Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	new_a	part_n	testament_n	2,730	5	7.9160	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

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