied together with every Sense and Expression When by long Use and Imitation of the best Masters or the best we can come at we shall know familiarly how to give every Word and Sentence its due poise Where to lay a greater or smaller weight