Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	law_n	time_n	write_v	3,058	5	5.6338	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25771	A sermon preached at the visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God, John Lord Bishop of Chester, at Chester by James Arderne ...	Arderne, James, 1636-1691.; Pearson, John, 1613-1686.	1677 (1677)	Wing A3625; ESTC R20728	9,763	22

Timothy had from a Child which at this day many who profess themselves great Divines do scarce at all regard So the History of the Council of Trent tells us of the Italian Prelates that they were good School-Divines but understood little of Scripture We should as the Rarraei among the Iews cleave only to the Doctrines of Scripture and exercise our selves herein continually over and over again So the Iews to intimate so much upon the eight day of the Feast of Tabernacles read at the same time the last Section of the Law and with it the beginning of the first We should be unwearied in this frequent reading as it is reported of one who when he had read a Book of Aristotle forty times over wrote upon it I will read it again by doing thus we shall daily grow in knowledg For such is the excellency of every Word of God and such is the narrowness of our understandings at that end where we receive knowledg that though our Souls are made capable of much knowledg yet we cannot receive much at once What has been said of improving in Scripture-knowledg concerns all men as well as Ministers seeing the reasons given in Scripture why it should be search'd reaches all but there is a modesty to be us'd as sensible they are more likely to be mistaken now and then about its meaning than those whose whole study and business it is to make it be understood But all have an undoubted right to the use of Scripture Clemens Alexandrinus * Stromat l. 7. advises all Christians to grow old in reading these Books and adds that as under the Law those Beasts which chew'd the cud and had parted hoofs were acceptable to God so is the Christian who ruminates upon the Oracles of God day and night whence in his going by Faith to the Father and the Son he receives that steadiness of gate which proceeds from parted hoofs thus far he Many more passages of the like nature are met with among the Fathers which we must now forbear But as for those who are separated to the work of the Ministry more is required than reading Scripture and Divinity in English the knowledg of Tongues and of the true state of the primitive Church this must be had from an entire reading of the ancient Records of the Church that we may not be deceived with false representations under that perswading title and human Learning must be retain'd into the service of Christian knowledg many parts of it are of necessary use and almost all give a good advantage to our discourses these secular disciplines were recommended by several but most fully by Clemens Alexandrinus * Stromat 6. his Scholar in Origen * 3 Tom. in Genes and are to good purpose used by most of them These accomplishments are helpful in the two great works of our Ministry to wit instructing the ignorant and convincing gain-sayers which comes under the next advice of St. Paul which is Thirdly A Diligence in Ministerial duties Our duty has three main parts Teaching Praying and Watching over the People These being undoubtedly necessary we need not enquire which is of the greatest dignity As to Teaching St. Paul requires one apt to teach 2 Tim. 2. 24. and that he be instant in preaching the word 2 Tim. 4. 2. he must instruct with much plainness and not make the Gospel to return to the likeness of the Law with a veil and thick darkness about it he must exhort with all heartiness by the fittest true arguments of perswasion he must both boldly and meekly reprove sin not sparing the fault but still manifesting he has no quarrel with the person In short in all the instances of teaching there must appear what St. Paul requires from Titus ch 2. 7. uncorruptness gravity sincerity 2. The second part of duty is Prayer Thus the Ministers of the Lord are to cry Spare thy people O Lord. This work at this time when Knowledg is more plentifully found than Living well is of the more general usefulness and as the profession of the same Articles of Faith in the very same express terms is a mark of Communion among the distinct Assemblies of the Church so praying unto God in the same words in our several Congregations shews that we are not independent but members one of another Such were the primitive Prayers Iustin Martyr speaks of 2. Apolog. their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Common Prayer and Origen of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their appointed Prayers and we have greater examples of Iohn the Baptist and of our Saviour teaching the Disciples to pray in set words As the publick prayers of the first Christians had appointed words so likewise they had Times and Places appointed Of both these St. Clemens the fellow-labourer of St. Paul speaks * 1 Ep. Corinth telling us that our Lord would not have holy Offices performed rashly nor disorderly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist. l. 10. c. 3. but in determinate places and hours where and by whom he would have these done he hath appointed by his Sovereign will Several others of them speak to the same purpose and Eusebius acquaints us that these Houses of Prayer were consecrated Which I the rather mention to remedy the mistake of those who count it Popish when-as indeed it was done in the purest Ages of Christianity So much for the place as for the Hours they were thrice a day and the day of the most publick Assembly was that which we rightly call the Lords day of this St. Barnabas the Companion of St. Paul speaks * Ep. Catholic we keep saith he with gladness of mind that day on which Iesus both rose from the dead and appeared and ascended into Heaven What has been said of Prayers why they should be the same holds as strongly for the administration of Sacraments in the same words and manner for these besides the benefits by them received from God are tokens of an agreement among our selves for as right Baptism at large is a fixing the person in the Catholick Church so in order to his being joined more immediately to a branch of the Catholick Church the same form of Baptism which this particular one uses is required The like is to be said of the Lords Supper it is not only a sign of our Communion with Christ but of our Communion with the whole true Church upon Earth where the necessaries of administration are observ'd and when we practise in this the same allowable differences we manifest as by the necessaries that we are of the universal so by these allowable differences that we are more immediately of this or that particular Church and that in the phrase of St. Paul we being many are one The third instance of diligence is a subordinate watching over the People I call it a subordinate watching because watching implies a care joyn'd with authority and neither of them originally in the Presbyter but the care