Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	raise_v	sin_n	7,721	5	4.8181	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86600	Clavis exousiasichē [sic]: The key of ordination. Or, Missio potestativa. Oichonomichē: ministerial power: or, Authoritative separation of men to the work of Christ, a ministerial privilege.A sermon preached at the ordination of Mr. Thomas Porter Master of Arts, Mr. John Wilson, Mr. David Jenks, Mr. George Burraston, and Mr. Tho: Soley, at Whitchurch in the county of Salop. / By Aylmer Houghton, minister of the word at Prees in the said county.	Houghton, Aylmer.	1656 (1656)	Wing H2918; Thomason E1665_3; ESTC R208387	22,964	62

Prophet Jeremy 9.1 That wee all had our heads wells of water and our eyes fountains of tears to bewail the great reproach cast by some men upon the Church of Christ in this English Nation by their bold and boundlesse adventures in daring to stand before God as dispensers of his word and Sacraments that not long ago some of them were Mechanicks Trading in their Shops with the men of the world and others of them Husbanding the earth and plowing up the furrows of it for bread and sustenance And now are cryed up as the only men sent of God to preach his word unto the people as if there were some near Relation betwixt the plowstaff and the pulpit betwixt a pedler and a preacher But I could desire that such as these would look home to what they are called to and every one abide in his own calling which is the rule of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.20 It is the advice of a godly man that he gives to such let not the Cobler outgo his Last nor the Tinker his Budget Sed Tracient fabrilia fabri Let them look to their Trading For Non ex quolibet ligno fit Mercurius Every one is not fit to make a Minister The rather 4. Because those called of God must also have a call from man for the usual livery of Gods special Servants are twofold 1. Missio 2. Vocatio Christ by his Spirit sends and calls and those he imploys in his service he calls and whom he calls he cloathes gives as well ability of doing as authority to do And where both these meet they are sweetly fitted and graciously furnished for this Separate me for this work whereunto they are called I shall stand no longer upon the confirmation of the Doctrinal part of my Thesis I have four terms in it that I must first explicate before I shall come to the Applicatory part of it which is the chief business I have from my Text to every soul here this day I must of necessity but touch upon each of the terms of my Thesis For I must not leave my Errand undone I have a message from Christ a threefold Errand The first to my Reverend Brethren and my self The Second to these our Brethren who are this day to be separated for this weighty work The Third Errand I have is to all of you who are our Auditors and Spectators of the work we are met about And to each a seasonable and suitable word when I come unto them The first term in my Doctrinal Thesis is what the work is whereunto these are called I answer It is 1. A difficult work 2. It is a desperate work 3. It is a Dead work 4. It is a destroying work 5. It is a different work 6. It is a daily work 7. It is a despised work 8. It is a dying work 9. It is a divine work First it is a difficult work and that in four regards for 1. It is a seeking work 2. It is a searching work 3. It is a spiritual work 4. It is a spacious work First it is a difficult work for it is a seeking work to seek out lost sinners lost sons lost sheep lost souls lost in hell and this is that which makes the work hard 2. It is difficult for it is a searching work to search out hidden things and hidden mysteries the mysteries of a hidden kingdom of a hidden life Col. 3.3 and this makes the work difficult 3. It is a difficult work for it is a spiritual work a supernatural work a work above nature it is soul-work it is work about the soul work about the inward man soul-saving work and this is difficult I confess Gods Ministers are but the Instruments in the hand of Christ for all internal work is Gods work this in-work is Gods work Job 23.16 It is God that maketh the heart soft but yet the Ministery is an instituted means and therefore should accomplish this so difficult a work because instituted by Christ 4. It is a difficult work for it is a spacious work it calls the whole man to the work soul and body head heart and hand soul and sense eyes and ears all parts and powers are called forth to this work and that to weariness Much study is a weariness to the flesh and therefore a difficult work Secondly this work is a desperate work we are called to work not only works of pain but peril We fight and often faint in fighting for it is against enemies that are not onely wily and witty enemies but are wilful and wicked enemies that are head-strong enemies and heart-strong enemies and hand-strong enemies that except Christ come by his Spirit to help us in this desperate work all our labor is lost and longings lost and layings out lost and all our strength spent in vain to most of our people our work is to fight against Principalities and powers the Rulers of the darkness of this world Ephes 6.12 and therefore a desperate work Thirdly This our work is a dead work we are to preach to dead souls to dead hearts that are dead in sin and trespasses Eph. 2.2 Our work is to fetch dead souls to life To raise Lazers out of their graves our work is about the life and death of the soul Fourthly This our work is a destroying work for it will either destroy sin or the sinner it is the destroying pain of our work that all we do is as if it were almost destroyed It is a destroying work for it turns hearts into stones and makes many worse than they were Oh what a destructive condition are those souls in that our work shall prove their destruction by their wilful neglect and contempt of it Fifthly This our work is a different work from the work of all other men in the world no one is called forth to such a work as a Minister of Jesus Christ for the effects of our work is far different from all other works of other men for our work makes a difference 1. Of men 2. In the manners of men 3. In the hearts of men 4. In the heads of men 5. In the hands of men It works in different places and in different persons and in them differently making some better and some worse It works in places as far different as heaven and hell and in hearts that are as far different as light and darkness Sixthly This our work is a daily work it s our every days work the Lords day-work and the labourers day-work May conceit that the work of a Minister is but a little on the Lords day and then he may rest but alas these men are mightily mistaken for our work hardly admits of any intermission Our work must smell of the candle wee must have our night studies When you are at your rest we are at our work when you sleep we are awake our work is a vigilant work wee wax white with work and watching We are commanded to be 〈◊〉

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vigilant 1 Tim. 3.2 our work is either reading or praying or else meditating or sighing or groaning or mourning or studying your good and your life becomes some of our deaths with our daily and continual working Seventh This our work is a despised work it is the greatest work under heaven and the least regarded in the world subject to the scorn of wicked men and contempt of the world Eightly This our work is a dying work wee like Rachell dye in travel to bring forth Sonnes and Daughters to Jesus Christ It is our death that our work dies in any of our people Ah Christians how much of our work is like water spilt upon the ground It is heart-dying to us that our work dies in your hearts The Apostle Gal. 4.19 tells the Galaetians that hee travelled in birth till Christ were formed in them but alas how many false births and abortive births are produced by our work that hath wrought in some of our people only a form of godlinesse but not the life and power of it and this is a dying work both to them and us Ninthly This our work is a divine work It is the work of God in us by his Spirit Christ rules and calls our men here and there to this work to minister to the souls of men It is a work of divine and spirituall concernment to the souls eternity This is the first tearm in my doctrinal Thesis I shall be briefer in the rest The second tearm is what the inward call is by the Spirit The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul I Answer This call is from God by his spirit and only known as I Humbly conceive by these three Requisites which if found in these our Brethren or in any else called forth to this work we may with an humble confidence be perswaded that they have this inward call and that the Holy Ghost hath said Separate mee these men for the work whereunto I have called them The first Requisite is Pure intentions 2 Pious affections 3 Personal qualifications First Pure and zealous intentions The first and highest Attractive that draws the thoughts and intentions of any to undertake this burden must be the glory of God and the edification of his Church to bring souls to Jesus Christ There must bee no consulting with flesh and blood about this weighty work If either profit or preferment honour or ease have any thing to do in our intentions as they have in too many then wee may conclude that such are not called by the Spirit Second Requisite is pious and cordial affections a godly affection to do good with our abilities we should have mountains of love in us and wear them all and wast them all away in love to Christ and to his people 2 Cor. 12.15 I will gladly spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the lesse I am beloved Hee whom love calls to this labour is called of God and his work shall prosper Third Requisite is personal qualifications and those are three-fold 1 Humanity 2 Humility 3 Honesty First Humanity God sends not headlesse or heartless or handlesse men to this work for hee either finds them fit in some measure or makes them fit for this work And that First in Person Second in Parts both in life and learning They must have the indowments and the perfections of both natures the outward man as well as the inward man one called of God by his Spirit must be not only peritus in religione sed castus moribus not only skillful in the Doctrin of Religion but also regular in all civillities of humanity grace takes not nature away but regulates it refines it and reforms it Religion doth not throw civilities out of doors as some of the quaking faction do but entertains it as a suitable ornament to grace and as a necessary qualification for Ministers which requires they bee of a civil deportment to all men so far forth as may stand with the honour of their persons and places Secondly Humility Such as are called of God by his Spirit are humble they check and chide their own abilities by their own undervaluing of them They take this office and calling upon them cum timore et reverentia suscipere et se excusare with fear and reverence and excusing of themselves as unworthy and unable for it thus Moses Jeremy and others Thirdly Honesty Whom God calls by his spirit to this work must be of an upright life conversation towards all men both towards those without and within to good and bad Such as are called of God must not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only talk aright but walk aright hee must not only teach the way to heaven but tread and trace the way to heaven His Doctrin must bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A speech quickned with the actions of an upright life For there is no life in Doctrine where there is not Doctrine in the life Gods Ministers must teach the eyes as well as the ears of the people For we have not so much nor so great a work to do with their ears as with their eyes for their eyes are more intent upon what we practice than upon what we preach Boni mores praedicantium sal eorum Doctrinae The honest and upright life of a Minister is the salt that seasoneth all his doctrine The sins of Teachers are the Teachers of sin and a Minister of a dishonest life is the vilest creature in the world A Turk or Tartar a Jew or Jesuit Popish or Prophane are not so vile as such a one It is a fearful speech of Chrysostome of a wicked Minister Quis unquam Clericum lapsum penitentem vidit Who ever saw a Minister recover himself after his fall by repentance some not many and but very seldom But those who walk unblameably are called of God even those that have these pure intentions these pious affections and these personal qualifications of humanity humility and honesty we may with an humble confidence be assured that the Holy Ghost hath said unto us Separate me these men for the work whereunto I have called them The third Term in my Doctrinal Thesis holds forth the outward call by Separation Presbyterial Separation is an external call of persons to the work of Christ and a Ministerial privilege It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministerial Power And this Authoritive Separation is in the Ministery Acts 6.6 The Apostles prayed and laid their hands on them which we call Ordination or Clavis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Key of Ordination Election may belong to the people but in Ordination Pastors have been still actors and ordainers as Acts 1.26 6.6 Tit. 1.5 In this business there is onely required the silent approbation of the godly Election follows Ordination and is but an approbation of a called person to his Ministery to such a particular Congregation